Old School RuneScape News

[h2]Hotfixes and Changes - June 9th[/h2]

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Can you believe it? We're officially 150 quests old! Read on for everything you need to know about the launch of A Kingdom Divided, including a deep dive into the brand new Arceuus Spellbook. We've also got the goss on our Shayzien rework, competition winners and changes to the Chambers of Xeric!

Before we start, a quick note: upon login, any players currently in Kourend will be teleported to the Castle, due to substantial mapping changes. More on that below…

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[h2]A Kingdom Divided[/h2]

Well, here we are. The next chapter in the Great Kourend storyline and the 150th Old School Runescape quest: A Kingdom Divided is out now!

A brief message from Mod Ed:

"We first announced this quest back at RuneFest 2019, but for me, the journey has been much longer. I wrote the first draft of A Kingdom Divided all the way back in mid-2017, alongside drafts for the five Kourend house quests. After four years of waiting, it’s a joy to finally share this story with you all. I hope you enjoy it as much as the team and I enjoyed creating it."

Great Kourend: a land of wealth, comfort and security. Across its five cities, the people of this Kingdom work to bring peace and prosperity. However, all is not as it seems. Beneath this delicate façade lies an uncomfortable truth: the kingdom of Great Kourend is A Kingdom Divided.

Since the death of the last king, Great Kourend has been ruled by the Kourend Council. Under the watchful gaze of the Council, Kourend has enjoyed a golden age of progression. But not all of its citizens are happy, and, spurred by the recent arrest of Councillor Sophia Hughes, allegations of corruption are growing.

However, the political games of the Council may be the least of Kourend’s concerns. A darker power is gathering in the Kingdom - one that could change the face of Gielinor forever...

Start this quest by speaking to Martin Holt, who can be found protesting in Kingstown, near Kourend Castle.

[h3]Requirements & Rewards (SPOILER WARNING!)[/h3]
[expand] To complete A Kingdom Divided you'll need to have finished the following quests:

• Client of Kourend
  
  • X Marks the Spot
• The Depths of Despair
  
• The Queen of Thieves
  
• The Ascent of Arceuus
  
• The Forsaken Tower
  
• Tale of the Righteous
  
• Architectural Alliance

You'll also need the following skill levels (cannot be boosted):

• 54 Agility
  
• 52 Thieving
  
• 52 Woodcutting
  
• 50 Herblore
  
• 42 Mining
  
• 38 Crafting
  
• 35 Magic

Upon completion of the quest you'll be rewarded with:

• 2 Quest Points
  
• 10,000 XP Lamp
  
• New Arceuus spells
  
• Kourend Castle respawn point
  
• Your Kharedst's Memoirs changing into the Book of the Dead (+6 Magic attack & +3 Prayer bonus when equipped)
  
• 20 additional Book of the Dead charges

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[previewyoutube]INSERT LAUNCH TRAILER[/previewyoutube]

We'd like to give a big shoutout to Mods Grace, Slippers and Surma for their audio contributions to A Kingdom Divided, as we can't wait for you to hear the sweet sounds they included with quest 150.

You'll be able to get up to speed with all the Kourend lore by checking out our original newspost which features Postie Pete's return, the complete collection of Kourend Chronicles and more!

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[h2]Arceuus Spells Rework[/h2]



Complete A Kingdom Divided and you'll gain access to the full contents of the new Arceuus Spellbook. Whether you want to clean all your herbs in one swoop or raise the dead, this book has got it all! Just goes to show that reading really does broaden the mind...

[h3]Full list of spells - click to expand[/h3]
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As always, we refer to the in-game timings as cycles. Each cycle is equal to 0.6 seconds and is also commonly referred to as a 'tick' by the wider community.

Reanimation Spells

Teleport Spells

Grasp Spells

Demonbane Spells

Corruption Spells

Resurrection Spells

Marking Spells

Offering Spells

Other Spells

Corruption

When a player is corrupted, they will start to lose Prayer points over a short amount of time. After 10 cycles, 1 Prayer point is drained. After another 10 cycles, 2 Prayer points are drained. After a final 10 cycles, 3 Prayer points are drained. If a Mark of Darkness has also been cast, corruption will occur every 5 cycles instead. This new type of damage will be reflected with the new type of hitsplat icon.

Naturally, Corruption spells can only be cast on a player who is not already corrupted. However, there is no cooldown between Corruption expiring and a new Corruption spell being cast. It is not possible to stack multiple Corruption spells on a single player, even within multi-combat zones.
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[h2]Shayzien Rework[/h2]



Working on the next chapter of the Kourend storyline was the perfect opportunity to give one area of Great Kourend a bit of a makeover. Here's a few words from Mod West:

"Back in 2016, one of our players posted their vision of what Great Kourend should have been, and it was met with a lot of praise in the community. Since then we’ve made various efforts in crafting a Great Kourend that players want, and one that holds true to the design philosophies behind the rest of Gielinor.

"Towards the end of 2016, we worked on the coastlines of Great Kourend to create a more natural silhouette, while also fixing the lack of in-land water and establishing a main castle in the center of the kingdom. These changes went a long way in improving the area, but failed to address the issues with its main cities. The crux of the problem was scale: every building was built with walls that were the thickness of a full game tile (~1 meter), which had adverse effects on the creation of buildings, as they now needed to be a lot bigger to accommodate for the larger walls. As a result, each city was far larger than it needed to be, and looked quite odd when compared to other places! To put this into perspective, some of the buildings in Great Kourend are the size of entire towns – that’s not ideal, and we were keen on fixing this issue as well.

"Changing the assets that make up the buildings and layouts of each city, and adding in some much-needed historical world-building (where are my ruins at?!) was a major undertaking, and we knew it would require much more than the handful of weeks we spent on the initial rework. In 2019, we made a start on addressing these issues with the Hosidius rework, which was received very positively by the players – and illustrated how important it was to rework the other four cities.

"Some major issues of the Shayzien area included:

• Tents, tents, tents! How has a 1,000 year old city functioned in seemingly temporary accommodation all this time?
• History? What history? While the area was updated a little with the Chasm of Fire back in 2017, it still had a distinct lack of background. Generally an area this old would have ruins of towns and fortifications, lost to war and time.
• Strange geography – what is this giant flat grassy plateau doing between farmland and swampland? It’s dull and lacks diversity. What are the local flora and fauna? Why do Giants roam outside the largest cemetery ever seen? So many questions that likely don't have answers, to be honest, as there was little thought put in during the initial crafting of Great Kourend.

"With the Shayzien rework, we hope we’ve solved these issues – and even more besides. We encourage you to explore the new city of Shayzien, the war camp and the surrounding outskirts, and we hope you like what you find!"

So what's changing? Firstly, Shayzien will be split in two. To the south, you'll find the city of Shayzien. To the north, the Shayzien Military Camp – both areas will feel very different from one another.

The camp to the north will have a more temporary, chaotic feel. The tents currently used throughout Shayzien will be used for the buildings here.



The city to the south has been given a more permanent and organised feel, to really bring the region to life. The tents have been removed from the city and replaced with brick buildings.



Here's how each piece of content has changed:



[h3]Full list of locations - click to expand[/h3]
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Additions

With the remapping, the following content is now within Shayzien:



[h3]Shops[/h3]

As detailed above, the rework will come with a new archery shop and an expanded clothes shop.

The stock for the archery shop will be:

• Bronze, Iron, Steel, Mithril, Adamant and Rune Arrows
  
• Bronze and Iron Bolts
  
• Oak, Willow, Maple and the Standard Shortbow
  
• Oak, Willow, Maple and the Standard Longbow
  
• Crossbow

The stock for the clothes shop will be:

• Leather body
  
• Leather boots
  
• Leather gloves
  
• Black skirt
  
• Blue skirt
  
• White apron
  
• Brown apron
  
• Chef's hat
  
• Black cape
  
• Blue cape
  
• Red cape
  
• Yellow cape

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Mobs

We've changed the mobs in the vicinity to better reflect their environment, and thrown in three brand new NPCs!

West of Kourend Castle

• Giant Spiders (Level 2)
  
• Giant Rats (Level 3)
  
• NEW - Boar (Level 5)

North-east of Shayzien

• Bandit (Level 22)

South of Graveyard of Heroes

• Zombies (Level 34)
  
• NEW - Necromancer (Level 54)

Ruins of Morra

• NEW - Lynx (Level 64)

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[h2]Further Changes[/h2]



[h3]Ash and the Ash Sanctifier [/h3]

We wanted to make demonic creatures a bit more beneficial, so they now drop different types of ash. You'll be able to scatter ashes to receive Prayer XP (similar to burying bones). Zealot Robes have no effect on demonic ashes, and the ash cannot be offered at Prayer Altars or used at the Ectofuntus. Please note that Superior Slayer will drop the same as their normal equivalent.



The Ash Sanctifier is an untradeable object that lets you automatically scatter ashes, similar to how you bury bones with the Bonecrusher. When scattering this way, you will receive half the amount of Prayer XP you would gain from manual scattering. To unlock this new item, you'll need to complete the Kourend and Kebos Hard Achievement Diary. After completing the Elite Diary, you'll be able to gain 100% of the Prayer XP you would normally.

In order to charge the new item, you'll need to use Death Runes, with each Rune giving you 100 charges (and with the maximum charges set at a memorable 2,147,483,622). Your runes can be returned to you if you uncharge or destroy the item. If this item is lost, you can reclaim it by speaking to Tyss by the Dark Altar.



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[h2]Competition Winners[/h2]

We ran two competitions to celebrate the launch of A Kingdom Divided, and the results are in. We're sure that you had as hard a time deciding the winner of the Login Screen Competition as we did choosing the winner of the Video competition! All of the entries were fantastic, and we'd like to extend our thanks to everyone who took part. Without further ado, let's reveal our winners:

[h3]Login Screen Competition[/h3]

A massive congratulations to Need Plums, with the most voted entry through our in-game poll! Due to the technical constraints of the login screen, Need Plums kindly adapted their original image to include braziers, for the classic fire animation we all love so much:



The other finalists don't go home empty-handed. These talented folks will receive runner-up prizes:

• 2nd Place: Cherrycake4
• 3rd Place: Nancyy
• 4th Place: Parkshinhide

[h3]'The Story So Far' Video Competition[/h3]

After some very close internal voting, the winner of our video competition is Evil Robert. Here's what some of the team said about the vid:

"Great voice acting. Very well presented and shot."

"Professionally made and very good quality. Your voice is amazing!"

Here's the full video, so you can see for yourself. It's a great way to refresh your knowledge of the events leading up to A Kingdom Divided:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtesIDlCq8o

Congratulations to the following runners-up for their sterling work:

• 2nd Place: Good6rief
• 3rd Place: 1yfe
• 4th Place: Wyzdum13

Once again, a huge thanks to everyone who took part in either (or both) competitions. You should be amazingly proud of your entries!

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[h2]Chambers Of Xeric[/h2]



Chambers of Xeric is getting even more love with this update, including a number of quality of life fixes from Poll 75 that will make your raiding experience all the richer:

• You can now disable the level-scaling that happens if you have no players at or above 115 combat in Chambers of Xeric, by talking to Captain Rimor.
  
• A default chest has been added that can hold 25 items (in personal storage only).
  
• Ironmen can now use the shared storage unit on solo raids; Ultimate Ironmen can deposit items to the shared storage, but can't take anything out.
  
• The Olms Fire Wall special attack can now be extinguished using Ancient Ice spells.
  
• Herb patches now yield more herbs in larger raids.
  
• Vasa crystals no longer get the additional 50% defence and health modifier that Challenge Mode bosses gain.
  
• A Raid Party can receive up to six unique rewards from a raid if they earn enough points.
  
• The Challenge Mode Submerged Muttadile damage model has been altered. Minimum damage is now 20% to 80% of its previous max hit, leading to more consistent damage, but with less combo potential.
  
• Points now scale more linearly with combat level, meaning people with certain combat levels no longer receive disproportionately fewer points than they should have.
  
• A Pickaxe spawn has been added to all of the Stone Guardians room.
  
• Vanguards will take pending damage during the transition phase.
  
• Players can now make three tiers of antipoison potions inside of a raid with a Noxifer and a Cicely.

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[h2]PvP World Rota[/h2]
The PvP rota has moved to Period A:

• 539 - (US) - PvP World
  
• 548 - (Germany) - High-Risk PvP World
  
• 577 - (US) - Free-to-Play PvP World
  
• 559 - (UK) - LMS Competitive

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[h2]Extras[/h2]

• Saradomin-themed Theatre of Blood weapons now provide protection from that faction within the God Wars Dungeon.
  
• We've fixed an issue with the Saradomin Scythe visually stretching in some circumstances.
  
• The look of the Saradomin Scythe inventory icon has been improved to better reflect the item itself.
  
• Players can no longer accidentally cast alchemy spells on the XP lamp from A Night at the Theatre.
  
• The quest journal for A Night at the Theatre now clarifies whether or not the player has received their reward.
  
• The Gauntlet tile patterns have been adjusted, as there was a bug that prevented some patterns from ever appearing.
  
• Players can now build cannons inside the Abyssal runecrafting area.
  
• The Fight Pits Diary task can now be completed on Deadman Mode worlds by speaking to the Fight Pit master TzHaar- Mej-Kah.
  
• The pillars at the Clan Hub no longer clip with the fence.
  
• Players may now retrieve the Barrelchest's anchor from Perdu if they lose it after the Barrelchest battle – even if they have not fully completed The Great Brain Robbery.
  
• Thorgel's shopping list now correctly states that he wants Pure Essence, not Rune Essence.

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, 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

Welcome to the Kourend Chronicles, a six-part series of tales from Kourend's murky past! You can see a full list of all the stories so far on our A Kingdom Divided round-up.

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Since Thana’s death I have had much to think about. My usual research has lost its lustre – my every thought is of the Ascent, its mechanisms, and how suddenly it can be snatched away. When we gave up our mortal lives, all those years ago, we were promised forever – so what changed? All this time I believed our immortality was a result of our own ingenuity – and now I learn that we are all bound up with the whims of the Dark Altar and these mysterious ‘Tasakaal’.

The device the adventurer found is just one half of the puzzle. If there’s a chance – any chance – that what happened to Thana might happen again, then I have to know the whole story. And as any good researcher knows, the only way to discover the truth is to find the primary source.

It was with this in mind that I made the decision to climb Mount Karuulm and speak to these ‘Tasakaal’ myself. I knew the journey would not be without its dangers, but I felt myself prepared – it’s not as though I have feet to get tired!

In truth, however, I must report that what lurks upon that mountain is worse than anything I could have imagined – and the danger, I believe, is to everyone in Kourend, and possibly beyond.

The climb began easily enough. I quickly spotted a few well-worn shortcuts and having saved myself a significant chunk of time, decided to pause and admire the view from one of the stopping-points. I was recalling a line from Philophaire’s Philosophy of Darkness when I sensed that I was not alone. Some way up the path, a trader was making his way down from the summit.

I had no time for conversation, so I concealed myself behind a nearby outcrop, thinking I might wait until he’d passed. Instead, I found myself witness to a horrifying spectacle – something so terrible that I hardly know if I can describe it. I’ll do my best.

As the trader slipped behind the outcrop, I heard him greet someone else on the path. I thought for a second he’d seen me, and almost floated sheepishly out from my hiding place when I heard the trader scream. Of course, I immediately looked to see what was going on, and whether I could be of assistance.

Not even six feet away from me stood the most monstrous creature I have ever laid eyes on. I could not tell if it was human or some sort of ghast. Its skin was white as bone, as was its clothing – but its eyes were a piercing blue, and the way it looked at that poor trader… it seemed much like a cat, batting some helpless mouse between its paws.

I’m no brave warrior at the best of times, and my instincts told me to remain hidden at any cost. With regret in my heart, I resolved to stay behind the rock and wait for an opportunity to help – an opportunity, I am afraid to say, that never came.

The figure used some sort of spell. I heard the incantation and smelled the tell-tale whiff of magic in the air, but it was a spell the kind of which I'd never seen before. The poor trader fell to his knees – almost as if pushed by an invisible hand – as a green light enveloped him. Then, almost as soon as it began, it was over.

I peered out, hoping that the monster was gone. To my shock, it was looking right at me. Just thinking about it makes me shudder. I think I caught it by surprise. I immediately readied a counterspell to defend myself, but no sooner had I raised my arms than it vanished with a blue flash of light. A teleportation spell, presumably, although I didn’t believe such a thing to be possible.

Now that the danger had passed, I immediately rushed to help the poor trader, who was lying prone in the centre of the path, but he was quite obviously dead. For a moment I was reminded of poor Thana. I hesitated, thank goodness, because then the body twitched. As I looked on in horror, it stood up and began to stumble down the path toward me.

I have seen reanimated monsters before, of course – but this was entirely different. I swear on the Dark Altar itself, I have never seen magic like it. It was abhorrent. Bizarre. Dangerous. All my instincts told me to turn and run – and so I did just that.

I’m sorry, Thana. I’m no closer to understanding what happened to you – but something tells me that what I saw today must be another piece of the puzzle. Whatever or whoever that monster was, it was a darkness I'd never before witnessed and hope never to do so again.

- Mori

[h3]A Kingdom Divided - Coming June 16th[/h3]

Good news for all Old School ‘Scapers today, as we begin talking about one of the projects that we’ve been working on in the background, and alluding to in our livestreams and blogs.

When we released Old School on Steam a few months ago, it came with a C++ client, GPU support and vastly improved performance. Since that release – and for many years! - you’ve been telling us that’s not enough. You want us to implement some of the features you’ve grown to love. You’ve wanted us to expand those features onto mobile too.

Well, we’ve been listening and that’s exactly what we’ve been working on. Development on the features is relatively new, beginning in earnest towards the end of last year, but this project will be the fruition of significant time and investment. In addition to our own content and engine teams (which we’ve expanded!) we have built a fantastic relationship with an external development team who are working with us to make this a reality even sooner. Whilst the project is still relatively early in its development, and we have a lot of work ahead, we feel that now is the right time to ask for your help. In just eight days’ time we’ll be adding the first milestone drop of additional features to the game on Steam. We want you to try using them, test them out, and give us your feedback!

This is an exciting moment for us as a team. But maybe we’re getting a bit ahead of ourselves here. The work going on behind the scenes began over 12 months ago and, to say it again, we’re still fairly early in the feature development phase. Of course, this is just the first step in what will be a long process. This is a project we’re committed to for the long-term. Implementing all the changes you’ve asked for will take time. This blog will tell you everything you need to know at this stage, and we'll be covering any initial questions on Thursday's livestream, as well as adding to the FAQ.

Let’s get into the nitty-gritty of the how, what and when.


[h3]Let’s Talk Testing [/h3]

To begin with, Steam will be our initial testing platform. We’re choosing to do it this way because it will allow us to streamline and manage initial feature updates and testing via just one platform more effectively. It also means that it's going to be really simple for you - our existing players – to pick up and help test the added features. Plus, we think it will be useful to see how the new players coming through Steam use the features.

Going forward we’ll be expanding the test by bringing these features to the mobile version of the game in the near future. You won’t need to do anything special to get them – they’ll be a part of the normal mobile updates. We are considering some opt-in testing, and if we decide on this we will of course update you accordingly.

Over time, and when we have a fuller feature set to offer (all of which have been tested and improved with your help) we’ll ensure that the C++ client is packed up separately outside of Steam for other desktop players to use!

We know that we’re being fairly loose with timeframes here, and that’s deliberate. We want to focus on the quality of the features with a smaller testing base before we distribute the new features more widely.


[h3]About The Features [/h3]

We know this is what you’re most keen to find out! It’s no secret that most of the Old School team are avid players of the game, and have deep experience of third-party clients. We leant on our own experience to identify what we felt was important. This has been coupled with your suggestions over the years. But that’s not all. We’d also like to use this opportunity to say a big thank you to Adam, of RuneLite, who has been really supportive in helping us to assess which features we should prioritise.

We want to focus on feature quality and ample testing rather than quantity. To that end, we're going to batch features into milestone releases and we’ll be releasing these incrementally for the duration of the project. This will allow us to engage with feedback and make changes whilst working on the next milestone, with the ability to refine features in parallel with a steady release schedule.

As for the features themselves, we’re not thinking of them as plugins in the traditional sense. They’re part of the game and you’ll find most of them within game settings. This is a big part of why we updated the settings menu! We’re thinking of the future, years ahead, and doing it this way means we have flexibility over the design of the features and menus. More importantly it will let us tie the features directly into the game content and game systems with all information to hand. This means that the features will be highly integrated and responsive, and can use contextually driven information. There will still be a side panel for the stuff that doesn’t fit or makes more sense to be adjusted outside of the game, however.

Building all of this directly into the game means most of it will be present on mobile too. We know this will make a huge difference to those of you who spend a lot of time playing away from your desktop.

So, without further ado, here's a look at the first milestone we have planned already. And the good news is that it will be with you on Wednesday June 23rd! If all goes well, you can expect the second milestone in late July/early August, and the third milestone in late August/early September.

Here's a look at what will be coming next week. Note: TLI = Top Level Interface. HUD = Heads-up Display

Future milestones contain things like ground item identifiers, loot trackers, HiScores panels, Bank tags, and a lot more! We’ll be sharing the next stage of the roadmap as the project unfolds.

A look at some of the upcoming features. We'll share more with next week's release!

[h3]What’s Next?[/h3]

You’ll be able to start using the first milestone of features when they arrive on Thursday, June 23rd. All you need to do is link your Old School RuneScape account on Steam and download the update. It’s that easy! As with the Steam Beta we ran at the end of last year, we’d love it if you would join our dedicated Discord server to share your feedback with us. Once the features are out, we'll share the Discord server widely. Everybody is welcome!

We know you’ve probably got a lot of questions about these features and what it might mean in the future. There are a lot of different routes we could take, and we'll do what makes the most sense for the game and for you, the community. Right now, our focus is purely on working hard to give players the security and reassurance of an official alternative to existing third-party clients. Beyond that? Let’s work together to find out, but we’re confident that the future holds seriously exciting opportunities which will be unlocked by the work we’re doing.

We can’t wait for you to get stuck in and test the features!


The Old School Team

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[h2]FAQ[/h2]

Why did the project come about?
We know that our official Old School RuneScape game clients lack modern quality-of-life features. Things like visual and audio aids, tracking tools and additional accessibility options. Third-party game clients emerged to offer such things and it’s these clients, particularly RuneLite, that you find yourselves playing on. We want to give you an official alternative, one that can reach mobile and be ready for future projects.


How can I use the new features?
To begin with, you’ll only be able to try it on Steam. Eventually the features will make their way to mobile, and then later to desktop outside of Steam.


Why isn't there a poll for the features?
We’ve decided not poll the features because, well… we know that players have been using them for years. Many of you can’t imagine playing without them at this point! We think the need for these options is clear. In future, additional bespoke features could absolutely be polled.


What does this mean for other third-party clients?
Nothing! You can continue to use third-party clients that adhere to our guidelines.


If you’ve been working on this project for so long, why have you waited to tell us about the project?
We wanted to make sure it was deliverable. We don’t want to make promises and then fail to make good on them. You all remember early August and Winter 2017… And anyway, it’s the perfect time now that the first milestone is ready.


Why are you favouring RuneLite?
RuneLite is the most popular third-party client, so it made sense for us to speak with its developers for a broad insight into what features our players are looking for.


I want to test the features. How can I give feedback?
Once the features are out, we'll be welcoming everybody to our dedicated Discord server to share any thoughts on the new features and how they’ve been implemented. Naturally we’ll be keeping an eye everywhere else, like Reddit, Twitter and the forums!

Welcome to the Kourend Chronicles, a six-part series of tales from Kourend's murky past! You can see a full list of all the stories so far on our A Kingdom Divided round-up.

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The man in the tower had been there a long while, or so he’d been told, and yet Eek C'ho had never seen him before now. He looked much like any other human – dry, delicate skin, about six feet tall, and with a crop of untidy white hair atop his head.

Eek C'ho’s job was to bring the man food, once in the morning and then again as the sun went down, and then leave him alone. He was not supposed to wait while the man finished eating. He was definitely not supposed to talk to him.

But some two weeks into Eek C'ho’s new role as the man’s sole guard, he spoke. And Eek C'ho spoke back.

The man said:

“Have you ever heard of a journal?”

And Eek C'ho replied:

“No.”

Remembering he wasn’t supposed to speak, he snatched up the empty tray and scuttled back to his assigned dwelling, where he spent the rest of the day cringing whenever someone said his name in case it was followed by ‘the Yo’kal ahk wants to see you’.

But nothing happened. When Eek C'ho returned in the evening with the usual meal of greenish potatoes, all the man said was “thank you”.

Things continued that way for a while – the food arrived, the man said “thank you”, and the empty tray was taken away. If the Yo’kal ahk knew of Eek C'ho’s transgression – and he surely did, for the Yo’kal ahk knew everything that happened in this tower – then nothing came of it. So, one evening, Eek C'ho decided he’d try talking some more.

“What isss a journal?” he asked, as the man dug into his meal with his funny little pink claws.

Swallowing the mouthful of potato and wiping his mouth, he answered: “A journal is a sort of book.”

Eek C'ho pondered this for a moment.

“Do you know what a book is?” the man asked.

Eek C'ho couldn’t help but laugh, loud and crunchy, and the man started back. Of course Eek C'ho knew what a book was – the tower was full of them.

“We have lotsss of booksss,” Eek C'ho said, once he’d managed to control his laughing fit. Perhaps books were very rare in the human’s dwelling. After all, they looked very delicate compared to the stone tablets the shamans had taught him to read from.

“Could you get one for me?” the man asked. His voice was very quiet. “And something to write with?”

Eek C'ho thought for a moment.

“I can try,” he said, although in truth he had no idea if he was allowed to do any such thing. The Yo’kal ahk had been very clear that he didn’t want any more tomes getting covered in slime. There’d been a whole announcement about it. But Eek C'ho had been instructed to bring the man food, water, and ‘whatever else he required’. Did humans need books?

In the end he chose a battered looking volume from the bottom of one of the shelves near the kitchen. It was nothing of value, and the pages were already wrinkled and yellow, so he reasoned it wouldn’t be missed.

Finding something to write with was a little trickier – Eek C'ho had observed the human closely enough to figure out that he couldn’t possibly be using those pathetic little claws to carve out letters, and the pages of the book he’d found were so thin and fragile that he was sure something light must have been used to write on them.

But Eek C'ho’s dwellingmate, Ekr’a, was assigned to cleaning duty. He picked up all kinds of interesting things. So when Eek C'ho asked him how human books were written, he produced the right tool straight away – a feather! Ekr’a showed Eek C'ho how the humans – and even the Yo’kal ahk – would dip the feather into some black, wet substance and then use it to make words on all sorts of things. It was just what the human was looking for, and Eek C'ho wasn’t even angry when Ekr’a made him promise to trade him all his chilli potatoes at dinner – he was just excited to see what the man in the cell would do with it.

As Eek C'ho had expected, the man was delighted with his book. He could be seen scribbling in it at all hours of the day. Eek C'ho even began visiting outside of his designated feeding times to see him writing and hear his stories. At first the man didn’t much like talking, but as Eek C'ho’s visits became more frequent and his questions bolder, he began telling all kinds of tales about the outside world. Mountains where blue flames burned. A terrifying monster that froze everyone who came near. Red trees that grew so high you couldn’t see the top.

“Isss that what’sss in your journal?” Eek C'ho asked him, after one particularly interesting description of a place where enormous trees reached up into the sky. “The placesss you’ve been?”

The man – Eek C'ho had learned that his name was Magnus – shook his head and closed the book.

“No son,” he said. “It’s a warning.”

Eek C'ho nodded, although he didn’t completely understand. Magnus often said strange things.

The fateful day came some months later. Eek C'ho had noticed, over his last few visits, that Magnus had been more subdued than usual. His eyes were red and bleary, and his skin was so pale that in the light from the crystal beside his cell it seemed to glow an eerie blue.

Eek C'ho waited patiently as Magnus chewed his potatoes and eventually handed them back only half-finished. He suspected there would be no stories today, so he nodded and turned to leave, only for Magnus to reach out through the bars and grab him by the arm.

“I need your help,” he hissed, handing Eek C'ho the journal. The months of wear and tear had made it even shabbier than before, and several pages had come loose from the binding.

“I need you to get this outside,” Magnus said. “To the rest of Kourend. They have to know …” He began to wheeze and cough.

“They have to stop him.” Magnus finished, when his coughing fit had subsided. Eek C'ho wordlessly handed him a cup of water, Eek C'ho hesitating before he answered.

“I can try,” he said. He wished he could say more, but that seemed good enough for Magnus. The man let go of the journal and sat back down on the patterned flagstones of his cell.

“Thank you,” he croaked.

Eek C'ho scurried out of the prison clutching the journal tight to his chest.

What was he supposed to do? No lizardman had ever left the tower – it was a warzone out there, fit for only the strongest warriors. If the humans caught any one of them off-guard it could spell disaster. And surely the Yo’kal ahk would not approve.

But Magnus was his friend.

“I’ll take that, please.”

Eek C'ho froze. Stood on the steps before him was the Yo’kal ahk himself. He reached out a bony claw for the journal. For a wild moment Eek C'ho thought about keeping hold of it, but then the treasonous thought was gone. What was he thinking? The Yo’kal ahk snatched up the book and opened it, turning his cold blue eyes over Magnus’ work.

“Hm. Yes, this will do nicely,” The Yo’kal ahk said. He snapped the book shut with a dull thud, turned, and stalked back up the stairs. Eek C'ho’s heart sank. The figure paused and looked back towards him.

“Excellent work getting him to talk, by the way. You’ve been most useful.”

Then, with a laugh that echoed around the tower’s walls, the Yo’kal ahk left, taking the journal with him.

The next day, Eek C'ho found himself promoted to the Yo’kal ahk’s personal guard. He never did see the man in the cell again. But every so often, when he looked out the tower window at the sprawling human settlements in the distance, he wondered what ever had become of Magnus’ journal – and what terrible danger he was trying to warn them about.

[h3]A Kingdom Divided - Coming June 16th[/h3]

We’re taking the game offline at 8:00am BST on Wednesday, June 9th to conduct essential upgrades and maintenance. During this time you’ll be unable to play Old School RuneScape or RuneScape. Additionally, you’ll be unable to access the news area, the forums, hiscores, or your website account.

We expect everything to be back online by 2:00pm BST (a total downtime of around six hours).

You can stay up-to-date by following any of our social accounts or following the Reddit Megathread which will be made live on the day of maintenance:

Old School on Twitter Old School on Facebook Old School on Instagram

We’d like to apologise for any inconvenience and thank you for your patience. We’ll see you back in Gielinor very soon!


The Old School Team