Kel'Durzin

Kel'Durzin, born Kalen Sunfall, was a Quel'dorei magister of no particular regard. Born in Goldenmist Village, little of his life prior to the invasion is believed noteworthy, as Kalen's skills were deemed no more than average by the Sunwell magistry, he developed a sense of festering bitterness, though none would have predicted the depths of its ultimate depravity.

He would escape the scourge invasion by running as far as possible, and soon grew impressed by the strength of the scourge, freely joining the Cult of the Damned, seeking to gain the power to finish off those whom had rejected him.

Kalen's abilities with necromancy were well beyond that of his skill in traditional magics, and he rose quickly in the cult's ranks as a necromancer. Eager to bolster his strength by any means necessary, Kalen by his own will underwent a series of necrotic rituals, over the years changing from an elf to a lich. The conversion brought with it increased command of shadow and arcane magics as well as necromancy, and its final stages may have been undertaken at Deatholme.

Emerging as a lich, Kel'Durzin's will was bound to that of the Lich King for a time, but regained freedom when Arthas fell and there was briefly no lich king. Kel'Durzin and his followers made their way to a place he remembered from childhood, Dawnmist Harbor, a small elven port east of Quel'Thalas proper and north of Lordaeron.

The remote port, though having not seen a trading vessel in years, was spared the worst of the initial invasion, and a number of surviving locals, Quel'dorei and Lordaerionian refugees were squeaking out a living, mostly from the bounty of the sea.

With no defense forces to speak of, the residents were unprepared for an assault by a lich, his necromancer and death knight deputies, and the undead minions they would rise.

Some may have escaped south across the mountains into Lordaeron, but the residents were systematically slain and either risen as undead, or their souls used to strengthen Kel'Durzan.

Controlling Dawnmist for a number of years, Kel'Durzan and his minions quietly spread to abandoned, forgotten places, notably the Dawnbringer Crypts on the West coast of the Ghostlands, a short ways north of Ashal'Thalas. Raising the ancestors buried in the crypts, it soon grew into a second, distant stronghold for Kel'Durzin, and his phylactery was secretly kept in its depths, far from his physical location in Dawnmist.

A Voyage North
Dawnmist Harbor was of interest to the Curators of Thalassian Culture both to determine its fate, and as the settlement was believed to have possibly been established before the Sunwell as Dath'Remar's voyage neared its end, Head Curator Entilzha Firesong arranged an expedition, using rope and climbing gear to access the settlement across the rugged mountains of northern Lordaeron.

Having been long in isolation, the undead were initially slow to respond, and didn't appear under the sway of any save possibly the passive Lich King Bolvar Fordragon. They were cut down en route to the settlement's administrative center, it and the library being principle objectives of the expedition.

Kel'Durzan revealed his hand when the Highguard were largely within the building, visible through battered windows commanding undead inwards, emergency portal evacuation was ordered in the face of the necrotic onslaught, though an old, slightly tattered tapestry depicting the Sunwell's creation was obtained from the government building before the team evacuated by portal.

Dawnmist was considered too dangerous to return to, and too isolated to launch a major offensive against, though in the weeks after the attack, Assistant Curator Migarden Dal'remas went missing, and the then name-unknown Kel'Durzin was suspected, though divination and scouts sent to Dawnmist revealed nothing.

The Lackey's Phylactery
Some time would pass, with occasional undead attacks likely attributed to Kel'Durzin, though again without direct link. The corruption of the ancestral tomb of Meridia Dawnbreaker would prove a breakthrough. Covered by a void-like haze, Firesong agreed to lead a force into the tomb, which sat just north of his ancestral lands, the Sovereign Viscounty of Ashal'Thalas.

Moving to northern Ashal'Thalas by portal, the ominous tomb was soon reached, filled with creatures, seemingly once elves, deeply corrupted by the void and empowered by souls. One such lieutenant turned to voidspawn before its demise. As the strike force reached the lower depths of the crypt, an intense battle raged with a powerful death knight and its minions. At last slain, a phylactery was found among the creature's possession, and noting the magical relationship between the phylactery and Kel'Durzin, Firesong learned his name, though declined to immediately destroy the phylactery as a plan was concocted to use it as leverage in freeing the enslaved Quel'dorei souls at Dawnmist and assuring Kel'Durzin did not persist in any form, with or without the ability to return from defeat.

An Unexpected Courier
Consultations were held with Highguard-affiliated Death Knights regarding how to proceed, notably Lord Manawhisper and Artiri. Scouts reported that Kel'Durzin had fled Dawnmist, though his minions remained. A hired courier arrived shortly thereafter in Dalaran, bearing a note suggesting Kel'Durzin as the originator, a note which offered the captive assistant curator in return for the phylactery.

A time and location in southeast Lordaeron was stated for the exchange to take place, a proposal not taken seriously by the Highguard as Migarden was almost certainly corrupted, though an affirmative response was given to the courier.

With the phylactery, Kel'Durzin's location was tracked to a ziggurat in the Plaguewood, though heavily defended by undead. The death knights devised a plan utilizing the phylactery and a mask of considerable power belonging to Lord Manawhisper to summon Kel'Durzin through the Shadowlands from the Plaguewood, to just beyond the holy ground of Light's Hope.

The operation had to be rushed to prevent reaching the prearranged time for the exchange. Scouts were deployed to track the party bearing Assistant Curator Migarden Dal'renas, whom were picked up moving slowly towards the arranged exchange location on the shores of Lake Mereldar, though still in northern Lordaeron.

Preparations were made, and a strong Highguard force was assembled at Light's Hope.

Kel'Durzin's Last Stand
A large Highguard force was assembled at Light's Hope, bolstered by Argent Crusade archers. There was much doubt among the non-death knights as to if the summoning would work, but the strength of the mask and phylactery combined proved sufficient, and Kel'Durzin emerged, larger than before, seemingly having gorged on any souls possible.

The battle was a fierce one, with several critical wounds taken by Highguard forces. Kel'Durzin's necrotic corruption and exploding ghouls initially prevented his being pushed onto the chapel's grounds, where the Argent defenders stood ready to aid.

A focused charge eventually pushed the lich onto the chapel's grounds as he was channeling a strong necrotic attack, an attack that failed once pushed onto chapel grounds. Argent archers began their assault, and the Highguard pounced at the opportunity, though Kel'Durzin soon continued putting up a strong fight, lashing out with ice and shadow magics and generating a powerful mana shield the attackers were forced to destroy.

As Kel'Durzin finally fell and his soul returned to the phylactery, it was destroyed immediately upon entry, before the lich soul could ward itself, ending Kel'Durzin for good.

Aftermath
The following day, the day of the proposed handoff, a mock-phylactery was prepared, Entilzha, Artiri and a small team set out to retrieve Dal'remas, regardless of his condition. Scouts picked up three figures with the appearances of Cult of the Damned-like figures moving towards the lake. Fearing they might learn their master's fate if they got too close, the party was ambushed east of Darrowshire, not knowing which was Dal'remas, if he was even present, the initial assault was to stun.

All three cultists fought against the Highguard team, though as the fight went on and their cowls brought down, Migarden was identified among them. The other two were dispatched, their souls released with Artiri's talents. Migarden would require several months of confinement in the Violet Hold and rehabilitation, though would eventually recover and resume his position as Assistant Curator.

After the fall of Kel'Durzin, attention soon turned to Dawnmist. From Migarden, it was determined that Kel'Durzin had three deputies in the harbor capable of sufficiently commanding the undead. An effort was planned to dispatch them, and release the tormented Quel'dorei and humans from their bonds.

The Liberation of Dawnmist Harbor
As the liberation force arrived, now using a portal with the terrain known, they found one of the three, a death knight, outside the settlement with his undead forces fighting presumably those of the other two, a living necromancer and another death knight, whom remained inside.

The command post of the Knight on the outside was ambushed, and the Highguard Death Knights ordered his minions to intensify their attack on the eastern front, as the Highguard used a short-distance portal to enter the settlement from the west. The government building the Highguard had previously explored sat in ruin, though the ancient library stood.

The living necromancer was encountered first, leading a team of reinforcements from the library to the front in the west. He was dispatched, though doing so altered the remaining Death Knight commander inside the library of the ruse, and the Highguard had to fight their way through a plethora of undead to defeat him.

Reaching the library as the undead from the west were withdrawn to surround and overrun it, the Highguard placed wards on the entrances to the library as they dealt with the commander inside. With the undead numbers, time was short, though the combat prowess of the Highguard shone once more, the commander defeating and the undead reverting to a passive state.

Artiri was instrumental in freeing their souls and granting the former minions the peace of death, and the library could at last be properly explored. A secret, ancient chamber was found, containing items of an early or pre-Thalassian nature, including a Highborne era stave, an Elunite sword, and numerous diaries and volumes written by and of elves whom had made the long crossing with Dath'Remar Sunstrider.

Numerous enchanted rings, amulets, and magical texts from the late Highborne and early Thalassian era were recovered, and brought to the Hall of Thalassian Ancestry. A replica has been commissioned of the Sunwell tapestry for future display, and the knowledge gained from the library shed light on a critical point in Thalassian history of which little was known, detailing the long trek from Tirisfal and eventual settlement in Quel'Thalas in many unrelated volumes.

With the future state of the settlement unclear, anything of possible historical or military interest was taken to Dalaran, and Dawnmist left abandoned, the tormented souls of its residents at last at peace, and the threat of Kel'Durzin and his allies at an end.