Chapter Summaries

Herad and Tyrande encircled a satyr demon camp and attacked it with grenades and a light quadrupedal mech. Herad captured the dead demons’ souls with a Soul-Snatching Bell and gave Tyrande two more, leaving her eager to use them to reduce the satyrs’ numbers.

• Herad suggested bombarding the satyr demons with cheap grenades, and Tyrande agreed.
• Tyrande sent the light quadrupedal mech up the southern mountain path while the Huntresses blocked the northern exit.
• The mech’s grenade bombardment inflicted heavy casualties and drove the satyr demons into flight.
• Herad activated a Soul-Snatching Bell, which captured the dead satyr demons’ souls and kept them from returning to the Twisting Nether.
• Herad gave Tyrande two Soul-Snatching Bells, and she hurried to continue clearing out the satyr demons.
• The mech caught the fleeing satyr demons and attacked them with its pincers, circular saw, and crushing legs as their weapons failed to pierce its armor.

The Night Elf force destroyed a Satyr demon camp, met their Furbolg allies, and received Moonwell water from Tyrande. Herad used the energy wellwater to power Large Arcane Golems at the Island Armory, where he began preparing to build even larger machines for giant war machines.

• The Light Quad Mech and Huntress unit routed and killed the Satyr demons fleeing their mountain camp.
• The force met a Furbolg patrol, gave them captured weapons, and asked them to spread news of the upcoming trade fair in Ashenvale.
• A Hippogryph Knight delivered Tyrande's gift of Moonwell water, and Tyrande offered to provide more to increase production.
• Herad thanked Tyrande and teleported back to the Island Armory with the Goblin engineers.
• Herad poured energy wellwater into the Large Arcane Golems, which began forging components for Super-Heavy Self-Propelled Artillery and even larger Arcane Golems.
• Herad planned to build still larger Arcane Golems to machine the one-piece components needed for a mechanism capable of moving the Fel Death Star Cannon.

Herad examined the fruit of the divine tree Arcan'dor with Senegos and Etraeus to learn whether it was ripe. Senegos found that the fruit could ease arcane addiction, leaving Etraeus tempted to try it.

• Herad contacted Tel'arn to ask him to assess the Arcan'dor fruit's ripeness.
• Senegos and Etraeus arrived to inspect the tree, and Senegos picked and tasted a fruit.
• Senegos judged the fruit's arcane energy pure enough to ease arcane addiction.
• Etraeus asked how the fruit compared with arcwine, and Senegos declared it far superior.
• Herad encouraged Etraeus to try a fruit, noting that the tree bore thousands and produced fruit year-round.

Herad tested Arcan'dor fruit on Etraeus and then used a fruit to power a newly completed colossal arcane golem. The golem proved immensely energy-hungry, so Herad sent it to the foundry on a trailer and looked forward to obtaining Moonwell water.

• Etraeus ate the second-largest Arcan'dor fruit and reported that it worked better than arcwine and seemed to relieve arcane addiction, though more testing was needed.
• Herad returned to the Island Armory after witnessing Arcan'dor's first fruit harvest and arranging how the fruit would be divided between the old blue dragon and the Nightborne.
• Herad placed a purple crystalline fruit in the colossal arcane golem's energy chamber and activated its power circuits.
• Herad tested the golem's movement, saw how quickly it consumed the fruit, and stopped the test to conserve the precious energy source.
• Herad had the nearly fifteen-hundred-ton golem hauled to the foundry on an arcane trailer and anticipated the Moonwell water Tyrande had promised.

Herad delivered a second Railway Gun and twenty basic loads of shells to Cenarion Hold, where Marlis immediately resumed shelling the Aqir hives. After seeing the Night Elves double their ammunition use, Herad left to deliver supplies in Ashenvale and Felwood.

• The Super-Large Arcane Golem used moonwell water to forge heavy components for weapons such as the 380 mm Railway Gun.
• Herad saw that the Railway Gun had damaged the eastern Aqir hives, while Marlis admitted the garrison had been firing more shells than planned.
• Herad delivered a second Railway Gun and twenty basic loads of shells to Cenarion Hold, and Marlis signed for them.
• The Night Elves began firing both Railway Guns at the hives, doubling their shell consumption.
• Herad teleported away from Cenarion Hold and appeared at the Ashenvale-Felwood border to deliver more goods.

Tyrande surveyed the thriving border camp and its trade fair, seeing it as a sign that the Night Elves could regain their strength. She favored practical weapons and technology over becoming the Night Warrior, while overestimating how well gunpowder weapons could fare against powerful magic.

• The Night Elves built a fortified camp and market on the Ashenvale–Felwood border, attracting Furbolgs, Quilboar, Tauren, and other visitors.
• Tauren travelers found that the market's weapons, armor, and clothing were too small for them, leaving them in need of custom goods.
• Tyrande watched the busy trade fair and thought about restoring the Night Elves' prominence so they could face the Burning Legion again.
• Tyrande considered becoming the Night Warrior but feared its near-fatal cost and preferred strengthening her forces with thorium equipment and gunpowder weapons.
• Tyrande believed artillery might threaten even demigods, though magical defenses could withstand conventional weapons, as Herad's past battles had shown.

Herad turned the Burning Legion’s Fel Death Star Cannon into a mobile Fel Quadrupedal Mech while Mardum’s plant lifeforms continued to grow beyond the Legion’s reach. On Argus, Kil'jaeden realized the plant threat was spreading but lacked the means to destroy it or launch a grand expedition to Mardum.

• Herad used a colossal Arcane Golem to modify the Fel Death Star Cannon into a four-legged Fel Quadrupedal Mech designed to attack Burning Legion Warships.
• The Fel Quadrupedal Mech entered a fel magma pool to replenish its reserves while Herad’s plant army developed on Mardum.
• The Burning Legion struggled to reach Mardum because its portals were destroyed and the nearest fel planet lay several hundred light-years away.
• Kil'jaeden reviewed reports of lost contact with Mardum and nearby planets, along with plant lifeforms that had appeared on Argus and survived the Legion’s attacks.
• Kil'jaeden recognized that the Legion lacked a way to destroy the resilient plants or mount a grand expedition to Mardum.

Akama and Hatuun led the Broken in an attack on Eredath, Kil'jaeden's floating former capital, using missiles that released spores among the demons. The spores transformed their victims into plant creatures, creating mushroom cavalry that began spreading through the city.

• A reconnaissance satellite photographed Kil'jaeden, and the Broken used the images to plan their next attack.
• Akama and the Broken chose to target the Beholders and joined forces with Hatuun's local Kroku, who helped plan an assault on Eredath.
• The Broken divided into launch teams, surrounded Eredath, and fired Man-Portable Air-Defense Missiles toward the sky city.
• One missile failed to find an aerial target and struck an area crowded with demons, releasing spores that took control of them.
• The infected demons grew mushrooms and other plants that produced mushroom men and faster mushroom beasts, which formed mushroom cavalry and spread out from the camp.

Kil'jaeden fought the Broken's spore-spreading army in Eredath, first protecting the Seat of the Triumvirate and then unleashing devastating fire and shadow magic. He left the city engulfed in flames as he overwhelmed the plant army.

• Kil'jaeden ordered demons outside the fighting to retreat through the Burning Legion Portals while others tried to slow the Mushroom Cavalry.
• The Mushroom Cavalry infected demons with spore-loaded wooden bullets, forcing Eredar spellcasters to burn parts of Eredath to contain the spores.
• Kil'jaeden activated the Seat of the Triumvirate's City Defense System, raising an arcane barrier around it.
• Kil'jaeden attacked the plant army with Flame Blossom and Shadow Bolt Volley, devastating enemies and damaging the city.
• Kil'jaeden switched to fire spells, using Rain of Fire and Flame Blossom to leave the battlefield burning.

Herad assessed the Burning Legion’s defenses on Argus and opened a portal to Xoroth, the dreadsteeds’ homeworld, to investigate its mounts. After testing a dreadsteed against a Mushroom Man on Mardum, he found that the Mushroom Man’s nature-enhanced bullets and spores could pierce and overwhelm it.

• Herad concluded that the plant army could not break Kil'jaeden’s Eredar demon mages at Eredath without a Genesaur and decided to open another front against the Burning Legion.
• Herad chose Xoroth, the dreadsteeds’ homeworld, from the Sargerite Keystone and opened a portal to probe its coordinates.
• A dreadsteed ran through the portal, and Herad restrained it with a gravity field before examining its size, scales, and fire-based attacks.
• Herad took the dreadsteed to Mardum and summoned a blackish Mushroom Man to test its wooden bullets against the creature’s scales.
• The Mushroom Man’s nature-enhanced bullet pierced the dreadsteed, and its spores quickly covered the restrained creature in mushrooms.

Herad opened the Portal to Xoroth, where Ulthalesh slaughtered dreadsteeds and explored the wild demon world. After viewers suggested using injured dreadsteeds to find their handlers, Ulthalesh followed a fleeing group toward a distant mountain.

• Herad reopened the Portal to Xoroth, and a herd of dreadsteeds charged through before he restrained them with gravity and the Mushroom Men’s spore weapons.
• Ulthalesh entered Xoroth, beheaded dreadsteeds, and explored a primitive world with no demons in sight.
• Ulthalesh began a livestream, and Velen identified a passing black-and-red horse as a Burning Legion dreadsteed.
• After viewers suggested tracking injured dreadsteeds, Ulthalesh attacked them, fought off their companions, and followed several fleeing horses toward a distant mountain where demon herders might live.

Ulthalesh wiped out Demons Cavalry camps while Herad used Reconnaissance Satellites to locate their central hub. The plant army surrounded Hurlonath’s castle, and after his distress call, Hurlonath found the Portal severed and realized he was trapped.

• Ulthalesh slaughtered more than two hundred Demons Cavalry at a camp and continued hunting their scattered groups.
• Herad sent dozens of Reconnaissance Satellites into orbit to locate Demons Cavalry settlements and their central hub.
• Hurlonath waited in his castle as the plant army, guided by the satellites, advanced and his scouts fell under its control.
• The Demons Cavalry outside Hurlonath’s castle charged the plant army but were overwhelmed and infested by Spore Plants.
• Hurlonath sent a call for aid to neighboring planets, then found the Burning Legion Portal cut in two as the plant army surrounded his castle.

Hurlonath was trapped in a castle surrounded by Herad’s plant army and fought desperately after Ulthalesh crippled his wings. He continued trying to break through as the plant horde overwhelmed his Infernal Construct and steadily closed in.

• The Mushroom Men battered the castle gates, then used overhead fire to fill the castle with spore clouds that killed or parasitized most of the demons inside.
• Hurlonath flew toward the castle’s highest point, but Ulthalesh sliced his back and disabled his wings, sending him crashing to the ground.
• Hurlonath fought the plant army with his claws and Carrion Swarm spells while Ulthalesh held back, following Herad’s orders to keep him on the battlefield.
• Hurlonath summoned an Infernal Construct with an Infernal Stone, but the plant army overwhelmed it and extinguished its fel flames.
• Hurlonath pressed on through the expanding green horde, still believing he could escape the encirclement.

After Hurlonath fell and the plant army secured Xoroth, Herad prepared to defend the planet from the Burning Legion by bringing in two Fel Quadrupedal Mechs. The warships sent to attack the ground forces were caught off guard and destroyed, leaving the Legion’s response uncertain.

• The plant army killed Hurlonath, completing its conquest of Xoroth, the Burning Legion’s Dreadsteed breeding ground.
• Herad sent a message claiming the danger had passed, then opened a huge portal to Mardum and brought two Fel Quadrupedal Mechs through it.
• Herad watched the nearby Fel Planet as the demons slowly gathered aboard Burning Legion Warships for a counterattack.
• Two Burning Legion Warships appeared outside the atmosphere and prepared to bombard the plant army.
• The Fel Quadrupedal Mechs fired green beams and destroyed both warships in a single exchange.

Fel Quadrupedal Mechs used stealth and decoys to destroy ten Burning Legion Warships in half an hour, while Herad salvaged their wreckage. As Mardum became a weapons factory, Herad decided to move the battlefield to a harsh Fel Planet to protect the planet from concentrated bombardment.

• The Fel Quadrupedal Mechs hid beneath cliffs and used coordinated shots to destroy Burning Legion Warships while evading return fire.
• The mechs exploited pools of Fel Magma as cover, making the demons believe their firing positions had survived bombardment and destroying more ships.
• Herad criticized the Burning Legion's reliance on optical scouting and recovered valuable components from the wrecked warships.
• Herad calculated the enormous cost of the ten warships lost in half an hour, while Mardum's Super-Large Arcane Golems forged Fel Quadrupedal Mechs from felsteel using Fel Magma.
• Herad recognized that a concentrated bombardment could overwhelm the mechs and decided to relocate the fighting to a harsh Fel Planet.

Herad sacrificed a Fel Planet to draw the Burning Legion’s forces away from Xoroth, but Doctor Zizi developed armored protective suits and Electromagnetic Wave Weapons that devastated the plant army. Herad countered with mortars, leaving the Felguards struggling to withstand the Mushroom Men’s artillery.

• Herad chose a Fel Planet for Ulthalesh to ravage and spread spores across, while leaving its ruler alive to summon reinforcements.
• Doctor Zizi designed sealed protective suits with armor and equipped selected Felguards with Electromagnetic Wave Weapons.
• The armed Felguards killed swathes of the plant army, and Herad identified their weapons as a serious threat to his forces.
• Herad supplied the Mushroom Men with mortars, which they learned to use against the Felguards’ suits and weapons.
• The Felguards sought cover and favorable terrain as the Mushroom Men bombarded them with mortar shells.

Herad inspected the Burning Legion’s crude electromagnetic weapons and considered how Mushroom Men engineers could help counter the demons. He then searched the Burning Steppes with Xal'atath for rare black lotus near Blackrock Mountain, but had not found any by the end of the chapter.

• Herad examined the Burning Legion’s shoddy equipment and concluded that the demons’ technological progress would remain slow.
• Herad considered training Mushroom Men engineers to make bombs, shells, and rockets, provided their resistance to heat could be improved.
• Herad traveled with Xal'atath to the Burning Steppes to search for black lotus, a rare plant that could survive extreme environments.
• Herad heard the Dark Iron Dwarves and black dragons fighting over Blackrock Spire but chose not to interfere.
• Herad searched the lava-scarred area around Blackrock Mountain for black lotus but found none.

Herad searched Searing Gorge for black lotus, hoping to use it to improve the Mushroom Men, and recruited High Elf Rangers and their Sparrowhawk pets to help. The search began in the region north of the Orcs’ route, where firebloom grew abundantly but no black lotus had yet appeared.

• Herad abandoned his search in the Orc-stripped Burning Steppes and traveled to Searing Gorge, passing Blackrock Spire without disturbing the black Dragon resting there.
• Herad headed into northern Searing Gorge, reasoning that the Orcs had not searched that region as thoroughly as the south.
• Herad found plentiful firebloom but kept looking for black lotus because it offered broader resistance to harsh conditions and pollution.
• Herad summoned more than thirty High Elf Rangers and gave them magical items that activated Ice Barrier to protect them from the heat.
• Herad sent the Rangers’ Sparrowhawk pets to search from the air, where their keen eyesight could help them spot black lotus.

Herad and the High Elf Rangers searched Searing Gorge for black lotus, then entered the Dark Iron Dwarves’ mines when their surface search failed. They were awed by the vast underground complex, while Herad reflected that the dwarves could not escape Ragnaros’s curse as long as the Firelord lived.

• The Rangers and their pet sparrowhawks searched Searing Gorge for black lotus but found only valuable firebloom.
• Alleria suggested searching the walls of the great rift, but the sparrowhawks found no black lotus there either.
• Herad decided to search the Dark Iron Dwarves’ mines and offered to split any black lotus reward equally.
• Herad led the group down a lift past the lava river, where his summoned fire elementals were living safely.
• The Rangers entered an immense, lava-lit mine and marveled at its scale.
• Herad considered that the Dark Iron Dwarves were trying to escape Ragnaros, but could not break free while the Firelord lived.

Herad led the Rangers through the Dark Iron Dwarves’ abandoned mine in search of Black Lotus and found a cavern occupied by fire-elementalized Dimetrodons. The Rangers discovered several Black Lotus plants inside and began fighting the creatures to secure the harvest.

• Herad led the Rangers through the mine’s upper level and found no Black Lotus.
• Herad guided the group down to the lower mine, where they searched the area near the lava river.
• Herad found a natural cavern occupied by fire-resistant Dimetrodons.
• The Rangers killed several Dimetrodons near the entrance with frost arrows.
• The Rangers spotted several Black Lotus plants inside the cavern and prepared to fight the Dimetrodons to harvest them.