Chapter Summaries

Unas secretly brought the Gnome auntie and Natasha out of the Monastery, then led his recruits to Venomspider Gorge to take up his post as garrison commander. After inspecting the outpost and learning of its food crisis and failed attempts to cultivate fields, he faced officers divided over a risky plan to move the camp to Blue Rock Pass.

• Unas hid the Gnome auntie in an iron chest, disguised Natasha as a soldier, and slipped out of the Monastery with his recruits before dawn.
• Unas led the group past the guards and arrived early at the Venomspider Gorge outpost, where Captain Qiaosen welcomed him as the new garrison commander.
• Unas inspected the camp and learned that its five hundred soldiers, allied Dwarves and Blood Elves, and thousands of refugees and prisoners faced severe food shortages.
• Unas learned that venomous spiders had repeatedly driven off attempts to cultivate fields outside the outpost, while refugees and prisoners were assigned work or suffered harsh treatment.
• The officers argued over whether to move the camp to Blue Rock Pass and build a fortress to block the spiders, leaving Unas to confront the divisions among his subordinates.

Unas took charge of a dispute over moving camp, then arranged to conceal Emily’s rescue and set plans for Natasha’s future. He ended the chapter having sent Redbrow away with Emily hidden in a chest and preparing to address Holiya’s involvement.

• Unas ended the officers’ argument over moving camp by ordering Qiaosen to prepare a plan for inspecting Blue Rock Pass.
• Unas confronted Redbrow about Emily and revealed that Holiya had kidnapped her and given her away.
• Unas reunited Redbrow with Emily, then arranged for Redbrow to carry her back concealed in an iron chest and keep the rescue secret.
• Unas told Redbrow to return that night to discuss Holiya, and Redbrow left carrying the chest.
• Natasha told Unas she intended to go to Hearthglen to pursue revenge on Isillien, and Unas arranged for her to return disguised as a wandering Priest of the Holy Light.

Unas inspected the outpost and its refugee settlements, learning about the Orc prisoners’ hierarchy and the severe hunger and Mana Addiction affecting the humans and Blood Elves. He found the Dwarves comparatively well off, shared wine with Stonebrow, and reconsidered how hard to pursue Holiya’s death before Beryl greeted him formally.

• Unas toured the outpost, questioned the overseer about the Orc prisoners, and learned that 17 of the 96 surviving Orcs were warriors while the rest were laborers.
• Unas visited the human settlement and learned that many elderly people and children might starve that winter.
• Unas saw that Mana Addiction and famine were killing the Blood Elves, whose high-ranking mage Arenas Fireleaf could not make enough mana crystals for them.
• Unas visited the Dwarf settlement, gave Stonebrow and other Dwarves bottles of wine, and thought that the Dwarves might be allies in his investigation of Holiya’s death.
• Beryl greeted Unas with a formal Night Elf bow and addressed him as Lord Unas.

Unas met with Master Oakleaf and learned that he and Beryl had cultivated edible mushrooms that could help relieve the outpost’s food shortage. Large-scale cultivation seemed possible, but the approaching cold and Oakleaf’s limited ability to accelerate growth left the plan uncertain.

• Beryl happily told Unas that she had become an Apprentice Druid and invited him to lunch with Master Oakleaf.
• Unas brought Raphael to Oakleaf’s cottage, where Wendy Nightmoon served a feast and briefly gave an evasive answer about whether she was a Druid.
• Oakleaf explained that Druids hunted and gathered while protecting nature’s balance from groups that damaged it for profit.
• Beryl revealed that she and Oakleaf had developed several edible mushroom varieties, which could normally mature in two to three months.
• Unas urged Oakleaf to start large-scale mushroom cultivation, but Oakleaf warned that autumn cold and his limited magic made the harvest uncertain.

Unas planned a mushroom farm to help the Argent Dawn survive winter, choosing the higher-yield Yellow Banana Mushrooms and seeking fertile black soil. After Master Oakleaf hinted that someone would confess about Holiya’s death and asked Unas to show mercy, Unas emerged from the caves to find Sally Whitemane waiting angrily for him.

• Unas persuaded Master Oakleaf to permit supervised thinning of dense woodland and inspected the damp caves intended for mushroom cultivation.
• Oakleaf showed Unas the mushroom trials, and Unas chose Yellow Banana Mushrooms for their higher yield despite their longer growing time.
• Oakleaf said fertile black soil could be found in a dangerous marsh near the Spider Forest and canyon, and Unas promised to obtain it.
• Oakleaf told Unas that someone would confess that night about the former garrison commander’s death and asked him to show mercy.
• Unas suspected the Dwarves were pressuring him to spare the killer, then came out of the cave and saw Sally Whitemane glaring at him.

Unas organized mushroom cultivation and other preparations to address the outpost’s food and supply shortages. He then rode out to survey the canyon but stopped at the blood-red stele marking the spider-controlled danger zone, returning at dusk.

• Unas teasingly apologized to Whitemane, who blushed and fled, then sent Raphael to find Dwarf construction Experts.
• Unas explained the mushroom-growing project to Yomode Stonebrow and the other experts, while a Gnome volunteered to design a heater.
• Unas inspected the outpost’s supplies and found weapons needing repair and winter clothing in short supply, though the granary was well protected.
• Unas ordered recruits for mushroom cultivation and logging, and planned to gather black mud himself with an elite squad.
• Unas rode with his personal guard into the canyon, turned back at the blood-red stone stele marking the danger zone, and returned at dusk.

Unas confronted a group of Goblins who had caused trouble after being denied work as lumberjacks. He gave Kraz and the Goblins’ chief engineer a chance to stay and help, leaving the rest with a sack of wheat to keep them from starving.

• Unas arrived at the barracks and ordered the soldiers to let the Goblins through.
• Kraz explained that the Goblins had appealed for lumberjack work because hunger and exhausting labor had already killed several of them.
• Kraz offered to build the Viklin Model 3 Lumberjack, but Unas asked whether the Goblins could make anything else.
• Kraz introduced himself as a former manager of Lordaeron’s Prosperity Department Store, and a young soldier recalled a broken toy he had bought there.
• Unas dismissed the soldiers, kept Kraz and the chief engineer, and gave the remaining Goblins a sack of wheat.

Unas recruited two Goblins to test whether they could make powerful explosives, then handled the army’s work assignments and prepared for a late-night meeting. Wendy Nightmoon led him to a hidden mountaintop gathering, where Master Oakleaf began explaining why the group had summoned him.

• Unas ordered Kraz to produce a small sample of explosive within a week and assigned a logistics officer to help and monitor the Goblins.
• Unas reviewed the mushroom-farming recruits, the shortage of woodcutters, and the proposed elite squad before returning to his tent.
• Unas meditated while keeping watch for someone expected to turn himself in, then learned that Wendy Nightmoon had come to meet him.
• Nightmoon led Unas to a secluded cliff, where Dugal Redbrow pulled him up by a rope.
• Unas found Master Oakleaf, Perella Swiftarrow, Sabula Haikesi, a Gnome, and a human waiting on the mountaintop as Nightmoon joined them.
• Oakleaf began to explain the affair to Unas after everyone involved had gathered.

Unas learned that the Covenant’s members had conspired to kill Holiya after he kidnapped Emily, and he pardoned them to strengthen ties with the nonhumans. After joining the Covenant, Unas heard Perella Swiftarrow accuse his logistics officer of excluding Blood Elves from mushroom-cultivation training and promised to investigate.

• Oakleaf explained how the Gnomes and Blood Elf rangers freed Troll captives and accidentally killed Holiya while trying to capture him for questioning about Emily.
• Unas kicked down Holiya’s former guard after the Human defended his betrayal, then heard Shatuosi accept responsibility for the operation.
• Unas declared Holiya’s death punishment for his kidnapping of Emily and pardoned Shatuosi and the other conspirators in the name of the Argent Dawn.
• Unas accepted Oakleaf’s invitation to join the Covenant and offered to help its members with their needs.
• Perella Swiftarrow told Unas that his logistics officer had rejected experienced Blood Elf applicants for mushroom-cultivation training, and Unas promised to provide a satisfactory answer.

Unas secured offers of help from several leaders for his trip to gather black soil, then arranged to keep the informer Evan under control by assigning him to his personal guard. After the meeting, Nightmoon revealed she had once been a Watcher but left Unas with more questions before escaping the cliff without him seeing how.

• Unas asked Perella to lend him rangers to protect his black-soil expedition, and she offered to escort him herself.
• Redbrow, Nightmoon, and the Troll Priest volunteered to join Unas, while Shatuosi offered the Gnomes’ help and Unas asked them to build a heater instead.
• Unas accepted Evan’s promise to keep the meeting secret and ordered him to report to Raphael Pike as a member of his personal guard.
• After the meeting, Unas questioned Nightmoon about her skills, and she revealed that she had been a Watcher before training with Master Oakleaf.
• Nightmoon refused to explain her relationship with Master Oakleaf, then disappeared after Unas climbed down the rope and waited to watch her descend.

Unas addressed racial unfairness in the mushroom-cultivation training and ordered the Dwarves to begin a major cave project. He then went to the training ground to select elite troops, where a horsemanship contest began with more contestants than originally planned.

• Unas confronted Brighton over excluding nonhumans from mushroom-cultivation training and ordered ten additional places reserved for other races.
• Unas assigned the Kobold slaves and all available Dwarves to begin hollowing out the mountain for mushroom cultivation.
• Stonebrow introduced the Tongchui brothers, Baer(te) Tongchui, who had arrived to serve Unas.
• Unas went to the training ground with Raphael and the Tongchui brothers to choose up to five more elite troops through horsemanship, archery, and swordsmanship tests.
• Unas allowed three soldiers from the spectators to join the contest after most of the loudest volunteers backed down.
• The contestants began the horsemanship test, riding a course with obstacles around the training ground.

Unas oversaw horsemanship, marksmanship, and swordsmanship contests to select an elite squad, as Ashina, Amber, the Copperhammer Brothers, Liante, Raphael, and Marcus Thornton distinguished themselves in different events. The swordsmanship contest reached its final four, setting up a clash between the Dwarves, Liante, and Marcus.

• Ashina won the horsemanship event with the fastest time, while Liante placed second, Raphael finished in the upper half, and the Copperhammer Brothers came last.
• Amber impressed the crowd with his skill across several weapons and placed third in marksmanship, while the Copperhammer Brothers showed off their rapid-fire guns.
• Unas rejected Feniel's suggestion of mounted swordsmanship and held the contest on foot, where Raphael was eliminated in the first round.
• The Copperhammer Brothers fought their way into the final four, joined by Liante and Marcus Thornton, whose swordsmanship had carried him through his earlier bouts.

Liante lost to Bart Copperhammer, while Marcus defeated the younger Copperhammer and Bart withdrew from the final, leaving the competition without a championship match. Unas finalized the ten-person elite squad for the swamp expedition and ordered them to assemble for a field exercise.

• Bart Copperhammer defeated Liante after Qiaosen stopped their fight, while Marcus used footwork and targeted the younger Copperhammer’s weapon to win their match.
• Bart Copperhammer withdrew from the final, and Unas accepted his request after consulting Qiaosen and Marcus.
• The combined results placed Liante first overall and Marcus second, while Unas selected five recruits for the elite squad.
• Unas inspected Stonebrow’s expanding excavation, ate lunch with him, and returned to the command tent.
• The ten members of Unas’s elite squad introduced themselves, and Unas decided Marcus would be their captain.
• Unas explained the swamp expedition’s goals and ordered the squad to prepare for a field exercise within ten minutes.

Unas took the elite squad to clear venomspiders from the Argent Dawn’s territory and gain experience. With Haikesi’s help, they tracked down and killed a Greenspike, while Haikesi salvaged its parts for food.

• Unas gathered the armed elite squad and led them toward the red stone stele to sweep the area for venomspiders.
• Perella warned that crossing the boundary could provoke a large-scale spider retaliation, so Unas turned back toward the gorge entrance.
• Haikesi revealed that he could track spiders using a potion on the stele and performed a ritual that located three of at least five spiders that had crossed the boundary.
• Haikesi led the squad to a Greenspike hidden in a hollow tree, and the Copperhammer brothers battered it until Unas delivered the final blow and gained experience.
• Haikesi collected the spider’s legs and meat, then invited Unas to eat spider delicacies with him.

Unas led the group to hunt a Green-tailed Spider, hoping to kill it for experience and harvest its silk. After Nightmoon lured the giant spider down the cliff, the fight left the Dwarf brothers and several others ensnared, but Unas reached the cocoon and killed the spider with a fire-infused crystal sword.

• Haikesi identified silk from the cliff as likely belonging to a Green-tailed Spider and warned that raising spiders for silk would require feeding them.
• Unas ordered Nightmoon to lure the spider down while the others hid and prepared to surround it.
• Nightmoon drew a giant Green-tailed Spider down the cliff, and Amber and Perella cut its silk anchor so it crashed to the ground.
• The spider shielded itself in a cocoon and ensnared Baer, Bate, and other members of the party as the group attacked.
• Unas used Divine Shield and stabbed the cocoon with his fire-infused crystal sword, burning the spider’s innards and killing it.

Unas and his companions discovered a spider nursery and a white crystal deposit in a mountain cave. Nightmoon retrieved a fire elemental crystal from a deep fissure, giving Perella hope of saving her people from Mana Addiction.

• Unas killed the Green-tailed Spider and freed his companions, then agreed to let them decide whether to eat or raise the spider eggs.
• Nightmoon found the spider’s cave nursery, and Unas led Perella and Haikesi inside to inspect it.
• Perella identified the cave’s white crystals and suggested that fire elemental crystals might lie in the central fissure.
• Nightmoon climbed into the fissure and returned with a red crystal, which Perella confirmed was a fire elemental crystal.

Unas organized a cautious Fire Elemental Crystal mining operation to support the Blood Elves and Mushroom Farm. While tracking a spider beyond the canyon, his squad encountered a large Undead force in Plaguewood and retreated after an enemy mage extinguished their fires.

• Perella brought Dwarf miners, Gnomes, and Arenas Fireleaf to survey the Fire Elemental Crystal deposit, and they agreed to mine it while keeping the Mushroom Farm as their priority.
• Unas gave the first mined crystals to the Blood Elves, assigning them to warm the Mushroom Farm and help the outpost through winter.
• Haikesi tracked the missing spider out of the canyon, leading Unas and the elite squad to Plaguewood.
• Unas detected Undead beneath the fallen leaves and ordered the squad to attack with fire arrows, setting parts of the woods ablaze.
• An Undead mage summoned freezing rain that extinguished the fires, so Unas ordered the squad to retreat.

Unas tracked the necromancer west after he fled with elite Undead, while Nightmoon followed him through the woods. She found him hiding in the clock tower of abandoned Stillwater Town, where Unas prepared to confront him.

• Unas saw the necromancer retreat with a small group while the remaining Undead formed a defensive line, and he sent Nightmoon to follow him.
• Unas waited for reinforcements, then led his group against the Undead when they scattered and began charging toward them.
• Unas pursued the necromancer west, following Nightmoon's trail marks and leaving marks to guide the reinforcements.
• At dusk, Nightmoon stopped Unas on the road and told him the necromancer and his minions were inside the clock tower in abandoned Stillwater Town.
• Unas identified the town on his map and planned to surprise the necromancer.

Unas led his reinforcements through Stillwater Town to attack the necromancer in the bell tower. The battle ended with the tower partly destroyed and several soldiers injured, while the surviving Undead remained inside.

• Unas gathered Liante, Whitemane, Huoye, Perella, and the troops, then led a dark approach to the town.
• Nightmoon and Perella eliminated the two sentries, allowing Unas to lead the charge toward the bell tower.
• Unas fought the Abomination guarding the entrance while Liante's soldiers surrounded the tower and piled firewood beneath it.
• Whitemane and Huoye countered the necromancer's Lesser Blizzard, and Huoye's spell engulfed the tower in flames.
• The necromancer's freezing magic caused the heated tower to explode, sending stones and Undead debris onto the troops.
• Whitemane stopped the spreading cold with her spell, stabilizing the partly destroyed tower after at least ten soldiers were put out of action.

Unas and his allies brought down the bell tower and pursued the necromancer through the town. Nightmoon captured the necromancer, who remained undead and offered to surrender to Unas.

• Huoye blasted the tower wall with Pyroblast, causing the damaged bell tower to collapse and crush many undead inside.
• Unas led the charge through the wreckage, then pursued the fleeing necromancer while Whitemane shackled his two Abominations.
• Unas, Ashina, and Marcus chased the necromancer through the town as he summoned Zombies and skeletons to block their path.
• The necromancer abandoned his Undead Overlord Spider and fled into an alley, while Unas's Flame Slash failed to damage the spider's carapace.
• Nightmoon went after the necromancer, and the Overlord Spider followed his summons toward a mill as Unas and the others pursued.
• Nightmoon tossed the necromancer's still-living head to Unas, and the necromancer offered to surrender.