The Mountain Stronghold is located on the mountain path from Highmountain to Stormheim. The ten Mages who originally built it obtained some paralyzing poison from Venas, successfully incapacitated a Storm Dragon, and captured two Storm Drakes.
However, when they transported the Storm Drakes to Nordrassil, it coincided with Nodradis's birth, and Gale canceled the mission to capture the Storm Drakes. Nevertheless, Gale did not let them return empty-handed and exchanged two Witchcraft Staffs for them.
These ten Mages were all old followers of Gale, from the Bloodleaf and Golden Thorns families. The two families discussed it and selected Fred Bloodleaf and Lynn Golden Thorns as the users of the artifacts.
Due to his Merits in capturing the Storm Drakes, Fred Bloodleaf became the commander of the Mountain Stronghold.
The Mages of the Mountain Stronghold monitored the movements in Stormheim daily. At the first sign of the Mire Sea Port battle, Fred Bloodleaf immediately sent the message back to Nordrassil.
A few days later, several uninvited guests appeared at the Mountain Stronghold; they were Vrykul from Mire Sea Port.
When the Mire Sea Port battle broke out, they happened to be out exploring, and unexpectedly, they narrowly escaped disaster. They watched from afar as Mire Sea Port was breached and the Vrykul were slaughtered, but Odyn, whom they trusted, did not appear.
This greatly disappointed them. After some discussion, they decided to defect to the Kaldorei Empire.
Although the Kaldorei Empire was not the Vrykul's domain, they had long heard from adventurers of the Kaldorei Empire about Gale's righteous deeds for his allies. When they first heard it, they thought Gale was too soft-hearted and not decisive enough.
Now it seemed how fortunate it was to have a benevolent monarch.
The same situation also occurred in Heda'shal.
The surviving Vrykul from Mire Sea Port, Skold-Ashil, and Valdisdall all came. The immense disaster made it difficult for them to believe in Odyn's ideals. They wanted to change their way of life and hoped the Kaldorei Empire could accept them.
Soon, they were sent to Nordrassil.
Gale met with the Vrykul and expressed sympathy for their plight. He first settled the Vrykul refugees in Nordrassil, providing them with basic necessities for survival. If they wanted to eat better or live better, they needed to find a job first.
In Nordrassil, other races were very common. Tauren, Drogbar, Stone Giant, Bearman, Earth Spirit, Humans. Gale's development of maritime commerce was beginning to show results, and Nordrassil was gradually developing into an international metropolis.
Therefore, the Vrykul easily integrated into Nordrassil. They found work at the port, helping fishermen unload ships. Their immense strength was very suitable for this kind of Transport work.
Fishermen were also willing to hire them, because hiring Mages would cost more.
Teldrassil could only provide the Kaldorei with the power of eternal life, not Arcane. In this regard, it was quite inferior to Nordrassil.
After Arcane Energy became sparse, the Mages' mana became precious. If Suramar wasn't on a node of the magic web, and Nordrassil didn't possess a large number of Arcane artifacts that could gather Arcane Energy, the Mages probably wouldn't accept employment for a small amount of money.
After settling the Vrykul, Gale also began to pay attention to the war in Stormheim.
But unfortunately, ever since Odyn returned to the Hall of Valor, he had disappeared, and no one knew what he was doing.
Based on Gale's understanding of Odyn, he was definitely not the kind of person to suffer a loss. Now that Helya had tricked him, he was definitely brewing some big move.
However, the Proto-Dragon corpses in Valdisdall made Gale envious.
The Vrykul in Stormheim were practically extinct, and the agreement with Odyn was equivalent to a blank piece of paper. However, Gale did not migrate people to Stormheim, but only sent adventurers to collect the Proto-Dragon corpses.
Everything on a Dragon is treasure. Although Proto-Dragons are one rank below Guardian Dragons, they are still rare and excellent materials.
Facing such enormous profit, adventurers swarmed towards Valdisdall like madmen. In less than a day, hundreds of Proto-Dragon corpses were dissected, and all the materials were transported back to Nordrassil.
Gale did not forcibly acquire these materials. Some were exchanged using military merits, some were purchased with gold coins, and some were used to help craft equipment.
The artisans in the Forging Factory could openly accept orders to craft equipment for adventurers using Proto-Dragon materials.
The greed of adventurers is boundless. Since they had arrived at Valdisdall, they would explore towards Runewood. Once they reached Runewood, they would explore the high mountains on both sides.
Gale explicitly told the adventurers that the Hall of Valor was on the southern mountain, and they were forbidden to disturb it. But there was no prohibition on the northern mountain, and the adventurers, as Gale expected, discovered a huge tomb—Hovswald.
The adventurers didn't know who was buried inside, but they knew that whoever was buried there must be a powerful being. And powerful beings often have powerful weapons.
Such a huge tomb must contain artifacts, possibly more than one.
With this thought, the adventurers tried to open the tomb.
Unfortunately, they searched the entire mountain but couldn't find the entrance to the tomb. They tried using magic attacks, but still couldn't shake the tomb's solid outer walls.
Just when everyone thought the tomb couldn't be opened, a team of Earth Spirit adventurers arrived at Hovswald.
After examining the architectural style of the tomb, they believed it should be the tomb of a Titan Guardian. However, they couldn't recall which Titan Guardian would be buried there.
The Earth Spirits didn't dwell on this; as long as they could open the tomb, they could determine its owner.
They tried to dig a tunnel to enter the tomb. But no matter how deep they dug, they still saw the tomb's solid outer walls.
If underground didn't work, then they would climb to the top of the tomb. They piled stones to create a staircase and climbed to the top, finally finding the gate of Hovswald.
Looking at the gate, which was as tall as a Titan Guardian, the Earth Spirits became even more convinced of their idea: this was the tomb of a Titan Guardian.
With their understanding of Titan architecture, they quickly found the mechanism to open the gate.
Hovswald revealed its true face to the world for the first time.
From then on, countless adventurers entered Hovswald, hoping to find the buried Titan Guardian and artifacts. However, they all returned empty-handed; it seemed to be empty inside.
Unwilling adventurers continued to explore downwards, finally discovering a portal on the bottom level.
That portal emitted a chilling aura, making the adventurers hesitate. Their adventure was for wealth, not for thrills.
However, there are always some individuals who are greedy for money; as long as they can earn money, they will take any risk.
However, those who went in never came out again.
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