The basic story starts with a Loyalist leader, a sergeant maybe, in some northern wasteland. He has orders to find and link up with an orcish warlord and crush the elven rebellion in the area. He establishes a headquarters, at which point a goblin knight shows up and tells him that he's arrived a day late, and that the warlord had encountered incredibly stiff resistance from the elves. The knight looks the protagonist up and down and remarks that he seems inexperienced and he should probably stick to the sidelines while the Northerners do the real work. First scenario: You have access to spearmen and bowmen. You will get a gold reset on the next scenario, and you just have to hold out for two days, an easy task considering the Northerner forces are slightly stronger than the rebels and they have you. Basic experience-getting mission with no strings attached.

The Northerners beat back the wave of rebels when the goblin knight comes back to see how you're doing. Just as you meet, however, a Silver Mage appears from nowhere and informs the two of you that the elves are all riled up over the coming of the "legitimate king." He warns that now more than ever the rebels are aggressively raiding and even invading parts of Wesnoth. The protagonist is determined to keep the peace of the land by destroying the rebels. The silver mage tells you that the situation is getting dangerous and he will report to General Li'sar and see what he can do for you. He disappears once more.

Soon, the second wave of elves are about to attack, and the knight tells you of his message, the warlord needs more money to buy armaments if he's to keep the elves in check, so he wants you to "collect taxes" from the villages a bit further to the south. When the protagonist goes to the south and demands money, the villagers deny him and resort to arms. Although he's troubled by the prospect of having to force to force, the protagonist reasons that this money will go towards protecting the villagers, and after all, the Queen gave him the right to seize the money so he attacks. Second scenario: protagonist fights a motley crew of thieves, thugs, and footpads led by a bandit.

El hijo de puta del leader and retrieves the gold, he once again expresses doubt in this course of action. The goblin knight returns and compliments the leader on a massacre well done before demanding the gold, saying it will arrive just in time for the elves' are amassing a third and stronger wave, supported by tree-monsters (woses). The protagonist hands over the gold and readies his troops to march back and support the Northerners when the Silver Mage returns, followed out of nowhere by a troop of Heavy Infantry and Cavalry, saying that Li'sar's sending some heavy support, as she predicts the protagonist's tactical situation is about to worsen. The Silver Mage says he too has a bad feeling about this, and leaves again.

The third scenario: You have access to bowmen, spearmen, heavy infantry, and cavalrymen. The protagonist cooperates with the orcish warlord to defeat a superior force of elves and woses led by Kalenz. As you knock Kalenz's health down to zero, however, Delfador shows up with a crack of thunder and lightning. He chides Kalenz for acting too soon, and the two withdraw.

The protagonist urges the warlord (who he finally meets face to face) to mobilize and hunt down Kalenz and Delfador, but he declines in favor of looting the battlefield. Frustrated, the protagonist goes off in pursuit with his own forces. As the protagonist pursues them, however, he suddenly realizes that it was a trap. Fourth scenario: You start in the middle of the map and are being attacked by two elvish and wose forces on one side, both led by Avengers while another force of thugs, thieves, and footpads led by an outlaw attacks from the other side. The Outlaw's forces appear to be angry survivors from the tax collection. You have to survive for 2 days, and you get a gold bonus for killing either or both Avengers. After one day passes, the Silver Mage returns with a couple (normal) mages and says that he and his colleagues (all Loyal) will fight for you (you can now recruit mages).

After you stave off the ambush for two days, a large squadron of knights and horsemen, led by a Grand Knight appear. The Grand Knight declares that his clan will support the queen. The Avengers run away while the outlaw swears that his town will find vengeance before leaving, which troubles the protagonist, who -of course- had the best intentions in mind.

The protagonist asks the Grand Knight whether his clan had fought elvish forces on the way here, hoping they would've been Kalenz's elves. The Knight replies that he did indeed fight elves on the way here and scattered them, but he is pretty sure their leaders escaped. He says the most likely place for Kalenz and Delfador to have escaped was Elensefar, an independent city-state that would probably shelter them. The Silver Mage says, prophetically, that violent times are upon the world. The Grand Knight joins you as a loyal unit.

So the Protagonist march toward Elensefar on the coastline when a naga warrior shows up and asks for your assistance against rebel mermen. As the battle starts, the mermen are led by a priestess who rails against the oppressors, while an Elvish captain also shows up and pledges to help liberate all "free people" against the tyranny of Asheviere. Fifth scenario: You can recruit spearmen, bowmen, heavy infantry, cavalry, horsemen, mages, and naga fighters. At the beginning of the scenario, the Silver Mage gives a poor excuse and leaves once again, obviously disturbed at the prospect of fighting here.

When you reach Elensefar, the protagonist meets the orcish warlord from the first few scenarios in full retreat. The goblin knight rides up again and says the protagonist's grown into quite a powerful warrior, so he and the warlord's braver warriors will pledge their services to him for another shot at the city of Elensefar. When the protagonist approaches Elensefar, there are, scattered around the city, some representatives of who you will fight, fencers, mages, heavy infantry, cavalry, thieves, some pikemen, and some javelineers. The leader of Elensefar's defenses is Big D - Delfador - himself. Sixth scenario: Your recruitment list is expanded to include grunts, orc archers, wolf riders, and assassins. The protagonist challenges Delfador, who calls him a fool who does not see the machinations around him. Delfador disappears in a flash of thunder, and a Master of Arms replaces him (much to your relief) as leader of Elensefar. Then a necromancer appears in the northern cave, and asks, "remember me?" His name, as it turned out, is the same as the Outlaw you fought off earlier. He reads some sort of necromantic spell and, to your dismay, a bunch of level 3 undead spawn around the mouths of the cave. Fortunately, the necromancer curses as he realized the spell went off wrong, so they can't move out of the cave. Your goal now is to seize Elensefar while being harassed by other, weaker undead from the cave. 

When the protagonist conquers Elensefar, the Grand Knight wonders why no elves were here, but the protagonist brushes it off, thinking they should rest now and worry later. An occupation to restore the Queen's law is implied, while a new cutscene scenario shows Kalenz and Delfador meeting. Kalenz accuses Delfador of betraying Elensefar, but Delfador says, mysteriously, that Conrad must prove himself by taking back Elensefar, or the rebellion will fail. He convinces Kalenz to see things his way.

After occupying Elensefar for some time, the Silver Mage returns, telling the protagonist he has orders to leave north immediately, the queen predicts a crisis. The protagonist puts some orcs in charge of the defense of Elensefar (explaining why the Siege of Elensefar scenario in HttT has orcs in the city) and heads north, to Knalga. However, Sir Kaylan attacks the protagonist during the march, revealing he was sent to cut you off from Knalga. Seventh scenario: You have no new recruitable units, and you're fighting horsemen, bowmen, spearmen, and their upgrades. Your Grand Knight tells you that Kaylan's clan had been diminished by orcish attacks, and would probably retreat after taking heavy losses. Your objective is to kill a number of Kaylan's clansmen.

When you kill the number of clansmen, however, instead of retreating, Kaylan gives a fiery speech urging his clan to throw it all away for the rebellion, who reply in thunderous cheers. A large number of Knights spawn in and around Kaylan's keep, and your Grand Knight advises the protagonist not to contend against the fury of a Horse Clan. The Silver Mage urges retreat by sea, predicting the winds will carry the protagonist north anyways.

As the protagonist's army sails north, he reflects on the bravery of Sir Kaylan's clan, and wonders at how could they possibly want to give up so much for the rebellion. He is shaken from this reverie when a school of mermen attack and sink the ship, crying for vengeance.

The protagonist wakes up on an exotic-looking island. He barely has time to check that everyone's okay (and they miraculously are) when a Drake Warden appears and tells the warm-bloods that they aren't welcome on the island and gives them a day to leave before the drakes will throw them into the sea. The Silver Mage remarks that rebuilding the ships would be completely impossible within a day, so the protagonist will be forced to fight the drakes. Eighth scenario: You fight three Drake forces on a tropical island. The map is structured such that you will most likely have to beat two factions, one led by a Warden and another by an Enforcer before beating the third, led by a Flameheart. When the protagonist defeats the three Drake leaders, the Flameheart says that by the ancient law of the island, the defeated drakes must now serve him (he joins you as a Loyal unit). The Silver Mage says that with the help of those massive drakes, ships could be built much sooner than expected.

When you check on the progress of the ships, however, workers complain that tools keep going missing and boards somehow always end up shorter than they were supposed to be. Suddenly, a force of Saurians appear led by an oracle. The Oracle takes credit for the sabotage and prophesizes that if the protagonist is allowed to go back home, he would cause great carnage that puts a pretender on the throne. At first, the protagonist is made hesitant by the prophecy, and wonders if he should stay on the island, if that means Wesnoth would be at peace. The Flameheart, however, tells the protagonist that Saurian prophets have a weird way with truth. At this point, all hell breaks loose. Ninth scenario: your keep is immediately surrounded by Saurian ambushers and maybe flankers. You have to defeat them and then defeat three Saurian forces.

The protagonist sails uneventfully back to the mainland, landing at a Loyalist port near Knalga. The people there immediately hail him and his army as their saviors, and the Protagonist has no idea what's going on, until a piercing shriek sounds through the air, an angry mother gryphon and her young are attacking from the mountains. Then the sound of a battle horn is heard, and in a keep elsewhere, an Elvish Champion declares that he will oppose the servants of Asheviere here. Now a battle drum is sounded, and in a elsewhere again, a Dwarfish Lord appears, calling for his warriors to seize back their land. An Orcish Warlord also appears, roaring for fight and plunder. Suddenly, elsewhere on the map, the earth cracks and reveals a cave from which a Lich appears (his name is familiar...), who shrieks something to the effect of, "You! You think death will end my vengeance?" The Protagonist says quietly that the army should probably escape when a mysterious stranger arrives and comments indirectly, seeming to talk to himself, that it is every general's duty to protect his kingdom and people. The stranger leaves again. The Protagonist says that the stranger is right, and that he'll fight to protect this place. The port's inhabitants cheer and promise assistance from their fencing academy (you can now recruit fencers). Tenth scenario: You fight five armies, elves led by an Elvish Champion, dwarves by a Dwarf Lord, undead by a Lich, orcs by a Warlord, and a pack of Griffons that are hostile to all. Each army individually is weak, but you are surrounded on all sides. At the beginning of the battle, the Silver Mage advises you to divide and conquer (and in game terms, you have not nearly enough time to go after each separate keep one at a time).