Part 1: Stardust Spire
Mission Report 1 – Stardust Spire, Ashenvale
Date: 13th of Yseralla, 2017
Summary: The Sentinels and their allies, the Starbond Covenant, set out from Astranaar to begin their long journey towards Feathermoon Stronghold. The first stop of their journey: Stardust Spire. As they approached the Spire they could hear the faint sounds of fighting. As they drew closer they saw a most dire scene play out before them! The Sentinel regiment stationed at Stardust Spire were under attack from rampaging bog beasts!
After an initial charge where the Nightblade Sentinels and the Starbond Covenant carved a path through the throng of bog beasts, trampling them under their sabers’ paws, they reached the Spire and the Huntress in charge greeted them.
She explained that just a few hours ago the bog beasts had started attacking without warning. They seemed to be swarming from the ruins close by for some reason. The initial attack had left many of her Sentinels wounded and she hadn’t been able to spare anyone to scout out the ruins and find the cause for this abnormal behaviour.
The Sentinels and their allies agreed to help and one team, under Huntress Glaivestar’s command, headed out on a scouting mission to the ruins, and the rest stayed to defend the spire under Sentinel Starborne’s leadership.
After the scouting team had left the bog beasts attacked the spire in force again and a vicious and chaotic fight broke out. The defenders managed to keep them at bay, but were very close to being overrun when Glaivestar’s team returned and saved the day. Together they were able to finish off the remaining bog beasts.
High Priestess Arluie Moonspark of the Starbond Covenant had been grieviously wounded in the fight and was carried into the tower for healing and rest.
Glaivestar reported that there was a huge bog beast who had taken possession of the ruins and were driving all the smaller ones away. There was also a strange herb growing on the island, a herb the beasts hadn’t touched at all.
Part 2: Ruins of Stardust
Mission Report 2 – Stardust Spire, Ashenvale
Date: 14th of Yseralla, 2017
Summary: The time had come for the Sentinels and the Starbond Covenant to deal with the large bog beast in the Ruins of Stardust and put a stop to the bog beast attacks.
The Sentinels and their allies made their way stealthily towards the lake and the ruins. After a small skirmish with an enraged bog beast they headed into the water to begin swimming towards the island.
The water had looked calm and still, but underneath the surface lurked danger and soon enough the Sentinels were engaged in another fight against angry bog beasts. It was a short, but rather panicked fight, since two of their number were close to drowning – having been dragged under the water by the bog beasts as it were.
Luckily the fight in the water had not drawn the attention of the big beast and the Sentinels were able to launch a surpise attack on it. After the initial attack a drawn out battle ensued, but in the end the Sentinels and their allies triumphed. They dispatched the gigantic bog beast and restored balance. They were also lucky enough to gather a lot of Stardust Leaves, something that might come in handy on the road ahead.
Part 3: Windshear Hold
Mission Report 3 – Windshear Hold, Stonetalon Mountains
Date: 18th of Yseralla, 2017
Summary: It was time for the Sentinels and their allies to leave for Windshear Hold. The orcs, however, had been very busy and put up a blockade in the pass between Ashenvale and Stonetalon.
The Stardust Sentinels offered to assault the barricade head on, while the Nightblades and the Starbond Covenant scaled down the mountain to assault the horde forces on the other side of the barricade.
Wyvern riders patrolled the skies and had to be dealt with swiftly. After having shot a few of them down, the Nightblades and the Starbond took on a small camp of orc grunts, taking out their radio transmitter and disabling communications to Krom’gar Hold.
After that the group moved on to sabotaging a few goblin shredders. However, subtlety did not seem to be the elves’ forte and the goblin engineers realized quickly enough that some of their shredders had been tampered with. It was pretty obvious, since some of them had actually been blown up.
The elves dispatched the goblin engineers and moved to assault the com tower. There they encountered overseer Fizzle Tinyspark, a goblin overseer who liked to talk and brag a lot about himself. Tinyspark was very fond of explosives and managed to keep himself from harm by blasting the elves off his tower a couple of times. In the end he tried to escape by jetpack and was shot down by Kythraen Stargazer of the Starbond Covenant.
The two groups gathered up their wounded and headed up to Windshear Hold to heal and rest.
Part 4: Induction Ceremony
Mission Report 4 – Windshear Hold, Stonetalon Mountains
Date: 21st of Yseralla, 2017
Summary: After the battle against the Horde to reach Windshear Hold the Nightblades and their allies got a few days of well earned rest.
On this particular night it was time to induct the new recruits into the Sentinels properly and give them the chance to confirm their choice in joining the Nightblades.
A simple ceremony about letting go of the past and to move forward. A ceremony about what it actually means to be a Sentinel. A ceremony where the recruits got to pledge their dedication to the cause.
Every recruit had to choose a small object to symbolise their previous life before they joined the Nightblade Sentinels. They had to place this object into a ritual bowl, as a symbol of dedication and letting the past go. The recruits could at this point choose to share a story about the object they had chosen, or they could remain silent and keep it personal.
The small tokens were then offered to Elune for her approval. Approval was indeed given and they all joined in the Nightblades’ battlecry: Thor ilisar’thera’nal!
The offerings given:
Melaniel: Dagger from the Aszhara regiment
Cebrindal: A claw from his bracelet
Tyeala: One of her flower crowns
Lysaena: Crescent moon pendant
Elysar: Symbol of Nature’s Grasp
Akylath: Seeds from his mother’s garden
Meladan: A memory of his sister
Tinwëtar: A kinship bracer she got from Agam’adil Glaivestar
Part 5: Sticky Situations
Mission Report 5 – Windshear Hold, Stonetalon Mountains
Date: 24th of Yseralla, 2017
Summary: A patrol of Windshear Sentinels had been ambushed and taken captive by a troll vodoo priest. The Sentinel who brought the news died from her wounds shortly after having delivered the warning and call for aid. The Nightblade Sentinels and the Starbond Covenant rode out immediately.
At the first sign of trouble down the road a member of the Nightblades and a member of the Starbond Covenant got into a fight with one another. The rescue mission was delayed for the precious time it took to sort it out.
The spiders in Sishir Canyon were running absolutely rampant, controlled by the voodoo priest as they were. The allies fought their way across the vale until they reached the priest himself. The group arrived too late to save the Sentinels; their blood already having been spilled to fuel the troll’s corruptive magic.
In the end the Nightblades and the Starbond Covenant slew the troll, Tiola Windsong delivering the final killing blow, and the giant spider queen his magic had corrupted. A victory, but not without a very steep price…
Part 6: Restless Spirits
Mission Report 6 – Nijel’s Point Desolace
Date: 27th of Yseralla, 2017
Summary: It was time for the Nightblade Sentinels and the Starbond Covenant to continue their journey towards Feralas. The journey took them past the Ruins of Eldre’thar and upon arrival they immediately sensed that something was very wrong. The druids in the group confirmed that it was the Nightmare at work and the two groups decided to investigate and try to locate the source of trouble.
The ruins, which had been cleansed many times before, played host to lingering highborne spirits once again. They weaved in and out in between the pillars and ruins like they were in a dream, going about their daily lives as if nothing had ever happened to them.
It was determined that the source of unrest came from the center of the lake. Unfortunately the whole lake had been corrupted by the Nightmare and there was no way to safely enter the water. The Priestesses decided to attempt a ritual to cleanse a path through the water, so that two brave volounteers could enter, swim out and investigate what the source of the corruption was.
As soon as they begun their ritual however, they were beset by angry spirits. The Spirits brought there by the Nightmare attacked in force and the Sentinels had a dire job trying to keep them off the priestesses.
The priestesses and their helpers were beset by whispers from the Nightmare, aimed to make them lose hope and give themselves over to corruption willingly.
In the end they managed to hold off the spirits long enough to get the source of the Nightmare out of the lake; a writhing, rotting branch. One of the Starbond druids, Airloana Silversap, managed to get a hold of the branch in an unobserved moment and flew off with it. She had intended to destroy it, but as she took it into herself to shield the rest of the group from it she became corrupted. Priestesses Ravenmist and Moonspark tried in vain to save her, but it was too late. She flew off, Priestess Moonspark being unable to slay one of her own. She is believed to be dead from this moment on.
Demoralized and devastated the two groups gathered up the vile artefact and headed to Nijel’s Point in Desolace to rest and heal after their terrible ordeal.
Part 7: Ambushed!
Mission Report 7 – Karnum’s Glade, Desolace
Date: 1st of Eludore, 2017
Summary: The Nightblades set out towards Karnum’s Glade in the Cenarion Wildlands. The Starbond Covenant were to join them there eventually, but for the trip itself the Sentinels were alone.
About halfway there the group was ambushed by satyrs. In the confusion of the attack, the satyrs managed to steal the Nightmare branch and made off with it to the northern ruins. Once a Temple of Elune, now a foul satyr camp.
Deep inside the ruins the satyrs were performing some kind of ritual, using the branch as a conduit. Most likely an attempt to bring back the Nightmare and rise as the new Nightmare lords. Luckily the Sentinels stopped them in time, killed their leader and priestess Moonwhisper purified the ruined temple grounds with strong divine magic.
They made it to Karnum’s Glade and were stopped by two druids from the glade; Shan’do Moonshallow and Shan’do Shadowleaf. The group were not permitted to enter the glade as long as they carried the branch. A long discussion followed, but in the end it was decided that the branch would be given to Shan’do Moonshallow to study. Hopefully he would be able to shed some light on how to destroy the thing. The Nightblades were then, after having being cleansed of the Nightmare’s influence, permitted to enter the glade.
Part 8: Into the Deep
Mission Report 8 – Karnum’s Glade, Desolace
Date: 6th of Eludore, 2017
Summary: The druids of Karnum’s Glade had requested that the Nightblades find more star blessed herbs, like the Stardust Leaves and the Moonstalks found previously, but they were being oddly cryptic about where these herbs could be found. The first clue “where the natural birthed the abomination” led the Sentinels to the ancient burial site of the Keeper Zaetar. His offspring, the centaur, watch over his grave and it seemed the Sentinels would have some trouble getting in.
But a plan was devised to get a riavlling tribe to attack the Maraudine and hopefully that should keep the centaur sufficiently busy to allow the Sentinels to sneak past into the sacred burial caverns.
The plan worked and the Sentinels were able to enter the temple. Once inside they were presented with a problem, however. The place was like a labyrinth, with three main passageways leading into the Deeps. It was decided that Commander Ravenmist would take one group through the middle passageway, and Huntress Glaivestar would lead a second group to the right.
Huntress Glaivestar’s group encountered a strange Keeper of the Grove soon after having entered the right passageway. He attacked them, but before they could kill him, he escaped. They gave chase through the tunnels and had to fight their way through basilisks and eventually a giant, crystal encrusted earth elemental that the Keeper had awoken to protect him.
Once they defeated the monstrosity the Keeper had escaped into the tunnels and were nowhere to be found. The group pressed on, however, hoping to find the Commander’s group and lead them back to safety.
The Commander’s group, on the other hand, had encountered a portal at the end of their passageway. Hoping that it would take them deeper into the caverns they went through it. The portal did indeed land them deep within the caves, and the herb, Dream Moss, could be found growing everywhere in the lush gorge they entered.
But the portal they came through was only one way, and the group had to fight their way back through the corrupted caverns to find their way out. They encountered toxic plantlife, sickly dryads and a completely insane Keeper of the Grove. The very same Keeper that Glaivestar’s group had encountered previously, in fact.
In the end the Keeper was slain and the two groups were able to regroup and make their way back to the surface and to Karnum’s Glade.
Part 9: Swift as Shadows
Mission Report 9 – Karnum’s Glade, Desolace
Date: 8th of Eludore, 2017
Summary: The search for more Star Blessed herbs continued and led the Sentinels to Mannoroc coven. The Legion had sent reinforcements to the area and the elves had to sneak their way around instead of assaulting the ruins head on.
After a small skirmrish they made their way up to the roof of one of the ruined temples. From there they could see that a Doom Lord was ordering his minions to burn the Crescent Mushrooms that grew in the area. In a desperate attempt to get their hands on the Star Blessed herbs Meladan Duskshade was sent to fly down and retrieve the last ones. While he -did- get the herbs, the manouver also alerted the Doom Lord to their presence.
After a long fight the Doom Lord was slain, but the fight had drawn the attention of other demon packs nearby and the Sentinels were forced to retreat so that they would not be overrun.
Part 10: Out of Time!
Mission Report 10 – Nightblade Camp, Desolace
Date: 11th of Eludore, 2017
Summary: The Sentinels were impatiently waiting for news about the research into the artifact when Shan’do Moonshallow arrived. It was clear almost immediately that something was -very- wrong. When he tried to put the Nightmare branch into the Moonwell, to cleanse it as he himself put it, the Sentinels realised that the branch and the Nightmare had claimed him and they were forced to stop him.
They battled Moonshallow and his various conjured illusions, as well as the branch playing tricks on their minds, until the Shan’do was finally beaten. There is no cure for the Nightmare, at least none the elves knew of, and Shan’do Moonshallow died in Shan’do Shadowleaf’s arms. Shadowleaf then proceeded to toss the group out of the grove, blaming the death of his dear friend on the Sentinels.
But, before they left Shan’do Moonshallow’s, now cleansed, spirit appeared to the group and told them how to dispose of the branch, once and for all.
Part 11: Nightmare Bough
Mission Report 11 – Dreamer’s Rest, Feralas
Date: 13th of Eludore, 2017
Summary: With Shan’do Moonshallow’s information in hand the Sentinels, with the aid of some from the Starbond Covenant, headed into Feralas and towards the Dream portal that resides there. The idea was that if they could manage to toss the branch through the gate, the Dream would take care of it and cleanse it of the Nightmare.
However…the branch had begun to extend its influence over the group and had grown more powerful ever since the encounter with Shan’do Moonshallow. Some within the group were worse affected than others and they saw enemies and shadows around every corner. Some were so severely affected by the Nightmare that the Sentinels had to use a special salve, created from the Star Blessed herbs, to lessen the Nightmare’s influence.
When the Sentinels and their allies drew close to the river separating them from the portal island the branch began to wield its influence over the group at full strength. It conjured the corpses of all the enemies they had slain so far, corspes that suddenly came alive, caught the swimmers by the ankles and threatened to drown them in the river. In reality they were all visions, but to everyone caught within the influence of the Nightmare branch they felt real.
When they finally managed to cross the river a fight with an amalgamation of Nightmare awaited them. Once again the branch filled the area around them with their enemies, and created a hideous creature, a combination of the various foes the Sentinels had dispatched during their travels, to protect itself.
But in the end the Sentinels managed to wear the branch down and break free. Míria Starsong threw the branch through the Dream Portal and they were all brought back to reality once more.
The Sentinels regrouped at Dreamer’s Rest, to rest and wrap their heads around what exactly had happened.
Part 12: Feathermoon
Mission Report 12 – Feathermoon Stronghold, Feralas
Date: 15th of Eludore, 2017
Summary: Feathermoon Stronghold! The Sentinels reached the end of their month long trek without any further incidents. A small celebration ceremony was held in front of the Moonwell. The traditional campaign feathers were handed out to everyone who participated in the campaign in some capacity. This campaign’s feather was from a hippogryph and it was dyed alternating red and black on one side, half emerald and half silver on one side and with a dark teal stem.
Red and black for the Nightmare, emerald for the Dream, silver for Elune and teal for the Nightblade Sentinels.
During the ceremony Tiola Wildsong and Míria Starsong were promoted to Outrunners and Melaniel Glaivestar was finally made Sentinel Captain.
This marks the end of the “Trek to Feralas” campaign.