2015 Christmas event

The Pinch Who Stole Christmas is the 2015 Christmas event. It consists of a four-part quest, a short part of which is released weekly over December. Quest episodes do not have to be completed on the weeks that they are released; all the episodes can be done at once after their release. Ironman accounts are able to participate in this event, with the exception of some skilling events.

Players may begin the event by talking to any of the Snow imps in Lumbridge, Burthorpe or Prifddinas. Beginning the event unlocks a lodestone teleport to the area at which the 2015 Christmas event takes place, an iceberg near Daemonheim which is covered in presents. The teleport can be used by clicking the "present" icon in the lodestone network interface or by pressing the i key on the keyboard.

Each quest episode grants the player a reward on completion. These rewards include a snowboard, an ice skating emote, a ring of snow, and a penguin outfit. Just like all holiday events, all Christmas emotes and audio tracks are unlocked upon completion of the event. A few new music tracks were added during the event; Snow Patrol and Snowverload.

The Christmas Advent Calendar, Winter Weekends and a number of community events were also released alongside the main event, information regarding them can be viewed by clicking the snowman icon in-game.

Locating your imp
The first part of the event was released on 30 November and may be started by talking to a snow imp near the Lumbridge, Burthorpe, or Prifddinas lodestone. They reveal that your snow imp friend, Jack Frost, the Queen of Snow and Santa Claus disappeared after visiting an iceberg to the north of Daemonheim, and wants you to investigate. To reach the iceberg, click your home teleport button and then click the red Christmas present.

On entering the area, your first objective is to find the package with your imp's name on it. If you don't remember the name, you can speak to one of the imps at Lumbridge, Burthorpe, or Prifddinas to hear it again. Once you find the present, right click it and open it to reveal your imp. He reveals he was knocked out and stuffed in the present after arriving here on the iceberg, and asks you to help him find Jack Frost. If you don't already have one, he then hands you an ice amulet so you can summon him.

Preparing a feast
Talk to your imp again by right-clicking the ice amulet to summon him (you cannot summon the snow imp if you have a follower), and he instructs you to look around for Jack. Head east to the range near the red present, choose Open Present and a group of penguins surround you. They reveal that they are responsible for kidnapping everyone, but since they realise people would come looking for you if they kidnap you, they decide to make a deal: they will free one prisoner if you and the other snow imps prepare a Christmas feast for them.

Two new snow imps then appear to help you with the feast. Speak to one of them, and they give you instructions cooking food for the feast, or taste it. An interface appears on the screen showing which food needs to be cooked on the range, and which food needs to be tasted.

Food may be cooked at the range to the north. When you interact with it, an interface appears that allows you to select what item of food you wish to cook. When the required food item changes, the nearby imp shouts what it has changed to. In order to progress, you must cook 15 correct pieces of food.

Food may be tasted at one of the four tables to the south. Unlike the range, you must move between the different tables depending on which food is required. Like the range, a nearby imp shouts whenever the food changes. 7 correct pieces of food must be tasted before you may progress.

Saving Jack
Once you have completed both activities, another penguin appears and reveals that Jack is inside a nearby present. Open it to free Jack, and your snow imp eventually convinces him to help save the Queen of Snow and Santa, but he needs to think of a plan first. In the meantime, he tells you to open up the nearby purple present for a reward.

Rewards

 * Ability to cook and taste food for Cooking and Defence experience.
 * Penguin snowboard.
 * Ice amulet (if you didn't complete the 2008 Christmas event)

Rewards experience
Clicking once on the range gives continuous Cooking experience depending upon your Cooking level and food selected. Click on the correct food in the cooking selection box to get the higher experience up to 125 experience instead of 7 experience.

Clicking once on a tasting table gives continuous Defence experience. Click on the correct table to get the higher experience of up to 44 experience instead of 5 experience.

Making ice skates
The second part of the event was released on 7 December. To start it, use your ice amulet to summon your snow imp, and then speak to Jack Frost on the east side of the iceberg. Your imp must already be summoned before you speak to Jack. He'll reveal that he'll be able to make the slope preventing further access to the iceberg traversable, but first you'll need to come up with a plan on what to do once you're up there. The penguins guarding the presents up there need to be distracted with ice somehow, and your snow imp recommends making an ice skating rink to divert their attention.

Jack makes an ice staircase so you can reach the area, and tells you to make some ice skates out of leather boots and two iron battleaxes. Either buy them from the Grand Exchange, make them, or buy them from a shop such as Thessalia's Fine Clothes or Bob's Brilliant Axes. If buying from Bob, it may be easier to pick up boots from the spawn under the Lumbridge castle kitchen. Once you have them, use the boots on the battleaxes (off-hand versions work as well). As you attempt to make ice skates out of battleaxes and boots, you receive a message stating the blade is "uncannily suitable" for making skates. Your character remarks "Well I never..." in surprise as you didn't expect it to actually work. Return to the iceberg if you need to and climb up the stairs to the east of where Jack was.

Ice skating
Speak to Jack Frost next to the newly created ice skating rink, and tell him you've created the ice skates. After your imp explains the process you used to create the skates, Jack takes them from you and explains that your job is to skate on the ice rink until the penguins try and join you, causing them to fall over, leaving the presents unguarded. Once you're ready to begin skating, dismiss your follower and make sure you have nothing equipped in your feet slot, then speak to Jack again.

While skating, you have to change lanes frequently in order to avoid hitting obstacles, which include sleeping penguins, lighter patches of ice, and a drunken Sir Amik Varze. Every lap you complete without hitting anything causes one of the penguins guarding the presents to slide onto the ice. After all four penguins have left, the presents are unguarded.

Saving the Queen of Snow
Open the big present to rescue the Queen of Snow, who is grateful to you for saving her. She suggests leaving the iceberg, but Jack reveals to her that Santa Claus is still kidnapped, causing her to start thinking of a plan to save him. Your imp suggests throwing snowballs in the penguins faces, but the queen decides that they should think carefully before taking further action. In the meantime, Jack directs you to the nearby pile of presents for your reward. Open the pile of presents to receive the Ice Skating Champion emote.

Rewards

 * Ability to gain Agility experience from ice skating.
 * Ice Skating Champion emote
 * Snowman Dance, Freeze, Dramatic Point, Seal of Approval, Chaotic Cookery and Cracker Pull emotes if you did not have them already.

Rewards experience
Agility experience is obtained from ice skating the rink.

Each lap takes about 25 seconds and experience is awarded about every 4 seconds:
 * Outer lane gives 75% experience up to 34 experience
 * Middle lane gives 100% experience up to 45 experience
 * Inner lane gives 125% experience up to 57 experience

Obstacles may appear:
 * Skating over a icy patch causes the player to fall but get up and continue skating.
 * Skating into a sleeping penquin causes reduced (50%) experience for 3 laps; however, selecting "Exit ice rink" and talking to Jack to start skating again resets to full experience.
 * Skating into Sir Amik Varze kicks the player out of the skating rink.

Compared with other Agility courses (see the summary table) this one provides very good experience with minimal mouse clicking. It is almost hands-free requiring restarting if skating into Sir Amik Varze and moving the cursor before the auto-logout after 5 minutes.

Building snowmen
The third part of the event was released on 14 December. To start, speak to the Queen of Snow to the north of the ice skating rink. She explains that Santa Claus is further up on the iceberg, guarded by some patrolling penguins, and that they need to think of a method to get past them. Your snow imp once again suggests throwing snowballs at them, and the Queen of Snow suggests you build snowmen to assist you. Jack then creates some more ice steps up to the next platform.

Climb up the ice steps and speak to the Queen of Snow again. She explains that the penguins have temporarily relocated to the next level, giving you time to build a couple of snowmen to deal with them. She then asks you to build some snowmen from the three nearby piles of snow. Interact with the nearby melted snowman warrior, ranger and mage to rebuild them.

Snowverload
Once you have rebuilt all three snowmen, speak to the Queen of Snow again, and she explains that to heal the snowmen in combat, you may pelt them with snowballs, which you can collect from a nearby enchanted snow pile. You may also use these snowballs to attack your enemies directly. Say that you are ready, and two penguins send Snowverload to attack you.

Your three snowmen automatically engage Snowverload in combat. Assist them by throwing snowballs at them to heal them, or pelting them directly. Snowverload is fairly weak, and the snowmen should be able to deplete its health fairly quickly. Once Snowverload's health is depleted to zero, lure it over to the Queen of Snow, and she melts it and congratulates you.

Pesky penguins
The nearby penguins then lament that their boss will be angry with them for their failure, only for General Pinchkin himself to appear and berate them for failing even with their secret weapon. He then sends the two penguins after you.

Like with Snowverload, your snowmen automatically engage them. They are very weak, and as before you can assist your snowmen by pelting the penguins yourself. Once both are defeated, you and your snowmen automatically pelt General Pinchkin, trapping him in a ball of snow, despite his protest.

Saving Santa
The Queen of Snow then creates some ice steps up to the next level of the iceberg, and ask you to go up there to find Santa. Climb up the steps, past Pinchkin, and open the giant green present to reveal Santa Claus. He thanks you, your imp, Jack Frost, and the Queen of Snow for saving him, but expresses embarrassment over being saved by the people he came to save in the first place. He tells you to open one of the nearby present for your reward.

Rewards

 * Ring of snow
 * Ability to fight the Snowverload again. This is an event announced through the chatbox. Each time that the Snowverload is lured to the Queen of Snow and killed, she rewards you with a small festive lamp and a Christmas food item (either mince pie, mulled wine, roast potatoes, or turkey drumstick).

Rewards experience
Combat and Construction experience is gained from building snowmen. The amount of experience scales based on your level. The type of combat experience you gain is based on what you have set in your Combat Settings.

It takes about 5 minutes to build a snowman. If two players are rebuilding the same snowman, then the total experience gained is shared and divided depending upon how much time is contributed and the time to build snowman reduces by about half to 2.6 minutes. The melted snowman respawn time is about 25 seconds.

Total experience is about 80 experience every 3 seconds divided half Combat and half Construction.

Combat and Construction: both award about 40 experience every 3 seconds = about 4,000 per snowman (5 minutes) or about 48,000 experience an hour. The type of combat experience depends upon the type of snowman and your Combat Settings:
 * Snowman warrior - Balanced (1/3 Defense, Attack, Strength) or all experience for selected choice
 * Snowman ranger - Ranged & Defense (half each) or all experience for selected choice
 * Snowman mage - Magic & Defense (half each) or all experience for selected choice

Pinchkin's plan
The final part of the event was released on 21 December. To start it, head back up to the final area of the iceberg where Santa is. You can get there by either speaking to the Snow imp at the bottom of the slope in the cooking area, or by climbing up the steps in to the snowman building area.

Once there, summon your Snow imp with your ice amulet and speak to General Pinchkin. If you haven't already, you will be asked to push his snowball away from the slope. Do so, and then speak to him again. He will express regret for his actions, and claim that he merely wished to spread Christmas cheer by surprising everyone with presents, and didn't want Santa to take all the credit for doing so.

Pinchkin will explain that he wants to make things right, and Santa will say that his regret feels genuine, and asks you to give him another chance. Pinchkin will then ask you to deliver presents to the citizens of Gielinor. Speak to your snow imp, and he will pick up a present for a king. Accept his teleport offer, and you will arrive in the King Black Dragon's Lair. Your imp will greet the king, and he will explain that he has a special present for him this year. The King Black Dragon will then open the present to reveal two penguins, who will attempt to attack 'King Arthur', only to run around in terror once they realise where they are.

The King Black Dragon rejects your imps offer to keep the penguins as pets, and you will be teleported back to the iceberg. Speak to Pinchkin, and after you and your imp explain what happened and demand he confesses his plans, Pinchkin will reveal that his plan was to send presents containing penguins to the rulers of Gielinor, allowing them to easily take over the world within just a day. He will then get upset and refuse to talk to you any more.

Preparing a Christmas dinner
Santa Claus will call you over, having overheard your conversation. Speak to him, and you will suggest that you do something to distract the penguins before they are delivered to the correct person, and that a traditional Christmas dinner should do the trick. Santa will applaud you for your idea, and ask you to make the area more festive for the dinner, starting with decorating some Christmas trees.

Interact with one of the two evergreen trees to the north to decorate them, then head back to Santa. You then suggest carving some ice sculptures from the nearby ice blocks. Interact with the ice block to the south-west to start chiselling it. After a minute or so of chiselling, you will create a statue of Jack Frost. Do the same with the north-eastern statue just north of Pinchkin to create a statue of the Queen of Snow, and then the large block to the west to create one of Santa Claus.

Head back to Santa, and your imp will suggest getting some fish for the penguin guests. Santa will agree, and ask you to catch 21 festive fish at the fishing spot on the cliff to the south of him. Interact with the fishing spot, and the fish you catch will automatically be placed into a crate that Santa creates. You will be notified with a message in the chatbox how many fish you have caught for every three you catch.

Inviting your guests
Once you've caught all 21 fish, speak to Santa again and he will ask you to go and fetch the penguin guests by freeing them from the presents they're hiding in. He will explain that they will likely only be hiding in presents that smell of fish, and that you may also invite any other penguins you see.

The presents containing the penguins can be found all over the iceberg. If you speak to your imp or Santa, he will tell you how many presents you have left to find, and the imp can also tell how close you are to one. The presents can be found:
 * 1) North of General Pinchkin, next to the statue of the Queen of Snow.
 * 2) Between the statues of Santa and Jack Frost to the west of the top of the slope
 * 3) South-west of the Queen of Snow, south of a melee snowman.
 * 4) You may optionally invite the two screaming penguins from earlier. They can be found north-west of the Queen of Snow, just west of where Snowverload spawns. If you don't invite them during the quest, you can do so afterwards.
 * 5) South of Jack Frost in the middle of the ice skating rink.
 * 6) In the northern section of maze of presents to the east of the lodestone. The presents needed have an "open" option, as opposed to the "read label" option the other presents have.

The feast
Once you've invited all the penguins, head back up to the top of the iceberg and speak to Santa again. A short cutscene will ensue, where Santa, the Queen of Snow, Jack Frost, Sir Amik Varze, some snow imps and a number of penguins enjoy the feast, while General Pinchkin plots a new plan to take over the world again, using a piece of coal he'd been given for being naughty.

After the cutscene is over, speak to Santa to receive your reward.

Rewards

 * A Penguin outfit (Speak with Santa Claus again to receive this outfit)
 * The ability to receive Crafting experience from carving ice blocks and Fishing experience from fishing for festive fish and turning it in to the penguins

Music

 * Snow Patrol
 * Snowverload

Glitches

 * There is currently a bug where the cutscene in 'Preparing a feast' sometimes does not load when a player tries to interact with an object in the other area. The player can avoid this by simply walking to the other area.
 * Upon running up the icy slope, located east of the range, with your snowboard equipped, you slide for a very short distance.
 * While skating on the ice rink, if you open a menu (such as the Home Teleport menu) right before you hit an obstacle, you pass through it. If you leave the menu open, you stop moving and do not earn experience until it is closed.
 * There is currently a bug causing it to be possible to visit the areas of episodes 3 and 4 after partial completion of episode 2.

Trivia

 * During the event, players are able to use the ice amulet to summon their snow imp anywhere in the game that allows followers. Snow imps, however, stop following players whenever they teleport, leaving a message "[Name] returns to his duties". If a player tries to activate the amulet before starting the event, they receive a message saying "You attempt to summon [name], but he doesn't respond. Maybe you should have a chat with the snow imp in Burthorpe, Lumbridge or Prifddinas to find out why."
 * If one opens the present addressed to themselves, a giant penguin appears to knock them out. Afterwards, they would appear near the Fremennik shipmaster's longboat near Daemonheim, having been washed ashore, stuffed inside the box.
 * The main title of the event is a wordplay of Dr. Seuss' , commonly dubbed as "The Grinch who stole Christmas".
 * Each of the episodes are related to a James Bond film title: ', ', ' and '. General Pinchkin is also a play on General Pushkin of.
 * During the cut scene ending for Episode 4, both Santa Claus and General Pinchkin make a reference to an ending in a classical french comic  by having a banquet with boars. Posing Santa Claus as Obelix and General Pinchkin as the Bard.
 * The player's snow imp makes a reference to the classic cartoon show  at the end of the final cut scene for Episode 4, concluding the quest by stating "Dat's all folks!" similar to how the show would conclude their episodes with "That's all folks!"