Chapter 5 - Western Plaguelands
After completing my adventures in Arathi, I found myself without any leads on what to do next, so I decided to check the Hero's Call board. Apparently, all able-bodied adventurers were needed to assist Thassarian in Andorhal to fight against the Forsaken. My first impression of Andorhal was a very weird one since half the city was on fire and the other half looked fine. Anyway, Thassarian of the Ebon Blade and his buddies gave me various quests and weapons to strike against the Scholomance forces attacking the region, wrapping things up with a majestic four-way showdown between me, Darkmaster Gandling, Thassarian, and a surprise guest of honor, Koltira Deathweaver. In the introductory quest for Death Knights, you see with your own eyes that Thassarian and Koltira have a huge bromance going on, but Thassarian is all tsundere about it. Same thing now, instead of hugging each other they are like "huh, it seems that after this victory I need to pull back, I will kill you another day."
My next assignment was with Commander Ashlam Valorfist at the Chillwind Camp. The camp is basically made up of maybe a couple of adventurers, and the rest of them are Westfall farmers who went north after hearing news that the land was healing in hopes of a better future. I got them various supplies. To better prepare for reclaiming Andorhal, I was also requested to help some of the wandering souls of the area move on to their afterlives (surprisingly, very few put up a fight), visit the tomb of Uther, the Lightbringer, First of the Paladins (and second of the Forsworn, but the mortals do not know that yet), and find some armors and weapons from a crypt that turns out wasn't purified, but rather the undead around it were simply laying low for a bit.
While I was gone, the farmers moved on to the farm of the Writhing Haunt, armed only with their pitchforks. I guess they just couldn't wait to start their lives in Stardew Valley Horror Edition. I better go and check on them. I also got an invite to join the forces of the Argent Crusade and the Cenarion Circle after that, and try to heal the land.
The farmers seem to be in league with Thassarian who will use them to attack the rear of the Scourge. He obviously considers them expendable troops and knows full well that few of them will survive. Stark contrast with the other commander of Stormwind in the area, Valorfist, who tried to protect them, but I guess this is to be expected; one is a Death Knight and the other one is a Paladin. Anyway, I did help them gear up and fight off some of the intruders. They even have their own abomination helping them, named "Gory," who wants to help with the farm.
Onwards to the Menders' Stead. The joint forces of the Argent Crusade and the Cenarion Circle are trying to cleanse the lands of the remnants of the plague, and they are doing a pretty good job so far. All I have to do is kill some remaining plagued life forms, and then I will be able to join Thassarian to resume the battle for Andorhal. It would be a trivial matter if I didn't have to bring along Zen'kiki, the worst druid I know. He tried to help me kill a wolf; he ended up casting moonfire ON HIMSELF. To be fair though, I felt extremely close to this guy. I am not a very talented druid myself to begin with, and I have pressed the wrong button every now and then. This could literally be me.
The good people of the Argent Crusade would like me to continue with their... well, Crusade, by reporting to another of their order, Nathaniel Dumah. I will do so later, but first, it's back to Andorhal to see what Thassarian has in store for me. Apparently, the farmers attacked without his command, so the war is back on and he is concerned he might need to fight his boyfriend. I did kill some high-ranking Forsaken, but just when we thought the day had been won, Sylvanas decided to send a whole flight of Val'kyr against us, so now I had to fight them. Unfortunately, even though me and the farmers gave it our all, it still wasn't good enough and we ended up losing Andorhal. Thassarian is off to have a word with Sylvanas and see if he can find out what happened to Koltira, and I am off to help the Argent Crusade a bit more.
Upon reaching Northridge Lumber Camp, what I saw did not live up to my expectations. It's your typical lumber camp with typical local dangers. I understand that lumber is also a big part in any war effort, but after the battle of Andorhal, I expected something a bit more dramatic. After scaring away some foxes, some spiders, and some gnolls, I finally received some exciting news - Highlord Tirion Fordring wants to see me.
Hearthglen sure looks nice. I especially like the huge statue of the Ashbringer they have in the town square. Before I even make it into Mardenholde Keep, I am once again sidetracked by a lieutenant who thinks I am someone else and makes me do drills with his troops and clean a mine from a large spider. When I finally met the Highlord, disappointment struck once again. He just wanted to say "hi". Two of his officers would like to have a word with me. One is reminiscent of the days when he was a farmer here, many years ago, and asks me to return to the Menders' Stead and meet him there, and the other one asks me to investigate some nearby gnolls. I decided to focus on this first, and it turns out that this is a more complicated case than what I originally thought. It seems that the gnolls got their hands on Argent Crusade supplies. It took a bit of investigating to figure out that Magus Bisp was behind it all. Taking him out was extremely scary, not because the fight was hard but because afterwards it was announced to me that, even if I did it in self-defense, I still killed a member of the Argent Crusade within the walls of their city and I should turn myself in to avoid making the situation worse. This was a bit refreshing, to be fair. Anyway, the Highlord was aware of my actions, and of the fact that Bisp was a traitor, so I went on my merry way with his blessings.
Back at the Menders' Stead, our Argent Crusader finds out that his farm has been overrun by the Cult of the Damned, and they even set up a plague cauldron there. Turns out that the person behind all this, and the plagued animals we have been encountering so far, is a Scholomance instructor who has set up her own camp nearby. I am to go and dismantle it, but not alone. Can you guess which great hero of Azeroth is going to aid me?
ZEN'KIKI!
Zen'Kiki is set on a course to become a healer. Mainly because healing spells never miss. He joins me in this last mission, helps heal the plagued animals, and even helps clean the cave where the Scholomance students study necromancy. Finally, the little troll found something he is good at. And not a moment too soon—this concludes my adventures in the Western Plaguelands. Next stop: Eastern Plaguelands!
Until next time,
Blennon
Blennon's journey takes place in the Argent Dawn(EU) server. If you want to keep following Blennon's adventures, subscribe to my blog via email or RSS feed.
