Hello everyone, Gulefritz here with the first chapter of Battle for Lordaeron.
This chapter will focus on the battle Capital City, the capital of the Kingdom of Lordaeron, that happened in between the end of the Human campaign and the start of the undead campaign of Warcraft 3: Reign of Chaos, and will continue on from that.
If you got any suggestion, anything important lorewise or anything else to say, please leave it in the reviews.
I will try to upload this when I am able to do so, but please bear with me as I just entered an examn period, and I am also trying to continue another story. (Got writers block on that one, and this has been an idea of mine for some time now, and want to see how it goes)
The very purpose of this story is to tell the story of some lordaeronian survivors, but also a few battles we were never told in lore or gameplay. There might be some lorechanges here and there, nothing major, there might be some later, but I will ask you guys first.
It was years since the proud people of Lordaeron cheered the day their crown-prince returned to his homeland after his three-month long expedition to the icy continent of Northrend. The Prince had set sail with the most elite and most devout of the Lordaeron army and had used the Royal fleet to get there. With these he intended to destroy the one who wished to spread death and destruction upon the Kingdom of Lordaeron.
They played the trumpets, they rang the bells, they threw down rose petals on the path the prince walked. He had returned, returned to protect his people, returned to restore the eastern provinces to their former glory. That was the thought they had as they watched their prince walk the way into the throne room where his father, the old King Terenas II Menethil, waited his son and heir. Little did the people know of the betrayal they were about to face.
The betrayal was quick and shocking. Flanked by his Second-in-Command Captain Falric to the right, Lieutenant Marwyn. They went ahead and walked up the stairs leading to the balconies, because up the stairs waited their goals, the higher nobles of Lordaeron. These men were a mixture of the King's closest advisors and Generals who would lead the army against the enemy of Lordaeron.
Both Falric and Marwyn dropped their ceremonial halberds and pulled out two runeblades. Without warning both men charged the rooms of the palace, slaughtering the guards at the doors before breaking inside chamber, killing whatever nobleman was behind the door. Quick and efficient, the two men slaughtered the leaders of Tirisfal Glades, who resided inside of the Palace.
Both of the Knights, both blessed by the power of Frostmourne, would slowly raise the fallen guards and noblemen, all raised as warriors of Crown-Prince Arthas Menethil.
The betrayal of the two captains had a strong impact on the unity and strength of the Kingdom of Lordaeron, but their betrayal pales to what the crown-prince had done.
While the murdering happened, the old King had welcomed his son home. He had seen the clothing of his heir, the dark armor, the glowing blade, and his golden hair had turned white. But he had showed it all to the side. He had smiled when he saw his son kneel before him and opened his arms, ready to hug his offspring.
That is why Arthas's next move shocked the old King.
The prince had walked up to his smiling father and grabbed him by the throat.
"What is this? What are you doing my son?"
A shocked King Terenas asked as he looked into the cold green eyes of Arthas, his son. One look into those cold eyes and the King could see something was off.
Gone was the man he knew, the one he had raised from childhood into a holy warrior. The happy and proud man was gone and had been replaced with a cold and almost dead man. Tearing his eyes away from his son's eyes, he looked at the blade, but looked back to the eyes when Arthas spoke again.
"Succeeding you… Father"
The old king had no time to reply as then Arthas plunged Frostmourne into his father's chest. The place pierced the man straight through the hearth. King Terenas fell on his knees and tears fell down his cheeks. Murdered by his own blood. Where had he failed, where had he failed to see the corruption take hold in his son. He had failed as a father, and now he payed the price for it.
Arthas removed the blade and the old king collapsed on the ground. His body hit the floor and the crown of Lordaeron dropped. The prince picked it up and grinned. No longer would he be the prince of Lordaeron, but the King of the Damned. He put on the crown and raised his sword up into the air.
"This Kingdom shall fall, and from its ashes arise a new order that will change the very foundation of the world!"
With that the undead soldiers raised by Falric and Marwyn were let loose on the Capital City of Lordaeron. Soldiers, still looking like normal human soldiers, formed up into battalions and walked down to the gates leading to the city itself. They opened the doors and there stood the populace of the Capital. Without hesitation, the soldiers charged populace.
In the front of the soldiers walk Captain Marwyn with his blade in hand. He cuts down a lordaeronian guard and orders the undead forward.
"Kill them all in the name of King Arthas!"
Screams erupted, and civilians fled. The nearby knights tried to fend of the undead soldiers, but eventually failed, only bolstering the undead force. With time more Knights arrived, but they were unable to break the mass of undead soldiers. With time the knights were able to contain the mass of undead soldiers. They managed to push them back towards the palace, when Falric arrived.
The captain arrived and immediately raised his blade. The fallen people of Lordaeron, the very people the knights had tried to defend, raised from their positions. With unhuman strength they attacked the Knights with fist or other utensils they carried at their death.
The Knights of the Capitol were surrounded, but that is when something marvelous happened. Words had already made it to the Tirisfal Monastery and the Garrison city of Brill. Soldiers, armed with sword blessed by the light, charged down the streets into the undead blob. In the front ran the High-General of Tyr's Hand, Abbendis. He swung his hammer and crushed five undead with one blow.
From behind the High General, priests and clerics arrived. They chanted their spells and aided the soldiers of Lordaeron, giving their blessings to the guardians of Lordaeron. Some of the priests used their powers to heal the wounds of the soldiers, but a select few did what no one had seen been done before.
High Bishop Isillien of Hearthglen, normally a tutor of the Tirisfal priesthood was summoning waves of holy fire. The men shot their holy fires at the undead and the holy flames reduced the undead to nothing but a crisp.
The arrival of the men turned the tide for a while, pushing the undead back onto the stairs of the palace. The morale raised and the knights pushed on. With time they reached the royal chamber of the palace, at where they were all shocked.
There on the throne of Lordaeron sat the king. King Terenas Menethil was sitting on the throne of Lordaeron, but it was no longer the king they used to love. On the throne sat a weak and deformed man, one who had been raised by the use of necromancy. The now dead king raised from the throne and laughed before the people before him.
"You fools! You went straight into the trap of my son! His master is eternal! Give up now, give yourself to my son, and he will give you the strength of the damned!"
The soldiers of the Capital looked shocked and they did know what to do. The men were reluctant to move and some started to pale when they looked behind and above. On the balconies leading to the throne room stood raised soldiers with bows or crossbows and had them aimed at the soldiers down below.
"Traitor! We will never surrender! We will never bow down to those who seek to destroy us, those who try to destroy the light! Soldiers of Lordaeron! We will fight on against this heathen enemy!"
With that Isillien stormed forward and summoned the biggest flame of holy fire he ever could. He was joined by priests he had taught, and they incinerated the fallen king of lordaeron. King Terenas Menethil the Second of Lordaeron was burned by the Isillien and the clerics.
But what happened next shook all the lordaeron soldiers standing nearby, even giving Abbendis and Isillien chills running down their back.
Crown-Prince Arthas stepped out from the shadow and stood by his father. He was still wearing the crown of his father. His very presence made all the soldiers shiver with fear and dread. He smiled as he watched the corpse of his father burn before his very eyes. Slowly more undead soldiers arrived, coming down from the balconies.
"You wish to challenge me Bishop? And this is what you bring? You shall have your challenge! In the end, you will serve me!"
With that the undead archers above fired their bows into the living soldiers. Many arrows hit their marks, and many men fell before the arrows of the undead army. The soldiers were charged by raised guardsmen and knights. More and more fell on each side, but only one side shrunk in size.
Arthas raised the men who feel, even those who had been killed already. With time the King joined the fray. He swung Frostmourne around and struck down the soldiers before him. He raised his right hand and disaster struck the living soldiers.
The very knights and soldiers they had fought to reach the palace rose from their positions. They picked up their weapons and charged into the mass of living soldiers.
Just like that, Arthas had surrounded the army of living soldiers inside the capital. He had them where he wanted them and he slew them without problems. With time the undead soldiers put so much pressure on the soldiers, that they fell back.
Abbendis and Isillien saw what was happening and they both reached the same conclusion. They had to break out of the encirclement, or face annihilation. Isillien got his priests to aid him in summoning a barrier of Light to surround them. The undead were unable to breakthrough the shield.
The High-General moved the men around, having his most woundead soldiers face the palace and his strongest the way out. The clerics blessed the soldiers one last time, and he nodded to Isillien. With one single move, the old Bishop departed his hands and send out a wave of holy light. The wave killed the first three lines of undead soldiers, and blinded the rest. Even the Prince looked away for a moment.
High-General Abbendis used this moment of disillusion of the undead soldiers to charge forward straight into the ranks of the undead.
His men hit the undead with their weapons and smashed them to the side. The knights struck down their undead adversaries and brokethrough their lines. Soon a exit had been formed out into the city itself, and the men rushed through. Abbendis turned around to order his men facing Arthas to run, when he gasped at the sight.
All the men he had send there had been slaughtered by the Prince himself. He stood upon a pile made out of their corpses. He pointed Frostmourne at Abbendis and an arrow hit the general right in the back. Arthas walked forward, raising the blade, ready to strike down the High-General.
Knights of the Palace stormed through and intervened, while soldiers of Brill grabbed onto the High-General, pulling him backwards, out into the chaos that fallen onto the streets of the capitol. Fires had spread throughout the city and had lit up most of the capital of Lordaeron.
Through the fires of the capital, the people of Lordaeron ran through, seeking to get as far away from the undead as they possibly could. The raised archers of the palaced had formed lines on the inner walls of the palace and started to fire their arrows into the retreating army and civilians, killing even more with their accurate volleys.
Abbendis and Isillien managed to get out of the city with a fifth of the men they entered the city with. Both men could easily see where the situation was going and immediately ordered the mass retreat from Tirisfal Glade. They turned their army to the east and ran straight for the greenwoods of the middle of Lordaeron, straight for the cities of Hearthglen and Andorhall, where the latter was still being rebuilt.
The Silver Hand was still camped at Hearthglen, and if anyone needed to know of the prince's betrayal, it would be Uther the Lightbringer, Highlord of the Silver Hand. The army ran and with days they managed to reach the pass that would lead them into the green grassland of Andorhall.
Abbendis and Isillien had just passed into the woods, when the undead army caught up to the retreating column. The undead soldiers charged into the group of soldiers who were quick to form a defensive line. They were able to keep the undead at bay, but would need support if they were to reach the pass. Abbendis and Isillien heard of this and both of them shook their head.
Isillien turned to the messenger.
"Light have mercy on me for the decision I have to make for my countrymen. I leave their fate to the light. They fall so we can return with a zealous resolve! They fall so we can reclaim what Arthas has stolen from us!"
With that Abbendis ordered the army to move once more. All of them could hear the screams of their abandoned countrymen as they were attacked and surrounded by the undead army Arthas had massed inside the Capital.
Abbendis and Isillien simply turned their heads in the direction of Hearthglen and started marching. Their facial expressions told everything anyone needed to know, to see what both men were thinking.
Anger, fear and zealotry. Already now Isillien spoke of the divine punishment the light would send to hit Arthas, and that they must become the very soldiers of the light. They must all become holy warriors and strike down the enemy that had taken down their capital.
Isillien pointed out they would return and bring Arthas to justice. They would reforge the broken might of Lordaeron into a holy force of the light that would ride these plagued lands of all shadow, of everything unholy and wicked.
Immediately the fear on the men's faces disappeared and the entire column, only one eight of their initial force, marched on. They had suffered a devastating blow, but they would be back to rescue their homeland from the evil that had conquered it. On that day the Battle for Lordaeron had only just begun.
Well, tell me what you liked or disliked. Sorry for any grammar errors or misspelling of words. Until next time, see ya.