QUEST 122 · MEMBERS

What Lies Below

A travelling trader has been stranded south of Varrock after his cart was attacked by local outlaws. He needs the help of a hero to recover his lost documents, but that's not all... The Varrock Palace Secret Guard (VPSG) are on the trail of treacherous dealings with the Monks of Zamorak. Will you be able to help the VPSG and uncover what lies below?

What Lies Below — OSRS Wiki quest image
OSRS Wiki image for What Lies Below. OSRS WikiGame image © Jagex Ltd
Difficulty
Intermediate
Length
Short
Quest points
1
Released
27 March 2007
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Before you start

Where to start

Talk to Rat Burgiss south of Varrock.

Recommended

STEP BY STEP

Walkthrough

Follow the chapters below. Click any screenshot or diagram to view it at full size.

Rat Burgiss

Rat Burgiss's location. Open interactive map ↗Map data and tiles: OSRS Wiki · Game imagery © Jagex Ltd

Speak to Rat Burgiss on the crossroads between Varrock and Lumbridge. He tells you that a bunch of outlaws have ransacked his trading cart and that he needs you to get back the five papers they stole from him. He will give you an empty folder to keep them in.

The outlaws' campsite. Open interactive map ↗Map data and tiles: OSRS Wiki · Game imagery © Jagex Ltd

The outlaws are located between Edgeville and the Grand Exchange. You can use a Skills necklace or Ring of wealth to travel towards them. Once at the camp, kill five outlaws (level 32) to retrieve five of Rat's papers, and then use them on the folder to get a full folder.

Fighting the outlaws in their camp.
Fighting the outlaws in their camp. Image source ↗

Return to Rat with the folder; he will then ask you to deliver a letter to Surok Magis in the Varrock Palace Library. Though written in a hard to read font, the message is in English.

Head to the library, on the north side of the ground floor (UK) of the castle, and speak to Surok Magis. He will destroy the letter and tell you that he can turn plain clay into gold bars! He will need two items, an ordinary bowl and an infused wand. He gives you Sin'keth's diary and a wand to be infused with chaos.

Note: Despite what he says, you do not need a chaos talisman or tiara to infuse the wand if using a different method to access the altar.

Note: If you want to get kudos from the Varrock museum you'll need to get the book Dagon'hai History. You'll find it in one of the two bookcases farthest east. After the quest you can give the book to the Historian Minas on the 1st floor (UK) of the Varrock museum.

Chaos Altar

Items needed: Wand, 15 chaos runes, and a chaos talisman/tiara
Items recommended: A method of Varrock teleport to quickly return from the altar.

Entering the chaos altar with either a chaos talisman or tiara, or access to the Abyss. There are four ways to reach the altar:

Option 1

Items needed: Chaos talisman or tiara
Skills needed: 42 Mining to excavate the statue
Note: Catalytic talismans cannot be used for this option.

Following this option avoids the Wilderness entirely. Read the Sin'keth's diary, and then go east of Varrock. Go south-west of the Lumberyard and west of the Earth Altar. You should find a statue of Saradomin. Talk to Anna Jones, and she will give you a bronze pickaxe. You must use a bronze pickaxe to excavate the statue ( 42 ) to reveal the Tunnel of Chaos entrance. Enter the tunnel, and you will find that the Dagon'hai organisation lives there. Head north until you reach a portal. The portal leads to the second level of the Chaos Maze. Climb down a ladder to reach the Chaos Altar.

Option 2

Items needed: Chaos talisman or tiara

Travel through the Wilderness (level 10). Head to the Chaos Altar entrance. Once inside, make your way through the maze to the Chaos Altar.

Show animation: Infusing the wand.Infusing the wand.
Infusing the wand. Image source ↗

Option 3

Use the Abyss to travel to the Chaos Altar, which requires completion of the Enter the Abyss miniquest. Teleport via the Mage of Zamorak north of Edgeville to reach the Abyss. Your prayer will be drained and you will be skulled. Make your way past Abyssal walkers (level 81) into the inner circle, from where you can teleport to the altar.

Option 4

This option avoids the wilderness. Travel to the Chaos Altar by entering the Guardian of Chaos at the Temple of the Eye, which requires completion of the Temple of the Eye quest. To do this, join a game of Guardians of the Rift and wait for the Guardian of Chaos to be active, or use a Portal Talisman (Chaos) to access the Chaos Altar when the Guardian is inactive. This will teleport you close to the altar. To leave, go back through the portal and pass through the barrier at the entrance to Guardians of the Rift.

To reach the Temple of the Eye, use the Minigame Teleport for Guardians of the Rift. Alternatively, use a necklace of passage to teleport to the Wizards' Tower and enter the portal in the basement.

Wand

When you have reached the Chaos Altar, you must use your wand on the altar. This will absorb the 15 chaos runes to turn the wand into the Infused wand. Return to the library of Varrock, and talk to Surok Magis with the infused wand and an empty bowl. He will then give you Surok's letter for Rat Burgiss.

Note: If you take Surok's letter to show King Roald before Rat Burgiss, you will learn about his guards' skills.

Ending

Head back to Rat Burgiss, and deliver the letter. You will need to return to Varrock shortly, so restock on teleport supplies if necessary. Rat Burgiss will explain to you that he is actually the commander of Varrock Palace Secret Guard and that Surok Magis is planning on taking over the Kingdom of Misthalin by using a mind-control spell on King Roald, and that you accidentally helped him with that. Rat Burgiss will direct you to Zaff, owner of the staff shop in Varrock, in order to prepare a spell to counteract Surok's.

Talk to Zaff, who will explain his plan to you. Zaff will give you a beacon ring and instructions on how to arrest Surok Magis. You do not need to equip the ring.

Get your gear ready for a fight. Head to Surok Magis (who is now wearing Dagon'hai robes), and talk to him. He will cast his mind-control spell on King Roald (level 47), who you will have to fight. When the King has low health, your character will say that "Now would be a good time to summon Zaff!". Now you can operate the Beacon ring to summon Zaff.

After being summoned, Zaff teleports King Roald away and casts a spell on Surok Magis, permanently sealing him in the library. Zaff then casts another spell, and the library goes dark. When the light returns, all evidence of the battle has been cleaned up, and Zaff is gone.

Note: This event unlocks the ability to purchase battlestaves from Zaff's Superior Staffs, in addition to the discounted battlestaves from the Varrock Diary. Defence pures may choose to stop the quest here to avoid gaining defence experience.

Return to Rat Burgiss to finish the quest.

Congratulations, quest complete!

Quick checklist 16 instructions

Use this when you already know the route. The full walkthrough above includes explanations and diagrams.

Walkthrough

  1. Talk to Rat Burgiss at the crossing south of Varrock.

    Say: Shall I get them back for you? → Of course! Tell me what you need me to do.

  2. Kill 5 Outlaws just west of the Grand Exchange (from Grand Exchange, use the tunnel and walk south) and collect 5 rat's paper.

  3. Fill the folder with 5 papers.

  4. Return the folder to Rat Burgiss.

  5. Talk to Surok Magis in the Varrock library (the northern-most room in Varrock Palace).

    Say: Go on, then!

  6. Read Sin'keth's diary.

  7. Enter the Chaos Altar and use the wand on the altar with 15 chaos runes in your inventory.

    • To avoid entering the wilderness, see an alternative entrance in the full guide.

  8. Return to Surok Magis with the infused wand and an empty bowl.

    Say: I have the things you wanted!

  9. Talk to Rat Burgiss.

    Say: Yes! I have a letter for you!

  10. Talk to Zaff.

    Say: Rat Burgiss sent me!

  11. Talk to Surok Magis.

    Say: Bring it on!

  12. Bring King Roald to low health (2 hitpoints or less) then operate the Beacon ring. Your chatbox will show "Now would be a good time to summon Zaff!" when the ring is ready to be operated. (Instanced)

    • Take the Dagon'hai history from the north-east bookshelf to bring to Historian Minas for 5 Kudos after the quest.

  13. Talk to Rat Burgiss.

  14. Congratulations, quest complete!

QUEST COMPLETE

Rewards

  • 8,000 Runecraft Runecraft experience
  • 2,000 Defence Defence experience
  • The Beacon ring
  • Access to a shortcut to the Chaos Altar
  • Completing this quest awards the player with 5 Kudos which can be claimed by talking to Historian Minas in the Varrock Museum, while holding the Dagon'hai history book.
  • 5 Battlestaves in stock of Zaff's Superior Staffs! store (after defeating King Roald - the quest doesn't need to be completed)
  • King Roald accessible in the Nightmare Zone.

OSRS WIKI CONTRIBUTORS

Sources & credits

Walkthrough text and preparation lists are adapted from Old School RuneScape Wiki contributors under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0. Game imagery © Jagex Ltd; individual image sources are linked in their captions. This page is fan-made and not affiliated with Jagex.

Game icons © Jagex Ltd, via the OSRS Wiki. Interface icons by Lucide.