Argus Campaign

The Argus Campaign (also referred to as the last battle for Argus or the Shadows of Argus ) is the battle between the Azeroth's defenders, the Army of the Light and the Argussian Reach against the Burning Legion on Argus.

Despite considerable casualties on both sides, the conflict ultimately resulted in the restoration of the Pantheon, the death of Argus the Unmaker, and their successful imprisonment of Sargeras at the Seat of the Pantheon, apparently crippling the Legion and ending the Burning Crusade forever.

Prelude
Ever since the Legion invaded the Exodar, the draenei have been hard at work preparing to return to Argus. The draenei had completed the construction of the Vindicaar, a ship to transport the heroes of Azeroth to invade the Legion's homeworld. The draenei has issued a call to arms to all of Azeroth to support the counter-offensive. The Alliance and the Horde have answered the call, with Lady Liadrin and Aethas Sunreaver leading the Horde reinforcements, and Vereesa Windrunner and Arator the Redeemer leading the Alliance reinforcements. Together, they rendezvoused at Azuremyst Isles where they boarded the Vindicaar and made preparations to regroup with the Army of the Light.

The battle for Argus begins
After arriving on Argus, the Vindicaar flew to Krokuun to rendezvous with the Army of the Light. Once the Vindicaar arrived, the Army of the Light's ship — the Xenedar — revealed itself. This caught the attention of the Burning Legion's forces on the ground however, and they proceeded to shoot down the Xenedar. Before the Legion's forces had a chance to focus fire on the Vindicaar, Prophet Velen ordered the Azerothian heroes to make landfall and commence the final battle for Argus. While the Legion's siege weapon was recharging, Prophet Velen and Illidan Stormrage led a vanguard of adventurers to the battlefront. With Velen shielding the vanguard with the Light, the vanguard went on to destroy the Legion's Devastators and rescued the Legion's krokul slaves. After which, the vanguard destroyed the Legion's fel cannons, slew demon reinforcements, and culminated the battle by defeating Antaen Light-Breaker (which the heroes believed to be the Legion's main siege weapon).



Although the Armies of Legionfall emerged victorious from the battle, they've sustained heavy casualties. Velen proposed to replenish their ranks by recruiting the beleaguered krokul they just liberated from slavery. Velen tracked the krokul to a Krokul Hovel, where he has a reunion with Chieftain Hatuun. Hatuun is bitter Velen had abandoned him and all those who were stranded on Argus to the Legion but High Exarch Turalyon revealed himself and urged the Broken to stand with the Azerothians to defeat the Burning Legion. Turalyon disclosed he was saved by the krokul when the Xenedar crashed but the survivors of the Army of the Light were still fighting for their lives at the crash site. After Turalyon regrouped with Lothraxion and the Vindicaar, Turalyon and the adventurer set out to continue their war against the Burning Legion. The Broken resistance that Chieftain Hatuun led was called the Argussian Reach and his collective of Broken identify themselves as Darkfallen. In order to earn the Argussian Reach's trust, Turalyon tasked adventurers with aiding in the dispatching of prominent demons that have been a thorn in the Argussian Reach's side and rescuing more Darkfallen Slaves. Finally, Turalyon led a strike against Aggonar, the master of the Annihilan Pits. The battle nearly went poorly when Aggonar summoned Burning Fiends, but Alleria Windrunner arrived to turn the tide of battle. The combined might of the heroes was enough to dispatch the pitlord, and Turalyon and Alleria were not only relieved to be reunited but also sensed that their son Arator was nearby and they would soon see him again. After earning the allegiance of their new Broken allies, Alleria and Turalyon traveled to the Vindicaar were they had an emotional reunion with their son.

Turalyon and Alleria went on to rescue the Lightforged draenei at the Xenedar crash site. Adventurers traveled to the Xenedar to aid Captain Fareeya in salvaging supplies, aid the Lightforged draenei in fending off demon incursions,    and prevent the Legion from harvesting the souls of their fallen. Eventually, the adventurers secured Light's Judgment and teleported it to the Vindicaar. Once Light's Judgement was installed on the Vindicaar, the adventurers used it to clear the rubble blocking the Xenedar and to destroy their enemies. Once the path was cleared, Turalyon and Alleria rescued the dormant Xe'ra from the Xenedar and had the remainder of their troops secure the Xenedar crash site.

Magni's visions and the assault on Nath'raxas Spire
While Alleria and Turalyon secured the Xenedar, Magni Bronzebeard revealed that he has been hearing the whispers of Argus and believes the planet has been reaching out to him. Magni activated the Broken's revered Sacred Stone to witness a vision from Argus itself. Argus' vision revealed that the titan Aggramar has been corrupted by Sargeras and is now serving as a lord of the Burning Legion. Worse, they appear to be transforming Argus itself and utilizing it for a nefarious purpose. After relaying the news to Turalyon, Turalyon surmised that the Burning Legion was harnessing the soul of a titan in order to regenerate their fallen armies in the Nether. Turalyon believes that if they can destroy the titan, the Burning Legion's ranks will become finite and give the resistance a chance at victory. Turalyon, Illidan, Velen, and Alleria led their forces to Destiny Point in order to raid Nath'raxas Hold. As Grand Artificer Romuul finished repairing his warframe, Illidan  and Alleria led attacks on the demons' front while Velen sanctified their fallen and Turalyon recovered lost Lightforged armaments. Once Romuul's warframe was operational, the adventurers utilized it to decimate the demons' ranks and close the Nath'raxxan Rifts. This allowed the armies of the Vindicaar to breach Nath'raxas Spire and ultimately slew Lord Nath'raxas. As the heroes celebrated their victory, Aggramar suddenly arrived. The Army of the Light and the adventurer teleported away before they had to face Aggramar's wrath. Both Turalyon and Alleria were shocked by Aggramar's immeasurable power, while Illidan grimly stated that they must destroy Argus' World-soul in order to break the Burning Legion.

Obtaining the Sigil of Awakening
Realizing that the Vindicaar's forces still lacked the strength to breach Antorus, Prophet Velen has decided to form an expedition to Mac'Aree and gather the missing two pieces necessary to reconstruct the Crown of the Triumvirate. When Velen arrived at Mac'Aree however, he was troubled to hear that the naaru L'ura's song of war was still playing, yet distorted. Velen traveled to Triumvirate's End and activated its defenses in order to ward off the hostile spirits. With Triumvirate's End secured, Velen has the Vindicaar launch a Lightforged beacon to their location in order to bring in reinforcements and to provide an escape for the expedition if needed. Reinforced by the Army of the Light, Velen's expedition set off to search for the Sigil of Awakening in the Conservatory of the Arcane. Archmage Y'mera and an adventurer reactivated Vigilant Quoram, the gatekeeper of the conservatory. Quoram tasks the adventurer to undergo numerous trials in order to earn the right to obtain the Sigil of Awakening,  with the last challenge being to face an echo of Archimonde in the Praetorium. After succeeding in all the challenges, the echo of Archimonde relinquished the Sigil of Awakening to the adventurer and the adventurer and Archmage Y'mera transported it back to the Vindicaar.

Talgath's fall
After securing the Sigil of Awakening in the Vindicaar, Turalyon revealed that acquiring the sigil had alerted the Burning Legion and they have sent their forces to Mac'Aree. Velen took Captain Fareeya and her forces into the Arinor Gardens area to search for the Crest of Knowledge, putting them directly behind enemy lines. Turalyon and the adventurer traveled back to the Conservatory of the Arcane in order to escort Velen's expedition back to safety. Once Turalyon arrived, he immediately rallied the Lightforged to regroup with Velen. After disrupting the Legion's forces at the Arinor Gardens, Turalyon and the adventurer found Velen at his late son's old bed, lamenting his son's tragic fate. After rendezvousing with Velen, the Prophet revealed that Talgath was here and they had to find the Crest of Knowledge before he did. While Turalyon took command of Fareeya's lieutenants and escorted Velen to the Crest of Knowledge, the adventurer proceeded to close the Burning Legion's portals and whittling away Talgath's forces to clear the way for Velen's party. As the adventurer and Velen's party approached Kil'jaeden's Terrace, they saw the Echo of Kil'jaeden speaking with the Echo of Talgath about how they had stored the Crest of Knowledge in the Seat of the Triumvirate. Eventually, Velen's party was confronted by Talgath and they were forced to face him in battle. After Velen's group wounded Talgath, he incapacitated the party and tried to flee. Velen, however, broke free of his debilitation and bound Talgath with holy shackles. Velen gave Talgath one last chance to help them find the Crest of Knowledge before terminating him. Talgath mocked their quest and told Velen that "Nothing will escape [from] the temple. Not even the Light itself." Velen finished Talgath off with holy fire, but his last words and the echoes of the past confirmed that the relic they're seeking was indeed in the Seat of the Triumvirate.

War of Light and Shadow
Velen and Turalyon led their forces back to the Vindicaar where they discussed the recent events. Velen however, suspected that L'ura had transformed into a dark naaru and it would be a major obstacle to the Crest of Knowledge. Just as Velen was about to lead an expedition into the Seat of the Triumvirate, Alleria Windrunner appeared to tell Velen that she had scouted the area and revealed L'ura's Void energy had lured an army of Void creatures to the temple. Alleria had a plan to breach the Seat of the Triumvirate, but it would require the adventurer's aid. Velen endorsed Alleria's plan and she and the adventurer returned to Triumvirate's End in order to investigate the Ruins of Oronaar. Alleria and the adventurer found the ruins to be rife with the Void's influence. After finding Fragmented Prayers and witnessing the Echo of Arkhaan's futile attempts to prevent his community from being debased by the Void, Alleria and the adventurer located the Broken Arkhaan — the last uncorrupted priest of Oronaar. Alleria and the adventurer tried to restore some semblance of Arkhaan's sanity by cleansing the nearby Void Manifestations and slaying the Void-corrupted Broken who were once a part of his community. After recovering somewhat from his madness, Arkhaan remembered a plan that he believed would lead to his salvation. Alleria and the adventurer followed Arkhaan to Isolon, which appeared to had been calling to Arkhaan and was filled by many Void-corrupted Broken. Arkhaan followed the voices to a Void Tear, which Alleria and the adventurer followed Arkhaan to. The Void transported Alleria, Arkhaan, and the adventurer to a Void realm, where the Void ethereal Viceroy Nezhar corrupted Arkhaan; leaving the adventurer and Alleria little choice but to slay the Void-corrupted Broken while the viceroy escaped. After Arkhaan was slain, Alleria and the adventurer were pulled back to Isolon by Locus-Walker.

Alleria introduced Locus-Walker as her mentor in the ways of the void and he stated that he too has been investigating the Shadowguard's machinations in Argus. After Locus-Walker created a Void Tear, Alleria and the adventurer followed Locus-Walker to the Umbra Hollows, where they witnessed the Void ethereals preparing to corrupt all of Argus with the Void. With the Void's invasion being imminent, Alleria decided that she should finish her training with Locus-Walker in order to master the void. Locus-Walker, Alleria, and the adventurer began to disrupt the Shadowguard's efforts by deactivating their Void Harvesters, and culling their ranks — including General Zah'd. For the next step of Alleria's training, Locus-Walker tasked Alleria to slay Nhal'athoth and absorb the void energy of its heart. After accomplishing her task, Alleria sent the adventurer to give the Remnant of Nhal'athoth to Velen and to tell him of what they have learned about the void incursions. Alleria in the meantime had set off for the Seat of the Triumvirate to begin the next phase of her training. From the information that the adventurer gathered, Velen came to the conclusion that the Light and Shadow must coexist. Velen believes that the Essence of Shadow taken from Nhal'athoth's remnants will be exactly what they need to bring balance to the Netherlight Crucible and give them the edge they need against the Legion. With the Netherlight Crucible upgraded, the weapons of the Vindicaar's champions can thus be imbued by both the Light and the Shadow.

Assault on the Seat of the Triumvirate
With their forces ready, Velen sent an army of adventurers to aid Alleria and Locus-Walker's attack on the Void-infested Seat of the Triumvirate. As they begin their assault, the party witnessed Void ethereals creating Void Tears to infect the land with the Void. Alleria instructed the adventurers to exterminate the battalions of Void ethereals, voidwalkers, and Voidscarred to put an end to the Void proliferation. The adventurers later dispatched Zuraal the Ascended — the Shadowguard's first success at creating a Void-infused Broken — at the Triad's Conservatory. After which, Alleria used her Void magic to create a hole on a building's wall that was impeding their path, which allowed the party to breach the Shadowguard Incursion. There, the adventurers faced off against Saprish and his voracious pets: Darkfang and Shadewing. After Saprish's death, Locus-Walker teleports in to take Saprish's staff for himself. The party then power through to the temple's entrance, where they find Viceroy Nezhar and his forces trying to break into the temple. After the party dispatched Viceroy Nezhar and his remnant forces, Alleria and Locus-Walker dissipated the Void barrier at the entrance of the temple and prepared for a final showdown with L'ura. Once the party entered the temple, they were forced to slay the dark naaru L'ura. After its defeat, Alleria Windrunner siphons L'ura's Void energy and becomes a void elf. The adventurers take the Crest of Knowledge to Velen at the Vindicaar. With all relic components together, Velen takes the Eye of Prophecy from his staff and combined it with the Crest of Knowledge and the Sigil of Awakening; thus reconstituting the Crown of the Triumvirate. Velen then used the Crown of the Triumvirate to empower the Vindicaar, coating the ship in a gold light.

Invasion Points
While the Burning Legion focused their defenses on Argus, Illidan Stormrage tasked adventurers to take the fight to the Legion on other worlds. By sending his forces through Invasion Points on Argus, Illidan has engineered numerous offensives on other Legion worlds.

Rejection of the gift
Back at the Krokul Hovel, Magni Bronzebeard received two more visions from the Sacred Stone. The first vision was from a distressed Argus, and in this vision, Magni witnessed the Burning Legion torturing the Pantheon. Sargeras and Aggramar noted that Eonar has yet to be captured, however, but their discussion indicated that they plan to create a Dark Pantheon. The second vision came from Eonar herself, speaking from the Elarian Sanctuary where her spirit lies. Eonar pleaded with Magni and the adventurer to aid her; for if the Burning Legion find her, it would spell the annihilation of everything.

Back at the Vindicaar, Turalyon believed it to be the right time to revive Xe'ra. After assembling Xe'ra's components and combining them with Light's Heart, Xe'ra was consequently restored. After Turalyon welcomed Xe'ra back, Xe'ra expressed its delight that they have found its Chosen One — Illidan Stormrage. Xe'ra wanted to restore Illidan to his original state, before his demonic transformation and when he had golden eyes that signified his great and prosperous future. Illidan however, was reluctant to be healed by Xe'ra's Light and become the Chosen One Xe'ra is trying to make him become. Rather, he is content with seeking the Legion's end in his own form, regardless of how demonic or grotesque it has become. Xe'ra is insistent, however, and tried to transform Illidan with its Light by force. When Xe'ra bound Illidan and attempted to impose its version of Illidan's destiny, Illidan resisted and destroyed Xe'ra with his Eye Beam. Turalyon was enraged by Xe'ra's destruction and struck Illidan with his sword. However, Illidan caught Turalyon's blow and rebuked him for his blind faith in Xe'ra's prophecy. Illidan stated to all that, "There can be no chosen one. Only we... can save ourselves."

Prophet Velen sensed that Xe'ra's death had distressed Turalyon and many others and moved to uplift their spirits. Velen told Turalyon that the Light did not die with the Prime Naaru and that it still shined within all of them. Furthermore, it was imperative that they press on as they still had a world to save. However, Velen would not let Xe'ra's passing go to waste. Velen gathered the essence of Xe'ra's Light and imbued the Netherlight Crucible with it.

With their forces prepared for the ultimate battle, Velen set out to create footholds in the Antoran Wastes from which they can assault the Burning Throne.

Antoran Wastes
In their initial engagements in the Antoran Wastes, Illidan Stormrage led his Illidari to establish the Veiled Den in the north while Alleria Windrunner led the Army of the Light's forces to establish Light's Purchase in the south. However, the two encampments have come under heavy attack and were desperately awaiting reinforcements. The Vindicaar soon arrived and established Hope's Landing as their beachhead to reinforce the two fronts. Both Alleria and Illidan believed that a direct assault on Antorus would prove too costly with such limited resources at their disposal. With Antorus too heavily defended, the two encampments could do little else but fend off the Legion through guerrilla warfare and assassinations. As the war carried on, Turalyon and Alleria reunited with Khadgar at the Vindicaar. Khadgar proposed to have a reunion feast with the Sons of Lothar once the war was won, to which Alleria and Turalyon happily agreed to; all the while jesting that it was Khadgar's turn to buy the drinks. Alleria also spoke with her sister Vereesa about their sister Sylvanas's fate. Alleria was shocked and angered to learn that Sylvanas was currently leading the Horde that ravaged their people during the Second War. Vereesa wanted to explain to Alleria Sylvanas's undeath and other details as well, but was finding trouble finding the right words. Still, she did her best to give Alleria a proper explanation in private. Realizing they still required more resources, High Exarch Turalyon dispatched adventurers to gather Argunite to prepare for their final assault on Antorus.

The vessels docked at Terminus were taking on soldiers and supplies for the Legion's assaults against Azeroth. Champions of Class Orders were sent to bring the vessels down. A great summoning circle in Antoran Wastes called demons from the Twisting Nether back to Argus. Azeroth's champions were tasked with dismantling the circle and slowing the Legion's reinforcements.

Antorus, the Burning Throne
After making the necessary preparations, Turalyon made the decision to begin the attack on Antorus, the Burning Throne. With the Vindicaar empowered by the Crown of the Triumvirate, the Vindicaar used Light's Judgment to burn an opening on one of Antorus's massive walls. The Vindicaar then sent an army of adventurers and a contingent of its forces to storm the Burning Legion citadel. Turalyon and his Lightforged first faced Garothi Worldbreaker at the Edge of Discord but they were overwhelmed and forced to retreat. The adventurers relieved Turalyon's forces and destroyed the Legion war machine. After which, Alleria led an assault on the northern front, distracting the Legion while Turalyon, his Lightforged, and warframe reinforcements teleported in the Edge of Discord to secure it and press on the attack. The Vindicaar's champions rescued pinned troops and went on to slay the Felhounds of Sargeras at the Den of Devourers. After which, the Army of the Light occupied the den to provide artillery fire on the bridges while adventurers assaulted Antoran High Command at the Gaze of the Legion.

The Vindicaar's forces then went on to secure Antorus's portal networks in order to cut off the Legion's reinforcements from other worlds. After adventurers dispatched Portal Keeper Hasabel, adventurers used the Legion's portals to travel to the Elarian Sanctuary. There they fought the Legion forces of the Paraxis in order to defend Eonar the Life-Binder. After successfully fending off the demon incursion, Eonar urged the adventurers to rescue the rest of the imprisoned Pantheon, for if Sargeras breaks them as he did Aggramar, no power in the universe would be able to stop him. The adventurers returned to the Vindicaar and went off to assault the Exhaust, the production center of the Legion's arsenal. The adventurers were met by Imonar the Soulhunter, the Legion's best bounty hunter. After defeating Imonar, the Vindicaar used his runes to bypass the Burning Throne's defenses and struck directly at the Hallowed Felworks.

At the Hallowed Felworks, the adventurers defeated Kin'garoth — the Legion's top inventor. After Kin'garoth's defeat, the Hallowed Felworks began to collapse. The adventurers then battled their way through the Legion's prison. One of the coven's tortured prisoners, Varimathras, was awaiting the adventurers at the Chamber of Anguish. The vindictive Coven of Shivarra stripped away both flesh and sanity from Varimathras, leaving only a singular desire to inflict suffering upon the mortals who cost him everything. After the adventurers slew Varimathras, they proceeded to the Temple of Anguish, where the Coven of Shivarra worked to subvert the Pantheon. The adventurers slew the Coven of Shivarra and freed the Pantheon's spirits from their tortured imprisonment. Magni Bronzebeard stayed with the Pantheon to help them recover from their traumatic ordeal while Velen, Illidan, and the adventurers moved to liberate Argus's world-soul.

Argus's world-soul was being guarded by Aggramar, forcing the adventurers to strike him down. With Aggramar's downfall, his essence was set free, allowing him to rejoin his uncorrupted brethren. Prophet Velen collected the Sigils of the Dark Titan to further upgrade the Vindicaar's power and give the ship enough strength to breach the fetid heart of Argus itself. With the Pantheon restored, they teleported Magni, Velen, Illidan, and the adventurers to the Seat of the Pantheon where the Pantheon worked to sever Argus's connection to the Burning Legion and imprison Sargeras once and for all.

At the Seat of the Pantheon, however, Sargeras transformed Argus's world-soul into the deadly titan Argus the Unmaker. The Pantheon and the heroes of Azeroth fought to destroy Argus the Unmaker, and ultimately slew him, freeing him from millennia of torment, and destroying Sargeras's greatest weapon. With the Legion crippled by the loss of Argus, the Pantheon commended the mortals for saving their world and combined their powers with the last remnants of Argus's essence to forever imprison Sargeras within the Seat. Velen, Magni, and the adventurers went to the Vindicaar to return home, but Illidan stayed behind to become Sargeras's new jailer. Before Sargeras was imprisoned, however, he managed to stab Silithus with his massive sword, injuring Azeroth severely.

With the Burning Crusade at long last ended, the Alliance and Horde champions returned to their respective homes to celebrate their costly victory against the Legion. However, Sargeras's last spiteful act had dire ramifications. Khadgar was the first to witness the power of titan blood and the wound inflicted by Sargeras caused Azeroth to hemorrhage. Both the Alliance and the Horde took a keen interest in Azeroth's blood as a potential resource, which soon afterwards helped paved the way for an overwhelmingly devastating Fourth War between the two factions.

Forces
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 * Armies of Legionfall
 * Vindicaar crew
 * Adventurers
 * Lightforged draenei
 * Warframes
 * Illidari
 * Broken
 * Burning Legion
 * Countless demons
 * Devastators
 * Fel reavers
 * Legion ships
 * Dark Pantheon
 * Shadowguard
 * Ethereals
 * Voidwalkers
 * Voidscarred
 * One dark naaru