Smoking Kills

Smoking Kills is a quest in the desert quest series involving yet another of Amascut's evil schemes against you. The rewards include a new slayer dungeon and earning twice the amount of slayer reward points for finishing tasks.

The missing twin sister
Speak to Sumona in the house marked by the Quest icon in north Pollnivneach, south-east of the Rug Merchant. She tells you that her sister, Jesmona, has been caught by a monster and trapped under the well in the centre of the town. She asks for your help; accept. Equip a Catspeak Amulet and attempt to enter the well. When you try to climb down the well, a cat called "Ali Cat" stops you in a cutscene.

Ali Cat warns you about the dangers of the well, which require wearing earmuffs and face mask at the same time. Ali Cat tells you to find a dead Slayer master called Catolax and have a talk with him to learn how to combine these items. The cat gives you hints that he is buried at the ruins of Ullek, east of the Agility Pyramid.

Over the desert and through the swamp
Note: Before this next step, make sure you have the following items: Amulet of Ghostspeak, Amulet of Catspeak, and cat (or kitten). Food is optional for all but lower levels. If you have not done Dealing with Scabaras, (40 Agility Required) bring a rope to set up a handy shortcut.

Either take the magic-carpet ride to Sophanem (or Nardah), or walk to the Agility Pyramid. Alternatively, if you have a Pharaoh's Sceptre, use it to teleport directly to the pyramid (Jaleustrophos). Go southmost from the Pyramid (reaching the sea), and you find an entrance of a swamp. Open the world map in advance and make sure you know where you're going. Be aware of the locust, scabarites, and crocodiles here. Turn on the Protect from Melee prayer, if necessary.

Make your way to the north-west part of the swamp, climb over the pillar and go up the stairs, and arrive at a plateau with the lead and assistant archaeologists and a water source.

If you haven't before, optionally go west, climb over a small rock wall, and use your rope on a piece of rock jutting out over the edge (watch out for the level 74 mummies). This will make getting here in the future much easier. (Climbing the rope requires level 40 agility.)

Walk through the pass north of the archaeologists. Be careful of the level 70 skeletons and the level 67 Dried Zombie. (you can refill your waterskins here if you wish). Enter the first dungeon you see to the west and search the sealed door.

Catolax in the tombs
You are in a tomb with a few doors and traps. Note: If you log out while in the tombs, you will be back on the plateau, just outside the entrance to the dungeon, when you log back in. If you leave or die while in the tomb, your progress will be saved. However, if you log out AFTER defeating the skeletons (and after destroying the walls) but before disabling the traps, when you climb back in the tomb, you will need to defeat them again.

Talk to your cat and it will tell you that Sumona is evil. With your cat out, search the one of "A Holey Wall" on either side of the room; one leads to the skeleton ranger side, the other the skeleton mages. (refer to map) After a short conversation with your cat, it tells you "some special advice from special sources. You enter the room.

Turn off auto-retaliate, and run to break down the broken door. A pickaxe is required to break the door, but ones on your toolbelt work. Protect range/mage is suggested to stop the damage from the low level skeletons. Once you have broken down the door, run behind it, but do not run any further- there are traps!

After you've destroyed the door, do not walk into the room yet. Traps on the walls can hit even for 800-900 life points, so disarming the traps first would be a great idea. On the wall on one side of the corridor before each set of traps is a rectangular switch. Searching the wall (not the odd markings) temporarily disables the traps. The message in the chat box is "With a subtle grinding sound, a hidden mechanism operates just ahead of you. You'd best make your move now."

Once you have passed two sets of traps, open the door at the end of the hall and enter the room. The room has two low level zombies and skeletons. They have varied combat levels, and none is a serious threat. They have 450 life points, so a few abilities should kill them regardless of style.

Once you've killed the zombies and skeletons, start searching tombs on walls, and after you search one of them, a level 77 Mummy Warrior climbs out of the central tomb. The zombies and skeletons respawn fairly quickly. If you find it difficult to keep all four dead at one time, try to either use their weaknesses against them or area abilities such as Ricochet when they are grouped together. The Mummy warrior does not awaken unless all four are dead simultaneously and unless you turn off all protection prayers. He's not much of a threat to those with higher combat levels.

Kill the Mummy warrior and pick up the key—it will either be a Magic path key or a Ranged path key, depending on which path was chosen. Now, use the key to open the door, and once inside, pull the lever. Walk back out to the centre again. You will not set off traps on this side any more after you have pulled the lever, and the skeletons will not rise and attack you.

If you did the ranged side, now it's time to do the mage side! Or vice-versa. Don't forget to disarm the traps in the second room! Once you've pulled the levers on both sides, the traps in the centre pathway are disabled too. Go back to the centre and walk over the disabled traps. With the traps, clicking "Pass" or "Search" should tell you that they're disabled. Walking over them is all you need to do.

After you pass the traps, you reach the dead slayer master Catolax. Equip your Ghostspeak Amulet, and talk to him. You have a "momentary insight, from a source that is completely unknown" and then know how to combine a Facemask with a pair of Earmuffs.

The banshees in the well
Go to the bank (the nearest being Nardah), get your supplies, and make your way back to the well in Pollnivneach. If you have not made it already, take your Earmuffs and use them with your Facemask to get a new item, the masked earmuffs. Put on your masked earmuffs, and go down the well.

Warning: Make sure to put on your masked earmuffs before you enter the well, or else you will *cough* and receive 200 damage quite often.

Head north, and kill a level 91 Mighty banshee to get a Banshee voice. If you don't get it the first time, keep trying as it is not a rare drop. The Mighty Banshees appear to use a magic-based melee attack and they are weak to bolts. They are easily safespotted if you attack one, then run back south along the corridor, as they will not go the full length along it. Use protection prayers if needed.

Use the Banshee voice on the glowing red, wavering mystic barrier directly to the north.

The Banshee Mistress
'''NOTICE! Do not click on anything else while the cutscene is in motion or you will go back outside the barrier and will need to acquire another banshee voice!''' However, after you kill the Banshee mistress, there will be another cutscene. If you click on anything else, you will go outside the barrier, BUT will not have to fight again; you can easily go back inside the barrier to continue the last cutscene.

You see a cutscene showing Jesmona, the damsel in distress, level 81 Insectoid Assassins and a level 94 Banshee Mistress. The Banshee Mistress will attack you as soon as the cutscene ends, so be sure to heal if needed and turn on protection prayers. She has 15000 life points.

The Banshee Mistress will frequently sound an acoustic attack, which deals 20% of maximum life point damage and knock you down. A lot of good food, preferably monkfish or above, is needed. You can also bring a combat familiar here. She is weak to bolts, so a crossbow is highly recommended, followed by any other ranged weapon.

The mistress mainly uses melee, but she also casts Water Blast at a distance, so using the Protect from Melee prayer for the first half of the fight is suggested. She calls the assassins to help her with rapid ranged attacks when she has less than half health.

Switch on the Protect from Range prayer slightly before the Banshee Mistress reaches half health, or you may be hit by up to 200 damage repeatedly from each of the four powerful Insectoid Assassins she calls to her aid. At some point, the Banshee Mistress will say 'Minions, aid me!'. This is your sign to turn on the Protect from Range prayer.

If you die when fighting the mistress, you will be able to go back to your gravestone and retrieve your items. Your gravestone will spawn outside of the well, so getting to your lost items isn't such a big problem, however, you will have to kill another Mighty Banshee to obtain the Banshee Voice again. If the mistress dies at the same time, you don't need to fight her again.

Although the room has few safe spots, if you have a high mage level, don't be put off maging as it is quite possible.

After you kill the mistress, you see a short cutsene of Jesmona being visibly angry before teleporting away, and Catolax then speaks to you. You do not need your amulet of ghostspeak to understand him on this occasion.

Return and report your victory to Sumona in Pollnivneach.

Congratulations, Quest Complete!

Rewards

 * 1 quest point
 * New Slayer Master in Pollnivneach
 * Ability to earn the full amount of slayer points that can be exchanged for slayer rewards
 * Ability to construct slayer items
 * Access to the Desert Slayer Dungeon and Tomb of Catolax

Miniquest: Desert Slayer Dungeon
After the quest, it is possible to navigate the Desert Slayer Dungeon, an extension to the Smoke dungeon, that is located below the area of the Mighty banshees.

Music unlocked

 * Cool for Ali Cats - when approaching the well in Pollnivneach
 * Under the Sand - after entering the sealed door in the desert tombs
 * Desert Smoke - when descending into Pollnivneach well
 * Slain to Waste - facing the Banshee Mistress
 * Simian Scuffle - facing the Banshee Mistress

Required for completing
Completion of Smoking Kills is required for the following:
 * Do No Evil
 * Desert Slayer Dungeon (miniquest)
 * Desert Tasks:
 * Hard: "More Fletcher than Sumona" and "Drafty in Here"
 * Elite: "Staff on Stryke"

Trivia

 * On the day of release, the spoilers said, "We're having to cut a deal with Sumona in order to access the rewards scroll. Please check back tomorrow."
 * The title of the quest seems to come from the warning that "smoking cigarettes kills." However, the developer later posted on the forums that this was merely a pun and had no intentional meaning. This was also confirmed by Mod Emilee. The true meaning of the title could be the smokey well.
 * When you spoke with or contacted your slayer master with your Enchanted gem during a task you were assigned prior to this update, the master would tell you "We seem to have lost your records in our recent reshuffle", and you are unable to determine your progress in your task.
 * This was the second quest that had a required minimum Combat level (level 90) to complete (after Dream Mentor was released on 15 May 2007).
 * Once you defeat the Banshee Mistress and view the cutscene, the slayer master whom you found in the tombs does not require a ghostspeak amulet to talk to (when he talks to you just after the defeat of the mistress). You still need a Ghostspeak amulet if you wish to communicate with him afterward.
 * If you run into the sarcophagus while it is opening, you get stuck in the middle and are not able to move.
 * The song title of "Cool for Ali Cats" may be a takeoff of the song "Cool for Cats" by Squeeze.
 * There is a glitch where, when the player uses the Banshee voice on the barrier, you see a loading screen, then, with a glimpse of the Banshee mistress, the player is teleported back without fighting, and has to obtain another banshee voice. If this occurs, simply go up the well and climb back in.
 * Upon the completion of this quest, one's Adventurer's Log will read: "Forget about smoking doing the killing, what about giant banshees? I've managed to make my way out of the smokey Slayer dungeon and gained a new Slayer master."
 * Sumona and her "Twin Sister" are in fact the same person, Amascut the "Goddess of Destruction", one of the Desert Gods. This is revealed by Catolax in the Pollnivneach Slayer Dungeon, after the quest in the final cutscene.
 * After the quest, when asked about her sister and her strange actions Sumona would reply "Am I my sister's keeper?" which is a reference to a memorable quote in the bible found in Genesis 4:9, where Cain answers God "Am I my brother's keeper?" Cain was avoiding the question, because he had murdered his brother.

Smoking Kills Smoking Kills Smoking Kills