Karak Eight Peaks – Da Dark Places

When Karak Eight Peaks was first assailed, it was from under ground. The first places overrun by the greenskins were the tunnels and mine shafts. Slowly the tide poured through the upper levels and eventually broke through to the ground level halls. As the battle for Karak Eight Peaks wore on week after week, month after month, the battle of attrition began to take its toll on the dwarven defenders, while the hordes of greenskin seemed to suffer no dent in their numbers despite suffering losses by the hundreds daily. As the dwarves pulled warriors off of the Grand Wall and the Karag bastions to defend the halls, the defenses on the surface and outside world of Karak Eight Peaks were drastically thinned.
The greenskin assault on Karak Eight Peaks was led by Skarsnik, warlord of the Crooked Moon tribe of the World’s Edge Mountains. The first ground-level hall to fall to the Crooked Moon tribe of night goblins was the hall of Karag Rhyn, and soon after adjoining Karag Nar fell as well. By the time the Bloody Sun Boyz arrived, the defenses of the outside world of Karak Eight Peaks were so drastically thinned to hold back the tide of night goblins underground, that the Bloody Sun Boyz poured across the mountain bastions and valley floor like an unstoppable deluge, only the Ironhold held out.
By this time the night goblins of the Crooked Moon tribe had evicted the dwarves from all underground passages and were waging a vicious war with skaven in the mines and tunnels, and the Silver-Station of Karak Eight Peaks was firmly in their hands – effectively cutting off the four remaining pockets of dwarven resistance off from each other: the Ironhold, the Halls of Grungi and Valaya, the Hall of the White Lady, and the Citadel of the King of Eight Peaks. The Bloody Sun Boyz quickly remedied the situation with a brutal assault on the halls of Grungi and Valaya and the southern hall of the Hall of the White Lady – a battle so long and vicious that no doubt one day legends will be told of it. Turning their attention back to the Ironhold, the Bloody Sun Boyz left the Citadel to the Crooked Moon tribe to waste their efforts on. For months the battles over these last two pockets of resistance waged on, neither greenskin faction showing signs of success and rumors of dwarven reinforcements from the north arriving soon on the greenskins tongues. Eventually the greenskin bodies piling up in front of the Ironhold created a ramp for the Bloody Sun Boyz to scale over onto the walls of the Ironhold. With this last above-ground dwarven pocket captured all that was left was the Citadel.
With the fall of the Citadel the greenskins made a pact to split rule over Karak Eight Peaks with what seemed to the Bloody Sun Boyz as a fair deal. The Bloody Sun Boyz due to sheer physical strength would gain the above ground realm and half the mountain halls; the Crooked Moon tribe would get the smaller four mountain halls, the Silver-Station, and all the underground tunnels and mines. Unbeknown to the Bloody Sun Boyz, they got the short end of the stick as the realm underground of the vast mines and tunnels was many times larger than the above-ground holdings.
Skarsnik made the hall of Karag Rhyn, the first hall to fall to the night goblins, his seat of power; it was renamed the Hall of the Moon. The Bloody Sun Boyz never completely trusting the Crooked Moon tribe planted their fiercest warriors in between the two portions of the night goblin mountain realm – Kvinn-Wyr was given to the Black Orcs of the Bloody Sun Boyz, an ever watchful thorn in the side of the night goblins.

Fall of the Crooked Moon : Hall of the Moon
Phase 1: Destroy the Fungal Brewery

Snotling Nurseries
Although not indicated in the public quest as a task, the Hall of the Moon is flanked by two smaller halls whose walls are covered in layers of slime and the floor a thick sticky muck with green bubbles of an eerie green glow. These two halls are the snotling nurseries of the night goblins. The halls are heavily guarded by night goblin champions tasked with protecting the snotlings until they hatch. A well placed keg of naphtha and some kindled flames from the Purifiers will consume the snotling spores in a blaze so cleansing that the screams of the dying will warm the hearts of the Oathbearers.

Fungal Brewery
In the former hall of the brewmaster of Karak Eight Peaks under Snorri’s Tavern now lay the Fungal Brewery of the night goblins. The Fungal Brewery, naturally as its name would indicate, is the source of the intoxicating fungal brew of the night goblins, a liquor so potent that it has unpredictable effects on those who consume it. The task at hand is to destroy the Fungal Brewery to stop the production of the vile ale which gives the night goblins unheard powers; however, as one would expect the sacred brewery of the night goblins is heavily defended – by giants. The night goblin brewmasters will panic upon being engaged (goblins being panicky creatures) and will drink their brew to better face the invaders. One drink and the timid night goblin turns into a Fanatic – a creature of super-goblin strength capable of lifting a iron ball on a chain many times his weight and swinging it around with lethal force. Face the night goblin fanatics and either fight through their deadly dervish or destroy the brew before they can drink it. Once the hall is cleared of its guardians you can destroy the brewing equipment and prepare for the fight ahead.

Skarsnik
Once the Fungal Brewery is wrecked and put to the torch the war drums of the Crooked Moon tribe sound through the Hall of the Moon. You’ve done it now. The invaders have called forth the anger of the warlord of Eight Peaks, Skarsnik. Snarsnik is a night goblin shaman level 59 lord, and he is accompanied by his vicious giant squig Gobbla who is a level 50 lord. The Hall of the Moon is but the staging ground of the battle and is a far cry from its former image. Once a small but glorious hall, the walls have been plastered with goblin filth and clinging to their sides like barnacles are dozens of night goblin shanties. At the center a column of filth and debris rises with the grinning symbol of the Crooked Moon ever watching the hall and its inhabitants. Patrolling the hall are intoxicated giants, bound to servitude by the powers of the fungal brew. The Hall of the Moon is under the watch of the Moon Guard, armored and heavily armed night goblins prodding the giants about. During the fight with Skarsnik the Moon Guard will call upon the giants to charge the invaders; killing the Moon Guard although a harder task than slaying the giant will effectively free the beast of his burden – so long as the Moon Guard lives they will use the giants against you.
Skarsnik himself (itself?) is the main threat of the fight, however with his pet squig Gobbla and the giants under the control of the Moon Guard, the fight requires the most attentive minds. The majority of the crowd control in this fight will be on Gobbla, with snares, area-of-effect knockdowns, knock backs, disarms, and roots. Gobbla also deals a hefty chunk of damage so letting him run rampant is not ideal.  Additionally Gobbla has the ability to eat one of his targets in one bit, meaning they will be inside of the squig and a sufficient amount of damage has to be dealt to it to free the victim before he is digested to death. Skarsnik’s only crowd control ability is to silence a magic caster. Skarsnik is armed with a nasty halberd known as the Prodder, which can fire magic bolts of harnessed moon magic – bolts which gain power over time. He will use his weapon to deal a nasty area-of-effect cone cleave and as a shaman he will tap the Little Waaagh to call upon spells to harass the invaders – his particular favorite being the Fists of Gork which pound on the ground dealing area-of-effect damage.
The trick to the fight, with so many things to kill in the allotted time, is managing damage-per-second. The simple fact is that with so many mobs running about, party composition is almost the default “2,2,2”. This means that the two dps classes have to up their dps some how, and naturally the easiest way is to tap the powers of the potent Fungal Brew laying about the chamber. However, drinking the brew will incite the anger of the giants, who are addicted to it and they will attack whoever drinks the brew. The Fungal Brew works in the sense that it increases the invader’s damage by 10%, but once its effects wear out the target is snared by 40% for 30 seconds or until they drink more. As an additional factor of the fight to hamper the invaders – Skarsnik will summon snotling waves to shadow him and take his damage while he constantly walks his invaders backwards deeper and deeper into the slimy tunnels under the Hall of the Moon, which also means farther away from the supply of Fungal Brew. The snotling waves can be prevented entirely by burning the snotling nurseries, but Skarsnik will always walk deeper into his realm – destroying the snotling nurseries only slows his descent.
Upon defeating Skarsnik he has an ‘x’% chance of dropping a repairable Monarch Cape for range dps classes. He also has an ‘x’% chance of dropping a great-hammer for Warrior Priests – “Sigmar’s Retribution”.

Shinies Market
Although part of no public quest the hall under Karag Nar has been converted into a night goblin market square. The Shinies Market is a heavily defended rally point whose capture will ease access to the Hall of the Moon and the Hall of Da Biggest, Da Bestest, Da Toughest.

I’ll Show You Whose Da Bestest : Hall of Da Biggest, Da Bestest, Da Toughest
Phase 1: Defeat the Da Toughest and Da Biggest Champions

Hall of Da Biggest, Da Bestest, Da Toughest
This portion of Karak Eight Peaks has been set aside for the mighty black orcs of the Bloody Sun Boyz, and appropriately enough the hall is bathed in darkness. The task for this public quest could not be more straight forward, you are charged with defeating the best the black orcs have to throw at you. The hall and its two ante-chambers are full of black orcs, vicious creatures bred by the chaos dwarves for servitude, creatures too smart and strong to be kept for servitude.
In the northern ante-chamber you will find your first opponent, Da Biggest, Karva Bloodclaw and his mighty wyvern, Bonecruncha. Karva Bloodclaw is a level 50 Black Orc lord who  wields a mighty two handed axe dealing high burst damage and an aoe cleave; Bonecruncha, a level 45 hero, has a cleave, a corporeal area-of-effect secretion, and a area-of-effect knock back which can be countered by holding the line. In the southern ante-chamber we have Da Toughest who is Gorfang Rotgut, a level 52 lord. He fights with two axes and may swap one out for a shield; with dual-wield axes his parry is rather high, and with a shield his block is rather high. Naturally the hall and the ante-chambers are guarded heavily by black orcs, who are often hard to spot right away due to the dim lighting of the hall. It is advisable to clear each room of the black orc champions before engaging the lords and heroes.Once Da Biggest and Da Toughest have been defeated a rumble will erupt from the stairwell leading to the stronghold atop the mountain – Da Bestest is coming down to show you your fate.

Grimgor Ironhide
Grimgor Ironhide is the final boss for this public quest, and he is by no means meant to be easy to take down. He is a 66 MPAT level 59 black orc lord. This means that he has every tool a black orc has at his disposal and he wields a great axe, although he may use abilities requiring a shield. Before he can even be damaged the invaders have to defeat his four guards, Da Immortulz, each a level 50 hero.  Da Immortulz are very tough but do not hit terribly hard. Defeating these four Immortulz is but the start of their presence in the fight, and doing so will allow you to damage  Grimgor Ironhide. Grimgor himself is armed with a mighty two-handed axe, Gitsnik, which increases the range of his attacks and his chance to penetrate armor; occasionally his axe will proc and allow him to hit his target for 25% of their total health, but this ability cannot occur more than once every ‘x’ seconds. Grimgor is also encased in the Blood-forged Armor which decreases his chance to be critically hit. In addition to the bellows a black orc has, Grimgor has two additional bellows: one which will silence all targets within 35 feet of him, and the other which will lower the morale of all targets within 50 feet to 0. He has single target bellows which will increase the build time of a random target by 1 second or the action point cost of a random target by 10 action points. Every 20% of his health he will call a pair of Immortulz from the bastion above, once again if an Immortul is present Grimgor will take no damage. However, the Immortulz’ presence in the fight can be delayed by using bulwark on the door to the stairwell. A sufficient delay in breaking down the door will cause one of the Immortulz to ‘seek another route’ (i.e. he goes away and gets lost) so you only have one Immortul to deal with, but be wary that you do not bulwark too long or a second pair of Immortulz will be called forth and break the door down faster than you can bulwark it. The trick is to hold the door long enough for one to go away, but let it break open before Grimgor bellows for another pair.
Upon defeating Grimgor Ironhide he has an ‘x’% chance of dropping a repairable Monarch Belt for tanks and healers. He also has an ‘x’% chance of dropping a staff for a Bright Wizard – “Black Fire of Aqshy”.

Lore
Skarsnik in the pre-Warhammer Online universe is the Warlord of Eight Peaks, and he jointly holds it with Gorfang Rotgut, although the dwarves still survive in a small pocket in the citadel. So Karak Eight Peaks is considered a fallen Hold because it is in all senses overrun by greenskins and skaven, but a pocket of survivors exists and prevents total domination of the Hold. Grimgor Ironhide also exists in the lore and his story is far grander and in depth. I won’t attempt to bastardize it as I am not entirely familiar with it, but suffice to say he has rained devastation upon the realms of dwarves, Kislevites, and the Empire. To the best of my knowledge, unlike the other WAAAGH! leaders who all meet an end eventually, Grimgor Ironhide never meets defeat or dies. He is indeed the most uber of all the Orcs.

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