Archbishop Faol seemed to see some future images before his death. Understanding the original history of Azeroth, Aiden interpreted his warnings to several people as foreshadowing their future destinies.
Aiden couldn't help but think of the Archbishop's prophecy about him: that he would bear a responsibility more important than anyone else's—which wasn't unexpected, as the moment he possessed the Heart of Valoran, he was destined to walk an extraordinary path. But it was clear that the Archbishop later asked him to help the people of Lordaeron. Did this imply that he might abandon this place for some reason in the future?
He shook his head, banishing these chaotic thoughts from his mind. Let the future take care of itself!
However, after overcoming the grief of losing Archbishop Faol, everything seemed to go smoothly.
Aiden was invited to the alchemy laboratory, where Singed showcased the latest achievements.
"Commander, we have completely analyzed the medicinal components of this plague venom! Look at the test tube in my hand!" Singed held up a test tube containing half a tube of green liquid. At least in appearance, it was no different from the plague venom Aiden had seen before. "After multiple experiments, we have determined its medicinal formula and created this tube of venom accordingly. We have tested it on animals, and its effects completely meet our expectations!"
Faranell took over, continuing to explain: "After analysis, we believe the principle of the plague venom is as follows: its medicinal components cause the infected's organs to fail, losing the ability to maintain human metabolism, and stimulating the muscles and bones to mutate. The venom we created has the exact same effect. And because the components of this poison/medicine are too complex, ordinary dispelling spells are ineffective. This is also the biggest reason why we previously thought the plague was incurable."
Aiden praised, "It seems your research has taken a big step forward. So what's next? How do we analyze the magical effects of it?"
Drenden answered this question. The short, stout mage said, "I specifically returned to Dalaran to look through some forbidden necromantic texts and roughly confirmed the magical effects. Usually, we believe that after a person dies, the soul leaves the body. In reality, the medicinal part of the plague is lethal, but ghouls still move and obey the necromancer's commands, so they obviously have consciousness. Therefore, we speculate that the magical part of the plague venom is to pollute the infected's soul and imprison it within the mutated body. Then the necromancers can achieve their goal of controlling them."
The Archmage's words were easy to understand. Aiden nodded and then asked the most crucial question: "So, if we can create an antidote to remove its toxicity, can the remaining necromantic magic be dispelled?"
Drenden shook his head: "We haven't experimented that far yet, but I don't think it will be that easy. Because the two are too closely integrated in the plague venom. Perhaps we can replicate the same toxic poison/medicine and cast the necromantic magic of polluting and imprisoning souls to create the same ghoul. But the plague venom is not simply a mixture of the two; they have actually merged into one. Unless we can combine the antidote with a dispelling agent, I'm afraid it will be difficult to achieve that effect."
A church priest cooperating with the alchemy laboratory asked, "Can holy water be used as a dispelling agent?"
"It's worth a try," Dredden replied.
Next, they began to work on developing an antidote.
After Balnazzar's death, the cautious Mal'Ganis immediately fled Stratholme. The Dreadlord's greatest reliance was immortality, but he could sense that his companion had been completely destroyed, his soul not even having the chance to return to the Twisting Nether. This meant that humans could kill him using the same methods.
And after losing this mastermind, the members of the Cult of the Damned entrenched in Stratholme completely fell apart and were all captured by the humans.
After half a month, the second largest city in Lordaeron was finally purified—at the cost of sacrificing an Archbishop, a Paladin, thousands of soldiers, and half of the residents. But no matter what, humans did defeat the plague.
Prince Arthas collected a large amount of ironclad evidence of the Scourge's devastation here. This would be key for King Terenas to persuade other kingdoms and forces to rejoin the Alliance to crusade against the evil Lich King.
On the eve of Winter Veil, Stratholme welcomed the first heavy snow of winter. The swirling snowflakes covered all traces of war and chaos, and the long-closed gates finally opened to the outside world once more. However, the checks at the gate were much stricter than before. And this once bustling city now seemed much deserted. More than 20,000 survivors had been sent to Tyr's Hand before, leaving only more than 30,000 people in the city. It should be known that it used to be a big city of more than 100,000 people.
Aiden left the city with Uther's team, riding his horse until they parted ways in Andorhal. Uther would escort Archbishop Alonsus Faol's ashes back to Lordaeron, while Aiden turned south to receive his territories in the Hillsbrad Foothills: Durnholde and Tarren Mill.
Terenas had also shown enough sincerity. These two territories together occupied one-third of the Hillsbrad Foothills, and were originally the most prosperous areas. However, due to the orcish raid, Durnholde Keep was breached and was now almost a ruin. Repairing it would definitely require a lot of manpower and resources.
Fortunately, during those days in Stratholme, Aiden's Heart of Valoran once again obtained a large amount of energy from the distorted timeline. Gavinrad's death, the Archbishop's sacrifice, and the destruction of the Dreadlord Balnazzar all deviated greatly from the original history and had a profound impact. Moreover, Stratholme had been successfully preserved.
Now he had more energy points than before, enough for him to spend recklessly.
Before parting, Uther said to Aiden: "Aiden, we received reports before that Kel'Thuzad led a group of undead to attack Marris Farm and nearby villages, and then gathered thousands of undead to break through our defensive forces deployed near the Southshore bridge, and then disappeared into Darrowmere Lake. He will definitely not return to Scholomance again. We guess he will definitely go down the river to Hillsbrad Foothills to plot something, or go directly to sea. I have ordered the troops there to be on alert, and the Alliance has appointed you as General, and the Alliance army in Hillsbrad will obey your command and dispatch. If Kel'Thuzad really appears, please stop him!"
"I will, Uther," Aiden nodded in agreement. He looked at Vayne and Kayle to his left and right, and said confidently, "Even if he doesn't come to trouble me, I won't let him go."
After bidding farewell to Uther, Aiden took a boat at the Andorhal ferry and went down the river to his territory.
Singed stayed in Stratholme. The solution to the plague had reached a critical juncture, and they were about to create an antidote for the poison/medicine part. Aiden also left his two tamed griffons in Stratholme. There were professional Wildhammer dwarven gryphon trainers there to train them, and they could also serve as flying messengers between Stratholme and his territory, Andorhal.
The griffons trained by the Wildhammer dwarves were not even afraid of dragons. In the Second War, these aerial knights killed many red dragons controlled by the Dragonmaw orc clan. The dwarves' griffons dared to rush up and bite the dragons, unlike when Aiden first met Chromie, his griffon was so frightened that it almost fell from the sky... So he thought it was necessary to train them.
Previously, Archmage Antonidas told Aiden that the town of Andorhal was ceded to Dalaran at the conference to divide Alterac. However, Dalaran was not very interested in this enclave and only sent some mage representatives there. Except for collecting some taxes every year, daily management was left to Lordaeron.
Halkulas was the mage leader stationed in Andorhal. However, few people knew that Halkulas had always been a good friend of Kel'Thuzad. He was also one of the few people who knew that Kel'Thuzad was studying forbidden magic before he defected from Dalaran. He did not report Kel'Thuzad, not only because of the friendship between the two, but also because he had an unimaginable interest in this evil magic.
So the reason why the two of them could become friends was completely because they were birds of a feather.
Halkulas was also one of the few people who knew what Kel'Thuzad had been doing during the years he was missing. Even after the other party returned from Northrend, he was looking forward to the moment when he would officially pledge allegiance to the great Lich King and be transformed into a lich with endless life.
So when Kel'Thuzad's base in Scholomance was destroyed and he was discovered in Stratholme, his most reliable friend left was Halkulas.
Therefore, after breaking through many obstacles, he took his remaining men down the river and came directly to Andorhal, where he continued his career under the protection of Halkulas.
Kel'Thuzad's current task, in addition to spreading the plague, had a new task: to kill Aiden at all costs!
He had learned from the Lich King that his series of failures were all due to the disruption of this guy who didn't know where he came from. If this guy was not eliminated as soon as possible, he would cause greater damage to the Lich King's great cause in the future. So when he learned from Halkulas that Aiden was about to become the new lord of Andorhal, he began to plot conspiracies against this guy.
He must make him suffer!