In Pyre Need

• Player: Hello, there.
• Priest of Guthix: Please, adventurer, I beg you. You must help her!
• Player: Woah, hold your unicorns! Help who?
• Priest of Guthix: I...I'm sorry. My emotions have run away with me. Allow me to explain. This cave is a place of great significance. Do you know why?
• Player: I can't say I do.
• Priest of Guthix: It is the roost of the legendary firebird, the phoenix!
• Player: Really? But wait, how is this related to who I have to help?
• Priest of Guthix: It is related because it is the phoenix that is in need of your assistance.
• Player: You're starting to confuse me. Perhaps you should take a deep breath and start from the beginning.
• Priest of Guthix: Okay... *sigh* I have been studying the phoenix for some time now, out of curiosity and admiration. While not truly immortal, the phoenix has the capacity to live forever if certain... conditions... are met.
• Player: Conditions?
• Priest of Guthix: The phoenix has a natural lifespan of 500 years. There is a set ritual it must go through when its life is ending, in order for it to be reborn and live for another five centuries. The end of the phoenix's current lifespan is nigh and it has returned to its roost to complete this ritual. I came here to witness this once in a lifetime event.
• Player: So, the phoenix has returned to its roost and you came to watch it be reborn. I fail to see the problem.
• Priest of Guthix: The phoenix was gravely wounded on its way back to its roost. It barely managed to reach its lair. It now rests there, slowly slipping from this world and soon it will be gone forever, incapable of completing its rebirth ritual owing to its wounds.
• Player: A tragic tale, but what can I do about it?
• Priest of Guthix: I know the ritual that must be completed. To save the phoenix, you must go into the cave and perform it. Completing the ritual before the phoenix takes its last breath will ensure its revival, and continue the potentially eternal life of this magnificent beast.
• Player: If you know the ritual, why can't you venture forth and help the phoenix yourself?
• Priest of Guthix: Because I am an old man whose mind and fingers lack the necessary skill to complete the ritual... and whose body lacks the necessary heat-resistance.
• Player: ...
• Priest of Guthix: The task I ask of you will not take long, and you will be well rewarded for your efforts. Will you please complete the phoenix's ritual?
  • Player: Yes, I will help.
    • Priest of Guthix: You'll help? Oh, praise be to Guthix! I knew I could trust you from the moment I saw you. What is your name, adventurer?
    • Player: You can call me [Player].
    • Priest of Guthix: Well, [Player], it's nice to meet you. No doubt you have questions about the task at hand. What would you like to ask about?
      • Player: Could you tell me about the phoenix?
        • Priest of Guthix: The phoenix is an ancient creature.... Older than either of us can comprehend. IT is a large and powerful avian creature, surrounded by flames and covered in a fiery plumage. It also has strong magical abilities. Every five hundred years, as it reaches the limits of its lifespan, it returns to its roost to complete a ritual and be reborn. You see, while not truly immortal, the phoenix can be reborn any number of times, so long as it completes its rebirth ritual. But, thanks to its wounds, the phoenix could soon be gone from this world forever.
        • Player: Thanks for the information. Now, back to my other questions.
        • Priest of Guthix: What would you like to ask about?
        • [Back to earlier questions]
      • Player: Could you tell me about the phoenix's rebirth ritual?
        • Priest of Guthix: The ritual is not that complicated, really; it just requires certain ingredients and a set of dexterous hands. In order to be reborn, the phoenix must be burnt alive on a funeral pyre woven from the wood of five particular trees. You must weave a basket from the fletched twigs of cinnamon, sassafras, ailanthis, cedar and mastic trees. This basket must be placed on the base of the pyre in the phoenix's roost, and then it must be lit. Usually, you would also need to best the phoenix in combat to weaken it, so that it can succumb to the flames. This time, however, the phoenix is already weak and dying. The phoenix will enter the pyre and be burnt to ashes. From these ashes, it will be reborn – young and strong again.
        • Player: Oh, I see. I need to search the four corners of the world for five trees. Well, I suppose I'd best get packing-
        • Priest of Guthix: While I understand your concern, that won't be a problem at all.
        • Player: How so?
        • Priest of Guthix: As I have said, the phoenix is an ancient creature with some limited power over life and death. The trees you require are growing inside its very lair, and have been for millennia! The phoenix revives them from their own ashes each time they die.
        • Player: That's amazing. What a foresighted creature the phoenix is!
        • Priest of Guthix: Each tree is on a separate level of the lair. You must collect the twigs before moving on. It's pointless to continue on to a deeper level without having the twigs from all the levels before it. Only fresh twigs will suffice for the ritual. If you leave the lair at any time, you will have to go through and collect fresh twigs from every tree. There are some other items required for the ritual that you cannot get from inside the lair.
        • Player: Oh? What would those be then?
        • Priest of Guthix: Tools. Secateurs, to prune the trees and gather the twigs, a knife to fletch them and a tinderbox to light the pyre. Given the circumstances, I'd be happy to give you the necessary tools for free. I brought a set to complete the ritual myself, but I'm too old.
          • Player: Yes, please give me the tools I need.
            • The priest hands you some secateurs. The priest hands you a knife. The priest hands you a tinderbox.
            • Priest of Guthix: You should now have all the tools you need for the ritual.
            • Player: Thank you! Now, back to my other questions.
            • Priest of Guthix: What would you like to ask about?
            • [Back to earlier questions]
          • Player: No thank you, I will gather the tools myself.
      • Player: Could you tell me about the phoenix's lair?
        • Priest of Guthix: The phoenix's lair is a lava-filled cave, guarded by its thralls. You see, the phoenix has power over life and death that is not limited to itself. It has the ability to resurrect lesser creatures. These revived creatures now roam the phoenix's lair, guarding it from interlopers during the phoenix's long absences. They usually attack anyone who enters, weeding out the weaklings to ensure only the worthy reach the phoenix in its roost, deep inside the lair. I have had a peek inside, however, and the creatures seem unusually passive at the moment. Standing out here, I occasionally hear them cry out, as if in pain.
        • Player: Thanks for the information. Now, back to my other questions.
        • Priest of Guthix: What would you like to ask about?
        • [Back to earlier questions]
      • Player: No more questions.
  • Player: No, I have other things to do.

The Phoenix's Lair

Possible dialogue from the Reborn:

• The mistress is fading!
• You must help the mistress!
• Save the mistress!
• The mistress is in pain!
• Save the mistress!
• Please, help the mistress!
• You must save the mistress!

Bond of Friendship

• Player: H...hello?
• Phoenix: (Hello, human. So, it is you whom I owe a great deal of thanks.)
• Player: Oh, it was nothing, really.
• Phoenix: (Ah, such modesty. In that case, I shall withhold the reward I planned for you, and send you away with my thanks.)
• Player: Well, actually, it was an arduous trek through a confusing and inhospitably hot cave, coupled with a rather difficult Crafting task. And I burned my fingers lighting the pyre.
• Phoenix: (Heh hah hah! Well, say what you mean in the future, not what makes you sound best, lest you really miss out on what you're due! In all seriousness, I would not have you walk out of here with merely my thanks.)
• The phoenix plucks five large quills from its wings and gives them to you.
• Phoenix: (Those feathers are, as you plainly saw, a part of me. When combined with other ingredients and energies, they can be used to summon me to your location temporarily.)
• Player: I can use them to make a Summoning pouch, in other words.
• Phoenix: (Correct. So, you have learned the ways of the summoner already. How fortunate! Now, on to the second part of your reward. I grant you the right to challenge me.)
• Player: Huh?
• Phoenix: (Once a day, you may enter my lair, brave your way through it and challenge me in combat, starting from now. If you defeat me, I will give you five more quills, plucked from me, by me.)
• Player: Forgive me, but I fail to see the advantage this presents you. Why would you offer me this as a reward?
• Phoenix: (You, my friend, will be completing my rebirth ritual. Each time you defeat me, my life will extend further. My recent near-death has somewhat shaken me. I wish to stay in my lair for a while. I need to keep at least one friend close at all times to ensure my continued existence. You must be an accomplished Slayer before you can challenge me, though. Our arrangement is no good to either of us if you lose.)
• Player: I see, and in return for my friendship, I gain yours.
• Phoenix: (An agreeable situation, is it not? Anyway, my friend, I fear I must ask you to leave me for a while. I am still quite fatigued from my ordeal, and would like some peace and quiet to rest.)
• Player: I understand. The priest will want to know you're alright, anyway.
• Phoenix: (Priest? What priest?)
• Player: There is a priest who has been studying you unseen for quite some time. If it was not for him, I would not have known the ritual and would have been powerless to help you.
• Phoenix: (Oh, THAT priest. While I am aware he has been studying me, he has not done so unseen. Thank him for the shrine for me. Also, ask him when I can have my trinkets back. Heh heh heh!)
• Player: I'll do that for you. Rest well; I'm sure you'll be seeing me soon.
• Phoenix: (Farewell, [Player].)
• Player: Farewell!

A Dream Fulfilled

If the player attempts to re-enter the cave

• Brian Twitcher: There you are, my friend! Come here so I can reward you for all your hard work.
• Player: Ooh. I like the sound of a reward.

• Brian Twitcher: [Player]! I saw everything through a small vent in the roof of the phoenix's roost! You have succeeded!
• Player: Yes, I have!
• Brian Twitcher: The phoenix is saved and you, [Player], are a hero of nature! As an added bonus, I got to see it. My 50 years of waiting were not in vain after all!
• Player: Yes, I'm glad you watched all my hard work from a comfortable vantage point outside of the lair.
• Brian Twitcher: Come now, [Player]. It wasn't like that. I'm a frail old man! What possible good could I have done?
• Player: I suppose you're right.
• Brian Twitcher: Besides, the most important point is that the phoenix is saved!
• Player: Oh, that reminds me – she also said to thank you for the shrine, and asks when you plan to return her trinkets.
• Brian Twitcher: She... she knew about me? I should have known. Had I not been welcome in the lair, I would have ended up like the rest of them. I was a fool to think it was my skill that kept me alive. Anyway, [Player], I wouldn't expect you to help for mere thanks. Here is your reward!

v • d • e In Pyre Need
NPCs	Brian Twitcher
Enemies	Phoenix Lesser reborn mage Greater reborn mage Lesser reborn ranger Greater reborn ranger Lesser reborn warrior Greater reborn warrior
Items	Twigs  Cinnamon  Sassafras  Ailanthus  Cedar  Mastic Weaving ribbons  Cinnamon  Sassafras  Ailanthus  Cedar  Mastic
Rewards	Phoenix quill
Locations	Phoenix Lair
Music	The Phoenix Attack III
Miscellaneous	The Phoenix Cinnamon tree Sassafras tree Ailanthus tree Cedar tree Mastic tree • Quick guide • Transcript