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Quest

The Cipher of Damnation - The First Fragment Recovered

A World of Warcraft quest in Shadowmoon Valley. Facts and objectives from the current retail game data.

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The highest voted Wowhead comments for this page. They are community notes, not TheWoWDB comments.

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marskid2+81via Wowhead (opens the original comment in a new tab)

The Cipher of Damnation is an extremely long quest line in Shadowmoon Valley. It is a prerequisite for attunement to The Eye in Tempest Keep and Mount Hyjal in Caverns of time.
"*" Indicates quests with rewards.

Quest Line
1[A] - http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=10680 - "The Hand of Gul'Dan"
1[H] - http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=10681 - "The Hand of Gul'Dan"
2 - http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=10458 - "Enraged Spirits of Fire and Earth"
3 - http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=10480 - "Enraged Spirits of Water"
4* - http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=10480 - "Enraged Spirits of Air"
5 - http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=10513 - "Oronok Torn-Heart"
6* - http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=10514 - "I Was A Lot Of Things..." - Most annoying quest ever implemented in World of Warcraft.
7 - http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=10515 - "A Lesson Learned"
8 - http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=10519 - "The Cipher of Damnation - Truth and History"

At this point, the quests diverge into three separate lines (which can be done in any order) for each of Oronok's three sons who will in turn help you obtain the three Fragments of Damnation.

Quest Line I - First Fragment of Damnation
1 - http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=10521 - "Grom'tor, Son of Oronok"
2 - http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=10522 - "The Cipher of Damnation - Grom'tor's Charge"
3* - http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=10523 - "The Cipher of Damnation - The First Fragment Recovered"

Quest Line II - Second Fragment of Damnation
1 - http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=10527 "Ar'tor, Son of Oronok"
2 - http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=10528 - "Demonic Crystal Prisons"
3 - http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=10537 - "Lohn'goron, Bow of the Torn-heart"
4 - http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=10540 - "The Cipher of Damnation - Ar'tor's Charge"
5* - http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=10541 - "The Cipher of Damnation - The Second Fragment Recovered"

Quest Line III - Third Fragment of Damnation
1 - http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=10546 "Borak, Son of Oronok"
2 - http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=10547 - "Of Thistleheads and Eggs..."
3 - http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=10550 - "The Bundle of Bloodthistle"
4 - http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=10570 - "To Catch A Thistlehead"
5 - http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=10576 - "The Shadowmoon Shuffle"
6 - http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=10577 - "What Illidan Wants, Illidan Gets..."
7 - http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=10578 - "The Cipher of Damnation - Borak's Charge"
8* - http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=10579 "The Cipher of Damnation - The Third Fragment Recovered"

After completing the quests for the three Fragments of Damnation, the lines converge and you need to kill one last boss.
Final* - http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=10588 - "The Cipher of Damnation"

Rewards:

Everyone gets http://www.wowhead.com/?item=31074 - Fire Resist Neck

Choose one of the following:
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=31036 - Caster Staff
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=31038 - Healer Staff
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=31062 - Paladin/Shaman 2H Axe
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=31071 - Tanking 1H Axe
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=31072 - Bow
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=31073 - Melee Dagger

After completing the quest, you will get a message in the mail from Khadgar. If you go to Shattrath, he will tell you to talk to A'Dal, who unlocks the the three Trials. These are prerequisites for attunement to The Eye in Tempest Keep and Mount Hyjal in Caverns of time.

Read all 18 on Wowhead ↗

Quest facts

LevelLevel 25-30
Quest ID10523

Check whether you have already completed this quest in-game: /run print(C_QuestLog.IsQuestFlaggedCompleted(10523))

What to do

StorylineShadowmoon Valley, step 87 of 147

Description

<Grom'tor wraps the documents up and places them in a lockbox.> Take this box to father. He awaits your return at the farm, northeast of here. Tell him that I will be home soon. As soon as I am done having my fun...

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Where to go

Pins are the quest’s own POI points from the current retail client, projected onto the in-game zone map. The game marks one blob as the quest’s turn-in; the rest are objective areas. Points that fall outside a map’s window are dropped rather than guessed at.

Shadowmoon Valley Quest turn-in 2 mapped points
Shadowmoon Valley map showing where to go for The Cipher of Damnation - The First Fragment RecoveredTurn-inObjective area

In-game waypoint: /way #104 53.9 23.5

Coordinates

  • Turn-inShadowmoon Valley 53.9, 23.5/way #104 53.9 23.5
  • Objective areaShadowmoon Valley 44.5, 23.7/way #104 44.5 23.7

Map coordinates of the pins above. An area the client draws as a shape is given by the centre of its points.

Nearby on the Shadowmoon Valley map

Quests whose map markers the client places closest to this one on Shadowmoon Valley, nearest first. Distances are straight lines between the markers.

Getting there

Flight points closest to the quest’s turn-in marker on Shadowmoon Valley:

  • Altar of Sha'tar, Shadowmoon ValleyAlliance and Horde · about 570 yards south-east
  • Sanctum of the Stars, Shadowmoon ValleyAlliance and Horde · about 1,300 yards south
  • Shadowmoon Village, Shadowmoon ValleyHorde · about 1,300 yards west

From the turn-in, the objective areas lie:

  • Objective areaabout 520 yards west

Straight-line distances in yards between the quest’s own map markers (QuestPOI) and the client’s flight-point positions (TaxiNodes); flight paths and terrain are not modelled.

Related

Reward details

Pick one of these

TypeMail Wrist
Item level32
BindingBinds when picked up
Armor8
Stats+4 Agility or Intellect, +6 Stamina, +4 Critical Strike, +5 Haste
Suited toElemental, Restoration, Devastation, Preservation, Augmentation, Marksmanship, Beast Mastery, Survival, Enhancement
Sells to vendors for24 gold28 silver
TypeArmor Neck
Item level32
BindingBinds when picked up
Stats+4 Agility, +6 Stamina
Suited toVengeance, Enhancement, Subtlety, Outlaw, Assassination, Windwalker, Feral, Guardian, Havoc, Beast Mastery, Marksmanship, Survival, Brewmaster
TypeCloth Waist
Item level32
BindingBinds when picked up
Armor4
Stats+6 Intellect, +8 Stamina, +4 Versatility
Suited toAffliction, Frost, Discipline, Holy, Fire, Arcane, Shadow, Destruction, Demonology
Sells to vendors for24 gold90 silver
TypeLeather Chest
Item level32
BindingBinds when picked up
Armor11
Stats+7 Agility or Intellect, +11 Stamina, +4 Critical Strike
Suited toBalance, Restoration, Mistweaver, Devourer, Vengeance, Feral, Guardian, Brewmaster, Subtlety, Outlaw, Assassination, Havoc, Windwalker
Sells to vendors for46 gold37 silver

“"It's not mine..." -Grom'tor”

Item facts are the current retail client’s (ItemSparse); the specialisations for a pick-one item are the ones the Blizzard quest API lists; faction and currency text is the client’s own. Lowest listed price = the US commodity auction house now.

Storyline

Shadowmoon Valley

Part 87 of 147.

Previous: The Cipher of Damnation - Grom'tor's Charge · Next: Ar'tor, Son of Oronok

  1. 82I Was A Lot Of Things...
  2. 83A Lesson Learned
  3. 84The Cipher of Damnation - Truth and History
  4. 85Grom'tor, Son of Oronok
  5. 86The Cipher of Damnation - Grom'tor's Charge
  6. 87The Cipher of Damnation - The First Fragment Recovered
  7. 88Ar'tor, Son of Oronok
  8. 89Demonic Crystal Prisons
  9. 90Lohn'goron, Bow of the Torn-heart
  10. 91The Cipher of Damnation - Ar'tor's Charge
  11. 92The Cipher of Damnation - The Second Fragment Recovered
  12. 93Borak, Son of Oronok

Showing steps 82 to 93 of 147.

Storyline order is the client’s own QuestLine data from the current retail build.

Where this quest fits

Before this quest

Taken from the storyline's own step order.

  • The Cipher of Damnation - Grom'tor's ChargeShadowmoon Valley · Level 25-30

    This naga filth is the sixth one I've interrogated today. He's got the fancy armor so I figured he knew something. Those other ones were useless. <Grom'tor points to the corpses of the naga around him.> I only had to beat him once and he told me everything.

After this quest

Taken from the storyline's own step order.

  • Ar'tor, Son of OronokShadowmoon Valley · Level 25-30

    My youngest son, Ar'tor, left to search Illidari Point - far to the southwest, nestled between Legion Hold and Wildhammer Stronghold. While Ar'tor is a hunter of remarkable skill and an expert tracker, I fear that he may be in over his head this time.

Quests that require this one

The storyline at a glance

Shadowmoon Valley has 147 steps, from Spleendid! to A Job Unfinished....

Maps its steps are placed on (steps per map): Shadowmoon Valley (129), Terokkar Forest (10), Nagrand (7), Shattrath City (1).

Steps of this storyline count toward:

Other storylines on the Shadowmoon Valley map

Steps, storylines and map placement from the client’s QuestLine, prerequisite and QuestPOI data; neighbouring quest text is Blizzard’s own (quest API), shortened to its opening sentences.