The ‘Diving Expansion’ teased at the bottom of this year’s RuneFest roadmap now has details. Jagex has published a proposal for Burial at Sea, a new quest for Old School RuneScape, plus a post-quest deep sea diving system. All of it goes to an in-game poll split into seven questions. Polls are opening soon, but no exact date has been given.
Burial at Sea
Burial at Sea is the second and final part of the story that began in Pandemonium. Players finally get to track down Will and Anne, the pair who threw them overboard, both above and below the waves. It’s an Experienced tier quest that starts with ‘Squawking’ Steve Beanie at the pub on the Pandemonium. The requirements are:
- 42 Sailing, 38 Smithing and 32 Construction
- Completion of Pandemonium
- Completion of Recipe for Disaster – Freeing Pirate Pete
The Pirate Pete requirement is there because the diving gear from that subquest plays a big part in the new underwater sections. Rewards include 3 quest points, 10,000 Sailing XP, 2,500 Smithing XP, 10,000 coins, Deep Sea Diving Gear, a Diving Bell and access to deep sea diving.
The proposed diving sites
Once you’ve finished the quest, you can dive at underwater locations called diving sites. Each has its own Sailing level requirement. Jagex plans to launch with a small set of sites and add more over time. Each site has its own poll question:
- Jewellery Production: There are two sites, one low-level and one high-level. Both have silver and gold rocks, plus a hydrothermal vent where you can build a furnace that sends smelted jewellery straight to your bank. The high-level site adds faster rock respawns and two new gem rocks. Precious gem rocks need 65 Mining and give sapphires through diamonds. Exotic gem rocks need 75 Mining and give opals, jades and red topazes.
- Underwater Farming cave: This dry cave has a spirit tree, celastrus, mushroom and hardwood tree patch, plus a Farmer and a Tool Leprechaun.
- Low- and mid-level Slayer: A multi-combat area with Depth Crawlers (around level 60), Drowned Mages (around level 85) and regular Jellies. The two new variants each get their own superior version and loot table.
- Abyssal Slayer: A site near an abyssal portal with Abyssal Demons, salt-free Abyssal Rock Slugs (around level 70) and the new Abyssal Arbalest.
- Omnivorous Clams: A Thieving and Magic hybrid. You pry open clams and hold them shut with binding spells while you loot stackable pearls for alching.
The Abyssal Arbalest needs 79 Slayer. It fights with heavy Ranged attacks and teleports to keep its distance. It would be assigned by core Slayer masters, including Nieve and Duradel, at medium weighting but low quantity, with an extension unlock for players who want longer tasks. Its standout drop is the untradeable Abyssal gland, which is a placeholder name. Showing it to the Dark Mage in the Abyss permanently triples the durability of your Runecraft pouches. Jagex pitches this as a lower-variance alternative to chasing the Abyssal Lantern, and the gland has its own separate poll question.
The clams come in three tiers. The Crab-eater Clam needs 46 Thieving and Bind. The Man-eater Clam needs 63 Thieving and Snare. The Shark-eater Clam needs 83 Thieving and Entangle. Their best pearls alch for between 3k and 60k. Each tier also has a rare cosmetic sail: Damaged, Jolly Roger and Dragon.
The expansion also includes extra charting tasks and environmental lore. You can read the full proposal on the official site before voting.
Source: Old School RuneScape official news.
