Lore segment begins at (18:07)

Pandaria survived ten thousand years behind the mists. The Alliance and Horde needed only days to teach its people their war

The Alliance enters the Jade Forest searching for Prince Anduin. The Horde arrives to secure a foothold for Garrosh Hellscream. Both insist their mission is necessary. Both recruit local allies. Both receive the same warning from Taran Zhu, Pandaria lives and breathes, and it will respond to the emotions they bring

The jinyu begin marching beneath Alliance banners. The hozen raise the colours of the Horde. Between them, the people of Dawn’s Blossom continue trading, monks continue teaching and generations of workers prepare an enormous jade vessel for Yu’lon’s rebirth

Then the two armies meet beneath it

Lore segment begins at (16:40)

Beneath Orgrimmar, dark shaman enslave creatures from the Firelands while Horde commanders and SI:7 agents interpret the same threat through opposing fears. In Lordaeron, a mysterious Hooded Crusader dismantles the Scarlet order from within. Her identity is Lilian Voss, the undead daughter rejected by the father who trained her to hate the very thing she became. Her campaign carries us through Houndmaster Braun, Armsmaster Harlan, Flameweaver Koegler, High Inquisitor Whitemane and finally into Scholomance, where Darkmaster Gandling still turns his students into experiments.

Far from that violence, a new pandaren begins training beneath Master Shang Xi. The search for the four elemental spirits introduces Aysa Cloudsinger and the patient Tushui path, Ji Firepaw and the decisive Huojin path, and the balance both philosophies once created together.

When the great turtle Shen-zin Su finally answers his people, they discover an Alliance airship buried in his side. Aysa and Ji work with survivors from both factions to free him. Their cooperation saves every life on the Wandering Isle, but it lasts only until the immediate danger is gone.

The Alliance and Horde demand a choice. Aysa follows the Alliance. Ji follows the Horde. Friends, relatives and former companions are told that the people beneath the other banner are now sworn enemies, just as the mists around Pandaria begin to part.

Lore segment begins at (20:50)

The Pearl of Pandaria has shown Li Li Stormstout something her people stopped believing: Pandaria still exists. Staying safely aboard Shen-zin Su would mean ignoring the lost homeland waiting beyond the mists, so Li Li leaves the Wandering Isle again. This time, Chen Stormstout follows her not to drag her home, but to make sure she does not face the journey alone.

In Tides of Lore Episode 89, we retell Sarah Pine's four-part World of Warcraft novella Quest for Pandaria, the direct continuation of Pearl of Pandaria and a bridge between Cataclysm and Mists of Pandaria.

Li Li's decision reopens every wound her family tried to bury. Chon Po has already lost his wife, watched Wanyo vanish and welcomed his daughter home after Strongbo died protecting her. To Li Li, his fear has made home into a cage. To her father, another journey looks like the same grief arriving all over again.

The Pearl leads Li Li and Chen from Ironforge and Booty Bay into the path of Catelyn the Blade, a pirate carrying debt, defiance and an unfinished relationship with her father, Ansirem Runeweaver. In Uldum, the brothers Menrim and Bathet reveal what can happen when pride delays an apology until love can no longer repair the damage.

Their final voyage carries them into a gathering war. An Alliance ship and a Horde warship turn diplomats into hostages near Theramore, while ordinary people risk their lives for friends on the opposite side. By the time Chen and Li Li reunite, both vessels are burning and the conflict that will define Mists of Pandaria is already sailing toward the hidden continent.

The Pearl can point toward Pandaria. It cannot tell Li Li what finding it will cost, who will follow her through the mists or whether a person can choose freedom without abandoning the people who love them.

Lore segment begins at (20:50)

The Pearl of Pandaria has shown Li Li Stormstout something her people stopped believing: Pandaria still exists. Staying safely aboard Shen-zin Su would mean ignoring the lost homeland waiting beyond the mists, so Li Li leaves the Wandering Isle again. This time, Chen Stormstout follows her not to drag her home, but to make sure she does not face the journey alone.

In Tides of Lore Episode 89, we retell Sarah Pine's four-part World of Warcraft novella Quest for Pandaria, the direct continuation of Pearl of Pandaria and a bridge between Cataclysm and Mists of Pandaria.

Li Li's decision reopens every wound her family tried to bury. Chon Po has already lost his wife, watched Wanyo vanish and welcomed his daughter home after Strongbo died protecting her. To Li Li, his fear has made home into a cage. To her father, another journey looks like the same grief arriving all over again.

The Pearl leads Li Li and Chen from Ironforge and Booty Bay into the path of Catelyn the Blade, a pirate carrying debt, defiance and an unfinished relationship with her father, Ansirem Runeweaver. In Uldum, the brothers Menrim and Bathet reveal what can happen when pride delays an apology until love can no longer repair the damage.

Their final voyage carries them into a gathering war. An Alliance ship and a Horde warship turn diplomats into hostages near Theramore, while ordinary people risk their lives for friends on the opposite side. By the time Chen and Li Li reunite, both vessels are burning and the conflict that will define Mists of Pandaria is already sailing toward the hidden continent.

The Pearl can point toward Pandaria. It cannot tell Li Li what finding it will cost, who will follow her through the mists or whether a person can choose freedom without abandoning the people who love them.

Lore segment begins at (20:30)

Years before Pandaria returned to the world, Li Li Stormstout ran away from the Wandering Isle to find the uncle who taught her that life should be an adventure. Chen Stormstout had stopped writing, and no warning from her father or teacher could convince Li Li to wait for someone else to discover why.

In Tides of Lore Episode 88, we retell World of Warcraft: Pearl of Pandaria, the graphic novel in which we see Li Li leave Shen-zin Su behind and crosses Azeroth in search of Chen, with the stern Geomaster Strongbo following under oath to bring her home.

Their journey carries them through Booty Bay, Stormwind, the Deeprun Tram, Ironforge, Brewfest, the wounded forests of the Stonetalon Mountains and the drowned ruins of Azshara. Every clue reveals another side of Chen Stormstout, while Strongbo is forced to confront the resentment he has carried since Chen abandoned their final duel.

Behind them, the Naga Zha'hara Darksquall and the Fel Orc Blademaster Rahjak are searching for a mysterious pearl connected to the lost continent of Pandaria. Li Li may not possess the treasure they seek, but she could still lead them to something the world has been unable to find for thousands of years.

This story bridges Chen's earlier Warcraft adventures and the coming discovery of Pandaria while exploring the history of the pandaren, Liu Lang, the Wandering Isle and the family that Li Li refuses to leave behind quietly.

🎵 Help support the A.L.E. Project — Azeroth Listening Expeditionhttps://forms.gle/jFnU71SCY3YeCa8b7

The A.L.E. Project is our community effort to categorize World of Warcraft's enormous musical library by mood, environment, theme and more. Contributions help us find the right music for projects like Tides of Lore Classic and can directly help make future episodes faster to produce.

There was a time when a kobold was dangerous, a mine was unexplored, and the road beyond the next hill was somewhere you had never been.

Tides of Lore Classic returns to the original World of Warcraft questing experience from the perspective of someone stepping into Azeroth for the first time.

Our journey begins in Northshire Abbey before carrying us through the forests, farms, mines and settlements of Elwynn Forest. Along the way we'll meet the kobolds of Echo Ridge, discover the red-bandana-wearing thieves haunting the countryside, visit Goldshire and the Lion's Pride Inn, encounter murlocs along Crystal Lake, follow the roads to Eastvale and Westbrook, and eventually reach the border of Westfall.

Rather than simply recounting the quests, Tides of Lore Classic combines narration with World of Warcraft's music and dialogue, environmental ambience, Foley and sound effects to recreate the feeling of actually making the journey. This is The First Road.

Lore segment begins at (21:30)

Join the Azeroth Listening Expedition! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScoU83WrsyvgPdkwBxN4XzGvNkL2cOdi4LT568uWynGwb-0Ug/viewformTheramore is gone, and Jaina Proudmoore has survived it. But the woman who walks into the ruins is colder, angrier, and ready to make an entire city answer for Garrosh Hellscream's crime.

Today, we conclude Christie Golden's Tides of War, Jaina confronts the horrific fallout of the mana bomb, the loss of Rhonin and Kinndy Sparkshine, and the failure of every attempt she made to preserve peace. Armed with the Focusing Iris, she enslaves the water elementals and raises a tide large enough to erase Orgrimmar.

With Thrall holding back the sea and Kalecgos forcing Jaina to confront what she is becoming, the question is no longer whether the Horde deserves justice. It is whether Jaina can still distinguish justice from revenge.

We also follow Varian Wrynn's assault on Bladefist Bay, Baine Bloodhoof and Vol'jin drawing their first hard lines against Garrosh, and the prophecy that carries Jaina from the grave of Theramore to the leadership of the Kirin Tor.

Lore segment begins at (17:55)Garrosh gave Theramore days to prepare for the Horde’s attack. Warned by Baine Bloodhoof, Jaina Proudmoore calls upon Stormwind, the Seventh Fleet, the Kirin Tor and Kalecgos to defend her city. Every ship, soldier, general and mage makes Theramore more difficult to conquer.

And still, Garrosh waits...

But that's when the Horde’s assault and the true purpose behind Garrosh’s apparently disastrous strategy reveals itself. What should Baine and Vol’jin have done once they understood where Garrosh was leading the Horde? Let us know below.