The Lore

## ***In the Beginning...***

   Three hundred years ago, at the conclusion of the War of Three Hammers, the old Emperor Thaurissan of the Dark Iron Clan summoned Ragnaros the Firelord from his elemental plane, creating an unnatural volcano which later became known as the Blackrock Mountain.

Garmar was a sorceror of the Dark Iron Clan, and one of the servants of Emperor Thaurissan. After the summoning of Ragnaros and subsequent enslavement the Dark Irons, Garmar attempted to restore some of his people's freedom by using the Elemental Lord's knowledge against him, performing a ritual similar to Magni Bronzebeard's to attune himself with the Firelands, becoming one with the elements to gain their wisdom and power.

Unluckily, the transformation was all too powerful. Garmar became an unnatural being in an eternal state of fire and pain, trapped within a shell of molten stone which thoroughly enslaved him to the will of the Firelands. He became the unwilling smith for Ragnaros' Twilight-armies, spending eternity forging their vile weapons and trinkets. Among them he crafted a Cursed Twilight-Ring, but he also mustered the fortitude to craft a Stone-tablet describing his fate and location, hoping someone would one day come across it to end his curse.

Garmar remained trapped in Blackrock Mountain for hundreds of years, endlessly forging and smithing cursed objects, until the Horde occupied the mountain, sparking the Great Wars.

During these wars, a young Paladin named Tobias fought within the Mountain, discovering the Cursed Ring that Garmar had crafted so many years ago. He and his Companions went home to their families after the war, but all of them noticed a certain unease, as they swore they saw unnatural Beasts of Shadow stalking them at night.

Learning of the curse that haunted them, Tobias and his companions sought to find a way to destroy the Ring and find the Elemental Smith who had crafted it, leading them into the haunted towers of Karazhan for information. Though they discovered the Rune-tablet Garmar had created in one of the many libraries, they were too late to escape the curse, and all of them ended up consumed by the being which haunted them. Due to the unnatural curse of Karazhan, the soul of Tobias became entrapped within his own blade, hidden away in the mazes of the tower until he would one day be discovered by travelling adventurers.

Around a decade later, a Blackrock Shaman known as Farseer Stonefury followed Rend Blackhand, the Warchief of the new Dark Horde, into Blackrock Mountain. Yet as wars over the legendary mountain came and went over the years, both Rend Blackhand and Warlord Zaela of the Dragonmaws were slain by adventurers, leaving the remaining Blackrocks and Dragonmaws of the Dark Horde leaderless.

A powerful Orc known as Goza the Corruptor had long lived within the Blackrock Mountain, and had begun hearing whispers of power from beings deep underneath the mountain. He had gone insane from the alluring whispers of the eldritch beings, and received instructions on how to summon their minions into our world. He rallied survivors from both the Blackrock and Dragonmaw Clans, promising them survival with his new masters.

Goza began hearing whispers of a powerful Ring the Dark Irons had crafted which would summon and control a powerful being of Twilight. Eager to seek out this powerful Ring, Goza began converting the Shaman of both clans into Warlocks and dark sorcerors to aid in the summoning of his master's creatures, yet Farseer Stonefury refused to abandon the elements, despite his long friendship with the now maddened Orc.

When Goza's warband marched from Blackrock towards Elwynn to conquer and find the location of the Ring, Goza found his revenge by selling Farseer Stonefury as a slave to the local Ogre-tribes in exchange of free passage.

Settling in a dark tower near Karazhan to search for the ancient Ring, Goza the Corruptor spread his seeds of corruption, sparking an unlikely adventure, for an even more unlikely group of adventurers.