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Once again, Lady Jana performed a teleportation spell for the party. We ended up on an "island" (actually a giant tree) far to the northwest, landing in the Temple of the Moon. There were night elves everywhere, wondering who we were and why we'd dropped in so suddenly! Worse yet, when we spoke to one of the temple clerics, the high priestess Whisperwind was away in the Fell Wood with her druids. We were directed to the archdruid of Staghelm, instead. We walked northward across town (all branches and roots) toward a tall tower, passing night elves right and left. At the tower we were stopped by a very rude doorman, and Shereen requested an audience with the archdruid. The doorman insulted her. A lot. Balroq finally broke in with a concise explanation of why we were there - Lady Jana, Whisperwind - and the doorman insulted him too but at least he walked off into the tower with our message! We waited. And waited. Delvar entertained himself by ringing his bell at every elf walking by. I tried to figure out how to teach Bird to fetch. And just as we were wondering what had happened to the doorman, he sent us up a very very long flight of stairs to meet the archdruid. "What do you want, mortals?" was the inauspicious beginning. Shereen began her explanation, again, and he yelled at her to shut up! Then he demanded to know who our leader was, so Delvar snapped at him and got made fun of in return. Eventually, they got down to the real issues. The archdruid claimed to know where Whisperwind planned to send us - something about demons in the Fell Hills, or Ashen Vale - it was hard to tell between needling comments about us all. But we were willing to be out doing something, and agreed to take a boat to the Dark Shore. I requested a guide to the port, sarcastically pointing out that we wouldn't want to get lost in "his" city. He called a bird to him, gave it instructions, and we ended up following it all the way to the seaport. Thank the Light, the port had more races than just night elves, and everyone there was a little friendlier! The boat arrived, and we boarded for a four-hour trip to the land. Gree spent the time watching for odd birds or other unusual creatures... which we didn't realize until he suddenly cast arcane missiles at a hawk which he thought might be following us! Down went the hawk, a deathspiral into the ocean, and we all started shouting at once. We ended up discussing the whole situation - especially the politics behind the archdruid sending us here. (I thought it was to fight demons!) What does he stand to gain if Whisperwind doesn't return from her own trip, and we, the Lady Jana's representatives, are far from the Temple of the Moon as well? While we talked, Gree pointed - and we watched a strange flaming, shooting star cross the sky above and seem to land on an island to the south. Finally, we reached the shore and the portside docks. Here, too, the residents weren't nearly so snooty! We asked about how to get to Ashen Vale. We were told which road to take, and that we ought to use the local mounts to get there in good time. The local mounts are called night sabres. They look like large black panthers, and you have to ride them bareback. At least they are trained to carry, since Balroq and Shereen ended up clinging to them for dear life! Our destination was a town in Ashen Vale called Astranar. We set off on a road near the shoreline to reach it. We looked out over the water toward where the shooting star landed, but saw nothing unusual. Along the road were various ruins, and we saw wandering satyrs and banshees but by some miracle all agreed to leave them be. As the sun headed for the horizon, we reached a river and several of us heard something rustling. We were quickly stopped and dismounted; sure enough, it was trouble. A fell beast and its handler stepped out on the roadway ahead and waited for Delvar to approach. Talking first was worth a shot, right? The handler smirked at Delvar, then told him his lord wished to congratulate us. He knew that we would come, and still had many plans - such as to rip out our souls! So, Delvar stepped up and attacked the fell beast, killing it with a mighty blow! Before it even collapsed he was telling the stunned handler that that was his "reply". Of course, this is when the rest of the fell guards came crashing down upon us! Three more attackers, hitting Shereen before anyone else, and an intimidating shout from one of them that left Joe, at least, looking rather shaken. Two charged, although I hit one with an arrow, and Shereen cast a spell on us that improved our ability to fight. Joe and I kept stepping back and unloading arrows into the fell guards, while I saw Delvar swinging his axe and Gree unloading with a firey spell. The fell beast's handler escaped from Delvar, running away up the road with the dwarf shouting after him to take our "message" to his master Beltharadon. Joe downed one guard, but the other charged at Gree despite being hit by arrows from us both. Shereen was healing people as fast as she could reach, then Balroq dashed by very very fast in order to stab the last fell guard in the back. Joe finally killed that one, too. Delvar was shouting taunts down the road after the fleeing handler, while harvesting the fell beast's claws as a trophy. I looked around for our rides, fearing they'd fled the battle, and discovered one advantage over horses at least - instead of spooking, most were happily chewing on the dead bodies. Joe only had to track down two, while Balroq searched the bodies and collected their weapons. I looked at Delvar, disturbed to hear that his demonic enemy from our very first adventure together was still out for blood. The dwarf, of course, was pleased to find that he might get to finish that old fight after all! He didn't seem to realize that he and I are the only two left from that adventure - I wonder why!! So I explained the situation to the rest as best I could, while we rode on. We reached town by dark. The head Sentinel was very familiar - to Delvar and me. She was the night elf who had the moon well troubles. We've unintentionally come full-circle. But in the time since we were last here, the demon has set up shop at the Fell Fire Hill, and seems to be digging for something inside. Our mission is to find out what and why and maybe even put a stop to it. Balroq asked the head Sentinel to send a message back to Whisperwind, so that she knows where we are - and maybe we'll find out if this is where she wanted us to be! During the conversation we also discovered that the archdruid is rude to everyone. Wonderful. The Sentinel asked us if we knew anything about the light in the sky, but we had to confess it was a mystery to us, too. We spent the night in town, and got ready to set out in the morning, first poring over a map they were kind enough to give us of our route. After seeing the number of Horde towns on the roads, we decided to take the night sabres overland as much as possible. (I was pleased to see that Balroq has gotten ahold of a grappling hook and extra rope!) The journey to the first river went quietly, and we used the bridge to cross before striking off into the woods. A half hour or so later, some of us heard something... something big, and straight ahead! Joe said it was a bear. We dismounted and prepared for a fight. Shereen cast a spell on us while Delvar sent Bling Bling into the trees, telling him to "lure him back". It worked: a dire bear came crashing into us! Balroq tumbled up next to it, stabbing, while Delvar stood his ground and struck it repeatedly with his axe. Joe came next, shooting it full of arrows - and it dropped dead at our feet! Joe took the hide as a trophy (that's a lot of bearskin!), and then we fed the night sabres. Soon, we were ready to go. Into the woods... | 
