Chapter Summaries

Prince Malchezaar recalled how he joined the Burning Legion, became trapped in Karazhan, and planned to invade Azeroth before Annie, Medivh, and the Maiden of Virtue confronted him. After the group overwhelmed him, Tibbers killed him from behind, and Annie turned to the Maiden of Virtue with another request in mind.

• Malchezaar remembered joining the Burning Legion under Archimonde, then described how he entered Karazhan, lost his demonic forces, and became trapped there for years.
• Annie, Medivh, and the Maiden of Virtue entered Malchezaar’s platform, and Medivh asked Annie to seal the rift to the Twisting Nether after they dealt with the demon.
• Annie introduced herself and threatened Malchezaar over his connection to Archimonde, while Medivh revealed his identity and the Maiden of Virtue prepared to attack.
• The Maiden of Virtue stunned Malchezaar with Holy Light, Medivh struck him with lightning, and Annie hit him with fire before he charged toward the doorway.
• The Maiden of Virtue stopped Malchezaar with a Holy Barrier and struck him with Holy Wrath, then Tibbers attacked from behind and killed him.
• Annie scolded Tibbers for grumbling and approached the Maiden of Virtue, intending to ask her for help again.

Matthias Shaw’s SI:7 agents watched Lana and Pete’s grain-buying party, convinced they were Defias Brotherhood spies and planning to follow and rob them. Lana and Pete recognized the surveillance, and Matthias began to suspect Lana was the mage who had helped Vanessa VanCleef escape, leaving both sides poised for a confrontation.

• Matthias Shaw reviewed evidence that the unfamiliar grain merchants and some of their attendants were linked to the Defias Brotherhood.
• Matthias ordered his agents to follow the grain convoy and disguise themselves as bandits so they could seize the supplies and track where they were headed.
• Matthias recognized that Lana’s robe might conceal a staff like the one used in the duke’s murder and sent McCleary to fetch the mage Kom.
• Pete warned Lana that people were watching them, and explained how he had identified some supposed farmhands as spies.
• Lana told Pete to stay calm and not alert their attendants, while revealing she had noticed the surveillance and was prepared to escape if attacked.

Annie arrived in Moonbrook, where wanted posters named Vanessa and an unknown mage as Defias Brotherhood targets, while Griane Stoutmantle wondered if Annie was the Fire Queen he had seen before. Farther south, Lana and Pete fought off a large SI:7 ambush, and Lana’s green Killing Curse was aimed at Matthias Shaw as the chapter ended.

• Annie tore down the wanted posters for Vanessa and the unknown mage, then told the old poster-paster that people who treated her well were good and people who treated her badly were bad.
• Annie decided to stay in Moonbrook instead of searching for the arriving fleet, while Tibbers warned her that an old Paladin was watching her.
• Griane Stoutmantle noticed Annie leaving town but dismissed the resemblance to the rumored Fire Queen and continued his patrol.
• Pete and Lana spotted more than a hundred SI:7 rogues following their convoy and prepared to attack them near the Defias rendezvous point.
• Lana set the dry grass ablaze, and Pete led Defias soldiers against one flank while Lana used spells to reveal and kill rogues on the other.
• Matthias Shaw attacked Lana, but she exposed him after he vanished and cast Avada Kedavra as green light flared from her Scepter.

Lana defeated Matthias Shaw with the Killing Curse, then faced Archmage Comm as he arrived to investigate and tried to capture her. As their duel began, Annie sensed that someone nearby was using a magical wand she had made and decided to sneak out and watch.

• Lana killed Matthias Shaw with the Killing Curse, causing the surviving SI:7 agents to retreat.
• Archmage Comm arrived with McClellan, examined Matthias’s body, and questioned Lana about her spell.
• Lana identified herself as a self-taught Curse mage and told Pete to stay back while she prepared to flee if necessary.
• Comm challenged Lana and promised to capture her alive, and Lana opened the duel with Stupefy.
• Comm deflected Lana’s Stupefy and tested her defenses with Arcane Barrage, which Lana blocked with Protego before casting a Disarming Charm.
• Annie sensed that someone was using a magical item she had made, remembered Lana’s wand, and set out to spy on the fight.

Archmage Comm defeated Lana and Pete by turning them into sheep, but Annie interrupted his teleport and revealed herself, leaving Comm terrified and ready to surrender. The chapter ended with Annie questioning whether the sheep could be eaten.

• Comm offered to spare Lana if she surrendered her spellbook, then attacked Pete and the Defias Brotherhood with Arcane Explosion.
• Lana rushed to protect Pete and blasted Comm’s apparent body with Avada Kedavra, but Comm had left an illusion and secretly turned Lana and Pete into sheep.
• Comm attempted to teleport the two sheep to his secret laboratory, but an unseen Counterspell disrupted his magic and left him unable to cast.
• Annie revealed herself and questioned whether Lana, transformed into a sheep, could be eaten.
• Comm recognized Annie, dropped the mana bombs he had prepared, and feared her power enough to consider surrendering.

Annie restored Lana from sheep form and reunited her with her brother Pete, while the surrendered Corm and surviving assassins remained behind. In Stormwind, Pasonia Shaw learned that Matthias had been killed and took command of SI:7 to hunt down the unknown witch responsible.

• Annie changed Lana back from a sheep, and Lana tearfully welcomed the returned Fire Queen.
• Lana stopped Annie from eating her brother Pete, who was also trapped in sheep form.
• Ezio brought Pasonia Shaw an urgent report stating that Matthias Shaw had died, most of his agents had been killed, and Corm had defected.
• Pasonia learned that the Fire Queen’s return had prompted Corm’s betrayal and that Matthias’s missing soul prevented his resurrection.
• Pasonia questioned Ezio about Matthias’s killer, then resumed control of SI:7 and ordered her agents to identify the witch within a month and deal with everyone who had accompanied Matthias.

King Varian Wrynn and Bolvar debated Stormwind’s response to the resurgent Defias Brotherhood, the possible return of Annie, and threats to the kingdom while the northern campaign continued. In Westfall, Vanessa prepared to seize the region with new allies and equipment, planning to use the uprising to draw Stormwind’s army home.

• SI:7 reported that Vanessa VanCleef had rebuilt the Defias Brotherhood, Matthias Shaw and more than eighty agents had been killed, and Annie and Archmage Kom had appeared in Westfall.
• Varian and Bolvar discussed leaving Westfall’s defense to Gryan Stoutmantle and his understaffed brigade while Stormwind’s main forces remained committed to the north and Outland.
• Varian worried about the Draenei Naaru’s influence and asked who would replace Matthias; Bolvar revealed that Pasonia Shaw had returned from retirement to lead SI:7.
• Vanessa told Lana she was worried about the fighting in the north, then vowed to take Westfall and attack Stormwind once the Goblin ships delivered weapons and troops.
• Vanessa planned to put Orcs in her vanguard and spread word that an Orc Shaman was helping the Flame Alliance attack Stormwind.

At the Tarren Mill front, the Flame Alliance’s Paladins faltered when a golden Holy Light creature undermined their faith, and Grand Marshal Garithos refused to retreat because the position protected the alliance’s defenses. Queen Annie returned, drove off the creature, and revealed it was no god, restoring hope while leaving the commanders scrambling over its severed fragment.

• Saidan Dathrohan and Tirion Fordring urged Garithos to retreat as the golden creature weakened the Knights of the Silver Hand and shook their faith.
• Garithos explained that abandoning Tarren Mill could expose the Flame Alliance’s heartland and insisted the army hold its position until the Steel Fortress was completed.
• A messenger reported that Queen Annie had attacked the golden creature with a barrage of fireballs and severed a piece from it.
• Annie entered the command tent with the fragment and explained that the creature was made of Holy Light, not a god, prompting the commanders to send word to their troops.
• Annie told Alexandros Mograine that Sally and Renault were staying on Earth and expecting a baby, then split the fragment between Tirion Fordring and Alfred Abbendis after they fought over it.

Marshal Reginald Windsor learned that Annie Hastur had returned and delayed the Stormwind Alliance’s offensive while Prophet Velen treated K'ure and assessed the threat. At sea, Daelin Proudmoore learned that an Orc fleet was waiting near the Maelstrom and ordered the Seventh Fleet to turn and attack.

• Velen healed the badly injured K'ure as Reginald Windsor explained that Annie Hastur had defeated it.
• Reginald Windsor told Velen about Annie's past, including her victory over Archimonde, and the two agreed to wait for K'ure to recover before attacking.
• Daelin Proudmoore's Seventh Fleet encountered Naga and Murloc envoys who warned him that an Orc fleet was waiting near the Maelstrom.
• Daelin Proudmoore ordered the Seventh Fleet to change course, circle behind the Orcs, and prepare for battle.

The Stormwind Alliance launched a major assault on the Flame Alliance’s defenses at Tarren Mill, while the Horde’s plan to ambush Admiral Daelin Proudmoore’s Seventh Fleet collapsed when the fleet approached from the north. Thrall ordered the Horde ships toward the Great Maelstrom, and Daelin pursued them without fear of the storm.

• Marshal Reginald Windsor ordered Stormwind and Draenei troops to attack the Flame Alliance’s fortified highland position at Tarren Mill.
• Lor'themar Theron’s High Elf Rangers fired on the advancing Stormwind infantry, while both alliances exchanged artillery, arrows, magic, and gunfire.
• King Saurfang questioned Thrall’s trust in Jaina, but Thrall defended her and explained that he believed she had acted to protect Azeroth.
• A Troll lookout spotted Admiral Daelin Proudmoore’s Seventh Fleet approaching the Horde from the north, and Saurfang accused Jaina of leading them into a trap.
• Thrall ordered the Horde fleet to sail toward the storm zone and Great Maelstrom, planning to use the storm to escape with the Seventh Fleet behind them.
• Admiral Daelin ordered the Seventh Fleet to accelerate and pursue the Horde, confident that the Kul Tiras sailors could brave the Great Maelstrom.

The battle at Tarren Mill intensified when Annie summoned Blackie Two, a gigantic Flame Elemental that devastated Stormwind Alliance troops. Velen ordered Fariya and the Crescent Blade to stop it, and Fariya struck off its wings before it knocked her back.

• Marshal Reginald Windsor ordered the fifth column to prepare and called for the sixth and seventh waves, despite Stormwind Alliance's heavy casualties.
• Annie used portals to redirect a cannonball into a Steam Tank, then summoned Blackie Two to attack the Stormwind Alliance forces.
• Blackie Two burned and crushed thousands of Stormwind soldiers, prompting Velen to send Fariya and the Crescent Blade against it.
• Fariya charged the Flame Elemental and severed its wings with her Holy Light weapon, but it struck her with its whip and sent her flying.
• Fariya refused Aynara's offer to heal her and prepared to continue the fight.

Second Blackie fought Fariya’s Draenei squad and unleashed the Eternal Flame, killing many before Velen resurrected the fallen. As the battle shifted against the Flame Alliance, Annie summoned a Holy Light ally for reinforcements.

• Second Blackie charged into Fariya’s Crescent Blades, killing several Draenei while Fariya wounded its leg and cut off one of its horns.
• Second Blackie unleashed Eternal Blaze, devastating the squad and nearby Stormwind soldiers, then killed Fariya and Aenara as they tried to continue the fight.
• Prophet Velen and the Naaru resurrected Fariya, Aenara, several Draenei Paladins, and thousands of Stormwind soldiers whose bodies remained intact.
• Second Blackie backed away from the resurrected forces, while Fariya and Aenara apologized to Velen and he accepted responsibility for sending them to face the demon alone.
• Annie called a Holy Light ally through a small portal and offered the battlefield’s priests and Paladins as potential followers.

Daelin’s Seventh Fleet caught up with the Horde fleet as Thrall ordered the ships to brave a storm and the Great Maelstrom in an attempt to escape. After recognizing their plan, Daelin ordered most of his fleet to pursue them at full speed, leaving the story with both fleets racing into the storm zone.

• Daelin ordered his ships to bombard the Horde fleet’s rear, sinking two troop transports and killing hundreds of Horde champions.
• Thrall told Saurfang to have the Shamans begin the storm ritual and ordered the captains to follow his flagship closely through the storm.
• The Shamans’ storm intensified, and the Naga warned Daelin that the fleet faced danger near the Great Maelstrom.
• Daelin deduced that the Horde intended to use the storm to cross the dangerous currents and escape, so he ordered the pursuit to continue.
• Daelin sent the ships in poor condition southeast and led the rest of the Seventh Fleet after the Horde, with guns loaded and ready to fire.
• The Naga and her Murloc subordinates left the fleet and dived beneath the sea to return toward Lordaeron.

As the Stormwind Alliance prepared an all-out assault, Annie refused to summon Fire Elementals and instead opened a portal to bring the Maiden of Virtue to the battlefield. The Maiden emerged claiming to be a Titan-appointed Holy Light Goddess and raised the fallen Flame Alliance soldiers to fight beside her.

• Velen agreed with Marshal Reginald Windsor that the allies should launch an all-out assault before the wounded fire demon could recover, and Fariya volunteered to lead a small team against it.
• Annie told Garithos that the Fire Elementals could not return for two or three months because the Firelands' damaged space was still repairing, then contacted the Maiden of Virtue for help.
• Annie coached the Maiden of Virtue to introduce herself as a Holy Light Goddess, though the Maiden hesitated before agreeing to use the title.
• Reginald Windsor rallied the Stormwind Alliance troops and ordered them to advance, while Garithos assigned Flame Alliance commanders to their battle stations.
• Annie dismissed Erheizi and opened a huge portal, through which the Maiden of Virtue arrived as a towering Titan radiating Holy Light.
• The Maiden of Virtue condemned the Naaru and Eredar as invaders, then raised the fallen Flame Alliance soldiers and urged them to attack.

The Maiden of Virtue’s arrival revived fallen Flame Alliance soldiers and devastated Stormwind Alliance morale, but Marshal Reginald Windsor ordered his forces to attack anyway. After the metal Titan proved immune to the Draenei’s attacks and routed Stormwind troops, the Alliance retreated, while Annie’s fire spell trapped some soldiers and she teleported away.

• The Maiden of Virtue’s Holy Light revived fallen Flame Alliance soldiers, restoring their morale and shaking Reginald Windsor’s advancing Stormwind Alliance forces.
• Reginald Windsor rallied his soldiers to continue the assault, and Stormwind troops charged through the Flame Alliance’s artillery and arrows into a chaotic melee.
• The Maiden of Virtue repelled Farya and the Draenei Paladins, then spread Sanctified Ground and attacked Stormwind soldiers with Holy Light spells.
• Velen and Reginald Windsor concluded that their forces lacked a way to stop the metal Titan, so Reginald ordered the Stormwind Alliance to retreat.
• Garithos ordered the Flame Alliance to advance, and Annie’s Super Rain of Fire trapped about a thousand retreating Stormwind soldiers before she teleported away.

Thrall led the battered Horde fleet through the storm toward the Great Maelstrom while Daelin Proudmoore’s Seventh Fleet pursued and sank more ships. After Orc vessels rammed a Kul Tiras warship, Daelin ordered a retreat, leaving the surviving Horde ships to face the whirlpool.

• Saurfang reported that the Horde had lost more than half its ships, and Thrall insisted they had to press on through the Great Maelstrom.
• Thrall urged Saurfang to go below deck, but Saurfang refused and declared that Orcs would not yield to the storm.
• Kul Tiras gunners crippled another Horde ship, while several Horde vessels turned back and rammed a pursuing Seventh Fleet warship before the storm swept the ships away.
• Daelin's first mate warned that the fleet risked being trapped in the dangerous waters, and Daelin ordered the Seventh Fleet to retreat.
• The Kul Tiras ships followed the retreat signals home after destroying at least half the Horde fleet, while the surviving Horde vessels continued toward the Great Maelstrom.

Annie fed a white bear cub by the Elwynn River while Tibbers recalled how she had captured and named him as a toddler. After sending the cub to an island, Annie watched a fleet of goblin steamships approach upstream.

• Annie named the orphaned white bear cub Blizzard and shared her cake with him beside the Elwynn River.
• In his memories, Tibbers recalled how little Annie found him in the Petrified Forest after he killed a brown bear, then drained his shadow power and captured him.
• Amoline and Gregory Hastur found Annie, and Amoline agreed to let her keep Tibbers as a toy before ordering Gregory to prepare a bearskin for it.
• Amoline scolded Annie for picking a poisonous mushroom and assigned her lessons and copying as punishment.
• Tibbers warned Annie that a fleet of goblin steamships was approaching, and Annie sent Blizzard through a portal to an island before watching the fleet.

After the Seventh Fleet’s costly victory over the Orcs, Daelin Proudmoore learned that his daughter Jaina had allegedly betrayed the fleet’s route to Thrall. He ordered the Orc prisoners executed and the accusation kept secret while he struggled to accept the news.

• Daelin Proudmoore received the fleet’s casualty report, which listed three missing warships, eight dead sailors, and thirty-six wounded.
• Daelin explained to Jason why he believed the Horde had to be destroyed and ordered compensation for the fallen sailors’ families.
• Jason reported that a captain had disobeyed orders to rescue three Orc prisoners, who claimed someone had revealed the fleet’s route to Thrall.
• Jason named Miss Jaina Proudmoore as the alleged betrayer, and Daelin ordered the Orcs beheaded and everyone informed to remain silent pending an investigation.
• Daelin crushed the report in his bloodied hand, let it fall into the sea, and mourned that Jaina did not understand him.

Brak’s Goblin mercenaries attacked Moonbrook while Vanessa’s Defias Republic emerged from a secret passage to seize the town. The Westfall People’s Militia was caught between the assaults as Vanessa prepared to lead her forces against Grian Stoutmantle.

• Brak explained that he planned to profit by selling weapons to both sides, then brought his armed caravan to Moonbrook and accepted payment from the Westfall People’s Militia.
• After the militia began inspecting the cargo, Brak shot a mounted rider and ordered his mercenaries to kill the soldiers and deploy their cannons and machines.
• Brak’s forces blasted Moonbrook’s gate apart and stormed the town, while Grian Stoutmantle learned that his troops had been slaughtered and rushed to respond.
• Vanessa revealed that her father’s secret passage let the Defias Republic pour into Moonbrook, where her crimson-cloaked troops attacked the militia and advanced toward the eastern gate.
• Vanessa left Pete to organize the troops and set out with Rehgar and Khom to confront Grian Stoutmantle.

Gryan Stoutmantle’s militia was trapped in Moonbrook by the Defias Brotherhood and Brak the Goblin’s forces, and he decided to lead a breakout toward Sentinel Hill. Lieutenant Furlbrow began assembling the militia as enemy fire drove more recruits into panic.

• Gryan Stoutmantle’s militia fought Brak the Goblin’s mercenaries at the eastern gate while the Defias Brotherhood pressed in through Moonbrook.
• Two Goblin-operated saw machines charged into the militia, but Gryan destroyed both and rallied the shaken soldiers.
• Brak ordered his riflemen to shoot Gryan, who blocked their volley with a Holy Light barrier and retreated behind the militia’s shield-bearers.
• Gryan concluded the militia had to abandon Moonbrook and ordered Lieutenant Furlbrow to prepare an elite vanguard to break through the Goblins toward Sentinel Hill.
• Defias riflemen opened fire from the west, and Furlbrow assembled the companies and directed the troops to defend the western approach and attack the Goblins to the east.