Chapter 14: The Restless Ghost

"Come on, Mainiac97, wake up, and look at the sun outside!" Osrie1 moaned, shaking the lump in the bed that was me. I groaned, and buried myself deeper into my blankets. Osrie1 just grabbed my blanket, and dragged it off the bed. I fell on the floor, on my bum, with a rather painful bump. I got up, grumbling and mumbling. But then I saw outside. Sunshine was pouring through the window, waking me up properly; better then Osrie1's nagging ever would have woken me up. It was a brand new day, with the prospect of more adventures ahead of us. I grabbed my bag, picked up my sword and shield, and set off through the door.

A breeze swept my face and sunshine hit my face through the small window. I climbed up the ladder in front of me, with Osrie1 hot on my feet. The guard saluted us and said "Good morning sirs" as we passed him. The bank was straight in front of us, and it was quite crowded. I went at the back of the shortest queue, and waited my turn to use the bank. A guard came from the balcony to check the bank was in order. He glared at us suspiciously, and went to step back on the balcony.

After a few minutes of waiting, it was my turn to type in my PIN, and to see my bank account pop out in front of me. I felt my money pouch, and took out 16gp. I didn't know whether this was going to be enough for the day, so I took out 5gp from the bank, which left 45gp in my bank account. I felt my rune pouch and realised all I needed were mind runes and air runes for air strike, so I put the rest of my runes that Terrera gave me into the bank. I closed my account, and set off.

I waited patiently for Osrie1 at the front door of the castle. A passing guard waved at me, grinning. The courtyard was bustling with activity, and there were many hearty shouts of "Good morning". I spotted Osrie1 coming through the big front doors. We set off for breakfast in the restaurant.

I turned the corner and saw the big restaurant sign. I saw the graveyard, and decided today I would explore past there. But first, I'd better get some food into my belly, I thought, as my stomach grumbled noisily.

I stepped into the building with Osrie1. It was quite busy, and there were chefs everywhere, cooking food on ranges, and presenting them to the people who ordered them. It was quite different from last night, when there was only one chef. A chef holding a plate of cooked meat ran up to us, and handed us a menu, before rushing off to give the meat to the man who ordered it, nearly dropping it and crashing into a table in the process. I decided to have a meal of fried eggs, fried tomatoes, and cooked meat, while Osrie1 chose the same as me. We ordered our food to a panting chef, who nodded, and ran off to cook the food. We sat down an empty table.

"So….where do you want to go today?" I asked Osrie1 kindly. He wondered this for a moment.

"I was kind of hoping that I could go to practice potion-making today," he said. We decided we would split up and meet up later in the graveyard for lunch. But then, a chef popped up with our meals on plates. I gave my cooked meat, fried egg and fried tomato a sniff. It smelt wonderful. The egg was still sizzling, the tomato looked plump and juicy, and the cooked meat gave a wonderful aroma of expert cooking. I shovelled down my breakfast with great gusto. It all tasted heavenly, and sooner or later I had an empty plate in front of me. I patted my tummy happily. The chef came, and I paid him 4gp for the food. I got up, and set off through the door, and went towards the graveyard, while Osrie1 went the other way.

I opened the creaky, rusty black gate, and stepped into the graveyard. It was made entirely out of compressed earth, making it look like a very dirty brown floor. It was dotted with gravestones, with aged letters on it that I couldn't read. There were mouldy flowers in some gravestones. In the corner was a simple, old-looking concrete building, with a door that was ajar. Next to that was the biggest tree I had ever seen. It was a shiny, splendid tree that looked very firm and strong. But then, I thought glumly, if I couldn't cut down an oak tree, it was very unlikely that I could cut down this. I saw a large church similar to tutorial church next to the graveyard, except this one was bigger. There was a door leading into the church from the graveyard. I opened this door, and stepped inside the church.

The floor was encrusted with large silver tiles. There was an enormous pipe organ on the other side of the church, along with a large stand for the father to stand in. There was a father in long, grey robes standing in there, reading a RuneScape bible. He looked a bit agitated. There were several empty wooden seats in the back, where the people came for sermons. There was a large altar in front of the stand. There were two ladders leading up to a second floor, which I could see. There were a few VIP seats up there, and several large shelves full of bibles. There was a man in long black robes that was none other but Ilookgood99. I went up to the father in the stand. He smiled sadly at me.

"What is the matter? You seem upset," I said.

"Yes, I am upset, young one. My name is Father Aereck, and I look after this church, which has existed for over 230 years. I am upset because there is a ghost haunting the coffin room, and I don't know how to get rid of him. The only person that can get rid of the ghost is my friend who lives in the Lumbridge swamp, Father Uhrney, who is currently living there as a hermit. Could you do me a favour, and could you talk to father Uhrney and ask him how to get rid of the ghost?" he asked me. I thought about it for a moment. In the end, I nodded. He beamed at me.

"Thank you, my friend!! If you get rid of that ghost, I will be most grateful!" Father Aereck cried joyfully. Then, my quest journal flew out of my bag, and it flipped automatically to the second page, where it said 'The Restless Ghost'. I stepped out of the church, and back into the graveyard.

I looked at the coffin room, and I decided to have a look inside to make sure there really was a ghost in there. I opened the door which creaked noisily. It was an ordinary concrete building, which had an oil lamp dangling from the ceiling. There was a simple, rotting wooden coffin in the middle of the room. I decided to open the coffin. I opened up the lid, which creaked open. There was a skeleton lying in the coffin, but the skeleton had no skull. But then, a lot of white light illuminated the room, and stopped abruptly. There was a ghost floating in the corner of the room.

This ghost was completely transparent (obviously). It wore a large hat with a peacock feather on the top, and the ghost wore a very important-looking suit.

"Woooooooooo...." the ghost said, looking at me, his expression hard to read. I jumped about a foot in the air, screamed, and ran out the door.

I had run past the restaurant, past Bob's axe shop, and I paused, panting, checking over my shoulder to make sure the ghost wasn't following me. I stepped back cautiously, and I peeped back into the coffin room. The coffin was closed, and the ghost was nowhere in sight. I sighed. I went back outside, and pas the other gate, into the stretch of land in front of me.

I could see a mine in the distance. People were chopping away at rocks in it. Nearby, there were people over the water, fishing. There was a man sitting on a chair there, knitting fishing nets. Next to me I smelt a terrible smell of what smelt like gas. I turned around, and saw what I guessed was the Lumbridge swamp.

There were dark trees surrounding several pools of polluted green water. There were strange green plants growing everywhere. There were bubbles rising in the water, releasing a terrible stench when popping. There were a few giant level 3 and 6 rats nearby, squeaking loudly and casting curious glances at me every now and then.

Trying to ignore the terrible smell, or the staring rats, I continued through the swamp. I could see a small wooden house in the distance, with moss growing all over it. I guessed this was the house of Father Uhrney. I stepped towards the front door, and I knocked.

"Who dares interrupt my meditation? This better be important!!" I heard a grumpy voice say from the other side. The door opened.

Father Uhrney wore long, grey robes, and had a bushy white moustache and bushy white hair. He wasn't wearing any shoes. Wrinkles creased his entire face. He glared at me.

"Go away, I'm meditating!!" he shouted.

"Father Aereck sent me, sir. He has a ghost haunting his coffin room," I said. He sighed, and reluctantly let me pass him into his house.

The house had a smell of tree sap and brand new paper in it. There were bookshelves on the wall. There was a small wooden table and chair in the corner, with a blank piece of parchment on it, and a small bottle of ink, with a feather in it. There was a pair of black shoes in the corner, with a cupboard. There was a very small patchwork bed in the other corner. There was a bible open on the rug on the floor. There was a wooden box by the bed. Father Uhrney leered at me, and shut the door.

"So, that Father Aereck is having problems with ghosts already, and is asking a new person to pass a message to me, is he? He isn't a very good priest if he is having these problems. I don't know why they replaced me with him. But I guess I have to help him if there is a ghost in his coffin room.

"The first step to getting rid of a ghost is to know why it still wanders the earth, restless. The only way to communicate to ghost and to find that out is by this." Father Uhrney reached over to the wooden box by his bed, and opened it.

He got out a strange amulet. It had a red ribbon to put around somebody's neck. It was a ghostly white spiky amulet, with a curvy line in the middle. He handed me the amulet.

"When you wear that, it allows you to speak to ghosts. That is called the Ghost speak amulet," he told me. He held open the door. I took off my prayer amulet, put it in my bag, and put on the ghost speak amulet. I hesitated before stepping out, earning me a kick up the bum from Uhrney, sending me flying out the door and colliding with a free. Grumbling, rubbing my sore backside, I stepped out of the swamp and back into the graveyard.

I entered the coffin room. I stepped bravely towards the coffin, and I opened the lid with a loud creak. A glow of white light filled the room, and once again, the coffin was open to reveal a headless skeleton, and the ghost was standing there, looking grumpy.

"Hello ghost, how are you?" I asked him, starting to feel nervous.

"Not very good," he said miserably.

"Why is that?" I replied.

"You can understand me? You are the only person who has been able to know what I am saying!!" he said, staring at me incredulously.

"The reasons I can understand you is because I am wearing this amulet of ghost speak. Now, let's go back to the subject. What is the matter?" I said. He sighed.

"Oh, that is why. Well, the reason I am sad is because I cannot pass on to the afterlife. I am doomed to walk around the earth for all eternity until my skull is returned to the coffin," he said, looking very sad indeed.

"Where is the skull?" I asked.

"Some evil wizards from the wizard's tower came and stole my skull for an evil spell they planned to make. They aren't the only things that have been acting unusual lately. Have you heard about the army of rats heading towards Tutorial Island? Or have you heard of the zombies acting strange? The rats have been going wild, I've seen their behaviour. There are rats in here, and I've seen their eyes glow red. A rat attacked a young boy this morning; it should be in the newspaper later today. He was attacked by a few rats, and they overpowered him, and killed him. Of course, he came back later, and explained to newspaper reporters how the rat's eyes were red, and how they were hissing strangely, and how they jumped up on him and ripped his face to shreds.

"And I got a psychic message from a fellow ghost in Draynor Manor. He explained that he and his fellow ghosts were getting messages from the unknown, telling them to kill humans. I have been getting them too, but I am not an evil spirit, so I have been able to resist the urge to kill. Any human that steps foot in the manor doesn't come back alive, but that is to be expected, knowing what kind of…erm….creatures that lurk in there," he said, looking uncomfortable. I listened to him patiently.

"So, how do I get your skull back?" I asked. He smiled.

"Well, you have to find out where they've hidden the skull first. Check all of the floors thoroughly. The wizard's tower has many floors. Check them all. Once you have it, just pop it where the skull is meant to be in my coffin. Then, I can rest in peace. Thank you, kind adventurer, for offering to help me. Just beware; the dark wizards need that skull for something. They won't give it back without a fight. They would have put guard on the skull, and they wouldn't have just let it lay there, defenceless. They must have guessed my spirit would become restless once the skull was in their grasp. Beware," he said wisely. I nodded, waved, and set off to meet Osrie1.

I waited for about ten minutes before Osrie1 came.

"Hi," he said cheerfully when he saw me. "I have been practicing potion-making, and I have raised another magic level," he said. I smiled at him.

"Well, I have been helping a priest in distress," I said proudly. I repeated what happened to me to Osrie1.

"Well, it's lunchtime now. Are we going to the restaurant now to eat?" he asked. I looked down the path. I saw the mine, where people were working hard mining ore. And I saw some people fishing down on the lake. Across the lake I saw some sandy dunes, and a cactus. Then an idea struck me.

"Fancy shrimp for lunch?" I asked lightly. He nodded, and I pointed to the fishing spots. Comprehension dawned on his freckled face. We walked towards the fishing spots, getting our nets out ready.