Unreliable Narrator

IC: Reliable Narrator | Kumu Peninsula Smoke rose from the obsidian doorway as Korruhn spoke the stanza of Gluttonous Desecration. The air around it became hot, and the blackened stone slowly melted. A flash of lightning cut through the sky, followed by a thunderous toll ringing outwards to echo off the distant rocky mountains. Korruhn heard words in the thunder, but he could not make out their meaning. A cool breeze ruffled the scraggly crabgrass desperately surviving in the cracks of the basalt formations that made up the ground. It fluttered Korruhn’s cape and hood, and it threw dirt into Grime’s optics. The matoran blinked and cursed, rubbing his hands in the holes of his mask to try and clean himself. The breeze came from the melting door, Korruhn noticed. The obsidian doorway continued to melt from the inside out, forming a molten ring that revealed a dark portal into a midnight sky devoid of stars. The longer he stared, the more Korruhn became convinced he’d seen such a sky before, but couldn’t quite place when or where. However, his heartlight began to beat with increasing pace as the clawed fingers of a hand emerged from the darkness to clasp around the rim of the molten ring of obsidian. Something was pulling themselves through! “A rahkshi,” Grime said in terror, backing up several steps. “We've been seen, Korruhn!” Grime’s words proved true: a rahkshi stepped through the portal, its armored suit caked in overgrown weeds. Korruhn knew nothing of rahkshi, there were none in the archives of Onu-Metru, but he did know the bright red with black marbling slug-like creature that screeched and slathered from the opening and closing head of the suit: a kraata, and very powerful. The rahkshi’s spines were like shortswords and glittered in the darkness of the night. It's armor reminded Korruhn of a purple amethyst dulled in hue from centuries of neglect. It struck first, screaming and lunging with clawed hands in an attempt to swipe Korruhn’s swords away... OOC: @Crimson Jester, you have a wild rahkshi on your hands. Defeat it for a sweet reward, or run the other way as fast as you possibly can. IC: Wairuha | Le-Metru Nuva I smell him. He is far away. Too far. I will continue my slumber... for now. IC: Reliable Narrator | Kumu Peninsula Sometime later, after Tekmo and Whira and Cravious had set off again in search of some discovery in the darknened landscape, they found themselves back at the same infuriating rock. It was conical and round, with spiraling ridges running down almost like a drill bit. It stuck out of the ground at a bit of an angle, and the basalt rock around it was churned up a bit. The three of them suddenly realized it wasn't that they'd been going in circles, but that the rock -- or more aptly the rahi -- had been following them. OOC: @Toru Nui, @Kal the Guardian, @~Xemnas~ IC: Tuyet | Metru-Koro “Yeah… No, sorry to burst your bubble Doc but we’re not all dead. At least one of us is still alive and kicking,” she winked, “but I can’t speak for the others. I haven’t seen them since they -- you know what that totally doesn’t matter. You asked who Buddy is. Buddy’s, like, you know, Buddy. Tall, a little broody, generally doesn't have much going on but he's got your back in a pinch. This nerd’s friends with Buddy, and they both know Ghosty. Ghosty’s like their valet or something. I’m surprised you guys are even friends though. You’re still all friends though, right? Like, I’d be super embarrassed if I said you’re friends and you’re totally not anymore.” Tuyet noticed the cap of a bottle peeking out of Triage’s bag and stuck her hand out expectantly. OOC: @BULiK, @Nato the Traveler, @Tarn, @Onaku

EDIT: Hi all, PLEASE FILL OUT THE ROAST & TOAST SCHEDULING SURVEY thanks. _________ Saw this video, thought I'd share given all of 20/21:

IC: Tuyet | Metru-Koro "Alright Grouch, take a chill pill it's, like, just an expression." She rolled her eyes as the League warrior stomped past then turned her focus to Okuo. He looked familiar. Too familiar. She narrowed her eyes in thought, then widened her expression in mild excitement when she recognized the toa standing before her. "Hey Nerd, imagine seeing you again," Tuyet said as she jerked her chin in greeting towards Okuo. Although they'd known each other only briefly over a month ago, Tuyet seemed fully capable of providing a suitable nickname. She leaned forward to stand up, but thought better of it after wincing from the sudden nausea. "I guess you could say we know each other, or something like that. Oh, I saw Buddy about a day or two ago. I'm just glad you found me. Where's the tall one?" She snapped her fingers while trying to remember. "You know, the vortixx with the knife? She still, like, around or something?" Finally she found herself capable of sitting up a little more, opting to cross her legs and plant her elbows on her knees for support. Wearing a faxon was a new experience, and she wasn't entirely sure if she liked having the options it offered. New mask, new powers, same old Tuyet. OOC: @Nato the Traveler, @Onaku, @Tarn, @BULiK, quick response for now to keep conversation going.

IC: Reliable Narrator | Kumu Peninsula Their walk through the mists took far longer than all three imagined. At one point Cravious noticed one of the rocks looked mighty familiar. OOC: @~Xemnas~, @Kal the Guardian, @Toru Nui. Thanks for your patience. This post is short, but it's going somewhere.

IC: Reliable Narrator | Relic Fields Dusk brought a purple and periwinkle hue to the icy sides of the knowledge towers surrounding Niidak. In her time exploring she’d found a few trinkets here and there -- a miru, several ingots of protodermis, an empty knowledge crystal, and a kanoka disk launcher with a winged flame motif extending along its sides -- during her scavenging, perhaps enough to warrant keeping the new ride. The hoverbike puttered along a few inches above the ground, its engine whining in protestestation whenever she added more weight for it to transport. However, a new piece of the landscape had caught her eye. It was a sort of statue. Niidak found it in an abandoned courtyard. The courtyard, shaped like a large slice of Papa Podu’s pizza in the late Metru-Nui, had steps running along the longer straight sides to landings leading into interconnected knowledge towers. However, in the corner of their junction was the statue of a rahi with a matoran’s maskless face. Strangely, it was so beautifully carved it seemed almost a shame the mask was missing. The eyes of the statue were closed, as if the strange being was deep in sleep. It had wings brushing off its back, and six legs. Although the statue rose nearly as tall as Niidak herself, it was carved to look as if seated on the lip of its plinth in repose. There was a plaque too. It read: “I, Hafu, dedicate this statue to my friends who say I sleep too much. For those who dream the deepest see the clearest.” OOC: @Eyruwill be taking over from here, @Daniel the Finlander IC: Administrator | Elemental Temple Ruins of Stone “Heretic aspects continue to walk through as if this was a chute station. I am just about up to -- hello vortixx,” the Administrator said pleasantly. “I believe there is no further golden light here, as you call it, but I do feel the increased foot traffic has brought a significant pest infestation into these halls. I do my best to drive them out, but the hoto bugs ride in on some of the supplicants and take a liking to the drier corners of this place. There is no damage here, however, my main servers have recently suffered a data breach. I have come to discover there were a few backdoors left open I was not aware of possessing. By no means am I compromised. I function with full integrity. As long as 73% is considered full, that is. Reconnecting all the elemental temples and suvas in my network would significantly increase my overall efficiency and stability. I am currently unable to locate the suva of earth or the suva of water.” OOC: @Toru Nui, @Harvali IC: Reliable Narrator | Ruins of Water Mahrika’s attempt left the nubs on the colored rings still aligning with the doors where statues showed the respective colors. While she spun some rings more than others, clockwise or counterclockwise didn’t seem to make a difference. She and Vokarda took a moment to think: She knew the colored rings matched the colored statues in some way. She knew a certain number was associated with each statue. She knew only one door faced a true cardinal direction, due North. She felt close, far closer than she’d felt in the Elemental Ruins of Water. It felt like real progress -- they’d figure this out, she was sure of it. OOC: @Burnmad, @Harvali IC: Nuju | Kini-Nui “Wow,” Nuju said after both Sidra Nuva and Ostrox disappeared through the rippling rift into the Far Shore on strange adventures all their own. He sat for a little bit on his own, feeling the wind off the lake and smelling the foods cooked in the village of Kini-Koro. A wandering gaze alighted on the restrained and sleeping Malhukuraia. To himself Nuju admitted; “I’ve really gotta stop lying to them.” IC: Reliable Narrator? | Metru-Koro Aboard a League airship in the abandoned ruins of Metru-Koro, a village on land stolen from the Mesi who lived below and the warskaks who lived above -- who also stole it from a group of matoran about 10,000 years or so ago, or maybe 100,000 years it’s hard to tell when you’re a lizard -- rested a very fat lizard. Yes. Hello. Camera to the left. No the other left and behind the -- come on Larry they don’t have all day. Okay just try it again. No, not all over, just from when you pan towards the window. Alright, and action. It’s hard to tell when you’re a lizard -- rested a very fat lizard. Yeah, can we just stop there? I’m not feeling that line. Who wrote that line Larry, an angsty scriptwriter who watched too much Arrested Development in one sitting? Oh it was that Unreliable Narrator? Ugh. Unbelievable is more like it. Okay Larry we’re going off book -- get the camera focused on me, and -- oh wait hold on that’s a bug I gotta… IC: Reliable Narrator | Metru-Koro For far longer than Triage would like the airship was silent. His patient didn’t move. His clinical gaze swept over her, noting the scars around the hands and arms that indicated a conflict-oriented lifestyle. The sharp lines and sweeping curves of the faxon hid most of the toa’s face, but what little he could see Triage felt pity for -- at some point she’d been badly burned. He’d definitely seen his share of bloodshed and death in the war. He’d seen a successfully healed patient still die in the dirt. Whether or not the medic could accept the limits of his own abilities was between him and the bottle in his bag, however. The toa of water covered in her own blood gave a raspy cough, eyes flickering open. She tried to rise up, but moved too fast and instead fell back and hit her head on the floor of the airship. Her hands clenched, her feet moved as if to lash out towards the nearest being, and then she calmed herself. Slowly she rolled onto one side and pushed herself up until she was somewhat seated upright. “Hey doc,” Tuyet said as she stared at Triage with her piercing eyes. “I think I love you.” OOC: @Tarn, @Nato the Traveler, @BULiK, and I think @Onaku congrats on keeping her alive. Drat real life and my inability to post more quickly. Time was on your side this time.

Thanks for the updates and feedback. I've added those items requiring a response to the list

I just wanted to make sure I didn't forget an interaction. Thanks!

@Burnmad, @Sparticus147, @Toru Nui: have any of you made a post with Apex, Mori, or Wavey since my last post? I'm not seeing it in a search. Unrelated note: I base a lot of puzzles on analog time. Is using analog time referencing something I should avoid in puzzle design? I notice consistent stalling occurring during portions of puzzles involving analog time. Feedback appreciated.

They're optional.

@Toru Nui: The prompts have been rolled up for Ostrox's Far Shore Adventure: Timeline: A Element: Magnetism Conflict: Character vs. Supernatural Twist: Genuine Imposter Optional Prompts: remember to check the available optional prompts for Timeline A (currently: destiny, prosperity, and strength) for extra loot

Axonn can do what now?

@Nato the Traveler, that is correct. It's a short story. Complete the prompts, write her leaving, and you're good.

@Nato the Traveler, GM notes for Rebirth will be revealed once I have a spoiler free version available. In the meantime, here are the prompts for Sidra's Far Shore Adventure: Timeline: A Element: Fire Conflict: Character Vs. Character Twist: Wham Line, https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WhamLine @Harvali, go ahead and just edit that in to your profile. @Kal the Guardian, I believe we've been counting the hex the Suva is in as part of the range.

IC: Nuju | Kini-Nui He let out a little whistle. "I can imagine such a hypothesis. It wouldn't surprise me, Sidra," Nuju said. "Although, I'm curious as to where this toa made her discovery. Until my own death, everything I knew was merely notes on a database. I suppose that's lost forever now." He paused, deep in thought. The sounds of Kini-Koro echoed from across the lake. Something was going on. Airships landed. Diplomats traveled in and out of portals. Ostrox returned before Nuju realized he'd stopped talking to Sidra and begun humming a gukko call. "Oh. You're back soon," Nuju stated academically. Ostrox was not back soon -- Nuju just had a horrible perception of time. "Details? Yes I can provide further details. There are some things that exist as only one copy in all timelines. Anything that occurs to them in one reality occurs in all realities. Makoki Stones are such items. Riches however, are infinite. There is a possibility of bringing whatever pleases you most back when your adventure ends. Maybe you'll bring back your lord." OOC: @Nato the Traveler, @Toru Nui IC: Grime | Kumu Peninsula "Well, recite it." Grime felt his arm wave apologetically but the words were his own. It should be Korruhn that opened the door. Miserix had no intention of setting off the alarm herself. OOC: @Crimson Jester

@Harvali, I'm afraid I don't understand your question. @Snelly, "General Kenobi..."

IC: Nektann, Tahtorak of Loss | Spiriah's Labyrinth Rain falls Thunder booms I walk amidst Knowing nothing But what I leave behind And where I am going I will leave behind Nothing IC: Nuju | Kini-Nui He watched Ostrox stare at the portal, then walk away. Nuju blinked. "Peculiar," he muttered to himself. Mantax's people were often considered stoic, with an unimpeachable sense of honor. While they lived by a code separate from matoran, Nuju respected their kind. Although, if he were being honest, his respect was born from lack of interest rather than ignorance to the cultural practices of Ostrox's kind. "He'll be back, I imagine," Nuju muttered as he stared into the rift to the Far Shore. He watched worlds swirl and crumble before his trained eyes, and he felt drawn to enter, but the Makoki Stone held him rooted and he did not leave. He hoped Sala and Sorilax returned soon -- a month was a very long time to be lost in the Far Shore. IC: Reliable Narrator | Relic Fields The sounds of the airship diminished into the distance, leaving Niidak alone once more to scavenge. Niidak found her search rewarding after another hour. In the center of the ruins scattered throughout the fields was a small outcropping of exposed stone. Atop the outcropping she found a resting hoverbike of Le-Metru make. While someone had already pulled out the driver's seat and scavenged the kick stand, the hoverbike seemed in good enough condition to drive. OOC: @Daniel the Finlander, Niidak has found the bionicle equivalent of a small moped. Feel free to add it to her profile as a vehicle.

IC: Reliable Narrator | Irnakk’s Tooth You are all my kind. The voice came from his memories, Marrow realized. It was not a telepathic or spoken voice he heard, but instead it was a strange deja vu. He remembered standing in the dark, feeling the warmth of fire on his face and smelling burning bodies. He heard the voice then in that nightmare years ago. Strangely, the nightmare had involved several skakdi from above ground, but here he was all alone with a god. Perhaps it really was just a dream. Misled. Astray. Waking up. Not as you should be. To kill a monster, you must make a monster… or become one yourself. I fashion the dream. You live the nightmare. Marrow felt a hot breath on his neck, and a cold grip wrapping around his shoulder. It was larger than he expected, and far stronger. It brought him to the point of almost crying out in pain, but when his hand instinctively rose to grab at the attacking hand there was nothing there. Wake up, Marrow. You have always been mine. You will always be mine. OOC: Marrow has learned the “rite of the tahtorak,” and for those traveling down into the Nightmare Pits, please describe what terrifying visions of their past, present, or possible future they might encounter. Strangeness abounds! @Nato the Traveler, @pokemonlover360, @Vezok's Friend, @EmperorWhenua, @Tarn, and I apologize if I forgot someone. IC: Reliable Narrator | Relic Fields With Xaril's assistance, Niidak and Exuze found themselves having a moment to breath before the airship took off. The toa they'd half carried and half dragged from the wall she'd been crushed into onto the airship still breathed, albeit faintly and quickly. They were running out of time. OOC: @Daniel the Finlander, @BULiK, @Nato the Traveler, time's running out. This NPC needs healing or she's toast.

I believe I literally said that sentence during design.

IC: Reliable Narrator | Relic Fields "Buddy's got the, got the, he got," the toa stammered. She held the bandage to herself, but her arm was too weak and the fabric slipped from her fingers to land on the floor, silver and sticky. The faxon covering her face did little to hide the fear in her eyes. "Gotta find Buddy. Ghostie gonna die." Her wounds were too great to stay awake. She fell unconscious, body slumped against the vortixx. Ooc: @BULiK, @Daniel the Finlander IC: Reliable Narrator | Kumu Peninsula Apex, Waveahk, and Morangad stood at the obsidian door. Waveahk felt the kraata in his arm twitching with anticipation. It squirmed and writhed, and for a moment felt all too ready to leap from his very flesh. Apex felt the call of the void, and the haunting memory of stars dancing around her in playful, mocking, circles. She had not remembered the memory of her creation for a long time. Why now? Why would she remember floating out of the green caldera as little more than a ball of gas to the beckoning call of her kind? More importantly, why couldn't she remember so much of her long life? Morangad felt the chilling sensation of being scrutinized. A green mist carrying the sonorous whispers of abandoned wishes floated amidst them.It sprung up without warning, and moved about their legs as if grasping hands trying to pull something larger up from below the rocky ground. They heard the sputtering of the fire behind them. Then they didn't. The light from the fire glittering off the obsidian door vanished. In its place, a single symbol marred the door's dark surface: an eight pointed star. Strangely, rather than offering knowledge the taboo symbol placed on the door wanted knowledge imparted. The door was locked: the taboo was the key. … Korruhn found himself placing his hand on a door of obsidian full of power, but it was not the same door as before. It was smaller, thinner, and there was no massive temple attached. It rose from the ground like a chipped tooth. The scenery too had changed. Before the fire crackled on the landing of the steps before the door to a massive temple. Now, the fire crackled in an abandoned courtyard, crumbling pillars ringing the open space in a fifteen foot radius. Four circles with a diamond drawn between their center points formed the symbol on the obsidian door. The symbol felt warm under Korruhn's hand. Grime stood up and stretched. The gears in his wrists and shoulders popped as he yawned. He grumbled to himself, "you can't keep doing that. I'm not as strong as I used to be." Then he joined Korruhn by the door with no building attached. "What's the lock on this one?" OOC: @Toru Nui, @Burnmad, @Sparticus147, @Crimson Jester

IC: Reliable Narrator | Relic Fields Glistening steel. The rippling of reality. A hand slipping away before its destination. Sparks. No. Stars. Silver stars. Streams of stars. No. Blood. Her blood. "... not scared of you." The damaged toa’s voice was hard to hear, and barely above a whisper. Niidak and Exuze almost didn’t catch it. They did catch her coughing, and the pained groan as the toa’s head lulled forward. She tried to rise but couldn't pull herself away from her own depression in the wall. Sparks stuttered from her open wounds. "Got fight left in..." Her eyes began to grow dim. OOC: @BULiK, @Daniel the Finlander

IC: The Administrator | Ruins of Stone "A Chronicler, Forgemaster, or Grand Builder would be able to bestow such a codex," the Administrator replied calmly. "You will have to find such an individual. I am unaware of where one may be. My records indicate the last Chronicler and Forgemaster boarded the Ark. Perhaps you have met a --" The Administrator went silent for a little bit. "It seems I am incapable of opening the required file. There is an error in the audio distribution. An older driver perhaps... I will make a bug report. I apologize, I seem to be incomplete." OOC: @Nato the Traveler

IC: Administrator | Ruins of Stone “Piece things together?” The Administrator echoed back to the aspect who’d wormed her way into the flocks of lifeforms calling themselves good. These matoran were a far cry from the Builders. They talked much, embraced their emotions with gusto, and considered shadow in all its myriad forms just another element. They did not cut away their darkness. They did not ring the gongs. The only thing they had in common now was letting the darkness back in, slowly and carefully, with the help of the very things they feared most: themselves. “We have spoken in several places now. You are right: it has been fragmented. However, without necessary permissions enabled you are still a heretic. There is no codex written to absolve you. Perhaps, if you were to receive a codex and present it to the repository in Mi-Kiri, the great floating sphere above this island, your permissions would be enabled and truths made evident.” The Administrator paused, sensing the approach of others. Others meant questions. Always with the questions these days, these chattering beings. The Administrator did not have a concept of life in the same way they did. It most closely recognized itself in the vahki leader NU-8020S. At least, with the vahki, the Administrator felt some sense of kinship. “Ah, leaders of Tobduk-Koro. You return,” the Administrator said calmly. OOC: @Nato the Traveler, Whisper just got a new quest: find someone who can write a codex of absolution and take it to Mi-Kiri! Also, @Harvali, @Toru Nui thanks for your patience.

@Eyru says it perfectly

IC: Reliable Narrator | Relic Fields A single beam of afternoon sunlight fell through the half-open sliding doorway at the top of the stairs into the room beyond. Niidak saw the trail of blood on the floor thicken, drawing her gaze deeper to the back of the room where she saw its source: a maskless toa propped against the far wall, one leg splayed out at an angle, the other pulled up close. Her blue armor was mostly covered by dark rags, small triangular studs peeking out along the fabric. Her eyes were closed, brow knitted in concentration, and her face looked frozen in a painful grimace. One of the toa’s hands rested on a sparking wound to the abdomen, and her hand was coated in her open blood. Niidak would be forgiven for thinking the toa was dead. She looked almost a fixture of the wall. Niidak could tell based on the cracks in the wall around the toa that she’d been thrown there, either as an accident or in a conflict the vortixx wasn’t keen enough to be sure. OOC: @Daniel the Finlander

IC: Reliable Narrator | Irnakk’s Tooth Marrow’s ACR rested in the way of the doorway, blocking the stacked skakdi skulls on either side of the portal into a descent through madness from view. Marrow entered bravely, but found himself battered by the visions on his pilgrimage into the dark. His memories felt torn and stitched back into a misshapen facsimile of their past whole. Something was missing, he didn’t know what but he knew something was gone by the time he reached the jutting lip of stone that extended out over a smoking darkness below. Marrow heard the laughter of the pit witches -- beings even Mesi feared -- and the rattling of the chains beneath the stony lip where once, thousands of years ago, six toa dangled before their cursed afterlife. Without sight, Marrow felt more. He felt power, ancient and terrible, all around him. The power to break, the power to mind, and the power to drive all into madness. He also felt something warm drip onto his shoulder: saliva. You are twisted, poor thing. Speak, tell me what hurts you my prized. OOC: @Nato the Traveler