This file is copyrighted. It will be used in a way that qualifies as fair use under US copyright law.
This event is initiated by entering the cathedral wing of the Scarlet Monastery with [Corrupted Ashbringer] equipped. Scarlet Crusade NPC's will be friendly to the player, and they will face and kneel the player when in close proximity. The spirit of Highlord Alexandros Mograine kills his son, Renault, the Scarlet Commander, for his betrayal. Highlord Mograine resurrects his former peer, High Inquisitor Fairbanks and disappears. Fairbanks informs the player of the events surrounding the history of the Ashbringer, as well as where to find Mograine's other son, who has the ability to forge the blade anew.
In the Ashbringer comic, Darion Mograine serves in place of the player.
Event Script
Scarlet Commander Renault Mograine yells: "Bow down! Kneel before the Ashbringer! A new dawn approaches, brothers and sisters! Our message will be delivered to the filth of this world through the chosen one!"
(Approaching Scarlet Commander Renault Mograine initiates an event where Highlord Mograine's ghost walks into the cathedral in Dreadnaught's Battlegear. The dialogue between father and son is as follows:)
Highlord Mograine: Renault...
Scarlet Commander Renault Mograine: Father... But... How?
Highlord Mograine: Did you think that your betrayal would be forgotten? Lost in the carefully planned cover up of my death? Blood of my blood, the blade felt your cruelty long after my heart had stopped beating. And in death, I knew what you had done. But now, the chains of Kel'Thuzad hold me no more. I come to serve justice. I AM ASHBRINGER.
Scarlet Commander Renault Mograine: Forgive me, father! Please...
Highlord Mograine smites Scarlet Commander Renault and Scarlet Commander Renault falls to the ground, dead.
Highlord Mograine: You are forgiven...
(Highlord Mograine despawns.)
Dialogue with Fairbanks
After Mograine despawns, High Inquisitor Fairbanks has more information for the wielder of the Corrupted Ashbringer:
- At last, the curse is lifted. Thank you, hero.
Curse? What's going on here, Fairbanks?
- You mean, you don't know? The sword that you carry on your back - it is known as Ashbringer; named after its original owner.
Mograine?
- Aye, the Highlord Mograine: A founder of the original order of the Scarlet Crusade. A knight of unwavering faith and purity; Mograine would be betrayed by his own son and slain by Kel'Thuzad's forces inside Stratholme. It is how I ended up here...
What do you mean?
- It was High General Abbendis, High Inquisitor Isillien, and Highlord Mograine that formed the Crusade. In its infancy, the Crusade was a noble order. The madness and insane zealotry that you see now did not exist. It was not until the one known as Grand Crusader appeared that the wheels of corruption were set in motion.
I still do not fully understand.
- The Highlord was the lynchpin of the Crusade. Aye, Mograine was called the Ashbringer because of his exploits versus the armies of the Lich King. With only blade and faith, Mograine would walk into whole battalions of undead and emerge unscathed - the ashes of his foes being the only indication that he had been there at all. Do you not understand? The very face of death feared him! It trembled in his presence!
Incredible story. So how did he die?
- The only way a hero can die, <race>: Through tragedy. The Grand Crusader struck a deal with Kel'Thuzad himself! An ambush would be staged that would result in the death of Mograine. The type of betrayal that could only be a result of the actions of one's most trusted and loved companions.
You mean...
- <High Inquisitor Fairbanks nods.>
- Aye, the lesser Mograine, the one known as the Scarlet Commander, through - what I suspect - the dealings of the Grand Crusader. He led his father to the ambush like a lamb to the slaughter.
How do you know all of this?
- <High Inquisitor Fairbanks lifts up his tabard revealing several gruesome scars.>
- Because I was there... I was the Highlord's most trusted advisor. I should have known... I felt that something was amiss yet I allowed it to happen. Would you believe that there were a thousand or more Scourge?
A thousand? For one man?
- This was the Ashbringer, fool! As the Scourge began to materialize around us, Mograine's blade began to glow... to hum... the younger Mograine would take that as a sign to make his escape. They descended upon us with a hunger the likes of which I had never seen. Yet...
Yet? Yet what??
- It was not enough.
- <Fairbanks smirks briefly, lost in a memory.>
- A thousand came and a thousand died. By the Light! By the might of Mograine! He would smite them down as fast as they could come. Through the chaos, I noticed that the lesser Mograine was still there, off in the distance. I called him, "Help us, Renault! Help your father, boy!"
And did he?
- <High Inquisitor Fairbanks shakes his head.>
- No... He stood in the background, watching as the legion of undead descended upon us. Soon after, my powers were exhausted. I was the first to fall... Surely they would tear me limb from limb as I lay there unconscious; but they ignored me completely, focusing all of their attention on the Highlord.
Continue please, Fairbanks.
- It was all I could do to feign death as the corpses of the Scourge piled upon me. There was darkness and only the muffled sounds of the battle above me. The clashing of iron, the gnashing and grinding... gruesome, terrible sounds. And then there was silence. He called to me! "Fairbanks! Fairbanks, where are you? Talk to me, Fairbanks!" And then came the sound of incredulousness. The bite of betrayal, <race>...
You mean...
- The boy had picked up Ashbringer and driven it through his father's heart as his back was turned. His last words will haunt me forever: "What have you done, Renault? Why would you do this?"
You were right, Fairbanks. That is tragic.
- The blade and Mograine were a singular entity. Do you understand? This act corrupted the blade and lead to Mograine's own corruption as a death knight of Kel'Thuzad. I swore that if I lived, I would expose the perpetrators of this heinous crime. For two days I remained under the rot and contagion of Scourge - gathering as much strength as possible to escape the razed city.
And you did...
- Aye, I did. Much to the dismay of the lesser Mograine, I made my way back to the Scarlet Monastery. I shouted and screamed. I told the tale to any that would listen. And I would be murdered in cold blood for my actions, dragged to this chamber - the dark secret of the order. But some did listen... some heard my words. Thus was born the Argent Dawn...
You tell an incredible tale, Fairbanks. What of the blade? Is it beyond redemption?
- I'm afraid that the blade which you hold in your hands is beyond saving. The hatred runs too deep. But do not lose hope, <class>. Where one chapter has ended, a new one begins.
- Find his son - a more devout and pious man you may never meet. It is rumored that he is able to build the Ashbringer anew, without requiring the old, tainted blade.
But his son is dead.
- <High Inquisitor Fairbanks shakes his head.>
- No, <race>; only one of his sons is dead. The other lives...
- <High Inquisitor Fairbanks points to the sky.>
- The Outland... Find him there...
Notes
- Highlord Mograine's other son has not yet been found in Outland. See the Ashbringer article for speculation as to his identity.
- When Scarlet Commander Mograine yells "A new dawn approaches, brothers and sisters!" he could be hinting toward the Argent Dawn, the group enlightened of the betrayal by Renault Mograine.
- Highlord Mograine has another son called Darion, but it is not certain that this is the son that Fairbanks meant, as he too works for the Lich King.