BZPRPG: Kumu Islets

IC (Xa-Koro):Enter shenanigans.When thinking about fun, Matoran's minds would turn to Kolhii and Akilini, and Toa's minds would turn to training spars. But to a Skakdi, fun meant doing things only fun for you.In other words, causing trouble.And oh, was Raknar skilled at causing trouble.He slowed to a walk when he was out of sight of the Infernavika. Staying to the shadows of the mismatched buildings, he grinned, contemplating the possibilities. Any good Skakdi had a large disposal of tricks up his metaphorical sleeve; Raknar was no exception. He could steal, get drunk, pickpocket, get drunk, lie, get drunk...Then he saw a weapons stand nearby. It was made of wood, perhaps three meters wide, with a piece of cloth hanging over it. The silhouette of a zamor launcher could be seen in the shadows underneath the overhang.A mischievous grin split Raknar's face in two.The Matoran there was in a fierce battle of haggling with the Vortixx managing the food stand. "One hundred widgets for this?" he cried, brandishing a dagger.The Vortixx must have realized his mistake in giving the dagger to the Matoran to hold, for he abruptly snatched the weapon away and tucked it behind his stand. "A hundred," he said, oblivious to Raknar circling around the stand, the Skakdi of Stone's path gradually bringing him closer to the hagglers. "Take it or leave it."The Matoran opened his mouth. Closed it. Looked hard at the ground. "What else do you have?" he asked. "Preferably cheaper?"Raknar's hand was in his waist pouch now. His fingers slipped through the clutter to wrap around a sharp object attached to the end of a string: a fishing hook, and a large one. His grin widened.Behind the stand, the Vortixx crossed his arms. "Fine." He turned--The Matoran leaned over the counter--And Raknar took the opportunity to circle the last of the way around the stand and ducked behind it. Now on his knees, he carefully drew out the fishhook and used it to break one of the seams where the cloth overhang connected to the wooden stand; if the cloth shook too much, the Vortixx would notice and the game would be up.It was at this precise moment that the wind decided to begin blowing in earnest, its breeze sporadic and troubled from the uneven architecture of Xa-Koro.The seam broke. Raknar tightened his fist in anticipation. Now he drew out the fishhook's string to its full length: four meters. Gripping the string in his left hand, Raknar drew his zamor launcher with his right and propped it securely against the stand. Next, he took the string and wrapped it around the launcher's trigger, pulling it taut and tying it around his right ankle.After making sure of the launcher's secure position, Raknar stood up and walked around behind the Matoran as if he were just another customer. The string on his ankle pulled taut, and he stopped quickly.The Matoran now had a small, flimsy-looking blade in his hands and a look of disapproval on his face. The Vortixx, in contrast, looked smug. Cheaters, thought Raknar, shaking his head; I hate 'em."What do you call this?" questioned the Matoran.The Vortixx shrugged. "A dagger. What else?"With a curse, the Matoran flung it roughly onto the stand. "Forget it. I'm leaving.""Hold on, now," Raknar soothed, taking a quick step forward with his left foot, in doing so bringing his right foot unusually far back and to the left--The string, pulled tight, finally activated the zamor launcher's trigger. A distinct sizzle-thud was heard; the Vortixx spun to his right; Raknar, smiling freely, jerked his foot again.The next shot burst the side of the stand open to the wind, slamming into the Vortixx and sending him to the ground.Raknar was smarter than most people gave him credit for. If he had been off to the side shooting, the Matoran would surely have seen him. This way, Raknar seemed to be an innocent bystander, both to the Matoran and to the Vortixx.Well... not entirely innocent. "C'mon," said Raknar, "let's get knickin'.""That's not the right thing to do," said the Matoran, looking up into the Skakdi of Stone's eyes.Raknar let out a sharp guffaw. "Kid, when you're as experienced as I am, you'll know that scoundrels like that Vortixx don't deserve honest behavior. Takin' a few weapons off 'im ain't gonna do him more harm than tellin' him he oughta improve his customer service."The Matoran considered that. Most Matoran, Raknar reflected, would have bolted for a Toa upon just hearing a Skakdi suggest stealing; but this Matoran was in Xa-Koro, which meant he had a criminal side to him, too, so when he finally said, "All right, but let's hurry," Raknar expected it enough to nod -- rather sagely for a Skakdi, but the Matoran didn't comment.Two minutes later, Raknar was on the road, carrying a brand-new zamor launcher with extra ammunition, five throwing daggers on his belt, and a nunchuck-morningstar hybrid that had looked cool enough for Raknar to stuff it into his now uncomfortably-bulging pouch.OOC: Ahh, shenanigans.

OOC: Tahu Nuva Golden, I am pretty sure that your use of Rahkshi, particularly your easy defeat of an unspecified large amount of them in short order, is completely against the rules. I'd confirm with a staffie that you can in fact do what you're doing before conflict arises.IC Yasurek:Yasurek was walking down another street when he heard the most absurdly terrible noise ever created by anything. He went to find the source so that he could put an end to it and saw Doomslayer with Lohkar and several of the other crew members all gazing at a very pretty sword. Yasurek walked up to the group and took a look at it. It looked... familiar."Doomslayer, where exactly did you happen to obtain that sword?" he asked.

IC: Solaris sighed."Can we at least get a half a night's sleep?" Solaris asked, chopping down a nearby tree with his sword. "It's getting late, and that fight really took it outta me. I don't think I'll be able to make a spark for another eight hours."Mip turned to Kahua, then stared at the firewood, arranging it and setting it ablaze."It is getting dark," he stated, warming his hands, ironically. "Perhaps we should all get some sleep. I... I guess I'll take first watch.""You bet your axe you're takin' first watch," Solaris said, laying down by the fire.

IC: The Captain doffed his cap, quite obviously pleased with himself. "I should think this most awesome loot came from a downed toa in the approximate area of a tailor's," he said with a helpful point of the piandao's scabbard.

IC Yasurek:"Um, yeah, those knocked out toa have all the good loot, especially since I had absolutely nothing to do with any of the unfortunate events that led to his knocked out state," Yasurek replied, shifting around a bit uneasily. "Soooooooo, anybody else get anything good?"

IC: "Whoa, I did meant after a night's rest. Send the half night's rest to Karz, we're doing a full rest. Mip, wake us up if there are Rahi or Rahkshi."

IC: Revan:The katana sliced across Revan's waist, but not his stomach. Revan clenched his teeth and began to heat up-- literally. The ground melted where he stepped. "You. Don't. Hit. ME!" Revan roared as he blasted the area Delak was in.

"Cut this thing off!" barks the Skakdi. His skin was getting heated up rapidly and he would be baked alive if Revan didn't dissipate the flames around him. First day here and I'm already dead.-Mef Man

IC: Revan:But Revan had already removed the heat in the area; Jild must be feeling an aftershock.

IC: [Septimus]"OM NOM NOM NOM NOM," said Septimus as he chewed loudly on his food, having discarded his table manners a few seconds before.However, even though he was now ruder in his eating habits, the Plasma Matoran was not spreading any crumbs onto the table, but he was annoying some of the other customers in the restaurant, so it was inevitable for someone to come and try to hit him. A skakdi in fact, which meant he was possibly doomed."Oh dear," he muttered, looking up at the grinning being, whose shadow loomed over him.

IC(Lord): "Sir! We will be arriving at the estimated location of Cardinal in one hour, sir!""Good. And where would he be located?""Well, we tracked him to an island, several leagues away from our current position.""Good. You do realize you will be killed for this expedition, don't you?"The sailor gulped. An unwise mistake."Tsk, tsk. Hesitation in front of your lord. That's so. Very. Terrible. Dismissed."The Imperial Thorn sailed through the water. A simple boat, made for runabout-ing. Able to be piloted by one matoran. But upon this boat was one of the higest-ranking officials within the Empire.Lord Exterminite looked up from the papers he had finished signing. "And you said that was the day we almost caught you...Ha, ha, ha."The ship raced towards Xa-koro.

IC (Lohkar)"As a matter o' fact," Lohkar said, "I did."He pulled a small metal object from his belt."Found Stralix, the inventor," he said. "'E's just invented a new type o' powder. An' it looks like great stuff."The Lesterin twisted part of the grenade, and tossed it onto the ground nearby. With a loud bang, it exploded in a flash of light and heat. It left a smoking, blackened metre-wide crater in the dirt road."There's a couple dozen grenades an' sixteen barrels o' the stuff on the way to the Infernavika."He didn't mention the package he was carrying.IC (Stralix)The Skakdi scratched his chin."Well, you could attach some sort of fuse along the arrow's shaft, an put a small pouch of powder at the flight end - assuming it's just the arrowhead that catches fire. Otherwise, you could use a pouch made of some sort of slow-burning leather."

IC: Solaris smiled once more and closed his eyes.Mip sat down, grumbled, and watched the treeline. This was going to be a long night."Well, you two sleep well," he said, sincerely.Solaris's sleep was a bit troubled. There was something at the back of his mind that he felt was missing. It was quite conspicuous. But what was it?Mip noticed that Solaris was rolling in his sleep. Maybe it was just a bad dream. Nothing the Toa of Electricity couldn't handle. There was a sudden rustle in the trees.Oh, just the wind.Loooong night.

OOC: Well, I believe it's time for Delak to leave.IC: Delak / MinhoDelak was too unprepared for the searing flames coming his way and barely had enough time to move out of the way until they would reach him. Suddenly, a massive wall of thick iron shot out of the ground, protecting him from the flames. Once they had dissipated, a being completely covered in clothing stepped beside him and absorbed the iron wall. Delak recognized him the moment he came into sight; it was his partner, Minho.Minho looked around and eyed everyone lazily, Skraatuth going berserker catching his eye mostly. He put his hand on Delak's shoulder."Let's go. We're leaving." said Minho, audible for everyone to hear. Although, this was only meant for Delak and Minho.

IC (Skraatuth, fight area): "No." Skraatuth stated bluntly, suddenly in a sane state once more, "You aren't leaving. We came to you because we wanted glory, and you leave us here fighting like animals?"

"Yeah, Sir, what about us? What about your vain promises of glory that you were never going to give to us? What about that?" He was officially being cruel to the Toa (the one thing he did best). Jild didn't like the idea of a Toa using him for glory and he knew that if he was fool enough to help Delak he would be betrayed and left for dead.But, that's not going to happen.Jild fires a shot from his energy beams in the direction of Delak; not trying to hit him. Just make him a bit mad.-Mef Man

IC: Delak / Minho"You've got us quite into the situation while I was gone..." said Minho somewhat impatiently. The beam that Jild fired didn't seem to raise any alarm inside of him."Looks like it." Delak said. He looked at his companions then said "Oh, I never lied; I can assure you that what you seek will be yours if you follow me but the road ahead will be difficult, bloody and you may not survive. Those of you who wish to follow us may except you, Jild. You're unloyal, trash, vermin, nothing but an ugly, foul-smelling and unintelligent savage. You better count yourself lucky that my partner showed up or else I'd kill you right now. You can go rot in Karzahni.""Let's go." concurred Delak, beginning to walk with Minho.

OOC: @ Legolover361I.C. Tradoris saw a brown Skakdi with a Zamor sphere launcher and ran over to him."YOU THERE! I want to talk to you!"

IC (Skraatuth, fight area): Skraatuth followed. She turned to the two beings she hardly knew, "Where exactly are we going?"

IC: GunnerGunner nodded, impressed. He turned, and spotted the long this package that Lohkar was holding.'Hey Cap, what's in the box?'-Void

OOC: @ Legolover361I.C. Tradoris saw a brown Skakdi with a Zamor sphere launcher and ran over to him."YOU THERE! I want to talk to you!"

IC (Xa-Koro):"YOU THERE!"Raknar flinched, gripping his zamor launcher a little tighter and turning to face -- face another Skakdi? He pointed. "I want to talk to you!"Uh-oh.On Zakaz, Skakdi never called out to strangers unless they were looking for either a fight or a job; Raknar saw no reason to believe another Skakdi's mentality would be different here. Besides which, if his prediction was right, this would be a win-win situation.Putting on his best casual air, Raknar asked placidly enough, "And you're talking to me because...?"

IC (Lohkar)"Special order," Lohkar said with a wink.

IC: Arzanyos also noticed it too, putting the clues together in his mind. "Special order, eh? And you just got all the cool new gunpowder. Cap'n, you've went and got yourself a new toy. From the looks of it, an explosive new toy at that. Come on, let us see it."

IC: Kahua eventually went to sleep. He had a strange dream.Dream Kahua was running from something. "Why am I running?" He ran anyway, and couldn't turn to look around."Argh! Can't control my body!" Kahua was observing from his body, but had no control. "What...?"A huge shadowy shape was at Kahua's heels. It was first a giant Rahkshi, then a Kuma-Nui, and finally a red cloud, with a strange mask on it. "GET BACK!" The shape only chased faster, staying just slow enough to keep Kahua running full speed without killing him. It was mocking him."What...is...that..?"A voice came from the entity, a chilling, dark voice. "Give me what is mine." Kahua only ran.Kahua woke up screaming about Rahkshi, shadows, and noodles. "Argh....worst dream ever!" He sat up. "But something about the dream didn't seem right...even when you don't consider how freaky it was!"

IC: [Septimus]"OM NOM NOM NOM NOM," said Septimus as he chewed loudly on his food, having discarded his table manners a few seconds before.However, even though he was now ruder in his eating habits, the Plasma Matoran was not spreading any crumbs onto the table, but he was annoying some of the other customers in the restaurant, so it was inevitable for someone to come and try to hit him. A skakdi in fact, which meant he was possibly doomed."Oh dear," he muttered, looking up at the grinning being, whose shadow loomed over him.

Ooc: I'm assuming this is an NPC and is a cool time for me to step in.Ic: Cersei was finished with her plate and was just relaxing when the Pa-Matoran entrusted to her started acting like the hyper midget he was (to her). He gobbled and chewed noisily, and since this was not a shady establishment that had rules to abide, even the most wretched ones were betting annoyed. Even the Skakdi. One of the kind stepped up and looked down at Septimus, his grin of iniquity smothering any smile the matoran had, clearly frightened. In response, Cersei reached over and placed her hand on the Skakdi's shoulder. "Now now, this one's not yours to criticize," she said.The beast spun his head and glared at her. "Shut up, dog. This isn't your beeswax, either." The insult barely reflected off the Vortixx's shiny metal face."Au contraire." *shink!* The blades on her gauntlets sprung out and dug themselves into the Skakdi's shoulder, piercing his armor and slicing at the soft flesh underneath. Blood poured out from under his plates, but Cersei held on. "Now don't be stupid. This is hardly the time for stupidity, yes?" she cooed. The Skakdi couldn't decide to look frightened or enraged, instead just frozen, staring at Cersei's eyes."I'll gut you and fillet you like a fish!" he finally barked."Let's go on a walk, shall we?" she said, shoving him towards the door, hand still embedded in his shoulder blades. "I like the way you think, and I also think you gave me an idea..." she said, her voice trailing off as she exited the establishment. Within seconds of the two disappearing, the Skakdi's screams could be heard from around the corner outside, loud and clear as a bell. He wailed for a moment, but then he went silent. A pin could be heard dropping in that lobby.At last, Cersei stepped through the doors and stepped up to the bar counter, both hands crimson. She calmly wiped her fingers clean with a towel the tender handed to her nonchalantly.Finally, she bent down to Septimus. "Let's keep the noise down, shall we?" she said with a slight wink. And then she got back to her drink.

IC: Mip turned to Kahua. What was he screaming about? Rahkshi? Shadows? What did he mean?Solaris knew his eyes were closed, but he saw the landscape before him. A dream, then. He saw the strange figure of The Rel before him. What did this all mean?"I can show you what you wish to know," dream Rel hissed.There was a whooshing, and Solaris appeared in the Po-Wahi desert. Ghar-Knel was sitting in an Ussal cart with a strange Ga-Matoran. The Vortixx assassin was alive."But that is not all that is hidden from you," The Rel said, appearing in the sands.The scene changed again. Solaris was standing on a hill, a grand tree in front of him, overlooking a beautiful landscape. Ghar-Knel was standing near the tree with a Toa of Psionics. Plia, his old flame. Something was wrong, though. She stood on a chair with a noose around her neck. Ghar-Knel stood on the chair with her, finishing the knot. Then, he violently kissed her. Solaris growled, trying to take a step forward. He couldn't! Ghar-Knel stepped down from the chair and kicked it out from under Plia's feet.Solaris shouted, wanting to thrash his arms and cut the Vortixx into tiny pieces.Instead, all he was able to do was watch the love of his life hang."This happened years ago," The Rel said, stepping in, again. "But I think one of the most important things I'm about to show you--"Solaris woke to Kahua's screaming. He turned to face the Toa of Magnetism. What was going on?Mip got down on one knee and leaned over to Kahua."You okay, man?" he asked.

IC (Lohkar)"As a matter o' fact," Lohkar said, "I did."He pulled a small metal object from his belt."Found Stralix, the inventor," he said. "'E's just invented a new type o' powder. An' it looks like great stuff."The Lesterin twisted part of the grenade, and tossed it onto the ground nearby. With a loud bang, it exploded in a flash of light and heat. It left a smoking, blackened metre-wide crater in the dirt road."There's a couple dozen grenades an' sixteen barrels o' the stuff on the way to the Infernavika."He didn't mention the package he was carrying.IC (Stralix)The Skakdi scratched his chin."Well, you could attach some sort of fuse along the arrow's shaft, an put a small pouch of powder at the flight end - assuming it's just the arrowhead that catches fire. Otherwise, you could use a pouch made of some sort of slow-burning leather."

IC: SalvinnThe Skakdi did have some good ideas, but then Salvinn had one of his own. "What if we were to hollow out the shafts of some of the arrows and fill in the space with the powder. If we were to use a form of slow-burning wood, then once the fire from the arrowhead burned through the shaft the explosives would activate. Do you think this would work?"

IC: The conversation was quiet for a second. No one spoke as they wondered what the special delivery could be.plopAs one, all heads whirled towards the source of the silence-breaking sound.Said source just so happened to be a sheepishly lip-wiping Doomslayer. "Makuta flu, sorry," he apologized.But no amount of lip-wiping could remove the spot of wetness on the ground just below his chin.

OOC: I'm going to guess that that was oil. IC: TellusTellus regarded Doomslayer with some small amount of suspicion. "Ye seem ta know about a lot of diseases I've never 'eard of, Doomslayer," he said. "Not only that, you seem to be gettin' 'em when the rest of us is perfectly healthy."

IC: The Captained gave a two-finger salute. "Of course, my man. I do believe I served for quite a while as a researcher of exotic diseases. Did you know that Kanohi Dragon Breath is one of the leading causes of death for maha right now?"

IC(Delarix): Delarix exited the tailor shop in his new threads. Now he strode no longer in pelts, but a set of blazing red trousers, a vibrant, navy greatcoat with slits in the back for his wings. The coat only had two buttons, placed midway up, with a crimson-colored tunic under the it. Seeing his crewmates, he decided to take flight and suprise them. He flapped his wings and took straight into the skies, flying above his friends and circling like a vulture.

IC: [Septimus]The Plasma Matoran gulped, his paranoia flaring up again after hearing the screams of the skakdi that had tried to attack him. It seemed that Salvinn had entrusted his safety to a Vortixx who could kill people without really thinking about it that much."I don't wanna die," he thought, a mantra repeating in his mind. "I don't wanna die, I don't wanna die, I DON'T WANNA DIE!"

IC: Minho / Delak"Not sure. Delak recruiting you was something he wasn't supposed to do yet seeing as how we haven't exactly planned anything." said Minho, casting an accusatory glance at his partner. "It's too late now to send you off so you might as well follow us.""Although, before we do leave the Kumu Islets, let's find a merchant with volo spheres and someone who can fix my clothing."Minho nodded his approval.OOC: We'll be heading to Onu-Koro to meet up with Nex. If you don't mind, we'll make this business about supplies and everything in Xa-Koro fairly short and we'll fast travel to Onu-Koro. Our method of transport's all taken care of. Don't mean to make you sad but we may end up parting ways at some point sooner or later.

Ic: Cersei could see the discomfort growing in Septimus' eyes, and she really couldn't blame him, but at the same time was confused. As far as he was concerned, she just killed a man. Truth was she didn't actually kill him and instead just sliced his abdomen open and did what he said he was going to do on her, but she supposed the truth would just be more shocking. Speaking of shock, the Skakdi passed out from the sight of it all, so a matoran would likely... Yeahhhh, she thought. Septimus doesn't need to find that part out. The reverse of that was that she had just protected him. What part of the Pa-Matoran's thick, childish skull could not comprehend the fact that no matter the brutality, Cersei had literally (and presumably) saved his life? Instead of looking like a whitewashed Greek home on a summer afternoon, he should be thanking her.Matoran are odd, she admitted to herself, glad that she was a strong Vortixx.

IC: Delak / MinhoMinho led what was left of the group back to the slums of Xa-Koro, merchants hustling about and shady characters lurking about. He wasn't exactly happy about having someone following them at the moment but he figured he'd stay silent about the matter unless it began to bother him much more. Minho walked over to the nearest booth, occupied by a rough-looking matoran with many scars across his mask."Five amana volo spheres." said Minho, dumping a generous ammount of widgets onto the counter of the booth. The merchant took them greedily and rummaged through his inventory and handed out what the Toa of iron paid for and then shooed them away.Delak took the volo spheres and pressed them against his wounds, feeling his wounds healing, especialy his wrist. If I see ever see Jild again, I'll repay him in blood for this.Once they found someone who fixed Delak's clothes, the group hobbled off to the docks. The wood creaked under their feet as they stepped on the docks, giving the impression they may fall appart any minute. Minho extended an open palm, facing the water, beginning to conjur iron out of thin air. After several minutes of careful crafting, the iron took the shape of a small boat that could fit about five people. Minho was panting slightly from the effort."Get in."OOC: Those of you who didn't have the chance to post who want to follow me, just say you followed me around. Sorry about being impatient, I just want to get things moving quick.

IC: Revan:"So, Jild. What do we do now?" Revan asked.

IC: Leddels was not having the best day, but that was about to change. From his stall, he had spotted a group of new arrivals, pirates by the looks of them. Smiling, he called out to what looked to be the leader. "Hey, you look like a seafarer. I got somethin' that will help you along quite well. Wanna take a look?"OOC: Lohkar, that's you.

IC (Lohkar)"You're half right, Arzanyos," Lohkar said, grinning. "It is a new toy, an' a shiny one at that."Suddenly, they were hailed by a nearby trader. With nothing to lose and lots to spend, Lohkar walked over."An' what might that be, mate?" he asked.OOC: You guys will, of course, find out what it is, and I'll also upload a picture for you when it's revealed. But I don't want to reveal it quite yet...Of course, you could just pester him XDIC (Stralix)"Hmm," the inventor pondered. "Fresh bamboo's got high water content, and it's naturally hollow. If you made your arrows out of bamboo, you could easily fill them up with powder. The fresher it is, the more slowly it'll burn, so you could carry arrows of different freshness for different fuse times. Bamboo's dead cheap in Ga-Koro, too."

IC (Skraatuth, dock): Skraatuth climbed aboard the iron vessel. On the outside, she showed no emotion, but inside, she was feeling a slight anger towards this Minho and his arrogance. She was tempted to release her anger once more, but she managed to hold it in. The time would come.

OOC: What arrogance? He hasn't shown any so far.IC: Minho / DelakMinho got in the boat and sat in the back, facing the docks in case someone was to assault them somehow. Mostly that Jild character his partner seemed to hate and the others he was fighting.Delak shortly got in after that and settled down in a comfortable position in the front."Where to, Minho?""Onu-Koro.""Why there?""No clue." concluded Minho. "Explain to me what happened over there."Delak looked back one last time at the slums of Xa-Koro before activating his powers of magnetism to move the boat and keep it afloat. It drifted from the docks with a slow start but gradualy began to pick up the pace and travel at a steady pace. When Delak felt they were at a safe enough distance from the docks, he became more calm and relaxed and began to explain what occured as they sailed to the mainland.OOC: Delak, Minho and Co. to Onu-Koro