Birthright of the Dwarves



Birthright of the Dwarves is the seventh grandmaster quest, and the final quest in the Rise of the Red Axe quest series. During the quest, King Veldaban decides to take action against the Red Axe rather than waiting for them to strike, and the quest ends with the organisation's defeat. All of the world's dwarves were graphically updated with the quest's release.

It contains what is widely considered to be one of the most difficult quest boss fights in the game, harder than even The Brink of Extinction and Nomad's Requiem.

Only a King
Speak to Veldaban on the top floor of Keldagrim palace. Ask him what he'll do now that he's king, and he'll explain all the problems he's having ruling Keldagrim, both domestically and externally. Then ask him what he's going to do about his problems. He'll say that his main concern is the Red Axe. He's worried about what Hreidmar has been doing since his last plot was foiled. Veldaban wants to use the Dwarven Black Guard and his new allies among the trolls to attack the Red Axe's base, but he wants your help to do so, as you're the only one he trusts.

There are three main things he wants doing.

Firstly, Lieutenant Brae has rounded up some suspected Red Axe spies, which she's holding in Keldagrim West's records chamber. He wants you to find out if they're really spies.

Secondly, he wants you to go to Taverley Dungeon and kill some chaos dwarves there to see if they have any clues as to what the Red Axe is up to.

Finally, he wishes for you to go to Yanille, to see if the Watchtower Wizard can lend any help against the ogre shaman's memory-altering magic with their experience in defending against the ones in Gu'tanoth.

Veldaban gives you a royal dwarven seal to mark you as his agent in these tasks.

Investigating the spies
Veldaban says that Brae will explain how to go about investigating the suspected spies. He also adds that if any are found to be working with the Red Axe, the penalty is death. Any that have committed treason but cannot be linked to the Red Axe should be exiled as far from Keldagrim as possible.

Go down the west stairs twice and keep going west, past the bank and the guard HQ, to the records chamber (enter the Entrance, along the west wall). Inside you will find Lieutenant Brae with four prisoners: Brendt, Klaas, Vigr and Grundt. Brae will explain that she cannot hold them for much longer without charging them with a crime, and asks when Veldaban is coming. You tell her he sent you instead, and show her the seal. Ask her who the suspects are.

Vigr
Talk to Vigr, who is a tradesman, selling warhammers in the northeast room of the palace's ground floor, on the west side of the river. He was a member of the Red Axe prior to their banishment, but it is unknown if he still in contact with them. Vigr will not, initially, talk to a human, demanding physical proof that indicates he is a Red Axe agent.

Go to Vigr's workshop in the northeast corner of Keldagrim palace's western ground floor. It is currently bedecked in Orange Flame banners and occupied by Sieglinde, who doesn't object to the place being searched. You find a bundle of letters hidden under the furnace. They are correspondence between Vigr and a Red Axe spymaster, ceasing around the time Veldaban took the throne. Take these back to Vigr, and he will admit that he was a spy, but that the Red Axe abandoned all of its agents in Keldagrim after Veldaban was crowned. He claims that if he was contacted again, he would refuse to spy for them, and insists he is no threat to Veldaban.

Brae asks you to pass judgement at this point, and Vigr begs for mercy, asking you to send him into exile instead. The choice is up to you.

Klaas
Klaas is a member of the Monarchist Society, but he's been calling for people to overthrow Veldaban on the basis of him not being the rightful king. This is treason itself, but it could be on the instigation of the Red Axe. Klaas insists that the other Monarchists agree with him, and that calling for the overthrow of an "usurper" is not treason. His reasoning for Veldaban's illegitimacy is that Veldaban has not dissolved the Consortium, and that he keeps advisors around him. He says there's been no real change since Veldaban took the throne, and that the people should depose him for the rightful king. He denies Red Axe involvement, stating that they would be worse than Veldaban, and that Meike knows he wouldn't work with them.

Go to the King's Axe Inn, south of the bank, and speak to Meike. She knows that Klaas was asking for a revolution, but she says that being involved with the Red Axe doesn't fit the Klaas she knows.

Go back to the records chamber and talk to Klaas again, telling him that Meike has vouched for him. When Brae tells you it's time to pass judgement, he will reiterate that he doesn't recognise the authority of the king. You can choose to let him go, execute him or exile him.

Brendt and Grundt
Brendt and Grundt are traders who were arrested on Jatizso after they mentioned the Red Axe while picking up an ore shipment from King Sorvott. The length of time that they stayed on the island, after their business was done, raised suspicion of them being spies. They both claim they were there to pick up an ore shipment they'd bought.

Ask Brendt why King Sorvott said he'd mentioned the Red Axe, and Brendt will explain that the king was mistaken by the nickname of their ship's captain, named Redaxe for his red, axe-shaped beard.

Cross over to Grundt and ask what the captain's nickname was, and he'll say that the captain was named Sigridsdottir, a female name, and he doesn't know if she had one. When you ask him about the King's claim, he'll stammer his way through an explanation about carrying a literal red axe.

Go back to Brendt, and ask him what weapon Grundt carried on Jatizso. He isn't sure, and doesn't think that Grundt even took his weapon out of his cabin the whole trip.

Speak to Grundt about the captain again to reset the dialogue options, then confront Brendt with Grundt's belief that the captain was called Sigridsdottir. He'll insist that Grundt is mistaken and that the captain was called Redaxe. Brae will call on you to pass judgement, first on Brendt, then on Grundt.

Brendt is a traitor, and is unrepentant about it. Grundt is also a traitor, but he begs for his life if you choose to execute him, claiming he will never work for the Red Axe again.

Once you have decided the fates of all four suspects, report back to Veldaban. Tell him what Vigr said about the Red Axe stopping contact with their old spies, and he will conclude that they must have gone further underground to plan something more dangerous.

Taverley Chaos Dwarves
Veldaban is assuming that any Chaos Dwarves found in the world were created by the same process that the Red Axe used, and therefore must be linked to the rogue corporation. He wants to make sure that the Red Axe are not operating so dangerously close to both human and dwarven lands. Your mission is to go to Taverley Dungeon and keep an eye out for anything suspicious while you kill the chaos dwarves there.

Enter the dungeon and proceed to the area filled with Chaos Dwarves; players with 70+ Agility will find it quicker to go through the blue dragons and the door east of them, then proceed southeast. As you kill them you will be approached by Ikadia the Exile, the leader of the Chaos Druids, who will claim to have the information you're looking for before teleporting. Go towards the north eastern-most part of the dungeon to the chaos druid circle and speak with her again. She will offer to give you the information if you beat her in a duel. She is a level 180 mage with 10000 life points and can use abilities in combat. Her weakness is arrows, but she is fairly easy to defeat with any combat style. Once you have defeated her, she will give you the information you need and happily ask you to kill her, but you have the option not to do so.

Beware: She will use the ultimate ability Omnipower if the battle lasts long enough, which can hit 2000+.

Yanille's Watchtower Wizard
You will need 5 free inventory spaces to complete this part.

Veldaban knows that you once used a potion to kill the ogre shaman under Gu'Tanoth. He wants you to ask the wizard for that help again, to defend against the memory-wiping shaman employed by the Red Axe. The wizard is located on the top floor of the Watchtower.

Mention to the wizard that you need to fight another ogre shaman, except this one is capable of erasing memories. Shocked, he will exclaim a "regular" magic ogre potion won't do the trick and the memory-wiping must be countered somehow. The wizard will give you a memory wand to calibrate first before using it against Grunsh. You may not have a follower out during this step. Use the wand on all the items (such as kebabs or beers) to release four fragments each. Catch each fragment and then investigate each red memory void. A message will appear, telling you which fragment to use on the item. A total of four fragments are needed for each category. If you get it wrong, you must collect the fragments again.

After completing the puzzle, a cutscene will occur where the player sees the Red Axe gathering an army. Once again, Grunsh will find you eavesdropping and, instead of erasing your memory, will calibrate the wand.

Return to Veldaban with the wand to show him the Red Axe's plans.

The Assault on Red Axe
Once you have finished all of the King's tasks, proceed to the Barendir Tunnels, You may bank here with the Black Guard quartermaster. To reach the tunnels,  go to the boatman travel to the other side then run east to the Barendir tunnels. Enter the tunnels and run north east past the sparkly crystals and enter a cave. Talk to King Veldaban, at the far north of the cave, and he will instruct you to talk to Nulodion next to him. Nulodion will give you explosive gears to sabotage the cannons during the assault. Fire the cannon that is pointed at the wall, and there will be a cut-scene showing the battle against the chaos dwarves. If you die, use the boatman just north of the Palace to get back to the tunnel quickly.

To reach the first two cannons on the middle section, run to the western part of the arena and stand behind the pillar. The cannons will fire at the pillar, and it will take two hits to be knocked down. When it's knocked down, click on it to walk across and you'll be able to disable the first two cannons. Just ignore the monsters attacking you. You may choose to kill them, but you will be under constant cannonfire. After you disable the second cannon, there will be another pillar on the east side of the middle section. Hide behind it until it also gets knocked over, then cross over to the far side and disable the last three cannons. Once the cannons are destroyed, head west and up a platform to confront Grimsson. He will flee in a minecart, and Veldaban will give chase. Pull the nearby lever to raise the bridges, then jump in the leftover minecart to continue.

Eat whenever you have to, and be sure to bring plenty of food, the Aegis aura does help (using Protect from Missiles here helps significantly, as the cannons can deal constant hits of 3000 or more damage at an alarming rate otherwise, divine effect also works, if you use both divine and protection prayers the cannons will hit 1300). You may also hide behind the blocks of stone strewn about the arena, but each will only withstand a few shots from the cannons.

If a cannon is about to explode, do not stand near it. It will hit for 5,000+ damage. The boilers should also be avoided since the cannonfire will rupture them and damage anything nearby.

If you teleport during the battle, when you return through the tunnels you will be denied access to the battle and told to dismiss your follower - even if you have none. Logging out and in again solves this problem. Additionally, the room where you first met the King and were able to bank is gone - you are transported directly to the battle, so you must prepare yourself for battle elsewhere.

If you die, you spawn in East Keldagrim and your gravestone will be just inside the Barendir tunnels. Any cannons you have destroyed will be fully functioning again. When returning, make sure you have at least 1 free inventory space. This is required to receive the parts to disable the cannons.

If your game continuously crashes during this section of the quest, change your game graphic settings from Open GL to Safe Mode.

Repairing the Memories
After getting on the minecart you will confront Hreidmar and Grimsson. The ogre will attempt to plant false memories into Veldaban, but the memory wand will be used to stop it. After that, the player, Veldaban, Grimsson, Hreidmar, and the ogre will be dragged into the false memories.

Veldaban will "remember" fighting the trolls with a Zamorakian army of dwarves in the Battle of Barendir. Grimsson will remember being in the battle, slaughtering the trolls. Hreidmar will remember being told by Zamorak himself to take the throne for himself, since he is the rightful heir.

Veldaban's Memory
The wand must be used on the Red Axe royal standard, the Zamorakian Chaplain, and the dwarf standing next to him, and the memories must be corrected like earlier in the quest.

Grimsson's Memory
After that, you will arrive in Grimsson's memory.

Hreidmar's Memory
Next, you will arrive in Hreidmar's memory, where you will see Zamorak, who is talking to Hreidmar, which is revealed to be only a statue.

Grunsh's Memory
Finally, the ogre's memory must be fixed. The wand must be used on one of the three dwarves in the room to release all the memory fragments. The ogre will cast a spell on these fragments and turn them into dangerous memories. If you grab any dangerous memories, the existing memories captured will all be released. Dangerous memories turn back into standard memories after a few moments.

Do not gather dangerous memories. This is vital as it will reset your progress with any previously gathered memories.

Once all memories are caught in their "pure" form, they must be used on the voids like earlier in the quest.

After this, everyone will wake up. You will learn that Grunsh's memories are also wiped clean, and believes that Hreidmar saved him from a snowy place. After that Veldaban says you will need to kill Grunsh, and once again you can choose to let him live or to kill him.

After this point, the wand is no longer necessary in the quest. Players are unable bank this item, so the only option for getting rid of it is to destroy it.

Veldaban of the Red Axe
Once you enter through the doors, you will come to an empty version of the Keldagrim Palace. Going up the stairs on either side brings you to an identical trade floor populated only by chaos dwarves dressed up as Red Axe directors and traders, all speaking gibberish regarding Zamorak and chaos. Before you speak to any of the directors, you must attempt to open the door on the east side where a chaos dwarf is. Then, speak to the Red Axe director in the location normally occupied by the faction you originally joined during The Giant Dwarf and tell him that your friend wishes to join the Red Axe.

Note: You must right-click the director and choose the "Talk-to" option, as the default left-click option is to attack them. Veldaban will stop you if you try to attack them at this point.

The director wishes to be more powerful than the others so your character then proposes that you kill the remaining 7 directors scattered around the floor. You can now kill them, as Veldaban will not stop you from doing so. Once they are all dead, speak to the director again and he will pronounce Veldaban a full-fledged member of the Red Axe. You can now kill the remaining director if you want to, but it isn't necessary. At this point, continue through the door at the east of the floor.

The Final Confrontation
Should the player wish to restock on supplies before battling, they will have to travel all the way back through the tunnels. Their progress up until this point will not be affected.

The Butcher of Barendir
NOTE: Familiars CANNOT be brought into or summoned during this battle.

The fight will begin with a confrontation of the two. After a short cutscene plays, Grimsson will attack Veldaban. Attack Grimsson but keep an eye on his adrenaline bar because when it's full, Grimsson will activate Provoke and do a charge attack that does very high damage very quickly. The player can counteract this with an ultimate ability or a stun. When Grimsson's adrenaline is at 50%, he will grab Veldaban for several seconds. During this time, any damage dealt to Grimsson will be redirected to Veldaban, so it is very important that you stop attacking during this period. After several seconds he will throw Veldaban at you, dealing a typeless 1000+ to you and 7500 to Veldaban. The damage to you can be circumvented by hiding behind a pillar, but Veldaban will still take 7500.

Once Grimsson is dead, another cutscene will play. It shows Hreidmar picking up a dragon staff and casting a spell that turns him, Grimsson and Veldaban into chaos dwarves. Veldaban will not attack the player, but Grimsson will become reincarnated and both Hreidmar and Grimsson will attack.

Chaos Hreidmar and Chaos Grimsson
Grimsson fights with ranged and melee. He has two special abilities:
 * 1) He can run around obstacles, preventing him from being safe-spotted.
 * 2) When his adrenaline reaches 100%, he can "charge" the player, which means he hits rapidly and high.

Hreidmar fights with magic. He has four special abilities:
 * 1) He can summon chaos dwarves. He summons them in pairs of one cannoneer and one warrior. There is no limit to the number of chaos dwarves he can summon.
 * 2) He can swap places with a cannoneer, no matter how far away it is. The player continues to target the square where Hreidmar was, which means the player no longer attacks Hreidmar.
 * 3) When his adrenaline reaches 50%, he can use a special threshold ability that channels power to the cannoneers, which makes them hit harder. Unlike other threshold abilities, this does not drain his adrenaline.
 * 4) When his adrenaline reaches 100%, he can heal himself and any chaos dwarves by up to 20% of their maximum health using a special ultimate ability.

The general strategy to fight them is to split them up.

There is a safe spot for the player behind the staircase or behind the pillar by the throne, as Hreidmar cannot hit you if he is on the opposite end. Also, there are doors on both the east and west side of the room, so you can lead Grimsson to the west side of the room, open the door, and lure him out of the main room.

Grimsson-First Strategy
If you want to get Grimsson out of the way first, you can first walk down the stairs and then up again. Hreidmar will return to his throne and Grimsson will be at the door. Just open the door, lure Grimsson out and close the door.

Using the same method as for the first fight, kill Grimsson. Once Grimsson is dead, turn your attention to Hreidmar. Hreidmar spawns chaos dwarf hand cannoneers and chaos dwarves to help him. If you stand in the door way, when Hreidmar summons his minions, just close the door, kill the minions (avoiding the supercharged minion blast which can damage you through the wall and down the stairs), and return to killing Hreidmar (make sure the door closes before you go to fight minions or he will buff them).

Should the player run out of food at any point, trapping these units inside the building with Hreidmar outside is a good tactic to regain health because if the player kills the units, the player can use the adrenaline gained from these fights to activate Regenerate, Rejuvenate, or Guthix's Blessing.

The Vampyrism aura is very useful during the fights with both Grimsson and Hreidmar.

When fighting Hreidmar, pay attention to his adrenaline bar because, when it's full, he will attempt to heal himself for 12000 lifepoints. This can only be counteracted by dealing a large amount of damage to him in a certain period of time. Ultimate abilities, and even some high-damage thresholds, are the best way to stop him from healing. He will also attempt to empower the summoned hand cannoneers in a similar manner, and likewise can be stopped the same way, by dealing a large amount of damage. Once you have killed Hreidmar, kill off any remaining chaos dwarves and hand cannoneers.

Hreidmar-First Strategy
Alternatively, the fight can be made much easier by luring either Hreidmar or Grimsson out of the room and closing the door. Fight Hreidmar first, which should be easily done with minimal healing and can be endured with Soul Split and high tier armour. Once Hreidmar is dead, finish off the chaos dwarves and handcannoneers then fight Grimsson in the doorway he is trapped in. His special attack can be interrupted by simply closing the door and taking a step back, resuming fighting when he has finished his special. It is also possible to semi-safespot Grimsson using the table in the middle of the room, as he will only attack you with Ranged and his charge will not move around the table to attack you. (If you do this, however, note that he CAN move around the table to hit you with his melee attacks, but this can be dodged by running around the table until he switches back to ranged.)

Dwarf Multi-Cannon Strategy
One other method is to bring a Dwarf Multi-Cannon (whether the ability to use this in the throne room is intentional by Jagex or not is unknown). Leave down the steps and wait a few seconds, come back up and Hreidmar will have returned to his throne, while Grimsson will come to the door. Open the door and lure Grimsson out, Hreidmar will ignore you. Bring Grimsson over to the stairs and attack him with whatever style you wish (magic is preferred). When you get the message that he is going to charge you, go down the steps and wait a few seconds, when you come back up he will be done and you can fight him as normal. Once he is defeated, place the cannon inside the room between the throne and the table. ''Please note: If you choose to simply let the cannon damage him and sit outside the room, chances are your cannon WILL decay. Using it to simply assist will allow you to pick it up.''

Stairway Strategy
If you're having too much trouble defeating them, use the following strategy: When you arrive, go downstairs and wait a moment, then head back up. If done correctly, Hreidmar should be in the center of the throne room; if not, wait a little longer and he'll walk there. Open the door and lure Grimsson out, close the door and start maging him with the best bloodfire or ice spell available at your level. Every time your health goes below 2,000 LP or Grimsson starts his special charge attack (you'll see a message in your chatbox), go downstairs and rest until your life points are fully restored. You can use the Regenerate ability or even Rejuvenate or Guthix's Blessing if you have full adrenaline. You should only eat at this point if absolutely necessary.

When Grimsson is done, return through the door and attack Hreidmar with Deflect Magic or Soul Split enabled, and focus on building up your adrenaline, using only basic abilities such as Wrack, Combust, or Impact. When the adrenaline meter reaches 100%, await for the special attack of Hreidmar (you will see a chatbox message). When he prepares to use it, you should use the Omnipower ability. If successful, it will instantly stop him, but if it misses, he will eventually either regain 12,000 life points or empower his cannoneers. You may or may not also be able to disable the attack with threshold abilities, depending on your magic weapons and the spell you're using - this chance is increased if you have Torment active. Regardless of the outcome, keep on attacking until he summons a chaos dwarf and a hand cannoneer. When he does, you should lure them outside and kill them, using Soul Split to heal. Try to keep your distance from the melee chaos dwarf, as it will explode and deal over 1500 damage. Stun the melee dwarf and take out the cannoneer first, then return your focus to the melee dwarf again. Once both of them are dead, go back into the building and continue fighting Hreidmar until he is dead, repeating the strategies as necessary.

If done right, you should be able to kill Hreidmar within a few minutes using as few as 10 cavefish. This method is a little longer and requires more attention, but makes the fight a lot easier.

Tips
A good method for taking on Hreidmar and Grimsson is to use the Ancient magicks spells ice blitz or ice barrage, as this freezes them in place and can strike multiple chaos dwarves at once. Taking them on separately with this method could make an impossible fight look like an easy fight.

Should you be killed by any chaos dwarves and hand cannoneers after killing Hreidmar and Grimsson, the battle will still be considered completed, and you can speak to Veldaban to continue the quest.

An alternative, and perhaps easiest method to beating Hreidmar involves repeatedly going down the stairs as soon as he summons his dwarves. This resets him and makes him non aggressive, allowing the player to focus on building their adrenaline on the dwarves uninterupted.

Following the dwarves deaths, the player can attack Hreidmar with the basic abilities until he attempts to heal, then the player uses their ultimate to dissrupt and continue fighting until he summons again.

It is possible to hide in the stair room and naturally recover your health to conserve food.

The Heir to the Throne
After defeating Hreidmar and Grimsson, Veldaban says that he is becoming a chaos dwarf, and he requests for the player to kill him in order for the effect to stop.

You have a choice of either letting Veldaban survive or killing him. If you let him survive, then the player and Veldaban will meet the consortium and discuss who should be the king of Keldagrim. Again, the player has another choice of either letting Veldaban rule Keldagrim, or tell him to step down, letting the Consortium rule. If Veldaban is killed, then you have the option of allowing the consortium to rule, or finding the true heir to the throne: King Drunken Dwarf III. If you let Veldaban survive, the next time you see him on the throne he will appear to be completely unaffected by the chaos dwarf transformation, indicating he's been able to successfully fight it off.

After choosing your options, the quest will finish. Congratulations, quest complete!

Rewards



 * 2 Quest Points
 * 100,000 Mining experience
 * 100,000 Smithing experience
 * 200,000 Strength experience
 * 30 rune bars
 * 30 adamant bars
 * 30 mithril bars
 * The Grand Exchange market value of the rewards is currently: .
 * Ability to fight chaos giants in Barendir.
 * Access to 3 new dragon weapons:
 * Main and off-hand dragon throwing axes, dropped by chaos giants.
 * Dragon battlestaff, sold in Quality Weapons Shop.
 * Main and off-hand dragon warhammers, sold in Vigr's Warhammers shop.
 * Access to the lava geyser in the Lava Flow Mine, which has a chance to reward fragments of the Imcando pickaxe.
 * 2 spins on the Squeal of Fortune

Additional rewards

 * Ability to mine the statues in the Ancient Keldagrim ruins north of Keldagrim library, and to obtain the Azdaran document after mining all statues.
 * A further 250,000 experience in chunks of 20,000 to 33,000 experience, with requirements ranging from 81 to 95 Mining, when mining the ruins. (Boosts do work to mine ruins that are beyond your current level.)

Music unlocked

 * Memories of Keldagrim - In the memories of Keldagrim.
 * Red Axe Retribution - When assaulting the Red Axe base.
 * Chaos Theory - In the Red Axe base's palace.
 * Rage of the Red Axe - When fighting Grimsson and Hreidmar.

Trivia

 * The quest was originally set to be released during the week of 23 September 2013, but was pushed back to the week of 30 September. The quest was not released until 2 October.
 * This quest was voted by players in a poll to be the first released of a trio of quests, the other two being the gnome and pirate series continuations. Throughout May and June 2013, the community was able to suggest elements to include in the quest, and things not to forget. In addition, there was a design competition for the monster that drops the dragon throwing axe, which turned out to be a chaos giant, as well as for the leader of the chaos druids, a woman named Ikadia.
 * This quest has the highest requirement of any quest so far, being 85 Strength. Strangely enough, none of the requirements are actually used directly during the quest.
 * Upon completion of the quest the Adventurer's Log states, I helped Veldaban defeat the Red Axe.
 * The description "I wonder where he got that scar" may be a reference to The Joker from the Batman movies.
 * If you use the Memory wand on the Drunken Dwarf (Keldagrim) you will travel into the Drunken dwarfs memories.
 * The examine text of the beers encountered during the calibration of the memory wand: 'Mmm...beer.' may be a reference to Homer Simpson, a character in the cartoon 'The Simpsons', who says this same line when drinking or thinking about beer.