I know you’ve had no reports for a while. Does ‘I’ve been busy being undead’ work as a reason?
I’d better start at the beginning. Just after the Winters Veil I was asked to go help out in Grizzly hills cremating the dead there so they wouldn’t be able to be reanimated by the Scourge. I made a classic beginners error I talked to a troll called Drakuru and believed his claims to “know things, mon. Things that will aid you in your struggle here.”
Of course there was a price to pay, in doing his legwork for him before I could get this supposed information, all of which led to Drak ‘Tharon Keep and fighting our way to its highest chamber. Where it turned out I’d been set up to help this troll win advancement with the Lich King.
His parting words were “Forgive my deception, mon. It all been for your own good. Ya needed ta prove yer worthiness…. I be needin’ worthy underlings in Zul’Drak, mon. Ones ready to wield real power. You see for yourself now. Da Lich King be generous to dem who obey. Follow dis path, mon, and soon you be tastin’ immortality! “
I’m not sure if he thought as a Kaldorei I would be more susceptible to the promise of immortality or if he was just too ignorant to realise we had it and lost it. It’s not something I want back, millennium of doing little in case you lose your never ending life doesn’t appeal to me. When will people learn immortality is not invincibility? How many of the citizens of Azeroth ever had the luxury of dying from old age in the last few decades. Remove one cause of death and the others still remain.
I headed for Zul’Drak to see what I could do to undo my mistake. It turned out to be a lot more than offering him some fel cones . For a start I had to work with the Knights of the Ebon Flame, led by one called Stefan. They like their theatre do the Knights. A whole lot of “ooh you’ve been chosen” and claims that a choker I tore off an undead was aimed at me. Did they think I didn’t notice the self same speech being given to others while I was there?
It’s more likely a ploy to encourage us to do their dirty work, after all threats of being “doomed to a mindless existence as a walking corpse” by the scourge with your only hope to help the Knight’s probably gets them more adventurers than simply asking one to walk into the jaws of death. I doubt their claims the choker is of scourge manufacture well not the scourge still under Arthas influence anyway. It’s simply too convenient that the damn thing attempts to put you under a compulsion to speak to the Knights, even if its hidden under the compulsion to wear it, which I suppose might make the other less noticeable to the untrained mind.
The long and the short of it is that Stefan wanted me to disguise myself as a scourge and infiltrate Zul’Drak. Which given that was exactly what I wanted to do anyway I agreed to. The disguise seemed to hold up well enough to fool Drakuru, who interestingly did claim credit for the choker, but then I know he’s a liar.
It took a few weeks wandering around as a ghoul gaining Drakuru’s trust, sabotaging his preparations for war and generally sneaking about pilfering interesting looking items for Stefan. The disguise was pretty flakey, well better than the King Mrgl-Mrgl’s I suppose but prone to wear off at inappropriate moments. Drakuru and his lieutenants never seemed to notice they were losing men inside their stronghold as well as outside. I guess being undead really does rot the brain. Mindless immortality, really it’s not much of a prize is it.
Finally Drakuru trusted me enough to let me into his inner sanctum. With the help of the uber scourge he’d been making I defeated him. The kill honour goes to Arthas though.
Drakuru screaming about double crosses and betrayal, called on the Lich King for assistance. For some brain rotted reason Arthas killed him and spared me. Now what sort of strategy is that kill your followers let those who want you dead alive. I think the cold and the brain rot is getting to him too. Though I should probably pay more heed to his parting words than to most of the ‘portents’ that get thrown at me
“As for you… I spare your insignificant life as a reward for this amusing betrayal. There may yet be a shred of potential in you. Be warned… When next we meet I shall require much more to justify your life. “
Anyway with only Stefan as a way to communicate with the world outside Zul’Drak I decided silence was better than letting any missive fall into the hands of the Ebon Watch.
