So I decided to return to Quel'Thalas. I made my way northwards under the cover of night, stopping briefly at Tranquillien. I knew that the Sin'dorei and Forsaken there would be willing to grant me shelter as I had helped them a year earlier to keep the Scourge of Deatholme at bay in their attempts to reclaim the Ghostlands. I feel sorry for the residents having to face the same troubles over and over, as though all of the efforts they had ever made were futile. Kalarin showed me to a room where I stayed until the afternoon.
It took me a while to walk to Silvermoon, my feet were tired and I decided to take a quick rest on one of the benches in the flower gardens in front of the gates. As I sat down, an infected Sin'dorei ran past. I saw him fall to the floor as he was gripped by the undead plague. As he rose, his head turned to glance at me, his eyes maddened with hunger, his flesh decayed. With what seemed like great difficulty, he made an approach toward me. I stood up to run, but at the same time, from over the horizon, I noticed a group of plagued residents skulking toward the city.
I had little time to react, I knew I had to run or I would be gripped by the plague myself. I ran towards the Farstrider Retreat to the east of Silvermoon, dodging the oncoming Scourge. Thankfully none of the Farstriders were infected. I explained to them what I knew about the crisis that Azeroth and the Outlands are having to face.
As we were sat around the bonfire, something outside was happening. Across the sky there started to appear giant necropolises, casting shadows on the ground. I knew about these structures from what I'd heard about Naxxramas - they hold members of the Lich King's undead army. Familiar glowing runic circles appeared around Silvermoon City. I fell to my knees and screamed. I knew just what this meant. It wasn't long before one of the Farstriders pulled me up and ordered me to go to the city, telling me I had to help fight the invasion or Azeroth would be doomed. I obliged.
At the gates of the city, I spoke to an Argent Dawn agent who asked me if I knew anything about the runic circles. As we spoke, I noticed that she was infected. It sent shivers down my spine - I excused myself quickly, the poor soul. I entered the city, where Argent Dawn officers had set up camp, recruiting any able bodied persons they could get their hands on. I presented myself to them.
People from all over the world were making their way to the Argent Dawn headquarters at Lights Hope Chapel, myself included. It was too dangerous to walk this journey, so I paid to fly by Dragonhawk from Silvermoon. The Argent Dawn at Light's Hope briefed me on the current situation and notified me of what areas the Scourge were attacking.
I joined forces with other fresh recruits and we made our way to the Blasted Lands where there was a reported Scourge attack. There were the same runic circles as before only this time situated at the middle there was a necrotic crystal and higher ranking members of the undead army were being summoned by it. We had to attack. They were tough, but no match for the combined powers we posessed. As each member died, their soul bolted for the crystals, weakning it. If we kept this up, we would eventually crack the crystal and keep the Scourge at bay.
As the necrotic crystal was weakened, four engineers appeared and started to heal it. They seemed oblivious to what was going on around them, and their spells could not be interrupted. You could tell that they were under the Lich King's control - his order was their command, and nothing could deter them from it. With combined efforts, we eventually managed to disrupt the healers, causing them to turn into shadows - incredibly powerful beings.
With my imp minion by my side and combined effort, the recruits and I managed to take the shadows down. It was a tough fight, our entire party weakened and wounded by the end of it - but we were alive, and we had caused one of the necropolises to retreat having exhausted its crew.
I cannot rejoice at the insignificant victory of yesterday. As I write, more necropolises are taking the places of the ones that we and other groups of recruits are destroying. The Scourge are not backing down. Azeroth is a dangerous place to be. I am constantly on guard. The plague is still gripping civilisation. I hope that we can pull through this invasion as we have done so many times before, but the death toll continues to rise.
Sunday October 26, 2008
