With Kerapac no longer posing a threat to Gielinor, Seren and her council resume their plans to peacefully appease the Elder Gods. However, Seren is in full control of her council due to her powers, to the disappointment of the Zarosian Mahjarrat, Azzanadra, who decides to take matters into his own hands. Noting that the Elder Gods' offspring, not the Elder Gods themselves, are the true threat to Gielinor, he enlists the World Guardian's help (and others, but Icthlarin loathes the Mahjarrat for betraying him and Armadyl won't stand against Seren).
The World Guardian meets Azzanadra, who is speaking with Trindine, at the praetorium table of Kharid-et. Azzanadra deduces that only three Elder God eggs are on Gielinor, as Mah never reached Gielinor and Jas sacrificed hers to create the Stone of Jas. Ergo, the goal seems clear- find the eggs and stop them from hatching. Zaros had previously asked him to do just that, and while he'd failed then, he intends to succeed now. He tells the World Guardian to meet him at the World Gate.
Azzanadra and the World Guardian enter Freneskae via the World Gate and make their way through to the Elder Halls, where they encounter Ariane. Like Azzanadra, she concludes that there are three Elder God eggs on Gielinor, after seeing visions following her killing of Xenia during "Heart of Stone". By Azzanadra's instruction, the World Guardian inspects the fragments of all five eggs in the Elder Halls, but gains no leads on the new Elder God eggs. (They do find something, though: Mah's egg was sabotaged with some kind of ice, but it wasn't Wen. Azzanadra doesn't name them outright, but the wording makes it pretty clear that the saboteur was Xau-Tak.)
Recalling a blank observation, Azzanadra suggests that the World Guardian drain the nearby Elder God wisps of their energy and combine them with the observation. They do so, and Ariane looks through the observation and learns of the origins of Freneskae, a perfect world created by the previous generation of the Elder Gods. When their eggs hatched, they completely drained Freneskae of its energy before moving on to the rest of the multiverse. The group concludes that the only way to prevent the same fate from befalling Gielinor, is to not allow the current generation of the Elder Gods to touch their eggs. Azzanadra has assigned Trindine to Falador disguised as a White Knight in order to acquire Saradomin's crown in the hope that it can locate the eggs, and sends the World Guardian to aid her while he and Ariane leave for Kharid-et.
Before the World Guardian leaves, however, they start hearing voices- two of them, in fact, dubbed the 'Light Voice' and the 'Shadow Voice', clearly remnants of Sliske- who annoy them a lot, but don't actually harm them. The World Guardian meets with Trindine, who suggests that they head to Saradomin's throne room for clues. The god of order is not present, and the World Guardian requests an audience with him to the priest, Father Frith, in the throne room, but he claims that Saradomin is too busy travelling across the universe to spread his faith and directs them to the Temple Knight, Sir Owen, who awaits them on Falador Castle's war table on the ground floor.
The World Guardian meets with Sir Owen, who has kept his corruption under control since his botched revival. Upset with how the White Knights are unconcerned with the Elder Gods' threat, he and his group attempt to appeal to Frith, who directs them to Sir Amik Varze instead. After a series of negotiations with him and other Saradominists that go nowhere, Sir Owen's group instead takes matters into their own hands to summon Saradomin themselves. Sir Owen sends the World Guardian to acquire a silent bell while he and Trindine prepare ritual materials for Saradomin's summoning.
After a trip to Paterdomus, the World Guardian returns with a silent bell, blessed by the River Salve, and they perform the summoning ritual in Saradomin's throne room. Saradomin appears, and the World Guardian informs him of the Elder Gods' threat. Saradomin reveals that he also attempted to use his crown to locate the Elder Gods' eggs, but found no leads, as they are either unapplicable targets or immune to the crown's effects.
Without any further clues, the World Guardian and Trindine (along with Sir Owen) return to Azzanadra in Kharid-et. He proposes other unofficial ways of getting leads; he sends Sir Owen to track Sir Vey Lance, while Azzanadra and Ariane interrogate the Elder Gods' mouthpieces, and the World Guardian and Trindine visit the Hall of Memories, Wizards' Tower, and TzHaar City for potential clues.
They find nothing helpful in the Wizards' Tower; in TzHaar City, they find that the TokHaar know where the eggs are but will never tell them, while the TzHaar would tell them if they knew, but they don't. At the Hall of Memories, they find nothing concerning the eggs, but they do find some of Guthix's memories that tell them that his death was a gambit, designed to point Sliske at the World Guardian so his shadow magic could prepare them for becoming the World Guardian. Lacking other ideas, they return to Kharid-et and see Ariane unconscious; Azzanadra reveals that his visits to the mouthpieces were fruitless, and so he destroyed them, turned their cores into gas and Ariane inhaled it. Ariane comes to and reveals that the eggs are located in the Heart of Gielinor; she, the World Guardian, and Azzanadra make their way there while Sir Owen searches for Trindine's whereabouts.
Upon entering the Heart of Gielinor, it becomes apparent that things are very different now: Zaros and Zamorak withdrew their armies, while Sliske's undead fell with his death and the few living members fled. By default, Seren and Helwyr have won, though Gregorovic is still present somewhere in the Heart. Helwyr confronts the group and forbids them from passing, until Gregorovic appears. The Light and Shadow voices call out to him, telling them that they need a distraction, and Gregorovic goads Helwyr and his forces into chasing him. With Helwyr and his forces distracted, Ariane opens the doors to Gielinor's Elder Halls.
As expected, the eggs of Ful, Wen, and Bik are present in the Elder Halls. After inspecting all three eggs, Azzanadra concludes that the eggs are not likely to hatch soon, but they would if there was a sudden surge of anima in the vicinity, such as might be produced by killing a god or destroying an Elder Artifact. Azzanadra leaves to report to Zaros, but the Light and Shadow Voices call attention to some important questions: first, why did they go to so much bother about the Crown when in hindsight, it's obvious that the Crown wouldn't work? And second, why was Trindine sent with the World Guardian in the first place, when they did all the work and she did nothing?
The player resolves to go check things out. They return to Kharid-et, but Trindine is nowhere to be found. Traces of her anima are left behind, though, and the World Guardian absorbs them of their energy and fuses them with the blank observation. The memory reveals that Trindine had intended to steal something, and after some backtracking to the three locations they and Trindine previously visited, it's obvious what happened: she used the World Guardian to get into places she couldn't have entered by herself so she could research Saradomin's Crown/the Locator.
The World Guardian returns to Ariane. Ariane observes Trindine's memories, which reveal what happened: she and Sir Owen found Sir Vey Lance, who is actually a Cthonian demon called Veilinius. Owen is stunned, and Veilinius reveals that the Temple Knights have been undercover for millennia as part of a plan to steal the Crown that never came about. However, it's going to happen now. Trindine and Veilinius ask Owen to join them, but he refuses and Trindine knocks him unconscious so he can't interfere.
Ariane and the World Guardian hurry to Falador Castle, encountering an audience of White Knights and Temple Knights who await Saradomin's arrival. Saradomin appears and prepares to perform a ritual using his crown, the Locator. With the Elder Artefact unsecured, the Temple Knights shed their disguise and Azzanadra swipes the Elder Artefact, but Saradomin effortlessly reclaims it. As tensions between the White Knights and Temple Knights rise, Zaros appears and forcefully swipes the Locator from Saradomin, and says that the crown was never his, Zaros simply let him have it until he needed it. He tells Saradomin that he can keep Gielinor because Zaros doesn't want it, and the Zarosians all teleport out. Saradomin is furious, but manages to calm himself.
The World Guardian confronts Zaros and his followers at Kharid-et. Zaros begins his plans to claim the Codex in the Archaeology Guild, despite knowing it would fuel tensions between him and Seren. Azzanadra apologises to the World Guardian for deceiving them, but warns them that they'll be enemies the next time they encounter each other- Zaros feels that the World Guardian can no longer be trusted, because they've served so many different masters and owe too much to Guthix' memory. Trindine has returned a book she stole earlier from the Wizards' Tower and agrees to free Sir Owen, having forgotten about him after enacting her plans with the Temple Knights.
The Zarosians all leave, but Ariane has declined to join them as she prefers to live free. She plans to form a research team to study the eggs in Gielinor's Elder Halls, but discourages the World Guardian from visiting them, to avoid unnecessary attention.
Tropes:
- The Bus Came Back: Sir Owen appears in-game for the first time since the conclusion of "The Death of Chivalry", as does Ariane for the first time since the conclusion of "Heart of Stone".
- Doesn't Trust Those Guys: Zaros deems the World Guardian untrustworthy due to their track record of working with many different groups and declines to allow them to work with him and his followers.
- He Knows Too Much: Downplayed. Sir Owen learns of the Temple Knights' true identity and attempts to expose them to Saradomin, but Trindine knocks him unconscious and locks him up somewhere.
- Just Following Orders: Azzanadra insists he was only following Zaros's orders when the World Guardian confronts him about his and the Zarosians' betrayal.
- Nothing Personal: Azzanadra apologises to the World Guardian for deceiving them, but warns them to prepare to confront him as an enemy the next time they face each other.
- Pretender Diss: After effortlessly swiping the crown from Saradomin, Zaros takes a moment to call him out for deluding himself into thinking he was a true god.Zaros: You have called yourself a god for so long that you have forgotten that it is a lie. You are not a god. I am.
- Relative Button: Gregorovic taunts Helwyr about the death of the latter's son. Helwyr lashes out against him and orders his forces to kill him.Gregorovic: Helwyr! Helly-Helly-Helweird! Do you want to know what your son tastes like? Actually, do you want him to tell you himself? Let me just find him. He's in here somewhere... Papa? Papa is that you? I was delicious, papa. So, so tasty.
Helwyr: KILL HIM! TEAR HIM TO PIECES!
Gregorovic: Can't catch me, I'm the injured dead man! - Skewed Priorities: The White Knights are unconcerned with the Elder Gods, instead fixating on small, petty issues to keep themselves in order.
- This Means War!: Azzanadra warns the World Guardian that they will confront each other as enemies the next time they encounter each other, at the Archaeology Guild's monolith.
- Villain Has a Point: When Saradomin gloats that his kingdoms stand in the ruins of the Zarosian Empire, Zaros points out that it was not Saradomin who struck him down.Zaros: As always you credit yourself for the victories of others.
- Wham Episode: The Temple Knights are revealed to have been infiltrated by Zarosians since its conception. Zaros seizes the Crown from Saradomin and deems the World Guardian untrustworthy due to their connection to Guthix and track record of working for many different groups, leading Azzanadra to betray them after a long friendship.
- Yes-Man: Nearly the entirety of Seren's council have been seduced by her powers and obey her every word. Despite her reluctance, Seren continues her plans to peacefully appease the Elder Gods.
