War stories, articles & game guides
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Tribute
2026
Expeditions,
War Stories &
Culture
War stories, articles & game guides
Gamer
Tribute
2026
Expeditions,
War Stories &
Culture
“This is it. You’ve passed all the tests of the Hyldsmeet… all but one. You’ve risen among our sisters’ best and fiercest. The final test is at hand. The Drakkensryd – the true test of a Hyldnir’s worth and warrior spirit. It’ll be you, your riding drake, a chained harpoon and a score of your sisters vying for dominance.
Show no quarter. None will be expected.”
-Gretta the Arbiter
Use the Hyldnir Harpoon to defeat 10 Hyldsmeet Drakeriders at the Temple of Storms.
Provided item:
You will be able to choose one of these rewards:
You will also receive:
Upon completion of this quest you will gain:
Quest Giver: Gretta the Arbiter — Brunnhildar Village, Storm Peaks [50, 65]
Objective: Use the Hyldnir Harpoon to defeat 10 Hyldsmeet Drakeriders at the Temple of Storms. Then use the harpoon on a Column Ornament to land on the temple platform and speak to Thorim.
Quick Facts
Walkthrough
Phase 1: The Flight
| Step | Action | Target | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Use Hyldnir Harpoon | A Proto-Drake (NOT the rider) | Launches you onto the back of the targeted drake |
| 2 | Fight the rider in melee/spell combat | The Hyldsmeet Drakerider | Use your class abilities. When defeated, she falls off the drake |
| 3 | Heal up | Yourself | You can bandage and use potions while riding between fights |
| 4 | Harpoon to next drake | Another occupied Proto-Drake | Repeat until 10 riders are defeated |
| 5 | Exit the Drakkensryd | A Column Ornament on the temple pillars | Harpoon an ornament to land on the platform. You take ~2,500 fall damage on landing |
| 6 | Speak to Thorim | Thorim at the center of the temple | His first words: “Sif… is that you?” |
Critical Mechanics
DISMISS YOUR PET BEFORE ACCEPTING THE QUEST
Hunters, Warlocks, and Death Knights with active pets will experience severe harpoon bugs. The harpoon fires, triggers its cooldown, but does not pull you to the target drake. Dismiss before accepting. If you forgot, press V for nameplates, find your pet, and dismiss it mid-flight.
| Class | Advice |
|---|---|
| Melee (Warriors, DKs, Paladins, Enh Shamans) | Straightforward. Use normal rotation. Easiest classes for this quest. |
| Rogues | DO NOT use Killing Spree or Shadowstep. Both teleport you off the drake, resulting in a fatal fall. Stick to basic combo builders and finishers. |
| Hunters | The hardest class for this quest. No pet, no traps, forced melee. Use Aspect of the Beast (+10% melee AP). Spam Raptor Strike and Mongoose Bite. Serpent Sting a rider before harpooning over to soften them up. Bring bandages and health potions. An “Exotic Fighting Technique” proc can randomly throw riders off early, giving you credit. |
| Feral Druids | You CAN shift into Cat Form while on a drake. Spam Mangle for fast kills. If you fall, shift to Flight Form to survive. |
| Casters (Mages, Warlocks, Shadow Priests, Ele Shamans, Balance Druids) | You can cast ranged spells at riders on nearby drakes without jumping to them. This is harder due to range and positioning, but some players have completed the entire quest this way. Warlocks: Fear works on riders (they have nowhere to run, so they just stand still). Mages: Living Bomb, Fire Blast, and instant casts work well from drake-back. |
| Healers | Self-healing between and during fights makes this very manageable regardless of DPS output. |
Avoiding Bugs and Death
Lore & Secrets
The Hyldsmeet’s Grand Finale
The Drakkensryd is the ultimate test of the Hyldsmeet. Gretta’s quest text captures the stakes: “This is it. You’ve passed all the tests of the Hyldsmeet… all but one. You’ve risen among our sisters’ best and fiercest. The Drakkensryd: the true test of a Hyldnir’s worth and warrior spirit. It’ll be you, your riding drake, a chained harpoon and a score of your sisters vying for dominance. Show no quarter. None will be expected.”
The competition determines who will ascend to the Temple of Storms to stand at Thorim‘s side. For centuries since Thorim fell into depression, no Hyldsmeet winner has been chosen. You are the first.
“Sif… is that you?”
Thorim’s turn-in line is the payoff for Lok’lira’s strand of hair from the previous quest. The hair strand was planted by Loken (disguised as Lok’lira) to make Thorim believe, even for a moment, that his murdered wife Sif has returned.
This emotional manipulation is what finally draws Thorim out of his centuries-long isolation and sets up the chain’s devastating twist in The Reckoning, where Loken reveals the deception and captures Thorim.
Easter Eggs
Explore the Storm Peaks’ hidden easter eggs, lore mysteries, and connections across Warcraft history in Vikstone’s Storm Peaks Chronicles, along with the complete quest storyline.
Vikstone's War Journal“This is it,” Gretta said. “You’ve passed all the tests of the Hyldsmeet… all but one. You’ve risen among our sisters’ best and fiercest. The final test is at hand.”
She handed me the Hyldnir Harpoon. A head, a shaft, and a long coil of chain that came off her hands cold enough to hurt.
“The Drakkensryd. The true test of a Hyldnir’s worth and warrior spirit. It’ll be you, your riding drake, a chained harpoon, and a score of your sisters vying for dominance. Show no quarter. None will be expected.”
The proto-drake went up before I had finished answering her. It was not my drake. There were no reins on it and I had no say in where it went. It climbed through cloud and through lightning toward the Temple of Storms at the roof of Northrend, and the world below went to mist.
They were already up there, circling the columns. A score of women who had each come through every trial I had come through, and every one of them wanted what sat on top of that temple.
The first came out of a cloudbank at me. I put the harpoon into the flank of her drake and the chain hauled me across the gap, and I came down behind her with my legs already braced.
She turned with the axe up. The shield took it. The mace took her ribs, and she folded around it and went off the side, and the scream was gone into the wind long before she reached anything.
The drake did not appear to mind the change of management.
After that it was the same three motions, over and over. Find a drake. Cross to it. Kill whoever was already standing there.
It is the crossings I will remember. A coil of chain over a drop that does not bear thinking about, hand over hand, frost on the scales at the far end and nothing underneath but weather. A blade opened my forearm on the fourth of them. Another put a point through my thigh on the seventh before I got the shield edge into her throat. Twice I landed badly and fought from my knees until I could get my feet again.
Ten of them came off those drakes.
Then I put the harpoon into one of the ornaments on the temple columns and hauled myself up onto stone, and stood on ground that did not move for the first time since Brunnhildar. My legs would not stop shaking.
Thorim was on his throne at the far end of the hall.
I had been told he was a keeper of the titans, a guardian of Ulduar. A being of near godlike stature. What was in that hall was an enormous man sitting by himself inside his own storm, and he had been sitting there long enough.
He looked at me. Through me, past the blood and past the face Lok’lira’s magic had put on me.
“Sif…” he said. “Is that you?”
I had no answer that wouldn’t break us both.
Thorim thought the woman standing in front of him was his dead wife. The Stormlord talked instead, about a brother and a murder and a Sibling Rivalry.
