Council of OblivionChapter 8: Information Broker Thyker walked through the gates of Falador with a sigh of relief. A walk from Lumbridge to Falador didn’t take too long. Unfortunately, with Marik trailing behind him, it seemed to take much longer. Luckily, Thyker had stocked up on plenty of food of his own. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t last forever. He feared by the end of this trip he’d have to eat Marik’s cooking. Falador was a splendid city, the capital of the central lands and home to the White Knights. It was also home to the true protectors of the lands. It was them that Thyker was here to see, and he knew where to go to find them. Thyker made his way into Falador park. He walked over to the bench. Not just a bench. THE bench. On it, as always, sat Sir Tiffy, leader of the Temple Knights and commander of an enormous legion of spies. If anyone knew anything about anything, it was him. Thyker wondered if he ever slept; he had never seen him leave the bench. As a matter of fact, he hadn’t even seen him stand. “Marik, wait here,” said Thyker, “I need to talk to someone, in private.” Marik clearly didn’t like the idea but obeyed nonetheless. At least it was good to see that he knew how to take orders. That might be important later. As for now, this wasn’t simply about getting rid of him. The Temple Knights were a secretive bunch. No telling how Tiffy would react to Lumbridge’s cook finding out about the order because of Thyker. “Tiffy, we need to talk.” Tiffy looked up from whatever he was doing. “Ah, sonny! How’s my newest member to the Temple Knights!” Thyker was surprised how loud he had said that in a crowded area. “I’d like to chat but I’m afraid I’m quite busy.” Tiffy looked back down at his papers, not even waiting for a response. Thyker put his hand on top of the papers. “Tiffy, I’m sorry to bother you, but I really need your help. See, I discovered that Duke Horacio of Lumbridge is in possession of the mythical Verac’s armor. And...” “So you believe that old rumor about the Mort’ton brothers’ armors really existing.” “I didn’t at first, but…” Thyker opened his pack to show him Karil’s armor. “I do now.” “I see. One of the best kept secrets of the Temple Knights is that those armor really do exist. And that they imbue tremendous powers to their wearers. Of course, I’m sure you’ve tried out those powers yourself, so I don’t need to tell you.” Thyker gulped. He hadn’t actually worm the armor yet. Thyker hated ranging. “But Horacio has the armor? Hmmm, my informants must be getting slow. I haven’t heard anything related to a change in ownership of any of those armors.” “What are you saying?” “Oh, nothing sonny. But now two armors of changed ownership. Horacio getting Verac’s armor, and you stealing Karil’s from Janrok. Oh hee hee, I must say that I’m impressed; Janrok is no simple warrior to defeat. Still, I will update the ledgers. With such power, the Temple Knights must track who has those armors at all times.” “But, I didn’t steal this from anyone. I got it from Karil himself!” “Oh hee hee. No reason to be bashful. It’s hard to resist stealing such armor from anyone that crosses your path. Anyway, what was so important that you needed my help?” “As I was saying. Horacio has Verac’s armor. The armor I myself have dreamed of for years. He promised he’d give it to me if I could do him a ‘small’ favor, like that’s never happened to me before. Anyway, I need to get him a list of these foods. Problem is, I’ve never heard of any of them.” Thyker handed Tiffy the list. Tiffy looked over the list. He then frowned. “These are indeed rare.” Tiffy pulled out a new piece of paper and started writing with the feather pen he had been holding. “There’s a few items on here that I myself don’t know where to obtain. However, I’m going to give you all the information related to it I can. You’ve done us a great favor before, and you’re a member of ours. I’d like to send my spies to find these for you, but we’re just so busy right now. See, we’ve had reports of crop fields dying for no apparent reason. And the ogres are restless. Some new rash going among them or something. I know it’s silly, but a rampaging hoard of ogres isn’t silly, for whatever reason. And then we have the problems with the disappearing talismans. There may be a lot in the world, but not an infinite number, and if many more disappear we may not have enough to create runes to defend ourselves. And then we have the rumors of large amounts of gnome gliders being built, but as far as we can tell, they don’t belong to King Narnode, and we don’t know where they’re going. And then there’s the report that the monkeys of Ape Atoll have been sailing to the main land solely for the purpose of throwing feces at humans along the Ardougne shoreline. Few people have been sailing recently because of that, I should add. And then of course there are rumors that there are spies within the Burthorpe guard. Spies to who we don’t know, but we can’t let any spies in that group unless they’re our own. They’re the main defense against trollish invasions. And the undead seem restless in Canifis. Well, I guess they’re technically always restless as they never sleep, but they seem to be more restless then usual now. And then you have the problem of some new weapon that fires paint at people from a large distance. We’re not sure who developed it, but it seems to have originated in West Ardgourne, and now pranksters are shooting them at people from hidden places. They’ve even been using them to try to make people think the sheep were sick! The nerve of some people! Not to mention, the magical fluctuations that have been permeating from Moonclan Island. Granted, that place is filled with strange magics, but still, our informants have had no warnings to the fluctuations. And then there’s been more activity from HAM then usual. They’re more of a nuisance than a problem, but they could accidentally start a war between humans and a monster race, which we have no time for right now. And of course there’s…” “TIFFY!” Thyker had been shouting his name for the past two minutes. Tiffy stopped this time, so it looked like he had finally heard Thyker's yells. “What does any of this have to do with me?” “Oh, nothing sonny. I’m just trying to let you know how busy things are with me. Maybe you could come and help out when you’re done with this? I know how much you love random, meaningless quests. Well, that and I like to babble on in my old age. Anyway, here, the information is completed.” Tiffy handed Thyker the list. However, as Thyker went to pull it away, Tiffy didn’t let go. “Seriously though, Thyker. Do be careful. The world is on the brink of chaos, and I’m afraid adventurers will be in danger. You’re an adventurer yourself, and these foods may take you into particularly dangerous places, so… well, just be careful.” Tiffy paused. “That goes for you too, Marik.” Thyker turned around and almost fell down upon noticing Marik was standing right behind him. “I told you to stay at the gate!” “I’m sorry, but I saw an old friend and had to say hi to him.” “Ok, well then leave us alone and say hi to him.” “Ok. Hi, Tiffy.” “Well, hello Marik, how are you doing?” “Wait a minute…” Thyker said. “How do you know his name? I just found out yesterday and I’ve known him for years.” “Why he told me it of course,” said Tiffy. “Me and Marik go way back. I just love his cooking.” Great, figures that the one person who does would happen to be leader of an organization that could spread the information to everyone. “And I used to love the stories he told me about the Temple Knights.” said Marik. Tiffy told him about the Temple Knights. Tiffy said that Thyker was special. They must have lowered the definition of ‘special’ substantially over the last few years if Marik made the cut. After a bit of small talk, Marik and Thyker walked out of the park. “So,” Marik said. “Where to first?” “I figure we might as well go straight down the list. I don’t know anything about any one of these things than any of the others, so I can’t see what would be a practical order. Anyway, the first item on the list is the twin dragon tail.” “So our first task is to kill a dragon.” “No, that’s what I would have thought, too, but Tiffy says that twin dragons went extinct years ago. However, it’s said that a group still possesses a small stash of these tails. He says here they’re supposed to be on… *sigh* Twin Island. Tiffy posted the coordinates on this sheet. I think I know where that is.” “So, where are we going then?” “Where else? We need a boat, so there’s only one logical place to go. Port Sarim.” Chapter 9: The Terrible Island of Twins “I see it over there,” said Thyker. The sailor next to him nodded. Ned was an old friend of Thyker. And a good sailor at that. They had once sailed together to an island to slay Thyker’s first dragon. Ned seemed eager to get to the sea. Not many people would sail with a person his age. Even less people offered to pay him to do so. But Thyker knew it was worth it. They had found the island in just under two days, despite never having been there before. Thyker suspected any other sailor might have taken closer to a week. That would have forced Thyker to resort to Marik’s cooking. As Thyker had thought many times, Ned was definitely worth every coin. “Yeah, I see it. So, those coordinates were right. I must admit, I’m surprised. It’s not often you see a new island at my age. You must have good sources. Where’d you find it?” “I’m sorry, but that information is confidential. All hush, hush, you know.” “We got it from Tiffy!” shouted Marik. (Note to self: never tell a secret to Marik) “Ah,” said Ned. “Tiffy.” “You know Tiffy?” asked Thyker. “Yes, me and him go WAY back. He’s leader of the Temple Knights, you know.” Was there anyone who didn’t know about the Temple Knights? The boat landed on the island without fail. The three disembarked from the ship and looked around. “There doesn’t seem to be any monsters,” said Marik. “Yeah,” said Thyker. “I have to admit, after Tiffy’s speech, I would have expected something I could kill. You know, a troll, a dragon… heck, I’d even settle for a hobgoblin. This almost seems too easy. Not much of a challenge.” “There are many different types of challenges, young one,” said Ned. “Not all difficulties are those of combat.” Thyker thought about that for a moment. “Well, I guess there’s only one way to find out. Let’s move.” Thyker started walking towards the center of the island. He could see a strange building there. Likely, that was where anything of importance would be located. Marik followed behind him. “Ned, are you coming?” “No, no, I’m more of a sea adventurer. Not really into all this island-adventuring. Besides, you need someone to watch the boat anyway.” Well, that was true. And Ned was likely to be more of a liability in a battle at his age. “Ok, stay here. We’ll meet up with you once we found what we came for.” Thyker and Marik made their way through the jungle. It was very dense with foliage, but luckily, Thyker had brought a Red Topaz Machete that the natives of Karamja had given to him. The jungle here was little different than the jungle there, and the machete cleanly sliced through the foliage. The lack of monsters was still unsettling. In the world of Runescape, there were few places you could go without seeing any. Was this a trap? Had something happened? Finally, Thyker and Marik made it to the structure. They had made it there without incident, unless you consider the lack of incidence to be an incident in and of itself. The building was shaped like two spheres side by side. Thyker got it. ‘Twin’ spheres. Hahaha… maybe. In between the spheres appeared to be a main entrance doorway. Well, it was either go in there or try to figure out which sphere to go into. The central doorway seemed simpler. Thyker and Marik walked through the doorway. There was a lone lady sitting in a lounge-like room. She appeared to be a magician of some kind. “Excuse me, miss,” said Thyker. “I can’t help you now, I’m sorry.” “I’m sorry, but I simply need a twin dragon tail.” “Look, I’d like to help you, but I have my own problems.” Ha! Like Thyker had never heard that before. He knew exactly what to do. “So… if I could solve your problems, perhaps you could help me with the dragon tail?” “Hmmm…. I don’t see why not. You have yourself a deal.” “Excellent. So, what am I to do? Kill a troll? A dragon? I’d even settle for a hobgoblin.” “No, no,” said the lady, “I’m afraid this challenge is not one of combat.” Thyker thought back to what Ned said. Meh, he preferred combat. “Are you sure I can’t just beat something up?” “Oh, in a way you will be. But it’s not quite that simple.” “Ok, ok,” said Thyker. “I’m getting confused now. Can you just explain the problem?” “Well,” said the lady, “this building was designed to seal away the evil twins of the world. As you well know, anytime there is a set of twins, one must be good and one must be evil. It’s the law of the universe. Well, as it just so happens, we have one of the evilest of twins sealed away in here: Agatha. The problem is, she tricked her sister into coming here, and now I can’t tell the two apart. I tried to ask them who is who, but they won’t answer. I was able to get a magical enchantment on them, but they’ll only answer up to three questions. Furthermore, Agatha ALWAYS lies about her and her sister, while Molly ALWAYS tells the truth about her and her sister. Unfortunately, I used up my three questions and still couldn’t determine who was who. I have this stunner.” She handed Thyker a weird stick. “It has one stun charge on it. I need to be sure to stun AGATHA. If I accidentally stun Molly, Agatha will attack while we’re defenseless.” “So wait? If you can ask three questions, why don’t you just ask which one is evil?” “Sigh… if you don’t understand it, then it’s not even worth explaining to you. Anyway, good look. I’ll let you past the seal,” she said as she opened up the seal. “Oh, one other thing. My magic is running low. I can only give you three questions between the two of you.” Thyker and Marik walked past the seal and into a different room. He saw two women who looked exactly the same sitting in the room, each in their own chair. One must be Molly, while the other must be Agatha. “Let me out of here!” one shouted. “I’m Molly!” “No! Let me out! I’m Molly!” Thyker knew what he needed to do. “I get to ask you three questions. So tell me, which one of you is evil?” “She is the evil one!” shouted the woman on the left. “She is the evil one!” shouted the woman on the right. Well… this could be difficult. “Oh no,” said Marik. “Because they’re basically complete opposites of each other, and since one always lies, they’re going to give the same answer.” Thyker was kind of jealous; Marik had figured it out faster than him. They were silent for a minute. Then Marik spoke. “I have an idea. Maybe if we ask them about something that they LIKE, Agatha won’t automatically lie.” “How’s what they LIKE going to help us? We don’t know their preferences. We just know one is evil.” “Ah," said Marik. “But we do know something. It’s a well-known fact that all evil people like the color black.” “Where exactly did you hear this?” asked Thyker. “From Evil Dave, of course. We talked before the banquet.” Argh! Him. Anyway, it was a long shot, but it was a much better idea than anything Thyker could think of. “Ok, Agatha, Molly. What are your favorite colors?” “I like white,” said the one on the left. “I like white,” said the one on the right. As disappointing as that response was, Marik’s failure made Thyker feel a little better about himself. “Think Thyker, think,” Thyker said to himself. You need to get them to say something different. They would say something different if their answers would be the same. Thyker got it. “Are you two twins?” “The answer is obvious, we refuse to answer that,” said the one on the left. “The answer is obvious, we refuse to answer that,” said the one on the right. Oh no! Thyker was out of ideas. Marik poked Thyker on the shoulder. “Thyker, I know it’s our last try. I think I have something that will work.” “What is it?” “It’s kind of complicated to explain. I just need to try it.” Thyker paused for a moment. This would be their last guess. If they failed here, they would likely never get that twin dragon tail. “Go ahead,” Thyker eventually decided. Reluctantly. Marik stepped forward. “Agatha, Molly. If I were to ask your SISTER what SHE would say if I were to ask her who was the evil twin, what would her response be?” “My sister would say she was the evil one,” said the one on the left. “My sister would say I was the evil one,” said the one on the right. What!? They had said something different. But how? “Shoot the one on the right, Thyker.” Without question, Thyker shot the one on the right. The lady came running in. She went up to the woman that had been stunned. “I can’t believe it, you actually did it! Well, as promised, here’s the twin dragon tail,” she said as she pulled the tail from her pocket. “Thank you! Thank you!” the other woman kept shouting as Thyker accepted it. Thyker and Marik made it back to the boat, once again without incident, unless you once again you considered the lack of incidence to be an incident in and of itself. Ned began sailing the ship out. “So…” said Thyker, “how did you do that?” It was the first thing he had said since they had captured Agatha. “Well,” said Marik, “it’s like we said before. The problem was, they were exact opposites, so whenever one lied, they would give the same answer. However, it was that fact that gave me the solution. Since we knew from experience that they would both say that the other was the evil sister, I asked them how their sister would answer that question. Molly would have told the truth, saying that her sister would claim to be the good one, whereas Agatha would lie, saying that her sister would claim to be the evil one.” “But the one on the left said that the other sister would claim to be the evil one. You said to shoot the one on the right.” “Um… oops?” Chapter 10: A Fowl Turn of Events “Well, goodbye. It’s been fun. Feel free to call on me again if you need to hit the seas. I’d love to do it again.” Such said Ned as he let Thyker and Marik off onshore. “You mean you’d love to do it again, for money.” “Well, of course. That goes without saying. Anyway, good luck on your fancy food thingy.” And with that, Ned started to walk away from port. But then he turned back to Thyker. “Thyker, I want you to have this.” Ned handed an object to Thyker. “This looks like a diamond ring. What is this for?” “Oh, it’s something passed down to me by my old captain. He said it would protect you from danger in the most troubled of times.” “Thanks,” said Thyker, “but I can’t take it.” “Look,” said Ned, “with the path you’re on, you’re going to run into trouble. At the very least, it’ll be a good luck charm. Don’t argue. Remember, part of being a good warrior is knowing when to fight.” Thyker didn’t know how to resist that. He slipped the ring onto his finger. “Thanks Ned.” With that, Ned gave him a quick nod then walked off. “Ok,” said Thyker. “The next item on the list is… the egg of a powerful chicken.” “Of a powerful chicken?" said Marik. “I’ve never heard of any powerful chickens.” “No… there is one. A chicken that was turned evil by his hatred of humanity.” “The evil chicken? I thought he was just a myth.” “Turns out a lot of things we’re dealing with are more than myths,” replied Thyker, thinking back to how recently he had believed the Mort’ton brothers’ armors to be myths, as well. “So, what did Tiffy say?” “It says here ‘The egg of a powerful chicken can only come from one fowl: an evil chicken known as THE evil chicken. He appears at random times. Just sit around and wait for him to show up.’ Wow, thanks Tiffy, that sure was helpful.” “Ah! We can’t sit around just waiting for him to show up! I haven’t even seen him once in my lifetime!” “We’re in luck, Marik.” Marik looked at Thyker with confusion. “I’ve been to the evil chicken’s lair. I know where it is. Follow me. We’re heading to the swamps of Lumbridge. We need to stop in Draynor first though. I need to pick up a few supplies from those con-artists at the bank.” ***** Evil Dave walked into the cave. He had been to the area so many times before that no one even bothered to question his presence. Of course, he had little interest in the normal locals. There was only one local who he needed to talk to. The local who had made this cave her home base. Evil Dave caught sight of a demon with a broken horn in the cave. “Minoxo, do you know where Ansa is?” “She is here. I believe she’s setting up her supplies in the back of the cave.” Evil Dave knew exactly where Minoxo was referring to. The spot where Ansa was preparing the objects needed for her plan. Turning a corner, Evil Dave caught sight of a large amount of talismans decorating the wall of the cave. There had always been talismans here, but there were significantly more this time. Either Ansa had gotten lucky or she had been busy. A second demon, the lesser kind of demon, was watching her work. Several imps carried supplies around the room. “Ansa, I’m back from my trip. As you predicted, Malak was there.” “Of course,” said Ansa, hood covering her face. “My imps are the greatest of spies. They populate the globe, fit in small areas… nobody ever suspects them of anything more than childish pranks. But tell me, did he take the hint?” “Malak said nothing directly to me, but I suspect he believes you were the one who placed Karil’s armor in Mort’ton.” “Excellent. While he’s busy looking into that, he’ll be distracted from the important aspects of my plan. Malak isn’t altruistic, but even he would resist my plans should he know what they were.” ***** Thyker and Marik reached the entrance to a small shack. They had trekked through the murky swamps of Lumbridge to get there and had accidentally tripped over the head of a zombie too, who continuously made jokes about them until they decided to just bury the head in the ground (something the head didn’t seem to appreciate much). “Ok, Marik, this is it.” “This? It’s just a little shack. I don’t see any evidence of the evil chicken here.” “Heh, this isn’t quite the evil chicken lair. It’s simply a portal to the fairy world.” “Are you trying to fool with me or something? I suspect next leprechauns will come and hold supplies for us?” “Look, I know it sounds unbelievable. Just take this.” Thyker handed him a Dramen staff. Luckily, he had stored several such staffs in his bank. Thyker then took the second staff he had with him and held it in his own hand. “Ok, now hold the staff and walk through the door.” Thyker pushed Marik into the shack. He disappeared with a shimmer of light. Thyker then did the same thing himself, and found himself sitting in the lost city of the fairies: Zanaris. Luckily, Thyker did not have to travel far. The evil chicken’s lair was located right at the entrance to the city. “Ok, Marik. I want you to wait here.” “No!” shouted Marik. So much for taking orders. “I’m with you to help you, and to learn from you. I can’t learn anything from out here.” “Marik, you don’t understand. The evil chicken is very powerful. And he keeps Black Dragons in his lair. I can’t protect you at the same time.” Marik didn’t budge. Thyker could just leave him behind, but then Horacio might go back on his deal. “Besides, Marik. Without this special shield,” Thyker showed him the magical anti-dragonfire shield given to him by Horacio. “a dragon would fry you to a crisp. I only have one shield. Marik, part of being a great warrior is knowing when to fight.” Argh. He was starting to sound like Ned. Marik seemed to listen to that, though. “Just wait out here. I’ll be back as soon as I get an egg.” Thyker went on to pull a raw, dead chicken from his pack. This was the necessary item for a human to enter the evil chicken’s lair. “Wait a minute, the evil chicken often attacks with magical blasts. This would be a perfect time to test Karil’s armor. If I have to fight him, the ranging powers would be quite helpful.” Rangers often had a significant advantage over mages. In this case, Thyker might truly be better off ranging. Thyker shed his old armor and donned the tattered Karil’s armor. He packed the old armor into his pack, then prepared himself. He walked up to the shrine of the evil chicken. Setting the raw chicken in the shrine, he felt himself instantly whisked away. When the motion was done, he found himself standing in the familiar lair of the evil chicken. Thyker quickly ducked behind a rock. The cave had Black Dragons. He could kill one if he needed to, but he’d much rather prefer just to avoid fighting one altogether. Sneaking around the rock formation, Thyker found his way into the nest of the Evil Chicken. He looked around. Something didn’t seem right. There was nothing in there. Not even a chicken nest. “Hmmm, maybe the evil chicken’s re-decorating. I’ll just wait around for a little bit.” Thyker hid behind some rocks in the nesting room. And he waited. And waited. And waited. Thyker didn’t know how much time had passed, but it must have been many hours. Something was wrong. The evil chicken shouldn’t have been gone for this long. “I better go talk to Marik. He’s going to be wondering where I am. I hope he didn’t go back to Lumbridge. If he did, there goes any chances I have at getting that armor.” Sneaking around the way he came, Thyker made his way back to the entrance of the lair. Stepping on the portal, he felt the same whisking feeling, and was surrounded by the sights of what he had seen right before he entered the lair. Well, with one notable exception. An important exception. Marik was no longer there. In his place was a much shorter figure. The Godfather told Thyker, “I’m going to make an offer you can’t refuse.” Written By: Shadow7 Submitted By: Serpentis Edited By: Knil Coded By: Hoof NoobQuest |