They Took Our Men!

Quest Giver: Gretchen Fizzlespark at K3, Storm Peaks (inside the inn)

Objective: Rescue 5 Goblin Prisoners in Sifreldar Village.

Quick Facts

• Location: Sifreldar Village [40, 72] — directly north of K3 (requires flying mount)
• Prerequisite: This is the first quest in the chain.
• Chain Position: 1 of 23 (leads to Leave No Goblin Behind → The Crone’s Bargain → … → Sibling Rivalry). Completing this entire chain is mandatory to unlock Sons of Hodir reputation.
• Do Alongside: Equipment Recovery (same quest giver, same location, collect 8 K3 Equipment crates scattered around the village)

Walkthrough

Getting There

• Sifreldar Village sits on the cliff terrace directly above K3 to the north. You need a flying mount to reach it. If you don’t have Cold Weather Flying yet, talk to “Honest” Max beside the K3 flight path for a loaner mount (requires level 77).
• Fly north from K3 and up the cliff face. The village is at approximately [40, 72].

Kill Vrykul for Cold Iron Keys

• Kill Sifreldar Storm Maidens and Sifreldar Runekeepers to loot Cold Iron Keys. Each key opens one cage.

Free Goblin Prisoners

• Rusty Cages holding Goblin Prisoners are scattered throughout the village, both outdoors and inside buildings. Use a Cold Iron Key on each cage to free a prisoner.
• Clear nearby mobs before opening a cage. The freed goblins will run off on their own once released.
• While you’re at it, pick up K3 Equipment crates from the ground around the village for the Equipment Recovery side quest. They’re easy to spot and don’t require combat to loot.

Bestiary: The Hyldnir (Frost Vrykul)

The Hyldnir are a tribe of frost vrykul, a vrykul subrace distinguished by their blue, frost-layered skin. What makes them unique is that they operate as an all-female matriarchal warrior society. Males of any race are considered good for nothing but slave labor, which is exactly what happened to Gretchen’s expedition: the Hyldnir released all the women and enslaved all the men.

The Hyldnir inhabit three settlements in Storm Peaks: Sifreldar Village (where this quest takes place), Brunnhildar Village (their main stronghold to the east), and Valkyrion (whose residents split off and allied with the Lich King, hoping to be transformed into Val’kyr). The Brunnhildar and Sifreldar Hyldnir despise the Valkyrion faction as traitors.

Despite their disdain for men, the Hyldnir make one exception: Thorim, the Keeper of Ulduar. They serve him faithfully and hold a fierce competition called the Hyldsmeet, where warriors fight to determine who earns the right to rule at Thorim’s side.

This competition, fought on polar bears in Brunnhildar’s Pit of the Fang, becomes central to the later quests in this very chain.

Sifreldar Village itself carries a lore connection: Muradin Bronzebeard notes that the village’s name resembles Sif, Thorim’s murdered wife. He speculates Sif may have come from this settlement, or that the village was named in her honor.

Either way, the name links this seemingly simple rescue mission to the tragedy at the heart of the entire zone: Loken’s murder of Sif, which drove Thorim into isolation and allowed Yogg-Saron’s corruption to spread unchecked.

Cross-Expansion: The frost vrykul concept introduced here in Storm Peaks becomes a major faction in Icecrown (the Ymirjar, undead frost vrykul who serve the Lich King) and returns in the Halls of Valor dungeon in Legion, where players experience the vrykul afterlife and its warrior traditions firsthand. The Val’kyr who emerge from Valkyrion go on to play a massive role in Sylvanas Windrunner’s storyline from Cataclysm through Shadowlands.

Story Context

This quest opens one of the longest and most important quest chains in all of WotLK.

The full 23-quest sequence starts with rescuing goblins from a cage and ends with you standing before Thorim himself at the Temple of Storms. Along the way, you’ll infiltrate the Hyldnir disguised as one of their own, win the Hyldsmeet, ride proto-drakes, and uncover Loken’s manipulation of the entire zone.

The chain concludes with you earning Neutral reputation with the Sons of Hodir, which is the gateway to their daily quests and shoulder enchants.

Don’t skip or rush the quest text on this chain. The story is considered some of the best narrative writing in the expansion.

Efficiency Tips

• Grab both They Took Our Men! and Equipment Recovery from Gretchen before flying up. Both complete in the same area at the same time. Kill vrykul for keys, open cages, and grab equipment crates as you go.
• On busy servers, Sifreldar Village can be heavily camped. If mob competition is fierce, focus on the edges of the village and interior buildings where cages are sometimes overlooked.
• After completing both quests, fly back to K3 and turn in. They Took Our Men! unlocks Leave No Goblin Behind from Gretchen, which sends you into the Forlorn Mine and truly kicks off the Sons of Hodir chain.

Easter Eggs

• The quest name is widely recognized as a riff on the South Park “They took our jobs!” bit (Season 8, “Goobacks”), which was itself already a pop culture staple by WotLK’s release.
• The setup of an all-female warrior race kidnapping men also draws obvious parallels to the “Death by Snu Snu” Amazonian episode of Futurama (Season 3, “Amazon Women in the Mood”). 

Explore the Storm Peaks’ hidden easter eggs, lore mysteries, and connections across Warcraft history in Vikstone’s Storm Peaks Chronicles, along with the complete quest storyline.