Eyru

IC: Reliable Narrator | Sub-Coliseum Vahki Hive Saybo's quick thinking saved OTIS from destruction. The screaming gears were muffled as the clockwork brain was consumed by a globule of liquid protodermis. As soon as the liquid began to warm up, Saybo replaced it with a fresh sphere, gradually drawing the heat out of the machine. Submerged in globe after globe of liquid protodermis, the clockwork brain cooled down enough to avoid the threat of a meltdown. Aurax's time limit was refreshed. As long as the hive wasn't directly utilizing OTIS to process calculations, he could continue his attempts to hack deeper into the labyrinth of code. The command line awaited his instructions. The cursor blinked. OOC: @~Xemnas~ @Kal the Guardian IC: Tuakana | Fortress Ruins The hunched mass of mossy armour was silent. They chewed their thoughts silently. They struggled to put their visions into words. These young ones were so difficult to speak with sometimes. Their ancient brain fought to keep up with their swift speech. Their jagged questions. Their uncomfortable habit of small words with too many meanings. "Do not be hasty," they mumbled, the words thick in their unseen mouth. "It is not easily done." They were consumed by the memory of an island aflame. Mountains draped in a titanic shadow. The ocean turning to steam. They pulled themselves out of the encroaching stupor. They could not be caught up in the past. Not now. "These disks. Were forged. To make war," they said slowly. Each syllable seemed to draw itself from deep within their body, out of their very essence. "To slay the beasts born of fire." They paused again to wrestle their knowledge into words. They sighed. A low groan escaped their armour, carrying a grief too great to put into speech. "I cannot speak of it," they admitted, defeated. "Not in words you will understand. But..." They slowly raised a blackened hand. "I can. Show you." OOC: @~Xemnas~ @EmperorWhenua IC: Taja | Grand Temple Ruins The quartet emerged from the ruins, plunging back into the acrid humidity of the jungle. But something was different. The sky, previously clear, was now thick with dark clouds. A cool wind passed through the trees, carrying the scent of rain. A storm was approaching from the north. OOC: @Sparticus147 @Nato the Traveler @Burnmad

IC: Reliable Narrator | Sub-Coliseum Vahki Hive ERROR: 403 FORBIDDEN "CHANGE ROLE" UNAUTHORIZED "BARRAKI" AUTHORIZATION INSUFFICIENT "ADMINISTRATOR" AUTHORIZATION REQUIRED THE FOLLOWING USERS ARE AUTHORIZED TO "CHANGE ROLE": /LIST START/ "EHLEK" ... ... /LIST END/ The screen was swallowed up by scrolling code as OTIS was once again forced into submission to the cluster. The clockwork brain was well and truly screaming now, its gears spinning faster than ever. Tendrils of smoke leaked from various orifices. The metal was beginning to glow. This was the point where a Vahki plugged into the hive would be doused in liquid protodermis to rapidly cool it down. But no such salvation was available for OTIS. If Aurax didn't unplug the brain now and find a way to cool it off, it would overheat and melt down. The scrolling code paused again as the hive ceased its computations for a moment. The cursor blinked, awaiting input. This was Aurax's chance to search for one last piece of vital information, or issue one last desperate command. He had to choose, and choose quickly. His fingers hovered over the keyboard. What would it be—Ehlek or OTIS? OOC: @~Xemnas~ @Kal the Guardian

IC: Reliable Narrator | Sub-Coliseum Vahki Hive Click. Aurax pressed the key, and a flurry of code rippled past too quickly to read. It ended with the command line repeating its earlier message: ERROR: 403 FORBIDDEN Before he could fully internalize his disappointment, the message continued. Evidently, his hacking had unlocked additional information: "BARRAKI" AUTHORIZATION INSUFFICIENT "ADMINISTRATOR" AUTHORIZATION REQUIRED He still had the freedom to execute another command, or search for more information. Evidently, this was a rare lull in the hive's activity. But a quick glance at the clockwork brain indicated that he might be running out of time. If they looked closely, Aurax and Saybo would see tendrils of smoke beginning to waft up from the overclocked brain. The whine of the gears was growing in pitch and volume, changing from a whine into a scream. The cursor blinked. OOC: @~Xemnas~ @Kal the Guardian

IC: Reliable Narrator | Sub-Coliseum Vahki Hive The real difficulty in hacking a Vahki network wasn’t the computations: it was the stress on the hacker. With how the clockwork computing Nuparu devised worked, the only way to hack into a data terminal was by physically connecting oneself to the hivemind of the nearest charging cluster where hundreds of Vahki rested and acted as a remote processor for active squads. Outsiders could access via an invasive procedure to themselves, and more than one hacker had lost their mind to the Vahki hive. Aurax was avoiding the danger by plugging in the Vahki brain to act as a middleman that he could command. Worst case scenario, if the brain was absorbed into the hive's consciousness, he could probably just unplug it and try again. There was no risk of losing his own mind to the hive. The downside was that he was introducing lag to the process. Any commands he entered would be routed through the clockwork brain and back into the system. Those precious milliseconds might allow a brute-forced opening to close before he could get in. Pressing the enter key, Aurax started the program that would plunge his OTIS brain into the ocean of the hive's consciousness. The brain beeped twice, then began to whirr as the tiny clockwork mechanisms inside started up. The spinning gears were quiet at first, but grew louder as the hive demanded more processing power. Onscreen, Aurax watched as lines of code began to scroll across the screen, faster and faster until he could barely keep up. OTIS had been forced into submission to the cluster; it was nothing more than additional RAM to be used to compute, calculate, and solve crimes. The whine of the brain's clockwork mechanisms grew louder until it sounded like the droning of a large insect. The metal grew hot to the touch. The code suddenly paused its relentless scrolling. This was the opening Aurax had been waiting for—OTIS was part of the cluster, and, during this brief downtime, could now be commanded to search for information or execute commands that were usually inaccessible. He didn't have much time, though: the cluster might spin back up at any moment, pulling OTIS back into submission. And, judging from the whining of overclocked gears, the brain itself was getting close to overheating. The cursor blinked, awaiting input. OOC: @~Xemnas~ @Kal the Guardian

IC: Reliable Narrator | Sub-Coliseum Vahki Hive "ERROR 403," Nuparu said, "is a status code indicating access to the requested resource is forbidden. We understand your request, but cannot authorize it." The hologram still stood on the water, its voice still sounding from somewhere above and behind its guests. Green text scrolled across the screen as it spoke, each word identical. Aurax recalled the hologram's introduction: "We are the data cluster of this hive." The terminal and the hologram were simply different manifestations of the same being, and neither were its true form. The collective identity of the hive existed piecemeal in every Vahki processor; it was an intelligence built of a thousand separate neuron that were connected only in a virtual space. The cluster only chose a physical avatar out of necessity—its true form was purely virtual, and therefore incomprehensible to physical beings. It was everywhere and nowhere, logging every command and mapping every data point. There were no secrets here. "Your BARRAKI permissions are insufficient," Nuparu continued. "We require additional credentials to authorize your request." OOC: @~Xemnas~ @Kal the Guardian IC: Tuakana | Fortress Ruins "You are right," they breathed. The mossy mound of armour turned. They gazed more intently at Atamai. "A nightmare walks," they said. "And these six. Can save you." Old memories floated unbidden to the surface of their mind. Ruin. Carnage. Devastation. A thousand prayers for salvation. A thousand prayers denied. "Without these. The land will be overturned. All will perish in fire and water." OOC: @EmperorWhenua, @~Xemnas~ IC: Taja | Grand Temple Ruins "We can talk about genocide later," Taja said, trying to hide her distaste. "For now, let's get out of these ruins." This elder Aspect seemed dangerously unhinged, exploding into fury at the mere mention of the Skakdi. The enemy of her enemy may be a friend, but this was a friend who could easily turn on her without warning. She resolved to keep Apex at arm's length. As for Morangad... she was sorry he wouldn't come. He seemed more level-headed. But it was time for her to go back. Before it was too late. OOC: @Sparticus147 @Nato the Traveler @Burnmad IC: Oreius | Metru-Nui "I need a ship," Oreius said. The Vahki whirred, its clockwork brain processing this information. The Toa standing before it was classified as a guest of the Barraki, which entitled him to certain privileges. Its eyes blinked for a moment as it tried to identify where to draw the line. Were guests allowed to take coffee cups and hotel soaps? Sure. Whole airships? That was less clear. But while it was deliberating, the Toa of Fire had already walked by, his eyes set on a small, light craft that could get him out of Metru-Nui.

IC: Taja | Grand Temple Ruins Taja managed to receive Whisper's silent communication without betraying any surprise, but the intrusion into her own mind made her question everything she'd just thought and said. All this time, the Aspect had been harbouring a secret power, and she hadn't been told. Hadn't even known it was a possibility. Once again, she was confronted with the stark truth that Whisper was an other, with secret plans that didn't necessarily line up with her words. Perhaps, despite all appearances of growth and change, Whisper was still a creature that only knew how to treat people like pawns. But for now, she was right, and Taja didn't feel like starting a fight in front of an elder Aspect who seemed entirely crazed with rage. So she swallowed her irritation and feigned being entirely at ease. "I don't know anything about Nektann. But if he's one of the raiding Skakdi, then he threatens my people. We're on the same side." OOC: @Nato the Traveler @Sparticus147 @Burnmad

IC: Reliable Narrator | Sub-Coliseum Vahki Hive Aurax's fingers danced over the keyboard. Most of Nuparu's programming wasn't particularly difficult for an ex-Nynrah Ghost to decipher, but it was convoluted and rather haphazard. If the Vahki's creator had any organizational methods, they were known only to himself. After a few false starts, Aurax finally managed to locate the directories he was looking for. He poured through the source code, eyes scanning for anything suspicious. Nothing turned up, but that was to be expected. There were hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of lines of code in these directories alone—it would take weeks of work to proofread it appropriately. Just the thought of it was headache-inducing. So he moved on. There was no trouble replacing Pridak's name with Saybo's and his own: the name of the overthrown king disappeared from the code with just a few keystrokes. If only the actual killing had been that easy. But deleting Ehlek's name was less successful. When Aurax attempted to do so, the command line returned a simple message: ERROR: 403 FORBIDDEN OOC: @~Xemnas~ @Kal the Guardian IC: Tuakana | Fortress Ruins The Aspect swung their legs forward, striding closer to Axxon. They peered down at the fallen titan, appearing curious. "Too soon" they intoned. "Too soon." They looked back at Atamai. "What cause for quarrel, young ones? Why this violence?" OOC: @~Xemnas~ @EmperorWhenua @Unreliable Narrator

IC: Taja | Grand Temple Ruins Taja nodded at Whisper's reply. "Then maybe we should bring this knowledge back. Before the raiders finish what the League started." She looked at Morangad. "You can join us, if you like. Metru-Koro welcomes anyone who comes in peace."

IC: Reliable Narrator | Sub-Coliseum Vahki Hive The holographic matoran inclined its head—in gratitude for Aurax using its chosen name or in obedience to his command, he couldn't tell. Its voice, emanating from unseen speakers overhead, seemed weirdly disconnected from its body. "We welcome the opportunity to rebuild our city," Nuparu said. "Barraki Pridak's inaction caused us no small dismay. We are at your service." As the hologram spoke, the two newcomers became aware of something happening beneath their feet. The sound of gears turning and pistons firing came from under the floor. A jet of steam spurted from an unseen valve somewhere to their left. A hole spun open in the floor before them, and a monitor rose slowly out of it, perched on a pole wrapped in thick cables. As it ascended, the screen flickered to life. Lines of indecipherable code sputtered across its surface, glowing acid-green. The screen whirred to a stop just below eye level, and the lines of code were replaced by a command line ending in a blinking cursor. The hole in the floor creaked as it spun in the opposite direction, wrapping its edges snugly around the base of the pole. The computer terminal stood before Aurax and Saybo as though it had been there all along. "We have provided a terminal," Nuparu said. "Please access it at your convenience." OOC: @~Xemnas~, @Kal the Guardian IC: Oreius | The Coliseum Oreius stumbled through the halls of the Coliseum as if sleepwalking. Memories crashed against the inside of his skull, leaving him dazed. He had fought for so long to keep them buried, but the sight of Stannis performing that cursed ritual with Aurax had brought them all back. He had never forgotten, but he had pretended to forget. It had been so long that he had almost managed to convince himself that he really had. Now that illusion was in tatters. He felt nauseated, but stumbled on. He had to get out of here. Get out of this city. Go find a place where things made sense, if such a place still existed. A place where black and white still existed in stark enough contrast so as to be discernable. How he hated these shades of gray! War had been easy compared to this. He found himself in the elevator, going down. The last time he had been here, he had been ascending with a singular purpose that had given him an icy clarity. Kill Pridak. Now that clarity was gone, and in its place was a tangled mass of uncertainty and doubt. He passed the occasional Vahki as he made his way out of the Coliseum, but the robotic soldier paid him no mind. It seemed Aurax had spoken truly: he was now a guest. The days of slinking undetected through back alleys and half-collapsed tunnels were just a memory. He could walk proudly through the city now, but he hung his head in shame. What good was his freedom if a heretic sat upon the throne, the city's rightful citizens cast out like dogs? Out of the blurry mess of indecision rose, at last, the suggestion of a path. The heart of Metru Nui was the Matoran. If the city was lost, at least for now, then he would go back and protect its former inhabitants. He would shield them from the ravages of a cursed land until the time was right to return. His course decided, Oreius made his way towards the shipyards. It was time, at long last, to return. IC: Tuakana | Fortress Ruins "All are brothers," they said mournfully. "Here. Yonder. Gasping on the shore. The guilt is shared with the spilling. This land will not forgive forever." They turned again to Atamai and the artifacts. "What have you done?" OOC: @EmperorWhenua @~Xemnas~

@Canama, please make sure to check the date of the last post in a topic before you reply. The last post before yours in this topic was made in April, almost six months ago! This counts as topic revival. Please familiarize yourself with BZPower's Rules & Guidelines before you continue posting, and consult the BZPower Forum Revival Reference if you are ever unsure in the future about whether or not a topic is too old to post in. I know juggling dates can sometimes be confusing! Revived topic closed.

IC: Taja | Grand Temple Ruins Taja looked at Whisper for a long moment. The sight of the multi-limbed creature no longer inspired the same horror and disgust it once had. She held no close affection for the Aspect, but no animosity either. They had journeyed together and helped each other, proving that unity was useful even between individuals with vastly differing perspectives and goals. She hadn't expected the experience to mean much to Whisper. But the Aspect's words seemed sincere. Could it be that this creature of darkness was genuinely grateful for her help? Then again, she was a creature of darkness too now, wasn't she? And she would have bristled had anyone suggested it meant she was untrustworthy. Perhaps Whisper was beginning to understand more of what it felt like to be a mortal being. To lean on others and let them lean on you. To work together. Perhaps. She was sure the Aspect still had secret purposes that she couldn't understand, but, for now, they were still allies. They could still rally around a common goal. Taja nodded at last. "You're welcome. You've helped me, too, even if it wasn't how I expected." She looked around at their ancient surroundings, unsure of what to say next. "My goal is the same: to gather enough strength to protect my people. If you know more secrets to share, or places to find them, then we might as well stick together."

Hey everyone! Just wanted to say thanks for the congratulations. I'll do my best to help out Kughii and VF wherever I can, and help make this game as fun as possible for everyone. I also wanted to clarify some things. #1, I am now wearing multiple hats. As a co-GM, I'm partially responsible for the game. But as a Forum Assistant, I'm still responsible for things going on outside the game. If you have any concerns about member conduct or BZPower rules being broken, please be assured that you can come to me in confidence. My duties as an FA will always come before my duties as a co-GM. #2, I want to clarify that my personal characters are still PCs. Taja, Tuakana, Oreius, and Poroka (wherever he is) do not have plot armour, and they are on the same level as everyone else. You don't need to be afraid of them (well, any more than you were already). See you in-game!

IC: Tuakana | Fortress Ruins They turned their eyeless face to Leklo again. Had they any visible eyes, a glimmer of respect might have been visible within. The young one saw with more than sight. Young in stature, but old in spirit. Understanding leapt between them like a spark. "Do?" they echoed, chewing the syllable thoughtfully. "As I have always done." A breeze came off the poisoned sea. It ruffled the tufts of moss that sprouted from their armour. Their voice was deep and low. "Show mercy." They were silent for a moment. Then, perhaps sensing this was not enough, continued. "Your brother's blood cries for justice. But if you are willing, I will help. Carry his burden from this place. Remove him from death's shore. You can still escape judgment."

IC: Taja | Grand Temple Ruins "I see," Taja murmured. That wasn't good. If this elder Aspect had carelessly inscribed marks of power into temples around the island, then she obviously didn't feel threatened by others finding them. That suggested that Miserix was powerful. Stronger than any Aspect she had met thus far. And she was allied—either willingly or unwillingly—with the Warskaks. The enemy. She swallowed, trying to force down the sudden fear that flickered to life in her belly like an icy flame. Collecting knowledge and artifacts from the temples might make her stronger, but it wouldn't be enough to rival Miserix. If the Warskaks attacked Metru-Koro... she wasn't sure if they could possibly survive. Breathe in. Breathe out. The Toa focused on her breathing, seeking the peace that was all too difficult to come by lately. She couldn't just give up. Her people needed her to keep going. To find a way for them to survive in this hostile land. But where to next? She wasn't sure. Maybe Whisper would have an idea. "So... what now?" OOC: @Nato the Traveler

IC: Taja | Grand Temple Ruins "Miserix?" Taja looked at her companion. "Have you heard that name before?" OOC: @Nato the Traveler

IC: Tuakana | Fortress Ruins Their faceless face swung back to Atamai. The shadows in their armour seemed suddenly darker. "Eldest am I," they said, in a voice like wind on leaves. "Mountain whose stones you have blood-stained."

IC: Tuakana | Silver Sea Shore They turned their unseen eyes to Leklo. Slowly, almost imperceptibly, their head tilted to the side. As if in curiosity. "You under. Stand," they said mournfully, their voice a multitude of intertwining whispers. "You have seen blood spilled. You have. Heard it cry out from the ground." The tendrils overhanging their face swung gently in an unseen breeze. "I am here. To answer."

IC: Taja | Grand Temple Ruins Taja recoiled like she'd been stung. A wealth of knowledge filled her mind, but it didn't feel new. It felt like something she had known once, a long time ago. A dream she had awoken from and forgotten. These things called kraata... and the power they could bestow... the Toa was simultaneously entranced and repulsed. She took an involuntary step back. Apex answered her unspoken question, naming the experience a "caress of the void", whatever that meant. At this point, Taja felt like she'd had enough contact with "the void" for a lifetime. Then the elder aspect stalked away, leaving Whisper and Taja... and the Administrator. "Where did this knowledge come from?" Taja asked, still struggling to keep her head straight. "From all your talk about how much you detest darkness, I didn't figure you to be guarding secrets like these." OOC: @Unreliable Narrator IC: Tuakana | Silver Sea Shore They continued in their strange, loping stride, and figures came into view. Young ones, breathing heavily in the aftermath of their battle. One carried disk-shaped objects that they almost recognized, like a name on the tip of a tongue. They glowed faintly in the hazy light. This young one questioned them. They had heard this question more times in the past week than in the past hundred years before. It still made little sense to them. Who are you? Could they not see the jet-black armour with corroded joints? The twisting strands of ivy that obscured their face? The hulking shape of their body, arms hanging down like those of an ape? The brown-green mosses that sprouted on their limbs? What did they seek beyond this? Did they need confirmation that their senses did not lie? Curious. So young, they were. Still womb-blind. "Hmmm," they hummed. The sound seemed to come from within their armour and without, a voice without a source. Their unseen face gave no hint of an expression. "I am the eldest," they said at last, their words stilted and halting. "The first. The last. The sea. The sky." They spoke simply. They did not boast. They only told what these young ones should already know. "I am this island. I am the rebuke... of spilled blood." OOC: @~Xemnas~

IC: Tuakana | Approaching the Fallen Skull of a Universe They became aware of a noise. Pausing in their ceaseless stride, they turned their faceless face to the north. Something alien and dark had blossomed. They could see it without eyes. Smell it without nostrils. Taste it without a tongue. It cried out from the earth in a voice coloured by disease, like the wail of a dying child. They adjusted their pace and turned towards the mysterious blight. It suggested power, and that warranted investigation. They began to move again, and evidence of the calamity soon began to appear. The ground was blackened. Motes of inky soot drifted on the breeze.. Each step left a print in a thin layer of grime that coated everything. They had seen nothing like this before, not once in their long years. The air itself seemed suffocated by some otherworldly presence. It was stifling, though they did not breathe. They continued their movement, now approaching the centre of the event. The ground was littered with evidence of a recent battle. The stench of blood still hung heavy in the air. OOC: @EmperorWhenua @~Xemnas~ @The Captain @Unreliable Narrator

IC: Taja | Grand Temple Ruins Taja silently echoed Whisper's indignant cry. That was it? But she had to admire the ingenuity of the temple's builders. They must have known that no Aspect would ever diminish themselves enough to ask for help. Taja had studied the three virtues enough to know the value of unity. The whole is almost always greater than the sum of its parts; it takes humility to admit that you can't do everything by yourself. Still... it stung a little to realize the solution had been under her nose the whole time. Whisper made her way towards the middle room, but Taja found her eyes drawn to a new doorway that had appeared near her, to the right of the chamber. She climbed up the small series of steps beyond, and found herself in a hexagonal room built of smooth, unblemished stone. Several deceased Skakdi lay here and there, their bodies rent and butchered. The blood had long since dried, suggesting they had been here for some time. Their weapons looked the worse for wear, but they might still be functional. The Toa had no idea how to work the rifles they carried, and the crude, ugly blades held no appeal for her. But she noticed one corpse wearing a cord with three masks strung along its length, and decided that she could make use of it better than he could. She carefully pulled the lanyard off the body and strapped it to her pack. These would come in useful once she figured out how to activate her mask powers (she realized belatedly that, with all the excitement around her elemental powers, she had forgotten that this was something else Toa could do). That business taken care of, she turned to the main feature of the room, which was obviously the strange machine at the center. Taja approached it cautiously, analyzing it from a distance, but it didn't appear to be active, let alone designed to harm her. Instead, it looked like its primary function was to hold a Kanoka disk—the arm and empty slot reminded her of her own launcher. The floor before the contraption was engraved with three numbers: 5-8-9. The only other writing in the chamber was a single word carved into the far wall: NUVA. The Toa frowned. If the numeric code was related to the machine's design, it was obviously a Kanoka identification code. Any academic worth their salt knew the codes by heart—this one identified a disk forged in Le-Metru with the power of teleportation. The final digit suggested it was a Great Disk, which Taja would have dismissed as a legend only weeks ago. But after successfully retrieving Ga-Metru's Great Disk for Turaga Dume, she knew the Disks were no legends. That said, they were long gone now, lost amidst the end of the world and the machinations of an alternate-universe Toa Tuyet, if she recalled correctly. If the Great Disk was required to unlock the secrets of this chamber, then she was out of luck. Unless she could find someone who knew the long-forgotten method of crafting such powerful disks, there was no way in. Retracing her steps, Taja found herself back in the main chamber. She follower Whisper to the door that led down into the floor and looked inside, wondering the Aspect had found anything. OOC: @Unreliable Narrator @Nato the Traveler @Burnmad @Sparticus147

IC: Taja | Grand Temple Ruins Taja blinked. She hadn't expected the answer to be so forthcoming. She took a deep breath, the humid jungle air filling her lungs. "Then... could you rotate the rooms to make the black pipes fit together?" She paused. "Please." OOC: @Unreliable Narrator

IC: Taja | Grand Temple Ruins Acknowledging Apex's request, Taja stayed silent as the elder being pored over the ancient text. She herself couldn't read it, so hopefully the Aspect would feel charitable if she played nice. While she waited, the Toa scanned the room. It was similar to the other room, with pipes and stars and a bare wall, but everything was rearranged. She thought the coloured pipes were supposed to connect to their counterparts in the other chambers, but it seemed like the rooms themselves were built in opposition to that idea. She guessed that was why here projectile hadn't done anything: it looked like, instead of connecting, the pipes just ended at the walls of each room. It was like the entire temple was built to present the illusion of function. Frowning, Taja exited the room and made her way back down the tunnel to the central chamber. A quick visit to the right-most room confirmed her suspicions: all three rooms were frustratingly similar, but just different enough to be isolated from one another. Looking around at the third room, Taja sighed in annoyance at just how close she felt to a solution. It felt like the answer was right there, teasing her. If the rooms were just constructed slightly differently... Maybe that was the puzzle. Looking up (which was purely performative, as the omnipresent voice had already demonstrated it could come from anywhere), Taja asked a question. "Administrator. Can these rooms be rotated?"

IC: Taja | Grand Temple Ruins Taja took in the sight of the next chamber. It was similar to the room she had just left, but both the ceiling and floor were laid with stars. Black and white pipes crossed over different walls; she guessed these were connected (or supposed to be connected) to the ones she had seen before. Unlike the pipes in the other room, neither had an opening into which something could be placed. They ran across the stone, seamless and strangely clean compared to their surroundings. She wondered what the third room looked like, but first she wanted to know if Morangad had seen or heard anything when she tried to fire a bolt of shadow through the pipes... OOC: @Burnmad

IC: Taja | Grand Temple Ruins Taja contemplated the elder Aspect as she exited the room, and wondered if Apex was alone in her distrust of her own element. Certainly, Whisper seemed to hold the opposite belief. The Toa recalled how her travelling companion had denied Stannis's claims that shadow was inherently deceitful. Whisper saw light and shadow as purely elemental forces, unaligned with the petty morals of the people who wielded them. Taja wanted to believe that was true, but she was unable to shake the wrongness of her element. Perhaps because it was still new, and felt different compared to anything she had felt before. Maybe the feeling would fade with time. Or perhaps Apex and Stannis were right, and the power she wielded was essentially evil. Only time would tell. For now, it didn't matter. Regardless of her element, Taja was going to fight against the forces that wanted to exterminate her people. And that started here, in this temple, with the uncovering of whatever secret power she could find. Her bolt of shadow had splashed harmlessly against the wall, returning to the shadows from whence it came. It had obviously reached the end of the pipes and bounced back. Either the pipes led nowhere, or something was blocking the way. Perhaps the other rooms would hold the key to this frustrating puzzle. With a sigh, Taja followed Apex out of the left room. Skirting around the still pond in the entrance chamber, she walked down the middle hallway into the room where Morangad still was. OOC: @Sparticus147 @Burnmad @Nato the Traveler

IC: Taja | Grand Temple Ruins A long moment passed, and nothing happened. Taja let out a frustrated sigh. Of course it wouldn't be that easy. She glanced sidelong at Apex. The elder Aspect's irritation seemed to have been replaced by genuine curiosity. Her instincts told her to be careful, but she saw no harm in trying to bridge the gap. Anyway, she had a feeling she would need the Aspect on her side if she wanted to capture the secrets hidden in this blasted temple. "I'm not entirely convinced they were wrong," she said finally. "I didn't choose... this." She looked down at her new body. She saw how her black armour drank in the light and refused to shine, and clenched her hands into fists. She heard the ancient being name her element void, and it felt right. Truer than darkness or shadow, the name reflected the icy hollow she carried in her chest. The emptiness. "I used to be an astronomer," she continued. "I looked to the stars for guidance, and they never steered me wrong. But now I'm in a strange land. Under stars who speak a different language. And I've got to find my own way." She looked up at the Aspect, refusing to flinch even under their primordial gaze. Apex's eyes were wild and strange, glimmering with an ancient intelligence that carried the burden of millennia. Taja felt suddenly small under their weight, but she stood straight and stared defiantly back. "That's why I use this power, even though I didn't ask for it and I don't trust it. Because it was given to me for a reason." The once-Toa of Sonics turned to the sky contained in the far wall. Her eyes flickered from one constellation to the next, and their names sprang to her mind like old friends. The sight of those familiar stars made her heart ache. "Maybe the same reason that brought us here." OOC: @Sparticus147