SOE has posted a preview of the zones Lower Guk and Guk Stronghold in the upcoming The Shadow Odyssey expansion, which is expected to be released on Nov. 18.

The preview is full of EverQuest lore and descriptions, including the awakening of Warlord Ykesha by adventuring trolls in Guk Stronghold and the clan of undead trolls and frogloks that fight under his command in Lower Guk.

For the full post, check EQ2 Players or keep reading below.

Long ago, in the Elder Age, Warlord Ykesha removed himself from the public eye. He was nowhere to be found, yet, he never left the halls of Guk...

During his absence, Clan Ykesha fell to the might of the Clan Broken Skull. After the carnage, the froglok army entered Guk and captured the fortress city.

The Stronghold of Ykesha is the secret district of the fortress city of Guk. Warlord Ykesha, fearing assassination and the theft of his treasure, built the Stronghold to hide himself and the powerful artifact known as the Grozmok Stone.

During the fighting, the stone would be stolen by Clan Broken Skull, but found its way back to Ykesha during the Age of War. It was also in the Stronghold that the curse which would overtake all of Guk was spawned.

All was quiet while Warlord Ykesha slept, but when adventuring trolls discovered the hidden fortress within a fortress and brought with them the Grozmok stone, Ykesha awoke.

The unfortunate trolls unwittingly brought doom upon themselves, and the rest of the troll nation. Once awakened, Ykesha renewed his efforts to conquer his troll brethren.

The influence of the Prince of Hate can be greatly felt in the Stronghold. The signs can be seen all around in both the decor and the creatures that wander the halls.

And so it happened that in the age of War the Eternal Warlord, Ykesha, revealed himself to be alive. Or rather, undead. Within the halls of Lower Guk, he sat at the Throne of Might.

From here, he began pushing the mindless undead frogloks into Upper Guk, thinking to cleanse the lower reaches and establishing it as a bunker for his undead troll clan.

Now Lower Guk is occupied by a clan of undead trolls. Warlord Ykesha, however, recruited the intelligent undead frogloks to his cause. Now undead frogloks fight side by side with the new undead Ykesha Clan of Lower Guk.

The district caters to the needs and entertainments of the undead troll clan. There are no sleeping chambers, after all, what need have the dead for sleep... But there is hunger.

Evidence of this can be seen in the horrific chambers that act as slaughterhouses for unwary souls that have been captured in Guk, or sent as sacrifices by the subjugated troll clans of Innothule.