Trespassers V2: Tales of the Masks [IC]

[Chevaleresse]

Hiroki visibly jumped at the movement, or rather the results of such. That was fairly low on the list of things she'd expected from that. Perhaps not unexpectedly, she didn't quite get what Cell was trying to say; to her it looked like some kind of intimidation tactic, as unnerving as the sight was. "Um, okay. . .?" She shook her head, trying to get back to the topic. A way to survive underwater. They'd need a way to breathe down there, and probably one that wouldn't stop working at the slightest provacation. She'd suggest scuba tanks or something, but she doubted they had any of those lying around in a place like this. They could check out that shrine, but that might just waste time they didn't have. 

 

An idea occurred to her as she glanced in Soryn's direction, as he discharged the electricity from Jade. "Um, Soryn? Do you know, um, what electrolysis is?"

[Unlurking Sentinel]

As Cicivexa listened to Halhi's reassurance of the stones' secrecy, a foul realization hit him. This is what we all get for trusting that snake, for even a moment! He waited until after they left the caverns before explaining to the others, while they were bathed in the light. 

 

"Makuta may not know where the stones are, but Medusa does. You told her, even gave her names of locations. If we do not make haste, they'll all shortly be under his guard! For all we know, they may already be! Halhi, Nuparu, do you both know how to locate and identify the stones? Because if so, I suggest we split up to cover more ground."

[StormLord]

Cell's shoulders slumped forward and he shook his "head".  It didn't seem to have worked in the slightest, so instead he found a roughly clear patch of dirt, a stick of some sort, and started crudely drawing, grumbling all the while.

 

Eventually he stood back up pointed down at what he'd just made, the words "I NO BREATH" in haphazard shapes.

[DragonRage]

"We know the general area only," Halhi shares, "The Turaga wouldn't share the specifics with anyone, for this exact scenario.  And also because they hid the things a thousand years ago.  They might not remember the exactly where the stones are anymore."

[Unlurking Sentinel]

"You still know more than we do, and either way, what I needed to know was if you had equal knowledge. My plan is, Halhi, the earth elemental, and the man in silver and blue will head over to where the Fire Stone is being guarded, and warn its guardian of the dangers Medusa poses. He needs to know of this new threat, I assume he trusts Halhi, and that the earth elemental knows the most about the gorgon's capabilities. After that, they will travel to the water stone. The man in silver and blue will use the Kanohi Kaukau, while Gozer and Halhi provide support. I doubt an earth elemental needs to breathe, and you yourself said that blue armor is associated with water, so you can probably provide support from near the surface of the ocean."

 

Cicivexa, interpreting Cell's crude attempt at writing, noted "Perhaps the silver aberration here can also join the water stone party, if it wishes to. As for the rest of us, we shall journey to either the rock stone or the ice stone, whichever is nearer to us. Halhi, which stone's approximate location is nearer?"

[Strider]

"I'm not sure how good an idea splitting up is. That. . . did not lead to good things last time my group did that. But I don't have anything better to suggest myself, given our current time crunch." This new person, Cicivexa? was at least producing ideas and trying to get things moving. That wasn't a bad thing.

 

"I do think, if we are splitting up, that something needs to be addressed. We need a meeting place, and a time to meet up again. Comms would be idea, and while I've got some inbuilt into my suit. . .body? I think? That doesn't help for anyone else though. . ."

[Unlurking Sentinel]

"The location won't be too hard to figure out. How about the beach where we all first met? No, that's too open, and we would be dead if it were nighttime by then. Halhi, Nuparu, do you know the locations of the most supplied villages on the island, and how close they are to the general areas of the Water, Rock, and Ice stones?"

"As for communication... I don't have an answer for that yet. My linkpearl wasn't taken with me when I found myself in the castle, and I doubt it would interface with what's in your suit. Smoke is a possibility, but it would be slow and easy for our enemy to notice. And the time..." He tried to suss out how long they had been on the island, from memory. 

Edited February 16, 2019 by Unlurking Sentinel
I misinterpreted something concerning our location, so I changed it

[Chevaleresse]

"We really, um, shouldn't split up. None of, um, us know anything about the island." She took a deep breath, then continued. "We'll be able to fight past the Makuta's monsters, um, faster if we stay together, and the, um, extra time won't matter if someone gets lost or killed trying, um, to get the stone. We just need to pick a stone and go for that one. Probably one that, um, we can actually get to, first."

[StormLord]

Cell took a bit of a step back at Cicivexa's suggestion before shaking his "head" back and forth quickly.

 

He waited a minute trying to puzzle out a response when Hiroki beat him too it, so instead he gave her an thumbs up and nodded several times in agreement.

[Unlurking Sentinel]

The shadows surrounding Cicivexa's mask briefly intensified with annoyance, before returning to before. "I seem to have miscommunicated certain specifics. My mistake. My greatest two concerns are, firstly, the safeguarding of the Fire Stone, which is currently guarded by an individual who has yet to be informed of how the situation has gotten unpredictably worse. My second, perhaps more pressing concern, is how we'll be able to get the Water Stone in the first place. Here, I make two assumptions: firstly, that Makuta has yet to know the location of the Water Stone, and has not sent Rahi to protect it, but that Dackly shortly will inform him of the location, thus necessitating speed. Secondly, that there is simply not enough equipment on this island to get us all down to the depths where the water stone lies, meaning that only a small group of ours can reach it. Splitting up, therefore, is required to even reach the water stone. I merely wish to take this poor-yet-mandatory tactic and ensure that it gives us as much value as we can get. Furthermore, your assertion that none of us know the island is ignoring Halhi and Nuparu, who while not perfect guides, were able to lead us to the Earth Stone where we would have been unable to find it. I only ask we split into two groups, one with Halhi and the other with Nuparu. Halhi's group, including at minimum Dackly's Elemental and the man next to it, warns Captain Jaller of Medusa, and then travels to find the Water Stone. Nuparu takes the rest of us to find either the Ice or Rock Stones, whichever is closer to our current location. The Air Stone is right out, as Makuta most definitely already knows its location, rendering the speed advantage negligible and the lack of numbers deadly. Unless either of the Matoran have a better location in mind, we will meet back up at the beach where we first came here. If any of us have a method of telling the time, we will meet back up in three hours."

 

The lalafell's babbling was swift and difficult to understand, though evidently not on purpose. 

 

"Do you all understand? Have I missed anything?" 

[Chevaleresse]

"I, um, still think it's not a good idea. We don't know if, um, the place the Water Stone is dangerous." She had followed what he had said, barely. Hiroki hadn't made it this far by not being able to take in information quickly, after all. "It would be, um, better to leave it for later, so we can try to find some, um, useful things for getting down there." At the very least, the weird headless guy seemed to agree with her. That was. . . good? Edmond had similar thoughts as well. "We should just, um, get the Fire Stone as a group, then go, um, for the Rock Stone, then the Ice Stone, then the Air Stone. All of those, if we can get, um, them to do anything, could help us get the Water Stone."

[Stalkerkain]

"By the sound of it, you seem to be suggesting an application of the sciences, Hiroki," he said. But he shook his head in response. "However, I'm afraid I'm unfamiliar in matters regarding scientific application, beyond the fact that you are referring to electricity. Not to mention that I'm unsure if the applications of your world would apply here in our strange... environment," as he was referred to their physical transformation and the changed nature of his abilities. Was he even a vampire anymore? Soryn decided not to pursue this train of thought, lest it led to some sort of existential crisis.

 

"But if it is something I am able to do, I will gladly lend my assistance. Otherwise, I would much prefer to tackle the Stones that have a more... clear-cut approach to them and worry about the Water Stone at a later point."

[Strider]

"Electrolysis is water splitting, we could make oxygen and hydrogen from water with electricity. I would worry about excess carbon dioxide though. . . it might be feasible if we had some kind of pipe and a reservoir. Create oxygen and put it in the reservoir, breathe from that, and then just let go of the pipe to breathe? But no, then you have high pressure oxygen and I'm pretty sure that's also not great. . ."

 

"Would it be feasible to perhaps swap the mask around? It would be tedious, and difficult perhaps, but we could maybe have the electrolysis as a backup. I do agree though that we should get others first. It's a situation with no good options, and I believe the best chance is in having all our abilities together, even if it delays getting the stones slightly".

[Aurorix]

"Enough standing around and talking. If we keep dawdling the Makuta will just take all the stone for himself. If you all are so keen on trying to figure out how to get the water stone why not just go after the wind one first? If anything it could provide us with an air bubble to get down to the place. Just please don't have us split up, I don't think half of our man power could deal with those scorpions back there and there's gonna be toucher creatures then them." The gunslinger let out an annoyed sigh before adjusting his hat. "Lets just... head for that big tree someone mentioned. That's where the wind stone is right? Could you lead us there, Halhi?" The man asked the small biomechanical creature.

[Unlurking Sentinel]

"Again, we lose all advantage of hurrying if we go for the one we think Makuta already knows about. Even if we don't split up, then we should at least go for the Rock or Ice stone, hoping he hasn't gotten there yet. The armor-summoning girl has that right, at least."

[Aurorix]

"Then lets go for the rock one, it's in a desert yea? Heh heh, should be just like home." He taps the tip of his shoe on the ground, "Anyways, like I said, if we keep bickering on where to go next it only gives more time for the Makuta to get the stones himself. If there aren't any more objections we should just start moving towards the desert. Trust me, if you dawdled while the heat beats down on ya the sun will kill you before the Makuta does."

[Unlurking Sentinel]

Cicivexa gave a sigh. "If you all say we should go there, then we shall. My apologies for letting the encroaching danger of Medusa lead me to underestimate our more immediate challenges." Indeed, his fear of Medusa had led him to forget what he had learned from his encounter with the voidsent Mormo those many months ago. "You're all about as powerful as I, yes? Then there is no danger the eight of us combined cannot eradicate. When it is her time, this so-called goddess will be among them." He thought fear had been banished from his dictionary by now. Here, it should be sealed off for good. "The rock stone sounds good. I also grew up in the desert, and I am not unfamiliar with ancient ruins."

[DragonRage]

After consulting a map and the locals, Nuparu and Halhi lead the group toward the deserts of Po-Wahi.  The Motara Desert is a week away on foot, but Nuparu is able to shave three days off the journey by taking the party underground most of the way in a hired Ussal cart, pulled by a pair of huge and enthusiastically friendly biomechanical crabs.  They also collect numerous water jugs and insist that everyone take as many as they can easily carry.  Even for beings of Bionicle, deserts can be dangerous.

 

Soon, the group emerges onto the burning sands of the Motara Desert, and Nuparu points to a distant structure, shimmering in the heat haze.  "There it is, the ruin of Kuma-Nuana.  The Rock Stone should be inside.  I hope.  Tread lightly.  These sorts of ruins aren't always safe, and I wouldn't put it past Turaga Onewa to have set booby traps to catch The Makuta's agents off guard.  We'll have to see what the first one is and then figure out how to proceed."

 

"It's a hole," Halhi comments succinctly, as the party stands in the doorway to the ruin several hot and sticky hours later, "A really deep hole.  I don't feel like throwing our lightstone down there to see how deep.  We might not be able to get it back out again.  Well, the hallway continues on the other side, so we've got to get across somehow.  But I don't think we can jump that."

[Hal Henderics]

"I could try and throw us across." Cap proposes, as though his idea had any serious merit, while Gozer remains obtuse and unhelpfully silent.

[Chevaleresse]

Hiroki glanced awkwardly between Cap, the hole, and the other side of the hole. Fear of death by bottomless pit aside (she didn't really doubt his ability to do so), she wasn't particularly keen on putting herself through the embarrassment of being physically tossed over the gap. She was of an eminently tossable size, and would appreciate a lack of attention to that. "Um, is everyone light enough?" The mech fighter wasn't familiar with the limits of the stranger's physical power, and it was feasible that not everyone was light enough for this to work. "Don't, um, we have a way to make a bridge? Gozer, do, um, you think you could?"

[Hal Henderics]

"..."

 

"Oh yeah!  Gozer, go for it!"

 

"I'll try."  Gozer says, not looking at either of them.

 

He attempts to draw a bridge out over the gap.

[Strider]

"I can still fly, given that my suit's been integrated? I think I could try to carry some people across, though it might be a bit awkward. If we needed to string a rope across or something I could do that, or wait on the other side to catch people."

 

Edmond experimentally tests his suit, making certain that the acceleration and stability he had before have remained the same.

[Unlurking Sentinel]

"If you lay a hand on me, Captain Something-Or-Other, I will first ensure that what remains of it requires amputation, and then perform the duty myself." Cicivexa was well aware that he was the most easily tossable member of the group, but he greatly disliked being pushed around. "If the Earth Elemental's bridge does not work, then perhaps Edmond can find on the other side a mechanism to get the rest of us across." Unlike before, he had been making measures to learn the names of those in his party. "I know of a spell that can allow me to attune to and teleport to other people, but I do not remember how to cast it, and whatever brought me to the Castle seems to have somewhat undone my connection to my Soul Stone. Besides, I doubt I could extend its power to others if I tried."

[Aurorix]

"Getting over large gaps ain't really my specialty. However, I prefer if we don't resort to chucking bodies across the chasm." The cowboy scratched the back of his neck. "Making some sort of bridge would be our best bet, otherwise flying people across I'm also okay with."

[DragonRage]

(6 v 20.  Quality 1.  Random bitz:  78.)  Gozer attempts to draw a bridge from the stone, but for some reason it doesn't respond to his powers.  He has to reach deeper, into the soil beneath.  He does draw a bridge forth, but it's made of soil, and almost immediately collapses under its own weight.

 

Edmond's suit works just as well as it did before he came to this world, with no serious differences.  A few minutes of practice are enough to leave him as comfortable in the air as he was before.