Shadow Trails in Azeroth

Gene stood alone outside the room, and the king's face was extremely expressionless.

There were still purple bruises and claw marks on his neck. The surrounding royal guards loyally guarded the king, and the entire courtyard was under martial law.

Little Lorna and Liam were brought back to Gilneas City by Queen Mia who hurriedly arrived. The manor's defense system was fully activated, but not to defend against foreign enemies, but to avoid the cursed Darius. Lord Crowley escapes.

In the house in front of him, the great druid who came after hearing the news was suppressing the beastly nature of the northern lords, but Jean was a very keen ruler. Looking at the expression on the druid's face when he spoke just now, he could probably guess the certainty of this life. Not easy to do.

The howls coming from the room, the mixture of pain and madness, seemed to confirm Gene's increasingly ominous guess.

Your Majesty, His Majesty the Pope and Master Antonidas are here.

The captain of the royal guard quickly walked into the solemn courtyard and whispered to the gloomy king. Jean nodded and made a gesture, and an attendant immediately invited the Archmage and His Majesty over.

The old pope was now leaning on the sacred staff, no longer lame when walking, and his legs and feet were stronger. He could walk like the wind without anyone's support, and walked quickly under the protection of the great knight Dathrohan.

Antonidas's face looked a little tired.

Apparently it was caused by the heavy cleanup work of the Dalaran crater during this period.

The two old men were woken up late at night and rushed over through the portal, but they were not angry at being disturbed because the matter at hand was a bit tricky.

No, it’s tricky!

Your messenger told me that the Northern Lords turned into orcs?

His Majesty the Pope asked Jean with a puzzled look:

Is it the green 'orc' I know? Is there such a strange curse in this world?

No, Your Majesty, it's not an orc.

Before Jean could speak, Antonidas, holding the Archmage's Staff, took the initiative to explain:

It should be 'Werewolf'.

Yes! It's a werewolf. That elf druid is called Darius.

Gene raised his eyebrows.

He looked at the Archmage and said:

Master Antonidas has seen werewolves before? Do you know how to deal with them? Do you have a way to lift this curse?

I saw it once, but it was a long time ago.

The leader of Dalaran, the Archmage, hesitated for a moment, twirled his white beard, and explained softly:

In the early years, our famous maverick archmage Ur in Dalaran accidentally summoned a werewolf to the material world during a summoning experiment.

Of course it caused a stir in Dalaran.

It even attracted the attention of Medivh, and the dark-infected demigod guardian personally came to Dalaran and interviewed Master Ur for several hours.

It was later said that under his persuasion, Ur gave up his research on werewolves and sealed his summoning spell.

Later, when facing the inquiry of the six-person parliament, Old Ur told us frankly that the werewolf is a deformed and corrupted product of dark power.

They have residual humanity, but it is suppressed by the wild animal nature, and this animal nature is not controlled by any external force.

This wild beastly will is said to come from a powerful and mysterious wilderness demigod. There are very few creatures in the world who can match this wild will.

Moreover, Ur also told us that werewolves lived in a strange plane far away from the material world, and the werewolves he summoned were just an insignificant part of a huge pack of wolves.

They are forced into slumber in that plane to soothe their restless wild hearts.

He said such a creature had absolutely no place in the physical world.

They are a terrible threat to any race and civilization.

Ur said that he recorded the spell to summon werewolves and his research and understanding of werewolves in his Book of Ur to prepare for future emergencies, but he also promised us that he would not keep this taboo knowledge to teach anyone.

What about Master Ur? And where is that book?

Jean asked anxiously:

Perhaps we can invite him here and find Master Ur's research in that book to save my brother. Gilneas is willing to pay any reward for this.

I just want Darius to be alive and wake up!

God, his daughter is still waiting for him!

I promised little Lorna that she would see her father tomorrow morning.

This Ur is dead.

Antonidas said with some regret:

The old Ur is living more and more freely.

He lost his adherence to the mage's code and began to summon those strange alien creatures at will, causing a lot of losses to Dalaran.

After failing to reform, we were forced to expel him from Dalaran, and there was no further news from him during the Orc Wars.

It wasn't until more than a month ago that an archmage accidentally discovered Ur's whereabouts and news of his death. After an autopsy by a doctor in Dalaran, we concluded that Ur died in an embarrassing 'accident' .

However, his Book of Ur has been brought back to Dalaran. After the previous ravages of Deathwing and demons, we sealed the book and gave it to Ur's disciple, Master Arugal, for safekeeping. .

As far as I know, Master Arugal has just left his station and is heading towards his hometown of Gilneas.

The book will return to Gilneas?

Gene suddenly smiled.

He let out a sigh of relief. Although a Book of Ur might not be able to solve Darius's problem, it could at least bring them a direction and hope.

Coupled with the help of druids who should know a lot about werewolves, maybe Darius can survive this wave of disaster.

Send royal spies to immediately go to the border to find and escort Master Arugao back to his hometown.

Jean turned around and gave an order to the royal guard chief:

We must bring Master Arugal and the Book of Ur back as quickly as possible. I need his help.

As commanded.

The captain of the guard solemnly accepted the order, turned around and strode out of the yard.

After he left, the old pope, who had been listening to the conversation between Jean and Antonidas, suddenly raised a question. He said with a serious expression:

Jean, the werewolf curse of the northern lords is contagious, right?

this

Faced with this problem, the king hesitated. He looked left and right, and led his majesty and the archmage to a house in another part of the courtyard, where three royal guards were lying on the bed.

They all fell into a coma and had the same symptoms as when Lord Darius was brought back.

High fever persists and consciousness is unclear.

They all had wounds on their bodies that had been scratched by the northern lord's claws, and Jean's royal physician, Mr. Carinan, was nervously treating the wounds of the three guards.

At his hand was a set of complex and exquisite herbal cauldrons used by alchemists, in which some weird-tasting potions were being boiled.

This curse is indeed contagious, and I almost fell victim to it.

Jean touched his bruised neck. He turned around with some fear and said to the Pope and Archmage who looked horrified and serious:

The druid told us that the werewolf curse has a period of validity. Before the human body changes into a beast, special medicine can be used to temporarily suppress the beastly nature and physical changes.

However, this medicine will gradually lose effectiveness as the number of uses increases. For people infected by scratches, it will take up to a year for them to enter irreversible animal transformation.

And for civilians who have no power, the curse after being scratched by a werewolf will only take effect for a shorter time.

Although I hate to think so, my brother Darius has become a dangerous source of infection.

Fortunately, I placed him in this closed manor in the mountains in advance, otherwise I simply don't dare to think about the consequences that would occur if he escaped.

Is it fatal?

The Pope's expression became more serious, and he asked again.

Mr. Carinan, the busy royal physician, wiped the sweat from his forehead, turned around and made a courtesy to the Pope, and then explained:

No, Your Majesty, the werewolf curse is not fatal.

In fact, if one ignores the uncontrollable wild transformation it will bring about, this curse will turn a helpless woman into a killing machine that can rival elite soldiers the moment the mutation takes effect.

According to my previous conversation with the Archdruid, the characteristics of the werewolf curse are also very strange.

If you are attacked by a werewolf, as long as you don't die on the spot, you can basically survive and become a part of the curse.

I just witnessed the changes of the Northern Lord with my own eyes. After becoming a werewolf, his strength, speed and vitality were almost doubled.

I. I have a suspicion.

The old doctor secretly glanced at the king's face, swallowed, and whispered:

I think the werewolf curse may not be the extreme evil we think. Based on my experience in practicing medicine for most of my life, it strengthens life in all aspects and is more like a 'blessing' of power.

There's just something wrong with this way of 'blessing' release.

Perhaps the legendary wilderness demigod ignored the issue of animal nature. Its powerful wilderness will is definitely not something that any human mind can bear.

I would never call it a 'blessing'!

Gene yelled:

Doctor Cullinan, don't bring up your deviant thoughts again! Look what that curse has done to my brothers!

But it is truly a 'blessing of strength.'

In the midst of Jean's scolding, the door behind everyone was pushed open gently. The three of them turned around and saw the archdruid Omulon, the Roaring Sky, walking in with a tired look on his face, leaning on his wooden staff.

The archdruid nodded to Archmage Antonidas, whom he had talked to and fought with before, and made a natural courtesy with respect to Pope Fao.

Finally, he looked at the three royal guards in the room and said to Jean, who still looked angry:

“The Werewolf Curse, or the ‘Wolf Form’, when it was born as an extremely dangerous Druid spell, was indeed a prayer for salvation and protection.

It is really a blessing to the druids from Lord Goldrinn, the demigod of the wilderness.

In essence, the werewolf form is no different from the storm crow form, giant bear form, and flowering tree form we use. It is the crystallization of the druids' understanding of the power of nature.

However, Silver Wolf's wild power is too 'stable' compared to the gifts given by other demigods.

Probably because Lord Goldring worships the will of the free wilderness, it believes that the violent beasts can make warriors more powerful and fearless, so when it bestows blessings, it does not take the initiative to eliminate the wild beasts in this power.

Your physician, Mr. Callinan, is right.

Although the werewolf curse is the product of depravity and deformation, it is not evil in itself. It is just a manifestation of natural anger, although once it befalls an individual, it is an out-and-out disaster.

I see.

The pope and the archmage, who were very nurturing and cultured, nodded repeatedly.

This explanation was understandable and acceptable to them. But Jean, a reckless warrior, was a bit over the top. Although he understood the ins and outs of the werewolf curse, he still said with a sense of anger:

So, you druids who protect the balance of nature, why do you create such dangerous and uncontrolled power! I heard that the strong ones among you have to practice in dreams, so you sleep too much, Has your brain been damaged by sleeping?

This is a bit rude.

But after all, it was the night elves druids who were in the wrong. Although Skyroar's face darkened, he still gave an explanation after a few seconds of silence:

Because we have also faced war, Your Majesty Jean.

Just like you humans faced the invasion of the orcs, more than nine thousand years ago, the Kaldorei Moon Kingdom, which had not yet recovered from the devastation of the ancient war, also suffered from terrible war threats.

And the enemies we faced at that time were much crazier than the orcs.

Those demon satyrs who burst out of the burning green fire have destroyed almost every home we have except the Holy Mountain. Do you want to know why our companions pursue the power of wild werewolves?

Very simple!

Because we have also been forced into desperate situations!

Our people are also longing for salvation from nature!

A group of radicals among us accepted the power of this curse at the risk of losing ourselves.

With less than a thousand people, they blocked the demons that were a hundred times their number. They sacrificed their own sanity in exchange for the safety of more than 100,000 civilians.

I don't think this sacrifice is an evil.

Or as you put it, a ‘sin’.

The sky-screaming man's words were full of solemnity. He looked at Jean, who looked embarrassed, and sighed:

But I can understand your mood at this time, Your Majesty. I have good news to tell you. Although he is still driven by his animal nature, the Northern Lord has regained some sanity.

I have to take him back to Moonglade, ask the Archdruids to treat him, and at the same time awaken more compatriots to study how the werewolves escaped from the Emerald Dream. We must fill this loophole before the situation becomes more serious. .

Also, there's bad news.

The archdruid looked at the people around him and said:

I can already confirm that the Northern Lord is not the first werewolf to be infected in this era. The source of the werewolf that infected him has not yet been discovered, but it is definitely within the borders of Gilneas now.

Lord Darius can hear its call.

You must catch the werewolf before it spreads the curse on a large scale, otherwise, the entire Gilneas will become a huge 'wolf's nest'.

Their next target after gathering is likely to be other cities on this land, until the entire human kingdom is reduced to their kind.

And the ‘alpha wolf’.

Omulon, the Sky-roaring One, said in a serious tone:

Once the alpha wolf is also summoned to the material world, the wolves have a leader, and they become ten times more dangerous. And with the alpha wolf's hatred for the Cenarion Order, once it completes the unification of the wolf pack, Luna will The country will also face a war.

therefore

The Archdruid looked at Jean, His Majesty the Pope and the Archmage, and he said in a sincere tone:

I will report this matter to Mount Hyjal. Perhaps soon, an envoy from the Moon God High Priest will come to the eastern continent.

Everyone, we must unite before the disaster is triggered.