Hello, hello, hello, what's happenin' readers?
Ho ho ho! Merry Christmas everyone! :D This is the first part of my 2010 Christmas special. If you spot any mistakes, as usual, please point them out to me. Please 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.
Christmas Special 2010: Part 1
"Here Gobbles," I urged, offering the bird seed to the turkey. He clucked nervously and approached cautiously. After much apparent thinking, Gobbles accepted the bird seed, gobbling happily. As I watched Gobbles, I thought back to Thanksgiving. After the attack of the giant turkeys I'd developed a slight fear of turkeys as well as chickens, but having Gobbles as a pet for all this time had shown me that turkeys weren't worth being scared of. He was a timid and cheerful creature and I enjoyed having him as a pet. I'd decided on the name 'Gobbles' because it was simple, it was suitable for a turkey, and it was comical. I realised how abnormal my pets probably were. I didn't know of anybody else who kept spiders and turkeys as pets.
Christmas was approaching, the weather was slowly getting colder and colder and the air was thick with festive spirit. I loved it. The Halloween shop in Lumbridge had become a Christmas shop, and they were selling a massive variety of festive foods and decorations. I'd bought myself a box of gold and silver tinsel, a model of Santa, some stockings, and magical lights to decorate my house with. I'd also covered my garden with snow from my snow globe.
The shop was also selling Christmas trees, but the shopkeeper told me that, years ago, an event reward was a special type of Christmas tree, and I'd be better off waiting for the event so I could claim mine from Diango.
Recently it had started snowing, and Port Sarim was covered with a fresh sheet of pure white snow. It was truly beautiful. The White Knight Castle moat had frozen, and I'd been practicing skating on the ice. I'd mastered it now, and I skated gracefully across the ice while other people slipped and fell.
Port Sarim was really getting into the Christmas spirit. Tinsel and lights hung between the houses, and everybody was wearing Christmas clothes. You could see the Christmas trees inside houses as you passed them. Several beautiful trees covered with lights and baubles had been set up around the village. The port looked like it had jumped out of a Christmas card.
Just as I was considering building a snowman to pass the time, something cold and wet hit me in the back. I turned around, and I saw Amy11 grinning happily at me. Standing next to her was Capablanca and Osrie1.
"Hello," I greeted them. I went up to them, hugged Amy11, high-fived Osrie1, and patted Capablanca on the back. "What brings you to my house? I thought you were working." I asked Capablanca politely.
"Well, dear noob, I have the day off," Capablanca replied. "The white knights have nothing to do, and everybody is lolling around. Since Master Samuel is dead and the dark forces have retreated, nothing major has been happening. There is still a little bit of crime, but nothing that requires a lot of white knights. People are still on patrol, but there's nothing going on, so several people, including me, have been sent home. I was wondering if you wanted to go skating." I accepted, and we left my house.
We walked down the snow-covered streets of Port Sarim, playfully chucking snowballs at each other. It felt just like old times, when it was just Amy11, Osrie1, Capablanca, and I. we passed a window and I surveyed my reflection. I'd changed so much since my early days exploring Lumbridge. I'd been through so much it was expected.
I eyed my white knight armour proudly. It was an honour to have the right of wearing such a beautiful and powerful set of armour. I also examined my belt. I had my special steel sword, Silverlight, my barbarian stone hammer, a white knight kiteshield, and my jewellery pouch on it altogether. I'd cut down heavily on my weapons, only carrying what I felt was necessary. Silverlight had been my favourite sword since I'd won it. It was a marvellous weapon, and I loved it dearly.
We passed several wonky snowmen, groups of children playing in the snow, and decorations. But, there was one thing we weren't expecting to pass. We passed a tall, open cupboard standing in the middle of the street. Snow and white light poured from it, and a snow imp stood by it. I remembered the cupboard from last year, and I knew it led to the Land of Snow. I approached the snow imp, who brought back many memories of great feasts, thick snow, Scrooge, Jack Frost, Santa, skating, snowball fights, presents, and much more. I almost felt a tear come to my eye as I was struck by memory after memory.
"Excuse me, but where does this cupboard lead?" I inquired.
"Well, it leads to the Heimland Games, but there's been a few problems, and it will be delayed," the snow imp replied. "Come back in a few hours." I nodded, disappointed. Just as I turned around to leave, the snow imp let out a cry. "Wait!" He yelled. "I recognise you from somewhere." His eyes narrowed, and he stared at me for a second. A look of realisation flew across his face. "You're Mainiac97!" he shouted. "You've been a great help these past few years. I've also heard word of your deeds in Falador. You may be able to help us. Come in." I thanked the snow imp, and I threw myself into the cupboard head-first.
A gust of cold wind picked me up. I was forced to close my eyes is I was blinded by light and snowflakes. The freezing cold winds howled in my ears as I was carted away by it. I soon found myself in a pile of snow. I heard several thumps around me as Osrie1, Amy11 and Capablanca arrived.
I looked up at my surroundings. We were in a very large area enclosed by evergreen trees. Snow covered the ground and it still fell thick and fast. On the left side of the enclosed area there was a large metal fence that seemed to lead to another enclosure. There were two more gates in front of us and on the right side. We were surrounded by three large gated enclosures with nothing in them. Snow imps and people ran left and right.
Standing on a wooden stand was an ice imp who was shouting commands in an icy loud-speaker, similar to the one I had from last year. We approached him and I tapped him on the foot. He turned around to face him.
"Excuse me," I said. "Could you explain to me what's going on here?"
"Of course I can, Mainiac97," the imp smiled. "You see, there is a Fremennik man who calls himself Thorvar Crittersmash. He isn't a normal Fremennik person, though. He is fat, jolly and he loves Christmastime. He looks suspiciously like Santa Claus. He lives in Daemonheim, which is a very dark, dangerous and mysterious place. Every year he tries to bring some Christmas joy to the Fremennik people, who are strong, cold and proud people. He starts the Heimland Games, and he usually holds them in Rellekka, but there's never enough snow and the games are usually called off early.
"To combat this problem, Thorvar Crittersmash contacted the Ice Queen and asked if he could hold the Heimland Games in the Land of Snow and to extend them further than just Fremennik people. She let him use this plot of land for the games. She also sent snow imps to help him, and promised to set up cupboards in key communities in RuneScape so people could partake in the Heimland Games if they paid."
"What are the Heimland Games?" I asked. The snow imp chuckled.
"The Heimland Games are a set of activities that people can take part in with other people," the snow imp replied. "The activities are exciting. Activities include snowman building, snowball fights, sledding, and even seal sliding. You can earn tokens by taking part in (and sometimes winning) different tournaments and competitions, and these tokens can be exchanged for seasonal food, skate and sled accessories, and an invitation to the exclusive Heimland feast which will take part in that enclosure over there." He pointed to the gate to our right.
"So, what is the problem?" I asked.
"Thorvar was supposed to come here with all the necessary building materials so we could set the games up," the snow imp explained. "He was supposed to come an hour ago, but he never did. He was meant to meet up with a snow imp on the docks of Daemonheim, but neither of them returned. We're really confused. If he doesn't show up with those materials the Heimland games can't go ahead as planned, and it would take too long to get some new materials. Besides, Thorvar is the man who's arranging the whole thing. If he's missing then there's no hope."
"Would you like me to help you look for Thorvar?" I asked kindly. "I'd be happy to help." The snow imp stared at me, wide-eyed.
"Daemonheim is an extremely dangerous place," he whispered. "You'd need to be extremely careful. Are you sure?" I nodded. "OK. You are Mainiac97, and you've never failed to save Christmas before. We need somebody strong and reliable like you and your friends to help us find Thorvar. But, don't put yourself in danger for the sake of some Fremennik gaming event! Unknown dangers lurk on that island in the middle of nowhere, so be extremely careful. I'll send some snow imps to accompany you. We were going to send out a search team, but having some humans accompany them could prove beneficial." He whistled, and three snow imps appeared. He explained the situation to them and they agreed to come with us. "I'll teleport you there on the count of three." He counted down, and showered us with what looked like blue sparks. A small portal appeared in front of us, and we were dragged through.
We experienced the uncomfortable sensation of being teleported. It felt like we were being compressed through a small black tunnel. After a minute, we appeared somewhere else.
We were standing on a dock of some sort. Some small boats surrounded us, and lonely fishermen fished by the edge. I looked down, and noticed that the planks were rotting and we were far above pointy rocks and crashing waved. I gulped, and stepped onto a path. I surveyed my surroundings.
Everything here seemed miserable. The sky was grey and depressing. In front of us there was a massive flight of stone steps leading upwards. It led so far upwards we couldn't see what was at the top. To our left was a path leading towards a small, dismal village of some sort. To our right there was a path that led up to what looked like a mountainous and cliffy region, as well as a path that led down to a stony beach.
We scanned the area for some sign of Thorvar Crittersmash, but we didn't see him. We decided to go up the stone steps to look for him. Someone cried for us to stop. We turned around to see that one of the fishermen had stood up and was holding his hand up.
"Are you insane?" he demanded. "You're nowhere near prepared enough to go up there! Those are the dangerous Daemonheim dungeons and you can't simply skip in there. Only true Fremennik people and barbarians can go up there. You'd be a fool to enter unprepared. I'd speak to somebody in the Daemonheim village before walking those steps."
"I'm sorry. We had no intention of snooping in any dungeons. You see, we're looking for a certain Thorvar Crittersmash," I explained. "We were wondering where he was."
"Thorvar?" the fisherman repeated. "I saw him here a little earlier. He was carrying a massive sack over his shoulder, and he seemed to be waiting. He waited here for about ten minutes before walking to the mountainous region over there." He pointed to the path on our right. "Then one of those strange little creatures came and waited for a while." He pointed towards one of the snow imps, who looked offended at being referred to as a 'strange little creature'. "The creature asked me if I'd seen him, and I told him about Thorvar going up to the mountainous regions. The creature followed him. That was a while ago, though, and I've seen neither since." We thanked the fisherman profusely, and followed the path that Thorvar and the snow imp had allegedly followed earlier.
The higher we walked, the colder the air became. I was chilled to the bone. We were walking along a very high and perilous cliff edge, and the sea far below roared and crashed, unwelcoming. We were surrounded by uninviting rocks. We occasionally passed dark caverns that promised certain death. I shivered. I hoped we could leave Daemonheim soon.
We passed an especially large cave entrance that caught our attention. Icicles hung from the top of the cave, and an especially chilly air blew from its depths. I noticed something by my feet, and I stooped down to pick it up. It was a black glove with fluffy white cuffs. It looked like one of Santa's gloves. There was a little bit of blood on it. It looked like there had been a struggle of some sort. I handed it to one of the snow imps, who examined it closely.
"This glove could belong to Thorvar," the imp whispered. "It could belong to anybody with a Santa costume in theory, but Thorvar was supposed to be in this area." We heard a scream of help come from within the caves. "That sounds like Thorvar," one of the imps said. "Let's go and investigate." Everyone walked inside the cave and I reluctantly followed.
We followed the cave for a while before we walked into an opening. The cave we were now in was full of icicles on the floor. They twinkled and glowed many colours, but there were cracks in them and some had been completely smashed. A stone switch lay on the floor, cracked in half. An open door stood behind them, but it was also slightly cracked and it looked like it had been forced open. Someone had obviously been here before us, and there'd obviously been a fight or a struggle of some sort. The clues were adding up. We decided to go through this door.
We walked into another cave. This cave was empty apart from a statue of an angel in the centre. A fresh sheet of snow covered the floor. Somebody or something had obviously been in here previously because there were markings in the snow. The cave wall on the far end had collapsed, revealing an opening.
We started walking across this cave when the stone angel statue turned around. The eyes of the statue were red. Suddenly, the energy was sapped from my body. I fell onto the floor. I was slowly losing my energy. I didn't have enough energy to stand properly, let alone move. I found crawling difficult. This angel statue seemed to be the cause of this loss of energy. A cold, harsh wind blew through the cave, whipping up the snow on the floor. This created a blizzard effect.
I figured that if I could do something to the angel we'd be able to flee. I began crawling slowly but steadily towards the angel. It was very difficult; I found it difficult enough as is was because of my sudden energy loss without the blizzard pushing against me. I finally arrived at the angel and I made an effort to push it over. It let off a screeching sound and an unexpected force blasted me backwards. I soon realised that the pushing approach wasn't going to work.
I examined the room closely. I soon noticed several pointy rocks and icicles that hung overhead the stone angel. I mustered as much energy as I could and I sent an array of spells towards the rocks. It smashed a few icicles but the rocks didn't budge.
"Cast some spells at those rocks overhead the angel," I shouted to the others over the wind. They all nodded and began sending spells at the rocks. I joined them. Sooner or later, all of the spells had their effect on the rocks and the angel was buried under a small landslide. Our energy returned, the winds stopped, and we were able to stand up. We approached the buried angel cautiously. I pulled some of the rocks off and we saw that the angel had been severely cracked by the landslide. The red in the angel's eyes were faltering but they were still there. I smashed the angel to pieces using Silverlight and my stone hammer.
We continued through the next entrance, slightly shaken after the encounter with the stone angel. We heard another cry of help from further in the cave. We appeared in a tunnel. It was a fairly long tunnel, and it was mostly empty. However, the floor was covered with a thick sheet of shiny ice. It was lucky that Osrie1, Capablanca and I already had skates because we received them last year. However, Amy11 didn't have any. The snow imps had the ability to skate across ice without skates. We all put our skates on, and I agreed to help Amy11 across the ice. She took my hand, and struggled not to slip while I skated gracefully across the ice. I laughed as she clung onto my arm like it was a lifeline.
Just as I was about to skate back onto dry land at the other end of the tunnel, something large, white and fluffy jumped onto my back. I collapsed onto the ice, bringing Amy11 down with me. I pushed my attacker onto the floor. It was a creature of some sort. The creature opened its mouth (revealing yellowing sharp teeth) and let out a roar. It jumped back onto me and sunk its teeth deep into my shoulder. I bellowed with pain and shook it off. It dug long claws into my leg, and I hissed. I kicked it and struck it with Silverlight. It continued attacking me, unfazed.
I hit it again and dark, thick blood spilled onto the ice. It let out another roar, but this roar wasn't as loud as its previous roars. The snow imps all jumped forward and hit the creature with their little swords. I cast a fire spell at the creature, severely hurting it. The creature was soon overpowered and it fell on the floor, dead.
"That creature is a very young yeti," the snow imp said sadly. "They can be ferocious at the worst of times, but it is the parents we must watch out for. If there are young yetis here then there must also be fully grown yetis here as well. Be careful."
We continued through the tunnel, arriving at yet another opening to another tunnel. We walked through this tunnel, staring around us nervously. We were half-expecting another yeti to jump from nowhere. We arrived at the end of this tunnel, but there was no opening. A wall stood in front of us. We inspected the area for openings. We found one, but it had been caved in and was unstable. Someone had obviously been through here before but had collapsed the hole they'd created.
"We're going to have to mine through this wall," one imp told us grimly. "We could easily blast it open with magic, but that would be foolish. It could kill us through two ways. It could cause a cave-in, or it could cause a lot of noise and could possibly wake up this adult yeti. So we need to mine through it." I nodded, and pulled out my pickaxe. Everybody followed suit, and the snow imps created makeshift pickaxes made form ice. We all began mining.
For me, it was fairly easy mining through the wall. I'd had a lot of experience in the dwarf mines and I contributed to destroying several segments of the wall. Sooner or later, we had a fairly large opening in the wall. We walked through, to be faced with a very short tunnel. It was very dark in this tunnel, and at the end there was another opening. We could hear strange, strange noises coming through this opening. These noises included hisses, yells, and clinking. We continued towards this opening, confused.
I found something white and fluffy lying on the floor. It was a young yeti! I approached it cautiously. I thought it was sleeping. I soon realised it wasn't breathing, and there was blood on it.
"Something's attacked this yeti," Capablanca whispered. We heard a roar come from the opening. "It looks like we'll find our attacker." We walked through the opening and, whatever we were expecting; we were not expecting what we saw.
...and that concludes part 1 of my Christmas special! Part 2 will be coming fairly soon.
This event is loosely based off Jagex's Christmas special, but I've made massive changes to plot, characters and context. I hope you enjoyed it regardless.
Involving the turkey's name, the name 'Gobbles' was submitted by an anonymous reviewer. I picked it because of the reasons pointed out in the story: simple, suitable, comical. I laughed at every single name, but this one seemed like the most logical one to pick.
I wish each and every one of you a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year! I will also be writing a New Year's Day special when the new year comes, and I'll talk some more about 2011 in that.
Until next time, toodles!