Gregory offered over the mushrooms to Loira. “I’m flattered, Ms. Winford. Just be careful. I’m a sawbones, but when it comes ta medicine amounts fer the dead? Ain’t too sure. I just… Be careful of what ya see.”
He popped two of the purple-headed fungus into his mouth, chewing… Reliving…
(INCOMING FEELS WARNING)
Gregory lifted his ear from May Thornbolt’s chest. His wife’s heartbeat was gone, and no amount of chest compressions awoke her. His lip shook, and he felt his heart sink into the depths of his chest.
Remy went quiet at the sight, turning away as tears began to arrive in the corners of her hazel eyes.
Gregory looked upward to the ceiling then stepped out of the room, head in his hands. He couldn’t look at this house. He couldn’t let his daughter see him like this. He… He just needed a moment to breathe. The man let out a wail, and his legs went weak. He pressed a palm into the glass of the window to keep himself standing. And… something wailed back. His eyes widened as he peered through the window.
Panic had set in as the city of Andorhal quickly went into mania. A tide of shambling corpses moaned as they ripped apart anything in their wake. How… How was this even possible? Screams filled the air. A wave of rot hit Gregory’s nostrils. He coughed, fighting back the urge to vomit his dinner as he kept fighting to maintain composure.
“P-Pa, what’s goin’ on?” Remington struggled out the words as she fought back the heavy lump in her throat. Everything still felt raw. She sniffled, moving sluggishly to peer through the window right next to him.
It was Stormwind all over again, but worse.
Gregory drew the curtains over the window. His breathing became shallow and quick. It was the bread. It was the damn bread, and it just NOW was making sense. You couldn’t get away from the tainted bread. EVERYONE that went to see him in his miniature clinic spoke of eating from the same grain, including his now deceased wife whose apparent cause of death was food poisoning.
Moisture swelled in Gregory’s eyes as the image of his May’s corpse sitting up passed through his mind. There was no cure. There was no hope.
“Remy,” the gruff man at this point didn’t care about his daughter seeing him this way, broken. “Listen to me very carefully. Get your gun. Get your axe, and wait for me by the door. We’re gonna look fer folk that are still livin’. Don’t go into the bedroom no matter what you hear until I come back out.”
The woman mustered what resolve she could at her father’s words and nodded. She could cry later. The huntress had to focus on keeping herself and him safe for the time being.
A low moan echoed out of May Thornbolt’s corpse. But it wasn’t her. It was just her shell. The undead visage of his wife began to shamble out of the bedsheets, flopping onto the floor with a sickening slap.
Gregory shakily grasped the rough haft of his wood-chopping axe. His voice went hoarse.
Just had to play through the Andorhal quest line for both the Horde and Alliance. Trying to get the order of events right in my head.
Although I will be changing a number of things when writing my story.
I always find myself slapping Sylvanas.
Also - how did Lurid get killed? I have to assume that after Thassarian tells you to go report to Commander Ashlam Valorfist, they get attacked by forsaken in large numbers ala the last few horde quests, and Thassarian leaves Lurids bones behind.
one day Thassarian got tired of standing around in Andorhal and went on a lowbie killing spree before making out with his boyfriend in front of Sylvanas. it was a good day.
OK so here's the dealio with Thassarian rescuing Koltira:
He absolutely cannot do it by himself. Sylvanas is smart enough to know he would try and she's certainly prepared enough to take out a single death knight (powerful as Thass is at this point).
I think Thass would be smarter by now too. Sylvanas is basically lord of the undead outside of Northrend -- what's he gonna do against the Banshee Queen and the full might of the Forsaken? There's no way he can fight her alone.
A covert mission is possible but Koltira is Sylvanas' special project at this point. She has plans for him and has almost certainly taken multiple measures to keep him "safe." If Thass tried anything there would be no exit strategy.
This approach could still work if ending Koltira was the intention and Thass was willing to die in the process, but he has a sister waiting for him. Been a while since I read the manga but I thought he promised her something? Anyway, suicide mission just isn't an ideal situation for him and neither is killing Koltira (obviously).
-- Ebon Blade and the Argent Crusade
Back in Andohal Thassarian declares to the player he will ride to Tirisfal and rescue Koltira. He gives no hints on how he'll accomplish this lol. What probably happened is he wasn't thinking clearly (understandable after the losses he just suffered - worst leader ever lol) and soon realized he needed a better plan.
Thassarian is loyal to the Alliance but instead of returning to his king, he is compelled to return to Ebon Hold and speak with Highlord Darion Mograine on the matter. Thass would probably try to convince him to take action.
The Ebon Blade is almost certainly aware of the situation by now. Perhaps their negotiators have failed (if they used any -- not like Sylvanas would negotiate on this matter anyway) and combat is their only other option. The question is whether it's a good idea to assault Undercity and risk hundreds of Ebon Blade knights for the sake of 1.
Mograine might be conflicted. On one hand he values the knights he has left (judging from his NPC dialogue) but he knows Koltira well enough, maybe considers him among his best. Losing such a knight would be a painful blow to the Ebon Blade... but so would losing anyone in a conflict against Sylvanas.
And what makes Sylvanas more dangerous than most is very few corpses are beyond her reach. She's not quite the Lich King but the likelihood of resurrecting fallen knights would be high. Perhaps they would share in Koltira's mysterious "reprogramming."
But the Ebon Blade probably wouldn't be alone.
The Argent Crusade is watching Sylvanas very closely. As her powers and mania grow it's only a matter of time before she MUST be dealt with. Given the enormous political issues involved in attacking a major city, particularly one riddled with innocent and unaware undead citizens (remember the Crusade has a relaxed stance against the undead people, recognizing their free will and potential for good), they can't justify an attack unless the situation is beyond dire.
So both these "neutral" factions see Sylvanas as a threat. Given the situation Mograine would consult Tirion Fordring. By combining forces as they did in Northrend, they would at least be evenly matched or, likely, become powerful enough to take out Sylvanas together.
-- The Horde
So on the one hand, if the Ebon Blade and Argent Crusade wait too long, maybe she will become too powerful for such a union to be effective.
On the other hand openly declaring war would be political suicide. A joint assault on a capital city would not be seen as a neutral act by the horde. Although none of the horde leaders are a fan of Sylvanas these days, Warchief Vol'Jin would have to act.
But maybe this isn't so bad.
With Garrosh finally subdued perhaps the horde is finally ready to turn its sights on Syvlanas and the potential threat she poses to them (and life in general!). The other leaders are very aware of what she's capable of (but probably not everything) and there is a growing unease.
-- Opportunity
So here's what might happen.
Sylvanas will eventually do something directly against horde policies, perhaps by raising non-humans like tauren and orcs. Maybe start raising powerful figures or monsters under her command. Maybe undead dragons! Maybe lich... She wants more! And she won't stop either. With trust fading and tensions mounting, these actions would not be tolerated by the horde (let alone the Alliance who are also watching closely and waiting). Defiant and unapologetic as ever, Sylvanas might just see horde warships crowding the shores of Tirisfal one day (at that point I bet she'd welcome it).
This is what the Ebon Blade and Argent Crusade are waiting for. This is their chance to join a larger initiative and help stop Sylvanas, and in the process hopefully rescue Koltira (Thassarian's main priority).
But who knows when all of this would happen. If Sylvanas stops being careful it means she can afford to stop caring, so she was already making her own preparations.
What exactly?
Who knows! but I bet Koltira will play a major part.
-- Champion of the Banshee Queen
To expand on Koltira's part, his free will is almost certainly gone by now. The subject of endless and agonizing experiments carried out by Sylvanas' loyal apothecaries, his mind would have been sufficiently shattered. Prime reprogramming material.
And with the latest Forsaken chemistry and engineering (and plenty of valkyr magic to go around) it's likely this new Koltira will be A LOT more powerful than before.
So basically I think Koltira is gonna be Sylvanas' new weapon. Whatever she did to him, his free will has been replaced with her own and now she has a new champion ready to be unleashed on the enemies of the Forsaken marching on Undercity's doorstep.
-- Last Stand
And here's where it could get really awesome or really sad: final showdown with Koltira VS Thassarian.
Although Thass is still trying to rescue Koltira, deep down he wonders if Koltira is beyond saving at this point. When he finally sees what he's become, there is little doubt. The only way to save him now is to end his miserable existence.. to finish what they started so many years ago!
But Koltira is much stronger than Thass could have anticipated. Even with several forces aiding him, Thassarian will lose this fight.
And then maybe we get that dumb (but delicious) twist where Koltira has a moment of clarity and can't bring himself to finish off Thassarian. Maybe he tries to leave Thassarian breathing but Sylvanas sees this and (disappointed in yet another failure by Koltira) finishes off Thass herself... or she tightens her grip on Koltira's mind, forcing the deed.
Either way, realizing he's killed Thassarian, the only person in the whole world he cared about, could be enough to free his mind. To see what he's done, to know what she made him do... imagine him now turning his runeblade towards Sylvanas! The monster is loose!
Imagine if he wounded her or even killed her! The latter is unlikely because Sylvanas deserves to be a really cool raid boss.
If there was a boss fight I bet it'd be a situation where Koltira is there to help you and you have to keep him alive or get him to use different abilities at different points to augment your raid. Could be really fun imo!
-- After Sylvanas
But anyway, if something happened to Sylvanas, what would happen to Undercity? What about the Forsaken?
Although plenty of others would love to take control of Lordaeron, the horde has no intention of losing UC.
So, imagine if Koltira took over lol.
It's hard to say how a shift in loyalties among the Forsaken (assuming there were enough survivors who didn't follow/serve Sylvanas during the attack, thus were spared) would work out. Maybe they would rebel, maybe alliance would take this lapse in strong leadership to try and take back Lordaeron (horde would never let it happen but yeah could be a cool event thing -- maybe alliance version of this new UC Battle?).
And new undead players? Koltira doesn't need valks to raise the dead but I kinda doubt he's as interested in keeping the Forsaken numbers "healthy" as Sylvanas was.
Perhaps there is a renegade valk or two working together with former charges of Syvlanas to raise new players somewhere. Gotta keep those yellow eyes.
To keep city affairs moving and territories under control there would probably be a council of other important figures running things while Koltira made himself useful by patrolling the city grounds... maybe visit the tiny memorial outside with Thassarian's name etched into it . :[ Whether he would eventually take interest in Forsaken affairs and become a leader, who knows, but he has his share of baggage to overcome.
In this scenario Koltira doesn't want power, he doesn't want subjects or a city. He's mainly there to make sure Sylvanas doesn't return somehow (with so many loyalists and whatever manner of lich magic is left in UC, his concern might be valid).
-- Alone
Both Thassarian and Koltira have shown they're capable of moving on with their unlives apart from each other.
However, given the violent circumstances and Koltira's wounded psychological state, it's probably hard for him to forget Thassarian now, the only person (in his current life) who ever seemed to understand or care about him.
Although he will fight viciously to defend himself and against any threats connected to Sylvanas, the only thing Koltira truly wants now is a final death. He waits for someone strong enough to defeat him and lift away the burden of unlife. In his mind, it should have been Thassarian.
-- Hero's Welcome
With Thassarian's final demise the Ebon Blade and Alliance have lost a great champion. The body would have probably been burnt as a precaution (wouldn't want to leave a body for more sinister minds to find) and his ashes sent to his sister. There might be recommendations and considerations for him to be buried in Stormwind graveyard among other fallen heroes. It would have been more than Thassarian could have ever dreamed of in life.
And in life Thassarian wanted nothing more than to serve his king. In death he was many things but his dedication to anything and anyone he cared for never wavered.
Tirisfal was his original home but all trace of his former life would have been destroyed or defiled by now. Perhaps with the help of the Ebon Blade, Koltira erected a small, plain memorial to Thass somewhere nearby.
As for Thassarian's runeblades, they were either burnt with the body or otherwise hidden away. Maybe Koltira acquired one and buried it at the memorial, who knows.
--
Maaaan I feel so bad for these characters lol.
I dunno how things will really happen, if anything (goddamn Blizz come on), but I doubt anyone will get a happy ending out of it.
