Dumb Thoughts : we're not paying attention, or Xal'atath is about to sting us again!

Wyrmrest Accord
1

So something that’s been bugging me non-stop is that we’ve been given some rather huge plot-points in the opening act and we’re expecting to just, I don’t know, ignore the damn things because of Game Logic.

Xal’atath was able to walk right past Alleria and didn’t even show up on the Ren’dorei’s radar, and had been doing so for weeks, if not months, by using the form of Archmage Drenden. None of the Mages in Dalaran noticed. I ran my Demon Hunters and Mage past Drenden, and no Fel-Sight pierced her illusion, and there was no response from the Mage.

This is the Dreadlord nonsense all over again, that our greatest champions who can penetrate any illusion or magical guise … cannot penetrate the illusions of the Dreadlords, or Xal’atath, unless they permit the Demon Hunter to do so. Except Xal’atath can do it at whim and we have no idea how deeply connected she is to her current vessel.

Some of the dialogue from Anduin after a certain quest-line leading us from Hallowfall to Spider Super-Hell, strikes me as extremely odd. Anduin’s so chipper and invigorated, and while this could be him getting back into the fight and accepting he doesn’t have to carry the whole freakin’ world on his shoulders, others can and will ‘pass the torch’ after he’s gone, or this could be Xal’atath doing her Drenden impression, this time in Sad Boi flavour.

The Dark Heart is able to absorb and transmute Arcane energy into Void energy. Arcane Energy was able to hold off Dimensius when he tried to consume K’aresh and mutated the Ethereals into their new forms. Why would Dimensius direct Xal’atath to specifically go after Arcane energy if it can be so effective against the Void?

  1. He’s actively draining a hostile force and turning it into his power, so why not do this? It makes him stronger, weakens a hostile force, this is just basic tactics.
  2. Who is to say that all the Void Lords are Happy Funtimes Friends Forever? He might be after Azeroth as much to save himself from getting a Hostile Homie Hoedown from his own team as for its ability to potentially reshape reality, since if you can convert Arcane into Void, then the reverse should be true and Dimensius might be able to use the conversion process in reverse and start waffle-stomping his rival Void Lords.
  3. Its all a bait and switch. We’re fixating on Xal’atath, her Mac’Guffinite and potential arcane sources she can drain, while the actual plan is to start draining all other forms of magic because we’ve all got a raging mad-on for Xal’atath because she killed our Dadgar and ruined one of our favourite cities.

My theories are that Xal’atath is literally baiting us into an underground area for the sole purpose of trapping Azeroth’s Leaders and Champions underground. We saw with Zaralek Caverns that even a mage as potent as Kalecgos struggled with teleporting us to a specific place underground, and with Dalaran’s magical remains polluting the region, as we saw in Hallowfall with their sole remaining mage (Pour one out for the homie…), all the Void, Light and Elemental energies of the region going wild and flaring up, we might not be able to teleport out, or get messages out, without great risk or tremendous effort.

With our main access between these under-realms and the surface being the Coreway, which is fairly easy to get shut down with just an army of Nerubians and some explosives, and the only other one being a cargo-lift in the Shadowvein Extraction Site in the Ringing Deeps, that could be collapsed even easier, it could take weeks, or months for us to get our leaders and champions out from under Khaz Algar, let alone helping our allies who are likewise dealing with their whole world, literally, collapsing around them.

This leaves Xal’atath free to go straight to other areas on Azeroth brimming with Arcane energy and go to town like it’s an all-you-can-eat shrimp buffet, and Azeroth is a Red Lobster venue.

  1. The Nexus in Coldarra is relatively unprotected and there’s still a ton of exposed Leylines in the region, and with the cease-fire between the Horde and Alliance, the collapse of the Lich King and the Scourge, and the fact that most, if not all, of the Blue Dragons returned to their ancestral home in the Dragon Isles and may have only left summoned and artificial servants behind to stand watch over this site of great power, Xal’atath might be able to just waltz on in, turn the defences to protect her and not the Blue Flight, and just start pulling horrendous amount of Arcane energy out of the World Soul.

  2. The Unbound Thicket in the Crystal Forest would be another good target, albeit one I’d pet Xal’atath might leave to a minion or servant to drain on her behalf, given the huge amounts of raw arcane energy in the region actively crystalized in the flora and fauna of the region.

  3. Azsuna and Suramar are regions bristling with Arcane energy, with the leylines naturally bursting to the surface and so rich with Leylines it crystalizes daily on the surface. This would also create more delays, specifically for the Horde, since if the Arcan’dor tree loses access to either the Leylines or its access to the Emerald Dream/Life, its entirely possible the entire Shal’dorei race might begin to start withering immediately. Even with the Nightwell expended, the region is rich with Leylines close to the surface that could easily be tapped and stripped if Xal’atath wants to strip-mine and do a quick-and-dirty power-boost.

  4. Mount Hyjal is an ‘Untainted’ source of Arcane Energy, especially since the region is relatively undefended and most of the inhabitants trying to reverse the effects of Ragnaros’s revival and the effects of the Twilight Hammer Cult raising an army at its base. It was nearly expended during the events of Legion and has only just recovered, what happens to the Kaldorei if the Well of Eternity is drained dry by Xal’atath? And their Moonwells in Ashenvale and Darkshore are both poorly defended and easily attacked … That will leave them only their single Moonwell in Bel’ameth, and the Kaldorei never kicked their arcane habit, they just masked with with Magical Naltrexone via the Moonwells, which were all created via a vial of ‘water’ from the Well of Eternity and a complicated ritual invoking the influence and favour of Elune. Considering that it was a dedication and not a ritual, Tyrande dumping the last vial of Moonwell water from the temple in Darnassus into that pool in Bel’ameth might mean there’s now two Wells of Eternity, one at the peak of Mount Hyjal and one in Bel’ameth, and if Xal’atath is able to just walk in, undetected and unmolested, under the eyes of Demon Hunters and Void Elves alike … that’s not good news for the Kaldorei.

  5. The Dalaran Crater in Hillsbrad Foothills was the original site of Dalaran, and was built there precisely because it was a potent nexus of powerful Leylines, and again, the region is lightly defended as much due to the conflicts between the Alliance and the Horde as much as the region itself. Another quick and dirty site for Xal’atath.

  6. Vashj’ir has multiple open fault-lines exposing leylines, as well as a deep connection to the Elemental Planes where Xal’atath could unleash the Void to madden and enslave Elemental Spirits both to cloak her actions and to harass the nearby regions and delay us long enough for her to finish her work.

TL:DR Mode

Xal’atath can be anyone, at any time, in any place. Unless you have had your eyes on someone 24/7, there’s a chance it could be Xal’atath about to manipulate you into doing her dirty work, and she’s been watching us for years now.

Xal’atath is after arcane energy, and I think our whole adventure to Khaz Algar is just a bait-and-switch to get us involved deep under the earth, where she’ll trap us, counting on interference forcing us to have to dig our way out slowly rather than teleport, without Dalaran to help us now, while she goes around draining the sources of powerful Arcane Energy around Azeroth with minimal resistance because we all bunched up in the Nerubian Mosh-Pit that is Ajz-Kahet.

What are your thoughts? Am I overthinking the Harbringer’s machinations, or do you have theories of your own?

1 Like
2

Yeah they’re not really drawing attention to how Xteeth can mimic forms, are they? Outside of that initial time. Strange that Alleria didn’t warn us about that, though she’s been taking the whole thing as her problem to solve, and not a community effort. Xeratath can also mind control folks. And float. Is there nothing she cannot do?

How can we even trust that other players aren’t her? We can’t. Raid groups worldwide are threatened by this.

Anyways, I don’t know if we’re going to get a plot twist like that again, since it’s hard to pull off subtly and if it is obvious and everyone knows, then there’s no surprise. And if it’s subtle enough that it is imperceptible, then the community will call it lazy.

If I were to theorize, however, I’d look at B or C-tier NPCs to take up that mantle, as Drenden was. General Steelstrike could be a good one. Great Kyron. I think all the conflict here is stemming from Beledar, and so the Lamplighters would be the prime target.

4 Likes
3

…And now I’m imagining an expac gimmick where lore character names sometimes appear in the LFG tool, and inviting them adds a “Xal’atath” NPC to the party for a minute, whereupon she makes a sassy comment at the party leader and drops group, leaving all other players with a 1-hour ‘you got tricked’ debuff.

I could see this story element working if the ruse gets discovered more quickly each time Xal’atath uses it, and she plays into that by using it to stoke paranoia or taunt characters by wearing the faces of their deceased loved ones (like showing up as Khadgar) instead of genuinely trying to infiltrate.

2 Likes
4

We never told our Faction Leaders that we had, for a brief window of time, an Old God riding shotgun in our brains.

That we’d ‘accidentally’ raised one of the darkest and most dangerous Legendary Weapons from the Legion Invasion into a mortal body, that it could bargain with an Old God as a near equal, and just poofed out of there with a Void Portal, nor did we bring this up with Dalaran that the Legendary Weapons we left with them may not have been exactly secure …

The ‘Player Champion’ has a lot of blood on their hands from the get-go in this expansion … and we still don’t know everything that Xal’atath can do, or is after. Never show your full hand, and all that, and I suspect she’s playing us only a handful of cards to start this expansion off.

I’d appreciate if there were times where Xal’atath has discreetly jumped in as a NPC, or a Major NPC, that we travel with or aid and it all comes back to bite us in the final leg of the expansion. A whole “You thought it was X, but it was MEEEEEE, DIOOOOOOOOOOO XAL’ATAAAAAAAAAAAAAATH!” gotcha moment that we’d been playing right into her hands all along. That we think we’ve killed her, only to find its just a random High Elf she was puppeting, and as we’re pondering this, we get a snarky “Oh, my dear friends, I’m sorry, but I had to be an ungracious host! While you’ve all been playing with those spiders, I’ve been so busy! Draining the arcane energies out of Azeroth while you played cave explorers with the Earthen and the Arathai! But don’t worry, I’ll be more than ready to tend to you directly, very soon. Stupid Sexy Evil Villain Laughter”

I mean, most of the Follower NPCs from the Follower Dungeons are relatively no-name individuals, except for the Orc Shaman and Human Paladin. Having Xal’atath being one of this crew, nudging us towards a goal while aiding us in a round-about way and studying our tactics, would be a delicious “Oh freak no!” moment for the players and Faction Leaders to deal with.

This, and we have to start finding ways to pierce such illusions, because if she could infiltrate Dalaran, who else can she impersonate flawlessly? How many within our Mega-Factions might unwittingly be her servants, or have an Eye of N’Zoth-like ability where Xal’atath is peering through their eyes whenever she wants, or maybe all the time? Give the Demon Hunters a win and upgrade their Spectral Vision that, maybe not immediately pierce her illusions, but it can pick up that there’s something off about a person or an object and it can be taken away for study or interrogation.

Really tighten the screws. As the expansion progresses, paranoia and personality disputes flair up as nobody becomes entirely certain who they can trust, who has been compromised, who might have been replaced, with the Mega-Factions reduced to internal inquisitions and eyeing each other nervously, all the while Xal’atath is looking on and laughing because she was never there, and it really is all in our heads.

1 Like
5

I think something like this is bound to happen. I do think shadow priests should be the ones to come up with a way to expose her and her followers though or priests in general. But if you’re a shadow priest you should get something special. Priests need a narrative win. Especially after how Legion handled them.

5 Likes
6

I know what I have to do.

I’m wiping the raid.

3 Likes
7

Finally, making a mistake has a much easier explanation.

“Sorry team, Xalatath did it. I am Xalatath.”

…Though that probably won’t stop me from getting kicked. Going to have to workshop it a little.

2 Likes
8

I just beat the voice in my head. I’m not Xalatath.

9

Point of order.

Xal’atath said Drenden had been dead for years, and the implication kinda is she’s been using his form the whole time.

1 Like
10

Okay but legitimately a “War Within” mode where a player or players are selected at random to be Xal’atath and can choose a moment to pop a special cooldown which spawns potent enemies that result in major rewards for the player that pops it if it succeeds in wiping the raid would be kind of fun, not going to lie.

4 Likes
11

Jokes on Xal’atath. I take the Patrick Star approach to defeating mind reading, as my mind is an enigma!

They look into my mind and see the monkey with cymbals clapping.

1 Like
12

At the risk of being an bum nugget …

Which voice? The voice that tells you it’s you, or the voice that tells you you’re an impostor?

((In all seriousness for all my fellow assembled incorrectly homies out there, the voices are lying and therapy does help. It gets better if you admit there’s a problem to people who are training to help us with this nonsense :ox: : :poop:.))

1 Like
13

It’s been Topper McNabb this whole time.

2 Likes
14

I do wish we were able to give Topper alms or something. It kills me every time I have to walk past him, I have literally thousands of gold on most characters, let me buy this man a house already.

1 Like
15

Actually, I have been thinking a bit on this. Since the Helm of Domination was destroyed and DK’s all over Azeroth have been wandering around rediscovering what “freedom” is like, well, I’m a bit curious to see how Gabnus will react, going forward, knowing that Xalatath can control minds without a helm or anything else that we know of. Kinda stoked to see this through from a Death Knight POV.