Detour

Before getting on the zepplin to Orgrimmar, I stopped in to the Undercity’s Royal Quarter to take care of an errand I had nearly forgotten about.  That errand being, simply, to update Lady Sylvanas on everything that I had done in the Ghostlands – namely going into Deatholme and putting down (however briefly) Dar’Khan, the Scourge leader in the area.  

It took me about half the day just to find the Royal Quarter – I just kept walking around in circles in that place.  Why do they call the areas of the city ‘quarters’ when there are five of them?  Honestly, I swear they’re just trying to confuse the tourists.

Anyway, Lady Sylvanas (who is ridiculously tall by the way), thought that I should go report to Thrall what I’ve done.

So, then I take the other half of the day just trying to find my way OUT of the city.  At one point I found myself at the end of this sewer line (full of this putrid green sludge – I didn’t know what it was, and I didn’t want to ask) staring out at a forest, but I knew that couldn’t be right.  Eventually I found my way back up the elevator and made my way to the zepplin, which took it’s in time arriving.  I didn’t way to say anything, though, those little goblins looked tough.

Leaving Home

My first stop was to be the orcish city of Orgrimmar, a place I was eager to see.  I would not be returning to Silvermoon until my job was complete, so I decided to pack the few things I could say were mine and check out of Wayfarer’s Rest.  I had been able to sell some simple pieces of armor that I crafted from ore I had come across in my travels, but it still left me with barely enough to settle the bill at the inn.  Perhaps I should have paid more attention to dad when he tried to teach me about his work, maybe then I could have made something worth more than a few coppers. 

As I left the inn I saw a crier running through the Walk of Elders, yelling something about an Alliance attack on Fairbreeze Village and other points in the wood.  A company of soldiers ran past me and through the gate, followed by all manner of person willing and able to defend what little lands we had left.  I tighted the strap on my pack so it wouldn’t bounce around and joined the crowd rushing into the battle. 

When I reached Fairbreeze, where the bulk of the fighting was happening, I thought I had made a huge mistake.  This was not the kind of skirmish that has become so ordinary in the wood since we declared our allegiance to the Horde.  This was a well-coordinated attack being made by well-seasoned fighters with swords bigger than I was.  Blood Knight or no, I was out of my league here and stood no chance at combat with this army.  Rather than throw my life away, I looked for others I could help. 

I saw a man whose legs had been trapped underneath some tumbled rocks – the effect of a small gnomish bomb, it seemed.  I was able to move the rocks and saw him to the relative safety of Falconwing Square.  As I ran back towards Fairbreeze I spotted a dark-haired girl dressed in a fine gown, tattered though it was, walking straight into the fighting.  She was unarmed and appeared to be in a bit of daze, judging by the slow, drifting steps she was taking.  There was even a baby dragon – the likes of which I had never seen before - tugging at her dress with it’s teeth, apparently in a futile attempt to direct the woman away from the melee.

I rushed over to her and asked what she was doing.  She didn’t respond, but her face was flush as if she had been crying.   A bullet sent from a dwarven rifleman rang past my ear and I knew we had to get out of there.  I placed my hands on the woman’s shoulders, intending to turn her in the direction of the city and lead her back, but she tensed at my touch and met my eyes with a look of fear I couldn’t place.  Another bullet buried itself in the dirt in front of my feet as I told her that I’m not the one she should be afraid of right now. 

I heard a growl and looked up to see a kal’dorei druid barrelling towards us in direbear form, but a volley of Farstriders’ arrows slowed him down enough for me to grab the girl’s hand - a bit more roughly than she probably cared for - and get out of there.  I practically dragged her through the wood and across the Dead Scar, pausing only once to throw a little blast of exorcism at the face of a mindless Scourge minion in our path.

We eventually made it to the gate of the city - no thanks to the girl’s lead feet.  I had planned on taking her to the Wayfarer’s Rest to get her to sit down, relax, and come to her senses.  When I started moving in that direction, though, the dragon sceeched and dove down, grabbing my cloak in its teeth and pulling me a different direction.  Don’t ask me why, but I followed the little guy’s lead and, after a time, was brought right to the door of Silverguard Keep! 

There was a person sitting behind a large desk at the end of the entry hall who, unphased by the state of the girl, informed me that she did indeed live there and directed me to her quarters.  Once we reached her room I didn’t linger, I didn’t really have any idea what I was still doing there in the first place – I probably should have just left the girl with the person at the desk.  She walked straight over to her bed and nearly collapsed – whatever ordeal she had been put through must have taken a lot out of her.  She seemed okay, though, or at least unharmed from what I could tell.  I placed my last healing potion on a shelf where I thought she would see it - I figured she might want something when she wakes up – and left her.

The dragon gave me a happy chirp on my way out, and I asked the guy at the desk to look in on the girl in a bit.  He gave me a look that said, “Unlikely.”

As I exited Silverguard Keep I saw some soldiers walking back into the city, their wounded in tow.  The battle was over, it seemed.

With nothing left for me to do there, I adjusted my pack and set off for the Undercity.