Eadgar's Ruse

Walkthrough
You do not need the grain or the raw chickens until later on in the quest, so you can keep them in your bank to save space until you need them.

Getting Started

 * Start the quest by speaking to Sanfew, who lives on the top floor of the circular building in Taverley (with the Herblore symbol).
 * Select "Ask General Questions" and then select the top option. He will tell you he needs assistance with getting a herb called goutweed.
 * Only the Trolls in the Troll Stronghold know where to find goutweed, so Sanfew will suggest you speak to his friend Eadgar who lives near there at the top of Trollheim.

Enter Trollheim
You can also get raw chicken from killing the chickens in his backyard. Note: If you have 47+ Agility you can avoid the thrower trolls completely by using the Agility shortcuts on the mountain.
 * You need to make your way to Trollheim using the same route as in the Troll Stronghold quest, so go north from Taverley to Burthorpe and follow the mountain path out of the north west corner of the town.
 * Go south at the fork in the path to Tenzing's house.
 * If you do not already have climbing boots buy some here from Tenzing for 12 coins. (Right-click, trade, then buy normal ones for 12gp. This only works if you do not already have a pair.) The 75,000 coin rock climbing boots work, as well.
 * Wear the climbing boots and climb over the stile in his back yard, following the path north.
 * At the next junction climb over the rocks, follow the path and go east at the next fork, climbing over rocks as required.
 * Walk past Dad and use the northern Arena Exit gate.
 * At the next two junctions head west and then north, enter through the cave entrance and pass through to the other side. Run around the bottom of the mountain, passing the thrower trolls on the higher platforms. Level 40 Prayer is strongly advised for Protect from Missiles, as several missiles can hit damage at once, and without activating it, hitpoints drain very quickly.

Meeting Eadgar

 * Before the courtyard in front of the stronghold, turn south and climb rocks leading to the small summoning obelisk until you get to the cave entrance (the exact location on the map is the one that is marked as "Trollheim").
 * Climb to the top of the hill in the centre of Trollheim, using Protect from Missiles as you run past the thrower trolls to avoid taking large amounts of damage.
 * When you get to the top enter the cave and speak to Eadgar about goutweed. He will suggest that you speak to one of the troll cooks.

The troll cook
Remember to use Protect from Melee (these trolls use clubs) if the Trolls attack you. (If you need some, buy vodka now.)
 * Leave Eadgar's cave, go back down the hill and head south west, following the path round into the Troll Stronghold.
 * Once in the stronghold go south and then down the stairs. (Continue to use Protect from Melee.)
 * You will see four Troll cooks here - one of them will be called Burntmeat. There are no aggressive trolls in this area.
 * Speak to Burntmeat and he will offer to tell you about goutweed in exchange for a human to cook in his stew.
 * Then go back and talk to Eadgar.

Getting the parrot
He will tell you that their favourite food is pineapple chunks, and that they will get drunk if you feed them vodka.
 * Eadgar will tell you he needs a parrot in order to fool the Trolls into thinking you have given them a human.
 * Go to the zoo in Ardougne and talk to Parroty Pete at the north part of the zoo near the wolf enclosure.
 * Be sure to ask Parroty Pete "When did you add it?". Or when you try to use the vodka with the pineapple chunks you will not be able to combine them and get the message "Why would you want to do that?"
 * Being careful not to drink it, use your vodka on your pineapple chunks to make alco-chunks and then use them on the aviary hatch on the west side of the parrot cage.
 * You will obtain a drunk parrot and tell Parroty Pete that you will take it to the vet.

Do not drop your parrot or it will fly away and you will have to get more pineapple chunks and vodka to get another!


 * While you are here you can top up your prayer in the church north of the zoo.

If you kept your grain and raw chickens in the bank, go and withdraw them before you go and talk to Eadgar.

You need to make it look like a human, taste like a human, smell like a human, and talk like a human.
 * Take the parrot to Eadgar, instead of taking it to the vet (which there are none of in RuneScape anyway).

Talk like a human

 * Go back to the Troll Stronghold and find the prison cells.
 * To get there go north from the entrance to the stronghold, down the stairs, east through the door and down another set of stairs.
 * Hide your parrot under the rack just north of the cells.
 * Leave it here until you have made the troll potion (later in the quest), and then Eadgar will tell you to retrieve it...

Note: If you accidentally drop your parrot after speaking with Eadgar, it will return to his cave, and you will need to talk with him to get it back.

Look like a human

 * Retrace your steps back to Eadgar's cave and give him ten lots of grain and a log. Noted grain does NOT work.

Taste like a human
If you do not have them yet, Tenzing (the person who sells climbing boots) has several chickens which players can kill in order to obtain the raw chickens.
 * Give Eadgar five raw chicken.

Smell like a human

 * Go to Taverley. You will see a druid named Tegid washing robes in the lake south-east of the Herblore shop.
 * Talk to him and ask for a dirty robe. Tell him Sanfew will not be happy if he doesn't let you borrow one.
 * Take it back to Eadgar.

Truth Serum
Note that it spawns in a different grass area every time it is picked. It may take you a while, but keep searching.
 * After you have done all of this Eadgar will tell you that you need to make a troll potion so that Burntmeat will not lie to you about goutweed.
 * Search all the grassy areas near Eadgar's cave until you find a tiny troll thistle growing in a patch of grass.
 * Once you have found it dry it on one of the fires outside the Troll Stronghold (or, if you brought an extra log use a tinderbox on it and dry the thistle on that) to turn it into dried thistle and then grind it in the pestle and mortar to make ground thistle.
 * Finally, add it to your unfinished ranarr potion to make a troll potion.

Apparently Eadgar douses the potion on the raw chicken meat used in the construction of the fake man, as it is not seen again.
 * Talk to Eadgar again. He will take the potion off of you and tell you that the parrot has heard enough by now, so you can get it back.
 * Go back to the prison cells in the Troll Stronghold and search the rack to retrieve the parrot and then give it to Eadgar.

Obtaining goutweed
He will give you a piece of burnt meat as a reward (which you can discard as it serves no purpose in the quest).
 * After you show the parrot to Eadgar, he will give you the fake man.
 * Go back to the cooks in the stronghold and give the dummy to Burntmeat.
 * He will also tell you that the goutweed is kept in the storeroom and that you can find the key by searching the kitchen drawers.
 * Search the drawers in the south east corner of the room, and once you have the storeroom key, go down the stairs on the north wall of the kitchen, and follow the hallway to the storeroom.

Here you must sneak past the guards to get to a crate with the goutweed. If one of them sees you, he will knock you out and you will wake up just outside of the storeroom. The rocks hit 0-60 life points. Protect from Missiles blocks the damage but does not prevent your getting kicked out.

Getting through the storeroom works just like the Sorceress's Garden activity; you must hide in safespots and wait for the guards to pass. The safespots are U-shaped areas with boxes on three sides.

You can follow right behind the trolls or right next to them and you will not get hit. Sometimes while running through guards, if you are one square or so away, they will not notice you, especially at the door. The only way for them to kick you out is if they face you. If you can avoid doing this you will be able to get the goutweed. It is also recommended to gather two while you are here if you plan on completing Dream Mentor afterwards.

(Keep In mind that you can go from the door to the Second Safe Spot without getting caught.)

To get to the first safe spot, which is one the east side of the room in the third row of boxes from the north, wait for the trolls patrolling the first row and the eastern second row to just pass you. At the first safespot, watch the two troll patrolling the easternmost column of boxes. Wait for the troll which travels north on the western side to make the turn to the east, then run to the safespot on the southern side of the third row.

Wait until the troll guard approaching you from the south has turned the west, then run to the crate with the goutweed. Make sure that you are standing to the side of the crate (or you will get caught).

It is possible to click the crate opposite the crate guard and then you can just stand there. If you do not wish to take damage after getting the goutweed you can flash protect from range when you get the message that you got the goutweed. This will block the damage.
 * Now search the crate and you will obtain some goutweed, after which you will get caught.


 * Give this to Sanfew to finish the quest. Congratulations, quest complete!

Reward



 * 1 quest point
 * 11,000 experience
 * Ability to grow and steal goutweed, which can be traded for herbs
 * Ability to use the Trollheim Teleport spell
 * Burnt meat

Music unlocked

 * Mad Eadgar - Unlocked upon entry of his cave.

Required for Completing
]]
 * Dream Mentor
 * [[My Arm's Big Adventure|My Arm's Big Adventure

Trivia
Eadgar's Ruse Eadgar&
 * You can also hide the parrot under the rack in the Kinshra hideout in Taverley dungeon.
 * When asking Mad Eadgar how to make the parrot "Taste like a human," he uses the common catchphrase "Everything tastes like chicken!". This reference can also be found in the text that follows from eating a stuffed snake in the Recipe from Disaster subquest.
 * Dropping the fake man will show it "standing".
 * The parts where you must gain the parts in order for the fake man to Smell, Taste, Look, and Sound like a real human may be a reference to King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow where you must gain certain objects in order for 5 gnomes to think that you're not a human.
 * Eadgar is in both the troll jail and his house, although during this quest the Eadgar that is in the jail will only say "Don't worry about me, I'll be out in a jiffy".
 * Truth serum is the same thing as the truth serum in Hand in the Sand just with different ingredients.
 * After completing the quest, if you talk to Juna, your character will say, "...Eadgar's ruse was absurd, but it worked! The trolls ate a fake human, and I got the herb for the druids' ritual."
 * You can enter Eadgar's cave without actually being in front of it.
 * During the part when you sneak around the Troll Storeroom for the Goutweed, the trolls say "!" when they spot you which may be a reference to the Metal Gear Solid series when a guard spots Snake.
 * Both Kitchen Drawers have a storeroom key in them, if you take it from one, drop it, then search the other one you still get a key.