RuneScape/Desert Treasure

Desert Treasure Probably one of the hardest quests in the game, but good fun if you like playing punchbag for high level monsters. I'll give you an idea of what I wore and how it worked out throughout the guide, and my stats if you want to try and relate it to you. I was: 100 combat, 70 magic, 71 range and 56 prayer.

Skill Requirements Level 10 slayer. Level 50 firemaking. Level 50 magic. Level 53 thieving. A high agility level. Be able to defeat extremely tough (no kidding) enemies above level 150.

Skill Recommendations (These are minimum recommendations, higher would be better). 43 Prayer is essential (I don't know if anyone has done it without). Level 65 hitpoints. Level 61 Magic. Level 70 Defence. High agility is an advantage at times.

Quest Requirements Digsite Quest. The Tourist Trap. The Temple of Ikov. Priest in Peril. Waterfall Quest. Troll Stronghold.

Item Requirements About 1000gp. A cake. Shantay passes and a couple of waterskins would come in handy. Tinderbox. Facemask. 6 Steel bars, 6 Molten glass, 1 Charcoal (Shilo Village general store). Ashes. Blood rune. 12 Magic logs. 1 bone (normal kind). 1 Silver bar. Garlic (search the cupboard upstairs in a house in Draynor Village). Pestle and mortar. Spice. 1 Spiked boots (give Dunstan in Burthorpe climbing boots and an iron bar). Ice gloves. Lots of lockpicks (buy them in the Rogues Den).

Item Recommendations Lots of prayer potions, (I used about 25 at 100 combat). Plenty of good food, lobsters at the least. Stat restore potions (about 10 should do it). Ectophial or elf crystal (one click teleport). Plenty of runes for teleporting around. Plenty of runes for high level elemental spells (death or blood). Antipoison potions, lots of energy potions. Rings of life. Good armour (rune and above). Good magic armour (mystic would be good). Prayer boosting armour (initiate or monk's robes). Range armour (dragonhide).

Extra If your computer has been known to suffer from lag or a bad connection, whenever you're fighting any of the 4 big bosses I would recommend that you closed all unneccessary applications, and waited until you are confident that your internet connection is okay. The last thing you want to do is lag out and die.

The Archaeologist
''Items Needed For This Part: 12 Magic logs, 6 Steel bars, 6 Molten glass, Ashes, 1 Bones, Charcoal, Blood rune, 650gp (for the beer), some money for a magic carpet ride (100-200gp), teleport runes to Varrock and a charged glory amulet would help. Waterskins for the desert.''

To start the quest head to the archaeologist at the bedabin camp (take a magic carpet there south of the Shantay Pass). Talk to him and he will tell you about buried treasure hidden in the desert. He gives you some etched notes to take to Terry Bandalo at the digsite exam centre. Head to the digsite, Terry Bandalo can be found wandering about in the exam centre. Give him the notes and he will give you a translated book. Take this back to the archaeologist (getting tired of all the walking around yet?). After a bit of talk agree to split the reward 50-50 with him. Next head south to the bandit camp. Make sure you're not wearing anything Saradomin or Zamorak related or else everyone will attack you, especially in the pub. Head into the pub and buy a bandit's brew (650gp, seems a bit pricey for a beer, the bartender must be from London) off the bartender. Speak to the bartender about the four diamonds of Azzandra. He will tell you to talk to an elder. Head east from the pub until you reach a house with a man called Elbis inside. Talk to him about the diamonds of Azzandra and he will tell you about how they were stolen by four mighty warriors. He will tell you that he can help you find them but you need to bring him some things. Bring him the 12 Magic logs, 6 Steel bars, 6 Molten glass, Ashes, 1 Bones, Charcoal, Blood rune and give them to him. He will tell you to meet him south of his house on top of a hill. Head south then east a bit and you should see Elbis on top a little hill surrounded by 6 mirrors. Look into each mirror and you will see the locations related to the four diamonds. Therefore, by using highly complicated mathematical deduction two of the locations must be false! Fear not though, for this guide will not send on you any wild goose chases to useless locations.

Gem #1, The Diamond Of Shadow
''Items Needed For This Part: A lot of prayer pots for the big fight (20 may seem like an exaggeration but trust me on this one). A bit of food for getting through the dungeon and in emergencies. Plenty of lockpicks and some anti-poison. More desert essentials (shantay pass, waterskins and money for a magic carpet ride).''

Teleport or make your way to Ardougne. Head north and west a bit until you come to a fenced off area. It's roughly south-west of the fishing guild. You should find a man named Rasool there. Have a bit of a chat with him and he'll tell you that some people have stolen something off him, he wants you to get it back. Now head all the way back to the bandit camp (if you're walking throughout this quest you're a stronger man than i could imagine). Remember not to wear anything Saradomin or Zamarok related for fear of incurring the wrath of the friendly locals. Head to the southern part of the camp and you should find a locked chest inside a tent. Pick the lock with a lockpick to open it. This can be frustrating, as the lockpick can break in the mechanism and the chest can poison you. I got lucky and only needed about 10 lockpicks but some people have been known to use up to 30. If you run out lockpicks the bandits can be pickpocketed for them and antipoison (convenient huh?). Eventually you'll find a guilded cross inside the chest. Head back to Rasool and give him the cross. He will be so delighted that he gives you a shiny golden ring. It's no ordinary ring though, it's the ring of visability (ooooo, aaaah). Note: This is the ring used in the Ghostly Robe Miniquest/game. If you equip the ring in the fenced off area you'll see a trapdoor mysteriously appear. Before you head down the mysterious ladder get ready for a tough fight. You think Mike Tyson is hard? Hah, brace yourself...

Big-daddy-baddy-boss fight #1: Damis (lvl 107 & 174)

Since you'll be using prayer against this guy (if you're not then you're either incredibly brave or incredibly foolhardy) it doesn't matter too much what armour you wear. Damis is weak against earth spells, so earth blasts or earth waves should work a treat. Therefore you want to keep your magic attack on the plus side, whilst maintaining a good prayer bonus. I wore a mystic robe botttom, monk's robe top, intiate helm, dragon dagger(s), holy book, legends cape, and mystic gloves and boots. Bring an ectophial or elf crystal (one click teleport). Some food, (about 4-8 lobster or higher equivalent food. I used cheese baked potatoes (heal 16) throughout the quest. Bring about 20 4 dose prayer pots. A ring of life might just be life saver (life saver, geddit?) Ready? Good. When you're ready head into the dungeon. Head as far west as you can go, then head all the way north, then go west until you come to a biggish room. Head as far south as you can, then west and take the next northerly turning, then west until you come into a big chamber. There are lvl 80 giant skeletons and lvl 63 shadow hounds throughout the dungeon so watch out. When you come into the dungeon Damis (lvl 103) will pop up. Try and lure him back into the corridor where you came, it's not multicombat so you'll autoattack Damis after drinking and eating. The first form is pretty easy, save your earth spells if you want and just melee him with protect from melee on. When he's dead Damis (lvl 174) will appear. I sat and gawped as this guy drained my prayer from a healthy 56 to 10 in 5 flat. He drains it like a 100m sprinter on steroids, fast. I got into a good routine of casting an earth wave or two (depending on how brave i was), drinking a dose of prayer pot, casting an earth wave, drinking a dose etc. Note: There are no safespots. Eventually after a few nail biting minutes he'll die, pick up the diamond of shadow and get outta there buddy.

Gem #2, The Diamond Of Blood
Go to Canifis and go into the bar. Talk to Malak the vampire and he will tell you about a vampire that has the next diamond. The Vampire is in Draynor dungeon. You must get a pot, get it blessed by the head monk on Entrana, then take it back and he'll fill it with blood (from you). After which, you need to add spice and crushed garlic. That is the simple part. Now you will need to fight level-139 Dessous. Do not kid yourself, this is no easy task. He uses a special attack on you that will hit double 5's one of which will miss if you have protection from magic prayer ON. If you use protection from range prayer or protection from melle prayer, he will teleport right next to you. The best way to kill this demon is to stand behind the fence and range or mage him. KEEP YOUR PROTECTION FROM MAGIC PRAYER ON AT ALL TIMES. Once you killed him, talk to Malak and you will get the blood diamond.

Gem #3, The Diamond Of Ice
Teleport to Trollheim and walk over and speak to the troll child. Give him a cake when you are told to do so. He will tell you to unfreeze his parents to get the ice diamond. It's recommended that you wear good armour and bring several stat restore potions and prayer potions before you continue. Pass through the ice gate and put protect from melee on. Kill 5 of the lvl 120 ice trolls until all the ice-icles fall off the cave entrance to the east. You might want to replenish your supplies before continuing.

More stat restore potions, prayer potions, and plenty of good food is recommended for the next part, as well as some spiked climbing boots (give a pair of climbing boots and an iron bar to Dunstan in Burthorpe). Carry on through the cave, and put protect from melee on when you get to the wolves. Carry on past them until it says you feel an evil presence. Kamil (lvl 154)will appear. This guy is tricky, as well as your stats being continously drained he will freeze you now and again and attack with melee. Protect from melee is recommended, and if he's freezing you too much swicth from melee protect to mage to confuse him. I ranged him with rune arrows at 71 range and 56 prayer and used about 3-4 prayer pots.

Once he is dead, continue past where he was until you come to the icy path. Put on your spiked boots and carry on walking. Using the super stat restore Kamil dropped here would be an advantage as you will fall for 2 damage now and again if your agility is low. Keep on going until you walk across the bridge and come to two frozen ice cubes. Smash them with a melee weapon or your fists. They have 10hp each. When both parents are freed you'll be teleported back to the troll child who will give you the diamond of ice.

Gem #4, The Diamond Of Smoke
For this diamond good mage gear, runes for water blast and ice gloves are recommended, with plenty of energy pots and some prayer pots. A facemask and a tinderbox is a must. This is probably the easiest of the diamonds. Head through the Shantay Pass and take the magic carpet to Pollinveach and walk to the smoke well by going south then east. Climb down the well and walk to the northwest corner of the dungeon. Make sure your energy is topped up and set to run. Light the standing torch then run to the southwest corner and light the next torch. Then the northeast corner torch then the southeast. Then run to the big room in the middle of the dungeon and open the chest to receive a warm key. If any of the torches go out you'll have to relight them before you can claim the key. When you have the key walk to the western gate and open it. Fareed (lvl 169) will appear. If you're not wearing ice gloves he will unequip your weapon. Put on protect from melee and kill him. Water blasts are highly effective but he's pretty weak so anything could work. When he's dead the diamond of smoke will appear in your inventory.

The Pyramid
Take all four diamonds and go back to the mirrors to talk to Elbis. He'll tell you about the Spirit of Azzandra trapped in a giant pyramid south of him. For the pyramid light armour (monks robes would be ideal), prayer potions and plenty of energy pots are recommended. Place each diamond in it's corresponding obelisk outside the pyramid and it will open. Now comes arguably one of the most frustrating parts of the quest. Head through the pyramid with protect from melee on and run as much as you can. There are lvl 100 Mummies and lvl 92 scarabs that can poison you. If you have protect from melee they shouldn't be a problem. There are four floors to the pyramid, and at any point at any time on any floor you can trigger a random trap that puts you outside the pyramid. It took me 7 tries before I made it all the way through. Eventually you'll come to a room with the Spirit of Azzandra in. Speak to him to complete the quest. Congratulations! You've done it!

Reward: 20,000 Magic Exp. Ancient Magicks

Notes: You can swap between ancient magicks and normal by praying at the alter inside the pyramid. There is a shortcut when you complete it so you don't have to go through the pyramid. You can buy an Ancient Staff that autocasts ancient magicks from Elbis for 80,000gp. If you lose it you'll have to kill mummies for one of buy one off a player.