Chapter Summaries

Rhode and his allies ambushed a Half-Lich, then faced five powerful Naxxramas leaders sent by Kel'Thuzad. As the battle began, Rhode killed Patchwerk with a single strike from a weapon formed by Mage Hand.

• Rhode ordered Galinder and the elf rangers to attack the Half-Lich and its zombies, killing them with arrows.
• Rhode left the frightened students in the woods and entered the clearing, illuminating it with three enchanted Magic Orbs.
• Faerlina, Noth, Gothik, Instructor Razuvious, and Patchwerk revealed themselves and challenged Rhode on Kel'Thuzad's behalf.
• Galinder tried to join the fight but was overwhelmed by the leaders' plague power, so Rhode removed the curse and sent him back to the woods.
• Faerlina attacked Rhode with a Shadow Bolt, which his red fireball absorbed, and Patchwerk charged him with a greataxe.
• Rhode formed a giant axe from Mage Hand and split Patchwerk in two with one blow.

Rhode defeated the five Scourge leaders by combining the Moon Crystal’s Three Magic Orbs, then learned that Kel'Thuzad was cultivating near the lake. As Rhode’s group celebrated, a vast Scourge army approached through the woods and sky.

• Patchwerk recovered after Rhode split him in half, and the five Scourge leaders attacked Rhode together.
• Rhode used the flaming Mage Hand to kill Instructor Razuvious and smash Patchwerk, then burned Faerlina to ash with a fireball.
• Gothik the Harvester and Noth the Plaguebringer begged Rhode for mercy and revealed that Kel'Thuzad was cultivating near the lake after finding magical implements at Tyr's Tomb.
• Rhode killed Gothik the Harvester and Noth the Plaguebringer with an enormous flaming Mage Hand, then prepared to confront Kel'Thuzad.
• Rhode and the others heard an approaching army and spotted Gargoyles and Plague Bats overhead, realizing a vast Scourge force had been hiding nearby.

Rhode drew the Scourge army away from the woods and defeated its aerial force, plague bombardment, and ground troops alone. Heigan tried to retreat after his army fell, but an Empowered Fel Bomb descended from above.

• Rhode went onto the frozen lake to protect Lilia and the others from the Scourge army.
• Rhode summoned a javelin empowered by the Fire Orb and destroyed the Scourge's Gargoyles and Plague Bats.
• Heigan ordered the Plague Cannons to bombard Rhode, but Rhode used the Moon Crystal's flames to contain and dispel the plague.
• Rhode charged the Scourge army and killed hundreds of soldiers with Ice Armor, blades, flames, and Arcane Explosion.
• Heigan decided to retreat and develop a stronger Plague Cannon, but he heard a whistle overhead and recognized an Empowered Fel Bomb.

Rhode stopped an Empowered Fel Bomb from devastating the lake and Whispering Forest, then destroyed the Scourge’s Plague Cannons and the Burning Legion’s Sorrowspires. After Rhode reached the cave housing the weapons, Hearthglen appeared and said his teacher was waiting inside.

• Rhode used the Moon Crystals to contain the Fel Bomb’s plague, then destroyed the Plague Cannons and killed Heigan.
• Rhode sent reconnaissance robots west and discovered Gan'arg Engineers operating two Sorrowspires outside a cave.
• Rhode dodged the Sorrowspires’ beams, then destroyed both towers with his Fire Orbs and drove the surviving Gan'arg into the cave.
• Rhode waved to Lilia and Galinder, who headed up the peak while Drake watched the contained plague.
• Hearthglen emerged from the cave and told Rhode that his teacher was waiting for him inside.

Rhode entered Kel'Thuzad’s hideout and learned how the Moon Crystals had been stolen and eventually come into his possession. Kel'Thuzad offered him immortality through serving the Lich King, but Rhode exposed his scheme to extract the Fire Orbs, leaving Kel'Thuzad shocked.

• Hearthglen led Rhode into the cave, where Rhode left Lilia and Galinder outside the stone door under the protection of a ward and an Arcane Golem.
• Rhode met Kel'Thuzad, now a lich, and saw his orange tabby, Mr. Bigglesworth.
• Kel'Thuzad explained that he had arranged the theft of the Moon Crystals from the Sun King, though his agent had been killed in the Hinterlands.
• Kel'Thuzad offered Rhode immortality and greater magical power if he swore allegiance to the Lich King.
• Rhode accused Kel'Thuzad of using the Lich transformation to remove the Fire Orbs from his body, and Kel'Thuzad’s startled reaction confirmed Rhode’s suspicion.

Rhode fought Kel'Thuzad inside the Scourge Sanctum while Lilia and Galinder kept Hearthglen under guard outside. Rhode emerged victorious, leaving Kel'Thuzad sprawled on the ground and challenging his claim of immortality.

• Kel'Thuzad revealed his plan to take Rhode's Moon Crystal and attacked him with dark frostbolts, but Rhode blocked them with a Mana Shield.
• Rhode pierced Kel'Thuzad with Mage Hand before Kel'Thuzad surrounded himself with protective spells and regenerated his wound with black mist.
• Rhode merged the blue and yellow fireballs into a greatsword and attacked Kel'Thuzad.
• Hearthglen tried to cast a Dark Soul-Binding Curse on Lilia and Galinder, but they disarmed him and forced him to stay quiet.
• Galinder and Lilia waited outside the sealed hall as Hearthglen claimed Kel'Thuzad would defeat Rhode, until the stone door shattered and Kel'Thuzad was thrown outside.
• Rhode walked through the doorway and asked Kel'Thuzad what had happened to his immortal body.

Rhode survived Kel'Thuzad's Mana Detonation with help from Lilia, but Kel'Thuzad summoned five powerful Icecrown Guardians to fight them. Rhode realized the beetles became less dangerous when separated and asked Lilia to draw some away.

• Kel'Thuzad unleashed Mana Detonation, and Hearthglen died in the attack while Rhode struggled to shield himself and the others.
• Lilia hurled her sword into Kel'Thuzad, disrupting his body with elemental power and leaving a gaping wound.
• Kel'Thuzad called to his master for reinforcements, and the Lich King commanded warriors of the Frozen Wastes to rise.
• Five Icecrown Guardians emerged from the black mist, resisted Rhode's fireballs, and charged him.
• Lilia engaged one Guardian, easing the pressure on Rhode, who asked her to draw more beetles away while staying safe.

Rhode and Lilia defeated Kel'Thuzad's five Icecrown Guardians, then destroyed his phylactery to kill him permanently. After Kel'Thuzad's death, a mysterious voice invited Rhode to find it in Northrend and promised him everything.

• Lilia drew two Icecrown Guardians away while Rhode destroyed the other four with powerful Mage Hand punches, and she beheaded the last one with Execute.
• Rhode blasted Kel'Thuzad apart, but the lich resurrected and revealed that his body could not be killed permanently.
• Rhode deduced that Kel'Thuzad's phylactery was inside the hall, and Galinder spotted its metal jar on a shelf.
• Rhode burned away the jar's seal and used Lilia's sword, empowered by a Fire Orb, to destroy the heart inside.
• Kel'Thuzad died for good when his phylactery was destroyed, and a mysterious voice invited Rhode to find it in Northrend.

After defeating Kel'Thuzad, Rhode was promoted and summoned to Dalaran, where he learned that Antonidas had fallen ill after encountering a mysterious altar. Rhode recognized the symptoms as the whispers of an Old God and agreed to examine Antonidas, though he was unsure he could help.

• Rhode destroyed the cave in Whispering Forest, then returned to Southshore with Lilia and Galinder.
• News of Kel'Thuzad's death spread, and Rhode was promoted to duke and general as mages across Azeroth celebrated his victory.
• Rhode failed to enchant the four gemstones from Tyr's Tomb, then received a letter from Antonidas asking him to come to Dalaran.
• Jaina and Marin told Rhode that Antonidas had been cursed and confused after destroying an altar near Elwynn Forest.
• Rhode identified the cultists as members of the Twilight's Hammer and suspected Antonidas was suffering from an Old God's whispers.
• Rhode agreed to go with Jaina and Marin to see Antonidas.

Rhode discussed Antonidas’s void-tainted illness and showed him how spell models could help identify and destroy the dark magic. Antonidas taught Rhode the Portal spell and asked him to speak at Dalaran’s magic forum, leaving Marin and Jaina stunned by how close Rhode was to becoming a true Archmage.

• Antonidas praised Rhode for defeating Kel'Thuzad and said Rhode’s mana and combat ability were approaching his own level.
• Rhode identified the dark aura afflicting Antonidas as a power from the void and explained how Antonidas could reconstruct its spell model to destroy it.
• Antonidas asked Rhode to replace him as the main speaker at Dalaran’s upcoming magic forum, and Rhode agreed to follow his arrangements.
• Rhode projected spell models of ordinary magic, necromancy, and the void-tainted power so Antonidas could study his method.
• Antonidas expanded Rhode’s Teleport spell model into a Portal spell with more than five thousand nodes, which Rhode set aside to study.
• Rhode said he wanted to master Portal before teaching Jaina, and Marin and Jaina realized he might soon become a fully fledged Archmage.

Rhode demonstrated his overwhelming mana and spell-model learning method during a packed lecture in Dalaran. The audience was captivated, but an unidentified heckler interrupted him with a challenge.

• Dalaran mages flocked to Rhode's lecture, eager to judge the mage famous for defeating Kel'Thuzad.
• Magus Orlan challenged Rhode to demonstrate his power, and Rhode scattered Orlan's mana surge with his own.
• Magus Sarein and six others attacked Rhode together, but Rhode overwhelmed all seven with a powerful mana surge.
• Jaina Proudmoore and Archmage Marin applauded Rhode, prompting the gathered mages to join them and accept his strength.
• Rhode introduced his spell-model learning method, projecting a giant model and combining hundreds of Mage Hands into a colossal hand.
• An unidentified voice sneered from the entrance, asking whether Rhode could defeat enemies with parlor tricks.

Kael'thas challenged Rhode to a duel after suspecting he had stolen and enchanted the Moon Crystal. Their fierce battle in Dalaran's magic square continued as Rhode charged through Kael'thas's Ice Storm, unaware that Kael'thas claimed he had fallen into a trap.

• Kael'thas confronted Rhode with pointed remarks about his conjuring tricks and challenged him to fight with everything they had.
• Jaina proposed a Mana Shield contest, but Kael'thas rejected it and insisted they duel in the magic square.
• Rhode opened the duel with an Arcane Missile, and Kael'thas dodged before attacking with powerful air-based magic.
• Rhode countered Kael'thas's hurricanes and air fist with Mage Hands, then strengthened one with a Fire Orb to smash through Kael'thas's air walls.
• Kael'thas unleashed a storm of freezing rain, and Rhode cut a path through it with a blade formed from the Red Fire Orb.
• Rhode charged through the opening with a Fireball ready, and Kael'thas declared that Rhode had fallen into his trap.

Rhode fought Kael'thas in Dalaran, enduring his powerful spells before unleashing the Three Magic Orbs as meteor hammers. The Pegasus Meteor Hammer left Kael'thas facing Rhode's strongest attack yet, with the battle poised to turn against him.

• Kael'thas trapped Rhode in a Frost Air Net after Rhode dodged his Tenfold Arcane Missiles, while the watching mages debated who held the advantage.
• Rhode summoned the blue and yellow orbs and spun all three Magic Orbs like meteor hammers, breaking Kael'thas's Frost Air Net.
• Rhode launched the Red Fire Orb through Kael'thas's Walls of Ice, but Kael'thas destroyed it with a Fireball.
• Rhode fused the blue and yellow orbs and fired the larger, faster Pegasus Meteor Hammer toward Kael'thas.
• Kael'thas paled as Rhode's attack tore across the square, while the spectators realized Kael'thas was running out of power and faced serious danger.

Rhode defeated Kael'thas in a duel at Dalaran's Magic Forum, then released him from his Fire Net and earned the mages' admiration. After the forum, Rhode helped Antonidas recover from shadow curses and agreed to travel with Marin to Stormwind City the next day.

• Kael'thas tried to evade Rhode's Meteor Hammer, but Rhode detonated it and turned its fragments into a Fire Net that trapped him.
• Rhode stopped the Fire Net from crushing Kael'thas, conceded that his victory had been lucky, and let the defeated prince leave with his pride intact.
• Orlan, Sarein, and the other mages praised Rhode and speculated that he might someday face Anasterian, while Jaina teased Orlan for having challenged Rhode earlier.
• Rhode continued his lecture after the duel, then examined Antonidas's treatment as the Archmage analyzed Rhode's spell models and began recovering from his shadow curses.
• Marin invited Rhode to visit Stormwind City to investigate the Dark Cult and teach its mages, and Rhode agreed to leave the next day.

Rhode, Lilia, and Marin traveled to Westfall, where Rhode learned that the Defias Brotherhood had recently formed after the Stonemasons' Guild was denied payment for rebuilding Stormwind City. As the group took a mountain path toward Elwynn Forest, Defias bandits blocked their way.

• Rhode, Lilia, and Marin sailed to Westfall and traveled through its fertile farmland toward Elwynn Forest.
• Marin told Rhode and Lilia that bandits had recently appeared in Westfall and explained how the Stonemasons' Guild had become the Defias Brotherhood after being driven out of Stormwind City.
• Rhode recognized that the Defias Brotherhood had only recently formed and realized that Onyxia was behind the broader conspiracy.
• Lilia chose the mountain path toward Elwynn Forest, and Marin led the group along it.
• A group of red-masked bandits appeared from behind a boulder and blocked Rhode, Lilia, and Marin's path.

Defias members ambushed Archmage Marin, and Johnsen fought him to a standstill while the others closed in. Lilia killed Surena with one swift strike, leaving the group wary of her and Rhode, before Johnsen challenged them again.

• Marin recognized the approaching Defias members as high-ranking fighters who had come specifically for him.
• Johnsen smashed through Marin’s fireball and fought him to a standstill, while the other Defias members surrounded them.
• Surena approached Rhode, but Lilia forced her back with two sword strikes and accepted Rhode’s offer to fight her.
• Lilia charged Surena, stopped her from casting Blink, and killed her with a sword strike to the neck.
• Garrick asked Rhode and Lilia whether they were Dalaran mages or Ravenholdt assassins, but Rhode and Lilia ignored him.
• Johnsen stepped forward and declared that he would prove their swords could not cut him.

Rhode intervened when Johnsen threatened Lilia, crushing him with a Mage Hand and revealing his identity to the Defias Brotherhood. Edwin VanCleef arrived with his lieutenants, rejected Rhode’s defense of Stormwind, and ordered an attack that began with Maltin’s lightning bolt.

• Lilia exchanged blows with Johnsen, whose Knuckle Dusters and strength let him withstand her sword strike.
• Rhode killed Johnsen with a descending Mage Hand and identified himself to Garrick and the other Defias members.
• Garrick revealed that he had sent a signal flare, and Edwin VanCleef arrived with Maltin and Morgann.
• Marin identified VanCleef and his lieutenants as the leaders of the Defias Brotherhood, while Rhode refused VanCleef’s demand to leave.
• VanCleef defended the Brotherhood’s cause, but Rhode accused them of using injustice to excuse their crimes.
• VanCleef ordered Maltin and Morgann to attack, and Maltin launched a bolt of lightning at Rhode.

Rhode overwhelmed Maltin and then pressed Morgann with powerful ice magic during the battle against the Defias Brotherhood. Morgann survived Rhode’s barrage of icicles when his sapphire necklace formed a protective barrier.

• Maltin attacked Rhode with lightning whips, but Rhode absorbed the strikes with a Fire Orb and hurled an amplified Lightning Whip back at him.
• Maltin transformed into lightning and charged Rhode, but Rhode’s Fire Orb-enhanced Knuckle Dusters shattered his Lightning Incarnation and knocked him back.
• Morgann intervened to protect Maltin, and his layered Fire Shield stopped Rhode’s Knuckle Dusters long enough for Maltin to escape.
• Rhode fired a Cone of Cold icicle that nearly pierced Morgann’s multilayered Fire Shield, then blocked Morgann’s Fireball barrage with an Ice Shield.
• Rhode launched ten enormous icicles at Morgann, whose sapphire necklace formed a barrier that shattered the icicles and saved him.

Rhode fought Maltin, Morgann, and VanCleef, then faced the Defias Brotherhood’s assembled experts after VanCleef ordered them to join in. He revealed the weapons formed by the Three Magic Orbs and began driving the attackers back, though the battle continued.

• Morgann’s Ice Block stopped Rhode’s attack, but the gemstone powering him shattered, and Rhode continued to overpower him and Maltin.
• VanCleef attacked Rhode with the Cruel Barb, but Rhode blocked him with a Fire Orb and punched him away before pressing Morgann with Fireballs.
• VanCleef, Maltin, and the invisible Morgann worked together to keep Rhode occupied, and VanCleef ordered the watching Defias experts to join the fight.
• Marin urged Lilia to help, but Rhode told them to stay back and summoned a defensive array of weapons with the Three Magic Orbs.
• Rhode’s conjured weapons struck several incoming experts and sent them flying, while more Defias members pressed their attacks.

Rhode defeated the Defias Brotherhood’s fighters, overpowering Maltin and Morgann’s combined attack and forcing VanCleef and the remaining bandits to surrender. As Rhode took VanCleef’s twin blades for Lilia, a powerful group approached the valley, and Rhode realized they had waited for the battle to end before moving in.

• Rhode lured Garrick through a gap in a wall of fire and killed him with a Mage Hand punch, then killed two more fighters with spells.
• Rhode picked off the Defias experts until half their number had fallen and the survivors lost confidence.
• Maltin and Morgann combined their powers into a giant sword of light, but Rhode caught it with an enormous Mage Hand and flung it aside.
• VanCleef burned through his bloodline to attack Rhode, but Rhode’s orb-powered ball of light knocked him down; VanCleef and the remaining bandits then surrendered.
• Rhode gave VanCleef’s twin blades to Lilia, but the sound of powerful reinforcements approaching made him suspect a separate group had waited to reap the rewards.