This quest is for a nice item called the glowing black stone and requires a bit of traveling. You need to be level 25 to initiate this quest but I recommend you wait till you are atleast level 30 since the ending boss is level 35 ^^^. When you're ready to start this quest go talk to Scholar Al'Quylar who is behind the Oracle Tower in Antonica. If Al'Quylar isn't up someone may have killed him for the ending part of the quest and it may take an hour or so for him to respawn. After talking to him you will learn that he has found an unusual item and needs something in order to power it. This is where you come in and will have to find two unique power sources to help the scholar out.

The first power source can be located in Nektulos Forest near Tear Drop falls in the pond area. It will appear as a blue crystal which you harvest from the floor to update your quest. After harvesting this crystal you will now have to head to the Thundering Steppes where you will go into the western ocean past the griffon fields. You will keep going west until you find a ship and in the ship's belly you will find another crystal like the one in Nektulos Forest. There are two ships in this area and you may have to search both in order to find the blue crystal power source. Once you have this mighty power source you will have to head back to Al'Quylar who will appear a bit angry handing over some coin for your work.

Your next agenda will be to find two books that reside within the zone known as the Ruins of Varsoon *RoV for short*. You need a book on binding as well as a book on immortality which are located in respective rooms. The book on binding lies in the room where the tome of life spawns just past the weave master if you have done the manastone quest. Grabbing that book you will now head further into RoV where you will find the book on immortality which is where the tome of death resides in. Memorize both these locations because you will have to head back here to kill these two tomes down the course of this quest.

Unfortunately the next part of this quest is a bit of a pain and for some can be a major stopping point. Al'Quylar will demand that you find or construct for him a beautiful Palladium bangle/torque in which to set his stone. This quest use to require the torque however after a revamp it now takes either the torque or the bangle. I have heard rumors that a named mob in stormhold drops a palladium bangle/torque but your best bet is to go hunt for some Palladium. If you don't want to hunt for it you maybe able to find some on your local broker but it may not be cheap. Once you obtain your bangle/torque head back to Al'Quylar who will toss some coin your way as a measly reward for a job well done.

Now that you have satisfied Al'Quylar he will seem a bit odder and more deranged demanding that you head back to RoV this time to kill two minions. This is where the memorizing comes in because you will now head back to each respective room killing the tomes of life and death. If the tomes are not up you will have to kill their Place Holders *PHs* up to 9 times to make them spawn. It can be exhausting doing this so you may have to camp each book respectably unless the zone is clear and you can freely run back and forth killing each PH till the books spawn. With the books dead you will head back to Al'Quylar who will demand you punish Varsoon for some reason.

You need to do the Where Will This Lead Me quest in order to access the zone Varsoon is in. However only one person needs to have access to this zone and he/she can faze everyone into the zone with them. Varsoon is a push over if you have the right people and most people are the appropriate level. After three rounds of tentacled monster mashing a nasty Lamia will spawn who serves her master faithfully. Once you dispatch her Varsoon will get ticked and it is time to take him down for the count.

With Varsoon dead you will now head back to Al'Quylar who will do an imitation of golem from LOTR wanting to kill you fearing you will take his stone away. Al'Quylar is no push over being a powerful level 35 ^^^ monster with a summoned minion. It is best to have your tank talk to him because he will go after whoever he can at will which may spell disaster if he goes after your healer. After killing Al'Quylar you will learn that he was being control by something that was in the stone and upon Al'Quylar's death you will complete your A Strange Black Rock heritage quest. Congratulations on completing another one of EverQuest 2's heritage quests and on receiving your nice new item.