Operation: Go Bingham

The following is found in the Archives section in the Tome of Truth along with the original mission posting folded to fit in between the pages.

Original Mission Posting
''"An informant has provided us with a lead on a possibility to aid in our communications. Our contact tells us there is a goblin in Bilgewater Harbor who, despite cultural taboos, is deeply knowledgeable in Gnomish engineering schematics. The important part is that this goblin claims they can produce for us a supply of encrypted communication devices for our needs in exchange for some rare machine parts. Our task is to procure the essential gadgetry for our benefactor. The items we need are currently in the possession of a Gnome by the name of Bingham Gadgetsrping, who owns a engineer's trader outpost on the southern tip of Azshara's shores.

We meet at headquarters for a briefing before heading out."''

Chronicled Archive
The Butcher's account -

Blackblades Silvereye, The Sorrow, The Damned and Halfbreed gathered at headquarters for the briefing. The plan was given to infiltrate the gnomish engineer's depot along the southern shore of Azshara in order to take possession of the necessary machine parts for our goblin benefactor; this mission having a prerequisite of an emphasis on stealth to avoid raising an alarm. The team then departed to rendezvous in Azshara near Orgrimmar's northern gate. We gathered and meet with the newest Blackblade, The Terror. One of the Blades must have recruited them for the mission as they passed through the city. I was uneasy about the method in which The Terror was recruited, and at the time still a bit displeased about the whole ordeal, but kept my thoughts contain to ensure team stability. Due to The Terror's unique link with his wife, Blackblade Glyph, I felt I had to inducted him into the Blades. Normally offering potential recruits a choice in joining for our respect of free will, I offered The Terror no such luxury.

Regardless, we set out on our mission. Our opposition being the remote civilian engineer depot owned by Bingham Gadgetspring I was not expecting much of a challenge or else I would have had the Blades undergo the three fold path ritual to heighten their senses. Though I know the faults in underestimating an opponent so I sent Sorrow and Damned as a pair to scout ahead. Knowing the tension between those two due to Sorrow's Drakkari life in dealing with the Scourge and Damned's former service in the Scourge it was a risky decision, but felt they needed opportunity to strengthen teamwork between them, and a low risk mission as this provided the field to enact it.

Halfbreed, Terror, Silvereye and I made our way to a hillside over looking the depot's perimeter. Standing guard where three gnomes wielding what looked to be curiously fashioned artillery. Lower, down the path toward the shoreline and the depot's primary building I had spotted a patrol of a pair of gnomes carrying the same unique armaments. Unexpected of a civilian post to have such security, I advised caution to the Blades with me. Sorrow and Damned had not reported back yet, and I could only assume there were somewhere within the depot. We waited for the patrol to proceed back down the path. Halfbreed, Silvereye and I launched a simultaneous attack and disposed of the three sentries before the could inhale to shout a warning. The patrolling pair were dispatched with equal ease. However, a bit of a an obstacle presented itself. At the inner perimeter there were present searchlights regularly making passes, and a plethora of guards posted about. This enforced my gut feeling of there being an unknown factor requiring a heightened security force. It could be that Gadgetspring had grown overly paranoid being so close to Orgrimmar, but I doubted it. Nevertheless, our directive was unchanged.

The idea of Silvereye using a fold out glider contraption to make it past the lights in a quick maneuver was offered by him. He believed he could make it successfully and so plan was green-lighted. Silvereye glided over undetected and landed somewhere behind the depot's building. With the thick security I wanted to have a plan to pull the Blades out quickly if need be. Terror informed me with his knowledge in the mystical arts he could create a portal for such an exit. Then lights were diverted to point away from the path we needed to gain entry into the depot. Silvereye or one of the others must have found the control for the lights. We proceeded down the path, knocking unconscious two more gnomes at the bottom, and quickly went to the back of the building.

There we found Silvereye who had indeed made use of a searchlight control box. As well Blades Damned and Sorrow were waiting for us and a dead gnome sprawled out nearby. Sorrow informed us the two of them had found evidence of the gnomes building a large explosive of some sort, one with a possible explosive power like that of the one that leveled Theramore. We Blackblades are nothing if not a force for the greater good of the Horde. For such a bomb to be constructed by gnomes so close to Orgrimmar and Bilgewater Harbor it could mean they had been hired for warfare purposes. We now had an additional objective in this mission - to see to it that this bomb never saw completion. I was sure both the parts we needed and the key to stopping the bomb's construction lay within the building we were concealed behind.

I had Sorrow scope out the entrance of the building. Another problem. Two guards at the doorway, but more problematic than that a large array of net-gun toting gnomes we out in the courtyard in front. Disposing of the two guard would be simple enough, but the others were be sure to spot us. Halfbreed formulated an interesting course of action. She having experienced some spiritual empowermet "rubbing off" from my own voodoo practices to enhance my abilities through the bond of the Black Blade, she believed she could use the blade as a focal point to shroud the team in shadow to sneak into the building. I had seen more bizarre occurrences to be be true in my long life. Curious if her theory would prove true I handed over the Blade to her.

Halfbreeds hypothesis proved true. A shroud of shadow enveloped the whole of us. An interesting and unexpected discovery of the Blade's capabilities that not even I had known. Terror opted to remain behind to maintain the portal he had set up for our exit. The Sorrow was instructed to stay with him to watch his back. The rest of us easily slipped around the building, past the guards and into it's interior. There the shadow shroud fell just in time for me to get in arms reach of the depot's owner. Silvereye immediately patrolled the small building for any signs of hostiles. Snatching up Bingham Gadgetspring by the collar I quietly but threateningly demanded the machine parts. He responded in fear stricken, stuttering, broken orcish that the parts were upstairs. Having shoved the gnome to The Damned, the order for the gnome to be restrained was given, and I took the elevator upstairs where Silvereye had already gone.

We found the crate of parts we came for, as well several parchments of blueprints for the bomb Sorrow and Damned found evidence of. Silvereye ripped the blueprints from the wall and burned them. We made are way back down to ground level. Halfbreed scoped the doorway. Two guards still there, yet luckily enough the mass of sentries had move out of the courtyard. Must have been a change in shifts. Halfbreed quickly incapacitated the two at the door. Leaving Gadgetspring gagged and tied we made our way back to the building's rear to regroup with the others. We had the crate we needed but there was still the matter of the physical material of the bomb the gnomes had constructed. The depot was small, with few sparse buildings, mostly shacks. None big enough to house a large bomb. I looked about for clues as to where such an explosive could be fabricated on the ground. Looking up at the building next to us my memory struck me of a shape I saw when looking at the blueprints on the wall. The whole building was the bomb!

Silvereye being a goblin I would bet my left tusk he had explosives of his own upon him. Sure enough it was the case. So, I had him rig the whole thing to blow. The team exited the ground via Terror's portal. Once Silvereye regrouped with us we made our way back up the path. I had the foresight to have my well trained wyvern to wait for us a predetermined location up the hillside. Down by the shore the depot exploded into a brilliant display of fiery wrath. The crate was loaded onto the wyvern and the Blackbaldes dismissed. I left for Bilgewater to meet with our benefactor to exchange the machine parts for his services. After meeting with him, I was informed the first batch of our encrypted com devices would be ready by the following day.

Rarely do missions go so smoothly. The security was tighter than what was though to be for civilian, but nor was I expecting to find the gnomes building the shell of a powerful bomb. The only thing that can be planned for is the unexpected and so plans must adapt. But all in all it was a decent enough exercise and successful mission for the Blackblades.