Introduction
Despite the best efforts of scientists and philosophers, RuneScape frequently refuses to obey what should be sensible laws of science. With all of that crazy magic flying around, though, this isn't an especially surprising state of affairs, and in general the scientists and philosophers just sit in their libraries and pretend it's not happening. Unfortunately, it's rather hard to ignore a massive rock landing in your backyard concealing a sprite who has fallen from the sky.
As RuneScape enters a new area of its particular universe, it also enters a belt of these 'stars', which are actually home to the star sprites. They don't enjoy being knocked out of the sky by roving planets, though, and will handsomely reward anyone who can free them from their damaged home so they can find a new one and get back up into the great beyond.
A star begins to fall
Requirements
Anyone can find a shooting star, and will be rewarded if they are the first to do so, but you will need a Mining level of at least 10 to mine the star itself. To mine the thickest, hardest layers, however, a higher Mining level will be extraordinarily useful.
Getting Started
Shooting stars are a relatively common phenomenon regardless of where you are, although the majority of them disintegrate as they enter the atmosphere, leaving the star sprite free to find a new rock by themselves. Those who live in the larger stars or arrive from certain angles, however, will crash into the earth and need to be rescued.
To rescue a star sprite, you first need to identify where and when a shooting star is likely to fall. The easiest way to determine this is to simply head to a telescope in someone's house and have a look. If one is on a collision course, you will be presented with some information based on angles, speed of approach and so on.
Mining a shooting star
Estimated impact location and time
Of course, telescopes on RuneScape can only offer a 'best guess', so you'll find that different times and different people will get different results. The information you can glean from observing a shooting star will gradually become more accurate the closer it gets to landing.
When you know where a shooting star is going to land, you can head there and try to mine your way through the outer layers to free the star sprite and get your reward. If you are the first person to attempt to mine it, you will be rewarded with a hefty chunk of Mining experience (there is no Mining level requirement to claim this bonus).
Shooting stars come in a variety of sizes, and the larger they are the harder the outer layers will be. An exceptionally large star can have as many as nine layers, while very small stars will only have one or two. Because of the remarkable hardness of a a large star, only the most experienced miners will be able to penetrate its shell until the more brittle layers are exposed. You can find out how large and hard a star is by prospecting it.
It's an arduous task getting through the layers of a star, so it may take a great deal of time unless there are several people working at it at once. You'll probably need some help to get to the centre anyway, as you can only carry a maximum of 200 stardust at a time. When the star sprite is finally freed, you can chat to them to claim your reward.
Note that star sprites are a little suspicious of people with pickaxes whacking holes in their homes (even if that home has crashed), and so will only offer to reward your work once per day.
Rewards
Star sprites, being magical creatures, are capable of using the stardust you gather from their homes to create objects and items, and are more than happy to do so. To claim your reward, simply chat to the star sprite while it stands around in the remains of its star. Note that you can only claim a reward once per day, so you might like to hold onto your stardust until you have some more (up to the maximum of 200).
Regardless of this, there is also a chance that gems can be found in the various layers of the star. The harder layers have been subject to the greatest heat and pressure, so you are much more likely to find one in the largest stars with the hardest shells.
Development Team
Developer: Paul G
Graphics: Matthew M, Matthew S, Matthew N, Giuseppe G,
QA: Chris L, Chris E
Audio: Grace D
