Cook's Assistant

Cook's Assistant is the oldest of the RuneScape quests, and is often one of the first quests completed by new players as it is fairly simple. Players can complete Cook's Assistant without leaving Lumbridge.

It was one of six quests available during RuneScape's launch. Although, Jagex mentioned in the March 2006 issue of the Postbag from the Hedge that Cook's Assistant was the first quest they started to develop.

The quest has become well-known in the player community as a "noob" or "newbie" quest. It is present in many jokes among players, as well as negative remarks. Jagex expanded on this by mentioning it in the 2008 Easter event, in which it was used to make the Chocatrice angry. "...It said you couldn't even do the Cook's Assistant quest", "it" referring to the Easter Bunny.

Storyline
Duke Horacio of Lumbridge Castle is having a birthday party, and the Lumbridge Castle cook is to prepare the meals and cake. Although he apparently has forgotten to purchase the ingredients for the cake. He hasn't got enough time to get them himself, so is in need of an adventurer to get the items for him.

An adventurer comes across the worried cook, and offers to help. The cook says he is in need of only a few ingredients; a bucket of top-quality milk, a pot of fine flour and a super large egg. The adventurer sets off to collect the items from the local farms. Gillie Groats helps by directing the adventurer to her prized cow, which produces the top-quality milk. Millie Miller teaches the adventurer how to use the mill and create fine flour. The adventurer then finds the super large egg in one of the local farms, before heading back to see the cook. He is greatly pleased, and rewards the adventurer for the help.

Reworks
The quest has been reworked 2 times since its release. The second rework was implemented 15 December 2009. The entire reward for the quest was formerly only 300 Cooking experience and 1 Quest Point. The 500 coins and 20 sardines (noted) were added with the second rework. The improvement also changed the type of ingredients that were required. Beforehand, the player only had to bring an ordinary egg, bucket of milk and flour. This meant that players could finish the quest just by talking to the cook twice with the ingredients ready. Jagex most likely changed this to force new players to have a tour of basic facilities of Lumbridge and understand the quest system properly.

Original

 * Developer: Paul Gower
 * Conversion: Andrew Gower
 * QuestHelp: Nishal K
 * Audio: Ian T

Rework

 * Developer: Chihiro Y
 * Quality Assurance: Daniel G
 * Graphics: Matt M

Second Improvement

 * Developer: Fred M
 * Quality Assurance: Dean O, James H
 * Graphics: Alec, Giuseppe G, Daniel J

Starting Out


To begin this quest, the player must talk to the cook in the kitchen of Lumbridge Castle's first floor. He will tell the player that he needs ingredients to make a cake for Duke Horacio for his birthday. He wants the player to retrieve a bucket of top-quality milk, a pot of extra fine flour and a super large egg, and to bring those items back to him. If you ask where the ingredients can be found, he will mark places on your world map in red, and if you have the quest set as your objective the area items are located is shaded blue.

Obtaining the ingredients
Before heading off to collect the ingredients, players should take the pot sitting on the table in the kitchen to collect the flour with. A pot may also be obtained at the mill where you will collect the flour. The bucket for collecting milk can be obtained from within the cellar through the trapdoor in the kitchen, or next to the cow where the milk is collected. You could alternatively buy both of these items in a general store.

Obtaining a bucket of top quality milk
To obtain the top-quality milk, players require a bucket and a prized dairy cow. Just left-click on the cow with a bucket in your inventory.


 * The cow field is east of the River Lum. It is just south of the chicken farm. Here you must talk to Gillie Groats for advice on how to get top-quality milk, she will direct you to her prized cow east of her by the fence. There is a bucket beside the cow. You can then milk the cow for top-quality milk. You can also find other cow locations to milk for top-quality milk all around Runescape.

Obtaining a pot of extra fine flour
To make the flour:
 * Pick some wheat from the field to the north-west of Fred the Farmer's farm.
 * Head north along the road to the east of the field and you should find Mill Lane Mill, a windmill [[File:Windmill icon.png]]. Go inside and talk to Millie Miller about making extra fine flour before you head up to the top floor. Put the grain into the hopper and pull the lever. Now head down to the ground floor and if you have a pot in your inventory, use it on the flour bin to get a Pot of fine flour.

Obtaining a super large egg
There are two locations a super large egg can be obtained near Lumbridge:
 * Fred the Farmer's farm, north of Lumbridge and south of Mill Lane Mill. There is one super large egg respawn here. You can get here by walking north from the front of Lumbridge Castle.
 * The farm to the north-east of Lumbridge, east of the River Lum. Cross the bridge going across River Lum North-east of the castle and follow the path north. After a little while, you will come across a chicken farm on the west side of the path. There is one super large egg respawn in this farm.

Now that all three of the ingredients have been collected, take them all back to the cook.

Congratulations! Quest complete!

Rewards



 * 1 Quest Point
 * 300 experience
 * Permission to use the cook's range, which gives players 50% greater chance of successfully cooking food below a certain level.
 * 500 coins
 * 20 sardines

Music unlocked

 * None, although players may unlock tracks from the outskirts of Lumbridge if they have not already.

Required for

 * Recipe for Disaster
 * Lumbridge and Draynor Diary Medium and Hard Tasks

Trivia
Der Aushilfskoch
 * Cook's Assistant was one of the 6 quests available during RuneScape's launch.
 * Despite being one of the easiest and shortest quests in RuneScape, Cook's Assistant is the only requirement other than level 10 Cooking required to start its sequel, Recipe for Disaster, one of the longest quests in the game.
 * Jagex mentioned in the March 2006 issue of the Postbag from the Hedge that Cook's Assistant was the first quest they began to develop.
 * This quest is often called a 'noob' or 'newbie' quest, and used in many jokes about quests.
 * This quest was mentioned in the 2008 Easter event, in which it was used to make the Chocatrice angry. "...It said you couldn't even do the Cook's Assistant quest", "it" referring to the whichever creature the player wanted to turn into chocolate chunks.
 * This is the only free quest that gives Cooking as an experience reward directly.
 * This is one of the shortest quests in RuneScape.
 * There is no need to speak to the cook again after the quest to use his range, as instantly after completion the player is automatically granted full access. If the player does, he tells you about the Cook-o-Matic 25, and the player obtains the Cook-o-Matic 25 Manual. This manual will show what food benefits from the magical abilities of the range.
 * Before the update of 15 December 2009, the entire reward for the quest was the 300 Cooking experience and the Quest Point. A player who finished the quest before the update can get the 500 coins and 20 sardines (noted) by speaking to the Lumbridge Cook.
 * When a player who has finished the quest prior to the update goes to get the additional reward, the cook mentions that the Duke really enjoyed the cake; even though in Recipe for Disaster, it was revealed the cook did not even make the cake at all.
 * Before the update of 15 December 2009, players had to bring just an ordinary egg, bucket of milk and flour. This meant that players could finish the quest just by talking to the cook twice. After you have completed the quest you cannot milk the top quality cow because it is only for royal cakes.
 * On March 20, 2010 it was again possible to simply use regular eggs, milk and flour to complete this quest. This was presumably a glitch. Also, players would not be able to use the Lumbridge Windmill to create regular flour if they had started this quest before talking to Millie. This has been fixed.
 * After completing the quest, if you talk to Juna at the Tears of Guthix, your character will say, "...And, in the end, I found all the ingredients, so the Duke of Lumbridge had a birthday cake after all." to which she replies, "Ah, a happy ending. It would not be good for such an anniversary to go unmarked."