A Ransom Letter...

Greetings, fellow Britannians.

I come to you on behalf of Trinsic Village to seek your assistance in a matter of some urgency.

A crew of our residents headed to the Painted Caves on a mining expedition. We expected them back yesterday, but they did not return home. We assumed the work was going well and they decided to camp out overnight, no need to worry. Today, at dusk, just as the village was beginning to stir with worry, I came to discover a blackened heavy metal chest on my doorstep. Affixed to its lid was a note:

It seems the unthinkable has happened, and the crew -- our friends -- have been kidnapped (or worse), and the villain responsible is toying with us!

Without further information, we are forced to play their vile game. We cannot do this alone.

There is not much to go on, we know. Our only hope is that some brave adventurers can somehow come across these nine keys, assuming they even exist, and bring them to us to open the chest, thus solving the riddle and freeing our friends from whatever fate they may have suffered.

Work together, and help us save our friends! If we do not act now, then who knows how far the scourge will go?

Interesting...

Might this help?

This bird sounds untrustworthy and potentially evil.

"HELP US...TRAPPED INSIDE...BIRDS EVIL...DO NOT TRUST"


Where's Obi Wan Kenobi when you need him?

right here lol

Did you find a book with the keys?

Got a book from the magpie on the emerald.

yes i got both books

I've found these two keys so far. Did not find any books with them.

my main question is am i going to be able to keep these keys as deco or are they going to disappear after they are used on that box , cuz i do not see them on the compendium

Did the keys and books drop off of a Magpie? Or just hidden around the world?

in most player run events the way people get items onto things is a mob that will loot your corpse , so they hold that item only on them and let the mob kill them and it will loot their corpse and they will be holding that item in their pack after that , birds can not do that so nothing will be on an actual bird , also it will have to be set up where the key and book does not decay so not on ground

I know of several places not in houses where there is no item decay that could be used for quests... if anyone wants to use this info, let me know,

Another letter arrived just now, affixed to the door of one of our village's small towers. It is addressed to no one in particular. I am sickened by the content but feel compelled to share it so you too can understand how despicable this "magpie" is.

An outrage! To imply any of you has abandoned the Virtues and given in to vile and evil acts! I know better of my friends and comrades than to see you stoop to villainy.

We are steadfast in our goal. Already some of you have approached me having found some of the keys! Alas, they do exist! I am grateful for your safekeeping until we have located all nine, for we cannot unlock the chest without the full set, and there are too many watching eyes here for them to be safe with us at this time. We do not yet know the strength and numbers of our enemy, or what this "magpie" might do to intervene.

what is the status on this event not sure i have seen much other than a few posts , how many keys found

Im a bit lost but trying to find those keys haha

i have stumbled on mine and searched aimlessly all over to look for rest , imo this event needs more direction plus noone answered my question on the keys being able to be kept for deco

Now that this quest has been ongoing for a few days and players have, collectively, already found (nearly?) a complete set of keys, here are some details on the event.

The Objective: Collect a complete set of the nine mysterious keys.
The Reward: Find out what is in the box, and keep whatever is inside.

The last key of the first complete set was distributed yesterday. More keys will be released over the coming days and weeks to give more players a chance to collect and turn in the set. The initial set was trickled out very slowly, to assess the difficulty level in finding them.

There will only be a total of five complete sets distributed in the world. Each player to turn in a complete set will receive a handsome prize. The first player to turn in a complete set will also receive a unique trophy to commemorate their achievement.

When the first complete set is turned in, the community will be invited to participate in the conclusion at a scheduled time in the next 24h afterward (to maximize opportunity for participation).

I defer to the finders of each key to decide whether and how they share how they were able to acquire them.

Keys turned in for the quest will be returned and may be kept for deco. Once a key has been turned in once for the quest, that key becomes ineligible to be turned in as part of another set.

Earlier this evening, a lady of the Lake came to Trinsic Village bearing all nine gemstone keys.

Needless to say, I was... stunned. Not only do they actually exist, just as the magpie said, but all of them were right there, before my eyes. The villagers here had already begun to lose hope that our friends would ever return. What a ray of optimism this turn of events brought on! Whispers had already begun to stir and hope again brightened our spirits.

We hurried to the chamber where the charred chest has been kept. Quickly, we turned the nine gemstone keys. With a loud click, the lid snapped unlocked! A rush of exhileration swept over for having bested this dastardly magpie character, but was immediately washed away by the stench beginning to fill the air.

A stench of death.

Slowly pushing the lid back revealed what the magpie meant by our friends being released when opening the chest.

Aegis. Dominique. Charlie. Helga. Tael.

What the magpie did to them was beyond evil. Dismembered and clumsily packed into a box. Clearly this magpie is intelligent enough to communicate, so why such barbarism?

This will not stand. We will have our revenge.

In the past week, we have hired scouts to follow any suspicious birds in the area. Using the information from of the Lake on her encounters in locating the keys, combined with the patterns observed by our scouts, we may have the location of a major hub of magpie activity.

It will take us a couple of days to gather supplies for the journey.

When the time comes, we invite everyone to take up arms and join the fight, as we seek vengeance upon the magpie and its "friends."

When:
Thursday, December 17, 2020
6:00 PM US Pacific / 8:00 PM US Central / 9:00 PM US Eastern

Where:
Trinsic Village public moongate

What:
We will be exploring a strange hole in the ground that undoubtedly leads to something dangerous. Come prepared for war.

My naturalist will be there.