Strange things are afoot in Middle-earth, lately. Starting with a Strongly-Worded Letter from one Bungo Grubb of Oatbarton, a scavenger hunt of sorts has begun.
Deciding to investigate further, I set out for Oatbarton to see this suspicious stone Mr. Grubb spoke of appearing in his fields. Upon arriving at the field in question, just to the east of Oatbarton in the southern reaches of Evendim, I immediately had a sense of dread. I carefully approached the strange looking stone and began to inspect it. Just as I suspected, it was more than just a prank by another farmer jealous of his pipe-weed crop. Although I wouldn’t tell Mr. Grubb that. He’s not likely to believe you.
Inspecting the stone itself grants a level 20 quest that requires you to talk to Bungo Grubb. He tells you his thoughts on the matter and at this point you open up a deed that instructs you to find 4 more of these relics in other, undisclosed locations of Middle-earth. Note: This deed is tied to having access to the quest packs for the zones the Mysterious Relics are found in.
Successfully completing this deed will grant you the title “Calm Before the Storm”. Note: Although the first quest for the deed is level 20, not all the locations are accessible to players below level 60.
Based on the fact that 4 of the 5 relics seem to be near places that could easily be made into instance doors, I imagine we may be seeing something very interesting in these locations in the near future. We’ve heard talk of new instances coming in the first quarter of this year, so I’d guess that this is pointing toward that.
For a more thoughts on the matter regarding how it fits into the lore, I’d suggest visiting Roll one hundred’s post about the Mysterious Relics deed. I’m very excited about this development and can’t wait to see where it leads!
At this point, I’d advise that anyone not wanting to have the process of discovering these relics spoiled look away now. In other words:
***SPOILER WARNING***
There we go. Now, are you sure you want to know? This is your last chance to look away…
Still here? Alright, here are the locations for all of the Mysterious Relics:
- Oatbarton, Evendim (23.6S, 66.7W)
- William Peake’s Farm, North Downs (10.9S, 50.4W)
- Ironspan, Forochel (16.9N, 59.5W)
- Laenan Caves, Trollshaws (Entrance is at 24.8S, 17.7W. The relic is all the way in the back of the caves.)
- Serpent Halls, Enedwaith (67.2S, 8.3W)
After finding the Mysterious Relic in the Laenan Caves, you will be asked to investigate a door nearby and then speak to Elrond in Rivendell about it. After you’ve found all five relics, you’ll be directed to speak to Barliman Butterbur in Bree.
January 11, 2011 at 4:55 pm
Can you get to all these locations with a low level character?
January 11, 2011 at 4:57 pm
Sadly, you cannot. The first two should be doable, but the mobs surrounding the Forochel location are around level 48 and the Trollshaws and Enedwaith locations are surrounded by mobs around level 65.
I’ve updated the post to clarify that while you can start the deed at level 20, you’re not likely to finish it at that level.
January 11, 2011 at 5:41 pm
That is disappointing. I’d like to take part in this relic hunt but I guess I can’t. I thought that it was very cool that LOTRO was taking this approach to introducing new content. In DDO, new content just magically appears one day with no prior indications. Working it into a story is far better, but the story should be available to all.
January 11, 2011 at 6:16 pm
Speaking of should be available to all, this quest line (which grant the aspects of the deed )is tied into the to the regions the relics are found in. Not a free-quest line.
January 11, 2011 at 6:24 pm
Ouch! I hadn’t even thought of that. Although, a current theory I have is that the deed is what will gate the instances that are coming and I would imagine they’d be tied to the quest packs for those zones, too.
I’ve updated the post to reflect that the deed is not available to those who haven’t purchased the appropriate quest packs.
January 11, 2011 at 5:17 pm
this sounds interesting. I am wondering what could be causing this from events in the books. My guess Is that saurman is trying something and is creating “dread runes” or something else and is placing them over all of middle earth that is going to allow his army to march in and take over the land, the reason I think so is also in ironspan in forochel (where is a apparent location you go to) is the place where you fight angmar in forochel and basically take out the camp. perhaps sauraman wants to fill the void angmar left after the heroes of middle destroy them.
January 11, 2011 at 5:32 pm
A pipeweed disruption can mean only one thing: invasion.
January 11, 2011 at 6:14 pm
just tried to do it, but you have to have bought the area
quests to complete this series
January 11, 2011 at 6:24 pm
They even released it simultaniously over here in Europe! Now thats a first!
January 11, 2011 at 7:47 pm
Since the relic in the North Downs is close to that walled off town I went exploring in Oatbarton were the other relic was. And I found a path on the west side of Oatbarton that leads to a walled off hobbit village. Could this be another raid?
January 11, 2011 at 8:08 pm
Oh, so 5/5 for locations near a potential raid/instance door? Veeery interesting indeed!
January 11, 2011 at 8:36 pm
Thats the trend with these relics.
The relic at the Ironspan could hint that we will go through that gate in a instance.
There is a new walled off hobbit village in Oatbarton near one of the relics.
Near the Trollshaws relic there are new ruins and if you look up to the sky you will see some ruins floating high above the trees.(This is a bug not a flying castle
)
The relic in the North Downs is very close to that new destroyed town.
And theres a walled off town in Enedwaith.
January 11, 2011 at 7:51 pm
This looks like it might be interesting. Any news on when or if it’s coming to the EU servers?
January 11, 2011 at 8:04 pm
It is already!
http://community.codemasters.com/forum/news-announcements-434/452971-strongly-worded-letter-bungo-grubb.html
January 12, 2011 at 8:18 pm
Wow… thanks. I went up there after reading your article yesterday and it wasn’t happening. Odd.
January 11, 2011 at 7:58 pm
My 62 Rune-Keeper managed to get to them all, but that was because I was in a 3-man Fellowship in the Laenan Caves. (the stone was simple enough to RUN to, but it’s surrounded by some lvl 65 mobs when you get to it). The others are pretty much open to anyone who has the quest packs, though the Ironspan and Serpent-Halls ones could be tricky to some as well (lvl 65s roam the areas heading there, especially the SH enedwaith one).
January 11, 2011 at 9:44 pm
I completed this quest/deed…Is that cave in TS new? I did not spend much time there, and I never explored that far, but it seems strange to have a level-cap area in the middle of a low-level zone (the only comparable is annuminas). It’ll be interesting to see what happens.
January 11, 2011 at 11:18 pm
It’s part of Volume 3, Book 1. So it’s relatively new.
January 11, 2011 at 9:46 pm
Oh…and I agree that these runes would make great yard decorations ( without the dread, of course).
January 12, 2011 at 3:14 pm
I think the dread effect could be useful too. Then you could sit by your door, shake your fist and yell “Get off my lawn!” to any young hobbits taking a shortcut through your well protected yard.
January 11, 2011 at 10:01 pm
As I write this, my main is in the other window on a stable horse to Oatbarton. I did not read the spoilers, & can’t wait to see where we’re going.
January 11, 2011 at 11:52 pm
ironspan – 16.9N 59.5W
January 12, 2011 at 8:29 am
Oh, that’s the exact location? Thanks! I totally spaced out on that one. I’ll update the post accordingly.
January 12, 2011 at 8:54 am
Dev isn’t using your locations Ketani. It’s ok to leave what you have. I used your instructions last night and they were great.
January 12, 2011 at 9:00 am
Eh, I already updated it because mine was just based on where the POI is for the Ironspan, and not the relic itself.
January 12, 2011 at 9:17 am
Thanks for this.. can’t wait till I level up and can hit the last 4…
as I”m on 30 (all most 31) on my main.. it will be awhile.. I hear the trollshaws are a scary place.. LOL
January 12, 2011 at 10:38 am
Thanks so much for the guide
I would have NEVER found all of these without it.
January 12, 2011 at 10:39 am
Did anyone notice any significance to the symbols on each one. I noticed that there all a little bit different.
January 12, 2011 at 10:41 am
The Roll One Hundred post linked above mentioned some possible meanings for the runes on the relics.
January 12, 2011 at 11:13 am
Thanks for doing this.
I read the letter from Mr. Grubb on LOTRO’s website, and I have located the relic in Oatbarton, but I didn’t really get any indication from talking to the NPC’s there, as to where I might find the others.
January 12, 2011 at 11:16 am
Oh, I know. I wouldn’t have known where to go if it wasn’t for the forums. There’s not really any obvious clues in the quest/deed info itself.
January 12, 2011 at 11:30 am
it’s just amazing to me, that someone found them all that FAST… that’s crazy
but bless them.. LOl as you said Ketani, there is not real clues as to where they were
January 12, 2011 at 1:46 pm
I love events like this. I remember when we were gathering those scrolls up for a while before an expansion launch. i’d like to see more things like that.
January 12, 2011 at 3:16 pm
I agree! The only complaint I have is that it’s not very accessible to people below ~60 or without a large portion of the quest packs.
January 13, 2011 at 10:25 pm
My minor complaint is that while it’s probably fairly easy to stumble on at least one of these on your random travels, there’s no real indication from anyone about the others, or any clues as to where others might be. The only indication even that there are more is the deed that triggers.
January 12, 2011 at 11:06 pm
If I were to guess, I’d say the new instances are going to span a wide level range, starting around level 28 (Oatbarton) and ending around level 65 (Serpent Halls). So, the relics aren’t meant to be a one-shot deal (like Rob Van Dam) but a deed you complete as you level and come into the new areas, gaining a new instance while you’re at it.
But, as I said, that’s just a guess.
January 13, 2011 at 4:59 am
Bry, I think that’s a good guess. Gives an alternative to running Great Barrows 50 billion times if you want to group in the 20′s and 30′s. (the potential Oatbarton area)
January 13, 2011 at 10:55 am
How do you get this deed, just click one of the relics?
January 13, 2011 at 10:56 am
Correct. The deed will be added to your log when you find and click on the first relic.
January 13, 2011 at 6:44 pm
Thank you Ketani for the post! Enedwaith will be the one I’ll hold on for a bit. I’m just stingy when it comes to buying quest packs!
January 14, 2011 at 6:19 pm
I think the one in eneswaith points to a raid in the fatherlode. Remember that instance at the end of 3.1? If you explore around prior to completing it, you will find a set of stairs that goes up to a hallway with invisible wall. At the end of the hall you can seevsome mobs in the distance (half-orcs?) I think this is the instance the marker is marking.
January 29, 2011 at 11:59 pm
Thank you for the information couldn’t have found some of the Relics with out it…….
It’s time for LOTRO to give us something new, I’m looking forward to what they have planned next.
April 3, 2011 at 8:06 am
Is this deed avadible to codemasters players
April 3, 2011 at 9:00 am
As far as I know, yes, it is.