Temple Trekking

Temple Trekking is a members-only activity in which the player must escort victims of vampyre rule from Burgh de Rott through Morytania to the Paterdomus, the temple on River Salve, on the way guiding them through bogs and over rivers while defending them from dangerous packs of monsters, some unique to this activity.

Burgh de Rott Ramble is the reverse route in which the player escorts potential Myreque recruits from the Paterdomus to Burgh de Rott.

The difficulty of either activity is determined by whether the player chooses weaker or stronger people (called followers) to escort and whether the player chooses to take easier or harder paths through Morytania. Escorting weaker followers means a greater number of monsters will attack when a monster attack event occurs. Taking harder paths means the monsters will have higher combat levels when a monster attack event occurs.

A journey succeeds if the player and follower reach the destination, whereupon the player wins an award. A journey fails if the player or follower is killed. A journey is aborted if the player chooses the escape path or teleports out of the activity at any time.

Several events are likely to occur in each journey. There are three types of events: friendly events in which the player and follower can be healed and have their defences raised, combat events in Multicombat area in which monsters attempt to attack the player and follower, and puzzle events, typically involve overcoming terrain obstacles, that the player must solve. All combat and some puzzle events are dangerous.

These two activities provides opportunities to cross-train in most skills. Combat experience (including Prayer) is gained during battle events. Monster drops and activity rewards provide some of the staple materials used in Crafting, Cooking, Farming, Fletching, Herblore, Runecrafting, and Smithing, while Tomes of experience can be awarded for Agility, Firemaking, Fishing, Mining, Slayer, Thieving, and Woodcutting. Players can also pick up pieces of Lumberjack clothes, which are found only in this activity.

Since the player loses if the follower is killed, one basic tactic in most combat events is for the player to shield the follower from the monsters. This means the player's body will typically be a meat-shield between fairly strong melee enemies and the follower. There are two practical strategies to achieve this:
 * Wear high-defence melee armour. This helps protect the player from the monsters' attacks. This strategy means that the player should typically use melee, as the melee armour will interfere with using ranged or magic.
 * Use protection Prayers. Most monsters attack with melee, so Protect from Melee or Deflect Melee can be used. Giant Snails attack with ranged, so Protect from Missiles or Deflect Missiles can be used. When using prayer, any combat style can be used against most monsters, except Vyrewatch which must be meleed. For magic, Ancient Magicks could be quite useful in some events, as some spells can affect a group of monsters.

'''Note: This is a dangerous activity. If you die, you will need to return to the starting place to retrieve your items; if you played Temple Trekking, you must return to Burgh de Rott to retrieve your items; if you played Burgh de Rott Ramble, you will need to return to the Paterdomus Temple.'''

Supplying your follower
A follower can hold 15 items of food in their backpack, also called the Follower Inventory. They will retain items from one trip to the next, even after logout. The Follower Inventory is used by all followers, so anything given to one is available to all followers, regardless of difficulty and location.

It is a good idea to fill their pack before starting a trek, while talking to them, and before agreeing to escort them.

To fill their pack, use a food item on them. They will "open their backpack" which opens the Follower Inventory, and complete list of food items they will accept and spaces remaining. It is not possible to see what they already have in their pack, only how many more items that can be given. The follower inventory can only be filled with the items listed below before the trip. If desired food can also be taken back out if it has just been put in.

After giving food to the follower it is recommended to then return to the bank to retrieve additional food for the trip. Once ready, restart the dialogue and agree to escort them.



Items that followers accept:


 * {|class="wikitable"

!Item!!Heals
 * Thin snail meat
 * align="right"| 50 to 70
 * Lean snail meat
 * align="right"| 60 to 80
 * Fat snail meat
 * align="right"| 70 to 90
 * Salmon
 * align="right"| 90
 * Stew
 * align="right"| 110
 * Cooked slimy eel
 * align="right"| 60 to 100
 * Cooked meat
 * align="right"| 30
 * Tuna
 * align="right"| 100
 * Cooked fishcake
 * align="right"| 110
 * Lobster
 * align="right"| 120
 * Bass
 * align="right"| 130
 * Redberry pie
 * align="right"| 100
 * Apple pie
 * align="right"| 140
 * Garden pie
 * align="right"| 120
 * Fish pie
 * align="right"| 120
 * Cake
 * align="right"| 120
 * Chocolate cake
 * align="right"| 150
 * Cooked sweetcorn
 * align="right"| 100
 * Potato with butter
 * align="right"| 140
 * }
 * Garden pie
 * align="right"| 120
 * Fish pie
 * align="right"| 120
 * Cake
 * align="right"| 120
 * Chocolate cake
 * align="right"| 150
 * Cooked sweetcorn
 * align="right"| 100
 * Potato with butter
 * align="right"| 140
 * }
 * Cooked sweetcorn
 * align="right"| 100
 * Potato with butter
 * align="right"| 140
 * }
 * }

During the events the follower can be resupplied with food. At this point, all food types are accepted, not just the ones previously specified. All food supplied during the event will heal the same amount (100 life points), unlike the food supplied prior to starting (which heals the amount it is supposed to). For this reason, it is advantageous to allocate one inventory slot for a sack filled with a food, such as cabbages, allowing for the healing and food replenishment of the follower as much as 10 times per inventory slot.

If you abandon your follower by teleporting out of the activity they will lose all of their food.

Requirements to start
The following Quests must be completed to play this activity:

Not needed, but giving some extra content:
 * In Aid of the Myreque
 * Darkness of Hallowvale for Burgh de Rott Ramble.
 * Legacy of Seergaze for the Vyrewatch event.

Temple trekking starts at the town of Burgh de Rott. Start the activity by speaking to one of the NPCs standing nearby.

Burgh de Rott Ramble starts on the east side of the River Salve just outside the temple. A player can start at either side.

The following items are recommended:



Weapons and Armour

 * One standard weapon (Abyssal Whip shown). Fast weapons are recommended for this activity, especially on route 3: You have to kill a monster quickly when he attacks your follower.
 * Dragon dagger or Dragon Claws for its special attack to protect the follower.
 * Ancient Mace may be used to regain some prayer points mid-trek.
 * Rod of Ivandis (prior to completion of Legacy of Seergaze) or other silver weapon. See below.
 * Ivandis flail is highly recommended after having completed Legacy of Seergaze. It is the only way to deal with the vyrewatch event. The more experience with the flail, the better.
 * Salve amulet (e) many of the combat encounters are undead; a salve amulet (e) boosts accuracy and strength against undead by 20% the non-enchanted version only boosts by 15%
 * Dragon halberd can be very useful to melee monsters safely, especially if they get stuck behind obstacles.
 * A high Melee defence and Prayer bonus setup is recommended. Veracs or Proselyte will conserve both prayer and food.
 * Snelm for fighting giant snails.

Inventory

 * Guthix balance potion for slaying vampyres.
 * Druid pouch to defend against Ghasts. Stock up before starting.
 * Knife to skin Snakes
 * A Prayer potion is optional, and recommended for first time trekking via the Route 3.
 * A hatchet and a Tinderbox may be helpful, however, they are provided in events when needed.
 * Food -- both for personal healing and to heal the follower. Remember that the follower can accept any type of food mid-trip, so a basket or sack of food is highly recommended. A sack filled with food also saves a lot of work with the campsite event.
 * A Combat potion can help you deal damage to normally hard to kill juvinates.
 * Enough open space to pick up items quickly during events.
 * If using prayer it is suggested that you bring a Holy Wrench from Rum Deal as it give a prayer boost when you use a prayer potion.
 * Optional: Bring a wheel of cheese, because in case of a campsite event, it can be cut into pieces for each person, and extra can be used for healing.

Prayer
During treks it is recommended, but not necessary, to have full prayer points. Certain monsters in the events can hit hard (so Protect prayers come in very useful). Also, you need prayer points to collect items for druid pouches, if you need any. The Paterdomus temple and Nature Spirit altar are quite close by to the start of each route. Prayer potions can be used too. However, higher-level players who have brought the correct equipment should have little need of prayer though it does make it safer and easier for lower-level players.

Silver weapon
Vampyres Juvinates can only be harmed by relatively weak silver weapons. A Rune defender will greatly increase accuracy against Juvinates if using a one handed weapon.
 * Rod of Ivandis will perform capably, and using its special with Guthix balance potion allows the player to finish off Juvinates at slightly below 50% health.
 * Wolfbane is fast and has a prayer bonus, but will not perform as well.
 * Darklight or Silverlight
 * Blessed hatchet
 * Silver bolts used with a crossbow (iron or better.)
 * Silver Sickle (b) (Also good against Ghasts)
 * Ivandis flail is recommended if accessible, since it acts as both a silver sickle(b) and rod of ivandis, thus allowing the player to deal with both ghasts and juvinates. It is also essential since it is the only known way of dealing with vyrewatch, which may appear during a trek, so having one after completing Legacy of Seergaze is necessary.
 * Rune throwing axes will not hurt Juvinates, but using their special at the beginning of an encounter will keep them from attacking, and likely killing, the follower (especially on harder routes).

People to escort
The people to escort are divided into 3 groups: easy, medium and hard. The followers on Temple Trekking are clothed in colours that intend to show their difficulty, while the followers on Burgh de Rott Ramble are dressed to resemble typical player characters and their likely abilities. In combat and campsite events, the number of monsters faced (or people helped) are determined by which follower is escorted. Easy/strong followers have 3, Medium have 4, and Hard/weak have 5 or 6. The number of monsters a player defeats on a Trek or Ramble will largely determine the size of reward.

Routes
Citizens of Burgh de Rott and the mercenaries of Misthalin can be escorted by 3 different paths, the main difference being the combat level of the monsters faced. Depending upon combat level and available gear, choose an appropriate path.
 * Route 1: This is the easy and circuitous route through the Mort Myre Swamp. The player will need to complete mostly 3 events on this path, but it can also be between 0-5. Players can choose to evade any combat events. The monsters on this path are around level 80. Rune armour should be a minimum for combat events on this route. Players in Burgh de Rott who do not wish to partake in Temple Trekking events needing a quick shortcut to Paterdomus may be able to use this route to that end. They can evade events that take place not close enough to Paterdomus, and then leave the trail for events that take place when Paterdomus comes close.
 * Route 2: This is the medium route that travels along the River Salve. There can be 0-4 events on this path and the monsters will be around level 110. Prayer may be useful for certain events depending on the player's level, so choosing pure defence armour or prayer armour will be at the player's discretion. In order to evade combat events, the player must complete at least 50% of the event first.
 * Route 3: This is the hard route which uses the shortcut in Canifis, narrow pathways through the Hollows and the boat to Mort'ton. The monsters are around level 140, and there is no way to evade any event. There can be 1-5 events on this path, but most often there will be 3 events. Prayer will be important to surviving this route at any level, so having Prayer boosting gear is recommended. Escorting a weak follower is not recommended for this route.

Events
There are 3 different types of events that might happen when you're moving forward. Each path has a different amount of spots where an event may occur. Once an event occurs, the player and follower are pulled into the event area. The player will start in front of a section of path with blue stones. Right-clicking will display an Escape option, which abandons the trip and leaves the player in the middle of the swamp normally. At the opposite end of the area is the path that allows the player to "Continue-trek", once the event is completed. In combat events on the easy and medium routes, there are paths that evade-event that when used will skip the event and continue trekking, adding no reward and increasing the chance for another event. On the medium route, 50% of the monsters must be killed before being able to use Evade-event.

Friendly event
A man named Abidor Crank will appear as an event and heal you and the follower, above maximum health if applicable and buff defence. He also turns all Rotten foods into Stews. Getting this event adds nothing to the end reward.

Combat events
In combat events a certain number of enemies will attack player and escort. For most of the combat events, the monsters give a few seconds before attacking. This is the player's chance to position him- or herself between the follower and the monsters. All combat events are multi-way combat. Combat events provide the majority of the end reward when completed.

Puzzle events
There are four different types of puzzle events.

Rewards
After successfully completing a trek, the follower will give a Reward token, which can be blue, yellow, or red tokens depending on the chosen route. The reward amount is determined by how many monsters are fought and what level they were, and how many puzzle events were completed. This is further explained below. The token given is exchanged at the location where the Trek began. Exchange tokens accordingly at Burgh de Rott's bank or with Hiylik Myna outside Paterdomus.

This table shows the max reward possible on any trek for each item.

Average Profit (assuming maximum reward):

* The Herbs are lesser amounts of Toadflax, and greater amounts of either Harralander or Tarromin. The amount of Toadflax is 1/3 the other herb plus one, so the max Herb reward is 26 Toadflax and 75 Harralander or Tarromin.

Occasionally, Tomes of Experience are given as a reward. Unlike most experience tomes, the skill is predetermined and not selectable. These tomes give some experience in one of the following specific skills: Agility, Thieving, Slayer, Firemaking, Fishing, Woodcutting, or Mining. The colour of the tome depends upon which follower is escorted.

Trek ratings
The rewards above are distributed based on the difficulty of the Trek. Trek ratings are theoretical numbers, as there is no display in game to show how a Trek is rated. Assuming that when less than the maximum reward is given, a certain percentage is given according to a rating accumulated on a Trek, and that any rating in excess of 100 will result in a 100% reward is received, then each event adds the following amount to the Trek rating.


 * Abidor Crank and Bridge with Lumberjacks add nothing.
 * Bridge (with trees), Bog, and River add about 6.5 to the trek rating on all routes.
 * The swamp creature only appearing on Route 3 adds 50 to the Trek rating.
 * The remaining combat events and the Campsite event add the following approximate amounts of reward based on the number of monsters and the difficulty of the route. The table below shows how much is added per event completed.


 * A Trek with no rating will give 4% of the reward.


 * The amount of experience given by a Tome of experience is unaffected by Trek ratings.

It is possible (and common) to exceed a 100 Trek rating on Route 3, and even a 200 rating with the hardest combination. However, there is no extra reward for exceeding a 100 rating. A case study of 30 Treks shows that guiding the strongest followers on Route 3 tends to average a Trek rating of 89.9, with a reward average of 88.0% when excluding Tomes of experience, and an expected reward value of 82.3% had those Tomes been measurable rewards. The approximate market value of the rewards totalled 786,000 Coins, with 23,843 experience from Tomes.

History

 * Before the 13 March 2007 update it was required you travel back to Burgh de Rott to collect the reward and restart the game. Now, the player has the option to escort mercenaries from the Paterdomus to Burgh de Rott for a reward in the same fashion if Darkness of Hallowvale is completed. This allows the game to be endlessly repeated with rewards at each end of the trip.
 * Before 24 April 2007, Wildblood seeds were given instead of Watermelon seeds, the maximum amount being 55.

Note

 * It is possible not to experience a single event during a trek, but this is very rare. If this does happen, you may still receive a small reward, despite not actually doing anything.
 * You cannot take followers with you on the trek - this includes all Summoning familiars and Pets. (You can't even bring summoning pouches with you; they will state that the 'swamp air' is not so good for the pouch) Followers also cannot be summoned at any time during the trek.
 * It is a good idea to take the weakest companion and the safest route if you are looking for the items that the monsters drop. You can evade events if you want, and if you get a good event, you will find 5 monsters of the lowest level.
 * The best way to get the items you want is to take Kharyrll Teleport, a fast weapon, and an axe to save time, food is pointless unless you are less than 100 combat. Teleport away at the following events: Campsite (unless you already have spare food to give the campers), bog, and possibly also the bridge and rope swing. The rest you can evade on Route 1 (except the river, which is very simple). Once you get a desired event (typically Vyrewatch, Nail Beasts or snakes) you can focus on the NPCs and let your follower die, since you likely will teleport anyway to bank your loot right after the fight.
 * If you want to cash in your tokens, cash in the long straight ones with the monk at the trek's northern start point every time you return to the temple and cash in the slanted ones at the bank down in Rott whenever you bank.

Trivia

 * If your follower is very far away from you and you're being attacked, you will get the same message as if you use Summoning scrolls while your familiar is too far away.
 * Sometimes your follower won't appear during an event.
 * When you right-click on the tentacles of the swamp creature when they are first coming up it will show level 136, and once they reach the surface completely they will be level 99.
 * When you arrive at Mort'ton because of a Shade event, if you haven't started Shades of Mort'ton, it is still possible to get the grimy herbs from the smashed table by searching it.
 * When you examine lumberjack zombies, it will say: "He's the one, but he's not alright" which is a reference to Monty Pythons "Lumberjack song".
 * In the southeastern area of Damis's lair, an event in the activity Temple Trekking is visible, but not accessible. This might mean that each piece of land that a Temple Trekking event takes place on is actually underground, since Damis's lair is underground.
 * There are not many ways to travel from Canifis to Mort'ton instantly, therefore some players would just choose to escort the strongest follower in the easiest route in order to get to Mort'ton quickly, as many time the player won't encounter any event when choosing this formula. Unless you are unlucky and get the spiky bush version of the bog event, there are no major delays on this journey.
 * There is a glitch where you get one more of a monster and your follower disappears temporarily.