As a First Resort

For the achievement, see As a First Resort (achievement).

This article has a quick guide. Quick guides provide a brief summary of the steps needed for completion.

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As a First Resort (#133)
Release date								29 January 2008 (Update)
Members								Yes
Voice Over								No
Official series								Ogre #3
Age								Ambiguous
Timeline								Heroic
Start area								Feldip Hills
Combat								None
Advanced data
Quest ID								325
Quest create ID								132
Official difficulty								Experienced
Links								Quests

As a First Resort is an experienced quest in the ogre series where you agree to aid the ogresses of Oo'glog in expanding their hot springs into a proper resort. The quest was acclaimed amongst players as it unlocks the Oo'glog spa, where pools can improve performance by restoring prayer points above the capacity, give unlimited run energy for a period of time, etc.

Official description

“	After discovering the beneficial properties of some of the natural springs of the area, an enterprising human has convinced a primitive tribe of ogresses to transform their rustic encampment into a medicinal spa of sorts. Before Oo'glog can open for business, though, the area must be prepared, a pest problem needs to be sorted and the ogres really ought to be reminded that bashing people with big clubs isn't a traditional health treatment.	”
— Game Guide

Overview

Start point	Talk to Chief Tess in the centre of Oo'glog. Show on map	2008#3
Membership requirement	Members only
Official length[?]	Long
Requirements	Quests: As a First Resort None 51 Firemaking 48 Hunter 58 Woodcutting Ironmen: Partial completion of Big Chompy Bird Hunting To get the spears: Having started Haunted Mine for access to the Abandoned Mine for a bronze spear on level 2 or The Lost Tribe for bone spear or 33 quest points for Scavvo's Rune Store access in Champions' Guild or Tai Bwo Wannai Trio for Tamayu's Spear Stall or 99 Attack or 99 Strength or a combined Attack and Strength level of 130 for Warriors' Guild access
Items required	Items from the tool belt are not listed unless they do not work or are not automatically added. Box trap Bird snare Teasing stick (Unless you are buying the 8 larupia furs from the grand exchange) Four spears of the same type (bone spears work; poisoned spears and leaf-bladed spears do not work) Available just outside Oo'glog: 8 achey tree logs 15-26 eucalyptus logs (If you don't make any mistakes in the logic section, 20 is more than enough) 2 raw chompy (available to be caught in the ogre chompy hunting area; if hunting, remember to bring an ogre comp or a plain ogre bow, ogre arrows and ogre bellows) 8 stripy feathers (available from the tropical wagtails in the hunting area to the north of Oo'glog) 4 wolf bones (available from killing the wolves outside Oo'glog) 8 larupia furs (tatty or perfect, available from pit-fall hunting Larupia in the hunting area to the north of Oo'glog) At least 10 (15 is suggested) of each of the following plants found near Oo'glog: Fever grass Lavender Primweed Stinkbloom Tansymum Some logs of any kind for traps
Recommended	Activated the Oo'glog lodestone (Fastest method of travel) Master archaeologist's outfit or Archaeology teleport to Chief Tess Runes for the South Feldip Hills Teleport A ring of duelling to teleport to the Warforge Dig Site, a short distance west from Oo'glog The Fairy ring AKS is north of Oo'glog The Spirit Tree at South Feldip Hills Teleport
Enemies to defeat	None, but lower-levelled players should avoid the level 11 wolves outside the city.

Bossy human lady

Oo'glog City

• Snert
• Thuddley
• Tyke
• Grr'bah
• Grubb
• Snarrk
• Snurgh
• Frawd
• Chief Tess
• Dawg
• Chargurr
• Balnea
• Snarrl
• Seegud
• Chomp
• I'rk
• Grunther
• Thump
• 
  Fire pit
• 
  Achey Tree
• 
  Wimpy bird
• 
  Robust glass machine
• Teplin Macagan
• Rutmir Arnhold
• 
  Eucalyptus tree
• Muggh
• Ogress champion
• Ogress warrior
• 
  Platypus
• Kringk
• Glum

Travel to Oo'glog, directly south of Yanille, and talk to Chief Tess. She tells you that she cannot open her business for customers until the "bossy lady" at the bank in Oo'glog allows her to do so. Offer to help, and the chief asks you to speak with Balnea, the "human lady" in the ogre village's bank. Balnea has promised the ogres 'shiny pretties' in exchange for letting her set up her spa in the city.

Enter the bank, across the path from the chief's hut, and talk to Balnea. After a long dialogue filled with business-talk, Balnea asks you to help turn Oo'glog into a health spa.

Agree, and she sends you first to help the village's chef set up a spit and cooking fire. This also opens the bank in Oo'glog.

Catering to their needs

Needed: 10 eucalyptus logs, 8 achey logs, 4 spears and 2 raw chompies

Chargurr with her finished concessionary services

Talk to the ogre cook, Chargurr, just north of the bank. She tells you she needs a big fire with lots of logs to cook chompy. Agree to get the logs for her. Give Chargurr 8 achey logs and 10 eucalyptus logs. This has to be done in one go, so you must have 18 free backpack spaces to carry them. The bank should be accessible via the ogress banker by this point.

You will lay the logs in the pit to set up an unlit stove. Talk to Chargurr again and she tells you that she wants big, long spears to cook chompies on. Give her four spears to be used as spits.

Talk to Chargurr, and tell her you would like to give her the four spears. You hang them in the trees, over the logs. Again, speak with Chargurr, who now needs 2 chompy birds. Fetch her the raw chompy birds and stick them on the spears. Talk to her again, and now she instructs you to light the fire. Do so and speak to Chargurr one last time to finish the first task and setup catering services for the resort.

Relax, there are no bedbugs here

Needed: 8 stripy feathers (or a bird snare)

Snurgh with the "comfsy pillows for little, softy human heads."

Talk to Balnea in the bank. She asks you to help Snurgh, the hotel manager in the building in the southeast corner of the village.

Speak to Snurgh, who informs you that the pillows in the hotel are made of raw meat, the softest thing that she could find. Advise her to use feathers instead of meat. She agrees and asks you to get her some stripy feathers. Give her eight stripy feathers from tropical wagtails so that she can make the pillows.

Return to Balnea for the next task.

Solidifying Kringk's assets

Needed: 8 larupia furs (tatty or regular) and 4 wolf bones (if you need to trap the larupias, bring a teasing stick)

Have another jargon-laced conversation with Balnea. She says your next task is to help Kringk in the hair salon just east of the bank. She asks how can she do hair with no tools. Tell her you will help. Take four wolf bones and eight larupia furs to Kringk. Talk to her again, and give her the four "wolfsie bones" and eight "Lup-Lup furses" to complete this task.

Pushing the envelope

The spa

Needed: 16 eucalyptus logs, 7 each of the five types of herb (the maximum number you may need if you follow the method below)

Talk to Balnea a fourth time. She wants you to help Seegud, who is in the hut northeast of the bank.

Talk to Seegud. She tells you she needs to clear flying bugs from the five spa pools by lighting fires in the fire pits next to each pool. For each type of bug, you need to burn eucalyptus logs and a specific plant to keep the swarm away. Seegud has placed stones beside each fire pit to help her remember what to burn.

Plant and rock combinations are different for every player, using a reference chart like below will help with the process.

Initial Setup
Rock type	Corresponding plant
Long brown		Eucalyptus log
Green lump-shaped		Fever grass
Red round		Primweed
Yellow egg-shaped		Tansymum
Orange squarish		Stinkbloom
Purple tall		Lavender

You will need to collect the plants from outside of Oo'glog and combine them with eucalyptus logs to light the fires.

Go northwest from Seegud, and examine the pile of stones between the saltwater spring and the fire pit. In your chat window, you see a description of the stones.

Place the logs and the plants that match the stones in the fire pit, and light them. You quickly notice something is not right: the bugs are still hovering over the pool and a mischievous ogre child is laughing. Return to Seegud, and speak with her. She says the ogre children must have mixed up the stones. You now need to discover which plants the mixed-up stones represent.

Talk with Snarrl, an ogre child just west of Seegud and by the saltwater spring. She recommends you start with the thermal bath. Head north of Seegud to the thermal bath.

A player jumping in a spa

Which stones match which plants is different for each player. Discover their new relationships through a process of elimination. As you learn which stone represents which plant, make a note of the match so you do not have to figure it out again (you cannot check what plant you used after the fire is lit). Each combination only requires two plants and one eucalyptus log, except for the Bandos pool.

To begin, examine the pile of stones next to one of the pools. Place the logs and one of the plants in the fire pit, and light them. If you get the message, "The fire has a pungent aroma, but it doesn't seem to have any effect on the insects," add more logs and a different plant to the fire pit and light them. Fresh logs are required for each attempt, otherwise you will not disperse the insects even if you find the correct combination. If you get the message, "The pungent smell makes the insects disperse", the combination is correct.

• Start with the thermal bath, which is the green bath (directly north of Seegud). The long brown rock still refers to eucalyptus log. Figure out which plant is required to disperse the insects.
• Next, move east to the mud bath. One of the plants will be the same as the last pool. Figure out the second plant required to disperse the insects.
• Move to the saltwater spring (directly west from the thermal bath). The second plant from the mud bath is needed here. Figure out the second plant used to disperse the insects.
• Now make your way west to the sulphur spring. The second plant from the saltwater spring is needed here. Figure out the second plant used to disperse the insects.
• Lastly, make your way west to the Bandos pool. There are three plants required in addition to the eucalyptus log here, though by now all but one stone and plant should have been paired up.
• Talking to the children (other than the ones that laughed at you on your first attempt) can be extremely helpful if you get lost in your patterns.

Finally, after dispersing all the bugs, talk to Seegud and then return to Balnea.

Do not throw away any of the herbs once you have finished clearing away the bugs, as you will need them in the next task.

Accelerate the action point

Talk to Balnea to learn about the "one last outstanding matter." She asks you to trap the creatures wandering around the village. She suggests they may not be as easy to trap as you might think and recommends you talk to Chief Tess to learn how to catch the creatures.

Talk to Chief Tess. She tells you that the animals in the area are clever, so you will need to be sneaky to catch them; you need to burn "stuffs" to lure the animals to the traps.

Kebbit, kebbit

Needed: Logs and 5-6 fever grass

To catch the diseased kebbits, set deadfall traps on the boulders to the east and west of the saltwater spring; catch two from each side of the spring, as they will not follow you very far. There are 4 diseased kebbits to catch.

Bait the trap by using fever grass on the deadfall trap. Light another fever grass and run around to lure a kebbit to the trap. If you are having trouble luring the kebbits, try walking. The smouldering grass turns to ashes after about 30 seconds, so have a few in your inventory before starting. The smouldering method uses the main hand weapon slot, so remove any weapons you are wielding in your main hand before starting.

Diseased kebbits become aggressive if you burn tansymum nearby them. Also, If you try to set more than one trap at once, an ogre child scolds you: "Hey, you, human! You no allowed to clutter up Oo'glog wiv traps. You only set one at a time here."

Is it a bird? Is it wimpy?

Needed: Bird snare and a few tansymum

Releasing the platypodes into the swamp

To clear Oo'glog of the wimpy birds, set a bird snare in the area west of the bank. Light a tansymum flower and run around to attract the birds to the snare. There are 5 wimpy birds to catch.

Wimpy birds are repelled if you burn fever grass. Burning lavender will make them peck you.

This part may behave oddly, with the final wimpy bird to be caught refusing to follow the player and unrelated wimpy birds appearing in the bird snare. To fix this, the player may need to ask Chief Tess how to catch wimpy birds again, being sure to end the dialogue with the "Nothing else to ask." option instead of simply walking away.

Home improvement

Needed: Box trap and a few lavender

Rid Oo'glog of the platypodes by laying a box trap and then burning lavender in the area west of Chief Tess, by the sulphur springs. Platypodes have poison spurs. Do not burn fever grass as it may cause them to attack with their "webbed feet of doom".

Once you catch one, check the shaking box to put the platypus in your inventory. After you have caught the whole family (Patrick, Peanut, Penelope, and Peter), go to the northeast corner of the village, by the coast within Oo'glog (see the "baby platypus" part in the map above), and release the platypodes near the bulrushes. Each released platypus gives you a casket or an oyster.

Cutting the ribbon

Once you have caught all the creatures, return to Balnea one last time (you must dismiss any active follower). You then see a cutscene of the grand opening of the spa and the Wise Old Man taking the waters.

• 

  Oo'glog is open for business

• 

  The fairies cutting the ribbons

• 

  The Wise Old Man enjoying a spa

• 

  Oo'glog has become a bustling resort spa!

Congratulations, quest complete!

Rewards

• 1 quest point
• 15,000 experience
• 15,000 experience
• 15,000 experience
• A mixture of 4 items, either caskets or oysters
• Access to the spa facilities
• Access to the Oo'glog bank
• Access to the Oo'glog hunter area
• Access to the platypus summoning pet (level 10 Summoning).
  • If you release your pet in the spot you released the others during the quest you will receive another casket or oyster
• Access to the Fresh Meat shop
• Access to the Gift Shop
• Ability to travel to Oo'glog using the Charter ships
• Ability to create Robust glass and Crystal glass
• Access to decanting five and six dose flasks into other flasks or vials (talk to Teplin Macagan)
• 2 Treasure Hunter keys (Ironman accounts will not receive these)
  

Music unlocked

• Bish Bash Bosh
• Hot 'n' Bothered
• Shaping Up
• Spa Bizarre

Achievements

• As a First Resort ( 0) – Complete this quest.
• Desert achievements
  • Elite - I'm Super ( 25) – In Nardah, make a super antifire flask - making both the flask and potion from scratch.
• Tirannwn achievements
  • Elite - The Expensive Range ( 25) – Create a grand ranging potion in a crystal flask from nothing but raw ingredients.

Required for completing

As a First Resort is not currently required for any quests or miniquests.

Transcript

This article on a quest has an associated dialogue page. Click here for a transcript of possible conversations and other messaging encountered throughout the quest. Click here for a transcript of the quest's journal entry.

Credits

As a First Resort
Developers
Developer				Mod Ingrid
Art and graphics
Graphics				Mod Paul B
Quality assurance
Quality assurance				Adam D
Audio
Audio				Mod Bond, Mod Dan A
Other
Quest help				Mod Mog

Update history

This information has been compiled as part of the update history project. Some updates may not be included – see here for how to help out!

• update 19 February 2024 (Update):
  • No longer requires Zogre Flesh Eaters (for disease mechanic, removed with EoC).

• patch 11 January 2016 (Update):
  • Graphically updated the fairies in the “As A First Resort” quest.

• patch 8 October 2013 (Update):
  • Players are now able to successfully relocate all four of the platypodes at Oo'glog in the quest As a First Resort.

• patch 11 June 2013 (Update):
  • Gnomes that appear at the end of As A First Resort have been updated.

• patch 20 May 2013 (Update):
  • Some goblins in a cutscene in the As a First Resort quest have been graphically reworked.

• patch 14 February 2012 (Update):
  • It is now possible to light pool fires from As A First Resort with a tinderbox in a toolbelt.

• patch 19 April 2011 (Update):
  • Some gnomes in As a First Resort once again have animations.

• patch 26 October 2009 (Update):
  • Prevented players hearing the massage sound effects in As a First Resort before starting the quest.

• patch 7 October 2009 (Update):
  • Added various sounds to the final cutscene in As a First Resort.

• patch 18 August 2009 (Update):
  • You can now also use the flowers from the As A First Resort quest to make impling jars.

• patch 6 May 2009 (Update):
  • The quest complete jingle wasn't playing when completing As a First Resort.

• patch 13 January 2009 (Update):
  • The final cutscene in As A First Resort has had its interface tweaked and now renders properly.

• update 29 January 2008 (Update):
  • Added to game.

Trivia

• On the first day of release, when a player clicked to see spoilers it said: "The ogresses' customer relations has not yet incorporated this information into their incentivised pre-warning development plans. Please return when they have re-envisioned their interfacing and fed back to us."
• When Balnea asks you to go to the hotel manager, she uses the word Positivewise. This is a reference to Newspeak, a fictional language from the book Nineteen Eighty-Four, by George Orwell.
• When asked how he likes the spa, the Wise Old Man responds by saying "sat sapienti", which is a play on the Latin phrase enough for the wise (first said by the philosopher Plautus, and originally meaning that enough information has been given for a wise person to figure out the rest, although it is used in a different context here).
• Upon completion of the quest, the Adventurer's Log states: Balnea’s entrepreneurial spirit turned Oo'glog into a successful holiday resort for weary adventurers, if you like mud...