Hallow’s End: A Horseman’s Reckoning
BEGINS: Year One, Month of October
ENDS: End Of Jump

Horseman rise…
Your time is nigh…
You felt death once…
Now know demise!

Prepare yourselves, the bells have tolled!
Shelter your weak, your young, and your old!
EACH of you shall pay the final sum!
CRY FOR MERCY!
THE RECKONING HAS COME!

In life, he was Thomas Thomson. Knight of the Silver Hand, and owner of a simple pumpkin farm in Lordaeron. In the trials and turbulence of the Third War, he sent for his wife and child to be put on a ship to Kalimdor, struggling to keep them safe. For the next four years he struggled alongside the remaining knights, fighting the undead. When Renault Mograine murdered his father with the Ashbringer, Thomas became one of the first Scarlet Crusaders.

It happened in the days before Hallow’s End. The Crusade were lead to a village, they and the villagers believing it was simply a routine plague check. It was Stratholme all over again as the machinations of Balnazzar drove Thomas to purge the village - until he realized his wife and daughter numbered among the dead. Their ship had never made it out of harbor, forcing them to hide where they could.

On Hallow’s End, back within the confines of the Scarlet Monastery, he went mad. Speaking in rhyme, and believing the world over to be infected. He slaughtered his fellow crusaders and knights until he was beheaded, and buried. And there, Balnazzar twisted the remains of Sir Thomas… Into what is now the laughing specter of the night. The Headless Horseman.

Since that day, every Hallow’s End has seen The Headless Horseman rise - his sword dancing with flame, his horse beating hoofprints through sky and cloud in macabre flight, and his helmet twisting into a laughing face. He rides through the skies of Azeroth, still of the belief that the world is diseased and plagued - and that he must burn it all to the ground.

Every single year that Hallow’s End is celebrated, you must go to the Scarlet Monastery, in the cloistered graveyard. The jack-o-lantern that manifests upon Thomson’s grave must be lit, and the incantation sung. You must engage The Headless Horseman in combat, even as he spontaneously causes his pumpkin-headed soldiers to sprout and assault you, as his horse kicks and neighs in an otherworldly keen. His laughter, his echoing, haunting laughter, hounding your every step.

If there is ever a single year that goes by where you allow The Headless Horseman to rise from his grave, where you allow him to terrorize the world unimpeded, you will have failed this quest.
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If, on the other hand, you succeeded in keeping Thomas Thomson’s headless revenant from riding the skies and razing the lands, then…

Quest Complete!
Choose Your Reward:

[Companion]: The Headless Horseman
	While not shaken of his madness nor curse, it appears that you have gained a modicum of control over The Headless Horseman - enough that he regards your commands and will follow them to the letter. As a companion, he comes with the following benefits:
	+Perks: He bears the following perks, modified to work with him specifically: Coat of Arms (Jack-o-Lantern); Baptized in Fire; Hello Beastie; Mounted Warrior (specifically with his horse, won’t work in any other instance); Lion Assault (stokes the flames in his armor and upon his sword).
	+The Horseman’s Blade: His burning sword, cursed such that the flames on its blade can never be extinguished, and that the burns inflicted upon his victims can never fully recover. With this sword in his hand, the Horseman is granted a limited control over flame.
	+The Reins: His loyal steed, unnamed to all but him, the horse is a phantasm - capable of gliding through all physical surfaces, even living beings. The horse’s hooves are lit aflame, and leave flaming hoofprints everywhere - even in the sky. For yes, the horse is capable of a rough form of flight via galloping through the air.
	+Soldiers Arise!: His personal retinue, the Horseman may summon up a group of ten burning Jack-o-Lanterns at a given time - the living, burning, pumpkin-soldiers following his own orders until death.


OR


Become the Horseman
Thomas Thomson laid to rest, it appears the legacy of the Headless Horseman will live on. You receive the same tools with which the Horseman terrorized Azeroth:
	+The Horseman’s Blade: His burning sword, it appears that you have lost the curse that burnt victims never fully recover. However, it appears that the flames along the blade - almost acknowledging that something’s amiss - now grant the blade a minor effect similar to an Artifact: You may now feed magical items, relics, old fetishes, and remnants, to feed the blade like you would any of the legitimate Artifacts for purchase. It will take an ungodly amount of ‘artifact power’ to bring The Horseman’s Blade up to par, but the possibilities do exist.
	+The Reins: Neighing and nuzzling at your hand, it becomes clear that the Horseman’s steed is now yours to command - with all of the qualities still maintained.
	+The Horseman’s Helm: Empty and lifeless, the helmet will begin to glow a deep, wicked green, and its facial features will move again, if you don the helmet. Your voice is magnified while wearing the helm, giving it a deep, haunting echo - which has an EXCELLENT effect on any maniacal, evil, or similar-sounding laughter. As well, should you be decapitated while wearing this helm, you won’t die immediately. Your head will simply be trapped in the helmet, floating until you can reunite with your neck.