It was a fine, sunny day in the majestic city of Ardougne. Mathis Vendai walked along the stoned path, under a towering arch, and into the Grand Exchange: Ardougne Branch building. As soon as he entered, he joined the bustling crowd of buyers and sellers. The clerks at the counters were busy helping customers. Even in the midst of the economy crisis, merchants and all the regal people were still hard at work. The Ardougne Grand Exchange was much smaller than the main one in Varrock, but was full of people everyday. It was a good place to meet new friends and catch up on the latest news, besides selling and buying items. Mathis walked onto a long red carpet embroidered with the Grand Exchange symbol (a giant hand with money in it), and advanced straight up to one of the counters on the side wall.
All around him, people were yelling and screaming at the top of the voices, trying to get more sellers or buyers. Why don't they use the automatic selling machine instead? Mathis thought, glancing straight at the circular machine in the middle of the room. Perhaps selling manually makes it quicker to find buyers.
"Selling a full set of mithril armor!"
"Selling a Dragon Dagger for the lowest price!"
"I am buying either one hundred Lobsters or fifty Sharks in the Grand Exchange!"
"Trading full black gold armor for full adamant set with scimitar!"
"Lowest price for a Saradomin Page! Low, low, low, get yours now!"
The sounds of the Grand Exchange billowed loudly, and Mathis felt his ears tingling slightly eventually. He hurriedly made his way to the counter, and tapped a clerk on the shoulder for attention.
"Hey, Niles, can you open my collection box for me? I want to check my offers."
"Sure thing, Mathis. Haven't seen you 'round here for a week now. Type your PIN number in and I'll get this thing started"
"Yeah, well, I'm busy, you know." Mathis replied, typing in his four-digit PIN on the small touch screen embedded on the desk.
"I see. Well, here's your collection box; I see two of your offers were updated. Check 'em out."
Mathis glanced at the small screen in front of him. He could see that someone had bought his Yellow Party Hat for thirty thousand gold. He clicked a red button next to the screen and grabbed a large sack from the nearby stack, and held it beneath a chute below the desk. Instantly, Mathis heard a clicking noise and felt his bag grow heavier as the little gold pieces plopped in one by one. After the sack was filled to the top with thirty thousand gold, he tied it up securely and placed it inside his backpack, turning to look at the screen again.
"Ah, my dragonium platelegs have been bought, eh?" Mathis muttered. He had gotten those platelegs when he was out killing Steel Dragons in Brimhaven. But that was a long time ago, and he turned to Niles, who had just finished speaking with another customer.
"Hey, Niles, those dragonium platelegs that I put up for sale aren't this shady purple color, they're blood red!"
"Oh, that?" Niles answered. "With the whole economy thing, yeah, our manager for this section of the Grand Exchange has been cutting down on the runes used to power up these screens. Apparently the prices for runes have skyrocketed, and even runecrafters aren't willing to let go of their crafted runes so easily now. You'll just have to live with it."
"I see. The whole economy crisis has really spread, hasn't it?"
"Yeah, obviously. Everything's wrong; pensions and incomes are going down," Niles explained as he turned to help another customer, this time an old mage. Mathis sighed and pressed the button to start collecting his profits. The platelegs were once in the five hundred to six hundred million price range, but now it has fallen to only seventy thousand, which was still considered a profit nowadays for such armor. Mathis filled his sack up, and left the Exchange after saying a hurried farewell to Niles.
When Mathis got home, he was surprised at what he saw. His items, furniture, books, his possessions…they were all being lugged away by some men in armor! However, they did not look like typical Ardougne guards. Mathis narrowed his eyes, and charged forward at them.
"Hey, get out of my property! What the hell do you think you're doing?"
"Whatever. Keep quiet and let us do the work, all right? We didn't cross White Wolf Mountain for nothing!"
"White Wolf Mountain? That means you're either from Asgarnia or Misthalin! And from the looks of it, I expect you lot to be from Asgarnia," Mathis angrily yelled. He stepped forward, but one of the men stopped him with a burly hand.
"Make that Falador. We're from the castle itself, un, so don't underestimate us! We're 100% White Knight muscle!"
"So? Give me back my house and items! I don't give a damn whether you're Zamorak himself!'
"Quiet please. We're just following orders, look at your neighbors, they're also suffering the same thing. Good day." With that, the men left, walking down the street with all his belongings. Mathis glanced at the nearby row of houses, and was shocked to see more men at each of the properties. He turned sadly back to his former house, now stripped of any value. Why has this house-taking practice spread to Ardougne, all the way from Misthalin? Mathis was determined to find out.
"I'm gonna get to the bottom of this. I swear, I will!" Mathis roared brutally. His neighbors all heard him and cheered enthusiastically. Mathis checked his pockets and his bag. Inside the large bag were his Dragon Claws weapon, a water bottle, a map of Asgarnia, and a few pieces of food, as well as the sacks containing his money. Knowing that he'd brought everything he needed; he bowed slightly to the watching neighbors and ran at the direction of the Ardougne Grand Exchange building.
It was then that Mathis noticed several men clad in full White Knight armor, wielding two handed swords marching in an attacking formation straight at the Grand Exchange. Apparently they weren't going to leave Ardougne without any combat. Mathis quickened his pace and took out his Dragon Claws; what exactly was going on? Why were the Knights here anyway?
There's got to be some other reason other than taking away people's properties, Mathis thought bitterly as he watched the Knights break open the Exchange door and enter it. Suddenly, as he rushed to the broken door, he realized the reason the Knights had come to the Exchange building.
They must be here to take away all the items put up for offers! Mathis realized. But why? For their own benefit? Most likely, there's something at work behind these Knights...
Without any further ado, Mathis rushed into the building and prepared to battle.