Tabby: Toa of Cats

IC:"Not as favorable as I would have hoped-but acceptable. We will join your voyage. Is there any training or equipment we require?" Vilor answered. OOC: I'm guessing dive training and air bladders would be necessary for work on a dive expedition. If needed, RPG time will be used to represent me getting aboard ship.

IC:Green Tornado answered, "Sorry, but none of us drink. Bad for flying, sharpshooting, and in Kivar's opinion, any mind-altering substance disrupts his meditation and connection with nature. If you have something else, we'll be happy to join you.Vorok and I will take coffee or milk-coffee's probably a bad idea at this time of night, though. Kivar will take tea, I guess." IC:Kivar answered, "As surely as waves roll on the sea, we are coming with you." OOC:What character am I talking to here?

IC:Cy smiled, "Lead the way. By the way, you might want to know that the ship's Gukko's nest* - might be a literal Gukko's nest. Kivar wants to bring Echo with him." OOC:*crow's nest.

IC: Vorok found the personality of this Fire Toa far to confrontational and suspicious. Thankfully, he had learned some self control. "You have three Toa, all of whom have various means to fly-could be useful in expanding your search radius for land, if there is any besides this island, or rescuing men overboard. Green Tornado here can control wind, which is useful for sailing-really, elemental powers are his specialty. Gravity like my own can make it easier to move things around, stay afloat for a while if we hit serious trouble. I'm a sharpshooter with the crossbow, and good in a brawl if it comes down to it. My Calix has a magnifier built in, in case Kivar here can speak the languages of some Rahi, though not all. Beyond that, his sonics powers could prove useful in repulsing enemies, long-range communication, or perhaps double as sonar should it be needed." Kivar decided that he best place a disclaimer of his own skill to avoid any disappointments. "Be warned, the languages of Rahi are not necessarily the same here as they are elsewhere-it might be best for me to acquire a Mask of Translation before our departure in place of the Kanohi Zatth, which is not the most useful in terms of our expedition." Vorok added, "And beyond that, we brought equipment. I had no idea if you were actually prepared, so I brought anything that I thought could come in handy. All of which is in bags that landed with us."

IC:Now in Daylaria's office, Vilor, being the primary reason for the lack of standing room, finally took a more sociable tone at the promise of a good pay day. "Guard work is low risk. I can agree to the work-the price is the only matter that remains. Is 2000 widgets each too much to ask?"

OOC:Mild correction-One Kadin flyer, two Toa riding on one Gukko. IC:"Woah, woah, woah, watch the fire. Don't want to heat things up around here.",The green Toa chuckled. "As for the reason, I'd be interested in signing up for that Red Star expedition that was featured in the Mata Nui Daily. Or, rather, we'd be interested. Any clue where to find the people you need to talk to?"

IC:"As I said, the best I can offer in terms of tracking is only useful for a recent disappearance, generally within a day or two. My suggestion on those is to file a missing person's report with the Ussalry and the other Guards. If they see them, they could let you know." ,Miraul answered. "Beyond that, perhaps with names, I can keep my eyes open." "I could volunteer to run said report to any other Guards you wish, except Po-Koro. Their isolationist stance doesn't allow me to get there. But I think a trading caravan might be in town, so they could carry the report back, I suppose, if they haven't left already." , Vilak chimed in. "As for the matter of this artifact and the combination of powers-we have enough Toa, seeing as the Akiru are a full team of six. But as a leader, I am hesitant to risk the lives of my team to restore the power of a single Toa. That seems like an unnecessary risk to me, but the decision is not mine, but the team's, to make-something I'd have to talk to them about. I'd be more willing if you could prove that doing so might free your powers-perhaps, since the Akiri were so close to the Turaga, you might ask them, or others, such as the astrologer Nixie, about it? The more is known, the more I'm willing to try. Am I correct to believe you have no powers such as element or Kanohi access?" OOC: Zeal, PM me OOC details about what would happen IC in regards to my chars attempting such on the artifact, and if you have staff approval to combine Toa elements-discovering Toa Seals is kind of a big thing. SInce the element of Kinetics is not yet legal in game, I am presuming that you may have to wait on getting your powers back. (Trust me, though-I would like to see Kinetics available.)

IC: "One's a traitor. The other two helped the traitor. That's why we're after them all the time. Vilor, we have a job offer." Ziraul answered. Vilor gave a growling nod, indicating for Ziraul to negotiate. He stepped to follow Daylaria's lead to wherever she wished to speak. As he walked, he created a voice in Daylaria's ears, a creepy, eerie one that could have made Makuta servants shudder. "The first question for the Black Inferno is how much it pays. As always. The second question is what type of work you want, and how many employees you require."

OOC:Due to a slight mistake on Shushei Hisagi's part, Vilor was accidentally called the name of a gukko bird that I also happen to own. The point of this interaction was to recruit me for the dive, Kughii (You have Daylaria, right?), in case you were wondering. IC:"Toa hunting, that's what." Vilor growled. Anyone who had spent much more than ten minutes with Vilor knew that the particular tone he was using made it advisable to back away slowly. The more sensible, sociable Ziraul stepped in. "I think I ought to ask: Have you seen a Toa of Air, wears a Kadin, flies like crazy? Tough looking Toa of Gravity, double Akaku scopes on the mask? Toa of Sonics, rides a Gukko? Those three are who we're looking for."

OOC:From Le-Wahi IC:Vilor lead the way into Ga-Koro. Five others stood with him, looking openingly for three particular Toa. OOC:Shuhei Hisagi, you will have to find them and convince them to join from here.

IC:Three Toa and Gukko flew into the cold Ko-Wahi night. Each wore a cloak, a relic from a previous trip here during the ILS hostage situation. Vorok landed outside the village, dropping off Echo, his gravity powers allowing him and the supplies he brought to land safely. And Vorok had brought plenty in the way of supplies. A set of five large sacks included eight Volo Lutu Launchers, quivers with 200 extra arrows, a spare sword and round shield, metal tools for woodworking, including hammers, nails, and saws, several axes and pickaxes, an anvil, two coils of rope, three disk launchers with gravity-fed clips, a full bag of photothermic powder, three months supply of Gukko feed, and enough seeds from a Toa of Plantlife to start a small farm. Vorok had gone to great lengths to get all this, pulling on old connections, mostly debts from his years as a mercenary, as well as spending some of his personal money on equipment-he had no clue if these people were prepared for the unknowns of long voyage at sea. To that end, he had brought as much equipment as he could. Behind him, Cy, Kivar and Echo landed. OOC: From Le. Toa Aki, these guys are here for the Red Star Expedition. Could you do me the favor of finding them? Norik said to look for you outside the city OOC.

OOC:Time to finally do something with my characters. IC:With their several months adventure finally over, Cy and Vorok had finally returned to Le-Koro. They had decided to return to Le-Koro for a week in order to get their homes in order. Such was a fateful decision, because Le-Koro was being watched. --- Cyclonis, the Toa of Air, was sometimes known to the locals as the Green Tornado. For Tornado, this name was aptly deserved, since he might sometimes use a ground green dust in his cyclones to confuse opponents. He was practicing such a cyclone now, but it lacked the particular shade of lime and forest green that it usually possessed in abundance. Rather, it was filled with a sickly gray dust, the kind old (or, as the case may be, neglected) houses tend to manufacture seemingly of their own accord. This twister wasn't for combat-it was to clear out the dust that had accumulated in his house for the last few months since he had set out to find the hidden Xa-Koro fleet that had attacked Le-Koro some time ago. Cy willed the cyclone to shoot out the door, even as he coughed several times from all the dust the cyclone had failed to suck up. "Well, I don't think my house has been this clean since I bought it. Glad to get rid of that dust-devil.", Cy chuckled, and subsequently coughed, to himself. A second later, the doorbell let out a series of musical chimes. ----- Deep in the jungle, a figure watched a band of warriors on the march. Three looked grim, ready for a battle that they had long hungered for. The other two seemed to be looking for some route of escape, like they shouldn't have been part of the group in the first place. And the lone figure recognized this band. They could be heard from miles around to his sensitive ears. No one tromped through the Jungles of Le-Wahi like Vilor. Each step he took was a distinct and thunderous Pakari-powered stomp. Kivar listened as the jungle went silent. A dangerous darkness was passing through, and all the innocent creatures of the forest would hide from it. Slowly, with a degree of silence only a Toa of Sonics could manage, he climbed to the top of a tree. He let out a series of shrill whistles that would have been indistinguishable from bird calls to most. And they were bird calls, even if they did not come from a bird. Elsewhere, a lone Gukko took to the skies from it's nest, eager to meet it's best freind. --- Cyclonis answered the musical chimes of the doorbell with a warm, "Hello!" "Help-assist me get nasty-dust off ever-quick?", grumbled a discontented and frustrated Le-Matoran paperboy from the Mata-Nui Daily. "Oh, ever-sorry about that, Dusty.", Cy chuckled as he fired off an airblast sufficient to create a dust cloud large enough to cover his hut's whole platform-and scatter twenty-four back issues of the Mata-Nui Daily all over said platform. It also caused to Cy and the paperboy to launch into a coughing fit for several minutes. They did not notice an extra shadow that also began to cough. The grumpy paperboy handed Cyclonis a newspaper. "The latest issue of the Mata-Nui daily-and you just scattered the twenty-four back issues you asked for over there, and there, and maybe up in that tree.I'll let you pick that up." This made the paperboy laugh in return at the thought of his tormentor getting what he deserved. He walked away towards the main square, shouting "Extra, Extra!", much to the annoyance of several street musicians attempting to perform. Cy took a quick look at the front cover. The headline caught his interest. Cy took note of this-it sounded like a lot of fun, and if a neutral party could open the Vault and share it's contents with all the villages, then it would be an excellent step in restoring the Unity the villages had once enjoyed. Setting the paper down, Cyclonis figured that the scattered state of the back issues made for a perfect excuse to practice his flying. "Yahoo!" ----- Echo flew towards Le-Koro with Kivar on his back. The gukko landed in a tree outside the village. Kivar dismounted, running towards the village, in a hurry to let Cy and Vorok know of their endangerment. Remembering he had not seen Ziraul, Kivar slowed, moving towards the village in total silence whenever possible. --- Cy had finally managed to pick up all the papers, while flying, an achievement within itself. Depositing them within his hut, he sat down to read the latest edition of the Mata-Nui Daily. That was when the scrap of paper fell out. We're coming.---Vilor"Vilor, you have a talent for ruining a good day." ,Cy thought to himself. At that moment, there was a knock at the door. Cy wasn't taking any chances now. For all he knew, it might have been the will of Mata Nui that he found that threat just in time. He approached the door, looking through a peephole,elemental Air already swirling around his right arm. He had arranged the installment of that and several other safety mechanisms some time ago. Vorok had taught him long ago to never take any chances with Vilor. He was relieved to see it was only Kivar. Swinging the door open, still with a little caution, Cy smiled and said,"Hey Kivar, what's quick-brought you?" "They're coming. Two days time." Cy showed him the scrap of paper, and inquired, "How'd you know?" "The Jungle speaks many words, but only I listen close enough to hear them." "Very well then. We need to meet with Vorok." ---- "He knows we're here. It's long since time we moved. Kivar, I need the Wall of Silence, since you did not see Ziraul. He may very well be listening to what we say even now." "Quiet to others, it already was." "We need a place to move to. The question is where he cannot find us, where he cannot follow." "Vilor sent a threat, but perhaps he sent us a solution." Cy held up the copy of the Mata Nui Daily. "Out to sea we go. Pack your things for burial. The Phantoka fly tonight." --- Under the cover of darkness, two hefty Toa-like beings who owed Vorok a favor moved furniture and valuables to a hidden location in the jungle. They were buried in a hidden cavern several feet underground, created by the Earth power of one of the two warriors. Cy left only one thing behind. It was a map of Ga-Koro, with a randomly marked location. ------ That night, Vorok gathered some supplies, pulling in quite a few favors from less-than-savory characters he might or might not happen to know, depending upon whom was asking. Climbing onto Echo's back, he and Kivar followed the lead of a Kadin-wearing Toa of Air towards Ko-Koro. OOC:Cy, Vorok, Kivar to Ko. Supplies will be specified next post. EDIT:Black Inferno's first actions for the year. IC:Takari carefully pushed a trap door inside Cy's hut open. Designed for an emergency escape route from the Inferno, no doubt, it would prove Cy's undoing. "He's not here. They left last night." Ziraul answered. "You'd better be the one to tell Vilor that." "We may know where they went. There is a map of Ga-Koro on the wall. The only thing he left behind. Being the only lead I have, we'll have to follow, even if he wanted us to find it." OOC:Black Inferno to Ga-koro.

A blog post with a link in the original posts sounds best.

Unless you count their sword making power.

About half the Black Inferno meets that description. Any reason why?

And speaking on the same note , I will return to camp for another week tomorrow. Due to the slow nature of Onu-Koro, I haven't squeezed in another post yet anyway, but I would hope that somehow, the topic speeds up for the day.

For the reference of anyone interacting or seeking to interact with me, I will be gone till Thursday/Friday doing some volunteer work at a local Christian camp. Today will be my last day posting. Dishwashing, here I come!

IC:Miraul smiled,"Mata Nui Cow's Milk, please. Vilak, myself and the rest of the Toa Akiru run the Toa Akiru Forge. We make a lot of things-tools, weapons, furniture, anything else you might need designed. Our two specialty materials are metal and crystal, since we have some Toa of those elements. Vilak and I in particular offer expertise in weapons." Vilak smiled ,"I second Miraul's order. So what are you folks doing in Onu-Koro at this hour?"

I work with animation software (i.e. Blender) and there's one other reason that they might reduce power usage to "next to nothing." It's because effects like these take time to make, and can often up rendering time. No doubt, the more rendering time, the higher the animation budget has to be. Rendering also likely was slower and cost more than today, since computers were older and slower and the software was not as good at the time. All of this is just best guessing from an animation novice, but I think it makes sense.

Sometimes it's not even punishment-sometimes it's "You're fighting a staff character, you die. Sorry." I remember the battle of the Nui-Rama hive. Tons of carnage when Heauni showed up on the ground.

Katuko, might you consider making the game playable in a browser (i.e. hosting it on a webpage, no download.), and/or backwards compatibility to Windows XP? That would enable more people to enjoy the game. Thanks!

You would probably still have to find it first, I'm afraid. The page seems to indicate that it didn't appear on the Ta-Wahi beach until the swarms awakened. The Sundial Entrance might be another matter, however, and if nothing was done with it last year, then it's worth checking out. If someone knows about it, I have a charecter to two who I could put on the case, but they would need to be introduced to the matter first, and someone needs to verify that nothing was done with it last year (I think I recall mentions of it in the Onu-Wahi topic last year, so it may have been discovered, but unopened, I hope.)

IC:Miraul smiled,"Not much that I can think of, unless you're in need of weapons, furniture, or tools. Then my friends have things you can buy." Miraul led the way into the restaurant. Vilak winked at the hostess, earning a glare from Miraul. She blushed and moved to find them a seat. "What? I've been making freinds." "Don't push your luck."

You could blow it open. That'd work.

Let's see if this post works this time. Perhaps missing the / in the quote sign had something to do with that. Perhaps this is the entry Takua used? http://biosector01.com/wiki/index.php/Sundial_Entrance Though said to lead directly to Mangaia, it could lead into the Vault in this game. The Mangaia page also mentions a door to the Bohrak nests that Takua went through, which could perhaps be another entrance to the Vault. The best way to find the door would be to open the http://biosector01.com/wiki/index.php/Bohrok_Nest_Portal