Ratcatchers

Walkthrough


When talking to the NPCs, you may want to wear your Amulet of Catspeak and have your cat out so the conversations become a bit more interesting.

Starting out
Items for this part: Cat and if kitten, some food for it

Talk with Gertrude. She will tell you to speak to Phingspet and Grimesquit. They can be found inside the Varrock sewers, close to the entrance. Your cat will have to kill eight rats there in the Varrock sewers before they will speak to you, but talk to them BEFORE you start killing rats, or it won't count! Once you have done this and talked to them, they will give you a rat pole and tell you to see Jimmy Dazzler, in Ardougne.

Note: If players are using a kitten, it can take up to an hour to complete this stage

Catching the rats works faster if you do NOT wear your catspeak amulet when doing it. This avoids having to click through the conversation with your cat each time you ask him to catch a rat, he does it immediately.

Once you have talked to them again, if you wish to do the rat pole part of the Varrock Tasks, simply wield your rat pole and catch 6 more rats and put them on your pole before continuing. Remove them from the pole once the task is complete (right click option)

Jimmy Dazzler
Jimmy Dazzler can be found in a house to the west of the Flying Horse Inn on the west side of East Ardougne. He needs a house cleared of rats in an unofficial capacity so as not to tarnish his client's reputation; to this end you will need to sneak around the house unnoticed, avoiding the guards who will think you are an intruder. Jimmy will give you directions to follow to the house. When you choose to follow them (you don't have to go anywhere; they are in effect a teleport), you will find yourself in front of the house, in the gardens.

As of the 9 June 2009 update the Rat Catchers guards have had their field of view reduced to 100 degrees.

Getting Inside the House
To make your way inside the house you will need to make sure you don't draw the guard's attention; running permanently is advised and much patience will help greatly. Guards will not notice your cat.

There are three "safe points"; upon reaching these points, any guards who see you will send you back to these points, rather than the beginning.

From the start: NOTE: if your cat gets stuck in the wrong room, you can use the 'Call' button from the summoning menu to get it back into the same room with you.
 * 1) Wait until the guards are next to each other at the bridge, and run south of the hedges to the west. Then run north and hide at the hedges directly west of the mansion.
 * 2) Run to the North-west corner when the guard is behind the hedges.
 * 3) Then run to the hedges directly north of the mansion.
 * 4) From here, run to a nearby trellis and climb up.
 * 5) While on the balcony, move as close as possible to a potted plant on the right and wait for the guards to move away.
 * 6) Rats.png inside the north western bedroom to find the first rat and have your cat kill it.
 * 7) Find your way into the opposite bedroom across the hall and wait (or wait for one guard to be on the balcony and the second have its back appropriately turned to dash to the next room).
 * 8) Be patient, and when one guard disappears from sight walking on the balcony and the other has his back turned, enter the big room (south east with a ladder) with rats two and three and have puss kill them.
 * 9) Going down the ladder in that same room, leads fo a sort of sleeping quarters. In here there are two rats to be killed. Directly north is the kitchen with another single rat (apparently, this may be open to change). In total, there are six rats to be caught. You have a little chat with your cat when you've caught all of the rats so don't leave before that.

Finishing
Once you've caught all of the rats, just climb down the trellis and you will be teleported back to East Ardougne. You could also just teleport out on your own and bypass having to get past the guards a second time. Return to Jimmy Dazzler. He will give you access to the Ardougne rat pits and tell you about the next person you have to find: Hooknose Jack.

Hooknosed Jack
Items for this part: Cat (overgrown cat will work when fighting the King Rat.)and lots of food for it (even if you're using a fully grown cat), catspeak amulet (or cramulet after Do No Evil), four pieces of cheese, rat poison or the ingredients for it (vial, red spider eggs, and kwuarm), bucket of milk, marrentill, unicorn horn dust.



He can be found in the fenced-in area South-east of the Varrock East bank. He will tell you about the rat infestation in a warehouse nearby. You need rat poison and he will make you some if you give him a vial, red spider eggs, and a kwuarm. (The vial must be empty and the kwuarm has to be clean, however a Kwuarm Potion (unf) does work too.) Use the rat poison on four pieces of cheese to create poisoned cheese, then go to the warehouse south of the pub right next to Jack. Go in and climb to the top. Use your poisoned cheese on the four rat holes to poison them. The default option is to EAT the cheese, but if you attempt to you receive a dialogue stating "Umm… let me think about this one. No! That would be stupid." It is necessary to right-click and "Use" the poisoned cheese. Once you have set the poisoned cheese, go back to Hooknosed Jack.

He will tell you that his cat, Pox, ate some of the poisoned rats. Go to the Apothecary. He will ask for a cleaned marrentill herb, a unicorn horn dust, and a bucket of milk to make a special cat antipoison. Make sure you listen to all the dialogue when he returns it to you, or you will need to make another dose. Then give it to Hooknosed Jack to cure Pox.

WARNING: For the next part, do not underestimate the King rat. His hits are fairly quick and can easily take your cat's Lp down in roughly 3 - 5 hits or less. He usually hits between 0 and 20 every time, which will decrease your cat's Lp greatly if you let it! It is recommended, but not mandatory, that you take food that you can quickly left-click on to use it on the hole in the wall (for example, take raw fish instead of cooked to avoid accidentally eating it.) Also, if using a kitten, players can ask that it fights cautiously, so it runs away if it starts to lose over half of its Lp.

Hooknosed Jack will then tell you that there is still one rat left - the biggest and most evil. Go back to the warehouse. Inside a room, you'll see the King rat, but you won't be able to reach it yourself. Pick up your cat (You can use a kitten but it is much more likely to be killed by the King rat than a Cat) and use it on the 'Hole in wall' to challenge the King rat (Note: At this point, you can also use an overgrown cat). Use food (buckets of milk work) on the hole (using the food on the cat itself won't do anything) whenever your cat takes damage, as it will die if its Lp goes to 0. After you defeat the King Rat, go to Hooknosed Jack. He'll give you access to Varrock's rat pits and tell you about Smokin' Joe.

(NOTE: If you happen to lose your cat by going down the ladder whilst your cat or kitten is fighting the king rat, logging out and logging back in should return him to you.)

Smokin' Up

 * Items needed for this part: Cat,(or overgrown cat) catspeak amulet, a pot of weeds, a tinderbox

Go to Keldagrim by using the mine carts under the Dwarven Mines or the entrance east of Rellekka or the trapdoor in the Grand Exchange (If you've never visited Keldagrim before, you MUST use the route from Rellekka) and talk to Smokin' Joe east of the pickaxe shop, in the North-East of the city. He will tell you about a nearby rat problem. The only way to get the rats out is to smoke them out, but Smokin' Joe can't do it because he smoked too much smoke.

Offer to help. Use your weeds on your pot to make a pot of weeds, then light it with your tinderbox and use the resulting Smouldering pot on the rat hole to the right of him. Rats will come out the other side and quickly go back in.

Try it again with your cat out (be sure you are wearing the catspeak amulet) and it will offer to help. Accept and do it again. During a cutscene, your cat will catch the rats. Afterwards, talk to Smokin' Joe again and he will give you access to Keldagrim's rat pits and tell you about The Face.

(NOTE: If your cat disappears after the cutscene is over, logging out and logging back in will again return it to you.) 

The Face and Felkrash
Items for this part: 1000+ coins [or 150 with a ring of charos (a)  (50 coins with ring of charos (a) and carrying less than 1000 coins) ], snake charm if you have completed The Feud and still have your snake charm.,it is recommended that you bring water-skins so you do not die in the desert. Alternatively, you can wear an enchanted water tiara to avoid dying in the desert.

You can find The Face in Port Sarim, directly north from the fishing shop. She will tell you to talk to Felkrash in the rat pits. Go down the manhole and find Felkrash. She will tell you to get rid of all of Port Sarim's vermin at once. Talk to The Face again. She will tell you about Ali the Snake Charmer in Pollnivneach.

Go to Pollnivneach in the desert south of Al Kharid, past the Shantay Pass. To save time, you can take a magic carpet ride directly there for 200 coins (100 after The Feud and 75 with a ring of charos (a)). Other quick ways to get to there are to use a slayer ring to get to Sumona or use a Broomstick to get close to the Shantay Pass. You will find the Ali the Snake Charmer to the South of the bar. Use one coin on his money pot to get his attention. Ask him about charming other animals and he will go on to tell you that he and Felkrash had a falling-out because of Felkrash's killing of animals. He will offer to give you directions to kill the rats for exactly one more coin than you are carrying (ex: if you are carrying 976,000, he will want 976,001). Refuse to give him that much, then select: "Walk away slowly" followed by "Stop". He will reluctantly give you a music scroll and snake charm for 100 coins. You can (amusingly enough) charm him with the ring of charos to lower his price to 50gp.

Get your snake charm from the bank if you do not already have it with you. Back in Port Sarim, stand outside the manhole. Now read the music. (The music is the same for everyone.) Note that there are 8 notes (or positionings on the flute). Each note starting from the left corresponds to 1 page on the flute. You will only play one note per page. Jot down these notes. Now pick up the flute. Go to page 1 and select the matching note from the music. Then do page 2, etc. Note that sometimes the "<" symbol is used to indicate a higher octave option (usually page 5). Select that when appropriate. You can go back to any pages you want to ensure you have them all correctly chosen. When you are sure they are all correct (8 pages - 8 notes), click on the word "PLAY". Remember, for the 5th note you MUST! move up an octave, or it will not work. You will be taken to a cutscene of you playing the flute and the rats jumping off the dock if you have chosen the correct notes. If not, nothing will happen. Talk to Felkrash to complete the quest.

Reward



 * 2 Quest points
 * 4500 Experience
 * Rat pole
 * Able to train Overgrown Cats into Wily and Lazy cats
 * The ability to name a lazy or wily cat (up to 6 letters long)
 * Access to the Rat Pits

Music unlocked

 * The Noble Rodent
 * Rat Hunt
 * Bubble and Squeak (Keldagrim Rat Pits)
 * Sarim's Vermin (Port Sarim Rat Pits)
 * Rat a Tat Tat (Varrock Rat Pits)
 * Catch Me If You Can (Ardougne Rat Pits)

Required for completing
Completion of Ratcatchers is required for the following:
 * Varrock Tasks: (You just need to start the quest and acquire a Rat pole)
 * Medium: "With a Ten-foot Pole"
 * Falador Tasks:
 * Medium: "Fun For the Whole Family"

Trivia

 * During the Smoking Joe section of the quest your cat screams "Exterminate! Exterminate!"; this is a reference to the Daleks, one of the most infamous enemies from the long-running British television series Doctor Who.
 * During the conversation with Ali the Snake Charmer he mentions his break up with Felkrash saying "It used to be about making love not war". This could be a reference to the acrimonious breakup of The Beatles and the subsequent John Lennon/Yoko Ono song, "Make Love Not War".
 * The part where you charm the rats off the dock is probably a reference to the story about The Piper when the king paid him to get rid of rats, he charmed them with his flute and made them drown themselves in a river.
 * There is currently a glitch where if you climb the western trellis with a rat pole equipped, part of your body will be invisible from certain angles.
 * This quest could be a reference the the German legend, [|Pied Piper of Hamelin] about a man who uses a Flute to drown rats to rid the town of Hamelin of the rat infestation.

=References=

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