Quick Facts

Series

1.	Ritual Materials
2.	The Ritual Bond

Storyline
Darkshore The Last Wave of Survivors Threat from the Water Buzzbox 413 No Accounting for Taste Buzzbox 723 The Corruption's Source A Cure In The Dark A Lost Companion Unsavory Remedies Ritual Materials Twice Removed The Ritual Bond The Shatterspear Invaders Shatterspear Laborers Remnants of the Highborne Denying Manpower War Supplies Strategic Strikes On the Brink The Front Line Ending the Threat Disturbing Connections The Land Is in Their Blood The Last Wildkin Protector of Ameth'Aran Mutual Aid Aroom's Farewell Calming the Earth Soothing the Elements Elune's Fire Sworn to Protect The Blackwood Pledge The Wildkin's Oath The Emerald Dream The Waking Nightmare Leaving the Dream The Eye of All Storms Leave No Tracks Consumed The Seeds of Life An Ounce of Prevention In Defense of Darkshore The Devourer of Darkshore The Bear's Paw The Bear's Blessing Cleansing the Afflicted The Defiler Stepping Up Surveillance Unearthed Knowledge Soggoth and Kronn The Slumbering Ancients Naga In Our Midst The Darkscale Warlord The Offering to Azshara The Battle for Darkshore

Screenshots

Videos

Comments

Comment by Bloodisblue

This quest causes my World of Warcraft to crash. Anyone else having this problem?

Comment by Visil

You can choose one of three buffs from the great spirits as a resultant of this quest. these are:

Thistlebear gives a 10% Reduction in damage taken
Moonstalker gives a 10% haste bonus, and
Stag gives a 10% increased movement speed

Please bear in mind these effects are only active in the Darkshore region.

Comment by troelala

The essence to use is in front of the quest giver. After activation the surroundings will become blur and you will see the three spirit around you with an exclamation mark. You will have to choose on of them.

Comment by 624321

With this quest you can earn 'the Seeker' title with any character with the quest.. if you keep repeating the spirit quests.

Comment by 432819

It would appear that the quest Twice Removed is a prerequisite for this quest if you are a rouge, warrior or druid. I, as a druid, was not able to do this quest until completing Twice Removed. The quest is obtainable from Seraphine, who is standing next to Karithus.

Comment by 717688

there is a little blue ribix cube thing where the incense should be for me!

Comment by Liri

Spirit of the Stag
I am the caretaker for my kind, leading not through force, but through wisdom and swift action. Wisdom is what carries us into the deeper forest when danger beckons and swiftness is what leaves our enemies basking in our absence.

In this wisdom, I see through to your true intentions, and I know that you are deserving of my blessing, the blessing of my swiftness. It can be your, but know that the other spirits will not welcome you once you proceed - consider this carefully before accepting my boon.

Comment by Liri

Spirit of the Moonstalker
i share these forest willingly, accepting night elf kind into my home, and on occasion calling them friend. Though they have been tainted greatly in recent memory, I can see in you the same strength, honor, and spirit that first endeared them to me.

If you place value in the ferocity necessary to overcome all odds, then I am willing to call you my champion. Know that if you side with my kind, the other spirits will not accept you, so consider your choice wisely.

Comment by Liri

Spirit of Thistle Bear
For countless ages I have walked these forests and lived in these mountains. Through snow and fire, I have watched civilizations crumble and nature press on. Now, the very earth turns against us, and it becomes apparent that we must fight if our legacy is to continue.

Your heart is true, and I would chose you as our champion. If you value the thick hide and resilience of my kind, then accept my boon. Know the other spirits will not accept you once this choice is made, so chose wisely.

Comment by 723189

well, the incense doesn't appear for me... i start the quest. and nothing happens. am I doing something wrong?

Comment by 222504

Does the movement speed bonus stack with any others? Including mounts?

Comment by 734088

I have confirmed the movement speed increase does not stack with others.

Comment by 264227

Spirit of the Moonstalker quest text:

I share these forests willingly, accepting night elf kind into my home, and on occasion calling them friend. Though they have been tainted greatly in recent memory, I can see in you the same strength, honor, and spirit that first endeared them to me.

If you place value in the ferocity necessary to overcome all odds, then I am willing to call you my champion. Know now that if you side with my kind, the other spirits will not accept you, so consider your choice carefully.

Spirit of the Stag quest text:

I am the caretaker for my kind, leading not through force, but through wisdom and swift action. Wisdom is what carries us into the deeper forest when danger beckons and swiftness is what leaves our enemies basking in our absence.

In this wisdom, I see through to your true intentions, and I know that you are deserving of my blessing, the blessing of my swiftness. It can be yours, but know that the other spirits will not welcome you once you proceed - consider this carefully before accepting my boon.

Spirit of the Thistle Bear quest text:

For countless ages I have walked these forests and lived in these mountains. Through snow and fire, I have watched civilizations crumble and nature press on. Now, the very earth turns against us, and it becomes very apparent that we must fight if our legacy is to continue.

Your heart is true, and I would choose you as our champion. If you value the thick hide and resilience of my kind, then accept my boon. Know that the other spirits will not accept you once this choice is made, so choose wisely.

Comment by DrCheis

To everyone having trouble seeing the incense, there is a bug in the game that was introduced in patch 4.0 which causes some models, textures, and sounds to be flagged as "expansion-only" meaning even if you have the expansions installed, you will be unable to see them when playing on an account without whichever expansion the object is flagged for. This was most noticeable during the Cataclysm launch event as many of the objects there appeared all green to players on classic accounts, but it was too late for Blizzard to fix it.

They're aware of the problem, but haven't released a patch to fix it yet. Imo, Blizzard got greedy with the patch and wanted to be sure players couldn't somehow use an addon or script command to see material that was supposed to be reserved for expansions. The result was a great many objects being invisible to players who should be allowed to see them.

TLDR; if you can't see any incense, just click the checkered cube.

Comment by decker12

At the level you're doing the quests in this zone, your best choice is probably the Stag 10% run speed buff. You'll get back and forth from quest locations faster, plus as stated earlier, the speed buff will return any time you're on-foot in Darkshore, regardless of your level.

When you're in your mid-teens, due to your level and relative DPS, the percentages from the other buffs won't make much of a difference.

Comment by 773583

It’s a hard to notice smokey bowel BETWEEN Grimclaw & Keeper Karithus.

Obviously, Click the smokey bowel to summon the three animal spirits & pick the animal spirit with the attribute you prefer.

Comment by thewcloner

It is fairly safe to say that the haste buff is probably best. especially if your a caster of any sorts. if your melee then speed might be better. also as others have said the movement speed buff may be more helpful for faster questing. I know myself i was already over level 17 when i got this far so not far from mount anyway.

Comment by 825686

I just did this quest and got the stag, +10% speed,and it does stack with Wargen's dark flight. 110% speed before and 154% after(40% of 110)

Comment by 838533

For some reason, for me the Blessing of the Thistle Bear is not always working. Yesterday it worked just fine, but today all of the grizzled thistle bears are red again. D: Does anyone know why? Do I have to do something in order to activate it? And yes, I am in Darkshore still.

Comment by arabian

Chose the Moonstalker's blessing just because am a huge fan of Feline species.

Comment by 749641

I had a hard time seeing the incense mentioned. It's like a tiny little checkerboard cube on the ground in front of Keeper Karithus. This cube is smaller than one of his hooves so it is very, very easy to overlook. A few sparkles would certainly have helped.

Comment by doomboot

as of today 10/30/11 stag buff does NOT stack with druid Feral Swiftness or any forms, worthless for druids, BUT it does stack with Night Elf racial Elusiveness in Stealth for Rogues

Comment by mgramlic

The Stag movement speed buff does stack with Worgen Darkflight racial.

140% without Stag buff
154% with Stag buff

Comment by 110998

You can get 3 completed quests towards Darkshore Quests if you complete one animal spirit, then abandon the quest, and repeat.

Comment by FuseinaOokami

So I just wanted to bring all the information gathered here in one post:

First off, the quest item that you need to right click is sitting at the questgiver's feet.

Second, you can only choose ONE of the three spirits. Here are the benefits of each spirit.
Stag - Grants 10% increase with movement speed (does not stack with druid forms with increased speed, does stack with Darkflight and Nightstalker), Become friendly with all Stags in Darkshore (there are very few stags in the area now)
Moonstalker - Grants 10% increase in haste, Become friendly with all Moonstalker (cats) in the area (mainly in the southern area)
Bear - Grants 10% Damage reduction, Become friendly with all bears in the area (everywhere)

Third, bear in mind that once chosen that the buff will persist even after you level past this area, but only in Darkshore, and you will not get a second chance at choosing.

My Opinions:
If you want to level quickly, choose BEAR. You actually travel a lot in Darkshore by Nightsaber provided by the Nightsaber Riders. There are far more bears in the Darkshore than any other creature. Plus the less damage will help in case that involves getting hit by a large group of mobs.
If you ever foresee yourself need to gather herbs from this area, or fish... or whatever else you can do here.... and you really don't care about the buffs, STAG will by your best choice. While there are little stags in Darkshore itself the increased movement speed will help out when running around and gathering nearby herbs or dig sites.
If your a druid or you can care less about speed and armor, then MOONSTALKER is your choice. Haste increases all extremely important stats.
I will say this however: On PvP realms it should be noted that Horde may use Darkshore to get to Darnassus or as a refuge from a failed attempt on Darnassus. Thus making Moonstalker's effect a lot more wanting since it's usable at a higher level. Bear would also help in this case as well.

My choice, ironically, is Moonstalker. As a hunter on a PvP realm, that is high enough level to make this quest green, I really could care less about where mobs are. But the haste rating will help quickly killing my opponents. Every bit counts, and no one has confirmed that the Stag buff stacks with Aspect of the Cheetah.

Final note: Please don't vote mine down if you feel like it's repetitive (it's supposed to be just a place where to find ALL the information gathered) or if you disagree with what I'm saying, unless you feel that I am totally wrong about a mechanic of something. If that is the case please state why as a reply.

Comment by Salruhon

Which spirit would most benefit a feral worgen druid?

Comment by zeterai

A lot of the information on this page is out of date, now. As of the current patch, the Stag blessing does stack with both Feline Swiftness and Cat Form, enabling a druid to run at 158% move speed when shifted, or 126% in caster/bear form. A non-epic ground mount gives you 160% move speed, so it's a very viable choice now. Of note, despite the spell effect saying it increases Movement speed, this doesn't apply to Flight or Swimming speed, just running.

Travel Form puts it up to 177%, which is in and of itself silly.

Comment by mariesgrdn

I you are completing the quest chain for the battle pet "Withers", chose your blessing according to which secondary pet you would like. I chose the stag buff so I could complete the quest chain faster. When I got Withers, I also got a rare quality fawn. I'm sure that it would have been a bear or tiger cub had I chosen the other buffs.

Comment by Pureheart

Regarding achievements. Choosing one of the spirits, abandoning The Ritual Bond, then choosing another spirit, yielded the following results:

* Quests completed on Statistics tab incremented by 1 only.
* The Seeker achievement counter incremeted by 1 only.
* Darkshore quests achievement counter incremented multiple times. This even continued happening when I went to the same spirit more than once.

Comment by 1440987

The Ritual Bond http://youtu.be/jqmosqnVuo8

Comment by Goodwinn

If you can't see very clearly through the fuzziness/blur effect you can type this to get rid of it:

/console ffxGlow 0

Comment by Shadeflayer

For those who can't find the Keeper his location is at coord. 42.99, 39.10.

Comment by Mansooriko

Is there a way to change it after choosing a buff ?

Comment by Boxofbeer

The Ritual Bond https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uFRilSfk6U

Comment by VGPlays90

Here is a demonstration of the completion of this quest
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bej-7gYdHU

Comment by Huntercraft192

its easy to miss the thing in front of the quest giver, you click it then go to an animal to complete the quest, then you go back to the quest give to officially complete quest for reward

Comment by WoWGnGP

I made i playthrough of this quest if anyone wish to see how to do it :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_y0csGMEB4&feature=youtu.be

Comment by CzechCloud

If you cant see it, just:

/target Grovekeeper's Incense

Comment by bartzer

Click on the ritual bowl in front of that guy.

Comment by Ninjor

Is there a Horde equivalent to this quest?
Where you can choose an animal spirit?

Comment by kiddagger

Comment by DanskaTwidus

There is an incense burner at Keeper Karithus feet. It is a little hard to see, it blends in with his hooves. Click it and the screen will go all blurry and three exclamation marks will pop up on your mini map. Go over to each one, click and read the description. Choose the one you want and return to Karithus.

Comment by MeepZerg

Does anyone know if the bonus sticks around after a faction change?

Comment by Mrthree21

Not that it matters a lot now, but you can actually change the buff you got by doing Group synchro with another character.

While in group synchro, you lose the buff you already had and you can do the questline again.
During The Ritual Bond, you can choose again and the new effect will persist when leaving group synchro.

I also tried to change region and relog and the new effect was still here.

Links

The Ritual Bond

Breathe in the incense in front of Keeper Karithus, and then choose the blessing of the Great Stag Spirit, the Great Thistle Bear Spirit, or the Great Moonstalker Spirit.

Keep in mind that you can only receive the blessing of one spirit, so choose wisely.

	Receive the blessing of a great animal spirit. (1)

Description

I will tend to Grimclaw until his rest is done - he will be ready to return very soon. I have one more task for you while we wait... a favor to grant you, really, should you recognize it.

The great wildlife spirits roam around us waiting and hoping for someone that will aid in stopping the destruction. They are with us as we speak even now, and with the materials you brought me, I can grant you sight. Speak to these spirits, choose one, and return to me with their blessing.

Completion

Rewards

You will be able to choose one of these rewards:

	Moonstalker Bracers			Cloak of the Stag
	Thistle Bear Girdle			Moonstalker Wristwraps

You will receive:

Gains

Upon completion of this quest you will gain:

250 reputation with Darnassus

See if you've already completed this by typing:

/run print(C_QuestLog.IsQuestFlaggedCompleted(13569))

The Ritual Bond

Description

Completion

Rewards

Gains

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