2011 Easter event

The 2011 Easter event, officially named Holly and Hawthorn, was released on 19 April 2011. It involves the player going to the Land of Holly and Hawthorn and transitioning the season from Winter to Spring.

The event is split into two different quests, with one being Members only. Both have to be completed to get the Sunbeam and Icicle crowns.

Walkthrough


Firstly, head south of Falador to the Easter portal. Enter the Easter portal and you will appear in the Land of Holly and Hawthorn. Head north-east until you get to the area around the Season Tree. From here, talk to the Queen of Sunrise to start the Holly portion, or talk to the Queen of Snow to start the Hawthorn portion.

There are two area in the Land of Holly and Hawthorn: Holly, the Queen of Snow's area, and Hawthorn, the area of theQueen of Sunrise. In Holly, it is Winter - Snow has fallen on the ground, and the trees are laced with snow. In Hawthorn, it is Spring - the ground is covered with grass and flowers.

Evil holly trees are used by the Queen of Snow to fight, while Evil hawthorn trees are the preferred warriors of the Queen of Sunrise. Saplings of the type of evil tree used in the area spawn when an evil tree in the area falls, creating a non-stop loop of evil trees, which for Holly trees, is pointless. It should be noted, however, that no interaction with any of these evil trees yield any experience.

If the player does not have a Hatchet with them, they can withdraw one from their Bank via the bank chest near the Season Tree, or receive one from the Easter Bunny or Jack Frost, who are also near the Season Tree. Both will also give the player a tinderbox.

Holly portion
''This section is for the portion of the event started by talking to the Queen of Sunrise. For the portion started by talking to the Queen of Snow, see below.''

Talk to the Queen of Sunrise to begin. Ask her if she has a task for you. She will explain that this year, her and the Queen of Snow are fighting for the Year using Evil trees instead of peacefully exchanging it as usual. She then explains that the Year is an item which can change what season it is in Gielinor, and it is Winter because it is in possession of the Queen of Snow. Then, she asks the player to chop down an Evil holly tree to obtain the Year for her, and explains that the Queen of Snow has it in her trees.

An Evil holly tree
To do this, find the current Evil holly tree in the Holly area. If it is fully grown, you can chop it, but if it is not fully grown, nurture it until it is. Once you have interacted with the evil tree (or its roots) at least once by either nurturing or chopping, and it falls (i.e., dies) you can collect a reward by interacting with the fallen tree. (As you would with a normal Evil tree) Your reward will be the Year. Go back and talk to the Queen of Sunrise.

It's not the real Year!
After a cutscene in which the Queen of Sunrise attempts to turn Winter into Spring by performing Invoke Spring and fails, she explains that the Year the player obtained isn't the real Year. She tells the player to go and find the true Year.

The spirits
To obtain the true Year, you must first talk to the Stone, River, and Cloud spirits to obtain keys of their elements. They are found to the north-east, south-east and north-west, respectively. To obtain the keys, ask each spirit how the player can obtain the true Year. The spirit will give a cryptic hint depending on its element (e.g., the River spirit will say that it is submerged in deep water, while the Cloud spirit will say that it is high in the clouds) and then give you a key of their respective elements. They explain that the key will help you find the true Year. It is required to get all the keys.

The purpose of the keys
After you have obtained all the keys, head south-west of Holly. You will see that the river ends abruptly with a boulder in the way. Use the Stone key on the boulder disappear, opening the entrance to a cave. Enter it.

The river is still flowing inside the cave. Follow it and you will see a large pool of water with bubbles forming in the middle. Use the Water key on these bubbles. The water will then drain away, exposing a tunnel beneath the pool. Climb down the nearby stone stairs and enter the cave.

Follow the tunnel and you will see another pool of water with steam forming in the middle. Use your Cloud key on it. The player proceeds to jump in, blasting him/her up through the ceiling and into another room.

Ice sculptures
You will appear in a room with the Queen of Snow sitting, surrounded by ice, with a large block of ice nearby. Talk to her, and ask her about what she is doing there. She explains that it is the only ice cave that hasn't melted, due to the transition from Winter to Spring. Exclaim that she has the Year. Don't command her to give you the Year, however, because she will say that she is a queen, and that you have no right to talk to her like that, which will be proceeded by the conversation ending.

She admits that she stole the Year. She then explains that she can only see Winter, and anything else is dark and empty, and she can't understand why anybody would want a world like that. She only stole the year to protect the world from becoming barren and empty in her eyes.

Tell her that you could help her appreciate Spring. She says that she would like that, but that you would have to carve what you want to show her out of ice, because that is all she can see.

Pick up the hammer and the chisel from near the entrance of the room. Use one of them on the large block of ice. She will then ask you what you are going to carve into the ice. Your options are:


 * A stag
 * Cute baby animals
 * The Easter Bunny bringing eggs
 * Cute baby animals... impaled on swords!

Talk to the Queen of Snow. A cut-scene will play, in which she stands up and begins to contemplate your sculpture. Depending on which sculpture you carve, it yields a slightly different reaction from the her, but this is irrelevant, and the quest progresses as normal regardless.

She then says that the player made her believe in Spring, and that she feels okay about passing the Year on. She then exits the room to a ledge outside and disappears in a gust of smoke.

After the cut-scene, you appear back near the Season Tree, with the true Year in your inventory.

Finishing up
Once back at the Season Tree, talk to the Queen of Sunrise. You will hand her the true Year, and she will ask you where you found it. You can choose to tell her the truth, that the Queen of Snow was hiding it, or just tell her that you found it lying in a cave. Either option will progress the quest.

A cut-scene plays where the Queen of Sunrise attempts to turn Winter into Spring by performing Invoke Spring again, and succeeds. Quest complete!



Reward

 * Sunbeam crown
 * Invoke Spring emote

Hawthorn and Icicle Crown
Talk to the Queen of Snow, she will ask you to chop down an Evil hawthorn tree. Do so, search it, and finally return to the Queen of Snow. Once this is done, she will entrust you with the Icicle crown, which can be used to locate other Evil Trees scattered across RuneScape. Kill more Evil Hawthorn trees to charge it up (you need to wear the crown to see charges).

Music unlocked

 * Lament of the Snow Queen
 * Spring Song

Trivia

 * The examine of the bank chest in The Land of Holly and Hawthorn reads "Interest rates have been frozen".
 * If Jack Frost is spoken to during the event, he will make a remark to the Easter Bunny how people never eat easter eggs as they have become rare items and people leave them in their bank.
 * If you talk to the Antipodean squirrel squirrel and say "G'day, mate," he will talk about himself being a stereotype of an Australian.
 * The Cloud Spirit speaks very full of itself, and since it is a cloud, it is most likely referring to the phrase, "full of hot air".
 * If you obtained a Snow Imp during the 2009 Christmas event (or the other christmas events with snow imps), then the Snow Imp that you obtained during one of those events is right there north of the Queen of Snow.
 * The sculpture you chose to make appears next to the DKS fairy ring after the quest.
 * The main theme of the event is based towards spring rather than Easter.
 * If you stand in the south corner near the ice, it will display the wildy cross and level -28 in the top right hand corner.
 * If you examined the year obtained from the Evil Holly Tree, it said "Somehow, you can hold the whole Year in your hand."
 * When you lose or destroy the crowns they will keep their charges when getting them back from Diango.
 * In the north-western part of holly, next to the cloud spirit, parts of the map from "Forgettable tale of a drunken dwarf" can be seen. Especially well with an orb of oculus.
 * In the north-easter part of hawthorn, by the Stone spirit, a small area of Diango's workshop is shown, using the Orb of Oculus.
 * A glitch on the day of the quest's release showed the Evil Holly Tree's health as always below 5%, even if it had just been born.
 * Another glitch has been discovered regarding the evil trees. If you log into the right locations, you can appear inside of a tree, or inside of the roots. If you are inside of the roots but outside the tree you can chop at the tree without being attacked by the roots.