Chapter 1-Episode 12: The Final Grind

This stands to be my last power levelling session in a free world, and I have some high goals to meet before I pay my membership (actually, I have some time to kill before payday). My list of things to do include:

Buy a rune platebody
30 Woodcutting (9 levels)
38 Fishing (8 levels)
35 Cooking (1 level)
27 Runecrafting (26 levels)

I'm also going to need about 20k-30k gp to buy food, potions, and other supplies for the fight. So I need a lot of levels, and about 70k gp. I make a base plan:

I will cut and burn oaks until 30 Woodcutting. I will then fly fish until level 38 (buying feathers, as I'm getting more and more concerned with my Hit Point experience level), and cook trout until I get 35 Cooking. I will sell the rest of the fish. I will then mine rune essence in Varrock (in lots of 500) and make the best runes I can until I get 27 Runecrafting. I will save these runes for when I train magic. Finally I will manufacture steel bars to get the money I need for the plate and the quest supplies.

The woodcutting, fishing and cooking go way faster than I expected, so I have plenty of time to devote to runecrafting and making money. I sell the fish, and only get about 6k for all of them, so I still have a ways to go yet. I head to Arbury's shop to start mining essence. I start off with 200, since that will get me to 9 Runecrafting. Making earth runes will bring me back to Varrock, so I can mine more essence then.

I finally get to 14, and start planning the runes I'm going to make to get to 27 Runecrafting. I plan on using these runes to train Magic after I do the Dragon Slayer quest, so I decide to make 500 mind runes. These will be the main rune of all my spellcasting until at least 17 Magic, so I want a lot of these. I mine 250 essence (since I make 2 mind runes per essence at this level), and start crafting.

Once I get the 500 mind runes made, I set a goal of 300 essence worth of all the elemental runes. The number is arbitrary for the most part: I just want to ensure I have enough elemental runes to be able to use up most of the mind runes, with a bit of a reserve stockpile. I set off to Varrock to get started. I start with mining 300 essence for earth runes. I craft those, then mine 600 essence for the water and fire runes. I wait until last to make the air runes in order to get my runecrafting skill higher, because once it's past 22 I get 3 air runes per essence. By the time I get to the air runes, my Runecrafting level is 26. Making 73 essence into air runes will give me my goal, but I'm going to want a lot of airs so I mine 200 essence (which will give me 600 more). It doesn't take long to finish those, which gives me a 27 Runecrafting (and close to 28).

Now there's still a little matter of a rune platebody that I need to buy, and decide that mining has always worked out best for me as far as making cash, so I head over to the Grand Exchange to buy some coal. My plan is the same as it was the last time: mine enough iron to use up the coal making steel bars while mining the bits of silver as they are available, sell, and buy more coal. Here's the financial report:

Starting cash: 13,325 gp
1st run: 35 steel bars, 13 silver bars = 23,403 gp (bought 120 coal)
2nd run: 60 steel bars, 23 silver bars = 40,031 gp (bought 200 coal, 5k left over)
3rd run: 100 steel bars, 0 silver bars, 1 sapphire, 5 cut sapphires = 66,958 gp

This is more than enough for a rune platebody. I have 26k left for other quest related expenses, with plenty of room for rapid capital expansion (making my money grow).

Tomorrow is payday. Tomorrow is members. I can hardly wait!!!

Chapter 1-Episode 11: The Last of the Prerequesites

Now that I have all of the combat equipment I'll be using during Dragon Slayer, the only thing I have left to do is get access to the Champion's Guild. This requires 32 Quest Points, and as you may know, I'm well on my way. I sit down to knock the last two quests off my list: Prince Ali Rescue and Rune Mysteries.

These quests do not have any parallel paths. Not even once. This means that I pretty much have to do them separately, since trying to do both at once would take me out of my way on numerous occasions. I decide to do Rune Mysteries first. I know that I still need to gather some items for the other quest...most of which are in Varrock (which will be a stopping point for me twice), or can be gathered along the way. I head over to Sal's to check my shopping list.

I need:
7 balls of wool or 3 balls and a rope
2 onions
ashes
flour
water
redberries
a pink skirt
1 soft clay
1 bronze bar
3 beers
50+gp

I already have the wool and a rope, and everything else is either on the way to Varrock, or sold in a shop. The only thing I can't get along the way is an onion (and while I'm not yet sure, I think I may be able to get some from behind Farmer Fred's house, which I will investigate on my way to make the flour). I don't need anything for Rune Mysteries, so I get started.

I talk to the Duke, then get my purple box from the flaky wizard. I stop by Draynor Village and grab my pick, an empty pot, 2 buckets, and about 100 gp. Someone's burning logs behind the bank (as I had expected), so I grabbed a pile of ashes and banked it. I head over to the flour mill north of Lumby and make some flour. On my way to Varrock, I check out Farmer Fred's garden: sure enough, he's got onions! I grab two, use his sink to fill my two buckets, and head up to Varrock.

I drop off one bucket, the flour and the onions, and on my way to Arbury's rune shop, I buy a pink skirt from the clothing store, and 3 beers at the bar. I trade a purple box for a piece of paper and leave Varrock to the south. From there I head to the southeast mine and mine 1 copper and 1tin, stopping to grab some redberries from a bush to the north. I head to the southwest mine and mine a clay, which I mix with the bucket of water I still have.

I stop by the bank in Lumby Castle, smelting the bronze bar on the way, and bank everything but the scroll. I also double check what I have against my list to ensure that I've got everything. I then head to the wizard's tower and the quest is not only complete, I have everything I need to finish Prince Ali Rescue. Quest Complete: 1 Quest Point, access to Rune Essence mine, access to the Runecrafting skill (29 Quest Points)

I now head to Al Kharid, and talk to the necessary people to start the quest. I'm carrying everything I need with me, so all I have to do is walk to see the people in question. It takes two trips and I'm done. Quest Complete: 700 gp, 3 Quest Points (32 Quest Points).

I now meet the prerequesites for Dragon Slayer.

Chapter 1-Episode 10: Time For New Gear

With my combat skills right where I want them, temporarily set asside my violent ways to prepare for membership, and subsequent attempt at the Dragon Slayer quest. I have a couple more quests to get done, some armor to buy, $5 to come up with, and an infamous dragon to slay...all of this long before it is commonly considered wise to do so. Admittedly it's not, but I think it's completely doable.

Rune armor by the piece is almost the same as the whole set (a bit over 143k max price)...and in fact if I may possibly be able to get it cheaper piece by piece. The main problem is money. I need lots of it. Cows are totally out (since I don't want any more combat experience), which leaves mining, smithing, fishing or woodcutting. I decide to do a little of everything. I start out, since I'm at the Grand Exchange, and check prices on iron ore and coal against what I can sell the smithed bars for. I will make at least 100 gp on each bar. The money I currently have isn't enough to justify the effort (I only have enough to make 25 bars, which is only about 2.5k).

I decide to experiment with mining silver and selling silver bars (people use them for crafting). What I'm concerned about is how quickly I can get rid of the bars. The silver bars sell quickly for the middle of the road price, so I decide to buy 80 coal and mine silver south-west of Varrock. This way I can mine some iron when it's open. I get 63 silver ore in the time it takes me to gather the needed iron. I make about 35k gp, which is more than enough to get started. I sell my full adamant set and buy a rune chainbody and a rune full helm.

I now set out to Lumbridge to fish salmon and trout. I'm relatively sure the salmon will sell, but I decide that if the trout don't sell quickly I'll just cook them for noob food and experience. Fortunately they both sell instantly and I get a bit over 20k. Out of curiosity, I put up the raw beef and the bones that have been stockpiling in my bank and was shocked to learn that these, too, sold almost instantly. This gave me enough for a rune kiteshield. All that is left now is the plate legs and platebody.

Fishing is far slower than the silver bars, so I go back to that. I stick near Varrock, since the mine north of Al Kharid is usually crowded. My goal is to mine 100 silver, and stockpile iron ore to sell. I'll be mining way more iron than silver, so this goal should have a good profit. Competition gets stiff, so I try to finish up in Al Kharid (which is the best free world smithing place anyways). It doesn't take long untill I have competition there as well, so I decide to smelt the silver and sell everything and see how much I have. I have less than 20K...I need more than twice that to get platelegs.

I decide to use the money I have to buy coal and smith steel bars. I have enough to buy 100 coal, and after I sell the 50 steel bars, I'll add about 10k to my cash total. Iron respawns faster than silver which makes it easy enough to get, and I can also mine the incidental silver ore for a small bonus.

First Batch: 50 steel bars, 16 silver bars = more than 34k (bought 188 coal)
Second Batch: 89 steel bars, 28 silver bars = more than 60k.

I have more than enough for my legs, to complete my current combat kit (not that I'll be combating any day soon). Funniest thing is that, after the purchase, I have exactly what I started with! I also buy an adamant scimitar, which complete's my Dragon Slayer combat kit.

While I still have to get my rune platebody, I still have other things to see to so I call this work session done.

Chapter 1-Episode 9: Save the cows...kill a human!

While cows are profitable and easy, I decided I wanted something with a bit more payoff in experinece and money both. So I gear up and head off to Edgeville, and make my way to the Edgeville Dungeon. This dungeon can be very dangerous to a person of my level, so I load up on pike, which is my best food right now. The monsters on my mind are Hill Giants. They have decent drops, but are somewhat close to my level. This means the fights will probably be epic, and my food won't last very long.

The giants are overpopulated (as expected), so I backtrack a bit and start on the zombies. They get a bit boring, so I continue on to the hobgoblins. Those are crowded. Suddenly, I remember exactly why I always pay for membership way early on....

I head back to the Grand Exchange to sell my cowhides. I'm suprised that I have well over 100, which gives me more than enough cash for my next set of armor and next weapon both. I get the axe right away, but there's no adamant armor sets for sale. I leave my bid up and start walking towards Al Kharid to fight the beefy scorpions in the mines north of there. I get as far as the bank and have to go back to get my armor (which goes through about now) and take it out of the set package (this can only be done at the Grand Exchange. Confident that I can spend the time I need to get 30 Attack and 40 Defence, I return to my journey to the desert.

Having my future somewhat secure for the moment, I can enjoy the senseless slaughter in the Al Kharid mines. On an odd and somewhat humorous note, I had a level 3 character following me just outside the mines. I gave him a friendly warning, telling him that "this area isn't healthy for people of your level." Not more than 60 seconds later, I watched a level 19 character make the one way trip to Lumby. Luckily, he only had a 2 handed sword.

The scorpions do manage to hit me a little, so this gives me a great excuse to use up those sardines I have in the bank. The adamant axe kicks my max damage up to 5 (not to mention that I hit more often), and this will undoubtedly make my training faster and easier. Also, while I'm killing the beasties in the mine, I'm grabbing the fire and water rune respawns. This should give me a bit of a stock for when I finally do start training magic.

While beating away, a friendly guy suggested that I should train on the jail guards over by Draynor Village. They're higher level than the scorpions and it's closer to the bank. I lose out on the fire and water runes, but my mage training is a while away yet so I thank him and head out.

The jail guards prove to be very useful for many reasons. Lots of Hit Points means lots of experience, and this makes each dead guard worth 128 experience to the combat stat of my choice (which right now is Defence). Since it's a multi-combat area, I get hit twice as much, which quickly eats up my noob food. I guess all those sardines and herrings won't make it to the party room chest after all...sorry.

30 Defence comes (not so) quickly, and I rush to the bank and suit up in my new adamant armor. While I'm glad to see my Defence hit 30, my combat level reaches 32, giving me some minor concerns about what it will be at 40. I do some calculations and determine by the time I reach 40 Defence, I'll have 31 Hit Points and I use a combat calculator to determine about what my combat level will be at that point. I sigh in relief as the calculator shows me that I'll be about 36 level...well below my goal. I could even raise strength a little bit, but it would be extremely impressive to add "Dragon Slayer" to your resume at combat level 36. Prayer is of no consequence, as the calculator shows that it would take 6 more levels for it to affect my combat level. I also do some post-quest calculations and determine that after the quest, I should have 38 Attack and 44 Defence, with a combat level of exactly: 40! It's decided: I stop training combat at Defence level 40.

.........................................

All that is left to do now is get my membership and do the quest.

...........................................

Small side note and tip: Hit Point experience is 1.3 per point damage inflicted, not 1 like I was origionally told. This caused a bit of a miscalculation in my proposed Hit Point level. The correct calculations would be 32 Hit Points with no change in either combat level.

Chapter 1-Episode 8: Power-Questing

One of the main things I need to start Dragon Slayer is 32 Quest Points (note that I said to start...not to finish), so I make a resolution to do some "power questing". I plan to knock out 2 back to back quests in order to jack up my quest point total. The two Quests I have in mind are Earnest the Chicken and Romeo & Juliet. These are small reward quests that give large amounts of Quest Points...and best of all, they're relatively easy.

I'm currently at the Grand Exchange after buying a new woodcutting axe, so I start with Romeo & Juliet. This twisted little tale, in which you help Romeo find happiness and love, will net me a whooping 5 Quest Points. I already have the Cadava Berries (I grabbed some when I was making redberry pies), so all I really have to do is some running around through the streets of Varrock. Quest Complete: no reward other than 5 Quest Points (and a somewhat creepy feeling).

Earnest the Chicken is a little more complicated, so I'll be using Sal's Realm of Runescape to get me through the maze in the basement of Draynor Mannor (every legend gets a little help along the way). Other than that, this quest is a piece of cake. Quest Complete: 300 gp, and 4 Quest Points.

This gives me a grand total of 24 Quest Points. This was over so quickly, I decide to head to Falador to do Black Knight's Fortress. Black knights are higher level than I am, but I'm highly skilled at evasion (learned that playing a skiller). Before I can do this quest, I need a bronze helm and an iron chainbody. I buy the chain in Falador, but to get a bronze medium helm easily, I'll have to make it. Making it in Falador means doing Doric's quest first.

Doric's quest is a simple "gather a bunch of stuff and bring it to the guy" quest. I head to Rimmington to mine 6 clay, 4 copper ores and 2 iron ores. I mine an extra copper and a tin so I can smelt a bronze bar on my way to Doric's house north of Falador. While I'm there, I mine enough iron to get me to 21 Mining, so I can stop by the dwarven mines and buy a mithril pick. On my way back to Falador, I stop by the cabbage farm and pick a cabbage that I'm soon to need in Black Knight's Fortress.

First step, I stop by and see Sir Amik Varze and start Black Knight's Fortress and then make my way to Doric's house. I start his quest, and since I already have the materials I need, I complete it within seconds. Quest Complete: 1,300 Mining exp, 180 gp, 1 Quest Point (23 Mining, 25 Quest Points). I make the bronze helm I need for my disguise, and head to Ice Mountain and buy my mithril pickaxe. I continue the rest of the way north to the Black Knight's fortress, and one cabbage later I'm on my way back to Sir Amik. Quest Complete: 2,500 gp, 3 Quest Points (28 Quest Points). That makes a total of 13 Quest Points earned in about 2 hours.

Power Questing is all about time management and minimizing your steps. I started out to do 2 quests, and while I was in the neighborhood, I got 2 additional ones done as well. There are several quests that, if you already have all the materials you need and depending on your qualifications, you can get done in groups of 2, 3 or more.

Chapter 1-Episode 7: Legends don't walk

I'm finding that, thanks to the Grand Exchange, I'm making far more trips to Varrock these days than I did in my previous noobcarnations. Since I've sworn off Magic untill after Dragon Slayer, teleporting is a ways away for me. That leaves Lumbridge's favorite water ride: the log canoes. At a 12, it would take 3 canoe rides to get outside the Grand Exchange. At 27, it'll only take 2 from Lumbridge (I'm only using Lumby as a starting point because of the Home Tele spell). At 42, however, it's one trip. 42 is currently ideal, but I'm going to shoot for 27 right now.

The easiest way to power train woodcutting (especially in free worlds) is the "cut and burn" method. You take a wood cutting axe (equipped is ideal) and a tinderbox, and find a long, uninterrupted stretch of open ground (a road for example) with a lot of the trees you're cutting. You cut the trees until your inventory is full, then you use the tinderbox to set all the logs on fire in a straight line. After a while, you can find a rhythem that lets you light logs without initiating the "striking the tinderbox" animation. This lets you burn logs at an incredible rate.

While the Grand Exchange is a great area to use if you already have the logs to burn, if you're cutting and burning, there's no better place to go (especially at starting levels) than the east-west road between Falador and Port Sarim (just below the cabbage farm). Plenty of regular and oak trees, and more than enough area to clear your inventory (you can eventually work your way down to the Crafting Guild if you don't run back). This is where I'm going.

Woodcutting goal: 27
Logs cut: 93 regular logs/71 oak logs
Firemaking level: 24

I kind of laugh when I get to 21 Woodcutting as I head back to Lumbridge and discover that canoes are a Members only thing. Continuing to 27, while not pointless, is no longer a priority. Thus, I abandon my current goal.

Notes on woodcutting axes: don't run out and buy a new axe every time you can use it. Skip every other one to save money. The axes after bronze that I'd buy would be steel, mithril, and then rune. In fact, if you're starting from level 1, take a steel axe with you and drop the bronze one at 6 Woodcutting.

Chapter 1-Episode 6: Teach a Noob to Fish...

I head over to Rimmington to experiment with a fishing power-leveling technique. My thoughts in this experiment is that I can sell the fish (since my cooking is so much higher anyways) to buy bait to continue to fish. Some key factors to consider here are the distance to the fishing store in Port Sarim from the fishing holes behind the small temple to the west and the price fluctuations for the fish I'm selling vs. the cost of the bait. I had 24 fishing bait left, so I started there. Bear in mind that the first trip was not a full inventory (25 bait would give a full inventory). My goal is 20 fishing (trout).

1st trip: 0 gp left (purchased 25 bait)
2nd trip: 22 gp left (purchased 25 bait)
3rd trip: 36 gp left (purchased 25 bait)
4th trip: 149 gp (minus the 75 for bait = 49 gp)

The trip, itself, isn't extremely long, and you don't pass anything more dangerous than a giant rat. So effectively, you could easily support power-leveling doing this. This would only be time effective would be between Fishing level 10-20. Good for the lower level player who doesn't yet have much in the way of means.

I head back to Lumbridge to fish trout. I'm killing chickens to keep me in feathers. I'm also cooking on the Lumbridge cook's stove before I bank.

Goal: Fishing level 25
Cooked fish: 44
Burnt fish: 20
Cooking level: 30

I return to Port Sarim to buy some more bait (duh), then return to Lumbridge to fish pike.

Goal: Fishing level 30
Cooked fish: 74
Burnt fish: 18
Cooking level: 34

Pike fishing is slow, and I would have probably levelled faster had I continued to fish trout. But now I can fish salmon, which is a very good noob fish!

I can't believe that people still try this...

Jagex has put more of an emphasis on stopping scammers and real world traders than any online game I've ever heard of. Now, with the unbalanced trade cap, scamming is somewhat pointless. Stealing someone's account is just an act of maliciousness, since you can't really get any more than 3k gp from it. Yet, I just encountered this individual while I was making flour today. The only alteration to this image was to paste two separate images together. Also, the names have been omitted to protect to protect the tragically stupid (click to enlarge):

I knew exactly what was going on from the first line, and it was somewhat obvious from my response. Yet he continued...despite the fact that I couldn't possibly type in my password if I wanted to (your password is a blocked word). Some people are so stupid that they don't know when they're being baited.

Chapter 1-Episode 5: More Than Either of Us Can Chew

Wrthlss Noob is hungry, and vampire in garlic sauce is on the menu...

I don't think I've ever tried this so early, but my nephews have tried it about this level and failed horribly. I'm not them, as I've done the quest 3 times before and I know that food is the key. For good food, money is the key and the key I've got at the moment is nowhere big enough to fit that lock. Admittedly unwisely, I decide to make due with what I can get myself.

I've only got 6 herring, so that means more fishing. I'm at Draynor so I head a little south since the dark wizards that hang out there don't bother me anymore. While cooking my first load, I hit 20 Cooking, and decided meat pies, while they take longer, will be better (I have a LOT of meat). I need more pie dishes now, so back to Varrock and Barbarian Village...

After a bit of work, I now have a total of 52 pie dishes 30 pots and about 30 various water receptacles, so I've got a pretty good pie factory set up. I make two trips to the flour mill and eventually add 42 meat pies to my food collection (which included 38 sardines and 16 herring). A good noob-food stockpile.

Despite my misgivings I head to Draynor Village to start the quest (the vampire is 34th level, and I'm 17th). The quest sends me to Varrock to talk to a drunken vampire hunter, before heading back to face Count Draynor. Two battles rage on and he eventually dissapears because I can't hit him enough to "keep him interested". A mithril axe is in order. I make a jaunt to the cows again to get another 10 attack levels. I also end up with 20 Hit Points, Prayer level 15 and a Combat level of 21. A little higher than I wanted to see, but luckily this isn't the big game...

I sell my hides and buy a mithril battle axe, and then gear up and head back for round 2 with the Count. It goes almost as good as the first round did. Count Draynor is proving to be a rough customer, as his hit point regenerates faster than I can inflict damage. I step back and re-evaluate again.

My Defence is fine: The damage Count Draynor inflicts on me is quite managable. I need to hit harder to overpower his regeneration. Which means about 10 more Strength levels and since I'm saving up for full Adamant armor (I'm about 8k short right now), I head back to the cows. My max hit is 4 at 12 Strength. As a side note, I got my very first random while killing cows (box). As they say "the third time's the charm"...I just hope they're right this time.

They were just barely right. It was an epic battle which raged on for close to a half hour (with the Count losing interest once), but finally Count Draynor finally falls. Quest Complete: 4,825 Attack Exp (27 Attack and 27 Combat level).

Chapter 1-Episode 4: The Great Cowslayer

New goals firmly in hand, I set out to get started. The first order of business is Quest Points: I need 32 and I have 12. 20 Quest Points is not as long a haul as it sounds. While I have got a few of the better yielding quests out of the way already, I still have a couple of good ones to choose from. I decide to balance good Quest Point rewards and good experience rewards. The quests on the list now are:

Black Knights Fortress (3 QP)
Doric's Quest (1 QP)

Earnest the Chicken (4 QP)

Prince Ali's Rescue (3 QP)

Romeo & Juliet (5 QP)

Rune Mysteries ([which I was planning on doing anyways] 1 QP)

Vampire Slayer (3 QP)

But before I get started, I want to beef up my Attack, Strength, and Defence at least 5 points each (which would bring me up to Mithril armor and Black weapons). Before I go and beef up my combat stats though, I need food. So I decided to head over to Port Sarim to buy a fishing pole and train fishing up at least 4 more levels (to about 10), which will also help my cooking skill.

While fishing I helped someone out by telling him where to find a fishing rod. He was really appreciative, and said that people in Runescape were nicer than they are in other online games. While I know that this isn't always the case, people do tend to have "niceness spurts". It doesn't seem like much, but it kinda felt like a rare moment. Speaking of rare moments, I just realized that I haven't had any randoms since I started this character. Not one.

I fill my inventory at Fishing level 12, and after cooking everything, I end up with a nice 31 sardines and 6 herring. I set off to the cows by the flour mill to start leveling combat. I like this place a great deal due to the close deposit boxes up by the gnomecopter thing (I still don't know what it is). I can clear my inventory of cowhides without making the trek to the castle, and if I bring a tinderbox and woodcutting axe, I can cook the meat. Doing this, I can stay here all but indefinately.

The need for food was aparently greatly overestimated, as I ended up depositing most of it to increase the time between drops. My hope is that by the time I reach 10 Attack, 10 Strength, and 20 Defence I'll have enough cowhides to buy Mithril armor and a black battle axe. The battles rage on for hours. Trust me when I say that cowslaying isn't at all as glamorous as it sounds. When all is said and done, I also have 17 Hit Points, 13 Prayer and a combat level of 17. My max hit with a steel battle axe is now 3. I run the cowhides over to the Grand Exchange to see if I have enough for either new armor or a weapon. It turns out that I killed a few more cows than I thought, and it's more than enough, leaving me a bit over 4k.

Chapter 1-Episode 3 Prologue

I was thinking about my current goals, and some things I remember that I've done and I'd like to do a little better. This brought about a bit of a modification in my goals.

On an older character that I had started, I was consistantly interrogated about how I was able to wear a rune platebody at my level (which was somewhere in the neighborhood of 52-54). People were stunned to learn that I had done this quest well before I could even wear a rune platebody (while I don't remember exactly, this would put my combat level between 45-50 at the time of the quest...which by most player's standards simply can't be done).

I decided to have a 40 Defence the next time around. I also decided to make the attempt at least once by combat level 40 (as in a combat level 40, with a 40 Defence). If I forgo training Magic and Ranged, this will allow me to train attack aproximately to 30 (adamant), and Strength to about 25 (depending on how many Hit Points I get along the way). While this is doable, I want to even the odds a bit more with Rings of Recoil (and I so love those things, I really do). While I initially do not want to train Prayer all the way to Protection from Melee (level 43), the above formula will give me enough leway to do so while keeping me well within the parameters of my goal.

To acomodate this, I've removed or altered many of my self imposed restrictions on membership. While before, the levels were based on member's activities, most of the skills that remain, do so now to help accomodate this new goal. Anything else is inconsequential to membership. Undoubtedly, this will also accellerate future goals (i.e. Heroes Quest, Legend's Quest, Dream Mentor), with which I don't have a problem.

To me, "impossible" is merely a high degree of difficulty.

Chapter 1-Episode 3: The Ups and Downs of a Legend

I've had my eye on the Knight's Sword quest for a bit now (it gives a generous chunk of Smithing experience), so I decide to knock that one out of the way. This quest requires you to mine a special (and all but worthless) ore called "Blurite", which only exists in a cave that is overflowing with things that are extremely dangerous to a character with a combat level of 8. The bad thing about this quest is that it's time consuming and entails a lot of walking around (since I don't yet teleport). The good thing is that I'm familiar with the quest, so I know where the hiding places are.

I realize that I'm not able to make iron bars yet (of which I need two...4 if I want a copy of the sword for myself), so I decide to buy them. I also need a redberry pie (which I can now make myself), so i mine enough clay to make 10 pots and pie dishes. This way I'll have some extra food, since I'm down to my last 5 shrimp and cooked meat.

I learn quickly at Barbarian Village that I need a Crafting level of 7 to make pie dishes, so I decide to do Goblin Diplomacy for some quick crafting levels. This means I need to start slaughtering goblins to get goblin armor. I grab my trusty battle axe and get to work.

After the hunt, I end up with an 10 Defence and 13 Hit Points, so I head back to the Grand Exchange to upgrade to the sinister-looking Black Armor. I'm forced to sell my steel set in order to be able to afford it, and while nobody is selling immedately, my bid goes through as I'm gathering the dyes I need for the Goblin Diplomacy quest. I return to Varrock, suit up, and make the journey to Goblin Village. The quest is easy, and since I already have everything I need to finish, it doesn't take long at all. Quest Complete: 200 Crafting exp and a gold bar.

I end up with a Crafting level of 6...about 20 exp short of the 7 I need. I decide to make some extra pots (as these always come in handy) to get what I need. I manage to cook 6 out of the 9 pies, and I head to Falador to start Knight's Sword.

I do most of the major running around, and enter the cave to mine the blurite ore. I get inside, and get the ore without a hitch, but on my way out I get killed by the Ice Warriors guarding the ore. I lose my black legs, helm and my steel pick which I had just recently bought...not to mention the iron bars and ore that I had just mined. A bit of a setback, but I've recovered from far worse. I teleport out of there on the second attempt, and head to Al Kharid to get some more iron. After some friendly assistance from another player, I'm on my way back to Thurgo to get the sword. After taking the sword to the squire in Falador, Quest Complete: 12,725 Smithing Exp (Smithing level: 30).

I need to get a new set of legs for Demon Slayer (plus, I'd like to get a new steel pick), so I mine some iron in Rimmington to make some iron bars to sell. I end up with about 16 bars, which is plenty enough to buy the legs, and a steel pick to boot.

Having finished recouping my loss from earlier, I set my sights on Demon Slayer, which I start since I'm already there. This is another quest with a lot of running around in order to grab 3 keys to get a demon killing sword. The first key is easy, but i struggle a bit with the key in the sewers when I take a wrong turn and end up in an area with aggressive spiders. While they come close to killing me, they failed. Now I need 25 bones to get the third key, so I head back to Lumbridge to kill some giant rats (since there are rats in the swamp near where the key is). I choose rats because I can use the meat to make meat pies when my cooking level is high enough. Killing rats not only gives me 25 bones, but a 15 Defence and 14 Hit Points.

With all 3 keys in hand, I start back to Varrock to get the Silverlight, and kill Delrith. The major problem facing me is that there is a swarm of dark wizards hanging about, and they'll do their best to murder me. Food is another problem, as I only have 4 shrimp and 5 redberry pies left. I stop to do some fishing in Lumbridge. While shrimp are pretty much bottom of the barrel as far as food goes, my reasoning is that if I have a lot, I should be able to make easy work of the upcomming encounter. I end up with 25 shrimp, Fishing level 6 and Cooking level 15.

I ended up fighting the two level 7 dark wizards before I found out that you can hide behind the altar, which is what I did from the level 20 dark wizard. I had trouble hitting pretty much anything (and used 3 redberry pies and 23 shrimp), but eventually I killed Delrith and sent him back from whence he came. Quest Complete: Silverlight.

All that work for a sword which is not quite as good as the steel battle axe I already have.

Chapter 1-Episode 2: The Riddle of Steel

Now having a 5 Defence, the lure of a shiny set of steel armor is just too much to resist. So I set out from the cows north of Lumbridge to the Grand Exchange in Varrock. My primary concern at the moment is cost, as I only have a couple hundred gp. The bad news is that it costs about 2.5k-2.8k gp. I decide to sell the cow hides, and I make enough money for the set, with almost 1k left over!

Emboldened by my new armor, I decide to take on the Stronghold of Security to get the boots, and a generous chunk of gp. At lower levels this is a risky undertaking, but I've done it before with skillers so I grab my food and make the trip. I, of course, forgot to set my security questions, so at the end of the first level, I have to log out to do that. I got hit a lot on level 2, so I banked the 5k I had so far, as well as my shiny new armor. While I took a few hits on the last level, I managed to make it to the end and get my boots and a total of 10k gp.

With my finances secure for the time being, I headed back to the Grand Exchange in Varrock to see about a decent amulet. Since there are no amulets of strength for sale, I get an amulet of power (+6 to Att, Str, and Def), which may be a better choice anyways. Combat kit complete!

And the Riddle of Steel has been solved.

Chapter 1-Episode 1: A noob is born...

April 26, 2008/1:55 pm

Tutorial Island: Finished.
Starting equipment:
25 gp
bronze axe
tinderbox
small net
1 shrimp (cooked)
1 empty bucket
1 empty pot
1 loaf of bread

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Fresh off tutorial island, our hero Wrthlss has yet to meet or even interact with anyone. Spam floods the air above my head as I make my way to the top floor of Lumbridge Castle. I head to the bank to unload my basic survival kit, and plan my next move.

I glance at my current quest goals, and decide to knock a couple of easy quests off that list. I decide to do Cook's Assistant and Restless Ghost back to back.

Cook's Assistant/Sheep Shearer: A simple gather-some-items-and-bring-them-back quest. I need to find a pot of flour, a bucket of milk, and an egg so the Duke's cook can make a cake. While running up by the mill north of Lumby, I decide to stop in and talk to Farmer Fred and start the Sheep Shearer quest.

I get the egg, milk and flour, and start shearing sheep, when confusion about these sheep's gender spurs an epic battle between a ram and myself. While I defeat the ram with my bare hands (forgot to bring a weapon), I lose all but one of my HP. I manage to get 24 pieces of wool and head back to the cook. Quest Complete: 300 Cooking Exp (Cooking level: 4), but I lost my bucket and pot.

I head upstairs for a bit to spin the wool into balls, and head back to Fred. Quest Complete: 150 Crafting Exp (Crafting level: 3), 60 Gp.

I head back to the bank and drop off my cash, and grab my bronze sword and wooden shield. I make my way to the temple to start Restless Ghost. I've decided to try and fight the skeleton, so I stop to fish some shrimp on the way. I go back to cook them at the castle, since that stove has less chance of burning food (Fishing level: 4, Cooking level: 8, 11 out of 27 shrimp burnt). While I officially fought the skeleton, it left before either of us could die. I return the skull and Quest Complete: 1125 Prayer Exp (Prayer Level: 9), Amulet of Ghostspeak.

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Delrith (Demon Slayer Quest) is my primary goal, and before I tangle with him, I need some better protection. I decide to mine and smith a bit to get some bronze pieces (since I can't afford better). I decide on level 11 for bronze chain (which will give me a better weapon and a shield as well), so I need to smith 71 bars of bronze. Despite being crowded, the people are somewhat civil...if not indifferent.

Mining was really slow, so I decided to sell the emerald I just got and buy a steel pickaxe. I figure since I'm in Varrock, I'll smith the 27 bars I've acquired so far. I buy a hammer, I go though the Grand Exchange Tutorial, and after selling the gem and the items I smithed, I have a grand total of 1,056 gp. A rumor sends me back to Lumby to buy a new pick, after i come up empty handed at the Grand Exchange. The rumor about Bob turns out false, so I make the long trip to the dwarven mines to buy my pick.

Of course...I need a 5 Attack to wield it, so I decide to head to the cows in Lumby to get my combat stats up. I decide on the cows because they drop cowhides, and I'll need some for Crafting.

Gear: bronze scimitar, wooden shield, bronze medium helm, woodcutting axe, tinderbox.

The cows are crowded, so I head to the flour mill. This is better, since I can use the deposit boxes by the gnomecopters. Attack level 5 comes quickly, with consequential Firemaking 3, Cooking 9 and Prayer 10. I then return to finish my mining/smithing task and end up smithing 56 more bronze bars (Mining level: 16, Smithing Level: 11 and 288 gp). This puts the Knight's Sword quest well within reach.

I decide to upgrade to a steel weapon, and decide to deviate from the norm and buy a steel battle axe (instead of the commonplace scimitar) from Bob in Lumby before heading over to the cows to even my melee stats out. The axe turns out to be a worthy investment, as I do more damage now (a whole 2 points). I get my Strength and Defence both to 5, with incidental levels in Firemaking and Cooking.

And thus, a noob is born...