Vaca and Neverlast set out to work on some quests that involved rites, ceremonies, and fighting unbridled capitalism. We didn’t complete all of these quests in the same day, but were able to turn in ones we finished last time around.

Lorekeeper Raintotem gave us a quest called A Sacred Burial. I found it interesting that it just so happened to be raining when we met an NPC (non-player character) named Raintotem.

Lorekeeper Raintotem: Only the most valiant Tauren are laid to rest at Red Rocks, our sacred burial ground. It is an honor bestowed upon the great warriors who helped found and defend Thunder Bluff and those who have given their lives for the greater good of their tribes and chieftains.

But it appears a foul menace has made its way onto our holy land. A band of Bristleback Interlopers is ravaging the grave site and I am too old and past my prime to drive them away.

They must be driven off with force, Vaca.

To complete this quest, players must kill 8 Bristleback Interlopers at Red Rocks.

Completing this quest was not very difficult. There were other players working on it at the same time that we were. As you can see in the screenshot above, a random Hunter targeted this particular Bristleback we were fighting. It is nice when players just naturally work together.

We found the Ancestral Spirit at Red Rocks and turned in the quest.

Ancestral Spirit: You have shown great diligence in your yearning to pass the Rites of the Earthmother, Vaca.

We, the Ancestral Spirits, represent the mighty Tauren who gave their lives bravely to found and protect our great city of Thunder Bluff. I hereby pass the duty of that protection over to you.

You have passed the Rite of Wisdom, young warrior. Enter Thunder Bluff with pride.

Ancestral Spirit: You will now be revered within our great city. Any tauren worthy of completing the Rites of the Earthmother earns that honor.

For your final quest, seek out our noble leader, Cairne Bloodhoof, who dwells atop the highest mesa in Thunder Bluff.

We returned to Lorekeeper Raintotem to turn in the A Sacred Burial quest.

Lorekeeper Raintotem: Well done. You have sent those foul Bristlebacks a clear message. They will think twice before attempting to meddle in this holy spot again.

We were hiding out on a hillside, after doing the “corpse run”, when Vaca hit level 9. Neverlast was right behind her, at Level 8. There were too many wild creatures in this area, and we couldn’t take them all down by ourselves.

Veren Tallstrider, in Thunder Bluff, has a quest called Gathering Leather. It is a good one to take if you happened to have picked up Skinning. All you need to do is skin the animals you kill (or the dead animals other players – who don’t skin – left behind). Eventually, you gather up enough leather for Veren Tallstrider.

Veren Tallstrider: Greetings, young one. You have a gleam in your eye; I can tell you are eager to venture back to the plains for the hunt. May you bring honor to your clan!

I work with the skins of beasts, fashioning them into clothes and armor for the people of Thunder Bluff.

If you hunt beasts and bring me their skins, then I will fashion something for you.

To complete this quest, a player must bering 12 pieces of Light Leather to Veren Tallstrider.

Vaca and Neverlast found High Chieftain Cairne Bloodhoof. We needed to turn in a quest to him.

Cairne Bloodhoof: Hail, young warrior. I see you found your way to my doorstep.

I found this amusing because Vaca and Neverlast are, quite literally, standing on Cairne Bloodhoof’s doorstep. He immediately gave us another quest to work on.

Cairne Bloodhoof: You have passed the Rites of the Earthmother and earned your place in Thunder Bluff.

But in order to maintain the spot that you strived so hard to achieve, you must continue to prove your worth to your people.

We are hunters, Vaca. Down below in Mulgore there is a mighty Kodo named Arra’chea. Show me your skills in the ways of tracking and hunting by bringing me the Horn of Arra’chea.

At some point, I picked up both Skinning and Leatherworking. I thought that I needed both in order to skin things. But, that’s not how it works. All I needed was Skinning. I decided to unlearn Leatherworking (since I did not actually need it.)

Vhan: No part of the animals we hunt is wasted.

Vhan is a Journeyman Tailor. He was able to train Vaca in the art of Tailoring. My reason for wanting to pick up Tailoring was because I wanted to learn how to make linen bags. I figured those would probably sell on the Auction House. One of the first things I learned in Classic WoW was how scarce bags are.

While in Thunder Bluff, we took a quest from Eyahn Eagletalon called Preparation For Ceremony.

Eyahn Eagletalon: Vaca, my brother soon stands before Chief Bloodhoof, and it is my honor to make his headdress for him.

I want to ask a favor of you while I finish tanning these leather straps. There is not enough time for me to find enough feathers, and I was wondering, would you gather more for me?

You can find the feathers of the correct size from the harpies residing far to the north and northwest of Thunder Bluff. I need only 6 azure and 6 bronze feathers to complete the design.

The screenshot above is a good example of the progress that my friend and I had made in WoW Classic (so far). My Warrior, Vaca, is fighting a Swoop and a Cougar by herself – with no trouble at all. This is a vast improvement from earlier, when one Swoop by itself was a challenge.

My friend’s Druid, Neverlast, had enough time to go pick some flowers and then return to heal Vaca up a bit. It was nice to reach the point where we were more powerful than the local wildlife.

Vaca is using the appropriately named Beatstick to kill this Flatland Cougar. If I remember correctly, she got it from a Goblin. I found it extremely amusing for my Warrior to use a weapon that was so perfectly named!

We stopped to let a herd of marching Kodos pass by. They aren’t very aggressive – unless you get too close.

We found Morin Cloudstalker on the road, right where we left him. This time, we were able to turn in The Ravaged Caravan quest that he gave us. Doing so allowed us to get more bag space back as we handed over the Venture Co. Documents.

Morin Cloudstalker gave us two new quests to work on: The Venture Co. and Supervisor Fizsprocket.

Morin Cloudstalker: This explains the buildup of Venture Co. employees and equipment we’ve seen in Mulgore. Those goblins… their company is expanding too quickly for their own good. It’s how they say, show a goblin something, and you can hear the scales in the background.

Greedy little things, they are. Unfortunately for their business enterprise, we Tauren cannot allow them to conduct their operations in our lands. Go to their mine northeast of the ravaged caravan and send them a message.

To complete this quest, we need to kill 14 Venture Co. Workers and 6 Venture Co. Supervisors.

Personally, I find it comforting that Taurens aren’t big fans of unbridled capitalism. Vaca and Neverlast have been given the task of preventing the Venture Co. from “expanding too quickly for their own good.”

Morin Cloudstalker: According to the documents you salvaged from the caravan, The Venture Co. created many plans to attempt to drive us from our lands here, so that they could have free reign to plunder our lands.

The depths that they would sink to accomplish their goals disgusts and appalls me. I want the mastermind behind their plans killed. His name is Supervisor Fizsprocket, and you will find him at the Venture Co. mine east of the ravaged caravan. Bring me his clipboard, we shall see if we find out anything useful.

To complete this quest, we must kill Supervisor Fizsprocket, obtain his clipboard, and bring it back to Morin Cloudstalker.

Put the text of these two quests together, along with what we have learned of the Tauren lifestyle so far, and it tells a story. The land here is valued and looked after by the Tauren. They take only what they need, and use as much of a slain animal as possible. They send out people to cleanse water wells.

A big company run by Goblins (that is growing too quickly) has decided to take away the Tauren’s land. The greedy Goblins want to basically mine the land for everything they can take from it, leaving behind nothing at all. The company wants to accomplish this by driving the Tauren from their lands.

It sounds awfully similar to what actually happened to the First Nations people across the United States (and, I presume, other locations as well). The corporate colonizers are up to no good. My friend and I aren’t powerful enough in the real world to stop big corporations from being evil. It is going to feel good to get a chance to make things right on Azeroth.

But first, we needed to finish the quest that required us to use the Winterhoof Cleansing Totem to cleanse Winterhoof Water Well.

Mull Thunderhorn, in Bloodhoof Village, is the Tauren who gave us that quest. Neverlast hit level 9 as we turned in the quest.

Mull Thunderhorn: News of your deed reached me moments ago – – already the beasts near the well drink from it eagerly.

You have done a great thing for the land, Vaca. And you have done a great thing for the Tauren people.

Let’s have a moment of appreciation for whatever Tauren used their skills to create these absolutely pathetic looking human target dummies! They are comically wonderful.

These dummies aren’t pretty, but they seem functional. Clearly, some Tauren Hunter came by and shot a few precious arrows into them before Vaca and Neverlast arrived.

Ruul Eagletalon gave us the Dangers of the Windfury quest. We were ready to turn it in. I wonder if he is the brother of Eyahn Eagletalon, who gave us a quest to find harpy feathers that he could use to make a headdress for his brother.

For whatever reason, I failed to take any screenshots of us actually fighting the Harpies. I think we were too busy trying not to die. That said, we did manage to collect 8 Windfury Talons (each) and complete the quest.

Little did we know that there would be more Harpy quests coming up!

WoW Classic: Rites and Ceremonies is a post written by Jen Thorpe on Book of Jen and is not allowed to be copied to other sites.

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