War stories, articles & game guides
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2026
Expeditions,
War Stories &
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War stories, articles & game guides
Gamer
Tribute
2026
Expeditions,
War Stories &
Culture
“I can feel that the shrine is not completely back in balance. The verdant keeper has been angered by our actions, and I sense that he will not listen to reason. Alystros is an immense skytalon who perches at the south end of the Emerald Dragonshrine. It is he who is in charge of the dragonshrine’s aerial defenses. I fear that we will have to deal with him.
Take these skytalon molts and place them on the ground where he can see them. He will come. Bring me his plume.”
-Nishera the Garden Keeper
Nishera the Garden Keeper at the Emerald Dragonshrine has asked you to acquire The Plume of Alystros.
Provided item:
Upon completion of this quest you will gain:
Quest Giver: Nishera the Garden Keeper — Emerald Dragonshrine, Dragonblight [63, 72]
Objective: Use the Skytalon Molts to lure down Alystros the Verdant Keeper, defeat him, and collect The Plume of Alystros.
Quick Facts
Walkthrough
Summoning Alystros
The Fight
Soloing Tips (By Role)
While this is a Group quest, many classes can solo Alystros at level 74-76 with decent gear and proper preparation. If you struggle, grabbing even one extra player makes the fight trivial.
General Preparation
Efficiency Tips
Lore Context
Nishera is a green dragon disguised in night elf form (wearing what appears to be Tier 5 druid armor). She explains that Ysera, the Dreamer, has been affected by the Emerald Nightmare and mistakenly commanded the dragonshrine’s defenders to attack all non-green creatures.
Alystros is the Emerald Dragonshrine’s aerial defense commander. Nishera reassures you that he will be reborn after his defeat, as “birth, death, and rebirth are all part of the natural order.”
The Emerald Nightmare referenced here is a corruption seeping into Ysera’s realm. In WotLK, it’s only hinted at through quests like these, but it becomes a central storyline in the Legion expansion, where it manifests as an entire raid tier.
Explore Dragonblight’s hidden easter eggs, lore mysteries, and connections across Warcraft history in Vikstone’s Dragonblight Chronicles, along with the complete quest storyline.
Vikstone's War Journal“I can feel that the shrine is not completely back in balance.” Nishera’s night elf form couldn’t hide her grief. “The verdant keeper has been angered by our actions, and I sense that he will not listen to reason.”
Alystros. Commander of the dragonshrine’s aerial defenses, an immense skytalon who had guarded this place.
“I fear that we will have to deal with him.” She held out a bundle of skytalon molts. “Take these and place them on the ground where he can see them.”
Sikotic waited outside. He’d kept his distance from Nishera, which showed more awareness than I’d credited him with.
“You don’t have to come,” I said. “This is emerald ground.”
“I’ll try not to kill anything that’s supposed to stay alive.”
The southern cliffs towered above the shrine, stone laced with living green. I laid the molts on the moss and stepped back, listening.
The wind changed first. Then the sound of wings vast enough to reshape the air itself. Alystros descended from his roost and his eyes held only the Nightmare’s command: destroy all who were not of the green flight.
Talons raked across my shield, driving me back three steps, and his wing-beat nearly sent Sikotic tumbling off the cliffside. The death knight dug his blade into the ground to anchor himself, then surged back in, dark runes flaring against emerald hide.
Alystros was fighting the shrine’s corruption as much as he was fighting us. I could see it in the moments of hesitation, the attacks that pulled short. Some part of him knew this was wrong. Sikotic saw it too. I watched him pull a strike that would have cut deep into Alystros’s wing, redirecting to a glancing hit instead.
For a death knight, that counted as mercy.
When Alystros finally fell, leaves scattered around his body. Sikotic stepped back from the corpse and sheathed his runeblade quickly.
I took a single plume.
“Do not weep for Alystros,” Nishera said. “He has dedicated his eternal life to the defense of the Emerald Dragonshrine and will be reborn. Hopefully when he returns to us, he will not be gripped with the confusion of the Emerald Nightmare that seems to have taken hold of the Dreamer.”
The Dreamer. Ysera. Even in night elf prayers, we spoke her name. If the Nightmare had reached her…
The Emerald shrine was balanced again and Alystros would come back cleansed. The Ruby Brooch Vikstone had carried since freeing Dahlia Suntouch still needed delivering, because Krasus was at the summit of Wyrmrest waiting to hear The Fate of the Ruby Dragonshrine.
