From Camp Narache to the Claw of the Bear
A long day carried Nanaki from a crowded, lowing Camp Narache through the Rites of the Earthmother to Moonglade, and home to Thunder Bluff in a bear's shape.
The Road
Camp Narache was loud when I arrived. Tauren stood shouting and lowing from every side, and I added my voice once. Then I climbed to Red Cloud Mesa and walked on toward the well southeast of camp.
From there the road ran east and south: Brambleblade Ravine, Kodo Rock, the shore of Stonebull Lake, and at last Bloodhoof Village. I set my hearthstone at the inn and came back to the village again and again. Later I wandered to Palemane Rock, the Winterhoof Water Well, the Ravaged Caravan and the Bael'dun Digsite. I also strayed briefly into the Rolling Plains.
When the Rites of the Earthmother called me on, I climbed to Thunder Bluff and saw Spirit Rise, the Wildmane Water Well and the Golden Plains. At Red Rocks, the sacred burial ground, I stood among the ancestors. On the Elder Rise a new spell took me to Moonglade. There I saw Nighthaven, the Shrine of Remulos and Lake Elune'ara.
The last stretch took me west to the Barrens. I found Camp Taurajo and met the flight master there, then flew back to Thunder Bluff.
Battles
The tally passed two hundred by day's end, and most of it was Mulgore's own. I killed eighteen Bristleback quilboars, seventeen battleboars, fifteen prairie wolves, fifteen Venture Co. workers, fourteen Bael'dun diggers and thirteen mountain cougars. I also killed thirteen Palemane poachers, a dozen Bristleback interlopers, and plainstriders, Palemane skinners and tanners, and Bael'dun appraisers. Chief Sharptusk Thornmantle of the Bristlebacks fell too, and so did Chakuyak, the wolf who stalked the trees west of Stonebull Lake. Near Thunder Bluff I killed Enforcer Emilgund, a rare humanoid.
I fell into darkness three times. The first was in the Rolling Plains, to something I never saw. The other two came in Nighthaven, where the dark took me again between my arrival and my leaving. I won one honorable fight against an adventurer of the enemy faction there, and then I fell once more. Each time I woke as a spirit and found my way back.
Deeds
Grull Hawkwind sent me first to the plainstriders for feathers and meat, because the village "require[d] feathers for clothing" and its stores of meat had run low. Chief Hawkwind then asked me to look in on his mother at the well. Greatmother Hawkwind gave me a water pitcher to carry back to him, and he named me a tauren who "would make the tribe proud in Thunder Bluff someday." That began the Rites of the Earthmother. Seer Graytongue set the Rite of Strength: bring back Bristleback belts. He also had me carry smoldering incense to a shrine on the hills before it burned to ash, and I made it in time.
After that came a long run of errands. For Grull I brought cougar pelts and then battleboar snouts and flanks. Brave Windfeather wanted Chief Sharptusk's head, and I brought it. Chief Hawkwind sent supplies to Kaga Wildhoof outside Bloodhoof, and Antur Fallow asked me to carry furs to Innkeeper Kauth. Kaga also taught me the ways of camping.
In Bloodhoof, Baine Bloodhoof set me against the Palemane gnolls and asked for the dwarves' digging picks. I smashed the picks into broken tools. Ruul Eagletalon sent me after harpy talons, and Mull Thunderhorn asked for wolf paws and strider talons to make a cleansing totem for the Winterhoof Water Well. I used the totem there, and Mull later wanted claws for the next one. Yaw Sharpmane wanted Chakuyak's pelt, Ahab Wheathoof's puppy Kyle needed feeding, and Maur Raincaller needed rare beast parts against Mazzranache's poison. Harken Windtotem wanted swoop quills. Morin Cloudstalker had me search the Ravaged Caravan's crates and then thin out the Venture Co. goblins. Krang Stonehoof's sparring match was settled too.
The Rite of Vision came next, with Zarlman Two-Moons' Water of the Seers drunk before the tribal fire, and Seer Wiserunner passed me. Lorekeeper Raintotem asked me to drive the Bristleback interlopers from Red Rocks. The Ancestral Spirit then gave me the Rite of Wisdom and sent me to Cairne Bloodhoof, who set one more hunt, for the horn of the kodo Arra'chea.
Last, Turak Runetotem sent me to Moonglade. Dendrite Starblaze sent me to the Great Bear Spirit, who taught me and sent me home. Turak then sent me west of Taurajo to the Moonkin Stone to earn "the strength of body and the strength of heart" from Lunaclaw. Turak declared that I had finished, and told me I had "finally taken your large step into a much larger world."
Malah Longwind, the scout I was sent to find, was dead, her back full of arrows. I carried her report back to Bloodhoof, and Baine ordered the centaur driven out.
Fellowship
I joined the guild Blacktide as an Initiate. Later a fellow Blacktide hailed me in greeting. Through the day other adventurers fell in beside me and drifted off again. Hunters, warriors and druids passed through my company, but none stayed. Most of the time I walked alone.
At Camp Narache a crowd of tauren was lowing, and I answered with the same.
"Mooooooooooo."
By the Bloodhoof tribal fire, a tauren shaman told a stranger to relax by Kaga's campfire. In Thunder Bluff I waved to a warrior, who saluted me back with respect.
Spoils & Craft
The finds were few and small: a schematic for EZ-Thro Dynamite and a pair of tribal pants, and two pieces of malachite found on different digs.
My hands were busier than my pack. With skinning I took hides all morning, and I learned to turn them into light leather and light armor kits, eleven kits in one stretch. I made a camp chair and two basic campfire kits. I also made a camp tent and a fish bowl, which Kaga's lessons had taught me. I bound linen bandages and a first aid kit, and I cooked charred wolf meat, brilliant smallfish and herb baked eggs.
Growth
I felt strength gather in me with each lesson, and by the end I was a different druid from the one who walked into Narache. Gart Mistrunner taught me Mark of the Wild. At the ravine I learned Moonfire and Rejuvenation, and later Thorns and a stronger Wrath. In time came Entangling Roots, a stronger Healing Touch, stronger versions of Mark of the Wild and Moonfire, and Nature's Grasp.
Turak Runetotem gave me the spell to travel to Moonglade, and at the very end he taught me Bear Form, Growl and Maul.
My trades grew as well. I learned Tanning and Skinning, then Skinning at journeyman standing. I took up First Aid, Leatherworking, Cooking and Fishing. I learned to use two-handed maces, and my staff and defense came on with the day's fights.