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Expeditions,
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Culture
“So they’ve been embedding these ghouls with broken shards of saronite down in the Sanctum of Reanimation? We must put a stop to this, before these ghouls can be deployed against our troops. Find the entrance to the Sanctum of Reanimation in the flesh giant lab area of the Fleshwerks. There, the ghoul mastermind, Doctor Sabnok, keeps the most fearsome of his creations, Patches.
Free Patches from his chains and help him take his revenge on the doctor. Let his own creation be his undoing.”
-Darkrider Ally
Darkrider Arly at Blackwatch wants you to destroy the Metal Stake imprisoning Patches in the Sanctum of Reanimation and help him get his revenge on Doctor Sabnok.
You will be able to choose one of these rewards:
You will also receive:
Upon completion of this quest you will gain:
Quest Giver: Darkrider Arly — Blackwatch, Icecrown [35.4, 66.3]
Objective: Destroy the Metal Stake imprisoning “Patches” in the Sanctum of Reanimation and help him get his revenge on Doctor Sabnok.
Quick Facts
Walkthrough
Find the Sanctum of Reanimation
The Sanctum is an interior area reached from the flesh giant lab section of the Fleshwerks. The entrance is in the flesh giant lab section to the southwest of Blackwatch. Once inside, take a right and drop down to the lower level where Patches is chained.
Free Patches
Interact with the Metal Stake holding Patches to free him. Once released, Doctor Sabnok spawns and engages. Patches will fight and kill the doctor on his own after about 10 seconds. You cannot meaningfully damage Sabnok yourself and you do not need to. Stay close and make sure you are on his threat list before he dies, or the second objective may not credit.
Patches announces his freedom with: “Patches get revenge on Doctor Sabnok!”
Sabnok responds: “Oh, bravo. Do you feel proud of yourself now that you’ve unleashed this terrible mistake?” He follows with “I already had him scheduled for disposal, but I suppose we can speed up the process a bit.”
As he falls: “It’s a pity so many fine, and reusable, parts will go to waste…”
Patches gets the last word: “Patches not going to be cut open or sewn up no more!”
After Sabnok dies, return to Darkrider Arly at Blackwatch. She laughs darkly and calls it a fitting end.
Efficiency Tips
Lore & Secrets
“Patches” and the Patchwerk Connection
“Patches” is a clear nod to Patchwerk, the famous abomination boss from Naxxramas. Patchwerk was described as the pride of the Construct Quarter, a stitched-together monstrosity and one of the Scourge’s most successful creations.
“Patches” is a smaller-scale version of the same concept: Doctor Sabnok’s personal masterwork, created in the Fleshwerks’ own construct lab. The Fleshwerks itself may be where Patchwerk was originally assembled, given that it’s described as the Scourge’s primary abomination production facility.
The quest’s Frankenstein’s-monster-turns-on-its-creator theme is the classic trope, and “Patches” even speaks in the third person like Patchwerk does (“Patchwerk want to play!” vs. “Patches get revenge!”).
Doctor Sabnok’s Name
Sabnok’s name likely references Sabnock, a Great Marquis of Hell in Christian demonology who commands 50 legions of demons and is said to afflict men with gangrene and worms. Fitting for a Scourge mad scientist who stitches together undead from rotting body parts.
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 JournalBlackwatch. Arly had the plan finished before I’d finished the report.
“So they’ve been embedding these ghouls with broken shards of saronite down in the Sanctum of Reanimation? We must put a stop to this, before these ghouls can be deployed against our troops.” Then, in exactly the same voice: “There, the ghoul mastermind, Doctor Sabnok, keeps the most fearsome of his creations, Patches. Free Patches from his chains and help him take his revenge on the doctor. Let his own creation be his undoing.”
The Sanctum sat beneath the flesh giant lab, past a right-hand turn and a drop I had to take blind. Tables in rows, and a drain cut into the floor under each one, which told me how much of this work involved fluid.
Patches was chained to a metal stake at the far end. Saronite through the shoulder, through the ribs, through the thigh, and the body opened and closed around each shard to make it fit. He had not been built and then wounded. He had been assembled around the wounds.
The stake gave under the Destroyer on the second swing. He came off it already talking.
“Patches get revenge on Doctor Sabnok!”
Sabnok looked up from his work. “Oh, bravo. Do you feel proud of yourself now that you’ve unleashed this terrible mistake? I already had him scheduled for disposal, but I suppose we can speed up the process a bit.”
I got two steps in before I understood there was nothing for me to do. Whatever Sabnok had put into that body to make it the most fearsome thing he owned was pointed at Sabnok now, and it wanted no help from me.
“It’s a pity,” Sabnok said, from somewhere underneath him, “so many fine, and reusable, parts will go to waste…”
“Patches not going to be cut open or sewn up no more!”
It took about as long as a man takes to finish a thought. I stood in a room full of drains and watched it.
Arly threw her head back and laughed darkly when I reported. “A fitting end for the ‘good’ doctor, wouldn’t you say?”
“The doctor,” I said, “is no longer accepting new patients.”
Killing the doctor did nothing to the work he left standing behind him, and By Fire Be Purged is where the Fleshwerks finally starts to burn.
