Band'or shorel'aran…

Level 12 – Windrunner Spire and the Dark Lady.

September 4, 2009 at 11:39 am (1-80, Farfalla, Lore) (Burning Legion, dorkiness, Eastern Kingdoms, expansion, Farfalla, Horde, Lore, memories, Quel'dorei, questing, RP, Sargeras, Sin'dorei, Sylvanas, Thrall, travel)

The quest you get at the top of Windrunner Spire is, in my opinion, the best quest in the game bar none (including Wrathgate.) This is the first quest that you get which involves you personally with a major lore figure, which is always going to be memorable in itself, but for me it’s compounded by the fact that it’s Sylvanas you’re dealing with.

Windrunner Spire was the home of the House Windrunner before the Third War. As I mentioned before, there were three sisters – Vereesa, Alleria and Sylvanas Windrunner, who were all Farstriders (or rangers), the second most powerful faction of Silvermoon after the Magisters. Sylvanas, as the middle sister, became Ranger General of Silvermoon, in charge of protecting its forests. Alleria and Vereesa sided with the Alliance and remained with them after the Second War, whereas Sylvanas remained in Quel’thalas with the rest of the High Elves – the family fractured. Tragedy befell two of the sisters – Alleria disappeared after helping to seal the Dark Portal from Draenor, to prevent the demonic Horde sending more troops into Azeroth, and Sylvanas was murdered by Arthas and raised as a banshee, but managed to regain control of her mind and body and now leads the Forsaken in Undercity, where she’s revered as Sylvanas the Banshee Queen, Dark Lady and Queen of the Forsaken. Vereesa is in Dalaran with her husband Rhonin – she leads the Silver Covenant, who represent the Alliance in the city.

You’re given a quest where you’re sent to the spire to clear out some of the ghosts and ghouls around there, and the mobs you have to kill have a chance of dropping an item, The Lady’s Necklace, with the inscription – ‘To Sylvanas. Love always, Alleria.’ This item starts a quest.

The necklace shimmers, a remarkable piece of jewelry that doesn’t seem to succumb to the gloom that permeates the Ghostlands. Given the inscription, and where you found it, it must be the lost property of Lady Sylvanas Windrunner herself!

Perhaps it would be best to first take it to High Executor Mavren at Tranquillien? He seems to be the highest ranking Forsaken in the area and is sure to know what to do with it.

You take it to the High Executor, and he’s shocked.

This is quite extraordinary! It appears to be a gift to Lady Sylvanas Windrunner from her sister, Alleria!

You must take it to her in the Undercity at once! The lady holds court in the Royal Quarter.

To get to the Undercity you have to visit Silvermoon and use the Orb of Translocation, which transports you instantly across what would otherwise be a long run through level 50+ zones. On Farfalla, that was the first time I’d actually gone to Silvermoon, and it was amazing. I’m going to be blogging about that journey in-character – Farf is not on an RP realm but I do have a bit of a back-story worked out for her – another day.

You arrive in Undercity and find your way to Sylvanas, and hand over the necklace. She is not very amused by this at all.

And you are?

What’s that you have there? That necklace looks somehow familiar. Give it here!

<Sylvanas takes the necklace from your grasp.>

It can’t be! After all this time, I thought it was lost forever.

<After a lingering moment the Lady seems to become aware once again of her surroundings, composing herself.>

You thought this would amuse me? Do you think I long for a time before I was the queen of the Forsaken? Like you, it means nothing to me, and Alleria Windrunner is a long dead memory!

<She drops the amulet to the ground.>

You may now remove yourself from my presence, priest.

She’s not just mad, though. After a few seconds she starts a little event…and when I was taking screenshots for this yesterday, I got incredibly lucky and had someone turn in the quest while I was there, so I got screenshots of it.

This is Blizzard’s official machinima of the song she sings, which is better than me just embedding the song here because it shows the events of the Third War and how Sylvanas died and was raised as a banshee by Arthas, as well as the creation of the Dead Scar in Eversong Woods. It’s called the Lament of the Highborne. I’ll put the lyrics underneath, in Thalassian and English.

Anar’alah, Anar’alah belore
Sin’dorei
Shindu fallah na
Sin’dorei
Anar’alah
Shindu Sin’dorei
Shindu fallah na
Sin’dorei
Anar’alah belore
Shindu Sin’dorei
Shindu fallah na
Sin’dorei
Anar’alah belore
Belore

By the light, by the light of the sun
Children of the blood
Our enemies are breaking through
Children of the blood
By the light
Failing children of the blood
They are breaking through
O children of the blood
By the light of the sun
Failing children of the blood
They are breaking through
O children of the blood
By the light of the sun
The sun

That video also shows Sylvanas’ old model – in-game she had a Night Elf model until the release of the WotLK expansion, where they changed it to the (much better) one you see in my screenshots above.

For my part, the story and and personality of Sylvanas, is the most interesting, and tragic, in the whole of World of Warcraft. She was a middle sister, the mediator in a family of three strong personalities, who joined the Rangers and rose to the top. She failed to protect Quel’thalas from the Scourge and was tortured by Arthas and then raised as a banshee, which of course meant she no longer had any connection to natural magic and could never commune with the land in the way she had – so she turned to necromancy. Regaining her mind, she managed to take the Undercity with the aid of Varimathras and other dreadlords, which she defends from the Scarlet Crusade and the Alliance, as well as stretching her defenses thin by sending troops to Silvermoon to protect the city where she is no longer welcome. Her apothecaries were working on a plague to use against their enemies, but in Wrath of the Lich King she was betrayed by her grand apothecary, Putress, who used the plague to destroy Alliance and Horde troops at the first opportunity, weakening her position within the Horde and cementing the dangers she faces from Alliance attacks. And then her city was overthrown by a coup, spearheaded by Varimathras, working to serve a higher demon who some think may be Sargeras. Working with Thrall and Vol’jin (and you, if you do the Wrathgate questline as a Horde member) she retook the city, only to find King Varian Wyrnn marching into her throne room to kill both her and Thrall – she was only saved by Jaina Proudmoore appearing at the last second and teleporting the Alliance armies away. The part she has to play in Icecrown Citadel, the home of Arthas, remains to be seen – she has a very personal bone to pick with him.

This is just the kind of quest you don’t forget doing, which is why I wanted to write about it ASAP – you actually complete it at a higher level than 12. You’ll have to forgive my eagerness.

Tomorrow, some RP!

~Farf