Gates of Ahn’Qiraj Opening Story Arc

In the southern desert of Silithus near the sacred barrier, exists a single crystalline tear, This tear serves as a symbol of the gereat losses beset upon us during the War of the Shifting Sands. Locate this tear and gaze into its depth to gain enlightenment.

You can feel a great sorrow revolving around this crystal.  The force is so powerful that you feel as if you might collapse and die of sadness.

NOTE: This quest text starts when you click the tear

Anachronos the Ancient:  We must act quickly or all shall be lost!

Fandral Staghelm:  My forces cannot overcome the Qiraji defenses.  We will not be able to get close enought to place your precious barrier, dragon.

Merithra of the Dream glances at her compatriots

Merithra of the Dream:  There is a way …

Arygos nods knowingly

Caelestrasz:  Aye, Fandral, remember these words:  Let not your grief guide your faith.  These thoughts you hold … dark places you go, night elf.  Absolution cannot behad through misguided vengeance.

Merithra:  We will push them back, Anachronos.  This I vow.  Uphold your end of this task.  Let not your hands falter as you seal our fates behind the barrier.

Merithra of the Dream: Succumb to the endless dream, little ones.  Let it consume you!

Arygos:  Anachronos, this diversion will give you and the young druid time enough to seal the gate.  Do not falter.  Now, let us see how they deal with chaotic magic.  Let them feel the wrath of the Blue Flight!  May Malygos protect me!

Caelestrasz: Do not forget the sacrifices made on this day, night elf.  We have all suffered immensely at the hands of these beasts.  Alexstrasza grant me the resolve to drive our enemies back!

Anachronos:  NOW, STAGHELM!  WE GO NOW!  Prepare your magic!

Fandral Staghelm:  It is done, dragon.  Lead the way.

Anachronos:  Stay close …  There is but one duty that remains …  Before I leave this place, I make one final offering to you, Lord Staghelm.  Should a time arise in which you must gain entry to this accursed fortress, use the Scepter of the Shifting Sands on the sacred gong. The magic holding the barrier together will dissipate and the horrors of Ahn’Qiraj will be unleashed upon the world once more.

Anachronos the Ancient hands the Scepter of the Shifting sands to Fandral Staghelm.

Fandral Staghelm:  After the savagery that my people have witnessed and felt, you expect me to accept another burden, dragon?  Surely you are mad.  I want nothing to do with Silithus, the Qiraji and least of all, any damned dragons!

Fandral Staghelm hurls the Scepter of the Shifting Sands into the barrier, shattering it.

Anachronos the Ancient: Lord Staghelm, where are you going?  You would shatter our bond for the sake of pride?

Fandral Staghelm: My son’s soul will find no comfort in this hollow victory, dragon.  I will have him back.  Though it takes a milennia, I WILL have my son back!

Anachronos the Ancient shakes his head in disappointment.  Anachronos kneels down to pick up the fragments of the shattered scepter.

Anachronos:  And now you know all that there is to know, mortal …

After Staghelm’s betrayal, I gathered the shattered pieces of the Shifting Sands and returned here.  I had every intention of protecting the scepter from those that would seek to use it to cause harm to our world – thus was born the charge of the Dragonflights.

A scepter divided amongst the four mighty Aspects would prove to be nearly impossible to restore for those willfully seeking chaos … or so I thought.  What a fool I was.  Even now I am hunted by that cursed flight.

Eranikus, Vaelastrasz and Azuregos … No doubt you know of these dragons, mortal.  It is no coincidene, then, that they have played such influential roles as watchers of our world.

Unfortunately (and my own naivety is partially to blame) whether by agents of the Old gods or betrayal by those that would call them friend, each guardian has fallen to tragedy.  The extent of which has fueled my own distrust towards your kind.

Seek them out … And

Malfurion Stormrage: Be steadfast, champion.  I know why it is that you are here and I know what it is that you seek.  Eranikus will not give up the shard freely.  He has been twisted … twisted by the same force that you seek to destroy.

Are you really surprised?  Is it hard to believe that the power of an Old god could reach even inside the Dream?  It is true – Eranikus, Tyrant of the Dream, wages a battle against us all.  The Nightmare follows in his wake of destruction.

Understand this, Eranikus wants nothing more than to be brought to Azeroth from the Dream.  Once he is out, he will stop at nothing to destroy my physical manifestation.  This, however, is the only way in which you could recover the scepter shard.

You must travel to the four dream portals of Azeroth.  From each you must draw a fragment of the Nightmare’s corruption.  The dragonkin that inhabit these areas will hold such fragments.  Return to me when you have gathered these fragments.

Quest Objectives

Travel to the four Emerald Dream portals in Azeroth and collect a Fragment of the Nightmare’s Corruption from each.  Return to Keeper remulos in the Moonglade when you have completed this task.

Spirit of Azuregos: You seek the scepter shard charged to the protection of the Blue Flight?

(Azuregos appears to be smiling.)

>I am a treasure hunter in search of powerful artifacts.  Give them to me and you will not be harmed.

> How did you know?  I mean, yes … Yes I am looking for that shard.  Do you have it?

Spirit of Azuregos: Of course I do not have the shard.  That would be asinine.  I walk amongst savages in this cursed land!  I cannot take five steps without some crazed orc or human trying to thrust a sharp stick into my hide.  At any given time you could very well be speaking to my ghostly spirit.

Anyhow … I hid it.

Go on … ask me where.

> Alright.  Where?

Spirit of Azuregos: You are going to love this story, human.  See, here is the thing.  As soon as Malygos charged me wiht protecting the scepter shard, I knew I was in for an eternity of headache and pain.

All I want to do is study these magic rich shorelines and take in what artifacts might remain from the Sundering.  You know, these was once a thriving Highborne civilization here!  You don’t have to tell me that there is going to be some solid magical items around here, human.  I can smell it!

> By Bronzebeard’s … um, beard!  What are you talking about?

Spirit of Azuregos: As I was saying, I held onto that scepter shard for a good five-hundred years and it was nothing but trouble.  It attracted all kinds of attention – the wrong kind of attention.  I want to be left alone to my studies not babysit some would be hero’s ticket to glory.  So … I gave it to the fish.

> Fish?  You gave a piece of what could be hte key to saving all life on Kalimdor to a fish?

Spirit of Azuregos: Not just any fish, mortal.  This fish was a minnow.  A very special minnow.

> A minnow?  The oceans are filled with minnows!  There could be a hundred million minnows out there!

Spirit of Azuregos: Exactly!

> …

Spirit of Azuregos: Genius. I know … it will never be found but, in case it is found, I gave the minnow some special powers.

> You put the piece on a minnow and placed the minnow somewhere in the waters of the sea between here and the Eastern Kingdoms? And this minnow has special powers?

Spirit of Azuregos: Correct.  You’ve been listening!  This minnow is really quite a terrible creature of my own creation.  When I am relaxing I like to think of hte unlucky fishermen who have run into this minnow and been devoured whole.  I bet they were quite surprised!

(Azuregos laughs.)

> You’re insane.

Spirit of Azuregos: Genius is often misunderstood, human.  Now, about the scepter shard … if you want that shard and do not wish to spend the next ten thousand years searching for it, you are going to have to listen very carefully.

> I’m all ears.

Spirit of Azuregos: Two words: Arcanite buoy.

Come again.

Spirit of Azuregos: Right then … You have to build an arcanite buoy and place it in the ocean.  My minnow will be attracted to the magical emanations.  When he gets near the buoy – BLAMO!  It will explode in a glorious pulse of arcane energy, revealing the minnow’s true form.  Also, you may or may not incur the wrath of Neptulon.  A 50/50 chance I would say.

> Ok, let me get this straight.  You put the scepter shard entrusted to your Flight by Anachronos on a minnow of your own making and now you expect me to build an … an arcanite buoy or something … to potentially incur the wrath of an Elemental Lord?  Did I miss anything?  Perhaps I am to do this without any clothes on, during a solar eclipse, on a leap year?

Spirit of Azuregos: If I did not know better I would think that you were mocking me, mortal: but yes, that is mostly correct.  You may remain fully clothed.

> FINE!  And how, dare I ask, am I supposed to acquire an arcanite buoy?

Take this ledger to an old acquaintance of mine in Tanaris.  His name is Narain Soothfancy – terrible, terrible, psychic but an amazing engineer!  He should be able to make sense of it all.

No need to thank me, human.  It’s the least I could do.

Good day!

> But …

(Narain holds an unopened envelope to his forehead)

Narain Soothfancy: What is … Mmmm … Velvet!

Am I right?

(You give Narain the Magical Ledger)

Narain Soothfancy: Ooooh! Magical pulsing thingy!  For me?

(Narain eagerly examines the letter)

Outstanding, human!  What is it?  I can’t read a lick of Draconic.

Narain Soothfancy, at your service!  Retired engineer and master soothsayer!  I can tell your future before it even happens!

Narain Soothfancy: First things first, human!  We need to figure out what Azuregos wrote in this ledger.

You say that he’s told you to make an arcanite buoy and that this is the schematic?  Strange that he would write this in Draconic.  That old goat knows I can’t read this nonsense.

If this is going to work, I’m going to need my scrying goggles, a five hundred pound chicken and volume II of “Draconic for Dummies”.  Not necessarily in that order.

• Stewvul, Ex-B.F.F.
• Never Ask Me About My Business
• Draconic for Dummies

Narain Soothfancy: If I am to translate anything, I will need my scrying googles.  Unfortunately, those were stolen quite some time ago by my ex-best friend forever, Stewvul.  He broke my heart in five places and then left me here to rot.

With the help of my trusty crystal ball, I’ve isolated his whereabouts to either the Greymane Wall in Silverpine or what appears to be a portal world in the Outland that is currently being overrun by the Burning Legion.

You are going to have to track him down and get my googles back, human!

Quest Objectives

Narain Soothfancy wants you to find his ex-best friend forever (BFF), Stewvul, and take back the scrying googles that Stewvul stole from him.

Narain Soothfancy: I knew that book would come in handy some day!  Thankfully, I had the wit and foresight to stow it somewhere safe.

Don’t worry, it’s in a place nobody could ever hope to find it!  I needed a gyrocopter just to get there the first time.  Unfortunately I crashed it on the beach on my way back.  It was through that accident that I gained these super gnomish psychic powers!

Look for my crashed gyrocopter somewhere on Land’s End Beach and swim south from there!  You’ll know the spot when you see it!

Quest Objectives

Find Narain Soothfancy’s book, buried on an island in the South Seas.

Narain Soothfancy: If there is one thing that you should know about me, it is this:  NEVER ask me about my business!  I work with things you simply cannot understand.  Like for example: Do you know what a psychotronic muzzledorf is?  Of course you don’t!  And that’s why we leave the planning to me and the fetching to you.

As I said earlier, if this is going to work, we’re going to need a 500 pound chicken.

Head to Gadgetzan and speak with Dirge Quickcleave – he’ll get you started on finding a suitable specimen.

Quest Objectives

Narain Soothfancy in Tanaris wants you to speak with Dirge Quickcleave in Gadgetzan.

(Dirge scratches his head)

A 500 pound chicken? There’s no such thing!  Not anymore, at least.  I knew of such a chicken … The Black Chicken of Death …

(Dirge’s voice trails of)

But yes, nobody ever saw that chicken and lived to tell the tale.  I’ve got an idea that could benefit the both of us, kid.

Dirge Quickcleave: Legend has it that the chimaerok of the Isle of Dread in Feralas have the most succulent and tender vittles in existence!  Now these chimaerok also have a daddy who, with proper preparation, may or may not look like a 500 pound chicken.

Head to the Isle of Dread and kill Lord Lakmaeran and bring me his fresh carcass.  That should satisfy the gnome.  To satisfy me, you’ll need to get your hands on some chimaerok tenderloin.

Do this and you’ll have your 500 pound chicken and a little something extra.

Quest Objective

Recover Lakmaeran’s Carcass and 20 Chimaerok Tenderloins for Dirge Quickcleave in Tanaris.

(You hear a sigh of relief escape the crate)

Insconspicuous Crate: You just want his scrying googles?  Great!  That will be no problem … Just give me a minute to … Hey!  Where the … Dagnabbit!

Well, there’s some bad news and some worse news.  The bad news is that I lost the googles.  The worse news is that I lost them when I was nosing around in the Molten core last month.  Yet, the Molten Core … I guess that concludes our business!  Bye!

Quest Objectives

Find Narain’s Scrying Googles and return them to Narain Soothfancy in Tanaris.

NOTE: The Scrying Googles drop from Trashmobs in Molten Core—happy hunting!

NOTE: You dress the 3-piece set of Narain Soothsaying to disguise like if you were him to talk to Dr. Weavil in a high top mountain-hill at Frostwhisper Gorge, Winterspring

Dr. Weavil (lvl 63 Elite): So … You thought you could fool me, did you?  The greatest criminal master Azeroth has ever known???