Blackrook Hold

In most of the dungeons we enter in the broken isles our reasons are clear. They’re either holding something we need or they’re legion allies. But what are we doing in Blackrook hold?

The Ravencrest family were unusual in the Elven Empire’s social elite. They had no great magi to their name which would normally rule them out. The Ravencrests instead were the leaders of the empire’s army. Kur’Talos Ravencrest was the General of the imperial army during the war of the ancients.

Ravencrest was absolutely loyal to Queen Azshara, as the demons began to invade Azeroth he refused to believe she could have had anything to do with it. He led the empire’s army against the invading demons in her name. During the conflict he was an inspiring leader, fighting alongside his soldiers and leading them to amazing victories.

He also shared his people’s prejudices and refused to work with the Tauren and Earthen warriors who had come to help in the fight, he even thought dragons would just eat his people instead of aiding them. He would trust only elves in the fight, eventually finding a young mage to train as his second in command; Illidan Stormrage.

Queen Azshara however, was getting mad at Ravencrest for continuing to defy the legion. She directed the demons towards Blackrook Hold and told them how to dismantle the castle’s defences. Illidan led the defence against this onslaught. By now Kur’Talos had appointed him commander of the moon guard. He fought back using the moon guard’s mages, drawing power from them to empower his own attacks; often risking their lives to achieve spectacular victories, to Ravencrest’s annoyance.

Where the demons failed, one of the queen’s assassins succeeded. Ravencrest was killed and a far less competent leader took his place, rendering the army useless in the fight against the legion. The keep itself was abandoned and largely forgotten in the remainder of the war, and lost in the sundering. The hold remained empty for millennia on the broken isles, the druids of Val’sharah having little use for it.

More recently it was the site of one of the new Gul’dan’s ritual. He had just stolen the body of Illidan from the vault of the wardens, and needed somewhere to separate his soul from his body. The abandoned keep was the ideal place and he managed to complete the ritual undisturbed, the dead in the keep’s graveyard were less lucky.

All that necromantic energy has woken the souls of the dead soldiers and their commanders. We are attacking the hold because they are beginning to assault the people of Val’sharah, and there may be clues that lead to Gul’dan in here. And they have loot.