Zen Meditation: Brewmaster Monk artifact quest preview

Similar to previous artifact previews — check out our previews for Windwalker and Mistweaver — there will be many, many Legion story spoilers here. If you want to experience this quest fresh when Legion launches, don’t click on!

Still want to hear more about the Brewmaster Monk quest? Keep reading.

 

Sulfur burned every one of my senses, with fel fire burning all around me. The din of explosions from outside rocked the temple, like the softening of a storm.

“We must go,” the master announced.

The silence broke — where there was silence, the doors ripped open into yelling…

“You’ve awakened!” a clam voice exclaimed. My head pounded — had that been but a dream? Looking around, I tried to collect my thoughts. No — we were definitely here, definitely at the Monastery. I took a few moments, collecting myself, before returning to the zen masters.

Slowly, we had collected knowledge about the artifacts of power wielded by our ancestors. I looked to the display of that which would represent my own discipline — as loath as I was to admit it, that of the Brewmaster. And here I stood… perhaps the only Brewmaster one might meet who, well… That’s not important just yet.

The masters briefed me quickly. I had been summoned by the Monkey King in Jade Forest. I furrowed my brow… This would not be fun.

The forest felt so incredibly untouched compared to Monastery in the summit. I felt somewhat relieved, and hoped that whatever information the Monkey King gave us wouldn’t be a waste of time. He wasn’t exactly known for simply handing information over.

You’d almost think life had continued as-expected… as long as you ignored the great spikes. I watched the Hozen trainees for a moment, then returned to my task at hand.

“Haha, you want my information?” he laughed, a devilish grin wrapping about that Hozen face. I sighed. “Then I’ll give you these riddles three. For my first riddle…”

He prattled off some nonsense. If there were time, perhaps I would have listened to the riddles. But for now, we had work to do.

Oh, but of course. It’s not like we could just… you know… walk into Valley of Four Winds and get whatever the heck it is this Hozen wanted. And of course, there had to be demons. Always with the demons…

Even Dave seemed pretty annoyed that the Hozen just wanted to sit there and taunt us instead of… you know… help us? Maybe cleanse the Water Spirit of the demon’s infection? But, we’d figured out how to get at least one of the items. Now he wanted some grains.

Heading just south to the granary, what could surprise me less? More demons. Oh, and a few of their minions… which were probably also demons. I hopped off, wildly swinging my staff again… and then… THIS JERK. TURNED ME. INTO A SKELETON.

What had been meant to be an easy task ruined my perfectly good hair day.

And of course, rather than maybe helping or doing anything actually useful, the king came around to tell me that he had a bright idea about this grain.

When you happen to be a gorgeous Orc like me, everyone expects you to be violent and swing an axe around. When you happen to be considered a Brewmaster, everyone similarly expects you to love brews and making them. I groaned. Of course… this Hozen decided that I needed to make him some special brew.

With a banana. You just can’t make these things up.

Well… better get to work…

Except, thankfully, it wasn’t just him being, well, a Hozen.

Finally, he explained: the great staff was protected by his monastery, but had been returned to Yu-lan. Now we had to go to the Great Serpent and appeal to her wisdom such that we could receive her blessing to defeat the Legion.

And of course…. we couldn’t simply walk into the temple. Nope, there had to be yet more demons. Dave heaved a sigh, mirroring my own feelings. We rushed into the fray, trying to save what Loremasters we could.

“Dave, stop!” I shouted, as the Niuzaoling rushed forward into the fray. Things really didn’t look good. I took a swig of my brew… and, as usual, nearly heaved.

I just couldn’t stand the stuff.

But the power surged through my body, pushing us forward.

The outside of the temple had fared no better. The familiar sulfuric burns hung in the air, making an nearly tangible burning. Truly, this Legion knew exactly how to make an Orc feel pretty green and angry.

But not again! Yu’lon had fallen — and, surprise, more demons poured forth.

At least the Hozen finally made himself useful. Dave and I leapt into action to defend the fallen dragon as a student of the Crane rushed forward to heal her. We did what we could to protect the Crane student, and finally, the great serpent moved — she had survived the attack!

She floated past. Finally, the leader of the infiltration made himself known.

“You deal with the smaller ones!” Yu’lon echoed, her voice reverberated throughout the Temple in its awesome power. “I have this one!”

Two things became very clear.

First, demons really, really liked fire..

Second, tomorrow’s hangover would be the stuff of legends.

Another swig of the Hozen’s actually-not-too-awful banana brew, and I stopped. It was over — the hordes of demons had stopped pouring forth.

“Come, hero,” the serpent whispered, as a light shone from the sky.

I felt myself tremble as the power from the Serpent’s blessing rushed through my body.

“Let us return and defeat the Legion!”

If you ever have the chance to ride on the back of a Celestial, I suggest it. I rank it pretty highly — definitely much higher than helping Hozen, and probably about on-par with the Arnold Palmers in the tavern at the Monastery.

“Arnold Palmers?” Yu’lonasked, quirking an eyebrow. “You mean you don’t….”

“I honestly can’t stand the stuff,” I confessed.

“But then why…”

“You’ll have to ask Chen sometime. Let’s just say I don’t gamble anymore.”

As we returned, all I could think about was my warm bed, a blanket, and probably a hot meal.

“And, Brewmaster,” the Celestial said as we came in.

“Yes?”

“If you honestly feel that way about brewing, and brews… Perhaps you should reconsider your path?”

I chuckled softly, touching the Niuzao charm about my neck. “I appreciate your—” but before I could finish… the great serpent had already disappeared into the sky.