User:GoldenYak/World's Heart/Death Knight Campaign

Related to The World's Heart Expansion Concept.

Death Knight Class Campaign.

Class Hall - The Inevitable City
Sensing the growing darkness beneath the world, the Knights of the Ebon Blade return to Northrend aboard the necropolis Acherus. Upon their arrival, they are greeted by val'kyr from the Shadowlands, who warn the death knights of a terrible evil that has taken root there, threatening the souls of the dead and with them the very balance of life and death. Led by the deathlord of the Ebon Blade, the death knights travel from the realm of the living into the Shadowlands themselves to seek the source of this new threat.

Within the Shadowlands, the death knights discover a vast and ancient fortress, dark and foreboding, built by some unknown hand in an empty wasteland of frozen peaks. The death knights seize the fortress as their own, dubbing it the Inevitable City, and making it into their base of operations within the Shadowlands. With stable portals linking the realm of the dead to Azeroth, the death knights are able to rapidly populate the fortress with their undead armies, turning it into a mighty unassailable fastness from which to strike out at threats to the souls of the departed. The val'kyr of the Shadowlands join forces with the death knights, bolstering their ranks further and shepherding worthy dead to the Inevitable City to be inducted into the ranks of the Ebon Blade.

In time, the spirit of the Lich King himself appears in the central chamber of the city, the Ebon Throne. While his physical form remains trapped in ice atop the Frozen Throne in Icecrown, the Lich King's spirit is as flesh in the realm of the dead, and he is able to move and operate freely as if his spirit self were a physical body. As one with the powers of death as never before, the Lich King is ready to lead the Ebon Blade into battle against any who would dare trespass in his kingdom.

Class Hall Special Benefits
Throughout Azeroth's underworld, death knights can find shallow graves and blood-soaked sites where slaughter took place, where the dead lie restless and the veil between the realm of the living and the Shadowlands is thin. A death knight may tap into the power of these sites, bolstering their strength with enchantments drawn from the Shadowlands, as well as raising the dead to serve them as warriors and fodder for a time. Some graves have been corrupted by renegade members of the Cult of the Damned who defy the Lich King's will, and the death knight must purge the twisted undead these rogue necromancers raise in order to make use of the grave site. Rarely, powerful undead creatures wander these sites which can be bound by the death knights' ability to control undead, granting them powerful servants with unique abilities.

Sang'Drak, Greatsword of the Vampyr
The deathlord travels to the Tomb of Nosferath in the Bloodstone Chasm. Beneath the tomb is the fabled blade of Nosferath, the Greatsword of the Vampyr, Sang'Drak. Breaking the blade free of the tomb, the deathlord must contend with the Specter of Nosferath, who wields the blade and conjures forth bloody spirits with its power. Destroying the specter, the deathlord is able to seize Sang'Drak, dominating its vampiric power and using it to augment the power of Blood.
 * Artifact Ability - Mark of the Vampyr. The death knight strikes nearby targets for heavy damage and marks them with the Mark of the Vampyr. The death knights attacks against marked targets cause him to drain away their life's blood, restoring the death knight's health.
 * Passive Ability - Shadow of the Vampyr. While wielding Sang'Drak, the death knight's shadow will have large bat-like wings. They will also not appear in reflective surfaces like mirrors and the like.

Everblight, Lord of the Wastes
The death knights depart from the Shadowlands and return to Azeroth in search of an ancient aqir sword from blighted caverns deep beneath the earth. The sword was forged in the time of the Black Empire, and imbued with the malefic miasma of the Old Gods themselves. The blade shares their power to blight the land, draining away vitality itself. The death lord must destroy the blade's eldritch guardians, including a monstrous aqir horror from the days of the Black Empire. In the end the death lord seizes the blade, tearing it loose from the tomb that holds it. A weapon built to channel the powers of disease and death, it is the Lord of the Wastes. And it's name... is Everblight.
 * Artifact Ability - Everblight. The death knight unleashes the power of the dread blade, creating a massive region of blighted earth underfoot. Enemies standing upon the blighted ground periodically have their disease debuffs refreshed and take extra damage from the death knight.
 * Passive Ability - Lord of the Wastes. The death knight's very footsteps are imbued with the power of ruin, causing living things to wither and die in his presence. The land itself will become cracked and blighted under his feet, an effect that becomes more pronounced the longer the death knight remains in the area. Also unlocks the title 'Lord of the Wastes' for use.

The Shadowfrost Blades - Mournhowl and Soulshiver
After the War of the Ancients, the night elves of Northrend were wiped out by the nerubians. But their greatest champion fought the insects with Mournhowl, a kal'dorei blade that channeled frost magic. The blade clashed with the shadowy nerubian weapon Soulshiver, in the end destroying both night elf and nerubian alike. The blades became entombed in soul-ice and were buried deep beneath Azjol-Nerub. The death lord breaks the icy tomb holding the blades, and must contend with the reanimated spirits of the night elf and nerubian wielders, who over time have fused together into a horrible spider-elf amalgamation. The deathlord destroys the tormented horror and seizes both blades, empowering them with the soul-frozen spirits of their former wielders.
 * Artifact Ability - Web of Shadowfrost. Binds the target with all nearby enemies using strands of Shadowfrost energy, reducing the movement speed of all affected enemies. 50% of all damage dealt by the death knight to the primary target will be inflicted upon all bound enemies.
 * Passive Ability - Frozen Shear. Enemies with less than 5% health that take damage from the Shadowfrost Blades have a chance to be instantly slain, and upon death they will freeze solid into Frozen Corpses. Frozen corpses will explode into bursts of ice shards when looted.

Maw of the Damned | Desecratus, the Path to Ruin
The deathlord travels to the murdered city of Stratholme, absorbing all of the evil power of the city into their artifact weapon. Venturing into the sewers beneath the city, the Death Knight confronts an amalgam of souls made up of the screaming spirits of the dead of Strahtolme. The spirit of Natrezzar within the axe is called forth by the anguish of the restless souls, and the deathlord is forced the battle the demon spirit. Ultimately, Natrezzar's spirit is shattered, purging the axe of the demon's obsessions and laments, leaving behind only his hunger, which deepens even more profoundly. The axe devours the souls of Stratholme, consuming them and growing even stronger. The city is largely purged of the taint of the Scourge, but the deathlord now carries that darkness within his dread axe.

Apocalypse | Falor'Zarr, Blade of the End of Days
The deathlord journeys to the Dead Scar in Quel'Thalas and absorbs the ruinous energies of the region. The deathlord travels beneath the Ghostlands into the scourged caverns below the Dead Sscar, fighting the manifestations of blight and ruin found there. They must battle the elven wraith Dar'Khan, whose spirit is tied to the desolation below the Ghostlands, explaining his continued resurrections. The deathlord annihilates Dar'Khan's soul and draws the ruin of the Dead Scar into the blade Apocalypse, increasing its power and purging the Ghostlands of much of the dark energy that permeates it. The sin'dorei are not happy with the intrusion in their lands, even as the Dead Scar's dark power is drained away. The land may recover, but the greatsword the deathlord wields is now the very embodiment of desolation.

Blades of the Fallen Prince - Frostreaper and Icebringer | The Shadowfrost Blades - Mournhowl and Soulshiver
The deathlord ventures into the damaged hulk of the necropolis Naxxramas, absorbing the necromantic energy that powers its very core into the twin blades, while also contending with the remains of its inhabitants. The twisted spirits of the fallen horsemen appear to challenge the wielder of the twin blades. The twin blades absorb the power of Naxxramas, causing the structure to crumble further into ruin. The deathlord acquires clues as to the cause of the disruptions in the Shadowlands.
 * Artifact Ability - Charge of the Four Horsemen. The death knight summons the spirit of the previous incarnation of the Four Horsemen atop their spectral steeds, sending them charging at the foe.
 * Passive Ability - Swords of the Four. The death knight's attacks have a chance to draw out one of the spirits of the Four Horsemen, who will add their blade to the death knight's attack for a single strike.

Campaign Storyline
The death knight's stronghold of Acherus travels to Northrend to act as a base of operations for the Ebon Blade. The deathlord and the four horsemen must first contend with a revived Cult of the Damned attempting to awaken dormant Scourge. After slaughtering the renegade necromancers, the death knights are approached by val'kyr, who warn that a terrible darkness is stirring beneath the world and that spirits in the Shadowlands are reacting to its growing evil. The death knights move their base of operations into the Shadowlands themselves, a realm of empty wastelands, frozen peaks, and mysterious sprawling ruins of unknown construction. The Ebon Blade seizes a great fortress they dub the Inevitable City.

The Lich King determines that the deathlord must be further empowered to contend with the growing evil, both within the Shadowlands and the world's heart. The deathlord must make a dark pilgrimage throughout the world to places where the powers of death are strong and seize or empower new artifact weapons.

With their newly empowered weapons, the deathlord leads the four horsemen into the Shadowlands themselves. Many adventures and battles are fought within the strange, twisted dimensions of the realm of the dead, until at last the four and the deathlord arrive at its very heart - the colossal gyre of necromantic energies known as the Nexus of Decay, a shadowy counterpart to the ley line networks of Azeroth. Dark entities drawn form the Void manifest alongside the tormented souls bound to the evil infesting the Nexus of Decay.

Venturing through its strange, ethereal geography, the deathlord and his followers confront the source of the evil that the val'kyr warned of - the spirit of the first death knight, Teron Gorefiend, who has become a hideous soul-devouring wraith, tainted by the power of the Void. The deathlord calls upon the knights of the Ebon Blade to battle the corrupt wraith's army, and the Lich King himself arrives in his spirit form to do battle alongside his knights. After a desperate battle, Gorefiend's spirit is finally destroyed, ending the threat of the monster. Absorbing Gorefiend's lingering power into the Inevitable City, the deathlord is able to further empower his artifact weapons, enhancing their strength to an even greater degree.

Beyond X.1
The dark power of the Void encroaches upon the Shadowlands, threatening the souls of the dead. The Lich King dispatches the Knights of the Ebon Blade against the invading Void entities, preserving the balance between life and death. Upon his throne in the Inevitable City, the Lich King grows restless - as a wraith in the Shadowlands, he can fight alongside the Ebon Blade as if he were flesh and blood, but the Lich King must have a weapon worthy of his power.

The Lich King dispatches his strongest knights into the most dangerous outer reaches of the Shadowlands in search of just such a weapon, a weapon that was forged to strike down the previous Lich King, Arthas. The weapon was successfully created, a blade to equal the infamous Frostmourne, and wielded against Arthas and his forces. But in the aftermath of the Lich King's defeat, the weapon vanished, too powerful to remain in the mortal realm for long. The axe fell into the Shadowlands, lodging itself in a glacier of black ice, and has drank in the souls of the lost and damned, its power growing deeper and darker with everyone spirit consumed.

The death knight battles the restless spirits enslaved to the axe, as well as the horrific entities created from the combined evil essence of those the blade has consumed, finally finding themselves before the axe itself, still embedded in the black glacier. The death knights are barely able to steel their will against the dark power of the blade, and just before they succumb the Lich King arrives, tearing the axe free from the ice and claiming it for himself. The Lich King declares that he has become the true master of death, not just on the mortal realm of Azeroth but within the realm of the dead as well. His powers greater than ever, the Lich King takes his throne in the Inevitable City armed with the axe, Shadowmourne, and bestows greater power upon his death knights.