Dwayne looked around the muddy rocks and under a large boulder he saw an old skull. Ah, this must be the skull, Dwayne thought. Dwayne kneeled down to pick up the skull from under the boulder. As soon as Dwayne touched the skull, he heard a disturbance nearby coming from the ground, but didn't think much of it; Dwayne picked up the skull and put it in his backpack.
The noise from the ground became louder and Dwayne turned around to face an animated skeleton rising up from the ground! "What the ... !" Before Dwayne was able to finish that sentence the animated skeleton put its boney fingers together and white glow came from them as it quickly turned into a swirling white ball and the skeleton cast it at Dwayne, Dwayne wasn't quick enough and was caught off-guard as the white swirling ball hit him right in the ironclad chest. A skeleton using magic?! Dwayne recoiled in pain from the blast.
Dwayne raised his iron kiteshield and ran towards the animated skeleton, and was hit again, but this time he was able to shield most of the damage from the animated monstrosity. Dwayne took a large swipe with his iron longsword at the skeleton, and heard as its bones broke and shattered as his iron longsword slashed easily through the skeletons frame. The animated skeleton made a groan-like sound and with another swipe at its frame the skeleton collapsed into a pile of bones.
Dwayne collected himself and ate a sardine for health from his backpack and went back to the Lumbridge graveyard.
Dwayne put the skull into the sepulcher and closed the lid again. The ghost appeared again, seemingly more whole than before and with more recognizable features. "Thank you, adventurer. I am finally able to resst noow, noow that my remains are made whoole again." Dwayne felt a warm, comforting presence from the ghost as it faded away.
To Dwayne's surprise 5 very ancient looking bones appeared in his backpack and he felt a stronger connection to the divine. A reward? Dwayne thought.
Dwayne went to see Father Aereck in Lumbridge church and tell about his encounter with the animated skeleton and the - former - restless ghost. "Father Aereck!" Dwayne shouted when he saw Father Aereck, but he put his index finger to his mouth and said: "shhhh, you're in a church, remember, child?" "Oh, sorry about that." Dwayne had a stupid smile on his face, "I put the restless ghost to, err, rest, and I fought a skeleton using magic!" Dwayne couldn't help but shout the last words. "SSSSHHHHhhhh", Father Aereck said again. "I also got these 5 ancient bones as a reward, I think, for putting the ghost to rest." Dwayne pondered.
"Ahhh, let me tell you about prayer." Father Aereck said with a smile, "you see, we mortals are granted the ability to pray for protection and in service to our lord Saradomin will grant more powerful prayers and protection against the lands evil." Father Aereck smiled and looked upwards. "uhhh, what?" Dwayne said puzzled, "what does that mean, exactly?" Dwayne was thinking of asking Phileas. "Well, the short of the long story is that you can pray for protections and as long as you have the prayer strength to do so, your wish will be granted ... I see you're skeptic." Father Aereck said insistingly, "I sense that you can now only pray for better melee protection by granting you thicker skin, but as you put more of your foes to rest, your bond with the divine will strengthen and you will be able to be granted more prayer wishes." Father Aereck insisted. "How do I 'put my foes to rest' then?" Dwayne asked. "Oh, you just bury their bones." Father Aereck started to become impatient, "and pray at an altar to restore your faith and prayer strength."
"This is a lot to take in at once, but I will try to use prayers and bury bones." Dwayne was a bit disillusioned at all this info.
Dwayne went outside and buried the 5 ancient bones. Each bone must've been off some powerful creature or warrior, as Dwayne felt a stronger connection with the divine, and sensed that he now could pray for not only more durable skin but 7 more prayers; including praying for better protection.
Dwayne felt now could pray for more strength in combat, better precision with melee, sharp eye to better aim with ranged, unstoppable force so he could use ranged better, divine mystic will to better focus magic, magic will to increase magic damage and lastly rock skin to increase his defenses.
"Woah!" Dwayne exclaimed. This prayer stuff will certainly come in handy in combat, Dwayne thought. Dwayne felt more brave, brave enough to check out the strange hands coming from the ground in Lumbridge swamp.
Dwayne, with his head filled to the brim with thoughts of his new tricks up his sleeve, ventured south of the Lumbridge graveyard towards the hands coming up from the ground in the swamp.
A well-endowed woman wearing a white, orange trimmed and green outfit stood near the hands coming from the ground, and Dwayne could see 4 strange pillars circled around the hands. What is going on here, Dwayne thought.
Dwayne stopped and stared at all the hands waving about from the ground, they didn't seem to do much other than wave slightly, not as a hello, but more as a branch of a tree would in the wind.
The well-endowed woman noticed Dwayne staring at the hands "Adventurer?" she said and made a beckoning movement with her well-clothed right hand, as to beckon him to herself. She must be involved somehow into these strange hands, Dwayne thought and started walking towards her, passing the hands.
"Look out!" One of the hand made a slow, but steady swipe at Dwayne's head as he passed by, but thanks to this well-endowed woman he reacted quickly and dodged the swipe and evident headshake as the hand made a fist that was unable to grab him. "Woah, by Guthix' beard!" Dwayne shouted as he recollected himself from the swipe and made a little joust towards the well-endowed woman.
"You have to be careful against the Grotesque, adventurer." She said with an attentive voice. "What are these things, ... these hands?" Dwayne asked. "These hands are an intermediate form of the Grotesque. Let me introduce myself, I'm Ysondria, druid by training and a follower of Guthix' teachings." She bowed as she introduced herself, Dwayne peeked at her large chest and felt his cheeks blush a bit behind the iron fullhelm. "Thanks, I'm Dwayne, from Ashdale."
"These 4 pillars surround the Nexus. They catch the corruption that the Grotesque seeps unto the ground; the corruption from the Grotesque is what made this swamp." Ysondria explained. "uh-huh." Dwayne was curious as he nodded. "So these pillars ..., how do they work then?" Dwayne asked. "Here, take this charmed sack." Ysondria presented a gray and brown sack, "you can collect the corruption from the Grotesque and use it against itself with this charmed sack." Ysondria handed Dwayne the sack, Dwayne looked at the sack a tad puzzled and asked: "How do I collect it then? I mean, how do I collect 'corruption' from the ... Grotesque?" "With faith. Just hold the pouch against the orange cloud, which is that corruption itself, and the sack will be filled with the corruption, it will hold 15 charges." Ysondria explained, "and then you use that collected corruption on any of the pillars bowls to use the Grotesque's corruption against itself!"
Dwayne looked at this 'Grotesque' and pondered Ysondria's words, the hands were still waving about silently. Dwayne looked at the North pillar, there were 4 bowls attached to it, each differently coloured; yellow, brown, dark blue and pale blue. Dwayne looked at the other 3 pillars, they too, had 4 bowls each. 16 bowls ..., Dwayne thought.
Dwayne clenched the charmed sack between his right hand and walked slowly to the 'Grotesque', the waving hands from the ground waved about silently. Dwayne felt a tad nervous as he remembered the swipe from one of the hands, but he was stalwart and went into range of the orange cloud and opened the sack.
None of the hands reacted to his presence while he held the sack. Dwayne could feel how his faith was slowly enriched; hmm, so this is how my faith is strengthened fighting the Grotesque, Dwayne thought. After 15 charges of the corruption had filled the sack, Dwayne ran to the North pillar and poured the sacks contents into the dark blue bowl and his faith was enriched.