Chapter Nineteen:

The Gates of Morytania

"Ok you lot. Those of you who can teleport to Varrock, take some runes from that pile and do so. The rest of you, line up over here." Skraine ordered the assorted collection of noobs from Leafdarking's and Radune's command. About a third of the noobs moved forward to take runes from pile. They stretched out their arms, and teleported. Blazingwarri watched as his three friends, Radune, and a few others shrunk out of sight.

"The rest of you," Skraine addressed the noobs who couldn't teleport, "Line up here NOW so I can teleother you." Leafdarking watched in satisfaction as the most annoying members of her command left.

"And you," Skraine turned to her when he had teleported all the noobs, "Make ready the rest of your lot. You are to have moved in to Camelot and taken the village near there by tonight."

It wasn't long before the group of noobs, about thirty of them, arrived in Varrock. Led by Radune, they quickly covered the distance between the ruins of Varrock and the temple that guarded the only known entrance to Morytania. The shouts of the noobs already stationed there reached their ears from a good distance.

"Aw... scared of the little doggy are ya?"

"But it's a big dog."

"And the bats... you don't like the bats neither."

"AAHHHH!"

Laughter broke out in the camp as the reinforcements arrived. Freak quickly located the source of laughter. A level 36, who looked as if one of his parents were either troll or giant, was holding a small squeaking bat in the face of a level 28 guy who was clearly terrified of bats.

"Make camp!" Radune ordered, ignoring the source of laughter.

Freak, Blazingwarri, Calladus and Rane (aka Brick34) chose a sheltered place beside the towering cliff that closed in the camp. Once everything had been dumped, Rane looked around him. There were two huge cliffs on either side of the path, to the north and south. The road they had come from led to a large temple that looked like a dilapidated monastery or church. The cliffs were gray. The temple was gray. The road was gray. The graveyard near the temple was gray. Everywhere was covered with a fine dust from the nearby limestone mines. Everything was gray.

Rane remembered back to when he was still at Camelot. He had been an ordinary, roving adventurer like 90 of Runescape's population. Then he had seen the legends guild. He swore to himself, one day, he would be a member of that guild. His journeys had taken him to Camelot, where King Arthur had sent him on a mission, resulting in him becoming a Knight of the Round Table. As a gift for completing this mission, King Arthur had granted Rane his own sword, the magical sword Excalibur. Even now, in this place so close to Morytania, Rane could feel the sword's weight, strapped to his back beneath his cloak.

Morytania. In his days in King Arthur's court, Rane had heard the place spoke of only in whispers, mentioned in dusty old books as 'The origin of all evil" and "Men do not go there, for it's inhabitants are far from hospitable..." And now, Rane could see this land for himself. Past the temple, he could see a bright, sparkling river. This he assumed was the holy river that kept all evil in Morytania at bay. But past the river, someone had turned the lights down. It was about midday, and the sun shone bright. But on the other side of the river, it was the dimness of dusk or dawn. In the dim Morytanian light, Rane thought he saw something move. He tried to focus on it, through the darkness that shrouded that land.

"Hey Brick! Come here a sec!"

Rane sighed. He knew he wasn't going to get used to that name anytime soon.

The sun was sending its last tired rays down the road that Radune's command had traveled earlier that day. Rane was, again, staring off into the shadowed land Morytania. He had more than caught a glimpse of something. Different things, some small and pale, some fast and gray, some that looked more like hot air than anything else. He could also see strange lights, lights that moved, that glowed...

"It's a strange place, isn't it?" Said a voice. Rane turned quickly, startled; he hadn't known anyone was there. Beside him, leaning on the fence was the little 28 guy who was afraid of bats and apparently dogs as well.

"What are those things?" Rane asked, exasperated as another figure slipped in and out of sight again.

"That? That was a giant bat." Replied 28. Rane nodded. He had seen giant bats before.

"Are they all giant bats?" He asked.

"No." 28 replied. "The big gray ones are bats. The pale white ones are ghouls, the hot steams are ghasts, the howling you hear are werewolves, any one of those bats out there could be vampires."

Rane looked closer, interested. He had seen bats before, all different shapes and sizes, but never a ghast, ghoul, vampire or werewolf before.

"And what are those little lights, the ones that keep flashing?" He asked.

"Swamp lights, willow-the-whisps. They're nothing, just little harmless bugs. Just if you're ever lost, don't follow them cause they'll lead you into the swamp." 28 said. A fast but disturbing image flitted across Rane's mind. Himself, hopelessly lost in that dark place, following the bugs, desperate for any form of light... falling in the swamp, trying to climb out... pale white hands, ghouls, vampires... reaching for him...

Despite himself, Rane shuddered. Level 28 watched him, interested.

"Kinda scary huh. Y'know, it scares me too. Especially the bats. But none of them are scared of it, somehow." He said, gesturing towards the main group of noobs.

Rane looked at him. "Hey what's your name?" He asked.

"I'm Dunan0, but that's only cause someone else in this land took the name Dunan. I've never met him, so I'm just called Dunan." Dunan said. "Hey what are you called?" He asked.

Rane hesitated, then answered. "My name's Raneundead, but it's shortened to Rane. Just all the other noobs call me Brick34." He said. He couldn't explain why, but for some reason he trusted this little fellow, Dunan.

"Brick34... That doesn't sound much like Rane. Doesn't sound you like it much either." Dunan replied.

"I don't like it, didn't even choose it. It's Blazingwarri's fault..." Rane found himself explaining everything. From Camelot, to the noobs, to the escape, to him eventually arriving at Morytania.

"Hey that's some story." Dunan said when Rane had finished. "Me, I was offered a place in this army like two minutes after I got off Tutorial Island. I didn't know anything then, but now I reckon that this isn't a very good idea. I mean, they're all going on about a massive war, searching for something... Hey I've seen the size of this army. I don't think it's doing the right thing, but I'm just glad I'm on their side. The side that's gonna survive is this one I reckon."

A series of whistles and catcalls from the main body of noobs caught Rane and Dunan's attention. Most of the noobs were staring at a scruffy, red-haired mage who had just entered the camp. Rane watched as two noobs approached her. Rane wasn't close enough to catch what they was saying, but he saw her unceremoniously and unmercifully whack them over the head with her staff, shouting as she hit them. Rane only caught the one word; "Perverts!"

"What's wrong with him?" Dunan asked, calling Rane's attention to Luthandros, who sprinted towards and inside the temple. Rane laughed as the red-haired mage's identity hit him. He quickly told Dunan the story of Luthandros, how he had been owned by a powerful level 12 girl mage.

"Is she with you guys?" Asked Dunan. Rane shook his head. He was pretty sure she hadn't journeyed from Burthorpe with his group. They watched the red-haired girl walk towards where the Black guard was sitting.

"Come on." Said Rane, beginning to walk towards his friends. "Hey, what's up?" He asked, as Dunan spun around and faced Morytania, his breathing ragged and a look of abject terror on his face.

Dunan slowly shook his head. "I don't know. Just can't forget that those things are always there." He said, still staring out over the river.

"Well, the ghouls and things are over there, and we're over here." Replied Rane.

"Yeah, but there's just that river there separating us. And one old monk keeping the river holy. And vampires can fly and ghasts can float and if anything jumps from that cliff over there they could probably cross..." Dunan replied.

Rane listened impassively. "Ok, now you're just being paranoid. What creature could jump from that cliff over the river, and survive? Nothing's ever crossed that river before since I've been here anyway." He said. "Come on, I'm starving." Together they walked back to Freak, Calladus, Blazingwarri and the red-haired sorceress.

Calladus looked up as they approached. "Hey Brick, who's your friend?" He asked.

Rane introduced Dunan, then sat down and helped himself to one of the steaks, done to perfection by Freak. "He knows my name isn't Brick, its Rane." Added Rane.

"Ok... hey Dunan, can you not tell Radune or anyone that his name's Rane?" Asked Blazingwarri.

Dunan nodded. "Yeah he already told me everything, like how you guys helped him escape and all that." He said.

"Hey Cerrin, did you really beat up Luthandros?" Dunan asked Cerrin Wyver, the red-haired mage. She looked confused.

"Not really; I did rescue a guy he had tied up and lowered his strength a fair bit... But, no I didn't beat him up at all." She replied. "How'd you hear?" She asked.

"Ah, it's just this rumor going around; Luthandros got owned by a level 12 girl." Said Calladus. "You know how rumors grow. And now everyone in the camp knows how you single-handedly beat Luthandros up."

She grinned. "Nice." She said.

A moment later, "What's down that hole?" She asked.

The hole she was referring to was the covered trapdoor, the one that led through a winding tunnel, the tunnel guarded by a huge monster that was supposed to be a dog.

"Down that hole there's a priest at the end of a tunnel; he keeps the water holy and the evil in Morytania." Dunan answered. Cerrin looked interested.

"I've heard about that. There are so many stories about the evil in Morytania and the one river and priest that keeps it all in." She said. "But none of the creatures in Morytania sound so bad; I mean, none of them are immune to magic are they?"

"Immune to magic? Nothing's immune to magic!" Cried Calladus.

"Yeah, apparently there's this huge green demon owned by some gnome called Glough; the demon's supposed to be immune to magic." She shuddered. "Now that is evil."

"Well don't ask us; you seem to know more than we do." Said Rane, in response to her first question.

"Hey is that priest still keeping the river holy by using Runestones and the power of Saradomin?" Cerrin asked.

Rane nodded. "He was about two weeks ago; I supplied like enough Rune Essence to keep that river holy for a decade."

Cerrin looked thoughtful. "That's not really good enough. He should be using the power of Guthix, and probably soul runes instead." She said. "I'll go fix it."

Cerrin got up, and walked towards the trapdoor. "Cerrin wait!" Called Rane.

"Yeah?" She called back.

"What if it goes wrong and you let the evil pass? I don't think it's a good idea." Rane told her.

"Don't worry!" She called back. Rane watched her messy shock of red-hair disappear into the ground. "Doesn't she ever listen?"

"Never." Answered Blazingwarri.