A castaway letter sets the young troll Zaa’nu on a search for one-armed orc Yagyu, presumed dead after Ironforge. Their journey and Bellmont’s competing hunt force Yagyu to confront loss, survival, and what remains of the Blacktooth Grin.
Kneeling among slain Scarlet Crusaders, Bellmont remembers the physical sensations, faith, family, and humanity lost to undeath. For a moment he hears echoes of a more loving and just life that might have been his.
Sylvanas commissions Bellmont to lead four Forsaken regiments and a fleet to Northrend. Reunited with old comrade Cyrus, he crosses the northern sea and lands at Daggercap Bay while reflecting on the human cost of war.
Trying to earn back the Grin’s trust while a Scourge infection consumes him, Vord completes Bellmont’s deadly loyalty test and seeks a cure with Psylich and Sharkfyn. Their expedition entangles them in Varimathras’s secret hunt for plague research, Forsaken rivalries, and the unfinished vengeance of Vord’s former apprentice.
Bellmont supplies a character dossier covering his Forsaken identity, surviving family, allies, covert affiliations, and military organizations, then adds reference notes on Deathguards, Deathstalkers, and apothecaries.
A Deathguard watching a secret Scarlet Monastery exit is ritually murdered by unseen Forsaken assailants. Admiral Cyrus begins an investigation while Sharkfyn and Psylich pursue another rogue, leaving the killers at large and a severed clue behind.
Disguised among the Scarlet Crusade, Bellmont listens to Grand Inquisitor Isillien lead a violent liturgy against the Forsaken, demons, and Scourge. Fear and anger strain his illusion until he retreats to recover his composure.
Yagyu returns to Stonard after paying respects at Gorfrunch and Faquarl’s graves, prompting Felora, Shadiel, and Bellmont to reckon with the clan’s losses and uncertain renewal.
As Vord repairs his old death-knight armor, residual Scourge hunger returns and he secretly works to stop Kaylish from assassinating Xylien. Once the secret emerges, the Grin rides into the Plaguelands and faces Fenris's ambush while Xylien and Kaylish prepare to settle their feud.
Sylvanas reassigns Bellmont to Northrend and orders veteran ranger Sinderion Blackbow to replace him within the Blacktooth Grin. After surviving a brutal Outland battle, Sinderion accepts the charge and sets out for Stonard.
Sin'Derion studies a terse service record that reduces decades of war, family loss, and decorated campaigns to a few lines on old parchment, stirring memories of the battles behind it.
An in-world VCO Global field guide begins cataloguing the combat strengths and weaknesses of Azeroth’s peoples, opening with orcs and goblin-oriented tactical advice. The damaged datapad promises later sections but stops after its dedication to VCO casualties.
Bellmont poses as a Scourge defector on Sylvanas's orders, testing his cover against Argent Dawn soldiers and former Grin allies. The deception leads him toward a dangerous return to Deadwind Pass and an audience with Ashenrock.
The Grin's officers and fighters face Fenris, Kaylish, and an undead host in a prolonged battle that strains their combined strength. The aftermath tests Vord's faith in a former comrade and leaves the clan confronting the power of the death knights ahead.
Bellmont joins the Forsaken’s Northrend campaign, occupies Stonard while searching for the Grin, and clashes with Sinderion before a spreading Scourge plague summons him to a Horde war council. Bok’theg and Vord separately take notice of his return.
A tense encounter with hungry human soldiers forces Sinderion to recognize the shared humanity beneath the Grin's war with the Alliance. Troubled by the cost of retaliation, he deserts the battlefield to reconsider his place in it.
Bellmont reports that his gambit against the Scarlet Crusade and Scourge succeeded, then weighs bringing the Dread Horde back under Sylvanas’s influence. In Northrend, Sinderion fights through a gargoyle attack and begins sniping Alliance forces massing at Wintergrasp.
In a Dalaran greenhouse, Nymuea confronts Sinderion over the promises and family time sacrificed to his service with the Grin. Their argument leaves him facing a choice between the battlefield and his marriage—and a difficult conversation with the Warchief.
Sinderion’s blood elf reinforcements join Captain Mathieu’s Forsaken in ambushing an Alliance convoy in Northrend. The brutal engagement leaves Sinderion wounded and with a new respect for his unlikely allies.