Towers of Certain Doom

Quest Giver: Westguard Sergeant (summoned at Skorn)

Objective: Use the Sergeant’s Flare to call in cannon volleys from Westguard Keep on all four towers at Skorn.

Quick Facts

• Type: Use item near objects (4 towers)
• Faction: Alliance only
• Prerequisite: Operation: Skornful Wrath
• Parallel Quests: Burn Skorn, Burn!, Gruesome, But Necessary
• Follow-up: All Hail the Conqueror of Skorn!

Walkthrough

1. Accept the quest from the Westguard Sergeant at Skorn. The Sergeant’s Flare is automatically added to your inventory.
2. Approach each tower close enough to use the flare, but do NOT climb them. You lob the flare from ground level near the base.
3. Use the Sergeant’s Flare. A smoke signal marks the tower, and seconds later, cannon fire from Westguard Keep destroys it along with the casters on top.
4. Move away from the tower immediately after using the flare—don’t stand near it during the strike.
5. Repeat for all four towers.
6. Resummon the Westguard Sergeant using your Westguard Command Insignia and turn in.

Tower Locations

All four towers are in the upper (southern) section of Skorn, forming a ring around the elevated area where Halfdan the Ice-Hearted resides:

• Northwest Tower: [44, 30]
• East Tower: [46, 32]
• Southwest Tower: [43, 36]
• Southeast Tower: [46, 36]

Note the geographic split: the longhouses and barracks you burn for Burn Skorn, Burn! are in the lower (northern) part of Skorn, while these towers ring the upper part. Work the lower area first for the burning quest, then push south into the upper area for the towers.

Tips

• DO NOT CLIMB THE TOWERS. Each tower is manned by frost casters who throw frostbolts at anyone in range. Approximately ten simultaneous frostbolts can kill a player near-instantly. The entire point of this quest is destroying the towers from range using artillery, not assaulting them directly.
• Lob and Move: Use the flare near the tower base, then immediately back away. Don’t stand near the tower during the cannon strike or linger afterward.
• Casters Respawn Fast: The tower casters respawn in roughly 2-3 minutes. If you’re still in the area working on other quests, the towers can become dangerous again quickly.
• Keep the Quest Open: Don’t turn this quest in immediately. The flare can be reused even after completing all four towers. This is valuable because the path to Halfdan the Ice-Hearted (for Stop the Ascension!) runs through the upper area where these towers sit. If casters respawn while you’re pushing toward the Thane’s Pyre, you can re-flare a tower to clear your path.
• Route Suggestion: Start with the Northwest Tower [44, 30] as you transition from the lower longhouse area. Move clockwise: East Tower [46, 32], Southeast Tower [46, 36], then Southwest Tower [43, 36].
• Combo with Dismemberment: Any ground-level vrykul you kill near the towers while positioning for flares can be dismembered for Gruesome, But Necessary. The casters killed by the cannon strike can also potentially be dismembered if you reach the corpses quickly.

Story Context

The Sergeant frames this as a range-versus-firepower problem:

“<Sir/Ma’am>, as we move through Skorn, we have to bring down those towers! If you have a look at them, you’ll notice that their tops are lined with casters. Getting too close to them would mean certain doom for us!”

His solution is elegant — call in the big guns:

“However, we do have it within our means to call in cannon volleys from Westguard Keep. To do so, we need to get close enough so that you can lob a smoke flare atop of them. Just don’t get too close!”

The quest’s progress text hammers the point home: “Getting too close to those towers is certain death as long as those casters are up there.”

Upon completion, the Sergeant is impressed:

“Excellent targeting, <sir/ma’am>! I’ll have to remember to buy a round for the cannoneers back at the keep.”

Lore Note: Winterskorn Frost Magic

The casters manning these towers are the Winterskorn‘s frost magic specialists. Unlike the Dragonflayer vrykul who rely on proto-drakes and harpoons, the Winterskorn have a deep connection to frost and ice magic. Their thane is literally called Halfdan “the Ice-Hearted.”

This frost specialization traces back thousands of years to the Winterskorn War, when these vrykul were armed by the fire giants Volkhan and Ignis and waged war against the titan-forged.

The conflict grew so severe that Tyr called upon the Dragon Aspects for aid. Ysera and Nozdormu ended the war by putting the entire Winterskorn clan into a timeless sleep that lasted millennia — until the Lich King awakened them as shock troops for the Scourge.

The towers you’re destroying aren’t just military structures. They’re the Winterskorn’s primary tactical advantage: elevated positions that let their frost casters rain death on anyone approaching the upper settlement where their thane resides.

Cross-Expansion Connection: Cannon Diplomacy

This quest establishes a pattern that repeats throughout WotLK and beyond: when you can’t take something head-on, you call in support. The cannon volleys from Westguard Keep foreshadow the much larger artillery operations in later zones, from the siege engines at Wintergrasp to the airship bombardments during the Icecrown Citadel assault, where the Skybreaker rains cannon fire on Scourge positions in much the same way Westguard’s cannoneers demolish these towers.

The Sergeant’s comment about “buying a round for the cannoneers” also humanizes the war effort. Somewhere back at Westguard Keep, soldiers are manning cannons, watching for smoke signals, and delivering precision strikes on your behalf.

You’re not a lone hero. You’re a forward observer coordinating with a garrison.

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.