A Batalha do Templo de Garrodh
Arquivos dos Reinos de Ferro — NQ61
At the height of their power, the rulers of ancient Morrdh excavated a deep ceremonial well known as Gidon’s Pit within the Thornwood Forest. Whole villages and townships were seized, their inhabitants dragged to the pit and slaughtered to provide oceans of blood that would fill its depths. One of the largest human sacrifices in history, modern-day occultists believe this was undertaken to slake the thirst of infernal horrors lurking beyond Caen. None know precisely what boons Morrdh received for its work, though some hold it is from this offering of bodies and souls that Morrdhic necromancy was born.
Gidon’s Pit was eventually destroyed, filled in as though it had never existed, but the unholy power of the place was not so easily eradicated. More than a thousand years later, Orgoth necromancers were drawn to it during the early years of their occupation, and in 503 BR they began construction of the Temple of Garrodh at its location. Their use of this site was fitting, as the Orgoth outdid even Morrdh in the scope of their sacrificial slaughters. In the final years of the second century AR, however, forces of the Iron Alliance assaulted the temple, and its Orgoth defenders were killed to the man.
Evidence of this battle still exists in the form of a ruined colossal at its base.
Once again men sought to annihilate the terrible power of the site, this time burying the temple in a great mound of earth and stone from the cliffs adjacent to it, but again such efforts proved temporary. In 605 AR, Lich Lord Asphyxious unearthed the Templeof Garrodh to capitalize on the near-limitless power of the immense soul cage within, one that still contained the trapped souls of the ancient dead. Seeking to fill this Umbral Cairn, Asphyxious initiated a plot to draw armies of Cygnar, Khador, and the Protectorate of Menoth into a confrontation at the temple. His ultimate prize was not to be the souls of those would die there, however, but rather that of one woman: the Harbinger of Menoth.
Asphyxious aspired to use the Harbinger, a direct link to the Creator of Man, to open a gate to Urcaen and thereby to steal the souls of the faithful from the City of Man, Menoth’s protected domain.
With the Harbinger’s soul and the Umbral Cairn as his tools, Asphyxious hoped to become a god on Caen.
ASHTOVEN 13TH 605 AR
16:24
After journeying north with what would soon become the Northern Crusade, the Harbinger of Menoth leads a Protectorate force to the site from the hills just northeast of the temple. She is supported by the Testament of Menoth and High Allegiant Amon Ad-Raza. They begin preparation of a makeshift siege bridge to circumvent the treacherous stairway and exploit their elevated position to approach the temple’s second level directly.
16:36
The Umbrean Great Prince Vladimir Tzepesci and Zevanna Agha arrive with a small army including Berserkers, doom reavers, and Kossites. Tzepesci was informed of the importance of this site by Agha, the Old Witch of Khador, who helped him recover from earlier injuries sustained in a previous clash against Cryx.
16:42
Cygnaran forces led by Commander Adept Sebastian Nemo and Major Victoria Haley engage Khadoran forces outside the temple. Having previously been marching toward Fellig through the Thornwood, Major Victoria Haley had sensed a mystical disturbance in the forest and had diverted her forces.
Haley had previously acquired intelligence in Blackwater regarding Asphyxious’ plans but had been unable to convince Cygnaran generals of the veracity of this threat. She now persuaded Nemo to assist her in her investigation, supported by Captain Dominic Darius and the Rhulic mercenary warcaster Gorten Grundback. On their arrival, they discover Tzepesci’s army approaching the temple and engage them.
16:44
At the Old Witch’s prompting, Tzepesci breaks from the fight against Cygnar. Along with a pair of Berserkers and a dozen doom reavers, he climbs the terraced earthworks west of the temple. The Old Witch escapes the battle while the remaining Khadoran infantry and warjacks remain to prevent Cygnaran pursuit.
16:47
Cygnaran forces break through the remaining Khadorans to ascend the ramp to the temple’s main entryway.
16:48
The Deathjack emerges from the temple to counter the Cygnaran advance, followed by a horde of mechanithralls and bane thralls, and begins slaughtering the front lines of Cygnaran troops. Gorten Grundback directs his warjacks against the oncoming Cryxians. Grundback Gunners fire on the thralls while a Driller attacks the Deathjack itself.
Shielded by the advancing Avatar of Menoth, the Harbinger leads the Protectorate advance onto the temple’s mezzanine, battling Cryxian thralls as they go. Wielding the sacred Omegus, the Testament of Menoth captures the souls of the fallen Menites, saving them from the temple’s Umbral Cairn and dispatching them to Urcaen.
16:49
Grundback calls on his earth magic to create a stone wall, momentarily holding back the advancing thralls while Haley, Nemo, and the Thunderhead ascend the stairs to the temple’s second level.
The Harbinger and the Testament board the lift leading to the temple’s upper level.
Kommandant Irusk arrives at the Temple of Garrodh with a second sizable Khadoran army, including Forward Kommander Sorscha Kratikoff, Kommander Karchev, and the Behemoth. Kratikoff leads her forces to seize the Protectorate siege bridge while Irusk and Karchev follow.
16:50
Karchev leads an attack against the Protectorate rear lines, engaging Amon Ad-Raza.
16:51
Sorscha sees Tzepesci, whom she had presumed dead, fighting in the jumbled melee of Protectorate and Cryxian forces as he attempts to ascend to the temple’s higher levels. Breaking from her attack against Cryxian and Protectorate targets on the bridge, Sorscha directs her warjacks to aid him by firing on the temple’s interior.
16:52
With the remaining Protectorate forces routed, Sorscha leads her advance across the bridge and onto the temple’s mezzanine. Despite the soldiery moving on, Karchev and Amon Ad-Raza continue their duel.
The Harbinger and the Testament reach the temple’s upper level and find themselves surrounded by a Reaper, a pair of Slayers, and various thralls. Lich Lord Asphyxious and the wraith witch Deneghra stand by in anticipation of the Harbinger’s arrival.
Haley dominates the cortexes of three Khadoran warjacks and forces them to run off the top of the mezzanine, plowing through a portion of Winter Guard and clearing a path for the Cygnaran advance.
16:53
With Nemo and Darius holding back the Khadoran advance toward the lift, Haley uses her telekinetic powers to force the lift back down to the temple’s second level.
Gorten Grundback destroys the already badly damaged Deathjack.
16:54
Haley, Nemo, and the Thunderhead mount the lift and ascend to the top level.
16:55
Darius descends the eastern stairs to evade a second-level battle between Khador and the Protectorate.
Arriving at the temple’s peak, Haley is confronted by the sight of her now-undead twin sister Deneghra. She charges the wraith witch, determined to destroy her permanently.
16:56
Climbing the temple’s crumbling stone buttresses, Tzepesci reaches the top platform.
Together with Goreshade, Skarre Ravenmane, and the Witch Coven of Garlghast, Lich Lord Terminus arrives fielding an army greater in number than all the combined forces currently at the Temple of Garrodh. Goreshade produces an ancient soul cage containing Asphyxious’ soul, stolen from his former master, and relinquishes it to Terminus.
16:59
Terminus’ forces reach the main gates.
Gorten Grundback advances up the eastern stairway to guard Darius’ flank while the captain rejoins Cygnar’s main force fighting at the temple doors.
Attempting to join Tzepesci in the battle raging above, Sorscha is intercepted by the Old Witch and warned not to intervene. Both warcasters remain behind to help the Khadoran army defend against Terminus’ assault.
17:00
Ordering the remaining Cygnarans inside and away from Terminus’ oncoming horde, Darius sacrifices his last warjack against the Cryxians to buy time for his forces to withdraw and hold a defensive position in the temple’s first-floor hall.
17:01
Asphyxious withdraws from melee against the Testament, directing one of his Slayers to seize the Menite and hurl him across the platform. The Testament collides with Nemo, losing his weapon and sending the Cygnaran off the edge of the platform. Nemo is knocked unconscious, rendering Thunderhead inert, after which a Slayer tears off the warjack’s arm.
In the face of the newly arrived Cryxian army, Irusk orders Karchev to abandon his battle with Ad-Raza; however, Karchev delays in hopes of finishing the high allegiant. Though Ad-Raza suffers brutal injuries, he does not fall. The Behemoth fires down the temple stairs to destroy the ascending thralls, but they are replaced as quickly as they can be eliminated.
The Harbinger performs a ritual to strip Asphyxious of his protective enchantments.
Tzepesci defeats a Reaper and interposes himself between Asphyxious and the Harbinger, deflecting the lich lord’s weapon and preventing him from killing her. Asphyxious wounds the prince and knocks the Harbinger’s blade from her hands.
17:02
Unexpectedly, the Harbinger turns to Vladimir Tzepesci and invites him to strike her down, apparently to prevent Asphyxious from completing his ritual. Tzepesci impales the Harbinger on his blade, seeking to inflict a swift death.
Seeing his aspirations defeated before him, Asphyxious strikes Tzepesci with a wild swing, casting him and the slain Harbinger from the top platform.
17:03
Calling on the power of the Omegus, the Testament opens a gateway to Urcaen and claims all the Menite souls within the Umbral Cairn, including that of the Harbinger herself. This creates a tremendous blast, shaking the very foundations of the Temple of Garrodh and causing incredible damage. The force of the blast knocks the Testament off the platform to fall alongside his weapon.
The newly arrived Cryxians’ advance, led by Goreshade, stalls on the temple’s stairs as it faces a wall of defenders. Impatient with the delay, Terminus abandons his forces to fly to the temple’s top platform alone.
17:04
High Paladin Dartan Vilmon joins the Testament to retrieve the Harbinger’s body.
Terminus confronts Asphyxious and demands he relinquish the Temple of Garrodh to Terminus’ command. Asphyxious refuses, and in response Terminus destroys his soul cage and sends Asphyxious’ soul into the temple’s Umbral Cairn before engaging his rival in melee.
17:05
Asphyxious cracks the surface of the temple’s top floor. Wraiths under his control then force Terminus into the hole while barring the lich lord from flight.
Breaking from the ongoing melee with Deneghra, Haley reactivates the Thunderhead and directs it to attack the wraith witch while she engages Asphyxious herself.
Risking the accidental consumption of his own soul, Asphyxious draws on the power of the Umbral Cairn to draw Terminus into a gateway beyond Caen. The Witch Coven follows Terminus to facilitate his eventual escape.
Having secured the central chamber of the Temple, Darius discovers the left arm of his steam-powered armor is heavily damaged. Its failure disrupting repair of his nearly demolished Ironclad, Darius risks emerging from his armor to address the damage while his soldiers guard the chamber’s entrance.
17:06
Tzepesci recovers from his fall to find Sorscha at his side. Under attack by Terminus’ thrall horde, the pair pulls back across the siege bridge behind Irusk, who has already ordered a general withdrawal.
Skarre Ravenmane sends a Harrower into the main temple hall to kill the trenchers under Darius’ command. She then enters the interior herself to finish those remaining.
Though seriously injured, Nemo regains consciousness. Among a variety of lesser injuries, one of his legs and several ribs are broken.
Evading Darius’ Hunter warjack, Skarre stabs the Cygnaran in the side as he attempts to return to his armor. Destroying the Hunter afterward, Skarre pulls Darius from his armor and severs his left ear.
17:07
The Avatar chooses not to attack Nemo of its own accord, passing him to reinforce the Protectorate army in battle against Terminus’ forces surging up from the temple’s lower level.
Skarre receives a premonition of an imminent disaster, interrupting her ritualslaying of Darius. She leaves him to move to the center of the chamber where its soul collection apparatus is focused. Using Darius’ ear as a component of her Satyxis blood magic, she creates a powerful protective aura for herself and Goreshade, whom she senses at that moment slaughtering Protectorate forces on the siege bridge above.
17:08
Nemo connects with the cerebral matrix of an ancient, ruined colossal partially buried east of the temple’s entrance and discovers a sizable store of latent arcane energy within it.
Gorten Grundback extracts Darius from the temple’s main hall while Skarre conducts her magic.
Drawing on the power within the ancient colossal’s cerebral matrix to augment his own arcane strength, Nemo unleashes an incredible surge of electrical and arcane power. This destroys or disrupts all mechanika in the area not specially shielded against electricity. The force of the arcane blast rocks the entire structure, resulting in a cataclysmic explosion as the immense soul cages suspended beneath the elevated platform break free.
The Thunderhead strikes Deneghra, who then turns incorporeal.
Asphyxious deflects a blow from Haley and attempts to invoke his power to strike the Testament, who is at that moment retreating across the siege bridge with the Harbinger’s soul in his keeping. The lich lord is hit by Nemo’s disruptive wave, however, which allows the Testament to escape unhindered.
17:09
Though her armor, weapon, and mechanikal arm are disrupted, Haley presses on against the wounded Asphyxious. Deneghra breaks from combat with the Thunderhead to unleash a spray of acid against her sister from behind.
Haley attempts to appeal to the deeper, human nature she still believes to exist within her sister. Deneghra pretends to be swayed by Haley and approaches Asphyxious, apparently to kill him herself; however, she uses her powers to escape with the injured lich lord.
17:10
Haley commands the Thunderhead to take hold of her and leap away from the collapsing temple. Seeing Nemo falling from the temple at that same moment, she uses her telekinetic powers to retrieve him and set them both down safely while the Thunderhead crashes to the ground.
Later, it will be discovered that Darius had been partially buried in the temple’s collapse but was rescued by Gorten Grundback, who had been attempting to get him to safety.
