Summoning Goal Reached!

Finally:

This, coupled with my 75 Farming have opened the door for two long term goals:  99 Woodcutting and 99 Fletching.  With the Hydra's scrolls I can re-grow my planted Magic trees instantly.  No more wilderness woodcutting, no more competing for resources.  But that's for the future.

Coincidentally, I reached another goal that I wasn't actively working on:

Runite ore is the best ore there is to mine.  While I can't quite smith it yet, it still sells for about 16k per ore.

Next on the list:

Obviously, the "All Skills 75+" goal is next on my plate.  While I was a fan on Hunter in the past, I had been having difficulty getting back into it.  Imp boxes (71 Hunter) was hard enough for me to get, and I was having some trouble trying to figure out how to handle this.

One thing that is kind of breaking me out of my rut is the new-ish group of hunting animals in the elf land.  While I can't catch Grenwall yet, I can catch their bait:  Pawya.  So I gave it a shot...

Unlike any other hunter animal that you catch with box traps, bait is REQUIRED.  And the bait isn't cheap, either.  Papayas have been on the rise thanks to the new "extreme" potions (Grenwall quills is an ingredient for one of them).  And I quickly learned that you lose a lot of bait.

It's hard not to notice players using the Fruit Bat familiars.  Anyone who's played has seen this.  The constant sound of the scrolls being used and bananas, lemons, limes and other fruit littering the ground everywhere is usually a dead giveaway.  When asked why, everyone who's doing it will tell you:  "I'm making money."  And the only fruit that is currently worth going through hours of clicking for is:  PAPAYAS.

So, having never used a Fruit Bat familiar before, I bought back 100 of the pouches I've sold, converted most into scrolls and set to work.  First thing I noticed is that you get a papaya every time it drops fruit.  So I started keeping track of what I spent Vs. what I'm "making" (I'm not really making any money since I'm not selling it).

The profit is high.  And when I say it's high, I mean:  "WHOA MAMA!"  I don't have any solid numbers on this yet, but I will soon, and I'll post the result here.  But so far, I'm up 500k gp.

I'm currently in the process of figuring up some percentages on profitability, as well as bait loss ratios when catching Pawya.  I'll post them once I've got them.

One final note today:  that Ardougne Achievement Diary Elite task list is really bugging me, so I've decided to gradually work on Smithing.  Summoning will come soon enough (as soon as I get back to Slayer).  Progress will be slow, and I maintain no illusions about getting it any day soon, but I am working on it when I can.  Gold ore with the Crafting Gauntlets from the Family Crest quest currently seems like the way to go, but I may mix it up with Adamant bars from GWD.

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 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...

Chapter 2-Episode 12: Power training for Heroe's Quest

The life of a quest noob is somewhat boring on many occasions...expecially when you like to rush things like I do. I am pressing on towards Heroe's Quest, and I need some skill levels. I need 4 levels of Mining, 7 levels of Fishing and 8 levels of cooking.

I take on the mining first. I decide to take the shortest route there and mine gold, and since my Construction level isn't 50 yet (so no demon butler), I decide the best place to mine would be under the volcano in Karajima. There are only 4 rocks here, but their closeness to the bank makes them a very good second option.

Because of my level, the bats still harass me here. This proves to only be a minor inconvenience, and I only have to kill a few of them.

Gold mined: 474 (50 Mining)

I decided to fish lobsters to increase both my Fishing and Cooking skills. I need 610 cooked lobsters to get 53 Cooking, so seeing as how I'm very likely to burn a few, that should be more than enough for 53 Fishing.

Lobsters cooked: 569 (already had 106)
Lobsters burnt: 212
Total fished: 781
Levels: 53 Fishing, 52 Cooking

To make up some cooking experience, I do all the parts of Recipe for Disaster quest that I currently can. This includes the start, and saving the Goblin Generals and Pirate Pete. I doubt it will be enough, but I do want to get this quest started for many reasons. I gather my shopping list:

Eye of Newt*
Rotten Tomato (3)
Greenman's Ale (3)
2 Lemons (2)
2 Oranges (1 sliced) (2)
Pineapple (2)
Cocktail Glass (2)
Cocktail Shaker (2)
Ashes (4)
Charcoal*
Spice (or Gnome Spice) (2)
Water (3)
2 Bread (2)
Green, Blue or Purple Dye (4)
3 Bronze Wires (4)
Fishbowl*
Raw Cod*
Knife (1)
1 Fishing Bait (1)
Mortar and Pestle (1)
Needle (1)

(1) is stuff I already had in the bank.
(2) is stuff I acquired or acquired the materials to make at the Gnome Stronghold.
(3) is stuff I acquired in Yannelle
(4) is stuff I acquired or made in or on the way to Ardougne.

* I fished a raw cod myself at Catherby, and the Eye of Newt, charcoal and fishbowl I bought on the Grand Exchange.

I do the first part, and set out to save Pirate Pete and the Goblin Generals in a single trip. I talk to the cook about fishcakes, and then gather up my needed items and head off to goblin village via Burthorpe Games Room. Once I have the Slop of Compromise, I teleport to Castle Wars, and bank everything but my rune battle axe, 3 bronze wire, a needle and my fishbowl, and head to Port Kazzard.

(28 Farming, 39 Crafting)

This cuts me down to needing 2.5k experience for 53 Cooking. I return to Catherby and 1 load of Lobsters gets me 53 Cooking.

I don't need much for Merlin's Crystal (a loaf of bread) and I make that at Ardougne. The quest sends me to Falador and back, but it doesn't take me long to finish it. Quest Complete: 6 Quest Points, Excalabur.

I head over to Varrock and start Shield of Arrav. I decided to join the Phoenix gang (with the benefit of hindsight, this wasn't a good idea...which I'll explain later). I head through my whole half of the quest, turning in my shield half and getting 2 certificate halves (the same half). I then post on the "Find a Shield of Arrav Partner" sticky. It takes about 20-30 minutes, but I find a partner (Grim Veteran). It only takes a few minutes to finish the quest. Quest Complete: 1 Quest Point, 600 gp.

All obstacles have been removed...

Chapter 2-Episode 10: Slayer Training

There's nothing really exciting about training slayer, so this will just be a short hint and an assignment log (which I'll probably replace on a separate site).

First thing about slayer is that you'll undoubtedly need food. So, if you don't have a good fishing and/or cooking skill, Slayer will be a very expensive hobby. I can catch and cook rainbow fish, and have plenty of stripy feathers to catch them, hopefully enough to get me to lobsters. My plan is to fish and cook rainbow fish until I can catch and cook lobsters, then after I have about 200 or so I'll to slayer assignments until I run out of food.

Fairy Rings are also very helpful on slayer assignments, as many of the locations of these monsters are out of the way. And being close to a fairy ring means you're close to a bank if you have a Dramen staff. This is why I always carry one.

Assignment: 88 Shades/13 Slayer, 39 Attack, 37 Hit Points, 47 Combat Level
Assignment: 68 Hill Giants/22 Slayer, 40 Attack, 45 Defence, 38 Hit Points, 24 Prayer, 48 Combat Level
Assignment: 11 Vampires/36 Strength, 39 Hit Points, 49 Combat Level
Assignment: 110 Rock Slugs/26 Slayer, 47 Defence

After the shades, I mined 144 iron and sold them to buy a rune battleaxe. I didn't need it yet, but I was 1 level away from 40 Attack.

Before taking on the rock slugs, I trained my Herblore up to the point to where I could make Anti-Poison potions. Lumbridge Swamp Caves have numerous poisonous creatures. I also did Lost Tribe quest to make it easier to get into the caves (Quest Complete: 3,000 Mining [46 Mining]).

I saw my first double digit hit today as well.

Tips for Slayer:

Use a slayer gem occasionally. Pay attention to which slayer master is talking to you. They will provide the assignments that are more appropriate for a person of your level. Even if you don't use it while on assignments, you should still use it to see who's talking to you.

Use good food, and optimize their effects. The better the food, the longer you can stay out there fighting. Know how much your food heals, and never eat before your hit points drop that many.

Know the monsters you're fighting. Know what their max hit is, how many hit points they have, and if they're more vulnerable to a certain type of attack. Knowing this, you'll be able to judge how long an assignment will take, the best type of food to use, and how best to fight them. You should also make sure you don't need special equipment to fight them.

Know your Slayer areas. Know the lay out, and know what monsters are where and what they can do to you. Lumbridge caves in particular can be quite treacherous if you're not prepared. Some areas also have agility shortcuts that take you past dangerous slayer monsters. It's not a totally bad idea to take any special equipment for mosters you may have to pass, in case you accidentally attack one or they turn out to be hostile. Keep in mind that, while most slayer monsters won't attack you, there are some really nasty ones that will (abhorant specters and dark beasts in particular).

Know the outlying area. Sometimes there are spots for you to restock your food supplies (i.e. fishing spots or food animals like cows). While these spots may not provide top notch food, if you plan it right, you could save yourself a trip to the bank. To make better use of these areas, make sure to bring any tools you may need (fishing equipment, axe & tinderbox, ect).

Chapter 1-Episode 14: Slay, Be Slain, or Run Away...

Today is a good day. Membership! And...I noticed that at some point my old home world 60 has returned from the brink of oblivion (it was gone for many, many months). Breathless, and a bit nervous, I enter my beautiful, larger (way larger) world.

I start with my plan, but things prove to be difficult from the very start. No potions or rings are for sale for any price. My grandioise plan didn't take this into account.

So, while I wait (and think), I head over to gnome stronghold to train agility up to 25 (at 25 I can use the Skullball course...and I really hate the gnome stronghold). I don't have to wait long for my sales to go through. Now all that is left is the food. Before I head back to Varrock, I grab 3 planks from the Barbarian Outpost, since I'll need them in the quest.

Now my problem is money. For 22 tuna and corn potatos, I need about 30k. I have a bit over 9k, so it's time for my smithing manufacturing business to start up again. I buy 48 coal to get started.

While walking to the GE to sell my bars, an idea strikes me. I'm going to price rings of forging, and buy some of those. This way I can make more iron bars...which sell for about what I make off the steel ones. I put up an offer for 13, and wait about about 20 minutes before I get the message that my offer has been updated. With rings in hand, I head to Ardougne to use some of my larger new world. I use up two rings, and sell the bars. Another small hitch is that nobody is selling tuna potatos. My second, and almost as good, choice is sharks, which comes through immedately. I'm now ready.

I talk to the Guildmaster, who sends me to Ozariac, who gives me a quest and sends me back to the Guildmaster. I ask about everything, get my key, and set out to find the map pieces. First I head to Ice Mountain and talk to the oracle. From there I head to the Port Sarim jail, stopping in Falador on the way, where I buy a wizard mind bomb and grab some needed gear (a pick, a bucket, and 12k). I head to the jail and buy the first map piece. It's about here where it hits me...

Before I get to that dragon, I have to kill a demon (keep in mind that I have done this quest several times, so I don't need to use a guide for it. I simply forgot about it). Which means I'm all but guaranteed to get a Hit Point level. This may make me combat level 37, which I'd rather avoid. I'm suddenly glad I bought extra food and rings. But first, I head over to the mine in Rimmington and mine a piece of clay. I fill my bucket at the well and make soft clay. Now, I go back to the bank to grab some food and rings.

As expected, the Hit Point level is inevidible. Another problem looming on the horizion is the fact that I have to kill so many monsters to find keys that I have a Defence level approaching rapidly. Fortunately, I kill the demon long before that level gets here. As I leave, I head over to the docks and buy the Lady Lumbridge for 2k.

I didn't gather materials prior to the quest, so I have to do that now before I can get any farther. I have the clay, but I still need to turn it into an unfired bowl...plus I need a sheet of silk, a wizard mind bomb, and a lobster pot. I only had enough for the ship when I left Melzar's Maze, so I didn't bother to stop by the fishing shop to get a lobster pot. So I use one of my extra Teletabs to go to Varrock and try the GE. My luck is changing, and I find the pot instantly. I take that and head to Barbarian Village to make the bowl. I use my dueling ring to go to Al Kharid, and buy the silk. Then it's a long walk to Ice Mountain, where I use these items to get my final map piece.

I assemble the map at the bank in Falador, and head to Draynor to see Ned. I talk him into sailing my ship, and he tells me he'll meet me there.

The moment of truth: to Crandor! The trip is uneventful...asside from the occasional dragon, flaming cabin boy, and crashing into islands. I head to the cave, and rush into the dragon's lair. The battle is a bit long, but far from difficult. The rings make all the difference. I decapitate the Dragon with plenty of food to spare.

Quest Complete: 18,650 exp for Strength and Attack, 2 Quest Points, Ability to wear Rune Platebodies (35 Strength, 44 Defence). I overshoot my combat level 40 goal by 2 whole combat levels. But it's still within the range of both my chapter 1 goals!

From the day Wrthlss Noob was created to right now, it has been less than 1 week by about 30 hours. From 25 gp and a wooden shield to full rune...and I'm even able to wear it by the time I'm Combat Level 42. And by doing this I've dispelled a commonly accepted myth: you can't make money with nooby levels. This is completely false, as I was making plenty of money 5 minutes after I got to Lumbridge.

Chapter 1 Complete.

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 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 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...