It had been a tough month at Ardougne Zoo. Word had come from Matthias, the falconer, that a Hunter skill was coming, and the keepers knew they had to do something to keep the zoo interesting. A new exhibit, it had been decided, was needed to draw the crowds away from the chinchompa-baiting to the south and Nickolaus - Ardougne's self proclaimed top Hunter - had taken the task upon himself. There was one animal in particular that he believed would keep the zoo bustling and popular. Nickolaus was going to hunt a ferret!

Unfortunately, not everything has gone according to plan. After setting out for the far western reaches, somewhere between the Piscatoris Fishing Colony and the Tree Gnome Stronghold, nothing more has been heard from the zoo's eccentric associate. Can you help to find Nickolaus? Has his disappearance got anything to do with the fabled Eagles' Peak? And what does all this have to do with rabbits?

Visit Charlie, one of the keepers at Ardougne Zoo, to begin a quest that will no doubt involve a spot of dressing-up, elaborate trials and several additions to your Hunter skill!

In other news...

The Sandwich Lady went through a traumatic experience last week when she decided that the Drunken Dwarf had been stationary too long and needed a visit. Five hours of “kebab, please!” later, the frustrated and shaken Sandwich Lady has decided to make her interface a little more accessible by adding a menu that will help customers identify her wares. Hopefully, this will stop beer-swilling dwarves from making the same mistake again. Hopefully!

When you kill someone who's using the Retribution prayer, you're supposed to take a little damage as a penalty for killing them. However, it's previously been quite easy to avoid this damage by running away. It won't be quite so easy now.

The graphical improvement for sheep and spiders has had to be postponed by a few days. But don't despair - those critters will get their promised makeover next week.

Like a seasoned Hunter, skulking behind trees and keeping unseen, the Hunter skill has waited for the right moment and pounced. That's right – after many months of patient tracking - the Hunter skill is upon us!

Those stealthy and bold enough to become a master of the Hunter skill should begin at Yanille or Nardah. Marked by animal-skin icons on the minimap, two Hunter shops have taken up premises, selling the wares necessary to begin. A quick browse and shop for bird snares, teasing sticks and magical imp boxes, amongst others, will put you in fine stead for the adventures ahead! Who knows, you may even encounter Leon, an amateur inventor who has found a bow-dacious use for animal bones...

Ready to hunt and laden with animal traps, you will now be looking for somewhere to start your training. The Hunter skill comes with three brand new and vast areas, all denoted by the animal paw icon on the minimap. A quick scurry past the ogres of Gu'Tanoth and over the Feldip Hills will lead to the Feldip Jungle, teeming with explosive chinchompas, spined larupia and various other beasties. A trek past Rellekka, toward Trollweiss Mountain, will reveal the fearsome sabretooth kyatt and cohorts, while the grounds north of the Gnome Stronghold, now connected to the Piscatoris Fishing Colony, will open up - amongst others - Matthias's magnificent falconry area!

Phew! This lengthy list does not even include the Hunter area near Uzer, nor the graahk stomping grounds round Cairn Isle, or the salamander and lizard trapping areas scattered throughout the world.

The Hunter skill brings with it not only new areas, but new experiences. Watch your falcon swoop after dashing kebbits. Jump over pits as you lure unwitting sabretooth kyatts into them. Scour the plains for butterflies with a net and jar in tow. Master the patient, yet rewarding, technique of animal tracking. These diverse abilities will be available to you as your Hunter skill develops.

As any esteemed Hunter will tell you, the thrill of the chase is also about the reward, and a career of hunting will provide you with so many. Arm yourself with the chinchompa, an explosive rodent that can be thrown long distances! Aid your battle-weary friends with stat-boosting butterflies! Load your swamp lizard and toast enemies with its flame-throwing abilities! Collect or sell the furs of your catches, possibly even making them into weight-reducing capes, gloves for Thieving or full camouflage gear! Oh, and don't forget the imp-in-a-box, who will reluctantly help you when called upon...

So go hunt, stalk your prey stealthily and feel the call of the wild...

We have renamed our game-world locations today to better reflect the area they cover.

The way the Internet works, the physical distance to a game-world is not always the best indication of how a good a connection you will get to it. This is because some Internet routes are higher capacity than others and sometimes the route your data takes isn't what you expect and it goes via somewhere more distant first! What all this means is even if there is a game-world in the same city as you, in some cases a city a little further away can actually give less lag!

Therefore naming our game-worlds with exact city names is misleading as it makes exact location seem more important than it really is. We have therefore relabelled our game-world locations to give better visibility on which are best for you to choose from.

The numbers after each location are to distinguish between different facilities in the same area of the world. If one particular facility is causing lag for you it's easy to see which ones you could try instead.

We have also moved some of our game-worlds to Finland to improve our European coverage. There are still the same number of free and members only worlds as before.

[...] 

The Bank of RuneScape has used all the revenue they gained from some very clever investments, and have added twenty-four more slots to all members' accounts!

Diango's Halloween problems have also sorted themselves out, so you'll no longer be able to go into the workshop to defeat ghosts. If you've already got your rewards from there, though, Diango will be happy to give them back if you lose them.

We've also made the following changes and bug fixes:

• Rune pouches don't give you a message when you drop them. Instead, they just empty and fall on the floor.
• Switching from any other weapon to a staff properly remembers your combat style.
• Yew and magic trees in farming patches regrow properly when you chop them.
• You can now take enchanted secateurs to Entrana when you go on a balloon trip there.
• In Trouble Brewing, you can't drop torches on the floor. This is to stop players dropping them for members of the opposing team, and spoiling their own team's fun.
• Noted items are back to having a black outline around the picture of the item.

Auguste the monk is one of the more interesting brothers on Entrana, but the locals don't always like the idea of his "air-brained" schemes. This time he's been working on a plan to lift his spirits to new heights...

In this new quest, you'll be invited to use your skills to help Brother Auguste reach his dreams (and earn you some experience on the way). Unlock a new costume and a brand new transport system, providing you're talented enough to tackle a unique-looking puzzle.

Pack light and travel to the south-west corner of Entrana to meet with Auguste for a thrill-seeking journey across the globe. Keep your eyes open for all sorts of interesting sights on this Enlightened Journey.

Once you have helped Auguste prove his theories, you will have the opportunity to help him expand his enterprise all over RuneScape, so long as you have the talent and the materials to get you there...

In other news...

A new farming patch has been added to the Gnome Stronghold for growing trees. It's west of the agility course, near the bank. Like the other four tree patches, this one has an obliging gardener willing to look after your saplings in exchange for a little payment, and also a handy Leprechaun to keep hold of your tools.

When you switch weapons after you've been autocasting spells with a staff, your combat style will now attempt to stay on the last melee combat mode you selected rather than always defaulting to the Defensive mode.

The demon butler has been updated to match the other demons.

The special attack of the rune throwing axe will no longer "steal" other people's random event monsters from combat, causing them to attack you.

Runecrafting pouches have always automatically emptied themselves when you drop them on the ground. We have now added a warning message to ask if you're sure you wish to drop them.

Trimmed wizard hats have been updated to match the change that was made to the untrimmed versions a couple of weeks ago.

The trimmed Cape of Achievement for Woodcutting had a bug where it would change its colour to match your character's leggings. This has now been fixed.