Ratcatchers

This quest has a quick guide. It briefly summarises the steps needed to complete the quest.

Ratcatchers is a quest in which you help various people with rat-related problems. The quest introduces the Rat Pits, a collection of underground arenas where cats train and fight.

Start point	Talk to Gertrude west of Varrock. Show on map
Official difficulty	Intermediate
Official length	Medium
Description	Gertrude knows of some ratcatchers in Varrock, pay her a visit and she may tell you of their whereabouts. Perhaps they could show you and your cat a few pointers about rat catching. Enter the subterranean world of the rat catchers and discover more of your cat's true potential.
Requirements	Completion of the following quests: Icthlarin's Little Helper Gertrude's Cat Access to Keldagrim The Giant Dwarf started
Items required	Any type of cat or hellcat (for most of the quest, a cat with a high successful rat catch rate is recommended, and overgrown cats cannot be used there -- during the Hooknosed Jack part of the quest, any cat with strong combat stats is recommended) 4 cheese (or 4 Poisoned cheese) Rat poison (if cheese is not already poisoned; can be found in the Clock Tower Basement), or made during the quest with the following items: Empty vial Cleaned kwuarm (grimy will not work; Zahur in Nardah cleans grimy herbs for 200 coins) Red spiders' eggs Cleaned marrentill (grimy will not work) Unicorn horn dust Bucket of milk or Bottomless milk bucket Catspeak amulet, even if Dragon Slayer II is completed Pot of weeds (use an empty pot with weeds) Tinderbox 101 coins (or 51 coins with a ring of charos (a)) Snake charm (obtained from The Feud or during the quest) 1 free inventory space
Recommended	8-10 fish to heal your cat (leaping trout/leaping salmon won't work); raw karambwanji stack and can free space Ring of charos (a) to spend fewer coins on Ali the Snake Charmer Fast travel to several locations Varrock (Varrock teleport, Chronicle or combat bracelet to the Champions' Guild) Port Sarim (Rimmington teleport, Teleport to House if your house is in Rimmington, Explorer's Ring 2, amulet of glory to Draynor Village, skills necklace to the Crafting Guild or Fairy Rings to AIQ) Pollnivneach (Pollnivneach teleport, Teleport to House if your house is in Pollnivneach or Magic Carpet transport) Ardougne (Ardougne teleport) Keldagrim (Blast Furnace Minigame Teleport, Varrock teleport, ring of wealth to the Grand Exchange or Fairy rings to DKS or DKR)
Enemies to defeat	None, but your cat will have to fight the King rat
League notes	Impossible to complete, as it requires visits to Asgarnia✓, Desert✓, Kandarin✓, and Fremennik✓

Talk with Gertrude. She will tell you to speak to Phingspet and Grimesquit, the Sisters Grime. They can be found in the Varrock Sewers, East of the Palace exit. After speaking with them briefly, your cat will have to catch eight rats before they will speak to you more. To find out how many rats you've caught, check your quest journal or speak to either of them and they will tell you.

Note: You must have the two sniff your cat before starting to have it chase rats, or they will not count!

Alternatively, a conversation box will pop up when you've caught the eight rats. The success rate of catching rats seems to take into account the proximity of the rat, so if you're using a kitten it may be worth attacking one to turn it aggressive to you, which in turn will keep it close. This trick will not work for rats later in the quest.

Catch eight rats in Varrock Sewers by clicking the "Chase" option on your cat. Then, speak to them again to receive a rat pole, and they will send you to talk to Jimmy Dazzler in Ardougne.

Note: Be prepared to spend some time on this part unless you get extremely lucky. The guards simply having their backs turned is not enough to keep you from being seen.

Jimmy Dazzler can be found in a house to the west of the Flying Horse Inn in East Ardougne on the west side of the river. He needs a house cleared of rats in an unofficial capacity so as not to tarnish his client's reputation; to this end, you will need to sneak around the house unnoticed, avoiding the guards who will think you are an intruder. Jimmy will give you Directions to follow to the house. Read them, and you will be prompted to go to the house (it is not located on the world map — you are teleported there instantly). You will find yourself in front of the house, in the gardens.

To make your way inside the house, you will need to make sure you don't draw the guards' attention; keeping Run on is advised and having lots of patience will help greatly. Guards will not notice your cat. There are three "checkpoints"; upon reaching these points, any guards who see you will send you back to these points, rather than the very beginning. You must also avoid the party guests, but they are all located away from any of the rooms containing rats.

Kittens and cats have increased rat catch rates during this section of the quest. The catch rate for kittens is increased from 10% to 40%, and the catch rate for cats is increased from 50% to 75%. The catch rates of other cat types remains unchanged.

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Bug:

If The Feud has been completed, Ali Morrisane should not teleport the player out if he catches them. However, due to the game checking for an impossible state of the quest variable, this does not work, and being seen by Ali Morrisane will always result in the player being teleported out.

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The red and blue tiles indicate where the guards stop along their paths. Note that the guards retrace their steps and stop at each spot on their return. For example, the south guard goes along the path (1-2-3-2-1).

• Start at tile A.
• When the south guard is on blue tile 1, run to tile B.
• Immediately run to tile C.

Note that when the north guard would normally move from their position at tile 7, they will instead teleport to tile 5.

• Start at tile A.
• When the south guard is at blue tile 1 and the north guard is on any red tile 1-4, run to tile B.
• When the north guard is on any red tile 4-7, run to tile C.
• While the north guard is still on any red tile 4-7, run to tile D and climb the trellis, then immediately move to tile A in Part 3 below, if not caught.
• Climbing the trellis will set a safe checkpoint north of the trellis.

For this section, it's recommended to go into your Settings, then "All Settings" and enable the option "Hide Roofs" under the Display category. This will make it a lot easier to see the guards as they move around while you attempt to move inside the mansion.

Note: If the guards follow a pattern that will never allow passage, you are required to either switch worlds or get caught by the same guard several times.

For this section, it is recommended to keep your cat in your inventory while moving about to avoid it becoming stuck on obstacles, or else use the 'Call follower' option in the equipment tab to teleport your cat to you.

• When the west guard is on any blue tile 6-7 and the east guard is on any red tile 4-7, run to tile B. Note that you MUST run onto the balcony behind the wall to reach tile A before continuing.'
• Catch the rat in this room. Make sure you are not standing in the doorway when the guard passes by.
• When the west guard is on any blue tile 4-7 and the east guard is on any red tile 6-7, run to tile C and go through the door, again making sure you are not standing in the doorway when the guard passes by.
  • Alternatively for steps 3-4, get caught and start at the tile that mirrors A, then mirror previous steps.
• When the west guard is on any blue tile 1 or 3-6 and the east guard is on red tile 1, run to tile D.
• Catch the 2 rats in this room and go down the ladder. There will be no more guards once you go down the ladder.
• Catch the last 3 rats in this room and the kitchen to the north.
• 1 rat may spawn outside of this room/kitchen, simply change world and the rat will be correctly spawn in the room.

To proceed, all six rats need to have been caught. You will automatically start a dialogue with your cat after catching the last rat.

Once you catch all six rats, teleport out of the mansion and return to Jimmy Dazzler. Alternatively, you can return to Ardougne by sneaking back to the trellis. He will give you access to the Ardougne Rat Pits and tell you about the next person you have to find: Hooknosed Jack.

	King Rat Is Dead!
The jingle that plays once the King Rat dies.

	Long Live The Rat King
The jingle that plays when defeated by the King Rat.

You can find Hooknosed Jack in south-eastern Varrock (look for the minigame icon). He will tell you about the rat infestation in a warehouse nearby. You need rat poison, or he can make you some if you give him a vial, red spiders' eggs, and a kwuarm. Use the poison on four pieces of cheese to create poisoned cheese; then, go to the warehouse south of the pub. Go in and climb the ladder to the top. Use (be sure not to eat!) your poisoned cheese on the four rat holes to poison them. Return to Hooknosed Jack.

He will tell you that his cat, Pox, ate some of the poisoned rats. Go to the Apothecary (the potion shop in west Varrock). He will ask for a marrentill herb, a crushed unicorn horn, and a bucket of milk to make a special cat antipoison. Give the antipoison to Hooknosed Jack to cure Pox, who will then tell you that there is still one rat left - the biggest and most evil. Go back to the warehouse. Climb upstairs and inside a room, you'll see the King rat, but you won't be able to reach it yourself. If your cat disappears log out and back in, or use the Call follower button.

Ensure that you have enough fish (8-10 recommended). Use your cat on the hole in the wall (not the rat holes) to challenge the king rat. You will be presented with two dialogue options:

• "Be careful!" : Your cat will automatically retreat if it has only one hitpoint remaining, allowing you to restart the fight. (The King rat will regain its hp.)
• "Don't hold back!" : Your cat will continue fighting until it or the rat dies. Warning: Not recommended due to the potential risk of losing your cat.

You can always withdraw and pull back your cat by climbing down the stairs, or by calling it via the worn equipment tab.

The king rat has 10 hitpoints and deals a maximum of 1 damage at a time. Your cat has combat stats according to its type. Whenever your cat takes too much damage, you can use fish on the hole in the wall (not on the cat itself) to heal it.

After you defeat the King rat, go back to Hooknosed Jack. He'll give you access to the Varrock Rat Pits and tell you about Smokin' Joe.

The Giant Dwarf must be started to access Keldagrim.

Go to Keldagrim (you can use the minecart entrance north-west of the Grand Exchange, the Blast Furnace minigame teleport, or the city's entrance east of Rellekka) and talk to Smokin' Joe east of the pickaxe shop (far in the east of Keldagrim), who will tell you about his rat problem. The only way to get the rats out of their hole is to smoke them out, but Smokin' Joe can't do it because of the poor condition of his lungs. Offer to help him. Light a pot of weeds with your tinderbox, and use it on the rat hole to the east of him. Rats will come out the other side and quickly go back in. Place your cat on the ground and wear your catspeak amulet - note that wearing the catspeak amulet is required if Dragon Slayer II is not completed. Use your smouldering pot on the rat hole again, and your cat will offer to help. Accept, and your cat will ambush the rats and kill them. Talk to Smokin' Joe again, and he will give you access to the Keldagrim Rat Pits and tell you about The Face.

Note: If your cat disappears when you use the smouldering pot on the rat hole, simply log out and back in again, or use the Call follower button, and it will reappear next to you.

You can find The Face in Port Sarim next to the fishing shop (look for the minigame icon). She will tell you to talk to Felkrash down in the rat pits. Go down the manhole and find Felkrash, who will tell you to get rid of all of Port Sarim's vermin at once.

Talk to The Face and ask the third option she will tell you about a snake charmer in Pollnivneach.

Note: You have to talk with The Face before heading to Pollnivneach, else the snake charmer will not discuss the alternate methods of animal charming.

Go to Pollnivneach in the Kharidian Desert. You will find Ali the Snake Charmer there south of the bar (After completion of The Feud, his name changes from Ali to Badir). Use a coin on his money pot to get his attention. Ask him about charming other animals, and he will tell you that he and Felkrash had a falling out because of Felkrash's killing of animals. When presented with multiple-choice dialogue, offer him some money. Tell him you don't care about his offer and walk away slowly until you get the option to stop. He will reluctantly give you a music scroll and snake charm for 100 coins (if you already have a snake charm from The Feud quest in your inventory or bank, you will not receive another). You can charm him with the ring of charos to lower his price to 50 coins, and also skip the walking away part.

Return to Port Sarim and stand near the docks. Compose the tune on the snake charm in the order that you can find on your music scroll (as seen in the screenshot; D, G, E, F#, (raise octave D), B, C#, A). One note is selected per page; note that the fifth note is an octave higher, which requires pressing the Raise an Octave button on the top left of the scroll. Note also that there are two notes with two holes. Once you're done, click "PLAY". Note: You cannot play the tune unless you have gotten the music scroll from Ali (or Badir) the Snake Charmer. If you try, you'll get a message that your fingers are not dexterous enough to play the tune.

Your character will proceed to play the song, which will charm the rats. You'll see a cutscene where you lead the rats into the ocean. Talk to Felkrash in the Port Sarim Rat Pits to finish the quest.

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Bug:

Talking to Felkrash with an overgrown cat in the inventory will cause her to train it into a wily cat, which will automatically be set as your follower. Doing so will automatically delete your current follower, such as a kitten.

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Congratulations, quest complete!

	Pied Piper
The jingle that encourages all the rats to jump into the ocean.

• 2 Quest points
• 4,500 Thieving experience
• A rat pole
• The ability to train overgrown cats into wily and lazy cats.
• The ability to name your wily or lazy cat (up to six letters long).
• Access to the Rat Pits.
• The ability to use the Minigame Teleport to the rat pits in Port Sarim, Ardougne, Varrock, and Keldagrim.

Completion of Ratcatchers is required for the following:

• Medium Falador Diary (partial completion required - Requires most of the quest)

• Having the Cat training medal on you when you first speak with them to learn ratcatching, your character will state Gertrude already gave you a medal for catching 100 rats. Unfortunately, Grimesquit accuses you of potentially buying it, and Phingspet requests you to catch the 8 rats regardless.
• Just before your cat kills the smoked-out mice in Keldagrim, it will say "Exterminate! Exterminate!", which is a reference to the Daleks in the British science-fiction show Doctor Who.
• The cutscene in Port Sarim in which the rats are lured away with the help of the flute, is a reference to the German legend of the Pied Piper of Hamelin.
• If the player has completed Dragon Slayer II and unlocked the ability to talk to cats without a catspeak amulet, the quest will allow you to help Smokin' Joe without the amulet.
• Ratcatchers is generally considered to be one of Old School's weakest quests by both the community and the development team. Commonly criticised aspects include the writing and the frustrating mechanics of the mansion maze and cat fight.^[1][2]
  • This resulted in the quest later receiving significant dialogue improvements in an update in 2024.