I'll Bring Back The Goods...

Hunter is traditionally my least favourite skill. Actually, that's not entirely accurate. It's my most ignored skill. Despite the fact that I've been wantonly slaughtering everything from cows to KBD since I started playing, the idea of hunting just didn't sit right with my conscience. I spent most of my teens and twenties opposing fox-hunting in a variety of ways and so my mind just wouldn't make the leap from 'bad' to 'it's only pixels'. However, I seem to be coping alright now. LOL

Hunting red chins, like the smart hunters seem to, didn't work for me. I know that you're helping chins by sending them to Chin Land, but it was just annoying running around your four box traps having to concentrate. I was much happier with the black sallies, even though they were up in the Wilderness. I learned to use only three of the stick thingies, then listen to radio plays while I was adding nets and ropes. The Seventh Hour was a particularly rich source of entertainment, as their supernatural stories fitted very well with my in-game surroundings. Nevertheless, I'd still largely just limped to level 76, with the majority of my hunting xp coming from years worth of Tears of Guthix.

Two days ago, I was choosing something to bid on in Grand Exchange Central. I spotted that black sallies are currently being merchanted by a clan. Oooh! Time to grab my nets and rope and head north. I'd got to within 30k of level 77, when I lagged out and lost all of my nets. I wouldn't have minded too much, but they were my last. *sigh* I teleported to the GE and gaped in indignation at the price of small nets these. 140gp? That's extortionate! I went to Catherby instead (probably using more in runes to get there than the savings I was making on the net, thinking about it) and bought them for 40gp from the fishing shop. I'm so easily side-tracked by farming allotments though...

It was yesterday when I dragged my new nets and rope up to the Wild with the intention of just grabbing that last 30k. That decision led to a whole day hunting or preparing to hunt. I hadn't realised that level 77 is the fabled Grenwall level. I know that high level hunters speak very highly of the spikes. I read up on them and noted that I was going to have to hunt pawya first, but to do that, I was going to need papaya fruit. I've got a tree, but just the one and six didn't get me very far. I emerged from the pawya hunting grounds with just four raw meat.

I used to love hanging out in Edgeville Bank, but that clinking money sound in there really hurts my ears. Coupled with that is the almost perpetual whooshing and plonking of people outside using fruit bats. I figured that if fruit bat noise pollution had to be anywhere, I'd go to Edgeville, where it's expected. I went via the obelisk in the ogre city and ended up with 100 scrolls. When they were too quickly used up, I returned and got another 300. In the meantime, I was just outside Edgeville Bank for ages, sending Leslie up after fruit, then collecting everything that he dropped. Did you know that while you're using scrolls, your fruit bat isn't losing time? He was stuck on 33 mins for about an hour.

In the end, I had about 275 papaya to go back to Isafdar with. I suppose that I could have been more socialable, but one of the ghost stories had ended with a advertisement for a dramatisation of 'Guards, Guards' by Terry Pratchett. I found and listened to that, only to discover 'Small Gods' in there too. By the time I was on the first episode of Aldous Huxley's 'Brave New World', I had over well over 100 raw pawya meat and no papaya fruit left.

It was quite exciting to set off on a grenwall expedition. I had to study the map to see where they might be, then I carefully overpacked and had to do better next time. Tips for packing for grenwall: you only need one torch to smoke them out; you might as well only use two box traps; you don't need a cup of tea. En route there, I discovered a little grove where an impling spawns. It can't get out, so you are guaranteed to catch one each time you go. I found the grenwalls up by the bridge to Prifddinas and learned that you have to have a bit of strategy in successfully capturing them. You can't just set up box traps anywhere and hope for the best. Over my several journeys there, I learned good places to pounce on them and where I should set up, if they'd gone into a certain nook or cranny. It was fun!

Somehow level 78 hunter happened. I was really pleased with that, but what I hadn't been noting was the price of the spikes. I'd just been collecting them, shoving them in my bank and going back for more. It was only when I ran out of pawya meat and went to the GE, that I discovered how much money I'd just made. 2.6m!! There were about 1800 spikes there, but they're worth nearly 2k each!

To add to this, I'd just made 500k on my latest merchanting. I started with 1m and I've been doing the 'flipping' method, that Sparhawke taught us about in his blog. I'm now up to 5m! Added to my hunting money, I've got 8.6k towards my ranger boots. That's over halfway there! In fact, I've got stockpiles of law and death runes too, which I haven't sold because the prices of both have been falling a lot. Sparhawke has made me so aware of the historical and current prices of things! Actually laws and deaths have been falling forever. Should I be selling mine?

I'm so close to my ranger boots, that I can practically see them on my feet already!