Chapter Summaries

The plague spread across the Plaguelands, forcing the Silver Hand, Orcs, and Elf rangers to halt before joining forces against Stratholme. Their first assault on the city failed disastrously, and Eitrigg told Thrall that they needed siege engines.

• Robbie's plague spread from Stratholme through nearby settlements, and Uther's investigation found it infected plants without killing them or directly infecting people.
• Thrall, Sylvanas, and Uther marched their armies to Stratholme, where Baron Rivendare prepared to defend the city with its local garrison.
• Thrall asked Uther to challenge Baron Rivendare to open battle, but Rivendare refused and called Uther an idiot.
• Thrall ordered an assault, and Uther sent the Silver Hand against the walls, where nearly a thousand Paladins died.
• Thrall turned to Eitrigg for advice, and Eitrigg said they needed siege engines.

Robbie and Arthas planned to exploit divisions within the convoy escort, and Arthas learned that Alexandros Mograine’s son Leo was vulnerable to the Orcs. After Saurfang’s Orcs abducted Leo, Mograine and Fairbanks confronted their grief and anger, leaving Mograine determined to take revenge.

• Robbie rejected Arthas’s plan for a direct attack and urged him to find personal weaknesses among Mograine and Saurfang’s forces.
• Arthas learned from the Restless Souls that Mograine’s adjutant Fairbanks hated the Orcs and that Mograine secretly cared for his illegitimate son, Leo.
• Saurfang’s Orcs abducted Leo during a patrol and told his companions that Saurfang sent regards to Mograine.
• Leo’s commander reported the abduction, and Mograine called Leo’s loss a necessary sacrifice until he learned Leo had been taken.
• Mograine told Fairbanks that Leo was his son, and he vowed revenge for Leo and the Silver Hand members killed by the Orcs.

Mograine and Fairbanks plotted to weaken the Orcs with plague and use victory to rally the Silver Hand Paladins. After the Orc camp fell, Mograine concealed the plague’s role and persuaded the Paladins that the Holy Light had chosen their side.

• Mograine decided to break away from the Order of the Silver Hand and fight the Orcs, despite Fairbanks warning that their forces were divided and outmatched.
• Fairbanks gave Mograine a plague potion, and Mograine arranged for it to contaminate the hard jerky being delivered to the Orcs.
• Mograine led the Silver Hand to surround the Orc camp, but most Paladins hesitated while fewer than a hundred of Mograine’s personal troops charged.
• Saurfang overpowered Mograine in their duel, but Mograine revealed that his guards had killed the weakened Orcs with the plague’s help.
• Saurfang surrendered, and Mograine claimed the victory proved the Holy Light supported them, prompting the Paladins to chant its name.

Mograine’s victory over Saurfang sparked rumors that the Holy Light had chosen him, prompting defections from Uther’s Silver Hand. As Uther prepared to attack Stratholme, Arthas sent Robbie to impersonate him and defend the city, while a voice spoke from the Axe of Tyranny.

• Mograine’s Paladins captured Saurfang and withdrew after destroying their siege equipment and supplies, while Jaina and Medivh later took Saurfang down from the pole where the Undead had begun roasting him.
• At Stratholme, Saurfang told Uther, Thrall, Sylvanas, Jaina, and others that Mograine’s forces had been empowered by the Holy Light, and rumors of the blessing spread through the Silver Hand.
• Paladins deserted Uther in growing numbers, and Uther vowed to prove the Holy Light was still on his side by attacking Stratholme.
• Robbie returned to Stratholme, but an ominous feeling troubled him despite the enemy’s shortages and weakened forces.
• Arthas told Robbie that Uther was coming to attack and gave him his armor and Justice of the Holy Light so Robbie could impersonate the prince and strengthen the city’s morale.
• Robbie left the Axe of Tyranny with Arthas and climbed onto Stratholme’s walls, while a deep voice spoke from within the axe.

Arthas learned that the Axe of Tyranny’s hidden voice feared a mysterious power within Robbie and promised to teach him the Runes of the Dead. At Stratholme, Uther transformed through the Holy Light and attacked the city, but Robbie stopped him and defeated him; as Uther prayed for more power, seven red dots appeared in the clouds.

• A voice inside the Axe of Tyranny warned Arthas to keep their contact secret from Robbie and offered to teach him the Runes of the Dead.
• Uther called down the Holy Light, grew to enormous size, and prepared to attack Stratholme and kill Baron Rivendare.
• Lady Deathwhisper stepped between Uther and Rivendare, but Uther prepared to strike his own daughter.
• Robbie arrived, stopped Uther’s holy sword, and rescued Lady Deathwhisper as the soldiers of Stratholme shouted Arthas’s name.
• Robbie drove Uther back in their clash, causing Uther and the Paladins of the Silver Hand to doubt his power and faith.
• Uther prayed to the Holy Light for greater strength, and seven red dots appeared among the distant clouds.

The Red Dragonflight joined the Orcs in attacking Stratholme, and Yalishandra’s dragons burned much of the city, killing soldiers and civilians. As despair spread, Robbie met Sir Flor, who claimed to possess Foror’s Compendium of Dragon Slaying.

• Baron Rivendare ordered the defenders to flee as seven red dragons approached Stratholme, and he identified their leader as Yalishandra, the Red Dragon Princess.
• Yalishandra deflected Rivendare’s spear, then led the dragons in burning the battlements and setting homes and streets across Stratholme ablaze.
• The seven dragons landed at the Orc camp and took human form; Thrall welcomed them, and Yalishandra declared that it was the red dragons’ last time helping the Orcs.
• Robbie walked through the devastated city as survivors grieved and morale collapsed, then heard a crazed noble declare that he would never compromise with dragons.
• Robbie grabbed the man, who introduced himself as Sir Flor and offered him a copy of Foror’s Compendium of Dragon Slaying.

Robbie bought Flor’s “Flore's Dragon-Slaying Compendium,” which claimed to reveal weaknesses in dragons, and decided to verify its information before relying on it. He asked Arthas to have the Restless Souls observe the Red Dragon Princess and her subordinates around the clock.

• Robbie visited Flor in his basement and offered a thousand gold for his secret method of slaying dragons.
• Flor recounted his family’s history of studying dragons and explained how their research became the compendium.
• Robbie read the book’s claims about dragon flight, the flaws in the five flights, and the Black Dragon Princess’s victory over the Red Dragon Princess.
• Robbie asked Baron Rivendare for a thousand gold and purchased the compendium.
• Robbie found Arthas at Stratholme’s church and asked him to assign the Restless Souls to monitor the Red Dragon Princess and her subordinates so he could check the book’s claims.

Thrall launched his plan to seize Stratholme with the red dragons, while Arthas and Robbie prepared a counterattack. The assault began under a citywide blanket of black smoke, and Uther discovered that the Arthas he faced seemed different from the one he had fought before.

• Thrall presented a dragon-assisted plan to attack Stratholme, and the red dragon princess agreed to carry the Orcs only after they were bound into bundles.
• Arthas explained Thrall's plan to his allies, and Robbie proposed using a method from his homeland to deal with the dragons.
• Thrall led the assault from the red dragon princess's back, but black smoke suddenly spread across Stratholme and disrupted the dragons' attack.
• Robbie hid in the smoke and nearly ambushed the red dragon princess, but her instincts warned her away.
• Uther challenged Arthas on the walls and realized his opponent fought with a different style than the Arthas he had faced before.
• The six other dragons carrying bundled Orcs plunged into the smoke above the walls.

Robbie’s ambush killed a red dragon and drove the attackers from Stratholme, forcing Thrall’s allied army to retreat. With the Red Dragonflight refusing further help, Thrall began considering a dangerous way to provoke Alexstrasza into destroying the city.

• Robbie killed one of the red dragons from within the black smoke, and the surviving dragons fled while the red dragon princess vowed revenge.
• Saurfang escaped Baron Rivendare by setting berserk Grommash Hellscream against him, while Uther and the Orcs retreated from Stratholme.
• The siege ended in victory for Stratholme, but Thrall’s allies lost most of their Paladins and could no longer rely on dragon support.
• Thrall sent Jaina to seek Medivh’s help, but she returned without assistance, so Thrall decided he would have to take a dangerous gamble.
• The red dragon princess sent Alexstrasza an account of the dragon deaths and told Thrall that the Red Dragonflight would no longer help the Orcs.
• Thrall hinted that the princess’s death in Stratholme could make Alexstrasza destroy the city.

Experiment 335 gained power from Nefarian and infiltrated Thrall’s personal guard, where he witnessed Thrall poison and capture the red dragon princess Yalishandra and her companions. As the dragons were tortured and skinned in the orc camp, Arthas and Robbie worried that Stratholme would be blamed and face Alexstrasza’s wrath.

• Experiment 335, an orc with poor fighting skills, surrendered to Nefarian during an undead attack and agreed to serve as his eyes in exchange for power.
• Nefarian replaced Experiment 335’s right eye, enabling him to win duels and join Thrall’s personal guard.
• Experiment 335 accompanied Thrall when he confronted Yalishandra and her five companions, and Thrall revealed his plan to kill them and bind their souls for power.
• Thrall’s black magic potion weakened the dragons and forced them into their dragon forms, after which Eitrigg’s craftsmen began skinning them alive.
• Arthas said the dragons’ suffering repaid their slaughter of Stratholme’s innocents, while Robbie feared Alexstrasza would blame Stratholme.

Thrall mutilated and corrupted the red dragon princess Yalishandra, then sent Jaina to provoke the red dragon queen into attacking Stratholme. Convinced by Jaina’s fabricated account, the queen set out to fetch a long-sealed weapon before going to Stratholme.

• Thrall removed Yalishandra’s heart, ordered her dragon essences made into prayer beads, and had her body corrupted while Jaina watched.
• Thrall told Jaina to use Yalishandra’s scale to incite the red dragon queen, while Experiment 335 heard the Black Dragon Prince sigh beside him.
• The red dragon queen woke from a vision of Yalishandra’s suffering and sensed that something was wrong to the south.
• Jaina arrived at Wyrmrest Temple, presented Yalishandra’s scale, and falsely blamed Prince Arthas and Frostmourne for the princess’s death.
• Jaina claimed Thrall and Azeroth were in danger and that Kel'Thuzad had occupied Medivh, persuading the queen to go to Stratholme.
• The red dragon queen said she would first retrieve a weapon that had been sealed away for a long time.

Deathwing confronted Alexstrasza with his plan to transform into a new life-form and showed her evidence that Thrall had killed her daughter. Alexstrasza refused to seek revenge, and Deathwing demanded to know why she protected the Orcs; she said they shared the goal of preventing End Time.

• Deathwing projected an image of his hoped-for new form and asked Alexstrasza to join his transformation, but she refused.
• Deathwing showed Alexstrasza Thrall killing the red dragon princess and imprisoning her soul, but Alexstrasza decided not to pursue revenge.
• Deathwing offered to kill Thrall or wipe out the Orcs, and Alexstrasza warned him he would pay the price.
• Deathwing questioned why Alexstrasza had raised Orcs and blamed them for destroying Northrend and nearly wiping out the Blue Dragonflight.
• Alexstrasza told Deathwing that they shared the goal of preventing End Time.

The Red Dragon Queen explained to Deathwing that the dragons had chosen the Orcs to disrupt Azeroth and delay its World Soul from hatching, while Deathwing warned that their decision could bring End Time. Thrall’s plan to take Stratholme stalled when the Red Dragon Queen failed to appear, but Archmage Antonidas arrived with a vast supply of weapons and mages to aid the Orcs.

• The Red Dragon Queen told Deathwing that the dragons had first approached the Draenei, but Velen had refused their plan, so they had turned to the Orcs.
• Deathwing argued that End Time might be a mistaken vision and warned that the Orcs could cause the catastrophe, while the Red Dragon Queen insisted the dragons had to prepare for survival.
• The Red Dragon Queen returned to Wyrmrest Temple, leaving Deathwing’s warning unanswered.
• Thrall blamed Jaina for the Red Dragon Queen’s absence, while Experiment 335 secretly enjoyed Jaina’s trouble.
• An Orc sentry reported that food, siege engines, war golems, and airships had arrived, and Thrall found the supplies piled up at the camp.
• Archmage Antonidas introduced himself to Thrall and announced that his mages had come to help slaughter the people of Stratholme.

As the allied forces prepared to attack Stratholme, Archmage Antonidas arrived with Dalaran’s mages and demanded taxes, territory, and access to Orc children in exchange for support. He revealed that Dalaran had planted Magic Beacons inside the city and offered to teleport the Silver Hand onto its walls, while Thrall remained wary of his intentions.

• Baron Rivendare announced that Archmage Antonidas and Dalaran’s mages had arrived outside Stratholme.
• At the allied forces’ meeting, Antonidas presented Thrall with Dalaran’s demands for Orc tax revenue, fertile land in Tirisfal Glades, and Orc nobles’ children to study magic.
• Thrall accepted the demands in exchange for a decisive victory, and Antonidas claimed Dalaran had prepared for one by planting fifteen Magic Beacons in Stratholme.
• Thrall distrusted Antonidas and proposed that the Order of the Silver Hand handle the teleportation mission, and Uther agreed.
• Antonidas promised to use magic to send the Orcs onto Stratholme’s walls without needing Magic Beacons for teleportation within visual range.

Dathrohan and Mal'Ganis joined the assault on Stratholme, where Arthas's forces ambushed the teleporting Silver Hand Paladins while Baron Rivendare's defenders traded lives with waves of Orcs at the wall. The battle continued with Arthas preparing to face Mal'Ganis and Thrall struggling to understand the defenders' effective resistance.

• Dathrohan advanced with the Silver Hand Paladins as Uther and Robbie began fighting in the air above Stratholme.
• Arthas's forces used the teleportation points to prepare ambushes, and the Restless Souls revealed that Antonidas had hidden three additional beacons.
• Dathrohan arrived in a square under attack, and Arthas struck him down before he could fight back.
• Baron Rivendare sent units to the wall in a repeating cycle, trading human lives for each group of Orcs that teleported in.
• Thrall watched more than a thousand Orcs die without gaining a foothold, while Sylvanas mocked the Orcs for losing control of their mouths in a frenzy.

Arthas confronted Mal'Ganis in Stratholme, learned to use the Dreadlord’s power to transform the Undead, and gathered them into a growing force. At the main gate, Thrall sent Dragon Orcs onto the wall, where they met fierce resistance from Rivendare’s suicide squad.

• Mal'Ganis raised fallen Silver Hand knights as demons, but Arthas fought them while studying the power inside their bodies.
• Mal'Ganis tried to provoke Arthas and fled toward a pile of corpses, while Arthas empowered Stratholme’s Undead and turned them into Ghouls that followed him.
• Thrall grew suspicious when the planned fighting inside Stratholme failed to begin and teleported his Dragon Orcs onto the wall.
• Baron Rivendare sent a suicide squad against the Dragon Orcs, and the two forces clashed in a brutal fight that forced the Orcs into a frenzy.

The Orcs and Dalaran launched their main assault on Stratholme after the Silver Hand was nearly destroyed, while Robbie forced Uther to flee and smashed an Elf siege tower. Sylvanas escaped the collapse, but hundreds of Elf rangers were buried beneath it.

• Sylvanas shot the wounded young Rivendare, and Baron Rivendare warned his officers to stay alert as the Dragon Orcs and human defenders nearly annihilated each other.
• Dathrohan returned with news that the Silver Hand had been ambushed, and Antonidas persuaded the allied leaders to blame Uther and begin the main assault ahead of schedule.
• Dalaran's enchanted catapults battered Stratholme's walls as siege towers and magic constructs advanced under cover.
• Robbie told Uther that he would be blamed for the Silver Hand's ambush and eaten by Thrall, prompting Uther to flee.
• Robbie smashed Sylvanas's siege tower with his warhammer, burying hundreds of Elf rangers as Sylvanas cried out in horror.

Robbie destroyed Dalaran’s siege towers, but the Orcs broke through Stratholme’s wall after a bloody battle that killed Baron Rivendare. As Arthas faced the city’s dead and the grief of its fall, he awakened to a new power and declared, “The Scourge descends.”

• Robbie destroyed the remaining siege towers, while an Arcane cannon barrage breached Stratholme’s wall and Thrall sent the Orcs to attack.
• The Orcs and Stratholme’s defenders fought over the narrow breach, suffering heavy losses as the defenders’ Plague Potion weakened the Orcs who bit their corpses.
• Mal'Ganis fled toward the city gate as Arthas pursued him and grew stronger by learning the Dreadlord’s techniques.
• Baron Rivendare sent his son Oryx away, then led a final charge and died after Sylvanas shot him with an arrow.
• Arthas reached the wall, rejected Mal'Ganis’s claim that Stratholme had fallen, and declared, “The Scourge descends.”

Arthas unleashed the power of the dead to drive the Orcs and their allies from Stratholme, then struggled with the limits of his strength as he rebuilt the city. He confessed that Robbie’s axe had been guiding him, and Robbie revealed that Frostmourne awaited them in Northrend.

• Arthas raised Stratholme’s fallen warriors, including Baron Rivendare, while Sylvanas, Mal'Ganis, Thrall, Antonidas, and Jaina watched in fear and astonishment.
• Baron Rivendare led the resurrected Undead against the Orcs, and Thrall and Sylvanas ordered their forces to retreat.
• Arthas declared that Stratholme would never fall, but lamented that he lacked the power to save all of Lordaeron and bring peace to his father’s soul.
• Arthas and the Undead reshaped Stratholme into a city of the dead while he secretly studied Kel'Thuzad’s notes about becoming a Lich.
• Arthas told Robbie that the Axe of Tyranny had been communicating with the World of the Dead and teaching him; Robbie identified it as Shadowmourne and named Frostmourne as the sword in Northrend.

Arthas and Robbie searched Northrend for Frostmourne and found Muradin Bronzebeard and his starving group. After Muradin rejected their help to avoid angering Thrall, Robbie slaughtered the mercenaries and forced Muradin to affirm his sincere friendship with Arthas.

• Arthas continued searching for Frostmourne while the Restless Souls reported that Lordaeron's Undead were being hunted by Orcs and their allies.
• Arthas told Robbie he wanted to make his enemies suffer as the people of Lordaeron had suffered.
• Scouts led Arthas and Robbie to Muradin Bronzebeard and his starving companions, but Muradin treated Arthas coldly and worried that helping him would provoke Thrall.
• Robbie offered food and supplies, but Muradin insulted the people of Lordaeron and refused to call them friends.
• Robbie charged Muradin's weakened mercenaries and slaughtered them, then demanded Muradin choose what kind of friends they would be.
• Muradin declared by the Holy Light that his friendship with Prince Arthas was sincere.