User:GaroxxOfTheCabal/Garoxx Stonefist/In The Scarlet Enclave

After his death at the hands of the Scourge in Naxxramas, Garoxx Stonefist was hand-delivered by Kel'Thuzad to the Lich King in Acherus to be raised as Acherus' champion...

New Life in Death: In Service of the Lich King
The Lich King dispatched two necromancers to take Garoxx's corpse to the top tier of Acherus (where he would be waiting) to be resurrected into undeath.

The necromancers carried out this order and drew a hexagram on the floor and performed the spell. They were worried, however, that the intensity of Kel'Thuzad's spell had damaged Garoxx's body beyond resurrection. But it wasn't: a minute after the spell's completion, Garoxx stood up, undead. It had worked.

Like all death knights, Garoxx didn't appear to be undead, with the exception that his eyes had become ice-blue pinpricks. He had no memory of his previous life or how he got there. His sanity gone, no will of his own, he only knew that he served the Lich King. Clad in the trappings of an Acherus initiate, he approached the Master of Death, he knelt on one knee before his new master, ready and wiling to do his bidding.....

The Lich King told Garoxx that he had bestowed everything he was - anger, cruelty, vengeance - onto him. He said that Lordaeron was his birthright, and that only two things stood in his way from holding dominion over the land again: the Scarlet Crusade and the Argent Dawn - "blesmishes upon these Plaguelands" as the Lich King said. The Crusade was to be the first to fall, and Garoxx was to be the Lich King's driving force of retirbution. To that end, the Lich King sent Garoxx to learn the art of runeblade combat from Instructor Razuvious.

Cold as Steel: Learning to use the Runeblade
Razuvious had clearly not forgotten Garoxx from their encounter in Naxxramas, but his resentment had been totally replaced with respect for the fighting skills that had so impressed Kel'Thuzad, and was eager to further Garoxx's path to becoming a death knight. So Razuvious charged Garoxx with searching the weapon racks for a battle-worn, blood-stained sword. Once Garoxx found a sword to his liking, he took it to a runeforge. After a few minutes, his runeblade had been created. He also affixed it with a special glyph that would make it more lethal in combat. Soon enough, the runeblade began to work its black magic, taking command of Garoxx's soul.....

Garoxx became filled with an uncontrollable battle-lust. Razuvious quickly observed that Garoxx was starting to succumb to the endless hunger that every death knight felt when he took up the runeblade, and if he didn't satisfy this thirst soon, he would feel uncontrollable pain. So he gave Garoxx a key and tasked him with freeing one of the many unworthy initiates chained to the Heart of Acherus and challenge them to a battle for their freedom. Garoxx gladly accepted. If he won the challenge, the pain would cease. Fail, he would suffer the pain for eternity.

Once Garoxx found an initiate, he found it hard to keep up. But somehow, he put out his entire effort and slew the initiate. Razuvious was delighted. Now, Garoxx controlled the battle-lust.

The All-Seeing Eye (of Acherus): Spying on the Scarlets
After completing the Runeblade training, Garoxx was once again called to the Lich King's side. The Lich King informed him that before charging headlong into battle, they needed to be one step ahead of their enemy and learn what it was they sought to destroy. So the Lich King charged Garoxx with utilizing the Eye of Acherus to anaylze the Scarlet Crusade's fortifications below them.

As expected, New Avalon was heavily fortified, under the command of their High Generel, Brigitte Abbendis, but Garoxx was able to ascertain that their primary targets were to be New Avalon's Forge and Town Hall, as well as the Scarlet Hold and the Chapel of the Crimson Flame. Garoxx gave this information to the Lich King.

The Lich King, who expected heavy resistance from the Scarlet Crusade, was for the most part, unsurprised after hearing this news, but glad to have it confirmed. He also apparently sensed an old enemy he had defeated long ago, but dismissed it as a minor concern.

With the plans of the enemy now known to them, the Lich King declared that the time had come to start the attack. He ordered Garoxx to deliver his command to the commander of Acherus and its knights: Highlord Darion Mograine, son of the Ashbringer, Alexandros Mograine (Garoxx had fought in Naxxramas.) Soon after, Darion gave the command to the armies of the Scourge to begin the assault. The Fall of the Scarlet Enclave had begun.

Havenshire: The Red Harvest Begins
After Darion ordered the charge to begin, Garoxx was called upon by Scourge Commander Thalanor. He was informed that his presence was wanted at Death's Breach, just below the Ebon Hold, where he was to report to Prince Valanar, who was overseeing the assault on Havenshire. Riding a scourge gryphon down to Death's Breach, Garoxx approached the darkfallen lord of the Borean Tundra, who had been told by the Lich King himself that Garoxx would be instrumental in assisting in the fall of the Scarlet Enclave. With this information in hand, Valanar was eager to put Garoxx to work.

Valanar told Garoxx that in order to help clear a path for the primary advance on New Avalon, they needed to break apart the Scarlet Crusade's front lines by sowing fear and chaos into the hearts of the Crusaders. So Valanar tasked Garoxx with slaying Scarlet Crusaders and fleeing citizens of Havenshire alike.

Before he began slaying Scarlet Crusaders and Havenshire citizens, Garoxx picked up various other tasks as well to be taken care of in Havenshire: Orithos the Sky Darkener, commander of the Scourge's archer division (known as the Sky darkeners) tasked Garoxx with collecting the saronite arrows used by the Sky darkeners (as saronite was a metal only found in Northrend, so the arrows were scarce to begin with.)

After Garoxx had finished slaying Crusaders and citizens and finished collecting arrows, he was asked by the val'kyr known as Olrun the Battlecaller to partake in Death's Challenge - a rite of passage that all death knights needed to pass, inspired by the Lich King's duel with Illidan Stormrage many years ago. Garoxx was tasked with defeating five fellow death knights in duels. To Garoxx, each death knight he challenged was very cocky....and it would prove to be their downfall, as Garoxx won each duel.

After completing Death's Challenge, it was time to obtain his deathcharger. Garoxx sought out Salanar the Horseman, who sent him to the Havenshire stable (which had been stupidly constructed a "mere stone's throw" from Death's Breach) to steal a horse. Being careful not to alert the deranged Stable Master Kitrik, Garoxx managed to steal a horse and return to Salanar. Salanar promptly sent the horse into the Realm of Shadows, where a dark rider would slay the beast and raise it as a deathcharger. Now, Garoxx was faced with a difficult task: Venturing into the Realm of Shadows, challenging (and defeating) a dark rider, and overtaking his deathcharger. Willing to face the danger, Garoxx asked Salanar to send him to the Realm of Shadows. At first, all Garoxx encountered were Shadowy Tormentors, but eventually he encountered a dark rider. After a quick fight, Garoxx conquered the rider and stole his deathcharger. He then quickly exited the Realm of Shadows and returned to Salanar. Quite impressed, Salanar gave Garoxx permanent control over the deathcharger, and also gave him the Sigil of the Dark Rider.

Mayhem in the Mines
By the time Garoxx returned to Death's Breach, the Scarlet Crusade's forces in Havenshire had been thrown into dissaray, and had desperatly relocated to Light's Point. Meanwhile, their miners were working to strip Havenshire Mine of as many of its resources as possible and load them onto their ships.

Impressed with Garoxx's work thus far, Prince Valanar sent the orc to seek out Gothik the Harvester, who had a "gift" he wanted to bestow upon the Scarlets. Much like Razuvious, Gothik hadn't forgotten Garoxx from his encounter with him in Naxxramas, but, also like Razuvious, he was willing to forgive and forget, especially after witnessing the carnage that Garoxx had wrought while terrorizing Havenshire.

The gift that Gothik had for the Scarlets was a portable plague spreader. Gothik wanted Garoxx to use it on the miners within the Havenshire mine to transform them into ghouls, then return once he had a small army by his side.

Once he ventured into the mines, Garoxx found that turning the Scarlet miners into ghouls was child's play, yet he reveled in it, enjoying his control over the ghouls that spawned from the fallen miners. Even though several times the miners turned into enraged ghosts instead of ghouls, Garoxx ended up filling his quota and delivering them back to Gothik. Impressed, Gothik informed him that the assault on the mines had sent a clear message to the Scarlet Crusade: They now knew that the mines were no longer safe, and would most certainly begin to retreat.

Light's Point: Massacre of the Scarlet Fleet
With the Scourge running rampant throughout Havenshire, the majority of the Scarlet forces outside New Avalon had congregated at Light's Point, where the entire Scarlet fleet was located. With the Scarlet forces in dissaray, Prince Valanar had declared that the time was ripe to finish them off.

Valanar tasked Garoxx with delivering the killing blow to the Scarlet Fleet...and of course, Garoxx accepted. Making his way to a mine car that Valanar's minions placed near the outhouse next to the mines, Garoxx hid in it and patiently waited for a miner to bring him to one of the Scarlet ships. Sure enough, a miner noticed the car and hauled it through Light's Point and onto one of their ships.

When Garoxx emerged from the car, he did a quick head count of the Scarlet troops at Light's Point; their forces numbered at one hundred exactly. He then commandered one of the ship's cannons and began firing upon the Scarlet Crusaders. Caught off-guard by the sudden fire from one of their own ships, the Scarlet troops struggled to defend themselves. Some, however, did manage to get back on board the ship, but Garoxx managed to get them off with an electric shockwave (which, in some cases, killed the Crusaders.) After only minutes, not one of the one hundred crusaders was left standing.

Satisfied with his victory, Garoxx called a scourge gryphon to take him back to Death's Breach and eagerly reported news of his victory to Prince Valanar. Overjoyed, Valanar sent Garoxx to deliver the news to Highlord Mograine (who was still within Acherus) with a promise that he would undoubtedly be rewarded for his heroics.

When he read Valanar's report, Highlord Mograine was beyond impressed and commended Garoxx. With Havenshire now in ruins, all that was left to do was resurrect the dead Scarlet Crusaders that littered the village into Scourge service. The time to attack New Avalon had come.

Day of the Dead: The Siege of New Avalon
As the Scourge began its advance on New Avalon, the Lich King sent a telepathic command to Darion: Garoxx was to return to Death's Breach and report to Prince Valanar once again, who had ordered Havenshire to bet set ablaze.

With Havenshire left to rot, Valanar had ordered legions of Scarlet ghouls to push towards New Avalon to open the frontlines for the Scourge's troops to enter the village. In order for this advance to begin, Valanar ordered Garoxx to report to his brother, Prince Keleseth (who ruled over the Howling Fjord in Northrend) at the Crypt of Remembrance, just outside New Avalon.

Keleseth knew that their ghouls assaulting the gates of New Avalon would not be enough to finish off the town; they needed to strike at the Scarlet Crusade's inner sanctum. So Keleseth ordered Garoxx to march into New Avalon, head to the Town Hall and kill off Mayor Quimby, then steal the New Avalon registry and bring it to him.

Stationed with Keleseth was Baron Rivendare, a fellow death knight who led the Scourge in the ruined human city of Stratholme and was the primary commander of the Scourge in the Eastern Plaguelands. Rivendare had heard of Garoxx's heroics in Havenshire and Light's Point and was quite taken with what he had heard. Theorizing that both the Scarlet Crusade and the citizens of New Avalon were both brave and stupid to remain within the Scarlet Enclave with a Scourge Necropolis hanging above their heads, he wanted to fulfill that death wish, so he asked Garoxx to venture into the town and thin the numbers of both the Scarlet troops and town citizens.

After receiving both tasks from Keleseth and Rivendare, Garoxx set off for New Avalon, but not before making a brief detour to meet with Noth the Plaguebringer, another encounter from Naxxramas, who was stationed at a pumpkin patch on the very edge of what was left of Havenshire. He had been told to construct a plague cauldron, but he needed supplies from New Avalon: a cauldron fron the inn, chains from the forge, and the skulls of crusaders and citizens. Garoxx was now compleatly ready to join the assault on New Avalon.

Garoxx stormed the town, slaying every Crusader in his path, as well as any fleeing New Avalon citizen, as well as looking for the supplies that Noth wanted for his plague cauldron. After venturing into the inn, he found out that many of the citizens were hiding in the buildings. After clearing the inn and collecting the skulls, he found a suitable cauldron. Then he made his way to the Forge, which was guarded by a lone Scarlet Crusader, whom Garoxx dispatched with ease and whose skull Garoxx took, thus giving him all he needed to meet Noth's requirements. After obtaining some chains, Garoxx returned to Noth, who promptly constructed the cauldron and ordered Garoxx to place the skulls into the cauldron. Garoxx did so, and after a few moments, several vials of liquid floated to the top. This was a special brew that Noth was preparing for death knights to reinvigorate them in the heat of battle. Garoxx would make regular trips to Noth's cauldron during the rest of the assault on New Avalon to get more brew. Now, Garox could focus on his primary objective: the New Avalon Town Hall.

When Garoxx arrived at the Town Hall, he noticed a large crowd of angry villagers yelling at Mayor Quimby, who was still within, voicing complaints and publicly blaming him for the Scourge's invasion. Remembering he still needed to slay some villagers, Garoxx slaughtered the entire crowd in a little over a minute. Marching into the Hall itself, Garoxx immidiately spied Quimby poring over the Town Registry. After killing the Mayor's bodyguards, Garoxx engaged Quimby himself. The battle did not last long, as Quimby was fat and incredibly slow, and eventually fell to Garoxx's blade. Garoxx then recovered the registry and returned to the Crypt of Remembrance. Before giving the registry to Keleseth, Garoxx reported to Rivendare, who was quite impressed and even offered Garoxx a place in Stratholme as his chief lieutenant.

Keleseth began to look through the registry as soon as Garoxx gave it to him. He was unsurprised but excited at the information. He became even more excited when he came across their evacuation plans, until he came across something strange: the Scarlet Crusade planned to set sail for Northrend. Next to those coordinates were the words "Crimson Dawn".

Crimson Dawn: Secrets of the Scarlets
Keleseth knew that, whatever this "Crimson Dawn" was, it would certainly spell trouble for the Scourge - and most definately threw a monkey wrench into the Lich King's plans for the Crusade's total annihilation. So he gave Garoxx an ornately jeweled box containing his "persuaders" - a pair of razor-sharp, white-hot pokers - and instructed the death knight to use them to torture the Scarlet Crusaders within New Avalon until one of them "cracked" and confessed what the Crimson Dawn was.

Garoxx returned to New Avalon and immidiately began using Keleseth's persuaders on the Scarlet Crusaders. To his frustration, they proved to be more mentally strong than Garoxx had originally thought, as he went through several of them before one finally cracked. The weakened Scarlet Crusader told Garoxx that the Crimson Dawn was an "awakening" of sorts. Apparently, the Holy Light had spoken to High General Abbendis and and told her that she needed to reinvigorate the Crusade, and to do that, they needed to go to Northrend to take the battle directly to the Scourge. Also, before the Crusader died from the horrific injuries brought upon by the "persuaders", he let slip that a courier was arriving from Hearthglen. Garoxx took this information back to Keleseth.

With this information in hand, Keleseth would send three elite death knight commanders - Orbaz Bloodbane (known as the "Hand of Suffering"), Thassarian, and Koltira Deathweaver - behind enemy lines to intercept this courier. They had established a base of operations at the Scarlet Tavern, which was adjacent to the Chapel of the Crimson Flame. Garoxx was asked to report to Orbaz.

Being careful to avoid the patrolling Scarlet Crusaders as not to give his fellow death knights away, Garoxx navigated to the Scarlet Tavern.

Behind Enemy Lines
When Garoxx got there, Orbaz had already been busy trying to get some useful information about the whereabouts of the courier out of the Crusaders, and had, thus far, been unsucessful (which explained the brutally injured corpses strewn across the Tavern floor.) Orbaz had apparently gotten one bit of useful information out of one of them, however, who had mentioned that the records of all Scarlet patrol routes were kept within the Scarlet Hold. Orbaz ordered Garoxx to retreive this schedule.

Something strange that Garoxx noticed when he arrived at the Scarlet Tavern was that Orbaz and Thassarian were there, but Koltira was not. When Garoxx inquired about Deathweaver's whereabouts, Thassarian said that, in the chaos of slipping behind enemy lines, Koltira had been captured by the Scarlets, and had last been seen bound in chains and dragged off towards the Scarlet Hold. This disgusted Bloodbane, who felt that Deathweaver's capture was his own fault and he should be left to his fate (and also seemed to feel animosity towards Koltira due to the natural animosity between humans and blood elves), but Thassarian solidly believed in the brotherhood of death knights. Garoxx almost agreed with Bloodbane, but ended up siding with Thassarian, believing that the Scourge would need all the soldiers it could use to make the entire attack a success.

Garoxx quickly made his way to the Scarlet Hold, which was heavily fortified. Garoxx was able to put away the minor footsoldiers with no problem, but there were so many that fighting them quickly became an annoyance. Before he killed one such Crusader, the Crusader let slip that the patrol schedule was on the top level.

Garoxx quickly fought his way to the top level, where he met the Commander of Scarlet Hold, Scarlet Commander Rodrick, who was guarding the patrol schedule. Rodrick was a strong paladin and put up an equally strong fight, but even he could not match up to the superior Garoxx. He fell to Garoxx's blade, and, in a cruel show of dominance, Garoxx raised Rodrick as a ghoul to fight by his side. He then recovered the patrol schedule and set off to find the captive Koltira.

When Garoxx returned to the ground floor, he heard someone yelling from the basement. Sure enough, Koltira Deathweaver was down there, badly injured and lying unconscious upon a torture rack. Garoxx managed to wake him up, but the Scarlet Crusade had fully learned of his presence and the alarms had gone off. Koltira barely managed to put on his armor, get his runeblade, and set-up an anti-magic shield before the Scarlet Priests came down. The priests were very powerful and did everything they could to stop Garoxx and Koltira's escape. But with the assistance from Koltira and Garoxx's own ghoul, they survived. Garoxx and Koltira would go on to survive several more waves of priests. Then, High Inquisitor Valroth entered the fray. A highly accomplished priest, Valroth's Light attacks were very powerful. But in a burst of rage, Garoxx lashled out at the High Inquisitor in a brutal fury, slaying the priest and ripping his head off with his bare hands.

Blast from the Past
With the Scarlet Crusade's leadership in New Avalon dead, both Koltira and Garoxx knew that the Scarlet Crusade would not wait to exact vengeance on the Scourge. When he returned to the Scarlet Tavern, Thassarian informed Garoxx that Knight Commander Plaguefist had taken a company of death knights to the Chapel of the Crimson Flame to free any other captive death knights, then raze the chapel to the ground. Garoxx was asked to report to Commander Plaguefist to assist them.

When Garoxx arrived at the Chapel, Plaguefist had already bellowed the order to set the Chapel ablaze. As this order was carried out, Plaguefist's knights swiftly killed any Scarlets attempting to flee.

While the Chapel had been taken care of, there was a prison lodge next to it that had not. It was revealed that the Crusade had been holding Argent Dawn prisoners, and when Plaguefist and his knights had arrived, many of them were already dead, but a few were still breathing, with a fellow orc being particularly fiesty, and Plaguefist believed that Garoxx would take great pleasure in executing the orc, so he sent him in to get the job done.

When Garoxx first set foot in the prison lodge, bodies were strewn across the floor, with only a few prisoners still breathing. Finally, at the very back of the lodge, Garoxx found the orc that Plaguefist mentioned, kneeling down and covering his face, a large assortment of cuts and bruises covering his body, including a 12-inch long gash on his arm that was still bleeding. As Garoxx approached the orc, runeblade in hand, the orc seemed to be waiting for him. But as he finally lifted his head, Garoxx received a slight shock: The orc was Kug Ironjaw, in life, one of Garoxx's best friends ever since Durnholde Keep.

It took a few moments for Kug to recognize Garoxx, but when he did, he was shocked beyond belief. He would go on to explain that after he had finished his warrior training, Thrall made him a "grunt commander", which he served as until the second Scourge invasion, when Thrall made him the Horde's ambassador to the Argent Dawn. He had been captured by the Scarlet Crusade after he had led a party of Argent Dawn officers to Tyr's Hand in an attempt to parlay with the Crusade.

Kug pleaded with Garoxx to fight the Lich King's control. Garoxx kept trying to shut Kug up, but to no avail. After Plaguefist yelled from outside the lodge for Garoxx to hurry up, he raised his runeblade over Kug's head, preparing to bring it down on his former friend. Kug actually ordered Garoxx to put him out of his misery, in the hopes that he would free himself from the Lich King's control, and for only a moment, Garoxx's grip on his runeblade slackened and he hesitated, before the Lich King sent him a telepathic command to slay the orc. Garoxx gave in and brought his runeblade down on his former best friend. Kug crumpled to a heap at Garoxx's boots and moved no more.

The Birth of the Scarlet Onslaught
With the Chapel of the Crimson Flame set ablaze, Garoxx returned to the Scarlet Tavern, where he was approached by Orbaz Bloodbane. Orbaz informed Garoxx that, while he had been at the Chapel, he had formed a plan to intercept the courier from Hearthglen, who was scheduled to pass by the Scarlet Overlook within the hour. He was to go to the Overlook and hide himself using a makeshift cover given to him by Bloodbane (which was no more than a cardboard tree), then strike at the courier when he passed close enough, kill him and take his belongings.

Garoxx carried out this order, sidestepping the other patrolling Scarlets before reaching the Scarlet Overlook and putting up the cover. Garoxx did not think that the courier would be stupid enough to believe that the fake tree was real. But surely enough, when the courier arrived, he came to investigate the "strange looking tree". At that moment, Garoxx jumped out and attacked the courier. Startled by the surprise attack, the courier was caught off guard, and was eventually killed. Garoxx soon looted the dead courier's belongings, including his clothes and his oh-so-important-message. The message was from High Commander Galvar Pureblood, who stated that the Scarlet Crusade's armies from both Hearthglen and Tirisfal (most likely the Scarlet Monastary) were a mere day's ride from New Avalon, and that they would soon feel the full might of the Scarlet Crusade.

Garoxx soon returnd to the Tavern and gave the message to Bloodbane, who read it and told him that it was imperative that the message still get to the High General, so as not to make them suspicious and convince them that everything it still going fine. In order to do this, Garoxx would don the courier's clothes and, with assistance from a special enchantment, would take on the form of the courier.

Garoxx rode off towards King's Harbor, where Abbendis was rumored to be. Along the way, he noticed that the path was crawling with Scarlet Crusaders. Garoxx was surprised that they didn't see past the disguise (as his runeblade and ice-blue eyes could not be disguised), but they did. And sure enough, standing next to her personal ship, was the High General herself, alongside her advisors: High Abbot Landgren, Bishop Street, Commander Jordan, and Torturer LeCraft.

Abbendis seemed convinced that the Scarlet Enclave had been lost, so she told the "courier" to return to High Commander Pureblood and inform him that his armies were to halt their advance and set sail for Northrend. She then gave him a copy of her personal writings (called The Path of Redemption) saying "it will explain everything". Abbendis then boldly declared that Scarlet Crusade was no more, and that they were now known as the "Scarlet Onslaught".

A Red Sun Rises: Fall of the Scarlet Crusade
After receiving The Path of Redemption, Garoxx quickly departed from King's Harbor. Once he was a safe distance from the Scarlets, he read through the book that was given to him. In the book, Abbendis explained in detail about how the Light had apparently spoken to her; apparently it had convinced her that the rest of the Scarlet Crusade had grown stagnant in its vision, and that only her and her most devout followers should do its bidding. This had empowered her to form a new coalition from those most willing to serve the Light: the Scarlet Onslaught. The Scarlet Onslaught was going to sail to Northrend and take the fight to the Lich Kinng - and would destroy anyone, and anything, that stood in their path. It also seemed that Abbendis no longer cared if the Crusaders remaining in the Plaguelands survived or not - she was leaving them to their fate.

Garoxx returned to the Scarlet Tavern one last time to check in with Orbaz. With this information in hand, they needed to prepare for the oncoming legions. Orbaz told Garoxx to relay the information to Highlord Mograine at the Ebon Hold (as well as giving him The Path of Redemption as well; Orbaz saying he would probably find it useful.) Casting a portal directly back to Acherus, Orbaz wished Garoxx good luck.

Darion was duly impressed and very excited at the prospect of vanquishing the Scarlet Crusade. Mere moments after Garoxx was debriefed, word has reached them that the Scarlet armies had arrived at the Scarlet Enclave in an attempt to make a final stand. By this time, New Avalon was now abandoned and had been set ablaze as well. The Lich King was preparing to give the final command at Death's Breach. Darion ordered Garoxx to report to him there.

The Lich King praised Garoxx's successes in the Scarlet Enclave; he had slain legions of Scarlet Crusaders and had crippled the Scarlet Crusade almost beyond repair....and still lusted for more. The Lich King warned Garoxx that the Scarlet armies waiting for them would be much more ferocious than the enemies he had prevously fought, as they were making the final stand against the Scourge. So the Lich King gave Garoxx the Horn of the Frostbrood. With it, he would call down a mighty frost wyrm to commandeer into battle. He had but one goal: Destroy the Scarlet Crusade. Joining him to serve as his lieutenants would be two of the Lich King's personal recruits: Kitrik the Blightcaller and Deathlord Jesseriah McCree, both former members of the Scarlet Crusade who would command the abominations and ghouls on the ground.

Garoxx called forth the frost wyrm just as the Scarlet armies were assembling their lines throughout the Scarlet Enclave. Garoxx then took to the skies and began unleashing hell on the Scarlet Crusaders. Garoxx commanded the frost wyrm to use its ice breath to wipe out the Scarlets, and in some cases, when he flew too close to the ground, he ordered the wyrm to devour the crusader alive. But the Scarlets would not be defeated so easily; they had set up enormous ballistae throughout the Enclave and fired upon him. But even the ballistae could not measure up to the might of the Scourge. On the ground, Kitrik and Jesseriah continued to command the abominations and ghouls, plowing through the Scarlets as if they were training dummies.

Although they encountered rough spots during the battle, Garoxx's three-man army were besting the Scarlet Crusade, and casualties on their side were piling up. Soon, they became too overpowered and, in the distance, Garoxx heard High Commander Pureblood call for retreat. While Kitrik and Jesseriah picked off a few of the stragglers, Garoxx voted to let the fleeing Scarlets go; for they would not get far. But before the retreat, Garoxx tracked down High Commander Pureblood himself and slashed his chest open, killing him instantly, then ordered they val'lyr to take him to Acherus to become a death knight as well.

The Scarlet Crusade had fallen.

Alpha and Omega: The Battle for Light's Hope Chapel
Garoxx had the esteemed privelege to return to Death's Breach to report his success to the Lich King. With the fall of the Crusade, Garoxx's rise to Champion of Acherus was complete. The Lich King ordered Garoxx to kneel before him on bended knee. On Garoxx' head, he placed the Greathelm of the Scourge Champion, a tremendous honor, as few had ever worn this helm. The Lich King told Garoxx that, from then on, whoever looked upon his terrifying visage knew that when they faced him, they faced the Champion of the Lich King.....and the full might of the Scourge. After looking upon the crumbling ruins of the Scarlet Enclave, the Lich King turned west, to the only roadblock still in the path of the Scourge war machine: Light's Hope Chapel. The Lich King ordered Garoxx to report to Scourge Commander Thalanor at Browman Mill, where the entire Scourge army had already congregated, preparing to unleash their full might upon the Argent Dawn.

Garoxx summoned his lieutenants, Kitrik and Jesseriah, mounted his deathcharger, and rode through the ruins of Havenshire and New Avalon, thorugh the abandoned Tyr's Hand, and eventually came to the mill, where Highlord Mograine was already organizing the army. Mograine's commanders, in addition to Thalanor, included Orbaz Bloodbane, Thassarian, and Koltira Deathweaver. Serving under those three were Knight Commander Plaguefist, Baron Rivendare, Princes Valanar and Kelesth, Gothik the Harvester, Noth the Plaguebringer, and even Instructor Razuvious. Garoxx also noticed, standing alongside the Highlord, was High Commander Galvar Pureblood, now a death knight.

After Garoxx reported to Thalanor, he took his place next to Darion as Darion rallied his troops. After several minutes, Darion bellowed out to the armies of the Scourge, declaring that the time had come to crush the Argent Dawn once and for all, giving the order to charge. Just prior to entering the battle, Garoxx and all other death knights were greatly empowered by the Might of their Highlord, making them all invincible. Garoxx roared a furious war cry, and entered the fray.

It was pitiful odds, for the Argent Dawn had only 300 warriors fighting againt the thousands of Scourge. Garoxx struck down every defender of Light's Hope that stood in his way. He also briefly engaged the tauren shaman Rimblat Earthshatter before a gang of ghouls attatcking the druid Rayne distracted him. After slaughtering several more defenders of the Light, Garoxx gathred up several other death knights and attacked the Argent Dawn's two leaders Lord Maxwell Tyrosus and Duke Nicholas Zverenhoff, along with Leonid Bartholomew the Revered. However, the three warriors of the light proved to be more than a match for the death knights, and because of this, Garoxx fell badly injured, and had it not been that he still had a few vials of the Plaguebringer's special brew, he might not have survived the battle. After he nursed himself back to health, he chased down Tyrosus again and cornered him in the chapel. After leaving Tyrosus badly wounded on the floor of the chapel, Garoxx returned to the battle, but with a surprise, he noticed that Highlord Mograine was having trouble controlling his blade. This confused Garoxx. None of the other death knights were having problems controlling their weapons....

After only an hour of fighting, the Argent Dawn had lost nearly half of their standing forces. When it seemed that the undead army was about to strike the killing blow to the surviving forces of the Light, something astonishing happened: Tirion Fordring arrived on the scene. Garoxx was shocked. In the past, during Garoxx's days as a grunt in the Horde army, he had assisted Tirion to clear out some of the infected wildlife that populated the Plaguelands. But then, Tirion was merely an old hermit. This Tirion was clad in the arms and armor of a paladin of the Silver Hand.

At the sight of the paladin, Darion seemed to realize that his power over the Light was greater than theirs, so he ordered the Scourge army to stand down. Orbaz Bloodbane abandoned the battlefield; Baron Rivendare fled as well, mounting his steed and riding off into the Plaguelands, eventually back to Stratholme. Gothik and the Darkfallen Princes teleported away, back to Northrend. However, all the other commanders were frozen in place, confused as to why the battle had been called off so soon.

Fordring confronted Darion, admonishing him for "becoming the very thing his father fought against" and that the Lich King had sent them on a suicide mission, sending them to their deaths because he knew what was beneth the Chapel. Darion tried to drive the paladin off, and Garoxx even tried to attack him, but Darion ordered him to stand down. Then, something else astonishing happened: The spirit of Darion’s father, Alexandros Mograine, the Ashbringer himself, appeared in front of Darion, and from Darion, an “echo” of himself as he appeared some 10 years before, during the first outbreak of the Scourge in Lordaeron, appeared. A conversation between the two ghostly figures took place, a conversation that had happened during the same time period that the echo of the younger Darion appeared to be from. He was begging his father to join him to fight against the “undead”, which Garoxx assumed to be the Scourge, and Alexandros told his son that, one day, he would command the Ashbringer, but it was “not this day”. The real Darion appeared to have been very shaken by this sudden happening.

As the two ghostly images vanished, the Lich King arrived on the scene. He confronted Tirion himself, and admitted that he had sent in his death knights to die, saying that their lives meant nothing to him, and the entire purpose of the mission was used as a facade to lure Tirion out of hiding. In that moment, realizing that the Lich King had used him all along, his hold over Darion broke, and Darion charged at him, overcome with grief and fury. The Lich King blasted Darion out of the way, focusing on Tirion. After a moment more, the Lich King blasted Fordring with a crippling spell, incapacitating him and throwing back the Argent Dawn soldiers that ran to defend him. But then, Garoxx noticed movement out of the corner of his eye: Darion stirred, then lept to his feet, and, in keeping with his father's words, tossed the Corrputed Ashbringer to Tirion. Tirion captured the sword, and it instantly became purified.

And in one moment, as if time stood still, the Lich King's hold over all of his death knights shattered: Garoxx's memories of his past life, his free will, his very soul - were returned to him; he felt as if he had awoken from a thousand-year slumber. Rage, grief, shame, anger, confusion - all welled up in him at the thoughts of what he had done, of what he had become, of how he had been used, and of the hatred of the being who ruled over the Scourge....

Now wielding the purified Ashbringer, perhaps the only weapon in existance to rival Frostmourne, Tirion bellowed at the Lich King and charged at him, injuring him and making him collapse. After a moment, the Lich King stood up again. Deciding that to continue on such holy ground against the power of Fordring and the Ashbringer would be folly, he decided to leave the battle for another day, proclaiming to Tirion that they would not be on holy ground the next time they crossed paths, before escaping back to Northrend.

The Lich King's escape left Garoxx seething with rage. He made a personal vow that he would, someday, kill that monster, with his own hands if he must, for using him as he had, for warping and corrupting a proud soldier of the Horde - he knew that, in time, the shame that weighed down on his and marked him would prevent any chance of him ever stepping foot in Orgrimmar, or any land of the Horde, ever again.

Tirion called Garoxx to his side to accompany him to Darion, who had fallen once again, injured from the Lich King's attack. Tirion used his Lay On Hands spell to heal the Highlord and get him on his feet. Then the paladin stood in front of the chapel, and gave what be one of the most famous speeches in the history of Azeroth, and would inevitably prove to be a turning point in the War against the Scourge: Fordring boldly declared that the time had come to take the fight to the Lich King, and he called for a union of the Argent Dawn and the Knights of the Silver Hand to form a new organization: the Argent Crusade. And then, too, did Highlord Darion make a declaration: the Death Knights of Acherus would march under the banner of the Scourge no longer. From that point on, they would fight to bring an end to the Lich King, and be known by a new name: the Knights of the Ebon Blade. As Darion said this, Garoxx unsheathed his runeblade - the only thing still tying him to the Scourge - and shattered it, vowing that he would fight by Mograine's side to see the Lich King finished.

Taking Back Acherus: Battle for the Ebon Hold
Now that the death knights had regained their free will, they faced a daunting task: retaking Acherus from the Lich King's minions. Darion called Garoxx and told him that, if the Knights of the Ebon Blade were to survive, they needed the Ebon Hold under their control. So he gave Garoxx a permanent Death Gate spell, telling him that it would open a portal back to Acherus, no matter where he was in the world. He ordered Garoxx to use the gate and seek him out in Acherus when he got there. Garoxx obeyed the command and teleported to Acherus.

When he arrived at Acherus, now wielding a Greatsword of the Ebon Blade, Darion was already there, and had seemingly only teleported there seconds before. The death knights, it seemed, had only just claimed the Hall of Command from the Scourge, as there were still some stray ghouls wandering around. When Garoxx reported to Darion, he told him that the Hall of Command had been secured, but the Heart of Acherus was still overrun with the Lich King's minions; in particular was Patchwerk, the Avatar of War who Garoxx had previously fought in Naxxramas. Darion ordered Garoxx to join the death knights already up there and eliminate the Scourge forces still within, and also warned him to not engage Patchwerk alone.

The Heart of Acherus was in absolute chaos; multitudes of abominations, val'kyr, ghouls, and necromancers still faithful to the Lich King were doing their best to prevent the Ebon Blade from seizing control of Acherus. Patchwerk towered over them all, already engaged by a human death knight and a dwarf death knight. Garoxx fought his way through the Scourge forces, slaying many, but not enough, as he made his way to the titanic Patchwerk. He called the human and the dwarf over and charged in with them, in one of the rare instances where Alliance and Horde lay aside their differences and fight a common foe.

Patchwerk was extremely powerful, and commanded more of the lesser abominations to attack the death knights as well. But, in the end, the three death knights, still empowered with the Might of Mograine, summoned up all their strength and gave it everything they had, and Patchwerk finally fell. Fighting his way back to the teleporter, further thinning out the Scourge's forces, Garoxx returned to the Hall of Command to report the news of Patchwerk's death to Highlord Mograine.

Darion was relieved to hear of Patchwerk's downfall. He told Garoxx that, with Patchwerk down, the existing death knights could handle the remaining Scourge and he could rest, but not until he did one final task for Darion: to seek out Thrall, Warchief of the Horde, and tell him of the new order of death knights and establish them as allies. If they could do that, then their chances to defeating the Lich King would increase a thousand-fold.

Redemption Day: Return to the Horde
Garoxx knew that entering the capital of the Horde - his former home - now that he was a death knight, would be risky, and that convincing Thrall that he was on their side and not a servant of the Scourge would not be easy.

Darion gave Garoxx a letter written by Tirion Fordring, bearing the seal of the newly formed Argent Crusade, addressed to Thrall and explaining that Garoxx did indeed look like a member of the Scourge, but represented the new offensive (refering to the Ebon Blade, of course) that would fight against the Lich King, and, if not to accept Garoxx as a member of the Horde, but to show understanding and tolerance.

Casting a portal leading to Durotar, Mograine urged Garoxx to deliver the letter. Garoxx swore that he would and entered the portal. Moments later, he found himself beholding a familiar sight: the gates of Orgrimmar.

Entering the city and walking through was an uncomfortable experience. Because he still bore the appearance of a Scourge soldier, nearly every citizen showed open hostility to him, calling him names like "monster", "abomination", and things similar, and throwing rotten food at him. Even the grunts mockingly said that they wanted to execute him, and do it happily to you. Even a foolish tauren named Gamon tried to attack him, but lost the nerve and ran off.

When he finally arrived at Grommosh Hold, he prostrated himself before the Warchief, his former friend and mentor, and beseeched him. While Thrall was initially enraged at the sight of a (seemingly) Scourge agent in his hold, he stayed his hand for a moment when he recognized Garoxx as the young warrior whom he had befriended many years ago when they were both gladiators in Durnholde Keep, whom he had helped train, who he gave his blessing to and inducted into the Frostwolf and Warsong clans, and whom he sent to his death in Naxxramas. Staying his hand for a moment to absord the sight of his former friend as a fallen champion of the Horde, he took Fordring's letter from Garoxx and read it.

When Thrall looked up, his face was full of, not just understanding, but emotion as well. He had been touched by Fordring's letter because he had remembered that Fordring had risked everything to save Eitrigg - another one of Garoxx's former mentors - from execution by rescuing him from Stratholme many years ago, and from only one other person had Thrall ever seen a human show such kindness to an orc - Taretha Foxton, to him. Almost at the brink of tears, Thrall was overjoyed that Garoxx had been redeemed and accepted him - as he had at Durnholde Keep - many years before, and agreed to ally with the Ebon Blade in order to help bring down the Lich King.

After that, Thrall made a declaration to the whole of Orgrimmar: He proclaimed Garoxx's return to sanity and return to the Horde as "one of many Scourge defeats" and praised Garoxx as a hero and that he should be treated as such. After he did this, he pulled Garoxx aside and told him that, in no way was the Stonebreaker clan "dead", and that he had brought honor back to his name, and that his father and grandfather would be proud of him.

From that moment onward, no one in Orgrimmar, or the Horde at all, who was faithful to Thrall was hostile to Garoxx ever again. The proud champion of the Horde had come home at last.