Lore Entry #1: A Secret Enemy

There is evil afoot in Norrath, and it is becoming clear what this evil has set its sights on, The Guardians of Antiquity! Long ago a siege was brought upon our Warriors of the Mind, effectively slaying the Guardians of Antiquity and cutting the Tree of Antiquity from its roots. This unholy alliance is finally coming to light. We have acquired very disturbing intelligence on this danger to our existence through our elite police force, and must take action. Many Guardians lost their lives to bring us this information.

Many ancient relics and scrolls from the origins of the Guardians are spread throughout Norrath. After the destruction of our tree, and our people being spread to the winds, many pieces of our once endless legacy were kept in secret, passed through family lines, and hidden for later recovery. As the face of Norrath has changed so dramatically, some of these once sanctified places are now under the control of others, not sympathetic to our cause.

Many mining groups are secretly supporters of the Guardians of Antiquity, like the Solusek Mining Company, and in complete secrecy, the Burnyari of the Mines of Nurga. When such priceless Guardians treasures are discovered in these mines they are turned over to us, and in return, we offer our protection and our diplomatic aid in dealing with their not so friendly neighbors. Things are afoot in these mines, and our contacts have made it clear that there are more than a few greedy individuals hoping to extort riches from the Guardians.

A few months ago an Ancient Gem Fruit from the Tree of Antiquity was discovered by the Fire Goblins of Solusek's Eye, predating the Tree being cut from its roots. As usually is done, the Mining Company, at our severance, offered a great deal of treasure for its purchase, but this time, they not only refused, but also denied its discovery. We know that they are allied with many goblin clans and pursued the usual lines to see if another clan had bid higher for it, and for what purpose, as to them it is simply an odd gem. Not only did the allied goblin clans not know of its discovery, but they had not exacted their tributes from the Fire Goblins for some months, and their alliance was breaking down. They were infuriated that this discovery could enable the Fire Goblins to pay the back tributes and that they had hidden its existence.

Our intelligence discovered a disturbing fact. The Gem Fruit in Question was transported secretly to The Temple of Droga! Not only were the Fire Goblins not allied with these Kunark Goblins, but to secretly transport a random gem (to them) to a Goblin Religious Center for study raised more than an Eyebrow in the Guardian's Administration! This was a most terrible discovery.

Upon our investigations into The Temple of Droga over the last month, and our Burnyari spies, we divined that this secret new alliance between the Fire Goblins and the Mount Death Goblins of Droga was not new! The Religious Center of the Mount Death Goblins began long ago and was based on a GUARDIAN ARTIFACT! More disturbing was the discovery that these actions to actively seek out Guardian Relics with other mining savvy Goblins were not the orders from Droga's Inner Sanctum, they came from a much more dreaded leadership, hereto unknown to us.

It is our belief that this dreadful force leading the joint Goblin Guardian hunt originates from an ancient and terribly cursed place in Velious. We believe that this may be one of, if not the leading force, that destroyed the Guardians to begin with, our most ancient enemy. It is possible that they have searched for proof of our secret society for ages past, and hope to not only reveal our goal, and the ancient wisdom we collect and protect, but also to fabricate some type of incriminating evidence against us to gain allied forces for a new slaughter of our kind. This cannot be allowed to happen!

During the Erudin Heretic war, several races from Odus who chose to escape persecution hid on Velious. At some point during the time between the Tree of Antiquity being cut down and the reformation of our now secret society some terrible tragedy befell these poor wretches. They were forever cursed to walk the floors of their Tower retreat as the undead. Yes, The Tower of Frozen Shadows ordered the Inner Sanctum of Droga to call on allies such as the Fire Goblins of Solusek to actively seek out Guardian Relics from ages past. This conspiracy against us may go all the way up to Tserrina Herself!

This danger to us cannot be ignored; action must be taken to preserve antiquity, and the Guardians themselves. We do not, however, move hastily. An all out assault on Tserrina may fail, and may also give us new enemies should she not be the ultimate conspirator of our demise! We must band together against this threat, and exact our vengeance on the Fire Goblins of Solusek, the Goblins of Droga, and the center of this evil plot, the undead inhabitants of The Tower of Frozen Shadows itself.

We will soon be launching battle plans on all our foes. Guardians level 20 and up will be asked to invade Solusek's Eye and the Fire Goblins, Guardians level 35 and up to invade The Temple of Droga and Mount Death Goblins, and Guardians level 30 and up to invade The Tower of Frozen Shadows itself! We may ask you to return certain items from identified conspirators in these havens of evil to aid in our investigation, and you will be paid handsomely from the guild vault!

 Be absolutely certain to use your mind link to the tree of antiquity (the messageboards), and follow the Norrathian Alliance of Kindness calendar so that you can help to thwart this evil in our midst! It is known that greater experience might be gained by a Guardian undertaking the Goblin warfare, so keep that in mind, but always have your sights set on eventually punishing the undead of the Tower of Frozen Shadows and retaking whatever Guardian artifacts they may have hoarded. Perhaps our destinies were intertwined, and the undead of The Tower of Frozen Shadows were part of the war against us in ages past. Perhaps their curse, its cause unknown, is actually linked to their past evil deeds against us...we must find out for antiquity's sake!

Guardians lower than the Levels needed may be asked to invade lewwer mining colonies as we find more evidence of how wide-spread this evil alliance is. There are whispers of some link to the inhabitants of Paludal caverns, although not clear which ones, and even some gnolls and kobalds may be involved. Kobalds especially make sense as their original decent tracks back to Odus, where the undead inhabitants of the Tower of Frozen Shadows also hail from. ALL guardians are needed in this, our time of crisis, A CALL TO ARMS!

Vinmar Zentiel

Fourth Age of the Secret Tree