Entering the Shadowlands: Introduction Questline

During the intro questline, players will be introduced to the The Maw for the first time, which is the "max-level" zone of the Shadowlands.

You will need to save the faction leaders of Azeroth from the grasp of the Jailer and Sylvanas, as well as establish a connection between The Maw and Oribos, the new capital city.

Once the expansion goes live, you will be given a pop-up quest (A Chilling Summons) to head to your faction's capital city and, after doing so, to go through a portal to Icecrown Citadel.

Once you arrive, you will meet the Lich King, Bolvar, who is standing with the now shattered Helm of Domination. When Sylvanas broke the helm with her power, she linked her soul to the helm and, with the shards she left behind, we can track her to the Shadowlands.

After a dialogue between the leaders of the Horde, leaders of the Alliance, and Bolvar, you are tasked with completing a ritual with the aid of Bolvar and his Death Knights that will teleport you into the Shadowlands.

Once you have completed Through the Shattered Sky, you will teleport into the Maw.

After teleporting, you will find yourself in the Maw with Darion Mograine, who tasks you with finding and aiding his Ebon Blade forces, as well as defeating the Mawsworn that are now attacking your allies in A Fractured Blade and Mawsworn Menace, respectively.

Once you have armed your allies and defeated enough of the Mawsworn soldiers, you are tasked by a dying Ebon Blade soldier to defeat the troops' leader, Ruiner Marnoth in Ruiner's End. After doing so, you regroup with Darion and his Ebon Blade forces who are searching for more allies in the Maw.

After finding multiple clues in Fear to Tread, you stumble upon Thrall and Jaina, however Thrall is wounded and needs both shelter and aid. Before you are able to leave, you are assaulted by more Mawsworn forces in On Blackened Wings, but your forces and Jaina easily manage to defeat them. You continue to seek shelter in A Flight from Darkness, which leads you to a safe cavern in the area, the Forlorn Respite.

In order to learn more about the Maw, Jaina shows you everything she has already learnt in A Moment's Respite, but it is not enough. Darion has a plan to force the dead souls in the Maw to speak, but first, he needs your help in Field Seance to command the nearby shades.

You quickly find that the souls cannot speak, so Darion instead opts to command a Tormented Amalgamation in Speaking to the Dead. After returning to Jaina in Soul in Hand, we learn the whereabouts of the Alliance king, Anduin.

Jaina believes herself to be too weak to go after Anduin alone, but with our help, we make our way to him in the Tremaculum during The Lion's Cage; he is being held captive by Sylvanas herself. After we reach Anduin, Sylvanas has disappeared (this will be explained in a cinematic on live, it is currently not implemented on the beta) and we have to find the keys for his cage in The Afflictor's Key.

While on the way to defeat Phael the Afflictor and free Anduin, you also collect keys from the Mawsworn in the area and release the souls that have been caged there in An Undeserved Fate.

Once Anduin is freed, she helps us back to the Forlorn Respite with a portal, where we must speak to Darion and find what he has learned from the soul we captured in From the Mouths of Madness.

The soul reveals that there is a way out of the Maw, but it was sealed long ago; it is the only option to escape for now, however, so you must head towards in it by crossing the River of Souls in By and Down the River.

While trying to cross the bridge, Helya appears and blows the whole party off the bridge, straight into the river. After escaping its cold grasp, Thrall notices that the Jailer is nearby and Anduin points out that he has Baine.

You manage to rescue Baine, but he cannot be healed by any of your allies; instead, Thrall notes that it may be possible by using a Mawsworn weapon to draw out the spirit hurting Baine.

With Thrall by your side, you hunt for not only a weapon to aid Baine in Wounds Beyond Flesh, but also a weapon for Thrall to fight with in A Good Axe.

Using the Mawsworn weapon you found, you draw out the darkness from Baine in Draw Out the Darkness and defeat the spirits haunting him.

Now that you have rescued Baine, you continue on to the Waystone that will allow you to escape the Maw, but there are enemies everywhere. Jaina uses her abilities to make the group invisible in The Path to Salvation, so that you can sneak past the Jailer's forces, but there are still enemies that can see through her magic.

After sneaking past as many as you can, you eventually reach the Waystone that will take you to Oribos, but it is inactive and only responds to you. You must activate the keystone in Stand as One, but the Jailer's armies will not let you leave without a fight, as countless enemies descend on you.

Once the waystone is charged, you can finally leave The Maw and end up in the new capital city of the Shadowlands, Oribos, for the first time.

As soon as you leave the Maw, you will earn the achievement, Into the Maw, as well as start the questline that leads you into the leveling experience of the Shadowlands.