World Of Warcraft: The Adventures of Gilraen - Chapter IV

Darnassus

It's been quiet for the last few days, but then again, I haven't been able to do much until my shoulder healed up again. It all started when we got back to Darnassus. Seara needed food again, so I thought to fish a bit and relax from our latest escapades. I had some luck and got a few bites early, which Seara devoured eagerly and that put her in a playful mood.We started to playfight, but it got rather heavy. So I thought I ended it when I told her off and went back to my fishing pole. Seara had a different idea. She jumped me from behind and dug her claws in the front of my shoulder while her teeth instinctively went for my jugular vein. I don't know why she didn't bite all the way, but I screamed as hard as I could, as a reflex more than anything else, while lashing out at her to get her off of me. This stopped her attack and she jumped a few feet away and hissed at me. Then the pain struck me and my vision blurred, just as my stomach started to feel weak and my legs gave way.

Next thing I remember was waking up in a bed at the inn. Salienne, the local innkeeper, came in after a short while for a checkup. She was really nice. She told me how one of the delivery boys saw me being attacked and alerted a sentinel. The sentinel in turn called for Dannelor, the first aid trainer here in Darnassus and handily located opposite the inn. So when they had treated me and they had me out of danger, it was only logical that I was put in the inn so that he could keep an eye on me for a bit. Although the wounds themselves were not as bad as they originally seemed, I developed an odd infection that he'd not seen before. This infection was a bigger worry than Seara's attack as it held back my recovery a lot and that gave Dannelor a great cause of alarm. Alassin and Lelanai came around too. Alassin takes care of a lot of the sick and stray animals and also trains them for survival in the wilds while Lelanai handles the tigers strong enough as mounts for the local populace. They took care of Seara while I waslaid up and asked all sorts of questions about her. They said that Seara was quite a pleasant pet while Panda was there, but seemed restless when caged or on a leash. At last Sylvaria paid a visit to tell me that Seara might be tamed, but was still wild at heart. I should not blame Seara for attacking me, as she was only doing what she would do naturally. She might rely on me for food and leadership, but her heart and spirit still belonged to the wilds. If I wanted her to truly belong to me, I would have to win her over with my love and my affection. Sylvaria also said that Seara's emotional distancing from me might be the source of my infection, through the wounds, although Dannelor dismissed this idea as being ludicrous.

Salienne also told me a lot about life in big cities while I was recovering. How the people can come together and share ideas about crafts and trades and the like. They can also try things that have never been tried before. I know that people can think of new things to do when they are stuck. Drekkenai on the small island back home once used a set of logs to lift a big stone out of the way that all the men could not move with their muscles alone. He was quite clever - rocking the stone a bit (with a lot of help), then getting a log under it and rocking it the other way. Soon he had a lot of logs under it and then the rock just slid off to the side. Grandma got a nice vegetable patch out of it in the end :) Anyway, the point is that people can learn a lot when they are together. We can all learn from these people too, if we are willing to pay them for their lessons. I learned to make a bigger quiver for all my arrows, but it cost me a few silver coins. That is one thing I will have to get used to, everything here costs coins. Even when you don't get an item, but knowledge also. Copper coins and silver coins and they tell me there are even gold coins, though I have not seen those yet. Still, I feel that my time in Darnassus has been very helpful to me in this way.

There are two things that I must stress about big cities. The first is banks. If you have extra posessions that you can't take with you wherever you go, you put them in the bank. Very handy if you ask me, although it does cost a few coins to keep a lot of items stored up in this way. The second thing is mail. With all these numerous people here, they use mail to tell each other what to do. I always thought that if you wanted to speak to someone, they would just look you up and discuss the matter, but not here. Here the people are much too "busy", as if tomorrow is the end of the world. So they use mail to talk to you and even send you some small items now and then. And then you send mail back if you understood them or just send mail back even if you haven't. Oh well, whatever they need to do I guess, I have lived without mail for all my life and I won't change unless really have to.

When I was almost ready to continue on my way, there came the summons from the Temple of the Moon. The priestesses at the Temple of the Moon served Elune and they preside over all spiritual matters of every Night Elf of Azeroth. Priestess A'moora had learned of my misfortune and was also very concerned about my infection and slow recovery. She was alarmed that I could have the same affliction as the giant spiders, led by Lady Sathrah, north of the Oracle Glade. If this was so, then I would be corrupted just as they were and cursed for the rest of my life! And so she send me out to the northern rim of Teldrassil to investigate. Seara and I left late in the afternoon, but not before Sylvaria taught me how to take extra care of her if things became really dangerous. The road to the Oracle Glade Moonwell was free of incidents. From there on, a few bloodharpies got in our way. But then it all fell to pieces. The place was teeming with hostile creatures. Nightstalker elders and ferals, timberling elders, webwood silkspinners and giant webwoods, they all came at us one after the other. No sooner did we slay one or another would charge at us. In the end, all we could do was run and hide while looking for a safe place to recover. There were a few times that Sylvaria's advice came in very handy, as Seara got caught in the webs of a pack of the giant poisonous invertibrates. Then we had to huddle close together behind some rocks and trees waiting for the next pnslaught. After a while, which seemed more like an eternity, the moon came out from behind the clouds. Thank Elune, we could get a better grasp of our situation and plan our next move much better. We made our way to the trees just on the rim and started picking off the spiders one at a time. At this stage there were no more nightsabers bothering us and we were far enough from the timberlings to ignore them, so it was just Lady Sathrah and us. After the last of the accompanying spiders bit the dust, I send a concussing arrow into the beleaguered queen of the spiders. Seara immediately charged into her as well and I managed to hit her multiple times with arrows before she closed in on me with her deadly mandibles. Although I had my dagger at the ready, I could not get through her tough external skeleton and had to run away in the end. As she followed me, she was oblivious to Seara tearing her apart limb by limb. In the end, she succombed to the constant pressure. Exhausted and with a lot of pain returning to my shoulder, I fell on Seara for support as we realised that our fight was over for now. She responded by licking my head clean of blood and dirt and then started on my arms, but we didn't have much time to spare. I quickly cut out the vital organs from Lady Sathrah's soft underbelly for Priestess A'moora and we were on our way back to Darnassus.

Back at the Temple of the Moon, Priestess A'moora lead me through the rites of purification of the fallen queen. Seara darted after the cleansed ghost of Lady Sathrah in the moonwell of the temple while Priestess A'moora looked on from above. She gave me her blessing from Elune and told me that my troubles were not related to the spiders' afflictions, which was a huge relief. I was already feeling a lot better, maybe I just needed the action to get my blood warmed up to help with the healing process, but I should be careful to have a pure and humble heart to keep Elune's blessing to protect me. On my way out, I must have taken a wrong turn somewhere though. I was moving through a section that I had not been before, when all of a sudden I was on a large platform with lots of deft and colorful Night Elves busying themselves over the most stunning and beautiful priestess I have ever seen. She was a sight to behold, carrying herself with such grandeur as befits true royalty. Everyone stopped and looked at me as I tumbled to a halt, with the ensuing silence being deafening. Seara stretched her paws in front of her to the ground and buried her head between them. Then it hit me, I was looking at Tyrande Whisperwind! My bottom jaw dropped to the ground and I felt my face heat up to boiling point while it went as bright red as the midsummer's sun setting at the horizon of the driest day. Then I turned and ran as fast as I could until I found my way down a ramp and out of the temple.