"Dwarves, Keys, and Other Oddities"

The rest of the journey to the Grim Guzzler went much the way one would think—fighting, healing, a fan of knives, a flurry of restorative leaves. Rumer sweated out most of her fever while Kthae cast spells and munched apples from a safe distance. The battles inside the Halls of Law and the Ring of Law and were easier and less bloody for the rogue despite her illness. Having a Restoration druid as backup, even one who'd let her whole raid team die, was comforting.

Despite her fever breaking, Rumer was dehydrated. Her head felt as if it were being pounded between two ogres' hammers, and the muscles in her calves cramped so much that she could hardly walk upright. For once, she thought of the cool spring water that bubbled up in the sacred pools of Teldrassil instead of alcohol. As children running around their forest home with reckless abandon, she and Whisperra would stop at the pools and sneak gulps of the fresh, cold water before they were chased away by the Keepers.

Whether it was an illness-induced hallucination or a Blackrock Depths mirage, she could see the thick, green foliage overhead, the marble-lined pool in the distance, and the crystal blue water rippling in the breeze. Whisperra was giggling by the Shrine to Elune and beckoning her sister to come join her. Rumer, giggling now too, ran toward her.

Just as she reached out to grab Whisperra's hand, the hallucination dissolved and the entrance to the Grim Guzzler came into view.

Rumer and Kthae stood at the massive oak doors listening for any sound of trouble inside. Black Rock Depths had held many dangers around every corner—luckily, most of them were only four feet tall—but an entire room filled with drunken, angry Dwarves against a weak, feverish rogue and a circumspect healer was not comforting.

"What do I need to know before I go in there?" Rumer asked.

"Your guess is as good as mine," Kthae said.

Rumer unsheathed a dagger just in case.

The two Night Elves exchanged looks, placed a hand on each door, and pushed.

The din of raucous Dwarven laughter and trilled curses hit them first. Then the stench. Sweat and soot filtered through alcohol-clogged pores burned their nose hairs. Kthae's eyes rolled back and she stopped inhaling. Rumer was just thankful Pasha wasn't here or he would have dropped dead. She hoped that's not what she smelled like to him and vowed to bathe more often.

Row upon rows of long wooden tables filled the dusky room and were crammed with hairy, bearded, armored Dwarves. And that was just the women.

K motioned to a four-top across from the bar. "Let's grab that table and try to blend in."

The likelihood of two seven-foot tall pasty Night Elves with pointy ears and long wispy eyebrows—one with a tattooed face—blending in wasn't going to happen, but Rumer hid under the hood of her wrinkled cloak and scrunched down in her seat nonetheless.

Almost at once, the barmaid arrived at their table. "What can I get fer ya?"

"Your strongest and cheapest ale," Rumer answered.

The female Dwarf broke into a hearty chuckle and said before waddling away, "You're at the Grim Guzzler, ladies. That's all we serve."

"That's comforting," the druid muttered.

Whether it was the close air, the much needed rest, or the fever coming back, Rumer swooned. She hadn't felt this bad since entering the mountain. For a while there, breaking Kthae out of her cell, fighting off devil dogs and Dark Iron Dwarves, she'd almost forgotten she was sick. Or maybe K's healing spells were just wearing off.

"You don't look so good. You're pale even for an Elf."

"I'm fine. I just need a drink."

As if on cue, the barmaid slammed down two flaming tankards of ale.

"Sulfuron Slammers. The name's Topsy, for obvious reasons," she grabbed her ample bosom in both hands, "so if you be needing anything else, give me a holler."

Before she even finished her sentence, Rumer had drained the tankard. "Topsy, another. And keep them coming."

Topsy chuckled again, quite possibly because she knew something about the booze the young rogue wouldn't until it was too late, and shuffled off for a refill.

With that bit of business taken care of, Rumer checked her surroundings. It was always best to have an escape plan ready especially if the booze didn't do anything to make her feel better. On the wall behind them were the doors they entered from. Opposite was another door, presumably an exit, and across the expanse of the room behind the bar was a door that likely led to the keg storage room. From what she could tell, there wasn't anything noteworthy about the Grim Guzzler.

"What's so special about Blackrock Depths that a bunch of raiders would risk their lives?"

"Treasure. What else?"

"I take it you didn't find any, and that's why you let them die."

"I wasn't here for the treasure."

"Then what?"

Kthae looked away. She seemed to be scanning the room. Rumer's eyes followed her gaze.

"Look, you let yourself get locked up for a reason, and you needed me, just me, to get you out. And it wasn't because you were concerned for my health. Any fool with an axe could have busted the door down. And to be honest, the lock on that thing was a joke."

Kthae drained her tankard before speaking.

"A spark."

"A spark?"

"An ember, actually. From Lord Incendius."

At the look of confusion on Rumer's face, K continued. "That's what I came here for. The ember. I thought if I tagged along with the treasure hunters, they would help me get it. Boy, was I wrong."

"So you killed them?"

"I didn't kill them," her voice rose to a whiny pitch. "I just didn't save them."

"There's a difference?"

"If I tried to keep them all alive, I would have died."

"That was your job!"

"They were louts! Besides, they never would have been able to get me the ember." She averted her eyes.

"But I can?" The druid placed more faith in a rogue's abilities than she should have. One does not simply get that close to a flaming ball of fire.

"Look," Rumer continued, "this seems more like a job for a mage. And I know just the one to help you. Let me go call him." Rumer started to get up. The faster she got away from this crazy druid, the better. In her mind, she'd already paid off her debt. Besides, the Elf's heals were wearing off.

"I don't want you to kill Incendius. I want you to steal a key from that guy."

She pointed to the tiny green Gnome who stood on top of the bar and barked orders.

He looked nothing like the white-haired, jolly-faced, though infuriatingly annoying, Glittergold. No, this Gnome had a green mottled face underneath a red handlebar mustache and devil beard.

"What's wrong with his skin? It looks like it's falling off."

"He's a Leper Gnome. So it's best not to get too close to him."

Topsy arrived with two more tankards. "Anything I can get you lasses from the kitchen? Pickled eggs, rock-salted pretzels?"

"How about information on that guy," Rumer said, nodding toward the Leper.

"Oh, you don't want to mess with that one. No sir. That'd be Plugger Spazzring, the barkeep here and a nasty son-of-a-bitch if you get him mad. Actually, even if you don't. I've seen him immolate a patron or two in my day just for not finishing a drink. But mostly he just sends Phalanx after the troublemakers."

Fully animated and guarding the rear door, Phalanx was the same kind of giant stone golem, with cavernous holes for hands that looked like they could suck a person straight into hell if they caught you that she'd seen back in Searing Gorge.

"We'll try not to get into trouble then," Rumer answered.

After Topsy left, Rumer turned on Kthae with a hiss. "A Leper Gnome and a giant dick? What's so important about this key?"

"It's the only way to get out that door."

"Can't we just leave out the same one we came in from?"

The druid shook her head. "You can only reach Incendius through there. Believe me, I've tried."

Rumer slumped over the table in defeat. "Let me get this straight. You led your raid team in here just to get the key to open a door that leads to a flaming spark, let everyone die at the hands of them," she motioned to the patrons, "and allowed yourself to be imprisoned just so you can try again when the next stupid rogue shows up?"

"I wouldn't exactly say next. You're the only one."

Rumer sighed and held her head.

"Look, this isn't a quest that can be completed by brute strength. It took me awhile, but I figured it out. With your stealth and my Shadowmeld abilities, I think we can do it." Her eyes gleamed a brilliant amber.

"What do you need this spark for?"

"Ember, actually. And it's the only thing that can keep the fire at the Darnassus healing springs alight."

Rumer shrugged, drawing a blank.

"The flame needs to be reignited every one hundred years to keep the waters hot, and the only

way to do that is with an ember from the earth's core itself."

"Which Incendius protects on orders from Ragnaros," Rumer added.

Kthae nodded. "If I don't get this ember, the flame will die, and the Restoration druids will become extinct. I don't have to tell you, Rumer, without healers our race, our race, will die too. Time is running out. And you don't know how long I've been waiting for one stupid rogue to show up."

Rumer scowled then slammed back the last of her drink. "All right, tell me everything you know about this fight."