BULiK

IC: Nichou [Ga-Koro, The Great Takea, Exterior] Nichou's gawking at the dragon was interrupted by a tap on his shoulder. Ranok said something about... interesting people? Nichou loved interesting things but what could be more interesting than a drag- When the Onu-Matoran glanced behind him, the small crowd that was forming did indeed catch his interest, and he and Sigrus followed the musician to draw nearer to the epicenter. While a lot of optics were focused on a lot of places, there was a De-Toa talking, asking a question to nobody in particular, and yet somehow, Nichou knew it was a question for him in particular. "Who are you all?" "Us?" Nichou put a hand on the opposite shoulders of both his travel buddies for effect before he squeezed through them and stepped forwards. "We're nobody special," Nichou answered, tilting his head to his old friend Lekua with a sly wink of a shared run-in with Destiny. "Anything longer than that and we'll be here all day - we each have our own way of doing it, but we're just here to help." The carpenter looked at the eclectic clusters of various sized beings in front of him. Matoran, Toa, Lesterin... beings of all sorts of origins and elements - Mata Nui laid bare. Well, there were three Ga-Mator- Wait, no, that one Matoran's armor had flairs of crystal in a style that Nichou had only seen lately from the visitors of the crystal fleet. So, two Ga-Mato - Wait a minute... she was different somehow... Nichou could not place what it wa- of course, the bits of black. That particular hue reminded Nichou of Sigrus, when the Fa-Matoran wasn't hidden under his blue cloak. The three aforementioned blue matoran had Lekua tagging along beside them, and to be honest, Nichou was much more interested in the pilot's group than the largely silent jungle dwellers that Hakari introduced (besides, Ranok was trying to get their attention) or the two Toa in the center. Nichou waved a loose salute at the Le-Koronan before blurting out the most generic question in the world. "Long time, no see, Lekua. How've you been?" It had been a long time since the two had worked together - so much about the island had changed since then. Nichou had presumed that Lekua went off freelancing, or maybe joined back up with Kongu in the Gukko Force. Nichou had talked to Stannis, though he didn't know that Lekua had tracked down the elusive Maru first to ask the same questions about some of their old Companions. For now though, Nichou was just happy to see an old friend, and the thought of any sobering memorial to their fallen comrade was quickly pushed out of his mind by how exciting this all was. OOC: @BBBBalta mainly but also @Rahisaurus and pretty much everyone else

IC: Vrill [Wise Man's Archive, The Backroom] Syzygos shrugged. IC: Kreigero [The Drifts] “…I’m not done. Not with this place. I want to see what else there is to discover—what other secrets the snow is hiding.” When Savrehn glanced to Kreigero near the end of his train of thought, there was something different just beneath the surface of her cerulean optics. “After all, it would take more than a couple of strangers in a cave to scare you off, right?” Kreigero's face twitched into... a smile? Despite their many hours of journeying through the drifts together, some of which even included bits and pieces of what might be considered a conversation, it was an entirely new phenomenon, at least insofar as Savrehn had ever observed on Kreigero. The shockingly genuine smile, the lowered shoulders, and the slack in her step gave away that Kreigero was about to respond - but then Atamai spoke up. "Let's stay focused on getting back to Ko-Koro. Can't really start planning another trip if we haven't finished this one yet." Kreigero released the breath she had been holding before the Ta-Matoran's unintentional interruption. She swallowed, and for a split second afterwards, the smile to Savrehn visibly flared up before being instantly buried under her normal quiet intensity. Just like that, the brief moment was gone again. At least, externally. "Right." She agreed in the verbal equivalent of two simultaneous handshakes. "Let's go, Sav." Kreigero and Savrehn resumed laboriously trudging through the snow side by side in large, focused strides. She nervously winced during an inaudible chuckle to herself that she was just experiencing a side effect of the head trauma. The huntress kept her mind distracted from the urge to ponder by counting each of the deep breaths she took as they marched across the tundra.

As a heads up, folks, I'm gonna be unavailable for posting starting roughly this Wednesday, with some limited availability through thursday night, but will be completely offline from Friday until next Friday or so. Given the pace of posting these days that's not a big deal, but just a heads up given some of my characters are in an activity streak. The only places this might slow things down is Vrill (but @Goose can bunny him acting sigma if necessary, because I trust a goose such as yourself to know how to handle a Gosling) and Quoribay, depending on how much action the train heist gets through in that week's time (luckily him and Skrol are basically waiting for stuff to happen up at the front of the train and ideally the pace of the things in the passenger and cargo sections won't need to be so tightly synced in terms of combat, so this shouldn't hold up things much).

IC: Vrill [Wise Man's Archive, The Backroom] Vrill looked back up at Cyrix. He hadn't planned on taking the reins back from Fenn... but memories of an old case brought forth an interjection. A coincidence from the past that never sat right with him. "Are you aware of any other abilities related to antidermis exposure? Side effects, adverse reactions?"

The game is afoot... Big moves happening in Po, grab the popcorn

OOC: @Tarn@Perp@Nato G@Xemnas@Johnny Blocksville@oncertainty, the train heist crew has arrived from Ko-Wahi. Apologies for the delays (busy month!) but here we go, let's jump right into this. Go ahead and set the scenes for where exactly your characters are and whatnot. Oh, and let me know if there are any questions! Oh yeah, here's some vibes and a track. IC: Quoribay [Darkness. Very dark and... bumpy?] Now this is the part of the story you actually want to pay attention to, the bit that you stuck around for. The part everybody knows about already, but nobody but I can properly explain. Po-Wahi is hot. I mean, I lived in Po most of my life and holy Zataka was it hot on that day. At least, it was for me and Skrol. We did not have the luxurious space of the economy class booths in the two passenger compartments at the head of the Iron Mahi. All I could think about during the hours we were in there was that I should have double checked what I had been smoking when I started the plan for the heist with "lock me up in a box". Despite the dark heat and subjected to the reeking stench of being confined with a blind Lesterin in crate with poor circulation (despite the smell of the fruit above our hidden compartment that was used to fool our way past inspection) this was truly an elegant solution to the classic problem: how do you break into a high security area? Same as everyone else - you pay the fee. The Iron Mahi was more than a publicity stunt, more than a modern marvel, more than a quick ride between Po-Wahi's various settlements. In fact, passengers were a minority of the train's haul - the real powerhouse was in its logistical capability. The massive engine at the front of the train towed five cars. The first two were the ones the public was familiar with from their vacations to beach homes in Forsi, but the final three were the reason Po-Koro had managed to colonize so much of its (basically worthless) land lately: shipping! I knew from the manifests I'd procured that the target - the big Ussal-less carriage, if you will - was scheduled to ship on this very train. In fact, I knew from its size that it would practically take up the entirety of one of those massive cargo cars. Unfortunately, I didn't know which of the three doors lead to my prize, but either way I needed to get inside them to find out. Searching for and unloading cargo was a task not well suited to doing while, you know, under attack, and boy oh boy would breaking in to the rear sections from the passenger cars lead to unnecessary violence that would only delay our eventual victory. Especially given the fact that the two guards who patrolled the passenger section always seemed to swap out for two new ones when they went for tea time in the back or whatever they do back there. So to avoid all that kerfuffle, and make for a smoother getaway, I opted for a much different stratagem. The oldest trick in the book was the most important one - misdirection. You know how I would take your drink? I'd look you right in the eye, tell you a funny tale about that time I went on a train heist, tell you about how misdirection is the key by waving a hand over there towards that drink of yours and then by the time you realized that I'm taking way too long to get to my point you'd notice that I was buying another round for myself with your widget. See my poi- OW! Geez calm down it was an EXAMPLE! A HYPOTHETICAL! PUT ME DOWN! LET GO OF ME!!! ... ... ... Ahem. As I was saying. Misdirection. For some reason nowadays that typically involves an explosion - don't you dare tell me that the Ta-Koronan monorail going up in flames wasn't a false flag, I DONT CARE what the 'Akiri Commission' says - What I mean is, some people will blow up a monorail or a bar or some islets to draw the attention of everyone nearby. But that's a bit crude, don't you think? Messy. Rude, even. Now, taking hostages, on the other hand, is so much more pleasant. Less bodies on your rap sheet, everyone gets a fun little story about it to tell their mindless co-workers and "friends", and it's great at getting any wannabe heroes to take a step back and think if they really want innocent blood on their hands. Everybody wins! I've learned a few things about taking hostages over the years. A key one? Everybody FREAKS OUT and takes it SUPER SERIOUSLY. Especially if you make it sound like you're part of the dangerous black ops shadow non-koro-organization that I definitely am. What I'm saying is, it's a great party trick to get everyone in the room to shut their yapping and focus on you. Now, in this case, I won't give a demonstration, after how that last one went. At least, I won't be giving a demonstration of taking hostages (again dude it was a PRANK for STORYTELLING purposes). So, use whatever excuse for an imagination you have. Pictured it? No? Let's just move on. Point is, if half of the crew is at the front with all the passengers making a ruckus, that's a great way of getting all the guards out here out of the cargo area and into the passenger area, giving Skrol and I free reign over the goods once we pop out of our box. I didn't just choose Skrol because as a blind guy he's used to being kept in a dark box, but for his wonderful De-Lesterin hearing. When those at the front of the train brought out the chaos out of nowhere old school style, he'd be able to hear the footsteps of the guards as they left, and we'd slip out of the crate. Worst case, the old rat could somehow hold his own in a fight if someone stayed behind, or at least take a stab for me while I get the job done. Now, we knew Dolbren would meet up with us once he cut the train in half by detaching the cargo section from the passenger section. I told 'im to get a seat near the very back of the second passenger car, so he'd see the guard reinforcements coming out of the cargo cars and be able to slip in behind them while they were distracted, disconnect the train, and help us with offloading cargo using his anti-gravity jazz hands. Initially I wanted him to be in the box with us and for Karmine to split the tracks... but Karmine had a whole 'nother set of tasks. I wonder what it was like, stowing away under the train. Probably loud. And cramped. He had to lay pretty flat, there wasn't too much space for a Toa beneath the rails. At least with anti-gravity, all it must have felt like was laying down... at blazing fast speeds with the wind and occasional sand, but hey, at least he could see where he was. Karmine was up there because we wanted to discourage a rapid response by having him snap off the radio antenna above the train's engine before anything went loud. In fact, climbing out from under the train and walking up the side of the engine was probably what would make it go loud to begin with, but the point is, cutting off communications lowered the risk someone running out from either Po-Koro or Forsi before we'd all made our glorious getaway. Once Karmine cut the cord, all that was left was for Minnorak, Surdo, and Baszlin up in the passenger compartment somewhere to create the distraction and... well, I'll get to the rest of the plan later. But that's what I was waiting on. For... a really long time, inside that #### crate. Took way longer than I thought it would for the train to even get out of the station, let alone far enough along the route for our plan to take motion, but there we were... SHOWTIME! OOC: @Silvan Haven lights, camera, ACTION! @Goose honk honk you, @Void Emissary, @Vezok's Friend, and @Tarn should keep all hands inside the vehicle until we have come to a complete stop.

^ yeah, hitting smash me in the help menu should hopefully fix it, but if that doesn't, let me know and I can try to teleport you back in the playable portion of the level again

IC: Vrill [Wise Man's Archive, The Backroom] Vrill looked down at the desk in thought.

IC: Kreigero [The Drifts] Kreigero fell silent, staring at the mushed footprints in the snow and avoiding meeting the gaze of her companions as Atamai knelt down. The trapper was taking her time reworking through the same steps Atamai explained. It took her a bit longer than she hoped for it all to make sense - she had just suffered from head trauma and a not insignificant level of blood loss. At Savrehn added his input, Kreigero was content unscrew the lid on his flask and begin drinking. Kreigero didn't pause to listen - her optics strained to view her fellow Ko-Matoran while her head was tilted back so far. After a few seconds of the bottom of the flask being pointed to the clouds above without a pause for more air, Kreigero finally set the container down, barely holding back a burp. She handed Savrehn the empty vessel with a sharp nod of thanks, then looked to Atamai. For the first time, she looked grateful of the scholar's calculations. On the other hand, perhaps the alcohol was already kicking in. "You're right," she admitted. The Ko-Matoran stood up intently, then rapidly reached out to steady herself against the ice wall. She waited for the world to stop spinning and the darkness on the edge of her vision to recede, then continued. "If they're leaving, we don't have time to lose. Let's move." She took out her compass and began to walk out into the field of snow, then stopped as she remembered Savrehn was still talking. "What about the dragon?"

IC: Vrill [Wise Man's Archive, The Backroom] Vrill frowned at Muirtagh's jealousy, but his face straightened out when he noticed Priicu had a similar expression. He silently snuffed out the roll in a crystal tray he formed in his hand that he set down on the table. The Cy-Toa leaned back in his crystal chair.

IC: Kreigero [The Drifts] Kreigero bit down, stubbornness futile against her nervous system's natural reaction as the disinfectant purged the surface of the gash on her head. She exhaled just as sharply a moment afterwards, the cloud of warm condensation being swept away into the wind. The Ko-Matoran's hands were clutched dangerously close to the opening of her heatstone thermos. Savrehn hadn't expected any response, but just when he figured his prediction to be accurate, Kreigero began to murmur. "Honestly? I'm worried part of us already did." She wasn't staring off into the distance this time or swearing at deities under her breath. Kreigero was revealing the gaping wound that Savrehn could suspect but the defensive woman would have never let him see, were it not for what they had just been through together. "How can I do this again. How can - how can we do this again? Even if... when we make it back, we're finished." One of her white hands left the searing hot crystal to point at the snowfall outside of the glacial, delta-like opening they were nestled in. The blizzard was slowly abiding. The last bounces of sunlight filtered through the horizon with an otherworldly orange glow. Darkness reigned above - the dark twilight sky did not pierce through the clouds, save for angelic shafts of moonlight made visible through the luminescence of the falling snow in their wake. Their return trip would have to be in the freezing night, lest risking their camp being caught. "This! This is what we live for. This is where we live, how we live, why we live. How can we ever go back knowing that they are lurking out here? That they know our faces, where to find us, and that they won't give us a third chance. Nobody will believe us, nobody will help us, we're alone - we have nothing." The distraught Matoran had balled her hand into a tight fist, squeezing herself long after it began to hurt. Her azure optics fluttered, blinking away frozen tears. "We just lost our lives." IC: Vrill [Wise Man's Archive, The Backrooms] There was a tension in the room as Vrill took his time to slowly ponder his options. He frowned at the table in front of him, then looked at Muirtagh to gauge his instincts. After a disappointed sigh, the Cy-Toa shifted his focus back to Cyrix. "He's not," Vrill succinctly admitted. "If I'd brought him here to defend me, I wouldn't have said a word to you." It was clear the shifty Toa was going somewhere. He slowly reached into his armor and pulled out a pack of smokes. He shook one out into his dominant hand and stowed the box as he brought the loaded cylinder to his lips. Vrill pointed his left index finger in the air, once again holding the room's attention hostage, and the tip of his finger began to glow red as it was covered in heatstone. He brought his finger up to the end of his cigarette, and it lingered for a moment as the paper began to burn. After a swirling puff of smoke had wafted in the meager lamplight between the interrogator and Cyrix, he continued. "He's more than my lawyer - he's my partner. We're private investigators, hired by Akiri Renaka on account of... Makuta's return." Vrill winced - it was a touchy subject. It felt disgusting to say the words out loud. He took a pause to wash the taste of that word away with charred herbs and igneous tars. "She's worried about the proliferation of a dangerous substance called antidermis. That's what brought us to the Sanctum, and here. Thats why we brought you here - you have firsthand knowledge of the effects this can have on an honest Toa." "When Makuta uses it against us again, we need to know how to fight it. That's why we're here. Because as my partner implied earlier - he has some questions for you, too." The stage had been set. Vrill nodded to his partner, knowing next solo would be Fenn's forte.

IC: Vrill [Wise Man's Archive, The Backroom] The Cy-Toa contemplatively cocked his head to the side for a moment, poorly hiding an irritated yawn. He didn't need to look to Muirtagh - his gaze only drifted to the table's contents that Cyrix had been eyeing, all the while the gears turning in his head. If Cyrix didn't know why Vrill was doing what he was doing, there was a snowball's chance in Ta-Koro that he knew what Vrill was doing. Him being seen leaving the Sanctum? Plausible. But at the very least, this meant Cyrix hadn't been snooping in on Korzaa's office close enough to hear Vrill's tasking. That was what he needed to know. Even if Vrill's intuition was wrong (not that it ever would be) Fenn could verify it all later in more detail. The wonderful conundrum of bringing a Rode user along was Vrill needed to be extra careful of which truths he withheld - while he was about to lie to Cyrix's face, and could continue to do so all day, the agent was careful about his wording so as to not spin the wrong lie in front of his partner. After a small, disappointed sigh, Vrill looked Cyrix in the optics and gave him a straight answer. "You know why - the widgets." Vrill had been on one end or the other of enough interrogations to know that spinning Kane-Ra dung about innocence only locks the 'gator (As they sometimes called each other in the business) in more. Sometimes, you gotta tell them what they want to hear. Plainly speaking - Vrill had admitted to nothing, but perhaps that admission was the first step in getting Cyrix to make another slip.

IC: Vrill [Wise Man's Archive, The Backroom] "The Sanctum?" Vrill appeared almost confused by the question. "Was there some kind of... security incident?"

IC: Vrill [Wise Man's Archive, The Backrooms] "Questions..." In an unexpected turn of events, 'Syzygos' spoke. His diction was precisely slow, tone surprisingly aloof. Like Cyrix's own words had reminded him of some trivia long forgotten. This wasn't Vrill. "You said you had questions?"

IC: Vrill [Wise Man's Archive, The Backroom] After the brief flurry of conversation, Fenn and Vrill returned to their own studies. They each had much to think about. Vrill numbed his mind with a final review of his copy. A second pass, seeing the evidence he had already copied with fresh optics. He occasionally corrected a mistake. Vrill knew all about those. He wondered how many of his he could ever correct. People were never as easy as words. For all its incongruities, even language followed a set of rules. The same couldn't be said for those who spoke it, or the actions they performed. For a brief moment, Vrill tensed as he felt a sliver of empathy at the thought of a Toa who had failed so greatly being given a second chance. Like a cramp, eventually the sharp twinge of pathos subsided as Vrill refocused himself on his work. He finally compared the last page with his last tablet. 'United in Duty, bound in Destiny, this is the way of the Bionicle.' 'United in Duty, bound in Destiny, this is the way of the Bionicle.' Duty... Exhale. Look up. Push feelings down. Let senses rise in their place. One with the structures around him. Something new. Vrill felt a new lightstone and heatstone. Someone was in the lobby. The Cy-Toa closed the book in front of him. The crystals were moving closer. Vrill stretched his neck with a satisfactory pop. He looked to the door, waiting for the footsteps to arrive and for Cyrix to follow. "Cyrix, Toa Kalta. I have some questions for you." “Funny, we could say something similar.” "He's my lawyer," the obsidian-armored Toa said. The face behind the crystal arthron-shaped Kanohi was blank, his gaze only deviating from being locked with Cyrix when he initially glanced at the Le-Toa's equipment.

IC: Kreigero [The Drifts, Crevasse] Kreigero nodded slightly, the motion small not out of her usual stubborn defiance, but instead from her overwhelming tiredness. The trapper began to unravel the makeshift dressing around her head in preparation for a fresh replacement. She, too, couldn't prevent her thoughts from drifting to what they had witnessed. The dragon, the strangers... it was impossible to avoid using the precious moments of safety they had unexpectedly earned to worry and plan for what was to come. How best to survive against these new factors none had experienced before. Normally, there was a common wisdom among the stalkers of the drifts, learned through years of practice and the stories and mistakes of others. That institutional knowledge was what let survivalists like Kreigero and Savrehn hike into otherwise dangerous scenarios without nearly as much risk as anyone new to the Wahi. However, there was no such wisdom for evading dragons or bunkers of Toa. That uncertainty carried a risk Kreigero hadn't felt in a long time - she was no longer at one with the Wahi. There was a new worry of what they would find over the next snowdrift. She couldn't help but wonder if they were to become one of the many tales of Matoran who trekked into regions untoward and never returned, only to be found much later on as a frozen warning to others who dared venture further. But in typical Ko-Koronan fashion... what more was there to say on the matter? Not much, apparently.

OOC: Busy couple of weeks for me, to say the least... IC: Kreigero [The Drifts, Crevasse] Each step brought a bitter sharpness as each snowflake carried what felt like a thousand needles. Kreigero could only tolerate her march due to the utter lack of feeling that grew in her extremities. She never looked back, as if it had never occurred to her that she could look back without seeing the Fa-Toa, even though the winding path had long since obscured the trio from the two strangers. Kreigero continued to march (or rather, Savrehn continued to carry Kreigero in all but spirit) until the trail of Toa footprints they were following broke out of the glacial wall and into a wide field of snow. The howl of the winds intensified, and it was only then that her feet began to truly drag in the snow. It was only then that she seemed to let Savrehn set her down to rest, not that she could have done anything beyond stubborn glares from behind her Kaukau's visor for most of the journey. The trapper breathed in a powerful, steadied rhythm, but the exhalations were rasp. It was clear the group could not continue their escape without a reprieve, but for how long? She reluctantly loosened her grip on the vial of disinfectant, fingers fumbling to unroll the bandage. The shivering Ko-Matoran bit down and frowned in defiance, knowing that before it hurt less, it was going to have to hurt a lot more... OOC: oh and @ARROW404 apologies for not picking up on the fact that Priicu didn't join them again. Re; the book - I implied that Vrill had copied the entire book during the indeterminate time that Muir was likewise reading Takua's journals. It was only after that did he see the first page again for his eureka moment. If you have more places you plan on going with the book I can elaborate further but I was intending that one copy to be done. I'll get a Vrill out after another Muir (but no rush) IC: Quoribay [Obsidian Outpost] It was as simple as that. Fill a room with a handful of characters who can be enticed to risk their freedom for the chance of a pile of widgets, give them a plump target for said proclivities, and you'll create unity faster than a Turaga's adages. I'm still satisfied by the turnout - it became the biggest crew I had ever worked with. Even if some were... less unified than others, everyone had their part to play. Each brought a set of skills that we would use to circumvent the layers of security on the Iron Mahi. Each brought a set of weaknesses that I could leverage to keep them in line. It was a delicate balance, putting that many scoundrels in one place. Much like magnets, you get too much of the same in one place, and it rips everything apart. I had to walk that line, play those odds, and ensure that the opposing forces balanced against each other enough to motivate and increase our effectiveness, without losing our cohesion. Look, what I'm trying to say is it's not as easy as it looks. There are risks. Some you have to accept. 'Specially in this line of work. But as I was saying - we had numbers on our side: Me, the fearless, dashingly handsome leader. Surdo, that mothe- ahem. Baszlin, the schizo Skak. Minnorak, the outsider. Skrol, the listener. Karmine, the not-so-reformed. and Dolbren, the old school bad###. Together, we were The Seven™. No, Quoribay's Seven. Good Company? The Insiders? Shadow Hapaka 2?!??! Look, I was too busy focusing on the plan to worry about the name. We spent many hours hashing out the details, who would go where and when, and what would happen in which order. We even had the time to make some contingency plans (Not that we would need them or anything). They say measure twice, cut once. We were about to make the cut of a lifetime, so we didn't cut (many) corners. When we were confident we'd accounted for all the possibilities, we gathered all the gear we would need and parted ways, travelling mostly separately so as not to raise any eyebrows. Everyone arrived in position at the right place and time, ready to play their role in our grand performance. OOC: Train heist crew to Po-Wahi. I'll set the scene in a post next week and then we can hit the ground running.

as a heads up, gonna be sparse posting for the next few days from me. When I'm less busy near the latter half of next week I'll get the train heist into its action phase, and respond to some others who are waiting.

OOC: Lets try to avoid autohitting. Just gonna ignore that. IC: Varqui [The Eyries, Jabbar Peak] Having successfully forced his attacker to dismount, Varqui pressed forwards. The Kaiakan's spears were excellent at controlling the range of a duel, but as Varqui stepped closer and closer after every dodge or parry, the spears became more unwieldy. At best, the shafts were bruising or scratching the Skakdi during some of the larger sweets, but there were no hits direct enough to pierce Varqui's armor. Soon, after hooking the intact spear to the side once more with his tool, Varqui leveled his shotgun at Tohmarr's chest. There was a whistle, a thunderous boom, and then much growling. The lizard's pounce had pushed Varqui's aim downward towards Tohmarr's legs, but he couldn't see how effective the buckshot's spread was as he began to tumble end over end under the force of the leaping lizard who had his right gauntlet firmly in its grasp. Varqui sneered in a growl as the fangs sunk into him, and furiously pressed a button that swung the spring-loaded arm blades outwards and into the mouth of the beast. Simultaneously, Varqui reached behind himself with his free arm and fired his grapple into the same tree Hadeel's arrow had sunk into not long before. After hearing it impact, he activated the winch, dragging him away from Tohmarr and taking the lizard with him for as long as it decided to continue biting down.

there was an issue that required the server to be rebooted. should be good now

IC: Varqui [The Eyries, Jabbar Peak] As Tohmarr expected, the unphased Vo-Skakdi did not back down. When the mounted warrior drew close, Varqui stood his ground, raised his right arm as if holding out a fist, and subsequently unleashed a plume of flame from his gauntlet. He waved the stream around at Tohmarr and his mount in wide circular arcs with his arm in an attempt to spook the beast. The flames also obscured Varqui from his opponent, but the Skakdi was able to use his X-Ray vision to see the incoming spear jabs before they crossed the cyclone of smoke and flame, deflecting the jabs away from himself using the hooked shape of his climbing pick in his other hand. With any luck, perhaps the wooden shafts of the spears would catch alight, if not the rider or his Rahi. While Varqui's right hand was tilted to the ground to clear his hand from the nozzle of his wrist flamethrower, it still tightly gripped the handle of his shotgun. He carefully crept forwards as he continued to burst flames and parry stabs, wanting to close the distance even further and keep the pressure on until he could find a devastating opening. Unlike his partner, Varqui didn't spare a single thought to consider communicating with the Kaiakan hunters. There would be no questioning, bargaining, or taunting - now was the time for action.

OOC: lets do this old school. crank up those video game soundtracks and epic battle music mixtapes, mes amis IC: Varqui [The Eyries, Jabbar Peak] It was rather fascinating, watching the mongrels move about from afar. Varqui panned his narrow cone of vision across the breadth of the settlement, scanning the environment while ignoring the minor distortions at the edges of lenses. Occasionally activating his X-Ray vision to get a peek inside th- Varqui didn't have time to ask if Merrill had heard that strange noise that almost sounded like "herself getting hit by an arrow" before he, too, felt a sharp pain. He also didn't have time to think about where said sharp pain was coming from because before he could even think of the proper combo chain of expletives to hurl at this situation, Merrill had already thrown the Vo-Skakdi off balance. Despite his herculean physique and the perfect balance of a free soloist, Varqui was at the distinct disadvantage of having been on one knee to stabilize the long zoom of his binoculars. Not to mention that for some strange reason his legs were not immediately obeying the commands of his superior intellect. But Varqui didn't have time to process all of that, he just knew that he was tumbling in a spin trying to stand and right himself with a Lester;Nii babe on his arm (but not in the good way!). The warlord caught a glimpse of some figure behind them as he made another rotation, before hearing the whistle of an arrow's fletching zip by where his face had been a moment before. Continuing on his orbit, Varqui saw the projectile embed itself into the trunk of a tree that had been in front of him with a cartoonishly resonating wobble. With a thunderous ROAAAAAAAAAAAR Varqui rallied his immense musculature to do the most strategically viable gambit - GET THIS WOMAN OFF OF HIM. As his rotation continued, the Vo-Skakdi had held out the arm Merrill clung to, grabbing the somewhat smaller frame of the Lesterin in his own hand in return. He put all his olympian strength into the heroic discus throw and let go, the centripetal force flinging Merrill in the direction of the assailant(s?). After the woman was airborne, Varqui continued his swing, his fist hitting the snow in a heroic pose before he used his arm to push himself to his feet and regain his balance. It was at this time he had a momentary reprieve to think. Tactically assess the situation as he watched Merrill spinning ludicrously mid air as the world seemed to come to a halt. The world was no longer spinning (well, aside from Merrill), and now Varqui could unleash his mind on the battlefield. SOMETHING'S IN MY A- Varqui began to think, though he channeled the rest of the thought into a much more productive battle cry that shook snow from the nearby trees and got his hydraulics pumping: "RRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!" The Vo-Skakdi began to charge, his spiked books pummeling the snow and gripping the stone beneath. Varqui's left hand grabbed one of his climbing picks while the other unholstered his shotgun, Thunder. He tried to catch up to Merrill and close the distance with the unknown bandit, saving his two shells of buckshot for when they would matter the most.

IC: Varqui [The Eyries] "What I am, is hungry," the Vo-Skakdi growled.

OOC: Change of plans, Quoribay is coming ~monday IC: Kreigero [Echelon's Lair] The only thing that surprised Kreigero was that there were no surprises. Syrik even walked back to where he started! Kreigero was relieved as there was more distance between her and the Toa, though it was hard to tell if that was unique, given the way she occasionally quivered from her wounds. She stood there for a moment, glancing to the crippled matoran. What's his endgame? The huntress felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked to the side, saw it was Savrehn, and then turned around to follow him. She moved all the medical supplies to be under her left arm, then carefully began to walk towards the gap in the icy walls where the Toa's footprints were still somewhat visible in the snow. Kreigero kept her right hand at her belt, even though her body screamed at her to wrap it around Savrehn for support. They weren't clear yet, she just had to hold out until out of sight of the strangers. Every step blended into the next, the universal numbness partly suppressing the all-encompassing aching shared by every limb. Kreigero's body had yet to completely fail her. All she could do was take one more step after the last, count the crunches in the snow, and wonder what in Mata Nui's name was going on.

IC: Varqui [The Eyries] The king-to-be was going to say something truly profound, but a strange event pulled his focus. A horn blew out thrice, the deep sound almost appearing to rustle the snow off nearby trees. He pulled out his spyglass and focused on the village below once more. Was something happening there? "What was that horn? Is this a call to prayer? Or perhaps dinner? Stay vigilant, Lester;nii - we may yet have the perfect opportunity to pilfer some of that poitín."