Bzprpg - Kumu Islets

[25K Now!]

IC:"The world constantly turns," it replied, voice still monotone, "yet our mortal being shall not be confined to constants."

[Let's Henshin!]

IC: Salvinn"Right." Salvinn stated, "Cool story mate, I'm deeply moved and all. Really deep philosophical stuff." He chuckled. "So what you're pretty much stating is that you were bored and just decided to help out."

[25K Now!]

IC:"Essentially."

[Let's Henshin!]

IC: SalvinnSalvinn burst out laughing, which was somewhat painful do to the nature of his broken back. "Mate, that's as good a reason as any I suppose."

Edited October 7, 2012 by Toa Onarax

[25K Now!]

IC:"Too much strain on the body is not very beneficial to your health," it said, helping Salvinn get to where Septimus had gone just before. "Your companion has not strayed too far."

[Let's Henshin!]

IC: Salvinn"Oh shut up mate, laughing is always healthy." Salvinn shot back, "And Sep, well the two of us never seem to go anywhere fast. Guess we're stuck on a permanent scenic route."

Edited October 7, 2012 by Toa Onarax

[25K Now!]

IC:"I cannot find amusement."

[Let's Henshin!]

IC: Salvinn"Come now mate," Salvinn said, snapping a finger off Soulgain's face, "The word's a funny place, life is funny, you need to learn to be able to laugh at it."

[25K Now!]

IC:Soulgain ignored the other being, before gesturing to where Septimus was travelling with Wraith. "Your companion is there. The other being is also looking for his own companion. They are working together to look for you and the other."

[Let's Henshin!]

IC: Salvinn"Yo Sep," I called out, "Don't tell me you were just gonna up and leave without me, I want in on any adventure you take part in." I chuckled, "I mean look, I already enlisted a new friend to help us out." I said, gesturing towards Soulgain.

[25K Now!]

IC: [septimus]Septimus turned, and and a grin crossed the Matoran's face. "Salvinn! You're okay!"

[Let's Henshin!]

IC: Salvinn"Course I am buddy," Salvinn grinned, his signature one as well, "It'll take more than some weird creep to finish me off. I mean come on, I'm the bearer of hope right, I can't be killed, just like hope can't be."

[25K Now!]

IC: [septimus]Septimus smiled back. "Heh. Anyway, this guy next to me is Wraith. He's current looking for the Seventh. Remember her?"

[Let's Henshin!]

IC: Salvinn "Hello Wraith, its nice to meet you, name's Salvinn." Salvinn stated holding out a hand, "As for Seventh, did you really think I could forget you're fiance, Sep? Of course I remember her. Last I saw she fell in the temple same as everyone else."

[25K Now!]

IC: [septimus]"She's not my fiancée!" said Septimus, waving around his hands. "Seriously!"

[Ghosthands]

IC (Lohkar)For the last few hours, a snoring had been audible from the Infernavika's hold.Lohkar had left to sell the unwanted armour plates, returned with suspiciously more money than they were worth, and then, having wandered off to contemplate his cunning plan, had inadvertently sat down, drunk some rum, and fallen asleep. The Lesterin was slumped between some barrels, his head drooping onto his chest."Plan! Find the monkeys," he muttered incoherently. "Then we'll have a tea-party."Still asleep, one arm reached out for a bottle of rum, groping uncoordinatedly. It brushed the bottle, grabbed, and missed. Lohkar woke with a start as the loud smash.He groaned."Waste o' good rum," he said sadly, before pulling himself to his feet. He staggered through the hold, and yanked himself up the ladder to the deck.Looking up at the sky, he could see the red tint of evening as the sun began to set. Dorian was nowhere to be seen."Lads!" he called to his crew. "Change o' plan. Or, more accurately, abandoning of said plan. Forget Dorian, forget the Mark Bearers. Y'know, I think I know what we've all been missin'."The pirate captain wore his signature grin."A bit o' honest pirating."

[shadow pridak money gang]

IC: On the docks of Xa-Koro, crowds oohed, aahed, and made other odd sounds as a magnificent ship came sailing into the berth right next to the Infernavika. Lohkar turned from his dwindled crew to see what all the hubbub was about and raised an eyebrow; the vessel was as large as the Infernavika but moved with a speed that topped even that of the Lesterin's vessel. Computerized tablets, like those the miners of Onu-Koro used for engineering, were built into the railing of the ship and the area next to the wheel of the new arrival. The words Southern Charm were emblazoned into the side in both Matoran and a more archaic, formal variant that Lohkar didn't recognize.Most surprising of all to the captain, though, was the man standing at the helm: a tall Skakdi of Stone who had the charming look of a man who'd stood out in a hurricane and then walked back inside, windswept and wild, an off-puttingly large grin on his face and an unlit cigarette hanging jovially from the right edge of his mouth, barely suspended over the deck by his incisors. His bright cornflower eyes shone like beacons as he turned to the Infernavika and waved."Hey, Lohkar!"-Teezy

[Snelly]

IC: Wraith - Kumu Islets -Wraith looked at Salvinn's hand for a moment, before shaking it. IC: Mimira - Infernavika -"A bit o' honest pirating."Mimira looked excited, they were finally gonna do something cool! "So like, we're gonna go find burried treasure?"

[Void Emissary]

IC: Gunner - InfernavikaWhen I'm surprised, I don't show it. When I'm happy, I don't show.When I'm royally irked I do show it. Usually with extremely unnecessary violence, and liberal cursing."Raknar," was the first thing I said when I saw the ship come into view, with the Skakdi of Stone standing at the ready on its decks, a ridiculous grin on his face.It was immediately followed by me taking another swig of alcohol, swallowing it willingly, despite its horrible taste.-Void

[Nuju Metru]

IC:Heuani could admit that Dorian's inner iron had taken him by surprise. The Toa certainly had a good deal of finesse with his element, and as Heuani felt his body harden, he knew that Dorian, if given enough time, could've killed someone this way. Heuani didn't intend to give much of that time, but he waited, waited long enough for the iron to integrate itself a little in his body. In this meantime, Dorian summoned himself a sword - pure iron, Heuani noted: that'd give out easily - and assumed a ready stance.Heuani laughed at ready stances.Anyone with normal strength would likely have been immobilized quickly by the iron coursing over their bones, but Heuani had been endowed, both by his creator and by his master, with the strength of many Toa. He flexed his fingers experimentally as Dorian crafted his weapon; they moved almost normally, only with less feeling. Catching Dorian off-guard with the rapidity of his movement - Dorian hadn't expected Heuani to maintain much of his speed in the face of inner iron trappings; but then again, Heuani at diminished speed was still hugely fast - the Toa of Shadow suddenly darted across the space between himself and Dorian. He ducked under the swipe of Dorian's new sword, ending in a crouch. From this crouch he used his whole body, channeling the energy into his iron-deadened, super-hard fist, to catch Dorian on the face with a vicious uppercut. Dorian careened back several steps, recovering balance just in time to be struck in the cut by one of Heuani's metal-infused feet, whereupon Dorian was lanced over to one side and hit a tree, the wind knocked out of him. The Toa of Iron's concentration broken, his element stopped its progress inside Heuani. "I like this," Heuani admitted coyly, slowly twisting his wrist to the scraping clack of metal-on-metal inside it. "Thank you for that. But whoever taught you this parlor trick clearly never expected you to try using it on somebody... well, somebody like me." He chuckled, walked over to Dorian. "You're not my toy?" the Toa of Shadow continued, grabbing the wheezing Toa of Iron by the face in his metal fingers, holding Dorian's chin firmly but gently; Dorian involuntarily shivered. "I beg to differ," Heuani said, raising his other hand and tracing the line of Dorian's jaw. Although Heuani couldn't feel the face with his metal-sheathed nerves, he knew that the effect was the same as normal; Dorian's eyes lost a little of their wariness in favor of interest. Heuani's teeth shone in the moonlight. "Look how you react to my touch. You're entirely compliant, if I want you to be... and I'm enjoying myself. What other functions does the perfect toy serve?"Heuani drew back his hands and stepped away. "I'm flattered by your sword," he said with a wink. "They say imitation is the sincerest form. Let's see how your imitation stacks up to my original." He drew his own rippling blade, translucent in the moonlight, twirled it a bit with as little regard as if he was twirling a twig. "Come on, pretty toy, what're you waiting for?"

[Krayzikk]

IC: Unexpectedly, the door to the Captain's cabin on board the Southern Charm opened.Even more surprising, a Toa strode out in several confident steps, carrying herself out onto the deck. The sun glinted off of her unfamiliar armor. After a few moments, a spark of recognition appeared in Raknar's eyes. Despite the change in armor, the arrival was unmistakable.She crossed her arms. "Not a bad ship you have here, Seprillan."

[Ghosthands]

IC (Lohkar)Lohkar turned as he heard a flapping of sails. Immediately he spotted a ship coming into port, sailing for the berth next to the 'Vika.One blue eyebrow rose.The ship was roughly the same size as the Infernavika, but the differences in design were immediately obvious; like all Lesterin vessels, the 'Vika was sleek and beautiful. The approaching ship was clearly of Skakdi design, and as such it looked like little more than an oversized tug. Outfitted with several incongruous additions (Lohkar noted several Onu-Matoran mining tablets, of all things) it had clearly been dressed up to look pretty, with about as much subtlety as a Skakdi in a tutu.As the Southern Charm approached, a group of female Skakdi on the dock began cooing - for at the helm of the rather ugly ship was the rather ugly captain. Lohkar's eyebrow moved up a notch.Raknar stood, hands on the wheel, a soggy-looking cigarette flopping limply at the edge of a grin so cheesy you could've melted it and served it as Ko-Koro Fondue.In short, Lohkar wasn't impressed."Raknar," he called casually, taking a swig of rum. "Fancy seein' you again."

[shadow pridak money gang]

IC: Dorian (Jungle, Kumu Islets)Damage report: bruised diaphragm. Split lip. Wounded pride. The former two would heal in due time; the pride thing would take a while longer, but as soon as I either killed Heuani or got him at least twenty miles away from me, it, too, would begin the recovery process. I forced myself up with the muscles in my legs, my hands not even brushing the ground as I stood up and pushed myself off the tree with the momentum of my elbows, focusing and coating my blade in a layer of Protosteel while the other duelist was distracted; this would help my sword stand up better to his. As someone who had already handled Heuani's weapon and scored a kill with it, I also knew its balance and striking ability. That would come in handy.I didn't bother dignifying Heuani's taunt with a reply, merely cracking my neck with my free hand before unfurling my scarf from my neck. Heuani smirked, and his chest pushed forward once with a snort of laughter; the Toa of Shadow assumed that my vanity was still so profound that I couldn't let anything happen to the accessory in battle. This was a mistake; with speed that surprised the Makuta's lieutenant, I shot the scarf forward and watched as it encased itself in serrated metal, sharp to the touch. The impromptu whip sheared through the thick trunk of a nearby tree, sending it toppling over where Heuani was standing.As I expected him to, he shadow jumped behind me, but I was ready for that, as well: I pivoted on my heel and held my flamberge up to chin level, creating a sword lock. I was strong - Fe-Toa natural strength was a beautiful thing, and even without an active Mark a Bearer had a small reservoir of extra strength - but Heuani had speed and strength beyond that of anything I'd ever fought, even Anthyn; slowly, my blade pushed closer and closer to my own face. Heuani's face was vindictive, still charming, but with a hint of ferality lurking just underneath his jawbones. It struck me suddenly that I actually had more prominent cheekbones than him; for a second, I was almost distracted enough to let the Toa of Shadow use my own blade to cut my face in half.CRACK!I pushed out with my mind suddenly into Heuani's right knee, focusing on the metal around the incubus' right MCL and jerking it to the right; Heuani was thrown temporarily off balance, clutching at his knee, and with the saber lock broken and his sword towards the ground, I delivered a swift kick into his chin and sent him back several paces, just as he had to me minutes before.-Teezy

[pokemonlover360]

IC Yasurek: Infernavika:Yasurek had retired to the crows nest after the attempt to actually get some answers out of Lohkar. He had been napping when he heard Lohkar's voice down from the deck below. Something about abandoning the Dorian plan and doing some actual pirating. Big whoop. Wait. Actual pirating? No more chasing pointlessly after random psychopaths for a nonexistent reward?I smiled to myself and looked down to the deck to express my happiness. Before I could say anything, another ship pulled up next to the Infernavika. It was like the Infernavika, except it had none of the charm. It did have computing pads from Onu-koro. Not sure how that happened or what they were supposed to do, but maybe the captain somehow thought he could pull up with a ship and assume it to be better than the 'Vika in every way. How wrong they were. Yasurek took a look at the captain, just to confirm his suspicions of his nature, only to find his former captain at the helm. Raknar, he thought. Are we seriously going to have a pointless ship battle in the middle of the dock area for Xa-koro? Seriously? Maybe we'll just have a nice chat. Maybe he'll leave us alone.You seem upset. I'm detecting loathing. That's good.It's not self loathing, it's Raknar loathing. There's a distinct and profound difference.Well that doesn't help me at all.Exactly. Now go away. That skadi thinks he can just come out of the blue with a new ship and act like just entering is enough to make somebody awesome. IT'S NOT THAT EASY! You have to work to be awesome! You have to do things! You probably stole that ship anyway! I hope it sinks from our cannons, you forgetful, lazy, hateful individual with little to no redeeming traits who acts like he's all that despite no evidence to back it up.Fortunately, Yasurek was a Ko-matoran, and thus had no problem concealing his mental rage behind a neutral face.

[Nuju Metru]

IC:Dorian's parlor trick had suddenly become a much more real threat for Heuani. The Toa of Iron's small buildups of his element inside Heuani's body were manipulatable, it seemed; Dorian exerted control over the metal he'd put into Heuani's knee and made the Toa of Shadow trip up long enough for Dorian to deliver a kick of his own. Heuani's head snapped backwards, and the Toa of Shadow raised his eyebrows with a slight wince as his vertebrae crackled. The grimace, though, was quickly replaced by a grin.Leaping back up with a remarkably agile snap, Heuani's sword became a glittering arc, silent through the air, that came around and hissed against Dorian's. The flamberge left a notch, and Dorian struggled to hold onto his ringing, vibrating weapon. Heuani struck with the pommel of his sword at Dorian's sword elbow, cracking against it and making Dorian's arm, for the instant of impact, assume an unnatural angle that incited a gasp of pain. Heuani held his sword up in front of his face to block an exhausted parry by Dorian's other arm, but felt the flamberge's wrist give out as Dorian once again took control of him. Vestiges of a smile vanished, Heuani pushed Dorian from behind using the shadow of a tree, sending Dorian flailing off-balance straight into Heuani's lashing knee. As Dorian bent double, Heuani elbowed him in the back of the neck. Dorian crumpled to the earth, but pushed himself up again and used Heuani's inner iron against him once again, popping Heuani's shoulder painfully. The Toa of Shadow took an instant to evaluate the situation - dark though it was in the jungle, his nocturnal eyes easily saw the sheen of sweat on Dorian's brow, and he clearly heard his labored breathing. The parlor trick, finessed as it was, clearly took a good deal of concentration and even more energy for Dorian. Heuani was far from panting, though the pain Dorian had inflicted still ached. This was the exploitable difference.Opting for a new attack, Heuani ensnared the Toa of Iron in vices of shadow at his wrists and ankles, using the shackling movement to slam Dorian into a nearby tree trunk back first. Dorian groaned as his injured body suffered once more, but Heuani soon muffled the Toa of Iron with another wisp of shade that began to smother him."You're a fun toy," Heuani said. "But don't get any delusions about your worth. I can go find another one."

[shadow pridak money gang]

IC: Dorian (Jungle, Kumu Islets)Images from around the last year flicked through my head like a cinema: the clearing, where I had first fought the other Mark Bearers. The hospital where I had broken out Hiemalis and first met Heuani. The duel with Brykon. The fight with Anthyn. The space inside the temple. Having my mind ransacked by any number of supernatural deities. Killing Naara in that god forsaken blizzard, leaving her buried under ten feet of snow rotting and not even bleeding despite the iron slug I'd pumped into her temple.Through all of these, one recurring thought, one motif that had never failed to do me any harm, played through my head: Don't let yourself die in this cesspool. Obviously, this could only mean that I hung around too many cesspools, but that wasn't the point; the point was that, if I truly put my head in the game, if I honestly put every ounce of morbid creativity and battle prowess I had into play, I could do things beyond that of a normal fighter, even without a Mark. My mental fortitude was where I derived strength, and I knew for a fact that if I steeled myself hard enough, I could hold my own against Heuani. I knew his game; I had been a disciple of it since my career as an assassin started, and I knew that I could ward off his charisma if I really tried. Well, it was time to try, otherwise, I'd be toasted.Don't let yourself die in this cesspool.My heartbeat and breathing rates, as I'm sure my regular readers remember, are lethargic and dangerous. Naara always marveled at them, called them a stark contrast to every rule of modern medicine, but it was all about the right techniques. Transcendental Meditation helped, I found early on in my career; breathing exercises, different methods of sleep and exercise, all of these things can combine to the point where your breathing rates can be three times below the normal average and you can still operate perfectly. So, for the moment, Heuani's shadow tendrils weren't a threat; if anything, they helped. I was pinned to the tree, unable to move, and this meant I had the opportunity to temporarily relax my muscles and concentrate on what was important.Don't let yourself die in this cesspool.I stretched out with my mind, with that tough as nails fortitude that I'd prided myself on developing over the decades, and reached into every spot of metal I'd dropped inside Heuani's body. Against his will, I heard him let out a sharp breath in pain as I began to stretch them and pull them, pulling him into several different awkward poses and finally pushing them all out in opposite directions. Now it was a game of waiting: Heuani could either attempt to smother me with shadows, or I could shatter his skeleton at the seams and watch him collapse like a puppet with its strings cut.Don't let yourself die in this cesspool.-Teezy

[25K Now!]

IC: Lasinia"Oh hi there Captain Skakdi!"

[Nuju Metru]

IC:Heuani hadn't experienced this kind of pain for a long time. The feeling of being rent apart from the inside was not a pleasant one, and Heuani knew that, strong as his body was, he would not be able to resist the pull indefinitely. The Toa of Shadow's handsome face contorted as the sinews in his body were pulled in directions they were never supposed to be pulled in, as his muscles burned when the bones beneath them flexed. It was excruciating, and Heuani decided that it was time to end things. The Toa of Shadow had found Dorian and he had intended to play a little with him, subdue him, and then enrapture him as he'd enraptured countless others; Dorian, though, had a remarkable levelheadedness, and inconvenient practice with a deadly trick. He played Heuani's game too well.In short, Dorian would've been more trouble than he was worth. Heuani slipped mentally out of his body for an instant, leaving behind its tortured frame for long enough to summon the shadows of a tree and leash them to his will. With the shadow of one thick branch and an agonized growl, Heuani smashed Dorian's head, striking the Toa of Iron unconscious. Heuani felt his body return to his control; it still throbbed in every stressed joint, but as soon as Dorian had been knocked out, his influence was cut short. Heuani let the bonds holding Dorian fade, and Dorian's limp body fell into the damp earth, the side of his head somewhat dented. The Toa of Shadow groaned a little as he bent over and picked up Dorian's body, leaning it against the tree. Pensively, Heuani traced his finger along some of the lines of Dorian's body, remarking that he still felt nothing in his fingertips. It was a little unnerving that, even after Dorian was unconscious, mouth slightly open, his iron residue remained. Heuani flicked himself in the forearm - he felt that from his forearm, but not his fingers. It was only the nerves of his digits, it seemed, that had been affected. Curious: he would find a way to restore the touch to his fingers, somehow. Heuani picked up Dorian's sword and his own flamberge, and thought about decapitating Dorian. He decided that would have been too quick. Instead, a hand of his shadow raised Dorian a few feet off the ground, sliding him further up the trunk. Once at a certain height, Heuani took the Toa of Iron's sword and thrust it with all the power his weakened joints could muster through Dorian's abdomen and deep into the tree behind him, pinning Dorian like a butterfly to the wood. He used his own sword, quiet and nigh-invisible in the darkness save a few glimmers of refracted moonlight, to nip off the small iron spike Dorian had used to pierce the lightning bug earlier. This needle and its specimen he fixed into the tree next to Dorian's face with another fine hand of shadow.After an approving glance, Heuani dissolved into the dark of the earth, his joints too sore for him to do much walking. He melted into the black at his feet as though it was a deep pool of water, leaving Dorian knocked out and skewered in his wake.Heuani hoped that Dorian would regain consciousness in time to die.

[Cadias]

IC: TellusTellus, like many of the crew, had been taken a nap after repairing the hole in the side of the ship. He was awoken by distant yelling. Glancing out of a porthole, he saw a ship that hadn't been there before. There was someone on deck.... looked like a Skakdi..... looked like......... RAKNAR?! The same Raknar that had left him in Xa-Koro!Tellus ran up on deck, squinting at the other ship and yawning. Were those Onu-Koran mining tablets? Who would put those on a ship? Water and Onu-Koran tablets rarely mixed well. With a frown, he somewhat slowly read the other ship's name. "The Southern Charm? What type o' name is that supposed ta be?"

[otter]

IC-Verak:"Who even knows, Tellus?" Verak commented, standing beside the carpenter. "He's Raknar-we can't expect him to make sense."

[Cadias]

IC: Tellus"Aye, true that," the Toa agreed. "What's that writin' under 'er name supposed ta be? Do ye think Raknar's finally lost it?"

[otter]

IC-Verak:"I'm not certain, but when I learned about ship building, they also used some old ships as examples. I think it's just a formal version of the same name." Verak shrugged."But Raknar has lost it, I'll agree to that."

[Ghosthands]

IC (Lohkar)"Raknar never had it in the first place," said Lohkar.

[Cadias]

IC: Tellus"Aye, there's little doubt about that. Why would 'e go an' put minin' tablets on 'er, of all things?" Tellus shook his head. "Did ye hear that we've got a monkey named after 'im now?" Hearing Lohkar, Tellus grinned. "I suppose that we should find out what 'e wants?"

[otter]

IC-Verak:"It's possible that the tablets could have been reconfigured into navigational aids," Verak supplied, but then he smiled. "That, or Raknar wants to go and drill for oil in the sea. Not sure."And I bet he's going to either A: Give us an offer to work with him, B: Try to take us over, or C: Drive us insane by going on and on about how useful working with him would be, and then taking us over." He smiled again."Then there's option E: Take the monkey and switch their brains. I saw we take secret option F."

[Cadias]

IC: Tellus"Navigational aids? .... I suppose it's possible." Raising an eyebrow, he added, "Option F? What's that?"

[shadow pridak money gang]

IC: Raknar (Southern Charm, Xa-Koro)..."I came for supplies, actually!" he yelled back to the crewmen debating on Lohkar's deck.-Teezy

[otter]

IC-Verak:"Insult him until he goes away, or starts a fight. If he starts a fight, we completely dominate him, expel him from the docks, claim the ship and everything aboard as our property, take what we want, and sell the rest for three times what it's worth, of course," Verak said with a perfectly straight face.

[Cadias]

IC: Tellus"Oh, ye mean the pirate option! Aye, that 'un's a good 'un." Hearing Raknar, he lowered his voice."If we're goin' ta take option F, I'd recommend waitin' until 'e's gone an' picked up the supplies first. Does 'e 'ave any crewmen, I wonder?"

[otter]

IC-Verak:"Not certain," Verak replied, lowering his voice as well. "Though I'm fairly certain that Toa that just walked on their was an old crewmember of his, and if I'm right, we'd better be very careful."