(Note this event took place during my roleplaying event on Sunday the 7th. Templar actions are summarized not to infringe on any characters. The only character lines I am using are my own and the characters that I created. I also updated the pic with a better one)
It was another gloomy day in the Antoran Wastes for Matthyas. At times it felt like he was one man against a whole army, but with his winged friend Roshan at his side, the war was less lonely. Also there was the reassuring knowledge the Templars would come to his aid whenever he needed them most. No matter how impossible the odds, he knew he didn’t have to face them alone.
Matthyas’s reverie was broken by an eagle that landed in front of him. He noticed a scroll was attached to its leg and carefully removed it from the bird of prey. It did not make any aggressive moves as the Paladin reached toward it and collected the parchment then unraveled it.
“Elune Adore Matthyas. My hunters have been relentlessly checking Argus for the scent of this unknown specter that has been aiding you from the shadows. We’ve spotted it recently in the area of Krokuun before we lost track of it. I think it’s time for you to confront it. Perhaps you should see if some friends will join you just to be on the safe side. I will join you there. Ande’thoras ethil!”
Matthyas took a piece of parchment from his backpack and spent a minute to write a reply and addressed the note ‘To Shernis, send to Templar’. The eagle waited patiently, trained to expect the reply. He then tied the scroll to the eagle’s leg and replied to it, “Shernis”. The bird flew off carrying the message to a messengry outpost where she was waiting.
The message was posted upon the Guildstone. “Templar, I’ve received word from a friend of mine, Shernis the huntress. She’s tracked down an unknown ally that has been helping me from the shadows. I want answers to his identity. This could be a Legion trick for all I know, or this ally could prove a worthy boon to our war efforts. Either way, I request your help in figuring out if this specter is a friend or foe! Who will join me?”
Matthyas nervously awaited the Templar in Krokuun’s Hovel in Krokuun. He was uncertain how many would answer his call for aid. In the end, over a dozen emerged ready to aid his quest. He introduced his friend, the winged guardian Roshan. The winged beast which had a lion’s mane and head was a creature of light that befit the stalwart Paladin as a mount. Roshan, used his telepathic abilities to convey a sense of happiness and gratitude for the compliments Matthyas and others made and expressed his eagerness to serve the Templar much like his human friend. Next he guided them into a cave and introduced them to Shernis.
“Elune Adore fellow Templar! It brings me a lot of joy to be with you all! I’ve already met some of you when I joined the reserves, but I haven’t had the chance to converse as much as I would have liked to. The war against the Legion keeps us all busy these days. Nevertheless, Matthyas asked for my help tracking down this specter of Argus. They may be an ally as he saved Matthyas from a Legion ambush a few weeks ago, but he could also be a trick to infiltrate our ranks. My fellow hunters managed to track him to this area but lost the scent. We need to look for clues to continue the search. We should start by looking for an individual that might be lingering around these corridors who might have seen something suspicious. I thought I saw a blue robe and hooded draenei walking around foraging but I lost him. She might know more about this area. Let’s fan out and start looking! Shout out when you’ve found something, I will be able to hear it.”
Shernis twitched her long night elven ears. Eventually the party found an old ruined building that was partially sunk in. There they found the strange, hooded draenei. He simply asked them for some food to help get him through these trying times on his home planet and after receiving several rations, revealed to them the location where he claimed he saw the specter.
An eagle appeared shortly after with a message for Shernis. She had to leave to defend an outpost. Matthyas was worried with the many demons that were around including an infamous felguard ‘Siegemaster Voraan’ that the huntress traveling to the outpost alone was too risky. Matthyas looked to Roshan, “I need you to go with Shernis and keep her safe.”
Roshan whined and conveyed a feeling of not wanting to leave his friend.
“I need you to do this for me please Roshan. There are many demons around making the rounds I don’t want anything to happen to her. If this is a Legion trap I can think of no one better to help Shernis.”
Roshan understood his duty. He let Shernis hop on and carried her off, disappearing into the distance.
The Templar attacked a few demons blocking their way and made it into the large area the Draenei spoke of but found only a dead end.
“Careful Templar! I sense something, elusive.” The paladin warned.
From the shadows an Eredar woman, a group of fel imps, and a larger eredar male using a robotic felguard mount.
“Wretched Templar. We are the Legion! We are the future and you’ve been standing in the way long enough! I, Commander, Eredus will show you the true meaning of fear and pain! Go my minions, destroy the Legion’s enemies!”
Failing to be intimidated, the Templar fought well. Bypassing the minions almost entirely, they concentrated the efforts on slaying Eredus first. Frustrated and injured, The Eredar shouted, “Ack! You were better prepared than I anticipated. But it matters not!” Helifted his hands up high and a red mist began to cover the entire party. Counter-intuitively, the red mist was not hot but instead cold and everyone became paralyzed.
”A clever toxin isn’t it? It’s not fatal, but it will be when I’m through with you all. Try as hard as you want with your magics and your weapons, you will not be moving from this spot until YOU ARE DEAD, STARTING WITH YOU PALADIN!”
While there was more than one Paladin present, Eredus pointed to Matthyas. Using his damaged robotic felguard mount, He lifted a heavy axe up high and slowly moved closer to the incapacitated Paladin. Suddenly, a chilling howl filled the air. A black, shadowy figure appeared. The bright red mist illuminated the features of the mysterious specter revealing a worgen, with cold blue eyes, thick but matted black fur, and various scars over his face. He quickly unsheathed a huge axe of his own, leaped into the air at the demon, howled, and in the blink of an eye Eredus’s head was no longer attached to his body.” Upon seeing their commander fall the demons that had not already been slayed by the Templar fled in fear.
The plate-wearing worgen searched the headless body and found a small brown bag. There he found a red powder and applied it to all the frozen Templar. Each Templar was cured of the red-mist’s effects able to move once more. The worgen then turned toward the Templar and pointed to Matthyas, “You should not have come here. You put yourselves in too much danger. Leave…now!”
Matthyas questioned the worgen, “Who are you? I’m convinced you’re an ally, but I don’t know who you are or why you’re helping me.”
Angry, the worgen replied, “It does not concern you. Go, now!”
“We’re at war with the Legion! We’re stronger united that divided. If you truly care about me, then you’ll join me in saving our world and this one. The Legion must pay for what they did to my family!”
The worgen stared at the ground and asked with a softer voice, “Your…family. Tell me, were there any survivors?”
“I am the only one who survived,” Matthyas replied with a grim, uncomfortable look.
“At Tirisfal Glades.” The worgen added.
Matthyas squinted his eyes and focused more intently on the worgen, “How do you know that?”
“Because…I was born there.”
“Who are you?” Matthyas drew his sword and pointed it at the worgen. The blue flames grew brighter and hotter.
The worgen took several moments and looked down on the ground pondering what to say before he replied, “I’m not surprised you don’t recognize me. How could you? How could anyone? When the Legion’s invasion started last year, I tracked you down. At first I was angry and ready to confront you. And then I saw our home, the graveyard, and the shrine. I read those tombstones and realized why you never searched for me, why you never came for me.”
Matthyas dropped his sword; the flames rescinded quickly, “I know you don’t I?”
The figure responded, “We share the same blood.”
“That’s impossible!”
The worgen looked at the Paladin, “Remember how you told me you would take me and Alison away and would go south once you two raised enough money? You said we would be happy away from my grandparents and live together as a family. That was one of the few memories I could remember of that life. I was so very young then.”
“I…I…Trevor?”
“I was Trevor, your son.”
“My son…how!? By the light what the hell happened!?”
“We can talk more about the details in private, later. Suffice it to say, my adopted parents raised me like I was one of their own and when the Scourge came my father, a keen smuggler, got us into Gilneas. The Worgen curse happened upon me, and I began to turn into this. If that wasn’t bad enough, I was ambushed by the Lich King’s forces and was twisted into this thing that I’ve become. When made into one of the Lich King’s death knights, we lose a lot of our emotional ties to this world and the memories of our lives are buried deep, but not forgotten, and that memory came back to life as we fought hard to become free of the Lich King’s will.”
Shocked, Matthyas simply replied, “I don’t believe it.”
“That’s precisely why I didn’t reach out to you sooner! I knew you would never believe me! How could you? I no longer even look like your son. I am no longer Trevor, I call myself Tervan! You thought you buried me too and moved on. But I still feel a connection, a pull to you, and I won’t let the Legion take you away from me again!”
Matthyas started to snap out of his temporary fugue state and replied, “I understand and I’m so sorry Trev…Tervan. If I had any clue I would have scorched and burned all of Azeroth itself to find you. But who did I bury if it wasn’t you?”
“My adopted family told me my mother was babysitting at the time of the Scourge attack. They also told me there was another child there when they left without her.”
“Yes that’s it! She was raising some extra money by babysitting! I found the blanket and the remains…of a baby and of your mother.. When your mother was dead and I saw those other bones, I thought my past had truly died, but here you are. I don’t care what you look like I’ve just relieved you’re back and I want you back in my life! Can you ever forgive me my son?”
With only a moment’s hesitation, Tervan replied, “Yes…father…I forgive you. It will take a long time to get to know each other but I am willing to join you and your fight against the Legion. I’ve been watching you, Templar of the Rose,” He pointed to the crowd, “And if you’ll have me I’ll join your ranks too. Together we’ll bring peace to our worlds for hopefully a long time.”
The Templar’s leader asked if this was something Matthyas wanted and he replied, “Yes, with all of my heart.”
Tervan kneeled down, humbled, and was knighted. From that moment, Tervan, son of Matthyas Lionheart, joined the Templar of the Rose.
Happy and tearful, Matthyas looked upon the scarred worgen and said, “My son, thank you for returning to me!”
The stalwart Paladin and the towering, lumbering worgen death knight hugged, reuniting as father and son. The sight was welcomed with cheers and applause at the reunification of the Lionheart family. The two looked at the crowd of Templar and Matthyas announced, “I am proud to introduce to you my long lost son, Tervan!”
Tervan addresses the Templar, “Together Templar, the Legion will be destroyed in a bloody rapture that will be remembered forever!”
Matthyas sniffs the air, “But first you need to take a bath my son. You smell like wet dog.”
“Ahh dad! Don’t embarrass me in front of my new friends!” He whined and moaned.
Matthyas asks, “Before I forget, Can someone take our picture? I want a picture of this moment with me and my son!”
Tervan grumbled and frowned. His faded eyes could be seen rolling up as a Templar obliged with a gnomish camera. Another one is taken of the crowd with the family and later that day, Matthyas placed it in his garrison on his dining room table to always remember this day where his life had changed so completely.
(A special thank you for all who attended. The turnout was a lot bigger than I could have imagined! A very special thank you to Zenru for helping me edit my journal entries, coordinate, encouraging, and inspiring me to make this all happen!)
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