Chapter Summaries

Akama and the Lower City bosses planned to find the Titan relic called the Node Key in the Mana-Tombs so they could rescue Thrall, whom they suspected was being held at Coilfang Reservoir. Meanwhile, Thrall gained new authority under Vashj, who summoned Blood Troll war matriarch Yierna to track down people using Blood Magic.

• Akama and the Lower City bosses heard adventurers describe an Orc underwater who fought with a hammer, and they concluded he might be the real Thrall.
• The Ethereal revealed that Nexus-Prince Shaffar was excavating the Node Key in the Mana-Tombs and explained that adventurers would have to navigate its dangerous spatial rifts to find it.
• The Lower City bosses agreed to recruit adventurers from Azeroth and Outland to search for the Node Key and rescue Thrall.
• At Coilfang Reservoir, Vashj rewarded Thrall, who was using the name Gudan, by making him chief overseer and patrol captain while keeping him under close surveillance.
• Vashj asked Blood Troll war matriarch Yierna to locate a group of people who used Blood Magic.

Vashj hired Yierna to use a blood spell, while Thrall’s escape attempt accidentally teleported his entire patrol to a cave where his parents awaited him. Thrall rejected Durotan and Draka, had Durotan beaten, and learned from Gudan that the Burning Legion had chosen him as its Orc leader.

• Vashj had Yierna prepare a Blood Altar and brought her a hundred captured adventurers for the blood spell.
• Thrall noticed his watchers had vanished and signaled Miu'en and Nobundo to teleport him from the Slave Pens.
• The blood teleportation carried Thrall and fifty Orcs to the cave, while Miu'en and Nobundo fled after seeing the spell go awry.
• Thrall recognized the blood connection with Durotan and Draka but accused them of pretending to be his parents.
• Thrall ordered ten Orcs to attack Durotan, and Gudan appeared to taunt his parents and reveal that the Burning Legion had chosen Thrall.

Thrall killed Durotan and Gudan, then submitted to Vashj, who sent him to retrieve a Titan artifact from the Mana-Tombs. Meanwhile, Gudan emerged in a new human body and met an envoy of Elune, who questioned his decision to abandon the Orcs.

• Thrall ordered Gudan killed and had Durotan and Draka brought to the altar, then left the cave planning to reclaim the Warchief position.
• Vashj confronted Thrall, made him swallow a Snake Gu, and ordered him to retrieve the Node Key from the Mana-Tombs of Auchindoun in exchange for removing it.
• Thrall asked Vashj to send Vol'jin with him, hoping Vol'jin might know how to remove the Snake Gu.
• Gudan emerged from an Ogre's body in human form and declared he would live for himself rather than serve the Orcs.
• An envoy of Elune told Gudan that Sargeras's Demons had restored his talent and asked whether he was certain he would no longer help the Orcs.

Gudan agreed to help Thrall obtain the Node Key after the Emissary revealed that Gul'dan was alive. Thrall recruited Vol'jin, who devised a plan to secure the key, while Akama sought to enlist the Mag'har Orcs in the Lower City's operation.

• The Emissary pressured Gudan to help Thrall, then won his agreement by claiming Gul'dan was still alive.
• Vashj assigned Vol'jin to Thrall's group of five hundred Orcs, and Thrall revealed his identity as Gudan to him.
• Thrall asked Vol'jin how to break Snake Gu, but Vol'jin had no solution and instead proposed a way to get the Node Key without fighting.
• Golol Anzu told the Lower City's bosses that Vol'jin supported their operation to rescue Thrall, prompting them to pledge their fortunes.
• Akama suggested recruiting the Mag'har Orcs and said their devotion to their ancestors could be used to persuade them.

Akama led the Lower City bosses to Nagrand’s ancestral grounds, where they sacrificed captive peoples and animals to summon the Orc spirits. After the ritual repaired Akama’s damaged soul, an Orc spirit agreed to take them to Greatmother Geyah.

• Akama told the Lower City bosses that Greatmother Geyah was an Ancestral Spirit who possessed elderly Orcs and claimed he knew how to find her.
• The bosses agreed to offer souls to win Greatmother Geyah’s support, and Akama led them to Nagrand’s Spirit Plains three days later.
• Akama used Fel-tainted wood and the souls of their captives and animals to open the ancestral grounds.
• The ritual repaired the damage to Akama’s soul, and the world transformed into a dark realm filled with Orc spirits.
• An Orc spirit accepted their sacrifices and agreed to lead Akama and the bosses to Greatmother Geyah.

Grandmother Geyah enlisted Akama and the other leaders to unleash Gaormash Grommash Hellscream’s spirit against Mag'har Orcs who had allied with the Void or the Burning Legion. The spirit emerged from its coffin, and a lesser Mag'har leader and village Shaman soon dreamed of Gaormash directing them toward a secret in Auchindoun.

• Grandmother Geyah prophesied that Akama’s cause was just and agreed to help him, though she warned that tens of thousands of Mag'har Orcs would die.
• Grandmother Geyah led the group to a coffin bearing the Warsong Clan banner and explained that the Mag'har believed Gaormash Grommash Hellscream would restore their former glory.
• Grandmother Geyah revealed that Mag'har Orcs had colluded with the Void and the Burning Legion, then called Gaormash’s spirit from the coffin to harvest their souls.
• A lesser Mag'har leader and the village Shaman each reported dreaming that Gaormash had revealed a secret in the Mana-Tombs of Auchindoun that could restore the Orcs to glory.
• The lesser leader recalled that the Warsong Clan’s archery had once routed fifty thousand Ogres, but the methods for making its bows and crossbows had been lost.

Mag'har Orcs gathered in Auchindoun to search a spatial node for supposed Warsong Clan relics, while Durotan tried to warn them that their legends were lies. Gorkan Bloodfist rejected his warning, and Durotan claimed he had proof hidden in the Auchenai Crypts.

• Mag'har Orcs followed a dream of Grommash Hellscream to Auchindoun, where Gorkan Bloodfist negotiated with Nexus-Prince Shaffar to enter the spatial node.
• Nexus-Prince Shaffar opened the Mana-Tombs, and more than five thousand Mag'har Orcs disappeared while exploring the spatial rift.
• Anachronos, Durotan, Velen, and Imperator Mar'gok discussed the Warsong Clan's history, and Mar'gok revealed that Grommash had led a small clan that became powerful after enslaved Orcs joined it.
• Durotan confronted Gorkan Bloodfist and warned him that the Warsong Clan's legendary glory was fabricated, but Gorkan accused him of betraying the Orcs.
• Durotan told Gorkan that the Thunderlord Clan's history, confirmed by the living void creature Gromgal, proved the legends false, and he said the evidence was in the Auchenai Crypts.

Durotan and Mar'gok brought Gorkan Bloodfist to the Auchenai Crypts to uncover the truth about the Draenei plague. Velen revealed that the plague came from the Shadowlands and that the Draenei had died and been resurrected, leaving the group wary of him.

• Gorkan Bloodfist accused Durotan of plotting against him, then promised to stop the Mag'har Orcs from repeating the tragedy when Mar'gok seized him and Durotan offered to show him evidence.
• Durotan, Mar'gok, Gorkan Bloodfist, and Velen went to the Auchenai Crypts, where Anachronos waited outside to watch Velen.
• Velen led the group through a hidden Portal into the crypts and warned them to keep themselves shrouded in the Holy Light.
• Velen explained that the Draenei had once been taken in by the Tatobo people, whose civilization was later devastated by a plague brought by a Dreadlord.
• Velen revealed that the plague killed every Draenei, including himself, and that he resurrected his people before they resurrected him.
• Mar'gok and Durotan recoiled from Velen, who said the Army of the Light had suppressed the plague and that it would not normally spread unless someone ate Draenei flesh and blood.

Velen led Durotan, Mar'gok, and Gorkan through the Auchenai Crypts to prove the Plague had destroyed the Gorian Empire, but the evidence exposed his own involvement in spreading it. Shirrak the Dead Watcher confronted Velen over his betrayal, leaving Velen trapped beneath the creature’s accusing gaze.

• Durotan demanded evidence from Gorkan, and Velen led the group into the Auchenai Crypts to show them Plague victims and the Draenei’s research.
• Velen admitted the Army of the Light had ordered the Draenei to study the Plague and that the Holy Light disliked Ogres.
• Archbishop Maladaar accused Velen of unleashing the Plague on Ogres and revealed that the Tatobo people had infected themselves before dying in a war against the Shadowlands.
• Maladaar led the group to Shirrak, the last surviving Tatobo, who had become Shirrak the Dead Watcher.
• Shirrak restrained Velen and accused him of accepting a Dreadlord’s gift and planning to turn the Draenei into undead creatures.

After Shirrak exposed Velen as a traveler from another era, Gorkan Bloodfist resolved to turn the Mag'har Orcs away from the Mana-Tombs, but Grommash Hellscream's return inspired them to pursue the Node Key. The defense around the relic fell after a hundred thousand Orcs sacrificed themselves, and Grommash urged a warrior to retrieve the staff.

• Shirrak spared Velen after recognizing his connection to space and time, and Gorkan Bloodfist agreed the Mag'har Orcs should not be used as sacrifices.
• Gorkan returned to camp and learned that Grommash Hellscream and other Ancestral Spirits had arrived in Auchindoun.
• Grommash urged the Mag'har Orcs to reclaim their legacy, claiming the Warsong Clan's treasures and weapons were hidden in the Mana-Tombs' spatial node.
• Nexus-Prince Shaffar and the Consortium found that the Node Key's purple-mist defense could only be exhausted through sacrifice, and a hundred thousand Mag'har Orcs willingly gave their lives.
• The mist dispersed to reveal a crystal pyramid topped by the Node Key, and Grommash called for a warrior to retrieve the staff.

Gormash drove the Mag'har Orcs to their deaths trying to reach the Node Key, while Nexus-Prince Shaffar waited for the pyramid's defenses to weaken. A disguised young Orc with Holy Light confronted Shaffar over the Node Key, and their battle began.

• Gormash urged the Mag'har Orcs to climb the pyramid, and thousands died to its defenses as Nexus-Prince Shaffar watched.
• When the surviving Orcs refused to advance, Gormash sent his Law Enforcement Force to drive them forward, costing another ten thousand Orcs their lives.
• A thin Orc shielded himself from the pyramid's light and reached for the Node Key, but the key's blue light reduced his Arcane clone to ashes.
• Nexus-Prince Shaffar moved toward the Node Key, but a purple Mage Hand seized it before Shaffar shattered the hand with Void Beacons.
• The Void Beacons passed Gormash and struck a golden shield behind him, revealing a young Orc who kicked Gormash aside and claimed the Node Key for whoever could take it.
• Shaffar formed a figure from Void Beacons to block the young Orc's Holy Light spear and declared that the figure would defeat him.

The frail Orc and Nexus-Prince Shaffar vanished together while fighting over the Node Key, leaving the Ethereals exposed to an assault by Shattrath City's Lower City powers. As several factions converged on the relic, a masked man intervened, and A'dal arrived with Shattrath City's elites to confront him.

• The frail Orc summoned the Heart of Zangar's thorned vines, then trapped himself and Nexus-Prince Shaffar inside Shaffar's banishment sphere.
• With Shaffar gone, Gorol Anzu, a Tiger Person, a Gronn, a Cyclops, and an Ogre attacked the Ethereals, while Gormash escaped and Akama retreated.
• Gorol Anzu reached for the Node Key, but an Orc wielding Holy Light appeared; a two-headed Ogre and Anachronos also subdued the attackers as Velen approached the relic.
• A masked man arrived, disarmed Durotan, and warned Velen that the Node Key did not belong to him; Velen sensed Fel and accused the man of serving the Burning Legion.
• A'dal confronted the masked man at the glowing spatial node, and Shattrath City's elites appeared below as the man prepared to fight.

Gudan defeated A'dal's forces and let the Lower City bosses keep the Node Key, leaving them to decide whom to give it to. Outside the spatial node, Gormash declared that the Mag'har Orcs had risen, puzzling the bosses who had seen over a hundred thousand of them die for the relic.

• Gudan summoned the Burning Legion and defeated Shattrath City's elite, forcing A'dal to withdraw without the Node Key.
• Gudan left the Node Key to the Lower City bosses and departed with the Legion, telling them to rescue Thrall.
• Gorol Anzu and the other bosses debated whether to give the Node Key to Vol'jin, A'dal, or Illidan.
• At Auchindoun Plaza, Gormash told the gathered Mag'har Orcs that their people had risen, leaving the Lower City bosses confused.

Saurfang and Gormash lured most of the Mag'har Orcs into a deadly selection, while Vol'jin and Thrall betrayed the Lower City bosses after taking the Node Key. The chapter ended with the bosses trapped beneath poisoned arrows and Thrall ordering their deaths and claiming the survivors as food.

• The Lower City bosses left Auchindoun as Saurfang the Great arrived with an Orc army, and Akama departed on his own business.
• Gormash announced that the Mag'har Orcs could join the Horde or return home, promising fertile lands and a simple test for those who joined.
• After seven days of testing, most Mag'har Orcs had been selected for the Horde, while five hundred thousand were sacrificed and the surrounding wilderness became known as the Bone Wastes.
• Vol'jin accepted the Node Key from Gorol Anzu and promised the Lower City bosses the honor of joining Thrall's table.
• Vol'jin vanished as Orc archers ambushed the bosses with poisoned arrows, and Thrall took the Node Key and ordered the bosses killed for A'dal's bounty while claiming the rest as his dinner.

Vashj discovered that the Node Key was fake and imprisoned Thrall and Vol'jin in the Frozen Hell. As Gudan and his allies sought a way to rescue Thrall, Elune rejected Gudan as a substitute and prepared to intervene herself.

• Lurky identified Vashj's Node Key as a recent fake, and Vashj had Karathress send Thrall and Vol'jin to the Frozen Hell beneath three hundred meters of ice.
• Gudan met the Moon Goddess's Emissary and Medivh in Telredor, where they concluded the Node Key might have been fake from the start and learned Thrall was imprisoned.
• Gudan proposed impersonating Thrall, but Elune examined him at her shrine and declared him unqualified to replace Thrall.
• Elune revealed that Illidan Stormrage could rescue Thrall but would not help, so she decided to act personally.
• A beam of moonlight crossed the distance from Azeroth to Outland and shone toward the Coilfang Reservoir.

Robbie and several Outland powers attacked the Moon Goddess Elune’s manifested hand, and Robbie obtained a fragment of her divine power. He escaped the Moon Goddess’s retaliation by sacrificing Ner'zhul’s soul, leaving him with the fragment in Shadowmoon Valley.

• Robbie and Krasus watched the Moon Goddess’s power gather above Coilfang Reservoir, and Robbie prepared to steal it.
• Kael'thas, Vashj, Dragon Slayer Gruul, Illidan’s water giant, and Robbie each attacked the Moon Goddess’s Hand, weakening it and breaking off a fragment.
• Robbie retrieved the fragment from Serpent Lake and fled as the Moon Goddess’s Hand repeatedly struck at him.
• Robbie threw out Ner'zhul’s head to divert the Moon Goddess’s attack, and Ner'zhul’s soul was destroyed.
• Robbie reached Shadowmoon Valley and formed an Arcane sphere around the fragment of the Moon Goddess’s Hand.

The Moon Goddess's Hand rescued Thrall, Vol'jin, and most of the prisoners from Serpentshrine Cavern, but Thrall was ordered to find the Eye of Anzu within a month. Thrall reclaimed control of the Horde from Saurfang and began planning the search.

• The Moon Goddess's Hand restored the Cenarion Circle camp and rescued the prisoners, though Windcaller Clawen remained behind.
• Thrall tried to eat Hamuul Runetotem and Guardian Remulos, but Medivh, Gudan, and the Emissary stopped him and ordered him to obtain the Eye of Anzu within a month.
• Thrall traveled to Telredor, beat Saurfang, and ordered him to guard Orgrimmar's gates and surrender command of the army.
• Thrall summoned his advisers to discuss the Eye of Anzu, and Vol'jin proposed splitting their forces to search for it and the missing fragments of the Moon Goddess's Hand.

Thrall blamed Illidan for stealing the Shard of the Moon Goddess's Hand and assigned Cairne Bloodhoof and Vol'jin to find the Eye of Anzu. Griftah directed rival parties toward the relic, and Vol'jin challenged Griftah's story about his past.

• Thrall ordered Eitrigg to fabricate evidence against Illidan and tasked Cairne Bloodhoof with finding the Eye of Anzu, with Vol'jin as his assistant.
• Griftah told Anachronos and his companions that Rukhran guarded the Eye of Anzu at Skyreach, then warned them Thrall's agents were also seeking it.
• Cairne Bloodhoof and Vol'jin visited Griftah, who claimed that sacrificing many Mag'har Orcs in Skettis would open a portal to the Shadowlands.
• Vol'jin questioned Griftah about his alleged past in Stranglethorn Vale, and Griftah denied it, claiming he had grown up in Dazar'alor.

Vol'jin, Cairne Bloodhoof, and Griftah traveled to Hellfire Peninsula to learn how to reach the Spires of Arak. Chief Elder Desatatal claimed the Spires had become the Blade's Edge Mountains, and Griftah hurriedly agreed to go there.

• Griftah revealed that he was descended from the Zandalari royal family and recounted how a teleportation scroll had taken him to the Spires of Arak.
• Griftah, Vol'jin, and Cairne Bloodhoof went to Hellfire Peninsula, where a Mag'har Orc told them the village was supporting a war against Illidan and Sargeras.
• Vol'jin and Cairne met Chief Elder Desatatal, who demanded the password before answering their question.
• Griftah gave the password, and Desatatal pointed to the Blade's Edge Mountains, claiming they were the former Spires of Arak.
• Griftah thanked Desatatal and led Vol'jin and Cairne toward the Blade's Edge Mountains despite Vol'jin's doubts.

Vol'jin, Cairne Bloodhoof, and Griftah searched for the Spires of Arak, finding their way to Outland through a teleportation scroll given by an ancient clan of Shadow Walkers. In Skettis, they asked Reshad the Scrollkeeper about the Eye of Anzu and received a task to retrieve two objects from the city’s statues.

• Vol'jin and his companions heard several false claims about the Spires of Arak before reaching an ancient Orc village in the mountains.
• A Shadow Walker hermit explained that his shadow-powered clan was nearly extinct and gave the three travelers teleportation scrolls.
• Griftah, Vol'jin, and Cairne used the scrolls to reach a cliff in Outland, where Griftah reunited with his friend Azik.
• Azik directed them toward Reshad the Scrollkeeper in Skettis, warning that he was difficult to persuade.
• Reshad accepted Tough Jerky and told them to bring him sharp wing blades and a white mask from statues at the city gate, while forbidding them from speaking to Skettis’s residents.
• Griftah told Vol'jin that the Eye of Anzu could not be taken away except by the method he had taught him.