DragonRage

"I can't believe you just went and beat up a dolphin for no good reason," Iowa groans, "Hunting dolphins is bad luck."

Vitor is rather dismayed by the devastating power displayed by these strange automatons, but pushes through the pain and blasts the Slasher again for another 4d6 + 2 damage. Or if it's already down by then, he blasts the Spinner instead.

"As I stated, a bioweapon was stolen. We have reason to believe that the thieves will not practice safe containment measures, and unleash it accidentally or intentionally unless it is swiftly recovered. We have reason to believe you are either one of the thieves, or closely involved with them," Alexandria narrows her optical sensors, making a show of looking over his cybernetics, "Your augmentations are likely entirely inadequate to protect you from the pathogens. That I was sent to retrieve the stolen items should speak volumes as to the estimated odds of survival in the event of a containment breach... assuming you're not already infected, and simply haven't shown symptoms yet."

Zoe looks for a stick or other long, thin object. If she finds one, she uses it to poke the spike at the center of the dias from a safe distance.

Vitor notes that Gae Bolg didn't do a whole lot to the skeleton, and drops the enchanted spear. He reaches over his head with his hard-light projector, and pulls down DIO's Stone Mask as he draws his Photon Pistol with his free hand. Then, he fires a ball of energy at the Slasher with it, dealing 4d6 + 2 damage!

Cell flashbangs two Nui-Rama, causing them to choose random targets for the next 2 rounds. Tsubasa uses Eye of the Storm, which does nothing right now. Then she uses Sky Splitting Flash to redirect an attack from Cicivexa and Cell each to herself this round. Hikari throws a cut with her sword, dealing 26 damage Travis uses Tank It, protecting Tsubasa and Edmond for 3 turns and giving himself +2 DR for the duration Cap flings a celestial spear at the glowing creature, dealing 12 damage! Its next attack on him will deal 1d10 + their attacking stat. Cicivexa casts Manaward, protecting himself from the next two attacks to target him. Hahli throws another disk at a Nui-Rama, dealing 14 damage! Edmond uses Quick Tune Up, then activates Gambit and does it again! This restores 40 HP to Cell, and 12 damage to Edmond. He then regenerates 7 HP. Nuparu fires a disk from his launcher, dealing 23 damage! The disk lodges in a Nui-Rama's head, sending it crashing to the ground. The Nui-Rama attack each prospective enemy once, and attack Tsubasa 3 times. Hikari, Cicivexa, and Edmond each get a single extra attack. The stings deal 10 damage. One of Tsubasa's attackers and Hahli's attacker are confused by the flashbang, and sting each other instead! The glowing creature come streaking down from the sky. The glowing creature comes swooping down, passing through the canopy accompanied by snapping branches. This close, the ruddy glow reveals heavy, armored scales covering a thick body, with a reptilian head and bat-like wings. On the underside of its neck, tail, and the backs of its legs, dozens of ovular objects hang, glowing the brightest. Without slowing down, the creature does a belly flop directly into the center of the Nui-Rama swarm, before sliding forward into Travis, Edmond, and Tsubasa (redirected to Travis). Behind it, a glowing, smoldering trail is carved into the soil. Which then explodes, sending Nui-Rama flying, as seven of them are blown out of the air to land in smoking heaps. BAZELGEUSE stands up on a pair of clawed feet and her wingtips, and roars again, emitting that same distinctive air raid screech. She shakes her neck, explosive scales rattling beneath, as she turns to squarely face Gozer and Cap. Initiative Status

Edmond uses Quick Tune Up, restoring 15 HP to Cell at lightning speed! He pays 13 HP to do this, and then regenerates 7. Cell activates his Aura of Laceration, and prepares to parry. Tsubasa uses Sky Splitting Flash, and prepares to defend Hahli and Nuparu. Hikari activates her Blood Barrier, and uses Dispersal Slash on a Nui-Rama, dealing 32 damage! The Nui-Rama is not deterred! The Nui-Rama Swarm attacks everyone twice with their stingers! As she is bleeding and smells delicious, Tsubasa takes two additional attacks! Each attack deals 8 damage! Cell counters and strikes back, dealing 27 damage! Cell's Aura of Laceration triggers! The Nui-Rama are not deterred! One of the Nui-Rama falls with a crunch of buckling chitin! Tsubasa blocks one of the attacks aimed at each of the matoran! Hikari's blood barrier blocks the stings! Edmond, Travis, and Nuparu take reduced damage due to their armor! Natural Armor reduces damage all around! Travis fires his machine gun, hitting 4 Nui-Rama for 5 damage each! They must attack him next turn! One of the Nui-Rama spins out of control, its wings savaged by bullets and Cell's Aura, and slams face-first into a tree before collapsing to the ground in a heap. A roar echoes across the jungle, sounding rather like Godzilla ate an air raid siren and it got stuck in his throat. The Nui-Rama somehow look nervous upon hearing this... Gozer and Cap fling caltrops! This would ordinarily be of no use against flying enemies, but as the Nui-Rama come in to attack, three of them get spiked by the caltrops, reducing their initiative! Cicivexa fires his blizzard, dealing 19 damage and reducing the Nui-Rama Swarm's initiative to 0! Cicivexa gains Umbra for 3 rounds! Using his Swiftcast, he then fires Flare, dealing 21 damage to 4 of them! The Nui-Rama shy away from the flames, but one of them, slowed by the ice, is unable to escape and catches fire instead. Its thin wings swiftly burn away, and it crashes to the ground, a smoldering corpse. Hahli throws a war disk, dealing 8 damage! One of the Nui-Rama scorched by Cicivexa is hit in the arm, causing it to go limp! Buzzing in distress, the injured insectoid flies off into the night, clutching its disabled arm! "What was that cry?" She wonders, "I've never heard or heard of a Rahi which sounded like that." Nuparu loads a war disk into his launcher... "Oh joy, a new species," He grumbles, "When I said I wanted to die for science, this wasn't exactly what I had in mind." A light appears high in the sky, thin, cross-hatched lines glowing cherry red. They aren't bright enough to illuminate whatever it is, or even reveal its shape, but they make it clear that something is up there. Something big and flying. And glowing. That's probably not a good sign. Initiative Status

Lexiel looks between the imps, Mitsu, and the rain, and swiftly puts two and two together. With a gesture, a fist-like orange rune inside a glowing circle appears in front of her left hand, and slowly travels up it, leaving behind the gleaming, golden plates of the Doomfist. She clenches her now-armored hand, letting sparks of red energy run over the spiked knuckles menacingly. "Did I stutter, punks? This is a raid. You don't want to be here for it. Scram."

A loud, ominous buzzing fills the air, seeming to come from every direction at once. "The Nui-Rama! Oh no!" Nuparu shouts, diving for his throwing disks and tossing the other sack to Hahli. "Why would you do that?" The Ga-matoran asks Tsubasa in shock and dismay, "You just RANG THE DINNER BELL for every hungry predator within a kio! I just hope a Muaka doesn't show up." The two Matoran ready their weapons as the first enormous dragonfly enters the light cast by the campfire, rusted, pitted masks covering its eyes. Initiative Status:

Tsubasa appears in a mysterious laboratory. Shadows obscure the walls and ceiling, but the forge against a wall sheds enough light to reveal the metalworking tools and glassware covering sturdy tables. Against one, his back to the demon huntress, a towering figure armored in black and silver stands, doing something with a set of glassware holding bubbling green and silver fluids. Before she can do anything, a strange, mechanical owl flies in and drops a stone tablet in front of the armored being before flying out through a side corridor. He carefully sets aside his instruments, banks the burners, and starts reading the tablet. Tsubasa is understandably unnerved by this sudden change, and looks around for exits and assesses the terrain. There are two corridors out, one leading to the left and the other to the right, both large enough to accommodate the immense being who is working in the lab. There’s no entrance behind her. The tables are about as tall as she is, covered in tools and lab equipment, some of which she recognizes but most of which she doesn’t. A stack of metal disks rests next to the forge, glowing with embers from recent use. Tsubasa starts edging quietly towards the right-side exit. She moves with utmost care, and makes no noise she can hear. Despite this, when she’s almost made it, the enormous being sets aside his tablet and turns toward her, revealing a pair of blood-red, dagger-like eyes set in a black visor-like mask. “Leaving so soon?” He asks the huntress, “We haven’t even been introduced.” His voice, while loud and booming, sounds surprisingly normal for someone so obviously not human. "I don't believe we're the type to get along anyway," Tsubasa slides into her combat stance, ready to strike the moment the enormous being gets into reach. But he makes no move to approach her. Instead, he scratches at the chin of his mask with one armored finger in contemplation, “No, we probably are not,” He agrees, “You’re far too… volatile to serve as an effective minion, and I have no doubt we’d disagree on many… philosophical points. Regardless, you have been sent to me for a reason, and we all must fulfill our duties.” “You’re right, we do agree on a lot of things,” Tsubasa remarks as she starts to sidle closer to the being, hoping to get into optimal striking distance before he turns hostile. Seemingly ignorant of her intentions, the being continues to speak. “You’ve been headhunted into a grander endeavor than any you’ve been involved in before,” The being informs her, “Tell me. What do you understand of multiverse theory?” "I don't, but I have a feeling I'm about to hear more," Tsubasa continues to advance on the being. “Yes, you are,” He states, “I suppose an intelligent discourse was too much to ask for. Essentially, the world you lived on is not the only one. There are countless others, spawned by the road not taken, a lost nail, or slight differences long ago, resulting in a place vastly different from what is within your limited experience. And from outside them, creatures come, referred to as Trespassers. Their nature and hunger are beyond the full comprehension of even myself, but… they desire to consume all that is. And you, like so many others, have been chosen to fight back.” A faint sigh escapes from behind his mask. “But they didn’t get dropped into my house…” "That's interesting. . . I did have one question: do you recognize this uniform?" Tsubasa asks. The being seems taken by surprise by this question. “Uniform…? …Clothes worn by a demon hunter, establishing them as part of that organization, and thus easily recognized?” He muses, seemingly having forgotten about Tsubasa for the moment, “I’ve never… This could be useful…” Tsubasa stares blankly at him for a moment, waves of confusion practically radiating from her. "Okay, next question: what are you?" “The Makuta, master of shadows, lord of lies, leader of the Brotherhood, defender of the matoran,” The being rattles off distractedly, almost like he’s bragging on autopilot. Tsubasa exasperatedly asks, after a moment of listening to him ramble on, "Do you eat people?" “Not in over a thousand years,” He mutters, still clearly not paying attention, “And nobody missed them anyway.” "Wait, how does a demon go a thousand years without devouring a human?" “Humans? Demons? I’ve never eaten one of those,” He states distractedly, “Hm. Black primarily of course, but just black doesn’t look good on anyone. Red’s overdone, everyone wears silver… Maybe green?” "Hey, black doesn't look bad on everyone." She gestures to her own uniform and haori combo with an offended look. "This uniform is worn by everyone up to the Pillars, it's a time honored tradition." “Yes yes, you’re very proud of your little hunting club,” The Makuta strides over to one of his tables, full of metal trinkets, clearly damaged masks and armor pieces, and other assorted detritus. It doesn’t take him long to find what he was looking for, and he pulls a gleaming silver mask out from the pile. This one looks intact, with wide eyes giving it a perpetually excited expression, “Your ideas have been surprisingly… inspiring, and never let it be said that the Makuta is not generous to those who have helped him.” He suddenly vanishes and appears before Tsubasa, and flicks her in the forehead, knocking off the mask she suddenly realizes she’s been wearing all this time. Then he takes the mask he’d retrieved, and fits it over her face. Tsubasa responds by drawing her sword and slicing into him with a single, swift, fluid motion. To her surprise, as the slash lands, it flares with sunlight… and slices clean through the Makuta’s armor, deep into the black-green energy revealed beneath, dealing 176 damage. The Makuta roars in agony and shock, staggering away as that energy falls from the gaping wound in his side in sheets, his right hand falling to the ground from a stump. “What is- Get AWAY FROM ME!” He roars, and the shadows close around the huntress. When they disperse, she finds herself standing next to a camp fire, surrounded by a bunch of very different, but still mechanical beings, who seem just as surprised to see her as she is to see them. The Makuta’s voice follows her, taking on a sepulchral quality. “AND STAY OUT OF MY HOUSE! What in the Great Beings’ name was that?” Tsubasa's new mask:

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...

With the tall skeleton gone, Rachel promptly busts a gut laughing as she steps out from behind the vase, "Emperor, that should not be as funny as it is. Greetings, Mr. Skeleton. I apologize for the deception of your friend, but we are trying to avoid combat, and I do not think he would have allowed us to pass unaccounted."

Lexiel spreads her wings and hops the fence behind Mitsu and raises an eyebrow at the sight of the imps. "Alright, you goons are clearly not worth our time. But since we're in a bit of a hurry, I will give you this one chance to scram. Beat it while you can, punks, you're not going to like doing this the hard way."

"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."

"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."

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."

Spider-Man looks very confused. “Doc Ock? You’re not- But he’s- Damn it, I’ll deal with you later!” He leaps over towards the Deadites and punches one of them in the face, dealing 21 damage! The Deadite he hit looks pretty battered. Danielle Moonstar screams at the sight of the Deadites and tries to burrow back-first into the nearest wall without success. Scout Skipper readies an action... Danielle continues to freak out... Thunderlord holds her action… Aquila picks up Sha’tith (19 v 10 success) and hurls him at Doctor Octopus! Doctor Octopus lashes out with a mechanical arm, (10 v 20 failure!) and grabs Sha’tith out of the air, before hurling him to the ground! He blasts her with fire and wire on the way, but her force field takes the blows, though it does seem to strain a bit to do so, briefly flashing orange. Alan sends a camera drone over to track Doctor Octopus. He sees what’s going on in the mall now! Freya has her zombie horde and Dyno attack the Deadites, dealing 47 and 29 damage respectively, turning several Deadites into disassociated bones and splinters! Bones and rusty, notched swords, along with a meat cleaver, go flying! Stretch body blocks for the Nerds, and increases his regeneration to 7 HP per round by dumping all his synergy. Harry talks to Alan and heals Thunderlord. Thunderlord opens fire, dealing 31 damage to the Deadites! A deadite goes down, riddled with so many bullets it disintegrates into splinters, its sword clattering to the ground.. Sha’tith tried to get the book, but was unable to escape Doctor Octopus’ arms or breach her force field. The Deadites attack the Nerds, but Stretch gets in the way! Stretch takes one bladed and five blunt attacks, each dealing 8 damage! His stretchy body would easily withstand these attacks (save for the blade), but he sacrificed this protection! Stretch is buried under a horde of Deadites, flailing away at him with their fists, and by the time they lose interest, he’s left unconscious on the ground. Scout Skipper is suddenly in front of one of the Deadites, stopping their blows from reaching Stretch, before firing wildly at Doctor Octopus, dishing out four hits of 17, 3, 13, and 4 damage to Doctor Octopus! A translucent force field comes into view briefly with every impact, blocking each hit completely! The first hit seems to strain it a bit, though, causing it to flash orange for a second… Stretch has received the wound Deadite Curse. He receives 1d6 more damage from all necromantic sources. And of course, should one die while afflicted by the curse of the Necronomicomic… The Nerds cower in terror. Initiative Status:

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!

Zoe checks the engravings on the walls to see if she speaks the language they're in. It worked with the Mooglish, after all, so she might recognize this one.

"Animated skeletons and freaky bats incoming!" Vitor shouts, projecting Gae Bolg and pointing the spear at the rubble, "Get ready!" He attempts to stick the digger with his spear through the hole. Gae Bolg does 6d6 + 4 piercing damage on a hit.

I run to the elevator and take my fire with me.

I would like to hit the Scantgobbler with my shield.

I raise my dubiously effective sword and board, and advance into the room, ready to shield bash anything that attacks us.

I look for weapons and find a meat tenderizer and a long knife made out of crystal. Having acquired armaments, I fashion a shield from a cot, a mattress, and some blankets. Now that I am armed and ready, I wait by the elevator to accompany my fellow clones once they are also ready.

"I suppose then, we shall need your still. I swear, we shall recover it safely for you," I promise Scant, "Now where could it have go- oh god," I turn just in time to see one of my compatriots eat the metal orb right out of their stomach. "What- I- How did you do that?! Why would you do that?!"