What Lies Below is a standalone intermediate quest that takes place within Varrock and partially in the Wilderness. It features a large degree of movement and some combat situations.
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?
Make your way to Rat Burgiss, who is on the road between Varrock and Lumbridge and to the west of the Exam Centre. He says that a bunch of outlaws ransacked his trading cart and stole some important papers. Offer to help him. He says the outlaws headed north-west, taking five pages with them. He tells you to kill the outlaws and get the papers back. He gives you an empty folder to keep the papers in.
Head to the Outlaw Camp, which is between Edgeville and the Grand Exchange and just south of Lucien's house. To get there, teleport to the Edgeville lodestone and head east toward the shortcut to get to the Grand Exchange. From there, run south a little ways past Lucien's house.
Kill five outlaws to retrieve Rat's five papers, and then use the papers one by one on the folder to get a full folder.
Head to the library (it's in the northern part of the palace), and speak to Surok Magis. You give him the letter, which he quickly destroys with a spell. He then tells you that he has learned how to transform simple clay into gold bars! He tells you he will share the gold with you but first needs a few more items: an ordinary bowl and an infused wand. He gives you a wand to be infused with chaos and Sin'keth's diary. Finally, he tells you to search the library to find an old tome. He forgot where he left it but says it is easy enough to find.
(In this conversation, Surok states that you will need either a Chaos talisman or Chaos tiara in your inventory to infuse the wand. This is not the case.)
Go to the north-east corner of the library, and search the bookcases opposite the table and two chairs to find a musty old tome called Dagon'hai history.
The Chaos altar[]
Now you have to go to the Chaos altar. This requires a chaos talisman, chaos tiara or a wicked hood with the ability to teleport to the Chaos altar. Do not forget to bring the required 15 Chaos runes to use with the altar. (You can also bring 15 pure essence instead of the chaos runes if you are going to craft the runes yourself.)
Note: Low leveled players may die in this part of the quest. It is recommended you turn run mode on and make a run for the Chaos Altar. Also for low leveled players they can choose to turn auto-retaliate off to prevent unnecessary fights.
Option 1: Teleport Via Wicked Hood[]
Since the release of the Wicked hood, the fastest way to get to the chaos altar is by using the hood's teleport directly to altar. The hood must have previously been fed a chaos talisman for this option to appear.
Option 2: Through the Abyss[]
If you have gained access to the Abyss by completing the short Abyss (miniquest), then you can use it to reach the altar without needing a talisman.
Option 3: Through the Wilderness[]
Head to the Chaos Altar entrance, located in level 9 Wilderness north-west of Edgeville.
Once inside, make your way through the maze to the Chaos Altar. The journey to the altar can take some time, as the maze can get frustrating* and the walk into the Wilderness can be dangerous.
HINT* The maze can be frustrating but a simple trick is to scroll across the screen till you find the ladder going down and right click and select "climb down ladder", your character will find its way to the ladder, so all you have to do is watch. This is a simple method of getting through the maze with little to no difficulty.
Choose the Excavate Statue option on the statue to reveal the Tunnel of Chaos entrance. Enter the hole in the statue. You find that Dagon'hai organisation lives in the tunnel.
Head north until you reach a portal. The portal leads to the third level of the Chaos Maze. Navigate the rest of the maze to reach the altar. This will complete a medium Varrock Task.
Now return to the library of Varrock and talk with Surok Magis, with the infused wand and a bowl in your inventory. He gives you Surok's letter to deliver to Rat.
A treasonous plot![]
Head back down to Rat, and deliver the letter. Rat explains that he is actually the commander of the Varrock Palace Secret Guard and that Surok Magis is planning to take over the kingdom of Misthalin by using a powerful mind-control spell on King Roald. Rat directs you to Zaff, owner of the staff shop in Varrock, to help with a spell to counteract the effects of Surok's spell.
Return to Varrock, and talk to Zaff. He explains his plan to you, gives you a Beacon ring, and hands you Zaff's instructions on how to arrest Surok Magis.
Return to Surok Magis (who is now wearing Dagon'hai robes), and talk to him. You see a short cutscene where Surok casts his spell on King Roald, who just came in.
Fight King Roald (Level 47) until a message pops up in your chat box that says "Now would be a good time to summon Zaff!" If you summon Zaff too early, he will teleport you and him back to his shop.
King Roald is located in a single-way combat area, and is immune to the effects of poison and rings of recoil. As a result, lower levels attempting to kill him must be ready to do so without help from a higher level friend who could be a "meat shield" for them. The single-combat zone also prevents combat familiars from attacking him, although a Beast of Burden could be summoned instead to hold extra food. Overall, the fight shouldn't be too hard, as King Roald hits rather low for his level and only has 1400 life points. He is weak to fire spells, however any kind of weapon or spell will do the job.
Choose the Summon option. Zaff arrives in a cutscene, saves King Roald, teleports him away and blocks Surok from teleporting away.
Note: If you try to leave the room during the fight, you will be teleported south of Varrock, near the dark wizards. Also, if you are ranging, you will not be able to retrieve your arrows after the fight.
Elite: "Stick a Bork In Him, He's Done" and "Mind Your Back"
Transcript[]
This article on a quest has an associated dialogue page. Click here for a transcript of possible conversations encountered throughout the quest.
Trivia[]
Despite Zaff putting a teleblock on the entire room Zaff and players still have the ability to teleport out of it.
The name What Lies Below is a reference to the movie What Lies Beneath.
There is a glitch where if you summoned Zaff too early, you still have access to the ring in your inventory, allowing you to summon him multiple times
After you get the spell from Zaff and you go back to arrest Surok Magis, he will have changed clothes to Dagon'hai robes but will still have the chatface of the original robes he was wearing before you came to arrest him.
The second time you talk to Rat during the quest, your character will say "All work and no play makes [character name] a dull adventurer." This is a reference to the quote "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" from the well known proverb.
The Aphro-Dizzy-Yak spell Surok mentions refers to "aphrodisiac", something which causes sexual desire.
The woman who gives you a bronze pickaxe to help find the shortcut is named Anna Jones. If you talk to her further, she reveals her full name to be Louisiana Jones, a joke on the name of the famed movie hero Indiana Jones.
Upon the completion of this quest, one's Adventurer's Log will read: "Surok Magis wanted to kill King Roald and take over Varrock with his magic, but his evil plan has been scuppered!"File:Secret Message.png
Rat's Letter
It is possible to translate Rat's letter. Each of the characters stands for a letter in the English language. Since it is addressed to Surok Magis, you can assume that the top row is his name. From there, you can substitute those letters for the characters in the top row, and for all of the similar characters in the rest of the letter. The contents of the letter is as follows: "Surok Magis, Your actions are being watched. We know what you are trying to do and the VPSG will stop you! Do not attempt to leave the palace or you will be arrested on sight. We will not hesitate to kill you if you disobey King Roald's orders. -Rat Burgiss
During the final battle with King Roald, one thing he says "Havat you!" is a reference to Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail.
If you completed The Garden of Tranquility quest prior to the boss battle, King Roald will occasionally yell "That garden was awful!"
When infusing the wand it looks as if a Nature, Earth, Fire, Water, and Air rune is being absorbed into it, despite none of those runes being used.
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Talk to Rat Burgiss south of Varrock
Intermediate
Experience
Wand
Infused wand
Beacon ring
