More than forty years ago, the Elves and Netheril had still enjoyed good relations. After Netheril discovered the purpose of the Nether Scrolls, the Elves had taken an interest in them and asked to borrow some for a look.
By then, however, Netheril had already realized how important the scrolls were. Still, the Elves were the senior power, and when they asked, Netheril had handed over two scrolls for them to examine.
But with something so important, Netheril couldn't simply hand it over to someone else and expect to feel at ease. The Elves were so powerful, after all. What if they borrowed the scrolls and never returned them? Netheril needed to send someone along to keep an eye on things.
So Netheril sent a party of escorts and a high-level mage to the High Forest. The High Elf mage went back ahead of them to spread the word.
The entire journey went smoothly, but to their utter surprise, as soon as they reached the High Forest, the scrolls they were escorting had gone missing!
The mages escorting them panicked and searched everywhere, practically turning the earth over. Every living thing in the area was caught up in the chaos. Even the usually mild-mannered Treants grew furious, and the mage, driven to desperation, actually picked a fight with them in the forest...
The entire escort party was wiped out...
The two Nether Scrolls had vanished, too!
Relations between Netheril and the Elves grew strained.
The disappearance of the Nether Scrolls was a major matter, after all. Over the past forty-odd years, Netheril's higher-ups had sent out plenty of people to search for them, but they still hadn't found a single clue.
This had also put the higher-ups on guard. Fearing that the remaining scrolls might be stolen, they had stored