Roleplay:Secret of the Sands

Plot
Rumors of a legendary treasure hidden deep within the Desert Ocean Zone of Efrika have been passed around for centuries, in the form of fables and myths. But now, beliefs become firmer, and many people believe it is entirely possible that the place does exist.

Unfortunately, these rumors have reached those with less-than-noble mindsets, including Dr. Eggman himself. Believing that such a hard-to-reach and nigh-mythical location would be the perfect place to house a Chaos Emerald, as well as other potentially powerful artifacts, Eggman orders the Efrika Sub-boss stationed in the Desert Ocean Zone, Kerion Croc, to seek out the sanctuary and find the Chaos Emerald for him.

Rules

 * 1) Stick to the plot. Do not alter it to revolve around your character, do not change it drastically, etc.
 * 2) No Godmodding. You should all know what this means; no auto-hitting, no random attacks, no constant avoidance of damage, etc.
 * 3) No Trolling.
 * 4) No picking random fights with others.
 * 5) Do not just randomly jump into a scene. Either ask, or build up your arrival accordingly (I.E "Suddenly, such and such and such" or "Meanwhile, somewhere else blah blah blah")
 * 6) No steering the plot off course or making it revolve around your character(s).
 * 7) No canon characters.
 * 8) No controlling other users' characters without their permission.
 * 9) As of now, only the Sandstorm Arbiters (which also includes Nassor and Rashidi-Oba) live in the temple. This means you can't suddenly decide to have your character live there as well; you must ask me, first.
 * 10) No finding the treasure early! I already have an idea as to what it is, and I'll decide when it's found!
 * 11) No randomly teleporting into The Pharaoh's room!
 * 12) Put effort in your posts. I mean it; none of this "Person: Shadow Ball! *uses Shadow Ball*" crap.
 * 13) *Acceptable method: (Person: Shadow Ball! *charges up a concentrated ball of shadow energy, and then fires it at Person 2*)
 * 14) *Preferred method: ("Shadow Ball!" Person yelled. Cupping his hands in front of him, he began charging up a concentrated ball of pure shadows. After a few seconds he threw the ball at Person 2.)

Current Participants
''Moderators are the peacekeepers of the RP (their names are in green). Listen to them if they tell you that you broke a rule, and don't throw a hissy pissy fit if they give out constructive criticism on how you RP.''


 * green - RP Owner/Moderator
 * Strikes: 0
 * Reens the Hedgehog
 * Strikes: 0
 * NLG343
 * Strikes: 0
 * awkwarddingo
 * Strikes:0

Heroes
Those who wish to explore, and possibly find the Treasure!
 * Mavuto Nagi - Ryu
 * Reens the Hedgehog - (Reens)
 * Anthony "Tony" Thorpe (Reens' Grandfather) (Reens)
 * Tikali the Wolf - NLG
 * Hector Locke (awkwarddingo)

Neutral
Those with unknown motives.
 * Egg Ruin Renegades - Played by Ryu

Villains
Those who want the treasure for selfish reasons!
 * Dr. Eggman - He believes that a Chaos Emerald is hidden within the temple.
 * Kerion Croc - Kerion searches for the temple at the behest of Dr. Eggman. However, Kerion will gladly take any other treasures he can find, as well. Played by Ryu.
 * Efrika Egg Soldiers - The regiment of Efrika Egg Soldiers who serve under Sub-boss Kerion Croc. Played by anyone (Ryu plays as Bami).
 * Xavek - The owner of a small but rapidly growing arms manufacturing company, also an alien murder droid who's after the treasure because he believes it may be useful for funding the creation of one of his latest experiments.

Other
''Are these guys Good or Evil? (All played by Ryu)''
 * Pharaoh Nassor - Once a kind and generous king with a wife and child, a traitorous magician cursed the pharaoh's people, causing them to turn on him; as a result, Nassor locked himself away in his temple...
 * The Sandstorm Arbiters
 * Rashidi-Oba - Male; the keeper of the Sanctuary's grand library.

Prologue
Within the Shifting Sands Egg Base, a large, Cyberized crocodile is bent over an old-looking map sprawled out on a table. Scaly, clawed fingers drum rhythmically against the paper, and icy blue eyes are narrowed.

"For too long, you've been hidden from me...a drop of precious water in an endless, parched hell..."

He growled a bit, eyes scanning the map restlessly. It was a bit of an archaic-looking scroll, with the illustration of a beautiful temple roughly in the middle of it; the map itself was of the Desert Ocean Zone.

"You're there, I know you are! There wouldn't be an eternal sandstorm for no reason!"

The door opened up behind him, and a male tenrec wearing Egg Soldier fatigues poked his head in.

"Sir?"

Almost instantly, the crocodile whirled his head around, snarling and baring metallic fangs.

"Who interrupts me?!"

The tenrec cowered, clearly terrified of the much taller Mobian.

"I-It's Dr. Eggman, sir! He wants to speak with you!"

The croc snorted a bit, and strode forward.

"Very well..."

Within the command center, the tenrec was timidly following the crocodile as he approached the central monitor, where the face of the doctor himself could be seen, with an impatient frown on his face.

"I hope I did not keep you waiting, sir," said the crocodile, his brusque tone having completely vanished to be replaced by one of careful respect; even he feared Eggman's wrath.

"Thankfully, no, but this is an important matter, Kerion," said the doctor, hands behind his back. "I'm sure with all the time you've spent in the Desert Ocean Zone, you've heard of a place known as the 'Sandstorm Sanctuary', yes?"

The croc, Kerion, looked surprised, and quickly nodded his head.

"Yes, of course, sir! Said to be a myth... always surrounded by a sandstorm... wh-why do you ask, sir?"

"As you know, those Chaos Emeralds have been eluding me for far too long, now," said Eggman, crossing his arms now. "But, I believe I may have gotten a lead on one. My radars have detected energy signatures that are quite similar to those of a Chaos Emerald, and those signatures were coming from the place where the Sandstorm Sanctuary is said to be."

The crocodile nodded again.

"I want you to take your men and find that Chaos Emerald," Eggman continued, his bespectacled gaze not breaking from Kerion's. "Raid the entire place if you have to, and capture anyone who resists you."

"But sire, what about that sandstorm...?"

"Oh, that won't be a problem," said Eggman. "I've got some Helihaulers delivering some very special devices to your base as I speak. They should be there...now."

Part 1: The Journey

 * Start here.

In the town of Brightdune...

Tikali: Who are you people, worthy travelers?

Some civilians are just milling about outside.

Tikali: Yes. I found the one.

No one seems to have heard him.

Tikali: Where are they...

"Grandfather, are you certain we're going the right way? This doesn't look like any archaeology camp I've ever seen," Reens slightly complained. She was dressed for the hot weather: a white sleeveless shirt covered by a light jacket, khaki shorts, and brown boots. On her head she wore a light brown archaeologist cap and a white neckerchief. She had a metal detector in her hands, scanning the dirt. Her grandfather, the famous archaeologist Anthony "Tony" Thorpe, turned to her and grinned.

"My dear, we are certainly in the right place. This is Brightdune, is it not? I have been wanting to explore this place since I was a little boy, and here I am! Who knows what treasures we may find? What rare specimens we may uncover? What curses and legends we may yet discover?!?" He jumped like a little kid for candy.

Reens groaned, shaking her head. "Who knows if the myth with Pharaoh Nassor is true or not? I don't know about you, Grandfather, but it just sounds fishy."

"If my name isn't Tony Thorpe, then the legend isn't true! We will prove its existence, and in the end, raise enough money to save the museum from bankruptcy!" With a degraded sigh, Reens continued waving the device over the sandy ground, straining her ears for metallic pings.

The sight of the two certainly got some curious stares from the people walking around outside. Various merchant wagons were set up, selling goods and trading things back and forth. More wagons were either leaving the bustling town or entering it. A large wagon being pulled by a Plains Catoblepas passed by the pair.

Reens looked up and saw some people staring, averting her eyes and blushing.

"Grandfather, they're staring at us."

"Well, sweetheart, you must remember this is a trade city, and they haven't seen anyone like us before. Let them stare; we'll be making history before their very eyes!"

"I might look around a bit first," Reens suggested, folding down the metal detector.

"All right, but only for a few minutes. I should find our guide."

Finally getting away from him, Reens went towards the merchant wagons, just to see what was there.

There were a fair few fruit vendors, and some selling linens and trinkets.

Reens bought a crisp red apple. Biting into it, she sighed at its taste and continued on. She watched as the vendors sold their wares, but none of them caught her eye at first.
 * (Wondering if I should use Mavuto Nagi for this RP...)
 * (You can if you want to ^^ ~ Reens)
 * (Ryu-Might as well.)

Suddenly, someone bumped into Reens, clearly not looking where they were going.

"Oh! Gosh, I am sorry about that! Are you okay?"

The voice was female, for sure.

"Waah!" Reens looked at the female, clearly frightened by her. "I-I'm s-so s-s-sorry... I-I w-wasn't l-looking w-where I w-was g-going." She looked down at the apple, which she had dropped when they bumped into each other. She looked back up at the stranger and blushed in embarrassment.

The stranger, a somewhat tall female centipede, looked down at Reens with a concerned expression.

"I didn't mean to scare you," she said, offering a gentle smile. She looked down at the apple as well.

"Oops...err...would you like me to buy you another one?"

Reens shook her head. "N-no t-thank you. B-but thanks for the o-offer," she blurted, trying not to make the centipede feel worse. "I-I'm s-sorry, I haven't introduced m-myself. I-I'm R-Reens."

The centipede smiled again, offering her hand to shake.

"My name is Mavuto! It's nice to meet you, Reens! I've never seen you around Brightdune before...are you a visitor?"

As Reens shook her hand, she felt less frightened and breathed a sigh of relief. "Yeah, my grandfather's an archaeologist. He took me along for a dig today, and he wants to prove the legend of Pharaoh Nassor. I dunno if it's true or not, but I can't squelch his enthusiasm."

Mavuto's antennae wiggled in curiosity.

"The legend of Nassor? Ohh, a lot of people around here know about that! There's claims that he lives in a massive palace in the middle of the Desert Ocean Zone, and the place is constantly surrounded by a huge sandstorm...!"

She rubbed her chin as she looked out towards the midday horizon.

"I've always wanted to go see if the legend is true myself, but...it's not the safest of trips..."

Hector was travelling the world again when he heard the rumors of a long lost treasure inside the tomb of a dead Pharaoh. When he did, he went to the nearest clothing shop and bought an adventure hat and satchel. After doing so, he went to the village of Brightdune, where the rumors were rampant and tongues were loose. Too bad he was stupid enough to not pack enough water for the journey. When he overheard the group chatting about the temple, he was chugging water from a camel trough. He ran over to them, looking a bit on the rabid side after recently quenching his dehydration. "Did somebody say legend? Treasure? Adventure?" He asked them all, catching his breath.

Reens jumped about five feet in the air before pointing her long-sword at Hector. "Halt, villain! It is much rude of thou to sneaketh upon a lady and her companion. Whither hast thou come from, and whither art thou going?" (She usually does this when scared from behind.)

"Hey look. Someone is pointing a weapon at me already." Hector chuckled. "I'm not a villain, ok? I prefer hero and adventurer!" He struck a dramatic pose. "I'm off to the temple tomb thing of that pharaoh."

Mavuto only peered curiously at Hector.

"You're looking for the palace of Nassor, too?" she asked.