09-10-2014, 02:02 PM
"Once upon a time, Old stories tell us,/there were great knights who died defending us."
-From the Lordaeron Tales, Cheoffery Gaucer.
-From the Lordaeron Tales, Cheoffery Gaucer.
The Knight's Tale
A record of the travels of Aidan Medren and his companions as his life unfolds.
A record of the travels of Aidan Medren and his companions as his life unfolds.
I've decided that it's a good idea to record the important moments in my character's progression so I can keep my notes together and have a nice record of the storyline for everyone involved. This is something new for me, and it's changed in intent from before since I really don't see the need for the kind of structured plots I was doing but also want to have a kind of timeline of how he's changed. Consider it an experiment in charting my character's development. A pilot project for my new main character.
Arcs noted in Red are stories dealing with Aidan and his past, sort of his original "main plot" and future branches wherever that plot takes him. Events noted in Light Brown are related to the subplot The Blade Itself, and other subplots may be noted in different colors in the future. The arcs marked in Purple deal with negative events outside of Aidan's control that have hindered him and must be overcome.
While some of these events will be DMed, most arose spontaneously from RP and are here mostly to bookmark the places I feel Aidan's story has advanced significantly.
(If one of the people who took part is reading this, enjoy hearing about your exploits!)
Timeline:
- The first major offensive against the Twilight's Hammer concludes in HyjalLINK
- A week passes as Aidan recovers from his injuries at Acherus and returns to Nordrassil.
- The party travels to Lordaeron via boat.
- Arc I Part I - A Fool's Errand - Arc 1 begins
- Arc I Part II - Chasing Ghosts
- One month has elapsed.
- Arc I Part III - River's End - Arc 1 ends
- The party returns to Nordrassil. Aidan remains for a week to arrange temporary command of the Death Knights before departing to Acherus.
- Aidan passes through Redridge on his way back to Hyjal, meeting Cristovao and having a chance encounter with Mica.
- Two months have elapsed.
- Finding the Wind
- Bones of the Earth
- Into the Heart of Darkness
- Aidan forges the hilt of his blade, getting it enchanted by an Elven runeworker in Darnassus for a sum of gold and the remainder of his Abyss Crystals.
- Aidan and Roux venture to the Exodar, where Aidan has a religious experience at the foot of the Naaru O'ros.
- Three months have elapsed - Aidan leads a raid in Hyjal, during which he and many others are taken captive by the Twilight's Hammer.
- Arc II Part I - The Shattered Crown - Arc 2 begins
- Arc II Part II - Guardians' Mercy
- A Candle Against the Dark
- Four months have elapsed.
- Arc II Part III - What All True Heroes Strive For
- Picking up the Pieces
- Arc II Part IV - An Oath Among Brothers - Arc 2 ends
Part I - A Fool's Errand
The Party embarks from Acherus to reach a village on the outskirts of Stratholme. The group finds passage to a western watchtower by air, but that's as far as the Argents will assure their safety. With their forces stretched as thinly as they are, the Crusade can't bring much to bear re-capturing the outlying hamlets. That means that the party must travel the rest of the way on foot and without the protection of Argent patrols - a dangerous proposition in these times.
Resolution:
Subject to a vision of the past brought on by a strange artifact, Roux and Paulton have discovered the potential destination of Aidan's wife Elaina. What they also discovered was Aidan's strength as a Paladin - and his ultimate selfishness. In the heat of battle the Paladin abandoned his men to protect his wife, condemning his men. The line broke without his support, allowing the Scourge to overrun the Paladins.
Though disgusted by his actions, Brother Paulton forgave Aidan for his sins and drove him to renew his vows in service to the Light. Though not entirely divested of his guilt, Aidan hopes to redeem himself through service to virtue so that he can one day greet the spirits of his brothers in the Light with his head held high and his honor restored. Glory to the Light! Glory to Lordaeron!
Additionally, the party has acquired a strange artifact. The Dreamspike, the bizarre trap that Aidan activated, can be used to trap an effected subject (and anyone in the general area) in one of the most powerful memories in their life for the duration of the memory. If operated by a skilled user, the delusions can become as dangerous as the real event, though divergences from the actual events of the memory will cause it to become unstable (subjects can roll vs 40 to disbelieve and destroy the illusion, or to attempt to strengthen it and stay a few minutes longer than the memory would normally last). Item appearance: http://www.wowhead.com/item=15854
Part II - Chasing Ghosts
Following in the footsteps of a Plague-era refugee caravan the party sets off to Erol's Landing, a fishing village on the Throndroril River that once housed a bustling river-barge industry. The refugees would have gathered here to find passage north or south on the river to safety, however it's difficult to say which way the barges were sent that day, or even if any made it out. In this town, now overrun with the restless spirits of the dead, Aidan hopes against hope that he can locate the trail of the refugees once again - and that he doesn't find the ghost of his beloved on the banks instead.
Resolution:
Aidan recovered a ledger with the logs of the travelers leaving the docks fairly easily. However, when the group attempted to save some books from a monastery of Paulton's religious order (the Order of Leofrick), they were attacked by the ghosts of refugees slain by the Scourge while they hid in its halls. Though they escaped with some priceless books and relics of the Order, the ghosts remain. Perhaps another party can free the monastery from its curse.
The ledger revealed that Elaina and her group had evacuated to the north, retreating to Quel'thalas and the Sunwave Anchorage. There, it seems, they intended to take an Elven ship to the kingdoms of the south, bypassing the plague and war-stricken Arathor by the grace of the Elves. This poses a problem... How to find out where she went!
Part III - River's End
Stealing across the Thalassian border by night, the party enters the western Ghostlands following the trail of Elaina's journey up the Throndroril River. Sunwave Anchorage, long abandoned due to its remote location (far from the capitol city) and Scourge presence, proves to be a potential conclusion for Aidan's search. Can they translate the passenger logs to find her destination, or will they encounter a very familiar ghoul instead...?
Resolution:
Roux and Aidan successfully infiltrated the Ghostlands with little incident, and made their way into the city. Initially the zombies around the area proved to be no threat, but the large concentration within the main docks proved almost overwhelming. With a combination of luck and skill the pair took down the shambling dead and searched the premises. Roux found some of Elaina's belongings, but refused to allow Aidan to lose hope. They stole away with the Elven transport records, hoping that a translation would reveal Elaina made it out safely.
The Blade Itself
Pushed onward by his defeat at the hands of Twilight's Hammer elementals, Aidan hopes to forge a blade capable of striking grievous wounds to those incorporeal fiends. He begins working on a way to gather Elementium, the only metal he knows capable of physically restraining an elemental.
He'll need many other components to forge this legendary weapon. A Mage has shown him the value of Abyss Crystals, harvested from the dreaded Realm of Shadows. He must also procure enough Truesilver to forge strong runes, and the Saronite necessary for a cruel edge. That's all in addition to overcoming his own flaws and becoming a better warrior.
Finding the Wind
On the banks of the Well of Eternity Roux taught Aidan how to meditate and find an inner calm, a new experience for the troubled Knight. Letting go of his worrisome thoughts allowed him the focus to channel his Death Grip in a much more precise way, feeling for the shadowy vibrations of individual types of substance instead of the whole of an enemy's body. This came as a useful preparation for the mission he was about to attempt: to steal the elementium bindings from a Twilight's Hammer elemental servant.
Bones of the Earth
Roux and Aidan ambushed a small Twilight patrol, stealing the elementium from their Bound Elemental using the Death Knight's newfound mastery of Death Grip. With its bindings removed, the elemental was a difficult beast to fight. Aidan distracted it while Roux took care of the cultist with the grisly efficiency of a wolf. Though both Aidan and Roux took injuries in the short encounter, they were able to escape with their spoils before a second patrol arrived. Spurred on by their success, Aidan believes he can easily acquire the other components he needs. And, at least for the present, he can begin to work on the basic pattern of his new runed blade.
Into the Heart of Darkness
Aidan has been dreading this moment for some time, but he knows he must soon enter the Realm of Shadows to seek out the Abyss Crystals he requires for his blade. As a Death Knight he knows a bit more than he'd like to about this horrifying realm. He's been haunted since his dark rebirth by the spirits of the dead whose lives he ended in the Lich King's service, as well as other dark denizens of that parallel realm. Now he must confront the sins of his past in order to forge the weapon that will give him a more hopeful future.
Resolution:
Callum and Roux found more than they bargained for in the realm of the dead. Four shadowy knights, dead by a selfish decision Aidan made during the Third War, led a group of spirits to assault the party. Though the spirits were vanquished, the ghostly knights stood to prevent the party from ever returning to Azeroth, their power in this realm greater than those who did not wholly belong to it.
The knights offered a bargain: Aidan could pledge an oath to the men he wronged and confess his sins before his companions (including the woman he now loves), or he could leave his guilt hidden and condemn two more to death. Naturally Aidan confessed, though reluctantly. This proved enough to turn the spirits away, though they seemed to have more in mind for the Death Knight in the future. Perhaps the spirits of the dead offer more to men of the Light than simply a danger to be rooted out or a problem to be solved.
The party recovers a number of Abyss Crystals: enchanted gems crystallized from the congealed envy of the vengeful dead. They have the ability to absorb magic and other forms of energy.
Part I - The Shattered Crown
Imprisoned by the Twilight's Hammer and tortured bodily for days, Aidan found himself suddenly freed from his imprisonment via a pernicious bargain. Seldszyne proposed a deal: let Roux go free unharmed in exchange for Aidan's sword in battle alongside the Twilight's Hammer. Naturally Aidan agreed, hopeful that he could use his newfound freedom to escape or sow discord in the ranks. He apologized to a confused Roux, promising her he would come back to her safe and sound. He left a message with a ghoulish servant and cast it into the Realm of Shadow for Ydir to find, hoping to warn the Guardians of Hyjal and bring aid swiftly for his friends.
After being questioned by the Black Dragonflight, Aidan's attempts at bravado proved his downfall when he was thrown back into the cells for insubordinate behavior. He found himself under assault from the Twilight Anchorite Nytamuur, and only too late did he realize the man was there to twist his memories of his friends. By excising some of his corrupted memories and "walling off" what he valued within the deepest reaches of his soul, Aidan was able to preserve at least some shreds of his sense of self from destruction.
However this desperate gambit has left Aidan's soul fragmented. His mind was broken by the effort, shattering his memories and blending what remained. Though he preserved what he felt was "him" within a cocoon of memory, what was left was bereft of allegiance and all too willing to serve whatever master happened upon him. This servile state is also what the Twilights would encounter upon his regaining consciousness: a broken Knight whose only desires are to kill for the sake of killing and serve for the sake of serving.
Part II - Guardians' Mercy
Aidan fought beside the Twilight's Hammer when the Guardians of Hyjal rescued their prisoners from the cave. He was subdued by Aroes and Sorley, and carried back to camp by Ydir to recover. Unbeknownst to them, however, Aidan was fighting under his own power and not at the whims of the Twilight Lich. When he returned he was greeted by Roux, his intended target, whom he had been tricked into believing was the one who killed his wife Elaina (when in reality his memories of the two women had been mixed together with his memories of his own death). When she came to greet him he gave her a deadly attack instead of a loving embrace.
She would have died if not for the timely intervention of the Elven Death Knight Shendan, who pushed Aidan away and restrained him until Janice could subdue him further with frost magic. Aidan was imprisoned by the Guardians for evaluation- if he failed to recover from the Twilight mind-breaking he was to be dumped into the Well of Eternity for a swift death from its holy waters. Luckily his friends came to his aid once again. Aroes, Ydir, and Roux came together to enter his mind and repair the damage the Twilights had done. With Roux's soothing magic and Aroes' mind-altering Shadows the group broke through Aidan's mental blocks and sealed what memories could be saved. Though some memories were left unfixed he regained enough to become himself again.
Now free, Aidan hopes to recover from the mental trauma of remembering his actions as a cultist and perhaps even recover more of the memories he lost under Nytamuur's shadowy assault.
A Candle Against the Dark
In an abandoned smithy nestled in the Dun Morogh countryside Aidan crafted a masterwork blade. Enchanted by an Elf paid in priceless gems and made from metal stolen from the bindings of a Twilight elemental, this sword is the blade he will carry with him into the future he sees before him. The world calls for battle, for an iron will, and for hope. This is a blade forged with hope. Silverflame.
Part III - What All True Heroes Strive For
Peace, hope, faith - all things lacking in those Death Knights who have given up on a normal life. Though Aidan lost them once in the bowels of the Twilight's Hammer camp, he has regained them through the help of his friends, new and old. His meeting with Araeviss, a Naga, proved to be of little use to him immediately. However, her advice echoed across his waking hours: you do not need to atone for the sins of your past. She showed him a curious example, an example of a creature hideously cursed but ultimately able to live without it burdening her spirit. Her lesson has affected him, even if he won't admit it. It has given him hope for a future of peace, of respect, and most importantly the sense that he should continue to fight for what he believes in.
Indeed for many Death Knights peace is a thing that's only found in the grave, but for others it has become a lifestyle. Journeying across the Eastern Kingdoms with Roux Blackwood, Aidan has made it his goal to interview and reconnoiter with those Death Knights who have made lives for themselves outside the confines of the Ebon Blade. He met with Gavin, a barkeeper in Fuselight, whose success gave him hope, and Anisa, a hunter and leatherworker in Lordaeron, who had much to say about helping other Knights through their troubles. With Anisa's inspiration and the shared experiences of those few Knights who integrated with society, perhaps they can aid their fellow Knights in returning to a productive life after the battles are done.
Though he is still unsure of himself, as he always was, Aidan firmly believes he can fight at the forefront of the Guardians of Hyjal and make a difference in the world.
Picking up the Pieces
Aidan participated in all four of the efforts to piece together the Archdruid's broken staff. By his efforts five elementals were banished from Azeroth, and by the efforts of his comrades all eight pieces of the staff were safely recovered. Though Aidan himself doubts the power of the staff's magic, he's grown proud of the Guardians of Hyjal and their fierce determination to defeat the Twilight's Hammer. Not only has his courage been renewed, but he got to see Roux lead an assault on her own - something both rare and unusually successful. Though he holds no illusions that the ongoing war will be easy, he knows now that the Guardians have what it takes.
Part IV - An Oath Among Brothers
Summoned before the Knights of Acherus to give testimony about his condition following the Twilight's Hammer incident, Aidan was faced with perhaps his greatest challenge yet: proving his ability to the Knights of Acherus for a second time. Through the testimony of one Roux Blackwood and the examination of a Lich Aidan was cleared for command. However, the Knights of Acherus were unwilling to put Aidan back in his original command so soon after his defeat. Instead, he has been ordered to report before Dread Commander Itheros Blackheart for an urgent assignment that could use his unique set of skills.
For the resolution of this story, read below!
Blades of Hyjal [Coming Soon!]
The Guardians of Hyjal have their secret weapon and Aidan has his: Elementium. But his Knights aren't yet outfitted with enough of the stuff to hold their own, and one man with an Elementium runeblade is hardly enough to take on an army of crazed cultists. He'll need to get more, and that means shaking down the supply line on one front and shaking down the Twilight's Hammer on the other.
Expect some spontaneous DMed events in Hyjal, at least when I've got the mood to do them. Fight for honor, reclaim resources for the war effort, and help the Ebon Blade earn the respect of the Elves.