The sight of the unholy tome which the Order had retrieved from the remnants of Kharduum moments before the portal collapsed made Turekk's blood freeze. The Vindicator had only heard of the Codex of Blood in passing - a volume that spoke of horrors from the Twisting Nether unimaginable to the mortal mind, and one that had been closely related to the cataclysm of Auchindoun. His first instinct was to destroy the book outright, but he dreaded to think what this portent truly meant.
He knew of only one person that might be able to identify the book and explain what lay within: the Anchorite Xardas, who dwelled at the Temple of Telhamat. So the knights of the Order and their followers marched the long road to the peninsula, only to discover that the Anchorite had just recently travelled westwards to aid in the extermination of the Hand of Kharduum in the western reaches of Zangarmarsh.
Their journey was not without fruit, however, for they made the rest of the journey to Honour Hold in the hopes of amending the inconvienece of having been labelled deserters by new commanding officer of the 13th Legion, Lord Athon. Eventually they were granted an audience with the officership in Honour Hold, chaired by Commander Fulstein at that time, and it was revealed to them that no allegations of desertion had reached the ears of those in Hellfire Peninsula. Though the commander was at first sceptical, the words of the watchful and enigmatic demon hunter, Terenrith, supported the story of the knights of the Order.
The commander agreed, and over the weekend both he and the Marshal discussed the events that had transpired whilst the rest of the Order and its following made preparations to head to Zangarmarsh. In the meanwhile, however, some of the Order began to pursue a line of enquiry that had mostly been forgotten over the last year...
In Stratholme, there once burned an everliving flame. The scared Flame of Alonsus had been extinguished more than a decade ago by Blood Knights from Quel'thalas, and in the time since the dark forces of the Old Gods had been vanquished abroad the Order had sought to restore the flame. Their quest to understand its nature led them to the records of Brother Augustus, a cleric of Stratholme that had supposedly kept an artefact capable of safely carrying the sacred fire.
He had ventured through the Dark Portal during the Second War, and all records of his whereabouts ended there. In Honour Hold, the Order soon discovered why: the cleric had perished in the swamps that they were due to march into, and one of his last journal entries (for his belongings had been returned to Honour Hold after his passing) indicated that a Draenei by the name of Tarulaan had been gifted the artefact prior to the cleric's final battle. All roads, then pointed to Zangarmarsh, and first of all to Telredor...
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