Recaps

As the Wetlands became safer and more productive, Karin supported farming, crop research, and food preservation while accepting human refugees. The North Khaz Modan Company was established in Grim Batol, and its profits and military backing made the Wetlands a rising power in the Eastern Kingdoms.

• Mages, dwarves, and bounty hunters drove the murlocs and Mossflayer Gnolls toward extinction in the Wetlands.
• Karin accepted human refugees from Stromgarde, Alterac, and Stormwind, and new human settlements appeared across the Wetlands.
• Ansirem Runeweaver researched faster-growing crops, Wadela developed fertilizers, and Arugal created a preservation spell that enabled long-distance transport of fresh meat.
• Kurdran Wildhammer became general manager of the North Khaz Modan Company, while Karin and other contributors received company stakes.
• Revilgaz sent goblins to study the company after its profits and dominance of the Eastern Kingdoms meat market drew widespread attention.

Brann Bronzebeard arrived to see Karin, bringing a letter from King Magni offering to transfer Ironforge’s Wetlands outposts to Karin. The letter also revealed that the Bronzebeards wanted Karin’s help exploring Titan ruins in the Badlands, where the Dark Iron dwarves were also interested.

• Brann traveled from Antonidas Harbor to Stonewrought Dam, where Kurdran Wildhammer confronted him and followed him to the Floating City.
• Karin met Kurdran and Brann, who delivered a letter from his elder brother, King Magni.
• Karin read that Magni was offering Ironforge’s more than twenty Wetlands outposts to him.
• Brann explained that the Bronzebeards had found possible Titan ruins in the Badlands, with earthen inside who might be connected to dwarf origins.
• Brann revealed that the Dark Iron dwarves had their eyes on the ruins, and Kurdran warned Karin to decide carefully.

Karin agreed to help Bryan explore the Titan ruins in the Badlands, which he believed were Uldaman, and assembled an elite expedition to secure the Discs of Norgannon. As the party gathered at Grim Batol, a red Dragon arrived and terrified Bryan.

• Karin recognized the Badlands ruins as likely Uldaman and accepted Bryan’s request to explore them.
• Karin asked Kurdran to gather twenty or thirty elite Gryphon Riders and summoned trusted High Mages for the expedition.
• Kurdran told Anduin Lothar about the expedition, and Lothar asked to join it.
• Bryan toured Naxxramas before Kurdran and the expedition gathered at Grim Batol with about forty Gryphons and several Wizards.
• Bryan recognized Lothar among the assembled riders, then panicked and ran when a red Dragon flew toward Grim Batol.

Karin’s group searched the Badlands for a hidden entrance to Titan ruins while avoiding the Dark Iron Dwarves. Alexstrasza sensed the entrance in a rock wall, and the group blasted it open behind a magical shield.

• Karin led the group into the Badlands at night and landed in a valley Bryan identified as the likely site of the ruins.
• Bryan explained that the Explorer’s League had found Titan traces nearby, while Kurdran complained that the entrance was nowhere to be seen.
• Karin asked Alexstrasza to sense the ruins, and she pointed out an inconspicuous section of rock wall.
• Karin had Arugal and Ruin shield the area with magic while Kurdran set off explosives against the wall.
• Kurdran cleared the shattered rocks, revealing an underground opening, and Bryan confirmed they had found it.

Karin led the group through a cavern toward the buried Titan Ruins and used Arcane positioning to locate a massive gate. He opened it with an Unlock spell, but Lothar sensed something behind it.

• Brann Bronzebeard sent Grybe into the cavern, then led the group inside after the gorilla’s cry confirmed the passage was safe.
• Karin ordered the group to leave the gryphons with guards, while Alexstrasza stayed outside and the others entered the narrow cavern.
• Karin sent several mages into separate tunnels to perform Arcane positioning and used Atiesh to create a map of the cavern.
• Arugal found a metal gate marked with strange symbols, and Bryan identified it as the entrance to the Titan Ruins.
• Bryan suggested using Kurdran’s explosives to open the gate, but Kurdran refused because they were inside a cave.
• Karin cast Unlock and raised the gate, while Lothar warned that something was behind it.

Karin, Lothar, Bryan, and the Wildhammer Dwarves fought their way through a Trogg ambush inside Uldaman. After the Troggs fled, the group reached a larger hall, where Bryan approached a strange sand-table-like object despite Karin’s warning.

• Lothar warned Bryan about danger behind a door, and several Troggs burst out and attacked the group.
• Lothar killed the first Troggs, while Karin recalled the creatures’ origins and warned that the cave restricted the use of powerful magic and explosives.
• Karin cast several strengthening spells on Lothar and used Magic Shields to protect him as Lothar charged into the Troggs.
• Kurdran took Bryan’s musket away to keep him from hitting Lothar, then led the Wildhammer warriors into battle; Bryan joined the fight with the musket as a club.
• The group killed over a hundred Troggs and drove the rest away, then entered a spacious hall supported by metal pillars.
• Bryan hurried toward a strange pile resembling a sand table, and Karin warned him not to touch anything.

Karin’s expedition awakened Ironaya, a Titan Guardian, in Uldaman and destroyed her after she attacked the party. The group continued deeper into the ruins, where Bryan rushed toward a hall filled with dwarf-sized statues.

• Bryan accidentally triggered a hidden door, and Ironaya emerged from the chamber and attacked him.
• Lothar protected Bryan while Karin and the mages combined their power to help Karin cast Imprisonment on Ironaya.
• Karin shattered the imprisoned Ironaya, and the party abandoned plans to teleport out and continued through Uldaman.
• The expedition used mage scouts to check each passage and fought off occasional trogg attacks as they advanced.
• The group entered a hall filled with dwarf-sized statues, and Bryan ran over to embrace one despite Kurdran’s warning.

Bryan and Kurdran discovered ancient statues of Dwarves and Gnomes in Uldaman, then Bryan deciphered a tablet recounting the origins and fate of its Mechagnomes and Earthen. The account ended with the tablet’s author sealing Uldaman again to keep the Troggs imprisoned.

• Bryan showed Kurdran rows of ancient statues resembling Dwarves and Gnomes, and explained that the untouched Titan ruins suggested they were tens of thousands of years old.
• Kurdran found a tablet covered in Titan Script, and Bryan began translating it.
• The tablet’s author recorded that Khaz'goroth created Uldaman, the Mechagnomes, the Earthen, and the imprisoned Troggs, while Ironaya oversaw the facility.
• The tablet described the Curse of Flesh spreading after Ironaya left with Tyr and Archaedas, and explained that Ironaya sealed away the afflicted inhabitants before becoming a statue.
• After awakening ten thousand years later, the tablet’s author opened Uldaman’s gates so the hungry, afflicted Earthen and Mechagnomes could leave.
• The author discovered the Troggs’ cages were failing, used its remaining strength to close Uldaman’s gates, and hoped the departed Earthen and Mechagnomes would live well.

Bryan identified the Earthen as the Dwarves’ ancestors and discovered that Archaedas had taken the Discs of Norgannon to the Seat of Khaz'goroth in Uldaman. The group encountered Dark Iron Dwarves searching the ruins and pursued them, then continued toward the Seat before reinforcements could arrive.

• Bryan concluded that the Earthen became the Dwarves and that the Mechagnomes became the Gnomes, and he linked the name Khaz Modan to Khaz'goroth.
• Karin asked about the Discs of Norgannon, and Bryan found a record saying Archaedas had taken them to the Seat of Khaz'goroth.
• The group traveled deeper into Uldaman, fought off Troggs, and used magic to scare away giant scorpions and bats.
• Lothar noticed someone ahead, and Dark Iron Dwarves attacked the group after Kurdran identified himself.
• Archmage Ruin froze the Dark Iron Wizard, and Karin’s mages defeated several attackers before the survivors fled to alert King Thaurissan.
• Karin ordered the group to continue to the Seat of Khaz'goroth for the Discs while they still had time to escape by teleportation magic.

Karin and his companions opened the treasure vault in Uldaman while Archaedas awakened and the Dark Iron Dwarves closed in. Grybe retrieved the Discs of Norgannon, and Arugal teleported the party away, leaving Archaedas to confront the invaders.

• Karin opened the great door to the Seat of Khaz'goroth and found Archaedas guarding the treasure vault.
• Sandmar reported that hundreds of Dark Iron Dwarves were approaching, so Ruin and the mages went to hold them back while Arugal prepared a Teleportation Circle.
• Karin asked Lothar to stall Archaedas and told Kurdran to prepare to collapse the vault entrance if necessary.
• Karin cast Unlock on the vault as Archaedas awakened and Lothar and the mages held off the Guardian and the statues.
• Grybe squeezed into the partly opened vault and grabbed the Discs of Norgannon, and Arugal teleported the party away.
• The Dark Iron Dwarves entered the Seat of Khaz'goroth and faced the enraged Archaedas and his awakened statues.

Karin examined the Discs of Norgannon and learned they held an immense record of Azeroth's history, too vast and dangerous for him to read. As he concluded the discs had little practical use, the All-Knowing Eye recognized their arcane aura and began analyzing it.

• The chapter recounted how Loken awakened Zakajz and Kith'ix to hunt Tyr after Archaedas and Ironaya stole the Discs of Norgannon.
• Tyr sacrificed himself in a massive Arcane Explosion, killing Kith'ix and gravely wounding Zakajz while allowing Archaedas and Ironaya to escape with the discs.
• Archaedas hid the Discs of Norgannon in the Seat of Khaz'goroth in Uldum, while Tyr's surviving Vrykul buried his silver hand and named the land Tirisfal.
• Karin examined the discs with Bryan's translation and realized they contained an almost infinite amount of compressed information that could overwhelm his mind.
• Karin decided the discs were of little use to him, but the All-Knowing Eye recognized their arcane aura and began its analysis.

After the All-Knowing Eye analyzed the Discs of Norgannon, Karin learned that their storage principles resembled Mystryl's Core and drew on Azeroth's Ley Lines. He decided to try designing a simpler device based on those principles and named his planned creation Norgannon's Core.

• Kurdran invited Bryan, Anduin Lothar, Karin, and the Mages to Grim Batol to celebrate the Dwarves finding their ancestors.
• Karin hurried back to Naxxramas after the All-Knowing Eye announced that its analysis was complete.
• The All-Knowing Eye said the Discs of Norgannon used principles similar to Mystryl's Core, but with far more sophisticated methods.
• Karin reasoned that the discs could store information by drawing arcane energy from Azeroth's Ley Lines.
• Karin decided to explore building a simpler Ley Line-powered magical device and called his idea Norgannon's Core.

Karin tested his Norgannon's Core and proved it could draw energy from the ley line, then improved it for a second experiment. With Kel'Thuzad, Ruin's Wall, and Arugal's help, he landed Naxxramas and replaced its gem-powered flight circle with the core, which made the city rise again.

• Karin used Norgannon's Core in a magic lamp and saw it sustain a faint light by drawing energy from the ley line.
• After another month of work, Karin asked Kel'Thuzad to land Naxxramas so he could test his improved core.
• Kel'Thuzad, Ruin's Wall, and Arugal brought Naxxramas down beside Grim Batol Mountain.
• Karin removed the gems from Naxxramas's flight circle and installed Norgannon's Core in their place.
• Karin activated the circle, and Naxxramas began rising into the air.

Khadgar studied the ruins of the Dark Portal from Nethergarde Keep, where he and the Alliance watched for Hammerfall ogres and magical disturbances. After collecting a piece of the portal and analyzing his readings, he discovered that the arcane energy leaking from it had quadrupled overnight, possibly because something had happened on the other side.

• Khadgar and several Dalaran mages gathered magical data beside the Dark Portal ruins while wearing plate armor for protection.
• Khadgar collected a stone that had fallen from the portal and returned safely to Nethergarde Keep.
• Khadgar examined the stone and his latest data as part of his research into how the Dark Portal worked.
• Khadgar's Magic Device showed that the portal's leaking arcane energy had quadrupled overnight, suggesting that something might have happened on the other side.

Jazba Soulrender and Gul'dan came to the Shadowmoon Clan to persuade Ner'zhul to lead the shattered Horde. Ner'zhul refused until Gul'dan revealed himself, provoking the chieftain to order his warriors to kill the traitor.

• Jazba and fellow Death Knights entered the Shadowmoon village and demanded to see Ner'zhul.
• When a Shadowmoon Warrior refused them, Jazba choked and threw him aside, sparking a confrontation with the clan's warriors.
• Ner'zhul arrived and refused Jazba's request to lead the Horde, blaming himself for the catastrophe caused by his earlier leadership.
• Gul'dan removed his hood and revealed himself to Ner'zhul, who recognized his former student and ordered the Shadowmoon Clan to kill him.
• Gul'dan called Ner'zhul cowardly and incompetent as the warriors surrounded the Death Knights.

Gul'dan and the surviving death knights returned to a dying Draenor, where Ner'zhul accused Gul'dan of treachery. Gul'dan proposed rebuilding the Dark Portal to retrieve powerful artifacts and use them to open a portal to a new world, and Ner'zhul agreed because he wanted to live.

• After Orgrim Doomhammer died, Talon Bloodmaw held off the Alliance while Gul'dan, Jazba, and other death knights escaped Lordaeron and returned to Draenor through the Dark Portal.
• Gul'dan and the death knights found Draenor devastated, with scarce supplies, dying Orcs, and Ner'zhul hiding in Shadowmoon Valley.
• Jazba defended Gul'dan's service to the Horde, but Ner'zhul called him a traitor and ordered his warriors to kill him.
• Gul'dan confronted Ner'zhul, reminded him that Orgrim had already executed him, and claimed he could rebuild the Dark Portal because a spatial rift remained on each world.
• Gul'dan said he wanted to obtain Azeroth's artifacts and use their power to open a portal to a new, living world; Ner'zhul distrusted him but agreed that he wanted to live.

Khadgar detected a brief surge of arcane energy near the Dark Portal and warned that the Horde might be preparing to return. As the Alliance considered how to respond, Karin recalled Ner'zhul's coming invasion and wondered whether to kill him before he could carry out his plans.

• Khadgar told Danath Trollbane that arcane energy near the Dark Portal had briefly risen to three times its usual level, and Danath prepared Nethergarde Keep's soldiers for battle.
• Khadgar wrote to Antonidas and to Kel'Thuzad and Karin to report the disturbance.
• Antonidas shared Khadgar's warning with the Council of Six, where Drenden argued the Horde was too weak to threaten the Alliance and Kael'thas volunteered to investigate the Blasted Lands.
• Karin read Khadgar's letter with Kel'Thuzad and recalled that Ner'zhul would lead the Horde's third invasion to steal four artifacts and escape Draenor.
• Karin considered using the opportunity to kill Ner'zhul, noting that the Book of Medivh and the Eye of Dalaran were already in his possession.

Gul'dan and Ner'zhul set aside their hostility to rebuild the Horde on Draenor and prepare to reopen the Dark Portal. Ner'zhul began rallying the surviving clans while Gul'dan secured the Death Knights' support for his plan.

• Gul'dan found Ner'zhul's Warlocks using fel magic on the Dark Portal and warned that their actions could alert the humans on the other side.
• Ner'zhul agreed to muster the remaining Horde clans, and Gul'dan promised to reopen the portal once they had assembled an army.
• Grommash Hellscream met Hakkarim Deadeye, and the two leaders went to hear Ner'zhul's plan for restoring the Horde.
• Jazba Soulrender praised Gul'dan's bold plan and pledged the Death Knights' loyalty to him as their new leader.

Karin and Kel'Thuzad helped create a second floating city above Loch Modan, which Karin planned to turn into a mobile base for Wildhammer gryphon riders. He intended to prepare for Ner'zhul's coming invasion by giving the riders a way to replenish supplies and explosives during long-range missions.

• Kel'Thuzad and the mages cut off a mountain peak, inverted it, and moved the embryonic floating city over Loch Modan with help from red dragons and Wildhammer dwarves.
• Karin asked Kurdran to bring masons to smooth the city's uneven surface and explained that he planned to build on top of the mountain rather than inside it.
• Karin told Kel'Thuzad that he wanted an ordinary floating city, not a mage tower or aerial fortress, because Ner'zhul was gathering the Horde's remaining forces.
• Karin explained to Kurdran that a flying gryphon base would let riders replenish supplies and carry more explosives on long missions, persuading him of its value.
• Karin searched for the city's center as the place to install Norgannon's Core and said the Horde would receive a surprise if it invaded again.

Ner'zhul urged Grommash and Hakkarim to reunite the Horde before Draenor’s dying clans destroyed one another, and won their support with a plan to find a new world. Watching from the Dark Portal, Gul’dan and Jazba discussed how the fractured Horde could be rallied and hinted that their own plan would soon begin.

• Dentha reported that some clans would not answer Ner’zhul’s call, while others were fighting, refusing to join, or had been wiped out.
• Ner’zhul warned Grommash and Hakkarim that the Horde would perish if it stayed on defiled Draenor, and described the Whiteclaw Clan’s destruction.
• Grommash agreed to recognize Ner’zhul as Warchief again if his plan was sound, and Ner’zhul proposed returning to the human world to find a prosperous new home for the Horde.
• Gul’dan and Jazba watched from the platform as Ner’zhul persuaded the two warriors, then discussed rallying the Horde and putting their true plan into action.

Karin arranged for Edwin VanCleef to build a fortress on the Floating City within one month, then inspected Grim Batol’s weapons production and prepared for another Horde invasion. The chapter ended with Ironforge’s Dwarven Musketeers arriving to serve under Karin for a year.

• Karin hired Edwin VanCleef to build a simple fortress on the Floating City, offering double pay and a one-month deadline.
• Kurdran explained the fortress plans to VanCleef and agreed to provide Dwarven workers as needed.
• Karin and Kurdran inspected Grim Batol, where Red Dragons helped the Wildhammer Dwarves smelt steel and make bomb casings.
• Alchemist Wadela ran an explosives workshop south of Grim Batol while Dwarven craftsmen helped research new weapons.
• King Magni agreed to lend Karin nearly fifteen hundred Dwarven Musketeers, who arrived under Brann Bronzebeard’s leadership.

Khadgar and Danath Trollbane discovered that the Dark Portal's energy had begun fluctuating again and prepared to warn the Alliance and defend Nethergarde Keep. Meanwhile, Ner'zhul gathered a thirty-thousand-strong Horde army at the portal, where Gul'dan began preparations to open it.

• A battlemage reported renewed, powerful fluctuations in the Dark Portal's arcane energy, and Khadgar alerted Danath Trollbane.
• Danath ordered urgent messages sent to Alliance leaders and assembled Nethergarde Keep's troops while Khadgar contacted his mentor and sent a message on magical parchment.
• Halkan Skullhunter pledged the Bonechewer Clan to Ner'zhul after Grommash Hellscream intimidated him, and the Bladewind Clan also joined the Horde.
• Ner'zhul's forces crushed the Redwalker Clan and gathered nearly twenty clans, numbering thirty thousand orcs, at the Dark Portal.
• Gul'dan revealed himself and, at Ner'zhul's command, raised his staff to begin opening the Dark Portal.

Danath Trollbane and Khadgar prepared Nethergarde Keep’s soldiers for the Dark Portal to reopen while they waited for reinforcements. At dawn, orcs poured through the Portal, and Danath led the Alliance cavalry into battle.

• Danath assembled more than two thousand soldiers in the muddy trenches before the Dark Portal and urged them to hold the line.
• Khadgar told Danath that reinforcements would take days to arrive and relayed Karin’s advice to retreat to Nethergarde Keep if the Horde was too numerous.
• After a tense night, Khadgar sensed a powerful arcane fluctuation and warned that the Horde was coming.
• The Dark Portal reopened, and Danath’s archers killed the first orcs to emerge as more streamed into the Blasted Lands.
• Danath charged the orc shield formation with several hundred Alliance cavalrymen, beginning the battle.

Danath and Khadgar retreated to Nethergarde Keep under relentless Horde attacks, and Khadgar exhausted himself casting a spell that helped the Alliance escape. With the keep close to falling, a floating city appeared in the sky and gave Khadgar hope.

• Danath ordered the Alliance soldiers to retreat while he planned to lead the rear guard, but Khadgar stayed behind to cover them.
• Khadgar cast Frozen Land, slowing and freezing the pursuing orcs, then teleported away using a modified fragment of the Dark Portal.
• Khadgar woke after two days and learned the orcs had besieged Nethergarde Keep for a day.
• Khadgar joined Danath on the walls, where the outnumbered Alliance defenders struggled to hold off another major assault.
• Khadgar spotted a dark shadow approaching from the north and realized it was a floating city.

Grommash Hellscream led the Horde through the Dark Portal and attacked a human fortress, while Gul'dan and the Death Knights slipped away. As the orcs launched a final assault, dwarf gryphons began carpet-bombing the battlefield.

• Grommash Hellscream and the Horde overwhelmed the human troops guarding the Dark Portal, then pursued the survivors toward a fortress.
• Gul'dan warned Jazba Soulrender that the Alliance's main army would overwhelm the Horde and left with a dozen Death Knights.
• Grommash led the Warsong Clan in repeated assaults on the fortress, while Hakkarim Deadeye prepared the Bloodmaul Clan for a final attack.
• Hakkarim spotted an island in the sky and recognized the approaching gryphons as dwarf bombers.
• Hakkarim ordered the Horde to retreat, but the gryphons dropped bombs across the battlefield, engulfing the charging orcs in explosions.