A Fisherman's tale

[Doomster]

It was a normal day in the great city of Varrock, punctuated only by the scream of an occasional troublemaker being put to the sword by King Roald's guards, a welcome relief from the boredom of guard duty. Traders in the city centre shouting their wares, and the thwack of apprentice warriors practicing on dummies that can't hit back.

 

 

 

The hubbub was broken by a gasping madman running from the lawless lands to the north, "Fish" he cried, "there are great fish in the waters to the north". An interested crowd gathered to ask more about this, but the poor soul gasped his last. "Poisoned, a dagger I'd say", was the opinion of apothecary, who had heard the commotion and wandered over to investigate. He continued, "not very powerful though, surely if the fishing was good, it should have got him to safety". Thinking it was just another fisherman's tale, a member of the crowd peeped into the dead fisherman's pack, and out spilled fishing gear, tuna, lobster and swordfish, all raw. The crowd gasped, and then realized, the poor fool had forgotten to take anything to cook with.

 

 

 

Father Lawrence officiated at the fisherman's funeral, as lavish an event as could be paid for from the sale of the poor soul's supplies, The congregation slept as usual, waking to murmur the occasional "Amen" at something close to the right moment. The attention of the onlookers then turned to the man's discovery, though the secret of its location had died with him.

 

 

 

"Who will investigate", as the invitation nobody really wanted wafted around the crowd. The law abiding citizens of Varrock did not want to venture to the lawless and dangerous lands, and the King could not spare any guards. Attention turned to some visiting adventurers, surely this band of bold monster slayers would have one brave enough to go?

 

 

 

"Pah!" spat the the first, an accomplished warrior in armour of finest Rune, "I shall not dirty my armour for the ramblings of a fool". "Coward!", shouted an onlooker, while the warrior adjusted his sword and tried to be inconspicuous before slinking away.

 

 

 

A trainee mage surveyed his meagre supply of runes, shook his head, and wandered away to speak to Aubury about his prices. The gaze of the onlookers then fell on a trainee warrior, training for deeds of daring in those dangerous lands. "Your first mission?" they suggested, "probably my last!" was the reply. "Besides, I can't fish", he said as he wandered away to tackle some easy kills.

 

 

 

Only one was left, a fairly nondescript adventurer in practical steel armour with a well worn adamant battle axe, fortunately also an accomplished fisherman himself. "I'll do it!" he said, striding forward. "You?" they queried, keeping a nervous eye on the axe which had some fresh blood on it. "Yes, just give me a moment to prepare", and prepare he did!.

 

 

 

He chose his equipment with care, knowing that if he kept the faith with Saradomin, both he and a few of his items may be spared, should the adventure not go his way. As a competent steel smith, he took a bar and hammer to forge a steel axe, to replace the prized mithril axe that he carried in safer areas. He also made sure that he carried a tinderbox and some wood as well, in case there were no trees to be cut. With fishing gear already packed, he began to walk from the bank, then paused, considered the cost of replacing his amulet, and then banked it safely, filling the rest of his pack with lobsters. He chuckled to himself, "If I'm going down, I'm going down fighting".

 

 

 

Instead of leaving the city by the main exit to the north, where there is often a rowdy gathering who might pick a fight, he slipped quietly out of the eastern exit, meeting nobody except an occasional woodcutter on the way north. He gulped, on reaching the warning signs, for this was truly an evil place. Other rumours, along with the presence of water, suggested that the easternmost edge of this foul land was the place to look, so he kept east, and then cursed his poor navigation for ending up in a cul-de-sac, along with relief that he was not being chased by anything or anyone when it happened.

 

 

 

Onward, onward, without seeing another soul, human or otherwise. "It's a myth", he thought, beginning to tire of the journey, but pressing on anyway. Finally, the sparkling water came into sight, and he pulled out his harpoon, plunged it into the water, and pulled out a fine tuna. Cooking the tuna on a fire, and glancing nervously for anyone approaching, he looked for anything which would supply more firewood, and happened upon a dead tree. His steel axe bit deeply into the tree, not as fast as the mithril one he had left safely behind, but fast enough.

 

 

 

It was still quiet, too quiet. Glancing all around the mostly barren landscape, buoyed by the ready availability of food, he looked for something to attack, wandering even further north. Then he saw it, a Lesser Demon, truly a gross mismatch compared to his meagre weapon and armour. No matter, he charged it, swinging the battle axe which bounced off its scaly hide. A pitched battle ensued, with the weak warrior eating so fast he was nearly sick. The demon was half dead, but at the cost of almost his entire pack of lobsters. Admitting he was crazy to attempt it, he broke and ran, glad that his foe could not strike from a distance.

 

 

 

Nervously heading back to the fishing spot, and relieved to find that nobody better equipped had taken it over, he set about replacing the wasted food. While cooking the last few, a hapless and ill equipped adventurer wandered by. Still smarting from his earlier retreat, our hero takes it out on the poor victim by crashing his axe upon him without provocation, then slaughters the poor soul by matching him run for run. Picking over the scant remains, it's hard to figure why someone so ill-equipped would venture this far. Compared to the value of his lobster and swordfish, even the single chaos rune is barely worth taking, and hardly worth breaking the faith with Saradomin for.

 

 

 

Being marked for his evil act makes the warrior extremely nervous, contemplating the thought of either going back where others may mark him as a target, or hanging around in quiet areas, perhaps picking on something a bit easier than the Lesser Demon, until Saradomin forgives his transgression. Unless he loses control of the fishing spot to a more powerful warrior or mage, at least food will not be a problem. News has already been filtering back, so our brave but rather inadequate warrior may soon have company.

[Striker6]

Quite good, it was better at the beginning, I enjoyed that more. Lacked a bit during the end didn't find it as interesting...however an alright story.

[dragoncmd]

I agree with striker, you seemed rushed at the end.

[Myia_brown]

It is an interesting read. Good job! It would raise the level of the product if you could provide a better trace of your character's thought process, for example, why would he suddenly leave his fishing chores and strike that poor passersby. Was he boiled with disgruntlement from his fight with the lesser demon and wanted to fight? Was he nervous about his equipment and hoping to get some good replacements? It would then connect better with the later part about his seemingly regret.

[Doomster]

I've had a few ideas to finish it... maybe later