Private Secrets of Epica

[Silas Westgard]

Location: Epica
Objective: Retrieve the sith Holocron from the temple
Tag: Darth Strosius
Attire: Clothing

"Here will do..."

Silas stood behind the alliance pilot and looked out curiously as to what was outside the cockpit window. As they hovered down, he could see the orange sky around him and the dense forest that had once kept the ancient sith temple a secret for many generations. Now after its discovery, the alliance had sent a promising padawan to go retrieve it as a rare solo mission. It was a low risk assignment considering no one else knew other than the alliance, or so they thought for now. Either way, Silas knew exploring this long abandoned temple was going to be a test of what he had learned so far, and if he had what it takes to withstand the power of the Darkside.

With a thankful pat on the pilot's shoulder, he was reminded that he'd be waiting for him when he returned. For now, the ship would camouflage itself away from any watching eyes. Silas rolled up his sleeves and walked down the ramp calmly, the blue lightsaber loosely gripped in his right hand. The overgrown temple wasn't too far away from the patch of open ground, all he needed to do was hack and slash through the thick bush that was in his way.

The weapon slashed through the green shrubbery like a hot knife through butter. In the other hand, he now and then looked back to his datapad to keep on the right track of the marker that had been placed for him. If it wasn't for that, he'd probably be wandering aimlessly through the large forest without a hope in the world. Silas slowly came to a stop next to a tree and extinguished his lightsaber for now, choosing to lean up against a tree and sip on some cold water from a canteen. Something seemed off about this place. Silas was expecting to hear wildlife all around him as he stood in though. Instead, all he got was silence and the gentle breeze of the wind.

It didn't take long for him to finally reach the source of the problem, where a gaping black hole showed itself from a line of hanging vines. The padawan took a deep breath and put the datapad back into his backpack, where he took a second to mentally prepare himself for what was to come. He had trained for months for a moment like this, he just needed to put it into practice and retrieve the Holocron before the sith got their hands on it.

"The force will guide you..."

And with that, he stepped foot into the crumbling temple with only his peacemaker to keep him sheltered from the darkness.

​

 

[Darth Strosius]

Location: Epica
Objective: Retrieve the Holocron
Equipment: Lightsaber, Dagger, Armor
Tag: Silas Westgard
--------------------------------

"Rather idyllic for a Sith temple location." Alisteri regarded the thick forests and hills with suspicion as his shuttle flew low over them, the pilot merely offering a shrug in response. "Those coordinates had better have been accurate. If I wind up running around some vacation spot for an hour just to find nothing worth the trip..." Pulling information about exact locations from centuries old records was hardly an exact science after all. The ancient Sith did so love to make their little hiding places vague and hard to find.

The Knight shifted forward in his seat as his gaze swept over the forest below, his senses extending out to try and probe for this hidden temple. Sure enough it was there, much to his surprise. "There, see that patch of trees? Find us a landing point near there." He pointed out the window of the cockpit to a rather nondescript part of the woodland. He quickly got out of his seat and moved to the exit of the shuttle as the pilot slowed and set the vessel down in a shady clearing. It was a bit hard to maneuver into and out of, making a hasty exit difficult, but the trees would hopefully keep the shuttle from being spotted easily just in case.

One could hardly afford to risk being out in the open when dealing with hidden Sith things.

"If I'm not back within two hours then feel free to return to the Altorius." The masked man stepped out of the ship and set foot onto the surface of Epica for the first time, cautiously scanning his surroundings for a moment. No movement or sounds of wildlife from a cursory glance. Good, that meant that the temple was still somewhat active then.

Without much further ado he trudged on, forward towards where he could feel the source of the disturbance in nature to originate from. Tracking such concentrations of the Dark Side had become easier with the years of experience and temple delving that he had done. A skill he was thankful to have picked up. The thick brush in his way was of little issue, as he could leap from tree to tree and run along branches just fine whenever the path on the ground was too much of a hassle.

Soon enough, despite the vines and branches that obscured his vision as he got closer to his destination, he found what he was looking for. Tucked away in the brush and trees yet exuding such an ominous presence, a dark hole like a blight against the green liveliness of the area around it. "Now, let's see what they hid in you."

The records he had managed to dig up were hardly specific after all, aside from ramblings and monologues, about anything but the location and the fact that a holocron was housed here. It didn't really matter what was on it in his eyes, it was a relic of the Sith and therefore his to claim. And he would do so no matter what the temple threw at him to keep it safe. He entered the temple slowly and quietly, searching for traps in the darkness that awaited him.

 

[Silas Westgard]

The ancient dark side energy that engulfed the run down temple instantly slammed into Silas, trying to get its influence into his mind and soul. However, the boy was strong and knew how to withstand such a pressuring force. He could feel it testing every last bit of mental his mental wall, desperately trying to find the cracks that would help them get in. Right now, Silas was like a person on a mission. He did not have time to think about unnatural this place was for him.

Inside, the big hall was pitch black. Only the light of his blue lightsaber offered him a light within the darkness. All around him were the still sinister forms of sith who had long since passed. Their names faded away into twilight along with their once great power, probably for the better and safety of everyone in the universe. Silas shook his head slowly and kept his focus on the mission which was to find and retrieve the Sith Holocron for the order to destroy.

It was a surprise there were no traps so far, considering there was still some treasure hidden away in this sorrowful place. Maybe that was what they wanted the intruders to think so they could make themselves comfortable. Then, before they knew it gets caught up in a sticky trap that would force them to their doom. Even if it felt like there was nothing there, the padawan knew from his training alone he always had to be on his guard.

Silas took one step at a time down the old stone path, the floor below hard to see with just his dim light. Taking another step his foot went further down than usual, along with the pressure plate that was just below his foot. The teen snapped his head down to the floor and grunted slightly, how could he be so clumsy? now Silas had to pay for it. Within seconds, the floor below began to crumble away behind him into a never ending dark abyss. Swiftly, the floor began to disappear as Silas made a break for it, pieces of stone falling away at the end of his heels. Ahead was the exit of the big hallway and into the ceremony room, one that was only a few feet away. Yet, the floor was seemingly starting to outpace him.

The padawan took a deep breath and suddenly made a jump to the entrance on his last step. The floor underneath broke away and left him flying in mid air, his hands reaching for the entrance desperately. Reaching out, Silas manages to grasp the front step and hang on the edge. Silas breathed out heavily and turned off his lightsaber, throwing it over the ledge before slowly pulling himself up from the risk of falling forever to his doom. Now that was close... if he didn't react a few seconds later who knows what would have happened.

"Sith and their traps..." the boy groaned out as he got up to his feet, leaning down to grab a hold of the weapon. Looking back, he noticed that not all the stones had fallen, but instead offered a way out in the way of stepping stones. For now, he didn't need to worry about that. Silas now had to investigate the ceremony room, the purposed place of the Sith Holocron.

Darth Strosius​

 

[Darth Strosius]

The telltale cold malicious air that seemed to fill every Sith temple stung at his lungs even with his helmet's rebreather. The aura of the Dark Side itself affected him little, Korriban and Dromund Kaas had both been drenched in a far greater source of such a thing after all, but to say that he was comfortable would be an exaggeration. A Sith temple was just as dangerous to a Sith as any other interloper. No one unworthy was meant to survive, regardless of who they were or their purpose for coming to the temple.

That was the one constant between nearly all the ruins left behind by the ancient Sith of old. Traps and tests meant to weed out the weak and challenge the strong. Such was the way of the Dark Side. The remnants of the Sith that had once called the temple home, or had attempted to recover its secrets over the years, were proof of that enough. Alisteri walked through the hall without hesitation in his stride, aside from a moment of pause when he heard a strange rumbling somewhere up ahead before swiftly continuing his march. The dead were of little concern, rather it was whatever killed them that he was on the lookout for.

And then his stride paused when he arrived at the edge of an apparently bottomless pit. The masked Knight peered over the edge for a moment before his gaze swept the dark room and spotted the path that bridged it to the other side. Perhaps the floor falling had been the source of the noise? He must have triggered some sort of trap without realizing it. Odd that it triggered so far away.

Despite the weird trap he continued on and made his way across the stepping stone path without further delay, eager to get acquire the holocron and leave before the temple thought twice about whether he was worthy or not. The Dark Side could be such a fickle thing after all. Still, as he set foot on the doorway he couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. It was almost like he could hear steps from up ahead, but such a thing was impossible. He was alone here after all, right? Regardless he wasn't about to wait around and leave the holocron sitting idle any longer than he had to.

Silas Westgard

 

[Silas Westgard]

Silas stood at the entrance of the ceremony with a steady breath, trying to catch anything out of place with his cold blue eyes. It was now confirmed the Sith long ago had placed traps for those long after them. It was a small temple compared to the many others he had seen but would have been sure to pack it to the brim with every sick idea they could think of before leaving it for decades. He'd need to keep on his guard, this one hall alone containing the holocron was sure to be the worst of it.

The padawan knelt and picked up a small yet heavy piece of rubble that was good enough to test the waters ahead. With a drawback of his arm, he threw the piece of stone into the center, leaving it to crash against the floor. Upon impact, the debris set off a fire trap instantly. Its flames, which were all in a row shot up from the ground and erupted violently before his eyes. If he was standing there, he probably would have been burned to a crisp and died at that moment. However, the trap seemed to give him more light and vision than he expected.

He seemed to gulp slightly and look along the floor to see the outlines of pressure pads. Some were more clear others because of the age of the temple, but he was quite unsure if there were hidden ones that were way more preserved than most. Hesitantly stepping forth, he looked to the ground and hopped along the floor with extreme caution. As he went past the still raging fire, he could feel the intense heat crash against his skin. It was clear they weren't made to keep anyone alive for long...

Finally stepping past the fire something caught his eye only a few steps away. Sitting idly on a display stand was the holocron itself, all dusty and sorry from how long it had been sitting there all these years. Silas seemed to have a sparkle in his eye from seeing the object so close, but just when he stepped forward again his foot had that unmistakable sinking feeling. He snapped his head down and saw that his foot had found another pressure pad. Without a second to spare a line of blaster bolts fired from the wall at an insane speed, barely giving him any time to dodge. Silas blinked and rotated his body left, avoiding most except one. The bolt grazed his arm and sent a stinging pain through his body, making the boy grit his teeth when he saw the damage it did. A patch of his clothing had been melted off, clearing showing the red hot graze just below his shoulder. That's why he couldn't get overconfident in places like this.

Grunting lightly Silas jumped to the safe area of the holocron and put a hand on his wound, his head slowly shaking from the lack of concentration. Although that didn't matter now, all he had to do was reach over and take it. Yet, the boy could sense something coming from behind. His head turned back to see the outline of a man behind the fire, one who wasn't supposed to be there. There wasn't supposed to be anyone here, even the Jedi were confident no one else knew about it. That in the end must have been a mistake. Silas could feel the familiar stench of darkness, but this time it was different. This belonged to a living person, not a building that had been lost in history.

"Sith..." he said to himself, narrowing his eyes on the man who stood across the hall "I'm sorry to say, but it appears I've got here first," he said, the voice echoing and carrying itself to the sith's ears.

Darth Strosius​

 

[Darth Strosius]

Thankfully the temple was far from some sprawling complex, being relatively small compared to the Sith hideaways that he had seen and visited over the years, and with only a single failed trap thus far he was almost relaxed about the whole affair. Almost being the key word. Alisteri highly doubted that any self respecting Sith would only leave one trap in the path of the unworthy, especially with a holocron on the line. There would be more danger lying in wait to try and send him into an early grave all the same.

Vigilance was paramount in any Sith temple after all. Anything less and a simple relic hunt would quickly turn into a fight for survival against whatever lay in the darkness between the hunter and their prize. Luckily for him, the Sith Knight was an experienced hunter indeed. Unluckily for him however, he was not the only one on the hunt this time.

His stride paused once more as he heard something that was very odd and out of place for an abandoned temple, the echo of blaster fire. Without hesitation or wasting the time to try and feel what would be awaiting him up ahead, he rushed across the rest of the way to the ceremony room. Alisteri had heard and seen many strange things in his temple delving, ranging from unique beasts to ghosts and everything in-between. But blaster fire? Only something very alive and very sentient caused that. That he knew of anyway.

The first thing that met his gaze as he stopped in the final room was a gout of flame spewing up from the floor, illuminating what was clearly pressure pads littering the area around it. His gaze snapped up from the trap and to the only other sign of movement, his lightsaber flying into his hand as he spotted the person that had apparently beaten him to the punch as it were. Despite the thick aura of the Dark Side that seeped into and from every wall in the temple, he could sense the tell tale signature of a Jedi. To think that he had allowed such a desecration as this was sickening, but something that he would have to address later.

Now he had a pest to slay. "I was wondering what amateur had been fiddling around and setting off every trap down here. I suppose a Jedi makes sense, given that you didn't have the decency to burn alive like most treasure hunters." HIs own voice carried across the room in response, his weapon snapping to life with a hiss as the red blade emerged and shone through the hot flames. Crossing over the pads without being scorched didn't seem like it would be fast or simple, so a direct approach was unviable at first glance. He'd have to bait a trap instead. "Now be a good Jedi and hand me that holocron before you tarnish it anymore with your sullied hands."

Silas Westgard

 

[Silas Westgard]

Silas stood calm and unaltered to the Sith's presence, even when he had his back against the wall. The only way out was through the man himself, making it almost inevitable for a confrontation. The padawan gripped the Holocron tighter in his hand and slowly shook his head to the sith before him "Unfortunately, many were blinded by the credits that would fill their pockets" the teen said back. All that were dead were either desperate or greedy, they didn't care what harm it would do.

The sight of his saber igniting forced him to scowl at the man. He wasn't going to falter until he received the Holocron from his cold dead hands. It wasn't meant to be like this at all, but now a simple mission had turned into something far different than it was meant to be "You think I'm going to simply give it to you sith? please don't be so foolish..." he snapped back, beginning to move slightly closer to the fire "The Holocron has already been plagued with the voice of the sith. No one will use it, not even you!" Silas shouted back in defiance, his eyes carefully trying to find a way around and escape.

He had to fight the sith, no doubt about it. The only problem was, that there were still traps still yet to be activated throughout the room. He had to be cautious, but at the same time, there was a way to use it to his advantage. Silas slowly placed the Holocron into his pocket and rolled his shoulders "If you're so desperate for your itch for power, come and get it" he grunted as he stepped back down to the danger zone. This time he went to the left, a bit more away from the fire.

The teen looked down to the floor and took a deep breath. With all his trust in the force, he slowly began to slowly take his first few steps forwards in the direction of the sith.

Darth Strosius​

 

[Darth Strosius]

Although he kept his gaze planted on the Jedi, in case of any tricks or signs of movement, he did glance around at the room for any other traps. He doubted that there would be any additional ways out of the temple, but for a Holocron to only be guarded by a couple of traps seemed rather suspicious. Something so valuable warranted far more security than that. He had a feeling that the temple wasn't done with them just yet, but he had little intent of setting off something deadly himself. Better to leave that to the Jedi.

The Knight scoffed at the declaration and shook his head. "No one will use it hm? Then why go through all the trouble to steal it?" He gestured to where the other man stood with his lightsaber. "I'm not here for power like you are thief! I am here to reclaim what belongs to the Sith, a lost treasure of our order. You and all the Jedi scum like you can't help but covet what isn't yours, can you? Tsk." As the Jedi stepped down, he shifted his stance to a proper combat readiness.

Sitting and waiting for his adversary to approach was hardly befitting of a Sith, yet he didn't trust the trap in front of him. Charging across the pressure pads was just begging for a fiery death, and presumably the Jedi could navigate it well enough seeing as how he had already done so. But thankfully he was blocking the room's only exit. "Don't worry Jedi, I won't let your corpse rot away in this temple." His free hand raised and lightning danced between his fingers. "You're not worthy enough to be buried here."

The Sith let loose a bolt of Force Lightning right at the Jedi, hoping to force him to dodge right into the trap.

Silas Westgard