RuneScape Forum Archive | ~^v^~ Kashan's Tale ~^v^~

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“Well, nothing to do but start walking, then, eh?” Krystal’s distorted figure said, sounding happy despite everything, a thing they had grown accustomed to through the years they had known her.

So they started walking towards what they thought was Edgeville, everybody hand in hand as to not lose each other.

Yet even after almost an hour of continuous walking, the fog hadn’t lifted, and they hadn’t reached Edgeville.

“We’ve been walking for hours; admit it, you guys, we’re lost,” Roan complained, annoyed after an hour of walking with no apparent result.

“He’s right, I think. This doesn’t feel like any place I know. This feels…dangerous,” Ellya stated, surprising everyone by her scared tone of voice. Almost as if to confirm her suspicions, a loud growl came from a few feet ahead, and following the growl a gigantic paw, came hurtling down towards Timier.

When Kashan noticed the death sentence looming over Timier, he jumped in front of him, to take his place in death; and if not for Ellya’s quick thinking, he would have.

With more speed than Kashan would have thought possible, Ellya jabbed her staff through the air towards him, muttering a spell under her breath. Immediately, he felt more than saw, an orb around his body. Though it protected him from the sharp edges of the claws, it could not entirely dampen the impact of the huge paw.

The momentum of the strike transferred over, and Kashan was brought to near unconsciousness. To make bad things even worse, the power used in the spell nearly drained Ellya to the point of exhaustion, making her usefulness severely limited.

Now with two of them weakened beyond fighting, and one unable to due to young age, it was up to Roan and Krystal to defend the whole group.

There was, however, one bright point in all the darkness: the fog had finally lifted. Yet at the same time, they wished it hadn’t, for it revealed the terrifying owner of the paw; a hellhound.

19-Sep-2006 23:05:53 - Last edited on 19-Sep-2006 23:12:22 by [#80N8R0VWZ]

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It was larger than any normal sized one, and its eyes glowed red with anger as it tried again to hit Kashan. Yet the shield held, and it eventually gave up and advanced on Roan and Krystal. Its muscles rippled underneath taut skin, spiked tail waving slowly behind it. It was then that they noticed an odd fact: this was the only hellhound here.

They usually traveled in packs, throwing themselves upon their enemies until the target was bloody shreds, eating the remains. However, this one traveled alone; leading to only one conclusion: it had eaten all the others.

The giant beast leaped at Roan and Krystal, intending to kill the protectors first so it could have free pickings with the weak ones. Though it moved fast, they both managed to jump out of the way in time. Roan tried hitting it with his battleaxe as he dodged, but only managed to get his weapon stuck in the muddy ground.

Krystal aimed a pair of arrows at the hellhound’s eyes. One of them hit, and should have ended the fight if it hadn’t been for one problem.

A hellhound’s brain was MUCH smaller than most animals, having removed all but the most basic instincts for hunting and killing, and so the only effect of the perfectly placed shot was to further enrage the gigantic creature, sending it into a berserk fury.

It slowly rounded on Krystal, single eye focusing on her in a second. This was the one who had wounded it; the other could wait, he was just a nuisance.

Krystal was surprised to see the hound still alive, and not a little afraid as the hellhound started a slow stalk towards her. Suddenly moving with blinding speed, the creature extended three claws and swung at her chest. She barely managed to escape being shredded, yet she still retained three long gashes across her chest from where the claws had raked her skin.

19-Sep-2006 23:07:36 - Last edited on 19-Sep-2006 23:12:38 by [#80N8R0VWZ]

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Krystal kept dodging the hellhound’s deadly blows, trying desperately to find a weak spot in the insanely thick hide. She shot at least two dozen arrows, but not one managed to penetrate.

Roan wasn’t having any more luck, battleaxe simply bouncing off the hide like it were made of pure runite. The hellhound didn’t even seem to notice, simply swiping at him with a single paw. It connected, and he landed in a daze, ten feet away.

Krystal was getting worried now, as this beast seemed as impenetrable as a castle. She fired another arrow at the hound’s head, yet like all the others, it simply bounced off. Then something happened which made her scream in pain; the hound picked her up in its teeth, decimating the arm which was inside. He threw her away a good six feet like a puppet, and if it hadn’t been for the complete lack of facial muscles other than those to lower the jaw, Krystal would have sworn it was grinning at her.

Roan was extremely close to unconsciousness, and most of the world was a blur, but he was alert enough to see for a few seconds.

A man came jumping from one side of the hellhound, who was nearing the unconscious body of Krystal. The distance, and the permanent darkness in the Wilderness, made it impossible for Roan to discern anything about the man’s features, but he seemed to be holding two coils of rope, one in each hand.

He leapt towards the hellhound, jumping in circles next to it like a ribbon dancer, slashing it with his two ropes. A whooshing sound was heard each time he stroke the hellhound, and it recoiled in pain each time. Roan was surprised at this, as he had not even been able to penetrate the thick hide with his battleaxe, let alone inflict enough pain for it to recoil, yet this man struck blood every time.

19-Sep-2006 23:07:38 - Last edited on 19-Sep-2006 23:12:52 by [#80N8R0VWZ]

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The man danced around the beast, never staying on the same side for more than a couple of strikes before dancing to the next. The hellhound never so much as touched the man, as he made sure never to be on the wrong end of it; that is, the one with the teeth.

He danced two circles around it before the beast turned tail from the pain and ran full speed into the darkness.

End of chapter 4.

19-Sep-2006 23:07:39 - Last edited on 19-Sep-2006 23:13:03 by [#80N8R0VWZ]

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Chapter 5 - Questions answered

Kashan could hear words, though he didn’t understand what they meant. He tried letting them know he was awake, yet his muscles were locked into the position they were in. All he could do was listen.

“Are you sure he’ll be all right?” a female voice asked, sounding worried; she sounded familiar, though he couldn’t place her in his daze.

“He will be, but it was close; his body was nearly crushed. He’ll have a couple of broken ribs when he wakes up, and most likely an immense headache as well.” That had been spoken by a different person, yet this voice was unfamiliar.

“I’d hate to see how he would be had the girl not cast that spell… just how did she do that, by the way? That’s not exactly a spell that’s taught on the street like Varrock teleport; it** much too dangerous. I’ve only ever seen it in the mage’s guild,” the unfamiliar voice continued, though now he sounded curious, oblivious to the crushed body that had weighed so heavily on his mind just seconds before.

Another male voice interrupted before the answer came. This one sounded younger though, and curious. It sounded extremely familiar like the first, though his thinking was still too hazy to recognize it fully.

“How can you see him with those bandages over your eyes?”

The soft male voice laughed before replying. “I see without seeing, I hear without hearing, and I smell without smelling. Those are the words of a wise Saradomin general in the god wars, who had sacrificed his three main senses to gain a sixth one, enabling him to know whenever an attack was coming. It gave him and his troops time to react to any attack, ensuring victory.

“This sixth sense also enabled him a different mean of perception, though explaining it would take years without experiencing it yourself. I did the same, though my sacrifice was not voluntary or a blessing. Now I would appreciate hearing the answer to MY question, seeing as how I answered yours.”

19-Sep-2006 23:07:39 - Last edited on 19-Sep-2006 23:14:01 by [#80N8R0VWZ]

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“Of course. The truth is we don’t know how she did it, as none of us can cast magic worth a ****. But is she going to be alright?” another male voice said, deep, rough, and worried.

“Yes, she just needs some time to rest, and recover her energy. That was a pretty big hit on a spell of this kind. The potion I gave her seems to be working, and she should be up and about in no time.”

Kashan managed to mumble something, much to the happiness of Krystal and Timier.
He opened his eyes, and before him stood a tall half-elf, maybe 6 feet, roughly 25 years old, with shining white hair. Even so, the color didn’t look to be dyed, and he wasn’t nearly old enough to have it come naturally.

His eyes were completely obscured by a strip of bandages, making it impossible to tell his eye color. He also wore a heavy black robe, which seemed to be of no help, but it seemed to emanate immense power. Beneath the robes he also glimpsed a pair of platelegs, and though they seemed black, that was probably a shadow.

Even more surprising; beside the campfire lay not one, but two long, leather whips, glowing a faint, but an eerie, red. Weapons of the Abyss. Such weapons were among the rarest and most feared weapons in Gielinor; to have one was incredible, but two was unprecedented.

Beside the stranger, he could see Roan and Krystal, as well as Timier, jumping up and down to see. He wondered where Ellya was, but got the answer to his question when he looked to his side. She was lying next to him, unconscious, with three huge gashes along her torso, each an inch deep. Yet for some odd reason, they weren’t bleeding. Kashan didn’t understand how that could be, a wound this size should have been gushing blood, and the person who bore them would most likely died within a minute.

“Oh praise Guthix, he’s coming to!” Krystal exclaimed, hugging him tightly with tears of relief in her eyes, not hearing his protesting grunts until Timier poked her in the back.

19-Sep-2006 23:09:18 - Last edited on 07-Nov-2006 22:31:02 by [#80N8R0VWZ]

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“C’mon Krystal, let him go, he’s too banged up for this right now,” he said gleefully.

“The young one knows beyond his years,” the stranger laughed.

“Who are you?” Kashan asked the stranger, trying to ignore the immense pain assaulting his temples.

“I am Emrys, at your service,” the man replied, bowing to Kashan. “I am sure you have a lot of questions, and now would be the time to ask them.”

“Well, Emrys, can you tell me what happened after I passed out? What was that creature?” he asked, remembering the giant paw that came down onto him, but not anything else.

Timier answered before Emnyr was able even able to open his mouth.

“It was a wicked fight Kash! The fog lifted just after you and Ellya passed out, so Krystal and Roan had to take on this massive dog. Krystal even shot him in the eye, but it didn’t die.” He paused for a second, considering, then added to Emrys, “Why was that?”

“Ah, that “dog” was a hellhound; a spawn of Zamorak. They were quite the nuisance to Saradomin and his troops during the God Wars. However, back then they were much larger than today. I’m guessing, by the size and the fact it was alone, that it was an alpha-male, probably hunting for mating season.

And the arrow through the eye didn’t work because hellhounds are much stupider creatures than most. Their brain is tiny, so the arrow probably didn’t reach it.”

Kashan immediately asked another question. “What was that spell you were talking about? And is Ellya ok?” he asked, worried.

“So you heard us, huh? I knew someone was eavesdropping. That spell is called Arethno; it transfers a certain nature of damage from the target to the caster. In this case, the damage was of slashing nature, from the Hellhound’s claws. Therefore, instead of being shredded, you nearly got crushed.

19-Sep-2006 23:09:19 - Last edited on 19-Sep-2006 23:14:33 by [#80N8R0VWZ]

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However, the Arethno spell enables the caster to heal extraordinarily fast, so they don’t usually die from their wounds. But if the spell hadn’t been cast in time, whoever the target was faces an almost certain death.”

“What about that potion you gave her, what does it do? Is it safe?” Kashan asked, not completely satisfied.

“Oh, it’s perfectly safe; it just restores her energy sooner. When a mage casts a spell this strong, he, or she, loses his or her energy. Sometimes they even have to sleep for days to regain their strength, but that potion puts her into a near coma state, enabling her to recover much faster. She should be up and about in a few hours.”

Kashan tried to stand up, but fell back down at the pain in his sides and head. The headache had gotten much worse.

“Ah, yes. There’s probably something you should know…” Emrys started when he saw Kashan hold his head. “That headache of yours is going to get a little – or a lot – worse before it gets better.”

Kashan, who was already feeling like a 2-ton hellhound was stepping on his head, moaned. “Why…?”

“You see, your body was nearly crushed, and you had almost 15 broken bones. I had to do something, or any movement would’ve killed you from internal injuries. This powder…” he held up a bag with some white powder inside, “is very good for broken bones, healing them almost instantly with no side effects; unless you use much of it. You were broken on so many places I was nearing a lethal dose, and I didn’t dare to heal those last two broken ribs or I could have killed you.”

“Oh good,” Kashan said sarcastically. “And I was afraid it was something bad like a migraine...”

Then he grabbed his head in agony, pain intensifying until he almost screamed aloud. The others went to help him, but he just waved them away. Finally, the pain subsided, and Kashan lay back, breathing heavily.

“Ok, one more question. Where did you come from?”

19-Sep-2006 23:09:20 - Last edited on 07-Nov-2006 22:31:47 by [#80N8R0VWZ]

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“I had business in the Rogues’ Castle, the specifics are private information. I came just in time to save you from the hellhound.”

“Rouges’ castle? But that’s in deep…Wilderness…”

Kashan's face lit up with understanding as he noticed where he was. To the east, maybe two miles away, he could see the Rogues’ Castle, to his west, nearly four miles away he saw the Deserted Keep, and, not half a mile to the north he saw the scorpion pit… full to the brim of poisonous, bloodthirsty arachnids.

“But…that’s not possible…” he said confused. “We only walked for a couple of hours at most, and Deep Wilderness is many DAYS away from Edgeville!”

Emrys seemed almost embarrassed. “Yes, well, that is the one thing I myself don’t understand, either. I can only guess that that ‘fog’ young Roan told me about earlier was some sort of a travel speed spell, though I’ve never known one like it. That also leaves the question of who cast it.”
Kashan abandoned the notion of finding the answer, as the pain in his temples invaded him again with the thinking.

“Ok, so what do we do now? We can’t leave with Ellya still like this,” Roan asked, speaking to both Kashan and Emrys. Krystal had wondered a bit north, seemingly not hearing.

It was Kashan who answered. “We wait ‘till Ellya’s up and then we’ll take the long trek back too Edgeville. There’s nothing else to do with the teleport barrier over the Wilderness.*

*What’s over there?” Krystal, who had walked a fair distance north in a near trance-like state, yelled over to them, but none of them heard her.

“I agree, that’s the safest option in our current situation. Staying here for too long is just tempting fate,” Emrys replied to Kashan's plan, not hearing Krystal at all.

Yet just as he spoke those words, they heard a scream of fear and agony coming from a short distance to the north. The voice was Krystal's.

End of Chapter 5.

19-Sep-2006 23:11:14 - Last edited on 19-Sep-2006 23:15:02 by [#80N8R0VWZ]

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Chapter 6 - Across the Edge

“KRYSTAL!!!”

Kashan screamed in terror as he jumped up and ran past all the others, and he vanished before any of them could so much as put a hand out to stop him

As he neared the Edge of the Wilderness, he saw a hand sticking out of the void beyond, a hand holding an amulet; Krystal’s amulet

Time itself seemed to slow as he ran, for Krystal’s hand was the one holding the amulet, and he sped up to an all-out sprint.

“That’s impossible,” he thought, “there’s nothing beyond the Edge! You can go right up to it, but if you try to go past, there’s an invisible wall. Nothing can pass it!”

He ran even faster, the pain in his head and side diminishing as determination took over. Yet no matter how much he pushed himself, it was still too slow. Yet as he ran, he remembered something that might prove an explanation to this strange occurrence.

The Boundaries of Guthix was an old tale, telling that when Guthix created Gielnor he had created those Boundaries to prevent the inhabitants of this world to venture into others. For outside of this world were other dimensions, namely the Heavens; the abode of the gods.

In a matter of seconds, Kashan reached the Edge. Throwing himself flat, he dove into the endless darkness with a single word on his lips:

“KRYSTAL!”

The others had gone after him, and though they couldn’t possibly keep up with the mad sprint, they weren’t far behind. As he disappeared, Timier fell to his knees beside the Edge, sobbing as Kashan was swallowed up by the endless void, apparently never to return.

End of Chapter 6 and Episode 1

19-Sep-2006 23:11:16 - Last edited on 19-Sep-2006 23:15:39 by [#80N8R0VWZ]

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