Chapter Summaries

Herad secured the natural cavern and its resources before returning to Quel'Thalas with the Rangers. He then used black lotus genes to create a resilient, fire-resistant Mushroom Man and left it with promising potential for battle.

• Herad left some black lotus to keep growing, then caused an earthquake to destroy the upper mine tunnels and moved the natural cavern more than twenty meters above the magma river.
• Herad opened a Portal and sent the Rangers back to Quel'Thalas, where they headed to sell their valuable haul.
• Herad went to his laboratory and analyzed black lotus to identify the genes behind its extraordinary resilience.
• Herad inserted the relevant gene segments into a Mushroom Man, producing a black, lignifying specimen that grew more slowly than the original.
• Herad tested the newborn Mushroom Man and found it agile, intelligent, resistant to fire, and able to put out flames with a substance secreted from its body.

Herad deployed black Mushroom Men equipped with homemade weapons and motorized tricycles against Doctor Zizi’s defenses on the Fel Planet. Their assault broke the city’s defensive line, leaving it on the brink of destruction.

• Herad prepared to send black Mushroom Men, whose wooden bullets could reach nearly four hundred meters, to the Fel Planet.
• Doctor Zizi urged the Burning Legion’s leaders to use Teleporting Burning Legion Starships to reinforce the capital, but those ships would take time to assemble.
• Black Mushroom Men studied the Goblin Engineers’ weapon-making instructions, assimilated ordinary Mushroom Men, and established workshops to mass-produce weapons and motorized tricycles.
• Herad watched the black Mushroom Men pour through a Portal on smoke-belching tricycles, while Doctor Zizi was startled by their mechanized attack.
• The tricycle army bombarded the Felguards’ line with mortars, destroyed their electromagnetic wave weapons with recoilless rifles, and helped the plant army charge toward the city.

The Plant Army and demon defenders fought through the fortified levels of Doctor Zizi’s three-dimensional city, where layered defenses and brutal weapons kept the battle at a stalemate. Herad brought in a railway gun, and its shells targeted Doctor Zizi, who fled to the city’s protected middle levels.

• The Black Mushroom Men helped the Plant Army break through the city’s outer defenses, while its deeper fortifications slowed their advance.
• Plant fighters and demon defenders battled over key positions, using heavy guns, Tesla weapons, and fel fire amid the layered buildings.
• Herad brought a railway gun through a portal and fired it toward the city.
• A shell struck near Doctor Zizi and blasted him through the ruins, but his extensive mechanical modifications helped him survive.
• After a second shell hit his former position, Doctor Zizi realized he was being targeted and escaped to the rocky middle levels.

Herad’s forces battered Doctor Zizi’s defenses while Doctor Zizi awaited Burning Legion reinforcements, believing they would save the city. The reinforcements arrived amid a surprise assault, but Herad was satisfied that they had taken the bait.

• Herad used the railway gun’s 380 mm shells to destroy Doctor Zizi’s fortified defensive weapons, allowing the plant army to advance.
• Kil’jaeden sent three teleporting Burning Legion starships and a specially equipped demon army to aid Doctor Zizi.
• Doctor Zizi mistook skirmishes at the stairways for victories and eagerly welcomed Kil’jaeden’s praise and promise of imminent reinforcements.
• The reinforcements struck around the city with green meteors, releasing infernal constructs and prompting the plant army to bombard them.
• The plant army turned toward the fallen green shapes, while Doctor Zizi believed the city was saved and Herad was pleased that the reinforcements had taken the bait.

Doctor Zizi watched the plant army overwhelm demons pouring through the Burning Legion Portals, while Herad dismantled the special Burning Legion Warships in space. After clearing the battlefield, Herad realized their wreckage could serve as powerful space-based weapons.

• Doctor Zizi watched the plant army use spore-parasitized demons, firearms, and close combat to slaughter demons emerging from the Burning Legion Portals.
• The plant army surrounded the portals and killed demons as they arrived, while Ulthalesh stood ready to cut down any Dreadlords who appeared.
• Herad teleported to the space battlefield and examined a crippled special Burning Legion Warship, learning how its fel-powered portal operation worked.
• Herad dismantled the warships, salvaged useful components for Mardum, and sent the remaining wreckage crashing into uninhabited areas.
• Herad realized that the falling warship wreckage could function as space-based kinetic weapons with impacts comparable to nuclear explosions.

The Burning Legion answered the plant army’s devastating mortar fire by developing armored cyborg demons under Doctor Zizi’s direction. Herad watched the mechanization effort unfold without concern, believing the demons’ preference for melee combat would leave their new army ineffective at range.

• The Burning Legion sent elite Wrathguards through the portal, and they briefly drove back the plant army inside the warship before mortar fire forced them to retreat.
• Doctor Zizi observed that the black Mushroom Men’s mortars could penetrate demon armor and argued that thicker plates would not solve the problem.
• Doctor Zizi proposed an army of cyborg demons and demonstrated his adamantite-plated mechanical body by withstanding the black Mushroom Men’s grenades.
• Kil'jaeden approved Doctor Zizi’s proposal, and he was sent to other Fel Planets to begin preparing a cyborg demon army as construction of Fel Reavers also began.
• Herad noticed the Burning Legion’s preparations but remained confident that its reliance on melee combat would make the mechanized army vulnerable to ranged attacks.

Herad’s Black Mushroom Men disrupted Burning Legion worlds, helped destroy Archimonde’s expedition, and tied down the Legion’s forces. Kil’jaeden and Tichondrius then began devising a conspiracy against Azeroth, unaware to Herad that the world had drawn their attention.

• Herad sent black plant lifeforms through portals to Burning Legion worlds, where they spread spores and weakened the Legion.
• Archimonde’s reinforcements were cut off by the plants, and the natives counterattacked and killed him.
• Archimonde’s soul had to wait in line for resurrection in the Twisting Nether, while Kil’jaeden criticized his failure to retreat.
• Kil’jaeden considered the Legion’s difficulties invading Azeroth and worried that the plant army had weakened his forces.
• Tichondrius advised Kil’jaeden, and the two began shaping a conspiracy targeting Azeroth.

Tichondrius and his Dreadlords tried to establish themselves on Kalimdor but repeatedly encountered powerful Wild Gods. They fled Desolace after Malorne attacked them, and Tichondrius escaped with his surviving followers.

• Kil'jaeden sent Tichondrius and several Dreadlords to Kalimdor to gather intelligence and find vulnerable targets.
• Tichondrius panicked when he saw Manoern in Ashenvale, and his followers fled toward the Barrens.
• The Dreadlords encountered an enormous boar demigod in the Barrens and escaped into Desolace, where they met with local Satyr demons.
• Malorne sensed fel activity in Desolace and tracked the demons to ancient Night Elf ruins.
• Malorne skewered one Dreadlord, forcing Tichondrius and his surviving followers to flee as bats.

Manoern abandoned his pursuit of the Dreadlords after they escaped into the ocean, while Cenarius confronted the centaurs and summoned their ancestor, Princess Theradras. When Cenarius demanded Zaetar's body, Theradras refused until Manoern's arrival convinced her that resurrection was possible.

• Manoern pursued the Dreadlords across Kalimdor but gave up when they escaped into the sea as fish.
• Cenarius reprimanded the centaur chieftains, while Herad and Malfurion discussed finding work for the centaurs.
• Cenarius ordered the centaurs to summon their ancestor, and their Shamans brought forth a projection of Princess Theradras.
• Cenarius demanded Zaetar's body and promised to resurrect him, but Theradras refused to believe resurrection was real.
• Manoern arrived, and Theradras believed in resurrection after seeing the Wild God who had returned from death.

Princess Theradras brought Zaetar’s remains to Manoern, who sent Zaetar’s soul to the Emerald Dream to recover. Manoern then raced south, purging demons and Aqir nests, while Herad’s admiration overlooked the White Stag God’s reckless judgment.

• Princess Theradras broke through Maraudon’s blocked exit and gave Zaetar’s antlers to Manoern.
• Manoern used a Special Soul Secret Technique to send Zaetar’s soul into the Emerald Dream.
• Manoern ran south and slaughtered satyr demons in the Ancient Night Elf Ruins.
• Manoern uprooted Aqir nests across Feralas, Thousand Needles, the Shimmering Flats, the Tanaris Desert, and Un’Goro Crater.
• Herad watched Manoern’s extermination efforts through the Reconnaissance Satellite and praised his thoroughness.
• The narration recalled Manoern’s reckless failure to pursue Dreadlords and his fatal charge against Archimonde.

After a Dreadlord infiltrated the Eastern Kingdoms and escaped detection by Quel'Thalas's defenses, the High Elves and Dalaran responded to the threat. Herad left the hunt to Dalaran's Mage Hunter Corps and prepared magical detectors for the Church of the Holy Light.

• A Dreadlord disguised as a High Elf tried to enter Quel'Thalas, but the border's scanning equipment exposed it and a Demigod Arcane Golem attacked.
• The Dreadlord fled by creating a swarm of bats, while its true body escaped and evaded the golem's search.
• Quel'Thalas's council suspected Dreadlords were gathering nearby and launched an extensive search that found no trace of them.
• Herad urged the council to send Spellbreakers after the Dreadlords, but it declined to deploy troops abroad and passed the warning to Dalaran.
• Herad began preparing detection items for the Church of the Holy Light, while Dalaran warned human kingdoms about the Dreadlords' methods and prompted most of them to prepare.

King Terenas welcomed Dalaran’s Mage Hunters, whose reckless hunt for supposed Dreadlords instead plunged most human kingdoms into panic and conflict. Tichondrius exploited the turmoil to expand the Church of Eternal Life, while Herad realized the Mage Hunters might bring the human nations to ruin.

• King Terenas welcomed the Dalaran envoy and agreed to cooperate with the Mage Hunters against the threat of plague.
• The Mage Hunters arrested and tortured people with traces of death magic, mistaking human necromancers for Dreadlords and provoking public outrage.
• Tichondrius used the resulting panic to spread the Church of Eternal Life from remote settlements into major cities.
• The Mage Hunters and human authorities fell into conflict as arrests, executions, rumors, and cults spread across most kingdoms.
• Herad recognized that the Mage Hunters lacked the skill to find disguised Dreadlords and feared their actions would destroy the human nations.

With the human kingdoms struggling to contain cults, Herad prepared an army of Fern Treants to help hunt down the hidden Dreadlords and monitor settlements. After testing them safely in the Badlands, he arranged to lease them to the human nations, though Lordaeron refused.

• Dalaran's mage hunters raided several conspicuous cults but captured only ordinary schemers, while the Church of Eternal Life recruited cultists under the Dreadlords' covert leadership.
• Herad transferred Fern Treants grown from the Plant Army on Fel Planet, assembling five hundred thousand troops on Mardum.
• Herad sent Fern Treants to the Badlands to test whether they could survive there, then confirmed that they posed no problems.
• Herad offered Fern Treants to the human nations; Lordaeron rejected the offer, while Baron Rivendare of Stratholme requested a lease and the other kings agreed to lease them.
• Herad planned to station Fern Treants in villages, at town gates, and along major routes so they could watch for cultists and criminals.

Herad’s Fern Treants uncovered the Church of Eternal Life, allowing the Mage Hunters and the official organization to raid its bases, but the cult’s leaders remained out of reach. After Kel'Thuzad discovered the cult’s advanced necromancy, Herad worried that the Archmage might pursue it and turn to the Dreadlords.

• Herad secretly shipped Fern Treants to ports across the kingdoms, where they posed as magical trees and used their shared thought network to watch for suspicious activity.
• The Fern Treants identified the Church of Eternal Life as an organized cult and passed their findings to the Mage Hunters and the Official Secret Organization.
• The Mage Hunters and rogues raided cult gatherings, captured followers, and learned that the church’s tiered structure let its higher-level agents escape and relocate.
• Kel'Thuzad burned a deserted cult base and studied documents describing advanced necromancy and undead-modification experiments.
• Herad saw Kel'Thuzad’s interest in the documents and increased his concern that the Archmage might seek out the Dreadlords.

Herad offered Kel'Thuzad a way to extend his life through an arcane mechanical body, prompting him to pursue paid work against cultists so he could afford one. Meanwhile, the Church of Eternal Life continued spreading across the human kingdoms, and King Terenas watched undead creatures fight in an underground arena beneath Lordaeron City.

• Herad gave Kel'Thuzad the choice between becoming undead and entering an arcane mechanical body, and Kel'Thuzad favored the mechanical body.
• Kel'Thuzad began taking investigations into cult activity across different regions to earn the money for an expensive arcane mechanical body.
• Kel'Thuzad destroyed cult strongholds, while the dreadlords struggled to stop him and the Church of Eternal Life maintained its foothold in Lordaeron.
• Fern treants reported the Church of Eternal Life's growing influence to Herad, who noted that many people were drawn by the promise of eternal life.
• King Terenas watched three ghouls hold their own against an orc infantryman in an arena beneath Lordaeron City.

King Terenas watched Ghouls defeat an Orcs Warrior and concluded that they could replace ordinary infantry, then inspected an Abomination under construction. He left confident that cheap Undead forces could make Lordaeron powerful enough to unify the six kingdoms and establish the Arathor Empire.

• Three Ghouls surrounded an Orcs Infantry, and their fight ended with all three Ghouls dead and the Orcs Warrior gravely wounded but possibly still alive.
• King Terenas and the kingdom's senior officials praised the Ghouls' durability and combat ability as a reason to replace ordinary infantry, while dismissing concerns about controlling the Necromancers and their creations.
• Terenas toured the Undead Alchemy Workshop and saw Necromancers and Alchemists making potions and adjusting an Abomination.
• Terenas compared the Abomination's low cost and battlefield strength with the expensive thorium armor of the Royal Knight Order and imagined building an army of more than ten thousand.
• Terenas grew confident that Lordaeron's resources and Undead forces would support his ambition to unify the six kingdoms and establish the Arathor Empire.

King Aiden Perenolde approved a major arms buildup to defend the Kingdom of Alterac from the increasingly dangerous Kingdom of Lordaeron, borrowing heavily from Duke Barov. Duke Barov set out for Quel'Thalas to arrange weapons purchases, and Herad realized the threat had escalated faster than expected.

• King Aiden Perenolde summoned Alterac's officials, and Duke Barov urged him to buy weapons and equipment in bulk.
• King Aiden agreed to the arms purchase and asked Duke Barov for a large loan repayable within three years.
• Duke Barov accepted and hurried to Caer Darrow to board a steamship bound for Quel'Thalas.
• Duke Barov sent a magic messenger to Herad announcing that the Kingdom of Alterac had begun purchasing weapons in large quantities.
• Herad read the message and realized the situation in the Kingdom of Lordaeron was worsening faster than he had expected.

Herad showed Duke Barov and General Hass weapons that could help the Kingdom of Alterac resist the Kingdom of Lordaeron’s growing threat. After testing rocket launchers and light tanks, the Alterac delegation agreed to buy two hundred light tanks and two hundred light multiple rocket launcher trucks.

• Herad considered the danger posed by Lordaeron’s dark research and decided that supplying Alterac with weapons was the best way to contain its expansion.
• Herad toured Duke Barov and General Hass through the Armory showroom and explained why firearms alone would struggle against undead forces.
• Herad demonstrated portable rocket launchers and pickup-mounted multiple rocket launchers, impressing General Hass with their destructive power and mobility.
• Herad recommended light tanks, and Duke Barov persuaded General Hass to accept that modern weapons were worth their cost.
• General Hass agreed to buy two hundred light tanks and two hundred light multiple rocket launcher trucks, leaving some of Alterac’s approved funding unspent.

Duke Barov considered leasing Kul Tiras warships while secretly arming Alterac, as King Terenas sought powerful undead forces to reclaim Lordaeron’s lost territory. Kil'jaeden sent Frostmourne and the Helm of Domination to Azeroth, but they crashed into a mansion near Lordaeron’s royal palace.

• Duke Barov admired a Kul Tiras ironclad, and Herad advised him to ask Admiral Daelin to station warships at Caer Darrow Island and Southshore.
• Lordaeron’s authorities increased the undead ranks by turning criminals and homeless people into abominations and ghouls, but the necromancers could not find souls suitable for death knights.
• King Terenas visited the Bald Divine Emissary, who assured him that his lord would respond to the request for help creating death knights.
• Kil'jaeden encased Frostmourne and the Helm of Domination in Death Frost and sent them to Azeroth with the Eredar demon mages.
• The Death Frost fell onto a mansion near Lordaeron’s royal palace, freezing the surrounding area and leaving Tichondrius stunned.

Death Frost shattered as a purple-black figure stole the Helm of Domination, while Tichondrius claimed Frostmourne for King Terenas. Herad identified the helmet Xal'atath found and teleported them both to the Island Armory, leaving the Lich King’s fate uncertain.

• Death Frost froze the surrounding block and collapsed the mansion, and King Terenas and Tichondrius approached the ice to claim its treasures.
• A purple-black figure shattered Death Frost, grabbed the Helm of Domination, and fought Tichondrius for Frostmourne before fleeing with the helmet.
• Tichondrius gave Frostmourne to King Terenas, while a reconnaissance satellite photographed the scene and sent the images to Herad.
• Herad showed Alleria and Sylvanas the images and explained that Frostmourne was an artifact that corrupted its wielder.
• Xal'atath sent Herad a video of herself holding a strange helmet near the incident, and Herad identified it as the Helm of Domination.
• Herad teleported Xal'atath and himself to the Island Armory so they could examine the helmet.