Defender of Varrock

This quest has a quick guide. It briefly summarises the steps needed to complete the quest.

Defender of Varrock is a quest in the Mahjarrat storyline. During the quest, an investigation results in the discovery of a looming invasion by the Mahjarrat Zemouregal, with an undead army led by the enslaved hero Arrav. The quest is a backport of the RuneScape quest of the same name; it is the third quest to be backported into Old School RuneScape.

Start point	Talk to Elias White in the Jolly Boar Inn. Show on map
Official difficulty	Experienced
Official length	Medium
Description	Long ago, one man wielding a magic shield stood against the undead armies of the Mahjarrat. His name was Arrav, and he was strong and noble, but the fates had spoken: his downfall at the hands of the evil necromancer Zemouregal was inevitable. In one last desperate act to save his people, Arrav flung the shield towards the town now known as Varrock, protecting it from further harm. In that very moment, Zemouregal struck him down. Standing over the fatally wounded hero, Zemouregal made a promise: "When I return, you shall lead my armies. You shall be my greatest champion, and suffer under the knowledge that while you hoped to save your people, you will instead be their doom." Now, there is fear in the air. Whispers of the dead rising. Could this be the time of the prophesied return?
Requirements	55 Smithing [not boostable] [required to start] 52 Hunter [not boostable] [required to start] Completion of the following quests: Shield of Arrav Temple of Ikov Below Ice Mountain Family Crest Garden of Tranquillity Creature of Fenkenstrain Priest in Peril The Restless Ghost What Lies Below Rune Mysteries Romeo & Juliet Demon Slayer
Items required	Chaos core (obtainable during the quest) Barronite deposit or a pickaxe to mine one
Recommended	65 Combat level Ring of the elements or Lumberyard teleport Mind Altar teleport or Lassar teleport Multiple Varrock Teleports 43 Prayer for Protect from Melee Salve Amulet Food and/or Prayer potions
Enemies to defeat	At least six armoured zombies (level 85) Multiple Chaos Golems (level 70)
League notes	Not completable, as it requires access to Misthalin.

Make your way to the Jolly Boar Inn and speak to Elias White, a wise explorer. He will tell you that one of the inn's patrons were raving that zombies have been organising in the Wilderness, but were dismissed as the ramblings of someone who's had too much to drink. Believing there is more to the rambling, he will enlist your help in investigating the claims.

From here, you must follow the trail, inspecting the correct objects along the way; you cannot skip ahead, as the "Inspect" option will not appear unless all previous objects have been inspected.

Enter the dungeon and finish the dialogue with Elias, then run north a little bit to a balcony. Look over the balcony to begin a cutscene showing Sharathteerk, the second-in-command of the Mahjarrat Zemouregal, and the now-undead Arrav, a former hero of the Fourth Age.

Sharathteerk will complain about being imbued with a red mist, with Zemouregal saying the mist is required for the dungeon's security system. Sharathteerk will suggest allying with his cousin Lucien, who you've met during the quest Temple of Ikov, but Zemourgal rejects the idea, as he believes he would be serving under Lucien in such an arrangement. The two will then leave to inspect their troops. Elias will also leave, to inform the Varrockian authorities, leaving you to uncover more information within the dungeon.

To explore further, you will need bottles of red mist to bypass the dungeon's security. Each gate requires three bottles of mist to unlock, and each bottle will need to filled by killing an armoured zombie. Note that you will be unable to fill the bottles without watching the cutscene.

Zombies attack with either melee or ranged attacks, and the dungeon is multicombat. You can tell which attack style a zombie will use by looking at its weapon; a sword indicates melee. As there are more melee zombies, it is recommended to use Protect from Melee. After killing a zombie, click on the red mist they leave behind to fill a bottle. As the zombies have relatively low defence, a fast weapon such as a whip or a weapon with a multi-hit special attack, such as the dragon dagger, are recommended. A salve amulet or its imbued versions is also beneficial as the zombies are undead creatures.

Head west and pick up three bottles on the ground, then slay three zombies. After filling three bottles with red mist, enter the gate to find yourself face-to-face with Arrav, whose physical body is forcibly under Zemouregal's control, though he sometimes can speak of his own will when Zemouregal's concentration is elsewhere. He will tell you that Zemouregal controls him through possession of his heart.

Head further north through the corridor and refill your bottles by killing three more zombies, and open the door to the east. Run further east to the end to find another balcony; look over it to begin another cutscene. Zemouregal will tell Sharathteerk that he has no time to worry about "fairy tales" that Lucien is supposedly close to finding, and will claim the planned invasion of Varrock is his last real chance before the time for the Mahjarrat's ritual arrives.

Warning: Looking over the second balcony ends the instance of the dungeon. Ironman players looking to obtain the broken zombie axe might want to hold off on ending the instance, since the normal version of the dungeon is a popular multi-combat area.

Head to Varrock Palace and speak to Elias, just outside Sir Prysin's room, who has reported to Captain Rovin that an attack on Varrock is imminent. Elias will mention the Shield of Arrav, which was once used to repel Zemouregal's first attempt at invading the city of Avarrocka in a tale known as The Legend of Arrav. Elias will add that the Shield was forged by the Imcando dwarves, leading you to note that the Ruins of Camdozaal were recently rediscovered, and that Ramarno may be able to help.

Make your way to Camdozaal and speak to Ramarno about the Shield of Arrav, and he will ask that you stoke the Sacred Forge with imbued barronite. As he is blind, you must be the one to gaze into the forge for answers.

The imbued barronite you must use is made by combining a chaos core with a barronite deposit. Chaos cores are dropped by Chaos Golems in the eastern side of the ruins at a rate of 2/15, whilst barronite deposits are mined from barronite rocks on the western side at a rate of 6/25. Note that when mining from the barronite rocks in the walls: Barronite deposit differs from barronite shards. Both can be received while mining but it is the deposits you will need to imbue on the chaos core. Use either item on the other to imbue the barronite, then use it on the Sacred Forge.

Within the Dream Theatre, you will speak to Arrav, who is temporarily free from Zemouregal's control. You will ask him how to use his shield, but he will tell you that its powers are unleashed by a person with the bloodline of the founder of Avarrocka, and that only his descendants can repel the Varrockian invasion. Suddenly, Zemouregal will appear in place of Arrav, fully aware of your interference, and tell you that his army has already begun laying siege to Varrock.

	Zemouregal's Theatre
The jingle that plays upon Zemouregals appearance.

• The player speaks to Arrav in the Dream Theatre, free from Zemouregal's control.
• Zemouregal appears, aware of your interference.

Return to Varrock Palace to find it under attack. Go two flights up the north-western staircase and speak to Elias and Captain Rovin, who will give you the Shield of Arrav. Rovin will then tell you your best bet is to consult the library downstairs, so head to the palace library on the ground floor and speak to Reldo, who will tell you about an old document he had with a list of elders who sent Arrav on his quest. Search the scrolls by the flipped table in the north-east corner to obtain this list. Read the Varrock Census north-west of the scrolls before leaving. If you happen to read the Varrock Census before searching the scrolls, you will need to destroy the list and read the census first.

• Zemouregal at the northern wall of Varrock, with an army of zombies in tow.
• Armoured zombies lay siege to Varrock Palace!
• Arrav leading the invasion of Varrock against his will.

There are six elders who were alive during Zemouregal's first invasion in the Fourth Age, but only one is of the founding bloodline. You must match them with the surnames found on the Varrock Census next to the flipped table.

Though King Roald is a descendant of Tarrlo Remanis, he is never the "correct" person, so players need not talk to him unless they wish to read additional dialogue. Visiting the other five descendants will result in each of them failing to activate the shield's true power, but only one of them (random for each player) will reveal that they are not a blood descendant of the family line, and explain that their great-grandfather was adopted in. They will then tell you that the last true descendant of their family was married into the Fitzharmon family.

Head to south-east Varrock, past the gated area, and speak to Dimintheis, who is of the noble family Fitzharmon. Upon equipping the shield, it will begin to crackle with lightning, indicating that he is indeed descended from the founder of Varrock.

A cutscene will then play where you bring Dimintheis to Varrock Palace to unleash the shield's powers on the zombies throughout the area. With the second attempt a complete failure, Zemouregal, Sharathteerk will retreat, with Arrav in tow.

• Dimintheis unleashes the shield's latent powers.
• The imprisoned monk, temporarily freed.
• The shield saves the Queen.
• With the invasion a failure, Zemouregal is forced to retreat.

After the cutscene, finish the conversation with Elias and Captain Rovin to complete the quest.

Congratulations, quest complete!

• 2 Quest points
• 15,000 Smithing experience
• 15,000 Hunter experience
• Access to Zemouregal's Base
• Ability to claim 5 Kudos and an Antique lamp rewarding 5,000 XP in any skill of at least level 30 from Historian Minas after completion of the quest

Completion of Defender of Varrock is required for the following:

• While Guthix Sleeps
• The Curse of Arrav

Original

• Developer: Paul Gower
• Graphics: Mod Paul B, Mark C, Kavi M, Matthew S
• Quality Assurance: Mod Chris L, Dan O'R, Dan G, Ben L
• Audio: Mod Bond, Chris Jolley
• QuestHelp: Katie B

Defender of Varrock was originally released in RuneScape 3 on 29 September 2008, just over a year after the August 2007 Archive of RuneScape that Old School was built off of.

Jagex announced plans to backport the quest during the 2024 Winter Summit alongside While Guthix Sleeps, with some adjustments to bring it in line with Old School's standards as well as the overall story narrative of the game. The quests would be polled in the Winter Summit 2024 - Giga Poll and launched under a month later.

• The original version had slightly different quest requirements:
  • Completion of The Knight's Sword was replaced with Below Ice Mountain, as Camdozaal is properly accessible in Old School.
  • 51 Agility and 59 Mining were originally requirements.
  • 51 Hunter and 54 Smithing were originally required, which were raised to 52 and 55 respectively in Old School.
• The experience rewards were slightly different:
  • 10,000 Smithing experience was rewarded, and was increased to 15,000 in Old School.
  • 2,000 Agility, 10,000 Mining, and 10,000 Defence experience were originally rewarded.
  • Players were originally able to give Ramarno a redberry pie during or after the quest to receive 1,000 smithing experience. As players have already met Ramarno prior to this quest in Old School, this optional reward is also removed, although the quest's standard Smithing experience reward is larger to compensate.
• The music track The Dream Theatre was originally named simply Dream Theatre.
• New NPCs released with the quest received unique models in Old School.
  • Zemouregal was originally larger and taller than other Mahjarrat, besides his cousin Lucien. In Old School, he is roughly the same size and height instead.
  • Sharathteerk's Old School model is based on his 2014 RuneScape model, instead of his original 2008 model, or the 2005 model standard gargoyles use.
  • Arrav was originally larger than standard humans, but Old School redesigned him to use the standard human model. His ripped heart is also visible in his Old School design, something originally introduced in his 2015 redesign in RuneScape. Additionally, he also originally used a large sword, which Old School replaced with a battleaxe for consistency with his statue in the Heroes' Guild and the display at the Outpost.
  • Armoured zombies were redesigned despite originally being based on the 2007 zombie model in RuneScape.
• While largely faithful to the original, there are additionally minor changes to the quest and its narrative:
  • The quest was originally started by speaking to Captain Rovin in Varrock Palace. A scout working for him named Hartwin then accompanied you while investigating the zombie sightings. His role in helping you track down the zombies is replaced by Elias White in Old School, who is based on (and is an anagram of) Ali the Wise, an NPC involved in the original quest's sequel, The Curse of Arrav. Hartwin is still named as a student in the Varrock Census, which is nine years out of date in the game's timeline.
  • The tracking section of the quest originally took place in the Wilderness, with the tracks leading from the Graveyard of Shadows to the entrance to Zemouregal's Base under the Chaos Temple. After January 2011, this took place within an instanced version of the Wilderness without other players.
  • Zemouregal's Base was not instanced during the quest.
  • Compared to the original, Zemouregal's dialogue was expanded slightly to exposit more on Lucien and the Stone of Jas. When Arrav is first seen, the original also had a short cinematic showing the camera panning from Arrav's feet to his head.
  • Arrav's mention of his heart was absent in the original, as the quest's sequel, The Curse of Arrav, was released on 21 April 2009. In that quest, Ali the Wise helps steal Arrav's heart, which Elias White begins planning in Defender of Varrock.
  • In the original, Captain Rovin mentions after reporting back from Zemouregal's Base that it was the son of Avarrocka's founder who defeated the zombies after Arrav's defeat, but in the narrative of the quest, most people should have believed that it was Arrav who did so. This was corrected in Old School.
  • The player originally visited Thurgo for guidance on the shield, where he then gives you a set of coordinates to the entrance of Camdozaal, which was significantly smaller than the Old School version. As the player already discovered Camdozaal during the events of Below Ice Mountain, this section was skipped over.
  • The Sacred Forge is stoked with imbued barronite in order to speak with Arrav in the Dream Theatre without Zemouregal's influence. In RuneScape, the forge is stoked with blurite ore instead, and is gazed into to gain information from the forge itself, where it presents the information through a vision of people the player has met in their adventures, specifically Wizard Traiborn, Queen Ellamaria, Lord Rologarth, and the Wise Old Man.
  • The copy of Varrock Palace during the invasion originally had less of the surrounding map visible, and Zemouregal, Sharathteerk and the armoured zombies could not be seen to the north. Several other minor changes were made to the sequence in Old School
    • A new NPC in Varrock Palace named Clive was introduced with the original release of Defender of Varrock. Although he had no direct involvement in the quest, he could be seen cowering atop a bed during the invasion. Clive is absent entirely in Old School.
    • Originally, a warrior woman could be seen hiding behind an overturned table during the invasion.
    • Queen Ellamaria originally had a line of guards protecting the entrance to her garden during the invasion.
    • The player could originally try talking to Arrav during the invasion. In Old School, he can instead be seen attacking guards. He was also originally combat level 180, as opposed to 292.
    • A single guard could originally be seen still attacking one of the dummies on the palace roof during the invasion.
  • During the invasion, Reldo mentions that Surok Magis escaped. In RuneScape, Surok escapes as part of the miniquest The Hunt for Surok.
  • Damar Leptoc is absent from the list of elders, and as a result his descendants Juliet and Draul Leptoc are not involved in the quest. This is likely a result of RuneScape removing the Romeo and Juliet quest in September 2010, including the involvement of its characters in Defender of Varrock. In RuneScape, to maintain there being seven elders, Damar Leptoc was replaced by the similarily Damar Lapucet, who had no descendants listed in the Varrock Census. Although Romeo was also removed, Laris Gontamue remained in the list of elders, and Old School restores Romeo's involvement in the quest. Additionally, the list has a slightly different icon than in RuneScape, having yellow lines instead of grey ones.
  • Zemouregal's conversation with Sharathteerk at the end of the quest was rewritten slightly, compared to the original.

• Defender of Varrock is the first post-2007 quest to be backported into Old School RuneScape, and the first that was not originally present in the August 2007 Archive of RuneScape.
• The addition of Defender of Varrock to Old School RuneScape was first hinted at in the February 2022 Gielinor Gazette.
• After acquiring the Shield of Arrav, inspecting the display case for it in the Varrock Museum will cause the display to state "The Shield of Arrav has been temporarily removed for security reasons. So, if you are a hopeful marauding zombie, the museum exit is on the ground floor."
• When speaking to Elias, he mentions that he "was an adventurer like you!" To which the player replies by asking: "What happened? Some sort of life-changing injury?" This is a reference to the line "I used to be an adventurer like you, then I took an arrow in the knee", which is said by guards in the game The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
• The surname of Romeo's ancestor Laris Gontamue is an anagram of Montague, the name of Romeo's family in William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet.
• For those looking for the Broken Zombie Axe as a drop, the Armoured Zombies are in an instanced area prior to completion of the quest. Before peeking over the railing for the second time to look at the zombie army, players may farm the armoured zombies with the same drop table as the monsters after the quest.