Trapped in a Map

[Toa Kovolta]

GM IC:

 

The Tahtorak looked down at the racket coming from Peya. It stared menacingly at the "Toa of Sonics", then let out a giant roar.

 

"You are the answer?! What have you done with home?!" It shouted.

 

Angrily staring at Peya, it took step forward, causing another quake. Anxious, those in the nearby towers came out to investigate the source of the tremors.

 

OOC: All the disrupters who were at the meeting and haven't gone down to the dungeon, please feel free to come and interact with the Tahtorak.

[Shadowhawk]

IC / "Blackcap" / The Royal Gardens: "Flame and destruction? Is that your solution to everything?" Blackcap chided, adjusting the leathery gloves over his hands. "Those will only bring oblivion to worlds. But not this one, because there won't be so much as a Spark to cause it much longer." The dark, faceless entity stood with fists poised for a fight, an ominous silhouette against the lightning-like flashes from the night sky.

IC: [ Ferrin ] - The Gardens"Not oblivion." growled the Toa of Fire, eyes hot and wild as the flames that danced around him, surging upwards in flickering sheets from his hands and forearms, blood-red in the night. "Order."His voice dropped an octave, and there was a note of regret. "I did not wish to hurt you. But the Spark... the Spark must not be bound. I am eternal. I am infinite. I am the Spark that brings the Flame."His yellow eyes narrowed to slits. Smoke rose suddenly from the nearby Enforcer's clothing, than a single spark, and then flames roared up around the being's body in a swirling column of raw, unbridled flame. Heat waves surged outwards, rippling the ominous glow that shifted on the contours of the Toa's mask, casting demonic shadows across his face and shoulders."And this hour, you burn."OOC:Your move.

[Little Miss Krahka]

IC: Peya

 

"No, no, I know it, not am it. I didn't do this, if that's what you're wondering. The Carver did. Found you, signed in your species in his little book and transported you away from home, to here. Did it to me, did it to every Rahi here. Oh, and the others. They'll probably try to kill you. That's probably why he brought you here. So that you'd rampage around a bit and they'd make you stop by killing you. The Carver's a bit of a sadist that way, and some people are . . . overly attached to their buildings."He looked around. "I have no idea how to escape . . . that's an answer I don't have."

 

Peya stiffened his body to shift and take to flight at any second in case things went wrong, but he stood his ground.

Edited July 22, 2013 by Little Miss Krahka

[Toa of Dancing]

IC / Water and Armageddon The Wasteland, Blowing up the Wall:

 

Here it was. This was the spot she had scouted. Fine cracks showed structural weakness, but no one knew the extent of how much she had decayed the inside over time. One good earthquake, a few well placed elemental blasts, and the whole of this section of the Wall would be no more. However, she didn't want to just do that. Oh no. Blowing up the Wall would be big, but not big enough. She wanted to shatter this section of the city. She wanted to cause as much havoc as possible and show these sheep that the Carver could and would be defied.

 

With a smirk, she noted the booming roar from the south. She could very faintly see the massive shadow thrashing about the towers. That was a great distraction, to be sure. Maybe it would draw some of the Worshipers out of their hovels. But as it was, the Carver's strange gift would not be the highlight of the night. Oh no.

 

Her guerrilla faction all hid behind an outcropping, silently building up their elemental energies and mental focus. Those without masks or elements waited for the moment in which they could storm into the city and enjoy using the bombs upon their ammo belts. Two of Armageddon's most stealthy and agile members were already placing charges on the wall, and another was putting one bomb here and one bomb there on the other side of the wall. A sack of fruit under a marketer's stock, a barrel of vegetable, a jug of water. By the time he was done, roughly a dozen bombs had been placed in the small grotto just that side of the wall, and he noted where each of them were exactly.

 

Then, when everyone had gathered, when the planters were safely behind the outcropping, when everyone was ready to go, it was time. Water motioned to the two fire Toa in Armageddon, and they blew the charges. Then they blew the charges in the city. Three Skakdi in the group threw their powers of earth and stone into the mix, fully extending their elemental abilities in a short burst of violent earthquake. The air and fire wielders blew the fire deeper into the city.

 

All of this at once left an enormous cloud of fire, dust, and debris where the Wall and a small portion of the city used to be. And it was growing.

[Magnus Greel]

IC / Abahdon / The Royal Gardens:

 

The sudden flurry of fire around him was cleverly unexpected. Blackcap appeared to struggle inside, a dark silhouette in a restive blaze of red and orange; the surging pillar of fire surrounding him suddenly dispelled, as his flaming garments tore and fell away. Fragments of his coat continued to burn on the ground, generating a veil of smoke around Blackcap, while something tall and powerful began to rise from inside...

 

"You owe me a new hat, Sparky," he announced mockingly from the curtain of smoke. A huge, taloned foot thrust out, wicked claws curling into the soil; a pair of red, angular eyes pierced through, staring at Ferrin; and a long tail swished playfully in the air. "But I'll settle for your heart."

 

Something much different than the Toa-like being emerged from the cloud, launching himself toward the Spark with speed unlikely for his size. Massive claws on outstretched arms poised to shear through his protective armoring, rend his body apart with their edge and strength.

 

 

Meanwhile, with the fire in the shantytown suppressed, the Gardens' sentinels had returned to their posts in the fields, where the sight of another fire in the night triggered the alarm once more.

Edited July 23, 2013 by Magnus Greel

[Toa Levacius Zehvor]

IC: High Inquisitor Voebius | Within - Palace

 

As Voebius was about to respond, one of her Inquisitors - a member of Mantax's species, wearing a Mask of Teleportation - popped into existence next to her and Carmera, stumbling about as he tried to recover from the shock of traveling with an experimental mask. Voebius looked to him and asked, "What is meaning of this?"

 

"Ma'am, there's been an attack on the wall! Part of it has been destroyed by those on the outside!"

 

"What!?" she exclaimed, appearing as though she was ready to hit the man for a moment before she regained her composure. After a moment, a slight smile crept across her face. She looked at him and said, "Send to each of our telepaths, I want entire Inquisition on move for breach."

 

The Inquisitor nodded and then 'ported away once more. "It would appear that they have made first move, prophet. I must go, immediately."

 

-Toa Levacius Zehvor

Edited July 22, 2013 by Toa Levacius Zehvor

[The Lorax]

IC (Dekuna): "Actually, no" Dekuna said to the smug little Ko-matoran."We finished quickly, but it wasn't futile. We did implement a new organisational structure which I hope will stregthen cooperation with time. It's a trial at the moment, but it is progress. And the reason I'm down here before anyone else is this mask. It's very useful for things like that"

 

OOC: So, Kovolta. Anything on what we find, walking down these stairs?

[Toa Levacius Zehvor]

IC: Zayin | Within - Outcast Towers, Lower Level

 

"Also quite useless for paying proper attention while traveling." Zayin thought for himself as he heard Dekuna speaking further ahead, extolling the virtues of his mask. He had continued trailing the group as they moved further, and had made himself scarce in the dark for a moment while he heard the sound of Dekuna moving along the corridors via teleportation. This was the closest he had gotten, and while he was still very well hidden, this would be the first opprotunity for a highly perceptive member of the group to have pinned his location.

 

Of course, he could have hidden a little bit better, really...

 

-Toa Levacius Zehvor

[Shadowhawk]

IC: [ Ferrin ] - The GardensToa Ferrin watched the flaming Enforcer's dramatic transformation with mild surprise, even a touch of vague unease, which wasn't soothed at all by distant shouts of alarm as the Garden's returning sentinels fanned out and began advancing purposefully across the fields towards him. They still had a few hundred yards to go, but he knew from experience that it wasn't enough... he couldn't take them all, not with a massive, demonic beast-being at his throat...The Enforcer lunged forward in an incredibly fast, marvelously coordinated surge of raw muscle and jagged claws. With only milliseconds to spare, Ferrin reflexively triggered his Mask of Intangibility, simultaneously slamming an explosive fireball against his opponent's chest.

 

Burn. Burn he must... then the others.

[The Lorax]

IC (Hatann): Hatann got down to the ground as quickly as he could, and saw that trying to reason with the Tahtorak was failing to halt its rampage. He quickly calculated a few ways the situation could pan out and then threw his weight behind one of them. Letting the rahi keep on keeping on wasn't a good idea. He wanted to get out of the Map, and, currently, his strongest lead on that was underneath on of the Outcast Towers. He could run in there now and leave the rahi, but that risked having the tower brought down on top of him. He could leave the beast for others to deal with while conducting his own investigations elsewhere, but he didn't really have much else to investigate. Bottom line, that Tahtorak was going down.

 

He pointed his mace at the rahi and triggered his gravity powers, causing the massive rahi to rise into the air. When it was about 20 bio up, and had no way of reaching the ground, he stopped reversing gravity and just negated it, holding the massive rahi in 0G. Up there, it could thrash around all it wanted without hurting anybody, and hopefully someone else would be able to find a more permanent way to put it out of action. Holding such a big reptile in the air was about all he could do at the moment, at least if he wanted to be able to sustain the power for a decent length of time.

 

IC (Dekuna): Surely, Dekuna would have thought, Zayin should have known it was useless to be sneaky around a toa of sonics, especially one as cautious as Dekuna. If he had read the posts above, for example, he would have known that, even while speaking, Dekuna was checking the passageway in front and behind with sonar, as well as keeping his ears peeled for any unusual sounds that would not come from a few Disruptors walking down stone steps.

Still, he let Zayin stay back, away from the rest of them. If he wanted to hide, that was his choice.

[Shadow Destroyer]

IC: Nahri - The Closed Gate

 

Nahri stepped out of the shadows of the alleyway and back into the road. Her eyes burned for a moment as they adjusted to the influx of light, and she stood still for a moment. As soon as she could see again, she gasped in awe.

 

The Closed Gate stood before her. Although most of the residents crossing the road next to it didn't give it a second glance, she was transfixed by its appearance. It stood far higher than any of the buildings next to it, and it cast an ominous shadow on the streets directly before it. It was made of a dark kind of wood, and its color had seemed to fade since its creation. Now, it was barely darker than the stones that surrounded it.

 

Nahri walked forward quickly and pressed her hands against its smooth texture. It was cold, in an unnatural sort of way. Chances are, it was thick enough to be almost indestructible, but that wasn't what she had in mind anyway. She wanted to see what was over it!

 

She pulled the spear off of her back and split it into two smaller blades. Gripping one in each hand, she plunged them into the cracks in the wood and started to climb.

 

OOC: Don't know if wall climbing is against the law, but I say it's good enough reason for Koranga to get involved.

Edited July 23, 2013 by Shadow Destroyer

[The Lorax]

IC (Koranga): Koranga punched the wall a second time. The stone was as hard as ever, so all he ended up with was bruised fingers. He got a little buzz of pain, but it wasn't much, and not nearly enough to offset his bad mood. That was the second time today that he had chased someone across the city only for them to get away. He punched the wall a third time.

 

Now that he saw it, the wall, while still unyielding rock, was now decorated by an athletic toa shimmying up up. Green armour with yellow highlights, so probably air... or plantlife. He couldn't tell which at the moment (though an air toa would likely be flying over a wall rather than trying to climb it, and plantlife wouldn't have to go over the gate at all...) He terminated that line of thinking. He didn't have to know who it was climbing the gate, only that they were, and that it gave him an excellent excuse to let off steam. He got mad.

 

"OI YOU!" he shouted upwards, raising his hands above his head in a violent gesture. Around him, people in the crowd turned to look. Standing at least head and shoulders above everyone else, he was making quite a scene. "GET DOWN HERE! NOW!" He fired a zamor sphere up at the toa where she was dangling from her weapons.

[Toa Kovolta]

IC / Carmera / At the Palace / With Voebius:

 

"Well then," replied Carmera. "It seems they've saved us the trouble of doing it ourselves. The Carver probably will still blame me though. Go give 'em Karz!"

 

 

IC / Mystiko / At the Outcast Towers / With Reya, Kratep, Takarik and Dekuna / Exploring the Dungeons:

 

"I see," replied Mystiko, pulling out a lightstone from his pack as he followed the four Disrupters down into the darkness. "Well lets hope your newly formed organization doesn't draw too much attention."

 

OOC: We won't find anything on the stairs, Lorax, but we'll start learning more once we reach the bottom.

 

GM IC:

 

The Tahtorak roared at Peya again. "The Carver?! Who is the Carver?! Give me the answer!!" Then it was about to take another step and cause another earthquake, when suddenly it found itself floating in midair, causing it even more confusion. "What is this?! Give me the answer!" It roared, thrashing about in the zero gravity.

[Shadow Destroyer]

IC: Nahri - The Closed Gate

 

The zamor sphere hit the wall above her left hand. Nahri almost lost her grip on her spear, but she managed to hold on. Looking down, she saw a tall armored being yelling up at her. She didin't know what he was saying, and frankly, she didn't care. "What? Are there rules against curiosity here also?" She thought irritably.

 

She looked down at the ground. She was already about thirty feet high. If she could climb a little farther, she would be out of reach of his launcher. Grunting, she began to climb higher.

[Magnus Greel]

IC / Kaytana / The Palace:

 

The news of tonight's chaos had reached Kaytana in her personal chamber. Her initial impulse was to take action in the Royal Gardens to prevent their devastation, as they were a vital resource and source of control for the Worshippers. However, as it would do no good to have rebels running about in the City while she fought a fire in renewable fields, the Skakdi decided it was best to subdue the attackers first, while a contingent of Enforcers dealt with the fire-starter.

 

"Surround the Gardens, leave no openings for escape," she had told them, in stern tones. "Close in, beat them down, and take them alive. If you fail... don't come looking for me."

 

Now she hurried through the Palace corridors in the direction of the breach in the Wall, the thrill of battle rushing throughout her veins. It was nice to have enemies to crush to liven up her night.

 

IC / Abahdon / The Royal Gardens:

 

The volatile blow would have incapacitated a lesser being, knocking them back pointblank in an outburst of flames, but Abahdon was far more resilient than that. Having noted the scorched and damaged breatplate and surrounding armoring, the nightmarish officer began circling his adversary on all fours. His extra, bladed arms remained in the air, ready to swipe at Ferrin with their razor edges once he was solid again.

 

"You can't stay intangible forever," he snarled from a now-present mouth. In fact, his face now bore more characteristics, very similar to those of the Kanohi Kraahkan. "Come and fight me like a real Toa!"

Edited July 23, 2013 by Magnus Greel

[Little Miss Krahka]

IC: Peya

 

It was already starting. This place would be crawling in people scrambling to kill him in no time. Already someone was using some sort of gravity or telekinesis power on the Tahtorak, sooner or later it'd be fire and ice and plasma and death.

 

He spotted a Skakdi pointing his mace at the Tahtorak, heavy in concentration. That had to be the one.

 

"If you're planning on killing him," he said, transforming mid-sentence into the spitting image of Hatann. ". . . You'll have to go through me."

 

It wasn't often that Peya would put his life on the line for another being, but he sympathized with his fellow Rahi, confused and alone in a city not made for his kind. He was once that Rahi too. Besides, he'd driven off Skakdi who'd tried to settle in his territory before.

Edited July 23, 2013 by Little Miss Krahka

[Shadowhawk]

IC: [ Ferrin ] - The Gardens"Call off your reinforcements, copper," retorted the intangible warrior, hurling a second fireball straight at his opponent's evil-looking face, "and I'll think about it. Until then..."Flickering back into the tangible plane of existence, he ducked to cover behind a nearby fruit tree, simultaneously channeling large amounts of the immediate area's heat energy into the oncoming Enforcer's chest armor.

 

"Until then, you can but seek your fate in ashes. You asked for it."

[The Lorax]

IC (Koranga): At 30 feet high and still climbing, Koranga could see that zamors wouldn't be able to reach his target for much longer. He could go up after her to close the distance back within firing range, but that didn't seem like the best plan at the moment. He preferred to make the toa come back to him, and, luckliy, there was a rahi ability he could use to do just that. Cable crawlers were common in Metru Nui, but also lived in other parts of the universe, such as Koranga's former homeland. The nocturnal rahi caught their prey by climbing up into high places where other rahi flew, rested, nested or just happened to be, and then caused them to suddenly lose their balance and fall.

As he copied this power, Koranga felt waves of vertigo-inducing energy begin to pour out of his hands. He raised them up and pointed them towards the toa who was slowly making her way up the gate. It shouldn't be long before she lost her balance completely, lost her grip on her blades and tumbled back towards the ground, where Kornag would be waiting (possibly to catch her, or possibly not. He hadn't decided yet).

 

IC (Dekuna): Dekuna didn't bother replying to that. Instead, he put his attention into scanning the darkness for signs of danger, or that they might be nearing the bottom. About a minute later, he stopped suddenly and held a hand out to stop the others. "I think we're there" he whispered. "The staircase up ahead stops turning. It might be another room".

 

OOC: That's pretty much what I was getting at. Let's dispense with the idle chatter doing down and find something. Also, if that very vague description doesn't fit with what you have planned, let me know and I can edit.

 

IC (Hatann): Hatann just gave the rahi a flat look (without the accompanying lasers. He wasn't that annoyed, not yet). What else did this cool dude expect them do do with a live Tahtorak? The thing would just keep rampaging around causing destruction until someone stopped it, but if that didn't result in death, there wasn't much anyone could do with the giant rahi. This wasn't Metru Nui, where they had giant archives and sophisticated stasis mechanisms. This was the Map, where they had rocks and swords. If somebody managed to defeat the beast without killing it, it wouldn't be too much longer before it regained some if its strength and went back to stepping on squads of law enforcers (actually, he wouldn't mind that one too much, but that was beside the point).

"Really?" he asked derisively. "What's your plan do deal with it then?"

 

OOC: Compromise: let's throw it off the edge of the Map. We're at the outcast towers, so it isn't too far away. The Tahtorak will just keep on falling forever, so it wouldn't technicallybe killing it, but it will be out of everybody's way. How's that?

[Little Miss Krahka]

IC: Peya

 

Peya hadn't thought that over very well. Thinking ahead was never his strong suit.

 

"I don't know, but he's got as much right to live as you and I do. He . . . can live with me. If not, then well, the city could use some redecoration. Nothing interesting ever happens here, don't you agree?"

 

That sounded about right. Though considering that he lived in a crumbling tower, that was probably a bad idea.

 

 

OOC: If you can convince Peya that that's a sort of escape, he'd be okay with it, but if it's basically dooming him to a life of falling forever, he'll be pretty upset. He hasn't thought things over very well and frankly, doesn't care if the city gets destroyed. Go ahead trying to convince him IC.

[Grantaire]

IC - Oryan - Closed Gate:

 

Oryan didn't like when his care for someone outweighed his sense of duty. This, unfortunately, was one of them. he had strolled around the market for a little before setting off after the adventurous Toa Nahri. He had met too many adventurous Toa to trust that they had common sense.

 

It turned out he was just in time. A guard was in the process of apprehending her. Well, trying too: the wildheaded Toa had decided to try climbing out of his reach, and the Enforcer was aiming some sort of power. No, he corrected himself. He new the being, a volatile former Enforcer, now working for the Inquisition: this might end very badly, especially if he didn't intervene. Sighing and praying to whoever might hear that this stupid Toa wouldn't get him in even more trouble, Oryan strode up to Koranga, placing an arm over the being's raised hands.

 

"Calm for a moment, Inquisitor!" he said with his usual external calm. Just in case though, his crossbow was in his hand.

Edited July 24, 2013 by Grantaire

[Toa of Dancing]

IC / Water and Armageddon The City, Causing Havoc:

 

Perfect entry. The fires were raging, and Armageddon had cleared a path through the rubble very quickly. Now they could begin stage two, which involved getting a lot of people hating them, of course. Somewhat unfortunate it was, when they needed new recruits. Still, getting people to join a masochistically sadistic group of suicidal maniacs devoted to completely destroying the world in which they were trapped was hard enough. This was showing those who fit those criteria who they should support. Armageddon would show them who truly wanted out of the map; they would show who was willing to escape in whatever way was necessary.

 

Stage two: Remove the ground. Chunks of stone and earth went flying everywhere, explosions rocked the city, and a massive wall of water heralded the coming of the fire of death. The crater grew, and the cracks were larger. The city was under Water's control, and she intended to destroy it and the rest as systematically as possible.

 

IC / Slaughterhouse With Koranga, Ready to Have Fun with Armageddon:

 

 

Feeling that nothing exceptionally interesting was happening, Slaughterhouse had followed Koranga. An unfortunate vendor may or may not have run into him and been torn to shreds in the process. Or twenty. That he made run into him.

 

Now, watching his "friend's" antics, he received a message telepathically. A very pleasant message indeed. Relaying it directly to Koranga in it's original form, he nodded and turned toward the explosion to the northwest of them. Feeling that Koranga might need some closure to his current chase, Slaughterhouse shot a telekinetic blast right at the one on the Wall. If she wasn't pushed into - and through, very painfully - the bars, she would at the least be knocked to the ground in a bruised mess. Most likely, at least.

 

Then this new guy appeared. Slaughterhouse raised his axe and turned, standing right behind Koranga. With Oryan grappling with the Inquisitor, this was a perfect shot. Thus, paying no heed to his fellow being in the way, Slaughterhouse brought the axe down to cleave the two in half. This needed to be quick, and he would make it quick.

[Shadow Destroyer]

IC: Nahri - The Closed Gate

 

Nahri could feel herself getting closer to the top of the wall. Gripping her spears tightly, she dug them into the stone and quickly glanced upward. She saw that she only had a couple more feet to go. Using the last of her energy, she clambered up the wall until her hands were gripping the top. Now, all she needed was to pull herself up. "So close..." She thought as she began to climb up. Her spears were still suspended in the wall below her, but she planned on grabbing them once she was on top. Looking down, she saw Oryan talking to the tall being in the armor. Perhaps he had come looking for her?

 

Suddenly, her vision started spinning, and she felt sick. Her hands felt cold and clammy, and she couldn't breath. One of her hands slipped, and she dangled from the wall with one hand. The crowd that had formed below her gasped, but she couldn't hear them very well anymore. All she could see was red, and her holding hand was slick with sweat.

 

She couldn't hold on anymore. She let go, and began to fall downwards. She tried to summon some kind of plant to stop her fall, but the vertigo was making her too weak to use her elemental powers. As she tumbled past her own spears, one of them sliced her left arm off above the elbow, and she felt a searing pain. The ground rushed up at her, and there was a loud crack as her legs connected with the ground. Everything went black.

 

OOC: Nahri isn't dead yet, but she's barely alive. (Two broken legs, one missing arm) Koranga can do whatever he wants to her. Unless Oryan stops him that is...

Edited July 25, 2013 by Shadow Destroyer

[The Lorax]

IC (Koranga): "Stay out of this" he snapped at Oryan as he watched the toa begin to fall. "This is Inquisition business. You're not wanted." She hit the ground.

 

For then on, he was in seventh heaven. Blood sprayed forth from the severed hand, bones cracked and shattered from the fall of almost a dozen bio. He was pretty sure the internal damage wouldn't be pretty either. The moment Nahri hit the ground, an explosion went off in Koranga's head. The strength, the adrenaline, the joy, the bliss, it was all just perfect. And, as always, he wanted more. His was an addiction that could never be fully satisfied. "Of course, Slaughterhouse" he replied to the telepathic message. "I'll just be a minute cleaning up here".

 

OOC: Actually, I'm going to delete this part of the post. I had written a scene of what Koranga does next, but on reflection, I'm not going to post it on BZP. It is, after all, meant to be a child-friendly website, even if we do often deal with rather dark and violent events in RPGs like this one. The result was that nothing now remains of Nahri's body, and she died in much pain. That should be enough description for everyone's characters to respond appropriately. I'm not going into details. I'm sorry, but I'm a little disturbed by what I wrote, and that seems like a good reason not to go through with it, even though it was what Koranga would do.

Edited July 25, 2013 by The Lorax

[Toa Kovolta]

IC / Mystiko / At the Outcast Towers / With Reya, Kratep, Takarik and Dekuna / Exploring the Dungeons:

 

They'd been descending for a long time now, it had almost seemed as if the stairs were infinite. They must be deep under the surface of the Map. Finally Dekuna spoke up, announcing the end of the uniform, unchanging stairs.

 

"Well then, what are we waiting for?" Asked Mystiko as he rushed past Dekuna's outstretched hand, his lightstone lighting the way.

 

The staircase ended opening up into a small room with a stone bench on each side. Opposite the stairs was a big, heavy, metal door with a grated window in the centre. Mystiko walked up to the door shone the lightstone on it, examining every inch of it. The door was in pristine condition, the shiny protosteel was unmarked in any way. It was almost as if the door had never been used.

 

Glancing upwards, he noticed that there was something carved into the wall above the door. Shining the lightstone farther up revealed the words Prisonner Number One. "This must be the cell, in which the Toa in the legend was kept!" He exclaimed. Moving his gaze to the window, he tried to see inside, but the window proved too small to get a good enough look. "Let's take a look inside!"

 

He turned the lock and pushed inwards to open the door, but it wouldn't budge. So many years of inactivity must have frozen the door shut. "Give me a hand with this will you!" He said to the others.

 

 

GM IC:

 

The Tahtorak thrashed wildly in the air. All of the movement and the sheer weight of the beast strained on the gravity powers of the Skakdi, causing him to lose his control. The Rahi fell back towards the ground. Another huge boom followed by another quake rocked the area.

 

 

OOC: Come on guys! Come help fight a giant Tahtorak!

[Samus Aran-Bounty Hunter]

IC: Kratep (The Cell of Number One)

He hangs back for a second before going ahead and helping the Matoran, speaking as he does.

"Well, if you're sure this is the way it opens.."

Zakaro

[Little Miss Krahka]

IC: Peya

 

Peya was shaken by the quake, being in a ground-bound form. He spat out some blasphemous words he learned from some Disrupters he overheard against the Carver for being such an awful being and putting this being in a situation where it wouldn't be able to survive. At least he as a Krahka could survive literally anywhere, in any situation.

 

Perhaps it was time to tell the Carver just how much of a bad idea it was. He probably paid attention to that temple of his. He probably had some people in there that he actually wanted to keep around, though somehow Peya doubted that there was anyone in this city that the Carver didn't actively despise."I know somewhere you can live!" he yelled up to the Tahtorak. "Follow me!" He turned around and went off to the temple.

 

 

OOC: Alternately, come make friends with a giant Tahtoraaaaak with me!

[Toa Levacius Zehvor]

IC: High Inquisitor Voebius | The Gates

 

There was a mighty sound of a horn blowing near the gates, accompanied by the sound of the military marching. From the mess and debris came forth the Inquisitor herself, riding atop a might Kikanalo. There were a couple of other mounted knights who waited at the ready around her. She had her sword in hand. After taking in the situation, the High Inquisitor pointed it to both sides, shouting, "Riders! Move along the flanks and strike them hard as they enter. Seal the breach."

 

With that, the Kikanalo (and a few other Rahi) riders came surging out en masse. Easily the most dangerous was a lieutenant off to the side who took flight atop a phase dragon. For the most part, they were members of the assorted Prime species and a few others, though a handful of the higher ranked members were actually Toa as well.

 

As the riders moved forwards, the rest of the Inquisition infantry began moving out and about. To her sides formed lines of archers and other ranged weapon bearers, leaving a few gaps through which melee combatants could charge. "Archers!" she shouted, signalling to the collective of a few dozen elite ranged users, raising her sword in the process. She quickly lowered it once the cavalry were spread out enough, shouting, "Fire!"

 

With that, volleys of arrows, elemental assaults, and the effects of numerous Xian weapons came hurtling at the rapidly spreading Armageddon soldiers as they emerged from the gate.

 

"So, it is they who attempt this deed..." she thought to herself. She cried out, "Artillery, continue to give your support and advance forward. Inquisitors, charge!"

 

All about, the soldiers (the largest group present) came surging in as well, moving from behind the artillery and even in a few cases coming out from amongst them. The largest members, ranging from Steltians to Skakdi to lesser known races, were part of the surge, mostly formed this group. A few remained behind to defend the artillery support.

 

There was one last group to signal, as she looked back to see the final component - the watchers and assassins. All she needed to do here, and the best of the best among the Inquisition began leaving the field via stealth, concealment, teleportation, or phasing through the ground. They would be in charge of killing off the leaders in Armageddon to weaken their morale.

 

Except for their true commander... Voebius would have that ones head for herself. She followed the rest of the men in, now replacing her sword with the Judgment Cannon, which she began to charge with power.

 

-Toa Levacius Zehvor

[Grantaire]

IC - Oryan:

 

Oryan was too late to react. Almost too late. As the Toa began to fall he threw himself forwards--probably saving his life from Slaughterhouse--leaping into the air in an attempt to catch her midfall.

 

Instead he found himself falling to the ground with the aforementioned Toa on top of him. He connected heavily with the ground, rolling over to face the Toa. Blood was splattered across his face, and in a startled second he saw the damage done to Nahri's arm.

 

From there, Oryan lost his cool for perhaps the first time in his life. Leaping to his feet, crossbow in hand, he faced the Inquisition.

 

"That was not an apprehending, you Piraka!" he snarled, hardly paying attention to the mutated Toa. "And this is not the business of your Inquisition!" He looked over to where Nahri lay, and bit his lip. There was probably a good chance he would get into a particularly nasty situation, and even more that he would fail. He had heard of Sluaghterhouse. Everyone had. A Toa might hold up against him, but not a powerless Vortixx, however skilled he might be.

 

That was, Oryan supposed, the reason he had to fight the urge to shoot the particular Inquisitor.

 

"She's a newcomer, and wounded thanks to you," he said, a little more calmly. "I will take her in for medical treatment and questioning. Climbing the wall is an infraction of the law to be dealt with by the Enforcement, not by your terror-squad."

Edited July 25, 2013 by Grantaire

[Magnus Greel]

IC / Kaytana / The City:

 

Plant life gone wild burst from stable ground around attackers, snatching Armageddon members as they focused on destroying the earth and either tearing them apart or simply dragging them below ground. The Inquisition was making a fine job once they began, though she couldn't let them have all the fun.

 

Meanwhile, Kaytana herself surveyed the chaos from atop a building, peppering the troublemakers with ruddy blasts of eyebeams from glaring eyes. Her veins pumping with the excitement of battle, the Skakdi pressed her assaults on Armageddon.

 

IC / Reya / Dungeons of the Outcast Towers:

 

It's about time, Reya muttered to herself, scanning the darkened room with her eyes.

 

There wasn't much to observe, save the giant metal door across the chamber labeled, "Prisoner Number One." The Toa of Water stood to the side as Mystiko and Kratep pulled it open, out of their way and eager to get a first look of the inside.

 

IC / Abahdon / The Royal Gardens:

 

The dark, bestial entity ducked from the fireball aimed for his head, eyes narrowed at his assailant. "You didn't say 'please,'" the Law Enforcer retorted, drawing the pistol at his hip.

 

Abahdon directed his firearm at the fruit tree, firing a round of force bolts at the Toa's cover to bombard him to death -- or, at least, cripple him. While the attack would throw Ferrin's attention on heating his armor, he vanished into small fissures in the soil to cool off his armor underground.

 

 

By this time, the Garden's sentinels had bounded over the distance to the source of the fire, weapons held tensely in their hands as they concentrated on the Toa of Fire. Kaytana's array of Enforcers had also arrived and began circling the area, concealed by the night and plant life growing there.

[The Lorax]

IC (Koranga): "We're done here" he stated. "Let's go" He had enjoyed the execution. It had relieved much of the tension and frustration that had built up over a hard day, and left him feeling energised. Now, he and Slaughterhouse had somewhere else to be. The empty square before the gate was left behind as he bounded away, the incredible strength in his legs carrying him across the city much faster than any normal being. The pain-strength allowed him to sprint along effortlessly, since he wasn't, in fact, using his own energy.

 

When he arrived, the place looked like a warzone. That section of the city was being torn apart by elemental blasts, energy rays, crunching impacts and all manner of other attacks. Koranga hit the chaos like a wrecking ball. His strrength was through the roof, so he leapt past the Worshippers' artillery and joined the infantry fighters. The rahi-ability he chose to use at first came from the Vohtarak. As much as he hated the red spiders for what they and their kin had done to his home and his species, their power was a near perfect complement to his super-strength. The ability he was copying was the so called "beserker charge". As he copied and used it, his outer "shell" of skin and armour became nigh invulnerable to harm. It was an odd sensation, having that layer. It felt crinkly, almost brittle.

 

He dived into the action, he ran out from behind a shattered house and drove his fist into the face of a surprised Skakdi of stone. He felt the skull crack and crumple underneath the force of the blow, and his pain-strength spike for a few moments before the rebels' life was snuffed out. His partner, a Skakdi of earth, was now unable to access his element and so charged the Inquisitor with a ferocious battlecry. Koranga took the axe-blow in his right side but shrugged it off with barely even a bruise, toughened as his hide had become. The Skakdi barely had time to realise this before he had received similar treatment from Koranga's weapon, and his body was sliced cleanly in two. "That all you got?!" Koranga shouted in challenge to all the Armageddon.

 

OOC: OK, are any of the Disruptors actually going to come out of that tower and help with this? I'm looking at you, Adders, Deadheart, Grantaire. If not, I suggest we just resolve this with all those Disruptor NPCs Kovolta introduced earlier. The action has moved elsewhere and this situation needs to be resolved. Surely at least someone would have come out to see the monster by now, so if they aren't PCs, it will have to be NPCs. Either way, can we get an indication of which?

 

IC (Dekuna): Dekuna helped Kratep and Mystiko by chanelling his sonic powers into the door and the frozen grime the sealed it shut. He hoped to disrupt their structural integrity and make the door a lot easier to open.

Edited July 26, 2013 by The Lorax

[Toa Kovolta]

GM IC:

 

Shaken, slightly hurt, and now even angrier, the Tahtorak got to his feet. Peya's sudden movement loud shouting caught his attention as the Krahka started running towards the City.

 

"The Answer!" he shouted charging after Peya, causing the earth to tremble with each step.

 

OOC: Agreed Lorax, if we have no new PC's joining the frays tomorrow, I'll bring in some NPC's. (also thinking of getting the Tahtorak to wander over to Armageddon fight.

 

OOC: Expect another Mystiko post detailing the inside of the cell tomorrow. Going to bed now.

Edited July 26, 2013 by Toa Kovolta

[Toa of Dancing]

IC / Water and Armageddon The City, Causing Havoc:

 

"Stay together! Bomb them with everything we have!" Water roared, motioning toward her pyrotechnics team. The wielders of stone and fire created the explosives, and those with power over air delivered them. The aerodynamic shape of the bombs allowed them to fly at high speeds, being exceedingly hard to stop. Meanwhile, some heavy artillery was mostly slow enough for the defensive unit to deflect and destroy.

 

The massive amount of dust and fire clouded the entire field, making mental communication very important. The psionic members of Armageddon used certain frequencies of telepathic communication amongst each other and the soldiers to avoid false info being inserted into the chain; in addition, it also kept the Inquisitors from overhearing them. Water personally focused on keeping track of Voebius and where she was in the battle, and the net of information helped quite a bit. Armageddon was outnumbered, to be sure, but they had the high ground, and they knew where they had their mines set.

 

Oh, there was one of them. An unfortunate squad of Kikanalo riders went sky high as they charged into the range of an unfortunate sack of fruit.

 

IC / Slaughterhouse With Koranga, Western City, Fighting Armageddon:

 

Slaughterhouse shot one short message into Oryan's brain, piercing and pounding it in with one strong push. The message consisted of, "She's dead. Also, check your arm." He was pretty sure he felt the Vortixx's arm get sliced pretty deeply. Soon enough it would repair itself, but the mutant Toa knew it had to hurt.

 

Now Slaughterhouse was across the city, having flown over to the battle as fast as he could. He definitely couldn't see much of what was happening, but he felt and heard it very strongly. With an unseen maniacal grin, he dropped from the sky onto the being Koranga had next targeted, crushing the unfortunate Steltian's skull. This was where the two worked perfectly. Together, amidst pain and death. Amidst a raging battle. The duo was feared for a reason. Whenever they were together, the cleanup crew always had to collect parts of the still living bodies from a wide area, and often it took a while before the mush reformed.

[Shadowhawk]

IC: [ Ferrin ] - The GardensToa Ferrin was no stranger to trouble. He'd been in tight spots before, most of them quite akin to the one he found himself at the moment. Alone, under fire, law enforcement closing in on all sides...A sudden rapid volley of force bolts splintered against the tree, sending bark fragments spinning against his armor. One bolt grazed past the side of his head, smacking his mask awry and knocking him heavily to the ground.Thankfully, such tight spots had a simple way out. Simple, that is, with the right equipment.Spitting mud, he rolled over and called out into the night. "Farewell, copper. We meet again, perhaps... when you don't have your minions to protect you."A simple way out, based on a single assumption: all cities had an underground.This one, he gambled, would be no exception.Fully activating his Mask of Intangibility and becoming completely incorporeal, the Toa of Fire dropped straight through thirty feet of stone-laced earth into the tunnels below, landed on his feet, and chuckled softly in the darkness.Life was good.OOC:Short and sweet. :PCould have made that exit a bit more dramatic, I guess, but I don't have the time. Edited July 26, 2013 by Shadowhawk

[Toa Kovolta]

IC / Mystiko / At the Outcast Towers / With Reya, Kratep, Takarik and Dekuna / Exploring the Dungeons: With the others' help, the door finally swung out into the cell, hitting the inside wall with a clang. Mystiko tumbled forwards into the room, dropping the lightstone; it rolled into the far corner, lighting up the entirety of the room. A small stone cot sat in one corner, a tile in the wall above the cot was missing, the right wall was covered in marks which appeared to be a count of how long the prisoner had been imprisoned, and stone meal tray sat near the door. Aside from a few loose stones here and there, there appeared to be nothing else of interest. It honestly looked like an average prison cell. Getting to his feet, Mystiko picked up the meal tray, there was nothing odd about it. He turned it over and stifled a gasp. Carved into the bottom of the tray was what looked like a map of the Map, or at least what it would have looked like several thousands of years ago. And carved on top of the map was a what appeared to be a name.

 

"What do you make of this?" he asked the others as they filed into the room behind him.

 

 

GM IC:

 

As the Tahtorak ran after Peya, the sound of fighting caught it's attention. Shifting it's gaze, it saw the commotion being made by Armageddon. Forgetting about the Krahka, it changed directions and started to run towards all the fighting, splashing through the River of Life as it did so.

 

 

NPC IC / Disrupters / Outside the Oucast Towers:

 

Drawn by the noise and the terrible tremors, the Disrupters who has been meeting in the tallest Outcast Tower had exited the building only find themselves in the presence of a giant rahi - a Tahtorak to be precise. Scared of the damage it might do or just in the mood to hit something, they began to attack it, firing elemental blasts and projectiles at it. The Tahtorak was distracted however, and didn't seem to notice their attacks as it ran off. Not wanting it to get away, they ran after it.

[Samus Aran-Bounty Hunter]

IC: Kratep (Cell of Number 1)

"Hmm.. Quite odd, quite odd indeed.."

Kratep, after recovering from nearly falling, peers over the Matoran's shoulder and looks at the map of the Map. Reading out the letters, he wonders whether this was the name of the Map or of the prisoner. In any case, he doesn't dare say it aloud. The [Darkness] had a strange, horrible feeling that anyone who spoke that aloud would be in big trouble.

Z..a..n..t..a..

Zanta.

"How curious."

Zakaro

[Toa Levacius Zehvor]

IC: High Inquisitor Voebius | The Walls

 

Noting the disaster that had occurred among some of their ranks, the commanders of the two cavalry groups pulled to a full stop along the side of the field. The Kikanalo were placed in front before the other beasts, and the riders issued forth the command to bellow. At once, the field was covered in sound vibrations; the raw sonic energy from the large numbers gathering was enough to completely decimate the fields before them, showering the closer ranks of Armageddon with debris and their own explosives, many of which were ripped out of the ground along those paths.

That still left the main path clear, and many of the Inquisitiors changed their positioning. A few Skakdi came to full stops in the midst of the rest, conjoining their power to create waves of energy to clear pathways; some special powers were put to use, including vibrant energy projections which allowed clear passage over the now obviously trapped area.

 

More so, now in closer range, quite a number of flying units were beginning to deploy into the air above, and a few soldiers even retreated into the underground.

 

Another volley of artillery barrages were coming, and based on the sound, the Inquisition was starting to bring out their slower weapons. Even more Matoran were getting involved at this point as Boxor-like robots marched out from behind the lines, firing their own explosives before they could reach the melee range.

 

Voebius herself was making progress along the paths confirmed safe based on prior experience, and making good headway towards the front of the line. One of the large explosives nearly struck her, before being hurled back by a team of Skakdi. She watched as one Steltian who marched alongside her was suddenly blasted with a disintegration, and grimly turned to the field.

 

With her cannon sufficiently ready, Voebius turned her cannon forwards and fired. Moving it in a slow sweep across the field, she allowed it to strike those towards the front of her own formation, turning their battle rage and fervor to whole new heights, and causing them to rampage across the battlefield as an unstoppable force. Those not so struck would simply have to make due with being encouraged by their allies actions.

 

One such Inquisitor more than happily threw himself down on a landmine, allowing the rest of his group to charge over him and further into the fray.

 

OOC: "I'm walking on sunshine..."

 

-Toa Levacius Zehvor

[Toa of Dancing]

IC / Water and Armageddon The City, Fighting the Inquisition:

 

Alas, the front line of Armageddon soldiers stood no chance to normally defeat their foes. It wasn't just because the Inquisition was stronger, though. Oh no. They were told to take as many Inquisitors as possible, and what better way than to fling themselves into the fray and go nova? Of course, due to time constraints (like being stabbed to death before they could explode), not wanted friendly casualties (after all, nova blasts are huge), and other restrictions beyond their control (and, in fact, in control of some Toa named Kovolta), they were unable to go full nova. Instead, they focused all of their readily available energy into an explosion of pure elemental power. Each burst was only about six bio in diameter, but the front lines of battles are generally tightly packed affairs. With the protective members shielding them, they were mostly able to get close enough to rain tons of damage upon the opposing troops.

 

As it stood, no ground was being made by Armageddon. Furthermore, they didn't want it. They just wanted to destroy as much as they could, as close to the center of the map as they could get. By now, the repeated explosions and elemental control over earth and stone had created a massive crater. Broken tunnels were revealed, and the "mining" squad used the more stable ones as cover. All they wanted to do was put a hole in the map, in the city, and in the Worshipers.

 

Personally, Water was now working her way toward Voebius. She knew that getting the High Inquisitor out of the picture would greatly help her own troops - what with her arsenal - and make the entire battle more even. Thus, when she was told of where the recent cannon blast was fired, she caused the ground beneath Voebius' Kikanalo's feet to decay into a very sticky, very restricting marsh. Her personal control of water was put forth into tugging the mount and its rider underground.

 

OOC: Quick question Lev: Are you assuming that the Carver has thrown this many Rahi into the map, especially trainable Kikanalo?

[Toa Levacius Zehvor]

OOC: Quick question Lev: Are you assuming that the Carver has thrown this many Rahi into the map, especially trainable Kikanalo?

 

OOC: I find it no less believable than the number of Toa in Armageddon. Even less believable, considering. The Matoran Universe is not composed of 75% Toa; I wouldn't even say 2% of the population is Toa. If the population is 100,000 by the end of canon with about 50 Toa, that's 1/2000 inhabitants being Toa; it's assumed that the Hunters and Brotherhood thinned them out, so at this point in time, not too long before the Cataclysm, I'd say we can guess at five times as many. That means 1/400 inhabitants being a Toa. The Carver, based on the introductory text, picks people by interest; Toa are interesting, so maybe twice as many. 1/200. Metru-Nui had a population of about 1000 when the 2004 story arc began, no doubt because the majority of inhabitants were no longer needed what with how industrialized it was. If the city has roughly that population, and I believe it says less, then that means that in total we should have...

 

Roughly five? And we already have a much greater number than that in terms of PCs. So far I've had a few Toa NPCs, and singled them out as being elite or having special privileged, but Armageddon seems to have a metric butt-ton. Sorry if this seems a bit ranty, but it's been one of my pet peeves for quite some time. No offense intended, mind you.

 

IC: High Inquisitor Voebius | The Gates

 

The soldiers along the front lines were less than pleased with the elemental bursts; however, after the first began, more creative measures began to deal with foes. The Skakdi teams, now close enough to cause some real damage, combined powers to create numerous creative attacks such as spheres of combined water and air powers meant to vacuum out the lungs and fill them with water, and even a few golems of flames and stone rising from the ground.

 

The combined powers of a psionic and air Skakdi to create a similar creature was wreaking quite a bit of (invisible) terror upon the forces on the field before them.

 

Voebius found herself quite irritated as the ground beneath her feet began to shift. It took her very little effort to look across the field and vaguely make out where her enemy was - Water was making this all too easy for her, moving right towards her! Putting away her cannon, Voebius drew her sword. Giving the Kikanalo a pat, she muttered, "Let her have her battle..." before leaping off of the beast and landing outside the reach of the mud, still standing a good few heads high over most on the field. As she walked, she focused her will on the blade, which began to crackle with energy as she slowly made her way forwards.

 

The next artillery barrage came. However, once the arrows and other projectiles had cleared, the more dangerous force made its way; the elite troops sent out previously to handle the Armageddon leadership; the Inquisitor assassins, now emerging from invisibility, other forms of stealth, teleportation, and even phasing to appear behind the telepaths and other leadership among their adversary. While neither their success in the deed or in making their escape was guaranteed, it would no doubt leave a huge dent in the Armageddon forces and morale. More importantly, it would help sever them from their tactical commands.

 

-Toa Levacius Zehvor

[Toa Kovolta]

GM IC:

 

The Tahtorak made a beeline for all the commotion, charging across the map with the Disrupters not far behind it. Those in the battle felt the tremors as it approached, and they momentarily paused from their fight to look for the source. Many of them suddenly became very worried, as they saw the giant rahi start trampling in their midst.

 

"Tell me the answer!"

 

OOC: Maybe we can have some Inquisitors and Armageddon team up to fend off the Tahtorak?

 

Also, are Reya, Takarik and Dekuna going to respond to Mystiko's discovery or should I just proceed?

[Falcon Lord]

OOC: Well, I'm responding.

 

IC: Takarik leaned over Mystiko's shoulder, looking at the word carved on the map he began to spell it in his head, Z... A... N... T... A... Zanta. "It appears to be a name, that of the map, or that of the person?" As he said this a question was gnawing at his mind, what would happen if he carved his name?....