Odd playout of beginners Oracle quest to go to Highvale via Rift

I waited around for the moon cycle to make the rift at Solace Bridge to transport to Highvale, per Oracle's instructions in my journal, after completing the initial Solace Bridge sequence. I entered the rift, thinking I would meet someone for the continuation of quest, but ended up only fighting npcs in the town. I fought my way all the way through the zone, and came out on the other side without meeting a single friendly npc. I went and visited Resolute for a bit, and searched the web for any info on what I was supposed to do with Highvale. Any tips I got had to do with talking to a wounded NPC after entering the area. I had encountered no such NPC.

Frustrated, I resolved to reenter the area, this time from the angle of coming from the town of Resolute, to fight my way back through and see if I missed something. To my (pleasant) surprise, the wounded guard was sitting right at the entrance (this time.)

It seems kind of wonky, the way I was instructed to enter through the rift, only to not encounter the questgiver on my first pass through. Was that a fluke, on my part or otherwise, or is that an oversight within the quest chain?

 

that looks like a bug. you should get the "battle of highvale" version the first time you enter the scene from any where, but it seems coming through the rift didn't sense it properly.

 

Must be, because, darnitall, I just took his amulet to the girlfriend. She took it, gave a speech, asked me to go to the next place and make them HEAR, etc....but my journal didn't update, and she returned to asking me about the knight

Guess I will repost this under 'bugs.' Thanks for the insight!