Tarren Mill

The currently shabby settlement of Tarren Mill.

TCG

Tarren Mill is a Horde-allied town located in the northeast of the Hillsbrad Foothills.

History

The township of Tarren Mill was originally a coastal town in the Tarren Mill region of Lordaeron (shown to be southwest of Alterac) during the Second War. King Terenas had ordered Alliance forces to the town in order to free elven archers that had been captured in the region, and were being held in a nearby prison camp. The elves had sent along a force of elven archers to assist the Alliance soldiers in the task, as well as plans for an elven lumber mill.

When the soldiers reached Tarren Mill they discovered that the elven archers had already prepared the village for war. They had located their captured brethren, and were ready to seek revenge. The enemy camp was too far inland for Alliance warships to assist so they made preparations to march the next day. The Alliance forces made several raids from the town before attacking the Horde prison camp. The soldiers returned to Tarren Mill and immediately sent word of their success. A day later an elven destroyer arrived at the town with orders for the force to board ship and sail to Southshore where the battles were becoming more common.

While the reason is not clear, Tarren Mill was eventually moved inland northeast of Southshore (and southeast of Alterac). Humans once ran this mill, but it fell to the Scourge, and later the Forsaken. The undead, led by High Executor Darthalia, attacked Hillsbrad’s citizens mercilessly.

Tarren Mill was once a thriving human town, but was destroyed and taken over by the Scourge, then by the Forsaken soon after the Battle of Mount Hyjal. The town was the site of a major battle between the Orcish Horde and the Alliance of Lordaeron during the days of the Second War.

The port town of Tarren Mill (green).

In Cataclysm

This section concerns content exclusive to Cataclysm.

Tarren Mill in Cataclysm

Tarren Mill was updated with new Forsaken architecture.

Tarren Mill is under attack!

This affectionate nickname is due to the unfortunate fact that, before the introduction of battlegrounds, Tarren Mill was essentially inaccessible because of the 24-hour all-out war that took place right outside it, and oftentimes even inside it; this situation was created because Southshore is so close by. In its early days, it was not uncommon to find every single NPC — merchants, quest NPCs, and even the bat handler — to be killed immediately upon their spawning. The honor system did eventually manage to curb this slaughter, but it didn't even put a dent in the real problem: ganking of low-level players, a problem that existed mainly because Horde players arrive there at 20-30, whilst many Alliance players go there 5-10 levels later.

The huge load of dozens of players fighting at once created massive zone-wide slowdown, oftentimes leading to a condition known as 'lag death' simply because a network connection couldn't possibly handle the overload — more than once an entire server has crashed whenever hundreds were fighting simultaneously. If one were to be either foolish or masochistic enough to turn on the LocalDefense channel (or, alternately, the WorldDefense channel), the phrase that gave Tarren Mill its nickname would literally crowd out anything and everything else in the chatbox. A very similar situation happened at southshore, if the Alliance were not attacking Tarren Mill the Horde would be attacking Southshore. Upon the introduction of the honor system all out wars would be held containing upwards of 100 players per side resulting in many servers actually crashing.

A common sight (if one's hardware could manage to show it) was a veritable wall of Alliance charging the town, with another wall of Horde rushing forward to meet them. Common latency times were 5+ seconds, with the highest values of 7+ seconds. Since the introduction of battlegrounds, however, what was once a fool's dream is now a reality: sporadic peace in Tarren Mill. However, on PvP servers it is still a favorite area for Alliance players to hunt lower-level Horde players and vice versa.

Flight Paths

Thondroril River, Eastern Plaguelands

The Undercity, Tirisfal Glades

The Sepulcher, Silverpine Forest

Revantusk Village, Hinterlands

Hiri'watha Research Station, Hinterlands

Hammerfall, Arathi Highlands

Eastpoint Tower, Hillsbrad Foothills

Ruins of Southshore, Hillsbrad Foothills

Strahnbrad, Hillsbrad Foothills

Bulwark, Western Plaguelands

Tarren Mill once upon a time...

Inhabitants

•  Krusk
•  Shara Blazen
•  Melisara
•  Advisor Duskingdawn
•  Vinna Wayne
•  Novice Thaivand
•  Tallow
•  Apothecary Lydon <Royal Apothecary Sociey>
  •  Umpi
•  Theodore Mont Claire <Stable Master>
•  Zarise <Bat Handler>
•  Magus Wordeen Voidglare
•  Keeper Bel'varil
•  Delia Verana
•  Monika Sengutz
•  Hans Zandin
•  Tara Coldgaze
•  Craig Hewitt
•  Gol'dir (Captive in Strahnbrad)
•  Drull (Captive in Durnholde Keep)
•  Tog'thar (Captive in Durnholde Keep)
•  Apothecary Eli (Deceased)

Trainers:

•  Daryl Stack <Tailoring Trainer>
•  Aranae Venomblood <Herbalism Trainer>
•  Serge Hinott <Alchemy Trainer>

Tarren Mill as it appeared in the Sunwell Trilogy.

Merchants:

•  Innkeeper Shay <Innkeeper>
•  Derak Nightfall <Cook>
•  Mallen Swain <Tailoring Supplies>
•  Kayren Soothallow <General Goods>
•  Jason Lemieux <Mushroom Seller>
•  Christoph Jeffcoat <Tradesman>
•  Ott <Weaponsmith>
•  George Candarte <Leatherworking Supplies> (located near the Thoradin's Wall)^{[92.0, 38.4]}

Guards:

•  High Executor Darthalia
•  Deathguard Humbert
•  Deathstalker Lesh (Stationed at Southpoint Tower)^{[21, 47]}
•  Deathguard Samsa
•  Tarren Mill Deathguard
  •  Captured Farmer
•  Deathguard Toma (Deceased)
•  Deathstalker Fry (Deceased)

Quests

Starting

•  [32] Stone Tokens
•  [34] Prison Break In
  •  [35] Dalaran Patrols
•  [23] Blood of Innocents
  •  [23] Return to Thunder Bluff
•  [22] Elixir of Suffering
  •  [22] Elixir of Suffering (2)
•  [24] Elixir of Pain
  •  [24] Elixir of Pain (2)

1.  [28] Elixir of Agony
2.  [28] Elixir of Agony (2)
3.  [30] Elixir of Agony (3)
4.  [30] Elixir of Agony (4)
5.  [30] Elixir of Agony (5)

•  [32] The Hammer May Fall
•  [39] The Crown of Will
•  [22] The Rescue

1.  [24] Battle of Hillsbrad
2.  [25] Battle of Hillsbrad
3.  [26] Battle of Hillsbrad
4.  [26] Battle of Hillsbrad
5.  [28] Battle of Hillsbrad
6.  [30] Battle of Hillsbrad
7.  [32] Battle of Hillsbrad

•  [28] Dangerous!
•  [30+] Humbert's Sword
•  [31] Soothing Turtle Bisque (Horde)

Notes

• Newer players, who are not paying attention, often call Tarren Mill "Tauren Mill". "Terran Mill" is also occasionally used.
• Some Horde players also know Tarren Mill as "ganking hell".
• There is a Spirit Healer near Tarren Mill at 63.6, 19.7.

Trivia

• The map for Lands of Conflict shows Tarren Mill as Tebren Mill.
• Near the Tarren Mill entry in Lands of Conflict, it is also spelled as Tarrin's Mill. In the entry itself, it is spelled correctly.