Hello, hello, hello, what's happenin' readers?
This chapter follows up from my previous chapter, which was the first chapter of 'The Town of Lumbridge' arc.
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 13: Lumbridge Castle
Osrie1 swung the door wide open, revealing a two-way corridor.
There was a clean stone floor, with a marvellous red carpet leading in three directions; two in opposite directions, one under a large, shiny oak door. I wasn't sure if we were allowed in the room behind the door, but I decided to risk it anyway. I opened the door, revealing a large dining room, with the red carpet covering the floor completely. There was a large table with at least seventeen chairs placed next to it. There was a large, crackling fireplace, casting shadows across the ceiling, with several fancy vases on top of it, the biggest with a few roses in it. There was a level 34 guard, clad in full steel armour wielding a steel square shield and a steel mace, wearing a steel medium helmet, standing near the fireplace. He spotted us, and frowned.
"Keep in mind, this is Duke Horacio's personal dining room, and the pubic isn't allowed inside, unless they are VIP that have permission to enter. You are not allowed in here, but I will let you off the hook, since you are probably new. But now, you have been warned, and if you are spotted in here again, I will personally kill you," he told us firmly, grabbing us by the shoulder and leading us out the door. I stammered an apology, and he closed the door. I decided to turn left.
We walked down that corridor, but then we spotted a level one rat near the door, scuttling around. I stepped forward, shouted "Die, vermin!" and tried to hit it with my bronze sword, but its eyes suddenly turned red. It stared at me, hissed, and jumped up at my face and grabbed hold of my cheeks with its claws.
"Get off, you stupid rat!" I yelled, dancing about, trying to get the rat off. I was shocked. I thought all of the evil rats were dead. I finally managed to tug it off (scratching my cheeks in the process) and chop it in half with my sword. Its eyes stopped glowing red, and its upper body went flying out the window. I tried to smother my laughing as a female voice cried "Help! There's a dead rat on me!" I carried on walking until the window was out of earshot, and burst into fresh peals of laughter. I saw a door not too far away, with steam coming out from underneath it. We decided to go through the door, me still sniggering. A guard came down the steps, and when he saw me, he glared at me suspiciously. I went through the door with Osrie1.
The room I had just walked into was very steamy. It was a kitchen, with black and white tiles on the floor (like all kitchens I had seen). Two tables, one with a bowl and a pot on it, the other with a clean potato, a sharp knife, and a jug on it, sat in the centre of the room. A sink gleamed in the corner of the room. There was a large stove nearby, but it looked different to all of the other stoves I had seen. It was a bit bigger, the flames coming out of it were more powerful then the average stove, and the letters 'Cook-O-Matic 100' were stamped across the front in large shiny silver letters. There was a nearby shelf full of jars of ingredients. There was yet another chef in this room, washing some plates and bowls in the sink.
This chef looked like all chefs, but a bit different too. He had tanned skin, and wore a very tall chef's hat. He wore a white apron, with black stripes down the sides. He wore chequered trousers, and shiny black buckled boots. He wore large cooking mittens. He saw us, and smiled. I saw a ladder in the corner, near a door that was slightly ajar. I peeped through, and it turned out to be the duke's dining room. I climbed down the ladder.
The basement of the kitchen looked different. It was dank, dirty, and had cobwebs in the corners of it. There were a few dusty tables and chairs, and near the ladder there was a pair of leather boots. There was a sink nearby, with a large table next to it, which had a jug, a bucket, and another knife on it. There were a few rats and spiders in here. Nearby there stood chest which had an aura of some kind of magic about it. There was another table with a cabbage on it. I grimaced. I didn't like cabbage, yuck. There was a pair of leather gloves on the table next to it. I ran towards the gloves, grabbed them, and put them on. They fitted rather comfortably on my hands. Then, on the table, the gloves reappeared. I went back towards the ladder, glad to leave this dusty, musty room.
When I had climbed out, I went back through the door we had come from, out of the kitchen. I saw stone steps leading up, and I spotted a mind rune there on the floor, glowing with its strange circular pattern. I picked it up quickly, looking around, and inserted it in my rune pouch. I climbed the steps, and my bobbing head saw another corridor.
This corridor led straight ahead to another staircase. I hoisted myself up, and clambered up the stairs. I saw an opening that led to a balcony. There were two doors down the side to my right. I went through the first one, nearest to me.
This had taken me into a small bedroom. I stood nervously in the doorway. There was a single bed in the corner, with a white mattress. On the wall was a door leading into the room next to us. There was a small table next to the bed, with several needles, several threads, a ring mould, and a piece of silk. There was a chest in the other corner. There were two people crammed into this small room. One person was wearing mithril armour was making something on a spinning wheel nearby. I saw him frown at us, muttering "noobs," under his breath. The other man was sitting on a small stool, humming to himself.
This man wore a thin blue sleeveless shirt, and white trousers. He wore a long yellow cape, and was holding what looked like a chisel. He wore a rucksack on his back. He waved at us when he saw us, and he then beckoned us in. We walked in this room.
"Hello, I am the crafting tutor, my name is Cadmus. I was originally a tutor from Tutorial Island, but they thought that there were too many tutors in Tutorial Island, so they booted me off, and dumped me in here," he said, scowling "I am here to teach you about crafting.
"There are so many different kinds of ways to craft. You can make jewellery, you can make clothes out of different garments, you can blow glass, you can make pots, and much more! It is one of the most useful skills in RuneScape.
"Now, let me start off by explaining about making clothes and blankets," Cadmus said. "There are many different garments that can be turned into clothes. You need a needle and some threads to even consider stitching clothes. You can buy different colour garments, which you can use to make some clothes. Like, you can use some white material to make a white apron, or a chef's hat with the right level. Or, you could buy silk, which is used to make pillows and blankets. You can buy fur, and turn that into a nice, warm, furry coat, or you could kill an animal for its fur (like, bear fur). You could use leather to make clothes.
"Leather is the most popular item for making clothes. You can make a leather body, or leather gloves, or leather boots, or anything else. These clothes are most commonly used as armour for rangers. But it is quite complicated to get it. First, you have to kill a cow to get the cowhide (although, for stronger clothes/armour, you can also use snake-skin or dragon-hide). Then, you take the hide to a tanner (I think there is a tannery in Al Kharid). Once it is tanned into a piece of leather, use your needle and thread with the leather to knit leather clothes. That could take a while to do, considering how thick leather is," Cadmus said, pausing to stretch back, and grab a needle, a thread, and a piece of silk from the table behind him. After five seconds of disappearing, the items quickly reappeared.
Cadmus put his chisel down on the table. He then held the needle in one hand, and the silk in the other. Using his finger, he pulled out a small strand of thread, and put it through the silk with the needle. He did that again, and again, and again, very quickly, as if he had been crafting for years. But then again, I thought to myself, he probably has. His hands moved quickly and expertly. After a few minutes of stitching, he had created a pillowcase, with a small hole for filling it with feathers.
"That was a basic example of me stitching a pillowcase, but there are many more designs, much more complex then that one," he told us. "Now let me tell you about making jewellery.
"You have to have a mould, to start with. Like, if you want to make a ring (a normal gold ring requires level five crafting), then you need a ring mould. You will also need a bar of either gold or silver, depending on what you would like to make. Use the bar of gold or silver on a furnace, which will melt it. Use the iron ladle to scoop it up, and then to put it in your mould, until it hardens, cools, and turns into a ring. It won't melt if you aren't a high enough level. You can put a sapphire or an emerald in the mould while the gold is cooling, to make a gem ring. You can't just make rings; you can make plenty of things with gold, including amulets, necklaces, and bracelets.
"Well, that basically covers the two most important aspects of crafting, but you can get more information from Phileas, the Lumbridge guide, or from a fellow player. Well, goodnight, my friends!" Cadmus finished, smiling. We thanked him, bade him goodnight, and went through the door near the bed.
We were in a bigger bedroom then the last one. It had a gigantic, comfortable-looking four-poster bed with shiny purple and red mattress. There were several tables in this room, and a large writing desk. There was a glass cabinet against the wall, containing a brilliant, orange shield, with the picture of a yellow claw on it. There was a large wardrobe on the wall opposite. A golden candle stand illuminated the room.
There were two people in this room, again. One person was sitting by the writing desk, writing something down with a quill. This person was wearing blue robes with a black top, and had a very shiny bald head. He barely looked up when we walked in. The second person was pacing around the room, wearing robes of a brilliant gold. He wore a large diamond amulet around his neck, and had a large, bushy, black beard. The man looked baffled, and was fidgeting with a weird object.
This object was grey, but was shaped strangely. It was white on the edges, and had a pattern of wind (like an air rune) on it. The golden-robed man noticed there were two people in his bedroom, and he gave a half-hearted smile.
"Hello adventurers, I am Duke Horacio, who may you be?" the duke asked. I stopped suddenly.
"Sorry sire, I didn't mean to intrude in your room. I am Mainiac97, and this is my friend, Osrie1," I said apologetically, bowing. Osrie1 followed suit, and the man by the desk sniggered. The duke beamed at me.
"It is no problem," he said. "But do you have any idea what this is?" He handed me the strange object. I shook my head.
"Well, maybe you could do me a favour? Consider it a quest," the duke said. "Could you take this to the head wizard of Wizard's Tower?" I took the talisman from his grasp. I considered this. Accepting a quest, from the duke of Lumbridge? That would make me pretty famous. But, knowing the duke, it might be a very hard quest. In the end, I accepted, and my quest journal flew out of my bag, and into my hand. On the first page, it said 'Rune Mysteries'. I looked at the page, baffled. I bade the duke goodnight, and left the room.
I turned round and stepped onto the stone balcony. I saw some cannons and cannonballs, and I sighed. A guard marched down the balcony, watching us. I leant over the wall, looking down. The sun had disappeared, and the moon had taken its place. The stars dotted the skies, but people were still down in the courtyard, chattering and trading. But then, from the other end of the balcony, I heard loud talking.
Two level 3 men in blue shirts and cream trousers walked onto the balcony, talking loudly and laughing. They were holding several empty beer glasses and full beer glasses and one of them still hadn't finished his beer, and was taking hearty swigs of it occasionally. They were stumbling a bit, and were holding identical knifes, which were covered in blood. The guard stepped them.
"I think you have had enough beer, chaps," he said firmly, trying to pull the beer out of their hands. They just swore at him, snorting with laughter. He just got out his steel mace and pointed it at them in a threatening fashion. They got out their knives, and slit his throat. He fell over the balcony, crashing into a bench below. I stared at his mangled body, shocked. They just killed that guard because he tried to confiscate their beer. The men pointed and laughed at us, calling us rude names. Everyone below had stopped what they were doing, and were watching us. I tried to ignore them, and I started walking towards the stairs, but I felt a large fist collide into the side of my face.
I felt a lump raise where one of the men had punched me. He was standing there, roaring with laughter. I waved my sword in his direction. The other man had punched Osrie1, and he'd reacted in a similar way to me. The men stopped laughing, and now they looked quite angry. One of them slashed me with his knife, while the other did the same to Osrie1. The knife caught at my wrist, which started bleeding. I felt myself lose two hit points. I slashed my sword at his shoulder, harming him. He stumbled, and dropped his beer, which smashed, sending shards of glass and specks of beer everywhere.
He howled in agony as the sharp glass punctured his legs, and I felt him lose more hit points. He stabbed me with his knife again, this time in the stomach. I felt weak, but I stabbed the man again, this time through his neck. He used his last morsel of strength to try and strike me again, this time failing (it hit my wooden shield). I hit him one more time in the gut, and he crumpled, and fell on the floor in a puddle of blood. I blinked, and his dead body dissolved into some bones, and money, and a glass of beer. I picked up the lot, and I counted the coins in my hand. He had 16gp on him! That was enough to last me another day! I felt happy.
But, I felt weak, and I was very badly injured. I got out my first-aid kit, and I put a few drops of healing tonic on my wounds. They began to heal. I put a bandage on the slash on my stomach. I gained most of my hit points back. I would take the bandage off in the morning.
I saw Osrie1 was really struggling to fight back. The man was slashing him with his knife at double speed, and I saw that Osrie1 had dropped his sword. I automatically concentrated on the man. I felt the urge to magic him to bits irresistible. A gust of wind flew out of my palm, and hit him on the head. His head exploded, sending him falling to his doom below.
I heard clapping and cheering from below, but I was concentrating on Osrie1. He was badly cut and injured, and was lying on the floor, moaning. I got out my first-aid kit again, and started putting drops of healing tonic on his wounds. I bandaged up the worst of his wounds, and got out his potion-making kit. I got out his health potion. I forced a quantity of the orange liquid down his throat. He breathed heavily, and sat up. He whooped and punched me lightly on the shoulder when he saw the dead man below. We set off towards the stairs, and we climbed up towards the last floor.
There was one open door that seemed a bit crowded. There was a balcony, where a guard prowled. I decided not to go on there. Opposite the door was a wooden bridge, leading over to a ladder, which was guarded by another guard. I went inside the door.
It was a bank. There were a few bank booths there, with kind-looking ladies there. There was a box there, saying "kindly put your useless newspapers in this box". I got out my newspaper, and put it in the box. I went towards an unoccupied lady, typed in my bank PIN, and put my empty bowl, my beer and a vial of health potion in the bank box. I asked the lady at the bank booth where the bridge lead and she replied that it lead to the Lumbridge Hotel, where a person could have a bed for the night, free of charge. I stepped over the bridge.
Osrie1 followed me after he had put his stuff in the bank. The guard let us pass, and told us to tell the hole in the wall "room number 432". We climbed down the ladder.
Down there was nothing except a window, letting some moonlight in. There was a hole where a brick would normally be, and blue light was coming out of it. I put my mouth to the wall, and said 'room number 432'. Suddenly, the hole grew into a door, which stopped when it was big enough. The door had the numbers 432 written on it in shiny gold letters. I opened the door.
We had a simple room with a table, a stool, and two normal beds with blue sheets, a cupboard, a mirror, and a stove. There was a window, overlooking the courtyard, and I realised I was over the arch which lead into the courtyard.
I threw my bag on the table, and so did Osrie1. I settled into a bed, exhausted at the day I had just had.
I had gone through Tutorial Dungeon, learned about quests, banking, and prayer, had fought a large army of rats (which still weren't all dead, seeing the giant rat that had jumped out of the bushes, and the small rat in the castle that attacked me), had learnt all about magic, had turned up in Lumbridge, and had explored the town and the castle, and finally, had a fight with two drunk men. It was my first full day on RuneScape.
I briefly considered RuneScape, and how I appeared in it. So many exciting events had filled my time in RuneScape I'd never given the topic much thought. Where did I come from? Did I come from anywhere specific, or did I simply… appear in RuneScape? What was the meaning behind my existence in RuneScape? I could feel that there was something much more complicated behind my appearance in RuneScape, other than simply appearing. I could sense some memories of life… before RuneScape. They were there; I simply couldn't actually remember them.
I couldn't grasp the subject fully, so I gave up thinking about it. I fell asleep after a few minutes, wondering what I would get up to the next day.
Next chapter, Mainiac97 does a classic RuneScape quest.
Until next time, toodles!