Following Sliske's downfall at the hands of the World Guardian, Jas tasks them with the trial of proving the worth of mortal life in the eyes of the Elder Gods. This attracts Seren's attention, and thus she assembles a council, composed of many different races and factions on Gielinor, in Burthorpe Castle to inform them of the situation at hand.
Enlisting the World Guardian's help, they attempt to work together with her council to appease the Elder Gods, starting with Bik. However, due to the vast differences between the races and factions involved in the council, none of the World Guardian's proposals work out. Seren adamantly believes that peaceful appeasement is the only viable solution, but her pleas to convince her council to set aside their differences and work together fall on deaf ears.
The Dactyl Dragonkin, Kerapac, arrives and proposes an alternative: using the power of the Needle, an Elder Artefact, to put the Elder Gods into a permanent sleep, which Seren's entire council agrees with. Seren, albeit reluctantly, goes along with that plan and entrusts the World Guardian and Kerapac with the task of stopping the Elder Gods. Dungeoneering master Thok Thokson also joins the two by his own insistence, thrilled to combat the Elder Gods with his own hands.
The three make their way to the Needle's whereabouts west of the Piscatoris Fishing Colony. With the World Guardian's help, Kerapac attempts to channel the Needle and fails; he notes that although the Elder Artefacts are not truly sentient, they possess something akin to a consciousness, and thus the Needle's mind refuses Kerapac's call. He sends the World Guardian to locate Charos, a powerful human mage who possesses the ability to affect the minds of others with his devices.
The World Guardian navigates and solves a series of cryptic riddles which eventually point to Varrock Palace Library. There, they uncover Reldo's true identity, Charos, who reveals that his persona was a well-placed disguise all along. Kerapac commissions him to create a device that will subdue the Needle; he agrees, and awaits the World Guardian at the Needle with the device handy.
As Charos attempts to use his device on the Needle, its guardian, Gail, appears and attacks him and Thok. Kerapac sends the World Guardian into the Needle to tune it and divert its powers to him while he repels Gail's attacks.
The World Guardian traverses the memories of Guthix, Kerapac, and Sliske as they solve a series of puzzles to redirect anima away from Gail and into Kerapac. They discover a shocking revelation about Kerapac's real plans in the process; in a conversation between him and his son Vicendithas, Kerapac intends to sacrifice all of mortal life in Gielinor to end the threat that the Elder Gods pose to the multiverse, and ignores his son's objections.
By the time the World Guardian resurfaces in Gielinor, they are too late. Kerapac seizes control of the Needle via the staff of Armadyl from Gail, who permanently transforms back into Primrose. With the power of the Needle in his possession, Kerapac sets off to Orthen in the far east to begin the next stage of his plans.
Angered by Kerapac's betrayal, Charos and Thok vow revenge on him. Primose returns home to her mother, and the World Guardian returns to Burthorpe Castle and informs Seren of Kerapac's betrayal and true plans. With the aid of her council, Seren prepares to formulate a strategy to stop and kill Kerapac before he destroys all life on Gielinor.
Tropes:
- Enemy Mine: Seren tries to convince everyone to work together and come up with a way to appease the Elder Gods. Regardless of the World Guardian's proposals, however, none of them work out due to the vast differences between the races and factions who were invited into Seren's council.
- I Lied: Kerapac proposes putting the Elder Gods into a permanent sleep so that their plans to destroy all mortal life on Gielinor won't come to fruition. However, Kerapac has a plan of his own; he backstabs the World Guardian, swipes control of the Needle for himself and sets off to Orthen in Anachronia and makes preparations to annihilate Gielinor and the Elder Gods and subsequently spare the rest of the multiverse from suffering the same fate.
- Omnicidal Maniac: Kerapac swipes the Needle's power for himself, and departs for Orthen in Anachronia, making plans to annihilate Gielinor to destroy all of the Elder Gods and save the rest of the multiverse from suffering the same imminent fate as Gielinor.
- Power-Up Full Color Change: After Kerapac seizes control of the Needle from Gail, his entire body turns crystal blue.
- Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids!: Kerapac bluntly refutes Seren's proposal to peacefully appease the Elder Gods, as Kerapac and his kind once attempted the same thing an aeon ago, only to instead be bound and enslaved to their wills.
- Tender Tears: Overwhelmed because nobody in her council agrees with the idea of peacefully appeasing the Elder Gods, Seren helplessly sheds a couple of crystalline tears.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Kerapac is of the sentiment that the Elder Gods need to be stopped. Unfortunately, this culminates to him backstabbing the World Guardian by acquiring the power of the Needle for himself, and leaving for Orthen to make plans to destroy the Elder Gods (which involve sacrificing Gielinor).
- Wide-Eyed Idealist: Deconstructed. Seren adamantly believes that peaceful appeasement is the only way to convince the Elder Gods of the worth of mortal life, and refuses to accept a confrontational means to the problem. Her council and Kerapac disagree, however, as Kerapac and his kind once attempted to do so an aeon ago, only to instead be bound and enslaved to their wills.
