Desert Treasure

Desert Treasure is a quest surrounding the Mahjarrat Azzanadra's escape from his pyramid prison in the Kharidian Desert.

Official description
"Rumours abound throughout Varrock and Al-Kharid that an archaeologist has discovered clues to a hoard of treasure hidden deep in the desert, south of Al-Kharid.

Anybody prepared to offer him assistance in his treasure hunting could well find themselves benefitting from a very large reward indeed..."

Asgarnia Smith
Walk or take a carpet ride to the Bedabin Camp in the Kharidian Desert and talk to the archaeologist, who can be found beside the magic carpet merchant. He tells you that he is the 'world famous' Asgarnia Smith, the discoverer of the Temple of Ikov and the Brimhaven Agility Arena. When you ask him for a quest, he tells you that he works for the Archaeological Society of Varrock and needs help in delivering an old stone tablet he chanced upon in one of his excavations, for translation.

Since he won't part with the tablet itself, Asgarnia will draw up some etchings to bring to the archaeological expert, Terry Balando, at the Digsite exam centre.

Head to the exam centre and talk to Terry, who is simply called the 'Archaeological Expert'. He will take the etchings off you and swiftly create a roughly translated journal to take back to Asgarnia, noting that the find seems to date back even further than the settlement being excavated at the digsite.

Four Diamonds of Azzanadra
Before heading back to Asgarnia, now would be a good time to bring these items:

You'll need them for the next part and it'll save you time rather than going back to a bank later.

Go back to Asgarnia and hand over Terry's journal to him, but he suggests that you read it before him; the book explains a journey made by 'gods' in to the desert, where they decided to 'conceal' a certain 'wealth' and protect it using the 'dead' and four magical 'crystals', held by the 'strong'.

Asgarnia requests your help in locating this wealth, and agrees to split the treasure evenly. He wants you to dig around for information down at the Bandit Camp, while he searches for clues amongst the Bedabin nomads. If you wear an item aligned to Saradomin or Zamorak, the bandits in the camp will attack you, which can deter you from proceeding. Even if you survive the onslaught, Eblis will refuse to talk to you, calling you a false prophet.

Go south to the bandit camp and buy a bandit's brew from the bar. Drink it and talk to the bartender again, asking him if he knows anything about the four 'crystals'. Shocked by an outsider's knowledge of the desert, he tells you that there is indeed an old tale about the four Diamonds of Azzanadra, but you'll have to speak to someone more invested in the desert's history to learn about them.

Speak to Eblis, who can be found inside (or near) the eastern-most house, past the general store. Ask him why the bandits are so hostile towards outsiders and request to learn more about their history. He explains that a few generations ago, their god was banished and they were left to fend for themselves against the armies of Zamorak and Saradomin. They were attacked from all fronts and eventually lost their land, and were forced to take up home in the desert. Their hero, Azzanadra, was imprisoned and bound in a stone structure to the south of the camp, and they await for his return to cast vengeance upon those who stole what was theirs.

Ask him about the diamonds, and he'll tell you that they are the legacy left behind by Azzanadra, stolen by the warriors of Zamorak after he was imprisoned. You must subdue and kill these creatures - who have absorbed the power of the diamond into themselves - to retrieve them.

Mirror, Mirror
Eblis is ready to help you in your endeavour, in the hopes that Azzanadra might be free again. He needs a few items from you to create special scrying glasses, using which he can sense the diamonds' power and provide a rough location of where each of them have been. Use the required items on Eblis and he'll tell you to meet him a short distance south-east, at the site of the Bandit camp lodestone.

Head to the small hill to find Eblis standing between six mystical mirrors. Look into each of the mirrors and you will see six locations across Gielinor. Two of them - the pyramid and the Bandit Camp - are not indicative of the diamonds' current location.

The other four locations show where you can find the diamonds - these are, Canifis, an icy location near Trollheim, a smokey well near Pollnivneach and a calm, serene area with benches and trees that is west of Fishing Guild and south of Baxtorian Falls.

You must now obtain each of the four diamonds - namely the Diamond of Ice, Blood, Shadow and Smoke - which are in the possession of strong guardians. This can be done in any order.

Avoid keeping any of the diamonds in your inventory for as long as possible, as there is a chance that you'll be attacked by a level 81 stranger. He is capable of hitting over 5000 life points per special attack.

Kryptonite
Travel to Canifis and enter the Hair of the Dog pub, where a cutscene ensues (if it doesn't play, just go ahead and talk to Malak) where Malak, a vampyre lord, demands a blood tithe from the tavern's owner. After some conversation, Malak recognises you as a stranger and asks of your business in these lands. Tell him that you are looking for the blood diamond, which piques his interest and he makes a proposal to you - he'll tell you the whereabouts of the diamond, but you must successfully kill its owner, who is currently another vampyre lord named Dessous.

When you agree to his deal, he points you towards Dessous' resting place, which is in the graveyard located south-east of Canifis. Malak also provides you with instructions on how to lure Dessous out and kill him.

You will first need to get a sacrificial offering pot from Ruantan, a vampyre in the Draynor Sewers. Make sure to speak about the offering pot, otherwise you will have to go back to Malak. Head to the Draynor Sewers, the entrances to which are located by Draynor Jail, and north of the Draynor marketplace. In the northern part of the sewers, talk to the vampyre named Ruantun and exchange the silver bar for an offering pot. Next, you need to bless the pot with holy power to weaken Dessous. For this, you require the help of the High Priest of Entrana, so make sure you have banked all of your weapons and armour. Head over to Entrana and talk to the high priest, who happily obliges. If the pot is not blessed, you can still confront Dessous, but you cannot kill him.

Return to Canifis and speak to Malak. He will damage you for 50 life points, and fill the blessed pot with your blood. Crush the garlic to get some powder and add it to the pot of blood, along with the spice, to get a blessed pot (complete). The pot will still be named "blessed pot" but the examine text will be: "A blessed silver pot filled with blood, garlic and spices.". The sacrificial pot is now ready to lure Dessous out of his tomb and retrieve the diamond.

Dessous, the Blood Forager
Take the pot to the Graveyard in the Mort Myre swamp; beware of ghasts on the way as they may rot your food on your way to Dessous, unless you are carrying a charged druid pouch or an ouroboros pouch. Once you arrive at the graveyard, prepare yourself for combat and pour the blood on the tomb to summon Dessous.


 * Dessous is a level 84 enemy with 25,000 life points. He has two attacking styles - a melee and a ranged/magic attack, both of which have a fast attack rate. The ranged/magic attack will hit constant 500s, while the melee attack can hit up to 864.
 * He can teleport next to you if you try to safespot him. If you make him teleport more than three times, he says "I'm tired of playing with you" and return back inside the coffin, and you will have to go back to Malak for fresh blood and use new spices and garlic with it.
 * Dessous is weak against air spells, and can be defeated quickly if you are using them to fight him. You may also use melee, ranged or a dwarf multicannon to kill Dessous, but they may require more resources than using magic. If he's too strong for you, you can always teleport out and come back to try again, but you will need to visit Malak to refill the pot with blood.
 * Dessous changes his style of attack depending on which prayer you use; if you pray Protect from Melee, he will only use his ranged/magic attacks, while praying either Protect from Ranged/Magic allows him to use either. It is recommended to pray against his melee attacks, as it hits considerably harder.
 * If Dessous revives with full health when you kill him, it means that the sacrificial pot hasn't been blessed by the High Priest on Entrana. You must get it blessed before fighting him again.

After the fight, go back to Malak and give him the blessed pot for the blood diamond. Make sure to bank the blood diamond immediately in the Canifis bank to prevent the stranger from appearing and attacking you.

Ice Path - Kamil - Ice Diamond
The icy area in this part of the quest reduces every stat level by 1 every few seconds, while also dealing 200 life points of damage; adrenaline and run energy are also periodically reduced by 10% (making Rejuvenate impossible to use). You will not be able to run unless you use the Surefooted Aura, or have bathed in the salt-water spring in Oo'glog beforehand. Using the Surge ability also considerably reduces time spent in the cold. Bringing a familiar will make Kamil lose interest in you, and he'll stop fighting and walk away, before reappearing with full health.

Under these conditions, you will have to kill 5 level 89 enemies, withstand attacks from aggressive, high-level wolves, have a boss fight, and risk repeatedly falling on an ice path. However, you can make multiple trips if necessary.

Braving the Snow
Travel to Trollheim. From there, head up the north-western-most of the forks north of Trollheim, and onto a path leading towards the Ice Path. At the end of this path, you'll find an ice gate and a troll child crying beside it.

Talk to the child and give him a cake. He calms down and tells you that his parents have been captured and frozen by a 'bad man' because they 'stole' his diamond, even though they had only merely found it lying around. Promise the kid that you'll save his parents, but that you'll need the diamond in return.

After he agrees, enter the ice gate and you'll notice a cave to the south-east, blocked by ice. To access the cave, you must remove five chunks of ice. This can be done by killing the ice trolls nearby, and can be verified by the message: "A chunk of ice falls away from the cave entrance..." in your chat box.

Fire spells do considerably high damage to the ice trolls, and is thus recommended to use. As your stats are constantly falling in this environment, you must drink restore potions when your magic falls below the required level. It is also advised to Protect from Melee against the trolls.

Once you have killed five trolls, the cave at the back will be unblocked. Continue through the cave. If required, leave to restore your stats or restock on items.

The area through the cave has level 95 wolves, so Protect from Melee is highly recommended. The path is long and winding, so running when you can is highly advised, as it will save time and prevent you from dying or temporarily losing many levels.

Kamil, Warrior of the Cold
At the end of the path, you'll face against Kamil, who is level 84 and has 21,000 life points. He is a lot more deadly than his combat level suggests due to his special attack, which has an effect similar to Ice Barrage.


 * Even if you have a high combat level, it is critical to bring lots of food and potions. It is also advised to switch on auto-retaliation and pray Protect from Melee when fighting Kamil.
 * It is highly recommended to use magic against him, but you may also use other combat styles, albeit with less effective results. Only fire spells affect Kamil, and all other spells do splash damage on him.
 * Through the first half of the fight, he freezes you frequently. While frozen, you will be unable to attack or cast a spell, and you must either click on him or use Freedom to start attacking again.
 * When fighting, make sure to stand next to him so that he attacks with melee more often than ice magic. If not, then Kamil will consistently cast his freezing spell up to several times per minute, dealing 50 damage with every hit. Even if you're capable of sustaining all of the damage, you will only have a few chances every minute to be able to attack him.

After Kamil has been defeated, turn off all prayers and use food sparingly — there will be no more fighting for this diamond, so you will only have to worry about the constant 200 life point damage from the cold and the potential 200 life point damage from falling on the upcoming ice path. You may also use the super restore potion and two chocolate cakes that he drops to get yourself back up.

Thawing the Thieves
If you are low on health, talking to the frozen trolls and leaving the menu open can temporarily stop the auto-damage and allow you to heal.

Once Kamil is dead, follow the winding Ice Path around a small mountain. At the end of the path is an icy ledge; put on your spiked boots and start climbing up the ledge. You may frequently fall and take 200 damage. Super restore potions may help here, since higher Agility seems to decrease the fall frequency. However, with the Surefooted aura you can run the whole course fall-free.

Follow the path all the way to the top until you see another gate and a bridge. On the other side, the troll child's parents are encased in ice. Run across the bridge and thaw the ice encasings (1,000 health each) to release the troll mother and troll father.

After freeing the troll parents, they will take you back outside the gate and their son will give you the ice diamond. Teleport out and quickly bank the diamond. Be sure to restore any fallen stats to regular levels before continuing the quest.

Lights, Heat, Fire!
Head to Pollnivneach anyway you like and go around the hill from the south side until you reach a well, the entrance to the Smoke Dungeon. Make sure you have a facemask, or some similar kind of face protection, equipped and climb down into the well (if you do not wear any protective headgear in the dungeon, you will be inflicted with 200 life point damage every 12 seconds until you are down to 10 life points).

If you have completed Smoking Kills, it is recommended to enter from the well that is inside Pollnivneach, and you will end up right next to a torch, allowing you to get to the chest quicker after lighting the torches.

At the centre of the dungeon is a large cavern that houses a chest, which when attempted to open, says "Light the path to claim the key." In each of the four corners of the dungeon are torches that you need to light to open the chest. However, each torch will only light up for 5 minutes before burning out. Plan your route through the dungeon first, and then run and light all the torches, sipping energy potions or using a spirit terrorbird to restore run-energy. If you have access to the salt-water spring at Oo'glog (after As a First Resort... quest), it is strongly recommended to make use of it as you will be doing a lot of running during this part.

When all four torches are lit, run to the centre of the dungeon and open the burnt chest to obtain a warm key. If you walk, the first lamp will burn out by the time you reach the chest.



Fareed, Guardian of the Smoke
With the warm key, stroll to the east part of the dungeon and use it on the gate to awaken Fareed.

Fareed is level 84 and has 20,000 life points. If you die after entering Fareed's lair, you will lose your key, although if Fareed kills you or you leave the fight via the gate, you do not need to relight the torches or obtain another key.


 * Ice gloves are needed to wield a weapon against Fareed; if you do not wear ice gloves, you will not be able to cast any spells, as you need either a staff or a wand to cast spells. However, off-hand weapons can be used against Fareed.
 * Fareed is weak to water spells and immune to other elemental magic. Rangers will have to use either a crystal bow or any bow with ice arrows, as he will incinerate other ammo types.
 * It is possible to kill Fareed without using ice gloves. You can do this by equipping an offhand magic weapon, such as a magic book or orb, and only casting spells against him. This is recommended to be performed in Legacy mode as you cannot use abilities without a main-hand weapon; moreover, auto-attack damage is greatly boosted while in Legacy mode.

Once you have killed Fareed, the smoke diamond will automatically appear in your inventory or be dropped on the ground. Teleport out and bank the diamond.

Ring of Visibility
Travel west of the Fishing Guild to where there are several moss giants - just to the north of them, there is a fenced-in area near Baxtorian Falls, where you'll find Rasolo. Talk to him about a diamond and he will tell you about the location of the shadow diamond - in a dungeon which can only be accessed by the use of a ring of visibility, and protected by a guardian named Damis.

He is willing to part with the ring of visibility, if you can retrieve his gilded cross that was stolen by Laheeb, a member of the Bandit Camp.

Boosts will not work for this part; if you do not have at least level 53 Thieving, you will receive the same failure message over and over.

Take some food, antipoisons and as many lockpicks or hair clips as you can carry, to the Bandit Camp. In the southern-most tent is a secure chest; there are three locks which you must get through, any of which will reset the lock on a failed attempt. Click the confirmation and you will start picklocking the chest. Repeat until you manage to open it and get a gilded cross.


 * You may pickpocket nearby bandits for obtaining more lockpicks and antipoisons. This cannot be done if you are wearing anything aligned to Saradomin or Zamorak, as this will make them aggressive and prevent you from pickpocketing them.
 * Each failure will break a lockpick and deal 20-30 life points of damage. The hitsplat is always green, but you may not be poisoned each time; if you do get poisoned, you will be dealt with 226 poison damage.
 * To save trips, you can also bring around 5 lockpicks and note the rest you have. When the 5 are used up, sell the noted ones to the general store and re-buy them un-noted. This allows for more food to be brought.

Once you have the gilded cross, return to Rasolo and exchange it for the ring of visibility. If you lose the ring, Rasolo can provide you with more.

Wear the ring and head a bit east to discover a ladder in the fenced picnic area. This is the entrance to the Shadow Dungeon.

Damis, Lord of the Shadow
If you take off your ring of visibility at any time while in the cave, you will have to leave the cave and re-enter to fight Damis.

Climb down the ladder and follow the directions shown by the shaded, yellow region in the map above to reach Damis' lair. When you reach the centre of the large, eastern-most cavern, Damis will appear.

Damis is a level 84 enemy with 20,000 life points, and only uses melee to attack you.


 * He has two forms, both of which have the same combat level and life points - his first form is a basic fight against a melee combatant, whereas his second form will drain 20 Prayer points every 0.6 seconds while in combat. If you die after defeating his first form, you will only need to fight the second form when you come back.
 * When walking to the safespot in the north-eastern corner, Damis might disappear into the shadows and you will have to leave and come back to the dungeon to fight him, or alternatively, you can log into another world to make him re-appear.
 * Earth spells are extremely effective against Damis - use your best earth spell coupled with frequent use of stunning abilities such as Impact. It is recommended to use the safespot to prevent Damis from burning your Prayer points at melee range.
 * Due to his prayer drain ability and high defence in his second form, meleeing Damis is not recommended, unless you are utilising the safespot to use a halberd against him.

Once Damis is defeated, pick up the shadow diamond, teleport out and bank the diamond.

Iftah Ya, Simsim
Return to Eblis in the desert with the four diamonds in your inventory. He explains that the Zamorakian and Saradominist siphoned Azzanadra's life force and stored it in these diamonds, holding him in the stone structure to the south. By placing the diamonds in the pillars surrounding this structure, you can release the concealment spells and proceed to free Azzanadra.

Go to the pyramid south-east of Eblis, and place a diamond in each of the four obelisks at the pyramid corners; each obelisk can absorb only a specific diamond. You should be able to determine the diamond from the appearance of the obelisk, but trial-and-error works too.

When all four obelisks are activated, the concealment spell breaks and the pyramid doors will unlock. Climb up the stairs and enter the pyramid.

Tomb Raider
The pyramid houses a lot of dangerous monsters, such as the level 86 scarab swarms occasionally boiling out of the floor, and level 77 mummies roaming about and spontaneously popping out of sarcophagi. All monsters use melee and the scarab swarms can also poison you. The room containing the altar on level 4, however, is safe.


 * Every time a scarab swarm appears or a mummy pops out of a sarcophagus, you will automatically stop and will not be able to move until the animation has finished. It is possible to avoid a scarab swarm by making sure it is behind a mummy.
 * There are randomly activated traps that will send you back to the entrance of the pyramid if you stand still for too long, hence it is recommended to avoid stopping. If you do get caught by a trap, you will be taken outside to the south side of the pyramid but with no damage inflicted. Wearing armour that reduces weight will help prevent the traps from going off, and even allow you to complete the pyramid in a single run.
 * It is useful to eat strange fruits while inside the pyramid, due to the fact that it recovers 60% run energy and cures any kind of poison you may have gotten while inside the pyramid.

The levels in the pyramid are numbered in the order that you encounter them in the quest. The purple line marks the route.


 * Outside
 * Enter the pyramid from its top. The southern entrance to level 4 can only be used after the quest has been completed.


 * Level 1
 * Run from the entrance ladder to the level 2 ladder. This level is the smallest in the area, with the fewest mummies. If possible, flash your prayer and save your run energy.


 * Level 2
 * Run from the level 2 ladder to the level 3 ladder. This level has a few more mummies roaming about and also contains traps. Be sure to look out for them.


 * Level 3
 * Run from the level 3 ladder to the level 4 ladder. This level is fairly large in area, presenting more of a challenge to players traversing it. A significant number of mummies are roaming about, and there is a vast amount of traps.


 * Level 4
 * Run from the level 3 ladder to the altar room. This level is quite large in area, with a lot of mummies roaming about everywhere except in the altar room, which is separated by a door.


 * It is possible for a scarab swarm to appear inside the altar room, but this only happens if it was coming up as you were entering the room. If this is the case, simply kill it or trap it between the door and an obstacle in the room.

Azzanadra
If Azzanadra is not present in the room, use the altar and he should appear.

Speak to Azzanadra, who has lost track of time and believes that the God Wars are still going on, enquiring about the fate of the ancient civilisations like Paddewwa, Lassar and Annakarl. He is also surprised to notice that he cannot hear Zaros in his mind any more.

Finally coming to peace with reality, he rewards you with the Ancient Magicks of Zaros, as gratitude for releasing him.

Required for completing
Completion of Desert Treasure is required for the following:
 * Do No Evil
 * Recipe for Disaster/Defeating the Culinaromancer
 * The Temple at Senntisten
 * You need to obtain a ring of visibility for:
 * The Curse of Zaros
 * Hopespear's Will
 * The General's Shadow
 * Obtaining the Holy Cithara
 * Finding the ghost penguin in Penguin Hide and Seek (After Some Like It Cold)
 * Finding TzHaar-Ga'al-Kot
 * Varrock Tasks:
 * Hard: "Living on the Edge"
 * Morytania Tasks:
 * Hard: "Huge Success"
 * Desert Tasks:
 * Hard: "Ice-Cold Killer"
 * Elite: "Staff of Stryke", "A, B, Cithara" and "Sun Shade" (Damis, Fareed, Kamil and Dessous need to be killed in the dominion tower)
 * Tirannwn Tasks:
 * Easy: "Casting Shadows"
 * Hard: "Cadarn Tootin'"

Trivia

 * The name Eblis is derived from the Arabic word Iblīs "إبليس", which is the name of the major Satan (Devil, Shaitan or Setan) شيطان in Islam.
 * 'Asgarnia Smith' is a reference to, as both are archaeologists, and both have a first name after a location, and a common last name.
 * This quest was originally divided into four parts, with each one involving a single crystal as a separate quest.