Half-Dragon

IC: Keran | SakrinilWind sliding off his armor. Leap, twist, hit the roof running. Scenes flashing by like a hundred woodcuts every minute, snatches of conversation and exotic smells. Pointed roof, land at highest point, arms out and back, feet centered, speed equals balance. And above it all - or somehow under it, constantly, like music in the background - the overwhelming exhiliration of just letting go of all worries and running, whether on rooftops or in trees or, well, anywhere! Jump sideways, grab that flagpole, let momentum carry for a couple of circles, let go, tuck legs in, roll, spring, back to running. But all good things, it seems, must come to an end, and before he knew it Keran was at his destination: A port on the docks swarming with people, most of whom seemed to be staring at him, probably amazed by the double-backflip/right twist he'd just pulled off in mid-air before landing. It was pretty impressive. Now if only I could remember why I came here... It had been something to do with boats, but for the life of him he couldn't remember what... Oh well. Probably wasn't important if he couldn't remember. With that comforting thought in mind, the Toa went off to find something to eat.^^H-D^^OOC: Open for interaction in Sakrinil docks! Or, y'know, anywhere in Sakrinil really.

Character Name: KeranGender & Species: Male ToaPowers: Elemental power over Air; Kanohi Garai; expert freerunner and archer; skilled and agile melee combatantEquipment: Keran wields a transforming weapon; in its default state it is a stave with a glaive-like blade on either end, but at a simple mental command it transforms into a bow. He keeps a quiver of arrows loaded mostly with simple, wooden, iron-tipped arrows, but also a few made entirely of protodermic iron. Normally too heavy to fly, Keran launches these as much with his elemental powers as his bow, using the air to guide and propel them at incredible speeds to take down armored targets.Appearance: Keran is a tall, lean Toa with leaf-green armor and flesh in a lighter, almost cyan shade. His mask lacks the fin-like sides of a normal Garai and instead looks sleek and swept back, with a visor-like screen over each eye to keep the wind out. His armor is likewise streamlined and aerodynamic. Like most Toa he eschews extra armor in favor of sticking with what the Great Spirit gave him.Faction: Toa CouncilPersonality: Neutral good, chaotic leanings. Keran is easygoing and friendly to most anyone he meets. Despite his skill in combat, he prefers to talk his way through a problem or, if that fails, jump over it. He can be cocky and restless, and only really feels at home when he has to balance (which, for him, is easy as breathing) or in places others might be nervous, such as rooftops, the decks of ships, in trees and so on.Biography: Keran’s life prior to being chosen as a Toa was remarkably similar to his life after, at least in how he chose to live it. On a small jungle island a few weeks’ travel north of Yheyn he was a leafrunner and scout for a village of Le-Matoran and, much like he does currently, would often take ‘extended breaks’ from his assigned duties to just run around in the jungle and see what he found.To date none of the senior Toa can fathom why he of all Matoran was chosen to join their ranks. While he displayed natural talent with the bow and an agility that made him well-suited to certain styles of combat, it is often felt he doesn’t take his responsibilities very seriously. Even he admits it’s probably true. A few, however, have noticed that his casual, friendly manner and peaceful approach make him an excellent diplomat.This is the primary reason he was sent to Yheyn in the first place, in the hopes that he could not only aid in settling some of the political instability of the region, but also learn something about responsibility while he’s there. So far, however, he’s mostly just been running around exploring.

Character Name: KeranGender & Species: Male ToaPowers: Elemental power over Air; Kanohi Garai; expert freerunner and archer; skilled and agile melee combatantEquipment: Keran wields a transforming weapon; in its default state it is a stave with a glaive-like blade on either end, but at a simple mental command it transforms into a bow. He keeps a quiver of arrows loaded mostly with simple, wooden, iron-tipped arrows, but also a few made entirely of protodermic iron. Normally too heavy to fly, Keran launches these as much with his elemental powers as his bow, using the air to guide and propel them at incredible speeds to take down armored targets.Appearance: Keran is a tall, lean Toa with leaf-green armor and flesh in a lighter, almost cyan shade. His mask lacks the fin-like sides of a normal Garai and instead looks sleek and swept back, with a visor-like screen over each eye to keep the wind out. His armor is likewise streamlined and aerodynamic. Like most Toa he eschews extra armor in favor of sticking with what the Great Spirit gave him.Faction: Toa CouncilPersonality: Chaotic good. Keran is easygoing and friendly to most anyone he meets. Despite his skill in combat, he prefers to talk his way through a problem or, if that fails, jump over it. He can be cocky and restless, and only really feels at home when he has to balance (which, for him, is easy as breathing) or in places others might be nervous, such as rooftops, the decks of ships, in trees and so on.Biography: Keran’s life prior to being chosen as a Toa was remarkably similar to his life after, at least in how he chose to live it. On a small jungle island a few weeks’ travel north of Yheyn he was a leafrunner and scout for a village of Le-Matoran and, much like he does currently, would often take ‘extended breaks’ from his assigned duties to just run around in the jungle and see what he found.To date none of the senior Toa can fathom why he of all Matoran was chosen to join their ranks. While he displayed natural talent with the bow and an agility that made him well-suited to certain styles of combat, it is often felt he doesn’t take his responsibilities very seriously. Even he admits it’s probably true. A few, however, have noticed that his casual, friendly manner and peaceful approach make him an excellent diplomat.This is the primary reason he was sent to Yheyn in the first place, in the hopes that he could not only aid in settling some of the political instability of the region, but also learn something about responsibility while he’s there. So far, however, he’s mostly just been running around exploring.

NPC: Ultionis' armor was rated to withstand a direct hit from a Saiga-12 shotgun at medium range with minimal damage to the wearer. He wasn't sure what this spike was in terms of gauge, but it wasn't that. He raised his guns further and, since this one seemed to have a powerful regenerative factor, fired freely at the torso area, aiming not so much to kill as to inflict enough damage that his opponent would need time to heal and enough pain that he wouldn't hit back. And if that failed, he had incendiary rounds in his back pocket that would cauterize the wounds. (H-D)

IC: Srizz | Below the CitadelSrizz sighed. "And here I was hoping we could do this the smart way," he said. His blade was drawn, but he seemed oddly relaxed. Ever since Lurinost arrived he'd been moving slowly toward the back wall, circling like a predator. "Guess we're fighting after all, because I'm not going to gamble with an AI against a god." Now, without warning, the shadows on that wall reached out with dark tendrils and wrapped around him before sliding back, separating once more and vanishing into the darkest corners, leaving only emptiness in their wake. Of course this was all an illusion - there were no dark tendrils and, more importantly, he was still standing, quiet as a shadow, right where he had been before. His mask allowed him to project the illusion over the area where he stood that there was nothing but wall and floor, but the moment someone reached in or tried to feel around for him they'd realize their arms were vanishing. Of course when they did that they would also be close enough for him to run them through unopposed. It was one thing to fight what you couldn't see, but Srizz was so quiet as to be inaudible. Now hopefully they wouldn't just try shooting something at the spot where he'd "vanished" from, or the ambient light levels change, or something else that would give him away...-=H-D=-

IC: Theron | South DistrictThe Toa's blade split the head of the beast like a ripe madu, and he wrenched it back just in time to shield against a spray of acid released in the death throes. Without pause he turned and charged the prone form of the second nearest beast. This was hardly the honorable victory he preferred, but the situation was dire. Besides, these were beasts. Honor hardly applied to them.=H-D=OOC: Srizz IC later - gotta run.

NPC: Ultionis' head snapped up at the sound. A scream. Pain. And it was either very loud or very close by - maybe both. Part of him was worried about the noise giving them away. Mostly he was worried about someone nearby getting maimed so badly as to make a noise like that. Without further pause the soldier took off, quick as a deer, through the forest toward the sound of the scream. What he found was... actually, he had no idea what it was. On the one hand there was one of the team - Epsilon, if he remembered right - and on the other was what looked like a bad copy of him. The greatest difference between the two however was not in the coloration, but the fact that Epsilon was on the ground, bleeding with something in his chest. The clone or whatever had his arm extended. It wasn't hard to work out what had just happened.In a snap decision Ultionis pulled out his pistols (silenced) and went with the old standby for live captures: Two simultaneous shots, one in each shin.(H-D)

IC: Srizz | Below the CitadelDodging a wall in a confined space is like trying to swim without getting wet. There's probably someone, somewhere who can do it (obviously using elemental power to cheat) but Srizz isn't that one. As a result all he could do was brace himself and wait for... absolutely nothing to happen. He looked up. The wall of darkness had definitely passed over him. It couldn't be... Was that just dark? The same shadows he made a home out of? Was he really that paranoid because they hadn't been ambushed yet?And then Lurinost dropped in. Scratch that, he thought. Ambush now- Only at that point she just stood there, calmly deflecting a few bullets and demanded the Director not be harmed, which frankly was what he'd been thinking through that whole speech. So, against his better instincts, when that other guy whose name Srizz never got decided bullets would solve everything, he snapped "Stop shooting and think with your head," before turning to face Lurinost. "If I think you're stalling, we'll see how many of us it takes to kill one of you." He gestured with one hand for her to start talking, but the other gripped his sword tightly. Just in case.-=H-D=-IC: Theron | South DistrictHere was his chance! While Tyis held down the Nakari, Theron stomped forward and raised his blade, aiming to bring it down on one of the monsters' heads. So far cleaving that in half seemed to be the only thing that properly killed these things...=H-D=

IC: Srizz | CitadelThe feeling in his gut that this whole thing was just waiting to blow up only got worse as Srizz returned to the main group. He stepped out of the shadows beside Sanshou. "I don't like this," he reported. "There's nothing there - no optic sensors, no proximity detectors, no traps, no tricks. In fact the entire hallway's smoothe as glass. There's something very wrong here. Only reasons I can think of is that he didn't expect anyone to make it down here - unlikely - or what's inside is that dangerous."-=H-D=-

IC: Theron | South DistrictAfter determining that no more Nakari were to be found - it seemed the others had done their jobs - Theron returned to the plaza where Tyis had said to meet him. It occurred to him to hope the Nakari actually did share a mental link of some sort and their educated guess didn't turn out to be a wild husi chase. If it was... well, he liked Plan B better anyways. Deception wasn't his strong suit.=H-D=IC: Srizz | CitadelSo far, so good. No traps on the stairwell. Actually, that didn't sound so good when he thought about it - if this AI hadn't placed protective measures on the only way into its lair (call it what you like, this was totally a lair) that meant it was very confident in whatever came next. Maybe some kind of defensive array? An army of robots? It could be that it just never thought anyone would get past all the KNPD (or in this case Feranaki) on the upper level, but his gut told him that wasn't the case. Besides, if it knew this was coming it must have also known someone would try to stop it. He didn't like it. As he reached the bottom of the stairwell, the assassin stayed hooked on the wall and shrouded in shadows just in case and dared a brief peek out to what lay beyond...-=H-D=-

IC: Srizz | CitadelWhile the others dealt with the newcomer (who hopefully was bright enough to realize that he was standing on the island slated for demolition) Srizz began pursuing his original plan: Recon. He latched on to the wall with his claws, digging in as best he could, and began to crawl along the outer wall of the spiral stairway. He had excellent night vision - not some kind of power, really, he just spent a lot of time in the dark - and used it here to scan the steps for traps or pressure plates or something generally not right as he made his way slowly but stealthily down...-=H-D=-IC: Theron | South DistrictWhen the light faded and the dust settled, the scene was all but unrecognizable. A vast crater where once there had been a street and buildings. An entire city block gone in mere moments. Rubble strewn everywhere and there, at the edge of a collapsed building, one very large piece shifted and fell to reveal a very large, very battered Toa in even larger, more battered armor.The explosion had been a complete surprise. His mask had been utterly useless - it could only work against things he knew were coming. His left pauldron had been ripped off entirely, and the damage to some of his armor was such that he ended up taking off the entire right armguard. Apparently it had taken the brunt of the blow. The rest was damaged to varying degrees, but serviceable. He did notice now, however, the main reason why he had survived: His arm had gone red. Apparently that blast had been elemental fire. The Toa allowed himself a small smile. Elemental energy. Now he had a viable ranged attack. And the best part was that the other Nakari would learn nothing of this until he chose to reveal it. Doubtless they believed that, since he had been reduced to throwing rocks before, he had no elemental power of his own. With this in mind Theron found his blade - pure protosteel, undamaged by the blast - and set off to find another Nakari. This time he would follow the plan. It was more efficient anyway. =H-D=

NPC: The lack of response was troubling. Even more so the fact that X-Calibur had apparently cut contact entirely not long after the message was sent. Ultionis had considered the possibility that something had happened on board the jet - some kind of attack, maybe? How? Teleportation, phasing, too many possibilities - but opted to give it a few more minutes before jumping to conclusions. He tried to mime as much to Mr. No-One, but a lot of this wasn't part of standard military sign language. He'd resorted to crude pantomime. Not one of his strong suits.(H-D)

IC: Srizz | CitadelSrizz sighed. "Looks like there's one way in. There goes the control element, and probably surprise too." In the blink of an eye his colors had shifted to grey and dark green, ideal colors for blending in with darkness. Light was funny like that - black didn't really work like people thought it did. "I'll check it out. Stay silent." The way he said that last part sounded like most people might say 'good luck.' -=H-D=-IC: Theron | South DistrictThe Toa approached cautiously, well aware that this could be a trap. Nakari were smarter than they looked; they'd proven that time and again. With every step he tensed further, waiting for it to translocate or spit acid, but aside from a token spray no such attack came. Finally, at the last few yards, he leapt into action without warning, clearing the distance in a single bound and bringing the edge of his massive fullblade up, over his head and down at the Nakari's skull, hopefully too fast to react.=H-D=

IC: Theron | South DistrictTheron saw the debris too late - there was no time to react, not even to shield himself, before the rocks and rubble were upon him, crashing down on the massive Toa like rain. In mere moments he was buried. For a few moments it seemed as if that were the end of him... but then the rubble began to shift. A brief quiver in one of the topmost rocks turned into a thundering burst as the rubble was flung aside, revealing Theron standing with the largest piece held over his head. His armor was scratched, bent and dented in places, but though the worse for wear he didn't look hurt. He looked livid.For a moment he forgot the plan. He forgot taunting and fighting defensively. He had a very big rock and now he hurled it with all his might at the Nakari, wanting nothing more than to crush it like an insect.=H-D=IC: Srizz | CitadelSrizz stroked one of the throwing knives strewn across his body, one that was in fact forged by Zyglak, though nobody needed to know he had more than one of those just yet. "I don't know about comms, but... How far down are we talking? If the floor's two, maybe two and a half bio thick, I think I can get us through. Just find me a place where we won't be dropping down into a great big cavern and going splat at the bottom."-=H-D=-

IC: Theron | South District | Fighting the NakariAgain he brought up his shield, having seen this one coming a mio away. But knowing he couldn't reach that height and had no reliable ranged attacks (throwing rocks and rubble was not a valid attack strategy) he resorted to the only weapon left in his arsenal: Taunting. Hopefully they understood Matoran. "Coward!" He called through the rain of acid. "Craven! Fight like a beast or fight not at all!" He took a few steps back, apparently to get a better view rather than looking straight up, and brandished his blade for effect. =H-D=IC: Srizz | Citadel"Can't see why," Srizz remarked. "If he's an AI he won't want just anyone poking around in his circuits. Control the only access point and nobody can, say, shut down his core whatever functions. Unless they fool him." He shrugged. "But if that's the only way in, he'll have it watched. I doubt he got this far by being stupid or careless. You know any places that don't connect, but have walls or floors that do? I'd rather not have to sneak past the guards if there's an option."-=H-D=-

IC: Srizz | Citadel"Considering this is the second time in less than three years the universe is in danger, you'd think the bad guys would win for once," Srizz remarked nonchalantly to Elithes. "I mean, think about it: You have to save the place every single time, but you've only got to lose it once and BAM! All over." He shrugged. "Guess it's a good thing we're around. Hey, this doesn't make me a hero, does it? I would never hear the end of it." Then he noticed the looks he was getting. "Oh, right. Feranaki, Director, end of the world as we know it, working on that. Hey, whatsyourname," he gestured at Sanshou. "You know the lay of the land. Gimme some directions and I can scout the place out. I'm good at sneaking past Feranaki."-=H-D=-IC: Theron | South DistrictTheron brought up his Hau shield just as the Feranaki's jaws closed around his midsection, conscious of the acid dripping from its maw. Immediately he grabbed its head with one hand and brought his blade up with the other, readying to stab straight through its brain in a single motion while his immense strength kept it from shifting out of the way or letting go in time. Luring it in was good, but killing it here had some benefits too. One less to worry about if the mental shock trick didn't work. And if it used that energy transmission trick to get out, then at least he knew he had its attention and could get back to Plan A.=H-D=

IC: Srizz | CitadelSrizz peered closely at the matoran for a few moments... then smiled, sheathed his blade and extended a now mostly harmless hand. "Oh yeah," he said brightly, as if he'd just briefly forgotten where he parked his vehicle. "Sorry about that, man, been a little on edge lately. Feranaki, gods of death, all that good stuff. How you been?" If anyone had blinked they might honestly have believed Srizz was replaced by a shapeshifter in the instant it took for him to go from threatening Elithes to greeting him like an old friend.-=H-D=-

IC: Theron | South District | Fighting a NakariThis time Theron was ready. He stood in a practised stance, his blade set to meet this Nakari the same way it met the first: Straight through the torso. The beast came closer, and this time he saw the cunning gleam in its eyes. It knew what happened next. So did he. It bounded in for the first blow... and he stepped aside deftly, just as he was ready to do, and swept the sword at its legs instead. They weren't the only ones who learned from their mistakes.=H-D=IC: Srizz | CitadelThe assassin immediately drew his sword and turned to face the newcomer. A Matoran - well, it used to be. This one looked to have had some rather extreme modifications made. He raised his blade and stood ready to defend, but made no attempt to attack or look threatening. "And you're the expert, I suppose," he remarked. "Maybe you'd like to tell the class why I shouldn't disembowel you for probably being in on this mess? Safety first, and all that."-=H-D=-

IC: Theron | South DistrictThe Toa nodded again and turned without further ado to find his target. He knew his part. The plan was about as sound as it would get - this mental link was still dubious, but it was all they had. A necessary gamble. Now all that remained was to execute the plan and hope the Great Spirit was on their side.------------------------------------------It took little time to find the nearest Nakari. As predicted it had left a sizeable trail of destruction in its wake. Now Theron stood across from it, raised his blade and called out, "Beast! In the name of Mata-Nui I challenge you! Come face me if you've the courage!" =H-D=IC: Srizz | South District.The assassin took Sanshou's other hand idly, busy considering his role in the coming infiltration. With any luck they would manage at least a stealthy entry. Failing that, he could sneak around while everyone else fought and scout out the defenses further in. In any case, he had no intention of standing in front with the meat shields. -=H-D=-

IC: Srizz | South DistrictHaving left his vehicle concealed just by the city gates (stealth mode on, of course) Srizz now stalked the shadows beside his new 'team.' He'd considered doing the recon himself - it was kind of his thing - but was apparently too slow in reaching a decision. Ah, well. With any luck those stealth generators would be good enough to fool the Feranaki. He, admittedly, couldn't see or hear the two scouts, but he could smell them just fine. Then again, it might be hard to smell anything over all that Feranaki stench. Eugh...-=H-D=-IC: Theron | South DistrictTheron nodded. "I shall find a beast and drag it here myself if I must." He looked strong enough to pull it off, too. "Do you know where they are, or do we search for the trail of destruction?"=H-D=

IC: Theron | With Tyis"They are far cleverer than they appear," the Toa added. "They seem to be learning. Even as one falls, the next will not make the same mistake. They also appear to posess some means of sensing that which is around them. One evaded my blade before it should have been able to percieve it. I reccommend dispatching them quickly, before they can learn our movements, and switching tactics each time."=H-D=

IC: Theron | Following KaorusThe Toa seemed unimpressed. "They are certainly formidable creatures," he agreed, "but not invincible. They must simply be dealt with before they have a chance to learn." The only thing that really troubled him was that the creatures seemed to have some kind of extrasensory perception. The last one had started dodging his blade a little too early, considering its eyes were positioned entirely the wrong way to have seen it coming.=H-D=IC: Srizz | Southern Barrens.Srizz revved up his vehicle and set off after Sanshou and the Citadel group gladly. Sure, the city was overrun with monsters and people wanting to kill him, but it was warm. Probably at least partly on fire, too. He sped up a bit, almost to the front of the group. Fire sounded good about now.-=H-D=-

NPC: Ultionis carefully tested the nettles, flicking one no harder than might a breeze. Its movement was still heard. Their attempts to climb it would doubtless set off a hundred alarms. He knew a guy who could have scaled these rotten logs without a sound and made it look good, but that guy wasn't here. Probably for the best. He never could keep radio silence. The soldier's thoughts shifted to someone else who might be able to help matters here - someone. He looked up at where he believed the ship to be located. Then, after a moment's thought he tried reaching out across the psychic link. X-Calibur, he thought. Can Skyra mask turbulence this far down from up there? He knew it was risky even using the link, knowing the Coalition might have psychics in there scanning for nearby minds, but he had little choice. He doubted he could get the idea across through sign language at this distance.(H-D)

IC: Theron | West DistrictTheron followed in grave silence, taking in everything the rider said. It seemed his arrival on this island was drastically late. He had been informed that the Ring was nothing more than a large criminal group, but here it was with airships and armies and monsters at its command. But surely the Great Spirit had not lead him here for no reason. Perhaps it was his destiny to end this invasion. Eventually he spoke up. "Where are we to go?" He asked. "Where do we strike?"=H-D=

IC: It didn't take long for the League to send someone to pick up the robot's remains. Shard had waited around in the meantime, mostly because he wasn't sure what he was supposed to do. It wasn't like whoever built the thing would come steal it back if he took his eyes off what was left. The question that nagged at him though was what the actual point of the attack had been. Why would anyone just randomly attack an office building? It made no sense.The diamond man shook his head and took one final look around the street. Well, plenty of cleanup to do - add that to what was still being rebuilt after the invasion - but otherwise no reason for him to hang around. He took off back to League HQ to await word on... whatever the techs could find out about the robot.*H-D*