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30 September 2008

Defender Of Varrock

Defender of Varrock was one of the more exciting quests I've done in a while.


Hartwin and I tracking the trail of zombie footprints.

A member of the Varrock Guard, Hartwin, claimed that he had spotted an army of zombies at the Graveyard of Shadows in the Wilderness. As it was unusual for these mindless animated corpses to organize themselves in such a fashion, I was sent to investigate Hartwin's strange sightings by Captain Rovin.

The undead army was gone by the time I arrived at the graveyard, but I was able to track their footprints, and the trail led me to a trapdoor by the Chaos Altar. I went through it and entered an underground cavern infested with level 85 zombies. Through a stone balcony, I witnessed Zemouregal and a gargoyle discussing the growing power of the Mahjarrat.


It's Arrav!

Venturing deeper into the dungeon, I came face to face with the fallen hero of Varrock, Arrav, who was now under the control of Zemouregal. Though reduced to a puppet to carry out the Mahjarrat's evil deeds, Arrav still retained his mind and his thoughts, and gave me a warning before making his leave.


Zemouregal, the gargoyle and the zombie army.

I then continued exploring the dungeon and overheard Zemouregal plotting to overrun Varrock with his zombie army. I reported back to Captain Rovin and recounted everything to him. Fearing the city's impending doom, Rovin felt that the only hope for Varrock would be to somehow unlock the powers of the Shield of Arrav, the same instrument which had destroyed the rank and file of the undead army during the Fourth Age, when Zemouregal had made his first invasion.

After consulting Ramarno, the one remaining Imcando Dwarf who knows about the secrets of the shield, I found out that only a descendant of one of the founders of Varrock was able to use it at its full potential.

I discovered that it was Dimintheis who was the possessor of this ancient bloodline. Using the shield, the old man was able to effortlessly destroy the invading zombie forces which were attacking the Varrock Castle.


Dimintheis blasting up all the invading zombies with the Shield of Arrav.

Zemouregaal, Arrav and the gargoyle managed to make their escape, which didn't come as a surprise to me since I didn't expect that a quest with this much backstory would be fully resolved that easily. I was, however, slightly disappointed about the fact that I wasn't able to do battle with Arrav or any other of Zemouregal's key minions. The six zombies which I had to slaughter to access the deeper sections of the cavern hardly counted.


The fearsome Mahjarrat, Zemouregal, remains at large.

I'm still very satisfied with Jagex and their decision to finally release a quest with so much history behind it. I can only hope that the next Arrav sequel will come out in the near future.


Stuff achieved today: Completed Defender of Varrock

Posted by Timothy Gold at 11:35 PM |

28 September 2008

Onward!

The weekend has been good to me.

I was able to hit level 94 Ranged yesterday and level 80 Summoning this afternoon. I'm able to keep raccoons as pets now, though I probably should throw out one of my animals since they're really taking up quite a bit of space. I currently own a hell wily cat, a squirrel, a penguin and a Saradomin Owl. The penguin's likely to be the pet that's going; I already get to see it often enough when I go hunting for the disguised ones.



Besides level ups, I was also able to jump two ranks in my Farming skill. The two guys above me happened to be separated by under 15k exp, so it was fairly easy to overtake them both simultaneously. Only four more ranks before I enter the second page of the Farming highscores...


Stuff achieved today: Level 80 Summoning, Gained two Farming ranks

Posted by Timothy Gold at 11:02 PM |

26 September 2008

The Red Portal

At last! The weekend!

I couldn't get much done today because I only arrived back home during the late afternoon, and took a long nap which really ate into my gaming time. A session at the Clan Wars mini-game also interrupted my training; Tiz called me up and suggested that we enter the Red Portal, right into the free-for-all arena with item loss.


Me, Dg and Tiz standing in the combat zone of the arena (upper side of
barrier), while our two adversaries taunt us at the safe end.

You can't loot your fallen foe's equipment there, but the cheap thrill of getting them to lose their gear was what eventually persuaded me to join him. Six guys were supposed to turn up, but only Tiz, Dg and I attended the impromptu event in the end.


A fair bit of flaming took place during some fights.

The whole thing started out as a disappointment. Dg led us to the far East corner of the battlefield, where a couple of noobs slipped in and out of the combat zone as we frantically tried to attack them, taunting us each time for every unsuccessful attempt at chipping away their health. Frustrated, I headed off to the more crowded side, where Dg and Tiz soon joined me.

Though we stuck to the "shallow" part of the arena, we managed quite a number of kills, neatly finishing off our enemies with a well-aimed arrow or sword strike before they had a chance to flee to the nearby safe zone.


I know what you're thinking; please restrain yourselves. This was
truly one of my best kills - a 22 caught her off-guard and drained the
last bit of her health.

All in all, it was a reasonably enjoyable Clan Wars trip.


Stuff achieved today: Nothing much

Posted by Timothy Gold at 11:55 PM |

24 September 2008

Getting The Hang Of Things

The circus has moved towns yet again, and it's now situated at Falador.


Steady...

I've decided to follow a slightly modified strategy with my performances. I only focus on getting the Ringmaster costume in the Ranged Display and the Magic Show, by only doing the level 90 and 99 tricks. You get moe points but no exp at all for repeating the same stunts, which suits me just fine since Ranged is easy enough to train and I am completely uninterested in raising Magic.

That, plus the hints Kitt's post had given me, has been working out fairly well so far. I was able to get my first and only piece of Ringmaster outfit during this week's session at the circus. I narrowly missed a second article of the clothing by 11 points for the Ranged Display.


For the record, I received his hat.

My penguin-find count has also been resetted. Although the penguin hunting clanchat was full, I still was able to track one of them all the way down to Dragontooth Island. Whilst going through a farming round, I passed by the Ectofunctus and saw an unusually large congregation of players gathered around the typically deserted area.

I deduced what they were up to (penguin hunting!) and discreetly followed one of them to the Ghost Captain at Port Phasmatys. I slipped on my Ring of Charos, paid up the 10 Ecto-tokens for the discounted boat ride and finally located the penguin on the island.


Players swarmed to the remote Dragontooth Island to spy on this penguin
disguised as a crate.

It was a most satisfying find. I'll round the remaining nine up during the rest of the week, in-between my skilling.


Stuff achieved today: Nothing much

Posted by Timothy Gold at 11:43 PM |

22 September 2008

Whip Drops

Duradel's been giving me a lot of Abyssal Demon tasks lately.

And while they're giving me absolutely no Ranged exp because it's impossible to shoot them down from a safespot, my switch to Melee has greatly improved my kill efficiency. The combined bonuses of my Abyssal Whip, Slayer Mask and Rune Defender have definitely helped a lot.



The drops have also been just excellent. I've picked up a total of two whips and have sold one of them for over 1.2 million so far. That, plus the relatively common Rune item drops has certainly raked in quite a small fortune.

Slayer aside, I'm thinking of redeeming all my Penguin Points for only Agility exp from now on. I used to focus entirely on Prayer, but it recently occurred to me that I could always buy my way up in that skill with Dragon Bones. And since the exp gaps are smaller, level ups in Agility would also come in significantly faster compared to Prayer.



It'd certainly help my Overall rank, which has been stagnating within the 2750 - 2800 range for weeks now.


Stuff achieved today: Nothing much

Posted by Timothy Gold at 8:56 PM |

20 September 2008

Portals & Penguins

It's Saturday, but it doesn't even feel like the weekend has even arrived yet.

My teachers have burdened me with quite a number of assignments to complete over the short break, and I had to return to school to attend my four-hour long Graduation Ceremony. As cool as the event was, I really wished it didn't eat into my weekend.



I was, however, still able to find some pockets of free time to do a little Penguin hunting, Slayer training and even visits to the weak Spirit Realm portals the quest, Summer's End, had unlocked. I didn't visit all of them because about half of the portals gave exp to skills I'm already maxed out in. The rest was more helpful and helped me to train skills like Prayer and Smithing.


This portal was found just East of the Demonic Ruins.

I'm also thinking of cashing in all my Penguin Points for Agility exp from now on. I think I'll manage a level up by next week, when my finds get resetted on Wednesday.


Stuff achieved today: Trekked the Wilderness in search of portals (and a penguin East of Bounty Hunter)

Posted by Timothy Gold at 10:59 PM |

17 September 2008

Summer's End

Awesome stuff.


It's grown 35 levels since Spirit of Summer.

Summer's End carried on where its prequel quest, Spirit of Summer, had left off. The Beast, more powerful than ever, threatened to create a rift through the ghostly plane in order to enter Gielinor and feed on the souls of its countless inhabitants.

I helped Summer and the rest of the Bonde family to finally slay the towering creature by first luring it into a cave. I was then tasked to assist the spirits in removing the protective shielding on the Beast's belly, before moving on to damaging the monster in its weakened area and then finally vanquishing it.


Task 2 - Damage and weaken the Beast

These three different steps were systematically performed to kill the creature, but all pretty much revolved around - quite literally, in fact - doing the same thing. I had to run in circles all over the cave, dodging the Beast's attacks and keeping my health and run energy up.


I got shot down once. All I lost was Jennica's Ring, which I easily retrieved
buried under rubble at the starting point of the quest.

I succeeded eventually and was presented with the quest rewards by the Bonde family, who were exuberant that they could finally "die" off peacefully without the Beast's interference. The quest's goodies include access to more ghostly plane portals across the Wilderness, some exp, and a Spirit Shield which can be strengthened by using some sort of holy elixir on it, and then attaching special sigils to the piece of equipment.


The Bonde family just moments before they departed peacefully.

I initially failed to realize the latter's true significance. As I later found out from the Knowledge Base, the shield's bonuses, in its strengthened form, fall somewhere in-between that of the Dragon Square Shield's and the Dragonfire Shield's. It also offers special defensive effects, unique to the type of sigil attached to it. The shield also doesn't give its wearer any negative Ranged attack bonuses, making it an invaluable tool for Crossbowmen.



The major setbacks to the new armour would be its cost and rarity. Sigils and the elixir are only dropped by the Corporeal Beast, the level 785 Gielinor counterpart of the Beast from the quest which now takes up residence in the cave. It was quite a clever idea from Jagex, since it was previously established in the storyline that actions in the spirit realm had an opposite effect in the real world. It only made sense that another monster would take up the Beast's place after it had been slain.

With the ability to do battle in all three combat styles, 2000hp and an enlengthened health bar (completely unheard of!), the Corporeal Beast is seemingly invincible. Alarmingly however, I've still managed to spot a video of several high leveled players fighting the new boss monster and eventually emerging victorious after a 9-minute long struggle.

See them in action right here.


Stuff achieved today: Level 79 Summoning

Posted by Timothy Gold at 6:52 PM |

15 September 2008

My 100th Slayer Task

It is finished! One hundred Slayer tasks completed as the last Greater Demon on my assignment - its entire body skewered by Iron Knives - crumpled to the ground with a mundane finality.



The journey to level 99 Ranged would probably take me up to the 200th task, of which I have ample time to reach since I'm only intending to obtain the Skill Cape before 2009. Crafting, meanwhile, seems to have grounded to a halt during these last few days. I owe this to the rising prices of Green Dragon leather and the fact that much of my money's currently tied up in seed merchanting, and I am reluctant to spend any more.

So I was pretty much restricted to Ranging and doing my usual Farming rounds today. The sequel of the Spirit of Summer quest came out this evening, but I can't comment too much about it as I have yet to even start this second chapter (and quite possibly, the last) of the series.


Stuff achieved today: Completed my 100th Slayer Task

Posted by Timothy Gold at 10:40 PM |

13 September 2008

Penguin Tracking

I listened to Vaskor's tip regarding that penguin hunting clanchat, Riods2525.

It was completely packed and my message box got constantly flooded with messages after joining it. Most were just queries about the whereabouts of certain penguins getting repeatedly asked, but I was able to glean enough useful information to pinpoint their precise location instead of wasting time tracking them down.


A penguin trapped within the confines of the stone walls of a building in
the Khazard Camp.

Of course, I still tried to return the favour out of guilt. I gave my fellow trackers directions to find the penguins I had already discovered. Perhaps one of the best examples was when a guy in the clanchat mentioned that one of the birds had been spotted in the Khazard Camp, near the Fight Arena. I ventured into the area, and found a small crowd of players (they were from the clanchat too!) gathered around a penguin disguised as a rock. They were apparently trying to trap it there.

I spied on it and then thanked the group of players, before heading North back to Ardougne. And as luck would have it, I saw yet another penguin, conveniently contained within the walls of a grey building. Ensuring that the door was locked, I ran back to penguin hunters and proudly led them to the imprisoned animal.


My first cactus-disguised penguin. This one was found just West of the
Shantay Pass.

So far this week, I've managed to hunt down a total of nine penguins. Although the clanchat was instrumental in assisting me with this, it does have its limitations. A thing I find increasingy irritating about the penguins would be their great tendency to wander almost anywhere.

A penguin I saw at Taverly on Thursday night later made its way to Burthrope. When the guys at the chat announced its new location, I made a wasted trip to the place, thinking it was a new penguin that hadn't been spied on.


Stuff achieved today: Level 78 Prayer

Posted by Timothy Gold at 11:05 PM |

12 September 2008

Nostalgia

At last! The week is over!


There are now new battlegrounds to fight at.

I finally got round to creating that spreadsheet to properly tabulate the profits of my merchanting activities. All that's left to do is to record all results over the next few weeks in order to attain an accurate average profit per day.


A huge clan fight at a Clan Wars area which greatly resembles the
Demonic Ruins in the Wilderness.

I also had time to visit the newly updated Clan Wars twice. The first was in an F2P server with a few Blessings members. We spent most of our time at the free-for-all portal, where we were taken to a Wilderness-like setting and given the freedom to fight any of the other players present as well. In many ways, it was just like the old times when we went pking every week, minus the possibility of ever looting or losing any items.


There's no risk in losing your items when
entering the White Portal.

I went solo during my second trip and decided to try out the mini-game at a Members-Only world. Unrestricted by any clanmates I had to keep an eye out for, I went on a rampage DDS-specing and then Dharoking anyone who crossed me. The usual 40+, 50+ and 60+ were fairly easy to come by, due to the number of Rangers and Warriors wearing only Fighter Torsoes out there.

But as with any other PvP mini-game, there was quite a bit of flaming going on. A group of players has even decided to come up with their own little code of conduct for the revamped Clan Wars, just as those Honour Pkers had done for the Wilderness. Apparently, according to their set of rules, I'm not allowed to battle anyone who is under my level.



I ended up falling victim to their abuse when I chose to ignore them and beat them up senseless anyway. Nothing's more irksome than playing against sore losers, but I still was able to have a great time at the newly improved mini-game.


Stuff achieved today: Whole lotta nothin'

Posted by Timothy Gold at 11:42 PM |

10 September 2008

The Show Must Go On...

My suspicions were correct.

The circus moves towns on Wednesdays. Mat gave me a few (somewhat) useful tips to improve my performances. According to him, the failure rates for level 99 and 90 tricks are relatively low. I confirmed this whilst demonstrating my Agility on the tightrope. Though it wasn't a completely successful run, I was still able to perform backflips and Chinchompas juggling with ease.


Me juggling dangerous, explosive Chinchompas during the tightrope
performance.

Ranged could certainly have gone better. Mat's second piece of advice was that the same type of trick could be repeated, provided they are not used in succession. I used this strategy, but I still got accused by the audience of being boring and repetetive. I ended up missing out on my first piece of the Ringmaster costume by only about 30 points.

The Magic show was disastrous; I blame it entirely on dumb luck. In spite of having the stat maxed out, my spells failed at least four times during the event. It really was a farce compared to the success rate in my much lower Agility stat.

I just have to make another attempt next week.


Stuff achieved today: Nothing much

Posted by Timothy Gold at 11:53 PM |

08 September 2008

Profiteers In Arms

Kicky's been dabbling with Diamond Bolts in the Grand Exchange recently.

His brief venture has so far yielded him 400k, and we both actually debated on which money-making method, mine or his, was the most lucrative. I firmly stood by my seed merchanting business, while he insisted that his investments in the gem-tipped projectiles were more worthwhile.

I think that I might've lost the friendly argument. Although I provided Kicky with figures that were considerably higher and had stressed the sheer consistency of profits from the seed trade, these numbers I had told were, in truth, only best guesses.

Kicky also mentioned that he was planning to record all of his transactions down. I think I'll do likewise; it shouldn't be too difficult coming up with a suitable spread sheet and it'll give me a clearer idea of how much I'm earning from the Grand Exchange.


Stuff achieved today: Nothing much

Posted by Timothy Gold at 11:05 PM |

06 September 2008

A Half-Assed Apology

Some scuffles within the clan lately.

Dg and Tiz aren't too pleased with me constantly kicking W4rn out of the clanchat. I harboured a secret dislike of him some time back, until a quarrel involving a rejected membership application of his friend (I wasn't the one who turned it down, don't worry. It's not a case of bias) made me bring it all out in the open. After a long absence, W4rn recently returned to Blesschat and I've been booting him out at every opportunity since.

He doesn't really have any business in coming back since he joined and left the clan twice now. But because some of the members are still on speaking terms with him, I've decided to back off anyway.

To be fair, W4rn hasn't been causing any trouble during his brief visits. Dg talked it over with me earlier today and gently pointed that out. I know she means well; I was especially touched by the "thank you" video she created as a dedication to the clan just yesterday.

Perhaps I was a tad bit too impulsive in kicking the loathsome yet harmless git. I probably should exercise more self control, lest my kicking powers get stripped. There's no reason why Tiz shouldn't act accordingly on this less-than-appropriate behaviour, even if we're friends back in the real world.


Stuff achieved today: Level 91 Crafting

Posted by Timothy Gold at 10:44 PM |

04 September 2008

Distractions & Diversions

Offering one's services at the circus is supposed to be a weekly thing, but I was able to participate in all three shows just yesterday, only a day after my previous performance.

I suspect that the "circus timer" resets on Wednesdays. How fortunate. I managed to complete the Acrobat clothing and have even won my first piece of Clown costume. It'll probably take me a couple months to finish up the Ringmaster set, but I am still grateful for the exp.


The "bush" I found along the corridors of the Lumbridge Castle.

I also happened to chance upon two penguins. For a group of sly creatures capable enough to craft such clever disguises, they don't seem very bright. One tried to pass off as a bush sprouting out of the stony floor in Lumbridge Castle, while the other penguin, although well camouflaged as a rock, kept running back and forth right in front of me on Lunar Isle. Larry has already rewarded me with over 5k Prayer exp for these two finds.


This little guy ran past me as I was ranging Suqahs at Lunar Isle.

The Shooting Star update still remains unexplored, however. Since there's only one of them at any given time, fallen meteoroids are more challenging to locate. Due to my general indifference towards the Mining skill, I can't even be bothered summoning up the effort to use my telescope either.

Two out of three still isn't that bad though.


Stuff achieved today: Nothing much. Eh.

Posted by Timothy Gold at 8:36 PM |

02 September 2008

Balthazar Beauregard's Big Top Bonanza

They're out! The circus, the spying penguins and shooting stars have been released.


The Golden Ticket I received to enter the circus.

I've only been able to try out the former part of the update. It takes the form of a mobile circus, Balthazar Beauregard's Big Top Bonanza, which switches towns every week. It's currently situated at Seers Village.


The Ringmaster. Players who do exceedingly well in the circus
performances may win smaller versions of his costume.

I had to first locate the ticket booth and obtain a Golden Ticket, before being teleported to the circus where I offered my services to the Ringmaster as a performer. I was given the chance to showcase my knowledge of the arcane in the Magic Show, test out my marksmanship in the Ranged Display and practice my Agility during the tightrope performance.

Taking into account that I spent only a little over two minutes for each circus event, I was granted a relatively bountiful sum of exp in the corresponding skills. Additionally, I was rewarded by the Ringmaster with pieces of Acrobat clothing.


Me transforming an anvil into gold in the Magic Show.

Other types of costumes exist and are given to players depending on how well they perform. The quality of their performances may be enhanced by wearing these circus outfits whilst showing off their tricks to the spectators. I'm intending to work my way up to the Ringmaster's costume by first gathering and wearing lower-leveled clothing.


Me juggling tuna on the tightrope to entertain the audience.

However, due to the overly generous nature of the exp rewards, Jagex has limited these exhibitions at the circus to only once a week, much like the Tears of Guthix mini-game. Still, in spite of the update's infrequency, it's still definitely worthwhile to pay a visit there every week, even if it's only for a few minutes.


Stuff achieved today: Nothing much

Posted by Timothy Gold at 11:08 PM |

01 September 2008

Anti-Grindage Updates

Goodness. Has it been a month already?

It appears that September's Behind the Scenes article is placing a huge emphasis on non-grinding updates. Instead of merely adding ordinary skill additions and functions, Jagex has been concentrating on creating more enjoyable alternatives to training them. The release of the Great Orb Project and the All Fired Up mini-game are testament to this focus.

The first of these anti-grindage themed updates for the month takes the form of yet another mini-game, highly reminiscent of Impling hunting across Gielinor. Players who spot penguins hiding anywhere in the various landscapes of Runescape may earn Penguin Points, which they can subsequently exchange for exp to build up their skills.

It's quite a silly idea, but I suppose identifying these spying penguins would make more sense for people who have completed Cold War. I have a feeling that this promised update is a prelude to the release of a penguin quest sequel.

The rest of September's new gaming features also seem reasonably interesting. The continuation of the Spirit of Summer quest has gotten me quite excited, while the added improvements to Clan Wars is spurring me on to further hone my combat skills. I'm certainly not stopping at level 133.

Looks like I'm in for a good month.


Stuff achieved today: Level 92 Ranged

Posted by Timothy Gold at 11:08 PM |




Looking For Group
I want my Chameleon now!