The current Lord of Hearthglen, Taelan Fordring, had taken in the soldiers who had fled Stratholme, along with several thousand unfortunate refugees. He had begun actively strengthening Hearthglen's fortress and defenses, lest the undead attack his domain again—a place they had never truly managed to conquer.
Although,
if Prince Arthas and Uther hadn't come to their aid last time, they had been unprepared and the undead had poisoned them. Wouldn't the undead likely have overrun them long ago?
Half a month ago, after Uther had returned to Lordaeron to report on the undead and brief King Terenas on the dangers of the Undead Plague, the Silver Hand's Paladins had begun leaving Hearthglen. They were sweeping the area around the ruins of Andorhal for the scattered undead that kept appearing, seemingly hoping to retake and rebuild the city so they could defend against the coming undead assault.
Unfortunately, with the residents either dead or fled, and the kingdom yet to send troops to garrison the city and reinforce its defenses, the thousand or so Paladins clearly couldn't control a city and region as vast as Andorhal.
At Corin's Crossing, the very front line of the resistance against the undead, things had unexpectedly turned out quite easily for General Alfred Abbendis and his daughter Brigitte Abbendis, whose mission everyone had thought would be the most difficult. For reasons unknown, more than half a month had passed, and the undead army they had expected still hadn't arrived. The undead didn't seem in any hurry to head south, instead remaining around Stratholme and in the newly formed Felwood.
So the father and daughter, with more than twenty thousand soldiers at their command, were building up their defenses around Corin's Crossing and Tyr's Hand. Fortresses, outposts, watchtowers, and all manner of other structures were springing