The Hand in the Sand

Sandy Hand
Start the quest by talking to Bert. He can be found north of the inn in Yanille, in a house with an oven and water symbol. You will receive a nasty hand. He's afraid it will cause him some kind of trouble, and wants you to investigate it. He'll tell you to go talk to the captain of the guards.

Take the hand to the captain of the guards in the Ye Olde Dragon Inn (south of Bert). He will ramble on and then he'll take a look at it if you have your regular beer. He will simply drop the hand in his beer, turning it into a beer soaked hand. Go to the magic guild (east of the inn) and ring the bell to make Zavistic Rarve come out. Talk to him and explain the situation. He will tell you that this is the hand of one of his wizards. He'll ask you to see if Bert's working schedule has changed recently.

Sandy the Slave driver
Return to Bert's home, and talk to him again. He'll tell you that he works for Sandy Sand Co., which is based in Brimhaven. He'll give you a copy of his schedule and tell you that it hasn't changed recently, or so he thinks. Now you need to head to Sandy in Brimhaven by chartering a boat in Port Khazard (which costs 1,600 coins). Sandy is located in the office just north of the bar.

In Brimhaven, you'll see Sandy in his office. You can talk to him first if you want, but you don't need to. Search his desk in the house to get Sandy's rota. Read it and compare it to the other schedule to see that Bert has indeed been working longer hours. While you're there, equip any gloves, and pickpocket Sandy. It may take multiple attempts before you find some sand in his pocket. Keep it for it will become important later on in the quest.

Truth Serum
Now you need to visit Bert once more. Talk to Bert in Yanille to find a scroll that appeared in his house recently. It appears normal, but do not throw it out.

Take the scroll to Zavistic Rarve (back in the magic guild) to learn that it's a mind altering scroll, and it was a trick to change Bert's hours without having to pay him more money. Now that you know that Sandy is behind it, you need to first get Betty in Port Sarim to make you a truth serum, then videotape Sandy using the magical orb that you're given while he's on the serum.

Take a vial, redberries, whiteberries and a (bullseye) lantern lens with you to Betty's Magic Emporium in Port Sarim. Alternatively, take these things plus an extra empty vial to Zavistic Rarve and he will teleport you directly to Betty's shop.

Betty will take the vial and give you a sample bottle of water. You need to add redberries to make redberry juice, then white berries to make pink dye. Once you've made some, use it on your lantern lens to make a rose-tinted lens. Talk to Betty again. Then stand in the doorway and shine your lens at the counter to fill up a vial with truth serum (to do that just use it on the counter while standing in the correct place). You now need a personal item from Sandy to fill up the vial. Talk to Betty again to use the sand you previously found in Sandy's pocket. Give it to Betty to finish the serum.

Back in Brimhaven talk to Sandy. Get him distracted, use the Serum on his coffee while he's looking out the window. Then activate your orb and talk to him. He'll confess that he bribed a wizard to put a mind altering spell on Bert. He then changed Bert's schedule so that he'd work longer for the same pay. Afterwards, Sandy killed the wizard so that he wouldn't have to pay him, then he buried parts of him in all of the sandboxes around RuneScape.

And Sandy said, "Drat - foiled again!"
Back in Yanille, talk to Zavistic Rarve. Give him five earth runes and a bucket of sand. He will then cast a spell on all of the sandboxes around RuneScape so that they'll fill themselves, and give the workers a large compensation.



Then go to Entrana (please note that you cannot bring any weapons or armour, including the Explorer's ring, familiars, and special ability scrolls). Talk to Mazion by the sandpit to get the dead wizard's head. Give this to Zavistic Rarve. He'll tell you that it belongs to Clarence.

Reward



 * 1 quest point
 * 1,000 Experience
 * 9,000 Experience
 * Able to buy pink dye from Betty
 * A secret reward from Bert - He simply loves sand, and wasn't in the job for the money. He will ship 84 buckets of sand to your bank if you talk to him after the quest. This can be done once per 24 hours. Clicking on the quest's name will give you the time left before you can ask him again.

Music
Music tracks unlocked:
 * None

Trivia

 * During the quest, the player's character is constantly making bad puns about hands, such as "Do you have any information about the matter at hand?"
 * Bert says "Idle hands'r Zamorak's tools". This is most likely a reference to the saying "Idle hands are the devil's tools" said to children meaning that children are more likely to get into trouble when they feel bored and have nothing to do.
 * When Zavistic Rarve says 'Alas, poor Clarence, I knew him', it is a reference to the Shakespeare play Hamlet ('Alas, poor Yorick, I knew him').
 * When you ring the bell to call Zavistic Rarve there are 2 of him - one inside and one talking to you.
 * When you activate the Magical orb right when you get it, the text will say "Nothing interesting happens!" instead of "Nothing interesting happens."
 * When you talk to Mazion he says he 'likes to be ahead of things' right before you are given the head.
 * If and when you give Zavistic Rarve a vial to teleport you to Port Sarim, the teleport is in the old style where one would shrink in a purple light, not fly upwards in a pillar of light.

Other

 * The rest of the dead wizard's body will be found during and after the Back to my Roots quest.