Timeline
c. 975 BDPThe War of the Shifting Sands
The armies of the qiraji surged across southern Kalimdor, forcing the night elves into a bitter struggle for survival. Fandral Staghelm led the resistance, while his son fought beside him. When Valstann was captured and killed by General Rajaxx, grief broke the archdruid’s confidence and the army’s advance faltered.
The fighting reached the bronze dragons’ territory. Anachronos gathered help from other flights, and the combined forces drove the qiraji back toward Ahn’Qiraj. Even then, they could not destroy the enemy’s numbers outright.
Merithra, Caelestrasz and Arygos held the qiraji back inside the city while the remaining defenders raised the Scarab Wall. The barrier contained the army and ended the immediate invasion. The three dragons remained trapped beyond it, and the power behind the war survived beneath the fortress.
Sources (3)
The Key No One Wanted
The Scarab Wall had stopped the invasion, but Anachronos left a means to pass it again. He created the gong and the Scepter of the Shifting Sands, then offered the key to Fandral.
To the archdruid, the end of the war could not balance the loss of Valstann. He broke the scepter against the barrier and walked away. What the dragon offered as a duty for the future met a grief still fixed on the past.
Anachronos gathered the fragments and arranged for their protection. Ahn’Qiraj remained sealed, but reopening it would now require recovering pieces entrusted to guardians whose own futures were uncertain.
Sources (1)
The Journeys Behind the Gong
Renewed danger from Ahn’Qiraj brought the old key back into focus. Anachronos sought a champion able to restore the scepter. Its pieces could no longer simply be collected from undisturbed guardians.
The red shard had passed from Vaelastrasz into Nefarian’s hands. The green required freeing Eranikus from the Nightmare with Tyrande’s aid. The blue had been hidden by Azuregos with an enchanted fish, demanding a different kind of search.
Those journeys made the coming assault depend on battles and alliances far beyond Silithus. Returning with the shards allowed Anachronos to complete the scepter, but the bearer still had to wait for the armies preparing to follow it.
Sources (1)
The Wall Opens
While the scepter was being restored, Alliance and Horde gathered supplies for the campaign. Opening Ahn’Qiraj without an army ready outside it risked releasing the very threat the wall had contained.
With preparations complete, the bearer struck the Scarab Gong. The barrier opened and the waiting forces met the qiraji. Anachronos’s long-preserved key had become the signal for a new war.
The campaign could now advance into the ruins and toward the deeper temple. The old wall had contained the enemy; the new assault sought to reach C’Thun at the center of its power.
Sources (2)
Beneath the Qiraji Throne
The outer ruins of Ahn’Qiraj held an army, but the deeper temple held the source of its purpose. Adventurers fought past the qiraji rulers and reached C’Thun, an enemy whose presence changed the scale of the war.
The Old God was defeated. The captive dragons who had remained inside since the ancient sealing could finally be freed from his grasp. Their survival connected the new victory directly to the sacrifice that had made the first one possible.
An eye taken from the fallen enemy was carried back to Anachronos. The campaign had reached beyond reopening a fortress: it had ended the immediate threat from the power that had driven its armies.
Sources (2)
