Recaps

Karin faced Khadgar in the eleventh mage duel, using Imprisonment to destroy Khadgar’s water elemental after the two traded spells. Their battle remained underway as the chapter ended.

• Polly Moni defeated a tall conjuration mage, and the tournament continued through several more duels.
• Modera announced Karin and Khadgar as the eleventh pair, and both revealed they majored in abjuration and minored in evocation.
• Karin and Khadgar cast Frost Armor, then Khadgar summoned a water elemental while Karin dodged their attacks with a teleport.
• Khadgar split up to pursue Karin, but Karin trapped and crushed the water elemental with Imprisonment.
• Antonidas praised Karin’s skill to Kael'thas, who recognized how much Karin had improved.

Karin used black powder to intensify his Flame Shock and force a final clash with Khadgar, despite the ice walls and his opponent’s advantage. A huge explosion engulfed both mages, leaving the winner unknown.

• Khadgar trapped Karin inside narrowing ice walls, forcing them to fight at close range.
• Kael'thas judged Karin likely to lose but praised his talent and considered asking him to study under him.
• Karin, frustrated by the contempt he had felt in Dalaran, chose to continue fighting rather than concede.
• Karin and Khadgar raised Arcane Barriers and prepared Flame Shock spells.
• Karin scattered black powder to increase the phlogiston in the air, and their spells collided in a tremendous explosion that obscured the outcome.

Karin defeated Khadgar in the magical duel and was accepted as a student by Archmage Antonidas. He told his new teacher that he studied magic to understand more of the world and change it.

• Karin used magical reagents to strengthen his final Flame Shock and defeated Khadgar, who asked how he had done it.
• Archmage Modera declared Karin the winner, and a Battlemage escorted him and Khadgar to rest.
• Antonidas offered to apply for an exception to take Karin as an apprentice, and Karin accepted, encouraged by Kael'thas.
• Kael'thas explained to Rommath that he had let Antonidas take Karin because he had missed his earlier chance to win Karin over and believed Antonidas was the better teacher for arcane research.
• Antonidas asked Karin why he studied magic, and Karin said he wanted to understand more of the world and change it.

Karin packed up and moved from The Pig and the Whistle into the Violet Citadel with Khadgar. There, they met Antonidas’s stern student Kel'Thuzad, who showed them their room while Antonidas was away in Lordaeron.

• Karin packed his belongings while Khadgar read his notes and discovered Karin’s gunpowder trick from their duel.
• Karin paid Soriel thirty silver coins for his room, then left the tavern with Khadgar.
• A black-robed mage escorted Karin and Khadgar by carriage to the Violet Citadel and warned them not to touch anything dangerous.
• The mage assigned Karin the room’s only bed for the month because he had won their duel, leaving Khadgar to sleep on the floor.
• Karin learned that Antonidas had gone to Lordaeron and that the mage in black was named Kel'Thuzad.

Kel'Thuzad took Khadgar and Karin to the Violet Citadel's Training Grounds and tested their spellcasting. He corrected Karin's misunderstanding of Imprisonment and assigned both young mages extensive Mana Shield practice.

• Kel'Thuzad ordered Khadgar and Karin to change into their robes and bring their weapons, then revealed that he had reached the sixth ring and could advance to the seventh.
• Kel'Thuzad brought Khadgar and Karin to the Training Grounds and gave them Staffs of Jordan to use.
• Kel'Thuzad shattered Khadgar's Mana Shield with fourth-ring power and ordered him to practice the spell fifteen hundred times.
• Kel'Thuzad praised Karin's control but explained that Imprisonment worked by expelling the air inside a Mana Shield, then demonstrated by breaking a staff into fragments.
• Kel'Thuzad ordered Karin to practice Imprisonment on Khadgar, and Karin thanked him as a senior fellow student.

The narrator recorded settling into the Violet Citadel as Archmage Antonidas's student, making friends with Khadgar and Kel'Thuzad, and advancing to the Fourth Ring. After attending a diplomatic gathering in Alterac, the narrator learned Liadrin would soon arrive in Dalaran and hurried back to prepare.

• The narrator defeated Khadgar at a banquet, became Antonidas's student, and moved into the Violet Citadel.
• The narrator became roommates with Khadgar and met Kel'Thuzad, then received lessons from Antonidas.
• The narrator advanced from the Third Ring to the Fourth Ring after winning Dalaran's sailing race with Khadgar.
• Kael'thas invited the narrator to his Winter Veil ball and spoke with him cordially without trying to recruit him.
• The narrator and Khadgar attended an invitation in Alterac, where the narrator saw Aiden Perenolde and Alex Barov.
• The narrator received Liadrin's letter announcing her arrival in Dalaran in ten days and hurried back to prepare.

Karin and Khadgar fought and joked while discussing Karin’s nerves about meeting Liadrin, who was traveling to Dalaran. Liadrin arrived safely and spotted Karin waiting for her.

• Khadgar stole Karin’s notebook, failed to read its strange writing, and was punched by Karin.
• Karin told Khadgar that his friend was arriving in Dalaran in about ten days, and Khadgar proposed staging a rescue that Karin rejected.
• The Goblin captain announced that The Broken was nearing Dalaran, and Liadrin nervously watched the city approach.
• Liadrin disembarked in unfamiliar Dalaran and waved to Karin when she saw him waiting nearby.

Liadrin arrived in Dalaran and reunited with Karin, then delivered a letter and message to Prince Kael'thas before meeting Karin's mentor, Archmage Antonidas. Antonidas gave Karin a few days off to spend with Liadrin, and they left together.

• Liadrin reunited with Karin at Krasus' Landing and met his roommate, Khadgar.
• Karin took Liadrin to Sunstrider Spire, where she got an audience with Prince Kael'thas by invoking Lady Biluo Hua's name.
• Liadrin warned Karin to stay away from Capernian after their visit to the spire.
• Karin introduced Liadrin to Kel'Thuzad and brought her to meet Archmage Antonidas.
• Antonidas asked Liadrin about her journey and Silvermoon City, then gave Karin a few days off to spend with her.

Kel'Thuzad invited Karin, Liadrin, and Khadgar to dinner at his home, where they met his wife Daisy and learned about his family life. After Liadrin spent ten days in Dalaran, she departed for Silvermoon City, reassured about Karin's life there.

• Kel'Thuzad nervously invited Karin, Liadrin, and Khadgar to dinner at his home, and they accepted.
• Kel'Thuzad brought them to his lakeside home, where they met his wife Daisy.
• Daisy served a generous dinner, and Kel'Thuzad told his friends how he and Daisy had met and married.
• Mr. Bigglesworth returned home, and Kel'Thuzad called him and Daisy his family before including his friends too.
• Liadrin boarded the airship to Silvermoon City after telling Karin she no longer worried about him in Dalaran.

Karin worked with alchemist Wadela to obtain nitroglycerin and tested whether it could boost fire spells by concentrating phlogiston. After experiments with Kel'Thuzad and Khadgar, Karin produced a weak, unstable Pyroblast, demonstrating that a Fourth Ring mage could begin casting the Fifth Ring spell.

• While Karin practiced Globe of Invulnerability, Antonidas explained that it required targeting a simulated future threat, then left after receiving a letter.
• Wadela gave Karin nitroglycerin made from glycerin and strong acid, along with its formula and warnings about its instability.
• Karin summoned Kel'Thuzad to provide defensive spells and explained that he planned to use nitroglycerin to enhance fire evocation.
• Karin, Kel'Thuzad, and Khadgar tested the explosive in the Training Grounds, and Kel'Thuzad judged that it could break ordinary defenses below the Third Ring.
• After repeated experiments, Karin formed a meteor-like Pyroblast, but the fireball fell before reaching its target; Kel'Thuzad called the result an astonishing discovery.

Karin successfully used nitroglycerin to cast a fireball with the power of a fifth-ring Pyroblast, raising questions about the limits of spell slots. After Archmage Antonidas affirmed the experiment, Kel'Thuzad shared an ancient passage describing mages as modifiers of order.

• Karin adjusted his experiment and cast a nitroglycerin-enhanced fireball that Kel'Thuzad judged comparable to a fifth-ring Pyroblast.
• Khadgar and Kel'Thuzad considered whether Pyroblast might require only a fourth-ring spell slot and agreed to keep the discovery confidential.
• Karin demonstrated the spell to Archmage Antonidas, who confirmed the experiment and supported further research.
• Karin went to the Violet Citadel's roof and imagined using more powerful explosives or nuclear reactions to defeat enemies such as the Lich King, Archimonde, and Sargeras.
• Kel'Thuzad told Karin that an ancient book described mages as modifiers of order rather than blind followers of it.

Antonidas investigated the disappearance of Alexis while two powerful strangers secretly entered the Violet Citadel. After they subdued Khadgar and Antonidas confronted them, the strangers identified themselves as Nalaras Sunstrider and Meryl Eastwind, representatives of the Council of Tirisfal seeking help.

• Antonidas learned from Alexis's student that Alexis had been missing for nearly four months after investigating near Karazhan.
• Nalaras Sunstrider and the cloaked Meryl Eastwind appeared in Dalaran and headed for the Violet Citadel.
• Khadgar encountered the strangers, sensed their immense power, and tried to send a warning, but Nalaras put him to sleep.
• Antonidas rescued Khadgar and trapped the intruders in barriers, but they broke free and revealed their power as Ninth Ring mages.
• Nalaras Sunstrider and Meryl Eastwind introduced themselves to Antonidas and said they represented the Council of Tirisfal and had come to ask for his help.

Nalaras and Meryl convinced Antonidas that they belonged to the secret Council of Tirisfal, which had been established to fight demons. They warned that Medivh might have betrayed the council and asked Dalaran to help prepare for a demonic threat, find Alexis, and investigate Karazhan.

• Nalaras proved his Sunstrider lineage by summoning a phoenix, while Meryl explained how he had become undead and presented a token from Adogan.
• Meryl told Antonidas that the Council of Tirisfal secretly fought demons drawn by the use of arcane magic.
• Nalaras and Meryl revealed that five council members had disappeared, including Alexis, who had last gone to Karazhan to meet Medivh.
• Meryl and Nalaras said they suspected Medivh had sided with demons and was plotting something dangerous.
• Antonidas agreed that finding Alexis was Dalaran's duty, while Meryl urged Dalaran to prepare for demons and send mages to investigate Medivh if possible.

Karin refused Lord Aedelas Blackmoore’s request for tax relief and collected the full amount owed at Durnholde Keep. After meeting young Taretha, he received a message from his mentor and set off for Southshore to return to Dalaran.

• Blackmoore pleaded with Karin to reduce the taxes, claiming a poor harvest would leave his farmers hungry and freezing, but Karin refused and directed him to seek help from Antonidas or Modera.
• Taretha rushed into the hall to report that something had happened to Falarin, and Blackmoore angrily ordered her out before offering to give her to Karin.
• Karin claimed Taretha might have arcane talent and rejected Blackmoore’s suggestion that he take her to Dalaran.
• Karin left Durnholde Keep with the full tax payment and received a letter from his mentor summoning him back to Dalaran.
• Karin decided to travel to Southshore for a gryphon, while Taretha watched him leave from a window.

Karin and Khadgar investigated the disappearance of Archmage Alexis at his Mage Tower, where they found a magically protected Notebook among his belongings. They left with the Notebook to show Antonidas, while Alexis's fate remained unknown.

• Antonidas told Karin and Khadgar that Alexis had been missing for four months and might have been killed by demons.
• Karin and Khadgar went to Alexis's Mage Tower and met Polly Moni, Alexis's apprentice, who said he had left in a hurry four months earlier.
• Polly led them to Alexis's study after Khadgar showed Antonidas's signed permission.
• Khadgar opened a sealed jar and learned it contained Alexis's powdered Khaz Modan black tea.
• Karin found a golden Notebook in a locked drawer, and he told Khadgar to take it back to Antonidas for inspection.

Meryl Winterwind, Nalaras Sunstrider, and Archmage Antonidas used Karin to lure a demon into a trap based on Alexis's notes. Karin recognized the demon as the one he had encountered in the Ghostlands, and the chapter ended with the summoning ritual complete and Karin fleeing as the demon realized it had been tricked.

• Archmage Antonidas showed Meryl Winterwind and Nalaras Sunstrider Alexis's notebook, which described his plan to summon and destroy the demon connected to the Council members' deaths.
• Meryl proposed using Alexis's method to summon and interrogate the demon, and Antonidas offered Karin as bait because the demon might believe him.
• Archmage Antonidas brought Karin to a grove in Silverpine Forest, where a hooded mage and an elven mage had prepared a summoning circle.
• Karin contacted the demon and recognized its voice from his earlier encounter over the Ghostlands.
• Karin pretended to accept the demon's offer of power, then fled when Archmage Antonidas signaled that the ritual was complete and the demon roared in anger.

Karin watched Antonidas, Nalaras, and Meryl defeat and capture the Eredar lord Baladul, then learned the Violet Hold would be used to interrogate him. In distant Outland, Vindicator Larohi urged Prophet Velen to abandon half the Draenei in Shattrath so the rest could escape the pursuing orcs.

• Baladul attacked Karin, but Antonidas shielded him and confronted the demon alongside Nalaras and Meryl.
• Nalaras and the phoenix injured Baladul while Antonidas restrained him, and Meryl’s Spatial Lock prevented his escape through a portal.
• After the battle, Karin returned to find Baladul bound, and Antonidas sent him through a portal to the Violet Hold for interrogation.
• In Shattrath, Velen planned to abandon the city and lead the Draenei away as the Horde approached.
• Larohi told Velen that half the Draenei had to die in Shattrath to convince the orcs they had fulfilled Kil’jaeden’s orders, and offered to stay behind with them.

Antonidas and his allies failed to make the imprisoned demon Baladul reveal useful information, while Khadgar advanced to the fifth ring. On Draenor, Velen reached Telredor after Shattrath fell, and Blackhand sent the Horde’s clans to conquer the remaining lands.

• Antonidas, Meryl Winterwind, and Nalaras Sunstrider tortured and questioned Baladul, but he refused to reveal anything and taunted them about the Burning Legion and Kil'jaeden.
• Meryl warned that demons could only be permanently killed in the Twisting Nether, and Antonidas said they might have to seek help from their other friends.
• Velen led the surviving Draenei to Telredor, where Exarch Larohi’s earlier defense of Shattrath and the city’s destruction were recounted.
• Blackhand celebrated the fall of Shattrath and ordered the Horde clans to attack Farahlon, Highmaul, the Blade's Edge Mountains, and Skyreach.
• A scout reported that Rexxar and the Mok'Nathal Clan wanted to join the Horde if Blackhand spared their people, and Blackhand welcomed the request before sending the clans out.

Gul'dan was defeated by a mysterious stranger who warned him to build a portal at the easternmost edge of Hellfire Peninsula if Draenor was doomed. Back at Karazhan, Medivh struggled with his changing moods and planned to request an apprentice from Dalaran, while Antonidas brought Alonsus Faol to question the imprisoned demon Baladul.

• Gul'dan attacked a mysterious hooded stranger, who overpowered him and told him where to build a portal if Draenor was about to be destroyed.
• The stranger transformed into a raven and flew to Karazhan, where Medivh returned and suffered another painful change in his demeanor.
• Moroes told Medivh that his Stormwind apprentice had left, and Medivh decided to ask the Kirin Tor for an apprentice from Dalaran.
• Antonidas escorted Alonsus Faol to the Violet Hold and asked him to uncover a secret from the imprisoned Eredar lord Baladul's mind.
• Faol agreed to do his best to break Baladul's will.

Archmage Alonsus Faol showed the mages memories revealing that demonic minions had established an outpost in the Kingdom of Azeroth, prompting them to hurry to warn King Llane. Meanwhile, Gul'dan led the starving Horde through the Dark Portal toward Azeroth.

• Faol showed Antonidas, Meryl, and Nalaras visions of green-skinned monsters marching through a portal from a fel-corrupted land.
• The mages saw the monsters building an outpost in the southern Swamp of Sorrows and realized demons were invading their world.
• Meryl and Nalaras urged the others to warn King Llane, while Meryl reminded Antonidas not to forget her earlier warning about Medivh.
• Gul'dan reflected on Draenor's devastation, the Horde's famine, and the Man in Black's promise of a fertile new world.
• Gul'dan rallied the assembled Horde beneath Hellfire Citadel and ordered them to claim Azeroth.
• The orcs surged through the Dark Portal toward Azeroth.

After Karin became a Fifth Ring mage, Antonidas arranged for Magnus Manastorm to teach him Mind Sealing, a spell that could conceal selected memories. Once Karin mastered it, Antonidas showed him an invitation from Karazhan.

• Karin broke through to the Fifth Ring after a week of intensive guidance from Antonidas.
• Magnus Manastorm arrived in Dalaran and explained that Mind Sealing could hide memories from anyone else’s detection.
• Karin learned Mind Sealing from Magnus over the following week and mastered the spell.
• Antonidas revealed that he had promised Magnus detailed scrolls for two Seventh Ring spells in exchange for the instruction.
• Antonidas handed Karin an invitation from Karazhan.

Antonidas tasked Karin with going to Karazhan as an apprentice and secretly investigating whether Medivh had betrayed the Council of Tirisfal and allied with demons. Karin recognized the danger and the chance to gain the Guardian's legacy, but accepted because refusing could make Antonidas suspect him.

• Antonidas told Karin that a demon's memories revealed green-skinned invaders had landed in the Blasted Lands, while the Council of Six favored watching them rather than uniting the kingdoms to drive them out.
• Antonidas revealed that several high-ranking mages, including Alexis, had disappeared and that they belonged to the Council of Tirisfal, an organization devoted to fighting demons.
• Antonidas explained that Medivh led the Council as its Guardian and was suspected of colluding with demons, though the accusations lacked conclusive evidence.
• Antonidas asked Karin to go to Karazhan, using the Mental Sealing Technique to conceal his true purpose, because he trusted Karin more than Kel'Thuzad or Khadgar.
• Karin considered refusing because he knew Medivh's true danger, but accepted the mission after realizing that refusing could lead Antonidas to suspect him.

Karin Sunfury prepared to leave Dalaran for Karazhan, where Medivh had invited him, while taking precautions to hide his secrets. On the eve of his departure, Khadgar and Kel'Thuzad worried about the danger he might face and drank themselves unconscious after wishing him a safe journey.

• News spread through Dalaran that Karin Sunfury would travel to Karazhan, prompting mages to offer requests and advice for his visit with Medivh.
• Karin declined most visitors and spent three days using the Mind Sealing Spell to conceal his assigned mission and memories of his previous life.
• At The Pig and the Whistle, Khadgar told Karin that their mentor had hinted at the dangers of the trip and blamed himself for Karin being chosen.
• Khadgar and Kel'Thuzad drank Hinterlands Spirits and pledged to change or follow Karin to Karazhan if anything happened to him.
• Khadgar and Kel'Thuzad passed out, and Karin carried them back to the Violet Citadel.

Karin traveled from Dalaran by sea, stopping in Kul Tiras before continuing south toward Stormwind City. After a long voyage, he arrived at Stormwind City’s harbor.

• Karin left Dalaran by carriage and reached Southshore, where he noticed the young Nat Pagle fishing.
• Karin boarded a Kul Tiras ship bound for Boralus and Stormwind City.
• A sailor boasted about the Kul Tiras fleet and its commander, Prince Derek Proudmoore, while Karin recalled the fleet’s coming destruction by enslaved red dragons.
• Karin explored Boralus during the ship’s stopover, then continued the voyage toward Stormwind City.
• After another half month at sea, Karin arrived at Stormwind City.

Karin traveled from Stormwind City through Elwynn Forest and Darkshire toward Deadwind Pass, reflecting on the kingdom’s future and meeting young Prince Varian along the way. When his driver refused to enter the cursed pass, Karin continued on foot and used magic to drive off unseen creatures in the darkness.

• Karin disguised himself in Stormwind-style clothes and toured the city before hiring a carriage eastward.
• Karin saw Prince Varian Wrynn riding with a troop of cavalry and predicted he would become a great king.
• Karin traveled through Elwynn Forest and stayed overnight at the Lion's Pride Inn in Goldshire, where he encountered the stonemason Edwin.
• Karin continued through Eastvale Logging Camp to Darkshire and rested there for a night.
• Karin's driver refused to take him through Deadwind Pass, so Karin proceeded on foot with his staff.
• Karin spotted emerald-green lights in the darkness, used Flash, then lit a torch with Fireball as the creatures retreated.