Chapter Summaries

Yu Lin Bloodhawk proposed capturing Raptors while the Troll negotiations proceeded, and Alleria and Sylvanas led a lengthy roundup that secured most of the herds. The negotiations eventually produced barter agreements with the Darkspear, Bloodscalp, and Skullsplitter Trolls, and the fleet returned from its first exchange with more beasts than its cargo holds could comfortably carry.

• Yu Lin Bloodhawk suggested capturing Raptors near the Wildman Coast, and Alleria decided the beasts should be taken to Quel'Thalas for use as Battle Pets.
• Alleria and Sylvanas organized the fleet and negotiating teams, and the main fleet split into four squadrons on the third day.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk's squadron reached the ruined Bloodsail Camp, where Gryphon Riders scouted the Raptor territory and the Elves began driving the herds toward the coast.
• Alleria and Sylvanas directed the Elves through a roundup lasting more than thirty days, capturing most of the Raptors and later retrieving poisoned ones.
• The Darkspear Trolls accepted the barter terms, and the Bloodscalp and Skullsplitter Trolls followed after fearing the Darkspear would gain an advantage.
• The Troll factions agreed to exchange goods every half month, and the Elves' first trade brought back more Leopards and Tigers as their cargo holds filled with captured beasts.

Yu Lin Bloodhawk and the fleet returned to The Hinterlands after completing their six-month voyage to Stranglethorn Vale, while Alleria and Sylvanas prepared to take the expeditionary forces home amid signs of an impending war. Sylvanas explained that the Alliance had invited Quel'Danil separately from Quel'Thalas to weaken their ties, and warned Yu Lin that Quel'Danil should let Quel'Thalas represent it at the conference.

• Yu Lin Bloodhawk and the others decided to return most of the fleet to The Hinterlands, while Fourteen stayed in Booty Bay with three galleons, an aircraft carrier, and Zuga's trolls to trade and contact the Gurubashi Trolls.
• The fleet loaded its ships with beasts, provisions, and bombs, then sailed back to The Hinterlands without incident after raising the flags of Quel'Danil.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk planned to send the convoy onward to Quel'Thalas, but Alleria ordered everyone to rest and sent Windrunner rangers to escort the gorillas and raptors home.
• Alleria and Sylvanas revealed that Quel'Thalas had ordered them to return the Expeditionary Army Corps as the orcs gathered for a likely major war and the Alliance prepared another conference.
• Sylvanas told Yu Lin Bloodhawk that the Alliance had listed Quel'Danil separately to portray it as independent from Quel'Thalas and advised him to have Quel'Thalas represent it at the conference.

Yu Lin Bloodhawk weighed Quel'Danil's political ties to Quel'Thalas while its council argued over who would represent it at the Alliance conference. He and Sylvanas discussed food shortages, refugee labor, and expanding agriculture, but Sylvanas warned that taking in more refugees might not be possible.

• Yu Lin Bloodhawk concluded that Quel'Thalas needed to represent Quel'Danil at the Alliance conference so it would remain obligated to defend the territory.
• The Quel'Danil Council's separatists demanded independent representation, while the City Lord's supporters opposed them and the royal agents stayed quiet.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk dismissed the council dispute and discussed with Sylvanas the trolls' requests for farming instructors and the arrival of six thousand Wildhammer Dwarf craftsmen.
• Sylvanas warned that food supplies could run low if harvests failed and said Quel'Thalas had little surplus food to sell.
• Sylvanas described plans to acquire female bears as battle pets, while Yu Lin Bloodhawk proposed taking in more refugees to reclaim farmland.
• Sylvanas shook her head and said taking in more refugees might not be possible now.

Yu Lin Bloodhawk and Sylvanas discussed refugee labor and farming plans, while Alleria offered military resources for the Hinterlands legions. The chapter ended with Yu Lin unimpressed by the ordinary dire wolves available for his mountain troops.

• Sylvanas warned Yu Lin that human nobles might recruit young refugees for their army, so he considered planting more fruit trees and hiring Witherbark trolls for major projects.
• Yu Lin decided to send people to discuss grain-for-labor agreements with the Witherbark trolls and Wildhammer Dwarves, and learned that the Vilebranch trolls had spent two months moving from Quel'Danil Mountain Valley.
• Alleria told Yu Lin she would return to Quel'Thalas with some clerics when the fleet arrived and asked whether to take the boar piglets back for the Farstriders.
• Alleria offered two hundred adult male wild bears for the plains regiment and explained that the Air Force could supply retired breeding dire wolves for the mountain troops.
• Yu Lin learned that the Air Force had produced thirty thousand first-generation hybrid wolf pups, but he dismissed the ordinary adult dire wolves as too weak.

Alleria persuaded Yu Lin Bloodhawk to equip the Bloodhawk Burning Legion with dire wolves and train them for combat, while reserving some tigers for its Mountain Regiment. She then left to investigate a possible site for the War God's holy place, and Yu Lin suggested An'telas.

• Alleria explained that hybrid wolf pups could supply the legions, but the Bloodhawk Burning Legion needed combat-ready mounts sooner.
• Alleria negotiated a plan for Yu Lin's Mountain Regiment to receive dire wolves, owls, and tigers or leopards, and for his City Lord's Guard to receive dire wolves.
• Yu Lin agreed to Alleria's plan after she warned that the Second War might begin before wolf pups were ready; he asked her to equip and train the entire legion with dire wolves and give its soldiers tigers.
• Alleria said she was going to help the clerics find a site for the War God's holy place and mentioned that they had discovered an iron ore vein in the southern hills.
• Yu Lin suggested a mountaintop near Sun Temple, and Alleria recognized it as An'telas and hurried off to discuss it with the clerics.

Yu Lin Bloodhawk and his allies expanded the fleet and discussed its crews, captains, and command structure. When the fleet returned with dire wolves and thousands of recovered common sows, Yu Lin Bloodhawk realized they might lack enough giant bloodfang boars to breed them.

• Evil Spikes and his two companions asked Yu Lin Bloodhawk to make them captains, and he assigned their six hundred trolls to Thirteen for training.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk and Thirteen planned to balance human and troll crews across the galleons, while Sylvanas and Alleria suggested adding elven rangers and experienced naval officers.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk agreed to establish a Naval Staff and ordered officers to select trustworthy elves for the fleet.
• A gryphon rider reported the fleet’s return, and the ships brought cages of adult dire wolves to the harbor.
• Alleria revealed that Silvermoon units had used most of the recovered common sows as battle pet feed, though the army recovered three thousand of the original eight thousand.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk welcomed the remaining sows, then worried that there were not enough giant bloodfang boars for breeding.

Alleria delivered dire wolves for Yu Lin Bloodhawk’s guards and told him about two skilled rangers among his troops. Yu Lin Bloodhawk realized he might count as an expert himself and rushed to find the rangers so he could appoint them chief instructors.

• Alleria told Yu Lin Bloodhawk that his old Steel Torrent subordinates had sent frozen Bloodfang Boar supplies, then assigned six hundred dire wolves to his City Lord Guard.
• Alleria said the Dire Wolf Squadron’s high rangers could train the guards and revealed that two rangers were nearly as skilled as Lor'themar Theron.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk decided to make the two rangers chief instructors after realizing their strength had gone unnoticed.
• Alleria told Yu Lin Bloodhawk that his own strength was only a little below Lor'themar’s, and he asked whether that made him an expert.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk hurried off with Alleria to find the two rangers, leaving someone else to arrange the dire wolves.

Yu Lin Bloodhawk recruited Shidewa and Xingluoge to train his household guard after Alleria revealed their exceptional skill and the obstacles they had faced as commoners. On the journey back, Alleria explained that an elite force depended on discipline, coordination, and battle experience as much as soldiers’ tiers, and judged Yu Lin’s former Bloodhawk Regiment elite.

• Yu Lin Bloodhawk and Alleria rode to Elf Village to find Shidewa and Xinluoge, two veteran rangers Alleria had identified as experts.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk appointed Shidewa chief instructor and Xingluoge deputy chief instructor of the City Lord’s Household Guard, with training to begin at the harbor the next day.
• Alleria explained that Shidewa and Xinluoge had reached the brink of the legendary tier despite lacking noble backing and the resources needed to advance.
• Alleria said the two ranger squadrons formed an elite officer corps and described the resource limits holding the hundred Bloodhawk Burning Legion veterans at the mid tier.
• Alleria told Yu Lin Bloodhawk that elite status depended on combat awareness, coordination, discipline, and resilience as well as individual strength, and called his former Bloodhawk Regiment an elite force.

Alleria explained to Yu Lin Bloodhawk how elite soldiers advanced through training, resources, and experience, then she and Sylvanas departed for Quel'Thalas. Yu Lin Bloodhawk saw them off and received Alleria’s bow as the fleet sailed away.

• Alleria told Yu Lin Bloodhawk that the Frostwolf Clan Regiment had fewer than a third of its Rangers at high ranks and that the Windrunner family supported their advancement with resources and teachers.
• Alleria said she suspected Yu Lin Bloodhawk’s two instructors, Shidewa and Xinluoge, were unusually strong, but Yu Lin Bloodhawk said he did not care if they were spies as long as they trained his soldiers.
• Shidewa and Xinluoge reported for duty at the docks early the next morning as Yu Lin Bloodhawk came to see Alleria and Sylvanas off.
• Alleria gave Yu Lin Bloodhawk her bow, and he promised it would get a chance to shine in battle or a sneak attack.
• Alleria and Sylvanas departed for Quel'Thalas with a fleet of one Aircraft Carrier, two gunships, and seven transport ships and captured vessels.

Yu Lin Bloodhawk told Shidewa and Xingluoge he trusted them to train his Guard, then revealed he planned to hunt demons rather than fight the Orcs. He also explained the Quel'Danil Council's dispute over the Alliance conference, but left the third council faction's identity unanswered.

• Yu Lin Bloodhawk told Shidewa and Xingluoge that he would not investigate their motives, even if they were spies, and asked them to train his troops.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk decided to capture lone demons for his troops to fight and promised to help Shidewa and Xingluoge reach Legendary strength if they trained the Guard well.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk said he would not attend the Alliance conference because Quel'Danil belonged to Quel'Thalas.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk explained that the council was split between his supporters, nobles expelled from Quel'Thalas, and a third faction he invited Xingluoge to guess.

Yu Lin Bloodhawk reorganized and expanded Quel'Thalas's forces while the question of whether to attend the meeting remained unresolved. Meanwhile, Fourteen prospered in Booty Bay through arms trading and alliances, and the Gurubashi Trolls approached him to trade as well.

• Yu Lin Bloodhawk said the exiled nobles were arguing with his people over attending the meeting, while the King's and Silvermoon Council's representatives watched without taking sides.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk appointed two chief instructors, who each selected three hundred soldiers and began training them in opposing teams.
• The harbor and surrounding settlements filled with expanded human and troll forces, armed police, military police, and ships conducting gunnery practice.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk sent leopards and tigers back to Quel'Thalas, then received more than seven hundred female bears and assigned the City Guard to claim them.
• Fourteen continued trading armor and equipment in Booty Bay, where he allied with the Blackwater Raiders and prepared to challenge the surviving Bloodsail Buccaneers.
• The Gurubashi Trolls approached Fourteen to trade, fearing their standing among Stranglethorn Vale's Four Great Troll Factions would suffer if they stayed out of the arms deals.

Yu Lin Bloodhawk arranged equipment and reinforcements for his forces while seeking stronger melee instructors for the City Lord's Household Guard. He discovered that the captured orcs were all blademasters of the renowned Burning Blade Clan, leaving him with a powerful potential source of training.

• Yu Lin Bloodhawk sent Fourteen a squadron and organized his galleons into rotating fleets for voyages to Booty Bay.
• The Windrunners, the Farstriders, and the Golden Mist Burning Legion each supplied a thousand sets of new armor, while Yu Lin Bloodhawk ordered human-sized leather armor and chainmail from Quel'Thalas.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk decided the City Lord's Household Guard needed instructors in direct melee combat and ordered Shidewa, Xingluoge, and the guards to retrieve the captured orc professionals.
• Shidewa and Xingluoge brought back more than a hundred captives, and Yu Lin Bloodhawk learned they were Burning Blade Clan blademasters, including more than ten high-tier fighters.

Yu Lin Bloodhawk expanded his forces by recruiting Orc Blademasters and building a professional navy with retired Quel'Thalas officers. He then learned that the Quel'Danil Council had voted for independence and attendance at the Alliance conference, a decision he believed would undermine his standing and serve the Royalist Party Faction's interests.

• Yu Lin Bloodhawk sent Shidewa, Xinluoge, and the City Lord's Household Guard to persuade the captive Orc Blademasters to train his troops, while he avoided learning from them himself.
• More than thirty retired Quel'Thalas naval officers arrived, and Yu Lin Bloodhawk welcomed them before they established a naval general staff and began training plans.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk approved sending gunboats to Quel'Thalas for maintenance and creating a ship repair facility in The Hinterlands, despite the expense.
• The Quel'Danil Council decided to attend the Alliance conference, with undercover councilors voting for the turncoat faction in favor of independence.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk concluded that the Royalist Party Faction had backed the decision to weaken Quel'Danil and his influence, and he felt especially angry at the Silvermoon Council for harming Quel'Thalas's interests.

After the king and Silvermoon Council backed Quel'Danil's secession, Yu Lin Bloodhawk condemned their decision and declared that Quel'Danil must be protected as part of Quel'Thalas. He rallied his officers to launch a military coup and dissolve the council, then began planning the operation.

• Yu Lin Bloodhawk told the assembled officers that the king and Silvermoon Council had voted to separate Quel'Danil from Quel'Thalas.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk explained that he had developed Quel'Danil as a refuge for future generations of elves and condemned the leaders for putting their power ahead of the people's safety.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk declared the secession resolution invalid and said Quel'Danil's forces would protect the land and refuse to attend the Alliance Meeting.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk called for a military coup to dissolve the council, and the officers pledged to follow him, including Shidewa and Xingluoge.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk instructed the officers to avoid killing fellow high elves unless they attacked his people, and the group spent the night planning with just over a thousand elf soldiers.

Yu Lin Bloodhawk launched a coup in Quel'Danil to seize the Teleportation Circle and arrest the councilors who opposed him. His forces secured the Trade and Council Districts, and the arrests began before daybreak.

• Yu Lin Bloodhawk planned to use Elf troops and Wildhammer Dwarves for the operation, while ordering human and Troll soldiers kept under watch.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk sent ten Gryphon Riders to Quel'Danil and secretly assigned Thirteen, Fifteen, Sixteen, and Seventeen to monitor the Troll troops.
• The Gryphon Riders secured the Teleportation Circle, and Yu Lin Bloodhawk sent the Snow Leopard Squad and Dire Wolf Squadron through to Quel'Danil.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk's forces sealed the Trade District, held the passage from the Military District, and coordinated with the Wildhammer Dwarves to isolate the districts.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk sent the Snow Leopard Squad, Dire Wolf Squadron, City Lord Guard, and Gryphon Riders into the Council District to seal its entrances and arrest the councilors and their associates.

Yu Lin Bloodhawk’s forces arrested the Council Magnates and brought them to the Council Hall while preparing to involve every elf in Quel'Danil in the council’s decision. By dawn, the councilors were still waiting for the absent City Lord, their three factions visibly divided as breakfast arrived.

• The Dire Wolf Squadron and Snow Leopard Squad brought the Council Magnates to the Council Hall, using force against a few who resisted or tried to escape.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk confirmed that the councilors had arrived and ordered every elf to attend a weapons-free public meeting at dawn, with the City Guard in uniform and the dwarves helping maintain order.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk ordered clerics to place Resonance Crystals around the city so the elves could see the Council Magnates and nobles.
• The councilors waited through the night for the City Lord, then argued and demanded explanations as members of the Traitor Faction, Royalist Party Faction, and City Lord Faction kept apart.
• Cooks brought breakfast into the Council Hall, and the previously silent City Lord Faction Councilors rose together to collect it.

Yu Lin Bloodhawk called an emergency council meeting to demand an explanation for the resolution to attend the Alliance Meeting, which would make Quel'Danil independent from Quel'Thalas. He exposed the Royalist Party Faction's ties to the king and Silvermoon Council, then asked the Noble Faction why it supported independence; one councilor began explaining that it would give Quel'Danil the standing of a nation.

• The elves of Quel'Danil gathered outside the Council Hall and watched the council meeting through Resonance Crystal broadcasts.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk arrived and demanded to know why the council had voted to attend the Alliance Meeting.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk explained that attending would declare Quel'Danil independent from the Kingdom of Quel'Thalas.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk revealed that he had long known the Royalist Party Faction had been sent by the King and Silvermoon Council, and that many City Guard members had also been sent by them.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk asked the Noble Faction to explain its support for attending the Alliance Meeting.
• A Noble Faction councilor said that attending would give Quel'Danil the status and international standing of a sovereign nation.

Yu Lin Bloodhawk challenged the Royalist Party Faction to explain why it had supported attending the Alliance Meeting, using the threat of stripping dual citizens of office to pressure them publicly. The faction finally declared that it believed Quel'Danil was not part of the Kingdom of Quel'Thalas's territory, shocking the council.

• Yu Lin Bloodhawk asked the Royalist Party Faction's councilors whether they would renounce Quel'Thalas citizenship to become citizens of Quel'Danil, and they fell silent when he rejected dual citizenship.
• A noble faction councilor called for the Royalist Party Faction's members to lose their council seats and other positions.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk demanded that the Royalist Party Faction explain its support for the Alliance Meeting proposal, saying the Council Hall would not adjourn until it did.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk used a coup and public pressure to force the Royalist Party Faction to speak openly about its motives.
• A Royalist Party Faction member declared that the faction considered Quel'Danil outside the Kingdom of Quel'Thalas's territory, startling the council.

Yu Lin Bloodhawk argued that Quel'Danil was an inseparable part of Quel'Thalas despite lacking royal appointment and refusing some orders. He declared the Council's resolution invalid and called for a referendum that would prevent Quel'Danil from attending the Alliance Meeting if residents voted to remain part of Quel'Thalas.

• Royalist councilors claimed Quel'Danil was governed by exiled nobles and was not part of Quel'Thalas because Yu Lin Bloodhawk had not been appointed by the King and Silvermoon Council.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk challenged the councilors' reasoning, pointing to Quel'Thalas's administration and military presence in Quel'Danil and comparing it with other contested territories.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk argued that obeying orders that harmed Quel'Thalas's interests would mean loyalty to the King and Council rather than to the nation.
• After a royalist councilor insisted Quel'Danil was not part of Quel'Thalas, Yu Lin Bloodhawk declared that it was and vowed that his soldiers would defend it.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk invalidated the previous Council resolution and announced a referendum on whether Quel'Danil belonged to Quel'Thalas, saying a yes vote would rule out attending the Alliance Meeting.

Yu Lin Bloodhawk challenged the council’s rejection of Quel'Danil as part of Quel'Thalas by holding a public vote, which resulted in an 80 percent majority in favor. After the opposing councilors accused him of falsifying the results, he condemned their factions for harming Quel'Thalas and provoking his anger.

• Yu Lin Bloodhawk declared the King Faction councilors ineligible to decide Quel'Danil’s future and organized a citywide vote on whether it belonged to Quel'Thalas.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk left the Council Hall with his faction’s councilors while the remaining Noble Faction and Royalist Party Faction members argued before a Resonance Crystal projection.
• Elves openly counted ballots at ten locations, and the vote showed 80 percent yes and 20 percent no among roughly nine thousand elves.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk returned to the Council Hall with armed representatives and announced the results, which the other factions denounced as fraudulent.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk accused the Royalist Party Faction of stirring up trouble and both opposing factions of harming Quel'Thalas, then warned them that they had provoked his anger.