Trespassers V2: Tales of the Masks [IC]

[Unlurking Sentinel]

Hmm... Doom seems prepared to hide his identity. Cicivexa wanted to tell if he was or wasn't capable of using the Kanohi. The latter would most certainly make his plan a lot easier.

 

"Gozer, was it? I can see the places you should be able to obstruct." Cicivexa then gave detailed instructions as to which gears should be stopped, while able to observe Gozer as they went.

 

"Now then, that should prevent the trap from going off, but I feel like it's best to take further precautions. Everyone should leave the room save for one of us. That one will then take the mask, and don it with all haste. If the obstructions to the trap somehow fail, then I believe it possible that the Kanohi Calix will protect them. I doubt it would weave a fate of its own destruction, after all. Not a likely fate, at least."

 

"Now, as for who will take the mask..." Cicivexa glanced around the room, debating in his mind for a moment or two. "...Say, Gozer, when you entered the stone wall, the mask you wore entered with you, yes? Perhaps you could hide in the floor with it, in case the trap somehow still goes off."

[Hal Henderics]

"It would be possible," Gozer says blandly.

[Unlurking Sentinel]

"...Well then, what are you waiting for, golem? Excecute my plan!"

I swear, this thing is so difficult to deal with, how in Thal's name did a mentally crippled voidsent/primal/whatever manage to deal with it, especially when it appears to have been involved in the mental crippling?!

[Chevaleresse]

Hiroki simply eyes the wall suspiciously and summons her armor once more, preparing for the proverbial and literal rocks to fall as she slowly floats back towards the exit. 

[DragonRage]

There's a rumble in the ceiling, and something goes 'clank.'  The Mask of Fate sinks several inches on its pedestal.  Muttering something highly uncomplimentary about the American educational system, DOOM grabs the mask, throws his cloak into Cicivexa's face, and vanishes instantly, even as cracks begin to spread across the ceiling.  The party, sensibly, grabs the Toa Stone of Rock and runs for it.  Even if Gozer could probably survive a collapse, nobody else is particularly likely to.  The group clears the entrance to the mask room just in time to see a tank drop down from a compartment in the ceiling.  It looks rather like someone welded a bunch of random scrap and four insectoid legs to a Sherman; a green-masked head pokes out of the commander's hatch, and a woman clad in white and silver armor, with a silver mask and red eyes, hops off the tank as it lands.  Before either can say anything, an enormous, corridor-filling boulder drops down behind them, prompting a hasty retreat.  The group makes it to the pit with a bit of time to spare, but the boulder is still coming and the pit is still there.  Think fast.

 

Travis and Hikari have joined the party!

 

Spoiler

Doom Cloak

This, thick, hooded cloak is a deep, forest green.  It is adorned with two large, golden medallions on either side of the clasp, and carries the weight of ancient magic, great responsibilities, and greater ego.

+1 strength, dexterity, intelligence, synergy, and constitution while equipped. 

 

[Chevaleresse]

Hiroki wastes no time, not bothering with Edmond this time. It was do or die, and she planned on doing; as she moved down the hall, she built up as much speed as she could manage (which was quite a bit in a straight line.) As she closed on the edge of the pit, she wreathed herself in plasma. Just as she reached it, she blasted it downwards, catapulting herself into the air and (hopefully) over the gap.

[StormLord]

As Cell approaches the edge of the pit he looks back and thinks fast.  He throws the mysterious object Makuta gave him at the boulder and then dives for cover in the corner of the hallway, where the boulder *hopefully* won't crash him.

 

Spoiler

Kanoka Disk 184: A special disk obtained from the world of Bionicle, exact properties are unknown, usable once per encounter.

 

[Unlurking Sentinel]

And after all of our planning, this is just about the second worst possible direction it could go. Thanks to that useless golem, the clearly dangerous and highly resourceful man now has a luck-manipulation mask, even more enemies entered the scene to harass us, and despite everything, the trap was still triggered.

Well, it could be worse. At least we didn't immediately die from the collapse. And I won't let us die here, for certain.

 

Cicivexa swiftly cast the cloak over his shoulders, quickly pivoted on his feet, and from an instant flick of his staff, a mass of aether (or whatever this bizarre universe uses) from the surrounding area immediately condensed into what looked like a massive chunk of ice in front of the boulder, hopefully freezing it in its tracks! (Cicivexa puts on the Doom Cloak and instantly Swiftcasts Blizzard I, dealing 15 Initiative Damage (based on Intelligence) to the boulder! If damage is relevant, it also deals (5d6+22)/2 damage!) He then immediately pivoted back around into a dash, not risking another, slower cast unless the boulder was almost stopped.

 

"Hold it back with all you've got!!!"

[kj1225]

The tank stumbles around a bit as it's occupants suddenly have to deal with new controls that aren't anywhere within their coding, though after a moment it comes to a stop as the green masked person's head pops out of the hatch again to look at the encroaching bolder. "Shit! That's not good! Oi, if you don't want to take your chances on the bolder hop on and we'll see if we can Dukes of Hazard this hunk of junk!" Travis waits as long as safely possible for before giving the order to charge forward and try to hop over the gap.

[Hal Henderics]

Gozer uses Royal Guard, predicting that the Giant Rolling Boulder will roll towards them, and blocking it!

 

Quote

Royal Guard: (Gozer, Blue Art)

 

Gozer assumes a powerful stance, preparing to absorb incoming attacks.

 

Gozer predicts that a specific target will be attacked by a specific other target.
If he is correct, the attack is negated, and D&G gain a damage boost equal to the damage negated, which is added to their next attack.
This action takes place immediately before the attack being blocked does.

 

[Strider]

Well this wasn't good. He had very little that could slow down a boulder He couldn't get everyone, Hiroki seemed to be capable of taking care of herself, Gozer was too big, same with Cell, and the actual tank, but there was one fairly easy. "Cicivexa, hold on!"

It might not be possible to hear that over the rumbling of the boulder. Edmond, waiting to avoid the spell that Cicivexa had cast, followed up by firing his thrusters up to full throttle, grabbing them, and carrying them across the chasm.

[Unlurking Sentinel]

"H-hey! I had the situation under control! LET ME GO!" The diminutive mage flailed wildly in Edmond's grip, flinging spells in various directions. He tried to fulfill his earlier promise of immolating Edmond's arms if he touched him, but without solid footing or time to focus (and without the power to perform another Swiftcast), all he could command were pitifully weak shockwaves.

[EryaHistoria]

Hikari looked around she dropped to the floor. She glanced behind her to see an enormous boulder rolling towards her, "By the gods! What did I get myself into this time?!" She began sprinting away from the boulder, quickly reaching the edge of the pit and sliding to a stop just at the edge, "Not good! Not good!"

 

Hikari turned to face the boulder, looking around furiously for a place to escape to. Not seeing a place to go, she ran and pressed herself as tight to the wall as possible trying to shape herself into the very small gap between the boulder and the wall. Not even five minutes and already getting killed by a boulder...Why does this always happen to me...

[DragonRage]

Everyone acts at once!  Hiroki jumps the gap, filling the area with fire!  Cicivexa hurls an ice spell at the boulder, but it runs into Hiroki's fire, keeping the party from getting roasted!  Hahli and Nuparu frantically jump onto Travis' Sherman Crab as it gamely attempts to leap the gap, just barely making it across!  Hikari does her best hamster impression!  Edmond grabs Cicivexa and leaps the gap with his powered armor and jump jets!  Cell's disk flies true and strikes the boulder, which vanishes instantly!  There is a rumbling crash outside.  Anyone who wanted to take a look would see the rock having appeared outside the ruins, and then promptly slammed into a nearby sand dune.  The disk clatters to the ground, its ancient energies spent for now.

 

"Thank you Great Spirit we're still alive," Nuparu slumps against the side of the tank as the adrenaline crash hits, "I've seen enough mining accidents to know where that was going.  Uh, hello, new people.  Thanks for trying to save my life.  And, uh, we're alive, so yay?"

 

Hikari is retrieved from the other side of the pit, Nuparu and Hahli the matoran introduce themselves to the newcomers, and Hahli turns to the pressing concern of the quest.

"We've secured the earth and rock stones already.  That leaves water, air, ice, and fire.  Fire is relatively safe from the Makuta for now; it's in the vaults of Ta-koro, deep in the heart of the Mangai volcano.  If we have the other five stones, I'm sure Turaga Vakama would give us the sixth, so that leaves us with air, water, and ice.  The water stone is, uh, underwater, in a sunken temple outside Naho Bay.  It wouldn't be too hard to get, but even the best Ga-matoran divers can't hold their breath that long.  We found the Great Mask of Water Breathing with the Earth Stone, but that only works for one person.

 

"The ice stone is somewhere atop Mount Ihu.  And just our luck, assuming the Makuta didn't make it happen, there's a blizzard going on right now.  Has been for the last two weeks.  It's gonna be hard to get through all that snow, wind, and cold.

"When the air stone was hidden, Turaga Matau says he, uh, followed the red vines.  The vines he followed are probably dead now, but there's gotta be some way to find it..."

Suddenly, a huge, four-winged, orange bird with an emerald green matoran riding it soars overhead.  He clearly notices the group and banks his bird, before casually dropping a pouch off his saddlebags to land in front of the party.  Nuparu grabs the sack and pulls it open, extracting a small stone tablet engraved with neat runes.  "That's not good," Nuparu scans the message swiftly, "Thanks, Kongo.  We all owe you one.  The Makuta knows where the air stone is.  Nui-Rama controlled by infected masks are swarming a certain spot in Le-wahi.  There's nothing important Kongo knows of in that spot, so the Makuta must have found the stone, or something else we don't want him to have.  Kongo's not sure why the Makuta hasn't taken it yet, but there might be defenses.  Turaga Matau says he didn't put any up, but something nasty might be nesting in the area.  Nui-Rama aren't the smartest or most dexterous Rahi around, so it also might be that he needs a minion with hands to come get it.  Or it could be that a couple of Gukko riders have sighted a huge, armored, golden Rahi picking off and eating the Nui-Rama when they fly too high.  Maybe a combination?  Regardless, I think we need to get the air stone before the Makuta sends a better minion to take it."

[StormLord]

Cell walks over to collect his disk then using his whips swings over the open pit gap. He stands and listens to Nuparu's speech until he finishes, then he pulls the Giant Killer of his back and plants it firmly tip-down in the sand.  He gives Nuparu and firm nod, he's ready for a fight.

[EryaHistoria]

Hikari finally opened her eyes, hearing the voice of Nuparu which she didn't recognize, assuming that she would be revived in a new location like before after being road-killed by an over-sized boulder. She glanced around to the group and set herself into a casual pose, "Well that was too bad was it? Hearing the urgency of this 'quest' we have, I'm guessing that extended introductions will have to wait then. Just call me Murasame for the time being." She smirked finishing her sentence.

 

She walked to the pit and looked down into it. She let out a whistle, "That's a bit of a drop, isn't it."

Edited January 28, 2020 by EryaHistoria

[kj1225]

Travis, emerging from the tank once again now that danger had passed for the most part, gave a nod to these... strange masked individuals. "You're quite welcome, heard we could help and we simply couldn't refuse." Darcy chuckles at his little joke until a quiet thwack from within the tank reminds him to continue. "Right, anyway. I'm Commander Darcy, with my crew Mary, Shorty, Galadriel, and Wyonna. We've been sent to render any assistance we can; sounds like we came in at a good time since we're well suited to combating many units of infantry at once."

[DragonRage]

"Infantry?  How do you feel about giant bugs?"  Hahli sketches an outline in the sand with a fingertip, "Nui-Rama are huge, flying insects.  They eat fish, mostly, so they're not naturally aggressive unless their nests are disturbed.  Infected ones usually wear their tainted masks over their eyes, so hitting one in the face twice usually frees it.  But they're fast, agile, and can fly, so that's harder than it sounds."

 

Spoiler

 

[kj1225]

Travis watches with a considerate look before shrugging. "I think we can handle that, assuming they aren't about this big." He pats the side of his tank affectionately. "Besides, these new legs'll let us get more of an arc than usual. So it'll be a good exercise for the girls."

[Strider]

"I am sorry Cicivexa, but if the boulder hadn't been stopped, well I don't think it would have been wise to wait to ask permission to carry you across." To those newcomers, Edmond waved. "I'm Edmond, nice to meet you all."

 

"Pardon me, but where exactly is Le-wahi? How far, and what sort of terrain are we expecting?"

[DragonRage]

"Three days on foot," Nuparu estimates, "But there's a Ussalry outpost just a few hours from here.  I know a guy there who can get us some Ussal crabs to ride on.  That should cut it down to a day or so."

"Le-wahi is covered in hilly jungle," Hahli adds, "The canopy is particularly thick, but extensive grazing from the Rahi living there and Le-matoran trailblazers keeps the underbrush mostly clear.  There tends to be a lot of space between the trees, though things will get more tightly packed if there's a gap in the canopy to let sunlight in.  The Rahi there are mostly peaceful if they're not under the Makuta's control, but Muaka cats and Ash Bears often hunt in the area."

[Unlurking Sentinel]

After being let go by Edmond, Cicivexa immediately drew the Purging Rod from his belt (a smaller, faster scepter than the Stardust Rod) and held it towards him, an ominous energy concentrating,

...until it dissipated as quickly as it appeared, and the black mage returned the scepter to his belt.

"As much as I am wont to break threats, now is not the time to kill one another."
He then drew the much more familiar Stardust Rod from his back, and faced it towards Edmond. "But had that daft woman in the Armor not negated my magic in running away, I would have handled the situation just fine without your help, or the help of that disc gifted to Cell by Makuta himself."

"Do not. Underestimate. My Black Magic."

His mask was consumed by projected shadow once again when he said this. One would think that there were only a few moments in which boasting would be less effective than immediately after flailing like a lost child in another's arms, but one would generally struggle to think like Cicivexa.

"I do not have the time for this. While it is possible that the gathering of infected Rahi isn't surrounding the Wind Stone, and is instead a trap meant to kill us, we do not have the time to waste if it is not." Even when advising haste, he was unable to avoid lecturing on the risks he alone perceived. "Even if it is a trap, I know that we are all easily capable of surviving it. There is nothing that even the gods could throw at us that we could not annihilate in our wake."

 

"That I could not annihilate in my wake."

[Strider]

After consideration, Edmond elected not to repeat his apology or explanation. It seemed unlikely to accomplish much.

 

"A trap is possible, but it seems unlikely. There's better bait that doesn't require read so much into his actions, firstly. If he wished to capture us, there are easier ways, and if he wished to distract us, he need not have attracted our attention with this swarm in the first place. It's possible that there's another mask to which we'd go sooner if he didn't attract attention here, but I think it's more likely that he has found something, and wants us there to help him get it.

 

"If he made a trap, he'd make it one we knew full well was a trap, but that we were forced to spring." Edmond had never done that sort of thing, but it seemed like the clear course for someone like the Makuta.

[EryaHistoria]

Hikari, still standing by the pit, looked back over her shoulder as she listened to the conversation, "Well, even if there are traps, its nothing we can't just cut our way through. Just look at what we did to that boulder!" She smiled as if she had forgotten that she was doing her best impression of a Hole in the Wall game show contestant not to long ago.

 

"But I do like what Nuparu said about the outpost." She turned fully to face the group, "I've never rode on a crab before!"

Edited January 29, 2020 by EryaHistoria

[DragonRage]

The party travels towards Le-wahi for around two hours, before stopping at a small stone building and stable standing over a deep, dark tunnel down below the earth.  Nuparu talks with the black, grey, and purple-armored matoran there, and comes back with two sacks of iron-bound bamboo throwing disks for himself and Hahli, and three enormous, squat crabs named Pawti, Pewku, and Panza.  While seemingly large and ungainly, the Ussals prove surprisingly quick and agile, able to keep pace with Travis' Sherman as the group travels toward the jungle in comfort and style.  However, as hardy as beings of Bionicle are, they are not beyond the need for sleep, and the group is forced to stop for the night.  Nuparu sets up tents and gathers firewood while Hahli goes spear fishing and comes up with a dozen of some sort of biomechanical river trout; a roasting over an open fire and a quick trick with her machete releases globes of energy from the fish that the matoran absorb through their mouths, and with some prompting convince the party to try.

 

Sure enough, it tastes just like roasted fish, and revitalizes them as much as one might expect a hearty meal to.  It is somewhat bland though.  Hahli apologizes; she's not familiar with the plants outside of her home region of Ga-wahi, and isn't sure what herbs grow around here.  As the food is shared, it's a perfect chance for the newcomers to learn what has happened so far.

 

And it's a good thing the party chose to stop; night is falling, and when your enemy is the Master of the Shadows, travelling through the darkness would be... unwise at best.  Despite the good food and warm fire, it's hard to relax knowing that you now rest in the Makuta's domain, kept at bay only by the flickering flames...