Dealing with Scabaras

High Priest

 * Talk to the High Priest in Sophanem (located in the temple to the west of the Pyramid Plunder pyramid) who'll request help with identifying a corpse.
 * Go upstairs. Continue the conversation, and find out that the corpse is not quite dead and is, in fact, Maisa.
 * Talk to the not-so-dead Maisa. She mentions that there are tunnels from the east coast of the desert that lead into those from Sophanem.
 * Go downstairs and talk to the High Priest to get his support for the mission to explore these tunnels.

Archaeologists

 * Go south-east from the entrance to Sophanem, through the lizards and vultures, and down to the swamp area.
 * Make your way through to the north west corner of the swamp, using the 'Push through reeds' menu option when your path is blocked by reeds.
 * Approach the rock stairway from the south, climb over the fallen pillar and then go up the stairs. Speak to Lead archaeologist Abigail and Assistant archaeologist Kerner at the camp. (Tip: There is a water source beside the camp for refilling your waterskins.)
 * Before the archaeologists will help you, you must perform two tasks for them. The first is to answer a number of mathematical questions, and the second is to collect some items to give to Simon Templeton.

Agility shortcut
If you use a rope on the overhanging rock, at the western most part of the plateau just west of the archaeologists, it will remain there as a shortcut for subsequent uses. The shortcut leads to the southeastern part of the Agility Pyramid. The shortcut requires 25 agility.
 * Examine rock: Maybe it would be handy to attach a rope here.
 * Use rope on rock: You tie the rope to the overhanging rock.
 * Examine rope: A rope tied to a rock.

Task 1: Math

 * The mathematical questions use 'round down division', so they are a bit different. The questions are different for each player. An example of the sums and the answers:
 * Which is highest: $$ 98 + 98, 97 + 99 $$ OR $$ 91 * 2.5 $$ (Answer: $$ 91 * 2.5 $$)
 * $$227 + 90 + 95 = 412$$
 * $$412 + 0.5 * 79 = 412 + 39.5 = 451.5 => 451$$
 * $$451 / 4 = 112.75 => 112$$
 * The main idea is round down after a division or multiplication.

Task 2: Artefacts

 * You need to collect some items for Simon Templeton. The items are:
 * One Pyramid top from the top of the Agility Pyramid. Refer to the Agility Pyramid mini-game guide for details.
 * 10 gold artefacts from the Pyramid Plunder mini-game. The gold artefacts are tradeable.
 * Distressed bronze items. The number and the type of items vary for each player.


 * The possible number and type of bronze items are as follows:
 * Note: The bronze items can be smithed, or purchased from shops or other players.
 * *: If your bronze items happen to be daggers or scimitars, you could buy them from Urbi in Sophanem.


 * There are 2 ways to distress the bronze items:
 * Use a bucket of Ugthanki dung on the bronze items, while standing under the hot desert sun. (Note: You have to be standing under the hot desert sun, or the process does not work.) After distressing all the items, put them in the crate.
 * Put them into the empty crate, given to the player by the lead archaeologist, with one bucket of dung; which turns it into a smelly crate, then hand it over to the archaeologists to distress them, which will take some time.
 * You must give all of these items to Simon Templeton. (Note: He will only take Pyramid Plunder items as unnoted items.) However, Simon will accept each of the group of items separately.
 * Simon will then give you an artefact receipt. Head back to the archaeologist site.

Collecting Scabarite Notes

 * Abigail will give the player an empty Scabaras research book, and ask to collect 4 Scabarite notes and copy them into the book. These notes can be found as drops from:
 * Skeletons and Dried zombies, found north of the camp.
 * Scabarites, found in the dungeon and swamp near the camp. Also found in the Sophanem dungeon.
 * Mummies, found to the west of the camp, near the Agility shortcut.
 * There are several different notes to collect, each with a different "Examine" text. These are 'cheap papyrus', 'fine papyrus', 'scented papyrus', 'shabby papyrus', 'smelly papyrus', 'tattered papyrus', 'well-made papyrus', etc. (For a full listing, see Scabarite notes.)
 * When at least 4 notes have been gathered, add them to the research book and talk to the archaeologist again. She will give you the Scabarite key that will unlock the door to the dungeon.
 * The Scabaras research book is subject of a miniquest, where all 19 chapters are needed to receive a 10,000-coin reward.

Dungeon Puzzles

 * Head north to enter the dungeon using the Scabarite key. Enter the dungeon, and talk to the Clay Golem to learn about the puzzle that needs to be mastered.
 * There are four rooms, each with a lever at the far end. Each room contains a lever that needs pulling. There is a time limit within which all levers need to be pulled and the levers must be pulled in one shot (meaning you must pull all the levers within the time limit, otherwise you'll have to start over again).
 * The door mechanism is powered by a furnace to the north. You must first light the furnace with logs.
 * The logs can be found in a storage box to the left of the furnace. This box contains only 3 logs, which may be different and possibly above your firemaking level.
 * It is highly recommended that you bring your own logs, in case you fail the puzzles, or run out of time.


 * Note: Lighting the logs require a higher firemaking level than usual (20 levels higher than normal) - i.e maple logs require 65 firemaking, yew logs require 80 firemaking, and magic logs require 95 firemaking to be used in the furnace. Using higher level logs may increase the time to solve the puzzle.


 * Talk to the Golem to assign priority to the four rooms.
 * Depending on your skill set, set the priority and race through the rooms. For most players with the minimum quest requirements, the priority should be in this order:  Thieving room, Agility room, Combat room, Strength room.

Room 1: Agility Room

 * Room 1 (northeast; oily pipe room) requires crossing an oily pipe. Assigning more priority to this task will make the pipe less oily and therefore easier to cross.
 * Agility potions or a Summer pie can help with pulling the levers.

Room 2: Strength Room

 * Room 2 (southeast; empty room) requires pulling a stuck lever. Assigning more priority to this task will lighten the lever and therefore make it easier to pull (requiring a lower strength level).
 * Strength potions can help with pulling the levers.

Room 3: Combat Room

 * Room 3 (northwest; scarab room) requires slaying a level 206 Giant Scarab. Assigning more priority to this task will damage the scarab.
 * Using power on the combat room can inflict: 105 (full power), 70 (second highest), 35 (second lowest), and 1 (lowest) damage.
 * The Giant scarab in the third room is relatively easy to defeat compared to his counterpart in Contact!. The scarab will attack with Melee and Magic.  Melee, with a protection prayer from one of the two attacks, is generally effective if you bring food.  A powerful magic spell, such as Ice Rush or Slayer dart, can be used even more effectively if you stand outside the room, and use Protect from Missiles.

Room 4: Thieving Room

 * Room 4 (southwest; mysterious box room) requires solving a puzzle and manipulating a mechanism. Assigning more priority to this task will allow more attempts at the puzzle.
 * The puzzle is nerve wracking due to the time constraints and the countdown counter. The purpose of the puzzle is to find sets of three identical runes in a 6-by-6 square. Only three runes can be displayed at any instance. Clicking the fourth will clear the three others unless they were identical. The right hand side shows a mechanism which contains: a Cog, a Pinion, and a Switch. Clicking any of these during the puzzle will add more turns to the puzzle countdown counter. However, this can sometimes backfire, and take away 1 or 2 turns for you to solve the puzzle.
 * As each puzzle assignment is random, the easy way to solve the puzzle is to prepare a paper with a 6-by-6 grid and copy the runes as you walk the rows (or the columns). Use these notes to find the triples. (Tip: You can also use a computer program (such as Excel) to keep track of the revealed runes.)
 * The Birthday attack method provides an optimisation to the above method.
 * You will need approximately 21 turns.
 * You will always click in 3s. The order does not matter, but just don't check a rune twice, as this wastes a chance.
 * You will need to Reveal approximately half of the puzzle, then start on the other half.
 * At any time you find a complete match, fill it in when you start a new set of 3s (unless you have 2 selected already.) So, if you know, for example, where 2 of the Fire runes are, and you find the 3rd in the middle of a set of 3, then you finish your set and get all 3 Fire runes.


 * Note: You may want to restock supplies (food, prayer, Relicym's balm, potions) right now, as the door into the antechamber will remain open from now on.

The Antechamber: High Priest of Scabaras

 * After pulling all the levers you will be allowed to enter the antechamber. Watch out for floor traps, they may disease you starting at 12! Consequently, Relicym's balm, Bracelet of Inoculation or Super restore potions may be of use.
 * The High Priest of Scabaras is located to the north, in a room to the west. Look for a door on the minimap. Beware of the monsters on the way! It might be useful to turn OFF auto-retaliate. The area is multi-combat, and many monsters use distance attack (mostly range), so Protect from Missiles prayer is highly recommended. Do not panic and run if you are cornered, as the trap poison and disease will kill you faster than the monsters in this dungeon. Failing the trap after searching it will cause less damage when just walking over them!
 * Talk to him, and get him to attack you (Note: Later on in the quest, you'll tell the high priest that you fought him, talked to him and made him see sense.) By commenting negatively on one of the priests combat skills, he'll try to use that combat style. The High Priest is level 179.
 * NOTE: He will also summon many level 95 Scarab swarms to assist him. Ignore them, and concentrate on the High Priest. But, watch your health! These swarms are fast and hit constantly.

Finishing Up

 * Note: If the High Priest of Scarabas is poisoned, he will die off randomly during the conversation, and you will have to start this part of the quest over again.
 * After fighting him, talk to him again, or he'll disappear. If that occurs, leave the room and go back in again.
 * When talking to him, use the following sequence:
 * "I'm not here to contemplate. I'm here to slay!"
 * "Why did you cease your contemplation?"
 * "Why this sudden change in policy?"
 * "Sounds like the devourer dragged you into heresy for her own ends."
 * Tip: Before leaving, get 2 more Scabarite notes for the miniquest from the 2 nearby chests just outside the Priest's room.
 * One chest is close by to the east of the High Priest's room.
 * The other chest is further south, surrounded by monsters.
 * Return to the High Priest of Sophanem, and talk to him. Quest complete!

Reward

 * 1 Quest Point
 * 7,000 Strength experience
 * 7,000 Thieving experience
 * 7,000 Agility experience
 * 7,000 Prayer experience
 * The ability to craft an Enchanted water tiara - protects you from the Desert heat effect
 * To craft an enchanted tiara, use water runes on a normal water tiara (they will be stored inside the tiara); every time the player takes a 'drink', the total number of water runes stored in the tiara will decrease by three.
 * Destroy the enchanted tiara to get the normal water tiara and remaining water runes back, they will drop on the ground.
 * You can have only one Enchanted water tiara at any given time.

Additional rewards

 * Talk to Simon Templeton about the job he mentioned during the quest. He sends you to talk with the Pyramid Plunder mummy. After the mummy refuses, return to Simon, and he will now accept noted pyramid treasures (from Pyramid Plunder) to exchange for gold! Players still, however, cannot exchange noted gold artefacts.

Scabarites Notes miniquest
'''Be forewarned, this miniquest is extremely dangerous. Proceed with care.'''


 * Talk to the Head Archaeologist at the Archaeologist camp to start the miniquest. (Tip: You may not get the drops if you do not start the miniquest by talking to her.)
 * You need to complete the archaeologist's book, Scabaras research, for a 10,000-coin bonus reward.
 * The book has a total of 19 chapters. Since you have collected 4 chapters (Scabarite notes) from the quest, you will need to collect 15 more. If you collected the notes from the two chests just outside the High Priest's room, that leaves you with 13 chapters to collect.


 * You can get the chapters as drops (Scabarite notes) from the following monsters:


 * CAUTION: In areas where it is part of the desert, you will need an Enchanted water tiara or Waterskins to keep you from being killed by the desert heat.
 * TIP: If you're not getting the drops, try switching monsters. Some players have reported not getting the last chapter to complete the book. This is NOT a glitch. You just have to patient, and keep killing monsters.


 * Whenever you get a chapter, Scabarite notes, add them to the Scabaras research book by clicking on it.
 * Note: You may get the same chapters as drops, and this will NOT be added to the book.
 * Once you have all 19 chapters, take a moment to read then to see the lore and history of the area.
 * Bring the completed book to the Head Archaeologist for the reward.

Reward

 * 10,000gp
 * Scabaras research - the complete book with all 19 chapters, called "Archaeological exploration, and the cult of Scabaras."

Music

 * Copris Lunaris
 * Scarabaeoidea
 * Tune from the Dune

Trivia
'Alas, the scarabs have eaten the scroll with the rewards. You'll have to wait until tomorrow for us to find the spare.'
 * The Lead Archaeologist remarks on how she would not want to 'have a ghastly death marked on a makeshift grave', referring back to the recent update of gravestones.
 * The release of Dealing with Scabaras marked the first revealing of Unknown, blackened areas on the World map, in months.
 * When the quest was first released, the spoiler said that:
 * When the quest was first released, both the Knowledge Base article and the Quest Journal gave the wrong required Thieving Level. The actual requirement was 5 levels higher.
 * Originally, there was a mistake on the website saying that players now have access to a new slayer monster.
 * Originally, on the recent updates on Runescape.com it showed another copy of the update, this was later fixed.
 * Page 8 of your notes foreshadows the return of Scabaras, and also mentions the bitterness that would ensue in his loneliness.
 * The amount of players doing the quest shortly after its release re-introduced a bug in the Agility Pyramid due to the large number of simultaneous players involved in obtaining the artefact.