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The Great Brain Robbery (#121)


Released		6 March 2007 (Update)
Members		Yes
Quest series		Pirate, #3
Lead developer(s)		Anthony W

The Great Brain Robbery is the third quest in the pirate quest series. In the quest, you help a group of Saradominist monks from Harmony Island. Their once peaceful island has been taken over by a horde of zombie pirates, led by Mi-Gor, a very dangerous individual.

Details

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Start point	Talk to Brother Tranquility in Mos Le'Harmless. Show on map
Official difficulty	Experienced
Official length	Medium
Description	The peaceful contemplation of the monks of Harmony Island has been disturbed by such rude interruptions as an invasion of zombie pirates and the theft of their brains! The evil zombie pirates have returned with a new scheme, and it's up to you to try to re-mind these poor priests before the sinister Mi-Gor completes his experiments...
Requirements	16 Crafting ^{[not boostable]} ^[1] 30 Construction ^{[not boostable]} 50 Prayer ^{[not boostable]} Must have completed the following quests: Creature of Fenkenstrain Cabin Fever Pirate's Treasure Rum Deal Priest in Peril Zogre Flesh Eaters Big Chompy Bird Hunting Jungle Potion Druidic Ritual Recipe for Disaster/Freeing Pirate Pete Recipe for Disaster/Another Cook's Quest Cook's Assistant Access to a player-owned house workshop and crafting table or the Grand Exchange Be able to kill a level 190 monster that can disable Prayers (can be safespotted without taking damage).
Items required	Equipment to breathe underwater: A fishbowl helmet and a diving apparatus (reobtainable from Murphy in Port Khazard if you've lost them) OR a Medallion of the deep (counts as both helmet and apparatus) 10 wooden cats – partial completion of The Great Brain Robbery is required to make these yourself, however they are tradeable and available at the Grand Exchange 4 oak planks, a hammer, and a saw (if you are building your own crafting table and do not already have one; build in the Clockmaking space of the Workshop) 10 planks (if making your own wooden cats) 10 pieces of fur: fur, bear fur, or grey wolf fur (if making your own wooden cats) (wolf fur can be obtained during quest by killing Canifis townsfolk. Baraek sells them for 20 gold each. Furs from Hunter monsters will not work) A hammer (Note: Imcando hammer does not work) About 100 nails (38 are needed, but some—especially bronze or iron—may bend) 8 normal planks (18 if making the wooden cats instead of buying them from the Grand Exchange) Holy symbol Ring of charos (if lost, can be re-obtained during quest by pickpocketing Fenkenstrain)
Recommended	60 Combat level Means of teleportation to Port Phasmatys (through the Ectophial) Charged combat bracelet to teleport to the Monastery (or a charged amulet of glory to teleport to nearby Edgeville) Runes to cast Fenkenstrain's Castle Teleport twice (or its magic tablet equivalent) If making the wooden cats, runes to teleport to your (or another player's) house, or its magic tablet equivalent, are highly recommended. Three watermelon seeds, rake, seed dibber, and ultracompost to complete a step in the Hard Morytania Diary (requires 47 Farming). Weapon and armour (ranging or maging gear is highly recommended as safespotting is available) Food and prayer potions are highly recommended
Enemies to defeat	Barrelchest (level 190) 4 Sorebones (level 57)
League notes	Unlocking Morytania✓ will auto-complete the quest

^ A prerequisite quest, Cabin Fever, requires 45 Crafting.

Walkthrough

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Beginning

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Items needed: 4 planks, ~20 nails, a hammer, & underwater equipment (fishbowl helmet & diving apparatus, or Medallion of the deep). Good food and some armour to defend from aggressive level 57 zombie pirates.
Items recommended: 2 Mos le'harmless teleports or Ectophial, 3 Watermelon seeds, rake, seed dibber, and ultracompost if doing the hard Morytania Diary.

Note: Leave your follower in the bank, otherwise you will not be able to go diving.

To start the quest, you must sail to Mos Le'Harmless and speak to Brother Tranquility. To get there, use a Mos le'harmless teleport, a Trouble Brewing mini-game teleport, or talk to Bill Teach on his boat in Port Phasmatys at the east end of the dock near the Green Ghost Inn and agree to sail to Mos Le'Harmless.

Near the dock, you will notice a rather sickly-looking monk named Brother Tranquility. Talk to him to begin the quest — select the option regarding undead pirates. He will explain how some of his fellow monks are in trouble and ask for help. Accept the offer to be teleported to Harmony Island.

Gathering info

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When doing the Hard Morytania Diary, you can plant your watermelon seeds now, so you can harvest them at the end of the quest.

Make sure you have the supplies listed earlier and head outside the windmill. Zombie pirates (level 57) are aggressive and will attack. A short way to the north will be a Saradomin statue that can be pulled. Pull the statue. Go down the hole and into a tunnel. It is full of water, so equip the underwater breathing gear to submerge beneath the water. Note that you cannot enter the water if you are carrying a follower such as a pet cat. Run past the zombie pirates and repair the stairs at the far end of the tunnel (you can be attacked while repairing the stairs and it takes a while). Go up them, climb up the ladder in the next room; then, look through the peephole to spy on the enemy.

The prayer book

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Items needed: Holy symbol.
Items recommended: charged Combat bracelet or Amulet of glory (teleport to Edgeville), Mos le'harmless teleport or Ectophial.

Report back to Brother Tranquility. He will suggest getting a book that can be used to pray away poison. Travel to the Monastery near Edgeville to find the prayer book in a bookshelf towards the south-west corner of the building on the ground floor^[UK]1^st floor^[US]. Read the book, which provides instructions on how to use it. Equip a holy symbol and return to Harmony Island by talking to Brother Tranquility. The zombies have begun to gas the windmill, so right-click the book and select "recite-prayer." After this, make sure to talk to Brother Tranquility.

The doctor

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Items needed: Ring of charos, 10 wooden cats (or the materials to make them), ~50 nails, 4 planks, hammer, wolf whistle (obtained during quest)
Items recommended: Ectophial, Runes for 2 Fenkenstrain's Castle Teleports or 2 tablet equivalents, Kharyrll tab (if Desert Treasure I has been completed), armour, food, weapon and/or Wolfbane dagger.

Now that the monks are no longer in danger of being poisoned, they would like to get their brains back in their bodies where they belong. Travel to Dr Fenkenstrain in his castle, climb up either stairs, and then climb up the ladder in the jail cell in the middle of the room. After a bit of negotiation, he agrees that a new home free of the threat of being eaten sounds better than where he is. However, he does not want to risk being eaten while travelling. He is also allergic to teleportation, so another way needs to be found.

Go to Canifis and talk to Rufus, the owner of the meat store north of the bank, about another meat shipment. Make sure to be wearing the ring of charos while talking to him. Rufus will give you some crate parts and a wolf whistle. You need to build ten decoy cats to fill the crate since Rufus assumes the crate will be transporting cats.

Tip: Since you are right next to a bank, deposit the whistle and crate parts and take out Mos Le'Harmless teleport (treasure trail), 10 wooden planks, 10 pieces of fur, and a hammer — home teleport runes or tab and an ectophial are advised for easy travelling. If you do not have a Clockmaker's bench yet, you will also need to bring 4 oak planks and a saw. Also, if you still need fur, you can kill Canifis villagers—they'll transform into level 88 werewolves if you don't use Wolfbane, so be careful. You can also obtain fur by thieving from stalls in Ardougne (or trading with the fur trader there) or by purchasing fur in Varrock Square for 20 coins apiece. Ultimate Ironmen may find a table in the south-west tower of Fenkenstrain's castle on the first floor helpful.

Travel to a player-owned house that has a Clockmaker's bench. Craft the materials into 10 wooden cats. Grab your ring of charos, the 10 wooden cats, 4 planks (normal), a hammer, ~50 nails, the crate parts, and the wolf whistle before travelling back to Fenkenstrain's castle. Return to Dr Fenkenstrain and build the crate on the crate hotspot. Then select the "add-bottom" option on the crate to build the false bottom of the crate. If you run out of nails whilst building the surround or the bottom, you will have to start over and bring more nails to ensure the structure is built. Fill it with the fake cats and then use the wolf whistle Rufus gave you to call him. Fenkenstrain will automatically get in the crate.

Tip: You can't blow the Wolf whistle if you are still wearing the Fishbowl helmet.

Once past inspection, Rufus will give you a shipping order. Use this on the crate, and it will be teleported to the island.

Making the transplants

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Items needed: Hammer & underwater equipment (fishbowl helmet & diving apparatus, or Medallion of the deep)
Items recommended: Weapon, armour to kill 4 Sorebones (safespottable), Salve amulet

Now that the doctor is on the island, travel back to Mos Le'Harmless. Use the island bank to grab a hammer, equipment to breath underwater, armour, and a weapon before teleporting to Harmony Island. Dr Fenkenstrain is in the basement of the windmill and needs some equipment to perform the surgery. He will give you a list of items to collect:

Luckily, the bad guys already have what you need since they performed the surgery in the first place. The only problem is how to get inside the building.

The player creates an explosion to open the door.

Put on the equipment to breathe underwater to avoid passing out from the gas, and head north from the windmill to the ship beached nearby. Search the locker on the ground floor^[UK]1^st floor^[US] to get a fuse; then, climb up a level and get a tinderbox and a keg of powder. With these in hand, go back to the front door of the monastery. Use the keg in the front door, add a fuse, and then, light it. The door is now open.

Once inside, kill the 4 Sorebones to obtain all the needed equipment, which can be safespotted behind benches. You must pick up the dropped items after each kill, or else you will just get duplicates. Walk back to the windmill, head downstairs, and give all this to Dr Fenkenstrain to begin the gruesome surgery. A cutscene of a cute cat playing with a ball will ensue due to the surgery being too gruesome. Make sure to speak to Brother Tranquility after the operation.

Note, the Sorebones are considered Undead and thus a Salve amulet will work against them.

The big battle

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This fight takes place in an instance.

On death, all unprotected items will be moved to a grave outside the instance. Any items left on the ground will be lost.

Return to the bank on Mos Le'Harmless and grab all the armour, food, and potions you will need for the fight. Note: You still need to wear your underwater equipment. The Barrelchest is NOT considered Undead meaning the Salve amulet will not provide a benefit against him.

Go back to Harmony.

When you enter the monastery, only Mi-Gor will be there, giving you the option to confront him. When you do, he will summon his monstrosity, a giant mess of machinery named Barrelchest, to attack you.

	The Great Brain Robbery - Kitten
Soothing music

	Brain Battle
The music which plays while battling the Barrelchest.

Prayer (and also Defence) drains faster than usual during the fight, and Barrelchest will turn your Prayers off.

If meleeing, just keep turning prayer back on (note: repeatedly turning it on can be a huge time waste and result in death if he gets lucky with the timing of his hits, plan to do this without prayer to avoid that). Bringing several prayer potions and at least ten good food is highly recommended. Barrelchest is a fairly blunt instrument; he will not use anything but Melee attacks, which are fairly slow and inaccurate; however, when he does hit, he tends to frequently hit over 20.

If ranging or maging, it is possible to safespot him: either catch him on the corner of the first pew by taking a few steps back when you first start the battle, or simply exit and then re-enter the monastery after the fight begins and he will immediately be caught if you stay where you are at the entrance. DO NOT hide behind a pew when attempting to do this or he will strike the ground with his anchor, dealing up to 25 typeless Ranged damage.

Once you have killed Barrelchest, pick up his anchor and walk back to the windmill to inform Brother Tranquility of your victory.

He will thank you and give you a lamp granting 5,000 experience in the skill of your choice.

Congratulations, quest complete!

Note: If you died during the boss fight, you will need another set of underwater equipment to recover your items. Otherwise, you'll need to visit Death in his office.

Rewards

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2 Quest points
6,000 Prayer experience
3,000 Crafting experience
2,000 Construction experience
Blessed lamp ( 5,000 experience in a chosen skill above level 30 and can be placed in your bank)
Barrelchest anchor (To repair your barrelchest anchor, return to Mos Le'Harmless and make sure you have a book o' piracy in your inventory; then, go to the docks south of the bank and talk to "Smith." He can fix your anchor for 230,000 coins.)
Prayer book
Ability to cast Harmony Island Teleport on the Arceuus spellbook
Ability to fight the Barrelchest within the Nightmare Zone.

Required for completing

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Completion of The Great Brain Robbery is required for the following:

Hard tier of the Morytania Diary (Only partial completion of the quest is necessary)

Transcript

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This article on a quest has an associated dialogue page.
Click here for a transcript of possible conversations encountered throughout the quest.

Music

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Changes

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Date	Changes
18 November 2020 (Update)	Some grammar has been corrected in the Great Brain Robbery quest.
17 January 2019 (Update)	Brother Tranquility now displays the correct chatheads throughout The Great Brain Robbery.

Tips

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Having the Book o' piracy allows you to skip the first speech with Bill Teach in getting him to transport you to Mos Le'Harmless.
You don't need to fully complete the quest to receive and use the barrelchest anchor—you just need to kill Barrelchest.
A portal to Fenkenstrain's Castle in your house provides a faster return route after creating the fake cats.
The Charter ships are a useful (if pricey) way to get to Mos Le'Harmless and Port Khazard.
Talk to the pirate named Smith at the docks of Mos Le'Harmless to convert the anchor to a two-handed weapon for a fee of 230,000 coins (see above, under reward).
Barrelchest is a large enemy, which allows for the dragon halberd special attack to be useful, although you cannot safespot with a halberd because of Barrelchest's wide attacks.
The "blessed lamp" is bankable.
If you died during the boss fight, remember to pickpocket Dr Fenkenstrain to receive another ring of charos.
If your inventory was full when talking to Brother Tranquility after the boss fight, you can still claim the experience lamp by talking to him again with at least one free inventory space.

Trivia

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The Great Brain Robbery is a reference to the 1903 movie The Great Train Robbery.
This quest contains several pop culture references:
- When Rufus comments that the cats aren't moving, the player will comment that they're "probably pining". This is one of RuneScape's many references to Monty Python, specifically their "Dead Parrot" sketch.
- After the player builds the crate and fills it with the wooden cats, the player says "Urge to kill...rising!" This is a reference to an episode of The Simpsons where Homer says the same line.
- When Dr Fenkenstrain tells you the list of equipment he needs, the player mentions "Unusual Implements R Us". This is a reference to the now-defunct toy store Toys "R" Us.
- "Not the box" is a possible reference to the "Boo Box" from the film Hook.
- At the beginning of the quest while talking to Brother Tranquility, the player refers to Mos Le'Harmless as "a hive of scum and villainy". This is a reference to Ben Kenobi's line describing Mos Eisley in Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope.
- After retrieving the prayer book, Brother Tranquility asks, "When you took the book from the shelf, did you say the words?" This is a reference to the cult film Army of Darkness, where the main character, Ash, is told by a priest to retrieve the Necronomicon after reciting specific words. After retrieving the book, the priest asks Ash, "When you removed the Necronomicon from its cradle, did you speak the words?"
The Mi-Gor character and Barrelchest monster are probably references to emphysema, a fatal lung disease that leaves victims with a "barrel chest" and a scary voice.
This quest marks the second appearance of Elfinlocks, a fake player from the Draynor bank robbery plot, who is travelling with her clockwork cat in Canifis. She appears to have gained another blue partyhat since her last appearance.
When first going to Harmony Island, the player does the "Scared" emote saying that they're afraid of getting hit while transporting. This is a reference to the transportation method used in Rum Deal.
Along with the Rowboat hotspot from Dragon Slayer II and the Coffin hotspot from Making Friends with My Arm, the crate hotspot is one of the few Construction hotspots not located in a player-owned house.
If you are wearing the fishbowl helmet and you blow the whistle to call Rufus, you'll get the following message: "You should take your diving helmet off before you try to blow the whistle".

The Great Brain Robbery

NPCs

	Brother Tranquility Mi-Gor Dr Fenkenstrain Rufus Zombie monk Monk
Enemies	Barrelchest Sorebones Zombie pirate

Items

Rewards

Locations

Music

Related