Ratcatchers

Walkthrough


When talking to the NPCs, you may want to leave your cat out so the conversations turn a little bit more interesting. Of course you need to have the Amulet of Catspeak on.

Starting out
Items for this part: Cat and if kitten, some food for it

Talk with Gertrude. She will tell you to speak to Phingspet and Grimesquit. They can be found inside the Varrock sewers, close to the entrance. Your cat will have to kill eight rats there in the Varrock sewers before they will speak to you, but talk to them BEFORE you start killing rats, or it won't count! Once you have done this and talked to them, they will give you a rat pole and tell you to see Jimmy Dazzler, in Ardougne.

Catching the rats works faster if you do NOT wear your catspeak amulet when doing it. This avoids having to click through the conversation with your cat each time you ask him to catch a rat, he does it immediately.

Once you have talked to them again, if you wish to do the rat pole part of the Varrock Tasks, simply wield your rat pole and catch 6 more rats and put them on your pole before continuing. Remove them from the pole once the task is complete (right click option)

Jimmy Dazzler
Jimmy Dazzler can be found in a house to the west of the Flying Horse Inn in East Ardougne. He needs a house cleared of rats in an unofficial capacity so as not to tarnish his client's reputation; to this end you will need to sneak around the house unnoticed, avoiding the guards who will think you are an intruder. Jimmy will give you directions to follow to the house. When you choose to follow them (you don't have to go anywhere; they are in effect a teleport), you will find yourself in front of the house, in the gardens.

As of the 9 June 2009 update the Rat Catchers guards have had their field of view reduced to 100 degrees.

Getting Inside the House
To make your way inside the house you will need to make sure you don't draw the guard's attention; running permanently is advised and much patience will help greatly. Guards will not notice your cat.

There are three "safe points"; upon reaching these points, any guards who see you will send you back to these points, rather than the beginning.

From the start: NOTE: if your cat gets stuck in the wrong room, you can use the 'Call' button from the summoning menu to get it back into the same room with you.
 * 1) Wait until the guards are next to each other at the bridge, and run south of the hedges to the west. Then run north and hide at the hedges directly west of the mansion.
 * 2) Run to the North-west corner when the guard is behind the hedges.
 * 3) Then run to the hedges directly north of the mansion.
 * 4) From here, run to a nearby trellis and climb up.
 * 5) While on the balcony, move as close as possible to a potted plant on the right and wait for the guards to move away.
 * 6) Rats.png inside the west bedroom to find and have your cat kill the first rat.
 * 7) Find your way into the opposite bedroom across the hall and wait.
 * 8) Be patient, and when one guard disappears from sight walking on the balcony and the other has his back turned, enter the big room with rats two and three and have puss kill them.
 * 9) Down the ladder in the same room you are in, are two more rooms - the first with one rat, the second with two (rats four, five, and six) - all without guards. (sometimes there is just one rat in the last room, not two.)

Finishing
Once you've caught all of the rats, just climb down the trellis and you will be teleported back to East Ardougne. You could also just teleport out on your own and bypass having to get past the guards a second time. Return to Jimmy Dazzler. He will give you access to the Ardougne rat pits and tell you about the next person you have to find: Hooknose Jack.

Hooknose Jack
Items for this part: Cat and lots of food for it (even if you're using a fully grown cat), catspeak amulet, four pieces of cheese, rat poison or the ingredients for it (vial, red spider eggs, and kwuarm), bucket of milk, marrentill, unicorn horn dust.

You can find Jack in South-east Varrock, north of the south-east bar. He will tell you about the rat infestation in a warehouse nearby. You need rat poison and he will make you some if you give him a vial, red spider eggs, and a kwuarm. (The vial mus t be empty and the kwuarm has to be clean.) Use the rat poison on four pieces of cheese to create poisoned cheese, then go to the warehouse south of the pub right next to Jack. Go in and climb to the top. Use your poisoned cheese on the four rat holes to poison them. The default option is to EAT the cheese, but if you attempt to you receive a dialogue stating "Umm… let me think about this one. No! That would be stupid." It is necessary to right-click and "Use" the poisoned cheese. Once you have set the poisoned cheese, go back to Hooknosed Jack.

He will tell you that his cat, Pox, ate some of the poisoned rats. Go to the Apothecary. He will ask for a cleaned marrentill herb, a unicorn horn dust, and a bucket of milk to make a special cat antipoison. Make sure you listen to all the dialogue when he returns it to you, or you will need to make another dose. Then give it to Hooknosed Jack to cure Pox.

Hooknosed Jack will then tell you that there is still one rat left - the biggest and most evil. Go back to the warehouse. Inside a room, you'll see the King rat, but you won't be able to reach it yourself. Pick up your cat (You can use a kitten but it is much more likely to be killed by the King rat than a Cat) and use it on the 'Hole in wall' to challenge the King rat (Note: At this point, you can also use an overgrown cat). Use food (buckets of milk work) on the hole (using the food on the cat itself won't do anything) whenever your cat takes damage, as it will die if its Lp goes to 0. After you defeat the King Rat, go to Hooknosed Jack. He'll give you access to Varrock's rat pits and tell you about Smokin' Joe.

(NOTE: If you happen to lose your cat by going down the ladder whilst your cat or kitten is fighting the king rat, logging out and logging back in should return him to you.)

Smokin' Joe

 * Items needed for this part: Cat, catspeak amulet, a pot, some weeds, a tinderbox

Go to Keldagrim by using the mine carts under the Dwarven Mines or the entrance east of Rellekka or the trapdoor in the Grand Exchange (If you've never visited Keldagrim before, you MUST use the route from Rellekka) and talk to Smokin' Joe east of the pickaxe shop. He will tell you about a nearby rat problem. The only way to get the rats out is to smoke them out, but Smokin' Joe can't do it because he smoked too much tobacco.

Offer to help. Use your weeds on your pot to make a pot of weeds, then light it with your tinderbox and use the resulting Smouldering pot on the rat hole to the right of him. Rats will come out the other side and quickly go back in.

Try it again with your cat out (be sure you are wearing the catspeak amulet) and it will offer to help. Accept and do it again. Your cat will catch the rats. In the dialogue your cat says "Exterminate! Exterminate!", likely a reference to the Daleks from Doctor Who.

During a cut-scene, your cat will catch the rats. Afterwards, talk to Smokin' Joe again and he will give you access to Keldagrim's rat pits and tell you about The Face.

The Face and Felkrash
Items for this part: 1000+ coins (or 50 with a ring of charos (a)), snake charm if you have completed The Feud and still have your snake charm.,it is recommended that you bring water-skins so you do not die in the desert.

You can find The Face in Port Sarim, directly north from the fishing shop. She will tell you to talk to Felkrash in the rat pits. Go down the manhole and find Felkrash. She will tell you to get rid of all of Port Sarim's vermin at once. Talk to The Face again. She will tell you about Ali the Snake Charmer in Pollnivneach.

Go to Pollnivneach in the desert south of Al Kharid, past the Shantay Pass. To save time, you can take a magic carpet ride directly there for 200 coins (100 with a ring of charos). Other quick ways to get to there are to use a slayer ring to get to Sumona or use a Broomstick to get close to the Shantay Pass. You will find the Ali the Snake Charmer to the South of the bar. Use one coin on his money pot to get his attention. Ask him about charming other animals and he will go on to tell you that he and Felkrash had a falling-out because of Felkrash's killing of animals. He will offer to give you directions to kill the rats for exactly one more coin than you are carrying. Refuse to give him that much and speak to him a bit longer. You will then get several options, select the option to offer him money. He will reluctantly give you a music scroll and snake charm for 100 coins. You can (amusingly enough) charm him with the ring of charos to lower his price to 50gp.

Get your snake charm from the bank if you do not already have it with you. Back in Port Sarim, stand outside the manhole. Now read the music. (The music appears to be the same for everyone.) Note that there are 8 notes (or positionings on the flute) - two have two holes covered do not confuse these. Each note starting from the left corresponds to 1 page on the flute. You will only play one note per page. Jot down these notes or view the picture to the right. Now pick up the flute. Go to page 1 and select the matching note from the music. Then do page 2, etc. Note that sometimes the "<" symbol is used to indicate a higher octave option. Select that when appropriate. You can go back to any pages you want to ensure you have them all correctly chosen. When you are sure they are all correct (8 pages - 8 notes), click on the word "PLAY". Remember, for the 5th note you MUST! move up an octave, or it will not work. Note that the 2nd to last note, number 7, is all holes covered! Then you will be taken to a cutscene of you playing the flute and the rats jumping off the dock, just like in The Pied Piper. Talk to Felkrash to complete the quest.

Reward



 * 2 Quest points
 * 4500 Thieving experience
 * Rat pole
 * Able to train Overgrown Cats into Wily and Lazy cats
 * The ability to name a lazy or wily cat (up to 6 letters long)
 * Access to the Rat Pits

Music unlocked

 * The Noble Rodent
 * Rat Hunt
 * Bubble and Squeak (Keldagrim Rat Pits)
 * Sarim's Vermin (Port Sarim Rat Pits)
 * Rat a Tat Tat (Varrock Rat Pits)
 * Catch Me If You Can (Ardougne Rat Pits)

Required for Completing

 * Medium Falador Tasks
 * Medium Varrock Tasks (You just need to start the quest and acquire a Rat pole)

Trivia

 * If you have a summoning familiar following you while your cat fights the King rat, the familiar will go in the hole but not fight the king rat.
 * During the Smoking Joe section of the quest your cat screams "Exterminate! Exterminate!"; this is a reference to the Daleks, one of the most infamous enemies from the long-running British television series Doctor Who.
 * After killing the rats in the Smoking Joe section, your cat triumphantly exclaims "Hu-ha!" This is similar to a battle cry used by U.S. Marines ( Ooh-Rah!) and US Army Soldiers (Hooah!) and by extension any reference in other popular culture. Your character replies by stating "You know you really scare me sometimes".
 * The guards at the mansion say random things while standing around, like "Why me?", "I'm so bored.", "Can't wait for the weekend!", "I need a new job.", "These night shifts just go on and on.", "I'm hungry.", "I'd kill for a kebab.", or "*Whistles*" They also say "I miss Billy and Bob." they were killed in Garden of Tranquility by a player spoof NPC.
 * If you try to eat the poisoned cheese, your character will say "Ummm... let me think about this one.....No! That would be stupid."
 * The name Jimmy Dazzler is possibly a reference to Bobby Dazzler, a famous English darts player. "Bobby Dazzler" is also a complimentary phrase used in some North of England dialects, particularly Lancashire ones to describe a man or boy who takes pains to present a very smart, polished, attractive appearance, as in, "He's a right bobby dazzler". In the light of Jimmy Dazzler's in game appearance it is likely that this second reference is what was in the mind of the games designers when they named him.
 * During the conversation with Ali the Snake Charmer he mentions his break up with Felkrash saying “It used to be about making love not war”. This could be a reference to the acrimonious breakup of The Beatles and the subsequent John Lennon/Yoko Ono song, “Make Love Not War”
 * There is a glitch where your cat or kitten disappears during the quest, after the part where you smoke out the rats and your cat eats them. You cannot make your cat appear, even if you call it. If this happens to you, just log out.
 * There is a graphics glitch when you're playing the snake charm, as each rat jumps off the dock, it seems to distort and stretch itself. This has been fixed (27/06/2010).
 * The part where you smoke the rats off the dock is probably a reference to the story about The Piper when the king paid him to get rid of rats, he charmed them with his flute and made them drown themselves in a river.

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