"On the island of Caer Darrow lies Scholomance, a wretched center of Scourge necromancy and evil." -Commander Ashlam Valorfist
Darkmaster Gandling was the headmaster of Scholomance, the Scourge's school of necromancy on the island of Caer Darrow. He was the school's third headmaster, succeeding
Araj the Summoner, who had left the school to rule over the ruins of Andorhal and the Western Plaguelands.
The school suffered repeated attacks by the Argent Dawn and their allies. Despite the loss of many of his subordinates, Darkmaster Gandling remained. The death of the Lich King, however, did throw things into disarray. However, Gandling was able to ensure that Scholomance remained a prestigious institute of higher education. Furthermore, Gandling found himself as one of the highest remaining members of the Cult of the Damned, and Scholomance as one of the few remaining bastions of the cult.
Working alongside Araj the Summoner, Gandling sought to maintain control over Andorhal and the Western Plaguelands, in the face of continued encroachment by the Forsaken, the Alliance, and the Argent Crusade. As such, Gandling committed much of Scholomance's forces to the defence of Andorhal. Despite his best efforts, Andorhal fell thanks to the coordinated efforts the Alliance and Forsaken commanders. Araj was destroyed, a member of the faculty was killed, and he lost several valuable undead constructs. Gandling himself took part in the battle, and was forced to retreat back to the safety of Scholomance, now the sole remaining outpost of the Cult of the Damned in the Western Plaguelands.
"School is in session!"
Darkmaster Gandling knew it was only a matter of time before adventurers would come looking for him. First,
Lilian Voss, a deadly undead assassin had stormed into Scholomance, intent on killing him. Gandling, however, saw great potential in the nihilistic monster hunter, and hoped to convince her to accept her undead state and join him. However, this was interrupted by the arrival of five more adventurers, who were apparently friends, or at least acquaintances, of her.
Unable to reason with Lilian, Gandling instead simply took control over her undead body, as he would any other rogue undead. Forcing someone to fight their friends was always a classic. Curious to see how far he could push her, Gandling ripped her soul out of her undead body mid-battle, transforming it into some type of angry spirit. The adventurers were able to subdue Lilian's enraged spirit, so instead he went back to the basics, and reanimated Lilian's now soulless corpse to finish the fight. In the end, Lilian was able to break free from his control, and reunite her undead body and soul. Gandling was forced to retreat, however Lilian was no in no condition to continue fighting.
The adventurers followed Gandling, pressed on by the talking floating skull that had once been
Lord Alexei Baorv. Now free from the Lich King's influence, Barov wanted nothing more than to free himself and his family from Gandling's curse, which kept his spirit bound to what had once been his home. Together, Alexei and the adventurers (really the adventurers carried him, the dude was a floating skull, after all), killed Gandling, ending his tenure as Headmaster of Scholomance.