Chapter 39: Gunther the Brave
I saw the travelling pack-Osrie1, Amy11, Capablanca, Slinky, Mark, and even Haldir6 had come to greet me. Smiling, I walked forward, but I bumped into a very tall, very muscular Barbarian on the way out. He stared at me, scowling.
"City-man!" he bellowed in my face, spraying spit everywhere. He wore a heavy brown Barbarian helmet, furs, and he held a small but heavy-looking stone hammer. His face was taut with rage. "You are very stupid, to challenge Barbarian!" Roaring, he sent his stone hammer smashing into my stomach. Winded, I keeled over, gasping for air. I had lost over half my hit points with one blow! This barbarian must be rather strong!
The gang ran towards me, looking rather concerned. Slinky took out her machete, and stuck it into the furious Barbarian's gut. He roared again, and sent the hammer flying at her, only for it to miss her by inches. Osrie1 and Capablanca took out their bottles of healing tonic, and dabbed it on my wounds. I stood up, rubbing my wound, which was still healing. My hit points recovered, I charged towards the distracted barbarian, wielding Silverlight.
I slashed it at the barbarian, sending blood everywhere. Blood poured from his wound thick and fast. He howled with pain, and keeled over. I got my iron dagger, and cleanly slit his throat. He gurgled unpleasantly, and died. The remains were a pile of coins, a pile of bones, and some bear fur. I scooped them up, buried the bones, and put the rest in my bag.
Another Barbarian came up to me, scowling unpleasantly. "You are strong to take out fellow barbarian. But you cannot beat Gunther the brave," he said, spitting at my feet.
"Who's Gunther?" I stuttered nervously. The Barbarian chortled, his large belly wobbling.
"Gunther….is the Barbarian champion," he announced. "Gunther started this village. He strong. Nobody beat him. He can drink beer faster then rest of village." I gulped nervously. This Gunther the brave sounded very bad.
The Barbarian walked into the nearby long hall, and came out, looking triumphant.
"Gunther wishes to challenge you," he said, grinning nastily down at me. I laughed nervously. "He will meet you in one hour." Nodding vigorously, I backed off, and ran away.
I stopped running at the cooking guild. The tall windmill swung ominously. Even the smell of roasting meat and cooking pie couldn't reassure me right now. I sat down by the grass, and began to cry softly. If I couldn't beat a normal, weak barbarian without great injury, what made me think I could challenge the master of barbarian Village?
Well, there was the fact that I defeated a pure evil Master Samuel, a huge demon, a three-headed dragon, an army of rats, and more….but I defeated them with help from Silverlight, help from the man on the white dragon, even help from an ordinary white knight….I couldn't even fight a normal Barbarian without needing a cupful of healing tonic!
Well, that was the last of my great heroic battles. I was probably considered a….well, maniac. Everyone with some sort of psychic power foretold of a mysterious object on my back, and oncoming darkness. I needed help from every corner to fight even a normal Barbarian. I needed to run away from this fight.
I sat up, and was just considering getting supplies from the bank to run away, when I saw Amy11 come toward me, panting.
"Well hello, is something the matter?" she said kindly. Sniffing sadly, I explained my problems and my worries to her. She nodded sympathetically.
"Well," she said, mulling it over. She then looked like she had an idea. "There was the Barbarian, but you've defeated more. You've defeated countless possessed creatures. You've managed to defeat a rock golem, almost all by yourself. And I know about that because I saw it with my very own eyes. You did very well in the war, brutally killing many dark wizards.
"According to Osrie1, you defeated James the dark sorcerer, all by yourself, on Tutorial Island, not to mention another person at the same level as you, and a large army of rats. If I remember correctly, you managed to kill a wanted highwayman, defeat the prince of ice Jack Frost, and more! You may feel useless, but why do you think people want to travel with you? Because they respect you, and love you."
She finished her small speech with a flourish. I thought about what she had said, and realised it was true. I might have had help on some occasions, but I can do this all by myself! I thanked her, and she smiled.
"I'm glad I made you feel better," she whispered. She smiled, winked at me, and skipped off. I found myself staring at her longingly. I shook my head, and planned out a battle strategy for Gunther the Brave.
I walked back into Barbarian village, wearing all the armour I had. I wore an iron chain mail, my trademark bronze helmet, my choclatrice cape, some steel leggings that I bought on the Grand Exchange, and all my jewellery (my lucky sapphire ring, my Easter ring, my amulet of ghost speak, my defence amulet, and more). On my belt, I had my scythe, Silverlight, my Easter Hammer, my emergency iron dagger, and a spare iron sword. Haldir6 was already there. He nodded at me, and gestured for me to come inside the barbarian long hall.
I went inside. Several long, wooden tables were there. Furious, drunk Barbarians sat there, drinking from huge mugs of ale, chewing on meat. There were also some curious people from Varrock, and friends, such as Aubury, Osrie1, Capablanca, Amy11, Slinky, Creator, Haru, Mark, Haldir6, and even Clayguy7! They all cheered for me as I entered, while the Barbarians booed.
At the far end of the hall there was a large stage. There were Barbarian guards by the stage. They grunted, and two stepped forwards, and dragged me on the stage.
I only just noticed that there was metal fencing surrounding the stage. There was a door, held together by rotted wood and mud. I heard tumultuous boos from the phalanx of barbarians. Just as I was getting bored on this stage, and the fist holding my stomach was beginning to relax, the door burst open, and flew off its hinges. A huge figure smashed its way through the doorway, and I saw Gunther the Brave for the first time.
He was colossal. Muscles popped from every pore of his mammoth body. He wore a huge, grey, burnished helmet, which had two horns attached to it.
He wore the classical Barbarian shiny-brown armour, covered with animal furs. He wore a sumptuous, probably home-made amulet of strength. True, his stomach was slightly podgy; but bulging muscles made up for that. A slight smile was playing around his lips. I wasn't too sure, but I thought I could see a shade of red in his tunnel-like eyes.
"So, you are the impudent pest who has been trying to kill off my village?" he asked swiftly, taking out a stone, blood-stained sword and a barbarian hammer-only bigger. I nodded, shuddering under the shadow of this giant of a human being. He sounded intelligent-unlike normal barbarians. "Very well, I am Gunther the Brave," he said, bowing. "You have challenged me, leader of Barbarian Village. I must make a slight avowal-you seem like an utter noob in the arts of fighting." I heard the Barbarian side of the crowd guffaw heartily. Gunther, looking pensive, waved his hand for silence. "So, young sir, let us test your skills in a duel."
He had rushed towards me and hit me with his stone sword faster then an eye blink. I knelt at his feet, winded by the powerful blow. I felt a handful of my hit points go down the drain. I heard a mix of whooping and groaning from the audience. Gunther went up to me. I stood up, clutching my stab wound.
"You still seem irresolute about this fight," he said loudly. "That was rather lamentable performance from your side of it. Your opinions of it so far seem inscrutable. Are you sure you want to humiliate yourself further?" he asked, grinning evilly, his eyes boring into mine. I could hear a mix of laughter and more groaning from the audience. I nodded. "Very well," Gunther said, sounding buoyant. "It's your funeral."
He was walking towards me, grinning evilly, cracking his knuckles. I began panicking. I didn't have a battle strategy! What was I going to do? People on the table supporting me were looking at me, some scared, some hopeful, some questioning. I needed to stall. I needed time. I needed a place to hide, where he couldn't get me. It then struck me. I grabbed my cape, and after some seconds of deep thinking, I was stuck in a giant Easter egg.
From inside the egg, I could hear whooping, yells of anger, and great thumping of tables. I thought desperately. I could feel Gunther hammering at my egg with either his sword of his hammer. I held my lucky sapphire ring, and wished as hard as I could. Another idea struck me for stalling time.
I smashed the egg open from the inside, and Gunther jumped back, surprised. I grabbed his arm as forcefully as I could, and used the freeze emote. He froze to a solid ice statue, while I melted into a puddle. I re-solidified, and the ice encasing me smashed to bits. I noticed that the ice trapping the frozen form of Gunther the Brave was melting, so I took out my clay carrot, and smashed it on his head. Although he couldn't move, I felt him lose 8 hit points. The ice where I hit was starting to crack, and collapse. As Gunther the Brave forced himself from the ice, I backed off. I had another idea to stall for time.
I used the around the world in egg days emote. I had the sensation of running around the world, while I confused Gunther and the audience. Gunther was looking in a different direction for me, thinking I had amazingly run off. I smashed the clay carrot hammer in his face while he wasn't looking.
He bellowed like an enraged bull, and teeth and blood were sent everywhere. I felt him lose quite a lot of hit points, and I saw that I had broken his nose. Blood poured from his nose like a large scarlet waterfall. Spitting blood and teeth from his mouth, he sent the sword swinging at me. It hit me full-pelt in the head. I felt a lump raise on my head, and stars popped out in front of my eyes. I stumbled around, and, in an attempt to give me time to recover, I used the trick emote. Undaunted by the bats that flew from my body, Gunther went forwards, and grabbed me by the neck.
"Say your prayers, kid," he hissed in my ear. That reminded me of other things I could do! I thought of the incantation for the 'confuse' spell, and, hoping I had the correct runes, blasted it in Gunther's face.
He dropped me, and began to stumble around. I sent the bind spell at him, but it didn't do anything. I tried again at least three times, and at last he got tangled in almost-unbreakable cords. I cursed myself for not knowing the bind of pain, a spell that has the same effect, except large, deadly spikes grow from the bind.
While Gunther was struggling with the bind, I sent several fire strikes at him. He bellowed, swore loudly, and the bind snapped in his attempt to escape the searing-hot flames. It was a funny tableau; an enormous monster of a man like Gunther running around, trying to extinguish flames on his backside.
When they were out, he snarled at me with his crippled face, and took out his sword. He held it to my neck, and was about to chop my head straight off, when, with quick thinking, I shot an arrow at him. Of all places, the arrow stuck his neck. He dropped his heavy weapons, and an unpleasant gurgling noise was coming from his throat. Blood began pouring from the wound on his neck, and he fell back, dead as the wooden door behind him. His corpse transformed into bones, a small leather sack of coins, his stone hammer and sword, and some beer, and I saw no more of him.
There was a silence. It was a silence so deep that you could hear a clock tick from the other side of the village. Then I heard many shouts, some of anger, some of glee, and some of happiness. I just managed to scoop up my prizes before I was dragged off the stage, and out into the village mine. Barbarians were simply staring as me as I passed in amazement.
"Well played, my friend, well played!" Osrie1 boomed as he patted my back a bit too hard. I had the suspicion he was drunk.
"That was excellent! Did you see the faces of the Barbarians in there? They're shocked!" Mark said gleefully.
"That's my Mainiac97," Capablanca said, almost wordless.
I was congratulated by so many people I couldn't remember them all. But the crowd parted when Amy11 went in. She stared at me, and then ran towards me, giving me the biggest hug I've ever received. "What did I tell you?" she whsipered in my ear. I thanked her, and walked off. A hand came from behind a hut, and dragged me. It was Ilookgood99.
"That was very good, Mainiac97," he said, sounding slightly urgent. "It was even more impressive that you beat him while he was possessed." My mouth fell open in shock.
"He was possessed?" I shouted, rather incredulously. Ilookgood99 nodded.
"Barbarians are famous for stupidity," he said. "Especially their leaders. Did you notice the way he was talking? There is no way on Saradomin's earth that that could happen. He was possessed, I tell you." I grabbed my head, unable to take all of this in.
Ilookgood99 turned to me. "I foresee a dazzling end… the cure to the darkness. You must see the dazzling end, you must grasp it… the opportunity will arise at the best possible time… you have something on your back!"
I heard it, yet again. Hissing, mechanical clicking, and what sounded like voices came form the object on my back. But it felt different-like a compass which had been de-magnetised was going closer to the right way. I could actually feel weight on my back, as well as sense it strongly. After a second, it disappeared. I turned around. Ilookgood99 was gone.
I suddenly collapsed. I could feel myself fading… fading…
A very familiar cloaked man was walking through the wilderness. He was holding a thick, dusty tome-the book which held the sacred ingredients to the potion. He kicked a skull into a dark hole as he passed it.
After a small walk past many possessed creatures and blood-stained skeletons, he arrived.
He was in a stone circle, but there was a massive difference. This stone circle didn't have crumbling pillars or a massive, glowing altar. There was a large, rusty, black cauldron on the centre, and none other then James, master thief, dark magician, and Zamorak supporter, was adding ingredients to the contents.
"James!" the cloaked man barked. "I have the book you requested." He handed James the heavy book. James flicked through it.
"We have made progress with this potion, I know, but there is still much work to be done," James sneered. "What else do we need? We need the mist of yet to come…." He thought for a moment. He then clicked. "Isn't that what Gypsy Aris has in her crystal ball? That's probably what she's so good at telling the future! That is why Master Samuel wanted her while he was all-knowing, and all-powerful! That's why she ran away!" The cloaked man nodded in agreement.
"Right," he barked to a nearby dark wizard. "Spread the word that we need Gypsy Aris! Go tell our… associate, he can be of great help. Master Samuel may need to convince him a bit, but eventually he'll help us get Gypsy Aris." The dark wizard nodded, and ran off, cloak swishing softly.
"Gypsies, when they want to be hidden, stay hidden. We need to gather more ingredients. I want you," James said, pointing at the cloaked man. "I want you to gather men to find some poison of the rattle-snake of Karamja." The cloaked man's eyes widened.
"That's going to be hard to get, but, very well, if that is what you and Master Samuel wish," he muttered, looking uncertain. He clicked his fingers for dark wizards to follow him, and he went off, scowling.
I woke up with a jolt. I had another dream! This one seemed to contain crucial information. Some man in a cloak was involved, to start off with. Poor Gypsy Aris! I hope she could hide from a legion of Zamorak supporters.
Still thinking deeply about what had happened today, what Ilookgood99 had said, and what was in the dream, I walked back to the long hall, to join in the celebrations.