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Quest

Secrets Among the Shelves

A World of Warcraft quest in Maldraxxus. Facts and objectives from the current retail game data.

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Top Comments

The highest voted Wowhead comments for this page. They are community notes, not TheWoWDB comments.

1
Nithu+32via Wowhead (opens the original comment in a new tab)

This quest really threw me at first because I collected all the books, ran to the top of the tower, defeated The Archivist and there was no NPC to turn anything in to. I killed The Archivist several times to no avail. It turned out that as there was another player slightly ahead of me on the stairs, they handed in their quest, and the NPC went off with them. Going back down the stairs a little way, the NPC appeared and I was able to hand in, then get the quest to kill The Archivist.

2
Aerynsun8449+18via Wowhead (opens the original comment in a new tab)

Pretty kewl, kind of a twist on the Nar'thalas academy. You need to avoid the books shooting out from the center, they don't hurt, but they knock you back. Kill the flying books, as you did in Nar'thalas academy, and pick up the highlighted books. Some of the highlighted books don't progress the quest. I think they're just there as fillers or something.

As you go up the steps, some unseen force periodically knocks you back, interrupting casting. I don't believe it caused any damage, just annoying. And once I reached the first landing, that stopped. At the first landing are two more flying books to kill. There is a book shelf on the first landing, but for me at least, there wasn't a book to collect. Next landing has one flying book and off to your right will be one of the books you need to collect.

After that you get to the second floor which is arraigned just like the first, center spinning book shelf that shoots books out that knock you back. For me, there was 5 more books to collect on this floor only two of which was in the quest.

The next set of stairs has balls rolling down, much like the stairs in Black Rook Hold. Being very familiar with that dungeon, I tried to avoid them, but one hit me. And just like that dungeon, it knocks you back. These go on for three flights, at the third floor is a caldron that is spitting out those balls, two flying books, three book shelves and three highlighted books, two of which went to the quest. One of the flying books was stuck in the floor and not targetable, I'm sure by launch it will be fixed.

The flight of stairs going up has something flowing down like a stream of anama or water or something. They're not hard to avoid, I wanted to see what they'd do, so I walked into one, it went around me at first, but on the second pass hit me for a small amount of damage. It did not knock me back. At the first landing up from here, was a highlighted book with three of those beams going back and forth. Not hard to avoid them, picked up the book that finished the quest for me. On the next landing was [npc=166664] to turn the quest in.

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Quest facts

LevelLevel 10-54
ZoneMaldraxxus
Quest ID58622

Check whether you have already completed this quest in-game: /run print(C_QuestLog.IsQuestFlaggedCompleted(58622))

Requirements

Requires all ofSlaylines, Repeat After Me, Kill Them, Of Course

Read from the Blizzard quest API.

What to do

StorylineArchival Protection, step 5 of 8
Rewards36g 50s 40c, 11,050 XP

Description

Now that the door to the Sepulcher is unlocked, we can venture inside. And by "we", I mean "you". Until it's safe, at least. The volumes within contain the collected wisdom of the greatest military minds of Maldraxxus. For the good of the Necrolords, do whatever is needed to gather these precious volumes. It is safe to assume that the books will be protected by traps. The Primus wouldn't want just anyone laying their hands on this knowledge. Once you clear a path, I'll join you.

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Where to go

Pins are the quest’s own POI points from the current retail client, projected onto the in-game zone map. The game marks one blob as the quest’s turn-in; the rest are objective areas. Points that fall outside a map’s window are dropped rather than guessed at.

Maldraxxus Quest turn-in 10 mapped points
Maldraxxus map showing where to go for Secrets Among the ShelvesTurn-inObjective areaObjective areaObjective areaObjective areaObjective areaObjective areaObjective areaObjective areaObjective area

In-game waypoint: /way #1536 41.8 23.6

Coordinates

  • Turn-inMaldraxxus 41.8, 23.6/way #1536 41.8 23.6
  • Objective area (centre of the marked area)Maldraxxus 42.1, 23.3/way #1536 42.1 23.3
  • Objective areaMaldraxxus 43.1, 25.1/way #1536 43.1 25.1

Map coordinates of the pins above. An area the client draws as a shape is given by the centre of its points.

Nearby on the Maldraxxus map

Quests whose map markers the client places closest to this one on Maldraxxus, nearest first. Distances are straight lines between the markers.

Getting there

Flight points closest to the quest’s turn-in marker on Maldraxxus:

  • Spider's Watch, MaldraxxusAlliance and Horde · about 350 yards south-west
  • Keres' Rest, MaldraxxusAlliance and Horde · about 820 yards east
  • The Spearhead, MaldraxxusAlliance and Horde · about 1,300 yards south

From the turn-in, the objective areas lie:

  • Objective areaabout 100 yards south-east

Straight-line distances in yards between the quest’s own map markers (QuestPOI) and the client’s flight-point positions (TaxiNodes); flight paths and terrain are not modelled.

Related
Money36 gold50 silver
Experience11,050 XP
ReputationThe Undying Army +135

Reward details

Reputation: The Undying Army +135

Long ago, the Primus established the five houses of Maldraxxus to build the ultimate fighting force. Through might, cleverness, and guile, this unyielding armada is pledged to defend the Shadowlands against all threats.

Reputation group: Shadowlands.

Other quests in Maldraxxus that reward The Undying Army reputation: Callous Concoctions (+135), The Ladder (+135), ...Even The Most Ridiculous Request! (+135), Pool of Potions (+135), Stuff We All Get (+135), Read Between the Lines (+135).

Item facts are the current retail client’s (ItemSparse); the specialisations for a pick-one item are the ones the Blizzard quest API lists; faction and currency text is the client’s own. Lowest listed price = the US commodity auction house now.

Storyline

Archival Protection

Part 5 of 8.

Previous: Slaylines · Next: Archival Protection

  1. 1Read Between the Lines
  2. 2Repeat After Me
  3. 3Kill Them, Of Course
  4. 4Slaylines
  5. 5Secrets Among the Shelves
  6. 6Archival Protection
  7. 7Trust Fall
  8. 8A Complete Set

Storyline order is the client’s own QuestLine data from the current retail build.

Where this quest fits

Before this quest

Taken from the storyline's own step order.

  • SlaylinesMaldraxxus · Level 10-54

    Gaining entrance to the Sepulcher is no easy feat, <name>! Not only were guardians put in place, but an elaborate magical lock was created to seal the door. To open the way, the two obelisks which control the lock must be fed anima.

After this quest

Taken from the storyline's own step order.

  • Archival ProtectionMaldraxxus · Level 10-54

    The rarest volumes are kept at the top of this tower, protected by an entity called the Archivist. This stoic guardian is incorruptible. Intractable. Completely uninterested in striking a fair bargain! Its utter lack of business acumen is really quite upsetting. Ah, well.

The storyline at a glance

Archival Protection has 8 steps, from Read Between the Lines to A Complete Set.

Maps its steps are placed on (steps per map): Maldraxxus (8).

Steps of this storyline count toward:

Other storylines on the Maldraxxus map

Steps, storylines and map placement from the client’s QuestLine, prerequisite and QuestPOI data; neighbouring quest text is Blizzard’s own (quest API), shortened to its opening sentences.