Timageness

IC: Dravennica grew tired of waiting, her body moving towards the door as she prepared to intercede in the conversation. "The Skakdi behind me claims to serve the interests of Legacy," she began, taking note of the voice's villainous intent. "The Toa of Iron looking for work beside him serves whoever throws enough widgets his way. As for me, I am a servant to nothing but power, and I'm willing to ally with anyone who is willing to give it to me; be it Echelon, The Piraka, or anyone else who wants to see the Matoran populace cowering beneath their heel." She paused, letting the being behind the door ponder what she had just said before eventually continuing. "But as of right now, I've come to congratulate your leader on his conquest of this city." Zenithex passed the Marshal on his way to the stairs, mentally preparing himself for battle as he did so. The sight of the Matoran's limp frame hitting the floor and the sounds of the heathens' pathetic barricade being smashed to splinters brought a smile to his face, though in his lipless condition, it would not appear that his expression had changed much at all. Normally, even he wasn't crazy enough to start a fight with ten guards at once, but he felt powerful knowing that other believers were participating in the raid as well, and the ball of light shown brighter than he had seen it shine in years. A spear-carrying Ko-Lesterin was the first to appear, immediately blocking his righteous path as she thrusted her weapon at him, only for the Ta-Lesterin to parry the strike with his Kusarigama. He swung the weighted end threw the air, pulling the chain tight as it wrapped around her throat and forcing her to release her grip on it as he kicked himself off of the nearby wall. Her struggling body too preoccupied with relieving the pressure on her windpipe, she didn't notice him looping the sickle around the beam above them until it was far too late, his hand releasing his grip on the chain before both of them grasped tightly around the weapon's handle as he fell back towards the floor and used his body weight to launch her up towards the rafters. Her legs kicked around in the empty space beneath her, vainly attempting to free herself as one of his hands reached into his cloak for his carving knife. The Ko-Lesterin's eyes grew wide in horror, the chain choking her preventing her from screaming as he slid the blade into her abdomen, opening her up wide and cutting through her intestines as he began to remove them and let them fall to the floor. One quick tug on the weapon later and she was momentarily raised up higher, her neck snapping like a twig as gravity took care of the rest. He had no time to admire his handiwork, however, as the Ko-Toa who suddenly came up behind her tackled him into a wall. The attack took him by surprise, throwing back his hood and knocking the wind out of him as his assailant froze his knife hand to the wooden paneling behind him. He was forced to release his grip on his main weapon, causing the female Lesterin's body to hit the floor behind the Toa as he pulled back his fist, coating his knuckles in a sheet of ice before punching Zenithex in the face repeatedly. The blows raining down upon him tore into his face like scissors to paper, the Ta-Lesterin letting a maniacal laugh escape from his throat as he turned his head slightly in preparation for the next blow. The Toa's fist collided with the vice wrapped around his head, shattering the frozen water and breaking several of his fingers in the process while granting the cultist the opportunity to free his hand from the wall. He grasped his foe's head, forcing him to make eye contact with him one last time before thrusting the blade into his jaw and through the roof of his mouth before the Protosteel weapon finally found its home deep into his frontal lobe. He slowly pulled it back out from its resting place, watching the life in the Ko-Toa's eyes flicker out of existence before gently pushing on his chest and letting him fall to the floor. He stepped forward, glancing back towards the Marshal with the same "smile" plastered across his face as he pulled his hood back over his head, resheathed his knife, and moved to collect his weapon. Upon further inspection, it became quite apparent that the poor, unfortunate Ko-Lesterin was still fighting to stay alive; tears pouring down her face as he picked up his sickle and unwrapped the chain from around her neck. Now, that just wouldn't do at all, would it? He raised his arm, cutting her throat down to her spinal column in one swift motion before making his way towards the stairs once more. Septima stood in front of the safe, massaging her neck with her left hand while her right prepared to input the combination. She was highly considering leaving the city after obtaining her loot, as she had already been attacked twice today, and she wasn't particularly jonesing for a threepeat. Her fingers lightly tapped the screen, placing the digets that she had painstakingly acquired in the correct order and, after waiting to make sure that the alarm didn't go off in her face, finally opened the safe. After all the Karz she went through, what was in here better be worth all of that trouble, or she would be- Whoah. A smile slowly creeped across her face. It was her lucky day after all.

Not the puns again...

IC: Septima pushed open the doors leading into the kitchen, soaking in the sight of her surroundings before ripping apart a loaf of bread and devouring it. She picked up the other two loaves without removing them from their packaging, stuffing them inside her satchel so she'd have something to eat when it was time to make her way out of the village. Her eyes scoured the counters, the stove, the inside of the freezer, and even all of the pots and pans before finally finding another set of numbers carved into the handle of a mop. The Fe-Toa had to give credit where credit was due; the former proprietor was a crafty one. Mentally jotting down that the number eight was the second number of the combination, she turned around just in time to avoid a swinging mace aimed at her temple. She delivered a quick punch to the abdomen of her attacker, an Onu-Skakdi who merely shrugged it off before grabbing her by the shoulders and throwing her into a counter. She barely had time to avoid his heat vision, which ended up hitting a pot and reducing it to liquid metal as she ducked behind it, using it as cover as she activated her Huna and quietly moved behind a spice rack. "Come out, come out, wherever you are..." she heard him growl as he came up to her former hiding place and smashed it to pieces with his weapon. "I know you're still here. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that a puny, easily-breakable Toa had found the majority of the combination in mere hours when it took me months to find a single piece of it. I've got to hand it to you; you're quite clever." Her crouching frame peered around the wooden rack, watching him spin around in a frantic attempt to locate her before he eventually began moving in her direction. Septima turned to move, knowing that the Skakdi would have the advantage if she faced him directly before spying a metal flagon and throwing it against the far wall. The noise proved to create quite the distraction, diverting his attention towards the opposite end of the kitchen and sending him out of sight. She emerged from hiding, slowly making her way back towards the dining area and planning her next move before accidentally stepping in a pile of broken glass. Septima didn't even have time to swear as the Skakdi charged towards her, smashing through shelves before tackling her into a pool table. Her vision blurred as her head ricocheted off of one of the corners, her temporary disorientation providing the opening necessary for him to grab her once more and roll her on top of it before eventually making his way up there himself. It began to refocus as she felt his hands wrapping around her throat, her own making a grab for his wrists as he began to choke the life out of her. "Like I said; clever," he said as she struggled to free herself. "A little too clever for your own good, I might add. If you had come out earlier when I gave you the chance, I would've made it quick for you. But you're competition now, and I'm going to take my sweet time killing-" A pool ball collided with his skull before he could even finish his sentence, turning to dust as it dislocated his jaw and caused him to release his grasp on her windpipe. She inhaled sharply, tucking her knees towards her chest before kicking him square in the gut and sending him into a wall. She rolled over, coughing as she picked herself up and slowly moved for the center of the room. Successfully regaining her composure, she turned back towards her foe, who, in turn, was also beginning to stand. She desperately looked around for anything she could use to her advantage, noticing the shadow of the chandelier above her as his eyes prepared another salvo of heat vision, "End of the line," he slurred as the air between them suddenly spiked in temperature. "For you," she gasped, rolling out of the way before using her powers to rip the metal fixture from the ceiling and sending it flying towards him. The Skakdi, blinded by the use of his own power, never knew what hit him as he collided with the wall for a second time and was knocked unconcious. Not wanting to take any chances, she warped the decoration around his body, binding his arms to his sides and covering his eyes. She leaned up against the wall, catching her breath before noticing that a slip of paper had fallen from his belt. Upon further examination, she discovered that he had found the missing number that she needed; a six that belonged at the beginning of the sequence. Realising that she now possessed the entire combination, she decided that it would be best if she returned to the safe as fast as she could and collect its contents before the sounds of their fight attracted any more unwanted attention. OOC: Permission to bunny Dravenica to the Sanctum approved.

@Ultimo: I suppose he could do that... but it might have an effect on how quickly he might die. In the robery example, he'd probably get killed pretty fast. I'd imagine that if he was dealing with the enemy, it would probably go a lot slower, be more "creative," and might become more likely to be publicly viewed. @Roman: Well, if you don't already know, avoid her character profile like the plague. It'll be more fun that way.

Septima tried telling him the exact same thing IC when he was holding a knife to her throat, and even offered to help get him out of the city, which is a pretty generous thing to do, considering that she's a thief and all. He wouldn't budge. While we're on the subject of my characters, Dravennica is currently making her way towards the Sanctum. I have a feeling that her interactions with Dayeth will be most... interesting.

No problemo.

Not wanting to restate things others have already mentioned (and ignoring all of the Vezon hate while I'm at it), I would've made the Kaita appear more often, and possibly redesigned their color schemes to be more symetrical. It felt a little lame to know that three sets could combine into something even more awesome only to see it happen, what, a magical four times in the story? You would think that during all the battles between teams of characters and the uber-powerful beings that they had trouble taking down (examples: Vezon and Kardas, Irnakk, The Kanohi Dragon, The Bahrag, etc.), we'd see a few Kaita busted out, but no...

Well, there's an Onu-Matoran waiting around in a building trying to sell people weapons, The Brotherhood of Ak'rei'an is in the process of raiding an armory to rescue one of their comrades, a Legacy member is escorting another evil character and a mercenary to the Sanctum while ditching an injured Skakdi, a Vortixx and a Ta-Matoran are conversing with Echelon, one of the Maru is running around with a Crystal-Toa and a Lesterin (?), and the other is with a group by the gate. Last, but not least, my Fe-Toa is currently looting a dilapitated bar and eating pretty much everything in sight while she's doing it. Hope this helps!

IC: Septima retraced her steps back to where she had entered the building, taking another swig of her beer as she moved down the spiral staircase and began searching the first floor. She began examining everything from the pool tables to the dart boards, but eventually came up with nothing. She decided to rest a bit, taking a seat inside the closest booth and popping some surprisingly untouched fries into her mouth. At the rate she was eating, the Fe-Toa had fully expected to put on a little bit of extra weight, but it didn't matter; knowing her luck, she wouldn't get to do so again until she had arrived at one of the other villages, and she'd lose it again just as fast. One tends to become quite accustomed to that when they have lived that way throughout their entire life. She figured that this place had no problems attracting business before the attack, imagining people lining up to bet their widgets away on a game or two after having their fill of drinks from upstairs or just relaxing as they ordered something off of the kitchen menu. Her mouth watered as she looked over the options, practically tasting every single dish as she continued down the list before noticing some odd writing at the bottom. Upon further examination, it appeared to be another part of the combination, but the number inside the circle had faded away beyond recognition, leaving her with a nine that could literally belong anywhere in the three remaining spots. Deducing that she was heading in the right direction, she made a break for the kitchen, deciding to raid it for food while she searched for the last two numbers. OOC: You guys know that the Dasaka are this game's equivalent to Toa of Psionics, right? Also, I'm pretty sure that everyone outside of Ga-Koro is still pretty oblivious to their existence at the moment. Just saying.

Show of hands: how many characters have actually been looting while in Ko-Koro?

IC: Dravennica smirked as the Skakdi of Crystal threw the Vo-Skakdi into the snow before walking off and leaving him to die; if he didn't watch himself, she might actually come to respect him one day. As for the injured one, however, she felt that his impetuousness deserved further punishment and aimed her sword at his chest. Large shards of ice pierced the ground around him, deterring him from dragging himself away from his position as her body slightly twisted itself, allowing her to raise her shield-arm and curl her hand up into a fist. As she did this, the snow on the nearby rooftops began sliding towards him, intending to bury the wounded Skakdi. The Ko-Toa knew that this attack would not kill him outright, but due to his limited mobility and the time it would take for him to dig himself out, he had a much higher chance of freezing to death before someone could come to his aid. She turned back towards the Skakdi of Crystal as the powder continued to fall and began following him again, sheathing her sword as they continued their journey to the Sanctum. Verulas continued to drink his beer, spectating in silence as the battle continued. Zenithex turned his attention back to Marshal Rakona, awaiting further instruction as the ball of light danced around his shoulder. He could barely contain his excitement for the moment when he would shed blood in Ak'rei'an's name. Septima had searched the building high and low for the object of her desire, being extra careful not to draw any outside attention to herself and discovering another set of numbers in the process (an encircled three followed by a five, carved into the frame of a painting), but so far had no luck locating the actual safe itself. She figured that it was stashed in the office she had recently discovered, hidden amongst the room somewhere by the obviously paranoid former owner in an attempt to discourage amateur would-be thieves from securing its contents. The Fe-Toa, however, was no amateur, and eventually found it behind a false panel attached to the wall after feeling out its position with her powers. A smile creeped across her lips as she tenderly removed the wood obstructing her view of it, quickly turning into a frown as it became visible. Karz... It seemed that said former owner was truly paranoid indeed; instead of a dial like she was expecting, the safe had an interface resembling an iStone to input the combination, and it looked like it was also set up with an alarm. She had encountered one of these once before, and knew them to be of Onu-Matoran design; if she entered the wrong combination or tried to force it open, half of the city would be immediately informed of her location. Normally, that would bring the Ko-Koro Guard down upon her head in an instant, but with the village currently under siege, she didn't even want to think about the outcome. Septima knew that if she were to get her hands on the safe's contents, she would need to find the rest of the numbers, hopefully before anyone else showed up with intentions of looting the place as well.

OOC: It's okay. The last OOC comment was entirely in jest. Characters should be complex like that; it makes them more interesting and believable. IC: Septima felt the knife leave her throat and heard the Onu-Matoran back away, allowing her the opportunity to leave. She stopped, turning to get a good look at him before leaving him with one piece of advice. "I don't doubt your skill as a smith in the slightest, but surely there has to be someplace safer to sell your wares than the middle of a battlefield," she said with a small smile. "All I'm saying is that it would be a shame if someone as talented as you were to fall victim to some random, no-named attacker." And with that, she left, closing the window behind her. A sigh of relief escaped her lungs as she crawled on top of the roof, the cold air causing her to shiver as she sat down for a moment to regain her composure. She was planning on creating a thick piece of metal between her and the knife if things were going to take a violent turn, but all in all, she was glad that it didn't come down to that. Her hands rubbed against each other in an attempt to keep themselves warm while she surveyed the area, looking around for another building to hole up in or one that she could possibly start looting. The Fe-Toa was about to give up and move on to a better vantage point when she suddenly spied a rundown bar with it's door kicked in. The place looked like it had already been broken into, but she didn't see anyone inside, and she could easily make her way towards it from her current position. Perfect. Septima began crouching across the rooftops, making sure that no one was around before dropping onto the second floor dining area through the mortar hole in the roof and landing safely on her feet. The register was the first thing to catch her eye, her body lithely moving around the overturned tables strewn across the room before flipping herself over the counter, grasping it as her feet hit the floor and quickly ducking out of sight. She opened it, dumping its contents out in front of her and dislodging a small bag of widgets that was previously stuck inside the inner mechanisms of the tray. Her fingers quickly wrapped themselves around it, counting out thirty of the little buggers without even opening the pouch before placing it inside of her satchel for safe keeping. The Fe-Toa shuffled through what remained, most of it scraps of paper to keep track of customers' tabs with a few coupons stuffed in between them. She took a glance at the cabinet behind her, frantically reaching for an open bag of nuts before devouring them by the handful and pouring herself a drink. Normally, she wasn't one to partake in that sort of thing while working, but she was still a bit riled up from her encounter with the Onu-Matoran and needed something to take the edge off. Besides, she hadn't eaten in days, and she was starving. The Fe-Toa was about to get up and go explore the rest of the place, bringing her food with her of course, when she noticed something odd etched onto the inside of the tray. Upon further examination, she discovered that it was in fact two numbers; a four with a circle carved around it, and a seven beside it. Thinking that she had just stumbled upon something of interest, she took a look around and noticed another etching on the underside of the counter, this one bearing a six inside of a similar circle with a two nearby. She quickly realised that the previous owner had cleverly hidden the combination to what she assumed was a safe located somewhere inside the building, considering that they usually consisted of three, two-diget numbers. If they were forced to leave before they could empty its contents, then she potentially had one big payday on her hands, one that was likely to set her up for a really long time. Septima smiled at the thought as she stood, a look of determination spreading across her face as she began her search.

A bladed caduceus on each end then.

I would say a staff with a caduceus on each end.

OOC: So much for trying to reason with him... "Well, then," Septima replied dryly. "Considering that staying alive is the reason I steal in the first place, and I spent the last of what I had on the supplies I used up days ago just to get here, I guess I'll be leaving, now won't I? Put the blade down, and I'll just go back the way I came in. Good luck actually trying to find someone willing to buy anything when they're probably sporting enough firepower or numbers to just walk right in and take what they want, by the way; you'll apparently be needing it."

Uh... whut? Plenty of people in this game casually possess explosives. I believe Gear was using a real life example here, Roman. Question time: if a wounded Matoran comes into contact with a Toa Stone, will their body still have the injury after the transformation?

Well, Zenithex is in the Brotherhood, so I'm sure I'll be heading that way eventually...

Well, so far they've actually all had reasons to be there. Verulas, who initially didn't have one, left for Ta-Koro and came back in order to make some widgets after the attack started. Dravennica originally went there because she's trying to kill Verulas, and is now hanging out with one of Miras' characters, one of Grimlock's characters, and Krakant. Zenithex, a lost Brotherhood of Ak'rei'an member, went there to murder someone, and is now hanging out with some of the Brotherhood characters who are trying to rescue one of their comrades. And Septima, who has bad memories in both Ta-Koro and Onu-Koro, is there to do some looting, but is currently being held at knife-point by an Onu-Matoran. Also, I've had better luck finding interaction in Ko-Koro than in Ta-Koro, oddly enough.

OOC: @VahkiDane: I don't know what you're trying to do with your character, here. If you're trying to imply that your character is possessed, you should probably have that cleared that with a staff member first. If it's more of an out-of-body experience deal, they usually require a functioning Iden (which a Matoran would not have, since they wear inactive masks). Either way, it's getting pretty confusing. IC: Septima finished climbing through the window, momentarily escaping the chaos outside only to be ambushed by an Onu-Matoran and have a blade pushed up against her throat. She slowly raised her hands, showing him that she was not a threat as she tried to talk him down. "Alright, alright, you caught me," she whispered. "Yes, I'm a thief, but I honestly had no intention of robbing this place; I just wanted somewhere to hole up while I planned my next move. Have you been outside lately? The village is crawling with people killing each other, and I was just trying to get away from that for a little while. I am unarmed, and I am no threat to you." She looked down at the blade, noticing that it hadn't moved in the slightest before she continued speaking. "Now, the way I see it, you have three options. Option One: You kill me right here and now, which will net you nothing but watching me bleed out on the floor, as I have no money or supplies on me, and my satchel is completely empty. Oh, and there's still the horde of people you'd have to contend with as soon as you leave your shop. Option Two: You knock me out and wait for someone to arrest me, which is unlikely, considering how this battle is turning out, and get us both killed when one of the psychos outside decides to kick your door in to see if you have anything worth taking. And finally, Option Three: You let me go, and I help you escape the city. We both live, and we can both go our separate ways afterwards; no harm, no foul. Unless you've got someone coming for you that I don't know about, I'd choose Option Three." Normally, Septima wasn't nearly this talkative, but having a knife this close to her windpipe wasn't exactly her idea of a picnic, and she liked being alive.

I really need to stop posting all of my new characters in Ko-Wahi...

IC: Dravennica stepped back as the Vo-Skakdi attempted to squirm his way free from his brethren's grasp, his apparent weakness not amusing her in the slightest. She drew her sword, placing the blade at his throat as she turned her attention back to the Skakdi of Crystal. "If you wish to be rid of this... annoyance, I'll be more than willing to comply," she said, waiting for his answer. "Unless of course, you just want to knock him out again..." Septima pulled her scarf tighter around her head as she approached the destroyed gate into the city. She had heard tales of how cold Ko-Koro was compaired to the other villages, but this was rediculous. The first thing she saw through the storm was the large amount of corpses littered across the frozen ground, their blood staining the snow red as they began to stink up the place. This wasn't the first time that she had encountered a dead body, but try as she might, she could just not get used to that smell. She looked around, seeing that the mound of deceased before her was picked clean of anything worth taking before noticing the large group amassed at the Koro's entrance. "Oh, Karz...," she whispered as she threw herself into the snow and took cover behind the closest corpse. She peeked out at them, realising that they didn't see her approach and breathing a sigh of relief. Septima had no idea who they were, but either way, it would be troublesome to sneak by them undetected, even with her Huna. Waiting until they left also wasn't an option, as she had ran out of food days ago on the journey up there and she was starving, but the sight of their weapons deterred her from taking any reckless action. Walking up to them was a bad idea; if they were attackers, she'd be dead, and even if they were defenders, she highly doubted that they would just let her stroll on by to loot the city. Her only option was to cautiously move towards the wall and climb up and over them. She activated her mask before slowly crouching her way over to the wall, quickly examining its surface before making a move. Thankfully, it had plenty of cracks on it due to the battle, rendering it climbable as she created a pair of Protosteel Tiger Claws around her hands and slowly made her way up. The tools had greatly assisted her with scaling vertical surfaces in the past as they did now, and the only thing a grappling hook would have grabbed was their attention as the noise from it hitting the upper battlements would have exposed her. Her hands eventually reached the wall's edge, pulling herself topside as she took in the view of the burning city around her. It reminded her of the day Xa-Koro was destroyed... and her family along with it. Reminding herself that she was there to work, Septima pushed the memories aside and took a running leap onto the next building. She landed less than gracefully, somersaulting forward and losing control over her mask before nearly sliding off of the roof and into the street below. Thankfully, however, she was now out of sight of the group by the gate, which meant that she could press on along the rooftops away from any real danger. The Fe-Toa turned her head, looking for a good spot to begin, and spied two other groups near her position. One consisted of a female Ko-Toa who was holding her sword against the throat of a Vo-Skakdi being carried by a Skakdi of Crystal while a fellow Toa of Iron stood by and did nothing; they were at street level and weren't likely to see her. The other group unfortunately looked like they were about to raid what appeared to be an armory, which was one of the places she was planning on paying a visit; they had two Lesterin on the rooftops and an Onu-Toa, a Ba-Toa, a Ta-Toa, and a Skakdi of Ice on the ground. As long as the Lesterin didn't turn around, they wouldn't see her, but she knew for a fact that she wasn't going that way and decided to continue making her way deeper into the city. Septima soon came across a house with a bedroom window, and, after reabsorbing her weapons and forcing it open, slowly made her way inside. OOC: Septima is open for interaction.

Well, then... Looks like Iron it is...

You can use magnetism to levitate, though. Iron can't do that. True, and levitation would counter both the sight and noise of footsteps... Combine that with a Huna, and said character would be pretty darn sneaky... On the other hand, there wouldn't really be a need to do that when you can essentially take someone's coin-purse from a distance, unless the thief was trying to steal something non-metalic. Congratulations, Roman. Your very convincing argument has made this decision slightly more difficult.

If they knew the what alloys were used and memorized every single tiny little detail, then I suppose, but I'm going to assume that the widget-making process is a closely-guarded secret and leave it at that. Besides, I was also thinking of using the powers for lockpicking, climbing, and escaping as well, and Magnetism just isn't as versatile as Iron is.

Widgets are made out of metal, right? I recently had an idea for a thief character, and I was wondering if having an element of Iron would assist her in robbing people, among other things.