History Recap / RuneScapeTheBranchesOfDarkmeyer

* DeadlyDecadentCourt: Darkmeyer in a nutshell. It's heavily class-segregated between the upper, middle, and lower terraces, and you can't get to the upper terrace before you've gained a good deal of reputation.

* VideoGameCaringPotential: You have the opportunity to free Maria Gadderanks, the wife of Gadderanks the blood tither you killed back in ''In Aid of the Myreque'', from prison. You can also protect a blood tither from being subjected to YouHaveFailedMe for an accident that you caused, and refuse to kill Meiyerditch citizens abducted because they couldn't pay the blood tithe. Doing the latter two will give you less reputation, but you can still gain enough through other methods to enter the Arboretum.

When you go to meet V, you find that you've misunderstood the situation. V didn't stand for Vanstrom, it stood for Vanescula, sister of the big cheese Lord Lowerniel Drakan (who's a bit miffed about the mistaken identity). And she's surprisingly on the level- she, too, wishes to kick Lord Drakan out of power, if for her own reasons. Drakan's been shut up in his castle for centuries instead of actually ruling, and Vanescula is not happy with it. She would also be a better ruler, by human standards, because she's willing to exploit something that Lord Drakan isn't. You remember that Haelchemy lab from ''Darkness of Hallowvale'', which the vampyres abandoned because of something they found there that they wanted hidden at all costs? Turns out, what they found was a method to remove vampyres' dependence on blood. This would absolutely ''shatter'' Morytania's status quo, so Lord Drakan ordered it covered up. Vanescula, on the other hand, wants to make use of it.

! The Tropes of Darkmeyer

* WeHardlyKnewYe: Rainis Drakan. The other Drakan sibling, equal in status to Vanescula… but he is only seen before in one short cutscene in ''Darkness of Hallowvale'', and his main role in the quest is to have Vanescula turn on him and kill him when he tries to stop you from getting wood from the Blisterwood tree.

* FantasticRacism: Vampyres don't think too highly of humans. One vyrelord will have you humiliate a human blood tithe collector just for the fun of it.
** They're also racist against werewolves- the two Canifis Settlers are confined to the lowest part of Darkmeyer, and the werewolf trader is stuck in the middle level.

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* WeHardlyKnewYe: Rainis Drakan. The other Drakan sibling, equal in status to Vanescula… but he is only seen before in one short cutscene in ''Legacy of Seergaze'', and his main role in the quest is to have Vanescula turn on him and kill him when he tries to stop you from getting wood from the Blisterwood tree.

Now there's only one more immediate problem left- Vanstrom. He won't stop chasing the Myreque until either he or they are dead, and Vanescula has informed you that he knows of the Myreque's Meiyerditch base (this time not your fault). The Myreque are tired of running, and thanks to you they have shiny new anti-vampyre weaponry. So they send you to solve the problem by killing Vanstrom off. You have a fight and Vanstrom dies... but beforehand, he reveals that he's interested in Safalaan because he's part Icyene (Saradominist-alinged angel-like beings who ruled Morytania back when it was still Hallowvale). Safalaan himself has gone missing, last seen talking to Vanescula on the Vyrewall. Veliaf is worried because the deaths of Rainis and Vanstrom mean that the vampyres can no longer dismiss the Myreque as unimportant- after all, one of their members broke into Darkmeyer itself and killed two powerful and influential vyre nobles, one of them the sibling of Lord Drakan himself.

* CainAndAbel: A bit of a reverse to the norm, since the sibling plotting fratricide (Vanescula) is the better sibling and the victim (Lowerniel) is the more evil one.

* FantasticRacism: Vampyres don't think too highly of humans. One vyrelord will have you humiliate a blood tithe collector just for the fun of it.

* TheStarscream: Vanescula.
* VideoGameCaringPotential: You have the opportunity to free Maria Gadderanks, the wife of Gadderanks the blood tither you killed back in ''In Aid of the Myreque'', from prison. You can also protect a blood tither from being subjected to YouHaveFailed me for an accident that you caused, and refuse to kill Meiyerditch citizens abducted because they wouldn't pay the blood tithe. Doing the latter two will give you less reputation, but you can still gain enough through other methods to enter the Arboretum.

Now there's only one more immediate problem left- Vanstrom. He won't stop chasing the Myreque until either he or they are dead, and Vanescula has informed you that he knows of the Myreque's Meiyerditch base (this time not your fault). The Myreque are tired of running, and thanks to you they have shiny new anti-vampyre weaponry. So they send you to solve the problem by killing Vanstrom off. You have a fight and Vanstrom dies... but beforehand, he reveals that he's interested in Safalaan because he's part Icyene (Saradominist-alinged angel-like beings who ruled Morytania back when it was still Hallowvale). Safalaan himself has gone missing, and Lowerniel Drakan is still alive. But for now...

Congratulations, quest complete!

Vanescula also reveals one of the vampyres' biggest weaknesses- blisterwood. Blisterwood harms vampyres on contact, and because it's alive and moves of its own will, it [[NoSell No Sells]] vampyric telepathic cheating. There is only one Blisterwood tree left in Morytania, although there once were more. And if you're wondering why the vyres haven't destroyed it yet, the answer is that they've ''tried''. It didn't work, and all they could do was shut the tree up in the Arboretum, restrain it, keep it sick, and guard it. If you can revive the tree and cut some logs from it, you could turn them into weapons better, even, than the Ivandis Flail.

The Arboretum where the tree is kept is in the upper terraces of Darkmeyer, the vampyre part of the Sanguinesti region. Vanescula will help you disguise yourself as a vampyre, at which point you can start integrating yourself with vyre society until they trust you enough to let you in. At which point you can heal the tree and get some wood from it. Rainis Drakan, Lord Drakan's other sibling, suspects you and corners you in the Arboretum, but he didn't suspect that Vanescula would be on your side, and she kills him.

Inside the cave, you find two things of interest- a strange medallion with the Drakan symbol, and a letter to Safalaan from someone who signs themselves as 'V'. V claims to have known Safalaan as a child and to know the secrets of his past. Naturally, everyone thinks that it's a trap and 'V' stands for 'Vanstrom', but Safalaan is desperate. He's ReallySevenHundredYearsOld, but has no memory prior to maturity. He also has that power you saw demonstrated on a pair of Vyrewatch last quest, and he's recently been having disturbing, barely-remembered visions. So he wants to meet with V. Of course, he's not stupid enough to just let him get lured into a trap when he'd clearly be the target, so he wants you to go instead.