BZPRPG: Ko-Wahi

IC: Maeloc grunted. "Follow me, I need to go to the square." As the two followed him, he talked. "I normally wouldn't be inclined to use you, but I'm in a position where I don't really care. And you probably aren't a Brotherhood spy, so that works for me. As long as Zarkov there didn't tell you what our mission actually is... then I'd have to order both of your executions." A large Fe-Skakdi passed them.

The Fe-Skakdi stopped, and turned. Fyura looked at the Turaga. "Ay! Leetle man! Zhyou Maeloc?"

Maeloc half-sighed, half-growled as he kept walking. "Insulting my height won't get you anywhere, skakdi. What is it?"

With her long legs, Fyura easily caught up to Maeloc. "Guard gafe me zis note vhen I asked about joining zhe Legacy. Said zhyou might be interested, ah?" She offered a small paper slip folded in half to the Turaga.

Maeloc tore it out of her hand and read it quickly. "What, he write you a resume? Who is this 'Vayde' it mentions?"

Fyura hiked a thumb at her parasite. "Ve both vant to join up."

The Onu-Turaga leveled an unamused stare at her. "All right. Your first objective: Go get the notice I left near Eisen's bounty pole. We don't need that any longer. Meet us back at the gate" He turned back around,

Fyura rolled her eyes at the gruntwork, but took off. Maeloc met the stares of the skakdi and toa following him. "What? She has longer legs than me." When they reached the gate, it was already dark. "I swear to Makuta, if they're napping..."

IC:

“I have no love for the Brotherhood,” Insidian said slowly. “They worship a false idol.”

“Nah I didn’t tell him anything except this might be an in for him to get into the Legacy.” Zarkov said as they returned to the gate.

“Is that Skakdi comin’ with us now? I talked to her earlier. I also had this chick named Dravennica or somethin’ who was supposed to hunt down that Toa with me but she ran off to find someone else and never came back, if we need someone else maybe she’d be interested.” He shrugged.

“You think Ira is goin to show up? Or the Po-Toa?”

IC: Ira

Ira walked into a bar and said ouch walked into the T.O.Y.S. store.

"Heeeeeello?"

OOC: sorry if I'm taking too long

IC: Noxas

Noxas nearly had a heart attack when Ira came in. "W-W-who's that?" He asked Viera, still pushed the ground via gravity.

IC: Tivanu

Tivanu shrugged slightly as he looked down at the matoran

"Frankly perhaps for respect towards Orderin... It would look horrible on my end if you died on my watch. Plus, whereas you may have stormed off like a selfish child, Orderin and I still considered you a part of our team."

IC: Veteran - Obsidian Outpost Arena.

The Ta-Skakdi watched the unfolding fight with no little amount of interest, his one good eye fixated on the high-speed stone now flying towards Charek. Veteran had seen Enforcer take down a lot of opponents over the years, but never one who fought quit like this....

IC (Charek): Charek smiled as he saw Enforcer's head pop out from behind cover, shifting his aim slightly in response.  Figured that'd get his attenWAIT is that a rock-

And then a rock hit him in the chest.  Welp.

The air left Charek's lungs in a wheeze as the Toa fell backwards, reflexively pulling his rifle's trigger in the process.  He hit the ground winded, his free hand clutching at the new dent in his breastplate.

OOC: Why is it that I only manage to work out my posts at four in the morning?  >_<

IC: Enforcer - Obsidian Outpost. 

The plasma bolt catches  me in the shoulder. I hear the crack of impact, feel a searing pain as it sneaks through a the gap between my shoulder and chest plates. Unfortunately for Charek, he didn't hit my throwing arm. 

I break off a damaged piece of the snap-frozen hay-bale - not quite as heavy or as damaging as the rock was, but still hefty enough to bring some hurt - and peg it right at his surprised face.

IC Tivanu

(Ko-Le-Wahi border):

Although Tivanu's remark would usually have caused a temperamental outburst from Viima, the Le-Matoran seemed surprisingly calm upon hearing it. In fact, he seemed more ashamed than anything else.

"Where is Orderin?" he asked after a short moment of silence.

IC: Tivanu

Yet another shrug was given in response.

"Last I saw him he was in Ga-wahi. He and I kind of separated for the time being. Didn't really have a reason to stick together."

IC: Zekev

Well this sucks.

I dragged the Vortixx and the shooter and dumped them, with much back straining, onto the back of a Brotherhood carriage. I locked it up.

OOC: That's the two converts.

IC: It had been a while; Cyrix peeked out of the crate. Alley was still empty; a Fe-Skakdi crossed the street rather quickly. Otherwise, it was quiet. He reactivated his Volitak, and climbed out of the crate. He created a burst of air underneath him and jetted onto the roof of one of the buildings next to him. The central crevasse was several rooftops away. Cyrix ran and leaped, knowing nobody would hear him.

He surveyed the Koro from the edge of the building by the crevasse: streetlamps lit the streets. They were dim, but cast long shadows. Definitely to be avoided. There were a multitude of bridges over the crevasse, he couldn't see most of them. The Le-Toa frowned, and pulled down his goggles, adjusting the lenses. Toa... lots of skakdi... at least none of them were looking up. And... was that a decapitated body? Down the street from him, there was a ga-matoran offering something to a skakdi.

Ah, there was the head. It was that kind of city, then.

None of this was helping him. Skinny Bo-Toa, tiny Vo-Toa. Shouldn't be that hard to spot... Oh. Right. Disguises. Well then. At least he knew Aelied was wearing the poncho... wait, there. Halfway across the Koro, great, and there were people between them and Cyrix. This was going to be swell.

IC Viima

(Ko-Le-Wahi border):

"Because I left?" Viima asked. He hated to think his sudden departure had broken up the Desperate Trio, but the more he thought of it, the more it made sense.

IC: Tivanu

You know, perhaps shrugging was a past time for Tivanu, for once again that was his response

"Can't say. It wasn't something we so much as actually talked about, it just kind of happened."

IC Viima

(Ko-Le-Wahi border):

Viima was thinking what to say, but found it hard to form words. He had made his decision to leave Orderin and Tivanu long ago. That was something he could not change. He considered asking Tivanu about Surina's fate, but decided against it. There was no point in asking something he already knew.

"I... need to rest", he said unexpectedly. He was feeling weak from his experience in the gorge. "I don't know what you are up to, and it honestly doesn't concern me, but I need to return to my camp. Why I decided to come to this place in the first place is beyond me. And as you could see, nothing good came out of it."

IC Galika:

Galika started to stir. She felt a large dent in her helmet. Not good. Barely conscious, she took stock of where she was.

NPC Guard:

The Brotherhood Guard looked back into the carriage, seeing the Lesterin was awake. He simply bashed her in the head with his weapon, sending her back into the waves of sleep.

IC: Tivanu

Tivanu picked up his own satchel and motioned for Viima to lead the way to his camp

"Truthfully I was on my way out. Ko-koro's become a nest of doom vipers and I had no intention on sticking around. I may be a mercenary but I don't feel like riskin my neck when there's no profit to be gained."

IC Viima

(Ko-Le-Wahi border):

Viima was startled by the implications of Tivanu's words.

"Ko-Koro... what has happened to it?"

IC: Arcturia

The Onu-Toa waited in line, though slightly uncomfortable about the amount of people around.

IC: Khil'rayu (Ko-Koro Gates)

 

"Now that that's over with, you mentioned a meeting between Echelon and the heathen Grandmaster; is there anything else happening here that I missed in my absence?"

IC: (Mortem/Ko-Koro)

"Not much." I reply disdainfully. Some of the behavior of our so called allies is truly disgusting.

"I need some new weapons made." I continue, casting my emerald-eyed gaze towards the village's centre. Hang on, since when have my eyes been green? 

I hold up a hand to see the reflection of my eye's glow on their metallic armour...they are red, just as I thought. Strange.

IC: Khil'rayu (Ko-Koro)

"I heard the "Piraka" have set up a new shop that doubles as a restaurant downtown, selling advanced tech items. What I heard through the pipeline is that they even built a self-aware robot." There is a scene occuring not too near from us; apparently some idiot has just tried to kill somebody. With a slight flick of my hand, I send a sickly blue bolt of disintegrative energy flying towards the recently beheaded corpse. It collapses into a pile of dust, soon whipped away on the stiff breeze that has recently kicked up. 

OOC: RIP Halmos. Nobody's cremating him now. 

IC Kotak:

I spot the power out of the corner of my eye.

No Toa had powers like that.

It had to have come from the vault.

I sighed. Once more, I would have to speak.

I walked over to the other Toa, and with some hesitation, asked my simple question.

"How did you get such power?"

OoC: Mira's, that's you.

IC: Enforcer - Obsidian Outpost. 

 

The plasma bolt catches  me in the shoulder. I hear the crack of impact, feel a searing pain as it sneaks through a the gap between my shoulder and chest plates. Unfortunately for Charek, he didn't hit my throwing arm. 

 

I break off a damaged piece of the snap-frozen hay-bale - not quite as heavy or as damaging as the rock was, but still hefty enough to bring some hurt - and peg it right at his surprised face.

IC (Charek): Still slightly disoriented and wheezing, Charek lifted his head slightly to get a better look at Enforcer.  Huh, he thought.  Didn't think that shot would actuaohgodanotherrock- He slammed his head back against the ground and winced as the chunk of ice and hay passed overhead, the bottom tip slightly grazing his Kakama's visor.  Krahka spit.  Well, there goes any semblance of dignity for either of us this round.

A bolt of plasma flashed from Charek's hand to the floor, and instantly the snow in front of him vaporized with an explosive hiss, leaving a cloak of steam in the middle of the battlefield.  The Toa marshaled his strength and, with a groan, began to force himself to his feet...

IC: Transient

Transient continued to watch the match with little interest. The two fighters were both incredibly skilled... yet, the Onu-Toa knew it wouldn't matter eventually.

All that mattered was his own match. And whether or not he would be able win.

IC: Enforcer - Obsidian Outpost Arena.

The steam was clearly designed to hide his position, give him time to retreat, but I didn't intend to give him that chance. I charged forwards, swinging my crackling halberd through the haze in a sweeping blow aimed at around waist level. 

If Charek was getting up, he wouldn't be staying up for very long. 

IC (Rorg)

Silence.

IC (Charek): 

Charek had barely managed to stand before the telltale sound of a running Vortixx in heavy armor reached his ears.  He took a moment to steady his legs, and then Enforcer's halberd came swinging through the mist to slam against his elbow, the lower section of the blade catching the back of his arm.  One foot gave way, found purchase on the now-uncovered floor, held again.  Reflexes kicked in, and he twisted his arm to grab the halberd and pull, hard, his other hand already blazing with elemental energy.

IC: Enforcer - Obsidian Outpost Arena. 

And he grabbed my halberd. Game over.

While he tries to pull me towards him I pull right back, using my superior size, strength and weight to prevent my weapon from being wrenched from my grip. Still blinded by the cloud of steam, I twist my grip, pressing the mechanism built into the handle and firing off a concentrated EMP burst from the blade. Since Charek is holding onto the weapon, there was no way for him to avoid it. 

IC: Enforcer's weapon flickered with power, and Charek gasped in pain as every muscle in his body simultaneously seized up and then locked into place, his hand tightening on the polearm independent of his will.  He had just enough time to realize the halberd wasn't actually a normal halberd before the shock scrambled his brain.  Conscious thought ceased, and once again instinct took over.

In this case, instinct could be summed up as "push the panic button".  His free hand, still pointed at Enforcer, erupted in a torrent of white-hot energy.

OOC: Yeah, this won't end well for Charek, even if the attack manages to do what it's supposed to.  :|

IC: Tracer

Tracer's eyes widened as Charek fired a blast of plasma at point blank range. "Uh..."

This trial was starting to get out of hand...

IC: Enforcer/Zero - Obsidian Outpost Arena. 

Oh. Well.... . 

White-hot light splashes over my injured shoulder and I lose my grip on my weapon, falling backwards away from Charek. I'm spun sideways by the impact and my burning shoulder slams painfully into the snow in a puff of steam. 

I grit my teeth, biting down hard to stop myself from crying out. I'd suffered plenty of plasma wounds in the past, but this was definitely one of the worst. I roll onto my side and sit up, waving at Zero to end the fight. 

"Enough!" she steps forward, gingerly tugging my axe out of Charek's grip before helping him upright. "You are Charek no more..." she addresses the rest of The Outsiders, "...I give you Ace, our twelfth member!" 

IC (Ace): "...cool."

Then he fell over.

"...aaaaaaargh."

IC: Enforcer/Zero - Obsidian Outpost Arena.

"Murrae, Ayar, could you please see to their injuries?" Zero asks the two medics as I sit down, blinking back tears from the waves of agony rolling through my scorched shoulder. 

"Who was next?" she asks, her reddish gaze settling on Verulas and Tracer. 

IC: Verulas - Obsidian Outpost (Courtyard)

Verulas stepped into the frigid gust of Ko-Wahi air as he heard the promotion of another recruit. He didn't recognise the Toa who had been fighting Enforcer, but he shrugged it off, figuring that they'd wind up crossing paths eventually. There was no time to celebrate, however, as the Skakdi known as Zero was already in the process of setting up the next trial - one that looked like it was going to be his.

My, what impeccible timing he had...

He followed the direction of her eyes, locating the Skakdi that Veteran had previously told him that he would be going up against before shrugging once more.

"I'm game if you are," he said, focusing the entirety of his attention upon her.

Dravennica and Shredder - Wildrerness (Near the Ko-Wahi Coast)

The Ko-Toa lowered her weapon as she was greeted with the sight of Shredder tearing at the other Kavinika's intestines. What she assumed to be the creature's throat lay half-buried in the snow mere feet away, staining the area surrounding it with its blood. She smiled as she let her pet enjoy its meal for a few more moments before signalling him back to her side with a sharp whistle.

Thinking that she could probably get something for the pelts of her previous attackers, she encased them in ice, using the substance to levitate them behind her as she continued her search for a way back to the surface.

IC: Cyrix spotted Aelied and Zueya again, moving several blocks away from the wall, around the crevasse. Staying on this side, though. Aelied knew he was here, and was trying to find him. The old Toa wasn't heading towards Cyrix, though, and that was the problem. The Le-Toa climbed down and hung off the ledge of the roof, and dropped to the ground. Staying out of the reach of the streetlamp's, he dashed down the streets, being careful to not step on snow. By the time he reached where the body had been, the only signs of it was snowflakes drifting onto the puddle of blood. Snowflakes? But it wasn't snowing... Oh. Oh. It was... dust. Explained the lack of a significant blood trail. Moving right along then... he approached a corner he had seen them pass. Cyrix tried to stay out of anyone's direct line of vision, but he knew his mask would mostly cover him up. As he rounded the second corner following the path he remembered them taking, something struck him.

He wasn't the only one tailing the boss.

Ahead of him, he glimpsed a figure take a pass following them. He saw the same person before behind them. He was good; Aelied might even know. Cyrix dashed to a nearby building block, and propelled himself upwards and climbed onto the roof. Then, he heard familiar voices...

"Master, are... are we going anywhere? Because it's awfully cold. And dark. Shouldn't we turn in for the night? Find someplace to stay, or something?"

"Haven't found a place yet."

"But master..."

Cyrix walked over to the other side and peered over; they walked right beneath him. He followed alongside them until he reached an alley. It was facing the crevasse, so one way in or out... at street level. Cyrix realized he had to get Aelied's attention without compromising himself...

Both Aelied and Zueya turned when they heard a metallic clank to the side of them, in the alleyway. Aelied walked over and picked it up. Zueya looked up at the rooftops; nothing. "What is it?"

Aelied turned the protosteel throwing disc over in his hands. Cyrix's. "Nothing. Wait outside, keep watch. I'm going to check something out." He entered the alley.

Zueya sighed and turned around, facing the street. She drew her staff and twisted it to its full length and planted it in the ground, standing guard.

As Aelied walked forward into the darkness, sound was cut off around him. He could still hear his footsteps. Vacuum bubble. "Drop something?" he asked, as Cyrix faded into sight in front of him. The Le-Toa was haggard; there was snow and ice flecks covering him. He smelled less like kavinika now.

Taking the disc, Cyrix slotted it back into his arm. He was tired; he realized that now. Not enough time for that. "I wasn't the only one following you, sir. Someone else."

"That's news to me."

"He was good."

"Indeed. I have important information for you, as well. The Legacy has a bounty out for Vakua's mask. They know his name, and his last known location in Ga-Koro. They don't have Casanuva and Kalyss's names, but he is described as travelling with a Fa-Toa and Su-Toa."

"Great, that's in addition to Skorm wanting him dead. Or close, since if I recall there's no way in Karzhani he'd give that up unless you ordered him to..." Cyrix trailed off as he leaned to the side, to look past Aelied, and reactivated his mask as somebody passed by the alley. When they were gone, he deactivated the mask again.

"One more thing: the guards took down our descriptions and aliases at the gate. So you will have to remain hidden."

Cyrix nodded, breathing heavily. He ended the vacuum bubble, and recreated it. "Thought so. So, what's the plan for now?"

IC: Dahkapa (Ko-Koro, Sanctum)
 
After Zekev walked away to deal with the prisoners and Ira went to collect more supplies, the Ko-Toa was left alone. He wanted to enter the Sanctum before the Piraka and their followers did, for he had a bad feeling about them and the safety of the Grandmaster. These fears weren't based on any solid knowledge, but he still decided to trust his instincts. He walked up the familiar icy stairs and hailed the guards. "This humble servant of Ak'rei'an greets you", he said to them, "I wish to enter and observe the meeting between the Grandmaster and Echelon"
 
OoC: Ghosthands, I guess that I need you to post as the NPC guards.

IC: Maeloc sighed in frustration. It was almost an hour. Granted, he had two more people than he expected, but Ira and the Po-Toa weren't here yet. Might have to leave without them at this rate. He would have a word with the guards to make sure they weren't trying to escape with the information to the Legacy's enemies. In his haste, he hadn't realized such a situation could present itself; not his finest moment... At least the fe-skakdi was returning. Three skakdi, one of which had a Parakuka and an Antidermis power, and an Onu-Toa. Certainly not a group to be trifled with.

OOC: Yes, we are waiting on Ira and Luyn.

OOC: Ultimo, Khil'rayu's a Skakdi.

IC: Khil'rayu (Ko-Koro)

I turn away from Mortem at the sound of this newcomer's voice; this Ko-Toa is the killer of the being whose corpse I sent to Karzahni just a few moments ago. "The final Legacy of Makuta," I say, my tainted voice grinding out into the sharp air. "Antidermis. The Dark One's greatest creation."

IC: Ayar (Obsidian Outpost)

Ayar leapt up, hastily breaking away from Scholar. "'course. Enforcer, Ace? Follow me," she said, beginning to move towards the entrance to the main structure of the outpost.

IC: Ira

... The wait was too long.

Ira walked to the gate.

OOC: ready to go.

Ooc: oops.

IC Kotak:

His eyes widen at the Skakdi's words.

Antidermis.

The same substance the Skakdi in Mangaia had spoken of.

So this was it's power.

He had to have some.

"Where do I get it, outside the vault...?"