Elwynn Forest – The Hightlights

Good day everyone.  Today I thought I’d talk about my wanderings in Elwynn Forest and surroundings.  Sarra and I have been wanting to re-explore and since I found myself in Stormwind, I thought stepping outside the gates would be a good way to start.  Sometime soon I’ll do a tour of Stormwind, but for today I want to show you all some of the interesting or notable locations in the Elwynn area. 

Traveling down the road froom Stormwind, the first place if interest I came upon was the village of Goldshire.  A small village of only a few buildings, Goldshire is always busy with adventurers coming and going and challenging each other to honorable combat to hone their skills.  The Inn is always open and the blacksmith is a talented fellow who is handy with repairing armor.  There is a trader, named Tharynn Bouden, who seems to be always around and ready to make a deal, even though he seems ready to leave at a moment’s notice with his wagon.  Near Tharynn is a gentleman named Remy “Two Times” who has a couple tasks that the adventurer may find of interest.  Goldshire is also the home of a number of talented professionals who are more than willing to train any adventurers interested in learning.  Goldshire is a regular stop in the Darkmoon Faire schedule. 

Heading north east out of Goldshire leads the traveler to the Northshire Valley.  But before reaching the Northshire Valley entrance there is an interesting little cabin on the east side of the road.  Inside this cabin is the “Crazy Cat Lady”.  Her cabin and yard are full of cats and she is always willing to sell a cat to any adventurer willing to adopt one of her charges.  She has a good selection, unsurprisingly.  The adventurer who feels they would like a small feline companion has the choice of : Cat Carrier (Bombay) for the basic black lovers, Cat Carrier (Cornish Rex) if you lean towards the more exotic, Cat Carrier (Orange Tabby) for the admirers of the marmalade kitties or Cat Carrier (Silver Tabby). 

Just a few steps up the road from the Cat Lady’s cabin is the entrance to Northshire Valley, home to the beautiful Northshire Abbey.  The abbey is where all new recruits for the human members of the Alliance first start their new careers as adventurers.  Northshire Valley was, at one time, the pride of the Stormwind wine industry.  Unfortunately the Defias are doing their best to cause problems for the farmers and the Defias now occupy the farm and fields.  This is only one of the issues that the Stormwind Army is asking their new recruits to help with.  It seems the Echo Ridge Mine has been infested by kobolds and the local wolf population is out of hand. 

Back to Goldshire and taking the eastern road out of town, I rode along for a bit until I came to a tower on the north side of the road.  This small mage tower is called the Tower of Azora and is run by the Servants of Azora.  All of the mages I came upon at the tower were Gnomish except the Human archmage of Azora, Theocritus, at the top of the tower.  Theocritus has a couple of tasks for any willing adventurer. 

Across the road from the Tower of Azora is the Brackwell Pumpkin Patch.  Here resides the infamous Princess the boar and her porcine escort, who are responsible for the destruction of crops at both the Maclure Vineyard and the Stonefield Farm.  The buildings of the Brackwell Pumpkin Patch have been taken over by the Defias Brotherhood.  The cabin has some very nasty characters inside, one of which is named Morgan and is rumored to be involved in the theft of gold directly from the mines.  Another of the occupants of the cabin is the noted warlock, Surena Caledon, along with her second companion, Erlan Drudgemoor. 

I went back to the road and continued along to the east until I came to a lane leading off the road to the north.  The signpost noted this as the lane to the Eastvale Logging Camp.  In the center of camp Supervisor Raelen has a task or two for the intrepid adventurer.  Nothing overly strenuous, but of great help to the loggers.  And since Guard Thomas at the bridge on the main road has a number of tasks he needs assistance with, the Eastvale Logging Camp makes a good base of operations for a brief time.  There is a bowyer named Rallic Finn at the northeast side of the camp beside the stables who will be more than happy to perform repairs to your gear and supply any hunters with ammunition during their stay. 

Eastvale Logging Camp also has an active stable where you may get riding training and a sturdy horse (Normal Mount) for a modest fee.  The choices at the stable are not many, but Katie Hunter is a wonderful horse breeder and all of her stock is of excellent quality.  Whether you choose the Pinto, the Brown Horse or the Chesnut Mare, you are sure to find your mount to be a dependable and hearty companion.   For the more advenced rider, some hot blooded stock (Epic Mount) is available.  Of these more high strung horses, the adventurer may choose a Swift White Steed, a Swift Brown Steed or a Swift Palomino. 

Since any farther east would take me into Redridge and I’m not yet finished with my little tour of Elwynn, I turned around and headed back west.  After a pleasant canter I arrived back to Goldshire and turned off the road and went cross-country to the south.  Not far from the road and nestled smack in the middle between the Stonefield Farm and the Maclure Vineyard is the Fargodeep Mine, now over-run by kobolds.  This seems to be a theme for the mines in Elwynn. 

There is an on-going feud between the Stonefields and the Maclures, but I have no sweet clue as to how it got started.  I do know, however, that there are tasks to perform for members of each family if the adventurer is so inclined.  And these tasks eventually make it obvious that the children of the families may not hold quite the grudge their parents do.  Personally, I believe that if the kobolds were not in the Fargodeep Mine directly in between the two families, the feud may never have started in the first place.  Kobolds, the sneaky little things, do seem to have a knack for bringing out the worst in people. 

Farther along the main road to the west lies the Westbrook Garrison.  This is the western-most outpost in Elwynn, located in Forest’s Edge near the border with Westfall.  The rough and tumble knights that reside in the garrison are on constant alert for gnoll attacks from the camp to the south of the road.  The tough gnoll leader, Hogger, is said to patroll the camp and be constantly whipping the rest into a frenzy to get them to raid the surrounding area.  There are a number of wanted posters around the Westbrook Garrison asking for the death of Hogger.  Some of the officers posted to Westbrook Garrison are worthy of note.  Deputy Rainer is offering a Riverpaw Gnoll Bounty and is more than willing to accept assistance from adventurers to thin out the population of these undesirable neighbors.  Quartermaster Hicks has a good stock of weapons, Quartermaster Hudson deals in armor and shields, and Veldan Lightfoot sells fine leather armor.  Of particular interest to the residents of Westbrook Garrison is Sergeant De Vries, the “Morale Officer”.  Sergeant De Vries sells drinks of various…errr…fortitudinal worth. 

Continuing on to the west, I came to the bridge between Elwynn and Westfall, and thus the end of the brief tour of Elwynn Forest. 

Sometime soon we’ll be touring Stormwind to round out the Elwynn Forest experience. 

Until then, keep safe and enjoy your travels. 

~Zyrena

Tags: Brackwell Pumpkin Parch, Crazy Cat Lady, Eastvale Logging Camp, Goldshire, Hogger, Northshire Abbey, Princess, Tower of Azora, Westbrook Garrison