Chapter Summaries

Daelin's mind was divided by N'Zoth's spell, leaving one version trapped in a false life while another sailed freely as an admiral. As Diakum watched, the admiral set course for the Echo Isles and then the Northern Borderlands to confront the Naga.

• Lord Ashvane convinced the injured Daelin that Derek had betrayed him and that his wife had died, while Duke Farwynd and Ashvane plotted to deepen his rage and capture Jaina.
• N'Zoth's spell and the power in Daelin's anchor pendant split his consciousness, leaving the king trapped in a dark dream and the admiral free at sea.
• Diakum explained to Nali that N'Zoth's body and mind were separated and that the Old God would need to be destroyed in both reality and dreams.
• Diakum told Nali that he planned to wait for the Overmind to awaken before acting against the remaining Old Gods and Xal'atath.
• The admiral took a pirate captain's hat, ordered his crew toward the Echo Isles for supplies, and planned to continue to the Northern Borderlands to fight the Naga.

Yrel, Maraad, and Nubodon destroyed the Marsh Witch Coven and rescued its captive children in Gilneas, then agreed to hear King Genn’s plea for help. Diakum arrived, uncovered and destroyed a hidden Shadewock, and the group prepared to face the trouble drawing Genn to them.

• Yrel, Maraad, and Nubodon discussed their hunt for the Marsh Witch Coven and Yrel’s struggle to uphold the Light without relying on violence.
• The three Lightforged stormed the witches’ swamp stronghold, destroyed the coven, and rescued children captured for sacrifices.
• Yrel and her companions refused the villagers’ rewards and planned to travel to Southshore before a worgen messenger told them King Genn needed help.
• Maraad arranged for Genn to meet them in the Black Forest, then contacted Diakum, who arrived in person and killed a hidden Shadewock.
• Diakum gave the three Inquisitor Armaments, and wolf howls announced Genn’s rapid approach as the group prepared to confront the greater danger.

Dick met Genn Greymane and demonstrated a way to restore worgen to human form by having Queen Mia confront her beast nature. Mia succeeded, and Genn agreed to join Lothar’s faction, but Dick clarified that he wanted the worgen to retrieve the Scythe of Elune so he could teach them more about controlling their nature.

• Dick met the exhausted Genn and learned that Goldrinn had freed the worgen from savagery’s shackles but had not cured their uncontrollable rage.
• Dick explained that he could restore the worgen to human form using a casting medium, and Queen Mia volunteered to undergo the trial.
• Dick separated Mia’s humanity and beast nature in an illusion, where Mia fought off her worgen self to protect the vision of her future son, Liam.
• Nubodon prepared Peacebloom extract, and Dick used it to return Mia to human form after she won the trial.
• Genn agreed to join Lothar’s faction, but Dick clarified that he wanted Genn to retrieve the Scythe of Elune for the worgen instead.

Queen Mia’s return to human form strengthened Genn’s Worgen, while Diakum advised Gilneas on controlling their curse and discussed an alliance against Terenas’s forces. After ordering the campaign to begin, Diakum inspected his growing swarm and offered Eranikus a chance to atone through military service.

• Queen Mia was escorted through Gilneas City, reassuring the Worgen by showing them her human form.
• Diakum warned Lord Godfrey that Mia’s recovery was temporary and urged Gilneas to teach its Worgen balance and Druidic discipline.
• Lord Godfrey shared intelligence about Lordaeron’s defenses, its allied forces, and a reported Dragonborn uprising; Diakum called Terenas’s court a formidable raid party.
• Diakum ordered Genn to lead the Worgen east to join Lothar, while Yrel and the others went to help Prince Derek capture Southshore.
• Diakum inspected the Shadow Chasing Swarm and ordered it to hatch more elite warriors for the coming War of the Eternal Cycle.
• Diakum offered Eranikus military exile and a path to atonement, and Eranikus agreed to serve so he could protect Ysera.

Prince Derek and Jaina helped capture Southshore, but an Old God’s attack left Derek wounded and Jaina unconscious. After Nat Pagle warned that another creature was trying to erase Derek from memory, Bolvar sent Derek and Jaina to Gilneas under General Gavinrad’s escort.

• Derek allowed Jaina to remain aboard his flagship during the assault, and she fought off naga with powerful frost magic as Kul Tiras’s fleet bombarded Southshore.
• White Pawn and the worgen landed and defeated the Dragonborn forces, while a naga prince struck Derek and Jaina with a rune that knocked them unconscious.
• Jaina fought back against the naga prince before black tentacles dragged her into the sea, but allies sent by the Vigilant rescued her.
• The worgen captured Southshore, and Nubodon warned that Derek’s wound and exposure to the Old God could have damaged his mind.
• Nat Pagle warned that a six-eyed flying fish was trying to take Derek away and make everyone forget him, so Bolvar ordered General Gavinrad to escort Derek and Jaina to Gilneas.

Yrel escorted Nat Pagle toward Gilneas, where his visions warned that the Vigilant faced danger in Lordaeron City. Meanwhile, Colonel Blackmoore returned to Hillsbrad with the Stonewall Brigade, prepared to take Durnholde Keep, and received a cryptic warning to beware of dreams.

• Nat Pagle told Yrel about his prophetic dreams, the Dragonborn, and the glowing handprints he saw on people the Vigilant had saved.
• As the Light-Forged Dragons approached Gilneas, Nat foresaw a golden sun driving back darkness before shadows gathered to threaten the Vigilant in Lordaeron City, then fainted.
• Colonel Blackmoore chose Durnholde Keep as the Stonewall Brigade's target and planned to seek Ravenholdt's help after learning the Dragonborn had occupied the manor.
• Blackmoore rallied his commanders to attack the keep and explained that a boy he had once saved had predicted his future success there.
• A Ravenholdt envoy gave Blackmoore information about Durnholde Keep and warned that Lordaeron planned a major move, advising him to beware of dreams.

Lothar ordered Colonel Blackmoore to hold Tarren Mill while preparing to attack through Silverpine Forest, but Xavius’s nightmare swept across the region and trapped soldiers and commanders in dreams. Diakum revealed that the fear and hatred created by the nightmare empowered his Sha, allowing him to seize control of Xavius’s realm and confront the Nightmare King.

• Lothar ordered Blackmoore to attack Tarren Mill as a diversion and hold the Dragonborn forces there for at least half a month, while directing him to establish holy protections against nightmares.
• Blackmoore escaped the spreading sleep mist, sounded the alarm, and organized priests and soldiers to defend Durnholde Keep as Dragonborn knights advanced from Tarren Mill.
• At Southshore, Lothar woke to the mist, found Daenerys and White Pawn trapped in dreams, and learned from Khadgar that Xavius might be behind the attack; he confirmed he was dreaming by crushing the Heart of Azeroth.
• In White Pawn’s dream, a Satyr posing as Daenerys revealed the nightmare’s lethal danger and hunted him through a dream labyrinth.
• Xavius weakened Diakum in his nightmare realm and claimed he would make him the King of Nightmares’ servant, but Diakum recognized that the victims’ anguish was feeding his Sha Power.
• Diakum broke free, unleashed the Seven Sha, and seized control of the nightmare realm, challenging Xavius to a deadly contest.

Archdruid Staghelm, Remulos, and a host of druids traveled to the Nightmare Realm to rescue Diakum, only to find humans and Sha overwhelming Xavius’s forces. Diakum defeated Xavius’s Shadow and invited the druids to attempt the Seven Sha Trial.

• Staghelm told Remulos that a Nightmare outbreak threatened Diakum, and Remulos gathered druids from Moonglade to aid him.
• Remulos led nearly two hundred druids through the Dream Rift toward the Eastern Continent, while Avelra and the dryads joined the expedition.
• The druids found humans slaughtering terrified satyrs corrupted by Sha energy, and White Pawn dismissed their offer to spare the demons.
• Staghelm and the druids opened a path into the deeper Nightmare Realm, where they heard Xavius suffering under the Sha.
• Diakum declared that Xavius had failed the Seven Sha Trial, then ordered the Sha of Pride to destroy Xavius’s Shadow.
• Diakum invited the druids to take the Seven Sha Trial for a chance to gain the talent Unity of Heaven and Man.

Lothar joined forces with Genn and the Worgen to attack Tarren Mill, while Diakum guided Derek into the shadows to prepare him to find his missing brother Tandred. Derek reached the Shadewalkers’ sanctuary, where Anveena was preparing to capture Anub’arak and mocked him as a poor recruit.

• Lothar left Southshore to reinforce Durnholde Keep, then negotiated an alliance with Genn, who agreed to join the attack on Tarren Mill in exchange for protections for the Worgen.
• Diakum explained that Derek’s connection to the shadows could help locate Tandred and taught him to distinguish N’Zoth’s whispers from the calls of the Sea of Darkness.
• Derek entered the spiritual world with Diakum and experienced the Shadewalkers’ history and the vast insect swarm under their command.
• Derek arrived at the Shadewalkers’ refuge in Northrend as Anveena prepared to capture Anub’arak, and she called him a poor recruit.

The Shadow Chasing Swarm pressed its conquest of the Nerubians in Northrend, seeking to capture Anub'arak and absorb Nerubian abilities. Anub'arak rejected surrender and fought to defend Azjol-Nerub, but the Overmind subdued him as the swarm prepared to transform him.

• Anveena reported that the Shadow Chasing Swarm had captured Nerubian Crypt Lords and priests, unlocked new caster-bug forms, and was advancing on Anub'arak.
• Diakum refused Anveena's request to assign Anub'arak to her Saviors Swarm, warned her about a darkness beneath Ahn'kahet, and spoke of an approaching great war.
• Anub'arak learned that Queen Nefiries would shelter Nerubian refugees and that Anub'zhar had offered him a stronghold, but he chose to stay and defend his kingdom.
• Anub'arak warned Kilix the Disassembler that the Shadow Chasing Swarm would also threaten Aki'kahet, then led his guards to face the invaders.
• Anub'arak refused Anveena's demand to submit, and the Overmind joined the battle, broke through his defenses, and left the king at the swarm's mercy.

Archbishop Faol learned that Lothar’s forces had retaken Tarren Mill, and Quel’Thalas committed its armies to the war against the Dragonborn. Kael’thas led the Sin’dorei out of Deatholme for the campaign while confronting the unresolved threat of his people’s magic addiction.

• Faol received news of Lothar’s victory at Tarren Mill and heard that the worgen had joined the fight in Silverpine Forest.
• Mograine proposed attacking Tyr’s Hand, while Faol urged patience until Quel’Thalas joined the campaign.
• Sylvanas arrived with Uther and Arthas and announced that Kael’thas would besiege Stratholme while Liadrin’s Blood Knights joined the attack on Tyr’s Hand.
• Faol welcomed Quel’Thalas’s Sun Doctrine, and Mograine prepared to raise the People of Light’s battle standard against the Dragon Cult.
• Arthas declared that he would fight for the oppressed and eventually stop his father, while Uther departed to aid Lothar in Tirisfal Glades.
• Kael’thas set out from Deatholme with the Sin’dorei army, still weighing how to address his people’s approaching magic addiction.

Korialstrasz captured Farad, a black dragon working with Lord Sabellian, and learned that undead forces had entered Stratholme. As Tyr's Hand fell into chaos and Kalecgos was wounded, Kael'thas discovered that Governor Toserin was leading the undead in Stratholme and ordered his forces into the city.

• Korialstrasz and Kalecgos cornered Farad at Avalon County, and Farad surrendered after explaining his ties to Ravenholdt and his cooperation with Anduin Lothar.
• Farad warned Korialstrasz that Northrend undead had arrived on the coast and been invited into Stratholme, prompting Korialstrasz to fly there.
• Undead Dragonborn attacked the rear of the forces at Tyr's Hand, and Kalecgos flew to fight the undead fleet but was struck by a necromantic ballista and rescued by Farad.
• Kael'thas's forces found Stratholme in chaos, rescued fleeing civilians, and learned from Oryx Rivendare that an elf with a blue demon sword had killed the city's leaders and raised them as undead.
• Kael'thas identified the elf as the missing Governor Toserin, ordered his commanders to secure the city and evacuate civilians, and sent word to Archbishop Faol.

Diakum learned that Kael'thas had defeated Toserin in Stratholme, then prepared to join Lothar's advance toward Lordaeron City despite Neri's warning. Meanwhile, King Terenas chose to lure Lothar into a decisive battle in the capital while Xal'atath worked to summon Deathwing from the Sea of Darkness.

• Diakum reviewed reports of Kael'thas's victory over Toserin and the destruction of the Death Knight force in Stratholme, while Neri described the plague and the widening conflict.
• Diakum and Neri assessed Lothar's campaign and the allied forces surrounding the Dragonborn, and Diakum decided to advance with Lothar toward Lordaeron City to confront Xal'atath.
• Jaina and Derek Proudmoore arrived with word that Lothar would soon enter Silverpine Forest, and Diakum agreed to travel by ship toward Whispering Shore despite the Naga threat.
• General Othmar Garithos warned King Terenas about the military crisis, but Terenas rejected a defensive strategy and ordered his forces gathered in Lordaeron City to meet Lothar.
• Terenas watched Xal'atath's Void ritual and learned that she intended to bring back Deathwing, whom she called the empire's decisive weapon.

The Army of the Light and its allies captured Ambermill Castle after a brutal siege, while Old Staghelm revealed that the Seven Sha Trial had awakened his Balance abilities. Lothar’s reinforcements arrived with goblin Tiger-type war mechs, and the gnomes began converting Steam Tanks into Steel Tanks to compete.

• Old Staghelm told Hamul Runetotem that he and Malfurion had failed to pass the Seven Sha Trial, then explained that the trials had helped him master the Balance Path.
• Old Staghelm and Hamul attacked Ambermill Castle, helping Fuding’s forces breach it and defeat the stubborn Dragonborn defenders at heavy cost.
• Malin Noggenfogger and Gazlowe presented Lothar with twenty experimental Tiger-type war mechs, and Lothar tested one before criticizing its limitations.
• Lothar ordered two hundred Tiger-type mechs and planned to recruit Iron Horse Knights’ retainers as pilots, while Gazlowe promised further development.
• Gnome engineers, alarmed by the goblins’ machines, decided to mount captured Felsteel Annihilator upper bodies on Steam Tanks and build Steel Tanks using fel engines.

Jaina passed the Arcane Academy’s freshman assessment after summoning a powerful glacial elemental to help Derek’s fleet land at Whispering Shore. As the allies prepared to attack Lordaeron City, Lothar’s forces broke through the Dragonborn’s final defense in Silverpine Forest with Kael’thas’s reinforcements, while Diakum warned that a greater threat awaited inside the city.

• Jaina summoned an Ancient Glacial Elemental that froze the Naga defenders and enabled Derek’s fleet to land at Whispering Shore.
• Diakum gave Jaina her student ID, making her the first student of the Arcane Academy’s Azeroth Branch Campus, and assigned Saloras to guide her studies.
• Derek reported that Uther had found a route into Lordaeron City through its sewers, while Diakum, Saloras, and Nali warned that Deathwing and Xal’atath awaited them there.
• Lothar fought through the Dragonborn defenses in Silverpine Forest as he pressed toward Tirisfal and Lordaeron City.
• Kael’thas arrived through a portal with Alleria and Sylvanas, helped Lothar kill the Dragonkin commander, and broke the Dragonborn forces’ last line of defense.

The allied forces attacked Lordaeron while Lothar led a secret assault through the sewers to open the city gate. General Othmar Garithos fought to defend the city, but the gate fell and he was defeated as the invading army entered.

• Dwarven cannons, Sin'dorei mages, and Kaldorei forces attacked Lordaeron's walls while Diakum Zastinus watched from the allied camp and Kazzak emerged to batter the defenses.
• Black dragons clashed with Guardian Dragons and Dracthyr, while a mysterious silver-comet attacker knocked Garithos and his dragon companion into the city.
• Uther led Lothar, Arthas, White Pawn, Yrel, and their forces through the sewers, where they fought Dragonborn and split up to seize the eastern gate and destroy black dragon towers.
• Garithos confronted Uther as Fordring worked to open the gate, and he fought fiercely to keep the allied forces out of Lordaeron.
• Arthas and White Pawn opened the city gate, while Mograine and the paladins struck down Garithos and General Feathermoon's forces entered the city.

Arthas’s forces entered Lordaeron as the assault on the city escalated, while Diakum’s army broke through the walls and advanced toward the royal palace. The chapter left Varian and the druids fighting Lyral Fangs of Fire as Nali prepared to support them.

• Uther stopped White Pawn from killing Garithos, who defended his loyalty to Lordaeron before incinerating himself and asking Arthas to scatter his ashes and spare Terenas.
• Arthas honored Garithos as a fallen hero and led Lordaeron’s soldiers against the black dragon spires.
• Vigilant ordered the final assault, and Ragnaros and Kazzak helped bring down the Black Dragon Wall as Lyral Fangs of Fire unleashed wolf packs across the city.
• Diakum sent Saloras to prevent Xal'atath from escaping and learned that the Nightmare King had returned to the city’s dreams.
• Varian, Genn, and the druids tracked Lyral Fangs of Fire, whose ambush was exposed by Nali’s bright flare.
• White Pawn struck the ancient Worgen, and Staghelm and Lord Godfrey joined the fight before Nali ordered White Pawn to defend against approaching werewolves.

Xal'atath sacrificed her Void servants to accelerate Deathwing's summoning while Xavius raised a Nightmare Realm to stall the attackers. As Diakum approached the palace, the Dream Eater joined Ysera and defeated Xavius, leaving the summoning ritual underway.

• Xal'atath ordered the Void servants guarding the palace to be sacrificed after the Naga matron warned that withdrawing them would weaken the defenses.
• Xal'atath forced Xavius to raise the Nightmare Realm around the palace, where it trapped dragons and attacked Lothar, the Sun King, and their warriors.
• Diakum asked the Overmind to bring the newly advanced Dream Eater to the Nightmare Realm so it could say farewell to Ysera before the army's invasion.
• Xavius ambushed Ysera as she tried to purify the Nightmare Realm, but she fought back and held her ground.
• The Dream Eater attacked Xavius from behind and, with Ysera's help, tore apart its nightmare incarnation.

Ysera reunited with Eranikus, the Dream Eater Tyrant, during the assault on Lordaeron, but their reunion was interrupted by Chromatus, a stitched dragon Deathwing had created. The swarm captured Chromatus, and Onyxia recognized Nefarian in one of its heads as the battle against Deathwing’s forces continued.

• Xavius fled, and Ysera recognized the Dream Eater as Eranikus; he protected her and prepared to return to the Shadow Chasing Swarm.
• Chromatus ambushed Eranikus, and the Overmind ordered him to capture the immortal dragon for its genes.
• Chromie warned the dragons about Chromatus, while Lothar and Kael'thas moved toward Terenas and the summoning ritual.
• Anbosa, Azurathel, and Sarkareth led the Dracthyr in choosing to oppose Deathwing and protect the human heroes, joined by other Dracthyr and dragons.
• Onyxia and Sinestra helped Eranikus drive Chromatus toward the Reflection Gate, where Agamaggan dragged it into the Shadow Chasing Swarm.
• Onyxia recognized Nefarian in Chromatus's black head and mourned his loss after the gate closed; Ysera told her the swarm might send him back.

Lothar's forces reached King Terenas's throne hall as Diakum confronted Xal'atath and the returning Deathwing outside. Lothar and Terenas began their duel, but Daelin arrived in pirate garb with Rexxar and Vol'jin, turning the battle into a larger confrontation.

• Sabellian led Lothar's King-Capturing Squad to the throne hall and revealed that Terenas's advisors included Aiden Perenolde, Darius Crowley, and the lich Delandon.
• Lothar's allies entered the throne hall, where Terenas claimed their campaign had served his plan, and Lothar charged him to begin their duel.
• Diakum shattered the Void barrier around Xal'atath's ritual, and the Sunwell's power struck her as Deathwing returned through the rift.
• Diakum and Deathwing clashed inside a barrier sustained by four demigod mages while Lothar and Terenas continued fighting in the damaged throne hall.
• Terenas gained the upper hand with Saramani, but Daelin dropped into the fight with Rexxar and Vol'jin and challenged the Dragon King.