The Bird and the Beast

The Bird and the Beast (sometimes abbreviated as BnB) is the second world event, which started on 11 December 2013 and will end with the first update after 20 January 2014, after six weeks of battle. The event features the gods Armadyl and Bandos fighting over weapons of mass destruction atop towers that they have aimed at the opposing god, in addition to caravans all over Gielinor that can be raided by players. The Godless are interfering with this world event, sending members to ambush the gods' troops.

Unlike the first world event, the Battle of Lumbridge, the loser of the conflict will die. Divination plays a role in this world event and safe PvP conflict is available. Wilderness skirmish events remain dangerous, where players will lose items if they die. Players are able to build golems. The benefits of enabling PvP include increased renown, more experience, faster construction of buildings and Heroic skulls. The Heroic skulls are a possible drop from killing a worthy opponent in PvP, and will be able to be buried at the faction tower for a chunk of Prayer experience.

Similar to the Battle of Lumbridge, players are once again able to gain armour for the god they side with, the Warpriest of Armadyl and the Warpriest of Bandos armour. These are hybrid armour similar to the Warpriest of Zamorak and Warpriest of Saradomin armour available from the first world event, however these provide a decrease to ability cooldowns instead of damage reduction. Other rewards include 3 new Abilities for all combat types, and new emotes.

Players are also able to switch factions at will, albeit at a cost of renown, faction token, votes, and title obtained from the previous faction.

Introduction
With the depletion of the rift in Lumbridge at the climax of the battle between Saradomin and Zamorak, the gods have been forced to find other sources of divine energy. Both Armadyl and Bandos have turned to the newly discovered skill of Divination, and caravans of their followers travel the world to bring the energy back to their mighty towers.

To do this, they've established sites in key places around Asgarnia and Misthalin, and are gathering followers to claim and defend these sites as well as the caravans.

Starting the event
Players can start the event by talking to Kara-Meir located at the north of Falador and choosing the faction they would like to represent: Bandos or Armadyl. Bandos's Tower is located east of the Goblin Village, while Armadyl's Tower is located next to the Clan Camp south of Falador.



Obtaining renown
At the start of the event, members could gather 30,000 renown daily, while free-to-play players could gather only up to 14,000 each day. On 5 January, at the start of the sixth phase, the renown limit was increased to 45,000 per day for members and 21,000 per day for free-to-play players. The remaining daily limit is displayed via "Remaining energy" in the war HUD.

Sites
Unlike the Battle of Lumbridge where battle was confined to the Lumbridge crater, this event involves 14 sites, scattered around in the free-to-play game. Each site can be occupied by any faction, and occupied sites are localised on each world and not shared for all worlds.



Building and repurposing
After occupying a site, several types of buildings can be built. However, the buildings can only be built on neutral sites. When a building is first constructed, it is at 10% health. All players can then increase the health of the building to 100%, and enemies can damage the building to 0%, destroying it and turning the site neutral. To rebuild a recently destroyed building, players have to wait 10 minutes to rebuild at that site. However, the enemy can immediately build at that site. Players have 20 minutes to complete a building, otherwise it will revert back to the empty neutral site. Players may also vote to re-purpose a building into another type, each vote lasting 2 minutes.

Players earn Construction experience and renown whenever you successfully add or remove health from any building. All players working to build a building when it completes, or tear one down when it vanishes, will also receive renown. 5 renown is awarded each time an action is performed; this is doubled to 10 renown per action when PvP mode is enabled, which means it will take 21 minutes of work for a f2p to use all their energy and 45 minutes for a member. The Constructor's outfit, Sculpting chisel, Wisdom or Festive Aura can be used to gain additional experience. The Two-leaf clover necklace also provides an experience boost, and does not lose charges from working on construction sites.

All completed buildings can be teleported to, by using the War map item or from the War map in the ground floor of the faction tower.

Killing and PvP mode
Player and NPC killing is only possible within PvP areas, which are around the building sites and denoted on the ground by red double lines. These areas are safe, meaning players do not lose any items upon death. To enable player killing, PvP mode has to be enabled. This can be done by using the PvP board outside the faction tower, or by opening the Adventures tab (F3 by default, and the compass icon). The PvP board also lists significant kills by the top 15 players, and the players' kill/death ratio.

All players who deal damage receive 256 renown per kill, and the player who deal the most damage may, dependent on relative combat levels, receive a heroic skull per kill. The skulls can only be buried within the faction tower for Prayer experience. The experience per skull increases if more than one skull is buried at once. However, heroic skulls are lost upon death when killed by another player.

Activating PvP mode doubles the renown received per action and increases experience by 33%. Actions are also performed roughly twice as fast. For example, if a player would earn 5 renown and 10 Construction experience per action normally, turning PvP mode on turns this into 10 renown and ~13.3 Construction experience. While having PvP mode on will allow a player to gain renown about four times faster when building, it also decreases the amount of experience earned per renown gained. Thus, if the player is aiming to gain as much experience as possible, it is advised that PvP mode is deactivated.

There is a cooldown period of 6 seconds upon entering the PvP areas. Combat is also scaled according to level. This means that weak players become stronger, and strong players become weaker depending on their opponent.

Convoys and Divination
Bandosian and Armadylean convoys appear at random sites once every 20 minutes. Each faction will only have one active convoy at any time. Each convoy can be composed of the following. The exact composition depends on the convoy strategy currently implemented and the voting choices made during the phases.
 * 2 caravans (2 Bandosian caravans; 2 Armadylean caravans)
 * 2 diviners (2 Bandosian diviners; 2 Armadylean diviners)
 * 2-3 standard bodyguards (2 Bandosian bodyguards; 3 Armadylean bodyguards)
 * 1-2 "tough" bodyguard (2 Bandosian orks or ogres; 1 Armadylean aviantese)
 * Golem if active (Bandosian golem; Armadylean golem)
 * Ambushers if site contains a Spider Hole (Bandosian ambushers; Armadylean ambushers)

A convoy will travel from its spawn site to a destination site, stopping twice along the way. At each stop, the diviners for each convoy will try to locate divine energy stating "Seeking divine energy!" several times. After their unsuccessful attempt, the convoy will move on. Upon reaching their destination, the diviners will successfully find the divine energy and will start harvesting. A progress bar keeps track of the capacity of the respective caravans.

At this point, players can choose to help their diviners for renown and Divination experience. During phase 1, 10 renown is awarded each time an action is performed; this is doubled to 20 renown per action when PvP mode is enabled. During phase 2, the renown awarded is 15 and 30, respectively. Players also obtain renown for healing friendly units (with the 'Engage' option). Once the caravans are full, the convoy despawns and returns to the faction tower. However, if the convoy is attacked and killed before completely harvesting the energy, the convoy retreats to the faction towers with whatever they have harvested thus far. Players may obtain sacred metal fragments as well as weapon override components, regardless of whether the convoy is successful in the harvesting or is killed in the process.

Enemy convoys are not attackable during their journey to the destination site. The convoy only become attackable when they are stationary: when they are at the intermediate sites, and finally at their destination site. The caravans can only be attacked after the bodyguards have been killed. Diviners and players can be stunned using the Disruptor Rod to delay them. If the site has a Spider Hole building, enemy ambushers may attack players and other units. Players may receive sacred metal fragments as well as weapon components as drops from killing the enemy units. The golem, however, can still be active at this point and does not require killing. When the caravans' health is fully depleted, they despawn and retreat. At this time players may also receive sacred metal fragments and weapon override components.

Divine crystals may be found while harvesting divine energy using the Divination skill. When deposited, they provide 750 renown, at the expense of an equal amount of energy. Only up to 1,500 renown can be earned by using divine crystals per day.

Switching factions
Players who wish to switch factions could do so by talking to Kara-Meir located north of Falador. Players would lose their god token (Bandosian token or Armadylean token), accumulated renown, the Warmaster/Vanguard title, and votes. However, players will retain in their inventory all war-related items (i.e. weapon override components, sacred metal fragments, warpriest armour, etc.), and will still able to use unlocked emotes and titles (with the exception of the Warmaster/Vanguard title).

Random events
Random events occur randomly throughout the world event. Some of the events are announced by using yellow text in the chatbox, although most are not.

Passing events
Passing events have a chance to occur at the intermediate sites of the convoy. Each event last 10 minutes or until the event is completed.

Gathering events
Gathering events have a chance to occur at the final destination site of the convoy, while the diviners are collecting divine energy.

Other events
The following events may occur under any condition.

Skirmishes
Note: Due to an ongoing glitch, it is impossible to participate in skirmishes once the "Energy" daily limit reaches 0. This glitch affects both sides.

Skirmishes between the two factions occur randomly independent of the convoys. Skirmishes last for 30 minutes, or until all the NPCs of one faction is killed. In a skirmish, a number of NPCs (Bandosian battle-mages and Armadylean battle-mages) will spawn in particular locations within Gielinor and begin attacking each other. Players are able to aid them by killing members of the opposing faction for sacred metal fragments and weapon override components. If the skirmish ends after running out of time, a stalemate will be declared and neither side will win. If all the NPCs on one faction are killed, the players who participated on the winning faction will gain 1,250 renown.

Influencing the war
The votes from contributing in the war can be spent on microchanges and escalations. Voting on golem construction requires contribution points. Voting on army management and faction strategy does not require any spending.

Microchanges and escalations
As with Battle of Lumbridge, votes can be cast on microchanges and escalations by using the Voting board on the ground floor, or by talking to the Armadylean record keeper or the Bandosian record keeper.

Microchanges provide a boost to the faction (such as improved gathering rate and increased damage), and the chosen buff will be displayed in the war HUD. Escalations increase the urgency and the difficulty of the war. When escalations are active, the rate of interference by the Godless faction increases.

Army Management
As with Duke Horacio's Dilemma portion of the Battle of Lumbridge, votes can be cast to manage the faction army by using the Battle plans on a table (for Bandosians) or the Lectern (for Armadyleans) on the ground floor, or by talking to the Armadylean record keeper or the Bandosian record keeper.

The management interface can be used to recruit more army (bodyguards, ambushers, and battle-mages), and to improve morale. After voting, players can claim bonus experience for any desired skill. This bonus experience is received when training the skill in which the experience was chosen. However, this bonus experience can only be gained on a members' server.

Faction Strategy
Similar to the army management, the strategy for the faction can be influenced by the player through votes. This can be done by using the Strategy board located on the ground floor. There are no NPCs associated with this vote.

Unlike the other votings, this vote can be changed freely at any time, and as frequently as wished by the player.

Golem Construction
Players can also use votes to construct golems for their faction. This can be done by interacting with the partially completed golem on the first floor, or by talking to the Armadylean golem master or the Bandosian golem master.

Golems are custom built mechanical monsters which defend caravans and faction sites. A golem is constructed from a head, a pair of arms, a pair of legs and a body. Each of these has three options: offensive, defensive, or special. Each option determines how the golem behaves and attacks. Defensive golems teleport to any friendly convoy and follows the caravan as an extra bodyguard, attacking players, golems or other NPCs. Offensive golems teleport to any enemy convoy that is stationary and attacks that convoy starting with a golem, then the bodyguards, then the caravan.

Progress of war

 * By the end of phase 1 on 15 December, players from both factions had voted to increase the rate their diviners collected resources by 10%.
 * On 17 December, sacred metal shards started dropping via divining, healing convoy members, building and tearing down buildings. In addition, renown obtained by interacting with convoys and killing players via PvP increased by 50%.
 * By the end of phase 2 on 20 December, Bandosian players had voted for better bodyguards while Armadylean players had voted for better diviners.
 * At the beginning of phase 3, the Armadylean and Bandosian quartermasters opened up the Requisitions to Tier 2 rewards. In addition, adventurers who joined in the conflict found themselves being attacked by enemy NPCs (Bandosian ambushers and Armadylean ambushers) at random times. Godless ambushers also started attacking convoys.
 * By the end of phase 3 on 25 December, players from both factions had voted to increase damage by Bandosian and Armadylean bodyguards by 50%.
 * By the end of phase 4 on 30 December, Bandosian players had voted for tougher caravans while Armadylean players had voted for bigger caravans.
 * At the beginning of phase 5, the Armadylean and Bandosian quartermasters opened up the Requisitions to Tier 3 rewards.
 * By the end of phase 5 on 4 January, both Bandosian and Armadylean players voted to increase the rate at which they gathered divine energy at their respective convoys by 10%.
 * At the beginning of phase 6, the energy cap was increased from 30,000 to 45,000 for members and from 14,000 to 21,000 for free players.
 * By the end of phase 6 on 9 January, players from both factions had voted for greater benefits from holding a majority of buildings, where passive benefits are boosted by 10%.
 * By the end of phase 7 on 15 January, players from both factions had voted to increase the effects of structures by 25%.
 * At the beginning of phase 8, the number of sacred metal fragments obtained by players was increased.

War statistics
The following is the faction score for Bandos and Armadyl during the event.

Rewards
The renown and sacred metal fragments gathered can be spent on various rewards, such as 6 components of the Warpriest armour, 4 weapon overrides, 3 emotes, 4 titles, and 3 abilities. Higher tier rewards are unlocked as the event progresses, with each tier being unlocked after a certain amount of phases, which last 5 days each. Tier 1 is unlocked automatically, Tier 2 will unlock during phase 3 (or after 10 days), and Tier 3 will unlock during phase 5 (or after 20 days). Aside from a renown cost, each item in the shop requires a certain faction token rank to be bought.

To buy all rewards from one faction (except those obtained by random), including abilities, players would require 721,000 renown. To buy all rewards from both factions, players would require a minimum of 1,164,000 renown.

Players wishing to obtain all rewards from this event may want to consider focusing on the emotes and titles, instead of the abilities and Warpriest armour. The Warpriest armour will be available again after the event as drops in the God Wars Dungeon, and the abilities will be a very rare drop from defeating the General Graador and Kree'arra, God Wars Dungeon bosses for the respective factions.

Trivia

 * While training Divination, players may gain a buff to finding enriched memories. A chatbox notification is given, stating, "Armadyl/Bandos rewards your loyalty! You have an increased chance to find super memories for the next three minutes."
 * You can disable the game messages about traveling convoys by talking to the Doomsayer or via the game settings. Within Interface Settings, open the "Warnings settings" menu and disable "World Event Notifications" at the bottom of the list.
 * There are currently many glitches at the Bandosian camp, one of the glitch is that a player can get inside a stump just west of the Bandosian camp, another one is that a player can get inside a rock and inside the quartermaster and the recruiter.
 * The area of this world event bans Summoning familiars in a similar manner as the Grand Exchange; they cannot be summoned inside the area, and if summoned outside, they will be hidden while inside.
 * There was a glitch causing multi-targeting AoE abilities, such as Chain for magic, to damage a friendly NPCs when attacking a caravan. This was fixed on 7 January 2014.
 * The random event where a caravan bodyguard can contract dysentery is a reference to the video game The Oregon trail.
 * There was a glitch where players lose connection when attempting to fight a skirmish if they had no energy remaining. This was fixed.
 * It was previously possible for ambushes to occur almost anywhere in the world, except in the Wilderness, in instances, in cutscenes, while a player was already in combat, or while a player was under half health; though there have been reports of them spawning in cutscenes and combat. In some cases, they could even spawn in areas where the player couldn't fight back, such as Tears of Guthix. This was changed on 23 December.
 * There is currently a glitch where players can repurpose a site during the 10 minute cooldown of a previous vote. By leaving the voting interface open past the 2 minute countdown, players can vote after the site has already been repurposed. This will cause a new vote to take place. However, since the 10 minute cooldown period of the previous vote has not yet expired, only players who still have the voting interface open can vote.
 * There was a bug that prevented players from divining for their faction's caravans on free-to-play worlds if they had level 5 or higher Divination. This was fixed on 7 January 2014.
 * While constructing and repairing a faction building, players equipped with a hand cannon or any kind of chinchompa will use their weapons instead of a hammer. This is likely caused by the inability for these weapons to be sheathed.
 * On 19 January, towards the end of the event, there was a glitch stopping the buildings in the event from working on some worlds, where each site belonged to neither side.