Contact!

Contact! is the 117th quest released on 10 January 2007.

Starting off
Travel to Sophanem and speak to the high priest in the western temple. He will say that they have been having problems getting in contact with their sister city of Menaphos.

Talk to the priest and ask him about ways of getting into Menaphos. Ask about any dungeons.

Talk to Jex, who is in the northeast part of the city in a building with a broken altar. He will tell you how to access the dungeons beneath the building.

Go down a level and talk to the guard. He will sell you a torch for 200 coins, and a tinderbox for 50 coins. A bullseye lantern is a better choice because it will go out less often, but you must take your tinderbox into the dungeon. It is strongly recommended that you take good food, an emergency escape teleport such as the ectophial, a tinderbox, light source such as a bullseye lantern, and an antipoison potion.

Dungeon
Note: The dungeon under Sophanem is very dangerous, and protection prayers are strongly advised for protection from the monsters that patrol the dungeon.



Turn auto-retaliate off through the combat tab, since it might cause you to waste some prayer points fighting back, and/or also cause you to run into a trap, if you're hit at an inopportune moment. Go down the trapdoor and follow the dungeon around until you get to the ladder north of the South-west corner using protect from magic prayer.

When following the route to the right, the player will only encounter scarab mages. Therefore, use protect from magic and keep auto-retaliate off.

Traps
The dungeon is ridden with various types of traps, which should generally be avoided or bypassed.

Warning: Your light-source can be extinguished at any time. If this happens, use a tinderbox to light it again.

You will also encounter Scarab mages, Scarab swarms, and Locust riders. These can be very dangerous and it is recommended you use prayer against these foes. Scarab swarms can poison and will only appear if you step on a sand pit trap.

The ladders in the dungeon all lead to a much more dangerous second level of the dungeon. If you go down the wrong ladder or fall down a pit, you will be placed in the lower portion of the dungeon. There are level 98 and 106 Locust riders and lots of Scarab mages. It is multi-way combat and your hitpoints will be reduced very quickly. Find a ladder and get out fast.

If you have enough protection, this level could be a shortcut going from the north middle ladder to the south-west ladder. Then go up, east, north, and west to the exit ladder.

Once you have found the correct ladder, follow the passage around until you come to the corpse of Kaleef. Search the corpse to get his notes.

Travel slightly west and speak to Maisa. Tell her you have helped rescue Prince Ali, who was being held in Draynor, and that Leela assisted you. She will then trust you and tell you to speak to Osman, Spy Master of Al-Kharid.

Osman
Travel to Al-Kharid, go north of the palace and speak to Osman, try and convince him to come to Sophanem personally, picking the "Drive a wedge.." option does the trick. Osman will then appear just outside the gates of Sophanem.

Before travelling back, equip yourself for a big fight. Emphasis on good food, but a prayer potion may help as well. Super Sets are highly recommended if you're using melee, as the monsters hit 20+, and the scarab is very difficult to hit if it gets lucky. Ice rush and slayer dart spells are extremely effective.

Travel back to Sophanem, Osman will be just outside the gates. Talk to him again and suggest the secret entrance just north of the city. You will then see a cut-scene where Osman sneaks past Jex into the caves below.

The Final Battle


Go back through Sophanem Dungeon to where you found the body of Kaleef. As soon as you go down the ladder you will see another cut-scene where a large beetle appears!

Travel into the cave and fight the level 191 Giant Scarab which hits up to 20 with melee and ranging. It summons level 68 Locust riders and Scarab mages (which can also do 9 damage with poison) to aid it, which will attack the player at the same time. The riders will attack with ranged or melee, and the mages will attack with magic so you are being attacked by all 3 combat styles at once. It is recommended to defeat the magic-casters and rangers as soon as they spawn, but ignore the melee riders as your prayer makes them harmless.

If you're using melee, using protect-from-melee prayer is recommended against the scarab, and having plenty of good food in this fight. Wearing dragonhide armour will help protect against both magic and ranging.

If you're using ranged, use a rune crossbow with broad bolts or higher or use a crystal bow. Anything lower will cause problems, due to the scarab's high defense. Use Karils or black D-hide, and use the safespot also listed in the mage tips below. Doing range any other way is not very effective in this battle.

If you're using magic, there is a safe spot in the southwest corner, so hide there and use protect from ranged. The scarab is particularly weak to earth spells.

Once the scarab is defeated, another cut-scene will happen where Osman is miraculously alive (he blended into the shadows). He talks to you then tells you to take the Keris blade on the floor, and then teleports away.

Go back to the high priest (If you have limited food left, teleporting away and coming back via the magic carpets may be safer than going through the dungeon again). He will confirm that Maisa was successful and reward you.

Rewards

 * 1 Quest point
 * 7,000 Thieving experience
 * Combat lamp giving two wishes granting 7,000 experience to Attack, Strength, Defence, Hitpoints, Ranged, or Magic
 * Keris
 * Access to Sophanem's bank