Recaps

Karin and Khadgar returned to Dalaran, where Antonidas confined Khadgar to the Violet Citadel for the duration of the war. Karin recruited him to help develop a stable explosive that could let ordinary people wield firepower comparable to a mage's spells.

• Karin, Kel'Thuzad, and Khadgar arrived in Dalaran and visited Antonidas at the Violet Citadel.
• Antonidas praised Karin for helping defend Silvermoon City, then placed a restriction on Khadgar to keep him in Dalaran.
• Antonidas said he planned to leave the Council of Six after the Horde was defeated, and Karin urged him to reconsider.
• Karin led Khadgar to the storeroom and recovered a formula and bags of unstable nitroglycerin.
• Karin explained that he wanted Khadgar to help stabilize the explosive so ordinary people could use it, and Khadgar agreed.

Karin helped Kel'Thuzad devise a plan to build his mage tower as a floating city using Gravity Inversion and other magical methods. Kel'Thuzad named the planned city Naxxramas.

• Kel'Thuzad asked Karin about Khadgar's daily explosions, and Karin explained that Khadgar was building a weapon against the Horde.
• Kel'Thuzad told Karin he dreamed of building his mage tower in the sky, but doubted he could afford to realize the plan.
• Karin took Kel'Thuzad to the mountains and proposed using Gravity Inversion to lift an inverted mountain peak as the floating city's foundation.
• Karin and Kel'Thuzad discussed using powerful levitation magic and magical gems to keep the city aloft and propel it.
• Kel'Thuzad suggested capturing Horde dragons and harnessing their power to drive the city, and Karin agreed the idea was good.
• Kel'Thuzad named his planned floating city Naxxramas.

Blackmoore brought Taretha Foxton to Dalaran to become Lord Karin’s apprentice, while hoping to benefit from her connection. After Khadgar welcomed her and led her to a waiting room, Taretha met another apprentice, Jaina Proudmoore.

• Blackmoore presented Karin’s letter to a Dalaran battlemage, who recognized the seal and escorted him and Taretha into the city.
• At the Violet Citadel, a guard told Taretha that Karin was away but had arranged for her to be admitted, and Blackmoore left after urging her to study and obey.
• Khadgar received Taretha and brought her to a room where Karin’s other apprentice was waiting.
• Taretha introduced herself to Jaina Proudmoore, who greeted her warmly.

As Naxxramas took shape, Karin returned to Dalaran and found Antonidas teaching his apprentices Jaina and Taretha. After telling Jaina about her brother Derek, Karin began their first lesson by explaining that wisdom mattered more than magic and introducing unfamiliar number symbols.

• Antonidas and Kel'Thuzad advanced Naxxramas's construction, and Kel'Thuzad told Karin that he could leave the work to him.
• Karin returned to the Violet Citadel and found Khadgar listening outside the room where Antonidas taught Jaina and Taretha about the schools of arcane magic.
• Antonidas praised Jaina's talent, declined to take either girl as his student, and said he would teach them occasionally.
• Khadgar told Karin that mixing nitroglycerin with fiber or starch made it more stable and powerful.
• Jaina asked Karin about her brother Derek, and Karin described how Derek had fought the Horde's red dragons and died in battle.
• Karin told Jaina and Taretha that wisdom was a mage's true strength, then wrote the numbers one through nine on the wall and said they contained the entire world.

Khadgar organized Dalaran’s alchemists and clothmakers to produce ingredients for a powerful new explosive, while Karin arranged for iron-cased bombs to be made for the war against the Horde. The chapter ended with Karin handing one of the bombs to Kurdran Wildhammer, hoping the Dwarf Gryphon Riders could use it against the Horde.

• Khadgar asked Detris Wadela to devote the Alchemy Workshop to producing the dangerous liquid, and Wadela estimated that it could make ten to twenty tons per month.
• Khadgar ordered Lan’erla Brightweave to supply all her runecloth stock after washing out the dyes and drying it thoroughly.
• Khadgar explained to Karin that combining the liquid with cloth fibers created an explosive far stronger than Dwarven black powder, though production would remain limited.
• Khadgar gave Karin an iron-cased bomb made by Orald Schmiel and said the Dwarf blacksmiths could be gathered to manufacture more.
• Karin met Kurdran Wildhammer by Lake Lordamere and handed him the bomb, warning him to handle it carefully.

Karin and Khadgar tested an iron bomb with Kurdran Wildhammer, who was impressed by its destructive power. Meanwhile, Deathwing met Orgrim Doomhammer with a display of black dragons, and Orgrim ordered Cho'gall to seek help accelerating the orcs' maturation.

• Karin and Khadgar persuaded Kurdran to test the iron bomb despite his disdain for explosives.
• Kurdran threw the bomb into a grove, where its blast destroyed trees and left him eager to bring the weapon to Aerie Peak.
• A scout told Orgrim that Lord Prestor had arrived to see him.
• Deathwing displayed his black dragons against the red dragons under Orgrim's command and offered them as a stronger force.
• Orgrim declined Deathwing's offer for the moment and ordered Cho'gall to find Nekros and Zuluhed and teach them the Stormreaver method for accelerating orc maturation.

Meralas Turalyon delivered Lord Lothar’s summons to Kurdran Wildhammer, calling him to Dalaran to prepare for a post-winter attack on the Horde. At Grim Batol, the Dragonmaw Clan began using a fel spell to rapidly mature a red wyrmling after Nekros threatened its mother and destroyed one of her eggs.

• Kurdran Wildhammer trained his Gryphon Riders on the snowy shores of Lake Lordamere.
• Meralas Turalyon found Kurdran and told him that Lord Lothar wanted him in the Violet City to prepare for a surprise attack on the Horde.
• Kurdran left the training ground on Skare, telling Falarek to oversee the recruits while Turalyon hurried after him.
• Nekros Skullcrusher told Zuluhed and Cho'gall that the red dragon mother had resisted their experiment until he threatened her eggs and broke one.
• Cho'gall explained that the fel spell could mature a juvenile in half a month, while Nekros warned that past subjects had died horribly.
• Cho'gall and the former Shadow Council members cast the spell on a wyrmling as its mother wept from deep within Grim Batol.

Kurdran joined the Alliance war council, where Lothar confirmed that the Wildhammer gryphon riders had secret weapons against the Horde’s red dragons. Karin warned that the Horde could attack Lordaeron by sea, and Lothar ordered Uther to defend Southshore while asking Dalaran to prepare for a surprise assault.

• Turalyon escorted Kurdran into the Violet Citadel’s conference room, where Kurdran sat beside Karin and Khadgar and learned the names of the council members.
• Lothar asked Kurdran whether the Wildhammer gryphon riders had weapons capable of dealing with dragons, and Kurdran promised they would defend the Alliance’s control of the skies while keeping the weapons secret.
• Danath Trollbane assured Lothar that Stromgarde could hold the Thandol Span against an attack.
• Karin warned the council that the Horde might launch a northern landing by sea and identified Southshore as the likeliest target.
• Lothar ordered Uther to take his men to Southshore and told Antonidas that Dalaran should prepare for a surprise attack.

Karin warned the Kirin Tor that the Horde might use red dragons to attack Dalaran, and Krasus and Anduin Lothar supported his prediction. The chapter revealed that Zaela was leading a growing Dragonmaw vanguard toward Dalaran, with the clan preparing to burn the city.

• Karin told Antonidas and the other leaders that his vision showed red dragons attacking Dalaran in early spring.
• Drenden and Modera doubted the warning, while Kael'thas and Kel'Thuzad argued that the Horde could strike Dalaran.
• Krasus reported that Horde warlocks were rapidly growing wyrmlings into combat-ready dragons, and Anduin Lothar judged Dalaran a likely target.
• The Council's members largely accepted the threat, while Kurdran complained that their discussion was taking too long.
• Zaela led more than twenty red dragons north as the Dragonmaw Clan's vanguard, following Orgrim's order to destroy Dalaran.

Kurdran Wildhammer and Dalaran prepared an ambush as Zaela led the Dragonmaw Clan’s red dragons to attack the city. With Dalaran surrounded by a hundred dragons, Kurdran and the Gryphon Riders waited to strike.

• Kurdran learned that about twenty dragons had appeared and received Karin’s order not to attack until he saw the signal.
• Zaela recalled the Horde’s destruction of Shattrath as she led her red dragons toward Dalaran.
• Zaela’s dragons set human towns ablaze and fought a small group of Dalaran wizards, forcing them to retreat.
• Zaela ordered an all-out assault and sent a hundred red dragons to surround Dalaran on Cross Island.
• Kurdran stood ready with the Gryphon Riders and Dalaran’s Archmages, gripping an iron ball as they awaited his command.

Antonidas and the Council of Six used the Eye of Dalaran to cast a spell that trapped and weakened the red dragons above Cross Island. Karin and Kurdran launched a surprise attack on the confused dragons and their orc riders.

• Antonidas opened the Eye of Dalaran and joined the Council of Six in channeling its power through his staff, Alcuus.
• The spell enveloped Dalaran in pale-blue light and drew power toward the skies above Cross Island.
• Zaela's red dragon and the other dragons panicked, slowed, and began fleeing, while some immature dragons turned toward the city.
• Karin signaled the attack, and Kurdran led the Wildhammer Gryphon Riders and Dalaran mages against the dragons and orcs.

Kurdran Wildhammer, Ansirem Runeweaver, and Dalaran’s defenders slaughtered the weakened red dragons as they fled over the city. Jaina watched from the edge of Dalaran as the battle ended, crying at the sight of Lake Lordamere turning red with blood.

• Kurdran Wildhammer avenged Faland by killing a red dragon with an explosive Iron Ball, then urged the Wildhammer Dwarves to avenge their fallen kin.
• Kurdran’s gryphon riders attacked the red dragons in coordinated groups, striking their vital spots with explosives.
• Ansirem Runeweaver pursued the fleeing dragons and killed one with powerful spells, replenishing his energy with a Mana Surge Potion.
• Karin told Ansirem Runeweaver that Antonidas’s spell had left the dragons too weak to fight, but Ansirem continued pursuing them.
• Khadgar directed the aerial battle from Krasus Square while Jaina and Taretha watched from outside the city.
• Jaina cried as she saw the blood from the dead dragons turn Lake Lordamere red.

The Alliance defended Southshore against the Horde’s landing, then withdrew to a second line as planned. Orgrim learned that the Dragonmaw Clan had been nearly wiped out at Dalaran.

• Uther, Alleria, Sylvanas, Turalyon, and Muradin prepared Southshore’s defenses as the Horde fleet approached.
• A strange pale-blue glow appeared over Dalaran while the Horde began landing, and Uther led the Alliance in fighting them off.
• Alleria ran out of arrows, and Sylvanas told her to prepare to retreat as Lothar’s retreat horn sounded.
• The Horde captured Southshore, but Orgrim noticed the Alliance had regrouped farther inland to establish another defensive line.
• Zaela returned from Dalaran badly wounded and told Orgrim that the Dragonmaw Clan had been almost completely wiped out.

After Dalaran survived the Dragonhunt War, Kel'Thuzad brought Karin to meet Krasus at his mage tower. Krasus revealed that he was a red dragon and transformed before Karin.

• The mages and Gryphon Riders retrieved the dead red dragons from Lake Lordamere while Dalaran tended to its wounded.
• Kel'Thuzad left the Guardian's Hall and learned from Khadgar that Karin was being treated for a minor injury.
• Kel'Thuzad found Karin leaving At Your Urgent Need Hospital and told him that Krasus wanted to see him.
• Karin went to Krasus's tower alone, where the apprentice Rhonin let him upstairs.
• Krasus confessed to Karin that his true identity was a red dragon, then transformed into one.

Karin confronted Krasus after learning he was the red dragon Korialstrasz, and Krasus revealed that the Horde had enslaved the red dragons by using the Dragon Soul to imprison Alexstrasza. Karin agreed to lead a rescue mission to Grim Batol under strict conditions, and the group prepared to depart.

• Krasus revealed that he was Korialstrasz, and Karin said Archmage Antonidas had already suspected he was a dragon.
• Krasus explained that the orcs had imprisoned Alexstrasza at Grim Batol with the Dragon Soul and forced her to hatch wyrmlings for the Horde.
• Krasus told Karin that he had infiltrated Grim Batol but could not resist the Dragon Soul's power.
• Karin said he still had doubts, then required that the group treat every red dragon they encountered as an enemy and that he or Kel'Thuzad lead the operation.
• Krasus accepted Karin's conditions, and Karin said they would leave that day and asked Krasus to gather free red dragons to fight with them.

Karin told Khadgar and Kel'Thuzad that Krasus was a red dragon and proposed attacking Grim Batol while the Horde was occupied in Hillsbrad. He then called on Kurdran Wildhammer to gather Gryphon Riders and revealed that they were heading for the red dragons’ lair.

• Karin left Krasus's White Tower with Khadgar and Kel'Thuzad and took them to a secluded room at The Pig and the Whistle.
• Karin explained that Krasus was a red dragon who wanted help rescuing the Red Dragon Queen, and he agreed to attack Grim Batol.
• Karin shared an additional plan with Khadgar and Kel'Thuzad, who both agreed to join it.
• Kurdran brought Jaina a gryphon egg and then went to Karin's study when summoned.
• Karin told Kurdran to select loyal Gryphon Riders and revealed that they were going to Grim Batol.

Orgrim Doomhammer faced mounting losses and daily Alliance air raids, so he ordered Cho'gall to seek the black dragons' help. Meanwhile, Karin Sunfury led a covert squad toward Grim Batol, where he planned to exploit Deathwing's interests to infiltrate the stronghold within three days.

• Dwarven gryphon riders bombed the Horde camp, worsening its supply problems and slowing its northern advance.
• Eitrigg suggested withdrawing to Khaz Modan, but Orgrim rejected the retreat and ordered Cho'gall to contact the black dragons near Grim Batol.
• Kurdran Wildhammer guided Karin Sunfury's mixed squad through former Bronzebeard lands, and Karin ordered them to hide in a forest until nightfall.
• Kel'Thuzad placed protective magic around the camp while Arugal scouted and Ruin prevented Khadgar from lighting a fire.
• Karin concluded that Deathwing had helped the orcs find the Dragon Soul and planned to use the black dragon's interest in Grim Batol to infiltrate it within three days.

Krasus gathered three powerful red dragons to infiltrate Blackrock Mountain and capture Nefarian in hopes of forcing Deathwing to release the Red Dragon Queen. They reached Nefarian’s lair, where they found the wounded Vaelastrasz and confronted Nefarian.

• Korialstrasz told Caelestrasz, Nostrastrasz, and Tederastrasz that he had failed to reach the Red Dragon Queen at Grim Batol and proposed capturing Nefarian as leverage against Deathwing.
• The four red dragons found and destroyed the Orb of Command in Blackrock Spire, then used it to enter a hall inside Blackrock Mountain.
• The disguised dragons killed the black dragonkin Razorgore after he challenged them.
• Krasus found Vaelastrasz gravely wounded beside Nefarian and recognized that Nefarian had tortured him.
• Krasus confronted Nefarian, who transformed into a black dragon and realized he faced five red dragons.

Karin’s party waited for the black dragons to leave before setting out to attack Grim Batol. At Blackwing Lair, Deathwing arrived in time to rescue Nefarian from the red dragons, then realized Grim Batol had been left vulnerable.

• Karin spotted black dragons flying south and ordered his party to prepare to strike Grim Batol once they had passed.
• Nefarian was cornered by Krasus and the other red dragons, who demanded his surrender and planned to exchange him for Alexstrasza.
• Onyxia arrived to help Nefarian, and Deathwing soon joined them.
• Nefarian summoned Chromaggus, but Deathwing defeated the red dragons and offered them to Nefarian as experimental subjects.
• Deathwing realized that the attack on Blackwing Lair had been a distraction and that Grim Batol was under threat.

Karin led a group of mages and Wildhammer dwarves into Grim Batol through a secret tunnel while a diversion attacked the main gate. As Zuluhed learned of the invasion and went to move Nekros and his artifact, Karin’s group pressed deeper into the city to find their target before Deathwing returned.

• After the group killed a black dragon that had raised the alarm, Karin sent Ruin and Arugal with mages and gryphon riders to attack Grim Batol’s main gate while he led the others into a secret entrance with Kurdran.
• Kel'Thuzad silenced an approaching orc patrol with magic, and Khadgar moved the corpses out of sight.
• The attack at the main gate drew Grim Batol’s red dragons and Dragonmaw warriors away from the city’s interior.
• A scout told Zuluhed that humans and dwarves had attacked the gate and some had infiltrated Grim Batol, so Zuluhed ordered forces to defend the entrance.
• Worried that the intruders might reach Nekros and his artifact, Zuluhed headed deeper into Grim Batol to move them.

Karin’s group outmaneuvered the Dragonmaw Clan, stole the Dragon Soul, and freed Alexstrasza. The chapter ended with Karin holding the artifact and asking the All-Knowing Eye to examine it.

• Zuluhed rushed to warn Nekros that humans and dwarves had entered Grim Batol, but Nekros trusted the Dragon Soul and Tiranastasz to protect him.
• Khadgar appeared from invisibility and took the Dragon Soul from Nekros, prompting Tiranastasz to burn Nekros and nearly all his subordinates to ashes.
• Zuluhed realized the intruders had deceived him and ordered the Dragonmaw Clan to retreat.
• Karin explained that his group had disguised themselves as orcs and tricked Zuluhed into leading Khadgar to Nekros.
• Khadgar passed the Dragon Soul to Karin as Alexstrasza was freed, and Karin asked the All-Knowing Eye to examine the artifact.

Karin used the Dragon Soul to subdue Alexstrasza and the red dragons, then confronted the Red Dragon Queen over the deaths caused by her offspring. As he anticipated the arrival of Deathwing, Naxxramas appeared in the sky.

• Karin learned from the All-Knowing Eye that the Dragon Soul could subdue dragons but would not corrupt mortals, then used it to weaken Tiranastasz and the red dragons.
• Alexstrasza begged Karin to stop, but he accused her of allowing the orcs to use her offspring to kill his people and a dear friend.
• Ansirem Runeweaver killed a young red dragon who tried to defend Alexstrasza, and Karin smashed a red dragon egg in front of the queen.
• Karin dismissed Alexstrasza's warnings about the other Dragon Aspects and predicted that Deathwing would appear.
• Khadgar heard something approaching, and Kel'Thuzad identified it as Naxxramas.

Karin refused Alexstrasza’s warning and remained determined to avenge Derek and obtain the Dragon Soul. As Naxxramas hovered over Grim Batol, Deathwing arrived and confronted Karin, who revealed that he knew the black dragon’s scheme was aimed at the dragon eggs.

• Karin recalled Derek’s death and resolved to punish the red dragons responsible, despite Alexstrasza’s threat.
• Naxxramas hovered above Grim Batol while the defeated Dragonmaw Clan fled toward the Wetlands and red dragons remained trapped near the city.
• Kel’Thuzad teleported the human mages onto Naxxramas, where Ansirem Runeweaver, Arugal, and Khadgar marveled at the floating fortress.
• Alexstrasza emerged from Grim Batol and faced Deathwing, who admitted the orcs had acted on his orders.
• Karin spoke to Deathwing from Naxxramas and said he knew Deathwing wanted the dragon eggs.

Deathwing threatened Alexstrasza’s dragon eggs and captured red dragons to force her to surrender them, while Karin tried to prevent a battle. The chapter ended with Karin bringing the Eye of Dalaran close to the Dragon Soul, forcing Deathwing and Alexstrasza to confront the danger of both artifacts being destroyed.

• Deathwing revealed that he intended to steal Alexstrasza’s eggs to replenish the Black Dragonflight and threatened Korialstrasz and three of her other offspring.
• Karin offered to broker a compromise, but Alexstrasza and Deathwing both rejected his proposal.
• Onyxia flew toward Karin’s Floating City, but he raised the Eye of Dalaran and made her retreat.
• Kel'Thuzad explained that Karin had been chosen as the Council of Six’s future successor, granting him the right to use the Eye of Dalaran.
• Karin brought the Eye close to the Dragon Soul, and Deathwing and Alexstrasza shouted for him to stop as they realized the explosion could destroy the dragons and eggs nearby.

Karin used the threat of the Dragon Soul and the Eye of Dalaran to force Deathwing and Alexstrasza into a compromise over the Red Dragon eggs. He then demanded that Deathwing release the captured Red Dragons, leaving the exchange unresolved.

• Karin considered how to keep Deathwing from falling under the Old Gods’ control and recognized that the arcanite bars holding Deathwing together could be shattered with an Unlock spell.
• Deathwing weighed the threat to the Dragon Soul and the survival of the Black Dragonflight, then agreed to leave with his kin if Alexstrasza gave him her Dragon Eggs.
• Karin asked Alexstrasza to choose, and she agreed to hand the Dragon Eggs to Neltharion to protect her family and flight.
• Karin demanded that Deathwing release the captured Red Dragons, suggesting Alexstrasza exchange her Dragon Eggs for them.