To start the quest you must first talk to Erjolf, who can be found on the mountain to the north-east of Rellekka. Fairy ring code D-K-S can be used for quicker access. He is excited about finding a new cave. Follow him as he leads you into the cave.
Click on the flat rock near the water near Erjolf to cross the river. Talk to him again and he'll tell you that he thinks he might have spotted some armour frozen in ice which he thinks will help him to complete The Fremennik Trials.
Ask him about his progress with the trials and he'll ask for your help to get the armour from the ice. Offer to help him, and he'll tell you that you need to build a Fire raft by using a knife with the driftwood.
A knife, tinderbox and spade may be obtained from Erjolf by telling him that you need some tools to melt the ice.
Melting the ice
Create a fire raft by picking up the driftwood and using your knife on it. You get one fire raft for each piece you pick up.
You can walk around each quarter of the cave by jumping on the flat rocks. Use the spade on a mound of snow by each cave water exit to block the east, west, and south streams. Use the spade again to unblock the streams. Set rafts alight to melt the small icicles on all sides around the small island.
Side of frozen armour to melt
Blocked streams
Unblocked streams
Notes
Image and Map
East side
West and East
South
You have to set 5 rafts quickly alight from the northern stream of the cave, a few paces west of the northern flat rock. Light them on a spot that, when they float south, they end up across the east side of the frozen armour and are blocked from leaving the cave by a rock. Make sure the south stream is unblocked and the west/east streams are blocked.
North side
West and East
South
You have to set 3 rafts alight from the northwest edge of the cave. Light them on 3 spots that, when they float south, they end up on the north side of the frozen armour. Make sure the south stream is unblocked and the west/east streams are blocked.
South side
East and South
West
You have to set 4 rafts quickly alight from the southeast edge of the cave. Light them on a spot that, when they float west, they end up across the south side of the frozen armour. Make sure to unblock the west stream. Block east and south streams.
West side
West and South
East
You have to set 2 rafts alight from the western edges of the cave. Light them on 2 spots that, when they float east, they end up on the west side of the frozen armour. Make sure the east stream is unblocked and the west and south streams are blocked.
It does not matter what order you do these. When you are finished, Erjolf will have you come speak with him.
The research
The monster in the ice.
Once you have melted all the icicles Erjolf will ask you to come and talk to him. You will then see a frozen monster inside the ice. After some talk he will then say you have to find an outlander in the Rellekka Hunter area.
This outlander is a natural historian. Exit the cave and go north to the hunting area. Go past the Sabre-toothed kyatts. Take the steps leading to the platform on the right and walk north until you see the Natural historian.
After some conversation, he will ask you to describe the creature. The information needed is:
It's yellow.
It has four arms.
It has no legs, like a snail.
It has spikes, which run down its spine.
It has a spiky tail, with vicious spines.
It has pincers, like a crab.
The Location of the Muspah Statue
Once you have described it for him, he will give you a Lumbridge teleport tab and will tell you that you must find a statue in the Kharidian Desert east of the Desert Mining Camp, and north of Pollnivneach. The statue is far east of the mining camp along the large eastward bend in the river, a bit south of the bridge. It will appear as a sand pile, and you must dig it out using the spade you were given earlier. A spade on the toolbelt will also work.
The statue before it is dug up
The statue situated in the desert after being dug up
Once the statue is revealed, Ali the Wise will appear and talk to you. When he is done talk to him again and ask him about the Muspah. He will tell you that you need 4 cut sapphires, 8 water runes, 8 cosmic runes and a knife. If you ask him if he could take you back to the cave, he will give you a Camelot teleport tab.
Head back to the Muspah cave and mine 8 sapphires, then cut with a chisel. The eight sapphire rocks in the cave may only be mined once.
The ice around the Muspah is melting.
Cross the wooden raft bridge, bore the sapphires into the ice block (use the option "Bore-sapphires"), and enchant them. (Use the option "Enchant-sapphires" when it becomes available.) The ice will melt, revealing the Muspah inside. The same sapphires may be used for freezing and unfreezing later in the quest, so it is possible to keep 4 sapphires at the end of the quest.
Note: You do not have to be on normal magics for this to work.
The Muspah transforms!
Erjolf will run away as the Muspah starts to move. Talk to the Muspah to find that he is actually Jhallan, one of the shape-shifting Mahjarrat that accidentally transformed to the Muspah while he dreamed of it in his nightmare, and it consumed much of his energy. He explains that he was hibernating in ice for the Ritual of Rejuvenation.
Jhallan will ask you to reverse the process, so he may return to his hibernation, only this time he wants to choose a safer place.
Go and find Erjolf, who is just outside the ice chamber (make sure you freed the south streams, or else he won't appear). Ask him and he will tell you that the only way to get to the other side of the cave is by canoeing. He will tell you to meet him at the west coast of the Rellekka Hunter area, before the snow. Remember to bring a hatchet.
Canoe Ride map
Meet him at the north-west side of the hunting area (next to the travel symbol on the map). He will point you to the great log that you can carve a canoe from. Click the log and your player will do a bit of "crazy-slashing" on the log, creating a crude canoe.
Use the canoe to travel. It will take you to the Mahjarrat Ritual Site Cavern. The cave entrance is to the south-east.
Go to the centre area (just to the south) to find Jhallan. Already weakening, he will ask you to find him a cave that is dark, with no water flow, not too warm, and not in the middle of a tunnel. He will not follow you if you have a familiar summoned.
The only spot suitable is the southern end of the furthest-west cave. To get there, go to the south-east just behind him and follow that to the end. Turn to the west when you get to the 3-way. Now at the T-junction at the end, go south.
Speak with Jhallan and bore the sapphires around him, then enchant the sapphires. (Use the options "Bore-sapphires" and "Enchant-sapphires" for Jhallan.) Before you enchant the sapphire, you will automatically annoy Jhallan into eventually giving you a fake Muspah tail. Jhallan will then be entombed in the ice.
Take the canoe back to Erjolf. Talk to him, and you will give him the tail.
Congratulations! Quest complete!
Note: You can go back to the natural historian and tell him where the statue is to be additionally rewarded with an antique lamp of 200 experience points.
If you have the "Headbutt mining" animation from Soloman's General Store active while mining the Sapphire rocks you will not do the Headbutt, instead you will mine the rocks with the default animation.
On the day of release, if a player was about to unlock the spoilers, they would get a message saying: The rewards have been frozen in an ancient block of ice, which can only be melted tomorrow.
The quest was mentioned by the Chaos Elemental in Postbag from the Hedge 39 which was released 2 April 2009. One letter from the Chaos Elemental talked about Muspah being frozen, as well as the Mahjarrat ritual.
Near the release date, if you used Quick Chat, and said "I am doing quest.." You could say "I am doing quest Mysteries of the Mahjarrat". This was the quest's working title. This quest and multiple others in the series were originally intended (as can be read in a Development diary) to be a multi-part quest like Recipe for Disaster, but this was changed because the parts were too different.
If you have completed The Fremennik Trials before doing the quest, Erjolf will comment on your achievement and address you with your Fremennik name.
If you leave one of the water tunnels blocked and leave the cave, the stream in the next cave is empty and fish are floundering on the ground. The fish do not appear on the minimap and you can not examine them. You will also be able to walk straight through the cave rather than jumping the flat rocks.
A day before this quest was released, Jagex released a Twitter post which was obviously hinting to the release of this quest and the removal of the 2009 Easter event . "RS - Well that's the factory fixed, I wonder what the kids up north have been up to whilst we've been busy splitting heirs?..."
File:Jhallan in wall.pngJhallan stuck in a wallWhen you log out with a wall east of you while Jhallan is following you; he will spawn in the wall when you log back in. Ironically, he is frozen in ice when this occurs (you can just exit the cave to make him respawn right). This glitch has yet to be fixed.
Even though you use the "Enchant Sapphire" spell, you may be on the Lunar or Ancient Magicks spellbooks.
Upon completing this quest one's Adventurer's Log will read: "I’ve learned more about the Mahjarrat and found Jhallan a place to hibernate under the ritual stone."
Jhallan seems to be one of the few non-aggressive Mahjarrat, not wanting to get involved in Gielinor and just wanting to rest.
When asking Jhallan about the time he spent in the ice block, he will tell you that he lived for thousands of years, and that he was around when the Wilderness was "a paradise given to us by the gods". This could refer to the time in which Zaros ruled Gielinor, and the Wilderness was not as it is today. This could be a reason why some Mahjarrat are still loyal to Zaros.
"The Tale of the Muspah" is actually a play on words, as Jhallan gives you "The Tail of the Muspah".
When Ali the Wise said he was "searching far and wide" for the statue, it is a reference to Pokemon.