RuneScape Forum Archive | Presence in the Depths

Jun

2016

Zorial

Posts: 2,537 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

~The Beings from the Shadows, Continued~

I was somewhat awed and terrified of them, and I regretted that I would lose the memory of all of this. A roar signaled they had dealt with the Patriarch quite swiftly when we reached the upper caverns again. I did*’t get to see much more of their technique.

They appeared again out of the shadows (I seemed to have lost track of them), the mage approaching with a spell gathering around her hand.

“You seem like a nice person...but policy is policy. You will not see us again.” She said, as the spell seemed to thread into my consciousness and make everything go black.

~Blanks*

I woke up in the Living Rock Caverns, and everything seemed to have calmed.

I could only deduce that at some point the patriarch had knocked me out, and perhaps I had also managed to defeat it somehow, perhaps launching a spell at just the right time. A bit unusual, I thought, but I’d seen and experienced stranger.

I reported to Kuradal, getting a light scolding for not paying attention, and then decided to report the experience to the Master that behind the scenes, had done a lot of my training.

How familiar it was to go to [LOCATION REDACTED], work my way down the familiar and simple tunnels once again, to find him seeming to be meditating in a room adjunct to his study, today wearing some black and purple robes reminiscent of those I had seen from the Eastern lands, looking more like a noble warrior than like the shadow most of Gielinor knew him as...despite his more usual stealthy garb, there was something about it that just suited him.

“Hello again.” I said, smiling, to which he turned in my direction.

*Hai, Zori.” He said, a simple but friendly tone, as he got up and pulled up a chair for me to sit on. “How goes?”

“Another strange slayer task.” I said, chuckling a bit and ruffling my hair.

16-Jun-2016 16:48:36

Jun

2016

Zorial

Posts: 2,537 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

~Blanks, Continued~

“I was asked to defeat a Living Rock Patriarch...He was particularly strong, apparently I had defeated him at the same time that he managed to knock me out!” I said, laughing a little bit to perhaps displace some cognitive dissonance.

“Hmm? Are you alright, Zori?” He said, leaning in a bit closer as if to examine me for wounds.

*I’m fine...surprisingly fine, in fact. I don’t have a scratch.” I said, marveling a bit. “Maybe my instincts are so well trained that I know what to do even when I’m passing out!” I said, perhaps to lighten the mood.

*Perhaps.” Mole said, seeming to try and keep the mood but with lingering concern in his voice, putting his arm around me. I did*’t know why, but he seemed to be trying to comfort himself. Usually it was the other way around.

“Is something wrong, Mole?” I asked.

“It’s nothing that should concern you, Zori.” He said, flatly, in a manner an adult might to a child about more complicated parts of a family’s history or relationships.

“If you say so.” I said, thinking that this was just another one of the things he kept to himself. I accepted a while ago that there were certain things about him that he just wouldn’t tell. For the most part, I just assumed the secrets weren’t too important. After all, if one of them had to do with Gielinor’s general safety, I reasoned, then it would have been told much sooner. Since he hadn’t felt the need to do so, I was generally comfortable with it.

At least, in most cases up until this moment.

“Have you tried Morvran’s Rush of Blood?” Mole said, changing the subject.

*Oh, no, I haven’t.” Zorial said.

“I would recommend it.I know you are more familiar with the methods of Kuradal and myself, but at least trying this would be quite beneficial to your development as a Slayer.” He advised, and I couldn’t really disagree with him.

“Right...I’ll give that a try sometime.” I said, smiling,

16-Jun-2016 16:49:59

Jun

2016

Zorial

Posts: 2,537 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

~Blanks, Continued~

“Good luck, Zori!” He said, much happier than before, before seeming to returning to his meditations, whatever he meditated on. I then left, teleporting to Prifddinas to prepare myself for the elvish Slayer Master’s challenge.

However, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong.

~Tension~

*What a waste of time. I should know better than to take time out of my day just to watch such an abysmal performance. Not impressed.*

From a fairly impressive throne overlooking the Priffdinas slayer dungeon, Morvran all but spit at me despite having set a personal record of six waves of twenty at the platinum Rush of Blood.

At the very least, the dungeon was a somewhat pretty place, being made with all the lovely crystal that made the city of the Elves such an enchanting place to be at. I wondered momentarily what the elves who had witnessed my performance would think of me.

“Maybe I’ve let myself go soft…” I muttered to myself as I listened to the voice of Seren echo through the Tower of Voices and let it somewhat calm my soul. “Slayers need to be alert, after all…especially in days like these.”

After doing a few laps around the cathedral, I tried again, this time only making it to the fourth wave before being defeated due to a careless mistake.

This continued on for a little while, and I did get incrementally better, incrementally stronger, though Morvran seemed to be able to rain on every bit of progress. It bothered me less and less though, as time went on. After all, Slayers do not need to be coddled, but to be trained. As insane as many of the masters seemed at times, they were no more insane than many of the villains that we had to face.

As I got more comfortable with the Rush of Blood, eventually something in me must have snapped and I started to accept tasks from him. I had no idea about his training style, but compared to getting yelled at repeatedly, his normal tasks were preferable.

16-Jun-2016 16:51:53

Jun

2016

Zorial

Posts: 2,537 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

~Tension, Continued~

Well, whatever ‘normal’ was in the Sixth Age. I suspected at one point Sliske had captured the Avatar of Ordinary or whatever it was that was responsible for blessed mundanity and that he was hiding him/her in the same place as the Stone of Jas now.

Of course, being busy with training did*’t mean I neglected seeing my friends or seeing Mole...the meetings just weren’t as long or as friendly. He was a lot more reserved than normal.

Looking back on it...I probably should have asked him how he was feeling. Maybe I should have given him the space he needed. But something convinced me that I had to probe further, that maybe secrets key to Gielinor were at stake, as opposed to just being secrets I wanted to know.

Some, as it turns out, are better left undisclosed.

That visit started mostly as normal. This time, I had been assigned some kind of metal dragon; steel, iron, mithril, I did*’t really remember precisely. I made my way to the familiar locale, eager to mention what I had learned.

He was clothed in his usual stealthy garb that day, seeming to be engrossed in some documents from his personal library. At least, until I stepped in; then he seemed to put them in a restricted part of his study. I knew...I knew it was his own business. Oh, how I knew.

*Hello, Mole, I’ve got some dragon bones for you to gnaw on, I guess. Metal dragons aren’t too tasty…” I said with some awkward laughter, presenting the gift that he seemed to stow away for later.

“Thanke.” He responded, as we shared a short hug.

It took everything in me to resist the temptation to ask what he was reading about, at least in a direct way. He seemed calm enough, but still the intuition that something was wrong would not leave me.

“...What’s been going on lately?” I asked.

*Not much, been training and researching some things.” He answered, with a simple and undisguised tone. He wasn’t lying by blatant falsehood.

16-Jun-2016 16:53:40

Jun

2016

Zorial

Posts: 2,537 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

~Tension, Continued~

“It is probably wise to keep current on all the histories and movements of certain figures…” I said, attempting to walk a fine line between being friendly and probing out of curiosity. Somehow, I already guessed that wasn’t what he was reading about, though.

“...Anything in particular that you’ve found interesting?” I said, my voice quivering somewhat.

“Eh, nothing terribly new. Just refreshing myself on some things.” He replied, in a simple tone.

For a moment, neither I or he said anything, just sitting in each other's’ presence. The question that I had thought about asking before getting distracted by training crept up, and I decided it was better to ask it now than to let it be bottled up inside.

“...Do you know anything about what might have happened after I got knocked out?” I said, to which there immediately came a shift of the mood in the air as Mole seemed to mentally back off from me. Usually he would dismiss what he wanted to keep more hidden a bit more subtly. I became nervous.

“...Do you know something about this?” I said, as I frowned.

“It’s nothing that should concern you, Zori.” He replied, in a bit of a strained tone, grasping the chair he was sitting on with his hand.

I did*’t know what to say. No matter what option I chose to respond with, to back off or to probe further, there would be something lost. One would lead to further confrontation, the other would lead to the feelings being locked under the surface again. I did*’t think much more before I reacted.

“How could you know that? It could be tied to Gielinor’s saftey!” I said, with a bit of fervor in my voice, my muscles involuntarily tensing up, before forcing myself to calm down. “...You never react that strongly to things like this.” I said, trying to plead instead of forcing it.

16-Jun-2016 16:54:21 - Last edited on 16-Jun-2016 16:55:15 by Zorial

Jun

2016

Zorial

Posts: 2,537 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

~Tension, Continued~

“Zori...please.” He said, a softness and pleading in response to my own that any one of his other victims may have killed to hear, then putting a hand on my own.

*What if this has something to do with stopping the Elder Gods?” I said, memories from Zaros*s words on Freneskae drifting to mind. “Isn’t that important!?* I said, nearly shouting, my brow furrowing in a way that pricked my conscience.

“If it was, don’t you think I would have mentioned it to Zaros?” He said in a mediating tone, but for now it seemed like reason had decided to take a vacation from me.

“Well...yes….but what if my life is in danger because of this?” I said, trying to take a deep breath in the next moment. Mole just simply looked at me stunned, or as stunned as he could look.

“Zori, do you really think I would keep a secret from you that would endanger you? I would stop the gods themselves if they tried to hurt and exploit you.” Then his voice had dipped to a level of sincerity. I knew he wasn’t lying.

I really...really wished I had listened to him.

“...I don’t think I can know that until I’ve investigated this for myself.” I said, with both determination and some lingering guilt. I don’t know what it was that came over me.

I ended up turning away, not able to face the expression I’d caused on his face. I turned and fled, like a coward and a traitor. If I had let myself fully register it, I probably wouldn’t have done anything. I would have made up with him and simply let this matter fade into the background. That’s not what I did.

That was how this descent into folly began.

~Return to the Depths~

Since the incident happened in the Living Rock Caverns, this is where I started.

For the most part it was as calm as the caverns could be. The dwarf had returned, and when I descended down, I saw him cooking what appeared to be some kind of animal on the spit.

16-Jun-2016 16:57:16

Jun

2016

Zorial

Posts: 2,537 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

~Return to the Depths, Continued~

“Ah, it’s the Slayer! Thank you for your work settling things down here. Want to have a bit of a meal?” He said, in a jovial and grateful tone.

*No, that’s fine. I already ate and have rations. You can have your own food.” I said, smiling but still feeling guilty.

“There was something of a cave-in, I heard, but it got repaired surprisingly quickly,” he said. “Maybe the other creatures just wanted to make sure it did*’t happen again to one of their leaders.” He said, speculating a bit while turning the spit.

“A cave in? I got knocked out during the fight, so I don’t remember a lot.” I explained, taking a seat by the dwarf.

“Yes, be careful. It’s near the northwestern tunnels of the cavern.” He said.

“Thank you, I think I got the information I needed.” I said, smiling.

“Hmm?” The dwarf said, curious.

“It’s…” I thought about saying ‘nothing that concerns you’, but I had enough of my conscience at the time to resist the hypocrisy of uttering that.

“It’s further inquiry into the aftermath of the mission.” I said, breathing an internal sigh of relief that my conscience had been satisfied by that remark.

“I see. Well, good luck with that then.” The dwarf said, before I departed the mines to bring some additional spelunking gear like ropes, a grapple and crossbow, a miner’s helmet, and plenty of runes. Instead of my staff, I brought Old Faithful; Korasi’s sword and a crystal ward.

It took only a little while of searching to find where the rock had caved in, though it looked like it had been patched up fairly thoroughly. It took me a few minutes of concentrated digging to create a small hole opening up into the gaping maw of that section of the underground that until that point I did*’t know had existed. It seemed to be a deep darkness to scale down, without a miner helmet, that was. It took care of some minor complications.

16-Jun-2016 16:58:37

Jun

2016

Zorial

Posts: 2,537 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

~Return to the Depths, Continued~

Affixing a rope to the side with some careful knotting, I let it down into the darkness where it seemed to extend for a while, bumping a bit on some of the sides of the rock to indicate there seemed to be a tunnel or a chasm straight below.

After taking a deep breath, I grabbed onto the robe and carefully descended, the light on the helmet I was wearing casting a small but illuminating beam into the darkness as I carefully clambered down, aided occasionally by some jutting rocks. The darkness around me was simultaneously imposing and refreshing.

It became easy to lose track of time, descending down into the depths. If I really focused, I could hear the skittering of creatures down below, and see some features in the darkness to mark how far down I’d gone. I had no idea how deep Gielinor was as a world, but for a moment I thought it might functionally be infinite.

That thought did*’* last long, however, when I caught glimpse of the ground.

The rope was just shy of hitting the ground, so I carefully jumped off and then set up a lantern at the location to guide my way back, taking a whiff of the somewhat dank air, looking around to see an area that seemed to show signs of being recently disturbed by one person or another. However, the traces were incredibly faint, as if someone were trying to cover his or her tracks.

That was when I noticed the feeling of eyes on me, suspicious eyes. Drawing my weaponry, I looked around to notice only the skittering of creatures in the background. I decided to keep out my weaponry for the time being as I started to explore the small tunnel complex I found.

After about an hour or so, I set up a small camp, carving out a shelter in a place where someone appeared to have done so before, but was covered over. Did they do it themselves, or did someone else did, I wondered. It would seem there was indeed something to find here...something profound.

16-Jun-2016 17:00:52

Jun

2016

Zorial

Posts: 2,537 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

~Return to the Depths, Continued~

But was it worth doing that? Betraying his trust?

I did*’t answer my conscience at that moment. Perhaps I deluded myself into believing that if I just did*’t acknowledge it existed, it would all be right. That sometime afterwards, I could just smooth all this out. That something I found down here would justify what I had done.

The next moment, a Dark Beast emerged from the darkness, its red eyes gleaming in the shadows. I knew what to do. This one seemed to put up a bit more of a fight than most of its kin I had remembered in the past, leaving me with some moderate wounds and a potential source of provisions later.

Or...maybe not...no…

For a moment I sat, moreso to rest my mind than my body.

However, I was jolted out of it by the appearance of three figures, both beastly and human-looking, that looked upon me with suspicion, fear, and disbelief. One of them, which appeared to be female, approached me. The message of ‘You look familiar’ etched across her face and in her catlike eyes filled me with curiosity and dread. She opened her mouth to say in a dark but feminine voice,

“You shouldn’t have been able to come back here.”

~Repetition~

The next moment, some kind of shadowy bonds entangled themselves around my hands, leaving my sword and ward to drop unceremoniously to the ground. When my mind had caught up to what was going on, I realized that I’d been captured.

“Ordinarily, we would have killed you** One of them, apparently a soldier said in a dark and commanding voice. “But your case is unusual. Before we deal with you further, we must first find out how you made your way back.* He said in a way that unsettled me, like a jail guard having come across an escaped prisoner.

16-Jun-2016 17:02:45

Jun

2016

Zorial

Posts: 2,537 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

~Repetition, Continued*

*I don’t get it...What’s going on?” I said, but all I got was a pained frown from the mage as the last of the figures, an archer, seemed to beckon the group to move forward. I found that I had no choice but to go with them. The soldier kept watch over my weapons.

If I was here before, why don’t I remember anything? Did they erase my memory, like the Red Axe tried to? Is there a way to get it back? I don’t think I’ll get an easy break like what apparently happened the first time around...

I was left with nothing but my thoughts and regrets as my anthropomorphic hosts led me to...wherever it was they were taking me.

I thought I would be more distressed, in all honesty, but maybe it was easier to bear because I felt I deserved it

“Hand over the girl.”

Suddenly, a familiar and dark voice seemed to come from nowhere, as like a shadow I saw the very friend I betrayed, Slayer cape and all, appear in the gap between myself and the group. His appearance made all three seem to go dead-eyed from the shock.

“...Y-You...You're not..?!* The soldier inquired with a quivering lip.

“Judging by your eyes, you know who I am and what I am capable of. I am only saying this once more...Hand over the girl.” He said, seemingly with a feral snarl and with wide-bladed claws aimed ominously in their direction.

“You would dare-?!* The archer protested, while the mage just shrunk back as if she had seen Sanothos.

“The things you think you can do to me are TRIVIAL compared to what I have been subjected to so far.” He said, with a command of his voice that I had never heard before, one that somewhat scared me. “That girl is my apprentice and responsibility. My inaction caused her to return here, and my action will take her away from here.”

With that, the mage promptly released the bonds, and the figures slowly edged away before disappearing into the shadows again, leaving my arms on the ground.

16-Jun-2016 17:03:57 - Last edited on 16-Jun-2016 17:04:16 by Zorial

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Presence in the Depths