The second World of Warcraft: Afterlives short released on Thursday, part of a flight of animated segments designed to tease the upcoming expansion World of Warcraft: Shadowlands. The series premiered on Aug. 27 with Bastion.
This short is all about Maldraxxus, a military ward of the larger Shadowlands plane. Souls that pass on can be assigned there as part of its fighting force, where they must be dedicated, prepared to serve, and trained to provide the undead military with its strength. In the cinematic, we hear that if Maldraxxus falls, the rest of the Shadowlands goes with it — and that’s presumably really bad, especially since the maximum-security version of Hell known as the Maw is led by the evil Jailer, who is conspiring to take over the Shadowlands.
The five houses of Maldraxxus, as well as the situation that players have to confront, are set up during this short story through the eyes of Draka. Warcraft lore afficiandos might be familiar with Draka — she’s the mother of Thrall (the former Warchief and world-saving shaman) who died during the orc civil wars that played out during the original Warcraft real-time strategy games. After dying and going to Maldraxxus, it looks like she respec’d and picked up rogue skills.
Maldraxxus is one of the four leveling zones in World of Warcraft: Shadowlands, the game’s eighth expansion, which is currently set to release on Oct. 27. Players will learn more about Draka and Maldraxxus, and will have the option to join the powerful Necrolords Covenant for exclusive abilities and cosmetics.
