The following is an account of the Scourge Invasion of Stormwind penned by then-Colonel Antegas Lemartes of the Stormwind Guard.
The Scourge Invasion
The early harvest season of 619 will forever be a black scar on the city's history. It began with the farmers bringing their grain to market, complaining of a feeling of lightheadedness and nausea. The symptoms quickly spread, and it was soon realised that a pandemic had broken out.
The the trade district was quickly quarantined, and travellers to Stormwind City were turned away at the gates and instructed to fly by gryphon to Ironforge and travel by tram to enter the city. Two days passed without incident, until dockworkers down in the Harbor began to report the same symptoms. Plague Doctors from the Argent Dawn arrived in Stormwind to try and cure the victims.
People then suddenly began to die. At first, it was believed that these deaths were a result of their affliction. This belief was quickly called into question, however, when corpses began to disappear. Other bodies began showing up half-eaten or with gruesome bite marks. All were decaying at an abnormal rate.
Then, by the end of the third day, anarchy. The dead were rising, and attacking the living. The infected were turning almost instantly, and reports were coming in from all across the city. Hundreds died in the first hours alone, and by the end of the day it was believed that more than four thousand people had been killed. It was then that Naxxramas appeared above Stormwind, unleasing a foulness, the likes of which had not been seen since Lordaeron.
It was then that the commanders of the Stormwind Guard knew that an attempt to hold the entire city would be futile. The order was given to fortify the Cathedral Square and provide safe haven for any uninfected survivors. Refugees and soldiers streamed into the square and the Cathedral of Light, setting up barricades and battle lines in the tunnel approaches. Tents and lean-tos popped up all over the square as the Cathedral and surrounding shops and offices quickly ran out of shelter space.
For Five days, the Guard and numerous fighters held off wave after wave of undead assaults. Successful supply runs were sporadic at best, and many of those that left to find supplies only returned in the next attack as ghouls, consumed by the slavering horde now filling the streets beyond the district walls.
By the sixth day, the Guard's time had almost run out when Naxxramas suddenly withdrew. The Necropolis' disappearance seemed to trigger a chain reaction, as the legions of undead infesting the city suddenly fell, dead and plague free. Afflicted survivors that had been trapped outside the district found their illness lifted. What's more, King Varian Wrynn had finally returned. The people rejoiced, and believed that their living hell had finally ended.
Or so it seemed. Immediately following Hallow's Eve of 619, the Undead Scourge returned. Putrid creatures of all kinds attacked the city. Frost Wryms bombarded the port with blasts of ice, tearing apart docks, ships, and buildings. Abominations, Ghouls, Leapers, and Corpse-hounds manifested and began tearing into the ranks of the defenders. For two weeks, reinforcements from the Argent Dawn and Ironforge streamed into Stormwind, and a desperate battle was waged in the harbour. In the end, however, Stormwind endured still.
King Varian began immediately planning the invasion of Northrend, and the first ships were dispatched with Engineer regiments to repair and secure the old fortifications that Arthas' expedition had left behind. With the invasion taking such precedent, I and my regiment of the Stormwind Guard were called into active service as part of the expeditionary army. This would be the last time I and the bulk of the Guard would see Stormwind for the next two years.