A Secret Hidden in Plain Sight  

Quest Started By:Description:
Where:
Who:
Rating:
*****
Information:
Level:80
Maximum Level:125
Monster Mission:No
Repeatable:Yes
Can Be Shrouded?:No
Quest Type:Task
Quest Goal:
  • Experience
  • Faction
  • Loot
Factions Raised:
Factions Lowered:
    Quest Items:
    Related Zones:
    Related Creatures:
    Era:Seeds of Destruction
    Recommended:
    Group Size:Solo
    Min. # of Players:1
    Max. # of Players:1
    Appropriate Classes:
    • All
    Appropriate Races:
    • All
    Entered: Thu Oct 30 16:50:28 2008
    Modified: Tue Dec 5 05:21:04 2023
    This task begins with Apothecary Cadmael, a vendor in the middle of Oceangreen Village.

    You say, 'Hail, Apothecary Cadmael'

    Apothecary Cadmael says 'How do you do, ______? I seem to be running a bit low on [supplies] for healing at the moment, so if you have fallen ill or become injured, I'm afraid that I will have to urge you to seek out some other traveler with a degree of healing skill. My apologies!'

    You say, 'Supplies?'

    Apothecary Cadmael says 'We have recently experienced a rather nasty spate of illness in our fine village. People are falling ill, and we can't seem to figure out what is wrong with them! I've tried everything - lilyroot, ashenmoss, even fresh purple flangers - but nothing seems to help. The strong can weather the disease and return to health in time, but those who are young and vulnerable or old and infirm... they may not be so lucky. I'm fresh out of [ideas].'

    You say, 'Ideas?'

    Apothecary Cadmael says 'My only thought is that perhaps this has something to do with that [vile temple] outside of the village. Have you seen that place? It's disgusting and completely ridden with disease.'

    You say, 'What vile temple?'

    Apothecary Cadmael says 'I've heard from some of the others that the people in that underground temple are worshipping Bertoxxulous, the disease god! If that is the case, perhaps someone should [investigate] to find out if their disgusting plague worship is causing the illnesses in the village. Or, perhaps you are prepared to [storm] the temple and root out the corruption within?'

    You say, 'I will investigate.'

    You have been assigned the task 'A Secret Hidden in Plain Sight'.

    Apothecary Cadmael says 'Thank you for offering to help us. Many lives may be in the balance here.'

    Recover Proof of the Bertoxxulous worshippers' treachery 0/7 (Temple of Bertoxxulous)

    Collect 7 different scraps in Temple of Bertoxxulous, which drop from the golems and humans in the zone. The scraps are:

    Soiled Parchment Scrap
    Defiled Parchment Scrap
    Infected Parchment Scrap
    Plagued Parchment Scrap
    Contaminated Parchment Scrap
    Corrupted Parchment Scrap
    Malignant Parchment Scrap

    Deliver the pages you found to Apothecary Cadmael 0/4 (Oceangreen Village)

    Apothecary Cadmael says 'What have we here? Ah... I haven't seen this sort of document since I was studying to become a junior apothecary. If I am not mistaken, this is part of a summoning ritual, but the passage appears to be [encoded]. Whatever it may say, you will need to read it aloud at the appointed summoning location... these places are typically marked by insignias or runes on the ground, likely near a place of worship.'

    Receive Reconstructed Cultist Manual.

    Deliver the scraps you found to Apothecary Cadmael 0/3 (Oceangreen Village)

    Apothecary Cadmael says 'Oh, yes, these do look like they fit together somehow, don't they? Let's see if perhaps they do... here, and here...Yes, this seems correct. No encoding here at all. Just the one word.'

    Receive Completed Cultist Cipher.

    Devise a way to activate the document's power in the correct location 0/1 (Temple of Bertoxxulous)

    The Manual received can be one of three manuals. Which one you get is random.

    1) "Ool tn avvbnm oeimph jcgu tcxwgf vvrle ribqu Hux buwb bh rvlegas fjoye ovmb gjs cttn nce vvr kezcfa qt gae Rwfq qt Cxszqzrpqr"

    2) "Ys shur wie dcqbey ewgj hux brquuv kr poxavvr hux Doasnus Yhrj ewgj chk frmgu Czy aaot Prthbqxatchu hux Utkzrcb Bge"

    3) "Dsemodfiyqif ulkagru if pizp qbtfhitowb Jg qnel axca vvr Wiymofg Zbkd zw grpr n aexizq qt qbvovs cgggblkvqr"

    They translate to:

    1) "May an unholy blight wash across these lands The boon of disease shall open the path for the return of the Lord of Pestilence"

    2) "We foul our bodies with the blight we worship the Disease Lord with our flesh All hail Bertoxxulous the Unclean One"

    3) "Bertoxxulous blesses us with corruption We call upon the Disease Lord to send a herald of divine pestilence"

    Return to the Temple of Bertoxxulous and clear the area in front of the Altar. Once you've cleared enough, you stand on the picture of the skull on the floor and /say whichever message corresponds to your Manual including with the quotation marks. (NOTE: You should not have a target while doing this.) This will update this step in the task and spawn Vaxztn the Purifier.

    Defeat the representative of Bertoxxulous 0/1 (Temple of Bertoxxulous)

    Kill Vaxztn. The golem is rootable and does not summon.

    Vaxztn the Putrifier has been slain by _____!
    Vaxztn the Putrifier's corpse crumples to the ground in a heap of filth.

    Arch Priest Cronkle laughs hoarsely. 'You think you have accomplished something significant? Think again! Return here, if you dare, and face the full power of Bertoxxulous!

    Return to Cadmael 0/1 (Oceangreen Village)

    You say, 'Hail, Apothecary Cadmael'

    Apothecary Cadmael says, 'Apothecary Cadmael says, 'Goodness gracious! Those vile cretins were actually summoning entites from nether-realms of Bertoxxulous? Thank Marr you were able to stop them!''

    Having banished Vaxztn the Putrifier back to Bertoxxulous' realm, Oceangreen Village's disease problem should soon abade.
    Your faction standing with Bayle's Irregulars got better.
    Your faction standing with Residents of the Glade got better.
    Your faction standing with Oceangreen Residents got better.
    Your faction standing with Cirtan, Bayle's Herald got better.

    Rewards:

    50 Chronobines
    Experience
    Faction
    Crest Left Upper Field Frame
    Submitted by: Kynsh
    Rewards:
    Send a Correction
    « Previous 1 2
    Post Comment
    Important Note
    # Apr 18 2023 at 5:01 PM Rating: Excellent
    *
    112 posts
    You have to include the quotation marks of the phrase you get... If you don't use quotations it won't work. Luckily some included this information down lower.
    Another terrible SoD quest
    # Dec 21 2021 at 1:42 PM Rating: Good
    Avatar
    *
    173 posts
    The mobs in the room have completely FUBARed agro and pathing. We regularly got mobs from across the room agroing us for no reason at all. Then we'd be fighting a mob and it would randomly decide to run across the room and agro 6 more mobs and come back to us. Multiple times we spent 20 straight minutes fighting endless mobs because the pathing and agro is so completely jacked.
    Phrase not working
    # Sep 14 2021 at 3:58 PM Rating: Decent
    3 posts
    This is a super old quest now, but for those having trouble making it work, I think you have to read both pages before the /say will work. I read both on one toon and only the manual on the other. The phrase worked perfectly on first toon but I couldn't get it to work on second, trying tricks here, moving around, etc. Same phrase on both so I know I copy and pasted it right. I finally read the other page I got too (the cipher) and it worked on the very next /say.
    Phrase not working
    # Nov 19 2021 at 3:19 PM Rating: Decent
    Scholar
    23 posts
    There is also a time delay, of when one toon can spawn vs the next. Maybe a few minutes in between.
    Phrase not working
    # Mar 07 2023 at 1:35 AM Rating: Excellent
    Avatar
    *
    64 posts
    Looks like it's a 3 minute delay
    ____________________________
    https://pro.PathToEternity.pro
    Correction to last part
    # Sep 30 2015 at 10:18 PM Rating: Decent
    #2 and #3 are reversed.

    If you get the second or third things to translate then reverse the two in the write up.

    So corrections should be:

    Devise a way to activate the document's power in the correct location 0/1 (Temple of Bertoxxulous)
    The Manual received can be one of three manuals. Which one you get is random.
    1) "Ool tn avvbnm oeimph jcgu tcxwgf vvrle ribqu Hux buwb bh rvlegas fjoye ovmb gjs cttn nce vvr kezcfa qt gae Rwfq qt Cxszqzrpqr"
    2) "Ys shur wie dcqbey ewgj hux brquuv kr poxavvr hux Doasnus Yhrj ewgj chk frmgu Czy aaot Prthbqxatchu hux Utkzrcb Bge"
    3) "Dsemodfiyqif ulkagru if pizp qbtfhitowb Jg qnel axca vvr Wiymofg Zbkd zw grpr n aexizq qt qbvovs cgggblkvqr"

    They translate to:

    1) "May an unholy blight wash across these lands The boon of disease shall open the path for the return of the Lord of Pestilence"
    2) "Bertoxxulous blesses us with corruption We call upon the Disease Lord to send a herald of divine pestilence"
    3) "We foul our bodies with the blight we worship the Disease Lord with our flesh All hail Bertoxxulous the Unclean One"

    Factions Adjusted
    # Jun 29 2015 at 1:32 AM Rating: Good
    Scholar
    *
    77 posts
    Hailing -
    Bayle's Irregulars +34
    Residents of the Glade +3
    Oceangreen Residents +3

    Reward Completion -
    Citran, Bayle's Herald +41
    Seems to work fine
    # Nov 16 2014 at 12:06 PM Rating: Decent
    L78 Shaman + J1 Tank + dog all heavily buffed from guild lobby. In retrospect it was probably just about doable molo without heavy buffing, just quicker and easier.

    For the first part of the quest to get the parchments I invis'd north out of zone in then east and south to the corridors and small room SE of the fountain room. There are two roamers in the corridors: one golem and one (usually low level) cultist which both drop parchments. The roamers are on about a 10 minute timer. I progressed to the room and found half a dozen cultists which were not too tough, spread out and which were single pull-able with care. The refresh timer on this room is 45 min with an occasional wanderer from the corridor. I had 5/7 pieces after the first room clear but because of bad luck on drops it took me two more leisurely clearances as they re-popped.

    I did notice a bug when I had 6/7 except plague and the quest window claimed I had completed. I carried on regardless and got plague and all was well.

    For the second part of the quest I decoded clue (many thanks for those who here have done this for us) which turned out as #3 and just cut and paste the dialogue into a hotkey as described. Absolutely no problem at all.

    When I zoned in for the second part I bumped into two other similar level players on the same quest so we grouped. We were then left with the choice of frontal assault north or sneak round invis. The High Priest was currently standing in the fountain room which precluded an invisible sneak that way. Given this and our unexpectedly tough group we opted to slowly assault north which worked but was quite tough.

    We virtually cleared the altar room and were preparing to trigger the named but we kept getting re-pops and retreated to the NE corner - which is the recommended camp for this task. Then it became straightforward to clear the area around the altar from re-pops and trigger the named.

    Of interest, two in the group had completely different phrases so we had to kill the named twice but it re-summoned just 5 minutes after we killed it the first time.

    Definitely invis round to the north east and camp the NE corner of the altar room as other posters have recommended, by far the easiest way if the High Priest (who sees invis) is not in your way.


    Bugged
    # Mar 19 2014 at 10:33 AM Rating: Decent
    **
    641 posts
    Been trying to finish this on my warrior alt, no problem collectin all 7 pages and getting them translated but when it comes to saying the phrase in front of the altar.... geez.
    Started off by getting the 2nd phrase to say.
    Dropped invis and lev, got rid of all mercenaries, cleared every mob in sight, stood on the skull in the circle in front of the altar, tried /say, tried making a hotkey, triple checked the spelling, added quotation marks and removed quotation marks AND dropped the task and got it again.
    On 2nd try I got the 3rd phrase, same deal standing in front of the altar, no lev or mercs or invis or mobs around, no illusion on, tried both /say and hotkey, moved all around the skull and circle on the floor spamming the phrase and still nothing. I've typed the phrase exactly as it appears, capital letters and all.
    Anyone know what I'm missing or should I just petition the darned thing? It's the last task needed to complete Bayle's Heraldic Crest on the warrior.
    ____________________________
    Donbayne 100 Rng - Uinian 100 Dru - Breru 100 Sk - Nyenie 82 Brd - Ruusan 76 Clr - Braru 75 Mag - Syqen 100 Shm EQ Stromm/Luclin
    3rd dialogue
    # Feb 14 2014 at 11:35 PM Rating: Decent
    -REDACTED-
    15 posts
    I completed the quest with my ranger by saying the 3rd Dialogue(Bertoxxulous-etc) by preseting a Social and using. It worked on 1st try


    Talar
    3rd trans worked fine for me
    # Jan 26 2014 at 8:44 PM Rating: Decent
    Scholar
    22 posts
    Got the 3rd translation on both my toons just now 01/26/2014 and worked fine. Just had to wait a few on the 2nd one.
    The 3rd Translation
    # Jan 14 2014 at 1:20 PM Rating: Decent
    26 posts
    Hi,
    The third translation in the line up above DOES NOT work I tried 3 or 4 times before deciding to try to get a different manual by restarting the quest.I had to restart the quest 4 times all together to get a different manual.I do know the second one works for sure because my real life bf had that one and he was able to get the named spawn first try this was as of January 13th 2014. Today the 14th I am going in to try and finish this quest along with my man finally getting to finish his he has been waiting for me to catch up with him .
    translation wrong
    # Dec 13 2013 at 1:48 AM Rating: Default
    the 2nd one is correct also so i suggest redo if u get the third (
    translation wrong
    # Dec 13 2013 at 1:05 AM Rating: Default
    The first one is correct but the third is wrong
    i transfated the third on and got 3 differances all the "a" s came out as "z"s in my translation but my translation didnt work either and the above is obviously what it was ment to translate too
    Quick reference for the OP'd big toons doing this
    # Aug 13 2013 at 9:00 AM Rating: Decent
    Scholar
    *
    100 posts
    (1) Set up a campfire at the quest giver and take the quest with all toons (was boxing 3 here).

    (2) Go into the temple just rip your way to the altar, these guys were trivial to us (96s). Don't think any parchments dropped until we got to the alter room so that's one place to clear (others were mentioned but we didn't get any off the mobs along the way to the altar via the straight path).

    [We only had to clear the altar room twice+ to get all loots. The (+) is for this: there seems to be a place to get the guardian to almost chain spawn and we used that after the second clear. That's where my 3rd toon got his last 2. No idea if one was rarer than another, they all quickly got to 5. #6 took a bit and the wait was for #7 but random chance would make that true so a claim to "rare one" is probably not true]

    (3) Take your campfire token back to the quest giver and do the turnins, make sure you're on the step that says "Devise a way to ...." .

    (4) Make socials to do the text! It doesn't always work the first try, you'll be p'd off if you type all that in and it doesn't work. Using Kynsh's phrasing, my social lines were:

    /say May an unholy blight wash across these lands The boon of disease shall open the path for the return of the Lord of Pestilence
    /say We foul our bodies with the blight we worship the Disease Lord with our flesh All hail Bertoxxulous the Unclean One
    /say Bertoxxulous blesses us with corruption We call upon the Disease Lord to send a herald of divine pestilence

    [caps probably don't matter but took no chances including single spaces between all words and no spaces at the end. For my 3 toons, I set up the first guy before going in and used the respawn time to do the other two]

    (5) Head back to the altar, you may be able to get by the earlier mobs with invis but, being high level, it won't matter much for time. Go back and clear the altar room. When you've cleared the needed mobs, stand on the skull (circle area, center of room) and use your macro. Others warned "NO INVIS", "NO LEV". Named mob spawns, kill him and repeat. There may be a one minute timer or thereabouts, it surely took me more than one minute to set up the next social (since copy-n-paste isn't allowed).




    Quick reference for the OP'd big toons doing this
    # Nov 04 2013 at 4:23 PM Rating: Decent
    2 posts
    Endurain wrote:
    (since copy-n-paste isn't allowed).


    You can set a key or key combination to paste from clipboard in options, keys tab, select 'all' from the drop-down menu.
    worked tonight....
    # Feb 25 2013 at 1:06 AM Rating: Excellent
    **
    782 posts
    Got it to work, no problem. Used the text from Kynsh's post from 11/2/08, but without the quotes. Had clicked off SoE, and was not invis. Had 3 mercs up in the group. Worked for all three toons on the quest, on the very first try, with one slight caveat that I hadn't seen mentioned in this thread. Once the quest has been done, the boss spawned and killed, the next player can't do the /say and spawn of the boss for some set time. Not sure exactly what it is, but it's at least one minute.

    Other than that little speed bump, the info in this thread was spot on.

    Tat
    ____________________________
    Tatanka Wolfdancer, 115 Wood Elf Druid, 9 x 300+ Master Artisan, 7 maxed trophies (dang research! :)
    Michone, 115 Troll Shadowknight
    Anaceup Mysleeves, 115 Erudite Mage, 2 x 300 Master Artisan
    Snookims Whinslow, 112 Erudite Enchanter, 2 x 300 Master Artisan
    <Inisfree>, Tunare (Seventh Hammer!)
    Phrases?
    # Feb 03 2013 at 4:20 PM Rating: Decent
    Do you have to hold the cipher or the manual on your cursor while saying the phrase? Do you say in English or in gibberish? are mercs allowed?

    I think I have tried everything listed here and nothing works!!!
    Phrases?
    # Feb 06 2013 at 7:07 PM Rating: Decent
    Cooze62 wrote:
    Do you have to hold the cipher or the manual on your cursor while saying the phrase? Do you say in English or in gibberish? are mercs allowed?

    I think I have tried everything listed here and nothing works!!!


    Having the same problem. Poster below says the text is wrong.
    My 2 cents
    # Mar 07 2012 at 6:38 PM Rating: Decent
    Completed with 76 mage with EM1 pet, 76 druid and 2 cleric mercs.

    Mostly as per BPrefontaine commented. Didn't use quotes when saying the phrase, mercs were up, no lev or invis buffs. Cleared the golems at the base of the altar as well as the three static spawns over the skull on the floor and a few roamers who path up to the altar area. No nameds were up in the immediate vicinity.

    Getting the scraps was not difficult, I collected 3 full sets in a few hours of killing mobs. You cannot pre-loot the scraps, make sure you get the quest from Apothecary Cadmael first before collecting.
    My 2 cents
    # Jan 22 2013 at 8:41 PM Rating: Decent
    Scholar
    *
    74 posts
    Please notice the sentences to say listed above DO NOT MATCH the phrase on the translated scroll. I pre-set a /say command with the phrase on that scroll and said it a dozen times before coming here and copying these phrases, one of which worked.
    My 2 cents
    # Feb 06 2013 at 7:06 PM Rating: Decent
    zyskyn wrote:
    Please notice the sentences to say listed above DO NOT MATCH the phrase on the translated scroll. I pre-set a /say command with the phrase on that scroll and said it a dozen times before coming here and copying these phrases, one of which worked.

    Ok... so what is it?
    Trouble spawning Vaxztn
    # Jun 12 2011 at 7:09 AM Rating: Decent
    OK, took me several attempts to duo this one with my boxed lvl 81 mage and wizzy. A few observations:

    1- Best place to set up camp was indeed, following Kirbyramz advice, the right side at the back of the throne/altar room (north east).

    2- Quickest way to set up that camp without encountering any see invivible mobs is to go through the connecting room and secret passages on the east side of the altar room, rather than fight your way through the altar room.

    3- Once you set up camp in the northeast corner, it's possible to clear the altar by killing as few as 5 or 6 static mobs (you managed to pull singles, pairs or threesomes but had to evac when pulling 4 or more at once). After clearing altar and throne you get at least a 5 minute window to rest/buff/try summoning the named. Agro area of static mobs is small, but you still have to watch out for roamers.

    4- Getting Vaxztn to spawn required many attempts. Here's what finally worked for me:
    - create a hot key with the right message;
    - include the double quotation marks " at both ends of the sentence and the capitalized letters;
    - remove your invis and levitation buffs;
    - suspend ALL the mercs in your group (even those not trying to spawn Vaxztn);
    - hit the "escape" key so you have nothing targetted, then hit your hot key.

    Good luck!
    zone notes
    # Feb 18 2010 at 8:22 AM Rating: Decent
    40 posts
    Did anyone else have trouble with the Corrupted parchment scrap? Going into this i figured there would be one that would be a pain to get, that i'd get a bunch of duplicates before getting the last one. But about 45 minutes after getting all but the corrupted i started counting the pages cause I was getting so many duplicates (killing with top gear 85 rogue and ranger, mobs going down in seconds). I got well over 100 duplicates before getting the corrupted page.

    An interesting zone note though, several mobs see through Rogue Shroud of Stealth, very odd for a lower level non-raid zone.
    On the plus side though, the mobs have low agro ranges and they all drop lots of random flawless trade skill items (animal pelts, silk etc)
    zone notes
    # Feb 23 2013 at 1:21 PM Rating: Excellent
    **
    782 posts
    I collected 3 sets, took a total of maybe 2 hours. For me, Soiled and Defiled were the last ones to get. I saw TONS of corrupted. I really just think it's random. Or it may depand on what mob type you pull, I don't know. I pulled from the room just north of the zone in (with all the golems), and then the room east of that (the Library?).

    Tat
    ____________________________
    Tatanka Wolfdancer, 115 Wood Elf Druid, 9 x 300+ Master Artisan, 7 maxed trophies (dang research! :)
    Michone, 115 Troll Shadowknight
    Anaceup Mysleeves, 115 Erudite Mage, 2 x 300 Master Artisan
    Snookims Whinslow, 112 Erudite Enchanter, 2 x 300 Master Artisan
    <Inisfree>, Tunare (Seventh Hammer!)
    Quest is Repeatable
    # Jan 02 2010 at 8:10 PM Rating: Good
    Guru
    Avatar
    ***
    2,467 posts
    I just got the quest again on my enchanter to see if repeatable. Since I've already made the crest, it gives only chronobines and experience as rewards.
    not prelootable
    # Dec 03 2009 at 8:23 PM Rating: Good
    Scholar
    *
    117 posts
    unlike most of the other quests the pages for this one are not prelootable.
    Good decipher
    # Oct 26 2009 at 10:05 AM Rating: Decent
    Good job, whoever first deciphered thes messages.

    For thoe who want to Know, this is an example of "One-Time-Pad Cipher"
    The "One-Time-Pad" is given in the "completed Cultist Cipher" as "CONTAGION"
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------
    To encipher a clear-text mesage
    Assign each letter a value: a=0, b=1 ... z=25
    Add the value of the one-time-pad, in this case "contagion" to each letter.
    If the result is greater than 25, subtract 26.
    Turn that back into a letter.
    Voila, ciphered mesage.

    May an unholy blight wash across these lands ...
    con ta gionco ntagio ncon tagion conta gionc ...
    Ool tn avvbnm oeimph jcgu tcxwgf vvrle ribqu ...
    -----------------------------------------------------------------
    To decipher:
    Assign each letter a value: a=0, b=1 ... z=25
    Subtract the value of the one-time-pad, in this case "contagion" to each letter.
    If the result is less than 0, add 26.
    Turn that back into a letter.
    Voila, clear-text mesage.

    Ool tn avvbnm oeimph jcgu tcxwgf vvrle ribqu ...
    con ta gionco ntagio ncon tagion conta gionc ...
    May an unholy blight wash across these lands ...


    Edited, Oct 26th 2009 12:06pm by ShadrokTrellos
    Spawning
    # Aug 25 2009 at 6:22 PM Rating: Decent
    Me and my husband had no issue spawning this mob. We cleared out the golems at the alter, cleared the roamers that walk onto the skull image on the floor and cleared the mobs that spawn to the right of the skull if you are standing at the alter. Uninvis and without targeting a mob I said the words and he spawned. It did NOT work with the quotes in it. And having our mercs out had no effect whatsoever.
    « Previous 1 2
    Post Comment

    Free account required to post

    You must log in or create an account to post messages.