Fossil Island OSRS Location Guide

Within the world of Gielinor, you’ll visit extraordinary locations that have plenty of activities. This can be questing, slaying bosses, skilling, and fighting various creatures. RuneScape features an immense amount of content, and they keep adding to the game. Most locations are unlocked by completing quests or meeting certain requirements.

Visting new locations will tremendously benefit your experience within Gielinor since you’ll explore new scenery. One of the newest additions to OSRS is Fossil Island, which is a beautifully designed area that features all kinds of creatures.

What Is Fossil Island?

Fossil Island was released on 2017 September 7^th, which makes it very new speaking in RuneScape terms. It’s a members-only area that you can see on the world map Northeastern of Morytania. The location lets players train a variety of skills at excellent experience rates per hour. Currently, the island is ancient, uncharted, and most aspects are unknown. Therefore, it is up to you to find out what the island has to offer.

7 smaller islands surround the island. However, Skeka’s map of the archipelago in the House on the Hill’s basement shows 13 other surrounding islands, potentially meaning DLCs in the future. The only other island that can be reached near Fossil Island is Lithkren during the Dragon Slayer II quest.

Requirements To Reach Fossil Island

Fossil Island has straightforward requirements to obtain, which can be completed within a day. Players will need to obtain 100 Kudos and complete the Bone Voyage quest.

How To Obtain Kudos:

Kudos are rewards given to players for helping the Varrock Museum staff. They are needed for several quests high-tier quests. Therefore, by doing this in the early game, you’ll be saving yourself hours later on. Players can earn Kudos by doing a variety of tasks that vary in requirements.

Digsite Finds:

Cleaning finds from the Digsite will earn Kudos. However, this means you’ll need to complete The Digsite quest. The cleaning area can be found on the Northeastern side of the Varrock Museum. Talk to the archaeologist, and he will explain what steps to take.

• 50 Kudos

Natural History Quiz:

Players can complete the Natural History Quiz mini-quest to earn 28 Kudos. The mini-quest will make you answer various questions about the creatures in the Varrock Museum Basement.

• 28 Kudos

Historian Minas:

Talk to Historian Minas to earn Kudos after completing certain quests. He will explain the quest you’re turning in and get Kudos with antique lamps. These are the quests to complete for Kudos rewards:

• Demon Slayer
• Rune Mysteries
• Shield of Arrav
• The Grand Tree
• Hazeel Cult
• In Aid of the Myreque
• Making History
• Merlin’s Crystal
• Observatory Quest
• Priest in Peril
• A Tail of Two Cats
• Temple of Ikov
• What Lies Below

These quests are beneficial to do not just for Kudos but also to progress your character. In addition, they are requirements for higher-tier quests.

• 75 Kudos

Ancient Relics:

In total, 5 relics can be exchanged for Kudos by talking to Curator Haig Halen. They are obtained by breaking Barronite deposits.

• 5 Kudos

Bone Voyage:

Once players complete the Bone Voyage, they will unlock Fossil Island. The quest has low-level requirements, which makes it very accessible. It’s officially intermediate difficulty and medium in length. However, we’ve deemed the quest very short and easy to do. Therefore, adventurers with less experience will find the quest enjoyable and uncomplicated.

Requirements:

• 100 Kudos
• Completing the Dig Site quest

Item Needed:

• 2 Vodka
• Marrentill Potion (unf)

Recommended:

• 4 Digsite Teleports
• Skills Necklace for Woodcutting Guild
• Varrock Teleport
• Amulet of Glory
• 2 Lumberyard Teleports

How To Complete Bone Voyage

The Finishing Touches:

1. Speak to Curator Haig Halen at the Varrock Museum to begin the quest. He will tell you they have found an interesting island North of Morytania, which contains archaeological significance. Agree to help and make your way to the Digsite.
2. Head to the canal barge North of the Digsite and speak to the barge foreman. They are completing the finishing touches before sailing. He’ll require a sturdier type of wood to keep the boat floating. Only Redwood will do in this situation.
3. Go to the sawmill operator at the Sawmill, and he’ll have a proposal to the Woodcutting Guild to obtain the Redwood plank. He will hand you a sawmill proposal, which you will take to the Woodcutting Guild.
4. Go inside the Woodcutting Guild, if you don’t have the requirements try the Eastern gate. Then hand the proposal to the Woodcutting Guild Sawmill Operator. Berry will sign it on behalf of the sawmill operator. He will then give you the sawmill agreement.
5. Return to the Varrock Sawmill Operator and hand in the sawmill agreement.

The Cursed Voyage:

1. Go back to the barge foreman who will let you board the barge. Then speak to the lead navigator, who will ask you’re aware of the previous voyages.
2. Select the first option to wish to know what happened. However, you can pick the 2^nd option to skip the dialogue.
3. The lead navigator will declare that he thinks the voyage is cursed and will refuse to sail unless you can ensure the safety of the crew. He will then ask you to go to the Rusty Anchor Inn in Port Sarim to talk to experienced sailors.
4. Head to Port Sarim using your most convenient teleport and go inside the inn. Talk to Jack Seagull and ask him about cursed voyages. He will claim that you will need a lucky bone charm, which the odd old man in Silvarea can give. Ahab will interrupt your conversation, claiming that a potion of sealegs will let you go on the voyage unscathed. You will decide you’ll ask the navigators which one they prefer to use.
5. Return to the lead navigator and ask what option they’d like to lift the curse. The lead navigator will say potion of sealegs, and the junior navigate will want the bone charm.
6. Visit the odd old man and ask for the luck charm. Tell him that you’re going to take a cursed voyage, and he will give the bone.
7. Then speak to the Apothecary in Varrock. He will ask for an unfinished marrentill potion and 2 bottles of vodka. Speak to him again, and you’ll receive the potion of sealegs.

Going On The Voyage:

1. Go back to the barge and give the junior navigator the bone charm and the lead navigator the potion of sealegs.
2. Begin the journey, and everybody except the junior navigator will pass out. He’s never navigated open waters, so it will be up to you to complete the voyage.
3. The progress bar will indicate how far you have left to reach the island. The controls are very simple:
   • When the top arrow tilts left, select the right arrow.
   • When the top arrow tilts right, select the left arrow.
   • Adjusting the height of the sails will alter how the boat shifts. Having the sails open as much as possible when going straight will allow a more consistent travel route.
4. Once you fill the progress bar, you’ll arrive at Fossil Island. Congratulations! The quest is complete, and you have access to the island.

Museum Camp

The Museum Camp is the base of operations of the Varrock Museum expedition. This will be the main location for banking, getting supplies, and progressing through the island.

After arriving on Fossil Island with the canal barge, your character will spawn West of the Museum Camp. At first, the area will not be useful and will look extremely basic. However, you can utilize your Construction skill and upgrade the campsite. These are the items needed to build everything within the campsite:

• 1 Hammer
• 1 Tinderbox
• 10 Oak Planks
• 2 Iron Bars
• 25 Nails
• 2 Logs
• 3 Soft Clay
• 1 Bucket
• 2 Ropes
• 5 Planks

All the workstations should be familiar as they can be found throughout Gielinor. You’ll want to build them as soon as possible so that you don’t need to leave the island to do basic activities.

Fossil Cleaning Station:

• Level 5 Construction
• 5 Planks
• 5 Nails

Bank Chest:

• Level 21 Construction
• 2 Oak Planks
• 5 Nails
• 1 Iron Bar

Well:

• Level 22 Construction
• 2 Oak Planks
• 5 Nails
• 1 Bucket
• 1 Rope

Cooking Pot:

• Level 24 Construction
• 2 Logs
• Tinderbox
• 1 Iron Bar
• 3 Soft Clay

Spinning Wheel:

• Level 28 Construction
• 4 Oak Planks
• 5 Nails

Loom:

• Level 29 Construction
• 2 Oak Planks
• 5 Nails
• 1 Rope

After building every station at the camp, speak to Peter, who is West of the rowboat. He will reward you with 5 unidentified small fossils, which can be placed inside the nearby fossil storage crate. Also, players with level 50 Mining and 150 Kudos can enter the Volcanic Mine.

Transportation To Fossil Island

• Ferry: Use the ferry from the Digsite.
• Digsite Pendant: Players can use the digsite pendant to teleport near the barge at the Digsite. Then fast travel by speaking to the barge guard.
• Digsite Pendant Upgrade: On Fossil Island, go to the House on the Hill North of the Museum Camp. Inside will be a strange machine, which you can use the digsite pendant on to unlock fast travel to that House.
• Glider and Spirit Tree Transport System: These transport methods are unlocked after completing certain quests. This will allow players to teleport from Varrock to the island.

Mycelium Transport System

The Mycelium Transportation System is a network of Magic Mushtrees that lets players get around the island quickly. To access the transportation method, they must first be discovered by walking to their locations. Then, by clicking on them, the location will be unlocked. Currently, there are 4 Magic Mushtrees on Fossil Island:

• House on the Hill – Inside the House on the Hill near base camp.
• Verdant Valley – South of the Museum Camp.
• Sticky Swamp – In the center of the Tar Swamp.
• Mushroom Meadow – Northwest of the Mushroom Forest.

Fossil Island Areas

Mushroom Forest

The Northwestern side of the island is the mushroom biome. The area is notoriously known to drop frame rates due to the number of mushrooms. This location has plenty of activities to train multiple skills.

Hardwood Tree Farming

The Southeastern corner has 3 tree patches that can be used to train the Farming Skill. The patches will only allow Teaks and Mahogany trees to be grown. The squirrels can be paid to look after the hardwood trees so that they don’t die.

Prayer

The Mushroom Forest has a Mycelium Pool filled with fungal life. Adding pyrophosphate and calcite will begin the chemical process and recalcify fossils into enriched bones. These bones will grant Prayer experience when buried.

Herblore and Tracking

Throughout the Mushroom Forest, there are herbiboars and kebbits that can be tracked. Players will need level 80 Hunter and level 31 Herblore to harvest their herbs. Tracking the herbiboars will require inspecting seaweed, muddy patches, mushrooms, and rocks to find trials. Occasionally you’ll receive numulite or unidentified fossils for inspecting objects. Once the creature is caught, the herbs gathered will be appropriate for the player’s Herblore level.

Wyvern Cave

Players on a Slayer Task can go slay wyverns inside the Wyvern Cave. Adventurers can only kill them on a task. The entrance is inside the Mushroom Forest.

Tar Swamp

The Southwestern side of Fossil Island features the Tar Swamp, which is a gloomy area. Going through this area requires a rake and an axe to clear the vines. Sulliuscep Mushrooms can be found throughout this location and can only be chopped down with an axe. Also, there are plenty of tar monsters that make this area difficult to travel through.

Deranged Archaeologist

The Deranged Archaeologist is found in the Southen end of the swamp. He will fight similarly to the Crazy Archaeologist, which makes the learning curve for this enemy easier. However, he deals a lot more damage, and his special attack can hit 70 HP.

Sulliuscep Mushrooms

The Sulliuscep Mushrooms can be chopped down if you have a Woodcutting level of 65. They can drop mushrooms, mory myre fungi, sulliuscep caps, numlite and unidentified fossils. 6 of these mushrooms can be found throughout the swamp, which is easily located by looking for the Woodcutting symbol on the map.

Bellshroom

Southwestern of the Magic Mushtree are bellshrooms that can be investigated. Using breadcrumbs on them will allow access into a small area slightly Northwestern. Here you can find Charles Charlington and receive his diary.

Spine Mushroom

Spine musrooms live throughout the Tar Swamp. They are highly aggressive plants that will attack passing adventurers. They can deal up to 10 damage and inflict poison. Therefore, bringing food to this location of Fossil Island is highly recommended.

Volcano Mine

The Volcano Mine is a huge chamber underneath Fossil Island. The entrance is Northeast of the volcano. You’ll notice it instantly because Petrified Pete is guarding the entrance. To go inside, you’ll need level 50 Mining, have at least 150 Mining, stored 5 unidentified small fossils, and build the basecamp fully.

When you enter the Volcano Mine, you’ll automatically be given a heat-proof vessel. Then you’ll have 30 seconds to prepare before the volcano begins to rumble. This will signal the minigame has started, and players will have 10 minutes to mine and get out. Afterward, the volcano will erupt, and everyone still inside will die.

Note: Players will need to equip Boots of Stone, Granite Boots, or Boots of Brimstone. This is because the surface is scorching, and your character needs to protect their feet.

Boulder

The main goal of the minigame is to mine the large boulder located in the lava channel. The boulder will reduce in size and will be carried downstream. Players will need to follow it and mine whenever it stops. More points are earned as the boulder gets smaller.

This is a group event so having more people join is optimal to get the boulder as small as possible. If there are less than 10 people, there will only be 1 boulder. If the group is bigger than 10 people, another boulder will be present in the Western channel. However, if +20 people join the 3^rd boulder will be present in the Eastern Channel.

When entering the lower level, lava beasts will spawn and launch fireballs. Protection from Missiles is recommended to reduce their damage to 1.

For players to move around the lower level, they’ll need to pour water onto the lava to harden it. Water is stored in the heat-proof vessel and has 35 uses per game. This can be doubled to 70 if players spend 10,000 points on larger capacity. The area will only be accessible for 90 seconds, which gives players a limited time to stand on them. When it melts, players who stand on the hardened lava will fall into the lava and take a considerable amount of damage.

Futhermore, while mining the boulder, players will receive various ore fragments. The type will vary on the size, with a small boulder giving rarer ores. Also, players can receive calcite, pyrophosphite, numlite, and unidentified fossils.

Ore Fragments:

Part Of The Boulder:

• Level 50 Mining
• 1 Point
• 5 Mining Experience

Iron Ore Fragment:

• Level 50 Mining
• 15 Point
• 10 Mining Experience

Silver Ore Fragment:

• Level 50 Mining
• 20 Points
• 20 Mining Experience

Coal Fragment:

• Level 50 Mining
• 25 Points
• 30 Mining Experience

Gold Ore Fragment:

• Level 50 Mining
• 34 Points
• 40 Mining Experience

Mithril Ore Fragment:

• Level 55 Mining
• 44 Points
• 60 Mining Experience

Adamantite Ore Fragment:

• Level 70 Mining
• 55 Points
• 100 Mining Experience

Runite Ore Fragment:

• Level 85 Mining
• 70 Points
• 150 Mining Experience

Gas Holes

There are several gas holes throughout the minigame, which can be used to be shot to the other side of the lava channel. This will cause a small amount of damage but are very useful for players who are running low on water. Therefore, you can travel long distances without using a limited amount of water.

Petrified Pete’s Ore Shop

The reward points from the volcano minigame can be used at Petrified Pete’s Ore Shop. He sells a variety of ores and other useful items. The maximum number of points players can store at the shop is 2,097,151.

• Iron Ore – 30 Points
• Silver Ore – 55 Points
• Coal Ore – 60 Points
• Gold Ore – 150 Points
• Mithril Ore – 150 Points
• Adamantite Ore – 300 Points
• Runite Ore – 855 Points
• Volcanic Ash – 40 Points
• Calcite – 70 Points
• Pyrophosphite – 70 Points
• Volcanic Mine Teleport – 200 Points
• Heat-Proof Vessel Upgrade – 10,000 Points
• Ash Covered Tome – 40,000 Points

The main reason you’d want to do this minigame is to obtain the Ash Covered Tome, which is the most expensive item in Petrified Pete’s Ore Shop. Reading it will unlock the Fertile Soil Spell that gives the effects of ultracompost when casting it with 2 volcanic ash in your inventory.

Underwater

The Underwater is located on the Northern coast of Fossil Island. To enter, players must travel to a small island via the rowboat, which is easily spotted by looking for the arrow icon. On the smaller island, players can dive under the water to find a unique area. Here they will find a bank and multiple activities to complete.

After unlocking the location, players can go there via the Museum Camp rowboat for faster travel. No equipment is needed to stay under the water. However, we strongly recommend using the fishbowl helmet and diving apparatus to extend the duration of the stay. Also, flippers can be used to run faster under the water.

Air Mechanics

Once you go beneath the surface of the water, an oxygen meter will be displayed. The bar will begin at 100% and will get down 1% every 1.8 seconds. At 10% oxygen, the screen will flash red, which indicates going back to the surface. Otherwise, drowning will occur. This won’t damage your character. Instead, they will lose a certain amount of supplies that were gathered.

Afterward, the NPC will return to the small island. To regenerate oxygen, players will need to enter the air bubbles, which increase the bar by 5% every few seconds. Alternatively, they can catch pufferfish, which instantly replenish 15% of the oxygen bar.

Drift Net Fishing

Drift Net Fishing has a requirement of level 47 Fishing and level 44 Hunter to begin. First, speak to Ceto, who is North of the anchor rope. She will speak about the activity and how Drift Net Fishing works. 200 numulites are required as payment to enter the area, which will last for a full day. However, players can pay 20,000 numulites to gain permanent access.

When fishing, you’ll need to string up drift nets to catch fish. After, chase the fish shoals into the drift nets to catch them. Every fish shoal fills the net by 10% and gives experience in Fishing and Hunter. Use the trident of the seas because it will make the catching process much easier.

Once harvesting the catch, the drift net will be destroyed. Players can then put the fish in their inventory or pay 5 numulites to bank all the fish. These are the fishes and items that can be caught:

• Sardines
• Anchovies
• Lobster
• Tuna
• Swordfish
• Sharks
• Pufferfish
• Oysters
• Clue Bottles
• Fossils
• Numulites
• Sea Turtles
• Manta Rays

All the fish have a similar percentage chance of being caught.

Seaweed Farming

South of the anchor rope is 2 seaweed patches that can be harvested. This will require a minimum of level 23 Farming. Only Seaweed spores are allowed to be planted on the farming patches. The nearby mermaid requires 200 numulites to watch over each patch.

Planting the seeds grants 19 Farming experiences, and harvesting provides 21 Farming experiences. The minimum amount of seaweed that can be harvested is 3 with a maximum of 40. However, on average, players will receive 20-40 seaweed depending on their Farming level.

Underwater Agility and Thieving

The whole Eastern location is an Agility and Thieving area. Players will need to remove their fishbowl helmets to begin the lap. There is plenty of air bubbles and pufferfish around the track to keep oxygen levels up.

Players can find treasure chests, giant clam shells, tunnels, holes, and other obstacles upon entering the area. Traversing and opening these items will grant experience. In addition, a flashing arrow will be visible to make it easier to navigate the Agility Course.

Mermaid tears can be found during the lap, which is a form of currency. They can be spent at Mairin’s Market to buy various fossils and equipment.

• Unidentified Small Fossil – 100 Mermaid tears
• Unidentified Medium Fossil – 200 Mermaid tears
• Unidentified Large Fossil – 300 Mermaid tears
• Merfolk Trident – 400 Mermaid tears
• Seaweed Spore – 20 Mermaid tears
• Bowl of Fish – 30 Mermaid tears

FAQ

Summary

Today we dived deep into everything you need to know about Fossil Island. You now know the short quest you’ll need to complete, transportation methods, and what activities to do. This location is brilliant for those who want to try something new in OSRS. Also, the island is beautifully designed and provides a new aspect of Gielinor. Players can spend hours here uncovering the mystery of the island!

Looking for more interesting readings? Check out:

• Shilo Village OSRS: The Ultimate Location Guide [2022]
• Konar OSRS Guide: A Slayer Master That You Must Know!
• Rune Dragon OSRS Guide – How To Make Serious OSRS Money!

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Martynas Pupkevicius

Martnyas wants ot help other Runescape members express their creativity to its full potential. She’s willing to help other people in the Runescape community achieve their goals while playing, which is why she’s dedicated to breaking down the most common challenges and questions Runescape members run into. She’s got the passion and experience to deliver high-quality content to all of our readers, no matter how new they are to playing Runescape.

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