RuneScape:Wiki Post/Editorials/End of the Molluscs?

With the newest quest, Salt in the Wound, a very old quest series, almost as old as the Mahjarrat one, comes to an end. Before I shall review the finale quest, let’s have a quick reminder on the three previous installments...

Sea Slug
During the first quest (Sept. 2002), a damsel in distress named Caroline asks us to go to the Fishing Platform to find her missing husband and son, Kent and Kennith. We find both, but the situation on the Platform is... strange. The fishermen act inhuman and they are sickly yellow, and there are lots of sea slugs everywhere. What could possibly be going on?

The Slug Menace
Four years later, we get the opportunity to meet with Colonel Jake O’Niall, a retired Temple Knight. He helps us investigate Witchaven, where the people (who now are also yellow) are acting strangely. With Savant in our commorb, we visit a very odd individual, Mayor Eustace Hobb, who is currently restoring an old shrine. We also team up with Brother Maledict and Ezekial Lovecraft, a local priest and fisherman. Under the ruins of that shrine we discover some odd doors, which we investigate with the help of Savant, who discovers something about an ancient being called Mahey’ish Medron. As we return to Witchaven, we see our allies fall, as both the Colonel and Maledict fall victim to the slugs and gain the creepy, yellow colour. After restoring a holy book and some runecrafting, we manage to open the door but it was all a trick! Mayor Hobb was in league with Mother Mallum (aka Mahey’ish Medron), the Queen of the Sea Slugs, who sends her slugs to possess people and dominate the world. The Slug Prince is sent after us, but we manage to slay it. Next thing, we narrowly escape Mother Mallum’s attempt to use us as her new host as Savant teleports us away. Quest complete, but Hobb and Maledict as well as the Queen, released from her prison, disappear...

Kennith's Concerns
Our old friend Kennith asks us to investigate some possessed villagers “restoring” the shrine. After we barely manage to escape the angry villagers there, Kennith wants us to find his parents, who are fearing Kennith might hurt a girl named Kimberly for losing his toy train, as told by Kent at the Legends’ Guild. Back in Witchaven, Kimberly’s house is surrounded by angry villagers and we must bring her to safety. With the help of Ezekial Lovecraft, another old ally, we manage to get past the villagers and the rubium mines where they are “at work”. There, we find Kimberly trapped in a magical barrier with a furious Kennith trying to harm her. After we find his toy train, however, he calms down and lets Kimberly go. But all the trouble has only just begun... And after three quests with a very intriguing storyline, sea slugs making brainless zombies of Witchaven villagers and the release of Mother Mallum, I had expected a grand finale. This turned out to be the opposite. Well, I started by talking to Kennith, who, Guthix knows how, has grown up. Without the player himself talking to Sir Tiffy, we go on a mission in Daemonheim with Ezekial and the Temple Knight Eva. First, I thought: “wtf...” But okay, Dungeoneering is fun and it’s good that they use it as a requirement for new quests. It started with a funny cutscene, but that was the shortest dungeon ever. Seriously, if adding a Dungeoneering requirement, make the dungeon something instead of three rooms, one of which is interesting. Well, we got what we were looking for and teleported to the Fishing Platform, made a potion and infiltrated the Slug Citadel. We did some door puzzles (which were actually quite fun), encounter Mallum and Hobb and she is almost immediately killed by a falling pillar. Everyone is freed from the slugs, the end, goodbye, have a nice day. THAT’S IT?!?!1 Although the quest does have some interesting parts, it’s really not enough for a series finale, especially not one as cool as the sea slugs. Mother Mallum, a five-thousand-year-old evil is killed by a rock?! And what happened to Captain Marlin, a penguin possessed by slugs? Is he just freed? He wasn’t even mentioned! One can do Hunt for Red Raktuber after Salt in the Wound, in which the sea slugs die. Also, many people had expected to receive acolyte armour as a reward from Sir Tiffy, but he probably doesn’t even know that Mother Mallum is dead. I’d rather have waited another year for a much longer master quest or something. This quest is okay, but it seems to have just been wrapped up like “Oh, bugger, we still need to come up with a sequel to Kennith’s Concerns for next week!”.

So yes, it was the finale, but no, it wasn’t a good one. Simply too many loose ends and too short. I really hope that we will see some kind of teaser cutscene at some point of Mallum’s body, where a tiny slug comes crawling from under the rock and possesses an explorer wandering there or something and that that slug eventually grows back into Mother Mallum. That would make Salt in the Wound a lot better, as it wouldn’t be the end. But as it is right now, for me, a quest-addict, Salt in the Wound does not suffice as a good finale to the Sea Slug quest series.


 * By: Fswe1.

What is your opinion on Salt in the Wound? I agree with the author that it is not a good finale for the sea slug series. I’m rather neutral about it. I actually quite enjoyed the quest, it finished the series pretty well. I haven’t done the quest and/or any prequels to it.