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Thursday, January 6, 2011

Runescape quest: King of the Dwarves

Monique and I did the newest Runescape quest, King of the Dwarves, 
yesterday afternoon.  I quite enjoyed it, and really liked the 
continuation of the storyline.  My main disappointment was the length 
and expected difficulty of the quest.  For a quest rated as "Master" 
level, it seemed very short, and not as hard as I'd have thought.
Aside from that, I liked the progression of our involvement with the 
dwarves.  I particularly feel a connection with Veldeban, seeing as 
how I killed Hilda, his love interest in a previous quest.  At that 
time, she had been turned into a vicious Chaos dwarf, and was killing 
innocent dwarves from a high tower.  Their involvement was touching, 
and even more heartrending in this quest as a confrontation with 
Colonel Grimsson reveals more details of their tragedy.  Details 
Veldeban had been brainwashed into forgetting.

All of that is something of a side plot to the King of the Dwarves 
quest.  This time around, you're innocently taking a tour of the huge 
mining facility.  A Chaos Dwarf causes an explosion that injures the 
workers and leaves some trapped under fallen rock.  You, being the 
bold adventurer that you are, leap in to rescue as many as you can.
 From this point forward, the quest moves along at a very nice pace.  
There are political shenanigans, faked documents, and several 
revelations of note.  The side-story with the Trolls was pretty cool, 
and I loved the graphical update.  It's a shame the update only 
applies to the trolls needed for this quest.  I'd like to see all 
trolls with the new graphics.

When you get to the part with the Big Rock... it's a hoot!  And if 
you have 90 or better strength, you get to keep the rock, and can do 
it's emote anywhere there's enough room to throw it down.  I spent 
some time playing with it wherever I went for a while after the 
quest.  Pretty neat to watch.

The quest progresses pretty much as you'd expect from there.  The 
dwarves read the archives from the Records Chamber, and much to 
Hreidmar discovers he's NOT going to be the new King of the Dwarves.



During the quest, you have to beat a level 160 opponent.  It's a bit 
of a twist, because Veldeban helps you fight.  The tricky part is he 
hits hard, but has no defense.  You have to keep Veldeban from 
getting killed in the fight.  It's actually pretty easy.  I used an 
abyssal whip, and boosted my stats with prayer.  I was glad Veldeban 
wasn't a problem in the fight, but had kind of expected a better fight.

The rewards are decent.  You get
2 quest points,
45,000 mining xp,
50,000 smithing xp,
55,000 strength xp.


   I needed the smithing and mining, so they were both very welcome.  
The new gravestone looks pretty cool, too.  Be aware, it does not 
confer any new abilities.  No extra time.  It's just a new look, and 
still costs half a million gold pieces.  If you buy it, it's 
functionally the same as the 'angel of death' gravestone.  But it 
looks larger and more detailed.  I like it.
 New Gravestone shown above

 Old "Angel of Death" Gravestone shown


So overall... there were a few practical points I might have 
preferred to be different.  But I liked the story, and it was a fun, 
simple quest.  (If you have trouble with the key puzzle, Wiki, as 
usual, has a nice guide.)

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