OK Guys and Dolls, now it’s going to get rough if you are not around at least level 40 or so. But if you are being daring or you just don’t want to die - make sure that at this point you are carrying good food and some teleport runes.

The first obstacle is a room full of level 50 Spiders! Luckily there are no poisonous Spiders on free worlds as of yet, so you can basically just run through the room and endure only a few points worth of damage. I just want to point out at this time that for you higher level players these Spiders are a great way to train to raise up Attk. Str. or Def. because they are high level but pretty easy to kill - Though they drop no loot, the are just ripe with experience points.

  Just keep pushing on past the funky question doorways until you get to the area shown above an then press on toward the creature who drops the last part of the sceptre. There are alot of rather goofy names used on Runescape, but prepare to encounter one of the lamest-named creatures on the game…

Enter…CATABLEPON… Yes, that’s right Catablepon. Not sure the origins of that name, but these fellows do pack a punch as well as draining your STRENGTH stat by about 10 percent so beware! Though these odd critters drop pretty boring stuff, (water and body runes for example) the exp. is pretty good and this is where to pick up that third section of the staff. Plus the scenery makes for a nice change of visuals when you get tired of training elsewhere.

 So go after them, and when you get what you need, it’s time to go a level deeper and get some slimy skeletons for the fourth and final piece of our Skull Sceptre!

  Now the going gets a bit rough for lower level players! Find your way down to the second level of the dungeon. There are lots of Zombies in the initial chambers of this level. Ignore them for now and head toward the deeper rooms in the maze-like catacombs. eventually you will see the occasional spiderish/scorpionish Flesh crawlers.

These creatures that drop the second component of the Sceptre are extremely aggressive and will attack relentlessly upon entering their territory! So take lots of food if you have trouble with creatures of level 35. Again you will have to go through the maze and the question doors ( Though thank god you no longer have to answer the questions every time once you have made it through the same questions! ) to get to the small room where this screenshot was taken. You need not get all the way here, but your odds of getting a Sceptre drop are much better in here.

These ugly bastards do not drop the greatest loot, but if you are of a level that can handle them easily they are great experience. As with all aggressive critters, you needn’t click on them to attack constantly, they come at you and you can just kick back and eat and pick up drops as necessary. So just let the slaughter begin and soon you will get the second part of your Sceptre.

 So you’re ready to collect the pieces to create your very own Skull Sceptre, huh? Well I hope you’re up to the task! There are some pretty nasty critters running around in the Security Dungeon. These fellows here are pretty much cupcakes (level 12) though, so start here to find the first part of the Sceptre. These guys are found on the first level of the dungeon, so find your way around the maze (past the level 13 Goblins) and through the question doors to get to where there are a pretty good number of them running around-it may take killing quite a few to get the skull right half  from the Minotaurs.

 The only real use for the Sceptre however is for an easy teleport to Barbarian Village. You simply activate your Completed Sceptre and you will appear at the opening to the caverns.

 Also, the thing looks pretty neat to carry around and show off, if you are into that type of thing.

So having said that- If you are going to take advantage of the only way to teleport to this area available on the free worlds- I suggest building multiple Sceptres and storing them in your bank, so that when you decide to train here you can easily blink back after replenishing food and dropping off the loot you’ve gathered while in the depths of the dungeon.

******* ADDENDUM: SINCE THIS POST WAS WRITTEN, THE PROPERTIES OF THE SKULL SCEPTRE HAVE CHANGED, ORIGINALLY EACH COMPLETED SCEPTRE ONLY HAD 5 TELEPORT CHARGES TO BARBARIAN VILLAGE, AND THEN YOU HAD TO ASSEMBLE A NEW ONE. 

JAGEX IN ITS WONDEROUS NEW WAVE OF CONSTANT UPDATES, HAS MADE THE SKULL SCEPTRE MUCH BETTER IN THAT IT’S TELEPORTATION POWERS ARE NOW UNLIMITED, AND YOU MAY ONLY POSESS ONE AT A TIME- SO PLEASE DISREGARD THE ABOVE ADVICE ABOUT COLLECTING MULTIPLE SCEPTRES. *******

So, assuming that you know how to get to Barbarian Village (If not, consult your world map) climb down the opening to the dungeon, which is directly in front of the Tavern there in the village, find the Minotaurs and begin the slaughter.

Kill, kill, kill until one drops the first section of your Sceptre.

P.S.-Minotaurs are also an EXCELLENT place to collect Iron Arrows, they drop batches of them very often and it takes no time at all to gather a quiver full of free arrows!!

Next-Flesh Crawlers!

   Well fellas, I just took my first trip to a Player Versus Player world… It is complete and utter MADNESS ! Lol, I of course went in unarmed after reading about the new change where you are automatically skulled when you log in. Now, I didn’t get a chance to play before this went into effect, but it had to be better. This seems to me to be a PKers wet dream ! Even more diabolical and dangerous than when the Wildy was the place to do your PKing. I lasted all of about 5 minutes before I was teamed by a wandering group - now I’m level 106, and granted, I was armorless, but it seems to me that the only way to remotely have a chance at survival is to go in with a well armed team of friends. I’m going to do some more reading up on the whole concept and then go back in to explore the madness further. Any tips out there would be welcome……MADNESS!

Hello out there people ! It’s been over a year since I have posted. Had some traumatic things going on in the real world and I have missed Playing my favorite little dude Havokslinger. But I’m baaa-aack ! If you see me out there on the free worlds give me a holler!

Well, there have been alot of changes to the game to say the Least. Can’t wait to get started on my brilliant commentary of the greatest little free game on the planet. I’m off to go check our Player-Versus-Player worlds for the first time. See you soon for a commentary on what sounds like a blast.

  There are alot of new features in and around Lumbridge castle that I have only recently taken a good look at. Granted these things are not really “new”, as at this writing, they have been out for a few months. I must admit that when I log on to the game I rarely take the time to thoroughly read the main page news and all the update information right away. I’m usually just ready to jump in to the game and start grinding away.

In some ways that is more interesting to me. For example when I saw someone using the “Cabbage Teleport” recently, I was like, WTF? So then I went and found out what it was all about. I like surprises and am so pleased with the direction Runescape is going that I am enjoying it more than ever. So- I was really impressed with the new Lumbridge features which, I am sure, make being a Noob so much less painful an experience as far as learning the ropes and leveling up to a decent Combat level.

I envy the new players today who have the refined game guides on the main page and so many things that make your first few weeks and months more enjoyable by giving you helpful and intuitive tools to get the hang of the game.

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One of the neatest things added to the Lumbridge landscape is the skill tutors area located outside Lumbridge Castle next to the general store and across from another new feature,  The Achievement Diary of the Lumbridge/Draynor area. ( We’ll get into that later on.)

Here you can train safely  and learn  all that you will need to know about the three types of combat in Runescape;   Ranged, Magic, and Melee.

The three tutors will answer any questions and explain the tricks of each trade.  AND they will give you assignments, called JOBS or TASKS, that require you to kill a certain amount of monsters, or collect items for them, or some type of work to be done that will introduce you to the workings of the Kingdom of Misthalin and get you motivated to start or upgrade various skills on the game. And for doing that they will give you rewards.

 For instance, when I asked the Ranged Tutor for a job, she instructed me to go and kill 24 scorpions. and when I completed the task, I was rewarded with 25 training arrows  that can be used to sharpen your Ranging skills here at the target range available here at the training area.

  Then I went to the Magic Tutor and asked her for a job. She sent me off to collect 24 logs. My reward for that was that she put some Air and Mind runes my bank account. ( Though I am not sure how many of each because I didn’t know how many I had before she rewarded me. ) Her next job for me was to bring her rune essences and she paid me 600 coins. Then she asked me to bring her 25 pairs of leather boots. I didn’t feel like making them at the time so I moved on to the Melee dude.

 Finally I approached the Melee Tutor and asked him for work, and then turned to the option of asking him for a different job just to see what type of tasks they would ask of you. Things like making 13 pizzas, making gloves and killing different stuff came up.

However, if you try and change jobs too many times with any of them you will get the following message.

So I guess it doesn’t pay to be too fussy. But go check it out and do some training there if you are a low level player or simply if you need some cash or are bored and don’t know what to do at the moment. Some of the tasks are difficult and even if your Combat is high, this is a great way to bring up crafting or cooking skills.

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YOU CAN BANK ON IT !

I was also very pleased to learn that a bank had been added on the top floor of the castle here in Lumbridge. Though there is one close in Al Kharid, it is certainly handy to have one right on the spot where the Home Teleport brings you, so I now can grab some runes and gear and teleport back to combat or whatever I was doing. Plus it just LOOKS so nice there atop the castle ! ( see Below )

Kudos to the Jagex team and all their good work to make the lands of Misthalin and beyond look so nice! Go and enjoy the new and improved city of beginnings !

Wherever you are in the lands of Runescape, you always have the option of a free teleport spell to Lumbridge using the Lumbridge Home Teleport spell. Lumbridge castle is a short jaunt to the city of Al Kharid, and in that city is a place to get free passage all the way across the Runescape F2P world.

I do alot of training on Lesser Demons on the Isle of Kajarma, which is accessed via the Port Sarim docks. Rather than carrying teleport runes with me and taking up precious inventory space that I would rather use for food on the way there, or for treasure and  gold and Adamantium ores that I collect for the trip back to the mainlands- I take advantage of a little secret to get back and forth to the islands and the bank in Al Kharid.

Here’s a typical day of training on Kajarma for my beloved character Havokslinger.

Starting out at Lumbridge Castle ( assuming I have just come back from a round of demon slaying ) after having used the Lumby Home teleport, I head east over the bridge and past the gate to the desert city of Al Kharid. I trot to the bank to deposit my swag. Then I stock up on food and get ready to go back for more monster mutilation.

Simply head south from the city to the little alcove that would be the entrance to the Great Desert area if I were on a member’s world. It’s the place they call… Shantay Pass. Here you will find desert guards and a man called Shantay, who deals in gear for travel in the Desert on members servers. If you pass beyond into the desert you must carry water in order to avoid dying of thirst. After you have spoken to the guard at the Desert gate and go through the dialogue with Shantay you will get an understanding of what this little outpost is used for.

If you are a member there is a huge playing area on the other side of that gate. There are several cities that can be reached by using a network of Flying Carpet vendors who will, for a reasonable fee, let you rent one of their magical carpets to cross barren spans of the brutally hot desert regions. This is a very fun way to travel and will save you considerable water supply. Though your water bags can be filled by cutting open certain cacti if you are carrying a knife, you still will need three or four in inventory to avoid death by dehydration. There is alot to do in the desert.

Now, if you are NOT a member, Shantay Pass is basically useless to you, as the bank facility there is not available on F2P and there is nothing to do except maybe kill a couple guards that don’t drop anything very exciting.

HOWEVER!- there is one cool little feature that makes it quite a valuable place to visit.

Ater getting to know what it’s all about, just talk yourself into getting arrested by conversing with Shantay. When you come here for the free trip after your first arrest (which will take a little longer and establish that he knows you )  just ask Shantay “What is this place?” -TWO TIMES IN A ROW, and you will get the following dialogue box. ( Note you will have to click on the TALK TO SHANTAY option twice.)

Reply by saying  ”I am definately an outlaw, Prepare to die..”  and he will laugh at you and threaten you with jail, or pay him 5 gold coins to get out of trouble.

REFUSE to pay him and you will get locked up !

Once you are in the jail, he will give you one more chance to pay him the 5 gold pieces. Tell him you will  not  pay by choosing the  “No, do your worst!”  response, and you will be transported to the Port Sarim Jail.

Now you have to Pick the lock on the cell door by  right clicking  on it and choosing to Pick the Lock.

  This may take a few tries, but in a matter of seconds you will be free to exit the jail and walk out to Port Sarim. Falador will be directly north and if you are in Al Kharid or around Lumbridge and want to go to Fally, this is a great quick method of getting all the way across the Runescape freeworld without walking or using runes.

Hope this little trick comes in handy for those of you who didn’t know about it !

Hey gang, hope everyone is enjoying the splendid Runescape updates. I have been drinking in all the new wonders of the High Detail world and had the pleasure today of getting to a new combat and a new Strength level in one of the mid-level training areas in the area far south of the city of Falador. Starting out in that city in the Kingdom of Asgarnia, go south out of the city’s southern exit and travel all the way past Port Sarim to the peninsula at the bottom of the map. Past the church and the jail heading to Mudskipper Point (Don’t forget about the ever useful World Map to navigate) You will see the red exclamation point on the minimap that denotes a dungeon.

Climb down into the entrance. As you travel into the caverns there you will encounter low level muggers and will then find yourself in a room filled with PIRATES to train on if you are a low level player. Continue through either of the tunnels and you will find the entrance to the ICE CAVES.

Here is a fine training area for players approaching level 50 or above. The Ice warriors in here are very aggressive and will begin to attack you as soon as you go into their frosty lair. They are superb to train on and have quite good drops including a good number of Nature Runes. The only trouble with this training spot is that the closest bank to replenish your food supply is East of Port Sarim in the small burg of Draynor Village. So go in prepared and be ready to fight.

 Roaming the tunnels to the entrance of the Ice Caves are Hobgoblins, who are especially useful for their drops of Limpwurt roots that are used in combination with Red Spider Eggs to make Strength Potions at the Apothecary in Varrock.  As you enter the caves at the point shown above you will find yourself in an arctic area underground that is filled with Ice warriors who are “chillin out” so to speak ( .. yeah I know…)

 These “cool cats” are fairly tough and will be all over you when you walk through, so be sure you are up to the task if you are just looking around or if you have come here to kick some ice.  But the real meat of the caves are the Ice Giants. They are lower level than the Warriors, but have better variety of treasure drops and also yield their coveted “Big Bones” that are GREAT Prayer experience when burying them or, as some folks do, collect them and sell them for a pretty good price.

  The tough part about getting to combat these big fellows is that the smaller-yet more powerful- Ice warriors will continue to attack you and until you have been in the area for about twenty minutes (at which point they will let you alone so that you can freely chose what you want to target) and make it difficult to get a crack at the Giants. In addition to their big bones, they drop Adamantium Arrows, Black Kite shields and a decent assortment of other booty.

I had the pleasure of training here this morning and (Finally ) made it to Strength level 91 !… at the very same instant much to my surprise because I had not been checking on my level status, I hit Combat level 106 !! Yay me. So it was a good day in the icy realm of these creatures and I urge you all to come check out one of the more pleasant places ( not so gloomy as most dungeons) to train on the free worlds. Have at them folks, and see you next post.

Well, it’s finally here folks. Those of us F2P Runescape junkies at last have available High Detail ( Runescape HD…) Runescape. And it is well worth the waiting we endured. A sad note is that at this time unless you are a member you cannot enjoy the splendid full screen version of the game. But rest assured you will enjoy the wonderful souped-up graphics and …well high detail, of the complete Runescape world. I am quite impressed and at this writing have actually only seen a few bits of the improved landscape and character/monster detail.

The areas where I usually train are all that I have checked out so far (Lesser Demon area above for one)  besides the major city teleportation sites like Varrock and Falador. I think they have done a really nice job and am looking forward to exploring further. I have mentally plotted out waiting until I am Combat level 110 before I join Members for the rest of my Runescape career and am sure that by then things will look even better.

I am sorry to all of you who do not have computers that are up to speed and cannot enjoy the HD mode, BUT- all of the graphical improvements to the characters, buildings, landscapes and just about everything in the RS universe still look better, so no one loses. Whether you are playing in HD or  the standard Runescape mode, your character now enjoys a new look, with completely re-vamped emotes and sweet new spell effects.

    Here is an example of the new look given to spells. These shots of me coming through the teleportation matrix are on standard- NOT HD. So you can see that all of us have scored on some level and next we will take a look at some of the sweet mega-coolness of the high detail stuff (I know-I’m corny, but I am digging this shit, lol)

The lighting and water effects are superb, and brings the game to a new level of enjoyment for me. Those of us who have been around since the beginning and stayed despite the cheese-o-rama 2d graphics of the original game ( See the June 21 ‘08 Post to see a history of Runescape Graphics ) are hyped that our long lived characters have truly come of age.

I’m off to look around our new surroundings and will see you next time.

As we all wait with baited breath for the release of Runescape High Definition and all that it entails, the standard method of play (which will still be available if your computer cannot handle the mighty new graphics) has gotten re-vamped. One of the areas to get re-designed is the desert city and surrounding areas of Al Kharid. The characters and buildings have gotten a new look and it is looking very good.

This was always a fun place to come and train mining, crafting and combat in my mid levels. Then they even gave free worlders access to the Duel Arena after a few years of that neat place being a members-only feature. Al Kharid is a truly neat environment and with it being so close to Lumbridge, it is a very convenient place to come after using the Lumbridge Home teleport spell to bank and do other business such as using the Furnace to smelt ores. It is probably the best place on F2P (free to play) to do that considering it’s close proximity between the Furnace and the city’s bank.

Here’s a look at what Jagex has done to the Scorpion pit mines and the area between that and the city proper. All the visuals, from the ore sites to the new and improved scorpions, are truly a nice touch.

Not being a Member at the time, I don’t know as yet how it will look on the new HD graphics, but on standard High or Low Detail, it is a wonderful improvement to one of my favorite cities on the free worlds.

 Here’s me having a go at the Adamantium ores at the far end of the pit. Lots more texture detail on the rocky surface of the mining area add to the rustic feel of the place.

As you can see it’s quite an improvement. I can’t wait to see how it looks when the Beta testing period is over and we all get to see the new Graphics package and the awesome new full-screen mode, which will vastly improve gameplay.

 Here you can see the much better visuals in the desert stretch from the mining pit to Al Kharid itself, the water is already much better and promises to improve even more if you are able to enjoy the new HD package.

The NPC’s are also looking quite a bit better. It’s seriously more fun to battle when your enemies look and have the feel of a bit more realistic set of miniatures. We all love Runescape, and I think we can all agree that all the hard work and improvements to the game will make it even more popular than it already is.

 Here the new and improved Palace Guards team up on a lower level dude clad in Iron armor. You will notice that the look of the armor has changed, it took me a couple of days to get used to the look of the new FULL HELMETS that now appear quite different. Go and check out the improvements for yourself and in the next post we will have a look at more of the features of Al Kharid and teach those of you who do not know the little secret that lies at the farthest south point of the desert area; A free trip all the way across the Runescape map to Port Sarim from here !