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Comment by 1437

In order to get this quest you must complete ALL of Tirion Fordring's quests at the cave in EPL. After numerous kill quests and a trip to Live Strath you will go to hearthglen in disguise. Only with this disguise buff can you speak to Highlord Taelan Fordring and do this quest.

You can keep your disguise on for a long time. No need to remove it when he says. The quest is very easy while you are in hearthglen, just let him kill everything and try not to get aggro from the elites.

Once you get outside you will be attacked by 5 lvl 60 elites. He can kill them all on his own if you let him. You will not fail for dying at this stage if you can get rezzed immediately to catch up with the Highlord.

The last part is kinda rough. The highlord will take you to the tower where everyone farms for Crusader enchants and yell for the Inquisitor to come out. Do not attack them...it will take a little bit but eventually the Highlord will engage. He will handle the main guy and he tells you to "deal with the crimson elites". Doing this with just myself and a shaman proved to be fairly difficult. There are only two guards with him but a group of 5 comes down the path and engages as well.

I am not sure if these auto aggro you, or if you can let them aggro the highlord as well. When i did it we got aggro and it was a mess. The shaman ended up dying and even with a combat rez right away he failed the quest.

The highlord basically ends up getting owned and Tirion Fordring (the original quest giver) comes to save the day. If you can avoid getting aggro he will handle all the elites and you will get your nice reward.

If i have one piece of advice it is: either dont aggro anything or bring a full group.

Comment by riotangel

Best is to let Highlord Taelan tackle them to death so do not terminate the disguise and watch from a distance until big daddy Fordring arrives to spank everybody.

Comment by Eliandor

This quest can be solo'd by any class. The trick is to keep the illusion on at all times. Even with it active, Issilen will be aggroable. Once Taelan engages, you can peg Issilen and kite him around on your mount until Tirion arrives (Taelan will eventually attack Issilen, taking him off you). A little easier for a hunter or rogue since they can drop aggro.

Comment by 6055

Maybe this quest is bugged but you can complete it even if you die! I aggroed and died before big daddy arrived, but watched as Fordring utrned up and killed them all. Once he finished the quest came up complete, and all I needed to do was release and run back to my body to collect the reward.

Comment by kreghx

died 5-6 times doing this, so I thought I would post a strategy for warriors.

1 - Just keep your costume on until he gets to the front gate. There is nothing that gets close to killing him inside.

2 - At the front gate, the fight that you cannot handle is one where he simultaneously agros the front gate guards and elites. So, shoot the guards in turn as fordring is getting to the gate and pull them back to him for the kill. Once guards are gone, you can win against elites.

3 - On elites, I tried to let him solo them and he died 2/3 times. Since these are 60 elites, you are going to have a tough time taking aggro on one and living. So, let fordring beat on them for 30 secs or so and then pick the elite he has done the most damage too, taunt and sunder, and take this guy out. Repeat until they are all gone. This is all the help fordring needs.

4 - Just sit on the hill when he gets to the tower, let him die, father win, father cry, you die(at some point). Once dad has a gold ? above his head, rez at the graveyard and ride your horse back to get your reward.

Good luck, hope you don't die as many times as I did, it's a long trip back.

Comment by 2960

Just did this quest on my paladin, and i stayed in the costume the whole time.

Highlord Taelan Fordring can kill everything on the way out, even at the gate. He will get to about 1% hp then use lay on hands to heal himself to full.

At the end just keep out of aggro range and he will die, father will come and kill then complete the quest.

Comment by 11501

I solod this as a 67 pally without dying - you have to aggro Issilen after he kills the highlord for his dad to show up, and once you aggro him it is hard to get dad to take aggro from you, just keep healing until dad kills all the 60s and then start on issilen. If you do attack issilen after that (which I did) he will mind control you and you'll attack dad. If you aggro dad (which I did) he'll attack you, and he hits hard. Interestingly enough it let me use divine shield while mind controlled, after which dad went back to attacking issilen and killed him. Pick the Warhammer it sells for the most.

Comment by 23022

For any class:

Just follow the pally around...do not try to attack..no need to..he will not die.

Did this at 60 on my warrior...just followed the guy around...no problems whatsoever..looked like he would die..but he healed himself to full and kept killing.

At the end..you do not have to aggro...but i decided it would be fun to charge and just slap the elite with my sword...kinda funny really...died..waited for the father to have the gold ? appear over his head...released and ran back. my one and only death was avoidable..but hey..it was funny.

Comment by 66424

As of 6/29/07, this quest can no longer be soloed. The group of four Crimson Elite that meets you on the road from Hearthglen's main gate WILL kill Taelan. This has happened to me now four times in a row tonight. Taelan WILL still clear out Mardenholde Keep and the grounds within the town proper. After that thought, you will have to fight with him to finish this.

Comment by 67580

Prereq - Scarlet Subterfuge http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=5862

Comment by Robyn

The chain starts by doing all the kill quests that this guy gives you - http://www.wowhead.com/?npc=1855 - and eventually you will get to this one.

Comment by Nightdragon

my sister's toon is a lvl 61 druid... she managed to do this quest SOLO and survived with the help of her treants. and she did not DIE to complete this quest.....she lived thru the whole thing .this was the sixth attempt to complete this quest

Comment by Nycteris

Easily soloable. Did it as lvl 59 rogue last night. Did not interfere at all. Stayed in stealth all the time except when Highlord Taelan Fordring died. Lord Tirion Fordring did not appear until I came out of stealth and aggroed the mobs. I vanished and watched him came down the road and spank everybody. He did NOT die. He kills everyone and says his piece before the gold ? appears over his head.

"Look what they did to my boy"

I love this quest line, simply love it. The best quest line in WoW imo.

Comment by Hellreject

Easily the best questchain in the game so far.
And i'm not really thinking about the rewards, even if they're not bad either.

Because this questchain is almost like a "sequel" to the book that Chris Metzen wrote a while back; "Of Blood and Honor". It's the story about Tirion Fordring, and why he became exiled. The story is simply amazing, and I love how they continued the story here in World of Warcraft.

Comment by 103854

the rewards were like epics pre BC only not purple. (Look at the heal ring or tank plate) The quest chain is really one of the best in all WoW. Just do it for fun and crazy exp around 58-60 if you have an alt. Ask any 70 friend to help with strath part.

Comment by 149628

What needs to be written about this quest has already been. I just wanted to say that yes, one of the greatest quest chains.

Comment by 208337

I've been doing this quest on my pally, started at like 57, I'm 64 now, on the Strat part....I farmed it to get AD exalted, then finished the painting thing, and it told me to go back. I don't want to. But after seeing this I think I will tommorrow, just to see this thing; I read and loved the book this is based off (Of Bllod and Honor). I'll comment whenever I actually finish it. Looks epic!

Faren (human Paladin) Zul'jin

Comment by Heekale

The title of this quest could be a reference to a song by the late Roy Orbison, which was given a second, darker meaning in the David Lynch movie Blue Velvet.

Comment by 132990

Do any of the quests award Argent Dawn reputation?

Comment by 130895

I followed the advice not to remove the disguise and let Taelan fight alone. He was owned by the 4 elites at the gate... So he can be killed. Damn... Another 30 minutes lost.

Comment by Malfious

Managed to kill him too fast, thus Tition didn't show, so had to abandon the quest, grab the disguise again and wait for Taelan to respawn in his keep :|

Comment by kosbane

If Taelon Dies against illsien or w/e. And then aggros to you and you kill him. Don't fret! Tirion spawns up the road so DON'T ABANDON THE QUEST. Just start heading to him anyway.

So again. If you kill Isllien, and Tirion doesn't show up for w/e reason, just start leaveing and Tirion is already spawned for you to complete the quest!

Comment by Arikara

I havnt done this Q-line, but me bein' a great lover of WoW lore i can understand why so many ppl think this best qline ever... a pity a better has come with WotLK!
Return to Angrathar (Horde) kinda... the cinematic is imba! it sux Arthas is so easily hurt by the plague tho... hes not 'Dead' really but still...

Comment by Metak

So this quest still exist due to the fact that Tirion Fordring is in Northrend fighting the Lich King (). Its nice to see Blizz didn't remove this quest chain, it has a great storyline.

Comment by Shielda

It's not like blizz would remove quest lines because an npc is in northrend, alot of npcs got carted off to northrend like the quest givers from westfall and even arugal.

Comment by 222579

You now have to take off the disguise when he tells you to. If you keep it on, you fail the quest, as I found out when I tried to do it like everyones said to >.< Very frustrating.

That might not be right... I just did it again without the disguise and I failed it again. Maybe it's just bugging for me.

Comment by 339842

I made the mistake of doing this at 80 and completely destroying the last mob before Tirion even showed up. It still completed the quest but I was beginning to believe I was completely out of luck as far as turning it in went.
Do not despair however if you do the same. I went shortly down the road leaving the area and Tirion was there hanging out on his horse.

I was still able to easily turn in the quest, no uproar :]

Comment by 247707

If you happen to abandon the quest (like I did), just go back to the gnome at Uther's Tomb, get the disguise, and go back up Highlord Taelan Fordring to pick up the quest again. Don't forget to ditch your disguise upon getting the quest again.

Comment by 67121

So if you kite Issilen than Tirion Fordring arives before his son Highlord Taelan Fordring dies? I soloed this way back as a 60, reading the early posts and just stayed in disguise, didn't engage.
I got my quest done, but thought it was the most depressing quest in the game. A redeemed palidan dies fighting and just a second after he dies, his estranged father arrives, a second too late to save his son. ]
Perhaps if I did this for real, in a group, the fight would last long enough for Tirion to arrive?

Comment by 121766

I killed Issilen (im a lvl 80 DK). When i started to run towards Tirion, i got too far away from the "corpse" of Taelan, so the quest failed. Just so you know how not to handle the situation.

Comment by nauana

I was just doing this quest on my priest alt. I died just before Taelan got owned, and before Tirion showed up. After a minute of swearing at my game I released and ran back to my corpse (was very very near by). I accepted rez and was preparing to abandon quest, run back to myranda for new costume, and repeat the process, when - lo and behold - Tirion shows up, kicks some butt, and I got quest credit. Not sure if it's because Taelan never really "dies" (his dead corpse still has full hp if you target it), or perhaps because the graveyard is so close I never got out of range of the event. At any rate - apparently death doesn't fail this particular escort! yay!

Comment by trendon

And, by the way, don't succumb to the sudden urge to pick a flower or mine some ore because it will blow your surprise. Likely, nobody is that stupid ... but I was.

Comment by Ramona

Best quest/questline ever.

Comment by Esteliar

word of advice for the people who are of higher level
Isilien is killable and he will not do some magical thing and make himself immune until tirion arrives
i learned that the hard way because i only did this for the event which i didn't get to see

Comment by 306388

Don't let Taelan die. He can solo the elites that come on Heartglen but he can't solo Isilien and his guards. You can keep your disguise till you reach the tower, then help Tarlen kill them. I thought that he can manage them, I was wrong. He died and my quest failed. Went back to Heartglen to get the quest, WRONG! You need the disguise again or he will be unfriendly. So if You fail the quest, go first to Miranda, get the disquise then get back to Taelan..

Comment by 235214

This is rather buggy at the moment, I just tried to do it:

Attempt 1, got the disguise ok, started q, did not remove the costume as I've done it on several toons staying in costume till the end (pre Wrath), Taelen cleared his way out, got to the tower, I remove costume and assisted the final fight but died, Taelen was killed, I released and got quest failed, but then Tirion arrived and did his usual killing.

Attempt 2, started q, removed costume at hearthglen gates, assisted Taelen on all the trash kills, I killed all the guards and Isillien did his "this ends now" thing but Taelen didn't die. They then fought for a while and eventually Isillien killed him through normal means (mind blast / mind flay) and as soon as Taelen died, I got quest failed. The odd thing here was that one of the guards was fighting Tirion who was invisible (least the target of target showed this). After Taelen died, Isillien came after me and we fought a bit till I died.

~~Going to try again tomorrow and just let him die and not release, see if that helps.~~

Attempt 3, started q, got to hearthglen gates and Taelen died to the 4 man patrol that spawns, only healed himself once - never seen him die there before.

Attempt 4, removed disguise at the start. Killed all mobs, died to the Crimson Elites as did Taelen. Didn't release and Fordring came and killed Isillien and the Elites and did his chat and I got the completion.

Comment by Tourach

Of course, Tirion is there running the show, adding another in a long list of places he is located simultaneously.

I prefer to think he's just able to travel faster than we can. After all, you can't see him simultaneously in all these places... at least not from a single toon. Jaina teleports more freely than our mages -- maybe Tirion has some special way to jaunt around the worlds.

This doesn't explain the old hermit version of Tirion but maybe Chromie is secretly involved behind the scenes. *chortle* Anything to suspend disbelief, right? I agree this is a very special chain (only Pamela's chain to the Battle of Darrowshire beats it, imo) and I hope Cataclysm doesn't eliminate either one.

Comment by karti

my experience for every loremaster-to-be (lvl80):

first attempt:
removed guise in castle (to speed killing things up),
got to the tower, killed elites, isillien was not targetable until taelan died, waited a minute after that, nothing happened (me being 80, Isi didnt aggro)
i killed him, went up the road (as a comment said),
quest failed.
i ran back south to miranda to get guise again, and found tirion there sitting on his horse..

second attempt:
same procedure, except i ran south after killing isillien.
quest failed.

waiting for some bugfixing patch now..

Comment by Squiji

I read over all the comments before attempting this quest and I thought I understood how to do it and what might happen. Just for the record and hoping it will help someone, here is how things went with me (Level 62 frost mage):

Attempt 1: removed disguise, helped Taelan fight mobs, all good, but when we got out on the road with the 4 elites I tried to help but aggroed a couple of them and got killed. Taelan survived the fight and rode off. Once he was out of sight I gave up on the quest; I released and quest failed. Don’t know what would have happened if I had not released.

Attempt 2: kept disguise on and did not help Taelan at all, because I had read several comments that Taelan didn’t need any help and would always heal himself. (You can't help Taelan while in your disguise because the mobs are friendly to you.) Met the 4 elites by the gate rather than further down the road. I still had my disguise on. Watched the fight, Taelan died! Never once did he use Lay On Hands, although he healed himself a little bit several times. Quest failed. Since I still had my disguise I thought I could abandon the quest and go back to the keep and find Taelan, but he was not there. So I went into the manor house and picked up the book for the Heroes of Darrowshire quest. Disguise dropped of course; I ran for my life and made it out of town alive.

Attempt 3: Back to the Gnome to get disguise. Dropped disguise and helped Taelan to speed things along. Got out of town and met the 4 elites on the road. Although I was standing somewhat back, they ALL aggroed on me. I ran towards Taelan and used Ice Block because I was nearly dead; they hit very hard on a clothie. At that point Taelan got aggro on all of them and when my ice broke, I was able to dps the elites and we both survived the fight. Got to the tower and tried to stay out of the fight but I was immediately killed by 3 or 4 elites who happened down the road. My Frost Nova didn’t keep them off me for some reason. I didn’t release and watched the fight because I assumed that once Taelan was killed Tirion would then come; but when Taelan was killed the quest failed so I released again.

Attempt 4: Brought a level 80 with me. When we got into the keep my companion (who did not have a disguise of course) killed a bunch of mobs. Without thinking, I stooped for some of the sparkly corpses to loot and immediately I was no longer disguised. Since we were there I just thought I would check to see if Taelan would talk to me without the disguise, but he wouldn’t. Went back to get disguise.

Attempt 5: Got disguise, talked to Taelan, he started fighting and my friend the level 80 killed all the mobs. Taelan advised me to take off my disguise so I did. We followed Taelan and of course, with the help of my friend, all mobs were summarily defeated. At the scene in front of the tower, we watched (from the woods across the road) as Taelan was killed. The mobs who had arrived and not been killed started milling around. Isilien just stood there. Tirion did not come. I got no message that the quest had either failed or completed. So after a few minutes the level 80 killed Isilien and his guards, and then I noticed I had the “quest complete” message with instruction to return to Tirion Fordring in Western Plaguelands. So we mounted up and ran into Tirion just down the road, sitting on his horse with a ? over his head. I talked to him and he gave me my reward.

I like lore and I did this quest because I had done the Battle for Undercity questline involving Tirion in Northrend on my level 80 druid. I think this is worth doing for the experience and the rewards (at level) or just the lore (at higher level). Good luck!

Comment by Eucep

How I did it on lvl 80 with my warrior. Got the disguise, started the escort, dropped the disguise and killed everything in his path to speed the slowpoke up. Then before the tower with Issilien I just hung back and didn't kill anything, let them kill Taelen. Then when Issilien retook his spot at the base of the tower I took on the loose elites without aggroing Issilien. Killed em and waited a few for Tirion to show up. Let him start fighting, then joined up and took down Issilien in a few seconds. Quest finished.

Comment by LaxLohi

Taelan aggroed Isillien, i killed all other elites. Watched the fight, Taelan died. After a while I was able to attack Isillien, I killed him and waited around confused.

Corpses vanished, except for Taelan, all buffs stayed on him so he wasn't really "dead."

I noticed that the quest log asked me to go meet up with Tirion, map showed the marker a few clicks south. I went the and completed the quest.

Comment by 94803

Aww...this was a sad sad quest.
After all that, he looses his son.
I felt really bad for him.

I wanted to help!

Comment by 555912

I had a very strange experience with this quest.

I read the comments on this quest and kept my disguise on and didn't help him and as a result he was killed by the four elites at the front gate and I failed the quest. After that, I ran back and restarted it when Taelan had respawned and by the time we had gotten down to the tower, Tirion was there battling Issillien alone and was just about to kill him when Taelan and I arrived to help him.

After all the elites had died, Taelan hopped back onto his mount and I finished the quest with Taelan still alive next to his father.

Comment by barthem

for those who want to read the event but dont want to do the quest:

Grand Inquisitor Isillien yells: You will not make it to the forest's edge, Fordring.
Highlord Taelan Fordring yells: Isillien!

Taelan: This is not your fight stranger. Protect yourself from the attacks of the Crimson Elite. I shall battle the Grand Inquisitor.

Isillien: You disappoint me, Taelan. I had plans for you... grand plans. Alas, it was only a matter of time before your filthy bloodline would catch up with you. It is as they say: Like father, like son. You are as weak of will as Tirion... perhaps more so. I can only hope my assassins finally succeeded in ending his pitiful life. The Grand Crusader has charged me with destroying you and your newfound friends, Taelan, but know this: I do this for pleasure, not of obligation or duty.

Isillien calls for his guardsmen.

Isillien: The end is now, Fordring.

The battle between Taelan and Isillien commences. Finally, Isillien brings Taelan down.
Isillien: Enough!

He quickly strikes down Taelan.
Isillien laughs.

Isillien: Did you really think you could beat me? Your friends are soon to join you, Taelan.
Grand Inquisitor Isillien turns his attention towards you.

A minute later, Tirion Fordring arrives at the scene.

Tirion: What have you done, Isillien? You once fought with honor, for the good of our people... and now... you have murdered my boy...

Isillien: Tragic. The elder Fordring lives on... you are too late, old man. Retreat back to your cave, hermit, unless you wish to join your son in the Twisting Nether.

Tirion: May your soul burn in anguish, Isillien! Light give me the strength to battle this fiend. Face me, coward. Face the faith and strength that you once embodied.

Isillien: Then come, hermit!

Isillien and Tirion engage in combat, and here Isillien falls. The impact this fight has is very long-reaching.

Tirion: A thousand more like him exist. Ten thousand. Should one fall, another will rise to take the seat of power.

Tirion Fordring falls to one knee.

Tirion: Look what they did to my boy.

Tirion Fordring holds the limp body of Taelan and softly sobs.

Tirion: Too long have I sat idle, gripped in this haze... this malaise, lamenting what could have been... what should have been. Your death will not have been in vain, Taelan. A new Order is born on this day... an Order which will dedicate itself to extinguishing the evil that plagues this world. An evil that cannot hide behind politics and pleasantries. This I promise... this I vow...
taken from wowwiki

Comment by nonentity

Thanks for the transcript, I sort of 'bugged' the quest when I just did it on my 80 Hunter. Isillien killed Taelan, I knew that Tirion was supposed to appear, but he didn't. Probably I just didn't wait long enough, I started fighting Isillien just seconds after he killed Taelan.
I killed Isillien, Tirion was still siting on his horse, quite a ways off up the road, ready for the quest turn-in.

Comment by qynoi

My attempt bugged out. Somehow Taelan killed Isilien when I ran the quest. He then ran back to where he first pulled Isilien and collapsed. Tirion showed up after about a minute and yelled about what Isilien did to Taelan (apparently dying at his son's hands was a grievous offense) . Tirion then yelled for the now dead Isilien to show himself. I excepted Isilien to appear as an undead or something but after about another minute of nothing happening, I got a quest fail.

My advice - whatever you do, don't let Taelen kill Isilien.

Comment by 368675

In the scripted event of this quest there's a slight Godfather reference as Tirion says the same thing when seeing his dead son, as Don Vito Corleone says when seeing his son who was shot to smithereens.
Qoute in question "Look what they did to my boy".

Comment by Dimonslayer

This and The Battle of Darrowshire are the greatest questlines ever made in all of WoW, theres simple nothing like it, so full of lore and excitement, ill be doing these quests on every character i have and will make.

Comment by cicsly

Just did this quest at level 80 for Loremaster. Took off disguise right at the beginning of the escort. Killed the pack of 4 right outside the main gates, no problem. I get to the tower, and Taelon says "This is not your fight, stranger. Protect yourself from the attacks of the crimson elite. I shall battle the Grand Inquisitor." So I think to myself... Okay, so I stand back in the trees and don't get aggro. Cool. Except 3 minutes later, Taelon dies to Grand Inquisitor Isillien, and text in my log says "In Dreams Failed". Tirion never showed up. The Grand Inquisitor is still hanging out in front of the tower. I don't get what I did wrong! Was I supposed to kill the crimson elites? He said to protect myself from them and that it was not my fight. =( On my way back to Myranda to get a new disguise. Bollocks.

Comment by 147654

This is a fun quest culminating a long chain (long in terms of running...:-p) that helps fill in the lore gaps post 2nd great war, the books, and the expansions of how the Order was reborn and when/why Tirion's exile was cancelled.

Little things like this is what redeems blizzard when they royally screw up.

Comment by Stormwaker

Make sure when doing this quest, to not kill Isillien BEFORE Tirion gets there :/

Comment by lyonyaseryo

https://youtu.be/aHrFZgJt3Zg?t=1m55s

Links

In Dreams

This quest was marked obsolete by Blizzard and cannot be obtained or completed.

Escort Taelan Fordring out of Hearthglen.

	Redemption?

Description

For so long, I have been a puppet of the Grand Crusader. What reason was there to fight against what the Scarlet Crusade had become? It has been decades, yet the memories of my father; those precious memories, they are what have kept me alive.

I have dreams, stranger. In these dreams my father is with me. He stands proudly at my side as I am inducted into the Order. We battle legion of Scourge, side by side. We bring honor to the Alliance, to Lordaeron.

I want not to dream anymore.

Take me to him.

Completion

Rewards

You will be able to choose one of these rewards:

	Mark of Fordring		Ornate Adamantium Breastplate
	Shimmering Platinum Warhammer		Shroud of the Exile
	Fordring's Seal

You will also receive:

Gains

Upon completion of this quest you will gain:

In Dreams

Description

Completion

Rewards

Gains

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