When Teron Gorfiend and the Horde from Draenor came to Azeroth, they attempted to recruit the remnants of the Horde already on Azeroth. They sought out Rend and Maim Blackhand, who had taken control of the Blackrock Clan after Doomhammer's defeat, and claimed the title of Warchief of the Horde from their fortress in Blackrock Spire. The Dragonmaw clan was allied to them.

Really, what Teron sought was the help of the Dragonmaw dragons to help get their artifacts faster. However, Maim and Rend denied his request for assistance and sent him away. That's when Deathwing approached Teron and pledged the willing aid of his flight in exchange for transport of his own secret "cargo" (eggs). Deathwing then sent Nefarian and Onyxia to enslave the Blackrock orcs and screw with Stormwind politics respectively.

When Deathwing met Ner'zhul, he also requested the skull, and pledge his flight to continue to serve the horde on Draenor in exchange for the skull and his cargo being kept secret and safe. It is still unknown exactly why Deathwing wanted the skull.

When Khadghar fought Deathwing, he defeated the aspect by unfastening his adamant plates, which hold the firey behemoth together. Deathwing was essentially pouring out, and had to flee to fix his armor. I believe that since the goblins made the armor fastened to his body, he needed them to repair it, and he probably flew directly for the portal.

These are the events as portrayed in the novel, "Beyond the Dark Portal;" in the game, you took your heroes, Kurdran included, to kill Deathwing and destroy his dragon hatcery to complete the campaign. In the novel, (which is probably the canon source now), Kurdran was with Danath in Auchindoun around this time. Additionally, in the game campaign, the heroes had to sail to go fight Deathwing and his lair is east of Hellfire Penn. In the novel, the description of the spiked mountains, the location of the ogres, and the presence of Gruul, who actually wrestles with Deathwing, all indicate that Deathwing's lair was somewhere in Blade's Edge Mountains.

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