Chapter Summaries

Aboard the Iron Warship, Rowan argued that he would overthrow Zandalar’s royal court and rule for the people, leaving Talanji shaken by his vision and their military imbalance. Meanwhile, on a small island, Zul decided to report Talanji’s capture if necessary, but Yazir still hoped she could manage without the Zandalari navy.

• Talanji observed the Iron Warship and concluded that Zandalar needed to change after seeing the gulf between its forces and Kul Tiras’s technology.
• Rowan asked Talanji to submit, then explained that he wanted to destroy Zandalar’s royal court while preserving its people and culture under his rule.
• Talanji questioned Rowan’s claims, but his arguments about power, industry, and ordinary people left her doubting her ability to defeat him.
• On the island, Yazir hunted a goat while Zuluhed prepared it, and Zul said he would send word of Talanji’s capture if necessary.
• Yazir urged the others to wait because Rowan’s fleet was heading toward the mist-shrouded waters, while Zul began a ritual to seek the gods’ help.

Zul sought Bwonsamdi’s help after Talanji was captured, warning that a powerful arcane mage had overcome Bwonsamdi’s Mist Formation. Meanwhile, Rowan’s fleet examined a magical Lightning Dagger and began searching for the caster behind the sea fog.

• Zul summoned Bwonsamdi and told him that the Kul Tiras Navy had captured Talanji.
• Bwonsamdi dismissed Talanji’s capture as Zandalar’s problem, but reconsidered when Zul explained that her survival mattered to Zandalar’s future.
• Zul warned Bwonsamdi that a powerful arcane mage had broken through the Mist Formation, and Bwonsamdi threatened to withhold the final Colossus Seal if Zul had another purpose.
• Rhonin examined the Lightning Dagger and explained that it drew unrestrained power from a powerful creature, while Jaina suspected it had been stolen.
• Rowan took the Lightning Dagger for its potential use in developing electrical power.
• When Talanji noticed mist on the sea, Rowan stopped the ship and ordered a search outside the fog for its caster.

Rowan interrogated Talanji about the sea fog, then chose to lead the fleet into it despite the risk. Once inside, Rhonin detected traces of the fog’s movements, though its caster had distorted them to hide the source.

• After three days of fruitless patrols, Rowan questioned Talanji about how to dispel the sea fog, and she said they needed to find the spell’s sustaining center.
• Rowan suspected Talanji wanted him to enter the mist, then realized she feared being taken back to King's Bay and used as a prisoner of war.
• Talanji urged Rowan to risk entering the fog to save the Combined Fleet, and Rowan concluded that she preferred the mist to captivity.
• Rowan ordered the warships to turn around and sail into the sea fog, where it quickly swallowed the fleet and erased their sense of direction.
• Rhonin examined the fog and said its movements left traces, but its caster had distorted them to conceal the source.

Jaina, Rowan, Rhonin, and Talanji struggled to understand the mist trapping them at sea and decided to test it with arcane markers. Meanwhile, Lashius feared Rowan’s growing power, learned that Faye was concerned for her trapped husband Brannon, and watched Priscilla pressure Lord Stormsong to help find the missing Combined Fleet.

• Rowan realized the fleet might be trapped because it followed the mist’s movement, and he proposed leaving two arcane markers to test the idea.
• Lashius learned Rowan had destroyed the Raoul Fleet and was searching for the missing Combined Fleet, then hurried to Stormsong’s temple fearing Rowan would soon threaten him.
• Lashius warned Lord Stormsong that Rowan’s Iron Battleships endangered House Stormsong’s military and commercial power.
• Lashius invited Faye to dinner, but she refused and told him to focus on the fighting in King’s Bay.
• Lashius overheard Faye and Priscilla discussing their trapped husbands, Brannon and Lord Ashvane, and mistakenly thought Brannon had cuckolded him.
• Priscilla threatened to expose Stormsong’s secrets unless he helped find her husband, and Stormsong reluctantly agreed to consider it.

As a sudden storm gathered over the Storm Temple, Faye and Fern discussed the dangerous power Lord Stormsong had connected to the Temple and Brannon’s disappearance in the Misty Sea. Faye left secretly to search for Brannon, while Fern stayed behind to watch Lord Stormsong and alert End of the Storm if trouble arose.

• Faye told Fern that a mysterious power from the deep sea had connected with the Storm Temple, violating an ancient taboo.
• Fern revealed that Brannon was trapped in a soul-made sea-fog barrier and that four high-ranking tidal priests sent to find him had also vanished.
• Faye decided to leave the Temple secretly and search for Brannon in the Misty Sea.
• Fern arranged for Faye to pass the checkpoint, pointed her toward a fast boat, and gave her a Runic Darkblade.
• Fern stayed behind to keep watch on Lord Stormsong and report any danger to End of the Storm.

Rowan and the warships continued to wander through the Misty Sea until Ellen discovered a Wind Wall suspended above a ship. Jaina recognized it as a Tidesage spell and a possible marker left by the Combined Fleet, giving them their first lead after five days.

• Jaina worried about losing her hair and learned that Rowan had crushed Talanji's hair-growth elixir.
• Rhonin secretly gave Rowan a cream bun made with his Advanced Breakfast Spell.
• Ellen noticed an unusual gust, climbed onto the command room roof, and was thrown into the sea by a Wind Wall.
• Ellen pointed out the Wind Wall, and Rhonin stopped the warship and dropped anchor.
• Jaina identified the Wind Wall as a Tidesage spell that could mark the Combined Fleet, while Talanji renewed her resolve to pursue her goal.

Rowan’s fleet followed Brannon’s Wind Condensation marks through the Misty Sea and found the Combined Fleet after ramming a Third Fleet warship. The fleets reunited and began investigating how to escape the mist, while Brannon approached Jaina and Rhonin after the meeting.

• Rhonin determined that the wind elements in the Wind Walls moved along fixed paths, and Rowan’s fleet followed them until it heard ships beyond the mist.
• Rowan called out to the unseen ship and received a reply, then ordered his fleet straight ahead; it struck and broke apart a Third Fleet warship, revealing the Combined Fleet.
• Rowan reunited with Lord Arthur, Lord Ashvane, Halliwell, and Kainings, and mocked Lord Ashvane over their past economic disagreements before Arthur turned the meeting to escaping the mist.
• Brannon reported that he had placed twenty-seven Wind Condensation marks across an area of roughly fifty thousand square nautical miles, and Jaina described how the fleets’ separate mists merged when they met.
• Lord Ashvane and Rhonin concluded that discovering what lay beyond the mist was the key to escape, while Brannon stayed behind to speak with Jaina and Rhonin.

Lord Stormsong accepted the Light of Lights’ power beneath the Storm Temple, choosing to break with the Tidesage elders’ teachings. He emerged changed and turned his attention to Rowan, while a Faceless Behemoth formed beneath the temple and the goddess revealed her monstrous nature.

• Lord Stormsong reflected on how he had defied Tidesage traditions to build House Stormsong’s wealth and power, then confronted the whispers from the deep sea.
• Lord Stormsong summoned the Light of Lights, who appeared before him and told him that he was first and foremost himself.
• Lord Stormsong touched the altar and accepted the Light of Lights’ power as the spectral Tidesage elders watched and faded away.
• Lord Stormsong left the temple in clear weather, murmuring about Rowan venturing into the Misty Sea.
• Beneath the temple, a Faceless Behemoth formed from swollen flesh, and the Light of Lights transformed into a tentacled banshee and called it her child.

Number Zero reported to Daelin as Rowan’s fleet prepared to break through the mist, while Rowan questioned Talanji about Vol’dun and joined the planning meeting. The fleets’ experiment revealed that an illusion concealed the real mist around them, and Rhonin identified an island sustaining the spell, prompting Rowan to order an advance.

• Number Zero reached Daelin and reported that Rowan had entered the mist, and Daelin ordered the Sea Sovereignty to attack the Iron Tide Pirates.
• Rowan questioned Talanji about Vol’dun, learned that General Moroi led it, and warned her that the fleet was about to break through the mist.
• Rowan, Rhonin, Jaina, and Brannon presented a plan to separate the fleets and use an energy anchor, despite objections from Lord Ashvane and Halliwell.
• The fleets sailed in opposite directions, and Rhonin teleported Rowan to the anchor, where he discovered that the fog outside the fleets’ mist was an illusion.
• Rhonin dispelled the illusion and revealed an island sustaining the mist, and Rowan ordered the fleet to move out.

Rowan was forced to command a small landing force onto the mist-shrouded island and brought the captive Talanji as a hostage. As the party encountered Ironclad Souls, Talanji warned that the spirits would not obey her.

• Rowan's reconnaissance found the island's coast deserted and confirmed that the island sustained the mist, so the commanders agreed to send a small force ashore.
• Lord Ashvane nominated Rowan to command the assault, and Kainings, Halliwell, and Lord Arthur backed him until he could not refuse.
• Jaina questioned Rowan after the meeting, and he asked her to keep him safe during the landing.
• Rowan had Ellen tie up Talanji, then led the twenty-person party onto the island using a Teleportation Spell.
• Rhonin cleared the mist with Arcane Explosion as Jaina placed arcane markers, but several Ironclad Souls attacked the party and battered its Arcane Shield.
• Rowan held a dagger to Talanji's neck to stop the others from moving, but she said the Ironclad Souls obeyed only one will.

Rowan's group defeated the Necropolis's Ironclad Souls and found an inactive shrine beyond the fog. As they rested at camp, Rowan's homesickness overwhelmed him, and Jaina comforted him.

• Talanji warned Rowan that the Ironclad Souls grew stronger whenever one of them fell, but Rhonin and Jaina chose to fight rather than retreat.
• Jaina bound the six Ironclad Souls in a frost formation, and Rhonin destroyed them with Arcane Rupture, clearing a patch of fog.
• Ellen found a bronze shrine in the clearing, but Jaina detected no remaining energy, and Rowan stopped Talanji from touching it.
• Rowan ordered the group to rest before continuing, and the Archmages dried damp firewood so everyone could gather around a campfire.
• While eating roasted yams, Rowan remembered his parents and cried, and Jaina sat beside him and comforted him.

Talanji secretly contacted Bwonsamdi through the shrine and demanded that Rowan’s team be trapped on the island, while Bwonsamdi warned that her political gamble could backfire. The next morning, Rowan pretended to sleep against Jaina and paid for it when she attacked him with a Fireball.

• After the camp fell asleep, Talanji slipped free of her bonds and used wood ash to enter the Necropolis through the shrine.
• Talanji confronted Bwonsamdi, demanded that Rowan’s team remain on the island, and threatened to unite Zandalar against the Necropolis if he refused.
• Bwonsamdi agreed only to do his best and privately declared that he wanted weak, devout followers rather than a stronger Zandalari Empire.
• Talanji returned to camp, tied herself up again, and went back to sleep without anyone noticing.
• The next morning, Rowan pretended to sleep while pressing against Jaina, but she exposed him and scorched his eyebrows and eyelashes with a Fireball.

Rowan’s party continued across the mist-shrouded island while Zul, Zuluhed, and Yazir followed, hoping to rescue Talanji and defeat the landing party. The three discovered that Naga led by Matriarch Sathis were also pursuing the party, putting their plans in doubt.

• Jaina singed Rowan’s clothes during their roughhousing, and Talanji laughed at his bedraggled appearance.
• Rhonin led the landing party onward along a definite route, leaving Talanji wondering why she was being kept in the dark.
• Yazir learned that Talanji had followed Rowan onto the island, and Zul and Zuluhed decided to pursue the landing party and try to defeat it.
• Zul saw that three shrines had been cleared and their Ironclad Soul guardians destroyed, making him suspect Bwonsamdi’s motives.
• Zul, Zuluhed, and Yazir hid from a group of Naga led by Matriarch Sathis, who ordered the guards to pursue Rowan’s party.
• Zuluhed worried that the Naga threat would force them to change their plans while Talanji was still ahead.

Rowan’s team reached the temple at the heart of the island, where they found the Scepter of the Abyss and were ambushed by Hajatan and Mistress Sassz'ine. As the battle erupted, Rowan crept toward the scepter but ran into Zuluhed, who threatened him.

• Rowan revealed that Talanji had inadvertently helped him find the temple, leaving her devastated as the team entered the ruins.
• The team explored the undefended temple, collected gold, and discovered the Scepter of the Abyss in its final chamber.
• When Jaina took the scepter, Hajatan attacked, and Mistress Sassz'ine joined the fight against Rhonin while Brannon and the landing team faced the Naga Royal Guard.
• Rowan urged Talanji to take cover, then crept across the chaotic battlefield toward the scepter.
• Rowan reached the shrine, but Zuluhed appeared and threatened to kill him.

Rowan manipulated the battle in the Troll temple, then used the Scepter of the Abyss to dispel the island’s soul mist and turn it against the Naga. With the mist gone and Hajatan driven away, Rowan’s faction prepared to return to the fleet and sail home.

• Rowan redirected the Archmages and Naga against Zuluhed by claiming a third party had stolen the Scepter of the Abyss, then helped Rhonin fake a defeat to make the other factions reconsider their alliances.
• Sathis ordered Hajatan to attack Zuluhed, but Talanji and Zul withdrew with their Troll forces when the Naga sided with the humans.
• Rhonin and Jaina resumed fighting the Naga while Rowan tried to claim the Scepter, and the system taught him the equipment unbinding skill in exchange for 300 Emotion Points.
• Rowan claimed the Scepter of the Abyss and dispelled the soul mist surrounding the island, revealing clear skies after nearly two months.
• Rowan used the Scepter to trap Hajatan in mist, and Rhonin sent the disoriented Naga flying from the temple before urging the others to return to the fleet.

Sathis planned to use Black Tides Rift against the Kul Tiras fleet after she and Hajatan fled their defeat. Aboard the Thunder of the Wind, Rowan outmaneuvered Lord Ashvane at a drinking gathering, defended his engagement to Jaina, and pressed his rival over fleet officers and Lillard’s execution.

• Sathis and Hajatan escaped after their defeat, and Sathis devised a plan at Black Tides Rift to attack the Kul Tiras fleet.
• Sathis ordered Hajatan to open the rift and wait for her command, while he discovered that the Giant Shark’s corpse had rotted away.
• Rowan used the gathering aboard the Thunder of the Wind to warn Lord Ashvane that he intended to build a foothold in the Kul Tiras Navy.
• Lord Ashvane tried to embarrass Rowan by discussing marriage and questioning his engagement to Jaina, but Jaina publicly affirmed that she would marry him.
• Rowan told Lord Ashvane that he had borrowed William’s fleet, invited Kainings to join the Second Fleet, and revealed that he had executed Lillard.

Rowan identified the black oil covering the sea as petroleum and led the Combined Fleet across it with precautions, hoping to claim the resource for Morris Industries. The oil suddenly ignited around the fleet, and as Rhonin, Brannon, and Jaina tried to hold back the flames with magic, Rowan began proposing a plan to save the ships.

• Rowan tested a sample of the black oil and confirmed that it burned, then ordered the fleet to stop its engines and ban open flames while crossing the contaminated waters.
• Rowan marked the petroleum-covered waters on his chart and explained to Jaina that the oil could become an industrial energy source.
• Rowan and Jaina argued about her magical ambitions, reconciled, and went out on deck together beneath the twin moons.
• Jaina spotted flames racing across the horizon, and Rowan ordered Brannon, Rhonin, and Jaina to raise waves rather than blow the fire away.
• Rhonin, Brannon, and Jaina combined their magic to raise seawater and form an ice wall, but three ships remained in grave danger as Rowan began suggesting a way to fight the inferno.

Rowan’s insight helped Rhonin, Jaina, and Brannon extinguish the burning sea and save the fleet, drawing suspicion from some officers and respect from the spellcasters. Beneath the ice, the naga accepted their failure and reported Rowan as a dangerous new enemy to Azshara, who received a mysterious young woman brought by Xanesh.

• Rowan proposed isolating the burning oil from the air, and Rhonin, Brannon, and Jaina raised seawater and froze a barrier that contained the fire.
• The fleet’s senior officers praised the spellcasters, while Halliwell and Ashvane doubted Rowan’s role; Jaina and the other advanced spellcasters understood his contribution.
• Beneath the ice, Hajatan wanted to restart the fire, but Mistress Sassz'ine and Sathis told him the attack had failed and that Rowan had helped defeat them.
• Sathis returned to the Eternal Palace and reported the defeat to Azshara, who sent her to the Broken Isles.
• Xanesh brought a young woman with an insubstantial form to Azshara in the Ring of Stars.

Faye found a sail from the Combined Fleet and sailed into the stormy Great Sea in search of Brannon, while the returning fleet helped Marshal Valentin pursue the Iron Tide Pirates. Rowan arrived in Boralus to a hero’s welcome, where Jaina publicly linked arms with him ahead of Lucille and Illucia.

• Faye discovered oil-covered waters and dead fish, then found scorched sailcloth bearing the Combined Fleet’s wind-rune sigils.
• Faye sailed south into the Great Sea, where a storm struck on her first night and towering waves swallowed her small boat.
• The Iron Tide Pirates fled west after the Combined Fleet returned, and Lord Ashvane joined Marshal Valentin in pursuing them.
• Rowan declined to join the pursuit, choosing instead to return to Morris Town and consolidate his resources.
• The fleet reached Boralus, where crowds praised Rowan and a few critics disparaged him as he entered Tradewinds Market.
• Lucille and Illucia greeted Rowan, but Jaina linked arms with him, prompting outrage from onlookers.

Mrs. Leonard and Bunian visited Leonard in prison, where the family discussed waiting for Young Master Rowan or fleeing to Lordaeron if he failed to return. Lashius arrived and confronted Mather for letting them into the dungeon.

• Mather let Mrs. Leonard and Bunian enter Leonard's cell despite the order barring visitors.
• Leonard greeted his son and spoke with Inee about their hardship and his hopes that Young Master Rowan would return.
• Leonard told Inee to take Bunian to Lordaeron and find his cousin Faria if Rowan did not return.
• Lashius kicked Mather to the ground and demanded to know who had allowed unauthorized visitors into the dungeon.