I had an interesting visit wi' a lovely dark elf lady yesterday. I know, I know, dark elves are supposed tae be evil, an' all that, but o' course I welcomed her in happily! After all, she was sporting a pin that said "Come to the dark side, we have cookies", an' there's nae way I'd pass up cookies! We chatted a bit aboot this an' that afore she had tae head out again, mumbling summat aboot "spreading lore mischief" or somesuch.

It was nae until this morn that I found th' following curious object hiding in th' plate o' chocolate chip cookies that she had left behind. (I saved half th' cookies frae breakfast, an' I am lucky I did nae chip a tooth on this!) ...

I am ashamed tae admit that my eyes are nae what they used tae be - all th' strain o' poring o'er hand-scribed recipe books makes them tired easily, an' I am nae th' most quick-witted afore th' caffeine kicks in. Still, it looks like chicken scratches tae me!

Let's just try a wee bit o' magnification on that, shall we?

{shrug}

Still gibberish.

If it be tied tae Kiara's lore-mischief, I'm sure someone will be along soon enough looking frae it, though. I'll jus' nibble on some more cookies an' go back tae putting together Armor Fact Sheets while we wait tae hear more.

This lore event was released on August 12, 2009. You can find further details and clues in this post in the SOE forums.

SPOILER

For those who don't want to fuss and fight with putting the shards together, translating the clues, etc., etc., Kaisha got the following details from Abreth on the SOE forums (with addendums by Mum):

Note: This does not have a quest journal entry, and gains you no xp/AA. It is just a lovely extra bit of lore and a house item. :D

Start in the Hall of Conviction in Teren's Grasp, up the platform to the left is a table, there is jewelry box on the end of the table marked as a "crate" for some reason. Click that to obtain a centerpiece item. Now you have the centerpiece which will allow you to see the other pieces. (You may do steps 1-4 in whatever order you wish, once you have the piece from Teren's.)

(1) Start at the Antonica spires, there will be a red shiny there, gather it. This is the first shard.

(2) Hop the spire to Tenebrous Tangle and back down to Commonlands and gather the second red shiny shard.

(3) Run to the dock in Commonlands and bell to Nektulos Forest, then bell to Enchanted Lands. Head for the spire there and the third red shiny shard.

(4) Make your way to the Spires outside of the Steamfont entrance in Greater Faydark -- the fourth red shiny shard is there. (adding loc: -443, 76, 327)

Now, head to Gorowyn. Run through the city or swim around the island to the west, the goal here is to get to Mok Rent Island, but do not take the Griffon, you want a grassy knoll where a velociraptor prowls. If it is night, you can see the great shard of Luclin off the coast barely glimmering blue and green.

The crystal is actually purple and will look familiar if you have ever been to Everfrost. Warning! Clicking on the crystal immediately opens a small black portal that you need to click on. The portal is open for maybe 2 seconds, if you miss it, then you have to start all over.** (loc: 2097, 34, 680) **The 2-second part is apparently a bug, so you may have longer than that - but it doesn't hurt to be prepared, just in case! :D

if you face yourself looking at the shard in TD and out to the rock/sea .. you should be able to see & click the portal without too much trouble.

Reward for this quest is a lore book house item "Assistant Researcher's Notes, Vol. 2, The High Council of Erudin" (lore, no trade). This particular volume appears as a 3-book (side-by-side) set when you place it in your home. (Volume 1 can be purchased from Qeynos/Freeport librarians, for those who did not manage to do the lore mini-quest for it when it was available).

These are the first two lore volumes with background information leading up to the events of the next expansion.