User:Joshmaul/Ordevaas Portalseeker/Into the Frozen North/The War Rages On
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This article is a player character biography page The contents herein are entirely player made and in no way represent official World of Warcraft history or occurrences which are accurate for all realms. The characters and events listed are of an independent nature and applied for roleplaying, fictional, speculative, or opinions from a limited playerbase only. |
Exploration of the Grizzly Hills
After the Battle of the Undercity, Ordevaas returned to Northrend and travelled east of the Dragonblight to Conquest Hold, the Horde's primary outpost in the Grizzly Hills. The Hills were a rugged alpine region of eastern Northrend, named both for the grizzly bears and the furbolg tribes that made their home there. Teaming, once more, with Saavedro, Ordevaas resolved to begin his explorations on the right foot.
The first problem he dealt with was the matter of Vordrassil, the failed World Tree that had been destroyed by the ancient druids thousands of years earlier. The trunk of Vordrassil, now known as Grizzlemaw, was the home of the furbolg tribes, but the Redfang and Frostpaw had been driven to fight amongst themselves. Sensing a greater evil at work, Saavedro and Ordevaas investigated the matter thoroughly. It turned out that the crazed furbolg had resurrected the bear god Ursoc, slain along with his brother Ursol during the War of the Ancients ten thousand years before...but Ursoc had become corrupted. The two paladins spoke with Ursoc's children, Kodian and Orsonn, at the shrines in the southern Hills, and eventually resolved to prevent Vordrassil from regrowing by burning the sapling growing in the center of Grizzlemaw, and collecting its seeds so the furbolg could not regrow it.
With the ashes of Vordrassil purified by their shaman allies, Saavedro and Ordevaas travelled to Ursoc's den and met the furbolg druid Tur Ragepaw, who aided them in defeating the corrupted Ancient. When he was killed, the two paladins sprinkled the purified ashes of Vordrassil on his body, freeing his spirit. Ursoc warned them both to beware Yogg-Saron, the "beast with a thousand maws" - an Old God said to exist beneath Northrend. Having taken part in the war against C'Thun in Silithus, Saavedro in particular was disturbed by this.
Unfinished Business
Another example of Saavedro-Ordevaas cooperation was the battle against the Wolfcult. Ordevaas had just delivered a letter of amnesty from the Horde to spare Sasha - the daughter of a trapper murdered by the citizens of Silverbrook, the logging town in the Grizzly Hills - from execution just as Saavedro arrived from Silverbrook with orders to kill and skin Sergeant Bonesnap, the Horde officer who guarded her. (Ordevaas, some time earlier, had also slain several defenders of Silverbrook in order to prevent them from joining with the Alliance. The point became moot shortly thereafter, however...)
Sasha appealed to them both to aid her, and together they consulted Ruuna the Blind to learn the truth behind Silverbrook and the Wolfcult. Both were shocked to learn that the Wolfcult was led by none other than Arugal, the archmage that Ordevaas had slain two years earlier. After finding Sasha's sister Anya to discover its location, the two paladins journeyed to Bloodmood Isle and climbed the heights of Shadowfang Tower to reach Arugal on the roof. With Sasha and an ally from both the Alliance and the Horde each to aid them, Arugal was defeated.
Drakuru's Treachery
While in the Grizzly Hills, Ordevaas encountered a troll named Drakuru imprisoned by a group of bounty hunters who had been set up outside Zul'Aman to do battle with the Amani, and now did the same with the Drakkari. Drakuru - much as he had with Saavedro - asked Ordevaas to make a blood pact with him, and Ordevaas - wary, but curious - did so. With Saavedro's aid, he collected Drakkari artifacts for the imprisoned troll and summoned his spirit using a special elixir at the locations that Drakuru indicated. Finally, he was sent into Drak'Tharon Keep, a massive Drakkari fortress on the border between the Grizzly Hills and the Empire of Zul'Drak.
With Saavedro at his side, Ordevaas confronted the Prophet Tharon'ja at the summit of Drak'Tharon and destroyed him, allowing them to summon Drakuru into the keep. To his horror and fury, Ordevaas saw that Drakuru had played him false. He was an agent of the Scourge - and he had summoned the Lich King himself to bear witness to his loyalty. Pleased with Drakuru's efforts, Arthas empowered the troll to do his bidding, charging him with the conquest of Zul'Drak for the Scourge, warning him of the price of failure.
The Master's Revenge
Infuriated by Drakuru's treachery, Saavedro and Ordevaas travelled into Zul'Drak from Drak'Tharon to a scene of utter devastation. The Scourge had already taken hold in the Drakkari homeland; the Drakkari had been driven to kill their own gods in a desperate bid to gain power against the Scourge. While serving at the Argent Crusade encampment of Light's Breach, the two paladins were approached by Crusader Lord Lantinga with interesting news...from the Knights of the Ebon Blade, the order of independent death knights. Intrigued by this - and realizing that they shared a common enemy - Saavedro and Ordevaas travelled to Ebon Watch to meet with the camp's leader, Stefan Vadu. Upon discovering powerful chokers that had been intended specifically for them - no doubt by Drakuru - the two were prepared for an act of espionage that would turn the tide in the war against the Scourge in Zul'Drak.
Disguised as ghouls, Saavedro and Ordevaas entered Voltarus, Drakuru's necropolis and headquarters of his war effort, where he sent them on a variety of tasks, including the collection of blight crystals, slaying an "incompetent" who had fouled his blight cauldrons (an act actually committed by the two paladins, completely incognito) and destroying legions of Drakkari to lure their chieftains for capture. Once this was done, they discovered Drakuru's master plan for the conquest of Zul'Drak: The captured chieftains would become "blightblood" trolls, slowly charged with the blight crystals to make them walking plague generators, and they would be a grand army sent into the holy temple of Gundrak to destroy every living thing in it...and claim the last remnants of Zul'Drak for the Scourge. Saavedro and Ordevaas would lead that effort, being Drakuru's "most trusted servants"...but they had other plans.
Taking Drakuru's scepter to Stefan and having it empowered to take command of a blightblood, Saavedro and Ordevaas confronted Drakuru on the roof of Voltarus and defeated him using his own creations. In desperation, Drakuru called on the Lich King for aid. In response, the Lich King exploded Drakuru from within, his skull flying and coming to a rest at their feet. The Lich King claimed he was amused by their betrayal, and would keep an especially close eye on them...
The Champion of Blood and Anguish
Over a year earlier, Ordevaas had fought in a series of duels in the Ring of Blood, a fighting pit in the ruins of the Laughing Skull village in northern Nagrand, culminating with the final duel against the ogre-mage Mogor. During his journey into Zul'Drak, Ordevaas entered the Amphitheater of Anguish - a gladiatorial arena near the gates of Gundrak itself - and once again met the goblin Gurgthock and Wodin the Troll-Servant, who had been the fight organizer and reward giver, respectively, at the Ring of Blood. As a former champion of the Ring, Ordevaas was favored heavily as a contender in the duels. For this arena battle, Ordevaas was reunited with Omoikane, now a general in the Farstriders. Weeks earlier, they had defeated the Scarlet Oracle Demetria together; now they would conquer the Amphitheater of Anguish.
Yggras, a gigantic jormungar, was the first to fall to the two blood elves. While fighting Stinkbeard, a magnataur lord from the Dragonblight, they were joined by the orc warlock Yureka, and they quickly dispatched the creature. Next came an elemental lord called Erathius, King of Dirt, followed by a maddened tuskarr named Orinoko Tuskbreaker. Then came a veteran of Alterac Valley, the champion of the Winterax trolls - Korrak the Bloodrager. Even he was taken by the three of them. Against the Champion of Anguish, however, they had to call in reinforcements: The tauren death knight Heimal, who had been in Icecrown when the summons were sent. Their foe was a vrykul champion from the steppes of Icecrown itself...Vladof the Butcher.
The fight was brutal and very nearly cost them all their lives. When Vladof dismounted to fight the duelists in person, Ordevaas snuck onto the back of the Butcher's mammoth, Enormos, and charged into battle with it, causing major damage to the vrykul champion. When he finally fell dead, Ordevaas and his companions were named Champions of Anguish.
The Containment of the Hold
While he reveled in his victory in the Amphitheater of Anguish, Ordevaas received an urgent communique from Dalaran, delivered via an Alliance gryphon rider. It requested that Ordevaas come to the city immediately - and it was from Saavedro...
The Regent of Lordaeron's message indicated that he had been contacted by the Archmage Rhonin, the master of the Kirin Tor, regarding a serious matter that required both of their attentions. But Saavedro was not specific on details; the Master knew that his old comrade would only discuss it in person in the interests of security.
Meeting Saavedro and Rhonin in the Violet Citadel, Ordevaas discovered that there was a breach of containment inside the Violet Hold, where some of the most dangerous enemies of the Kirin Tor were held. The Blue Dragonflight, on orders from Malygos, had begun a full-scale invasion of Dalaran. Instructed to give assistance to Warden Alturas, Saavedro and Ordevaas were given the key to the Violet Hold and instructed to put down the invasion. Rhonin gave strict instructions to both paladins to keep the crisis quiet, not wanting to cause a panic among the citizens of Dalaran. Agreeing to Rhonin's command, Saavedro and Ordevaas set out to complete their task and derail the Blue Dragonflight's invasion.
Weapons swinging through the ranks of blue dragons, Saavedro and Ordevaas destroyed every portal attacker that came in, and killed any prisoner that the dragons freed from incarceration. Finally, they confronted the mastermind of the attack, the blue drake Cyanigosa, and defeated her. With the death of Cyanigosa, the invasion of Dalaran ended...and no one outside the Kirin Tor leadership or the guards knew there had been one, as Rhonin had wished.
The Iron Dwarves of the Grizzly Hills
Shortly after leaving Dalaran, Ordevaas returned to the Grizzly Hills to investigate the iron dwarf activity along the coast. Coming to the aid of the stone giants in battling against the iron dwarves in their capital of Thor Modan, Ordevaas slew the Iron Thane, Argrum, and rallied the stone giants in their battle against their rune-compelled brethren, while journeying to the Eastwind Shore to free the runed giants that wandered the landscape.
In Pursuit of Brann
While in Thor Modan, Ordevaas discovered a journal written by Brann Bronzebeard, the legendary dwarven explorer. Brann's desire to discover more about the dwarves' Titan-linked roots had led him back to Northrend after journeys across Azeroth. The Horde, thinking Brann to be a potentially valuable hostage as a member of the royal family of Ironforge, sent Ordevaas to track down Brann's location, using his key to iron dwarf runes in Thor Modan. At the same time, the taunka of Camp Oneqwah - who weren't planning on evacuating, much to Ordevaas' relief; he'd had enough of that at Taunka'le - sent him on operations against the other iron dwarf settlement, Dun Argol, in the snowy hills to the southeast. But during his hunt for Brann, Ordevaas deciphered the runes written on plates in Thor Modan, referencing the favored creations of the Makers (the Titans) claiming their birthright, and where this would be done. From deciphering the prophecies, Ordevaas had a very good idea where the dwarf had gone - high into the Storm Peaks to the Titan city of Ulduar.
The Deception: Loken and the Sons of Iron
Scout Vor'takh, an orcish warrior in Camp Oneqwah, informed Ordevaas that the iron dwarves often went into battle with the name of someone or something named Loken on their lips. Using cunning and stealth, Ordevaas was sent into Dun Argol to take the uniform of an iron rune overseer and to take pictures of the faces of slain iron dwarves in order to create the perfect disguise that would fool the "sons of iron". With his disguise prepared, Ordevaas returned to Dun Argol and activated a holoprojector, revealing the face of his enemy: A Titan or Titanic construct of some kind, resembling Archaedas in Uldaman. Ordevaas could not believe his luck; not only had his disguise fooled the iron dwarves, it had even fooled Loken himself. The Titan instructed "the overseer" to redouble his efforts in preparing for the war with the stone giants.
Thus he had his answer: Loken was creating war between the "sons of iron" - the iron dwarves and their golems - and the "children of stone" - the stone giants and their Earthen allies. But why would two creations of the Titans be at war with one another? Ordevaas suspected his answer lay in the Storm Peaks, in the halls of Ulduar itself...
The Conquest Pit
While he served in Conquest Hold, the Horde outpost in the western Grizzly Hills, Ordevaas had incurred the distaste of the camp's leader, Conqueror Krenna, placed in charge by Garrosh Hellscream. She seemed to take word of his past accomplishments (including the fact that he was a fully-accredited Horde diplomat, granted his rank by Thrall himself) and dismiss them out-of-hand. While doing tasks for the foul-tempered orc, Ordevaas came to respect her sister, Gorgonna, who secretly opposed Krenna's tyranny and worked behind her back to soften the damage she did by letting her ego dominate her judgment. One such incident involved freeing Sasha from certain execution, shortly before the battle with Arugal.
The final straw came when Ordevaas took grizzly bear skins (Krenna had wanted worg-skin pelts for her troops) and made them appear to be like worg-hide. Angered, Krenna ordered the leatherworker's legs broken (a sentence "carried out" by Gorgonna, who had to make it look convincing without actually doing it). After that, Ordevaas was approached by a goblin named Grennix Shivwiggle, who stood in front of the entrance to the Conquest Pit - a dueling ring in the middle of the courtyard. Like in Nagrand and Zul'Drak, Ordevaas would fight for profit, for the spectators...and for his life. The first opponent was a fierce grizzly named Ironhide. Realizing the danger in these duels, Ordevaas called upon two allies from the Darkspear tribe, Shiida and Gitzi, and requested their aid in the fighting pit.
The two trolls, having just arrived at the Hold, agreed to aid their comrade and joined him within the Conquest Pit, dispatching Ironhide quickly. Next came a maddened furbolg shaman named Torgg Thundertotem, whose elemental magics caused problems at the start, but he quickly fell. Then came the war golem Rustblood, and an orcish serial killer named Horgrenn Hellcleave (Ordevaas particularly worried about this one, as it was said he had strangled his own executioner as he went up to the gallows). Finally, in a surprising turn of events, he faced Krenna herself. It seemed the "Conqueror" had found out that Gorgonna had gone behind her back with Ordevaas' aid to temper the damage done by Krenna's tyrannical rule over the Hold. Enraged, Krenna challenged Gorgonna and Ordevaas to a duel in the fighting pit, and Ordevaas - reluctant to slay the leader of a Horde encampment but bound by honor to commit to the fight - accepted.
The fight was brief but fierce, and in the end Krenna fell dead in the fighting pit, leaving Gorgonna to mourn - as the new master of Conquest Hold. With his duties in the Grizzly Hills done, Ordevaas travelled to Dalaran and spoke with an archmage named Pentarus, who loaned him his flying machine for a flight to Sholazar Basin - to locate Hemet Nesingwary, whose expedition Pentarus had funded...
In the Basin
Sholazar Basin, much to Ordevaas' surprise, was a tropical jungle not unlike Un'Goro Crater. There were Titan buildings and crystals throughout, and strange creatures as well. But his priority was finding Nesingwary as the Archmage requested. On the way, however, the flying machine carrying the Master was shot down by the Venture Company, and he crash-landed near another pilot, a dwarf named Monte Muzzleshot who had suffered the same fate. The dwarf pointed the way to Nesingwary's camp, and soon enough Ordevaas was able to find it. To his amusement and complete lack of surprise, the camp was set around yet another crash site - this time a boat crash. Apparently, Nesingwary's piloting skills had not improved in the slightest...
After making his rounds in the camp, Ordevaas got to work. He was sent to hunt the dreadsaber cats, fierce predators that patrolled the jungles. Then he was sent to hunt down Shango, the dreadsaber patriarch - first by tracking his pawprints to locate his territory. The great cat patrolled the shores of Bittertide Lake, and it was there that Ordevaas found him and, in a hot, quick fight, slew him. He brought back the fine pelt of the creature as a trophy.
Next came the hunt for the rhinos at Nesingwary's behest, which he did around the same time as the dreadsabers. While he hunted them, the Master entered into a competition with the hunter Drostan to see who could hunt the most game. With a healthy lead, Ordevaas bagged his quota of rhinos and was sent to find the patriarch, Faruun. For that he needed to get in touch with a "native sage" - a gorloc oracle named Soo-rahm, who would help in exchange for aid. At around the same time, he was asked to hunt for the crocolisks of the Wildgrowth Mangal.
Oracle Soo-rahm asked for the intact fangs of the emperor cobras to make an offering to the bones of Nozronn, a great rhino. Upon making the offering, the spirit of Nozronn revealed that the rhino patriarch lived around the Glittering Pillar north of Bittertide Lake. Discounting the warnings to leave, Nesingwary sent Ordevaas after Faruun. At the same time, Ordevaas had bagged his share of game (beating Drostan by two kills) and his quota of crocolisks, and gathered sandferns for a disguise while on the way to kill Faruun (which, after tracking him from the air, he did, taking his horn). With the sandferns gathered, Ordevaas was given a disguise to take to River's Heart, to lure the crocolisk "Bushwhacker" and kill him, taking his jaw. With his quarries taken, Nesingwary sent him to an encampment to the north run by one of his colleagues, Dorian Drakestalker. His targets: the proto-drakes of the northern Basin.
The Master and the Master Hunter
The ultimate target, much like in Stranglethorn and Nagrand, was the biggest and meanest creature in the Basin - the Broodmother Slivina, matriarch of the primordial drakes. Dorian sent Ordevaas first to slay the drakes and to steal the hatchlings from the eggs, bound to lure Slivina out (and in a rage). Next, he was given a harness to capture one of the shattertusk mammoths that resided nearby, to ride into battle against the creature. The idea was to take a powerful creature that would carry both Ordevaas and Nesingwary in the battle against the Broodmother, so that they would have a greater chance. Ordevaas seized the opportunity and took the reins, with Nesingwary on the mammoth's head, and charged to Slivina's perch. The battle was hard-fought but quick, with Nesingwary's traps and accurate shooting, and the Broodmother was dead. Nesingwary took the skull as a trophy of both his and Ordevaas' accomplishment.
The March of the Etymidian
Around the same time, Ordevaas and Saavedro encountered the Avatar of Freya, a representation of a daughter of Titans who was charged with protecting Sholazar Basin from the Scourge. The area where they found her was crawling with undead, but the Avatar had no idea how the undead were able to enter. The Lifeblood Pillar had been destroyed, and snow, ice and Scourge were coming in from Icecrown. After gaining the Avatar's trust, the paladins soon discovered how they were able to circumvent the Basin's anti-undead defenses: The Cult of the Damned. As they were still living, they would not be affected. They set high explosives - highly unstable high explosives - into the Lifeblood Pillar and detonated them, shattering it and allowing the cold and the death to seep in.
Enraged, the Avatar realized that there was only one solution to destroy the undead coming out of Icecrown: A weapon known as the Etymidian. It was kept in an area high above Un'Goro Crater in Kalimdor known as the Shaper's Terrace. There was a waygate that connected Sholazar and Un'Goro, but it had to be powered up first. To do so, Ordevaas was sent to two activation switches within the Basin - one at the Maker's Perch near Bittertide Lake, and one at the Maker's Overlook near the border with Wintergrasp. At that time, Saavedro did battle against the Cult of the Damned, destroying their supply of explosives and killing any cultists he could find.
Defeating the Titanic guardians left behind in the two activation areas, Ordevaas activated the waygate and - accompanied by Saavedro - returned to Kalimdor, finding that the Etymidian was a great stone colossus...and that the Cult of the Damned had got there first. Slaying their High Cultist, Herenn, Ordevaas took the activation rune from his corpse and placed it within the slot in the Etymidian's chest. The Etymidian recognized the necessity and returned with Ordevaas to Northrend.
With the Etymidian activated, the Avatar of Freya sent the paladins to the Avalanche, the breach in the jungle caused by the Lifeblood Pillar's fall, to unleash its fury. Riding on its shoulder while Saavedro aided him from the air, Ordevaas directed it to slay the legion of Scourge and their champions - the flesh titan Bythius the Flesh-Shaper, the flesh giant Urgreth of the Thousand Tombs, and the frost wyrm Hailscorn. Awed by the terrible power of this creation of the Titans, Ordevaas and Saavedro accomplished the mission quickly and efficiently, earning the respect of the daughter of Titans.
The Push Into Icecrown
Ordevaas received a message from Dalaran asking him to meet with Sky-Reaver Klum, a soldier from the Orgrim's Hammer - the Horde's behemoth flying warship in the skies of Icecrown. The Sky-Reaver provided him with the means to get there as well - a flying machine much like the one Pentarus had provided for the journey to Sholazar. Ordevaas just hoped that the same thing would not happen twice...
Thankfully it did not, and Ordevaas arrived on the Orgrim's Hammer to speak with the warship's commander, Sky-Reaver Korm Blackscar. There were two emissaries from each of the orders, Light and Shadow, onboard - Brother Keltan of the Argent Crusade, and Koltira Deathweaver of the Knights of the Ebon Blade. Ordevaas had met Koltira in Dragonblight, and looked forward to working with him again.
The Liberation of the Shadow Vault
Koltira tasked Ordevaas with travelling to the Shadow Vault, a Scourge fortress located in northern Icecrown. There he was to use a special blaster to destroy the Ocular, the eye of the Lich King that watched over the fortress. Once that was done, he spoke with Baron Sliver, a Knight of the Ebon Blade who disguised himself as a Scourge death knight to infiltrate the Vault.
Sliver explained that when he was a servant of the Lich King, he used an artifact known as a sovereign rod to gain control of undead, and he sought to create one as part of the plan to take control of the Vault. In order to turn some of the more powerful denizens of the Vault, the Baron requested items from the various undead forces around the Vault - a hook from an abomination, a hangman's rope from the neck of a geist, a rod carried by a shadow cultist, and essences from any of the Scourge. Once this was done, he was sent to find three specific undead: The banshee Lady Nightswood, the abomination known as Vile, and the geist known as the Leaper. They were to be killed, and the rod that the Baron had created was to be used to free them from the Scourge.
Now that there were powerful servants for the Ebon Blade, the Baron sent Ordevaas into the vault itself to deal with its death knight master, General Lightsbane. Disturbing the weapons racks in the Vault gained the General's attention, and he and Ordevaas were locked in combat. As the death knight and the Master battled, Vile, Lady Nightswood and the Leaper attacked from behind, and in the end the General fell dead. With his mission accomplished, Ordevaas returned to Koltira onboard the Orgrim's Hammer with the news. He was then sent back to the Vault...which had now become the centerpiece of the Ebon Blade's campaign in Icecrown. For his efforts on their behalf, the grateful death knights granted Ordevaas the right to wear their colors, if he so chose.
Into the Peaks
Upon the liberation of the Shadow Vault and a disruption of vrykul operations in Jotunheim to the west, Ordevaas travelled east into the Storm Peaks on the trail of Brann Bronzebeard. By that time, Ordevaas had become a renowned explorer who had gained Brann's attention for his travels across the length and breadth of Northrend. After battling gnolls and enduring the perils of goblin technology at their base camp K3 - near the border with Crystalsong Forest - Ordevaas travelled higher into the mountains to a taunka village known as Camp Tunka'lo. There, he met a tauren named Xarantaur. Ten thousand years earlier, before the coming of the Burning Legion, Xarantaur had been among the first of the tauren druids created under the tutelage of Cenarius himself, and had been granted immortality by the bronze dragon Aspect Nozdormu.
Setting the Record Straight
Xarantaur was particularly interested in the story of a taunka hero named Stormhoof, who had faced the North Wind hundreds of years earlier and defeated it, freeing the taunka from its baleful influence...or so it was thought. Xarantaur claimed to have heard the story from Wind Tamer Barah, whom Ordevaas had met in Taunka'le back in the Borean Tundra, but found that no one in Tunka'lo knew what he was talking about - which was odd, seeing as Stormhoof apparently hailed from Tunka'lo. Upon reading the camp's histories, Ordevaas discovered that Stormhoof was portrayed as a villain, a servile insurrectionist brutally put down by the North Wind. This was not the tale that Xarantaur expected...
In order to set things right, Xarantaur sent Ordevaas to Frostfloe Deep. The Deep was the burial place of the chieftains and heroes of Tunka'lo, and was said to be where Stormhoof rested. There, he met with the spirit of Stormhoof's brother, Swiftspear, the chieftain of his tribe...who didn't seem to remember either. Something had caused time itself to go awry. After sealing elemental rifts within the Deep and discovering more of the corruption, Xarantaur and Ordevaas were confronted by the North Wind itself, which had been weakened by Stormhoof's ambush hundreds of years before and had gathered up strength ever since...to carry out his revenge by erasing the deed from history itself.
In order to stave off this blatant change in the timeline, Xarantaur bestowed the Lorehammer, an artifact given to him by Nozdormu, to Ordevaas and sent him to the Howling Hollow to attune it to taunka artifacts from Stormhoof's time, while at the same time claiming the spear and armor of Stormhoof from the scions of the North Wind. With the artifacts retrieved, Xarantaur gave Ordevaas the Lorehammer to take to the Plain of Echoes, near the ruins of the Temple of Life, to go back in time as Stormhoof to the battle with the North Wind. Stormhoof was to die after weakening the element...only this time, the North Wind would not be allowed to survive.
Using Stormhoof's powers, Ordevaas weakened the North Wind before the taunka fell. Once it was done, Ordevaas took up the Horn of Elemental Fury, an artifact that Stormhoof had carried (and that Ordevaas had reclaimed in Borean Tundra, in the present day), and blew a mighty blast from it. The weakened North Wind, unable to resist the attack, was annihilated by the unleashed wrath of the Horn. With Stormhoof's victory complete, Ordevaas returned to the present and returned the Lorehammer to Xarantaur, and met the spirit of Stormhoof himself - having insured that the hero's story would be remembered by his people, as it should have been.
With history set back in its proper place, Ordevaas returned to Icecrown to continue opposing the vrykul. But he came back to the Storm Peaks soon after to explore Ulduar...to wander the Halls of Stone.
Echoes of Ancient Stone
Ordevaas, accompanied by a Forsaken assassin, a hunter and shaman from the Darkspear tribe, and a fellow Blood Knight Master entered the Halls of Stone. His companions came in search of treasure. Ordevaas, however, came in search of knowledge. And whether he knew it or not, he came in search of a quarry he had chased since Grizzly Hills...
Unlike his previous expedition into Uldaman, Ordevaas saw that Ulduar was completely intact and that the enemy was far greater than troggs, Dark Irons or awakened earthen. The Halls of Stone were manned by legions of iron dwarves, runic golems and runed giants - all servitors of Loken. They had even enslaved shardlings of the crystal giants being dug up in a nearby cavern. Facing the crystal giant Krystallus and the Titanic guardian known as the Maiden of Grief, the party tore through the halls in search of what they were after. Eventually, the party came to an outdoor landing where Ordevaas finally found who he had been searching for - Brann Bronzebeard himself, accompanied by a pair of earthen guardians. Brann was surprised to see other adventurers inside Ulduar (and not seeming to mind that they were all members of the Horde), but said that he could probably use their help for his explorations. They agreed, and accompanied him down the hall into a chamber containing a Titan computer system known as the Tribunal of Ages.
Due to possible damage or corrupt data from the iron dwarves, the Tribunal recognized Brann and his escorts as hostiles and sought to eliminate them. While Brann attempted to repair the damage, Ordevaas and his allies fought off the iron dwarf attackers. Finally, Brann was able to finish the repairs, and he and Ordevaas listened as the Tribunal explained the creation of the earthen (and thus the dwarves), the "Curse of Flesh" inflicted by the Old Gods, and more about the mysterious Loken. Afterwards, Brann met the party at the door leading into the Forge of Wills, which according to the Tribunal was used to make the earthen. There they confronted an "iron vrykul" named Sjonnir the Ironshaper. Brann manipulated the controls of the Forge of Wills to create earthen that would aid them in defeating the metal monstrosity. As Sjonnir fell dead, he made mention of Loken not resting until the forge was retaken...leading Ordevaas to believe that Loken was somewhere in Ulduar.
The Sons of Hodir and the Redemption of Thorim
After making himself acquainted with the goblins of K3, Ordevaas was sent into the mountains north of the base to the village of Brunnhildar. The village was inhabited by the hyldnir, a group of warrior women who bore resemblance to frost vrykul. From what Ordevaas was to discover, the hyldnir were servitors of Thorim the Stormlord, a powerful being who resided at the Temple of Storms. The hyldnir were at war with the Sons of Hodir, the frost giants of the Peaks - believed to be enemies of Thorim. As it turned out, the frost giants had once been Thorim's allies, but due to the treachery of Thorim's brother, who had murdered Thorim's wife Sif, he had turned on them. Thorim's brother, much to Ordevaas' lack of surprise, was Loken...
Finding an illusionist named Lok'lira in the tunnels near Brunnhildar, Ordevaas gained her aid in finding a goblin he had been sent to find. The goblin was to take part in ritual combat, known as the Hyldsmeet - its winner intended to be the co-ruler of the Storm Peaks alongside Thorim. Lok'lira disguised the Master as a hyldnir to take part in the combat, and Ordevaas found himself playing both sides of the war. First, at the behest of the hyldnir, he fought the Sons of Hodir and confronted the jormungar - said by the hyldnir to be the spawn of Loken - while claiming an icemaw bear matriarch to serve as his steed in the Hyldsmeet. After defeating other hyldnir champions and fighting in the ring known as the Pit of the Fang, Ordevaas was sent for his final trial before meeting Thorim: The Drakkensryd, a battle against proto-drake riders in the skies around the Temple of Storms. He propelled himself from drake to drake, killing their riders, before attaching himself to a column ornament of the temple itself.
Thorim was an awe-inspiring figure who had been in a brooding depression since Loken betrayed him. Ordevaas' devout fervor roused the Stormlord's passions, and he realized that he had allowed Loken to live for far too long. In order to take the war to his brother, Thorim sent Ordevaas as something of an emissary to make amends to his former allies...the Sons of Hodir. To do so, Thorim instructed the Master to travel to a region known as Fjorn's Anvil, east of the frost giants' home of Dun Niffelem. There he was to defeat Fjorn himself as well as five of Loken's runic sentinels, securing the anvil to be taken back by the Sons. Along the way, he found a slag-covered metal shard which - after cleaning it up and bringing it back to Thorim - was discovered to be part of the Stormlord's armor.
With the Sons of Hodir no longer hostile towards him, Ordevaas journeyed into Dun Niffelem and beseeched Jokkum, the frost giant King, to aid him in reforging Thorim's armor. Jokkum considered his request and said he would agree to aid him in exchange for assistance at the anvil, in order to claim it and take it back to Dun Niffelem. Ordevaas rode on the shoulder of yet another giant, Snorri, and unleashed his wrath against the fire revenants of the region, allowing the Sons to claim the anvil and reforge Thorim's armor. Next, Ordevaas was able to lure Thorim's proto-drake, Veranus, out of hiding by bringing some proto-drake eggs to her old nest above Brunnhildar. With his armor and faithful drake back in his possession, Thorim now needed his hammer, Krolmir - which had been kept locked away by Arngrim, Jokkum's father and King of the frost giants when Thorim turned on them. Having gained the respect of the Sons, Jokkum took Ordevaas to Thunderfall, where he met with Thorim and delivered the hammer.
Re-energized and rearmed, Thorim met Ordevaas at the Terrace of the Makers, a grand Titan temple complex south of Ulduar. With the aid of the Earthen, Ordevaas confronted Loken's lieutenants and legions of his servants, clearing the way for the final battle between the brothers at the Temple of Wisdom. There, seated in his throne within the tentacle-wrapped temple, was Loken himself. Meeting in combat, Thorim had the upper hand until Loken called upon the powers of his "dark master" and placed Thorim in stasis. Both Thorim and his proto-drake, Veranus, were taken by Loken's golems. Loken revealed that he had been "Lok'lira", who had sent him on this path in the first place with the intent to lure Thorim to him. Loken claimed to have waited weeks in the hyldnir mine, and now had accomplished what he had set out to do.
Infuriated, Ordevaas returned to Dun Niffelem to report the tidings to King Jokkum, who gave him his next task. Ordevaas had made the decision upon hearing the revelation, but this made it official: Loken must die...