Brian Twitcher (also called the Priest of Guthix) is a priest of Guthix found outside the Phoenix Lair, near the Piscatoris Fishing Colony. He has been researching the phoenix for 50 years, and has written a book called The Phoenix detailing the life of a phoenix and its rebirth from its ashes.
The Priest of Guthix is the NPC to start the In Pyre Need quest. Upon completion of the quest, players learn his original name and is referred to in-game as Brian Twitcher.
Dialogues
Starting the quest
- The phoenix
- The phoenix is an ancient creature - older than either of us can comprehend.
- It is a large, powerful avian creature, surrounded by flames and covered in a fiery plumage, It also has strong magical abilities.
- Every five hundred years, as it reaches the limits of its lifespan, it returns to its roost to complete a ritual and be reborn.
- You see, while not truly immortal, the phoenix can be reborn any number of times, so long as it completes its rebirth ritual.
- But thanks to its wounds, the phoenix could soon be gone from this world forever.
- The ritual
- The ritual is not that complicated, really: it just requires certain ingredients and a set of dexterous hands.
- In order to be reborn, the phoenix must be burnt alive on a funeral pyre woven from the wood of five particular trees.
- You must weave a basket from the fletched twigs of cinnamon, sassafras, ailanthus, cedar and mastic trees.
- This basket must be placed on the base of the pyre in the phoenix's roost, and then it must be lit.
- Usually, you would also need to best the phoenix in combat to weaken it, so that it can succumb to the flames.
- This time, however, the phoenix is already weak and dying.
- The phoenix will enter the pyre and be burnt to ashes. From these ashes, it will be reborn - young and strong again.
- Oh, I see. I need to search the four corners of the world for five trees. Well, I suppose I'd best get packing.
- While I understand your concern, that won't be a problem at all.
- How so?
- As I have said, the phoenix is an ancient creature with some limited power over life and death.
- The trees you require are growing inside this very lair, and have been for millenia! The phoenix revives them from their own ashes each time they die.
- That's amazing. What a foresighted creature the phoenix is!
- Each tree is on a separate level of the lair. You must collect the twigs before moving on. It's pointless to continue on to a deeper level without having the twigs from all the levels before it.
- Only fresh twigs will suffice for the ritual. If you leave the lair at any time, you will have to go through and collect fresh twigs from every tree.
- There are some other items required for the ritual that you cannot get from inside the lair.
- Oh? What would those be then?
- Tools. Secateurs, to prune the trees and gather the twigs, a knife to fletch them and a tinderbox to light the pyre.
- Given the circumstances, I'd be happy to give you the necessary tools for free. I brought a set to complete the ritual myself, but...I'm too old.
- The phoenix's lair is a lava-filled cave, guarded by its thralls.
- You see, the phoenix has power over life and death that is not limited to itself. It has the ability to resurrect lesser creatures.
- These revived creatures now roam the phoenix's lair, guarding it from interlopers during the phoenix's long absences.
- They usually attack anyone who enters, weeding out the weaklings to ensure only the worthy reach the phoenix in its roost, deep inside the lair.
- I have had a peek inside, however, and the creatures seem unusually passive at the moment.
- Standing out here, I occasionally hear them cry out, as if in pain.
- Please, help the phoenix. Such a wondrous creature should not be taken from this world in this way.
After the quest
- I saw everything that happened through a small vent in the roof of the phoenix's roost! You have succeeded!
- Yes, I have!
- The phoenix is saved and you, are a hero of nature! As an added bonus, I got to see it. My 50 years of waiting were not in vain after all!
- Yes, I'm glad you watched all my hard work from a comfortable vantage point outside of the lair.
- Come, now. It wasn't like that. I'm a frail old man! What possible good could I have done?
- I suppose you're right.
- Besides, the most important point is that the phoenix is saved!
- Oh, that reminds me - she also said to thank you for the shrine, and she asks when you plan to return her trinkets.
- She...she knew about me?
- I should have known. Had I not been welcome in the lair, I would have ended up like the rest of them. I was a fool to think it was my skill that kept me alive.
- Anyway, I wouldn't expect you to help me for mere thanks. Here is your reward!
Trivia
- The word "Twitcher" is British slang for a bird watcher, that is someone who spends his leisure time trying to spot birds that he or she hasn’t seen before. Twitchers are not so much ornithologists (somebody who studies birds) but collectors. Twitchers in popular British culture are often unfairly regarded as folks who exhibit particularly unusual or intense behaviours that differ from accepted social norms.
- After an unknown update, Brian Twitcher (priest of guthix) seemed to "glitch", this happened when he stopped walking, he seemed to fall down halfway, then would return to normal once he had started walking again. This has been fixed.
- His movements are similar to the Doomsayer's.