EQ2 Quest:A Darkened Shard  

This quest is given automatically when you enter the Thundering Steppes if you have the Darkened Azure Shard in your inventory. This item is obtained by using the /claim command after you purchase the Splitpaw expansion.

Examining the Darkened Azure Shard will give an image of the bone structure that is the entrance to the Sundered Splitpaw: Delving into the Darkness instances. You must head to the entrances one of those instances to update the quest. They are spread throughout Thundering Steppes. Known locations include:

537, -0.82, 507.76 1038, __, -239 706.6, -0.8, -951

After getting the update you should enter the dungeon. Once inside you must find what the cave has to do with the gem. To make a long story short you need to open up a chest located at the bottom of the dungeon. It's not that easy though, there are some twists.

First off the copper key that unlocks the chest is held by The Tesch Val Fanatic. He is the boss of the instance. Once you have obtained the key though, you'll find that the chest is located on top of a pillar, far out of reach.

This is Sony's way of showing off some of the features of Everquest 2. What you need to do is to stack up the crates that are laying throughout the zone at the base of the pillar. Set two of them underneath it. One is near the Fanatic, the other is back a ways up the hallway. A third is already positioned where it should be at the base of the rock across from the chest.

Once they are lined up you can jump on top of the crate and then jump on top of the small rock across the way from the chest. You can then run and jump onto the two crates that are stacked at the pillar. Once you are on top you can carefully grab the crate from the smaller rock and then stack it on the top. With all three crates stacked on top of one another you can access the chest.

When you open the chest you will find another shard which fuses togeter with the original shard to create a Slightly Glowing Shard. This will also update your quest journal. It now speaks about the new gnolls in the Thundering Steppes and the need to discover what is causing them to come to the surface.

You can now go to the Gnoll Cave in the Skindancer area of Thundering Steppes (171, 4.8, 1052) and be allowed entrance into Sundered Splitpaw: Upper Tunnels.

From there you must work you way down to the Splitpaw Den entrance (it is called Lower Tunnels when you examine the zone entrance). Once inside you can find many gnolls to do quests for. These will grant you a number of quests which you can complete. Gaining favor with the gnolls in some manor will advance the quest, and this happens after you three of the following five quests (see related quests)

• Alone in the Dark (need info)
• Crawler's Extermination
• Flitch's Prank
• Gladiator's Triumph (Solo Arena)
• The Ark of Harclave

When the quests advances the Darkened Shard becomes a Glowing Shard. This allows you to teleport to the Splitpaw Den from anyplace in the world. This also opens up the ability to take the raid instance in the Splitpaw Den. The next step of the quest involves going into the Anvilpaw's Grotto instance and killing Anvilpaw.