Chapter Summaries

Chen Stormstout’s ascension ceremony failed, and a Demon Hunter exposed and brutalized him before the August Celestials drove the attacker away. The next day, Khadgar reported the growing threat from Demon Hunters, and Chi-Ji suggested the Consortium might know how to train powerful fighters.

• Chen Stormstout’s Magic Circle failed, leaving him stranded in the air without Chi while the Pandaren praised him below.
• A second-generation Demon Hunter killed Zhu Tianjiao and attacked Chen Stormstout, who begged for his life until the August Celestials intervened.
• The Demon Hunter escaped the August Celestials, warning that his fellow Demon Hunters would threaten Chen Stormstout again.
• Chen Stormstout learned that a hundred Demon Hunters served among the Night Elves and that two had wiped out an army in Val'sharah.
• Chi-Ji the Red Crane said that Thrall had told him the Consortium might know how to train supreme masters.

Chen Stormstout investigated Chi-Ji’s claim that the Consortium could create Ironblood Orcs, but Nexus-Prince Bayal denied knowing about them. Nexus-Prince Kritina then offered to make them in exchange for five hundred thousand Kobolds each, leaving Chen Stormstout and Khadgar to consider an impossible price.

• Chi-Ji told Chen Stormstout that Thrall had discussed Ironblood Orcs with the Consortium, and Khadgar warned that the claim might conceal a scheme.
• Chen Stormstout questioned Thrall, who denied knowing about Ironblood Orcs but named Nexus-Prince Bayal as his Consortium contact.
• Chen Stormstout and Khadgar met Bayal, who denied that the Consortium had Ironblood Orcs, leaving them puzzled about Chi-Ji’s story.
• Nexus-Prince Kritina arrived and said her Consortium project had created Ironblood Orcs, but only one in a thousand succeeded.
• Kritina demanded five hundred thousand Kobolds for each Ironblood Orc, and Khadgar refused the price.

Chen Stormstout traded Kobolds for Ironblood Orcs and used Khadgar to breed more, then declared war on Illidan and the Alliance. After one Ironblood Orc exploded, a vast army of Lightforging Kobolds surrounded Orgrimmar.

• Khadgar suspected Christina and Chi-Ji of a hoax, but Chen Stormstout ordered him to bargain for Ironblood Orcs anyway.
• Khadgar traded 150,000 Kobolds for an Ironblood Orc, which proved powerful and fiercely loyal to Chen Stormstout.
• Chen Stormstout demanded more Ironblood Orcs, so Khadgar bred Lightforging Kobolds and exchanged one and a half million of them for ten more.
• Chen Stormstout declared war on Illidan and the Alliance and proclaimed himself Emperor of Azeroth.
• An Ironblood Orc suddenly exploded, and Khadgar discovered the Ironblood Orcs were defective and unstable.
• Guards reported that more than ten million Lightforging Kobolds had surrounded Orgrimmar and blanketed Durotar.

Khadgar and Chen Stormstout struggled to contain the Kobold tide unleashed across Durotar, while Illidan warned Christina and the August Celestials to limit their schemes. After the Horde’s Lightforged Orc breeding efforts failed, Chen called on Thrall and confronted him with a Fel pool.

• Khadgar explained that Christina had released traded Kobolds across Durotar, and Chen Stormstout ordered the Horde to breed Lightforged Orcs to fight them.
• In Ratchet, Illidan restricted Christina’s Kobold ranching plans and warned the August Celestials that Chen would take revenge if he overcame the crisis.
• The first Lightforged Orcs sent to Orgrimmar were overwhelmed, while the Halfhill breeding base was sabotaged and the Barrens base was overrun.
• Khadgar persuaded Chen Stormstout to summon Thrall, whom Chen had escorted to the city wall.
• Chen showed Thrall a pool of Fel energy and asked him what it was for.

Chen Stormstout and Khadgar forced Thrall to reveal how the kobolds might be united, while Aserok refused Illidan’s offer to protect the Crossroads in exchange for a flight point and travelers’ tent. The kobolds surrounded the outpost as Aserok chose loyalty to the Horde over a deal.

• Chen Stormstout repeatedly had Thrall mauled by kobolds and healed with Fel until Thrall revealed that a united kobold king could threaten Orgrimmar.
• Thrall advised Chen Stormstout and Khadgar to control an outsider as king, naming Big Candle Gagg as a suitable candidate.
• At the Crossroads, Aserok learned that kobolds had overrun Durotar and surrounded Orgrimmar, while his orders were to defend the outpost to the death.
• A goblin representing Lord Illidan offered to protect the Crossroads if Aserok established a Flight Point and a tent for travelers.
• Aserok rejected the offer despite the goblins’ warning about the enormous kobold force and the insult to his Warchief, declaring that the Crossroads would rather die than accept.

Aserok rejected the Goblin’s attempt to make the Orcs surrender and led the defenders of the Crossroads into battle against a huge Kobold army. As the fighting turned against the Orcs, Leiluosite led a desperate charge toward the Kobold king, while Aserok watched from the main battle.

• The Goblin warned Aserok and his soldiers that the Crossroads was isolated and that their deaths would serve their leaders, but Aserok rallied the troops to fight for the Horde and the Warchief.
• The Kobolds burned down the Crossroads’ wooden fence, then attacked in force under the direction of a king who used war drums to turn fleeing Kobolds into frenzied fighters.
• Aserok led the Orcs in a charge, but the relentless Kobold attacks caused heavy casualties and left the battle at a stalemate.
• Leiluosite pointed out the Kobold king and proposed leading a squad, including a Tauren, to kill him; Aserok agreed to support the attempt.
• The Tauren charged through the Kobold ranks before collapsing from exhaustion, and Leiluosite’s squad continued toward the king as Aserok watched from the main fight.

Leiluosite killed the Kobold chieftain, giving the Crossroads a short reprieve, while Bolande Caofeng urged Aserok to evacuate the civilians. Aserok insisted on holding the settlement, but when the Kobolds returned with defenses that defeated his tactics, he retreated with his followers to the watchtower, the Crossroads' last stronghold.

• Leiluosite reached the Kobold chieftain, killed him, and the leaderless Kobolds fled while the exhausted Orcs could not pursue.
• Bolande Caofeng urged Aserok to retreat and accused him of sacrificing the Crossroads' people for his own advancement, but Aserok refused and rallied the crowd to defend the settlement.
• Three days later, the Kobolds chose a new king and built crude defenses that trapped Orcs when Aserok sent them into a frenzy.
• After several Orc squads were lost, Aserok retreated with his trusted followers and took refuge in the Crossroads' stone watchtower.

Aserok abandoned the Orcs at The Crossroads and escaped aboard a hired Wyvern, while his soldiers died protecting Leiluosite’s widow and children. In Orgrimmar, Chen Stormstout ignored the truth behind Aserok’s celebrated heroism and recruited Big Candle Gagg for a secret task involving a parasite fish.

• Aserok discovered Leiluosite’s widow and children as Kobolds overwhelmed the watchtower, and his three soldiers resolved to protect them.
• Aserok revealed he had hired the Wyvern to escape, mocked the soldiers’ faith in sacrifice, and left them to die fighting the Kobolds.
• Aserok paid the Goblin pilot and flew to Orgrimmar, where the Horde hailed him as a hero for supposedly killing the Kobold chieftain.
• Chen Stormstout read a scout’s report exposing Aserok’s actions, burned it, and asked Khadgar whether Big Candle Gagg had arrived.
• Chen Stormstout described a parasite fish and its mate to Gagg, then revealed that he held the female; Gagg pledged to do anything for the Warchief.

Chen Stormstout appointed Big Candle Gagg to unite the Lightforging Kobolds, and Gagg warned that Thrall’s plan to arm them could strengthen them and endanger Orgrimmar. Gagg proposed using worship of the Holy Light to keep the Kobolds under control, then staged a prophecy that led the tribes to await a sage from the east.

• Chen Stormstout told Big Candle Gagg he would make him king of the Lightforging Kobolds and ordered him to work with Thrall.
• Thrall proposed faking a heavenly omen and arming Kobold factions, but Gagg warned Chen Stormstout that the Kobolds could multiply, learn to make weapons, and draw in the Alliance.
• Gagg suggested making the Lightforging Kobolds worship the Holy Light and offered to become their Velen, and Chen Stormstout ordered him to prepare a complete plan.
• A staged storm sent a boulder and golden book from the Southfury River, and an Orc captive read the prophecy that a sage would come from the east to decipher the book.
• Kobold tribes fought over the boulder and book until six major tribes remained, then their chieftains agreed to welcome the prophesied sage.
• The six chieftains held a seaside sacrifice, and a golden figure appeared walking across the waves.

Gagg posed as a sage and used the Heavenly Book to manipulate the Kobolds into building him a golden pulpit and accepting his teachings. After the six chiefs were mysteriously killed, Gagg continued preaching to their replacements, then returned to Orgrimmar and found Osaid questioning his life as an assassin.

• Gagg appeared before the Lightforging Kobolds as a sage and persuaded their six chiefs to build him a golden pulpit.
• The chiefs raised enough gold by selling ore from Drywater Valley and tens of thousands of Kobold slaves, then Gagg preached that Kobolds should reject external things and praise the Holy Light.
• After learning Gagg was a swindler, one chief vowed to expose him, but all six chiefs died mysteriously that night, and the Kobolds believed they had been punished for sinning.
• Six new chiefs knelt before Gagg as he preached that Lightforging Kobolds would become Holy Light after death and urged them to convert all Kobolds.
• Back in Orgrimmar, Osaid told Gagg that the sermon had made him feel foolish for believing similar teachings during his assassin training, and Gagg said he had finally matured.

Osaid rejected Kobold bloodline divisions, seized power, and became the Holy Light Great Emperor with Gagg’s support. Chen Stormstout ordered the Kobolds confined to the Valley of Trials while secretly planning to use Osaid to eliminate Kobolds elsewhere, unaware that disaster was brewing.

• Osaid declared that bloodline was a shackle and demanded Gagg help him become Kobold Great Emperor; Gagg pledged his support after Osaid threatened him.
• Osaid assassinated a Kobold chieftain, and Gagg taught the Kobolds laws, a calendar, and the Holy Light faith while keeping the Heavenly Book mysterious.
• Osaid united the Kobolds of Durotar and became emperor, and Gagg crowned him the Holy Light Great Emperor.
• Chen Stormstout questioned Gagg about Osaid, then ordered the Kobolds to withdraw to the Valley of Trials and told Khadgar to keep watching Gagg.
• Chen Stormstout planned to use Osaid to conquer the Kobolds of The Barrens and Mulgore before burying them alive, while Osaid’s Kobolds returned to the Valley of Trials without raising suspicion.

Gagg and Osaid discussed the Lightforging Kobolds’ rule, history, and need for weapons while Gagg claimed his medical book could cure diseases. Christina abducted five thousand Kobolds from Durotar for the interstellar market, and Osaid confronted her aboard her ship.

• Gagg explained to Osaid why the Lightforging Kobolds needed religious teachings while they developed, and Osaid described his plan to arm them with firearms.
• Gagg wrote a medical book and claimed it could treat more than half the diseases the Holy Light could not cure.
• Christina arrived above Durotar and used a levitation spell to take five thousand Kobolds aboard her cloaked ship.
• Christina sedated the Kobolds and sent her subordinates away when she sensed Osaid had arrived.
• Osaid met Christina and learned she was an Ethereal whose physical body had been taken away.

Osaid negotiated with Christina to exchange Kobold captives for Critical Strike Rifles, while Illidan revealed that he wanted to strengthen the Lightforging Kobolds as a third power between the Alliance and the Horde. The chapter ended with Illidan warning that Chen Stormstout would become a dangerous Warchief if he gained power.

• Osaid demanded that Christina release the Kobolds, then agreed to trade five thousand of them for rifles and ammunition.
• Christina accepted Osaid's price of one hundred Kobolds per Critical Strike Rifle with two hundred rounds, and arranged delivery in three days.
• After Osaid left, Christina realized he had lied about his intuition, and Illidan admitted he had told Osaid the price.
• Illidan explained that he wanted the Kobolds to become a third force to complicate the plans of the Burning Legion and the Army of the Light.
• Christina asked who would replace Chen Stormstout, and Illidan said Chen had become like Thrall and would be an even more vicious Warchief.

Osaid used the Southfury River battle to reduce the Kobolds’ surplus population while secretly seeking military and political guidance from Test Subject 335. After Chen Stormstout armed the Durotar Kobolds in exchange for precious ores, they won the battle and began conquering Barrens tribes, prompting troubling news to reach Orgrimmar.

• Osaid sent Kobolds to fight the Barrens tribes at the Southfury River, where both sides used the battle to cull their excess population.
• Osaid learned that the Trogg was Test Subject 335, formerly Emperor Lagrange, and asked him to train Kobolds in Volley Fire Tactics.
• Test Subject 335 advised Osaid to establish a knightly order, use Mushan Beasts as mounts, and discreetly unite Kobolds across the Barrens and Mulgore.
• Chen Stormstout agreed to supply weapons in exchange for precious ores, despite Khadgar’s warnings.
• The armed Durotar Kobolds won the Battle of Southfury River and wiped out several Kobold tribes in the Barrens.
• Troubling news about the Kobolds reached Orgrimmar.

As the Kobold conflict worsened, Chen Stormstout ordered Khadgar to develop a Plague that targeted Lightforging Kobolds. Osaid chose to keep his trained forces underground while the Plague turned tens of millions of Kobolds into Ghouls, and Test Subject 335 declared him a qualified king.

• Chen Stormstout suspected the Diamond Emperor was Magni Bronzebeard, but Khadgar warned him against war with the Alliance and proposed using the Plague against the Kobolds.
• Khadgar revealed that he could use Undead magic and said he needed seven days and enough apothecaries to make a Plague targeting Lightforging Kobolds.
• Test Subject 335 told Osaid that the Horde planned to use the Plague, then urged him to seal the underground caves and abandon the surface Kobolds rather than expose their untrained forces.
• After seven days, Chen Stormstout and Khadgar flew to Razor Hill and dropped barrels of Plague into a church crowded with Kobolds, transforming them into Ghouls.
• The Ghouls spread across Durotar and reached the underground caves, while Osaid watched the slaughter from beneath the earth with his elite Kobolds.
• Osaid vowed to avenge the dead, and Test Subject 335 told him that enduring the sacrifice had made him a qualified king.

Robbie and Kel'Thuzad found that Khadgar’s Plague had permanently poisoned Durotar, the Barrens, and Mulgore, while Chen Stormstout celebrated the Horde’s victory in Orgrimmar. Khadgar grew suspicious of secret arms purchases and the oversized statue shipment as signs of a threat, but Chen was unavailable and the chapter ended with Khadgar questioning the Goblins’ generosity.

• Robbie and Kel'Thuzad inspected the Plague-corrupted lands and decided to use Undead methods to address the damage.
• Chen Stormstout and the Horde celebrated their victory with a three-day banquet, while gifts arrived from across Azeroth.
• Khadgar learned that the Gnomes and Rustwater Port had sold thousands of rifles and ammunition to an unknown buyer.
• Khadgar dreamed of armed Lightforging Kobolds rising from underground tunnels, then woke and tried to warn Chen Stormstout.
• Mela Highmountain and Domiss barred Khadgar from seeing Chen, and Domiss threatened to accuse him of making advances on her.
• Khadgar investigated a disturbance at Orgrimmar’s gate and became suspicious when a huge statue shipment from the Goblins blocked the entrance.

Khadgar tried to warn Chen Stormstout that Orgrimmar was under attack, but the guards refused to wake him, and Khadgar fled with Aserok. The Kobolds conquered Orgrimmar, while Magni Bronzebeard confronted Osaid over the Holy Light; Chen Stormstout remained asleep as the chapter ended.

• Khadgar escaped the exploding city gate and hurried to Chen Stormstout's bedchamber, but Mela Highmountain and Domiss refused to let him disturb Chen.
• Aserok secretly urged Khadgar to flee, and Khadgar opened a Portal to Dalaran and left with him.
• The Kobolds bombarded Orgrimmar's walls and stormed the city, overwhelming its defenders while no Warchief's orders came.
• Osaid stopped his forces outside Chen Stormstout's bedchamber and summoned Magni Bronzebeard, who demanded the Kobolds withdraw on behalf of the Holy Light.
• Osaid revealed a thousand Kobold Paladins, and Magni Bronzebeard acknowledged their blessing before turning his attention to Domiss.
• Chen Stormstout slept through the fall of Orgrimmar after overeating and drinking, having ordered that no one disturb him.

Osaid punished Chen Stormstout for the plague that killed Kobolds, then led his people out of Orgrimmar toward Azshara. Gagg tried to claim the Horde leadership, but Magni Bronzebeard announced Eitrigg as the new Warchief.

• Chen Stormstout woke in Kobold custody, and Mela Highmountain forced him to drink the plague he had used against them.
• Osaid ordered Chen sent to the corrupted land south of Razor Hill and told Mela that Chen would not be killed.
• Osaid rejected the Horde Warchief position, ordered the Kobolds to withdraw from Orgrimmar, and set out for Azshara the next day.
• Gagg claimed Orgrimmar and declared himself Warchief, but Magni Bronzebeard confronted him and made him give up the title.
• Magni announced Eitrigg as the new Horde Warchief, leaving Thrall surprised after he had expected the position.

Robbie and Kel'Thuzad turned Chen Stormstout into a puppet leader for the New Scourge, using Christina's visit to frame her and the Consortium for his rise. Chen awakened as the Dark Emperor, trapped on a throne and unable to command the Undead directly, while Haramad confronted Christina about the plague.

• Robbie and Kel'Thuzad decided to keep Chen Stormstout alive and make him a puppet leader for the New Scourge, implanting a new plague and bones in his body.
• Christina investigated a bone altar at Razor Hill, where Chen stood before a black sword, and left after deciding the sword was merely decorative.
• The Black Sword of Frost flew into Chen's hand, and he bowed to Christina as she departed; news then spread that the Consortium had created the new Lich King, the Dark Emperor.
• Chen awoke fused to a throne and learned from a Ghoul that he was the New Scourge's leader but could not bypass the chain of command to give orders.
• Haramad boarded Christina's spaceship and told her that spreading plague was a grave taboo among the stars.

Christina arranged for Mogul Razdunk to infect a Tauren tribe with an Undead Plague while she fled Azeroth. As Tauren starved in devastated Mulgore, Rom Wildtotem rejected the Night Elves’ offer to join the Alliance and insisted they remain loyal to the Horde.

• Haramad warned Christina to leave Azeroth, but she decided to retaliate against those who had thwarted her Kobold trade.
• Christina gave Mogul Razdunk an Undead Plague and ordered him to release it among a strong, fertile race, and he chose the Tauren.
• Rom Wildtotem faced the hunger and dwindling Holy Light energy affecting Tauren gathered in Thunder Bluff.
• A Night Elf envoy offered the Tauren land on Mount Hyjal if they joined the Alliance, but Rom rejected the offer in the Horde’s name.
• Rom told the starving Tauren they should accept being eaten by Orcs, while privately keeping a safe escape for himself.