Recaps

Patrick attended a continental summit to discuss the weakening seal at the Gates of Ahn'Qiraj and the threat of the Qiraji. As the Alliance, Horde, and other powers agreed to raise an allied army, Stormwind City offered few troops, and Patrick suspected its representative was acting for Onyxia.

• Patrick took his seat beside Rhonin and exchanged greetings with Taelan Fordring, who credited Patrick with helping him and his father return to Hearthglen and expose Isillien's fall.
• Fandral Staghelm explained that the seal at the Gates of Ahn'Qiraj was weakening and called for a continental allied army.
• King Magni, Jaina, and Overlord Saurfang each pledged forces to fight the Qiraji.
• Stormwind City's representative claimed the Defias unrest, distance, and scarce supplies prevented the kingdom from sending many troops.
• Patrick suspected the Stormwind representative was an agent of Katrana Prestor, or Onyxia, seeking to let the allied army fail and plunge the continent into chaos.

Patrick turned the meeting about the War of the Shifting Sands into a discussion of troop commitments, and the Horde and several Alliance factions pledged elite forces. The chapter left the remaining factions yet to announce their contributions.

• Patrick judged that Stormwind City was trying to avoid commitment, and Magni calmed the tense gathering.
• Patrick urged the leaders to state how many troops they would send, and Saurfang pledged forty thousand Horde troops.
• Hamuul Runetotem committed twenty-six thousand tauren troops, Vol'jin pledged twenty-four thousand trolls, and Rotande Gili offered twenty-five thousand Undercity troops.
• Magni pledged twenty-eight thousand dwarves, and Mekkatorque committed twenty-two thousand gnomes.
• Fandral Staghelm pledged thirty thousand elite night elf troops.

Jaina left the conference to persuade Grand Duke Bolvar to oppose Katrana Prestor’s influence over Stormwind City, while the delegates continued discussing support for the War of the Shifting Sands. Patrick challenged Dalaran’s reluctance to contribute, then announced that Quel’Thalas would send 35,000 troops to Silithus.

• Patrick said the Stormwind City representative was only a scapegoat and suggested contacting Stormwind’s human nobles instead of pressuring him.
• Jaina volunteered to speak with Grand Duke Bolvar and teleported to Stormwind City, after which the conference continued with the neutral powers.
• Rhonin said Dalaran had few troops available because Archimonde had devastated the city and the Violet Citadel still needed support.
• Patrick compared Dalaran’s losses with those suffered by other peoples and accused Rhonin of making excuses.
• Rhonin asked what Quel’Thalas would contribute, and Patrick announced that 35,000 troops from several legions and allied forces would march into Silithus.

Bolvar learned that Stormwind City had delayed committing troops to the Battle of Ahn'Qiraj and went to question Katrana about the decision. Meanwhile, Patrick planned to use the war to test his forces and pressure Dalaran, proposing that the Blue Dragons fight alongside the Blood Elves.

• Jaina told Bolvar that Katrana's representative had avoided committing Stormwind City to the Ahn'Qiraj campaign, and Bolvar agreed to investigate the decision.
• Bolvar recalled that Varian had changed after returning from talks with the Horde and now trusted Katrana, but he still decided to ask her directly why Stormwind was withholding support.
• At Kalon Grove, Kalon adjourned the council until word arrived from Stormwind City, while Rhonin left angry at Patrick's large troop commitment.
• Patrick told Kyrissa that he intended to make Dalaran contribute troops to the war and gradually weaken its power rather than attack it directly.
• Patrick proposed that the Blue Dragons and Blood Elves announce an alliance and fight together, and Kyrissa said she would ask Azuregos to place the Blue Dragons' camp with the Blood Elves.

Patrick arranged for the blue dragons to join the War of the Shifting Sands and planned to discuss their future cooperation. Tandred Proudmoore and Galin Trollbane arrived in Quel'Thalas, and their visit showed Patrick that Kul Tiras and Stromgarde supported the blood elves' proposal.

• Patrick decided that Saragoss should come to Silithus and asked Kyrissa to summon the blue dragons to Quel'Thalas for a discussion about the war and future arrangements.
• Patrick reflected on the Blue Dragonflight's dwindling numbers and their overconfidence in battle.
• Patrick had Huili Sandeguer bring Tandred Proudmoore and Galin Trollbane into the sitting room and ordered a soundproof barrier for their meeting.
• Tandred and Galin thanked Patrick for inviting them and represented Kul Tiras and Stromgarde, whose weakened kingdoms feared Stormwind's efforts to absorb their territories through aid.

Patrick persuaded Tandred and Galin to join the Continental Summit and contribute troops to the War of the Shifting Sands, arguing that their participation could help restore their kingdoms’ reputations. The meeting awaited Jaina’s news from Stormwind City, and Patrick planned to notify the Cenarion Circle that the two had arrived.

• Tandred and Galin accepted Patrick’s invitation despite fearing that the Alliance kingdoms would oppose their attendance.
• Patrick argued that their former membership in the Alliance of Lordaeron and the need for more troops against the Qiraji gave them a right to join the summit.
• Patrick warned Tandred and Galin that restoring Kul Tiras and Stromgarde’s reputations would require committing substantial forces to a brutal war.
• Tandred and Galin agreed to take part, and Tandred asked Patrick when they could join the meeting.
• Patrick said the meeting would resume after Jaina returned from Stormwind City and planned to inform Fandral Staghelm of their arrival in Kalon Grove.

Bolvar challenged Katrana Prestor in the House of Lords over Stormwind’s missing food allocations and the kingdom’s refusal to send troops to Ahn'Qiraj. Katrana’s allies blamed Bolvar and the military for demanding resources, while Onyxia celebrated the growing rift between the House and the army.

• Katrana argued that Stormwind could send supplies to the continental coalition but lacked the means to send troops, and Bolvar questioned why missing food allocations had been recorded as complete.
• Earl Remington Ridgewell defended Katrana’s record and explained that she and the nobles had donated money and grain and cut their budgets to support the military and the poor.
• Bolvar hesitated when reminded of Stormwind City’s destruction during the Horde massacre, but the nobles insisted the kingdom’s defenses and garrisons could not be neglected.
• Katrana left the meeting after pledging the Prestor family’s tax revenues to the treasury, prompting the nobles to grow more hostile toward Bolvar and the military.
• Back at her residence, Onyxia revealed that she had deliberately deepened the rift between Stormwind’s leaders and secretly continued schemes against the kingdom, including aiding the Defias Brotherhood and shielding Nefarian’s experiments.

After Katrana Prestor left, Bolvar secured Stormwind City's participation in the War of the Shifting Sands and prepared to travel to Desolace as its representative. The House of Lords agreed to fund the effort with Prestor family resources and temporary tax increases, and Bolvar told Jaina he would depart the next morning.

• Earl Remington Ridgewell rebuked Bolvar for bringing troops into the House of Lords, and Bolvar defended Stormwind City's need to attend the war summit.
• A soldier told Bolvar that Patrick Cabrolon had invited Prince Tandred Proudmoore and Prince Galin Trollbane to the summit as neutral powers, prompting Bolvar to decide he must attend in person.
• Earl Remington Ridgewell approved Bolvar's participation and promised supplies, using the Prestor family's donated resources and announcing temporary salary cuts and tax increases.
• Earl Remington Ridgewell promised tax relief the following year and blamed the Defias rogues for worsening Stormwind City's troubles.
• Bolvar thanked Earl Remington Ridgewell, then returned to his residence and told Jaina he would travel to Kalon Grove with only a few guards.
• Jaina welcomed Stormwind City's participation in the war and the chance to demonstrate its strength.

Jaina returned to Kalon Grove with Bolvar Fordragon, where Stormwind City joined the summit on troop contributions to the campaign against the Ahn'Qiraj Empire. Bolvar committed the entire Seventh Legion, leaving the allied army greatly strengthened.

• Tandred and Galin were approved to join the summit and formally entered the continental alliance discussions.
• Jaina returned with Bolvar Fordragon, and Tandred faced her with anger over her role in Daelin Proudmoore's death.
• Kalon presented Stormwind's representatives with the agreed troop list, including thirty-five thousand troops from Quel'Thalas.
• Bolvar announced that Stormwind would send the entire Seventh Legion, more than sixty thousand troops, to the campaign in Silithus.
• Fandral Staghelm and the other delegates welcomed Stormwind's contribution to the expeditionary force.

Bolvar opposed Galin and Tandred joining the coalition, prompting Galin to challenge Stormwind City's influence over Stromgarde and pledge troops for the war. Tandred then committed Kul Tiras’s army and fleet to the campaign, leaving Fandral pleased with the coalition’s growing forces.

• Bolvar objected to Galin and Tandred joining the coalition, arguing that Stromgarde and Kul Tiras lacked the strength to act as kingdoms.
• Galin challenged Bolvar to withdraw Alliance troops from Stromgarde and accused Stormwind City of using its aid to seize territory.
• Galin pledged fifteen thousand troops from Stromgarde’s combined Arathor army, and the Horde and neutral factions supported his participation.
• Tandred pledged twelve thousand Kul Tiras army troops and the Fifth Fleet, whose five thousand personnel would mainly transport supplies.
• Fandral Staghelm welcomed the additional forces from Stromgarde and Kul Tiras.

The coalition finalized more troop commitments and assigned Kul Tiras to transport many of the armies headed for Silithus. Patrick then argued that the Scarlet Crusade should remain behind to contain the Scourge, leaving the leaders to consider his proposal.

• Tandred's Kul Tiras offered to transport the coalition's armies, helping solve how regular troops would reach Kalimdor.
• Rhonin committed six thousand Violet Eye garrison troops and two thousand Violet Eye Mages, along with supplies, while Jaina said Theramore would send nearly all its personnel with the Alliance.
• Taelan Fordring explained that the Scarlet Crusade was too unstable and occupied with the Scourge to spare many troops for the expedition.
• Patrick advised against sending the Scarlet Crusade to Ahn'Qiraj, warning that the Scourge could regain strength and threaten populated regions if left unchecked.
• Patrick described Quel'Thalas's defenses against the Scourge and aerial or naval attacks as he made his case for the Crusade to stay behind.

The factions agreed that the Scourge had to be opposed even as they prepared a joint campaign against Ahn'Qiraj. They then focused on the enormous supply demands of the desert war and the need to destroy the Ahn'Qiraj Empire and C'Thun completely.

• Patrick warned that the Scourge remained a threat to the Eastern Kingdoms, and Hamul Runetotem, Rotande Gili, Galin, Tandred, and the other factions backed action against it.
• Kalon Marshweaver reminded the delegates that their preliminary agreement on a joint army left many matters unresolved.
• Fandral Staghelm explained that the campaign would involve hundreds of thousands of people and that the army would have to bring its supplies into the barren desert.
• High Priestess Shiroma stressed that the war's duration and supply needs were impossible to predict, drawing on her experience in the first War of the Shifting Sands.
• Fandral declared that the allies had to eradicate the Ahn'Qiraj Empire and C'Thun rather than rely on the old seal, and a tauren presented the Cenarion Circle's supply estimate.

The leaders of the Continental Allied Forces assessed the enormous supply needs for the war against the Qiraji and assigned each faction its contributions. With troop supplies and the route into Silithus settled, the army was left to prepare for assembly in Tanaris.

• High Priestess Shiroma warned the leaders that the battle would be exceptionally costly and explained why the allies needed vast stores of bandages, potions, and reagents.
• Hamul Runetotem stressed the need to secure food and fresh water, and Tandred offered food from Kul Tiras while ordering Lieutenant Benedict to tally available supplies.
• Vol'jin proposed buying bandages and leatherworking materials through Alliance and Horde channels, and the leaders agreed to announce the purchases in Ironforge and Orgrimmar.
• Galin pledged bandages and leather armor from Stromgarde, while King Magni offered ore and Patrick promised herbs and alchemy materials from Quel'Thalas.
• The assembly assigned the major supply burdens among the factions, then chose Tanaris as the army's assembly point and a sea route through Shrub Valley and Un'Goro Crater into Silithus.

The leaders at Kalon Grove debated who would command the Continental Allied Forces in the coming War of the Shifting Sands. They chose High Overlord Saurfang, who would formally take command when the allied forces reached the Silithus Great Desert, and Patrick prepared to leave.

• King Magni proposed Bolvar Fordragon as commander, but Rotande Gili, Galin, Tandred, and Patrick opposed him.
• Bolvar declined the command and named Duke Leoric von Zeldig to lead the Seventh Legion in the war.
• Vol'jin recommended Patrick Kabolon as commander, prompting opposition from Rhonin, Magni, the Gnomes' High Tinker, and Bolvar.
• The leaders considered High Overlord Saurfang the most suitable remaining candidate, despite Stormwind's bitter history with him.
• The assembly selected High Overlord Saurfang to command the Continental Allied Forces, and Patrick prepared to return with his troops.

After the meeting about the War of the Shifting Sands, Patrick reassured his companions that the continent’s united forces could withstand the Ahn'Qiraj Empire. He then explained that the blood elves and blue dragons needed to recover and weaken Dalaran’s ties to the Alliance and red dragons before confronting it.

• Patrick told Huili Sandeguer that he had expected Varok Saurfang to command the allied forces.
• Patrick argued that the continent’s united forces would keep the Ahn'Qiraj Empire from bringing everyone to ruin, despite the war’s likely casualties.
• Patrick explained to Kyrissa that Dalaran’s Alliance and red dragon allies made a direct conflict dangerous for the depleted Blue Dragonflight.
• Patrick cited Kael'thas’s imprisonment in Dalaran as a reason to retaliate once Quel'Thalas had recovered.
• Patrick said the blood elves and blue dragons should build their strength and gradually undermine Dalaran rather than rush into war.

Aethas Sunreaver and his allies planned a diplomatic mission to Quel'Thalas, hoping to use the blue dragons' threat to secure cooperation. Patrick returned to Eldre'Dani and found the city expanding into Isildien, where its growing population and trade were reshaping Feralas.

• Aethas Sunreaver discussed Dalaran's plan to send an envoy to Quel'Thalas with Harry Potter Dawnblade and Xendari Windrunner, who doubted Patrick would cooperate.
• Harry Potter Dawnblade pointed out that Patrick was away at the Continental Summit, and Aethas decided to deliver Archmage Modera's diplomatic letter to Rommath and the others himself.
• Patrick returned to Eldre'Dani and saw that the city's expansion had reached the Isildien Ruins, where blood elves, Highborne, and ogres were repairing buildings and developing the area.
• Hui Li explained that Eldre'Dani's Council had expanded to incorporate the ogres and manage the city's growing population and trade.
• Patrick banned Dalaran's forces from entering Eldre'Dani and ordered all other visitors to obey Quel'Thalas's laws.
• Patrick surveyed Eldre'Dani's expanding districts, busy streets, linked towers, and treants as mages used the Discs of Norgannon to remove fel corruption.

Patrick rewarded Hui Li by appointing her leader of the new Dark Curse Burning Legion and granting her a seat on the Silvermoon Council, then formally incorporated Eldre'Dani's council into Silvermoon's administration. He also assigned the Highborne to aid the legion and ordered Eldre'Thalas's spell tomes copied and their originals sent to Silvermoon City.

• Patrick appointed Hui Li Sandeguer leader of the Dark Curse Burning Legion and granted her a seat on the Silvermoon Council.
• Hui Li described how the loss of the Sunwell had driven her to study fel and shadow magic, and outlined plans for the legion's standing, reserve, and research forces.
• Patrick advised Hui Li to work with the Highborne mages of Eldre'Thalas, who had studied fel and demons.
• Patrick placed the Eldre'Dani Council under the Silvermoon Council and promoted its councilors, including Baihaer-Zaofeng and Lina-Klaisf-Imbas.
• Patrick tasked Baihar with helping the new legion's research and sending copies of Eldre'Thalas's spell tomes to Silvermoon City while the originals were stored there.

Patrick arranged safeguards for Eldre'Dani's Highborne Library before returning to Silvermoon City. There, the Council approved Aethas Sunreaver's visit, and he arrived through a portal as a representative of Dalaran, leaving his intentions to be addressed.

• Patrick ordered copies of the Highborne Library books made and instructed Baihar to establish strict lending rules to prevent Dalaran from accessing sensitive research.
• Alleria convened the Silvermoon Council to consider Aethas's request to visit Silvermoon City while Patrick was away.
• Hawkspear favored allowing Aethas to return, while Lor'themar and Seidanna warned that he was representing the Kirin Tor.
• Alleria proposed letting Aethas visit so the Council could demand that he clarify his loyalties, and the Council agreed.
• The Silvermoon Council approved Aethas's request, and Archmage Aethas Sunreaver arrived at Sunfury Spire through a teleportation portal.

Aethas Sunreaver urged Quel'Thalas to join Dalaran against Malygos, but Rommath confronted him over the Kirin Tor’s abandonment of Kael'thas and the elves imprisoned in Dalaran. Patrick returned from meeting the Cenarion Circle and challenged Aethas, leaving the dispute unresolved.

• Aethas told Quel'Thalas's leaders that Malygos planned to forbid mortal races from using arcane magic and destroy their magical creations, then called for an alliance with Dalaran.
• Rommath questioned whether Dalaran had authorized Aethas and angrily recalled how the Kirin Tor had failed to defend Kael'thas or the elves imprisoned in Dalaran.
• Patrick arrived with the other leaders, and Alleria asked how his meeting with the Cenarion Circle had gone.
• Patrick said the Continental Allied Forces had set a date to march into the Silithus Great Desert for a decisive battle against the qiraji.
• Patrick confronted Aethas about defending a power hostile to Quel'Thalas, and Aethas swallowed his defense of Dalaran.

Patrick exposed Aethas as a possible agent of Dalaran and declared Dalaran an enemy of Quel'Thalas. After Aethas fled back to Dalaran, Rommath pledged to trust Patrick’s judgment.

• Patrick accused Aethas and the Kirin Tor of plotting to control Quel'Thalas by making Aethas its puppet ruler.
• Rommath considered Patrick’s claims and came to believe that Dalaran intended to make Aethas king and turn Quel'Thalas into a human kingdom.
• Patrick refuted Aethas’s accusations, blamed Dalaran’s theft of ley-line energy for the demon incursions, and declared Dalaran a hostile power.
• Patrick shattered Aethas’s mana shield with a glance and let him return to Dalaran with a warning about settling their grievances.
• Rommath told Patrick that he would no longer question his decisions.

Patrick announced a new warlock legion and ordered it to help clear undead from Quel'Thalas, using their soul shards to feed M'uru and strengthen both warlock and Blood Knight forces. The leaders approved the plan, and the M'uru feeding operation officially began.

• Patrick established the Dark Curse Burning Legion under Grand Warlock Huili Sandeguer and appointed her to Quel'Thalas's council.
• Lorne Songweaver reported that Tirion Fordring had reunited the Argent Dawn and Scarlet Crusade, and Patrick ordered continued surveillance without interference.
• Rommath explained that M'uru consumed souls to recover energy, producing either Holy Light or Shadow Energy.
• Patrick ordered the Dark Curse Burning Legion to help clear undead and feed their soul shards to M'uru, excluding Quel'Thalas's honored fallen.
• Patrick argued that the plan would not justify an attack on Quel'Thalas, and the leaders rallied behind his declaration that they acted only for Quel'Thalas.

Patrick ordered preparations to rescue the Flame Hawk Burning Legion and assemble Quel'Thalas's forces for the battle of Ahn'Qiraj. The thirty-five-thousand-strong combined army was named Zaram, meaning Kingdom's Blade, as it prepared to muster and depart.

• Patrick approved Halduron Brightwing's defense plans and added the Dark Curse Burning Legion to the regional deployments.
• Nalins reported that Kael'thas had lost contact with Mathis and the Flame Hawk Burning Legion on Bloodmyst Isle after spatial turbulence disrupted their connection.
• Quensass confirmed that Silvermoon had Bloodmyst Isle's coordinates, and Nalins said the Prince had provided the contact method and magic circles.
• Patrick ordered the Magisters' Legion to do everything possible to reach and save Mathis and his troops.
• Quel'Thalas assembled a thirty-five-thousand-strong combined army, including its Farstriders, Magisters' Legion, Dark Curse Burning Legion, Dawn's Edge Burning Legion, Spellbreaker Burning Legion, and forces from Eldre'Dani.
• Patrick named the combined army Zaram, meaning Kingdom's Blade.

Patrick challenged the blue dragons’ plan to seize Azeroth’s arcane energy and purge spellcasters, warning that it would collapse the Ley Line System and unite the world against them. He proposed protecting the ley lines by forbidding anyone from drawing energy from them.

• Bolvar reviewed Stormwind’s military preparations and ate shrimp dumplings made by Chen Feng, while wondering where the kingdom’s troubles had begun.
• Patrick summoned Saragoss to confirm whether Malygos planned to gather the world’s arcane energy and purge spellcasters.
• Patrick argued that arcane magic itself was not the threat and warned that stripping energy from the ley lines would destroy Azeroth’s defenses.
• Kyrissa and the other blue dragons joined the discussion, and Patrick warned that the purge would provoke Dalaran, the red dragons, and the world’s major factions into war.
• Patrick proposed protecting the Ley Line System and prohibiting any power or individual from drawing energy from it.

Patrick persuaded the Blue Dragons to oppose ley-line energy extraction and urged them to coordinate with Quel'Thalas in the coming War of the Shifting Sands. Before departing for Kalimdor, he assigned four officials to govern Quel'Thalas in his absence.

• Patrick proposed banning all factions and individuals from drawing energy from ley lines, arguing that it would protect Azeroth and give the Blue Dragons a just cause against Dalaran.
• Saragoss agreed to contact Malygos and urge him to change the Blue Dragonflight's approach.
• Patrick asked the Blue Dragons to coordinate with Quel'Thalas during the War of the Shifting Sands and limit their casualties; he persuaded them by stressing their dwindling numbers and shared interests.
• Patrick announced that Lor'themar Theron, Rommath, Patterson-Cabrolon, and Lanaya Sunstrider would exercise the Regent's authority while he was away.
• Patrick presided over a Council meeting and prepared to leave with the expedition for Kalimdor.

Patrick led Quel'Thalas's expedition to Tanaris, where the allied forces gathered before advancing on Silithus. He and Anachronos discovered that Qiraji corruption had already reached the desert, and Patrick ordered his troops to prepare for an immediate battle.

• Patrick traveled to Tanaris with Quel'Thalas's Expeditionary Force while the allied forces departed from Eldre'Dani, and he left Lanaya an order for Matthis-Flame Hawk.
• A friendly Naga named Sarasin guided the expedition to Tanaris, where Alleria led the Farstriders and discussed Patrick's concerns about casualties in the coming war.
• The allied forces assembled in Tanaris, and Liadrin reported that her expedition had arrived safely while the Ogre Krush hailed Patrick as the Gordok tribe's leader.
• Patrick sensed a foul presence southwest of the allied camp, and Anachronos confirmed that Qiraji tendrils and the Corrupted Nest had reached Tanaris.
• Patrick ordered the leaders to clear the Corrupted Nest and the Great Divide, then returned to camp and told the Blood Elves to prepare for a large-scale battle.