Worgen

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The recent increase in Worgen activity is quite disturbing. I got some reports from Grizzly Hills that I first did not believe in, but they were delivered by Jennie Nowind herself.. And in person.

It is not the first time I hear about worgen in Grizzly Hills, I have battled them myself from time to time but it seems that Arugal is back again.

I have decided to compile a paper on what we actually do know about the worgen.

The Book of Ur

The magician Ur, one of the best researchers that Azeroth has seen, wrote a research paper about worgen back when Dalaran still was in its former glory. May his soul rest in peace.

As a first step in his research he comes to the conclusion that even though folklore is full of wolf-men, the Worgen are real, they are not just something that we have imagined. He also states that the Worgen are not from our world, but that it is possible for a powerful magician to bring them here. Ur's research also tells us that the home world of the Worgen is a dark and nightmarish place, and that if their own mages would attempt to reach Azeroth they would become an unstoppable force here as well.

Quite a grim report. Let's move on to Arugal

Arugal, a former mage of Kirin Tor that deserted during the Scourge invasion. He fled into Shadowfang Keep that is located close to the border of Gilneas. I can only speculate of why he started to use Ur's research to summon Worgen to our beloved Azeroth. Arugal himself says it was to even the odds against the scourge. As the Worgen drove the scourge in front of them, the ones closer to the mages started to turn on them instead. At this point Arugal started his decent towards madness and locked himself firmly into Shadowfang Keep with the Worgen that he now called his children.

So we have a crazed wizard, using his magic to bring the Worgen to our world. But, if that wasn't enough, another story unfolds in Kalimdor.

Kalimdor
Velinde Starsong, priestess and sentinel of the Night Elves had been given the task of cleansing the forests of Ashenvale and Felwood from demons. Reports say that Velinde had prayed to Elune to help her with the task that was assigned to her. I do not want to double guess my own Goddess choice, but it turns out that Velinde's prayer was granted and Elune handed her the Scythe of Elune.

From Velinde's own journal: 
"By focusing on it, I became able to communicate with the worgen. It was not speech I used to contact them, however. It was something different... I could not describe it. What mattered was that the worgen heard and understood me. ..... By further channeling the energy of the Scythe, the barriers weakened more, and I was able to draw the worgen into our world."

So Velinde used the Scythe to summon Worgen to her aid, later in the same journal she describes how she is starting to loose control over the summoned creatures. But even as she stopped summoning more, the Scythe continued on its own. When she finally realized that she had lost her control, she decided to travel to consult Arugal, that she had heard rumors about.
Her journey goes from the port in the Barrens, my guess would be that she means Ratchet.

Duskwood

The next we hear about Velinde is actually not of her but of the Scythe. It was found by some Defias supporter in a mine in Duskwood. Velinde must have passed through there on her way from Booty Bay towards the north and Shadowfang Keep.

Jitters, the fellow who writes about the event in his journal, says that the whole mine rippled with change when he touched the Scythe and that the Worgen had attacked his group from hidden holes all around them. Jitters was the only survivor of this incident, but he managed to loose the Scythe when he fled.
Later, he was visited by dark riders that were asking around about the Scythe of Elune. The riders killed the wife and children of the farm where he was staying when they found out that she did not know about the Scythe. How this Jitters managed to survive this meeting is unknown, and what troubles me is that this is the only time that I've heard about these dark riders. Could they be from Kharazan, or maybe agents of Arugal.

Conclusion so far is that Worgen where pulled into Azeroth from their home world by two different people that did not work together. The Scythe of Elune summoned worgen during Velindes journey to meet Arugal.

So back to Arugal
I think it was some agents of the Horde that finally killed Arugal in his keep. But in reality it did little good. The Worgen still roam the villages around the keep and Arugal, well he was resurrected and his ghost serves the scourge.

He was sent to Grizzly Hills, to convert the populations of the small trapper villages into worgen. Nowind reports that he succeeded with Solstice Village and Silverbrook, if not more. He has his operations in a tower that he calls Shadowfang Tower. I guess that his ghost form lacks imagination, but the tower is located on a small island outside the east coast of Grizzly Hills.

This is where Nowind was on her way after she left me last night.. I do hope her the best of luck…

Loremaster, in depth…

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So as you may know. Last I finally managed to complete my Loremaster studies a few nights ago. It has been a long journey covering visits to many places all around Azeroth and even Outland. A look at some golden moments from each continent is the least I can do, now that I can call myself a Loremaster.

Kalimdor
One of the more fun encounters in Kalimdor occurred during a research trip to Maraudon, we had been led there by stories of one of Cenarius offspring being trapped there and that five of the centaur tribes in Kalimdor are of his blood. And we truly found the spirit of Zaetar, one of Cenarius children deep below ground level. Always fascinating to meet the legends.

Eastern Kingdoms
Andorhal, or more precisely the Ruins of Andorhal, in the Western Plaguelands has pulled me back from time to time to thrive into the lore of the city. Once one of the central cities of Lordaeron, and thus the center of distribution of goods like grain in the country. But the city was laid in ruins by the scourge and is now populated by the undead and lead by Araj the Summoner, the former headmaster of Scholomance.
This region has always been the place that I have traveled to when I start to research something new of the Scourge. It has proven a good strategy so far.

Outland
The Kirin’Var Village in Netherstorm has an interesting story behind it that started when the Alliance ventured beyond the dark portal to end the threat from the Horde once for all. The wizards of Kirin Tor built this village before the world was torn appart. The surviving wizards have been trapped in the village since then.
Later Kael’thas destroyed what was left of the village with a Mana Bomb. To make things worse, many of the wizards that died have had their spirits brought back by the necromancer Naberius.
The Kirin’Var Village has a lot of history hidden in the ruins about what it was like to be trapped in outland during the years when the Dark Portal was closed.

Northrend
The Frosthold in Stormpeaks is the home of the Frost Dwarves, most of the city is inside the mountain and not open for outsiders. Their friendship with the Alliance is all thanks to the Explorers League. This is one place that I still frequently return to and I must say that it is very interesting to get to know another race of dwarves. So much in common with other dwarves but at the same time so much different.

Nowind travels to Outland

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I finally received word from Nowind yesterday. Evidently her stay in Outland has ended and she has now moved on to the Borean Tundra. So I decided to drop by in person and pick up her travel journal.

So this is the tattered and torn journal of Nowind’s journey to Outland.

Day 1

I arrived at the crater where the Dark Portal lies in the Blasted Lands through a portal in the Mystic Ward of Ironforge. I know that nothing from my previous journeys in Azeroth could prepare me for what lies behind the portal, the stories that I've heard had that in common. So as I walk the last steps up to the portal, I summon raw determination and put all my thoughts into the present and step through....

I have used portals before, but this was something else. I could feel the time shift inside. The whole process seemed to take longer than usual and a lot of thoughts had time to pass through my mind, when the fear started to turn into panic it all ended abruptly and all I saw was red.

It took a few moments until I was able to focus my eyes, but before long I saw that the red came from the land itself, I had arrived on the Hellfire Peninsula.

Day 2

I took the gryphon to the Honor Hold from the portal last night and rented a room at the inn, I was glad that I didn't have to fight my way through the demons that had besieged the portal. Before heading for bed I took the time and spoke to the people living in the hold, I found the inscription trainer and paid him some silver to teach me what he knew. When I walked back towards the inn, I became a witness to an infernal attack from the sky.

Today I will spend with various assignments that I managed to acquire last night, including demon and orc hunting.

Day 9

Received a package with herbs from Eowind so that I could focus on my inscription studies and that I did. I also took a class in gryphon flying and bought myself a snow white gryphon. This should cut the time I have to spend in this god forgotten place.

Tomorrow I will head out to the Temple of Telhamat in western Hellfire and maybe visit the Druids of the Cenarion Circle at their camp if I can find it.

Day 16

Zangarmash.

What a beautiful place even though it gives me the creeps. I would not care to live here.

Add to this that the place is overrun with naga and you will start to see why I really really really do not like the place.

But it is beautiful, even I can't deny that. My stay at the Cenarion Refuge and the small town built on top of one of the gigantic mushrooms, Telredor, earned me a nice coin in my pocket and a bunch of friendly people to add to my friends list. If nothing else, I will return for their sake, even though one of them turned me into a crow.

Day 23

Today I finally arrived in Shattrath City, even though I could have taken a gryphon directly from Honor Hold i decided early on that I wanted to travel wherever my assignments led me. But now, after three weeks in Outland I have arrived in the shiny City of the Naaru. I took the tour of the city with one of the void walkers and decided that I like the Aldor more then the Scryers.

So tonight I will sleep at the inn on the Aldor Rse. I'm thinking of setting up more proper quarters here for the rest of my stay in Outland and travel to wherever I need to go for the day. I've missed city life.

But now I'll actually cheat a little and take try one of the portals here that lets us travel back to Azeroth. Think I'll visit the Auction House in Darnassus before I go to bed.

Day 31

The last week has been intensive. I ran into Emilyfion the other day and she took me to the Mana Tombs of Auchindoun where I got a new wand and staff. In addition I've traversed Terokkar Forest, visited the Allerian Stronghold, one of the few human settlements here. I had the chance to help them with wolf and orc hunting.

After Terrokar I went to Nagrand but I do have to say that I don't understand Eowind how she could force herself to become a well reputed, even exalted, hero of the Kurenai. I settled with getting friendly with them, at least I can accompany Eowind if she gets invited to dinner.

Blades Edge was not a place for me either. I like dragons, I like them very much and being forced to see their bodies everywhere in this isolated place really made me feel bad.

Lastly yesterday I went to Netherstorm, mostly just to see the place. I helped the goblins at Area 52 with some things, the sad thing was that when I returned with the goods they needed I found out that the whole town had been attacked during my absence. Not a living soul remained.

That was the final drop, I had seen enough of Outland and if I wanted to see Shadowmoon Valley, then I would do that later.

It was time to leave and return to Azeroth...

About me continued…

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It has been a while since I wrote about how I got to be me. So I thought I would cover some parts of it today.

After I left Teldrassil, I spent some time roaming the lands by myself until I got to know a little group of people and adventurers that called themselves ‘Pious Brothers’.

I joined them first time in Zul’Farrak. After a while I became a trusted member and joined them wherever they went. Once or twice we raided the Horde at their Crossroads in the Barrens. It was enjoyable. During that time I had drifted into the role of healer, a bit of a suicidal healer as I couldn’t say no to opportunities. I remember once when a friend of mine Happy asked me to come to Andorhal in the Western Plaguelands while he and another tank killed Araj the Summoner. It took some tries as I was not experienced enough, nor did I have the power in my spells that we would have needed. But, when there was no other healer available. I went to where I was called and did my job.
Shortly after the Araj incident I was summoned to Blackrock Depths as a healer.

I remember that we managed to help Marshal Windsor and kill Bael’Gar.
I returned at a later point to the dungeons under the Blackrock spire, just to sit on the Emperors throne of power.

 

But now. During the time I spent roaming the world before I joined the nice people in the Pious Brothers, I picked up some useable trade skills. Herbalism I had picked up already before I left Teldrassil and when I visited Ironforge for the first time I picked up Mining, These two professions became the best way to finance my traveling urge. Wherever I went, I ended up with ore and herbs in my bags that I then could sell to people that needed them or trade for better equipment in a city.

Gilneas and Dalaran

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I paid a visit to the refugees at the Graymane Wall. Those poor people are still hoping that the gates will open again one day. I remember reading a little bit about this some time ago.

Apparently the Gilneans supported their leaders decision to stop helping the alliance after the second war, their biggest argument was that they didn’t want to support an alliance that kept the enemy alive at the internment camps. So King Genn Greymane decides to build a wall. And evidently he had the support from his people.
I have heard a rumor that some Gilneans traveled with Jaina Proudmoore to Kalimdor during the third war. I shall try to find some evidence for this.

Lastly I must quote King Genn Greymane from one of the copper coins he tossed into the fountain in Dalaran.
”Pah, the fountains in Gilneas could grant ten times as many wishes as Dalaran's!” -Genn Greymane

As I for once was in the Eastern Kingdoms, I decided to head to the old location of Dalaran as it is not a long ride from the Greymane Wall. I have always been fascinated by the wonders of magic, and probably that is why I have learned it. But the most visible magic I wield is my shape shifting abilities, it is quite a small scale compared to lifting a whole city from the ground. And yes, they lifted quite a lot from below the city as well.

Outside of old Dalaran is an old interment camp where the alliance had kept the orcs after the second war. To my surprise, the camp outside of Dalaran is used by the mages for studies of the undead. They hold a handful of them in the old wooden buildings. To my relief, the undead seem to belong to a group that don’t have anything against being there.

Druid Training

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Ok I haven’t really told much about my story yet, so I better start doing just that.

When I first arrived at the Shadowglen, I was a little naive and thought that I would be sent out on adventures directly. This wasn’t the case. I spent a lot of time with my teachers and the other people in the valley, mostly by running errands for them. During that time I learned the basics of being a druid and my fascination of helping other people grew. One of the strongest memories from those weeks was when I helped a friend of Dirania Silvershine who had been poisoned by the spiders in the valley.

Another memory from that time was when I met Happy for the first time, he arrived just in time to help drive away two sneaky orcs that had found their way to our peaceful valley. We kept contact after that visit and later I was invited to his guild but I will tell more about that in a later letter.

 

Some time passed and I was sent to Dolanaar to check on the Moonwell there. I think it was outside Dolanaar that I ran into Priestess Amara who sent me on my first real mission. I was told to keep the road to our beloved capital safe from the furbolg raiders. I was quite nervous when I wandered off into the woods alone. My first task, and it was from a Priestess of the Moon. I remember that it took a while for me to track the furbolgs but when I finally did, I was able to surprise them. I don’t know if they really saw me as a threat back then. A lone girl in the woods. But I managed to prove a point and hopefully they learned their lesson.

So, there you have it. The first few steps in Azeroth as a druid. I promise to tell more in a later letter.

Back in the day (Zul’Farrak and Uldaman)

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At some point comes the day in every young adventurers life when they get invited to their first guild run, for me it was the old sand troll city of Zul’'Farrak in north western Tanaris. Back then my guild was the Pious Brethren, a fun and crazy bunch of people that I still do love and miss. So, as you can see in the picture where I am waiting for the ship to Ratchet, I do look a little bit nervous.

The run went fine, think it was back then when I first looted an epic item (Icemail Jerkin, couldn’t use it myself but earned a copper or two by selling it) and my friends started to call me high roller.

 

And in this picture, we have the gang. Darkwulf, a fellow druid. Happy our loved noble warrior and Gemeen who mostly was called just mean even though she wasn’t that nasty. Corporal Fatfeet I do not remember and I feel a little bad for that.

The next picture we see our very own Arch Druid, Eleda. If I remember correctly she came and save the day after Happy had to leave.

As I said, it was a long time ago and my memory is not what it used to be, mainly because of the last years events have been keeping me busy elsewhere.

 

From Zul’Farrak we continued to the Eastern Kingdoms and Uldaman, from sand trolls to an old dwarven cave system. There we found a dwarven hunter that joined us. The next picture is from when we met Ironaya, I am sorry for the bad quality but it was hard to concentrate on two things at the same time.

She was a bit scary, it was the first time I had seen anything like that but still, I think we handled it pretty well. After all, we are still alive.

The last picture for today is from where we are fighting the Ancient Stone Keeper.

Darnassus to Stormwind

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One of the things that have always fascinated me is the stories that are told by all the people I’ve met around world. I’m looking forward to spread these stories to my readers.

The last few months I’ve spent in Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms trying to figure out what is going on in the countries and regions there. A lot has changed since I first traveled from Darnassus to Stormwind. Back then I had to first travel to Auberdine to take a ship to Menethil Harbor and then walk the long way up to Ironforge. I still remember the first time I saw the Deeprun Tram that still connects the dwarven and human capitals together. I still feel great gratitude towards the gnomes for building it.

Today there are ships going directly from Auberdine to Stormwind Harbor, making the trip possible even for the less experienced travelers.