User:GoldenYak/Temple of N'Zoth

The Temple of N'Zoth is a raid instance in the Reign of Azshara Expansion Concept. It features 13 bosses and is the only raid in the RoA-3 raid tier, as well as the final raid of the expansion. The Old God N'Zoth was imprisoned within the temple by the Titans when they could not capture him. Azshara has shattered the bindings on the temple, and seeks to awaken her master.

Background
In ancient times, N'Zoth directed his forces from this nightmarish place, first against his fellow Old Gods and then against the Titans. The stone legions of the Titans broke upon the walls of Ny'alotha time and time again, and even the Titans themseles could not capture N'Zoth as they did the other Old Gods. Ultimately, the Titans elected to contain N'Zoth within his own stronghold, setting wards and bindings around the twisted city and sinking it beneath the surface of Azeroth. Trapped within his city, N'Zoth descended into hibernation, awaiting the right time to awaken.

In his slumber, N'Zoth's dark will reached out into the world, corrupting everything his sleeping gaze fell upon. The defensive systems put in place by the Titans. The Emerald Dream, the pure soul of the world that contained the Titans' perfect design. The night elf highborn were twisted into the naga by his will, and designs that would unfold over the course of 10,000 years were woven.

N'Zoth has fed on the misery and death of the wars he has wrought. The Cataclysm failed to break the world, but it left Azeroth vulnerable. The wars carried out by Azshara, Pluton, and the Legion Ex Machina were all engineered by N'Zoth, and he has grown fat on the anguish of those who lost their lives to his pawns. N'Zoth is ready to awaken. He merely needs his herald, Azshara, to shatter the final seal on his tomb, and he will awaken and plunge the world into unending nightmare...

Wrackfang and Ruinscale
A pair of elite naga warriors, blessed by the power of N'Zoth and transformed into twin horrors. The two are bound by the blessing of the Old God, and increase in strength while in close proximity. Wrackfang's blood is a virulent poison, while Ruinscale is an expert killer with his deadly lance.

Ahrmus, Wound of the World
The living embodiment of the chaos and insanity that the Old Gods inflict upon the elements of the world. Composed of all four elemental forces in a chaotic bond, Ahrmus seeks the destruction of the world to free itself from the madness of its existence. Ahrmus is confronted on a fragile platform high above the all-devouring maw of Lakk'Sar the Forgotten One, who will devour any hapless soul who happens to fall during the battle.

Torr'Asq, the Chaos
The hydra are pets of the Old God, creatures of the ancient world that were twisted and mutated into vicious monsters that relentless kill and devour other living things. The hydra Torr'Asq is the mightiest such creature ever spawned, N'Zoth's favored pet and his masterpiece of flesh-twisting. Even when the heads of this creature are severed, it will continue to attack and kill.

The Legions of N'Zoth
N'Zoth is the most insidious of the Old Gods, a pervaside influence that infects and corrupts. His whispers promise power and glory, and there are few indeed with the strength of character to resist. All manner of evil is drawn to his flayed banner, and his skull-throne is attended by horrors without number. The Legions of N'Zoth are gathered, and stand ready to bring chaos to the world.

Horus, Librarian of the Unseen Writings
One of N'Zoth's court, the faceless one known as Horus is the keeper of the Lyceum. Here he watches over innumerable texts, scrolls, and artifacts of dark power. Those who brave the library of the Old Gods to face its dark master must be prepared to surrender their sanity.

M'Uurg the Formless
An enormous Shapeless. Thought to have been destroyed in the Synagog of the Outer Spheres outside the Temple, M'Uurg survived and burrowed deep beneath the ruins of Ny'alotha to be closer to his creator. This abomination must be put down once and for all... if the creature is even capable of truly dying.

Nightmare Witch Nemesyn
A fervant worshipper of Azshara and N'Zoth, Nemesyn was granted many blessings by her mistress and her god. Her nightmarish form bristles with dark power, ready to be unleashed upon the unbelievers and lesser races. Nemesyn leads the devoted in rituals to strengthen and speed the awakening of N'Zoth.

Lakk'Sar
The heroes are cast by the power of Azshara into the Forgotten One, Lakk'Sar. The heroes must resist the insidious digestive process of the colossal abomination and find a way to slay it before they are devoured.

Hekkatonkar
An ancient cyclopean warrior, once a servant of the Titans, but corrupted and turned to evil by N'Zoth in the ancient war between the Titans and the Old Gods. Hekkatonkar stands guard over the entrance to the inner sanctum of N'Zoth, ready to destroy all who dare approach his master's resting place. His enchanted Titan-forged mace has been cursed with powerful eldritch energy, causing it to spew corrupted elemental flame.

Sithaak the End Bringer
A powerful naga warlord, blessed by N'Zoth. He is the last and mightiest servant of Azshara.

Typhondax, the Blighted Lord and Echidnox, the Tainted King
Twin faceless one generals, brothers of Warlord Zon'ozz, who serve N'Zoth as the keepers of his tomb. Overflowing with the power of the Old God, the Faceless Lords will destroy any who approach.

Azshara, Harbinger of Chaos
For 10,000 years, the whispers of N'Zoth have spoken to Azshara of this day - the day that N'Zoth will rise to claim the world, and make Azshara his consort. She has sacrificed everything to reach this place, even giving N'Zoth the lives of her people the naga without a moment's hesitation. The truest believer of the Old Gods stands ready to herald their rise. But N'Zoth demands one final sacrifice...

N'Zoth - Nemesis of the Titans
The Old God N'Zoth. Nemesis of the Titans. Architect of the Cataclysm. Corrupter of Dreams and Weaver of Nightmares. He has fed well on the wars that his pawns have orchestrated and thrown off the shackles the Titans placed on his power eons ago. N'Zoth will rise, and smother the world in darkness.

Wrath of N'Zoth - Mythic Only
The destruction of an Old God's physical form causes its essence to spill forth and pollute everything it touches. But N'Zoth has grown strong on the conflicts engulfing Azeroth, and the death of his physical body has only freed his essence to wreack havoc in the soul of the world itself - the Emerald Dream. Taking root in the Rift of Aln, the Wrath of N'Zoth will be unleashed.

The Temple Ruins
After braving the twisted angles and unnatural denizens of Ny'alotha, the defenders of Azeroth come at last to the Temple of N'Zoth, the black heart of the nightmare city. In the crumbling and rotten halls of the temple, the naga of Azshara and the faceless horrors that serve the Old Gods form a final line of defense between their dark master and the last hope of sanity in the world. The twin naga warriors Wrackfang and Ruinscale lead the forces of Azshara to defend the Outer Ruins. Within the the temple, the laws of reality and nature have broken down - the interior is far more vast than the exterior would suggest. The vast Eternal Road stretches across a great abyss, the writhing maw of Lakk'Sar the Forgotten One far below. Upon the road stands Ahrmus, a chaotic elemental being made of all four elemental forces, driven to madness by the imbalance and hungry for the world to die.

In warped and distorted vaults beneath the temple ruins lurks Torr'Asq, a hideous and mutated hydra, fouler than any other beast of its kind. This creature is a favorite pet of N'Zoth.

Finally, before a great monolith carved with crawling ruins, the Legions of N'Zoth gather to pay homage to their dark lord, feeding him power with their worship and led by the mighty faceless one, Exitar - Baron of the Black.

Madness of the Old Gods
The horrors that have been weathered so far are only the beginning. Within the deeper levels of the temple, the faceless ones hold sway, carrying out the insane worship of N'Zoth. The Lyceum is the great library of Ny'alotha, holding countless dark and twisted accounts of the Old Gods and their power. The faceless one Horus, a member of N'Zoth's insane court, holds sway here, and demands all trespassers to fall into eternal silence.

Within the Sanguine Fane, faceless ones twist the living essence of natural creatures into unnatural horrors. Here are born the shapeless, the puppet-children of N'Zoth. M'Uurg the Formless, a titanic example of their kind, retreated here to recuperate after suffering a defeat in the outer quarters of Ny'alotha, and the wretched monster's power has only grown.

In the Sacellum of the Deep Void, the last of the skilled naga spell-casters have gathered. What little sanity they had before coming to Ny'alotha has eroded - they have given themselves over to the madness of the Old Gods. The influence of N'Zoth twists their powers further, and mightiest among them in the Nightmare Witch Nemesyn.

As the heroes approach the deepest pits of the temple, Azshara herself appears. The queen of the naga has abandoned sanity entirely, and seeks only to awaken her god. She casts the heroes into the maw of Lakk'Sar to be devoured. Only a desperate assault on the creature from within will spare the defenders of Azeroth a slow and agonizing demise.

Fall of Azshara
The Slough of Ruin is prowled by the cyclopeans - ancient giants that once served the Titans, but were subverted by the Old Gods. For an eternity these tormented colossi have served as guardians of N'Zoth's tomb. Chief among them is the great many-limbed Hekkatonkar. In the giant's cold dead heart he desires an end to his tortured existence, but he will fight to destroy the champions of Azeroth without any hesitation.

Blackened by the blood of millennia of sacrifice, the Feasting Altar has drawn in the maddened naga servants of Azshara. As they gorge on the flesh and blood of N'Zoth, these naga mutate into twisted horrors - the final expression of N'Zoth's blessing that first transformed the highborn into the naga 10,000 years ago. Sithakk, called the End-Bringer by his followers, presides over bloody rituals and seeks to make a meal of the heroes of the Alliance and the Horde.

The Hall of Strange Aeons is the final chamber before the great crypt where N'Zoth slumbers. The faceless ones mass here to defend their master, lend by the twin faceless generals - Typhondax, the Blighted Lord, and Echidnox, the Tainted King.

Within the Crypt of Nightmares, the black blood of N'Zoth oozes from the stones. Twisted spirits scream through the air. The barriers between the reality of Azeroth and the un-reality of N'Zoth's slumbering mindscape has eroded entirely. The Nightmare, the manifestation of N'Zoth's unfathomable thoughts, takes form as mist and swirls across sarcophagi holding innumerable horrors and nightmares that were entombed with N'Zoth. Here Azshara waits, standing upon the very tomb of N'Zoth himself, tearing down the last of the seals holding him in place. Azshara wields Negalis, a trident forged from N'Zoth's metallic blood, brimming with the energies of all the death and destruction she has wrought in N'Zoth's name. Feeding the power into the tomb, N'Zoth begins to stir.

Tomb of N'Zoth
N'Zoth has fed upon the deaths of all those his pawns have slain. The trident Nergalis, wielded by Azshara, was forged from N'Zoth's black blood. The Lantern of Lost Souls held by Pluton, the stygian lord, was an artifact created by N'Zoth - every soul it devoured has fed N'Zoth's might. The Eternal Forge, a machine built from N'Zoth's blood, brought forth the Legion Ex Machina - every life they took has strengthened N'Zoth.

The final key to N'Zoth's awakening was Azshara's own death - her demise has given N'Zoth the last of the power he needs to awaken. The seals on his tomb crumble. The darkness of his Nightmare spills out, and the Old God of Dreams rises. The only thing standing between him and the end of Azeroth are the champions of the Alliance and the Horde, united once again against a common foe that seeks to end their eternal conflict, dragging all that they hold dear into madness and ruin. Marshalling their power, fighting their fear, the heroes of Azeroth strike at the Old God with unwavering strength. Ultimately, the Old God's monstrous form breaks apart under their onslaught, spilling N'Zoth's black blood upon the stones of the Tomb. But even as N'Zoth falls, the Old God's insane laughter echoes within their minds...

Wrath of N'Zoth
Mythic Only - N'Zoth's body is sundered by the heroes of Azeroth, but the essence of N'Zoth still roils with power. Unlike Y'Shaarj, unlike C'Thun and Yogg-Saron, N'Zoth has prepared his essence to survive the death of his flesh - all the power he has feasted upon was for this purpose. N'Zoth's body, entombed for millennia, deprived of the meat and drink of war and chaos, would always have been too weak to endure the might of Azeroth's defenders. N'Zoth intended for his body to die to free his undying essence, to slip the shackles of flesh and become pure spirit. Drawing on his power, N'Zoth sunders the veil between dimensions, dragging his tomb and everything in it into the heart of his Nightmare - the Rift of Aln.

The heroes are pulled with N'Zoth into the Rift of Aln, in the Emerald Dream, where N'Zoth's Nightmare corruption holds sway. Within the polluted heart of Azeroth's very soul, they struggle to survive the Wrath of N'Zoth made manifest. Only the sudden intervention of the demigod Malorne spares the heroes from becoming consumed by N'Zoth's insanity. With the last of his power, Malorne opens a way back to Azeroth for the heroes to escape, the demigod sacrificing himself to hold back N'Zoth. The heroes have no choice but to abandon Malorne to N'Zoth's clutches in order to return to Azeroth.

The Clouds Part
With N'Zoth's demise, the heroes suddenly re-appear at the foot of N'Zoth's temple. Bereft of the Old God's presence, both the temple and all of Ny'alotha has begun crumbling into rubble. The enchantment woven by Azshara holds fast however - Zin-Azshari will not be reclaimed by the sea. Its people, both good and evil, are now a part of the surface world.

Approached by Malfurion Stormrage and the leaders of the Alliance and Horde forces, the heroes reveal what has occurred within the depths of the Temple. Though Azshara is no more, N'Zoth yet endures, his disembodied essence festering within the very heart of the Emerald Dream. Even now, the Nightmare spills forth across the very soul of Azeroth, spreading faster than ever.

Though the reign of Azshara has come to an end, the defenders of Azeroth know that her dark master cannot be said to have truly been defeated. The darkest days are still ahead...