Chapter Summaries

After Rhode killed Jandice Barov, Blackmoore proposed sending him to lead an attack on Caer Darrow, using the campaign to seize Andorhal and strengthen his rebellion against Lordaeron. Rhode left to prepare, while a small arcane golem secretly watched from the reception room.

• Blackmoore asked Rhode who had attacked him, and Rhode said it was Jandice Barov.
• Blackmoore said the Barov Family would never forgive Rhode and proposed taking Caer Darrow before they could strike again.
• Blackmoore explained that Caer Darrow would give his army a route to capture Andorhal, Lordaeron's main grain-producing region.
• Blackmoore offered Rhode command of the campaign, promised him Caer Darrow and the Andorhal region, and assigned Major Drake to accompany him.
• Rhode left to make preparations, while a small arcane golem crept into a corner unnoticed by Blackmoore.

Rhode improved his concealed reconnaissance robot, then visited Thrall to discuss Blackmoore’s plans and the orcs. He tried to connect with Thrall by calling him Go’el, but Thrall did not recognize the name, leaving Rhode awkwardly covering his mistake.

• Rhode completed Reconnaissance Robot Type 007 and placed it in Blackmoore’s reception room to monitor him.
• Rhode passed the Durnholde Arena and saw the guarded shacks holding hundreds of orcs.
• Rhode found Lilia practicing swordplay with Thrall and approached them despite suspecting the guards would report his actions.
• Rhode spoke to Thrall in Orcish and called him Go’el, but Thrall said his name was Thrall.
• Rhode pretended he had mistaken Thrall for someone else and apologized.

Rhode promised Thrall he would help him escape and reunite with the Frostwolf Clan while guaranteeing Taretha’s safety. As Rhode prepared to attack Caer Darrow and worried about his dwindling reconnaissance robot, Audric arrived at his door.

• Rhode told Thrall he knew the Frostwolf Clan was in Alterac Valley and offered to help him escape, but a guard interrupted their conversation.
• Rhode returned home, where he used an arcane golem to protect his healing wound from pressure and scratching while he slept.
• Rhode prepared to attack Caer Darrow with his Musket Corps, Magic Corps, and Major Drake’s troops, while considering how to warn the Lordaeron Royal Family about Blackmoore.
• Rhode worried that Reconnaissance Robot Type 007 would run out of mana and considered visiting Blackmoore to plant another one.
• Audric, the former Tower Master of Audric’s Tower and current Dalaran Field Agent, arrived at Rhode’s door.

Rhode learned that Kel'Thuzad’s cult might have sent Jandice Barov to Hearthglen, but his attempt to piece together the factions’ alliances remained speculative. Through the reconnaissance robot, he then discovered Blackmoore planned a campaign involving Thrall—and had considered sending Thrall to kill him.

• Audric told Rhode that his investigation of Hearthglen had failed, though he had received intelligence that Kel'Thuzad had sent someone to contact it.
• Rhode suspected Jandice Barov had been the cult’s envoy and decided not to share his unconfirmed theory with Audric.
• After Audric left for Dalaran, Rhode watched Blackmoore receive Colonel Scarlet’s report that four thousand troops were ready.
• Blackmoore said he was saving the orc army for an attack on Lordaeron, and Rhode wondered who the other troops would fight.
• Blackmoore told Colonel Scarlet that Thrall seemed friendly with Rhode, so sending Thrall to kill Rhode would be inappropriate.

Rhode learned that Blackmoore had planned for Major Drake’s troops to kill him after he fought the Barov Family at Caer Darrow. As Blackmoore continued meeting with people, Hearthglen entered the reception room, leaving Rhode to wonder what threat came next.

• Rhode realized Blackmoore had arranged for the four thousand soldiers to attack him and disguise the conspiracy as a private feud.
• Blackmoore told Major Drake to wait until Rhode and the Barov Family had fought, then kill Rhode when he was weakened.
• Blackmoore ordered Drake to kill all of Rhode’s followers, including the mages and the Musket Corps.
• Drake obeyed Blackmoore and left the reception room, while Rhode worried about protecting his people.
• Hearthglen entered the reception room as Rhode watched through the reconnaissance robot.

Rhode learned that Blackmoore planned to have several High Magic Users help kill him and realized he had to escape with the people under his care. He fell asleep while weighing his options, then woke when Sally announced that Major Drake had requested an audience.

• Hearthglen questioned Blackmoore about killing Rhode despite believing he was Antonidas's apprentice, but Blackmoore said an investigation had disproved it.
• Blackmoore told Hearthglen that he had arranged Rhode's assassination and asked him to recruit High Magic Users to help restrain Rhode.
• Hearthglen agreed to contact several mages, and Blackmoore left him with a young woman.
• Rhode's Reconnaissance Robot Type 007 lost power before he could see more, and Rhode considered ways to flee with Lilia, Sally, the Magic Apprentices, and the beggars.
• Rhode could not devise a safe escape plan and fell asleep in his recliner.
• Sally woke Rhode to tell him that Major Drake requested an audience.

Major Drake told Rhode that Blackmoore had ordered him to assassinate Rhode after the capture of Caer Darrow. Rhode welcomed the revelation as a chance to break the deadlock and decided the expedition would still depart as planned while he worked to counter Blackmoore’s remaining safeguards.

• Major Drake reported that the troops were assembled and ready to march on Caer Darrow the next day.
• Drake asked Rhode whether he genuinely cared for the common people and whom he would save if the campaign put the magic apprentices and Musket Corps in danger.
• Rhode told Drake he would judge any rescue by the circumstances, not by the groups’ status, and called them all his brothers and sisters.
• Drake revealed that Blackmoore had ordered him to assassinate Rhode after Caer Darrow was captured.
• Rhode thanked Drake, recognized the disclosure as a way to strengthen his position, and ordered the expedition to proceed as planned.

Rhode planned to impersonate Jandice Barov to deceive Hearthglen, but struggled to learn Dark Magic and find a way to reach Thrall. While singing with Lilia, he suddenly had an idea sparked by the song.

• Rhode decided to use Jandice Barov's identity as Kel'Thuzad's messenger to approach Hearthglen and considered learning Dark Magic to make the deception convincing.
• Rhode struggled to devise a way to learn Dark Magic after Major Drake left.
• Rhode found Thrall harder to reach because security had tightened, and he considered asking Taretha to speak with him.
• Rhode walked Lilia back toward the Magic Tower and played a staring game with her before they sang beside a river full of ducks.
• As Lilia sang, Rhode connected the song to Ouyang Feng and suddenly seemed to hit upon an idea.

Rhode experimented with reversing a Fireball spell model and successfully created black mist, a first step toward Dark Magic. He set out late at night to visit Hearthglen before the army marched the next day, while Sally misunderstood his reason for going.

• Rhode wondered whether reversing orthodox magic could produce Dark Magic and began altering a Fireball spell model.
• Lilia suggested that Rhode could achieve his trick by making black smoke rather than a complete black fireball, inspiring a simpler experiment.
• Rhode sent Lilia to another room, protected himself with a shadow Protective Ward, and endured repeated failed attempts before producing black mist in his hands.
• Rhode decided to visit Hearthglen that night so he could deal with him before their forces marched the next day.
• Rhode tucked the blanket around the sleeping Lilia, told Sally he was going to Hearthglen's house, and left; Sally mistakenly suspected the two men had amorous plans.

Rhode convinced Hearthglen that he belonged to the Cult of the Damned and that the conflict with the Barov Family was part of Kel'Thuzad's plan to gather corpses for necromancy. After Hearthglen agreed to avoid fighting, Rhode turned his attention to winning over Thrall and claimed he wanted Taretha, Blackmoore's mistress.

• Hearthglen grew uneasy when Rhode appeared, but Rhode whispered that he was with the Cult of the Damned and a pupil of Kel'Thuzad.
• Rhode displayed shadow magic to persuade Hearthglen that he had learned dark magic from Kel'Thuzad.
• Rhode told Hearthglen that Kel'Thuzad had orchestrated Alex's death and the conflict with the Barov Family to create corpses for a future undead army.
• Hearthglen accepted Rhode's explanation and agreed to stay in the Magic Tower and avoid making a real effort if called to fight.
• When Hearthglen suggested calling in women, Rhode said he had taken a liking to Taretha, Blackmoore's mistress.

Rhode arranged for Hearthglen to bring Taretha to him for the night, then led his forces out from Durnholde Keep toward Caer Darrow. As the column traveled through the Hillsbrad Foothills, Rhode spotted a dark shape diving toward a cavalry rider.

• Rhode pretended to be embarrassed about visiting Blackmoore’s castle, so Hearthglen brought Taretha to him instead.
• Sally grew angry when Rhode returned to the Magic Tower the next day, but he kept his reasons to himself as the troops prepared to march.
• Rhode led a force of more than thirteen hundred, including his mage squad, Katel’s musketeers, and Major Drake’s soldiers, along the usual route toward Tarren Mill.
• On the march, Lilia whistled a tune and told the group how Katel had taught her to play music on leaves.
• Rhode noticed a dark shape diving from the sky toward a cavalry rider who had strayed from the formation.

Rhode saved a cavalryman from a vulture attack, then discovered that the attacking ogres were led by his friend Targ, who was searching for a lost book. Rhode recreated the ogres’ Strange Cookbook, and Targ pledged his allegiance to him.

• Rhode threw a fireball at a vulture attacking a young cavalryman, and Targ struck it with Lightning Bolt before Rhode’s next fireball brought it down.
• Major Drake ordered the company into Defensive Formation as Targ and his ogres emerged from the woods.
• Rhode recognized Targ and learned that the ogre was searching for the Strange Cookbook, which vultures had stolen.
• Rhode remembered the cookbook’s simple instructions for cooking people and drew a copy of it for Targ.
• Targ read Rhode’s copy and knelt to pledge his allegiance to him.

Rhode gained the allegiance of Targ and roughly a hundred ogres after writing a book that convinced them he belonged to Ogri'la, then set out for Caer Darrow. At a banquet in Caer Darrow Castle, Alex Barov heard explosions and learned that attackers had already blasted through the gate.

• Targ and the other ogres knelt before Rhode, believing his book proved he was one of Ogri'la’s own.
• Rhode accepted the ogres into his army and told Targ that they could not eat people.
• Alex Barov worried about his absent wife, Jandice, who had gone to Durnholde Keep on a mission for Kel'Thuzad.
• Explosions sounded from the southern side of Caer Darrow, and Alex wondered whether King Terenas had launched an attack.
• A messenger rushed into the banquet hall and reported that attackers had blasted a hole in the gate.

Alex’s defenders tried to hold Caer Darrow after enemy magic destroyed its towers and set the wall ablaze, but a gigantic fireball shattered the gate and broke their formation. As the enemy army surged from the wooded hills, Alex was left facing the breach of the city he had believed impregnable.

• Alex saw a distant mage hurl a fireball into Caer Darrow’s wall, setting its wooden structures and soldiers alight.
• A gale swept from the wooded hills and spread the flames across the wall and gate.
• Alex ordered the gate opened and his soldiers to form a shield wall as a few dozen blue arcane golems charged across the bridge.
• A gigantic fireball struck Alex’s assembled forces, blasted soldiers into the air, and collapsed the gate and adjoining wall.
• Alex laughed in shock as the enemy army poured from the hills, led by towering ogres charging toward the bridge.

Rhode’s forces captured Caer Darrow after freezing Lake Darrowmere and surrounding the fortress, while Alex Barov took his own life and his children became prisoners. Rhode ended the chapter by asking Ilucia Barov where her family’s Skeleton Key was.

• Rhode rode onto the bridge and froze it and Lake Darrowmere, allowing his human army to approach Caer Darrow.
• Caer Darrow’s commanders saw the invading army and despaired as Alex Barov stabbed himself in the chest.
• Rhode ordered the defenders to surrender, and the Ogres and human troops accepted their weapons without massacring them.
• Caer Darrow’s soldiers laid down their weapons, and Rhode’s troops began clearing the battlefield.
• Ilucia Barov grieved over her father’s body while Weldon Barov stared silently, and Rhode asked Ilucia where the Skeleton Key was.

Rhode gathered a party to investigate the cellar beneath Caer Darrow Castle, suspecting it might lead to Scholomance, but found that the Barov children knew nothing about a Skeleton Key. As the group prepared to descend, Rhode and Drake teased Lilia with a story about a traveler at the Lion's Pride Inn.

• Rhode asked Ilucia Barov and Weldon Barov about the cellar and learned that their parents had kept its keys and forbidden them from entering.
• Rhode introduced himself to Ilucia as a Mage from Durnholde Keep and left her more frightened when she recognized him as Alex Barov's killer.
• Drake cut through the cellar lock, and Rhode assembled Drake, Sally, Targ, and Lilia to explore the dark passage.
• Rhode warned Lilia that they might encounter ghosts, making her retreat instead of charging ahead.
• Drake began telling Sally and the others a story about a traveler staying at the Lion's Pride Inn in Goldshire, and Rhode realized it sounded familiar.

Rhode led his group into the underground library, where they encountered a suspicious High Elf. The chapter ended as Instructor Malicia prepared to attack them.

• Drake finished his ghost story, and Rhode warned Targ not to talk about eating people in front of Lilia.
• Rhode led Drake, Targ, Sally, and Lilia into the underground passage and discovered a vast, empty library.
• Rhode suggested that the group check the other rooms, but a High Elf emerged and demanded to know who they were.
• Rhode claimed they were Adventurers invited by Alex Barov and signaled for his companions to prepare for battle.
• The High Elf identified herself as Instructor Malicia and began gathering magic for a spell.

Rhode’s party interrupted Malicia’s attack and fought her while she tried to summon help. Lilia’s Mortal Strike turned Malicia’s healing spell against her, killing the instructor as the apprentices remained frozen.

• Drake charged Malicia, but her Ice Armor Shield blocked his sword and knocked him down while his impact disrupted her casting.
• Lilia’s Pummel failed to penetrate the shield, but Targ’s Earthquake interrupted Malicia’s spell, and Rhode struck her with a Fireball.
• Malicia rang Scholomance’s class bell, summoning a dozen apprentices and ordering them to eliminate the intruders.
• Rhode used Frost Nova to freeze the apprentices while Malicia began casting a healing spell.
• Lilia hit Malicia with Mortal Strike as the healing spell finished, causing it to inflict agony instead of healing her and leaving her dead.

After Lilia killed Instructor Malicia, Rhode’s party defeated the remaining dark apprentices and searched Scholomance for evidence linking Kel’Thuzad to the Cult of the Damned. In a macabre hall filled with specimens, Rhode found papers labeled “Promotional brochure.”

• Lilia killed Instructor Malicia, breaking the dark apprentices’ fighting spirit, and Rhode’s party finished off the survivors.
• Rhode praised Lilia as the greatest warrior in the world after she asked him to say it, and the party shared a laugh.
• Rhode led the party through the library and into a grand hall that the Barov Family had used to honor its ancestors.
• Sally spotted shelves holding living animals and disturbing preserved remains, and Rhode found parchment labeled “Promotional brochure.”

Rhode found evidence that Kel'Thuzad and the Cult of the Damned were recruiting at Scholomance, then prepared to return and confront Blackmoore. He spared Weldon and Ilucia Barov and explained why their family had been killed.

• Rhode read Cult of the Damned pamphlets and letters linking Kel'Thuzad to Scholomance's recruitment efforts.
• Rhode declared the dungeon quest complete and decided to lead his army back to deal with Blackmoore.
• Rhode planned to recruit Caer Darrow's willing soldiers and leave the Barov Family in control of the city.
• Rhode told Weldon Barov he would not kill him and explained that his parents and brother had died because they had harmed innocent people.