WANTED! "Cap'n" J. Garvey of the Maiden's Dagger Charged with piracy on the open seas, kidnapping, extortion, arson, slavery, et al. Garvey recently arrived in these waters leading a crew of Southsea Freebooters and was last seen assaulting Fray Island. Bring proof of death in an identifiable condition! -- Gazlowe

Gazlowe promised me a promotion if I can help him with Ratchet's pirate issues. The problem is these new buccaneers that sailed in and took over Fray Island, south of here. They're not just after our goods - they've got grudges to settle! The other night they even went after one of our war galleons. I've got plans in the works to deal with the situation, but Gazlowe wants to see quick results. Head over to Fray Island and start lopping off some heads, will you?

We grunts were ordered to charge once more - into a wall of pikes - I could not do it, druid. My weapon slid from my hands and my legs did not move. I am dishonored.

I'm Rezlak, one of Gazlowe's boys. Boss sent me to help the orcs here in Durotar. Things'd been going good except for the caravans. Can't manage to keep them safe! Makes my job a little harder, you know? The last shipment, which they PROMISED would get through, was snatched by the Dustwind harpies of...where was it...Razorwind Canyon? I gotta have those supplies! Follow the big canyon to the south, you'll find the ravine cut right into the west and east sides of the walls.

I'm running low on linen, adventurer. Do you have any for me?

adventurer! The Warchief has summoned you to undertake a mission of the utmost secrecy. The very future of the Horde is at stake.

Turning in a bounty?

Hello! Frederick's Fabulous Furniture, Pawdo speaking.

Thrall paid me and my boys well for helping out with the construction of Orgrimmar, so I decided to set up a port here. We do most of our business through Booty Bay and Baron Revilgaz.

The time has come, paladin. With Stormwind secure, we will take this fight to the enemy. To the Highlands! The bulk of our navy has already shipped out, thanks to your work earlier. But Fargo Flintlocke has prepared a seaplane that can make the journey in double-time. Speak with Flintlocke down at the harbor and tell him that you are to accompany him to the Highlands. He will be by the water's edge. Safe journeys, adventurer.

Those Light-blasted troggs, turning my work site into a wreck! Look at that, there goes another barrel of powder! Ohhh, I wish I could go down there and wring every one of their scrawny little necks! I want to kill them all! This can't be good for my health, all this stress and anger... What have they left me with? Nothing! I'd kill them myself, but my aim's no good anymore! You go into the quarry and kill some of the filthy buggers! I'll pay you! Just hurt them, kill them!

The Perenolde Tiara is an old heirloom of the Perenolde "nobles" - the ruling family of Alterac before that kingdom fell to ruin. It is said to have been crafted by master jewelers in Ironforge, and fitted with the finest of emeralds. When Alterac was destroyed the Tiara was lost, but there are rumors that an Ogre Mage, Grel'borg the Miser, found the tiara and now wanders the Ruins of Alterac searching for more treasures. We would have you acquire the tiara for us.

As a member of the Senate and the Explorers' League, I've taken it upon myself to investigate conditions at the quarry. The troggs have run wild! They've made a mess of the Gol'Bolar quarry. As we dug deep into the earth, they poured out, destroying our equipment and trapping many of the miners below ground. We have to get them out of there. I've had mages working overtime to enchant these runes of return. If you can get them to the trapped miners, they can return to the surface in safety.

That deadline isn't getting any further away, paladin. Please hurry and collect those bundles of wood.

Lunk came from the Badlands. Other ogres try to make Lunk fight. Lunk hate fighting. Lunk want to learn. Lunk sees machines to the south. Machines made of gears. Maybe if you ask nicely, machines will give you some gears? Then maybe Lunk can have a gear, and learn about machines too.

That dirty pirate Baron Longshore was the terror of these waters before the Alliance demolished his fleet and rounded up the survivors. Am I happy about it? Do I look like a bundle of joy and good cheer, adventurer? Longshore raided some of my most valuable cargo before his capture. Rumor has it he buried it before he was caught. I want my goods back! Find Longshore in the Alliance camp just south of here and see if you can get him to reveal where my treasure is.

Not long ago, a shipment of silver was stolen en route from here to Crossroads. It was meant as payroll to the guards, and we want that silver back. I'll ask around here for clues, but I want you to investigate the scene of the crime. Head west and look for a crashed caravan wagon just north of the road between here and Crossroads. Find out who took our silver and get it back!

Who goes there? Your footsteps are not the lazy stride of a guard. A druid, you say? Still brave and free? There's no hope for me, friend. I have lost my eyesight and am no longer fit for battle. I dared speak up while Captain Peake savagely beat one of the prisoners. In return he kicked me in the head. And kept kicking. He kicked me blind, tauren. You'll find Captain Peake at the top of this tower. If you seek justice, bring me his eyes. If he does not part with them willingly... so be it.

Aw man, this ain't good. Not one bit, mon. Thrall's off to sea, Vol'jin's taking care of business in Echo Isles, and old Master Gadrin is left behind to take care of Sen'jin. And then what happens? Those humans come outta Northwatch Hold and set up camp in our backyard! Lucky for us, they just got here, and they're still setting up their base. You can help out old Gadrin by destroying those big supply crates they carry, and by killing the laborers carryin' them. You'll find'm to the southwest.

What do you seek, priest?

We are blessed to live in Harandar, and we treat that as a responsibility. The roots of World Trees wind through these lands, and we must tend to them to make sure that they continue to thrive. I am Cyenna, Charge Nurse of Nordrassil. It is a responsibility I take very seriously.

Every whisper silenced is a step closer towards our true quarry.

However, during the final days of the Second War, as the Horde's victory over the Alliance seemed almost assured, a terrible feud erupted between the two most powerful orcs on Azeroth. As Doomhammer prepared his final assault against the Capital City of Lordaeron - an assault that would have crushed the last remnants of the Alliance - Gul'dan and his followers abandoned their posts and set out to sea.

As their powers grew, a distinct change came over Azshara and the high-borne. The haughty, aloof upper class became increasingly callous and cruel towards their fellow night elves. A dark, brooding pall veiled Azshara's once entrancing beauty. She began to withdraw from her loving subjects and refused to interact with any but her trusted high-borne priests.

The war raged across the continents of Khaz Modan, Lordaeron, and Azeroth itself. As part of its northern campaign, the Horde succeeded in burning down the borderlands of Quel'Thalas, thereby ensuring the elves' final commitment to the Alliance's cause. The greater cities and townships of Lordaeron were razed and devastated by the conflict. Despite the absence of reinforcements and overwhelming odds, Lothar and his allies succeeded in holding their enemies at bay.

The epic battles of the Second War ranged from large-scale naval skirmishes to massive aerial dogfights. Somehow the Horde had unearthed a powerful artifact known as the Demon Soul and used it to enslave the ancient Dragonqueen, Alexstrasza. Threatening to destroy her precious eggs, the Horde forced Alexstrasza to send her grown children to war. The noble red dragons were forced to fight for the Horde, and fight they did.

A young, brazen scholar named Furion Stormrage, who had spent much of his time studying the Well's effects, began to suspect that a terrible power was corrupting the high-borne and his beloved Queen. Though he could not conceive the evil that was to come, he knew that the night elves' lives would soon be changed forever....

The Horde, now led by Warchief Doomhammer, brought in ogres from its homeworld of Draenor and conscripted the disenfranchised Amani forest trolls into its fold. Setting out on a massive campaign to overrun the dwarf kingdom of Khaz Modan and the southern reaches of Lordaeron, the Horde effortlessly decimated all opposition.

The elves, led at that time by Anasterian Sunstrider, were largely uninterested in the coming conflict. However, they were duty-bound to aid Lothar because he was the last descendent of the Arathi bloodline, which had aided the elves in ages past.

Aided by his lieutenants, Uther the Lightbringer, Admiral Daelin Proudmoore, and Turalyon, Lothar was able to convince Lordaeron's demi-human races of the impending threat as well. The Alliance succeeded in gaining the support of the stoic dwarves of Ironforge and a small number of high elves of Quel'Thalas.

For the first time in nearly three thousand years, the disparate nations of Arathor were once again united under a common banner. Appointed as Supreme Commander of the Alliance forces, Lord Lothar prepared his armies for the coming of the Horde.

The scattered orc clans were quickly rounded up and placed within guarded internment camps. Though it seemed that the Horde had been defeated for good, some remained highly skeptical that peace would last. Khadgar, now an Archmage of some renown, convinced the Alliance high command to build the fortress of Nethergarde that would watch over the ruins of the Dark Portal and ensure that there would be no further invasions from Draenor.

Turalyon's forces succeeded in destroying the Dark Portal, the mystical gateway that connected the orcs to their homeworld of Draenor. Cut off from its reinforcements and fractured by infighting, the Horde finally buckled in upon itself and fell before the might of the Alliance.

The power-hungry Gul'dan, obsessed with obtaining godhood itself, set out on a desperate search for the undersea Tomb of Sargeras that he believed held the secrets of ultimate power. Having already doomed his fellow orcs to become the slaves of the Burning Legion, Gul'dan thought nothing of his supposed duty to Doomhammer.

Lord Lothar, seeing that the Horde was fracturing from within, gathered the last of his forces and pushed Doomhammer south, back into the shattered heartland of Stormwind. There, the Alliance forces trapped the retreating Horde within the volcanic fortress of Blackrock Spire. Though Lord Lothar fell in battle at the Spire's base, his lieutenant, Turalyon, rallied the Alliance forces at the eleventh hour and drove the Horde back into the abysmal Swamp of Sorrows.

Lord Lothar rallied the remnants of Azeroth's armies after their defeat at Stormwind Keep, and then launched a massive exodus across the sea to the northern kingdom of Lordaeron. Convinced that the Horde would overcome all of humanity if left unchecked, the leaders of the seven human nations met and agreed to unite in what would become known as the Alliance of Lordaeron.

Though the rebellion had been quelled, the Horde was unable to recoup the terrible losses it had suffered. Gul'dan's betrayal had afforded the Alliance not only hope, but also time to regroup and retaliate.

The lake, which would later be called the Well of Eternity, was the true heart of the world's magic and natural power. Drawing its energies from the infinite Great Dark beyond the world, the Well acted as a mystical fount, sending its potent energies out across the world to nourish life in all its wondrous forms. In time, a primitive tribe of nocturnal humanoids cautiously made their way to the edges of the mesmerizing, enchanted lake.

The feral, nomadic humanoids, drawn by the Well's strange energies, built crude homes upon its tranquil shores. Over time, the Well's cosmic power affected the strange tribe, making them strong, wise and virtually immortal. The tribe adopted the name Kaldorei, which meant -children of the stars- in their native tongue. To celebrate their budding society, they constructed great structures and temples around the lake's periphery.

The Kaldorei, or night elves as they would later be known, worshipped the moon goddess, Elune, and believed that she slept within the Well's shimmering depths during the daylight hours. The early night elf priests and seers studied the Well with an insatiable curiosity, driven to plumb its untold secrets and power. As their society grew, the night elves explored the breadth of Kalimdor and encountered its myriad denizens.

The only creatures that gave them pause were the ancient and powerful dragons. Though the great serpentine beasts were often reclusive, they did much to safeguard the known lands from potential threats. The night elves believed that the dragons held themselves to be the protectors of the world, and that they and their secrets were best left alone.

In time, the night elves' curiosity led them to meet and befriend a number of powerful entities, not the least of which was Cenarius, a mighty demi-god of the primordial forestlands. The great-hearted Cenarius grew fond of the inquisitive night elves and spent a great deal of time teaching them about the natural world. The tranquil Kaldorei developed a strong empathy for the living forests of Kalimdor and reveled in the harmonious balance of nature.

Yet, as the seemingly endless ages passed, the night elves' civilization expanded both territorially and culturally. Their temples, roads, and dwelling places stretched across the breadth of the dark continent. Azshara, the night elves' beautiful and gifted Queen, built an immense, wondrous palace on the Well's shore that housed her favored servitors within its bejeweled halls.

Her servitors, whom she called the Quel'dorei or -high-borne,- doted on her every command and believed themselves to be greater than the rest of their lower-caste brethren. Though Queen Azshara was loved equally by all of her people, the high-borne were secretly hated by the jealous masses. Sharing the priests' curiosity towards the Well of Eternity, Azshara ordered the educated high-borne to plumb its secrets and reveal its true purpose in the world.

The high-borne buried themselves in their work and studied the Well ceaselessly. In time they developed the ability to manipulate and control the Well's cosmic energies. As their reckless experiments progressed, the high-borne found that they could use their newfound powers to either create or destroy at their leisure. The hapless high-borne had stumbled upon primitive magic and were now resolved to devote themselves to its mastery.

Although they agreed that magic was inherently dangerous if handled irresponsibly, Azshara and her highborne began to practice their spellcraft with reckless abandon. Cenarius and many of the wizened night elf scholars warned that only calamity would result from toying with the clearly volatile arts of magic. But, Azshara and her followers stubbornly continued to expand their burgeoning powers.

By all accounts, the heroes were successful in destroying the portal and saving Azeroth - but whether or not they escaped the death throes of Draenor remains to be seen.

The tremendous magical storms caused by the portals' converging energies began to tear the ravaged world apart. Ner'zhul, followed only by his most trusted servants, managed to escape through one of the portals as Khadgar fought desperately to return his comrades to Azeroth. Realizing that they would be trapped on the dying world, Khadgar and his companions selflessly decided to destroy the dark portal so that Azeroth would not be harmed by Draenor's violent destruction.

Convinced that Ner'zhul was planning a new offensive against the Alliance, King Terenas of Lordaeron sent his armies into Draenor to end the orcish threat once and for all. Led by Khadgar and General Turalyon, the Alliance forces clashed with the orcs across the burning landscape. Even with the aid of the elven Ranger Alleria, the dwarf Kurdran and the veteran soldier Danath, Khadgar was unable to prevent Ner'zhul from opening his portals to other worlds.

Only a few months after Nethergarde's completion, the energies of the dark portal coalesced and opened up a new gateway to Draenor. The remaining orc clans, under the leadership of the elder shaman, Ner'zhul, charged forth into Azeroth once again. Intent on stealing a number of magical artifacts that would increase Ner'zhul's power, the orcs planned to open up new portals in Draenor that would allow them to escape their doomed red world forever.