This week marks the 9th and final chapter of the covenant campaigns. In practical game terms, the rewards include anima spheres for weapons (my Shaman got both a big and a large one, which is presumably so that I could get a main hand and shield for Elemental/Resto, but mine's Enhancement, so I got got a fist weapon and... a shield) from the sanctum hall LFR vendors (item level 187) and you can, for a big chunk of anima, upgrade your covenant armor sets to 197 (the final upgrade is 300 anima per piece, so unless you've been hoarding, it might take a while to get it all upgraded.)
I've now done the Kyrian (Paladin), Venthyr (Death Knight,) and Night Fae (Shaman) ones. Every campaign ends on a relatively climactic note, but certainly not one of finality, given that I think we'll be getting more of these over the course of the expansion.
I'll be doing the Necrolords one (on my Warlock) probably tomorrow, so I might edit this post later to add the rundown. But let's go over the basic story for each campaign, and how they conclude (again, for now.)
Spoilers to follow:
The Kyrian:
The Kyrian campaign is primarily concerned with the Forsworn and their attempt to overthrow Bastion. Fairly early on, you witness Kleia's ascension, where she gets her wings. However, the ascension ceremony is interrupted when Devos leads the Forsworn on an attack against Elysian Hold. This is when she's officially revealed as the leader of the Forsworn (which was a bit odd as I'd run Spires of Ascension several times before that point). You confront Uther, who is acting as her lieutenant, and fight him to push the Forsworn out. You succeed, but the Crest of Ascension is destroyed, preventing the creation of new ascended.
The middle chapters see you creating a new Crest. After you team up with the Necrolords to take down the House of Constructs (the Kyrian thus getting revenge for the attack on the Temple of Courage) you claim Margrave Gharmal's heart, using it to imbue the Crest with his power. Later, you travel to Revendreth and then Ardenweald to secure other sources of power (naturally, the Ardenweald story has a tragic edge to it, because I guess druid zones always have to be sad?) and make the Crest better than before.
Eventually, you confront Lysonia, who has taken over the Forsworn after Devos' death in the dungeon, who is attacking the Temple of Humility. After her defeat, you follow her to the Maw, where you learn not only that many of the Forsworn were unaware of their faction's connection to the Maw, but also that Lysonia is trying to drain Uther of all his essence to empower herself (also, Helya's there - the leader of the Mawsworn.) You free Uther and some of the other Forsworn, taking them out of the Maw. Uther, no longer an enemy, says he's got a lot to think about.
Finally, the Paragons gather and prepare for an assault on the Temple of Loyalty, and you attack, trying to take down Lysonia. In fact, this was a diversion, and the real fight is happening at Elysian Hold. You travel back there and fight Lysonia as she attempts to kill the Archon, using her new Maw powers. However, Uther arrives and helps you defeat her. He submits to the Kyrians and they resolve to try to heal his deeply damaged soul. He mentions that he doesn't remember his life, only his death, and is haunted by what he did to Arthas. If I had to predict where this story is ultimately going, I think we might have to rescue Arthas' soul from the Maw (and bring it somewhere more appropriate, like Revendreth.)
Venthyr:
The Venthyr covenant campaign is largely about collecting the medallions that hold the power of the Harvesters, the elite of Revendreth who served Denathrius.
You don't actually get all of them over the course of the campaign, but you do get most. You aid the Curator and the Accuser in recovering theirs, and you slay the Tithelord to secure his. (The Fearstalker, of course, was already defeated during the leveling campaign.) You also enlist the Kyrian (specifically Mikanikos) to craft a crown that can channel the power of all the medallions, only to discover that they are imbued with Denathrius' essence, and thus need to be cleansed. There's a bit of a One Ring aspect to these Medallions, as they seem to tempt those who wield them with power.
Following the canonical completion of the Castle Nathria raid (which, in contrast with the aforementioned timing of the Spires of Ascension dungeon, seems to come sooner than I'd expect most people to have finished the raid) you are tasked with helping to rehabilitate the soul of Kael'thas Sunstrider, who had been imbued with the sins of many others in order to turn him into an anima-battery for Denathrius. Kael'thas is certainly not very penitent, and shows not a little arrogance when you quest with him, uncovering a conspiracy between some of the houses still working with the Maw along with members of the House of Rituals in Maldraxxus.
Tracking the conspirators, you discover that the leader of the Maldraxxi conspirators is none other than Kel'thuzad. Following the defeat of the Tithelord, you journey to Maldraxxus and team up with the Necrolords (I suspect the Necrolord quests conclude similarly) to attack the House of Rituals, where Kel'thuzad has overthrown Margrave Sin'dane.
Fighting Kel'thuzad, you defeat him and General Draven takes the Medallion of Dominion (which had originally been Renethal's) from him. However, before you can destroy Kel'thuzad (much as Kael'thas wants revenge against him,) a portal to the Maw opens up and he is taken by a group of Mawsworn.
In the epilogue, Renethal brings his old medallion to Sinfall, where he declares that Revendreth will be ruled by the Court of Harvesters, and not any single "Sire." They do not yet have all the medallions (actually, I think the only one they're missing is Wrath, though the Stonewright seems fairly sympathetic, given her desire to see her Stoneborn children stop warring against one another) and Denathrius' presence still lingers after his defeat.
Night Fae:
Of all the covenants, the Night Fae have the most plots going on. Rather than focus on one in particular, there are basically three big ones: Tyrande and the Night Warrior, the Drust, and Mueh'zala.
Week-to-week, you tend to focus on different stories. In the case of Tyrande, you first travel to the Maw with Shandris Feathermoon (whose enthusiasm for your help is very different depending on your faction) in an attempt to find Tyrande and convince her to go. Eventually, you follow her into Torghast. While her thirst for vengeance is too overpowering for her to leave, you do locate many of the souls lost at Teldrassil, and you carry them back to Ardenweald, giving them a more fitting afterlife.
Later, you meet with a soul who had previously taken on Elune's power as the Night Warrior, who was destroyed by her power along with his husband, causing them to wind up in Ardenweald (together, which at least is nice.) You hatch a plan with Shandris and Ysera to try to recruit other former Night Warriors to help share the burden and potentially save Tyrande. You eventually recruit the soul of Huln Highmountain, who has in the last 10,000 years become one of the most renowned hunters of the Wild Hunt.
Regarding Mueh'zala, you meet with Bwonsamdi, with whom you discover that a number of Wildseeds with Loa and Wild Gods in them have gone missing. Eventually, you find that Mueh'zala is stealing them for their anima, and using it to empower a couple of loa (including Hakkar) to serve him. You fend off an invasion by Mueh'zala's forces into Ardenweald. Eventually, following the events of De Other Side dungeon, you come with Bwonsamdi to his necropolis in Nazmir, where you fend off some undead loyalists to Mueh'zala and then compel him, with help by the spirit of Vol'jin, to tell you where he hid the loa he stole. When he reveals they're in the Maw, you journey with Vol'jin's spirit to rescue them. Traveling through the Maw, you rescue Ashamane, Hireek, and Shadra, but it seems you're too late to save Rezan. With his last remaining strength, Rezan gives the last of his essence to Vol'jin, entwining himself with the late Warchief. Returning to the Winter Queen, she suggests that Vol'jin, now imbued with the essence of a Loa, might one day be reborn like the Wild Gods are.
Finally, the Drust. Searching for a way to save the Masked Fae who have been taken over by the Drust, you travel to Drustvar and work with an ancient, long-dead Thornspeaker who opposed the rule of Gorak Tul, seeking to find a way to cure the possession via the masks. Despite all your efforts, you find that removing the mask's curse kills the fae - a bitter sort of freedom. In the midst of this, Ara'lon is captured. As the Drust make their move to invade and conquer Ardenweald, you attack their stronghold, only to discover that what you thought was Gorak Zhar is actually Ara'lon, enchanted and disguised with an illusion, whom you were tricked into slaying. Flying with Ysera, you rally to the Winter Queen and then lead a counter-attack at the Grove of Awakening, where you expel and slay the Drust, including Gorak Zhar. This chapter ends the campaign. It seems the Mueh'zala story is more or less done, except what it will mean for Vol'jin. Likewise, the Drust might be dealt with (though I'm still hoping we'll see Thros.) There's still clearly a lot to do regarding the Night Warrior and saving Tyrande.
Anyway, while the first patch of an expansion generally has the most story in it, Blizzard has gotten a lot better at spreading the story of an expansion out over the length of it. I'm really excited to see where these stories go moving forward.
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