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.

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 food that replenishes alot of HP 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, these scuttling arachnids are just ripe with experience points.

  Just keep pushing on past the funky “question” doorways until you get to the area shown below. Then press on, into the large cavern where you,ll meet the creatures who drop the THIRD part of the Sceptre, the TOP.

 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!

 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!

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.

 THE PICTURE ABOVE IS ON THE HIGH DEFINITION VERSION OF THE GAME, THE PICTURES BELOW IN THE GUIDE WERE TAKEN ON THE STANDARD HIGH DETAIL MODE. Other than the graphics everything is exactly the same.

Continuing on from the last post ( June 23, 2008 in the archives) where we looked at how to gain entrance into this training area, let’s move into the lower tiers of this fairly vast underground complex. As you enter through the tunnel hidden behind the poster in the jail cell area, you will be greeted by level 6 Muggers. Here is a fairly good area to train in if you are a low level.

BUT FIRST LET’S GO GET OUR 10K GOLD AND AWESOME GLOVES !

This is the beginning of the dungeon where you arrive at from the tunnel. ( Behind the poster )  The Mugger room shown above is the room at the very SOUTHWEST corner of the map above. The very north-east corner shows the room that has a staircase that goes up to another level. You will have to travel through the cavern area on the east side of the above map through all the various levels of Roaches, but don’t worry, they will not attack you unless you first attack them.    

  Climb those Stairs. (Northeast corner room of map above )

   You will now be on this level Go to the North room and pull the Magic Lever there. This lever will open the door to where you will find the Chest where your 10,000 gold coin and Security Glove rewards will be found. If you ever die and use the gloves, or decide to get rid of them by destroying them, they can always be gotten again by repeating the pulling the lever and going to the treasure Chest procedures.

AFTER PULLING THE LEVER:

Go down the stairs you came up to get to the lever room.

  Cross from the stairs and enter the door shown above.

   You will be in this area now. Head around the corner to the little alcove shown below and there you will find the treasure chest that contains the Security  Gloves and will put 10,000 gold coins into your inventory !

 Congrats! You now have this neat pair of fighting gloves that add to your Attack, Defense, and Strength statistics. They, as I mentioned, match the Security Boots you can get at The Stronghold Of Security. Which we will start looking at in the next set of posts here at Runescape-junkie.

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Now let’s have a close look at some of the nasty creatures that roam around this place. The story is that the Jail areas  below the Safety classroom on the surface were originally created to hold the various bad guys and gang members that roamed around in the city of Varrock. The place eventually fell into disrepair and was overtaken by the giant Cockroaches that are so prolific here. Eventually the place was excavated and is now open for adventurers to come and explore and kill these fiends and collect the treasure you drop.

( NOTE: I AM ONLY LISTING FREE WORLD DROPS HERE )

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  COCKROACH DRONE

These little nasties are LEVEL 8. They have a mere 11 hitpoints but still drop decent goodies including; Air, Fire, Water and Earth runes as well as Gems and bronze daggers and helmets. Perfect training for Nooby players to level up on. These tiny things are found throughout this dungeon.

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  COCKROACH WORKERS

These big bugs are level 56 ! I recommend being at least in the forties in your combat level to start in on these fellows. They can hit pretty hard so be careful if you are that low. Their drops are very good and include;  Cosmic, Death, Nature, Chaos as well as Earth and Water runes. I have collected TONS of Natures and Chaos from these guys, and at higher levels it is fun to waste lots of these guys and not worry about carrying hardly any food and just rake in the loot.

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      ~ COCKROACH SOLDIERS ~

  NOW HERE ARE THE REAL BADASSES !!

Not only can these big boys kick your ass up close and personal, they spit nasty black goo that drains hitpoints fast! These are the most powerful creatures to train on in the free world, except for greater demons in the wilderness. These have taken over as the popular thing for high levels to train on over lesser Demons. They are tougher to kill, but their drops are supremely better than Lessers.

These level 83 beasts have a whopping 96 hit points and I wouldn’t try to solo kill these guys unless you are somewhere around combat level 80 unless you have alot of guts, lol. But the cool thing is, this area is multi-combat, so you can team up on these things and even loot share on them if you want.

Their drops include:

~Mith Medium helms and gold pieces

 ~RUNE Scimitars and Square Shields (of which I’ve gotten quite a few ) and rarely Rune 2-Handers and Chainmail (Haven’t gotten one as of this post )

~Laws, Death and Fire Runes

~Mithril ore (TONS of these to be gotten ), Adamantium ore and extremely rare Runite ore drops

~ Gems

SO GET ON OVER TO THE STRONGHOLD OF PLAYER SAFETY AND GET YOU SOME EXPERIENCE AND SOME GOOD SWAG !

And, lest I forget, there is a shortcut into the room where you pulled the lever, that will take you directly into that Chamber where you pulled the lever and will save you some travel if you are there to battle the higher level roaches. However there are usually always players there to compete with you if you want to solo-kill the Cockroach Soldiers. But it is a perfect place to team train on them and is accessed via the crevice in the ground next to the classroom very near the other entrance to the dungeon. ( See below. )