Bzprpg - Ko-Wahi

[Toatapio Nuva]

IC (Voi, Ko-Wahi):"Sorry", Voi said and moved off Stronin even as Ire made the hole a bit wider. "Okay, I have no idea how long a snowstorm might take. This is the time we should use to plan a little. After all, when the storm has susided, we need to find Ko-Kini fast. We... we are not the only ones searching for that mask. I must warn you. We will most certainly encounter a greedy Toa of Gravity, who will do anything to reach the mask before any of us. We must be on our guard."

[Axilus Prime]

OOC: I'll send Dervian over there. In the meantime...IC: Toranmat got back to the ship. "Oh, look at that. Part of the ship is frozen in. As if this wasn't hard enough already. This is fantastic."

[25K Now!]

IC: [stronin/Treize]"And you know this how?"---Treize groaned at the sight. "We'll just have to try something then."

[Toatapio Nuva]

IC (Voi, Ko-Wahi):"How do I know? Well, you see, I know my enemy. I mean, our enemy. Or rather, our rival. Whatever you like to call him. I've met him before and I know what he wants. And, by the way, he's a blatant liar."

[25K Now!]

IC: [stronin]"I see. So he's a thief?"

[Toatapio Nuva]

IC (Voi, Ko-Wahi):"Pretty much, yes", Voi replied, clutching to his staff tightly.

[25K Now!]

IC: [stronin]"Uh huh. I bet I could steal something of his right under his nose without him noticing."

[Axilus Prime]

IC: Toranmat checked the cabin for supplies. "Anything of use in here?"

[25K Now!]

IC: [Treize]"Not really. I think we'll have to dig the ship out."

[Toatapio Nuva]

IC (Voi, Ko-Wahi):Voi looked at Stronin as if he had transformed into an Ice Bat. "Say that again?"

[EmperorWhenua]

Ic: "I'll accept peace on those terms," Ambages said politely before he finished his drink and rose from his seat, joined by Rhanus instantly as the other matoran set his glass down and intercepted Ambages' with his own. "It will be a pleasure doing business with you, to be sure. I'll have my secretary draft a contract, and we can talk about it formally later."****[stannis]"Tell me, Turaga, what defines the truest hero better than how one follows the Virtues? What makes someone pure more than following the principles we as a people hold dear?" Stannis said. His tone was not one of a lecturer, but rather simply someone wizened enough to understand the concept of trust more than any other. Trust is gained slowly and quickly lost, Stannis recalled his old lord telling him. Stannis had spent many, many years toiling for this mission, preparing himself and cleansing his mind and body to this end. He had gained much insight on things in the past several days, and he had concluded that after his long sojourn, he was at last the hero the people needed, but now he had to prove he was what he was."I think we should be entrusted with the knowledge you hold because we are deserving of it... And because I am deserving of your trust and I speak for those behind me." The Pa-Matoran gestured slowly at those he called 'Companions' who still stood behind him loyally. "Aurax says we merely want to help, but more than mere willingness separates us from those who also call themselves explorers and seekers of truth: We are heroes. We may not look the part, but we act it, and actions speak far louder than words. We are pure, and I say this not with haughtiness but with pride in this distinction."The warrior paused for a moment before continuing, seeking for the right words in his heart. He sought that wisdom in the ice of the floor, cracked and shattered by his spear but white and pure as his eyes, the windows to his soul. "Turaga, only two moons ago, I was speaking to Hafu the master-carver. He was forlorn and sad, willing to die in the arms of Makuta since he knew he was being hunted relentlessly. He gave me his clue only after he saw that I represented something higher, something greater than the others he shared his clue to. The next morning, he was taken away by the thieves in the night, and Aurax here was with him at that time. We could have turned away then, dismayed at this gloomy result, and gone our own ways. Aurax could very well have resorted to violence, to rage or even depression, and I could have thrown off my spears and walked back to the Massif, knowing that all was lost. But we did not fade there. Instead, we took up our spirits and struggled onward. We met others who shared our goals, but they never came here, they never got this far and I doubt they ever will. This is not because they are any less deserving -- some of them were truly noble souls, guardians of the Koro after the old Toa of legend -- but because they do not represent the same thing we do." Stannis' voice was stronger now, not due to his forceful demeanor (in truth, he was speaking just as he was before) but because of the power in his soul that poured outward like the flowers in spring, blossoming up with vigor in the face of a challenge posed. Stannis was mighty with the power of truth."Turaga, what we represent and what I took up as my shield after I met Hafu is hope. So long as we live, we carry with us hope, and so long as we do, the Makuta will tremble beneath our feet. We are more than followers of the footsteps of the old Chronicler's Company, we are the new Chronicler's Company, and we request, not as demanding children but as devoted followers, that you grant us the knowledge we seek so that we can make our hope a reality. What you guard can alter the histories and change everything, yes -- but in our hands and minds, that change will be for the better. We are the heroes of this day and the next."His tone grew softer now, like the seas after a storm, easy with the gale's passing. "Turaga, you have foreseen my arrival and my name. Now I pray that you see the character of my words."

Edited April 17, 2012 by James Lester

[25K Now!]

IC: [stronin]"Oh right, did I forget to tell you that I used to be a thief?"

[Toatapio Nuva]

IC (Voi, Ko-Wahi):"You're a thief?!" Voi shouted, clutching even tighter on his staff.

[25K Now!]

IC: [stronin]"Past tense. Was. Then I got a job."

[Toatapio Nuva]

OOC: Somewhere, someplace, Henkka is smiling at that. :)IC (Voi, Ko-Wahi):"So you're an ex-thief", Voi said slowly. "It still means you have the skills and the instincts of one. Then again... that might be useful when we run up against... him."

[Axilus Prime]

IC: Toranmat took a shovel out and started hacking the ice away. "Mata Nui Karzahni..." OOC: Dervian's over at Le-Wahi now, with the others planning to attack the hive. Can Ril give him some interaction? The guy's been living in a swamp for two months.

[25K Now!]

OOC: @Tapio: Yep. @TNG: Sure.IC: [stronin/Treize]"You also forgot to mention my giant field of swords. Oh wait, you weren't there."---Treize smiled morosely as she dug as well. "Yep. Only without the cursing."

[Toatapio Nuva]

IC (Voi, Ko-Wahi):"Your old friend again?" Voi asked with a frown. "He must've really been something. Although now that I know what you used to be, he was probably a thief as well."Voi glanced upward to see the snowstorm still raging. "I'm cold. And our time is running out. I guess I'll try and do everything I can to control the storm. Hang on."With that Voi strained to control the storm with his elemental powers. Although his power could not reach the snow, it had some effect over the winds that carried the snow and ice around. The air he tried to control was very cold, though, and he was not able to master it. Stronin, Trad and Ire could see the storm calming down a bit, but nowhere near enough to make it safe to leave the hole."It's no use", Voi breathed out, exhausted. "Blizzards are out of my power."Voi shifted one his legs, already numb of the cold, when he hit something hard amidst the snow. His leg had wiped snow off a stone tablet."Strange. What would a tablet be doing here?" he asked, digging it out of the snow. He let his friends have a look at the tablet, which had carvings of a mountain range and a few masks. It also had the symbol of Unity, Duty and Destiny carved beside the mountains and the masks. There was also writing on the stone, but it was in a language no one could comprehend, not even Voi."What could this be about?" Voi wondered aloud.

[25K Now!]

IC: [stronin]"I don't think he was one. Never asked what his job was."Stronin paused as he looked at the tablet."Say, that mountain range looks somewhat familiar-ish."

[Toatapio Nuva]

IC (Voi, Ko-Wahi):"In what way?" Voi wondered. "It's just a mountain range. The only place that would have one is Ko-Wahi. But what are these masks? I only recognize two: a Mask of Concealment and a Mask of Adaptation. There are eight masks altogether, yet six of them I have never seen before. One is bigger than the rest."

[25K Now!]

IC: [stronin]"Does this mean it is of 'greater importance'?"

[Toatapio Nuva]

IC (Voi, Ko-Wahi):"Perhaps", Voi said. He looked at the text of the carving. "There is one single word I can make out. Probably because it's a name of some sort, not a part of the actual language. Kowa. The same word was included in the text carved on the walls of that cave in Le-Wahi. The one that told something about the end of the world..."

[25K Now!]

IC: [stronin]"Sounds ominous."

[Toatapio Nuva]

IC (Voi, Ko-Wahi):"You got that right", Voi said. "More the reason to find that treasure soon."

[25K Now!]

IC: [stronin]"Exactly. Now to just get out of this hole."

[Toatapio Nuva]

IC (Voi, Ko-Wahi):"You could always fly above the snowstorm, but we others would still be stuck here. Perhaps you could do a little flying to see in what direction Ko-Koro is? We could travel there and be safe from the snowstorm until it's over."

[25K Now!]

IC: [stronin]Stronin nodded, crawling out of the hole and activating his mask. He slowly floated up into the air, attempting to look for the village. However, he soon dropped back down, the snow being too heavy for him to see."Too much snow."

[Toatapio Nuva]

IC (Voi, Ko-Wahi):"Then I guess all we can do is to stay here until the storm ends", Voi said.

[25K Now!]

IC: [stronin]"Yep."

[Trad]

IC: Trad and Ire"Ire, can you play something?""Of course." she replied, taking up her two-stringed fiddle. She began to start playing a sad song about a lake.

[Techn0geist]

IC: ReaverWhen she and Yuru reached the edge of Ko-Koro, she paused. She was loyal to Utu, but would she follow every order of his, word for word? She needed to maintain her independence. And anyway, she wanted to see what was so interesting about that village.'Change of plan, Yuru,' she said, grabbing Yuru's arm. 'We're going to see this village, whether Utu likes it or not.'

Edited April 19, 2012 by Toa Zealokan

[Nuju Metru]

IC:Nuju regarded Stannis curiously and intently, head tilted slightly to the side and eyes as sharp as icicles. The Turaga's gaze bit through Stannis like a freezing wind, one that could have blown away any falsity or lies in a gust of piercing accusation, had there been any deception in the Pa-Matoran's manner. There wasn't. Nuju stared on, and Stannis did not flinch away as the guilty would, or as the cowards would. But if the Turaga was impressed, he did not show it, for his air remained cool and impassive as always. Only the virtue of his long silence implied that Nuju was pondering options, weighing the situation and the person before him."You did reference your name, Stannis," Matoro said when at long last Nuju's whistles broke the quiet and the stillness. "For it was of my knowledge. And I rightly called you Wanderer; such a title has been aptly given, for you have already travelled far, and many other wanderings await you. In that choice of words, though, it seems that there has been a touch of Destiny."The elderly Turaga held out his hand insistently once more. Stannis moved to present his spear again, but Nuju shook his head, clicked, and gestured at the Pa-Matoran's tablet. Stannis handed it over, and carrying the piece of shale in both hands, Nuju hobbled over to a nearby pedestal of ice. He set the tablet down, and turned to the rest of the icy hollow, clicking impatiently. "All of you must leave, now," Matoro apologized. "This is only for the ears of the Wanderer."The Ko-koronian scholars accepted this dismissal without complaint, but the others in Stannis' company were less easily cooperative. Many of them muttered crossly to themselves as they exited, resentful that only Stannis should receive the coveted information on the tablet. Nuju did not react to their hostility. He waited until everyone else was out of earshot before clicking onward. Matoro translated."You must prepare your mind, Stannis Wanderer," he said. "What shall be spoken must be recorded exactly in your memory. That which shall be relayed will not be relayed again, and it must lie in your mind alone; no one else can know. The protection of the words of this slab is a crucial task. Are you prepared to do it?"

[EmperorWhenua]

Ic: Stannis did not regard the order Nuju gave to his friends with coldness. The warmth of his nature still roared like the dizzyingly fast matter he embodied as a matoran, and even as his companions fell away slowly, he looked longingly at them. He wanted to tell them that he wished they could stay, but he knew the turaga would not have it -- he at the very least, however, wished that his friends understood that he wanted them with him. Finally, they were gone."Are you prepared to do it?" Nuju asked."Yes," Stannis said. This is what I have been working towards. This my purpose and intent, marked with silence. Reverence. "I am ready."

[Nuju Metru]

IC:Nuju nodded, and then clicked something. Matoro looked at him in puzzlement. Nuju clicked again, this time agitatedly. With a shrug, Matoro himself walked away, out of earshot like the others had been. Only the wizened Nuju and Stannis remained, and the Turaga bent over the shale tablet, and then cleared his throat. He next spoke in the normal Matoran language; it sounded dusty and raspy in Nuju's throat, a tool too long left unused. He recited the translation of the Tablet almost musically, very softly, so quietly that Stannis had to lean in very close to catch the words. Hearing them felt like a punch in the gut and a leg fallen asleep but waking to prickling, like the flexing of strong fingers or as if the veins in his body had all contracted at once. Stannis would not have to struggle to remember the words he heard, for they seared and branded themselves into his mind. At the darkest hour,In unrivaled power,The greatest foe will stand.His servants grim,They flock to him,Shadows grip the land.Yet hope has remained,As goodness ordained,A light must spread anon.New heroes unite,The darkness will bite,Still the truth will awake at dawn.Tests they must face,Dark foes give chase,All places the heroes shall look.Enduring their strife,Mortality’s knife,The heroes will find what he took.The Wanderer’s tread,Leads to what lies ahead,A place of shades and deceptions.To seek hidden lines,And follow the signs,Will make them the only exceptions.At the darkest hour,In unrivaled power,The greatest foe has stood.United as one,The foe is undone,His malice defeated by good.Nuju finished, and looked up from the slab at Stannis. He said no more in the normal language.

[Toatapio Nuva]

IC (Voi, Ko-Wahi):Voi listened to Ire's playing for a while, but eventually his mind slipped and he started thinking about the events that had lead to this moment. He was quiet, staring into emptiness, thinking about his past, the treasure he was looking for, his new companions, the stone tablet, the delicious Bula juice Le-Korans made and other things.

[25K Now!]

IC: [stronin]"How in the name of Mata Nui did you just pull out an instrument from nowhere?"

[EmperorWhenua]

Ic: "This is what the Makuta fears," Stannis whispered in reckoning, "a prophesy of his undoing." The cogs of the mind whirred within his venerable head as he recounted the clues and sought their meanings. They seemed to connect to him at last. "If Takua is the wanderer mentioned here, then it is only fitting that you call me Wanderer also," he mentioned, proud of how far he had gone, how much he had unraveled."The clues are six in number, each mentioning a certain Virtue or principle. Surely those clues point towards the new heroes in this tablet, each one connected to a new hero. Once the clues are united, the heroes can be chosen," Stannis realized. "This is how the clues can hurt the Makuta. This is what Hafu meant when he spoke to me as when he wrote this tablet. I see it now."Stannis drew out a spear and held it at the bottom of the shaft. With a silent cry he hefted it back before he heaved the weight of the weapon forward and clobbered the tablet, shattering it to dust with his mighty blow. The shale disintegrated into a million pieces, the cryptic message erased as if it were drawn on the beach. The message had been read, the meaning immortalized, the purpose fulfilled. "No longer can the agents of Shadow find this riddle. It is safe now." If the Makuta sought the prophesy out, he would never find it. No longer was it written, and none who knew it would speak it for him to hear. In this satisfaction that they were covered on one front, Stannis felt glad.

[Toatapio Nuva]

IC (Voi, Ko-Wahi):"Good musicians always carry their instruments with them", Voi said idly, still thinking about things. Now he was thinking about Ire, though, which confused him a little. He glanced in the direction of the Toa of Sonics.Get a hold of yourself, Voi thought. You're not falling in love. That would be insane.

[Axilus Prime]

IC: After a large amount of digging, they got the ship loose. "Finally!" Toranmat jumped, and his shovel accidentally bumped the ship. "OH NO." The ship started to drift away. "WHAT DO WE DO NOW?!"OOC: I love causing trouble in this way.

Edited April 17, 2012 by Tahu Nuva Golden

[Trad]

IC:Ire and Trad."I'm a Toa of Sonics. Musical instruments are mine to command! And anyway, I had stuffed it inside it's case."The song brought back many memories of home, of Hanis. And the thought of Hanis brought him back to reality and his mission.