Crocodile Tears

Crocodile Tears is the second of the four quests released with the Menaphos city update. It is also the first quest to deal directly with the Menaphite goddess, Crondis.

The crocodiles of the open desert have become increasingly hostile and bloodthirsty, openly and often attacking residents and travellers of the Elid. This aberrant behaviour points to a change in their patron goddess, Crondis, whose manner kept them passive and civil in the historic past.

Appease a goddess, dig deeper into Amascut's Menaphite manipulations, and attempt to heal this latest plague of the Devourer.

Killer crocs


To begin, enter the Uzer Mastaba, found south of the ruins of Uzer and north of Nardah. Make your way to Senliten, the pharaoh queen. Upon asking her about the quest, she will relate a story of how once in the past she and her retinue were waylaid near the river Elid and one of her attendants was set upon by a crocodile. She realised the nature of the minor god Crondis in the crocodile's determined yet modest behaviour.

However, as Leela adds, the crocodiles along the Elid have lately taken to attacking the citizens of Pollnivneach and Nardah and dragging them back to the river, and notes that this may point to issues with the animals' patron goddess. But given your scepticism, she directs you to the priest Jex and the Sphinx in Sophanem for gathering further information.

The minor god
Jex can be found by the doorway of the temple for the minor deities, in the north-east corner of Sophanem. The Sphinx roams to the north of Klenter's Pyramid and will only speak to you if you have a cat in your pack or following you. Her chat options will not appear if you are wearing any variation of the catspeak amulet or cramulet.

Speak to both of them about the minor gods - you can go through all of the dialogue to learn what they know about each of the four minor deities, particularly the crocodile goddess, Crondis. Go through the chat options, especially for Jex, until you "understand why she is so important." Jex has also noticed the growing brazenness of the crocodiles and believes something is in fact wrong with the deity.

Return to Senliten's tomb and speak with her. She charges you to restore the modesty of the crocodiles, wherein you must locate Crondis and resolve her problems, whatever they may be. To find the goddess, the queen permits you to take a relic she received from a genie that helped her find an oasis in the desert when she needed it.

The mirage of Crondis
Senliten informs you that the relic - a dowsing rod - is stored inside the boat replica at the mastaba's entrance passage. Exit the temple and re-enter (by choosing the 'explore' option) to access the passages quickly. Head north and loot the stone ship to obtain the dowsing rod.

Using the dowsing rod is similar to solving a Treasure Trails compass clue. Head in the direction that the arrow is pointing until you get a chat message.

It is possible to teleport near the locations, such as the Pharaoh's sceptre teleport to the Agility Pyramid (Jaleustrophos) to reach Sophanem and the Bandit Camp lodestone to reach the Bedabin camp.
 * The dowsing rod will first point you towards the oasis just north-west of the temple, upon reaching which you make the remark that this doesn't look like a place where Crondis can be found.
 * The second oasis is located on the Camel Warriors island, just east of Sophanem.
 * The third is in the Bedabin camp, north of the Bandit Camp lodestone.

After finding the three oases, it's obvious that the relic isn't working the way you need it to. Return to Senliten.

Attuning to Crondis
At Senliten's tomb, she realises that the relic has to be attuned to Crondis before it can locate her. To do that, you have to go to the Elid elementals at the source of the river Elid.

Leave the mastaba and head north-west, making your way to the headwaters of the Elid in the desert's northern cliffs. Alternately, if you have a Dominon medallion, you may teleport to the Dominion Tower, exit, and head around to it's northern side. Using the rope, climb the waterfall and pass both sets of doors using the relic as a key.

Run along the shore and ask the Elid elementals for their help in charging the relic. Once they agree, the dowsing rod will now be able to properly locate Crondis.

The rod will now point you towards the south-west region of the Port district of Menaphos. On the western docks, speak with Portmaster Kags and he will gladly transport you to the isle of the Crondis pyramid.

In the presence of a goddess
Head inside the pyramid to find in flesh Crondis, the crocodile goddess, and Tamsah, her apparently overworked High Priest.

Tamsah will secretly try to warn you about his goddess's change in behaviour, always careful not to let her overhear. As you plead Crondis to intercede in the attacks of crocodiles on the desert's inhabitants, she casually insists that hungry crocodiles are nothing new. In fact, she would fancy a snack, and commands you to bring her one.

'''All items need to be obtained only after being requested. Items obtained prior to Crondis' request will not be considered fresh enough.'''

Once you obtain the resources that she demands, simply head back to the pyramid and talk to Tamsah or Crondis to hand over your offerings.


 * First, the priest suggests some fresh beltfish. These can be caught in Menaphos' Port district or the VIP pool in the Imperial district.
 * Crondis will now demand some toothpicks to get the fish out of her teeth, in the form of two acadia logs. These can be cut in Menaphos' Imperial district.
 * Keeping to form, Crondis now demands a new top for her pyramid, comprised of four Agility Pyramid tops.
 * To get these, head over to the Agility Pyramid and complete four laps to obtain four pyramid tops. The Pyramid can be reached quickly with a Desert amulet 4 or Pharaoh's sceptre (Jaleustrophos).
 * Once the top has been replaced, the goddess will now require eight plover birds to use as toothpicks, since the acadia logs didn't quite work out.
 * Plover birds are found in Sophanem, just south of the Temple of Icthlarin. They are caught in deadfall traps, which require logs that can be obtained from the palm trees on the shore.
 * The hunting area can be reached quickly by going east from the Menaphos lodestone and talking to Coenus at the bridge, and then heading south.
 * Alternatively, you can use a Pharaoh's sceptre, or the Sophanem Slayer Dungeon teleport if you have enough reputation in Menaphos.
 * Still insatiable, Crondis commands you to bring her 16 croc ices for her sweet teeth (not to be confused with choc-ice).
 * These are sold by Rokuh in Nardah, and they must be delivered to her (multiple trips are allowed) without the use of Summoning familiars or teleportation, as teleportation will turn them into chocolatey goop.
 * Additionally, you will automatically eat some of the croc ices on the way to Crondis, so it's best to buy a full inventory of them and hurry. Simply running will cause you to arrive short, so it's advised to take the magic carpet from Nardah to Pollnivneach, and then take the carpet to fast-travel from there to Menaphos.
 * Most other teleportation methods do not work, but you may still use the Surge ability, and quick-travel at Shifting Tombs (right-click the entrance and select the Ports district) to get back to her pyramid faster. Assuming you take the carpets and quick-travel, you will only eat up to 8 croc ices, but it's best to bring a full inventory to be safe.

After you deliver the 16 croc ices, Crondis orders 32 more. You can either rebuke her greed or stay silent, which will allow you to quickly bank and gear up for combat before proceeding.

Fighting Ukunduka
When ready for the fight, return and speak to Crondis. Instead of agreeing to her new demand, you repeatedly refuse and rebuke her greedy behaviour. Crondis swells with anger, stammers at your accusations, and before she can complete her thought, she will spit up some corruption which resolves into the form of a crocodile warrior named Ukunduka.

You must now fight Ukunduka, who has 75,000 life points and uses both melee and ranged in combat. You can safe spot it from the stairs leading up to Crondis, and restrict it to using only ranged attacks.

If you choose melee to fight him, you can carry sacks of cabbages or other cheap food to preserve your high-healing food. Alternatively, Ukunduka does not see raw fish or baron sharks as food, so you can use a bunyip with swallow whole scrolls or carry only baron sharks for healing.

If you're struggling with this fight, it is possible to bring a full inventory of food, and drop them on the ground, picking one up and immediately eating it when you need health. Make sure that you drop them before attacking Ukunduka, and since the fight is instanced, make sure you wait until after it has started; anything dropped before will disappear.

Resolutions and plans
After defeating the crocodile spawn, speak with the dispossessed Crondis and her much-relieved High Priest. Request her to address the crocodile attacks across the desert, and the goddess will agree at once.

Return to Senliten at her tomb, where you'll find Osman arguing with Leela over the handling of the problem in Menaphos. Leela defends her support of the queen and your aid in these events, while Osman belittles your efforts, seeing his own plans as the right path. Washing his hands of her, the spymaster calls for your support in the near future before departing.

You relay to Senliten the events that occurred in Crondis' pyramid and that she is once again back to spreading restraint over her crocodile kin. Though concerned with Amascut's latest schemes, both the Queen and Leela calm down when you inform them about Ozan's efforts to find the Kharid-ib under Menaphos.

As your discussions continue, another cutscene begins, wherein Jabari informs the Pharaoh that Amascut's hold over Crondis has been removed. They discuss increasing the payments to bandits to keep the citizens inside the city fearful, and of the greater plans to replace the Menaphite Pantheon.

Congratulations, quest complete.

Required for completing

 * Our Man in the North

Trivia

 * The phrase "crocodile tears" means expressions of sorrow that are insincere.
 * During the fight with Ukunduka, it may say "I'd rather have a bowl of croco pops" when stealing food out of your inventory. This is a reference to, a cereal with an antagonistic crocodile mascot.