These Kobolds are in the North East Corner of Arathi and are near the HORDE Outpost Hammerfall. Be on the lookout if your alliance for Gankers. Easy to complete once your there just be aware of your surroundings.

The Irisdescent Shards are on an upper level of the Kobold cave. Just right-click to finish the quest.

To get to the Shards first time hug the left hand wall of the cave all the way down

Anyone without the mod for co-ordinates, look for a path that leads straight from the ditch next to Hammerfall and right into the mountain. Follow that, it should be south of the actual entrance.

As a level 34 enh shaman I was able to get through this place all the way until the last pull. It's two mages, three if you catch respawn on top of you, that just make this quest not worth it. Do it later or don't do it at all, this is one orange quest to pass on.

Edit: I went back at 37 and it was very easy. I highly suggest if doing solo to wait, even if you've been clearing out orange quests all along. The respawn and the running just makes it rough.

solo'd as a 34 feral druid was hard as hell i recomend having a buddy with you...but if your set on soloing it kill as many outside the cave as you can to get as many of the motes as you can then clear your way to the crystal thing to turn them in. when entering the cave make your way to the left that is where you will find the crystal

Now gives 3700xp as of patch 2.3

I recently finished this quest with my 35 Druid. The drop rate does seem fairly low and the way the enemies are grouped together in the cave can be quite troublesome, seeing as they often run pulling more.

I found it far easier to kill the mobs outside the cave entrance and just outside of Hammerfall (Horde Base) Then I stealthed in, up to the crystal handed in the quest and ran out.

Soloed as a level 35 Blood Elf mage. Drop rate was not as terrible as some comments had said, but it's not great. Plan to invest some time getting the motes. Getting to the crystal was not terribly difficult, but the respawn times make dying and retreating a pain. Watch out for patrols, as they have a very long range. The casters weren't tough. Frost Ward and Counterspell saved me. As far as the two mobs near the crystal, I polymorphed one, Counterspelled the other, turned in the quest, not the new one, tried to run, and died, but that's okay, cause I was done in the cave anyway. I did not run into the level 40 mob, which I was thankful for. Not a horrible quest, but there are better.

For those who like good gear, this is one log chain that'll get you nothing at all exept for experience points. Not one reward is gifted the entire time untill the end, and it's a necklace with +8 stam and +8 spirit. By the time you get there you'll be in the mid 40s atleast.

the end reward has been buffed since 2.3 patch! (added +11spelldmg/heal)
https://vanillawowdb.com/?item=4743 Pulsating Crystalline Shard

This quest is seriously hellish, I died two times doing it, as lv 34 lock.. This happens because at about 30% the Kobolds flee and pull other mobs.. And (while inside the cave) if you're not careful, you'll also get the Surveyors after you, since they aggro from quite a long range (they're casters).

If you are a warlock, remember this:

KEEP CURSE OF RECKLESSNESS HANDY!

Sorry for the caps, but seriously, do not forget using that curse. It prevents mobs from running away and aggroing the whole cave. Another thing you can also do is to just sacrifice your VW by where the rare elite is (https://vanillawowdb.com/?npc=2609#00Rzc https://vanillawowdb.com/?npc=2609#00Rzc) and just run to the Shards to finish this quest, and ress at the Spirit Healer. It's much preferrable to try killing all of the mobs in this cave, due to their VERY fast respawn time.

Edit: Spelling.

Soloed this as a 37 afflock, wasn't too bad. At the entrance to the cave, got four kobolds and had a l-o-n-g corpse walk. With all the mage-like kobolds, the felhunter is the best minion for this quest. After you enter the cave, you'll fork to the left, follow the path up and you'll see the quest end, a large crystal, on your left high on a ledge. Keep following the path curving to the left up, and you'll have a small pool in front of you, and the ledge with the crystal on the left. There are three mage kobolds, but the first is pullable alone when it is farthest from the two right at the Shards. Then I pulled them, dotted them up, and brought them down, only to find I only had 11/12 motes. So I went back to the pool and fished, getting a half dozen mithril head trout. By that time, one more mage kobold spawned and gave the last mote. Turned in the quest, hopped off the ledge and fought to the cave entrance. At that point, go to the right of the large rock in front of the entrance, down the mountain, with Hammerfall right in front of you. On to the next step!

This quest can be brutal and tiring if your below level 35. The cave is easy enough to find, but once you get there, fighting the mobs of enemies is a whole other story. It can be difficult to be fighting one enemy, and avoid aggroing many of the others around, especially at the cave of the mouth, so just be watchful of that.

For hunters, fighting some of the mobs is not as difficult as it is for other classes. For instance, if your fighting three Kobolds at once, simply trap one, have your pet aggro another, and then you can quickly dispatch of the last. Then Take out the last one with your pet.

If you get into too hairy a situation, feign death is an excellent solution, especially for the mage patrols, because eventually the patrols will walk off and then you can spring up and take care of any nearby kobolds before the patrols return, then you will be ready for them.

All in all, it may be slow, but just keep inching your way into the cave.You will get there! (Hopefully)

I almost ran through the entire cave without killing a single kobold but when I got to the end I still had about 10 on me and they mowed me down. Used lifeblood, pally bubble, three pots, Lay on Hands, and a few other cooldowns.

Solo'd as a 34 hunter with a Dragonhawk pet. The hardest part was finding the entrance to the cave, and the drop rate wasnt as bad as people make it sound. The cave was pretty much cleared as I went in, I had to kill a few mobs, but most of the work was done for me. I will admit that the running away is VERY annoying and at one point I had to fight 5 of the mobs back to back.

if anyone is wondering, each person in your group must have 12 of the motes, it is not a group accomplished quest.

Actually the exact coord to the cave is 82.3 , 36.9 later :)

Solo'd as a 33 Rogue but... it took the P1$$. Long long time of sapping, gouging, Pot Popping and 3 corpse runs.

In the end i got close to the two 38 mages, vanish for extra stealth, sapped one, handed in the quest then legged it. I died close to the exit but, IT'S DONE!

Could've waited but... i'd already spent a while getting the 12 shards.

For any druid recomendable not to pick up a fight with the kobolds because you can only kill one at a time because their strong and if they start loosing alot of life they go and get more and doom you so you*d better put on cat form and prowl through the cave until you reach the cristal.Dont prowl to close to the koblods the tend to smell you and kill you (only drywhisker surveyors can do this)
The cave can be found if you look for a big tree then behind it is a path that will lead you to the cave entrance.

Outside the cave are :

Drywhisker kobold lvl 35,36

Inside the cave are:

Drywhisker surveyor lvl 37,38
Drywhisker digger lvl 36,37

This quest is frankly loathsome. Perhaps I'm blind as a bat, but once I did find the tree, I aimlessly stumbled my way into a cave full of ""you are going to die."" Even with my big beefy voidwalker drawing all the aggro, the mage kobolds proceeded to make sure nobody experienced any joy, ever.

If you really want 3700 xp or some pocket change, by all means.

If you want your sanity or dignity or some hours to maybe do laundry or go in instances with your pals, spare yourself the injustice of this grueling little number. It's not like that princess even cares. :D

The entrance is along the mountains' edge, directly to the right of the last ""L"" of Hammerfall's name on your map.
Look for the blue/grey tree and walk around it to find the path going up.

https://vanillawowdb.com/?quest=635 Crystal in the Mountains is a breadcrumb-like quest leading to this chain.

Doing this quest does NOT prevent you from doing the breadcrumb.

This quest chain dose count towards loremaster of eastern kingdom.

For those of you without cords and can't find the gray rectangle on the minimap, the path is right to the left of the word ""Hammerfall"" on the world map.

I just completed the quest on 1/29/11, running 4.0.3. Therefore, while the note at the top of the pay says the quest is obsolete, I think the note is obsolete. Quest was very easy with a 37 Demo Lock. Actually, the quest was greyed-out for me. I just completed to get the Arathi Quests achieve.

So bottom line: quest is still completable!

Although the header on this site for this quest now states, ""This quest was marked obsolete by Blizzard and cannot be obtained or completed."", it can be obtained (at Refuge Pointe in Arathi Highlands) - and completed.

Perhaps Blizzard had thought to kill it and resurrected it by the time I came across it in Vers. 4.1.