Hello everyone. Gulefritz here with chapter 3 of Battle for Lordaeron.
I got an question I would like for you to ask.
As I mentioned, I was considering making this an AU story. The AU element I want to introduce is the survival of Alexandros Morgraine. That he somehow survives Renault's attempt to kill him inside of Stratholme. But I would like to know if I should do that, or if I should keep the normal timeline. Please tell me what you would like to see.
Now, lets continue.
"It breaks my hearth to even look at you Arthas. Your father rules these lands for more than seventy years and you ruined it in less than a week."
The fallen knight grinned as he looked at the old paladin.
"Quite the chatter Uther, give me the urn and your death will be swift"
This angered the paladin a lot.
"What! This urn holds the ashes of your father! What did you intend to use it for? Piss on it one last time before you leave his kingdom to rot!?"
Arthas smiled and laughed
"I did not know what it contained but it does not matter, I will get it one way or another"
With that Arthas charged the old paladin. He raised frostmourne and swung out with a powerful blow at the paladin. Uther raised his hammer and the blade caught the shaft of the hammer. Uther pushed Arthas back and started to summon an aura of light around him.
"Light give me strength!"
Uther's body would start to shine with the light. Arthas covered his eyes a moment, the warmth of the light making the death knight feel sick. Uther struck out at his former pupil with his Warhammer. Arthas blocked the blow but soon regretted doing so. The blow was so hard he almost lost his footing. He jumped back, away from the range of the hammer.
Uther went on the offensive, swinging his hammer at Arthas, not allowing the fallen prince one moment of rest. The light amplified the paladins strikes and aided him in this battle against his former pupil.
"You will feel the light's retribution!"
Uther swung one more time and he broke the prince's defenses. The prince was unable to block the Warhammer and it struck him in the stomach, inches higher and it would have been lethal. The prince was sent flying back into a tree.
Arthas shook his head and felt fear, a first time in his entire life.
"So this is the wrath of the light. I was a fool to challenge him and now I pay for it"
"No! You will defeat him, or all our work will be for nothing, the future I showed you nothing but a lie. Rise again and strike him down!"
Arthas rose from the ground and brushed of the dust from his shoulder. The fallen knight almost looked unscathed, as if he had been hit by a novice he used to spar with at the palace. Frostmourne preserved the knight and almost no damage had been done to the knight. Arthas grinned and walked forward, raising his sword to strike out at Uther.
The battle raged on for hours. Both sides pushed forward and other moved back, only for the other to counterattack, pushing the former back. The battle would go on like this for a while, but something crucial for the outcome was beginning to get more and more evident.
While Uther were growing tired and losing his breath, were Arthas totally fine. The death knight felt as the blade kept him going. He could draw upon the strength of all the souls he had captured in his blade and it sustained him. He swung at Uther several times and each time he felt the strength of the paladin fall, slowly but surely draining him of all his strength.
And then it happened. Arthas swung hard and Uther lost the grip of his Warhammer. Uther, exhausted, fell on his knees and glared up at Arthas.
"I hope there is a certain place you in hell, Arthas!"
Arthas grinned and walked forward, stabbing Frostmourne through the hearth of his former teacher, through the hearth of a man he used to look upon as a family member. He enjoyed this moment. He lowered himself and whispered into the paladin's right ear.
"We may never know Uther. I intend to live forever"
With that Arthas pulled out the blade and the old paladin fell to the side, dead on the ground. Arthas went into his camp, which had been overrun by Baron Rivendare, and found the urn. He raised the fallen soldiers and left the camp.
It would be the last time Andorhall saw Prince Arthas for a long time.
The fall of the Lightbringer was a devastating blow to the people of Lordaeron. The old battle-hardened paladin had fought hard and had wielded the light in ways other paladins could only dream about, but the power of Frostmourne was too much for the old paladin to handle.
The loss of their Highlord shook the Silver Hand. The order was unable to push back the undead wherever they went and more of their soldiers fell to the advancing undead scourge. The order started to fortify their strongholds together with what remained of the Lordaeron army, which ment leaving the interior of Lordaeron to its fate.
And it was not a pleasant fate.
Arthas paved a way straight through Lordaeron and set up cauldrons all over the fields that used to provide food for the Kingdom. The cauldrons would spread the plague across the land, affecting trees, grass and wildlife alike. Everything started to rot and corruption grew inside and show outside on everything it touched. With time they turned Lordaeron into what would be known as the Plaguelands.
Arthas paved his way through Lordaeron and went east. He cut down anyone he meets and raised them for his undead scourge. He left small forces to hunt down the remaining humans, while he took the bulk of his army into Quel'thalas.
But the people that remained had not been broken into submission and were not ready to submit just yet.
A grand paladin Saiden Dathrohan of the Silver Hand had called for a meeting of all members inside of the fortified city of Tyr's Hand. Although it initially only went for the order, other people were also invited, here including the High-General of Tyr's Hand, Abbendis himself. He looked out at everyone present and sighed. The only remaining paladin who were not present, for obvious reasons, was Tirion the exile.
All the members had gathered inside the command room of the barracks inside of Tyr's Hand.
Saiden Dathrohan speaks out to the group.
"We face a much greater crisis than the second war could have brought us"
Everyone in the room nodded.
"The traitor prince has broken the army and scattered the hand. He fight with such savagery the orcs looks like weaklings. I am afraid we have to change our ways, if we are to fight Arthas and his scourge"
One of the paladins looked at Dathrohan and raised his arm. Dathrohan nodded and the paladin spoke up, it was Alexandros. Alexandros had recently returned from Ironforge, wielding a new blade instead of his usual Warhammer.
"What exactly do you propose Dathrohan?"
Everyone turned to look at the grand paladin.
"We have to unite both the people of Lordaeron, the military and the order of the Silver Hand. We must form a remnant of the former Kingdom, but not forsake our duty before the light and cleanse the lands of the undead, no matter the cost"
He paused for a moment, some of the paladins looking skeptical, especially Maxwell Tyrosus, while Bishop Isillien and High-General Abbendis looked pleased.
"I call for a union between everyone in this land. Every lordaeronian must unite and we will fight back against Arthas and his scourge. With blood we will reclaim Lordaeron and purge the land of his abominations"
With a motion of his hand, several people walked into the room, carrying banners, but not a banner seen before. The banner consisted of a red flame on a white background. Another banner besides it consisted of the Lordaeronian L, just with a red color instead.
"We will form a Crusade to destroy the scourge and rid ourselves of this shadow that has befallen our lands. We will form the Scarlet Crusade!"
The paladins at the table nodded, while Isillien and Abbenis clapped, joined in by some of the commanders inside of the room. With time the paladins joined in. it would be obvious they did not like to abandon the hand, but it was desperate times, and if this was what it demanded.
"Everyone in favor, raise their hand"
In the room sat all the paladins that had survived Arthas's advancing scourge, most notably Alexandros Morgraine and his oldest son Renault Morgraine. Others include Maxwell Tyrosus, Taelan Fordring and Aurius Rivendare, who despite his father has fallen to the scourge is willing to fight against the undead forces.
At first no one raised their hand but Isillien and Abbendis, but soon Alexandros Morgraine and Renault Morgraine raised their hands. With time most of the paladins lifted their hands. There were a majority for the formation and Saiden nodded.
"For the moment, I will take command of this order, but in the coming days will you all be summoned here again for further construction of this order, where we will elect our new leaders. Dismissed"
A week passed and the everyone present returned for a second meeting inside the command room of Tyr's Hand barracks. Several ranks had to be filled out and with time every important role had been taken by a person present in the room.
Leader of the crusade went to the Grand Paladin Saiden Dathrohan, who would take up the new title of Grand Crusader. He promised he would lead the crusade to victory against the undead scourge and do everything he possibly could to unite the scattered people of Lordaeron. In the upcoming days he would start to recruit and form what would become the elite of the Crusade, a branch called the Crimson Legion and declared he would lead an attack on Stratholme in the coming months.
Second in command went to the paladin Alexandros Morgraine. The paladin was promoted to the rank of Highlord and an order from Morgraine equaled an order from Dathrohan. The aura and strength of the highlord inspired most of the persons in the room, most of them knowing of his experience from the second war while others had seen the power of the Ashbringer.
The cleric Fairbanks had been given the rank of High Abbot. The cleric would lead the priesthood in their role against the undead. He would make sure they stayed as humble and compassionate as before the plague. He vowed he would try to be as uniting and inspiring as the old bishop Alonsus Faol who died a few weeks before the plague hit.
High General and leader of the Crusade's armed forces went for the High-General of the Lordaeron army, Abbendis of Tyr's Hand. Some of the other people in the room doubted him as the man seemed changed ever since the battle of Capital City. The man had turned more hot headed and brutal in his nature, gone was the tactical thinking general who lead the army of Lordaeron in the second war and left was an savage who Maxwell Tyrosus would say reminded him of Orgrim Doomhammer.
The last rank for the upper echelon would be a new rank made by the Grand Crusader himself, the rank of High Inquisitor. Many in the priesthood looked unsure when Saiden Dathrohan mentioned the rank and their uncertainty were not removed when the paladin explained why they needed the inquisitors.
"Corruption in our ranks is what drove us into this crisis. We need to make sure every member of our order is pure and has no dark motives"
The priesthood decided to remain silent, none of them wanted to take up that rank, with the exception of one of them.
Isillien raised himself from his chair and announced he would gladly take up the rank of High Inquisitor and would gladly lead the new inquisitors in their new responsibilities. After having witnessed the undead in the field and how they looked like humans when recently raised, would the old man have several methods to root out any corruption.
Dathrohan nodded and asked out for anyone who would object against Isillien as High Inquisitor. No one in the room said anything and Dathrohan took it valid reason to give the old man the rank of High Inquisitor.
The last set of ranks would be the commanders. The people of the Lordaeron army would keep most of their former ranks, but new commanders had to be elected for the upcoming battles.
Saiden gathered a few of the young and old paladins and soldiers. Saiden pointed at the youngest of the paladins, Renault Morgraine.
"Renault, you will become a commander. Together with your father will the two of you take the fight to the undead forces here in the Eastern Plaguelands"
Renault looked to his father who smiled with pride and the man turned back to Dathrohan and bowed before the Grand Crusader.
"You will not regret this, Grand Crusader"
Saiden then turned to Maxwell Tyrosus.
"Maxwell, you will take a contingent and garrison Light's Hope chapel. The last thing we would want to happen is the area to fall to the corruption of the Scourge and the old knights of Lordaeron join the Scourge"
Maxwell would remain silent a moment before nodding at the Grand Crusader.
"As you wish, Dathrohan"
And last but not least Dathrohan turned to Taelan Fordring.
"Taelan Fordring. The betrayal of your father is not forgotten, but it will not affect your status here in the crusade. You will take Isillien to your family home of Mardenholde Keep inside of Hearthglen. You will fortify the city and lead attacks against the scourge in Andorhall. Got it"
Taelan would bow before the grand crusader, just like Renault did. He was determined to show himself before the Grand Crusader and he would prove that he is not a traitor to Lordaeron or the light.
With that Saiden Dathrohan dismissed them all and told them to send out words of the formation of the Scarlet Crusade. As timed passed all the scattered Lordaeronians, who had not reached the land of Hillsbrad, had somewhere else to go, to be safe. The cities of Hearthglen, Tyr's Hand and the last remaining stronghold of human power, the Tirisfal Monastery in Tirisfal glades joined the crusade. With these regions the crusade had strong defensive positions, and a lot of manpower flocked to their banners.
One of them would be the woman Aliya Lacrimosa. She originated from the city of Stratholme and had managed to avoid the Crown-Prince's purge of the city. She used to live in the city and dreams of the day the city would be ridden of the undead forces. She had taken up residence inside of Tyr's Hand after Arthas sacked the city, and when she one day saw recruiters from the crusade inside of the city, was she among the first to join the ranks of the Scarlet Crusade.
Through shear determination would she quickly rise from an simple initiate to one of the crusaders.
The initiation period starts out with a visit to the inquisition. Due to the earlyness Aliya joined the crusade would there not be any sufficient Inquisitor trained to take care of her, so she got the attention of the High Inquisitor himself.
The inquisiton was long, hard and painful. It was the first time she and everyone else in the room. The high inquisitor had many ways to bring out any shadow from the person, even if it did physical pain to the person.
After hours of pain did the inquisitor finally accept that the woman was free of corruption and released her from the retraints keeping her down. Aliya walked out of the room with a heavy limp and several wounds on her body, but she would not let it break her. She actually used it to fuel her conviction before the light, that this pain was necessary to remain pure in the light.
She quickly cleaned up the wounds and put on bandages before joining in on the physical work outside the barracks. There Commander Renault had gathered all the new initiates who the inquisitor had taken or had said he would do another time. Renault had armed them all with a sword and shield.
"In the crusade we fight like one unit! We fight in the shield wall and we need to be sure you can keep back the blows from the undead soldiers. Form two lines, shield in the front"
The initiates did as the young Morgraine commanded. They formed two lines of shields and waited for what the commander had in mind.
Renault is armed with the usual Warhammer of the Silver Hand. Aliya gulped as she could see where this was going. She bracer herself behind her shield and waited for the blow to come.
She did not wait long.
Renault stormed forward and swung out with the giant hammer. He hit the line in several places, and several places the men broke apart, falling back on the ground and flown back from the strikes of the young paladin. Renault reached her part of the line and swung the hammer.
But Aliya and those two beside her did not fall.
Their part of the shield wall held. Renault stopped a moment, clearly surprised by this. He striked out at them again, and once more they were able to hold back the assault from the young paladin. Renault held back on his attacks and looked at the initiates who were able to keep back his assault.
Renault went from right to left as he looked at them. He went to the first person, a man taller and older than Aliya. The man was so tall Renault had to look up to look at him. Renault probably believed this man was the one who contributed most to holding back the Commander.
"You, who are you?"
The man had a red beard and looked down at the smaller man but answered to him in a way you normally would answer an superior.
"My name is Alan sir! I come from the farmlands of Hearthglen sir"
"A farmer. And how come a peasant can keep back the blows from a Warhammer"
"I used to be part of the militia inside of Andorhall Sir! I helped keeping back the Orcs during the second war and fought the undead when the plague hit the lands sir!"
Renault looked the man over and got an idea, mostly due to the size of the man. Alan turned out to be an almost two-meter-tall soldier. Renault went to the armory and got a weapon from inside. He walked back to the waiting soldiers and handed him a two handed sword.
"You are efficient in the shield wall, but we need men to destroy the undead aswell. Please, try and swing this sword"
Alan was unsure. He had never held a sword longer than a short sword and now he held a blade almost as long as himself. He hesitated for a moment. Renault grew annoyed from this.
"We do not have all day! Swing the damn blade at the shield wall"
The tall man nodded and turned around to look at the shield wall. He looked to where he stood before and decided to test it against the strong part of the wall. He raised the blade and tried to swing it in the same way Renault had swung the hammer at them before. It was clumsy but he managed to swing the blade without losing his footing.
And to Aliya's annoyance, the man hit hard.
He did hit with the same strength as Renault could do with his Warhammer, but the blow was still strong. They managed to keep their ground, but the blade hit them hard, almost forcing them backwards.
"I think we found a proper weapon for a man your size. Maintain it and you will strike down the undead like a hot knife through butter"
In the distance the sparring session was being witnessed from the Grand Crusader himself and he liked what he saw. Already now the people of Lordaeron showed some promise in the coming battle for Lordaeron. He turned to a man to his right.
"Commander Malor"
The commander immediately attended the Grand Crusader.
"Sir"
"How many men have we assigned for the Crimson legion"
The Commander looked through his papers on the clipboard he held.
"Two hundred and fifty men sir"
The grand crusader nodded before opening his mouth again.
"Add another twenty men, and tell Renault to give you the name of the one with the two-handed sword and those who actually held the line, when the commander attacked"
The commander looked at the grand crusader confused
"For what reason sir?"
The grand crusader laughed.
"I want them in the legion"
So, in this chapter we had the fall of Uther the Lightbringer and the formation of the Scarlet
Crusade.
In this chapter we were introduced to two survivors we will follow in this story.
Next up is the battle for Stratholme.