The Great Thief

Chapter 898 Nathanos Blightcaller

There were many classes with AOE skills in the party. Lonesome Flower was a Mage with numerous AOE abilities, while Sesame Rice Ball, Remnant Dream and even Wandering all had at least one.

The spiders that spawned had very little HP, but their strength was in their numbers and their speed.

After they had cleared out the entire field, the gates that led to Baron Rivendare opened up.

Footsteps grew louder and louder as the Boss approached. As difficult as it was to believe, the Boss was even uglier and more distorted than the Stitches.

This was Baron Rivendare’s number one subordinate, Ramstein the Gorger – an elite Abomination and the final Boss that Lu Li and the others had to defeat to complete the First Clear.

Ramstein was one of the Scourge’s most infamous Abominations, a horror stitched together from numerous corpses and empowered by a ceaseless hunger. This monster had committed unspeakable atrocities on countless innocent souls when the Scourge forces overran Stratholme.

There was a quest for Ramstein which Hachi Chan shared to everyone else: "Ramstein the Gorger lies deep within Stratholme and has brought upon nothing but violence and destruction. You will make him understand the wrath and take vengeance for the countless innocent souls that he has murdered. Do not hold back and do not let calm the rage burning inside of you."

When Lu Li was told that there was a quest here, he realized that the chances of them successfully defeating the Boss had increased from a paltry 30% to 50%.

When Ramstein the Gorger appeared, the System notified Lu Li and the others that they received a buff called Nathanos Blightcaller’s rage. This increased their HP by 20%, Attack by 20%, and also gave 20% Armor Penetration against Ramstein.

Nathanos Blightcaller was the NPC that had originally given out the quest. He, too, was an Undead, but Hachi Chan wasn’t afraid to approach him.

His real name was Nathanos Marris, and there were very little records of him in Dawn’s literature. There were very few people that knew of him as Marris often kept to himself.

He lived in his old and humble home, the Marris Stead in Eastern Plaguelands.

Nathanos Marris could be seen conversing with two Paladins named Raleigh the True and Bilger the Straight-Laced in the Old Hillsbrad Foothill Instance of the Caverns of Time.

The invasion of Lordaeron changed the fates of many, including Raleigh, who joined the Scarlet Crusade.

Eventually, he left after witnessing innocent people being tortured simply because they weren’t members. He then moved to Southshore where he gave out quests to players that often involved assassinating high-ranking officials of the organization.

Lu Li suspected that Raleigh was a member of the Assassin League, but he had no proof to back it up.

On the other hand, Bilger the Straight-Laced was traumatized from the war. He became an alcoholic and was no longer a Paladin knight, referring to himself as Brewmaster Bilger of the Southshore Inn.

Bilger had a quest that was well worth the time, but Lu Li was too weak to accept it as of now. He planned on waiting until Lv50 to attempt it with others.

Nathanos was the only Human Ranger Lord in the history of Dawn, and was a disciple of Sylvanas Windrunner. However, the truth behind this had its doubts.

The High Elves left after the Second War and stayed in Quel’Thalas and Silvermoon City, secluded and separated from the rest of the world. It would be quite bizarre for the High Elves to train up and give so much attention to a mere human.

It was even stranger that he was close to Sylvanas Windrunner and was a pupil that had trained under her. However, the fact that Nathanos had become a powerful ranger lord was undisputed.

Kael’thas Sunstrider opposed his inclusion in their ranks, but Sylvanas was impressed with his abilities and insisted on it anyways, thus taking him under her wing.

Though he had recieved training from the High Elves, Nathanos spent the majority of his time in his home north of Quel’Thalas called the Marris Stead.

There weren’t many records of him, but the respect and acknowledgment that he had received was similar to that of heroes such as Highlord Fordragon and Anduin Lothar.

Nathanos was responsible for many of the Alliance’s victories spanning a decade of conflict. However, after the fall of Stratholme and the death of Terenas and Arthas, the Scourge swept over the once-great nation of Lordaeron.

Under the relentless attacks of the Scourge, towns and cities were destroyed one by one. Nathanos stood his ground in the Marris Stead and prepared to fend off the Scourge army.

Despite his training and bravery, his efforts were futile and he was murdered by Ramstein the Abomination. He rose as a mindless thrall of the Scourge, bound to the will of the Lich King, spreading the plague of death through the kingdom of his birth.

It was a gruesome sight to behold, but this happened all over the kingdom of Lordaeron.

When the power of the Frozen Throne grew weaker and Arthas lost his control over the majority of the Scourge, Sylvanas became free from his grasp.

She succeeded in using her abilities as a banshee to repossess her corpse and became a corporeal Undead creature.

Sylvanas planned her revenge against Arthas, but he fled to Northend. She then scoured the Lordaeron for signs of Nathanos and when she found him, she tore him free from the Lich King’s will and named him her champion.

He was no longer called Nathanos Marris but was given a new name – Nathanos Blightcaller.

Nathanos gave out a quest to Horde players which instructed them to find the Quel’Thalas Registry, but not to read through it. However, players would often curiously skim through the registry in order to discover more about his past life.

Lu Li has also read through the Quel’Thalas Registry, which included Sylvanas’ high praises towards the human ranger lord.

"Nathanos has the greatest potential I’ve ever seen, despite being a human. I’m pleased to have had the privilege of training him."

"For centuries, High Elves have segregated themselves from the outside world, but I will be the first to own up to this mistake. Though it’s true that there are certain magics and sorceries that shouldn’t be exposed to Humans, I will not allow the choices that my ancestors made to continue any longer."

"Quel’dorei and the rest of the races in the world should live together in peace. We must practice our patience and acceptance."

As the commander of the rangers in Silvermoon City, Sylvanas insisted that Nathanos be included amongst the ranks of the ranger lords.

Sylvanas came back for her disciple because of their inseparable bond and the hardships they had endured together.

Nathanos became cold and full of vengeance after becoming an Undead and spoke to players as if they were dirt.

However, in front of Hachi Chan, he was much nicer and acted like a gentleman. Based on her descriptions of him, Nathanos had a warm and kind side to him and he would often play fetch with his two loyal dogs.

King Varian Wrynn of Stormwind once asked in a public event to honour Nathanos, "Do you know how many ranger lords there are in the world and how many humans there are within them?"

He was once a tactical genius and had led the Alliance to countless victories, but now he was a forgotten warrior. Eventually, Varian Wrynn would send out an order to assassinate him. Nathanos will become a future raid boss and would require more than 40 players to slay him.

Usually, players would skip the quest that Hachi Chan had just shared, even though the rewards were quite handsome and included a piece of Dark Gold equipment.

Hachi Chan was quite close with Nathanos and he even wanted to take her under his wing as a disciple, much like what Sylvanas had done to him in the past.

However, he was a Horde NPC and had a bounty directly offered by the king of Stormwind. Lu Li wasn’t sure how appropriate this was.