Swan Song

Swan Song is a quest about the adventuring life of the Wise Old Man. His help is requested in aiding the Piscatoris Fishing Colony get rid of a sea troll invasion, a quest he views as his "swan song". That is, his final adventure before retiring.

Getting There
The Piscatoris Fishing Colony can be reached in many ways: The fastest method is using a spirit kyatt to teleport just in front of the gates. You can also purchase a Phoenix lair teleport from the Grand Exchange and run north. Otherwise, take the boat, from the river west of the Gnome Stronghold, or on foot, taking the long walk through the Piscatoris Hunter area, using the fairy ring (code ), or riding an Eagle and walking north. Since the Lodestone Network Update, the Eagle's Peak lodestone is right next to the boat, so if you have unlocked this lodestone, it would be a great option. To use the boat, you must either pay Kathy Corkat 50 coins or charm her while wearing the Ring of Charos (a). After you have started the quest you will not need to pay her again.

Trollish
Once you reach the fishing colony, walk a short distance north-east and speak to Herman Caranos, who is by a fence outside the colony gate. When you agree to help him, the quest will start. He will want a more seasoned adventurer than you. He will ask you to find the Wise Old Man of Draynor and secure his services—you will see a cut-scene of the Wise Old Man fighting various foes, such as the Kalphite Queen, some more successfully than others, as well as attacking the Drunken Dwarf. Agree to this, and travel to Draynor Village.

'''You may teleport to, or close to Draynor Village using any methods listed: (Amulet of glory/Explorer's ring 3/4), Gnome Air, Spirit tree, lodestone, and/or Fairy ring. The Draynor Village Lodestone is also a great method of transportation.'''

The Wise Old Man
Items required: 10 Lava runes, 10 Mist runes, 5 Blood runes

Talk to the Wise Old Man. After some conversation, he will tell you that he requires 10 Lava runes, 10 Mist runes, and 5 Blood runes before he will help you. Give him these runes, and he will teleport to the fishing colony. If the player has these runes in their inventory already (which is highly unlikely without the foresight of, say, a walkthrough), an amusing conversation will take place, with both the player's character and the Wise Old Man mutually amazed, possibly a dig by Jagex at players who have looked the items up beforehand.

Battle at the Colony
'''Items required: Combat gear to fight 7 level 63 Sea Trolls with no range/mage spots. Use of Protect from Melee recommended if your combat level is under 100. The Sea Trolls attack with melee and are weak to air magic.'''

Note that a Dwarven Multicannon WILL NOT work here, and will explode after assembly, causing you to temporarily lose it.



Travel back to the Piscatoris Fishing Colony. The Wise Old Man will be waiting in place of Herman Caranos. Talk to him to enter the main colony grounds, where you will be attacked by 7 level 63 Sea Trolls (3 at a time). The Wise Old Man will help you by casting Saradomin Strike on the trolls (He usually hits around 100); however, after 10 casts, he runs out of runes and resorts to throwing stones at the trolls, with a maximum hit of 30 (although you can give him more runes). A simple melee setup is sufficient to take out all the trolls. You can use air spells if you're having trouble.

If you health gets low, run to either the North-west or South-west corner. This will cause the sea trolls to get stuck, and only one will be able to attack you.

Once you have killed the trolls, enter the gates of the colony. (When you have killed the trolls, you can pick up their bones to use later on in the quest.) The Wise Old Man will tell you to find Herman Caranos, after which he will disappear. Herman is in the building at the east end of the colony.

''Optional: You can search Herman's desk for a book which tells you about the Wise Old Man's past. If you have a house with a bookcase in it, this book will become available.''

Herman can be found east of the furnace. When you talk to Herman the Wise Old Man will reappear. You will then be told to do some odd jobs around the colony.

Repairing the Colony
The following two tasks can be done in any order:
 * 1) Talk with Franklin Caranos, and repair the colony's walls.
 * 2) Talk with Arnold Lydspor, and refill the fishing colony's food stocks.

Franklin Caranos
Items Required: The log and the 5 iron bars may be obtained outside the colony.

Franklin is near the entrance gate to the colony. He will ask you to make five iron sheets to repair the west walls. If you have the iron bars and log you can skip the following paragraph:

''Exit the colony via the gate, and head through the hole in the ground. Just outside the gates are several dead trees from which logs can be cut. To the south you should find several rocks; mine enough iron ores to make 5 iron bars (you will be able to smelt them with the usual success rate at the colony, between 50 percent and 80 percent depending on your Smithing level). Return to the colony, and smelt your ores into bars, returning to the rocks and mining more ores if required, until you have 5 bars.''



Now use your log on the firebox located on the east end of the metal-pressing machine (the press is in the middle of the building with the furnace icon on it), then light the firebox. Once the press is heated, use your 5 Iron bars on the west end of the press to make iron sheets (giving 20 Smithing xp per sheet). Use the iron sheets on the broken walls (which are located on the west side of the colony). Once you have done this, talk to Franklin again.

(Franklin will now buy iron sheets for 20 coins after completion of the quest, but the price of an iron bar is much higher so it is not recommended.)

Arnold Lydspor
Arnold can be located to the west of Herman, at the bank sign on the minimap. (Arnold's bank and general store cannot be accessed until the quest is complete. Right-click him and use the 'Talk-to' option.) He will tell you that the fishing colony has no food and that he needs 5 cooked Fresh monkfish. The fishing spot for them is located north west. Players need a small net and a Fishing level of 62 to fish for monkfish, but using a few fishing potions at level 59 fishing is possible. An Admiral pie will also work (bring at least 3) at a Fishing level of 57. A Spicy Stew can be used to boost from 56 but it isn't recommended since it has a chance of lowering your fishing level by six.

While fishing, you may be attacked by three Sea Trolls, whose levels get progressively higher: 80, 110, and 120. When you have caught the fresh monkfish, you can cook them on a range to the south. You may burn the fish. When you have 5 cooked fresh monkfish, take them to Arnold. The cooking CANNOT be assisted by another player.

Catching 3 or 4 extra in case you burn some while cooking is not a bad idea, as even players with 99 cooking may burn them, although these are not regular monkfish, and only 10 xp is awarded for fishing and cooking these monkfish. During the quest, these "Fresh Monkfish" heal only 200 health, as opposed to monkfish which heal 1600.

After you catch and cook the monkfish, talk to Arnold again.

''If for whatever reasons you choose to cook the fresh monkfish on a fire, the system will tell you that you can't cook that in a fire, however you will proceed to cook it regardless. This may be a bug.''

Raising an Army
Required Items: 7 bones, and an Empty pot and Pot lid.

Return to Herman's office, and the Wise Old Man and Herman will tell you that they need an army to fight and defeat the Sea Trolls once and for all. The Wise Old Man tells you to visit Wizard Frumscone in the basement of the Magic Guild, by the zombies.

Head to the basement of the Magic Guild in Yanille. Talk to Wizard Frumscone, who will refuse to help you, but does tell you of one who may: Malignius Mortifer.

You must bank any Saradomin items (this includes books and damaged books) otherwise he'll just keep responding with "I don't talk to Saradominist filth".

If you did not bring a pot or pot lid, you may want to grab a pickaxe from the bank in Yanille.

Malignius Mortifer is just south-east of Clan Camp (The cabbage port from the Explorer's ring or the Port Sarim Lodestone teleport are also quite fast methods to reach him). You can use the southern portal at the top of the Guild to take you to the Dark Wizards' Tower. Head east out of the Dark Wizards' Tower and then head south-east, through the gate and continue south-east.

Malignius will tell you that he needs seven normal bones. (If you have bones with you, Malignius will say, "Hah! And I thought only necromancers and jogres carried bones around with them!") (You can kill highwaymen or the chickens in the farm nearby for these. There are also goblins to the south of Port Sarim.) When you give them to him, he will tell you that you also need some way of storing the seeds he will give you and that you should ask in the Crafting Guild to the west. He will give you a brown apron, even though you don't need it.

Head west to the Crafting Guild. Ask the Master Crafter that is just inside the door (on the left as you enter, NOT the one wearing the crafting skill cape) how you should make a container; You will need simply a pot with a pot lid. You can skip this next section if you already brought a pot with a lid, although you still need to ask the Master Crafter about the container for Malignius Mortifer to accept it.

''If you brought a pickaxe or have one in your Toolbelt, mine 2 pieces of clay in the Guild mine and use them on the sink to the south to soften them, and then shape the clay on the Potter's wheel. Fire them in the pottery oven.''

Take the pot with the lid back to Malignius.

WARNING: He will teleport you to the fishing colony after you have finished talking with him. If you have another airtight pot you might want to fill it with bone seeds in case you accidentally drop one, where the power of the seeds will escape, leaving behind a normal airtight pot. Before speaking to him, you may wish to prepare for the upcoming fight beforehand.

Note: Although he teleports the player, he sends you to the outside area of the colony, not directly into the colony itself; using the nearby fairy ring, you could ready for battle at the Zanaris bank and then return using Fairy code. '''During this part of the quest, you can return to the colony as often as possible if you have an empty pot with you to fill with bone seeds when talking to Malignius. You cannot have any bone seeds in your inventory or else this will not work!'''

The Final Battle
See the strategies section! Items required: Combat gear to defeat a level 91 Sea Troll Queen, which is able to use magic, melee, and can drain prayer. Range/mage spots are available. Contrary to popular belief, if you die here, you will have a gravestone. It will appear just outside the hole you need to crawl through before entering the colony. A good strategy to get there in time is to either teleport to Edgeville or the Grand Exchange and use a Dramen Staff (hopefully you have a spare you didn't lose in the fight!) and teleport to fairy ring A-K-Q and run North East. If you act quickly, you will have plenty of time to retrieve all of your items. You will not need to get more Bone Seeds if you die. You can crawl through the hole and you can rewatch the battle or skip straight to the queen.

After entering the colony and talking to Herman, you will be shown a cutscene of your army of Skeletal mages defeating the Sea Trolls and then the Wise Old Man killing the level-less Sea Troll General. However, while he is celebrating he gets hit for 2345 life points (which doesn't make the slightest dent on his health bar). He will pretend to be disabled for the rest of the fight, so you must take on the Sea Troll Queen yourself.

Strategies

 * Sea troll Queen fight.png Queen cannot move from her location, so anywhere not directly next to her is suitable for long-ranged attacks.
 * The Queen uses a magic attack, the water wave and a basic melee attack when possible. It should also be noted that because the Queen cannot move, you are able to retreat out of battle to heal safely.
 * If you are using protection prayers and are not within melee range, the Queen will use a powerful prayer-draining attack. This means that long-ranged attacks are inadvisable unless you are confident in your armour to protect you from her powerful magical spells, which can hit very high.
 * Using ranged or mage against her from afar will limit her to only using magic. Activate Protect or Deflect Magic, which should be set up as a quick prayer, and sip a dose of Prayer Renewal at the start of the battle. When she drains your prayer completely, immediately reactivate it since the prayer renewal will continue to regenerate some prayer over five minutes. If good at prayer flashing, the queen will deliver little-to-no damage, thus saving food.
 * Meleeing the Queen means she will not use her prayer draining attack; however, she uses both melee and magic attacks. She can easily hit over 300 with magical attacks, so it is best to use Protect from Magic and wear melee armour. It is also recommended to take good food. Although lobsters work fine, monkfish or better are recommended. You can also bring an extra prayer potion or two if you want to be safe. Although food is highly recommended, it is possible to retreat to the bank (the building where Arnold Lydspor is), which is considered a safe zone, thus healing your lifepoints rapidly. However, Arnold will not allow you to access the bank during the battle.
 * She is not too hard at all for a skilled fighter, though she should not be taken for a pushover either.
 * Do not attempt to use a cannon. It will disappear when set up.

After defeating the Queen, talk to Herman to finish the quest. In a humorous dialogue the Wise Old Man mentions a reward for the player, and the player practically begs for his hat, which is a blue partyhat. The Wise Old Man leaves ignoring the player's plea for the hat. The player is so frustrated that they use the headbang emote over Herman's desk. Before an update by Jagex, the headbang emote greater resembled a bang against the desk. Congratulations! You can now fish Monkfish and use the bank at the Piscatoris Fishing Colony!

Rewards

 * 2 Quest Points
 * 15,000 experience
 * 10,000 experience
 * 10,000 experience
 * 25,000 Coins
 * Access to the Piscatoris Fishing Colony
 * Able to fish monkfish
 * Able to use Skeletal mages for training
 * Seaweed spawns
 * Bank and Summoning obelisk very close by
 * Can get the following items from Malignius Mortifer upon request:
 * Brown apron
 * Bone seed (requires pot and pot lid)

Music

 * Making Waves
 * Last Stand
 * Eagle's Peak (Depending on how you walk to Kathy Corkat)
 * Joy of the Hunt (If you took Kathy's boat, or walk toward it in the fishing colony)

Required for completing
Completion of Swan Song is required for the following:
 * Love Story
 * While Guthix Sleeps

Trivia

 * A is an idiom referring to a final theatrical or dramatic appearance, or any final work or accomplishment. This is referring to it being the Wise Old Man's final adventure. It can also mean to say something at one's death bed.

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