Steady as a Rock?

Quest Giver: Surveyor Orlond (body) — inside Thor Modan, Grizzly Hills [67.5, 15.3]

Objective: Retrieve the Portable Seismograph from the threshers, use it to take a stability reading at the east end of the exposed tunnel, and return the Thor Modan Stability Profile to Brugar Stoneshear.

Quick Facts

• Level: 75
• Location: Inside Thor Modan tunnel
• Chain Position: 5 of 5 (final quest) in the Brugar Stoneshear chain (Softening the Blow → Brothers in Battle → Uncovering the Tunnels → The Fate of Orlond → Steady as a Rock?)

Walkthrough

Step 1: Get the Seismograph

• Pick up the quest from Orlond’s body (where you found him in the previous quest). His notes explain that the Portable Seismograph was lost when threshers attacked him in the water.
• The threshers (subterranean aquatic mobs) swim in the canal that runs through the middle of Thor Modan’s exposed tunnel. Kill one to loot the Portable Seismograph.
• The threshers are underwater but will not aggro you while you’re standing in the water. You only need to kill one for the drop.

Step 2: Take the Reading

• Swim or walk to the east end of the tunnel. Head toward approximately [70.6, 13.5], on the south side of the small bridge near the far end.
• Use the Portable Seismograph from your bags. This is the step that trips people up. The seismograph is an inventory item you activate, not an object already placed in the world.
• After using it, a machine will appear on the right-hand side of the bridge. Click the machine to receive the Thor Modan Stability Profile.

Step 3: Return to Brugar

• Head back to Brugar Stoneshear at the Westfall Brigade Encampment [59.8, 27.6] and turn in.
• The chain concludes on a grim note: the tunnels are too unstable to move an army through. Brugar and the Explorers’ League will have to report the bad news to Captain Gryan Stoutmantle.

Efficiency Tips

• Skip Combat: You can complete this quest without fighting anything except the threshers. Swim low through the canal to avoid iron dwarf aggro from the sides, use the seismograph from underwater near the bridge, and click the machine while still in the water.
• Flying Shortcut: You can also drop in from above at the far east end of the tunnel through the collapsed ceiling, swim to kill a thresher, then use the seismograph. This skips most of the interior.
• Mounting: You can use a mount inside the tunnel to speed up travel.

Lore Context

This quest wraps up the Explorers’ League investigation of Thor Modan’s tunnel network. Stoutmantle’s goal was to find a route through Thor Modan’s tunnels to move Alliance forces quickly toward Icecrown Glacier, but the survey confirms the tunnels haven’t been used in generations and are too structurally compromised.

The threshers in the water are a nice environmental detail. Thor Modan’s interior has a canal running through it (where Ironforge has its central lava ring, Thor Modan has water), and aquatic creatures have moved in since the city’s collapse.

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.