"You're usually much more strict than this, cousin," Brisa explained. "I could recognize defeat in your voice, just as you recognized it earlier in mine. I knew something had changed. The Archivist here had just confirmed my suspicions by providing us with your recent exploits," Brisa nodded towards Illanna, who exchanged a similar nod back to her.
"Rightly so, Huntmaster," responded Illanna, "Tragique was in fact the champion who was part of Mograine's original unit. Apparently, time works differently in the realms of death than they do in Azeroth. While Tragique reported to having only traversed his adventurers in a few short days by his time, it wasn't until two weeks later here on Azeroth that we received his first contact. So you see, this is all still fresh in the Dreadlord's mind, and you are right to assume his defeat, as the leaders had unfortunately been unable to follow the Dreadlord's path through the waystone."
Tragique nodded at Illanna and said to the group, "You are correct- they are still lost, somewhere in the Maw, but there might still be a chance to save them. You see, the Shadowlands isn't just a place of torment, as the Maw is described to be. Apparently, there are many facets of the Shadowlands that we are just barely discovering ourselves. The waystone brought me to a peculiar, yet beautiful realm called Oribos, the Eternal City. Its denizens, which call themselves 'Attendants' are strange beings made of eerie translucent energy, with strange artifacts like clothing affixed around their ghost-like bodies. They were very strange to us, yet they remain friends, or at least neutral to our presences, even to go as far as helping us."
Tragique stood up and started to pace across the room and continued his story, "This is where it gets even stranger, as I don't know what to believe anymore. Apparently, once we die here on Azeroth, our souls are taken to Oribos to face judgment from a being they call the Arbiter, a creature of immense primordial power, but also impartial, almost machine-like. The Arbiter can peer into our previous lives and decide what realm we would be best suited to, based on our deeds in life. But the calamity happened that not so long ago, something attacked the Arbiter and her function ceased, and all new souls are now being sent directly into the Maw, instead of through the Arbiter, bypassing her unbiased judgment completely.
"Wait, you don't mean," Aeri said, worry in her eyes.
"Yes, everyone you know, from a specific point in the past we do not yet know, have been sent directly into the Maw, eluding their chance at a peaceful afterlife, or the right to at least be judged and given a chance to be redeemed."
They were quiet for a while, all the new information still sinking in. Tragique continued his explanation, "From what I'm told by the Stewards, there are four greater realms. Dreadmoore, the charts, if you please. This next explanation will...take a while to go through. I'd suggest to gather around the table and pay close attention."
For the next several hours, Tragique and Illanna did their best to explain how covenants worked in the Shadowlands, answering in detail as many questions as the group had. And there were many.
They started off by explaining how Oribos had been created by ancient beings called "The First Ones", though they didn't know any more than that. The Eternal City worked as a gathering conduit of souls from all mortal realms (not just Azeroth), and the myriad of different afterlife realms they were connected to. Outside of Oribos, four powerful realms, called Covenants, which had also been created by the First Ones, controlled the afterlives. Each Covenant played an important role in the machinations of the afterlife, each with its own purpose, responsibility, and focus.
The realm of Bastion was home to the Kyrian, described by the Attendants as being angelic, winged people tasked with ferrying souls between the lands of the living and dead. They were known to let go of their former lives and place their values in merits, such as humility, righteousness, service, and virtue. It was led by a mighty being called the Archon.
Next was the realm of Maldraxxus, home to the Necrolords. Being the military might of the shadowlands, it was their task to defend the other realms of death from any outside threats. The Necrolords were divided up into 5 houses, each specializing in a different form of warfare. They valued power and might over anything else, and tested themselves against each other to produce mighty defenders of the Shadowlands. Its leader was the Primus, who oversaw all 5 houses.
Ardenweald was the realm of the Night Fae, guardians of nature and shepherds of the cycle of life and death. Their realm harbored mighty and ancient nature spirits, as well as being connected to many other realms of nature, including the Emerald Dream, as well as strong ties to the Drust. Many demi-gods, Loa, and other powerful spirits from multiple other realms are reborn here and sent back to their living worlds. Ardenweald is led by a powerful being known as the Winter Queen.
Revendreth was home to the Venthyr- tall, elegant, and vampiric people, fond of sophistication and grace. It was their role in the afterlife to seek out souls that had been burdened by their flaws, such as pride, greed, or apathy, and help them with purging the souls of these flaws- essentially making them see the error of their ways. The Venthyr prepare souls for one of two different fates: to redeem themselves of their burdens, or if a soul is judged to be irredeemable, they are sent the rest of their eternity in the Maw. Their master, Sire Denathrius rules over all of Revendreth.
The last place they discussed was the Maw. Its original purpose was to house the irredeemable souls; a twisted realm of torment, which also had imprisoned a being of immense power a d cruelty known as the Jailer. The attendants did not know what to make of Tragique's accounts of almost being captured by the Jailer in the maw, as the Jailer was supposed to have been confined. They had their suspicions that he must have been involved in the tragedy that had befallen the Arbiter.
Lastly, there was the problem with a massive drought that had mysteriously fallen upon all of the Shadowlands. The power they had run on, Anima, had ceased to flow when all of the souls had stopped coming through Oribos and instead bypassed directly into the Maw. This was causing all sorts of problems, stopping the machinations of death and each Covenant had lost all their connections as well to each other as well as to Oribos. The realms of undeath were in complete chaos, and more questions than answers had come of it all.
The sun hung low in the sky, a golden sunset making its way down into the window outside. Tama was fast asleep in her corner of the room, a low purring as she flexed her paws. On their makeshift table, various reports and archives were strewn about, and hastily created maps of different realms were being studied. Though they all must have each been exhausted by their travels to House Nethari, nonetheless, everyone had been very engaged in the discussion, while the food kept coming and questions kept arising from each of the siblings.
"Now that you have all been briefed of everything I know of the Shadowlands," said Tragique, as he stood up from his creaking barrel, "the time has come for me to assign your quest."
"Here we go," grinned Jassan, rubbing his hands together. Brisa leaned forward in her seat with anticipation, while Aeri and Runa held hands giggling with excitement, eager to hear what Tragique had to say.
"First, our original task remains the same, to extract our world leaders from the maw and bring them home. The Maw holds the vast armies of the Jailer, which rival that of the Legion. But before we can do this, we must gain the cooperation of the four covenants to lend us their aid, and for this, we must find some way for them to gain our trust. Next, we must discover the source of this drought that has befallen all the shadowlands and help the machinations of death to operate once more. This is a task far too great for any one person, and time is not on our side, as every second we waste is a moment more the Jailer has to fulfill whatever damning schemes bring him closer to his goals. And lastly, we must find out what Sylvanas Windrunner is up to and bring her to face justice. She is suspected of being in league with the Jailer and for this, she must pay for her crimes."
Illanna stood up and looked at the group and said, "This is where you four come in. We cannot be everywhere at once, as Tragique must continue aiding Highlord Fordragon with finding Darion Mograine back in the Maw. We need the four of you to venture into the Shadowlands to befriend and gain the aid of the four covenants. Though I would normally suggest you all go together as a group from one Covenant to the next, we do not have the luxury of time."
Tragique continued speaking after Illanna, "Each of you must choose one covenant to visit and do whatever it takes to convince them to aid our cause. By turn, we would be assisting them in aiding their strifes as well. I know you all work together in a group, but we trust your individual skills alone."
"But wait, Tragique, we all work as a team. We always have," said Brisa, looking around to her brother and sisters for confirmation. They all nodded and looked at Tragique.
"I know this, and believe me when I tell you that if it were not for our haste, we would take our time to work this out with all four covenants," he continued gravely, "But if you decide to take on this quest and aid Azeroth once again, you must each use your own strengths you've earned after everything you all have accomplished on your own and save our world, or should I say realm, once again."
Silence met his words from the group, knowing what was on their minds. All of them look towards one another in concern. Tragique knew what they must be thinking, but they were all champions in their own right. Their names have reached the ears of many powerful people and beings on Azeroth and beyond. They were each worthy of this quest, but they relied much on each other without realizing their full potential and what they were capable of on their own.
"Let me end with this before you make your choice. Once you choose your covenant, it will be very difficult to backtrack and aid another one. For the sake of keeping good ties with each house, make sure you choose one you feel best would suit your skills and abilities. So, I offer this choice now, children of my kin: Will you join our cause and venture into the darkness of the Shadowlands?"
