USH'S MATRIX GAME 2006 SECOND ASSIGNMENT- 'The Monastery'

"Yeah, take us down..."

And down you go.

There are a lot of these fields. Closer to the buildings, though, instead of fields there are very delicately cvrafted rock and gravel gardens, also carefully tended.

The figures are dressed in bright orange clothing, not unlike pyjamas, and are mostly bald-headed, and they do indeed look very Monk-ish, in the kickass Eastern style rather than the churchy western style.

This leads to a conundrum about where to land- mess up the dcrop fields or the gravel gardens?

Crop probably,
Although they might be mad either way, but disturbing zen gardens seems like an exceptionally bad idea.

All agreed?

I agree; as Burn said, probably not a good idea to mess up their meditation gardens...

Melkor agrees. "We need to be really careful around those monks. I suspect they are quite skilled in martial arts. I suggest being respectful as much as possible."

"Being respectful is a priority," Mors says. "We don't want trouble...at least, not yet."

Slowly, your helicopters descend. Luckily, no-one makes a hash of the landing, but it wipes put an entire field of rice with their powerful downwash.

You're on the ground. As you leave the copters, you have a chance to re-arm from the cache Dallas brought. Anyone can change their weapon loadout from now.

Looks like people are coming out to see you.

Mors will stick with his current loadout, assuming he emptied the machine pistol. That would be katana and sais.

Mors will step out to meet people coming to meet the helicopters.

San's good, weapon-wise.

Likewise. Heph will power down his copter.

Already having settled his Bird, But having left it ready to start at a moments notice, Barb also moves to greet the approaching party.

Bending at the middle of his large form in a bow, Barb says.

"We apologise for the disturbance of your Crops. We meant no harm, but could not find a more appropriate landing site."

(Barbs loadout was never changed, so I'm fine.)

The party is about eight strong, all simply dressed in similar ways, robes or pyjama style outfits. Two are different; one considerably older than the others, with a long flowing white beard and a long staff he uses to walk with. One is tall and imposing, and where the others look at you curiously, his gaze is steady.

"It is not of importance," he says. "Greetings to our Monastery. My name is Lo Qi, and this here is my advisor. We have little need of a hierarchy here, but for what it is worth, I am the senior monk."

"So we have indeed reached our destination," Mors says. He offers his hand in greeting. "I am Mors, thank you for your welcome, Lo Qi. Again, my apologies about the crops. If we could replace them, we would."

"The land will grow them again, and their importance is merely cosmetic, as I am sure you appreciate."

"We are honored to visit your place of wisdom and peace. I assume that violence of the outside world is not allowed to dwell herein?"

No change of loadout.

Noticing the Large man's gaze, Barb studies the man.

"Thank you for the Reception." Barb says, nodding with respect to Lo Qi. "I am Barbarossa."

Berserker is looking at the really tall man and standing full length of his 6'4 body frame to see how he stacks up.

After he sees this he begins to look around at the people walking around and just admiring the beauty of it all. It has been a long time since he has gotten to be out in the wilderness even though it wasn't exactly real.

I'll replace lost ammunition (if I lost any). Besides that I just hang around in the back of the group.

Large is the wrong word for Lo Qi. He's not burly at all, he's simply somewhat higher than average.

"That's not really an issue I have ever had to consider," says Lo Qi, to Melkor's question. "You must all have had a long journey. Please, come inside and we shall organise some refreshments."

I will take my original loadout
Ingrams-12 clips
Shotty-1 clip