RuneScape Forum Archive | A Tale of Four Champions

[#9PE5KKJ52]

Posts: 10,884 Opal Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

"Recently, however, there have been attempts on my life." Many people gasped; some muttered angrily, and a few, particularly Xhou, snorted rudely. "That is why I cannot stress more that we should all stick together. We are one world, and no matter how we spin it, we are all stuck on it together. We should learn to be more forgiving, more friendly, and above all, more equal. I would step down from this dais in the hopes that the world will follow my example."

There was immense cheering, hooting, and clapping.

Xhou stood up and walked to the dais after that. He looked very nervous, as Joshua had just totally gone against his forthcoming speech.

He stepped up, cleared his throat confidently, and began. "Firstly, I am proud of all of you, putting aside your differences and coming here in peace. It offends me when people cannot be civil because of an old, forgotten grudge." He looked pointedly at Joshua.

"But as many of you know and have noticed," he continued eloquently, "There have been issues with Joshua's equality. Namely, Championhood. Why is it that, because you triumph in brawn and muscle, you are elevated above all others? Why is it that people bow down to murderers? Why is it that normal, strong people are looked upon as gods?"

He paused, eyeing everyone. "That is what these Champions are. They are drunk on power, everyone knows it. Just look at their palaces.

"So I have come up with a solution to the chaos; these Champions should be cast down, and instead, four new great Games. Many people wish for more than the average, boring Four. So, in its place, I give you the four new Games; the games of the future. Pest Control, Fight Pits, Fight Maze, and Frost of the Gods!" He gestured to the two Tzhars and the man, and they walked up. "We will be the champions, but yet we will be normal people. Let Games be just games, and no more!"

25-Jul-2007 15:49:52 - Last edited on 25-Jul-2007 16:15:58 by [#9PE5KKJ52]

[#9PE5KKJ52]

Posts: 10,884 Opal Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Joshua was frightened by the amount of people who cheered and clapped after his speech was over. He realized very quickly that if he didn't do something, and fast, he would lost the Games, and with it his life, to Xhou.

So he stood up, threw his goblet of wine on the floor, and bellowed, "I have a challenge!"

A huge gasp rang through the hall. All heads turned to face Joshua.

"This man," he fumed, walking towards Xhou, "Is the man who tried to kill me. Believe nothing of what he says! He wants power all to himself, and he will make up any sort of lie to get it."

"How dare you, Joshua?!" Xhou seethed. "You have no right to call me a murderer."

"You aren't a murderer because you haven't succeeded in killing me yet!" Joshua spat. "And my challenge is this: I will win each of your four Games, Xhou, and you will back down forever. If I lose even one of them, I will resign my post, and you can be the Game Champion. Who is with me?"

A long silence pervaded. Nobody said anything. Joshua sighed. "Then I-"

"I," Talmyr stood up. "I will help you, Joshua."

"And I, too will help you, Joshua," Sigea stood beside her husband-to-be.

"And me and Rah, too," Daren stood up and said proudly.

"It seems that I have little choice but to accept," Drake mused. "Let it be that the Four Champions shall re-unite to show, once and for all, why we are the Champions!"

There was immense cheering, and scowls from Xhou and his people. He plainly didn't want them all to unite against him.

"The world must be crumbling under my feet," Xhou attempted to get the people on his side one last time, "If we resort to playing Games for power!"

Joshua then walked up beside him, and whispered, yet all could hear him, "The whole world is a game, coward. If you don't wish to play, go back to whatever dung-hole you were spawned in and wait for those who are able to hold power."

25-Jul-2007 15:49:57 - Last edited on 25-Jul-2007 16:19:07 by [#9PE5KKJ52]

[#9PE5KKJ52]

Posts: 10,884 Opal Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

That got Xhou to accept. "I will accept your challenge, Joshua, on one condition: Sigea and Rah may not come. It will be the Four Champions versus the Four Champions."

"I look forward to our last fight, Xhou," Joshua gritted.

And so it was that the feast of the Kings ended in an uproar.

It was three days after the Feast. Joshua and the other Champions ready to go. At the moment, they were busy preparing, worrying, plotting, and crying over leaving their loved ones.

"Don't worry, Elyssa," Joshua said soothingly, "We will win. And I'll come back with such a gift you won't be able to refuse."

Elyssa wiped a tear out of her eye with a white handkerchief, and replied brokenly, "Xhou is going to do something. I don't want you to get hurt!"

"I won't, Elyssa," Joshua chided. "You know me too well." Then he turned to the others. "All right, guys, let's get this over with. The glider comes in an hour, and we will go straight to the Fight Pits. They have an advantage, as it is their game."

Talmyr paused from hugging a sobbing Sigea long enough to shout, "Down with Xhou!"

Daren bid a tearful farewell to Annie, and walked over to Joshua, fully armed as usual. "Xhou will pay, Joshua," Daren said fiercely. "Even if we lose, I will chase him to the end of the earth for what he has done." A iron-hard gleam was in his eye, uncharacteristic of Daren.

Drake, with nobody to bid goodbye, just threw his fedora on the ground in a dramatic gesture. "In Daren's words, Joshua," he said seriously, "He will pay."

Then they were off, walking down out of the Palace to confront their worst enemy.

Through this first walk, the adventure of their lives would begin.

They made it to the Glider port of Varrock, where they checked in and went to their private glider.

It was piloted by two Tz-hars with black sunglasses. They lowered them to him. The glider was large and black, and very sleek. The perfect speed vessel.

25-Jul-2007 15:50:01 - Last edited on 25-Jul-2007 16:19:47 by [#9PE5KKJ52]

[#9PE5KKJ52]

Posts: 10,884 Opal Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

They boarded the craft. Joshua let the others go in first. Before he closed the door, he waved farewell to the growing crowd watching them. Then he slammed it shut.

Laboriously, the glider turned and began to accelerate. It went faster and faster; and then, with a flash of black, it was gone, to fame and adventure.

"Wow, it's been a while since we have all worked together," Talmyr sighed, sitting back in his huge sofa. Tamlyr crawled around on his shoulder.

"Yep. The Four Champions." Drake sighed. "Remember when we had to face that Al-Kharidian mob that was trying to assassinate Joshua?"

"Why was it always me?" Joshua grumbled. "But yeah, those were the good old days."

"What about when we had to prove to the Zamorakian mages that we weren't holy enough to be sacrificed?" Daren added.

They ALL laughed on that one. "And when that Zamorakian," Drake sputtered with hilarity, "Told us that we weren't worthy, and then the others jumped on him and sacrificed him!"

"Ah, yeah, good times." Joshua sighed with frivolity.

One of the waiters came over to them. "Can I get you anything, good Champions?" He inquired.

"Sure, four beers and four cinnamon buns," Joshua waved him off.

"Beer tastes good with cinnamon," he said defensively.

* * * * *

It was four hours after they landed. They were escorted through the thick jungles of Karamja to the Tz-har caves.

"Ah, Karamja," Talmyr said with a dramatic sigh. "My homeland."

"Personally, it is rather disconcerting," Daren said, looking around fearfully. "You never know when some bat or huge tarantula will be on your back."

"I never really minded tarantulas." Talmyr pointed to a black spot on a tall, vine-choked tree. "There's one."

They all shied away from it.

They finally ascended the large volcano of Karamja, and climbed down the ladder into the Tz-har caves.

25-Jul-2007 15:50:08 - Last edited on 25-Jul-2007 16:20:29 by [#9PE5KKJ52]

[#9PE5KKJ52]

Posts: 10,884 Opal Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Thousands of Tz-hars were lined up, cheering or booing. Most of them were booing. The Tz-hars were allies of Xhou, so they didn't want him to win.

And there, standing at the end of the tunnel, stood Xhou. "Welcome, friends," he said, waving his hand. The Tz-har guards closed the gates.

"Follow me to your rooms." Xhou went off, followed by four angry Champions.

The four Champions soon found themselves sitting in stone chairs in a large, lava-lit cave full of Tz-har oddities, like obsidian swords, lava lamps (literally), and rugs made from the carcasses of demons.

"All right, according to my information," Joshua said, "The Fight Pits is pretty much like the Duel Arena. Xhou, and three Tz-hars will be fighting us, with an audience of Tz-hars and gnomes."

"Why gnomes?" Drake cut in. He leaned forward on the square stone table they were all sitting around.

"Apparently they have found some way to magically record and replay information; you know, like sound and light. It's like looking into a mirror, only you can see anything that was recorded at any time," Joshua explained with some impatience. "Anyway, we will get only obsidian weapons, and it is a huge place. After fifteen minutes, they release some monsters into the ring, and you have to fight your way to the gate. Obviously, this is fairly simple."

"What monsters?" Talmyr asked thoughtfully.

"There are some small bat-like creatures, some large, slow slug-like creatures, and some huge giants that shoot spines out of their necks." Joshua paused for effect. "It will be dangerous; but no more so than any other game we have played."

"I am ready," Daren said, that fierceness still in his eyes. "I can't wait to beat Xhou."

25-Jul-2007 15:50:12 - Last edited on 25-Jul-2007 16:25:00 by [#9PE5KKJ52]

[#9PE5KKJ52]

Posts: 10,884 Opal Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

"The Tz-har mages will equip us all with Rings of Life. If one of us dies, it will somehow resurrect us. So we won't be permanently dead. This goes for all the Games we will play. Got it?"

"Champions!" They all shouted. Then they went to their hard stone beds, pulling stuffed demon quilts tighter around them and waiting for the game to start.

The next morning (or rather, ten hours from when they went to sleep), they heard a knock on their door.

None of them had slept heavily, and they shot out of bed and got on clothes in the space of a minute. They soon appeared in the hallway.

A small Tz-har child stood there. "I will escort you to the arming cave." His voice was surprisingly deep and dry, like rocks scraped against each other. He walked off. The Four Champions followed, tense and ready for battle.

"Choose your weapons," a much larger Tz-har said gruffly when they arrived. On the wall there were hundreds of obsidian weapons.

Drake chose an Obsidian Scimitar, and swung it around to test it a bit. Daren, after looking at the weapons for a long time, chose two obsidian short-swords that could also be used as maces. Talmyr chose two obsidian daggers, and stuffed fifteen obsidian throwing rings and likewise of knives into his belt. Joshua chose a single Obsidian long sword, and an obsidian shield.

Then they were escorted out into a huge cavern, with thousands of cheering fans.

Two Tz-hars with staffs handed them each a Ring of Life, which they instructed the Champions to put on their index fingers. Then they disappeared in clouds of smoke, and the Four Champions were alone.

Then they saw Xhou. He was wielding a huge obsidian maul. His four-armed friends each had two shorts words.

"Let the GAME... BEGIN!" The announcer roared, and the eight competitors steeled themselves for their opponents' charge.

25-Jul-2007 15:50:17 - Last edited on 25-Jul-2007 16:26:27 by [#9PE5KKJ52]

[#9PE5KKJ52]

Posts: 10,884 Opal Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

They waited... and waited. Finally, one of the Tz-hars grew impatient and charged, flailing his weapons. Talmyr smirked at him, drew two knives, and hurled them with deadly accuracy.

They each hit the huge creature's chest. Blood fountained outwards, and the Tz-har roared with pain, falling over on his back. Blood flowed out of the wounds like water, staining the black rocks.

Then, suddenly, he disappeared. The crowd cheered.

Xhou's team was more careful after that. They looked around for cover, all the while suspiciously eyeing Talmyr and his razor-sharp daggers.

The cavern had hundreds of pools of lava, pillars of rock, and uneven deposits of obsidian. The perfect place for cover. However, Talmyr wouldn't let them off so easily. He had two rings ready, and he waited for one of them to make a move.

The crowd grew impatient. It was five minutes... six... seven... eight... nine... and still no action.

Then, out of nowhere, a massive, slug-like thing appeared in between the two teams. At first they thought nothing of it.

Then, eighty-five of them appeared, surrounding the combatants.

Joshua swore and slashed his sword at one of them, slashing across its blubbery back. The skin folded away, and yellowish-red stuff began to bubble out of the wound. It shrieked in a strangely high-pitched voice, and punched at Joshua with one of his four arms. Joshua blocked it, but it was so powerful that he was knocked to the ground.

Daren was like a whirlwind, swinging at monster after monster. Each wound he inflicted would always be on their face, and huge indents leaking fluids were seen on each monster he passed.

Talmyr jumped on one's back, and drew his daggers, stabbing his enemy's head. To his horror, the beast's skin melted away, and the whole enemy turned into a wave of yellowish slime.

Drake roared and attacked the beast that felled Joshua, hacking parts of arms and legs off it.

25-Jul-2007 15:50:22 - Last edited on 25-Jul-2007 16:26:49 by [#9PE5KKJ52]

[#9PE5KKJ52]

Posts: 10,884 Opal Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Joshua got up, and slashed at another one, then saw their objective: a gate nearly seven hundred yards away from them.

Apparently Xhou saw it too, for he began to hack his way through the enroaching slugs to reach it.

"We have to beat him!" Joshua shouted with urgency; and he began to wade through the enemies, slashing and kicking the enemies. He was invincible.

That was when they heard a deafening roar, and thirty gigantic beasts appeared.

The creatures were massive. They were grayish-blue skinned, with huge arms that led to even huger fists. On their backs were hardened patches of skin, for shooting spikes out of. Their heads were tiny, with no necks, no noses, and barely any eyes. They were slow and lumbering, as their massive torsos made them top-heavy.

Joshua barked a simple command. "Run!"

Nobody needed any persuasion. They all ran to the gateway, slashing at the giant slugs and casting fearful looks over their shoulders at the giants.

Then, there was a crashing noise, a cheer from the crowd, and a swishing sound. Talmyr looked up.

Nearly 300 spikes were flying towards them, each spike tipped with deadly poison!

He gulped and dove forward just as five spikes smashed into the rock where he had been standing only an instant before. They shattered on impact, sending shards of poison barbs in all directions.

One of Xhou's Tz-hars was struck by a piece of the shrapnel, and he fell with a roar of pain. He lay on the ground, twitching and convulsing, until he finally stopped.

All of the slugs went forwards to eat the body, but it disappeared.

Xhou was down to two.

Joshua grunted with anger as a slug that he had just slashed in half re-animated itself as a smaller slug, and blocked his path. He swung at it, but it slithered away too quickly.

Then Talmyr was there. He drew both his knives, and stabbed downwards with one of them at the thing. It moved away, but he threw his dagger at it before it could react.

25-Jul-2007 15:50:26 - Last edited on 25-Jul-2007 16:27:37 by [#9PE5KKJ52]

[#9PE5KKJ52]

Posts: 10,884 Opal Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

It disappeared in a bubbly, yellowish froth.

Then Xhou's team and Joshua's team converged. Xhou looked fearful. He wasn't going to win.

Joshua smirked at him, and lunged with his sword. Xhou parried it quickly, and dove to the side. He then tried to rip Joshua's ring off.

Joshua heard another swishing sound, and looked up. His suspicion was confirmed. He jumped to the side, dropping his ring.

Xhou looked triumphant. Then he was speared by an arrow.

Joshua smiled, picked up his Ring of Life, and put it back on. He then turned to the others.

The last Tz-har was fighting valiantly, swinging at anything that moved. Drake lunged in, trying to stab his back, but it turned around, and blocked with one of his shields. Then Daren tried to break his shield, but the Tz-har swung his sword at Daren's, and knocked it out of the way.

Joshua ran up, grim-faced, and attacked the Tz-har's back. It turned. Exactly what he wanted. It began to swing down on him. The sword was coming closer... closer...

And then he swung so hard at it that it went flying into a pool of lava. The Tz-har took one fearful look at the rest of them, then bellowed in terror, and jumped into the lava pool, gibbering and screeching.

Then, suddenly, all of the monsters disappeared. The Four Champions looked around uncertainly.

And then, the walls and floor of the cavern went out of focus and blurry.

The Four Champions appeared in the middle of a massive, cheering crowd, with their swords still bloody and their faces still sweaty. Thousands of gnomes with glowing blue Orbs swarmed around them, asking questions and getting shots of themselves with them. Some Tz-hars cheered for them too, all four arms up in the air. There were even humans there, cheering along with them. They slapped the Champions on the back and asked for their autographs.

25-Jul-2007 15:50:31 - Last edited on 25-Jul-2007 16:27:55 by [#9PE5KKJ52]

[#9PE5KKJ52]

Posts: 10,884 Opal Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Finally they got out of the swarming mayhem, and sat down at a long, stone table with some old, huge Tz-hars and Xhou at the end. They took chairs.

"You won the first Game," Xhou said acidly. "Fight Maze is tomorrow. Go get sleep."

"How did it feel?" Joshua asked innocently.

"What?" Xhou turned, his face a mask of anger.

"Getting speared by one of your own creatures."

"You won't be so cocky when I've won, and you are all dead," Xhou said maliciously.

"What did I say?" Joshua asked, spreading his hands out.

Everyone laughed after Xhou left.

"Well, we all did very well today," Joshua complimented Drake, Talmyr, and Daren when they were back in their room. They were sitting around that stone table again, with four plates of Toad Battas. Xhou's idea of a joke.

Drake poked one side of the Batta with a stone fork. It moved after he took his fork away. He shuddered. "Yeah, we did. Xhou is mad. I think he will try to bend the rules somehow."

Talmyr was digging into the Batta. "I always eat toad," he explained to the three other Champions. "It is a delicacy on Karamja."

"Well, I think that Xhou will lose," Daren said. His eyes still had that hard look, one that unfazed the others. "We defeated him at the Fight Pits; it was a breeze."

"Anyone know how to find their way around a maze?" Joshua asked acidly.

Nobody said a word. "If we lose even one, our career is over," he said reprovingly. "Surely, one of you must be able to."

"You, Joshua," Drake exclaimed after a moment's thought.

"What?"

"Remember in the Wilderness? When you and your team were in that Lava Maze. You found your way out in less than an hour. Even with those Dragons chasing you."

"I suppose I did," Joshua conceded, "But it would be good to have a back-up person, in case something happens to me."

25-Jul-2007 16:28:04 - Last edited on 25-Jul-2007 16:30:20 by [#9PE5KKJ52]

Forums

A Tale of Four Champions