Upvoting.

Several days ago we were playing with Grond more or less at the same time. I wasn't able to get the shield despite asking about Rolf as the first action (which as far as I am aware based on Grond's testing is the main factor) while his char got the shield. The characters were comparable (his lawful Mist Elven Necro and my lawful Mist Elven Priest).

If the requirement breaks due to some factor, it will be nice to at least have a hint from someone to learn from mistakes. So far I have few ideas on what went wrong. If it's not meant to be guaranteed (I don't mind this), we can still have some sort of a message to signify that. If it is possible to make the shield guaranteed by taking some niche talents or sacrificing some things, it will be the best approach in my opinion.

Mist Elven Merchant, L when entering Dwarftown, asked about Rolf as the first action, L+ crowned when giving in the Arena quest, obtained 3 fragments before giving in the quest. My best guess is that someone died in Dwarftown (on my orders actually, but done by a pet to obtain pickaxes).

This is a huge bummer, because I want to finish new quests in a normal game, and I can't know whether I will get the Shield or not. Since this is a prerelease, I don't even know whether it caused by some bug or my character not fulfilling some condition or breaking some rule.

This situation is not new and in my opinion causes quite some confusion among old and new players alike. To this day nobody knows what exactly causes some characters to be unable to get the weird tome. They go to the Guidebook/wiki to confirm the steps they took and end up frustrated because it appears to be some random unknown thing.

Well I don't know if it's supposed to be 100% or not, but also happened to me (L ratling archer), no dwarves on kill list if that matters.

It really should be guaranteed somehow, because I think people will want to try out these new quests.

It was never guaranteed, was it?

Previously no, but now that it's needed to continue the quest, I think it definitly should be.

when you actually get it, thundarr says something like "you've been asking about our history alot... here is the shield" which seems to imply it is triggered by asking about rolf.

seems to be 100% with dwarves from my testing but elves/gnomes have both failed to get it.

But if you're not doing the quest, sometimes the extra stuff (potions of extra healing, blankets, etc.) is much more useful. Maybe Thrundarr should give you the choice?

The choice is whether to ask about Rolf or not. Asking seems to greatly increase the chance of receiving the shield (has worked 100% of the time for me), but apparently it's not guaranteed, as evidenced by this bug report. If you're not interested in doing the quest, then there's no need to ask.

Fixed. The conditions on when you talk to the dwarven veteran were too tight.