Oh Great… Plagued Magnataur!

Quest Giver: Bixie Wrenchshanker, south of The Dens of Dying [73, 19]

Turn In: Bixie Wrenchshanker

Objective: Kill 10 Plagued Magnataur

Quick Facts

• Chain Position: Quest 3 of 4 in the Transmatter chain
• Previous: Check in With Bixie
• Next: There’s Something Going On In Those Caves

Walkthrough

Head north from Bixie toward The Dens of Dying. Plagued Magnataur roam the slopes between the two cave entrances and the surrounding area.

Cave Entrances:

• Western cave: approximately [74, 15]
• Eastern cave: approximately [77, 19]

Kill 10 Plagued Magnataur and return to Bixie.

Spawn Mechanics

Aged Magnataur periodically exit the caves and transform into Plagued Magnataur shortly afterward. You can position near a cave entrance to intercept them as they emerge and become plagued.

If spawns seem slow (particularly during busy periods when multiple players are working on this quest), check both cave entrances or sweep the slopes between them.

Bestiary: Magnataur

Magnataur are among Northrend’s most formidable creatures, massive beings with the torso of a tusked giant fused to the body of a woolly mammoth. Standing 20-30 feet tall and weighing 15-20 tons, they are essentially arctic centaurs on a colossal scale.

Their origin is tied to Cenarius himself. Like centaur and Keepers of the Grove, magnataur are descendants of the Wild God. Brann Bronzebeard claims Cenarius confirmed this connection. The resemblance makes sense: where centaur combine humanoid and horse, magnataur combine giant and mammoth, both perfectly adapted to their respective environments.

Cultural Detail: The Dens of Dying hold sacred significance to magnataur. This is where aged members of their race come to die, a rare glimpse of ritualized behavior in a species otherwise known for brutal violence and near-constant infighting. The fact that they have designated “death grounds” suggests a deeper culture than their raider reputation indicates.

Magnataur are notoriously antisocial. They rarely cooperate even with their own kind, and disagreements typically end in bloodshed. This explains why so few remain; they’re a dying breed made worse by Scourge losses. Their recent desperation has forced unprecedented levels of cooperation, though even this amounts to small hunting parties rather than true societies.

They’re also rumored to practice cannibalism when food is scarce.

Lore Context: The Plague

The Dens of Dying sit in the shadow of Talramas, a crashed Scourge necropolis. The plague afflicting these magnataur isn’t natural; it’s spreading from Scourge cauldrons hidden in the caves. What should be a peaceful end for aged magnataur has become a vector for undeath.

Bixie’s casual tone (“We can’t have plagued things just roaming about; it’s not healthy”) belies the seriousness of the situation. The followup quest, There’s Something Going On In Those Caves, reveals the source: Scourge plague cauldrons that must be neutralized.

Horde Equivalent

Horde players complete A Proper Death, given by Sage Highmesa at [74.7, 23.6]. Same objective (10 Plagued Magnataur), but +250 The Taunka reputation.

The Horde perspective differs significantly in tone. Where Bixie treats this as pest control (“it’s not healthy”), Sage Highmesa frames it as a mercy killing: “We must find the cause, but first we must put them out of their misery… What else can we do but ease their suffering? In any case, they came here to die, so do not mourn them. At least you have given them some dignity.”

Explore Borean Tundra’s hidden easter eggs, lore mysteries, and connections across Warcraft history in Vikstone’s Borean Tundra Chronicles, along with the complete quest storyline.