Strike From The Shadows

[Toa Levacius Zehvor]

IC: Precentus / Archives"I hope this is enlightening you on my alliance with the Dark Hunters." Precentus replied. Why was he not surprised the Dragon was still in contact with him? "The Toa allow their inexperienced members to delve into the depths of the most dangerous area on the island, alone. Sending them to their death. I won't claim that the Hunters have any more love for their allies - I doubt Lariska would hold any remorse gutting me if it advanced her position, and the same is held in reverse. But suicide missions... well, they're not ordered. But some are really stupid. Mostly Skakdi."-Toa Levacius Zehvor

[ZTG]

IC: ZacaxI walked towards the chute station, entering the building, looking for the chute to get to the Coliseum. I decided to get a team assembled, but first, get a mission.IC: ProtoProto flew over the battle field, looked like no one was there. He did see a body, laying on the ground and flew down to it.

[Grantaire]

GM - Southern Ga Metru Port:The area was secured, and the bodies were being removed when Proto flew down. Right in front of the fortress, he had time only to see that the body was that of Tahukama when a fist slammed into him from behind, sending the nui rama skidding across the ground. A skakdi had seen him, and was advancing no, eyes crackling."Lie there, Bolts!" he roared.Across the field, Borak was done with his orders: the captured toa were imprisoned within the fortress. Picking up his ruined sword, which would have to be rebuilt later, he stalked back towards the fortress. The vahki had returned the the fortress, and most of the snipers were out of sight. His crew was looking around, searching for any loot they could find. The battle was over, and there was some rebuilding to do. Most importantly, Borak needed a drink.GM - Ko Metru:Th group was beating a hasty retreat, and with their powers at full blast, it wasn't hard to get away, as the defenses were geared around the mysterious cannon, not retreating foes. They moved faster now, as a steady jog as they moved back towards the Ko Metru chute station. They arrived at the chute station fairly swiftly, and stopped, out of breath. The guards, once they were certain it was Nidhiki with them, allowed them through, and they headed towards the coliseum by chute.

[ZTG]

IC: ProtoProto's head twitched, and he began to run a diagnostic on his body to see the damage.>Warning: Armor strength down 40%>Back: Manditory repairProto buzzed a bit but flew off, we a list of deceased warriors>Sruvivors: N/A>Killed: Toa (1)

[The Swimming Beard]

IC: GrontakAs Grontak had bitten onto the arm, he was hit by the disk, freezing him. He then lost hold, and fell to the ground.

[ZTG]

IC: ProtoProto kept flying, though he wasn't able to fly at full speed. Luckily, only one died, but it was the master of his creator...IC: ZacaxZacax kept walking to the coliseum chute in the Ta-Metru chute station, but stopped to tighten the bolts on his leg.OOC: Zacax open for interaction

[Toa Levacius Zehvor]

Proto kept flying, though he wasn't able to fly at full speed. Luckily, only one died, but it was the master of his creator...

OOC: Two! Two died. And how would he even know?IC: Exathia / Ga-MetruExathia, having been unable to get her communicator to work, simply began heading towards the Chute station as quickly as she can. Hopefully if there were any survivors from the Port, isolated along the coasts, she could get help sent out to them so they could be returned home.-Toa Levacius Zehvor :Flagusa;

[ZTG]

OOC:Proto only saw Tahukama dead, he didn't see the other dead corpse cause he was attacked and had to fly away.IC: ProtoProto was away from the port, but e had to take a break, he was going to over heat if he kept flying.

[Grantaire]

GM - Southern Ga Metru Port:Unfortunately, there was really no way to know the losses due to the time of night. Fortunately, the night caused some loss of vision, and the skakdi's eyebeams missed the fleeing robot.The other unfortunate thing? Boraka had seen the robot as he stalked towards the fortress.He casually reached out one hand, and the robot spiralled to the ground. Next to him, Pard drew his sword instinctively. Borak only laughed, snatching the weapon from his crew member. He stalked forwards toward the trapped robot."What'd you want, bug?" he asked.---Meanwhile, Exathia's weak communication had been received, albeit a little delayed. Her communicator beeped as her call was returned.

[Toa Levacius Zehvor]

IC: Exathia / Ga-MetruExathia muttered a prayer to Mata-Nui as her communications were received, and went to send her message. "Ga-Metru Chute Station. I have grave news from Naho's port strike. The mission was a failure, I repeat, a failure. Most of the survivors, if there are any, are still far away from the Chute Station. We need Vahki help sent to keep them carry any who were injured, and to get them back before nightfall."-Toa Levacius Zehvor

[Simulacrum]

IC: Vahki Battle, Le-MetruTwo more Vahki arrived, grabbing the Rahi and taking him away. When he awoke, he would find him self in a cell, surrounded by harsh faces with harsher intentions. Soon after, the two Vahki reappeared, joined the other one that subdued Grontak, and then promptly rushed back into battle.

[Grantaire]

GM - Ga Metru:"Help shall be send," the matoran operator replied quickly. After ascertaining the general location of the party, a squad of vahki was sent out. "We're tracking your location now. Continue heading to the chute station; we'll send a half-squad of vahk ito meet you half way."

[ZTG]

IC: Proto"Defense mode will activate in 5 seconds," proto said as his eyes glowed, "5..."

[Toa Levacius Zehvor]

IC: Exathia / Po-Metru"Great." she replied. "But I don't know where the others are. I'm close enough to get back on my own, but... I don't know about them. I went through a hole into the archives during the fight, and made my way back. And I think I might have heard something really loud as I was patching up my injuries, but I don't know what it could have been. Mata-Nui, I don't know much of anything. I don't even know if Naho is still alive - the last I saw, she was fighting a huge Skakdi with a chainsaw sword... however that works."-Toa Levacius Zehvor

[Grantaire]

GM - Ga Metru:"Right," the skakdi spat, before casually reaching out with his magnetic power, slowly crushing the machine."Surrender bug, or I'll crunch you a little before I take you apart."---"Right. They'll be assigned for finding; don't worry, they'll be able to find any of your team mates still alive," was the matoran's reply.A half dozen Vahki, set out from the chute station with one suletu wearing toa. They slowed as they neared the port, stopping before they were in danger of being spotted. The toa proceeded to scan the area. After a minute, they set out, again giving the port a wide birth.

Edited July 30, 2012 by Zarayna: The Quiet Light

[ZTG]

IC: Proto"2...1..." Proto's eyes flashed as two blades launche from his arms and he lunged them and the arm that held him, and the other blade at the one that was trying to crush him.

[Grantaire]

GM - Ga Metru:Borak watched rather amusedly as the nui rama machine tried to lunge against the magnetic grip he had the creature in. Sighing he increased the grip until Proto lay helplessly on his stomach."I asked you nicely," he said, stepping callously on the robot's back. He reached down, pulling the robot's arms up and making the blades curl around each other, effectively cuffing Proto."I don't ask twice."

[ZTG]

IC: Proto>Warning: Armor weakened another 20%.>Activate: Flight mode.Proto's wings began to flap, faster and faster, it would be hard for the skakdi to bend the wings. It also managed to make a small twister of dust long enough to distract the being."I came to inspect the battle, I saw it had finished. I simply wished to see the state of battle," Proto said, "Please, let me go,"

Edited July 30, 2012 by IX. Dymex

[Flex Lord Splash]

IC: Ketren, Po-Metru"So when is this Rahi going to blow stuff up?" Ketren asked as he glanced around. "Honestly you'd think there would at least be some Vahki out here for us to kill." he said. "But I guess I'm just itching for a fight. You sure we can't just jump that guy running in front of the beast?" he said, turning to Hatan.

[otter]

GM IC: Lhikan (Inside the Citadel)Why did this war continue still? Why would it never end, no matter what they may have done? It dragged on, and on, countless Toa losing their lives, and many more coming to replace them. It was an endless cycle-they would only make small dents in the Dark Hunter's forces, but those would be filled almost immediately...but Lhikan knew that there were more of the Hunters than there were Toa willing to come.He sighed, burying his head in his hands. All these thoughts had been going through his head since the culmination of that last mission, when he'd finally had a measure of time to sit alone and think. And none of his thoughts had been happy, all for the simple reason that the best thing that had happened, so far, was that they had managed to avoid any Dark Hunters on the last mission.And yet, so much bad news. In the port battle at Ga-Metru, Toa were being killed, unable to stand against the Skakdi fighting them. Not only there, though, a tower had fallen in Ko-Metru, there seemed to have been a bit of a fight in Le-Metru...And now there were rumours that the Dark Hunters had a dragon on their side, of all the infernal creatures. One dragon, the Kanohi Dragon, had been enough-he didn't want to have to deal with another.Letting out a light groan, Lhikan shook his head. They couldn't keep this up for much longer. They needed to have a decisive end to this war, and they needed it now. Morale was falling, Toa and Matoran being killed left and right doing nothing to help. If he could find a way to force the Hunters off, scare them away, that might work, but otherwise...he had no ideas.He had to maintain a veneer of confidence, but his act was slowly starting to crack. He simply couldn't handle the pressure placed upon him, trying to lead this army, when so few of the fighters were experienced enough to live more than a week.Slowly, his tears began to fall.And he could do nothing to stop them.

Edited August 1, 2012 by Kal Grochi

[Grantaire]

OOC: Grochi, did not Aderia fill you in one what Lhikan is doing? Pretty much everything in your post, unfortunately, is null, just because Lhikan not only has yet to hear of the outcome of the port strike, but also mainly because he's in Ta Metru on a mission. But yeah, you'd better go over with Ads the whole situation. GM - Ga Metru:Borak leaped back instinctively, and for one precious moment Proto was free. But Borak reached out with his power, tearing one component inside Proto our of place. The wings immediately stopped flapping. The skakdi grabbed the robot by the now limb wings and began dragging him towards the fortress, ignoring his words.

[Toa Levacius Zehvor]

OOC: But nobody knows that the Hunters have Dragon asides from three people, Lhikan is currently in Ta-Metru with a team of people and not anywhere near the Coliseum, not to mention the news of the Port Strike is just getting received, and there's oh my gosh - are we retconning half the RPG and skipping forward a month?N/M Zarayna cleared it before I posted this. El Oh El?IC: Reaper / ArchivesReaper continued standing near Bit and Solaris as Precentus and Lariska walked off. If Lariska asked before vanishing, he would follow. Otherwise, he had things to do... important, personal things.-Toa Levacius Zehvor

[ZTG]

IC: ProtoProto's eyes blinked, green this time, it was a distress signal to Zacax. There was no noise, it was programmed to happen when an important component was tore out."I was given orders to inspect the battle field, not to fight or aid anyone, just to see if the battle was over,"IC: ZacaxZacax felt his wrist buzz...Proto was in trouble...he got up and walked to the Ga-Metru chute and jumped in.

Edited August 1, 2012 by IX. Dymex

[Toa Levacius Zehvor]

OOC: "The war? Over. Why - it has just begun! *Rip*"IC: Exathia / Ga-Metru, Near Chute StationTrue to their word, about halfway to the Chute Station, Exathia was met by a small group of Vahki. She always felt nervous when she was alone with them - that strange, buglike design gave her the creeps. Fitting for a swarm.-Toa Levacius Zehvor

[ZTG]

IC: Deusui"So," Deusui said walking up tithe skakdi, "The Karzahni is that thig?"

[Grantaire]

OOC: Honestly, it's time to move the plot on a little.Port Strike survivors, I'll bail you out next post.GM - Coliseum Island: In the coliseum, Dume sat in deep musing. The ruler of Metru Nui was one of the most knowledgeable, with information and reports always coming in. Because of this, he knew of Nidhiki's return before the toa even reached the coliseum. When their meeting was complete, Nidhiki left to find Lhikan, and some other of the commanding council, including the recently returned Naho; he had already thoroughly yelled at her for the failed mission at the Ga Metru Port. In Ta Metru, the mission had been somewhat of a success, with the entire area retaken. However, the Dark hunter attacks in the metru had continued even more, and matoran and vahki losses were steadily rising. Some Dark Hunters had been captured or killed, but the losses in sabotage robbery and assassination was rather grave; it was almost as if the Dark Hunters were retaliating against the offensive.Le Metru was as good as ever, but was suffering from economic decline gravely: almost half the cameras had been deactivated, and talk was being considered as to whether or not the Protectorate should withdraw from controlling the entire metru to only controlling the key locations.Onu Metru was less dangerous by a little, although the archives were still as well guarded as always. No threats had been posed from there either. Po and Ga Metru were also not hotspots of activity.Ko Metru...Dume sighed. This was the pressure point; the situation of Ko Metru would soon be discussed.GM - Ga Metru:"Tell that to your interrogators, robot, not me," snarled Borak as he hauled Proto into the fortress. Soon he would be off his hands.

[ZTG]

IC: Deusui"So this a bug?" Deusui asked the skakdi, "

[sunflower]

IC: Elirak (Coliseum)Waiting.Mata Nui did I hate waiting.I was currenly leaning up against a support that was beyond "in need of repair", chipping off various pieces of a rock I was holding with some lasers.Great way to pass the time, wonderful way, huh? Karz, now I'm talking to myself... Guess I am going crazy after all. Figures.OOC: Elirak Open for interaction.

[The Swimming Beard]

IC: Taronak

Taronak noticed Elirak, and adrssed him. "Do you know what the Protectorate is doing right now?"

[sunflower]

IC: Elirak (Coliseum)"Haven't the slightest idea, man," I replied, looking up from my laser beam'ed stone. With my my weaken vision after using my Kanohi, the being talking to me looked like a Toa of Earth. However, closer inspection showed that he was obviously one of Fire."Name's Elirak," I said, introducing myself.

[The Swimming Beard]

IC: Taronak

"My name is Taronak." he responded. "Are you a member of the protectorate?"

[sunflower]

IC: Elirak (Coliseum)"No," I deadpanned.There was a few seconds of unease before I said, breaking into a grin, "Just kidding, yeah man, I am."

[The Lorax]

IC: Vahki Factory, Le-MetruMala would be very surprised to find her sword melt before it reached a Vahki, collapsing into a pile of molten protodermis. The Plasma Toa, leaning against a wall, obviously heavily injured, grinned uneasily.Pushing outwards, palms foward, the De-Toa created a sphere of extremely intense sound around Mala's current position, enough so to completely shatter concentration, and then leave a target stunned for minutes. One of the Madu missed and exploded after connectioning to a protosteel shutters, doing no damage save make soot marks. The other one latched onto the 'hand' of one of the Vahki, blowing most of its arm off. With the other arm, it stabbed foward, seemingly unfazed at the damage, though it was obvious by the way it's balance was off that it was indeed fazed. The other Vahki shot a weaken disk once more, a Po-Metru level 4, to finish the job.

IC (Krokk and Mala, Le-Metru): Things were not going well for the pair of Skakdi. With their disguise blown, they were fighting for their lives, and if they didn't end this fight soon, they would likely have half the Metru on top of them. They needed to find a way to escape, and fast. More than that, though, they had come here to do a job, and if escape could possibly include the factory's destruction, they were going to do it.Both of the toa's attacks on Mala proved largely ineffectual. Mala's sowrd was an electro-chute blade, a weapon of Xian design which used magnetic fields to hold electrified liquid protodermis in the desired shape, so melting the already liquid protodermis didn't do much. The intense heat from the plasma did disrupt the magnetic fields, however, spilling the liquid on the factory floor. As soon as it passed, however, the fields reasserted them selves, and with a sweep of the hilt, the blade reformed itself. As for the toa of sonics' destructinve field, the sound waves passed right through her intangible body without doing any harm.OOC: I don't completely understand the physics behind the density-control-beats-sonics thing, or whether the waves should affect in intangible object, but I remember Nuju Metru pulling the same thing in the BZPRPG a while back, so I assume he knew what he was doing. :)IC (Krokk and Mala, Le-Metru): While Losing Grontak was a blow for the Hunters, it did mean that there were two less Vahki for Krokk to worry about. He blocked the clumsy stab from the one-armed machine with his own sword, but he didn't follow up the blow to further damage the robotic enforcer. Instead, he had to keep moving to avoid the disks being fired at him. As it was, the Po-Metru disk sailed much too close to him as he ducked backwards.Taking advantage of the brief moment before the guards could attack again, the two Skakdi ran towards each other, meeting near the middle of the room, and desperately released their powers in an attempt to get out alive. Mala became solid again - she would need to concentrate on her other powers for this, While Krokk primed his nynrah ghostblaster and prepared to cover her back. A moment later, a huge telekinetic wave shot out from Mala's body, strong enough to throw back anything within 10 bio of the pair (save for Krokk, of course: she didn't want to throw him away). Having bought some space and time, she took out the bags of explosives from compatrments within her armour and dropped them on the ground, while Krokk threw the detonator onto the pile. There wasn't any time to lay the charges properly - they only had a couple of seconds - but it was as good as they could get under the circumstances.Having given the toa something else to worry about, they turned tail and ran. Mala became intangible again, resuming her ghostly form, and after a few moments, Krokk successfully copied the power and did the same. They sprinted towards the nearest wall of the factory, trying to get out before the toa and vahki could stop them, or while they were preoccupied with the bomb ready to explode inside the factory. Either way, the defenders would have to choose quickly - the Hunters would disappear through the wall only a few seconds before the detonator went off.

[Simulacrum]

OOC: Sorry, but I'm going to retcon most of that post. First off, it wasn't an attack of sonic waves, it was an attack of painful noise. Unless someone intangible is deaf, that would be rather impossible to avoid. Secondly, Krokk was hit with a weaken disk. If weaken disks were used to bring down structures, I think a level four one would, at the very least, reduce a being's strength to the level of being unable to run across a room filled with Vahki, Kanoka Disks, and Mind Scramble bolts. Completely defenseless, and being chased by multiple rather powerful hunting and subduing machines. As such, this is going to be reflected in the below post. IC: Vahki Factory As Krokk attempted to awkwardly dodge the multiple Kanoka being fired at him, another Weaken disc, Level 5, slammed into him with accuracy only a Ko-Metru disk could possess, sending him to his knees, unable to even lift his sword to defend himself as Vahki stunstaffs rendered him unconscious. Mala, brought to her knees by the immense noise, found her concentration shattered, leaving herself completely and utterly defenseless to a barrage of Kanoka, from the automated disk turret and the Vahki, slamming into her with considerable effects. Being frozen, weakened, and increased in weight numerous times in a few moments would certainly be an experience to remember.

[Cosmic Titan]

IC: Ko-MetruA white armored Toa of ice strolled down the street.A Matoran saw this and expected it to be safe to flee its current location and ask the Toa for help. The Matoran ran out. "Hey could you escort me to the Coliseum?""Nope..." The Toa's cold grey eyes stared right into the Matoran. Energy lanced out from his hand and a blade of ice appeared. In one fluid motion he lunged at the Matoran and stabbed him through. The temperature dropped off a few dozen degrees as the Matoran died."Why?!" the being screamed as its life was extinguished.Leto reabsorbed the ice blade; his eyes were not longer grey but jet black. His face twisted into a sickening scowl as he walked off into the darkness...OCC: Just so you know Leto will be out of play until after the time skip.

Edited August 2, 2012 by Cosmic Titan

[Legolover-361]

IC: Precentus / Archives, Onu-MetruPrecentus nodded, turning around and heading back into the archives. He had a feeling that this was going to work out well.And along the way he could tell the dragons demands, outside of the prying ears of other, dumber Hunters.

IC: LariskaNighttimeArchives, Onu-MetruLariska, it seemed, had the same idea. Still walking astride Precentus, she questioned, "What is the dragon asking for?"

IC: Reaper / ArchivesReaper continued standing near Bit and Solaris as Precentus and Lariska walked off. If Lariska asked before vanishing, he would follow. Otherwise, he had things to do... important, personal things.

IC: Unit B8-391NighttimeArchives, Onu-MetruBit gazed upon Solaris before turning only his head to look at Reaper. <Cover my flank.> Turning back to Solaris, he intoned, <Follow. Do not resist.>

[Toa Levacius Zehvor]

IC: Precentus / Onu-MetruPrecentus, as he strolled down the halls, replied, "Well, first of all, he's a telepathic dragon. So unless you took mental training classes before coming here, watch your head. Or at least, what's in it.""As for what he wants - there's a reason he went to the Protectorate before he came to us. Apparently, a large force of Dark Hunters ransacked his home when he was gone. A few Skakdi and the like, something called a Xeno, which I figured you might be able to figure out. He can give the full report once we reach him. His terms to work for us are very simple, and I think you know what they are..."IC: Reaper / Onu-MetruThe hooded Kestora followed behind the robot as he edged the lightning Toa onwards. He hope there was an attempt to resist. A good, clean kill for study. He hadn't found a Toa of Lightning in one time. The last one he had fought was a particularly nasty one with white armor on a mission to the west. He only barely escaped with his life, unlike the other Hunters in the group. Toa not following the Code... did not end well. Especially when they're experimenting with Hagah Plasma Cannons.-Toa Levacius Zehvor

[Legolover-361]

IC: LariskaNighttimeArchives, Onu-MetruLariska looked insulted. "Of course I've been trained to shield my mind. The Shadowed One can't have his second-in-command picked about by any wannabe telepath. And..."She paused significantly. "Xeno? Did he mean a species named Xeno, or someone who called himself Xeno?"

Edited August 3, 2012 by Legolover-361

[Toa Levacius Zehvor]

IC: Precentus / Onu-MetruPrecentus shrugged. "Species. But I've seen enough 'endangered' creatures going by their species names."-Toa Levacius Zehvor

[Legolover-361]

IC: LariskaNighttimeArchives, Onu-MetruI'll need to have a talk with Xeno. Soon.She peered ahead, into the darkness of the tunne before her and Precentus. "Where is this dragon waiting? I trust you haven't placed him within reach of any sensitive areas?"