Chapter Summaries

After defeating Garrosh at Drak'Tharon, the Drakkari Troll leaders Warlord Himbo and Chief Priest Novos fell into conflict, giving Vol'jin a chance to exploit their division. Vol'jin's display of Tirion Fordring striking a wounded dragon left Himbo and Novos afraid of the power gathered outside their keep.

• Frost King Malakk rewarded Warlord Himbo but withheld commendation from Chief Priest Novos, deepening their hostility after Prophet Saronite had held back her powers during the battle.
• Vol'jin and Eitrigg learned that Himbo and Novos had sent their families to safety, and considered using Novos's Tauren wife and children in Moonglade as leverage.
• Vol'jin planned to frighten the Drakkari and pressure Novos by demonstrating the power of his forces.
• Himbo encountered Novos on Drak'Tharon's wall, where Novos warned that Prophet Saronite sensed a gathering power in the Orc camp.
• Tirion Fordring rose above the camp in a sphere of light and struck a wounded dragon from the sky, prompting Novos to identify him and Himbo and Novos to fear him.

Vol'jin secretly met with Novos and gave him a ritual for contacting his ancestors. Through it, Novos learned that Prophet Saronite consumed the souls of his priests, leaving him desperate to escape Saronya's control.

• Tirion Fordring's display of power frightened the Drakkari Frost Trolls, and Novos feared Drak'Tharon Keep would eventually fall.
• Vol'jin sent Novos a secret letter, and Novos agreed to meet him after learning Vol'jin knew where his wife and child lived.
• Vol'jin questioned Novos about his ancestors and gave him a scroll describing a ritual to contact their souls.
• Novos performed the ritual in his laboratory and reached his father's spirit in a frozen world.
• Novos's father told him that Prophet Saronite consumed the souls of the dead and urged him to free himself from Saronya's control.

Novos agreed to help Vol'jin eliminate Prophet Saronite in exchange for a place in Moonglade and help fulfilling his wish, but Drakuru revealed that Novos's family had been killed and offered him a chance to seize Saronite's power for revenge. Novos accepted the risk, while the fate of Drak'Tharon Keep remained unresolved.

• Novos accepted Vol'jin's plan to use Blood Troll essence against Prophet Saronite and asked the Orcs to capture Drak'Tharon Keep within three days.
• Drakuru and Robbie confronted Novos in disguise, and Drakuru revealed that he knew about Novos's deal with Vol'jin.
• Drakuru told Novos that Orcs had killed and eaten his wife and children, and Novos confirmed their deaths using Spirit Calling.
• Drakuru offered to teach Novos how to absorb Saronite's magic essence and power instead of destroying it.
• Novos agreed to take the risk so he could avenge his family.

Novos wrestled with betraying Prophet Saronite as Vol'jin's forces attacked Drak'Tharon Keep, where the defenders survived repeated assaults with the help of secret medicine. After Saronya used Blood Siphon, Novos hesitated to activate a trap against the Loa, then learned that Saronya planned to sacrifice all the priests to escape, destroying his last faith in the deity.

• Robbie gave Novos a vial of plague that could turn him into a Lich if he failed to absorb the Loa's power, and Novos struggled with whether to betray Prophet Saronite.
• Vol'jin attacked Drak'Tharon Keep, but the Drakkari Trolls fought fiercely with secret medicine and repelled the Orcs and the Argent Crusade.
• Vol'jin sent the Orcs back into battle, and as the exhausted defenders began losing sections of the wall, Novos secretly alerted Prophet Saronite.
• Prophet Saronite used Blood Siphon to harvest the Orcs' lives, then returned to its lair while Novos prepared to activate a hidden magic array with a Rune.
• Novos hesitated to trigger the array, and Saronya told him to summon the priests so it could use Blood Siphon again and escape with Dark Praise.
• Saronya explained that Dark Praise required sacrificing every priest, and Novos lost his remaining faith in Prophet Saronite.

Novos betrayed Prophet Saronite and absorbed its Loa power, hoping to change the fate of the Zul'Drak Trolls. The Dragon power in his body then began tearing him apart, and he drank a vial of plague to counter it.

• Vol'jin saw Novos appear on Drak'Tharon Keep's wall and understood his signal, then sent Dragonblood Orcs into the assault.
• The Orcs broke through the Drakkari defenses, and Novos realized that the Warlord Himbo they had fought was only a decoy.
• Prophet Saronite used Blood Siphon and later told Novos to summon the priests while it slept to absorb its newly acquired power.
• Novos questioned Saronite about the frozen souls of its followers, then crushed a Rune that unleashed the Blood Trolls' essence against the Loa.
• Novos used a spell to gather Saronite's essence into a sphere and swallowed it, declaring he would become the new Loa and change the Trolls' fate.
• As the Dragon power tore at his body, Novos drank a vial of plague while the dying Saronite watched.

Novos used his new Lich powers to turn Prophet Saronya into an undead servant, then sensed a mysterious dark power around his own soul. As the Orc leaders waited outside Drak'Tharon Keep, Tirion Fordring revealed that he had sensed two Undead inside, leaving Vol'jin worried that the Scourge had entered the conflict.

• Novos discovered that his Lich form let him combine powers and no longer required him to feed on souls.
• Novos transformed Prophet Saronya into an undead creature and compelled it to obey him, planning to turn the Zul'Drak Empire's Priests into Liches.
• Novos sensed an unexplained dark power coiled around his soul but could find nothing unusual.
• Vol'jin waited for news from Drak'Tharon Keep, then returned the Orc army to camp when neither Novos nor Prophet Saronite appeared.
• Vol'jin, Eitrigg, and Tirion Fordring discussed the silence at the keep, and Tirion revealed he had sensed two Undead inside.
• Vol'jin feared the Scourge had become involved in the battle.

Robbie observed the secrets behind the Loa's power and returned to Icecrown Citadel while Vol'jin and Eitrigg chose to attack Drak'Tharon Keep. The Orcs captured the fortress, and Novos emerged as a Lich, prompting Vol'jin to denounce him and call for his punishment.

• Robbie recorded the Loa's energy runes and saw a cursed black rune pass from Saronya into Novos when Novos became a Lich.
• Robbie left Drak'Tharon Keep and returned to Icecrown Citadel as Vol'jin and Eitrigg decided to risk attacking the fortress.
• Vol'jin divided his troops to avoid Prophet Saronite's Blood Siphon, and the Dragonblood Orcs broke through the walls and seized the fortress gate.
• Novos ordered the Drakkari Trolls to make a final stand, and the Orcs drove the defenders back to Prophet Saronite's lair.
• Vol'jin entered the keep, praised Novos for helping the Horde, and watched him emerge from the lair as a Lich.
• Vol'jin accused Novos of serving the Scourge and ordered him to face punishment.

Novos transformed Drak'Tharon Keep into a deadly trap, annihilating most of Vol'jin's army after Vol'jin narrowly escaped. Vol'jin blamed the disaster on Fordring and planned to bypass the keep and attack the Zul'Drak Empire directly.

• Novos's warning made Vol'jin realize Drak'Tharon Keep was a trap, and Vol'jin escaped with a Teleportation Rune Stone moments before Novos's spell struck.
• Novos used Prophet Saronite's power to drain the blood of nearby living beings and raise the dead, overwhelming the Orcs and Trolls inside the keep.
• Vol'jin watched the slaughter from the camp, then beat Fordring and falsely accused him of conspiring with Arthas to explain the defeat.
• Eitrigg joined Vol'jin in blaming Fordring, while Vol'jin secretly decided to keep him alive to preserve the Argent Crusade's supplies.
• Vol'jin asked Eitrigg to arrange reinforcements from Keleina's army and proposed bypassing Drak'Tharon Keep to attack the Zul'Drak Empire's homeland.

Vol'jin planned to draw the Alliance into a war against the Zul'Drak Empire by exploiting Kites's pride, while Chen Stormstout persuaded Kites that conquering the Drakkari would make him a celebrated hero and win Agna's love. Kites decided to send troops against the Zul'Drak Empire.

• Vol'jin told Eitrigg that Kites's concern for human pride would lead him to pay for another military campaign.
• After returning to Stormwind, Kites left government to his ministers and celebrated news that Garrosh and Vol'jin had suffered defeats at Drak'Tharon Keep.
• Kites invited Chen Stormstout to a banquet, where Stormstout described Thrall's austere life and criticized the Horde's commanders.
• Stormstout urged Kites to defeat the Drakkari and become a renowned hero, suggesting this would also help him win Agna's affection.
• After Stormstout left, Kites spent the night considering the proposal and resolved to send troops against the Zul'Drak Empire.

Kites used Jaina’s Peace Dove network to seize control of Stormwind’s political machinery and launch a fifty-thousand-soldier expedition against the Zul'Drak Empire. As the army prepared to bypass Drak'Tharon Keep, Benedictus proposed a plan to deal with the Loa.

• Kites received Jaina’s secret letter detailing Peace Dove’s contacts, communication method, and bases in Stormwind City.
• Kites chose to unite Peace Dove under his leadership, summoned its core members, and declared himself both their leader and the king of Stormwind City.
• Peace Dove helped Kites pass a resolution for war, conscript troops, requisition grain, and assemble an army of fifty thousand soldiers bound for Valiance Keep.
• Kites rejected the generals’ concerns about Drak'Tharon Keep and ordered the army to bypass it and attack the Zul'Drak Empire directly.
• Benedictus, troubled by Kites’s growing power, sought an audience and warned him that the Loa posed the real threat before offering a plan.

Benedictus advised Kites to pressure the Zul'Drak Empire into internal conflict, while Kites sent an Alliance army to Northrend and declared war without attacking. Robbie traveled as Duke Bolvar’s envoy to persuade Frost King Malakk that surrender could preserve Drakkari control of their land, but Warlord Zol'Maz rejected the idea.

• Benedictus told Kites that the Alliance could weaken the Zul'Drak Empire by surrounding it and spreading rumors about conflict between the Loa and their priests.
• Kites sent fifty thousand Alliance soldiers into Northrend and built a fortress near Drak'Tharon Keep, while some troops marched under the Argent Crusade's banner.
• Duke Bolvar worried that Kites would waste the Alliance army, and Robbie offered to visit Frost King Malakk as an envoy.
• Robbie warned Malakk and the Zul'Drak priests that the Alliance could join forces with the Furbolg and that the Horde would threaten them after any costly victory.
• Robbie proposed that the Zul'Drak Empire surrender to satisfy Kites's need for a victory while keeping its land, but Warlord Zol'Maz furiously refused.

Robbie persuaded Frost King Malakk to surrender to the Alliance, while Warlord Zol'Maz secretly planned to flee with his family and seek greater power. Kites celebrated the bloodless victory, then found that the Alliance could gain little from Zul'Drak beyond cheap ore.

• Robbie left the priests' public declarations and privately told Frost King Malakk that surrender could preserve Zul'Drak from disaster.
• Frost King Malakk agreed to surrender to the Alliance after Robbie promised that the Scourge would not pressure Zul'Drak.
• Warlord Zol'Maz told his wife to flee with their children, then read a letter from Novos describing his newly acquired powers.
• Warlord Zol'Maz decided to seek power himself and told his wife he knew the whereabouts of an important item lost by the Darkspear Horde.
• Kites received Frost King Malakk's surrender and gift, then consulted his advisers about how to profit from Zul'Drak.
• Kites's advisers settled on making Zul'Drak sell ore cheaply, leaving him bored by the easy victory.

Kites prepared to end the war with Frost King Malakk, while Vol'jin devised a scheme to use the Frost Gauntlets to undermine Malakk's rule. Malakk invited Warlord Zol'Maz to the peace talks, where Zol'Maz vowed to attack Kites.

• Vol'jin learned that Malakk had surrendered and told Eitrigg that the Frost Gauntlets symbolized Malakk's royal authority.
• Kites agreed to demand the Frost Gauntlets after his adviser claimed they had belonged to Emperor Thoradin.
• Zol'Maz repeatedly protested Malakk's surrender, leading Malakk to shut the palace doors to visitors.
• After Kites's reply arrived, Malakk invited Zol'Maz to accompany him to the peace talks.
• Zol'Maz accepted the invitation and vowed to tear Kites apart at the talks.

Kites attended Frost King Malakk’s surrender ceremony, where Malakk refused to surrender the Frost Gauntlets and revealed an ambush of Ice Elementals beneath the frozen lake. After suffering devastating losses and retreating, Kites declared total war against the Zul'Drak Empire.

• Kites arranged a surrender ceremony at a frozen lake, where Frost King Marak and Warlord Zol'Maz knelt before him.
• Frost King Malakk refused to hand over the Frost Gauntlets, and Kites demanded he choose between the relic and the Zul'Drak Empire.
• Malakk summoned thousands of Ice Elementals from beneath the lake and challenged Kites, while the elementals attacked the Royal Guards.
• Kites fought Malakk with the power of Goldrinn but retreated through a Portal after the Ice Elementals overwhelmed his forces and killed his advisers.
• At Drak'Tharon Keep, Kites ordered total war against the Zul'Drak Empire after fewer than ten of his two thousand soldiers returned.

Kites's Alliance army conquered Zul'Drak, while Frost King Malakk led the Drakkari Trolls into the snowy mountains and Kites planned to starve them out. Garrosh then advanced on Drak'Tharon Keep with thirty thousand Orcs, leaving Kites trapped between the Orcs ahead and the Drakkari behind.

• Warlord Zol'Maz and the Priests blamed Frost King Malakk for the war and refused to ask the Loa to intervene.
• Frost King Malakk led the Drakkari Trolls into the snowy mountains, where many died from the harsh conditions.
• Kites occupied Zul'Drak and decided to keep his army there for three months so the Drakkari would starve.
• Garrosh received thirty thousand veteran Orc reinforcements and marched toward Drak'Tharon Keep, where ten thousand Alliance soldiers were stationed.
• Kites learned that Garrosh was approaching and, after his advisers warned him not to retreat, faced the prospect of having his supply route cut off.

Kites rejected proposals to negotiate with Frost King Malakk or withdraw, then chose to hold position while Garrosh marched on an Alliance fortress near Drak'Tharon Keep. As Garrosh prepared to attack, he found the fortress encased in ice and heard General Xiboli taunt him.

• Kites listened as generals proposed peace with Frost King Malakk or a withdrawal to Drak'Tharon Keep, but Peace Dove advisers opposed both plans.
• After an elderly general warned that Garrosh could not be trusted, Kites left the meeting, and the Alliance decided to hold its position.
• Garrosh brought thirty thousand Orc soldiers to Drak'Tharon Keep, then chose to attack the nearby log-built Alliance fortress rather than the keep.
• General Xiboli mocked Garrosh's judgment and prepared his troops to fight, while worrying that Dalaran might join the battle.
• Garrosh arrived to attack the next morning and found the fortress covered in ice, as Xiboli taunted him through a sound-transmitting magic array.

Garrosh’s assaults on General Xiboli’s keep ended in repeated defeats, and he sought Dalaran’s help after the Horde lost its artillery and siege engineer. Rhonin advised him to wait for the Alliance to run out of supplies, leaving Garrosh to realize the enemy had drawn him into a strategy of attrition.

• Garrosh ordered a full assault on the keep, but General Xiboli defeated him in single combat and drove the Orcs from the walls.
• Garrosh threatened the Goblin engineer into using cannons, but Alliance artillery destroyed more than half the Horde guns, and Garrosh had the engineer fried.
• After more failed attacks against Xiboli, Garrosh went to Dalaran and demanded support from Rhonin.
• Rhonin told Garrosh to wait until the Alliance ran out of provisions and had to leave the keep.
• Garrosh realized he had fallen for the Alliance’s plan to cut off his army’s supplies.

Garrosh held his army behind fortifications while the Alliance forces ran short of food, and Kites ignored General Xiboli’s warning about the crisis. Meanwhile, Robbie and Drakuru began building the Scourge graveyard Voltarus and prepared to use hungry Alliance soldiers for their own plans.

• After Rhonin advised him to hold his ground, Garrosh fortified his position and refused to be drawn into battle by General Xiboli.
• General Xiboli urged Kites to withdraw and fight Garrosh, but Kites trusted his advisers and claimed the army had six months of food.
• Kites’s quartermaster told Xiboli’s messenger that the soldiers had gone without food for three days and that the King’s supplies were the only ones lasting six months.
• Robbie and Drakuru descended near the Storm Peaks, where Scourge mages raised the dead to gather around the Floating City.
• Robbie named the coming graveyard Voltarus and told Drakuru to feed any Alliance soldiers who sought refuge and make them help build it without turning them into Undead.

Xiboli abandoned the starving Alliance fort and entered Drak'Tharon Keep while Garrosh advanced into Zul'Drak, where Kites's starving army deserted him. Kites lost Goldrinn's power and was captured by Garrosh, while a disguised Troll emerged from a tomb intending to save him.

• Xiboli received Duke Bolvar's letter and led his starving army toward Drak'Tharon Keep, leaving Garrosh to find the Alliance fort deserted.
• Kites discovered that his guards, advisers, and soldiers had abandoned him for Garrosh's army or the Scourge's cemetery, leaving only a Veteran with moldy flatbreads.
• The Veteran criticized Kites and revealed that he was destined to remain king; when Kites attacked him, the sword passed through him and Goldrinn's power left Kites.
• Kites fled through the snow toward the Grizzly Hills, but Garrosh found him and demanded to know where the provisions for his fifty thousand troops were hidden.
• A Troll disguised as an Orc emerged from an ancient tomb and decided to save Kites to protect Azeroth and the Horde.

The Moon Goddess's messenger emerged in Mad King Iggli's body and tried to reach Garrosh's camp, but Robbie delayed him until Garrosh had killed Kites. The messenger took Kites's skull and went to Moonglade, seeking Remulos to restore him.

• The messenger read Mad King Iggli's boastful tomb inscription, regained his memories and strength, and set out for Garrosh's camp.
• Robbie intercepted the messenger, who insisted he needed to save Kites and preserve a leader for the Alliance, but Robbie kept him waiting.
• Garrosh tortured Kites for three days, then ordered the Orcs to kill and eat him, keeping his skull as a trophy.
• The messenger reached the camp too late, rebuked Garrosh, and stopped him from demanding Stormwind as a source of Orc supplies by wounding him with a thorny vine.
• The messenger took Kites's skull and summoned his corrupted soul, then teleported to Moonglade and asked to see Remulos.