Chapter Summaries

The orcs attacked the Allied left flank with Infernals and summoned eleven felguards, forcing Sylvanas to organize the defense against a new and dangerous threat. The felguards appeared close to the Lordaeron soldiers, whose fear slowed them as they tried to form ranks.

• The orcs launched a fierce assault, sending more than eighty Infernals and summoning over a dozen felguards.
• The elven mages used overlapping Blizzards while the rangers fired Arcane Shots, gradually shattering the Infernals.
• Orc Warlocks summoned eleven demons behind the Infernals, and elven rangers slowed the newly emerged felguards with Concussive Shot.
• Sylvanas ordered the heavy infantry to prepare for the felguards' Charge and told the shield infantry to close ranks.
• The Lordaeron soldiers saw the felguards nearby and grew frightened, slowing their efforts to form ranks.

Sylvanas tried to hold the defensive line against eleven Felguards by ordering the Rangers to target their legs and the Lordaeron infantry to form shield ranks. After one Felguard’s Charge and Whirlwind caused a rout, she had the Rangers shoot the panicked soldiers and ordered the heavy infantry to face the demon while the Rangers attacked its supporting leg.

• Sylvanas ordered the Rangers to cripple the Felguards’ legs and urged Lordaeron’s heavy infantry to form a tight shield wall.
• Alleria warned the Lordaeron commander that his soldiers’ morale was collapsing and said she would withdraw the Rangers and Mages if the infantry routed.
• A Felguard Charged into the human infantry and unleashed Whirlwind, killing many soldiers and sending others fleeing in panic.
• Sylvanas ordered the Rangers to shoot the panicked soldiers, while her death threats drove most of the remaining infantry to form up.
• Sylvanas commanded the Rangers to concentrate Arcane Shots on the Felguard’s supporting leg and the heavy infantry to form three shield ranks against its Whirlwind.

The Allied Army began defeating the felguards by trapping them behind layered shields and concentrating ranger attacks on their legs. One cunning felguard broke through the defenses and charged the elf mages, leaving the rangers to face his Whirlwind in close combat.

• Sylvanas Windrunner blasted a felguard's supporting leg, and the human soldiers swarmed and killed him.
• The Lordaeron commander learned from Alleria that Sylvanas was her sister and the second-in-command of the Elven Expeditionary Burning Legion.
• The humans and elves surrounded the remaining felguards, using layered shields and Arcane Shots to weaken them.
• A felguard who had endured attacks without using Whirlwind charged through loosened shield ranks, then unleashed Whirlwind and advanced toward the elf mages channeling Blizzard.
• The felguard's Whirlwind shredded the raptors sent to delay him, and the rangers drew their blades as he reached their line.

Sylvanas and Alleria directed the Allied Army as Orc Wolf Riders broke through the front line and charged into the camp. Alleria led Frostwolf Rangers after the riders inside, while the Lordaeron commander gathered soldiers and Knights to join the fight.

• Sylvanas ordered the Mages and Rangers to fall back, but Orc Wolf Riders exploited the gap and broke through the Human Infantry line.
• The Mages cast Blizzard on the Orc reinforcements as human cavalry collided with the Wolf Riders, slowing their charge.
• Sylvanas ordered Light Infantry and Brown Wolf Rangers to support the human troops against the Orc Wolf Riders outside the camp.
• Alleria stopped the Lordaeron soldiers from closing the gates until three hundred Orc Wolf Riders entered the camp, then ordered the gates shut.
• Alleria rode after the Orc Wolf Riders with Frostwolf Rangers, and the Lordaeron commander mounted his horse and led soldiers and Knights after them.

Yu Lin Bloodhawk trapped the charging Orc Wolf Riders inside the Bloodhawk Burning Legion’s wooden enclosure and used falling logs and arrow fire to halt their attack. The riders who got inside realized they had been lured into a trap, while those outside were left behind the closed gate under fire.

• Yu Lin Bloodhawk ordered his Elves to let about a third of the Orc Wolf Riders enter before dropping logs across the gate and closing it.
• The falling logs crushed several Orcs and Worgs, splitting the charging column in two.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk ordered the Rangers to shoot the Orcs outside and shut the gate against them.
• The Orc Wolf Riders trapped inside realized they could not reach the Elves and understood they had fallen into a trap.

Yu Lin Bloodhawk intervened when orcs mocked his Bloodhawk Burning Legion and killed one with an unexpectedly powerful Explosive Shot. The elves’ rookies remained surrounded by the orcs, but Yu Lin’s new strength startled both sides.

• More than two thousand elf recruits fired poisoned arrows from their platforms, bringing down the orcs’ worgs and slowly poisoning some riders.
• The orcs advanced toward the platform supports, planning to chop them down and bring the elves within reach.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk angrily answered the orcs’ insult by shooting one in the chest with an arcane-charged arrow, knocking him down without killing him.
• When the orc charged Yu Lin’s platform, Yu Lin fired an Explosive Shot that detonated inside the orc and blasted him apart.
• Yu Lin realized his recent training with Yiluo, Alleria, and Sylvanas had greatly improved his attack power, though he still struggled with simple conjuring skills.

Yu Lin Bloodhawk killed an Orc Blademaster with a devastating Explosive Shot, startling the Orcs and Elves, then complained that he had wasted mana. His limited mana reserves remained a major obstacle to his strength, and he worried he could not afford to fail to kill armored Orcs in one hit.

• Yu Lin Bloodhawk's arrow blasted an Orc Blademaster apart and destroyed the Orc's armor, frightening both sides.
• The Elf recruits cheered at Yu Lin Bloodhawk's display of power while the Orcs watched him warily.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk cursed because he believed he had wasted an energy burst instead of using Aimed Shot.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk reflected that his mana reserves were meager compared with those of powerful Mages and Rangers with wealthy patrons.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk calculated that Explosive Shot consumed most of his mana and worried that Arcane Shots could not kill plate-armored Orcs.

Yu Lin Bloodhawk killed an orc by shooting through a gap in his armor, then taught the elves to target such weak points. When the orcs huddled together and began moving to destroy the platforms, Yu Lin called for Ruiya and Lainasi, and enormous Iron Beasts charged out of the tents.

• An orc charged Yu Lin Bloodhawk, who stopped him with an explosive arrow; the orc discarded his sword to avoid further blasts.
• Yu Lin shot the orc through the exposed armpit when he bent to retrieve his sword, killing him with an ordinary arrow.
• Yu Lin ordered the elves to aim at gaps in the orcs' armor, including their armpits and the backs of their knees.
• The orcs grouped together back-to-back and began spreading out to attack the archery platforms while Yu Lin argued with them.
• Yu Lin called for Ruiya and Lainasi, and enormous Iron Beasts charged from the military tents toward the orcs.

The Bloodhawk elves and their veteran rangers overwhelmed the orcs with arrows and armored war bears. After Yu Lin Bloodhawk killed an orc with an instinctive shot, he entered a strange state, and Rhea ordered the recruits to protect him without disturbing him.

• Yu Lin Bloodhawk ordered the Bloodhawk recruits to fire while the veterans and their armored war bears attacked the orcs.
• The orcs used Berserk and fought fiercely, but arrows, Concussive Shots, and the bears steadily wounded and killed them.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk shot an orc through the armpit and heart when the orc exposed himself to attack a charging bear.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk recognized the strange insight from an earlier encounter near Suncrown Village and sank into a deep, silent state.
• Rhea stopped a recruit from calling to Yu Lin Bloodhawk and ordered several people to guard him while he advanced.

The Alliance withdrew into its camp as the Orc assault intensified, while Alleria found the Bloodhawk Burning Legion unharmed after they trapped and killed the Orc Wolf Riders who had breached their quarters. Yu Lin Bloodhawk remained motionless as he advanced to the next rank, and a brief message left Alleria furious.

• The last Infernal and all 500 Orc Wolf Riders were killed, and Sylvanas ordered the Alliance troops to retreat into the left-flank camp.
• Alleria arrived at the Bloodhawk Burning Legion's quarters and found Orc corpses outside its closed inner gate.
• Rhea told Alleria that Yu Lin Bloodhawk was advancing and that the Bloodhawk recruits had killed more than 100 Orc Wolf Riders without casualties.
• Alleria sent Rhea and the troops with armored battle pets to reinforce Sylvanas, while she and her Bodyguards stayed to guard Yu Lin Bloodhawk.
• A white owl delivered a short message, and Alleria turned ashen with rage after reading it.

After learning that the main Allied Army had withdrawn without notifying the left flank, Alleria prepared the exhausted elves to retreat while the Lordaeron commander struggled to obey his last order to hold position. The commander had yet to decide whether to withdraw as the chapter ended.

• After the orcs withdrew, Alleria waited for Yu Lin Bloodhawk to wake and for orders, but neither arrived.
• Sylvanas proposed sending the exhausted mages and Bloodhawk Burning Legion to the Area 4 landing point, and Alleria ordered preparations and Gryphon Rider scouting.
• Alleria learned from the Lordaeron commander that his last order was to hold position, then showed him the note reporting the main force’s retreat.
• Alleria warned the commander that lives depended on his decision and left, determined to withdraw the elves if orcs threatened their route.
• When his adjutant urged him to retreat, the Lordaeron commander remained uncertain and wondered why Allied Command had sent no withdrawal orders.

After Yu Lin Bloodhawk awakened from a long advancement, he learned the allied forces were preparing to retreat as orc cavalry threatened their route. He ordered the Elven Expeditionary Burning Legion to act independently and led it toward Landing Point 5 after the Lordaeron legion withdrew.

• Yu Lin Bloodhawk awoke after spending hours advancing, and Alleria and Sylvanas told him the Bloodhawk Burning Legion had already left for Landing Point 4.
• Alleria explained that orc Wolf Cavalry threatened the retreat and that the Lordaeron commander had delayed ordering his legion to withdraw.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk ordered the Elven Expeditionary Burning Legion to stop accepting specific orders from Allied Command and chose Landing Point 5 as its destination.
• The Lordaeron soldiers abandoned their baggage and withdrew before the elves, while Sylvanas kept the elves waiting until the route cleared.
• Alleria ordered the elven legion to march at full speed toward Landing Point 5, leaving the military camp deserted.

The Elven Expeditionary Burning Legion reached the seaside camp at Landing Point 5 while Orcs closed in through the valley. After resting, the Elves prepared to retaliate in the forest with poisoned arrows and the help of their owls.

• Yu Lin Bloodhawk decided not to set the Orc camp ablaze during the retreat, while Gryphon Riders helped the Elves evade Orc forces that destroyed most of the Lordaeron Human Burning Legion.
• The Elves crossed the woods to the seaside camp, where 13's advance party had cleared the surrounding trees, as Orc Infantry entered the valley behind them.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk, Alleria, and Sylvanas planned to hold the Orcs off and strike back after the exhausted Elves rested.
• The mages gave the Elf Rangers a potent poison for their arrows, while Alleria and Sylvanas lamented that the Elves had too few owls to scout the forest.

The Elves ambushed the Orcs in the jungle, capturing armor and prisoners while suffering no deaths, and then weathered several more attacks as Allied Command refused to send help. The Orcs and Elves eventually settled into an uneasy boundary at the valley entrance, with neither side strong enough or willing to cross it.

• Alleria and Sylvanas led the Rangers into the jungle, where they defeated the Orc Infantry and returned with more than thirteen hundred suits of armor and nearly a hundred prisoners.
• Sylvanas made the City Lord buy every captured suit of Orc armor for three Gold Coins, and he agreed in exchange for staying at camp to oversee operations.
• The Mages' poisons helped the Elves in battle, while Captain 13 promised Sorens and the other old men that he would procure the ingredients they needed.
• After losing over a thousand infantry, the Orcs stopped attacking for three days and withdrew their Wolf Riders from the area.
• Allied Command told Alleria it could not break through to reinforce the surrounded Elves, and Alleria demanded to know why her force had not been warned of the retreat.
• After the Orcs failed to drive the Elves from the valley and the Elves refused to leave it, both sides treated the valley entrance as a boundary and stopped invading each other's territory.

The Orcs launched their final assault on the Elven Expeditionary Burning Legion after Stormwind City fell, while Yu Lin Bloodhawk spent months collecting and tasting wild plants. The Elves retreated according to Yu Lin’s cautious strategy, leaving the suspicious Orcs to advance slowly.

• The Allied Army struggled after losing the Elven Expeditionary Burning Legion’s ranged support, and its remaining Mage forces steadily dwindled.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk found wild chilies, saved their seeds, and spent months tasting unfamiliar plants while growing closer to Sorens and the other old men.
• The Orcs drove the Allied Army’s main force out of Loch Danmor and turned their attention to the Elven Expeditionary Burning Legion.
• The Alliance learned that Stormwind City had fallen, making the Orcs’ coming attack on the Elves likely to be the war’s last battle.
• In mid-March, three Orc infantry legions attacked the Elven Expeditionary Burning Legion, which retreated under Yu Lin’s strategy as the Orcs cautiously followed.

Yu Lin Bloodhawk ordered the Elves to set fire to the forest where eighteen thousand Orcs had camped, presenting their deaths as a second Dance with the Orcs gala. The blaze spread through the valley as the host mockingly announced the Orcs’ Phoenix Rebirth performance.

• After the Orcs advanced through most of the forest, Yu Lin Bloodhawk halted the fleet and declared the second Dance with the Orcs gala open.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk announced that Sylvanas had been suspended from hosting duties and appointed himself host.
• More than a hundred Gryphon Riders flew to the forest with Incendiary Bombs and set fires throughout it.
• The flames spread rapidly through the dry forest, trapping the eighteen thousand Orcs in the valley.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk described the Orcs’ struggle in the flames as their Phoenix Rebirth performance, while Alleria and Sylvanas condemned his shamelessness.

Yu Lin Bloodhawk led the elven fleet home after an orc performance and reached a heavily expanded Hinterlands port. He learned that the Hinterlands had taken in 130,000 refugees while he was away.

• Yu Lin Bloodhawk thanked the orcs for their performance, encouraged the elves to face hardship with smiles, and ordered the fleet to set sail for home.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk led the elves in singing Little Bunny, Be Good as the fleet sailed away from the burning orcs.
• More than ten days later, Yu Lin Bloodhawk reached the Hinterlands and saw the port's new walls, buildings, and statue.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk and the administrators arranged lodging for the arriving Expeditionary Army Corps, then he rested after a long day.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk heard reports from the administrators, including Zuga, and learned the Hinterlands had accepted 130,000 refugees.

The Hinterlands tightened its refugee policies after a riot led to thousands of deaths and the expulsion of eight thousand people. Yu Lin Bloodhawk inspected the growing villages, where refugees worked and earned approval to join communities, and Elf Village stood out as the most beautiful.

• After a riot involving more than seven thousand refugees, Fourteen and the administrators sent Troll troops and human soldiers to suppress it, killing over four thousand rioters and forcing the rest to surrender.
• Fourteen and the other High Rogues uncovered agents from the Human Kingdom and other kingdoms, hanged them publicly, and expelled the surviving rioters and other troublemakers.
• The administrators required newcomers to complete heavy labor and pass screening before joining a village, while some refugees also needed approval from village craftsmen.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk toured more than eighty villages, where residents gathered materials and construction crews built High Elf-style homes.
• The Goblin mechanized plowing team remained popular across The Hinterlands, and Elf Village was the most luxurious village on Harbor Plain.

Yu Lin Bloodhawk visited Elf Village and learned how its elves tended orchards and herb fields while renting their flat farmland to human refugees. The elves’ arrangement helped refugees earn crops and join village groups, while rising demand for herbs encouraged the elves to bring over more treants.

• The elves chose a village site among low hills near the Harbor District and planted fruit trees, with treants helping tend their orchards and fields.
• The elves hired craftsmen and refugees to finish their homes, paying them in fruit brought from Quel'Thalas.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk visited Elf Village and learned that the elves rented their flat farmland to human refugees, who kept most of the harvest after the City Lord's share.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk learned that the elves grew herbs with the help of treants and that elf mages in Quel'Danil City needed more herbs for lesser magic potions.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk approved of the elves' efforts to bring more treants over from Quel'Thalas.

Yu Lin Bloodhawk set rules for refugees’ fields and fruit orchards, ensuring the land stayed productive and the orchards ultimately benefited him. After Stormwind City fell, villages that wanted their orchards back learned they would have to plant additional orchards for His Lordship.

• Yu Lin Bloodhawk gave Elf Village wild plant seeds to grow on level ground and offered to buy everything they produced.
• Wealthier refugees arranged for others to cultivate their fields, while officials required every allotted field to remain productive.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk required villages to plant barren hills with fruit trees, which became his property if villages declined to keep them.
• After Stormwind City fell, villages asked officials to return orchards they had relinquished, but the officials said only Yu Lin Bloodhawk could approve it.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk allowed villages to reclaim orchards if they planted at least the same area of additional fruit trees for him, with the amount depending on how long they had given up their orchards.