Zone Storyline
Ever since the Veiled Hand’s brief reign of terror in Duskwood, the territory has fallen further and further into the darkness. Due to the Scourge, the simple lack of manpower, and now the civil war removing any hope for resources - Duskwood has become nothing shy of a properly hostile territory. To think Brightwood was once populated and prosperous.
Darkshire has been abandoned, as between the numerous threats already present within the wood, the arrival of the Scourge and the downfall of the Night Watch has left the remaining watchers with little to no ability to hold the town. Many of the citizens are gone, having found refuge in Stormwind City, leaving a scarce number of people to fight for what remains of their home. This is Camp Timberfall, where Sarah Ladimore heads the remainder of the Night Watch in hopes to eventually win a losing battle.
Marshal Dughan unfortunately could only afford to send the player ahead. Now simply an adventurer due to falling outside of the Stormwind Army chain of command, the adventurer reaches Camp Timberfell to the surprise (and mild disdain) of the residents. They weren’t expecting backup, but they also weren’t expecting their backup to just be one person. Avette Fellwood, an archer that’s been helping Sarah around camp, is quick to waylay a lot of doubts. Avette, having been a hardy survivalist for many years, notes that even one capable person is enough to turn a camp into a village. They just need to play to the adventurer’s strengths, and the adventurer needs to do the same for them. Sarah, however, is mildly downtrodden. She disagrees with Avette and practically admits that she thinks this could be the end of the Night Watch.
Abandoning Duskwood has been floated around as an idea, apparently. And given that Sarah holds the most sway, it’s not an idea to be taken lightly. Avette angrily marches away. The adventurer chooses to follow her, and they end up encountering Avette at the edge of a cliff overlooking what was once Darkshire.
Darkshire has been overrun by the undead. They’re not in the streets, but shadows in the windows, low moaning and groaning, and the stench of death is a sign enough that the town is no longer meant for the living. Avette explains here that she understands where Sarah is coming from. Sarah’s entire family is dead and buried, and she’s always had to fight. Her found family in the Night Watch turned to the side of evil, her home in Darkshire had been conquered, and all of her pleas for help have fallen on deaf ears.
Avette asks the adventurer for help. She can tell that they’re strong. In fact, she notes that they’re strong just like Sarah is. That sort of inner glow that lights a path through the darkness, and will always serve as a beacon for men… so long as the beacon remains lit. She fears that Sarah’s doubts have started to extinguish that light. So, Avette hopes that the adventurer can put that hope back into Sarah.
Together, Avette and the adventurer clear a path into the outskirts of Darkshire. It’s here that loud galloping can be heard, and the Dark Riders begin to run down the path. Before the adventurer and Avette are noticed and inevitably run down, they’re pulled inside of one of the houses by a pair of very strong arms.
Tobias Mistmantle. Believed to have either died or returned to his home in Silverpine, it turns out that Tobias remained in Duskwood as he believed he owed it a debt for all that Stalvan did during his life. Tobias fled Darkshire when the Scourge attacked, not out of fear, but because he was hoping to prevent a new chapter in the Legend of Stalvan.
Tobias, Avette, and the adventurer venture forth when Tobias says the coast is clear. Together, they’re able to fight back quite a few of the undead that have claimed the town. When they enter town hall, they fight and kill a powerful skeletal warrior, and it appears this is enough to frighten off most of the rest of the feral dead. Tobias and Avette stay behind to clear up any stragglers, asking the adventurer to return to Sarah and deliver the good news. The player’s sense of hope is dashed on their return, however.
Camp Timberfell is vacant. It’s clear that a fight happened, as some of the Night Watch members are cold on the ground. Following the trail, the adventurer discovers footprints and… hoofprints? The Dark Riders?!
The player is able to arrive just in time to see Ariden, the perpetual leader of the Dark Riders, in combat with Sarah Ladimore. She’s skilled enough to go toe to toe with this supernatural juggernaut, but its evident her stamina is flagging. The adventurer runs to her side and together, Ariden flees. Sarah notes that they’re lucky to survive, as Ariden could have easily killed the both of them if he so pleased. Why he didn’t is no mystery to Sarah, however, as the Dark Riders are always driven by a singular purpose - that being to gather mystical relics and bring them to Karazhan.
Sarah speaks about the story of her father. A man of great valor in life, only to be a heinous monster in death. His great blade, Archeus, falls into the purpose of the Dark Riders. Until they find it, Sarah is more useful to them alive, as she may eventually be key in finding it. She notes that a hero of eld briefly brandished the blade, but returned it to her when it outlived its purpose in their hands.
Commander Ladimore is practically despondent at this point. The people she swore to defend have now been scattered, all because of her own selfish desire to hold onto this one last piece of her father. The adventurer then shares what they came to say. Avette and Tobias await her command in Darkshire’s town hall. Sarah silently follows the adventurer, as she’s been shocked into silence. To see Darkshire cleared of the dead… it lights something inside of her. She acknowledges, at last, that Stormwind isn’t going to help them. The Citizen’s Army has sent supplies, but even they can’t afford to send soldiers to Duskwood. So, as ever, it’s the duty of the Night Watch to bring peace to this land so thoroughly drenched in terror.
She decides to send the adventurer along with Tobias to scout out Mistmantle Manor. Lo and behold, its evident that Stalvan’s grave is still full. The manor, however, isn’t vacant. As Tobias and the adventurer explore it, they find a plainly clothed man deep in study - as well as half a dozen blades at their backs. The man politely introduces himself as Frank Catesby and that he doesn’t wish to be interrupted. He then recognizes Tobias, or at least the signet on Tobias’s finger. Apologizing to Tobias for invading his home, he reintroduces himself as the Smoking Man, a somewhat legendary figure from recent Westfall folklore. He admits he has great fondness for Duskwood, as he was once a denizen of Brightwood. Surprisingly, he extends an olive branch. If it’s true that the Night Watch is working to save Duskwood without Stormwind’s help, they’ll need all the help they can get, and that it works in his favor to find aid all the same.
Tobias, Frank, and the adventurer return to Darkshire to find Avette and Sarah arguing. Sarah argues that their first priority should be putting down the threat of the Dark Riders, whilst Avette is very clear that they should be looking for their people.
Frank introduces himself to Sarah and offers her full command of his men. He says that she should be able to act against Ariden with his people on her side, and that he’ll help find her people in her stead. Thankful, Sarah leaves. Avette is furious.
The adventurer is then given a few choices. Two of them are adventures with introduced characters, and a couple others are small questlines that aren’t entirely connected to the main story. We’ll cover the smaller quests first.
Firstly, Tobias speaks of an odd lake in the forest. Called Lake Blackwater, it used to be a popular fishing destination for the denizens of Brightwood. Blackwater was because of the black-scaled fish that called it home. He says that the lake is rather odd because he’s heard tell of moaning and groaning from the lakebed, and an undeniably putrid smell.
When the adventurer arrives at the lake, they’re quick to find out that Stitches now inhabits the lakebed. In a deep depression, Stitches apparently couldn’t be destroyed by the Night Watch, so they dumped his corpse in the lake. However, Stitches came back, and is sad that the Embalmer is truly dead. Stitches knows the Embalmer is dead for sure, as the abomination devoured Abercrombie’s corpse. Getting corpse flowers for Abercrombie’s grave, catching completely dead fish (killed by the abomination’s putrid aura) for Stitches, and finding an undead cat help convince Stitches to leave the lake floor. He sees the adventurer as his new master, and asks the adventurer “What Stitches do?” The adventurer can order Stitches to end his own life, but Stitches misunderstands and says that “Stitches already dead”. So, the adventurer can send Stitches to roam the woods and protect the living, or tell Stitches to leave and never come back.
Secondly, Avette wonders about Blind Mary. Although Mary is a banshee, she was always a rather pathetic sight, rather than one to be feared. Indeed, Mary had been more helpful than a hindrance, and it always made Avette curious whether or not the banshee still continued to persist. Instead of finding Mary, the adventurer finds a strange mirror, and when they touch it - they’re sucked in. Entering a realm composed entirely of reflections and glass shards, the adventurer has to fight through strange and twisted reflections of the people they’ve encountered (a Veiled Hand version of Sarah Ladimore, an undead murderer version of Tobias, and a feral worgen Avette), before finding Mary. Mary tried to enchant the mirror to regain her beauty, only to find that there was something far more wicked within the mirror gifted to her by the “Merchant of Glass”. The adventurer helps Blind Mary leave this place behind. Mary nearly sacrifices her freedom to save the adventurer’s life, and this one act allows her to regain some semblance of her prior beauty. Forever thankful, she rewards the adventurer on their return to the normal world.
Frank will make a comment if the player has done both quests that “Duskwood’s story is not one only of her living inhabitants. For those who still hold onto goodness or those who still can be reasoned with, they belong here just as much as we do. It’s good that you helped them out. Can’t say I have much hope for the abomination, but I knew Mary when she was alive. To live such a hard life only to meet an even harder undeath… I’m glad you looked beyond what she’s become. The reality of just about anything is that nothing is as it seems on the surface. Good on you, kid.”
Back to the main storyline, Tobias and Avette head out to old worgen territory to see if there are any survivors hiding in the mines. The worgen are believed to have all been wiped out by the Scourge, and so when they find the area overrun by skeletons and zombies, it seems all but confirmed to be true. That is until a death knight attacks. The few Death Knights still loyal to the Scourge have taken up warlordism in the aftermath of the Feral Scourge’s surge, and Jericho the Black is one of said warlords. He’s too strong while being bolstered by so many undead. All seems lost until a shadowy figure blindsides the Death Knight. This gives Avette, Tobias, and the adventurer enough time to escape.
The shadowy figure turns out to be a worgen. He calls himself Alpha Prime (though he is not the original Alpha Prime) and has regained his will - though not his identity as an unchanged man. A true tribal worgen, he leads the surviving ferals in the woods, and has been harboring the people the Night Watch are looking for. Tobias is able to use his knowledge of the beast within to negotiate with Alpha Prime, but Avette doesn’t trust the worgen. Never trust a beast.
Avette nearly ruins everything by trying to free the survivors without the worgen’s consent, and the adventurer is narrowly able to save her from the claws of the ferals. It takes Tobias’s wit to convince Alpha Prime that Avette is simply afraid, just like any of them are. He shifts into his worgen form and says that he knows what it feels like to be a cornered predator.
Avette returns to Darkshire with the survivors. Meanwhile, Alpha Prime takes Tobias and the adventurer on a hunt. They hunt down Jericho the Black in his fortress at Raven Hill, and it’s here that they learn that Jericho does not serve the Lich King. A Dark Horde envoy, one of the Forsaken, retreats when Prime’s group arrives. With the strength of the beasts at their side, the adventurer successfully kills Jericho the Black and liberates the settlement of Raven Hill.
Frank is glad to see the worgen with the adventurer on their return to Darkshire. This is where Frank decides to take the adventurer, just the two of them, to ogre territory. Frank and the adventurer are out here for supplies, and here it’s revealed that Frank is a powerful fire mage. Frank also says that he’s doing a favor for Sarah.
It’s here that Frank and the adventurer find out that Sarah lost her father’s blade to the ogres. An ogre warlord holds Archeus as his own. The two of them take the ogre down and recover the blade, and in thanks for how competent the adventurer has been, Frank calls in his “extra help”. Men in red bandanas exit a conjured portal. Frank, now unmasked, admits that he is a leader within the Citizen’s Army. His coming to Duskwood, however, was not sanctioned. As much as Vanessa empathizes with the plight of the people out here, she has a war to win. He came, anyway.
He says this is all for the sake of Duskwood, and that he revealed himself to the player because he feels like it’s only courteous if he does. That said, he notes that he is also out here because of a mystery that the Black Horizon uncovered. Indeed, as he says this, Antonio Moro walks through the portal. The zealot growls out the words “The stench of the demons is nigh.”
This may explain why the Dark Riders are suddenly active again. Medivh may be gone… but the power of Sargeras lives on.
He returns the player to Darkshire. Here, Avette is pacing worriedly. Sarah is nowhere to be seen, and she tells the player that whatever they have to say can wait. Avette rushes out on her own, just as before, and the player is forced to follow her. They follow her all the way to a crypt near the road to Deadwind, where the corpses of many of Frank’s men can be found. Deep within, the player arrives just as Avette’s bow is shattered and a mace strikes her in the chest. She took that blow for Sarah, who shouts out Avette’s name.
Galvanized, Sarah jumps to her feet, and the adventurer is able to help her temporarily kill the Rider. Sarah apologizes to Avette as she carries the archer from the crypt, saying that she was a fool to think that she could fight the Dark Riders alone. Avette, still somewhat conscious, says that Sarah is strong enough to kill Ariden alone - that Sarah just doesn’t believe in herself enough to do it.
Returning to Darkshire for the final time, Sarah arrives to find the Citizen’s Army in her town. Frank nods at the adventurer as Antonio steps forward, kneeling. “It is an honor to wield such a mighty blade, Sarah Ladimore. Banish the shadow.” He offers Archeus to her. When she takes it, the Dark Riders arrive in force.
The Defias Brotherhood, the Black Horizon, the Nightbane Worgen, the Night Watch, the survivors, and even Blind Mary and Stitches come along for the final battle. Sarah battles Ariden one on one, and its clear she is fighting evenly now with Archeus in her hands. The adventurer goes around and helps Tobias protect the survivors, help an injured Avette find a new bow, help Alpha Prime kill the Dark Rider’s attack hounds, and eventually rejoin Frank and Antonio to fend off the Dark Riders.
Sarah almost falls to Ariden’s dark might, but he is stalled by an arrow to the heart. Avette grins on a rooftop, and is nearly thrown to her death by a pulse of magic released by Ariden’s hand. Instead of finishing Ariden here and now, Sarah decides to save Avette’s life instead. She catches the archer before she hits the ground, and Ariden retreats.
Sarah profusely apologizes to Avette, and Avette shuts her up with a kiss. “You did just fine, Commander. Just fine. Our people are safe, and I’m still alive, ain’t I? Take that frown off of that pretty face before you add too many stress wrinkles to it, yeah?”
Sarah calls Avette an idiot, and is deeply thankful to Frank. Frank instead says she should thank the adventurer, as the adventurer is the one who made this all possible. So, Sarah does just that.
Frank pulls the adventurer to the side and says that the rest of the nation needs able hands like our’s, and that even though he knows we are royalists, he doesn’t quite care. The war shouldn’t stop good people from doing good deeds. So he sends us along, saying that Redridge could use our care.
Duskwood. A faltering human spirit. A legacy of darkness. The looming Burning Shadow. A vision of evil, yet a vision of hope.
The Citizen’s Army, though first seen as warmongers and terrorists in Elwynn, are painted in a much kinder light by Frank Catesby. Is it true, then, that this war is between patriots and traitors? Where is the side of justice?
To Redridge, then. Marshal Dughan’s recommendation remains in mind, and the adventurer is stronger for their experiences in this darkest of forests.
