Katuko

IC: "You would be everyone so far, yes," Madrihk said, approaching the group. "Good to see you're all getting to know each other."He gave everyone a quick once-over."Are you all fully equipped? This place seems a bit slow at the moment, so it might be good for us to relocate. At first I thought of going to Ta-Koro to get weapons and supplies, but then I realized there's already a relatively safe trade route going to the Kumu Islets. I was thinking that we could stock up on weapons and other resources there, before using a boat to get to the coast. Then we land, set up camp, and start fighting our way inward to a good location."

OOC: You edited while I was typing. IC (Mevi): Mevi was on the ground, having tripped when her weapon got knocked out of her hands. At least the hostage was free, but now everything was going to blazes. She cursed as a few flying crystal fragments hit her in the head and nearly knocked her mask off. Now really angry, Mevi and the few other guards who hadn't lost their weapons completely stood up and retrieved them. Without yelling any more warnings, The Ta-Matoran looked for the crazed Toa of Fire, really wanting to ram the sharp end of her halberd somewhere painful and unsanitary. In the meantime, another two guards carefully approached Twiak with their shields up, intending to overcome his Hau by ambushing him as well.

IC: Mevi yelped at when flames suddenly erupted from the ground where the infected Toa had plunged his sword. She looked quickly at Lost."Make him stop!" she shouted, "or we will kill him!"

IC:Madrihk shook Alfon's hand and nodded."Likewise."

I was referring to the situation at Ta-Koro's gates, actually. Murder, the guard attacking, another Toa speeding in to wrest a guard into a headlock and demanding to see the Turaga at the same time... there's trouble brewing, and people are going to get hurt.

OOC: Cyrax joined the fight for her own reasons, so yes, there are three of you in total. In fact, she addressed you and everyone directly. IC (Mevi): Mevi glanced sideways for a moment when she noticed another blade being drawn."I advice you to not do that," she hissed, her own halberd pointing at Lost along with several other spears from the forming Ta-Koronan guard force. He was being surrounded, as was Cyrax, the tips of multiple weapons closing in gradually. Few dared to get close to the fully infected Twiak, however, whom Tarotrix had just engaged in full-fledged combat. Mevi watched breathlessly, anxious to see how the situation would play out.

OOC: Indeed. I'm imagining the verbal slap-fight already. "And I would sure hope you are as well." Alfon locked his eye contact with Madrihk, causing the Toa of Ice some minor discomfort. He was kind of lying his head off, though it was only about his intentions. He did really plan on creating a new settlement and eventually take down Makuta, it was just that his reasons for doing so where not quite as noble as they may seem. But until then, he would play the whole "good" act out. "Trustworthy? Of course. This is a matter that concerns not just us, but the entire island. I will see to it that the quest goes as planned."

IC: "Not that I can think of right now, no. Just make sure that whomever you recruit is as trustworthy as yourself, so that we don't get back-stabbed in the middle of the jungle by some Makuta fanatic."Madrihk's eyebrow lifted ever so accusingly, though he was still smiling."You are trustworthy, right?"

I recommend not attempting to be insane around any my character Madrihk. He (and me) does not have much patience with such antics, and given that he is eeeevil he might stab you for it. Mevi is accepting as long as you're not evil. So the current Ta-Koro situation should be interesting. By the way, Tuck: Doesn't it stand to reason that if someone starts murdering people in the middle of a major location, NPCs such as city guard and Turaga would take action? I'm just asking because you seem to have the final say in control of most major characters, so I don't want to overplay Vakama or anything.

IC (Madrihk): Power!That was the first thought that shot through Madrihk's head. Himself as leader of a large group of people, controlling the wealth, having true freedom in deciding what he would do and what others could do. And if they built an army strong enough to topple Makuta's reign, surely it would be a small task to control the island itself afterwards. On one hand, he would be hailed as the hero who liberated them all... but after inserting trusted people into positions of power, he would control everything. Out loud, however, he said: "I'm doing this for the good of everyone. Makuta has reigned for too long. He cloaks the island in shadow and makes everyone live in fear. We must end it, and we will begin by reclaiming some of our lost territory. The eastern coast is best for this because it has resources as well as being reachable by both Ta-Koro and Le-Koro." Not to mention being far from Ko-Koro, where I am definitely not popular, the Toa of Ice added in his thoughts.

IC: Tarotrix was a bit faster than her, but Mevi still reached the enemy at about the same time. She was conflicted, though. On one hand, the battle was already on. On the other, this so-called "Cyrax" had taken a hostage instead of killing people outright. Given that she had just arrived too, she didn't seem to be allied with the infected Toa and his companion. Mevi came to a halt before her, lowering the tip of her halberd threateningly."If you wanted to speak with the Turaga, you could have just asked!" she said accusingly. "He usually speaks with anyone who comes in peace. You, however, seem more like a madwoman than anything else! Let our soldier go at once, and we might be inclined to heed your request... on our terms."The few other guardsmen had caught up with her and Tarotrix by now, and they stood ready to attack. Still, Mevi could only hope that backup would arrive soon. She very much doubted that a small group of Matoran could take on three mad Toa at once.

IC: "I'm Madrihk," the Toa of Ice said to Alfon."Good thing I found you. I saw a Toa of Electricity had signed up for my little project, and that makes me happy, because we will most likely need one. We will be facing a lot of Rahi, no doubt, and being able to stun them gives us an edge."He furrowed his brow."I know some might be opposed to just killing them outright," he continued, remembering how the Toa of Fire had reacted to his words in Turaga Matau's hut."At this point we got you, me, a Toa of Plant Life named Vompran and a Ko-Matoran named Trakuda. A decent team, but I think we need a few more if we are to do something as big as what I'm planning. We are going to march towards the south-eastern coast and seize control of the area from Makuta's hordes."Madrihk smiled confidently."I'm sure we can do it, but as said: we need more people. Until we have them, feel free to do whatever you like. If there's any equipment you think we need, just tell me and I'll try to get it."The Toa of Ice stroked the chin of his mask."Come to think of it, if you guys could help me recruit, that would speed up the process. If you see someone who looks like useful, be it Toa, Matoran, or whatever... send them over to me at the main square." OOC: Elemental Ussal, wotsiznum... that goes for your characters as well.

IC (Mevi): The group of guards had just crossed the stone bridge and reached the outside of the crater when they heard yelling and screaming coming from the fortress gate. They turned around, and Mevi was horrified to see one of the guards get stabbed and fall into the lava. A splash of brightly glowing fluid, and he was gone. Even worse: these were no ordinary murderers! Through the scope on her mask, Mevi got a clear view of the rogue Toa and his companion: the other one was rusted from head to toe. Complete infection. Mevi had never seen anything like it."Murder at the gate!" she yelled. "Attack!"Even as they she began sprinting back across the stone bridge, she could hear a Ta-Matoran on the wall sound the alarm by blowing his horn. OOC: To arms! Xeren, you do realize you just drew the attention of most of Ta-Koro, right? And if I'm not wrong, there are a few more Toa here now than back in the MNOG days.

Depending on how the powers turn out, Rahkshi may get some boosted stats. They were scheduled to be tougher than Toa, but after I added Chain Lightning they began to seem very powerful, so I lowered them again. Balancing everything is a slow process.

Primitive? Simplified, I think we'll say. Game Maker itself is written in Delphi, and Delphi commands have been compiled into predefined GM functions, like "horizontal speed". GML still incorporates a lot of elements from other languages, except that it's a bit more lenient in its syntax at times (and, unfortunately, slower than pure Delphi would have been). Same here. I absolutely love lightning now, though like some of the other elements (such as plasma,) it makes the rahkshi version seem obsolete (they both have emanate, absorb, as well as secondary and primary powers, while the rahkshi.) Nice that just about all the powers will work in staff form, save for the ones that haven't been implemented, or ones like chameleon that wouldn't really work with a staff.Chameleon will be going into a staff as soon as I figure out how to make it work without breaking its script. When it comes to Toa/Rahkshi comparison, remember that the Rahkshi haven't got all their powers yet, and Emanate powers are pretty much useless most of the time. Let's compare Toa and Rahkshi of Plasma, though: Toa: Primary is a stream of ionized gas with an additional heat circle effect. (Uses 20 EP per second.) Secondary is an energy shield. (30 EP per second) Can absorb energy to recharge.Rahkshi: Primary is the same stream without heat effect, but it costs only 10 EP per second. Secondary is meant to be less "shield" and more "lingering heat death". Can not absorb energy. Magnetism:Toa: Primary = pulling items off the enemy; secondary = pushing people away.Rahkshi: Primary = crushes you with magnetism (more damage depending on item HP drained); secondary = same as Toa primary. (Chain) Lightning:Toa: Primary: Stream of electricity; secondary chain lightning. (May be nerfed to cause less splitting bolts.) Can emanate an electric field.Rahkshi: Primary chain lightning with higher base damage. Secondary is supposed to be an electric trap sort of thing. Toa focus on being versatile and thus able to function in various combat situations. (Magnetism: attack by pulling off items, get away from strong enemies by pushing them away.) Rahkshi focus on being tough sonsofmakuta and just kill you. (Magnetism: Crush you into nothingness via your items, or rip them off to disarm you.)

IC (Mevi): Mevi nodded."I fully agree. The terrain towards the ocean is too open to hide, and the Charred Forest is too sparse as well. The mountains seems like the logical place to go given the sheer number of hiding places. If we're... "lucky", he's hiding in one of the caves up ahead. If not, he could be anywhere by now. Making his way to Le-Wahi via the mountain pass, or possibly hitching a ride to the Wastes via cable car. Speaking of which... we should probably send one of the recruits up to the operator there and see if he can produce a list of people who's used it recently."

Watercolour - Pendulum

IC (Madrihk): As he came skidding to a halt on the hard wooden "ground" in Le-Koro, a stream of curses erupted from Madrihk, his usual cold demeanor gone. A few Le-Matoran stared at him, but he stared back with a murderous glow in his eyes, sending them scurrying along. If it weren't for all the people around, and the fact that Matau could still be useful, he would have made certain that the Turaga also got to experience a long drop... except with no net at the end. The Toa of Ice went back to his signpost, muttering swears all the way. His visit with the Turaga had told him nothing he didn't already know. At least there turned out to be one bright spot in his life: another Toa had signed up for their quest. Madrihk looked around to see if he could spot him. OOC: Tuck, you would be better off not making vital story-related NPCs become targets of vengeance.

I thought about it, but discarded the idea due toA] only a few powers being feasibleandB] too complex for just one weapon. With the Rahkshi staff at least I can copy/paste existing powers. There are just as many issues with enlarge as there is with shrink, by the way, to say nothing of reconstitute. Shapeshifting is already going to be a nightmare to program, and I don't want to throw balance issues on top of that with the transformation being utterly random. Reconstitute: Random and complex.Freeze: Already covered by Toa of Ice and the various Ice weapons.Weaken: Boring. :PRemove poison: You would have to shoot yourself to get any real use out of it.Enlarge/shrink: Changes hitboxes and thus very probably mechanics.Regenerate: Again, you would need to shoot yourself.Teleport: Unwilling teleport? Nah. And no, no Metru-specific traits. The disk launcher will shoot something akin to a flat rock, and nothing more. Update on game status: No progress the past week. I have been busy with school (and gaming, of course).

OOC: Oh no you don't! IC (Madrihk): "Wait a minute," Madrihk spoke up. "Turaga, haven't you got any concern for the future of this island? What we few here are set to do may change this island forever. At least, before I go, tell me one thing: What do you know of the Makuta's current activities? Does much of his horde reside along the south-eastern coast, or has he withdrawn them for other purposes? I seek to establish a new settlement for Matoran and Toa everywhere, but before I do that I need to know what sort of danger my group goes to face."

4/5 I've seen you around FCG, and we've spoken (typed?) before.

IC (Mevi): "I agree. I'd say we shouldn't kill... whatever it is right away, though. We need information, and that is best extracted from living beings."Mevi waved for the other guards, and they immediately left to gather more Matoran for their search party. Mevi herself tested the zoom on her Akaku before heading out."We better get going," she said. "I'm a skilled scout and you're a skilled warrior. You and me will probably be enough for one party if we also take your troop. I trust the medics to keep the Toa safe until we return."She nodded to Turaga Vakama as she passed him."Turaga."He nodded back, a distressed look in his eye."May the fires of the great Mangai give you strength," he said to the guardsmen. OOC: Leaving your char behind for now, Kughii, but we'll be back (I hope ).

OOC: The more the merrier. And the more troopers, the more likely it becomes that we will eventually take over the island succeed in creating a new village. IC (Madrihk): Madrihk muttered something about "the firespitter being out of touch with reality", but let the issue lie. Still, he was on edge, ready to strike again in their little duel of words if needed.

IC (Madrihk):"It's often hard to stop a Rahi without killing it," Madrihk said, "...if you take too long, you run the risk of it hurting someone else. Happened with a Muaka back in Ko-Koro once. The Turaga insisted that we would take it alive. Lost a good Toa that day. Never again, I said."The Toa of Ice waved his hand dismissively."When it comes to Makuta, I don't see any other option. I highly doubt you can talk a brutal tyrant hiding in the shadows into just leaving, and judging by his power over the island he is too powerful to imprison. I have no doubts that we must end his life in order to end this oppression. If you are unwilling to, then I can only hope it will be my blade that does the deed."Especially since I will then be in a prime position to seize power, he thought to himself.

IC (Madrihk):"Mindless? Hardly. Somone will sooner or later have to kill the Makuta, correct? We kill his Rahkshi, and Rahi, and other villains. Why should we not kill an apparent spy as well? But fine. I will wait."