Eadgar's Ruse

Eadgar's Ruse is a quest in the druids' circle quest series. It revolves around a certain item that needs to be obtained for the druids to continue their efforts to reclaim their stone circle.

Walkthrough
If you completed the Druidic Ritual or Death Plateau quests before they were reworked on 31 January 2012, you must complete the updated versions of the quest before starting this quest unless you go up Trollheim the way near the Fremennik Slayer Dungeon, in which case, doing the new Death Plateau is unneeded, but doing the new Druidic Ritual is still required.

Get the Goutweed
Start the quest by speaking to Sanfew, who lives in the building just southwest of the summoning instructor, in Taverley. Select "Have you any more work for me, to help reclaim the circle?" and then select the top option. He will tell you he needs assistance with getting a herb called goutweed.

Only the Trolls in the Troll Stronghold know where to find goutweed, so Sanfew will suggest you speak to his friend Eadgar who lives near there at the top of Trollheim.

Enter Trollheim
(This whole part can be skipped by going directly to the Troll Cook.)

You need to make your way to Trollheim using the same route as in the Troll Stronghold quest. Or, you can enter the cave by using the Fairy Ring code and walking into the camp stronghold from the secret entrance that you exited from in the Troll Stronghold Quest. From there, you can climb out of the cave, and head to the top of Trollheim.

Equip your Climbing boots, go north from Taverley to Burthorpe and follow the path through the dwarf's cave. Climb over the rocks and head towards the Troll arena. Follow this path and run past the thrower trolls (Using Protect from Missiles if possible, as they can cause lots of damage very quickly). If you have 47+ Agility you can avoid the thrower trolls completely by using the Agility shortcuts on the mountain (It is recommended that you have Auto Retaliate turned OFF while using the shortcuts, so the thrower trolls don't pull you away).

Eadgar's Cave is on top of the mountain with the thrower trolls, the world map marks this as Trollheim. (The destination is masked by a Mini Obelisk icon on the World map.) When in the cave ask Eadgar about Goutweed. He will recommend you go see a Troll Cook.

''If Eadgar isn't in his cave, you will need to rescue him like you did at the end of the Troll Stronghold quest. There is a cave called "Secret Entrance" northwest of where the dwarf's cave exits that takes you straight to the jail cells.''

The Troll Cook
Leave Eadgar's cave, go back down the hill and head north west, following the path round into the Troll Stronghold.

If possible, use Protect from Melee (these trolls use clubs) if the Trolls attack you.

Once in the stronghold (the cave by where it says troll stronghold on your world map) go south, then down the stairs. You will see four Troll cooks here - one of them will be called Burntmeat. There are no aggressive trolls in this area.

Speak to Burntmeat and he will offer to tell you about goutweed in exchange for a human to cook in his stew. Agree with him, then go back and talk to Eadgar.

Tricking the Trolls
Upon returning to Eadgar, he will tell you that he needs a parrot in order to fool the Trolls into thinking you have given them a human.

Go to the zoo in Ardougne and talk to Parroty Pete at the north part of the zoo near the wolf enclosure. He will tell you that their favourite food is pineapple chunks, and that they will get drunk if you feed them vodka. Be sure to ask him both of the possible questions or else you will not be able to mix the ingredients.

Being careful not to drink it, use your vodka on your pineapple chunks to make alco-chunks and then use them on the aviary hatch on the west side of the parrot cage. You will obtain a drunk parrot and will tell Parroty Pete that you will take it to the vet.
 * Note: If you drop the parrot it will fly away and you will need to go back and talk to Eadgar to get it back.

Take the parrot to Eadgar, instead of taking it to the vet. He will tell you that you need to make it look like a human, taste like a human, smell like a human, and talk like a human.

First, To make it talk like a human, you'll need to hide it on the bottom floor of the troll stronghold (use the stairs in the north), under a rack north of the cells in the prison. Here it'll pick up the 'right kind' of sayings. Leave the parrot under the rack and head back to Eadgar.

Now take care of the other tasks. Note that these tasks can be done in any order:
 * To make it look like a human, give Eadgar ten lots of unnoted Wheat and one pile of Logs.
 * To make it taste like a human, give Eadgar five unnoted Raw Chicken (obtainable from Freda's house).
 * To make it smell like a human, go to Taverley and talk to a druid named Tegid. He is south of the pet shop washing his clothes. You need to obtain a dirty robe from him (use the option that mentions Sanfew not being happy), and give this to Eadgar.
 * Note: If you accidentally drop your parrot after speaking with Eadgar, it will return to his cage, and you will need to talk with him to get it back.
 * Note: It is not possible to obtain the dirty robe first, as you must have talked to Eadgar about it.

Truth Serum
After you have done all of this, Eadgar will tell you that you need to be able to make a troll potion so that Burntmeat will not lie to you about goutweed.

Search all the grassy areas near Eadgar's cave until you find a tiny troll thistle growing in a patch of grass. Switching to high detail may help players spot the patch with the troll thistle. Note that it spawns in a different grass area every time it is picked. If you search and cannot find it, try logging into a different world.

Once you have found it, dry it on a fire to turn it into dried thistle (there are fires outside the Troll Stronghold, but you can also set your own fire). Then grind it in the pestle and mortar to make ground thistle. Finally, add it to your unfinished ranarr potion to make a troll potion.

Talk to Eadgar again. He will take the potion off of you and tell you that the parrot has heard enough by now, so you can get it back.

Go back to the prison cells in the Troll Stronghold and search the rack to retrieve the parrot and then give it to Eadgar. He will make the parrot into a fake man and give it to you.

Obtaining goutweed
Go back to the cooks in the stronghold and give the dummy to Burntmeat. He will give you a piece of burnt meat as a reward (which you can discard as it serves no purpose in the quest). He will also tell you that the goutweed is kept in the storeroom and that you can find the key by searching the kitchen drawers.

Search the drawers in the south east corner of the room, and once you have the storeroom key, go down the stairs on the north wall of the kitchen, and follow the hallway to the storeroom.

Here you must sneak past the guards to get to a crate with the goutweed. If one of them sees you, he will knock you out and you will wake up just outside of the storeroom.

Getting through the storeroom works just like the Sorceress's Garden activity; you must hide in safespots and wait for the guards to pass. The safespots are U-shaped areas with boxes on three sides. A tip to getting past the trolls is to go to the far east corner, and if timed correctly, use the surge ability (Requires level 30 magic) whilst facing south, skipping a large portion of the troll guards.

You can follow right behind the trolls or right next to them and you will not get hit. Sometimes while running through guards, if you are one square or so away, they will not notice you, especially at the door. The only way for them to kick you out is if they face you. If you can avoid doing this you will be able to get the goutweed. It is also recommended to gather two while you are here if you plan on completing Dream Mentor afterwards.

To get to the first safe spot, which is one the east side of the room in the third row of boxes from the north, wait for the trolls patrolling the first row and the eastern second row to just pass you. At the first safespot, watch the two trolls patrolling the easternmost column of boxes. Wait for the troll which travels north on the western side to make the turn to the east, then run to the safespot on the southern side of the third row.

Wait until the troll guard approaching you from the south has turned the west, then run to the crate with the goutweed. Make sure that you are standing to the side of the crate (or you will get caught).

Now search the crate and you will obtain some goutweed, after which you will get caught. It is possible to click the crate opposite the crate guard and then you can just stand there. If you do not wish to take damage after getting the goutweed you can flash protect from range when you get the message that you got the goutweed. This will block the damage.

NOTE: Alternatively, if you're finding it hard to figure out how to dodge the guards, you can click directly on "search goutweed" inside the storeroom, and each time the guards throw you out you will walk back in by yourself, without clicking search again. You will keep doing this until you finally get the goutweed. You will have to keep a lookout for health points and run energy but if you're a high enough level you won't need to.

Another way to quick reach the goutweed is to run along the northern wall after the guard turns the northeast corner. Once at the northwest corner, use the Surge ability to go south past the guard walking along the western wall.

Give the goutweed to Sanfew to finish the quest.

Congratulations, quest complete!

Reward

 * 1 quest point
 * 11,000 experience
 * Ability to grow and steal goutweed, which can be traded for herbs
 * Ability to use the Trollheim Teleport spell
 * Burnt meat

Music unlocked

 * Mad Eadgar - Unlocked upon entry of his cave.

Required for completing
Completion of Eadgar's Ruse is required for the following:
 * Dream Mentor
 * My Arm's Big Adventure

Trivia

 * You can also hide the parrot under the rack in the Kinshra hideout in Taverley Dungeon.
 * When asking Mad Eadgar how to make the parrot "Taste like a human," he uses the common catchphrase "Everything tastes like chicken!". This reference can also be found in the text that follows from eating a stuffed snake in the Recipe for Disaster subquest.
 * After the update, when the start hint is turned on the arrow will be placed under the watermill (an inaccessible spot) which is assumed to be the original starting place of the quest. This has yet to be fixed.
 * Dropping the fake man will show it "standing".
 * The quest section where you must gain the parts in order for the fake man to Smell, Taste, Look, and Sound like a real human may be a reference to King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow where you must gain certain objects in order for 5 gnomes to think that you're not a human.
 * Eadgar is in both the troll jail and his house, although during this quest the Eadgar that is in the jail will only say "Don't worry about me, I'll be out in a jiffy".
 * Truth serum ingredients differ between this quest and Hand in the Sand because this serum is designed for trolls.
 * After completing the quest, if you talk to Juna, your character will say, "...Eadgar's ruse was absurd, but it worked! The trolls ate a fake human, and I got the herb for the druids' ritual."
 * If you use Surge after being caught and "rocked" in the storeroom, it will look like you are sliding on your belly.
 * During the part when you sneak around the Troll Storeroom for the Goutweed, the trolls say "!" when they spot you which may be a reference to the Metal Gear Solid series when a guard spots Snake.
 * If you had completed the Druidic Ritual quest before the update, you will get a warning when trying to give the goutweed to Sanfew, instead of before starting the quest. This bug is yet to be fixed.

Eadgar's Ruse Eadgar's Ruse