Chapter Twenty

Capture the Staff

A/N: This chapter begins where chapter 17 left off.

Darknessdie returned not long after with plenty of sleeping bags. The largest remaining piece of his shattered Zamorakian staff now hung on a string around his neck. A lot had happened in the last few days. Up until now, the largest thing that had happened in my life was the invention of farming. Only a few days it had been, six at the most, since I had been aimlessly ranging chickens in Lumbridge.

As I fell asleep, my mind worked over what I'd heard. I hadn't known anything so complicated since I had agreed to help a merchant in Al Kharid, Ali Morrisane, to find his nephew, also called Ali. The nephew Ali apparently lived in a little backwater village called Pollinevech south of the Shantay Pass, south of the desert. Problem was every single person in that town seemed to be called Ali. Don't think I even found the right Ali.

But it didn't matter now. I was too tired for anything really to matter now. All that mattered was rest. I fell asleep not long after.

The early morning sun shone bright inside the Flying Horse Inn, throwing its light on five sleeping adventures. Light also shone on a lone figure, seated on the roof of the inn that seemed to be consulting with a seagull. Another figure was seated alone inside the inn, at one of the table. With a knife, he was carving patterns in the table top. A closer look would've revealed complicated strategies being embedded into the wooden surface. Lacking paper and charcoal, Hawkfeather made do with what materials he had. He had been up since first light, planning the best way to go about defeating a powerful, evil god.

"Obviously not through strength." Hawkfeather had ascertained quickly. He had no doubts of being able to amass a huge army of adventurers to battle the evil, but his knowledge was that the forces of evil was vast, more powerful than anything ever before. Elves, vampires, werewolves and Kalphites were but a few of the races that he knew would aid Zaros.

Zaros had once been almost killed by the staff of Armadyl. Perhaps if they were able to get hold of that staff, then kill Zaros with it...

That seemed to be the most logical course of action, though Hawkfeather knew well that obtaining the staff and killing Zaros with it would be far more difficult than anything any adventurer had ever attempted, or indeed been able to attempt, before.

Gently Hawkfeather roused his sleeping companions. As soon as they were fully awake, and Adrilor had come inside from the roof, Hawkfeather outlined his plan to get the staff of Armadyl and kill Zaros with it.

"The staff of Armadyl is inside the temple of Ikov." Parrea said. "The limping black guy that was hanging around here earlier told me to steal for him, but I swapped sides and killed him instead."

"You killed him, so how's he still here yesterday?" Kryarn asked.

Parrea looked at him strangely. "Cause he respawned you noob. But he's not here now; I think he went with the Cloud like Kysin did. Anyway, I gotta key to the back door of that temple; the door is just north of Mcgrubors." Hawkfeather nodded.

"Ok Parrea, get that key and teleport to Camelot as soon as you have it." He said.

Hawkfeather was unprepared for her flat refusal. "I'm not going anywhere near Camelot." She said. I had forgotten that the knights of Camelot were still pursuing her.

"Parrea and I will walk." Said Kryarn, jumping at the chance to avoid teleportation.

Hawkfeather sighed. "Guys, it would be so much faster to teleport." Parrea's glare stopped him. "Ok, we'll run. Go get that key Parrea."

The seven adventurers jogged north, Parrea making a short detour to the bank.

We reached the door north of McGrubor's wood quickly. Parrea opened the door, and we went inside. I had never been inside the temple of Ikov before. Rumors I had heard of the place had me prepared to meet hordes of ghosts and elemental warriors. Not normal, human looking paladins. One of them stopped us as we entered.

"Halt, in the name of Armadyl the wise!" The paladin commanded.

"Hey, it's me remember? I killed Lucien for you guys!" Parrea protested.

The paladin looked closely at Parrea. "Yes, I remember you. And the elf is familiar. You may pass."

The paladin stood aside, and we walked in. The room inside was painted gray. It was built as a strange maze, with few luxuries for the paladins. I questioned Parrea as to where they slept, what they ate, drank, how did they survive down here?

"It's the power of Armadyl that keeps them going." She replied. "The blessed liquid they drink."

There were a fair number of Paladins, and they were formidable enemies. Hawkfeather messaged me, and everyone else in the group.

"Parrea grabs the staff, we tele out of here to Lumbridge." I caught his eye, and nodded to assert I had gotten the message. To avoid suspicion, I looked around the room. The paladins were so much like the ones in Ardougne; they arrested little of my attention. But a strange movement on one of the walls did. The walls were gray, and shadowed. But in the shadows, I thought I could make out a figure of something, or someone. I tapped Hawkfeather's shoulders to gain his attention.

"What's that?" I asked, gesturing towards the wall. Before Hawkfeather could answer, a strangely shaped staff appeared near the almost invisible figure. The staff moved, and a gleaming white ball of energy formed in front of the figure. I heard the command.

"HIDE!" Yelled Hawkfeather. I dove for cover behind one of the walls. Not fast enough. I felt the spell hit me. It was unlike any spell I had experienced before. The first blast slammed the air out of my lungs, making me gasp painfully. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't move. Frightened, I opened my eyes and looked out through a case of solid ice. I was facing the staff of Armadyl. Helplessly, I watched the chameleon figure take the holy staff, stretch out his arms, and teleport. Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw identical blocks of ice, encasing the paladins and my companions.

The ice disappeared, evaporating in a second. I found I could breathe again, move again. I grabbed a shark from my pack and ate it.

"What was that?" Screamed Kryarn, fear written all over his simple face.

"That was just a human, wearing ghost's robes and wielding a staff of ancient magiks. Better question is, where did he go?"

'Hey, um... I know how to figure out where he went." Nakama said from the corner of the room. She was crouched beside a chair, which she had apparently hidden under when the ghostly mage had appeared.

"How?" Said Hawkfeather.

Nakama held up what looked like a small crystal ball. "This is a device of the Falador Temple Knights; if someone has teleported somewhere it can track them, if they can't be found then they leave something behind to show where they sort of are. We go to that place, and scan the area for them with this orb. Then it reveals them." She explained.

"What do ya mean, where they sort of are. You can't sort of be somewhere. It's either here, or there, or in between when teleporting." Said Hawkfeather.

Nakama shook her head. "That's how it is for most people, but some powerful mages, like Solus Dellegar and the one that was here a minute ago, can stretch themselves between two dimensions. So like they're halfway between the place where they teleported to and the place they travel through when teleporting."

Well, I'm glad it all made perfect sense to her. I didn't get it. I looked around me. Kryarn caught my eye and shrugged. Hawkfeather was nodding slowly.

"So there'd be so little matter of themselves in either place, that they'd be nearly invisible." He said. Nakama nodded.

"How did you create a thing like that." The harshness in Darknessdie's voice surprised me.

"I don't know, I didn't create it." Said Nakama, nervously. "Noe... I mean Savant, created it."

"Hidden teleportation has been one of the greatest, most closely guarded secrets of the Zamorak mages for years." Darknessdie stated, not bothering to conceal the rage in his voice, rage at this device which had found the weakness of hidden teleportation.

"Not so my friend, for your kind learnt it off the elves, as did the mages of Zaros. Tis an elven secret, stolen by few such as yourself." Said Adrilor.

"Wait. So you can both teleport like this?" Asked Nakama, incredulously.

Teleport like what? I had totally no idea. Hawkfeather now looked confused; Kryarn had lost interest and was amiably chatting to a paladin. Parrea was looking intently at Darknessdie and Adrilor. Both the elf and mage nodded in response to Nakama's question.

"Ok, so the mage that stole the staff, he left this behind." Said Nakama, gesturing towards a large keg of beer. I was sure that keg of beer hadn't been there when we arrived.

"Wait, so if we find out where this keg comes from, then we go to that place and activate the orb, the mage will appear." Hawkfeather said slowly.

"Yep." Said Parrea.

"How'd you know all that?" I asked her.

"I've been in the temple knights for ages." She said. "I used a device like that one to track down Solus Dellegar."

I still wasn't very sure as to how it all worked, but I understood that the mage would be at the place where that keg of beer came from. Adrilor ran his hands over the keg. I saw his lips moved, but couldn't hear the spell that came from them. Before my eyes, the wooden lid of the keg vanished under the power of the elf's incantation. Adrilor dipped his fingers into the keg, and tasted them.

"It is beer, but without the side affects that is attributed to most."

"Hey it's non-alcoholic beer." Said Kryarn, breaking off his conversation long enough to taste the beer. "The poison seller near Camelot sells stuff like this."

Hawkfeather nodded. "Good, so that's where our mage will be."

"Do we have to go to Camelot?" Parrea still looked uncertain.

"Relax; the knights have probably forgotten you by now. After the cloud and all." I reassured her.

"Ok, let's go." Said Parrea.

I thought it would be simple; just go to Camelot, gang up on this rogue mage and steal the staff. Sure, it was obviously a powerful mage, but we were also powerful - when given fair warning.

But our troubles began as soon as we got in sight of the Seers Village.

Leafdarking stood in the ruins of Pete's Party room, watching her noobs take the Seers village. It was easier than she had expected; the seers there had apparently not foreseen her arrival, and so the citizens of the village were not warned and were in total disarray. Her command had basically taken the village now. She was proud of the way they had exhibited battle tactics; not just swinging their weapons left and right but working to preserve themselves as well. The dead bodies of seers and citizens that lined the streets were proof that death was now final.

She called a handful of noobs over, and stationed them around the village, to warn of any attacks from the barbarian province to the north, or Ardougne army from the south west.

"Captain Leafdarking!" A noob sentry called from his post at the far north west corner of the village, after he had been at the post for about fifteen minutes. Leafdarking ran over, and watched the small group of high-leveled adventurers jog towards her command from the direction of McGrubor's wood.

Quickly assessing the skills of her opponents, Leafdarking rapped out a few well-chosen orders.

"Hey it's a noob. Should I shoot him?" Parrea asked.

"No, we can't just kill now. Let him live if at all possible."

"Hey look, they're actually organized, with a leader."

"What kinda noob clan's been smart enough for leaders?"

"They run for ambush. Hawkfeather, should we not journey around the village?"

"No, we'd have to pass close to them anyway."

I watched the noobs scramble for cover amongst the ruined buildings. There was a pink and black figure yelling at the other noobs; from this distance it was impossible to make out more than the indistinct colors. We ran closer.

Prayer is perhaps the greatest gift the gods ever gave to adventurers, next to respawns. Zaros had killed life, but he couldn't destroy our faith. As we neared the village, I heard a screamed command, "FIRE!" I prayed that ranged missiles would have no effect, and kept running. Most arrows missed, but those that would've hit me sped straight through my body, like I wasn't even there.

We were in the village now. Behind me, on the uneven road, I heard a splash. The sound it made reminded me horribly of a daganoth's slimy foot hitting bare rock. I quickly switched prayers - but not quick enough. Like in a dream, from a figure I could see but wasn't focusing on, I saw it ready its water spell. As the spell flew towards me, I ran faster, attempting to get out of its path. The noob had planned, if noobs do such things, well. He had thrown the water bolt into the path I was taking. The spell struck me squarely on the shoulder, throwing me off balance. I fell sideways, too fast to comprehend what was happening. I turned to break my fall. My arms were too slow; my head slammed against the ground before I could react. Screaming. Someone was screaming and shaking me. I closed my eyes, and breathed the dying, rattling breath that I had breathed so many times before.