Fairy Tale I - Growing Pains

Growing Pains
To start the quest you must first talk to Martin the Master Gardener in the Draynor village square. He tells you about the rampant drop in crop yield all over RuneScape and wants your help to locate the source of this problem. You need to talk to five members of the Group of Advanced Gardeners (G. A. G.), besides Martin. (If you are not sure how many gardeners you have talked to, open up the quest guide and it will tell you if you have spoken to enough farmers) You can choose any of the gardeners near the farming patches (allotments, bushes, hops, trees, etc.) around RuneScape.

G. A. G.
If you have a tree planted, you MAY need to clear it before the topic related to the quest will show up.

The easiest gardeners to reach are the following:
 * Vasquen, hops patch north of Lumbridge (east of the river)
 * Frizzy Skernip, spirit tree patch next to the bar in Port Sarim
 * Taria, bush patch in Rimmington
 * Francis, hops patch on Entrana
 * Garth, fruit tree patch in Brimhaven
 * Praistan Ebola, spirit tree patch in Brimhaven
 * Dreven, bush patch south of Varrock, next to the Champion's Guild
 * Elstan, allotment patch south of Falador (via Explorer's ring 3/4)
 * Heskel, tree patch in Falador Park
 * Dantaera, allotment patch north of Catherby
 * Ellena, fruit tree patch east of Catherby
 * Torrell, bush patch south of Ardougne (very close to the Ardougne Cape teleport)
 * Lyra, allotment patch north west of Port Phasmatys (easy after Ghosts Ahoy with the Ectophial)

All of them say the same thing: they've been having trouble with poor crops. They all have different explanations of what they think is wrong, including lack of rain, insects, pesky adventurers and erratic seasons. However, the fifth one you ask will suggest the fairies are the common root of such reasons. If you ask more than five members, the additional ones will be unresponsive to the issue of crop failure.

Go back to Draynor and talk to Martin again. After telling him about the different ideas, go back to the Lumbridge Swamps and walk into the cottage that was used during Lost City with your Dramen staff (or Lunar staff) to go to Zanaris.

Trouble in Zanaris
Head to the Fairy Queen's chamber. It's just south of where you enter the city, in the room with the Slayer master. However, something's wrong. The queen herself is missing, and someone by the name of Fairy Godfather is there instead. When you speak to him, he will tell you that the queen protects the fairies from creatures known as Tanglefoot, who attack the city every once in a while from the shady grove near the cosmic altar.

Unfortunately, in her last encounter with a Tanglefoot, the queen has fallen to some sort of illness and is under the care of Fairy Nuff.

To find the queen, head west to the bank and then north to go to her house. Talk to Fairy Nuff, and she will tell you the details of the queen's illness and give you a symptoms list to take to a wizard named Zandar Horfyre, who used to work on Otherworldly beings in Zanaris.

A Fairy's Lifeforce
Walk or teleport to Taverley and head south to reach the Dark Wizards' Tower. Head up to the top floor, and talk to Zandar.

''If your combat level is below 109, you will be attacked by the level 54 Dark Wizard in the same room as Zandar. If this happens after handing over the list of symptoms to Zandar and not finishing the conversation, you will have to return to Fairy Nuff to get another one.''

Zandar explains to you that the life essence or the soul of fairies is purely magic. He tells you that a large part of the queen's life essence has been drained, which can only be done by a Tanglefoot or be done voluntarily. He'll take the symptom list and then suggest you talk to Malignius Mortifer, the only other known killer of a Tanglefoot.

Malignius can be found slightly south-east of the Clan Camp, along with four elemental wizards. Talk to him, and he'll tell you he could help but he wants something from you first - a skull from Draynor Manor. No other skull will work, as Malignius will not be fooled.

Go to the Manor and around to the back. Dig up the grave there. Once you have the skull, go back to Malignius and give it to him.

Phasma Phasmatis Natura
Malignius tells you that he had indeed killed a Tanglefoot a long time back using a pair of magic secateurs. To obtain them for yourselves, Malignius will tell you to go ask the Nature Spirit to perform the spell 'Phasma Phasmatis Natura' on an ordinary secateurs, along with three or four specific items. These are different for everyone, so you must get the items assigned to you, and do not forget your ghostspeak amulet when you're going to speak with the spirit.

The requested items may include items from the list below.

Warning: Ghasts in Mort Myre swamp may rot any food you carry. If one of your required items is Edible seaweed, Jangerberries, King worms or Lime, there is a chance that you may lose it. Pack Druid pouches or multiple food items to be safe.




 * A clean Avantoe herb (see Herblore)
 * Blue dragon scales (blue dragon lair in Taverley dungeon)
 * Baby dragon bones (kill any baby dragon)
 * Grapes (respawn in Cooking Guild and the V.T.A.M./Phoenix Gang Lair; dropped by Guards and Goblins; stolen from wine stalls)
 * Charcoal (search the specimen trays in the digsite or buy one in Tai Bwo Wannai Village or Shilo Village)
 * Crushed gemstone (from failing to cut an opal, jade, or red topaz, or smashing one with a hammer)
 * Edible seaweed (from Fishing Trawler or from killing rock crabs, sea snakes or rock lobsters)
 * Fat snail (from Bruise blamish snail and Blood blamish snail in Mort Myre)
 * A clean Irit leaf (see Herblore)
 * Jangerberries (you can grow them with Farming or find them west of Yanille)
 * Jogre bones (kill any jogre)
 * King worms (from the swamp near the Grand Tree in the Gnome Stronghold or in Taverley)
 * Lime (buy from Heckel Funch in the Grand Tree)
 * Mort Myre Fungi (use your silver sickle (b) near the logs in Mort Myre)
 * Mort Myre pear (use your silver sickle (b) near the bushes in Mort Myre)
 * Mort Myre stem (use your silver sickle (b) near the downed branches in Mort Myre)
 * Nature talisman
 * Oyster (Unopened)
 * Potato cactus (see Herblore)
 * Mosquito Proboscis (see Tai-Bwo Wannai Cleanup)
 * Raw cave eel
 * Red spider's eggs (see Herblore)
 * Red vine worms (dug up in McGrubbor's Wood west of Seers' Village)
 * Slimy eel (see Fishing)
 * Clean Snapdragon (see Herblore)
 * Snape grass (see Herblore)
 * Supercompost (see Farming)
 * Uncut diamond
 * Uncut ruby
 * A Clean volencia moss (Obtained in Karamja during the Jungle Potion quest. Must have gotten to the part where you need to obtain Volencia moss.)
 * White berries

If you do not have the required Herblore level to clean your herb, you can speak to Zahur in Nardah, who charges 200 coins for cleaning one herb. An alternative to this is to buy its clean version on the Grand Exchange - but keep in mind that they don't sell quickly.

When you are finally ready, grab the required items, your Amulet of Ghostspeak and secateurs, and go to the Mort Myre Swamp. Make sure to have the secateurs in your inventory and not in your toolbelt. Walk south until you find the Grotto Tree (On an island, north-west of Mort'ton, marked by a summoning/obelisk icon)  and talk to the Nature Spirit. He will bless your secateurs, at which point they will start to glow green. It is a great idea to pray at the nature altar, as it boosts your prayer by 20 points.

Tanglefoot
''The Tanglefoot is unaffected by poison and cannon attacks, and can only be harmed with the Magic Secateurs. The higher your Farming level, the greater you will hit.''

Head back to the Lumbridge Swamp. Go into the shed with your Dramen Staff equipped. Bring your armour and food. The Magic Secateurs are one-handed, so a shield or off-hand weapon can be used, though the weapon will have no effect. Head through the corridor south from the field of wheat to the mysterious ruins of the Cosmic altar. (You can take a shortcut if your Agility is 46, and another one if it's 66) To the west of the altar is an alcove with a Shady Grove. Attempt to enter and the Gatekeeper will let you pass, saying that he is under orders to let you through.

Inside will be a bunch of Baby tanglefoots, and at the end of the tunnel will be a large, level 98 Tanglefoot. Wield your magic secateurs and approach it.

A hit and run strategy works well for lower level players, or if you don't have good armour. He is slow and has a small movement range, so it is easy to kill him without taking a single blow. Also, if you have 40 prayer you can use the protect from missiles prayer.

After you have defeated the Tanglefoot, grab the Queen's secateurs that it drops. If you have a full inventory when you kill it or if you forget to pick up the secateurs and you leave, you can go back to the tunnel and receive them at the start of the tunnel.

Head back to the Fairy Godfather, and give them to him to finish the quest.

Congratulations, Quest complete!

Rewards

 * 2 Quest Points
 * Magic secateurs (increases Farming-yields by 10% when harvesting allotments, herbs and hops)
 * 3,500 experience
 * 2,000 experience
 * 1,000 experience
 * 2 extra spins on the Squeal of Fortune

Required for completing
Completion of Fairy Tale I - Growing Pains is required for the following:
 * Back to my Roots
 * Fairytale II - Cure a Queen
 * Goblin High Priest (miniquest)

Cultural references

 * The Fairy Godfather speaks and resembles like Marlon Brando's character from the movie The Godfather.
 * A couple of references from the movie Goodfellas include:
 * Examining Fat Rocco gives the text "How am I funny - Like a clown?", a reference to the line spoken by Joe Pesci's character, Tommy Devito.
 * Examining Slim Louie gives the text "As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster", referencing Ray Liotta's character, Henry Hill.

Trivia

 * This quest is referred to with three different names:
 * 'Fairytale I - Growing Pains' in the Quest Journal control panel.
 * 'Fairy Tale I - Growing Pains' in the game window, when you click on the Quest Journal entry.
 * 'A Fairy Tale Part I - Growing Pains' in the Knowledge Base.
 * Upon the completion of this quest, one's Adventurer's Log will read: "My travels in Zanaris led me to a fight with a tanglefoot! I finished it off with ease and returned to the Fairy Godfather for my reward."
 * If you talk to Juna after completing the quest, your character will say, "...So I defeated the tanglefoot and returned the Fairy Queen's Enchanted Secateurs to the Fairy Godfather." to which she replies, "These fairies seem to be well versed in the powers of nature."
 * Fairy Nuff's name seems to be a play on the words "fair enough."

Fairytale I - Growing Pains A Fairy Tale Part I - Growing Pains