Kalama and Ta Rahkshi

OOC: Toa going down!IC: WHAM!Hotu ignored the snowballs breaking against her tackling JL's legs sending the Toa down to the ground. She wasn't interesting in play fighting. She wanted to teach the Toa she was NOT interested in being a free target! Quickly scrambling to her feet she pounced on the Toa and proceeded to pummel him.Lei cartwheeled away from Xibre's attack and Thama before launching two snowballs at both Xibre and Sisk.

Ah, good, you're thinking now.So far we've been keeping Ga-Koro alive thanks to gathered intelligence for a forewarning. Grouping of enemies, locations, actives, etc. As for the current situation we've been instrumental in keeping Chronicler's Company members alive for further questioning. Granted I'm holding off on doing that for now until Tuck gets back as they won't have any useful information until then....perhaps that's why Emzee hasn't targeted me yet...Some traps you can't always foresee. That's why they're traps. Those you can you have to decide, can it be avoided, disarmed, or is the gain of activating it worth more than the risk? Sometimes setting a trap off on purpose can play to your advantage. Being taken captive and then escaping can allow you to gain more intelligence then if you stormed the castle so to speak.As for the Mangaia problem, easily dealt with in the same fashion as seen in Return of the King in LotR. Bait the enemy out with a show of force and then hope your small Commando infiltrator team deals the blow to necessary leadership to break command. Why go into their territory and fight the masses there when you can lure them out and fight on your terms? While that's happening the small easily missed elite strike unit slips in to assassinate everybody behind their own front?

The Ghekula Raiders are a purely offensive arm of the Marine Corps and the Ghekula branch as a whole. They are meant to go out and gather intelligence that allows Marine High Command to figure out the plans of Makuta so that they can organize the troops to defend and counter attack. The more balanced Ghekula are just simply known as "Ghekula" and not "Ghekula Raiders".On top of that, defensive operations are left more to the infantry style "Seaborne Raiders", "Coastal Patrol", "Heavy Support" branches of the Marines. The more massive visual assaults are also done by the Seaborne Raiders and Heavy Support groups. Very rarely will Ghekula take the field openly. They mix themselves in with the Seaborne Raiders so that you can't tell them apart. Some Ghekula actually pose as Seaborne. Obviously my Raider's don't.That's very true that without my Raiders, Ga-Koro is a little more defenseless but by being out away from Ga-Koro they're taking the fight to the enemy's origins. It's difficult to assault someone's base if yours is getting gutted. Kotu always has the option of recalling the Marines home if necessary. Should a wandering Marine unit find intelligence of a plot to attack Ga-Koro, Kotu can recall the necessary forces to prepare. But they can't find this intel if they're stuck at home just waiting for an attack.

"Enlighten me on 'How complicated' Tank." Vakama said. "Once you find these other Mark holders, how do you intend to control them? By the sound of it you barely have control over your own mark and you can't controls others with it." He said sound skeptical of Tank's plan. "It would be far safer to simply keep you locked up for your own good.""...Turaga if I may suggest something."Vakama turned to Dren. "Yes?"Dren tapped his chin thoughtfully."What if... we release these two to go and track down the others?""Then what Dren?""Tank said he'd gladly serve his time once we got this taken care of. What if... we do have a wing in another block that's currently vacant. After Tank and Utu gather up as many Mark holders they can, they return here. We lock them up in the wing and let them figure out how to gain control of these marks."Vakama contemplated this. "This... is a sound plan. The Guard could locate any Mark holders and Tank and Utu shall fetch them and bring them here. We shall isolate them in this wing where they shall learn to control these dark marks. If they are successful perhaps we could turn a curse..." The Turaga's eyes went back to Tank's mark. "...into a blessing." He chuckled. "Using Makuta's own gift to you against him. That would really be poetic justice."He thumped his staff once. "It is settled! This is my judgment and let it be recognized! I charge you, Toa Tank and Toa Utu, to go forth and travel Mata-Nui. You will find those that bear these cursed Marks and bring them here to be isolated so that they can learn. Should you succeed in gaining power over the evil that influences them, you shall be released to fight against the forces of darkness that threaten our island!""Do you think it wise to let them travel alone?" Dren asked."No Dren they won't be." Vakama pointed at Tuara. "You will accompany them and act as my enforcer, as you already know the location of a third." He handed the Toa an emblem. "Should anyone question as to why they are free, use this so that they will know it was my decision."With that, Vakama departed the cell block.Dren looked back at the three Toa. "Well, I guess you guys are free to go on a temporary basis." He unlocked Tank and Utu's cells before kicking Utu in the shin to wake him up. "Wake up! You're going on a trip!" Dren turned to Tuara. "Ga-Koro is Marine Corps jurisdiction. Luckily I happen to know people there that should help make your lives easier. If you're having trouble, seek out Lanora 'the Merciless'. Tell her Dren send you and she'll help you out no problem. Shouldn't be too hard to find her. She's the Master Chief Petty Officer of the Marine Corps."

OOC: And it ain't gonna be you.IC: Lei bounced off the wall vaulting over Agarin and Tanuka taking the time to use both Toa as a stepping stone to continue her flight before catching onto Thama and sliding down the other Toa before retaliating from behind Thama's legs.

Huh... I did not know talking was canon.That's short term and long term terror Onarax.Sure them appearing and vanishing might cause more terror then an extended stay but eventually that particular fear is going to die down, especially after 100 years of not being around. In fact it might cause their next appearance to cause nothing to happen. As one gets used to fear like that, nothing scares you anymore.If they stick around longer to continually cause terror, THAT would actually add up in the longer run.Think about it. Short term you'll cause a "what was THAT?" response but utterly achieve nothing.Long term you'll wear down the military's moral turning them into tired, beaten, useless soldiers. Without an effective defense, the villagers may as well surrender. Bloodless victory.Comparing to the RL war on terror, notice how effective Osama bin Laden was in the early stages making appearances every so often to put pressure on the civilian populace. However as he went longer and longer without an appearance, he made the public skeptical if he was even alive. Same thing applies here. If Makuta doesn't make regular appearances it will embolden the Matoran to keep fighting. Regular displays of power but not so regular you can tell the time of day by what happens is how you would keep the fear in the Matoran's lives.

Lei countered this by leaping straight up into the air easily high enough to clear a Muaka. Provided it hadn't extended it's neck.Small wonder she'd cleared that Rahkshi.As both snowballs fell uselessly to the ground, Lei rained down snowballs from her elevated position before landing and rolling left before running along the wall firing a fourth one at Xibre.

That IS the fear factor. The Rahkshi themselves are so dangerous it makes people scared of what other nastier surprises he has in store.Level 5-6's ARE as smart as Toa and are capable of reasoning on their own not requiring Makuta to direct them. He gives them an objective and they will fulfill it on their own. Level 6's are the apex of Kraata maturity and power and Rahkshi with them should not be taken lightly.Level 7's are dangerous however. GaliGee if anyone remembers, explored the Rahkshi in her epic MAKUTA ISLAND. Level 7's can talk in that story. I don't see why they can't here as they probably ARE smarter than Toa.This is where I'm basing a lot of my own assumptions from. The epic did survive and it's where I'm getting the Rahkshi names from.

Lei vaulted Xibre's projectile as it narrow scrapped across her back counterattacking as she twisted in the air."Show off." Kali said.

Search me. To me honestly recalling the Rahkshi after revealing them is... moronic.The Rahkshi are essentially Bioweapons. The armor is nothing more than extra protection and mobility for the Kraata who at lower levels are compelled to seek out and infect Kanohi. That's their base purpose. Any Kraata at any level that comes in physical contact with a Kanohi will infect it. Levels 1-3 are little more than animals and can't really comprehend orders Makuta gives them. They are simply driven by an instinct to infect Kanohi. They get smarter though as the levels increase. Level 4-6 ARE capable of comprehending and carrying out Makuta's wishes. A Rahkshi is only as smart as the Kraata piloting it. The extra powers given to each Rahkshi via breed is simply an extra protection factor but could also be considered a second bioweapon option.Level 7's obviously are exceptionally intelligent and can infect Kanohi from a distance. However they are incredibly rare.History teaches us we can't really control bioweapons. Once unleashed, the only way to stop it, is to destroy it. So Makuta can't really 'recall' the Rahkshi, especially those piloted by level 1 Kraata. He might be able to nudge them in a direction but stop them?Not even Makuta can do that. They can't understand him and won't obey.Since they're unleashed he may as well use them as extra pressure and fear factors in his campaign of terror.As for foils, understand they're woven into the plot to buy time as layers but a dedicated force constantly working to seriously mess them up won't be stopped by one foil. They'll keep digging and sabotaging until he's down for good.

"Oh you are SO DEAD!" Hotu snarled charging JL."Don't break too many limbs." Maya called back to her."Hotu or JL?" Lei asked."Hotu. It's not her I'm worried about. She breaks too many of his limbs and we really will get slowed down.""HUP!" Lei slid underneath Xiber's attack before flipping over JL's. "Nyaaaa! Can't touch me!" She fastballed another snowball at JL.

True Onarax. That doesn't mean he can't use his agents, the Rahi, and the Rahkshi as he did during the Quest for the Masks. Also Mask of Light shows us that he doesn't have to leave his lair to put in "appearances" so to speak. While physically he would be incapable of moving, he has shown mental capabilities that allow him to do such things.Thus the question of why he hasn't moved yet is still unanswered. It can't be to take over a giant robot so obviously he's going for a bloodless victory. However that would still require utilizing terror tactics to keep people away from his master plans so as to prevent disruption. Otherwise someone is going to get curious enough to dig through the layers. That's bad as that would throw a monkey wrench in the works. Feints and misleading others is all well and good but such plans are simply to buy more time to allow the true plot to come to fruition.If we do want to use the Sherlock Homes and Professor Moriarty comparison. Most of the time, Homes was able to foil Moriarty's plots. However Homes was never able to link Moriarty to the crime. THAT'S what made him a mastermind. With no evidence to build a case against Moriarty himself, he could never prove his guilt which is why Moriarty was able to walk away free every time.Foils are plots designed to be discovered quickly to send someone in the wrong direction. However it's meant to buy seconds, not years as by the time the foil is found out, it's only seconds before it's discovered as false and the detective is able to back track and find the true path. Foils work best when executed just seconds before your true plan comes to light. If executed too early, chances are high your actual plan will get found out before it's ready and it's thwarted. The direct approach is often how plans actually achieve their end goal. The layers are just to buy time.

"Nope! I am one hundred percent pure blue Ga-Matoran!" She twirled before Sisk which served three main purposes. The first of which was to show off for Sisk again. The second was an evasive measure against Xibre's wildly thrown snowball (intended for Kalama who simply leaned out of the way). The third of which allowed for Lei to scoop up yet another snowball while evading Xiber's and counterattacking.Kalama simply leaned the other way as the snowball bypassed his face and went hurtling towards Xiber.

OOC: Kalama knows this. He's mocking the situation.IC: Lei paused before grinning. "I'm Santa Matoran!" She said cheerily before shaking the snow off. She quickly scraped up another snowball and ran towards the two before running up the rock wall and hurling a snowball at Sisk before leaping off and tumbling in front of them quickly hurling a second toward Sisk.

Well there is that but considering I know the location of two surviving members of the company I'm surprised Emzee hasn't seen fit to descend on my head yet as he's already offed Hafu (sort of) and Tamaru, Kapura and Taipu are missing until Tuck gets back, leaving him with the goal of silencing Macku and Kopeke. By now it's known the Raiders know where they are and that makes me the primary target.I crafted the characters to be a threat to Makuta's plans fully prepared for a gauntlet of death and so far I am... underwhelmed. The declaration of increased mortality rate by Tuck is comparable to that really awesome movie trailer and you're really excited about the movie but like the game play I've experience so far...I was much better off saving the 8 bucks I paid for the movie and just watching the trailer online for free again.Consequently, the most challenging fights I've had were the ones I set up for myself. Makes me wonder if I should follow suite and get a refund on this game.We'll see. I'll run the Tarakava Raid first.

"We've been steadily walking for the last several minutes. You didn't notice?" Kalama said. "Ah well that tends to happen when one is having fun."PIFF! A snowball flew from behind Sisk catching him in the back. Lei fell over laughing.

Vakama had not taken his eyes from the Mark even as he listened to Tank.As the Toa finished, the Turaga drummed his fingers on the fire staff he carried thoughtfully."What do you think Dren?""Me sir?""You've been here listening to their tale. Same as I have. Surely you have an opinion.""I'm just a Guardsman.""An ELITE Guardsman no less. You were chosen for that because your superiors trusted your judgment. I placed your superiors in the position they are now because I trust their judgment. In a round about way you could say I must then trust YOUR judgment."Dren nodded his head. "Then I am honored you feel that way. As for my opinion, I'm skeptical of the whole thing but if it really is true then it could be a danger if there are more and they have no control. Still, arcane marks? This would be something I would rather have the Academy in Ga-Koro study, it's more of their area anyway. I did however see SOMETHING that warrants examination that could give some hint of truth to their words when they were apprehended.""Indeed?" The elder of Ta-Koro turned back to Tank. "If what the Guardsman says is true and I BELIEVE him to speak not lies then before I render my judgment, I have a simple question for you Toa." He fixed the Toa with a stare that bore into the Toa's eyes as if searching for deceit in the Toa's next words."Should I release you. What will your plans be?"

Tanuka cocked her head. "So you were scared but were you worried you wouldn't live?" She asked."Anybody else get the feeling most of our comrades are barely older than Lei?" Kali asked."Little bit." Hotu said. "They do act like a bunch of teenagers gossiping about who likes who.""Psst. Don't tell anyone but I think Cyrax has competition from Ara'kas for JL." Kalama mock whispered to Kali who promptly whacked him upside the head. "Don't encourage them!"Kalama shoved her and Kali ended up in the path of Nen's snowball. She was promptly rolled up in it much to the enjoyment of the Marines.Nen's large snowball sprouted blades before disintegrating as Kali cut her way out. She leveled a blade at Kalama."You'll pay for that one Commander.""I'm shaking in terror. No wait, that's just the wind chill."

While a genius explanation to explain the absence of the staff, it doesn't fit the whole "Terror Campaign" psychological standpoint.Makuta uses fear to keep the populace in line, similar to how many tyrannical dictators keep power. The most basic and effective is a show of force. Usually marching troops around or razing villages and the like. A lazy Makuta your theorizing wouldn't bother to react to anything short of his plans being truly threatened and if he has layered them so he always wins, there wouldn't be a need to ever react at all.That would make him non-existent. He just sit around waiting for a bunch of Toa to descend into the Mangaia to try their luck at actually threatening his existence. To me this is another plot error. Both the inhabitants and Makuta are wide open for an attack from ether side and for some reason nether one is budging.It's understandable why the Matoran aren't budging. If Makuta really is this unkillable force, they need his Achilles Heel. From the canon story it's ether the right person or overwhelming force. We've got the latter so why are we waiting?As for Makuta, well he's not budging because... well he's got the numbers for a clean sweep. Why hasn't he made a move yet? There's no 'real threat' since apparently you all believe he doesn't feel threatened. The only reason I can't seen him making a move yet is because the Matoran will resist. He hasn't broken their will yet and he can only do that through pressure and fear. If he's being lazy he's not doing ether.To be honest. I don't feel threatened ether. I keep hearing promises of character death from the staff and the closest any of my characters have come was minor injuries from friendly fire incidents. Some band aids and time away from action and they'll be fit again. I'm not really feeling the 'Fear' here and I'm getting the sense that Makuta is rapidly becoming nothing more then a bad tale. So ether the Toa Mata have succeeded becoming martyrs in the process and we've spend the last 100 years doing clean up work or this game is really broken.

"Laaaaa dadadadeeeeeeee! Ladedadaedaeadedadadoooooooo-OW!""I said no theme songs Tawk.""Mew?"Kylina sighed shaking her head. "Don't. Start.""Mew? MEW! Mewmewmewmewmew!""You did not forget to learn how to talk Tawk. Now knock it off and land this bird. Maybe they've at least transferred the good stuff somewhere else...""They never make it good anywhere else..." Tawk said sadly."Hey Kylina!""What Mawl?""NOTIT!""NOTIT!""NOTIT!""NOT-" Kylina face palmed."First round is on you!" Xavier laughed."Fine but I'M picking!"

"Um... Thank you." Tanuka said smiled somewhat embarrassed unused to the praise. "You did well yourself."Silence."Agarin I have to ask you something... were you... nervous at all with that Rahkshi bearing down on you?"

"ENOUGH!" Nala snapped with such a ferocity both Toa jumped.She fixed them both with a predatory glare and a snarl to match that of a Muaka."We've already made enough forward progress. Let's not go backwards! For now there will be no apologizes but you two need to quit with the accusations! You succeed as a team and yes, YOU FAILED AS A TEAM." She let these words echo before continuing."In order for you to get past this, you will need to learn to recover AS. A. TEAM. Everybody is at fault, everybody shares the same blame. This means you need to accept the fault you recognize as yours and not stack more blame on anyone else. If you two need to fight to get this stacked up Maha Dung off your chests to make yourselves feel better then quit snarling like two chained hounds and tear each others' throats out already!" Nala removed herself from around Alrin's shoulders and dropped off the Toa landing on the dirt."And you call yourselves teammates. Pathetic. I've met Sanctum Guard more friendly to Marines then you two are to each other and that's saying something! If you really want to move past this then no. No more IF's AND's or BUT's. If you want to move on then you need to accept what has happened and face forward. One cannot see what is coming if one is continually facing backwards dwelling on what she has seen. Trust me, what's coming is far more interesting than what lies behind."

"Not at." She winked at him. "I did zip away rather suddenly didn't I? Ah well, as such is life. So what is this sob story that has you fighting personal demons and the like?"

Nala gave him a flat look. "Careful Alrin..." she said in a warning tone. "Being the one to personally extinguish the life of another is one thing. Letting emotions in like that is... dangerous. While I do not feel remorse for taking another's life, I take no solace in such things as 'seeing the fear in their eyes fade'. It's that very line that borders on 'Monster'. You and I both agree that's not a path we should take. It's one I do not walk and one you want to stop walking down. It's the same Path the Makuta has already walked down."Nala started tracing line down the side of Alrin's mask. "It's a pity others don't want to understand just how dark the shadows really are. They cling to ignorance just hoping it will all go away. It won't Alrin but I don't need to tell you that. You're just starting to understand our plight and your own. Makuta will strike again soon. He never waits too long. He needs to keep the fear in the populace and he can't do that by letting us get too comfortable. We're already used to the cycles that come and go. At this point we've just about had enough. The breaking point is coming soon Alrin, his power will be fading. Nothing lasts forever."She tapped his mask twice. "Nether will this grief. It will pass one way or another and leave you feeling directionless. Which way you choose will depend on your perspective. As you get older you learn as I have, the best things in life, find you."

"We'll keep going once Nuraka finishes taking that thing apart.""Done!" The shipwright said as the armor fell apart. She grinned. "Construction is hard. DEstuction is easy. A 4-year-old could have done this.""Why would I want a child when I have a perfectly good Nuraka?" Kalama asked."Search me sir." She said grinning. "I'd have to question your command skills if you requisitioned THAT.""Good thing you don't have to then. Can you keep going Kali?""Yeah." She said standing up. "Still a little numb here and there but I'm good to fight.""Let's keep going to Rock Frost then." Kalama shouldered his shields and lead the way into the pass."Good fight." Juno complimented Tanuka as she went past."Er... thanks." Tanuka said unsure of what to make of the compliment.