War stories, articles & game guides
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2026
Expeditions,
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War stories, articles & game guides
Gamer
Tribute
2026
Expeditions,
War Stories &
Culture
“We’ve had reports that these vrykul can rise from the dead; not unlike the Scourge, but a different kind of undeath. Let’s not take any chances. Here, take my machete. As we move through this place, you’ll need to carve up the remains of the vrykul that we take down. I’d do it, but I have a sensitive stomach.
<The sergeant smirks.>
I spent all morning sharpening it, so it should do the job.”
-Westguard Sergeant
The Westguard Sergeant has asked you to use The Sergeant’s Machete to dismember 20 Vrykul of the Winterskorn tribe at Skorn.
Provided item:
You will be able to choose one of these rewards:
You will receive:
Upon completion of this quest you will gain:
Quest Giver: Westguard Sergeant (summoned at Skorn)
Objective: Use The Sergeant’s Machete to dismember 20 Winterskorn vrykul at Skorn.
Quick Facts
Walkthrough
Tips
Story Context
The Sergeant explains the grim rationale:
“We’ve had reports that these vrykul can rise from the dead; not unlike the Scourge, but a different kind of undeath. Let’s not take any chances.”
He hands you his personal machete with typical military humor:
“Here, take my machete. As we move through this place, you’ll need to carve up the remains of the vrykul that we take down. I’d do it, but I have a sensitive stomach.”
He adds with a smirk: “I spent all morning sharpening it, so it should do the job.”
Upon completion, the Sergeant is clearly unnerved by your enthusiasm:
“Well, <sir/ma’am>, I have to say that you went about that particular business with a bit of zeal.”
He quickly reclaims his weapon: “Anyway, if you don’t mind, I’ll be taking my machete back now. It looks dull and we wouldn’t want you to accidentally slip and carve me up, too.”
Lore Note: Why Dismemberment Works
The Sergeant’s concern isn’t paranoia. Vrykul have a genuine mechanism for rising from death. The Scroll of Ascension you may find during this quest depicts the exact process: a vrykul thane surrounded by angelic beings ascending into the heavens, with a darkened figure looming in the background.
That “darkened figure” is the Lich King. The “angelic beings” are Val’kyr, spirit entities that serve as intermediaries between death and undeath. Worthy vrykul who die can be elevated by the Val’kyr into Ymirjar — elite undead warriors far more powerful than they were in life. Those deemed unworthy become Vargul, lesser undead husks.
This is why simple killing isn’t enough. A slain Winterskorn warrior might be judged “worthy” and rise again as something worse. Dismembering the corpse ensures the Val’kyr have nothing intact to elevate.
It’s gruesome, but necessary.
Beowulf Echo: Grendel’s Arm
The dismemberment quest carries a deliberate parallel to the Old English epic Beowulf. In the poem, Beowulf tears off the monster Grendel’s arm as a trophy and hangs it from Heorot’s rafters as proof of victory. The act serves both practical and symbolic purposes: it confirms the kill and prevents Grendel from fighting again.
Your machete work at Skorn serves the same dual purpose. The vrykul longhouses echo Heorot’s mead hall architecture, and your dismemberment ensures these “monsters” won’t return to terrorize the hall.
Blizzard’s vrykul are Norse culture filtered through Tolkien filtered through video game design, but the Beowulf bones show through clearly in quests like this one.
Cross-Expansion Connection: The Ymirjar of Icecrown
In Icecrown, you’ll discover what happens when dismemberment doesn’t occur. The Ymirjar in Jotunheim are vrykul who have successfully completed their ascension trials — the exact process the Sergeant is trying to prevent here at Skorn. These ascended warriors are among the Lich King’s most fearsome soldiers, and disrupting their ascension ceremonies becomes a major quest objective in Icecrown.
The Valkyrion in Storm Peaks reveals the other half of the equation: vrykul women undergoing transformation into Val’kyr, the very beings depicted on the Scroll of Ascension.
What begins as a grim cleanup task in Howling Fjord connects to an entire system of undeath that spans multiple zones and ultimately feeds directly into the Lich King’s war machine at Icecrown Citadel.
Explore Howling Fjord’s hidden easter eggs, lore mysteries, and connections across Warcraft history in Vikstone’s Howling Fjord Chronicles, along with the complete quest storyline.
Vikstone's War Journal“We’ve had reports that these vrykul can rise from the dead.” The sergeant handed me his machete. “Not unlike the Scourge, but a different kind of undeath. Let’s not take any chances.”
He smirked.
“I’d do it myself, but I have a sensitive stomach. I spent all morning sharpening it, so it should do the job.”
A soldier brave enough to infiltrate a vrykul fortress alone, but too squeamish to dismember corpses.
Twenty vrykul, each one had to fall first, and the Winterskorn didn’t fall easy. But once they were down, the machete did its work. The sergeant hadn’t lied about the edge. It parted flesh and bone with minimal effort, ensuring that whatever dark magic might call them back would find nothing whole enough to answer.
I lost count and the work became mechanical. Swing, cut, move on. The smell was the worst part.
When I returned the machete, the sergeant looked at me warily.
“Well, sir, I have to say that you went about that particular business with a bit of zeal.”
He took the blade back quickly.
“Anyway, if you don’t mind, I’ll be taking my machete back now. It looks dull and we wouldn’t want you to accidentally slip and carve me up, too.”
He laughed. Mostly.
The frost mages rained spells down from above, and the Sergeant had a flare that would call artillery onto whatever he pointed at, which turns them into Towers of Certain Doom.
