The Curse of Zaros

The Old School RuneScape Wiki also has an article on: osrsw:Curse of the Empty Lord

This article is about the miniquest. For the achievement, see The Curse of Zaros (achievement).

This article has a quick guide found here. Quick guides provide a brief summary of the steps needed for completion.

The Curse of Zaros
Release date	26 July 2005 (Update)
Members	Yes
Official difficulty	Intermediate
Quest series	Mahjarrat
Age	Fifth Age
Advanced data
ID	405
Infobox • Talk page

The Curse of Zaros is a miniquest following the events of Desert Treasure, allowing the player to obtain a set of ghostly robes.

Overview

Start point	Talk to the Mysterious ghost (Valdez) near Glarial's tombstone.
Member requirement	Members only
Official difficulty	Intermediate
Official length	Medium to Long
Requirements	Skill requirements are not boostable unless marked with a [B] for boostable. Quests: The Curse of Zaros Started Desert Treasure The Dig Site Priest in Peril Temple of Ikov The Tourist Trap Troll Stronghold Death Plateau Waterfall Quest Started The Restless Ghost 31 Prayer (if Dhalak is at the Monastery)
Items required	Items from the tool belt are not listed unless they do not work or are not automatically added. Ring of visibility Ghostspeak amulet or cramulet or hard Morytania achievements completed
Recommended	3-5 energy potions would help Weapons to defeat some enemies which are aggressive in Wilderness.
Enemies to defeat	None

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Starting up

To Start Talk to the mysterious ghost (Valdez) near Glarial's tombstone (north-west of the Fishing Guild), while wearing a ring of visibility and a way to speak with ghosts (Ghostspeak amulet or Cramulet or Hard Morytania achievements completed).

Parts of the miniquest will take place in the Wilderness. Beware of player killers, and remember that you cannot teleport after level 20 wilderness (level 30 with certain methods). If you are using a Cramulet it is advisable to dismantle it and use only the Ghostspeak amulet as obtaining the parts again (particularly the monkeyspeak amulet) can be troublesome if you die in the wilderness.

• All of the Mysterious ghosts appear at all three of their possible locations, but only one of the three will give you their piece of the set.

Valdez the Explorer

Valdez.

• Make sure you are wearing your ring of visibility and your ghostspeak amulet.
• Teleport to Ardougne lodestone. Go to Glarial's tombstone northwest of The Fishing Guild. The ghost will not appear as a dot on the minimap.
• When you speak to Mysterious ghost Valdez, he will introduce himself and relate his part of the story. He will then give you a Ghostly robe top.
• He requests you to find another ghost named Rennard.
• This ghost will give you one of three clues which determine your entire route, which we will label Sequence 1, 2, and 3:
  • Sequence 1 - He mentions pirates and a shipwreck.
  • Sequence 2 - He mentions the thief being northeast of there.
  • Sequence 3 - He mentions the thief being southeast of there.

The sequences to follow

This is a dangerous Wilderness activity. If you die, you will lose your items and will not be able to reclaim them from Death or your grave.

Now there are three possible sequences of ghosts you need to visit:

Number	Ghost	Sequence 1		Sequence 2	Sequence 3	Item given in thanks
1	Rennard		Near the shipwrecked ship west of the Pirates' Hideout (Level 55 Wilderness) Teleport to Edgeville, go south-east of the lodestone, pull the lever near the coffin, go north and slash the web, go west.	Bandit Camp (Wilderness), outside Fat Tony's pizza shop. You must be skulled.	Bandit Camp (Kharidian Desert), inside the bar.	Ghostly gloves
2	Kharrim		At the Chaos Temple (hut) altar (Level 38 Wilderness)	Graveyard of Shadows	End of the Lava maze inside the second fenced in area	Ghostly boots
3	Lennissa		In the church on Entrana, in front of the altar.	Port Sarim docks near the Void Squire.	Just south of the Gnomeball field	Ghostly robe bottom
4	Dhalak		On the ground floor[UK]1st floor[US] of the Wizards tower (lowest floor).	Upstairs in Edgeville Monastery by the altar	On the 1st floor[UK]2nd floor[US] of the Falador Party room	Ghostly hood
5	Viggora		Upstairs in the Rogues' castle in level 52 Wilderness Teleport to Edgeville, go south-east of the lodestone, pull the lever near the coffin, go north and slash the web, go east.	Middle floor of the Slayer tower in Canifis (SE)	Edgeville dungeon south of the Earth Warriors	Ghostly cloak

Rennard the Thief

Rennard.

• He will tell you where to find Rennard. The location of all the subsequent ghosts is randomised but is hinted by the previous ghost. Rennard will be in one of the following places. If you go to the wrong location, a ghost will be there but you will have a meaningless conversation with it.
  • Shipwrecked ship up in level 53 Wilderness (between Wilderness Agility Course and Pirates' Hideout)
  • Bandit Camp (Wilderness), he can be found outside Fat Tony's pizza shop. You need to be skulled or the bandits will attack you.
  • Bandit Camp (Kharidian Desert), he can be found in the Bar.

When you find him he will just be called 'Mysterious Ghost' again (as with the rest of the ghosts). He will give you a pair of Ghostly gloves.

It is recommended that you use the Drop Trick for extra gloves, because getting deep into the wilderness takes time.

• He wants you to find Kharrim now.

Kharrim the Messenger

Kharrim.

Kharrim will be in one of these locations:

• Inside Chaos Temple (hut) Altar in (far west side of) level 38 Wilderness, North of The Forgotten Cemetery. (Rennard will say near Dareeyak)
• Graveyard of Shadows (Wilderness, Carrallangar); if you get this location, the zombies and ghosts will be aggressive and will interrupt your conversation. It may take a while to get your conversation finished.
• End of the Lava Maze (Wilderness) you will need a knife or other sharp object to cut through web.

Special note: If you go to a different location than the one Rennard tells you, you will NOT get the boots and instead you will have a normal conversation and nothing to do with the story. Head to this location and talk to Kharrim. He will give you some Ghostly boots and ask you to find Lennissa.

From him you learn that Zamorak was a mortal Mahjarrat, and that what he did with the Staff of Armadyl caused the "other gods" to banish him, although Saradomin must have had foreknowledge of the mysterious event.

Lennissa the Spy

Lennissa.

Lennissa may be in:

• Entrana church (Kharrim will say she will have went to a large Church of Saradomin)
• Port Sarim at the Lady Lumbridge (hard to see against the dock)
• Gnomeball field, near the southern viewing platform.

Once at one of these places, look for Lennissa and speak to her. She will give you the Ghostly robe bottom and ask you to find Dhalak.

Dhalak the Magician

Dhalak.

Dhalak may be in:

• Wizard's Tower, on the eastern side of the ground floor^[UK]1^st floor^[US] near the wall, close to four floating bookcases (Lennissa will say he will be researching in a library)
• 1^st floor^[UK]2^nd floor^[US] of the Edgeville Monastery (31 Prayer required) by the altar (Lennissa says he would be trying to lift the curse)
• Falador Party Room, 1^st floor^[UK]2^nd floor^[US] on the eastern side (Lennissa will say that he needed to lift his spirits up)

Once found, talk to Dhalak. He should give you the Ghostly hood and tell you to find the last ghost, Viggora.

Viggora the Warrior

Viggora.

Viggora will be found at one of these locations:

• Rogues' Castle in the Wilderness, 1^st floor^[UK]2^nd floor^[US] in the small easternmost room with a bronze square shield spawn and three safes. Dhalak will say a rogue flocks to his own kind.
  • Beware of the Chaos Elemental and player killers.
• Canifis Slayer Tower - "...has returned to his castle in the Dark Lands" (Near the southeast stairwell by the entrance to the Aberrant Spectres on the 1^st floor^[UK]2^nd floor^[US]. Note: This location no longer requires a nosepeg or slayer helmet since the interior redesign locking the specters away.
• Paddewwa - Edgeville dungeon "perhaps he has returned to one of his old haunts?" (south of the Earth warriors)
  • Viggora now spawns just south of the monkey bars. The earth warriors used to interrupt the dialogue, but this is no longer the case.
  • Beware of player killers.

Listen to what he has to say and then he will give you the final robe piece, the Ghostly cloak.

Rewards

A male player wearing the ghostly robes.

• Ghostly hood
• Ghostly robe top
• Ghostly robe bottom
• Ghostly gloves
• Ghostly boots
• Ghostly cloak
  

Additional rewards/activities

Upon completion, you can talk to Historian Minas on the 1^st floor^[UK]2^nd floor^[US] of the Varrock Museum and receive 10 kudos and an antique lamp which gives 10,000 experience in any skill of at least level 50. For some players, despite the Achievements interface showing that the miniquest is complete, they will continue to receive a prompt from Minas "Find out more about the Staff of Armadyl" until they recollect the 6 outfit pieces and/or go through the chat dialogue with Viggora again.

Achievements

• The Curse of Zaros (miniquest) ( 15) – Complete this Intermediate miniquest.
• How Do You Do, Fellow Ghost? ( 25) – Talk to one of the ghostly inhabitants of Kharid-et while wearing a full set of ghostly equipment.

Required for completing

The Curse of Zaros is directly required for the following quests/miniquests:

• The General's Shadow

It is therefore an indirect requirement for the following quests and miniquests:

• Full completion of Azzanadra's Quest
• Full completion of Battle of the Monolith (miniquest)
• Children of Mah
• City of Senntisten
• Full completion of Curse of the Black Stone
• Desperate Measures
• Full completion of Desperate Times
• Dishonour among Thieves
• Extinction
• Eye of Het I (miniquest)
• Eye of Het II (miniquest)
• Fate of the Gods
• Full completion of Heart of Stone
• Full completion of Hero's Welcome
• Kindred Spirits
• Koschei's Troubles
• Mahjarrat Memories
• Full completion of Missing, Presumed Death
• Full completion of Nadir (saga)
• Nomad's Elegy
• Once Upon a Time in Gielinor: Finale
• Full completion of Once Upon a Time in Gielinor: Fortunes
• One of a Kind
• Rebuilding Edgeville
• Full completion of Ritual of the Mahjarrat
• Sins of the Father
• Sliske's Endgame
• Tales of Nomad
• The Light Within
• The Mighty Fall
• Full completion of The World Wakes

Transcript

This article on a miniquest has an associated dialogue page. Click here for a transcript of possible conversations and other messaging encountered throughout the miniquest.

Credits

The Curse of Zaros
Developers
Developer	Mod James
Databox • Talk page

Update history

This information has been compiled as part of the update history project. Some updates may not be included - see here for how to help out!

• ninja 26 October 2020 (Update):
  • 'The Curse of Zaros', 'General's Shadow' and 'Hopespear's Will' now appear after 'Desert Treasure' in the Timeline sort, because all three require a Ring of Visibility.

• patch 4 November 2019 (Update):
  • Fixed a typo when talking to Lennissa the spy, during The Curse of Zaros miniquest.

• patch 5 May 2015 (Update):
  • Characters involved in the Curse of Zaros miniquest now only appear in the correct location for the player's randomised path, rather than appearing in all possible locations and speaking gibberish in the incorrect ones.

• patch 13 August 2013 (Update):
  • A typo in Rennard's dialogue in The Curse of Zaros has been fixed.

• update 26 July 2005 (Update):
  • Added to game.

Trivia

• If you speak to any of the ghosts without a Ghostspeak amulet, your character may say "all your base are belong to us", as well as some other quotes. These are references to famous translation errors in the game Zero Wing.
• When speaking to Rennard, your player says "I ain't scared of no ghost," a reference to "I ain't afraid of no ghost" from the Ghostbusters theme song.
• When speaking to Dhalak, he says "Be you some mighty sorcerer to bind me so?" if a player has 99 magic they will answer "Well, I don't mean to brag, but I guess I am with my level 99 magic..." otherwise they will respond with "Um, not really...".
• Wearing the ring of visibility in a free-to-play world allows your character to talk to the ghosts and receive the robe pieces, despite this being a members-only miniquest.