Dark War Talbuk

Sold in Halaa, the contested town in the middle of Nagrand in Outland, for 100 Halaa Battle Tokens and 20 Halaa Research Tokens: by Aldraan while the Alliance holds the town, by Coreiel while the Horde does. Both kinds of token come at once, and in full, from the rare Draenor garrison mission Mysteries of Lok-rath; the old way is fighting over Halaa for the Battle Tokens and handing in crystal powder from Nagrand's creatures for the Research Tokens.

Time there about 5 min a visit

Guides Wowhead: Mounts from the Garrison · wow.gg: Dark War Talbuk

• A Draenor garrison with its mission table and levelled followers: the mission (level 98 when it was added) is only offered once followers are high enough, and wants one follower that counters Minion Swarms · about 1 h
• 100 Halaa Battle Tokens: the garrison mission Mysteries of Lok-rath (rare, one follower, one hour, 10 Garrison Resources) pays 100 Battle Tokens and 40 Research Tokens, but turns up on the mission table only now and then. Otherwise one token for each kill of an enemy-faction player at Halaa that gives Honor, made by the character or its group · about 1 h over 9 weeks
• 20 Halaa Research Tokens: covered by the same mission (it pays 40). Otherwise 200 Oshu'gun Crystal Powder Samples, which drop from creatures all over Nagrand, handed in ten at a time in Halaa while the character's faction holds it
• Halaa held by the character's faction, or the vendor is not there. Taking it: kill the other side's 15 Halaani Guards (bombing runs from the four wyvern roosts around the town help), then have more of one's own side on the plateau than the other has until the town changes hands · about 0.5 h

In all: about 2.5 h of play, spread over 9 weeks, starting from nothing.

/way is for the TomTom addon. Travel times are estimates: flying at 55 yards a second in a straight line and 30 seconds for a portal. A star marks a portal that needs a quest or other unlock done first.

The journal's cost of 10,020 is the two prices run together: 100 Battle Tokens and 20 Research Tokens (wiki, and Wowhead's sold-by list as of 2026: Aldraan and Coreiel, both titled Blade Merchant, both at 42.8, 42.4-42.6). Both tokens are items that bind when picked up, so the character that runs the mission has to be the one that buys; a 2021 comment says the vendor accepts tokens lying in the bank.

The mission's 40 Research Tokens leave 20 over; its 100 Battle Tokens cover this mount or the Dark Riding Talbuk (70 and 15), not both. How often the mission comes up is not published in any source read; the days given here are a guess from a handful of comments and could be far off either way.

The PvP way depends on enemy players being at Halaa, and the time given here does not count on it. The wiki notes few take part and suggests arranging a meeting with someone of the other faction; the most-voted Wowhead comment (2012) warns that repeatedly killing a willing player is treated as cheating the Honor system. A 2011 comment says a target more than a few levels below gives no Honor and so no token.

Who takes the powder: the powder samples' own text and one wiki page name the Chief Researchers Kartos (Alliance) and Amereldine (Horde); the wiki's Research Token page names the quartermasters Davian Vaclav and Jaffrey Noreliqe instead.

wow.gg calls the mission 'Lok-rath's Secrets' and describes kill-trading as a method. Wowhead's guide (2020) covers the mission in one paragraph. The wiki has the reins at level 17 with Apprentice Riding since patch 9.0.1.

Confidence in this entry: medium. Looked up in 2026.

Sources

• Wowhead: reins of the dark war talbuk
• Wowhead: reins of the dark war talbuk (comments)
• Wowhead tooltip: npc 21485
• Wowhead tooltip: npc 21474
• Wowhead tooltip: item 26043
• Wiki: Dark War Talbuk
• Wiki: Halaa
• Wiki: Halaa Battle Token
• Wiki: Halaa Research Token
• Wiki: Oshu'gun Crystal Powder Sample
• Wiki: Mysteries of Lok rath
• Wowhead: mounts from the garrison
• wow.gg: dark war talbuk mount guide