The new Stronghold area is a massive upgrade introducing many new features including a new skill and a new quest.

We'll start with finding the stronghold itself. The Stronghold is located to the Northwest of Ardougne and directly west of Baxtorian Falls. It's a large fenced area with a single guarded gate. Like most things in RuneScape, all is not as it appears to the eye, and entrance is not always a simple task. I'll leave this for a little exploring on your part, but I will say that if you're a helpful type of person, it should not be too difficult.

Once inside, you can wander a bit on your own, and discover many of the features of the Stronghold. Two particular things of interest will be the Agility Training Area, a fenced spot in the Southeast corner of the stronghold.

For those of us that are a bit older than the average RS player, the agility skill may be a little reminiscent of basic training in the military-- or scout camp-- it seems to consist mainly of your abilities to run, jump, climb, etc. This training area starts with a walk across a pond on a slippery log, climbing a cargo net, swinging on a rope, jumping out of a tree, another climb, and ends with a crawl through a sewer pipe. It also includes little gnome drill sergeants telling you to "move it, move it, move it!"

It's too new to tell how this skill is going to work when it comes to leveling up-- one turn around the course gets you a single experience point. May be a lot of laps run there. Of course the fatigue "anti-skill" is involved in this and you wear down as you expend your energy on these tasks. Beds are a bit obscure, but just to the north of the training field are three trees, each with a ladder to a platform. Climb the ladder and you'll see the greenery of a tree to one side. Click on the tree till you locate the hammock slung there and that's your resting spot!.

Wandering the landscape further, about in the center at the northern end is the Great Tree. Usually around the base of the tree you can find the gnome King Narnocle Shareen who can start you on a new quest introduced with these upgrades and involving the agility skill. If you're not in the mood to start a new quest just yet, move on inside the tree and take the ladder up to the second floor. Think of yourself in the center of a huge "H" with arms branching out on either side. These branches contain platforms with the bank and various stores located in the stronghold. They are all actually in the trees above ground level and this is the only access point to the complex. As pictured here, there is a clothing store where you can purchase wizards' robes and hats in the new winter pastel shades as well as some wonderful pastry creations, and other groceries for cooking which you can use on the stove located in the northern tip of the western arm. Among the groceries are fresh fruits such as limes and oranges which you can eat as is, or grab a bottle of "hooch" from the liquor store and get a shaker to whip up your favorite cocktail after a hard day of slaying dragons and PK'ing.

And speaking of dragons, if your just to tired to shake your own cocktail, you can relax in the lounge with featured drinks such as the "wizards blizzard" or a "drunk dragon."

There is also a combination weapons dealer with a good selection of archery equipment, axes and two-handed swords.

Leaving the tree village there are little gnomes all over the place just waiting to be pick-pocketed (level 75 to pick them), fishing areas, and it appears that mining may be in the future as well, based on the rocks scattered around. There is also a rather unusual feature to the Northwest of the Great Tree that I'm sure will require a bit more research -- it's a frog and worm pond. Enough said!

Once you leave the stronghold, just to the Southwest, you may wish to visit the barrens area with (of course!) goblins and a pack of level 64 grey wolves to fight.

After you've leveled up a bit on the agility skill, you may wish to move over to the Barbarian's Stronghold Northeast of Ardougne where there is a more advanced agility training area that requires a skill level of 38 to enter. Moving south, just north of the town of Yanille, is a new dungeon which requires a 40 agility skill to enter. There is also a new island that has appeared west of Yanille that is apparently connected to that dungeon, as well as a new island connected to the pier at Port Khazrd that is virtually covered with green spiders and seems to play a role in the gnome's quest.

All of the features mentioned here are on the World Map and we'll be updating this and turning it into the agility skill guide as we learn more about this new feature.