User:Joshmaul/Joshmaul the Warlock/The Corruptor Returned



By the time of the great Shattering, Joshmaul the Corruptor had been dead for three years, and those who had opposed him have felt an uneasy peace in the changing world. But with thousands dead on the fields of Northrend, the world was ripe for chaotic forces to take control. The world has begun its screams of pain, with earthquakes, storms and other elemental disasters.

The Gilnean warlock Kellen Maggard, Joshmaul's chosen agent for his resurrection, regained control over his cursed worgen form and escaped from his homeland as the Greymane Wall crumbled. Bringing the appropriate sacrifice to the Shadowfang Tower in Northrend, Maggard succeeded in resurrecting the Corruptor. But Maggard was not alone - he was accompanied by dark-robed figures bearing a great hammer as a sigil. Learning of events that had happened in his absence, the Corruptor rested and regained his strength, eventually regaining control over his mastery of the shadows, and even learning many new skills. To test his new powers, Joshmaul killed every single one of his resurrectors, including Maggard (or so he thought), before setting out for the Borean Tundra.

Joshmaul, his identity obscured by concealing robes, returned to the south, journeying via the zeppelin out of Warsong Hold back to Durotar. As he stepped out of the zeppelin tower after his arrival, the ground shook violently with the earth's throes of agony. Realizing that his return was most timely, the Corruptor began to laugh maniacally...

The Twilight's Hammer Falls Upon Azeroth
His face obscured by his horned helm, Joshmaul entered the city of Orgrimmar for the first time in many years, to find concerned citizens rising in droves, those who had not subscribed to the doomsday cult that had arisen in the wake of the constant earthquakes. Word of rogue elementals rising up at random had also plagued the landscape for several days, leaving the common people of Orgrimmar worried. In the Drag, a den of iniquity on even the best of days, doomsday cultists had arisen to preach the end of the world and offer "salvation" to any who would listen to them. Intrigued, and believing this to be a potential outlet for his rage against the world, Joshmaul decided to join the movement. He found his way to a great encampment on the outskirts of Orgrimmar, at the Jaggedswine Farm.

In a secluded clearing in the rocks that surrounded the farm, Joshmaul saw what he had gotten himself into. That was confirmed as the cultists surrounded him and began a great ritual - and before him appeared a terrifying image, one that compelled Joshmaul, who had never bowed to anyone willingly, to fall to his knees - the warped ogre-mage Cho'gall, master of Twilight's Hammer. The Corruptor suddenly realized who the strange cultists who had accompanied Maggard to Northrend had been...

Cho'gall, amused with the Corruptor's murder of the cultists in Northrend, offered Joshmaul a place in the new order that was coming. Not revealing too much of his plans, only that the world would be reshaped by fire, the former student of Gul'dan commanded Joshmaul to make his reappearance official - offering his "service" to the Horde once again. Completely floored by the power of the creature before him, Joshmaul's final grasp on sanity snapped, and he swore allegiance to the Twilight's Hammer, to obey Cho'gall's every command...

The Corruptor Revealed
Given a new feeling of energy, the Corruptor removed his concealing garments and marched openly through Orgrimmar, coming up to Grommash Hold. A small council was taking place, consisting of Vol'jin, Eitrigg and Thrall...and the soon-to-be Warchief of the Horde, Garrosh Hellscream. Garrosh had taken command of the situation in Orgrimmar while Thrall made preparations for his departure to Nagrand, and was largely unaware of Joshmaul's reputation as a murderer and traitor...but he did remember what Joshmaul had done for him in Outland, in one of the warlock's few acts of altruism. Smiling to himself, Joshmaul decided that this would be easier than he anticipated. With Thrall leaving for Outland, the major obstacle to his return to the world stage would soon be gone...

A Little Illicit Time Travel: Answering Some Questions
Despite the victory in Northrend, Joshmaul wanted to learn for himself exactly what happened. All he had heard was that the Lich King was dead, slain by the Ashbringer. But what of the prophecy that Uther had made in the Halls of Reflection, speaking to Sylvanas and Proudmoore - the prophecy that there had to be another to take up the crown of the Lich King? To find out, Joshmaul decided to engage in a little illicit time travel - something so small, it would escape the notice of the bronze dragonflight. Attiring himself in concealing robes and a cowled hat, Joshmaul used a bronze drake he had helped rescue in the Caverns of Time to teleport him three years into the past - to the great siege of Icecrown Citadel. Ironically, this coincided with the tauren Sunwalker Telek Eaglespear's vision quest - seeing the events through the eyes of Master Ketiron, who Joshmaul made great pains to avoid tipping off to his presence. (Telek would later recall a strange orc in the vision quest.)

The expedition under Tirion Fordring began in Light's Hammer and proceeded to tear apart the lower Citadel, destroying every Scourge construct they could find, before proceeding into the Upper Spire and doing the same there. Putricide's minions would fall, and then the Blood Princes - Keleseth, Valanar and Taldaram - and their queen Lana'thel. The expedition proceeded into the lair of Sindragosa, rescuing the green drake Valithria Dreamwalker from an ignominious end, and then bringing an end to Sindragosa, the long-dead consort of Malygos and queen of the Lich King's undead dragonflight, the Frostbrood.

Upon reaching the Frozen Throne, Joshmaul and his comrades entered a bloody skirmish with the Lich King and the powerful necromantic magic at his disposal. Late in the battle, Joshmaul found himself brought into the unholy "walls" of Frostmourne itself, to aid the spirit of King Terenas against his warden within the blade. Finally, the Lich King killed all of Fordring's "champions", and prepared to resurrect them as powerful agents of the Scourge. Just as he did, Fordring - who had spent much of the battle immobilized in a block of ice - broke free and leapt, shattering Frostmourne with one blow from Ashbringer. The angry spirits of the sword's victims, including that of King Terenas, were freed at last. Terenas resurrected the champions of the Light, who stood with the Argent Highlord as he struck the fatal blow, ending Arthas' reign as the Lich King. This is what Joshmaul had waited to see - what had happened afterwards.

As Tirion prepared to put the crown of the Lich King on his head and fulfill Uther's prophecy, a voice spoke from the Frozen Throne - the fire-warped form of Bolvar Fordragon, the former Highlord of Stormwind. Bolvar, long-believed dead by the world at large after the Wrathgate, told Tirion to place the crown of the Lich King on his head instead, which would make Bolvar the new Lich King, leaving him to pacify the Scourge. Tirion, reluctant at first, finally assented. Thus began the reign of Bolvar, the new Lich King of the Scourge. The army that followed Tirion into Icecrown Citadel were honored by the title of Kingslayer, though it was Tirion himself who struck the fatal blow. Thanks to his tampering with time, Joshmaul himself now carried that honor as well.

As he returned to the present, the Corruptor was astounded; all anyone knew was that Arthas was dead. He never knew what had truly happened - until now...