User:Joshmaul/Jaeden'laek the Seer/In-Game Accomplishments/Continued Accomplishments

The Detective Work Continues
After departing from the Scarlet Monastery, Jaeden'laek returned to Duskwood hunting for more enemies of Light and life to defeat. With Sven Yorgen's aid, Jaeden'laek was set on the trail of the necromancer Morbent Fel, who lived in a house west of the Raven Hill cemetery known as the Forlorn Rowe. Seeking a weapon to defeat his powerful enchantments, Sven sent the shaman - accompanied again by Arrhae Leafrunner - to Menethil Harbor to speak with the dwarf Glorin Steelbrow. Steelbrow told him of the cargo of Lightforge Iron carried aboard a Thalassian destroyer, the Flying Osprey, which had been sunk by the Horde - along with the Third Fleet of Kul Tiras - over twenty years earlier.

Jaeden'laek and Arrhae - using the shaman's powers to walk over the water and breathe while submerged - reached the Flying Osprey and found a single ingot of Lightforge Iron in the chest onboard...meaning the murlocs surrounding the wreck had found the metal and made off with it. Submerging, the two killed several of the creatures before he was able to obtain enough iron to create a weapon. With the iron in hand, they travelled to Stormwind, where Grimand Elmore - one of the best artisans in the city - crafted the holy metal into a small scepter known as Morbent's Bane. When used, the scepter would dissipate the protection around Morbent Fel and allow Jaeden'laek to destroy him. Morbent's Bane in hand, they returned to Duskwood and entered the Forlorn Rowe, destroying undead minions before coming face to face with the necromancer himself.

Calling upon the holy energies of the weapon, Jaeden'laek and Arrhae weakened Morbent Fel enough for the shaman to go in with his axe - the last legacy of Sicco Thermaplugg, whom he had killed weeks earlier - and end the foul corruptor's life.

Traitors in the Ranks?
On the trail of a missing diplomat from Stormwind, Jaeden'laek travelled to Darkshire - where he discovered Defias activity at one of the abandoned farmsteads in Duskwood, and picked up a Defias docket detailing a plan, mentioning someone named "Fist". Returning to Elling Trias in Stormwind, he discovered that "Fist" was a dwarf named Dashel Stonefist, who resided in Old Town. Getting into a fight with the dwarf (who called out some of his allies from the shadows), Jaeden'laek's quick thinking allowed him to defeat Dashel and find out what was going on. Dashel mentioned a man who called himself "Slim", who resided in Menethil Harbor in the Wetlands, the major Alliance port out of the Eastern Kingdoms.

Acting on Dashel's tip, he arrived in Menethil shortly thereafter. In his search for a man called "Slim", Jaeden'laek chatted with Mikhail, the barkeep - only to discover a man had overheard them and was making his way out of the room. The man, Tapoke "Slim" Jahn, called out some of his friends but - like Dashel in Stormwind - Jaeden'laek defeated him and was able to extract his information. Slim revealed that the "missing diplomat" was none other than Varian Wrynn, the King of Stormwind...which explained why when Jaeden'laek was allowed an audience with him, he wasn't there. He now began to suspect Lady Prestor...

The Hunt for King Varian
Slim also mentioned that a Theramore guard named Hendel was slipped aboard King Varian's ship and subsequently took him prisoner. On this tip, Jaeden'laek arrived in Theramore, the bastion in southern Kalimdor built by refugees from Lordaeron when the Plague of Undeath took hold in the northern kingdom. Led by Lady Jaina Proudmoore, Theramore was an idyllic city to Jaeden'laek's eyes...though as he was soon to discover, it had its dark side.

Continuing his search for the missing King, he also discovered that Private Hendel, who ran the infiltrators who spied on the Horde camp at Brackenwall and had snuck aboard King Varian's transport, was involved with the Defias. Engaging Hendel in combat, Jaeden'laek managed to subdue the soldier long enough for aid - in the form of Lady Proudmoore herself, her advisor Tervosh and her assistant Pained - to arrive. After Hendel was arrested, Jaeden'laek continued on the trail and discovered that the Defias, believed to be restricted almost entirely to the Kingdom of Stormwind, had landed in Kalimdor and was investigating a shipwreck on the Dreadmurk Shore.

Coming across a Defias encampment on an island north of Theramore, Jaeden'laek snuck in and killed Garn Mathers, the leader of the Defias contingent on the island, and received a copy of his orders. Jaeden'laek was then sent to find the diver Renn McGill, near the island where Jaeden'laek killed Mathers, and steal second-hand Defias diving equipment (which was kept in horrific condition) and tools to repair it (also in shoddy condition). Using the equipment and avoiding the Defias divers, Jaeden'laek recovered strongboxes from the burning wreckage of a ship scattered between the coast and Alcaz Island. One of those boxes, it was revealed, contained a set of enchanted manacles.

Returning to Jaina in the Theramore tower, Jaeden'laek revealed what he had discovered. Jaina dispatched him to the gryphon master's apprentice, who provided him with a gryphon to survey Alcaz Island. There, he discovered a runic circle near a ruined watchtower and the presence of black dragons - beasts that Jaeden'laek had not seen since his escape from Outland. With the information in hand, Jaina teleported Jaeden'laek to Stormwind Keep, where he presented the evidence to Highlord Fordragon (and subsequently attracting the scorn of Lady Prestor), who promised to act on the information. Teleporting back to Theramore courtesy of Archmage Malin in the city's Mage Quarter, he was rewarded for his diligence and service to the Alliance and Theramore.

Ending the Desertions
The city's guards were somewhat split; many owed their allegiance to Jaina, but there were those who were supporters of her late father, Grand Admiral Daelin Proudmoore, lord of Kul Tiras, who had been killed by the Horde (with her aid) several years previous. These men had deserted Theramore and had encouraged others to do likewise. Jaina had signed a peace agreement with the Horde, something that surprised and horrified Jaeden'laek - who, like all draenei, believed the Horde to be evil, in part because of their massacre of the draenei people...and many events since. Daelin, by contrast, was unwilling to stop fighting them, a man obsessed with vengeance, a concept that sickened the shaman.

While on the trail of the deserters, Jaeden'laek also investigated the burning of the Shady Rest Inn on the border with the Barrens, finding suspicious hoofprints, a Theramore guard badge belonging to one Lieutenant Paval Reethe, and a blackened iron shield hanging over the fireplace. After returning to Theramore, killing several deserter agitators and causing the rest to flee, Jaeden'laek was tasked with finding out where the deserter propaganda was coming from, and he found it in a crate onboard a privateer's vessel docked in Theramore. Boarding the vessel and killing most of the crew in order to reach the Captain's cabin, Jaeden'laek discovered a box with leaflets denouncing Jaina and her "betrayal" of her father, the Grand Admiral.

Tethyr: The Beast of Theramore


As he helped defend Theramore from the traitors, Jaeden'laek was also tasked with something quite different. Sent to the lighthouse outside the city, he met with Babs Fizzletorque, a gnome who was attempting to relight the old lighthouse to allow easier shipping to and from Theramore. The lamp was relit, and Jaeden'laek was sent on his way with a book found in the old lighthouse - "Dastardly Denizens of the Deep". The portion that Jaeden'laek read mentioned a krakken called Tethyr.

Taking the book to "Dirty" Michael Crowe, the fishmonger in Theramore, Jaeden'laek was put on the trail of this supposedly-mythical beast. Crowe sent him to find Nat Pagle, the legendary fisherman, who resided on a small island in Tidefury Cove, across Dustwallow Bay from Theramore. Pagle first wanted Jaeden'laek to try out a new fish bait - a foul-smelling concoction that forced the shaman to spend several days constantly bathing and washing his clothes in order to get the smell out - and swim over to a shipwreck not far from the island. As he did, he was attacked by a waiting shark, who lurked among the ruined hull, and suffered a bite wound on his arm. Still, he was able to kill the shark and return to Pagle (mostly) intact.

Pagle revealed to him that Tethyr was indeed real, and was part of the reason why the lighthouse had been abandoned in the first place - Tethyr was attracted to bright lights. Returning to Theramore and speaking to Major Mills, Jaeden'laek commanded Theramore's marksmen in a battle against the beast. In the midst of a storm later that evening, Jaeden'laek ordered the lighthouse to be lit, which attracted the beast to Theramore's docks. The artillerists, in a surprising display of foresight, had planted three mortars on the docks, and it was Jaeden'laek's duty to go back and forth between them, firing them off against the accursed monster before it killed the defenders of the city.

Utilizing his ghost wolf form for greater speed, Jaeden'laek migrated between the three mortars, blasting the unlucky krakken with powerful blasts. After three minutes of sustained shelling, the beast finally died, and Theramore was saved.

Against the Burning Blade


Once his tasks were done, Jaeden'laek left Theramore, travelled through the Stonetalon Mountains and into a region known as Desolace. Tasked by a night elf named Vahlarriel Demonslayer to find brother-and-sister merchants from House Malem, a Darnassian noble family, Jaeden'laek located their wagon train and took a pendant from the ruins. The shaman discovered that they had fled - or been taken - to a nearby fortress. As Vahlarriel later revealed, the fortress was inhabited by the Burning Blade - a clan of orcish renegades devoted to their demon masters. Though they were denounced by the Horde, their methods remained inexcusable and reprehensible to "civil" people.

Finding the sister, Dalinda, inside the main fort, Jaeden'laek found that her brother Tyranis had attempted to impress the Burning Blade with his knowledge of the arcane so he could join their ranks. Disgusted that anyone would consort with demons at all, much less willingly, Jaeden'laek entered another building within the fortress compound and confronted Tyranis Malem in combat, defeating him and taking his pendant from his dead body. Though Dalinda was dismayed by the fact that her brother was now dead, she accepted the necessity.

Justice for the Hyals


After his sojourn in Desolace, Jaeden'laek returned to Dustwallow Marsh to continue the investigation of the burning of the Shady Rest Inn near the Barrens. When there, he discovered the guard's badge of Lieutenant Reethe, a blackened iron shield of unknown manufacture, and suspicious hoofprints that were later identified as belonging to tauren. This coincided with the fact that there were two large camps manned by the Grimtotem, a tribe of tauren that were considered something of a radical element within the Horde because they - of all of their people - were most willing to deal with the Forsaken.

Jaeden'laek was dispatched with rescuing guards from Theramore kept imprisoned by the Grimtotems, as well as collecting various weapons kept in their encampment. The weapons, Jaeden'laek found, were of similar manufacture as the shield found at the ruins of the Shady Rest. The Grimtotem elders at this camp also held notes that were combined into battle plans for an attack on Theramore's towers, and Jaeden'laek was able to recover them and bring them to the North Point tower. He also captured several raptors previously, and unleashed them into the camp, where they killed several Grimtotems, clearing the way for Jaeden'laek to do his job.

Travelling to Tabetha's farm in the center of the marsh on a tip from Captain Garran Vimes in Theramore, Jaeden'laek was sent to a second Grimtotem camp, Direhorn Post, north of the farmhouse. Killing the majority of the Grimtotem warriors there, Jaeden'laek also confronted a Forsaken, Apothecary Cylla, who dropped a sealed letter - a letter that lined out a plan for alliance between the Grimtotems and the Forsaken. The power of the Grimtotems in Dustwallow was broken, and the destruction of the Shady Rest Inn and the death of the Hyal family - except for James "Smiling Jim" Hyal, the innkeeper, who lived in Theramore - was avenged.

Returning to Theramore, Captain Vimes gave Jaeden'laek a wreath to lay on the Hyal memorial in Theramore's graveyard. As he did, the ghosts of Lynn and Jimmy Hyal - the wife and son of "Smiling Jim" - appeared to him, and thanked him for what Jaeden'laek did on their behalf, even if James himself was too far gone emotionally to realize it.

Beheading the Syndicate Leadership - Literally!


Once more travelling to Lordaeron, Jaeden'laek received an urgent communique from Saavedro. The Regent Lord of Lordaeron had received reports from the Stromgarde encampment at Refuge Pointe in the Arathi Highlands detailing the situation in the ruined city. With Thoras Trollbane dead and the Horde attempting to get a hold of his legendary weapon, Trol'kalar, the Alliance-loyal supporters - led by Thoras' son, Prince Galen - were in constant conflict with the Syndicate and a coalition of Boulderfist ogres and Witherbark forest trolls.

Jaeden'laek had stopped in Alterac prior to returning to the Arathi Highlands, and discovered that the Syndicate had allied with - and was being used by - a Legion cultist group known as the Argus Wake. Their leader was an orc named Nagaz, who resided at Dandred's Fold in northern Alterac, on the shores of Lordamere Lake looking into Tirisfal Glades. Axe in hand, Jaeden'laek beheaded Nagaz and returned with both his head and four dead Argus shadow mages to his credit. He had also collected signet rings belonging to Alterac nobles, the nucleus of the Syndicate's current membership.

Now, Jaeden'laek was sent after Lord Falconcrest, who led the Syndicate in Stromgarde, and Marez Cowl, a warlock working for Falconcrest. The third target, though not a strategic one like Falconcrest or Cowl, was Falconcrest's personal bodyguard, Otto. Upon entering the top level of Stromgarde Keep, Jaeden'laek was ambushed by Otto as he prepared to battle Falconcrest. His greater combat experience - having fought in the battlefields of Draenor against the early Horde - allowed him to claim the victory, killing both Otto and Falconcrest, and taking their heads. He also hunted down Marez Cowl, who suffered the same fate.

The Path of the Warrior Farseer
After defeating Marez Cowl, Jaeden'laek walked the paths of the Twisting Nether to the Exodar. He had at last reached the strength and experience level in combat to wield two weapons, as well as wear heavier chain-mail armor instead of the leather he had donned in his earlier career. He was also granted an elekk from his old friend Kessel, to serve as his mount.

Jaeden'laek, who had not done these things since the fall of Telmor, was now far more than a seer and emissary of the elements; he was also a warrior for the Hand of Argus and the greater Alliance. Taking his twin axes, Jaeden'laek began to train extensively with them, making them very much like an extension of his body.

Once he was ready, he returned to duty, dispensing long-deserved justice upon a madman in the jungles of Stranglethorn Vale.

The Seer and the Colonel: Jaeden'laek Battles Kurzen


Arriving at a small Alliance encampment in northern Stranglethorn, just off the road from Duskwood, Jaeden'laek encountered a group of soldiers who had declared rebellion against their commander, Colonel Kurzen. Once considered a noble and just man, Kurzen had apparently gone insane, and his loyalists developed a cruel streak much like their commander. Kurzen was a tactical genius, and fought hard against those Alliance-loyal troops who rebelled against his command. Sergeant Yohwa, one of the rebel leaders, approached the shaman and beseeched him for aid against the Colonel, and also to find ways to cure the poisons used against the rebel forces.

Jaeden'laek agreed and immediately travelled to Kurzen's compound east of the camp, killing Kurzen's jungle fighters and medicine men, taking their jungle remedies from their corpses and raiding their supplies for the poison they used against the rebels. He was then sent to battle Kurzen's elite commandos, as well as headshrinkers - a trait that Jaeden'laek, until that point, had associated only with troll voodoo priests. The time then came to confront the Colonel himself, and his elite guard. Lieutenant Doren, who commanded the rebel camp, then sent Jaeden'laek on the grand finale: To kill Kurzen and his top lieutenants, and return with the Colonel's head.

The Colonel proved to be a resourceful and difficult foe to defeat for the shaman, who also battled one of his subchiefs for supremacy. Kurzen was also a master of death and distraction, but Jaeden'laek steeled his nerves and continued in the fight. In the end, even the wily Kurzen could not withstand a prolonged assault by Jaeden'laek's axes (one of which, unbeknownst to him, had belonged to Stalvan Mistmantle, and was believed to be the one he had slaughtered his victims with), and the Colonel fell dead to the floor. Jaeden'laek took his head and made his escape.

Kurzen was now dead, but the question remained: Why did such a respected and honorable commander suddenly turn into a raving madman? Jaeden'laek now turned to his investigative skills at the behest of Brother Nimetz, one of Kurzen's former troops, who believed that troll magic was responsible for the corruption of the Colonel...

Gryphon Breakout!


Several months later, while venturing into the Hinterlands, Gryphon Master Talonaxe - the Wildhammer Clan's head of gryphon care and breeding - informed Jaeden'laek that Sharpbeak, heir to the mighty gryphon Swiftwing, had gone missing and was believed to have been captured by the forest trolls. Searching the Witherbark villages of Zun'watha and Hiri'watha, he found no sign of them. Speculating that he had instead been taken by the Vilebranch, Talonaxe sent Jaeden'laek to the Altar of Zul, where the trolls conducted mortal sacrifice. It was there that Jaeden'laek received an ancient mallet that he had read about from a tablet he found in Zul'Farrak.

Though he was not there, Talonaxe believed there was someone who could find him - a diviner named Thadius Grimshade, who lived far to the south in the mage tower of Nethergarde Keep, the Alliance bulwark near the Dark Portal. Travelling across the continent by any means available, Jaeden'laek arrived in Nethergarde and explained the situation to Grimshade. The diviner offered his aid exchange for a favor: A Sandfury desert troll named Nekrum Gutchewer - the companion of Shadowpriest Sezz'ziz - held a medallion that Grimshade wanted to study. If the shaman would bring back that medallion, he could use his powers to locate Sharpbeak.

Jaeden'laek agreed and - using his engineering knowledge - used his transport beacon to lock onto the transporter in Gadgetzan (thankfully with no ill effects) and - aided by a druid from the First Fleet, Saavedro's allies - entered the troll city, slaying everyone in sight, eventually finding Nekrum near the altar of the Sandfury executioners. After a prolonged siege of the altar by Sandfury trolls, Jaeden'laek slew Nekrum and took the medallion. Returning (via ship and gryphon) to Nethergarde with his prize, Jaeden'laek upheld his end of the bargain, and Grimshade did likewise. He was able to pinpoint Sharpbeak's location: A cage on a hidden mesa in Jintha'Alor, the Vilebranch capital. With this information in hand, Jaeden'laek returned to Talonaxe, who sent him in to destroy the Vilebranch.

To that end, Jaeden'laek called upon another sailor of the First Fleet, a hunter named Floresca, to accompany him into Jintha'Alor and slay any Vilebranch that stood between them and their quarry. At the city's summit, Jaeden'laek and Floresca confronted Vile Priestess Hexx, who held the key to Sharpbeak's cage, and defeated her. With key in hand, Jaeden'laek slew the guards around the cage and freed the young gryphon, who flew away with his parents into the night. Upon his return to Aerie Peak, Jaeden'laek was gifted a gryphon rider's stormhammer as a reward.

The Secrets of Ravenwind


While in the service of General Shandris Feathermoon, the commander of the Sentinels, Jaeden'laek met a night elf named Troyas Moonbreeze. Troyas was seeking knowledge about the wilds of Feralas, particularly as it pertained to a staff he found in the ruins south of Feathermoon Stronghold. After collecting a book from the library of Darnassus, Troyas theorized that the stave was in fact the Staff of Equinex, a key to open the Equinex Monolith - deep inside the ruined city of Ravenwind in mainland Feralas, to the east.

Taking the stave, Jaeden'laek stepped onto the Feathermoon Ferry to the mainland and claimed the essences of Samha, Imbel, Byltan and Lahassa from the braziers in the city. He then took them to the Equinex Monolith and charged the stave with the essences, unlocking the monolith's secret - a sparkling stone called the Morrow Stone.

With the stave and the stone back to Feathermoon Stronghold, he delivered his goods to Troyas, who was pleased with the results.

Return to Lordaeron
At last strong enough to confront the Scourge in the Plaguelands, Jaeden'laek immediately left Feralas and travelled to Ironforge, where he met with Farseer Javad. A troll named Bath'rah the Windwatcher, who lived in the troll ruins at Chillwind Point in Alterac, had sent the call for Jaeden'laek to meet him, and to bring essences of the elements as proof of his mastery. Though he was skeptical to answer the summons of a troll - an ally of the hated orcs - Jaeden'laek agreed and prepared to fly out to Southshore.

As he made his way to the gryphon master, Jaeden'laek received a missive from Shattrath City delivered by Courier Hammerfall. The message was from Saavedro, still on the front lines against the Legion, and instructed him thusly:

With Saavedro's instructions in hand, Jaeden'laek decided instead to fly to Chillwind Camp, the northernmost outpost of the Kingdom of Stormwind, right on the front lines with the Scourge. For the first time since the search for Velenkayn, Jaeden'laek set foot in the greater Plaguelands of Lordaeron...

Guardian of Blackrock Mountain


Some years earlier, Saavedro had received orders from King Magni Bronzebeard to fight his way into Blackrock Mountain, confront the Dark Iron Clan of renegade dwarves, defeat Emperor Dagran Thaurissan, and rescue Princess Moira from his spell. He battled through the halls of Blackrock Depths, the Dark Irons' home base, and slew the demented Emperor. After rescuing Moira and discovering she was pregnant with Emperor Thaurissan's child, Saavedro returned to Ironforge with the rather strange news.

During the war in Northrend, a new Emperor, claiming to be Dagran Thaurissan himself (which was untrue, as Saavedro was 100% certain he was dead), had arisen following Thaurissan's demise, and the Dark Irons began a resurgence. A communique came in via SI:7 from Blood Watch, commanding that Jaeden'laek claim the halls in the name of the Hand of Argus. As a shaman, the message stressed, Jaeden'laek would be responsible for watching over the mountain and ensuring that there would not be a second cataclysmic event similar to the one that resulted in the mountain's creation, three centuries earlier.

Entering the halls with a priest and a hunter from the First Fleet, allies of Saavedro, Jaeden'laek confronted the impostor Emperor and his High Priestess, striking them down in the throne room of the Dark Irons. With the conquest undertaken, a regiment of draenei vindicators arrived at the Hand's behest. Assembling the survivors of this latest purge of the Dark Iron Clan, Jaeden'laek declared that Blackrock Mountain was now under the jurisdiction of the Hand of Argus. With the blessing of the spirits, Jaeden'laek was declared guardian of Blackrock Mountain, his task to ensure that the madness that had brought Ragnaros to the world of Azeroth would not be repeated again.

But Jaeden'laek had other concerns besides Blackrock Mountain. Visions of Outland still tormented him, and at last he was forced to make his way back to the world of his birth. After battling the Scourge's continued presence in Lordaeron, he journeyed south to the Dark Portal and stepped through. Though he had had ready access to Shattrath City, he had never journeyed beyond the liberated draenei capital, and thus was unprepared for what awaited him...

Bitter Homecoming: The Return to Outland


Jaeden'laek stepped through the Dark Portal and saw the lands called Hellfire Peninsula for the very first time. The skies were exposed to the heavens, and the land broken and dead. Faintly, Jaeden'laek could hear the muted cries of the spirit of earth, and resolved himself to carry on what missions he could here. Though both Saavedro and the death knight Artimus Devaneaux had fought the Legion here, Jaeden'laek determined to make sure they did not regain a foothold in Hellfire, undertaking the dangerous bombing missions. During his work, Jaeden'laek received aid from a very unlikely source: Battlelord Velenkayn, who was in Outland on behalf of the Ebon Blade.

Though Magtheridon was long dead, the legions of fel orcs created with his blood still ran rampant, albeit leaderless, in Hellfire, most particularly in the region around the "Path of Glory". Jaeden'laek and Velenkayn, continuing the work Saavedro had begun, were tasked with laying to rest the spirits of the draenei whose bones had been used to pave the road to the Dark Portal. Much to Jaeden'laek's horror, one of those piles of bones he saw in the road belonged to his wife Caerys, killed by the orcs during the siege of Karabor five decades earlier. Seeking to avoid giving in to his grief and anger, upon completing his task, he meditated at the Temple of Telhamat, which had remained remarkably intact and undespoiled.

With money provided by Saavedro, Jaeden'laek returned to Elwynn Forest and was able to purchase for himself a new, faster steed to carry him through his battles in Outland. He had gained something of an affection for the horses that the humans bred, and since he had gained a favorable reputation with Stormwind, its horse breeders provided him with a swift palomino at his request.



He had also been able to increase his standings with Ironforge and Darnassus, but favored the night elves' prized saber cats over the rams of Dun Morogh, fearing he may injure the animal. However, it was the gift of a gryphon - Saavedro's white gryphon, Máire - that proved to be the most helpful to Jaeden'laek's explorations of Outland, including the testing of engineering gizmos created by Toshley and his gnomish engineers in Blade's Edge, and the construction of the X-52 Nether Rocket in Netherstorm.

The Farseer Arrives in Northrend


Jaeden'laek, like Saavedro, had been visibly aged by his battle in Outland. While he was many years older than most of his contemporaries, including Saavedro, he now began to look it; when the paladin met Jaeden'laek coming off the boat in Valgarde, the Alliance port in the Howling Fjord of eastern Northrend, he was amazed at the lines in the draenei's face, and how his blue-black hair and beard had turned stark white. Draenei were seemingly ageless, Saavedro knew, but the toll that seeing his shattered homeworld had taken on the shaman was distressing to him. Jaeden'laek waved off Saavedro's concerns, saying he was perfectly fit and able to continue fighting. He was tasked with battling against the continued deprevations of the Dragonflayer vrykul. Saavedro, allied with Ordevaas Portalseeker and Artimus Devaneaux, had slain the Dragonflayer chieftain Ingvar the Plunderer months earlier, but the vrykul clan was still a formidable force to be reckoned with...with a little outside assistance from Saavedro's greatest enemy.

The Dragonflayers, as it turned out, had been brought under the sway of Helbrand the Wanderer, one of the apprentices of Joshmaul the Corruptor. The blade-fisted vrykul warlock, itching with a need for revenge against Saavedro for taking his hand, had claimed the remnants of the Dragonflayer as his own, bringing a still-formidable vrykul army under Joshmaul's command - and now they threatened Valgarde. Helbrand, ever the nomad, remained on the move throughout the Fjord, and even visited Voldrune in the Grizzly Hills to the northwest rallying support. Saavedro's spies also indicated that Joshmaul's death knight general, Shankolin Blightpath - a time-displaced Forsaken counterpart to Saavedro himself - was located somewhere in Northrend...as was Battlelord Velenkayn, Artimus Devaneaux's most trusted lieutenant, who had pledged to aid Saavedro and Jaeden'laek in Outland and would probably be called to do so again in Northrend. Before he could make the hunt for Joshmaul's lackeys, however, Jaeden'laek had to confront the immediate danger of the forces besieging Valgarde.

Into the Frozen North
After keeping the forces of Helbrand at bay, Jaeden'laek journeyed north to Icecrown and - in the presence of Saavedro and Master Taeril'hane Ketiron - was inducted into the Argent Crusade. Highlord Fordring assigned Jaeden'laek as a roving investigator while Ketiron (who had since replaced Saavedro in the battle for Icecrown Citadel) fought on the front lines.