Recaps

Daelin lured the Red Dragonflight into a magical trap and destroyed the Dragonblood Orc fleet and the attacking Dragons. As Jaina and Aegwynn watched, a corpse ship rose from the Maelstrom and turned its many eyes toward them.

• Alexstrasza ordered Vaelastrasz to send a hundred Adult Red Dragons to rescue Thrall and punish Daelin.
• Thrall's fleet remained trapped among reefs while Daelin's slow bombardment drove Dragonblood Orcs to leap into the sea.
• Vaelastrasz suspected a trap, but the Red Dragons attacked the Kul Tiras fleet after Eitrigg welcomed their arrival.
• Daelin's Silver Necklace activated the magic beneath the sea, which dragged the Red Dragons into the encirclement, where Kul Tiras warships killed or wounded them.
• Thrall escaped with Eitrigg and a few guards using his Portal Scroll, while Daelin mourned Derek and declared his revenge complete.
• A whirlpool swallowed the wreckage, then a ship built from Dragonblood Orc and Dragonkin remains rose from the water and stared at Jaina and Aegwynn.

Aegwynn, the Red Dragon Queen, and Archimonde investigated the mysterious Dragon-Orc Corpse Ship and tried to understand who had used Fel to create it. Archimonde suspected the Highborne were behind the sea battle, but Sen'jin’s letter persuaded him that Elune had influenced the Troll leader, so he ordered an all-out assault on the Scourge.

• Aegwynn recognized Fel magic in the Dragon-Orc Corpse Ship, warned Jaina that an unexpected enemy might be involved, and left the human fleet unharmed.
• After hearing Vaelastrasz’s report, the Red Dragon Queen suspected Daelin had allied with the Burning Legion and ordered Vaelastrasz to watch its movements.
• Thrall exaggerated the Red Dragonflight’s role in the battle, then accepted Archimonde’s order to secure the Darkspear Tribe’s surrender.
• Mannoroth told Archimonde about the Dragon-Orc Corpse Ship, and Archimonde suspected the Highborne had staged the battle as a smokescreen.
• Archimonde read Sen'jin’s letter and concluded that Elune’s influence had emboldened him to oppose the Orcs, then ordered the Burning Legion to attack the Scourge.

Sylvanas led the Scourge against the Burning Legion at Shadow Valley, but the Legion’s tactics and strength overwhelmed her forces. As the battle intensified, she realized the Scourge was suffering catastrophic losses and had no clear way to win.

• Sylvanas assessed the Legion’s superior troops and equipment, and Kel'Thuzad gave her a magical necklace that could help locate and teleport her to safety.
• Sylvanas ambushed Kaz'rogal’s vanguard in Shadow Valley and committed five hundred thousand Scourge soldiers to the attack.
• Kaz'rogal’s Doomguards used Fel Fire to burn through the Scourge assault, while Azgalor’s Felguards and other Legion armies rushed toward the valley.
• Sylvanas divided her forces to intercept the approaching Legion armies, then attacked when the Fel Fire went out.
• Sylvanas watched Doomguards cut down Abominations and Ghouls, and recognized that the Scourge was far weaker than the Legion.

After the Scourge’s first army was destroyed, Sylvanas and Kel'Thuzad led successive forces in a war of attrition against the Burning Legion. The chapter left Sylvanas confronting an unfamiliar new generation of Scourge soldiers as Anub'arak joined the fight.

• The Burning Legion annihilated the Scourge’s first five hundred thousand soldiers, but Sylvanas and Kel'Thuzad escaped to the Altar of Heroes and recovered.
• Falric and Marwyn brought Sylvanas and Kel'Thuzad to a fresh army of five hundred thousand soldiers waiting in Black Valley Town.
• Sylvanas discovered that the new Scourge soldiers did not remember their names, then led them into battle against the Burning Legion.
• Kel'Thuzad revealed Arthas’s attrition strategy as the Scourge used repeated armies, undead mages, and tunnels to deny the Legion rest.
• Anub'arak announced that a new generation of Scourge soldiers had joined the war, and Sylvanas saw that the Ghouls and Crypt Fiends had changed.

Sylvanas and Kel'Thuzad deployed an evolved generation of Scourge soldiers against the Burning Legion, while Arthas stayed hidden. After a month of relentless fighting left the Legion exhausted, Archimonde took command and ordered a retreat to Dalaran.

• Sylvanas questioned Anub'arak about the Scourge's transformed soldiers, and Kel'Thuzad explained that their evolution was only beginning before ordering her to start the battle.
• Archimonde grew suspicious after the Burning Legion spent nearly a month killing millions of Scourge soldiers without ending the war, so he went to the front.
• Mannoroth told Archimonde that he had been fighting without rest and warned him that the Scourge's apparent commanders were illusions.
• Archimonde joined the battle and found the Legion exhausted, while the evolved Undead soldiers managed to hold their ground and push back.
• Archimonde decided to withdraw the Burning Legion to Dalaran behind its Magic Shield so its soldiers could rest.

The Burning Legion retreated to Dalaran after its defeat, only to discover that its Fel Forge was nearly out of fuel and suspend its war against the Scourge. In the Echo Isles, Sen'jin learned of the Legion's crisis and considered how to use it against Thrall's Orcs, though he wanted more than simply to wait them out.

• The Burning Legion recovered behind Dalaran's Fel shield, then learned its Forge was nearly out of souls and paused its campaign against the Scourge.
• Archimonde reassured the Legion's generals that more souls would arrive, while Robbie recognized the Forge's predicament as an opportunity.
• Thrall's Orcs massacred more than fifty thousand Darkspear Trolls for provisions, and Archimonde allowed the slaughter to continue.
• Sen'jin secretly sought help from the Murlocs and Kul Tiras, but feared the Burning Legion and did not act against Thrall.
• Robbie arranged for the high priest to tell Sen'jin that the Burning Legion might soon withdraw, and Sen'jin agreed to hold his Royal Palace before declaring the plan insufficient.

Sen'jin killed his high priest and plotted with Thrall to seize Kul Tiras for the Burning Legion, while Robbie alerted Daelin to the scheme. Thrall pressured Sen'jin's heir Khorium to help add the Zandalari Empire to their plans, leaving Khorium trapped between the Orcs and his people.

• Sen'jin rejected the high priest's warning, killed him, and ate his heart before deciding to target Kul Tiras with Thrall.
• Robbie watched Sen'jin through the Eye of C'Thun and planned to warn Daelin by letter.
• Sen'jin sent Khorium to negotiate with Thrall, treating the mission as a test of his heir.
• Thrall served Khorium meat from his bound Zandalari Troll fiancée and described how cruelty would make Trolls fear and submit to Orcs.
• Thrall said Kul Tiras alone would not be enough and asked Khorium how to bring the Zandalari Empire into their scheme.

Thrall terrorized Khorium and then manipulated Rokhan into helping him deal with the threat to the Darkspear Tribe. He offered Rokhan Orc blood essence as a way for the Trolls to gain Fel power, leaving Rokhan with a possible means to save his people.

• Thrall frightened Khorium with the torture and cooking of a Troll woman, and Khorium fled without agreeing to lure the Zandalari into a trap.
• Thrall summoned Rokhan, who had fled Sen'jin after his betrayal was exposed and his family was killed.
• Rokhan warned Thrall that Daelin was difficult to ambush because of his instincts and cunning, but said Daelin's concern for his loved ones could be exploited.
• Thrall told Rokhan that Archimonde planned to sacrifice three hundred thousand Darkspear tribespeople and claimed a Legion Portal was being prepared on the Echo Isles.
• Rokhan agreed that Sen'jin would accept Fel power, but Thrall said he lacked a Pit Lord and could not risk Archimonde's anger.
• Thrall revealed a vial of Orc blood essence and said it contained the power of Fel.

Thrall pressured Rokhan to use Orc blood essence against the Darkspear Tribe, while Vol'jin revealed his ambition to rule after its destruction. Terrified and disillusioned, Rokhan agreed to Thrall's terms.

• Thrall gave Rokhan a vial of Orc blood essence and told him to use it to grant the Darkspear Tribe Fel power, while Rokhan suspected it would cause a plague.
• Rokhan weighed whether to obey, refuse, or flee, but realized Thrall was watching him too closely to escape.
• Vol'jin visited Rokhan and argued that the Darkspear Tribe was doomed, then admitted Thrall had promised him the chieftainship after its destruction.
• Vol'jin said he wanted power more than the survival of the Darkspear Tribe, and Rokhan recognized that he planned to rally wandering Trolls afterward.
• Fearing that Thrall would torture and eat him, Rokhan agreed to Thrall's terms, and Vol'jin praised him for betraying his people.

Sen'jin tried to trap Daelin's fleet in Tidal Bay, but Thrall had deceived him and led the Orc army against him instead. Sen'jin's fifty thousand Darkspear troops faced a surprise attack from one hundred thousand Orcs.

• Sen'jin planned to lure Daelin's navy into Tidal Bay and trap it between the Darkspear Trolls and the Orcs.
• The Kul Tiras fleet destroyed the Orc transports, and Thrall's envoys accused Sen'jin of betraying their alliance.
• After learning Daelin's fleet had entered Tidal Bay, Sen'jin led fifty thousand Darkspear troops there to attack it.
• Khorium praised Thrall and the Orcs out of fear, while Sen'jin dismissed his own misgivings and hoped to win Archimonde's favor.
• Sen'jin saw Kul Tiras flags on troop transports in the mist, then discovered that Thrall's one hundred thousand Orcs were charging from behind.

Thrall’s Orcs routed the Darkspear Trolls, forcing Sen'jin to flee into the Death Tunnel while his sons died defending him. Inside, Sen'jin sought Bwonsamdi’s help, but the god mocked him for bringing the Orcs to the Echo Isles.

• Thrall led the Orcs in a surprise attack that slaughtered the Darkspear forces, while Sen'jin escaped toward the Death Tunnel with Adamantite and Eternium.
• Sen'jin performed a ritual to open the tunnel as his sons and the remaining Darkspear warriors defended him; Saurfang killed Adamantite and Eternium was cut down by Orc soldiers.
• Sen'jin entered the Death Tunnel after the Darkspear defenders fell, and the Orcs abandoned their attempts to follow when their scouts went silent.
• Sen'jin learned that Bwonsamdi had long been free and had tormented the souls of the Sen'jin family inside the tunnel.
• Sen'jin prayed at Bwonsamdi’s altar for help saving the Darkspear Tribe, but Bwonsamdi rebuked him for bringing the Orcs to their home.

Sen'jin rejected the Soul God's offer to stay away and returned to lead the Darkspear Tribe, while Zalazane briefly seized power to defend the tribe from Thrall. Sen'jin regained the chieftainship and purged Zalazane's supporters, but a plague then broke out in the Troll Royal Palace.

• The Soul God told Sen'jin that the Darkspear Tribe might survive if he stayed away, but Sen'jin chose to return through the Portal and face the danger with his people.
• After Thrall's forces destroyed fifty thousand Darkspear elites and Sen'jin disappeared, his illegitimate sons fought over succession as Thrall marched on the Royal Palace.
• Zalazane used dark magic to control Sen'jin's illegitimate sons, took the chieftainship, and organized the Darkspear Tribe's defenses, forcing Thrall to withdraw.
• Sen'jin emerged from the Portal in the Royal Palace, and Zalazane relinquished the chieftainship and fled to prevent internal strife.
• Sen'jin regained power and slaughtered tens of thousands of Zalazane's supporters, but a plague broke out in the Troll Royal Palace.

Sen'jin contained the plague and held the Darkspear Royal Palace against Thrall's Orcs, while Thrall forced Vol'jin to help infiltrate it. Varimathras entered the palace with Vol'jin and proposed using Sen'jin's hunger for power to turn the situation to their advantage.

• Sen'jin isolated roughly twenty thousand plague-infected Trolls and defended the Royal Palace, rejecting Thrall's offer to set aside their grievances.
• Thrall's attacks failed, and his attempt to send Sen'jin an Orc woman ended with Sen'jin cooking and eating her.
• Thrall threatened Vol'jin and Rokhan, then accepted Vol'jin's plan to use the Kukan Family's access to the palace side gate.
• Varimathras, disguised as Heijin, offered to accompany Vol'jin and keep him from escaping, and Thrall promised Vol'jin the Darkspear Warchief title if the plan succeeded.
• Varimathras and Vol'jin entered the palace disguised as Troll fishermen seeking refuge, but Varimathras warned that the Kukan Family might not trust Vol'jin and proposed using Sen'jin's ambition instead.

Varimathras forced Vol'jin to help frame the Kukan Family as traitors so they would turn to the Orcs, threatening him with torment until he agreed. After the plan set Sen'jin's guards against the Kukan Family, Vol'jin escaped and was unexpectedly allowed to leave by Sen'jin's command.

• Varimathras threatened Vol'jin with eternal torment until Vol'jin agreed to meet the Kukan Family and help turn them against Sen'jin.
• The Kukan Family betrayed Vol'jin, so he visited a disgraced former family elder and secretly prepared an escape.
• Varimathras alerted Sen'jin and the Kukan patriarch, causing both groups to converge on the old drunkard's residence.
• Sen'jin's elite guards defeated the Kukan Family, and the patriarch fled to lead his people away.
• Vol'jin escaped through a window and a dog hole, but Darkspear Guards surrounded him.
• A Troll officer identified Vol'jin and announced that Sen'jin had ordered him allowed to leave.

Vol'jin discovered that the Kukan Family planned to seek refuge with the Scourge and decided to intervene, believing he could thwart Varimathras's scheme and change the war's course. He confronted the Kukan patriarch, claiming he had come to save the family.

• Vol'jin left Sen'jin's palace and hid in a ruined town after being released.
• The Kukan patriarch and his kin discussed fleeing to the Zandalari Empire, the Amani Tribe, or the Scourge, and chose the Scourge.
• Vol'jin realized the Kukan Family's plan could disrupt Varimathras's scheme and help defeat the Burning Legion.
• Vol'jin stepped out of hiding and accused the patriarch of dooming his kin.
• The Kukan patriarch calmed his armed relatives and demanded that Vol'jin explain himself, and Vol'jin claimed he was saving them.

Vol'jin convinced the Kukan Family that Sen'jin had betrayed the Darkspear Tribe and that he had saved them, then led them toward the Orcs' camp after they agreed to join the Burning Legion. Thrall and Varimathras remained troubled in the main camp, having discovered that the Kukan patriarch they had rescued was a fake.

• Vol'jin questioned the old Kukan patriarch about Sen'jin's escape, then spun a false story that Sen'jin had betrayed the Darkspear Tribe to Thrall.
• Vol'jin claimed that Thrall and Sen'jin were plotting to eliminate the tribe's noble families and that he had brought the Kukan Family's losses upon them to warn them.
• Vol'jin persuaded the old patriarch that Sen'jin would not dare kill him because he held a position in the Burning Legion equal to Thrall's, and warned the Kukan Family against joining the Scourge.
• The old patriarch and his clansmen apologized, pleaded for Vol'jin's help, and swore that the Kukan Family would join the Burning Legion.
• Vol'jin agreed to take the Kukan Family to the Orcs' camp, while Thrall and Varimathras worried that the Kukan patriarch they had rescued was a fake.

Thrall and Varimathras planned to use the destruction of the Darkspear Tribe to sow discord among Azeroth’s peoples, and Vol'jin helped them obtain the Kukan Family’s secret passage into the Troll Royal Palace. Robbie warned Sen'jin about the plot and Vol'jin’s betrayal, but Sen'jin burned the letter, leaving his response uncertain.

• Varimathras explained that destroying the Darkspear Tribe would give the Legion a pretext to drive the Orcs into Azeroth’s allied forces and expose potential allies.
• Vol'jin returned with the Kukan Family head, and Thrall killed him before forcing the family’s elites to reveal the secret passage into the Troll Royal Palace.
• Thrall ordered the Kukan Family’s elites killed and treated Vol'jin as one of their own.
• Robbie learned about the secret passage through the Eye of C'Thun and sent Sen'jin a letter detailing its location and Vol'jin’s role in the betrayal.
• Sen'jin read Robbie’s letter, sat in thought, then burned it.

Thrall’s Orcs destroyed the Darkspear Tribe while Sen'jin escaped, and Vol'jin rebuilt the tribe with wandering Trolls. Guided by Bwonsamdi, Vol'jin confronted Sen'jin, who revealed that he was Vol'jin’s father and had sacrificed the tribe for his son’s future.

• Thrall’s Orcs set fires inside the Royal Palace, broke through the Darkspear defenses, and massacred the tribe while Sen'jin escaped with five trusted subordinates.
• Robbie followed Sen'jin to a stocked cave hideout as the Orcs hunted down survivors across the Echo Isles.
• Vol'jin and Rokhan gathered wandering Trolls and founded a new Darkspear Tribe, while Rokhan lamented that the original people had been lost.
• Bwonsamdi told Vol'jin where Sen'jin was hiding and advised him to invent a convincing story about Sen'jin’s death.
• Vol'jin confronted Sen'jin in the cave, and Sen'jin revealed that he was Vol'jin’s father and had acted for Vol'jin’s future.

Vol'jin nearly killed Sen'jin after hearing that Sen'jin was his father, but Bwonsamdi exposed the story as a deception and revealed Sen'jin's plan to take over Vol'jin's body. Bwonsamdi placed their souls on a set of Scales and declared that the one with the darker heart would win Vol'jin's body.

• Sen'jin told Vol'jin that he was his father, that Vol'jin's mother was a Zandalari Priest, and that he had switched the babies to protect him.
• Vol'jin dropped his Warglaives and wept, unable to kill Sen'jin, but then Bwonsamdi revealed that Sen'jin had been acting.
• Poison from the cave's fire incapacitated Vol'jin and his subordinates, and Sen'jin killed the subordinates while explaining that he needed Vol'jin as a vessel.
• Bwonsamdi revealed that he was both the Soul God and the Troll Death God, and that he had orchestrated the conflict between Sen'jin and Vol'jin.
• Bwonsamdi placed Sen'jin's and Vol'jin's souls on black Scales and set their contest to determine who would possess Vol'jin's body.

Vol'jin and Sen'jin fought over whose soul would survive, and their mutual destruction produced a cunning new Vol'jin who killed Sen'jin and returned with his head. With the Orcs stranded on the Echo Isles after the Burning Legion disowned them, the new Vol'jin proposed using the captive Chen Stormstout as a way to seek help from Jaina.

• Vol'jin and Sen'jin struggled against the balance's pull, then fell together into its black hole after Sen'jin insulted Vol'jin's mother.
• A dark new soul entered Vol'jin's body, killed Sen'jin, and swore that Azeroth would belong to him.
• Vol'jin returned to the Orc camp with Sen'jin's head, while the Burning Legion declared the Orcs traitors and ordered Thrall hunted.
• Thrall worried that Kul Tiras's navy blocked the Orc fleet from reaching Kalimdor and asked Varimathras for an escort, but Varimathras refused.
• Vol'jin dismissed the idea that Jaina could persuade Daelin to help and asked Zul'jin about the captive Chen Stormstout.
• Zul'jin revealed that he had starved Chen for three days and planned to cook him and make a coat from his hide.

Vol'jin persuaded Thrall that Pandaren beliefs could be exploited to secure food and transport for the Orcs' landing in Kalimdor. Chen Stormstout remained captive, hungry and confused about why the Orcs he admired planned to eat him.

• Vol'jin warned Thrall that feeding the Orcs in Kalimdor would be difficult because its nomadic peoples could flee, and Varimathras agreed that the army needed reliable provisions.
• Vol'jin explained that Pandaren stubbornness and their belief that Thrall was Azeroth's savior could make them ignore evidence against the Orcs.
• Vol'jin revealed that Pandaria's twelve giant turtles could carry the army across the sea and become provisions, and proposed using letters from Chen Stormstout to lure the Pandaren to them.
• Thrall put Chen Stormstout in Vol'jin's hands and ordered him to find a way to convince the Pandaren.
• After three days without food, Chen Stormstout realized Troll chefs had weighed him for meat and a tailor had measured his fur, but he still struggled to reconcile Thrall's plans with the Orcs' reputation.

Chen Stormstout learned that his imprisonment had been a test arranged by Vol'jin and Thrall, then was welcomed by the Trolls and shown evidence supporting their claims about Thrall. He finally met Thrall in his humble, book-filled tent, already inclined to trust him.

• Chen Stormstout was released from his cell by Vol'jin, who explained that he and Thrall had staged the frightening imprisonment as a test.
• Vol'jin treated Chen Stormstout to food and praised his courage, then invited him to bathe and meet Thrall.
• Chen Stormstout recalled how he had investigated the Orcs and came to believe they were innocent and destined to save Azeroth.
• Vol'jin led Chen Stormstout through a camp where Orcs and Trolls appeared to live peacefully and where the Orcs ate grains, vegetables, and dried fruit.
• Chen Stormstout entered Thrall's plain, book-filled tent, felt goodwill toward him, and Thrall warmly greeted him.

Thrall and Vol'jin gained Chen Stormstout's trust by welcoming him and discussing Pandaria, while Thrall learned about the Sha and the Pandaren's distrust of humans. The chapter ended with Eitrigg opening a letter from Tirion Fordring that condemned humans and praised Orcs.

• Thrall shared simple food with Chen Stormstout and discussed his admiration for Emperor Shaohao.
• Chen Stormstout told Thrall about Pandaria, its people, and the seven Sha that could drive violent beings mad.
• Thrall abandoned the idea of invading Pandaria after learning the Orcs might be vulnerable to the Sha's influence.
• Chen Stormstout described how human merchants had cheated the Pandaren, and Thrall agreed with his anger.
• Eitrigg opened a letter from Tirion Fordring, whose words praised Orcs as honorable and denounced humans as treacherous.

Thrall and Vol'jin manipulated Chen Stormstout into offering twelve giant sea turtles to help the Orcs cross the sea, while Robbie secretly warned Chen that the Orcs were watching him. Chen noticed the surveillance but still trusted Thrall, leaving Robbie's warning unheeded.

• Eitrigg, Thrall, Chen Stormstout, and Vol'jin discussed humans, and Vol'jin steered Chen toward helping the Orcs against Kul Tiras.
• Vol'jin hinted that the Orcs needed a way across the sea, and Chen offered to write twelve letters asking the Turtle Island masters to lend their giant sea turtles.
• Robbie decided to give Chen a chance to see through Thrall and Vol'jin's deception, then appeared in Chen's tent disguised as a Night Elf.
• Robbie told Chen that three Eyes of Kilrogg and the surrounding tents were monitoring him, but Chen said Thrall's caution would not change his admiration for him.

Robbie secretly led Chen Stormstout through the Orc camp to reveal the slaughtered Trolls and the Orcs’ treatment of captives. Stormstout saw Thrall feasting on a living Pandaren and heard him discuss using Stormstout’s sea turtles to feed the Orcs, leaving his faith in Thrall shattered.

• Robbie lured Stormstout out of his tent by challenging his qi, and the two fought covertly through the Orc camp.
• Stormstout saw Pandaren hides used as tent coverings and discovered a forest of poles bearing the remains of Darkspear Trolls.
• Robbie showed Stormstout Orcs raiding, killing, and eating wandering Trolls, prompting Stormstout to condemn Thrall’s failure to control his soldiers.
• Robbie led Stormstout to the guarded golden tent, where Stormstout saw Thrall and Vol'jin drinking and eating a still-living Pandaren.
• Stormstout overheard Thrall say that Stormstout would soon bring the Orcs twelve sea turtles to use as food while they conquered Kalimdor.