Gamble for Azeroth 27 (Patreon)

They stopped only after they had traveled about fifteen miles away from the base. It was a punishing pace for people who had just been revived from the edge of death, but they didn’t have many options.

Destroying that base finally alerted the Scourge to what was going on, and they responded by sending multiple patrols to pin them down. Patrols that he easily avoided thanks to Bloom.

It helped that while retreating, he could pick the paths with surviving foliage, allowing him to retreat directly.

They had to use healing spells frequently to make sure they handled the stress of the travel, but he could see that it was a temporary solution. Healing required some energy in their bodies, and they were truly exhausted.

Only after they arrived in a nice, concealed valley near the Thondoril river, he called for a stop. “I can’t begin to tell you—“ one of them started.

“Look. Just have a quick meal and rest,” he said.

“We don’t have—“ he started, only to pause when Arvis put his hand on the ground, and an apple tree appeared, its branches heavy with bounty. Growing it was much easier now that he no longer relied on environmental mana and his reserves were sufficient to achieve it. “I see,” he said, trying to look calm, but failing spectacularly.

Arvis could see they had many questions. “Take a nap while we have the chance. We have a long journey ahead of us,” he said.

They must have been truly exhausted, because that was all the explanation they needed before they ate several apples each, and fell asleep one by one.

Well, all except Lady Blaumeux, whom he was determined not to underestimate, even if it was only for being named by the System, meaning she was important somehow.

She sat against a tree with her back straight despite obvious exhaustion, her gray eyes tracking the perimeter with surprising alertness.

“How about story time since you don’t want to sleep,” he opened. "How did you get captured?"

Her hands tightened where they rested on her knees. A very telling reaction from someone otherwise calm. "We were betrayed."

He shrugged. That was to be expected, considering the number of spies the Cult of the Damned had been able to embed all around the country. "By whom?"

"Renault Mograine."

Arvis paused his cleaning, a familiar name. That was more surprising, as he didn’t expect betrayal from a paladin. Admittedly, it would have been more shocking if it hadn’t been for Arthas. If the prince of the kingdom could end up as a death knight, so could another paladin. "Highlord Mograine's son."

"Yes, the elder one."

"What happened? Another surprise death knight?" It was not the most delicate way of saying that.

She was silent for a moment. Then, she continued in a flat tone. “No. If that had been the case, it might have been easier to accept.”

He didn’t say anything, letting her speak. "We were responding to reports of undead movement, reported by Highlord Saidan Dathrohan. Highlord Morgaine assembled a strike force. One that was strong enough to move directly. Thirty paladins, twenty priests, and a hundred mounted knights.”

“Impressive force,” he admitted.

“It was,” she said. “We were prepared to destroy an elite force of necromancers and death knights. We weren’t prepared to end up surrounded by an army, including established wards and buried traps.”

Lady Blaumeux's eyes finally focused on him, and what he saw in them showed she hadn’t even begun to process what she had experienced.

"We still managed to resist. Highlord Morgaine wielded a legendary weapon called Ashbringer. With him at the center, we had managed to resist the attack." Her voice was level. "It was when Renault started distributing supplies, mana potions, he claimed. When we started to realize there was something wrong, he was already behind his exhausted father…”

He nodded. “I think I can imagine how it followed.”

She gulped. “He killed his own father while shouting about being ignored and neglected in favor of his younger brother. I mean, whoever wants…”

“People can surprise us, and not always the way we would like,” Arvis said. What else could he say? People killed, and a combination of jealousy and desire for power worked for it. “You also suspect Highlord Dathrohan as well, right?” He didn’t need to ask a question; the speed with which they declared loyalty proved it, but he kept that.

“He has to. There’s no way Renault could acquire that much poison or arrange the ambush. He’s not that capable.”

“Why?” he asked.

She sighed. “I don’t know…” she started, then paused. “Actually, I probably do know. General Abbendis and Highlord Dathrohan were getting closer politically, always talking about how the softness of Uther and the other Silver Hand paladins is the source of everything. They are talking about taking initiative and rooting out evil proactively.”

“I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that their stance is not as reasonable as they first implied.”

“No. Their idea of proactive action is burning anyone suspicious to make sure the undead scourge is completely demolished. And, anything nonhuman is automatically suspicious. Elves, dwarves, gnomes, all suspects.”

That made Arvis pause. “What does elves and dwarves have to do with anything? The Cult of the Damned is human. Kel’Thuzad was human. Arthas was human. And the paladins they blame is human.”

She shook her head. “It doesn’t have to be reasonable. Abbendis had always hated elves, and believed that Lordaeron should have invaded and subjugated them.”

“Usual opportunistic evil, then. I’m guessing he’s a big fan of Garithos.”

“Grand Marshall? Yeah,” Lady Blaumeux said with a sigh. “These two had been the biggest proponents of invading Quel’Thalas and punishing elves for some kind of imaginary betrayal during the Second War.”

Arvis nodded. He was very familiar with Garithos’ stupid grudge toward the elves. And it wasn’t like elves were the perfect, flawless beings that they believed themselves to be; Garithos loved to find imaginary reasons for his supposed hatred.

He wasn’t familiar with Abbendis, but if he was aligned with Garithos, that already gave him an idea.

“So, a power play to deal with the political rivals,” Arvis commented, and Erin nodded.

Arvis didn’t say anything for a moment, processing the implications of her statement. Garithos’ faction had always carried a particular brand of corruption: venal, opportunistic, and racist.

Learning that some paladins shared his opinions hadn’t surprised him. Even without his own experience with the light, he knew that paladins couldn’t be as flawless as they loved to present themselves, and his own experience with the light further confirmed it.

The only thing that surprised him was learning some of the paladins were willing to work with the undead temporarily to deal with their political enemies, but even that was only a minor surprise.

He knew that, as long as the paladin could convince himself that it was for some kind of greater good, or his enemies deserved it, he could probably commit such a thing as long as they convinced himself.

The light dimension didn’t read minds, just tested conviction.

"What did you do?" he asked. "When Renault struck."

"I tried to fight my way to the Highlord. The poison was already taking hold. The necromancers had us pinned. I made it perhaps twenty feet before they took me down. After that, I woke up in the cage, with runes etched onto my skin. I doubt they had anything good in mind.”

“Do we know who has the Ashbringer now?"

She shrugged. "I don’t. Renault should have the Ashbringer, but that depends on whatever demented deal he had made with the Scourge, and whether they would actually fulfill it. But, whatever the plan was, it must have been in place already. I've been in that cage for at least a week."

“No plans to return?”

“No. If Renault is still in contact with the undead, he would learn about our escape, and…”

“Either him, or whoever is behind the power play would spin a story about how Lady Blaumeux had betrayed the Highlord to take his sword.”

“It’ll be more believable than his son killing him. Especially since we never got along.”

“Any reason?”

“Mostly tactical. Highlord Mograine had always been an excellent paladin and one of the greatest warriors I had ever seen, but… let’s just say he was tactically inflexible.”

“The kind that calls a charge from the flank a betrayal of honor?”

“No,” she said with a chuckle. “The kind that dismounted his horse and charged on foot because it’s unfair to be mounted while the enemy is on foot.” She paused. “The way you fought was … refreshing. I never saw any other paladin do something like that.”

He shrugged. “I have never been officially trained as one. Maybe that’s the reason.”

Her eyes widened at that. “Really? But you fight… I assumed you had been trained in Stratholme or something.”

“Entirely self-taught, I’m afraid. I had some reasons to keep my progress hidden before the war, because I’m unlucky enough to be related to Garithos from my mother’s side. It was a way to avoid assassinations, but… Let’s just say the current situation made those plans useless.”

“You’re not alone, are you?” she asked.

“No,” he said. “I still believe the core mission of a noble is to protect people before anything else. But, the real challenge is to keep people safe. Currently, the members of my house is split between Tyr’s Hand and Stratholme. Currently, around sixty thousand people, though only twenty thousand of them are living in Stratholme.”

“That’s a dangerous place to be,” she said.

“It is. But, if you have an idea to evacuate them to Tyr’s Hand, I’m open to ideas,” he said.

“That’s reasonable,” she admitted. He nodded, then gave her a general breakdown of everything he had done, including the events of Darrowshire and Corin’s Crossing. “You have been busy.”

“Saving the people from the undead and gathering them behind the walls is the biggest priority,” he said. “I’m guessing the Highlords of Silver Hand disagreed.”

“Yes. We lost Highlord Gavindrad and Highlord Uther while they were defending the remains of King Terenas—“

Arvis gasped. “That’s a joke, right?”

Her defeated sigh suggested it wasn’t. “No. They believed that the protecting the tomb of the king was more important than saving the lives of the peasants while an enemy that could raise them from the dead to further increase their numbers was the better idea.”

“Fascinating. Just when I thought I couldn’t be disappointed more with Uther.”

“He was a brave commander and an incredible warrior,” she said. “He just had … let’s say skewed priorities. His loyalty was to Lordaeron, which apparently doesn’t include his people.”

Arvis sighed. “I would like to say I’m surprised, but I’m not. Not when he disagreed with Arthas’ decision to cull Stratholme, but when Arthas called for his dismissal, he obeyed. If he prioritized his Paladin vows, he would have stopped Arthas.”

There, he stopped talking, not wanting to insult a dead man. But, learning that he chose to prioritize the ashes of a dead king when the kingdom was going through an existential crisis…

It was difficult.

“Do you have any news from the western parts of the Kingdom?” he asked instead.

“Nothing recent. The latest news we got was about the fall of Uther and Gavindrad. After that, some news about the army gathering near the Gilneas border before making a counter-attack, but…”

“If Garithos is in charge, they are more likely to invade Gilneas before trying to fight the undead,” he cut in.

“I would love to say that it’s impossible, but when even paladins are starting to betray each other for power, I don’t think I can argue against it. I … I can only hope that there are survivors. Too bad we can’t go there, not with the forces we have.”

Arvis sighed. “Actually, that’s not the case. Most of the undead army moved to the East. Currently, they are attacking Quel’Thalas.”

That made her freeze. “Wait, why? That makes no sense. All they need is to attack Stromgarde and Gilneas, and they will dominate the upper half of the continent, and Stormwind lacks the ability to meaningfully contest them. Elves require years to put a meaningful response.”

He shrugged. “It doesn’t make sense, but I’m sure they have a reason. The Lich King doesn’t strike me as someone stupid enough to make such a monumental mistake.”

“You have a point. I … maybe we should go to Hearthglen?”

“Why?” he asked, despite having a good idea why.

“Yes. I want to see if we can recover the Ashbringer. Renault doesn’t deserve it. Maybe we can even his expose the betrayal. The remaining Silver Hand needs to know what happened, who's responsible, who can be trusted."

"No."

She blinked. The single word, delivered without softening, had clearly not been the response she expected. "I don’t think—"

"No,” he repeated. “You walk into Hearthglen in your current state, and the only thing you get is an execution. Think it through, Lady Blaumeux. Renault killed his own father and he has his supporters. What do you think will happen if you went and accused him?"

“You’re right,” she said, even though her eyes tightened. “I just…”

“You want to act. But, you can choose between your pride, and protecting the innocents. Already, too many paladins had made the wrong choice. Don’t be one of them.”

“I … what would I even do.”

“We go to Stratholme. I’ll escort you across the river, and the rest of the distance, you can cover easily as long as you push yourself. We already have twenty thousand civilians that need to be protected, and too small of an army to defend them. There, you go, you rest for a day. You put on armor and get decent weapons… Then we move.”

“What about Tyr’s Hand?” she asked.

“That’s also an option, but there are two issues. First, there are almost a million people there, and the difference a few paladins and priests can make is limited. More importantly, there’s a good chance that Abbendis and Renault have sent envoys. A confrontation there is not advised. If people see paladins fighting openly, it’ll not help.”

“We can’t let him get away with it,” she said.

“We won’t, I promise,” he said. It was an easy promise to make, as the last thing he needed was a paladin stupid enough to think that working with the undead was a smart career move. “One step at a time.”

“It sounds like you have a plan.”

“The beginnings of one. I was in the process of building a coalition with Windrunners and Valdermars, which would have allowed us to liberate the east of Thondoril river, but the Scourge’s decision to attack Quel’Thalas changed everything. Elves are out, but the Scourge should be occupied for months. Months that should allow us to deal with Renault, absorb his forces, and roll west to see just how many people we can save.”

“A good plan,” she admitted. “It depends on how long the undead would attack Quel’Thalas before giving up, but their forces should stay there for months.”

He nodded. “That’s what I expect as well. I don’t know what the Scourge wants from the elves, but they won’t stop until they get.”

“Yes, and elven gates should hold for months, if not for years,” she said.

Arvis just nodded. After all, what she was saying made perfect sense.

Elven gates would hold for months…

&&&

Arvis didn’t escort the paladins all the way. He helped them across the river, and even ran ahead for some time to make sure there was no surprise undead presence on the way before he returned.

Even carrying substandard weapon, a team of thirty made up of experienced paladins and priests needed to escort from ordinary undead.

Instead, he returned to his task. First, he swung south, which had two aims. He didn’t want to approach Hearthglen from the direction of Stratholme. Lady Blaumeux’s — or Erin, she insisted on being called after talking some more — report made it clear that there was some collaboration between a faction of paladins and the undead, and he had caused the undead too many problems, and there was a good chance that his name and face was known.

He needed to disguise himself, and even then, approaching from Stratholme might be suspicious.

And, as an added benefit, taking the alternate path allowed him to destroy even more auxillary bases. So much that he started to find bases evacuated. As much as he regretted losing the opportunity to kill even more necromancers, empty bases meant the reinforcements of the Scourge was paused, at least temporarily.

Then, he approached Hearthglen … and as he did, his plans to disguise himself as a refugee had stopped.

What he found was not a refugee city, like he had expected. He found something different.

There was a casual aura of light above Hearthglen, suggesting a shockingly high density of paladins and priests actively using their magic, intersected by some other soldiers. Even from a distance, he could sense that it was wrong.

He used suppression to sneak toward a group of soldiers, led by a paladin … and listened to the paladin outline a plan.

A plan where they would visit a town about sixty miles away, one that dared to allow some half-elves to live … and execute the ‘dirty bloods’ and everyone that dared to protect them, and burn anyone they suspected to carry the plague…

Arvis paused, shocked at the situation as he continued to listen, curious how a week had been enough for such corruption to spread. But, as he continued to listen, he soon learned when one of the paladins mentioned how it was a blessing from the light that the weakness of Highlord Morgaine had been cleansed from their ranks.

Their words suggested that whatever had been going on with them, it wasn’t an issue that started a week ago. They just kept their mouths shut while Highlord Mograine was around…

That was enough to change his mind about trying to sneak into Hearthglen temporarily. He was strong, but not strong enough to face hundreds of paladins. He was extremely effective against the undead despite their numbers only because his skillset was uniquely crafted to deal with them.

Instead, he started going toward the town they had mentioned … but only after waiting until the patrol group had drifted near a forest, allowing him to use Bloom to immobilize them with the roots, and decapitate them.

Undead was doing their best to kill the living. He didn’t need zealot paladins in the mix…