Wise Old Man

The Wise Old Man
The Wise Old Man, known by his true name as Dionysius (he signs his name *D), is a retired adventurer that has recently settled down in his house in Draynor Village, opposite Draynor bank. During his younger days, Dionysius was a famed hero, saving countless lives and fighting back the dark forces of Gielinor.

Dionysius, after years of adventuring the globe, has settled down in Draynor Village, where he initially lacked funds to purchase a decent house. However, after single-handedly masterminding the Draynor Bank Robbery, Dionyius's intentions and values are the subject of much speculation.

The Wise Old Man is amongst the most popular characters in RuneScape, playing roles in several quests and cutscenes. He is also a commonly recurring character in the Postbag from the Hedge, often having a special section at the end of each Postbag.

Past life
The Wise Old Man was born in Varrock many years ago. During his time there, he performed numerous deeds that were considered heroic by the youth of the time. One of his more memorable actions was painting "Saradomin Pwns" on the Zamorakian Temple in the southern part of the town. When he turned 15, the age at which children of that time advanced to adulthood, he turned down a prestigious offer to study amongst the priests of Entrana and decided to travel the world before settling down. He spent many years traveling RuneScape, visiting many lands and performing countless memorable actions. One of the first areas he visited was the mines outside of Keldagrim, where some of the oldest dwarves still remember his aid in their war against a rogue tribe of trolls that threatened to destroy the city.

Shortly after leaving the dwarves, he traveled into the eastern mountains, where a now-disbanded mountain tribe told of an invincible warrior who wielded a powerful staff.

Some time after leaving the mountain tribes he traveled to Karamja, where he taught the natives of certain herbs that would aid them in combat. He also ventured into Brimhaven Dungeon, which few people at the time dared to enter. Afterwards, he advised the locals to charge any adventurer who wished to enter the dungeon, which is why Saniboch charges a fee of 875 coins for any player to enter. He later travelled into the Kharidian Desert, where he lived amongst the Bedabin for some time. He traveled to many of the desert cities, including Menaphos and Sophanem. He also studied the mysterious pyramid to the south of the Bandit Camp. He would never speak about what he discovered in the pyramid, and it troubles him to this day. The Wise Old Man is known to have fought the Kalphite Queen in that time.

He was wondering around some snowy area when there was an avalanche and he helped Larry out, by shrinking him. Larry uses this spell in Cold War.

After countless adventures, Dionysius traveled back to Entrana to complete his studies. Even on Entrana he found excitement, when he ventured into the demon-infested dungeon beneath it. At one point, he was offered admittance to the Temple Knights. He is also the author of "Magicks Most Destructive" of which very few copies survive today, and only fragments of it remain in the Temple Knight library. There is a copy in the Chemist's house, but it is currently unreadable. Only many years later, after many more adventures, did he finally retire and settle down in Draynor Village.

The Wise Old Man today


After completing his adventures, he began to feel bitter that he had not been adequately "rewarded" for his deeds, as he was forced to live in relative squalor. He thought that it was within his right, therefore, to reward himself, and uses this justification for his crimes.

His most notorious act was the robbing of the local bank, killing seven people in the process. One of these unfortunate victims, an NPC named Elfinlocks, dropped a blue partyhat. A player can watch the robbery's recording by speaking to the guard outside the bank. It can be watched once for free; afterwards, a fee of 50 coins must be paid in order to view it again. His telescope, which pointed to the bank prior to the robbery, is currently pointing towards the Wizards' Tower.

The Temple Knights, realizing how dangerous he is, are currently monitoring him, and have labeled him as an ultraviolet archangel threat. The Bank of RuneScape, the guards of Draynor Village, and many of the locals are also monitoring him closely, although he does not seem to be worried about this. Despite this and obvious proof of his crimes, the authorities of Misthalin have, as of yet, made no attempt to bring him to justice..

The Wise Old Man will search a player's bank for unneeded non-members quest items. If he is asked to examine any runes, he will say they are useless and takes a couple of them. He has a few unique books on his bookshelf, which the player can read. One, the Book on chickens, is about the legend of the Evil chicken, while the Strange book has personal notes which mention that he is running out of runes. He also has numerous tinderboxes in his house. His house also includes a model aeroplane and gold-trimmed Saradomin armour.

The Wise Old Man also has a Saradomin staff and Saradomin armour. (According to the Strange book, he had it trimmed with some of his stolen money.) When player asks him about Zaros or Armadyl, he denies their existence. Apparently, he is a Saradominist who only believes in three gods (Saradomin, Guthix and Zamorak).

In members' worlds, the player can do favours for the Wise Old Man, such as getting him swords or bars, or delivering notes. If the player completes these tasks, he will reward him/her. Most of the time the reward is a blessing, which increases the player's Prayer experience, or a small amount of runes, seeds, herbs or coins may be given. One of these tasks require the player to fight a monster under his bed after which he will reward the player with some Hitpoints experience.

The Quest point Cape of Achievement is available from the Wise Old Man for a fee to players who have completed all the quests. The Wise Old Man is also an integral part of the Swan Song quest.

The Wise Old Man was briefly available at the Clan Wars minigame (he appeared there on 29 September 2008). He took it upon himself to warn players that gravestones had been removed from the Dangerous Clan Wars portal, meaning they will lose items upon death.

Magical and combat abilities
Dionysius' most distinguished talent is his magical ability, which he has honed over the years learning from countless sources. Amongst his arsenal is the spell Saradomin Strike, a difficult-to-use attack that draws from the power of Saradomin himself. This spell, already lethal in any mage's hands, has been amplified by Dionysius, and is capable of dealing more damage than initially thought possible. His signature offensive ability, though, is a spell of unknown nature that, when used, instantly incinerates the flesh, muscle, and organs of the victim. This spell, apart from being lethal, is also capable of destroying brick walls and virtually any other obstacle in its way. In the Swan Song quest, in a cutscene, he gets hit with 254 damage while fighting the Sea Troll General and this does not affect his Hitpoint bar. He easily kills it later by hitting constant 40's.

Although he has a plethora of magical weapons at his disposal, the Wise Old Man has openly displayed very few of them. He has shown his abilities extend beyond simple combat, capable of using Telekinetic Grab and other basic spells with ease. He has also delved deep into the art of mental magic, and can push those attempting to scry into his mind away while simultaneously dealing a powerful counter-attack. He has also displayed a knack for alchemy and other strange divisions of magic, as is evident in his cryptic writings.

Dionysius also possesses a deep understanding of teleportation, seeming to be aware of the Abyss and its role in the teleportation process. The only mage known to do so, the Wise Old Man implements teleportation liberally in combat, confusing his oppenents by teleporting all around them and launching attacks from all sides. He is also capable of teleporting to virtually any destination, rather than using only those simple channels utilized by most teleporters.

Even in his advanced age, the Wise Old Man is extremely adept at hand-to-hand combat and is in peak shape. In combat, he has shown that, even without using magic, he is capable of defeating the strongest of foes. His skill in using basic weaponry is unrivalled, and he has proven himself able to defeat even armed foes using only a staff. He also possesses a lethal kick, which has been shown capable of shattering even the shell of the Kalphite Queen. According to Dionysius, he is even now capable of wrestling crocodiles on the banks of the River Elid.

Knowledge and skills
During his adventures, Dionysius gained an arcane understand of the world, learning of its histories and nature. What he learned, though, he often will not share openly, and he seems to possess historical knowlege that, in the wrong hands, could be deadly. He seems to have learned of the god Zaros during his time in the Kharidian Desert, and today attempts to cover up any information relating to the banished god.

Dionysius has also displayed a fluent understanding of multiple languages, ranging from tribal Karamjan to the ancient dwarvish tongue. Though he most often speaks simple English, he often mixes Latin into his speech, such as Vini, volui, mihi est (I came, I wanted, it's mine).

During his travels, Dionysius often shunned training in favour of monetary payment. Despite this, he has shown a good understanding of virtually any skill, particularly Cooking.

Draynor Bank Robbery
Below is a gallery of images documenting the bank robbery in order from first to last in the scene.

Trivia

 * The Wise Old Man's true name, Dionysius, may be a reference to Dionysus, the real-world Greek god of wine. Equally, his name could also refer to Dionysius, a tyrant from the Greek ancient world.
 * The poster of the Wise Old Man in the 28th issue of the Postbag from the Hedge is a most likely a reference to the common British poster of "your country needs you".
 * "Magicks Most Destructive" is a reference to the book regarding Horcruxes from the 7th Harry Potter book (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows), named Magicks Most Evil.
 * The Wise Old Man is still extremely powerful even at an old age, he has been recorded being hit by 254 damage during the Swan Song quest, without his Hitpoints bar even showing damage (although it does seem to paralyse him for the remainder of the battle).
 * The Wise Old Man can hit 40's with Saradomin Strike, while the maximum damage for players using Saradomin Strike is 30 (when using the Charge spell.)
 * When the NPC Contact Lunar Spell is set to "Random NPC", it may sometimes yield a conversation with the Wise Old Man. When contacted, though, he will force them out of his mind, stating "Keep your foreign magicks out of my head!"
 * During the Gnomecopter Tours, the Wise Old Man can be seen sledding down Trollweiss Mountain if players examine the signpost second closest to the eagle's lair in the Trollweiss Hunter area.
 * The Wise Old Man owns a unique gold-trimmed Saradomin armour; the golden trim being an attribute that cannot be obtained by players.
 * Even after the High Detail update, in which the graphics for teleports were changed, he still uses the old graphics.
 * The Wise Old Man is the only non-player character that does not wear the Cape of Accomplishment that he/she sells.
 * During the 2008 Hallowe'en event, whenever a player tries to trick-or-treat the Wise Old Man, the player would say "Trick or tr--" before being interrupted (by the Wise Old Man) with "Don't even think about it." The player would not receive anything from him.