OSRS Merlin's Crystal Quest Guide: Claim Excalibur

Merlin’s Crystal kicks off the Camelot quest series, and your main job is to rescue the legendary wizard Merlin from a magical crystal and grab the iconic Excalibur along the way. The quest gives a massive 6 quest points—huge value early game since most quests only hand out 1–3. From my experience, this is a fun speedrun for low-level accounts, and even Ironman players can blast through it easily with the right teleports and prep.

Pro tip: Turn on RuneLite Quest Helper and hold down the spacebar to skip dialogue. I always hold space because the NPC chatter drags on, and this alone saves 2–3 minutes.

Completion time: With good teleports, I finished in under 9 minutes. Beginners usually take 15–20 minutes.

Item Requirements

For Normal Accounts (GE)

Buying from the Grand Exchange is the fastest method:

• Bread

• Tinderbox

• Bucket of Wax

• Bat Bones

Sometimes I gather them myself for nostalgia, but GE is definitely quicker.

For Ironman Accounts

• Bread: Can be bought from the Port Sarim food store. I grab a few extra for future quests.

• Tinderbox: Can be bought from the Port Sarim general store.

• Bucket of Wax: Use insect repellent on a beehive south of Seers’ Village with a bucket in your inventory

• Bat Bones: Kill the level-27 giant bats outside the Keep. They’re easy kills, but I still bring a bit of food in case RNG trolls me.

Recommended Teleports

• Varrock: 25 Magic (3 Air, 1 Fire, 1 Law)

• Camelot: 45 Magic (5 Air, 1 Law)

• Amulet of glory

• Games Necklace: I highly recommend getting this early, especially on Ironman. You’ll be making several trips to Burthorpe and Taverley, and it’s by far the fastest way to get around. It only requires 7 Magic and 22 Crafting to make, but it’ll save you a lot of time.

  If you don’t want to craft it yet, bring a Falador teleport instead. Using the spellbook, it requires 25 Magic (3 Air, 1 Law).

I personally prefer teleport tablets—they save inventory space and remove rune stress mid-quest.

Recommendations

• Stamina potions: I only used 1 dose since I teleported a lot.

• Food: A few lobsters are enough to tank rogue knights and fight Sir Modred. I carried 6 just to be safe.

• Armour and weapon to kill Sir Modred (level 39) and maybe a big Bat to obtain the bones. 

Quest Walkthrough

Start the Quest

Recommended: Camelot teleport

• Teleport to Camelot, head into the castle, and talk to King Arthur. Choose options 1 → 1 to join the Knights. The medieval vibe of Camelot always makes the start feel heroic.

Gathering Information

• Sir Gawain: Usually in the courtyard. Ask about Merlin (choose both options). I always check outside first—he’s almost always there.

• Sir Lancelot: First, climb upstairs then open the large door to find him. Ask him about accessing the Keep (option 3).

Infiltrating the Keep

Items needed: Bucket of Wax or an empty bucket
Recommended: Combat gear (iron armour or better works fine) and weapon (best scimitar for your level), food, Games necklace or Falador teleport (to start next section right after)

• Leave the castle and head to the bank just west to grab the items you need. I recommend bringing 5 lobsters to tank hits from the rogue knights at the Keep. Then head southwest to Catherby, talk to Arhein near the docks, and hide inside the crates—he’ll ship you straight to Keep Le Faye.

Fighting Sir Mordred

• Enter the Keep through the west door, climb up the north staircase, then the south staircase to the top floor.

• Kill Sir Mordred (lvl 39). He attacks with melee and has a max hit of 5

Important: When Morgan Le Faye appears, don’t kill Mordred again. Just let her talk. If you interrupt her or accidentally attack again, you’ll repeat the fight. Happened to me once but it's not too bad since the fight is easy

Items Needed to Release Merlin

• Bat Bones: Kill giant bats outside. I recommend taking one extra bone if you are new, incase you accidentally bury one.

• Black Candle:

  • Collect wax using insect repellent at Camelot’s beehives.

  • Bring the wax to the Catherby candle maker.

Claiming Excalibur

Items needed: Bread
Recommended: Games Necklace or Falador teleport, Amulet of glory, and Varrock teleport (to start next section)

• Teleport to Burthope with games necklace or Falador with Falador teleport then go to the Taverley peninsula shown in the image below to meet the Lady of the Lake.

• She sends you to Port Sarim’s jewellery shop.

• Teleport to Draynor with a Amulet of glory, walk to the Jewellery shop indicated with quest icon below, and attempt to open the door and a beggar will appear.

• Give him bread — he transforms into the Lady of the Lake and rewards you with Excalibur.

Tip: Only click “Click here to continue” during this dialogue. Anything else resets the step.

Chaos Altar Inscription 

• Teleport to Varrock then head south east to the Zamorak Chaos Temple.

• Read inscription:

"Snarthon Candtrick Termanto" 

• Must read words correctly to progress so take note of it. I think it is best you take a screenshot of this to avoid mistakes; memorizing it feels like a mini-puzzle.
   

Breaking the Crystal to Free Merlin

Items Needed: Camelote teleport, Excalibur, Black Candle, Tinderbox, Bat Bones

• Teleport to Camelot and go north-east to the castle garden.

• Light the black candle with your tinderbox.
• Right-click the Bat Bones and use on the magical circle (make sure you don't left-click since that will bury them—be careful).
• Thrantax the Mighty (lvl 92) appears. Recite the magic words to control him.
• Go back into the castle, climb the southeast tower, equip Excalibur, and strike the crystal to free Merlin.

Watching Merlin break out of that crystal always feels like a clean payoff.

Finally, speak with King Arthur to complete the quest.

Congratulations! You’ve freed Merlin and finished the quest.

Rewards from Merlin's Crystal

• 6 Quest Points

• Excalibur

• Antique Lamp (1,000 XP in any lvl 20+ skill)

• 5 Kudos

• Honorary Knight of the Round Table

Merlin’s Crystal also unlocks Excalibur, which is required later for the Holy Grail’s Black Knight Titan fight. Overall, it’s one of the fastest quests that still feels rewarding early game.