It really would be more merciful to just kill them.

Like, yeah, sure, the temple is a ten-minute walk to the south and Zuldazar isn't that far away either, in-game, but the Vulpera make it very clear that their survival is a day-to-day thing that depends on using whatever resources they can find.

My latest crackpot theory is that King Mechagon is in fact Sico Thermaplugg, who transformed himself into a Mechagnome in order to stabilize his condition (while it reversed the physical effects, his mind remains as screwed up as ever). Though the other option is to somehow tie it into Mechagon story. So the heritage armor questline is probably the best place to do it. Retaking Gnomeregan was always going to be a major diversion from whatever story was taking place. But I kind of think it also would kind of work in this instance. From what we've seen so far with the Dwarves and Blood Elves, the questlines have been fairly low-key a retrospective on the Scourge invasion of Quel'thelas for the Blood Elves and forging a set of Mountain King Armor for the Dwarves and avoided having a big lore development. On a totally unrelated note, I've been toying around with the idea that the Gnomes might retake Gnomeregan officially during their heritage armor questline. I'd have to actually play both versions to be sure and I haven't caught the Vol'dun incursion when it was active on the PTR. Like a combination of some Vulpera being killed in the chaos and simply being unaware of the details of the Alliance orders causes them to mistake the caravan raiders for death squads. Kind of wonder if there's any way to reconcile the two sides.

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