Chapter Summaries

Rowan tried to identify and destroy the Troll fleet’s concentrated elemental weapon after it sank an Iron Warship, then risked going to the front lines to draw its operators into view. He discovered Talanji aboard the enemy ship and the Mage Hunter cannon struck before she could fire again, leaving Zuluhed and Zul to plan an attack on Rowan.

• Rezan’s Breath sank an Iron Warship, and Rowan ordered Kainings and Halliwell to attack the enemy’s flanks while he searched for the weapon’s ship.
• Rowan went aboard Captain William’s frontline warship and ordered Sage Mike Windwhisper to clear the smoke so the fleet could expose and target the enemy.
• Rowan spotted Talanji on a nearby Troll warship and ordered the fleet to fire on it as she prepared a second Breath of Rezan.
• A Mage Hunter shot hit Talanji’s warship, and Deloti shielded her in ankylosaur form before the Pterrordax troops rescued them.
• Zul used Krag'wa's Divine Breath to heal Deloti, while Zuluhed and Zul asked Talanji to keep the final Breath of Rezan in reserve and let them target Rowan.

Rowan and the Combined Fleet abandoned their assault on the Troll fleet and shifted their focus to supporting the battle at Jadefire Town. Meanwhile, Zul and Zuluhed infiltrated Rowan’s warship, where Blood Mist trapped Rowan and Jaina and cut off their magic.

• Rowan learned that Kainings believed Talanji had survived, then agreed with Kainings to hold the fleet’s defensive position and change its objective.
• The Combined Fleet withdrew its light warships toward the coast so its cannon fire could support the City Guard Army Corps at Jadefire Town.
• Zul and Zuluhed used a water-walking elixir, Gray Mist, and an elemental scout to search the Combined Fleet for Rowan.
• Jaina sensed unusual air-element activity and consulted Sage Mack, but Blood Mist seeped into Rowan’s cabin and blocked Jaina’s Teleportation Spell.
• Jaina failed to damage the Blood Mist with Pyroblasts, while Rowan asked Kainings for help from inside the sealed cabin.

Rowan and Jaina tried to escape G'huun's flesh barrier with a Mage Hunter blast before Talanji could strike with the Breath of Rezan. Rowan survived the combined attack, but Jaina was missing after the teleport, leaving him distraught.

• Rowan identified the flesh barrier as G'huun's shadow energy and proposed using a Mage Hunter blast to break through it.
• Rowan ordered Kainings to evacuate the crew and told David to fire at the warship's stern while Jaina prepared to teleport the gunners.
• David's Mage Hunter shot cracked the barrier, and Jaina planned to teleport Rowan and the gunners while protecting herself with Ice Block.
• The explosion also badly wounded Zul and Zuluhed, who signaled Talanji to fire the Breath of Rezan.
• Talanji ordered the Breath of Rezan to strike, but David's second Mage Hunter shot reached Rowan's ship first, and the resulting blast and lightning left Rowan safely outside the barrier.
• Rowan found the gunners celebrating but could not find Jaina, and he collapsed on the deck calling her name.

Jaina survived the deep-sea fissure with Rowan’s help, and the couple reunited as she recovered from her injuries. Rowan returned to command the naval campaign, shifting his focus to the Orcs and Trolls along the coast.

• Jaina broke out of her Ice Block in the fissure and used an Arcane Shield and Levitation Spell to rise toward the surface while Rowan sent his voice and arcane energy to guide her.
• Rowan waited at the fissure as Jaina emerged badly injured, and she regained consciousness after receiving treatment and Seaside Healing Potions.
• Jaina cried with relief and worried that her wounds made her ugly, while Rowan reassured and comforted her before promising to protect her.
• Jaina urged Rowan to return to the naval battle, and he left her resting in the cabin.
• Kainings reported that the transport ships had reached shore and the Orcs were defending the coast as the Combined Fleet tried to block their withdrawal, so Rowan entrusted the naval battle to Kainings and Halliwell and targeted the coastal Orcs.

Thrall fought beside the Durnholde Army Corps as it reinforced Jadefire Town, killing a troll assassin while struggling with the thought of fighting his fellow orcs. After the Combined Fleet’s Mage Hunter slaughtered a group of Warsong Orcs, Thrall followed Blackmoore forward, shaken by the Alliance’s overwhelming power, while Rowan ordered the fleet to keep the coast visible and bombard every escape route.

• Lieutenant General Blackmoore divided the Durnholde force, leading the First Column toward the coast while Drak took the Second Column into Jadefire Town.
• Blackmoore and Thrall joined the fighting on the beach, where the First Column clashed with trolls covering wounded Warsong Orcs as they boarded ships.
• Mozar attacked Thrall, but Thrall killed him after breaking his arm and slamming him into Thrall’s knee.
• Thrall joined the battle despite his doubts, and a Mage Hunter shell killed more than a hundred Warsong Orc soldiers as Blackmoore praised Thrall for fighting alongside the Durnholde Army Corps.
• Rowan ordered Captain Kainings and the Wind Whisper sages to keep the coast visible and bombard every route the orcs could use to escape.

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.