Runescape: Taking a break from Dungeoneering to get 99 Slayer

Surrounded!

Monique finally achieved her goals in Dungeoneering.  She got the Bonecrusher, the Herbicide, and I think she even got the Farming one that sometimes gives you seeds back when a tree dies.
This is good... and bad.  To the good, she reached her personal goals and accomplished something she worked hard to get.  Also to the good, I want to get the upcoming baby TzRek Jad, so now I'm free to focus directly on level 99 Slayer now.  But to the bad, it was a lot of fun dungeoneering with her.  I really enjoyed duoing the dungeons together.  It took a while, but our playstyles had evolved to where we partnered extremely well.  Since both of us liked taking our time in the dungeons and actually 'playing', there was no pressure to just rush all the floors.
Now that she's reached her goal, I don't think she'll be Dungeoneering that much any more.  :^(

Herbicide

Looking forward, though... like I said, I'm working on my 99 Slayer.  I enjoy Slayer, so that's cool.  It's generally fun and/or profitable.  I've gone through Hellhounds, Abyssals, dragons, Black Demons, and multiple assignments of Spiritual Mages and Mutated Jadinkos.  It's all okay, except for the Jadinkos.  Those guys are slow to kill, and I can't find any real guides online with step by step proven techniques.  They're easy enough to kill.  It's just that they seem to have good defense and high hit points.  So when I'm trying to blast through my assignments (I go to Kuradel), these guys bring me to a screeching halt.  I even switched to doing the babies.  Thought they'd be a lot faster, kind of like Kalphite assignments.  Instead, the babies are level 90, and yes, they're easier and faster to kill than the adults.  But still slow.  Darn.

Entering the Jadinko Lair

I've seriously considered taking Mutated Jadinkos off my list of tasks, but when I'm not trying to rush, I enjoy them.  And I don't want to waste 100 Slayer points knowing they'll be put back on my list later.  So for now, I'll just do the babies as fast as I can to zip through.

In the meantime, my current task is Black Demons.  I love slaying Black Demons.  They're fast to kill, easy risk-management if you Prayer flash.  Even easier if you bring an Enhanced Excalibur.  And very profitable.  They drop a decent amount of alchable items, and the ashes are very valuable for Prayer training.  Or just selling on the GE.

Business as usual in the Black Demon Cavern

This morning, I was settling down with my breakfast and coffee, just in time to see there were only 7 minutes left before System update.  Decided to use those 7 minutes.  Black Demons are excellent subjects for Prayer flashing, and I'm still getting the hang of it.  So during that time, there was plenty of chance to get a feel for when to click.  After the update, started Prayer flashing again, and the response time was greatly improved.  I don't know if that was deliberate to the update, or just me having a better-than-usual internet connection, but it was really nice.  Almost real-time.

I haven't seen anybody else mentioning it yet, so maybe it was just me.  But I'm looking forward to seeing how well the overall speed runs later tonight.  I hope it's consistent, reliable, and Runescape-wide.

My last kill this morning leveled up to 94.  Only 5 levels to go!!!

Runescape Fight Cave Jad Defeated Fire Cape Mine!

Jad Defeated at last - I finally won the Fire Cape at the Fight Cave!!

If you've read nearly any of my other posts, you know I've been hung up with beating the Fight Cave for a long time now.  Really didn't want to take on Jad at all, but my goal of getting all the Elite Tasks meant I had to sooner or later.
I'd try, get tired of it, do something else.  Then go again.  It's been a couple of months this way, and I just couldn't get the hang of it.  Yes, my hand-to-eye coordination is really bad.  I'm a hard-learner. 
But last weekend, I left work knowing in my heart this was going to be the weekend I did it.  I've been working very hard at learning how, and what to do.  I've learned a technique that simplifies killing Jad, and finally even someone like me can beat him!!  And yes, I'm writing it up as a guide, should have it posted in the next few days, maybe this weekend.  I know, there's tons of guides out there, but this is more for my sake- after finally finding a way that works for me, I just have to write about it!  Most of the writing is done, but I need to go back for pictures.  My computer's not fast enough to take video and play the game at the same time, but I'm at least going to provide my own pictures for the guide.  I wasn't about to worry with pics for my real try, but I'll go back now that I've beat him, just to get the pictures.

But wow, when old TzTok-Jad finally roared and keeled over on his side, you wouldn't believe how excited I got.  In 50 years, I've always been the quiet type.  But I had so much adrenaline, it just had to come out.  Threw back my head, and let out a wild rebel whoop that brought Monique on the run, half afraid I'd had a heart attack!

So, now I've got a Fire Cape.  I may not have wanted to fight Jad for it, but since I have it now, I'm going to enjoy it.  Best of all, now I'm clear to get the Karamja Elite Tasks reward.  All I have to do is a few more slayer tasks, and I'll have it.

Okay, these guys weren't so much fun

My tasks have been pretty fun so far... mostly.  Wasn't too thrilled with the Skeletal Wyverns.  Loved getting the Abyssal Demons.  Got two Abyssal Whips during that task, about 2 minutes apart!  Then there was the Nechryaels, which go by quickly at least.  So far, 2 Dark Beast assignments, those are fun.  I knew they dropped the Dark Bow, and assorted mildly interesting items.  But the big surprise was the 1,000 noted Raw Swordfish!  That was pretty neat.
 In case you didn't know, Raw Swordfish currently sells for 278 gold.  So 1,000 noted swordfish is worth 278,000 gold!  Add that to the nearly 1/2 million gold a Dark Bow is worth, and it was a profitable trip!

I especially like the Dark Beasts because they're so easy, if you've got a little strategy going.  Dress for Prayer, use Ancient Curses.  Set for Deflect Melee, and Leech Attack.  When you're out of prayer, use Ardougne Tasks cape to teleport to the Kandarin Monastery, recharge prayer. 

Use an Elf Crystal with a Temple teleport to get back to the Dark Beasts.  When you need a quick bank trip, use the Ring of Kinship for infinite free teleports to a bank.  I usually kill 6 or 7 per prayer recharge. Dark Beasts never quit being aggressive, no matter how long you've been there.  So it's very easy to get there, set up, and then just monitor it now and then to make sure you're not out of prayer. 

In the meantime, I can do something else... like write this blog!  I'm fortunate enough to have a desktop computer, and a netbook.  While Runescape's playing on the top monitor, I'm typing away at this guide.  And taking pictures for the blog in real-time as I type...

I know the description of how I fight Dark Beasts is very abbreviated.  If you're interested in more detail, leave me a comment.  If there's any interest, I'll post a blog with a better step by step to the method.  But I kept it short, because I kind of figured if you have the things I mentioned, you'll know what I mean.  And if you don't have them, or know what I'm talking about, chances are, the guide wouldn't do you any good for a long time.

Always on the run!

As of this moment, I've got about 111 more Dark Beasts, then one more assignment berfore I can get the Elite Karamja Gloves!