Chapter Summaries

Thrall discussed the Orcs’ front-line troubles and the need to recruit Mag’har Orcs with Saurfang, then traveled to Theramore to ask Jaina for supplies and access to a Portal. Jaina welcomed him warmly, but they arrived at the docks as Elf Rangers detained an Orcish caravan.

• Thrall told Saurfang that Elf Druids were restoring forests in Ashenvale, and the two agreed to let them work undisturbed.
• Thrall and Saurfang discussed the stalled fighting, the threat from Mag’har Orcs in Outland, and difficulties obtaining supplies and Portal access through Theramore.
• Thrall decided to visit Jaina to discuss buying goods and borrowing a Portal, leaving Saurfang to oversee the Horde camp.
• Thrall sailed to Theramore, where Jaina welcomed him and promised to help with anything the city could manage.
• Thrall noticed Elf Rangers detaining an Orcish caravan, and Jaina led him over to investigate.

Thrall met Jaina in Theramore to ask for easier passage for Horde supplies detained under the city’s trade rules. Jaina cited the difficulty of favoring the Horde, and Deren proposed that Orcs hire human representatives to handle trade.

• Sylvanas detained an Orc caravan over a missing trade stamp until Jaina allowed the goods to pass.
• Thrall reminded the Orcs to obey Theramore’s rules and avoid disgracing the Horde.
• Jaina teleported Thrall to her Mage Tower, where Deren joined them for a meeting.
• Thrall asked Jaina to ease restrictions on Horde supplies, but she explained why she could not openly favor the Horde.
• Deren suggested the Orcs hire humans to handle procurement and transportation so the Elf Rangers would have fewer grounds to interfere.

Thrall asked Jaina to use Theramore’s Outland Portal to bring Orcs to Azeroth, and she agreed to seek a price from the Golden Horde. After Thrall left, Jaina and Deren discussed his likely plans for the war in Ashenvale and how they could profit from his request.

• Thrall explained that Theramore’s high supply prices were draining Orc funds, while Deren warned him about dishonest merchants and Jaina defended Theramore.
• Thrall asked Jaina to let the Orcs use her Outland Portal, and she said the Golden Horde had paid for it and offered to arrange a discounted fee.
• Thrall agreed to pay and said his own portal was too small and unstable to transport more than one person at a time.
• Jaina hosted a banquet for Thrall, who planned to stay in Theramore to discuss the elves’ problem with the Orc caravan.
• After Thrall left, Deren suggested that he wanted reinforcements for the coming conflict in Ashenvale, and Jaina asked how she could refuse his request.
• Deren advised Jaina to charge the Orcs freely and hinted that she could control what happened to the Portal.

Jaina proposed sabotaging the Orcs’ interstellar Portal transport, then spent the night with Deren while Onyxia watched. The next day, Thrall met Ysera in Theramore, recognized her as a Void Elf, and followed her to a quiet shop to talk.

• Jaina suggested that an accident during the Orcs’ Portal transport could destroy their forces without making her responsible, and Deren tried to leave for a banquet.
• Jaina brought Deren home late, where Onyxia challenged their claim that they had only discussed ways to deal with the Orcs.
• Onyxia sent Deren to bathe and then told him to give it his all because Chromie was absent.
• Thrall inspected Theramore’s market with Mogronar and heard how elven shoppers drove up the prices of goods the Orcs wanted.
• Thrall approached Ysera, recognized her as a Void Elf, and followed her to a secluded shop to talk.

Thrall questioned Ysera about her relationship with Deren, and she traded increasingly outrageous claims about her teacher for magical gems. She left Thrall believing Deren was Azeroth’s number one kept man with a strange constitution that attracted princesses.

• Thrall offered Ysera magical gems in exchange for an explanation of why she was Deren’s student, and she said Deren had saved her life in Outland.
• Thrall asked why Deren held so much influence, and Ysera claimed he had conquered Onyxia and was Azeroth’s number one kept man.
• Ysera told Thrall that Onyxia and Jaina had agreed to share Deren, leaving him convinced that Deren had immense powers of conquest.
• Thrall paid Ysera more gems to learn Deren’s secret, and she claimed he had a strange constitution that attracted princesses.
• Ysera cited Onyxia and Jaina’s royal backgrounds as evidence, while Thrall doubted that such a constitution could exist.

Thrall visited White Jaina in Theramore to ask about their fractured relationship, but she challenged his claims of friendship and accused him of serving the Ancestor's Spirit. When she demanded he swear that he had never intended harm to Jaina or Theramore or concealed dangerous information, Thrall fell silent.

• Thrall asked Mogronar to lead him to the white-haired woman who resembled Jaina, and Mogronar brought him to her home in Theramore.
• White Jaina let Thrall inside, made tea, and listened as he claimed they had once been friends and asked to reconcile.
• White Jaina questioned Thrall about his loyalty to the Orcs and argued that the Ancestor's Spirit had manipulated the Orcs' history and his decisions.
• Thrall denied intending to harm Jaina or Theramore and asked why the Jaina in this timeline had become distant from him.
• White Jaina said there was no misunderstanding between them and demanded that Thrall swear he had never intended harm or concealed dangerous news, leaving him silent.

Thrall visited White Jaina, but Kalecgos and the other Blue Dragons arrived and realized they had forgotten their hatred of the Orcs. White Jaina suggested that a powerful force might be controlling dragons, and Kalecgos concluded that he had been controlled long ago.

• Thrall apologized to White Jaina, but she challenged his claim that he had sacrificed power for the Horde.
• Kalecgos, Malygosa, and Stellagosa burst in after fighting the Orc guards, and Kalecgos mistakenly suspected Thrall of harming White Jaina.
• White Jaina reminded the Blue Dragons that Orcs had killed their kin to seize the Eye of the Storm, making them question why they had felt no hatred toward Thrall.
• Thrall said he had punished Garrosh and resolved the conflict with the Blue Dragon King, then left before the dragons could react.
• White Jaina suggested that a power as strong as the dragons' Creators might be suppressing their hatred, and Kalecgos realized he had been controlled long ago.

Kalecgos and Malygosa realized that an outside force had been influencing dragon behavior, and White Jaina suggested Deren might help them break free of it. She told Stellagosa about her origins in another Azeroth and hinted that an intimate relationship with Deren could have a stronger effect.

• Kalecgos told Malygosa that Malygos had likely known about the strange influence affecting him and had shown him sympathy rather than blame.
• White Jaina suggested Malygos had sent the dragons to Theramore to find a way to escape the control, and she identified Deren as the key to the city’s changes.
• Stellagosa and White Jaina discussed approaching Deren, while Malygosa misunderstood their plans and stormed out; Kalecgos chased after her.
• White Jaina shielded the house and told Stellagosa that she was Jaina Proudmoore from another Azeroth, where meeting Deren had made her feelings about the Orcs clearer.
• Stellagosa wondered whether staying near Deren could free the dragons from control, and White Jaina suggested intimacy with him might have a stronger effect.

Thrall negotiated with Rivendare of the Golden Horde over Portal fees for bringing the Mag'har Orcs back from Outland. They agreed to use Polymorph to turn the Orcs into hamsters so they could transport them in fewer trips, with Rivendare promising a deposit and reimbursement.

• Rivendare theatrically complained to Thrall about Goblins' hardships and the Portal fees they paid to Theramore.
• Rivendare offered to cover Thrall's transport costs and pay him a deposit in exchange for agreeing to the quoted price.
• Rivendare explained that the Goblins wanted to carry goods through the Portal alongside the Mag'har Orcs to save on fees.
• Rivendare proposed turning the Orcs into hamsters, as the Goblins had done with Naga, so they could transport more at once.
• Thrall accepted the plan after demanding a deposit and full reimbursement, and Rivendare agreed to pay five thousand gold coins in advance if the transports stayed below ten.

Thrall negotiated with Jaina and Prince Rivendare to arrange Portal transport for hundreds of Orcs, with Goblin Polymorph mages offering a cheaper solution. The group signed a contract with a fifty-percent safety margin, leaving Thrall to contact the mages while Jaina, Deren, and Rivendare celebrated their scheme.

• Thrall entered the meeting room and was introduced to Deren and Prince Rivendare by Deren.
• Thrall told Jaina he needed to transport several hundred, possibly a thousand, Orcs through the Outland Portal.
• Jaina explained the Portal's capacity limits and suggested Polymorph, while Rivendare directed Thrall to Goblin mages in Ratchet.
• Thrall and Jaina agreed on a per-use fee, then Rivendare pushed for a larger materials reserve to support the transport and the Goblins' interests.
• Jaina, Thrall, and Rivendare signed a contract that included a fifty-percent safety margin.
• Thrall left to contact the Polymorph mages, and Jaina, Deren, and Rivendare smiled over their scheme.

Deren and Jaina’s plan drew Tyrande to him after Thrall’s conspicuous visit to Theramore. Deren persuaded Tyrande that Thrall was using his public friendship with Jaina to sow distrust between Theramore and the Night Elves, leaving Tyrande convinced she had uncovered an open scheme.

• Thrall left the venue to seek Ratchet’s Goblin mage and negotiate a discount, while Jaina and Deren returned home, confident that news of Thrall’s visit would reach Tyrande.
• Deren explained Thrall’s visit to Onyxia, but paused their intimate moment when Tyrande arrived in their living room.
• Onyxia rebuked Tyrande for entering uninvited, then accepted her consultation fee and sent Deren to help her.
• Tyrande asked what Thrall was plotting by appearing publicly in Theramore, and Deren suggested he was trying to make the Night Elves doubt their cooperation with Jaina.
• Tyrande accepted Deren’s explanation that Thrall’s public appearances were a calculated scheme that could create suspicion without costing him anything.

Deren persuaded Tyrande to sabotage Thrall’s plan to transport Orc reinforcements from Outland by secretly subsidizing Goblin mages in Ratchet. Tyrande agreed to make the elves take the blame while Theramore remained uninvolved.

• Deren told Tyrande that Thrall planned to bring thousands of Outland Orcs to Ashenvale by using Goblin mages to polymorph them into hamsters for transport through Theramore’s Portal.
• Tyrande suggested hiring every Goblin mage in Ratchet, but Deren urged her to encourage the Orcs to hire more mages instead.
• Deren proposed secretly subsidizing Goblin archmages to send inexperienced apprentices, increasing the chance of a fatal Polymorph failure during teleportation.
• Tyrande agreed to bribe the Goblin archmages and make the elves appear responsible for the sabotage, while Theramore denied any involvement.

Deren and Tyrande agreed to keep Theramore’s friendly façade with the Orcs while quietly weakening them, and Deren devised a plan to destroy the Dragonmaw and Blackrock Orcs through hired forces. Onyxia then wondered whether supernatural mental interference had caused humans to spare the Orcs in the past.

• Tyrande agreed to borrow from Suramar and Azshara and cooperate with Deren’s gradual campaign against the Orcs.
• Deren told Onyxia that Thrall’s Ancestor’s Spirit made the Orcs a dangerous hidden threat to Azeroth.
• Onyxia proposed attacking other remaining Orc forces, and Deren chose the Dragonmaw and Blackrock Orcs as targets.
• Deren planned to stage a Goblin cargo robbery and recruit Goblins, Dalaran mages, Feralas Ogres, and Sentinel patrols to wipe out the Orcs.
• Deren questioned why humans had repeatedly spared the Orcs, and Onyxia suspected that mental interference had influenced their leaders.

Deren warned Onyxia that an unseen force might be controlling people’s memories and urged caution in dealing with the Dragonmaw Clan. After Chromie recalled her own grudge against them, Deren planned to locate the Orcs and use Goblins to undermine them from behind the scenes.

• Deren told Onyxia to avoid wiping out the Dragonmaw Clan at once and suggested their memories might have been manipulated.
• Anveena returned from shopping with fruit, and Jaina hurriedly distracted her after she caught Deren and Onyxia in an intimate moment.
• Deren asked Onyxia about Chromie, who appeared through a Time Rift and admitted she had forgotten the Dragonmaw Clan’s past abuse of her.
• Deren explained that Thrall might recruit the old Horde remnants and proposed locating the Dragonmaw Clan before that happened.
• Chromie agreed to help, and Deren instructed her to use Goblins to cause trouble while they stayed hidden unless something unusual occurred.

Thrall took a group of Goblin mages and accountants through Jaina’s Portal to Outland while Deren and Jaina discussed a plan to sabotage later Horde teleportations. The chapter ended with Tyrande learning that Thrall might bring thousands of Orcs to Azeroth.

• Jaina teleported Thrall, several dozen Goblin mages, and Rivendare’s Goblin accountants to Outland through the Mage Tower’s Magic Array.
• After the group departed, Tyrande asked why Jaina had not sabotaged the teleportation, and Deren warned that Thrall’s extraordinary luck made him dangerous to oppose.
• Jaina took Deren and Tyrande to a secret chamber, where Deren asked whether the Goblin-side arrangements were ready.
• Tyrande confirmed that some Goblin mages had been planted or bribed and that the planned accidents had been rehearsed.
• Deren instructed Tyrande to let the first batches pass safely, then sabotage a later large-scale teleportation and kill Orcs.
• Deren estimated that Thrall could bring more than a thousand Orc warriors to Azeroth, possibly alongside two or three thousand Orcs in total.

Deren advised Tyrande on ways to disrupt the Orcs’ journey from Theramore to Orgrimmar, proposing sabotage along sea, air, and land routes. Tyrande paid him for his final scheme, and the chapter ended with her blushing as thoughts of Sylvanas and Deren stirred up complicated feelings.

• Deren proposed having the Naga attach frozen Glyph Bombs beneath ships carrying the Orcs, while Jaina warned that attacking ships with passengers could provoke other factions.
• Deren suggested provoking passengers to reject or extort the Orcs, spreading rumors to discourage them from sharing ships, or sabotaging Goblin airships if they used them.
• Deren showed Tyrande a map and explained that the Orcs could travel through the Crossroads in The Barrens, so she tossed Jaina a pouch of high-grade goods as payment for his advice.
• Deren proposed luring the Centaur Tribes into a fight with the Orc marching force, using Hippogryph Riders to help draw them into conflict.
• Tyrande thought about Deren’s schemes and Sylvanas, blushed, and left Jaina wondering why she was acting strangely.

Thrall visited Regar Territory after learning from Dranosh’s letter that the Mag’har Orcs of Outland were struggling to survive, and asked Regar to help house recruits bound for Azeroth. Regar agreed but remained unusually cold, leaving Thrall to wonder about his attitude as Dranosh guided him onward.

• Dranosh bathed Gale and was surprised when Thrall arrived, then welcomed his former Great Chieftain.
• Thrall explained that he had come to recruit the struggling Mag’har Orcs and bring them to Azeroth.
• Dranosh introduced Thrall to Regar, whose cool reception contrasted with Dranosh’s excitement.
• Thrall asked Regar to provide lodging and food for the Orcs preparing to leave, and Regar agreed.
• Regar assigned Dranosh to guide Thrall, and Thrall asked whether Regar was always so cold toward outsiders.

Dranosh took charge of Regar Territory while Thrall gathered the Mag'har Orcs, but the newcomers’ arrival strained the territory’s food supplies. The chapter ended with Dranosh ordering stronger patrols after Mag'har Orcs refused bread and stole Kodos.

• Thrall left Regar Territory to gather the Mag'har Orcs and asked Dranosh to shelter them when they arrived.
• Regar told Dranosh he would take grain reserves to Zandalar to trade for jerky and other supplies, leaving Dranosh in charge.
• Dranosh welcomed the first Mag'har Orcs and provided food and lodging while his own people harvested wheat.
• More Mag'har Orcs arrived, ate the territory’s dwindling supplies, refused to help with the harvest, and would not eat bread.
• A subordinate told Dranosh that meat was nearly gone and several Kodos had been stolen; Dranosh ordered increased patrols and severe punishment for further theft.

Dranosh regretted trusting Thrall after Mag'har Orcs stole cattle from Regar Territory, and he prepared to defend the territory's resources. When the raiders returned for more cattle, Dranosh and his people stood ready to fight, forcing them to withdraw.

• A group of newly arrived Mag'har Orcs tried to slaughter Regar Territory's cattle, and Dranosh stopped the two sides from fighting by giving them two Kodos.
• After the raiders left, Dranosh heard his people condemn the newcomers and regretted trusting Thrall and accepting so many Orcs.
• Dranosh ordered his people to slaughter and store the cattle, harvest wheat, guard the territory's supplies, and watch the newcomers' camp.
• The raiders returned to steal two more cattle, but Dranosh and his armed patrol confronted them, and they withdrew without a fight.

A dispute over cattle between Regar Orcs and outsider Orcs escalated until Thrall intervened and persuaded the outsiders to leave for Azeroth. Dranosh discovered that Thrall’s presence strangely compelled him, while Thrall led several hundred Mag'har Orcs toward a portal in Zangar Marsh.

• Dranosh confronted outsider Orcs who demanded the cattle raised in Regar Territory, and both sides prepared to fight.
• Thrall arrived and calmed the dispute, but Dranosh suffered a painful inner conflict when Thrall asked him to give the outsiders meat.
• Thrall promised the outsider Orcs they could find plenty of food in Azeroth and led several hundred of them toward Zangar Marsh.
• After recovering, Dranosh ordered patrols to warn him of Thrall’s arrival so he could avoid being influenced by him.
• Thrall headed for the portal to Theramore, considering how he would explain that the Mag'har Orcs had to turn into hamsters to pass through.