Black Knight's Fortress

Death: Forgive me, but I must focus my attention elsewhere. There is an enormous backlog in Fellhollow that I need to clear up.

Death: Here let me take that dragon head from you.

Death: Hrmm, you appear to be a little overburdened. Shed yourself some of thy worldly trappings and then come speak to me again.

Death: A foul thing, really. Corrupted beyond repair. I almost pity her. Still, you're not interested in that, I feel you'll enjoy this much more.

Death: Now, I have an enormously unpleasant cleanup to do. So you'll forgive me if I get back to work.

Death: You did well here, in Fellhollow, but there is yet more for you to do. A, shall we say, colleague of mine awaits your help in the Umbral Sands.

Death: While you're around and if you have time to spare - which you do, I've checked my list - go and speak to Postie Pete. He has something he could use your help with.

Death: I have sent young Cathan ahead to gather allies and investigate. You should find him to the east of Fellhollow.

[PH] It's too dangerous to pick this up now.

There is nothing of interest

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Cathan: Black knight titans and weird demonic curses. Ashenfall really doesn't seem to catch a break, does it?

Cathan: Hello there, adventurer!

Cathan: Never ends, does it? I've been investigating this place, seems to lead to some great fortress or other. It's blocking access to the Umbral Sands.

Cathan: The Wise Old Man's headed further into this area, something about dark powers and such stuff.

Cathan: I was gonna scout it out, spooky like, but I made the mistake of mentioning it to the Wise Old Man and... well... you know what he's like.

Cathan: Knowing him, he'll have set himself up somewhere important, like a nexus type spot. You should head in and try to find him.

Cathan: Said something about "rubbish defences" or "amateur hour wards" and stormed off down this passage to who knows where.

Cathan: Probably want to go after him? Most likely he'll set himself up somewhere central, like a nexus or something, see if you can find it.

A mechanism clicks, as if a key has been turned in a lock.

A mechanism whirs angrily into life, resetting your progress.

Alric's Notes: There are those who say that knowledge has power, but they are only half right. Knowledge only has power if that knowledge has purpose. The right facts applied the right way, can change the destiny of a nation far more than the facts on their own are able.

A mechanism clicks, as if a key has been turned in a lock.

A mechanism whirs angrily into life, resetting your progress.

A mechanism clicks, as if a key has been turned in a lock.

A mechanism whirs angrily into life, resetting your progress.

A mechanism clicks, as if a key has been turned in a lock.

A mechanism whirs angrily into life, resetting your progress.

Alric's Notes: In that regard, knowledge is a key to power. Learn this well acolyte and you may begin to understand the depths of your ignorance and take the first steps to unshackle yourself from its chains.

A mechanism whirs into life, directing arcane energies toward the centre of the library. The barrier over the door fades away.

An ancient spell, enforced by some mechanism, prevents further access. You will need to find some way to unlock it.

Alric's Notes: One must first, understand that to obtain real knowledge, know that you know nothing.

Alric's Notes: One must seek knowledge, striving towards a great comprehension of the true nature of the world.

Alric's Notes: One must have ambition also. For what is power without purpose? A liability. A chain. A noose. Power must be put to task, or it is mere languid possibility, that none should seek.

Alric's Notes: Finally, one must understand the purpose of power is not to control others, but to set oneself free. For what greater rebellion is there, than knowing you walk a path entirely of your own construction?

Alric's Notes: Learn these lessons, acolyte, and perhaps you will be worthy of my attention.

Spittletoe: Eh? Wat? Wat you want? Go away, I'm trying to lick all the sap off me nose and there's an awful lot of nose.

Spittletoe: Ah, delightful, a human not driven mad by the strange afflictions of this place. Delighted, delighted to meet you, truly.

Spittletoe: Ah, yes, forgive my loquaciousness, you do seem frightfully busy. I deduce from your bearing that you require the shards of the Dreaming Stone.

Spittletoe: As it happens I have one with me - indeed it is the reason for a vocabulary far removed from the rest of my kin. Intellect is a terrible curse, however, and I would sooner remove it then keep it.

Spittletoe: Ah, yes, there it is. The sweet smell of succulent maple, pooled into a delicate ambrosia. Yes, this is worth losing my intellect for. May I?

Spittletoe: Ah, my olfactory processes are on overdrive. Please, if you could deliver 5 maple sap to me, why it would be the most exquisite thing!

Spittletoe: But to do so, one must first savour a last meal while I have the capacity to do so. I have heard tell of a concoction so sweet, so crunchy, that it's like supping from a crystal cow's udder.

Spittletoe: Exquisite! Truly a festival of flavour. How it tickles the tongue and delights the taste buds. Yes, yes, it's truly magnificent.

Spittletoe: I yearn to taste of something called 'maple sap'. Bring me 5 lots of it, then the shard will be yours and I can return myself to a state more becoming of my nature.

Spittletoe: Here, the shard, as promised. It has been a most delightful experience meeting you. I wish you well in all your adventures.

Spittletoe: And a supplementary reward: I always wanted to make a culinary delight from maple sap. The recipe will be no use to me now, so I pass it on to you.

A powerful force holds this door shut. A chill runs down your spine reminding you that Death has a job for you and it's a good idea not to forget about it.

The door will not open... for now.

The barrier is solid and impassable, you will need to find some way to pass through it.

Dreaming Stone: ...

Avisk: There, now, the gate's open and you're free to go. Nay, I'd say you're encouraged to go.

Dreaming Stone: ...broken...shards...self...missing...

Dreaming Stone: ...find...pieces...shards...lost...me...whole...

Dreaming Stone: ...broken...shards...self...missing...

Avisk: Oh, you slew the titan? I am impressed. Really you are quite capable, aren't you? When I find myself a new body and walk the world as a living god, you should come work for me. We'll do great things together!

Dreaming Stone: Rivalry... betrayal... hatred.

Dreaming Stone: A grand project of cooperation, crafted by a society of paranoid narcissists.

Dreaming Stone: Broken... shattered... lost.

Dreaming Stone: I am a voice without a name, howling in the wilderness of memory.

Dreaming Stone: Memories... anger... death.

Dreaming Stone: Once a man, but now no longer. Three minds rage within a twisted form.

Dreaming Stone: ...seek around keep...I grant...authorisation...

Dreaming Stone: ...I am... I remember... broken... lost...

Dreaming Stone: Pieces of me, falling into place... a name on the edge of memory...

Dreaming Stone: I am nearly whole...I walked the world, striding above it and overseeing everything... I was in a desert, sand beneath my feet and knowledge all around me...

Dreaming Stone: I am restored!

Dreaming Stone: ...find...pieces...shards...lost...me...whole...

Avisk: I've unlocked the barrier for you. You'll just have to get rid of that great big gatekeeper. Unless you want to surrender your mind to me so that I may do it and then walk this world as a living god?

Avisk: There, now, the gate's open and you're free to go. Nay, I'd say you're encouraged to go.

Dreaming Stone: They sought power over others and soon power over one another. Reaching across worlds without the knowledge to control what lay beyond.

Avisk: They called themselves the Children of Shadows, though sometimes Darkness, they wanted to be seen as sinister secretive masters. A society of chaos and rebellion, if you can imagine such a thing.

Dreaming Stone: I was not always this. Once I walked these lands, towering above it.

Avisk: Many of your lifetimes ago, I walked this realm safe in the knowledge that there were none who could harm me. I was a scientist, a scholar, a genius dragged down by weaker minds.

Dreaming Stone: A great giant of a man, a titan one might say. Flesh twisted, mind shattered, but far more deadly than before.

Avisk: Lord Rasmodel waits beyond that barrier, though he is not as he was. The energies he absorbed from my shattering, as well as that cthonian's parasitic cells have transformed him into something different.

Dreamstone: The stone appears to be shattered, with large pieces missing from it as if struck at a single point with a large, blunt, instrument. You believe it would be easy to repair if you found all the pieces.

Dreaming Stone: Yet, I cannot remember all... I must... you must... the last pieces, return them to me. Make me whole once more and I can aid you in your quest.

Dreaming Stone: Mwaha, mwahaha, mwahahahaha! Foolish little mammal, so simple in your thoughts that you cannot even grasp the depths of my genius. My name, it would rattle around in your tiny skull like the echoes within a cave.

Dreaming Stone: ...seek around keep...I grant...authorisation...

Avisk: No? Fair, worth a shot.

Avisk: Please... please go, and take your hammer with you. Here, a little bribe so that you and your hammer get very far away from me.

Dreaming Stone: More than was bargained for lay beyond the gate. It would lead to their undoing.

Avisk: Some sought martial expertise, others delved into arcane knowledge and secrets that the rest of your kind foolishly abhor. It was these who found me buried in the sand of the desert, biding my time.

Dreaming Stone: Bound into stone, so that I might escape some dread nightmare.

Avisk: Until the creation of one of my small-minded colleagues grew too arrogant and thought to strike down her masters.

Avisk: A great giant of a man, a titan one might say. Flesh twisted, mind shattered, but far more deadly than before.

Avisk: Tremble, ignorant creature and marvel in my majesty! For I am Avisk the eternal, the greatest mind to ever grace the Aughra! Now, you will submit to me and become my thrall so that together we may...

Avisk: Soon distrust began to brew among the humans. I had some small part to play in that. Boredom is a poison no one can resist, and the antidote showed itself in small amusements. A whisper here, a secret there, and soon they turned on each other without mercy.

Dreaming Stone: Now, I am lost and broken. Just shadows on the wall.

Avisk: While the others died, or cowered in fear waiting for their destruction, I preserved my intellect within this very stone. My knowledge, my genius, my... what you call soul... would live forever enshrined in glittering stone.

Avisk: A fragment of myself drives him, separate from the mind that speaks to you now. In a strange way, like the knights of this place, I am in a civil war of myself.

Avisk: Why are you looking at me like that?

Avisk: Oh, you're hands are full... I do somewhat miss hands... anyway, come back and see me when you've got some space free for my little gift. .

Avisk: They summoned demons. They trained armies and all the while they unsheathed their knifes and looked to one another.

Avisk: While the others died, or cowered in fear waiting for their destruction, I preserved my intellect within this very stone. My knowledge, my genius, my... what you call soul... would live forever enshrined in glittering stone.

Avisk: But the voice that speaks to you now, know that it is far more your ally than the beast beyond that barrier. At least a voice of crystal, you can trust.

Avisk: In time their rivalries turned into open conflict and that damned fool, Rasmodel, turned his blade upon myself and shattered the Dreaming Stone.

Avisk: One day, perhaps, I shall be freed from this prismatic prison, so that I might share my vast wisdom with the lesser beings of this world. Yet, I am not whole enough yet to do so, and more pieces of me remain.

Avisk: ...

Avisk: I am unsure of what happened next, but the powers involved, the sheer magic at work... it had a terrible effect on this fortress. Those who dwelled within became twisted and strange. Life prolonged, but cursed with madness.

Avisk: Hrmm... yes... well... your logic is sound. Perhaps I was a little overzealous in my bluster. Happens when you've been alone in the psyche of deranged black knights for too long.

Avisk: It has been fascinating to watch.

Avisk: I blame the cthonian, horrible things. Anyway, you wanted that barrier lowered? it's no trouble, just let me fiddle a few things and... yep, there you go. No hard feelings eh?

Avisk: Just... be wary of Lord Rasmodel out there. Had a bit of a mishap when he smashed me to pieces and now he's got some of me, some of a demon and a whole lot of anger issues. Best give him a swift death if you ask me.

OffalFoot: Go away, you're scarin' off the fishes!

OffalFoot: It not workin! This rod must be broken! I stab and stab and stab and still no fish!

OffalFoot: You! You're a human... I think. Might be an elf? I dunno, all pink and wobbly the lot of you. You know how this thing works, yeah? You get me fish!

OffalFoot: I want that fish! You sees it? The weird one, swimming around looking all strange and stuff. I bet it tastes delicious! Get me it and I'll give you something, fair trade, yeah?

OffalFoot: I want that fish! You sees it? The weird one, swimming around looking all strange and stuff. I bet it tastes delicious! Get me it and I'll give you something, fair trade, yeah?

OffalFoot: You gots it! Gimme, I been looking forward to eating this!

OffalFoot: ...!

OffalFoot: Blerg! This horrible and hard, like eating a rock... wait... that IS a rock! Why would fish be eating weird shiny rock? Blerg!

OffalFoot: Ere, you have it. I don't want it and I did promise you a reward. Don't say I ain't a goblin of me word!

Wise Old Man: Hrmm?

Wise Old Man: Well, glad to hear that the titan is dealt with. Nasty piece of work. Doric says he can get the door unstuck any day now, letting us into the desert. Locals called it the Umbral Sands... sounds creepy.

Wise Old Man: That's the question, isn't it? They should all be dead really, especially after Fellhollow, but here they are.

Wise Old Man: Back on the mainland they'd be called the Kinshra, or black knights, but this is a different order. The Kinshra were formed sometime in the early fifth age, but it looks like these weirdos might be a bit older than that.

Wise Old Man: Ah, the god of chaos, or rebellion if you're a more generous sort. He was once one of the Mahjarrat, a cruel race of shapeshifting sorcerers from the world of Freneskae.

Wise Old Man: What little research I have managed so far indicates that this place was known as Dowdun Reach.

Wise Old Man: Ah, you're here, good. Looks like you had an easier time getting here than we did. Troublesome people here, had to give a few of them quite a wallop.

Wise Old Man: Don't mind me, just dealing with some shennanigans from a talking crystal that is definitely not sinister, honest. Best get back to it I suppose.

Wise Old Man: Go speak to Doric, who's working on a solution. You can find him up in the Nexus of this place. Though you might want to set up a basecamp here first.

Wise Old Man: A black knight titan... made from the fusion of demonic sorcery, cthonian nonsense and dragonkin mad science...

Wise Old Man: Though I wouldn't exactly call this living. It seems they've become twisted, corrupted somehow, into something not entirely human.

Wise Old Man: They're Zamorak worshippers. Followers of the god of chaos. Utter nonsense really. Just a bunch of selfish idiots who want an excuse to be bullies and dabble in sinister magic, that sort of thing.

Wise Old Man: He came into power when he attempted to kill Zaros, in the second age, and stole as much of his power as he could. Zaros survived, sort of, but that's beside the point.

Wise Old Man: A group of human settlers moved here from Fellhollow some time before... well... before it all turned spooky and weird. They called themselves the Children of Shadows, because everyone wants to be edgy.

Wise Old Man: I had hoped to be hunting down the next dragon, try and whittle down Kuldra's forces. But, wouldn't you know it, there's a whole ruddy keep in the way. Full of angry Zamorakians.

Wise Old Man: Do you know, I really miss the old days when things were normal. Just give me a dragon I can hit and call it day, none of this nightmare amalgam poppcock!

Wise Old Man: There's no reasoning with them. They're each completely off their rocker and very violent about it too. I had to blast three of them earlier, when I was eating a sandwich. Terribly rude of them, really.

Wise Old Man: Ever since then Zamorak set himself up as public enemy number one to any sapient being with half a braincell. He was one of the most active combatants in the God Wars and has continued to be the source of most problems ever since.

Wise Old Man: I think they wanted this to be some bastion of chaos. A sanctuary for Zamorak worshipers, where they could be as evil as they wanted - or pretended - to be, without upsetting the locals.

Wise Old Man: Quite the bother. Good thing you're here though, you can get us moving again. The way is blocked by something called the Gatekeeper. Not sure what it is, or who it is, but it's in the way.

Wise Old Man: Anyway, best go kill it before it gets loose and learns to sail back to the mainland to upend society. You know, like these things do.

Wise Old Man: Recently he returned to Gielinor, while Guthix's edicts were down, and made a right mess of things. Adventurers had to kick him back to Infernus and recreate the Edicts so that he couldn't come back.

Wise Old Man: There's a nasty magical barrier before we can even reach them, but Doric's working on it as we speak. You can find him up in the Nexus of this place. Though you might want to set up a basecamp here first.

Wise Old Man: Good riddance I say.

Doric: Now that the Gatekeeper is gone, the way to the Umbral Sands is open. We'll meet you there, just got a few things to finish up here.

Doric: Nasty place this, ain't it? Crazed black knights, somehow still around even though it looks like they should have all died long ago

Doric: Hrmm?

Doric: Nasty place this, ain't it? Crazed black knights, somehow still around even though it looks like they should have all died long ago

Doric: Problem being, we're stuck in this place until we can get this ruddy door open. It's barring our way to the desert, and nothing I try seems to fix it.

Doric: Problem being, we're stuck in this place until we can get this ruddy door open. It's barring our way to the desert, and nothing I try seems to fix it.

Doric: Hrmm?

Doric: As far as I can tell, it's all connected to that great big stone over there. Seems like some sort of mystical doohicky that powers it all.

Doric: As far as I can tell, it's all connected to that great big stone over there. Seems like some sort of mystical doohicky that powers it all.

Doric: It's broken currently, a few pieces missing. I figure if we repair it, we might get that barrier open. Go give the stone a look will you? See what it needs to get it fixed.

Doric: It's broken currently, a few pieces missing. I figure if we repair it, we might get that barrier open. Go give the stone a look will you? See what it needs to get it fixed.

Doric: An ancient dragonkin brain in a rock, eh? Weird choice, but to each their own I guess. Well, the barrier's down now, but there's something big and dangerous beyond. Your area I think.

Doric: We can't get through to the desert unless we can open this barrier. It seems to be connected to that stone over there, see if you can find all the pieces of it, would you?

Doric: Looks like you're making some headway on those shards, keep it going. When it's repaired, hopefully that crystal will tell us how to get this barrier open.

Doric: You've got them all! Wonderful! Best go fix up that big, weird, stone and see if we can get this barrier open.

Doric: Hrmm?

The chest is empty save for one confused spider trying to make itself a new home. You lock eyes, but say nothing to one another. Strangers passing by.

Valerius: Whispering whispering, crawling round my head. I sealed them in the glittering prison, yet they skitter and jitter so.

You find a small glass owl, wrapped carefully in red cloth to protect it from the elements.

Valerius: She whispers, do you hear her? For an eternity she crawls round and round inside my mind fighting with the other voice, the two of them at each other's throats.

Valerius: Perhaps I am looking in the wrong places. Scratching the itch outside, rather than within? A knife to the skull, perhaps, cut the rot out from within?

Valerius: They steal memories too. How dare they! But I hid mine! Sealed it in glass. Hoot hoot! Memories safe, happiness encased in translucent gleam!

Valerius: You! Apprentice! Acolyte? Silent shadow whose soul does not scream. Find my glittering memory. Glass winged hunter of the night. Bring it me, let me smile again?

Valerius: A memory in glass. A smile in kaleidoscopic fragments. Abraxus always was an artist at heart.

Valerius: You! Apprentice! Acolyte? Silent shadow whose soul does not scream. Find my glittering memory. Glass winged hunter of the night. Bring it me, let me smile again?

Valerius: I left my memories in a tranquil place, buried in the dirt. A garden where all the keep's creatures used to live. A dragon guards it now, though they know not what it is they protect.

Valerius: Thank you, apprentice. Here, take this bauble as payment. But beware, it whispers in the dark!

Valerius: I left my memories in a tranquil place, buried in the dirt. A garden where all the keep's creatures used to live. A dragon guards it now, though they know not what it is they protect.

Postie Pete: Haha, got here a-head of you, did I? That's the advantage of the postal service, rain or snow, we'll always deliver.

Postie Pete: Now then, a client of mine has set up a special service for you here. They've got some tasty little items and no-body to sell them to back on the mainland.

Postie Pete: Oi! Oi! Got any Infernal Fragments you want to exchange in the... ahem... EVIL EMPORIUM!!!... I didn't name it.

Postie Pete: But here, there's something right up their alley, and I figured we could all help each other out. See, they want some of those Infernal Fragments, the weird little demon stones around the keep.

Postie Pete: You bring those and, in exchange, you can help yourself to some of Evil Da- err, some of my client's special collection. Take a look!

Shangruuh - Alcarrid Envoy: I don't know much about humans, but you don't look like a Black Knight. I guess I'll give the prepared speech anyway.

Shangruuh - Alcarrid Envoy: I don't know much about humans, but you don't look like a Black Knight. I guess I'll give the prepared speech anyway.

Shangruuh - Alcarrid Envoy: I'd be very happy if you could travel to Alcarrid, my camp in the south-east. It was my job to bring an envoy from other regions.

Shangruuh - Alcarrid Envoy: I COME HERE ON BEHALF OF THE MOON GAROU OF ALCARRID. WE SEEK AN ALLIANCE AGAINST THE DRAGON FUZAN.

Shangruuh - Alcarrid Envoy: I COME HERE ON BEHALF OF THE MOON GAROU OF ALCARRID. WE SEEK AN ALLIANCE AGAINST THE DRAGON FUZAN.

Shangruuh - Alcarrid Envoy: I'd be very happy if you could travel to Alcarrid, my camp in the south-east. It was my job to bring an envoy from other regions.

Shangruuh - Alcarrid Envoy: So, not-a-Black-Knight, are you going to help us?

Shangruuh - Alcarrid Envoy: And stay in the shadows as much as you can. The Umbral Sands is plagued by something called Scorch. The sun gives no leeway to unprepared humans.

Shangruuh - Alcarrid Envoy: Well, that went better than I expected. You will need to travel south-east to Alcarrid, our camp, where your alliance will be processed.

Shangruuh - Alcarrid Envoy: That's...unfortunate. If and when you change your mind, come to my camp in Alcarrid and talk to the Elder.

Shangruuh - Alcarrid Envoy: And stay in the shadows as much as you can. The Umbral Sands is plagued by something called Scorch. The sun gives no leeway to unprepared humans.