Like Kaghuros, I'm of the opinion that the book is a bit of a joke; it's obviously a reference to the game
Portal.
So, to better answer your question, Aroes, I do what I
always do when I want to find more information about the Warcraft universe -- turn to my handy-dandy roleplaying guides!
Quote:Teleport
Level: Mage 5
Casting Time: 1 standard action (ie, less than six seconds)
Range: Person and touch
Target: You and touched objects or other touched willing creatures
Duration: Instantaneous
This spell instantly transports you to a designated destination, which may be as distance as 100 miles per caster level. Interplanar travel is not possible. You can bring along objects as long as their weight does not exceed your maximum load. You may also bring one additional willing Medium or smaller creature (carrying gear or objects up to its maximum load) or its equivalent per 3 caster levels. [...] All creatures to be transported must be in contact with one another, and at leasrt one of those creatures must be in contact with you.
You must have some clear idea of the location and layout of the destination. The clearer your mental image, the more likely the teleporation works. Areas of strong physical or magical energy make teleportation more hazardous or even impossible.
[...]
Familiarity: "Very familiar" is a place where you have been often and where you feel at home. "Studied carefully" is a place you know well, either because you can currently see it, you have been there often, or you have used other means (such as scrying) to study the place for at least 1 hour. "Seen casually" is a place that you have seen more than once but with which you are not familiar. "Viewed once" is a place that you have seen once, possibly using magic,
On Target: You appear where you want to be.
Off Target: You appear safely a random distance away fromt he destination in a random direction. [...]
Similar Area: You wind up in an area that is visually or thematically similar to the target area. Generally, you appear in the closest similar place within range. If no such area exists within the spell's range, the spell simply fails instead.
Mishap: You and anyone else teleporting with you have gotten "scrambled." You [...] reroll on the chart to see where you wind up.
The table is as follows:
[table=tablebg table1][tbody][tr=bg1][td=1,]
Familiarity[/td][td=1,]
On Target[/td][td=1,]
Off Target[/td][td=1,]
Similar Area[/td][td=1,]
Mishap[/td][/tr]
[tr=bg2][td=1,]Very familiar[/td][td=1,]01-97[/td][td=1,]98-99[/td][td=1,]100[/td][td=1,]--[/td][/tr]
[tr=bg3][td=1,]Studied carefully[/td][td=1,]01-94[/td][td=1,]95-97[/td][td=1,]98-99[/td][td=1,]100[/td][/tr]
[tr=bg3][td=1,]Seen casually[/td][td=1,]01-88[/td][td=1,]89-94[/td][td=1,]95-98[/td][td=1,]99-100[/td][/tr]
[tr=bg4][td=1,]Viewed once[/td][td=1,]01-76[/td][td=1,]77-88[/td][td=1,]89-96[/td][td=1,]97-100[/td][/tr][/tbody][/table]
While familiarity with the location
is beneficial, you can see that even if you've seen the location once you
still have a fairly high chance of being able to arrive safely and without mishap. Nor, by the roleplaying game's conventions, are you likely to end up in the middle of a mountain; you teleport to a similar place in range. If one doesn't exist, the spell fizzles and the mage is left looking fairly silly.
Two notes, however! One, a level five mage is a fairly high leveled mage.
World of Warcraft: The Roleplaying Game caps a character's progression in a particular area at nine levels; once reaching that point, there really isn't anything left to learn! As a result, the spell would probably be best (and most logically) used by those with fairly extensive training and experience. You may want to keep that in mind when/if you apply this knowledge in-game. Remember what Grakor said earlier at the Meet and Greet: you may want to have a good reason explaining why your character possesses or knows how to use an ability.
Secondly, the roleplaying game should guide you, not restrict you! If you want to do something
entirely different such as having a spell fail horribly with catastrophic results, go with it! In this situation, the potential for roleplay clearly trumps the guidelines established by the book and it doesn't substantially change the nature of the spell. I plan on doing something similar in a future event (teehee, Mi~ah!) and I have no qualms with deviating from this information.
Also, one last thing! While things that are displayed in game can (and probably should) be considered real, it's sometimes best to take everything with a grain of salt. So, for example, this book with which you are so concerned. Is everything stated in it correct? Oh, goodness, no!
However, the author of the book clearly believes so. He might be wrong, but that didn't prevent him from writing it.
It's how I approach a number inconsistencies. The NPCs in game might say something that contradicts what we know is true;
they might believe they're right, but they could very well be wrong. Or sharing their own opinions. Or relating something that they only tangentially know.