Hero's Welcome

Hero's Welcome is the eleventh quest in the Fremennik series. It features the legendary Fremennik hero, V, who has ascended to godhood but is now being hunted by the Dragonkin for touching the Stone of Jas.

It is recommended to have completed Ritual of the Mahjarrat and One of a Kind before starting this quest for background knowledge of the Dragonkin and bane ore.

V for...
Start the quest by talking to either Freya Lune or Alfrick the Planner, located at the Rellekka docks and near the marketplace. The Fremennik hero, V, who had attained god-like powers by touching the Stone of Jas, has announced his return to his people in their dreams. Freya, the spokesperson from the Moon Clan and Alfrick, her counterpart for the Fremenniks, are arguing with each other over the necessary preparations that must be done to welcome him back.

They both trust your judgement and hence request you to solve their dilemmas in a manner that's fair to both the Moon Clan and the Fremenniks. They also suggest speaking with some of the locals to obtain more information about V's preferences.


 * Start by speaking to Yrsa, who is located in the building just south-west of the docks. She will recall her father's stories about how V left after the Edicts of Guthix were laid down at the end of the Third Age. Instead of rebelling against Guthix, V simply understood and left after saying his farewells. Now that the Edicts no longer exist, he yearns to return to his people in Rellekka.
 * Next, talk to Peer the Seer, who is situated outside the building to the south-east of Yrsa. He explains how V established the usage of basic air and water magic, and the creation of rune altars, to benefit his people. The altars have since been demolished by the Fremenniks, who couldn't see eye-to-eye with him on the introduction of magic in their community.
 * Talk to Swensen the Navigator in the building just south-east of Peer the Seer. He tells you the story of when V and his companion, Knut, were fighting daggermouths; although V survived, Knut was mortally wounded trying to protect him. V constructed a cairn for him with Winter's Eye plants flowering around it.
 * Talk to Sigmund the Merchant at his stall in the the north-western corner of the marketplace. He explains how V protected and empowered the Fremenniks during the God Wars, despite being much weaker than the other gods. His demeanour forced the other gods to backtrack and cease the pursuing of his people.
 * Talk to Brundt the Chieftain in the main hall, located near the city entrance. He notes that V always wanted to be a great hero to his people, and that is what he got. The Fremenniks do not view V as a god, but simply their personal hero.
 * While you are in the main hall, speak to Manni the Reveller, who tells you that V did not want a sad send-off after the Edicts were in place. Instead, taking a page from a certain monkey-goddess, he decided to host a huge victory feast before departing.
 * Finally, talk to Olaf the Bard, found wandering north-east of the main hall. He tells you about the time when V, after touching the Stone of Jas, warned the Fremenniks about a "giant basilisk" who was waiting to strike at them from the shores. V then rallied his people against the creature and performed his first act of heroism, by killing the basilisk.

Go back and talk to Alfrick or Freya and ask about the celebration. They will ask for information to prepare for the celebration:

Dribs and drabs
After some dialogue, a cutscene ensues; Alfrick and Freya gather the townsfolk and announce V's return to his homeland. V, the Fremennik champion, is delighted to be back and tries to conjure roasted oxen for his people; alas, he only manages to create a few unappealing masses of flesh. V has become weakened upon entering Gielinor, and asks you to meet him at the old trading post after the feast.

After the cutscene, you wake up hung over in the chicken enclosure. Go back and speak to Alfrick to be ferried to the trading post, where you must go into the cave, V's abode, and meet up with him. V talks about his fading power and how it has possibly been affected by a dragonkin named Tarshak, who has relentlessly pursued him across the worldly planes. For some reason, the presence of his energy seems to affect the surroundings, by causing the elements in it to duplicate; trees, rocks, and other features are being cloned. He requests you to find these sources of energy and drain them back to rejuvenate him. Although optional, you can continue to talk to V if you wish to learn more about him.

Go outside the cave and investigate every feature that has been duplicated:


 * Investigate the gnarled tree to the north-west; V will appear and start harvesting the divine energy. Investigate the duplicated gnarled tree located at the south-west part of the island, to channel the energy into V.
 * Investigate the western fishing boat, followed by the one on the east side of the island.
 * Next, investigate the old dock just next to the eastern fishing boat, and then the old dock on the southern side of the island.
 * Investigate the cave entrance to the south-east, then the one to the south.
 * Finally, investigate the rock formation on the west side of the island, near the planks, and then the rock formation just to the north-east of that one.

As you harvest each source of energy, you will gain insight about V's character. Although he was born "stunted and weak", he took control of his life and eventually became a hero to his people; he ponders over whether it is a price he must pay to never have a family or settling down. He also reminisces about the Gods that he had encountered and how their so-called "good actions" were simply detrimental to their followers. The only person he could believe in was Guthix, who only ever wanted people to take charge of their own destiny and not be oppressed through the regime of gods.

The False User and the cursed
Return to V inside the cave, and he'll still appear to be very weak. He'll tell you that he did regain some of the energy, but it's draining out faster than he can sustain it. As he tries to convince you to travel across planes and solicit the aid of people he had helped in the past, four dragonkin enter the cave – Sakirth leads the pack, followed by Strisath and Kalibath, with Tarshak as their prisoner.

Sakirth moves to attack you with a powerful blast, but it is intercepted by V, who collapses after the blast. Sakirth follows by siphoning V's energy into Tarshak, which turns V into a stone statue. Tarshak, now brimming with power, breaks out of his cage and proceeds to smash V into pieces, claiming the life of another False User.

Sakirth and Tarshak argue over your fate; Sakirth wishes to punish you for being an annoyance, while Tarshak dismisses you as a waste of time. Tarshak, being more powerful, passes the order for everyone to leave and prepare to bring down the other False Users.

After the cutscene is over, pass through the northern door and search V's belongings. Read V's journal to locate the whereabouts of the dragonkin; you will also receive some map fragments. Solve the map fragments by aligning the pieces into a map, as shown in the image on the right. Once completed, you will note that the map seemingly looks like the Ancient Caverns, located underneath the Baxtorian Falls whirlpool.

The Dragonkin Lair
The easiest way to reach the Ancient Cavern is by teleporting to Kuradal via a ferocious ring. Alternately, you may teleport to the Barbarian Outpost with a games necklace, or use the fairy ring code to reach the caverns. Whichever method you choose, head south past Kuradal to an ancient door hidden in the wall, near the forge. The door is located on the western wall and may be hard to see.

You quickly find out that the door requires a key, which must be intricately made using mithril. Use the soft clay on the door to create a key mould. To forge the details in the key, you will require the heat of dragonfire; a mithril dragon can be reached by running north-east and climbing down the stairs. Engage the dragon in combat and attack it a few times, and then use a mithril bar on it to form a dragon-mithril key; this may take several attempts.

Use the key on the door to enter the Dragonkin Lair, and you will be greeted by an aggressive iron, steel, mithril or adamant dragon, depending upon your combat level. Defeat it by any means of your choice; however, they are weak to water, earth and air spells, respectively.

After defeating the dragon, a cutscene ensues showing the dragonkin arguing with each other. Tarshak, being a Dactyl, is looked down upon by his captors, the Necrosyrtes. Sakirth and Strisath unsuccessfully attempt to subdue Tarshak, although Kalibath manages to use protective charms to ward against his attacks. The Necrosyrtes then simultaneously attack Tarshak and manage to wound him, causing him to mutate into a more vile physical form.

Tarshak retreats, calling for the aid of Phalaks and promising revenge on the the three dragonkin; Sakirth returns the Elder Mirror back to its original, unknown location and the other Necrosyrtes leave each other's company. You can talk to Sakirth to learn about the Elder Mirror, but he will attack you and lower your life points to 10.

Dragonkin protection
Go into the next room and jump across the stepping stones to reach the chest on the west side. You will find a dragonkin key. Now step into the corridor - you must pass this corridor without Kalibath sensing you. If you step on a pressure pad, he will hear you and the puzzle will be reset.

Walk through and avoid the pressure pads until you reach the first eastern crate. Push it north twice, then walk around to the middle and push the two crates north twice. Push the eastern crate to the east twice, then push the northern-most crate to the west once. Finally, push the crate to your south once, and walk to the door.

Inside the room, search the chest for a dragonkin protective charm and some notes.

There is currently a glitch in NXT which makes the puzzle much more difficult than it should be. It is recommended use the old Java client while solving the above puzzle.

In over his head
Be sure to equip the dragonkin protective charm–simply holding it in your inventory will have no effect. It must be equipped in order to significantly reduce the damage taken from the fights with Tarshak.

Reading the notes informs you that it was written by Tarshak, who plans to make sense of his condition by speaking to one of the finest Dactyls–Phalaks. From his notes, you can gather that Phalaks' lab is located somewhere inside the Grotworm Lair. The easiest way to get there is by teleporting using Remora's necklace, or by teleporting to the Port Sarim lodestone and running north-west.

Go down to the third floor and reach the centre of the floor (west of the Queen Black Dragon entrance). Climb down the stairs that are marked with a giant Dragonkin symbol, and you will be inside Phalaks' lab. A cutscene shows Phalaks conversing with Tarshak, who is getting riled up by Phalaks' disinterest in helping him. Tarshak senses your presence and the situation escalates to the point where Phalaks attempts to fatally injure Tarshak, but only manages to wound him.

In his weakened form, you must defeat Tarshak. It is a straightforward fight, although beware his special stun attack that he charges once every 10 seconds; when he channels his attack, indicated by a message in the chat box, run away from Tarshak. If you remain in melee range, he will deal potentially deadly damage to you.

After defeating him, Tarshak retreats from the laboratory. Phalaks notes that he may have gone to his sanctum somewhere in the Brimhaven Dungeon.

Apotheosis
The easiest way to get to the Brimhaven Dungeon is to use the hoardstalker ring teleport, or the Karamja lodestone teleport and running north-west to the entrance. Navigate through the dungeon to where the iron and steel dragons are located. Enter the tunnel in the west wall of the cavern to meet up with Tarshak, who has mutated into the Abomination.

There are two phases to the fight: you must do both parts without leaving the sanctum. If you die during the fight, your gravestone will appear in the room with the iron and steel dragons. The first phase does not allow you to directly harm Tarshak. Instead, you must use the environment to weaken the ceiling, and cause a collapse upon him. This is done by avoiding and surviving Tarshak's attacks and mining each pillar twice. During this phase, he has four unique attacks:


 * First, he spits out a jet of flame from his mouth, and slowly rotates for 180 degrees. If you are caught in the fire, you will be dealt with high damage (possibly 10000+) and be burned, dealing constant damage every few ticks. This can be stopped by running into the water. It is strongly recommended that you use surge to dodge it completely.
 * His second attack is activated when he rears up and smashes down in the ground, covering about a quarter of the room in the direction his body faces - he will do this twice, in any two random areas. It is possible to easily dodge this attack while mining a pillar, as even if you are in the area the attack is in, the attack does not hit far enough to damage you.
 * Following up with the smash attacks, he launches his third attack. On the areas in which he did not perform his second attack, he will pelt down a barrage of rocks from the ceiling, dealing high damage (1500+). To avoid it, simply stay in an area where he has already performed the second attack.
 * The last, and the most important attack, will be a firebomb. These are your key to winning the fight. After mining each pillar twice, when Tarshak sends out a firebomb, you need to stand next to the weakened pillars. When the bomb explodes, it takes the pillar out, as well as dealing high damage (4000+; do keep in mind that he will only do this much damage if you don't have the protective charm equipped) and burning you (~2000), which must be stopped by running into the water. When all four pillars are gone, a cutscene plays before phase two begins.

In phase two, you must kill the abomination by using combat. Rocks will fall from the ceiling, along with fire emerging from the ground. Dodging these will greatly reduce the amount of damage you take, while also damaging the abomination. Like in the fight in Phalaks' lab, the abomination will do a charge attack every now and then that requires you to run away from it. Failing will result in you being stunned and taking a lot of damage.

Once Tarshak reaches 150 LP, he will no longer take damage from falling rocks, and you must get in the final blow yourself.

After defeating the abomination, the Dactyl–Kerapac, Phalaks, and Silkath–will enter the sanctum to collect samples from Tarshak's corpse. Not far behind, the Necrosyrtes–Sakirth, Strisath, and Kalibath–will join them, and threaten the Dactyls to help with their cause, or suffer the fate of Tarshak. As the dragonkin fight amongst each other, you manage to sneak outside.

...Vendetta
Return to Rellekka and speak with Freya Lune or Alfrick the Planner, who appear to have some news for you on V's Island. Head over to the island to find that a part of the cave has been affectionately turned into a shrine for their hero. Freya and Alfrick inform you that the Fremennik and the Moon Clan are in your gratitude for trying to avenge V, and offer their full support in your future endeavours.

Congratulations, quest complete!

Rewards



 * 2 quest points
 * Access to Abomination cave bane ore rocks
 * Access to the adamant dragons in the Dragonkin Lair, which drop four new lore journals
 * Access to Hannu, Emissary of V
 * The ability to produce 5% more runes when Runecrafting (does not give additional Runecrafting experience)
 * Replayable Abomination boss fight, who can drop main-hand and off-hand dragon javelins, and the abomination cape
 * Access to the adamant dragons in the Dragonkin Lair, which drop four new lore journals
 * Access to Hannu, Emissary of V
 * The ability to produce 5% more runes when Runecrafting (does not give additional Runecrafting experience)
 * Replayable Abomination boss fight, who can drop main-hand and off-hand dragon javelins, and the abomination cape

Music unlocked

 * Abomination
 * Ballad of the Basilisk
 * Dragonkin Theme
 * Duplicity
 * True or False

Trivia

 * Upon completion of the quest, the Adventurer's Log states: I battled a dangerous abomination and avenged the death of V.
 * The cut scenes of V arriving in Rellekka, and his death, can be replayed via the altar inside V's cave, next to his emissary, Hannu.
 * If the key mould is used with a mithril bar, the player will say "Why won't this work? What good is living in a magical world when I can't just rub two items together and solve the problem?"
 * During the cutscene in the Dragonkin lair, Tarshak says to the others "you owe me awe." This is a reference to the novel  by, in which the main antagonist uses the same line.