Darkshore

Darkshore is a long, gloomy strip of forest and beach on Kalimdor's northwestern coast, and the second zone for night elf characters, covering levels 10 to 20. Its port town of Auberdine links Teldrassil to the rest of the world, which makes it a crossroads for Alliance players of every race. The zone is full of ruined night elf towns and the ghosts of the Highborne, and much of it is falling to corruption.

Geography

Darkshore runs north to south along the coast, with steep mountains on its eastern side. It is always dusk there: the trees are dark, mist hangs over the shore, and the beaches are crowded with murlocs, crabs and the odd beached sea creature.

• Auberdine, a night elf port in the middle of the coast, holds the inn, the flight path, the docks and most quest givers.
• Bashal'Aran and Ameth'Aran are ruined Highborne towns east and south of Auberdine, haunted by restless spirits.
• The Tower of Althalaxx in the north is held by the Dark Strand cult.
• The Ruins of Mathystra, at the northern tip, are home to the Greymist murlocs and old relics.
• Cliffspring River and its falls cut through the hills north of Auberdine.
• The Master's Glaive, a huge blade sticking out of the ground in the south, has a Twilight's Hammer camp at its base.
• The Grove of the Ancients in the south is where Onu, an Ancient of Lore, meditates.
• Remtravel's Excavation is the Explorers' League dig site on the southern coast.
• The Blackwood furbolg camps are scattered along the eastern hills.

History

Darkshore was night elf land long before the Sundering, and its ruins date from the time of the Highborne, the magic-using night elf nobility who served Queen Azshara before the War of the Ancients. After the Third War, the night elves fortified Auberdine and began to rebuild, but the coast is far from safe. Furbolgs and thistle bears are going mad from a spreading corruption, the Twilight's Hammer and Dark Strand cults are active, and dwarves of the Explorers' League are poking around the old ruins.

Quests and notable NPCs

Auberdine

• Sentinel Glynda Nal'Shea posts WANTED: Murkdeep! against the murloc Murkdeep and sends players to investigate The Red Crystal in the eastern mountains.
• Thundris Windweaver wants relics in Tools of the Highborne and starts the Cliffspring River chain with The Cliffspring River.
• Sentinel Tysha Moonblade sends players to read the tablets of The Fall of Ameth'Aran.
• Cerellean Whiteclaw asks players to free the spirit of his lost love Anaya Dawnrunner in For Love Eternal, one of the zone's best-remembered stories.
• Terenthis starts A Lost Master, which leads to the escape quests Escape Through Force and Escape Through Stealth with the furbolg Volcor.
• Gubber Blump on the dock wants crab meat in Fruit of the Sea.

The wilds

• At Bashal'Aran, the night elf Asterion leads players through the four-part Bashal'Aran chain.
• Tharnariun Treetender asks players to put down the rabid thistle bears in Cleansing of the Infected and then to find and kill their Den Mother in Tharnariun's Hope.
• The Blackwood Corrupted chain asks players to purify the Blackwood furbolgs' food with water from the Auberdine moonwell.
• Balthule Shadowstrike gathers players at the Tower of Althalaxx to fight the Dark Strand cult and Delmanis the Hated in the long The Tower of Althalaxx chain, which continues all the way to level 31.
• Therylune is a prisoner who must escape in Therylune's Escape.
• Onu at the Grove of the Ancients sends players against the Twilight's Hammer at the Master's Glaive in The Master's Glaive and The Twilight Camp.
• Prospector Remtravel of the Explorers' League, who has wandered off from his dig, needs an escort in The Absent Minded Prospector chain.
• Kerlonian Evershade, a druid lost in a deep sleep, must be woken and escorted to Ashenvale in The Sleeper Has Awakened.
• Gelkak Gyromast wants his first mate, a robot, back in Gyromast's Revenge.

Rare creatures: Lady Moongazer, an undead spirit, and the naga Lord Sinslayer.

Dungeons

Darkshore has no dungeon of its own. Players moving south at around level 20 find Blackfathom Deeps on the Zoram Strand in Ashenvale.

Getting there

• By boat: Auberdine's docks have ships to Rut'theran Village on Teldrassil and to Menethil Harbor in the Wetlands. For a new dwarf, gnome or human, the Menethil ship is the usual first trip to Kalimdor.
• By hippogryph: Auberdine has a flight master.
• On foot: the road south leads through the hills into Ashenvale, toward Astranaar.

Later history

In Cataclysm (2010), Deathwing's return sent a tidal wave over the coast that destroyed much of Auberdine. In Battle for Azeroth, Darkshore was the scene of the War of the Thorns and its aftermath.

Sources

• Darkshore, Warcraft Wiki
• Auberdine, Warcraft Wiki
• Tower of Althalaxx, Warcraft Wiki