Asgarnia Smith

Asgarnia Smith
Released								18 April 2005 (Update)
Members								Yes
Race								Human
Quest								Desert Treasure I Desert Treasure II
Location								Bedabin Camp
Gender								Male
Options								Talk-to
Examine								Hardened by the cutthroat world of archaeology.
Map
Advanced data
NPC ID								12162,12291,12292
Link								MOID

Asgarnia Smith is an archaeologist who can be found beside the rug merchant in the Bedabin Camp. He is the starting point for the Desert Treasure I quest.

Smith was originally from a more humble background, as he recounts fishing for bass in Catherby.^[1] His discovery of an ancient casket, which contained a meager amount of coins, struck an epiphany within him and he applied to be a field agent to the Varrock Museum.^[2] In this capacity, he has earned great wealth through corrupt means by withholding some of the valuable artefacts he discovered, but continues his job out of genuine thrill and satisfaction.^[3][4]

Although his friend and colleague Terry Balando sheds a positive light on his contributions to the museum^[5], Smith is prone to dishonesty, vanity and showboating his achievements, which includes: first to discover the Temple of Ikov and Brimhaven Arena, being voted "Archaeologist of the year" consecutively for four years on the Varrock Herald as well as recovering a Karamjan artefact known as the Golden Monkey of Tee-Tah-Toh.^{[3][6][7][8][9]} At least one such claim is disputed, with Cap'n Izzy No-Beard also claiming to have discovered the Brimhaven Arena.^[10]

By the events of Desert Treasure I, he was conducting excavations on behalf of the Archaeological Society of Varrock.^[11] Smith then sends the player to obtain a translation for the tablet he obtained, and requests their assistance with the promise of splitting any found wealth. After the quest is completed, the player returns to him sans any treasure and he will disappointingly lament his foiled holiday plans, expressing the intent to hunt for treasure in Karamja next.^[12] Smith is mentioned again during Temple of the Eye by Wizard Persten as having been active around the Ruins of Uzer, where he discovered the Eye amulet washed up nearby, but dismissed the priceless artefact as junk, selling it to Wizard Persten for only 100 coins.

During the events of Desert Treasure II, after the player has managed to open the door to the Ancient Vault Smith follows them, annoyed that the player had managed to immediately open the door despite his numerous failed attempts. He then proposes another partnership with the player since their previous adventure yielded no treasure for him. Once the player has managed to obtain all four medallions needed to unseal the Vault, Smith throws a rock at the player and steals the fourth medallion, unsealing the Vault himself. During the final portion of the quest, it is revealed that Smith has actually been the Mahjarrat Sliske in disguise, who had tricked the player into unlocking the Vault so he could steal the Elder Horn that was kept inside it.

• Asgarnia Smith is a reference to Indiana Jones, a character in a real-world series of films. His name is akin to Jones' as well, with the name of an area as his first name (Asgarnia is a kingdom in Gielinor and Indiana is an American State), and a very common surname (Jones and Smith are both common in Western cultures). This is further proven with the examine text, as Indiana Jones was also an archaeologist.
• He shares the same last name as Orlando Smith, although relation between the two is unknown.
• Unused models exist depicting Asgarnia Smith as a wight, implying he would have appeared as one at the end of Desert Treasure II alongside Sliske's four other disguises.

• 
  Asgarnia Smith's unused wight chathead.
• 
  Asgarnia Smith's unused wight model.