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Zaibatsu 0

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I decided that I would pay them a little visit in the morning, the more I thought about it, the more probable it appeared to me that they were behind this. The only thing that remained unclear was a motive.

I reached the house and opened the front door, and knew instantly that something was wrong. The assassins had been hog tied. There were three of them, all lined up near the fireplace, yet there was no sign of the others. I quickly walked towards the kitchen, a couple of broken plates littered the floor, but no people.
I ran upstairs, the signs of Justin's fight very clear, broken furniture and some various ornaments smashed to pieces, but again no one was there.
I frowned, once again a flood of thoughts bearing down upon me. I walked downstairs and called out.
"Rose? Justin? Anyone here?"
What in the name of Guthix is going on? I walked outside into the garden, and again no one greeted me. This was just getting weird now, where could they have gone? I re-entered the house and approached one of the assassins. I pulled the gag out of his mouth. He looked at me like he was looking into the face of death itself.
"What happened? Where are the others?" I asked him.
"They, they just, disappeared!"
I frowned again. Could they have teleported? But to what end?
The assassin began to shake, and I crouched beside him.
"What's up with you?"
He started to shake even more violently, and spit began to froth at the side of his mouth.
"Help me!" he gurgled, his spasms now becoming so bad that the bonds that tied him strained, and began to cut into his wrists.
"Graghhughhhh!" he screamed, snapping the hardy ropes that had kept him down. I was at my feet now, shocked at what was happening, what madness was this??

08-Feb-2007 15:00:49 - Last edited on 08-Feb-2007 15:02:05 by Zaibatsu 0

Zaibatsu 0

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In an instant he stopped, and lay limply on the ground. I quickly checked his pulse, it was racing far faster than it should of been, this wasn't good. I flipped him over to open up his air pipe, but to no avail, his side of his throat suddenly torn open and blood spurted freely out the wound.

"What the hell is going on here??" I shouted, backing away from quickly.
He finally came to rest, blood freely pouring from his neck. He was obviously dead, but what caused that spasm? It was so sudden and shocking, almost as shocking as the voice that spoke out behind me.
"You have become a hindrance, adventurer."
I span round and drew my blade in an instant, adopting a defensive position.
A man stood in the doorway to the house. He was an old man, probably in his eighties. He was wearing a set of very dark red robes, with a golden trim. A dark hood obscured most of his face, I couldn't quite see it all.
"Who the hell are you?" I demanded.
"Be silent, peasant. You and your little friends have become an annoyance to me and my organization. I am here to offer you a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I suggest that you take it. Your friend's lives may depend on it."
"You...are you The Protagonist?"
A crooked smile crept across his face. He had rotten, brown teeth, I felt disgusted.
"I have been called lots of things in my time. Protagonist is but one of many names for me, my actual name is Tuoni."
I decided to try out a little something on this horrid old man.
"And what of your age? It is said that you are very old."
The smile remained, perfect. I was working out how to speak to him without him becoming agitated, to get him to lower his guard. It seemed that asking questions in a respectful way allowed him to stroke his ego. No matter how secret his organization is, I was willing to bet he loved talking about it.

08-Feb-2007 15:00:50 - Last edited on 08-Feb-2007 15:02:40 by Zaibatsu 0

Zaibatsu 0

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"I have been part of this world for over a millennium," he sneered at me. "I serve a purpose that you could never fathom, and I have always carried it out with perfection. That is, until now, when you and your idiotic buddies took it upon yourselves to destroy one of my Listeners, two of my generals and a score of juves. That was becoming one of my most illustrious barracks, and you destroyed it!"

He said the last part of this with a sputter, and he brought out a small cloth and coughed into it. Not in the best of health by the looks of things.
"Jonathon captured me, my involvement was pure coincidence. If he had let me go, and assured his sister that he was fine with being within your cult, I would never had even seen your barracks. The same applies with Lydia and Justin."
"No!! You should be dead! You should have been killed like the peasant you are!" again he was sputtering, and again he brought the cloth up to his mouth to cough up whatever horrid phlegm was troubling him.
He suddenly lifted his left hand and clenched his fist. In the same instant I felt my neck stiffen, and air escape me. I grasped my throat, desperately struggling for air.
"Human scum like you deserve death. In your puerile naivety do you actually think I'm here just to kill monsters? The Veritus Vos Liberit have systematically carried out a single purpose throughout history, to purge the planet of the God followers, the humans, the wretched and ignorant amoeba that infest the world, MY world!"
I was now feeling faint, the last of my oxygen being used, I was desperate for options, I could no longer move my legs either. Tuoni was seemingly a master of dark arts, restriction of movement and strangulation being some of the basics. I looked around for something, anything that would help. My eyes finally caught sight of something, but they were out of reach. I then realised I had a couple of runes in my pocket from earlier, a Law and three Airs.

08-Feb-2007 15:00:51 - Last edited on 08-Feb-2007 15:03:02 by Zaibatsu 0

Zaibatsu 0

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I praised Saradomin that Runes were so small, they all fit into my palm. The second they reached my hand I allowed my thoughts to be consumed by fire, and a torrent of red heat flew from my fingertips.

They smashed into Tuoni, and his grip was released. As he staggered back my legs became of use again, and I charged towards him, my blade glimmering in the embers that enveloped my opponent.
"Ignorant fool," I heard him say as I brought my blade down. With a solid thud it landed, and the vibrations shook into my hands. Unfortunately for me it was the ground that had been struck, and Tuoni was gone. He must have teleported out.
I heard a clatter from behind, and I turned to see the others, all standing around looking very bemused. The only difference was that Yamabushi was also there, albeit with a small dagger embedded into his left side.
He fell to one knee as the others tried to gather what was happening.
Justin spoke first, "what the hell just happened??"
I sheathed my sword and closed the front door.
"We just had a little visit from an old friend." I answered.

Two hours had passed since the events occurred. Yamabushi had filled us in on what had happened since his departure.
He had traveled to where the Protagonist, or Tuoni, resided, and tried to convince him that he had managed to kill us all, and that the barracks secrets were safe. We knew that Tuoni would not be happy about the loss of his minions, but that was something Yamabushi went prepared for.
Unfortunately, Tuoni had seen right through Yamabushi’s deception, and had attacked him whilst he slept. He used a poisoned runite dagger, which was crude considering his powerful magicks. Yamabushi said that this was simply a statement, he wanted him to survive, at least for a while, so he could execute a plan.

08-Feb-2007 15:00:52 - Last edited on 08-Feb-2007 15:03:25 by Zaibatsu 0

Zaibatsu 0

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The plan was simple, get HAM to hire a group of assassins to kill us. Using HAM would limit the lines of enquiry back to Tuoni, so he would remain in the clear, with no evidence towards him. What Tuoni didn’t bargain for was for us to handle the assassins like we did. He was watching us all the while, inside the teleportation matrix. He also transported the others there whilst I was at the bank, so he could ‘make me an offer.’
I didn’t get to hear what this offer was though, I had infuriated him by challenging his authority. Apparently, Tuoni has limited power, he used a lot keeping five people, and himself inside the matrix. He also used some killing one of the assassins. When he finally came round to me, he was weak, and could have been handled a little more easily, which was most fortunate for me.

We had removed the dagger from Yamabushi, and Lydia was tending to his wound and the poison within him.
Justin and Rose were upstairs tidying up, and Kzahar had carried the remaining two assassins off somewhere. He said that he would ‘dispose’ of them. Kzahar certainly was a dark horse sometimes, but I decided not to ask any questions, he seemed like he was capable of getting rid of people on his own.

08-Feb-2007 15:00:52 - Last edited on 08-Feb-2007 15:03:35 by Zaibatsu 0

Zaibatsu 0

Posts: 2,895 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Yamabushi was sitting on the floor, with Lydia crouched at his side applying a green mush to his wound. His eyes were closed, he must had been meditating, something he done a lot.
“How is he?” I asked Lydia.
She looked up at me. “He’ll be fine. This wound is very deep, but with time it’ll be as good as new. As far as I can tell no internal organs were damaged.”
Yamabushi’s eyes suddenly opened, “I have more to tell you all,” he said solemnly. He wasn’t the most cheerful of people anyway, but something was on his mind.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Tuoni revealed to me the very basis of the Veritus Vos Liberit. We are all in grave danger, and there is little we can do about it.”
“Go on,” I prompted, now very curious indeed.
“As Tuoni told you, he is here to serve a single purpose. What he didn’t tell you was that exact purpose. He is part of a race of creatures that existed on this planet thousands of years ago, before the Gods even existed. It is said that the Gods created this planet, each giving their own personal attributes towards it. Saradomin represents everything good on this world, Zamorack everything evil, and Guthix maintains a balance between the two. At least, that is what everyone believes now.”
I looked at Lydia, who was watching Yamabushi intently.
Yamabushi continued, “this, however, is not the case. The planet was once occupied by a race of benevolent beings. They were proficient in lots of different scientific procedures, one of which was cloning themselves."
I stood looking at Yamabushi.
"How can this be? You cannot just cast aside all that history, the Gods exist, and that is that. What your saying cannot be true!" Lydia said, in awe at what Yamabushi was saying.
"You're right, they do exist. Let me finish."
Lydia nodded, and Yamabushi continued. His face grimaced as Lydia started to re-apply the green mush to his wound.

08-Feb-2007 15:00:53 - Last edited on 08-Feb-2007 15:03:46 by Zaibatsu 0

Zaibatsu 0

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"It worked like this. More than a thousand years ago, the race of which I speak became very powerful indeed. They were all born with magic powers, to the extent of which small children could teleport at will, create gold out of various items, and even command the elements. We have many mages ourselves with this kind of power, and they are all very old. Imagine a child with that much power? The reason behind this power was unknown, but it was becoming a problem."
Yamabushi looked around, uneasy about something. He reached for the table and took his glass of beer. He took a long swig and looked at me, his dark eyes reflecting the embers of the fire.
"The magick* that were being created on a daily basis were resulting in a massive field of mystic energy, which had a detrimental effect on the people. People who were normally calm suddenly became very aggressive, some people simply became evil at times, calm at others. The council of elders that ran the main cities decided that something had to be done, because the people who became aggressive simply could not coincide with the others. This is where the scientists came into it all."
He once again took a big swig from his glass. Justin and Rose had heard most of the conversation from upstairs, and had come down to hear the rest of it. Yamabushi continued.

"The elders asked for a solution from the three top scientists at the time. They all decided to clone three individuals, and channel the power of the mystic energies into them. The trouble was, there was so much power, it made these people almost invincible. They had power that only Gods can muster. They eventually grew older, and started to war with each other. This war nearly destroyed the planet. Nearly everyone was dead, with these three beings held accountable. All three scientists had ended there own lives, unable to live with what they created. The only legacy they left behind were their names, which they passed onto the beings during the cloning.

08-Feb-2007 15:00:54 - Last edited on 08-Feb-2007 15:04:01 by Zaibatsu 0

Zaibatsu 0

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Their names were Saradomin, Guthix and Zamorack."
Justin nearly choked on his beer, not that I could blame him. If what Yamabushi was saying was true, that meant that the Gods we all know and worship, were created. Created from a race that Tuoni used to belong to. Rose was holding her head in her hands, Lydia simply sat blinking, not knowing what to say.
I nodded towards Yamabushi to carry on, which he did.

“This brings me back to Tuoni. I mentioned earlier that he has a dire plan, and is close to completing it. Or at least, he was close. His plan was simply to eradicate all life that was created by the Gods. As you are no doubt aware, the three divines created us, and we all have attributes that lean towards them. For example, evil people tend to follow Zamorack, calmness and serenity is paid homage to those who follow Saradomin, and nature worshippers and those who enjoy a healthy balance of chaos and order prefer the teachings of Guthix.
Tuoni resents anything that these three have created, albeit with power that his own race imbued within them. He is one of the very few of the ancient race that still exist, his Listeners and him are the only ones left. Tuoni was the head of the elder council, and the Listeners were his councilors.”

Yamabushi got to his feet, and bent down to stretch his legs. He walked over to the fireplace where Jess was, completely oblivious to everything that was happening around her. He gave her a little stroke and continued his story. By this time Kzahar had returned, after a brief run down of what was happening, he was also listening intently.

08-Feb-2007 15:00:54 - Last edited on 08-Feb-2007 15:04:23 by Zaibatsu 0

Zaibatsu 0

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“Back to the plan. The reason he wishes to destroy the monsters is simple. Without a prolific evil presence on the planet, Zamorack has limited power. Without the darkness that shrouds the planet, the serenity of Saradomin will envelop everywhere, even the wilderness. With this level of calm, us humans will be unprepared for war, which is when Tuoni and his followers strike. They would wipe us out with ease.”
Rose suddenly looked up.
“What did Jonathon get himself involved in?” A tear rolled down her cheek, and I placed my arm around her for comfort.
“HAM is used as a screening process, anyone who quickly excels through their ranks is short-listed as a potential for Veritus Vos Liberit. Jonathon was one such person, regrettably the mind control magick* that affect the people within the cults affected Jonathon in a rather rapid way. The same applied with Narayan, and any juves you came across. This is why they all fought for Tuoni like they did, death was meaningless to them.”
“Well it means something to me!” Rose shouted, and quickly got to her feet and ran upstairs. Lydia quickly followed. I think that Lydia felt guilty about killing Jonathon, even under those circumstances.
Yamabushi shook his head.
“We should continue this in the morning, it’s been a long night.”
“Agreed,” I replied, standing upright. I decided to let Lydia tend to Rose, a good woman to woman chat would do them both good. I knew that I was not going to sleep well this night, and considering all that we had been told, I was sure that the same thoughts were with the others.

08-Feb-2007 15:00:55 - Last edited on 08-Feb-2007 15:04:35 by Zaibatsu 0

Zaibatsu 0

Posts: 2,895 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Morning came slowly. Just as I thought, I didn’t sleep well at all. I could hear birds singing outside, the first signs of early morning. The sun had just started to rise, banishing the darkness as it rose.
I threw the blanket away from myself and headed to the window, and opened it. Justin was in another bed nearby, he moaned a little as the window creaked. We had decided to have all the men in one of the bedrooms, and the women in another. A wise decision really: Justin snored like a pig, and Kzahar was no quieter. The girls would not have put up with that.
I glanced outside and took a deep breath of morning air. A few of the market traders were hurrying about, preparing for the morning rush.
I turned back around to face into the room. Yamabushi’s bed was empty, as was Kzah****. They must have got up already, no doubt having as much trouble as I was sleeping. This was not a problem for Justin though, he was sleeping like a log.
I quickly put some clothes on and started to make my way downstairs. The smell of bacon and eggs wafted through the air, seemed like Rose was up and about as well. Kzahar and Yamabushi were both sitting at the table with a lovely looking breakfast.
“Want anything to eat?” I heard Rose call from the kitchen.
“Without a doubt,” I replied, and sat down.
Kzahar looked up from his food. “Morning,” he muttered.
“Morning,” I replied.
Yamabushi sat in silence, the events from last night still weighing heavy on his mind.
Rose suddenly entered, and plonked a massive plate of food in front of me. I smiled as a way of saying thanks, and stuck in. She sat down at the table with us, watching us eat.
“Sorry about last night,” she eventually said.
I was about to say it was okay when Yamabushi did it for me.
“We all have scores to settle with Tuoni, it is understandable.”
“There’s something you haven’t mentioned yet, Yamabushi.”
Yamabushi stopped eating and looked at Rose.

08-Feb-2007 15:00:55 - Last edited on 08-Feb-2007 15:04:46 by Zaibatsu 0

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