A few days after their meeting with Angrune, the Order rode northwards to investigate Blackrock Pass, where reports of strange lights at the border had reached them in Lakeshire. Just beyond the blackened gates, they encountered an injured paladin and his quarry, a trio of slain orcs, among which was found an encrypted orcish message, and the now-familiar pendants of the Charspear Legion.
Though it took some days for the message to be decrypted, the Order did not stand idle. In the ashen wastes, they encountered the vanguard forces of the Charspear Legion in earnest - orcs, trolls, goblins and even tauren numbering among their scouting parties. Other than their pendants, there was little to identify their forces; their armour was mismatched, ranging from everything from the armour and colours of the Kor'kron to those of the Warsong Expedition, and to less identifiable, more generic garb.
The Order was unsuccessful in finding one of the runic keys that the Blackener had told them of the week before. Among the belongings of the Charspear were merely fragments of dull yellow gemstones and rocky shell-like fragments, but nothing of dwarven design. Their battles were not entirely without intrigue, however, as once the letter had been decrypted they were presented with the opportunity of interrupting a parley between the forces of the Charspear Legion and remnants of the Dark Horde.
Taking the opportunity, the Order crushed the orcs and trolls present at the parley, sparing the last remaining warlock of the Blackrock delegation for a few moments to question him. The warlock revealed to them that the Charspear Legion served a would-be-warchief named Drok Charhide, who in turn had long since refused to serve the the successors of Thrall.
Searching those that had attended the parley, the Order learned of a stronghold on the slopes of a mountain east of Blackrock itself, and a day later they assaulted the stronghold's gates. Finding it surprisingly empty therein, and with no commanding officer present, the Order's trail seemingly came to a dead end that night, though the absence of the Blackener over the week would not be without reason...
6 Likes