Update:Behind the Scenes - May (2005)

May - The Underground Month

Everyone get out your lanterns and digging tools, as May will see great developments to the underground network in RuneScape.

The first update this month features an area in the swamp caves which was visited by Guthix back at the end of the god wars. What secrets lie behind Juna the storysnake? A new minigame will be introduced giving players a new use for quest points and a new way of gaining xp.

Yet more forgotten stories from the god wars come back to the surface this month with the discovery of large burial mounds (or barrows) to the south-east of Morytania. Legend tells us that heroes of great renown were buried here, yet their part in the wars is not clear. What is known is that they bore with them great weapons of destruction and equipment of such potency that the scars on the land are still visible.

A vast new training area in randomly shifting tombs filled with wights seems the perfect haunt for such things. Be aware that we have not had such a large release of new combat equipment since the launch of RS2 so be prepared to see some very interesting looking attire over the next few weeks.

May will also see the release of a massive new underground city. For years the humans have known of the dwarf city of Keldagrim but they have never been allowed through its gates. After the opening of Dondakan's goldmine (Between a Rock) the balance of power might never be the same again.

See moving city life, dwarf business mechanics and even a steam powered underground railway, not to mention the huge map area the city will occupy. Several of the shops may ask you to run short errands for them, or even commission you to complete orders for them, making use of existing skills such as mining, smithing and crafting.

Keep those eyes peeled for the first part of a multiple stage quest campaign to accompany this giant update... just expect to duck under doorframes and dont rely on the local clothes to fit.

New ranger training areas will also be released this month with some brand new ancestral bones to help get those tricky prayer levels up. Accompanying that are fletching and smithing additions adding more potency to the underused ogre bow.

Finally, this month will see the next expansion to the Lumbridge swamp caves. Who are these mysterious creatures and are they really part of the goblin family? We know their tunnels run close to some of the bigger and more popular areas of RuneScape but do the locals have anything to fear from these wide-eyed timid things?

Expect expansions in low lvl combat equipment, more mining areas, new fishing and further development to the HAM plot towards the end of the month.