Mr Mordaut

The Old School RuneScape Wiki also has an article on: osrsw:Mr Mordaut

This article or section is incomplete and could do with improvement. Reason: New info from the Sins of the Father quest, could also use a pronunciation guide (some voice recordings from the Gielinor games commentator booth have him say his own name) You can discuss this issue on the talk page or edit this page to improve it.

Mr Mordaut
Release date	17 July 2007 (Update)
Race	Dragon
Members	Yes
Quest NPC	One of a Kind Curse of Black Stone Desperate Measures Sins of the Father Heartstealer
Location(s)	• Varrock Museum basement behind stairs • Anachronia base camp
Shop	Dragon rider amulet
Gender	Male
Actions	Talk to, Examine
Examine	• Do not upset this teacher. You have been warned! • Professor of Unnatural History. • Overseer of nautical construction. • Back in the habitat. • Professor of Unnatural History and lover of cheese.
Advanced data
NPC ID	5958, 6117, 15648, 16871, 26402, 26545
Links	MRND
Infobox • Talk page

Mr Mordaut is a very old, friendly and wise draconic professor, currently employed as the Professor of Unnatural History at the Varrock Museum. He previously ran the Surprise Exam random event. He can be found in his office in the museum, the entrance to which is located on the back of the staircase of the lowest floor. Here he may be visited to discuss the history and nature of dragons and even the Dragonkin.

History

Creation

Mr Mordaut was a creation of the Dactyl Dragonkin Taraket, who fused an egg from the Queen Black Dragon with that of a fairy dragon. He was an attempt to create an intelligent dragon, most dragons being brutish, aggressive and unintelligent beasts. Mordaut was considered a failure by his creator because, although he had the intelligence the Kin desired, he had none of the aggression, desire to harm others, or power that makes a dragon a dragon. Even to this day, he is unable to muster anything more than a spit of dragonfire. As such, Taraket discarded Mordaut.

Mr Mordaut in his classroom of students.

In his youth he attempted to prove his creators wrong, but after trying to eat his first adventurer, he spat them out, for it just felt wrong to him. He has since become a 'cheegan,' only eating cheese and cheese-related products. His failure to do what he was created for sparked an ambition in Mr Mordaut to lead others to their destiny, so he became a teacher. He taught a small classroom of students, most of them being non-human. One notable student of Mordaut is the demon butler Alathazdrar, who remarked that he was most "conflagratory and irascible to the younger students."

Life as teacher

“	As for the Mysterious Old Man: well, he approached me at one of his famous fondue parties, set up for potential inductees to his random event programme. Dr Jekyll and the Drunken Dwarf decided to hit the melted cheese early, I seem to remember. The Mysterious Old Man said my classroom was the ideal place to educate the adventurers of RuneScape and offered me an invitation to become his newest random event. I was most pleased to accept.	”
— Mr Mordaut

Mr Mordaut at his desk.

At some point in the Fifth Age, Mr Mordaut was approached by an individual known as the Mysterious Old Man, who was the leader of a large network of acquainted people who would occasionally host short activities for people's pleasure and distraction, although often against their will, collectively known as the random event programme. The two agreed that Mr Mordaut would subject anyone to be teleported to his classroom by the mysterious old man to a short IQ test, to be rewarded with some knowledge. These occurrences would become known as the Surprise Exam.

Mr Mordaut was also one of the commentators during the Gielinor Games, a large sports event hosted in the summer of 169 of the Fifth Age, wherein various races participated. While commentating, he said dragons are especially fascinated with collecting things, and that he himself likes to collect rare coins. He mentioned that he possesses an Avarrocka Guinea coin, after which Tentacle, a fellow commentator, called him "dragon geek". At the Games, Mordaut could be heard making bad cheese jokes, attempting to "civilise" Thok, and trying to have intelligent conversations with a zombie. He appears to have appreciated the experience, especially enjoying people tripping and falling at the cheese rolling race.

Professor of Unnatural History

Shortly after the Games, the mysterious old man went into retirement and the random event hosts disbanded, Mordaut amongst them. For reasons unknown, the dragon retired from teaching altogether and instead received employment at the Varrock Museum as the head of the Unnatural History department, providing much the same function as natural historians, but, where they focus on more ordinary creatures, Mordaut focuses on the more unusual species, such as mythical beasts and sentient plants. He is an expert on the dragons and Dragonkin and is currently conducting research about the legendary dragon riders from the Second Age.

Due to his status as a dragon, he decided to leave the more social side of his job to his human counterparts. As such, he mainly keeps to himself and is most often found at his desk, which is located in a pocket dimension, surrounded with souvenirs from his teaching days. Despite his isolation, he enjoys his work. For example, he usually pretends to be an exhibit piece for the museum when young children accidentally stumble into his office, but occasionally gives a roar to scare them. He also curates the museum's coin collection, with an Avarrocka Guinea being one of his most prized possessions.

In One of a Kind, Mordaut found one of Hannibus' journals, believed that it would finally uncover the legendary Dragon Rider's hidden whereabouts. He recruited the World Guardian to assist in the task, which led them to freeing Hannibus from his stone prison. They later assisted him in returning to Iaia, or returning to stasis to find a cure for his dying race with Kerapac's assistance. After the events, he may be spoken to about them, where he expresses his desire to see and speak with Hannibus, Kerapac and Therragorn sometime in the future.

In Curse of the Black Stone, the World Guardian visits Mr Mordaut on translating a cypher Hannibus had found. Mordaut was able to translate it, but informed them that it was only part of a map and they would need to find the other pieces. After recruiting the King Black Dragon into the strike force against The Ambassador, the World Guardian decided to pay a visit with Hannibus in tow. Mordaut was shocked and humbled by the Dragon Rider's presence, requesting a signature to commemorate the event. Hannibus told Mordaut if he knew of any dragons who could help, which he sadly stated there were none. Before Hannibus could leave however, Mordaut told Hannibus that there was another dragon rider fighting for Zaros in the Heart of Gielinor. Hannibus thanked Mordaut and promised to have a long, lengthy conversation with him once the Ambassador was stopped.

An Expedition

Following the threat of Kerapac's plans to destroy Gielinor to stop the Elder Gods, King Roald commissioned Mr Mordaut to create a boat to sail to Fossil Island, believing that Kerapac may have fled there to begin the next phase of his plan. Mordaut was more than ecstatic and took the offer, knowing the previous foreman was completely incompetent due to his ten years of work leading all to failures and draining the museum's resources, even admitting that he was baffled with their performances. He promptly disgraced him in the process.

He acquired the services of Eva (for free) and began recruiting numerous adventurers to assist in the process of creating his boat to access the island. During the first three days, the adventurers helped tend and cut Eva's magical trees and reinforcing the boat's hull. On the third day, a furnace was added and supplied with ingots for adventurers to make rivets to reinforce the boat. On the sixth day, a boat engine and a workbench appeared to allow adventurers to tinker with the engine using their Invention skills or empower wards with their Magic skills to assist breaching the stormwall surrounding the island. On the ninth day, the boat was nearly completed, and all that was needed was to channel the crest with energy and sew some sails for the masts.

In return for the adventurers' services, Mordaut offered various rewards such as parts for the Varrock Agent Outfit, a flag resting emote, Mordaut Jr. and the Stormbreaker title. If Mordaut Jr. is inquired about, Mr Mordaut tells them that the archaeologists unearthed the egg and it hatched, pleased that he was not Taraket's only unique creation. If the adventurer assisted Mordaut enough, he allowed Mordaut Jr. to travel with them to explore in his place, having missed his chance during his formative years.

Exploring Anachronia

With the barge completed, the adventurer led a small expedition to the island to set up a base camp. While exploring, they were ambushed by a pavosaurus rex, but escaped with the help of Irwinsson, who brought them to an abandoned temple as it was safe there.

The adventurer began assisting in the construction of the base camp, building a town hall. Upon its completion, Giles brought Mordaut along, who set up office in the newly constructed building. Mordaut was surprised with the island, as he had expected fossils, not living creatures. He summarized that something was wrong with the island, as they were far too north to sustain such viable life and decided to call the island Anachronia, the land out of time. He advised the adventurer to explore the island while they built up the camp, as it was too dangerous to explore unprepared.

Mr Mordaut temporarily abandoned the camp when Kerapac attempted to have it razed by sending a group of crazed dinosaurs. He returned once Kerapac was stopped.

He later informed the World Guardian that the archaeologists had spotted what they believed to be Kerapac and requested they follow up on their lead to make sure Kerapac was not doing anything suspicious. The World Guardian investigated these claims and found an undamaged, hidden section of the laboratory in the volcano, but the Dragonkin that the archaeologists had spotted was actually Vicendithas, Kerapac's son.

Archaeology

After Kerapac had been dealt with, Mordaut began organizing teams to explore the Dragonkin buildings scattered all across the island. Upon hearing that the World Guardian had been honing their archaeological skills, Mordaut invited them to assist in the excavation efforts all across the island, as they contained immense Dragonkin history. Due to the World Guardian's efforts, they were able to explore many of the island's facilities, such as the Crypt of Varanus, the Dragonkin outpost, the Moksha Ritual Site and a strange city in the south-eastern temple.

The team sent to the Xolo city, while the World Guardian found and restored a pair of artefacts and placed them atop one of the houses and temples, filling them with mysterious shadow energy. They dumped it into the mysterious monolith at the Archaeology Guild, which caught Mordaut's attention as he surmised that there was a link between the city and the monolith.

Archaeology research

Mr Mordaut may be recruited to the player's research team as a part of the Archaeology skill once the player has the completed all the mysteries at Orthen Dig Site.

He has the following effects on the research expeditions:

Researcher	Location	Speed modifier	Cost modifier	Additional perk
Mr Mordaut	Orthen Dig Site	+8%	+12%	Treasure Hoarder: Gives a chance to obtain a tetracompass piece (research time/24)

The Treasure Hoarder perk uses the research time in hours in its calculation, and the expected number of tetracompass pieces it yields is 1/24 per research hour regardless which duration of research is used.

He appears as a consultant in the Team Management interface, and his description is "An authority on dragons and the dragonkin, and expert natural historian."

Gaining Kudos

By talking to Mr Mordaut about the Dragonkin and presenting your findings to him, you will be rewarded with further insight. The things you can talk to him about and their requirements for doing so are:

• Robert the Strong (Completed A Tail of Two Cats)
• The Stone of Jas (Completed Ritual of the Mahjarrat)
  • 5 kudos for completing both of the above
• Dragon riders (Killed the King Black Dragon at least once - getting the last riders journal is not required; a kill suffices): 5 kudos
• Kerapac's journal (Killed the Queen Black Dragon at least once): 5 kudos

By providing information on all of them you will be rewarded with 15 total Kudos and a dragonkin lamp for 25,000 Slayer experience.

Dialogue

This article on an NPC has an associated dialogue page. Click here for a transcript of possible conversations and other messaging related to this NPC.

Mr Mordaut speaks in:

• Breaking the Storm
• Commentator booth
• Curse of the Black Stone
• Desperate Creatures
• Desperate Measures
• Fragmented Memories
• Grand Party
• Heartstealer
• Know Thy Measure
• Mysterious City
• One of a Kind
• Sins of the Father

Works

Transcripts Mr Mordaut is the author or co-author of:

• Orthen invitation

Mentioned

Transcripts Mr Mordaut is mentioned in:

• Raksha, the Shadow Colossus (quest)

Update history

This information has been compiled as part of the update history project. Some updates may not be included—see here for how to help out!

• patch 9 November 2020 (Update):
  • Mr Mordaut no longer turns to face the player during a certain section of dialogue.

• patch 2 November 2020 (Update):
  • Mr Mordaut is now able to assist with the 'Know Thy Measure' mystery.

• patch 26 October 2020 (Update):
  • Mr Mordaut will no longer give the player 'Desperate Measures' dialogue if they have not started the quest.

• update 19 October 2020 (Update):
  • Added as site manager for Orthen dig site.

• update 14 September 2020 (Update):
  • Mr Mordaut added as the start point for the new miniquest, Sins of the Father. He needs you to investigate a mysterious, yet familiar figure that has been spotted lurking around the Base Camp.

• patch 4 November 2019 (Update):
  • During "One of a kind", Mr Mordaut can no longer discuss events that have not happened yet.

• update 7 July 2019 (Update):
  • Mr. Mordaut has begun a project at the Varrock Dig Site to prepare to follow Kerapac to the mysterious landmass. The community event, Breaking the Storm, can be started by speaking to Mr. Mordaut near the Varrock dig site. You can also teleport to him from event noticeboards all over Gielinor.

• update 11 March 2014 (Update):
  • One of a Kind quest added to game, with Mr. Mordaut as the quest start point.
    • Agree to help Mr Mordaut find Hannibus - last of the fabled Dragon Riders - and follow a trail of clues that'll test your wits and resolve, while uncovering the secret history of some of RuneScape's mightiest and most ancient races. You'll travel the world, uncover the lost library of Robert the Strong, and the fate of a dying people will rest in your hands. Speak to Mr Mordaut in the basement of Varrock Museum to start One of a Kind.

• update 12 February 2013 (Update):
  • Just before Christmas, the random events that were a long-standing part of RuneScape were removed. The NPCs involved in these have now been brought back to live out their retirements in the game.
  • These include Mr Mordaut, whose new tenure at Varrock Museum heading up the Department of Unnatural History has allowed him to start some important research on the dragonkin. He'll share this never-before-revealed lore with you for the asking, and will grant you Kudos if you have information to share with him, and a one-time Slayer XP reward for those who help him with a particular breakthrough.

• update 24 October 2012 (Update):
  • With the removal of Random events, Mr Mordaut has been removed from the game.

• update 17 July 2007 (Update):
  • Added to game.
    • Surprise Exam added to game, with Mr Mordaut being the teacher in the classroom.

Trivia

Artwork of Mr Mordaut examining a bot.

• His name, Mordaut, may be a play on the word 'mordant', which means "Having or showing a sharp or critical quality; biting".
• Mr Mordaut has a map of Karamja in his office, possibly due to the relation of the dragonkin to the Brimhaven Dungeon.
• When approached in his office, and select the 'about your office' chat option, your character says, "I feel like it's bigger on the inside than on the outside". This is a reference to the popular British sci-fi TV programme Doctor Who, when people say the TARDIS is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside.
• Mr Mordaut has a small cameo in the message that appears for the first warning for players caught botting.
• The emblem on the door leading to Mr Mordaut's office occasionally changes colour and geometric shape, cycling through the doors that the player could exit through during the Surprise Exam random event. These images are a green square, a purple circle, and Saradomin's star.
  • The red cross from the random event is missing, presumably because of its violation of the Geneva Conventions.
• His favourite cheese is Red Lumbridge.
• During Breaking the Storm, when asked about the boat, Mr Mordaut repeats part of a reply that Curator Haig Halen gave in a Postbag from the Hedge letter.
• Mr Mordaut was one of few characters with an official pre-release description for the Land Out of Time Update; his description is as follows: "Mr. Mordaut is an old but well educated dragon, unlike many of his brethren. He currently sits as the Professor of Unnatural History at the Varrock Museum, where others can benefit from his keen mind. His unique experience and insight makes him an ideal candidate to lead any expedition to the island."
• Madromurt is an anagram of Mr Mordaut.
• In the Orthen Archaeology Journal, Mordaut signs his name followed by "BLS, MPhil, OBE, DRaGOn", indicating he has a bachelor of library science or liberal studies and a master of philosophy. An OBE is a class of officer in the Order of the British Empire, a real life chivalric order, awarded to people who have made major contributions in their line of work. And the capitalisation in DRaGOn may indicate a doctorate of some kind.