Bodyguard for Hire

At this moment in the post 5.0.4 release environment, the Caravan is gone. The Gizelton boys and their vendor bot are missing and presumably AOL. Numerous posts in the Bliz forums confirms their mysterious disappearance, but as of yet no official reply from Bliz. Hopefully they'll make a return soon or their recipes found elsewhere.

Spoiler

TL;DR: 2 Que-sts gone for good, 2 Ven-dors MIA, 3 re-ci-pes currently unobtainable,
and a touching letter from Game Master Evinderminus regarding Cork, Rigger, & the Kodos.
And Auction House Statistics for the recipes are now at the end of the comment.
PS - I intend to re-update when the recipes are once again available in-game.
(Updated: 2013/03/01)

_________________________

Sapperwix [Quality Assurance]: [referring to Gizelton Caravan]
"This quest and its related NPCs have been removed from the game."
[Bug]Gizelton Caravan (page 2) - Forums - World of Warcraft*
(*Now a 404 error. "There was a PAGE here. It’s gone now.")

This effectively also removes Bodyguard for Hire.

Faid:
"...currently impacted are:

[npc=12246] which is the only source for

• Recipe: Big Bear Steak
• 
  
• Recipe: Lean Wolf Steak

[npc=12245], the only source of

• Recipe: Lean Venison"

Clockwork Riot: Recipe Vendor MIA - Some recipes no longer obtainable!

Egdod:
"I spoke today, 10/1/12, with a GM who said that hope may not be lost for those of us looking to get our hands on the missing recipes sold by the Desolace/Gizelton Caravan vendors.

The GM could not offer a time frame for the fix, but did refer to this as bug, and said the following:

"Part of the caravan was intentionally removed. Those two [[npc=12246] and [npc=12245]] weren't supposed to be so it is something we are looking in to."

Enigmatic, I know, but it does suggest that these vendors may reappear with recipes intact."
[Bug]Gizelton Caravan (page 2) - Forums - World of Warcraft*
(*Now a 404 error. "There was a PAGE here. It’s gone now.")

PS - I will edit this post as soon as I learn more. *fingers crossed that the bots come back*

Updated (2012/11/18):

Noshika:
"It looks like this has been removed from the game. I received a GM confirmation.

Hail and well met, Noshi!

A thousand apologies for not being able to speak with you in-game, friend. It's been a little crazy since we imported all of these Pandaren Monks into the office and they started chewing up all of our computer cords. :< Evinderminus, here! I just wanted to drop by and leave a little information concerning the Desolace Caravan NPCs.

Over time, the World of Warcraft changes. It was seen with the Shattering of the Cataclysm, and every major world event before. When such things happen, sometimes NPCs move on. This is the case with the NPCs you're looking for, sadly. They have gone to seek their fortune elsewhere, perhaps far beyond the oceans, away from this war-torn world. That you remember them is touching, however, and I will be sure to inform the Gizelton boys that you send your regards. We hope that you'll find other items in the world that are equally interesting, perhaps that remind you of these NPCs.

I sincerely hope that this experience with Blizzard Entertainment has been helpful! May you continue to enjoy your stay in our world!

Be well, strike true, and may your lewt be phat!

Game Master Evinderminus
Customer Services
Blizzard Entertainment
www.blizzard.com/support"

A.H. Statistics*
*Prices and Percentages are hyperlinked to show the corresponding items' tooltips.
UndermineJournal Market Prices are:
02 Dec . 23 Dec . 05 Jan . . 12 Feb . . 24 Feb . . 01 Mar
323G . . . 602G . . 324G . . . 727G . . . 498G . . . . 646G,
777G . . . 969G . . 932G . . 1,461G . . 1,747G . . 1,121G,
798G . . 1,047G. . 944G . . 1,239G . . 1,486G . . 1,950G.

Overall Realm Availability (%)
02 Dec . 23 Dec . 05 Jan . . 12 Feb . . 24 Feb . . 01 Mar
6.22% . . 4.30% . . 6.45% . . 4.98% . . . 5.27% . . 4.79%,
3.13% . . 2.15% . . 2.54% . . 1.66% . . . 2.05% . . 1.56%,
3.12% . . 3.13% . . 4.20% . . 3.03% . . . 2.44% . . 2.54%.

US Realm Availability (%)
02 Dec . 23 Dec . 05 Jan . . 12 Feb . . 24 Feb . . 01 Mar
No Data . . 5.89% . . 8.33% . . 6.91% . . . 6.91% . . 5.89%,
No Data . . 2.44% . . 2.24% . . 1.22% . . . 2.03% . . 1.63%,
No Data . . 4.67% . . 5.49% . . 3.25% . . . 3.05% . . 3.05%.

PPPS - Still waiting to hear about the recipes. Will update soon.
Edit (2012/11/24): added "tl;dr" & added wowhead links to Faid & Egdod quotes.
Edit (2012/12/02): added A.H. Statistics.
Edit (2012/12/25 - 2013/03/01): Updated Market Info. Still looking for news about the availability of these recipes.

This is the first of two quests on the caravan trade route between Kormek's Hut and the Gelkis Village. It is also the easier of the two. After returning to Kormek's Hut, the caravan sets up shop and rests for 10 minutes. Then it departs headed east along the road and stops just north of the Kolkar Village. At this point the quest becomes available for only 4 minutes. If it is not recieved within that period, the caravan continues south along the road and then west straight to the Gelkis Village. You have to then wait for the caravan to complete it's circut before you can pick up the quest (which takes approx. 40-60 minutes! depending on the quests being picked up or not along the way)

For the quest, you are attacked by three seperate mobs as you pass the Kolkar Village heading south. All three mobs spawn the same units and they are as follows :

2 Kolkar Ambushers (level 34-35)
2 Kolkar Waylayers (level 33-34)

After the third mob is defeated, the quest objective is completed and you can head directly to Scrabblescrew's Camp to recieve your reward.