So there I was, riding for my very life...

It was late in the day and I had about an hour left to play, so I go to darkshire and get the quest to take a crate of supplies to Netherguarde Keep in the Blasted Lands. "No problem," I think to myself, "I've got a sturdy mount and can out run anything that chases me." Yeah, right. So, into Deadwind Pass I go, and right off the bat I'm being chased by vultures with a huge aggro range, no way to avoid them. I die. The graveyard is by the Ivory Tower of Karazhan and it takes me 5 minutes to find my way out of the damn village and locate my body. I respawn and the damn vultures re-aggro on me! I jump over the edge and into the river below. Unfortunately, it a long way down and I'm at half health from just having re-spawned. I die again. Fine, I go get my beat-up corpse and swim down river. It takes me to Karazhan again, where I dry off and mount up. I mosey into town for the first time as a living creature and I'm immediately killed by some ?? level ghost. Great! I spawn again and this time I ride like the wind, more like a breeze, through town and up the road. Whew! Made it out of town, but what's this? Ogres! Tons of ?? level ogres are wandering around. I weave like mad and keep riding. I get dismounted from a good hit and keep running and make it out of aggro range barely alive. I find the passage out of the Deadwind Pass and head into the Swamp of Sorrows, it's nice to be out of that nasty Pass. I come to a fork and since I don't know the lay of the land, I randomly choose the right path. I encounter some NPC orcs patrolling the road and they attack me, but I blow by them on my mount with no trouble. I find the gates of Stonard and turn back. I have to ride past the orc patrols again and as I’m almost by them, I get dismounted. I out-run them and take a few seconds to heal up and recall my mount when this high level orc player rides up to me on his epic mount. He does the /wave emote to me and as I’m doing it back to him, he starts casting. My health bar goes bye-bye and I’m dead. Now, I don’t PvP and I never have my flag up, but something must have triggered it. Either that or just being in a contested area makes me vulnerable. I don’t know the specifics of it and I’m going to have to research it. Anyway, I respawn and head back down the road and I take the left path this time. It leads me to the Fallow Sanctuary and a bunch of feral Draenei who chase me around the swamps, along with big crocs and bog beasts. I finally make it through the swamps and out to the coast. Where is the pass into the Blasted Lands? Damn, I’m so lost. I like to explore with Moondrana, but there are times to resort to technology. I Alt Tab out to look it up and see its back over by Stonard. Great! I ride south down the coast and follow the mountains back east and as I pass by Stonard, the ?? lvl guards run out and kill me. By now, I know the routine well and the graveyard is right outside Stonard, so it’s a short run. I spawn as far away from the guards as I can get and ride for the pass. I encounter a few more wandering orc patrols on the road but ride past them and finally make it through the pass and into Blasted Lands and the relative safety of Netherguarde Keep. And I did it all within the 60 minute time-frame of the quest, so I was able to complete it. I was exhausted. I picked up the flight path and called it a day.

So, what are the rules for PvP in contested areas? Did my pet attacking the orc patrols when I got dismounted trip the flag? Or, is it just a free for all? I hope someone can explain it or provide me a link to that might help me understand it better.

Thanks,

Moondrana: 42 Lvl Hunter on Lightbringer