World of Warcraft's pre-patch event pits evil knife wife against our wizard dad

World of Warcraft’s next expansion, The War Within, is arriving soon, and Blizzard has been setting the stage for the first act of the three-expansion Worldsoul Saga as the current chapter, Dragonflight, concludes. On Wednesday, Blizzard announced it would be beta testing a new narrative experience on the public test realm, and shared a short cinematic trailer. Dalaran, one of the most beloved hub cities in the game, seems to be in great peril at the hands of the franchise’s new headliner big bad, Xal’atath. But papa Khadgar is here to help. [Media: https://twitter.com/Warcraft/status/1823778728272642500] Let me explain. Way back during the Legion expansion in 2016, Khadgar summoned the players to Dalaran. Khadgar goes way back; he was in the original RTS games, but vanished during Warcraft 2. We found him again in Shattrath City during The Burning Crusade, and around Warlords of Draenor, he really stepped up. By the time Legion arrived, everyone loved Khadgar, AKA Dadgar, for his good nature and goofy jests. Sure, he’s a super-powerful mage, and the hero of all of Azeroth’s great wars. But he also tracks down the hero for a Skype call by sending his own head floating in an orb. The opening act of the expansion was well-received. Khadgar called the players back to Dalaran, the city of mages and the popular hub for both Alliance and Horde in Wrath of the Lich King. The Legion was back, and players needed to find powerful Artifact Weapons. Among those was Xal’atath, the Shadow Priest Artifact. This knife with an eye proved to be much more than a humble stabbing instrument; she’s clearly affiliated with the Old Gods and their ancient Black Empire, and they’re all equally ambitious. Xal’atath was also suspiciously smug, for a knife. She escaped that vessel as part of some larger scheme, and that’s leading to big problems. Xal’atath is now haunting the corpse of a Void Elf and empowering an ancient spider kingdom. Blizzard also shared a six-second clip of an animated project, with the caption “Soon™” The video concludes with The War Within, so we’ll have to see how well the teaser — which features elves at battle with the Horde — represents the final product. No matter what, that pre-patch event definitely spells trouble. We’ll see how this showdown culminates in the lead-up to The War Within’s release on Aug. 26.