The Bitter Taste of Victory (WC2 Human)
| The Bitter Taste of Victory | |||||||||||
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| Location | Stair of Destiny, Hellfire Peninsula | ||||||||||
| Result |
Alliance Expedition victory
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| Previous |
 Dance of the Laughing Skull | ||||||||||
| Next | Victory for the Alliance Expedition, War of the Spider | ||||||||||
| Alternate level |
 The Dark Portal | ||||||||||
The Bitter Taste of Victory is the twelfth and final mission of the Alliance campaign in Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal.
Mission briefing
Khadgar has discovered that although the Book of Medivh was stolen from Ner'zhul, the ancient Shaman has learned enough of its secrets to conjure his darkest spell. Over the blood red skies of Draenor, huge dimensional rifts appear, crackling with the cosmic energy of the Twisting Nether. Alleria's scouts report that Ner'zhul and his followers escaped through the largest of the new rifts as Draenor felt the first of its death throes. The tremendous energies emitted from the converging rifts have succeeded in breaking down the fabric of reality in Draenor; unleashing massive earth quakes and tidal waves upon its shores.
Unless the Dark Portal is closed on both worlds, Azeroth will be subject to an enormous backlash of energy resulting from Draenor's catastrophic discorporation.
Using the combined powers of the Book of Medivh and the Skull of Gul'dan, you must return Khadgar to the Dark Portal and seal the rift between Azeroth and the doomed world of Draenor, forever.
Objectives
- Destroy the Dark Portal
- Only Khadgar can destroy the Portal
- Khadgar must survive
Khadgar's Sacrifice
As the flames die to embers and the arcane energies that once bound two worlds slowly fade, the Dark Portal crumbles into dust as its powers subside and dissolve. The finality of what has been done here becomes manifest. The moment is shattered as volcanoes erupt in fiery fury as the earth begins to shake beneath your feet. The world of Draenor is dying...
Khadgar motions toward the remaining rifts created by Ner'zhul and beckons you to follow him. The warriors of Azeroth under your command gaze upon the rifts with uncertainty - but to remain would be suicide. Knowing that their beloved Azeroth is safe from harm, they gather up weapons and wounded companions alike as you lead them into the swirling, unknown reaches of the Twisting Nether.
Aftermath
The fate of the Expedition and of Draenor itself remained unknown for two decades; to the Alliance, they were all presumed dead, and memorialized accordingly in Stormwind City. But the Expedition had in fact survived the destruction of Draenor, seemingly abandoned on a hostile world. The Sons of Lothar, as they called themselves, continued the fight against what remained of the Horde of Draenor, as well as the arriving forces of the Burning Legion under Magtheridon and, later, the legions of Illidan Stormrage.
Forces
Footmen
Archers- Rangers
Knights- Paladins
Ballistae- Mages
Demolition Squads
Flying machines
Gryphon riders
Trivia
- The Bonechewer clan starts with a massive amount of Grunts and Axethrowers for a combined total of 52 units, but has no base, no Peons and can't produce or upgrade units any further. They will destroy the guard tower near their starting position, breach the walls, and destroy all they can inside the fortress. Once all the units and buildings inside the fortress are destroyed, the Bonechewer units will wander around, seeking out the remaining player forces.
- The Shattered Hand clan has no base, but starts with some peons that will build a base in the ruins of the fortress if left unchecked. They will quickly upgrade their base and troops as fast as possible, eventually getting to advanced units such as Death Knights and Dragons, so it is recommended to destroy them as early as possible to make the map easier.
- The Shadowmoon clan has two Dragon Roosts and will focus on attacking by air. Though they will upgrade their ground troops, they rarely, if ever turn their Ogres and Troll Axethrowers into Ogre Magi and Troll Berserkers respectively. They also seem to not build Temples of the Damned as well.
- The Warsong clan seems to focus on ground attack with soldiers and spellcasters.
- The Thunderlord clan strangely has only two soldiers and nothing else, and even these two do not actually appear in the scenario. Viewing the map in a third-party editor shows that they are the heroes Dentarg and Kargath Bladefist. It also shows that the clan is set to human control, which may explain why these units don't appear.[1]
- In the console port, Warcraft II: The Dark Saga, the unused Thunderlord clan faction has been removed altogether from the mission data.
- The Thunderlord clan data is also removed in the MS-DOS version of the game.
- This is the second mission (the first being The Siege of Vanguard) in which you get to control all five Alliance heroes introduced in Beyond the Dark Portal: Khadgar, Danath, Turalyon, Alleria and Kurdran. It is also the only campaign mission in which losing a hero (except Khadgar) will not result in defeat.
- As mentioned in the map's objectives, the Dark Portal can't be damaged by anyone else than Khadgar.
Video
References
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