The Story Thus Far...

Yes, the Lich King will fall to our might. We will have our final revenge.

But first, we will see to it that the plague known as the Scarlet Onslaught comes an end once and for all!

Lord-Commander, I would hear your tale.

Very well, but if I were you, I would pay attention and not just blindly nod my head at what I heard.

It begins, as all good stories do, with betrayal. Oh, it's not that we were betrayed... not at all. The Lich King raised us death knights above all others.

Rather, it was we who betrayed him with the help of Highlord Darion Mograine.

In the final fight at Light's Hope Chapel in the Plaguelands, with the simpletons moments away from annihilation, Tirion Fordring helped Mograine break the Lich King's hold upon him and all of the rest of us that were present.

<You nod slightly but do not complete the motion as the lord-commander narrows his eyes before he continues.>

With the Lich King fleeing in fear of Fordring armed with the Ashbringer, we were able to easily wrest Ebon Hold from the remaining Scourge forces.

That didn't settle things between us and the Scarlet Crusade, however.

As the Forsaken have learned the hard way, the Scarlets cannot seem to differentiate between us and the Scourge.

We think on our own, we have our own motivations, we have almost all of the qualities of the living, and yet to them, we are no different than the mindless slaves of the Lich King.

Mistakenly they think we will roll over and play dead.

I thought that they now called themselves the Scarlet Onslaught?

<The lord-commander fixes you with a stare before going on.>

I was getting to that. Indeed, when High General Abbendis landed her forces on Northrend, she changed their name to the Scarlet Onslaught.

It was not long before Admiral Barean Westwind presented himself to her at New Hearthglen in the Dragonblight. From all accounts, she wasn't expecting him. Nor was she expecting that he would undermine her authority and take the reins of command away from her.

Likely you were involved with her demise, but no matter. Once she was dead, the admiral made a mysterious exit and we lost track of him.

Where did the grand admiral go?

As I said, we lost track of him, but this is something that I'm sure you will be able to figure out for me. My suspicion is that he's down there somewhere, but my spies that have returned haven't been able to place him anywhere on the island.

The Forsaken at Venomspite did a good job of sabatagin New Hearthglen, but the Onslaught forces that are present down there are the battle-hardened remnant from that place. Unfortunately, they picked up better equipment along the way, as well as gryphons taken from fools somewhere.

What I'm trying to say is that this isn't going to be a stroll in the countryside, <name>, even for you.

That's fine. When do I start?

We'll start in just a moment.

I just want to be very clear -- we're not here to soften them up. We're not here to make a dent. We're here to put an end to the disease that calls itself the Scarlet Onslaught.

If you don't want any part of that, if you don't have the stomach, fly away now. I want someone with us who is going to be here every day until the job's don.e

Are you that man, <name>?

Let's finish this!

<The lord-commander flashes a rictus grin, looking you up and down discerningly.>

That's what I wanted to hear.

That's quite a tale, lord-commander.

"Very well, but if I were you, I would pay attention and not just blindly nod my head at what I heard."

I chuckled at this quest, because it seemed like Blizzard REALLY wants people to read the story. They know that people usually just click past things, so for this quest there's multiple choices while talking, I found that cute.

About 20% of all quests are actually worth reading. Not much point in reading about why you're being sent to retrieve poo (such as Nagrand), but the main storylines like the horde/alliance advances in Northrend and the Lich line are very important. :-)

SHADOW VAULT Quest Tree From Whiterock
Give + to 02/08/2009 Lynic aswell. To the Rise with all Due Haste! is not needed for The Story Thus Far.... Still Ebon Blade Prisoners do needed.

                    1)It's All Fun and Games{H}
                    1)I Have an Idea, But First...
                    1)Free Your Mind
                    1)If He Cannot Be Turned{H}
Orgrim's Hammer(H)* 1)The Shadow Vault{H}       The Skybreaker(A)*
         |          / |->Blackwatch* \              |
      Opportunity(H)* |              Exploiting an Opening(A)*
                     1)The Duke                                     
                      |      |
2)Eliminate the Competition 2)Honor Challenge-------->2)Get the Key
3)The Bone Witch             |->2)Shadow Vault Decree 2)Let the Baron Know    
 |->3)Reading the Bones          |____________________/
 |  R)Reading the Bones                    |->3)Vandalizing Jotunheim
 |                                         |->D)Leave Our Mark
 |->4)Deep in the Bowels of The Underhalls |->3)Crush Dem Vrykuls!
 |                                         |  D)Vile Like Fire!
 |->4)Revenge for the Vargul               |
 |                                        N)Vaelen Has Returned
4)The Sum is Greater than the Parts       3)Ebon Blade Prisoners
 |                                         |->D)Shoot 'Em Up
3)The Art of Being a Water Terror          |
 |                                        N)To the Rise with all Due Haste!
3)Through the Eye                         6)The Story Thus Far...
 |                                         |->D)From Their Corpses, Rise!
3)Find the Ancient Hero                    |->7)Blood in the Water
 |                                         |  7)You'll Need a Gryphon
3)Not-So-Honorable Combat                  |  D)No Fly Zone
 |                                         |->D)Intelligence Gathering
3)Banshee's Revenge                           7)The Grand (Admiral's) Plan
 |                                            7)In Strict Confidence
5)Battle at Valhalas                          7)Second Chances
5)Battle at Valhalas: Fallen Heroes           7)The Admiral Revealed
5)Battle at Valhalas: Khit'rix the Dark Master
5)Battle at Valhalas: The Return of Sigrid Iceborn
5)Battle at Valhalas: Carnage!
5)Battle at Valhalas: Thane Deathblow
5)Battle at Valhalas: Final Challenge
Quest zones:
1)Shadow Vault_____2)Savage Ledge_____3)Jotunheim_____4)The Underhalls_____5)Valhalas_____6)Death's Rise_____7)Onslaught Harbor
D)Daily_____N)Not-needed_____R)Repeatable
*Click to see more info about that quest-line.
The Icecrown is done! Leave your comments/sugestions at my comment in Icecrown zone. Thanks everyone who helped me to make it via comments on wowhead and in-game pre-quest tracking.