Sneak Peek: Grim Batol

During a bloody civil war among the three dwarven factions of Ironforge, the Bronzebeards ousted the Wildhammer and the Dark Iron clans from the ancient corridors of the mountain city. In the wake of the defeat, the Wildhammers ventured north and forged a new home, Grim Batol, in the mountains of what is now the Twilight Highlands. However, although they worked tirelessly to create a better future for themselves, the Dark Irons, who established the city of Thaurissan in the Redridge Mountains, could not move beyond the memory of their defeat. Consumed by the desire for revenge and desperate to control the entire dwarven region of Khaz Modan, the Dark Irons led a two-pronged assault on the Bronzebeards in Ironforge and the Wildhammers in Grim Batol. Despite their past differences, these two embattled rivals joined forces and drove the Dark Irons out of Khaz Modan, decimating the armies of the treacherous clan's sorcerer-thane, Thaurissan. Yet victory carried grave consequences. Although Thaurissan's wife and queen, Modgud, was slain during the attack on Grim Batol, her death tainted the mountain fortress. While the Bronzebeards rebuilt their glorious city of Ironforge, the Wildhammers felt forever changed by the horrors they witnessed at Grim Batol. They fled their cursed home and never returned.

The abandoned city's defiled corridors later became home to a number of nefarious plots. When the Demon Soul was discovered by the Dragonmaw clan and used to force Alexstrasza's drakes to serve the Horde, Grim Batol acted as the red Dragon Aspect's torturous prison. The Dragonmaw held Grim Batol through the Second War, before they were driven out by Deathwing, who planned to steal Alexstrasza's eggs. Yet as Deathwing carried out his plan, the Demon Soul was destroyed, and the powers locked within were returned to Alexstrasza, Ysera, Nozdormu, and Malygos. Deathwing narrowly escaped an assault by the four re-empowered Dragon Aspects, although he did not leave empty-handed; in his grasp were the eggs of Alexstrasza. For their vile transgressions, the fleeing Dragonmaw were shown no mercy, and the struggle came to a quick end. Members of the red dragonflight were left behind to keep watch over Grim Batol, and for years they successfully guarded its desolate halls from further intrusion... until the arrival of the Twilight's Hammer, a sinister cult who worshipped Azeroth's malefic Old Gods.

The cult, seduced by Deathwing's thirst for absolute domination over Azeroth, has claimed the Twilight Highlands as its base of operations. The black dragonflight has driven off the agents of the red dragonflight who guarded Grim Batol so that it may be used as a fortress for training Deathwing's minions. The halls of Grim Batol run so deep into the highlands that it is unknown to what twisted end the Twilight's Hammer is using this doomed dwarven marvel.

Called to action by the red dragonflight in the Twilight Highlands, players will be charged with putting a decisive end to the foul machinations developing within the level-85, 5-player dungeon of Grim Batol. The ferocity of the enemies within should not be underestimated, and with the assistance of brave Red Drakes and a handful of explosives, players can thin the ranks of Grim Batol's occupiers through bombing flights into the ruined city's corridors. Regardless of how successful these attacks might be, General Umbris will not allow his army to fall so quickly. In the end, adventurers will be left to their own devices, venturing into the darkest recesses of the dwarven fortress, where a nightmarish enemy is taking shape. Will you be able to uncover Grim Batol's secrets and emerge unscathed, or will your destiny be sealed within this tortured city, like so many brave heroes before you?