War stories, articles & game guides
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2026
Expeditions,
War Stories &
Culture
War stories, articles & game guides
Gamer
Tribute
2026
Expeditions,
War Stories &
Culture
You pulled this jagged, dark brittle shard from the body of a ghoul. The metal blade lacks a smooth edge, suggesting it was forged by an unskilled hand, or was broken from a larger piece. You recall seeing similar shards embedded in the bodies of all the ghouls you’ve encountered at the Fleshwerks, leading you to wonder why their creators bothered to include the metal at all.
Perhaps Crusader Olakin Sainrith would have some insight if you brought him the shards from several ghouls.
Bring 10 Jagged Shards to Crusader Olakin Sainrith at Blackwatch.
You will be able to choose one of these rewards:
You will also receive:
Upon completion of this quest you will gain:
Quest Giver: Item drop – Jagged Shard from Spiked Ghouls in the Fleshwerks, Icecrown
Turn In: Crusader Olakin Sainrith at Blackwatch [35.4, 66.3]
Objective: Bring 10 Jagged Shards to Crusader Olakin Sainrith at Blackwatch.
Quick Facts
Walkthrough
You’ll likely pick up the first Jagged Shard naturally while killing Spiked Ghouls during Spill Their Blood. Right-click it to accept the quest, then continue killing Spiked Ghouls until you have 10 total.
Turn them in to Crusader Olakin Sainrith at Blackwatch (he’s the Argent Crusade representative standing next to Darkrider Arly).
The quest text describes the shards as jagged, dark, brittle metal blades embedded in the ghouls’ bodies, crudely forged or broken from larger pieces. Olakin has never seen anything like them in his battles against the Scourge, which sets up the follow-up investigation.
Efficiency Tips
Lore Context
This is the first step in a mini-mystery within the Fleshwerks chain. The shards are unusual because nobody at Blackwatch, not even the veteran Crusader Olakin, recognizes the metal or understands why the Scourge would embed crude blades in their ghouls.
The follow-up quests (The Runesmiths of Malykriss and I’m Smelting… Smelting!) trace the shards back to Malykriss: The Vile Hold, where Scourge runesmiths are forging weapons from a dark metal. This ultimately connects to the saronite supply chain powering the Lich King’s war machine.
Note that this quest awards Argent Crusade reputation rather than Knights of the Ebon Blade, because you’re reporting to Olakin (the Crusade’s man at Blackwatch) rather than Darkrider Arly (the Ebon Blade operative).
The Fleshwerks chain alternates between both factions depending on which NPC you’re working with.
Explore Icecrown’s hidden easter eggs, lore mysteries, and connections across Warcraft history in Vikstone’s Icecrown Chronicles, along with the complete quest storyline.
Vikstone's War JournalThe first one came out of a spiked ghoul while I was tipping vats for Arly, and I put it in my pack.
I looked at it that evening. Dark metal, brittle, and the edge is not right. There is no finish on it at all. Either somebody with no skill forged the thing, or it was broken off something larger and this is what was left.
Then I went back down and found that every spiked ghoul in the Fleshwerks has them. They were set into the body, under the skin, by whoever put the body together.
A ghoul does not need a blade in its arm; it has arms. Somebody stood at a slab and pushed scrap metal into a corpse on purpose.
Olakin handled the shards of metal gingerly. He is draenei, and he has been at this a long time, and he turned each one over before he set it down.
“You saw these on all of the ghouls down there? I’ve never seen anything like this in all my battles against the Scourge.”
Badly forged metal in a factory that made nothing badly meant the shards had come from somewhere else entirely, and tracing them meant following the ore back to the furnaces where it was being worked, which is how Vikstone ended up I’m Smelting… Smelting!
