Council of Oblivion

Chapter 11: The Offer He Couldn’t Refuse

“An offer I can’t refuse you say? I’m not interested in any ‘offers.' What did you do with Marik?” said Thyker.

“Marik? I know not of this Marik of whom you speak.”

Thyker took a step forward. “Don’t play games with me. He was out here when I went into the shrine.”

“Oh,” said the Godfather. “The human. I can honestly tell you, I do not know where he went. One of the fairies spotted him and found out that you needed an evil chicken egg. That’s why I came here personally.”

Strange. Thyker found it hard to believe that Marik would wander away from the shrine, considering he was too lazy to pick up the ingredients for a cake. But then again, with him, who knows. Besides, it didn’t sound like the Godfather was trying to use Marik as a bargaining chip, and he didn’t see any other reason the Godfather would use foul play with Marik. Thyker thought for a minute. As of now, he had no leads as to where Marik might be. He thought about the Fairy rings, rings that could take a person almost anywhere if they had a Dramen staff. In hindsight, it had been rather foolish to leave Marik sitting by them holding a Dramen staff. Anyway, if he was lost in them, there was little Thyker could do. You could spend years searching all the different dimensions they linked to. If he didn’t go into the rings, Thyker hoped Marik could find his way back to Lumbridge. Besides, the Godfather seemed to know something about the evil chicken eggs. And like it or not, Thyker needed one.

“So I suspect you realize the evil chicken isn’t in his nest, since you’re waiting outside. Where can I find him?"

“Oh, I’m afraid the evil chicken has gone on a bit of a rampage. For him it’s more of a vacation really; doing nothing but attacking humans all day. Anyway, I don’t expect him to be back for months.”

“Well, thanks for the info,” said Thyker as he started walking away. It looked like Thyker would have to scour the world for the chicken.

“Wait, wait,” said the Godfather. “I told you I had an offer for you.”

“You said you didn’t know where the evil chicken was. What could you possibly offer me?”

The Godfather reached into his pouch and pulled out a strangely-colored egg. Thyker recognized it; he had seen one before. It was an evil chicken egg. “I say we skip directly to the source.”

“Ok, so are you going to give it to me?” said Thyker.

“Not for free,” said Godfather.

“Wait a minute… I’ve done all those favors for you in the past. Remember all the help I gave you related to that incident with the Fairy Godmother?” Thyker said this as a complete lie, of course. He had really been helping the Fairy Godmother, not Godfather, but Godfather didn’t know that.

“Yes, indeed. It was a favor. Very generous of you. Now, we’re making a deal.”

“Fine,” said Thyker grudgingly. Arguing would get him nowhere, it this wasn’t the first time he had done a task for someone in order to complete a task he was doing for someone else. “What do you need?”

“Well,” said the Godfather. “Do you see those magical boxes over there? They’re filled with magical equipment that I promised to the gnome kingdom.”

“Ah, yes, I’m on rather good terms with the gnomes.”

“That’s good to hear. See, I need to get those transported to the gnomes. The problem is, I’ve found out there are spies among the king’s legion. And I’m not sure who the spies are. They could go all the way to the top. There’s only one gnome I can trust. His name is Hardigan. He’s a top secret general of the gnomish army. He’s a very secretive person, very suspicious of spies.”

“Ok, so you need me to get the boxes to him?”

“Sort of. What I really need you to do is to find a way to get those boxes to him without it being seen by any other gnomes. This could be easier said than done. There are gnomes at every known entrance, and they wander the grounds. There’s a lot of boxes, so it’s going to have to be a reliable shipping lane.”

“I see. So let me get this straight before I continue. You are promising me that if I can find a safe shipping lane to transport these boxes, you will give me that evil chicken egg. Right?”

“Of course. The Fairy Godfather never goes back on a deal.”

“Ok, you’re on,” said Thyker. Thyker wasn’t sure how long this deal would last. Now he knew for sure that Marik would just have to wait. The problem was, the gnome stronghold was located on the other side of the world. Walking there could take days at the least. Luckily, Thyker did have one other option. Reaching into his pouch, Thyker pulled out 2 law runes and 2 water runes. He didn’t have many of these to spare, but he couldn’t afford to waste all that time. Thyker utilized the spell he had learned from an old friend in Ardougne, and felt himself shrinking smaller and smaller. Suddenly, he felt himself growing back to normal size, but in different surroundings. He had made it to Ardougne.

Thyker took a moment to recall the town. There were a lot of useful places here. Above all, he knew of a church where he could pray to Guthix. He would have to remember to do that. Guthix’s protective powers had saved him from Karil’s bolt rack. That would have to wait till later, though. He had work to do.

Thyker made his way to the northern end of the town. There were multiple northern gates, but he knew which one he needed to go to. One of the gates led almost directly to the stronghold.

Thyker began walking towards the stronghold. The distance between the two places was covered by farmland. Magical farms, too, apparently. If you picked a potato from the field, it would grow back in a few seconds. Come to think of it, he should pick some food while he could. If he ever met up with Marik again, he might need a long supply of food. Marik walked to the nearest potato patch and groaned. Almost all the potatoes were dead. “This must be the result of that crop plague that Tiffy told me about.” Luckily, Thyker was able to find a few living potatoes. Thyker contemplated whether he should steal some of the last of this farmer’s food. “Well, it’s either Marik’s cooking or them starving. I’d venture to say I’m in the more dangerous situation.”

Thyker reached down to pick one of the living potatoes when he felt something fly by his shoulder. Thyker quickly turned around to find a man covered in black dragonhide armor. The man was either rich or a great fighter. Black dragons did not easily give up their hides. The man was covered in something else too: bruises and cuts. And lots of them. He was also holding three knives in each hand, one between each finger, except for one that was missing in his right hand. That must have been the knife he had thrown.

“Hey, you,” said the man. “You thought you could get away with it, didn’t you?”

“I’m sorry, I really did mean to pay for the potatoes,” replied Thyker, lying through his teeth. Though now that he was caught, he’d gladly pay for them. He didn’t seem to believe him. “My name is Thyker, perhaps you’ve heard of me,” he continued, hoping that his reputation would help him.

“I’m not here to talk about potatoes. You have something of mine, and I want it back.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” said Thyker. “But if you don’t back off, I’m going to have to take you down.” Thyker drew up the crossbow and locked into a bolt.
“Your crony caught me offguard. You won’t be so lucky this time.” The man quickly threw all 5 knives. Thyker jumped out of the way, but they were lighting fast. Four of the 5 hit him. One of them bounced off the armor, but the other three penetrated through. Luckily, the knives appeared to be steel, and Karil’s armor was definitely tough. Still, the result was that he had 2 knives sticking in his left thigh and one in his left shoulder. Knives were inaccurate. Lucky for him, or they may have hit critical organs.

The attack had made Thyker point his crossbow down, but he quickly aimed the crossbow again. However, before he could do anything, the man’s hand made a quick gesture from his side to the front of his body. A dart hit into Thyker’s right hand, forcing him to drop the crossbow. Thyker looked down with horror. It looked like the dart had been poisoned. This could be bad. With 3 knives and a poisoned dart sticking in his body, Thyker wasn’t going to last much longer. And as of now, he had no weapon.

“Who are you?” Thyker asked. “And what do you want?”

“Me? I’m the one who you tried to have killed. You sent a good warrior, but she failed to finish the job. My name is Janrok. I am an avenger.”

Chapter 12: Elemental Warrior

Janrok? Wasn’t that the name Tiffy had mentioned? Tiffy had thought that Thyker stole Karil’s armor from Janrok. Did that mean that someone recently stole it from Janrok? But if so, how did it make its way to the barrows? Thyker didn’t know. But he did know that this Janrok was a skilled ranger and that he was likely the true owner of the armor. Thyker though he saw a way out of this.

“Janrok, a man by the name of Tiffy mentioned that you were the original owner of this armor. I don’t know how you lost it, but I myself obtained it from Karil’s grave. So my question is, if I give you the armor, will you leave?”

Janrok thought about it for a minute. “I’m not sure whether I believe you or not. But I would hate to kill a man who innocently got mixed up in this. Besides, I might lose a few good knives in the process. So yes, if you turn over the armor now, I’ll let you live.”

Thyker had a way out. Besides he didn’t like ranging, anyway. Thyker grabbed the top of the armor, and began pulling it off. “Don’t give him the armor,” said a voice. Thyker looked around. He saw no one other than Janrok. However, he did recognize the voice: Karil. So, that speech about his spirit being in the armor wasn’t simply a metaphor.

“But why?” asked Thyker. Karil didn’t respond, though Janrok did give him a puzzling look. Of course to Janrok, it looked like Thyker was talking to no one. Maybe he was. Maybe it was just his imagination. Thyker continued to pull off the top.

“Don’t give him the armor,” repeated Karil. A second time. No, twice couldn’t have just been his imagination. It was obvious Karil wasn’t going to explain anything to him. He would just have to trust him.

“I’m sorry Janrok. I’d like to give you this armor, but a little ghost in my ear wouldn’t like that.” Thyker smirked. Karil’s words had brought back his fighting spirit.

Janrok, on the other hand, was clearly frustrated. “I’ve had enough of these games!” he shouted as he wound up to throw the knives he was holding.

Luckily, Thyker had thought ahead and grabbed several runes from his pouch. He was too far away to attack hand-to-hand, but his magic spells were just as fast as those knives. Janrok released the knives as Thyker released his spell. A flurry of 6 knives collided with a wave of water. The water deflected the course of the knives and splashed directly onto Janrok, knocking Janrok to his knees. Water spells were not frequently used in combat, but it had served its purpose here, and wasn’t done serving its purpose, either. Thyker took the time to quickly removing the poisoned dart from his hand. Still, the dart had had plenty of time to spread the poison. Thyker would have to end this.

Janrok was just starting to get off the ground. Thyker had to move quickly. He grabbed his trusted dragonite shortsword from his pack and held it in his right hand. In his left hand, he grabbed several important runes. With that, Thyker ran at Janrok. Waiting for the right moment, he released a blast of air that launched him several feet off the ground. Janrok knew what was coming and jumped backwards. Unfortunately, Janrok hadn’t accounted for his surrounding, nor had he realized the purpose of Thyker’s launch into the air. Janrok slipped on the mud that had been created from the water spell, the mud that Thyker had been careful to jump over. This time, Janrok didn’t simply fall down to his knees, he feel flat on his back. And right where Thyker was aiming.

Thyker landed right to the side of Janrok, carrying his sword down with him. About a foot away from Janrok’s body, Thyker’s sword met a great resistance. Thyker recognized it; he had seen it before. Janrok was generating an anti-melee barrier with his prayers. Still, barriers weren’t impregnable, and Thyker was still landing with a lot of force. Thyker pushed in with all his strength and was able to score a slice into his dragonskin armor, taking a piece of his ribs with it. Unfortunately, the barrier was too strong and Thyker was thrown backwards and into the mud by the force of the barrier. Despite not getting a killing blow, Thyker had successfully won that exchange.

Janrok and Thyker got up at approximately the same time. Janrok instinctively reached for more ranging ammunition, but Thyker had planned ahead. “That air blast wasn’t the only runes I grabbed, you know.” And with that, Thyker’s left hand glowed and he summoned the powers of an Earth Strike. Of course, this strike took the form of a mound of the mud rushing at Janrok, covering his entire body in the slimy substance.

“Are you going to stop playing games with your little spells!” shouted Janrok. Janrok reached his ammunition pouch and pulled out 3 knives in each hand. Unfortunately, his hands were still slippery from the mud and they fell right to the ground.

“A wise warrior scouts his position on the battlefield and uses it to his advantage. Not just his position, but what he can change his position to. Combat isn’t simply about throwing one fatal blow after the other, it’s about leading your opponent to a position where they can’t defend against them. And besides, I’d hardly call these little games. I have one more spell planned.” And with that, Thyker used the last of the runes into the palm of his hand to call upon a strike of fire. The fire was relatively weak and wouldn’t kill a person, but it would serve his purpose. He had noticed the composition of the dirt when he tried to grab a potato. It was full of clay.

When the fire strike ended, Thyker looked a Janrok. He was standing, but he wasn’t moving. It wasn’t for lack of effort. The clay in the mud that Thyker had launched onto him had hardened, and most of Janrok’s body was incase in it. Still, he had a problem. He didn’t really want to kill him, but more importantly, he’s not sure if he could. While he didn’t want to admit it to Janrok, the poison was weakening him significantly. Any attack he launched would might kill Janrok, but even worse, it might be too weak to kill him and simply release him from the clay shell.

Thyker had one other option. He reached into his rune pouch. Luckily, he had the runes he needed.

“Go away,” said Thyker. “Don’t bother me again.”

“I’ll keep coming after you until I get the armor,” said Janrok, “unless you finish me now.” Strange words.

“Well, then, I guess I’ll just have to worry about that another day.” And with that, Thyker casted the spell and Janrok disappeared.

Thyker removed the knives that were stuck to him and did a quick check of his body. He was tired and felt rather weak, but the cuts didn’t seem bad. No reason to stop. He could function as he was.

Thyker continued his journey towards the stronghold. It really wasn’t that far away, but weakened as he was, it took him several hours. Not to mention, he was starting to feel hungry. “After all that, I forgot to grab a few of those potatoes,” he thought to himself.

Finally, however, Thyker made it to his destination. The gnome stronghold. A fenced-off area which contained a large field with many gnomish features, especially tree houses, and the grand finale of the area: an enormous tree known as the Grand Tree which housed many of the gnomes. It had been in there that Thyker had battled against an evil gnome known as Glough. The battle mainly featured a giant demon which was a pet of Glough. How did Glough get a demon, anyway?

Thyker walked up to the gate to the stronghold. The gnome guards didn’t generally trust humans, but Thyker was well-known to many of them.

“Hello, Thyker, what business do you have with the stronghold of the gnomes?”

“I’ve come to see...” But Thyker never got to finish his sentence. Instead, found himself thrust into silent darkness.

Chapter 13: Change of Plans, Change of Hearts

Malak flew urgently towards Lumbridge castle. This time, he had enough time to fly by night, as he preferred. However, this couldn’t wait another day. He hadn’t had time to warn Horacio. He would just have to hope that Horacio was at the castle.

Malak flew into the familiar window in Lumbridge castle and transformed back into his humanoid form. Horacio was indeed there but sleeping. “Horacio!” he shouted.

Horacio jolted out of his dreams. It didn’t take him long to discover the disturbance. He didn’t appear very appreciative, however. “Why are you here?” he asked angrily.

“Horacio, we have a problem. A rather significant problem. The undead armies have been growing restless over the last few days.”

“Restless? It’s not like they’re going to waste they’re lives waiting. How can they possibly be restless?”

“Well, the army’s attack was original prepared to coincide with the summoning of the Culinaromancer. But as he was defeated, the army was put on hold. They’ve been patient in their lust for destruction and blood. If that wasn’t bad enough, someone’s been stirring up restlessness among the ranks of the juvenites. The juvenites are minor commanders in the armies, and their underlings follow their lead. Even worse, some of my more loyal juvenites have reported the cause of the disturbances.”

“Well, are you going to tell me?” asked Horacio impatiently.

“It’s been demons.”

“Demons? Since when have there been demons in Canifis?”

“Exactly the problem.”

Horacio thought about it for a moment. Of course, they both knew what it meant. “Ansa! But why would she be sending her demons to tear apart your armies. What’s in it for her?”

“I don’t know,” said Malak. “Whatever it is, though, she’s shown her hand. She is a traitor. Anyway, we can’t play into her game. The undead armies need to launch an invasion. Now.”

“But we can’t yet!” shouted Horacio. He was relieved that the room was sound-proofed by Ansa’s magic. “The leaders of the world are still alive. Your armies are strong, but a coordinated attack by the human world will easily defeat them.”

“Ah,” said Malak, “but that’s where the beauty comes in. We can quickly defeat Falador. The city is a major information coordination center and has easily defendable walls. With it defeated, we could hold the city for a very long time. Not to mention, in the process it will draw attention away from what you’re doing and will give you all the more of an excuse to gather the leaders together when the Culinaromancer’s summoning is ready.”

“A good plan, but one flaw, Malak. How do you plan to take the city that quickly? As you mentioned, it’s the center of information, it will relay help signals quickly, and it has good defenses.”

“With this,” said Malak, holding up the reports he had received from Evil Dave. “Ansa played her game too late. She already gave me the reports to the city’s defenses. There are blatant weaknesses in here, and they can be easily taken advantage of. Two days from now, the city of Falador will fall.”

Horacio sighed. Events were unfolding too quickly. But there was little he could do. He had to deal with the situation that was placed before him. “Very well. You have my support. Do what needs to be done.”

*****


Janrok was finally able to move his body. He had been stuck in that clay for hours, which agitated him to no end. The citizens of Falador had simply walked past him all day, paying him no mind. Perhaps they had thought he was a statue, but how often do you see a statue suddenly appear out of nowhere?! Thyker had sent him here. He wasn’t sure why, but he suspected it was just to send him far away from where he was. Either way, by the time he got back to Ardgourne, Thyker would be long gone. His search would have to start all over again.

Unfortunately for Thyker, he had chosen the wrong town to send Janrok to. Janrok had friends here. Which is how he had gotten out of the clay. “All better now, I’d say, sonny,” said Tiffy.

“Thanks. You’re always there in a pinch,” replied Janrok.

“So,” said Tiffy, “where’s your Karil armor?” Janrok shuddered. Tiffy knew just about everything. For him to ask that question, he probably already knew the answer. Still, it’s unlikely anyone knew the full story of what had happened with that peculiar mage, and he owed Tiffy an explanation. Besides, maybe Tiffy could help.

“I was in the northern part of the wilderness a little over a week ago. I was attacked by a strange mage. She called herself Ansa. She attacked me and left me for dead. Luckily, I was able to ask Saradomin for redemption before her final attack. Without it, she would definitely have killed me. I believe I was dead for a few hours, actually. By the redemption prayer brought me back from the brink of death. I was hurt, but I was alive. The Karil armor was gone, though.”

“Ansa, you say?”

“Yes, I’ve never heard of her, but her powers were incredible. Tiffy, she was wearing Ahrim’s armor.”

“So, I guess we’ve finally found out who obtained that armor.”

“It’s worse than that, Tiffy. Her powers were strange. She was able to create a barrier which completely deflected a bolt rack. It didn’t even so much as wrinkle her robes. Even worse, Tiffie, I think she was using an ice barrage.”

“Ice barrage,” said Tifie. “But that can’t be. Ice barrage is a very ancient magic. No modern warrior could possibly know them.”

“I know it’s not possible Tifie. But I know what I saw. I’ve never seen an ice barrage before, but that was one if I ever saw it.”

“Hmmm… this is troubling news indeed. I’m going to have to look through some of my ancient records.”

“Tiffy, One other thing. I’ve found who took Karil’s armor.”

“But I thought you said it was this Ansa?”

“Yes, she was the one that attacked me, but I saw a person outside of Ardougne wearing it.”

“Was his name Thyker?”

“Yes! Tiffy, do you know how I can track him down!”

“Thyker is a member of the Temple Knights, just like you. He came to me nearly a week back asking for some strange ingredients. He claimed that Horacio owned Verac’s mythical armor and that Horacio promised him that armor if he could retrieve the ingredients. It almost seems like Thyker isn’t even interested in Karil’s armor.”

“Yeah,” said Janrok. “I kind of got the same feeling myself. But something stopped him from giving it away.”

“Janrok, it gets worse than that. Strange events are occurring all over the world. I’ve never seen so many at once. Even Thyker. He claims to have gotten that armor from Karil himself. And those ingredients… they’re powerful foods, but they would taste terrible to almost anyone. I fear they’re part of some incantation. Janrok, the world is about to erupt into chaos. It will be up to people like you and Thyker to protect it. But always remember: your ability to protect others is based on your ability to protect yourself. And on that subject, I highly suggest you rest here for a while. You still look battered from your fight with Ansa.” Janrok decided not to tell Tiffy which fight many of those injuries had come from. Tiffy seemed to have faith in Thyker. For the moment, Janrok would have to follow Tiffy's lead. Besides, knowing Tiffy, he’d probably find out on his on later, anyway.

“Oh, one last thing,” Tiffie told Janrok as he started to walk away. “Take these.” Tiffie threw him a bag. Janrok peered into the bag. It was filled with special bolts, magical ones. At the same time, Tiffie handed him a crossbow, crafted from a fine piece of yew.

“Tiffie, these bolts are quite rare. Why are you giving these to me?”

“Oh, sonny, I suspect you’ll have great use of them in the future.” Great. More Tiffy riddles.

Written By: Shadow7
Submitted By: Serpentis
Edited By: Knil
Coded By: Hoof NoobQuest