Allen Hawkins was just returning back to his home from a tiring workout in the outskirts of Varrock. His dark red Abyssal Whip looked even more ominous than usual, as it was covered with the thick blood of the Giant Rats that he was helping the local rat-catchers exterminate. The well-built adventurer turned a corner and came within view of his two-story house, that he had worked so hard to acquire. He stepped onto the green lawn when he suddenly saw five burly men standing around his house. Carts and cardboard boxes were placed on the front porch. Allen stood stunned for a moment, processing the scene, before yet another big man stepped out of the front door. In his hands were some of Allen's personal possessions!
Allen realized that these men were taking his stuff away! It was without doubt. "What the hell are you guys doing?" the adventurer screamed in outrage. The men turned around and looked at him, surprised. One of the bigger men stepped forward.
"We're hired to take away your property. That is including your possessions and house. That's because you haven't paid your taxes for several months in a row, and you've got a long list of bills overdue. As long as you continue to slack off from paying, we're going to keep your house."
"Yeah right," Allen snarled. "I paid my damn taxes just a few days ago!"
"Sorry, buddy, but prices and taxes have gone up in Misthalin. No one truly knows why, apart from the King maybe, but that's the way it is. The taxes you paid were the amounts for the last few months, but prices have since gone up. So you're still lacking in that department, mate. The Misthalin government needs the taxes to pay for new imports and exports, so that's just the way it is."
The burly men had unloaded EVERYTHING in his now former house, and were now going away in a large truck. Allen went into the house speechless, and inspected every room, only to find no trace of his former possessions. Angrily, he went up to his bedroom (which was missing the bed) and ripped out a secret floorboard that the men had obviously overlooked. Underneath were his secret possessions prepared for situations such as this, including a travel backpack, a small pouch with coins, some potions, and green dragonhide armor. He strapped on the light-weighing yet protective armor, and tucked the rest inside his large backpack. Hooking his whip back onto its latch on his customized belt, Allen then left the house, and headed towards his next destination - the slums of Varrock.
"What the hell is wrong with the damn economy, it's strange," the adventurer muttered in exasperation to himself as he ignored the voices of many tramps scattered around the street he was walking through.
I'll set things right no matter what, Allen thought to himself as he knocked on a door to a large building. A man wearing dark robes opened the door and Allen was allowed to go inside. He was in a strange bar of a strange inn, the base of operations for the Varrock criminal underworld. He walked up to the long bar and ordered a beer, sitting next to a hooded person dressed in casual clothing.
"What's this about the taxes and stuff, Takrinqer?" Allen asked the hooded man, who was also his contact to the underworld.
"Damn the Misthalin government, I know the economy's bad, but that's no reason to take away my freaking house!" Takrinqer replied angrily.
Allen nodded in shared sympathy. "I know, those guys took away my house earlier today, but I know a way to get it back. By finding the left half of the Shield of Arrav."
"Hey, that half ain't gonna be found anytime soon. I know it's last seen being carried into the Varrock Sewers by some unknown person, but I also know that YOU aren't getting it back. Lots of people have journeyed into the Sewers to try recover the left half, but all they got was a painful death. It's probably guarded heavily by monsters, and you ain't gonna live five minutes in there, mate."
"I know, Tak. But I have to try, don't I? All the citizens are steering clear of the Sewers now, but as a skilled warrior, I'm going to try anyway. I got nothing to lose, man."
"Well, good luck, mate. But let me remind you, the recently formed Asgarnia Secret Service of Socialists, who I nickname the Troublesomes, are also looking for the left half, since as you know, it can be cashed in for a pretty sum at the museum. Steer clear of them. I've got a run in with one of their agents in the past and let's just say it was 'troublesome', to say the least."
Allen smiled and nodded, thanking the hooded man for his advice. The adventurer finished his beer quickly, and was about to leave the bar when his friend Darko stopped him on the way out. Darko was a throwing knife specialist, and sure enough, he was gripping a Rune Knife in his left hand. In his other hand he held a piece of parchment.
"Allen, man, I couldn't help eavesdropping on your conversation with Takrinqer. You looking for the shield? I've got something that's gonna help a whole lot, and it's only for five hundred coins." Darko held out an ancient old map, and Allen quickly scanned it. Five hundred coins was nothing compared to the money he would earn after cashing in the shield at the museum, and Darko certainly wasn't the type of person to give out freebies. Without hesitation Allen slipped five hundred coins into Darko's pouch as his friend handed him the map.
"Thanks, Darko," Allen said, and left the bar, determined to get his house back.
A few moments later, Allen lit aflame a torch and slowly entered the sewers via the manhole ladder. As he landed on the wet ground, he heard a low growl, but it wasn't intimidating enough to chase him away just yet. The darkness was almost consuming, lit only by the blazing flame of the torch. Allen cautiously walked forward, and pulled out the rusty old map given to him by Darko. He held the torch closer to the map to study it more clearly, but he had more or less memorized the route to the shield by now. As he turned a corner and entered a narrow passageway, two tiny spiders squealed and leapt at him. Allen swung the torch and instantly burned them to crisps, and he began to run now as he heard more growls filling the air.
Allen reached the end of the passageway and quickly smashed down the closed door in front of him. A Giant Rat crawled out from another room beside him, but Allen used his Whip to instantly kill it, hurling the creature against the walls. He was not going to be bothered by some weak pest.
As Allen continued to trek through the dark Sewers, he kept running into enemies. It was like a maze; the paths twisted and turned, and the darkness wasn't helping him at all, nor was the pungent smell that traversed through the area. After fighting undead zombies and skeletons for some time, he decided to stop wasting his energy battling such pests. Instead, as the zombies and skeletons continued to attacked relentlessly, Allen led them into a large, closed-off room and quickly locked the sturdy old door. Sighing, he continued on and was immediately caught in a spiders' web. He pulled out a sharp knife and sliced through it, freeing himself just as a Giant Spider leapt at him. Allen whipped the Spider to the ground and ran forward into the next passageway. He staggered to the end of the passageway and came to a large, open area full of corpses.
Allen crept quietly behind a corpse, and saw a whole hive of deadly red spiders in front of him, pacing around like some kind of army. The area was lit by torches on the walls, but he decided to keep his own torch for now. And then he saw it. The Left Half of the Shield of Arrav was lying on the ground right at the end of the spiders' domain.
He could go right through and get it, but it would come with a cost. Takrinqer was not lying about the fates of those who had sought to recover the left half of the shield. The corpses were clearly the work of the spiders. Should he work out a strategy or just go straight through? Allen chose the latter.
"To hell with it!" Allen bellowed as he jumped out from behind the corpse. The Spiders saw him and instantly scuttled forward in an attack formation, determined to rid the intruder. Allen braced himself and charged forward, waving his whip and torch around like some sort of madman. Two particularly large spiders leapt at him, and he used the torch to burn them both. Their flaming corpses flailed to the ground, but other spiders scurried to take their place. Before long his torch had been lost. However, he reached into his pockets as he continued dodging the attacking spiders, and pulled out a few Explosive Potions.
Allen continued on, chucking explosive potions onto the ground as he whipped like there's no tomorrow. Explosions were set off everywhere, but the spiders kept coming. His Dragonhide armor was made to protect him from long-ranged attacks, and were fairly useless against so many spiders. He was soon covered with small bites, but he ignored the pain and finally came to the Left Half. Allen Hawkins dove for it and grabbed it just as he hurled an Explosive Potion at five Spiders who were coming in for the kill. They died as the potion exploded, and Allen ran through the resulting smoke quickly. He never stopped as he raced through the spiders' hive to try get back to the passageways.
He accidentally stepped on a small button embedded in the dark ground, and suddenly the traps were activated. Spears hurtled out of the holes in the cracked walls, and large swinging axes dropped down from the ceiling. It seemed like the Sewers wasn't going to allow him to just grab the Shield and leave peacefully. Allen used his agility to dodge most of the blows, but he was still injured pretty badly as he ran with all his might, determined to live. Even as blood flowed out of cuts across his arms and legs, he continued to run, holding the left half tightly.
"I can't just die here!" Allen screamed. "I've got a life to live!" A rumbling noise erupted from behind him, and Allen spun around to see a large boulder rolling rapidly towards him from a ramp. The remaining Red Spiders that were tailing him were crushed by the boulder, and Allen hurriedly jumped into the murky water nearby. He heard the boulder roll past, and emerged from underneath the water. It seemed that the traps had stopped, and he sighed in relief. I'm finally going to get my house back, he thought as he climbed out of the water and onto land. He was wounded, fatigued, and smelled from the sewer water. But hell, he was alive.
Suddenly, Allen saw them approaching. The Asgarnia Secret Service of Socialists was coming.
Allen stood up, but he found a sword pointing inches away from his throat. He glanced forward, shaking his hair, which was plastered with dirty water, and saw even more battalions of soldiers coming to a rest in front of him. Some were wielding spears and battleaxes while others had bows and quivers full of arrows on their back. A few soldiers held blazing torches and banners which had the insignia of the Asgarnia Secret Service on it: a hooded man being hanged.
"We take it from here, Hawkins," the soldier who had pointed his sword at Allen rasped loudly.
"The Troublesomes!"
"Now please, Hawkins, I find that name insulting! It's not wise to insult people who are about to cut your head off!"
"How do you know my name and why do you keep calling me by my last name? Anyway, you're horrible people anyway, so why shouldn't I insult you, if you even call it an insult? It's just a nickname."
"I take it as very insulting, Allen. As for how I know your name, well, we do keep tabs on troublesome people, you know. Now hand me the Left Half right now!"
"I need this to get my house back from the freakin' government!"
"If that's the case, why don't you join us? You'd get a house, maybe even two. How about it? Otherwise, hand me the Left Half or I'll behead you."
Allen stood calmly for a moment, thinking about the offer in his head. Sure, it would be an easy way out, and the Socialists seemed to be on his side after all. On the other hand, Allen would never dream of trusting such people, and the way they operated seemed much too Machiavellian to him.
In the end, he decided against joining them, and swiftly pulled out his Abyssal Whip. He lashed it forward, and due to the weapon's retraction speed, it easily knocked the soldier to the ground before he could swipe Allen's head off. Allen kicked the soldier's dropped sword into the water, where it sank like a sack of stones.
The soldier stood up quickly, and glared at Allen with hatred. Rubbing his dented chestplate, he looked around for his sword, saw that it was gone, and backed up slowly. "How dare you even think about attacking me. Do you know who I am!? I am Captain Leodon Takeeves! Get him, boys!"
The soldiers wielding melee weapons retreated while the archers came forward and started shooting rapid arrows at Allen. Allen ducked and dodged, and swung his whip to grapple onto the wall stalagmites. He pulled out his three remaining Explosive Potions, and scattered them throughout the soldiers. As explosions occurred, and yells rang out, Allen ran through the smoke and to safety. A few minutes later, he had succeeded in escaping the Varrock Sewers in one piece. He almost collapsed onto the ground due to tiredness, but remembered the Socialists, and quickly gathered himself up and ran into the nearby Varrock Museum.
"Here's the Left Half of Arrav's Shield, curator," Allen said weakly, handing Curator Haig Halen the shield half.
The curator decided not to question Allen's appearance, for it was clear he had been through a lot.
"How'd you manage to recover it from the Sewers? Thank you, warrior, here's two million coins to reimburse you for all the trouble."
Allen left the Museum a few minutes later and approached the Grand Exchange, a base for Varrock's government, and the main Exchange of all the cities' Exchanges. It offered banking and trading services, but Allen had one objective only. He headed straight for the desk, and approached a banker.
"Here's my money. Give me back my house, if you please, I think I have more than enough."
The banker took the money, but gave some back. "Well, sir, your house should be back by night. Here's your change, and if you don't mind me asking, how'd you get yourself into such a messy state?"
Allen realized a lot of people were staring at his appearance, but he decided to keep his encounter with the Socialists and the adventure in the Sewers a secret. "I do mind telling you, so I won't. And, I'm telling you now, I'm on to you government people. Gielinor is having a financial breakdown, and I bet you government are at the bottom of it all. You're always trying to cover things up, taking our money and probably thinking about how to take over the world. I'll get you someday, mark my words." With that, Allen left the Grand Exchange, leaving the banker bewildered.
"It's certainly not my fault that the economy's getting worse and worse…" the banker muttered to himself as he helped another customer.
Meanwhile, far, far away in the Wilderness, the Serkotzul leader stood grinning as Sliske reported the latest news. So, it seems that there's not just one player in this game. With the appearance of the Socialists, it seems that they would have to change their plan a bit.
"The economy can be controlled…" the Serkotzul leader said quietly, and grinned evilly.