by JR Cook - 9 years ago     show comments

Exploring Draenor delves into the hidden places of the world that will one day become Outland. From the volcanic landscape of Frostfire to the gloomy dells of Shadowmoon, these articles are your guide to events that are off the beaten path.

Location: Zorammarsh

Rewards: Emanating Staff of Shadow, Bottomless Sytgana Mushroom Brew (aka, ‘The pocket Mage’).

On the opposite side of Zorammarsh to the Cave of Betrayal you will find another opening into the depths of the earth. Guarded by the Bleeding Hollow, the Sytgana Cavern is a breeding ground for mushrooms, plant-life and jumping puzzles.

Entering the cave’s rocky mouth in the south-eastern part of the marsh, you will travel down a short and barren tunnel. This soon opens out, through a small cleft, into a verdant cavern, full of life – both plant- and humanoid. Sunbeams criss-cross the space, and vines hang between rocky columns and ledges.

You will notice that there are many orcs in here: Bleeding Hollow Brutes, Bleeding Hollow Scavengers, Bleeding Hollow Herbalists and Bleeding Hollow Impalers. None are especially dangerous for a geared player, although the Scavengers will buff themselves with Bloodletting and the Herbalists will self-heal with Blood Funnel.

Throughout the cavern, you may also notice some Sabreon prisoners. These Tortured Prisoners are chained to the walls and are having fireballs thrown at them by the Bleeding Hollow. When you get too close, they tear free and attack, so be careful! On aggro, some will take about “The cipher” – presumably (spoiler) the Cipher of Damnation, which you rescue from Gul’dan at the culmination of the garrison campaign in Tanaan Jungle. The Cipher is kept in the Vault of the Elements, near to the Sytgana Cavern – although these NPCs are not directly involved in the quest-chain (at least the Horde version).

From the floor of the cavern, you can walk up a vine to the top of a tall stone pillar. Jump off of this to a lower pillar to reach the Bleeding Hollow Mushroom Stash, which contains the Sytgana Mushroom Brew. Yes, it is useful to have an unlimited supply of food on hand – but of course, there are side effects. Hey, you picked up a strange mushroom in a cave full of blood-magic-using orcs – what did you think would happen? Drinking from the Brew will give you Mushroom Brew Side Effects, which transforms every humanoid character in Draenor (including Ashran, but not raids or dungeons) into podlings. If they are huge, they’ll shrink to podling size – but, conversely, smaller podlings will grow slightly if you look at them with this effect active. All are equal under the Brew.

The final piece of treasure in the cave is the Emanating Staff of Shadow, which you can reach by crossing more vines. Follow the ramp to the right up and round. Near the end is a path leading to a small jumping puzzle – cross the vines and ledges to reach the Looted Mystical Staff, which is on a ledge above the entrance to the cave. Of course, if you have the Shredder garrison ability, you can simply fly up to the treasure – but where’s the fun in that?