I’ve been watching the auction house the past few weeks, spying the price on Battered Hilts and hoping that’d they’d soon drop into an “acceptable” price range. I won’t say what “acceptable” might be, but let’s just say you’re talking to the guy that blew 10k gold on Runed Orbs to get the crafted boots and belt back in 3.1. Imagine what I’d spend on a tchotchke.

Nevertheless, I ran a Heroic Forge of Souls last night with some friends and on the pull before Brohnjam–miracle of miracles–a Hilt dropped. My vision was immediately hued red as blood rushed to my head and then, apologizing profusely, I hit the Need button. Everyone there knew I’ve been gunning for the blade for some time so I don’t think anyone particularly cared. Thankfully, I won the roll.

Once we were finished with the heroics I immediately dove into the quest chain, ducking over to Quel’Delar’s Rest to start everything then over to Wyrmrest for some draconic hemming and hawing.

Then I went to Dal for the series of quests there, requiring me to first murder a Silver Covenant agent in the city sewers, …

… do some dirty laundry, assume the identity of the lackey I left rotting in the Underbelly, and then sneak into the Alliance side of town (iz in ur base, talkin to ur manz) in order to procure the book needed to move the chain along.

Once those dirty deeds were done I dragged two buddies with me through regular Pit of Saron, Forge of Souls, and Halls of Reflection where I ran into my hero, Uther, who then scolded me for dragging the sword so close to Frostmourne.

I was forced to put Quel’Delar down, but the sword remained whole. Subdued, I dragged the holy blade back to my contact who then directed me to take it to the Sunwell itself.

I knew the quest from spoiling it for myself while 3.3 was on the PTR, but nonetheless, I was having a full-on loregasm here. Of all the races of Azeroth, I’m not so attached to the Blood Elves just for their pretty hair or well-kempt nails… no sir… the lore of the sin’dorei is the clincher for me. The whole story behind 2.4 in particular was always fascinating for me, and produced my biggest regret of TBC, that I never saw the inside of the Sunwell.

Well, thankfully, after a short but awesome event in the Dead Scar and a tussle with Door Boss, I made it inside the holiest of holy grounds to, er, “my people” and was admitted to the inner sanctum of the Sunwell itself.

There I encountered the leaders of the sin’dorei as they ministered over the relatively newly ignited Sunwell. They received me with suspicion initially, but once I cast the reforged Quel’Delar into the holy font, they recognized the gravity of my actions.

You know it, fellas.

With the blade once more blessed by the magic of the sin’dorei, I reclaimed it from the Sunwell and took one more sigh-filled glance at my surroundings. I was like Henry Jones Sr. before the Holy Grail. But, with Demo haranguing me to run an Ony-10, I was forced to bid farewell to the majesty I had beheld.

And thus I returned to Dalaran, claimed Quel’Delar, Cunning of the Shadows, and fell even more in love with Blood Elf lore than I had been before.

Was it dumb to obtain this sword (despite it being a fantastic threat weapon) on my paladin when it could have benefited my DK tenfold more? Perhaps, but I was interested more in what was, without question, an amazing quest chain. It was something I had to experience on Rhidach and Rhidach alone. And, ultimately, it produced one memory I will always cherish in WoW.

Totally worth it.