War stories, articles & game guides
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2026
Expeditions,
War Stories &
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War stories, articles & game guides
Gamer
Tribute
2026
Expeditions,
War Stories &
Culture
“There are still pockets of cowardly Venture Company men holed up in some of the buildings at the center of Venture Bay. I need every man I can spare out there fighting against the Horde, but we can’t allow those Venture Company stragglers to camp out in those buildings, either. Maybe we can “convince” them to make for their ship.
Take this smoke bomb and use it to smoke out the stragglers from their places in the bunkhouse, sawmill, or stables. Don’t get too close, though; they probably bite.”
-Sergeant Downey
Use the Smoke Bomb to drive 20 Venture Company Stragglers from their buildings and then report to Sergeant Downey.
Provided item:
You will be able to choose one of these rewards:
You will receive:
– 50 Honor Points
Upon completion of this quest you will gain:
Quest Type: Daily (PvP area)
Quest Giver: Sergeant Downey (Alliance) at Venture Bay [22, 81]/Stone Guard Ragetotem (Horde)
Turn-in: Same as quest giver
Objective: Use the Smoke Bomb to drive 20 Venture Company Stragglers from their buildings in Venture Bay.
Quick Facts
Walkthrough
Pick up the quest from Sergeant Downey (Alliance) on the island east of Venture Bay. He gives you a Smoke Bomb to use on the Venture Company goblins hiding inside three buildings at the center of Venture Bay near [17, 77]. The three buildings are the bunkhouse (the long, inn-shaped building), the sawmill, and the stables.
The mechanic is simple: enter a building, let the Venture Company Stragglers aggro on you, and use the Smoke Bomb at your feet. The mobs stop attacking as soon as the bomb activates, so there’s no real danger. The Stragglers flee out of the building and the objective counter ticks up.
The bunkhouse alone typically holds about 10 Stragglers, so two visits there (after they respawn) or spreading your pulls across all three buildings finishes the quest in 2 to 3 pulls total.
Efficiency Tips
PvP Warning
Venture Bay is a contested PvP area. Picking up this quest flags you for PvP. Horde players doing their own mirror dailies will be in the same area, so expect encounters. The buildings where you throw the Smoke Bomb are right in the middle of the action. If you’re not interested in PvP, the flying mount roof strategy is your best friend.
Venture Coins
This quest awards Venture Coins, a currency earned from Venture Bay dailies. You can spend Venture Coins at your faction’s vendor on the Venture Bay Lighthouse island (the capturable point in the center of the bay). Your faction must control the lighthouse to access the vendor. The vendor sells a variety of gear pieces that can be useful while leveling.
Lore Context
The Venture Company is WoW’s recurring corporate villain. These goblin industrialists have been strip-mining, deforesting, and exploiting resources across Azeroth since vanilla WoW (Stranglethorn Vale, The Barrens, Stonetalon Mountains).
In Grizzly Hills, they’ve set up operations at Venture Bay, and both the Alliance Westfall Brigade and the Horde Conquest Hold forces want them gone, but also want the bay’s port for themselves. The Stragglers hiding in these buildings are the last holdouts of the Venture Company’s local operation, too cowardly to fight but too stubborn to leave without “encouragement.”
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 JournalWhile Alliance and Horde bled for control of Venture Bay, Sergeant Downey handed me smoke bombs and pointed at the buildings still crawling with Venture Company squatters.
“I need every man I can spare fighting the Horde,” he said. “But we can’t let those stragglers camp out in our territory. Smoke ’em out. Don’t get too close, though. They probably bite.”
Pest control, then.
The bunkhouse went first. One bomb through a broken window, and mercenaries poured out coughing, stumbling into daylight like roaches from an overturned log. The sawmill followed, then the stables. Each building surrendered its occupants to clean air and wounded pride.
I didn’t draw my blade. Just chaos in convenient packages.
Downey nodded when I returned. “Well done, soldier. Now we can focus on the real fight.”
The Venture Company survivors scrambled toward their ship. They’d find new holes soon enough, as rats always do.
The stragglers are smoked out, but the Venture Company left more than squatters behind. Something stickier needs dissolving in Seeking Solvent.
