Landing at Windrunner Spire

The **Landing at Winrunner Spire** was an engagement between the crusading forces of the Congregation of the Silver Hand and various defending forces of the Kingdom of Quel'Thalas.

## Preface

With the shield of Turalyon, famously known as the Lion's Bastion, in their possession, the forces of the Congregation rejoiced. With the first key to their success in hand, the Congregation withdrew from their positions at the Vanston Heights and the remainder of the holdings that they had secured in northern Tirisfal. Embarking aboard the HMS Indomitable and HMS Wilhelmina at their headquarters at the Scarlet Palisade, the crusading force set sail from the coast of Lordaeron for the shores of Quel'Thalas in search of the final relic of their crusade; Windrunner's Tear.

With no initial naval opposition from the Sin'dorei, the expeditionary force arrived at their destination after only a short journey, landing along the coast of the Ghostlands and quickly securing the abandoned Winndrunner Spire. The Spire, once the majestic home of the Windrunner family, sits in ruins but it's location atop a great cliff overlooking the North Sea made the position an incredibly strong defensive location; a perfect base of operations for the crusaders.

Marching to eject the Alliance forces from the Ghostlands, The Dawnfury Concordant and Dominion of the Sun united their armies to attempt a joint attack upon the Spire. Appointed by Grand Knight Erich Gottfried Manstein to lead the defense of Windrunner Spire was High Commander Berenal Grayblade of the Blades of Greymane, a skilled leader who had proven a great asset to the Crusade in his handling of several covert operations within the Tirisfal Glades. With their forces arrayed to defend their landing, the Alliance prepared for the vicious Sin'dorei assault.

## Battle

The initial assaults upon the Spire by the united Blood Elf-Forsaken host were immensely successful. Able to dislodge the Congregation from many of the defensive points surrounding the Spire, the Horde was able to force the Alliance to take complete refuge within the highest confines of the Spire's fortifications at the apex of the cliff upon which it sat. After pushing the Alliance back to their furthest point of defense, the Horde commanders became confident in their victory and much of their starting momentum was lost.

It was at this time that the defenders were able to rally their spirits, using the extraordinarily advantageous position atop the cliffs apex along with a series of valiant charges complimented by a small cadre of flanking reinforcements to completely blunt the Horde advance. Halted at the perch of total victory, the elves were forced to reevaluate their position, as well as the fighting ability of the crusaders who they had so arrogantly dismissed but moments before.

Emboldened by their victories against the elves, a final charge was called to attempt to shatter the Horde siege and send the elves routed into the dead forest of the Ghostlands. Unfortunately for the crusaders, the Sin'dorei had learned that their brazen actions were costing them the battle and mounted a ferocious counter-charge that forced the Congregation back from the hillside and into their fortifications within the Spire. Though they were successful in pushing the Congregation back, the Horde was unable to remove the crusaders, resulting in an Alliance victory.

## Outcome

By preventing the Horde from overrunning their position and driving them back into the sea, the Congregational High Command was able to maintain its precarious position within the Ghostlands. Although they were still present in at the Spire, however, the Horde had managed to inflict major casualties upon the defenders as well as severely limit their ability to maneuver in the surrounding area; a fact that effectively made impossible any Alliance ability to strike out at Tranquillien or any other Sin'dorei settlements in the area.

Concerned at the danger of their situation, Grand Knight Manstein called his commanders together and issued orders for several strike teams to be deployed in order to secure their position in the forest. The first such team was lead by Mercenary Lord Jarltor Volkein of the mercenary band of Death Knights known as the Pariah Legion. Given orders to move forward into the highly dangerous Ghostlands to survey the movements of Horde troops, the Pariah Legion set out to garner rough estimates of the number of reinforcements that the Sin'dorei were calling in. Thanks to the actions of the Legion, the High Command came to know that the highly trained Sunguard of Archon Felthier Truefeather would compose the primary elements of the Sin'dorei rearguard, thus providing the impetus for the daring foray into Windrunner Village.

Whilst the Pariah Legion struck out on their mission with the dead forest, Admiral Baldrec Ashcroft and the forces of the Seventh Vanguard were ordered to take command of Lord Manstein's personal flagship, the Gryphon Class heavy destroyer known as the *HMS* *Wilhelmina*, and patrol the northern coast of the Ghostlands in order to drive out in Sin'dorei ships that might attempt to raid their supply lines. Whilst the Admiral drew out any strangling elven ships, Lord Berenal Grayblade was given a vitally important order.

Congregational leader was becoming concerned that, whether they should obtain the amulet or not, that a Sin'dorei navy might sail south and drive off their relatively small fleet; effectively cutting the crusades line of supply and leaving them stranded in Quel'Thalas. Lord Grayblade was given the task of infiltrating the Sunsail Anchorage, the Sin'dorei's primary port on western coast, in order to commandeer one of the elven ships and sink it in the mouth of the harbor. Although unaware if the plan would indeed work, the gamble of whether or not the port's entrance would be shallow enough to ensure that the sunk ship would delay any Sin'dorei fleet harbored was considered worth taking. Thankfully, Lord Grayblade's group was successful in their mission and manages to block off the harbor's mouth as planned.

Whilst the Blades of Greymane were sent out to Sunsail Anchorage to prevent the Sin'dorei navy from chasing down the Alliance, several teams were sent out in pursuit of Windrunner's Tear. Led by Ranger-Lady Aeriyth Dawnsorrow, a group mostly composed of diverse group of volunteers set off into the ruins of Windrunner Village in search of the lost amulet. After a lengthy search and several small battles with Scourge remnants in the ruins, the Tear was found and returned to Windrunner Spire. This discovery of the tear, however, soon lead to a heated argument between several of the crusaders.

Believing Ranger-Lady Dawnsorrow to be unsuitable for the job of keeping the necklace safe because of her elven heritage, the Seventh Vanguard attempted to force the Quel'dorei to hand over the necklace. Thankfully, a timely intervention by returning Blades of Greymane ended the squabble by supporting Lady Dawnsorrow and forcing the Vanguard to back down, as well as being sent away from the central portion of the tower where the Ranger-Lady rested.