Ethically Acquired Antiquities

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

Ethically Acquired Antiquities (#169)
Released		25 September 2024 (Update)
Members		Yes
Quest series		None
Lead developer(s)		Unknown (edit)

Ethically Acquired Antiquities is a quest in which the player investigates a mysterious theft from the Fortis Grand Museum.

Start point	Inspect the empty display on the ground floor of the Grand Museum in Civitas illa Fortis. Show on map
Official difficulty	Novice
Official length	Short
Description	Investigate a mysterious theft from the Fortis Grand Museum.
Requirements	25 Thieving [not boostable] [required to start] Completion of the following quests: Children of the Sun Shield of Arrav
Items required	None
Recommended	3,000 coins for the charter ship to Port Sarim, Ring of charos for reduced charter cost, or Explorer's ring 2 or better for teleport. Varrock Teleport Civitas illa Fortis Teleport or a charged quetzal whistle
Enemies to defeat	None
League notes	Not completable, as it requires access to Misthalin.

Make your way to the Grand Museum in Civitas illa Fortis. Inspect the empty display to start the quest, then speak to Curator Herminius; fed up with how long the guards are taking, he will take the investigation into his own hands, and ask you to see if there's anything he missed.

Investigate the set of tools on the ground behind the display to find out they are specialist tools, and inspect the display again to observe that the glass was tampered with. Next, talk to the nearby citizens, academics, and tourists around the floor and ask whether they had seen anything suspicious. The person who gives you the information is random for each player, but one will eventually mention a shifty individual skulking around who left through the front door and turned right towards the landing site.

Speak to Regulus Cento at the Civitas landing site (not in Varrock) and ask whether he's seen anybody suspicious around. He'll mention a person carrying a case who wanted to have a go with his bird. However, Regulus refused, and the person went east to the Fortis Cothon instead. Make sure you have one free inventory space, and then head to the Cothon and talk to any Trader Crewmember. Ask them about the man with the case, and they will ask for a small favour in exchange for the information. Agree, and they'll give you some tattered sails which need to be fixed up at Artima's Crafting Supplies.

Head just south of the Cothon, to the shop marked on the map with a , and speak with Artima. Tell her you were hoping for some help, and she will ask you for a favour as well; to thank the crew for bringing in her latest shipment. She will then give you the repaired sails. Use the sails on any trader crewmember, and they'll tell you a "grey-haired fella" came by and asked if he could have a go with their boat. The crew then explained to him how to charter a ship properly, and sailed the man to Port Sarim.

Make your way to Port Sarim by any method you wish, such as the charter ship, the Rat Pits Minigame Teleport, or a planted spirit tree. Once there, head all the way to the southernmost dock and speak any trader crewmember about the grey-haired man. They will tell you that he wandered up north in search of some runes to get a hold of.

The nearest rune store is Betty's Magic Emporium, found in the north-west corner of Port Sarim. With one free inventory space, make your way to the store and ask Betty about the man. Betty will mention that he wore a monocle, and that he didn't know what he was looking for when he arrived. She'll give you some some notes she took while trying to understand him, hoping you'll make sense of them.

Based on the notes, the runes being requested are those for casting Varrock Teleport. With all this in mind, the man who best fits the description you have been given so far is in fact Haig Halen, the curator of the Varrock Museum. Make your way there, and tell him that you're looking for Xerna's Diadem; he will immediately act suspicious, claiming that he can't help you. You may now destroy the notes, leaving an open inventory space for the next section of the quest.

Pickpocket the curator to receive a storeroom key, and use it to enter the storeroom to the north-east of the museum (right under the stairs to the first floor). Search the single unstacked crate in the middle of the room to discover that Xerna's Diadem is hidden inside, along with various other artefacts that don't seem to belong there.

Return to Curator Haig Halen, and speak to him to begin an interrogation in which you press him for answers. A "Shame-o-meter" will appear on the screen; you must now select chat options that will shame him. The exact sequence varies for each player, but the most effective options are usually calling him a thief or disparaging his museum as being full of stolen goods. Use the table below to find options which increase shame, and avoid options which decrease shame.

Once the shame meter reaches 100%, Haig will explain what happened. Haig will claim that, during his visit to the Grand Museum, he saw a thief break in and steal Xerna's Diadem. Haig will then claims that he used the combat skills he picked up during his time in the Varrock Guard to subdue the thief. However, stuck on what to do next, Haig explains that he decided to take the artefact back to Varrock Museum for "safekeeping."

The player offers to omit the details of the theft to the Grand Museum, as long as Haig arranges the safe return of the diadem. After Haig agrees to return it, head back to Civitas illa Fortis and speak with Curator Herminius at the Grand Museum to complete the quest.

• The surreptitious storeroom in which Haig hides his haul.
• The player presses the curator for answers on the theft of Xerna's Diadem.
• Curator Haig Halen visits the Grand Museum in Fortis.
• The curator beats the thief into submission.

Congratulations, quest complete!

• 1 Quest point
• 6,000 Thieving experience
• 5,000 coins

• The dialogue option "This is stealing! Thieving! Taking what's not yours!" when shaming Curator Haig Halen is a reference to the 1992 infomercial "Don't Copy That Floppy".
• The storeroom also contains items from other places, such as a book belonging to the Arceuus library, a Broodoo shield belonging to Tai Bwo Wannai and a discarded label belonging to the Outpost.
  • Upon finding the discarded label, it reads, 'Property of the Outpost. Contact Jorral if lost.' However, players who talk to Jorral after the quest will not have the option to talk about the label.
• The premise of this quest is a reference to the British Museum contested artefacts controversy. The museum is infamous for housing allegedly stolen artefacts from around the world, many of which sit in storage indefinitely.
• During the quest, Regulus Cento says that a man "came along and asked if he could have a go with my bird." This is a reference to what the player says to Matthias when asking to borrow his falcon.
• There is a reference to the quest One Small Favour when the Trader Crewmember asks the player to do one small favour and they respond ''As long as it is just the one favour...''