It's time to uncover the secrets of Ice Mountain in our new free-to-play quest! We've also tweaked Tempoross and souped-up the seedbox. Read on for more!
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Below Ice Mountain
Willow, an energetic archaeologist (perhaps suspiciously so) is hunting for her next big discovery. She believes she has found the entrance to ancient underground ruins just to the west of Ice Mountain. There's a catch though - it's sealed tight and she needs to re-unite her old crew to help her break in.
Naturally, she has to stay close to the ruins (south of Ice Mountain, near the Dwarven Mines) in order to lay claim to the find. It therefore falls to you to bring her rag-tag group back together for one last caper and a final big pay-off!
Willow waiting for a gullib... err, we mean a brave adventurer!
Burntof is an old dwarf with a penchant for demolition, Checkal is a well-built lifter of heavy things and Marley is a cunning thief with a knack for disarming traps.
A lifter, a thief and a dwarf walk into a bar...
Together, they have the talents it will take to gain entry to the secret ruins. But persuading them might not be easy. See, the gang aren't all too keen on working with Willow again, and her intentions might not be as honourable as she claims...
Requirements and Rewards
[expand type=spoiler]This is a novice quest aimed at free-to-play adventurers, so there aren't many requirements. You'll need 16 Quest Points to get started, and 10 Mining will definitely come in handy for a tricky encounter, but is by no means necessary. Completing the quest will yield the following rewards:
- 1 Quest Point
- 2,000 Coins
- Access to the Ice Mountain Dungeon
You'll also be able to flex those muscles with a whole new emote courtesy of Checkal! Hwuargh!
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Ice Mountain Dungeon
Once the quest is complete, you'll have access to the dungeon below Ice Mountain. These ruins are packed with lore, but we're keeping those cards very close to our chest for the moment. Read on for a spoiler-free guide to what awaits:
Activities In The Ruins
Within the ruins is a great forge powered using Barronite, a unique material that can only found there. Somebody within the ruins believes it is their duty to keep the forge lit, lest the flame be diminished forever. This somebody is perhaps a few years past their prime and, with failing eyesight, will reward anybody who helps to gather vital Barronite...
There are a range of rewards for handing over the Barronite, most notable of which is access to the Vault. What's so exciting about this Vault? Well, it contains many treasures belonging to the old inhabits of the ruins, and they are all yours for the taking! However, to get the lock open you'll need to offer Barronite every time you want to enter.
Barronite can be gathered while skilling within the ruins, so you'll be gaining XP as you go. The activities available are primarily aimed at low-ish level free-to-play adventurers with the intention of filling notable gaps in free-to-play skilling. Let's take a look at some of them:
Religious Offerings (Prayer)
The caves deep below Ice Mountain are home to various rare cave fish. In ancient times, it was tradition for these fish to be used as religious offerings.
Here cave fishy fishy!
Players can offer cave fish within the ruins to train their Prayer skill. You'll need to perform the same ritual used by the long-departed inhabitants of the ruins:
Step 1: Fishing
Players will either need a small net, big net or fishing rod to catch cave fish within the ruins.
[table]
[tr][th]Fish[/th][th]Fishing Level[/th][th]Equipment[/th][th]Free-to-play[/th][/tr][tr][td]Raw Guppy[/td][td]7[/td][td]A small net[/td][td]YES[/td][/tr][tr][td]Raw Cavefish[/td][td]20[/td][td]A small net[/td][td]YES[/td][/tr][tr][td]Raw Tetra[/td][td]33[/td][td]A small net[/td][td]YES[/td][/tr][tr][td]Raw Catfish[/td][td]46[/td][td]A big net[/td][td]NO[/td][/tr][/table]
Players will also sometimes find Barronite when fishing. Plus, there's a rare chance of catching a Barronite Handle (see below). The fish caught here cannot be traded.
There are a few cave eel to be found (members only). They can't be used as an offering, but are a source of food. You'll also have a chance to receive the Heron pet when fishing for cave eels.
Step 2: Cooking
With fish in your net, players will need to head to one of the old preparation tables with a knife. But be careful how you cook, budding chefs - it's possible to mess up and ruin the fish. The chance of failure is dependent on your Cooking level, so bring your culinary A-game!
[table]
[tr][th]Fish[/th][th]Cooking Level[/th][th]Free-to-play[/th][/tr][tr][td]Guppy[/td][td]7[/td][td]YES[/td][/tr][tr][td]Cavefish[/td][td]20[/td][td]YES[/td][/tr][tr][td]Tetra[/td][td]33[/td][td]YES[/td][/tr][tr][td]Catfish[/td][td]46[/td][td]NO[/td][/tr][/table]
The prepared fish cannot be traded.
Step 3: Prayer
With your fish prepared, it's time to make an offering at an ancient altar and train that Prayer skill!
Golem Cores
The old inhabitants of the ruins controlled Golems, programming them to do many tasks. The Golems were fuelled by runic energies and imbued with the power of the Body and Mind altars. It was hoped that they would one day become more self-sufficient and be freed of the requirement for programming - but the magical arts are never predictable. The unstable energies of the nearby Chaos altar slowly seeped in the Golem Cores, corrupting them and filling them with uncontrollable power. The dangerous Golems were sealed away in the ruins for good.
These look tougher than a Graveler!
Players can hunt and kill Golems within the ruins. When defeated, they will sometimes drop their corrupted Cores, which can be used at the relevant Runecraft altar to gain XP and runes.
Step 1: Combat
Players can find the following golems in the ruins:
[table]
[tr][th]Name[/th][th]Level[/th][th]Notable Drops[/th][th]Free-to-play[/th][/tr][tr][td]Flawed Golem[/td][td]13[/td][td]None[/td][td]YES[/td][/tr][tr][td]Mind Golem[/td][td]30[/td][td]Mind Core[/td][td]YES[/td][/tr][tr][td]Body Golem[/td][td]50[/td][td]Body Core[/td][td]YES[/td][/tr][tr][td]Chaos Golem[/td][td]70[/td][td]Chaos Core[/td][td]NO[/td][/tr][/table]
Killing golems will sometimes yield Barronite, too, and there's a rare chance they'll drop a Barronite Pommel (see below). Golem cores cannot be traded.
Step 2: Runecrafting
Players can use the Cores to train their Runecraft skill, offering them at the relevant Runecraft altar for XP and runes. Each Core offers more XP and runes than a single essence, meaning fewer trips to the altar. However, this benefit is offset by the time it takes to obtain the Cores.
Gathering Relics (Mining and Smithing)
Players can mine Barronite rocks to find (you guessed it) Barronite and (you guessed it again) Barronite deposits. These deposits can be smelted down to gain additional Barronite and Ancient Relics.
C'ore blimey... how long has this been here?!
Step 1 - Mining
Barronite rocks can be tackled at 15 Mining. Mining here will work similarly to the upper-level ore veins in Motherlode Mine (ensuring the rocks can be worked in groups).
Players will get around 25 XP per Barronite mined, and finding a deposit will yield some additional XP.
Step 2 - Smithing
Players with 15 Smithing can break down Barronite deposits with a hammer at anvils, and obtain various items:
- Barronite (common)
- Ancient Relic (uncommon)
- Barronite Head (rare)
- Broken Barronite Hammer (rare + members-only)
Ancient Relics can be handed in at the Varrock Museum for coins. In addition, members also get Kudos for the first Relic they hand in! The Barronite Head and Broken Barronite Hammer, meanwhile, can be made into new items (see below).
When Smithing, players will get around 500 XP per deposit. We're expecting players to Smith between 10-20 deposits per hour.
The Vault
The Vault is buried deep within the ruins - just hand in your Barronite to gain access! As we mentioned above, it was used by the ancient inhabitants of the ruins to store treasure, so it's well worth a gander. But there's a catch. Each payment of Barronite allows just one entry, and players only get a limited time inside before they are forced out by the ancient security systems.
Simply a-MAZE-ing!
The Vault itself is maze-like, and home to many chests. Players have one minute to loot as many chests as possible and then reach the exit. If the player doesn't make it out in time, all the precious bounty will be lost!
Making things even more challenging, the locations of chests - and the loot within them - will be randomised. Similarly, doors will at times be blocked off, forcing the player to think fast and dash down alternative paths.
Players will be able to stack Barronite payments to make Vault entry more convenient. For example, a player could pay for 20 entries in a single transaction. Smooth.
Other Rewards
In addition to all of the above, the ruins offer new and unique rewards! Snag yourself one of these:
Barronite Mace
An untradeable mace that was once used by the ancient inhabitants of the ruins. Players need to find three components:
- Barronite Handle - found while hunting for cave fish
- Barronite Pommel - dropped by Golems when killed
- Barronite Head - found while breaking down Barronite deposits
Smash your way through golems with the Barronite Mace!
Once you have all three components, a character within the ruins will tell you how to combine them to finish the Barronite Mace (you'll also need some Barronite, obviously - the clue's in the name!). The Mace is positioned slightly below the Rune Scimitar. It's a useful crush weapon for low to mid levels, and requires 40 Attack.
This Mace also comes with a unique effect - it's a golembane weapon. That means it will provide extra accuracy and damage when fighting Golems!
As the item is untradeable it will behave similarly to items like the Fire Cape on death.
Dwarven Hammer
This is a members-only, untradeable hammer that was once used as Smithing equipment by ancient dwarves. It's been a while since it's been much use to anyone, so you will first need to find the busted version while breaking down Barronite deposits. A character within the ruins will tell you how to repair it.
Stop, hammer time!
It will function as a normal hammer when skilling, but because it can be equipped in the main-hand, it frees up an inventory slot. Note that the hammer has no combat stats when equipped.
Ruins Area Buffs
Players will also be able to spend Barronite to unlock various buffs and effects that work only within the ruins:
- Increased catch rate for fishing
- Decreased failure chance when preparing fish
- Reduced damage from golem attacks
- Increased chance of obtaining Barronite deposits
- Increased chance of finding mace components and the broken hammer
- A one hour buff to the dungeon that increases the success chance of all activities
Frog... that is all.
And that's everything for Below Ice Mountain and our new free-to-play dungeon area. We can't wait for you to delve deep into the mysteries of these strange and wonderful ruins. What will you uncover?
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Tempoross Updates
Items that require setting up (e.g. Dwarf Cannon, Mithril seeds, Hunting Box, etc) can no longer be used on the Tempoross lobby ship. You can no longer light fires here either.
Fishing XP may now be gained in Tempoross encounters on W45.
Players can no longer stall to run through fires.
Points from dousing fires and fixing totem poles have doubled from 20 to 40. Get splashing!
The tackle box can now be used to store the Pearl Barbarian Rod, Tiny Net, Molch Pearls, Merfolk Trident, Dark Flippers and all variants of the Trailblazer Harpoon.
Stackable fish can no longer be stored in the fish barrel.
Angler and Spirit Angler outfits are now separated in Player Owned Houses.
The messaging when subduing Tempoross has been slightly tweaked.
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Other News
Seedbox Improvements
While we were discussing the bolt pouch design, the team noted that the seedbox isn't behaving right on death in the Wilderness. Upon death to an NPC, the seed box would drop to the ground with all of its contents still stored. If the player died below level 20 Wilderness, it would drop to the ground, along with all of its contents. If the player died above level 20 Wilderness, it would be dropped as 1 coin and all of its contents would be destroyed.
It will now behave as follows:
- PVM death below 20 in Wilderness: the container and contents go to the gravestone.
- PVM death above 20 in Wilderness: the container is destroyed but the contents can be preserved within the next container acquired.
PvP deaths act the same way regardless of location. The pouch is destroyed and its contents awarded to the PKer.
PvP World Rota
The PvP world rota has moved to Period B.
- The host for the High-Risk PvP world will be W337 (US East)
- The host for the Standard PvP world will be W325 (UK)
- The host for the free-to-play PvP world will be W371 (UK)
- The members-only LMS world will be W492 (US East)
- The free-to-play LMS world will be W326 (UK)
Extras - For Ironmen, certain slayer monsters' loot and XP will be discredited if a player hits a 0. This is to discourage the use of alternate accounts to speed up the efficiency of certain tasks.
- Nightmare drop calculations will now factor in the total contribution that is present when the boss dies. This is to prevent boosting of drops.
- After an egg-ventful Eastdoor, Gregg has returned to doing... whatever it is that human-sized rabbits do.
- You can now use the Twisted or Trailblazer Cane emotes directly from the emotes interface (as long as you have a set of tier 3 relic hunter on your Leaguehall's outfit stand in your Player Owned House).
- The Iron Dragon in the Soul Wars dungeon has been moved closer to the rune ore spot to prevent botters from getting there without a fight.
- Brimhaven graceful pieces will now be counted within the Collection Log.
- Players can now search for all boss categories in the Collection Log.
- The Dragon Harpoon will now always consume 100% of the special attack power.
- Zuriel's staff now gives its Ancient Magicks buffs in Last Man Standing.
- The Undead Zealot in Mort'ton has more cosmetic variation.
- Some more shields have been updated to prevent them from disrupting players' walking animations.
- A typo has been fixed in the Settings menu.
- A typo has been fixed in Istoria's dialogue.
- Some grammatical errors have been corrected in drake combat messages.
That's everything for this week's game update! We'd love to hear your feedback so please let us know what you think via our official forums, on the 2007Scape Reddit, or the community-led OSRS Discord in the #gameupdate channel.
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Mods Acorn, Arcane, Archie, Argo, Ash, Ayiza, Banjo, Boko, Bonsai, Brow, Bruno, Curse, Daizong, Deagle, Dibber, Ditto, Dylan, Ed, Elena, Errol, Fed, Flippy, Gecko, Gee, Grub, Halo, Husky, Jndr, John C, Kandosii, Katies, Kieren, Kirby, Lenny, Light, Lottie, Mack, Maylea, MikeD, Morty, Nasty, Nin, Oasis, Roq, Ry, Sarnie, Squid, Steve W, Sween, Tide, Vegard, West, Wolfy & Zuko
The Old School Team
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