Jumpeplowski

There's more. Sorry, it was so late, I had it written but the forums went all stupid on me. :?

Another addition... A relatively long one. Enjoy.

Finally got to continuing this.

Don't worry, you'll find out. It's unfinished. The next addition will probably be up tomorrow, by the way.

Continued. Been a while.

Unfortunately, the quality of it is pretty yucky, but here is my latest signature that I made with the help of my friend Faeroph (who is the one getting 'banlowskied'). I'll be able to get a better quality one soon enough, so if you like what you're seeing, keep an eye on this thread. 'Banlowskied' is a term I use with my friends which means basically the same as 'owned'. A play on the words 'ban' and 'Jumpeplowski'.

Not bad! Two flaws in the history of the game though: the Wilderness wasn't immediately released with the game, it used to have pking mode on/off option that could only be changed 3 times. You could attack users anywhere in the world if you both it on. And the huge axe of Zezima's, which I assume to be Dharoks, but might not be true, wasn't released until sometime last year. I enjoyed it.

Continued again early... Glad everyone's liking it.

Continued.

It sounds like a book report. :| Put more detail in. And it's Saradomin, not Saridoman. Sounds like 'sorry, dough man.'

Thanks for the advice. I'll try to improve on that. Only a short addition today.

Continued from the first post. The lobby became less and less crowded as people left through the entrance. I eventually left the doors, only to be greeted by a woman in ghostly robes with brown hair running down to her shoulders. She threw her arms around me. What the? "You did it!" she said. I immediately recognized her voice to be Sariel's. I felt a huge sense of relief knowing that she was alive. It made me wonder about Damai and Ervon. But then I remembered that Damai had helped me kill the mage, so he must have been around somewhere. She let me go. "It's great to see you! Do you know if the others are around?" "Ervon was with me when we were brought here. And Damai was with you. Oh, and none of them are outside yet, I checked," she added quickly. "Great, let's wait here." We stood outside the entrance off to the right at the end of the bridge. Someone who I didn't recognize approached me. I was prepared to suddenly realize that it was Ervon or Damai. "Thank you, sir," he said, and then walked away. Sariel and I looked at each other. "I think you'd better be prepared for a lot more than that." She had a point. This was huge. Newspapers would most definitely write about the incident-- it was probably one of the biggest disasters in hundreds of years. And I was what ended it. But I couldn't have done it without Damai. Or Sariel or Ervon, as a matter of fact. I may have dealt the most obvious blow to the mage but I would probably be dead if it weren't for my companions. Damai and Ervon walked out together. That didn't take long. I had recognized Damai from earlier games. I noticed that Ervon had black hair of average length, which was hidden by his cloak during the game. "Great job! You saved all of us... I don't know how to thank you!" said Ervon. "You don't need to. We all did it. We all helped get rid of him," I said. There was a brief. silence. "Uh, have you seen Lanthus anywhere?" asked Damai. I had forgotten about him. The four of us looked towards the entrance to the lobby. It was nearly empty now, with most of the people outside on the grass in front of the arena. We walked towards it. As I entered, I noticed small blood stains on the ground as well as a few people lying in the lobby. Among them was the Saradominist warrior that had helped us reach our standard in the tunnels, the shoulder of her amour bent and destroyed. She held her wounded left shoulder with her other arm and sat with her back against the wall. Also among the injured was Lanthus, lying on the ground by the Guthix portal. Ervon ran up to him with Sariel and Damai behind him and me behind them. His face looked pale, but he had no signs of injuries. "He has a pulse," said Damai, holding Lanthus' wrist. "But he's definitely unconscious. We'd better get him to a hospital." Nearly everyone here needed to go to a hospital. As if on cue, a group of men wearing white amour resembling that of Falador's white knights entered the lobby with four men and women in white gowns and a hat with a red cross on it behind them, two with stretchers. Doctors. One of the soldiers was at the front with red trim on his amour, which I assumed to be the leader of the bunch. "What happened here?" Ervon walked over as the doctors spread out, crouching over the injured, and the guards doing the same. Ervon and the captain spoke in low voices in the corner of the room as the others did their work. Sariel motioned to the side door of the lobby, leading to the viewing wall. "Want to go have a look?" she asked. I nodded. "Sure," said Damai. We left Lanthus with the healers and proceeded to the northern door. Sariel opened it and Damai closed it behind us. Across the river to the right was more of the guards and healers crouched over bodies, some of the guards interrogating people. Many of the people were weeping over the deaths of so many individuals. We climbed the steps to stacks of smoke in the distance spread around the arena. The fronts of both castles were ruined, piles of bricks and wood all over the ground. Part of the north wall was broken as well. There were arrows in the ground and corpses everywhere, along with weapons and pieces of amour. The earth was scarred with the trail left by the powerful spell of the hooded mage's. The river was now flowing through the fissures but still managing to continue to exit the arena by its normal path. Only two of the towers were intact, one of them completely destroyed and the other damaged by both the Zamorakian catapult and the spell. The west tower on which the mage was slain was now empty. I looked at the other two, their hair blowing in the wind. "His corpse is gone," said Sariel, practically reading my mind. "I know. But he can't still be alive. There's no way." "Yeah," said Damai. "He's obviously not of this world. He probably disintegrated or something." I nodded. I took one last look at the arena and then began climbing down the stairs, Sariel and Damai behind me. I pulled the door open and saw that they had already gotten most of the injured out of the lobby. The guard captain was in front of me, giving orders to his guards. "...and Vincent, give them a hand with that stretcher." He turned, faced me and stopped. He stuck out his hand and smiled. "Well done, well done. That was very brave of you," he said. I noticed Ervon beside him who must have told the captain about what I had done. "Thank you, sir." "I am certain that the king of Ardougne would like to meet you. If you would follow me, it would be an honour." I looked back at Sariel and Damai. "Go ahead," said Sariel, smiling. I hesitated. "Where will I find you again?" "We'll probably all be staying at the Dragon Inn in Yanille." "Okay then, I'll see you later." And with that, the two of us left the lobby. ----- Questions? Comments? Concerns? Mistakes?

Another story of mine. Please let me know if you see *any* mistakes. IS THIS STORY INTIMIDATINGLY MASSIVE? A tip: Copy and paste it into Word and put it in a small font, then print it for reading later. Enjoy. A Game Too Much By Jumpeplowski The man in Dragon armour with a red hood and cape ran through the tunnel towards the central area. He held a blue standard with the symbol of Saradomin in his right hand. He glanced behind him. My colleagues dashed down the tunnel after the man. I ran behind the first man, his cape waving in front of me. Four people ran behind me, the one behind me was Damai, then two warriors I didn't recognize and the one at the rear with a bow in her hand. She nocked an arrow and lifted her bow in the standard carrier's direction. The arrow flew forward and bounced off the tunnel wall quietly. The target reached to his side and pulled out a vial of orange liquid, which he lifted and smashed on the wall to his left. The vial exploded, sending vibrations throughout the tunnels. The wall collapsed, blocking our route. Damai and I looked at each other helplessly. Through the small opening in the collapsed rocks, we saw the man smile and keep running and arrive in the central room, only to face yet another enemy wearing blue. He blocked the nearest ladder. The man in blue raised his arms, and the standard bearer was surrounded by a cube of ice. He fell to the ground as soon as the ice released him, dropping the standard. Yes. A man in our group took out his Bronze pickaxe and began mining the rocks at a surprisingly fast rate. Just as the Ancient mage reached for the standard, he saw to his right a group of about nine Zamorakians, among them, an archer. He let go of his bowstring and the arrow soared towards the mage, hitting him in the chest. The mage flinched as it hit him but did not let it stop him from releasing another attack towards the enemy group. He raised his arms and immediately several of them were surrounded by cubes of ice. They collapsed when the ice released them, but several of them got up again. The archer in our group took aim at one of them and, this time, hit him directly in the forehead. Another enemy arrow hit the Ancient mage, and this time, he fell to the ground and then disappeared. The standard lay in the middle alone. "Not good," Damai said. Just then, feet appeared on the ladder to the left, and a man bearing a blue cape and hood as well as brown robes jumped down the trapdoor. He looked around the room, looking confused, and hesitated before grabbing the standard lying in the middle, and scrambling up the second ladder. An arrow bounced off the wooden trapdoor that had just been shut. While we had just finished clearing the tunnel, the enemy group ran up the ladder that the confused Saradominist had just left from. One member of the group went not up the ladder but towards us, only to find out that his group was not following him. He turned back, but was too late. A Dragon longsword slashed the side of his chest and he collapsed and disappeared. The world around me suddenly blurred and was replaced by the familiar sight of a crowded Castle Wars arena entrance. The feeling of my hood and cape suddenly gone had been felt again. I checked my bag and felt a sense of satisfaction when I saw two Castle Wars tickets inside. I walked over to the bank chest and opened it up, placing my tickets among the other ones that I had collected from previous games and then shut the wooden chest. People were running towards their favorite god's portal, often there were struggles getting into them, people fighting the force pushing outwards from the portal which was caused by too many people on one team. This time there was a crowd of people struggling to get into Saradomin's blue portal. Losers always want to be on the winner's team... I saw Damai walk in his trimmed Rune amour towards the chest. He paused when he saw me. "Saradomin looks packed. I'm not sure if we'll both be able to end up on the same team," he said "though let's try." I looked at the Saradomin portal crowd again. There were squeals of excitement every time someone walked near the Zamorak or Guthix portals. "Let's." I stepped towards the blue portal and found an area clear of people. They were leaning against the force of the portal. It looked like they were leaning on air. I walked towards it, despite the disappointed sighs and complaints of the crowd and, sure enough, was met with a surge of force pushing me away. Every few seconds, someone would react both in surprise and joy when they realized that they no longer had any force to push against and fell in the portal. "The next game will begin in two minutes!" Lanthus, the Castle Wars owner announced. There were groans of impatience from the crowd. Lanthus had done a wonderful job of creating Castle Wars. The entire arena is filled with spells that keep the game both safe and fun. The most notable, though, is that actual death or pain within the game does not exist. Should a sword pierce your chest, you will not feel a thing. If you are victim of an attack that would kill you in real life, you will collapse and reappear inside your base's fortress. There are spells keeping enemies from entering your own revival room, spells that return your standard to your base should you be holding it while inside it, spells keeping players from taking their own standard, spells that set a time limit on each game, spells that only allow certain items in the game and many more that have gone unmentioned. Castle Wars is a vault for spells. The one that I was currently fighting against suddenly receded and I fell into the portal. I appeared on the ground in a cave full of people wearing blue capes and hoods. There was another blue portal behind me. There were also several sheep and rabbits in the cave. The Saradomin waiting room. I stood up and scanned the room. Damai was not around. Lanthus' voice echoed throughout the cave. "The next game will begin in one minute!" Come on...Damai was a good friend of mine, whom I had met in another game of Castle Wars. He, unlike many other people, didn't follow one particular god. He didn't care whether he was on Saradomin or Zamorak, however he did like to follow me into whatever team I was joining. It was usually Saradomin, because I prefer him slightly over Zamorak, and the Zamorakians on that team tend to be a little more aggressive. I was occasionally on the Zamorak team if the Saradomin one was very crowded. I played a few games with Damai on the opposite team, but I preferred having him on my side. For now he was not here. I feared that he might decide to keep trying until the game started and not be able to play at all. I waited for a few more seconds and then I was suddenly in the revival room. Damai had not made it. People were rushing towards the table of bandages and out the door. I took eight and then stepped through the glowing blue door. To my left was a ladder that I descended to the equipment room. There were more tables there. There was rope, explosive potions, barricades, rocks, repair kits, and plenty of other useful supplies. I grabbed a few explosive potions, a Bronze pickaxe and then proceeded down the ladder in the corner of the room to the tunnels. Left or right? Right. I decided quickly. I stopped before a pile of rocks blocking the tunnel and a man in rune amour and a woman in robes that were almost transparent, which I recognized to be Ghostly robes. Hopefully she was another Ancient mage. Both were mining at the pile of rocks. I decided to help them. "Good day," the man said. "Hello." I couldn't think of anything to say. The last of the rocks were pushed aside, and we walked through. We ignored the ladders in the central room and started to mine the rocks on the opposite side. As I was mining, through the small opening over the pile I saw movement. It was a Zamorakian wearing white Desert robes and that had a huge stone maul in both his hands that was running towards us. I looked at the mage next to me, who looked up through the opening in mid-swing. The Zamorakian's eyes widened, and he stopped in his tracks. The mage lifted her arms exactly the way the Ancient mage that had killed the standard carrier in the last game had. The Zamorakian was not surrounded by a cube of ice, but a white cylinder. I recognized it as another Ice spell, but slightly weaker than the last one that I had seen. The Zamorakian was frozen nonetheless, and the ice released him. I felt a sense of satisfaction when he hit the ground, and then continued mining the rocks. "Uh," the mage said as the last of the rocks were cleared, her eyes still on her last victim. I glanced down the tunnel. The body was still there, face-down. "He's still here!" I said. "Not for long," said the warrior as he lifted his Dragon longsword above his head. Before I knew it, the sword was in the Zamorakian's back. But near the tip of the blade, the colour of the sword was dark red, as well as the robe around the area that he was stabbed in. What?! This is not supposed to happen! The spells that are in this arena protect all players from harm! Players are supposed to be transported back to their revival room once they get dealt damage that kill them! I was staring at the bloody corpse of a Zamorakian. "Something is seriously wrong here. No one is supposed to die in this game." said the warrior, his face not hiding his shock. He pulled his blade out of the body and examined it. A voice suddenly echoed through the tunnel. "What the...?!" I looked to my right. A ranger in black dragonhide leather amour was staring at the corpse. He bore the Zamorakian colours. "How did... did you do this?" he asked, his voice trembling. "I don't know!" the mage said. "You destroyed the arena's magic!" said the ranger, taking aim at the mage. "No! No! Wait! I didn't want to kill him! He wasn't supposed to die!" she said, panic in her voice. "If the magic is gone," said the warrior "then we're all in grave danger. We need to get out of here, and fast." Without any further conversation, we each ran off in our own team's directions. I followed the tunnel that I had dug out earlier and let the mage go first. Even in situations like this I had time for gentlemanliness. I climbed up after her, and found the equipment room deserted. We ran past the tables to the other end of the room, heading for the second ladder. Once my head was up, I saw that the revival room had no energy barriers. I felt my heartbeat quicken. I ran after the mage into the revival room and looked at the corner. The portal was gone. The game's magic was disappearing. The barriers were gone, the portal was gone and people were getting killed. "This doesn't make any sense! This was all here when we started the game!" said the warrior next to me. I glanced to my left. The bandage table was empty. Magic was responsible for recreating items as they were taken. "You don't think the person that I killed had anything to do with it?" said the mage. It was a possible cause for this, but the Zamorakian didn't seem different in any way. "I don't know. But there are other ways out. Teleportation, for instance. And that wall," I pointed out the door to the east wall. "We can reach that wall from the third floor." The other two nodded. We walked towards the ladder in the center of the room, once again letting the mage go first. She pushed the trapdoor open and climbed up. I went next and then helped the warrior up. From the third floor, there was a great view of the battlefield. There were three or four more corpses on the ground and dozens of warriors standing confused. We looked onto the floor below and saw a few people running towards the revival room, only to discover, as we did, that the portal was gone. I peeked over the edge of the third floor onto the wall to our east. We could drop down onto it and escape by climbing down the other side of the wall and see what was happening in the lobby. I put my hands on the wall then lifted my body over, still holding the edge. I let go and dropped clumsily a couple feet to the ground. It wasn't long before my two companions joined me. We were on the very outer wall of the arena. The warrior stepped forward to peek over the outside edge, and suddenly was met with a wall of electricity that hurled him back against the castle with a loud clang. The wall quickly disappeared. "Holy! Are you alright?" asked the mage rushing to his side. He sat his back against the wall. He coughed and reached to his shoulder and pulled off the strap in his platebody. He tossed the platebody to his side which landed on its front revealing a huge dent in the back. He rolled onto his back and coughed again, holding his chest. I didn't know what to do, and felt like a total idiot just standing there. I thought of the bandages in my backpack. I pulled out one and crouched over him. "Argh," he gasped "what was that?" "It looks like there's a barrier surrounding the arena. I didn't know that there was." "There wasn't. That has never been there before. I've seen arrows shot out the arena in previous games." said the mage. I didn't know much about healing wounds, but I knew that bandages did help. "Where does it hurt?" I asked the warrior. "The back... It knocked the wind out of me and my amour bent into my back." he took off his shirt. There was a scar running down his back from the upper right to the lower left. I unrolled some of the bandages and began wrapping it around his chest. "No-- not like that," said the mage. She took the bandages from me and began wrapping it from the shoulder. I paid no attention to how she did the rest. She asked me for more bandages, which I handed to her. "So, the magic in Castle Wars is gone and we have a barrier surrounding the arena. My bet is that someone, perhaps Lanthus himself, has used the magic in the arena to make a barrier around it," said the mage. "This is just too well planned to be coincidental." It was possible. But once again, I didn't care too much about what was happening, rather how to get out. The mage tied the last of the bandages. "Thanks. That feels a bit better," said the warrior. He put his shirt back on and stood up. "Now," he said "I need to get myself another platebody." "Rather, what you need is to get yourself out," said the mage. "We have yet to try teleporting, and I have a ring of dueling with me." She took off her Ghostly glove and showed the emerald ring on her finger. "Well, you're bloody welcome to try it yourself! I'm not going through that again!" said the warrior. "If they're smart enough to figure out how to form a barrier around Castle Wars, they probably would have though of teleportation, don't you think?" "It's worth a try," I said. "Is it?" "Want to try teleporting with my ring, uh," "Jumpeplowski. Or Jump." "Oh. I'm Sariel. Would you like to?" Would you like to? The result could be more disastrous than what had just happened. Then again, it could teleport me out. I reached for Sariel's extended hand and took the ring and examined it. I gave it a soft rub and thought, Al Kharid Duel Arena. I though it would be best to go far away instead of directly next to the danger. Who knows what the lobby looked like if the arena was in this state? The ring exploded in a puff of smoke. I pulled back my hand in alarm. I hadn't gone anywhere. My gold glove was covered in ash. "At least we know," I said, brushing my hands together making a small cloud of ash. "So, whoever did this wants us to sit around the arena and do what? Starve to death? No one's attacking each other any more," said the warrior. "What do you suppose happens after the end of the game?" asked Sariel. "Perhaps we could--" I was interrupted by a loud noise that sounded like one of the teleportation sounds, except much louder. I spun around to face the noise and saw that there was a large ball of blue light imploding on the central island of the arena to reveal a man in black robes and a hood over his head standing on one of the towers. All three of us glanced at each other, then turned our attention back to the man in the center of the arena. I could make out a crude black staff in his hand. All that he was wearing was black and his face was hidden. From the massive teleportation spell that he used, it seemed that he had great magical power. "Participants of Castle Wars," he said, his deep voice echoing throughout the arena. "You may have noticed that this particular round is unlike any that you have played before." It most certainly is. "Sixteen minutes of the game remain. Play this game as though it were a regular one. When the time runs out, the losers will be killed." I looked back at our group, all our eyes open wide. We looked back at the hooded man. Behind him on the battlefield, a ranger bearing the colours of Saradomin and wearing red dragonhide amour nocked an arrow on his Magic bow and took aim at the hooded man. The ranger let go and the arrow soared towards his head. That's the end of the hooded mage, I thought. I was wrong. He spun around as the arrow was inches from his head and grabbed it in midair and threw it on the floor next to him. He then raised his arm in the ranger's direction. A huge jet of light blue energy erupted from his palm towards the Saradominist that had fired the arrow. In an instant, the spell reached the ranger and the entire arena began to vibrate. The hooded mage held the spell in his direction for several seconds before releasing it quickly. In the ranger's place was a small crater. The hooded mage addressed the arena once again. "Should there be a tie, both teams will be killed. Try to escape as they did," he raised a finger in our direction, and I felt dozens of eyes on us. I felt my heart sink and my legs feel numb, expecting a similar spell to destroy us, but he lowered his arm. "Then the barrier will deal with you." And with that, he performed the massive teleportation spell again, a huge blue sphere growing and fading at the same time until it was gone along with the hooded mage. There was silence throughout the arena for several seconds. I glanced back at my two companions. Half the arena and all the casualties from the game were not going to leave alive. "Look on the bright side, a lot of our questions are answered, and we're not entirely doomed," said the warrior. "Now for the dark side: we're stuck in an arena controlled by a super-powerful mage, over half the arena is going to get killed by the end of the game and there's a chance that the entire arena does. I think the dark side outweighs the bright one by several tons," said Sariel. There was no better way to describe it. I glanced up at our standard. The blue cloth flapped in the wind. That was what we needed to protect. I then glanced in the direction of Zamorak's castle. I could make out a wooden pole with a red piece of cloth at the end. We needed to reach it and bring it back to our standard holder and survive doing it. This was insane. Why the hooded mage had wanted us to do this was beyond me, but I decided that I would try and find out later. Or never. For now, I wanted our team to get the standard and come back with it. I was about to leave for the battlefield when I remembered that the warrior was missing chest amour. "Where do you suppose we can get another platebody, uh," I waited for him to give me his name. "Ervon. I was thinking that we could take it off a corpse or something. Not like they'll be needing it any more," he said. Of course. I felt bad stealing from people but they were dead after all. We needed to get back in the inner arena and off the walls. The only possible exit was dropping down onto the battlefield. Sariel had thought of it before me and headed to the edge of the battlefield. She lifted herself over in the same fashion as earlier and Ervon and I were quick to follow. The drop here was slightly higher, but nothing I couldn't handle. I dropped, once again, stumbling clumsily on my landing but managing to stay up. I glanced in the direction of the battlefield. There was a corpse in rune amour and a Saradomin cape and hood lying on the ground, free of blood however. Must've been magical attacks. No one was around the area, so we approached it and Ervon bent over and began undoing the platebody. Seconds later, he lifted it up and placed it over his shoulders. "Fits just like my old one," he said, stretching his arms to test its flexibility. He failed to notice, however, that behind him, a Zamorakian white robes running from the bridge to the center island with a Dragon longsword lifted over his head ready to slash at Ervon as soon as he was close enough. "Watch it!" I said, eyes wide in the Zamorakian's direction but even if he had turned around now it would be too late. He turned around and lifted his arm to face a cylinder of ice, with a particularly sharp protrusion pointed at him. "That was too close," said Sariel, her arms still lifted from her last spell. "Pay attention." Ervon readied his sword in case the Zamorakian had survived the spell. The ice disappeared and the protrusion became a tip of a Dragon longsword. The man collapsed, dropping his sword with a soft thump in the grass. It occurred to me that Ancient Magicks was composed of powerful spells. I had the ability to cast them, however the cost of runes for the spells was ridiculous, and I only saved them for special games. I regretted not bringing them for this one, because this game certainly was special. "Thank you," said Ervon. Sariel nodded. "So, where to?" The answer to her question was running past her, wearing Zamorak colours and barrows amour that once belonged to Dharok the Wretched. In his hands was a huge axe that also belonged to the set. He ran towards our castle doors. He's going for the standard. We ran after him. He turned the corner behind the wall but not before Sariel raised her arms and performed her Ice spell on him. We ran through the open doors to find the spell disappearing, but the man in Dharok's amour got up and kept running towards the castle stairs. Ervon was ahead of me and slashed his sword at him. The sword hit his side and put a dent in the amour but didn't do much more. The Zamorakian sprinted up the steps to the second floor with Ervon right behind him. I ran after him skipping two steps on the way up the stairs, noticing a group of people inside the revival room. A white cylinder surrounded the enemy again, stopping suddenly and almost sending Ervon crashing into him. The Zamorakian still didn't fall. He continued, still, to climb the next set of stairs. I sprinted after him and when he came into range, lashed him with my Abyssal Whip directly in the back. The platebody bent in. The man in Dharok amour spun around and slashed sideways with his axe. I ducked out of the way. He then took the axe over his head, sending it downwards over me. I quickly pushed off the wall that I was standing next to and the axe continued its downward path into the floor. The weapon collided with the bricks on the floor with incredible force, sending bricks outwards and breaking several in half. He had made a hole in the floor. I could see one of the people in the revival room looking up at it. Before the Zamorakian could try to wrench his axe out of the floor, his helm was met with a rune arrow. He fell onto the hole that his axe had made. I looked at the trapdoor in the middle of the room on the third floor. It was pushed open by the same man I had seen looking up through the hole in the floor. He wore black dragonhide amour. "Um, what was that?" he asked. "Dharok's amour effect. The weaker you get, the stronger you get, if that makes any sense," Sariel, who was mid-way up the stairs behind me answered before I could. The man descended the trapdoor looking confused. "Well, we got rid of some of their stronger ones," said Ervon as we descended the stairs. To the left in the revival room I saw bricks and small rocks on the ground under the hole. There was also the man in black dragonhide and another in Dragon amour. He could get the standard more easily than any of us. "Wait," I said, stopping suddenly. "You, you can get the standard. You're the most armoured of our team." "Indeed, I was about to search for a group of players to help me get in. And I think I've found them," he said. Awesome. I was afraid that he wouldn't want to. "Let's go then," he said, beckoning to the ranger in the revival room. As we descended the stairs, Sariel asked "So, how do you propose we get in?" "We can take the direct route through the central island." "Risky, isn't it? They have archers and mages that can instantly kill anyone between them and the island," said the ranger as the man in Dragon amour pushed open the side door. "Lock that, will you?" he told Ervon, motioning towards the door. "It's not risky if you know what you're doing, which I do. Just listen to me once we get close." We walked north to the bridge. Surprisingly, there weren't many Zamorakians around. However that all changed when we got near their castle. We crossed it and stopped behind a tower between us and their castle. We were likely to get shot if we moved out of the tower's cover. "Now what?" asked Ervon. "We need a distraction. We're going to get shot if we just run into it. There are three rangers and a mage up there and one warrior on the ground. Now, does anyone have any explosive potions?" he said. I reached into my bag and passed it to him. Instantly, he took it and threw it high over his back onto the battlefield in front of their castle. It hit the ground and exploded sending shards of glass in every direction. What a distraction. "Now," said the man in Dragon amour. Without hesitation I sprinted out in front of the castle. To the left, I noticed the crater caused by the hooded mage earlier. I followed the man to the castle wall, where he put his back against it. The other three were quick to follow. There was yelling from the top of the walls, though I didn't see what was going on. We were too close against the wall to see them, but they couldn't see us. Then everyone looked at our leader. He motioned towards the wooden door on the side of the castle. Beside it was a corpse with a Dragon battle axe in its hand. He pulled the weapon out of its grip and swung it towards the double door. Wood splintered everywhere with a loud crack as the doors were broken open. We rushed in after him. Straight ahead was the wall, fortunately none of the people on it facing us. We headed left into the castle itself. We were in the equipment room. There was nothing on the tables except for a few ropes, pickaxes and repair kits. "Watch it!" To my right in the entrance was a Zamorakian in Rune amour with a Dragon longsword. Before he even had the chance to strike, the man in Dragon amour flung the battleaxe he had picked up earlier at him. It struck him vertically directly in the chest, the force sending him flying backwards into the wall, the weapon still in his chest. I'm glad he isn't our enemy. "The ladder." Ervon went behind our soon-to-be standard carrier up the ladder. Sariel went after him, then the ranger and me last. The ranger held out his hand to me and pulled me up. To my right was the Zamorak revival room. There were several people in it, about six or seven. Fantastic. "Stay here," said the man in Dragon amour. "That's easy for you to say!" said Ervon. "I'll be fast!" And with that, he was off up the stairs. I glanced inside the revival room. There were a couple people wearing odd choices of amour for a Castle Wars game: a brown apron and pickaxe and the other, desert robes. I also noticed an armoured man pointing in my direction and yelling. Here comes the attack. Suddenly, in front of him, a woman with priest robes on appeared. What?! She looked around, looking very confused. Ervon, Sariel and I looked at each other. "This isn't Ardougne!" she said. "Glad you noticed! How did you get here?" asked Ervon. "I was teleporting to Ardougne!" Our eyes widened. The hooded mage was redirecting teleports to the Castle Wars arena. Innocent people were being transported here against their will. If he had succeeded in redirecting every single kind of teleport, the arena would contain half of RuneScape's population in a matter of minutes. Castle Wars players were not the only ones being threatened-- the all of RuneScape was. And half of the people in this arena would be killed by the end, plus all the casualties during the game, plus the risk of there being a tie and killing everyone. At best, a quarter of the players would escape alive. My attacker seemed to have explained to her what was going on. I being alive decreased their chances of survival. He pushed past her and raised a huge Dragon two handed sword above his head. I raised my left arm to block the blow with my gold trimmed Rune kiteshield. Both collided, sending vibrations through my shield and hurting my hand. His sword continued its journey downward and bounced off the floor. From behind him, I saw Ervon raise his Dragon longsword in my attacker's direction. He stabbed him directly in the stomach, piercing his Rune amour. He was then kicked in the chest by Ervon and fell off the second floor. The next thing I noticed was our standard carrier running down the stairs. The second floor was getting more and more crowded, and he rushed in the direction of the stairs. Beside him, several Zamorakians standing next to each other were frozen by Sariel. "That's your cue to get the hell out of here," Ervon told the ranger and me. The revival room had about 20 people in it now. Only about half of them were armoured. People without amour attacked us nevertheless as we made our way down the stairs, skipping several on the way down. I was immediately behind Sariel who was behind our standard carrier. "Go right!" said the ranger. And so we did. Through Sariel's semi-invisible robes, I saw our Dragon-clad standard carrier sidestep an enemy exiting the equipment room and then proceed around the corner. The Zamorakian immediately sprinted in his direction. As soon as we went around the corner, he disappeared from sight again when he left out the gates. Or rather, what was left of the gates. "I guess we should be glad he's a faster runner than we are," said Sariel. "Heavily armoured or not, he still needs protection." We too left the gate, with Ervon and the ranger behind us and the Zamorakian running after the standard carrier ahead of us-- in clear view of anyone on the walls. He ran back directly the way we had come. "My god! What is he doing?!" said Ervon from behind us. I glanced at the castle walls. There were about three archers and the same number of mages as well as a catapult operator. The catapult rotated in his direction. "Watch it!" An arrow flew in our direction. It was headed for Ervon, who barely lifted his kiteshield before it bounced off. The catapult launched. The projectile flew upwards and after a second, it began heading down. By now, our standard carrier was on the bridge with the Zamorakian in pursuit. If they both continued running at their pace, it would miss both of them. But he didn't. The man in dragon amour stopped and shoved him backwards with his kiteshield. He fell over onto the bridge. The projectile hit him and wood splintered as a hole in the bridge was created. The Zamorakian's body fell into the water with a small splash along with the rock. "The catapult operator must be beating himself with a stick by now," said Sariel. I was wondering if we should expect another shot. I looked at the walls. An arrow came in my direction. I lifted my kiteshield and the arrow hit the side of it, making it tilt to the left. It didn't stay in the shield, though. From the walls came another arrow, headed for the ranger and a fire spell, probably a Fire Wave, headed for Sariel or I; I couldn't tell. I saw the arrow hit the ranger, who fell. No! I couldn't stop running though. By now, we were at the bridge and Sariel jumped over the gap in it. Immediately after, she was hit by the fire spell which exploded and sent her flying forwards landing on the ground behind one of the towers. Ervon was the first to react. "Sariel!" I jumped the gap in the bridge as another arrow flew over my head. There were more projectiles headed in our direction; another fire wave and a rock fired by the catapult. We ducked behind the tower next to Sariel, the fire wave just missing me and exploding in the grass. The rock also landed harmlessly next to us. We were safe from any attacks from the walls. She was lying on her stomach, her Ghostly robes slightly dirty. "Are you all right?" I asked her. "No." Simple but clear. No. "Listen, we need to get back to our castle." "Where's the standard?" she asked. I looked towards our castle. The standard carrier was out of sight. "Long gone," said Ervon, grabbing her left arm. "Give me a hand, will you?" I took the other one and we helped her up, just as the top of the tower that we were under exploded in large shards of stone. Among them was one of the familiar rocks used as catapult ammunition. The rocks were falling towards us. Ervon and I darted forward, Sariel hopping on one foot using as support. Ervon dove forward, sending the three of us falling onto the grass. The rocks fell at our feet. "That was close." "Okay, yeah, we'd better hurry out of here," said Ervon, getting up. We lifted Sariel again and brought her across the other side of the bridge. There were cheers coming from the castle. He made it. One point for Saradomin. As for Zamorak, I looked at the top of our castle. Our standard flapped in the wind. Good news. "Now what? I don't think bandages will help," said Ervon. "Not that we can even use them properly, even." I didn't know either. Sariel didn't say anything. The battlefield was littered with corpses now. No one was on our side of the river now but a few Saradominists. Our rangers and mages on the walls were obviously doing a good job. To my left, I noticed a couple Zamorakians hopping on some stones in the middle of the river near the outside. One was disposed of quickly by a few arrows, not even making it to our side of the river. It made me think how lucky we were. The second, however, blocked a couple arrows and dodged a water spell and continued running. "Wait-- put me down!" said Sariel. "But--" Ervon protested, but she freed herself. Sariel stood on her own, barely. She raised her arms in the Zamorakian's direction, the same way she did when she cast Ice spells. But this spell was different. The Zamorakian wasn't surrounded by a white cylinder, but a stream of red energy. A Blood spell. From what I knew, the spell drained energy from opponents and then transferred it to the caster. Brilliant. The Zamorakian collapsed and the red energy went back in Sariel's direction, surrounding her and then disappearing. "That's much better," she said, with a significantly happier tone of voice. "Good thinking!" "Wow. I wish I could do that," said Ervon. "Err, what happened to the ranger with us?" asked Sariel. Darn it. He's probably dead. The last I saw of him was with an arrow in lying on the ground in front of the enemy base. He probably would have been shot again. Or perhaps he's just injured. That was my hopeful side speaking. "So?" "He's lying in front of their castle with an arrow in him," said Ervon. "Oh. Oh, I hope he's okay." "What say we check in with our castle?" I asked. "Lead on," said Ervon. We headed for the double door. My gold trimmed amour clanked as I walked. I had spent half my life savings on it. Some would call it a waste of money. But, hey, it was just as protective and it made me look good. If I would ever need to, I could sell it. Damai also had trimmed amour, but with regular trim. It made me think about Damai again. I hadn't seen him, so it was safe to assume he was outside. In the lobby. I wondered what the situation was like in the lobby and if Damai was all right. Hopefully, I'd live to see it again. "So, if you cast that spell again you'll regain more strength, correct?" asked Ervon. The Ancient Magicks spell could only let you regain a portion of your strength. If you were hit with a Fire Wave, the strongest of the spells from the regular spellbook, you would probably be hurt badly, if not killed instantly. But a good magical aura, strengthened by being familiar with magic and using it often, could help lessen the damage of a spell that hit you. But she would still be hurt rather badly. "Yes. I still don't feel like my normal self and still hurt from the spell, but a couple more Blood Bursts can stop that." We entered the twin doors as a small group of Saradominists left. I closed the door behind us. Suddenly there were yells from above the walls. "Trouble!" said Sariel. We ran around the corner of the equipment room and saw the familiar blue cloth of the Saradomin standard in the hands of a man in a red hood descending the stairs with several others of the same team. There were about five or six teammates with him. The standard carrier jumped the majority of the steps and almost ran our way until he realized that we were here, and then skidded and headed for the smaller door. He had Rune amour too. "Oh no you don't!" said Sariel, raising her arms in the enemy's direction. There was a strange splattering sound. The standard carrier wasn't surrounded by red energy or white energy, but a sort of splash of energy. The spell had failed. "Of all times for this spell to fail!" The standard carrier turned the corner, his teammates close behind, mostly wearing Rune amour. Then I noticed a Zamorakian in ghostly robes. Another Ancient mage! He paid no attention to us and followed the standard carrier. If we ran after them, we would never catch up. We would have to run to the walls. I ran in the direction of the staircase leading to the castle walls as the last enemy turned the corner. The three people already there were firing arrows and spells. I climbed the staircase and saw that two of the Zamorakians had been shot and on the ground. Unfortunately, neither the standard carrier nor the Ancient mage was among them. On the walls, there were two corpses, one with a Dragon longsword in its hand and an arrow in its Rune platebody. I can use the sword to fire the catapult! I quickly picked it up as I ran. Suddenly, the ranger next to me was surrounded by a cube of ice. At first, I thought it was Sariel that had cast it, but then I thought of their mage. I saw the Zamorakian mage facing us and then turning back while still running. The spell released the ranger and he fell limply forwards over the wall. The Zamorakians were halfway towards the bridge in the center now. I reached the catapult with my Abyssal whip tucked under my shoulder and my shield and Dragon longsword in my hands. There were rocks in a pile next to it. I lifted one onto the catapult and pushed it just ahead of where they were running. One shot. I lifted my sword and slashed the catapult's rope directly in the center, hitting the wood underneath it. Before I knew it, my projectile was now headed in the enemy's direction. My eyes followed its course. It landed just in front of the bridge, hitting one person directly in the chest, who was sent into the Ancient mage next to him, both collapsing in a mess. The standard carrier, however, was not harmed. The rock had landed behind him, and he was making his way over the bridge. The remaining Zamorakian jumped over the two bodies and continued his escape. "You're not getting AWAY!" yelled Sariel, who I just realized was standing next to me, along with Ervon. She raised her arms again, as several arrows flew in the enemy's direction and the standard carrier was frozen. YES! "GO NOW!" said someone from the walls. I recognized him to be our own standard carrier in his full set of Dragon armour, the very same that we had helped capture their standard earlier. He jumped off the front of the walls, landing well considering the weight of his amour and the height of his fall. I did the same, hitting the ground with huge force making my legs hurt badly. I could barely run. There were a couple other Saradominists ahead of us. The ice around the standard carrier was released, and he fell to the ground, dropping the blue Saradomin standard. The Zamorakian behind him reached for it but was shot with an arrow from our castle. The standard was left alone in the central island. A Zamorakian was coming from the other side of the base, but he wasn't going to reach it before our team did. The three Saradominists gathered ahead of me as they crossed the bridge, heading for the standard. We were going to get it back. Suddenly, all three were frozen in cubes of ice halfway across the bridge. What?! No! I glanced near where the Ancient mage's corpse was. He wasn't dead at all. He was standing, his Ghostly robes dirty and torn in some places, with his arms raised and his staff in his right hand. "You're not getting it back!" he yelled. The Zamorakian on the other side of the island was going to get there first. He jumped the gap in the bridge and grabbed the Saradomin standard and ran in the other direction. NO! The ice released all three Saradominists, all but the one in Dragon amour fell. He ran after the standard carrier and out of sight. The Ancient mage and I were left alone. He dropped his staff, which landed softly in the grass. He grabbed a Dragon longsword from the ground, which I assumed to belong to the man that I had hit with the catapult. It occurred to me that I also had a Dragon longsword in my hands. I had left by Abyssal Whip by the catapult. "Nice shot," he said, panting. "Luckily for you, I'm out of runes." He twirled his sword in his hand. "But I'm just as good with a sword." He stepped forward and slashed at me with amazing speed, I barely had time to lift my shield before it barely hit the top and was sent off-course. He slashed backwards again, making me step out of the way and back up towards the bridge. He wasn't about to give me any time to attack. "Come on, I don't even have any amour," he said, smiling. He stabbed on my left side and I moved out of the way, raising my shield. He stabbed again with more speed than ever, his blade glowing as it hit my kiteshield, making me let go of it as it was sent against my platebody, the sword still in it. The shield was pierced completely and pinned to my amour by his sword, but not going through my platebody completely. He pulled out the sword. The shield was still on it. He examined it, still on his blade. "Fancy stuff," the Ancient mage said, whipping his sword towards the river. The shield slid off and landed near the middle of the water with a splash. There's a few hundred thousand gone. I looked up at our castle. The walls were empty; Sariel and Ervon were not there. I noticed a few Saradominists leaving, though. I didn't know if they noticed us or not and didn't have time to figure it out as a red blade came down at me from above, the handle gripped by my opponent. I lifted my own blade to block the blow, and I did. He slashed sideways twice, I ducked under the first and backed away from the second. I was now standing in the middle of the bridge. I needed an opportunity to attack. Any kind of hit would injure him since he wasn't wearing the proper amour. He slashed down at me, his blade glowing again. I blocked with the sword again, but this time I lost my grip on it completely. It was sent down into the wood of the bridge. Before I could take it out, it was grabbed by his nearly invisible hand. He examined the blade. "Getting killed by your own blade is no fun, is it?" "A gentleman would give his opponentÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢s sword back," I said. Anything to get my weapon back. He laughed, "Good thing I'm not a gentleman, then." I expected a similar response. I glanced around for a weapon of any kind. The Saradominists that had been killed by the Ancient mage were right behind me. One of them had a Dragon Battle Axe and a Rune Kiteshield, the other a bow that I didn't recognize. I quickly grabbed the shield and battle axe and lifted it to block a blow with my shield. Suddenly, there was commotion from the Zamorakian castle behind me. It was probably because of them getting our standard. The Ancient mage stopped and looked towards his castle. He kicked me squarely in the stomach, sending me backwards, but my feet were stopped by the railing on the bridge. I fell backwards over the railing, landing with a clang on the ground next to the river. "I'm not done with you!" he yelled, as he ran off towards his castle. I remained on my back for a moment, the water from the river running past my head, waiting for the pain from the fall to ease. He shows no mercy. Slowly and painfully, I got up. The weight of my amour wasn't much help. I looked to my right and saw about a three Saradominists leaving the castle from the main doors, among them Sariel and Ervon. It was good to see them. They ran in my direction. "Are you alright? That guy is insane!" said Ervon, stopping in front of me. "He's skilled with both magic and swordplay, I'll give him that," I said. "I'm hurting a bit, but it's nothing huge." "Oh, good, I was so worried!" said Sariel. "Here, you left this by the catapult." She held out my Abyssal Whip. I took it from the middle and held it loosely so that the end would slide down to my palm. "Thanks." "No problem. I think we'd better head back to the base and see if anyone knows if they scored," said Sariel. Oh yeah. Maybe that's what all the commotion was about? I didn't want to go near their base to find out unless it was necessary, and it was getting more and more crowded there with the people getting accidentally teleported to the arena. I glanced around the battlefield. There were about a half dozen Saradominists. There was a surprisingly small amount of people playing considering the fact that more and more people were entering. We reached the main entrance. I had to step over a Zamorakian corpse to enter. "Ugh. I can't believe this," said Sariel. "What?" asked Ervon. "This. What's going on here. Why would someone do this?" "We'd all like to know." We went around the corner and up the stairs, passing about a dozen Saradominists on their way down. There was quite a bit of noise coming from the second floor. So this is where everyone is. It was packed full of people. There must have been almost a hundred people there. "This is ridiculous! Someone needs to explain to them what's going on!" I said. "Go right ahead!" said Sariel. "Hey! HEY! Listen up! HEY!" That wasn't what I had in mind. Everyone was quieting down. "Hey! Sariel! I didn't mean me!" "Too late. Make your speech." It was silent now, except for a bit of mumbling in the background. I didn't know what to say. I was no good at talking to crowds. It was now or never. I cleared my throat. "The majority of you have been brought here against your will, have you?" There were mumbles of agreement throughout the crowd. I continued about why they were here, what was going on and what would happen if we would lose with occasional help from Sariel and Ervon. I explained that they could get amour from corpses if they didn't have any and some strategies for staying alive. The crowd seemed to have more energy, some people even leaving while I was talking --for battle or to stop hearing me, I wasn't sure. I couldn't think of much more to say. I concluded my speech with: "If you fear dying in battle, think about what would happen if you didn't go to battle at all." With that, people began leaving for battle. I turned back to Sariel and Ervon, both were smiling. "Well done! That will certainly help the team!" said Ervon. "See what you can do when you put your mind to it?" Sariel was right. Suddenly, downstairs, there was yelling. What now? The three of us headed for the ladder to the equipment room, only to find a Zamorakian corpse on top of a broken ladder. He must have died and fallen on top of it. We took the stairs down and followed the noise to the equipment room. Someone was shouting something by the ladder to the tunnels. "The standard! They have it down there!" The three of us looked at each other. This would be the winning point. "In the middle!" We had to get it. Along with three other people, we climbed down the ladder. I went second behind Sariel, a mage in Mystic robes behind me, Ervon behind him, a woman in mithril amour behind Ervon and a ranger in green dragonhide at the back. We took a left this time. "Careful," I told Sariel. We continued along the tunnel until Sariel stopped. "I see someone," she whispered. I looked around for a better view. There were about four Zamorakians in sight. I also saw the tip of the standard but didn't get a chance to see who was holding it. "It's definitely down there." Someone was yelling in the central room of the tunnels. We had been seen. There were footsteps of several people. "Get ready!" The first into sight was a man in Adamant amour who had a rune battle axe held above his head. He ran at Sariel, who raised her arms first and a white cylinder surrounded him. Suddenly an arrow flew past from the central room. It hit the Mystic mage in the chest, who collapsed. The ice released the warrior, who also fell to the ground, landing on top of his weapon. "Get rid of the ranger!" Two more warriors came into view, both in rune amour and with Dragon Longswords. The ranger at the back shot at one, but the arrow bounced harmlessly off his platebody. He swung his sword at Ervon, who blocked it and stabbed back at him directly in the stomach. The second warrior, however, attacked the warrior on our team and slashed at her shoulder, breaking the amour around it. She fell to the ground. Another arrow came and hit the Saradominist ranger. "That's it!" said Sariel, raising her arms and creating a stream of red energy around the remaining enemy warrior. The warrior collapsed and the energy returned to her. The ranger was now close enough for Ervon to attack him and he stabbed him through the stomach in the same fashion as before. "Now for the standard carrier," said Ervon, running towards the central room. I followed him. The standard came into sight and soon after, the standard carrier. I stopped when I recognized him. No way... "Damai?!" "Jump?!" he said, a look of astonishment behind his helm. I was speechless. This was the worst possible situation I could find him in. We needed the standard to survive and he had it. If he gave it up, it would mean that he would certainly die. "You know each other?" asked Sariel. "Yes. We're both friends." It was at least good to see him alive. But I didn't want to take the standard any more. It would kill him. The four of us stood there. "I'm sorry," said Damai. The tunnels fell silent. If I took the standard, I wouldn't see him again. "Let's go back," I said. "What? We need to take the standard to save at least half of the arena!" said Ervon. "Please take it," said Damai. "It's not worth it." Sariel remained silent. Damai held out the standard and Ervon walked towards him. "Don't!" I yelled. He stopped. "We have to!" "We can't!" Suddenly there were footsteps from one of the tunnels behind Damai. Several people in Zamorakian robes were headed our way. "We have to take it now!" yelled Ervon. He ran towards Damai, who was still holding out the standard. He was surrounded by a stream of white energy which wrapped around him, making him fall to the ground. I looked to my right. A Zamorakian mage had cast it. Also coming out from the tunnel was another Zamorakian. He bore worn Ghostly Robes and wielded two Dragon Longswords. Not him again! He ran towards Ervon, who lay helplessly on the ground, both his weapons raised above his head. "DON'T!" Damai yelled at him, holding out the standard and blocking his path. "Don't give up the standard!" he yelled back. "You obviously don't know what's good for you and your team!" He looked up at me. "And YOU...!" He yelled at me, a furious tone in his voice. He threw both longswords at me at the same time, then tearing the standard from Damai's hands. I lifted my shield and ran to my left. One of them missed while the other collided with my kiteshield, the blade stuck in it. The Ancient mage ran off back from where he came from in the tunnels, signaling to his teammates to leave. The mage that had binded Ervon was surrounded by one of Sariel's Ice Bursts before he could move. They were gone by the time he had collapsed to the ground. "What a JERK!" said Sariel. Ervon stood up. Ervon yelled at me. "We would have gotten the standard if--" He was interrupted by a rumble and loud high pitched teleportation sound. We glanced at each other. We all knew what that meant. My stomach sank. "That's him," said Damai. We all stood silent for a second. Damai began climbing the ladder up. I didn't like the idea, but I wanted to see what was going on. I went up the ladder after him and the hooded mage came into sight. He was in the same spot as last time, on top of one of the towers in the middle of the island. He wore his usual black robes and cloak, along with a crude black staff in his right hand. Around me on the battlefield were hundreds of Castle Wars players of mixed team colours, most of them gathered near the island. "Twenty minutes have passed," said the hooded mage, his voice echoing once again throughout the arena. "The game resulted in a tie with one point for each team." I felt my heart pounding quickly. This was it. "As I mentioned earlier, no one will leave alive if there is no winner." He raised his left arm. Faint streams of white energy appeared and connected to his wrist. It looked to me like he was absorbing some kind of magic, perhaps the magic of the arena itself. After a while it stopped and he put his arms together. "RUN!" Ervon yelled at me. We ran off towards Saradomin's base. The same jet of energy as before left his arms, but this one much larger. The entire arena so vibrated violently that it could be mistaken for an earthquake. It ran through Zamorak's castle, tearing up the bricks and destroying any people who happened to be in it. He then moved his arms towards the battlefield, ripping up the ground. The noise was so monstrous that nothing else could be heard. Along with dozens of other people, we were just past the bridge running towards Saradomin's castle. The jet of energy veered around across the river near the stepping stones and then headed in our direction. "Go back! GO BACK!" I yelled. I skidded and turned back towards the central island as the jet rushed towards me, the noise deafening. I dove and covered my head as the ground behind me was destroyed. People that I had seen a second ago were gone. I got up and saw that Sariel, Ervon and Damai were not harmed. I ran back towards the island and looked at the figure standing on the tower. How could someone do this?! There has to be a way to stop him! Suddenly the jet of energy stopped. The rumbling was replaced with the screaming of the crowd. I looked at the hooded mage. Someone was running up the steps to attack him. He turned to face his attacker and let out another jet of energy with his left hand, making the arena rumble again, the energy swallowing his attacker. He then moved his left arm to his right one and aimed towards Saradomin's castle, the spell resuming the size it had earlier. The castle was being torn up as plumes of dust rose from what he had destroyed. I saw an entire piece of the third floor of the castle collapse into the rubble. I didn't know where to run. There was a fissure running from Zamorak's castle to the stepping stones on the river to Saradomin's castle. It was ridiculously deep and wide. I couldn't jump across it. The tunnels were certainly caved in now as well. As a matter of fact, there was dust rising from the ladders in the island, probably caused by a cave-in. I looked around for Damai and the others but they were nowhere to be seen in the crowd. The destruction continued as the hooded mage destroyed the battlefield near Saradomin's castle. Then it stopped again. The arena was a scene of sheer panic. I looked at him. He was holding an arrow in his hand, no doubt shot by someone in the arena. He killed his attacker in the same fashion as earlier, except using both his hands to cast the spell. The arena shook again and the jet of energy destroyed him. He moved his arms up. The spell was now destroying the island. One of the towers collapsed as it made its way towards the bridge. I stopped. It was headed right for me. No matter where I would run, it would hit me. Everything seemed to move in slow motion now. I thought of any possible way to protect myself. I could pray. Yes, I can pray to Saradomin. I had heard of the particularly faithful asking the gods for protection from different kinds of attacks and receiving it. I could do it now, but I wasn't very faithful. I only chose to be on Saradomin's team because I always did. But can even the gods protect me from this monster? He may be a god himself. I had no choice but to try. I couldn't doubt Saradomin or I wouldn't be faithful. I thought shortly: Mighty Saradomin, if you offer me protection from magical spells, I shall forever remain faithful to you. With that, I closed my eyes and waited. The ground shook tremendously. I felt myself shaking as well. I opened my eyes and saw that there was white all around me. I was directly in the middle of the spell, but I didn't feel anything. It worked. The ground under me began to collapse. I ran forwards towards the island, not being able to see anything through the dust, climbing up the steep slope caused by the spell. I reached the top and was among the three remaining towers on the island. There were only about a half dozen people left on the island with me. The hooded mage was in the tower next to the one that I was standing next to. Behind me, his spell continued to obliterate everything in its path. I had to attack. I ran up to the staircase, sword and shield in my hands. The mage stopped his spell and then faced me and held out his hand in my direction, releasing the white jet of energy. Nearly everything around me was white. I was shaking tremendously. But I still didn't feel a thing. The spell stopped and I imagined the look of astonishment on his face behind his hood as he realized that I was still alive. It was an extremely empowering feeling. I ran up the remaining steps on the tower. This is it. I raised my sword above me as the mage ran his hand over his staff. It became a black-coloured sword instantly. He blocked my blow with it, then immediately stabbed back. I backed out of the way. He was also very skilled in both magic and swordplay. I felt eyes of the people in the arena on me. It would only take one shot to get through his robes and kill him. He struck again, but I blocked with my kiteshield. I stabbed at him and he swung his weapon at mine, making it bounce out of the way. He attacked again and I moved out of it. I found the perfect time to attack and stabbed. It would land directly in his heart. Just before it hit him, he was gone. I suddenly felt huge pain in my back. I turned around to find the mage behind me. He had attacked me from behind. He slashed at me again, I barely blocked it. I was about to stab at him when I saw someone behind him. It was Damai, sword slashing at the mage. The mage whirled around and caught the blade in his hand easily. His back was to me. This was the time to strike. He raised his left arm to Damai, ready to cast the spell that would kill him. But my sword entered his back. That was the fatal blow. The mage turned around to face me. He said nothing and then faced Damai again. His sword dropped to the ground. He wasn't bleeding or anything. Eventually he fell to his knees and then onto his stomach. The arena fell silent. Damai and I looked at each other. "He's gone," he told me. I dropped my shield. I felt a huge sense of satisfaction entering me. I never thought I would be the one to kill him. And yet, here I was standing above his body with my sword in him. I looked around the arena. It was a mess. The castles were piles of rubble, there were fissures everywhere, bodies all over the place. And there were people. People had survived. Suddenly the world around me was gone in a blur. I was in the Castle Wars lobby. The Castle Wars lobby was probably more crowded that it had ever been before. It was astonishing, considering the fact that so many people were slaughtered during the game. Both my shoulders were being pressed together by people on either side of me. It was odd to see everyone with their hoods and cloaks off again. People were talking, yelling and calling out names all around us. It was chaos once again. To my right I saw people leaving the building. Good, fresh air soon. To my left, the northwest corner of the lobby was a hole revealing the cloudy sky above it with bricks spread over the floor. I assumed it to be part of the damage caused by the hooded mage. The lobby was in a surprisingly good state, with the exception, of course, of the hole in the corner. Continued on post #3.

From Canada In Canadda In Montreal, which is in Quebec Is this really RS related? (-.-)

This is my first serious attempt at a video... 0.0 Ultimate POH Bugs First time I've actually used transitions and titles and credits and stuff. Let me know what you think of it.

I doubt it was stolen. Usually it's a case of giving them your password and then losing their trust.

While I don't want to sound like a scroodge, I don't give free items to players for the same reason that you're not supposed to feed animals at the zoo. It will encourage begging. What I would do is show them ways to make money instead. But, it's always nice to get free stoofs.

Nice, huge, noob fest.

A few things: First, not every single person that goes on your account when you don't want him to is a "hacker". You can't "hack" RuneScape. Second, if you give someone your password, what the hell do you expect? Both of you did that, and lost items, that's the whole reason that the rule against sharing accounts is there. Third, recovery questions are there for a reason. USE THEM. Honestly, this could've been avoided if you had followed the rules and Jagex's advice.

Well, for some strange reason, I got a Black Mark for drop trading, but this was with the old system, where you would get a ban for 4 black marks, not 10. Then when they made the 10 Black Mark system, it was gone. :?

He teleported.

1. You're just a poster who takes everything so literally and is negative in every thread you've visited. 2. Nothing really special about you either. LIGHTEN UP!!! Ditto lighten up Wow, first off I posted what each thing was. Second, I just posted what I thought. Why do you care what I think! If I say they aren't that special, should I have to lie about it? I stated my opinion, and all flames can be pmed to me and not clogged up into a topic thread to keep it cleaner. You said it in a way that it makes it sound like these are pictures of trees, a path or rocks in RuneScape and that I present them in a way that makes it seem like I think that no one has seen them before.

Before you look at anything, you need to know that N-O-N-E of these are fake! That's what makes them amazing screenshots. Enjoy. :) Bob through the Wise Old Man's telescope: (before there was an enchanted catspeak amulet!) Floating Items?! Very few votes: Lost rock golem in Karamja: Updates aren't all good: Random Events go scuba diving: Comments?

Mind citing your work and not plagiarising?

I wish party hats would just tear themselves apart so that there would be none left in RuneScape. Either that, or hand out party hats to everyone. Those things are so annoyingly overpriced.