Okay, this chapter took alittle thought. When I got to finding the Oil Can, I couldn't remember how you got through the maze, and I sadly have to admit, I was forced to use.. (Dramatic Music) A guide! But in the end it was too hard to just go and do it and it happened as is. And Ming Yang, you're a nice little guesser there. But here goes.
Runescape Chronicles
Ernest the Chicken
Joe picked up his tinderbox and shoved it in his pack. He was just finishing up packing his stuff to leave Draynor. But then there was a knock on Morgan's front door. Must be one of Morgan's Tavern Buddies, I'll tell him he's not home. He stood up and answered a door. His eyebrows shot up when a dashing lady in a blue top and poofy white dress at the door. "Can I help you?" she looked up at him, tears in her eyes.
"So what's the problem, explain to me exactly what happened." Joe patted her on the back and he sat down across from her. "Well, I we have been staying at Draynor Village for a couple days and Ernest went into the Manor over past the hill." Joe looked shocked and swallowed before continuing. "When did he go in?" "Yesterday." she hiccuped. Joe heaved a sigh of relief, atleast he knew the Count or the Ghosts hadn't got him. Maybe taking her to a local restaurant would calm her down. "So who is this Ernest? Brother, Father?" he was wondering if he was a family member, if he would object to him taking this damsel in distress out after he saved him.
"My fiance'." Joe cringed, and muttered to himself before speaking again. "Well. I'll go get him, it can't take too long." He stood up. "Oh thank you!" she flung his arms around him and kissed him on the cheek. He blushed as soon as he turned around and went out the door.
It was late in the afternoon, and the sunshine was still shining through the twisted branches of the trees around Draynor Manor, and the cobwebs running across them glistened in it. And Joe walked along the cracked pathway and came to the door. He kicked them open, they wouldn't open for him anymore. The Manor wasn't haunted any longer. He creaked along the floorboards, and the rats scattered to avoid him.
He could hear something, something that actually sounded like wickets and gears.
He raised an eyebrow, edging up along the stairs. Now he could hear pumps, and machinery. And what, strangely enough, he thought was a chicken clucking.
He drew his schimitar. Slowly turning down the corridor. There was a light up ahead, and sparks were scattering across the floor.
He threw himself around the corner, the light went out. Joe briefly scuttled with someone, and the next moment he had his schimitar infront of a man's neck.
"Where's Ernest?"
The man whined. "Who's Ernest? Please-!" he struggled, and Joe wnet up against the wall.
"Sir, let me go, and I'll explain, I haven't done anything!"
The man actually escaped Joe's grip and scrambled into the darkness. Joe took an unlit torch from his waist, and used his tinderbox to light it. He waved it around and found the man in the far corner.
A single thought came to Joe.
That's a mad scientist if I've ever seen one..
The man was clad in a lab coat, and a black and white striped undershirt, plus white plants. And the man was plumb bald.
Joe raised an eyebrow at the snivelling man. Then he heard the sound he thought he had heard earlier, a chicken cluck.
He shined the torch in that direction and it revealed a small cage with a chicken in it. He turned back to the man.
"What is going on here?'
"Yes, yes, will you spare me good sir?" he cringed, throwing his hands infront of him in a defensive position.
Joe sighed. "Yes, who are you?" he backed up and let the man stand up.
"My name is Professor Oddenstein." Joe cracked up inside, but made sure not to show it.
Oddenstein stood up, brushing himself off.
He motioned to the chicken in the cage. "This is my test subject. Who, since you've said as such, is Ernest."
Joe slapped his forhead, slid up against the wall. And groaned.
"Dear Lord, she's marrying a chicken."
Oddenstein stared at him, and before he realized it, the lights of some machine popped on, immeadietely illuminating the corridor.
"Anyway, now, I'm Professor Oddenstein, and I was conducting an experiment, Ernest here, after I agreed to give him directions, agreed himself to be the test subject.
The experiemnt backfired and it ended up turning him into this." Oddenstein motions to the chicken pecking at the iron cage bars.
Joe sighed, slapping his head again.
"Oh Saradomin, what did I do?" he groaned.
Prof. Oddenstein smirked slightly, "Don't worry, good warrior." He patted him on the shoulder. "I simply need a few parts that are scattered around the manor.
"And since the place is no longer, it couldn't be that much of a challenge, now could it?"
Joe looked up at Oddenstein through a gap in his fingers. "Okay then, what?"
The Professor smirked.
Joe walked down the stairs to the basement of the manor. He had his hands behind his head, and froze for a moment.
The basement was like a labyrinth, a maze. Walls of stone every which way, he gasped.
"Oh yes…Very simple, old man!"
Joe grumbled as he pushed open the final door, in the final room.
There, in the very center of the room, was a small oil can. Joe grumbled, I shouldn't have to do this job.. Then he turned, and said aloud: "Now, did I entered through the west door, and I came to this room by going through.. What now, the south door?"
Joe peered around the east room of the ground floor of the manor. He Prof. Had told him to look for a spade. He was looking, and he wasn't finding so far.. He flipped open a cupboard, and saw a rusty spade. "Aha!"
He opened the side door of the manor, and peered around. The next thing he said was look outside, and that was it. There was a compost pile outside. Joe shrugged, he'd seen more stranger places where things were hidden.
He stuck it into the pile, and set to work digging it up. The thing was filled with scrap, and to his disgust, bones. Probably some leftovers from Count Spookalot, he continued to shovel it out, at one point removing sour cheese in disgust.
Then he struck something, it had a minute clanging sound. He raised an eyebrow, he'd expected that Oddenstein would've lost the item in here. Instead, he removed a grime-covered key. He quickly cleaned it off on the grass and proceeded back into the house.
Maybe it's the key he lost to the room he lost the item in? He shrugged, and tried it on the first locked door he found.
Joe trudged to another door, stuck the key in, and found himself turning it, and the knob. And as soon as he'd done so, a skeleton lunged at him. Joe gave it a structured kick to the rib cage, and it felled backwards, some of its bones breaking away.
He looked around, and in the corner, guarded by a cobweb, was a dusty rubber tube. He brushed the web aside and grabbed it. Popping it into his pack, he brushed the dust off his hands, and left the room. Shortly after which, the skeleton's jaw rolled across the floor.
Joe walked out the side door of he manor once again, looking around for a fountain. Oddenstein had told him he would find it out here. "There it is." Joe said under his breathe. He walked over to it, it was exceedingly shiny, he stuck his hand in, searching for the key. But he immeadietely withdrew it.
The shine of the pool was actually a horde of fish schooling through the large fountain. He could easily tell that they were not meat-eating, but there were enough to keep him from finding the item he desired.
He thought for a moment. Maybe there was something in the manor that could help him. He went back inside, rummaging though cupboards and drawers. He tossed useless appliances aside.
He went upstairs, rummaging around further, he discovered a bag of fish food. At first, he thought it useless, but he remembered a flask of poison around. He formed an idea, and went off after it.
Joe approached the fountain, and he poured it into the bag of fish food, he sloshed it around inside, letting it soak into the stuff. He waited until he couldn't see the poison at the bottom, and he poured it into the fountain, the fish surged around it, some of them began to float to the top.
He pushed aside the lifeless fish, scouring the fountain with both his eyes and hands. Then his hands ran over something, it rolled over slowly underwater. He moved away some fish, having to toss some out. He saw the light from above refracting on rippling glass. He gripped it, pulling it out, he dried it on a cloth, he popped it into his pack with a smirk.
"Oil Can, Rubber Tube, and Pressure Gauge. Three down, time for reward.."
Joe turned a corner and walked out where Professor Oddenstein was hopelessly trying to repair his machine, even with the missing components.
He turned quickly, brightening up. Snatching the gadgets from Joe. He began to fasten them, wet them, and open up a panel and attach them. Gears whirred, and the machine burst into life, glowing, clanking, and pumping.
Joe put his hands over his eyes, as there was a flash of light, and a grating sound. And hwne he reopened his eyes, a man was standing there, a blown out cage at his feet. He stared around wildly, and Joe half expected him to bawk out loud.
He brigtened, looking around, as if realizing something.
"Who are you?"
Joe smirked, leaning against the wall, sighing. Eh, what's could've happened? And all at once, there is a ghostly wail in the distance. "You might wanna come with me."
Well, finally another chapter! You people better be proud of yourselves now! I'm expecting some R&R for this dramatic comeback!