Mithrildur Sunderstone

The Fallen Priest
During the Second War, Mithrildur Sunderstone fled from Dun Morogh when the Bleeding Hollow orcs swept through the dwarven settlements. The priest had been awakened in the middle of the night by his screaming infant daughter. His wife had the baby in her arms, and was staring, horror-struck out their kitchen window. By the time Mithrildur asked what was wrong, a torch burst through the glass, igniting the kitchen. All of the windows began to burst, with torches soaring in. Orc cheers and laughter rang through the air. Mithrildur screamed as his wife and child burned. He began casting every healing spell and blessing he could remember, but it was no use, the priest’s healing could not save them. He fled from the nearest open window into the night.

Less than a day after seeking asylum in Ironforge, the Bleeding Hollow launched their attack on the city. Mithrildur aided the soldiers at the gates during the Siege of Ironforge, spending countless hours healing the wounds of his brethren struck by arrows or axe blades from the endless orc onslaught. A plan was devised by Turalyon of the newly created Order of the Silver Hand, and the Dwarves of Ironforge and the paladin's forces launched a simultaneous attack, trapping the orcs in between the two charging forces, ending the Siege.

In the aftermath of the battle, Mithrildur was severely broken from the loss of his family, and had seen enough bloodshed and death from the Horde's nearly successful attempt at claiming Ironforge. He left the city with nothing but an old brown robe and some rations for the road and became a wandering hermit, occasionally healing those in need and offering blessings, eventually making his home in a cave in southern Dun Morogh. He was never the same. Whispers began filling his broken, hopeless mind from unknown sources. Sources that began to teach him of a power from another side of reality. The opposite of hope. The shadow that is cast by standing in the light.

Children would claim to hear strange noises and otherworldly language coming from a cave in southern Dun Morogh, but they dared not journey too close. Mithrildur's pain had overwhelmed his entire being, longing for his wife and daughter, and he embraced the eternal shadow that raged inside him.

With his newfound power of shadow, yet still unsure of where these dark whispers were coming from, Mithrildur set out from his cave on a journey to seek his revenge on the green-skinned mongrels that took his family from him.

During his journey of revenge, Mithrildur's deep connection to the shadow forces grew stronger, and his path of destruction ran deep. But during one early morning, as Mithrildur burned through an orc encampment with rage-fueled spells of darkness,  he was overpowered by three gigantic orcs. They were too much for him, and all hope was lost.

Just then, a ringing blast of a horn sounded as white rams poured from a nearby hill. Clan Battlehammer of Blackrock Mountain, led by King Bruenor himself, charged into the orcs and made quick work of the foes. The dwarven battle-priests among the Clan swiftly set to work healing the bloody and bruised Mithrildur.

The mighty king and his forces took Mithrildur in, where he found camaraderie, kinship, and a rekindling of his connection to the Light. Mithrildur made a name for himself among the Clan, and quickly earned the rank of Hammer, sitting atop a glorious white ram of his own.

With the mighty force of the Light coursing through him once more, and while maintaining control over the destructive forces of shadow, Mithrildur raged into battle alongside his fellow dwarves. One fateful night however, in the ghostly town of Darkshire while on a patrol with a few fellow Hammers, the town fell under siege by the undead. Mithrildur and his fellow dwarves began tearing down risen corpses one by one, when a gigantic Tauren Death Knight stomped into the town square holding helpless members of the Night’s Watch in the air with violet tendrils of death magic. Mithrildur unleashed waves of holy energy, attempting to smite the enormous Death Knight… but the Tauren fixed it’s unholy gaze upon the priest, and dropped the villagers. It held out it’s colossal rune-etched axe, level with Mithrildur, and sent a devastating blast of putrid, green, choking magic, blasting Mithrildur into the building behind him. The last thing the priest saw before darkness enveloped him was the charging rams and footfalls of his clan.

Back in Thelsamar, the closest Dwarven settlement to Darkshire, Mithrildur’s eyes began to open, but the world looked… different. He was surrounded by dwarven priests, shaman, and paladins, all murmuring holy spells, and perusing magical books, casting blessings and calling upon the Light and the Earth to treat Mithrildur’s wounds. He began to speak, but his words sounded hollow, and reverberating. The nearest priest, Pragus Blessedfeet, a General of Clan Battlehammer, told Mithrildur not to panic… but he had been struck down by the Death Knight, and had been called back from the grave by the Tauren to fight beside him. “Yer… a Death Knight now, Mith…”, said Pragus. “We killed tha’ bugger, an’ were able tae knock you out cold… but nothin’ can reverse what’s been done.”

After weeks of enduring the agony and helplessness of losing his connection to the Light, barely able to remember his fallen family… Mithrildur began to test his newfound powers of undeath. The Tauren’s massive runed axe remained in Thelsamar, taken by Clan Battlehammer among other spoils of battle… and Mithrildur grasped it’s hilt. A surge of power swept through his body, and he began to hone his brutal abilities on the local Kobold population, decimating the tunneling beasts that had threatened the good folk of Thelsamar. Like the powers of Light and Shadow that Mithrildur used in life, the powers of Undeath would serve him well indeed.

Mithrildur rejoined his kin, welcomed among the Clan back to the frontlines. Now a full General of Clan Battlehammer, Mithrildur Sunderstone often leads the charge of War Rams against overwhelming odds, his newfound magic of the dead combined with his runed axe bringing the enemies of his King and his Clan to their end.