Visaru

IC - The Sanctum Guard - Ko-Koro Center Kaminari and Kalyss's conversation was suddenly interrupted as two squads of Sanctum Guards finally caught up with the Kakama-wearing Toa Kalta, emerging from the nearby streets to surround Kaminari, aiming shining spears and loaded Patero launchers at the uninvited draconic visitor and ushering the civilians out of the area. The distant sound of stomping of feet heralded more reinforcements on their way. OOC @Keeper of Kraata@Snelly

IC: Ostia, the Dancing Crab I gave a triumphant bark of laughter, finally free of that long suspenseful gaze that Yasurek held on me for what must have been far longer than necessary. “Brother, you should have said that as soon as you saw me and you could have saved yourself the trouble of the interview! I promise you’ll only regret this decision on the bad days." I wink at Yasurek, then raise my stolen tankard to the assembled crew around me. “Well, mates, cheers to me, and my return to a life of pirating! Let’s sail off the edge of the world together!” OOC: @pokemonlover360 @Ghosthands@Snelly@Void Emissary

IC Verak Well, it’s a good thing he didn’t ask me that first question again: the story that my history of teamwork tells is of someone flitting from one organization to another, leaving for such important reasons as trying to avoid a romantic relationship that was getting to be too involved or because I noticed a pretty light in the sky and wanted to go check it out. I glanced at Lohkar, who was grinning approvingly at Yasurek’s behavior, and felt a sinking feeling as I realized that there really was an interview/paperwork section of the Infernavika hiring process. Things have rarely looked more dire. My only ticket off this island crawling with guards eager for my arrest is to convince a Ko-Matoran I’m trustworthy? I’d rather be tied to the bottom of the ship as it sails through Takea infested waters. But, like the one time I was tied to the bottom of a ship as it sailed through Takea infested waters, I grinned and faced the problem head on. I wasn’t one to back down from a challenge. I’m clever, when I need to be, and I’ve got charisma in tons. Yeah, Verak, come on, you can do this! Okay, good pep talk. Here goes nothing. “Look, Mr…” “Yasurek.” “Yasurek, good to meet you, I, uh…” I drummed my fingers on the table as I assembled my point of attack. “I see you are being dead serious about this proposition, my friend. So I’m going to break character and give you a straight answer, because I respect you, Mr. Yasurek.” That wasn’t a lie, if you define ‘respect’ as ‘am filled with cold fear at the sight of’. I try to give a straight answer, but the words stick in my throat. I squinted, took another breath, and leaned onto the back two legs of my chair. “Right, here’s the deal, to be honest: a short attention span, a bad memory, and compulsive to a fault are all items you can check yes to on your little notepad here. I can’t say with a straight face I’m going to be your loyal companion through the ages until l we grow old together, especially not if you keep asking me to fill out paperwork.” ‘Okay, great job Verak, really selling yourself here,’ you say, but wait till you see the second half of this winning rhetorical strategy: “But more importantly, you can also check ‘yes’ next to 'brave'. Or 'foolhardy', if that’s how you have it written down on your notepad there. The point is, I don’t run away from things. I run toward danger. It’s a character flaw. But it means that, if you are in trouble, if we’re sailing toward the edge of the world or a maelstrom or the jaws of some colossal monster, that’s the moment when I’m least likely to leave you. You’ll have my full attention and my enthusiastic aid when, as you say, the chips are down, because the reason I’m sailing with you is because I love situations like that. It’s an addiction, I’m afraid.” “And I’ve sailed with you before, right? And not only did your ship and crew survive unscathed, I was a model cremate! Always the first to leap headfirst into danger when you encountered it, and I even obeyed orders. You can trust me, Yasurek, if not to show up in court for you at least to fight at your side and do my best to keep the ship afloat. Besides, once shore disappears, where else can I go? It’s help you or dive into the empty sea.” My smile faltered a little as I tried to read Yasurek's expression. OOC @pokemonlover360 @Ghosthands @Snelly @Void Emissary

IC Verak, in the back room the Dancing Crab Mata-Nui, if the dead-eyed Toa Assassin was scary, she was nothing compared to the Ko-Matoran secretary. I may sound crazy here but listen: when I talk to scary warrior babes I’m usually in the midst of some thrilling heist, and who knows what might happen next. Historically, when I talk to administrators, the next thing that happens to me is usually that I go to prison. Especially in Ko-Koro, Great Spirit, are those people just immune to charm? And that silence, man, he was more quiet than the literal invisible toa of sonics nearby! Or at least, less noticeable. To me, anyway (don’t judge me, I have a habit of tuning out things I see that don’t interest me, I’m sure you do too.) But yikes, has he really been there the entire time? Listening to everything I said? Thank god I didn’t fill out the details of the story I was telling about literally assaulting a guard fortress yesterday— I mean, what Ga-Koro stronghold? I don’t know anything about that. I’m just a charming, innocent Toa, the Verak you are thinking of wears a Kualsi, see, and— Oh wait, right, I need to say that aloud. After giving what must have looked from the outside like the same reaction Kikanalo make when they step onto the Iron Mahi tracks at night and freeze in pure terror as the train hurtles toward them and their eyes go wider and wider until they get hit by the train — I broke into a wide grin and turned to my captain. “Where’d you pick up this icicle? He fits in among here about as well as a… a… like a… Ko-Matoran and a bunch of Pirates, I guess… sorry, I’m not good at analogies.” Feeling a little deflated from that absolute disaster of a quip, I begrudgingly turned toward this secretary and met his icy judgy gaze (it hurt). “What, you wanna hear my life story?” I shot him the cheeky smile I usually reserve for the police. “You might need another tablet, brother, it’s a long list.” OOC: @pokemonlover360@Ghosthands @Void Emissary @Snelly

IC Verak - the Dancing Crab “What’s the story?” The story? Asking me that was a big mistake. if you’ve been paying attention, you'll know I’m always overeager to share, and usually do so using about three times as many words as necessary. You don’t mind though, do you? It’s all beautiful prose, after all. I mean, I'm about to use phrases like "melodramatic sorrow" and "sublime beauty." “Well, mates,” I lean back in my chair, “have you ever seen what it’s like above the clouds? That’s one of the rare joys of a Kanohi Kualsi. Seeing the top of the sky: a magical world of wispy white heavenly landscapes. The clouds look solid as rock, at least until you plummet right through them. Which I did, not long ago, on one of my tourist visits to the heavenly realm with my old teleportation mask." “So,” I lean forward with a grin, picking up my pace. “I fall out of the sky and find myself in the midst of a small port town in Le-Koro. I’ve barely stood up and brushed the rubble off my armor when I find myself standing face to face with another grey clad Toa,” I nod at the spooky Toa of Sonics nearby, “who was almost as startled to see me as I was to see her a second ago.” “This fellow was handsome, athletic, charismatic, clearly capable, and covered in scars, so honestly just picture me, except grey. It’s an exceptionally accurate mental image, especially because I’m now wearing his mask.” I tap my Calix, the one that used to belong to Toa Cipher, the man I’m describing. “In the short hours we knew each other, we became close enough to trade masks. After all, I wanted to share the wonders of the sky with my new friend, and he felt charitable enough to let me remind myself of the wonders of the Calix, a joy I’d forgotten since I lost my old mask of fate in an old lighthouse down south. But unfortunately, fate has separated the two of us." I place a hand on my chest, feigning melodramatic sorrow. "After he teleported away to try out his new power over teleportation, I never saw him again. All I can hope is that he’s out there somewhere in the sky now, experiencing that rare sublime beauty above the clouds.” I raise my tankard to Cipher’s memory, and take a swig. I know I didn’t really finish the story, but I’ve changed my mind about storytelling: I think I prefer the air of mystery.

ic Verak I think I probably jumped out of my armor when the attractive grey and black Toa with a Huna materialized out of nothing beside me. I stare at her in stunned silence for a moment, unable to move until some of the adrenaline faded from my system (and let me assure you pal, the way she’s looking at me like she’s sizing up a strange insect is not helping matters.) But I’m used to adrenaline and it wasn’t long before my heart rate slowed to a pace low enough to allow me to chuckle, grin, and say, “Course I’m interesting, sister, you got that right. Can’t materialize out of nowhere like you can, but that’s only ‘cause I lost by Kualsi to a dashing Toa of Plasma in a risky gambit. A tale as old as time, I’m sure.”

I think you are definitely right (the dense politics in Kentoku have always been intimidating for me too) but I will encourage you and everyone else to not be afraid to contradict lore and worldbuild --as long as you've read the (admittedly long but well written) intro posts of either topic, that's all you reasonably need to be expected to know to hop in and start rping, and any other discrepancies can be worked out as you play. It's better to get involved and make mistakes than not do something you want to for fear of stepping on someone's toes!

IC Kirik [The Warrens] While Ipsudir settled into her chair with a grin, her glowering followers arranged themselves behind her, taking up subtle defensive positions in direct response to the positions of Vrinak’s own guards, as if assembling for a game of Spike-ball. They scanned the room, taking in the exits, entrances, and the details for when they'd need to recount the story later. While Ipsudir complimented Vrinak’s retinue on their manners, one of her own guards, a tall spindly green Skakdi whose extra mechanical arms were twitching restlessly, bared his pointed teeth and stuck the tip of his knife between them to chew on.

IC Verak My grin grew even wider before I realized that that wasn't supposed to be a compliment. "Well, I didn't sink your ship last time, Captain, and I think I've got just enough of a self-preservations instinct to keep up that good behavior." I wink. "Although, mate, you're the one planning on sailing over the edge of the world with just a heading and a whole lot of hope, maybe you're the one I should be worried about." I raise my eyebrows in mock concern at Gunner.

ic - Verak "Well of course I have, Captain, couldn't resist the call to adventure!" I slip into a chair across from him, leaning into what some people might refer to as 'Gunner's personal space', and raise my stolen tankard. "I hear tell of... well, to tell you the truth, brother, I'm a little hazy on most of the details, except the ones about you sailing across the endless sea and off this island, which happen to be the relevant ones for me. if you catch my drift. So I thought your ship might be in dire need of a charming charismatic, Calix wearing Toa of sand." I grin and take a large swig of my drink. "Savvy?"

IC Verak If you’re looking for me, don’t check the prisons of the Ga-Koro Marines. Check the bars. Yeah, that’s right, not to brag, but I am currently unincarcerated, a surprising fact considering that the last thing I remember clearly was assaulting a Ga-Koro Marines fortress head on, baby, with barely a plan and a man I’d barely met. I’ll tell you, if you every wanna make a friend, it’s a good first date. Well maybe not, if you you are like me and decline to set up a rendezvous spot so you can meet up after the fight, because we never actually saw each other again after that. And hey, I really tried to find him! (spent almost an hour of work!) I promised him I’d give him back his mask (and take back mine) and I really did try to keep my word, honest to the spirit. You don’t believe me? It’s not like I didn’t have motivation: getting into the back end of Le-Koro was a lot easier than getting out of it without my Kualsi was. Take it from me: no matter how agile your Kanohi Calix makes you, it won’t help you wade through the Fau Swamp and keep mud from squirming its way into grooves you didn’t even know you had. Look, I don’t want to knock my new/old mask — the Calix looks a whole heck of a lot better than the Kualsi does — but it unfortunately it has meant that the face which assaulted a heavily guarded fort is still the face I’m wearing, and unfortunately for all the scum and villainy of the island, the fuzz has gotten a lot better at inter-Koro communication. I mean, Mata-Nui, what ever happened to the good old days when you could murder someone in Ta-Koro and live comfortably within the law in Ga-Koro? (For you petty criminals, don’t worry, there’s still hope for you, and I’m authority on this because the last time I was arrested in Po they completely left out my recent Ko-Koro pickpocketing spree from their extensive list of charges.) These days, if you’re a real, official, big name legend who may or may not have assaulted a guard fortress, it’s not exactly safe in a populated port. Or karz, anywhere on the island these days. I’m telling you, when did all these settlements start appearing in Po-Koro? I miss the days when this place just a big sandbox. But where was I? In a rowdy bar, taking another shot of whiskey that I’ve put on a tab I have no intention of paying. I think that cute trader in the corner just glanced at me, and I’m trying to see if I can get her to make eye contact with me so I can give a suggestive raise of my eyebrows— No, no, wait, I lost my thread again. Where was I? That’s right! Rejoining the Ga-Koro Navy. Now, there are two aspects of that sentence that should be shocking to you. The first is that I said “re-joining” the navy (Check the records, I swear it’s not a lie) but the general sense of that sentence is just as shocking: You should say, “Wait, isn’t the navy that organization you just said has been hounding you across the island? Maybe you should be running away instead of toward them, considering your face and name have accumulated more Ga-Koro arrest warrants than all the Piraka put together?” But that’s where you’d be wrong, and that’s intentional, because you’re hypothetical and you act however I want you to right now. Also, there is a big piece of information I’m leaving out. The Ga-Koro captain I was swaying across the bar to find was not your everyday captain, oh no. He’s the kind of guy you can trust — trust in this case meaning can count on for a strong distaste for paperwork and a strong admiration for the value of stolen gold. I picked out a familiar sea-worn longcoat and noticed the regal green-grey Toa of Air who was wearing it slip through the door into a back room. Immediately, I crab danced my way across the floor of The Dancing Crab, snatched an unattended beer from the edge of a table, and slipped unobtrusively into the back room. “Good evening, gentlemen,” I announced, as I swaggered toward the table Gunner had just found, trying to compete with the charisma of the bedecked Captain Lohkar reclining across from him. “How have the high seas been treating you without me?” So maybe my plan sounds a little better now? Return to a life of pirating, sail the endless ocean, and flee this well trodden, over-beuracratic, prison filled island all together, leaving Akiri Hahli with a lifelong regret about the dashing rogue she could never quite catch? What’s gonna happen on the other side of this voyage across the ocean is a little hazy, but hey, when has half-planning a plan ever gotten me in trouble before?

- TARROK I recall feeling a strange sense of pride for the skids lurking near the old fort. It was a good trap: the Skakdi with bows on the ridge behind us were well hidden from sight, difficult to reach, and had an excellent shot. In seconds we could be dead. Although the ramifications of that knowledge set my heart pounding, I did not think we'd lose the fight. I calculated that I could rush the ones on the hill using the grappling hook device on my left forearm. Most warriors don’t recognize it at first, and it can move me much faster than my bulk leads my enemies to expect, which would get me close to the archers and allow me to best them in close combat with my Sword-Hammer. Meanwhile, N’Ashka could cross blades with the warriors on the plain below, and Kildarg could keep me covered with his bow. But that is not how things went. Instead, N’ashka bravely stepped forward and announced a new plan, an unexpected one, but a famous and an honorable one: a duel. Or, perhaps, not so honorable. No matter. We are not Kaiakan. We are Skakdi. It is victory that matters, not honor. Even among Skakdi, I am the wrong man to look to for scruples. I am a mercenary. Morals are not my trade. So, silently and subtly, I reached out into the world, where I found N’ashka’s will already waiting for me. I met and joined that part of her mind that was outside of herself, in the world, and in that space outside of heads our wills joined together. The world too was in tune with our thoughts, part of us: I sensed the magnetic field bloom around her blade as if I too could control it, and my elemental power worked in complete tandem with hers as if the two elements were only two sides of the same coin: the air in the magnetic field slowly twisted, writhed, and spun in tune with the fluctuations of the field and our own thoughts. (Although my armor is the color of earth, I am a Skakdi of air. I will write of how I lost the green hue to my armor another time, for you will no doubt like to hear how this duel resolved first.)

- TARROK Over the last few days, Kildarg, N’ashka, and I made our way from Irnaakk’s jaw into the badlands. It is familiar territory for me: mercenaries have a lot of work to do here on the battlefields that make up this shattered landscape. I have heard it said that the mountains of Irnakk’s jaw once stretched all the way to the coast, dotted with scenic valleys filled with lush trees and Rahi found nowhere else in the island. Warlords lived here in unassailable fortresses, hidden in the valley forests or high on mountain peaks. The difficulty in finding and wiping out these warlords finally enraged a would-be conquerer of these lands, so he mobilized a hundred Skakdi of rock and a hundred Skakdi of stone, and then leveled the entire landscape, mountain by mountain, until there was nowhere left for his enemies to hide. I doubt it happened like that, but there is something to the tale that rings true about this war-torn land: the battles of Skakdi warlords have left their indelible scars on the landscape, and I have no doubt the practicalities of war have razed a thousand beautiful things here One of these destroyed treasures was Kildarg's fort. Like the legendary mountains, its imposing strength was now reduced to nothing more than a pile of stones. “What do you think?” N’ashka asked me, when I laid my eyes on it for the first time. I told her that “it is a ruin, nothing more than an expanse rubble, the last remnants of a once mighty fort. There is some kind of hut made of stacked rock in the center there. Not original construction. Someone is living here. They may know something. They may try to kill us. Either way, we must address them."

- Ko-Koro Gates The guard wasn’t sure what she had been expecting, but it certainly wasn’t the scarred Hau that looked down at her. She hastily stepped aside to allow the seemingly injured monk access to the village beyond, and let him keep the heatstone. Nothing more barred the party from entering the rebuilt village of ice before them.

- The Gates of Ko-Koro The guards nodded. One scribbled down their travelers’ names on a small ice tablet while the others remained static in front of the gates. The Pakari-wearing guard’s gaze lingered on “Daron”. She remembered well that the Legacy members who had taken the Koro before had snuck in by pretending to be religious devotees. She dug around in her pack. As the scribe recorded their entrance, the Hau-wearer rattled off apologies, “We’re sorry to keep you all waiting out here in the cold. I promise you, the city is worth the wait, and once you’re inside the walls will shelter you from the wind, at least. I’m sure it can’t rival Niici’s hospitality, but if you’re looking for a warm place to while away the hours, there’s a large brick Inn on the main road to the sanctuary, can’t miss it, I hear it’s great for foreigners.” By this time, the scribe had finished his work, and the guards parted to let them in. As Niici and her party made her way toward the gates, the Pakari-wearing approached “Daron”. Noticing him shivering, she offered him a heatstone, uncapping it so even those who didn’t recognize it at first could feel the warmth of her gift. As she presented it to “Daron”, she made to step right in front of him, close enough that from her short angle she could catch a glimpse under his hood… The Darkwalk Hideout Rall yowled as the molten earth fell across his face, leaping back and swiping it off him in panic. The fear effect still suffused his bones, and the surprise entrance of the Rahkshi had rattled what little resistance he had been able to muster against it. He backed up against the wall, swinging his spear wildly against the two, howling a war cry… But before the Rahkshi could lunge at him, twin arms of earth embraced him, pulling him across the the room to Kehuri, out of the reach of the two monsters by the exit. Rall struggled against the stone bonds as they rescued him, panic having brushed away the rational part of his mind, until he found himself behind the large shield of the Toa of Earth. Gasping, he took in his new position. This was when he realized that one of his eyes wouldn’t open. With a loud curse, he raised his trembling spear, finding himself back to back with Kehuri, taking deep shaky breaths as he tried to steel himself for whatever was coming next. Rall’s companion, the lone Ko-Matoran guard still in the room, let her fear overtake her as Ronan sprinted past. She fled from the room at the side of the Toa of Iron. In the passageway outside, they found two other guards lying on the ground, struggling around metal snakes of iron that were wrapped around their body. The others had evaded capture by Ronan. They were already out in the expanse of the dark walk itself, or had managed enough presence of mind to evade the pillar trap. The Ko-Matoran guard alongside Ronan could not muster a comment — all her willpower was able to manage was keeping pace with the Toa.

- TARROK It was not a comfortable night -- I rested uneasy, waking often. The hard earth below me was uncomfortable, but I had slept on far worse. What kept me awake was my new companions: my body was not yet accustomed to their presence, and every time they stirred or moved I registered it as a potential threat. I was taking a leap here, throwing in my lot with two strangers I had only just met. That is the lot of a mercenary. To be good at this job, you need to make sure you can beat those strangers in a fight. N'ashka, I knew I could handle, from experience now. That meant I trusted her. But Kildarg... it was his stirring that disquieted me the most that night.

With difficulty, Kirik smirks and squints at Grolasch and Garsi. Then he proclaims, loud enough for both combatants to hear, "I'll wager tonight's midnight guard duty that he won't stand more than two more blows." Then, more quietly, just to Krex: "But don't let this circus business get away from us. Are you planning a show?"

Good to see you again, Emzee! Hope you don't mind if I run these guards. Six Matoran guarded the looming doors of ice that barred the way into the Koro, each armed with a spear. They all stood as still as the ice behind them, except an older Matoran with a noble Huna. He was the first to recognize Niici, and leaned over to whisper something in the ear into the Pakari-wearing Matoran next to him. She frowned, gave him a piercing look, and stepped forward. “State your name and business,” her words to Niici were icy as her gaze. But the Huna-wearer was quick to cut in with a much warmer tone: “Only protocol, madam, you understand. City security’s running a lot tighter these days.” He smiled apologetically.

- TARROK Finding forts to raid and loot is the business that makes a Warlords. Even it was was abandoned, picked clean, with only a few squatters. But retaking Kildarg’s ruined fortress would be the action that made N’ashka a warlord. And, I cannot help but note now, we begin the journey the way Kildarg’s ended. Poetic. At the time, I was busy suspecting his ulterior motives in wishing to reclaim his property, but could not deny the wisdom in making that property our mark. The ex-lord knew exactly how to find it, approach it, and was most importantly, the best chance of uncovering whatever treasure still remained. He’d be in charge there. Indispensable. My awareness of the balance of power is a skill long honed. “You mentioned we’ll need help to excavate the fort. How many?”

Korzaa gave a small nod of thanks to Tarkahn. She appreciated the small gesture of kindness, the effort taken to make the traditional guardswoman feel more comfortable in her foreign leader’s space. She nodded again as he addressed her, a dispassionate recognition of her opinion being heeded. But she visibly stiffened at the idea that her village would need to change itself to accommodate the newcomers. She had a strong sense of what it meant to be Ko-Koronan, and hated the idea of that being challenged. But before her identity as a Ko-Matoran, she was a Guardswoman, and she would leave her concerns for the professionally correct time. Korzaa put her attention and energy to the Rahkshi attacks. She didn’t need prepared notes for this. “There is something strange with the Rahkshi recently,” she agreed, “but we have absolutely no intelligence on why this might be. There are no records of Makuta cultists ever working with the beasts before, although of course that is not proof it's happening for the first time. However, the Rahkshi's new behavior we have observed is familiar…” She paused for an uncomfortably long time. “It is the same sort of behavior as they had before the Makuta was defeated. I do not want too speculate rashly…” Another pause. She spoke the thing aloud. “But you all must be aware of the strange storms over Kini-Nui and the theories of Makuta’s return. I do not often give rumors much credit, but even if the probability of their truth is infinitesimally small, the danger would be so unfathomably large we must take them seriously." “If the rumors are true, no amount of Exo-Armor or inter-village cooperation will be enough to put a stop to these attacks. There is only one way we know of to defeat the Makuta or a being of similar power." She turned her attention to Reordin and gave him a stiff nod — a professional gesture that indicated a depth of gratitude she did not have the means to express.

- TARROK N’aska had identified three goals: training, money, and soldiers. The first I was well equipped to help with. The second, not so much. I was, in fact, just about skint broke at this time, to the point were I was skipping meals to save my coin. The third item I could not conjure for her, either — although the second item on that list could easily do so. However, I did not want make it seem as if I was only here to accomplish only one of the three goals. I wanted to position myself as integral, as vital to at least two out of the three. So I gave the following speech: “If we have credit and cause, we will have the blades we need. They will follow us like the vultures that assemble above our heads when we march to war. Any warrior in Irnakk’s Tooth would gladly risk their life just to take part in the plunder of the legendary Fort Garsi.” I focused my attention on N’ashka. “…as long as you are leader enough to convince them it is possible,” I told N’ashka. “But I swear on my life that you will be by the time we begin our war.”

- Dark Walk Hideout Fear leaked out of the emptiness in the monstrous Toa-figure’s eyes, gripping the limbs and hearts of the assembled Matoran at the entryway. Each of them struggled against the terror, but they were no match for the sheer force of emotion that struck them all to their core, rattling their insides, sending sweat and uncontrollable shivers running up and down their bodies. One dropped her spear. The fear blossomed in their minds and bodies, wiping away their rational mind with a sudden pang of what felt like hunger, but a hunger more ravenous than they had ever felt: a hunger for life. A hunger to escape the monstrous being looming in front of them. Three more spears clattered to the floor. One of the Matoran in the front turned and clawed their way through their comrades, trying to escape, trying to run for it, willing to brave the inky blackness and the unknown dangers of the dark walk in exchange for freedom from the horror inside. As they did, they pushed the Matoran behind them along. A few of the guards began to wail and scream in fear. Six more spears fell as they broke ranks. Some of the Matoran in the back line were able to hold their ground for a moment, but even doing that took the all will and force of effort that Ko-Matoran valued. They did not quite have the will to struggle also against the force of their fellows pushing them away, toward safety. Seven of the Matoran fled headlong into the darkness, their minds lost in the grip of hot fear, pushing along three more unwilling comrades. But the two in the doorway remained, still standing even as limb-trembling terror flooded their bodies. Rall and the Akaku-wearing Ko-Matoran kept their spears aimed at the monster, able to somehow will their feet in place as their fellows fled into the darkness outside the hideout.

- Garsi Courtyard Kirik turns his eyes away from the conversation between Grolasch and Garsi that he was eavesdropping on to size up the short brown Skakdi beside him. His red eyes linger on the unfamiliar object in her hands, then flick up to meet her eyes, simmering with something that might be anger or might be curiosity. "Tricks..." He mumbles, without moving his limp body. "I can juggle quite well, if that's what you're asking, Krex."

- The Dark Walk The twelve Sactum Guard in the expedition may have been new to war, but their training proved them well. As one, they mechanically raised their spears and shifted into formation. Following Skri's orderers, they took up a position near the door to the hideout. The Ta-Matoran, Rall, made sure he took point, filling the doorway beside a young Ko-Matoran with a teal Akaku. They both aimed their spears and lightstones at the unsettling figure who had emerged from the darkness deeper in the hideout. Four other guards took up position just behind them, spears raised to stab over the heads of the two in front of them at any approaching enemies. The other six guards formed a line with their backs to the others, monitoring the entryway to the darkwalk, in case any fresh monsters emerged from the cavernous passageway to take the expedition from behind. Although some of their hands were trembling, they remained remarkably calm, embodying the icy stillness the sanctum guard asked of its soldiers. Without taking his eyes off his enemy, Rall whispered in a voice only audible to the Matoran beside him and any others near the doorway. "What the #### is this thing? I can't see him from this distance, but I know that's no Rahkshi. Is that shrapnel sticking out of its body?" The Ko-Matoran around him remained characteristically tight lipped.

Ko-Koro Guard Recruits (The Dark Walk) One by one, the Matoran recruits sounded off, until the Ta-Matoran, loudest of them all, announced "Rall, Nineteen." They were grouped in a circle in the middle of the passage outside the hideout, their Kanohi trained on the shadowy depths around them, their spears at the ready.