Hello, hello, hello, what's happenin' readers?

In this chapter, Mainiac97 explores Lumbridge for the first time. This chapter is the beginning of the 'The Town of Lumbridge' arc. 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 12: The Town of Lumbridge

I looked at my surroundings, and saw Lumbridge for the very first time.

It was a town with large, stone buildings. There were cobbled stone paths leading in several directions. There was a nearby large building with a wooden sign on the front that said 'shop'. I could see a large stone bridge. The city was bustling with life; people were going around doing their own thing, while others just stood there, planning the next step. Some were cutting down trees, others were doing trades, a few were sitting down, some were making fires….it was all so busy. Lumbridge seemed to sustain a constant flow of movement. I looked around hopelessly, having no clue whatsoever where to go. A man next to me tapped my shoulder.

This man wore a large blue coat with white cuffs on the end of the sleeves. He wore large, blue, muddy boots, and brown trousers. He had a large bag on his back, which was full of scrolls. He had a large, white beard, and long, white hair that hid most of his facial features. He was holding a long, blue staff, with a large white question mark on the end. He smiled kindly at me.

"Welcome to RuneScape! I am Phileas, the RuneScape guide, and I am here to help you and your friend get accustomed to this world. What would you like to learn?" he asked friendlily.

"I guess my first question is, what do I do first?" I asked him. He chuckled.

"Well, there are many options. My advice would be to explore the town thoroughly, and to do what you want to do," he said. "What did you enjoy doing the most on Tutorial Island?" I thought for a moment.

"Everything, I guess," I mumbled. He smiled.

"Then there is plenty for you to do here, my friend! You can go searching for quests. You could go cooking using the public kitchen and restaurant, or killing, or whatever you want to do," he said. I thought about this.

"Could you give me directions, please?" I asked timidly. He chuckled again.

"At the top of Lumbridge castle there is a bank," he told me. "If you need one, it is only there. If you are searching for fishing spots or mining spots, look no further then over there." He pointed at the other end of the town, past a graveyard. I could just barely see dirty, disgusting, bubbling water. I grimaced, and decided against going there today. "Just around here somewhere is a public furnace, and that building over there is a shop to buy different stuff, including maps, spare potion ingredients, bowls, pots, and many more. You can sell different items to that shop. Also, there is the Lumbridge Paper sold there, if you are looking for recent news. And if you are interested in learning about crafting, then go to the crafting tutor in the castle over there." He pointed at an enormous castle, taller then any other building I had ever seen.

"What creatures here can I kill?" I asked.

"Well, there are some spiders and rats that are annoying, you could try killing them. If you are looking for something more challenging, over the bridge there are some cheeky goblins that cause mayhem. They are quite tough for youngsters like you. You could try killing chickens, but I'm not sure the farmers that own them would like that," he finished. I grinned.

"Thank you, Phileas, we will be on our way now," I said, and he nodded and waved at me. Just as I turned to leave, he tapped my shoulder again. He handed me ten gold pieces. He handed Osrie1 10gp too. I opened my mouth to ask why he gave us money, but he just smiled, and nodded his head towards the shop. Realising why, I thanked him at least a million times, and went off. I put my money in the last pouch of my bag, realising what it was meant for.

I split up with Osrie1 at the bridge, hoping to explore at my own pace. We decided we would meet in the courtyard later. I stepped towards the shop, and went inside.

It was quite packed. The tiles were a crazy paving colour. There were different things for sale, from jugs to newspapers to chocolate bars. There was this large cracked antique vase for sale for a hundred coins. I made a sucking noise between my teeth. That was quite a lot of money.

There were loads of different things for sale. I decided to buy that day's newspaper and a world map. I stepped towards the man at the counter.

"How much do there cost?" I asked him.

"The newspaper costs two gold pieces, and the map costs two gold pieces," he told me. I reached inside my money pouch, and took out 4gp. I handed him the money, while he asked if there was anything I would like to sell. I shook my head, and set off outside the shop.

I explored the town. I looked in the public furnace first. There was a large furnace there (obviously), with a bar mould and an iron ladle, with people jostled around it, making different bars. It was quite like the furnace back in Tutorial Island, looking very hot, like a portal to hell, with white-hot coals tumbling everywhere. I saw fireworks setting off around somebody. There was a man there with a white shirt, dark blue trousers, and was wielding a pickaxe. He wore long purple gloves. I went up to him, and asked where the anvil was. He introduced himself as Feoras the smithing apprentice, and then he replied that the smithing master in Varrock had anvils, not him. I checked Varrock in my world map (which I had stuck in my olive-green book) and saw it was quite a distance away. I didn't feel like going on long journeys at this time, so I decided I would explore Varrock some other day. I left the furnace to explore some more.

I carried on down the path, which was dotted with houses. I saw a farm full of sheep. They looked at me suspiciously, as though I was going to jump in the pen and slaughter them all. I carried on, finding a farm with a few chickens in it. Up ahead I saw a potato field, and a windmill, and a field of cows up ahead. Just past the windmill there was a field of grain. I decided I would explore in more detail later. I went back and past the shop.

There was a church and a graveyard, with a long route past it, but dark was approaching, so I decided against going past there. I saw another shop, except it was called 'Bob's Brilliant Axes'. I didn't need to buy any axes at the moment, so I went past that.

There was a building up ahead that said 'Restaurant'. The door was open up ahead, and a promising smell of food was wafting from it. Deciding to have a meal, I went through it.

It was a smallish restaurant, with a few tables and chairs, a few of them occupied. There were paintings on the wall of windmills, and portraits of different food. The floor had black and white tiles. There was a chef that looked like Lev over a stove. I went up to him. He turned around, and smiled when he saw me.

"Are those stoves public?" I asked him.

"Of course they are! This is a public restaurant, with public stoves, you know!" he laughed. "Now, what can I get you?" I thought for a minute. I hadn't eaten anything but meat that day, so I decided to have something different that was on the menu the chef was handing to me. I decided to have a baked potato with egg and tomato. It cost 2gp. I handed him the money and he handed me the potato in a bowl, smiling.

I sat down, and ate my meal with relish. It was so delicious, the lovely, buttery baked potato, and the heavenly melted cheese mixed with tomato inside. I decided I was going to learn how to cook this when I had enough experience. Once I had finished, I tried to give the bowl back to him, but he just told me to clean it in the fountain and to keep it. I thanked him for my superb meal, and left.

I went to the courtyard. There were two large fountains on two ends of it, with the large castle looming over me. I could just barely see three cannons on the top. The courtyard was dotted with benches, and people were standing around, talking, trading, and doing other things.

It was getting late, and the clock above the castle entrance chimed 8:00pm. I cleaned my bowl out in the nearby fountain, and sat down on a nearby bench. The sun was casting pink streaks across the sky while it set, while the moon and a few stars were visible. Feeling full and tired, I closed my eyes, listening to the sound of chatter, and laughing, and the birds singing. I opened my eyes again, and decided to take out my newspaper, to read it. I took out my newspaper, and read it. This is what is said on the front of the newspaper:

Lumbridge Paper 2gp

RATS ATTACK TUTORIAL ISLAND!

Eyewitnesses from Karamja and Catherby shores have reported seeing millions of rats with red eyes walking across the water, leaving purple footprints.

The Lumbridge Paper is baffled as to why rats would attack Tutorial Island, and how they were walking across water. Religious people believe that this was the work of Zamorak.

"I was training the new people hard on combat," Vannaka the combat tutor reported, "Suddenly, the rat's eyes turned red, and they went insane. They murdered all of the people in the pit, escaped from the pit, and turned on me. I would've been able to kill all of them easy, but they seemed more powerful then usual. I just managed to escape certain death."

Thank goodness a mysterious man on a white dragon came and killed all of the rats. All of the tutors reported on how the dragon killed them with a magical fire, and turned the remaining rats back to normal.

Rats aren't the only thing going mad. As you found out, the zombies have been restless too. You saw the report about poor Miss Jones, just barely alive, telling us about how the zombies started rising in her garden, all heading for her. Her son came outside with their emergency mithril scimitar, and managed to kill them.

The population is panicking on what creature will go insane next and try to kill us all.

Written by, Story Rover

I just gawped at the pages. Not only did the rats go insane, but zombies had been rising. I barely knew zombies as the living dead. I flipped through the rest of the paper. But then, I spotted Osrie1 coming towards me. We agreed to go inside the castle, sleep, and to explore the town a little more the next day. We stepped up the stone steps, and Osrie1 groped the golden handle, and opened the door to Lumbridge Castle.

I hope you liked that. Just a quick note, Story Rover is a character inspired by Krall FictionWriter.

Next time... Mainiac97 and Osrie1 visit a certain castle in a certain town called Lumbridge.

Until next time, toodles!