Chapter Summaries

Shaw learned that White Pawn was returning and ordered SI:7 spies to monitor the Horde navy, while Veronalara captured and killed a Vampyr during a trap in the Forsaken prison. In Southshore, Sylvanas and Jaina tried to warn Mayor Mareb of an approaching Forsaken fleet, but his confidence in the town’s defenses left them unconvinced.

• Shaw received the King’s delayed letter and learned that Admiral Taylor had already sailed for Kalimdor with several dozen warships.
• Shaw identified White Pawn as returning and ordered Regik to alert spies in Kalimdor to watch the Horde navy.
• Veronalara’s Dark Rangers lured a disguised Vampyr into a blood trap, captured him, and discovered he was an ordinary priest rather than their leader.
• Veronalara killed the captive and ordered the Dark Rangers to root out every Vampyr.
• Sylvanas and Jaina warned Southshore Mayor Heni Mareb that a Forsaken fleet was approaching, but he dismissed the danger and introduced Marcus Redpath as the town’s defense commander.

Sylvanas and Jaina persuaded Southshore’s leaders to evacuate civilians before the Forsaken attack, despite Mayor Mareb’s resistance. As the Forsaken fleet prepared to assault the town, Captain Harkel engaged three Crimson Crusade warships, and Tatsel sent reinforcements while ordering the fleet to keep its advance on Southshore on schedule.

• Sylvanas and Jaina warned Mayor Mareb and Captain Rend that Southshore’s civilians needed evacuation, and Rend supported their advice.
• Mareb agreed to let Jaina’s people organize the residents’ departure, though he continued to dismiss the Forsaken threat.
• Captain Harkel spotted three Crimson Crusade warships and ordered her crew to engage them without alerting Tatsel.
• Tatsel learned that Harkel was exchanging fire with the Crimson Crusade and suspected Veronalara’s group had revealed the Forsaken’s route.
• Tatsel sent the Wavebreaker and the Ragehowl to support Harkel and ordered them to drive off the enemy quickly without delaying the attack on Southshore.

As Jaina and Sylvanas struggled to evacuate Southshore before the Forsaken fleet arrived, Meryl revealed himself and offered to seal off the sea temporarily. With cannon fire announcing the fleet’s arrival, Jaina rushed to help Meryl while urging the others to keep the evacuation moving.

• Sylvanas urged Jaina to speed up the evacuation, but Jaina insisted that keeping the crowd orderly mattered more than rushing.
• Baine reported that the Crimson Crusade’s ships had been burned and warned that the Forsaken fleet might already be near Southshore.
• Meryl revealed himself to Jaina as an Undead member of the Forsaken and said he would seal away the stretch of sea for a short time.
• Cannon fire sounded as Baine spotted the approaching fleet, and Jaina told Sylvanas and Baine to help the people escape.
• Jaina borrowed Baine’s hippogryph and headed off to help Meryl.

Belmont exposed Delvin, who had possessed Alarick and planned to seize control of the Forsaken. Delvin escaped after Belmont and the Deathstalkers attacked him with bombs, leaving their conflict unresolved.

• Delvin worried that Garrosh had used him and prepared to act without the Horde's promised support.
• Belmont entered Alarick's room with Deathstalkers and identified Delvin as an impostor.
• Delvin revealed his plan to replace Nathanos, attack the Alliance and Horde, and unite the world under his rule.
• Belmont rejected Delvin's claim to lead the Forsaken and said Nathanos had wisely refused to admit the Vampyr.
• Delvin transformed into his Blood Prince form and threatened Belmont, who shut the door after ordering bombs thrown into the room.
• A Deathstalker reported that Delvin was gone, and Belmont said their confrontation was not over.

Harkel ordered the Forsaken fleet to attack Southshore, but Meryl froze the sea and Jaina Proudmoore froze the Forsaken cannons. With the fleets immobilized, the Forsaken charged the Alliance ships, and Marcus Redpath led the human soldiers to meet them.

• Harkel ordered her crew to fire on Meryl as he began casting a spell to stop the Forsaken fleet, but her soldiers questioned the order.
• Meryl froze the sea, trapping both the Forsaken and Alliance ships in the ice.
• Harkel ordered the Forsaken to fire on the immobilized Alliance ships, and their shells smashed into several vessels.
• Jaina Proudmoore froze the Forsaken cannons, so Harkel ordered her troops to take up their weapons and charge the Alliance.
• Marcus Redpath rallied the Alliance soldiers and led them to charge the approaching Forsaken.

Meryl and Jaina confronted Tatsel over her planned attack on Southshore, exposing a conspiracy meant to provoke war between the Alliance and Forsaken. As Meryl and Jaina argued over the Forsaken’s future, a battle between humans and undead continued on the ice, where Rend killed a Forsaken soldier.

• Meryl let Jaina aboard the Blade of the Witherer to confront Tatsel about the fleet’s plan to attack Southshore.
• Meryl revealed that Bloodsail Pirates and Vampyr remnants had staged attacks and spread rumors to inflame conflict between the Alliance and Forsaken.
• Meryl accused the Horde of preparing to exploit a battle at Southshore and draw the Forsaken into an alliance.
• Meryl used magic to choke Tatsel when she refused to withdraw, but Jaina stopped him and challenged both leaders to consider the Forsaken’s future.
• Tatsel admitted she resented the living for hating and discriminating against the Forsaken, and Meryl warned that abandoning restraint would make them like the Scourge.
• Rend fought through the undead army on the ice and killed a Forsaken soldier, prompting another undead to challenge him.

Tatsel learned that Vampyrs had infiltrated Harkel’s forces and ordered the Forsaken fleet to retreat from Southshore. Harkel refused to withdraw, leaving her authority challenged as some soldiers obeyed Tatsel’s command.

• Rend searched for the Forsaken commander, found a black-robed Undead draining a fallen human’s blood, and charged at it.
• A priest from The Witherer reported that Vampyrs were among Harkel’s troops and described one being attacked by a blood-mouthed figure.
• Tatsel concluded that Harkel’s forces had been infiltrated and sounded the retreat horn, ordering the bow and arrow troops to prepare.
• Harkel kicked down a soldier who called for retreat, insisted the Forsaken could still win, and watched as soldiers began withdrawing.
• A soldier told Harkel he would obey Tatsel’s retreat order, while Harkel continued fighting the Alliance.

Tatsel ordered the Sky-Coverers to kill Forsaken who continued attacking the Alliance after discovering Vampyrs among them. She captured and executed Harkel for colluding with the Scourge, then said she would ask Nathanos to accept her resignation.

• Tatsel spotted Vampyrs among the Forsaken and ordered archers to shoot Forsaken still fighting the Alliance.
• Tatsel concluded that Garrosh had manipulated the conflict and said she would resign after taking responsibility for the attack on Southshore.
• Rend recognized that the Forsaken arrows were targeting their own and ordered the Alliance to retreat toward the Southshore coast.
• Tatsel confronted the captured Harkel, who admitted she was willing to ally with anyone to kill the humans.
• Tatsel condemned Harkel for bringing shame upon the Forsaken and executed her.

Jaina learned that Varian knew someone had tried to provoke war between the Alliance and the Forsaken, while Garrosh’s plot had failed. Sylvanas prepared to leave Theramore, placing Lansber in charge of her affairs and sending him with a letter to her sister.

• Varian told Jaina that Shaw had uncovered an attempt to provoke war, and Jaina left Stormwind puzzled by Varian’s anger and his silence about Southshore.
• Garrosh blamed Delvin for the failed plot, and Malkorok predicted that the Forsaken would remain cautious and defensive toward the Horde.
• Nazgrim arrived with good news, and Garrosh invited him to report it.
• After resting in Theramore, Sylvanas ordered Lansber to prepare her ship to depart in one hour.
• Sylvanas instructed Lansber to report her destination to Jaina, manage the Silver Covenant’s affairs during her absence, and deliver a letter to her sister in Quel'Thalas.

Nathanos spoke with Xuen about the Alliance and Horde’s arrival in Pandaria and the danger they posed to the land. Meanwhile, Sylvanas kept the Silver Covenant away from a naval battle and received an urgent message from Jaina.

• Nathanos meditated in the Temple of the White Tiger until Xuen arrived to speak with him.
• Xuen told Nathanos that the Sha had returned stronger than before and that Taran Zhu had gone to investigate visitors in the Emerald Forest.
• Nathanos warned Xuen that the Alliance and Horde wanted Pandaria’s resources and would only cooperate while facing a common threat.
• Xuen questioned whether Nathanos could control himself and protect Pandaria.
• Sylvanas’s ships sailed along Pandaria’s coast for four days after she ordered them to avoid the Alliance-Horde naval battle.
• A mage informed Sylvanas that Lady Jaina had sent an urgent message.

Jaina told Sylvanas that Anduin Wrynn had gone missing in Pandaria after the Alliance fleet was wrecked and asked her to find him. Nathanos traveled toward the Great Wall to train its guards, where he heard that the Mantis Demon had built a bridge and seized an island.

• Jaina contacted Sylvanas and explained that the Alliance fleet had been defeated and scattered in Pandaria.
• Jaina said Anduin Wrynn had escaped into Pandaria alone, and Sylvanas promised to find him.
• Nathanos rode an ox cart toward the Terrace of the Endless Spring, reflecting on Bwonsamdi's mark and the approaching faction war.
• Nathanos planned to improve the Great Wall guards' aim and learn about Pandaren crossbows.
• Two Pandaren farmers told Nathanos that the Mantis Demon had built a bridge near the Shrine of the August Celestials and seized an island by surprise.

Sylvanas and the Silver Covenant entered a Pandarian jungle, where they discovered that a tribe of armed Hozen had captured Admiral Taylor. She led her outnumbered troops into the village to rescue him and found another prisoner beside his cage.

• Sylvanas left soldiers to guard the ships and led the rest of the Silver Covenant into the jungle to find their way across Pandaria.
• A scout reported that a tribe of monkeys had captured the unconscious Admiral Taylor, so Sylvanas ordered her troops to prepare for battle.
• Sylvanas and her soldiers approached the Hozen village, where she saw the tribe’s numbers and sent a signal flare after their hiding place was discovered.
• Sylvanas led the Silver Covenant through the charging Hozen, killing attackers and a jungle tiger as the formation advanced toward Taylor.
• Sylvanas spotted Taylor in a cage beside a fish-headed humanoid and ordered her soldiers to free both prisoners.

Sylvanas sought help from the Murlocs of Pearlfin Village while Nathanos learned that the Mantis Demons were preparing to attack the Shrine of the August Celestials. Nathanos had only three days to train Pandaren recruits before they were sent to the threatened shrine, and Sylvanas entered the Murloc settlement to see what aid they could offer.

• Sylvanas drove off the monkeys with reinforcements, then learned that the Murlocs nearby had expected her party and could treat the unconscious Admiral Taylor.
• Nathanos reached the Great Wall and met Shao, who told him that he had only three days to train the Pandaren recruits.
• Shao told Nathanos that the Mantis Demons, led by a new empress named Empress Shaohao, had gathered near the Shrine of the August Celestials.
• Nathanos learned that the Order of the Cloud Serpent might not intervene because Master Shado-Pan was occupied with outsiders, and he asked Shao to gather the recruits.
• Sylvanas arrived at Pearlfin Village, where Murloc guards let her group enter the flooded settlement.

Sylvanas met Pearlfin elder Lushan, learned that Nathanos had been taken away, and was told to leave after Taylor recovered. Karash then pointed her toward a Loremaster in the Emerald Forest who might know where Nathanos and Anduin were.

• Sylvanas drank a ritual water that let her understand the Pearlfin Murlocs and learned she was in the Emerald Forest.
• Lushan recognized Sylvanas's Alliance mark and said Nathanos the Witherer was known throughout the forest but had been taken away.
• Lushan allowed Sylvanas and some of her soldiers to stay until Taylor recovered, then ordered them to leave.
• Karash told Sylvanas that a Loremaster living southwest in the forest might help her find Nathanos and Anduin.

Nathanos trained Pandaren monks to understand their weapons and exploit the Mantis Demons’ reactions in combat. Meanwhile, Sylvanas searched for a Loremaster and reached his empty home, where she found and tasted his wine.

• Nathanos asked a monk about his home in the Valley of the Four Winds and began training the apprentices to dismantle and reassemble their bows and crossbows.
• Nathanos taught the monks that they needed to know their weapons and surprise Mantis Demons, whose reactions and flight made precise aiming difficult.
• After the first day of training, Shao praised Nathanos’s explanations, and Nathanos lamented that he lacked an arm to demonstrate his lessons.
• Sylvanas followed Karash’s directions southwest to a manor and found its gate open, a tethered tiger, and no one inside.
• Sylvanas followed the scent of wine, tasted the drink she found in a bowl, and warned that the absent Pandaren might find it gone when he returned.

Sylvanas drank Dreamcatcher Wine and saw visions of Nathanos, Varian and Anduin Wrynn, and Grommash. After waking, she met the Loremaster Zhou Zhuo, who explained the wine and said he had met Nathanos, but asked to learn about Sylvanas and her people before helping her find him.

• Sylvanas drank Dreamcatcher Wine and saw a vision in which a Pandaren blamed her for Nathanos’s death before Nathanos and the others vanished.
• Sylvanas saw Varian searching for his missing son, Anduin refusing to return, and Grommash ordering an attack on a beach.
• Sylvanas awoke and met Zhou Zhuo, the Pandaren Loremaster, who spoke the Sauras language.
• Zhou Zhuo explained that Dreamcatcher Wine revealed events that had already happened and could answer questions about the continent.
• Sylvanas asked Zhou Zhuo about Nathanos, and he said he had met him but wanted to hear about Sylvanas and her people first.

Sylvanas helped Zhou Zhuo trim a tree, paint a wall, and feed his cranes as he used the chores to draw out her thoughts about the Forsaken, good and evil, and alliances. Zhou Zhuo then prepared to help her learn what happened to Nathanos, warning that they would need to make a long journey.

• Sylvanas trimmed Zhou Zhuo’s tree and considered whether the Forsaken should be judged through careful observation rather than rejected outright.
• Zhou Zhuo gave Sylvanas paint and a brush, then interpreted her abstract black marks as grief over something that had changed.
• Sylvanas fed Zhou Zhuo’s red-crowned cranes and argued that alliances depended on shared interests, while Zhou Zhuo insisted that bonds like friendship and love could be stronger.
• Zhou Zhuo asked whether Sylvanas had a mount and told her to prepare for a long journey to discover what happened to Nathanos.

Nathanos learned that the Sha had possessed the masters and disciples at the Shrine of the August Celestials, and decided to go there with Ban Hsin while Shao guarded the Great Wall. Elsewhere, Zhou Zhuo guided Sylvanas toward the Temple of the Jade Serpent and explained that Xuen had taken Nathanos away.

• A monk named Ban Hsin arrived to report that the Sha had possessed Master Gu, Master Shado-Pan, and other disciples, while Master Snowdrift held a strongpoint at the shrine.
• Shao realized the sealed Sha of Anger, Madness, and Ruthlessness might have escaped, but Nathanos warned that the Mantis Demons would attack if the Great Wall's defenses weakened.
• Nathanos decided to travel to the Shrine of the August Celestials with Ban Hsin, asking Shao to provide a small amount of gunpowder and keep the defenses intact.
• Zhou Zhuo told Sylvanas they were heading to the Temple of the Jade Serpent, where Nathanos had once stayed.
• Zhou Zhuo confirmed that Xuen, one of Pandaria's Celestials, had taken Nathanos away.

Sylvanas learned that Nathanos had unleashed the Sha while trying to save a friend, devastating the Temple of the Jade Serpent, and she set out to find him at the Temple of the White Tiger. Meanwhile, Nathanos and Ban Hsin prepared a dangerous diversion at the Shrine of the August Celestials.

• Yunpu refused Sylvanas permission to enter the forbidden woods, but Zhou Zhuo arranged for her to view them from a pavilion.
• Sylvanas saw the corrupted ravine and learned that Nathanos had awakened three Sha, killing Old Wu and others while trying to save his friend.
• Yunpu told Sylvanas that Nathanos had been taken to the Temple of the White Tiger, and she vowed to find and help him.
• At the Shrine of the August Celestials, Nathanos warned Ban Hsin about the dangers of his mission and the Cloud Serpent defenders.
• Ban Hsin mounted a Cloud Serpent carrying explosives, preparing to create a diversion while Nathanos and Master Snowdrift's disciples dealt with Master Shado-Pan.

After recovering from being controlled by the Sha, Taran Zhu discussed Pandaria’s worsening crisis with Nathanos, learning that the Alliance and Horde had both suffered heavy losses and awakened the Doubt Sha. The Zandalari Troll had also secretly landed in the Krasarang Wilds, leaving Nathanos worried that his bargain with Bwonsamdi was nearing its end.

• Taran Zhu mourned the damage to the Order of the Cloud Serpent and learned that Gu Cloudrunner had been buried with his Cloud Serpent.
• Nathanos sat beside Taran Zhu and asked what had made him vulnerable to the Sha.
• Taran Zhu described the Alliance and Horde’s brutal fighting in the Emerald Forest and said they had destroyed the shrine sealing the Doubt Sha, with both sides losing.
• Taran Zhu told Nathanos that scouts had spotted Zandalari Troll landing secretly in the Krasarang Wilds.
• Nathanos feared the Zandalari’s return was tied to the Mogu and remembered that his time under his bargain with Bwonsamdi was running out.