Not a Bug

WotLK Classic Northrend Leveling Guide

Not a Bug

Quest 3 of 3 in the Desolation Gate Chain (Finale) Daily Quest

Both Factions • Icecrown • Level 80 • The Skybreaker

Collect 5 Dark Matters and summon a Dark Messenger at Aldur'thar.

The rod goes on the corpse, so target the dead Enslaved Minion before using it. The Void Summoners and their bound voidwalkers are in the northeast of the gate, and you will usually have to kill both halves of a pair. The summoning crystal sits toward the middle of the north end at 53.8, 33.6. Run Cannot Reproduce on the same sweep, since the essences it wants drop off the mobs you are already killing here.

Vikstone's Classic Expedition

The cult bound demons to serve them and Thassarian built his spy out of what was left when those demons died. Vikstone summoned it on their own crystal, using their own dark matter, and walked away from a listening thing nobody at the gate had noticed arriving.

“The cultists have discovered the last messenger you summoned, Night Elf. While it was quite informative, it’s important that we continue to monitor their every move. Use this rod to siphon the dark matter from the corpses of enslaved minions at Aldur’thar. Then use their summoning crystal to bring another dark messenger into being.

Until it is discovered, the messenger will serve as our eyes and ears, discreetly observing the actions of our enemy.”

-Thassarian

Objective

LEVEL

80

Requires level

77

Start

Thassarian

END

Thassarian

Thassarian, aboard the Skybreaker, wants you to collect 5 Dark Matters and summon a Dark Messenger at Aldur’thar.

Dark Messenger summoned

Provided item:

Rod of Siphoning

Quest Giver: Thassarian is found aboard The Skybreaker (Alliance) or Orgrim's Hammer (Horde).
Objective: Collect 5 Dark Matter by using the Rod of Siphoning on the corpses of Enslaved Minions, then summon the Dark Messenger at the summoning stone.
Find the Quest Area:
Head to Aldur'thar: The Desolation Gate, coordinates 55, 30, in Icecrown.
You’ll find Void Summoners and their Enslaved Minions scattered around the area. — **Quest Giver:** Thassarian aboard The Skybreaker (Alliance) / Koltira Deathweaver aboard Orgrim’s Hammer (Horde)
**Head to Aldur’thar:** Fly to the northeast portion of Aldur’thar. Void Summoners and their Enslaved Minions (voidwalker-type demons) are found here. Each Void Summoner is paired with an Enslaved Minion. Once you have all 5, head to the summoning crystal at [53.8, 33.6], located toward the center of the north end of the gate. Look for the crystal structure.

Icecrown Storyline

Reward

You will be able to choose one of these rewards:

The Darkspeaker’s Footpads

The Darkspeaker’s Treads

The Darkspeaker’s Sabatons

The Darkspeaker’s Iron Walkers

You will also receive:

Upon completion of this quest you will gain:

12,190 experience

250 reputation with Valiance Expedition

Walkthrough

Quest Giver: Thassarian aboard The Skybreaker (Alliance)/Koltira Deathweaver aboard Orgrim’s Hammer (Horde)

Objective: Collect 5 Dark Matters using the Rod of Siphoning on Enslaved Minion corpses, then summon a Dark Messenger at the summoning crystal.

Quick Facts

Prerequisite: Sneak Preview (Alliance)/equivalent Horde version
Becomes Daily: After completing the initial version, this quest unlocks as a repeatable daily
Do Alongside: Drag and Drop and Cannot Reproduce, since all three operate in the Aldur’thar area

Walkthrough

Collect Dark Matter

Fly to the northeast portion of Aldur’thar. Void Summoners and their Enslaved Minions (voidwalker-type demons) are found here. Each Void Summoner is paired with an Enslaved Minion.
Kill an Enslaved Minion, then target its corpse and use the Rod of Siphoning (provided quest item) to extract Dark Matter.
The Enslaved Minions drop Tainted Essence (for Cannot Reproduce) at a 21% rate, so doing both quests simultaneously is efficient.
Collect 5 Dark Matter total.

Summon the Dark Messenger

Once you have all 5, head to the summoning crystal at [53.8, 33.6], located toward the center of the north end of the gate. Look for the crystal structure.
Interact with it to summon the Dark Messenger, completing the quest.

Efficiency Tips

Each Void Summoner is paired with one Enslaved Minion. You’ll generally need to kill both (the Summoner and the Minion) unless you have crowd control to separate them.
If you’re also doing Cannot Reproduce (Tainted Essence farming), do it first since the Summoners you’re killing have a chance to drop the essences you need. By the time you finish Cannot Reproduce, you should be close to 5 Dark Matters.
If you also have No Rest For The Wicked available, all three quests share the same general area at Aldur’thar. Pick up everything and sweep through in one trip.
After completing, this becomes a daily. The daily version has identical mechanics but flavored as replacing a discovered messenger.

Lore Context

Thassarian is literally planting a “bug” (a spy) inside Aldur’thar, not an insect but a Dark Messenger that will serve as the Ebon Blade’s covert surveillance agent. His opening line leans into the double meaning: “Alright, time to plant a bug. Relax, it’s not a bug exactly, but it’ll serve our purposes.”

The Dark Messenger is created from the dark matter extracted from the Cult of the Damned’s own enslaved demons, then summoned using their own summoning crystal. Like so many Ebon Blade operations, the tactic turns the enemy’s infrastructure against them.

The Messenger discreetly observes Scourge operations and reports back until the cultists eventually discover it, at which point the daily version kicks in to replace it.

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

Upon completion of this quest you will gain:

1,220 experience

10 reputation with Valiance Expedition

Vikstone's War Journal

“Alright, friend, time to plant a bug. Relax, it’s not a bug exactly, but it’ll serve our purposes. In the northern portion of Aldur’thar the cult’s void summoners enslave demonic minions. Use this rod to siphon the dark matter from the corpses of these enslaved minions, and then use their summoning crystal to bring our little spy into being. Until it is discovered, the messenger will serve as our eyes and ears, discreetly observing the actions of our enemy.”

Vikstone Portrait Act 3 — Illustrated by Christian DiBari and Simon Gough.

The summoners keep to the northeast with their voidwalkers on short leashes. You kill the warlock. Then you kill the thing he had bound, which by then is standing there with nobody holding it. Then the rod, before you touch anything else.

What comes out is dark and slow to leave the body, and the rod takes it whether the corpse is finished with it or not.

The crystal is theirs, at the center of the north end. I did not bring anything to that place. I stood at the cult’s own altar and built a thing out of five of their slaves, and it took shape and went off into the gate to watch them. It will be found, because Thassarian said so while he was handing me the rod.

“You have done well, warrior. The messenger has already turned up some valuable information.”

A spy can watch a gate all day without telling you who gives the orders, which is why the next order came back with a request for something the Ebon Blade could not steal, since Thassarian simply Need More Info.

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Objective

LEVEL

80

Requires level

77

Start

END

Icecrown Storyline

Reward

7 Gold

40 Silver

12,190 experience

250 reputation with Valiance Expedition

Walkthrough

1,220 experience

10 reputation with Valiance Expedition

Vikstone's War Journal

Share

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Solo PvP Guide

Star Wars Galaxies Chronicles

The Guide to SWGEmu