Evil Tree



The Evil Tree is a members-only Distractions and Diversions event, released on 25 February 2009. This event can be done twice daily; the counter resets at 00:00 GMT. Players must log out to reset the clock. A tree will spawn two hours after the death of the last tree in that world. As such, players may kill a tree in one world and switch to another world where a new tree is just sprouting.

Players may join a clan chat dedicated to finding evil trees, as it is easier to find trees in groups than alone. These clan chats can be found by searching the RuneScape forums.

 Warning:  Interacting with a tree at any stage of development counts as one of the two daily trees. This applies to nurturing trees, even if players do not have the required levels to chop or burn the fully grown tree. Right clicking to inspect and check a fully grown tree's health does not count as one of the daily interactions.



Overview
The purpose of the event is to kill the Evil tree, after which the player is rewarded; see below. There are seven types of evil trees and twenty-six possible locations.

Farming experience is granted each time the Sapling advances to another stage of development. Woodcutting experience is granted every few seconds during chopping. Firemaking experience is granted each time a new section of the Tree is lit.

A leprechaun is found near all trees. He will explain the evil tree and is the one to reward players.

Stages
An evil tree has a total of six stages: stages 1–5 are different growths of the sapling, and stage six is a fully grown evil tree. The strange sapling may be nurtured by players to make it grow quickly, but it will grow on its own. Currently, the only way to determine which type of tree the sapling will become is by checking the farming experience gained; see chart. However, this counts as one of the twice-daily interactions. Players may wish to refrain from nurturing trees until they know if they are interested in killing the resulting tree. After the sapling is fully grown, it becomes an evil tree.

Locating
There are several ways to find an evil tree:
 * Speak with a Spirit tree (this requires completion of Tree Gnome Village). It will tell you the status of the tree in each world. Once the strange sapling sprouts, it will give players a hint to its location; see here. Note that each hint leads to at least two locations. Once the Sapling has grown into a full tree, Spirit trees will teleport the player to the exact location. Note that if a quest is required that you have not completed, (such as Kharazi Jungle) the Spirit tree will not teleport you.
 * Be nearby. Once the Strange Sapling sprouts, roots will briefly shoot out of the surrounding ground. These roots can appear a good distance from the location of the tree, so search carefully.
 * Get a tip from a friend who can talk to the spirit tree if you can't.
 * Join a clan. Many clans will be advertised in the Runescape forums under "Distractions and diversions". People typically don't advertise about their clan through public chat anymore.

Killing
The evil tree is killed using two methods: cutting with a hatchet and lighting fires at its base. Different levels are required to cut and burn the tree; see below. Chopping the tree and its roots gives Woodcutting experience, and lighting fires gives Firemaking experience.

To chop the tree, a Hatchet is needed. As with all woodcutting, higher-level hatchets cut faster than lower-level ones. To burn the tree, the player will require a tinderbox and some kindling, which is attained from chopping down one of the four roots that grow on the north, east, south, or west side of the tree. Upon request, the leprechaun will provide the player with a Bronze hatchet and a tinderbox.

The roots will strike and stun players who are standing nearby. They will also force players who are standing on their spawn location off the way each time they spawn. There are eight spots at the base of the tree to light. The fires do damage to the tree over time and help you earn reward faster; therefore it is recommended to light the fires as early as possible to maximize damage.

The tree begins with 100% health, and the player with 0% reward. As players chop the tree and the fires burn, the tree's life drops and the player's percentage of reward increases. This can be checked by right-clicking and inspecting the tree. Doing so will stop the player from chopping, note, so do so sparingly. The tree does not always die when it reaches 0% health and will only die after three people have obtained a 100% reward.

If an evil tree takes too long to die, it gets struck by lightning. Its health then drops to 50% after it has appeared for 10 minutes; then it drops to 25% if it has appeared for 20 minutes; and then it will die on the third hit if tree has not yet died after appearing for 30 minutes. This also has a lightning sound effect to go along with it.

Note that because of the lightning, it's often best to try to kill a tree with other people to get the best reward. Also, with more people, the roots get killed faster, letting you get back to chopping for experience and reward. A good crowd between 4 and 12 seems to get the maximum reward for everyone.

Skill Requirements

 * {|class="wikitable" width="650"

!colspan="2"|Evil Tree !Woodcutting Level !Farming Level !Firemaking Level !Examine Text
 * Normal Evil Tree
 * align="center"|Normal tree.gif
 * 1
 * 1 (Gives 20 exp)
 * 1
 * This looks like a challenge anyone can deal with.
 * Oak Evil Tree
 * align="center"|Oak tree.gif
 * 15
 * 7 (Gives 45 exp)
 * 15
 * His bite looks tougher than his bark.
 * Willow Evil Tree
 * align="center"|Willow tree.gif
 * 30
 * 15 (Gives 66 exp)
 * 30
 * He'll weep when he's done being evil!
 * Maple Evil Tree
 * align="center"|eviltreemaple.png
 * 45
 * 22 (Gives 121 exp)
 * 45
 * Where did his red leaves go?
 * Yew Evil Tree
 * align="center"|Yew tree.gif
 * 60
 * 30 (Gives 172.5 exp)
 * 60
 * A tough evil tree!
 * Magic Evil Tree
 * align="center"|eviltreemagic.png
 * 75
 * 37 (Gives 311 exp)
 * 75
 * An incredibly tough challenge!
 * Elder Evil Tree
 * align="center"|Elder tree.png
 * 85
 * 42 (Gives 687.5 exp)
 * 85
 * The most fearsome of evil trees!
 * }
 * Elder Evil Tree
 * align="center"|Elder tree.png
 * 85
 * 42 (Gives 687.5 exp)
 * 85
 * The most fearsome of evil trees!
 * }

Locations with hints

 * Hints are given by Spirit trees when there is a Strange Sapling, and Tree Gnome Village is required to speak to a Spirit tree.
 * Some hints/locations require other quests. Some are simply easier to access with certain quests.
 * There are currently 26 possible known locations.
 * All hints refer to at least two possible locations (occasionally three or four).
 * Hints start with "It can be found...".

Experience

 * When an evil tree is still a sapling, Farming experience can be gained for nurturing it. No items are required to do this.
 * When an evil tree is fully grown, chopping the roots and the tree itself gains Woodcutting experience.
 * When a root vanishes, the player gains Evil tree kindling, which can be used on the tree to set fire to a part of the tree. This awards Firemaking experience.
 * Sacred clay hatchets give double experience when chopping evil trees.

Note: the Ring of fire, Flame gloves, and lumberjack clothing give no additional experience, and the Inferno Adze will not automatically light any kindling received.


 * {|class="wikitable"

!rowspan="2"|Evil Tree !colspan="4"|Experience !Nurturing !Firemaking !Chopping roots !Chopping tree 3 6.5 9 11.2 12.5 15 17
 * Normal
 * 20
 * 200
 * 200
 * 15.1
 * Oak
 * 45
 * 300
 * 300
 * 32.5
 * Willow
 * 66
 * 450
 * 450
 * 45.5
 * Maple
 * 121.5
 * 675
 * 675
 * 55.5
 * Yew
 * 172.5
 * 1,112.5
 * 1,112.5
 * 64
 * Magic
 * 311
 * 1,517.5
 * 1,517.5
 * 71
 * Elder
 * 687.5
 * 2,000.5
 * 2,000.5
 * 77.8
 * }

Items

 * You can sell the Evil tree kindling to the leprechaun for 25 coins each, or choose to keep the kindling to use on future Evil trees. All trees give the same type of kindling.


 * When the tree dies, it turns grey and withers. Players can get the following items from the evil tree as a reward:
 * Noted logs of the same type as the tree. Elder trees offer noted Yew, Magic, Teak or Mahogany logs.
 * Coins
 * Tree Seed or Bird's nest
 * Level 1 Clue scroll
 * Key halves

Further woodcutting
For a period of time after the tree is killed, players are given several advantages when cutting trees. The amount of time depends on the percent damage done to the evil tree, and the type of evil tree; see below. This ranges from 2 to 30 minutes. Note that these abilities only apply to cutting Normal, Oak, Willow, Maple, Yew, and Magic trees. (Does not include other evil trees or farming-plot trees but the log escorting feature does work with farming-plot trees.) This bonus does not disappear when you log out.
 * Significantly reduced chance of a tree being felled when a log is harvested. Note that for this to apply, nobody else may be cutting the tree.
 * Significantly increased chance of having birds' nests fall out of trees.
 * Ability to have logs "magically escorted" to the player's bank while Woodcutting if their inventory is full.

Players wishing to take advantage of this feature should consider cutting trees which yield logs quickly. Logs cut, when having a full inventory, end up in your bank, excluding teak and mahogany logs. The most efficient trees to chop for Woodcutting experience for the duration of the reward are willow trees. Some of the best places to make use of the automatic banking are:
 * Willow trees outside Crafting Guild or Fishing Guild (using Skills Necklace)
 * Willow trees near the Lady of the Lake in Taverley (using Balloon transport system)
 * Willow trees near the Lumbridge Lake (Home Teleport)
 * Willow trees to the north of Seers Bank (Camelot Teleport)
 * Willow trees west of Draynor Village, by Port Sarim (Amulet of Glory Teleport or Cabbage Port)
 * Willow trees south west of Ardougne bank. (using Ardougne Cloak)
 * Willow trees just West of Barbarian Assault (using Games necklace )

For players with higher woodcutting levels, maples in an uncrowded area are also good for using the magical log-banking. The best location for this is the forest of maple trees west of Sinclair Mansion, north of Seer's Village.

Maximum rewards


The following table shows the highest reported reward possible. A lower percentage reduces the rewards.

Note that the same percent will not always equal the same amount of gold or logs.


 * {|class="wikitable"

!Evil Tree !Logs !Gold coins !Duration of log teleportation 56 Yews or 18 Magic
 * Normal
 * 12
 * 168
 * 6 minutes
 * Oak
 * 18
 * 313
 * 10 minutes
 * Willow
 * 226
 * 1,127
 * 14 minutes
 * Maple
 * 131
 * 1,280
 * 18 minutes
 * Yew
 * 14
 * 2,293
 * 22 minutes
 * Magic
 * 9
 * 4,571
 * 26 minutes
 * Elder
 * 245 Teak or 102 Mahogany or
 * Magic
 * 9
 * 4,571
 * 26 minutes
 * Elder
 * 245 Teak or 102 Mahogany or
 * 245 Teak or 102 Mahogany or
 * 8,600
 * 30 minutes
 * }

Players collecting the reward from a farming leprechaun afterwards will receive only half of the magical banking time.

Lightning


If an evil tree takes too long to die, it gets struck by lightning. Its health then drops to 50% after it has appeared for 10 minutes; then it drops to 25% if it has appeared for 20 minutes; The tree can get struck by lightning randomly. This also has a lightning sound effect to go along with it.

Music
Music track unlocked:
 * Trees aren't your Friends

Trivia

 * The Music track unlocked Trees aren't your Friends could be a reference to the saying "Trees are our friends."
 * On its day of release, a server blackout occurred. The Grand Exchange Database page was also affected. Players saw items rising over 200,000% in a day, but the actual price of the items were intact.
 * When right-clicking the music track "Trees aren't your Friends" in the Music list and choosing the "Unlock hint" option, the hint will state "This track was unlocked during The Evil Tree activity." This might be an indication that the Evil Tree distraction was intended to be a activity at first. The Evil Tree is also under the Activities index in the in-game Woodcutting guide.
 * With the release of Evil Trees, pures who had completed Monkey Madness gained the ability to travel to Ape Atoll without receiving the experience rewards from Daero. This was accomplished by using a Spirit tree to teleport to a tree located there. This bug prompted Jagex to simply allow players to return to Ape Atoll normally without claiming the experience reward.
 * Originally, Spirit trees would only mention evil trees after the sprout had already appeared. It wasn't until a few weeks after the original release that they began to give information on how long it would take for the next evil tree to sprout. This made it much easier for a single person to find a tree.
 * If somebody lights a fire where a root will sprout, when the ashes appear and the root sprouts again, the ashes will appear on top of the root. Once the root goes away, the ashes will look to be floating. Since 9 November 2009, an evil tree can no longer cause items to float above its roots.
 * If you choose to claim your bonus at a later time after finishing the tree, the duration of your bonus will be half of what it normally is. You can also talk to any tool leprechaun to receive your reward.
 * As of October 2009, Achey tree logs will not be transported to the bank. The player receives a "Your inventory is too full to hold any logs." message instead.
 * Logging out pauses the remaining log teleportation time.
 * The "escorted log" animation is only seen by the respective player. You will never see the animation on another player with "auto-banking", only yourself.
 * A few days after the release of the Evil Tree, Spirit trees said 'despatch' instead of 'dispatch' when talked to.
 * If you are interrupted by an update while cutting the evil tree, upon logging in a new tree will be sprouting in place of the old tree. Your rewards from the original tree will be given to you if you talk to the lepracaun upon arrival at the new tree.
 * It is possible to attack roots of the evil tree with any type of Machete.