Old School's most ambitious quest to date is fast approaching. Desert Treasure II - The Fallen Empire is the epic continuation of the iconic Mahjarrat storyline, promising a journey spanning all of Gielinor, showdowns with epic bosses, and solving the mysteries of an ancient empire lost to history.
Use this blog to keep up to date with exactly what's coming, we'll be continually updating it with new content and teasers in the lead-up to the quest's release on July 26th!
Blog change, July 21st: Updated Virtus robes section to correct an error. Completion of the quest will not be required to equip Virtus robes.
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Check out the developer diary for a look behind the scenes at Desert Treasure II, with appearances from Mods Arcane, Ed, Goblin and Jerv!
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Have you ever heard the story of the Fallen Empire? It's not a story the Temple Knights would tell you...
Sorry, we had to, this time for real!
During Gielinor's Second Age, the world was dominated by an empire the likes of which had never been seen. The areas now known as Asgarnia, Misthalin and even the Wilderness all once flourished under the banner of the Empty Lord. With the grand city of Senntisten at its heart, this civilisation washed over Gielinor like a sea, pushing the boundaries of magic and science, while crushing and subjugating any who stood in their way.
Fast forward to today, the Fifth Age, and you won't find much trace of this ancient empire. Indeed, Saradominists and Zamorakians alike have spent many lifetimes pursuing efforts to purge all remnants of it. However, small remnants of this fallen empire remain, for those who know where to look.
Perhaps you’ve already encountered some of these remnants. Maybe you’ve met the monstrous Nex, sealed behind the Frozen Door for millennia. Or perhaps you’ve visited the bandits of the Kharidian desert, the final human followers of the Empty Lord. You might even have encountered some mysterious Mahjarrat hidden away beneath those same sands. However, there are other parts of this forgotten empire that even you won’t have encountered, such as a mysterious vault deep within the desert. This is where our story begins…
Requirements (Click to Expand)
Of course, you'll need to have learned a fair bit of history before getting stuck in to a story quite so grand, so you'll want to make sure you've completed the following quests before release:
- Desert Treasure I
- Secrets of the North
- Enakhra's Lament
- Temple of the Eye
- The Garden of Death
- Below Ice Mountain
- His Faithful Servants
On top of all that knowledge about Gielinor and those who inhabit it, you'll need to be sufficiently experienced in a number of Skills to stand any chance at gaining access to the contents of the ancient vault:
- 75 Firemaking
- 75 Magic
- 70 Thieving
- 62 Herblore
- 60 Runecraft
- 60 Construction
As a reminder, none of these requirements are boostable. We hope you enjoy having the cold of the Wintertodt seep into your bones!
There's not much more we can say about the quest itself, so if you're all set on requirements then you're on your own from here.
Of course, uncovering the secrets of forgotten civilisations is hard work, and you'll be wanting something to make it all worthwhile. Luckily for you, you'll be able to take down four brand new bosses and earn yourself some powerful new equipment.
You're likely familiar with all of these by now following the recent rewards poll, but we want to make sure you've got everything you need in one convenient location!
Ring of Shadows
The Ring of Shadows is a reward directly from the quest, which will serve as a one-stop-shop for various unlockable boss teleports and some offensive stats for players who are being particularly cautious with their GP.
Since the ring is untradeable, you'll be able to reobtain it for a fee if you ever misplace it, whether that's through forgetfulness or an untimely death in PvP.
Four new Rings
The Fremennik rings have remained the best style-specific rings since all the way back in 2005. Each of Duke Sucellus, Vardorvis, the Leviathan and the Whisperer will drop upgrade components used to create the powerful new Bellator, Magus, Ultor and Venator rings.
Ultor Ring
- +12 Melee Strength
Magus Ring
- +15 Magic Accuracy
- +2% Magic Damage
Bellator Ring
- +20 Slash Accuracy
- +6 Melee Strength
Venator Ring
- +10 Ranged Accuracy
- +2 Ranged Strength
The rings themselves are tradeable, but will require 90 Magic (boostable) and 80 Crafting (boostable) to make, and require completion of Desert Treasure II - The Fallen Empire to equip.
The post-quest bosses drop tradeable bars and boss-specific untradeable vestiges used in the crafting pathway. Should you receive a vestige, you'll have to fuse it with an icon obtained from breaking down the corresponding Fremennik ring, then combine your fusion with new tradeable bars to make the finished ring.
If you're looking for even more finery, we've got just the thing!
Virtus Robes
We couldn't rightfully release the follow-up to Desert Treasure without touching on Ancient Magicks, and almost 90% of you felt the same way in our recent poll.
Virtus Robes are making a return, offering massive increases to Ancient Magicks damage while serving as a middle-ground between Ahrim's robes and Ancestral when using Standard spells or powered staves.
Each piece of the Virtus robes set is tradeable and do not require quest completion to equip. Each of the bosses has a chance to drop a piece, so if you wind up enjoying one of them more than the other three, you'll be able to farm it to your heart's content while hunting the full set!
Soulreaper Axe
The Soulreaper axe is a hefty 2-handed weapon, whose aim is to deal more damage to your opponents than it deals to the wielder...
Similar to the Abyssal bludgeon, the axe itself is tradeable, requiring the (somewhat grotesque) combination of four different untradeable components, one from each boss.
Attacks with the Soulreaper Axe will damage you for 8 Hitpoints and grant you a 'Mighty Stack'. Each Mighty Stack gives you a +6% Strength level boost (additive with bonuses from prayers) and stacks up to five times, for a total of 40 Hitpoints lost and a +30% Strength boost. Once you're fully stacked, you'll stop taking extra damage and be free to slap your foes silly with one of the scariest Slash weapons in Gielinor.
Alternatively, if you're looking for a quick extra heal or an extra burst, you can use the Soulreaper Axe's special attack Behead. Behead consumes any Mighty Stacks you have, and for each stack consumed will increase your accuracy by 6% and heal you for 8 Hitpoints. This heal means you'll regain any Hitpoints you've lost. The best part is, you’ll get your healing even if the attack itself misses. Any Mighty Stacks that you have will be lost if you switch weapons, or if you go 10 ticks (6 seconds) without attacking.
Ancient Sceptre Upgrades
Remember that Ancient Icon you went dry on for ages before upgrading it into an Ancient Sceptre? It's time to imbue that Sceptre with the power of the Ancient elements themselves…
Each of the post-quest bosses will drop an untradeable Sigil that coincides with their Ancient element: blood, ice, shadow and smoke. These Sigils can be combined with an Ancient Sceptre to create the Blood/Ice/Shadow/Smoke Ancient Sceptre.
These upgrades retain the +5% magic damage and +10% to Ancient Magicks effects, but will imbue the Sceptre with new effects depending on the element:
- Blood Ancient Sceptre: Blood magic can now overheal you by 10% of your Hitpoints.
- Ice Ancient Sceptre: Ice magic gains 10% accuracy on unfrozen, freezable targets.
- Shadow Ancient Sceptre: Shadow spells also drain Strength and Defence in addition to the target's Attack level.
- Smoke Ancient Sceptre: Smoke spells reduced healing received by 20% for 10 cycles on hit if the target is poisoned.
Upgraded Ancient Sceptres have an increased Magic requirement compared to their predecessor, requiring 75 Magic as well as the usual 60 Strength and 50 Attack, to equip.
Alongside these, we'll be tweaking the Ancient sceptre and its upgraded variants to behave similarly to other untradeables on death in PvP, and attaching a repair cost to boot.
With all of that, you should be up-to-date on all of the goodies you can expect to get your hands on with the release of Desert Treasure II - The Fallen Empire!
We've got an in-game poll question on the horizon to determine whether the four brutal post-quest bosses should be given even more challenging variants.
For the full scoop on Awakened bosses and the potential inclusion of Mod Soffan's iconic Blood Torva, check out the full blog here!
A look at the changes made by the wonderful art team to our first showing of Blood Torva!
Note: We'll update this section depending on the outcome of the upcoming poll!
We'll be drip-feeding teasers in the run-up to release, so make sure to check back!
Looks like you're not the only one interested in the secrets held inside the ancient vault...
There's not long left until the quest releases in full! We hope you're as excited to experience it as we are to share it with you.
Make sure to check back on this post for any updates, we'll make sure to let you know whenever we add anything new!
You can also discuss this update on our official forums, on the 2007Scape subreddit, the Steam forums, or the community-led OSRS Discord in the #gameupdate channel. For more info on the above content, check out the official Old School Wiki.
Mods Abyss, Arcane, Archie, Argo, Ash, Ayiza, Boko, Bruno, Chilly, Crystal, Curse, Daizong, Dylan, Ed, Elena, Errol, Fed, Gecko, Gizmo, Goblin, Grub, Halo, Harold, Hend, Hornet, Husky, Jalo, Jerv, Keyser, Kieren, Kirby, Kurotou, Lenny, Light, Mack, Manked, Markos, Maylea, Meat, Moogle, Morty, Necro, Nylu, Other, Pumpkin, Redfield, Regent, Rice, Roq, Ry, Sarnie, Shroom, Sigma, Skane, Skylark, Sova, Squid, Starry, Stevew, Surma, Sween, Tide, Titus, Torrance, Tyran, Veda, Vegard, West & Wolfy
The Old School Team.