The Fremennik Isles

The Fremennik Isles is a quest about the two Fremennik islands Jatizso and Neitiznot, who are under the threat of invading ice trolls but also have a feud with each other.

Area Overview
The Fremennik Isles are a collection of islands interconnected by bridges. The map to the right shows the islands and their interconnections. There are two major villages on the islands: Neitiznot and Jatizso. The teleport locations show the landing docks that can be reached from the most northern dock in Rellekka using the appropriate ferry operator.

The numbers on the map represent the following locations relevant during the quest:
 * 1) The court of King Gjuki Sorvott IV
 * 2) The court of King Mawnis Burowgar
 * 3) A bridge that needs repairs
 * 4) Another bridge that needs repairs
 * 5) Entrance to the troll cave

At any time during the quest it is possible to travel around all islands, although the northern isles host significant numbers of hard hitting Trolls. Crossing the bridges before it's repaired may result in falling down into the water.

Dogs, Cats and Rats
To begin, speak to Mord Gunnars at the northern-most dock in Rellekka. Mord carries a message from the king of Jatizso, Gjuki Sorvott IV, who seeks you for an important task. On further inquiry, the ferryman shares with you the history of Jatizso and Neitiznot, and the evergoing feuds between the neighbouring towns.

After hearing the full story, speak to Mord again to be taken to Jatizso. From the docks, head to the checker-floored building and speak to King Gjuki. As he tries to explain to you his predicament, he is constantly interrupted by his cat, HRH Hrafn; the king eventually gives in and asks you to get the cat a raw tuna so that they can get on.

Procure a raw tuna for Hrafn, and proceed to talk to the king. He tells you that Neitiznot has been docking a vast number of trade ships, and he's suspicious that they are up to something. Just then, the king's chancellor, Thorkel informs the king that dwarf traders from Keldagrim have arrived early for their ore shipment, and that the city's miners are not capable enough to get the resources on time.

Substitute Charlatan
As the king begins to dole out injustice to the miners, you offer to help mine out the ores. If required, the ores can be mined in the cave under the village, accessible by exiting the west gate and going north-east, or else pre-collected ores work too; after you have the assigned ores, hand them over to the king to be rewarded with some coins.

With no more interruptions, King Gjuki reiterates that the burgher of Neitiznot is hatching an evil plan to down Jatizso and wants you to retrieve more information on this matter since his spymaster, currently in Neitiznot, has been in an accident recently. He tells you that the Burgher and his henchmen speak with no holds barred when they are drunk, and being entertained; like his spymaster, you must also dress up in a costume to be allowed audience with the burgher.

Take the silly jester costume from the chest behind the king's throne. Before leaving, the king tells you the password for reporting to his spymaster: "Free stuff please".

Spy Malarkey
Head back to Rellekka and take a ferry to Neitiznot by speaking to Maria Gunnars, who stands just next to her husband, Mord. From the docks, go up the muddy path into town and speak to Slug Hemligssen behind the bank.

After giving you an operative name, he'll send you off to the burgher's hall for entertaining him and concurrently listening in on the conversations of his council; you must do this while wearing only the jester costume as any and all audience are frisked before appearing before the burgher.

With the costume equipped, head to the longhall south of the bank. Speak to Mawnis Burowgar and tell him that you are an idle juggler looking for work. You must now engage and occupy the king's attention, doing everything he asks you to do by the jester control panel shown below, while keeping an eye on the guards' exchange:



After you finish your performance, head back to Slug and tell him that about your acquired information. He'll ask you a few questions, the answers to which are emphasised in the above lines. Content, he'll hand you a reward for your work and assign you to gain the trust of the burgher and extract more details.

Learning the Ropes
Go to the longhall and talk to Mawnis again, without the jester costume this time around. The burgher, like King Gjuki, is also on the hunt for the outlander honoured with the Fremennik title, but isn't ready to trust you quite yet. He asks you to prove your loyalty by helping the townsfolk in their tasks; the bridges to the north require extensive repairs and they require 8 lengths of rope.

If you do not have any rope, kill the yaks outside the town for some yak hair and spin it on the village's spinning wheel, in the south-east part of the island. Show the ropes to the burgher, and he'll send you on the next errand - retrieving 8 split logs, which is obtained by slicing arctic pine logs on woodcutting stumps that are situated on the island north of the city.

Collect the logs and show it to Mawnis and Thakkrad, the burgher's engineer. Thakkrad instructs you to repair the bridges connecting Neitiznot to the northern icy isles by right-clicking on the bridge and selecting repair.

''While repairing the bridges, you may get attacked by the ice trolls; protect from range will help you considerably reduce damage taken from their attacks. Take caution that the hits will not register until you get off the bridge, so you can unknowingly be killed while repairing it.''

With the rope and split logs, go to the northern green isle and repair the two bridges on the left. It is recommended to repair a bridge, go back across it and repair the other bridge from that side, thus completely avoiding the trolls' attacks.

Cautious Paranoia
Go back and speak to Mawnis Burowgar again; he'll pay you another reward for your efforts. Now that you have entered the burgher's good books, he'll explain to you his important plan.

The troll caves in the northern part of the isle houses an enormous horde of ice trolls, led by the Ice Troll King. While their town were busy fighting with Jatizso, the trolls grew in number, and as a result have initiated attacks upon the town and its citizens. Mawnis has gathered a militia army for assaulting the caves, but being a cautious man, he wants all the help he can get. With your contributions in consideration, he requests you to lead his armies into battle. As a precaution, he also needs to know how much King Gjuki is aware of their schedule, since they may misinterpret this assault on the trolls.

Leave the island and return to King Gjuki on Jatizso, informing him of the repaired bridges in Neitiznot. Before you can speak further, Gjuki orders his chancellor to produce a financial report; the chancellor tells him that the city has an almost-empty coffer. Enraged, the king demands a Window Tax to be placed on the citizens, so that they can supply their army with food and weapons; he then appoints you as the royal tax collector.

Before you can protest, the chancellor hushes you and pleads you to go along with the king's paranoid schemes. He gives you an empty tax bag, telling you to retrieve 1000 coins for each window, from the shopkeepers in the city.

Taxing
Visit every shop and collect the tax from their owners - the armourer's hut (8,000 coins), weapon-smith hut (6,000 coins), eating hall (5,000 coins) and the food shop (5,000 coins) - for a total of 24,000 coins.
 * When collecting the tax from Vanligga Gastfrihet, you can either pay the tax for her or refund the money after the quest. Both these actions would grant them access to her Contraband Yak Produce store, which sells various yak goods.

Take the tithe back to King Sorvott, only to realise that there still isn't enough money to pay for the equipment. The king imposes another tax on his subjects, this time for anyone having facial hair. Being the tax collector, you must visit Raum Urda-Stein (armour trader), Hring Hring (ore trader), Skuli Myrka (weapon trader), Flosi Dalksson (fish merchant) and Keepa Kettilon (chef), and collect 1,000 coins from each of them.

With the bag now containing 29,000 coins, return to the king. The chancellor finally notes that there is enough in the treasury for the payment. Not quite done with you, King Gjuki orders you to perform another reconnaissance operation in Neitiznot, as he has been notified that the burgher acquired some outside help for the bridge repairs.

Jestering, Part 2
Return to Neitiznot, and speak with Slug once again. He tells you to spy on the burgher and his aides one more time, while wearing the jester costume and entertaining them.

Equip the jester suit, and speak to Mawnis in the longhall to begin a cutscene. A rough capture of the guards exchange:

Head back to Slug and provide him with another report; he'll ask you some questions on it. The answers to the first two questions are emphasised above, and when he asks you the final question, you must reply with "I have been helping Neitiznot".

The Fremennik Rites
Sail back to Jatizso and inform Gjuki that Mawnis is gathering an army to attack the troll king. To your disbelief, he is still adamant that the burgher is out to get him; you quickly admonish him for his petty obsessions against his cousin. Learning nothing, he orders his armies to attack the troll cave and gain glory before the Neitiznot party, even after sound suggestions for joining them against a common enemy. He'll finally give you a royal decree that you need to deliver to Mawnis Burowgar, warning him that any interference would be assumed as an act of war.

Show the decree to Mawnis Burowgar, who remarks that they would never attack Jatizso and void the truce that was signed by their fathers. Moving on, he asks you to be guided through the traditions of Neitiznot before leading the raiding party to the caves.

If you have already made or bought the quest items, the following process can be skipped by talking to Mawnis a couple more times.


 * The first rite entails creating some yak hide armour - you must obtain three yak hides and have them cured by Thakkrad Sigmundson for a fee of 5 coins each. With some thread in your inventory, craft the cured yak hides into yak-hide chaps (1 hide) and yak-hide body (2 hides).
 * Speak to Mawnis again to learn how to make a Fremennik round shield; you require two arctic pine logs, one bronze nail, and a rope. A bronze nail can be bought in the crafting store beside the bank chests, whereas a rope can be made with yak hair, as previously described. To craft the shield, you must locate a woodcutting stump north of town and select "Cut-wood", and then "Make Fremennik Round Shield".

Return to Mawnis with the traditional armour of Neitiznot, and he'll appoint you the 'Champion of Neitiznot', welcoming you into their clan.

On the Front Lines
Before leaving, Mawnis tells you to bring the troll king's head as a trophy. His aide, Fridleif, informs you that the army is positioned in the eastern ice caves, and that you should avoid the Jatizso troops.

Wearing the yak-hide armour in the caves is highly recommended, as even though it is lower-tier, troll attacks are very efficiently blocked by it. The other armour slots can be filled with appropriate items, while your inventory should have prayer potions, lots of food, and optionally combat-boosting potions; also consider taking an emergency teleport (Ectophial, crystal teleport seed, ring of life, any magic tablet, etc). Note that summoning familiars cannot be brought into the troll caves.

When you are ready, proceed north, using Protect from Melee if you brought the Fremennik round shield, otherwise Protect from Missiles to save from considerable damage from the trolls. After entering the eastern caves, a cut scene ensues; Mawnis' honour guards have already initiated combat with the ice trolls, helping their Champion cross the bridge to assault the Ice Troll King.

The ice trolls use both melee and ranged attacks - the troll males, grunts, and runts attack with melee, while the females throw large rocks at you. You must kill 10 of them in the caves before you can face the troll king. If at any time you wish to know your kill progress, simply look in your quest journal.

Bork Sigmundson is located near the cave entrance and will provide you with up to 9 tunas, two 4-dose strength potions, and/or four 3-dose prayer potions upon request. Make sure you have enough inventory space, as you can only ask him once for each resource.


 * You can always leave when your supplies are low and come back. Credit for your kills is not lost.
 * One of the easiest strategies, especially if you are low levelled, is to attack your fellow honour guards' troll, when it is near death. It will still count as your kill if you finish it off, however, every nearby troll, including the one you are attacking, will target you.
 * An alternative strategy is to use Protect from Missiles and kill the female trolls, instead. Stay away from the troll males, grunts, and runts. If possible, position yourself so that the female you're attacking is between you and the melee trolls, since they continue to range even when in close-range.
 * If you don't mind making multiple trips, it can be very effective to go in with yak-hide armour, the Fremennik round shield and a one-handed weapon of your choice, and attack trolls until you die. Make sure to use the Protect Item prayer just before you die.

When you have killed 10 trolls, a message appears in the chatbox stating that you can now cross the bridge to the troll king.

Champion of Neitiznot
Before crossing the bridge, make sure that you have enough health and a protection prayer (Magic or Missiles) switched on, since the troll king gets the benefit of the first strike.
 * The Ice Troll King has a combat level of 91 and makes use of a powerful arsenal of attacks from all sides of the combat triangle. Protect from Magic is preferable if wearing the yak-hide armour and Fremennik round shield, since they only address his melee and ranged attacks.
 * The king has a special attack that knocks you into the wall and deals up to 356 damage. Using protection prayers against magic and missiles reduces this attack, hence it is suggested to avoid switching on the melee protection prayer throughout the fight.
 * Since he is a troll, he has naturally high defence against magic and ranged attacks, therefore it is recommended to use melee instead against him. A ring of recoil works against his melee and magic attacks. Also, the troll king is immune to the dwarven multicannon and hand cannon.
 * Another strategy is to use the hit-and-run technique - run in, strike him, and then run out of melee range before the king can strike back.

After killing the Ice Troll King, retrieve the decapitated head from the corpse. To exit the caves, you can either walk back or use a teleport, avoiding risking death while running past the other trolls.

Back in the Neitiznot longhall, speak to Mawnis Burowgar and hand him the souvenir, to which he offers you his ancestral helmet as a token of gratitude. He announces that he will now work towards bringing peace between the neighbouring towns, to which you bid him farewell.

Rewards

 * 1 quest point
 * 2 x in Strength, Attack, Defence, or Constitution,
 * coins in assorted rewards during the quest.
 * A replaceable Fremennik royal helmet known as the Helm of Neitiznot, which is an upgrade to the berserker and the warrior helm with a +3 prayer bonus and a better defensive bonus.
 * Access to a new tree, the arctic pine.
 * Access to a runite ore rock north-east of Neitiznot, along with 7 coal rocks.
 * Access to a new mine near Jatizso with ores up to adamantite.
 * The ability to make yak hide armour which protects against the granite clubs wielded by the trolls and the shield which protects against the stones thrown by the trolls.
 * The Contraband Yak Produce store is available on Jatizso if the player refunds the coin tax to Vanligga Gastfrihet, north of the king.
 * Access to a new mine near Jatizso with ores up to adamantite.
 * The ability to make yak hide armour which protects against the granite clubs wielded by the trolls and the shield which protects against the stones thrown by the trolls.
 * The Contraband Yak Produce store is available on Jatizso if the player refunds the coin tax to Vanligga Gastfrihet, north of the king.

Music unlocked

 * Island of the Trolls
 * Major Miner (In the mines on Jatizso)
 * Norse Code
 * Ogre the Top (Leave and re-enter the cave where you fight the trolls to unlock this track.)
 * Volcanic Vikings
 * Jester Minute

Required for completing
Completion of The Fremennik Isles is required for the following:
 * Glorious Memories
 * Fremennik Province Tasks:
 * Medium: "Cool Story, Bro" and "Yak Attack"

Cultural references

 * The conversation about debating operative names with Hemligssen is a reference to the Tarantino movie, . A similar conversation is held between Mr. Pink and Joe Cabot.
 * The password one can give to Slug, "", is a famous sentence devised by linguist Noam Chomsky to demonstrate how a phrase can be grammatically correct yet completely illogical.
 * If you give the wrong password to Slug, the first response he gives is "", which is the title of a book by.
 * The watchtowers between the two islands have a surprise cut scene, in which they are yelling insults to each other, some of which are quotes from '. The Jatizso guard also shouts "Our king's better than your burgher," which may be a reference to the fast-food chain '.
 * The phrase "Let me entertain you." spoken by the character before entertaining Mawnis Burowgar is the title of a song, from their album '. The cover image of another Queen album, ' features a jester.
 * The tax on windows which you must collect for King Sorvott is based on a real tax which was passed through the English Parliament - the  of 1696.
 * The tax on facial hair is based on a real tax issued to Russian men during the reign of Peter the Great. A similar tax was claimed in England, in the 16th century.
 * At the start of your job as a jester, you utter "Let me entertain you" - a reference to Robbie William's hit.

Trivia

 * The password that the king gives you to talk to the spymaster, "Free stuff please", might refer to the phrase many new RuneScape players use to beg for free items.
 * If you try to tax Magnus Gram, at the bank, an amusing exchange follows where he threatens to charge you for bank services. Also, if you attempt to tax the wandering beggar he will chuck a cabbage at you as it is all he has.
 * After finishing the quest, if you go to Ned in Draynor Village, he will confess to you that he doesn't actually make the rope. He actually purchases it from a woman in Neitiznot and he will give you an extra rope for free to keep quiet.
 * While speaking to Mawnis and he requests rope from you, if you already have it in your inventory, he will suspect that you are a seer or a witch. This is a dig by Jagex to people who use guides to complete quests.
 * Upon completion of the quest, the Adventurer's Log states: Warring isles Neitiznot and Jatizso aren’t quite at peace, but the trolls that attacked them will be a threat no more, thanks to me.
 * Although the quest states that 56 Woodcutting is required, only 54 Woodcutting is necessary to make the round shield and split logs.

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