Jarek Ardentlocke

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Crusader Jarek Ardentlocke was a member of the Scarlet Crusade, serving among the ranks of their elite echelon, the Crimson Legion. He was eventually slain and risen to undeath by the dreadlord Balnazzar.

History
Jarek was born into noble family just over decade before the beginning of the First War. Though his family had considerable pedigree from their lineage of knighthood, the Ardentlockes had long since humbled themselves from indulging the more lavish ways of wealth as they joined Clerical Order of Northshire. Both Jarek's mother and father were devout as ever, and thus he endeavored to become scholarly in Faol's teachings.

First War
The Horde washed over the lands of before Stormwind, and the humble settlement of the Ardentlockes was pillaged by marauding orcs. His mother and father would not let the green-skinned beasts take their son, and tragically were they struck down before the boy's very eyes; Jarek would not let their sacrifice be in vain.

No longer could the boy find the gaiety of his childhood; he could be idle as war claimed his people. Defiantly, Jarek brandished a blade of which he could barely hold with his feeble young arms, but maturity graced him quickly in his early teens. Stormwind's knightly order hardly had qualms to squire an apprentice, especially during their battle against the invading orcs.

Sir Weber of the Alliance took upon him the young, eager Ardentlocke to be his squire, as he saw great honor in the noble family's progeny. The Knight had thrust his new squire into battle nearly immediately, and Jarek quickly became inspired not just by the Light, but the blade that he held. The squire grew quickly into the dauntless soldier that many aspired to, and his coming of age would soon award him the natural progression to knighthood. Though coupled with this honor was bitter loss, as Stormwind fell to the great betrayal with, and tragedy struck once more as Jarek's mentor eventually succumbed to the merciless assault the battered down the kingdom's gates.

The Second War
The unity of blade of and faith had already thrust Jarek into the duty of a paladin before he journied north, and was naturally among the first to join the Knights of the Silver Hand. The Alliance of Lordaeron was bolstering in its strength. and the young man remained dutiful knowing well that they were to face the Horde's incursion once again.

His enemies thus far had been easy to spot--brutish, foul smelling, green skinned--Jarek terminated them with extreme prejudice; however, traitors were lurking among his fellow humans. Alterac was in league with the orcish invaders, and had even attempted to cripple his order by assassinating its commander, Uther. Responding to revolt within Tyr's Hand, Jarek was poised to deliver justice upon the treacherous kingdom as he was deployed to deal with the Horde they had allied themselves with. The battle was fierce, and the paladin justly felled every traitor and or orc that came his way, but even the even the Light's magic could not sustain the night from the tax of combat. Ardentlocke was liberating the townsfolk who were trapped in their homes, but his consciousness faded before him. All was black

Jarek awoke to a woman tending his wounds within a boarded up house within the city the Alliance was besieging. Though he desperately wished to return to battle, he sustained a grievous wound to his abdomen, and was to recover from his wounds for the mean time. The paladin's healing magic was aided by the thorough medical treatment the woman provided. Jarek listened to her plight after she introduced herself as Adana Dressler, whose family had readily took arms against the Alliance in the battle. He was suspicious of the alteraci woman, but nonetheless placed trust in her as she likely saved him from a certain death. Ardentlocke vouched on Dressler's behalf as the both of them were liberated by his comrades, attesting to her noble actions in saving his life. The men were not question the word of a paladin, as they would not doubt his virtue.

Ardentlocke owed the woman his life, just as she owed hers to the paladin. Adana was no stranger to battle herself, and followed continued to follow Jarek to offer her skills as a nurse on the battlefield, and eventually learned to wield the power of the Light itself to employ its divine magic in her healing. The Second War eventually ended with the Alliance emerging victorious. The two decided to settle and live in Stratholme, where they married and conceived their first child, Mara.

Jarek ensured that Mara follow both the path of Light and that of the paladin, and began training her as a squire since she was old enough to hold a sword.

The Third War and the Fall of Lordaeron
Once more, Jarek bore witness yet more tragedy, as the much more horrific outbreak the likes of the plague had washed over his home. The Ardentlockes were left with a decision, and one that had to be begrudgingly made. Jarek and his daughter, of whom was on the cusp of becoming a young woman, elected to venture forth and cleanse the land of the undead, despite the pleading of his wife for them to journey south. Adana had been pregnant with another child, which was due in only a few months time. She wished not to have their son born, never knowing his father or sister. Jarek promised that they would be united once again once Stratholme is cleansed, and that Lordaeron shall prosper once again. Leaving his wife in a state of turmoil, he sent her south to the sanctuary of the rebuilt Stormwind.

The Scarlet Crusade was formed, and Jarek was among the first to join. He sent Mara to the relative safety of New Avalon for her to train and become ready to fend off the Scourge, and ventured forth with Grand Crusader to reclaim the Scarlet Bastion.

Death
The Scarlet Crusade fell within the Plaguelands, and the Grand Crusader's possessed body was shed to reveal himself as the dreadlord Balnazzar. Jarek was slain in the demon's murderous rampage that was unleashed upon the crusaders in Stratholme, being risen from his grave thereafter to serve as the dreadlord's undead slave with the rest of his former vanguard. The demon's torment and punishment was inflicted upon the paladin, endlessly haunting his mind with the last remaining memories of his family to which he will never fulfill the promise he had sworn.