Fossil Island

Fossil Island
Released		7 September 2017 (Update)
Members		Yes
Location		Untamed Ocean
Teleports		Digsite pendant (Fossil Island) Canal barge
Map
Advanced data
Type		island

Fossil Island is a members-only area located north-east of Morytania and unveils a unique environment where players can train a variety of skills. It is an ancient, uncharted island currently being explored by the Varrock Museum.

The island itself is surrounded by seven other smaller islands, though they are currently inaccessible save for Lithkren, the island north-west that players visit during the quest Dragon Slayer II.

In order to reach the island, players must have completed the Bone Voyage quest.

Initially, Fossil Island could only be reached via the barge from the Digsite, which is close to the Varrock Teleport.

The fastest way to travel to Fossil Island is to use a digsite pendant, which will teleport the player near the barge at the Digsite, where they can fast travel to the Museum Camp by speaking to the barge guard.

The pendant can be used on the southernmost strange machine inside the House on the Hill, north-east of the Museum Camp, to unlock the 'Fossil Island' (or house) teleport option. There is also a magic mushtree at the house that utilises the Mycelium Transportation System; this system of magic mushtrees allows transportation around Fossil Island, but in order to access them, they must be discovered by walking to their locations first and attempting to use them.

If a digsite pendant is not available, several other options to reach the Digsite are available.

The fastest way is to use a Digsite teleport scroll which teleports players south-west of the barge.

Alternatively, gnome glider transport to Lemanto Andra, the glider landing site south-west of the barge, can be suitable with easy access to a glider. Players can use a ring of dueling to teleport to the Emir's Arena to use the glider west of the gem trader in Al Kharid, the Cowbell amulet and run south east to the glider west of the gem trader in Al Kharid, or travel to the Gnome Stronghold via a royal seed pod after completion of Monkey Madness II to use the glider atop the Grand Tree.

After arriving on Fossil Island, the player will be just west of the Museum Camp. At first, the camp will not be very useful, but players can utilise their Construction skill and materials to build improvements within the camp. A list of these, along with other activities on the island, can be found on a notice board at the camp's western edge.

To build the bank, players will need a hammer, 21 Construction, 2 oak planks, 1 iron bar, and 5 nails. See the camp's page for a list of other constructable utilities and their required materials. You will need 29 Construction to build everything.

There is a fossil storage crate East of the camp which can store fossils found whilst on the island. There are additional crates scattered elsewhere around the island, and one in the Varrock Museum basement.

The north-west section of the island is the Mushroom Forest. There are various activities here that allow players to train a variety of skills. Players can slay ancient zygomites as part of a zygomite Slayer task, track down herbiboars throughout the forest, plant teak and mahogany trees in the three tree patches in the south-east corner, and calcify fossils in the mycelium pool.

In addition, the Wyvern Cave can be found in the Mushroom Forest beneath a trapdoor. The wyverns within can only be slain if players have been assigned Fossil Island wyverns as a Slayer task.

The south-west section of the island contains a large swamp. Travelling through the swamp requires a rake to clear vines in addition to an axe to chop down thick vines. Sulliuscep mushrooms can be found throughout the swamp, but only one can be chopped down, forcing players to traverse the hostile swamp while avoiding aggressive tar monsters to find the choppable sulliuscep. There is also a rubber cap mushroom that can be used to launch the player next to a Magic Mushtree, but this can inflict up to 50+ damage if the player has not filled the landing pit with mushrooms.

In the southern end of the swamp, players will find the deranged archaeologist, who fights similarly to the crazy archaeologist found in the Wilderness ruins. However, he is much more dangerous, as his special attack can hit for 56 damage.

The volcano can be found on the south-east side of the island. Many ash piles can be found here, along with the Volcanic Mine.

A small island can be found north of Fossil Island, which can be accessed either by using the rowboat at the north-east corner of the Mushroom Forest, or by using the zip line on the House on the Hill, which requires 74 Agility. It contains a bank chest.

While on the bank chest island, the player can use the rowboat to dive beneath the waters of Fossil Island.

Unlike other underwater areas throughout the game, a small bar indicating the player's oxygen level will appear at the top left of the game screen when they enter the area. This bar will continually drain while the player remains underwater; if it runs out, players will drown and reappear at the surface. You can refill your oxygen by collecting pufferfish, which can be consumed to refill your oxygen. However, if the player has a fishbowl helmet and diving apparatus equipped (or medallion of the deep), their oxygen level will stay at 100%. The helmet and apparatus can be safely removed and re-equipped while underwater, and if you have an oxygen level below 100%, it will slowly fill back up once both items are re-equipped.

Located on the north-east side of the island, the House on the Hill can be travelled to by climbing a hill on the south end of the Mushroom Forest. Within the house are various strange machines, one of which can enchant a digsite pendant to allow players to teleport directly to the house. Additionally, one of the four magic mushtrees on the island can be found here, allowing quick access to other parts of the island by teleporting here via digsite pendant and then using the magic mushtree to travel.

In the basement of the house, accessible via a trapdoor in the south-east corner, there are several stone chests with a search option. Searching the stone chest will ask for a numulite. After inserting the numulite, the chest will give the search option to insert 100 numulites into the hole. The chests have a chance of having nothing happen, dealing damage, or giving one of various notes. The notes can be added to the player's Fossil Island note book. In addition, behind the ladder, a pile of books can be searched to obtain an ancient diary.

• 
  Artwork of Fossil Island.
• 
  Artwork of the Volcanic Mine.
• 
  Artwork of the underwater area.
• 
  Concept art of "Skrooms".
• 
  Concept art of the "Grim Lily".
• 
  Work in progress models of the Pitcher Plant and the Grim Lily
• 
  Work in progress model of the Spine tree
• 
  Work in progress model of Spine tree with wireframe
• 
  Another image of the Pitcher plant model, further along into development.
• 
  Log in screen during release.
• 
  Finalists for the login screen competition for Fossil Island.

• Maz, a squirrel, can be found on the Fossil Island Volcano. This is named after Mod Maz, who designed the island.
• Though the world map shows that Fossil Island is surrounded by seven smaller islands, Skeka's map of the archipelago in the House on the Hill's basement displays thirteen other islands.
• The small island east of the House on the Hill contains a unique object named Wilhelm, referencing Wilson the Volleyball, a character made from a volleyball in the film Cast Away.
• In an official 2015 Facebook video meant to show off the Sailing skill, Fossil Island was shown as a possible shipyard with wyvern bones as its icon in the Sailing skill guide.