Chapter Sixteen

The Council of Rorthan

The lurid pink of the HAM hood blew itself against her cheek, in the weather that hadn't felt a breeze for many days. Turning her face towards the breeze, Leafdarking stared helplessly at the approaching darkness... She was powerless against its overwhelming strength... Like so many others in Runescape that day...

Deep in one of his wilderness hideouts, Bio saw the black cloud coming... assuming it was one of the many small winds that kicked up the feathery light black ash that made up most of the wilderness ground, he dived for cover... A hollow tree wasn't good enough to keep the cloud out though... As it hit him, he heard the voice - and understood it.

In a terrible, powerful, grating lisp it spoke "Thou isss ignoransssse... Join usss... Come... and thou ssshalth... win... whhith usss..." Nothing but pure excitement and anticipation coursed through Biohazardluver's mind. Without thinking it through, he yelled out into the oppressive darkness... "I join!" He felt the darkness enter him... he felt himself grow thinner, and transparent... and with a last gust of wind, he apparated from that place altogether.

The sun was shining, a golden ball hanging overhead in the western sky. Leafdarking picked herself up off the ground. She thought as to how she got there... and remembered. But like the others, like Parrea... she had no idea what had befallen her, and apparently her troops as well. Pulling out her message list, she discovered that Rorthan, the grand leader of the army himself had summoned her to a meeting. That evening, in the Burthorpe castle. She looked at the sun. That evening... wasn't a long time away...

Stretching her arms out, she shrunk and teleported.

Leafdarking arrived at the Burthorpe castle, discovering that it wasn't just her that had been summoned. In the castle courtyard, she recognized other leaders and great fighters in the noobs army. There was Skraine, Rorthan's legendary right hand man... and... She sent a look of pure disdain at Luthandros in the corner. Why had Rorthan summoned him? She asked herself. There was Freakoldman... and his usual guard of two... and an odd assortment of other fighters and captains in the noob's army.

She was in a discussion with Freak about the fate of the high leveled enemy she'd sent him after, when a contained cloud of mist erupted in front of them. When the misty cloud disappeared, the fabled Mysterious Old Man was there. His arrival had caught the attention of most the noobs present that evening. In a loud voice that belied his fragile appearance, he announced, "Move inside and be seated, for Rorthan comes soon to us."

Leafdarking followed the rest of the crowd inside the castle, and, seeing no chairs anywhere, sat on the floor that had been covered with the remains of the tents belonging to the Imperial Black Army of Burthorpe. Once they were all inside, and seated on the floor, Rorthan walked energetically down the stairs and approached the large table to the side of the room. Banging his fists on the table, he called for silence.

No matter how powerful, Rorthan was, is and probably always will be a noob. Being such, he wasn't given to eloquent introductions. His commands and presentations were quick, sharp and to the point.

"You're all here... no one missing... good." The noob leader said. "Ok, everyone here should've noticed the cloud, and felt its effects. Before that subject though, a few reports from our borders... Killerbum!"He called. A noob commander in the crowd stood up, likely Killerbum."Killerbumhow's the war with Morytania, do we need more troops in that area, are we safe from them?" Rorthan asked.

"We haven't moved into Morytania yet, though we are making use of the powers of Saradomin to keep the evil that lives in that land away from us. I've got about sixty bored troops stationed there; all we need is the holy water, and about five to make the Saradominist priest bless the water." Reported Killerbum.

"Ok, Killerbum, leave fifteen there and call the rest to Camelot after this meeting. Leafdarking!" Called Rorthan. Leafdarking stood up. "How goes your border post?" He asked.

Leafdarking had been prepared for this. "I've got exactly fifty-four troops, fifty-five if you include myself. There isn't any need for anyone to be posted in Al Kharid, because the only threat is far across a huge desert to the south, the desert that poses a threat to anybody. The people who live south of that desert are in the middle of civil war, and thieves basically rule their lands. I don't think that they will attempt an attack on us.

If you think that some troops must stay in Al Kharid, I can choose twenty from my command. But in the past few days some of us have seen powerful enemies in Al Kharid, Misthalin and Asgarnia. I'm pretty sure that these enemies are the same two. I sent some of my most selected troops after them, but the cloud let the enemy escape."

Rorthan nodded at her report. "The fact that you know your troops that well is good..." The leader called upon another noob leader, and another, to make their reports. All of them said that they had troops that were lounging around doing nothing, except the one that was trying to clear the dwarves out of their mine, and the one trying to eliminate the trolls. The commander fighting the dwarves had about forty troops, and assured Rorthan that the mine would be empty in a few days. He also had brought an awesome trophy of enough parts to assemble five multi-cannons.

The commander fighting the trolls asked for a lot more mages, few rangers and absolutely no warriors. Rorthan listened to his request impassively.

"Radune!" Rorthan called up yet another noob leader. "The attack on Camelot, how goes it?"

The attack on Camelot... Leafdarking hadn't been aware that Camelot was under attack.

A heavily armored warrior stood up on the other side of the room.

"We have destroyed Camelot, and killed all who resisted, except one skilled young knight, who we captured instead. I have about four hundred troops stationed there, now. There is attacks coming from the barbarians in the north, but they're not hard to take care of. No one's tried to attack us from the south yet. But from the west, earlier this day before the cloud, we were attacked by a flock of black crows. Small birds, and my troops managed to kill them, but it's fairly unusual for crows to attack one target in such numbers, and we did nothing to them."

From where she was sitting, Leafdarking wasn't able to read the expression on Rorthan's face, but she found it eerie that crows would attack... perhaps there was more to Runescape than a rabble of selfish adventurers...

"So... now we have heard all the reports from our borders, all seems to be going well... but we move too slow. Our enemy has struck us with his most powerful weapon, and we are pitifully far away from ending him." Said Rorthan. "What I am going to tell you tonight, I've only told to my closest advisers and friends. But now the empty lord has struck... we must all know him, know what we fight."

Leafdarking was confused. When the mysterious old man had offered her a place in the noob army, he had told her that the army's purpose was to cleanse Runescape of all life. Except that life that wasn't a member of the army. All life included the bear that had once killed her... the high levels that had taunted her... called her a noob... Joining this army... she saw the bears dying... those high levels at her mercy... Revenge would be sweet...

Yet the old man hadn't mentioned anything about dark clouds, almost god-like powers, flocks of crows united... just a divided rabble of selfish adventurers.

But Rorthan was continuing. "Many thousands of years ago, Guthix created Runescape, and he named the land Gielinor. He populated the land with living creatures, from trees to people. Then he breathed his greatest gift on the people: the gift of eternal life. Tired from his efforts at creating the land, he slept. During his sleep, new god-like powers arose on Guthix's land Gielinor. There were many that arose, but the two main ones were called Armadyl and Zaros.

Armadyl was a peaceful deity, who tried his hardest to further beautify the land that Guthix called Gielinor and that the humans had dubbed Runescape. Armadyl promoted peace, harmony, and all-round goodness. To most people, this was appealing and Armadyl obtained many followers. It wasn't long before Runescape was divided into three parts: the people who worshipped Armadyl, the people who worshipped Guthix, and the people who worshipped other gods.

History doesn't really say how he began, or when, or if he was even a he. But records show that somewhere around this time of Armadyl and Guthix worshipers, another god came. The nicest true thing that could be said about this god was that he was pure. Pure darkness, pure evil, pure destruction. He began a great war against all the peoples of Runescape, the people divided as they were into three parts.

His army was of vampires, and ghasts, and the undead, giant insects and thousands of weak goblins. They were led by tall, deadly pale-skinned, long haired human-like creatures. These creatures over time became the elves that live in the east. Among this god's captains were the demon Azzandra, the vampire lord Drakan and the skilled diplomat Charos. His name was spoken fearfully, until it almost disappeared altogether, until he was known as The Empty Lord.

The main force who resisted this god's army belonged to a mortal general called Zamorak. There is a complicated story, held only by a handful of far-flung ghosts, of how the Staff of Armadyl found it's way into Zamorak's hands. The Staff of Armadyl was a treasured relic of the good god. In a last great battle against the hordes of evil, Zamorak killed the Empty Lord with the staff. The staff of goodness killed the Empty Lord, if he can be at all killed.

But we know that when he died, all mortals who were associated in any way with the staff became ghosts for the rest of eternity; an example of the Empty Lord's punishment. All the pure evil that resided within him fled... most of it into Zamorak's own form. Now, Zamorak is the image of the Empty Lord; immortal... he is a god... a god, but he was born mortal... and will never be the same as the Empty Lord was. Most of the Empty Lord's forces fled, the elves into the east, the vampires to the west, the goblins, underground and the insects to the south.

But he has not gone. He is forever, a god. Far more immortal than the rest of us. All these thousands of years he has rested... and waited... and now he is banding again... From the one who most of you know as the Mysterious Old Man, I learnt that the Empty Lord's spirit has lived within one mortal creature... somewhere...

And that mortal creature is who we are trying to find. We do not have a war with Runescape, only against the evil that rises in one living form... somewhere within the land of Runescape. All those who were found to not harbor the spirit of the Empty Lord, the Mysterious Old Man has put into a deep sleep, so to try and make them immune to the terrible weapon that the Empty Lord released upon us this day.

So now you see... the Empty Lord is rising... somewhere. He will call to him his old followers... from the east, west, south... everywhere. But he lives in one mortal form. One person, or dragon, or mosquito, or bear, unicorn, undead... all we must do is find this one, and kill them. We kill them, and the power of the Empty Lord will flee again, and stay away for another few thousand years.

And as to the weapon that he released? It was a counter-curse... it has taken from us all, the power of eternal survival. When killed, we will die. Forever. And never, ever reappear, never to live again. That is what the cloud did to us. That is what we fight. We fight for the greater good of Runescape, in the memory of the greatest general of all who destroyed the Empty Lord so many years ago. For mortal Zamorak as he once was. Not as the paled image of the Empty Lord that he is now."

Rorthan stopped and looked around the room at his followers. Leafdarking was stunned. She had thought that this would be another exciting adventure... sure, she might die... but she would... had always respawned again in Lumbridge...

Freak, Calladus and Blazingwarri were equally stunned. This changed a lot... They had always been for Saradomin... but in the light of this new enemy, the Empty Lord, maybe it was time for them to put aside their differences with Zamorak... Maybe disrupting the army wasn't for the greater good.

"So you all know exactly what we're up against." Rorthan had begun speaking again. "Our battle plans must then be adjusted accordingly. Out of the east will come hordes of vampires... the goodness of one river and the strength of a priest. It is doubtful that these combined will be enough to stay the enemy. From the south will come insects... far bigger and more powerful than the largest dragons. From the west comes the little armies of Ardougne, combined with the false alliance of the elves. We have hundreds of troops, superior numbers... now all we need is strategy."

Late into that night, Rorthan made a detailed explanation of what exactly the new strategies were. Before, it had just been to release the masses on the enemy and kill. But now, lives were far more expensive...

It was very late that night when the meeting ended. When the strategies were finally over, everyone rose to leave the castle. The general chatter paused for a moment as Radune's voice rang through the crowd, voicing the question that they had all thought of, but no one had dared ask.

"What's the Empty Lord's real name?" He called out.

Rorthan looked in his direction, but it was the mysterious old man who answered.

"Thou hast not guessed? His name, it was Zaros."

"Guys, Rorthan is lying just to get rebels like us to fight better for him! We are for Saradomin, and he's for Zamorak, he admitted it - you heard him!" Freak yelled exasperatedly. Calladus had seriously been considering really joining forces with the noobs, and Blazingwarri had been staying out of the argument.

"Freak didn't you see that cloud? That was power, and bad power! Forget Saradomin and Zamorak, both of you. Now it's simply Zaros versus the rest of us." Calladus retaliated.

"Rorthan - is - lying. He's making up bearshit so he can act like he knows exactly what's going on... yep, he's got it all under control. And at the same time he spins a story about a bigger enemy, seeming very open and brave while he does it. He just wants us to trust and fight for him better you idiot!" Freak hissed. He was really starting to get pissed now.

"Hey, Rorthan had the best explanation of that cloud I've heard so far. You and Blaze..."

"Blazingwarri." Said Blazingwarri.

"...Blazingwarri haven't said anything, but geez, some guy saw the cloud coming and said it was going to freaking rain! And after it had passed another blamed it on a bad bonfire! I'm sick of hearing noobish ideas... it's really starting to piss me off..." said Calladus, barely restraining his annoyance and fury.

"Have you even seen what the old man did to the barbarian village? They're zombies! Every single one of them! And let me tell you, if this cloud is exactly what Rorthan said it is, then it's still no reason to join him. He is for Zamorak. We are for Saradomin." Freak argued. "That should be enough. If it isn't, then goodnight; I haven't got anything else to say."

So saying Freak blew out the lantern and got into his sleeping bag.

"Guys... please... This isn't the time to get annoyed over little arguments." Said Blazingwarri. He had sat quietly through the other's arguments, and was trying to make them see the other's side. Blazingwarri was for Saradomin, but if Zaros was pure evil, then it made sense that he was Saradomin's enemy. But Zaros was Zamorak's enemy as well... no, hang on... not Zamorak's enemy... Zamorak as he once was, maybe he was once good...

"Rorthan isn't fighting for Zamorak, the evil god we have today." Blazingwarri tried again to reconcile his friends. "He's fighting for a brave leader, a warrior, who did Runescape a great favor once, at the expense of his own pure soul..." He was going to go on how Zamorak probably wasn't Saradomin's enemy back then, but he was interrupted by Freak.

"You are for Saradomin! There is nothing right, never was about Zamorak! Don't say stuff like that again, ever. Zamorak has always been Saradomin's enemy. End of story. You are for Saradomin, or Zamorak. There's nothing else." Freak told Blazingwarri, angrily. "Go to sleep and think it over."

Blazingwarri sighed and got into his sleeping bag. He just hoped that his friends would sleep and think it over. He personally thought that Freak was wrong in refusing to help the army, and that Calladus was wrong by trying to ignore the Saradomin vs. Zamorak feuds that had continued for decades. He thought that they could still be for Saradomin, but now would be the time to ignore Zamorak and attack Zaros.

Sighing at the complicity the events had turned out into, he pushed it all to the back of his mind and fell asleep.