Curator Campaign

Control

The Lamplighters

The Curator Campaign was a two-year campaign stretching from the end of Warlords of Draenor until mid-way through the Legion expansion, and the first large scale campaign that The Lamplighters undertook. Faced against The Curator and the rogue Lamplighter Agents of Department Four, Control recruited new Agents to bring the guild back to its original purpose, recover from the ashes and defeat the mad Circle Member once and for all.

The Campaign is something of a misnomer as it incorporates three distinct Campaigns (which are detailed below) which incorporated the same overarching villain and main goal, but took the guild to distinct locales and with changing objectives. It was the very first campaign which set out the guild's modus operandi and one of the main contributors for the foundational "Lore" of the guild that still exists in present day.

Due to the length and nature of the campaign, a lot of the information about the Curator Campaign has been lost or retconned for the sake of narrative clarity. These retcons are detailed at the bottom of this article, and explanations are given where they are known.

## Prologue

The Campaign began with a flashback to "Four Years Ago" in Theramore. The Schism had just concluded in failure for The Curator, and concluded with him escaping Lamplighter HQ alive and Department Four gone rogue. A handful of his top Agents (Moreen Day, Tho'naan, Grannt Ironjaw, Aravae Nightsong and Towick Cogwhistle) were dispatched to Theramore Isle where the First Circle were attempting to portal to safety. Intercepting them beneath the inn, the group assassinated the First Circle and took their Lanterns as evidence of their success. This was not without casualty, as Towick's arm was severed by a closing summoned portal and required urgent extraction. The Curator made contact with them shortly after the deed was gone and had them redeployed to various other missions and facility development, in order to "make ready the defence of Azeroth, no matter the cost".

## The New Beginning and Operation: Light's Out!

Four years later, in the aftermath of the Draenor Campaign, Gladnar Brightfist, Yradriel "Dree" Wyrdmoon and Ishraena Shadewhisper took flight from Hillsbrad Foothills and made their escape from a group of assassins they were all formerly associated with. They evaded their captors and arrived in nearby Thelsamar in Loch Modan, where they met with allies; former associate Aldrych Carlton and a friendly newcomer Sathira Dawnshimmer. The five launched a raid on nearby Faldir's Cove and wrested Gladnar's ship *The Midnight* from the hands of their former associates, before sailing to relative safety in Kalimdor.

Meanwhile, two Kaldorei sisters, Vyrona "Robes" Swiftshade and her sister Elera were also making a much quieter escape from the same organisation. They too spirited themselves away to Kalimdor where they were able to rendezvous with the crew of *The Midnight* in Astranaar, Ashenvale. Here they were able to create further allies; the Druid of the Stag Thondalar Stormleaf, the swashbuckling rogue Amanda, the veteran Paladin Rellay and the enigmatic wizard Harvan. They were approached by Illaellorn Swiftshade, Robes and Elera's father, with a proposal for those gathered to join his organisation: The Lamplighters. Curious about the offer, the collective group were led by Illaellorn to a brazier where they first met Control. Control offered those in hiding a permanent shelter from any further troubles, and to all of them a chance to do good while benefitting from all the guild had to offer. All of the gathered accepted and Gladnar, Robes, Elera and Dree formed into The Circle while the others became full-fledged Agents of The Lamplighters.

Not long afterwards, after embarking upon several adventures together, their antics caught the attention of The Curator who had been hidden from the world these last few years and only now had begun to resurface with full force. At first, he sought to make allies of the new Lamplighters through persuasion and an appeal to their better natures. When his arguments proved ineffective, The Curator deemed them a threat to his plans, cemented when the group inadvertently disrupted a scheme that he was masterminding.

The Curator gathered his resources and created what became to be known as Operation: Light's Out! The plan was twofold: firstly he sent traitorous Agents in to infiltrate Lamplighter HQ in Redridge Mountains, sabotage the defences and kill the guild's financiers "The Powers That Be" so they would be delayed in calling for help. After which, he would descend with an army of demons and Department Four Agents, destroy the HQ and capture Control as well as their powerful Blue Box; the source of Control's might.

His plan was almost completely successful. Though The Powers That Be were killed as expected, they were able to send a warning out to the other Lamplighters, although the rescuers arrived minutes too late to save them. The Lamplighters loyal to Control arrived as the battle was in full force, with The Curator's demonic skyship raining down Infernals upon the place. Two Agents were severely wounded upon the approach with one dying due to a self inflicted explosion to take out a group of Agents. However, the group were able to fight their way to the centre of HQ before its destruction and rescue Control just in time, teleporting away to The Seeker's Library in Dalaran before The Curator was able to reach them.

## The Northrend Campaign

Assured of his victory over The Lamplighters, The Curator now believed there was nobody else who both knew of his plans and was in a position to stop them. Gathering the bulk of his forces, he turned his attention to Northrend where he sought to find the cornerstone to his plans for the Legion; the Vincit Stones. These artefacts could amplify his already potent ritual magics, and The Curator believed that he would have enough power to usurp the Burning Legion to his control and turn it in defence of Azeroth. He placed in command of his forces Warlord Izera; the "Perfect Lamplighter Agent" in his own words. Intelligent, ruthless and enhanced in every conceivable way, Izera's task was to find and capture the Stones from across Northrend and to decimate any resistance that stood in her way.

Control, however, had been monitoring the former Circle Member's movements and when his forces moved enmasse northward, they gathered The Lamplighters and embarked upon The Northrend Campaign. They were to discover what The Curator was looking for on the continent and thwart him however they could. The Agents embarked in secret and arrived in Howling Fjord in time to intercept a group of Department Four Agents as they attacked the local Tuskarr settlement, fending off the invaders to the heartfelt thanks of the natives. It was through this encounter that they discovered The Curator's interest in the Vincit Stones, and the Tuskarr gave the Agents their own Stone for safekeeping. They also recovered an orphaned Vrykul baby who they came to christen as "Zink" due to a mispronunciation of the Draenei Agent, Valerni, and the name stuck.

It was not long before that encountered the Warlord herself, as she assaulted their safehouse and had them flee deeper into Northrend, while Izera took the Vincit Stone they had stored there. Izera had command over The Curator's Legion ship which she was using to track teleportation in and out over Northrend, and was able to track the Agents should they make use of this. Unable to bring in further help quickly, the Agents allied with the remnants of the Ice Trolls in Zul'Drak, the Tuskarr of the Kalu'ak and the mighty Vrykul Fleet which had been sailing the Frozen Sea close by. Through the use of local knowledge, The Lamplighters were able to cross the continent effectively, beating Department Four to several sites of the Stones in Crystalsong Forest, Dragonblight and the Storm Peaks. However, Department Four had already recovered a second Stone inside Zul'Drak before they had arrived.

With help from the Vrykul Fleet, the Agents were able to come aboard the interconnecting ship-city and made battle plans to take the fight to Izera herself. They baited the Warlord into an unfavourable tactical position before flying up to the Legion ship and entering the fortress from outside, while the Fleet's constant fire kept the Infernals at bay. They personally took the fight to Izera herself, wounding her and causing her to fall from the ship, effectively killing her and destroying the Vincit Stone in her personal possession. They lowered the shielding upon the ship and escaped, allowing the Vrykul Fleet's own cannon fire to rip through the outer hull and cripple the engines. The Legion ship could not maintain orbit and crashed into the empty mountainside in the Storm Peaks, killing all Department Four Agents and their demonic allies on board, and destroying the second Vincit Stone they had.

Overall, the Northrend Campaign was a complete victory for The Lamplighters and a disastrous outcome for The Curator. Bereft of resources and without any of the needed components for his ritual, this marked the turning point in the civil war that had consumed The Lamplighters.

## Downfall of The Curator

After the success they had in Northrend, all possibilities for The Curator to achieve an effortless victory were gone. It was also clear that such a catastrophic loss had greatly affected The Curator's decision making abilities, and he made several critical mistakes that Control was able to capitalise on. Over the next few months, The Lamplighters were able to use Control's wealth of information to identify the structure of Department Four, and coupled with their ability to make friends and allies wherever they went, they were able to to decisively sabotage whatever operations he had in place. This led to a procession of humiliating defeats and setbacks for The Curator as each of his facilities were systematically compromised, his allies were neutralised or abandoned the cause and his artefacts were confiscated or destroyed. In one momentous achievement, The Lamplighters managed to infiltrate The Curator's secure and destroy his Black Lantern Network, cutting off all communications for the Department Four Agents.

While this was happening, Emissary Shrae Shadewhisper, under guidance from the defected Department Four Agent, Roxany Cogwhistle, was able to infiltrate his research vessel "The Erasmus" and sabotage the ship internally. The pair were able to steal many prized relics from the floating research facility and caused the engines to combust, leading to a cataclysmic level detonation. The debris from the ship was found as far away as Feralas, and all of his research and his demonic personnel perished in the eruption.

In 31 ADP/624 K.C, The Curator's past as Cassius Revel was uncovered when the Lamplighter Agents infiltrated the Tomb built in his honour after his believed demise on the Broken Isles. It was a trap meant to kill The Lamplighters as The Curator flooded the Tomb with nerve gas as he turned the constructs within against the Agents in a last bid to kill them. While they were able to breach the wards and teleport away in the interim, The Curator used this time to steal Control's Blue Box, the source of their administrative and magical powers, and attempted to use it in place of the Vincit Stones to assume dominion over the Burning Legion from the Dark Titan Sargeras.

With the help of a Sworn of the Bronze Dragonflight, a team of Agents travelled backwards in time to uncover a working Black Lantern in order to open the gateway into The Curator's hidden base of operations: a pocket dimension on the Broken Isles. They plotted to break through into this dimension, battle through his last remaining forces and end the mad Circle Member for good. There they met with Revel's former lover, Kastor Strongarm, and through him managed to uncover both the key they sought and an artefact known as the Ephemeral Knife. This Knife was a windfall for the guild, as it was one of the few weapons which could undo the ageless magic on the Warlock and kill him.

With these in hand, the Lamplighters infiltrated The Curator's pocket dimension within the Broken Isles. In a climactic final confrontation, The Curator was stabbed with the Knife several times and the magics that gave him such longevity unravelled with every blow. The damage proved too much and The Curator crumbled to Fel-soaked ashes. The Agents managed to escape with Control's Blue Box in hand as the dimension collapsed, finally destroying their most dangerous enemy for good.

## Aftermath

The Curator's remains were returned to his Tomb in Arathi Highlands and the sepulchre was sealed and guarded by the repaired constructs within. Warlocks and would-be graverobbers would have a difficult time in breaching the Tomb and it is unlikely to become a pilgrimage site for darker forces.

The remaining Agents of Department Four were integrated into full-fledged Agents, or turned over to the Horde and Alliance; either to serve their full prison sentences in proper holding cells, or to receive bespoke treatment as their needs required. Department Four as a group was shut down, following a vote from the Agents, and though a few were able to escape into the wild, those who remained a threat were tracked, located and captured once again.