Chapter Summaries

Herad used repeated portals to probe Argus’s spatial coordinates while Mushroom Men and Spore Zombies overwhelmed demons drawn through the openings. After Kil’jaeden noticed the disturbance but could not reach Herad, Herad began reconnaissance and deployed his plant army in a less-corrupted region of Argus, drawing the attention of the giant eye demons.

• Herad opened portals to Argus several times, and his plant forces killed and cultivated the demons that came through.
• Kil’jaeden monitored the portal with a giant eye demon and prepared to attack, but Herad closed the portals after determining Argus’s precise spatial coordinates.
• Herad surveyed Argus from above and chose a brown region for a test deployment.
• Herad sent his plant army through a portal, and giant eye demons spotted the emerald-green force and reported it to Kil’jaeden.

Kil'jaeden recognized the plant army as spore weapons parasitizing demon corpses and sent Eredar demon mages to destroy it. Herad rescued a small number of Mushroom Men and sent the survivors to weaker Fel Planets, abandoning plans to attack Argus again.

• Kil'jaeden identified the plant army as spore weapons controlling demon corpses and ordered Eredar demon mages to eliminate it.
• The Eredar demon mages summoned Infernal Constructs, which crushed the Spore Zombies and overwhelmed the plant army.
• The Mushroom Men fled toward Herad's Portal, but Rain of Fire blocked their escape and killed most of them.
• Herad opened Portals to rescue scattered Mushroom Men, while the mindless Spore Zombies were wiped out.
• Herad gave up on attacking Argus and sent the surviving Mushroom Men to weaker Fel Planets, where they resumed expanding their population.

Herad observed the Burning Legion’s defenses on Argus, then shared battle footage that revealed the Draenei’s ruined homeworld to viewers. Velen approved training botanists for a future campaign, and Herad arranged for Tel'arn to teach the most talented Draenei.

• Herad watched Eredar demon mages burn the battlefield with Infernal Constructs and decided not to release spores into Argus’s sea.
• Herad uploaded footage titled "Probing the Burning Legion's Main Base" to his account.
• Velen identified the planet as Argus, and the Draenei and viewers reacted to the devastation and the Burning Legion’s army of Infernal Constructs.
• Velen approved a proposal to train botanists so the Draenei could develop nature magic and study spore plants.
• Herad introduced the most talented Draenei to Tel'arn and left them to pursue their revenge through study.

Herad’s chip designers studied his missile principles and began developing image-guided weapons intended to help the Draenei fight the Burning Legion. The chapter left Herad confident that man-portable surface-to-air missiles could let the Broken kill the Legion’s eye demons on Argus.

• Gnome and Goblin Engineers at the Island Armory shifted their attention from rockets to missiles after Herad explained how guided weapons tracked targets.
• Herad’s proposed television guidance system would match a target against an image in the missile’s database and steer toward a designated weak point.
• Herad identified the airborne eye demons as priority targets because they reported the Draenei’s movements and could bring Legion forces down on them quickly.
• Herad reasoned that invisible Broken suited missile-based hunting better than spellcasters, whose attacks generally lacked the range to reach eye demons.
• Herad planned to equip the missiles with special warheads and was confident they could destroy the eye demons.

Herad’s Man-Portable Air-Defense Missiles passed their test, and Velen approved a cautious expedition to Argus to attack the Beholders monitoring the skies. Akama’s squad detected and struck several Beholders with spore warheads, leaving them to die in the clouds.

• Goblin and Gnome engineers built a Man-Portable Missile that struck a Beholder-shaped balloon during testing.
• Velen approved sending Broken to Argus with anti-aircraft missiles, and Herad explained that the warheads contained spores.
• Herad opened a portal to Argus, where Akama led his elite squad to a concealed spot along the coast.
• The Broken assembled portable radar, detected several suspicious aerial targets, then packed up and split into teams.
• Akama’s squad members locked onto Beholders and launched missiles, which exploded and surrounded them with gray spore clouds.

Herad’s Broken spread spores across Argus, creating a vast plant army that overwhelmed the Burning Legion’s ground forces. Kil’jaeden answered with nearly a thousand warships and devastating fel bombardment, stopping the invasion at immense cost to demons and the planet.

• Broken teams infected Beholders with spores and spread the fungus across Argus while Herad deployed more teams to sabotage every continent.
• The plant army grew across the battlefield, forcing Eredar demon mages to retreat and frustrating Kil’jaeden’s attempts to contain it.
• Kil’jaeden summoned a fleet of Burning Legion Warships after realizing ground forces could not stop the plant army.
• Herad recalled the Broken teams as the warships positioned themselves above the continents and fired fel beams at the plants.
• The bombardment destroyed the plant army but also killed many demons and Infernal Constructs, while Kil’jaeden took satisfaction in protecting Argus.

The Green Scourge devastated Argus while Herad’s spores threatened to overwhelm the Twisting Nether’s resurrection capacity. At the Island Armory, Herad completed and activated the Arcane Furnace, causing a major surge in Quel'Thalas’s arcane network, and Rommath promised to resolve the resulting concern.

• The Burning Legion’s warships bombarded the plant army from high altitude, leaving it unable to fight back, while Kil'jaeden mourned the loss of hundreds of rare Beholders and Argus’s heavy casualties.
• Herad continued developing more effective spore deployment methods to spread the Green Scourge and strain the Twisting Nether’s resurrection capacity.
• Several hundred Withered mages completed the Arcane Furnace at the Island Armory, allowing Herad to produce high-density liquid arcane energy.
• Herad activated the Arcane Furnace, drawing arcane energy from across Quel'Thalas and briefly disrupting its magical network.
• Rommath assured Herad that he could handle the disturbance, and Herad invited everyone at the Island Armory to celebrate in Nagrand.

Herad celebrated the Arcane Furnace’s completion with a hunting outing in Nagrand, where the Withered berserkers’ struggles inspired them to study magic. Back in Quel’Thalas, he learned the Silvermoon City Council had approved Rommath’s compensation plan, leaving Herad responsible for helping establish friendly trade with the Night Elves.

• Herad watched the Withered berserkers struggle to hunt Clefthooves while the Withered mages easily froze them with Frostbolts.
• The Withered berserkers became eager to study magic after seeing how effectively their fellow mages hunted.
• Herad inspected the mining operations at Oshu’gun and saw that the Arcane Furnace had made it easier for the Arcane Golems to work.
• The Silvermoon City Council debated the Arcane Furnace’s energy consumption and approved Rommath’s compensation plan for Herad.
• Rommath told Herad that he would need to negotiate friendly trade with the Night Elves, whose hostility toward arcane magic made the task difficult.

Herad arrived in Azshara to negotiate with the Night Elves after the Silvermoon City Council assigned him the task, and Alleria secured permission for the High Elf delegation to cross the ruins. As the delegation traveled toward the meeting place, the Night Elf sentinels watched their former kin and envied the Rangers’ thorium arrows.

• The Silvermoon City Council sent Herad to negotiate with the Night Elves after previous talks stalled.
• Herad teleported to Azshara, where Alleria greeted him and sent a letter to the Night Elf outpost with her pet sparrowhawk.
• The outpost replied that the High Elf delegation could pass through the ruins to the previous meeting place.
• Night Elf sentinels watched the delegation travel through Azshara and pitied the High Elves’ faded appearance.
• The Night Elf sentinels envied the High Elf Rangers’ thorium arrows, which they could not obtain before trade relations began.

Herad traveled through Azshara and learned how the Night Elves struggled against satyr demons and lived with scarce metal and few reliable melee fighters. He crossed into Ashenvale, where Tyrande Whisperwind and Malfurion Stormrage waited to meet him.

• Herad inferred that the Night Elves lacked metal armor and dependable frontline fighters, while satyr demons repeatedly threatened them.
• A veteran Sentinel told reserve sentinels about the strength and enchantments of the mithril armor worn by Herad's party.
• Herad rode through Azshara's ruined city and demon-polluted wilderness, then crossed a living tree bridge into Ashenvale.
• Herad arrived at the meeting place and recognized Tyrande Whisperwind and Malfurion Stormrage among the Night Elf leaders.
• Tyrande sensed divine power from Herad and spoke to Malfurion, who relaxed as he examined the High Elf party.

Herad tried to persuade Tyrande, Malfurion, and the other Night Elf leaders to accept military trade by showing them the Alliance’s armies and their weapons in action. Fandral Staghelm remained skeptical, but footage of Human Musketeers devastating charging Orcs demonstrated the weapons’ power.

• Herad showed the Night Elf leaders a parade of Alliance troops, including Heavy Infantry, Musketeers, artillery, and armored Knights.
• Tyrande and Malfurion quietly supported military trade, while Fandral Staghelm questioned whether the impressive-looking equipment would work in battle.
• Herad played footage of Orcs charging the human army and being cut down by volleys from Human Musketeers.
• The Night Elf leaders saw that the muskets could pierce armor and perform at least as well as Night Elf archers.

Herad convinced the Night Elf leaders that artillery could provide the powerful nonmagical area attacks they needed against the Aqir. He brought them to Cenarion Hold to test a 155 mm towed gun-howitzer, where Rangers and Night Elf soldiers began locating targets.

• Fandral Staghelm asked Herad for a powerful nonmagical area attack after recognizing how difficult the Aqir were to fight.
• Herad introduced artillery as a weapon that could meet the Night Elves’ needs and offered to demonstrate it against the Aqir.
• Herad and the Night Elf leaders teleported to Cenarion Hold in Silithus, where soldiers explained the nearby Aqir threat.
• Herad brought a 155 mm towed gun-howitzer into the hold’s square, shocking the Night Elf leaders and soldiers with its size.
• Herad’s Rangers prepared the artillery and sent out flying pets to locate targets, while Night Elf soldiers joined the search.

Herad demonstrated artillery to the Night Elves at Cenarion Hold, showing that the shells wounded but rarely killed the heavily armored Aqir. Impressed by the bombardment, Tyrande invited Herad to discuss a purchase, while the Night Elves and Druids considered which weapons they needed to fight the bugs.

• Night Elf scouts found a swarm of bugs, and the first artillery shell missed before the crews corrected their aim and hit the swarm’s edge.
• Herad had the Night Elves inspect the damage and confirmed that the blast killed bugs near the impact but mostly wounded those farther away.
• Fandral Staghelm praised the artillery, and the Night Elves continued firing until they had used every supplied shell.
• Tyrande invited Herad to Cenarion Hold’s hall to discuss purchasing weapons and equipment.
• Herad presented a detailed inventory as the military leaders focused on arrows and armor and the Druids considered firearms for fighting the bugs.

Herad demonstrated a 380 mm super-heavy self-propelled artillery unit to the Night Elf leaders, correcting their assumptions about shell power and revealing how it could be used against the bugs. The leaders boarded the weapon as a Goblin Engineer prepared to use a drone to find a bug nest for a test firing.

• Fandral Staghelm and Malfurion assumed the 380 mm artillery piece would be only a little more than twice as powerful as a 155 mm gun, but Herad explained that its shells could destroy the fortress hall.
• The Night Elf leaders watched a Metal Giant forge the artillery piece and discussed whether Mountain Giants could work at a forge.
• The leaders worried about how to haul the several-hundred-ton artillery piece, so Herad brought a super-heavy self-propelled unit through a portal from the Island Armory.
• A Goblin Engineer drove the unit through the portal, and Herad ordered him to find the largest distant bug nest and destroy it.
• The Goblin Engineer launched a drone to scout for targets and explained its capabilities to Fandral Staghelm and the other Night Elf leaders.

Herad demonstrated the giant gun’s satellite-guided shells against a hive, first piercing its shell and then destroying it with a fuel-air explosive. The Night Elf leaders watched the hive collapse and saw a weapon capable of ending the threat that had haunted them since the War of the Shifting Sands.

• Herad ordered the Goblin engineer to fire a guided shell at the hive from more than two hundred kilometers away, and it struck its marked location precisely.
• The shell pierced the hive’s chitin and exploded, scattering hundreds of bugs but leaving the hive mostly intact.
• The Night Elf leaders, remembering how hard hives had been to destroy during the War of the Shifting Sands, urged Herad to fire again.
• Herad ordered a fuel-air explosive shell, and the Goblin engineer loaded and fired it toward the hole in the hive.
• The guided shell landed inside the hive, where its fuel-air mixture ignited, killing the bugs and causing the hive to burn and collapse.

Herad proposed that the Night Elves fund artillery and a broad revival plan by recruiting Kalimdor’s poor to mine and farm, while warning them that Zaetar was likely dead. After watching the Broken fight the Burning Legion on Draenor, the Night Elf leaders agreed to prepare for war but rejected contact with the Highborne of Eldre’Thalas.

• Fandral Staghelm recommended that the Night Elves buy artillery and shells, and they ordered ten cannons and planned a railway network across Silithus.
• Herad suggested that the Night Elves recruit Quilboar and Tauren to work in mining, farming, and animal husbandry, prompting the leaders to discuss a revival plan.
• Herad told the leaders that Zaetar had likely been murdered, and Malfurion entered the Emerald Dream to alert Cenarius and seek confirmation.
• Herad showed the leaders a magical video of the Broken fighting demons on Draenor, and Tyrande urged them to prepare for war against the Burning Legion.
• Shandris Feathermoon suggested contacting the Highborne in Eldre’Thalas, but the Night Elf leaders rejected the idea.

Herad visited Ashenvale with Tyrande’s party, where Keeper of the Grove Malandis served him Moonberry Juice made with blessed water from Lake of the Moon Goddess. After discovering the drink sharpened his sensitivity to arcane energy, Herad searched for a way to obtain more of the scarce water and found an idea when playful dryads arrived.

• Herad and Tyrande’s party traveled through Ashenvale and met Malandis, a Keeper of the Grove, who invited them to visit.
• Tyrande asked Malandis to serve Moonberry Juice, and he explained how difficult it was to discreetly collect water from Lake of the Moon Goddess.
• Herad tasted the drink and found that it improved his sensitivity to arcane energy.
• Herad considered ways to persuade the Keepers of the Grove to bring back more water but could not find a promising approach.
• Several dryads ran out of the woods and freely helped themselves to the food, giving Herad an idea for obtaining more water.

Herad proposed opening a mall to attract dryads and persuade them to fetch water from the Lake of the Moon Goddess, but Tyrande warned him about Demons occupying Felwood. After Malandis and Tyrande rejected his scorched-earth plan to save the corrupted forest, Herad suggested using weapons suited to jungle warfare.

• Alleria pinched Herad for staring at the scantily clad dryads, and Herad explained that he wanted her to learn what they liked.
• Alleria befriended the dryads and learned that they enjoyed delicious food, pretty clothes, and attractive trinkets.
• Herad proposed building a large shopping mall near the Ashenvale-Felwood border to attract dryads and encourage them to fetch water from the Lake of the Moon Goddess.
• Tyrande warned Herad that scattered Demons in Felwood knew the terrain well, and Herad saw that the corrupted forest made them difficult to find and hunt.
• Herad proposed bombarding Felwood and destroying its withered trees, but Malandis and Tyrande insisted the forest could still be saved.
• Herad recommended weapons for jungle warfare, especially light tracked war machines that could carry other weapons.

Herad inspected the light Quadrupedal Mech, a fifteen-ton war machine designed by Goblin and Gnome engineers, and took it with Night Elf forces to attack a demon camp in northern Felwood. The Mechs’ guns and grenade launchers devastated the demons, convincing the Night Elves that the expensive machines were worth their cost.

• Goblin and Gnome engineers built a wheeled Quadrupedal Mech with a 40 mm Rapid-Fire Cannon, mechanical arms, and an Intelligent Program that simplified its controls.
• Herad inspected the prototype, and Goblin engineers sold twenty Mechs to prominent Night Elves before the machines had undergone a combat trial.
• Herad’s group traveled more than three hundred kilometers to northern Felwood, where exhausted Nightsabers rested outside a demon camp near an abandoned Druid’s barrow den.
• The Quadrupedal Mechs charged into the camp and tore through the demons with their Rapid-Fire Cannons.
• Demons fleeing into the barrow den were struck by Automatic Grenade Launchers, which wounded Felguards and blew Felhounds apart.
• The prominent Night Elves were satisfied with the Mechs’ firepower and mobility despite their high price.

The Night Elves suffocated and gunned down the Demons hiding in an underground den, then reviewed a map of Demon camps in Felwood. Herad learned that the next targets were Satyr Demons, whom Tyrande said could never be permanently wiped out.

• The Huntresses and Nightsabers pursued and killed the wounded Felguards that fled into the forest.
• A light quadrupedal Mech felled a huge oak, and the Night Elves burned the wood to pump smoke into the Demon den while sealing its vents.
• Demons fleeing the smoke-filled caves were cut down by the Mech's rapid-fire cannon loaded with felsteel-core armor-piercing rounds.
• The Night Elf squad confirmed the Demons were dead and used the Mech's map to identify their next targets in Felwood.
• Herad asked Tyrande whether the horned Demons were Satyrs, and Tyrande confirmed it, saying they repeatedly resurrected no matter how many were killed.