Hand in the Sand, The

Start location: Bert, in the house in North West Yanille

Requirements:

Items: Beer, Empty vial (2 best to save time), Red Berries, White berries, 5 Earth Rune, Bucket of sand, (Bulls-eye) Lantern lens

Suggested:

Items: Ring of Duelling, Amulet of Glory, Explorer's ring 3, teleport runes to Watchtower and Ardougne

Starting out

1. Talk to Bert about the severed hand he found in his sand pit and agree to report it. He will give it to you.

2. Talk to the Guard Captain, located in the Dragon Inn south of Bert's house. He will ask for a drink. Buy him one from the barman. Talk to him again to report the hand. He will do some unintentional stuff with the hand and give it back to you. He also tells you to go talk to the wizards.

3. Head east to the wizards guild, and ring the bell. Zavistic Rarve will appear, and talk to you. You will find out that the hand belongs to his student. You will be asked to investigate.

4. Go back and talk to Bert again. He will give you his work rota.

Investigating Sandy

Now begins the main part of the quest – you will need to do a lot of travelling. For the quickest ways to the various locations, see the Tips and Tricks section.

5. Head off to Brimhaven. South of the Restaurant you will see a small building with a sign saying 'Sand'. This is where Sandy is. Talk to him, and you will find that he doesn't want people prying into his business. Search his desk anyway! You will find his copy of Bert's Rota. Compare the two, and you will notice they are different! Before moving on, after you have searched the desk, pickpocket Sandy to receive sand.

6. You now need to go back to Bert, and ask him about the discrepancies between the two rotas. He will be confused and ask you to talk to the wizards. He gives you a magical looking scroll.

7. You need to go back to Zavistic Rarve and give him the scroll. He will say that you need a truth serum to investigate Sandy, and that Betty in Port Sarim will make you one. He also gives you an orb to interview Sandy with. He will offer to teleport you to Port Sarim in exchange for an empty vial. First, though, get the following items out of your bank: Red Berries, White Berries, Bulls-Eye Lens, and two empty vials.

Meeting Betty

8. Make sure you bring the sand you took from Sandy to Betty's Magic Shop, and talk to Betty. She will ask for a vial – give it to her. She will then present you with a bottle of water, and tell you to make a rose tinted lens. First use the Red-berries on the bottle of water. Then use the White-berries on the bottle. Use this dye on the Bull-eye lens.

9. Talk to Betty again, and she will tell you to stand in the doorway with the lens. Walk over to the doorway, and stand on the inside. Then use the Rose Tinted Lens with the Counter. You will be given an incomplete Truth Serum. To complete it, you need something of Sandy's.

10. This is where the sand comes in. Talk to Betty again to receive the completed Truth Serum.

11. Head off to Sandy in Brimhaven again. You now need to find a way to get the serum in his coffee. Distract him by using one of the possible lines that you can tell him (keep trying until one of the lines work). Quickly pop the serum in the coffee. He will drink it. Now activate the orb Zavistic Rarve gave you. Next talk to Sandy, and he will tell the truth. Extract the confession from him, and return to the Wizard.

Happy Endings (for most)

12. Zavistic Rarve will ask for 5 Earth Runes and a bucket of sand. He will do a bit of magic (with a neat cutscene), and then ask you to help recover his student's body.

13. Head off to Entrana, and talk to the Mazion. Mazion is found by the sandpit, to the west of the where you arrive by boat. He will give you the dead wizard's head.

14. Go back to Zavistic Rarve for your reward!

• 1,000 Thieving Exp
• 9,000 Crafting Exp
• Bert's Sand delivery service – once a day you may talk to Bert and get him to deliver 84 buckets of sand to your bank account.
• 2 Treasure Hunter keys

• Back to my Roots
• While Guthix Sleeps

• Getting around the various locations:

Yanille: The quickest way here is to use the Watch-Tower teleport, or if your magic is too low, a ring of duelling to go to Castle Wars, and walk from there.

Brimhaven: Glory teleport to Karamja and walk from there. You could also go to Ardougne and catch a boat for 30 gold.

Port Sarim: Explorer's Ring 3 teleport to cabbage patch and walk directly south. You could also Glory teleport to Draynor, and walk, or Karamja and catch the boat for 30 gold. You could also walk a very, very long way!

Entrana: Glory teleport to Draynor, then walk to Port Sarim. Catch the monks boat for free. (Explorer Rings are not permitted on Entrana. This rules out the CabbagePort spell.)

• As the rose tinted lens breaks during the quest, if you don't want to do another lantern lens you can use a sapphire on your bulls-eye lantern to get the lens out of it.
• You can buy more pink dye from Betty for 20gp each and use it on capes to dye them pink after completing the quest.
• If you are having difficulty pickpocketing Sandy, try getting the Rota from Bert first.