Summer's End

Summer's End is the sequel to the Spirit of Summer quest, which was released on 29 July 2008 and the first quest to be released in the Wilderness. The sequel quest was released on 15 September 2008 and continues the story of the Spirit Beast terrorising Summer and her family in the Spirit Realm.

Background

 * Deposit all unneeded items in the bank. Armour and weapons will not help you in this quest. The beast is extremely dangerous and has a good chance of killing you, so you should not bring needless items. You will lose all but the three or four your retain on death and cannot regain them as you do not get Gravestones in the cave where you contest against the beast.
 * To start the quest, withdraw or obtain Jennica's ring, a Ghostspeak amulet, a pickaxe (any type is sufficient), and five Summoning pouches made with Blue charms. Wear the ring and amulet. A Games necklace is also highly recommended, as the fastest way to reach the farm is to use it to teleport to Bounty Hunter or Clan Wars and then run north to the ruins. If you plan on doing the first room of the cave as part of the first trip, also bring an axe and a tinderbox. Fill up the rest of your inventory with high-value foods (Monkfish or better). Also see Tips below for more options.
 * Travel to the farm ruins located at the Wilderness. The ground trembles as you approach the ruins.
 * Talk to Summer, who will be in or near the Spiritual portal in the farm house. Ask her what's happening, and she tells you to follow her.
 * When you follow her through the Spiritual portal, instead of arriving in the Spirit Realm you appear in the Void that separates the real realm from the Spirit Realm. Erik Bonde, Summer's father, explains that the Spirit Beast is getting stronger and is breaking through the veil separating the two realms. You have arrived at the Void because the beast has broken through the veil.

Note: If need need new items:
 * Jennica's ring can be found on the ground, just one step west of the farm ruin's spiritual portal. You can only have one ring at time (you cannot drop it, only destroy it).
 * A Ghostspeak amulet can be retrieved from Father Uhrney southeast of Draynor village, near the Lumbridge Swamp. You can get multiple amulets by repeatedly dropping them and getting a new one from Father Uhrney. Don't forget to pick them all up when you have what you want!

Luring the beast

 * Required items for this part: Jennica's ring, Ghostspeak amulet, pickaxe, about five blue-charm pouches.
 * In order to trap the beast, you have to lure it into a mine. However, the beast is now familiar with the previous type of spirits you used to lure it, so a new type of spirit is required. As you used familiars made with gold, green, and crimson charms in the previous quest, the beast is immune to any familiars made with them. You must lure it using any Blue charm familiar. It is possible that you can lure the beast with just one familiar, but bring pouches for about five, as the beast will eat the familiar if everything doesn't go right.
 * You must destroy the mine entrance a bit north of the farm in the real realm, so that the one in the Spirit Realm will open. Return to the real realm (operate Jennica's ring while standing on the portal). Travel north to the mine entrance (it is marked with a dungeon icon on the minimap) and collapse it using your pickaxe.
 * Return to the ruined farm. Travel into the Spirit realm by operating Jennica's ring while standing at the Spiritual portal there. Travel north until you are near the mine entrance, and then summon a blue charm familiar.
 * Lure the beast into the cave. This can be much more difficult than it sounds. It is best to stay as near the cave entrance as possible while being close to (if not directly on) the beast's "patrol" route. It may help if you position yourself so that you are closer to the mine entrance than your familiar, as it is your entering the mine that counts. (You can position yourself by walking a bit further away from the mine with your familiar following you, and then walking a bit back towards the entrance). Once you are ready, it may also help to turn run on. Once the beast gets near the familiar, enter the mine. If the beast devours your familiar, try again with another pouch. If the beast ignores your familiar, it was too far away. Position it closer to the beast's route for the next attempt.

Important notes

 * Warning: Even very high-level players are likely to die repeatedly as they confront the Spirit Beast, which can hit very fast causing very high damage: multiple 30s are possible in a single attack. You should not take any items you are not willing to lose. Believe the ghosts when warn you that armour and weapons are of no use against the beast.
 * It is necessary to run to avoid the beast's attacks. Using the "infinite" run energy boost from the As a First Resort... quest is therefore highly recommended. If you have not done the quest, you should consider bringing several Super energy potions, or, if you have level 51 Summoning, a Spirit terrorbird with many Tireless run scrolls. (It takes several seconds to use a scroll, so make sure you find a place out of range of the beast before using the scrolls.)
 * The beast makes long-ranged attacks, sort of like a catapult. An attack is not instantaneous but takes a short time to reach its target point. When launched, the attack targets where you are standing and does not track you if you move. When the attack hits the ground, it splashes into several secondary attacks, which hit points nearby and you if you are still around. These attacks can hit into the 30s, and mid-20s are common. You can be hit by several of the splashes at once.
 * The key to survival and eventual victory is to avoid the beast's attacks. The earth shakes when the beast is unleashing its attack. You can thus avoid an attack by watching for this sign. Also, the attack makes a "whoosh" sound while in flight, which can alert you if you missed the shaking. You have less time to react when you hear a whoosh. Run away from the attacks. If you exhaust your run energy, leave the cave or teleport away to escape certain death.
 * As the beast is weakened, it attacks faster, the attacks splash into more secondary attacks, and the splashes travel further.
 * You can run into any of the other rooms the beast is not in (but not the cave entrance) if you need to replenish your run energy or eat in peace. The beast can not attack you there. However, the beast will wait just outside the room's entrance and can attack you almost as soon as you enter the room again. If this is a problem, you can log out of the game without losing your progress. When you log in again, you are back in the real realm at the portal in the ruined farm. You can reenter the Spirit Realm and resume the struggle in the cave (or you can take this opportunity to restock at bank).
 * When the beast moves into a new room, you remain behind in the previous room. You can move on to the next room, but this is a good time to leave the cave and restock. Everytime you restock, it is recommended that you make another visit to the Oo'glog spa to restore infinite run energy. (As always, you can get back quickly by using a games amulet to teleport to Bounty Hunter or Clan Wars.)
 * Remember that all the characters you meet during this quests are ghosts. Except for one occasion, you must wear an Amulet of Ghostspeak to communicate with them. (The exception is that Summer will still intelligently speak to you at the end of the quest even without the amulet.) You do not need to wear the amulet to fight the beast, however, so you could switch to a Phoenix necklace at those time if you wished.
 * When your hitpoints get low consider running into an adjacent room, eating food there, and then returning to the fight room. This may be better than running around the fight room while trying to both avoid attacks and eat food at the same time.

The first room

 * Required items for this part: Jennica's ring, Ghostspeak amulet, tinderbox, axe, at least one empty inventory slot. (A Rune axe or Dragon axe is recommended, since they cut faster than other axes. Speed is important, since the beast's attacks will interfere with your woodcutting.) Empty inventory slots are used to hold the logs you cut from the roots. You can get by with just one, but it may be more efficient to be able to hold five at a time (enough for one pyre).
 * Once you've lured the beast into the cave, a cutscene ensues. Meranek Thanatos explains that he has discovered the beast has a weakness in its chest, where it stores the energy of the souls it devours. Logs cut from the cursed willow roots in the room burn with exceptional brightness, and the beast mistakes the fires for souls. So, he needs you to make fires to distract the beast.
 * When lighting a fire make sure the beast is only a space away or so; it is very easy to miss the window of range.
 * You need to build 3 pyres, each pyre requiring 5 logs. Cut Cursed willow logs from the roots growing along the walls of the room and place them in any 3 fire pits. You can choose to fill one pit first and then move on to another. Since you're likely to be running all around the room anyway, it's quite feasible to fill 3 pits as you go. There's no need to fill more than 3 pits.
 * The roots in the north and northwest of the cave are close enough together that you can cut for a second or two at one then run to cut the another, all on the same screen, each time dodging the attacks of the beast. Alternatively, you can cut the roots towards the east as soon as you enter the room. The beast may not see you at first, but he moves around so be careful.
 * Because the beast attacks faster after each fire is lit, it is recommended to build all 3 pyres completely before lighting any of them. Light the three pyres with a Tinderbox. (Note: The pyres do not have to be made and lit in the same session, you can log out and the number will be remembered.)
 * After lighting a fire, a cutscene will play showing the beast investigating the fire and being attacked by Meranek Thanatos. If you do not see the cutscene, your pyre had no effect and you may have to try again.
 * When Meranek has attacked the beast three times, it moves into the second room. This is a good time for you to eat. Also, you can leave the cave to restock food and recharge run energy.

Strategy:
 * Good timing is very important to succeed. Stay at least five squares from your goal (fire pit, roots) and prepare your action:
 * Chopping roots: position your mouse on the closest root.
 * Building pyre: right click on logs (use logs), position your mouse to the fire pit.
 * When you feel that the beast is going to attack you (whoosh sound) left click.
 * If you are chopping roots, wait 2-3 seconds; hopefully you will get a log.
 * Move to another place 5 squares from your new goal.
 * Be patient and repeat until you succeed!
 * Also, bringing energy pots GREATLY helps with running
 * You can also trap the beast near the entrance of the second room and chop as many logs as you like. View the image here http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/runescape/images/4/4a/ScreenHunter_01_Sep._22_18.54.gif

The second room
In the second room, you need to get the dark core from inside the Spirit beast trapped inside any of the holes three times. You can do this by using your spade on a patch of the soft soil when the dark core comes out. Then you just need to lure it into the hole by first getting its attention and then placing yourself on the opposite side of the hole from the core. Each time, it will take longer for the dark core to come out, the attacks will be faster and have more splashes. When the dark core emerges you will get a message in the chat box telling you "the dark core has emerged from the beast" in green print. Until you get that message there's nothing to do except running around the beast. Holes you dig with the spade will collapse relatively quickly so it is not a good idea to dig out a lot of holes while waiting for the core. Once the core appears you have a short time to get it to follow you before it's reabsorbed into the beast. If that happens you just have to wait for the core to emerge again. Before you've trapped it and after you've trapped it once, the Spirit Beast's attacks will be slow enough to simply evade by moving side to side in order to save energy. After the second time you've trapped the core, the attacks will be constant, thus you'll have to run around the Beast constantly. Do NOT turn around, or you're literally guaranteed a hit.

If the core touches you, you will take a small amount of damage but this pales in comparison to the damage you will take from one of the beast's attacks. Do NOT take your attention off avoiding the beast's attacks to avoid an attack from the core.

When the core has been trapped 3 times, the beast will move to the next room and you will once again have an opportunity to eat or bank.

The final room

 * In the final room, player will finally kill the beast. In a cutscene, it will be explained that this room has the graves of the elders and that player must bless them at the right time so that they can hurt the beast.
 * There are five graves in the room. The three elders souls have three different colours: Red, Yellow, Blue. At the beginning each soul will jump to a grave.
 * The beast will charge up attacks that have the same colour as one of the three souls.
 * When the beast charges, player must bless the grave of the elder whose soul colour matches the attack. The player has to do this 3 times, once per each elder. The Player can bless a colour only once.
 * There is an altar here where the player may recharge their prayer
 * After a beast attack, the souls may or may not change graves
 * The Player should 'follow' a unique soul color and bless it when the beast charges, then switch to another colour.
 * After the player destroys the beast, Summer will greet him telling him that her energy is feeling more powerful already.
 * Speak to the elders to leave the cave. Talk to them again to upgrade Jennica's ring and claim your very own Spirit shield!

''Congratulations! Quest Complete!''

Rewards

 * 1 Quest point
 * 1,500 Summoning experience
 * 5,000 Hunter experience
 * 5,000 Mining experience
 * 5,000 Woodcutting experience
 * 10,000 Prayer experience
 * 15,000 Firemaking experience
 * Spirit shield and the ability to wield them
 * An upgraded version of Jennica's ring which gives access to the new portals
 * Ability to fight a level 785 monster (the Corporeal beast)
 * Ability to fight a level 129 monster (the Tormented Wraith)

Extra rewards
After completing this quest, all the Wilderness spiritual portals are opened. See the Spirit Realm article for more information on Spiritual portals.

Tips

 * Using the Salt-water spring in Oo'glog provides unlimited run energy for 15-25 minutes, depending on your agility level.
 * You can bank after each room (or even each fire, dark core or blessed grave attack as all progress is saved!)
 * The pyres can all be built up before lighting them (only 3 of the 5 pyre locations need be made).
 * It's best to use high detail mode in order to resize your window so that you can see more of the cave.
 * Consider using the following items:
 * A Ring of life may activate if you get hit badly (to below 10% hitpoints) but do not die. Players debate the value of the ring in the quest, as the beast can easily hit so hard that you simply die without the ring activating. Other players believe even an occasional save by the ring is worth it.
 * A Phoenix necklace can restore some hitpoints when you take a lot of damage. This may increase your staying-time in the cave.
 * A Forinthy bracelet prevents Revenants from teleblocking you in the Wilderness. Some players believe the chance of being teleblocked is so low that it is not worth bringing the bracelet. Others think the ability to teleport is important to the quest and should never be block.
 * A one-click, emergency teleport (such as the Ectophial or a Teletab) allows you to escape if your situation gets too dangerous. Some players consider it useful while others think it just takes up inventory space that would be better devoted to food.

Music
Music tracks unlocked during quest:


 * Bane of Summer
 * The Vacant Abyss

Trivia

 * On the day of release, the spoiler in the Quest Help stated that The reward scroll is currently coiled up within the Dark Core...
 * At level 752, the new version of the Spirit Beast is an even higher level than its old form from Spirit of Summer.
 * On the day of release, new items (such as spirit shields and sigils) were added to the Grand Exchange, though no one could buy them yet. There are currently 6 spirit shields ("Plain", Arcane, Blessed, Divine, Elysian, Spectral), 4 sigils (Arcane, Divine, Elysian, Spectral), and the Holy elixir.
 * This quest has both the highest level monster in both Quests and all of RuneScape, as well as it being possibly the most dangerous.
 * There is a fault, where if the quest is not started, and you open its entry in the Quest List, if the player has less than 23 Summoning points, even when the player has a Summoning level of over 23, the requirement will not have a strike through it.
 * There is a glitch where if a player completed the last room and chose the option to leave the cave immediately with the elders, the elders would disappear after taking the player outside the cave. This was fixed by reentering and exiting the cave.


 * So far, the Summer Questline is the only completed.