War stories, articles & game guides
Gamer
Tribute
2026
Expeditions,
War Stories &
Culture
War stories, articles & game guides
Gamer
Tribute
2026
Expeditions,
War Stories &
Culture
“Brann’s journal mentions that he used a runic keystone to illuminate the important runes on the plate he discovered. Without the keystone, the plate’s contents would be little better than gibberish.
At the end of Brann’s last entry, he describes the iron dwarf defenders seizing the keystone from him, shattering it, and dividing it among themselves. Before we can decipher the runed plate, we must hunt down the fragments. Any of the dwarves within Thor Modan or the buildings around it may carry fragments.”
-Torthen Deepdig
Bring 5 Runic Keystone Fragments to Torthen Deepdig at the Westfall Brigade Encampment.
You will be able to choose one of these rewards:
Upon completion of this quest you will gain:
Quest Giver: Torthen Deepdig — Westfall Brigade Encampment, Grizzly Hills [59, 27]
Objective: Collect 5 Runic Keystone Fragments and return them to Torthen Deepdig.
Quick Facts
Walkthrough
Efficiency Tips
Lore Context
The keystone was Brann Bronzebeard’s tool for deciphering runic plates inside Thor Modan. When the iron dwarves caught him during the siege, they seized the keystone, shattered it, and divided the pieces among themselves.
Torthen’s reconstruction is incomplete but should reveal enough to follow Brann’s trail.
The runic plates Brann was studying reference Ulduar, described as “the cradle of stone and iron” and “Ulduar nestled in the storm.” This is one of the first in-game references to Ulduar’s location in the Storm Peaks, setting up the major storyline that continues in the next zone.
Explore Grizzly Hills’ hidden easter eggs, lore mysteries, and connections across Warcraft history in Vikstone’s Grizzly Hills Chronicles, along with the complete quest storyline.
Vikstone's War JournalDeepdig traced a passage in Brann’s journal. “He used a runic keystone to illuminate the important runes on the plate he discovered. Without it, the contents would be gibberish.” His finger stopped at the final entry. “The iron dwarf defenders seized it from him, shattered it, and divided the fragments among themselves.”
Of course they did.
I returned to Thor Modan. The iron dwarves fought no harder than before, but searching corpses for tiny fragments of carved stone slowed the work considerably. Five pieces, scattered among defenders who likely didn’t know what they carried.
Deepdig assembled the fragments, fitting edges together like a puzzle he’d solved a hundred times.
“This is incomplete,” he admitted, “but it should still allow us to get most of the information from the plate.”
Most. Not all. Whatever Brann had found, we’d be reading it through gaps.
Deepdig pieced the keystone back together, incomplete but readable. What Brann found carved into those runic plates points somewhere ancient, somewhere north, and the reading happens in The Runic Prophecies.
