Author's Note:
The last chapter was really short and sweet, I know. It was more or less a message that I'm not dead and the couple of reviews have sparked my urge to write again. I was a little occupied with Fortnite and Resident Evil.
Chapter 7: Icy Veins
We arrived in the mine and began to clear it of undead. The undead were tougher than in the game; I shot an undead Alliance knight in the face and it did not faze the bastard, so I had to blow it up instead using a grenade from the M203 grenade launcher attached to my rifle. I discovered I didn't have to swap out weapons, I can keep my normal rifle and just fire different projectiles.
We found the infected grain nearby the tracks going deeper into the mine. Of course, like the quest goes, we report back to them, get the cart loaded with ore after killing the undead Captain, then go to the keep for weapons. Let's skip all that bullshit and get this over with.
We walked back on the road away from the keep. After we helped the farmers, we got the weapons and informed the guards of snakes hiding in their midst. We didn't have to do it thanks to a group of Alliance adventurers that just got off the boat taking our duties for us. They can handle the rest, we just completed the first aspect of it.
I got an idea.
"Where are we going? We heading to the dragon queen?" Rick asked me.
"Actually, we should recruit some people to help us. You know? Form our own guild. If we are stuck in this world, we can perhaps form a fellowship with people who will support us." I said to him. If we are stranded in this world, maybe we can build a neutral guild with the purpose of protecting Azeroth filled with people who don't care about petty grievances or blinded by racism and faction pride.
"A Guild huh? Who do you have in mind to join us?"
"Thassarian and maybe one of the druids from the D.E.H.T.A camp." I replied with a smile.
"Thassarian? That sounds familiar."
"He's a human Death Knight that gives you the quest to help him kill a high ranking minion of the Lich King."
"Oh, the guy that's best friends with an undead blood elf Death Knight. I know who you're talking about." Rick nodded.
"We need to go to Death's Stand, that's where we meet his partners."
The problem is that Thassarian is an Alliance Death Knight and we need to have a good reason as for why he should join us. I didn't know much about the man, but all I know is that he was one of the knights that helped Arthas during his campaign in Northrend to go kill the Dread lord, Mal'Ganis, but got killed and then resurrected as a Death Knight by Arthas.
On the starting Death Knight questline, he needed the player to help him break out his fellow Death Knight that was captured by a powerful priest. I like how even though the man was playing on the villain side and working for the Lich King, he still had honor and concern for a comrade.
If the questline hasn't been picked up, then he must still be at the cultist hideout torturing a Lich for information while his two partners are at Death's Stand fighting undead abominations. Since I played through Borean Tundra, I know that the high-ranking Lich King minion is secretly holding his sister, Leryssa and an Alliance general from Valiance Keep hostage.
Yeah.
Let's use that information to help us.
[Quest Unlocked]
[Death's Friend]
Objective: Recruit the Death Knight, Thassarian into your party.
Rewards: 15Gold and a Party member will benefit from Valor, meaning a member that has joined your Guild can become stronger and their abilities will be more effective as well as gaining some benefits from your Gamer powers.
Guild Empower? Which means if Thassarian joined us, his Death Knight abilities will become stronger as he kills monsters and explores with us. Hell, he can surpass Highlord Darion Mograine with this ability. He's already a pretty powerful Death Knight, as he is dabbling in three specs. He duel wields like a Frost Death Knight, he has an undead minion like an Unholy Death Knight, and he has Blood Presence like a Blood Death Knight.
I don't know if he has all those different abilities either because he's powerful, or because he's an NPC. Player characters are only allowed to be in one spec while NPCs can dabble in three specs at the same time. It makes sense, there would be massive game balancing issues if a Feral Druid can heal like a Restoration Druid, or a Mage can be almost untouchable with having Frost spells to slow down the enemy while dishing out crazy damage with Fire and Arcane spells.
That's why they needed to segregate the story lore-wise and game-wise. Game-wise, everything is small and weaker to make things fair for players, but lore-wise? Everyone is much more powerful.
It's kind of like how the movie Avengers are different from the comic book Avengers. The movie Avengers aren't that strong, but the comic book Avengers are insanely overpowered. Thor and Hulk are nowhere near as strong as their comic book counterparts.
Luckily, Death's Stand wasn't that far thanks to riding in a black truck to the location. The [Summon Mount] ability was just like in the game; you can summon a dragon, horse, a kodo, or whatever to ride on it out of thin air. It's funny to see a tiny gnome or a goblin pull a big dragon out of their ass to ride on.
Since we didn't have any of the fantasy mounts, we were stuck with mundane Earth vehicles. We chose a black Toyota Tacoma as our mount.
We arrived at Death's Stand and saw two Alliance knights chilling by the camp fire; an undead horse wearing black metal armor stood by the tent being as still as a statue. That was no doubt Dusk, Thassarian's mount.
They quickly stood up and drew their swords as we hopped out of the truck.
"Halt, who are you two?" One of them asked.
"We come from Valiance Keep and we were sent to aid a Death Knight." I lied.
"I'm Gary and this is Rick."
"What up?" Rick smiled.
"Well, you guys are late. We already took care of the undead around here, but we don't know what's taking Thassarian so long." The knight said. Strange, usually they give you a quest to help them kill the undead in the area, but it's been resolved without any help from a player.
"Where is he?" I asked, even though I knew where he was at.
"He went to the ziggurat over there to investigate cultist activity. Feel free to check it out and see what's taking him so long." He replied.
"Let's hope he isn't helping them. I'm still a little wary on having the Death Knights join us." The other knight said.
Can't really blame the man. The Death Knights were the Lich King's elite brigade of undead knights.
We hopped back into the truck and made our way towards the ziggurat. It wasn't that hard to spot due it to being a large castle-like building in the middle of a snowy grassland. And the fact that cultists wearing purple robes were running like hell out of it.
We exited the truck and walked up the steps, shooting cultists with our guns as we made our way inside. We found Thassarian holding a Lich in place with a purple energy beam shooting out of his hand. His undead minion, Lurid, a skeleton wearing armor and wielding a big battle axe was tormenting a cultist.
"Yes, weakling...beg Lurid for life!" The skeleton cackled.
"Mercy! You were once with us! Do you not remember?" The cultist begged while on his knees.
"Speak, Lich! Undeath won't save you from what I'll put you through!" The Death Knight spat. The Lich remained silent and though it was pinned in place, it seemed to be blocking his energy beam. However, they were both 'stuck' and neither didn't look like they were about to give in anytime soon. It was the reason why Thassarian wanted the player to go get the Lich's soul jar for him because he was busy making sure the Lich didn't flee.
He turned as he saw us walking in.
"Who are you?" He asked us. I still thought the DK's voice was awesome, but hearing it in real life? It was creepy as hell as his voice was deep, robotic, and had a ghostly echo to it.
"My name is Gary and he's Rick. We came from Valiance Keep to help you and we ran into your friends at the camp." I said to him.
"Good, I need some assistance." He turned and glared at the Lich.
"No time for small talk, Gary and Rick. I was on what was to be a suicide mission to take this ziggurat. I've accomplished my duty as a soldier, now is the time to get answers. This Lich has knowledge I seek, yet I cannot inflict pain to his physical body to obtain that knowledge. The Lich stored his soul in a phylactery and while it remains hidden, I won't be able to pry-"
"Yes, I know." I interrupted him. He was saying the whole quest objective word for word and it was starting to sound robotic and scripted.
"We know that the undead bastard is holding your sister, Leryssa hostage."
The undead swordsman turned and looked at me in shock, his once calm and serious demeanor shattered to pieces.
"What? How do you know this?"
"We discovered that there were cultists that have infiltrated Valiance Keep and a high ranking Scourge commander has been manipulating the general of the keep. He is holding the general and a civilian hostage and plans to sacrifice them to the Lich King, the civilian being your sister. That is why we are here to help you." I said to him.
"Damn it, my stubborn sister! Why did she follow me here? She just put herself in danger!" He shouted.
"Rest assured, if we can get on top of that floating building over there, we will save her and the general as we discovered the Scourge commander will make the sacrifice at the top of the floating building. We need to get the Lich's little soul jar." I said, trying to calm him down. Shit, I should have kept my mouth shut. Now the poor man went from serious and unfeeling to worried and concerned.
"Go back to the camp and get my horse, Dusk. She'll show you the way to the phylactery. I'd do it, but I can't because the second I release my hold, the Lich will escape."
"Got it." I nodded.
"Hurry." He said to us as we ran out the building and jumped into the truck. We drove back to the camp and this time, we saw a newcomer that was talking with the knights. It was another human Death Knight and we couldn't see what he looked like as he was completely decked out in the full saronite armor that all DKs get after completing the starting questline. He even had the big ass great sword that DKs are infamous for using.
I could already tell that he was an Unholy DK due to the ghoul minion standing next to him.
The three men turned to us after we exited the truck.
"What's going on with Thassarian?" One of the knights asked.
"He has a Lich pinned down and is trying to interrogate it, but he can't torture it in till he gets the Lich's little soul jar. He sent us back here to get Dusk who will show us where it is." I said to them.
"Oh, that's a relief." The knight sighed.
"And who are you?" I said to the DK.
"My name is Timmy Mercer and I've been adventuring ever since I was unshackled from the Lich King's control. I've heard rumors of the great Thassarian that was here in Borean Tundra." Timmy said to us.
"What were you doing before you came here." I asked.
"When I arrived at Valiance Keep, I took up the duty of getting rid of Scourge that were attacking the keep outside while a group of Alliance champions were clearing out the cultists that have infiltrated the keep. I then encountered some druids at a camp while wandering and aided them in getting rid of animal poachers. I went into the Tuskarr village to get some supplies, saw these two men here and came over here to investigate." Timmy explained to me.
"Cool, my name is Gary and this is my best friend, Rick. Want to help us with the Lich?"
"Sure, if it means the Scourge will suffer and die, then I will gladly follow you." He said.
Hmmm.
This gives me an idea.
I know I wanted Thassarian in our guild, but he's only interested in killing the Scourge, then returning back home to his sister when all is said and done.
"Timmy, do you have any friends and family?" I asked.
"No, some are dead and the surviving ones will most likely be repulsed by me. I have the other Death Knights as comrades, but in name only." Timmy said. It was hard to covey any emotion from him. He spoke in monotone and the helmet hid his face; the only thing I can see where the icy blue glowing eyes from the small opening of the helmet.
"Do you want to join our guild? It's only us at the moment, but we will build it overtime and we will take up the mantle to defend Azeroth from all problems." I said to Timmy.
There was an awkward silence in the air as the DK pondered my offer.
"Sure, I don't see why I shouldn't join. I need allies and it's hard to find some when your good name has been ran through the mud and guilty of committing filthy acts." He finally accepted.
Quest Completed!
Though you weren't able to get Thassarian, you now have a new guild mate. You receive 15 gold and you can now grant your new guild mate some of your Gamer powers.
Now this was getting interesting.
Author's Note:
Next chapter: Death's Advance
