What Lies Below

This quest has a quick guide.

It briefly summarises the steps needed to complete the quest.

What Lies Below (#122)
Released		27 March 2007 (Update)
Members		Yes
Quest series		None
Lead developer(s)		Danny J

What Lies Below is a quest that deals with the Dagon'hai, an order of powerful Zamorakian mages. During the quest you team up with the Varrock Palace Secret Guard to help capture Surok Magis.

Details

Start point	Talk to Rat Burgiss south of Varrock. Show on map
Official difficulty	Intermediate
Official length	Short
Description	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?
Requirements	Completion of the following quests: Rune Mysteries 35 Runecraft (not boostable)
Items required	Empty bowl 15 chaos runes Access to the Chaos Altar (Chaos talisman or tiara, or travelling through the Abyss or Temple of the Eye) (Catalytic talisman and Catalytic tiara will NOT work)
Recommended	30 Combat level 42 Mining (not boostable) Weapon, armour and some food if low leveled Bronze pickaxe to avoid going into the Wilderness (Bronze is specifically required, and can be obtained during the quest) Fast travel to several locations around Varrock; Varrock square (Varrock teleport) Outlaw camp (Ring of Wealth to the Grand Exchange, Skills Necklace to the Cooks' Guild or Varrock teleport if medium Varrock Diary completed) South of Varrock (Chronicle or Combat bracelet to the Champions' Guild) The canoe system (requires axe and level 27 woodcutting for the Dugout canoe)
Enemies to defeat	5 Outlaws (level 32) King Roald (level 47)

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Walkthrough

Rat Burgiss

Speak to Rat Burgiss on the crossroads between Varrock and Lumbridge. He tells you that a bunch of outlaws have ransacked his trading cart and that he needs you to get back the five papers they stole from him. He will give you an empty folder to keep them in.

The outlaws are located between Edgeville and the Grand Exchange. You can use a Skills necklace or Ring of wealth to travel towards them. Once at the camp, kill five outlaws (level 32) to retrieve five of Rat's papers, and then use them on the folder to get a full folder.

Fighting the outlaws in their camp.

Return to Rat with the folder; he will then ask you to deliver a letter to Surok Magis in the Varrock Palace library. Though written in a hard to read font, the message is in English.

Head to the library, on the north side of the ground floor^[UK]1^st floor^[US] of the castle, and speak to Surok Magis. He will destroy the letter and tell you that he can turn plain clay into gold bars! He will need two items, an ordinary bowl and an infused wand. He gives you Sin'keth's diary and a wand to be infused with chaos.

Note: If you want to get kudos from the Varrock museum you'll need to get the book Dagon'hai History. You'll find it in one of the two bookcases furthest east. After the quest you can give the book to the Historian Minas on the 1^st floor^[UK]2^nd floor^[US] of the Varrock museum.

Chaos Altar

Items needed: Wand

Head to the Chaos Altar, with 15 chaos runes in your inventory. Entering the altar requires either a chaos talisman or tiara, or access to the Abyss. There are four ways to reach the altar:

Option 1

Items needed: Chaos talisman or tiara

Following this option avoids the Wilderness entirely but requires 42 mining. Read the Sin'keth's diary, and then go east of Varrock. Go south-west of the Lumberyard and west of the Earth Altar. You should find a statue of Saradomin. Talk to Anna Jones, and she will give you a bronze pickaxe. You must use a bronze pickaxe to excavate the statue (requires 42 mining) to reveal the Tunnel of Chaos entrance. Enter the tunnel, and you will find that the Dagon'hai organisation lives there. Head north until you reach a portal. The portal leads to the second level of the Chaos Maze. Climb down a ladder to reach the Chaos Altar.

Option 2

Items needed: Chaos talisman or tiara

Travel through the Wilderness (level 10). Head to the Chaos Altar entrance. Once inside, make your way through the maze to the Chaos Altar.

Infusing the wand.

Option 3

Use the Abyss to travel to the Chaos Altar, which requires completion of the Enter the Abyss miniquest. Teleport via the Mage of Zamorak north of Edgeville to reach the Abyss. Your prayer will be drained and you will be skulled. Make your way past Abyssal walkers (level 81) into the inner circle, from where you can teleport to the altar.

Option 4

This option avoids the wilderness. Travel to the Chaos Altar by entering the Guardian of Chaos at the Temple of the Eye, which requires completion of the Temple of the Eye quest. To do this, join a game of Guardians of the Rift and wait for the Guardian of Chaos to be active, or use a Portal Talisman (Chaos) to access the Chaos Altar when the Guardian is inactive. This will teleport you close to the altar. To leave, go back through the portal and pass through the barrier at the entrance to Guardians of the Rift.

To reach the Temple of the Eye, use the grouping teleport for Guardians of the Rift. Alternatively, use a necklace of passage to teleport to the Wizards' Tower and enter the portal in the basement.

Wand

When you have reached the Chaos Altar, you must use your wand on the altar. This will absorb the 15 chaos runes to turn the wand into the Infused wand. Return to the library of Varrock, and talk to Surok Magis with the infused wand and an empty bowl. He will then give you Surok's letter for Rat Burgiss.

Note: If you take Surok's letter to show King Roald before Rat Burgiss, you will learn about his guards' skills.

Ending

Head back to Rat Burgiss, and deliver the letter. Rat Burgiss will explain to you that he is actually the commander of Varrock Palace Secret Guard and that Surok Magis is planning on taking over the Kingdom of Misthalin by using a mind-control spell on King Roald, and that you accidentally helped him with that. Rat Burgiss will direct you to Zaff, owner of the staff shop in Varrock, in order to prepare a spell to counteract Surok's.

Talk to Zaff, who will explain his plan to you. Zaff will give you a beacon ring and instructions on how to arrest Surok Magis. You do not need to equip the ring.

Get your gear ready for a fight. Head to Surok Magis (who is now wearing Dagon'hai robes), and talk to him. He will cast his mind-control spell on King Roald (level 47), who you will have to fight. When the King has low health, your character will say that "Now would be a good time to summon Zaff!". Now you can operate the Beacon ring to summon Zaff.

Zaff will arrive and saves King Roald by teleporting him away. Then he casts a spell on Surok Magis that permanently seals him in the library. Zaff then casts another spell and the library goes dark. When the light comes back, evidence of the battle is cleaned up and Zaff is gone. After this occurs, you will be able to purchase battlestaves from Zaff's Superior Staffs, in addition to the discounted battlestaves from the Varrock Diary.

• 

  The player fights King Roald.

• 

  Zaff casts a spell upon his arrival, restoring the King's mind.

• 

  Surok attempts to escape, and is stopped by Zaff.

Return to Rat Burgiss to finish the quest.

Note: If you are a 1 defence pure, it is advised not to skip through the dialogue when speaking to Rat, as Defence experience would be gained if you proceed to complete the quest. The player is given a dialogue warning before receiving the experience. Simply decline the option, leaving the quest incomplete, if you would prefer not to get the XP.

Congratulations, quest complete!

Rewards

• 1 Quest point
• 8,000 Runecraft experience
• 2,000 Defence experience
• The Beacon ring
• Access to a shortcut to the Chaos Altar
• Completing this quest awards the player with 5 Kudos which can be claimed by talking to Historian Minas in the Varrock Museum, while holding the Dagon'hai history book.
• 5 Battlestaves in stock of Zaff's Superior Staffs! store (after defeating King Roald - the quest doesn't need to be completed)

Unlocks:

• King Roald accessible in the Nightmare Zone.

Required for completing

Completion of What Lies Below is required for the following:

• Defender of Varrock

Music unlocked

• Alternative Root - Tunnel of Chaos
• Surok's Theme

Changes

Date	Changes
9 November 2022 (update)	The 42 Mining requirement for has been correctly changed to a recommendation.
27 April 2022 (update)	The 42 Mining requirement has been changed to a recommendation.

Trivia

• The 'Aphro-Dizzy-Yak' Surok mentions refers to "aphrodisiac", something which causes sexual arousal.
• 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 play on the famous movie hero Indiana Jones.
• The letter to Surok obtained from Rat Burgiss, if deciphered from the coded font, foreshadows Surok's plan before it is fully revealed.
• The player character says "Won't he be disinclined to acquiesce to the request?" which is a reference to a line said by Captain Barbossa in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.
• If you have completed the Garden of Tranquillity quest, while fighting King Roald, he will shout phrases like "I'm allergic to roses!" and "That garden was awful!", which is a reference to the quest. If Shield of Arrav is completed, he will also say, "A member of the Phoenix Gang?", even if the player is in Black Arm Gang. If Darkness of Hallowvale is completed, he will say, "You are with the Vampyres!".
• An update made it possible to buy staffs at Zaff's in Varrock without completing What Lies Below.
• After returning to Rat Burgiss with the full folder, he'll ask you to speak to Surok; your character will say, "All work and no pay makes (username) a dull adventurer," which is a reference to an old proverb.
• By using Surok's Letter on King Roald before delivering it to Rat, the player character and the king will have a conversation revolving around the king's inability to accept he is in danger.
• Chaos altar can be accessed through Guardians of the Rift minigame, so going into the Wilderness isn't required.