Withering Heights

Withering Heights is the sixth primary quest and the second in the main storyline of RuneScape: Dragonwilds. This quest continues the Player's adventure into Ashenfall, after their victory over the poisonous earth dragon Velgar, and deeper into the continent's mysterious depths.

Quest overview

Description	Put an end to the horror of Fellhollow by defeating Imaru, the soul-devourer.
Start Point	Speak to the Wise Old Man near Ashien's Watch.
Type	Primary Quest
Requirements	Dragon Slayer
Required items	None
Recommended items	Good armour, weapons, and wardstones. Health potions
Enemies to defeat	Multiple Rotsworn Zombies Multiple Zombies Multiple Skeletons Multiple Green dragons Imaru, the Soul-Eater

Walkthrough

Part I: The omnious side...

To begin this quest, speak with the Wise Old Man near Ashien's Watch. He will explain that he had been studying a mysterious door with some sort of strange necromantic runes on it, and tells you the password to get past the door.

Use Option 1 after speaking to the Wise Old Man, to open the door, and you will arrive at the Forgotten Temple. As there is already a lodestone here, you will not need to spend your own materials to make a lodestone. Step up the steps and head into the Temple to speak to Death, who will inform you about Imaru and the overall situation in Fellhollow. You will then follow out the right side (your right) towards a place where you can speak to Postie Pete about entering Fellhollow, but before you do, Death will say one more thing. This will, inevitably, introduce you to his store, where you can buy (using Soul Fragments) exclusive rare items that cannot be acquired through Vestiges and normal gameplay.

Part II: Fraying the soul to rift...

Next, speak to Postie Pete. He will then explain that, in order to get into Fellhollow, you must cross a river of Wither Water. As you cross through the water, you will build up Wither and feel your soul rift. Just before crossing fully, you will enter the Soul Rift state and be able to use the nearby Spectral Door. Enter this door, and you will arrive in one of the regions that make up Fellhollow: Bleakfields Valley. As soon as you arrive, you must quickly find a fountain (marked on your compass with visible blue beacons) to purify your soul, for Imaru will have sensed your arrival into her domain. The longer you are in this state, the more danger you are in, as the tormented souls (human, wolves, etc) will start to appear at growing power levels.

For this instance of arrival, quickly follow the path, and you will reach one such fountain. You will have to hit the spectral tangles until they disappear to be able to purify your soul.

Once you arrive in this place, seek out Cathan. He will be nearby on a cliff, floating next to three stone tablets with strange markings.

Note: After arriving in Fellhollow for the first time (aka accessing the Temple and soul-rifting through the Spectral Door), you will be granted permanent access to Fellhollow in all worlds.

Part III: Disrupting the seal

Speak to Cathan to uncover what else to do next, which is to gather curse fragments. There are only three you need to collect:

Emberwood Village

To get this fragment, you will need to interact with four pillars that are nearby to dispel a divine barrier. You will need to find the corresponding altars (which can be activated in any order) to dispel it:

Guthix Altar: Defeat a Green dragon (can be safespotted with Ranged attacks, must be at least 150m away to avoid the dragon from attacking) and interact with it. It will be within a druid circle to the west.
Saradomin Altar: A bit south-east, you will find it atop a lone rock within a small lake. You will need to repair this altar first by finding the Saradomin Symbol down below and interact with it again.
Armadyl Altar: There are three ghosts who have committed a grave injustice. You must find the perpetrator and solve the crime in order to activate this altar.
- Choose the following options:
- 3 - There was a mass murder.
- 2 - Because they thought it was funny.
- 3 - The Snickering Ghost
- 3 - They found it too funny. Matching the motive.
Zamorak Altar: You will need to enter a nearby temple through the roof and jump into the temple to interact with the altar. There is a lever nearby to open the gate to the temple so you can leave freely.

Once all of the above altars are activated, the barrier will disappear and you can quickly find the curse fragment. You will obtain the Curse Fragment (Grief).

Note: If you start a fresh world, regardless of how far you have done the quest or fully completed it, you will need to re-activate all of the statues to dispel the barrier.

Lake of Lost Souls

To obtain this fragment, you must venture into the Vekchenven Kara vault that is underneath a waterfall. You will need to defeat a Zogre at the end of the dungeon in order to access this shard. Once you defeat the Zogre, you will then be free to obtain the Curse Fragment (Rage).

Silverthorn Keep

To obtain this fragment, you will need to venture into the keep itself. There will be many Rotsworn Zombies, Skeletal Archers, Rotsworn Warriors, Rotsworn Marauders, and Zombies in the way as you head up towards the fragment, but there will be a Green dragon in front of it. Interact with the curse seal, and you will obtain the Curse Fragment (Despair).

Once you have acquired all three curse fragments, you will then be able to gain access to Imaru's lair in the center of Fellhollow.

Part IV: Imaru's end...

Item(s) required: Curse Fragment (Rage), Curse Fragment (Grief), Curse Fragment (Despair).

Item(s) recommended: Food, power level 5 gear, and potions.

Go into the tower within Hope's Fall and interact with the seal on Imaru's lair. You will then be prompted to enter her lair by dispelling the curse, and by choosing Option 1, you will be able to enter her lair. Upon entering her lair, there will be four Purifying Pools, spots of wither rot, and an atmosphere of death and decay. Imaru will come out of the nearby river in front of you, and you'll be able to fight her. Be warned, as this boss will phase in and out of the Soul Rift state and attempt to heal herself by devouring souls.

Once she is defeated, you will gain Imaru's head. You will then head back to Death, who will exclaim that Imaru is dead and that you've done well to deal with a potential problem that he didn't want to deal with. Hand him Imaru's head and you will complete the quest.

Congratulations! Quest Complete!

Rewards

Withering Heights Reward Pack
Access to a new type of Masterwork recipe: the Dragoncurse Shield.

Transcript

This article on a quest has an associated dialogue page.
Click here for a transcript of possible conversations and other messaging encountered throughout the quest.

Required to complete

This quest is required to complete the following quest(s):

Black Knight's Fortress

Update history

This information is based on the changelogs of the game.

update 15 December 2025 (0.10):

Released to the game.

Trivia

Upon release, there was a visual bug in the quest menu where, if you spoke to the Wise Old Man near Velgar's Rise, you would be prompted to speak to him again near Ashien's Watch.
When players play through the Armadyl statue section of the quest, the ghosts will mention a story that sounds similar to the infamous Falador Massacre that occurred in 2006.