Entrance is secret, yes. :
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Ok i understand u gotta lit them in order to open chest. will see now what happens
EDİT: Only loot dropped i was expecting a boss spawn in order to open chest lol
So it turns out the Black Lodge has two bosses hiding in it:
No idea how to trigger them. As for the secret in the Mammoth Burial Grounds, lighting the monoliths only nets you a legendary gear and a blood bound totem 
Not a quest item as I assumed it might.
what happen if you fail the riddles? the boss doesn’t trigger?
I tried it last night, if you fail and keep failing you end up fighting a boss at the end, it didnt drop anything unique or seem to do anything else though.
Edit: Thats funny the fulminated tree was to help that guy, I guess all of us just empowered the curse thats why we didnt realize haha
Hmmmn, this I think might require some data mining to work out, because Crate’s hidden it all way to deep in a beaver dam this time…
Unlike the GDX1/Ashes of Malmouth quest, datamining is not required.
You have all you need in-game for this quest.
E: For newcomers, anyone with a Praetorian tag on the forums has playtested/been exposed to this quest and is under strict orders not to reveal anything. But rest assured we are following this thread closely!
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Oh I know what we have to do, namely stab a beaver gnawed statue with Shadowheart, but the statue is proving a bit too twisty to work out.
Has anyone taken the Patched Notes with Shadowheart to Rik’Rik and Muk’Muk? Maybe we dont need to know the language, just show them what needs to be done.
I am near the Black Lodge to get my Patched Notes and can test that out today if someone else doesn’t get to it before me.
Nah, nothing happened when I had those items… Maybe though we need to equip Shadowheart?
Edit - nope, fluff knows how to do this as equipping Shadowheart didn’t work 
Has anyone run the Mammoth cave more than once to unlock the chest, or used Occollorum on the mushroom circle?
The last stone in the sequence says that a horn was hidden in that cave, I wonder if there actually is an item in here that we need for the secret quest. Once I am done looking for loose torches and stones along the cave walls I will log out and try a second run on the chest.
Edit: No loose torches/stones that I have seen, logging out to run the chest again. I do not have Occullorum unlocked yet so I cant verify that.
Edit 2: Chest disappears after you complete the puzzle. Cant redo the puzzle either.
I had that thought last night I gave it to a character and attacked a training dummy 10 times because I thought maybe thats what it was referring to but no such luck, in the past the secret quests only required having the sword in your inventory which makes sense because not every build is going to have the point spread to equip without respeccing and I dont think the devs would do that to us.
@Jaaro I hadnt seen any secrets in there when I went through but I also dont have occullorum yet, ive been grinding the rep though and maybe by tomorrow I can get it and start checking circles out
So I wanted to flag this image again that @Joneleth posted yesterday when looking for mushroom circles:
Looking over the area, there is clearly a door just above the identified mushroom circle:
The “There is magic in this area…” message is unprompted by Occullorum use, and is different from one of the ones you get when using Occullorum on a mushroom circle:
My thought on this is that the message is for the door and not the mushroom circle in that area. Or that particular mushroom circle is related to the secret quest. Or both, just theorizing.
Edit:
These are also clearly images of beavers fighting a tentacle or plant of some sort:
Hmmn, I think we might need the MI that drops from the Beronath fight as well, since there’s a quest associated with it.
Hmmmn, did some data mining, seems there’s a Lua script that involves this and involves Shadowheart it seems by the tags.
Someone else needs to decode it though, because I have no idea what’s going on aside from the Shadowheart swords There’s some tags though pointing to that door, and how to get the carving… But alas, I art a gumby so don’t trust me on that.
I suspect there’s an area we haven’t found yet, which gives log(s) for the carving.
There is not however a quest file tying it all together, because Crate hid it all in scripting triggers. Though I can also say Beronath’s MI is not involved 
Right, I need a bloody coffee already.
This is a really great find, I hadnt noticed those paintings but you’re right. It is interesting thought that they depict three creatures in a lot of them but we have only found two beavers so far? I am going to explore that area again see if I can get some inspiration.
Edit: I am not sure if anyone here has mentioned it before, but have we looked at the text of the Alymira notes and considered that might be related?? The fourth note is found in that location, and if @Jaaro is right about that location being important it would make sense. The notes also mention bargaining with shadows, if we think it will help I can post the text for the four notes Ive found, has anyone found a fifth?
Edit 2: Bois I might be cooking, there are beavers just to the south of the pilgrims rest rift, who thinks they can kite one to the fairy ring or the sigil on the ground?? Imma give it a try but others should as well I doubt it will be easy
@The_Mess mentioned needing to find logs for carving, the spot that makes the most sense to find those is Gyvers Mill in the Blood Grove.
I am checking that out now.
Edit: Nothing found at the mill. Im not ready to rule it out though.
@Cato, I bet that the Alymira notes are related since they deal with a story about a clan brought to its knees by the beaver people. I am re-reading them while I scout the mill.
Beaver edit:
Tried kiting, they ran back to their den despite my best efforts to kite and attack them gently. If this is a Flameond Bleu type situation we should keep an eye out for a unique Beaver in the area.
Second Beaver edit:
Re-read the notes. I misremembered the details of the clan, although they did make their fortune on beaver pelts it doesn’t sound like the beast that destroyed them was a Kastorran. If anything, it sounds like Alymira gave birth to Beronath but thats a stretch. It could be a description of the secret boss, I figured it was going to be Zantai but it could be a Chimera-beast-thing instead. As always, this is heavily speculative.
Mine was a dead end as well, couldnt get the beavers to go far enough they would always turn back at a certain point. Ill get pictures of the notes and post them in an edit on this message
Edit: The lore notes are super long and would require like 3 screenshots each which would clutter the thread, if people really want I can but otherwise ill try to just get the text
Edit 2: Transcribed for your reading pleasure by Cato:
"Alymira’s Envy Part 1
Hearken and attend the tale of Alymira’s Sin, for it is the story of our end. Let it be a lesson written in blood and sorrow, a warning against the poison of envy and the folly of bargaining with shadows. For I, Halvor, last Skald of the Avingar Kurn, commit this cursed tale as the final record of our tribe…
All Kurn know well the great wealth of the Avingar; wrought from the pelts of lowly Kastorrans. Our great hall gilded with Arkovian gold, was a marvel of the Krun; our cook pots always full, our herd-stock plentiful and our weapons keen for the hunt.
Chieftain Vorlag was a man of strength, hiw two daughters his pride. Lyra, the younger one, as beautiful and lithe as a mountain flower, was bound to Dyfid, the handsome son of a Kastorran pelt trader, whose wealth flowed like the northern rivers. But Alymira, the older sister, felt she should have married first and watched them with eyes green as a serpent’s, her heart a nest of vipers.
On a moonless night, Alymira crept not to her bed, but to a forest clearing where the cursed Standing Stones of the Forgotten Ones still stood, dark memorial to time beyond record. There, she whispered her deisre to the darkness, and the darkness answered. A shadow with crimson embers for eyes coiled around her soul, promising Dyfid’s embrace in exchange for her first-born child. The fool, blinded by her love sickness and envy, agreed.
What came to her in the ruins wore Dyfid’s face, but it was not him. It was a vessel of rot, a hollow thing that left a seed of damnation in her womb."
Wow ok right away there seems like there could be hints, mentions of standing stones and forgotten ones could be the location the last note is found, also there is a the expedition notes from the start of the DLC that mention a man that looks like a man but actually leads the Kastorrans to kill the explorer?? Ill post this edit and write up the next part.
Edit 3:
"Alymira’s Envy Part 2
Alymira woke alone in that cursed circle, her back upon a cold stone slab in its center. She hurriedly returned to the village and slipped into her bed just as the first light of morning shone from behind the dark, imposing mountains.
In the days that followed, Alymira found excuses to be in Dyfid’s presence but he paid her no more attention than before; never giving her even the slightest loving glance, making no acknowledgment of what she belied they had shared. Alymira finally confronted him when he was alone but Dyfid called her mad, denying he had ever met her at the stones and hurried off.
Alymira started to wonder if it were all perhaps some mad dream but soon her belly began to grow at an alarming speed. After a short time, she was unable to hide the physical manifestations of her misdeed and was brought before her father. Frightened and desperate she accused the innocent Dyfid of forcing himself upon her.
Dyfid was dragged before Vorlag; his betrothed, Lyra weeping and broken, stood behind her father. “You lie!” he roared, pointing furiously at Alymira, his voice cracking with batrayal. “May whatever unnatural thing grows inside you be your undoing!” Mad with grief and rage, he fled into the wilds, never to be seen again, his spirit broken by the weight of her falsehood.
Alymira’s pregnancy continued to progress at an pace that was not natural and the end of the moon cycle, her belly was so distened she could not walk and lay groaning in pain. Strange impressions could be seen pressing and scraping against her stomach from within their prison of flesh. The Midwives attending her were unnerved and reported different bizzare claims, saying they heard strange sound from within Alymira or saw the impression of hooves or claws pressing out from her womb.
Chieftain Vorlag, his face a mask of grief and shame, was forced to make a terrible choice. Some called for the girl to be burned alive before the evil insider her could be birthed but Vorlag would not commit his own daughter to such a horrific end. Instead he had Alymira walled alive in a storage hut, her screams a lament for our entire tribe. For three nights, we listened to her torment, each cry a twist of the knife in our collective hearts.
Then, silence."
Edit 4:
"Alymira’s Envy Part 3
When all though the horror over, they broke through the wall to see what had become of Alymira. The scene was a canvas from the hells. Alymira’s body was torn asunder, and crouching over her remains was a spawn of corruption- a small chimera with a mass of half-formed heads, bear, mountain goat, and other, eyes flowing with malevolent intelligence as a tail of twin, venomous snakes writhed behind it.
The abomination had been nourishing itself upon its mothers flesh, blood still fresh upon its maws. The onlookers were so deeply disturbed by what they saw, each stood paralyzed with horror as the lithe creature scuttled between their legs with blurring speed and vanished into the dark cover of the forest before any could react.
Vorlag, hearing the horrific tale was utterly broken. He called his warrior before him and roared, his voice raw with grief, “That thing is my shame! it is the end of my line and the stain upon our honor! I charge you, my hunters, my brother - find it! Slay it! Cleanse our world of its taint!”
He then drew his dagger and uttered his final words; “You must promise to fulfill this final, sacred duty, for I cannot live to see it through!” and with that, he plunged the knife into his heart and crumpled to the ground."
I definitely agree that this chimera creature being referenced could be the secret boss, also still might be @Zantai
Edit 5:
"Alymira’s Envy Part 4
The hunt began. Our bravest warriors, led by Vorlag’s brother Hakon, pursued the creature into the depths of the forest. They found evidence of its passing, digested leavings filled with devoured animals, starting with small game and quickly growing over weeks into deer and bears. But the beast was cunning. It led them into bogs and ravines, separating them one by one. Thereafter, the fewmets of the beast contained human remains.
Within a season, half of our warriors were dead or lost to the forest’s depths. The remaining Avingar Kurn were a ghost people, our numbers dwindling, our spirit crushed; some driven to the brink of madness. Our great hall lies empty and dark as each day, more chose to flee the village and leave this horror behind. Now none are left: the Avingar Kurn scattered like leaves in the wind.
I am the last, the Skald Halvor, keeper of memories that now bring only pain and revulsion. I write this as a final account of our doom and a warning to any who would think to make bargains with the shadows. The beast was never slain. It still haunts these woods, they say, grown fat on its feasting, its chittering cry a herald of doom for any who stray too far from the fire.
So heed this tale, and let it be carved into your memory. Let Alymyra’s envy be your caution, and her doom your warning. I would that you remember our people, the Avingar Kurn but perhaps it is better we are forgotten to time…"
Whooo that was a lot of typing, the last note does seem to potentially have some hints as well, isnt Halvor an enemy we can still find in game? I believe I had a bounty for him earlier today (double checked and no that was Holvir not Holvar). Lots to consider but my fingers are tired and imma take a bit to let others throw some ideas around.
Lol, I was like why was I tagged in these lore notes…
No, I did not put myself in the game, guys.
As cathartic as it would be for many of you to beat me up.
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They’ll be in FoA areas, not the rest of the world. In theory. And I suspect given how weaved in Beavers are with this, they’re probably lurking in Kastorian areas. Maybe a secret one like the Mammoth Graveyard.
I have no idea how to load up the world levels for this expansion though, otherwise I’d be digging into the editor to work it all out