Journal Entry 6: Darkshore
I've been in this continent nary three days now and not a single drop of alcohol in sight. The elves call this "detox" and have been offering me moon... or berry? One of those two juices throughout my days here. Back home they say if you can lay off of the stuff for a couple of days, you have a fighting chance. Thankfully, tobacco is plenty in between with the male demographic of this region. The beds here in Auberdine are pretty comfortable. I have no idea what they stuff their mattresses with. As far as I could care, it'd be leaves or something weird like that. But I have to admit, the Night Elf culture seems to be sticking to me. That all was ruined, sadly, as I met a fellow fisherman who hailed from Ironforge to do some fishin' here and sell the foreign catches overseas. He offered me what little he had in his flask, before he had to run to the elven capital of Darnassus to refuel, since that's the only highly populated settlement that had a demand for such a luxury.
For once in my life, I actually refused a drink. The expression on the dwarf's face quite literally matched mine the moment the words "no thank you" escaped from my lips. He knew what I was thinking, considering the fact he could smell the scent of whiskey and rye on my facial hair. I think the man's name was Blumble or... Bubble? Something that sounded sea-related.
During those three days, going on day four now upon writing this, I had started to experience a slight fever and an increase of dreams which got my heart racing in my sleep. I remember it vividly. During my brief crossing from Dun Morough to Loch Modan, I received a vision of a tall stone human-like structure holding a large weapon of epic proportions. The titan of a person stared down at me in that brief stretch of road in between tunnels, and it spoke to me.
"You dare pass?"
All I could do was stare up at it, speechless. Sometimes my face tends to refuse to show any emotion, and this was one of the many cases. A good hour passed before I could muster up the courage to say something.
"Yes, I dare pass. I'm on a QUEST!"
The titan's voice boomed and bellowed through the congested mountainside, even echoing through the tunnelway which I had just passed through before encountering the monstrosity. I seem to recall being angry and annoyed at the titan. No idea why.
"You have not fled at the sight of me. I shall grant you passage."
And he did. The man disappeared before my very eyes. The last part of the titan to fade away was the large, wide blade he held in his grip which emitted what I could only call "loud" and holy, blinding to the eye.
I woke just seconds after, stepping into the tunnel which the titan had played gatekeeper to. My bed was soaked in sweat and sputum. After a moment of getting back to my senses, I went downstairs, washed up, and informed the innkeeper to get new sheets.
A few minutes in, the innkeeper came down and went back to their usual business in the early morning. I ordered some of that kimchi they took pride in and just ate alone with my thoughts to keep me company.
I noticed that I did not speak of Randis anywhere in this segment. Well, needless to say Randis got what he wanted. I didn't spend much time talking to the boy, after all I was just told to show him what I do in my life. Kill beasts and bandits, talk to people, get paid and go on my merry way. Needless to say his origin story is what will lead him to become a good adventurer. I sent the boy up to the ship from Auberdine to the village that lets you into Teldrassil, and employed a sentinel to keep an eye on Randis while he took in the sights and sounds of such a foreign land on the way to Darnassus. Then after he saw the tree, he was to see a magnus who could teleport him back to Stormwind. Whole damn venture took almost two gold out of my pocket. One for the portal home and the other for the sentinel.
In retrospective, I do feel kind of bad for kicking the boy out of my life so soon. But it is a means to an end. He will get sided with yet another adventurer - one like me - and do the same old schtick. Can't say I blame the boy for wanting to grow up for the better.
That reminds me, though. I haven't reminded myself of this until now, but what of my life back home? All I used to do was take care of drunks and occasionally beat down kobolds and Defias in Goldshire. (I kept that part out of the past few entries. It just didn't seem to fit right with all the edginess to the entry about my life.) I have a hefty coinpurse, some good equipment and weapons. But it just feels natural. What irks me the most about this new lifestyle is the constant moving around and change of scenery, which is why I look back on my days in Elwynn.
Slowly turtling my way up.