RuneScape Forum Archive | ^+^ Onslaught ^+^

Dec

2005

A Mad Hatter

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Aiden and Caden charged towards the source of the noise with their weapons ready to strike. A white clad figure appeared, and it took them a second to realize that Hound was standing before them. However, they swung too soon, and so they accidentally attacked the Temple Knight.

Hound reacted swiftly. He managed to grab Caden’s sword by the blade and wrench it safely out of his grasp, and then he turned to face Aiden. The young swordsman faltered in midswing, which was the opening Hound needed to make a swift gesture with his free hand. A small wave of pure force slammed into Aiden, sending him safely to the ground while disarming him in the process. Aiden groaned as he struggled to his feet, but the pain of the fall faded away rather quickly.

“Thank the gods we found you,” Caden said.

Hound grunted. “I’d rather wait for that. That wererat I was sent in to fight managed to get away.”

“What happened?” Aiden asked. “And do you know why there’s a massive stone man outside trying to pull this place apart?”

“All I remember was the rat somehow using a bomb to destroy the altar in our chapel,” Hound replied. “Unfortunately, the thing was clever and knew that the altar was an artifact holding part of the divine enchantment around this castle in place. I lost consciousness from the blast long enough for it to get away, but when I woke up I realized the roof was gone, the enchantment was fading a little, and on top of that…well…you saw the thing outside for yourself.”

“Well crap,” Caden said. “That puts a bit of a damper on things.”

“No kidding,” Hound said. “But luckily for us, at least one more artifact still lives. If we can activate just the one, we have a better chance of banishing that damn golem outside.”

“But will it work?” Aiden asked.

^+^ Antediluvian of the Draculesti Bloodline ^+^

^+^ If the Gods see fit to curse us with the Blood, then we shall raise ourselves above them ^+^

02-Oct-2013 03:12:58

Dec

2005

A Mad Hatter

Forum Moderator Posts: 9,861 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

“No clue,” Hound said truthfully. “I believe that the creature is a Draug. A death elemental of sorts that appears during big battles where many died. A few souls of the dead…maybe ten or so…are usually enough to create a smaller version of it, but I think this one appeared because the Raven Knights and their goblins are adding to the body count enough to corrupt the creation process.”

“So if it’s a death elemental, we might be able to pray it away? I’m not certain I follow the logic there,” Aiden said.

Hound began walking back the way he came. Aiden and Caden followed. “No prayer is involved with the damn artifacts,” he said. “We just have to hit it with a charge of divine power to get it working if it’s off. But I’m no priest, so I can’t tell if it’s still active or just sleeping, but I do know that a single burst of pure faith will be enough to activate its power.”

“But if it’s already on what makes you think it’ll help?” Caden asked.

“Nothing at all,” Hound shrugged. “Way I’m seeing this, if it’s off, the power it gives out when it turns back on might help control the creature, or at least diminish it. If it’s on, that might be the only thing keeping it from going and walking all over us. So a little more divinity can’t hurt at this rate, no?*

The trio reached a set of stairs, and climbed it to find themselves on what remained of the rooftop of the northern part of the castle. The view was both spectacular and devastating at once. For starters, it appeared that the bridge crossing over the moat around the castle was gone. Not broken, falling apart, of withdrawn, but just plain gone.

They only had to look at the rapidly growing Draug to see what had become of the bridge’s remains, and the sight wasn’t one to inspire hope. The creature had now taken on another hand and linked it to its primary, albeit unstable, body.

^+^ Antediluvian of the Draculesti Bloodline ^+^

^+^ If the Gods see fit to curse us with the Blood, then we shall raise ourselves above them ^+^

02-Oct-2013 03:14:15

Dec

2005

A Mad Hatter

Forum Moderator Posts: 9,861 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

What was more; it seemed as if the White Knights were all but dead by now. All that remained of the human defenders was a small cluster near the base of the creature, which was surprisingly stable despite the turmoil which plagued the earth around them. A faint aura surrounded the cluster, though none of them knew if it was a magical shield, a prayer to the gods, or something else entirely, but whatever it was, it did*’t hide the fact that their comrades’ bodies were strewn about the battlefield alongside the empty armors of their vampyric foes.

“Ah, no,* Hound whispered to himself distantly as he surveyed the destruction the unnatural beast had caused.

“It’s pretty bad isn’t it?” Caden remarked.

“I’m not worried about the destruction,” Hound said. “Look at the Draug’s chest.”
Caden and Aiden walked over to the edge of the roof and squinted. They could barely make out a few humanoid forms with black feathered wings darting to and fro around the creature’s chest, and they seemed to be carrying a small speck of red with them.

“I’m not getting what the problem is,” Aiden said. “It’s a big monster, but it threatens the Raven Knights too apparently.”

“No, not that,” Hound snapped. “Their cargo. Can’t you see him from here?”
“Nope,” the swordbrothers said in unison.

“Figured,” Hound snorted in derision. “Listen carefully. There’s a small box by the far end of the wall over there with the last divine artifact in it. Keep it safe, but make sure you try invoking every prayer you know in the meantime.”

“And what do you plan on doing?” Caden remarked.

“I’m going to try and prevent the Raven Knights from getting us all killed,” was Hound’s answer.

^+^ Antediluvian of the Draculesti Bloodline ^+^

^+^ If the Gods see fit to curse us with the Blood, then we shall raise ourselves above them ^+^

02-Oct-2013 03:14:40

Dec

2005

A Mad Hatter

Forum Moderator Posts: 9,861 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

“How are they going to…” Aiden started to ask before Hound jumped off of the rooftop.

“I….wait, did he just do that?!” Caden asked in disbelief.

“Yeah, he did,” Aiden replied. “And now I just saw him…disappear. Or run so fast I lost track of him. I’m not sure which.”

Caden scanned the battlefield, but to no avail. Wherever Hound was, he was surely lost in the chaos below, and he wasn’t near the only stable part of the battleground from what he could see. For all intents and purposes, it looked as if they were on their own for the time being, and for some reason that thought filled Caden with a sense of unease.

If it was any other day he had to watch over a box containing a holy artifact, he might have brushed the feeling off as nerves or maybe a bad stomach ache after one too many sweets. But unfortunately for him, this was a siege, and one with supernatural creatures among the invader’s ranks at that, and so he felt it was only a matter of time before they had to fight a vampyre or something else that may or may not have vastly superior strength against them at this point.

Aiden walked over to the opposite end of their vantage point and knelt to the ground. He saw that a small nondescript wooden box sat wedged into a nook carved out by what had to have been an expert craftsman, if the small perfect hole that housed the box was anything to go by. He nearly missed it and would have thought it was simply a part of the stonework if it wasn’t for Hound telling them about the box, though he wished the knight had told them it would be near the edge overlooking the bridge leading into the castle proper.

^+^ Antediluvian of the Draculesti Bloodline ^+^

^+^ If the Gods see fit to curse us with the Blood, then we shall raise ourselves above them ^+^

02-Oct-2013 03:14:59

Dec

2005

A Mad Hatter

Forum Moderator Posts: 9,861 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

The sight below wasn’t pretty. The bridge lay severely damaged to the point where it might as well not exist at all, with only a small handful of bits poking out from the water below to support the few dry corpses of defeated humans and goblins in both civilian and battle gear, while an even smaller portion of it close to the bank leading into Falador was left standing guard over the bodies unfortunate enough to have been left sitting in the reddening water, or worse, dragged to shore by some of the more aquatic monsters among the invading forces and half eaten and chewed on.

Aiden forced himself to push the sights to the back of his mind and instead focused his attention onto the wooden box. It flipped open effortlessly, and inside of it laid a silver pendant shaped into the star of Saradomin. He carefully picked it up with both hands, letting the silver gleam in the muted sunlight which was rapidly beginning to cower behind a mass of clouds overhead as if it was afraid to even peek at the divinity housed in the artifact.

“Hey, that looks similar to the thing I found earlier!” Caden gasped as he hovered behind Aiden to get a better look at their charge. He fumbled under his armor and pulled out a circular disk made from what appeared to have been a similar silver medal, but the red gems embedded around the center of the jewelry gave it a more sinister bent compared to the pure silver that was…whatever the name of the holy artifact was.

“It sort of does,” Aiden admitted, inspecting the object closer. He noticed that despite its simplistic design, the amulet held four diamond shaped crevices in its points, and one of them was filled with a blue gem that might have been a perfectly cut sapphire, though he couldn’t have been sure since he was no expert on minerals.

^+^ Antediluvian of the Draculesti Bloodline ^+^

^+^ If the Gods see fit to curse us with the Blood, then we shall raise ourselves above them ^+^

02-Oct-2013 03:15:19

Dec

2005

A Mad Hatter

Forum Moderator Posts: 9,861 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

“If I did*’t know any better, I’d say these things might be related,” Caden added. “Look,” he said as he held his own amulet next to the Saradominist artifact. *See the gems? They’re both cut the same way, and the holes are the same size.*

*It just might mean they have the same maker though,” Aiden admitted. “It’s not like artisan’s refuse to work on their own or anything.”

“I know, but it’s a bit odd, don’t you think?” Caden asked.

“How so?”

“Well, when I first found this thing, I managed to fight one of those big black knight guardian things that cornered me in the city. During the fight, I…must have gotten some strength or some sort of magical power thrown into my weapon, because the next thing I know I felt a little angry and managed to pulverize the thing into a heap of scrap metal,” Caden said.

“Just where the hell did you find that thing?” Aiden asked suspiciously. Something wasn’t right. Caden was known for the occasional burst of strength, but to fight off a monstrosity that managed to nearly kill them the last time they fought it in the same day like that? It just wasn’t right, especially in their current situation. Then again, this was the same guy who managed to turn a few pieces of furniture into deadly anti-vampyre weapons earlier too, and he survived a nasty blow to the arm from an Ogre. Was it just pure luck, or did his amulet really have some sort of magical properties?

“I…found it laying around,” Caden said while he looked around absentmindedly. “It was on a desk in the bank, and I grabbed it in a moment of desperation. Everything after that was a blur because it happened so fast.”

^+^ Antediluvian of the Draculesti Bloodline ^+^

^+^ If the Gods see fit to curse us with the Blood, then we shall raise ourselves above them ^+^

02-Oct-2013 03:16:29

Dec

2005

A Mad Hatter

Forum Moderator Posts: 9,861 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

“Alright, let’s go with that,” Aiden said. “So let’s say you’re right and these things are related. If your thing gives you extra strength, what does this do?”

“Uhhh,” Caden started. Whatever he was about to say was cut short as their end of the castle started to rumble suddenly and violently.

Aiden quickly put the holy artifact around his neck and tucked it beneath his armor. He figured it might have been a safer place at the moment, and it was better than just leaving the thing in a box. He grabbed his weapon and looked Caden, who could barely manage to lift his own weapon with both hands. Thinking quickly, he grabbed his swordbrother and tried ushering him back down the stairs leading into the castle.
But the castle seemed to have other plans. The sound of splashing water pierced the air as bits of the broken bridge floated up into the air, and Caden said something that was hard to hear over the roar of stone ripping from its own mortar as the Draug took the remaining part of the castle’s north end and managed to sculpt it into a deformed hand.

Aiden swore an oath to Guthix as he drove his sword into the stone. The world flipped around violently as the creature born of war got its bearings and brought its ‘hand’ to its side. It was a small miracle that Aiden kept his hold on his makeshift handhold during the sudden transition, and it took him but a moment to reorient his sense of direction and figure out he was literally one misstep from falling to a long, painful end.

He looked up, and was a bit dismayed to see that Caden was gone, but that feeling passed briefly after he looked back down and saw that the adventurer had apparently reacted the same way as he did, if at a bit slower pace because of the wound inflicted by the Ogre.

^+^ Antediluvian of the Draculesti Bloodline ^+^

^+^ If the Gods see fit to curse us with the Blood, then we shall raise ourselves above them ^+^

02-Oct-2013 03:17:03

Dec

2005

A Mad Hatter

Forum Moderator Posts: 9,861 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Aiden steeled his nerves, and began to search for any viable nooks or crannies to use as footholds. He was moderately successful, but they were too far up to be of any immediate use to him. On the other hand, he did notice that several slightly outcropping stones and bricks weren’t too far to his right, and beyond the debris were many deep gashes that seemed to be more reliable in their stability.

It was then that he had formed a plan. He braced one last look down to his friend, and found that Caden, despite his injuries, had managed to start working his way around the base of a ‘finger’ and inching slowly upwards. Confident that the swordsman would be alright, Aiden managed to rip his sword loose from the stone debris that passed as the creature’s skin and push himself toward the nearest stone which was poking out. The stone crumbled under the sudden pressure of the human adventurer, but Aiden managed to drive the sword into the small hole it left in its wake just in time to prevent falling to the battlefield below.

He repeated the process five more times until he reached the grooves he had spied from his previous perch, and he sighed in exhausted relief as he found out that grooves had actually opened up into small walkways where he had ample room to at least pull himself up into a crouched position. From there, he had seen White Knights locked in combat against the invading Raven Knights on the ground, and they were slowly losing their advantage in numbers as the unnatural warriors began casting some sort of spell that caused patches of reality to waver and darken to release flurries of bats and crows and other ghastly creatures that simply had no place in the daylight of Saradomin’s city.

^+^ Antediluvian of the Draculesti Bloodline ^+^

^+^ If the Gods see fit to curse us with the Blood, then we shall raise ourselves above them ^+^

02-Oct-2013 03:17:21

Dec

2005

A Mad Hatter

Forum Moderator Posts: 9,861 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

The summoned beings quickly turned what remained of the defenders into twisted, bloody strips of metal and meat before dissipating, but the Raven Knights in turn were soon sucked into the air as the earth beneath them picked itself up of its own accord and flew towards the Draug’s legs. Most of the undead did*’t manage to shift into mist form as the ground smothered them into the creature, though he spied a few wisps of smoke escape before the impact before disappearing into the light.

Suddenly, he saw a small group of White Knights hustle outside on the ramparts in a square formation, and they held bows adorned with blue and gold in their hands with a shining quiver at each of their backs filled to the brim with what had to have been blessed arrows. The archers turned to face the Draug and knocked arrows to their weapons in perfect unison. A deep bark commanded the archers to fire, and all Aiden could see was a wave of pure light streak toward the creature.

Whatever magic had filled the arrows must have worked, because the creature wailed in pain, and all of a sudden Aiden’s view shifted violently once more as the Draug raised its hands to what he had to guess was its chest. However, this time Aiden wasn’t quick enough in driving his sword into the earthy skin of the creature, and began to fall out of his hiding spot. He passed Caden, who had managed to crawl up to the thing’s palm. Caden saw him, but could do nothing but scream something he could barely hear because of the injured arm.

^+^ Antediluvian of the Draculesti Bloodline ^+^

^+^ If the Gods see fit to curse us with the Blood, then we shall raise ourselves above them ^+^

02-Oct-2013 03:17:39

Dec

2005

A Mad Hatter

Forum Moderator Posts: 9,861 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

“The chest!” He thought Caden said. “Look below and stick the sword in the rocks!”
Aiden decided that sounded right, and tried to position his weapon just right. He couldn’t move his body as he fell, so all he could do was pray that something, anything, would be close enough for him to stick the weapon into.

But there wasn’t. The closest he ever got was scraping the tip of the sword against thick bedrock, which caused him to lose his weapon entirely as it jerked out of his hand and became lost in the debris flying into the Draug’s body.

All seemed lost until he felt the sensation of rotting flesh gripping his arm, and the sight of red cloth staring him right in the face in a twisted form of amusement.

“You look lost,” the red garbed stranger said. “You’re obviously not with the Vampyres or the Saradominists.”

“Y-yeah,” Aiden spat. “No duh. Now can you help me find something to grab onto before I fall?”

“What’s in it for me?” the stranger asked suspiciously.

“We’ll figure that out later,” Aiden said. “Seriously, in case you haven’t noticed, we’re on a freaking monster created from war right now. So let’s take this one step at a time, ok?”

The stranger did*’t respond, though Aiden felt that the…what was it anyway? It looked human, possibly even male since he did*’t see its clothing hugging any feminine curves. But it was also unnaturally different somehow, and he couldn’t quite put his finger on it at the time. Nevertheless, he felt that the stranger was sizing up his potential for some reason, and that thought made his skin crawl of its own accord.

^+^ Antediluvian of the Draculesti Bloodline ^+^

^+^ If the Gods see fit to curse us with the Blood, then we shall raise ourselves above them ^+^

02-Oct-2013 03:18:29

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