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Comment by IMissThottbot

Found her (on my druid, at night) wandering with this guy:

Athair

She's in shadowform, with very nice spell effects and a very Elune-ey feel, imo. Also green-named and elite. Title <Secret Keeper of the Forest>.

When I returned later (10pm or so), the doe was gone. I noticed that when she was present, the moon was present overhead behind clouds--VERY large, very white. When she was gone, so was the moon--just a starry skybox. It came back after a moment; she did not.

Comment by Astrowla

Luna? Is that you?

Comment by GoobTheGod

I want to believe Blizzard is literally giving us a secret clue here ;D

Comment by Zanzari

She can be found wandering the forest with Athair at night. During the day she hides behind the well in Ulfar's Den. There doesn't seem to be anything connected to her as of yet.

Comment by AmyS2

When you are close to this NPC you get rested experience and can change your talents, I wonder why...

Comment by SmellApple

Druids may set this location as their Hearth location. A rather pretty place.

Comment by Yrayl

What I wouldn't give to make this look be our Glyph of the Doe form!

Comment by Katalystic

From a few nights of camping, Athainne seems to disappear from Ulfar's Den and reappears next to Athair at 7pm realm time. I wanted to know if she walked down to the grove with him or possibly faded away, but she just abruptly disappears when it's time. There have been a few times I visited Ulfar's Den during the day and she wasn't there.

Athainne's title is Secret Keeper of the Forest. Behind her in Ulfar's Den is the last stone related to the achievement Drust the Facts, Ma'am. The stones give you the following history of Drustvar, Athainne, and Athair :

<The weathered cairn depicts a group of Drust in a circle. A horned creature, possibly a stag, possibly something else, is being sacrificed.>

<The carving shows a massive tree, bigger than the others marked onto the stone. It is surrounded by worshipful Drust.>

<The weathered stone has as worn groove across the middle, as if a blade has struck down the same line over centuries. Dark stains mark one side of the worn cut.>

<This image shows a single tree in multiple states of life. On the right the leaves are small and low to the ground like a sapling. In the center of the tree the branches are tall and strong, the leaves large and open. On the left the branches are thin, broken and mostly bare. The last vestiges of dried red-black pigment cling to the ancient stone to mark fallen leaves. A stylized sun passes over the tree.>

<The carving on this stone is of a life-sized Drust who has been flayed. The placement of important organs is surprisingly accurate despite the stylization and primitive materials. The eyes are white stones with the faint remains of paint on them. They seem to follow you around. At one point there were prayers, or instructions, carved around the body, but time has rendered the runes illegible. The carving was done with great care, but the purpose remains unknown.>

<The Drust carved onto this stone appears to carry a curved blade in one hand. The head of a man or animal is in his other hand. At his feet are the bodies of many slain animals. Their entrails are being observed by other Drust.>

<The carving looks like breath or wind is being drawn from a body and put into a stone.>

<There are many scenes on this stone but three are clear. The Drust are building large, person-shaped constructs in one image. In a second, a person is killed over the chest of one construct. In a third the stone creature walks into battle, taller than even the Drust.>

<This stone shows multiple conflicts or one great battle with many scenes. In the oldest they fight beings that look like themselves or great beasts. In others they fight much smaller beings that resemble gnomes in stature. In another the Drust are driving some Naga back into the seas. Where the carving is most recent the Drust are fighting men and women bearing anchor sigils.>

<A great bramblebear, possibly a Drust druid, is posed with their head bowed to a massive stag and doe. The deer appear to be blessing the bear or accepting its supplication. The stag's coat was once whitewashed while the doe's was covered with blackened soot.>

Comment by wisearchiputer

Can there be any connection between the Athainne and the Moonfang or Moonfang's Paw?

Comment by Aroim

With patch 10.2.0 Athainne and also Ulfar will be part of unlocking Thornbeasts for Hunter:

Stag Thornbeast: Argyr

Cat Thornbeast: Liliuna

Bear Thornbeast: Astera

If she's not with Ulfar, she's with Athair down in the forest, if she's not there, she's nowhere right now and it's time to wait.

Her spawn times and despawn times are currently mostly unknown because sometimes I found her at certain times and sometimes not, sometimes she despawned after an hour, sometimes not.

What I know is that she will most likely spawn next to Athair at 7pm realm time.

Comment by ferJenna

She's not in Ulfar's Den for me during the day as it's claiming she's supposed to be. Any ideas on where else to look?

Comment by Bullseyed

Needed for turn ins in 10.2 but bugged and doesn't appear.

Comment by Seny69

She spawned at exactly 8pm Server time right next to Athair on Nov 8th 2023

I camped the spot from 4pm-8pm.

Comment by catsofdeath

11/09/2023 she spawned at 7 server time

Comment by Rukthorm

I believe her lack of spawning according to other comments is due to a Drustvar faction assault blocking her(for whatever reason). If you're here and she isn't up AND there isn't a faction assault, please leave a comment refuting this.

Comment by pitneverpit

Spawn at my server (Azralon-US) on 00h local time/ 01am server time with Athair.

I camped for 6 hours and she never appeared in Ulfar's Den. At exactly midnight my local time, she appeared next to the Athair.

Comment by patti221

I just found her. I'm on Stormrage and found her with Athair.

Comment by AncientAlan

For what it's worth, I got there last night at 9:30 pm realm time, and she was walking with Athair.

Comment by RobberRobina

As of patch 10.2.0 she's now related to taming your own thornbeast! Since she can be hard to find I'd set up a /target Athainne macro, though it's also good to keep in mind she doesn't always seem to be guaranteed to spawn.

I personally found her inside Ulfar's Den during the day (around 12 pm server time on Sunday), slightly hidden behind the well on the right. At night she supposedly spawns next to Athair and walks next to him. If you can't find her at either location, maybe try again at a different time or server hop? It's possible you may also need to progress on the Drustvar storyline but I'm not completely sure sooo take that with a grain of salt.

Comment by Spydor01

I've not seen this addressed, so here's my question: If you have all 3 sets of thorns for the different animals, (for stag, saber, and bear), do you need to do this process 3 separate times, or can you do all three at once?

Comment by Madeina

11:40am server time on Stormrage US, went to Ulfar's den and she was right beside the fountain in the cave. Able to turn in one of each type of thorns. Don't forget to talk to Ulthar to have them turned into the ritual knives, once for each one you are carrying , using the last option on the list when you click on him.

Comment by Blackwire

This NPC spawned at 19:00 PM server time for me so if you stay around that time you will see it.

Comment by eyrie

This is ludicrous, how long is one meant to keep waiting, It's night time, the stars are out, Athair is walking around as he has done for years now = usually with Athainne at his side, but not now that there is a hunter need for her presence. She is missing. Its not like camping a rare - she is not a rare, just a npc with weird glowing eyes that they should really correct. Come on Blizz - this is not fun, its just irritating, annoying and unnecessary. I should just be able to front up with the thorn Laden Heart, hand it in or whatever, go to Uffar for the knife and then leave. Organised. Stop wasting my time and money.

Comment by Shardsy

Athainne should be by Ulfar daytime and by Athair nighttime. I guess she is elsewhere mornings and evenings (ECT now 18:42 and nowhere to be seen)?

Comment by Silvansaria

So - I've been seeing icons on the map - that said you need to use the Thornspeaker Ritual Knife... I followed the Guide that led me here to Athainne.

Athainne wasn't walking the area and wasn't up in the cave. So I sat down with my Hunter right in the middle of the forest area where both Stags would eventually walk and watched the newest episode of The Great British Baking Show: Party Week. It took about half an hour for Athainne to spawn.

I had all 3 different horns - and after talking to Ulfar 3 separate times I got the 3 different Ritual Knives.

So just be patient - watch something or do something to preoccpy yourself while you wait and Athainne will spawn in no time...or maybe I'm just lucky this time :)

Good luck!

Comment by Bengesko

Found her in Ulvar's cave at 0600 server time (0600 PST).

Will be going for two thorn wolves, so I'll come back with more info if she despawns after a certain time.

Edit: Came back an hour later after farming another set of Thorn-Laden Hearts, and she was still there.

Comment by ahuu

found her during the day inside Ulfar's Den in the back

Comment by Grumsta

I'd previously found her with no problems, but she was nowhere to be found on 22 and 23 November (EU Ravencrest). I tried multiple times during the day, evening, and even at 0200 ST.

This morning 24 November she was back in the cave when I checked at 1030 ST.

Maybe there's a third location she hangs out at that hasn't been found yet? I was starting to wonder if she'd been moved to the new ED zone.

Comment by AudioBull

I saw a lot of comments saying she spawns around 7pm. Two days in a row I have found her with Athair at roughly 2pm AEDT which happens to be 7pm PST.

Comment by amatheiya

I was there at 7pm pst. She wasn't there.
I think she is just an elaborate ruse, a joke Blizz is playing on us.
Why not?
Keep us camped in one spot and paying them for the privilege to do so.

I might just be hangry but still.

Edit: I've camped between 8am pst and 2pm pst in the cave, she does not appear for me. those who find her in the cave, exactly when is that?
Note: a friend managed to catch her around 7pm by the stag, though the first time both of us checked at 7pm pst she did not appear. there may be a world event that stops her.

Edit 2: Finally she showed up at 7pm pst. which was also 7pm server time for me. I don't know why she wasn't there the first two times I looked, but I got what I needed today. Yay! Still a stupid long wait.

Comment by Sleepless

Been checking the cave and Athair's patrol for three days now starting in the morning around 10:00 AM PST, then noon, then between 2:00 and 3:00 PM, then once an hour between 5:00 and 9:00 PM. Nada! Some evil dev is just laughing his head off at how much of my time he's been wasting.

EDIT: So a buddy of mine found her at 7:00 PM PST, but I was looking for yellow dreamsabers in the Emerald Dream at the time. Got over to Drustvar at 7:40 PM, and she was already gone. What a (bad) joke!

Comment by serpedin

Not exotic pet can use it by all specs.

Comment by Autumnbreeze

I checked for her for a couple days with no luck on my 70 hunter. Today I was in the area gathering ore on my 51 DK and decided to check the cave. She was there! I was so excited, logged out right there and logged on to my Hunter....she was GONE! I was so upset, after I did a couple laps down below and then returning to cave with no luck logged out and back onto my DK....and there she was still in the same spot behind the moonwell! >< So I decided to have my hubby log on to a character around my DKs same lvl. He had the little phase circle by his portrait that said He either had to be in the Shadowlands time line or I had to leave mine. Well I definitely wasn't leaving mine so he picked up the Shadowlands quest line and did the beginning intro. After doing so he joined me in the cave to which he couldn't see her which made me feel a bit defeated until I asked him to try party syncing with me. As soon as I accepted She also appeared on his screen! So I switched back over to my hunter and had him invite me to group and upon doing so she was FINALLY there for me!

My guess is for whatever reason there's some weird phasing issues if you're now in the Dragonflight timeline, which is dumb being the whole thorn heart thing is now and you can't switch back to an old one once you're 70 or at least I dunno how as I tried! I tried reading every where on how or where Athainne could be with no avail, just a luck of the drawn it seemed to be. I'm pretty sure if you can get a character that's in an earlier timeline to invite you and party sync it should work. ( I do believe you have to be in the same zone for party sync to work tho)

I really hope this helps, I've seen many hunters of both factions looking every time I was out doing so as well and it seemed harder to find then most the rare pets I have!

I'd like to add that we also did this for my Hubby's hunter and it worked. I logged on to my DK who could still see her and I invited my Hubby's 70 hunter and I hit the party sync to where he accepted and was able to then see Athainne and turn his in as well!

Comment by leoniedarois

Athainne spawn at 7pm ! I just saw her and I can confirm that

Comment by Whitemere

Camped her for big chunks of time over two days in the right spots day and night and no show at all.

Today I happened to be online in the cave (I had checked nearwhen it turned to night (19:00 server time) so flew straight to Athair and she was there. Looks like of you can log on when it turns to night / day server time then she may well spawn at that point.

Comment by Bigboz

I cant find her night or day. Is she bugged? She isn't in the cave in the or walking around at night.

Comment by babe1973

On Stormrage, she spawned at exactly 10PM server time (EST), 7PM my time in California next to Athair. She stays a few minutes before leaving. You can give her all three thorns, you just need to talk to her three times. Don't forget to go to Ulfir's den to get the knife afterwards.

Also make sure you're not getting your tames during superseed or players will just kill it and you'll have to start over.

Comment by Findoor214

all i know is she spawns 10pm est on the zangermarsh outside

Comment by yodadoe

Spawned at exactly 10:00 Eastern Standard Time at 51.54, 39.93 in Drustvar.
(Might be an hour off during Daylight Saving Time)

Despawned 5 minutes later

Comment by Snowshoes

8:15am eastern time, same realm time (Durotan/Ysera) found her lying down behind the little well just behind Ulfar. I'm not sure how long she had been there when I found her, but she despawned at 8:30am.

Screenshot of where she is, although she is hard to miss!
https://i.imgur.com/bpAfxF7.jpg

Edit, you can turn in all 3 Thorn-Laden Hearts at one time, and then when you talk to Ulfar, make sure you speak with him 3 times as well to get 3 Thornspeaker Ritual Knife, you'll need one knife for each tame since it's consumed on use. Select the dialogue option "Athainne has blessed some thorns I found in a beast's heart."

Edit 2, When you go to tame your new beasts, beware that they each have 3 colour options! Generally the colour of the beast you kill is almost identical to the Drust version that respawns, but I'd highly recommend checking Petopia's page to verify what each colour is before you tame it!

Comment by Lilcourage

just got all the items, she appeared at 7pm California time, daylight saving included. Yeah, one week of camping for hours per day.. in the cave and down at the river. Good luck everyone

Comment by CCnNYC

Looks like you could use the Waycrest Manor portal in 10.2 to get there most easily.

Comment by Manoa808

Longtime lurker...first time poster...
I'm on the Greymane Server:

Athainne spawned exactly (saw her materialize) at 9:01pm - REALM TIME - which = 5:01pm Local Time in Hawaii - matches those that said it was 7:01pm California.

She was in the forest location, side by side with Athair - second time I've encountered her at this spot.
(Previously I have found her twice in the upper cave area with Ulfar - laying down and a bit behind him.)

Athainne despawned at exactly 9:35pm REALM TIME - yes I stuck around from spawn to exit.

So it's pretty safe to say her spawn times is consistent at 9:01pm REALM TIME .
Some people possibly confused their local time with Realm.

Location however appears random whether in the Cave or down in the forest.

But you have 34-minute window to check the other location.
All of my encounters have been within this window - today was the first time I watched from spawn to despawn.

Hope this helps.
Aloha from the 808!

Comment by Monkeybabba

If you cant find her with WM on/off try turning your WM on/off worked a treat for me after spending 3 days waiting with WM off it does seem she phases between WM's.

Comment by Fortissime

On one of my servers (Vek'nilash), Athainne appears in the cave in at 7:01 am. She is just laying there behind the well and remains there for about 5 to 40 minutes. She then appears in the forest walking with Athair at 7:01 pm for about the same amount of time. On another Realm (Sentinels), she spawns in the cave at 7:01 am and in the forest at 9:01 pm and on this server I did not try to determine the spawn duration. In my opinion you are wasting your time camping for her. If this is your first time on your server just keep checking for her at 1 or 2 minutes after the hour until she is there, checking the cave in the mornings and the forest in the evenings. Also, this was not during daylight savings time, so that might change the spawn times.

Notes:
1. Athainne availability has nothing to do with other players interacting with her, so several hunters can turnin during the same spawn.
2. Athair has a large hit box which makes it awkward to get the dialog up so I made a targeting macro ( /tar Athainne ) and used interact with target keybind (default F).
3. Athainne has a bright green nameplate and is easy to see.
4. If you just insist on camping for her, you can stand on the edge of the cliff near the pond (46.89, 44.93) with camera out to max, and position Eyes of the Beast over Ulfar's shoulder to the ground near the well for a great view of her in cave spawn point or turn and cast EotB down to the forest edge to check there. Much easier than flying back and forth and running in and out of the cave all day/night.
5. You might have success with some of the rare hunting techniques, such as server hoping, war mode on/off, Chromie time etc, but those shards should be checked just after the hour. She is just as likely to not be there as staying in normal game time.
6. This is not a phasing issue. She is either there or she is not. Your toon's questing history, world quest status in Drustvar, etc. makes no difference.

Comment by lauess

After camping her what felt like forever along with other hunters I was given a idea. Just reading something. My boyfriend has a level 50sh druid so I logged onto her and went out to Drustvar and low and behold there she was up in the cave I bring my hunter up there and nope shes not there. So I had her invite my hunter and party sinc with her and low and behold there she was. And now I have my three pets. I dont know if its a bug with Dragonflight or what. But dear sweet hunters find a friend that has a lower alt in something other than dragonflight there is the answer. I think its a bug Blizz needs to fix. This was like at 1030 am est btw.

Comment by Melkavian

The first time she spawned at 07:01 PM, walking around in the woods. (Athair was alone at first, at 07:01 PM he despawned shortly and immediately reappeared together with Athainne in the middle of their little path).

The second time i found her resting in the cave, between 06:00 AM and 07:05 AM. (I left after that, I don't know how long she stayed there).

Comment by trainman1957

another blizz waste of time! do you get anything worth this trouble?

Comment by Microrogue

Ok for sure she is in cave behind well at 7am CST and is gone is less then 30 mins. For sure she shows up down with the buck at 9pm CST, buck will fade away and then come back with her at his side. 7am have confirmed twice.

Comment by Valadicio

For hunters trying to find her to turn your heart in. I've found the best way to find her is to go in War-Mode. It has not failed yet for me that she is up in War-Mode and not in PVE mode.

Comment by CCnNYC

Having done this 4x I can attest that she *always* shows up right at 10:00 server time, and that you can do all 3 thorns in a row. Please don't wait around and don't repeat your efforts for each thorn individually.

Comment by CCnNYC

Comment by snaex

I found her once.... and never again.....
Tried twice ('cause i messed up and killd the beast instead of taming it...) with warmode on, found her both times, once in the woods and once in the cave, so guess that is the way to go. Tried several times with patrysync with a low level toon in BFA timeline, did not work.

Comment by Jzbelle

- On Proudmoore (U.S. / PST / high pop), I've had NO trouble finding her, day or night. Multiple times. Wasn't even at the top of the hour (I found her this morning at 10:45 EST). I never encounter other hunters while I'm there in her area. This toon has not done any questing in BfA.

- On Alterac Mountains (U.S. EST / high pop), she never seems to appear. I've tried top of the hour, day, night...nada. This morning I hopped to SW, switched to War Mode, and hurried back. There she was, chilling in the cave behind Ulfar. It was during the day, again NOT at the top of the hour (maybe 10:50 EST). I've encountered MANY other hunters also looking for her there who've had no luck. This toon has done most of the questing in BfA.

So what's the secret, if there even is one? Is there a pattern that I missed? Regardless, WM worked for me on one toon, the other never needed it. As mentioned below, you can have all 3 hearts with you at once and you'll get 3 different knives. I strongly suggest that you do it all in one trip, as she might decide to go all "Elusive Ninja Doe" and you'll never see her again. -_-

Comment by terrymusser

For those unsure of when Athainne <Secret Keeper of the Forest> may appear and/or if she's alone...

I just spotted her on Ysera US Alliance at 2:41 AM realm time walking around the area with Athair <Heart of the Forest>. Uploading screenshot.

Note: She was not there at ~2:15 AM so I hearthed to Stormwind, enabled War Mode and came back. There she was!

-FelixFTW

Comment by malrats

Spawned consistently for me (two days in a row at least) at 5:00am realm time, which was 8:00am EST for me. She popped up behind the pool behind Ulfar in the cave today, and yesterday she was actually in the pool. I've never seen her walking in the forest down below.

I had Warmode off, no Chromie Time, no Party Sync, etc. Just me sitting and waiting.

If you're having a ton of trouble, try giving 5:00am real time a shot.

Comment by Bellie

Found her in cave straight up. She is hard to find, behind some rocks with Ulfar.

Comment by Jeolene

Can confirm, she does indeed spawn in the cave of Ulfar during the day... but not ALL the time. Ulfar's cave is at /way 46.08, 45.29

I had already gone there once when I found out about these new hunter pets and she was not there in the cave during the day, so I had to wait for nighttime. I just went there today because I messed up one of my tames and found her in the cave, so I did not have to wait until later.

Comment by Thorfinna

I and another player were looking for her for hours. Toggled on War Mode and she was there. Told other player and they did the same and she was there for them too. Don't know why but war mode really seems to be key.

Comment by Rayanna

Spawned at 10pm eastern time beside Athair down in the forest (not in the cave), remained for about 10 minutes before despawning. Warmode off.

/way 52, 40

Comment by Vexikuri

Just had her spawn at 730 CST in the cave as lvl 70.

The most annoying part was trying to Dismiss my current pet to be able to Tame the new one.

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Athainne <Secret Keeper of the Forest>

This NPC can be found in Drustvar (9).

Athainne <Secret Keeper of the Forest>

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