Grandmaster Quest

Up to now: I managed to get my Firemaking skill to 80, which gave me both access to fire gauntlets and Magic pyre logs. I cut somewhere in the neighborhood of 300 magic logs to use in Shades of Mort'ton. As maybe you remember, I already have about 800 sacred oil (4) that I intended for use with magic logs. While I made, on average, about 400k per 100 logs, I managed to lose a good amount of money in the process. The shades I need for Magic pyre logs are level 100, and I wasn't watching my HP. The loss was a bit over 500k, and I still haven't replaced my dragon boots.

After about 300 logs, my attention turned to combat. And as with most any other time where my attention was on combat, I decide to train combat through Slayer. At first, my goal was simply to gain access to the warrior's guild (which required 3 Attack or Strength levels). But after I managed to get both 65 in Attack and Strength, I decided it was time to raise my combat level. My current combat level goal is 90, with a goal set for my Attack skill of 70.

I goof around at the Warrior's guild for a bit (about 1k tokens and still no defender of any type) before I return to Slayer. I'm using Sumona now as a master, and she gives good assignments. The assignments however make me realize that my current food technologies are a bit lacking. I stop my training at combat level 88, in order to fix this problem.

I have a load of salmon in the bank that I used to get to 70 cooking. It was my origional intention to turn these 3600+ salmon into admiral pies, which would have got me well above 80 cooking. Once I sat down and thought about how I had to acquire everything to make them (flour, potatos, tuna and pie shells), I realized that making that many pies wasn't within my patience threshold. I sold all but 1k, and bought everything I needed to make the pies. This was not as easy as it sounds: nobody sells pie shells on G.E. Those I had to buy from a shop.

If you want to make a lot of high end and labor intensive pies, the best way to do it is to use the Lunar Spellbook. First thing it does for you is make it easy to fill buckets with water (Humidify spell). This is only a minor benefit, which can't be beaten out by the Make Pie spell. It cooks the pie, without the need for a stove, and you don't burn any. This means you get all the xp you worked for.

The pies only get me to 76, so I sell the pies and buy monkfish. I decide that this will be the fastest way to train cooking. I am not wrong, despite the fact that I burn about 15%. It only takes me about a day to get to 80. I set off to Catherby to get me some sharks.

It was here and about that Runescape took off the kid gloves. The long awaited "Grandmaster Quest" was released. And if the requirements are any indication, it's no joke. My quest cape is banked indefinately.

As you can see above, I have a lot of work to do.

New Goals

With my biggest goal met, it's time to come up with something else to do. While there are many things I'd like to acomplish, there is only one thing that really stands out: getting an Inferno Adze. For those who don't yet know, this is a combination woodcutting axe and pickaxe that is rumored to be better than even a dragon hatchet. To get one, you need several skill levels...the biggest being a 92 Firemaking.

I wanted a few Firemaking levels to begin with, so I could use Magic Pyre logs in the Shades of Mort'ton minigame. Of course, the easiest way to get Firemaking levels is to set things on fire. My current Firemaking level is 65, so I'm going to need to do a lot of burning.

I start out by cutting and selling Yew logs, and using the money to buy Maple logs. Maple logs give decent enough experience, and I can buy more than ten times the number of Yew logs I sell. I'll do this until it's no longer worth doing.

Another thing I'd like to get is an 80 Cooking. I still have all that salmon left, and my plan with that is to fish and cook tuna and use it all to make Admiral pies using the "Make Pie" Lunar spell (so I don't burn any). This probably won't get me the whole way, but it'll help.

I also set out to the All Fired Up minigame to get a Ring of Fire. Since I'm burning maple logs, I get 3718 xp per inventory (which is about 3 xp more than without, or 10% more).

The minigame isn't that difficult, but it's easier to just burn the logs with a tinderbox for experience. The trick is to fill all the beacons with the best logs you can use, then you head to the ogre spa and bathe in the salt water spring (for unlimited run for a time), and return to light the beacons after run is no longer a concern. It also helps to know where the beacons are, and take teleport runes with you for both bank runs and fast transporation to the next beacon.

Another thing I'd like to get done is to unlock the Air Guitar emote. I may just head to Bounty Hunter (and a couple other minigames) in order to unlock what I need (which is somewhere in the neighborhood of 5 songs).

The Longest Mile: Conclusion

As it stands, all that stands in the way of my quest cape is 2 combat levels. I look at my combat experience to try and determine how best to get those levels.

I'm very close to levelling in Attack, Defence and Hit Points, and Dream Mentor will give me 15k in Attack and Hit Points (I can save the lamp for later)...which could potentially shoot me past 85 combat if I'm not careful. I pick up a couple of slayer tasks to see what I can do.

It doesn't take me long to rack up levels in all 3 skills...and no combat level. Rather than risk putting me too close to another level, I stop by Tears of Guthix to get a few Summoning levels. I end up with 34 Summoning, which brings me up to 84 Combat.

I decide that the safest way to get the last combat level is to break down and actually train Summoning. I've got over 2k charms of various colors, so that part won't be a problem. The exorbatant cost, however, does present a problem to me, and I spend well over 500k gp racking up 8 more levels. Now close to broke, I have my 85 Combat level.

I decide to take on Dream Mentor first. This is the one that worries me. I know what I'm up against, and I'm well aware that I've got my work cut out for me. Nothing left but to do it. It's a struggle, and in the process I learn a valuable lesson: if you're making headway, don't leave the "dream world" unless you're about to die. Doing so starts you at the beginning.

It takes a few hours, but I finally find my happy medium between Rings of Recoil, potions and food and get down to the 4th and last monster. This one is only a bit over 100 combat level, and doesn't hit very much. I was somewhat concerned that I didn't have any food left at this point (luckily I still had plenty of HP). It doesn't hit very often, and doesn't hit very hard at all. I finish the quest and get 2 quest points (for a total of 269 quest points).

Then it's off to do Smoking Kills. Two things I didn't like about this quest: it's a desert quest in the worst part of the desert (around the ruins from Dealing with Scabarous quest), and I've never done it before.

I heard it was easy...and it turns out to be true. While there were some close moments, it was nothing too tense and I finish the quest easily. I now have 270 quest points: enough to get a quest cape.

(click for a full-sized image...and take note of my combat level)

As you've seen, this cape requires a lot of work...and at a point almost total devotion to the mission. While this is the easiest Cape of Acomplishment to get, it requires constant maintaince. Every time a new quest comes out, I can't wear my cape until I finish it. But once you've got it, the maintaince isn't difficult.

It took me a little over 6 months to get the cape.

The Longest Mile: Part 1

Being down to 3 quests now, I find myself driven...well, that and the fact that I've already got the hardest piece of work out of the way (69 Smithing). So it's time to make a few decisions on what to do next.

On one hand, I have the Rocking Out quest. For this, I still need 4 Crafting levels and 1 Thieving level. Crafting takes a while, since I like doing it at Shades of Mort'ton. Thieving can also take a while, if I decide to use the Sorceress' Garden Minigame.

On the other hand, I have the Devious Minds quest. For this, I need 6 Runecrafting levels. While I don't mind runecrafting, I like it a lot better when I'm making Law runes. I don't enjoy high alchemy magic training, and Nature runes don't sell for as much as they used to. But the up side is that both mining pure essence and crafting runes through the abyss are relatively quick.

I'm anxious to get another quest done soon, so I opt for the runecrafting level and Devious Minds.

I do my calculations, and they show that I need to make about 4.5k Nature runes to go from 44 to 50 Runecrafting. Since I have a 66 Magic, I mine through the Mages Guild in Yannelle. This is, by far, the shortest trip between the teleporting npc and the bank, and mining essence here takes very little time at all. It takes me only about 4-5 game hours to get what I need.

Then it's off to craft. Before I start, I use some of the money I've amassed to buy 12 more Amulets of Glory to complete my Runecrafting/Prayer training kit of 28 (by the way: the total value of 28 Glorys is aproximately 1.26 million gp). I charge my used ones and get to work.

Before PKing left, it was rather unwise to wear anything valuable while crafting runes in the abyss because there were people who would wait by the Zammarok Mage (probably because they were poor PKers and couldn't take anyone geared for a fight). It was also hard on your run energy, since most armor is somewhat heavy. Jagex has thankfully solved both problems. While PKers were replaced by Revenants, the Revenants are little more than an annoyance most times. Also, after the As a Last Resort quest, you have access to the Ogre spa (yeah I know how it sounds) which have pools with some helpful affects. The spa that helps in Runecrafting is the salt-water spring, which gives you unlimited run for a period of time determined by your Agility level. While the effect lasts less than a half hour for me, it is well worth the trip back if you can use Fairy Rings. The whole process takes only about 3-4 hours.

It was here that I made an expensive and rather noobish mistake. Knowing that I need a large essence pouch, I return to the abyss to hunt abyss creatures in order to find one. This is not wise, and I would suggest that if you have access to Fairy Rings, that you should use the abyss area that you can access with coordinates: ALR. First of all, you don't get skulled and your prayer doesn't get drained. Another benefit is that it's not multi-combat.

It was here that I died a most moronic and expensive death, mostly due to the fact that I couldn't see my Hit Point bar because of all of the attacks I was weathering. I lost a full set of rune armor (with a dragon medium helmet), my dragon scimitar, and one of the Glorys I had just bought (not even taking into account that I also lost all the pouches I had currently found). I tried desperately to return to my grave marker to retrieve my items, but I still have the noob one and it fell as soon as I arrived at it. This set me back almost 1 million gp (but in the process I upgraded to Dragon Platelegs and Dragon Gloves). I decided to sell the Nature runes to offset the cost.

I then set out to do Devious Minds. The hardest part of this quest is training for it (65 Smithing), and it only takes me about a half hour to finish it. This puts me to 265 quest points.

I then set out to train crafting. I make the trip to Mort'ton and build the temple for several hours (getting 2 levels in the process) before I get bored and try to come up with another way to train. I try the gem rocks in Shilo Village, but it's slow and I get far more junk than I do anything useful (although I do manage to increase my stock of games necklaces and rings of dueling). I give up on this and head to Varrock to buy some battlestaves from the shop there. I can only buy 32 a day, so this doesn't get me very far. I high alch them to get my money back and try to come up with something else.

It was then that I decided to look to see what the Grand Exchange had to offer. I found that battlestaves sold for about 8.7k gp max, which is still less than the 9.3k gp alchemy value. I don't hold out much hope, but I put a max price bid on 50 battlestaves...and I get them. While I'm not making a whole lot of money off making them, I'm not losing anything (which is one of the most important parts of power-training).

The battlestaff market quickly dried up, leaving me 12k experience shy of the needed 66 crafting, so I return to Mort'ton for about an hour to finish this up.

Then all that is left is the one Thieving level to get. I decide that it's time for me to do the Penguin Hide and Seek this week in order to get some fast experience. It takes me less than a half hour, but I find myself about 9k experience short. While I wasn't looking to get into sq'irk gathering right now, I make some quick calculations in my head to learn that I only need about 4 glasses of juice, so I spend another hour gathering the fruit to make juice for Osman. My calculations were a bit off, leaving me with not quite 500 experience left to go. I managed to pick this up by stealing from the stalls in Ardougne.

Then I'm off to do Rocking Out. While it's not a difficult quest, it's long and requires a lot of running around doing favors for people. It also helps to watch a lot of MacGuyver reruns to sort out this out without a guide. After an hour of mind numbing errand-running, the quest is done.

I now have 267 Quest points, with only 2 more quests to do.

Easier said than done...

I had originally intended to smith the 6k+ mithril bars into knives, but now that I've put a price tag on this particular level, it doesn't really sit well with me. 5.2 mil is a whole lot just to blow on a skill. But I had a little time to think about it...

My first instinct was to see what the bars were worth, in order to try and make a bit of money. I check, and indeed: I'll make about 3 million more off my origional investment (for a total of 8 million gp). This was my origional plan.

You can only make 5 mithril bars at a time, because you have to carry an obscene amount of coal, too. This make the smelting of 6k+ bars take a very long time. 3 days to be exact.

To smelt somewhere in the neighborhood of 15k mithril bars would take about 8-9 days, so this doesn't sit well with me either. So I do several groups of calculations based on sale prices of the mithril bars vs. the cost of buying gold ores to smith with goldsmithing gauntlets. I settle on a nice little happy medium in my mind: I sell all but 1k of the mithril bars, and buy enough gold ore to get me to 69 smithing. This leaves me with about 3.5 million gp left over. I use part of my proceeds to buy a dragon woodcutting axe, and bank the rest for future usage (I end up with about 1.8 million gp left over). Doing things this way has given me a nice profit, 5k mithril throwing knives, 69 smithing, and more gold bars than I'll probably ever use.

With this done, I start ectoing the baby dragon bones I gathered a while back (along with a few good bones from zogre hunting) in order to get the Prayer level I need for Summer's End. I only need 2 levels (one of them rather short), and while I process all the bones, I only ecto what I need to get 55 Prayer.

It is at this point that I unwittingly walk headlong into hell.

To say that Summer's End is a difficult quest would totally reset the scale (making quests like Dream Mentor moderate difficulty level by comparison), so I'll create a new difficulty level for quests of this magnitude: OMFG! Yep, that about says it all.

I went into this quest with no illusions that I would probably die numerous times. I had little idea at the time that I would die more times than I could possibly count. In fact, I spent 3 days doing little in the quest other than dying. I struggled on several points, which I will outline below:

1) I lived in horror of losing the dragon wood cutting axe I had just bought. This was silly, since armor was totally unnecessary (and would also reduce your run faster, resulting in an unavoidable, horrible, and nearly instantaneous death), any axe you would think about using would probably be the most expensive item in your inventory. When in doubt, check the screen that tells you which items you'll keep upon death.

2) I spent a great deal of time trying to do it the way someone else did. Don't do this. Every quest guide I looked at offered very little in the way of help. Look at what they did to get a general idea of what is expected, and find a way that suits you best. My way was to cut the roots closest to the exit. If the beast wandered on the radar, I left the cave and waited a minute before I went back in. I did this until I had 5 logs. Then I went in and built a pyre and lit it. Building the pyre is the hardest part, as if you leave before you light it, you lose any logs you put down. It's best to run back and forth: put on a log, run to the other side of the room. The second and third parts are easier, since you're not required to stand in one place for any amount of time. Another thing to note that no other guide mentioned is that (during the second part) when the "dark core" leaves the beast, the beast stops shooting. This makes it relatively easy to lure it.

3) Finally, I lost a lot of food because I was initially filling my entire inventory with food. Don't do this, because you're very likely to lose it. It's best to just take about 10 pieces. The problem is that once you have to start eating, it will slow your movement down to some extent. Once you get hit, you're likely to get hit again soon. A good tactic is to run straight past the beast to the opposite side of the room, while eating. It does wonders to put you out of the range of the splash.

My only advice for this quest is to be patient and watch what's going on. If you watch long enough, you'll be able to identify your window of opportunity.

With this horrible quest done, I have a grand total of 264 quest points.

The quest also boosted me up to 30 summoning. An objective a long time in the coming has been achieved: all my skills now rank on hiscores.

The Cost of 69 Smithing

First things first:

I replanted my 4 fruit trees in an effort to help my Farming skill...which wasn't quite enough for 2 levels. This forced me to hit the Vinesweeper minigame again. In spite of the rabbits and the idiots stealing xp from me, it only took me about 2 hours to get to 53.

This opened the way for me to get Back to My Roots out of the way. This quest isn't really hard, but it's best to use a guide to keep you from getting lost in the jade vine maze. The final fight would have undoubtedly been easier if I had access to a dragon hatchet, but my rune axe worked alright anyways.

News Flash: Pking worlds are here. Big deal. On to the next subject.

Now I've decided to get the nasty requirement out of the way: Smithing. I need 14 levels in all, which will meet the qualifications for two different quests (both of which have other requirements). I could mine, but I decide to buy ores instead, since I need 6160 Mithril ores and 24,640 coal. The price tag for all of this? Somewhere in the neighborhood of 5 million gp.

First thing I do is sell those yew logs. I don't need them right now, and I can always get more somewhat easily. Then I head off to do...yep, you guessed it: fish.

I fish about 1k lobs, and when I head off to sell them I noticed a bit of a side-effect of the recent Pking activity: food prices are skyrocketing. This is good for me, but it's not going to last. I'm all too familiar with the process: something new hits Runescape, prices of related items go way up untill they stop selling altogether. It is at this point that prices will then plummet back to their origional value. I switch over to sharks, in an effort to cash in quickly before the bottom drops out.

This happens a couple of days later, and I spend some time with fish on the Grand Exchange that won't even sell at minimum price. Not to worry, I have a back-up plan: I pop off to cut some yews. I only cut a few hundred before the fish sell, so I head to the GE to turn my gold into coal.

It's not long before the whole fish market crashes, and I'm relagated to wood cutting to buy the last 5k coal. A friend of mine lent me his dragon hatchet, which did help speed up the process. I only needed to cut about 2k yew logs at this point.

With the logs cut, I spend the money on the last of my coal. I finally did a price check on the ores (although I didn't think to get a screen shot).

The final cost of 69 Smithing for me? 5.2 million gold pieces.

I hate Woodcutting

Boring, boring, BOOOOOOOORING!!!!!

I hate it. I always have and I always will. Still, I need it. Since it's cheaper than Smithing, I decided to spend a bit doing it. I've spent close to a week to get to 71, which was all I needed to do Grim Tales. Another quest point, and a snazzy new helmet (which isn't as good as my dragon medium helm). It only took me another day to get to 72, which is all the Woodcutting I need to do to get my quest cape. I've also amassed about 2.3k yew logs. I haven't decided what I'm going to do with those yet, though.

I also did the penguin hide and seek, which got me another 2 points of Farming. But since I still need 2 more levels, I decided to plant all the tree seeds I got from Woodcutting (a willow, a maple, 3 apple trees, a banana tree, 2 orange trees and 2 curry trees). I should get a lot of xp from these after I check the ones growing now, and the one's I'll plant tomorrow. Maybe 2 levels, but I doubt it. Time (which is a major factor in Farming unfortunately) will tell.

That's 261 quest points, with 6 quests left to do!

Agility and two more big ones

I did as I said I was going to do in my last post (for once), and spent a few hours at Brimhaven Agility Arena, where I managed to break my current record for most tickets in a single trip (150 tickets!). While I did extremely well my first trip, I got seriously beat down on my second trip. Luckily, I didn't need very many after my first trip. While I met the qualifications for two quests, I still need more training to do them.

After my agility training, I went over to the Edgeville dungeon to train range on hill giants. I choose hill giants because they're relatively easy to hit, and I can get xp fast. I started out with my magic composite bow and mithril arrows, but as the hours began to drag on, I decided to experiment with something else. I made about 1k steel throwing knives a while back, so I went and grabbed them to see how they worked.

I was astounded to realize that I hit dramatically faster with the knives than I did with a bow...and I only lost 1 point of my maximum damage! This allowed me to get the rest of the xp I needed in a remarkably short amount of time.

This opened the way for me to do Mourning's End Part 1. The only really good part about this quest is the fact that you end up with a sweet looking bazooka. It didn't take a whole lot of time to finish this quest, despite the bit of running around you have to do.

Finishing this quest opened up the way to Mourning's End Part 2, which I set about doing immedately upon finishing the previous quest. Unfortunately, this is one of the quests that I absolutely hate, because there is a lot of work involved in finishing it. The rewards aren't really that great at my level either. The only good thing about finishing this quest is knowing that you don't have to do it again. Get it over with and done is my philosophy...and it takes me two days.

Total quest points: 260.

Currently, my plan is now to get started on Woodcutting. I need some big levels, so this should take me a bit of time. I intend to head to Seer's Village to cut maple logs, although I'm not sure yet what I'm going to do with the logs. I'll probably "fletch and drop."

A few more behind me

It's been a long time in comming, but I managed to get 59 Slayer, and I'm well below my combat requirements. This is good news, since I thought that getting the Slayer level I needed might push me a bit over what I needed combat-wise. I've got plenty of room to maneuver.

I still need 1 more Defence level for Kings Ransom, so I go and play with the fire giants in Brimhaven dungeon for an hour or so to get it. This quest isn't very hard, it's just a lot of running around...and I'm still trying to figure out why I needed a 65 Defence for it. The highest level armor you need to wear is black.

Having finished Contact!, I decided that Dealing with Scabarous should be next on my list. I made this decision based on two factors: Thieving would be the easiest skill to get two fast levels out of, and to be finally finished with the desert based quests. This will give me leave to move my house to Yannelle at my convenience. The only reason it's been in Pollvenich so long is to make it easier to get to these quest locations.

After some minor calculations I determined that it would take 19 glasses of the red squirk juice to get me from 58 Thieving to 60. While this might not seem like a whole lot, keep in mind that you need 3 red fruit for each glass (for a total of 57 fruit). I was very lucky in my time at the Sorceress Garden in that I didn't experience much in the way of lag. Lag kills you there.

Dealing with Scabarous isn't really a difficult quest if you know what you're doing. It's also one of those quests that will kill you the moment you think you've got a handle on it. My advice to any of you is NEVER THINK YOU'VE GOT THE QUEST BEAT UNTIL YOU GOT THE XP REWARD! Case in point is to follow:

I'm doing this quest, and I know that most everything I'll be facing will be both hostile and dangerous. The average enemy level is somewhere in the neighborhood of 100, and while they don't hit obscenely hard, they do hit often enough to make it a problem. I run through, kill a bunch of zombies, skeletons and scabarites to get the information for the archeologists. I switch to mage to kill the giant level 200 something scarab (while having to allocate more power to everything else because my skills aren't overly exceptional), and kill it easily.

I think to myself at this point: "Hard part over. Cakewalk from here." As I'm running through the underground tunnels filled with scabarites, I'm not paying as much attention to my HP as I should be. I lag for a second, and I'm dead. I lost a bunch of sharks, 2 full prayer potions, about 75 blood runes, 7 times as many water runes, and my Mystic hat, gloves and boots. Never think you've got it beat. Never.

On a side note, I'd like to point out here that Sal's Realm of Runescape has wrong information posted about this quest. It says that the giant scarab uses magic and melee attacks. This is wrong. While it does melee, it's ranged attack is just that: ranged. I used protection from range and stayed outside the door and took absolutely no damage.

I also went out and did the new Defender of Varrock quest. While I had a few concerns about the Wilderness, the quest didn't turn out to be very difficult. It gave me a Smithing level and two Hunting levels.

I now have 256 Quest points.

I'm thinking that my next plan will be to head out to Brimhaven Agility Arena to get 60 Agility. This would fulfill requirements for two quests.

Several (not so) small victories

I decided to buy the salmon (3,651 to be exact) I needed for 70 Cooking, and spent a couple of hours cooking them at the Rogue's Den in Burthorpe. This is a nice place to power-train Cooking, since the banker is nice enough to hang out by a campfire. I'm planning on saving the cooked salmon to make admiral pies, which I'll cook using the "Make Pie" Lunar spell (this will ensure that I never burn any pies, giving me 100% of the possible xp). But that's for a future date, as all the Cooking I need right now is level 70.

Saving the monkey ambassador (Recipe for Disaster) is annoying, since you'll almost always have to gather the stuff to make the dish 3 times (the first time one of the idiot monkeys eats the ingredients, the second time because you burn the stupid thing). Also, getting a gorrilla greegree is problematic at mid range combat levels, because they heal themselves and you can never do enough damage to finish them off. If you run into this, head to a busy world. Then beat the daylights out of one and ask the guy who's hitting in the high 30's or higher (and there will be one around real close) to give him a whack for you. You'll get the drop.

The Culinomancer was a little more tricky, but not by much really. I already knew what to expect, and I just left and resupplied/re-equipped after I killed one of his beasties. The hardest part is not being able to use Prayer, but with good food, even this isn't a big deal. Yes, I have finally closed the book on this truly epic quest!

I also made another attempt at Contact! after I finished RFD, which finally proved to be successful! I didn't do much differently (I maged again), other than move around to a corner to where the first of the scarab's buddies couldn't get to me. When the other two spawned behind me, I ran to the other side of the scarab, which pinned the meleer in my former hiding spot, behind the scarab. I also took care to stay just far enough away from the scarab so it wouldn't melee me (and in case anyone's wondering, it RANGES, it doesn't mage. A fatal mistake to make, let me tell you). This left me to deal only with the signifigant damage dealt by the mage-bug. I did it with 6 sharks to spare, and I didn't even have to use a Prayer Potion!

Quest Point total is now 252.

Small Fortunes

Before I get into the ludicrous amount of money I just got done spending, I'd like to note that while training Slayer, I met the requirements to do Path of Glophrie. It's not a spectacular quest or a difficult quest...and I didn't get much of anything out of it other than a bit of xp and the ability to make crystal chimes...which I hope I never need. I still need 2 Slayer levels, 3 Defence levels, 3 Prayer levels and 12 Ranged levels. I'm still Combat level 80.

Over the past two days, I've spent well over 1 million gp to get Herblore to 57. While my out-of-pocket expenses only amounted to a bit over 600k, I sold the potions I made to get more money for herbs. I didn't waste money by making any Super-Strength Potions, since the herbs were 3 times more, with the added expense of limpwort root. Besides, the Super-Energy potions sold for more.

This allowed me to finish Fairy Tale part 2, and gives me a total of 249 quest points.

I also made 3 more attempts at finishing Contact!. The third trip resulted in my third death during this quest. My next attempt I think I'll try melee, and weather the melee attacks while protecting from the magic attacks. But that will come another day...

I've decided to spend some money on levelling cooking. I'll take me 3,651 Salmon to get 70 (which I have just bought), which I need to finish Recipe for Disaster. The lamp from finishing this quest would also be a nice little boost to my Slayer level.

Magic and Slayer

Since I was so close to doing Swan Song, I decided to go ahead and train Magic up another level. While I struggled to figure out how I wanted to go about it, I remembered something that I totally forgot: Mage Training Arena.

I've been wanting to go here anyways. Bones to Peaches (which is a reward there) is a very handy spell, especially when you're doing Slayer assignments. For anyone who isn't already aware: Mage Training Arena is cheap and easy Magic xp...and lots of it. It's so easy, that I managed to get my level in about an hour.

I'm starting to like the Dragon Battleaxe less and less as I go along. Unless you have a good attack (well, better than 61 at least), it's hard to hit with it. It even forced me to run from the sea troll queen because her ability to hit me far outweighed my ability to hit her. Once I returned with the scimitar, she didn't last long.

Just a tip for anyone reading: don't do very difficult quests without a Dragon Scimitar...or a Dragon Longsword at the very least.

Now I can't totally blame my initial failure on my weapon of choice. I admittedly came to the fight unprepared (I didn't have a lot of food, low prayer, and no prayer potions specifically). Once I recharged my prayer, upgraded my food a bit, and donned my beloved Proselyte, I probably wouldn't have had much trouble using a battleaxe. But with the scimitar, the fight ended extremely quickly (in fact, I didn't even need the prayer potion I brought).

With that quest done, I return to combat training in an effort to get a few Slayer levels. I managed 4 Defence, 2 Ranged, 2 Hit Point and 2 Slayer levels. I'd also like to add that any doubts I had about Jellies being a good assignment were totally squashed after making more than 150k off drops, alched and sold loot, and the subsequent Level 3 Clue Scroll I got from them.

On a more concerning note (at least to me, anyways) is the fact that my combat level is still skyrocketing. It's 79 now, and I still need 6 Defence levels, 3 Prayer levels and 14 Ranged levels. I need to see if there's a way to level my Ranged without racking up a dozen Hit Point levels. I so do not want to go to Pest Control.

I think I'm gonna buy a cannon. At least it'll be fast.

And I now have 246 Quest Points.

Lunar spells and a new quest

While it took me most of the weekend, I got 61 Crafting (not to mention over 700 Sacred Oil (4)...) and got Lunar Diplomacy out of the way. While lunar spells are somewhat useless to me at the moment, it feels good to have access to it...and to have 74 Lunar Staves. I also got some cool clothes out of the deal, too.

A new quest was released today: Summer's End. I almost meet the requirements for it...other than 4 more levels of Prayer. Luckily, I've been stockpiling baby dragon bones, so maybe by the time I finish my current Slayer assignment, I'll have enough bones to get me to 55 Prayer. Hopefully...but probably not.

One of the requirements for the quest was to "dodge" a level 700+ monster's attacks. This fills me with a teeny bit of trepidation. I think I'll wait until Sal's releases a guide for it, so I can see what's involved.

Since I'll need the levels eventually, I'll probably go ahead and ecto my bones anyways. At least I'll be ready when I get the guts for it.

Total Quest Points: 244.

It's been a while...

Not a whole lot has happened since I've last posted.

I've got a couple more quests done, namely TotTz-Ket-Dill, As a First Resort, and the Rag and Bone Man's wish list. This puts me at a grand total of 242 Quest Points.

I now qualify for Lunar Diplomacy in the Magic department. Now all I need is a 61 Crafting. I also need another level in Magic to be able to do Swan Song.

I've done a whole lot of fishing to get the money I needed to level Construction and Magic, and I'm now 2 levels away from sharks. While sharks take longer, it'll take far fewer to get a signifigant amount of cash.

I'm going to spend about an hour doing part of the Shades of Mort'ton minigame in order to see how long it'll take me to get to 61 Crafting.

-----

While I specifically remember hearing someone say you can get as much at 15k Crafting xp from Shades of Mort'ton, I figured it out to be more along the lines of 8k an hour...which still isn't bad. Making the pyre logs is the most time consuming part of that minigame anyways.

My plan is to continue with Shades...until I get bored with it, of course.

60 Attack!

As I said in my last post, Desert Treasure, All Fired Up and Spirit of Summer were #1 on the list. And they're both finished! Desert Treasure gets easier every time I do it, and as I always say: the shopping list is the hardest part of that quest. Spirit of Summer was kind of cool, too. They worked Summoning into the quest extremely well. I'll save any judgments on All Fired Up for when I actually mess around with the minigame.

Since I had decided that the two evil quests (Haunted Mine and Contact!) needed to wait until I got 60 Attack, I decide to train for a quest that I'm very close to qualifying for: Fremnink Isles. It only takes about a half hour of cutting Maple trees to get this.

I get all the way through to the end, and before I can have a go at the troll king, I have second thoughts. I'm not totally keen on the idea of buying a weapon that I'm just going to turn around and sell again in a couple of Attack Levels (a rune halberd, which is ideal for this quest). This is not even taking into account that I'm worried about getting murdered.

I made a decision to raise my attack, not only for Fremnink Isles, but so I can get the rest of the quests done that I've already started. Of course, since I don't enjoy just finding a random monster to kill for hours on end, I set out to do a few slayer assignments.

My combat level is now 71, so I can head to Chaeldar for assignments. I've always liked training through her, and she doesn't dissappoint me this time around. I get a few really decent assignments, with one of my favorites being Basilisks. I get my desired attack level, and get Slayer up to 48 (and a combat level of 72).

Now I need new weapons. Luckily, I don't have a lot invested in weaponry right now, so I don't have to worry about taking a loss when I sell my old gear. Of course, Dragon weapons are dramatically more expensive than rune. Time to fish...again.

I spent a day and a half fishing lobsters, in order to get the money I needed. On my shopping list are a Dragon Battleaxe and a Dragon Halberd. 1.5k is the number of lobsters I need to get that kind of cash. Another concern of mine is the fact that lobsters are no longer selling for the mid range price. In fact, you can't sell them for a gp more than minimum. The fish buyers have spoken, I suppose. I also do a bit of farming while I'm in Catherby, if for no other reason than to grow some more Ranarrs for Prayer potions.

The fishing has a couple of side benefits that I didn't really forsee. First was a 70 Fishing. The other was that while I was fishing, someone reminded me that you have to talk to Daero to get your xp from Monkey Madness (yes, as my name suggests, I am a total noob). I pop off to get it, and end up leveling in every melee combat stat (and get a 74 combat level too).

I also played around a bit with that farming minigame (the name of which escapes me right now), and got to like it a little. It's similar to "Minesweeper" so it didn't take me long to get the hang of it. The rewards are pretty good, although you do have to work for it.

I end up with not only enough money for the halberd and axe, but I got enough left over to buy a Dragon Scimitar. I briefly toyed with the idea of buying 3 more Glory amulets, but doing this has become something of a bad omen for me. Buying an extra Glory or two before doing something dangerous almost guarantees that I'll end up losing one in the process.

It was a good call, as I ended up using the scimitar to finish Haunted Mine. It was a rather easy victory with one of the better weapons in the game. I also finished Fremnink Isles in a dramatically easy fashion (in fact, I had more trouble killing the 10 trolls than I did killing the troll king).

The funniest thing is that the Defence xp that I selected from Fremnink Isles got me up to 55 Defence (which is high enough to wear the helm you get from the quest).

This gives me a grand total of 234 quest points.

A big one off the list

I haven't done many quests the past few days, but I knocked two relatively big ones off the list: Monkey Madness and My Arm's Big Adventure.

I've already died twice trying to complete Contact! That quest is really beginning to aggrivate me. I need to find a new help site in order to figure out how to finish this one, as Sal's is incredibly vague on the whole fight. They say to fight and they say to use Prayer...and that's about it really.

I'm two Attack levels from dragon weapons right now. I'm looking forward to finishing the few quests I qualify for now, so I can train a little more than I am now. Once I get dragon weapons, Haunted Mine should be a snap.

At this moment, I've decided to take a bit of a working break from questing. I mined enough gems to make all of the silver I got from Temple Trekking to make Staves and Flails of Ivandis (for use in the same minigame). By the time I finish, I should have at least 13 of each.

I have a 3 day weekend, and I plan to spend it on RS. I'm hoping to get a good deal done. I plan to do Desert Treasure, as well as Spirit of Summer (which I now qualify for thanks to Tears of Guthix) and the new quest: All Fired Up. I'm also hoping to have a little time to train Attack (via Slayer) so I can finish Haunted Mine.

Currently, my quest points are 226.

Fewer and farther between

I've made another pass over the quest list, and I've finished more quests than I actually remember doing. One thing I do know is that the quests I have left require a lot of effort. And so much more effort will be required before all's said and done.

My recent run gives me a total of 221 Quest Points and a 70 Combat Level. It annoys me that my Strength doesn't rate on Hiscores yet, and as a result the little picture at the top of the page doesn't accurately reflect my combat level. If I didn't want to be able to use dragon weapons so badly, I'd start training Strength right now.

You might have noticed that I broke 1200 total levels today.

After fighting and killing a level 227 Black Dragon today, Monkey Madness has become a bit more of a priority for me now. If I run out of quests before I get 60 Attack, I may just go ahead and do it anyways.

I currently have 4 quests that I can do without training, and I have 2 others that I may be able to get done if I put my mind to it (which I intend to do). And after I do Tears of Guthix tomorrow, I'll qualify for another one (maybe). But no matter what I do, I'm going to end up fishing soon. There's no avoiding it. While I have been fishing here and there to make money for things I need for the quests I'm doing. But after my unfortunate demise during Contact!, I no longer have much in the way of mage gear. I will need new robes (good robes this time) and a lot of Death Runes, not only to finish Contact!, but to do Desert Treasure.

This is probably what I'll do tomorrow.

A Zezima Sighting

...In other news, Zezima was sighted in Varrock's west bank today on world 60, and there was much rejoicing in the noob population.

Now, I understand hero worship and all. Really, I get it. Everyone needs someone to look up to. But there a line between normal idolizing and paparazzi-esque stalking. Every rational person knows where this line is, and it isn't really all that fine of a line either. Despite this, I witnessed what was possibly the most revolting display of sycophantic behavior I've witnessed so far this millennium.

While I briefly considered taking a screen shot of this sick display, I didn't. This would make me just like the paparazzi that I despise so much. Trust me, it was nauseating.

Zezima is a guy, just like anyone else. You don't know anything about him, other than the fact that he plays Runescape, and has 99 in (apparently) almost every skill. This is nothing that any of you Zezima groupies couldn't do yourself if you'd quit whining about how hard it is and just do it.

People said Dragon Slayer couldn't be done by a character lower than Combat Level 50. I've proved that wrong.

People think that Legend's quest is a very difficult quest that can't be done by anyone below 70-80 combat level (depending on who you ask). Yep, wrong again.

Not only have I proved the above two misconceptions 100% wrong, I've done so with TWO CHARACTERS.

They all worship a guy they pretty much don't know anything about. However, I don't worship him, and apparently I know more about him than they do.

Because of the groupies that eternally hound him, he leaves public and private chat on friends, if not off. He does this because of everyone chasing him around, wanting to ride around on his coat tails or wanting him to do something for them. When he turns either on, it makes him lag, because he literally gets flooded.

I've had high level characters before, so seeing as he's higher than I've ever attained (yet), he probably sees much more of this than I have: when some people know you have high levels in something, they want to be your friend so they can get something out of you. The conversation usually goes something like this:

Noob (not me): Wat u doin
Noob (me): Crafting air orbs to make battlestaves.
Noob (not me): Cool!
Noob (not me): Friends?
Noob (me): Sure, why not?
Noob (not me, in pm): So wen ever u git dose bstaffs done u can give me 1, k?
Noob (me): *Removes Noob (not me) from friends list*

The above is an actual conversation I had on another character I was playing, for the most part word for word, and it took part in a span of less than 2 minutes (the names have been changed to protect the criminally retarded). Note at the end how he didn't exactly ask me if he could have one. He just let me know that I was going to give it to him. And this is not the only conversation I've had like that. I've had quest capes before, and people will walk up to you and strike up a random conversations about nothing, ask to be friends, and instantly ask for help on a quest.

Of course, we have the anti-worshipers, as well! They, from what I can see, spend 5$ a month to hang around in a bank, waiting for Zezima to log in so they can bad mouth him. When you have a guy with a combat level of low to mid 50's, standing around repeatedly typing "Zezimas a noob!!!!!!!!!1111oneone", it's what is known as jealousy. Again, a problem that is solved simply by worrying more about your own character's progress than someone else's.

I imagine this is what Zezima goes through...every single second he plays Runescape. He is hounded every single moment of his RS existence by a group of people who live only to have their worship recognized.

Nobody likes it when someone runs up to them while they're trying to do something, and do anything they can to make it difficult to do it (door spammers were a textbook example of this). Yet they think nothing of charging up and trying to interfere with Zezima's game play.

I don't worship Zezima. I don't hate him either. But I do feel sorry for him. That being said: I'm glad to see that he's back.

It gives me a bigger target to shoot at!

Back to the top

Here's an update on my quest progress:

Murder Mystery
Observatory Quest
Olaf's Quest
Perils of Ice Mountain (another new quest that I hadn't done yet)
Scorpion Catcher
Sea Slug
Shades of Mort'ton
Sheep Herder
A Soul's Bane
Spirits of the Elid
Tai Bwo Wannai Trio (with a fishing potion)
Tale of Two Cats
Temple of Ikov
Throne of Miscelania
The Tourist Trap
Tower of Life
Tribal Totem
Troll Romance
Witches House

While I was doing Troll Romance, I experienced technical problems and lost connection. Unfortunately for me, it happened while I was standing smack in the center of a horde of ice trolls. While I wasn't there to see it, I'm assuming that they pummeled my character with ruthless enthuasium. I lost an Amulet of Glory, Rune Full Helm, Rune Battle Axe, Climbing Boots, Karajima Gloves, Explorer's Ring, a full prayer potion and about 15k worth of food. While it wasn't a crippling loss, it's still somewhat annoying to have to spend 3 hours fixing something...especially when you didn't break it. Thanks Jagex!

After reaching the end of the list, I went back and did two of the Keldagrim quests: The Giant Dwarf and Between a Rock...

I also started Ratcatchers, but since I didn't have free access to Keldagrim, I still have that part to do yet.

This pass has opened up several quests previously unavaliable to me, and a couple others will open up as I progress through the list again. I am also a couple thousand XP in two skills away from qualifying for two other quests.

I currently qualify for Monkey Madness, but I'm relatively certain that I won't be able to complete it until I have a 60 Attack and a Dragon Battle Axe. I only have 3 levels to go, so I'm kind of hoping that I'll get that in the course of my second pass (which I seriously doubt).

Currently, my quest points are: 203.

The Quest Cape quest!

I have come up with a new tactic for getting my quest cape. It provides a systematic process for deciding which quest I should work on, and when. In theory, my plan will help ensure that my combat level gets absolutely no higher than is required for the various quests.

I'm doing them in order, as they appear on the quest list. I do the ones I currently qualify for and skip the rest. My plan is to proceed to the bottom of the list like this, and once I reach the bottom, I start at the top again and do it again (many quests I can't do because I still have to do prerequisite quests). The only XP I have comming in right now is from quests, and gathering/making items for them.

To date, here's what I've gotten done.
Edgar's Ruse
Enkhara's Lament
Enlightened Journey
The Feud
Fight Arena
The Grand Tree
Hand in the Sand
Hazeel Cult (good way)
Horror from the Deep
Icthlarin's Little Helper
Making History
Meeting History (I've never done this quest before)
Monk's Friend

Not bad for 3 days work.

Currently my combat level is 67 (since my Strength and Hit Points aren't rated on Hiscores yet, the image at the top of the page isn't correct).

I started Haunted Mine, but I'm just not up to the task of finishing it yet (I need a better weapon, and a few more HP wouldn't hurt, either). I also skipped Monkey Madness, because of a similar reason.

A new guild and some more quests

Today's update gives us the long anticipated (I guess, anyways) Runecrafting Guild! And I say: So? I don't know how much I'll end up using it, as it doesn't seem overly useful. It does include a few things of possible interest: a essence pouch repair guy, a runecrafting mini-game and an "omni-talisman" which will work in place of any other talisman. I'll only be interested in the latter if it can be used to create an Omni-tiara, but I doubt things will be quite so simple.

Cold War turns out to be tougher than I thought, since the only access I have to Mahogany is Tai Bwo Wannai village. I spent most of the day doing the clean-up, not only because I need the log, but because I found a gout tuber. This allowed me to knock a tough taks off the Karajima Achievement Diary (in fact, during my time at Tai Bwo Wannai, I knocked about 4 or 5 tasks off the list). I eventually got the quest done though.

The only other thing I acomplished was the Dwarf Cannon quest.

A quest day

Yep, lots of quests today. Here's a list of the one's I've finished:

Rum Deal
Cabin Fever
Animal Magnetism
Fremennik Trials
Clock Tower

I also did Tears of Guthix today and got up to 10 Summoning. From all the experience from the quests, I'm now 66 Combat level.

I've decided to do all the quests that I qualify for right now. While it may not be the most efficient plan, I just started at the top of the list and began working my way down. Once I reach the bottom, I'll go back to the top and continue (new quests will be opened as I do their prerequesites) until I absolutely need to train skills.

I got 5 out of the way in a single day, and I'm about 3/4 the way through Cold War.

In case it's not apparent, I've actively began to persue a Quest Point cape. While there is a lot of work to do to get one, it's the easiest cape to get. But it requires regular maintenence and upkeep.

On another note, all but 5 of my skills rank on hiscores!

A change in format

I'm changing the way I'll be chronicling my adventures in the future. I will no longer be posting "chapters" and "episodes". It's going to be more of a daily journal.

There are several reasons for this:

1) I have already documented a majority of what I wanted to prove/disprove. Ideas like Dragon Slayer is impossible before combat level 50 are a thing of the past.
2) The posts are dramatically longer than I'd like them to be. They span several days of playing (which was not what I wanted at all), and at times I'm spending more time doing this than I am playing (again: not what I wanted).
3) Now that most of my skills are decent levels, there will be long spans between levels, which will make most posts drag on for weeks.
4) As seen in the last few posts, my plans have a tendency to be highly fluid, and may jump around in a seemingly unrelated fashion, depending on the circumstances at hand. This is not condusive to telling stories that span for several days.
5) The more often I have to save and return to it later, the better chances that something in the post will screw up. I cannot tolerate this, as it totally messes with my sense of order in the universe.

I'll still discuss my plans and my goals, but those discussions will be a bit more brief and to the point. I'll back these updates with a basic rundown of my daily activities. It's my plan to basically tell people how Wrthlss Noob spent his days before he became ultra-famous.

Chapter 5-Episode 3: Best laid plans of noobs and men

First of all, while I may have already stated this, I hate Range. It's very slow to train, unless you have a cannon...then it's just incredibly expensive. It does have it's uses, but for me, a main source of combat ability is not one of them.In the future, I will need a 60 Ranged for a quest. Thus, I have to train it. My plan is to use a bone crossbow, since it has a special attack. I've never used one, so I don't know how well it will work. But people use them, so I'm left to assume that they have some worth.

As far as ranging equipment goes, my bank is somewhat lacking. I still have studded leather armor and a junk bow, so I want to upgrade. For me, upgrading means making it myself. Snakeskin armor is still within my skill range. This means I'm going to have to do several quests:Death to the DorgeshuunRum DealCabin FeverI qualify for the Dorgeshuun quest, so I start it first. There isn't much of a shopping list, and everything I need is already in my bank (light source, 2 sets of H.A.M. robes, rope). It's an easy quest with easy fights. Quest Complete: 1 Quest Point, 2,000 Ranging and Thieving XP, Dorgeshuun special attacks (Ranged 37).

I buy my crossbow, and look at what I need for Rum Deal. I need 47 Prayer, 40 Farming, and 42 Slayer. I got some work to do, it seems.I look to see if I can do any quests that give Slayer XP. Wanted! gives 5,000 and I qualify for it. It's off to Falador. This quest isn't hard, there's just a lot of running around involved. In fact, the hardest part of the quest is the running around. The mage is a wimp, and for some reason he melee's you at the end, after hitting about 12 White Knights for 70 hp each. Quest Complete: 1 Quest Point, 5,000 Slayer XP, access to the White Knight armory (33 Slayer).The armory isn't really worth bothering with. Full white knight is more of a showpiece than it is functional.

I can also get up to 6,000 XP from Darkness of Hallowvale, which I do qualify for. Now when I was discussing Legends Quest, I said it was the second most aggrivating quest in the game. Darkness of Hallowvale is the quest that I rate at #1 on that list. The shopping list is small (all I need to do is pop off to Barbarian Outpost to grab a couple of planks), but the trek across the Sanguinesti region is utterly grueling. I guess it's best to get it out of the way then.I'll not go into the horror of all the backtracking I had to do. I can't say with any certainty how many times I crossed the city, but I know for sure that I lost count at around 6. I even had to recharge my Glories (I have 3 now). Quest Complete: 2 Quest points, 7k Agility XP, 6k Thieving XP, Tome of XP (2k XP with 3 uses...all on Slayer). This gives me 36 Slayer, as well as 51 Thieving.

Now, I really want to use snakeskin armor while it's useful to me, so I decide to train Slayer with melee, while training attack. I plan to train my Attack to 60 before long anyways, so I can upgrade to a dragon battleaxe.I head out to change my assignment (I don't want to fight shades again), and find out that when I let my membership expire, my current Slayer assignment was cancelled. This information would have been much more useful before I made the trip to Taverly. I decide to take a bit of a risk and try Chaedar for assignments. Unfortunately, I'm too wimpy, and she laughes in my face and sends me packing. I decide to give Mazchna one more chance.

He does good by me and gives me 45 Cocatrice. I buy a mirror shield, and head off to the Fremnink Slayer Caves. I don't have a lot of food, but it should get me started. That assignment gets me 37 Slayer, 46 Attack, 48 Hit Points and a 62 Combat Level.

Next up, an old favorite of mine: 40 Hill Giants. I can do that with the food I have left. I grab my brass key and head off to Varrock. In case you don't know, the brass key opens the door on a little shack across the river from Barbarian Village. Down that ladder is a massive den of Hill Giants (it's part of Edgeville dungeon)...which is usually too busy for any manner of usefulness. And this time is no exception.Next stop: Taverly dungeon. It's a longer walk, and as a result there isn't much activity there. Uninhabited, as usual. This assignment gives me a 47 Attack, but no Slayer level.

I then discover that Vannaka is a higher level Slayer master, so I go to him next. 40 Crocodiles. While I hate desert combat, crocodiles are near a Pollnivneach, and I should be able to refill my waterskins there. Plus, getting there will be easy since that's where my house is.

I get there to discover that crocodiles are 1 combat level higher than I am. This will be a good assignment. While I'm getting good XP from them, the crocodiles are beating on me better than I'd like, and my food doesn't last long. It's a bit of a trip, so I take a moment to make my house a bit more useful.

(Note: this is the point where Episode 2 takes place).

Now, I can make cakes. While it might not seem like a big deal, cakes are far better than having nothing at all. Turns out, I don't need them. While I don't get a Slayer level, I get an Attack level (50 Attack).

Next on the list is 81 Ice Warriors. Another good one. I go and catch and cook about 50 Lobsters, and head to Mudskipper Point. That cave from Knight's Sword quest is crawling with them. I didn't do so badly: I finished the task while only having to resupply once. I end up with a 51 Attack, 63 Combat Level, and very close to 40 Slayer.

Next up is a brutal task: 109 Ogres. It's going to be a long assignment, but I should get a lot of XP out of it. The task takes more than 1 day of playing (about 8 hours for me...yeah, I know. Shut up). The task gets me 53 Attack, 50 Hit Points, 64 Combat level, and puts me about 1.7k from my target 42 Slayer.

It is at this point that I make a depressing discovery. By the time I have easy access to snakeskins, I'll be wearing green dragonhide armor. I head to the GE to attempt to buy some snakeskin armor...and there's none to be found at any price. Snakeskins? Nope. It looks like this whole ordeal was all for naught. Oh well...I started it, I may as well finish it. I'll need to train Slayer at some point, anyways.

While Vannaka scores points for brutality in assignments, he loses a few for lack of variety. 95 more Ogres. Oh well...at least I'll get my Slayer level before I'm done. I gear up in my nooby leather range armor and bone crossbow, and head out.

I find a nice, little place for me to "safe" (a combat situation where the player can attack a monster without it being able to respond in kind. This usually involves positioning yourself behind a low obstacle and using range or mage, but halberds can be used in some instances with identical effect), and I get to slaughtering ogres.

This ogre respawns on the other side of the campfire, and as you can see, there's a nice row of impassible bushes to shoot over. If the Ogre gets around it, you can head just a bit south and you're out of reach (illustrated in the picture).

Once I hit 42 Slayer, I'm less than 1k XP from 40 Ranged, so I keep killing Ogres for a bit more till I have it. This leaves 1 more required level for the quests I'm planning on doing. And I know just how to get it.

By the time I reach 40 Ranged and 42 Slayer, I'm a bit more than 1.2k XP from the necessary 47 Prayer. The quest Mountain Daughter will give me 2k Prayer XP. And it'll be relatively quick and easy. It's a relatively simple run around with a fight at the end that's over relatively quickly. Quest Complete: 2 Quest Points, 1,000 Attack, 2,000 Prayer, and a bear head (the bear head is cool!).

Now I got everything but the Farming. Farming is very slow XP when you're actually farming, and I need almost 3k XP for the level I need. I stop by the Sorceress' Garden to see what I can get from there (since Sal's doesn't tell me). I get 50 per fruit, so I need to grab me 54 to get a Farming level (which is 18 glasses of juice!). A bit more thief XP wouldn't kill me anyways.

A bit more thief XP is somewhat of an understatement: I get a 54 Thieving out of it. And this gives me all the levels I need for Rum Deal and Cabin Fever.

While I'm now ready for the quest, my plan has been utterly torpedoed. I no longer need snakeskin armor (although I do plan to crank out a few sets), and I'm ready to go get access to as many snakeskins as I feel like getting.

Ah well...

Chapter 5-Episode 2: Back to the Man-Cave

(Note, this episode takes place somewhere in the middle of the next episode. Trust me when I say all will make sense soon.)

When I think about my house, I cringe. It's all because of that inevidible question you'll undoubtedly get at some point: Can I see your house?

My man-cave is less of a cave and more of a man-shack on a man-vacant lot. In fact, all it is right now is a workshop and a portal. But the workshop is fully up to date. I've stockpiled a bit of gp, and I know very well how to get more...so I decide to get my house into some semblence of order. The problem is that I have to advance 11 levels to really start building new rooms.

I'm a little beyond clay at this point, so I have to start spending money. I start with 19k, which gets me 78 oak planks. Not a lot, but a good start I guess. Another problem which has presented itself is getting to the house. It's in Pollnivneach. It's location, however, is pretty much irrellivant. Until 50 Construction, it's a long walk no matter where it is. To build the skill quickly, I'm going to have to teleport there, and that means I'm going to need law runes too.

The way I'm doing it is to take the 3 runes and a full inventory of planks, and to get a new hammer and saw from my tool racks when I arrive at my house. After 3 trips, I don't have enough planks to make it worth another trip to my crib, but it gave me a 28 Construction. I set off to make mithril bars for fun and profit (most importantly profit).

This time I have almost 75k gp to work with, so I set asside 25k for the games room I'll soon be able to build, and spend the rest making 210 planks. This is more than enough to me to 35 Construction.

Now, here's where it's going to start getting expensive. I can now build a Quest Hall, which is pretty much the key to my my entire floor plan. With this room in place, I can build the upstairs, as well as most of the rest of the rooms my level will permit. The cost to get my floor plan up to date with my Construction level is 121k gp. That's almost two back-to-back loads of mithril bars.

It was shortly after starting, that I realized the whole reason I was doing what I was doing was for Magic XP...not for money. I likewise realized that 71k or so was small potatoes for the work involved. I decide that this will be the last mithril bars that I smith for profit. I can make infinitely more money fishing lobsters, and it's less labor intensive.

I build all the rooms (I can't build a second bedroom until I have 40 Construction, because I can't build the room that would support it), and even have enough left over to furnish most of them. I still have a few things I need to get it totally up to date, but those can wait until later. Right now I plan to fish 500 lobsters to sell, which should put me in the neighborhood of 150k gp. I can use teak planks to train with now, and they're a bit more expensive.

I have to buy some law runes, but I still have enough left over to get about 160 teak planks, and those get me to 41. I build my study, and build my second bedroom.

I end this batch without a charged glory, so I have to teleport back to Castle Wars. I decide to finish Tree Gnome Village while I'm in the neighborhood. I also notice that I haven't checked my banana tree that's planted here, so I take a minute to do so, and it gets me 39 Farming. I hand over the orbs, which was all I had left to do in the quest. Quest Complete: 2 Quest Points, 11,450 Attack, gnome amulet of protection (49 Attack, 63 Combat Level).

While I haven't quite made it to 50 yet, I've acomplished much of what I set out to do with this bout.

Chapter 5-Episode 1: Hunter to 50

There are two skills that I enjoy training: Agility and Hunter. Both of these skills have been invaluable to me, and I've developed a bit of a process to get both of these skills to highly useful levels. Today, I divulge my secret to Hunter.

My current Hunter level is 26, so I plan to squash a few more wild kebbits to get to 27, and then do Eagle's Peak quest. This will give me access to early box trapping, and catching rabbits.

It doesn't take very long to get to 27 (in fact, I get to 28 just trying to fill my inventory with claws...and I don't even get there), and I head a little south to do Eagle's Peak. An easy quest, with a bit of running around. I had left the onions I had to grow in the patch near the Ectofuntus, so I had easy access to enough for the dye. Quest Complete: 2 Quest Points, 2,500 Hunter, can catch ferrets and hunt rabbits, can "ride" giant eagles (30 Hunter). Ride is sort of a misnomer: you are more or less keel-hauled through the air. While it's not terribly useful, it does help with some of the more out of the way hunting areas.

Rabbit hunting is useful for getting rabbit's feet, which help get nests while woodcutting, which helps with Farming, Summoning, and Herblore (eventually). Plus, it's good experience at my level.

Since there are numerous useful items to be gained from hunting, I decide to catch the best creature for my current hunter level (not the best XP). I stock up on barb-tail kebbit harpoons, short kebbit bolts, as well as larupia, ghraak, and spotted kebbit fur. I skip the razor back kebbits, since they take too long to run down (tracking). The only thing I don't keep are the orange salamanders. While it's kinda neat to have a fire breathing lizard, they're not overly useful and require somewhat expensive ammo.

It takes me the better part of a day and a half to get to 50 Hunter. I also managed to get 2 out of 3 of the best hunter clothes.

Normally, when I power train hunter after level 43, I stick with falconry until I can catch chinchompas. While many, many, many players will argue with me on this, falconry is the fastest hunter XP you can get. This is because it is dramatically less labor intensive than pitfalling, dead falling, or even catching birds. There are no traps to set up, there are no logs to cut...you just click on a kebbit and the falcon does the rest. And you can catch these kebbits indefinately, if you drop the skins...and all you need to take with you is 500 gp.

The fact of the matter is that I've had about 7-8 different characters (besides this one) that have had membership at one time or another. Every last one has had a Hunter level of no less than 72 (imp boxes are absolutely invaluable).

Before anyone asks: don't ask me to name my other characters. First of all: I don't remember many of their names, as some of them existed a long time ago (and some don't exist anymore). Lastly, I don't discuss my other characters. If I'm not playing them anymore, I've got a reason for it. And it will be left at that.

Chapter 5: Prologue

Legend's quest finished at Combat Level 61 is no small feat, and is a very proud acomplishment for yours truly. In fact, there is only one more thing that I can acomplish: a Quest Point cape at Combat Level 85.

This will be somewhat tricky, as there are a lot of quests remaining that give combat experience. But I've come up with a plan that may or may not work.

I will not train combat, except as it's required for the quests I still need to do. I plan to save "Dream Mentor" for last, since this is the quest that requires an 85 Combat level. I will have to train Slayer to a signifigant level for a different quest, so I'm not exactly sure how well this will work.

I may postpone the Quest Cape for a later chapter, but I will definately acomplish my other goal: all skills 50+. I can do much of this without combat.

Chapter 4-Episode 7: The Storm Before the Calm

It's time...

Legends Quest is possibly one of the most involved and aggrivating quests in Runescape. Simply getting into the quest area is a chore, which makes banking a long and grueling process. And I can personally guarantee you that you'll need more items than you can carry. This is not to even mention that most creatures you'll encounter in the Khazari Jungle are pretty decent level, and generally hostile. In other words, it's not even a good place to visit.

This quest requires planning and preparations (unless you want to spend a whole week doing it). It has a relatively formidible shopping list, containing some uncommon and occasionally pricy items.

Shopping List:

An Axe

Charcoal

Hammer

6 Gold Bars

3-4 Lockpicks

2-3 Uncharged Orbs

Snakeweed

Ardrigal

Water Filled Vial

Rope

Sapphire

Emerald

Ruby

Diamond

Opal

Jade

Red Topaz

1 Soul Rune

1 Mind Rune

1 Earth Rune

2 Law Runes

Runes to cast one of the four charge orb spells (any of them will work) at least two times

I decide to spend a few minutes in Shilo Village, trying to at least get the jade, opal and red topaz. I'll get at least a couple of the others, and may very well get enough to sell for the rest. I end up getting all the gems I need, just trying to get a red topaz.

It's off to the Legend's Guild to start the quest. Getting into the jungle is easier for me this time. I manage to locate an actual route that gets me inside by cutting 3 plants. Mapping the jungle is likewise easier. I also have little problem constructing the bowl (I get it on the second shot). Everything I had problems with the last time are not problems this time. Where do I have trouble?

The demon. 45 Attack apparantly isn't quite good enough to hit him. I fall back, and try my old stand-by: Magic. No good. In fact, I did better with Melee. I decide to try a new tactic...perscribed by the quest itself.

I set out to construct Holy Water vials. The process of making them drains both your Prayer and your Magic, and I end up intentionally killing myself twice in order to quickly restore my skills. I finally manage to get 25 Holy Water vials made...if they're as effective as I'm made to believe, I shouldn't need more than this.

It was, of course, a waste of time. Of my 3 attempts so far, this was by far my worst showing. In fact...I didn't even scratch the demon with the vials. My advice to you is not to bother with this long and involved process, as it's far more trouble than it's worth. I decide to return to melee, as that was my best effort to date. I just need a little help. I adjust my combat kit to include two Super Attack Potions. This time it works...with a little help from the Incredible Reflexes Prayer. All in all, this last battle cost me 4 prayer potions and 2 super attack potions. Very expensive.

The three spirits I have to fight in the caves below are not as tough as the the demon was, and I all but breeze through them (at least by comparison). Now I have to make a choice: the evil but easy path, or the good but hard path. I take the difficult path, which means I have to fight that demon twice more.

The second fight doesn't go very bad at all, and I manage to defeat him in one go. I get my water and return to the surface, where I have difficulty growing the tree. I have to go back for more seeds TWICE. But I finally get the new totem pole and set out to fight the demon for the last time.

It doesn't go as well as the last one, and he dissappears before I manage to defeat him. Also, because I wasn't paying attention, I used up all my food and end the scuffle with 4 HP left. I return to Shilo Village, restock, and go back to fight the demon again. This time I'm successful, and I get my gilded totem pole and head back to the Legend's Guild to finish the quest. Quest Complete: 4 Quest Points, 7,650 XP in 4 skills (I choose Prayer twice and Magic twice: 45 Prayer, and 57 Magic).

The Legend's cape is one of the best capes, second only to a skillcape. It's also very cheap at a mere 450 gp. I also get the ability to wield a Dragon Square Shield...once I get a 60 Defence.

Another goal complete, and another chapter ended.

My way in.

Chapter 4-Episode 6: The Last Little Bit

Legends Quest is so close I can taste it! I start off this run with a 54 Magic and 42 Herblore, which puts me 5 total levels away from where I need to be...with two of those levels being extremely close.

I'm out of runes now, so it's back to making Mithril Bars so I can buy more Death and Air runes. I go back and finish the potions I have to make, and when I'm on my way to the GE to sell them, I get a Maze Random that gives me about 230 Death runes! So lucky...

The skill calculator that I'm using tells me that I now need 85 more Combat Potions to get 45 Herblore (I bought 50 with the money from the potions), so I head off to make a few more Mithril bars, so I can get my levels and finally be done with it. Before I know it, I'm done, and I go and buy back my "Cash Kit", get enough Harralander to get me to 45...and have a tidy profit left over!

I'm concerned about my HP level. Very Concerned. I'm concerned because the last time I got a HP level, I got a Combat level too. Now at 61, I can't handle too many more levels before I put my goal in jeopardy. On the bright side: my Ranged skill is relatively low (33 Ranged), so I could get quite a few levels before it affects my combat level. But regardless of everything, I'm going to get HP experience. It's inevidible.

I decide not to worry about it, and head back to the goats. I use Magic until I get 56, then I grab those 1k iron knives I had just made last week (did you notice how I said then; you never know when you'll find a use for something? I said that because I wasn't joking). I rack up 3 Range levels getting the goat horns I need for the potions.

I get off light once again: no HP levels, and no Combat Levels. I'm still Combat Level 61, with one quest in my way...which won't get me a whole lot of combat XP.

Before I start Family Crest, I pop over to the GE to sell those potions I made. I sell them all, since I can now make super Attack potions...which is one part of the highly coveted "Super Set" (3 potions sold as a set: super Attack, super Strength, and super Defence. This term is pre-GE, and as a result, all but obsoltete. But the potions still exist are still readily available separately). They don't all sell right away, so I set off to do the quest.

I look at the shopping list, and I make sure I get everything I need. While I also need cooked fish that I don't have, I take the necessary gear to get it, since I'll be in Catherby when I need them. With any luck, I'll be able to do the quest without stopping at the bank.

Now, Family Crest requires a 59 Magic to complete, but here's where I did a bit of out-of-the-box thinking. I head to Falador and stock up on Wizard Mind Bonbs, which at my level add 3 to my Magic. Again, this isn't exactly a secret, but it's something that isn't obviously aparent. You have to look at how the quest is phrased. If it says "Requirements," that means you can't start the quest without it. If it says "You need x Skill to complete this quest," it's not a requirement to start, but you need the equivalent level to finish the quest. It also helps to know what all the food items do, and how you can scrape up an extra level here and there. On a side note, all my potions sold while I was buying my Mind Bombs: a total profit of more than 107k.

I just want to be clear on this: Family Crest is not a difficult quest by any stretch of the imagination. The hardest part of this quest is training for it. Once you got the levels, the rest is easy...with the possible exception of the lever puzzle east of Ardougne. Personally, this is probably the 4th time I've dealt with this puzzle (the second time for the quest), so I pretty much have it memorized. All in all, the quest's a breeze. Quest Complete: 1 Quest Point, Steel Gauntlets, a skill embue for the gauntlets. This was, of course, done at 56 Magic.

The gauntlets are one of those "must have" items. Of course, the only way to "have" them is to do the quest. They have 3 imbue abilities:

Cooking Gauntlets: Possibly one of the most useful imbuments for the gauntlets. It increases your odds of successfully cooking fish.

Goldsmithing Gauntlets: Another useful imbument, but secondary in my opinion to the above. It increases the XP from smelting gold ore into bars.

Chaos Gauntlets: In my opinion, this is the least useful of the imbuments, but it does have it's uses. It increases the damage done by spells powered by Chaos Runes. These gauntlets are useful for power-training Magic cheaply.

I don't bother imbuing the gauntlets just yet, since I won't be needing them immedately. I have my eye on something else now.....

Chapter 4-Episode 5: I Guess This Is a Break...

Like many psychotic workaholics, I've decided to take a short "working-vacation" from my Legends training. I'm going to do a few quests...quests that I should have done a while ago.

My first plan is to complete the last of the Free Player quests: Pirate's Treasure. While it won't be a real windfall, I'm down to less than 1k gp, so at this point, any little bit will help. I will continue my vacation with Gertrude's Cat. This quest has been holding me back on several other quests I want to do, so it's time to get it out of the way. Next on the list will be Saving Evil Dave from the Recipe for Disaster quest. I will finally end this quest blitz with Garden of Tranquility. This quest will help open up a good portion of the Varrock Achievement Diary for me.

I know I need a white apron for Pirate's Treasure, so I stop by the fishing shop in Port Sarim before I depart for Karajima and grab the one hanging on the wall. I also plan to reclaim my Karajima Achievement Diary gloves. This quest is easy as they come, so I'll not waste time discussing my lack of trials and tribulations. Quest Complete: 2 Quest Points, 1-Eyed Hector's Treasure Chest, Pay-Fare Option at Port Sarim/Karajima. On a side note, 1-Eyed Hector must not have been a very good pirate.

Gertrude's Cat is equally uneventful, with the exception of the fact that they've made the boxes to search more obvious. Quest Complete: 1 Quest Point, 1,250 Cooking XP, A Kitten, Chocolate Cake, a Stew and the ability to raise cats.
Evil Dave was not overly difficult, with the exception that my kitten was lacking in skills and I had trouble finding enough red spice to make the stew. Quest Complete: 1 Quest Point, 7,000 Cooking XP, Hell cats, greater access to the chest. (56 Cooking).



Although it took a long time, I did get a Hell-Kitten. This is cool for me, because while I've had Hell-Cats before, I've never had a Hell-Kitten.

Garden of Tranquility requires me to have some seeds that I don't usually bother with: mainly onion and cabbage seeds. So I head over to rifle through the Master Farmer's pockets in Draynor. Luckily I need noob seeds so I get them within about 5 minutes.

This is a long, drawn-out, quest where I convince people to part with precious items through force of magical charms and steal statues for the Queen of Varrock...who does all this for her husband who doesn't know how to appreciate something. Quest Complete: 1 Quest Point, 5,000 Farming XP, 1 apple tree seed, 1 acorn, 4 guam leaf seeds, 1 Supercompost potion (38 Farming).

The supercompost potion will give me the first of my Supercompost, but the new ring is the real prize! This allows me many discounts across Runescape. While I may very well use the Guam Leaf seeds at some point, the rest don't have much in the way of value to me.

Computer Problems

A nice little virus greeted me this morning when I turned on my computer. I don't know where it came from or how I got it, but it's there, and as a result my good computer is down for the moment.

Luckily for me, I still have a back up computer. The problem is that it's ancient. So old, that while it hasn't been confirmed, many scientists believe that a dinosaur may have very well used it before me. Not really, but it sounded good at the time.

The effects of this on me are as follows:

No HD Runescape until I get a new copy of windows. The people who built my good computer were nice enough not to give me any way of solving this problem myself (i.e. a recovery disc). They're called Discount Computer Parts, and are located at 16500 Detroit Ave, in Lakewood OH. I would recomend that if you're driving past there that you continue to do just that: drive right on by.

Sal's Realm of Runescape's skill calculators and the entire Zybez website are off limits to me, since my current version of Windows doesn't support the latest Java. I'd imagine that I'm darn lucky to be able to play Runescape at all.

As such, I'm forced to use a different website...one that I absolutely loathe. While it's less graphically intensive, it's poorly set up, is difficult to navigate and very slow to be updated, and as a result, I refuse to even mention their name here. There will be no plugs for this place.

I will still make screenshots, but unfortunately, they won't be HD screenies for a while.

Chapter 4-Episode 4: "I'll take 100k worth of Herblore XP pl0x!"

I absolutely HATE buying skill levels. This is because I can only think of about 12,382,483,934 different things I would rather do with all that money...give or take. But there are times when it's difficult to avoid...this being one of them.

I need a bit more than 7 levels in Herblore for Legends. It could potentially take me a week to get enough herbs to acomplish this. Sorceress' Garden is far from reliable, and killing Chaos Druids will undoubtedly give me a bit more combat experience than I'd like right now, since I've already got a 60 Combat Level. And the #1 thing on that list of 12 billion+ things I'd rather do with the money? Magic. Heavy sigh...

My recent smithing venture has given me 100k gp, and I intend to see exactly how many Herblore levels I can buy with that. My plan is to make enough combat potions to get me 1 more level, and then make Prayer Potions for as long as I can. I may adjust this based on cost and ease of obtaining the necessary materials.

I immedately see that Ranarr weed costs 6 times as much as Harralander, and only gives 4 more XP per potion. I decide to make combat potions the whole way. I buy 97 Harralander, 100 chaos runes and 300 fire runes with a bit over 100k. I had forgotten that I already had 8 unfinished Harralander potions, and 17 unfinished Ranarr potions. I guess I'll get a few Prayer Potions after all...

The reason that runes became a necessity is because I have to kill desert goats to get the other ingredients. I plan to melee them untill I hit 50 Strength, and then Mage the rest of them.

Shortly after I switch to Magic, another problem became apparent: I need runes. I head over to mine mithril and coal south of Lumbridge, and while I'm mining I realize something. I could buy the ore relatively cheaply, and simply mine coal...using Superheat to make the bars immedately. I rush back to the GE with an inventory full of mithril bars, which gives me just enough to buy 100 Nature runes and 100 Mithril ore. I then head over by the Legend's Guild and mine coal by the Grizzly Bears. It's relatively close to a bank, and works incredibly well. I sell the bars, buy 100 more Nature runes and 100 more Mithril ore. The net profit when all is said and done is a bit over 100k. I've discovered my new cash factory.

The initial 100k bought me exactly 3 levels, although Combat Potions actually sell, so I make most of my money back (after buying vials of water to replace the ones I lose in the process). After I run out of herbs, I head over by the Crafting Guild and finish up those Prayer Potions. I end up with about 15 full Prayer Potions (cash value, had I bought them: about 100k gp).

I check a skill calculator to see how many more Harralander I need to get to 45 (which is 255). I then set off to make the next 100 Mithril bars.

I make about 200 more Mithril bars, with which I buy runes and herbs, which eventually gets me up to 54 Magic and 42 Herblore. While Mining, I got a book from Mr. Mordaut...which reminded me I needed to pick up my Varrock armor from Achievement Diary. I should get another lamp in the process. Sure enough, I get another lamp for 1k more XP, which I add to Herblore. This puts me about 1.7k XP from 43.

On a side and unrelated note, I got another Mining and Smithing level in the process.

Time for a little break.

Chapter 4-Episode 4: The Bizarre Relationships of Skills

Skills maintain strange relationships with each other, as I was quick to discover. It's not at all uncommon for a higher level in one skill can make it easier to train others, and you are occasionally able to train two skills with the same action. Power training is made much faster and easier with planning and a bit of creative usage of other skills.

For example: I currently need levels in both Magic and Smithing for Legends Quest. Of course, we all know about the spell: Superheat Item (in case you don't, it basically allows you to to get Magic XP while Smithing without running to a forge, all for the cost of 1 Nature rune and 4 Fire runes). While it isn't a big secret, most people choose not to do it and get their Magic XP and Smithing XP separately.

If you can't cast High Alchemy, Superheat Item is the greatest spell for power training. People believe that it costs too much, but if you do it correctly, it won't cost you a single gp. If you aren't concerned with making money, Superheating will more than pay for itself if you mine your own ores and sell the bars (and it's not like anyone ever got pwned at Bounty Hunter because they had a high Mining).

I'm going to train Magic and Smithing with Superheat for as long as I can stand it. I get bored easily, so I'm going to do this by the truck load of coal (meaning I'm going to fill the coal trucks in Seer's Village once and make the bars).

The coal truck holds 120 pieces of coal, and you can carry up to 28 in your inventory (provided you don't get a lot of gems). 148 coal is enough to make 74 Steel Bars, and thus I'll need at the most 74 Nature runes per load. Now that I can teleport to Camelot, the trips back and forth will be a bit cheaper (teletabs are almost 1k gp, and fairy rings don't really get you as close as I'd like).

Current GE pricing shows me that in order to buy enough Nature runes each load, I'll have to sell 32 of the possible 74 bars per trip. This leaves me with 42 extra bars. I plan to make 1k iron knives, and possibly sell the rest of the bars to buy Death runes. Knives are very fast range weapons, and they may (or may not) come in handy in the future.

Somewhere along the way, I decide to finish Elemental Workshop II (since I was in the neighborhood). Doing this gives me a 50 Crafting, and a Smithing level (from 48 to 49 at the point I did it). One more requirement off the list, and another will very soon be joining it.

It takes a long time, and near the end I simply decide to stop selling bars and I smith them for the experience. I make 10 total full sets of steel armor in the process. After almost two whole days of mining and smithing, I finally get 50 Smithing and a 51 Magic.

Doing all the mining myself has also given me another benefit: access to lots of sapphires and emeralds. A while back, I had unwisely choosen to sell a lot of Games Necklaces and Dueling Rings for extra cash that I needed, so I was down to single digit quantities of both. I now have close to 40 of each.

I also broke down and finished the last of the Lumbridge achievement diary. It was worth it, as I got another lamp for 1.5k XP, which I added to Herblore (my next target), and it gives me a teleport to the cabbage fields south of Falador. It'll come in somewhat handy for farming there, as well as trips to Port Sarim and Rimmington. It's not extremely handy, since I've already got a teleport to Draynor Village with my Amulet of Glory.

This leaves 3 more skills...