The Stars Align!

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Thalraxal
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Re: The Stars Align!

Post by Thalraxal »

St. Patrick's Day is a drunk and passed-out dwarf. Is it because this drunken dwarf is actually a secret raid boss no one knew of? Is it just because St. Patrick's Day? Is it because there weren't actually enough bosses to fill a 312-odd page calendar? The world may never know.
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Re: The Stars Align!

Post by IskatuMesk »

It's a reflection of the average Blizzard intern. The company makes alcoholics out of everyone who goes near it.
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Re: The Stars Align!

Post by Thalraxal »

That would actually explain a lot.

Today we return again to the Temple of Ahn'Qiraj, where we find not one, but three bugs. Not just three bugs, but three royal bugs.

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"It would seem that the silithids intent ~ nay, reason for being ~ is to devour everything in their path that is not part of their ecology." -Zilzibin Drumlore

Lord Kri, Princess Yauj, and Vem are a triumvirate of royal silithids who rule the silithid hives. They're bugs. They're royalty. The order you kill them in is important because it can make the fight easier or harder, and it affects what loot you get a the end, so its like the prototypical form of the hard mode boss fights that became popular during Wrath of the Lich King/Ulduar.

Adventurers likely committed regicide when they killed them while storming the Temple of Ahn'Qiraj.
Last edited by Thalraxal on Wed Mar 18, 2015 9:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: The Stars Align!

Post by IskatuMesk »

Only if they had enough fear wards, seeing as no one knew how to interrupt heal.
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Re: The Stars Align!

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IskatuMesk wrote:Only if they had enough fear wards, seeing as no one knew how to interrupt heal.
I've always assumed that interrupts are one of those abilities that most players forget they even have.

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"In the eastern part of the ruined city is where Alzzin the Wildshaper has exerted his corrupt dominion. -Rabine Saturna

Alzzin the Wildshaper was a Satyr who sought to corrupt the region of Feralas. He had met with little to no success until he stumbled across a powerful artifact held within the Shrine of Eldrethar in Dire Maul. The artifact, known as the Fruit of Fertility, was a magical plant designed to cast a powerful aura of protection across the city of Edre'thalas, and was presumed to have been destroyed during the Sundering. Using the power of the corrupted Fruit of Fertility, now known as the Felvine, Alzzin was able to control and corrupt the treants and ancients that dwelt within Dire Maul, and ultimately planned use it to cast an aura of corruption across the entire region. In his quest to corrupt the forces of nature, Alzzin has gained many abilities quite similar to those of a druid, allowing him to shapeshift into treant and dire wolf form.

Alzzin was likely killed by adventurers sent to Dire Maul by Rabine Saturna. He hoped to restore the Fruit of Fertility, both in memory of its creator, and his friend, as well as to prevent Alzzin from succeeding in his plans to corrupt Feralas. To that end, he sent adventurers to the ruins of Southwind in Sithilus to reclaim a Reliquary of Purity, and then into Dire Maul itself to claim a shard of Felvine. After the Cataclysm, the Ancient of Lore, Furgus Warpwood, instead sends adventurers to claim the shard, and provides them with a Reliquary of Purity of his own, sparing them the need to journey to Silithus.
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Re: The Stars Align!

Post by Thalraxal »

Back to Blackrock Depths today! Reminding us that there's always somewhere worse you can be.

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"Our little Ribbly's finally worth something!" -Yuka Screwspigot

Ribbly Screwspigot was a dreamer. His mind full of endless possibilities: plans, schemes, and genius inventions that would lead him to fabulous wealth! All he needed was to borrow just a little bit of money and he could make those dreams reality! Unfortunately for Ribbly, most of his ideas weren't actually that good, suffered from being poorly implemented, or just being terrible in general. What Ribbly was really good at though was borrowing money from people to fund his projects and not paying them back. This made a lot of goblins very angry, and eventually he managed to earn the ire of Baron Revilgaz who put a bounty on his head. His family couldn't have been more proud of him: he was finally worth something and they were first in line to cash in on it.

Ribbly ended up fleeing to Blackrock Depths, taking up residence at the city's famous bar: The Grim Guzzler. Guarded by his two troll bodyguards, Ribbly tries to convince patrons to help finance his latest schemes. His sister, Yuka Screwspigot, wants him brought to her, dead or alive. She formally made her home at Flame Crest, a small outpost near Blackrock Mountain, but has since relocated to just inside the entrance to Blackrock Depths. Ribbly got an updated model as of Cataclysm, but has otherwise remained the same.

Status unknown. He may have been killed by adventurers sent by King Magni to "rescue" his daughter and got involved in a bar fight in the Grim Guzzler, or maybe he found some way to weasel out of having his head removed and brought to Baron Revilgaz.
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Re: The Stars Align!

Post by Thalraxal »

This weekend, we travel beyond the Dark Portal!

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"I am called Bladefist for a reason. As you will see."

Warchief Kargath Bladefist was leader of the Shattered Hand Clan, and Warchief of the Fel Horde. He was also secretly a member of Gul'dan's Shadow Council, one of its founding members, and one of the few non-warlocks to be part of it. He famously cut off his own hand and replaced it with a scythe-like weapon, earning him the title of 'Bladefist'.

While he desired to be part of the first wave of orcish clans sent to Azeroth, Kargath and the Shattered Hand remained in reserve back on Draenor. As a result, he was quick to sign on with Ner'zuhl's scheme to open new portals to new worlds to conquer. During the Alliance's counter-invasion of Draenor in the aftermath of the Second War, Kargath was in charge of the defences of Hellfire Citadel. Despite his best efforts, the Alliance was able to storm the Citadel, and slaughtered most of the Shattered Hand Clan in the process. Kargath himself survived the battle, retreating with what warriors he had left. He had hoped to rally more warriors and retake Hellfire Citadel, and halt the Alliance's advance, however he was unable to do so. Despite his willingness to die for the glory of the Horde, Kargath knew he didn't have enough troops to make much of a difference in the grand scheme of things, and wasn't feeling terribly sympathetic to Ner'zuhl after he left him and his clan to die while he fled to Shadowmoon Valley to prepare his ritual. As a result, he decided to bide his time until he was able to amass a new army and retake Hellfire Citadel. Of course, before he could really do that, Draenor blew up on him.

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"Need a hand?"

Following the destruction of Draenor, Kargath Bladefist was presumed dead. Thrall's new Horde honoured him as a cunning and honourable warrior. Bladefist Bay was named in his honour, as well the Horde's settlement in the Badlands, the town of Kargath (now New Kargath, after Old Kargath was buried in a landslide during the Cataclysm). As such, it was a shock to discover that the great hero of the Horde was still alive, and had descended further into the depths of demonic corruption. This probably wouldn't have been much of a surprise if people knew he'd been a member of the Shadow Council.

Kargath had survived the destruction of Draenor, and had, at some point, lost his other hand, and replaced it with another sword-like implement. Furthermore, he had also allowed himself to be transformed into a Fel Orc. The exact details of Kargath's history during the time between the destruction of Draenor and the reopening of the Dark Portal to Outland are sketchy at best. Considering his allegiance to the Shadow Council, it seems likely that he initially aligned himself with the Pit Lord Magtheridon and then jumped ship and signed-on with Illidan and the Illidari after Illidan became Lord of Outland. Either way, when we encounter him he's reclaimed Hellfire Citadel after it had been left empty for years. With Magtheridon imprisoned in his basement, Kargath has been happily recruiting more fel orcs for his Fel Horde by feeding them the blood of Magtheridon.

Kargath Bladefist was killed by adventurers when they stormed the Hellfire Citadel. He was the final boss of the third Hellfire Citadel dungeon, the Shattered Halls. One of his "hands" was taken and delivered as proof of his demise, while the other is an epic weapon that he sometimes drops. He has the dubious honour of being the first WC2 hero to be fought and killed by players in World of WarCraft. However, Warlord's of Draenor's whole 'alternate past' thing has been great for Kargath, since now we have a living, uncorrupted version of him to fight!
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Re: The Stars Align!

Post by Thalraxal »

We continue this weekend with Kargath Bladefist becoming his own double feature this weekend with some alternate history!

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"You owe me a fight, cowards!"

Kargath Bladefist was chieftain and founder of the Shattered Hand Clan, as well as one of the Warlords of the Iron Horde. However, he started as a slave of the Gorian Empire, and was forced to fight as a gladiator in their arena, for the amusement of the ogres.

Once a gladiator slave had achieved one hundred kills, they had earned their right to freedom, and the ogres promised to release them. As such, Kargath Not-Yet-Bladefist fought long and hard to get his hundred kills, and earn his freedom. However, this turned out to be something of a cruel joke on the part of the ogres, as successful gladiators weren't actually set free, they were chained up in a dungeon below the arena to rot and never be heard from again.

Kargath, however, wasn't going to let this stand. To free himself from his manacles, he tore off his own hand because it was getting in his way. Inspiring the other gladiators to free themselves in a similar manner, Kargath led them in a gladiatorial slave revolt against the Gorian Empire. Fighting their way to freedom, Kargath formed his motley crew of former orc slaves into the Shattered Hand Clan and eventually settled in the western regions of the Spires of Arak. New members of the Shattered Hand Clan are required to remove one of their hands as a sign of solidarity.

The Shattered Hand Clan, like most of the orcish clans on Draenor, joined Grommash Hellscream's Iron Horde. Kargath still has something of an obsession with gladiatorial combat, and built an arena near the Dark Portal to help him keep his soldiers sharp and ready for combat. Following the counter attack by the heroes of Azeroth, he was able to briefly trap them (and the slaves they'd freed) in his arena, forcing them to fight his clansmen for his own amusement. The heroes were able to escape thanks to Khadgar freezing all of the orcish gladiators. Kargath later fought against an adventurer empowered by the spirit of the great arakkoa hero and warrior king, Terokk, and succeeded in banishing Terokk's spirit.

Kargath later joined Grommash in a diplomatic mission to the capital of the Gorian Empire, Highmaul. While they were visiting, an army of adventurers showed up and stumbled into the Highmaul arena. Disappointed by the performance of the ogre champion, Kargath reentered the arena where his legend began. He was then killed by adventurers.

Kargath Bladefist in the main timeline has the honour of being the longest lived of the Warlords of Draenor, having successfully outlived all of his contemporaries (arguably, Ner'zuhl still exists as part of the Lich King, but no one actually knows he's there, his existence is in question, and his life as Ner'zuhl the Elder Shaman is over). Meanwhile, in the alternate timeline he's the second Warlord to get the chop. At least this time he got to be a raid boss.
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Re: The Stars Align!

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A former defender of magical artifacts, Sapphiron fell to Arthas and became the first frost wyrm created to serve the Scourge.

In life, Sapphiron was a mighty blue dragon ,and loyal servant of Malygos, who lived near the Dragonblight in Northrend. There, he guarded a collection of magical artifacts he'd amassed over the years. Knowing of both the dragon's immense wealth and power, the Crypt Lord, Anub'arak, suggested to Arthas that they should visit Sapphiron and take what they could use from his hoard to aid them in their journey into Azjol-Nerub. Arthas and Anub'arak fought and killed Sapphiron, and looted his hoard. Arthas had one more thing in mind for the blue dragon, however, and raised him as a frost wyrm.

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"Sorry we don't have time to chat, great wyrm. We've come to murder you and steal whatever artifacts you've been hoarding over the centuries." -Arthas Menethil

Arthas unleashed Sapphiron on his enemies, at this time the blood elves and naga arrayed against then. It was during this battle that Sapphiron likely lost a wing bone that ultimately ended up in the possession of the naaru, G'eras, who would eventually offer it for sale to adventurers. The wing bone was likely claimed by a blood elf who survived the battle, and brought it back to Outland following their defeat (although just between you and me, that "wing bone" looks more like a femur. I think G'eras is trying to pull a fast one on us).

Arthas was forced to leave Sapphiron behind when he and Anub'arak arrived at the gates of Abzol-Nerub. He tasked Sapphiron with guarding the gates as he and the Crypt Lord descended into the depths of the ruined spider kingdom. Following Arthas' ascension and merging with the Lich King, he sent Sapphiron south, to join Kel'thuzad in Lordaeron. Once there, he took up residence within Naxxramas, guarding the entryway to the lich's sanctum.

Sapphiron was destroyed when the combined forces of the Argent Dawn and Scarlet Crusade stormed Naxxramas and defeated Kel'thuzad while the dread citadel was above the Eastern Plaguelands. He seemed to have been reassembled, and then defeated once more while Naxxramas was above Wintergarde in Northrend.

Despite everything that happened to him, Sapphiron was somehow able to retain possession of his Key to the Focusing Iris. Granted to him in life by Malygos, it was a key necessary to gain entry into Malygos' lair, the Eye of Eternity. His Key was finally taken from his corpse by adventurers following his second defeat in Northrend. Adventurers were able to use his Key to gain access to the Eye of Eternity and slay Malygos.

Like most of the other bosses of Naxxramas, Sapphiron has also succumbed to the Hearthstone craze.
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Re: The Stars Align!

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”There is no cow level... really! I repeat: there is no COW level. Well, maybe there is...”

Techbot was created by Tinkmaster Overspark to store information and provide technical support to the engineers of Gnomeregan. Unfortunately, in the radioactive disaster that forced the gnomes to evacuate of the city, Techbot was hit by a bolt of electricity, reversing the polarity of its positronic brain, making it negatronic. Where Techbot was once a good, helpful, and constructive robot, it has now become evil, disruptive, and destructive and will do nothing but impede your progress.

With a heavy heart, Overspark sent adventurers to Gnomeregan to defeat Techbot and retrieve its brain. With it, he hopes to restore Techbot's good nature, or at the very least access all the date stored inside it. As Techbot has not been seen since, one can only assume the worst.

Techbot was removed from the game during Cataclysm, as a result of Operation: Gnomeregan and the reclamation of the upper levels of Gnomeregan by the gnomes. The area of the Train Depot that it used to loiter around has since been converted into part of the gnome starting area.
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Re: The Stars Align!

Post by Thalraxal »

It's back to Zul'Aman today!
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”Da shadow gonna fall on you.”

Hex Lord Malacrass was a troll witch doctor and second to last boss of Zul'Aman. He devoted himself to finding some means of allowing the Amani tribe to once more rise to power, prominence, and relevancy in the aftermath of the Second and Third Wars. Having heard of the Zandalari tribe's practice of calling on the power and favour of their gods, and having observed the blood elves using the power syphoned from a naaru to empower their Blood Knights, Hex Lord Malacrass used a similar process to draw power from the gods of Zul'Aman and bind it into mortal hosts. He brought his plan to empower the tribe's most powerful warriors with the very power of their gods to his warlord, Zul'jin, who gave the plan his thumbs up approval. With that, Malacrass set to work.

His research proved quite fruitful, and resulted in the creation of four powerful warriors. In addition to that, he also imbued Zul'jin himself with the power of all of them, and took on the spirit of a particularly dark and mysterious god for himself. Malacrass also learned how to drain a portion of a victim's soul, and gain some of their power and abilities for himself.

He was killed by adventurers, at the request of... Budd Nedreck, uhg. After the deed was done though, Nedreck laid off the adventurers, feeling confident he and his crew could deal with the remaining trolls on their own. This was not the end of Hex Lord Malacrass, however. He was returned to life sometime after the death of Zul'jin, and helped to rally the Amani tribe once more as part of the ambitious plan of the Zandalari tribe to create a new, united troll empire in the aftermath of the Cataclysm. That didn't work out too well either, and Hex Lord Malacrass was killed by adventurers again.
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Re: The Stars Align!

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More bug people from the Temple of Ahn'Qiraj!

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"The Laws of the Ancients will not be challenged!"

Battleguard Sartura was the leader of the Qiraji battleguard caste. She was also able to act as judge, jury, and executioner for whatever legal system the Qiraji possess.

She's presumed dead, killed by adventurers when they stormed Ahn'Qiraj.
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Re: The Stars Align!

Post by Thalraxal »

Back to the land no one wants to return to, Silithus!
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"Killing you and your cohorts will amuse me. I shall make it quick."

High Marshal Whirlaxis was one of the four Abyssal Lords, and member of the Abyssal council. Together with his fellow Abyssal council members, he commanded the Twilight's Hammer Clan in Silithus. He is known to be quite upset if summoned by people outside of the Twilight's Hammer Clan.

Whirlaxis is a wind serpent, a species commonly aligned with the Old Gods and their minions, making his allegiance to them not much of a surprise.

Much like is compatriot and fellow member of the Abyssal Council, Baron Kazum, he and the Abyssal Council made no appearances in Cataclysm, despite their important relationship to the Twilight's Hammer Clan, and is presumed dead. He and the other members of the Abyssal Council are no longer summonable, and have been removed from the game.
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Re: The Stars Align!

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"Enough, I will erase your very existence!"

Epoch Hunter was (will be? Is?) a temporal assassin in the service of the Infinite Dragonflight. While the Bronze Dragonflight is dedicated to preserving the integrity of the timeline, the Infinite Dragonflight instead intends to alter history to better suit its desired form of reality. Epoch Hunter had been sent through time to ensure that the future Warchief of the Horde, Thrall, would fail to escape Durnholde Keep.

Initially, he had simply planned to sabotage Thrall's escape by kidnapping Taretha, who's aid had been instrumental in helping him to escape. Thrall would be unable to escape custody, and remain a slave. However, due to the interference of agents of the Bronze Dragonflight, a group of meddlesome adventurers, Thrall was still able to escape the Keep. Together, they made their way to Tarren Mill in an attempt to find the missing Taretha. When they arrived, they found Taretha being held by Epoch Hunter, who had now decided that his direct interference would be necessary. Having given up on any attempts at subtly, Epoch Hunter attacked Thrall and the time traveling adventurers in an attempt to remove them all from the timeline.

Epoch Hunter was (will be?) killed by agents of the Bronze Dragonflight with assistance from Thrall. His head may have been at some point claimed as a trophy and mounted on the very large wall of an unknown customer of Wind Trader Zhareem.
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Re: The Stars Align!

Post by IskatuMesk »

One of the extremely few voices in the game that had an actor behind it.
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