Nomad's Elegy

Nomad's Elegy is a quest that is part of the Sliske quest series, following on from Dishonour among Thieves. It features Nomad and his plan to siphon every soul from all over Gielinor and its underworlds into the Soul Obelisk. The player teams up with Death, Icthlarin, Zanik and several dead characters to lay siege to Icthlarin's fortress which was taken by Nomad and stop his plans. It involves a fight against Nomad, which has multiple stages and checkpoints.

Trouble brewing
To start the quest, you will need to speak to Zimberfizz, the small red imp located in the Soul Wars lobby, which can be accessed through the portal in Edgeville.

Zimberfizz explains that the Soul Obelisk is being a little strange, so you are asked to look around the throne room by investigating the tent to the north-east of the lobby.

Inside the room, there are several different points of interest that can be investigated. The progress of finding the clues you need are indicated to you as you find them. The room contains sticky goo, crystals and the Nomad's throne that need investigating. After finding 3/5 clues, investigate the fading footprints on the east side of the room.

Your player and Zimberfizz will quickly realise who the footprints belong to, and you and Zimberfizz are killed via an explosion and transported to Death's office. At this point, if you return to the Soul Wars lobby, you will find Zimberfizz replaced by his remains (a pile of ashes) which can be still be interacted with as if it is the minigame host, except that there is no response dialogue and the player continues the conversation as if nothing has changed.

Nomad's plan
Inside the office, you find both Icthlarin and Death discussing Nomad. Death explains that Nomad has created an army and brought it and the soul obelisk to The Underworld, in an attempt to seize Icthlarin's fortress. Nomad is absorbing all of the souls in the underworld of anyone who has died on Gielinor. In an attempt to stop it, Icthlarin is trying to shield as many souls as possible.

However, Icthlarin cannot do enough to stop Nomad and requires the player's help in defeating Nomad, by taking back Icthlarin's fortress and killing him for the final time. You will require an army, as Nomad has members of the Order of Ascension fighting by his side, described as "religious fanatics".

Icthlarin states that he has set up a headquarters over the River Noumenon, accessible through the door in Death's office, and will ask you to go through there to begin preparations for the fight against Nomad.

Limbo
''Recommend items: Some combat gear and some food. Familiars are not allowed.''

When you enter the area, speak to Death again who will provide information about what exactly you need to do. He explains that the river allows souls to be transported to Icthlarin's fortress. As Nomad has taken control of the fortress, you will need to collect allies by taking them (through lost souls that haven't made it across the river) from their afterlives.

Go northwest to the dock. Select "embark" on the dock itself and set sail to the afterlife in order to be transported to an alternate version of Lumbridge Castle and the surrounding area, known as Limbo.

''Note: the "embark" option is difficult to see and is not on the boat; it is a click-space that appears to be on the tiles that are on the dock. Low-detail users might experience difficultly when attempting to progress.''

Go north and speak to Astrid or Brand (depending on whatever your character's gender was during Throne of Miscellania). They have "crossed afterlives" to find the player and help fight Nomad. They ask you to speak to three souls and help them remember various information about themselves, in order to recruit them as an ally to your cause.

The three people you need to talk to within this area are Jessika or Korasi (depending on the outcome of The Void Stares Back), Xenia, and Hazelmere.

Void memories
Speak to Jessika/Korasi, located in the alternate version of Bob's Brilliant Axes. They have no motivation to do anything anymore, so you need to find something that is worth fighting for. In order to help them, you will need to recover their memory fragments.

Head south-west of the Lumbridge Castle grounds and find Wizard Grayzag.

The following sections are based on which character you have spoken to:

Korasi's memories
Confront Grayzag on behalf of Korasi by stating that he is a mere image of danger and fear in Korasi's mind. He will then raise doubt by reminding you of all innocents who died because of the Void Knight's failure. As Korasi, you respond by mentioning all the people than can be saved and are worth fighting for. Accepting that truth then causes Grayzag image to morph to Korasi herself, symbolising her acceptance. You receive the first half of her memory.

The other half of Korasi's memory is being held by an incarnation of Jessika, who can be found in the castle's main gate southern tower, on the. Speaking to her will reveal that Korasi has not forgotten Jessika, and still deeply cares about her. She will then give you the second half of Korasi's memory.

Use the two memory halves together, which creates her whole memory and return to Korasi.

Jessika's memories
Confront Grayzag on behalf of Jessika by stating that he is a mere image of danger and fear in Jessika's mind. He will then raise doubt by reminding you of all innocents who died because of the Void Knight's failure. As Jessika, you respond by mentioning all the people than can be saved and are worth fighting for. Accepting that truth then causes Grayzag image to morph to Jessika herself, symbolising her acceptance. You receive the first half of her memory.

The other half of Jessika's memory is being held by an incarnation of Korasi, who can be found in the castle's main gate southern tower, on the. Speaking to her will reveal that Jessika has not forgotten Korasi, and still deeply cares about her. She will then give you the second half of Jessika's memory.

Use the two memory halves together, which creates her whole memory and return to Jessika.

Xenia's memories
Speak to Xenia, located inside the dining room of the Lumbridge Castle (prominently used in Recipe for Disaster). She seems to have forgotten her name and the "stories" of her adventures. In order to help Xenia, you will need to recover memory fragments belonging to her.

Go upstairs to the and attempt to open the chest in Duke Horacio's room. You will be attacked by Xenia's Guilt. After you defeat it, pick up the Guiltful key it drops, open and search the chest. You will find the first half of Xenia's memories. If you attempt to open the chest without the key in your inventory, the guilt will attack again. The chest in to recover the first memory fragment belonging to Xenia.

Go upstairs to the to where the bank would be and attempt to open the chest. You will be attacked by Xenia's Shame. After you defeat it, pick up the Shame filled key it drops, open and search the chest. If you attempt to open the chest without the key in your inventory, Shame will attack again. Use the two memory halves on each other and talk to Xenia again.

Hazelmere's memories
Hazelmere is located on the of the Lumbridge Castle. He asks you to find the different instances of him in the world in order to help recover his memories.

After talking to him, another instance is located elsewhere on the, whom you can speak to, allowing Hazelmere to start regaining the memories he had previously lost. After you speak to him, he will teleport away, with an energy glob indicating which direction to look for him next.

Climb the stairs to the, and on the west side, climb the ladder and speak with Hazelmere. After speaking with him, he will teleport to the top of the main gate. Descend the ladder, take the stairs all the way down, and climb the ladder to the top of the main gate and speak with Hazelmere. He'll then teleport into the building south of Korasi/Jessika. He'll then teleport behind the castle. Speak with Hazelmere again, and he'll teleport to the final location beside Astrid/Brand. Ask him to help you fight Nomad, and he will knowingly and willingly agree.

After aiding each recruit, speak to Astrid/Brand again, and Nomad will appear and kill them (again).You may then leave through the portal.

Bandosian afterlife
''Area of effect abilities work well here, as well as various different boosts and Prayers. It is recommended to stock up on food, weapons and armour before starting this section. This is not a safe death. If you die, you will be transported to death's office and will either have to buy your items back or fetch them from your gravestone, which will be located just outside the office.''

''Recommended items: combat gear, such as Magic. Ice Barrage is highly recommended. If you are not quick with abilities, Legacy Mode is also a huge help, which is especially effective with dual wielding magic weapons that have the highest attack speed.''

Go northeast to the other dock, which will take you to a new area.

''Note: the "embark" option is difficult to see and is not on the boat; it is a click-space that appears to be on the tiles that are on the dock. Low-detail users might experience difficultly when attempting to progress.''

In this area, there are waves of opponents engaging cave goblins. You must protect the cave goblins by using various different abilities and attacks.

Three waves must be passed for you to continue the quest, and your progress is saved after each. Additionally, if you fail a phase, but you did not die, the goblins will be at "10/10 goblins" upon returning.

Each wave gets progressively more difficult and if all of the goblins die, you will be transported back to the dock and will have to start that wave over again. You will also not regain any health if you fail to save the goblins.

In order to complete this part of the quest, it is recommended to attack the enemies as they spawn. It is also recommended to kill the enemies before or on the bridge. Some of the enemies walk very slowly; other enemies sprint. If you have multiple enemies on you, one or two will taper off and attempt to attack the goblins.

Once you complete this phase, Zanik will join your party.

Interrogation of Legio Septimus
After Death confirms you've gathered your allies, use the War table to interrogate Legio Septimus. In order to do this, you must get ready to manipulate, torture, or charm your way to get enough out of him. One method is to use Xenia as a bad cop until Legio reaches no sanity, remove his crystals until he's about a quarter of a way from having no life, then let him recuperate a few times and speak to him about Nomad to discover the weakness in the fortress.

Building the battering ram
Choose two characters and help them collect rocks and logs to build the battering ram. Then go to the hotspot at the front of the bridge and build the ram.

Siege on Icthlarin's Fortress
Fight large waves of Order of Ascension and strategically place allies to fend off opposing threats.

Shortcut - You may skip the second part by going into the eastern cave and using the shortcut. The cave says Exit and takes you into the cave where you got wood and metal. Move the rock blocking the tunnel.

Fight - If you choose to stay and fight, then you must protect the battering ram. If the battering ram's hitpoints depletes, then you must start the wave over.

Run ahead of the battering ram and lead it across the bridge, towards the door. As you are running, Ascension members will slowly spawn. Once the battering ram is in place, select two companions to be placed on either side of the battering ram. Station two companions at the base of the bridge. Station the remaining companions at the centre of the bridge. You can stay behind the battering ram and attack the Ascension members that attack the battering ram.

Once the battering ram successfully batters down the door, the player will encounter Nomad.

Fighting Nomad and Gielinor
''You start each interim fight outside the range of Gielinor's attacks. To leave, exit through the wall portal behind you. If you die during this part, your gravestone will appear just outside Death's hourglass. The quest can be continued from Death's portal in Draynor Village. If you are killed by Nomad, you will continue at whichever phase you have progressed to, with Nomad at full health. NPC deaths during the interim battles are safe, and the phase restarts immediately. After you complete the phases that require the NPCs, the player automatically resumes the fight with Nomad. Note that you cannot teleport out when fighting Nomad. If you happen to die during any Nomad phase, the player can restock on supplies. Familiars are allowed during the fights with Nomad.''



It's time to stop the construct. You will fight Nomad in four matches, with the time between each fight leading an ally against Gielinor. To begin, run to the centre bridge to challenge Nomad. The fights with Nomad are not with safe deaths, the ones with the ally however are safe.



First combat phase
First phase consists of fighting Nomad with 100,000 LP. In each Nomad battle, just remember to keep moving. Shadows will appear at the destination of bomb attacks. Gielinor will gesture before the beam spell fires on your location at the time of the gesture. Occasionally, Nomad will say "Witness the power of Gielinor!" and teleport the player to the middle of the bridge. In a few seconds, Gielinor will attack the player's location, dealing heavy melee damage. This attack can be easily avoided by running forward or using the Surge ability, or negated by using Protect from Melee or Deflect Melee.

Xenia
Xenia's responsibility is to clear the Ascended creatures blocking the outer ring. She has three attacks:
 * You can only attack by pressing the displayed attack buttons, with cycling cooldowns.


 * Blast - hits nearby rorarii for damage
 * Shield Dome - Lowers received damage and reflects some back at gladii
 * Shadow Stalk - summons a copy to fire a single attack behind scutarii

By standing in the centre of a group and repeatedly using abilities, the monsters can be cleared. Abilities such as Shadow Stalk will become useless once the nearby Scutarii is killed. Attacking Capsarius siphons health to Xenia. Clear each ascended member until your time with Xenia is over.

Alternate method - Your battle field is a hall around a square centre. There are 3 sides with monsters. In addition to monsters, dodge the black spot on the floor - that is where damaging rocks land.

Go east and stand at the first corner, and then move in slowly, engaging as few monsters at a time as possible. Draw them to the edge of their wander range and use their abilities on them constantly. Save the Capsarius until the end if possible. Heal off the Capsarius only until near full health and leave them to feed on later.

Move to the next corner and repeat. After clearing that side, backup and heal off the first Capsarius if needed.

Proceed to the last side and repeat.

Using this method you can finish with plenty of "food" left. You'll need to backtrack and finish draining the Capsarius to complete Xenia's section.

Second combat phase
Second phase consists of fighting Nomad with 100,000 LP. In addition to the first phase attacks, he will now also have access to his Soul Blast attack from Nomad's Requiem.

When Nomad orders you to face his wrath, the Soul Blast projectile will follow and wound you for 7500 lifepoints of typeless damage, unless you run behind a wall. Alternatively, Resonance will negate the damage, or Debilitate will halve it in the event where you cannot otherwise mitigate the attack. Nomad's attack will reduce your prayer points whether successful or negated. This attack will deal 9000 damage instead if Nomad was able to steal a piece from the Stone of Jas during Dishonour among Thieves quest (by dodging the spear instead of throwing it back).

If you choose to do the wall-method, select the wall that is closest to you. If the wall is near Nomad, and you are also near Nomad, hide behind that wall. You will not have enough time to run back to the other side and hide behind a wall.

The wall is a half-pillar that is about as tall as the player; they line the entire room. It is recommended to hide behind the wall that is closest to the entrances to bridge.

You will know when you have successfully hidden behind a wall when Nomad says "Stop hiding, worm." and teleports you to the centre of the bridge for Gielinor to attack you. As soon as you appear at the center, run to avoid the damage, or turn on Protect from Melee or Deflect Melee to block it.

''Note: it is possible to get hit by the projectile, if you are standing on the incorrect tile or if you moved. The correct tile is the tile that is farthest away from the entrance to the bridge.''

Death

 * You can only attack by pressing the displayed attack buttons, with cycling cooldowns.

Death's responsibility is to cripple the construct. He has three attacks:


 * Provoke - grabs the attention of the construct when standing precisely due north, west, south, or east on the platform. Gielinor will then slam a hand on the area so quickly provoke and walk a few squares away.
 * Scythe - while near the hand, Death will tear out a spirit. Gielinor follows this attack by making the area unstable, soon collapsing the section for high area damage.
 * Spirit - claims released spirit. This should be done quickly before running to the next platform opening to prevent injury from the collapse. You have to stand near the spirit in order to perform this action.

Stand directly north, west, south, and east of Gielinor to provoke the construct, move a few spaces away, move towards the hand, use the scythe, claim the released spirit, and move on quickly to prevent fatal damage.

In order to use the Scythe ability, the player must stand near the hand; at least 1 square away. If this does not slice the hand, then stand on top of the hand. In the event that you are unsuccessful in slicing the hand, simply Provoke the construct and try again.

Repeat this process until Death's mission is complete.

Third combat phase
Third phase consists of fighting Nomad with 100,000 LP. In addition to the previous phase attacks, Nomad will now create a copy of himself halfway at 50,000 LP. While his clone is alive, Nomad will not use his Soul Blast attack or teleport you to the centre for Gielinor to attack. However, Gielinor will continue to bombard you periodically. Both Nomad and the Clone will attack you at the same time, dealing loads of damage. When you have defeated the clone, Nomad will resume using these attacks. If Nomad is defeated first, not the clone, then the clone will automatically die, and the quest progresses into the next phase.

Icthlarin

 * You can only attack by pressing the displayed attack buttons, with cycling cooldowns.

Icthlarin's responsibility is to prevent spirits from being absorbed by Gielinor as it builds strength. He has two attacks:


 * Release spirits - rescues nearby spirits from Gielinor and absorbs them for personal strength
 * Shield - blocks damage from Gielinor's final attack based on the amount of spirits absorbed

Quickly run a counter clockwise circle around the construct as being caught in its absorption beam will kill Icthlarin and restart the interrim event. When possible, centre Icthlarin among a group of spirits, use the Release Spirits ability, then continue in the circle. Taking the spirits before Gielinor does so strengthens your Shield ability and weakens Gielinor's final attack. If you struggle to keep in front of his beam, try sticking to the inner walls as you'll have less squares to travel around. You won't be able to absorb every spirit, so don't risk being caught by the beam in order to do so, just ensure you have more than Gielinor.

After all spirits are either absorbed by Icthlarin or Gielinor, it will charge a strong attack. Once you reach the starting point, a pop-up will appear, indicating that Gielinor is getting ready to attack. At this point, activate the shield and wait out the spell.

It is recommended to wait between 1-2 seconds before activating the shield, due to the shield's short duration. If successful, the shield will negate most of the damage. If you fail the shield-portion of the event, you will have to start over. Depending on how many more of the spirits you have collected as opposed to Gielinor, you will deflect more damage back at it and therefore receive less damage. If you have collected almost or all of the spirits in one run, it will only take one cycle to finish the phase and no damage will be dealt to Icthlarin as the shield will reflect the entire attack.

Repeat these steps until your time as Icthlarin is complete.

Final combat phase
The final phase consists of Nomad with 100,000 LP using only quick melee attacks. It's recommended to use protect from melee for this phase - and a shield along with defensive abilities, as they will make the fight much easier and reduce the requirement for healing. Now that protection prayers are effective, Devotion is useful for giving yourself a breather in addition to the shield abilities.

Nomad may not do any of his previous attacks; however, that does not prevent Gielinor from doing his.

After successfully defeating Nomad, he will be transported to the centre of the bridge. If a cutscene/dialogue does not play, click on Nomad.

Aftermath
The player can choose to have either Death or Icthlarin kill Gielinor. Sliske will arrive and invite the player and either Death or Icthlarin, depending on who you chose to kill Gielinor, to a competition among god defeaters to compete for the Stone of Jas. Afterwards, you will be given the option to either kill Nomad or let him live; regardless, Sliske will take him.

Once the dialogue is over, you may optionally speak with your allies before speaking with Death. Before leaving, you will be given the choice of whether or not Zanik should be appointed as the watcher of Nomad's obelisk. If you do not, then the obelisk has no guardian; Zimberfizz's ashes will remain as the Soul Wars host. If you do, then Zanik will replace Zimberfizz and the ashes are removed. Finally, you will exit.

Rewards

 * 1 quest point
 * 50,000 experience Construction Lamp
 * 50,000 experience Mining Lamp
 * 50,000 experience Woodcutting Lamp
 * 50,000 experience Combat Lamp
 * Invention blueprints for soul-in-a-box and urn enhancer, both of which require level 24 Invention.

Music unlocked

 * Battered Soul
 * Construct
 * Construction Destruction
 * Deconstruct
 * Formation
 * RAM upgrade
 * Reconstruct

Trivia

 * After completing the quest, the Adventure's Log reads "I saved the souls of the dead and prevented the ultimate completion of Nomad's scheme."
 * There is an extra option when interrogating to Legio Septimus: [use secret ravensworn handshake] to which Legio Septimus will reply with: "Yes, the thirteenth moon stands ascendant. It is the shadow glass that starts the call."
 * A quick examine on the various wandering souls throughout the underworld will reveal that those were the souls of NPCs that you have done quests for in the past.