Ancient Cavern
| Ancient Cavern | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Released | 3 July 2007 (Update) | |||
| Members | Yes | |||
| Floors | 2 | |||
| Location | Baxtorian Falls (Kandarin) | |||
| League region |  Kandarin✓ | |||
| Inhabitants | Various | |||
| Teleports | Games necklace (Barbarian Outpost) | |||
| Map | ||||
| <mapframe align="center" frameless="" plane="0" width="300" y="5375" x="1796" height="300" zoom="1" mapID="1">
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| Advanced data | ||||
| Type | dungeon | |||
The Ancient Cavern is an area reached from the whirlpool near Otto Godblessed's house. Players must dive into the whirlpool to enter the cavern, which contains many high-level monsters, including a high level metal dragon, the mithril dragon.
The cavern can only be accessed after the player has completed the first part of Barbarian Firemaking, requiring level 35 Firemaking. After that, the player must ask Otto about making pyre ships, and then will be granted access to the dungeon in order to fulfil the objectives required to make them. If a player dives into the whirlpool before completing these tasks, they will be swept away, losing a small amount of their hitpoints, eventually washing up on the shore near Hadley's house.
In order to leave the dungeon, the player must either teleport or use one of two aged logs near the body of water. The logs will bring the player to shore south-east of Baxtorian Falls.
A dwarf multicannon cannot be used in the cavern, trying to will instead state It's far too damp for you to set up a cannon here.
Introduction
The Ancient Cavern is one of the most dangerous dungeons in RuneScape. All who enter the area should be prepared to face dragons with long-range attacks, and high-level monsters that can attack using more than one combat style.
To access the dungeon the player must have learned about funeral pyre burning, in the Barbarian Training miniquest from Otto Godblessed. To enter the dungeon, the player must jump into the whirlpool off the platform on the northern shore of the Baxtorian Falls lake. Players cannot jump into the whirlpool with a pet following them. Upon entering the cavern, the player appears on a small platform with stairs to the lower level and can see a mithril dragon off in the distance in another part of the upper level.
On the lower level the biggest danger are the brutal green dragons, whilst on the upper floor, accessed via stairs south-east of the entrance, the only threat are the mithril dragons. On the lower level there are also wandering barbarian spirits and waterfiends.
There is a safe area south of the entrance of the lower level in the middle of the room; it is a large rock with a short passageway on the south-east corner. Keep in mind that not all tiles around the rock are safe, and it may still be possible to be hit by a brutal green dragon's dragonfire here.
Remember, the caves are very dangerous so it is recommended to pack good combat gear, an anti-dragonfire shield, anti fire-breath potions, super sets, teleport runes and high-healing food. A ring of life may or may not help because of the high hits the monsters may deliver.
If players need to escape the dungeon and have no teleport, the only way out is by canoeing on the aged logs floating in the water. This will lead them down an underground river out of the caves that takes them downstream. Home teleports are also a viable option.
A total of 12 mithril rocks can be found on the upper level. None are safe to mine, as mithril dragons roam throughout the upper level. One skeleton warlord is also present on this level, in the south-east area.
Location and travel
The whirlpool entrance to the Ancient Cavern is south of the Barbarian Outpost near Baxtorian Falls. Players can get there by walking west from Seers' Village, north from East Ardougne, or east from the Tree Gnome Stronghold. (From the stronghold, players with level 37 Agility can take the shortcut north-east of the Grand Tree; otherwise, the more round-about route through the stronghold's southern gate is necessary.)
Some teleports can be used to get near the whirlpool:
- A Games necklace can teleport to the Barbarian Outpost. This is the quickest way to get to the whirlpool, as it is just south of the Outpost. Grouping teleport to Barbarian Assault can also be used, requiring having gone through the tutorial for Barbarian Assault, and it can only be cast once every 20 minutes.
- Barbarian teleport from the Lunar Spellbook. Teleporting between the Barbarian Outpost and Lunar Isle provides quick banking during Slayer tasks.
- Players with level 37 Agility can use the Gnome gliders or Spirit trees to travel to the Tree Gnome Stronghold and then use the shortcut north of the Grand Tree to get to the Baxtorian Falls lake. Additionally, players who have completed Monkey Madness II may use the Royal Seed Pod to teleport to the Grand Tree.
- Players with level 99 Fishing can use the Fishing cape to teleport to Otto's Grotto and run to the whirlpool from there.
Rummage skeletons
There are three skeletons on the ground throughout the cave that can be rummaged for items. One is near the waterfiends and the other two are to the south next to many dragons.
Rummaging a skeleton will deal 0–25 damage and will respawn after 2 minutes, which also causes any skeleton spawn from them to despawn. Hopping worlds is the fastest way to rummage skeletons.
"You rummage in the sharp, slimy pile of bones in search of something useful..."
- "...you find something and stow it in your pack.", or with a full inventory: "...you find something, but it drops to the floor."). Items that may be found include:
- Bones
- A 11/202 chance for Mangled bones
- A chance for an ancient page for My notes
- A 50% chance for "...the bones object." spawning either:
- Skeleton heavy (level 132)
- Skeleton hero (level 149)
- "...but there's nothing remotely valuable." , meaning Nothing was found.
The dragon forge and mithril door
In the south-west corner of the cave lies a set of steps. This leads to a closed off section of the upper level leading to the dragon forge, which was used by dragonkin to forge dragon equipment out of Orikalkum. The forge contains a large basin, 3 dragon heads made out of metal, and many anvils. There are channels in the side of the basin and marks in the floor where lava would flow from the mouths of the dragons and into the basin, then flows out again and runs along the floor, out of the room.
During Dragon Slayer II, players reignite the forge by unlocking the mithril door on the upper level using an ancient key found in a dragonkin laboratory underneath Ungael. Inside the mithril door are three hanging dragon heads and a giant orb in the centre. The player must click on each head to light it using Fire Wave or Surge, which will cause them to have fire appear in their mouths.
Once the orb in the chamber is lit, the forge becomes filled with molten lava. During the quest, players reforge the dragon key here, but after the quest, players can smith dragon kiteshields and platebodies by using the appropriate parts.
Monsters
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Waterfiend, level 115 -
Confused barbarian, level 132 -
Lost barbarian, level 132 -
Skeleton brute, level 132 -
Skeleton heavy, level 132 -
Skeleton thug, level 132 -
Skeleton warlord, level 132 -
Skeleton hero, level 149 -
Angry barbarian spirit, level 166 -
Berserk barbarian spirit, level 166 -
Enraged barbarian spirit, level 166 -
Brutal green dragon, level 227 -
Mithril dragon, level 304
The cavern hosts several different high level monsters that all wander the lower level. However, with Prayer and adequate dragonfire protection, players can avoid most of their damage without much difficulty. Whereas the barbarians, skeletons, and spirits all use melee only, Waterfiends utilise both magic and magical ranged, and Brutal green dragons can use melee, magic, and long-distance dragonfire, making them more of a challenge.
Except for one Skeleton warlord, Mithril dragons are the only inhabitants of the upper level, and are by far the most dangerous monsters in the dungeon. With a combat level of 304, they attack with melee, ranged, magic, and long-distance dragonfire, and can hit up to 28 with their melee attacks, or worse without suitable dragonfire protection.
Although dragons are often the main interest of the dungeon, many of the other monsters boast high hitpoint and melee stats and players should remain wary. When not in combat, players are still susceptible to surprisingly dangerous attacks. Monsters such as the Waterfiend have caught many adventurers unaware or on the retreat.
Trivia
- Upon release, the set of steps at the south-west corner of the cavern's ground level that leads to the dragon forge could not be climbed on, as it was too slippery. If players went to the upper level, a small body of water could be seen, with the steps having an option to climb down.
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