A History Lesson

[Vaylin]

So she's here to learn too?

Vaylin hummed slightly, clicking her tongue out of habit as they walked.

"Well, it seems we have a common interest being here."

She gave the woman a narrowed, sideways glance that could easily be mistaken for a glare. But Vaylin's eyes shifted fowards immediately as the chill breezed past. Memories of Athiss immediately coming to mind, and despite what she had learned there, she remained cautious.

Stephanie's question about Sith did give the Zabrak pause however. An instant 'yes' was at the tip of her tongue initially, but she refrained from voicing it. She wasn't her Master, she wasn't a Sith like her.

"No." There was a probably lingering 'not yet' somewhere there, but Vaylin had left it there, as she wasn't entirely sure herself.

As their walk went deeper, Vaylin began to notice the walls were expanding, the hallways becoming a lot wider from no apparent reason. It probably should've set off alarm bells in the Zabrak, but it didn't

Eventually they reached a crossroads, the single hallway split into three others. Fowards, left or right - each direction was plunged in darkness, making it impossible to see what was ahead.

"Hmm, how about you choose."

[member="Stephanie Swail"]​

 

[Stephanie Swail]

This Sith – or non-Sith – was being very amicable all of a sudden. It made Stephanie uneasy, but more than she was frustrated with the lack of information the girl gave. One word answers, or open ended ones.

With a sigh, she shook her head as they came to the first cross section in the tomb. Stephanie slowly groaned. This was where things could go from bad to worse.

Looking to the girl as she shouldered the choice to her, Stephanie tutted and looked back to the passageways.

"Fine."

Each passage seemed the same, just going in a different direction. So, let’s see if the Force could help. Closing her eyes, she inhaled and tried to ignore she was trapped under a Valley of Dark Lords with a potential Dark Lord or something behind her. She opened her palm and tried to conduct the Force from her fingers – to reach and map out anything she could find.

Life. Nature. Danger. Emotion.

Her brow twitched.

She felt….doubt…and anger….and hate.

Was she feeling the girl?

It was happening again…that feeling of others.

She opened her eyes, annoyed with herself.

"Straight on," she pointed. "Let’s go straight."

Stephanie took steps over the decorative stone floor to the dark central passageway, and extended a hand.

"You have the light. YOU go first."

[member="Vaylin"]

 

[Vaylin]

Vaylin stood waiting, watching as Stephanie closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

The woman was brave, or more so foolish to make herself vulnerable. Darkening her vision and focusing her efforts on the Force.

It wouldn't take much to just activate her blade and pierce it through the Lightsider's stomach.

But Vaylin was no fool, and knew that such a thing was pointless and had no purpose. Even as she felt the Dark Side around her screaming at her to do it. Instead she simply waited until Stephanie finally gave an answer. A spark of anger igniting when she ordered/demanded something.

The Zabrak gritted her teeth slightly, but held her tongue. Compromises would need to be made for now, no need to make an enemy out of the only probably friendly person here.

"Very well." Vaylin began to lead the way forwards. But made a point to keep her free hand close to where her lightsaber was kept.

As they pushed onwards, Vaylin ocassionally lit any burnt out sconce the passed. Right until they reached a door way, into...an abyss?

Whatever laid before them was completely eclipsed in darkness. Even gazing down past the door's threshold, there seemed to be no floor to stand on.

"This is strange..." The Zabrak muttered as she peered around the hallway they were in. Her eyes fell on a hole in the wall to the right, with a chute that seemed to travel down into it. Vaylin walked over to it, using the torch in hand to illuminate it. There was a strange liquid coating the metal chute. Vaylin ran a finger along it, tested it's texture between her fingers before finally smelling it. "It.s oil." She said, her gaze flickering over to Stephanie briefly.

An idea struck her, and Vaylin lifted her torch to the chute, the oil was immediately alight and the fire shot down into the chute. It sounded like a roaring beast, moving through the walls into whatever room awaited them.

Vaylin returned to the darkened doorway, watching as the fire moved around up above through a channel of aqueducts hanging high above.

The room before them was much larger than probably anticipated, big enough that at the far end was a towering statue of some person. But right before them, was a broken staircase that led down into the room. A large portion, the one that had once connected it to the doorway was broken. It was going to take a significant leap to make that gap.

"I get the impression, this wasn't just a tomb." With that comment, Vaylin lurched forwards and jumped.

[member="Stephanie Swail"]​

 

[Stephanie Swail]

Stephanie followed the light and stood beside the Dark Sider on each step, and even when she investigated the small hole. Her eyes flicked to the girls as she identified oil. She said nothing, and just watched.

Taking a step back as the fire began on a chain reaction, illuminating the room itself, Stephanie let her eyes go wide as she looked around and nodded.

"Not just a tomb," she mused.

Looking down, she noticed her accomplice had made a leap across a broken stairwell.

"Great," she muttered. "It's alright for some."

Sighing, she closed her eyes to find the Force inside her again. It was harder to focus with so much darkness around, but she had to channel it. Opening her eyes, she didn't think and ran forward and jumped forward.

The jump was timed perfectly, but the landing was bad. She hit the opposite end of the stairwell and stumbled forward, half falling down until she lurched out with her arm to grip onto the rocky wall to stop herself. Chunks of stone fell away under her feet. Catching her breath, she glanced up to the Dark Sider, and went back up a couple of rungs to her.

"Sorry about that. It's been a while."

Taking the stairwell up, or what was left of it, as the fire bellowed around them in various niches and funnels around the room, Stephanie kept her eyes on the large statue.

"What if...this was some...infernal machine or weapon....back in the day?"

[member="Vaylin"]

 

[Vaylin]

Vaylin hadn't even budged when Stephanie had tumbled, and just watched as the woman's landing slipped and she fell down the stairs.

There was a moment where the Zabrak had given pause, a thought to reach an arm out to help. Ultimately though she didn't, and not a second later Stephanie had managed to stop her descent and pull herself back onto her feet.

Well that could've gone worse.

If the woman had injured herself, then it may likely become a hindrance as time went on. But then again, it occured to the Zabrak that she would've had the advantage if they ended up being chased by something.

Unfortunately however, it seemed like the lightsider had managed it without doing such a thing.

"It's fine," she said. Not even a shrug, just a deadpan look in her eye as Stephanie apologized.

As she spoke, Vaylin's eyes were following the fire as it moved around the aqueducts above them. She watched as it occasionally dipped down into small hanging cages, igniting them into hanging lights. Then the flames flowed down the walls and across small grooves dug into the floor.

"Perhaps...or maybe," Vaylin walked down the stairwell, stepping onto the floor and looking ahead towards the statue as the room finally lit up completely. "It might be a temple instead."

The statue was eroded. Time had its cruel way with it, parts of it had crumbled and even the face looked like it had been chipped off, making it impossible to even suspect who it was meant to be. But what caught Vaylin's attention, was that there were tattered rugs littering the floor, some large and others smaller. All of them had people, or what remained; skeletons, kneeling on them, heads bowed down against the rug, all facing towards the statue. As she stepped closer, the Zabrak's eyes fell on some of the deceased worshippers, she frowned. While the vast majority of them were just bones, a few with clothing still on them. There was a number that stood out, still had a full flesh body, hunched over in the same position.

That's when Vaylin's senses suddenly flared alert, as one of the supposed dead cultists suddenly lurched up and tackled her to the ground.

[member="Stephanie Swail"]

 

[Stephanie Swail]

Stephanie took her mind off the situation for a second, and that was all it took.

Walking forward as the girl spoke, she nodded in understanding as it started to look much like a place of worship. But a place of worship in such a dark place as this meant it wasn’t not going to be something comfortable in witnessing or discovering – unless it was a place of hope?

There was history here, and sadness, as mummified bodies seemed to be grounded on the stone floor.

Her thought process was suddenly broken by the noise of an almost horrific cry. She span on her heel and brought her shield up, but noticed that a body had risen to attack her co-explorer. Eyes wide, she didn’t hesitate to act.

Running forward, she launched herself with all the strength she had with her red, blue and silver shield and careered directly into the rotting body.

The shield crunched the corpse and she ran forward with the momentum carrying it forward and pushing it back. Bits of grit and rotten flesh blew away from the impact.

"Get it get it get it!"

One had a weapon, one had a shield – useless alone, but together it was perfect.

She didn’t think how the Dark Sider had been an enemy moments ago; now she was an ally.

[member="Vaylin"]

 

[Vaylin]

The cultist barely had time to try and sink its teeth into Vaylin, before he was knocked off the Zabrak and was being pushed back.

He let out a hollowed howl, fists beating against Stephanie's shield, trying to reach around the length of it to try and get to the wielder. But her resolute defence against it was enough to keep it at bay.

Vaylin jumped to her feet, and much like how Stephanie hadn't hestiated, neither did she. The Zabrak's lightsaber flew into her hand, igniting in a single motion as she darted towards them. Vaylin strode forwards moving ahead of the woman's efforts to push the man back, and with a slide of the feet and a quick flourish she lunged across bisecting the cultist.

Almost immediately a putrid smell filled the room, emanating from the now two halves of the zombie-like creature. Vaylin simply wrinkled her nose in disgust, partially use to the smell from Athiss. Though as she looked down at it, she could see small, dark and wispy vapours flowing from the body, then slithering into the darkness of the room. It seemed that whoever or whatever these things were, they were being fueled by the tomb/temple itself.

With that over with, Vaylin turned her attention back to Stephanie and gave her a small nod.

"Good work, now we should get-"

But the sudden eruption of more groans alerted the pair to the fact they were not done, not even close. As several more of the previously dead cultists started to rise up, and immediately began charging towards them.

Vaylin sighed, gripped her lightsaber and shifted into a stance. "Keep to the same strategy, you try and knock 'em down or pin 'em, I'll take them out."

Because as much as it pained the Zabrak, it would be foolish at this point to not teamup with the woman. no matter the differing alignments.

[member="Stephanie Swail"]