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Fireheart449

Fireheart449

Posts: 1,028 Mithril Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
We (yes, even the Pokey Lady) ambled towards the bank. The three of them approach the bankers standing behind the bank booths. I stuff my sword, my shield, my boots, and all my random junk into the leather bag. Then I offer the entire bag to another banker in gray uniform, who is staring at me rather apathetically. Talk about ennui.

“How may I help you?”

“Uh…”

“Name?” The banker rolls his eyeballs. His irises are gray, the same shade as his uniform. How bizarre.

“Freak449,” I answer, not so sure about the whole bank procedure.

“Ah, vault #3948939. Yes, sir. We’ll have it safe in our bank until you return. Good day!” The banker snatches the bag from me with unusual venom. I turn around to find Fireheart, Redseed, and even the Pokey Lady. I refuse to call her by her real name, which sounds sweet but is completely, utterly and unreservedly wrong in that respect!

They’re all outside, having had quicker, practiced transactions with the bankers. I trudge outside the crowded bank and elbow my way through people to join them. On each of their faces is a troubling anxiety. If they’re worried, I should be triply worried.

The Pokey Lady’s trademark axe and armor are gone. Fireheart appears weaponless though she still has her leather bag. Redseed is barehanded. The three of them finally notice me watching them with concern.

“We’re heading to Edgeville,” Redseed tells me. I remember when Fireheart and Redseed had been answering my questions earlier and how they had mentioned all the different towns yet to be visited.

Edgeville. I think I got it.

“Edgeville is right next to the wilderness, right?” I ask dryly. They all cheerfully nod at me. Figures. I mean it has to be the edge of something! Pokey Lady suddenly takes me by the elbow, and I, about to protest furiously, glance at her.

19-Aug-2010 22:01:45 - Last edited on 23-Nov-2010 19:04:51 by Fireheart449

Fireheart449

Fireheart449

Posts: 1,028 Mithril Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
“Off we go!” Then she drags me off without any warning. I wail, but Fireheart and Redseed merely watch with amusement. They fall some distance behind until the two of them catch up by sprinting skillfully after the Pokey Lady and me.

My shoulder! My shoulder! “Let me go, woman!”

“Stop being a prat. You should be glad we’re dragging you along!”

“I can walk! Let go! Geez, someone get this woman off me!”

“Off you? What are you talking about? I’ve just got your arm is all!” Her cheerful banter bothers me. My shoulder is going to be yanked off at this rate...

“Aw, Dawn, slow down. The kid’s going to end up all stretched out at the speed you’re going!” Redseed yells. His grin is maniacal and unsympathetic. I bet he’d be more empathetic if he were in the same position I’m in. But Fireheart is the reasonable one. I got stuck with the crazy sister.

Still being hauled along unceremoniously by the Pokey Lady, I watch Fireheart whisper something that makes Redseed laugh. They both have secretive looks on. Grr. I hate conspiracy.

My dignity has suffered so much because of this--oooh, another bank! Pokey Lady suddenly stops, and I fall over to plant my face in the dirt. Curse you, law that says an object in motion stays in motion unless acted upon by an outside force. I guess even the Pokey Lady doesn’t have enough force to stop me properly. NOOOOO! I hate physics. Or do I?

“What are you doing down there? Saying hello to the earthworms?” Pokey Lady sighs. Unlike her sister, she does not offer to help me up in any way. Miffed by her rudeness, I wipe the dirt from my face and sit in the grass.

Redseed and Fireheart are laughing hysterically. I’m coming to love them not so much. Laughing at a poor noob’s plight is not a very nice thing to do. Though…I probably do look ridiculous.

19-Aug-2010 22:03:09

Fireheart449

Fireheart449

Posts: 1,028 Mithril Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
“So,” I say, "this is Edgeville.” There are various building, small and big scattered in the area. The most noticeable is the enormous, crumbling building in the distance. The terrain is flat and grassy. Fun.

“Do you want to explore?” Redseed offers as if this small kindness would make up for his cruelty to me. I take up the offer with enthusiasm.

“Sure.” I’ll be glad to get away from the Pokey Lady. The Lady, in question, is glowering at me. She must know I don’t like her.

“Don’t wander too far,” Fireheart warns. “Especially underground.”

“Right. Not too far nor underground.” I skip away, happy to be free from duty for a while. The three higher levels fade into the distance. First, I make my way to the graveyard. Actually, it’s more ruins than anything. It’s not a place I’d want to live in. There are coffins, begging for me to open them. I deny my curiosity.

I don’t want some evil creature on my tail after all. My steps continue onward as I explore this dead, dank, dark place. Oh, a tree! Pokey Lady had pointed this type out on our journey to Edgeville. A yew, she had said.

“Owwww! Ow! Ow ow ow!” My steps falter at the touch of pointy things, and I stare at the plants beneath my feet. Nettles. My soft shoes were no match for the razor-bladed nettles. Hopping away, I delicately pick one out of the bottom of my shoe and stare at the yew tree. It must be the tallest tree in Runescape, maybe even the oldest.

I do wonder what this place was called; I even wondered about the people who must have once worked or lived here. A sigh escapes me. How could I? I couldn’t remember my own past, never mind the past of a place new to me. One day, I might come back and ask around.

19-Aug-2010 22:05:19

Fireheart449

Fireheart449

Posts: 1,028 Mithril Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
A shiver suddenly ripples up my spine; it tells me it’s time to head back. The gloominess of the place is getting to me now. I scurry out of there, eyeing a bright white horse with a horn coming out of its forehead. The unicorn doesn’t look aggressive, but I take the long way coming back to my little group just to avoid the magical creature that may or may not be lethal. I don’t want to return to Lumbridge now.

Fireheart’s gaze makes me pause. In her eyes, there’s determination glimmering like solid steel. Redseed is alert and on his feet. Even Pokey Lady looks ready for any peril. I, however, am quivering where I stand.

“We’re going now, aren’t we?” I say shakily.

“Yes, Freak, but we’ll all come out to Lumbridge when we die.”

“When…not if?”

“Who knows.” Redseed’s smile is not reassuring as usual. The Pokey Lady declines from making any comment. I guess even she is as terrified as I am. Well, perhaps not as much as I am but scared nonetheless. For the first time, I give her a kind glance. She returns the smile. Holy Saradomin. That’s a pretty smile…

Unnerved, I turn my thoughts to the wilderness. The Pokey Lady or the wilderness? Neither train of thought strikes me as particularly appealing.

~End of Chapter 8~

19-Aug-2010 22:07:46

Dawn719

Dawn719

Posts: 111 Iron Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
Chapter 9 The Wilderness

I stepped into official wilderness territory. Actually, it was more falling into it as my attempt to jump over the ditch (that separated the wild from safety) went ugly. All three of the others had to pull me (half in and half out of the ditch) to my feet.

“Great start,” the Pokey Lady mutters.

“It’s his first time,” Fireheart protests. She doesn’t say anything further as her eyes are scanning the dark terrain. I look out there. Emptiness. Dead trees. More emptiness. Somehow, I had expected something more exciting.

“Let’s go.” Redseed leads us all and Fireheart takes up the rear. She’s still surveying our surroundings. Does she expect an ambush? I can see nothing but space and dead trees. The sky, however, is growing darker as we move deeper. I don't like it.

“Wait!” Fireheart hisses. "Get down.” She gets low to the ground. Redseed and the Pokey Lady are already in similar positions. I, meanwhile, am standing like a nitwit. I fall into a crouch and scuff my knees on the dark pebbles that make up the grounds of the wilderness.

*What is it?” Pokey Lady says in a whisper. Not even a whisper. Her words are so light that I barely catch them.

“Movement,” Fireheart replies in a just as quiet voice. I look where she’s looking. There are two figures tramping more or less towards us, on their way south. “They’re not monsters. Players.”

Hold on a sec. MONSTERS? I want to scream my question, but instead I ask it in a whisper to my closest companion: Redseed. “There are monsters?”

Redseed puts a finger to his lips. "Yes, but the greatest monsters of all are the player killers that kill noobs. Monsters can’t do higher level thinking, but we…well, we’re different. Hush.”

22-Aug-2010 00:43:04

Dawn719

Dawn719

Posts: 111 Iron Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
The four of us wait. Eventually, two people pass us by from a distance of about fifty meters. Their faces are in shadow, and cloudy skull shapes hover above their heads. More questions grip me, but I resist. Fireheart gives a weird signal and my three companions slink off toward a bunch of dead trees; they move so low to the ground that my knees hurt watching them. Fireheart waits for me until I catch up.

The Pokey Lady braces her back against a tree. I do the same, wincing when I kick up dust. The two figures stop. A fat lot of help I am! I think I’ve given us away. Then when the two people continue on their way, Fireheart stands. She watches them disappear.

“They’re gone,” she confirms.

“Why did they have skull clouds over their heads?” I ask.

“People are marked with skulls after they kill other Runescapians,” Fireheart explains. She then sprints after Redseed who has gone ahead while we stood around. I stumble after with the Pokey Lady close behind me. Her proximity doesn’t bother me for once. If we’re attacked, she’ll be my shield! That isn’t a nice thought even if I don’t like her one bit.

The rest of our trek is uneventful. We see no one and nothing. Redseed and Fireheart seem to know the wilderness so well that we run into no monsters and stay far from places where other Runescapians might gather. There’s a bandit camp out here, the Pokey Lady tells me with a strange enthusiasm, and a Dark Fortress.

When people start to bandy around the word "dark,” I get nervous. Hmm, it is rather dark out here. The ground. The sky. The terrain ahead. Gloomy. All reeking of inevitable death. The trees were dead too and the bushes shriveled. The few pools of water we passed looked stagnant and slightly greenish: not where I would like to get my water. Overall, this is a very dismal place. Not to mention terrifying.

22-Aug-2010 00:44:40 - Last edited on 23-Nov-2010 19:06:38 by Dawn719

Dawn719

Dawn719

Posts: 111 Iron Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
“There they are,” whispers Fireheart. Her words send chills up and down my spine. Ah! Crunchy! I jump when I feel something odd under my foot. Oh. Pebble. The Pokey Lady glowers at me for making a noise. The shadowy figures meters away have stopped moving. Whoops.

As my eyes adjust further to the gloom (and doom) of the wilderness, I see a bunch of noobs as ill-equipped as I am running about with pick-axes and rocks in sacs. Beyond them, supervising them, stand three figures in light blue armor. One has a bright red weapon, and I recognize it as a dragon scimitar like the one that Kenshin had once so idiotically brandished.

“They’re making those noobs lug rocks around,” I say. I feel stupid when the Pokey Lady rolls her eyes.

“Rocks indeed. Ores. Rune and coal ores. The money you can make with those ores…” She shakes her head, stunned into silence. Blessed silence.

Suddenly, Fireheart stands and smoothly slinks her way to a rock that’s her height. She is crouched comfortably behind it. Redseed sneaks over to sit beside her, and the other…person, I suppose, crawls along to join them. Leaving me. With one nervous eye on the three menacing figures in blue, I tiptoe oh-so-carefully to kneel behind Fireheart. I do so with the grace of kitty-cat.

“Ha!” I mutter in triumph. I made it! Pride falleth on chickens that goeth near me. Or something like that. I vaguely remember a Christmas tree that fell on me, but that’s beside the point. Perhaps that one was a dream. Anyway, my shout actually makes all three blue dudes jerk around and scan the perimeter. We all flatten against the rock Fireheart cleverly picked out for us. Not one of my companions scolds me even though we’re terrified and trapped thanks to me.

22-Aug-2010 00:45:59

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