13844 replies to this topic

[ZHX]

OOC: Fortune and crew from Le-Wahi

IC: [Treize]

"Welcome to Ko-Wahi, that really cold place."

[Axilus Prime]

IC: Toranmat started shivering. Being still partially under the influence, that caused him to roll and strike ALL the matches. He ended up bumping each one, one flying at Treize due to her bad luck, 4 falling into the sea, and 5 hitting the cannons and triggering them. Explosions and an avalanche resulted. "Erhm...where do we dock now?"

[ZHX]

IC: [Treize]

The ship swerved off course, slamming into the banks of the region, snow blanketing them.

"Here I suppose."

[Axilus Prime]

IC: Toranmat managed to stand up. "We should get this snow off before it freezes the ship here."
OOC: A match flew at you, where is it now?

[ZHX]

IC: [Treize]

"Right. Once I loosen this match from my mask."

[Axilus Prime]

OOC: A LIT match. Remember, he lit all of them by sliding them against the deck by accident, and that's how he triggered the cannons.
IC: "Er...Treize...FIRE!"

[ZHX]

IC: [Treize]

Treize paused for a moment as she slowly felt heat begin to transfer to her mask. She promptly began to run around randomly, and stuffed her head into the snow. Due to her luck however, this caused more snow to fall on her, and she was fully covered by a pile of snow.

[Axilus Prime]

IC: Toranmat quickly rushed to dig her out. "Er, sorry!"

[ZHX]

IC: [Treize]

"We're ... going ... to ... find ... someplace ... warm," said the Matoran, shivering.

[Axilus Prime]

IC: "I knew this was a bad idea..." Toranmat went to the cabin and got some spare sails, and draped them over himself and Treize, one for each of them. "Ok, this should do until we get proper cold resistance equipment...AND A ROOF OVER OUR HEADS!"

[ZHX]

IC: [Treize]

"Let's just go find a proper dock and an inn."

[Axilus Prime]

IC: "Ok." Toranmat walked through the snow, keeping his makeshift coat on him.

[ZHX]

IC: [Treize]

"You been to Ko-Wahi before?"

[Axilus Prime]

IC: "Actually, I have no idea what I am doing whatsoever. But I'm guessing the Koro is more inland than the coast."

[ZHX]

IC: [Treize]

"Yeah. It's underneath a glacier or something."

[Axilus Prime]

OOC: I thought it was in some sort of cave.
IC: "Really? These people don't like tourists..."

[ZHX]

IC: [Treize]

"Nah. It's just a nice place to live."

OOC: I think it's underneath some sort of icy thing.

[EmperorWhenua]

Ic: On the coast of Ko-Wahi, there was a small fishing port in one of the numerous fjords that penetrated the glacier-ridden segment of Mata Nuian coastline. It wasn't much to speak about, just a few small wooden shacks and a handful of matoran who worked and lived there. Almost completely separated from the rest of civilization, the only connection it had with the other Koro was a ship that came every two weeks on the dot that picked up the wares and dropped off supplies and news. It was also one of the only ways in and out of the small port, unless one was aware of a hapaka trail that descended from the mountains into the fjord itself. It required a sure foot and a good guide, but was very much doable.

Down the trail came a small band of strangers, one being a burly toa with an axe with a matoran with earmuffs, both behind another matoran who carried a hiking staff and wore a scarf: the guide. They emerged as small specks, but they soon hopped from ice mound to glacial erratic and made the final scramble into the little village itself. The locals payed little attention to them despite their foreignity, instead devoting their attention to their tasks of chopping fish and smoking it for preservation. But the group was not the only assembly of people from out of town. Three other people stood by as well, with their own entourages, making one dozen people altogether. Of these, the three came forward to greet the newcomers. They were two men and one woman, each one obviously not from the working class, causing even more indignation from the locals to the travelers.

"I am Ambages," the matoran with the earmuffs said in salutation, stepping from his company. He gestured and the three others went with him to the side, away from earshot as their companions sauntered away for their own company. Though none of the onlookers could detect it, all four beings held a stiletto under their cloaks, ready to strike any one of the others.

What happened next was a curious ritual formulated by the organization itself, a simple but effective safeguard. Each of the beings recited in a whisper a short line, continued by the next without fail. "To each their own..."

"... To each their might..."

"... But only as one..."

"... We see the light."

At the conclusion of the brief recital, all four people put their weapons away and embraced each other as old friends do and exchanged their gratitude to be together again. Even the lone woman, a lithe and feminine matoran who reeked of sophistication dis not shy away from this display of affection; all four were genuinely content to be reunited. "What next, brother?" she asked. "Where do we take our business?"

"I have chartered one of the boats here," Ambages said. "We will take the boat out into the open waters, away from ears that hear, and carry out our meeting there."

"But will we be alone?" one of the men asked, slightly worried that a lone sailor would be a mole.

"Yes," Ambages assured him. "We will have a captain, but he will take the launch and fish away from us on the boat. No fretting; we will be safe."

"Good," the man said.

"Then shall we?" the other man encouraged the others, gently pushing his brothers and sister onto the pier.

[Mr. Peanuts]

OOC: Short timeskip from earlier position in fight. I assume that even the spectators have become too embroiled by now to stop this.

IC: The spar blazed.

Hau and Sucogu had been transformed by the minutes and life-and-death ferocity of the combat. They crackled and hissed as metal grated on metal, lightnings struck lightnings. Truly the power of the two lightning users fully unleashed was awesome to behold: They pushed the boundaries of their respective speeds for each parry, deflection, and attack. only the bolts flying through cold air moving faster.

It was impossible to tell student from master. Each had become intertwined with the other, unidentifiable-they were two halves of the same heart, beating in unison to each blow.

The two finally withdrew for a millisecond of respite. Hau set one foot forwards in preparation for his next lunge.

It was that small step that saved him.

Six centimeters of glowing protosteel drove into the armor twixt Hau's shoulder blades and stopped right below the epidermis in an area in which that full length would kill.

Cyan robes flapped in the air behind the young toa's back. Knife seemed to hang there, suspended in that sneering defiance of all the school's defenses as her kanohi smirked, then began to fall-

Edited by Armadijo, Apr 09 2012 - 10:50 PM.

[ZHX]

[IC: Rannin]

"So, you coming?" he asked as he continued to lean against the wall.

[A billion cats]

OOC: I don't remember where or what Bruntoa was doing at all...so I'm gonna put him with Rannin.

IC: Bruntoa - The School Grounds -

Bruntoa walked up to Rannin, he was bored and had no students to train at the moment. "Hey Rannin, you doing anything at the moment?"

[ZHX]

[IC: Rannin]

"No."

[A billion cats]

IC: Bruntoa - The School Grounds -

"I see..." Bruntoa stroked his goatee, or he would if he actually had one, but that would be silly. "Yeah, I'm not either. We should do something to change that."

[ZHX]

[IC: Rannin]

"Like what? Try clear away a hill?"

[A billion cats]

IC: Bruntoa - The School Grounds -

"Well we could do that, but to make it more interesting, how about we level hills by chucking massive mounds of earth and iron at them?" This idea was so pointless and insignificant that the rules of the universe dictated that it would somehow still be important anyway.

[ZHX]

[IC: Rannin]

"Sounds interesting. Or I could just try to cleave one in half."

[A billion cats]

IC: Bruntoa - The School Grounds -

"Alright then, come on, it's our destiny, I can feel it. Either that or I'm just desperate to do something." Bruntoa began to lead Rannin toward some hills nearby the school grounds.

[ZHX]

[IC: Rannin]

"Probably the latter. If it was our destiny, then we'd turn into Turaga soon after."

[A billion cats]

IC: Bruntoa - The School Grounds -

"Oh yeah, good point." The two Toa stood before an entire row of completely harmless and innocent snow covered hills. Bruntoa created a huge ball of dirt, which he promptly lifted up above his head, the ball was probably at least 10 times the size of the Toa.

"Time for target practice." Bruntoa threw the ball with a grunt, it collided into a hill, leveling it completely. A cloud of dust rose, blocking their view of the hills..

Edited by Snelly the gelotophobic, Apr 10 2012 - 12:26 AM.

[ZHX]

[IC: Rannin]

Rannin smiled, and slowly pulled out his sword. It began to expand in size, the weapon eclipsing his body as it hung to the side. Yet despite this, the Toa had no problem in holding it, possibly due to the activation of his mask.

Then he swung the now even more massive weapon at a hill.

As the blade connected, he let go, the sword cleaving through the hill, before slamming into another behind it, only stopping after it had cleaved four of the hills in half, and found itself embedded half way through the fifth.

[A billion cats]

OOC: Well, I'm gonna go to bed after this post, if I stay up any longer I'll regret it severely tomorrow.

IC: Bruntoa - The School Grounds -

"Not bad..." Bruntoa commented. Then Bruntoa lifted a medium sized boulder, and threw it hard, just like a pitcher in a baseball game. It went through one, two, three....eight hills, each of which collapsed as the holes created in them were too massive for them to stay held up.

Edited by Snelly the gelotophobic, Apr 10 2012 - 12:37 AM.

[ZHX]

[IC: Rannin]

Rannin said nothing, merely forming a massive lance of steel within his hands. His mask glowed, and he threw with all the strength he could muster at the hills. It impaled a massive line of them, and they began to collapse around them, the lance having expanded even more in size.

[Axilus Prime]

IC: "Nice place my toenail! My drunken vomit is frozen!" And so it was, as he had noticed back when he was on the ship.

[ZHX]

IC: [Treize]

"You obviously haven't seen the warmer areas."

[EmperorWhenua]

Ic: Ambages and his associates boarded the small trawler, the captain being the only crewmember to pilot the boat out. The four patrons remained silent, merely lounging as if they were on a river yacht drifting down a Ga-Wahi canal for a riparian picnic a mile downsteam. Ambages himself stood at the railing, observing the cold bank of the fjord slide to his right while the rest either sat and read or attempted to meter the speed of the boat by the dispersal of the wake. It was just another reminder that Ambages held interesting company, but they were united in purpose.

After some time of steady put-put-puts, the boat finally stalled and let down anchor a ways outside the fjord in open water. The captain, true to the widgets given, stepped into the launch and oared his way out of concern. The four dignitaries settled into their positions of comfort on the deck and prepared to do the business they came to do.

"Well then, now with that out of the way..." one of the men said to start. He wore a crimson cloak adorned with feathers. He was the one who sat and read during the small cruise. He was bespectacled from his many hours of literary pursuit, an intellectual at heart. Countering his sage, he was physically frail, and thus he sat rather than stood. The years had been gentle to him, but his body nevertheless suffered. The many decades of his life gave him as much insight and memory as he had in widgets, and of the four, he often served as the mentor.

"Yes, where shall we begin?" the other man said. This was the scientist who observed the waves. He was dressed simply in a black greatcoat and carried a walking cane. They all knew he stashed spirits in the cane despite professing to be a virgin to alcohol, defending it as for "medicinal purposes only." Still, he usually came up with the soundest of advice, and as a result was welcomed company.

"How about where we last left off?" the woman said. She was elegant and curved, donned in a soft and thick brown cloak with furs lining her shoulders and neck. She also wore gloves and currently occupied herself by gently slapping her hands with the soft leather fingers. She was more than the cunning and sultry noblewoman who had her membership due to her money, but rather she earned it over the years of proving that few things could stand in the way between her body and dominion, of hearts and minds. If any of the others wanted something they lacked, they went to her. "If I recall, we were discussing the next phase of your plan, Ambages."

And then there was Ambages, the most adventurous of the lot by far. His body was toned from his journeys and activities, and he was the most unkempt of the group from his long walk over the mountains. His woolen coat was rife with pilling and mudstains near the bottom, and his boots were not shiny at all like the others'. Nevertheless, among them he was the greater of equals, and the rest respected him for his intelligence and ability to plan things well. He was the doer, the go-getter, and also the most public. Of them, he was the one who said the most to the plebeians with his office as architect. "Yes, my plan," he said to himself. "It is making good progress."

"Let us hear it, then," the scientist said eagerly. "We all heard the news, but let's hear it from your own lips."

Ambages collected his thoughts for a moment. "I have recruited several ready souls who are willing to do my bidding so long as the money comes. One of them freed Hiemalis from his cell after his capture, and the lord of winter walks the streets as a free man for now. The Bad Company has been reunited, and they are currently preparing to engage the NEX in Onu-Koro."

"Once they are gone, our grip on the worst criminals will be secure," the lady said and grinned deviously.

"Only so long as we pay them," the old man warned. "Mercenaries can only be bought, not trusted."

"Still," Ambages continued, "with them in my employ, we need not bother with the worst eggs in the basket, and with them on our side, other groups will fall easily. The trick is to maintain their loyalty and for them to keep their usefulness."

"If they hint at going rogue, we should kill them," the scientist declared. "It would be best to have no criminals worth our attention that criminals we can't control."

"Don't worry, my friend, it would be done," Ambages assured him. "Also, Hiemalis has found an apprentice at last. His abductee, Kol Uskey, has proven to be able to be turned. This won't be the first, though." The others gave sophisticated hmphs at this notion. "The next phase, however, is to assert dominion. What better target than Xa-Koro."

"Xa-Koro?" the woman nearly shouted. "That place is nothing but a den of sin and debauchery. There is nothing to conquer there."

"I know," Ambages said gently. "That is why it is perfect."

"The best way to do this is by sailing in and shattering the city once and for all. No better dominion exists than inspiring fear into the hearts of men." The scientist turned to the lady next to him. "And women..." he said with raised brows and lustfully narrowed eyes.

"Save it for the sluts," the lady snapped harshly, and the man feigned a wound as she heartlessly steamrolled over him. "Still, I agree. Force would be best for this. No better way to inspire agreeableness exists than to shatter the lives of the petty and sinful."

"I disagree," the old man said. They all looked to him. "What more can you take away from those who have nothing to begin? These men who live in Xa-Koro have endured more hardship in the time we have been together here than any of you have had in your entire lives," he chastised them, though he did not glare at Ambages, knowing well that the architect had indeed gone through his own sets of miseries. "Instead, I encourage you to go and give them hope. Nothing stirs up the masses more than hope."

"He is right," Ambages said, nodding. "By killing them needlessly, we only make them worse. But the point is not to just go and show what we can do, but to create an army." The others gave him a blank face, only the old man showing a glint of awareness in his eyes. "Yes, Xa-Koro is rife with iniquity, but what it lacks in active energy it contains in potential force. The people who call Xa-Koro home are the disparate, the destitute, the vagrants, the eager. These are people filled with anger built up from years of being looked down upon by the mainlanders, spat upon by merchants and honest men alike. But so long as they remain holed up and cornered in their little ruin, they will never rise to any occasion.

"Instead, I want to go down there and inspire them. Give them hope, breath life into their sorry spines and make their wishes come true. Once they see life becoming better, their wishes will grow, and they will spring into action."

"Action... on our side," the woman said in awe.

"By inspiring and providing to them, you sway them to our side," the scientist realized. "You prepare and convert an entire army to do your bidding. But what will we use to provide them with the things to inspire them?"

"We all are different, and each one of us possesses different traits that can surely help our causes, and some of us want little more than the others demise," he said in complete seriousness. "But we all have one thing in common: We all have lots and lots of money. Let us not forget the influence of affluence. If we need hands, we can buy them, and if it is hearts we must meld, we can do so. Together, we can do more than we can imagine."

"Indeed," the sage agreed. "But I wonder... What will the Makuta say of us raising an army in our name? He has done great things of power to those he disapproves of."

"He will not mind," Ambages stated flatly.

"Have you-- Have you spoken with the Dark One?" the scientist said as he balked.

"No." Ambages tried to be as calm as he could to smooth this complex nerve. "But I know what his Hand thinks. The enemy of my enemy is an ally of mine, and that is where the Makuta and I stand together." The others looked at Ambages expectantly, waiting for his confession. His face suddenly turned from one of icy calm and reserve and his tone devolved from cultivated to rageful as he nearly boiled over. "I. HATE. Mata Nui!" he yelled out, his voice echoing across the waves, surely reaching the ears of the captain who fished away. "And it is to that end that I work, that I conspire, against him. No, the Makuta will not stir so long as I work alongside him in this affair. Of this, I have been assured."

Edited by James Lester, Apr 10 2012 - 02:44 AM.

[Axilus Prime]

OOC: KURAHK TOO NOW?! Are you on spring break?
IC: Toranmat facepalmed. He regretted that, because his hand was frozen stiff and it hurt. "I don't think anywhere but the part near Ta-Wahi, on the OPPOSITE side of the Wahi, is anywhere near warm." He kept on looking around.
OOC: At least we won't have to go over Mount Ihu. If MNOG has a grain of geological truth to it, then approaching through Ta-Koro is the only way to need to cross Mount Ihu. So from the coast...it should be relatively short.

[ZHX]

OOC: It's called school holidays. We have four of them each year in Australia.

IC: [Treize]

"I normally come to this region via the Ga-Wahi side."

[Axilus Prime]

OOC: ...school holidays? You've been posting extremely fast for a week, not four days.
IC: "Oh, so you've been to the Koro?" Toranmat saw ice carved in an orderly manner. "Hmm...we must be close." He sneezed mucus, and it froze before leaving his nose. "MATA NUI KARZAHNI!" He tore the disgusting icicles off.

[ZHX]

OOC: School holidays started a week ago.

IC: [Treize]

"Sort of."

[Axilus Prime]

OOC: Oh, so they're more than one day. My spring break ended just yesterday, cutting my efficiency at comic-making in half.
IC: Toranmat continued walking until he saw a cave entrance, carved with letters that spelled Ko-Koro.
OOC: Or whatever it said in MNOG.
IC: "Well, I guess we go in."