Betrayal at Falador

Betrayal at Falador is the first official novel to be based on the world of RuneScape. This, along with the RuneScape - The Official Handbook and Return to Canifis, are the only publications from Jagex. It was written by Tom S. Church, and the cover art is by Giuseppe Grassi. It is available to buy from the Jagex Store. Jagex had announced that it would be released on the 21 July 2008, but it was actually not released until the 25 July. The novel is considered canon.

Jagex said that ten customers who pre-ordered the limited edition hardback cover version would have their copies signed by Andrew Gower, Paul Gower, Geoff Iddison, T. S. Church, and the book's cover artist. Contrary to what they said, starting mid-October 2008, Jagex started to auction all ten of the books on eBay at a rate of one per week.
 * The first one ended on 24 October 2008 at £585.00 to a confidential winner, as per eBay's standard confidentiality.
 * The second one ended at £310.00 on 2 November 2008
 * The remaining copies were sold throughout November and December 2008.

Quotes on the back of the book
The RuneScape website gave a teaser paragraph about the book when the novel was announced.

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The back of the book contains teaser lines that vaguely hint at the plot, and mentions two of the principle characters of the story.

Additionally, the back of the book gives two comments from individuals, namely Paul Gower and Zezima (whom Mod Mark has referred to as "arguably the most famous player of the game" ).

Both originally appeared on the product page at the Jagex Store, but Zezima's quote has since been removed. However, it is still somewhat visible in the screen-shot of the back of the book on the Jagex Store website.

This may be due to negative reactions from players on the RuneScape Forums, due to what they see as preferential treatment for one player over all the others. Mod Mark admitted on 10 July that Jagex had "asked Zezima many months ago about our plan to quote him". This may imply that Zezima had read an advance copy of the book well before either it or the Jagex Store had been released. However, Zezima's apparent recommendation may in fact be a "spoof" quote, and it is certainly possible that it had been attributed to him when he had never read the book.

Players who posted on the forums also used Zezima's name on the forums while discussing the book, which is against the Forum Code of Conduct. This led to threads being locked and messages being hidden, and subsequent complaints from players who felt that their messages should not have been removed, due to Jagex's use of the name outside of the Hiscores.

Plot
The book begins during the winter of the Year 164, five years prior to the current events of RuneScape. During one of the season's blizzards, a statue near the entrance to the White Knights' Castle in Falador is shattered, forcing a number of white knights to leave the castle and retrieve its remains. Amongst these is Squire Theodore, apparently a young White Knight in-training.

As the statue is being brought into the castle, a young girl is suddenly teleported to a point near the entrance of the castle, apparently injured and near death. Theodore discovers her and, hoping to save her life, helps to carry her to the castle's infirmary. The head of the infirmary, Elise, attempts to save her under the supervision of Sir Amik Varze, the head of the White Knights and ruler of Falador since the Asgarnian King Vallance fell ill. The girl is found to have in her possession a sword made of an unknown metal, a mysterious white flower, and a shattered ring of unknown nature.

Meanwhile, outside Falador, terror ensues as a creature begins to feed on travellers traversing Asgarnia's roads. As refugees enter Falador to escape the monster, Theodore is sent to Taverley to investigate the nature of the items the girl had in her possession. Once in Taverley, he meets an elderly alchemist named Ebenezer and his young companion Gar'rth, alongside Theodore's old friend Castimir who had spent years training in the Wizards' Tower of southern Misthalin. With the aid of Kaqemeex, the druidic leader of Taverley, the group finds that the flower is a white pearl, a flower known to grow atop of both the nearby White Wolf Mountain, and the perilous Ice Mountain.

As this occurs, a violent group of men loyal to the H.A.M. cult enrage a group of peasants near Port Sarim, convincing them that the "monster" that has been terrorising Asgarnia is the dwarf Doric. Doric, having secretly left Keldagrim some years before, is confronted by the drunken mob in his home north of Falador. They beat and rob him, finally burning down his house and leaving him for dead. The monster, before having planned to eat Doric, instead pursues the H.A.M. Speaker and his men, killing them in the night.

Theodore discovers Doric on his return to Falador, and offers to aid him in pursuing legal action in Falador. Doric reluctantly agrees, and both are forced to flee when they sense they are being chased by the monster. The monster pursues them, smelling on them "the scent it is looking for". Upon returning to Falador, they find that the girl, Kara-Meir, has awoken, and that the ring she had been carrying was one of a set of 50 rings of life once given to loyal knights of Falador. Sir Amik Varze, Sir Tiffy Cashien, Bhuler, and the rest of the council believe that the one that betrayed Falador some years before is involved. They speculate that Kara-Meir could be the daughter of Sir Justrain, a wrongly banished White Knight that had received such a ring and then travelled to live in the north.

Kara-Meir, as she recovers, slowly shares her tale. Ten years before, in the Year 154, her small village in northern Asgarnia was raided by a group of Kinshra under a deformed commander named Sulla, slaying her entire family and leaving her the only survivor. She was saved from freezing by Master Phyllis, an elderly member of a dwarven clan, who raised her for ten years amongst the dwarves. She had only recently sought revenge upon Sulla, but was nearly killed when she was overpowered by him and his men. The ring of life had saved her, teleporting her to Falador. She shows an affinity for swordsmanship, defeating Theodore's rival, Marius, in a mock-duel.

The monster, revealed to be a werewolf from Morytania named Jerrod, attempts to enter the White Knights' Castle, but is unable to due to mysterious magicks protecting the castle. He takes up residence in the home of a beggar, whom he eventually kills to hide his identity. Sulla, meanwhile, ascends to lordship of the Kinshra by assassinating their unpopular leader. He then begins to put into motion the events of the War of 164, in which he hopes he can gain control of Asgarnia. As he weaves his plan, however, he begins to have dreams of Kara-Meir, whom he believed dead after her failed attack. Because he has slain so many, he cannot remember her from the village raid ten years before.

Jerrod eventually manages to kidnap a young White Knight peon named Bryant, whom he believes has information related to what he is chasing. During his interrogation, Jerrod bites Bryant, but tells him not to worry, as Humans cannot become a Werewolf by any means, though Jerrod is soon attacked by Doric, Theodore, and Kara-Meir, only narrowly managing to escape. Bryant, who had escaped ahead of his companions, is met on Dagger Alley by a fellow knight, whom he hopes can help him. He is killed, but apparently he manages to kill his attacker, Sir Balladish, before he can escape. Kara-Meir fights off Jerrod, cutting off two of his fingers and an ear. Bryant and Balladish are discovered dead, and Balladish is deemed the betrayer of Falador.

Shortly after, Ebenezer, Gar'rth, and Castimir meet up with Kara-Meir, Doric, and Theodore. Ebenezer explains that, since finding Gar'rth, the child had been extremely ill and unable to speak more than a few basic sentences. The group travel to the Monastery near Asgarnia's north-east border, stopping in the Gunnarsgrunn to gain the help of the Fremennik priestess Arisha. While in the town's longhall, Gar'rth gets into a fight, and a nosebleed he receives during the fistfight is shown to be dark black. The group realises that Gar'rth is a werewolf, and that Ebenezer had been helping him to function in normal society since finding. Once in the monastery, Abbot Langley offers to help cure Gar'rth, as well as to help Kara-Meir research her father. Gar'rth does not fully succumb to the effects of an exorcism, but shows his desire to resist the effects of lycanthropy.

Jerrod pursues the scent to the Monastery. While in the woods, he meets Sulla and a small army of Kinshra soldiers, all moving towards the Monastery to launch their first attack. Jerrod explains that the scent he pursued was Gar'rth's, and that he has been ordered by Lord Lowerniel Vergidiyad Drakan of Morytania to bring him back. The two agree to help each other, Sulla hoping to use Jerrod in battle and Jerrod hoping to capture Gar'rth and get revenge on Kara-Meir.

The army invades the Monastery, using mortars provided by the chaos dwarf Thorbarkin to crush its walls. Jerrod is again repelled by Kara-Meir, but both Gar'rth and Kara-Meir are trapped in a cave-in during their escape. The rest of the visitors manage to escape, but Doric, Castimir, and Theodore turn back when they realise the two had been left behind. While they ride back, Kara-Meir is brutally beaten upon discovery, and Jerrod attempts to coax Gar'rth back into his wolfen nature. When beating and insulting him prove insufficient, the Kinshra use Kara-Meir as bait, Sulla hoping Gar'rth will devour her.

Before Gar'rth breaks, however, Theodore and the rescuers arrive, Castimir disorienting the Kinshra with a series of fire strikes. Gar'rth and Kara-Meir manage to escape their bonds, joining the rest of the group in their flight of the Monastery. Sulla and the Kinshra are unable to pursue them, as the group had let loose most of their horses during the chaos. Furthermore, Theodore manages to capture a Kinshra grunt named Gaius, whom he hopes possessed information related to Sulla's plans. After three days, Theodore and his companions arrive in Falador once again, where they find thousands of refugees packed into its walls. Sir Amik Varze explains that, as they were gone, the Kinshra had begun a violent campaign in northern Asgarnia, destroying any villages and farms they could find.

Captain Ingrew of the Falador City Guard oversees the defences of Falador, aiding Ebenezer in the construction of trebuchets but ignoring the architectural ideas of Doric. Theodore, Doric, Castimir, and Kara-Meir set forth from Falador once again, this time hoping to gain the alliance of the dwarven settlement on Ice Mountain. Amidst the activity, Gaius is confronted in his cell in the White Knights' Castle by a robed figure who claims to be the betrayer of Falador. The figure explains that he will help Gaius escape the next day, if he will deliver to Sulla a message. Meanwhile, Daquarius, a high-ranking Kinshra, leads his men in the Battle of Burthorpe. They manage to confront Crown Prince Anlaf, heir of King Vallance. Sulla's witch, The Sybil, had managed for months to torment Anlaf in his dreams, driving him to convert to Zamorakianism. The distressed Anlaf agrees to use the Burthorpe Imperial Guard against Falador.

The novel culminates in the Siege of Falador, during which Sulla and his forces attack the Asgarnian capital. Ultimately Sulla is repelled, but manages to escape because of Kara-Meir's mercy. He is last seen alone with Jerrod, evidently heading towards Morytania as part of an unknown plan.

The novel's protagonists are last seen in Falador, discussing their future together.

Sequels
It has been strongly hinted by Jagex that future novelisation installments directly related to Betrayal at Falador will be released in the future. The first hint was on the spine of the dust jacket of the book and on the spine of the book itself, where the Roman Numeral I is visible at the bottom of each. This led to initial speculation regarding a continuation of the series. The fact that several key plot points were not fully resolved also hinted at this.

The sequel was essentially confirmed along with the Betrayal at Falador Q&amp;A released on 13 January 2009. On the RuneScape Forums Q&A post, T.S. Church stated that there are multiple sequels planned. He also hinted that the second novel would be darker then the first, answer questions regarding the origins of a certain character, and that Morytania and more Pay-to-Play aspects would be involved. According to Amazon UK, the sequel is named Return to Canifis and was released on 22 March 2011. Return to Canifis is now featured on the RuneScape homepage, on the Featured Content Rotator. It includes a link to the Titan Books website, which includes a preview chapter.

Mistakes
There are a few factual mistakes. In the book when the Monastery is laid in siege, one of the monks says "The nearest point of civilisation is the town of Edgeville, a day's travel away." The book takes place in the year 164, and the town was not renovated until 169, although events such as the Edgeville Incident suggest that it may have been referred to as Edgeville prior to its incorporation. Also, on page 83, Gielinor, the world of which RuneScape takes place, is referred to as "Earth".'

Sir Finistere places an attack by an undead army on Varrock more than 50 years previous to the events of the books. However, the only attack on Varrock by such an army in the Fifth Age was led by Lucien in the year 154, which occurred a decade prior.

Taverley is spelled "Taverly".

The men working for General Khazard are referred to as a separate race.

There are no horses in Gielinor, which is stated otherwise in the novel.

On page 334, it says ". . .through the fug of smoke and beer", when it should say ". . .through the fog of smoke and beer."

Sir Tiffy Cashien is considered a "spymaster" for the White Knights, and not at all a part of the Temple Knights. Also, in the novel the Temple Knights don't seem to exist.

Trivia

 * There are several references to the book in-game. For example, there is an intangible scroll in the Wizards' Tower called Castimir's expulsion. One can also talk to Sir Amik Varze about the Siege of Falador and he will mention both Kara-Meir and Sir Theodore. Another is where you can talk to Doric and he will tell of his adventures with Kara-Meir.

Reviews

 * The Chronicles of Runescape
 * Runescape Reader's Digest