Chapter Summaries

Aaron and Vereesa helped the Wildhammer Dwarves uncover a Syndicate attack in the woods, and Aaron captured the rogues’ leader. As the riders returned to Wildhammer Keep with their prisoners, Falstad revealed that he had captured an orc.

• Vereesa spotted signs of hidden figures in the woods, and her illumination arrows exposed Syndicate rogues supporting the gargoyles.
• Aaron and the Gryphon Riders attacked the rogues, but their leader ordered them back into Stealth and resumed the mission to steal gryphon eggs.
• Aaron used Holy Light from Truthguard to reveal the rogue leader, then struck him down and took him captive.
• The Wildhammer Dwarves captured several more rogues, and the remaining attackers fled after their leader was caught.
• Falstad showed Aaron his prisoner, and Aaron was startled to see that it was an orc.

Aaron and the Wildhammer Dwarves learned that the Syndicate had raided to steal gryphon eggs for the Cult of the Damned, while an allied Orc refused to explain why his people had joined the cult. An assassin from Ravenholdt arrived with information Aaron had been seeking, leaving the reason for the visit unclear.

• Falstad captured an Orc who threatened the Dwarves and demanded that they join his master.
• Falstad questioned the prisoners, who revealed that the Syndicate planned to steal gryphon eggs for the Cult of the Damned.
• The prisoners explained that the Syndicate had grown dependent on the cult and that gargoyles had covered the egg-stealing mission.
• The Orc refused to explain why his people had allied with the Cult of the Damned, leaving Aaron eager to learn Ner'zhul's plans.
• An assassin from Ravenholdt arrived with information Aaron wanted, surprising him and the Wildhammer Dwarves.

A Ravenholdt messenger warned Aaron and Falstad that Ner'zhul had drawn the Frostwolf Clan into an alliance with the Cult of the Damned and the Syndicate, and that their forces were marching on Durnholde to free its Orc prisoners. Falstad agreed to send Wildhammer troops to help defend the keep while Alliance reinforcements made their way there.

• A Ravenholdt messenger told Aaron that Ner'zhul had impersonated Durotan in the dreams of Frostwolf shamans and persuaded the clan to muster for war.
• The messenger estimated the Frostwolf Clan numbered seven or eight thousand and said it had already left its home with the main force.
• The messenger warned Falstad that the Frostwolf Clan, Cult of the Damned, and Syndicate were marching toward Durnholde to release its Orc prisoners.
• Falstad questioned whether Ravenholdt's messenger could justify sending Wildhammer troops, and the messenger replied that Alliance nations had already been notified.
• Falstad agreed to send Wildhammer troops to help Durnholde hold out until reinforcements arrived.

Thrall struggled to connect with the imprisoned orcs while Blackmoore profited from his gladiatorial victories. After dreaming of Ner'zhul and a plea to help change the orcs' fate, Thrall woke to an attack on Durnholde Keep and rushed to investigate.

• Ravenholdt warned other kingdoms and factions about the coming conflict but deliberately withheld the news from Durnholde Keep because of Blackmoore's ambitions.
• Thrall visited the imprisoned orcs, told them about his arena victories, and received indifference and hostility before leaving them some saved food.
• Thrall returned to his room troubled by his people's numbness and hatred, then fell asleep from exhaustion.
• Thrall dreamed of a frozen land, where Ner'zhul spoke of the orcs' ancient glory and asked Thrall to help change their fate.
• Thrall woke to alarm bells and heard conflicting reports of monsters attacking Durnholde Keep, then hurried toward the main gate.

Aaron and Vereesa arrived at Durnholde Keep with the Wildhammer Dwarves, where the battered defenders welcomed the reinforcements. Aaron searched for Thrall but learned the Orc was not allowed to fight alongside the humans; then the Undead launched a second assault under cover of darkness.

• The Wildhammer Dwarves and their Gryphon Riders arrived at Durnholde Keep after the defenders repelled the Undead's first attack.
• Falstad told Lieutenant Drake that more reinforcements would follow, easing Drake's concern about the garrison's prospects.
• Drake asked Aaron why he had come with the dwarves, and Aaron explained that he was looking for Thrall.
• Drake said Thrall was an Orc gladiator and the soldiers would not welcome him fighting beside them.
• The Undead launched a second assault at night, forcing the defenders into a more difficult battle.

Aaron, Drake, and Durnholde Keep’s defenders fought off a relentless undead assault that lasted all night, with Nerubians, Gargoyles, and Abominations overwhelming the walls. At dawn the undead withdrew, but the sound of approaching cavalry left Aaron wondering whether reinforcements had arrived.

• The undead used Nerubians and their webs to scale Durnholde Keep’s walls, while Aaron and Vereesa fought alongside the defenders.
• Falstad led the Gryphon Riders against the Gargoyles, but Abominations soon joined the fighting and caused heavy losses among the soldiers.
• Aaron helped defend his section of the walls and heal wounded soldiers as the battle continued through the night.
• The exhausted defenders defeated the undead assault by dawn, after the Scourge ran short of Abominations and other forces.
• Drake thanked Aaron for his help, and Aaron worried about the absence of the Cult of the Damned, the Syndicate, and the Frostwolf Orcs.
• Drake heard approaching cavalry and wondered whether reinforcements had arrived, while Aaron questioned whether the Silver Hand could have reached them so soon.

Aaron and the exhausted defenders of Durnholde Keep faced a growing army of Frostwolf Orcs, Trolls, and the Cult of the Damned after destroying the webs leading up the walls. The chapter ended when red-skinned Fel Orcs appeared, and Aaron realized Ner'zhul had unleashed them.

• Drake warned the soldiers to cut down the webs before the Frostwolf wolf riders could climb them, and Vereesa showed them how to burn the webs with flaming arrows.
• Vereesa counted about three hundred wolf riders, and Aaron, Drake, and Falstad watched the Cult of the Damned and its allies gather below the keep without siege equipment.
• A bloodied soldier warned Drake that the Orcs had broken out of the internment camp, then passed out.
• Vereesa spotted Orcs approaching, and Aaron recognized their red skin as a sign that they were Fel Orcs and blamed Ner'zhul.

Aaron and the Gryphon Riders delayed the newly transformed fel orcs as Thrall tried to lead his people out of the internment camp. Thrall escaped through the main gate, while Aaron watched him go and admitted he did not want to kill him.

• Drake ordered the exhausted soldiers to retreat into the castle, while Falstad and Aaron stayed behind to delay the fel orcs.
• Aaron spotted Thrall among the green-skinned orcs and attacked him, but Thrall blocked Aaron's hammer with his battle-axe.
• Aaron told Thrall, "Let me see what you can accomplish this time," then flew off to help provoke the fel orcs.
• Thrall calmed some of the fel orcs with help from the uncorrupted orcs and led them toward the main gate.
• Thrall opened the gate and found more orcs waiting outside, while Aaron watched his escape and said he did not want to kill him.

Aaron watched Thrall leave and chose not to kill him, then tried to defend Durnholde Keep from the Frostwolf wolf riders. As the riders charged into the keep, the Knights of the Silver Hand arrived to attack their flank.

• Aaron considered killing Thrall but decided to let him live because he hoped Thrall might reunite the Orcs and lessen conflict with humans.
• Aaron realized the Cult of the Damned could use Durnholde's troops for the undead army and hurried with Falstad to close the gate.
• Aaron and Falstad found the gate shattered and decided to retreat toward the keep as the Frostwolf wolf riders prepared to charge.
• The wolf riders charged through the gateway, while a third wave turned to face an attack on their flank.
• Aaron saw the Knights of the Silver Hand charge the Orc formation and recognized that Uther's reinforcements had arrived.

The Silver Hand, Wildhammer Dwarves, and Alliance forces fought the Frostwolf Clan’s wolf riders outside Durnholde Keep, turning the battle in the humans’ favor. A Dreadlord’s spells enabled the Orcs to retreat, but he was surrounded and fled as a swarm of bats.

• The Frostwolf wolf riders withdrew from Durnholde Keep and charged into the battle after seeing their kin being driven back by human cavalry.
• Aaron and Falstad joined the fight from the air, and Aaron recognized Arthas among the Paladins reinforcing Durnholde.
• The Wildhammer Dwarves’ aerial support helped the Alliance defeat the wolf riders, whose commander ordered a retreat.
• The Orc commander revealed himself as a Dreadlord and summoned an Infernal, panicking the warhorses and disrupting the Paladins’ pursuit.
• The Dreadlord summoned insects to hinder the Paladins, then transformed into bats and scattered when Aaron, Gryphon Riders, and Paladins closed in on him.

Aaron trapped and killed most of a Dreadlord’s bat swarm, but the demon escaped after putting Arthas to sleep and teleporting away. Arthas remained frustrated that the Orc wolf riders escaped too, and the chapter ended as he and Aaron approached Durnholde Keep’s commander, Aedelas Blackmoore.

• Aaron trapped the Dreadlord’s bats inside a Divine Shield and purified them, but discovered one bat had escaped his attack.
• The Dreadlord transformed back, put Arthas to sleep, and teleported away before Aaron could catch him.
• Aaron warned Arthas that Dreadlords were cunning and urged him to attack them without hesitation.
• Arthas complained that the Orc wolf riders had escaped, while Saidan Dathrohan explained that the exhausted soldiers could not safely pursue them.
• Arthas and Dathrohan headed toward Durnholde Keep, where Aaron recognized its commander, Lieutenant General Aedelas Blackmoore.

Aaron recognized Blackmoore at Durnholde Keep, where Arthas questioned him about the Orcs’ escape. After a soldier described their transformation, Aaron explained that Demon Blood had created the Fel Orcs, and Dathrohan prepared to pursue them once the Knights of the Silver Hand recovered.

• Aaron recognized Blackmoore and noticed that exhausted soldiers, rather than Blackmoore’s energetic followers, had borne the brunt of the defense.
• Arthas confronted Blackmoore about the escaped Orcs and said he would report the breach to his father.
• Blackmoore produced a wounded soldier, whom Arthas healed before asking what he had witnessed.
• The soldier said rogues had given the Orcs a green liquid that transformed them and enabled their escape.
• Aaron identified the liquid as Demon Blood and explained how repeated exposure created Fel Orcs.
• Dathrohan said the Knights of the Silver Hand would pursue the Orcs after the soldiers recovered.

Aaron, Arthas, and Dathrohan assessed the forces gathering against the Cult of the Damned, the Orcs, and the Syndicate, while Lordaeron struggled to contain cult activity elsewhere. After setting out from Durnholde in pursuit of the Orcs, their army learned that the Orcs had breached Nethander Stead and were heading for Southshore.

• Arthas and Dathrohan told Aaron that Cult of the Damned activity in Andorhal and Silverpine Forest had drawn much of the Silver Hand away.
• Arthas said they could gather several thousand Hillsbrad soldiers and noted that they needed to protect the other Orc internment camps from the Scourge.
• Aaron explained that the Syndicate had joined the Cult of the Damned, and Arthas angrily blamed the people of Alterac.
• After half a day of rest, the combined army left Durnholde to pursue the Orcs, while Arthas left Blackmoore with a little over a hundred guards to protect the keep's food stores.
• A bloodied soldier reported to Dathrohan that the Orcs had breached Nethander Stead and were heading for Southshore.

Arthas and Dathrohan hurried toward Southshore after learning the orcs were likely seeking ships, but arrived to find the town burning and its people driven from their homes. The orcs had already left by sea when Aaron learned from Ravenholdt that the Cult of the Damned had made a major move in Silverpine Forest.

• Aaron and Arthas realized the orcs were likely heading for Southshore to seize ships, and Dathrohan warned that the town might already have fallen or be a trap.
• Dathrohan led the troops through Nethander and onward toward Southshore, where they saw the town ablaze and met refugees led by the mayor.
• The mayor recounted how the outnumbered orcs had broken into Southshore and pleaded for revenge, and Arthas vowed to kill them all.
• Dathrohan left some soldiers to protect the refugees and took the rest into Southshore, where they confirmed the orcs had sailed away.
• Aaron remained troubled by a sense that something was wrong until Ravenholdt reported major news from the Cult of the Damned in Silverpine Forest.

After a Ravenholdt assassin reached Southshore, he warned that the Undead had landed in Silverpine Forest and were advancing on Dalaran. Aaron recognized that the Scourge was targeting the Book of Medivh, and Dathrohan prepared to send aid to Dalaran while refugees remained in their care.

• Arthas argued with Dathrohan about pursuing the orcs, but Dathrohan insisted they protect Southshore's refugees instead.
• Vereesa returned from scouting and reported that she had found no ambushes and that the orcs had gone far away.
• Vereesa brought back a wounded Ravenholdt assassin, who warned that the Undead and frost wyrms were advancing through Silverpine Forest toward Dalaran.
• Aaron explained that the Scourge wanted the Book of Medivh to summon demons, and Arthas urged Dathrohan to reinforce Dalaran.
• Dathrohan agreed to set out for Dalaran after considering the refugees in the camp.

As Arthas’s force traveled from Southshore toward Dalaran, a Ravenholdt assassin told Aaron how the Cult of the Damned had taken over Silverpine Forest and welcomed a huge Scourge invasion. Aaron learned that at least a hundred Frost Wyrms had landed and was about to seek help when a Scourge Necropolis appeared ahead of the column.

• Arthas hurried along the road to Dalaran, and Dathrohan reassured him that other forces were coming to help defend the city.
• Aaron carried the recovering Ravenholdt assassin on his mechanical motorcycle and asked him what he had seen in Silverpine Forest.
• The assassin explained that the Cult of the Damned had absorbed or united the region’s other cults and gathered its followers along the coast.
• The assassin described the Scourge landing a week earlier, with Nerubians, Abominations, black floating spires, and at least a hundred Frost Wyrms.
• Aaron decided to contact Archaedas for help, but a Scourge Necropolis appeared in the sky ahead of the column.

Aaron and Falstad led a small force into a floating citadel and destroyed its core, bringing the fortress crashing down and boosting the soldiers’ morale. A distant dragon’s roar near Hillsbrad Fields then drew Aaron away.

• The Ravenholdt assassin explained that the floating citadel had crushed silver pines to clear a landing site, and Dathrohan spread out the soldiers as it drifted toward them.
• Aaron and Falstad entered the citadel with several Wildhammer Dwarves, intending to destroy its core and teach the Gryphon Riders how to raid one.
• Aaron led the group through a portal, where they found Nerubians operating the citadel and no Lich guarding it.
• The Gryphon Riders defeated the Nerubians and attacked the core, then escaped as the citadel fell and broke apart.
• After the soldiers finished off the surviving undead, Aaron heard a dragon roar near Hillsbrad Fields and flew toward it.

Aaron found a Frost Proto-Dragon and its Vrykul rider destroying Hillsbrad Fields, the town where he had once found shelter. After killing them, he struggled with grief over the ruined town until a soldier called out to survivors.

• Aaron flew toward a dragon’s roar and saw a Frost Proto-Dragon attacking Hillsbrad Fields under the control of a Vrykul rider.
• Aaron recognized the ruined town as the place where a tavern keeper had sheltered him after he transmigrated, and charged the Frost Proto-Dragon in anger.
• Aaron mounted the undead Proto-Dragon, wounded it with Frostmourne, and used Holy Light to destroy it in a crash.
• Aaron hurled Frostmourne into the Vrykul rider, freezing him into shattered chunks of ice.
• Aaron collapsed in grief, and Vereesa comforted him before a soldier called for anyone hiding in the ruins to come out.

Aaron and the Lordaeron army rescued the survivors of a devastated town, and Aaron gave the innkeeper the slain Proto-Dragon. The army continued toward Dalaran, where Aaron spotted the city ahead and Dathrohan ordered the soldiers to hurry inside.

• Aaron and the soldiers found the innkeeper and rescued the townspeople hiding in basements.
• Aaron learned that the residents had survived with few injuries, and resolved to stop the Scourge from threatening them and Dalaran.
• The innkeeper asked to buy the Proto-Dragon, and Aaron gave him its corpse as thanks for sheltering him in the past.
• After resting for two hours, Aaron and the soldiers resumed their march and the Gryphon Riders defeated several more Proto-Dragons.
• Aaron spotted Dalaran, and Dathrohan ordered the troops to reach the city quickly.

Aaron and the reinforcements arrived in Dalaran as the city prepared for an impending attack, and Aaron hurried to warn Antonidas about the enemy’s objective. The chapter ended as Aaron reached the Violet Citadel and overheard Antonidas and Krasus arguing.

• Dalaran prepared its defenses, and Arthas and Dathrohan criticized the mages’ disorganized war preparations.
• Dathrohan took Arthas to meet Antonidas, while Aaron and Vereesa followed so Aaron could warn the archmage about the enemy’s objective.
• Aaron encountered Rhonin, who revealed that Krasus had recently returned and given him an impressive staff.
• Rhonin told Aaron that the Council of Six had offered no details about the attack, and Aaron hurried toward the Violet Citadel after learning Arthas and Dathrohan had gone inside.
• Aaron heard Antonidas and Krasus arguing in the citadel, with Antonidas refusing to allow Krasus to do something he considered important.