Anniversary

[Agrovale]

    A gaunt, heavily armed and armored man stood before a pair of gravestones.  The writing was crusted over with ice and snow.  The man's cloak battered in the arctic breeze like a living thing, trying with futility to stand against the arctic wind.  Next to the man knelt a Scourge Ghoul which was currently ripping out the entrails of a freshly killed mookin.  Its hands were crusted over with blood and churned guts.  The ghoul didn't seem to mind this and occasionally licked its clawed fingertips when it was not busy stuffing its face with entrails.  Its eyes glowed for a brief moment and the ghoul stood up, sniffing the air.

"Master! Master!  The living is coming!"

The ghoul pointed at a trio of heavily cloaked men riding war destriders, the horses breathing gouts of steam into the frigid air of Everlook.  Agrovale turned from his quiet contemplation of the two graves to face the three men.  Glowing blue eyes took in the trio.  The middle rider was well known to the Death Knight.  Brother of his slain wife and uncle to his slain son, it looked like the years have not been good to the man.  Once broad shoulders were now stooped over a sickly frame.  Gaunt cheeks, glossy brown eyes, and a bald head covered in a fevered sheen.  His broadsword hung on the pommel of the horse instead of around the man's waist as it usually did.  He hacked a body wracking cough before dismounting, eyes never leaving Agrovale.

The man to the right of the sickly one had a face that was a book of his life.  Shaggy eyebrows and a leather, weathered face battled with a myriad of scars crisscrossing his face.  Muttonchops and shortly cropped hair with more grey then black were caked over with snow and ice.  A battered shield rested comfortably on his left arm.  The heraldic symbol was hidden from Agrovale at this time.  This paladin dismounted and drew a broadsword that glowed with a bright, white light that glinted off of his archaic plate.

To the paladin's far right dismounted a slender man swallowed in robes of purest white.  An aura of piousness and holiness permeated his very being.  A staff with a glowing crystal at the top was his only armament.  Agrovale smirked underneath his helm at seeing the two men's medallions of the Light around their necks with scarlet rubies around the yellow crystal.  Scarlet Dawn Cronies.

"Drathor.  Did you bring more bodies for me to bury next to your sister?"  Agrovale unlatched Death's Bite from his back and stood there casually, feet slightly spread in a gladiatorial position.  "You'll regret for letting me live last year monster.  The Scarlet Dawn will end you this day." wheezed Drathor, who dubbed over in a coughing fit.

The two men behind Drathor moved forward and past him, taking up flanking positions on either side of Agrovale.  "So tell me, how is Mal'Ganis doing?"  The two men's eyes narrowed in unbridled hatred at the mention of the demon's name.  Drathor moved forward to take the front position but it was obvious that there was little he could do in a fight.  He leaned heavily on his blade.  Everlook swirled above in darkening clouds, threatening to unleash a blizzard on top of the combatants.

The priest was the first to move, flicking his wrist with an irritated motion to shackle Agrovale's ghoul in its spot.  "I can't move Master!" squealed the Ghoul in fear.  Agrovale moved a mere moment later, pointing at the Paladin.  Ice rose up around him and rooted the holy warrior to the ground.  Agrovale spun to face the priest who was already in the throes of spell casting.  "Your mind is frozen with fear priest."  The spell stopped immediately upon Agrovale's utterance, momentarily defenseless.  Agrovale chopped into the priest who swiftly brought up a glowing shield to protect him.  The death knight obliterated the shield into twinkling shards.  Before the priest could do anything more Agrovale clamped a mailed hand around his throat and squeezed strangling the priest and lifting him into the air.  A hint of frost swirled around Agrovale's feet.  "Time to die priest."  The priest could only look upon Agrovale in horror as his paladin's hammer failed to stun Agrovale.  This ghoul, now freed from the shackles, leaped upon the paladin and momentarily stunned him while Agrovale chopped the priest down like he was a mere twig before a burly lumberjack.  Drathor finally had enough oxygen in his lungs to lunge at Agrovale.  The death knight chuckled without mirth and backhanded the man across the face.  Drathor flew backwards into the horses and was promptly stepped on.

Seeing his friend turned into a bloody mess, the paladin tossed down his shield and sword, drawing out a mace of purplish hue.  "Your time is at an end monster.  The dawn of a new day will see me burning your corpse!"  The paladin said a quick prayer and the ground immediately around him were consecrated to the Light.  "Two can play that game."  Dark runes were scribbled into the ground by unseen hands and decayed everything around the runes.  As the Ghoul went forward to rip an arm off the paladin's eyes glowed with a holy light and the Ghoul ran off screaming "I scared master!  He scared me!"  Agrovale frowned.  "Useless.  I hope a moonkin eats him."  The two knights, paladin and death, rushed each other.  Of course Agrovale tossed an icy grip on the paladin before engaging while the paladin judged Agrovale guilty of the light.  They traded blows, seemingly balanced.  While the paladin healed Agrovale cursed the paladin with a mark.  The paladin cleansed so Agrovale obliterated a piece of the holy knight's armor.  Agrovale unleashed a series of heart strikes which forced the paladin to call upon a bubble.  "Going to hearth paladin?"  said Agrovale with a hint of a sneer in his voice.  The paladin said nothing and healed himself of all the wounds.  Agrovale looked down at the various wounds which bled ichor.  His ghoul finally ran back screaming "I no more scared Master!"  Agrovale turned his attention to the ghoul with a hunger in his eyes.  "You will do nicely."  The ghoul howled out in agony as Agrovale sacrificed it.  His wounds swiftly closed over as frost clung to his legs once more.

The paladin, seeing this rushed Agrovale with a wordless shout.  Agrovale made a motion and froze the holy knight’s legs to the ground.  The paladin called for help and a glowing hand swatted away Agrovale’s chains of ice.  Agrovale managed to unleash a greenish ball of energy at the paladin before the two met in battle once more.  Time seemed to stand still between the two as they chopped and bashed each other.  More the once the paladin tried to heal himself only to have his mind frozen with fear. 

Agrovale dropped to one knee from a vicious blow.  The paladin roared out in approval and raised his mace for the final blow.  With a burst of agility Agrovale rolled to the side and the mace’s impact into the ground sent snow flying into the air.  “It is over now.â€