(Note: Featured Quest side mission my attempt to explain what happened to Elthas and his people during the events of the FQ)

~Prologue~

Day 1...

The darkness slowly passed and I became aware of the physical world once more.

It was snow...no ash...underneath me. Swirling from the clouds and the sky. There was mass confusion everywhere and when The Great Tree burned down hope faded with it. But all was not yet lost. In a mere matter of moments the super volcano that Lornius hid in it's deepest bowels exploded in titanic fury. I awoke on the ground, far from home having been flung from the initial points of impact of the first few chunks of ash. I was in tremendous amounts of pain as the ash fell.

But I was one of the lucky ones. Coughing, finding it hard to breathe, I stood up and looked around. My whole world was on fire from the ash cloud. I looked back towards The Great Tree seeing a huge pillar of smoke from where the devastation destroyed it. My heart sank. Tears began to swell down my soot covered face, but that was only a brief moment. I heard cries of pain and agony from the village surrounding The Great Tree...my home. Before I began my journey back to town there was a hot wind that came in from the west and something hit my leg. I looked down with a somewhat satisfied grin. My fedora had found it's way back to me. It always did. I placed it back on my head, the trees though scorched and burnt, provided ample cover from the ash. I stuck to those as I made my way back home.

There was panic and confusion everywhere, some folks were hurt and in a state of alarm.

Others were dead and or dying....bit that caused determination in me.

I thought of my Father...

Clenching his fists, Elthas' eyes darted from place to place and he gathered survivors trying to take them to the larger of the "houses" in the village. Forest Elves were simple folk that lived off the land, off what Nature provided. It was all a blur at that point, he kept shouting orders and trying to gather his people into the temple within The Great Tree. The forest elves built their homes inside giant oak trees. It was splendid architecture meant to last centuries...until that day...

After several hours passed, Elthas made certain to double check that folks were accounted for.

"Stay indoors!" He yelled as he went back outside...

He looked up the ash cloud was tremendous. By The Thayne... There was bright explosion in the distance...where Lornius used to be. He could just make that out. He shook his head. The Thayne have abandoned us...

Elthas made sure to give one more full search of his home-town before returning back to The Great Tree. He was coughing the whole time, it hurt to breath. The ash that fell hurt really bad but he endured...he had to. His people needed hope and leadership...another forest was abandoned long since prior to the madness of a Necromancer. That was ages ago though. This was something different...a sign of things to come. Elthas felt his boots crushing the fine carpet of ash and he sighed as he went around the town looking for more survivors. He was certain he'd found everyone...

^Enter here with Elthas frantically searching the forest village for survivors.