User:Joshmaul/Father Shankolin Blightpath

"'Recent events have shown that nothing is beyond the realm of possibility. The dead can still walk among us; the unbreakable can be broken; Light and Shadow can coexist within one vessel. Perception matters nearly as much as possibility, for if one believes something can, must, or will be done, then the possibility exists that it will be as we believe.'"
 * - Father Shankolin

Father Shankolin Blightpath, formerly Saavedro of Stratholme, was a high priest of the Cult of Forgotten Shadows and successor to his former mentor, Sekhesmet of Stratholme, as shadow-chaplain of the town of Tarren Mill. Yet in time, he began to see a world beyond simply Alliance and Horde, but one united under an ancient and terrible power... the Black Empire of the Old Gods.

The Mysterious Priest
Shankolin first appeared in Stormwind during the Feast of Winter Veil, shortly after the defeat of Garrosh Hellscream in the siege of Orgrimmar. From what little he said of himself, he resided for a time in the town of Corin's Crossing in northern Lordaeron, appropriately set on the crossroads between Darrowshire, Tyr's Hand, and Stratholme. He stated that he was away in Stormwind on Church business when the Scourge came to Lordaeron, led by none other than Prince Arthas himself. Afterwards, he said, he was a chaplain of sorts for the Alliance armies in various campaigns in the last several years, most recently during Operation: Shieldwall in Pandaria and the siege of Orgrimmar.

Despite being a "new acquaintance" to most people, there were some who listened to tales he told in public of participating in campaigns in Ahn'Qiraj, Outland, Northrend, the Elemental Planes, and Pandaria, and suspected who he was. One tale that earned the attention of some particularly keen observers was the story of "The Storm and the Dark Father".

The Tale
During a weekly gathering known as "Troubadour Night", hosted in Ironforge less than a week after Winter's Veil Day, Shankolin told the assembly of a mighty battle between two men - a paladin of the Alliance and his old master, a Forsaken shadow priest.

The Suspicions
Even before relating the tale, the mysterious priest's wanderings had earned him the attention of Master Taeril'hane Ketiron, fresh from the bloody civil war that had engulfed the Horde during the Pandarian campaign. His suspicions were raised further when he heard Shankolin's tale related to him by allies "on the other side" in Ironforge, knowing that only three people had that much detail on the events related - and that he alone was the only one who was still active.

The sin'dorei nobleman recognized the story as being that of the titanic duel between Saavedro and his mentor-turned-nemesis, the Forsaken shadow priest Sekhesmet of Stratholme, on the summit of Mount Neverest in Kun-Lai nearly nine months before, in events related practically verbatim in the priest's tale; Ketiron himself was the "sin'dorei crusader" who had rushed to Saavedro's aid, but had arrived after the battle was done. Though Saavedro had succeeded in vanquishing Sekhesmet, his old master's death left the paladin seeking solitude. He had given the cryptic farewell to his friend - relayed by Shankolin almost word for word in his tale - and left his draenic-forged hammer behind, walking away into the wind-swept mountains. Ketiron had suspected that Saavedro had died - possibly committing suicide after ending his mentor's existence - but entertained the small kernel of hope that his old comrade had survived the terrible war that had engulfed Pandaria following Sekhesmet's demise, culminating in the overthrow of Garrosh Hellscream's increasingly repressive regime and the installation of Vol'jin as the first non-orcish Warchief of the Horde.

Ketiron was also aware that Saavedro had previously set precedents for this sort of activity before; shortly after the fall of the Lich King, Saavedro was believed to have been mortally wounded by the Corruptor, his long-time foe, before slaying him in the mountains of Icecrown; yet he had returned during the Cataclysm. Ketiron and his wife, Areinnye, also discovered an entry in their archives on one Shankolin Blightpath, a Forsaken death knight who had killed Ketiron's Blood Knight mentor, Ordevaas Portalseeker, shortly before the Ashen Verdict's assault on Icecrown Citadel. "Shankolin" meant "forsaken" in an ancient Arathorian dialect, and was used by a corrupted incarnation of Saavedro from an alternate future where he had died in Lordaeron rather than have survived the Scourge in Stormwind.

A former ally of Sekhesmet, Professor Rakeri Sputterspark, also suspected that Shankolin was in fact Saavedro - a fact confirmed when the gnome warlock arrived at the Temple of the Jade Serpent, supposedly to obtain a relic of Sekhesmet that had been kept by the temple watchers. Instead, he was confronted by Shankolin. Rakeri, though wary of the shadow priest's powers, mocked him by saying that "she will never accept you" - referring to Genevra Stoneheardt, head of the Conclave that Saavedro had been a member of as a paladin; Saavedro had been vocal in his condemnation of Genevra for her use of shadow magic, as a result of an unwilling possession earlier in her life.

The Revelation
Realizing that Rakeri could well jeopardize his good intentions, Shankolin elected to reveal his identity to Genevra in person, following her weekly sermon at the gazebo near the Cathedral of Light in Stormwind. The warlock had appeared early in the gathering and conducted his usual mockery of Genevra and her ways, but had not stepped over the line; Shankolin wanted to ensure that he would not have that opportunity. Once the congregation had dispersed, and Genevra had spoken with the city guard regarding an attack against her at the Blue Recluse Tavern some days before, Shankolin revealed who he had once been, and that he had done something that "Saavedro could not do"; to emphasize his point, he assumed the dark form associated with the shadow priests. Reeling in disgust, Genevra turned and walked away from him, but Shankolin pleaded with her to understand his reasons.

To his surprise, despite her initial reaction and the reminder of his own reaction when their roles were reversed, Genevra reluctantly chose the "higher road" and accepted his explanation, and forgave him - but warned him that trust would be an issue, one he would have to rectify. The priest replied he was aware of the risk, and knew that he would have to explain his decision to Ketiron as well - someone even more piously opposed to shadow magic as Saavedro had been. To that end, after their paths parted, Shankolin returned to Pandaria to call on Ketiron, who regularly lodged with the villagers in Zouchin Province, on the northeastern coast of Kun-Lai. As he walked through the Path of Conquerors to the hot air balloon landing, however, he was ambushed by Rakeri, piloting a machine that resembled a goblin shredder, but with the gnome's own modifications. Enraged that the former paladin had spoiled his opportunity, Rakeri prepared "to slice [him] up and smoke [him] like jerky, and send [him] back to Genevra in a zip-locked bag", and also threatened to do likewise to Genevra and her young daughter, Daisy.

Before he could make good on his threat, Ketiron arrived and sliced off the mechanical hand holding Shankolin in its grip, and another - the Forsaken warlock Esher Riesstiu, who was driven by curiosity to investigate what had happened to his spiritual mentor, Sekhesmet - sliced off the other with a huge runic scythe that had previously belonged to the Corruptor; Sekhesmet had given the freshly-raised sorcerer the Corruptor's staff and libram. Rakeri retreated, leaving Ketiron to stare horrified at the shadow priest that had once been his comrade, who explained what had happened.

After slaying Sekhesmet at Neverest's summit, Saavedro had called on the Light to disperse the very essence of Sekhesmet into oblivion, ensuring that he would not return again. His body would be burnt on a pyre at the basecamp below the summit, scattered to the four winds. But his powers, his accumulated knowledge of Light and Shadow alike that spanned decades, could not be so easily dispelled. The power would remain in a tangible form to be claimed by anyone selfish and egotistical enough to desire it - Rakeri had been the first person to come to mind at that. So Saavedro elected to sacrifice everything he had been to take Sekhesmet's powers - light and dark alike - within himself. The man who had been Saavedro of Stratholme, he declared, had died that day - the man who now existed had forsaken what he had been, hence the name he had chosen (also partly inspired by the encounter with his undead doppelganger in Northrend).

The Battle with Rakeri
Rakeri, angered that his leverage over his enemy had been dispelled, went to extremes in order to gain the upper hand; he knew that Saavedro's strength combined with Sekhesmet's formidable powers were a combination beyond his ken, and had to find a way to counter it. To that end, he researched the work of the Council of the Black Harvest, a coven of warlocks that arose in the period after the fall of Deathwing to study the effects of the various "great powers" of two worlds - ranging from Illidan in Outland to Ragnaros and Deathwing on Azeroth - and how their energies could be harnessed. Using the preserved corpse of the Corruptor in a secret laboratory in the Storm Peaks of Northrend, Rakeri empowered his formidable fire spells with fel magic, becoming a wielder of the coveted "green flame". So empowered, Rakeri ambushed Shankolin outside the village of Halfhill in Pandaria, and left him for dead floating down the Yan-Zhe River. He was discovered, bloodied and broken, before the Temple of the Red Crane by the Shado-Pan Blackguard Yatiri Stormwatcher.

As his body recovered from the ordeal, Shankolin began to exhibit dark mood swings and paranoid rantings, culminating with numerous fights with Rakeri that left their mark on both of them, both physically and spiritually. It culminated in a brutal confrontation at the Deeprun Tram station in Stormwind that left Rakeri bloodied and broken, requiring extensive medical treatment when he fled on the train to Ironforge. However, Rakeri's assault against Shankolin in Pandaria was discovered, as was the lie he told that the event had in fact happened at Three Corners between Elwynn, Redridge and Duskwood, practically around the corner from Stormwind; as a result, the professor was arrested. Shankolin himself discovered what he had done, and realized that he carried an "unwanted guest": The spirit of Sekhesmet, not dispelled as he had said. He had been blind to the real threat his old master faced, and the demented Forsaken had latched onto him when Saavedro had taken his powers. As part of a deal made between Rakeri and the King's Prosecutor, Foravin Nash, the warlock would encase the spirit of Sekhesmet in a soul shard in exchange for a parole period; in the ritual, Rakeri also managed to claim Sekhesmet's powers for himself, negating all that Saavedro had done to prevent "evildoers" like the warlock from gaining them.

The Storm Falls
Shankolin's paranoia and mood swings continued as Rakeri's star rose, earning the nickname "the Dark Angel of Mercy" for using his "evil powers" to help cure a fel-based plague (which Shankolin and others correctly predicted that he knew more about than he let on). Finally, he had enough and exiled himself from Stormwind, returning to his ruined home village of Corin's Crossing in what was now the Eastern Plaguelands, where he had several tracts written predicting the doom of those who followed in Rakeri's footsteps; he also found his own shadow magics, and began to work in them often. His predictions were proven correct - except that the doom ended up being his own, as he was lured into the warlock's latest scheme...

Rakeri claimed that he needed Shankolin's help to get into the vaults of the Stormwind City Watch and retrieve Sekhesmet's soul shard, so that it could be destroyed. How Rakeri was able to convince him remains unclear; however, so directed, Shankolin used mental dominance to command the desk clerk at Watch headquarters in Cathedral Square to obtain the shard from the secure vault, and forged documentation that claimed Orwyn had authorized its transfer to Genevra's library in Northshire Abbey; Rakeri also claimed several works written either by Sekhesmet or Saavedro from those archives. The priest and the warlock travelled to Menethil Harbor and set sail for Northrend, where the ritual would take place in the broken tree-city of Grizzlemaw in the Grizzly Hills.

But Rakeri proved his true colors at that moment as his ritual bound Shankolin in shadow chains, and the priest realized too late that he was there as a sacrifice to resurrect Sekhesmet. Before the pursuers seeking to stop the ritual - Rakeri's younger sister Marennia, the goblin assassin Kitrik, and the troll farseer Thek'la - could react, Rakeri shattered Sekhesmet's soul shard, and the strands of his black essence converged on Shankolin's body. With a scream, the priest exploded in a burst of shadowflame, and a vortex consumed his soul and much of the shattered remnants of his body. The released power resulted in a new body, forming as if out of the ether, where Sekhesmet once again walked amongst the living...

Return at Tirisfal
Sekhesmet's masquerade in the Alliance lands did not last for long, as he was killed by the vengeful mage Alieth Taldir as a "Horde war criminal" - a death that triggered a "failsafe" that would restore his undead form. Returning to the Undercity, Sekhesmet began to be haunted by visions of Saavedro in his mind, which he dismissed as memories of his former student. Unbeknownst to him, however, despite the dramatic "vortex" that supposedly banished his soul into the Shadowlands, Saavedro's soul had in fact latched onto Sekhesmet's and now hid within the Dark Father's subconscious. While Sekhesmet carried on his vile works - corrupting Ord'taeril, the son of Taeril'hane Ketiron (who had been murdered by the Modas il Toralar, allies of Sekhesmet), with the Void energy collected from Argus during the war with the Legion, and helping unleash plague against the living - Saavedro's vengeful spirit lingered, beginning to prepare for his revenge not only against Sekhesmet, but against his erstwhile ally, the Corruptor, who had recently returned.

Following the defeat of the Legion, war began in earnest between the Alliance and the Horde, with the burning of Teldrassil setting the tempo for the rest of the conflict. The Alliance invaded Tirisfal in response, burning Brill to the ground and laying siege to the ruined capital of Lordaeron. The Dark Lady Sylvanas, now Warchief of the Horde, unleashed the Blight upon the battlefield. In the midst of the conflict, Ord'taeril Ketiron - now a void elf monk - faced Sekhesmet in hand-to-hand combat near the Dark Father's ruined mausoleum. As their duel raged, they were interrupted by surprising interventions - firstly by Taeril'hane Ketiron, now the death knight known as the Crimson King; then the Corruptor, leading a group of Forsaken plague-spreaders; by Eidan Zherron, a worgen druid who had gone nearly feral with rage and wounds; and lastly, Zherron's believed-dead daughter Lucia, who had become a worgen and a druid as well. In the ensuing battle, both the elder Zherron and the elder Ketiron fell to Sekhesmet, the latter while in a mak'gora duel to the death with the Corruptor. Enraged, the Corruptor slew Sekhesmet, feeding his soul to his pet felhunter to ensure that he would not return.

With Sekhesmet's spirit gone, Saavedro assumed control over flesh that had once been his own, and rose to his feet. Now he was truly Forsaken... truly "Shankolin".

In the Grasp of Bwonsamdi
As he served the Forsaken in Zandalar, including during the siege of Dazar'alor, Shankolin began to receive visions of death and destruction, of a world of perpetual twilight. The last of the Old Gods, N'Zoth, remained imprisoned beneath the Great Sea, and the denizens of the deep had the means to break the Titans' chains. Once that was done, N'Zoth would rise, and the Black Empire would return. So polluted was Shankolin's soul - by the shadow powers and artifacts he had inherited from Sekhesmet, and by a hatred for life and the living that had festered since the ritual that had first killed him - that he eagerly embraced the cause.

Shankolin's activities came to the attention of Zulimbasha the Collector, a Zandalari priest in the service of Bwonsamdi, Loa of the dead. Zulimbasha had never liked or trusted the Forsaken, having the same disgust for the undead as his patron (and most of his people). But Shankolin's cruelty and his reveling in his corruption was far more even than the other Forsaken, enough to earn the death-priest's ire. Zulimbasha swore that he would deliver Shankolin's soul to Bwonsamdi by any means necessary; to that end, he reached out to someone who had as much a vested interest in Shankolin's demise as he did - the Corruptor. Despite being just as disgusted at fel magic (and warlocks' ability to "cheat death" with soulstones) as he was with undeath, Zulimbasha promised to "put a good word in" with his patron Loa if the Corruptor delivered him Shankolin's soul, by any means necessary. The Corruptor agreed.

Pursuing Shankolin into Nazjatar, the Corruptor deduced that - just like Sekhesmet had been toward the end - the major source of Shankolin's shadow corruption was an ancient spellblade he carried, believed to date back to the Black Empire. As he confronted the priest in the ruined market of Zin-Azshari, his felguard minion severed the arm carrying the blade, cutting Shankolin off from his powers. The warlock then drained the soul from the rotting flesh, which turned to dust as its power faded from it. The Corruptor delivered the soulstone to Zulimbasha at the Necropolis, the temple of Bwonsamdi in Nazmir on the north coast of Zandalar. Zulimbasha crushed the stone to powder and banished the spirit within it to the Shadowlands, where it would join multitudes of other souls in Bwonsamdi's domain. Yet even within the realm of death, the vengeful spirit of the man once called Saavedro of Stratholme lingered...