//------------------------------//
// Enclave: New Avalon 
// Story: Sunset Shimmer: Path of the Damned 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
//------------------------------//

It didn't take Sunset more than a few seconds to return to Death's Breach, where she found that the Scourge had been hard at work after her massacre of the Scarlet fleet, where Havenshire was in flames and the sky had darkened from all the smoke that was now in the air. In addition to that some of the lesser undead had moved a platform out so Valanar could stand on it, allowing him to overlook the destruction they had wrought on the Scarlet Crusade's lands, and based on what he was saying he seemed pleased with what had happened thus far. The other death knights, the lesser ones who were being trained by the Highlord and everyone else, were kneeling before their commander, like they would do if the Lich King was in front of them, showing them that he was their leader for the time being. She, on the other hand, was not bound by their rules, as she was the Lich King's chosen death knight, the herald of death, doom, and destruction, so she walked up to the platform and stepped up to where the Prince was standing.

Of course some of the stupid death knights seemed to think that this was a fatal error on her part and she was about to be struck down by Valanar or Salanar, since the others were busy spreading their unholy energies over the land, but the Prince just held a hand out to silence them before focusing on her.

"Sunset, your actions have allowed us to start our attack on the gates of the Scarlet Crusade's last bastion," Valanar said, a fact that reinforced his actions in the eyes of the other death knights, that Sunset was above their station and she, alone, was allowed to approach him and all of the other commanders without needing to kneel, save for their master, "and some of our allies, Noth the Plaguebringer and my brother, Keleseth, have begun to fortify our forward outpost as we wage war on the soldiers of New Avalon. Make your way to the Crypt of Remembrance and commence the next stage of our war!"

"For the glory of the Lich King." Sunset replied, showing everyone that she was a loyal soldier, which she was, and that she would bring death and destruction in their master's name, though instead of standing around she called forth a bit of her power and summoned her deathcharger nearby.

Not a few seconds later she rode down the path on the right side of their camp and headed down into Havenshire, which gave her a chance to see the consequences of her actions up close, though she felt nothing towards the fallen humans she had killed, other than what could have been glee at massacring them. From there she found her way to part of the fields that she hadn't done much damage to earlier, where she found that the Scourge had been busy, killing and raising all of the guard dogs that were supposed to protect this place. Sunset then found Noth standing in the middle of the field, who had white hair, no doubt a sign of him being risen into undead at some point, and wore a black robe, though like Gothik he was a necromancer of great skill and a powerful curse weaver, hence his position of Plaguebringer. She stopped near him for a moment and learned that he had been tasked with making a plague cauldron, a powerful Scourge tool that had all sorts of effects, such as twisting the land and air to better suit the Scourge's forces, and, since she would likely be going into New Avalon soon, he had a list of items he wanted her to claim.

Having one of the Lich King's greatest followers backing her, and possibly empowering her in some manner, was a boon and she continued on with his desires in mind, where she made her way to the crypt, which was nearby and had specters of death watching over it, before leaving her steed and heading down to meet Keleseth.

"Hail, Sunset Shimmer, and well met. I am Keleseth, and we have much work to do." the second Prince said, where she found that he seemed to look a lot like Valanar, in fact only his voice sounded slightly different, all while Sunset noticed that Darion's companion, who was near him most of the time, was down here as well, Baron Rivendare she recalled, even if it was irrelevant to her, "The information you obtained earlier, upon using the Eye of Acherus, has pointed us to one of our important targets, Mayor Quimby, who should have a registry for us to use against the Scarlet Crusade... also, the Baron wishes for you to slay more of their soldiers and citizens."

"With pleasure." Sunset replied, as the brutality that a death knight was supposed to have had been instilled into her being by their master, no to mention all of the training she did before they reached this place, and the battles she had been in so far had awakened a much darker desire inside her, which she was happy to indulge in.

With her tasks in mind, as she considered Noth's one as well given what he was doing, Sunset headed outside and rode up the hill, passing by some ghouls that were tearing apart a Scarlet soldier, though once she reached the center of the town she climbed off her deathcharger and got to work. Her first target was the Mayor, though what was interesting was that the town hall happened to be surrounded by citizens, complaining about how he promised them safety, security, and all sorts of things that he failed to deliver on, especially with the necropolis hanging overhead. Sunset's arrival, however, was what caused all of them to shut up as they realized that one of the Scourge's monsters had bypassed the guards that were fighting at the walls, but before anyone could run she engaged her power and yanked them all over to her. She wasted no time in slaughtering the citizens of New Avalon, hacking and slashing her way through each and every one of them without pause, and, as per Noth's request, she removed their skulls until she had ten of them.

Once that was done she entered the town hall and found a few Scarlet soldiers guarding the Mayor, a fat man who had to be embezzling money and food, where she desecrated the ground as her foes came at her and dropped corpses with just a swing of her blade. After that she approached the Mayor, where Quimby backed up until he was at the window, not that it mattered since she yanked him forward and ran her blade through his chest, much to his surprise, where the removal of her weapon ended his life, before she found the tome she was looking for, due to it being marked as the registry. With it in hand Sunset left the town hall and made her way over to the inn, the nearby two story building, and discovered a number of innocent people cowering in fear, though such a thing was irrelevant to her as she slashed her way through them, while ignoring their cries for mercy. From there she headed into the basement, slaughtering more of New Avalon's citizens as she did so, and found a cauldron that would be perfect for Noth, so she grabbed onto the edge of it and hauled it back up to the upper floor, transferring it to her steed as she headed for the smithy, where she found the chains that were the last piece of the Plaguebringer's task.

With the chains in hand, which were well made and would withstand all sorts of abuse, Sunset climbed onto her steed and headed out to the Crypt once more, though first she stopped by Noth and handed over the materials he requested, which were transformed into a plague spewing cauldron and, by placing skulls inside, empowered it further. As he handed over a new piece of equipment, a saronite plated waist piece, Sunset could feel the new power in the air, which told her that the brand new plague cauldron was working as intended and meant that the ghouls would be able to hold out for longer, due to the power boost. She stood there for a moment as she gathered her power and teleported the skulls of the citizens into the device, where Noth watched as a flume of unholy energy surged into the air, darkening it further as he felt the power of the Scourge increase, something that caused Sunset to grin. She knew that this would only be a temporary boost, since one had to be near a plague cauldron to earn the boost that it provided, though her actions ensured that they would have a significant power boost for the duration of their time in this place, to which she switched her old belt for the new one before heading down into the Crypt.

"The Mayor is dead, as are many of his people and soldiers." Sunset stated, where Keleseth and Rivendare turned toward her as she stepped down to the lower level of the tomb, though as she did so she also pulled out the tome and handed it over to the Prince, who took it and studied it for a few moments.

"Were you just an ordinary death knight, I'd ask if you wanted to serve me... your power is quite impressive." Rivendare said, as while he and the others knew of her skills, in fact it shocked him when he witnessed her sheer brutality and saw how she slaughtered everyone without pause, showing them that she was more refined than most death knights.

"Yes, and her power has gained us more information: the Scarlet Crusade has three ships heading for Northrend, and next to it are the words 'Crimson Dawn'." Keleseth remarked, something that seemed to annoy him to some degree, though as he said that Sunset found that Rivendare had modified saronite boots for her to take, a replacement for the ones she was wearing at the moment, before the Prince pulled out an ornate box, "Take these persuaders and discover the truth about this Crimson Dawn from our enemies."

The persuaders, as Sunset soon discovered upon walking outside, were a pair of daggers that had heated edges, meaning Keleseth's plan was to torment the soldiers into revealing the information they knew about this event, causing her to place her blade on her back before gripping Keleseth's toys. With them in hand she rode into New Avalon and found some more Scarlet soldiers, surveying the scene of her previous attack on some of the citizens, to which she climbed off her steed and summoned her power, chaining down of them with frost chains while leaving the third unharmed. She then proceeded to parry incoming attacks and stab her foe in return, unleashing the power of the persuaders on her opponent, where she demanded to know what this 'Crimson Dawn' was and told her target that his beatings would continue until she was given the information she was seeking. The other two were observers, witnessing her brutality with their own eyes, though she found that the first soldier resisted the persuaders with all his will and died before telling her anything, causing her to use her power and yank another one over to where they were standing, allowing the pair to watch and understand that both of them would share this fate soon enough.

She hacked and slashed into a few soldiers, mildly annoyed by the fact that none of them were willing to share what they knew about the Crimson Dawn, even though she did confirm it existed since they were so tight lipped about it, before she pulled over one of the two observers and readied her magic, as she had a better plan in mind.

"You won't break me, monster! I'll die before I tell you anything!" the soldier said, showing her that he and his companion were of the opinion that they would rather perish here and not reveal anything about the Crimson Dawn to her, which just continued to confirm the existence of her target in her mind.

"Maybe against the persuaders... but how about this?" Sunset inquired, where she weaved a few spells around her target before using a bit of power to slowly skin his arm, as she was going to flay him alive until either he died or he gave her the information she wanted, all while putting on a show for his companion.

Interestingly enough the soldier resisted her spells to the best of his ability, trying to hold out as his nerves were ruined as his skin was removed before his eyes, but he didn't say anything about this being a tickle when compared to everything he had experienced in the past. In fact it looked like she might have found a more effective method for interrogating people, at least with her powers, especially since the soldier eventually submitted to her demands and gave her the information she was looking for, in fact he pleaded for her to stop, causing her to stop the spell so he could speak. According to him the Crimson Dawn was an awakening, as the Light, one of the cosmic powers as Sunset had learned, apparently speaks to the High General and, through him, informed them as to who would be allowed to head to Northrend and who would stay behind to defend New Avalon. As he claimed that this was all of the information he knew, essentially worthless in her eyes, he did inform her that a courier was on his way from Hearthglen, an area held by the Scarlet Crusade in the Western half of the Plaguelands, as area they would likely attack once the enclave was destroyed, before he died from the pain.

In the following moment she yanked the other soldier over to her and cut him down, showing that she had no mercy for the living, before climbing onto her steed and headed back to the Crypt without delay, where she returned the persuaders to the ornate box and returned them to Keleseth as she made her report.

"I knew that the Scarlet Crusade were insane, but delivering their people to the very heart of the frozen wastes, right into our master's grasp, is new." Keleseth commented, especially when one considered that they would be facing the Scourge no matter where they went, so all they were doing was delaying the inevitable, their deaths and rebirth as servants of the Lich King.

"Perhaps this courier can shed some light on the matter?" Sunset inquired, as it seemed like the logical thing to do, figure out where the human was, end his existence, and steal the information he had been tasked with delivering, since it would allow them to turn the tide against their enemies in no time.

"Indeed. Which means you should report to our other outpost, in a tavern behind enemy lines," Keleseth said, which she knew was behind two orchards, based on what she had seen when she scouted out the area at the beginning of their war against the Scarlet Crusade, so she said nothing as the Prince spoke, "three of our allies, Orbaz Bloodbane, Thassarian, and Koltira Deathweaver, have been using it while you distracted the Scarlet Crusade, keeping an eye out for some of the more important members of the Scarlet's forces. Go there and speak to them, as they might be able to help us find this courier and obtain whatever information he's carrying."

Sunset confirmed his orders before heading back to where her deathcharger was resting, as it was time to head behind enemy lines and see if she could learn anything about the Crimson Dawn, all to bring about the utter destruction of the Scarlet Crusade and continue her master's war against the rest of the living.