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merelliahallewell · 4 years ago

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The Drust in the Night Fae Campaign (1)

I lied, there are going to be five parts to this whole thing because we’ve got another Drust week coming up in two weeks or so.

This will contain spoilers from the Drust to Drust chapter of the Night Fae campaign.

Part 1 - The Drust Background

Part 2 - The Drust in BfA

Part 3 - The Drust in Ardenweald

Part 5 - The Drust in the Night Fae Campaign (2)

Also, I missed out on a few small things that I have discovered since the last post I wrote.

Skuld Vit, a Drust rare draining soulshaped souls in a cave says this upon his defeat:

It... doesn't matter. The Drust rule over death....

There is a Fae Dreamcatcher that can be assembled in order to get through a barrier and open a chest. It is described as being able to “protect against nightmares and ward away blight.”

Also, Marasimus says “You have to completely root them (the Drust) out to be rid of their presence, or they’ll grow right back, tougher than ever.”

The Drust seem to have made a major offensive push after showing their hand during the assault on Hibernal Hollow and similar attacks in the Ardenweald quest chain. While it’s not clear explicitly just where during the timeline of initial Shadowlands events the Covenant Campaigns are occurring, they are still definitely a threat to Ardenweald.

Our quests have us investigating a grove controlled by the Masked Fae to find a lost hunting party. Most of them have been slain, but we discover one in a very interesting state: in the middle of being turned by the Drust. One interesting aspect of this quest is that we use dormant Drust masks to sneak past the other Masked Fae. This implies that the Fae are not necessarily a hive mind-esque entity while controlled, and can be fooled by simple disguises. Our deception can be uncovered, however, by the actual Drust that are present.

After that, we go to seek the guidance of a familiar face in an effort to save the cursed Gweyir: Ulfar, the only original Drust who still lives. Alliance players know him well, for he helped open the way to Thros so that we could save Jaina. There are none upon Azeroth who know the magic of the Drust better than he. He has a lot of interesting things to say.

Not only does this curse presumably date back to the Drust’s time on Kul Tiras, but we get a bit of expansion on Gorak Tul as well- it was never said before that he had twisted their existing rituals. Also, he’s seriously dead for real now.

We are told to go to Gol Inath, which is a great tree that rests at the heart of the Crimson Forest. The Drust once had carved steles of them worshipping it. From Ulfar’s text in BfA:

The entrance to Thros lies within the great tree, Gol Inath, but crossing the Threshold will not be as simple as walking through.

We return once more to the great tree, and find something curious beneath it:

THAT’S RIGHT, BABY. HEARTSBANE WITCHES AND WICKER MONSTERS ARE STILL HANGING OUT THERE.

Anyway, we attempt to temper the fetish within this neat Thros flame that wasn’t there before, and then we get to meet the big bad of the Drust storyline: Gorak Zhar. She calls Ulfar witless for sending us here, and a giant ass Drust monster leaps out of the portal to attack us. A few small things:

1) Gorak may be a ruler’s title among the Drust. In BfA, Ulfar calls him Tul, rather than addressing him using Gorak. Perhaps it could be similar to Ingra in that way, as there are several NPCs using that as well.

2) The portal to Thros is still open, I guess. That’s neat.

3) Gorak Zhar seems to have not only known who Ulfar is, but also that he would send us here. Maybe they met at some point long ago.

When we return, Ulfar says this:

However, he says also that he does not know how to proceed from here, though he knows we will require Gorak Tul’s power to break the curse. Ulfar sends us back into the Shadowlands to find the spirit of his mentor Kivarr, who conveniently lives only a short distance from the Heart of the Forest.

I find it interesting that the Drust have not forgotten Kivarr, even after thousands of years. Maybe she was one of those who refused to follow Gorak Tul back in the old days? She also takes the soulshape of a wicker beast, so that is something you can canonically become.

Either way, we have to collect some keys to save Kivarr. One is called a Thros-Forged Key, which is kinda neat. I guess Thros can be used to forge things. The other is a Lustrous Silver Key, which is also interesting because silver is one of the natural counters to Throsian magic. Where could they have acquired this, and why would they hold onto a metal that can disrupt their magic? There is no stone to mine silver from in Ardenweald.

The Drust carry Kivarr off and intend to use her in a ritual of some sort. We kill the ritualist and save her, and she says this:

The Drust curse is apparently so powerful that the reagents to break it do not exist on Azeroth. When we go to gather the necessary rituals, we are sent to find Nox Root. This plant only grows within soil that has been corrupted by the magic of the Drust. It is described as a potent and invasive plant. It also looks like a mushroom, which is probably just a model thing.

Ara’lon is sent to find the satchel of a witch, which apparently is what the lady Drust are called. Kivarr also calls them Nightscreamers. He fails to find it and vanishes, but we end up being able to collect one anyway. These witches carry bags full of reagents and focus objects, which are both necessary for Drust rituals.

Once everything has been gathered, we end up using the fetish from Drustvar to channel the power of Kivarr’s ritual into Gweyir. It purges manifestations of dark magic from him that we have to fight, and is referred to as Gorak Zhar’s sorcery.

In the end, we fail. Which is honestly kind of shocking given how generally bright and happy Warcraft lore can be at some points. Gweyir dies during the ritual, unable to withstand the magic of Gorak Zhar.

The other Night Fae seem disheartened by this- it seems to them that the Masked Fae are going to be lost permanently, if this ritual did not work to restore even a partially-converted one. This ritual seems to place immense strain upon the person being purged.

Mystery of the Cut Text

There was one thing that I had my eye on from some time ago. Back during the original beta iteration of these quests, some word choices were different. Ulfar originally said this when asked about the magic the Drust used.

I find this especially interesting because of the mention of a “Drust Lord,” which is capitalized like a proper noun. I wonder if a Drust Lord might refer to those bearing the title of Gorak, or could be akin to powerful Drust within the realm of Thros. It is a shame this was cut.

#Drust #Drustvar #Gorak Tul #Ulfar #Thornspeaker #Ardenweald #Drust to Drust #Thros #Merellia's RP Resources

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merelliahallewell · 4 years ago

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The Drust - Background

I am going to write about what’s going on with the Drust in Ardenweald, examining them through the lens of the quests we’re presented with. However, it’s been two years since I did BfA’s original Drust quests, so I figured I’d refresh myself on the lore before leaping into the Ardenweald content. This is a resource for anybody who wants to learn about the Drust. This post contains no spoilers for Shadowlands content, but does talk about BfA content and questlines.

Part 2 - The Drust in BfA

Part 3 - The Drust in Ardenweald

Part 4 - The Drust in the Night Fae Campaign (1)

Part 5 - The Drust in the Night Fae Campaign (2)

Ancient History

The Drust used to live in Kul Tiras. According to Alex Afrasiabi, they were one of the many Vrykul clans that were wandering the Great Seas after the Sundering split Old Kalimdor up into many pieces. At some point they settled on the isles, and made their home in Drustvar and Tiragarde Sound. Drustvar appears to have been their capital, and Lucille Waycrest describes them as having “mountain holds.” However, Drust ruins and sites can be found as far north as Stormsong Valley, so they had presence all across Kul Tiras. There are hints they may have had a settlement or some sort upon Mechagon, as there’s a lot of Drust and Vrykul overlap.

They did not have a terribly peaceful existence in Kul Tiras and came into conflict with smaller, gnome-like beings, beings that “looked like themselves or great beasts”, and naga. The Drust once practiced a off-brand form of druidism called the “old ways” (no relation to Gilneas’ Old Ways). It has little in common with Cenarion druidism. Their druids are known as Thornspeakers, and they focus on keeping the balance between life and death. Ulfar, last of the Drust Thornspeakers, claims that the magic of Drustvar is “deep and profound”, and has inhabited some of the animals. That is why the Thornspeakers take slightly spookier druid forms such as bramblebears. The Drust were known to revere various creatures of Drustvar and make sacrifices of animals, possibly to the wilds. The Thornspeakers were blessed by Athair and Athainne at some point.

2700 years ago, human settlers from Gilneas were led by the Tidemother’s whispers to the fertile Stormsong Valley. There, they established villages and other settlements and a very suspect tentacle religion right on top of a N’zoth tendril. Upon learning of the human settlement, the Drust sorcerer-king Gorak Tul, immediately was incensed and stirred the Drust into war. It is claimed the humans tried peace, but their settlers were attacked unprovoked.

One Drust Thornspeaker, Sef Iwen, spoke out against the slaughter. Gorak Tul offered her a choice: fight the humans or hide in the woods forever. She chose the former with the belief it would merely be exile, and was then brutally murdered by Tul himself. Her spirit was cursed to wander the woods forever. With the example now made of those who would defy his rule, Tul marched on the humans. Naturally this eventually led to the rest of the Thornspeakers rebelling against Tul and his loyalists and joining the humans.

At some point during their ongoing war with the humans, Gorak Tul and his followers turned to the powers of Thros, forsaking and defiling the old ways of the Thornspeakers. Thros is described as an “offshoot of the Emerald Nightmare,” though it bears very little resemblance to the Nightmare’s power or effects as displayed in Legion. The power drawn from Thros has been referred to by the developers as “druidic death magic,” and has a number of really varied applications- from darkened nature powers to soul-twisting to invoking dark power from beyond. This magic was used to such an extent that it has largely become synonymous with the Drust themselves rather than the realm it is taken from.

The Drust raids carried on for many years, and even the hearty members of House Waycrest were not able to overcome their might and the strength of their death magic. Scholars studied the magic in an attempt to find counters to it, and learned that alchemical fire, silver weapons, and rowan wood could all counteract the power of Thros. Armed with these weapons, the ancient Order of Embers and Arom Waycrest defeated the Drust and Gorak Tul.

Though believed dead by the humans, Gorak Tul and some of the Drust had not been killed, and they fled into Thros itself. It appears that after escaping into Thros, the Drust found themselves trapped within it, unable to return to the material plane.

Tomorrow, we’re going to look at what the Drust did in the BfA timeline and what’s up with Gorak Tul.

#Drust #Drustvar #Kul Tiras #Thornspeaker #very suspect tentacle religion #Merellia's RP Resources

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merelliahallewell · 4 years ago

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The Drust in the Night Fae Campaign (2)

This is the last of five posts that examine the Drust through the lens of what information is presented to us during the final bit of involvement the Drust have with the story. It will contain spoilers from the Drust to Ashes chapter of the Night Fae campaign.

Part 1 - The Drust Background

Part 2 - The Drust in BfA

Part 3 - The Drust in Ardenweald

Part 4 - The Drust in the Night Fae Campaign (1)

There is one small thing that I had missed in the last two parts: apparently you can save the Masked Fae from their enslavement, but only early on. There appears to be a process, as viewed in the first Drust portion of the campaign. The Drust keep them prisoner, and either convince them to don the masks or forcibly place them on. After that, there is mind enslavement, which seems to take some time to go through. There is a quest in Shimmerbough where you rip masks off of faeries and free them, so a mask being placed on you early in the process is not an immediate death sentence.

With that said, onto the campaign spoilers.

Story Rundown

This is the culmination of the Ardenweald campaign, and it feels very satisfying to finally be returning to the Drust again after meandering through night warrior stuff and loa. I don’t particularly like the inclusion of all these other stories into Ardenweald because I feel like they weaken the narrative even if they are vaguely tied to one aspect of the zone.

Today is the final assault against the Drust. As put by Lord Herne, “the Drust have inflicted enormous loss on this forest and its denizens.” We’ve seen time and time again how devastating they are to Ardenweald- they not only rip away friends and allies, but they enslave them and make use of them as armies. Most of the Drust forces seem to have been drawn from Ardenweald itself, and that loss is as great a tragedy as the anima drought.

It is Lord Herne that confirms the Maw of Thros in Darkreach is the gateway into Ardenweald. Gorak Zhar, their leader, appears to be performing some sort of ritual near the gateway as we press the attack. During this battle, Ingra Drif is slain- he was the Drust responsible for leading much of the effort to convert the Fae. Drif is described as a captain, which may confirm that the word “Ingra” is indeed a title that means something around that.

The magic of Thros acts as a protection for Zhar, with runed tree stumps empowering a barrier. Once the runes are destroyed, the barrier can be shattered. Also, apparently Kivarr knew Gorak Zhar at some point, which strengthens the idea I proposed in the last one where she knew Ulfar. If she knew him, then she would certainly know of his teacher.

As we arrive to confront Zhar, we find that she holds some wildseeds, and they are being drained of what looks to be Anima- directly into Thros! We put a stop to the foul sorcery, but it was nothing more than a trick. A new thing Drust magic can do is disguise living(?) beings as other ones, and Zhar used Ara’lon to stand in for herself.

As much of the Wild Hunt is at Darkreach, the Drust immediately take advantage of this fact and march on the Grove of Awakening and the Heart of the Forest. Apparently, they believe it will bring them victory somehow. All of Ardenweald is summoned to war in response, and the Winter Queen herself takes to the field.

They seem to have set up pretty well at the Grove of Awakening, taking control of several foci that are likely involved in the awakening of wild spirits before they are sent back to their worlds.

Each member of the Court of Night is sent to battle for control of these foci, while the Winter Queen engages in a sorcerous battle of her own, holding the line against any Drust forces that Zhar can summon to throw at her. We duel some named Drust, and then break down the wards once again protecting Gorak Zhar.

Then we kill her. She doesn’t even do that much damage. Ardenweald is saved, and presumably all the Drust are slain. The portal to Thros clozed when Not!GorakZhar was defeated and the Wildseeds were removed. Maybe they were holding it open? It’s unclear.

Also, can she come back because she wasn’t killed in Thros like Gorak Tul??

Motivations, Again

We get a bit of explanation of what the Drust want out of all this once again, this time from Gorak Zhar. However, it also doesn’t make sense entirely with the context of what we’ve seen previously.

Gorak Zhar boasts that she will claim the Winter Queen’s throne and crush the Heart of the Forest. They will claim every soul and grove.

This vaguely fits with their ambitions to “conquer all” and to “rule all realms.” Apparently they have some grand dreams of conquest but some very specific goals of conquering Ardenweald.

Trying to free themselves from the curse of Thros and take advantage of the rebirth, as mentioned before, doesn’t... really make a ton of sense when meshed with this. The rebirth mechanisms send beings back to their home planet, and the magic of Thros is the only reason they have been able to conquer this much to begin with- it is instrumental in every plan they have had. Also, I think the passage between Thros and Azeroth is still open, so they could have come through whenever they wanted.

Nothing makes sense but I am probably overanalyzing it.

Types

The neatest part of this quest was that we actually got some cool names of various Drust types and individuals as the Wild Hunt carved through them. I believe the more human-shaped Drust types (the ones the Masked Fae turn into) are called Reavers. The crawly aberrations that look as if they’re made only of muscles are either Creepers or Lurkers. The lady Drust are witches, Dread Evokers or Nightscreamers. The ones with Vrykul models are called “True Drust,” by the Night Fae but one of their unit types are Slayers. I poked around the game files and found that the Nightscreamers and vrykul-model Drust are called “Drustnative” in files, so presumably those are the ones that were native to Thros- or at least, the first ones who fled there.

Named Drust:

Gorak Tul Gorak Zhar Ingra Drif Ingra Maloch Ingra Saor Ingra Krazic Estrk Drina Kirgvald Lukir Gallak Haassert Skuld Vit Deathbinder Hroth Thulsketha the Binder The Hungering Ones (my personal favorite) Fulfir the Scarred Yulkatar the Cruel Dread Caller Skulfir Valfir the Unrelenting Soultwister Cero Faeflayer

A Final Note

The Drust may have been defeated, but as Lady Moonberry put it, they were just making the existing problems worse. War has ended in Ardenweald, but they will need to put down any remaining Drust forces who have been cut off from Thros now. The groves they conquered and desecrated will need to be reclaimed at some point, and they are assuredly cursed by Thros’ touch. And the Gorm and Spriggan are still causing problems.

Also, it’s very interesting that the Drust sought to destroy the Heart of the Forest. Y’know, the main thing that’s imprisoning the Jailer. That’s some cool food for thought. I wonder if there is a connection there. I wonder if we’ll go raid Thros. Please let us raid Thros.

#Drust #Thros #Ardenweald #Night Fae #Winter Queen #Merellia's RP Resources

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merelliahallewell · 4 years ago

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The Drust in Ardenweald

This post is going to sum up everything I’ve learned and inferred about the Drust from Ardenweald and what they’re up to there.

This will contain information from the main Ardenweald questline in Shadowlands, random world quests I’ve done, the zone in general, and the Mists of Tirna Scithe dungeon, but not the Covenant Campaign.

Part 1 - The Drust Backstory

Part 2 - The Drust in BfA

Part 4 - The Drust in the Night Fae Campaign (1)

Part 5 - The Drust in the Night Fae Campaign (2)

Recap

Let’s begin by laying out what’s going on, in case you zoomed through the Ardenweald story.

Ardenweald is a place of rest and rebirth, representing the “winter” as compared to the summer and springtime that the Emerald Dream is. It is where spirits of nature that die go to rest before they return to their worlds. Spirits are contained within Wildseeds, and nurtured by the native Night Fae, keepers of the many groves and great trees there. With the flow of souls having entirely abated and Anima no longer arriving, Ardenweald has felt the drought more acutely than the other realms. The Winter Queen must make the difficult decision to let some groves and wild spirits die in order to save others and conserve what resources they have. This drives the local fauna into a frenzy. Gorm, Devourers, and Spriggan are all making other things worse too, and the realm is in dire straits.

In the middle of all this, the fucking Drust show up. Assholes.

The Invasion

Apparently they’ve invaded once before, according to Marasmius. This time they’re invading directly from the Maw of Thros, stealing anima, and taking advantage of the drought’s chaos. The Drust have been utilizing the abandoned groves as bases to fortify, with Darkreach and the Oaken Assembly being chock full of elites and acting as their main base. On top of this, the Drust have somehow convinced (forcibly, in many cases) a number of Fae to don various masks. This places them under the control of the Drust. At this point in the story, it’s unclear if they can be freed from their control. What’s worse, it’s revealed that these masks will, at some point literally turn them into Drust. It is not clear if they outnumber the Wild Hunt or not, but they are able to stretch them thin.

Per the Ingra Maloch boss description, The Drust are invading in order to utilize Ardenweald’s “mechanism of Rebirth.” This, presumably, is the mechanic that can be seen in the Queen’s Conservatory and in the cinematic with Ursoc- wildseeds containing souls are nurtured with anima and then sent back to their home worlds.

The Drust are general boogeymen throughout the Ardenweald storyline, with the Masked Fae as the regular foes that have to be fought. They steal and hoard anima and attack the special wildseed we escort all around Ardenweald. They do not necessarily do or say a huge number of things or even have many notable characters introduced at this point in time. Most of the foes seem to be either converted Fae or Drust behemoths (which I think are constructs), rather than true, breathing Drust.

When a vrykul-shaped Drust does show up, it’s treated as a large and powerful threat, needing several fae and the Champion to defeat. It is unclear after a certain part who is or isn’t a true Drust, and I think this may be deliberate- the Night Fae once fully converted are no different than any other Drust.

This may explain how they managed to rebuild their armies after their initial defeat, since many of them had their bodies destroyed twice in Kul Tiras.

The Possessed and the Masks

The Drust use masks to convert the fae into their own kind. However, the methods of getting them to don these masks are left pretty vague. It is implied that it’s a choice given to the fae.

Join us, Niya. Don the mask and serve the masters!

We get hints of this in the side quest chain, An Ominous Stone. In a village on the far east of the map, you collect the journal of Lewor, who described his village’s struggles with the Anima drought. The Gorm were began to gorge themselves on the land and have collapsed whole chunks of the village due to their tunnels. Land even broke off of Ardenweald, and the messengers they dispatched to ask for aid but the Wild Hunt was unable to spare any.

At some point, a strange stone appeared that was certainly not of Ardenweald, radiating with power. He believed that it was not of Ardenweald, but that the forest may have provided it from another land. Lewor even believed that they could use its power to drive off or even defeat the Gorm.

What happened between then and the current events are unclear, but this stone seems to have spread some sort of corruption or magic to the fae, leading to them all donning the masks. There is no mention of the Drust directly being involved in what happened there- this was a conquest through subterfuge.

Why would a Fae willingly wear a mask and serve unknown masters from another realm? At first it may be confusing to see them join a faction known for decay and destruction, but one has to remember how seriously the drought affected Ardenweald. It may be that the Fae, dispossessed and lost after their groves were culled, were tempted by the power the Drust offered to drive off the enemies already in Ardenweald. This is speculation, though, and not hard lore- we ultimately do not know why they accepted the masks.

There is no hope for any Fae once they have donned the mask. From the quests:

There is no coming back for those who have become possessed. Believe me... I tried.

Thank you. I tried so hard to save them... but once that mask is on, there is no return.

They are all wearing these masks now, and they are not themselves any more.

A Pause for Speculation

If the Drust possess a curse that can be used to enslave the minds of any it touches without even having to be physically touching them, why are they doing this mask stuff and not following the same tactic as the Coven did in Drustvar? My speculation is this:

1) The Drust are known by the ancient and powerful beings of Ardenweald, mainly Marasimus and the Winter Queen. They want to avoid displaying who real threat is and taking advantage of the chaos to build their army.

2) They disappear into the chaos caused by the Gorm and Devourers and Spriggan and even Mueh’zalah, who have already stretched the Wild Hunt so thin they can’t assist outlying villages. If those beings knew what was really happening with the Drust, they would turn their focus onto them more fully and employ the whole Wild Hunt to stop them.

3) They needed time bought by the masked fae menace to position their existing forces to capture many of the outlying groves and fortify them. They may also have wanted the secrets Tirna Scithe held or the wildseeds hidden there.

Drust Types

I slapped this together to show the different types of Drust present in Ardenweald. Gorak Tul’s model is on the left for comparison. As a small aside, I find it interesting that the vrykul Drust almost appear to have had their heads fused with the masks somehow. Gorak Tul is so deep into that process (if it exists) that he has sprouted another few eyes and his mouth has elongated.

Weirdly, the lady Drust do not appear to have any weird bark skin or masks anything, and the only effect they have is a general loss of bulk compared to the vrykul model used for them in BfA and freaky looking fingers. It seems as if the matrons of the Heartsbane Coven slit their throats to transform themselves into Drustlike forms.

Motivations

While it’s stated that the Drust want to escape their curse, that’s never really expanded upon. Let’s examine the phrasing from Ingra Maloch’s dungeon journal:

Cursed to exist outside the cycle of Life and Death, the Drust now seek to circumvent their fate using Ardenweald's mechanisms of Rebirth.

The mention of a curse is interesting, because that has never really been said before in an explicit fashion. Thros must be the reason they are cursed in this sort of fashion. It’s not mentioned just what being cursed outside this cycle means, for it’s stated in the Pride of Kul Tiras storyline that Gorak Tul could be slain within his own realm, and was defeated for good.

There are also some curious lines from NPCs that intrigue me.

The Drust will rule all realms!

Nature is meant to be controlled. Conquered. And the Drust will conquer all!

At face value, I think that this implies that they want to go around conquering more realms, either of the Shadowlands or elsehwere. Maybe they already have conquered other realms, during the time they’d supposedly been stuck in Thros? They have attacked Ardenweald once before, after all. It’s an interesting mystery for the time being but unless we get a Thros raid, I don’t see this being expanded upon. I wonder if the nature of this curse will be expanded upon at any point, but knowing Blizzard that is probably not going to happen.

Miscellaneous Bits

Stone is said to be a rare find in Ardenweald by Droman Tashmur. It seems that the Drust utilized strange rocks with runes chipped into them to spread their blight everywhere or potentially influence the Fae.

I found these lines interesting, as all are references to the Drust or their magic.

“Creatures of decay and destruction”

“This stone speaks of hate and broken branches”

"Alien presence that threatens the forest”

"A master who will watch Ardenweald wither”

“All shall wither”

“ Where she appears, decay follows.”

Ingra is a title used by several NPCs. I wonder if it some title of nobility in Thros or meant for commanders.

A Tiny Mystery

Soultwister Cero in Tirna Noch is opening some sort of a portal. It doesn’t appear to be some sort of a standard portal, because the ground bears a ritual circle akin to what the Heartsbane uses, and at each point of it are great stones bearing runes upon them. Atop the portal is a mask, and there are two large runestones on each side as well. Something had to be important to put so much effort into opening this gateway- but why? Is it a portal to Thros to bring more troops in through? A gate to another realm of the Shadowlands, akin to De Other Side’s entrance?

It may also just be the entrance to a lovely little vacation island just across the gap that has been occupied by the Drust, but that seems like a lot of effort to reach something that is a goblin glider jump away.

#Thros #Ardenweald #Shadowlands Lore #lore deep dive #Drust #Merellia's RP Resources

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merelliahallewell · 4 years ago

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The Drust in Battle for Azeroth

This is the second of four? posts looking at the Drust using the in-game and developer information we have available to us. I find the Drust incredibly interesting villains who manage to have some understandable motivations (at least in BfA) and also a neat aesthetic. The Drust and their history and influence are what elevate the questing zone to being more than just a Witcher ripoff and gives it its own cool identity.

You can find Part 1 here. Anyway, here we go with BfA lore. This one is a bit of a doozy, be warned.

Part 3 - The Drust in Ardenweald

Part 4 - The Drust in the Night Fae Campaign (1)

Part 5 - The Drust in the Night Fae Campaign (2)

Before BfA

It isn’t known how long it took for the Drust to be defeated- we’re only given very rough timeframes. The dungeon journal suggests that they were defeated two thousand years ago, but that leaves 700 years between human settlement and the final end to the Drust, which seems a touch long. Ultimately, the timeline doesn’t matter so much as the impression that the Drust have been there for a long time.

Most Drustvari have a healthy superstition of witchcraft that comes from even before the Heartsbane rose, and it does not necessarily seem to be tied to Thros in their minds. As shown by Emma Mayfield and the Witch in the Woods, one also does not need to be a Heartsbane witch to utilize the power of Thros. It is possible that many generations of Kul Tiran witches could have been communing with Thros in various ways, just as they are implied to have made pacts with demons.

Drust Incursion

The Heartsbane Coven was formed at Gorak Tul’s command, after a dark bargain was struck between him and Meredith Waycrest. Tul promised her that her ailing husband would be safe from death, and it seems as if his price was that she would follow his commands and free him from the prison of Thros.

The Heartsbane Coven has a neat history that can be read through the eyes of the citizens of Corlain. I love the Coven and I think they’re really interesting- but since this post is focused on the Drust, we’re going to try to stick to viewing them through that context.

It seems as if the Heartsbane are portryaed as the successors in inheritors of the Drust’s legacy. They wield not only their power, but utilize the same sorts of horrific rituals and strategies that can be seen in Ardenweald.

The most potent weapon the Coven wields is the Heartsbane Curse. This curse allowed them to mentally enslave hundreds of residents of Corlain and most members of the Waycrest Guard. This curse, likely created by the Drust, is eerily similar to something we will see later on. On top of that, they used the curse to great effect on the local fauna, turning the birds and beasts of Drustvar into servants.

As the war with the humans turned against them, the Drust crafted many constructs in order to house the spirits of the fallen, allowing them a second chance to battle against the humans. The constructs were made of incredible materials such as Revlis and Hailstone. Though they could not craft the powerful constructs the Drust had once created, they mimicked them with wood, bone, and wicker. They made a number of various wicker monsters as well, the majority crafted deep within the Crimson Forest, though others were made across the mountains in Barrowknoll. They stitched monstrosities together from pig and human flesh, animated with dark magic.

“There is more to worry about in this land than simple beasts. Our enemy employs constructs of wicker and bone that can rip a man apart…”

These armies of flesh abominations and “wooden demons” were more than enough to to match whatever forces in Drustvar had not been enslaved by the Heartsbane already. The constructs were enough to defeat even the Lord-Admirals elite guards. The Coven took Drustvar by storm after taking Corlain with ease. Some witches were sent to infiltrate towns such as Arom’s Stand and Fallhaven, while they used their forces to directly attack Falconhurst, take control of the Crimson Forest, and attack Fletcher’s Hollow after they discovered a powerful artifact. Glenbrook not only lost much of its population to the Coven or the monsters in the woods, but also had the very land around it darkened by their magic.

If they had not been stopped by the hunch Lucille Waycrest had regarding their magic, it is entirely likely the Heartsbane would have overwhelmed Kul Tiras, which was entering a three-sided civil war at that point in time. The Drust would most certainly have been released from Thros at that point, with the Heartsbane as their eager servants. Drustvar was near-completely under their control by the time the Adventurer showed up.

It is an important point to mention that the Drust had direct involvement with the armies the Heartsbane raised. The wicker constructs were inhabited by either souls that were tormented and broken into serving the Heartsbane or Drust spirits called from Thros. Generally the ones in the Crimson Forest appear to house Drust, while the Soulbound Goliath and wicker men in Barrowknoll held enslaved souls. The Heartsbane also adopted the standard of the Drust, painted in blood (right). On the left is what is used in Ardenweald. It appears that the strength of an enslaved soul (or combination of numerous souls) directly corresponded to the power of a wicker construct.

Even as they fought for control of Drustvar, the Heartsbane worked feverishly to bring their master back to the world via a magical ritual held deep underneath Gol Inath. This ritual was called the Grand Rite, and required a massive effort held across the whole Crimson Forest. It appears the Grand Rite was meant to rip open a hole in reality to allow Thros’ minions in. While this rite was somewhat weakened by the activity of the Adventurer, Gorak Tul was still able to cross over briefly before retreating back into Thros. It is possible the Grand Rite was later completed fully within Waycrest Manor so that the events of the dungeon could occur.

Gorak Tul arrives in Azeroth for real this time via a set of ruins buried far beneath Waycrest Manor. He’s hugely threatening here, and summons additional Drust to aid him in battle. Tul still bears his vrykul frame, though he’s changed greatly, acquiring a strange amount of growth on his body like a tree almost, and his skin looks like bark. He even has a third eye. Seriously, this guy is menacing. These other Drust can also be seen being summoned by Heartsbane ritualists within Corlain, and it’s very unusual just how twisted and blighted they look compared to Tul. They seem absolutely malformed, more like Gollum than a vrykul. Could this be some effect of Thros after their long imprisonment?

A small aside: Drust undead were stirred from their long slumber by the Heartsbane magic. It seems as if it is capable of waking the dead in some fashion, though it almost seems to be from ambient magic rather than directed necromancy. Kinda neat.

Into Thros

Just a few things to wrap up with BfA and the Drust. There are minor bits of their lore I didn’t mention that are doable in Archaeology, which is worth it if you want to fly around pretty zones and dig up relics.

The isle of Fate’s End is located some distance from Stormsong Valley, and features Drust ruins upon it. Apparently, nobody returns from Fate’s End if they’re sent there. It’s here that Jaina appears to have been taken into Thros. Is it some sort of a natural gateway to the place that’s one way only? Maybe a place where people were unknowingly sacrificed to Gorak Tul? Whatever it is, it’s wild. You can fly there in-game, but in the story only a Tidesage can take you out there. It’s interesting that the Tidesages have developed a special rite in order to reach it, and I’m curious if that implies that the Tidesages dealt with Drust magic in the past or know how to negate it with their own power. It’s food for thought, for sure.

Thros itself is nothing special, alas. It’s just a color-swapped Drustvar with some more of those weird Drust and Gorak Tul hanging out. Honestly it’s a bit disappointing, but there is some interesting lore that comes from Ulfar during these quests. Ulfar also says some pathways are best left closed- lest those on the other side use them instead. Up until then, he was unaware of Tul’s return.

The entrance to Thros lies within the great tree, Gol Inath, but crossing the threshold will not be as simple as walking through. To open the path, you will need an effigy of great strength. Not one of the trinkets of the coven, mind you, but one of old, Drust magic. The path to Thros will be treacherous, but that is merely a fraction of what awaits you inside the Blighted Lands. Prepare yourself, <class>, for the minions of Thros will use your deepest fears and regrets as a weapon against you.

Once you have collected the necessary reagents to build an effigy and enter Thros, he says this:

I wish you luck on your journey, mainlander. Tread carefully, for Gorak Tul's eyes will be upon you.

He is vulnerable within his own realm, and he will go to great lengths to prevent you from entering it.

Katherine Proudmoore, the then-ruler of Kul Tiras, remarked that most people believed Thros only to be something of rumor and legend, not an actual place one could travel to.

The Blighted Lands...

If the legends are true then inside we will witness suffering and torment the likes of which we have never known...

The whole journey through Thros is interesting, as Gorak Tul clearly considers Jaina his most valuable prisoner. Eventually you catch up, have a neat cinematic, and battle him to the death. Gorak Tul’s death speech offers a hint of what is to come for Ardenweald in Shadowlands.

Your hollow victory... means nothing...

The Drust... will never... relent...

Dying with his last breath, Tul's corpse fades away.

One final mystery

The Waycrest manor dungeon is pretty neat, but hardly contains anything Drust-related save for the ruins deep underneath. It is especially disappointing that Gorak Tul’s boss fight room is the same one you fight him in beneath Gol Inath- apparently the Drust really liked that design, or maybe it’s best-suited for portals to Thros.

However, there is one bit of unique architecture. Created by artist Fanny Vergne, there is some sort of a design etched into the ground beneath the organ the Waycrests are playing. It looks like a worm, or a serpent with runes carved into it? I wonder if it is supposed to be some sort of horrific Thros monster or something else. In the files of the game, it is apparently labeled as “Jormungandr“ which is a Norse mythological being. Interestingly, the runes do not match any known Vrykul or Drust runes used in the game’s environmental art. I wonder if the artist would be able to shed more light on it or if it’s just a neat design.

#Drust #Drustvar #Thros #The Blighted Lands #lore deep dive #Battle For Azeroth #Kul Tiras #Merellia's RP Resources

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