Stepping off the boat in Auberdine, Romagoth recalled the first time he had ever set foot here. He was much less experienced in the ways of war back then, and when he came ashore here, there was a filthy Horde killing the citizens of Auberdine. Not knowing what to do, Romagoth attacked the smelly Orc warrior and was forced to flee immediately in the face of death. He recalled the humiliation he felt that day, thus he was pleasantly surprised to see that exact same Orc warrior here in Auberdine.

“Well, well, well….looks like I get to have some fun today after all.” laughed Romagoth, as he made a beeline towards the Orc, who was too busy killing civilians to notice Romagoth’s approach. Summoning shadow energy, Romagoth threw a corruption and a Curse of Agony on the Orc, who immediately turned towards Romagoth and charged at him. Screaming with fury, the Orc raised his gigantic axe to cleave Romagoth when suddenly he began running around wildly, screaming and crying for his mother. Romagoth chuckled, relishing the effects that a fear spell has on his enemies. The Orc started towards him again, bleeding profusely from several wounds inflicted by Romagoth’s curses. Untouched, Romagoth backed up a little and cast an immolate, which caused the Orc to howl in pain. “Liar, liar, pants on fire.” cackled Romagoth, and this infuriated the Orc even more. Suddenly, the Orc rushed towards Romagoth and stunned him. Unable to move or cast anything, Romagoth was in trouble…unless…; using his special human ability to get out of movement impairing effects, he ran ten yards away and cast a shadowburn. The Orc, nearly dead, ran away and disappeared over the hill and did not return. “Next time you won’t be so lucky, Orc!!!” yelled Romagoth after the fleeing warrior.

The citizens of Auberdine slowly came out of hiding from under tables, inside closets, and behind trees. Auberdine was a major target for the Horde, mainly because Alliance protection was lacking here, so far away from most of the Alliance cities. Romagoth helped the citizens with the wounded and cleaning up, then with many thanks from the mostly Night Elf population, he boarded a gryphon for the flight to Felwood, a depressing and lonely area of forest in the center of Kalimdor. It is in Felwood where Lord Banehollow resides, the demon that Romagoth must speak with. Most people would cringe at the idea of meeting with a demon, but not a warlock, and certainly not Romagoth. In fact, he relished the idea. The majority of the company he keeps is of the demonic persuasion (although Zilmir acts like a human sometimes; Imps are very odd that way).

It was with a light heart that Romagoth arrived at the Felwood forest, and being the positive, happy-go-lucky warlock that he is, he didn’t notice the eyes following him along the path towards the Shadow Hold in Jaedenar, the home of Lord Banehollow. He stopped just off the path to Jaedenar, and decided to drink the potion given to him by Gorzeeki. Suddenly, something didn’t seem right. Putting the bottled potion to his nostrils, Romagoth thought he smelled corruption in it. “Hmmm….I wonder if that smelly goblin did something to this potion to make my experience here more…interesting.” said Romagoth to nobody in particular. His horse snorted loudly in agreement. Deciding to wait until he was closer to Banehollow before taking the potion, Romagoth continued into Jaedenar towards the Shadow Hold. Noticing humanoid figures ahead of him on the path, Romagoth slowed his horse down to a canter and looked closely at them. He saw smelly Orcs, some non-common speaking Trolls, a few Humans, and even some Gnomes. “Apparently cults know no racial bounds.” remarked Romagoth, again to nobody in particular.

“On the contrary, human!! We prefer green flesh, but yours will do.” said a voice from behind him. Wheeling around, Romagoth did not have time to block the fist coming in at him and he was sent flying backwards into a tree stump. Gathering up all of his energy, Romagoth sent out a large flash of fire in front of him.

The smell of burnt flesh and the sounds of dying screams brought him out of the trance he managed to enter into. Attempting to stand up, Romagoth became dizzy and was forced to sit for a minute and rest. His felguard, Haatom, stood nearby watching in seemingly every direction at once in order to protect his master. Romagoth opened his eyes and looked around. There were at least a half dozen charred bodies nearby, and only one of them was recognizable as having been human. His backpack was nearby, and it appeared that someone had rummaged through it during all of the commotion. Knowing what was missing before he even looked inside, Romagoth was thankful that he had the foresight to keep one of the shadowy potions in his pocket. “Someone really wants me to fail at this.” he thought. Finally able to stand up, Romagoth walked around the bodies on the ground and looked through their things, at least those that had anything left. Finding a book on one of them which was partially burned, he put it into his backpack for a more intense investigation later. Motioning to Haatom to follow along, Romagoth headed down the path towards Jaedenar, glancing around warily for more surprise visitors.

After a few small skirmishes with local cultists, Romagoth arrived at the entrance to the Shadow Hold. He decided that this was the time to drink the potion and did so. “This better work, I don’t have anymore of this stuff” he said to Haatom, whom just grunted something in Daemonic which Romagoth ignored. Sometimes he wished he had taken up a different line of work, like real estate (good money selling homes by the water in Stormwind), an armor repairman, or even a mage. Even his human friends didn’t have the foul language he heard from his demons. Sighing towards Haatom, Romagoth began walking down the tunnel, expecting an attack at any moment from the denizens of the Shadow Hold.

The attack never came. In fact, many of the cultists said hello to him, nodded, or waved as he walked by. Romagoth arrived at the bottom very quickly, and began looking for Lord Banehollow. Climbing the top of a cliff and crossing a bridge, Romagoth finally saw the dreadlord near a small tent. He walked towards Banehollow, knowing exactly what he wanted to say and how he was going to say it.

If only life worked out the way you wanted it to…