Chapter Summaries

Orgrim Doomhammer negotiated a grain and war-supplies deal with the Venture Company merchant Grimla Fizzlesprank, then committed the War Horde to taking the Redridge Mountains. As the Horde’s forces approached, the human defenders sounded the alarm and prepared for war.

• Orgrim Doomhammer bargained with Grimla Fizzlesprank for grain, weapons, armor, and supplies, signing an exclusive grain contract backed by Doomhammer as collateral.
• Orgrim assigned Varok Saurfang and fifty warriors to protect Grimla, and Grimla proposed airships and nearby ports to support the Horde’s campaign.
• Zuluhed agreed to lead the Dragonmaw forces toward the Dragon Soul sealing site while Lord Lethon urged him to abandon the Horde’s battle plans.
• Fenris Wolfbrother led the ground forces toward the Redridge Mountains, determined to conquer the land and become King of Dire Wolves.
• Human watchposts sounded their horns as the full Horde army advanced, and the people of Redridge prepared to defend their homeland.

Gaiara and the K'ure Alliance fought the Dragonmaw Clan at Stonewall Keep, where General Gavinrad made a final stand against the invading Orcs. Lothar resolved to hold Lakeshire for three days, while Diakum allowed Dragonmaw warlocks searching the mountains to continue.

• Gaiara split her forces between helping evacuate Lakeshire's civilians and defending Stonewall Keep, then led the Mag'har and Ogres to the besieged fortress.
• Gaiara and her warriors entered Stonewall Keep and urged Gavinrad to retreat, but he refused to abandon his duty and stayed to hold the passage.
• Gavinrad fought through the Orcs and destroyed a Hellfire, but a Dragonmaw warlock's poisonous breath overwhelmed him as a mysterious white wolf watched.
• Lothar and Diakum arrived to find Stonewall Keep burning, and Lothar chose to defend Lakeshire for three days while its civilians evacuated.
• Garona reported that Dragonmaw warlocks had gone into the mountains, and Diakum decided not to pursue them.

Lakeshire evacuated as the Horde advanced, while Lothar prepared defenses and sent Diakum to retake Stonewall Keep. Diakum fought through the Orcs with ordinary weapons, recruited Marland, and led her deeper into the burning fortress as Lothar approached.

• Mayor Solomon ordered Lakeshire's residents onto boats and across the bridge while conscripting able-bodied men to defend the crossing.
• After an Arakkoa warned Lothar that the Horde would arrive in two hours, Lothar promoted Windsor, assigned Kishaen to prepare explosives on the bridge, and set out to retake Stonewall Keep with Diakum.
• Diakum flew to Stonewall Keep on Sunwing, brought down a wyvern, and attacked the Orcs while Garona warned Lothar not to ask her grandfather to risk himself against the demon dragon.
• Diakum fought through the Orcs without calling on the Holy Light or shadow, rescued survivors, and taught Marland to destroy a warlock's soulstone.
• Diakum gave Marland a sword and shield, made her a soldier, and led her into the fortress to hunt down the remaining Orcs.

Lothar and the Iron Horse Brotherhood reinforced Stonewall Keep as Diakum defended it with Holy Light while Orcs attacked the logging camp and Lakeshire. Tarecgosa joined the fight against the Orcs, while Zuluhed recovered the Dragon Soul and was ordered to test it against a Blue Dragon.

• Lothar reached Stonewall Keep after Garona and the knights found that Diakum had defeated its Orc garrison, and Diakum ordered the Dwarven cannons prepared for the counterattack.
• Diakum and the priests, including Natalie Seline, raised a barrier over the damaged keep as Lothar led the Iron Horse knights and King's Guards toward the logging camp.
• Diakum told Natalie Seline to maintain the barrier while he healed the wounded, and he resolved to guide her and Benedictus toward the Holy Light despite Shadow Word's objections.
• Chromie urged Tarecgosa to help the humans, and Tarecgosa flew from Lakeshire to defeat several Dragonmaw wyverns and raise the militia's morale.
• Zuluhed and Lord Lethon's allies killed the Red Dragon Aurastrasza and recovered the Dragon Soul, then Lord Lethon sent Zuluhed to test it against a Blue Dragon they spotted nearby.

Tarecgosa was drained by Zuluhed’s Dragon Soul, and its unleashed frost devastated Lakeshire and wiped out the human defenders. Gaiara awakened as a powerful shaman and drove back the Thunderlord Clan by commanding the mountains, while Lothar ordered a retreat toward Sunlight Forest.

• Tarecgosa patrolled above Lakeshire, helping the humans hold off the Thunderlord Clan’s vanguard while Gaiara praised Lothar’s command.
• Zuluhed used the Dragon Soul to drain Tarecgosa’s magic, then unleashed her frost breath across Lakeshire, freezing the town and its defenders.
• Fenris Wolfvein ordered the Thunderlord wolf riders to attack the devastated position, while Gaiara and the survivors found no one alive in the frozen defenses.
• Chromie urged Gaiara to call upon the elements, and Gaiara used fire to melt the ice and rescue survivors before turning her power against the advancing Orcs.
• Gaiara joined her will with the Redridge Mountains and caused landslides that blocked the Thunderlord Clan’s advance, prompting Fenris to withdraw.
• Lothar accepted that the mountain pass was lost and ordered the army to retreat to Sunlight Forest to gather forces and protect the road to Westfall.

After the Orc attack devastated the Redridge defenders, Lothar prepared to rally the kingdom while Dick recruited young Lakeshire survivors into Garona’s covert unit. In Sunlight Forest, Alexis cast Medivh’s protective spell over Tranquil Garden Town, but its altered beacon sent the town and Diakum into the Twisting Nether, where Diakum faced an approaching demon horde.

• Diakum encouraged Lothar to rally his battered troops, and Lothar estimated the Orc wolf riders could cross the Redridge Mountains within ten days.
• Lothar and Diakum learned that Gaiara and Tarecgosa were badly weakened, while Lothar warned that the Orcs might ally with the Darkhide Gnolls.
• Dick offered the Lakeshire youths places in Garona’s Uncrowned unit, and Kishaen agreed to train so he could kill Orcs.
• Duke Eberlock persuaded Alexis to cast a miniature Violet Barrier over Tranquil Garden Town to protect it from the approaching Orcs.
• Diakum entered the town as the barrier closed, and Star Soul warned him that the spell’s beacon had been redirected to the Twisting Nether.
• Diakum drew Flame Blade against the waiting demons and ordered Shadow Word to lend him its power.

Diakum and the civilians of Tranquil Garden Town were transported into the Twisting Nether, where he and the monk old Chen fought Balador’s demons. Diakum exposed Balador as a betrayer of his people and condemned him to torment in the Sea of Darkness.

• Grand Magus Alexis realized Medivh’s protective spell had transported the town into the Twisting Nether and began working to reverse it while Diakum protected the civilians.
• Diakum warned Alexis that he had been deceived and identified Duke Eberlock’s son as a child whose natural affinity for fel energy put him at risk of becoming a half-demon.
• Old Chen mistook Diakum for a villain, then joined the fight against the demons after Diakum gave him Kazzak's Soul Resonator Staff.
• Diakum and old Chen battled the demon forces as Diakum’s Guardian of Kings devastated the ranks and the demons fled in fear of the Light Butcher.
• Diakum identified the Eredar lord as Balador, who admitted that demons had destroyed his world and that he had brought his people away from it.
• Balador attacked Diakum after being exposed as the one who had summoned the demons and betrayed his clan, and Diakum defeated him and condemned him to a hundred thousand years of torment.

Diakum rescued the civilians from the Twisting Nether, then sacrificed the shattered Eredar world to the Void after honoring its dead. In Sunlight Forest, a pack of native wolves saved Lothar from Azuka Blade Fury’s Blademasters, and Lothar suspected the mysterious worgen was Gavinrad while learning that Goldrinn had begun choosing champions.

• Diakum returned to Grand Magus Alexis and helped reverse the ritual, sending the civilians and their rescuers back to the material world.
• After Old Chen departed, Diakum performed a rite for his clan’s souls and dragged the shattered world and its demons into the Sea of Darkness.
• Garona and Lothar encountered Azuka Blade Fury’s Blademasters near Tranquil Garden, and the two sides fought.
• Azuka knocked Lothar down, but a scarred gray worgen and a gathered pack of Sunlight Forest wolves attacked the Blademasters and drove them to retreat.
• Lothar found a scorched dog tag and suspected the worgen was Gavinrad, while Garona explained that Goldrinn was choosing warriors to oppose the Orcs’ Black Wolf God.

Diakum and Lothar planned Stormwind’s defense, with Lothar deciding to exploit the Orcs’ supply problems and use diplomacy to rally allies. The chapter ended with Garona revealing that General Gavinrad had become the White Wolf God’s first human chosen.

• Diakum treated Alexis, who had exhausted his mana saving Tranquil Garden Town’s civilians from the Twisting Nether after Medivh’s spell went wrong.
• Lothar and Diakum agreed to move the civilians to Karazhan and turn Tranquil Garden Town into a temporary fortress.
• Lothar outlined a strategy to delay the Orcs, cut their supplies through scorched earth, and draw allies into the war if the Orcs sought help from the Dark Iron Dwarves or goblins.
• Lothar invited Diakum to travel to Stormwind and help rally support, while Khadgar arrived with Moroes’s gift for Diakum.
• Diakum received Moroes’s enchanted handkerchief, and Garona asked him for one before revealing that General Gavinrad was the White Wolf God’s first human chosen.

After capturing the Redridge Mountains, Orgrim Doomhammer organized the Horde’s next moves, assigning the main assault on Stormwind to Fenris Wolfbrother and Zuluhed while he planned to secure equipment and a base in the Burning Steppes. He also began recruiting gnolls and assigning new clans, leaving the Horde poised to advance on multiple fronts.

• Eitrigg reported that the Horde had seized supplies in Lakeshire and warned that human resistance would intensify near Stormwind, while Orgrim assigned Fenris Wolfbrother and Zuluhed to lead the vanguard through Elwynn Forest.
• Orgrim authorized Oronok Torn-heart to form the Wolf Mane Clan and handle the conflict with the Graymane Worgen in Sunlight Forest, while Eitrigg stayed behind to reorganize the Horde and manage its supply lines.
• Orgrim planned to lead the Blackrock and Warsong Clans to the Burning Steppes to negotiate with the Dark Iron Dwarves, then rewarded Fenris and Zuluhed with enchanted weapons; Zuluhed also claimed a demon sword to aid his necromantic work.
• Orgrim recruited Darkhide Chieftain Fan Gaolei’s gnolls as guides and auxiliaries, and Zuluhed volunteered to deal with the warlock Morgus who controlled some of them.
• Nazgrel offered Rend Blackhand and Maim Blackhand the chance to form the Black Tooth Grin Clan, and they agreed to guard the Venture Company’s supply route.

Diakum and Lothar secured Stormwind’s control over the inheritance of Atiesh and Ebony Chill, drawing Grand Magus Alexis into their plan and provoking a confrontation with Dalaran’s envoy. King Llane backed the decision, while Stormwind prepared to summon spellcasters and other allies for the war against the Orcs.

• Garona and Diakum arrived in Stormwind, where a royal mage reported that Grand Magus Modera had demanded the Guardian’s power and staff in exchange for Dalaran’s military aid.
• Diakum offered Grand Magus Alexis a way to repair his arcane foundation if he stayed in Stormwind and entrusted Ebony Chill’s inheritance to Lothar; Alexis accepted and signed the authorization.
• Diakum and Lothar used the authorization from Meryl Winterwind, Farodis, Magna Aegwynn, and Medivh to assert that Dalaran could not control the Guardian’s inheritance.
• Lothar argued with Modera before King Llane, who declared that Atiesh and Ebony Chill would be inherited in Stormwind, and Diakum challenged Modera to settle the dispute by Mak’gora.
• Modera left in anger, and Lothar urged Dalaran to send the Council of Six and its battle mages to Stormwind.

King Llane prepared Stormwind for the orc siege while Zuluhed recruited Morgus and learned of the chance to claim Atiesh, Guardian's Staff. Eranikus then ordered Zuluhed to use the Dragon Soul to trap the Emerald Dragonflight and control Ysera.

• King Llane recruited assassins through Pasonia Shaw, accepted Garona's warning about the Shattered Hand Clan, and ordered Garona to guard him.
• Diakum gave King Llane the Lionheart Sword and Lion's Shield, while Varian argued against being sent away to Kul Tiras.
• Zuluhed recruited Morgus into the Shadow Council and tasked him with studying necromancy, making Death Knights, and placing agents in Stormwind.
• Morgus told Zuluhed that Lothar had announced a contest for Atiesh, Guardian's Staff and Ebony Chill, prompting Zuluhed to consider claiming the Guardian's Staff.
• Eranikus ordered Zuluhed to take the Dragon Soul to the Temple of Atal'Hakkar, trap members of the Emerald Dragonflight, and control Ysera without harming her.

Neri led a team of Legendary Ones through Millhouse's unstable portal to find Diakum, but the group landed in the Sunwell and faced the High Elf guards. Their mission ended with them preparing to escape before they could explain themselves.

• Millhouse and the mages tested the portal with prisoners, causing one to die in lava and another to fall from the sky before a third survived but was left mentally impaired.
• Neri insisted on going to rescue Diakum, and Grand Executor Hutton appointed her exploration ambassador to Azeroth.
• Rexxar, Griselda, Tila Saran, and Master Arantien joined Neri, while Neri gave her ranger lord insignia to Yura and accepted a beacon case for Diakum.
• Mar'gok discovered Millhouse had misplaced a decimal point, and the team entered the portal before he could warn them.
• The portal sent Neri's team to the Sunwell, where General Lirath Windrunner and the Phoenix Guards confronted them as intruders.

Neri escaped the Sunwell with Alleria and landed in Wildhammer territory, while Lord Farodis arranged for Lirath to retrieve her daughter and travel to Stormwind. In Tirisfal, Lelan reunited with Aquinus, Davenius, and Eredath amid the Ashbringer’s growing influence, then learned that Diakum was about to let young Varian handle his Flame Blade.

• Neri took Alleria through a portal to Wildhammer territory, and Lord Farodis explained that he had secretly redirected it to help set up Lirath’s journey to Stormwind.
• Lelan investigated rumors about Grand Duke Mograine and the Ashbringer, then was exposed by Turalyon and recognized by Aquinus and Davenius.
• Aquinus and Davenius told Lelan that Eredath was inside Ashbringer Monastery trying to temper the sword’s fanatical influence over local believers.
• Lelan saw Mograine’s followers practicing sword techniques and discovered that Archbishop Alonsus Faol bore a mark resembling a Light Archon’s inheritance.
• Diakum encouraged Varian Wrynn to touch his ancient Flame Blade after Varian declared that he wanted to become a warrior who saved the world.

General Lirath brought Quel'Thalas forces to Dalaran to rescue Alleria and urged the High Elf mages to join the contest for the Guardian's power in Stormwind. After the hostage exchange, Neri and her companions prepared to travel to Stormwind, while Meryl sent Lelan and Eredath on a separate mission and Neri resolved to reclaim Diakum from the Holy Light.

• General Lirath told Dalaran's High Elf Grand Magi that Quel'Thalas would compete for the Guardian's power and asked them to accompany her to Stormwind.
• Lirath found Alleria learning beast taming from Rexxar at the Magic Tavern, while Neri explained that the Phoenix Guardian had arranged their journey toward Stormwind.
• Lirath returned Griselda Blackhand's Heart of Stone in exchange for four legendary weapons, and the groups agreed to travel together.
• Lelan and Eredath arrived with the Church of the Holy Light, whose warriors exposed and killed a disguised succubus using Diakum's sealed holy sword.
• Meryl asked Lelan and Eredath to help him find a human relic, and Lelan gave Neri a Titanforged Rune for Vigilant.
• Neri told Lelan she was taking a temporary vacation to reclaim her bewitched boyfriend from the Holy Light, even if she had to fight it.

Diakum summoned Ashbringer and appeared as a Seraphim before Stormwind, blessing the city and proclaiming Anduin Lothar king. He later reunited with Neri at Mirror Lake, where she joined him to support his path and they shared an intimate moment.

• Alonsus Faol arrived in Stormwind with a delegation, and Ashbringer's radiance drew the faithful as the sealed chest neared the cathedral.
• Diakum summoned Ashbringer, entered his Seraphim state, blessed Stormwind, and awakened the Ash Knights as paladins.
• Diakum crowned Anduin Lothar king before the gathered crowd, leaving Lothar unable to deny the public proclamation.
• Daenerys dismissed the spectacle as theatrics and resisted her sister-in-law's insistence that she get to know Lothar.
• Neri confronted Diakum at Mirror Lake, admitted she had abandoned her duties to stay beside him, and he reassured her that he would find his own path between light and shadow.
• Diakum and Neri used his disarmament spell and disguise brooch before embracing in Mirror Lake.

After Maraad and Nubodon killed the Dreadlord Sorenor in Gadgetzan, they discovered that its Magic Plague had contaminated cargo and spread by ship across the seas. When Diakum and Neri returned to Stormwind, Mage Malin told them that the plague had reached the Wetlands and Southshore.

• Maraad and Nubodon killed Sorenor, then Nubodon discovered Magic Plague blotches on the pirates and found spores in their rum cargo.
• Maraad and Kara Cape learned that ships carrying contaminated goods had sailed from Gadgetzan to ports across the world.
• A Kul Tiras warship seized contaminated rum, and its sailors and the First Fleet began showing symptoms as the plague spread through Port of Boralus and other harbors.
• Prince Derek Proudmoore received warnings of plague outbreaks at Southshore, Menethil Harbor, and Booty Coast, where the goblins begged the Tide Sages for help.
• Diakum and Neri returned to Stormwind, where Mage Malin told them the Magic Plague had appeared near the Wetlands and Southshore.

Diakum warned Stormwind’s leaders that the Magic Plague was spreading and laid out a plan to contain it, unite Azeroth with Draenor, and defeat the orcs. As Bolvar Fordragon’s forces prepared to defend Elwynn Forest, gnolls joined the orc attack and threatened to outflank them.

• Diakum, Neri, and Dick explained that the Magic Plague spread rapidly, weakened its victims, and could drive desperate people to embrace fel energy, while Faol and Lothar recognized the danger of demon worshippers rising.
• Diakum proposed creating a plague-free sanctuary in Stormwind, finding Medivh’s Book to restore the Dark Portal, and quickly defeating the orc offensive; he said he would help until he had to travel to the Tomb of Sargeras.
• Lirath and Danylis joined the meeting, and Lirath asked Diakum how the elves could cooperate against the plague.
• Bolvar ordered his soldiers to destroy supplies at Eastvale Logging Camp so the orcs could not seize them, while Major Martin warned that evacuating farmers had left them angry and distressed.
• A Gryphon Rider reported that Redridge gnolls had joined the orcs, prompting Bolvar to warn Goldshire and request reinforcements for Westfall.
• When gnolls attacked the flank near Stone Cairn Lake, Bolvar led his knights forward to meet them while Martin held the defensive line.

Grand Magus Theocritus’s defenses failed when the orcs attacked the Tower of Azora, forcing the humans to retreat while Zuluhed turned the tower into a nightmare stronghold and Morgus created a death knight. Meanwhile, Hogger led gnolls into Goldshire and demanded that Stormwind send its strongest warriors so he could prove himself worthy of Lycantos’s favor.

• Theocritus activated the Mage Tower’s defenses and helped Bolvar’s troops repel the gnolls, but Fenris and his wolf riders broke the human lines and attacked Bolvar.
• Rexxar and Griselda arrived through the Tower of Azora’s portal with Mag'har warriors, forcing Fenris to withdraw, while Zuluhed froze the tower’s defenders with the Dragon Soul.
• Kargath assassinated Theocritus, who teleported the unconscious Bolvar and Major Martin to Stormwind before the Mage Tower fell.
• Zuluhed placed Eranikus’s Dream Crystal in the tower’s control core, and Morgus killed Theocritus with Apocalypse to create the first death knight.
• Gnolls attacked Goldshire, where Hogger spared the guards, challenged Stormwind to send its strongest warriors, and asked what a God Chosen was.

Warlock Korein gathered warlocks in Stormwind and tried to recruit them into spreading Magic Plague by demonstrating that fel energy suppressed it. Yorin Deadeye and Galders exposed the plot, and the Ash Knights stormed the Slaughtered Lamb, where they found Korein imprisoned and the surviving warlocks demanding rewards.

• Korein showed the warlocks that demon blood reduced a plague-stricken girl's symptoms and urged them to spread plague jars throughout Stormwind.
• Galders and Yorin Deadeye killed Korein's Felguard servant, bound the demon's soul, and hurried to Cathedral Square to report the plot.
• Yorin revealed his identity as a Mag'har Orc and Vigilant apprentice, and Diakum appointed him as Marshal Lothar's warlock advisor.
• Diakum sent the Ash Knights to the Mage Quarter, where they found the warlocks fighting among themselves.
• Grand Duke Mograine's knights found Korein sealed inside a fel crystal, while surviving warlocks claimed credit for protecting Stormwind and demanded medals and pardons.