Chapter Summaries

Sylvanas and Zhou Zhuo traveled through Mistveil Path toward Kun-Lai Summit, where Nathanos had been taken to the Temple of the White Tiger. At the Misty Brewpub, Wrathion watched their progress and discussed the threat of the Burning Legion with his allies.

• Zhou Zhuo led Sylvanas along Mistveil Path and stopped at the Misty Brewpub for a drink.
• Sylvanas noticed an angry female orc and female human in the tavern, then met Wrathion, whose presence made her uneasy.
• After Zhou Zhuo finished drinking, he and Sylvanas left for Kun-Lai Summit, and Wrathion’s assassin reported that they had entered the tunnel toward the Temple of the White Tiger.
• Wrathion learned that Nathanos had been taken to the temple by Xuen and ordered his assassin to keep watching Sylvanas and Zhou Zhuo.
• Wrathion asked his guards whether Azeroth could withstand the Burning Legion, and the female orc and female human agreed that the Alliance and Horde could not unite as things stood.

Taran Zhu told Nathanos that the Alliance and Horde were fighting over the Divine Bell in the Krasarang Wilds and explained how it could unleash Sha energy. He sent Nathanos to find the Mogu disc-shaped hammer that could corrupt listeners, but a message arrived that two visitors at the Temple of the White Tiger wanted to see him.

• Nathanos set aside his questions about the afterlife and followed Snowdrift to meet Taran Zhu.
• Taran Zhu told Nathanos that the Alliance and Horde had established strongholds in the Krasarang Wilds to fight over the Divine Bell.
• Taran Zhu explained that the Divine Bell had once empowered Lei Shen's warriors by intensifying hatred and fury, while sowing fear and suspicion among enemies.
• Taran Zhu showed Nathanos a scroll depicting the Mogu disc-shaped hammer and the Pandaren Harmony Bell Mallet, explaining that the latter could reverse the bell's corrupting effect.
• Taran Zhu said he would retrieve the Harmony Bell Mallet and ordered Nathanos to find the Mogu hammer, but a monk reported that two visitors at the Temple of the White Tiger wished to see Nathanos.

Nathanos met Sylvanas at the Temple of the White Tiger, where their talk about the war gave way to an intimate reunion. Sylvanas embraced him, and Nathanos chose to cherish their time together despite knowing that reality would soon intrude.

• Nathanos returned to the Temple of the White Tiger and arranged to leave on his mission at dawn.
• Nathanos met Sylvanas on the platform and awkwardly asked whether she was all right after the Alliance landed in Pandaria.
• Sylvanas took Nathanos's hand and teased him about her visit, while he told her that he knew she had come to see him personally.
• Sylvanas embraced Nathanos and said the Witherer had given her a second chance to obtain what should have been hers.
• Nathanos accepted Sylvanas's embrace and decided to enjoy the moment with her.

Sylvanas told Nathanos that Alleria regretted her past actions and wanted to help the Forsaken, but Nathanos insisted that the man Alleria loved had died. Sylvanas pledged to accompany him on his dangerous expedition into ancient Pandarian ruins and persuaded him to let the Loremaster Zhou Zhuo join them.

• Sylvanas told Nathanos that she and Alleria had visited Veronalara and that Alleria wanted to help build a connection between the living and the dead.
• Nathanos correctly guessed that Veronalara had refused to meet her former lover and explained that he believed the dead could not regain the living's affection without it becoming pity.
• Sylvanas asked Nathanos whether he wanted to restore his relationship with Alleria, and he said that Alleria's lover and Belorell's father had died, leaving only the Forsaken leader.
• Sylvanas promised Nathanos that he would not face danger alone and insisted on joining his expedition to retrieve something important from ancient ruins in Kun-Lai Summit.
• A monk told Nathanos that Zhou Zhuo had overheard details of the mission and wanted to come along, and Sylvanas persuaded Nathanos to let the Pandarian Loremaster join them.

Zhou Zhuo's group prepared to enter the Mogu vault while Tatsel's fleet reached Pandaria and spotted a vast swarm of flying creatures. In Orgrimmar, Garrosh pressed Alleria to commit Blood Elves to his war, leaving her puzzled by his claim that they would send mages.

• Zhou Zhuo and Nathanos discussed the dangers and guardians of the Mogu vault before setting out to uncover its secrets.
• Tatsel's fleet reached Pandaria, where she saw countless mosquito-like creatures in the sky and ordered her ships to seize a beachhead.
• Alleria entered the heavily militarized Grommash Hold with Malkorok and observed Kor'kron guards throughout the fortress.
• Garrosh invited Alleria to join his campaign in Pandaria, and she resisted while concealing that she had already sent scouts there.
• Garrosh said the Blood Elves could send mages and archers, puzzling Alleria because Rommath had told her no Quel'Thalas mages would join his army.

Alleria met with Garrosh, who ordered her to lead Blood Elf forces to Pandaria, then gathered her trusted advisors in secret to discuss the Sin'dorei’s place in the Horde. She concluded that the Blood Elves should leave the Horde, though she did not propose joining the Alliance.

• Alleria challenged Garrosh over the Sin'dorei’s exclusion from the Kor'kron Legion before agreeing to prepare troops for Pandaria.
• Garrosh told Malkorok that he wanted Alleria out of Orgrimmar because he did not trust her.
• Alleria returned to Sunfury Tower and summoned Vareesa, Rommath, Lor'themar, and Liadrin to a secret meeting.
• Lor'themar and Rommath argued that the Blood Elves should not follow Garrosh into war.
• Alleria told her advisors that Garrosh treated the Sin'dorei with discrimination and said they should leave the Horde.

Alleria planned for Quel'Thalas to leave the Horde without joining the Alliance, using Garrosh's actions in Pandaria to justify the departure. She assigned Lor'themar to lead an expedition and ordered Sin'dorei abroad to return, then began questioning Rommath about Blood Elf mages in Pandaria.

• Liadrin warned that Garrosh would retaliate if Quel'Thalas left the Horde and argued that joining the Alliance could offer protection, but Alleria questioned whether the Alliance would accept them.
• Alleria proposed provoking Garrosh into an act that would make the Sin'dorei's departure seem unavoidable, and Vareesa explained that he had sent Blood Elves to distract the Alliance while he searched Pandaria for an artifact.
• Liadrin raised concerns about Blood Elf casualties, so Alleria outlined defensive preparations and ordered the Pandaria force to deceive Garrosh while limiting losses.
• When Lor'themar doubted he could fulfill a covert assignment, Alleria still appointed him to lead the expedition and told him to carry Regent Lord's attire.
• Alleria ordered Vareesa and Liadrin to publicly invite all Sin'dorei abroad to return voluntarily and join Lor'themar's forces.
• Alleria asked Rommath whether he knew that Blood Elf mages had been active in Pandaria.

Alleria tasked Rommath with uncovering Horde spies in Quel'Thalas and sent for a Silver Covenant messenger to carry a letter to her sister. Meanwhile, Nathanos led Sylvanas, Zhou Zhuo, and Pandaren monks into Mogu'shan Vaults, where they fought the awakened guardians and encountered a mysterious blue Mogu Warrior.

• Alleria told Rommath to disguise trusted mages as citizens and search Quel'Thalas for Horde spies, while she arranged for a skilled spymaster to be contacted.
• Alleria learned that a Silver Covenant messenger was still in the city and asked him to deliver a letter to her sister.
• At Mogu'shan Vaults, Nathanos sensed angry souls and took command of the expedition, assigning two monks to remain outside and bringing Sylvanas and Zhou Zhuo with him.
• Nathanos and the others defeated Stone Lions and Mogu Warriors without casualties as they made their way deeper into the vault.
• A white soul descended onto the vault's circular platform and formed a translucent blue Mogu Warrior, which Nathanos ordered the group to attack.

After the Blue Mogu fell, Nathanos’s group discovered that Zandalari and several other Troll tribes had entered Mogu’shan Vaults. Nathanos and Sylvanas confronted the Trolls as their forces prepared to attack, leaving the expedition facing a battle against a much larger enemy.

• Zhou Zhuo explained that Mo Feng had guarded the vault before his soul was trapped there, and Nathanos sent two wounded monks back toward the entrance.
• Nathanos noticed a sulfurous smell and trembling doors, and Zhou Zhuo revealed that an outdoor platform connected the vault to the mountains.
• The stone doors exploded, and Sylvanas identified the newcomers as Trolls; Zhou Zhuo recognized their priest as a Zandalari Troll.
• Sylvanas shot the Zandalari priest while two Amani Trolls charged, and two monks engaged them as Nathanos went outside to scout.
• Nathanos found Wyvern Troll riders, bomb-carrying Trolls, and a Zandalari Wizard, then saw that Zandalari, Amani, Ice, Sand, and Jungle Trolls had gathered against them.

Nathanos and Sylvanas explored the Mogu treasury, where Nathanos sensed a mysterious voice and suspected the chambers were a trap. After Zhou Zhuo triggered a concealed mechanism, four groups of Mogu Ghosts appeared and sealed off the party’s way back.

• The defeated Troll priest laughed that death was only a window, then sent his soul away before Nathanos could question him.
• Nathanos and Sylvanas noted that Trolls from different tribes had united, and Nathanos observed that no Darkspear Trolls were among the dead.
• As the party entered the Chamber of the Ancient Kings, Nathanos noticed fresh footprints amid the dust and suspected the displayed treasures were meant to distract intruders.
• Zhou Zhuo found and pressed a concealed button, causing blue Mogu writing to appear across the hidden compartments.
• Four groups of Mogu Ghosts appeared, Mogu archers blocked the exit, and Zhou Zhuo identified the writing as records of the Mogu's Four Monarchs.

After defeating the Mogu'shan Four Monarchs, Nathanos led Sylvanas and Zhou Zhuo into a newly opened secret passage, where a voice and the Sha's torment drove him to charge ahead recklessly. Sylvanas confronted him, insisted on staying at his side, and revealed that she had lived with pain since he faced Arthas alone.

• Nathanos checked Sylvanas's halberd wound, and she insisted she was fine.
• Zhou Zhuo revealed a secret passage, and Nathanos agreed to enter it with Sylvanas and Zhou Zhuo while the monks searched for the clapper outside.
• Nathanos rushed through the passage, attacking Mogu guards and Murloc slaves with his dark power as Sylvanas and Zhou Zhuo followed.
• Sylvanas stopped Nathanos and asked whether the Sha was tormenting him; Nathanos admitted he had heard a voice and thanked her for calming him.
• Sylvanas picked up Sulfuras and told Nathanos to treat her as his sword, then apologized for not fighting beside him against Arthas.
• Nathanos said he was glad Sylvanas had survived, and she told him that she lived with pain as her companion.

Nathanos, Sylvanas, and Zhou Zhuo discovered the Titan-built Nalak'sha Engine beneath Mogu'shan Vaults and awakened its construct, Iragon. When Nathanos ordered it to answer the questions in their hearts, Iragon warned that the data exceeded their capacity and flooded his mind.

• Zhou Zhuo discovered a vast chamber and identified its central device as a possible Titan machine.
• Sylvanas stopped Zhou Zhuo from touching the controls, but the machine activated on its own and formed a platform over the pit.
• The device created a Cloud Serpent-shaped construct, which Nathanos named Iragon.
• Iragon identified the chamber as the Nalak'sha Engine and described its purpose as information aggregation, storage, and output.
• Nathanos asked Iragon to answer their innermost questions and explain how to achieve their visions.
• Iragon warned that the data exceeded its target's capacity, then sent an immense force into Nathanos's mind.

Nathanos witnessed a dream of Lei Shen at the height of his rule, as the Mogu emperor claimed the title Thunder King. The vision left Nathanos questioning whether growing power would change who he was and whether he might become like Lei Shen.

• Nathanos awoke in a dream among Mogu and Zandalari gathered before a vast palace during Lei Shen's reign.
• Lei Shen appeared amid lightning and thunder, silenced the crowd, and displayed his command over the storm.
• A Mogu priest proposed calling Lei Shen the King of Lightning, but Lei Shen rejected the title as incomplete.
• Lei Shen declared that he would be the Thunder King, and the crowd shouted his new name.
• Nathanos compared Lei Shen's rule with the Forsaken's loyalty and wondered whether power would change his identity, recalling Uther's warning against kingship.

Nathanos experienced Lei Shen’s rule and power in an illusion that strengthened his resolve to restore his body and remain indispensable to the Forsaken. After waking in the Temple of the White Tiger, he contacted Onyxian and discovered Loremaster Zhou Zhuo was beside him.

• Nathanos found himself possessing Lei Shen and felt the Thunder King’s immense power and the Mogu’s devotion.
• Nathanos reconsidered his belief that the Forsaken should learn to survive without him and decided his departure from them was unavoidable until he could change his condition.
• Nathanos awoke in a bed outside Mogu'shan Vaults and worried that Sylvanas and Zhou Zhuo might also have been harmed when he passed out.
• Nathanos sensed weakness in his body, contacted Onyxian, and ordered the operation to begin immediately.
• Loremaster Zhou Zhuo spoke to Nathanos and explained that a Celestial had advised him to let Nathanos recuperate.

After waking from a two-week coma, Nathanos learned from Zhou Zhuo how the Divine Bell crisis had divided the Horde and endangered relations between Quel'Thalas and Dalaran. He asked for a map of Pandaria to find Lei Shen’s palace, then discovered that he, Zhou Zhuo, and Sylvanas had seen different visions at the Nalak'sha Engine.

• Zhou Zhuo told Nathanos that he and Sylvanas had been found unconscious at Mogu'shan Vaults, and that Sylvanas had left for Krasarang Wilds a week earlier.
• Zhou Zhuo explained that Horde spies stole the Harmony Bell Mallet from the Temple of the White Tiger, but Garrosh's attempt to use the Divine Bell failed and intensified divisions within the Horde.
• Nathanos predicted that Alleria would act against Garrosh, while Zhou Zhuo worried that her actions might bring war to Pandaria.
• Nathanos asked Zhou Zhuo for a map of Pandaria and pointed out that it did not show Lei Shen's palace.
• Zhou Zhuo revealed that he had seen a vision of the Mogu altering Titan technology, while Nathanos said his own vision had been different and wondered what Sylvanas had seen.

Alleria learned that Sunreavers had attacked Darnassus and ordered the Sin'dorei to prepare to seize their own future as tensions with Garrosh and the Alliance mounted. Five days earlier, Lor'themar stalled Garrosh's orders in Krasarang Wilds while awaiting Sylvanas, who arrived asking for the clothes.

• Aethas returned to Sunfury Tower and told Alleria that Sunreavers had attacked Darnassus, though he had not ordered them to do so, and that Dalaran had detained many of his people.
• Vareesa and Rommath linked the attack to Garrosh's pursuit of the Divine Bell, while Rommath warned that Aethas's escape could make the Alliance suspect the Sin'dorei.
• Alleria ordered Vareesa to gather the Rangers and Rommath to assemble the Blood Mages, then said she would act herself.
• Five days earlier, Lor'themar landed the Blood Elf fleet on an island in Krasarang Wilds and evaded Garrosh's order to attack the Durotar Ruins by claiming Alleria was coming.
• Sylvanas arrived at Lor'themar's camp and asked where the clothes were.

Sylvanas disguised herself as Alleria and used the role to deceive Garrosh’s spies while coordinating with Lor'themar. They arranged for the Horde to focus on defending the Sin'dorei fleet, leaving the real Alleria free to act elsewhere.

• Sylvanas put on Alleria’s clothes and ordered Lor'themar to blockade the waters and warn the Rangers about Night Elf activity.
• Sylvanas inspected the camp, maintained her disguise, and let an Alliance spy watch her as she refused Garrosh’s request to meet in Orgrimmar Harbor.
• Sylvanas privately asked Lor'themar whether he would support withdrawing the Sin'dorei from Pandaria, then argued that they could not safely fight the Alliance fleet.
• Lor'themar recognized that Sylvanas was performing Alleria’s usual opposition to war to convince Garrosh’s spies that Alleria had arrived.
• Sylvanas and Lor'themar agreed to ask Horde admiral Nazgrim to persuade Garrosh to send naval support for the Sin'dorei defenses.
• Sylvanas rested, pleased that the spies would report her words truthfully while the real Alleria began her plans elsewhere.

Garrosh sparred with Malkorok before receiving confirmation that Alleria had arrived in Pandaria and spoken with Lor'themar. He planned to use the Horde navy to support the Sin'dorei defenses and buy time to attack Lion's Landing, while Vol'jin arrived and Garrosh summoned Lak'gor.

• Garrosh and Malkorok sparred, and Garrosh disarmed him with Gorehowl.
• A Kor'kron guard reported that the spy watching the Blood Elves had returned, and Malkorok ordered the troops to secure the area.
• The Blood Elf spy confirmed that Alleria had come to Pandaria and spoken with Ranger-Lord Lor'themar.
• Garrosh concluded that Alleria's presence could draw in the Alliance's Seventh Fleet and planned to use Horde ships to reinforce the Sin'dorei defenses.
• A Kor'kron soldier reported that Vol'jin had arrived, and Garrosh ordered him to summon Lak'gor.

Tatsel found the gravely wounded Vol'jin in Kun-Lai Summit and helped bring him to the Shrine of the August Celestials for treatment. After Nathanos arrived and learned Vol'jin had been alone, he ordered Tatsel to secretly find a ship and search Pandaria's coastline for an island.

• Tatsel traveled through Kun-Lai Summit with Chu Li and learned from a scout that a badly wounded Troll lay by a river.
• Tatsel recognized the unconscious Troll as Vol'jin, and she and Chu Li carried him to the Shrine of the August Celestials for treatment.
• Tatsel sent a scout to find Nathanos at the Temple of the White Tiger and report Vol'jin's condition.
• Nathanos went to the Shrine, questioned Tatsel about Vol'jin and any other Horde members, and concluded Vol'jin had escaped alone.
• Nathanos ordered Tatsel to secretly requisition a ship and search Pandaria's coastline for an island.

Vol'jin recalled how Lak'gor had betrayed him after he discovered Garrosh's plan to use Yaungol creation magic, leaving him badly wounded. Rescued by Nathanos the Witherer, Vol'jin told him of Garrosh's schemes and proposed an alliance to overthrow the Great Chief, ending by asking Nathanos to name his conditions.

• Vol'jin remembered how Lak'gor attacked him in the Yaungol cave after revealing that Garrosh wanted the power to create soldiers, and the surviving adventurers helped him escape.
• Vol'jin fled from the cave with a slit throat, called on the Loa for help, and collapsed beside a river.
• Nathanos the Witherer treated Vol'jin's throat and asked what had happened, and Vol'jin recounted the betrayal and Garrosh's plan.
• Nathanos revealed that Garrosh had also colluded with the Sathrovarr to provoke a war between the Forsaken and the Alliance.
• Vol'jin told Nathanos he intended to end Garrosh's tyranny and asked what conditions the Forsaken leader would set for an alliance.