Hello everyone!
Last time we covered the story of the plaguelands and it seems like you all are not quite done
with the spooky stuff yet as the next request made is for Duskwood!
“Where the undead walk the land.”
Not always known as Duskwood of course, once it was a beautiful land like Elwynn Forest,
Westfall and the Redridge Mountains, a land called Brightwood.
Bright skies and peaceful woods.
While the kingdom of Stormwind prospered, its population grew, small towns spreang up
in the surrounding area like the town of Grand Hamlet.
By the time we get to experience the story, we see that the noble family of Ebonlocke
have quite the ruling hold over the town.
Lord Ello ebonlocke is the mayor.
His daughter Althea Ebonlocke is the commander of the Night Watch, the local militia set
up when Stormwind pulled back its troops after the king went missing.
Their might be a connection too Kanrethad Ebonlocke, a name most warlocks out there
are familiar with as he’s part of the Council of the Black Harvest while within Karazhan
we see the spirit of an Ebonlocke visiting a party housed in the tower.
This is from a time where the corruption of the guardian Medivh was still a secret.
Not only did he hold the immense power that comes with the job of guardian, he also had
the spirit of the dark titan Sargeras within him.
It was that corruption that lead to the opening of the dark portal and the invasion of the
Horde, but it would not remain a secret forever.
Confronted and defeated, the guardian died in combat.
It had been many centuries since that had happened, and never before had one been possessed
by demonic power.
Medivh’s death had drastic consequences.
Fel energy exploded outward from the tower of Karazhan, turning the surrounding land
into a dangerous, thorny blight.
The regions west of the tower – Brightwood – that would become known as Duskwood as
we know it today and home to some of the most tragic and dark stories that warcraft has
to offer.
Yet not all of the land is dark and spooky, right in the middle we find the Twilight Grove
where thousands of years ago the night elves lead by Fandral Staghelm had planted a branch
from the world tree Nordrassil.
That’s what seemed to have saved this part from the corruption while the tree itself
offeres a direct connection to the Emerald Dream with its corruption known as the Emerald
Nightmare.
This is why in classic you’ll see Lethon here, one of the four dragons of nightmare.
A corrupted green dragon, a raid boss, waiting to be taken on by heroes.
But not just dragons stay within the emerald dream, we also have the slumbering Worgen.
Once they were night elves experimenting with their druidic powers.
Taking it way too far by embracing their pack form.
Although powerful, it was incredibly hard to control.
More often then not we’d see the druids strike out at their friends and loved ones.
A ritual with the scythe of elune was meant to give them control over this, instead it
just pushed them further and the worgen came to be.
With a bite able to spread their feral madness, Malfurion Stormrage saw no other choice but
to use the scythe and entrap them within the dream.
Eternally slumbering and causing no further harm to the world.
Fast forward a few millenia and the worgen would be called up once again to fight against
the demons.
Velinde Starsong, sentinel and priestess amongst the night elves, was put on the task of clearing
their forests of demons.
She discovered notes about the scythe, holding it in her hands she receives a vision of chaos.
The worgen battling the satyr.
By focusing on the artifact, she’s able to not only communicate with the worgen but
also bring them into our world.
For a while things were fine, the worgen did what she hoped them to do until she figured
out that the Worgen no longer needed her to come out of the dream.
They no longer fully obeyed her wishes and knowing that Archmage Arugal was also doing
research into the summoning of the Worgen, she decides to travel and seek him out.
the scythe of elune is incredibly powerful and more forces wanted to get their hands
on it.
The worgen most of all as it was used against them in the past and they had no intention
of returning to the dream.
Velinde eventually figures out that she’s being followed and tries to hide away at Roland’s
Doom.
The mine would end up being her eternal resting place as the attack from the worgen lead to
her dropping her torch, igniting some dynamite and bringing the mine down on top of her.
She failed in her quest, failed in her duty to her people.
The worgen run rampant and the Scythe of her goddess is lost to her.
Jutting out from a pile of rubble in the mine it was pulled free by a man going by the nickname
Jitters.
Pulling it free turned Rolan’ds doom into a place of vile death.
If he had know what would have happeend, he’d cut off his own hands to keep them from grasping
that rune-carved wood.
But regrets will not change what happened.
After the scythe was freed, a change rippled through the mine.
The worgen fell upon them from everywhere, clawing from hidden holes at their feet and
dropping from silent perches above.
Half their men fell in those first panicked minutes.
The rest, including Jitters, tried to flee.
As he ran, he saw so many of his brothers taken by tooth and claw, heard so many screams
cut short or gurgle to silence.
For all he knows, he’s the only human to escape that place.
After surviving the flight from Roland’s Doom, and losing the scythe in the process,
he hid within a barn owned by a man named Sven.
For a few days he stayed, never letting anyone know that he was there.
From his hiding place he observed the family that seemed like good, loving people.
Sven would leave his farm to travel to Darkshire.
He kissed his wife and smiled to his children and promised to return soon with toys and
sweets.
The poor man.
That was the last time he saw his family unmutilated.
From Deadwind Pass the dark riders rode out in search of the powerful artifact they had
sensed.
The dark riders were once merchants foolishg enough to try and sell the corrupted guardian
some fake artifacts.
In retaliation he cursed them.
Forces them to forever scour the world for actual magical artifacts and bringing them
back to Karazhan.
Very similar to the nazgul from lord of the rings and not undefeatable.
In the comics they were taken on, even losing some of their stolen artifacts and even in
game during Legion they played their part in 3 different artifact questlines.
Apocalypse, Ulthalesh and the Scythe of Elune, all 3 lead heroes into Karazhan where they
took out the dark riders leader Ariden and claimed their mighty weapon to use it in the
war against the Legion.
But back to the story.
The mother had no idea about the artifact, all the same she tried to lie to the riders,
tried to keep her children safe.
A bold and dangerous gambit, one that might have payed off if the riders did not possess
magical means of uncovering the truth.
The artifact was not here, the family inside was useless and infront of Jitters eyes, they
were slaughtered.
He cannot describe what happened next.
It is clear in his mind, but even his wretched soul cannot put to paper the events of those
next few, grisly minutes.
I can only write that Sven's family was killed.
And soon after, Sven returned to this grim, deathly scene.
Such grief was in him that I was afraid to show myself.
And so afraid was I that he would find me, I fled from my hiding spot in the barn.
I do not know where Sven is now, but I pray he will, some day, find peace.
Easy for jitters to say, he wasn’t the one returning home only to find their entire family
slaughtered, ripped to little pieces.
And Jitters making his escape didn’t go unnoticed either.
Sven Yorgen recruits heroes to help him figure out who that shadowy figure was he saw the
night his family was killed.
We track Jitters down, get our hands on his journal detailing the horrific events which
puts us on the path against the dark riders.
Sven has seen them before speaking to the wizard Morbent Fel at the Forlorn Rowe.
A well known necromancer and an ally to the dark riderrs.
Not an easy target to take out as he has dark enchantments to protect himself from physical
assaults not to mention the undead guarding his home.
To get to him we’ll need to be properly armed.
All the way in the wetlands is a sunken ship, its cargo lightforge iron.
A precious metal, for items crafted from it strike with holy truth.
If we are to face Morbent Fel, we’ll need such a weapon, we’ll need the Morbent’s
Bane.
The dark casters magical protections are struck down, but the necromancer himself is no easy
foe.
All the same, he’s brought low and a small bit of peace is given to Sven.
The dark riders are stil out there somewhere, but atleast Morbent Fel has been defeated...
Still, just a peaceful life would not be Sven’s fate.
Somewhere along the way he ends up getting bitten by a feral worgen which gives him the
worgen curse.
Thankfully the worgen of gilneas have traveled to Duskwood to help out those that they can.
Those that haven’t lost their minds fully to the beast.
Even Jitters helps out.
The trouble he unleashed upon duskwood, the guilt must be eating away at him so he does
what he can to try and make it right.
A worgen we capture to try and save turned out to be Sven.
The rage that takes hold of him as he remembers has jitters has done.
Bringing the worgen to duskwood.
Leading the dark riders to his farm, hiding while they murdered his family.
EVERY SPECK OF SUFFERING IN HIS LIFE IS JITTER’S PATHETIC FAULT!
He wants to kill him, the beast inside screams for blood, but letting Jitters go is going
the only thing seperating him from the beasts now.
Slowly with immense effort he regains control of himself and decides to focus his attention
not on jitters but rather Morbent Fel again.
Despite heroes of the past striking him down, the necromancer has now returned as a lich,
spewing forth his darkness upon the land.
This time we thankfully won’t have to travel across the world trying to find a weapon to
strike him down.
We can rediscover the weapon we used before and hopefully end Morbent Fel once and for
all.
While we’re at Ravenhill, which was actually a proper town once upon a time, we can’t
leave the cemetery without talking about Mor’ladim.
Known to most as that anoying rare that sneaks up on you, suddenly ending the life of unaware
adventurers, the tale behind this undead is quite tragic.
Mor’ladim or Morgan Ladimore as he was known in life, was a great and noble knight who
fought with Archeus in hand for the defense of the innoccent, the poor and the afflicted.
At the age of 32 when was broke out in Lordaeron, he was called to the side of the legendary
Paladin Uther the Lightbringer to fight against the orcs and the undead.
Leaving his wife and children in the safety of his home ,Morgan left for war.
The years passed and the war dragged on and Morgan would witness many horrific events,
including the disbanding of the Paladins of te Silver Hand.
The death of Uther and the spread of the plague.
The only thing that kept him from the brink of madnes was the knowledge that he would
someday be reunited with his wife and children.
By the time that he got home again, he found the land completely transformed.
He asked the people about his family, but none could give him the answers.
A priest in Darkshire, as the town was now called, said that he might search the cemetery
at Raven Hill for a gravestone.
Against his better judgment, he decided to stop by the Raven Hill cemetery.
For hours he walked hours amongst the gravestones and then he saw them; a small untended plot
amongst the many with three small gravestones.
A feeling of dread washed over him as he approached.
Morgan brushed off the dust of the most prominent gravestone to reveal the name on it.
Simply carved upon the grave, letters spelled out his worst fear.
Lys Ladimore.
Beloved Wife and Mother.
In blind fury he started to strike the gravestone with his blade screaming in rage.
Something snapped in our once noble knight and when innocent attendants of the graveyard
tried to restrain him.
Tried to call him down... he murdered them all.
When the rage had passed and realization crept into Morgan’s mind, he took his belt knife
and stabbed himself through the heart.
But a death so dark, a mind so tormented will not easily find rest.
He lived on as one of the restless dead striking down any unfortenate enough to walk in his
path.
We’re asked to find him and return with his head, but turns out that Morgan’s grief
and despair over the loss of his family might have been a bit hasty.
His daughter still lives right here in Darkshire, one of the night watchers and it hurts her
deeply to know what happened to her father.
Perhaps if we bring her family ring to his grave.
Perhaps the spirit of Morgan can cling on to his daughters love and find forgiveness
in the Light...or atleast no longer haunt the innocents of Duskwood.
Another resident of Duskwood might be far past forgiveness though.
In the northeastern area stands Manor Mistmantle and all those in town can tell you the dark
history connected to this family name.
A story that starts out bright enough.
Stalvan Mistmantle left notes and letters detailing his journey in life.
How he ventured to Westfall and set up a lovely school in Moonbrook to teach the local children.
The defias brotherhood, the state of events in the region had him forced to abandon his
post, right into a job as a private tutor to two children.
Giles, A rambunctious boy and a challenge to educate as well as Tiloa, a seemingly exceptionally
smart girl with beauty he can not help but notice.
Supposedly the Lord has arranged her marriage for next year.
Despite knowing that, Stalvan can not help but read the situation entirely wrong.
He writes ‘Never have i felt the way i did today.
Whilst assisting giles with his history lesson, Tiloa was outside tending to the flower garden.
After a few minutes she came inside and placed a scarlet begonia in my open palm and smiled
at me in such a way that my heart felt as though it was trembling within my chest...”
“...most certain that she shares the same feelings for me now.
She even placed her hand on mine this morning.
When she smiles, her eyes light up like glittering diamonds.
Unspoken words pass between us, I can feel her in my pounding heart and heated veins...”
Heated veins soon turned sour as Tiloa has a suitor, holds hands in public nonetheless.
She just sees her tutor as Uncle Stalvan, a nice old man.
”Old!
At that word my cheeks flushed with heat.
I am but a few years older and yet she betrays.....downward spiral of despair.
First she mocks me and now she is engaged.
The ungracious charlatan was pretending to love when truly she desired to hurt me all
along.
A black void lurks within me now and it grows with each waking moment.
The blood i shall spill pales in comparison to the tears I have shed...”
Once the gruesome deed was done, Stalvan retreated to his family home in Duskwood and stayed
there until the darkness crept into Duskwood and consumed him.
Heroes were asked by Madame Eva to check out this stalvan character.
She has mysterious powers and sensed her granddaughter to be in great danger.
This premenision leads heroes on a trail all the way to the manor where they end his misserably
undead existence.
Then with the cataclysm his brother Tobias Mistmantle comes to town to figure out what
has happened.
Nobody really wants to talk about it so we recover the records on Stalvan, bring them
to Tobias who then checks out the manor for himself.
Seems that being taken over by rage and fury runs in the family as Tobias carries the worgen
curse.
He gets the answers he’s looking for, his brother truly is a monster but for him...that
choice hasn’t been made yet.
He still has his whole life ahead of him, whether it’s that of a monster or a man
is up to him.
So far heroes of the world have been helping out those trying to live their lives in Duskwood
or those trapped in their undead curse.
Their kindness or search for gold can do a lot of good, but not so much when dealing
with Abercrombie the Embalmer.
While pretending to be an old man, he has run around and do all kinds of chores.
We gather A ghost hair thread which can be used in thousand different ways from binding
evil spirits to sewing life into inanimate objects.
This is taken from Blind mary, a poor spirit that tore out her eyes with her own hands
just to not have to look at her monstrous banshee form.
Some zombie juice made from Rot Blossom to keep him warm at night, best be careful with
the stuff, it’s so strong that it could raise the dead.
Some ghoul ribs to make an effigy, a kind of scarecrow to scare away to other ghouls
and finally a crew with herbs that he lost while running away from a band of ogres.
You know, simple chores for simple heroes, nothing out of the ordinary.
If only they knew the Embalmer, the name told in one of their children’s stories.
He was a kindly alchemist, driven mad by the death of his wife, Eliza.
To restore her, he used dark magic to place his own heart within the bosom of his dead
spouse.
This did revivee Eliza...but it cursed her with a hunger for human flesh, forcing the
Embalmer to keep her buried.
His heart is his power and we’re asked to find his wife's grave, retrieve his heart,
and bring it back while it still beats.
Doing this will let the powers over her be broken, but doesn’t exactly stop Abercrombie
from using all those materials gathered to create the one, the only...
STICHES!
“So much playtime make stitches hungry!”
Stitches wants to play!
From Ravenhill to Darkshire, Ebercrombies gift for the mayor walks his own path and
very much like Mor’ladim, you do not want to get in his way.
How many poor noobs found their end by this random butcher walking around.
He became such a legend that they added him as a hero in heroes of the storm and even
too this day people are fooled by the hermit into helping him create the abomination.
You’d imagine that the people of Duskwood would make him leave at some point, but no
such luck.
He even sends stitches JR to pet battle in draenor’s garrisoon and stitches JR JR to
pet battle in the dalaran tournament meaning that even after the cataclysm, Ebercrombie
is still around.
And even after the Cataclysm, the troubles and darkness for duskwood and darkshire are
far from over.
During the Legion rogue artifact questline to obtain the Kingslayers, rogues uncover
that the people of Darkshire have joined a cult called the Veiled Hand.
Allied to the demons, they set their eyes on bringing down stormwind.
Only a few select members hold their ground, huddled together in a little house.
The rest of the town is taken by madness.
Carving up dead bodies, sacrificing the innocents, Commander Althea Ebonlocke seems to be leading
the charge and we make an attempt at her life.
“We will not be stopped” “The herald has promised us freedom and
respect.
We will not be denied!”
“You will not interfere, the legion will rise!”
One that she’s able to escape from all the way to Stormwind.
The city guards aren’t exactly happy with the rogues showing up but they don’t care.
The cult and the legion must be stopped so Althea is tracked down, interigated and killled
as well as this herald they mentioned, saving the city and obtaining some nice artifacts
to go with it.
And that’s the major story of Duskwood so far.
Seeing its history, seeing the stories that have played out here, one of the darker areas
you can find yourself lost in while adventuring through Azeroth.
Can’t wait to see if they’ll ever go back here and continue the storyline, for now though...thank
you very much for watching everyone!
By all means, let me know in the comments down below which zone you’d like to cover
next.
You could also subscribe if you like my videos, leave a like if you enjoyed this one aaand
early happy halloween everyone!!
SEE YAAA