Stratholme is a frontier town east of Lordaeron, and anyone who has played AR3 will have fond memories of the city.

In the original history of Warcraft, Stratholme was deeply affected by the plague, when Prince Arthas came to the city, faced with nearly 200,000 citizens who had been infected, in order to prevent the inhabitants of the city from becoming the minions of the Scourge Legion, Arthas ordered the slaughter of the city, which directly led to the forced disbandment of the Knights of the Silver Hand, and Arthas broke with his mentor, the Lightbringer Uther.

This city can be said to be a turning point in the fate of Alsace, and coincidentally, Xue Huan, as a time-traveler, his established fate is also inexplicably related to this city.

Baron Rivendell has been having a headache lately.

As the Grand Lord of Stratholme, the news of the arrival of the Scourge has kept him from closing his eyes for three days. The trivialities of official documents, pre-war preparations, and the arrangements of the victims made this lord, who had been idle for most of his life, suddenly busy.

Because of the demise of the capital of Lordaeron, Uther, who served as the temporary commander during the war, urgently issued an order to relocate the residents of more than a dozen large and small farms and small towns such as Maris Farm near Stratholme and Talonshire to Stratholme, which increased the population of Stratholm from just over 200,000 to 300,000.

Displaced, ragged refugees crowded the streets, and even in places such as warrior guilds, mercenary unions, etc.

Because of the relationship between the entire Lordaeron rear, the citizens of Stratholme have never encountered any catastrophe, not even the Second Orc War, which has not affected this magnificent city.

The inhabitants of Stratholme have become accustomed to a peaceful and leisurely life, going out hunting in the morning, enjoying the natural fragrance of the forest, and sitting around the fire in the evening, telling stories to the children.

But the invasion of the undead was so great that it spread through the streets of Stratholme in just a few days, and as more and more people fled, the natives of Stratholme felt uneasy.

Frightened, people rushed to tell each other, and some even tried to sneak out of the city overnight and flee to Quel'Salas in the north.

Under the threat of the coming war and death, everyone has lost their minds, and if it weren't for Lord Rivendell ordering the Guards to seal the city gates and stop the crazy actions of these people in time, I am afraid that the Scourge Legion will have many more fresh troops.

But even so, for the first time, the city was overwhelmed by the clouds of horror, and the panicked people were waiting for the lord's decision.

At this time, Rivendell was standing at the head of the city, looking at the sea of undead corpses under the city with a solemn face...

The Great Lord swore with his life that he had never seen such a disgusting creature.

Before he climbed the walls, his captain of the guard, Malor, had told him about the apocalyptic army—living and dried zombies, brainless beasts made of different pieces of corpses, ghouls with green hair all over their bodies, and skeleton monsters with swords and bows, all of which sounded like unbelievable legends to Rivendell.

If it weren't for the fact that Baron Rivendell knew his honest temperament as an honest guard captain who didn't like to exaggerate, he would have sent his favorite guard captain to prison as a madman.

But when Rivendell climbed the tower, which was already full of archers and guards, with a skeptical attitude, everything that caught his eyes almost made the old man, who was nearly fifty years old, faint.

These... What kind of monsters are these?!

Old Rivendell asked himself about the many years of fighting, and he had also seen some strange species on the mainland, such as the fish-people of Blackwood Lake, and the moss-skinned jackals of the wetlands, and he thought of those guys who walked on their legs and had green bumps on their faces and backs, and he only felt that his stomach was tumbling again.

But with the Holy Light above, when he saw these undead creatures with pus in their mouths, green eyes, and no intact skin on their bodies, Old Rivendell suddenly felt that those gnolls were much cuter...

He, as well as Adjutant Marlor beside him, and his beloved son, Aurex Rivendell, looked pale and looked into the distance in shock, a foul stench wafted into their noses through the air, and old Rivendell tried his best to suppress the bitter water churning in his stomach, and silently looked along the city wall.

The archers in uniform Lordaeron uniforms held their longbows in unison, aiming at the raging undead creatures beneath the city, but their slightly trembling right hands and frowning brows still revealed the true thoughts of these warriors.

People are always terrified of unknown creatures, even the most heroic Lordaeron warriors.

Silently retracting his gaze, Baron Rivendell gritted his teeth and looked at the sea of undead under the crowd of people under the city again.

Outside of Stratholme was a lush forest, but when these dark creatures arrived, the green forest decayed, the leaves withered, and only bare trunks remained, crows swirled in the sky, and the ground beneath the feet of the undead became barren and corrupt.

Old Rivendell noticed that among the undead creatures with hideous faces all over the mountains, there was a man whose face could not be seen clearly, and he was the only one who could barely be considered a normal "human".

The silver-haired man rode on a skeletal horse with black eyes glowing and a greatsword on his back, and the necromancer in a black cloak hurried along his orders, as did the undead.

But how can that guy stand it... Old Rivendell thought so.

Surrounded by a group of foul-smelling rotting corpses, that guy turned out to be calm, what an absurd scene...

He shuddered, forcing himself to concentrate, facing the sea of undead corpses under the city that pressed straight into the sky, old Rivendell didn't dare to be careless.

"Oryx, quick, you go and organize the archers to defend, and don't let those monsters attack the city!!"

"Malor, you go to the aid of that Boone guy, give me a dead hold against the city gates, remember, if you don't want to be one of those monsters, give me a serious treat, it's not a joke!!"

Of course, no one dares to think it's a joke at this stall, unless he wants the ghoul to gnaw off his head.

With the issuance of one order after another, the city guards stationed in Stratholme suddenly became busy, facing the undead creatures that were twice their size, and these soldiers did not lose their will to fight, even though they were a little timid in their hearts.

In fact, after receiving the first news of the Scourge Legion's invasion of Stratholme, Uther sent nearly 2,000 Silver Hand Knights to Stratholme, combined with the city's original more than 15,000 city guards and more than 8,000 archers, at this time, Stratholme's defensive strength had reached its limit.

Of course, Old Rivendell deeply understood that it was a fool's dream to rely on these armaments to defeat the Scourge Legion, and Uther never thought that Stratholme's garrison would be able to repel the undead, so his orders were very simple.

Guard!

As long as you can slow down the Scourge Legion's attack and give him time to gather his troops, then there is still hope for everything.

Just as Old Rivendell was thinking, there was a sudden tremor at the head of the city, and he hurriedly held on to the walls and looked down - only to see that the undead creatures under the command of the silver-haired man began to become manic, and they roared, and the terrifying screams almost tore the canopy of Stratholme apart.

A vicious battle has begun...

(End of chapter)