The Last Free City - your first hour

Every new account begins The Last Free City the moment character creation ends. There is no calm welcome: Sergeant Damien is shouting, the eastern post is being overrun, and the Knights of Lumbridge need every pair of hands. Under the hood this is the onboarding chain (it used to be called the Recruit Trials) - the same guided steps, the same rewards, told as the story of the probe attack on Lumbridge.

What you start with

• Inventory: 10 bread, 5 shrimps, a spare bronze scimitar, tinderbox, bronze pickaxe, bronze axe - and a bronze scimitar already equipped.
• From the Sergeant: a battered wooden shield (put straight on your arm) and a bundle of 50 bronze knives. Very low-tier, nothing valuable - you are one more body thrown onto the line.

The quest

1. The east camp - Head east across the river to the goblin camp (the classic Lumbridge goblins - except now three Knights of Lumbridge are fighting them). Help the knights defeat 5 goblins. They are the ordinary level-2 camp goblins: they fight back when hit but never attack first, so pick them off one at a time and step away to eat whenever you need to. Kills count as long as you drew blood on the goblin, so fighting beside a knight never costs you credit. The camp stays a contested battlefield after the quest; your probe attack ends, the skirmish does not. Reward from Damien: 10,000 gp + a full bronze kit.
2. Earn your place - Damien tells you it was only a probe, and that you reminded him of someone. Take your pay to Duke Horacio in the market: he recognises your defence of Lumbridge with your first rank, Peasant → Commoner (10,000 gp). Reward: steel full helm.
3. Finish the job - Vannaka signs your first war contract: hunt down 5 goblins that scattered into the countryside when the knights broke the attack. Any goblin counts; ::slayertele lifts you to the goblin field east of the castle. Reward: steel platebody, plus a pickaxe and hammer for what's next.
4. Re-arm the city - Weapons broke and food was spent. Go to The Mire (south-east of the castle): mine copper and tin, smelt a bronze bar at the furnace, smith a bronze dagger at the anvil, and hand it to the Quartermaster at the Mire crypt post. That is how supplies reach the front - fighters keep the enemy away, skillers keep the fighters armed. Reward: 5 War Effort at the hand-in; then from Vannaka a steel scimitar, platelegs and kiteshield (full steel), and a bank pack of 10,000 gp, food, potions and the Book of Commands.
5. Debrief - Report to Sergeant Damien. Lumbridge is not safe - but it is still ours. Varrock could not say the same: twelve years ago, Varrock fell, and today's attack was someone measuring how quickly Lumbridge would bleed. Reward: 50 War Effort. Quest complete.

Type ::trials for your current objective, or open the Quest Journal with ::quests (the quest also shows in the stock quest tab).

What comes after

Damien points you two ways. General Zo in the castle courtyard musters the Marches north against the enemy - answer the call. And Vannaka has your next drills: the War-Prep chain, starting with Prayer 37 (Protect from Magic) at the Lumbridge church altar and the assault on the Wizard Tower, which permanently unlocks the Ancient, Lunar and Arceuus spellbooks. See Wizard Tower and Unlocking the magic books.

The main story continues on its own: the moment the debrief ends, First March begins - General Zo sends you on your first March with the Knights of Lumbridge, and after that The North shows you what the Fall of Varrock did to the rest of the kingdom.