Royal Trouble

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Royal Trouble is a Fremennik quest that takes you to Miscellania. Mysterious robberies threaten to plunge it into a war with neighbouring island Etceteria and, as regent, you are to investigate the occurrences to prevent this from happening.

Official description
Can you stop a war between Miscellania and Etceteria?

Walkthrough
[[File:Royal Trouble map.png|thumb|550px|center|

1. King Vargas and Advisor Ghrim (first floor)

2. Gardener Gunnhild

3. Queen Sigrid (first floor)

4. Moldof

5. Sailor

6. Miscellania and Etceteria Dungeon ]]

Monarch Matchmaking
Travel to Miscellania and make your way west to the castle. Climb your way up to the throne room, and speak to Advisor Ghrim. He informs you that your subjects are worried about the possibility of another war between Miscellania and Etceteria.

With nothing to do, and the inability to leave the castle, King Vargas has been trying to rule again and in the process, has started a quarrel with Queen Sigrid of Etceteria. Ghrim suggests you talk to the prince/princess to learn more.

Speak to either Prince Brand or Princess Astrid in their respective rooms, next to the throne room. You see a cutscene in the throne room, where the prince and princess discuss an imminent war, and the steps that could be taken to prevent it; the prince offers a solution - trying to persuade the King of Miscellania to marry the Queen of Etceteria.

A Vicious Circle
Now, speak with King Vargas about his war threats against Etceteria and he'll explain that he is just retaliating to Queen Sigrid's insults. He quickly changes the subject, telling you that various resources in his kingdom have been going missing, and asks you to investigate by talking to the citizens of Miscellania and Etceteria.

Exit the castle, and talk to any employed subject about the missing goods. They'll tell you that Etceterian soldiers came and demanded tithes from them. Your subjects refused, and they soon found some of their goods stolen.

Head east, cross the bridge over to Etceteria, and enter their castle. Climb the stairs to the first floor and speak to Queen Sigrid. She tells you her side of the story, also saying that items have been stolen from her subjects, and is immediately suspicious of King Vargas.

Go outside the castle and talk to any one of the citizens there. They'll tell you the same story as their Miscellania counterparts, but instead point the finger at Miscellanian soldiers.

The Mystery Machine
Inform both King Vargas and Queen Sigrid of the current situation, and they'll tell you that neither of their lands has an army. King Vargas also suggests speaking with Advisor Ghrim, to gather anything about recent suspicious activities. Next, speak to Advisor Ghrim, who deduces that since Miscellanians are very loyal, the thieves must have arrived onto the island from outside, and proposes talking to the sailor at the docks.

Visit the Miscellania docks and converse with the sailor on the boat. After saying that Advisor Ghrim is struck with paranoia, he mentions "those kids from Rellekka" who had come to visit their relatives in the dungeons. On further inquiry, the sailor tells you that since the war ended, more people have flocked over from the mainland and the dungeons had to be opened up for providing them shelter, and that's where the kids can be found.

Speak to King Vargas again and ask how you can get into the dungeons to investigate the new arrivals. Bemused on having forgotten about the dungeons, he writes on a scroll, granting you access into the underground caves. Before leaving, he also requests you to take a look into the odd sightings reported there.

The Miscellania Initiative
Items needed: Combat gear, food and five pieces of coal.

Locate the dungeons in the south-west corner of Miscellania's marketplace, and show the scroll to the guard there. After he approves, climb down the ladder to arrive in a small underground town.

Head to the bar on the eastern side of the underground town, and speak to the dwarf named Donal. He tells he is working on the excavations but fears an enormous, terrible monster inside the cave tunnels to carry on with his work. Tell him you will go fight the monster and he guides you how to get deeper into the tunnels. He gives you a mining prop for stabilizing the cave entrance, and says you will have to fix the lift to climb the ledge.

Walk to the north-west edge of the underground area, use the mining prop on the crevice, and then squeeze through it.

Inconvenience Is Regretted
Now, you need to repair the lift using items found in the boxes in the chamber:
 * 1) First, take three beams, three pulley beams, a rope from the crates and an engine.
 * 2) Add five chunks of coal to the engine, before you start assembling the whole structure. If you did not bring coal with you, the chamber has four coal rocks you can mine.
 * 3) Use a pulley beam on the broken scaffold on the east side of the room to attach it.
 * 4) Use a beam on a pulley beam to make a long pulley beam, and then use it with another beam to get a longer pulley beam, which you must attach to the scaffold.
 * 5) Use the final pulley beam on the scaffold.
 * 6) Use the rope on the scaffold to wind it through the pulleys.
 * 7) Use the third beam on the platform to repair it.
 * 8) Finally, place the engine on the engine platform.

The lift should be operational now, so grab another rope from the crate and 'use-lift' on the platform to head closer to the mysteries of the island.

The Charred Diary
After you step off the lift, grab the plank on the ground and enter the small tunnel to the east. Follow the cavern east until you see a water pool. Use your rope on the overhanging rock, and cross over the pool on the new ropeswing.

Head east a bit, and search the fire remains to find a burnt diary, and a page in the embers; read the charred diary if you wish, and be sure to keep it. Follow the bend further into the cavern till you reach another water body. Use the plank to walk over the four slippery rocks - you may take 320 life points of damage if you do not use a plank.

As you travel through the cavern, search all the fire remains to find and add pages to the burnt diary.

Do not walk on the steam vents, otherwise it will inflict 80 life points of damage. Stepping on a steam vent will likely hold you in place, increasing the chance the damage may kill you. Just as important, keep an eye out for piles of rock on the cavern walls: if you walk near them, the rocks will tumble down and cause 320 life points of damage. To avoid the rocks, it is preferred to walk further away from the walls, or by simply running past them.

Search the last fire remains for the fifth page of the diary, and read the finished notes. If you don't read the completed diary, you cannot proceed further; your chatbox dialogue will say "Maybe I should explore the cave more, before I go jumping through any more crevices."

Infamous Five
Follow the bend of the cavern until you come to a crevice in the north wall. Squeeze through it to start a cutscene.

You engage five lost, young Rellekkans - Armod, Beigarth, Hild, Reinn, and Signy - in conversation. The teenagers explain that they were unable to pass their own trials to become Fremenniks, so they hatched a plan to start a war on the islands and then stop it to be seen as heroes and peacemakers by their clan.

When the cutscene is over, continue talking to the kids. They tell you that they kept aside the stolen goods to return after their plan was complete, but a huge sea snake took residence with them, and request you to take care of it in exchange for leaving the island.

Leave the Fremennik teenagers, and continue into the cavern, passing lots of non-aggressive, venomous sea snake hatchlings and sea snake young, until you come to a shaft of light from the surface and a crevice in the north wall; squeeze past it.

Peacekeepers
You enter a chamber filled with hatched and unhatched snake eggs, and a giant sea snake (level 63) emerges out of the water.

The sea snake fights with melee up close and ranged from a distance, hence the appropriate prayers are recommended to use when using either melee or magic/range weapons. The snake will poison you if you are successfully attacked, and her poison starts at 98 life points, so take a sip from an antipoison potion either before entering her chamber or as soon as she poisons you. A Summoning familiar or a dwarf multicannon is also useful.

After she is killed, pick up the heavy box containing the stolen items, albeit only from Etceteria. Exit the cave and, through the hole above the chamber, a guard sees you and tosses a rope down for you to climb up. Do so, and you'll find yourself just outside the town walls of Etceteria.

Make your way to Queen Sigrid, and inform her of what you learned about the teenagers and the sea snake. She gives you an apology letter to take to King Vargas, thus preventing a possibly devastating war. Head back to King Vargas, telling him too about the situation in the dungeons, and give him the Queen's letter to complete the quest.

Rewards

 * 1 quest point
 * coins
 * Increased resources from Miscellania
 * Access to the dungeon connecting Miscellania and Etceteria
 * Increased resources from Miscellania
 * Access to the dungeon connecting Miscellania and Etceteria
 * Access to the dungeon connecting Miscellania and Etceteria

Music

 * Land Down Under
 * Corridors of Power
 * Meddling Kids
 * Slither and Thither

Required for completing
Completion of Royal Trouble is required for the following:
 * Glorious Memories
 * Fremennik Province Tasks:
 * Hard: "A Periodic Table"

Cultural references

 * The lift manual frequently mentions "AMCE Pulley-beams-in-a-box." AMCE is a reference to ACME, the mail-order company in , often used by Wile E. Coyote to purchase items to catch the Roadrunner. In-game, AMCE is an abbreviation for Ali Morrisane's Corporate Enterprises.
 * When you ask the guard in Miscellania if you can go down into the dungeon, he will say "You're the regent? Well, I didn't vote for you." The line is similar to one in the movie .
 * In the quest, the teenager Reinn says "It would have worked, if it hadn't been for that huge snake!" This is a reference to the cartoon series . The music in this area, "Meddling Kids," supports this allusion.
 * After completing the quest, if you talk to Juna, your character will say, "...So I showed that the war was based on a misunderstanding, and now Miscellania and Etceteria were at peace again!" to which she replies, "War? What is it good for?" to which you say, "Absolutely nothing!" quoting the Edwin Starr song .

Royal Trouble