War stories, articles & game guides
Gamer
Tribute
2026
Expeditions,
War Stories &
Culture
War stories, articles & game guides
Gamer
Tribute
2026
Expeditions,
War Stories &
Culture
“As usual, the real work is left up to me and my crew. Thankfully McSorf’s team didn’t die for nothin’. The cipher they recovered will help us crack the stuff we’ve found up here – that is if we can ever get back to it! Damned iron dwarves have sprung up like leaks all over the place and are now attemptin’ to bury the sites! Can you believe it? Bastards want to bury our finds!
Anyhow, talk to Walt over yonder. He’ll get you started.”
-Stanwad
Quest Giver: Stanwad at Explorers’ League Outpost
Objective: Speak with Walt.
Quick Facts
Walkthrough
Story Context
Stanwad briefs you on the dire situation facing the Explorers’ League dig teams:
“As usual, the real work is left up to me and my crew. Thankfully McSorf’s team didn’t die for nothin’. The cipher they recovered will help us crack the stuff we’ve found up here, that is if we can ever get back to it! Damned iron dwarves have sprung up like leaks all over the place and are now attemptin’ to bury the sites! Can you believe it? Bastards want to bury our finds!”
Walt’s briefing paints an even grimmer picture:
“Over half our team is dead or missing, junior. This is our last stand up here on the high bluffs. Those damned iron dwarves pushed us out of both Ivald’s Ruin and Baelgun’s. Now I’ve got a plan to get us back inside before they bury up all our goodies and we lose that data forever.”
The cipher mentioned here came from McSorf’s team in Valgarde, delivered via the previous quest. The iron dwarves aren’t excavating titan ruins; they’re actively burying them. Whatever secrets lie beneath Howling Fjord’s bluffs, the iron dwarves want them hidden forever.
Easter Egg: The Big Lebowski
Walt is named after Walter Sobchak from the 1998 Coen Brothers film. Just as the movie’s Walter is the gruff, no-nonsense friend who always has a plan (often involving dubious schemes), this Walt leads the League’s desperate counteroffensive against the iron dwarves.
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.
You will be able to choose one of these rewards:
You will receive:
Upon completion of this quest you will gain:
Vikstone's War Journal
“As usual, the real work is left up to me and my crew,” Stanwad said, frustrated. “Thankfully, McSorf’s team didn’t die for nothin’. The cipher they recovered will help us crack the stuff we’ve found up here.” He gestured toward the bluffs. “That is, if we can ever get back to it!”
His voice hardened.
“Damned iron dwarves have sprung up like leaks all over the place and are now attemptin’ to bury the sites! Can you believe it? Bastards want to bury our finds!”
I could believe it. I’d just come from Ivald’s Ruin, where Donny watched them do exactly that.
“Anyhow, talk to Walt over yonder. He’ll get you started.”
Walt looked like a dwarf who hadn’t slept in days, and the way he stood said he’d stopped expecting good news.
“Over half our team is dead or missing, junior. This is our last stand up here on the high bluffs. Those damned iron dwarves pushed us out of both Ivald’s Ruin and Baelgun’s.”
Two sites, and half the team gone. And constructs that felt no fear or fatigue.
“Now I’ve got a plan to get us back inside before they bury up all our goodies and we lose that data forever.”
The Explorers’ League… stubborn as the stone they studied. Walt had lost half his people and his response was to plan a counterattack.
The replacements were sitting in a bucket inside the dig site they had been driven out of, which is Tools to Get the Job Done.
