User:GoldenYak/Patch X.3 - The Harrowing of Vegathis

The Harrowing of Vegathis is the third patch for the Into the Void Expansion Concept.

General Overview

 * New Shath'Yar Incursions will periodically afflict a random region in the Voidlands, replacing the standard Void incursions.
 * The naaru A'dal and the constellar Nodensius send the heroes of Azeroth on a quest that will span the whole of the Voidlands, seeking the ancient powers necessary to defeat the Void.
 * New World Bosses - Shog'Zevash, Fragment of Ruin and Xa'Ligha, Fragment of Silence. Hideous faceless one abominations that have fallen out of the darkness surrounding the Voidlands. One of the two will appear during a Shath'Yar Incursion.

The Story So Far...
The darkness of the Void continues to strangle the Voidlands in its grip, while the malevolent Old Gods scheme to bring about the downfall of Azeroth. With the Void's forces stalemating the defenders of Azeroth and their allies, something must change soon or time will run out for the Voidlands and all will be swallowed by the darkness. But hope remains - throughout the Voidlands, ancient powers remains that oppose the corrosive darkness of the Void. If these primal forces can be united, they may hold the key to victory over the forces of evil in the Voidlands.

The Song of the Naaru
No sooner is the campaign in Yuggol resolved than the heroes of Azeroth are contacted by the ethereals in Or'Damaz. The naaru have received reinforcements - none other than luminous A'dal has come to the Voidlands. The ancient naaru confers with the constellar Nodensius, and the two develop a plan that may spare the Voidlands from utter dissolution. But the two alone lack the power to carry out their plan, and so they call upon the mortal heroes who have ventured far and wide across the Voidlands. Five beings of great power must be located, each one attuned to the underlying elemental energy of the disparate worldshards. With the combined powers of these beings, the Voidlands may be spared.

The Elemental Lords of the Voidlands
The heroes of Azeroth must venture across the Voidlands once again and contact five beings of great elemental power. First, they contact Brimius, the elemental lord of ice and water that dwells in Algol. The elemental lord owes the heroes a great debt for breaking the grip that He Who Shapes held upon the frozen world, and eagerly lends his power to their cause. In Rakari, the heroes must contact the draconic children of Ailerith. The elemental dragon was corrupted by the Void, and her destruction was necessary to spare the worldshard from destruction. But it is the nature of air to disperse and coalesce, and with the aid of Ailerith's children, the heroes of Azeroth are able to revive and restore the elemental dragon to her original pure form. Thus renewed, Ailerith pledges her power to the cause of the heroes.

In Nachitar, the heroes speak with brooding Stratagor, who remembers well their aid in driving the drealords from the worldshard, as well as purging the lingering darkness of the slain Old God T'Goggus. Though the elemental lord of stone has suffered pain and profound loss, he is still prepared to risk a little hope, and agrees to lend his power to the heroes. Returning to the Netherglades, the heroes must aid Verdanis, the elemental lord of nature, in further healing the portions of the glades tainted by the fel poison of the Burning Legion. Thus accomplished, Verdanis pledges his aid to the cause of the heroes.

Finally, the heroes of Azeroth venture to Vegathis. At the Temple of the Black Flame lies the Ashen Engine, the machine that acts both as a prison for Incendra, the ashen goddess of flame, and as the power source for the magical sun of Vegathis. With the burning light of the sun the only thing that keeps Vegathis from being devoured by the Void, the heroes of Azeoth are faced with a grim choice - to complete their task Incendra must be freed from the engine, a thing the fire goddess herself greatly desires, but doing so would doom Vegathis to the darkness of the Void. Even Incendra's desire for freedom is not so great that she wishes to condemn the last fragment of her world to destruction. Even as the heroes of Azeroth seek a solution, the last maddened factions of the ashen that followed Agnitus scheme to thwart their efforts and bring fiery destruction to their enemies.

The Harrowing
Ultimately, the naaru S'ona comes to Vegathis to offer a solution. Incendra is freed from the Ashen Engine, while S'ona herself merges with the magic sun, fueling the burning sun with her Light. The magic sun blazes brighter than ever, infused with the Light of the naaru, driving back the darkness of the Void. Incendra, freed from her prison, unleashes her powers to purge Vegathis of the last lingering traces of the flesh contagion of Y'Uurd. Her actions cow the last of the ashen into relenting in their quest to purge the living; they vow to follow Incendra without question. Incendra promises that she will aid the Alliance and the Horde against the Void, and lend her powers to the plan of A'dal and Nodensius.

With the five elemental lords of the Voidlands together with A'dal, Nodensius reveals his plan - they will create a Worldseed, an arcane spell-device that uses the power of the Light and the raw elemental force that underlies the material universe. These powers combined can stave off the Void indefinitely. However, even when the Worldseed is completed, it must be placed within a specific location in the Voidlands to function - the worldshard of Bysmault, where the Void is at their strongest.

Shath'Yar Incursions
Similar to Void Incursions, Shath'Yar Incursions will begin occurring during Patch X.3. Any Void Incursion has a chance to be replaced with a Shath'Yar Incursion. The Voidwalker forces will be replaced with Old God forces - aqir, n'raqi, and c'thraxxi entities. Great meteorites composed of the flesh of the Old Gods plummet out of the Void and impact in random worldshards, spawning hordes of eldritch monstrosities that ravage and despoil the surrounding area. The heroes of Azeroth must contend with the spawn of the Old Gods to spare the Voidlands from their diabolical influence.

Prelude
Ethereal Voidwatchers in Or'Damaz will warn that a horde of eldritch entities have infested a worldshard. Possible zones that can be targeted for Void Incursions are the Algol Expanse, Rakari, the Netherglades, and Vegathis.


 * say

Phase 1 - Blood of the Shath'Yar
Within the darkness of the Void, the hideous Old Gods wage war. Zom-Nurgal, the Keeper of Secrets, and Ny'Adrin, the Path to Ruin. Each eldritch fiend is attempting to slay the other and devour their dark essence - the victory will take the might of the vanquished, and become strong enough to realize the black designs of the Void. As they battle in the darkness surrounding the Voidlands, their torn flesh and shed blood falls upon the worldshards, forming into grotesque organic masses called Shath'yar Bloodhives that continually spawn countless horrors.

Phase 2 - They Do Not Die
With every lesser eldritch entity slain, the nearby Bloodhives will absorb the malice and death and grow larger. When a sufficient number of entities are killed, powerful elite bosses will burst out of the Bloodhive that will require several adventurers to fight. These creatures are intended for max-level adventurers in groups of 5-8. Destroying an elite boss will cause the nearby Bloodhive to dissolve. If a location has been cleared of all Bloodhives, adventurers will need to seek out additional hives to continue the effort to thwart the Incursion. A location that has been cleared of hives can be still be afflicted with more hives at a later time during the Incursion, but will remain clear for a while.

Phase 3 - The Ancient Evil
When a sufficient number of Bloodhives has been cleared, a single colossal Fleshhive will appear in the skies overhead, plummeting out of the darkness of the Void like a meteor. Ethereal Voidwatchers will spawn near destroyed Bloodhives and offer to teleport players onto the Fleshhive as it falls out of the sky. Located on the disgusting fragment of Old God flesh will be an Ancient Evil, a powerful entity spawned from the Old Gods, intended to be fought by groups of 20 or more players. After the defeat of the Ancient Evil, the Fleshhive will begin to break apart, forcing adventurers to quickly depart on flying mounts or with the aid of Ethereal Voidwatchers.

Ending the Incursion
Destroying an Ancient Evil will end the Incursion, and no further Bloodhives will spawn in the region until the next Incursion. If an Incursion goes on for 1 hour, one of the naaru will appear and end it automatically, despawning all enemies present. However, players will not receive bonus rewards if the Incursion is ended in this way.