Hello everyone!
The Burning Legion has invaded azeroth once again and mages are able to pick up 3 different
artifacts to empower them in this war.
For the frost mage it’s Ebonchill, a greatstaff wielded by Alodi, the first guardian of tirisfal.
He passed it on to his favorite apprentice who in turn passed in on to theirs and so
on untill...the archmage Arrexis.
He disappeared sometime around the first war and Meryl doesn’t know anything about his
fate, but the answers may well be somewhere in this library.
That’s where our search begins so as we scoure notes to discover what happened to
Arrexis, lets cheat a little bit and talk about the history of this artifact:
Alodi never knew his real parents.
From infancy, he was raised in an orphanage for magically gifted children in Dalaran.
His only connection to his parents was Ebonchill, which they had left with the boy when they
abandoned him at the school.
His dubious parentage and mixed ancestry made life difficult for Alodi.
Most magi pitied him, but others treated him with scorn.
No one believed he would rise to greatness.
They were mistaken.
In time, the orphan would become the first Guardian of Tirisfal, one of the most powerful
magi to have ever lived.
Alodi became Guardian at a dire time for the Council of Tirisfal.
This secret order of magi was created to protect Azeroth from demons.
For many years, its members succeeded in their quest.
Then a dreadlord named Kathra'natir changed everything.
The demon infiltrated Dalaran and thwarted the council's attempts to stop him.
Kathra'natir sowed unrest in the streets, threatening to engulf the city in turmoil.
To defeat Kathra'natir, the Council of Tirisfal's magi took drastic measures.
Through a complex ritual, they infused all of their power into Alodi.
It was an act of great trust and faith.
Kathra'natir was no match for the newly empowered Alodi.
The Guardian unleashed his astonishing power on the demon and banished him from the world
in short order.
From his early days in the Dalaran orphanage, Alodi had been fascinated with frost magic.
This was due in part to the icy enchantments woven into Ebonchill.
With the staff, Alodi learned how to freeze water and manipulate air temperature, often
to the chagrin of the orphanage headmaster.
Shortly after Alodi became Guardian, he honed his mastery of frost magic and imbued Ebonchill
with his own powers.
A wintry aura enveloped the staff.
Much to the astonishment of Alodi's companions on the Council of Tirisfal, the weapon never
felt cold to the touch.
Ebonchill contained only a sliver of Alodi's might, but even that was more than most magi
could ever hope of wielding.
During Alodi's tenure as Guardian, he used Ebonchill to hunt down every demon that stalked
the lands of Azeroth.
Many records tell of him calling down vicious ice storms to overwhelm his enemies, or encasing
the Legion's agents in solid blocks of ice before exiling them from the world.
Near the end of Alodi's one hundred years of service as Guardian, he turned his attention
to his apprentices.
He had trained and tutored many young magi in the ways of the arcane.
They had become the family that he had never had, and he treated them all as his own sons
and daughters.
Alodi decided to pass on Ebonchill to one of these learned apprentices.
He did not choose the most powerful.
More important to Alodi were compassion, wisdom, and comradery.
After much consideration, he entrusted his greatstaff to the apprentice who most embodied
these traits.
All was well with the Council of Tirisfal until the rise of Guardian Aegwynn.
The gifted mage grew suspicious of the order.
She believed that the council was abusing its power by manipulating the politics of
human kingdoms.
At the end of her one hundred years of service, she refused to step down as Guardian.
Aegwynn's disobedience eventually forced the council's hand.
It formed the Tirisgarde, a group of talented magi charged with hunting down and subduing
the wayward Guardian.
Among the Tirisgarde was a promising but arrogant young spellcaster named Tarthen.
His aging master had long ago inherited Ebonchill, and he was in the process of choosing which
apprentice would take it up next.
Tarthen fully expected to receive the greatstaff.
He eclipsed his fellow apprentices in raw power and potential.
But Tarthen's master put little weight in such things.
When the day of the ceremony came, the elderly mage gave Ebonchill to another apprentice--one
who embodied the qualities of compassion, wisdom, and comradery.
After his master passed on Ebonchill to a different apprentice, Tarthen wallowed in
anger and bitterness.
He believed he had been wronged, and he was determined to prove himself.
Tarthen stole Ebonchill from its new owner, taking great care to cover up evidence of
his crime.
In secret, he practiced with the greatstaff and learned to wield its extraordinary energies.
Only a handful of Tarthen's most trusted Tirisgarde allies knew of his theft.
They alone witnessed him bending Ebonchill's magics to his will, and they were in awe of
the power at his fingertips.
Once he was confident he had mastered Ebonchill, Tarthen set out to do what no other Tirisgarde
had thus far managed--he would defeat Aegwynn and forever etch his name in the histories.
An excerpt from a missive sent to the Council of Tirisfal:
""We have studied the residual magics at the battle site.
Here is our assessment of what transpired.
""Tarthen confronted Aegwynn in Stranglethorn Vale.
In terms of the power used by the two magi, the duel that ensued was one of the greatest
to have ever occurred between a Tirisgarde and the renegade Guardian.
But it was also one of the shortest.
""Tarthen bore Ebonchill in battle--the greatstaff reported stolen some months ago.
When he unleashed the weapon's stored power on Aegwynn, she immediately turned the energies
back on him with a counterspell.
A storm of frost magic surged over Tarthen, encasing him in a layer of diamond-hard ice.
""Despite the hot weather in the region, Tarthen was still frozen solid when we found him.
It took considerable effort to thaw his corpse and free Ebonchill from his lifeless hand.""
The Council of Tirisfal magi who recovered Ebonchill returned the greatstaff to its owner.
Over the following years, the tradition of handing down the weapon from master to apprentice
continued.
Many of these magi used Ebonchill to protect Azeroth from demons, but not the human named
Arrexis.
Arrexis was a lover of knowledge.
For days on end, he would lock himself in his personal archives, poring over ancient
tomes and scrolls.
When Ebonchill passed to him, he decided to study the greatstaff rather than wield it
in battle.
Arrexis knew well the weapon's history and deadly potential.
From his examinations, Arrexis believed that he could employ Ebonchill as a catalyst to
power great spells--feats of magic that normally only a Guardian would be capable of.
Over time, he harnessed the weapon's energies and used them to research new types of warding
spells.
Arrexis lived in a time of upheaval and turmoil for the Council of Tirisfal.
The current Guardian was named Medivh, and he was the son of Aegwynn.
Like his rebellious mother, he shunned the council and largely kept to himself.
Unbeknownst to the council and the rest of the world, a great evil stirred in Medivh's
soul.
Sargeras, leader of the Burning Legion, had possessed the Guardian.
Due to Sargeras's manipulation, Medivh forged a pact with the orcish Horde and began paving
the way for its invasion of Azeroth.
To prevent the Council of Tirisfal from meddling in his affairs, the darkened Guardian secretly
assassinated some of its members.
Medivh's gaze soon fell upon Arrexis and Ebonchill.
In pursuit of his studies, Arrexis gathered his apprentice magi and established a research
camp near Medivh's domain, the tower of Karazhan.
The structure was built atop a nexus of potent ley lines.
The energies that coursed through Karazhan sometimes warped reality in the region.
Arrexis and his followers experimented with their warding magics outside Karazhan, attempting
to neutralize the tower's strange powers.
The records indicate that Guardian Medivh visited the magi at this time and offered
his advice.
He suggested that Arrexis could apply his warding spellwork in new ways, specifically
to prevent demons from clawing into the world.
Though some members of the Council of Tirisfal distrusted him, Arrexis did not.
He welcomed Medivh's support.
Arrexis's trusting nature would be his downfall.
No one knows for sure what Medivh did during his visit with Arrexis.
The details are shrouded in mystery and hearsay.
Some rumors claim that the Guardian altered Ebonchill so that it would disrupt Arrexis's
warding spells and destroy the venerated mage.
Whatever the truth, it is known that Arrexis heeded Medivh's advice.
The elderly mage and his followers conducted a great ritual to protect an area from demonic
incursions.
The spell was only meant to be a test, but it had disastrous consequences.
When the magi began their casting, they inadvertently opened a path between Azeroth and the realm
of demons, the Twisting Nether.
Arrexis and all of his followers were ripped through the gateway and were never seen again.
One account states that within the Twisting Nether, a handful of demons fell upon the
shocked magi and slaughtered them to the last.
The demons were led by an eredar known as Balaadur.
He took Ebonchill as a trophy of his bloody victory, and the ancient tradition of passing
the greatstaff from master to apprentice died alongside Arrexis and his doomed protege.
Let’s do our best to revive this tradtion by hunting down the mage hunter.
Meryl suggests that we should recreate Arrixis’s ritual and conduct it at an invastion point
to attract Balaadur’s atttention.
He will likely try to ambush us, but we’ll be ready to take him on.
In order to make the ritual work, we’ll have to gather a few things, first off some
we’ll have to get our hands on Alodi’s gems.
When Arrexis’ did the ritual, he had a bunch of apprentices and subordinates to help him
with it, something that we are currently lacking.
In older times, when magic was less understood and spells required vast amounts of mana to
cast, mages used to store mana in gems for use in complex spells.
Lucky for us, Alodi still has a few powerful mana gems locked away in his vault.
All we need to do is go the bank of dalaran and gain access
“Hmpf!
You don’t look a thing like him!
Fine, let’s have a look...”
Cast spell “It seems your bear his sigil.
How’d you manage that?
Well, rules are rules.”
Cast another spell “You tell that big lug that if he ever wants
to pick up where we left off, he can pay me a visit!
I’m here every day...whatever the hour!”
Seems like there’s a story here that I don’t want to know anything about, but in the vault
we see a few guardian orbs trying to stop us from robbing the place, but they’re easily
dealt with and we quickly collect the powerful mana gems.
“I trust the Baroness was still there?
I don’t know how old that elf is.”
“I suppose even astral entities need a change of pace now and again.
It’s still a she though...right?
“
It sure is Alodi and one day you’ll have to share that tale.
The next part for the ritual takes us to the deadwind site, the spot where they experimented
with their ritual.
With any luck we might find materials on this ritual that will aid us and at the abandoned
kirin tor camp, we find a functional ward, notes on the ritual until the ghost of Merina
shows up:
“Are you here to take me away?
Or do you only seek that which was left behind?
I was told to stand watch, but no one ever came back for me.
I wasn’t strong enough to defend the site...or perhaps I was simply here too long.
I’m not sure anymore.
If you want the ritual to work, you need the focus.
I tried to keep it from the monsters, but I was too weak.
It lies near my corpse.
I...I think it’s keeping me here.
Please, take it far away.
Perhaps then I will finally be able to go home.”
Sorry Merina, we had no idea you were going to be here, but we’ll be sure to take the
ritual focusing crystal far away from here so hopefully you can now rest in peace.
That leaves only 1 more errant to run, finding Daio the Decrepit, a former mage now turned
warlock who was instrumental in the original ritual.
He most likely holds key information for this to work, so we fly out to the Tainted Scar
for a little chat.
He tells us that as the ritual went wrong, Arrexis was dragged screaming into the Nether
and his entire entourage of mages were slaughtered.
This was the ritual that made him give up the arcane and begin his personal quest to
understand demons and their fel energies.
Balaadur is extremely dangerous and he needs to know for certain that we’re prepared
so he summons a few demons as a test.
“Very well!
Let us begin.
Perhaps something easy to start.
A few imps, perhaps?”
Fight pack of fiendish trickster.
“easily defeated but deadly in large numbers.
Perhaps something that hits a little harder?”
fight empowered wrathguard.
“I expected no less from one who wields crippling ice magic.
But how about a foe as skilled in spellcasting as yourself?”
Fight eredar mage “Hmm well fought, but Balaadur has been
hunting mages for untold ages.
Facing him will require mastery of all of your abilities.
For the final piece of the puzzle...a simple stone.
A stone from Balaadur’s realm, left here by chance during one of his many ambushes.
I gave Arrexis a piece so he could attune his ritual to demonic energies.
You may have what remains of the stone.
May it bring better luck to you.”
And with that, we have all we need to recreate the ritual...however flawed it may be.
It must be conducted somewhere highly visible so that word reaches our target swiftly and
they’ve heard reports that the Legion is heavily invested in the Faronaar region of
Azsuna.
The perfect spot for us to conduct the ritual.
“Ah, you’ve arrived!
I’ve already begun, I trust Alodi is with you?”
“I’m here, though my powers are weakened so far from the hall.”
“Do what you can, old friend.
Welcome to Faronaar, a key invasion point for the Legion!
While I distract the defenders below, you will setup the ritual wards at key locations.
Here’s a spell that will conjure the wards.
Three should be sufficient.
When you are done, meet me at the Altar of End Times.
Its location should be obvious.
Good luck!”
Move to first ward – “Filthy demons!
They feed upon the blue dragonflight!
Have all the defenders fallen?
“
Move to second ward – “Here is good.
This is what the Council was supposed to prevent.
How could it have gone so wrong?!”
Move to third ward – “That Legion vessel looming above shows what’s at stake.
Truly this is a fight to save our world!”
“You’ve done it!
I can feel arcane levels rising in the area.
The demons have pulled back for the moment.
I’d wager they plan to his us hard.”
“This next part is tricky.
We will start the ritual here to draw all that power.
As we do, it’s likely we’ll be attacked.
I’ll begin placing the mana gems.
You will channel on the Ritual Focus.
Once we gather sufficient magic, I expect we will get Balaadur’s attention.”
“Prepare yourself, conjurer.
I don’t expect Balaadur to give us a particularly warm welcome.”
“There...all the components are in place.
Activate the ritual focus when you are ready.”
“Good!
Concentrate on building the Ritual Focus.
I will do what I can to support you.”
Activate ritual focus while fighting off waves of demons
“Superb casting!
Get back to the Focus.
I’ll keep an eye out.
The power is building.
They will know we are doing something momentous.”
“That demon is Vadina, one of Valadors enforcers.
I think we have his attention.
Aid me!
(Was that supposed to be Balaadur?)
“Superb casting!
Get back to the Focus.
I’ll keep an eye out.
Finish the ritual, he’s sure to attack soon.”
“Look out!”
“Did you really think your ploy would work?
Come to me little mage.”
Cinematic: “For your insolence, your end will be painful and slow!
ROAAAAR”
“This display is meaningless!
Your doom is at hand!”
“Never again will you use Ebonchill to kill a mage, demon!”
“Bah!
I need no meager weapon to destroy you!
You possess the might of an archmage!
But I’m not out of tricks yet...”
“Your world...will...fall....”
Claim Ebonchill, I have the powerrrrrrrrrrrrr
“The portal is closing!
Get out of there!”
“Well done!
Let’s go before reinforcements arrive.
I’ll open a portal back to the hall.”
And so Balaadur lies dead in his own realm and we now wield Ebonchill.
It has once again passed on into the hands of mage and Old Fillmaff, the tirisgarde librarian,
recognizes Alodi’s old staff.
In the days of the first guardian, all the members of the council of tirisfal granted
their powers to the young mage in the hopes that he could overcome the legion.
None of them are alive today...but that staff of ours remembers.
In the streets of Dalaran we can find reflections of former council members and each day we
can talk to 1 earning a buff that increases experience and reputation gained by 5% while
in the broken isles.
That extra experience will come in handy as frost mages will wield the mighty ebonchill
in their war against the Legion.
Thank you very much for watching everyone!
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time guys....see ya!