Golden Path Challenge

The Golden Path Challenge is an that serves as part of the build up to the release of Menaphos. The first part of it was released on 25 April 2017, alongside the Menaphos trailer and website.

The Legend of the Golden Path
On 25 April 2017, a trailer for the upcoming Menaphos update was released. 14 seconds into the video, corrupted forms of Het, Scabaras, Apmeken and Crondis are shown, along with text in the Menaphite language,.

The language was previously used in the Stolen Hearts and Diamond in the Rough quests. Translated, the text reads "bit.ly/gotogoldenpath", which is a shortened link leading to a hidden page on the RuneScape website.

The website contains more text written in the Menaphite language, with versions in English, German, French and Brazilian Portuguese. Translated, the English version of the text reads:

"The Legend of the Golden Path The golden city of Menaphos stands today as it has for generations: resplendent, affluent and prosperous.

But beneath the surface lies corruption, decay and destruction. The Pharoah [sic] grows richer, while the poor of nearby Sophanem rot in ditches. Menaphos's four districts are ruled by four leaders - a commander, admiral, worker and grand vizier - each in some way complicit in the citi's [sic] desolation.

These four faction leaders hold the key to riches beyond compare. Dare you embark on the Golden Path Challenge? A once-in-a-lifetime reward awaits the winner.

The code is the key."

The source code for the page contains text reading "The path to Menaphos shines in the sun.", pointing towards the newly added sundial to the north of Menaphos. Interacting with the sundial allows players to rotate the gnomon to point to letters in Menaphite script.

Admiral Wadud
The source code of the Golden Path page also contains a commented out link to an Instagram page supposedly belonging to an Admiral W. When first discovered, the account only had two posts, but an additional three were released over the following three days. Each post contains a screenshot of a character or location, and a small text riddle.

The first letters of each of these characters and locations spells W-A-D-U-D, revealing the Admiral's true name to be Admiral Wadud. If the matching Menaphite  are entered into the sundial, it will click and the following messages will be printed in the chat:



Hero Batal
On 9 May 2017, the same date indicated by the in-game message from the last step, a Menaphos related official livestream took place. Throughout the livestream, various plush toys are visible on the table in front of the Jagex Moderators, including a cat.

Three days later, the third episode in the official Road to Menaphos series on RuneScape's YouTube channel was uploaded. At around 2:25 in that video, a cat meowing can audibly be heard. The image on the video during that time was of a corrupted thrall, which can also be seen as a promotional image on the microsite for Menaphos. At the bottom of the image were red and yellow distorted characters and symbols.

If the image was opened with a text editor, it displays ASCII art resembling the Reddit logo, and the text 'hero_batal'. A Reddit user with the same name was found. When entering into the sundial, it will click and the following messages will be printed in the chat:



Trivia

 * The letters W-A-D-U-D were guessed by a player on the 26 April after they tried different combinations of Egyptian and Arabic names using only the first three letters that were confirmed at the time.