User:Joshmaul/Taeril'hane Ketiron/Following Saavedro's Example



With Saavedro of Stratholme now out of the battle thanks to Lady Deathwhisper, Taeril'hane Ketiron has taken his place in the final battle against the Lich King, to fulfill the promise of vengeance for the dead of Quel'Thalas, of Lordaeron, and of all who have fallen to the Scourge in its short but unforgettable existence.

Continuing Through the Lower Spire
With Lord Marrowgar destroyed, the way to the other chambers of the lower Spire were now open. Originally, Saavedro's involvement would have resulted in his being onboard the Skybreaker, the Alliance gunship, during the ascent to the Deathbringer's Rise. However, the Alliance carried on without him, seeking to beat the Horde to the finish. Upon his late arrival, Ketiron was informed that Varok Saurfang, a warrior renowned and respected by both sides, was in the Citadel, leading Thrall's armies against the Lich King.

Avenging the Crippling Blow: The Fall of Deathwhisper
Ketiron began by teleporting into the Oratory of the Damned, the main chambers of Lady Deathwhisper. Though originally instructed by Saavedro to carry on his healing duties, Ketiron was called by the party leader to take up his sword and bring retribution to the lich. During his own battle days before, Saavedro had been so badly maimed by Deathwhisper and her acolytes that he was considered "permanently retired" from the battle, which resulted in Ketiron taking his place. Nonetheless, the battle that Saavedro and his Alliance allies had brought to her had weakened the cultist overseer...just as the Horde arrived to finish the job.

Sword in hand, Ketiron let loose the holy fury that fuelled a Blood Knight Master, destroying Deathwhisper's adherents and fanatics alongside his comrades, and ensuring they stayed down when Deathwhisper mutated or resurrected them. The lich devoted her remaining magical energy to maintaining a mana shield, but once the mana was drained, the shield fell...leaving her ripe for the slaying by the Horde. With Deathwhisper's destruction, the platform on which she had been standing became an elevator, which Ketiron and his allies stepped onto to take them up to the Rampart of Skulls, where a battle had broken out between the Alliance and the Horde.

The Battle Takes to the Sky


The Skybreaker, under Muradin Bronzebeard's command, had already taken to the skies when the Horde arrived. Coming to the aid of the warriors of Orgrim's Hammer, the Horde's answer to the Alliance's flying battleship, Ketiron and his comrades fought through the Alliance guards and the occasional frostwyrm lured by the sounds of battle to board the behemoth, where High Overlord Saurfang was in command. Having learned engineering from Saavedro upon being inspired by the abilities of Kellik, the goblin demolitionist who worked for the House of Whitehair, Ketiron learned the workings of the crude but effective rocket pack that would propel its wearer to wherever they needed to go. Presumably, Ketiron assumed, it would be from the ship to the citadel ramparts. But the coming of the Alliance gunship dispelled that thought in an instant...

The cannons of Orgrim's Hammer opened fire, causing severe damage to the Skybreaker's hull. Muradin recognized this and dispatched mages to freeze them in place. Ketiron, providing healing for some of the warriors facing the enemy, blasted across the deck, avoiding Muradin's fierce attacks, but doing his duty nevertheless. With the quick action of the Horde forces, the Skybreaker - on fire from several blasts in its hull - withdrew, leaving Orgrim's Hammer in command of the field. Ketiron later stated that this battle was probably the most incredible experience he'd ever had during the battle for Icecrown, blasting across to an enemy vessel, a broad gap in between that left the possibility of a long fall and a rather messy death....

The Heart of Draenor is Silenced


Orgrim's Hammer docked without further incident on the Deathbringer's Rise. Before them was a sealed door, and beyond lay the chambers of the upper Citadel...and eventually the way to the Lich King himself.

High Overlord Saurfang led the way forward to enter the Citadel, but was stopped short by the arrival of a deathly-pale orc in black plate armor. To his horror, Ketiron recognized the orc as Saurfang the Younger, who had commanded the Kor'kron Vanguard at Angrathar the Wrathgate during the disaster months earlier. He had become the Lich King's most fearsome death knight, known to all as the "Deathbringer". While the young one spoke of the power of the Lich King and invited his father and his comrades to join with the Scourge, Ketiron listened with growing admiration as the elder Saurfang refused to take the bait, instead speaking about his son: how he had called him "Dranosh", or "Heart of Draenor" in orcish, and how he had promised his late wife that he would keep their son safe and untainted. In response, the Deathbringer enveloped the High Overlord and his Kor'kron guards in darkness...and turned his attention now to the warriors sent to destroy him.

Ketiron, at first, was asked to bring up his sword, but as things proved more difficult than anticipated, the Blood Knight Master took up his holy mace and shield once more. Upon being afflicted by the Mark of the Fallen Champion, which caused drastic damage, Ketiron became a beacon of Light, the healing he gave his comrades also keeping himself alive, preventing the powerful curse from destroying him. The others busied themselves with fending off the strange "bloodbeasts", reminiscent of the creatures that inhabited the upper reaches of Karazhan, until finally, Dranosh Saurfang was dead...this time, permanently.

As Varok Saurfang grieved over the body of his only son, the Kor'kron siege engineers prepared to breach the upper citadel. All present recognized that they had won a great victory here...but as he left a grieving father to claim the body of his son, Ketiron was forced to wonder about the cost.

Secrets of the Plagueworks


Weeks after their victory, Ketiron and his comrades, revitalized by their common goals, returned to the Citadel and moved into the upper Spire. The air was patrolled by the dread val'kyr, the Lich King's angels of death, who harassed the warriors as they made their way towards their first objective: The Plagueworks, the vile factories that created new diseases and new monstrosities to spread them. Making their way through the deadly steam vents, they entered the vile laboratory and fought off the scientists and abominations that barred their way - including two huge plague-dogs that reminded Ketiron of Gluth in Naxxramas. Upon slaying both beasts, he heard cries of anguish and rage from two nearby rooms.

Upon investigating one of those rooms, Ketiron recoiled in horror as he saw the creature within, a massive abomination that was warped and twisted by the foul experiments of the Scourge. Known as Festergut, the foul creature lived on the putrid blight-gases released by a strange scientist called Professor Putricide. Together with his comrades, Ketiron prayed to the Light to guide his hand and preserve the lives of his comrades. After becoming inured to the plagues being thrown at them by Putricide and from the abomination they fought, the warriors perservered until the bloated monster fell broken to the ground. In the next room was Festergut's twisted "brother", Rotface, who unleashed sprays of slime, forcing Ketiron to be nimble on his feet to avoid it. With both dead, the main chambers opened to Putricide's laboratory.

Avoiding the malleable goo and choking gas bombs of the Professor, Ketiron watched in fascinated horror as Putricide mutated from his own diseases, until he became the size of a wight and continued flooding the room with slime. Finally, with the perserverence and skill expected of them, Ketiron and his comrades succeeded in vanquishing the vile Professor.

Ghosts of Quel'Thalas: Fighting in the Crimson Halls


Upon his return from Dalaran, Ketiron entered the next wing of the Citadel. This time, the Scourge forces here were undead blood elves, accompanied by lich advisors. These were the San'layn, the darkfallen legion of the Lich King, raised from the corpses of Kael'thas' troops following the abortive siege of Icecrown Citadel. Ketiron realized to his horror that some of the darkfallen troops were former Whitehair House Guards, both those who had fallen at Silvermoon and those who had remained with Kael'thas when the Prince joined Illidan. As he entered the main chamber, Ketiron and his party encountered a figure he recognized all too well - Kaleris Skyfire, who had been captain of the House Guard when Silvermoon fell, and was believed dead afterwards; in fact, Ketiron had been named to succeed her.

After slaying Skyfire and the reanimated House Guards, taking both the captain's gold Whitehair insignia and the silver ones of the rank-and-file troops, Ketiron entered the main chamber to find a strange creature who resembled an elf, but had huge wings protruding from her back. In life, she had been Lana'thel, wielder of the Sister Blade, Quel'Delar. In death, she was the Blood Queen of the San'layn, raised as one of the Lich King's most powerful servants. Lying on the floor below her hovering form were three blood princes, all of whom killed by either Saavedro, Ordevaas, or both at some point in the recent past - Keleseth, Valanar, and Taldaram. With the power of an artifact called the Darkfallen Orb, Lana'thel resurrected the three princes, one of which - Valanar, at first - was empowered by the invocation of blood conjured by the Orb. The three princes were linked by whoever was empowered by the Orb; if the empowered prince fell, the others would follow in short order.

Avoiding kinetic bombs, empowered fireballs and shadow lances conjured by the three princes, Ketiron's mastery of the Light was enough to keep his comrades alive throughout the ordeal. The empowered prince at the end - Keleseth - at last fell, and with him, Valanar and Taldaram, their bodies drained of the energies of the orb. Continuing through the halls to an upper chamber, they confronted Lana'thel herself - and her vampiric energies and destructive shadow magic caused many problems for the Master and his comrades. In the end, however, Lana'thel proved unable to resist the onslaught - and Quel'Thalas' former champions could now rest easy.

Into the Lair of the Frost Queen


After recuperating, Ketiron rejoined the war party and battled against the val'kyr known as Sister Svalna, who blocked the way to the Frostwing Halls. Aided by Crok Scourgebane of the Ebon Blade and several members of the Argent Crusade, whom Ketiron (along with Saavedro) had aided in Zul'Drak during the war against Drakuru, they battled through the ymirjar minions who blocked their way, the Argent champions falling one by one to Svalna's attacks. Hoping to attack before she summoned reinforcements, she revealed that the Argent captains who had aided them were her reinforcements...and she raised them in the service of the Lich King. Ketiron was brutally impaled by a hurled spear, with only his iron will and the skills of the druid healer Nihlo saving his life. In the end, the val'kyr fell, revealing the first chamber. Inside, a green dragon called Valithria Dreamwalker lay imprisoned, surrounded by five liches - resurrected Kirin Tor archmagi.

Here, Master Truthel - who had led the way with sword and shield, and now called upon his mastery of the Light - joined with Ketiron and others of the healing art to restore the green dragon to full strength, all the while dealing with the minions of the Scourge attempting to destroy her. If they could save her, they would gain a powerful ally in the battle against the remainder of the Scourge in Icecrown. After a grueling battle against powerful Scourge minions, the Dreamwalker was saved. Calling upon the powers of nature, Valithria obliterated the remaining undead who barred their path. With the green dragon restored, the time had come to destroy the Frost Queen, Sindragosa.

Once the prime consort of Malygos in ancient times, Sindragosa had been raised by the Lich King as matriarch of the Frostbrood wyrms. All of the frost wyrms of the Scourge, even the mighty Sapphiron, were considered subservient to her - and thus it was appropriate that she would be the last obstacle before the Frozen Throne.

Ketiron had seen Sindragosa only once before, just before she proceeded to wipe out the slave army raised in the Pit of Saron, and only quick intervention by Sylvanas had prevented him from falling along with them. Now that she was in the Citadel, he had no doubt that the Lich King would be augmenting Sindragosa's power, making her far more lethal than she had been before. Steeling his nerves, the Master approached the Frost Queen's lair, on a platform below the Spire Chamber. Blocking the way to the door leading out were dozens of ymirjar and their vargul minions, as well as undead nerubians attempting to block their way to the Frost Queen's lair. With contempt, the warriors destroyed this obstacle, and stepped onto the exterior platform where Sindragosa nested.

Sindragosa's two lieutenants, Spinestalker and Rimefang, stood vigil on the platform. Spinestalker was the first to fall, followed by the former steed of the late Scourgelord Tyrannus from the Pit of Saron, who escaped after Tyrannus' death. Once Rimefang fell, Sindragosa herself flew in, unleashing the deathly powers of the Scourge combined with the ancient magic of the blue dragonflight, freezing the unfortunate in icy tombs that their comrades broke open to release them.

Though Ketiron fell early in the battle, the warriors were nonetheless successful - despite being consumed by a berserker rage that cost an appalling number of lives, the Frost Queen fell.

The way to the Lich King was open...

Before the Throne of Death: The Final Battle With the Lich King


Returning to the main antechamber of the Citadel to rest and refit, Ketiron and his party teleported back into the Upper Spire, where a great rune - dormant until now - glowed in the chamber at the center. Stepping on it, the champions were teleported to Icecrown's summit, where they found themselves standing before the Frozen Throne. For the first time since escaping the Halls of Reflection with Lady Sylvanas, Ketiron laid eyes on the monster that had desecrated his beloved Quel'Thalas...

Seated upon the Frozen Throne, Frostmourne as ever at his side, the Lich King glared down upon the champions that had come to defeat him. Suspended above the Throne, limbs stretched by frost-rusted chains, was the horribly burnt figure that Ketiron recognized from the visions he had seen during the battle against Yogg-Saron - Highlord Bolvar Fordragon. Standing before the Lich King, Ketiron brazenly issued a challenge from the House of Whitehair, declaring that his reign would soon be at an end. With that done, he rejoined his comrades on the platform below.

Giving the signal to Highlord Fordring, who stood at the center of the platform before the Throne, the battle began. Arthas taunted Fordring, asking if he should lay down Frostmourne and submit to "the Light's vaunted justice", as he referred to his opponents. Fordring was less than surprised when Arthas refused, and gave the order to attack. But before anyone could move, the Lich King encased Fordring in a block of ice, leaving him to watch as the master of the Scourge dealt with the champions of justice that had come before him.

The battle against the Lich King would prove to be the culmination of Taeril'hane Ketiron's war, as the Dark Lord unleashed the horrific powers at his disposal. His mastery of the undead was beyond anything that even the most powerful Ebon Knights could muster, and his plague could consume a man in moments. But the champions of the Light held firm, cleansing the disease and destroying these weak minions. As they began to gain the upper hand, the Lich King unleashed a massive torrent of frost that expanded the frozen platform, unleashing great bolts of pain and suffering against them, and ripping the raging spirits of the party from their bodies. After surviving this torrent of power, the platform began to collapse, and Ketiron and his allies hurriedly moved to the center to continue the battle. Next came the val'kyr, the Lich King's harbingers, who tried to carry champions over the edge and drop them to their deaths many hundreds of feet below; the Dark Lord also defiled the very ground they stood upon as well.

As the Lich King's grip began to weaken, he unleashed vile spirits and trapped the souls of champions within the metal prison of Frostmourne, to either escape or die in agony. Just as it seemed the champions had the upper hand, the Lich King unleashed the fury of Frostmourne, killing Ketiron and everyone on the platform. Seeing that the champions Fordring had rallied from both Alliance and Horde were the greatest the world had to offer, the Lich King prepared to raise them as agents of the Scourge. But Fordring was not yet done. Calling upon the Light, he broke from the block of ice he had been immobilized in, leapt at his enemy, and with a single swing from the Ashbringer completely shattered Frostmourne. Disarmed, the Lich King was suddenly swarmed by the spirits claimed by his evil, and confronted by the spirit of King Terenas. Using the power of the Light, the ghostly King restored the champions to life, where they witnessed Tirion strike the fatal blow.

Powerless and broken, the Lich King fell to the floor, his crown rolling from his head. Ketiron, weak from his abrupt death and resurrection, fell to his knees and watched as Arthas Menethil - Prince, paladin, destroyer of nations - died before him, cradled by the spirit of his father, who admonished him that "no king rules forever". And as Tirion picked up the crown of the Lich King to take up the burden of its power as Uther had foretold...a voice that Ketiron had not expected to hear again interrupted them.

Seated upon the Frozen Throne - his body warped by dragonfire and the Forsaken corruption - Highlord Bolvar Fordragon, one-time Regent of Stormwind and high general of the Alliance Vanguard, told Tirion to perform the coronation that would fulfill Uther's prophecy, pacify the now-leaderless Scourge...and seal Bolvar's fate as the Jailor of the Damned. Tirion, at first, tried to refuse, but Bolvar pleaded that Tirion and his comrades had their own destinies, and that he would carry out this last act of service. Promising to keep Bolvar's true state a secret, saying that the Lich King was dead and Bolvar died with him, Tirion placed the Helm of Domination on the head of his old friend. As the powers of the Lich King surged through him, the Frozen Throne enveloped him within, immobilizing him. The new Lich King commanded the party to leave and never return - and so Ketiron left for Silvermoon to recover from his ordeal, left with more questions than answers...