User:Joshmaul/Euphrati the Corrupted

"'Might want to watch out for this one. She's killed three men already. Quite accidentally, or so she says.'"
 * - Aedelas Blackmoore, to Artimus Devaneaux

Euphrati the Corrupted is a Forsaken rogue in the service of the Banshee Queen Sylvanas Windrunner. Resurrected by the House of Whitehair to act as a bodyguard, Euphrati was cast out of the House shortly before the Shattering by its overly-pious patriarch, Master Taeril'hane Ketiron. Returning to Lordaeron, Euphrati became the personal assassin of General Varan Metheius, commanding a small portion of Sylvanas' forces in the invasion of Gilneas.

Biography
Euphrati is the only child of Sekhesmet of Stratholme through his relationship with one of the ladies-in-waiting in the court of King Terenas, born in 577 (Stormwind calendar) at Sekhesmet's home in Stratholme's Elders' Square. Her father had been High Priest of Stratholme for three years by this point, and was still a very energetic and active man, though somewhat old (he was 45 when his daughter was born) to be a father. Sekhesmet, a very pious man, had wanted Euphrati to become a cleric, like him. But Euphrati trained almost exclusively in the use of the blade. Sekhesmet realized that he could not force her, and thus encouraged her to do what she was good at. By the age of sixteen, she travelled to Quel'Thalas often to train with the Ranger Corps. Though the elves were mistrustful of humans, a member of the Convocation of Silvermoon named Kel'theris Whitehair had become good friends with Sekhesmet, and spoke on her behalf.

Over the next several years, Euphrati gained a reputation for never being defeated, and often fought in tournaments put on by General Aedelas Blackmoore, the overseer of the orcish internment camps, who had established a dueling arena in the courtyard of his fortress of Durnholde - well enough away from the internment lodges in the lower courtyard. Blackmoore - in brief moments of sobriety - praised Euphrati on her skill and her lethality, possibly thinking of recruiting her into his plan to overthrow the Alliance. His intentions for her were unclear, but - because of what happened next - they are now open to speculation.

Shortly before Thrall escaped from Durnholde, Euphrati was travelling with Kel'theris and his son Ordevaas - one of Sekhesmet's apprentices - through the Thalassian Pass, heading back into Lordaeron on the way to Stratholme, when they were ambushed by angry humans who had been defeated by Euphrati in the dueling ring. One of them was Artimus Devaneaux, a nobleman from Lordaeron. Attacking from behind, Artimus - wearing a hooded cloak and mask - plunged his long dagger into Euphrati's heart, killing her instantly. Ordevaas - a seasoned fighter - killed several of Artimus' men and wounded the nobleman's right leg, leaving him with a limp that would plague him for the remainder of his life. However, the treacherous man managed to escape. Euphrati had only been thirty-two years old when she died.

Sekhesmet was horrified and grief-stricken when he received the news. Taking her body into the Tirisfal Glades, Sekhesmet and Kel'theris buried her in a quiet cemetery outside of the village of Brill, where she would spend her days in eternal repose - or so they thought.

Resurrection
Euphrati lay quietly in the graveyard in Brill for nearly a decade after her murder. She missed the "historical events" that happened during that period, most especially the Plague of Undeath that killed thousands in Lordaeron and resurrected them as part of the Scourge. Even her own father, by that time in his eighties, had succumbed to the Plague, and was risen from his grave. But Euphrati - despite not being a victim of the plague - would not be allowed to rest easily, either...

Lord Kel'theris, now known as Decibelius, had survived the destruction of Quel'Thalas at the hands of the Scourge and become one of the blood elves, and now sought to rebuild his power base. A mage of some repute, Kel'theris was also known in dealing on the side with rather...unsavory elements. Kel'theris intended to reorganize his inner circle by recruiting people who had been in it in the past. Deciding to resort to even darker magic than warlocks wielded, Kel'theris beseeched the Death Knight Settra, who had become one of the Forsaken, to take Euphrati's long-rotted corpse from her grave in Brill and resurrect her at the Shadow Grave, in the village now called Deathknell.

Settra agreed and - with utmost secrecy - travelled with Kel'theris to Deathknell with Euphrati's body, and descended deep into the Shadow Grave. Laying her on the floor of the crypt, Settra intoned a powerful spell of reanimation that would restore Euphrati's soul to her body, and bring her back to life to serve. Upon her resurrection, Euphrati was horrified and disgusted at what she had become, and angered at Kel'theris for resorting to such evil. Kel'theris calmly explained his reasoning, and managed to calm the agitated undead. As quickly as he was able, the blood elf lord brought her up to speed on what had happened - but made no reference to her father - and commanded that once she completed her training in Deathknell, Euphrati was to travel to Quel'Thalas via the orb of translocation in the Ruins of Lordaeron, which would send her to Silvermoon.

Father's Love
Upon hearing of what Kel'theris had done, Sekhesmet - now a shadow priest - was outraged, saying that Kel'theris had no right to end his beloved daughter's peaceful rest. The two clashed in a contest of arcane mastery, but Kel'theris was still too weak against the shadow priest's rage, and Sekhesmet easily defeated him; it was only the intervention of Ordevaas, whom Sekhesmet trusted with his life, that kept the priest from killing his erstwhile friend.

After defeating Kel'theris, Sekhesmet encountered his daughter while visiting Silvermoon. Despite the apathy felt by most members of the Forsaken when dealing with people from their former lives, Sekhesmet maintains the close bond with his daughter he had in life. With a new world and new enemies to combat, Sekhesmet vowed to watch out for his beloved child for as long as he was still moving...and as the Forsaken might say, eternity is a very long time.

Joining the Deathstalkers


Though she was serving in Quel'Thalas, Euphrati was approached by members of the Deathstalkers, the elite guard of the Dreadlord Varimathras. Mennet Carkad, one of its members in the Undercity Rogues' Quarter, instructed her to retrieve a letter of introduction from one Astor Hadren, who wandered the road between Lordaeron's ruins and the Sepulcher in Silverpine Forest. At the bridge north of the Sepulcher, Euphrati ambushed Astor and defeated him, taking the letter of introduction from his corpse. Upon returning to the Undercity, Mennet sent her to Andron Gant, to whom Astor was delivering the letter. Andron gave Euphrati a ledger from his bookshelf, which she brought back to Mennet immediately.

Upon perusal, Mennet saw that the ledger revealed information pertaining to the Syndicate, a band of rebels from the fallen Kingdom of Alterac who plagued travellers in the Alterac Mountains and parts of Hillsbrad and Arathi. Mennet ordered Euphrati to deliver the book to Varimathras himself, who rewarded Euphrati for her dilligence with a special blade.

Slaying a Deathlord
With the death of Dar'Khan Drathir at the hands of Euphrati's master, Kel'theris, the Scourge's main power base was broken. But months after Dar'Khan's death, an unusual elf arrived from Lordaeron. His name was Lor'revan Kethlir, the son of Anasterian's court chamberlain, and he was a member of the Council of Deathlords. Before his demise at the hands of Saavedro of Stratholme, Baron Rivendare - the head of the Council - had instructed Lor'revan to take over and place someone he could trust in command of Deatholme in the event of Dar'Khan's defeat. Before returning to Naxxramas to make the transition to Northrend, Lor'revan set his lieutenant, the necromancer Nelanith the Deranged, to replace Dar'Khan at the Tower of the Damned, naming him Deathlord of Quel'Thalas.

Nelanith had formerly been Kel'theris' chief advisor and had disappeared when Silvermoon fell. With his fate now clear, Euphrati met with Ordevaas, by now a powerful Blood Knight Master, at the Sanctum of the Sun. With his father down in Stranglethorn Vale, Ordevaas issued the order for Nelanith's execution, which was seconded by Magister Kaendris. Aided by one of Ordevaas' fellow Masters, Euphrati slew Nelanith and took his head back to Ordevaas as a trophy. Ordevaas and Kaendris awarded her with a Dawnblade dagger, a gift from Lord Efanis before the fall of Silvermoon - before Efanis cast his lot with Kael'thas so absolutely that he betrayed Quel'Thalas and all life.