You were part of the party that slew Edwin VanCleef. Searching his
body, you find a letter to Baros Alexston. You know of him, the City
Architect of Stormwind. It's a letter to him, you decide to deliver it.
Why not?
Alexston tells you some of how VanCleef ended up in hiding, seeking revenge
against the nobles of Stormwind. It turns out that he has some just
cause behind him: The nobles stiffed the Stonemasons guild after Stormwind
was rebuilt. As leader of the guild, VanCleef refused the bribes the nobles
offered him out of loyalty to the rest of the Stonemasons.
VanCleef is dead, but the plans he had in motion are not. Alexston asks you
to speak to VanCleef's lieutenant, Bazil Thredd, currently held in the
Stormwind Stockade.
You get to the Stockade, and find the warden trying to manage a crisis.
The inmates, it seems, are rioting. All the cell doors are open, and
the guards are doing their best just to contain the situation.
Bazil Thredd has led the prisoners in this riot. The warden doesn't
trust you, but sees any number of useful outcomes:
you can return from your talk with Bazil's head. The riot ringleader is dead, you were trustworthy after all.
you can return without Bazil's head. You may well have been an accomplice, so he can be justified in taking yours.
the prisoners can kill you. Whether you were trustworthy or not is moot, and he's no worse off.
So... go in, he tells you. But bring back Bazil's head.
You go in. It's a real short conversation - Bazil and his prisoners attack
you before you can get two words out. Defending yourself, you kill them.
To satisfy the warden, you bring back his bloody trophy.
The warden is mollified by your actions, and tells you about a visitor that
came to Bazil regularly in the last couple months, someone named Maelik.
Warden Thelwater writes up a description of the visitor for you, that you
bring back to Alexston.
Master Shaw mulls the situation over. Lescovar clearly has ties to the Defias,
but you've killed the primary witnesses to that. Even without his being a
noble, it would hard to convict him.
More help is needed, he decides. Somewhat reluctantly, he sends you to
Elling Trias, the Master of Cheese in the Trias Cheese shop.
Trias listens to your tale, and agrees that any justice meted out in this
affair will be by less than legal means. He tells you to talk to Tyrion,
a gnome who has been keeping tabs on Lescovar for
the last few weeks.
It turns out that Tyrion had contingencies for something like this already
planned, just ... not this soon. It seems that Trias and Tyrion suspected
Lescovar of ties to Twilight's Hammer, but the Defias Brotherhood is
not a good sign either.
He's going to have to outfit his Spybot, so Tyrion asks you to
get the remaining parts for the disguise: some silk, and a couple of
apples. The silk, you can understand - a robe. The apples? Tyrion is an
engineer, by definition not quite as sane as the rest of us. You leave the
question unasked.
You return with the items, and Tyrion gives you a final briefing before
he sends Spybot in.
While you were busy on your errand, he sent Marzon a message that Lescovar
wanted to see him, and will be sending Spybot, disguised as a priestess (ah! apples!),
to lure Lescovar out. If all goes well, Lescovar will come out, dismiss
the guards, and have what he thinks is a private chat in the garden with
his assassin. Your job: to listen to their conversation. If you catch
wind of Defias talk, you are to kill them both before the guards return.
Things go off pretty much as planned. You overhear their discussion;
they do indeed talk about a Defias attack. They catch you listening in,
and attempt (unsuccessfully) to 'silence' you.
Shaw thanks you as well. And it seems Baros Alexston dropped by, saying
he wanted a chat with you as well. Shaw advises you that when you talk to
Alexston, you leave out the bit where it was you that killed Lescovar.
... and to try not to mention Trias at all - ever - if you can help it.
Trias thought Shaw would send you to some noble or another for a commendation.
It turns out that it is Alexston, instead...
In light of your recent deeds, Alexston asks you to deliver to the king
a report he has prepared about the Defias Brotherhood. He has no doubt
that you will be commended for your deeds.
And indeed king Varian Wrynn lauds your
successes and gives you
a princely gift.
This quest series can be started as early as level 16, and the ring that is the
reward has no level requirement (being a quest reward). That makes this ring
one of the best available at this level (and for many levels thereafter), and
is often considered a twink item.
As noted above, the quest chain, The Defias Brotherhood leads
into this chain.
Past Changes
/Patch 3.0.2 (14-Oct-2008): Due to the dilligent efforts of many adventurers, king Varian Wrynn has returned to his throne, and Lady Katrana Prestor, who used to accept the report and give you the final reward, has been deposed.