Unreliable Narrator

@Smudge8 Informant approved.

Calia approved

IC: Reliable Narrator, Onu-Metru Archives The group slowed to a crawl as they made their way down the path the map had labeled as under construction. Approximately one hundred feet in they discovered a pile of spent lightstones and discarded work equipment. Vashni's head began to ache with the strain of maintaining her full awareness of the psionic planes. It paid off though. Something brushed against her mind from the darkness. If she could describe the sensation, it felt green. Chkt. Chkt. something was sleeping further down this tunnel. Something that should stay asleep.

Okay I finally got the approved list of characters updated. If you need to find anyone they should be there now.

IC: Reliable Narrator | The Ripple Morah's claws ripped apart the spinning wheel hurtling in her direction and felt twinges of burning pain in her hands. Getting hit directly could only be more agonizing. Although Zaliyah's herding blade missed the quick visorak as it scuttled along the walls, the pilot followed her directions. "I fear that's going let them put pressure topside, but I'll follow your orders ma'am," shouted the pilot over the din of battle. IC: Reliable Narrator | Onu-Metru | Vahki Response Arkius' wall of earth did the job and Nichou safely made it into his airship. The rorzakh attempting to enter from the top faced down the toa of earth, firing blasts from their staves, and kanoka from the launchers in their mouths. Neither surrender or run were options for them. IC: Reliable Narrator | Po-Metru Spire Despite his best efforts, Okuo couldn't find where the Mangai were imprisoned. He was beginning to wonder if the information wasn't recorded for a reason.

IC: Reliable Narrator | Onu-Metru | Vahki Response The three began rushing across the docks towards Knichou’s airship, The squad of assembled rorzakh near the elevators fired their kanoka discs. Projectiles whizzed forward. There was no way to tell what getting hit would do. A matoran dock worker accidentally got in the flight path of a disc, quickly shrinking to the size of a teacup. Others ran for cover, hands flailing wildly in the air as they panicked. They could see it: Knichou’s airship parked between other cargo carriers and merchant vessels. They could also see the squad of rorzakh crawling around the top of it, trying to get inside and impound the vessel before the runaway thieves could escape in it. “Toa Nale, you are under arrest for assisting in escape,” said the squad mother as it plowed through the smoke created unknowingly by Thom. As far as the vahki were concerned, the sudden smoke cloud was Nale’s creation. Its squad’s yellow eyes glowed in the smoke, giving Nale a slight hope of tracking her pursuers. Discs flew from the vahki’s mouths into the smoke without worry of friendly fire: they could easily keep track of positioning with their onboard processing power, and they moved in an organized line to sweep the smoke cloud for Nale’s presence. “Victim” caught the scuttling rorzakh off guard, successfully dragging it below. The disc it launched missed any useful target, instead turning a lightstone streetlamp three times its normal size before the mechanical enforcer of justice succumbed to the Dark Hunter’s aggression. The other dark hunters seeking a way to the docks above quickly realized another chute further down the block went in the same direction. From Kanohi’s airborne perspective, he could make out a white skakdi and a strange being running away from the smoke. IC: Reliable Narrator | Silver Sea | The Ripple Inside The Ripple the brawl continued. The spear jabbed against the vohtarak’s underside. To Aksa’s dismay it snapped at the shaft and only increased the vohtarak’s berserk rage. It’s pincers lunged forward intent on piercing and crushing Aksa, but Morah’s spiked claws collided with the vohtarak so forcefully it flew back into a pile of crates. Righting itself, the vohtarak responded to their paired attacks by spinning up a strange circular item on its back and firing the projectile towards the closest attacker with intense speed. Outside on the The Ripple, twilight gave way to evening in earnest as the sun finally fell below the waves. Stars glimmered in the sky, and the moon lit the deck of The Ripple as Irna clambered onto the blast ceiling. The soft pattering of rain began, and Irna found herself fighting to hold her balance with each step on the slick metal. One of the screeching red and orange vohtarak scuttled toward her, firing its spinner into the air. Mazor’s first freeze disc whizzed across the open distance, slammed into the gunport, and filled the opening with a thick coating of ice. His plan worked! Skorm pointed out the next target with his powers, and Mazor’s disc of weakening slammed just off the mark, but close enough to make the green webbing sag with the weight of the attached catwalk. Varxii’s hold on her element finally released, and the bolts of lightning crackled out, hitting the webs despite her self-doubt. Skorm's powers over light and dark hit the impacted the same spot as Varxii's lightning. Working together, the three managed to deal enough damage to a section of webbing to send one of the catwalks spiraling toward the sea below. It splashed into the waves, disappearing from view to return moments later as nothing but driftwood and drowned visorak. Between the fires on the underside of the hull and the structural damage, the enemy airship’s direction began to change, choosing to sail toward starboard and its companion for assistance. Zaliyah’s telepathic count revealed five visorak successfully boarded during the second barrage. A third barrage slammed into The Ripple, sacs ripping open to reveal five more as acid continued to eat away at the hull. The damage to the ship missed the propulsion and levitation systems, but it was only a matter of time. IC: Reliable Narrator | SIlver Sea | Metru-Nui Assault Airships As the Metru-Nui assault team chatted before arrival the island to be their theater of war came into view. It was a moderately small island compared to the matoran capitol, a stretched crescent of rocky beaches and thick jungle vines. The width of the island could easily be traversed in a few hours. The tops of three distinct temple ruins spread across the island breached the upper canopy of the trees. Their primary target was the southernmost ruin. Brutaka explained before flight; “The Southern temple contains a communications relay tower. We’ll need to approach through the Northern jungle to disable the hau-generators instead of head on from the South as their ships will be waiting for us to try to circle the island. There will be a jump from the primary airship to secure a landing zone for the following two cargo ships we are using for this mission. Secure the northern beach zone, then march on the temple without drawing attention if possible.” Once the island they saw in the dawn sunlight belonged to the matoran. It had been a site of contemplation and peaceful prayer offered to the Great Spirit. Now it housed blasphemers who sought to destroy everything the island stood for. Those on the first ship -- Orieus, Iona, Skyra, and Rose among them -- couldn’t help but think back to the beginning of the war in the silver sea. When the League of Six Kingdoms had campaigned all the way to the islands at Metru-Nui’s doorstep Turaga Dume finally relented and called for drastic measures in war: killing would be forgiven in this fight. There would be no quarter. The barraki transgressed beyond the point of redemption and it was time to fight evil with evil or risk apocalypse. “Ten minutes until jump,” called a matoran over the ship’s radio. “Move to the jump pad for preparation.” IC: Reliable Narrator | Po-Metru The shadows shortened and lengthened in Po-Metru before Okuo realized he was on the wrong server. Once in the right server, things began to reveal themselves. He found a current events blog by a Ga-Metru student named Vhisola. Her recent posts were asking if anyone else had noticed the increased bordakh presence around the Great Temple after the hours of prayer had been cancelled two days ago. Further probing into Metru-Nui’s darker corners of online activity revealed a murder occurred in the Great Temple two days ago, but had gone unreported. It didn’t make sense, and Okuo continued down the rabbit hole until he discovered a fan page proclaiming Toa Tuyet never went home on the same date as the murder. Of the three Toa Mangai remaining since the war began, Toa Tuyet was beloved by many for her wisdom and concern for matoran welfare. Keyword searching the online messages he could scrape from tapped government accounts, Okuo found the reason for Lhikan and Nidhiki’s imprisonment: murder.

Rose approved!

Okuo approved as per our private conversation over his invisibility powers.

@Darth Jaller your vortixx is approved.

Hey @Smudge8, your toa Jephro is good to go. Your Dark Hunter seems like they need a touch more work. 1.) You mention matoran letters changing on their body. Is this a power? Did I miss something? Please explain. 2.) If they regenerate and heal naturally, how do they have an artificial eye? What is stopping the natural eye from growing into the prosthetic?

Zaliyah Approved.

I feel lessening the poison effect would be good, given the many other abilities she has between psionic powers and bestial memory consumption. Otherwise I think she's an interesting idea. Backstory is strong and fits well into the lore of the game.

IC: Reliable Narrator | Onu-Metru Streets | Vahki Response From Kanohi’s elevated perspective he watched the rorzakh squad charging a lone toa by the elevator become engulfed in a dark grey cloud of smoke. Thom’s smoke canister made visibility almost impossible around the doors to the elevator chute. Breathing the smoke left a cloying texture in the mouth. While the rorzakh charged Nale, the squad mother speaking with Vyarik sent their squad to investigate the alleyway where the Dark Hunter and Stannis fought. They noted damaged walls and protodermis chunks scattered about the alley. While they searched, the squad mother reiterated to Vyarik; “return to work functions. Further resistance will lead to a forced return. A busy matoran is a happy matoran” The elevator capsule containing Stannis and Knichou began to slow as it diverted toward the exit. As it arrived, a squad of rorzakh scuttled across the airship docks of Onu-Metru toward them. How the vahki knew where the two were planning on exiting was a mystery, but there they were assembling to continue the pursuit.

@Harvali welcome back to BZP, Kanohi is approved for play.

Many of the islands south of Metru-Nui are in separate habitation domes. These are connected by sea gates and waterways. Let's PM about specific locations for your property.

IC: Reliable Narrator | Silver Sea | Airship Ambush South of Destral In the skies above the rolling protodermis seas a tense exchange of fire began. There was a peel of thunder as Varxii released her elemental power across the skies. The smell of ozone filled the air as the first rippling lightning strike cut through twilight weather. She was the conduit for nature’s wrath, pulling from the storm inside her to wreak havoc on the approaching airships. The first strike went wide, but the second surge of lightning struck the bow of the craft closer towards port. Flames burst along the underside of the hull, and over the rush of air Varxii could hear sirens blaring in alarm. Skorm’s altered senses revealed the attacking airships were crafted around large organ-shaped sacs. They floated like blimps, and were propelled forward by an unknown source. What at first seemed like thick netting between the two airships on closer inspection revealed itself to be a green webbing that stretched and swung in the wind. The webbing seemed to be what held most of the crafts together, with thick coatings gluing cabins and catwalks to the hulls. Mazor spied gunports along the sides and bow of each airship, which unloaded another barrage of snot-like projectiles towards The Ripple. The projectiles that made their target hit the blast ceiling with a gooey splorch, a burst of steam as the sac ripped open, and then something spindly crawled out and rattled off a horrid warcry: The Ripple was boarded! On the now covered cargo deck Ostrox watched as Morah crept forward toward the crates the projectile had displaced. She saw nothing but a thin trail of acidic slime leading its way under the cargo. Pushing aside a box revealed nothing. Then, with a burst of surprise, a screeching red creature pounced on Aksa as she attempted to patch the floor with her powers of stone. Ostrox and Morah saw the creature in full as it grappled Aksa: four legs, spider-like body, massive mandibles, and a strange plate on its back beginning to quickly spin. OOC: It's ya boi... IC: Reliable Narrator | Onu-Metru | Archives, Level Seven Vashni’s psionics softly touched against the minds of rahi as the party made their way through the seventh level of the archives. The structure they were in was simple and straightforward: a long hallway with containment chambers on either side. Flickering lightstones socketed into the hallway’s ceiling fizzled creepily. They progressed without further danger to a crossroads in the archives. A map with “You are here” on it was posted on a nearby wall. According to the map, continuing forward led to Southern Region Rahi, turning left entered Steltian War Trophies, and to the right was simply labeled: “under construction -- please avoid.” The ghoulish echo of a loose rahi hunting far away came from the right.

@Azibo, Othorak is approved. Thanks for giving me a link to upper Steltian information. I am interested to see how he eludes the vahki presence in Metru-Nui if he a higher ranking member of the League under Barraki Kalma. Regarding the official title he holds, it looks like in Maori a "knight" is called rangatira. Since the League is more of a feudal system if I remember correctly, I would love to offer him the title of baron, as well as a small island to own somewhere in the League's borders.

For the onu-metru disc hunting team, have you actually left the elevator vestibule and begun walking through the archives or are you still at the landing?

OOC: I don't think I can get to Silver Sea conflict tonight, but here's the Onu-Metru vahki response for now. IC: Vahki Response, Onu-Metru Streets The two squads of vahki fully established a perimeter per their programming. Another squad of six signalled intent to reinforce, which was accepted per established programming. It was normal to have vahki descend on an incident in overwhelming numbers for better establishing peace and order. By the time the third and four squad arrived the only remaining individuals in the vicinity were Stannis, Nale, Knichou, Vyarik, and an unlucky onu-matoran who got busted for possession. Since the debut of the vahki with the first wave of rorzakh in Onu-Metru, Nuparu made several revisions. The most recent were squad mothers. Equipped with the ability to both understand and output matoran speech, squad mothers bridged the gap between law skirting denizens and the fair and just police system. A small but vocal minority of matoran began protesting living conditions of vahki in charging hives stationed throughout the city after the introduction of speech, saying that they were now too advanced to be considered merely robots and deserved equal rights and pay. Like the two present at the scene of Nuparu’s murder, squad mothers were designated by stripes of paint and more elaborate armor plating. They stood almost a head above others in their squad, making them easy to pick out in a crowd. More frustratingly, they carried kanoka at higher power levels then regular vahki. “Spoke with Dark Hunters. Let them escape. Allegations against known visitor Toa Stannis: organized crime, brawling on city property, collusion with known terror organization. No visual evidence provided. Thank you for your report. Return to work matoran. Thinking is dangerous.” The squad mother speaking with Vyarik chirped the last line in a far more peppy voice than the otherwise choppy and disharmonious computer voice preceding. The prerecorded voice of a Ga-Matoran read out all the city’s slogans of diligence and hard work except in Ta-Metru where vahki spoke in chute speak because of a “feature” in their programming provided by an unknown individual. A rorzakh blipped and screeched as Knichou stealthily removed the components of Nuparu’s iStone for later use. The squad mother rose up to full height, towering above the already cowering actor of a matoran. “Theft detected. Personal property requested did not contain a knowledge crystal. Proceed with retrieval. Surrender, worker.” A squad of vahki screeched distorted audibles in unison, converted themselves into quadrupedal mode, and began a reckless charge towards the elevator Knichou and his companions were stepping into. “Surrender, worker. Theft detected." OOC: Surrender or run!

Alpinist approved, @EmperorWhenua

Skyra approved. Midaks are okay I think, but we'll talk if there's a problem.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the following is a list of player groups and missions currently being attempted: Onu-Metru disc hunters on level 7 of the archives Onu-Metru dark hunters waiting for the moment to strike Stannis and Knichou Onu-Metru vahki response interacting with witnesses and participants in the fight surround Nuparu's murder Ga-Metru disc hunters are roaming the streets Ko-Metru disc hunter has reached the first puzzle Metru-Nui faction (Orieus, Iona) is beginning assault on an island to gain access to communications array League faction is engaged with hostile airships in the silver sea traveling to last known Nynrah airship coordinates I want to make sure I stay up to date on the events! If there's anything I'm missing or if you haven't heard from me in a day regarding a post feel free to PM me about it.

IC: Vahki Response, Onu-Metru Streets “State your identity. State your report.” said the rorzakh to Vyarik. While speaking it attempted to poke dark hunter with its staff as if analyzing a specimen. The crowd parted to give them room to speak. “Why are you not engaged in work functions, mask maker? Why are you so far from work location during furnace hours?” The programming of the rorzakh had determined Vyarik was a matoran of Ta-Metru and was competing with the request to submit a trouble ticket for the incident. Meanwhile, Knichou, Stannis, and Nale worked on their distraction plan. The rorzakh would buy the hook of a simple conversation, passively recording Nale’s distractions as it would any normal conversation and feeding it back to the nearest hive charging cluster station. It was there to protect the worker’s corpse and the city’s property, but Knichou was allowed to collect his belongings without retaliation. OOC: Onu-Metru disc hunting gang, I'll get a post up either this evening or tomorrow once you've progressed further.

IC: Reliable Narrator, Silver Sea Morah's telekinetic pull brought the projectile's sac into the air, revealing it was much larger than she thought on initial inspection since it had folded in on itself. It was brown and green, mottled with acid burns, semi-translucent, and big enough for a matoran. Something like webbing between the sac and the floor twisted and snapped as she pulled it away. The pool of acid continued to eat at the floor.

OOC: Hello Leaguers, it's been too long. <3 IC: Reliable Narrator, Silver Sea The Ripple was a modest cargo airship in the classic almond shape. Kanoka discs were used to make the structure float and fly. She had seen service delivering supplies from Xian to Metru-Nui before the vortixx chose the winning side. Now The Ripple served new masters with the League. The Ripple traveled comfortably for the first half hour despite the airship’s speed. The weather was fair and the silver sea below was placid. The crew worked quickly and efficiently. Those aboard for the investigation and recovery mission passed the time chatting, watching the waves below and the rahi swimming in them, or looking over the mission briefing. They were South of Destral’s seagate already, and the last known coordinates placed the nynrah vessel further toward the uncharted waterways. No one had settled an island this far South, as far as the League’s cartographer’s were concerned. For those in the League, the Southern regions were a point of both fear and interest: with combined borders as large as the League of Six Kingdoms, what could possibly pose a threat after their liberation of Metru-Nui? Cargo pulled against the ropes tying it down as The Ripple was knocked off course by a sudden impact, her speed decelerating rapidly. After a moment things seemed to stabilize and the pilot’s voice rang from speakers indiscernible the first time. The second repetition was understandable but made less sense for being so far South: “We got company. Get to stations or hold on!” Another bombardment broke through the transparent glass ceiling, sending sharp shards spraying into the hold. A rush of activity began as the minimal crew began following orders and preparing to raise the blast ceiling. Once closed, the lights along the rails of The Ripple glowed with an unnerving buzz. “There’s two of them. Not seeing a designation. Not responding.” The pilot pointed from his seat out at the airships flying toward The Ripple. They were foreign in make, with some weird netting around the exterior extending between each, and seemed almost buoyant. “We can’t let them flank us.” Behind smashed crates the projectile released a plume of acidic vapors as it began melting into the protodermis floor of the hold. When investigated the projectile was a ball of mush, far too soft to have broken through the glass ceiling, and hollow.