From April, 2004, when we were still all pixelated in RS1, but the new game was on the horizon.

My Favorite Skill

      Strolling through sunny East Ardougne, I chanced upon a friend who asked for help with the Dragon Quest… when I say a friend I mean of course I’d never seen the fellow before, but he said plz very nicely; many, many times. By his lvl he wasn’t close to ready, so I had to refuse… because of that, I doubt if I will ever spend such fun times with him ever again (though I will always have memories).
      As he walked away I did try to impart some advice to him on my own training methods- which have advanced my lvl far enough to receive such occasional requests from a passer-by.
     For my greatest skill there is no guild; and at present no stat to represent my progress; yet it is a technique which, like pk’ing (so I hear), can require all the guile of gameplay combined with the manipulation if your internet connection.
     My skill is not a unique one; in history and fiction it has served a variety of heroes and legends throughout the ages; and has rarely let me down as a technique for approaching difficult and dangerous situations.
      Centuries ago when Orville Wright looked to the sky and said:
      “Someday, man too will flee,” he could never have known he would be speaking of the mmorpg that is RuneScape, and my favorite skill: Fleeing.
     Fleeing is not related to Skittishness, wherein a player runs away upon sight of another player; nor Avoidance, where a player- despite being endlessly sworn at- has the common sense to refuse dueling someone ten lvls over themselves who is also pretending to be a girl.
     Fleeing is a method of getting where you are going to do what you want to do and then leaving, without engaging in conflict; at best with great speed, minimum distraction, and the least strain on your inventory and resources.
     Prayer is helpful to fleeing, I won’t lie to you; not about that. Level 37 Paralyze Monster not only pleases the gods but has a nifty side effect of creatures not being able to hit you. But the most crucial parts of fleeing are a good magic lvl and more importantly a good internet connection. With one, the ability to escape at any time is assured; with the other, you can play during the busy weekend bloodbaths, when everyone and their avatar are slaying everything in sight. This lets the whole server run interference for you.
      The higher your magic, the better your fleeing; that’s common knowledge. You can’t even BEGIN to flee until lvl 26 magic. That’s one lvl above the required for Varrock Teleport. With a magic lvl of 60, you are two lvls over the Watchtower Teleport. Add to that a new mouse and a high speed connection, and you can estimate your fleeing lvl well over lvl 70, depending on how much you practice.
     There are a few different types of fleeing:
     Hallway Fleeing- we have all raised our Fleeing skill on this; an excellent place to practice is the zombie maze in the Edgeville dungeon. As you approach the nasty red dots, observe their ebb and flow back and forth; with easy practice you can time your movements for a clear path.
     Close Quarter or Melee Fleeing - If you are new to the game, try running back and forth over the Karamja volcano a few times. If so-called Deadly Red Spiders pester you, they are excellent practice wherever found. For advanced pay players, the Temple of Ikov Quest- has a hallway chock full of Ice Spiders, affording rare practice of all types of fleeing! And the Shilo Village quest is one great retreat-o-rama! Ideally you would get a bonus Fleeing lvl from this quest.
      Members have the benefit of the dungeon of Taverly, which affords quite an unusual bit of Zone Fleeing- finding spots further out than the enemy usually wanders.
      Spot Fleeing- Involves the use of obstacles (see Ranging guide) and knowing the enemy. Skeletons are excellent for this, being slow-witted compared to most creatures (nothing in their skulls).
     And of course, whatever style of fleeing, if things aren’t working to your advantage- Hop servers! Some games don’t even let you hop servers; we have a variety of countries to play on, a variety of time zones to play in. If you find a training spot deserted on one server, it may be completely full and ripe for Fleeing through on another!
     In all forms of Fleeing, your map screen is your guide. Anyone who hasn't visited the Wild find this out seeing the movie Alien. However, you do not navigate by clicking your map; keep the wrist loose, hover your mouse on the game screen as well; you must be prepared for both distant and close-quarter Fleeing.
     The poison scorpions in the Taverly dungeon are a prime example of what I call ‘careful economy of movement to avoid death.’ For those with a lvl high enough to intimidate the scorps, there is no need to ever engage these evil creatures; instead, back up- there are two excellent fleeing spots there. Play the situation like a refined game of chess, where you are the one that looks like a horsey. You need never carry cure poison again (except as a gift) and your inventory is that much lighter.
     Training spots being so crowded on weekends, I’m always stuck for something to do - until I remembered I could practice my Fleeing. I had yet to charge an orb, and I had a stack of them. Carefully I packed maximum food versus orbs and made for the Taverly dungeon--
     I dodged the black knight by Hallway Fleeing; I then Melee Fled the animated axes, Zone Fled the poison scorps, Melee Fled the chaos dwarves and the Lessers. (From here until the poison spiders I switched to map navigation.) I successfully Zone Fled the baby blues, the daddy blues, the homesick blues; Hopped at the greater demons to find a busier version of that area, passed the poison spiders n’stuff, charged my orbs and said hello to other players, popped out on the island overhead with a total loss of about 6 hit points from the whole trip.
     As I stood on that tiny offshore island with my successfully charged orbs, I considered mebbe trying to sell food to the Catherby fishermen.
      And then pop! I teleported to Camelot, not a stones throw away, and joined them fishing. Surely an excellent example of successful Fleeing. Without being so practiced in my skill, I would have been dead three times over, mebbe more.
     Since I have been fleeing so long, I estimate it to be my highest skill-- somewhere around 85. Or even 95, depending on my mood. Who is going to contradict me??
     When Richard the 3rd cried out “A horse a horse, my kingdom for a horse” at the Battle of Bosworth Field, he wasn’t just hoping for a radical game update-- he was fleeing, and Fleeing with the best of them!
     He didn’t make it far, but what does the future of Fleeing hold for us?
     With RuneScape 2 (aka The Genie’s Revenge) we have running, and there will undoubtedly be races held: great contests of stamina and internet connections!
     There will be other challenges to those who Flee- for instance those scorpions in Taverly dungeon won’t get out of the way anymore.
     But perhaps with the advent of running in RS2, we may someday get a Fleeing Stat; many players in the Wild I’m sure will be practicing Fleeing regularly and in combination with agility.
     The big question then being, will free to play have a Fleeing Stat too?

-Redrum Frank

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