Journey East

This article, Journey East, was created by Superscientist.

“

A mysterious stranger wishes to return to his homeland. Can you help him escape and learn about a whole new way of life?

”

Start point	Speak to the Guildmaster of the Champions' Guild
Member requirement
Official difficulty	Experienced
Description	None
Length	Medium
Requirements	40 Quest Points Dragon Slayer 33 Quest Points 40 Crafting 30/34 Smithing might help
Items required	Items from the toolbelt are not listed unless they do not work or are not automatically added. 180 Steel nails 6 Planks Ring of kinship would be helpful
Enemies to defeat	3 bandit thieves (level 28) simultaneously (attack with melee, magic and ranged) Bandit Leader (level 59)

Walkthrough

The location of Ak-Haranu (red) and the bandit thieves (green) during the quest

To begin the quest, talk to the Guildmaster of the Champions' Guild. You will need to have 40 quest points (equivalent to every free-to-play quest at the time of release), have completed Dragon Slayer and have 40 Crafting for him to give the quest:

• Guildmaster: Welcome to the Guild of Champions, [player name], how can I help?
• Player: I'm looking for a quest.
• Guildmaster: Well then, you're in luck! We've received reports of a crashed merchant ship in the Wilderness.
• Player: Yes, and...
• Guildmaster: Well, rumour has it that he's from the Eastern Lands.
• Player: No way!
• Guildmaster: Yes way! I think there might be some great reward from helping out someone like that...
• Player: Absolutely, off I go!

Travel to the north coast of Daemonheim, where you will find a crashed merchant ship. A ring of kinship would make the journey easier or you could travel by boat from Al Kharid or simply run through the Wilderness. When you get there, talk to the eastern-looking man standing by his crashed ship (not exactly hard to miss). Members who have completed Ghosts Ahoy will recognize the NPC as Ak-Haranu from Port Phasmatys. Whether you have completed the quest or not, you still need to do the same things - all that changes is the dialogue. If the quest hasn't been completed, then this will happen:

• Oriental Stranger: Hello, who is there? Um, I don't think I know you... Are you a ghost?
• Player: No, I'm human. I think. My name is [player name]. I'm here to help you.
• Oriental Stranger: That is most kind [player name]. My name is Ak-Haranu. I was travelling to my homeland when my ship hit a storm and was blown off course. I landed in this terrible place. Please help me.

If the quest has been completed, then this will happen:

• Oriental Stranger: Hello, who is there? Oh hurray, [player name] has come to save me!
• Player: Hi Ak-Haranu. Why are you in the Wilderness?
• Ak-Haranu: I was heading home when my ship hit a storm and was blow off course. I landed in this terrible place. Please help me.

The next section is the same for everyone:

• Player: Right, what can I do?
• Ak-Haranu: Well, you see, is not so easy. I have lost navigational equipment and my ship needs repairs.
• Player: Let's deal with your equipment first. Where did you last see it?
• Ak-Haranu: Ah, it was stolen by thieving thieves!
• Player: Thieving...
• Ak-Haranu: Thieves!
• Player: Right, where did they go then?
• Ak-Haranu: West-south [player name]. Please hurry!

Navigation Problems

Ak-Haranu will tell you that some thieves stole his navigational equipment and then headed south-west. Having discovered this, go after the thieves - they will have set up a make-shift camp in southern Daemonheim (the green circle on the map above). There you will find 3 bandit thieves, all level 28: a warrior, an archer and a mage. To make the fight harder, the area is multi-combat so you'll have to fight them all at once. This may prove a challenge for a lower-levelled player. All the bandits look like normal bandits but have different equipment. The warrior has a steel kiteshield and a steel scimitar. The archer has a willow longbow and steel arrows while the mage has an earth battlestaff and uses Earth Strike and Weaken. The navigation equipment you need will be dropped a piece at a time by each thief - the warrior will drop Ak-Haranu's Chart, the ranger Ak-Haranu's Compass and the mage Ak-Haranu's Sextant. Take all the equipment back to Ak-Haranu to continue with the quest.

Fixing the Ship

The next task is to fix the ship itself. Talk to Ak-Haranu to continue the quest:

• Player: Here's your compass, map and sextant.
• Ak-Haranu: Thank you very very much [player name]. Now I just need to repair my ship and I can go home!
• Player: So then, what do you need?
• Ak-Haranu: I can fix the ship myself, real easily. All I need is some planks and nails.
• Player: How many?
• Ak-Haranu: I need planks and lots of nails made of steel.
• Player: How many nails?
• Ak-Haranu: I no have time for details. You sort it out. Be quick - I'm used to ghosts but the ones here, are, well, different.

You will need 180 steel nails (6x30) and 6 planks. Make or buy them and then return to Ak-Haranu. However, when you arrive he will be under attack from a level 59 Bandit Leader, trying to reclaim his stolen goods. The leader will attack with a adamant warhammer, wearing full adamant armour, but Ak-Haranu will help you kill it with his mysterious sword. When the leader is dead, talk to Ak-Haranu again:

• Ak-Haranu: That was too close [player name]. Thank you for assistance.
• Player: No problem. Although I think you would have been alright with that sword of yours...
• Ak-Haranu: What, this? Don't worry, you'll get to use one soon enough. Now, let's get out of here before more arrive.
• Player: Good idea.

After a short cutscene of him fixing the ship, it's time to set sail!

Are we there yet?

You and Ak-Haranu set off towards the fabled eastern lands. The journey there will be a cutscene where the player whines about the length of the trip. After a few minutes of sailing, and lots of whining on the player's part, you enter the shallows around the eastern realms themselves. Don't relax because it's not over yet! A huge blue dragon will rise out of the waters and breath fire at the ship - destroying the sails and dealing 80 damage to you and Ak-Haranu. Talk to Ak-Haranu to find out how to overcome this delay:

• Ak-Haranu: Dragon! DRAGON! Gods save us!
• Player: Don't worry I've fought a dragon before and been victorious.
• Ak-Haranu: No, this is not like your western dragons. Beside, they are an endangered species.
• Player: Yes, an endangered species that's going to kill us!
• Ak-Haranu: Alright, I know a way to calm it down. Go down below and get a flute.
• Player: What good is a flute going to be against a dragon?
• Ak-Haranu: Just do it!

Oddly enough, the way to defeat this monster is with the flute! Go down into the hold and grab the flute from on top of some crates and then talk to Ak-Haranu again:

• Player: I've got the flute. How does this defeat a dragon?
• Ak-Haranu: It doesn't, it only calms it down. Take this and play what's written on it.
• Player: What!?
• Ak-Haranu: We don't have time to argue - this will work. Trust me [player name], please.
• Player: Alright then, here we go...

You will be given a scroll of music. You need to play the notes it shows - just like at the end of Ratcatchers. Once you play the whole tune, another cutscene will play where the dragon stops attacking and starts to just sway to the music. With the dragon distracted, Ak-Haranu will quickly talk to you again:

• Player: That actually worked...
• Ak-Haranu: Hurry! Fix the sails with that cloth over there before the dragon wakes up.

Quickly grab some sail cloth, climb up the riggings and attach it to the mast (this requires 40 Crafting). If you don't do this quickly enough, the dragon will awake, burn the sails and you will have to start all over again. When you succeed, Ak-Haranu will quickly sail past to the eastern lands. When you arrive, you will find yourself in an oriental city dockyard. Another cutscene will play showing an overview of the whole city and the surrounding bamboo forests. Ak-Haranu will come and talk to you:

• Ak-Haranu: I wish to thank you for bringing me home. That was a dangerous journey to make.
• Player: I was just glad to help. Besides, this place is amazing...
• Ak-Haranu: What? Tokaji? There are plenty more places in the Eastern Lands to explore [player name].
• Player: Wow!
• Ak-Haranu: Please, take this scroll as a sign of my thanks. One of my countrymen will sail to make trade with northmen on rocks. You can get back from there or from my ship in the ghost city. Thank you for everything [player name].
• Player: No, thank you Ak-Haranu.

You now have access to the Eastern Realms! Feel free to explore them yourself or complete the next quest in the series for a better introduction to the eastern ways.

Rewards

• 1 Quest Point
• Access to the Eastern Realms
• Scroll of Gratitude - 5,000 experience in either Attack, Strength, Defence, Magic, Ranged or Constitution
• Access to merchant ship in Daemonheim and Ak-Haranu's ship in Port Phasmatys for free transport to the east

Trivia

• On the day of release, if you clicked to see the rewards of the quest it said: "The details of your rewards were stolen by some bandits. We may have found them by tomorrow"
• Once completed, the Adventurer's Log will read: "Having saved an eastern merchant from the Wilderness, I gained access to the Eastern Realms!"
• The quest was originally intended to be master difficulty, members-only and have a starting point in Port Phasmatys! This was changed to allow both free and lower levelled players to access the East.
• Before the return of the old Wilderness, Ak-Haranu crashed to the north of Clan Wars, the thieves could be found near Stealing Creation and the bandit leader was a revenant goblin.
• The Sea Dragon encountered on the journey is loosely based on the ancient Japanese legends of the mizuchi [1].
• This quest is the only f2p quest requiring the player to fight opponents who will attack from all three corners at once of the combat triangle - the bandit thieves.
• The mysterious sword Ak-Haranu uses is actually a rune katana - one of many new weapons in the eastern lands.