Warcraft II — Heroes for the Horde

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A twelve-mission expansion campaign for the 1995 real-time strategy game from Blizzard Entertainment, Warcraft II  — Tides of Darkness. Includes all mission map files and a campaign manual:

For long months the Second War between the Orcish Horde and the nations of Azeroth raged on. Though many were the brave warriors who fell in commission of its service, it seemed that no matter how many battles were won nor victories claimed neither side could achieve the final triumph. The Orcs, commanded by the fearsome War Chief Orgrim Doomhammer, continued in their onslaught upon the Human lands, pillaging and burning any opponents foolish enough to dare stand in their way. The Alliance forces, meanwhile, remained true in their sworn mission to repel the Horde at any cost, held together by the steadfast leadership of King Terenas and Anduin Lothar despite a mounting count of grievous losses.

But among the Orcs secret rifts were brewing. While the Bleeding Hollow, Dragonmaw, and Black Tooth Grin clans all stayed faithful in their service to Doomhammer and his Blackrock soldiers, there were others throughout the lesser clans that began to wonder whether the great chieftain remained deserving of his title as War Chief. Deadliest by far was the Warlock Gul’dan – leader of the former Shadow Council and now ruler of the mystic Stormreaver clan – who for years had conspired under the tutelage and instruction of the daemons of the Great Beyond, and who had now learned that the tomb of their own great master, the Lord Sargeras, lay waiting upon the seas of Azeroth itself. Though inwardly harboring doubts whether Sargeras and his magics could be contained, the draw of such unrestrained power was too much for Gul’dan to resist. With the war against the Humans dragging on and Doomhammer’s legitimacy among the clans weakening, the Warlock foresaw his moment to make the final move.

Then came the respite long looked-for: in a sortie below the shadow of Blackrock Spire, Doomhammer faced against Lord Lothar himself in hand-to-hand combat and was victorious. As the Alliance soldiers watched their greatest champion fall before the weight of the War Chief’s weapon, his skull shattered into dust and bloodied bits, the last vestiges of their fighting spirit abandoned them and together they fled the battle screaming in despair and defeat. Orgrim claimed the field, his Wolfriders overrunning those few knights foolish enough for a final stand, and in a rousing cry emboldened his troops with a single promise—that he and his Chieftains would not rest until Tirisfal itself was broken and crumbling beneath the crush of Orcish blades.

The stalemate was ended. With the hated Lothar dead and his commanders routed, the Horde’s warpath up into Lordaeron was at last unobstructed and made clear. Now the call was sounded, at Doomhammer’s signal the charge given for all his warriors to gather themselves one last time beneath the Blackrock banner for a final assault. But as the rest of the clans amassed before the shadow of the great Spire, Gul’dan and his Stormreavers did not forget their earlier ambitions, schemes of dominion and mastery over Sargeras’s daemonic magics—nor did they abandon such schemes so easily. Under the cover of Doomhammer’s summons the great Warlock convened together his own cohort of deadly heroes, a legion worthy of the elder legends of old.

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In the forest outskirts bordering the leafy boughs of Quel’thalas, the warlord Zuljin assembled his forces. For many years had he waged his own crusade against the Silvermoon Elves, hunted and hounded by the arrows of their relentless Rangers. Only in the War’s waning hours had he heeded to Doomhammer’s plea – a gesture of goodwill, for the daring rescue from his Human gaolers at Hillsbrad – and joined his forces with the Horde’s. Now at last Zuljin saw a pathway to glory, ready and eager to serve in whatever cause he was called for. Though his interests lay primarily in the spilled blood of his longtime Elven enemies, there were some among the Horde who whispered Zuljin’s name as Gul’dan’s likely contender for the next War Chief, should Doomhammer succumb in battle.

Out of the ashes of Northshire and the smoldering ruins where the Twilight’s Hammer claimed their camps lumbered forth Gul’dan’s most loyal servant: the fearsome Cho’gall. As First among the Ogre-Magi Cho’gall was renowned throughout the Horde not only for the might of his fists but also for the cunning of his spells, and it was said that his Eye could pierce beyond all veils—even unto the mysteries of the Great Beyond Itself. Having been trained in the arcane under the Warlock’s own teachings, Cho’gall attended Gul’dan as his strong Right Hand, eager to smash the Shadow Council’s opponents wherever its master might point him. At this new summons he did not delay. Up the coasts and rivers he came, driving at the fore of a deadly array of Ogre Juggernaughts; even at a far distance their violet sails could be spotted waving in the wind.

Across the withering heaths marched the fabled Blademasters of the Burning Blade clan. Esteemed less an organized tribe than as a frenzy of nomadic terror, the Orcs of Burning Blade had made their own pacts many years ago with the Daemons of the Great Beyond, corrupting their warriors with a rage and fighting furor beyond even Gul’dan’s ability to comprehend. It was once said that only by the might of the Ogres could this relentless swarm be kept in check; but with the return of Cho’gall and his Ogre-Magi, the Blademasters’ steel had been marshalled once again to dance in the music of the Horde’s cause.

From his perch atop the slopes of Blackrock Spire, surrounded by a cadre of his faithful servants on the Shadow Council, Gul’dan gazed down upon the surge of forces assembling beneath him. Though for the time being Doomhammer’s loft among the Horde leadership has been secured, Gul’dan knows well that the greatest victories are won not by those who look to the moment, but rather furthest into the future. For it is long-remembered by his disciples how the Great Warlock first penetrated the forces of the Beyond,and through the strength of his will mastered the means to bend its writhing magics to his bidding. It was by these mystical spells that his devotees upon the Shadow Council were trained in the methods of necromancy; and by their further enchantment that the so-called Death Knights were reborn again from the corpses of Azeroth soldiers. But with the aid of his daemon instructors Gul’dan has recently discovered ways to twist not just the flesh but even the spirit of the undead to his unwilling commands; and with the fall of Lord Lothar has already identified who shall be his first attempt in this new artifice…