User:Joshmaul/Ordevaas Portalseeker/Into the Frozen North/Point of No Return

The King is Dead, Long Live The King


Some time earlier, Saavedro and Joshmaul had entered the halls of Gjalerbron, a vrykul fortress in the northern Howling Fjord. The Scourge's alliance with the vrykul became most evident there, where the Scourge attempted to resurrect the vrykul that had been placed in stasis by Loken following the Aesir-Vanir war. Among those in stasis was the master of the vrykul himself, King Ymiron. Queen Angerboda and the Scourge necrolords sent to Gjalerbron attempted to raise him from his slumber, an act only carried out by the Lich King himself - who spirited Ymiron away to the pinnacle of Utgarde following the death of Angerboda at the hands of both the paladin and the warlock.

The Utgarde Pinnacle had apparently been the seat of power for the entire vrykul race, and it was here that Ymiron - and his vast treasures - were kept under the watchful eye of his loyal people. Ordevaas resolved to destroy him before he could carry out his nefarious schemes in the service of the "death god", as the vrykul called the Lich King. Early in his exploration of the Pinnacle's halls, Ordevaas saw a ritual where a vrykul named Svala was made into a val'kyr by Arthas himself, taking the name of Svala Sorrowgrave; upon taking notice of the intruders in the Observance Hall, he commanded her to destroy them, her first test as one of the ascended. A test that she failed...

Next, Ordevaas entered a hall lined with what he had thought were statues - a jormungar, a worgen, a furbolg, a rhino, and a magnataur. It turned out that these creatures were in fact dormant, as the furbolg came alive and attacked the Master and his party. When it was killed, they next fought the jormungar, and finally the magnataur, Gortok Palehoof, defeating him and carrying on into the Pinnacle, all the while taking trinkets from the vrykul treasure hoards. They came into a great hall where they encountered another obstacle, a frost vrykul named Skadi the Ruthless and his proto-drake Grauf. This required a lot more finesse and quick movement, but this enemy fell to the might of Ordevaas and his allies. Finally, as they climbed through the labyrinthian halls, they finally reached Ymiron's throne room.

Ymiron was a particularly brutal fight, giving Ordevaas yet another scar of battle as the vrykul King nearly slew the Master on the spot. But his choice in allies proved to be decisive, and Ymiron was destroyed. The vrykul had been deprived of their King, but Ordevaas knew their loyalties were not to Utgarde, but to Icecrown...

Journey To Where It All Began


Upon being informed of an instability in the timeline, Ordevaas returned to the warmer southlands, to the deserts of Tanaris in southern Kalimdor. Entering the Caverns of Time, Ordevaas met with Chromie, a bronze dragon who had been a long-time ally of Saavedro. Ordevaas' destination was a region in northern Lordaeron at a crucial moment in history: The city of Stratholme, shortly it was purged by Prince Arthas.

In order to maintain the proper timeline, Arthas had to survive his purge and travel to Northrend so he could confront Mal'Ganis with Frostmourne in hand. While Ordevaas would have loved nothing more than to watch Arthas die, he also realized that negating his existence would have eventually resulted in the same thing...only many times worse. Ordevaas and his companions were all disguised as humans so they would pass off as Lordaeron soldiers (though considering the armor worn by some of the party, including Ordevaas himself, it was a wonder they weren't questioned in that regard) and accompany Arthas into Stratholme. Ordevaas was remarkably able to restrain himself as he was forced to serve alongside Arthas, the man he knew would destroy Quel'Thalas.

Fighting through waves of undead, Arthas and his escorts faced two great champions of the Scourge: The abomination known as Meathook, and the necromancer Salramm the Fleshcrafter. Once they were dead, Arthas ordered his "soldiers" to meet him in the town hall, where they were soon confronted by the corruptors of the timeways: The Infinite Dragonflight. Attempting to kill the Prince before he could achieve his dark destiny, the Infinite agents popped out of the woodwork at every turn inside the building, until they faced Chrono-Lord Epoch in an upstairs room. As before, they were able to defeat him, protecting their ward from the Infinite Dragonflight's madness. Once he was dead, Arthas pushed aside a bookshelf, revealing a secret passage to Market Row - which was on fire. Ordevaas, shocked at first by the pristine condition of the city when they began, now began to recognize his surroundings again.

Fighting through to Crusaders' Square to what is now the Scarlet Bastion, they finally reached their quarry: The dreadlord Mal'Ganis, who had led the corruption of Lordaeron. The battle was quick and brutal, and ended with Mal'Ganis fleeing to Northrend to wait for Arthas - just as history intended. The timeline had been preserved, and Ordevaas was now more determined than ever to destroy Arthas. He would get his chance immediately upon returning to Northrend...

The Argent Crusade
Some weeks earlier Ordevaas' old apprentice, Master Taeril'hane Ketiron, had been hand-picked by Highlord Tirion Fordring to join his Argent Crusade; it was said that in the wake of the incident involving the phylactery of Kel'Thuzad and the infiltrations by the Cult of the Damned throughout the Alliance and Horde forces in Northrend, Tirion hand-picked every single member of the Crusade to prevent such things from happening on the brink of what was to be their victory over the Lich King. Tirion was also an old friend of Saavedro from the Regent's earliest battles against the Scourge and the Scarlet Crusade, in the Plaguelands of Lordaeron. After attempting to free Tirion's son Taelan from the Scarlets' paranoid dogma, Saavedro had gained a powerful patron in the form of the new leader of the Silver Hand...and soon Ordevaas would be a beneficiary as well.

Ordevaas' actions against the Scourge in Zul'Drak had not escaped the Argent Crusade's attention, and at the behest of both Saavedro and Master Ketiron, Tirion personally requested that Ordevaas come to the Argent Vanguard in Icecrown, on the border with Crystalsong Forest, to join the Crusade. The Master agreed and set out from onboard the Orgrim's Hammer to fight for the Crusade, confronting the nerubians from the Forgotten Depths that laid siege to the fort. Afterwards he mounted an Argent skytalon - a species of bronze proto-drakes found at the Bronze Dragonshrine - and flew across the Great Breach into the fortress of Scourgeholme, where he rescued Crusaders encased in webbing by the nerubians. They all said that they thought they saw the Lich King there, and that an attack was coming to the Vanguard. With the prisoners rescued, Tirion ordered Ordevaas to report to the goblin Siegemaster Fezzik, who instructed him to man one of the cannons set in the Vanguard's towers to fend off the Scourge attack - and also blast any frost wyrms that attempted to destroy the towers. The fighting was fierce, and Ordevaas had two cannons blown out from under him by a frost wyrm, but he eventually prevailed.

The Front Moves Forward
With the Vanguard secure, Ordevaas reported to the Ebon Watcher - who he later discovered was Highlord Darion Mograine, master of the Ebon Blade - at a small camp set near the Breach. In order to secure ground for the Argent Crusade's new fortress, which they would call Justice Keep, Ordevaas was sent to slay the leaders of Scourgeholme with aid from veteran Knights of the Ebon Blade, collect Scourgestones to discover their movements, and slay the legions on the ground. The Argent Crusade's engineers sent him into Crystalsong Forest to collect materials necessary to construct a new fortress that would be resistant to the Scourge Blight - crystallized heartwood and ancient elven masonry from the ruins of Shandaral, in the energy-blasted Unbound Thicket.

Once the materials were in place and the Scourge cleared out, Ordevaas was given a blessed Argent banner to take to an area the Scourge mockingly called "Crusaders' Pinnacle", where they placed the skulls of slain Crusaders. Placing the banner in a skullpile, Ordevaas fought of legions of Scourge, empowered by the Light coming from the banner. He became a righteous engine of retribution, destroying any undead that dared desecrate this ground. Finally, after defeating the undead vrykul Halof the Deathbringer, the Crusaders' Pinnacle was taken. The first steps toward making Justice Keep - and victory over Arthas - a reality had finally been taken; the Crusade had gained a foothold in Icecrown.

The Salvation of Crusader Bridenbrad
After the capture of the Crusaders' Pinnacle, Tirion sent Ordevaas far to the north to an area known as the Silent Vigil to rescue Crusader Bridenbrad, a renowned warrior of the Crusade. Bridenbrad had been affected by the plague; in order to preserve him from becoming a new soldier of the Scourge, he returned to Tirion, who enlisted the aid of powerful figures. First he was sent via a portal to the Moonglade in Kalimdor, to call on Remulos, son of Cenarius. Remulos sent Ordevaas into the Emerald Dream itself to recover emerald acorns as a possible means of staving off the plague.

When that had limited effects, Tirion sent the Master to the Wyrmrest Temple to request the aid of Alexstrasza. The Dragonqueen sent Ordevaas to the Ruby Dragonshrine to locate a plant known as Dahlia's Tears; combined with ancient magic, it created a boon known as the "Breath of Alexstrasza", a flame which would theoretically burn away the plague; Alexstrasza warned him, however, that it was possible it would not work completely. After recovering from the effects of the flame, Bridenbrad seemed to worsen...leaving Tirion with one option: To beseech the naaru for aid. Courtesy of a member of the Kirin Tor, Ordevaas journeyed back to Outland, to the city of Shattrath, and went before A'dal to request his assistance.

A'dal promised that Bridenbrad would be spared the pain of undeath. Returning to the Silent Vigil, Ordevaas watched the Crusader die...and witnessed the salvation that the naaru had promised. A'dal and two of his cohorts arrived to take Bridenbrad's spirit to its eternal rest, a paradise where he would be free of the Lich King. That, Ordevaas supposed, had to be enough...

The Redemption of Arthas Menethil...


While on a mission for the Horde, Ordevaas set off a cluster of saronite explosives in a hall beneath Icecrown. The explosion destroyed the Scourge in the hall, killed the Horde infiltrators, and sent Ordevaas falling down a deep shaft. When he became aware of his surroundings again, he was in a pool of water, and could see a pulsing crystal at the bottom. As he touched it, he heard a voice scolding him, saying that he should not have done that; the voice belonged to a human boy named Matthias Lehner, who called on him to collect the blood of the faceless ones in the cavern to hide the Master from "him" (who Ordevaas believed was the Lich King).

While dealing with requests from Koltira Deathweaver, Ordevaas had several more encounters with the ghost-child. In the Valley of Lost Hope, Matthias chided him for his arrogance in thinking he could destroy the Scourge, and showed him his foolishness: By showing him the true power of the fallen Prince of Lordaeron...first-hand. Matthias transformed the blood elf into Arthas himself, sending him back in time to a point where Arthas had turned on his own men, slaughtered them, and raised them as ghouls in the Lich King's service. Next, he was sent to the area known as Sindragosa's Fall, where the former prime consort of Malygos had been raised as a frost wyrm by the Lich King himself - and Ordevaas, again, saw it as it happened. Finally, he went to Icecrown Citadel itself, to the Court of Bones at its gates, and once again took the part of Arthas...in the duel against Illidan, seven years earlier.

After defeating Illidan, Ordevaas returned to himself again, and was sent back to Koltira by Matthias. The entire experience had been an indication of why the Lich King was no ordinary enemy: Arthas had no heart, having cut it from his breast upon placing the helm of the Lich King upon his head. Ordevaas suddenly realized that this was the crystal he had seen and touched at the bottom of the pool in the Forgotten Depths: the frozen heart of Arthas Menethil himself!

...Or Not
With this information in hand, Ordevaas was sent back to Crusaders' Pinnacle to seek the aid of Tirion Fordring. Disguised as members of the Cult of the Damned, Ordevaas, Tirion and three Crusaders entered the Cathedral of Darkness, next to Icecrown Citadel, where they saw the heart brought in. They were also joined by an unexpected guest: The Lich King.

The master of the Scourge, who recognized Tirion immediately, chided him for trying to hide in his domain. Tirion realized that there was no sign of Arthas left in his own heart, and so - Ashbringer in hand - charged and destroyed it, knocking Tirion unconscious and severely weakening the Lich King himself. The Lich King ordered his chosen zealots to destroy them, and Ordevaas and the Crusaders found themselves surrounded when Koltira, accompanied by Darion Mograine and several Knights of the Ebon Blade, charged in and slew the zealots, opening a death gate for them to escape to Crusaders' Pinnacle before the Lich King killed them. Tirion did not regard the operation a failure, but rather a revelation: Arthas Menethil was dead and gone. Only the Lich King remained.

Ordevaas and Loken: The Final Showdown


With his earlier instructions given by King Jokkum, Ordevaas entered the Halls of Lightning in Ulduar to finish off Loken and end his mad schemes once and for all. After defeating Sjonnir the Ironshaper in the Halls of Stone, Brann Bronzebeard had theorized that wherever Loken was, that's where the iron vrykul were coming from. That was where Loken's evil had to end.

Entering Loken's domain for himself, Ordevaas saw that the dwarf had been right. The Unyielding Garrison was crawling with iron dwarves led by another iron vrykul, General Bjarngrim. Being in the wrong place at the wrong time resulted in battling the General before Ordevaas and his comrades were fully ready for him, but the group was able to defeat him without serious losses. Next came a target that Ordevaas had been sent to slay by the Sons of Hodir, a fire giant named Volkhan, who was said to be greater than the giant Fjorn he had defeated in the Peaks to gain the respect of the Sons. Volkhan, too, fell without incident, and they moved deeper into the Halls...until they entered the Hall of the Watchers where they faced off against the lightning revenant Ionar, guardian of Loken's inner sanctum. As his energy dispersed through the room, the Master and his comrades were forced to run for cover. Eventually, however, the revenant was destroyed, and the party made their way across another chamber until they entered Loken's throne room. As they destroyed the iron vrykul and runic giants that barred their path, Loken himself stood from his throne and unleashed his fury - the power of the Titans corrupted by the Old Gods proved to be a formidable combination.

Not formidable enough to save him, however. In the end, Loken fell to their combined might, proclaiming that his death would herald the end times. Taking his writhing tongue from his mouth, Ordevaas was disturbed at the whispers he heard from the vile organ, and he delivered it to Jokkum as proof of the traitor's demise.

Loken was dead at last, but his evil master, Yogg-Saron, remained unaccounted for. Ordevaas remembered what Ursoc had said after freeing him from his corruption, that the Old God's power reached beyond the roots of Vordrassil. The Master wondered for a moment if that meant that Yogg-Saron was somewhere in Ulduar...