RuneScape Forum Archive | The Cult of Zamorak

Learth

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They ran into the castle as fast as they could, against a multitude of soldiers leaving to join the battle on the East wall. They tried to get their attention, but could not. When they finally made it inside, they went directly into the king’s chamber. “Wait, stop, you can’t go in there!” Shouted a guard.
“King Roald, there’s another army! They’re sending more fighters from the south!” Maximus said, collapsing with exhaustion under the weight of his newly donned chainmail.
The king looked alarmed and very out of balance. “Why are there boys in my chamber!” he shouted, “Have my guards put them in the civilian stronghold with the others.”
“But wait, sir, wait!” They tried to protest, but they were dragged out. The guards took them to an unknown room in the castle, full of noble families and their children.
“Trying to fight for the city too?” asked one of the boys, who looked like the son of a rich lord.
“Yeah.” Said Maximus, “They wouldn’t let you, either?”
“No. My father says that I’m too young. I’ve only begun my training as a squire. I tried to go meet the enemy, but they just found me and put me back here.”
“I don’t understand it. We live here, so we should be able to defend our home. Who cares if I’m just a boy? I can fight better than the guardsmen, and they know it!” Bweer fumed.
“I’m Ralex,” said the boy. “Ralex Ravitz.”
“I’m Maximus, and this is Bweer.”
“What are your surnames?” he asked
“We’re not nobility. We don’t have surnames,” answered Maximus, but to his astonishment, because Bweer never lied, he looked at the boy and said, “Hoch. I’m Bweer Hoch.”

19-Feb-2011 04:00:19 - Last edited on 21-Feb-2011 18:53:14 by Learth

Learth

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Fortunately for the palace, King Rolad had actually listened to Maximus’s warning. He had retained his personal guard, and summoned the Varrock Palace Secret Guard to him instead of sending them to the front lines, as he had planned to do shortly after his thoughts were interrupted.
There was an eruption outside, like a loud thunder strike, and the castle door was broken. The secret guard was well prepared for an assault from vampyres this time. They carried state-of-the-art silver flails to combat their bloodthirsty foes… unfortunately, this measure was completely unnecessary, because they died without ever seeing the vampyres.
The Zamorakian assault on the castle was led by General Para. He was fearsome to behold, covered from head to toe in ornamented dragon armor. He walked ahead of his warriors, followed by his faithful Zamorak Hawk, slashing his sword back and forth against the flesh of those defending the castle’s outer court. Among his fighters Learth was transformed and raging. The mere sight of her slithering skeletal form sent some guards running for their lives. Lightning lead the mages behind them, and the rangers were lead by Daeth, a Zamorakian master ranger and inventor of special weapons. The palace guards melted to the floor before them.

19-Feb-2011 17:03:36 - Last edited on 21-Feb-2011 18:55:14 by Learth

Learth

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The Varrock Palace Secret Guard quickly took command, changing tactics from vampire fighting to defence against a human army. They were still having diffuculty against a force with all three attack styles. When they prayed to be protected from Learth and Para’s melee combat attacks, Lightning and his mages would decimate them. They found the most success in praying to be protected from magic, because the majority of the advancing forces were using magic to attack large groups of soldiers at once. When the Zamorakians realized this, the mages receeded, and the hooded warriors in dragon armor took to the front lines with their leader in his majestic fullhelm. They broke into the inner chamber of the castle. The sight of them was enough to make Varrock’s bravest men lose heart, dying in the despair that the city would be completely destroyed.

The boys heard the smashing sounds coming ever closer. Everyone in the room was quiet, listening for some sign of who had the upper hand.
A mage in blue robes burst through the door of the civilian keep, "They've taken the ground floor. Everyone is being killed. We must evacuate."
Bweer looked around him. They were amidst only the elite of the city... none of the lower classes had been brought to safety. "I want to stay and fight." he said defiantly.
"You must not, my son." said the mage, who began teleporting the families away. Before he could protest, Bweer found himself in the town square of Falador, a refugee of a terrible defeat.

19-Feb-2011 22:39:35 - Last edited on 21-Feb-2011 19:26:36 by Learth

Learth

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The fall of King Rolad and his reign in Varrock was unceremonious. He took several spells and arrows to the chest and head from a distance, rendering him dead before many of his immediate guards. When they had killed everyone in the castle, General Para cut off the king’s head, and gave it to Vorlon. After that, he walked off without a word, back to a place where he could be alone. The warriors cheered as Vorlon sat on the throne of Varrock with the king’s severed head in his lap. He raised the head above his own, and addressed his army, “For Zamorak!”
“Wait a moment…” said Daeth to Nick, one of the other Zamorakians present at the victory, “Where are the Black Knights and the Demons?”
This question quickly spread across the crowd. It was the arrangement, after all, to meet with all of the Zamorakian forces in the castle after the defeat to decide what further actions they should take.
“They have been held back.” Said Lord Drakan, entering the great room of the castle, “And they will not be entering this city.”
“Why?” Vorlon stood up from the throne, “What’s happening?”
Drakan walked over to the throne purposefully and calmly, “I have captured them.”
“But they were working for us!” Vorlon shouted. “Why would you capture your own forces?”
“They were not working for me… and now, you are no longer working for me either... So I would advise you to get out of my city before I kill you all.”

19-Feb-2011 22:39:41 - Last edited on 21-Feb-2011 21:14:59 by Learth

Learth

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Vorlon’s face fell. His troops were not equipped to face the vyrewatch… they were supposed to be working with him! He felt like such a fool not to have suspected treachery.
There was only one thing that he could do at this point… “I concede to you today, Lord Drakan. But know this; you have performed an act of treachery that Zamorak will not look upon lightly.”
“I don’t expect him to look upon it lightly,” said Drakan. “But I don’t expect him to be able to do anything about it, either. You can’t kill me, so why bother trying? Your world is mine.”
Vorlon walked out of the palace, followed by the confused and angry Zamorakian soldiers. When they had walked to the northern edge of the city, one of the generals asked, “So… where will we go now?*
Vorlon looked pensive. Their primary hideout had been discovered by paladins, and the Zamorak Church was being watched by Drakan’s forces.
“I know a place,” said General Bob, “An ancient castle, not far from here. It’s abandoned, and very large… The only trouble is that it’s very cold. We’ll need the mages to find a way to heat it. Do you think you can do that, Lightning?” he asked.
“Once again, saved by the guy in the pointy hat,” Lightning said, though he was visibly very unhappy, and looked like he needed rest.

20-Feb-2011 04:38:52 - Last edited on 21-Feb-2011 22:35:06 by Learth

Learth

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While the Zamorakians were setting up their new headquarters, the Temple Knights in Falador were making plans to reclaim the lost capital of Misthalin for Sararadomin. They were having trouble with the plan, because they knew so little about the nature of the vampyres, their battle techniques, and how to defeat them. A small test attack was suggested, however some of the knights argued that this might outrage the vampyres and give them cause to attack Falador. Most of the knights agreed that Falador would be attacked soon, regardless of their actions.
As the knights debated, the boys trained. Unlike Roald of Varrock’s policy, the administration in Falador was not opposed to using fourteen-year-old boys in battle, as long as they were strong and of good character. The boys found the training demanding. The Falador trainers were making professional soldiers out of them, so this was not the normal guard training that Bweer was used to. In the little time the boys had to themselves, they were able to do as they pleased, and explore freely.
Ralex Ravitz soon became fast friends with Maximus and Bweer. Very few boys survived the Varrock Massacre, as they now called it, but Ralex introduced them to the ones he knew. Ralex had also been to Falador before, so he showed Maximus and Bweer around the city.

20-Feb-2011 04:38:59 - Last edited on 22-Feb-2011 01:15:26 by Learth

Learth

Posts: 376 Silver Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Their trainer, Sir Rheus Le Bour, had called them together for another round of whipping into shape. It seemed their training in the first few days in Falador was merely conditioning for what they were now beginning to learn. Maximus had somehow managed to avoid the lesson, but after an hour or so, Bweer and Ralex were sweating profusely.
“Thrust left, thrust right, parry the sword, and again!” Sir Rheus drilled. “I want to see twenty more before we move on to lateral lunges!”
Ralex leaned over to Bweer and whispered, “I want to save the town and all, but this training is murder.”
“Yeah, but if I don’t practice these techniques, I won’t be able to use them in time for the battle… and this is the need-to-know stuff that we’re learning right now,* said Bweer.
While Ralex wasn’t convinced that this was the need-to-know stuff, he patiently suffered his training. Maximus, on the other hand, was off on the town to find some adventure or other to assuage his boredom.In reality, he was seriously depressed. He couldn’t help but feel like somehow it was his fault that the boys were dead… and if it wasn’t for that priest, he would have been dead, too. His life felt empty without them. Although Bweer was alive, and he thought of him like a brother, Bweer did*’t look up to Maximus like the others did. They wouldn’t have gone to the graveyard if it wasn’t for him volunteering to go first. Was it his influence over them that lead them to their deaths?
The clean, prosperous atmosphere of Falador seemed to be mocking him. There were no back alleyways to run through and hide in. There were no dark, undiscovered basements for secret meetings. There weren’t any gangs, there was no crime, and the people liked to mostly mind their own business. Maximus was feeling guilty about the death of his friends, homesick for the Blue Moon, and afraid that he would die in the upcoming battle.

20-Feb-2011 04:39:06 - Last edited on 22-Feb-2011 01:30:22 by Learth

Learth

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When he returned to the castle after his long sulk, Sir Rheus was waiting for him. “Maximus. Why were you not in ranks today?”
“I wasn’t feeling well,” he said.
“You look just fine to me. What was wrong with you?”
“Alright, I’ll just say it. I skipped. Are you happy now?” He said, looking away from his trainer’s face.
“Squires of Falador do not *skip*,* said Sir Rheus, “Bring me the whip!” he said to an older boy.
***************
The vampyres were not all loyal to Drakan’s cause. Some of them thought that it was madness, and Zamorak would destroy them. Others were jealous of Drakan’s power, and wished to overthrow him. For varying reasons, some vyrewatch who were stubbornly opposed to betraying Zamorak’s troops across the salve were imprisoned in Drakan’s dungeon. One such vyrewatch, Averthil Worwinu, managed to escape from the subterranean prison of Drakan’s castle. He was weakened, and it took him several days to locate the new Zamorakian headquarters. When he arrived, he received a welcome that was far from warm.
“Come no further!” the Zamorakian sentry ordered. “Put your weapon down, and step away from it. Now lie down on the ground. Cross your hands and wings behind your back.”
He complied with the orders, lyinf face first in the fresh snow. A team of six went out to search him. They bound him in silver chains, and brought him before Lord Vorlon.

20-Feb-2011 04:39:13 - Last edited on 22-Feb-2011 21:03:37 by Learth

Learth

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“Why have you come here?” The cult*s leader snapped at him, still embittered by Drakan’s betrayal.
“I have information that may help you defeat Drakan and his army,” said Averthil.
Vorlon looked at him in the eyes, *What do you expect to gain by giving us this information?”
“In Drakan’s ranks I am but a lowly footsoldier, one of many Vyrewatch who are stronger and more capable than I,” he replied, “But in Zamorak’s army, I can turn the tide. I make a difference to you, I make no difference to them, and so to Zamorak I have value. I hope to perhaps gain a little reputation for my efforts, and some land of my own, so that I may join the aristocracy.”
“Give us the information you have,” said Vorlon, “And we will decide afterwards whether to release you or torture you.”
“Can you not see how weak I am?” Averthil asked, “You would have no trouble killing me now, even without blessed silver. Drakan has deprived me and those vampyres loyal to Zamorak of our source of invulnerability. He has imprisoned us in his dungeon. I bring a message from the prisoners: they will fight Drakan with you if you free them, and we will show you our secret source of power.”
“I see that you are indeed severely weakened… but how what has caused this?” Vorlon asked. “How do I know that you are not luring us into another trap?”
“The invulnerability of the vyrewatch is a simple matter of chemical reaction,” Averthil said matter-of-factly. “There is a chemical called Daeyalt which forms a natural bond with vampyre DNA. The bond only lasts for a week or so before it decays. We have found a rich deposit of this mineral in Morytania, and Drakan has been forcing slaves to mine it for us.
In short,” he said, “An attack on Drakan’s castle would be beneficial to you as well as to my imprisoned comrades. If you cut off Drakan’s supply of this mineral, he would be almost as vulnerable as any normal vampire.“

20-Feb-2011 04:39:21 - Last edited on 22-Feb-2011 21:19:33 by Learth

Learth

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"You ask for proof that I am telling the truth. You may not consider this example proof, but it does support what I say. Lord Drakan’s brother, Count Draynor, was recently killed at the hands of a human adventurer. He was of Drakan’s same blood, and was once as strong as Drakan is today, but his vulnerability was due to a lack of Daeyalt to sustain him. A strike through the heart was all that was needed to end his life.”
Lady Manasi walked up to Averthil, “You say that you are loyal to Zamorak?” she asked.
“Yes, but only because I am loyal to my own ambitions. I think Zamorak is stronger than Lord Drakan, so I will follow him,” Averthil looked shocked as he said this. *What kind of magic was that?” he asked “Those were not the words I would have used. What are you doing to my mind?”
Manasi merely continued questioning him, but looked satisfied as she did so, “Is what you say true about the weakness of the enemy?”
“Yes. It is the secret of initiation, only given to privileged vampyres, until today when I revealed it to you.”
“And … if we free your fellow dissenters, they will help us fight Drakan?”
“I don’t know,” Said Averthil, looking very surprised and frustrated with himself. “I would in their place, but I really cannot say what they will do once they are freed.”
“Is there anything else that you are hiding from us?” she asked.
“I am ...” he seemed to be fighting something back, “I am afraid. I’m afraid of you all, and I’m afraid that I am going to die. I’ve never been close to death before. I need the Daeyalt to bond with my DNA again, or I will surely perish. Don’t let me die!”
“Thank you Averthil,” she said sweetly, “You have been very helpful.”

20-Feb-2011 04:39:29 - Last edited on 23-Feb-2011 02:03:56 by Learth

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