Assassination of Guthix

The assassination of Guthix was a plot that lead to a large battle between several gods' factions, an event which eventually marked the end of the Fifth Age. All factions had different goals, but all of them were trying to act in favour of their own god. This conflict made up one of the most dramatic events since the God Wars, with different gods' generals battling each other valiantly once more, while also forming temporary alliances, some of which would only last minutes.

The battles ended in a victory for the non-Guthixian sides, most notably the Zarosians, with the slaying of Guthix in Zaros' name and the nullification of its Edicts, allowing the banished gods to set foot on the planet again. Guthix's death marked the beginning of the Sixth Age.

Background
Before Guthix arrived to Gielinor as a god, the Elder Gods' last creation, he was the last surviving member of a race called the Naragi. They were a peaceful people, whose realm was torn apart by a cataclysmic war of an older generation of gods. Near the end of the war, Guthix used an Elder Weapon to stab the god Skargaroth, killing him in the process and becoming a god, a being he had despised for his whole life, himself. He abandoned his destroyed world and found Gielinor, where the Stone of Jas was conveniently located. He shaped the world as we know it today and brought peaceful creatures, (such as Humans, Gnomes, Dwarves, Fairies, Elves,  Sheep, Cabbages...) that would never start a war, to Gielinor. After he saw the world was faring well without him, he retreated into a cave and slept, annoyed by how the inhabitants of the planet started to worship him. He fell asleep and hoped to be forgotten by the world.

Soon after, young gods found Gielinor as well. They craved for territory and followers and soon started conquering the first and gaining the latter. Gods such as Armadyl, Saradomin and Seren began to grow in power (each with their own followers), but none of them could surpass the almost almighty god of control: Zaros, the Empty Lord. Zaros was the most powerful god to exist on the planet, apart from Guthix, who dominated enormous regions in the north. The entire continent of Forinthry was his, which he would later expand with parts of the Kharidian Planes, the Hallowland and what is now Kandarin, Misthalin and Asgarnia. Zaros brought terrible creatures from all planes. Demons, vampyres, dragon riders and even Mahjarrat would align with him, all craving for war and destruction. Zaros' domination was not to last forever, for his Mahjarrat general Zamorak planned a rebellion. With his closest allies (including a faction of his fellow Mahjarrat) and two Elder Weapons at his disposal, Zamorak stormed Zaros' fortress and by accident transferred most of Zaros' power into himself, forcing Zaros to leave his body and linger on as an incorporeal spirit. Zamorak would be banished by the other gods soon, but speedily returned - now a god himself. He declared war upon the other deities - and the God Wars erupted. Battles raged, in the beginning only to exterminate all that reminded of Zaros, but later all gods turned against each other. Soon, Bandos, God of War, arrived and with some of the last unaligned creatures (mostly of low intelligence, such as orks, ogres and goblins (whose homeland Yu'Biusk he vanquished) but also self-bred races such as ourgs) he participated in the wars just for the sake of it. The calamities of the wars caused Guthix' peaceful followers, most notably dwarves and gnomes, to flee underground to avoid being obliterated. The Guthixian Void Knight order was erected, to counter the druids' pacifism. The wars would last about four millennia before the catastrophes woke up Guthix himself. As soon as he emerged from his residence and saw the atrocities that had befallen on Gielinor due to the creatures he detested most of all, Guthix realised he had failed to create a perfect world. The casualties of the war were great: many great cities, races and mortal lifes were lost in those years. In his anger, Guthix banished all gods from Gielinor and proclaimed his Edicts: that no god should ever step foot on Gielinor again. That, should that happen, he would destroy Gielinor and all life on it then re-shape it anew. Guthix smashed a giant sword into the ground in the middle of what was once Forinthry, but had been reduced to a ravaged wilderness, as a reminder of the Edicts. He then retreated into a cave - and wept.

Before he went back to sleep, however, he chose his Guardians from his followers. Juna was to guard his tears; Fiara was to guard the site where Saradomin had used the Stone of Jas during the war; Valluta was to protect Gielinor from extradimensional threats; Harold Death Esquire was to make sure the deaths on Gielinor proceeded well. He also created a Balance Elemental to make sure the Stone would not be abused anymore. Finally, he returned to his cave, where he created Cres and automatons to guard his last resting place. While Guthix slept again, the followers of the banished gods were looking for him in rage, most notably the Zamorakian and Zarosian Mahjarrat who strove to bring their god back. They looked for him for decades, but were unable to find Guthix' residence and eventually gave up.

Activating the alarm
In 169 of the Fifth Age, centuries later, this site was found. An archaeologist from Varrock Museum, at the brink of losing his job, named Orlando Smith had discovered an ancient Guthixian site from the First Age in the middle of Kandarin. Sliske, a devious and cunning Zarosian Mahjarrat who serves only himself and Zaros, soon found out about this and realised it might be what he had been looking for for so long. He concealed himself and regularly checked between the site and residences of potential enemies to make sure everything is under control. Orlando came to ask the help of a passing adventurer to open the seemingly inoperable door. With little ease, the adventurer managed to do so and Sliske secretly followed them inside.

The temple was filled with artefacts from the First Age, but none of them were suitable for Orlando to take back to Varrock for proof. Suddenly, a door opened into the next room which contained only another artefact in the shape of a butterfly: perfect to be taken. Orlando did not manage to budge it, but the adventurer once again managed to lift it with little effort. This, however, triggered an alarm system and the lights of the butterfly faded to a faint glow, opening the next door. Orlando and the adventurer proceeded, the former fearless, the latter worried, where they were stopped by three automatons. The trio warned the explorers to turn back, for they had detected Mahjarrat. Orlando, trying to convince the automaton that they are peaceful humans, is killed by a blast of magic and the adventurer has to fight the automatons off, who are still thinking they are a Mahjarrat. As the last of them fell to the ground, a shadowy figure revealed himself, pretending to be Guthix, angry at the adventurer. The latter does not believe him, and the figure quickly reveals himself to be none other than Sliske. Sliske recounted the attempts to find Guthix in the past and predicted that followers of other gods were about to storm in to attempt and kill him, for the triggering of the alarm is sensible around the world. He concealed the two of them in the Shadow Realm and travelled to Guthix's sword in the Wilderness Crater, which was vibrating in a red light. Sliske explained it was a reminder of the Edicts and was now communicating with various stone circles to alarm the Guthixians. Unfortunately, since one stone circle was in Zamorakian hands, they too were alerted. The duo teleported to Zemouregal's Fort to witness gargoyle commander Sharathteerk escort two dark wizards who noticed strange behaviour of their stone circle to Zemouregal, who realised it was time to assemble his army and head for Guthix's cave. They finally teleported to the entrance to the God Wars Dungeon, where soldiers, including some near-extinct races, from the God Wars still fight each other, oblivious to time. They witnessed the icyene Commander Zilyana leave the dungeon and head for the cave. Sliske advised the adventurer, who had helped the Zarosians many times before, to side with the Zarosian faction, for they would not attempt to kill Guthix like the others, but merely talk and negotiate the return of Zaros with him. He urged the adventurer to pretend to side with the Guthixians until the moment suprême, so that they could easily reach Guthix in time. At that point the ground started to shake and Sliske teleported away, advising the adventurer not to die.

Unwelcome guests
Suddenly, Kree'arra, aviansie general of Armadyl, flew in through a hole in the roof, immediately followed by Zilyana. Kree noted they are not the first to arrive, and Zilyana ordered the adventurer to get out of the way when a terrifying scream filled the room as the huge demon K'ril Tsutsaroth made his way into the room and marched on into the next room, ignoring Zilyana's warnings and smashing down half the wall in the process. Zilyana pursued him, while Kree remained to defeat the adventurer. Kree refused, however, explaining to the adventurer that unnecessary violence is not in line with the ways of Armadyl and that no collateral victims should fall in the process of returning Armadyl to the world. Kree urged the adventurer to leave the cave, who refused, forcing Kree to take the last option: battle. Although Kree fought valiantly, he was defeated in the end and, having failed Armadyl and the aviantese, flew out of the cave, marking the end of the attempt to return Armadyl. The adventurer proceeded into the next cave, finding Zilyana and K'ril trying to bring down a huge door in a temporary alliance that would last until Guthix were found. Neither are able to open the door and they retreat to find another way, with Zilyana remarking to the adventurer that their next encounter shall be a battle to the death on the way. The adventurer figured that the door was to be opened by a complex lock mechanism involving rolling boulders on the ground and approached the control panel. At that point, a squadron of important Guthixians teleported in: a trio of druids; Thaerisk Cemphier, leader of Crux Eqal; Kaqemeex, custodian of the Taverley stone circle; Chaeldar, powerful fairy slayer master; Fiara, guardian of the Fist of Guthix; Juna, guardian of the Tears of Guthix; Harold Death Esquire, guardian of deaths; Valluta, guardian of dimensions.

The group introduce themselves and explain their goals: to protect Guthix at all costs. They teleported there for the next rooms are under protection of teleblocks and also expressed their worries regarding their low numbers. They ally themselves with the adventurer, seeing that they are a creature chosen by Guthix, for they were able to open the door into the cavern and move the butterfly. After cleverly opening the door, the group proceeded into the next room, which is a platform going down. After arriving in a large central chamber, the group halted when another squadron of automatons burst out of the wall - this time with a leader. This leader assured them that they would be safe there, but was unable to remember his identity. Juna and Fiara identified him as Cres - another Guardian of Guthix who had been guarding Guthix's Cave since the establishment of the Edicts. Cres sensed something about the adventurer and went to the wall that sealed off Guthix himself. Touching it, the adventurer went through a mind quiz of seemingly hypothetical question on how to maintain balance amongst the Naragi and, after successfully balancing their society, was engulfed in a green light. Guthix had made the adventurer a new Guardian.

The race for Guthix
At that point, the cave began to shake. This was caused, as explained by Cres, by several fanatics wishing to kill Guthix and return their gods attempting to penetrate the chamber. The chamber had four badly protected storage wings which were about to fall. Although the heavily outnumbered Guthixians lost hope, the new Guardian gave a motivational speech then proceeded to divide their allies to fight in the wings. Fiara would protect one wing along with Valluta, Harold would take on on his own, Thaerisk and Chaeldar would team up and Cres would lead his automatons into the final wing, with the adventurer themselves helping out when possible. Meanwhile, Kaqemeex and his druids would brew healing potions while Juna, who claimed to be more of a hindrance than a fighter, would guard Guthix's seal with her life in case the worst should happen. As the warriors were preparing, one of the storage wings collapsed and Thaerisk, Chaeldar and the adventurer quickly ran inside to defend it.

There, the ourg General Graardor, and some other Bandosians following him, was awaiting the trio. Wanting to return Bandos to the world so that he could fight in a war again, Graardor proceeded to attack. Despite his colossal strength, he and his minions lacked intelligence and, being slow and stupid, were no match for the nimble and agile fairy and druid, who were able to hold off his minions while the adventurer succeeded in defeating Graardor. Enraged, Graardor fled the room, going back to the God Wars Dungeon, while Chaeldar and Thaerisk remained to fight off the last remaining minions. The next storage wing to be breached was Cres' - and by none other than Zemouregal and a battalion of undead of huge variety. Zemouregal, determined to return Zamorak and become his second-in-command, summoned portals to create even more undead, who were to vanquish the adventurer and the automatons. However, Cres and his powerful posse were able to withstand the incoming waves of zombies and, after all the portals were destroyed, the adventurer took up the fight with the Mahjarrat himself. Eventually, Zemouregal was forced to retreat and Cres defeated the remaining zombies. A demonic scream echoed through the cave as the adventurer rushed to Harold's wing which had just been breached by K'ril Tsutsaroth and his twisted minions. Laughing at the defeat of Graardor and Zemouregal, the archdemon charged at the adventurer. The immortal Harold was able to subdue K'ril's minions with powerful magic while his companion duelled the terrifying demon. After a tedious battle, K'ril too was defeated and angrily fled the storage wing. Just as he stormed out, the final wing was invaded and Fiara and Valluta quickly shuffled inside, followed by the adventurer. Commanding a force of Zamorakian monks and dark wizards was Enakhra, the last female Mahjarrat, extremely determined to bring back her beloved Zamorak to rule with him. She proceeded to attack aggressively, but her magical allies were no match for the magic-resistant earwig and tortoise. With the threat of the wizards eradicated, the adventurer took on Enakhra themselves. Enakhra prayed to Zamorak and was able to leech the health of her adversary but was swiftly defeated when they managed to continually break her spell. A furious Enakhra had only just left when a desperate cry from Juna reached the room. The three Guardians raced back into the central chamber, to shockingly find a massive amount of Saradominist troops, commanded by Zilyana, in combat with the other Guardians, automatons and druids. While the Bandosians and Zamorakians had been trying to breach the storage wings, Zilyana and her army had advanced through the formerly locked door and stormed the chamber. Cres ordered the adventurer to protect Juna and the barrier she was behind from Zilyana's troops, while he would distract the icyene herself. He hadn't finished speaking, before Zilyana created three portals near the barriers that commenced to periodically spawn spirital warriors, archers and magi who would proceed to attempt to bring the barrier down. Despite their efforts, Juna's barricade stood fast and the adventurer slew all the spirituals. At that point, Zilyana ceased combat with Cres and, apparently mistaking him for a disguised Guthix, pierced his body with her sword, bringing an end to the ancient being's life.

The Assassination of Guthix
As Cres' lifeless body collapsed before Zilyana's feet, she turned around in shock to witness the arrival of Azzanadra, Akthanakos, Wahisietel, Char and Nex to the chamber, marking the arrival of a small yet extremely powerful Zarosian group. Azzanadra revealed they had been following them and thanked Zilyana for removing all defences for them. The Saradominist, Guthixian and Zarosian factions begin to argue with each other, throwing insults around. Azzanadra then urged the adventurer to follow with Sliske's plan, betray the Guthixians and bargain with Guthix to return Zaros. As a last resort, Zilyana tried to convince them to side with her and kill Guthix, while the Guthixians kept faith that their ally would remain loyal to Guthix. Regardless of the adventurer's ultimate decision (which lead to insults and disappointment from the left out factions), the seal leading into Guthix' chamber was suddenly penetrated and crumbled, to everyone's surprise. The Zarosians were immediately blamed, but Azzanadra, as shocked as everyone, assured they had no man inside.

The adventurer rushed inside and, despite some attacks from Char and Nex or Valluta and Harold (depending on their choice), made their way to the end. Approaching a platform apparently floating in midair, the huge form of Guthix himself rose from the abyss beneath, calling the adventurer. As they approached, a figure suddenly teleported right before Guthix' chest. Looking deviously at the adventurer, Sliske raised the Staff of Armadyl and fired a lethal lightning strike at Guthix, who screamed in pain before teleporting away. Guthix confirmed that he was dying and took the adventurer to an imaginary world composed of Guthix' Naragi memories. He revealed his history, told about the Naragi God Wars, about how he killed Skargaroth, how he found and shaped Gielinor and how he hated being worshipped, feeling that he was no better than any of the young gods. He then asked the adventurer to promise him that he would protect Gielinor from the gods, now that the Edicts of Guthix would be abolished within seconds. He granted them power that would allow them to resist divine power (but it would make them no less vulnerable to mortal attacks to maintain balance) in order to fulfill this task before laying himself on an imaginary bed and dying, begging to be forgotten.



Aftermath
The adventurer then exited Guthix' memories and found themselves standing before the petrified body, all Guthixians, Saradominists and Zarosians behind them, watching in shock. Before somebody could do anything, a blue light appeared and Saradomin himself teleported into the cave, the first god to set foot on Gielinor in 2000 years. Char and Nex were about to attack the god when he concluded it was no time for fighting and teleported all Zarosians back to their proper locations. Zilyana eagerly showed him Guthix' body but Saradomin angrily urged her to have respect. Trying to teleport the adventurer, he failed, and demanded to know what Guthix had granted them. After being told that he was standing in front of the new protector of the world, Saradomin and Zilyana teleported away to make plans before the other gods would arrive. With Guthix' death, the other gods would soon follow and, not bound by the Edicts, nobody could predict what would happen. The druids erected a shrine in the cave to mourn Guthix. Back in Taverley, Kaqemeex told the other druids the grave news and they were given the choice to leave the order and mourn and worship Guthix or to remain and remember his life. This marks the third consecutive defeat of Crux Eqal as well as they are completely powerless before the face of the gods and Dragonkin who are wrecking havoc across Gielinor.

Armadylean
The Armadylean faction consisted of only one aviansie: Kree'arra. Following the ways of Armadyl, he strove to kill Guthix and return Armadyl in the noblest possible way - without causing any extra victims. He temporarily allied himself with Zilyana to avoid having to fight for himself, for that would be against the will of his god. When he was defeated after being forced to fight by the adventurer only minutes after he had arrived to the cave, Kree'arra, concluding to have failed his god and his race, flew back the God Wars Dungeon, making the Armadylean involvement in the entire enterprise brief.

Bandosians
Bandos being the god of warfare, his unintelligent but powerful followers were eager to 'kill puny balance god' and return their god. The Bandosians consisted mainly of goblins of the Rekeshuun, orks, hobgoblins, ogres and cyclopes, all from the God Wars Dungeon. Leading them was the huge ourg general Graardor. His reason to smash Guthix and return Bandos was simple: Bandos wants war, the Edicts prevented war, so Guthix had to go down. Unfortunately, the ourg's lack of brains proved fatal to him when his minions and he could not bypass the agility and speed of the adventurer, Chaeldar and Thaerisk and was forced to retreat.

Saradominists
The Saradominist faction was arguably the largest one at the event. It consisted of Commander Zilyana and her troops of spiritual beings from the God Wars Dungeon. Zilyana fought ferociously and recklessly, determined to kill Guthix and return her god to Gielinor. In the end, it may be said that they emerged victorious, for Guthix was indeed murdered and Saradomin returned almost immediately, although it was due to Sliske's actions. In the early race, Zilyana had an alliance with Kree'arra but this was broken almost immediately when Kree left the cave, much to Zilyana's joy. She later joined forces with K'ril Tsutsaroth to open the door, but this too was apparently abandoned quickly after the mechanism was unlocked.

Zamorakians
One cannot truly speak of a 'Zamorakian' faction, for there wasn't much cohesion between them, a likely factor of their defeat. They all had in common the fact that they wanted to kill Guthix and return Zamorak, however, albeit for different reasons. The first Zamorakian subgroup to arrive were the demon K'ril and his lackeys from the God Wars Dungeon, who temporarily journeyed with the Saradominists at a point. K'ril wanted to return Zamorak to be able to fight for him again and to allow him to wreak havoc upon the world. K'ril and his posse were defeated by the adventurer and Harold Death Esq. in one of the central chamber's wings, however.

Another Zamorakian faction consisted of the Mahjarrat Zemouregal and his army of undead, which included several zombies, skeleton bone throwers and ghostly wraiths, amongst others. Zemouregal had presumably looked for Guthix' last resting place after the end of the God Wars and as such could not pass the chance to attempt and kill him now. When Zamorak would return, Zemouregal figured, he would position him as his second-in-command and he would be the greatest of his kin. Zemouregal had control of the stone circle near Varrock and was as such timely informed of his chance to kill Guthix and took it with both hands. He was, however, unable to defeat Cres and his automatons and had to return to his fort.

Enakhra is a Mahjarrat who has been in love with Zamorak for thousands of years and as such she came to kill Guthix and return Zamorak, hoping that he would finally agree to be with her as a reward. Enakhra had several clerics at her side, as well as dark wizards (which is slightly odd, seeing that they were working for Zemouregal). Enakhra fought passionately, using Zamorak's power in battle directly, but was defeated by the adventurer, Fiara and Valluta. The vindictive Mahjarrat was forced to turn back and leave the cave despite her efforts.

Zarosians
The Zarosian faction was the smallest, not counting Armadyl, but arguably the most powerful faction. It consisted of Azzanadra, one of the most powerful Mahjarrat and champion of Zaros, Akthanakos and Wahisietel, another two powerful Mahjarrat, Char, the last auspah and fierce fire-based fighter and Nex, an incredibly powerful being who took the combined efforts of all four aforementioned gods' factions to imprison thousands of years ago during the God Wars. Azzanadra collected Char while Sliske released Nex before they set off to the cave. The Zarosians had some arguments amongst them: the Mahjarrat wanted to negotiate with Guthix to avoid unnecessary deaths while Char and Nex were determined to kill him to bring Zaros back. The two agreed not to kill him, however, when Sliske assured them that negotiating would be the best option and thus went along with Azzanadra's actions. The Zarosians arrived late to the scene, just after Cres' murder, to find Guthix, but were shocked, although not surprised, to see that Sliske had not kept his word and killed Guthix anyway. Azzanadra later remarked that, while it did not go as planned, the course of events lead to a Zarosian victory in the end.

Due to his deviousness and inability to be trusted, Sliske could as well be considered a separate faction. He pretended to agree with his fellow Mahjarrat's decision not to kill Guthix and later manipulated the adventurer into betraying the Guthixians and siding with the Zarosians. In the end, Sliske worked as he always did: in favour of Zaros and not less in favour of himself. Choosing the path he deemed the most fun, Sliske slew Guthix with the Staff of Armadyl he had somehow stolen from the Dragonkin, disobeying the other Zarosians' wish.