The Lumbridge Catacombs… what can I say that will express the boon that this dungeon is to new players who want to level up quickly and be well on their way to starting on the path to Runescape riches?

There has been nothing like this in the 9 years that I have been playing. I, as you may know, am level 106- and I have been hanging out in the final chamber of the catacombs for the last week!

  Just today in my session battling “Corpse Mages” (level 15 mind you), I collected:

1,160 bronze arrows (dropped 40 at a time ) 8 Staves of Air (which I sell at the grand exchange for about 1 k ea.-they can also be sold at the staff shop in Varrock)  2 Fire Talismans (I sell those for thousands of GP ea) 2 ea. air and water Talismans (thousands more GP ) 3 Amulets of Defense, several hundred Air and Fire Runes, and about 5,000 Gold Coins (dropped in increments of 250 ea.)…

So in about an hour and a half I cleared over 20 k worth of stuff that I sold and I kept the Runes and arrows… this doesn’t even count the endless gold rings,amulets and necklaces and other plentiful drops that I left laying on the floor! And these are level 15 monsters I’m talking about!

To access this treasure trove you must complete the new quest The Blood Pact . This quest will be added soon to the Quest guide on this site.

 This little Picture from my last post shows where the actual entrance to the Sewers is, so refer to the previous post for details if you find yourself clueless how to get in here.

So once you are here you can see the progression from easy training to quite dangerous.(For the lower level players that is) If you are truly a noob, which is to me around level 15 or less, then you may not be ready for even the level 13 zombies. If this is the case, you may be quite literally be able to stay in the first “Rat Room” and level up to where you need to be to move on. Giant Rats offer their own food - rat flesh - and bones on which to raise up prayer. Other than that they offer no real drops, but they do give that ever-important experience. So have at them, just be sure you know where the entrance is so you can make a run for it if need be. Now lets go kill some nasty little beasts and we’ll move onto the Zombies next!

    OK all you glorious Noobs out there in your Iron Armor! Time to grow some cajones and get away from the safety of training on Goblins and Woods Spiders and get down to the business of Dungeoning! Though technically not a dungeon, the SEWERS OF VARROCK are still underground and still go from easy to hard monsters in a linear fashion. That is to say that if the going gets too tough, you can head back the way you came in relative safety.

The main thing to remember is that when going out to train, be prepared! Be prepared of course with food and maybe teleportation runes or methods, but also be prepared… to Die! Because believe me- it can happen where you least expect it. Say you are in the sewers slaying away at Skeletons near your level- you get carried away with chatting with someone and have run out of food- suddenly you are trying to click your way back to the beginning and you accidentally click on “attack” on some creature in the halls- next thing you know you get your “free trip to Lumbridge” (via death lol ) and lose all the loot youve collected!

So be aware of remaining food and hitpoints at all times. And dont carry anything you would not want to lose other than in your safe 3 most valuable items slots.

That is to say don’t wear your new party hat with rune armor-you will lose something good!  Save your fancy stuff for showing off while you mine or fish or whatnot-training below ground is the time to play it safe with your valuables.

Above is the entrance to the Sewers. Bring Food and Armor and anything you think you will need and let’s go do some training.

For Saradomin’s sake! Put on some Shoes! After all, we are about to take a trip down memory lane, and in Varrock that means some dangerous treading! Hey Cats and kittens-Havokslinger here, your favorite level 106 Melee maddened old timer! In our last visit we started at the central fountain, once (and still to some extent) the hang-out of many high level old-school players and PKs. It’s still a good place to get an earful about the general goings on on the Runescape scene. Especially those of us eternally on the free worlds….

First stop on the tour VARROCK CASTLE !

Yes, the overhauled and re-decorated halls of glory. I thought I would take a rest by the throne of this great king. Note how he hides out while Havok is in tha’ house! OK I’m losing my mind- but these are some great digs…

There’s a lot to see in this Castle of Varrock, but please, let us each take our own tour of the Castle itself on our own time shall we? Yes, It brings back memories of a time when Runescape was in 2d and these castle walls were drab indeed. Some good old fashioned virtual re-decorating has brought some well needed vigor into the political capital here in  the most widely known and respected city in all of the great Kingdom of Asgarnia !

 OK, so there’s only one other City and a village in the Kingdom, but by the gods, she truly is one of the great (if not the greatest) City in all of runescape! (You hear that Camelot??)

So lets move on from this good castle and go get our hands dirty! We’ll stroll to right outside the castle walls and check out a great training area for you up-and-coming warriors and mages and rangers…THE SEWERS OF VARROK….Next!

Since playing this game for coming pretty close to ten years, even on my brief stint as a Member, this fountain areahas been a hangout for often the elite characters to gather around and chat and show off their “good” stuff. In the old days before the advent of Varrock’s GRAND EXCHANGE trading center that changed the whole face of runescape -the banks (especially the North Bank!!) and this fountain area were so thick with people on certain worlds that you couldnt even see yourself in the dense crowds!

Needless to say, The Grand Exchange has made buying and selling goods of all qualities infinitely easier and safer, and much more fair. Don’t tell that to the people who often used to gather in Varrock to make millions- by padding the prices of everything and just plain ripping off naive noobs! lol

Yes, “Merchanting”, as some folks liked to call it was absolutely the best way to make cash on members or free worlds. Now, by best, I simply mean the fastest way to turn your hard won items into a decent amount of cash. I personally never did it very much as I had not the patience to stand around hawking my goods. I was a mining junkie for some time and made enough cash to get what I needed and still do!. But, I digress…lol.

 Now I’d like to take a look at this City compared to what it used to be, me having taken an almost yearlong hiatus, I want to appreciate all the new wonders of… VARROCK!

Here’s the fortune tellers tent. Once a drab tent filled with a drab little woman, we now have this fine Persian affair (Omar the Tent-maker would be proud!) And inside our seer-saying young lady has a tricked out Crystal Ball and is very animated indeed!

 As a younger player (Since 2001) Varrock was for me also a hang out, on the east side of the Castle, JUST beyond the Wilderness border ( There was no Warning Trench then ) for Player Killing. Lol, if you want to call it that- mostly dueling with other mid-level lamos like myself sparring for experience points or to see who would “Own” the other one. Do people still say “I owned you!” ? Anyway, the Wildy situation has so drastically changed that the once crowded area east of the castle is now a barely noticed patch on the way to the wilderness from Varrock. So let’s go check it out!

Next- A stroll through Varrock !!

 Beware the…ANKOU… Yea, we wish they looked that cool. Someday…Actually below is the real face of these jelly covered skeletons that are the highest level creatures west of MemberSippi(lol). I love these guys for training for a few reasons.

One is that once you are inside their gate, they will continually attack you one after the other until you have been there for a while, so there’s no running back and forth and trying to beat someone else to the punch like when training on Lessers.

Beware!! These creatures are high level and will tear you up if you are not careful!

If you are just here to get the FOURTH part of the Sceptre, explore deep enough into the labyrinth to encounter a few Ankou at a time. Yeah, easy for me to say. It would be advisable if you are a lower level player to, well - how do I put it… bring your big brother or a hearty friend or two along to engage the Ankou that will be a-kickin’ your ass while you are waiting for one of them to drop your Sceptre piece. Some of the rooms are mixed with ghosts and other critters, but unless you are training as well, stay away from the Ankou-filled room to the north. But those of you higher level folk-that’s the room you want to be in for skelt slaying mania.

 These guys also drop a  grip  of decent stuff, especially LAW Runes! This is the place to collect them if you are up to the task.

So keep killing these slimy bastards until they give up the LAST piece of your soon to be Skull Sceptre! Below is an overview of putting all of your pieces together. (Thanks Sal)

Use the “invoke” option on the Sceptre to get teleported to the center of Barbarian Village while you are wielding the Sceptre.

  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 !

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 !

THANKS BE TO THE GODS AT JAGEX;

THIS IS NO LONGER A RUNESCAPE QUEST !

I WILL LEAVE THE POST FOR NOSTALGIC INTERESTS.

long live Runescape ! 

   Witch’s Brew is what you’re after in this in this safe beginner’s quest!

The first step to starting this quest is finding the tiny little burg they call Rimminton. Well if you look at the worldmap, locate The Kingdom of Asgarnia. If coming from Falador Castle, head south past the mining area on the map and you will run square into it. If you’ve lost your bearings and need to start from scratch, simply use your Lumbridge Home Teleport spell and head west from lumby castle, passing Draynor Village and then past Port Sarim. Head southwest till you see the mining area . This is called the Rimmington mines. Directly below is Rimmington itself.

The mines here are good at the beginning stages of your Mining Skill, and the bank in Draynor is fairly convenient to take your loads of copper, tin and iron to. You will also notice that right above Rimmy is Meltzars Maze, which you will explore in depth when you attempt to complete the Dragon Slayer Quest in the future. So remember where that is and it will make your life easier when you approach level 70 and want to attempt that quest.

Now we get to the lady of the hour who you will be running errands for in this quick little quest. (quick that is if you navigate the map well and this will help you get to know the Kingdom of Asgarnia better.

The quest is basically collecting some items for Hetty, the resident witch. You will find that a big part of most quests is collecting stuff and running all over the place.

In order to drink her brew and gain the 325 Magic Experience reward, you will need:

BURNT MEAT~ This is pretty simple, kill a cow, a giant rat, or a bear and take the raw meat to a cooking range. Cook it until it is burnt!  There are giant rats east by port sarim or cows behind the crafting guild. Slaughter something and take it’s meat to the range in Rimmington.

EYE OF NEWT~ This cliche’ item can be bought right next to you to (GO EAST) in the Port Sarim magic shop for a couple of gold pieces.

ONION~ This one’s a gimme! There is an onion field north of Rimmy-just go pick one.

RAT’S TAIL~ There are little rats running around all over the place in Runescape. Once you have started this quest you will be able to retrieve the tail once you have killed one. You will see them scurrying about near the witch’s home.

Go take Hetty all this stuff and collect your reward of 325 Mage exp. and one quest point!