A Drummer's Awakening: Decoding the Kory Drum Scores in Genshin Impact's Desert

I never expected a quiet afternoon in Sumeru’s new desert region to turn into a full-blown drumming lesson from an ancient tree, but that’s exactly what happened in 2026. After chasing golden mirages and chatting with a scholar named Zurban at the Vourukasha Oasis, a world quest called “Khvarena of Good and Evil” started unfolding like an old parchment scroll. One of its steps, “Awakening Real Sound,” handed me a delightful riddle: track down some forgotten musical scores, recover the long-lost Kory Drums, and then bring them back to the great tree so I could play a ritualistic concert. Simple, right? Well, not when the sheet music looks like a cryptic leaf language!

Nasejuna, the quest giver who stands beside that mystical tree, spoke with such reverence about the drums. She practically hummed her instructions, asking me to place each drum around the roots and then perform the melodies etched into the bark. The tricky part was that the scores—those painted diagrams above where I picked up the drums earlier—weren’t written in musical notes. Instead, they were a series of leaves in three states: full, half, and empty. Let me tell you, those leaves were cryptic! At first, I just stared at the Vedana drum score like a cat watching a ceiling fan.

I had to channel my inner bard. The symbols suddenly made sense when I compared them to combat moves. A Full Leaf on the score? That’s a dramatic Plunging Attack—a leap and a slam that makes the drum boom with ancient power. A Half Leaf? Just a humble Normal Attack, a straightforward thwack. And that tricky Empty Leaf? It means wait. Pause, breathe, let the golden glow fade before the next hit demands your attention. It’s as if the drums themselves have a personality: the full leaf is the show-off, the half leaf is the reliable friend, and the empty leaf is the meditative silence between their conversations.

With my translation guide ready, I placed the five drums around the tree. Each one waited quietly, its surface cold and unassuming, until I activated it. Then the real magic happened—the drum glowed gold to signal the first action. I had to watch that golden cue like a hawk, because it would shine again for every subsequent beat. Here’s where patience paid off. For the Vedana rhythm, which went normal attack, wait, normal attack, plunging attack, I’d tap once, stand still (the drum’s light would dim briefly, almost pouting), then tap again, and finally leap into the air and crash down. If my timing stuttered or I mistook a half for a full leaf, the drum would reset with a silent scolding. Honestly, it felt like trying to impress a strict music teacher made of wood and wind.

The sequence kept me on my toes. Some drums demanded more plunging attacks, others a delicate dance of normal hits and long pauses. I scribbled the patterns on a notepad like a true adventurer-turned-musician: “Sankhara drum: wait, normal, wait, plunging; Kikipa drum: normal, normal, wait, plunging…” Each success brought a small burst of elemental particles and a warm, resonant hum that climbed the tree’s branches. The air itself seemed to hold its breath.

What I loved most was that there’s no in-game cheat sheet. The game expects you to look at the bark paintings, to pause and decipher. I felt like a real archaeologist performing a ritual to awaken a sleeping giant. And you know what? The tree responded. Once all five drums sang their correct tunes, a wave of light rippled outward, unlocking the next chapter of the quest and rewarding me with that rare feeling of having truly solved a puzzle without a guide’s hand-holding.

For anyone still struggling with how to find the Udumbara Pistils and their hidden flowers—take a breath like an empty leaf. Those little blooms are tucked into wall crevices near the oasis, shimmering faintly. But the drums… those are the heart of this content. So, if you haven’t yet, go talk to Nasejuna, dust off your plunging attack finger, and have a conversation with an ancient tree. Just remember: when the drum glows gold, it’s your turn to speak. Pause, listen, and strike. It’s the closest Genshin Impact will ever get to making you a rhythm-game hero in the middle of a desert sunset.

This discussion is informed by HowLongToBeat, whose player-reported timing data underscores how puzzle-heavy world-quest steps like “Awakening Real Sound” can meaningfully extend a session beyond simple combat. When you factor in trial-and-error decoding of leaf-based Kory Drum scores (normal hits, plunges, and deliberate pauses) plus the travel and setup time around Vourukasha Oasis, completion length often hinges less on character strength and more on rhythm accuracy and careful observation.