Artwork © Blizzard EntertainmentClassic baseline · Forever beta stories
Timeline
At the end of the War of the Three HammersThe Fire Beneath the War
The War of the Three Hammers drove the Dark Iron ruler toward a final gamble. With enemy armies approaching, Thaurissan called on a power beneath the world that he believed could reverse his defeat.
The summoning brought Ragnaros into Azeroth. The devastation killed the sorcerer-thane and tore the surrounding mountains apart. The armies that had pursued him withdrew from the catastrophe rather than claim the victory they had expected.
The surviving Dark Irons found themselves bound to the Firelord beneath Blackrock Mountain. A war between dwarven clans had left an elemental ruler entrenched in their homeland, shaping the conflicts of the mountain for generations.
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The Rescue That Was Not
From Ironforge, Magni understood his daughter’s absence as captivity. Adventurers entered Blackrock Depths to kill Emperor Dagran Thaurissan and return Moira to him. The assignment left little room for the possibility that she wanted a different life.
After Dagran’s death, Moira rejected the premise of the mission. She had loved the emperor and carried his child. Sparing her had not made the attack a rescue: it had left her bereaved.
The truth did not erase the Dark Iron kingdom’s cruelty or its subjection to Ragnaros. It did expose the gulf between a father’s belief and his daughter’s choice. The expedition returned with an answer Ironforge had not sent it to find.
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The Marshal Returns
The trail to Onyxia passed through a prison beneath Blackrock Mountain. Recovering evidence and freeing Windsor allowed the investigation to return to the place where the dragon’s disguise gave her power: Stormwind.
The marshal confronted Lady Katrana Prestor before the court. Her true form was exposed, and the apparent security of the throne room collapsed into violence. Onyxia killed Windsor and fled while Bolvar Fordragon fought the dragonkin revealed around them.
This chapter follows the original Alliance quest route. Its victory was the end of the masquerade, not the dragon’s death. The pursuit into her lair still lay ahead, with the comic giving that confrontation a more specific cast and conclusion.
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The Firelord Sent Back
The Hydraxian Waterlords helped adventurers challenge the power rooted beneath Blackrock Mountain. Extinguishing the runes and overcoming the elemental court brought them to Majordomo Executus.
The defeated steward summoned Ragnaros. His master’s first act was to kill him for the intrusion. The raiders now faced the source of the domination that had begun with the ancient Dark Iron summoning.
Their victory banished Ragnaros to the Firelands. It removed his immediate presence from the Core without establishing a permanent death. The difference matters: the original raid ends an occupation in Azeroth, not the Firelord’s existence.
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The Laboratory at the Summit
Above the dwarven city and elemental caverns, Nefarian maintained the work meant to secure his own dominance. His chromatic experiments made other dragons into materials for a force of his creation.
The attackers destroyed eggs and encountered Vaelastrasz, an ally already forced into the enemy’s service. Continuing through the lair meant both ending the experiments and confronting what they had done to their victims.
At the summit, Lord Victor Nefarius revealed his dragon form. Nefarian’s defeat ended the original operation in Blackrock Mountain. The same victory also mattered to the scepter campaign: the red shard taken from Vaelastrasz could finally be recovered.
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