Recaps

Liam and Tess entered Jadefire Town’s brutal battle, where Drak’s assault force confronted the powerful Saurfang. After a cannon blast destroyed the orcs’ coastal forces, Saurfang abandoned the seaward breakout and regrouped with Grom, leaving Rowan and Kainings to watch the Warsong Orcs retreat north.

• Liam and Tess prepared for battle and entered Jadefire Town as the human forces pressed the Warsong Orcs into its southern district.
• Drak attacked the orc command post, where Saurfang defeated him and knocked down more than a dozen soldiers with one blow.
• Tess intervened to save Drak, and Liam and Tess fought Saurfang, but he overpowered them before a cannon blast drew him away.
• Saurfang found that the Combined Fleet’s cannon had killed every orc in two squads, so he abandoned the coastal breakout and led his troops to regroup with Grom.
• Kainings welcomed the Warsong Orcs’ retreat, while Rowan predicted that the war would continue.

Saurfang was captured alive after a grueling battle, and the armies mourned their dead before Rowan prepared to sail for Boralus with Liam and Tess. A meal of spoiled provisions enraged Rowan, who vowed to hold the nobles responsible, leaving Liam wondering how much power Rowan held in Kul Tiras.

• Number Zero stopped Number Six from killing Saurfang, and Number Six and Number Seven helped capture him alive after two days of fighting.
• Grom escaped north with his remaining troops, while the Warsong Orcs and their Zandalari allies suffered a crushing defeat.
• Rowan, Jaina, Liam, Tess, and the commanders attended a five-hour cremation ceremony for the fallen soldiers.
• Rowan agreed to take Liam and Tess aboard the Combined Fleet to Boralus, and Leonard showed them around the Iron Warship.
• Liam and Tess found stones in their food and disliked the fleet's provisions, prompting Rowan to demand that Kainings and Halliwell identify the nobles responsible.

Talanji and Rastakhan considered Zuluhed's letter urging them to unite the Troll tribes, while Rowan returned to Boralus to a triumphant welcome after defeating the Orcs. The chapter ended with Rowan celebrating at Proudmoore Manor and discovering that Daelin had tricked him into drinking a treasured bottle of Alterac Sake.

• Talanji read Zuluhed's letter with Rastakhan, and Rastakhan ordered her to take Zul and unite the Troll tribes before Kul Tiras became Zandalar's next enemy.
• Rowan returned to Boralus with the Combined Fleet, and Lucille's newspaper coverage helped draw a cheering crowd that welcomed him as a hero.
• Lucille embraced Rowan and told him Lord Arthur was improving, while Rowan promised to visit the estate; Jaina watched without intervening.
• Liam suggested Tess should marry Rowan, but Tess rejected the idea, and the siblings teased each other about their romantic lives.
• Rowan and Jaina visited Proudmoore Manor, where Daelin served Rowan expensive sake and revealed that he had obtained it for free from the Norwington Merchants' Guild.

Byron visited Eric to ask about Lashius’s case and learned that the chief judge planned to keep him in custody for months to preserve his value as a bargaining chip. Meanwhile, Rowan met with Saurfang aboard the warship to discuss honor and the Horde’s future, ending with Saurfang accepting Rowan’s offered hand.

• Byron left the Norwington Merchants' Guild and asked Eric when Lashius would be sent to Tol Dagor.
• Eric said Lashius would remain in custody until the following June because he still had value to the authorities, and Byron left without challenging him.
• Rowan told Lord Ashvane that he intended to make his move immediately, then boarded the warship with Leonard.
• Rowan visited the captive Saurfang and asked him what honor meant to him.
• Saurfang said honor meant protecting family and standing with the Horde, though he regretted the Horde’s past actions.
• Rowan offered to spare the orcs if the Horde could be reborn, and Saurfang seized his hand as Rowan began to withdraw it.

Thrall encountered the wounded White Wolf and learned from the appearing orc Zuluhed that the Horde needed his help. In Boralus, Rowan began his purge of corrupt nobles, sending seventeen accused men onto a ship whose crew had secret orders to kill them.

• Thrall accompanied Theresa to Lydell Town, bought her jewelry, and started back with supplies.
• Thrall tracked a strange, translucent White Wolf into a birch grove, where Zuluhed appeared and asked for his help on behalf of the Horde.
• Second Fleet soldiers arrested seventeen nobles and merchants, and Daelin convened an emergency meeting in Boralus.
• Rowan challenged the accused nobles to leave if they were innocent, then declared war on the noble bloc and its corruption.
• The meeting ended with the seventeen accused men sent aboard a ship for Tol Dagor, while Leonard and William prepared to carry out a secret plan to kill them.

Rhonin and Clark failed to find spell materials as the noble faction’s economic war crippled Norwington trade, while Rowan struggled to keep goods moving and prevent residents from going hungry. Rhonin revealed the Kirin Tor’s clues about the Cult of the Damned and a mysterious cold front from Northrend, and Rowan planned to visit Lord Arthur with Rhonin to investigate his curse.

• Rhonin and Clark searched Alliance Square for spell materials but found none amid the guilds’ price war and the collapse of Norwington’s trade channels.
• Byron reported that nobles were blocking Norwington goods and blaming the family for shortages, while Floyd said the Barov and Agamand families had helped move some warehouse stock.
• Rowan ordered his caravans to prioritize Drustvar’s grain supply and learned that Lord Stormsong had taken no clear position and Lord Ashvane was struggling to control his fractured family.
• Rhonin told Rowan that the Kirin Tor had linked stolen corpses in Southshore and elsewhere to the Cult of the Damned, and that a magical team was investigating unusual events in Northrend.
• Rowan asked Rhonin to accompany him to Vikress Estate in Drustvar and try to break the dark curse afflicting Lord Arthur.

Byron arranged for Drustvar merchants to distribute Morris Industries goods and open trade routes into Stormsong Valley while Rowan's group visited the gravely ill Lord Arthur. Rhonin recognized a familiar shadowy corruption in Lord Arthur's curse, linking it to the eerie tentacles from the Southshore fire.

• Byron asked Myris to make his merchants' guild a distributor for Morris Industries goods and help expand trade into Stormsong Valley.
• Jaina doubted Rowan's plan to disguise the goods' route through Southshore, while Illucia suggested Rowan had another way to break the blockade.
• Rowan and Rhonin arrived at the Vikress Estate and visited Lord Arthur with Lucille and Meredith.
• Lord Arthur suffered a painful episode, then asked Rowan to reconsider his daughter’s matter as Lucille wept beside him.
• Rhonin examined the curse on Lord Arthur's chest and recognized shadowy corruption resembling the power behind the tentacles in the Southshore fire.

Torli'en introduced the Archmage Briwood to the noble faction as their weapon against Rowan, while the faction planned to exploit public anger against the Norwington Family. In Boralus, Rowan, Rhonin, and Bishop Joseph discovered that Lord Arthur's shadow curse had merged with his heart, leaving his treatment unresolved.

• Briwood arrived with Torli'en and chilled the carriage with the frost element surrounding him.
• Torli'en introduced Briwood to the noble faction, which planned to use food distribution and popular anger to undermine the Norwington Family.
• Briwood asked where Reki was being held, and Kofidan offered to share what he knew.
• Bishop Joseph and Rhonin opened Lord Arthur's chest and found shadow tendrils fused with his heart, which they could neither remove nor cleanse.
• Rowan told the weeping Lucille that there was still one other way.

Talanji and Zul witnessed Sylvanas’s rangers battle the Witherbark trolls, then brought the Bear Spirit God’s Emissary to Zul'Aman. Meanwhile, Rhonin revealed that Lord Arthur had only about two years to live unless the caster behind his shadow curse could be found, and Rowan decided to investigate Reki first.

• Talanji and Zul entered Eversong Woods and watched Sylvanas lead thirty-three rangers against a larger Witherbark force.
• Sylvanas and Lor'themar defeated the transformed troll wielding loa power, while Talanji and Zul’s Bear Spirit God’s Emissary arrived at the battlefield.
• Talanji and Zul returned to Zul'Aman with the Bear Spirit God's Emissary, and Hex Lord Malacrass arranged lodgings for them.
• Rhonin told Meredith and Lucille that Lord Arthur’s shadow-grown flesh had bonded with his heart and that he had at least two years to live.
• Rowan explained that Lord Arthur’s curse came from an underground creature and vowed to investigate the suspected practitioners, starting with Reki.

Talanji and Zul met Zul'jin to seek the Forest Trolls' support for a Troll alliance, but Zul'jin challenged how much Zandalar would sacrifice. Meanwhile, Rowan and Rhonin interrogated Reki about Lord Arthur's curse, and Reki denied involvement while reporting that he had seen an SI:7 assassin in Boralus.

• Talanji and Zul received Zul'jin's hospitality in Zul'Aman and saw how harshly the Forest Trolls lived.
• Talanji urged Zul'jin to unite the Troll tribes against their enemies, and Zul'jin asked how much Zandalar would sacrifice.
• Zul answered that Zandalar would not abandon its people or burn its bridges, prompting Zul'jin to warn that hesitation would doom a large-scale war.
• Clark and Leonard brought Reki from the dungeon to Rowan and Rhonin for questioning.
• Rowan threatened to kill Reki until he agreed to answer questions about Lord Arthur's curse.
• Reki denied cursing Lord Arthur and said he had seen an SI:7 assassin in Boralus.

Liam and Tess were blacklisted from a Vikress jewelry store because the Noble Group had ordered merchants to cut ties with the Norwington Family. Meanwhile, Illucia and Aemeth worked with Kofidan to strengthen their position against the Menethil Royal Court by backing Rowan, leaving Aemeth convinced that Illucia wanted to marry him.

• A Vikress jewelry-store manager refused to serve Liam and Tess because they were guests of the Norwington Family, and Liam led Tess away after discussing the Noble Group's political influence.
• Liam reflected on Rowan's burden and courage as he and Tess headed toward the Norwington market.
• The Noble Group gained public support in Tiragarde Sound by cutting prices, while Kofidan inspected goods with Illucia and Aemeth.
• Illucia and Aemeth explained that the Agamand merchants' guild had taken Norwington goods and argued with Kofidan for cooperation against monopolies and the Noble Group.
• Aemeth recognized that the Two Great Families needed Rowan's support to gain leverage against the Menethil Royal Court, then thought Illucia wanted to marry him.

Rowan confronted Aemeth over the Agamand family’s refusal to take more trade orders and persuaded her to sign a follow-up agreement. Their negotiation ended with Aemeth demanding that Rowan promise not to marry Illucia, while Illucia secretly teased her after he left.

• Floyd told Rowan that Lordaeron’s trading families had run out of goods to exchange, threatening Rowan’s plan to supply the noble faction.
• Rowan visited Aemeth at the Starry Inn and challenged her claim that the Agamand family could not absorb more merchandise.
• Rowan used a story about partners sharing an orchard to expose the Agamand family’s dependence on the Menethil Royal Court and offer it a better trading partner.
• Aemeth admitted she wanted Rowan to promise not to marry Illucia, but Rowan sidestepped the demand and secured her agreement to the follow-up trade contract.
• After Rowan left, Illucia emerged and teased Aemeth for getting flustered during their conversation.

After Reki’s interrogation exposed the Cult of the Damned’s plan to divert Dalaran’s attention toward Northrend, Rhonin and Ansirem feared Eileen’s reconnaissance squad was in danger. Meanwhile, Rowan waited for the Noble Interim Council to exhaust its funds before responding to its economic campaign against him.

• Leonard gave Reki’s interrogation report to Number Zero, who shared intelligence that the Cult of the Damned was trying to draw the Kirin Tor’s attention to Northrend.
• Rhonin visited Ansirem, saw his Levitation Spell experiment succeed, and learned the principles behind lifting large structures into the air.
• After reading the intelligence, Ansirem feared Eileen’s squad would be killed by a powerful force backing Kel’Thuzad, and Rhonin planned to consult Rowan and return to Dalaran.
• The Noble Interim Council spent its remaining funds on the economic war in Boralus, while public criticism of Rowan grew.
• Rowan told Byron to wait until the Interim Council had spent all its money before acting, and urged him to focus on earning the people’s trust rather than appeasing them.

The Provisional Council believed Rowan’s low-price sales would not overcome its public support, but Kofidan grew suspicious of Rowan’s strategy. Moss rejected Torli'en’s attempt to recruit him and confirmed that the military technology agreement remained in force, while Jaina and Illucia argued as Rowan appeared between them.

• Torli'en urged the Provisional Council to break from the Family Council, then received news that the Norwington Family had begun selling goods cheaply across Kul Tiras; Kofidan suspected Rowan had a hidden plan.
• Moss reflected on corruption among noble youths and hoped Rowan would succeed in challenging the Noble Group.
• Torli'en tried to draw Moss toward the Provisional Council by raising Jaina, but Moss denied having feelings for her and said the Technology Transfer Agreement remained active.
• Jaina prepared for the new year and bought matching outfits, then traded barbed remarks with Illucia outside the inn.
• Rowan came outside and intervened as Jaina and Illucia were close to fighting.

Kofidan tried to turn the Norwington Merchants' Guild’s price cuts and free grain into a public-relations crisis, but the Provisional Council’s funds ran dry as its foreign suppliers raised prices. Rowan’s victory ended with Kofidan’s arrest, and Rowan told Jaina that the council had been doomed by its own divisions from the start.

• Kofidan discovered that Rowan’s guild was giving away grain, then helped organize protesters to drive shoppers away from the Norwington Merchants' Guild.
• Byron confronted Kofidan over inciting the crowd, and the two traded accusations about Rowan and the factions’ struggle.
• Lucille returned to Boralus with Lord Arthur, met Sataia at the guild, and asked Rowan about the conflict’s progress.
• Rowan’s cheap and free goods depleted the Provisional Council’s stock, while the Barov Family and the Agamand family raised their prices, prompting the council’s nobles to resist further funding.
• Rowan announced that the Barov Family and the Agamand family had traded with his guild, and Byron arrested Kofidan as the Provisional Council’s defeat became final.
• Jaina visited Rowan after the arrests, and Rowan said the council’s ending had been decided by its internal divisions from the beginning.

After Kul Tiras’s political purge, Rowan and Jaina became engaged and celebrated the New Year with family and friends. At their home, Jaina rebuffed Illucia and Lucille’s teasing about sharing Rowan, but Rowan still thanked both women as fireworks marked the new year.

• More than ten thousand people were imprisoned, and Lord Aldrius arranged Rowan and Jaina’s engagement on New Year’s Day.
• Rowan welcomed Lord Ashvane and other guests to the engagement celebration, while Aldrius and Ashvane discussed retirement and the Family Council.
• Rowan obtained Ellen’s Hangover Potion so he could avoid getting drunk during the evening festivities with Jaina.
• Rowan, Jaina, Illucia, and Lucille prepared dumplings together, and Jaina told Illucia and Lucille to stop thinking about her husband.
• As fireworks welcomed the New Year, Rowan fed Jaina a dumpling and secretly offered one each to Illucia and Lucille.

Eileen’s squad reached the Borean Tundra and copied a village map while gathering reports of worsening winter weather and strange occurrences. In Boralus, the Scourge Plague transformed prisoners into undead, prompting Rowan to kill the captured necromancer Briwood and tighten Kul Tiras’s defenses as Reki struggled against a strange controlling mind.

• Eileen questioned village chief Hathorne about the Borean Tundra and learned that the winter had brought unusually frequent snowfalls.
• Abney used magic to copy Hathorne’s seventy-year-old map, and Eileen gathered more information about strange events in the region.
• Reki realized that his meal had begun turning him undead and urgently summoned Rowan, who found Kulrag showing the same symptoms and ordered the dungeon sealed.
• Rowan traced the plague outbreak to a mind-controlled guard and Briwood, then had Briwood killed and ordered shipping routes sealed and military control of cargo shipments.
• Reki described his changing body and his connection to a strange controlling mind to Archmage Ansirem, who urged him to communicate with it and locate its source.

Eileen’s reconnaissance squad reached the deadly glaciers of Northrend, where Eileen admitted her fears and Bruce confessed his love, only to learn that she still cared for Rhonin. Rhonin followed the squad north with a map, while Rowan’s efforts in Kul Tiras continued and Ansirem helped Reki resist the Lich King’s influence.

• Eileen’s squad traveled through the Borean Tundra, received whale blubber from Tuskarr envoys, and entered the lifeless glaciers of Icecrown.
• Eileen and Bruce discussed turning back, and Bruce confessed his love and asked Eileen to give him a chance.
• Eileen revealed that she had once loved Rhonin and defended him as a good man who had risked himself to protect others.
• Rhonin reached Riplash Shore, learned the squad’s route from Village Chief Hathorne, and took the chief’s family map to follow them.
• Rowan relaxed after a week without undead incidents in Kul Tiras, while Ansirem continued teaching Reki how to resist the Lich King’s will.

Eileen and Bruce discovered a vast undead stronghold in Icecrown Glacier, but their investigation drew the attention of Anub'arak, king of Azjol-Nerub. Rhonin arrived to fight the pursuing Nerubians while Eileen called out her feelings, and Bruce remained buried beneath the ice, facing a choice.

• Bruce showed Eileen a necromantic iron pickaxe, and she decided they would investigate Icecrown Glacier together while the rest of the squad waited at the checkpoint.
• Eileen and Bruce found hundreds of undead carrying materials into a huge floating fortress, then watched Nerubian spider-creatures build a road to it.
• Anub'arak burst through the cavern cliffs and attacked Eileen and Bruce, leaving Eileen wounded before Bruce teleported them away.
• Anub'arak pursued the mages and buried them beneath shattered ice, but Rhonin arrived and blasted part of the creature's head shell.
• Rhonin fought off Anub'arak's scarabs while searching for a chance to rescue Eileen, who shouted that she was not okay; Bruce remained trapped beneath the ice.

Rhonin rescued Eileen from Icecrown Glacier, but Bruce revealed himself as a member of the Cult of the Damned and mortally wounded her before Rhonin could escape. After Eileen died in his arms, Rowan reorganized Kul Tiras’s economy and began planning academies and a heavily armed sky fortress.

• Rhonin fought Anub'arak and the scarabs, then chose to rescue Eileen rather than stay and battle the nerubian leader.
• Rhonin freed Eileen and Bruce from the ice, but Bruce attacked Eileen and revealed he had joined the Cult of the Damned; Rhonin killed him and teleported away with Eileen.
• Rhonin tried to heal Eileen, but an undead curse made her death inevitable, and she confessed her feelings before dying in his arms.
• Rowan transferred the Noble Group’s factories and merchants’ guilds to the Family Council and planned seven specialist schools for the Morris Inland Sea industrial district.
• Rowan showed Ansirem plans for a steel Sky Fortress armed with Mage Hunter Cannons and explained that he wanted it for defense against threats such as the Burning Legion.

Rowan discovered that coal pollution was harming workers in the Morris Industries District and went to seek solutions, while Talanji gathered intelligence on his growing power. Rhonin brought the newly undead Eileen away from Icecrown, where they spotted Talanji and Zul but chose not to confront them.

• Rowan noticed smog and coal ash causing coughing among workers, recognized the industrial district's pollution crisis, and headed to the research institute to find ways to reduce emissions.
• Talanji and Zul secured Zul'jin's agreement to join the Troll World Council, then kidnapped Dulus to question him about Rowan's influence in Kul Tiras.
• Talanji learned that Rowan controlled Kul Tiras's economy and had married Jaina; after Zul killed Dulus to protect the council's secrecy, Talanji threw the stolen coin purse into the water.
• Rhonin watched Eileen become undead, urged her to come with him, and took her toward Boralus while trying to preserve her consciousness against the Domination Will.
• Rhonin and Eileen spotted Talanji and Zul at Riplash Shore, but Rhonin declined to capture them because Eileen remained vulnerable to the will controlling her.

Illucia returned to Southshore and reported to Lord Alex, who welcomed the Norwington Family’s rise as a chance to challenge the Menethil Royal Court. After learning undead had appeared in Boralus, Alex secretly confronted Kel'Thuzad, who proposed using the incident to advance their plans against Lordaeron.

• Sackhoff worried that the Norwington Merchants' Guild's growing share of the grain trade threatened the Barov Merchants' Guild.
• Illucia recounted her recent dealings to Lord Alex, who approved of her support for the Norwington Family and told her she could pursue what she wanted.
• Illucia told Alex that undead creatures had appeared in Boralus, and his startled reaction left her wondering what he knew.
• Alex met Kel'Thuzad in an abandoned residence and accused him of violating their agreement by causing trouble in Boralus.
• Kel'Thuzad explained that Briwood's failed attempt to spread the plague had exposed the undead threat, then suggested using the news while keeping Lordaeron as their target.

Rowan pursued plans to develop the Liberator Type-A Fighter, prepared for the Alliance leadership meeting, and explained his vision of making extraordinary power accessible to ordinary people. Meanwhile, Talanji and Zul reached Gundrak, where the Drakkari offered to consider joining the troll World Council if Zandalar helped repel an undead invasion.

• Rowan showed Clark and Sataia the fighter blueprints, asked them to help at the academy, and invited Sataia to accompany him to Lordaeron.
• Rowan sent Byron to deliver grain to the Barov Family and scout ahead for his upcoming Alliance leadership meeting.
• Jaina questioned Rowan's plans to invest in high-speed aircraft, and Rowan said he wanted technology and magic to let ordinary people wield extraordinary power.
• Talanji and Zul reached Gundrak, where High Prophet Galdarah and the other high prophets described the undead invasion devastating Zul'Drak.
• Galdarah said the Drakkari would consider joining Talanji's World Council if Zandalar helped defeat the undead army.

Byron and Leonard secured grain shipments in Southshore against the Cult of the Damned’s plague, while Rhonin warned Rowan that a vast Scourge army in Northrend obeyed a single controlling will. The chapter ended with Rowan considering the threat of the Scourge’s flying citadels and the possible use of his flying carrier.

• Byron and Leonard sealed Southshore’s harbor, explained the plague threat to Mayor Maleb, and oversaw the unloading and inspection of grain, though a glowing anchor point remained hidden among the sacks.
• Rhonin brought Eileen, now undead, to meet Rowan and Jaina, and Rowan teased Rhonin about the way he and Eileen looked at each other.
• Rhonin told Rowan that the Scourge had gathered in great numbers at Icecrown Glacier and that a powerful will could summon and control undead, including Eileen.
• Rhonin said he had temporarily severed Eileen’s connection to the dark will and planned to take her to the Council of Tirisfal.
• Rhonin described the Scourge’s flying citadels, and Rowan wondered whether the flying carrier under development could help meet that threat.

Thrall discovered that the guards at an internment camp had mysteriously turned undead after he and Theresa delivered bread, while Rowan attended the Alliance conference in Tarren Mill and navigated a possible marriage alliance with Illucia. The chapter ended with Rowan and Illucia attracting attention in town as merchants reconsidered challenging him.

• Thrall grew troubled by the orcs’ distrust of him and told Theresa he was not ready to marry her, though he cared for her.
• Thrall and Theresa delivered bread to an internment camp, where the guards suddenly died and rose as undead with their own minds intact.
• Rowan visited Lord Alex with Illucia, discussed trade between their families, and deflected Alex’s questions about marrying Illucia.
• After dinner, Rowan tied Illucia up and slept; the next morning, he took her for a walk despite her teasing him about Jaina.
• Alliance merchants saw Rowan and Illucia together, and most of their would-be rivals dropped their hostility after learning who Rowan was.