Exploring
5 actions.
| Action | Level | XP | Time | XP/s | Inputs | Output |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Gloomwood | 1 | 300 | 120s | 2.5 | — | — |
 Hollowdeep Mine | 15 | 450 | 120s | 3.75 | — | — |
 Emberhall Ruins | 30 | 700 | 120s | 5.83 | — | — |
 Thornfield Estate | 45 | 1000 | 120s | 8.33 | — | — |
 Ossuary Reach | 60 | 1400 | 120s | 11.7 | — | — |
XP/s is the base rate: XP ÷ time for one action, before gear, upgrades, events and speed bonuses.
Unlocking survey areas
Some areas also need story progress. They stay locked until you complete the quest chain below, whatever your Exploring level.
| Area | Exploring level | Complete this quest chain |
|---|---|---|
| Gloomwood | 1 | The Road North |
| Hollowdeep Mine | 15 | The Road North |
| Emberhall Ruins | 30 | The Road North |
| Thornfield Estate | 45 | The Edge of the Map |
| Ossuary Reach | 60 | Heir of the Wild |
What a survey actually yields
Exploring nodes are marked as giving no item, which is why the actions table shows no output — the loot is rolled by a level-scaled resolver instead. Each area is tied to one other skill and pays that skill's own resources, scaled to your level in it, at roughly 50% of what actively training that skill would earn. You are trading raw rate for a hands-off loop that also rolls clue scrolls and a charm nothing else drops.
| Survey | Exploring level | Pays out in | Rolled against your | Notable finds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gloomwood | 1 | Woodcutting resources |  Woodcutting level |  Bones (9.0%),  Bird Nest (0.20%),  Sapling (0.10%) |
| Hollowdeep Mine | 15 | Mining resources |  Mining level | Bones (9.0%),  Geode Charm (0.10%) |
| Emberhall Ruins | 30 | Cooking resources |  Cooking level |  Ember Charm (0.10%) |
| Thornfield Estate | 45 | herb & crop seeds |  Farming level |  Herb Sack (2.0%),  Bloom Charm (0.10%) |
| Ossuary Reach | 60 | bones, tiered by level |  Prayer level |  Bone Chest (0.80%),  Grave Charm (0.10%) |
Every survey also rolls for a clue scroll, and mastery cuts an area's survey time — which raises clues per hour as well as loot per hour. Rates, upgrades and payouts: Clue Scrolls.
Thornfield and Ossuary Reach are the two that change what you can do, not just how fast. Thornfield is a repeatable source of herb seeds, which are otherwise thieving-only and cannot be bought at any price — see Farming. Ossuary Reach is a passive bone faucet that scales with your Prayer level, so it feeds Prayer without fighting anything.
Notes & Strategy
Surveying is the only activity in the game that drops clue scrolls, and clue scrolls are what the Expeditions tab runs on. Area mastery is the real lever: the clue chance is rolled per completed survey, so halving an area's survey time doubles its clues per hour.
Full rates, upgrades and payouts: Clue Scrolls guide.