Burnmad
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IC: Providence - Ruins of Fire Providence grinned as Takadox finished speaking. "Good question. Considering that Skakdi violently took over this island and wiped out the native population, and considering that the head you lot were living in just crashed into our world, I'd say that all evidence points towards that impulse - to seek power at all costs - being one which invariably corrupts all societies to the point of ruin. But that's an awfully morose philosophy to have and go on living, isn't it?" Truthfully, he had no idea what had happened to the giant head. But the words of the mechanoid that had left moments ago seemed to imply that it had come here as a result of war, which was consistent with the analysis the Aspect had offered. OOC: @Vezok's Friend IC: Morangad - Fau Swamp A series of loud crashes echoed through the section of swamp where Morangad resided, as the Tiokaha struggled with whatever creature had taken up residence in his home; the thudding of bodies colliding with walls, the sound of tools and pottery clattering to the ground, culminating in a long moment of silence, before a large but agile ape-like creature resembling a brakas made its egress through a window. As she approached, Apex would see the creature quickly clambering away, going between tree limbs with its long arms. OOC: @Sparticus147
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IC: Ollem - Suva of Stone The Onu-Matoran stopped next to Mahrika. "Are you alright?" He asked, fidgeting with the Kakama that now rested on his face. It felt strange, alien even. And who was Forgemaster Dume...? OOC: @Harvali IC: Morangad - Fau Swamp The Tiokaha pulled himself over the edge of the platform where sat his tree-nestled home, sighing heavily as he lay still for a moment. Fit as the Swamp had kept him, his old bones were not made for days-long journeys, such as the one he had just undertaken. After finding the corpse of Giruga, the great Manas that had perished after being exposed to the Av-Toa Kei's strange and unwholesome light, he had performed a rite for the beast, and made the days-long journey home, taking care to avoid the contaminated portion of the swamp. If his brief stint into the greater part of Zakaz had taught him anything, it was that the land was as dangerous and barren as it had been centuries ago, when he had last seen it. Nothing good came from there. He sighed once more, and pulled up the ladder of vines that he used to climb into his shelter. He pulled the spear from his back; long as he'd been gone, the interior would likely be housing a squatter, which would have to be driven out. It struck him again, as it often had in the two millennia he'd lived in the Swamp, that his life would be much easier, had his Mark been Iaru rather than Muur. But, all must live with the lot they draw. He brandished his spear, and threw open his door. OOC: @Sparticus147 Morangad has yet to detect Apex's presence in the Swamp, but the Aspect might be drawn to the sound of him driving beasts out of his treehouse.
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IC: Providence - Ruins of Fire A moment of silence hung in the air as he offered the query some consideration. "No, I don't think that's quite right. At least, we Aspects do not desire power for its own sake any more so than do you bipeds; rather, we have a commonality in that some of our kind want power for its own sake, while others seek power as a means to accomplishing an end." His tone had shifted; he seemed much less excitable and distracted. Now he fixed his attention fully on Takadox; his expression was blank, but his inflection suggested that he was intrigued by the question. OOC: @Burnmad @Sparticus147 @Onaku @Snelly
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IC: Providence - Ruins of Fire Prov watched the mechanoids leave, waiting until they were gone. Finally, he turned to Takadox, his new, blue companion. "What was that about?" He asked, gesturing forcefully in the direction of the exit. "They seemed really upset about something." OOC: @Vezok's Friend @Toru Nui @Sparticus147 @Onaku @Snelly @Edelgard @Jakura Nuva @xccj
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IC: Providence - Ruins of Fire Providence's faceplate twisted into an exaggerated frown. "If my understanding of biped morality is correct - and make no mistake, it may very well not be - trying to kill someone who's only trying to run away isn't exactly something a good person does." He cast a sidelong glance at Zak-Yak. Crud. Cover blown; jape ruined. "Yes, yes I am," he answered with a sigh. OOC: @Vezok's Friend @Toru Nui @Snelly @Onaku @Sparticus147 @Edelgard @Jakura Nuva @xccj
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IC: Providence - Ruins of Fire Prov looked at the robotic enforcer with some confusion. It was clear he had gotten himself - and his friends, by extension - into a much-larger conflict with some powerful individual from the giant head. "Uh. Sorry to subvert your expectations, metallic one, but I am fairly certain that I am not a pawn." He looked down at himself. "Indeed, I'm quite sure that I'm an Aspect." OOC: @Vezok's Friend @Toru Nui @Snelly @Onaku @Sparticus147 @Edelgard @Jakura Nuva @xccj
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IC: Barius - Nightmare Pits Barius shuddered at the twisting of the knife, even as he continued to apply pressure to Boss' skull. The wound in his abdomen was one that would likely be fatal for most beings; he wondered whether he was included in that group. He felt his fingers digging into the man's eye sockets, and knew his opponent must have been in immense pain; in spite of all he said, he couldn't help but respect the older Skak's resilience. But respect didn't win fights; and so he wasn't about to show it. "Strong enough... to bust your hip!" He roared through gritted teeth, face locked in a hateful grimace. It was too painful, and he had too little breath, to say all he wanted; and so he started speaking in sentence fragments, punctuating each by slamming the head he held into the ground. "No magic tricks!" Bash. "No helpers!" Bash! "Still strong enough... to make you... bleed!" BASH! It was impossible to say how this might end. He could feel his life leaking out through his abdomen; whether Boss lived or died, if the fight lasted much longer, Barius' own death would be certain. This had to end, and quickly. The pressure threatening to crush Boss' skull abated for a moment, as Barius twisted his right thumb cruelly, ripping into flesh with the sole purpose of causing Boss more pain, digit extricating itself violently from the socket it was embedded in. While the claw of his left thumb continued to dig in deeper - and to hold Boss' head in place - he raised his right arm up, only to bring the elbow down with all his strength, in one final attempt to end the fight. If Boss' skull didn't break beneath the bone-crushing force, then he feared he would bleed out before he could kill him. OOC: @Unreliable Narrator IC: Ollem - Stone Suva Ollem remained silent, breaths fast and uneven - but growing steadier - as he stared up at the Skakdi. It was clear the tall and imposing being was trying to calm their fears; but for what purpose? OOC: @Harvali @Sparticus147
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IC: Ollem - Stone Suva Cautiously, shaking, Ollem deactivated the stealth field, fading back into view. He was holding his knife, his grip as relaxed as he could make it under the circumstances. "You're from the head?" He asked. "Me, too." OOC: @Harvali @Sparticus147
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IC: Barius - Nightmare Pits Barius hit the Skak's pillar-like legs head-on. Head tucked down, his shoulder barreled through Boss' bad leg, sweeping him off his feet and laying him on the ground. Barius joined him there, arms in front of him, already reaching for his-- A brief moment of painful pushing on his skin gave way to a squelch, followed by a surge of white-hot pain, as half a foot of metal slipped into his abdomen. Barius' face contorted into an expression of pained rage, as his blood poured from the wound. But he wasn't dead yet. Driven by rage-filled determination, his hands still moved for their original target: Boss' thrice-cursed dome. "You've always thought you were something special," He growled, as his hands clasped his opponent's colossal head. His thumbs, guided by instinct and the clear memory of Boss' ugly face, found his empty eye sockets, slipping into them like the holes on a bowling ball. He drove his claws as deep into that tender scar tissue as he could. He was yelling, now, spittle flying from his mouth as he laid atop the Skak, legs gripping him, making sure he couldn't be thrown off yet. Torsos pressed together, keeping him from pulling the knife out for another stab, even as it pushed the weapon an inch or two deeper into Barius' guts. "You may be big and tough, but you're weak." He pushed his head into the ground, emphasizing where the weakness lay. "In here." Speaking was pain; but pain was their language, and Barius wanted to get his point across. "And I'm gonna dig through your skull and show you." OOC: @Unreliable Narrator
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IC: Ollem - Stone Suva Ollem and Mahrika were just finishing up the turning of the Suva - counterclockwise, until 'I rise' was in the east - when they spotted a Skakdi on the horizon. Ollem cursed and went invisible. OOC: @Unreliable Narrator @Harvali @Sparticus147
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IC: Barius - Nightmare Pits Barius knew he'd hurt Boss, even if the Skak was too tough to cry out in pain. The firmness of the impact, the way he wrenched himself free after-- there was no doubting that, for the first time in a while, Boss was feeling sharp, agonizing pain. But there was a problem: Barius couldn't see. Even as he'd swung his club, his vision had gone dark. Surprised as he was, he knew it to be another trick of his opponent's; but that didn't make it any easier to deal with. He suddenly found himself alone in a world of pitch blackness. His only lifeline to the world outside his head was one ear. The other, as he'd noted earlier, heard nothing. For a brief moment, he stood there, dumbly, completely out of his element. He heard Boss talking, and turned his good ear toward the sound, left fist raised feebly in front of him. And then a tug on his club pulled him forward-- was he falling, or merely leaning? He couldn't tell. Either way, Boss' punch connected with his face, causing him to grunt as he was knocked to the ground. His club left his grip, and no longer being gripped by Boss, clattered off into the infinite world of imperceptible void. He couldn't just lay there. He had to do something. The edge, he knew, was some distance from where he'd been standing, and thus couldn't be too near to where he now lay; he rolled away from the direction he could hear Boss in, before pushing himself up to one knee once more. Balance, made complicated already by the slickness of the floor, was even more difficult without his sight. The ledge was somewhere behind him, and his foe in front; he stayed still for a moment, listening for his opponent's movements. Gauging distance was hard, but he knew Boss wasn't close enough to hit him again, else he'd be doing it. And he'd be able to tell if Boss approached. When that happened - as, indeed, it inevitably had to - he threw himself forward toward the sound, keeping low and stretching his arms out wide so that some part of him would catch his opponent. With his hip injury opened back up, there was no way he could stay on his feet; and if Barius could just get back into a grapple with the Skak, he'd once more have a constant idea of where his opponent was. OOC: @Unreliable Narrator IC: Ollem - Stone Suva Ollem sighed, clearly disappointed. What were they missing? He looked around the Suva. "...Hey," he said, without turning to look at Mahrika. "We have this line here, pointing east. I wonder if maybe it could have something to do with the sun. One of the pillars says 'I rise', right?" OOC: @Harvali
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IC: Barius - Nightmare Pits Barius hit the stone floor of the ledge with a *crash!* He stuck his claws in the grooves, keeping him from sliding too close to the edge before he could get back up. He rose to one knee, and ducked his head to his right as boss kicked at it. The Skak's colossal, clawed foot dug into his shoulder, and the force of the kick pushed him back another foot, but the compactness of his pose kept him from moving too much. His hand shot up to grab onto his opponent's ankle, and he knew he had enough time to make a counterattack, as he held the Skak's left foot in his grip. Straightening his knees, he raised his torso, bringing with it the foot still held tight to his chest. Boss would probably be thrown off balance, and his hip was no doubt at an unpleasant angle. He gripped his club tightly with his right hand. ... The smell of perfume filled his nostrils, masking the stench of her sickness, and of the warband at large. He couldn't remember what he'd said; some kind of sniveling. He remembered her response, though, gasped between coughing fits: "The world is cruel, little Skaklet; if you wanna survive, you'll have to be crueler." ... He swung the club up and into his opponent's bad hip with all his might. OOC: @Unreliable Narrator IC: Providence - Ruins of Fire Providence was at the Ruins of Fire. He wasn't sure how he felt about the events that led him there, or the ambiguous superposition of his companions, and he wasn't even sure why he had felt the need to come here; but here he was, bursting through the doorway, finding himself greeted by a crowd of other people. Unknown to him, the Vahki from earlier was still tapped into his sensory information, and could have even tailed him here. "...Sorry I'm late?" He offered, uncertain. OOC: @Sparticus147 @Toru Nui @Eyru @~Xemnas~ @Keeper of Kraata @Onaku @Nato the Traveler @Snelly @Vezok's Friend Anyone who was in Prov's group before can decide if they're still with him. IC: Morangad - East of Metru-Koro 'Metru-Koro', as he'd found the ramshackle village near the giant robotic head to have been called, was currently enveloped in a conflict that Morangad had neither the capacity nor the desire to interfere in. Accordingly, at the first signs of such, he had promptly begun walking into the desert in the opposite direction from that which the 'airships' were coming from; that is to say, east. And eastward he traveled still, having decided to seek out the injured manas crab he had witnessed before, and hopefully heal her. It would be a shame for the swamp to lose such a specimen. OOC: Morangad open for interaction. Failing that, he'll probably run into Mazor and Gnabol @Smudge8 IC: Ollem - Stone Suva "I'm not sure what we'll find," Ollem said between tugs of the Suva. "I guess something to do with masks, going by the hologram." He nodded his head towards the still-repeating image of the Toa of Water. OOC: @Harvali
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IC: Barius - Nightmare Pits Barius grinned at the begrudging praise from his opponent, tensing his thick abdominal and pectoral muscles against the onslaught. But his grin vanished as sharp pain notified him that something was piercing his enhanced flesh. Boss was using his elemental powers, somehow. Must have been the knuckle duster; Barius had sworn he'd heard an unfamiliar chuckle from right next to him, mere seconds ago. Blasted witchcraft. He wished his club had been in his other hand, so he could whack the Skakdi's oversized mug. But alas, it was in his right, and so he instead tried to pin his opponent's arm beneath the spiked bludgeon, thus halting the assault. His left wormed its way up to grab at Boss' throat from the side, claws seeking to grip and dig into his leathery neck-flesh with force that could crush a lesser man's bones. "Nerve ain't all I got," he managed to say through his exertion. OOC: @Unreliable Narrator IC: Ollem - Stone Suva "I think I have a good guess at the order. As for which way to turn, we have yet to uncover any indication... but I suppose there's only so many different ways we could do it. We'll try the standard right-left-repeat first." He stepped up to the Suva, preparing to turn it clockwise, with Mahrika's help, until "I live" reached the silver line. Hopefully the contraption would be easier to manipulate, now that it was not partially buried under the sand. OOC: @Harvali
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IC: Barius - Nightmare Pits Barius ducked his head to the side, Boss' fist grazing the side of his face. His ear bent back painfully as the blow scraped over it. He winced. That headbutt had set his inner ear injury to aching again. Disturbingly, his ear wasn't even ringing. Had he gone fully deaf on that side? No time to think about that now; He felt the log-like arm of his opponent wrap around his back. Putting all his weight on his left foot, he swept his right toward Boss' forward leg, attempting to sweep it out from under the other Skak, and take the both of them into a ground-bound grapple. At the same time, he pushed his full weight forward into the Skak, ensuring that he would wind up on top. The scent of Torak's still-flowing blood lingered in his nostrils, filling every synapse of his body with electricity, while adrenaline coursed through him, dragging every second out for an eternity. OOC: @Unreliable Narrator
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IC: Ollem - Stone Suva (7, 8) Ollem scratched his head. "I think you can dig with the disk. It shouldn't activate if you're careful not to shove it into the ground too hard. But I've never tried it before. The Vahki staff would make for a decent digging tool as well, though probably not as good as the disk. And if the disk does freeze the sand, the staff would be good for breaking it up into bits so we can still move it. An idea occurred to him. "You know, maybe you could use that disk to keep the sand we move from flowing back into place. And, perhaps, prevent new sand from blowing into the area." OOC: @Harvali
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IC: Barius - Nightmare Pits Barius saw a wicked speartip shoot forward, while metal-adorned knuckles emerged from Boss' pocket. And as his irises turned and his vision zoomed in, he saw many other things. Four whole Kraata. The knife that served as key to the Wagon, concealed on his person. Jar of spice. 'Miss's' ball. Couple of canteens. Some general supplies, among them some oil. And then Boss' skin dissipated like smoke, and he saw the muscles that lay beneath. The pristine whiteness of his still-living skeleton. A bad hip. He smirked slightly as he swung his arm, club batting the spear off course. The clack! of two wooden objects colliding echoed through the cavern. Stepping forward to meet the advancing Skak, he thrust his head forward into Boss' face. OOC: @Unreliable Narrator
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IC: Barius - Nightmare Pits The Skakdi's focus was momentarily disrupted as Parnassus' voice wormed its way into his head. I hear you, demon, came his response. He stopped to take a breath as he pulled his club from his back, unsure how to proceed with the Aspect. He wanted to win, but using the connection to 'cheat' felt like a hollow victory. And worse, it would place him in a precarious position with his patron. Barius had stressed before to Corrivalis that perception was everything; it wouldn't do to have the Skaks perceive him as a weakling who could not win on his own strength alone. He could not let the shadowy trickster hold something like that over him. He could not accept the aid of the Aspect. Do not interfere, he added, firmly. You will only distract me. He brandished his club, shutting out everything else but the larger, older Skak before him. OOC: @Conway @Unreliable Narrator @Keeper of Kraata @Nato the Traveler
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IC: Ollem - Stone Suva (7, 8) "That... could be. But I'm not sure. Let's try moving some more of this sand before we try turning the Suva again. If we don't find anything else, then we can assume that north-northeast is somehow relevant. Maybe it's the point we have to turn to in order to 'input' one of the pillars?" OOC: @Harvali @Unreliable Narrator
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IC: Barius - Nightmare Pits He released a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. A moment passed as he cracked his knuckles. "Guess we'll find out." A grin crept up the corners of his mouth-- not so much from the nerves or any kind of satisfaction, but just from the sheer adrenaline of the situation. This was the moment he'd been waiting for for years. Win or lose, he was about to learn his life's purpose. OOC: @Unreliable Narrator @Keeper of Kraata @Conway @Nato the Traveler
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IC: Ollem - Stone Suva (7, 8) Ollem huffed. He wasn't quite exhausted yet, but his limbs were starting to burn with exertion. "I don't have anything special. If we were to get rid of it, we'd have to move it all by hand, which would be backbreaking work. And if there were any wind to speak of, it'd be blowing back in our faces faster than we could move it, anyhow." He plopped down onto his rear, thinking about the Suva and its connection to the 6 outer pillars. There had to be something he and Mahrika could do. They did not need help. Two Matoran could absolutely do this. They just needed to figure out what they were doing, before they exhausted themselves completely. OOC: @Harvali
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IC: Barius - Nightmare Pits The Skak's heartlight beat faster, as anticipation suffused his entire being. His muscles tensed, joints became rigid as he prepared for the moment of truth. It was almost time. Time to kill or be killed.
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IC: Ollem - Stone Suva (7, 8) "Ah!" Ollem exclaimed as he stood up, his excavation having so far proved fruitless. "That's an excellent find! Good work, Mahrika." He quickly walked over to the Suva. If it turned, then surely that would be part of the puzzle. "Perhaps it's like a safe dial?" He suggested, not bothering to think whether his newfound companion would be familiar with the concept. "If that's the case, then those six pillars would be the 'numbers'. Here, let's turn it some and see what happens. We'll turn it to... 'I live'." He spun his finger around in a circle in order to indicate a clockwise direction. He was assuming the standard workings of safes he was familiar with, yes, but it was worth trying. And if the answer was some logical sequence, 'I live' seemed like the obvious first input. "Ready?" Whereas Mahrika was already tired, Ollem seemed inexhaustible, already having wrapped his arms around the Suva to get a grip on its surface. OOC: @Harvali @Unreliable Narrator
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IC: Ollem - Stone Suva (7, 8) "That's alright," Ollem muttered. "I think I have some ideas. Do you think you could take another look at the pillars and the suva itself? I'm wondering if there's any kind of mechanism on them, like a button, or a switch..." OOC: @Harvali @Unreliable Narrator
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IC: Ollem - Suva of Stone (7, 8) Nothing. Well, he felt nothing, anyway. He reached up and touched his mask to confirm that it hadn't changed without his noticing. It had not. That was alright. He'd had a feeling that nothing would happen. For one, it seemed like there was something to this place-- some riddle that needed answering. For two, he was a Matoran. He wasn't sure anything would happen even if they got the Suva 'working'. Whatever that might entail. But clearly, it was supposed to 'work' in some way. The image of the Toa had her mask changing when she laid her hand on the Suva. That couldn't just be a coincidence. He got down on his knees and stuck his hands into the sand, and began to scoop the countless grains out of the way. Maybe there was something going on with the floor, here. OOC: @Unreliable Narrator @Harvali
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IC: Ollem - Suva of Stone (7, 8) Ollem placed a hand on his chin, considering the possible meanings of everything they were seeing. The repeated activity of the Toa of Water was strangely nostalgic; it reminded him of a holo demonstrating how to use something, like one used to see in Metru-Nui. Except those holos, though changing, were usually flat images, fixed in one location. Curious, he stretched out a hand and laid it on the suva, like the image of the Ga-Toa kept doing. OOC: @Harvali @Unreliable Narrator
