The Bird and the Beast

The Bird and the Beast (known as BnB) is the second world event, which started on 11 December 2013 and will end after six weeks in battle. The event features the gods Armadyl and Bandos fighting over weapons of mass destruction atop towers that they have aimed at the opposing god, in addition to caravans all over Gielinor that can be raided by players. The Godless are interfering with this world event, sending members to ambush the gods' troops.

Unlike the Battle of Lumbridge, the loser of the conflict will die. Divination plays a role in this world event, and safe PvP conflict is avaliable. Players are able to build golems. The benefits of enabling PvP include increased renown, more experience, faster construction of buildings and Heroic skulls. The Heroic skulls are a possible drop from killing a worthy opponent in PvP, and will be able to be buried at the tower of your faction for a chunk of Prayer experience.

As seen in the BTS 81 video, players are able to once again gain armour for the god they side with. These are hybrid armour similar to the Warpriest of Zamorak and Saradomin available from the first world event, the Battle of Lumbridge. Unlike the warpriest armours from the Battle of Lumbridge, these armours give a decrease to ability cooldowns. Other rewards include 3 new Abilities for all combat types, and new emotes.

Like during the first world event, players are able to switch factions at will, albeit at a cost of losing all their unspent renown and token level that they have gained from the first faction.

Introduction
With the depletion of the rift in Lumbridge at the climax of the battle between Saradomin and Zamorak, the gods have been forced to find other sources of divine energy. Both Armadyl and Bandos have turned to the newly discovered skill of Divination, and caravans of their followers travel the world to bring the energy back to their mighty towers.

To do this, they've established sites in key places around Asgarnia and Misthalin, and are gathering followers to claim and defend these sites as well as the caravans.

Starting the event
Players can start the event by talking to Kara-Meir located at the north of Falador and choosing the faction they would like to represent: Bandos or Armadyl. Bandos's Tower is located east of the Goblin Village, while Armadyl's Tower is located next to the Clan Camp south of Falador.



Obtaining renown
Members can gather 30,000 renown daily, while free-to-play players can gather only up to 14,000 each day. The remaining daily limit is displayed via "Remaining energy" in the war HUD.

Renown can be obtained by:

Sites
Unlike the Battle of Lumbridge where battle was confined to the Lumbridge crater, this event involves 14 sites, scattered around in the free-to-play game. Each site can be occupied by any faction, and occupied sites are localised on each world and not shared for all worlds.



Building and repurposing


After occupying a site, several types of towers can be built. However, the towers can only be built on a neutral site. When a tower is built, it is at 10% health. All players can then increase the health of the tower to 100%. Meanwhile, enemies can damage the tower to 0% upon which the enemy may then decide to build in that site. Players have 20 minutes to complete a tower, otherwise it will revert back to the empty site. Players may also vote to re-purpose a tower into another type.

Players earn Construction experience and renown whenever you successfully add or remove health from any building. All players working to build a building when it completes, or tear one down when it vanishes, will also receive renown. 5 renown is awarded each time an action is performed; this is doubled to 10 renown per action when PvP mode is enabled. The Constructor's outfit, Sculpting chisel, Wisdom or Festive Aura can be used to gain additional experience.

All completed towers can be teleported to, by using the War map item or from the War map in the ground floor of the base tower.

Killing and PvP mode


Player and NPC killing is only possible within PvP area, which is denoted on ground by red double lines. These areas are safe meaning players do not lose any items upon death. To enable player killing, PvP mode has to be enabled. This can be done by using the PvP board outside the base tower, or by clicking F3. The PvP board also lists significant kills by the top 20 players, and the players' kill/death ratio.

All players who deal damage receive 256 renown per kill, and the player who deal the most damage receive a heroic skull per kill. The skulls can only be buried within the base tower for Prayer experience. The XP per skull increases if more than one skull is buried at once. However, heroic skulls are lost upon death.

There is a cooldown period upon entering the PvP areas. Combat is also scaled according to level. This means that weak players become stronger, and strong players become weaker depending on their opponent.

It is possible for NPCs to begin a battle in the Wilderness - the area remains a dangerous PvP area where players will lose items upon death. Completing a skirmish will grant 2500 renown.

Divination
Divine crystals may be found while harvesting divine energy using the Divination skill. When released, they provide 1,500 renown.

Random events
During a caravan there is a chance that one of the body guards will contract Dysentery. This gives them a disease which repeatedly hits for heavy damage resulting in the unit's death.

At various sites, players may encounter a wandering alchemist that, when talked to, offers the player a drink of their new energy potion (40 doses). One may only drink from this when it is offered by the alchemist, immediately. Upon drinking it, you will receive a slight boost to the player's "Energy" (the daily limit) for the event, allowing the player to continue gaining renown for as long as they have the boost.

Influencing the war
The votes from contributing in the war can be spent on microchanges and escalations. Voting on golem construction requires contribution points. Voting on army management and faction strategy does not require any spending.

Microchanges and escalations
As with Battle of Lumbridge, votes can be cast on microchanges and escalations by using the Voting board on the ground floor or by talking to the Armadylean record keeper or the Bandosian record keeper.

Microchanges provide a boost to the faction (such as improved gathering rate and increased damage), and the chosen buff will be displayed in the war HUD. Escalations increase the urgency and the difficulty of the war. When escalations are active, the rate of interference by the Godless faction increases.

Army Management
As with Duke Horacio's Dilemma portion of the Battle of Lumbridge, votes can be cast to manage the faction army by using the Battle plans on a table on the ground floor or by talking to the Armadylean record keeper or the Bandosian record keeper.

The management interface can be used to recruit more army (bodyguards, ambushers, and battle-mages), and to improve morale. After voting, players can claim bonus XP for any desired skill. this bonus XP is recieved when training the skill in which the XP was chosen. However, this bonus XP can only be gained on a members' server.

Faction Strategy
Similar to the army management, the strategy for the faction can be influenced by the player through votes. This can be done by using the Strategy board located on the ground floor. There are no NPCs associated with this vote.

Unlike the other votings, this vote can be changed freely at any time, and as frequently as wished by the player.

Golem Construction
Players can also use votes to construct golems for their faction. This can be done by interacting with the Golem on the first floor or by talking to the Armadylean golem master or the Bandosian golem master.

Golems are custom built mechanical monsters which defend caravans and faction sites. A golem is constructed from a head, a pair of arms, a pair of legs and a body. Each of these has three options: offensive, defensive, or special. Each option determines how the golem behaves and attacks. Defensive golems teleport to any friendly convoy and follows the caravan as an extra bodyguard, attacking players, golems or other NPCs. Offensive golems teleport to any enemy convoy that is stationary and attacks that convoy starting with a golem, then the bodyguards, then the caravan.

War statistics
The following is the faction score for Bandos and Armadyl during the event.

Rewards
The renown and sacred metal fragments gathered can be spent on various rewards, such as 6 components of the Warpriest armour, 4 weapon overrides, 3 emotes, 4 titles, and 3 abilities.

To buy all rewards from one faction (except those obtained by random), players would require 721,000 renown. To buy all rewards from both factions, players would require 1,284,000 renown.

Players wishing to obtain all rewards from this event may want to consider focusing on the emotes and titles, instead of the abilities and Warpriest armour. The Warpriest armour will be available again after the event as drops in the God Wars Dungeon, and the abilities will be a very rare drop from defeating the Bandos and Armadyl GWD bosses.

Trivia

 * You can disable the game messages about traveling convoys by talking to the Doomsayer or via the game settings. Within Interface Settings, open the "Warnings settings" menu and disable "World Event Notifications" at the bottom of the list.
 * There is currently a glitch where players can get inside a stump just west of the Bandosian camp.
 * Oddly, destroying an enemy building is done by clicking on "Work On...". Similarly, engaging your own convoy heals it. It is unsure whether or not this is a glitch.
 * The area of this world event bans Summoning familiars and pets in a similar manner as the Grand Exchange; they cannot be summoned inside the area, and if summoned outside, they will be hidden while inside. This does not apply to the Bloodpouncer legendary pet. It is unknown if this is a glitch.
 * Using multi-targeting abilities such as Chain for magic, can hit your follower when attacking a caravan. This is most likely a glitch.
 * It is possible for a caravan bodyguard to contract dysentery during their journey. A note will appear in the chatbox in this case. This is a reference to the video game The Oregon trail.
 * Strangely, when standing in a Faction camp, music plays, but nothing is shown on the music playlist. It's possible it's because Jagex wanted this to be temporary music, not an "unlockable", and has the game read it as background sound, not music itself.