Hello, hello, hello, what's happenin' readers?
This chapter was re-uploaded at the time chapter 80 was uploaded. If you happen to spot any mistakes/typos in this chapter, please point them out to me. Thank you. I hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Jagex, RuneScape, or any of the RuneScape characters. All I own is the plot of this fanfiction and some of the characters in the story. I am not making a financial profit from this story.
Chapter 7: The Bank and the Burgular
I climbed down the small, filthy cavern, wondering what I would encounter in the rest of my time on Tutorial Island. I bumped my head on a large spiky rock on the top of the cavern. I felt myself lose a hit point. I groaned, and sat up, rubbing the bruise on my head.
I was exhausted from the happenings earlier today. First, when I woke up, I was filled up with information about quests that my brain still hadn't digested. Then, later on, I was mining with a pickaxe, and that labour was tedious, horribly tiring, and filthy. Then, just now, I learnt about killing and combat with Vannaka, and I had run into a fight with another person. I had emerged the victor of our duel, but it had drained me of whatever little energy and confidence I had left.
I moaned with tiredness. I just wanted to rest. But, I reassured myself that I would get the chance to rest when I resurfaced. I carried on, and after what felt like hours later, I reached the ladder. I climbed up, and resurfaced again.
By now it was late afternoon. I realised I must have been down in Tutorial Dungeon for ages, five hours at the maximum. I sighed, and breathed in the relaxing, calming aroma of summer. I closed my eyes, and smiled. The slight breeze swept my face, and soothed me. I sniffed the air. I could smell the aromas of the summer air, and I could also smell cooking meat…wait a minute, cooking meat? I sat up instantly. Cooked meat could mean meat sandwiches!
I carried on sniffing. The source of the smell was coming from behind the bushes opposite me. I held my sword, just in case whatever it was that was cooking the food attacked me. I chopped away the bushes, and I saw a young man, about the same height as me, kneeling over a fire, and cooking meat on a stick.
The boy had orange messy hair, which stuck everywhere, as if he'd gotten caught in a lightning storm. He wore a simple but tarnished yellow shirt, and navy trousers. A bronze sword and a wooden shield lay next to him on the grass. He wore leather boots, probably given to him by Brianna back on the survival grounds.
He looked up, spotted me pointing my sword at him, and stood up in alarm, dropping his meat in the fire and ruining what should have been his snack. He grabbed his own sword and shield, and pointed it back at me.
"Do not harm me, or I will harm you back!" he shouted, waving his sword around like a maniac. I chuckled, and put my sword down.
"Do not panic, I am not here to hurt you. I am merely another person, on my way to learn how to use the banking system," I reassured him. He sighed with relief, put his sword down, and turned to continue cooking his meat. He yelled in anger and frustration when he saw the horrible, burnt, smelly, and blackened remains of his food.
He kicked a nearby boulder in rage, and then fell over, rubbing his foot in pain. He had fallen over into some bushes, and was yelling, trying to untangle himself. I just stood there, laughing my head off, trying to stop my sides from splitting. After he untangled himself, he stood up. He looked a real state. He had leaves and twigs stuck in his already messy orange hair. He pulled most of them out.
"By the way, my name is Osrie1," he told me.
"Well, my name is Mainiac97," I replied. I realised I myself was getting hungry. He sighed sadly, staring at the burnt mess, and pulled out two pieces of bread. He began ripping a hunk of bread into pieces, thinking the only lunch he could have would be a piece of bread. Not a very mouth-watering meal. I felt in my bag and felt the raw rat meat. I had a sudden thought, and I told him to keep the bread. I pulled out the five pieces, and surveyed them. I knew for a fact that they were inedible while raw, but I pondered this. If they were rat meat, would they be edible, even when cooked?
"Don't worry, once they are cooked, they will taste like normal meat," Osrie1 reassured me, as though he had read my mind.
I sighed cheerfully, and pulled out my survival kit (except for my fishing net, since I wouldn't need it). I wielded my axe, and began chopping down a nearby tree. I only had to hit it four times. When I had my three logs, I got out my tinderbox, and began scraping the sharp flint ends on the logs, showering them with sparks. After about three minutes, the logs caught fire. I poked two pieces of raw meat on the end of my sharp cooking stick, and put them into the fire. I held them carefully, making sure that the meat didn't burn. Timing it cautiously, I pulled the meat out of the fire. One piece was a wonderful crispy, juicy brown, while the other piece was still a bit raw. I handed him the cooked meat, and told him to put the meat in the bread to make a meat sandwich. He did so, and took a bite of the meat sandwich. After he swallowed his mouthful, he said "Oh my goodness, this is so tasty! You are some cook, Mainiac97!" I smiled proudly at his praise.
After my own meat was finished cooking, Osrie1 handed me a loaf of bread. I put the meat in it, and ate my own snack. I realised I really enjoyed cooking, and then eating the results. After we both finished our food, we decided to have a rest before setting off again. We lay on the grass, looking at the sky. There weren't many clouds there, and the whole area was quite sunny. The fire was crackling nearby merrily, casting shadows on the trees, bushes, and rocks. I could hear the birds twittering and singing, and the slight breeze blew gently against my cheek. I closed my eyes, and groaned with exuberance. I just lay there, on the grass, listening to the sounds of nature, feeling very relaxed indeed. I felt my eyes closing, and I drifted off into a deep sleep.
I sat up after what felt like an hour. I looked around. I must have dozed off, I thought to myself. Osrie1 was sitting on a nearby rock, reading the recipe book that Lev the chef gave us. He looked up, and saw me rubbing my eyes. He grinned.
"Did I doze off?" I asked.
"Yes, and I nearly did too," Osrie1 said, chortling.
"I think I'll have a look what is in my bag now," I announced to him. He nodded, and continued reading. I opened up my bag, and looked into the main section. There were four pockets. There was one enormous pocket, which was the main bag itself. Another one had a picture of some very strange ball of blue light. That pocket was in a circular shape. The other pocket was more of a pouch, which was very big on the inside. And the last one was in a rectangle shape, which contained three books. One of them was my strange olive-green book, the second was the recipe book, and the third was my quest journal.
I peered into the main section. There was my bronze woodcutting axe and my tinderbox at the bottom. My cooking stick and my fishing net lay on top, along with a set of logs. Then, on top of that, were an empty bucket and pot, and some grain for some particular reason. There was a chef's hat piled up on top of that. Then, nearby that, there was a bronze pickaxe, a heavy stone hammer, and a home-made bronze dagger. Then, piled on top of all that, there were 3 pieces of raw rat meat, and 5 sets of bones, and a first aid kit, which contained some healing tonic, plasters and bandages. The bag was stuffed up with all of that, but it was still nowhere near full. I was pretty surprised because of that. I closed my bag, and poked Osrie1 hard in the back to get his attention.
"I think we should set off to learn about banking," I told Osrie1. He sighed, closed his book, and put it back in his bag.
We began to walk down the stone cobbled path. I could see, after walking for approximately 5 minutes, a stone building in the distance. It was the biggest building I had seen so far; it was far bigger then Lev's house. We turned the corner, and saw the building from the front itself.
It was a very big stone building, with shiny oak front doors, with golden doorknobs. On the front, on top of the doors, was an enormous money symbol made of shiny gold. I went towards the oak door and I turned the doorknob, wondering what was inside.
I stepped in, with Osrie1 behind me, looking around anxiously. The inside was absolutely stunning. The floor, ceiling and walls were made of shiny white marble, and there were giant marble pillars running around the edges of the room. Giant marble steps and another oak door stood on the other side of the room. In the walls, there were several bank booths, with glass walls protecting the bankers. There was a large golden chandelier on the ceiling, with the lights out at the moment. Sunshine poured in from the colossal windows. There was a shiny oak table on the other end, and there was a man sitting on a chair next to it.
The man was writing something down on a piece of paper, using a quill and a bottle of ink. He looked up, saw us, and beamed at us. He stood up, allowing us to see him properly.
He wore long robes made entirely out of gold, with a red and silver pattern going down the sides. He wore a long, golden cape, and had a rucksack which clinked every time he moved. He wore large horn-rimmed glasses, which were as thick as the bottoms of milk bottles. Around his neck, he wore a large golden necklace which had a very big money symbol on the end. It was crafted out of a wonderful, strong gold, and it looked extremely valuable. He saw me looking at his necklace.
"Hello newcomers, I am the financial advisor. I was hired from the mainland because I am extremely rich, and I knew a thing or two about the bank and making money. I even bought a trip through the wilderness, but I took the wilderness for granted then, and the trip still haunts me now," he told us, shuddering. I wondered what on earth this wilderness was. I didn't wander on the thought, though, but I had a terrible feeling about the wilderness, and I felt it was important. It is not important at the moment, my mind told me. Banking is your main priority at the moment.
"Well, this bank medallion is a sign of how rich I am," the financial advisor boasted. "Only the richest people in the world can afford it. 50 million gold pieces sounds like a lot of money, doesn't it?" he asked me, chuckling at my shocked expression. 50 million gold pieces! For some strange reason I knew the currency of RuneScape already. Since I appeared out of nowhere yesterday, the currency had been planted in my head. Osrie1 looked very shocked too. The financial advisor laughed heartily.
"Well, down to business. The bank is a public facility where you can go and store your items and withdraw them. You can have your own personal PIN number also, to protect your bank account from burglars who are greedy and poor enough to resort to stealing. Go on to one of the staff in those bank booths, and you can start your bank account then," he explained. We nodded, and set off to two separate bank booths.
I went towards a bank booth with a kind-looking lady in it. She smiled at me.
"Welcome to the bank of RuneScape, how may I help you?" she asked me.
"I would like to open a bank account please," I told her. She smiled again.
"Very well, newcomer, please tell me what you would like your PIN number to be," she told me, "Then we can start your account." I whispered some numbers to her. She nodded, and pressed a few buttons in front of her.
"What is your name?" she asked me. I told her, and she pressed another few buttons. "Very well, let us test out your PIN number, and we'll open up your bank account," she said. She pressed yet another button, and a large red panel with buttons with numbers on them popped up in front of me. I pressed in my code, and the panel clicked, and then disappeared. Then, an enormous metal brown box appeared in front of me, held up by an arm on the wall. I gasped.
It was the most gigantic thing I had ever seen. It looked so roomy inside; it looked like everyone in RuneScape could squarely fit in it. There were shelves on each end of the box, and a large crane-like thing for withdrawing and depositing things.
"Just say what you want to deposit or withdraw to the banking crane, and it will do that," she told me. "And better yet, it only works to your voice only!" But, as I looked into the large, empty bank account, I saw something glimmering on a nearby shelf. It was something golden. My heart gave a jolt. I reached out for it, and scooped it up. I just gawped at it. It was a pile of money. I counted the gold pieces. There were about 50 of them! 50 gold pieces! I ran towards the financial instructor, telling the banker to keep my account open, but to make sure nobody stole anything.
I explained to him what I saw in my bank, and showed him. He grinned up at me.
"Well, I am entitled to give all newcomers 50gp to start them off in RuneScape," he explained. I went back to my account, and put my money back in. I and Osrie1 went up to the financial advisor for further instructions.
"Well, I am going to give you some handy tips on how to make money," he said. "First, play to your strengths. You have just been introduced to all these abilities, but later in life you will find out what you like. For example, let us say you like mining and smithing. You make a bar of pure gold, and then you sell it for a high profit in shops. Maybe some other players would be willing to pay money for your item. That is actually how I made so much money.
"Another thing you can do that is very dangerous would be to kill different monsters," he told us. "Like zombies, for example. They are extremely difficult to kill, and may require prayer or magic of some kind. But the items they drop may be worth it. Saradomin knows what a zombie might hold. You could try killing other people in places where you can, where you are allowed to. People could be holding anything. There are millions of other monsters that have very valuable drops, but there is no point in me going through all of them.
"One last thing you could do to get money would be to steal it. You could use magic to steal it, you could scam someone out of it, or you could pickpocket people for it. But, keep in mind; stealing is a lowly, terrible thing to do, so never do it, unless you really have to. You could get yourself killed." He warned us. I and Osrie1 nodded silently.
"Now, you both have been such good listeners, I am going to reward the pair of you," he said. He opened his bag, and fished out two things, and put them into our hands. The most beautiful emerald I had ever seen lay in my palm. The first emerald I had ever seen in RuneScape, to be honest. But it twinkled merrily in the sunlight, and it looked like something from heaven.
"Put it in your bank, safe and sound," the financial advisor instructed. We obliged, typing in our PIN numbers, and carefully telling the crane to put our gems safely in our banks. I also put in my chef's hat, my spare logs, my raw rat meat, and my bronze dagger in the bank.
Just as we were preparing to leave, there was a very loud crash, and a man came pelting in through the oak doors.
He had a thick black moustache, like a gorilla's thumb had been stuck there. He had thick, curly, but matted black hair. He wore very dirty red rags, and had a very big empty brown sack across his back. He was holding a blue mithril dagger, and a mithril square shield. He was a level 36. He had pale, sallow skin, and looked a state. He stepped towards a bank booth.
The financial advisor stepped forward. "What on earth are you doing on Tutorial Island, James? You should be on the mainland!" he roared. James smiled evilly, like that boy I had to fight with in the rat pit.
"Let us say I have mastered certain magical spells that have allowed me to teleport here," he whispered in a low, dangerous voice. "Now everyone here put your hands up! I am robbing this bank!" he then shouted, his sinister echoing across the bank. Everyone put their hands up, including me and a terrified Osrie1.
"Now, hand me that bag!" James bellowed to the financial advisor. The financial advisor, quaking with fear, handed James the large bag full of different gems. James smirked, and stepped towards the financial advisor. Almost instantly, the advisor kicked James's dagger hand, forcing him to drop it. James hissed angrily, and moved his hand upwards. The dagger, amazingly, hovered up, and James grabbed it. He threw the dagger at the advisor, where is hit him in the chest. The advisor knelt over, and, sobbing, fell to the floor with a bang. The dagger went flying back into James's hand.
James cackled evilly, and headed towards the door. I pulled out my shortbow and a handful of arrows. I put an arrow into the rope, pulled the rope back, and the arrow went flying towards James. It hit him right in the shoulder. James yelled in pain, and pulled the arrow out. He turned, and saw me with my shortbow. He hissed, and, wielding his dagger, stepped towards me. I stepped back nervously. I was stupid to try and injure him. Fighting a boy in the rat pit that was the same level as me was one thing, but fighting a fully grown man much stronger then me was another thing.
I tried to run away, but James created some kind of glowing blue rope from nothing, and threw it at me. It hit me in the ankle, and wrapped itself around both of them, causing me to trip. I fell, and the rope coiled itself around my body. My bow fell on the floor with a clatter, as I lay there, helpless.
"I'll teach you to try and harm me!" he bellowed angrily, making the bank shake. He raised his dagger, getting ready to deliver a fatal blow to my heart, when he yelled with pain again.
Osrie1 was standing there, shaking with fury. He was also holding his shortbow, and he had fired an arrow directly into James's gut. Blood was pouring all over the clean marble floor. A terrible dark light filled the bank, and then James was flying in the air. His eyes were purple, and when he spoke again, he sounded different. Osrie1 went forwards to me quickly, and cut me free with his sword. This evil dark energy was blowing a terrible gust into my face. The sunlight was being smothered by the darkness. Then, suddenly, dark purple thunder came crashing out of nowhere.
"I will show you the true power of magic and rage combined!" he roared, and then a purple demon made of flames came out of nowhere. The demon roared, and then disappeared. Big purple flashes began. The evil wind was howling by now. I got out my short bow just as James was muttering a fatal curse, and I sent an arrow flying through the sky. The arrow hit him in the side again. The dark light was sucked back into James, while the evil howling wind stopped abruptly.
James came crashing to the floor. Osrie1 got ready to fire another arrow, as did I. We both sent a shower of arrows raining down on him. He screamed, and ran outside the bank, leaving the bag of gems behind him. We stepped outside into the sunlight too. There was a loud black bang and James disappeared.
Using our first aid kits, Osrie1and I helped heal the financial advisor. He told us that James had been some trouble ever since he came to Tutorial Island. He decided to close the door, padlock it, and close it to new people for the day so he could repair the bank and heal himself. We gave him our goodbyes, and set off through the other oak doors at the other end of the bank. We walked back onto the stone path, ready to learn about prayer and magic.
I wondered privately how I was going to manage. It was a wonder I was still alive, with the boy who attacked me in Vannaka's rat pit, and James trying to kill me and Osrie1 with a fatal curse. What would come next?
I hope that was to your liking.
Just a note, the money symbol mentioned in this chapter is supposed to signify the American Dollar symbol (as in, the S with a line through it). For some reason, when I type it, it doesn't come out in the chapter itself.
Next time: "Welcome, my friends, to tutorial church! The holy god Saradomin looks over us here in this church. I am here to teach you the basics of prayer, and all of its glory."
Until next time, toodles!