The echos in the tunnel (which is how Ironforgers say that quaint Stormwind saying "The word on the street") indicated that a blacksmith named Tormus Deepforge could tell me where I could find out more about this Dark Iron officer named Captain Beld, so I stopped off at the Stonefire Tavern in Ironforge to grab a couple of bottles of Dwarven Stout and a wheel of Dwarven mild cheese.
There were two things you could reliably count on with a Dwarven blacksmith; you could find them in and around the Great Forge, at the heart of the city, and that the heat of the Great Forge activities always led to a powerful thirst. The Great Forge was the heart and soul of Dwarven culture, which centered in and around the Dwarven skill and creeativity with metals, gemstones, and alloys. At its center is the famed Great Anvil, where the best of the Dwarven blacksmiths gathered to discuss the arts which fed their prosperity or to actually take hammer to anvil and produced weapons, armor, and other useful devices. Enormous foundries, purifying the ore brouht to the city in bulk, surrounded the Great Anvil. The cacophony of the foundry and the forge made conversation difficult, which is why I needed the bottles of Stout.
If you are going to go fishing, you increase your chances of success if you bring the right bait, after all...
I found him standing near the the aforementioned Great Anvil, giving instructions to one of his apprentices. I waited until he had finished, then lightly tapped his shoulder to get his attention.
"Master Deepforge?"
"Ehh?" he said, indicating that he could not hear me over the noise.
I showed him one of the bottles of stout, made a quizical face, and motioned towards the periphery of the Great Forge. He grinned, and reached for the bottle, following me to a slightly less noisy spot nearby.
"Sorry for thae noise, young fellow," he said, having already opened and drained the bottle of its thick, dark, nutty-tasting Stout. I offered another to him, and the cheesed I had brought. "Some can't stand the heat of the Great Forge, but I think the heat is just right. And it's the best place to do some serious smithwork."
"Ye are correct, Master Deepforge, and sorry indeed I am to interrupt ye at your craft, but I find myself in urgent need tae prevent a gross miscarriage of justice. I need to know where I can find a certain Dark Iron by the name of Captain Beld, and I am told ye might be able to start me on the path?" I explained.
"Och, aye, I know where ye can find that blackguard poltron, may his forgefire fail!" Master Deepforge replied, more bitter by far than t he beverage he was drinking. "Once upon a time, nae too long past, my old mentor, Sturgy Ironband, had a compound south of Helm's Bed Lake in eastern Dun Morogh. There he taught blacksmithing and he was the best, until the Dark Ikron Emperor decided that he wanted the strange ore one of his students found."
"A strange ore?" I asked.
"Aye. Master Ironband called it umbral ore, and was eager to work with it, but soon after it arrived, the Dark Emperor stretched out his greedy claw and a band of Dark Iron dwarves under the command of this Captain Beld attacked his compound and made it his base of operations. That is where you may find him, and I hope you kill him very slowly in payment for Master Ironband's death!"
I thanked him for his help, and left him the final bottle of Stout... I imagine it would be drained dry before I hit the tram to return to Stormwind.
I knew who, and I knew where... now I just needed to figure out a way to have some words with Captain Beld that didn't gedt me killed in the process...
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(WIP)
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