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[Kaitholas Cage]

OOC:: Not yet. Bout to put that in my sig.

IC: I nodded and walked toward the caves, looking along the rocks intently. I turned a corner to see-

Edited by Toa Kaithas, Nov 26 2012 - 09:10 PM.

[Constructman: Black Knight]

IC: Merla
A puzzle.







This day was getting weirder and weirder.

IC: Kokkinos
Continuing to pretend to analyze sand, I moved over a tiny bit to analyze those toa more. Something abut the water toa seemed familiar... Not from the wanted posters; it felt as if I knew her from...

From somewhere else.

Edited by Constructman, Nov 26 2012 - 09:40 PM.

[Kaitholas Cage]

IC: The puzzle was simple, but infuriating at the same time. On one side was a pedestal that was obviously made for a Tryna. Upon the placement of that mask a mechanism would disengage, freeing three boxes. One gold, one silver, and one lead. One had a mask in it. Picking any would slide a massive weight down, either smashing the placed Tryna or pulling it off to Mata Nui knows where. I grimaced. Fun.

[Floridian Citrus]

IC: Aelynn

"Two rooms," the Toa of Iron added rather quickly as she followed Auron towards the bar. She'd never actually been inside one before, sinse arriving on the island. Atleast, not that she could remember.

[A billion cats]

IC: Mimira - Po-koro -

Mimira looked at Yasurek. "I'm here cause I'm a pirate of course!"

[Constructman: Black Knight]

IC Merla
Taking my mask off and placing it on the pedestal, I sat down in front of the boxes and studied them carefully. "One gold, one silver, one lead. That's my only clue. But how is that supposed to affect anything? I've onlygoy a 33.333333333333% chance of getting whatever's inside and if I don't get any more clues soon, the odds won't get any better.

[Kaitholas Cage]

IC: I got angry and slammed a wood covered fist into the wall, loosing a few clods of dirt. The letter F peeked out at me. Surprised, I cleaned the rest with plants.

"Into the lion's mouth the mask is fed. What do you choose, Silver, Gold, or Lead?

Silver is beautiful, yes, it's true.
It tarnishes, however, and there's nothing you can do.

Gold lasts forever, many a man's want.
Thieves are attracted to one who flaunts.

Lead is plain, the alchemist's nightmare.
When evil threatens, though, the need for lead blares..

The choice is yours."

[The Giant Space Butterfly]

IC: Nidiak

"Rhymes?" Nidiak glared at the words for a while. "Kaithas, when we find the person who made these puzzles, I'm killing them. I don't care what you say."

IC: Slannak

Slannak, however, devoted herself to actually being useful. "Hmm... Hey, maybe it's a moral choice or something. Like gold means you think like a criminal and lead means you fight evil... Or something like that."

[Kaitholas Cage]

OOC: Hey, I spent a good three minutes on those!

IC: I grinned. "If every single one of these puzzles has something like this, I'm joining you."

[Varren Rehn]

IC: Auron:

"Well if worst comes to worst..." He said, "You get the bed, I'll sleep on the floor. Now, what do you want, I've never heard of these kinds of drinks before. Probably just the local dialect but... Sometimes you never know..."

[Cadias]

IC: Tellus

There was an odd, completely pointless silence for a few moments, before Tellus broke it with a question. "So... uh... are we goin'?"

[Constructman: Black Knight]

"Into the lion's mouth the mask is fed. What do you choose, Silver, Gold, or Lead?

Silver is beautiful, yes, it's true.
It tarnishes, however, and there's nothing you can do.

Gold lasts forever, many a man's want.
Thieves are attracted to one who flaunts.

Lead is plain, the alchemist's nightmare.
When evil threatens, though, the need for lead blares..

The choice is yours."

IC: Merla
I walked up to the poem and started to read. After thinking it over, I said "Whoever made this puzzle assumed that the box one would choose would be a reflection of one's moral character. I remember seeing this before but I can't exactly place where..." Sitting down in front of the boxes, I began to meditate again, falling into a flashback.

288 years ago, an unknown location...

Three slabs of metal, one gold, one silver, and one lead, rested on the table. The toa of plasma that stood at the head of the table showed us each one. Each stone was inscribed with a message, gold promising one's desires, silver promising a just reward/punishment, while lead contained a stern warning: who chooseth me must give and hazard all.

"Gold, silver, and lead," he spoke. "Which one catches your eye most?"

Hands pointed all over the room and the master was overwhelmed. He eventually said "Everybody! Get into three groups depending on what you chose!" When the dust had settled, it seemed that the gold group was the largest.

"Aye, gold many of you desire," the master said with a wry smile. "Why?"

​One of the students, a Ta-Toa with a red-orange and black armor spoke up. "It seems the most promising, the most profitable," he replied, his Calix lighting up. "What many matoran desire, who could refuse?" a Fe-Toa continued. "It seems the easiest," an Onu-Toa with all golden armor and a golden Arthron added, at which point, the whole room burst into laughter, because quite ironically, that skakdi was one of the most hardworking of the students. After the class, and the master, had calmed down, the Pa-Toa nodded solemnly. "Those are good reasons in themselves. They may not be of the most outstanding character, but they make the most sense it would be more than logical to choose the gold."

"What of the silver then?" the master asked. "I didn't know what to choose," a toa of water with blue and black armor and a dark silver tryna spoke. Fidgeting nervously, she continued. "It seemed to be the safest choice. I didn't want to risk too much; the gold and the lead seemed too extreme." The whole class nodded. "Compromise..." the master mused. "To make a compromise for safety and comfort... To avoid extremes, to take the sure road..."

The master finally turned to the group who had chosen lead. That group was the smallest one of all with only about five out of thirty students choosing it. "Your group is the smallest; what makes you stand alone?"

​A toa of magnetism wearing a strangely shaped matatu spoke up. "If you want to get anything in life," he said in a tone that was smug yet humble at the same time, a tone that expressed that the speaker knew everything yet knew nothing at the same time. "If you want to get anything big in life, whether it is that 10000 widget pay raise, that girl across the room, or dominance of the country, you have to work for it. And that hard work can't just be pulled out of your behind; something has to be given, to be sacrificed, in order to attain it. And the rougher the road, the bigger the reward." "This doesn't just apply to material things," a toa of stone wearing a faxon continued, transitioning smoothly as if it was a rehearsed performance. "The things that master has taught us, the way, the path, that requires a greater sacrifice than anything I can think of. And the reward, what is our reward? It looks far away, the prize small, insignificant, unworthy of the trials that one must go through to attain it. It takes a man of extremely powerful determination and resolve to walk such a path. A hard path we walk, a hard race we run. The lead path is the one we walk, but the gold and the silver are open to us anytime. At any point, we can choose to stop running and take the easy road, to take the easy path. But would it truly be worth it? For he who sticks to the race, only he receives the prize. So run, that you mar obtain."

A hushed silence fell over the room. Finally the master nodded. "Kokkinos and Ortherion are right," he spoke. "They seem to have grasped the meaning of this message. I was going to give a long boring speech about the symbolistic merits of each metal but these two seem to have hit the nail on the head." He cleared his throat. "Well then, class dismissed" the teacher said. "Think about today's lesson. Tomorrow we shall be doing a writing assignment." Most of the class groaned but Ortherion simply nodded his head and Kokkinos's eyes lit up. One by one, the students exited the room.

Except for one. The toa of water with the silver tryna had remained. She was studying the slabs of metal intently. "Merla, the lesson's over,' the master said. "I don't get it," the ga-toa replied. "You don't get what?" "The meaning of these metals." "Ah, okay," the master said, sitting down. "Try looking not at the metals themselves but the messages on them; both literally and figuratively." The student picked up the lead tablet and looked hard at it. Finally, she said "I thin I get it now. The messages on the gold and silver would appeal to a lazy person and a conceited, proud person respectively. The metals themselves too; gold and silver are valuable metals and would appeal to such people. The lead, however, has a message on it that would only appeal to a person of great wisdom or character. As for the metal, lead isn't prized by many; it is a plain metal. A modest metal for a modest person." "Exactly," the teacher replied.

My eyes snapped open. I immediately slammed a hand down on the lead box.

[Kaitholas Cage]

OOC: Nice post.

IC: The box slid out easily, Merla being surprised by the weight of the box. The weight slammed down, the Tryna's fate ambiguous. The lid clicked, an ornate Tryna inside. Merla had passed. The Mask of Modesty was hers.

[Constructman: Black Knight]

IC Merla
I just sat there for a while, before sliding the mask out of the box. "Whoa..." I whispered, and put it up to my face, only for it to fly right out of my hands. It flewright out of the cave and into the wide open desert. "Follow it!" I yelled and took off into a run before collapsing from the lack of a mask. "Dizzy..."

IC Kokkinos
Heh. So simple. A simple trick of magnetism and telekinesis were all that were needed. The golden tryna was flying not of its own power but of mine. I had chosen to wait the situation out, but the moment the box opened I realized that this was the mask the Reaper spoke of. I couldn't let them have it; not without a fight. Picking up my staff, I started walking, pretending to simply be heading for the koro. In fact, I was heading for the koro, because that was where the mask was headed.

[The Giant Space Butterfly]

IC: Nidiak

When Merla collapsed, Nidiak immediately looked around to Slannak. "Slannak. Wait here and take care of the box-punching girl." He sprinted out of the cave and after the mask.

[Kaitholas Cage]

IC: I ran over to Merla, picking her up and setting her down against the wall gently. "I'll be back." I grinned and disappeared, appearing under the fleeing mask. I shot vines at the mask from the ground, trying to catch it gently.

[Constructman: Black Knight]

IC Kokkinos
Only for me to raise the mask higher. The vines reached for the mask but they didn't grab it; what few vines did reach it were knocked aside with my matatu. Smirking, I continued to walk, pretending to be going in a different direction.

[Kaitholas Cage]

OOC:: Sorry for late response. Wasn't feeling well.

IC: I swore and tried again, this time firing a blast above the mask, vines trying to push it down.

[Silvan Haven]

Kale Ironshaper- Fowardi

IC: Once the ship was well and truly under way, Kale returned to his spot atop the mast and went back to filling the metal tube with metal sand.
It would take a while, but he estimated that he would be done by the time they arrived.

OOC: Fowardi to Le-wahi?

[Constructman: Black Knight]

IC Kokkinos
The mask simply ducked and sped up. Not wanting to lose sight of it, I kicked up my staff, magnetically attached my feet to it, and flew off after the mask.

[Kaitholas Cage]

IC: "Son of a Muaka." I teleported in front of it, firing vines covered in Sundew leaves from all sides. Nearly impossible to dodge, if a single one of them hit the reinforced leaves would stick tight, at which point only a Toa of the Green could get them off.

[Constructman: Black Knight]

IC: Kokkinos
"Hm," I thought. Stopping the masks's movement, I created a repelling force on it. Anything metal that touched it-in this case, Kaithas's hands-would get blown back. Contact would be near impossible.

OOC how long before we get to direct fighting?

[Kaitholas Cage]

OOC: Now.

IC: The vines pulled the mask downwards, but when I tried to grab it my hands were flung back. Glancing around and seeing our lying friend from earlier flying on a staff, the connection wasn't hard to make. Instead of using my katana (which would be useless against a Toa of Magnetism) I grew two wooden ones, made out of the same nettle wood I had used earlier and teleported to him, slashing at his stomach.

[Constructman: Black Knight]

IC: Kokkinos
Grah! The wooden swords bounced off of my stomach armor but it still hurt like karz. Had those been metal, I would have been dead. Leaping off of my staff, I assesed my options. He seemed to be using a kualsi so that meant if I tried to root him in place, he would just teleport away. So something had to be done about that first. From studies done in my cave, I had learned that kanohi were magnetically attached to the wearer's face. Taking advantage of this, I reversed the magnetic field around Kaithas's head, which would blow hi mask off if he didn't do something about it.

[Ghosthands]

IC (Lohkar)

After a long walk, Lohkar and company finally found themselves walking down the statue-lined path into Po-Koro. The guardsmen at the gate stepped aside after a few words (they were, according to Lohkar, a group of merchants visiting the famed Bazaar) and the pirates entered the village.

Lohkar smiled under his Arthron. It was really too easy to sneak into the Koros these days. It was a good thing he was believed by all to be dead, or he'd probably already be under suspicion.

"Right, mates," he addressed his shore party. "Lasinia an' Yasurek, take Mimira an' ask around at the Bazaar. See if ya can find out anythin' interestin' that's been happenin' - an' yes, you can buy stuff if ya like. Floria an' I'll pay a visit ta the tavern. See what the gossip is. Any questions?"

[Kaitholas Cage]

OOC: If any skin was broken Kokkinos will be getting the plant approximation of a nasty beesting.

IC: Vines grappled around my mask, holding it on. Yay for nonmagnetic elements. I slashed, vines springing out from the wooden sword and trying to entangle Kokinnos. These were a slightly less sticky kind of sundew, where they would destickify after about an hour of tugging. I really didn't want to have to carry this guy around, and killing him wasn't necessary.

[Constructman: Black Knight]

IC Kokkinos
A wave of magnetic force slammed into Kaithas. This was instantly followed by a telekinetic punch. If anything, these two blasts would create more distance between us and buy me more time. "Kaithas is it?" I asked.

[Floridian Citrus]

IC: Aelynn

"I'm not all that sure," the Toa of Iron replied, shrugging. "I've never been here before... So I don't exactly know what they are."

OOC: And, yeah, Fowadi to Le.

[Varren Rehn]

IC: Auron:

"If we ask for two of everything, would you agree on participating in a challenge against me for who can drink the most in the least amount of time?"

[Kaitholas Cage]

IC: My wooden armor blocked the telekinetic punch, and I flipped backwards to keep my footing. "I'm Zithos."

[Constructman: Black Knight]

IC Kokkinos
"Oh, I must of been confused," I said in reply. "You look a lot like that scoundrel," I continued, not convinced that he was telling the truth. "Heh. You must get a lot of people trying to arrest you huh? For looking like him?"

[Floridian Citrus]

IC: Aelynn

"...Uh... Auron, I'm not sure, but that doesn't really sound healthy," the Fe-Toa replied, rasing an eyebrow at the Ta-Toa.

[Varren Rehn]

IC: Auron:

"Well... Can we do some sort of a drinking challenge?"

-Elsewhere-

IC: Beynii:

"Hey bat-guy, you ready?"

"Yes"

"Alright, How are we going to move him Trieze?"

Edited by AuRon the champion, Nov 28 2012 - 06:22 PM.

[Kaitholas Cage]

IC: "You betcha. Though the Reaper says this is a good thing. Something about people being so flustered after confusing me with him that I can get away with a lot." I shrugged. "Most call me the Courier. I've come to take that mask to our stronghold." I mentally crossed my fingers.

[Constructman: Black Knight]

IC: Kokkinos
"Crazy-megalomaniacal scythe dude never told me about you. New recruit? And what's with the company? Are you a whole gang of Maasi look-alikes?

Edited by Constructman, Nov 28 2012 - 08:28 PM.

[Kaitholas Cage]

IC: I grinned. "Not so much a new recruit. I think he's really about the compartmentalization of information."

[Constructman: Black Knight]

IC: Kokkinos
"... So what's with the company? Are you a whole gang of Maasi look-alikes?"

[Kaitholas Cage]

OOC: Do keep in mind that Revor, Desilix, Slannak, and Nidiak are unrecognizable.

IC: Drat. "Meh. Those pictures aren't the highest quality. And when you think how many Toa there are on this island, a group of lookalikes aren't that weird."

[Constructman: Black Knight]

OOC: They changed their form?

IC: Kokkinos
"Okay then... the mask's over there," I said, pointing to the vines. "But how am I sure to trust you?"

[Kaitholas Cage]

OOC: I never stated explicitly what Revor and Desilix did (have bunnying permission) but they did essentially the same thing as Nidiak and Slannak. They all have an extra coat of iron armor.

IC: "I suppose there's nothing I can do except this." I held out my hand, the Rakal symbol made from plants in it. I turned and walked back to the mask, guessing the field was dropped.