Strange rock

A strange rock is an item from the Shattered Heart Distraction and Diversion. It may be found randomly while training any non-combat skill excluding Divination. Players may get two strange rocks per skill. The rocks are awarded at random per action or animation, so consider training a skill in a way that many quick animations are performed. When a player has received the first rock for a skill, the drop chance for the second will be reduced by about 50% (until a rock has been acquired from another skill). Each strange rock is a segment of the statue of Dahmaroc, a wizard from the Second Age. After the statue of Dahmaroc has been completed, players may then again get two strange rocks per non-combat skill to once again complete the statue. The first time a player completes the statue, they will be given a statue plinth by Barnabus Hurma to place in their player-owned house.

Players that try to add the strange rock to the plinth for the very first time will be stopped by Barnabus Hurma. By speaking to him and showing him the strange rock, he will then tell the player that they need to find its twin before adding it to the plinth. With the update on 19 August 2010, Barnabus Hurma will also give players a statue collection bag to store all collected strange rocks, thus freeing up space in the player's bank or inventory. Strange rocks do not stack in the bank, even if they are paired. If the player wishes not to receive rocks any more, they may speak to Barnabus Hurma to toggle them off if desired. They can be turned on again if the player wishes to start receiving them again.

Players are allowed to create only one statue per week. It is possible for the player to build the statue once and then go out and re-obtain all rocks in the same week and place all but the final set of rocks in the Museum statue prior to the expiration of the week. However, the player will be unable to complete the build of the 2nd statue because at that point (when attempting to place the final set), Barnabus Hurma will stop the player and state that "one explosion a week is enough."

Strange rocks are automatically kept upon death unless the player is in the Wilderness.

When trying to collect a strange rock by training skills, the player will hear a small "clunk" sound and receive the message "You found a strange rock." upon receiving one. When training a skill and a rock is received with a full inventory, the player receives the message "Something odd happens to the (name of last object created) and you are left with a strange rock." This effectively replaces the item in the player's inventory, which could be detrimental if it replaces something expensive. If the player has a statue collection bag (see below) in their inventory or equipped, however, the rock will be deposited directly into the bag without the loss of other inventory items.

Interestingly, it is possible for strange rocks to be dropped on the ground, given the correct conditions. A common example would be fletching bolts of any type, as multiple bolts are made in the process; if one's inventory is full, the strange rock will remove only one bolt from the inventory, and proceed to be dropped on the ground where it may be picked up.

Rewards
The player needs two rocks from each skill to complete the statue. When the player has collected two pieces in one skill, they can be added to the plinth in order to create a section of the Dahmaroc statue. The plinth is located in the Varrock Museum right next to the entrance.

After using a matched pair of strange rocks on the Statue plinth, the player gets $$y = x^2 - 2x + 100$$ where y = Experience earned and x = Skill level of the skill being trained when the rock is added to the statue.

For example, using a level of 50: Exp = 50*50 - (2*50) + 100 = 2500 experience. For level 99, it is 9703 exp. See Experience reward formula section for calculator and table.

Players can use a Statue list to keep track which rocks they've added to the statue. Players need to have two pieces to be able to add to the plinth.

Once a player complete the statue for the first time a player receives a replica plinth from Barnabus Hurma to put in the study in the player's POH (this is where players will be building their very own statue). Each time the player completes the Museum's statue they will receive an additional replica piece of statue to use for building the statue in their POH. The player can then begin to search and collect pieces again, which gives the ability to receive the extra experience once again. Because a player may only complete the Museum statue once per week, completion of the statue in their POH takes a minimum of 30 weeks, one for each statue piece received.

If the player completes the statue in their POH and continues to turn in their strange rocks, they will not receive another plinth, even if they have a second study room built. The player will, however, continue to receive the bonus experience for all strange rocks turned in.

Icons and Descriptions
A player can identify what skill a strange rock is by examining it. Also, the different skills' rocks have different appearances.

Note: Skilling in a clan citadel may yield strange rocks since an update on 6 March 2012.

Equipment
No special equipment is required to collect strange rocks; however the player can talk to Barnabus Hurma (or any of the other archaeologists) within Varrock Museum to receive a statue collection bag. This bag will automatically store any statue pieces a player gains from a skill activity (giving the message "You find a strange rock and add it to your bag."), and can be filled with your library of rocks. When a player has two corresponding statue pieces in your bag, they may simply empty the bag and use the rocks on the statue base, or continue to collect further rocks until the bag is full - or anything in-between. The experience will be given at any time, until the last rock pair is ready, which can only be done once per week (see elsewhere this article). Thus, if a player needs that experience immediately to level, it can be received immediately. The player may also 'Look-in' the bag to check how many rocks have currently been collected. If the player loses or drops the statue collection bag, the contents will also be lost, requiring the player to complete skill tasks to regain the rocks that were lost.

Trivia
Strange rock
 * If a player has a pet rock in their inventory, a message is displayed showing its excitement when the player receives a strange rock.
 * Certain rocks are easily identifiable as specific parts of Dahmaroc. For example, the Construction and Hunter rocks make up his head, the Smithing rocks make up his cape, and the rocks for Cooking, Fishing, Firemaking, and Woodcutting make up his arms.
 * At one point, after receiving the first strange rock to start the Distraction and Diversion, members could also get rocks for non-member skills on a non-members world, which would result in the creation of a members object (although they would still receive the message "You find a strange rock."). This has since been fixed.
 * Although the examine info for the Herblore rock says "A rock found while making potions", it can also be found when cleaning herbs. Similarly, the examine info for the Construction rock previously said "A rock found in my house" even though it could be obtained in another player's house by making flatpacks.
 * It is possible, albeit rare, to get two rocks from one action (burning one log may result in receiving both rocks), although it seems more likely to get in an action that takes some time to perform, such as woodcutting or mining.
 * Strangely, while practicing falconry, if a player just catches the kebbit you can get the strange rock, even before retrieving the falcon from the kebbit and collecting the reward.
 * Prior to 11 April 2012 it wasn't possible to get a strange rock by fishing rocktails in Living Rock Caverns, making battlestaves, or making items on a spinning wheel.