User:Joshmaul/Zherron Shadowhowl/Beyond the Greymane Wall

This is a list of Zherron Shadowhowl's in-game activities after Gilneas.

The Hunt for Vincent Godfrey
His studies of his druidic powers and a task given to him by the Cenarion Circle in Moonglade would eventually bring him to Shadowfang Keep in Silverpine Forest. There, Zherron learned that Lord Vincent Godfrey, a nobleman who had turned on Greymane and committed suicide when his plan failed, had been resurrected by the Forsaken. But he had also turned on them, shooting and killing Sylvanas Windrunner, who was brought back by her val'kyr handmaidens. Godfrey and his lieutenants, Baron Ashbury and Lord Walden - both of whom had been killed by Zherron and his fellows during their attempted coup - had fled to the abandoned keep. Shadowfang, he learned, had been the home of the Gilnean mage and patriot Arugal, who had aided in bringing the worgen back into Azeroth from the Emerald Dream.

The Cenarion Circle had tasked Zherron with collecting materials to craft a staff fit for a druid of his power - deathless sinew from Godfrey's undead minions, moontouched wood scattered around the courtyard, and potions from Lord Walden's laboratory. To that end, Zherron journeyed back to Lordaeron and entered the keep to collect his materials and bring justice to Godfrey for his betrayal of Gilneas. At the same time, he encountered a Darkspear troll named Fer'jai, who was also a druid and on a similar mission from the Cenarion Circle; Fer'jai revealed that he had been conscripted by the Forsaken - as part of the spying duties he had been given by his employer, Master Taeril'hane Ketiron - to fight against the Gilneas Liberation Front, a duty he performed reluctantly. Despite his race, affiliation to the Horde and admitting to have attacked and killed some of his people, Zherron warmed to his brother druid, and fought at his side as they cleaned out the halls of Shadowfang, room by room - the Darkspear troll favoring his tiger-like form, while Zherron blasted away with the powers of the sun and the stars.

After braving the hardships of the cursed keep, they confronted the traitor in the room formerly occupied by Arugal within the ruined keep, and after a brief and bloody battle, destroyed him once and for all.

VanCleef's Revenge: The Return of the Defias
When he arrived in Westfall, shortly after the retreat from Gilneas, Zherron had been called to investigate a grisly murder scene on the road from Elwynn Forest. Theodore and Verna Furlbrow, and their horse Old Blanchy, had been brutally murdered. Stormwind investigators, led by Lieutenant Horatio Laine, were sent to find out who was responsible; what made things worse is that Westfall was practically lawless, with transients rising up everywhere. Deciding to use a little intimidation - he was a worgen, intimidation came naturally - Zherron learned that rich-looking humans had been responsible for the Furlbrow murders, and found clues that the Furlbrows had received death threats. His path took him to the Saldean farmhouse, which had become a haven of sorts, with Farmer Saldean and his wife Salma cooking Westfall stew for those who needed it.

Salma Saldean decided to help the people out further and sent Zherron with a pot of stew to her adopted daughter Hope at Sentinel Hill, to feed the transients outside the town's newly-built walls. He was also put to work by Marshal Gryan Stoutmantle, returned from Northrend after the fall of the Lich King, to help fight off gnoll attackers and discover who was responsible for their recent uprisings. As he investigated, Zherron noticed a strange female figure, almost like a shadow given full form. The trail finally brought him to Moonbrook, home of the Deadmines that had been the hideout of the Defias Brotherhood. Consulting the draenei shaman Thoralius the Wise, Zherron undertook a vision quest to five years earlier, where he saw the Defias leader, Edwin VanCleef, fighting the forces of the Alliance come to slay him. After VanCleef lay dead, a little girl stepped out from the wheelhouse of the massive warship that VanCleef had ordered built as his weapon against Stormwind. Before the vision faded, the druid heard the girl speak a single word: "Daddy". VanCleef, unbeknownst to anyone, had a daughter...

Returning to Sentinel Hill, Zherron reported this finding to Marshal Stoutmantle, only to find that a well-equipped army of rogues and assassins had suddenly appeared. Stepping out from the tower, Hope Saldean revealed her true name: Vanessa VanCleef. For the last five years, she had worked towards taking revenge on Stormwind. Deciding to spare Zherron for his unwitting aid to her cause, Vanessa ordered her followers to burn Sentinel Hill to the ground. Realizing the situation was dire, Marshal Stoutmantle ordered Zherron to flee by gryphon to Stormwind, to report the situation to King Varian himself.

Returning to the Deadmines on King Varian's command, Zherron and a team of Alliance troops penetrated the labyrinth and made their way aboard Edwin VanCleef's juggernaught, now equipped with large cannons. Takign these cannons and turning them on the Defias troops, they made their way up to the wheelhouse where VanCleef had met his end, hoping to find Vanessa. Instead, they found first the worgen Admiral Ripsnarl - known as James Harrington before he took his worgen name, he had joined the Defias after the flight from Gilneas - and the murloc Cookie, now styled "Captain" Cookie and believed to be the decoy Kingpin. With the Admiral and Cookie dead, the ship was in their grasp...but of Vanessa, there was no sign.

There's No Place Like Home...Except Maybe Duskwood
After finishing his business in Westfall, Zherron travelled southeast into the murky forests of Duskwood, a place that reminded Zherron very strongly of Gilneas. Arriving in the town of Darkshire, Zherron was deputized by the Night Watch, the Duskwood militia. Subject to the orders of Althea Ebonlocke, daughter of Lord Mayor Ello Ebonlocke and commander of the Night Watch, Zherron went into the woods, hunting down undead monstrosities and corrupted beasts...as well as feral, mindless worgen that had plagued the region for years.

At the ruined tower at Beggar's Haunt, he met an alchemist named Abercrombie, a kindly old man with a dark secret. Five years earlier, Saavedro of Stratholme - still new to his duties as a paladin - had been duped by this man, known as the Embalmer, into providing very powerful reagents to build a monster that would terrorize Darkshire. Though the creature was destroyed before it threatened the town, Abercrombie himself remained at large. Zherron, as a newcomer to Duskwood, was oblivious to his true identity, and willingly provided the same materials - a spool of ghost hair, zombie juice brewed from rot blossoms, ghoul ribs, and a crate of dead things retrieved from ogres - to someone he assumed was just an eccentric old hermit. Upon bringing a letter to Lord Ebonlocke, however, Zherron flew into a rage as he realized he had been duped - and the Embalmer was on his way, riding on the shoulder of the reconstructed abomination known as "Stitches".

Aided by Darkshire's town guards, Zherron and a handful of others faced the abomination in combat and destroyed it. Knocked to the ground by the force of the attacks, the Embalmer was crushed beneath the grotesque mound of fat and sinew, ending his threat to Darkshire once and for all.

The Brothers Mistmantle


After destroying the Embalmer and his creation, Zherron journeyed to a house on the eastern edge of Darkshire, where he met with a fellow survivor from Gilneas named Tobias Mistmantle. Formerly one of Lord Crowley's lieutenants in the Northgate rebellion, Tobias had come to Darkshire in search of his brother Stalvan, a schoolteacher who had journeyed out from Gilneas many years before. While teaching in the Stormwind area, he became infatuated with one of his students, Tilloa, who - despite her flirtatious manner with him - eventually spurned him for another man, calling him "a nice old man". Enraged, Stalvan took an axe and killed Tilloa, her suitor and likely her entire family. Living alone in his madness in a house outside Darkshire, his body rotted along with his mind and he became a hellion who terrorized Darkshire, until he was defeated by forces of the Alliance.

Tobias, as soon as he managed to escape Gilneas with his King and comrades, travelled at once to Duskwood to discover the truth, and found the townsfolk reluctant to speak of Stalvan. Zherron, his curiosity piqued as well, entered the town hall and asked Clerk Daltry for records pertaining to Stalvan, only to learn that the feral worgen of Duskwood had raided Darkshire's town hall, shredding precious records and carrying more into the woods. Deciding to take a gamble, Zherron journeyed into the woods, fighting the ferals as he went (tasked by emissaries of Master Jonathan Carevin, who resided in the largest house in Darkshire, to stem the tide of worgen threatening Darkshire), to retrieve the pages of information pertaining to Stalvan - some faded away, some covered in mud...and some even spattered with blood. It was Stalvan's personal journal, and it told the story of his love for Tilloa and the rage he felt at being spurned. With the completed journal in hand, Zherron returned it to Tobias, who - horrified to discover his brother's actions - gave his ring to Zherron to deliver to Madame Eva and discover the truth.

Eva instructed Zherron to take the ring to Manor Mistmantle and invoke the power within to summon Stalvan. Confronting the undead wretch that had once been his brother, Tobias demanded to know why Stalvan had chosen this path. Seeking to anger his brother and cause him to give in to the mindlessness, Stalvan taunted his brother and sure enough Tobias went into a killing rage, taking his worgen form and charging into Stalvan. Zherron, offering support with his magic, did likewise, until once again Stalvan was left broken on the floor...

Legacy of the Hakkari: Venturing into Zul'Gurub
After leaving Duskwood, Zherron ventured into the northern jungles of Stranglethorn Vale to battle the forces of Colonel Kurzen. The Colonel himself was long dead, killed by his own men, but his troops still haunted the north jungles, and the rebel camp near the Duskwood border continued to fight off their threat. While in Kurzen's encampment, Zherron discovered a raptor hatchling that followed him intently through the jungles. Intrigued, the druid brought it back to the rebel camp and began to look to its care.

While exploring troll ruins southwest of the camp, the raptor hatchling picked up a large troll skull, and Zherron was tasked with finding a way of reanimating the essence within by providing a host body. This proved to be a dreadful mistake: The skull belonged to Bloodlord Mandokir, a powerful servant of Hakkar the Soulflayer who had been killed in Zul'Gurub several years before. With physical form again, Mandokir cornered the encampment and demanded the raptor hatchling, which was called Ohgan'aka - daughter of Ohgan, Mandokir's raptor friend, who had carried him into battle when he was slain. After Mandokir retreated into Zul'Gurub, Zherron travelled to Fort Livingston, near the great Sundering that split Stranglethorn Vale in half, where a draenei priestess conducted a ritual to let him see through the raptor's eyes...and eventually take control of it to bring it out of Zul'Gurub.

Though it seemed the plan would be successful, Zherron (controlling Ohgan'aka) was caught at the gates by the spirit of Jin'do the Hexxer, overseeing operations in the once-abandoned city. Though the spell was broken, Zherron learned that the Hexxer planned on resurrecting the slain high priests - Jeklik, Venoxis, Mar'li, Thekal and Arlokk - in a crazed bid to bring back Hakkar, who had been destroyed with the aid of the Zandalar trolls. Grimly determined to prevent that from happening, Zherron ventured into Zul'Gurub and put a damper on that plan by destroying the body of High Priestess Jeklik and seriously damaging the body of High Priest Venoxis, escaping via an airship from the Explorers' League encampment in the Cape of Stranglethorn before Jin'do unleashed his fury.

Return to Lordaeron: The Healing of the Plaguelands
After venturing through the jungles of Stranglethorn, Zherron was recalled to Stormwind by Ambassador Jaeden'laek for a task that appealed to the roles of both the shaman and the druid. In the wake of the Lich King's death in Northrend, the Scourge had been all but wiped out in the Western Plaguelands, only a few scattered pockets loyal to their dead master remaining intact. The land was beginning to heal at last, and Jaeden'laek requested that Zherron journey to the Western Plaguelands to assist the Argent Crusade and the Cenarion Circle in their efforts to rebuild the shattered lands. Believing that gaining a foothold there would eventually aid in the retaking of Gilneas, Zherron agreed and immediately set out for Lordaeron.

Zherron aided in the formation of a company of minutemen, made up of human farmers from Stormwind who had come to resettle the land. With the men assembled, Zherron reported to the death knight Thassarian, commander of Alliance forces, in Andorhal - the central city of the region, divided between the Alliance and the Forsaken. He led his troops to battle against the Scourge remnant and later against the Forsaken forces, earning early victories for the Alliance. That changed with the introduction of Sylvanas' secret weapon, the val'kyr, which would turn all the living soldiers who fell in battle into new Forsaken to carry on the fight. It was here that Zherron confronted the goblin assassin Kitrik, who had been employed by Sylvanas to fight for her forces in Lordaeron. After the Forsaken overran the Alliance forces, Zherron fled east across the Thondroril, where he encountered the caravan of the Gilnean trader Fiona, a worgen like himself. There he met Caro'thel Vendross, a Highborne mage who had accompanied his people to Darnassus and provided their service to their mistrusting kinsmen. Though Vendross had also fought in the battle for Andorhal, the two had not met until now.

Travelling in Fiona's caravan, Zherron was sent to meet with the night elf druid Rayne, a member of the Cenarion Circle, who was attempting to cleanse the Fungal Vale of its corruption - first by bringing down the plague disseminators that floated above, and then by planting lifegiving seeds in the ziggurats on the hills. Zherron hoped that these efforts would be the first step to restoring the Eastern Plaguelands to the same degree as the west...

In Vordrassil's Shadow: A Hopeful Search of the Grizzly Hills
After journeying through Outland in search of greater understanding of the Balance, Zherron journeyed to the harsh, cold lands of Northrend to assist Alliance forces in dealing with what threats remained after the death of the Lich King. But for Zherron, there was another reason he wandered into the frozen wastes...

The Packleader had learned from Field Marshal Tanis, a veteran of the war against the Lich King, of the existence of worgen in the Grizzly Hills. They had been human trappers who had lived in Silverbrook and Solstice Village, corrupted by a strange "Wolfcult" that had arisen, offering an alternative service to the Lich King instead of undeath: The wolf-curse. The Wolfcult and most of the corrupted villagers had been purged by soldiers of the Alliance, including Saavedro of Stratholme and then-Colonel Tanis, but a select few had managed to survive, finding "shelter" in Solstice Village. It turned out that the Wolfcult had been the masterwork of the Gilnean sorcerer Arugal, who had been raised in undeath by the Lich King to add the worgen to his growing army.

Though there were many worgen from Gilneas, the hope of finding lost brothers was one that Zherron believed possible. Speaking with King Greymane before his departure, Zherron promised to send word back of his findings. With that settled, he set out for the Grizzly Hills - careful to maintain his human form, as he did not wish to be mistaken for an enemy by the Alliance troops remaining in the frozen north - and entered Solstice Village. Though the trappers were all in human form themselves, carrying out their usual tasks, Zherron realized his error when they attacked him without warning or provocation...and he was forced to kill them in order to escape, taking his crow form and flying away from Solstice Village. Landing in the wildflower fields near the Westfall Brigade Encampment, he settled there for the night before flying to Amberpine Lodge to the west, and sending the message back to Greymane...there would be no hope for bringing the Northrend worgen into the fold.

In Nordrassil's Shadow: Restoring Nature's Balance on Mount Hyjal
Departing Northrend, Zherron rejoined warriors from the Shadowhowl pack in the Moonglade, where they journeyed up the slopes of Mount Hyjal to the World Tree Nordrassil. Zherron met with the Farseer Jaeden'laek and Master Taeril'hane Ketiron, who were also fighting in Hyjal against the Twilight's Hammer and their elemental masters. Together, they journeyed to the Shrine of Goldrinn, the wolf Ancient and patron of the Druids of the Scythe - who became the original worgen. There, he discovered that the shrine was held by Lycanthoth, a corrupt mirror of the Great Wolf created by the Old Gods. Some of his brethren from Gilneas who had fallen under the creature's spell. Zherron flew into a rage, lashing out with the powers of nature at his command to destroy the defilers of a site that worgen considered holy. With Jaeden'laek's aid, he then proceeded to destroy Lycanthoth and free Goldrinn.

After witnessing the resurrection of Aviana, Zherron journeyed to a region in the west known as "the Inferno", where the Twilight agents and the fire elementals laid waste to the land. Finding living seeds growing still within the place, and rescuing animals from the flames, Zherron was dispatched for one final task by Ysera, Aspect of the green dragonflight and benefactor of all druids - to obtain the Heart of the Forest from the ancient of lore Nordu before he was burnt to a cinder by the elementals. Though gravely wounded, the great treant gave what was demanded of him. Combined with the recovered life, Zherron hoped that these would be enough to restore the Balance on the besieged mountain.

With the Heart in his possession, he returned to Hamuul Runetotem, Archdruid of Thunder Bluff. As the Archdruid performed the ceremony to bring life back to the Inferno, Zherron found himself pulled into the air above the moonwell in the Grove of Aessina, and found himself face to face with the nature spirit herself, who charged him with the defense of the life that had been restored to the mountain. The Inferno and the Flamewake were gone, and in their place was a great regrowth. The duty had been fulfilled - the Balance had been restored.

The Restoration of the World Pillar
After securing Mount Hyjal, Zherron journeyed via the Maelstrom to the elemental realm of Deepholm, where he met up with Baron Devaneaux and Master Ketiron. Devaneaux, having fought against the faceless and their naga allies in Vashj'ir, had learned from the Earthen Ring that a great rift had been opened between the plane of earth and the world of Azeroth when Deathwing emerged from his long absence, and if it were not repaired the world itself would be lost forever. A great Titan-made stone known as the World Pillar had been shattered by Deathwing's departure, and if it was not restored, Deepholm and Azeroth would collide, making what had happened so far seem tame by comparison. After some investigation, Devaneaux and Ketiron were able to locate the first two shards of the Pillar - one held by the Stonemantle earthen, the other captured from the Horde gunship Storm's Fury by the Twilight's Hammer. The third, Zherron volunteered to go for himself, as it was held by the elemental lord of the earth, Therazane.

The Stonemother was less than enthusiastic about mortals running around in her realm, but when it became clear that Zherron and the Earthen Ring were opposed to Deathwing's minions, she agreed to aid them - provided they departed Deepholm forever once they restored the World Pillar. Over time, however, she began to see the value that Zherron and Ketiron, particularly, had to her and her minions, and would allow them to travel freely. In time, the Packleader and the Master joined the armies of Therazane against High Priestess Lorthuna's Twilight cultists, and earned the right to claim the last piece of the World Pillar.

Returning to the Temple of Earth in the center of Deepholm, Maruut Stonebinder began the ritual to reforge the World Pillar. As the ceremony went on, the Twilight cultists, led by Lorthuna - who had fled Therazane's wrath after her forces were destroyed on the Twilight Precipice - assaulted the Temple. Zherron hunted down the lunatic High Priestess himself, cornering her with the aid of the Stonemother and destroying her once and for all. With Lorthuna dead, the Twilight attack fizzled out, and the World Pillar restored. With their end of the bargain held up, the Earthen Ring began preparing to leave Deepholm as Therazane commanded - but the Stonemother granted an allowance for both Zherron and Ketiron, who had proven that they genuinely wished to aid in the restoration of Deepholm. Perhaps, Therazane told them, if they continued to aid her, she might find some way to aid them as well...

Crisis on Mount Hyjal: The Firelord Returns
After serving for a period in the Twilight Highlands, battling the forces of the Hammer there, Zherron was recalled to Mount Hyjal by order of the Cenarion Circle. The Circle had decided to unite with the Earthen Ring to restore the powers of the World Tree Nordrassil. The ritual would be aided by the four remaining Aspects - Alexstrasza the Dragonqueen leading the red dragonflight, Ysera the Dreamer leading the green, Nozdormu the Timeless (who had at last returned) leading the bronze, and Kalecgos leading the blue in place of Malygos the Spellweaver, slain in Northrend - and by the most powerful druids and shaman on Azeroth. The druids were Malfurion Stormrage and Hamuul Runetotem, and the shaman were none other than Thrall, son of Durotan - the former Warchief of the Horde - and his mate Aggralan of the Frostwolf clan.

Just as they were to begin, mysterious strangers cloaked in concealing robes arrived to disrupt the ceremony. Unleashing powerful magic against the "World-Shaman", the leader of the band splintered Thrall's soul into the separate elements of earth, fire, air and water, scattering him across the Elemental Plane. As Malfurion reacted in outrage toward the strangers, the leader of the group revealed his identity as Fandral Staghelm, the former Archdruid of Darnassus, who had been imprisoned in the Emerald Dream. Zherron, who had aided the green dragon Alysra in what he thought was a move to the barrow dens in Moonglade, was horrified to realize that the green dragon had in fact delivered Staghelm to Ragnaros. What's more, he was corrupting other druids to follow him, becoming the "Druids of the Flame" - scions of the Firelord. Moving quickly at Ysera's command, Zherron and a group of others slew Alysra, but Zherron's druidic senses warned him that it would not be the last they would see of her...

The Soul of the Son of Durotan
With both Alliance and Horde temporarily united to save the former Warchief, Zherron listened as Aggra instructed him to journey south, to the desert oases of Uldum. Zherron knew from his explorations there that with the sundering of the elemental planes, Uldum was the gateway into Skywall, the realm of Al'Akir. It was there at the first element of Thrall's soul would be found - his sense of doubt, embodied by the Spirit of Air. As he aided the combined forces in destroying the elementals, Zherron heard the anguished revelations of Thrall's soul - how he doubted the choice of Garrosh as Warchief, how he had failed the Earthen Ring, and how he was unworthy of the woman who loved him. In time, they were able to save the former Warchief, but the curse manifested itself by taking him away - this time, to the Abyssal Maw, the gateway to the realm of Neptulon, deep within the underwater lands of Vashj'ir.

In Vashj'ir, the same cycle played out, only this time the former Warchief's utmost desires were revealed, embodied by the Spirit of Water - his desire for peace with the Alliance, as shown by his submitting before King Varian; Aggra, the one true love of his life; and the desire to be a father. His longing began to draw in Aggra as well, but quick thinking managed to save her before Thrall shifted once more - this time, into the realm of Therazane, the great caverns of Deepholm.

In Deepholm, the only words Thrall spoke were "We are patient" - Aggra believed that this symbolized his stubborn resolve, embodied by the Spirit of Earth. Once more, the elementals' destruction freed this "aspect" of Thrall. Just as he began to regain himself, he shifted once more. This would be the most difficult task - for the Spirit of Fire, more often than not, represented anger. With Aggra's aid, Zherron entered deep into the Firelands, where four guardian totems were set up and elementals swarming in all directions. As the totems were re-energized, Thrall screamed out his innermost rage - against Gul'dan for murdering his parents, against the human lord Aedelas Blackmoore for enslaving him, against King Varian for seeking war against the Horde, and against Garrosh for killing Cairne Bloodhoof.

After what seemed an eternity, the curse was at last broken - Thrall was restored to himself. He spoke briefly with the Packleader before returning to Hyjal; Zherron's benefactor, the draenei shaman Jaeden'laek, had spoken of Thrall and believed his cause to be just. Now, having seen the innermost workings of the orc's soul, Zherron was inclined to agree. Returning to Nordrassil, Zherron and a large crowd of others witnessed Thrall and Aggra make their marital vows, pledging to be life-mates.