Questing Through Drustvar

Last week, shortly before I started feeling awful, I left Tirigarde Sound for Drustvar, eager to start in a a brand-new zone after all the time I had just spent in Tirigarde. Going into it I didn’t know much about Drustvar, except that it’s spooky! I wasn’t sure if I was going to like Drustvar as I’m not normally a fan of spooky things, but I ended up loving it and having a blast with the story there.

The whole zone oozed dark magic and spookiness, which made the whole place feel like Halloween, except in Drustvar it’s like that every day. Before arriving in Drustvar I thought that only part of the zone was spooky, and I severely underestimated their witch problem! But, running through there for the first time in order to turn my quest in at Fallhaven, I quickly learned that I had the wrong impression. Especially when I met the creepiest little girl, Abby Lewis, who insisted I find her stuffed animals for a “tea party” and didn’t seem phased by all the terror going on around her. I ignored her quest until later, so that I could head to Fallhaven and grab the flightpath…

There I learned firsthand of witches’ curses when I found that all of Fallhaven was under some kind of spell. But it wasn’t until after I helped Abby Lewis with her “tea party” and she performed some kind of ritual did I start to realize that all of Drustvar must be under some kind of curse.

I love the story there, and though I still need to go back and finish Stormsong Valley, I think the quests in Drustvar were my favorite. Through the ten chapters there, I learned a lot about the history of Drustvar and why Kul Tiran Druidism makes sense. I am still surprised, even while writing this, about how much this story resonates with me and still gives me a feeling of awe.

My journey in Drustvar truly began when I came across the daughter of the ruling family, Lucille Waycrest. House Waycrest has been a supporter of the Proudmoore Admiralty for a long time, and they are known for their strong military. As such, I was sent to investigate the absence of the Waycrests at council meetings and look into why the place is just so darn creepy. Through my adventures with Lucille, I learned about the Order of Embers and even helped resurrect the Order. Back two-thousand years ago when Humans first came to settle Kul Tiras, they encountered the Drust. The Drust were a savage race that went to war with the Kul Tirans right away, even when they tried to negotiate for peace. The Drust used a dark magic that nobody had seen before and could not be destroyed by normal means, so the Order of Embers was formed. Within the Order, members figured out methods to kill the Drust and were seemingly successful when their leader, Gorak Tul, was killed by Arom Waycrest.

The mystery that the newly re-established Order of Embers set out to discover was the reason for the return of dark magic in Drustvar. Eventually, after much witch-hunting, I got a quest that sent me to Whitegrove Chapel to pay respects to a former love of Lucille’s. I played through the short quest-line there and learned that Lucille’s fiance was murdered by assassins on the day of their wedding ceremony. Learning about Lucille’s past was heart-breaking, and even more so when I learned that her mother payed off the assassins because she didn’t like that Lucille was marrying a common merchant. I did feel a little better when I returned the wedding ring to Lucille, so that they would be able to be together in some way.

Now I’ve learned more about her parents and I really didn’t like her mother at all. However, the worst was yet to come when we finally made it to the gates of Waycrest Manor and found that the surrounding town had also succumbed to dark magic. When Lucille approached the Manor to see if her parents still lived, she was faced with the truth. Her mother was the leader of the Heartsbane Coven that was responsible for spreading witchcraft in Drustvar, and her along with Lucille’s father had been turned into monstrosities.

And now the full story has been uncovered. When Lord Waycrest became sick and was dying, Lady Waycrest desperately tried to call out to any power or being that could hear her. Gorak Tul, leader of the Drust, had been locked away in the Blighted Lands for two-thousand years after the war, just biding his time until someone released him. That someone was Lady Waycrest when she called out to him unknowingly. Using Lady Waycrest and giving her dark new powers, Gorak Tul’s curse was unleashed upon Drustvar. The Heartsbane Coven was formed with a mission to bring Gorak Tul fully into the physical world.

After finishing up the main story, I went and completed all the side-quests that were left. Of note were the quests I did for the Thornspeakers, which is the group of Kul Tiran Druids. After finishing the quests I was taken to meet the High Thornspeaker, who turned out to be one of the last remaining Drust. It turns out that not all Drust wanted to go to war, but wanted to live in Drustvar peacefully and practice Druidism. Drust are naturally shapeshifters, so some Kul Tirans who are descendants of the Drust can learn Druidism. I was curious about the reasoning behind Human Druids, so that explanation was really cool!

Overall I loved Drustvar and like Tirigarde, it had some really great memorable characters. I loved learning about the history of the Drust and Kul Tiran Druidism, and the whole thing gave me Game of Thrones vibes. The whole time I was learning about the war with the Drust I couldn’t help but think of the First Men in GoT, when they were trying to defeat the White Walkers.

And, most importantly, I learned that poking another player with Lucille’s Sewing Needle has a chance to turn them into a witch! I’ve poked so many people with that needle so far…