You’re running through the jungle. Suddenly, a level ?? Rogue unstealths and resets your graveyard run. But honestly? That’s not even the most frustrating part of Stranglethorn Vale. The real headache is your inventory filling up with singe-page scraps of paper.
The Green Hills of Stranglethorn is more than just a quest. It’s a rite of passage. If you played World of Warcraft back in 2004, or if you’ve jumped into Classic or Season of Discovery recently, you know the pain. You’re trying to help Barnaby Grizlo find the lost manuscript of the legendary Hemet Nesingwary.
It sounds simple. It’s not.
The Mathematical Nightmare of Hemet Nesingwary
There are 15 pages in total. They are scattered across four different chapters. You need every single one to complete the quest and get that sweet, sweet experience boost.
Here is the thing about the drop rates: they’re chaotic. You might find Page 1, 4, and 6 three times in a row before you ever see Page 14. This isn't just bad luck. It’s a design choice that forced players to actually talk to each other. Back in the day, the zone chat in STV was basically just a stock market for paper.
"WTT Page 11 for Page 18" was the constant refrain.
Wait. There is no Page 18. If you saw someone asking for that, they were trolling you. Or they were just as confused as everyone else. The pages are numbered 1, 4, 6, 8 (Chapter I), 10, 11, 14, 16 (Chapter II), 18, 20, 21, 24 (Chapter III), and 25, 26, 27 (Chapter IV).
See the gaps? It drives completionists crazy.
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Why the Jungle is a Meat Grinder
Stranglethorn Vale (STV) is widely considered the first "global" PVP hub. Because both Alliance and Horde players are funneled into the same camps to turn in The Green Hills of Stranglethorn, conflict is inevitable.
You aren't just fighting monkeys and tigers for drops. You’re fighting a Level 60 Orc who is bored and thinks your level 32 Priest looks like a fun target. This environmental pressure makes the quest feel high-stakes. When you finally loot that last missing page, the rush of adrenaline is real. You have to make it back to the Nesingwary Expedition camp alive to turn it in.
If you die, you don't lose the pages, but you lose your dignity.
Strategies for Finishing the Manuscript Without Losing Your Mind
Most people just grind mobs. That’s the slow way. If you want to actually finish this quest before you hit level 40, you’ve got to be smarter.
The Auction House is your best friend. Seriously. Go to Ironforge or Orgrimmar. Check the listings. Most veteran players know these pages are worth gold, so they post them. It’s usually cheaper to buy the last two pages you need than to spend six hours killing Bloodscalp trolls.
Join a "Page Swap" group. In modern WoW Classic, players often gather at the Nesingwary camp specifically to trade. Don't be the person who just stands there. Start a trade. Offer your duplicates. Most people are happy to do a 1-for-1 swap just to clear up their bag space.
Bag space is the real enemy here.
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Since each page is an individual item, they don't stack. Unless you have 14-slot bags (which are expensive for a level 30-something), your inventory will be a mess. You’ll be forced to choose between keeping a page or keeping a valuable piece of leather or silk.
Always keep the page.
The Lore Behind the Madness
Hemet Nesingwary isn't just some random NPC. He’s a parody of Ernest Hemingway. The quest itself is a nod to The Green Hills of Africa. This is why the writing in the pages—if you actually bother to read them—is so descriptive and rugged.
It’s a story about a hunting expedition gone wrong. Or right, depending on how much you like killing raptors.
Interestingly, this quest was so iconic (and hated) that Blizzard kept it in the game through the Cataclysm revamp, though they made it much easier to manage. In the retail version of the game, you don't have to hunt for individual pages in the same way. But for the purists? The struggle is part of the fun.
Common Misconceptions About the Drop Rates
A lot of players think certain mobs drop certain pages. "Oh, the Kurzen fighters drop Chapter II, and the Naga drop Chapter IV."
Nope.
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That’s a myth that has persisted since 2005. The truth is that almost any humanoid or chest in the zone can drop any page. It’s a flat loot table. The reason people think specific mobs are "better" is usually just confirmation bias. They happened to get two pages they needed from a Gorilla, so they think Gorillas are the key.
They aren't. Just kill whatever you can kill the fastest.
How to Maximize Your XP Gains
The real value of The Green Hills of Stranglethorn isn't the reward item. It’s the XP.
Each chapter turn-in gives a decent chunk, but the final completion is the jackpot. If you’re smart, you’ll wait to turn these in until you’re at a "dead zone" in your leveling—maybe around level 37 or 38 when quests start to dry up before you head to Tanaris.
- Collect all pages first.
- Keep them in your bank to save space.
- Withdraw them all at once when you have the full set.
- Ride to the camp and do a mass turn-in.
This prevents you from having to make multiple trips through "Guerilla Alley," which is what players call the road between Booty Bay and the Nesingwary camp.
Actionable Insights for Your Next Run
If you're staring at a half-empty inventory and three duplicate copies of Page 25, here is exactly what you should do right now:
- Mail your duplicates to an alt. Don't vendor them. They are worth significant silver (or even gold) on the Auction House to players who are tired of the grind.
- Check the neutral Auction House in Booty Bay. Sometimes players from the opposing faction post pages for cheap, not realizing their value.
- Focus on the "Big Game Hunter" quests simultaneously. You’re already killing the tigers, panthers, and raptors. The pages will drop naturally while you're doing the kill-count quests for Hemet.
- Don't forget the binding. Once you have all the pages for a chapter, right-click them to combine them into a single item. This saves massive amounts of bag space and prepares the chapter for turn-in.
The jungle is unforgiving. The pages are rare. But finishing that book is one of the most satisfying moments in the early game. Get back out there and start looting.