Fate of the Gods

Fate of the Gods is a grandmaster quest featuring Zaros' return to Gielinor. It is the conclusion of the Return of Zaros series that started with The Dig Site in 2003. The World Gate also plays a key role, taking the adventurer to the realm of Freneskae, where the majority of the quest takes place.

While Missing, Presumed Death is the only actual quest requirement, completion of Ritual of the Mahjarrat and The World Wakes is strongly recommended in order to fully appreciate the quest's storyline, and completion of the Mahjarrat Memories also gives an Engrammeter that can be used to reduce damage while on Freneskae, in addition to providing further information on Zaros.

Official description
"The gods are returning to Gielinor but something is preventing the arrival of Zaros. Help Azzanadra to bring his god to Gielinor and find out more about Zaros and the elder gods along the way."

Powering the World Gate
Speak to Azzanadra, south of the Eagle's Peak lodestone and north-west of the gates to Arandar Pass, who will inform you that the death of Guthix has allowed all of the gods to return, but there is one final obstacle preventing the return of Zaros, which you can help remove. Accept the quest. Upon speaking to Azzanadra again, he will explain that the World Gate was created by Guthix long ago, and is the only portal that can reach every plane in existence, although it is currently limited to those worlds that Guthix or Zaros visited with it.

He will tell you that he, together with Zaros, has enlisted the help of Sliske to pull the World Gate out of the Shadow Realm. Sliske will appear and pull you into the Shadow Realm to offer you a proposal before telling you how to fix the World Gate. Sliske will say that his mastery of the Shadow Realm has grown, and explain how you may be able to achieve a big win (depending on your God Emissaries alignment). Since you will be the only one able to pass through the World Gate and meet Zaros, the fate of Zaros will be in your hands. Sliske will claim to be still loyal to Zaros, after a fashion.

A combination lock on the gate will need to be removed before it can be used. Sliske will place the combination on a pillar, which you should investigate to get the symbols. Then click on the control consoles in front of the gate. The left console will rotate the symbols to the left, and the right console will rotate them to the right. You'll have to rotate the symbols in the noted direction to each symbol, like a combination lock, so that they spell out M-A-H in the runic alphabet. When a correct world of the combination is switched to, an animation occurs alerting you to this fact. Heading in the wrong direction once you've got the correct world will de-power the World Gate, forcing you to start again. This can be done before the quest, and if you have, you will not need to do it again.

To power up the World Gate, you must use the following combination in the following order:

After the World Gate has been activated and Sliske has returned it to the material realm, Azzanadra will tell you that he has set the gate so that it will only take you to the right location until Zaros is returned. Enter the gate once you have made necessary preparations. A decent amount of food, a face mask (or an item that acts as one) and a beast of burden are highly recommended.

Approaching the volcano
Once through the World Gate, you will arrive in an area named The Approach, the most dangerous and largest area of Freneskae. Although you will initially get the feeling that you are being watched, you will quickly dismiss it. To progress, from the entrance, go east and jump the two ledges, then take the north branch and cross a rock formation to the east. Follow the passage to the first healing point.

Continue along the passage and cross the stepping stones, then climb the cliffside. Go east, then north and cross the overhang then climb down the cliffside to the east. Go south then west and slide down the slope. Continue along the passage to the second healing point, and then head southwest across the lava vents and climb the cliffside opposite the second healing point. Walk across the rock formation, run east to the end of the next passage and climb down the drop. Go east and traverse the rock bridge.

The opening to the Sanctum will be ahead, marked by the mysterious entity that you have been seeing throughout your journey. Enter it.

Zaros's Sanctum
Once you enter the cave at the end of The Approach, you will enter the Sanctum, the area where Zaros contacted Azzanadra in the Temple at Senntisten. Unlike the Approach, this area is completely safe, and the middle of the room, there is an area where you can deposit any memoriam crystals you may have found, and review the memories of Zaros.

At the other end of the room is a door with symbols on it. The door is locked, and to open it, a relatively simple puzzle must be solved. There are three stages to this puzzle, with the last being the hardest.

To solve the puzzle, you must rotate the panels on the door to match the symbols on them to light up the lines which are in-between the dials. Once all of the lines are lit up, the next stage will begin. After completing all three stages of this puzzle, you will be able to proceed.

Now is the time to bank if needed, as four nihil must be killed in the next part. You will now be able to return to the puzzle room from the World Gate.

Nihil in the Pit
Enter the next room and stand on the centre of it, where the mysterious entity will be found. Four different creatures known as nihil will then emerge from the tunnels around the edge of the room. Each nihil is based on one of the elements from Ancient Magicks and one of the races of Gielinor. If you try to exit or continue, the doors will lock shut, so you will have to fight the nihil to unlock the doors.

The nihil emerge at random from the twelve doorways and will charge in one direction. Making contact with one of them while they are running will cause 25% of the player's maximum health in damage, as well as a side effect based on the nihil that hit you.

Each nihil always runs in the same direction: the ice nihil runs south, the smoke nihil runs west, the shadow nihil runs north, and the blood nihil runs east. Therefore, a pair of nihil (ice and shadow or smoke and blood) can be killed, leaving areas between the tracks unused and safe. Lower levelled players can also use this to rest and heal between fights.

Each nihil uses a different combat style, but has no weaknesses, and has a special attack (which is signalled by it hissing beforehand) as follows:


 * The smoke nihil attacks with Magic and can reduce stats. Its charge will decrease Attack, Strength, Magic, Ranged, and Defence by 5.
 * The shadow nihil attacks with Ranged, and its special attack creates an area-of-effect that deals rapid damage. Players should constantly move in order to avoid the Nex-like shadow bombs that can cause heavy damage. Its charge will darken the game screen as it approaches, but causes no gameplay difference.
 * The blood nihil attacks with melee. Its special attack causes all incoming damage to heal it, indicated when the creature lowers its head and begin to glow. It also will passively heal other nihil if it is damaged. Its charge inflicts a bleed similar to Slaughter that begins at 100 damage.
 * The ice nihil attacks with Magic, and its special attack applies a six second stun. Its charge will drain the player's Prayer points by 25% of its maximum.

The nihil can deal significant damage even through Prayer, so Prayer points, stats, and health should be monitored closely. Super restores are very useful to counter the stat-reducing effects. Once the nihil are dead, head north through the now unlocked doors, and climb the cliffside.

The Cradle of Mah
You will emerge atop the volcano, next to a large sleeping figure. Approach the figure and attempt to climb down the cliff next to its left hand (your right, its left), and the mysterious entity will once again appear, telling you to stop, and revealing itself to be none other than Zaros himself.

Zaros will explain that the entity is Mah, an elder god, and that he has been guiding you through Freneskae. He will also tell you that his and your presence is making Mah awaken from her slumber, and takes you to a place where you and he can speak more easily: your mind threshold. Here, he explains that he needs you to make him a body from Mah's energy in an area called the Elder Halls beneath the volcano, and allows you to ask questions about his plans, origins, and thoughts on people. Through this, he reveals he is the creation of Mah, and that an event known as the "great revision" is coming, which he aims to ascend to elder godhood in order to stop.

After you have finished asking Zaros questions, tell him that you are ready, and he will explain that when you wake up, you will have to defend against Mah's nightmares until it subsides, allowing you to go and make him a body. Zaros will offer to stay in your body in order to help you fight the nightmares.

You have the option to refuse him, but if you accept his offer to stay in your body to help you fight the nightmares, then you will receive unlimited prayer points and runes while using the Ancient Curses and Ancient Magicks, respectively. You will then awaken back at the Volcano.

Mah's nightmare
To start the nightmare, approach Mah. The nightmare will last a couple of minutes, and you must defend against Muspahs. Your progress is displayed at the top of your screen in order to help you keep track of how long you have got left. Prayer and food is especially useful in this part, and a beast of burden is highly recommended.

If you agreed to let Zaros into your mind, he will give you unlimited prayer points for Ancient Curses and unlimited runes for Ancient Magicks, as well as reduce a small part of the damage from the Muspahs. If you refused to let him enter you, or if you die, by talking to him you can let him in again.

At the start of the fight, one Muspah at a time is spawned. As the nightmare runs its course, more Muspahs begin to spawn, to a maximum of five in the last moments of Mah's nightmare. If you see Mah clench her hands, quickly use Freedom or Anticipate; if you don't, you will be stunned when she screams in agony. When this happens, players lose 20% of their maximum health while Muspah take up to 9200 damage from the scream.

Once the progress bar hits 0%, all of the Muspah will die and you are free to climb down the summit into the Elder Halls. If, by bad luck, a player reaches 0% on the progress bar and runs out of life points at the same time, the player may still complete the battle if the player receives a message in their chat box saying they succeeded.

Zaros will once again explain that he needs you to make a body from the Mah wisps, and specifies that he needs you to make a Dark simulacrum in order to aid his return, and that a Light simulacrum would reject his essence. Zaros will also once again offer to enter your body in order to assist you and offer advice, but this is once again optional, and this time, doing so gives no gameplay advantage although it does restore your prayer points.

It may be helpful to drop the food from your Beast of Burden before hand and pick it up during the fight before 3 minutes have gone by. You may get too overrun by Muspahs later on to withdraw.

Halls of the Elders
Climb down the ledge at the opposite end to where you entered, next to Mah's hand. You will enter a large area with several Mah wisps, the Elder Halls of this world. Pick up The Measure; an Elder artefact created to measure Anima, from the nearby ground. This artefact causes faint Mah wisps to become visible, allowing you to siphon them for Mah energy and Mah memories, the latter of which can be converted to energy at the crater in the middle of the halls. You need to physically place the measure down near faint wisps to turn them into Mah wisps before attempting to siphon.

Mah wisps can be found all over the halls, spawning both in the centre and at the ends of the tunnels where curious "eggs" can be found. It seems as if the five "eggs" each represent one of the five elder gods. Which explains why one of the eggs looks similar to the Stone of Jas, and that another one of them is explained by Zaros to be "Mah's".

Once you obtain 250 Mah energy, you must weave a simulacrum from it, either a dark simulacrum if you wish to aid Zaros, or a light simulacrum if you wish to hinder him. Once you are done, climb back up the summit and return to Zaros. He will accept your chosen simulacrum, being extremely disappointed if you chose to give him a light one, but forced to accept it nevertheless. Bear in mind that whichever simulacrum you chose will change his appearance, so carefully consider your choice.

Exit the rock face to the west to head to Zaros. After you have given him your simulacrum, Zaros will form and outfit his new body, before Mah awakens, causing Zaros to teleport you and himself away back to the World Gate at the entrance to Freneskae. Before you leave, Zaros will have a little chat with you, questioning you about how you feel about the choice you made. Once you are done discussing it with him, head back through the World Gate.

The return of Zaros
Step through the World Gate and return to Azzanadra to witness the return of Zaros. Azzanadra will summon Char and Nex, and you will be back in your mind threshold. Aware of Sliske's betrayal due to your memories, and no longer able to condone his methods, Zaros proceeds to excommunicate him, telling him that he will have no further association with the Zarosians. This angers Sliske, causing him to state that Zaros's protection will no longer apply to you as far he's concerned, and teleports away.

Zaros will then task his followers with various assignments: he tasks Char with keeping an eye on Sliske, fearing he may do something rash due to being hurt, Nex with keeping Sliske's god contest in check, and charges Azzanadra with locating the Elder Halls in Gielinor, so that he may prepare to rouse the Elder Gods and prevent them from destroying the universe. If you hindered him, he also charges Azzanadra with finding a way to extend the lifespan of his body. If you helped him, he charges you with dealing with the threat of the Dragonkin.

Finally, regardless of your decision, Zaros will reward you with a variety of things, including a shard from his arm, which will affiliate you with Zaros and allow you to speak with him at any time, and the quest will finish.

Congratulations, quest complete!

Rewards



 * 2 quest points
 * The Shard of Zaros, which when equipped grants protection from all factions in the God Wars Dungeon
 * Access to Freneskae via the World Gate
 * The ability to fight bladed, force, and throwing muspah in The Cradle
 * The ability to fight blood, shadow, ice, and smoke nihil in The Pit
 * Access to the Elder Halls, with a level training spot
 * Access to rune dragons after completing both this quest and Ritual of the Mahjarrat
 * Access to Freneskae via the World Gate
 * The ability to fight bladed, force, and throwing muspah in The Cradle
 * The ability to fight blood, shadow, ice, and smoke nihil in The Pit
 * Access to the Elder Halls, with a level training spot
 * Access to rune dragons after completing both this quest and Ritual of the Mahjarrat

Post-quest rewards

 * A survivor's lamp which grants in a chosen combat skill (80+, excluding prayer/summoning) up to three times, if you talk to Azzanadra in Senntisten (requires completion of The Temple at Senntisten)
 * A large prismatic lamp from Wahisietel (Ali the Wise) in Nardah (requires completion of Ritual of the Mahjarrat)
 * The "" title, if you kill all four of the nihil while they are all attacking you at once, either during or after the quest
 * Two cosmetic head overrides, the Helm of Zaros and Crest of Seren, after finding all the memoriam crystals on Freneskae
 * A teleport to the World Gate added to the Sixth-Age circuit by speaking to the Guthixian High Druid (requires full completion of The World Wakes)
 * If a charged engrammeter is used on Freneskae, is granted, and you take less damage from environmental effects (requires completion of Mahjarrat Memories)
 * If you visit the Empyrean Citadel throne room and attempt to leave, Sliske will appear and answer one question, before giving you a gift: the ability to see into the Shadow Realm without the ring of visibility (requires completion of The General's Shadow and Ritual of the Mahjarrat).
 * Four elder chronicles, each granting when The Measure is placed:
 * Near the submerged statue (appears as rocks if One of a Kind has not been completed) on Entrana located on the far north-west corner of the island
 * Outside the TzHaar City entrance
 * Near the Oracle atop Ice Mountain
 * By the archaeologist camp on the plateau at the top of the stairs in the Ruins of Ullek

Music unlocked

 * Amor Fati
 * Freneskae
 * Sanctum
 * Non Compos Mentis
 * Nightmare at the Cradle
 * Zarosian Reprise
 * The Elder Halls
 * Zaros Returns

Required for completing

 * The Light Within
 * Tirannwn Tasks:
 * Elite: "The Crested Guest Is Best"

Post-quest FAQ

 * Fate of the Gods FAQ

Trivia



 * Oddly enough, Sliske will still appear and ask his question after the quest, even after his "death" in Sliske's Endgame.
 * Upon completion of the quest the Adventurer's Log states: "Zaros has returned..."
 * When meeting Zaros on top of the volcano, the spirit says "You know who I am. Say my name" - this is a reference to Walter White's quote in .
 * This is one of the few quests to have a unique "quest complete" jingle. A small part of the music played during Zaros' formation plays when completed.
 * This quest was initially called "Purple Rose" while in development and is still referred to as such in the cache.
 * The phrase said by Zaros at the end, Pax Tecum, in Latin translates to May peace be with you.
 * If you die inside Freneskae and then attempt to return, Sliske will make a snide remark based on how badly you are doing:
 * 1st death: "What's wrong, World Guardian? Did Freneskae give you an ouchie?"
 * 2nd death: "Well, you know what they say, maybe third time's the charm."
 * 3rd death: "What killed you this time?"
 * 4th death: "Freneskae: 4, World Guardian: 0"
 * 5th death: "I'm losing count of all your dying."
 * 6th death: "Could this be lucky attempt number 7 for you?"
 * 7th death and onward: "Honestly, would you stop dying? It's getting so boring."