The two gryphon knights, fresh from training, were given a rough direction by Galen, who pointed southwest, and they immediately took to the skies.
The reason Galen dared to venture into Blackrock Mountain was his theory that Ragnaros the Firelord, deep within Molten Core, was not his true self, but rather an energy avatar.
The Ragnaros the Firelord summoned by the Dark Iron dwarves should have been the real deal. Only the power of a demigod could flatten the central region of the Redridge Mountains, melting the high peaks into scorching magma. After the magma cooled, it formed the Burning Steppes, and a volcano called Blackrock Mountain rose from the ground, with the Firelord hidden within.
The War of the Three Hammers occurred two hundred and thirty years ago, during the height of Aegwynn's power as Guardian. Redridge was on the border of Stormwind, and such a significant, devastating event couldn't have escaped her notice.
Given Aegwynn's arrogant and assertive nature, she wouldn't have allowed the Firelord to break the elemental plane's seal. They likely had a showdown.
As for who won?
Did Azeroth experience any fire elemental disturbances in the mortal world afterward? Didn't Guardian Aegwynn continue to roam Azeroth, even finding the time to conceive a child?
Over a hundred years after the War of the Three Hammers, things got even more interesting. A black dragon named Nefarian arrived at Blackrock Mountain. It's unclear how he chose his secret base; perhaps the Burning Steppes' desolation and remoteness led him to select Blackrock Mountain as his new headquarters.
And so, an interesting situation arose: the Firelord enslaved the Dark Iron dwarves in the lower levels of Blackrock Mountain's Blackrock Depths, while the Firelord himself lurked deeper within Molten Core.
At the peak of Blackrock Mountain, Prince Nefarian led a portion of the Black Dragonflight, establishing Blackrock Spire and Blackwing Lair.
This is why Galen believed the Firelord was merely an energy avatar. The volatile fire elemental lord wouldn't tolerate someone occupying the upper reaches of Blackrock Mountain. The fact that the Firelord was still cowering in the underground magma proved Galen's theory.
After the gryphon knights departed for Blackrock Mountain, Galen saw the initial results of the intelligence division's work. Now that Teams One and Two had completed their exploration of the Burning Steppes, Teams Three and Four could also be sent out on missions.
After some thought, Galen decided to form several adventurer squads, placing intelligence division members within them to travel to Kalimdor. They would take the port at Southshore to Stormwind, then continue south to Stranglethorn Vale, seeking out the goblins' Booty Bay. He would pay the goblins to transport them to their city on the western continent, the equally neutral Ratchet.
If Galen's gryphons and airships had greater endurance, he wouldn't need to go to such lengths, circling around and wasting time.
Another option was to seek out his friend, Prince Derek, and have him find a merchant ship bound for the western continent in Kul Tiras. As a commercial powerhouse rivaling the goblins, Kul Tiras, at its peak, suppressed the various pirate factions in the Great Sea, controlling the trade routes between the eastern and western continents.
Finding a merchant ship to the western continent should be so easy.
That's the plan. Assemble more manpower, high-tier knight combatants, and a good number of infantry and musketeers. Equip them with adventurer-style gear, leaving some personnel at each location to provide Gandalf with teleportation coordinates.
Then, they would advance on two fronts. Upon reaching the western continent, one group would explore the eastern Barrens, the Durotar region where the orcs' main city would later be located.
The other group would head west, crossing the Barrens to Mulgore, first mapping out the terrain. Once Galen was free, he would try to befriend the tauren.
Subsequently, Galen sent an invitation to the High Priest of the Light's Hope Chapel, located in Stratholme, the capital of Eastweald, inviting him to attend the inauguration ceremony of the cathedral in Minas Tirith.
Currently, he had eleven hundred priests under his command, all trained at the Arcane Sanctum in Minas Tirith. Besides the three hundred assigned to the Crimson Flame, Stone, and Raging Tide Legions as accompanying priests, Galen dispersed nine hundred priests to preach and heal the sick in various towns throughout the Arathi Highlands.
The priests claimed to be from the Holy Light Cathedral in Minas Tirith, a fiefdom of the prince. In the future, the cathedral would organize priests to travel throughout the kingdom every year.
Galen did this to control the clergy within the kingdom, achieving a unity of church and state, and preventing the high-ranking members of the Holy Light Church from falling into cults like the next High Priest of the Holy Light, Benedictus. That would be too demoralizing and too despairing for the people.
Galen's plan was to raise Aragorn's reputation, the first step being to make him a bishop in the Arathi Highlands.
The Holy Light Church in Azeroth had this advantage: it was relatively open-minded, regardless of background. People who prayed to the Holy Light in their hearts, whether innately talented or exceptionally lucky, could receive a response from the Holy Light. Those who sincerely believed in the Holy Light had the opportunity to sense the Holy Light's energy and become priests after learning to use it.
Aragorn's ability to wield the Holy Light demonstrated that he was not an evil being, and his strength was also great. Raising his reputation would make him the obvious choice for bishop.
The Arathi Highlands didn't really have any highly respected Holy Light believers, and Galen also had the secret weapon of the paladin class.
The Holy Light Cathedral in Minas Tirith was scheduled to open for public prayer in a month. The High Priest would arrive around that time, and Galen had a month to deal with the Blackrock Mountain situation.
The gryphon knights' flight lasted four days. They truly worked hard. As for Galen and the others, teleportation only took a moment.
The gryphon knights rested for a while, then Galen had them return.
Galen stood on the high mountain, gazing at the black spire ahead. Behind him stood Gandalf and Aragorn. The main purpose of this trip was to kill the king of the Dark Iron dwarves, and he directly brought his two strongest heroes.
It was early in the morning, and the sky above the Burning Steppes was a fiery red. This was due to the magma on the ground reflecting off the volcanic ash suspended in the air, creating a unique weather pattern. The scorching air made rainfall scarce, and water resources were extremely scarce.
Gandalf immediately cast an ice shield on himself. Galen instantly felt cooler beside him and followed suit, spending some gold to cast an ice shield on himself. As he took a breath of cool air, he looked up to see Aragorn giving them a 'are you kidding me' look.
The old man Gandalf remained unfazed, while Galen felt a little embarrassed under Aragorn's sharp gaze and took a step back, standing to Aragorn's right. Gandalf and Galen's ice shields were on either side of him, helping him cool down.
The ice shield couldn't be kept on all the time. After all, they had to infiltrate Blackrock Spire, and using ice magic in a region filled with fire elements would be as conspicuous as a candle in the dark.
To be honest, Galen suddenly felt that this trip was a bit rushed. They had only scouted out the location of Blackrock Spire, but knew nothing about the internal situation.
The only information they had was Galen's memories of running dungeons inside Blackrock Spire in his previous life. Who knew how similar the terrain in the game would be to reality?
Mainly, Galen had become a little cocky after upgrading to a level three castle. He thought that with the King's Summoning skill and some savings in the resource bar, taking a gamble wouldn't be a big deal. If things went south, he could just spend more gold and always retreat safely!
As the old saying goes: Since you're here, why not go in and take a look?
Let's go!