Public Ancient Sith Ruins. What Could Go Wrong?

[Kahlil Noble]

Taspir III
​

"Look, it's your skin that'll burn off if you head out that way. The storm's bad, and it only gets worse around those ruins. Even if the storm dies off here it'll be just as bad as it always is there. It's unnatural. Wrong." A pretty tall Besalisk stares off at an equally tall silver haired man. He crosses all four arms over his chest, frowning deeply. "I don't wanna hear about you dying. That can come back on me."

Kahlil gives a kind and patient smile to the four armed man. He nods once before he pulls up his hood. "Don't worry. I don't plan to die for some forgotten buildings. My ship should be able to handle the rain, no matter how bad it gets." The Besalisk scoffs and waves a hand dismissively as he turns around to head back into his shop.

"Like I said. It's your skin." With that the young man was left alone on the busy street in town. He chuckles to himself as he heads back to his ship, flipping his brown hood up before stepping out into the acid rain. The cloak would resist this sort of shower. It was the strong winds that blew the rain drops around that'd be the issue. But his destination in the ruins wouldn't have him exposed to the elements, if the tomb was actually there. Lost in thought Kahlil would rather carelessly step forward.

 

[Elle Mors]

It wasn't that she wasn't looking where she was going, it was that with how big her oversized special raincoat was - the kind tourist bureaus sell to off-worlders that don't know any better, in this case one that was definitely made for a man with a build several times her size and specifically to protect the body from acid rain - she couldn't really see in front of her until she was essentially already within arm's reach. The fact that it was drizzling at this point and she had to keep her head down to prevent stray droplets from colliding with the lower half of her face - she had already found out the hard way that it was definitely just as painful as they said it was - was what sent her careening into Kahlil Noble on her way down the road.

It probably didn't help that she had absolutely no idea where she was - just that she could rent a speederbike somewhere around her and jury-rig a covering to keep her from driving through painful acid rain the entire way to the ruins she had wanted to look into. Not for force-related reasons, she'd recently abandoned that part of her life and the people who were still stuck in those ways when she'd came to terms with the truth of the matter, but rather just to gain some insight on what led to.. well.. the state of the galaxy - she was finding it hard to wrap her head around the notion of people actually knowing what life outside of a despotic empire and still willingly selling off their free will to serve for some man or woman that the entire population might have seen a half dozen times at a glance.

She wanted a concrete way to persuade Sylvia Virtos , too, but that was still lingering a little close to selfish reasons - she just wanted her best friend with her, whether she believed the nonsense the empire had been peddling to her for her entire life was a little more of a secondary issue to her, and mostly because it prevented their whole "togetherness" deal in the first place.

Back to the present, and reality for that matter, though, one clumsy Ellie Mors found herself bouncing right off of a man who was both heads and shoulders taller than her but probably weighed more than two of her - and he didn't seem at all that heavy at a glance, though she was tiny so she probably wasn't the best judge of how much someone would weigh based on muscle-mass. Stumbling backwards, and barely keeping her balance to prevent herself from falling to the slush of acidic water puddling around at their feet, she apologized profusely. "I am so, so, so very sorry, I can't see in this thing, and I have no idea where I am - or where I am going, exactly." She said, shielding her face with her right arm - which was draped in an acid resistant sleeve that was almost humorously larger than her actual arm given the way it drooped over her hand.

 

[Kahlil Noble]

Kahlil barely even noticed when Elle Mors bumped into him. Too trapped in his own head for his own good. And hers, as it was. Without thinking he raised a hand to catch her with the Force, just to stop her from falling back too far. His hand quickly retreats though, trying not to make too big a deal on that. And the fact his hand had started sizzling. He laughs nervously as he looked around.

"That's.. Quite alright. You're unharmed, right?" He looks her over, trying to find any burnt skin. "Uh. Where were you heading..? I might be able to point you in the right direction at least."

 

[Elle Mors]

Sizing him up, or rather giving his height a double take, Ellie was surprised she hadn't rolled back down the street after running into him, the fact that she'd recovered her balance was one thing but she wasn't really sure how - though this was more than likely due to her lack of skill with the force beyond simple things, like enhancing her strength or running rather quickly. She packed that confusion away for another day, into the box in her head labeled "things I will probably never remember again unless it has to do with Sylv", and focused her gaze on the sight of acid rain splashing onto his hand. She gasped as he laughed, surprised he didn't react as exaggeratedly as she had earlier in the day when she'd tried to see if it really was as big a deal as the planet's weather advisory had claimed.

Spoiler: She screamed. It had hurt.

Nodding her head yes, though, to answer his question - the one single good thing about a rain coat that way several sizes too big for her was that there was almost no way for her to get wet without trying to. And after a couple of hours ago she had no plans to ever do that again. "I'm fine, really. I was just trying to find my way around to some shop to rent an airspeeder, I wanted to go out to the ruins a few clicks from town but I am.. well I'm pretty horrible with directions." She explained, which was an understatement - the junk shop she had been looking for was in the opposite direction she had been heading toward, and it was on the opposite side of town.

"Not that I'm, like, some spooky dark jedi or a Sith or anything, hah." She offered weakly, finding some awkward humor in the fact that, up until a few days ago, she had been an acolyte at the academy of Bastion. She glanced down at the bracelet that was surprisingly snug to her wrist at her side and sighed. "I'm just interested in some history, really." Elle said with a smile that was hidden behind the droop of the front of her hood.

Kahlil Noble

 

[Kahlil Noble]

Satisfied she wasn't harmed he let out a relieved sigh. To himself, in his head. His relief was purely selfish. If she had been hurt it'd be possible he'd be found out when he'd take her to a hospital. The subtle paranoia was really getting to him. Kahlil blinked in surprise though as Elle Mors mentions the ruins. No, no way she'd be interested in the sa- it's the same. He stifles another laugh though another nervous one did escape him at the Sith comment.

"Ha! Ha.. Yeah. Yep. I'm uh. Also looking into the ruins. Also not because I was once a Sith who use to raid these tombs." Which he had done. On several occasions. Too many to count actually. He glances around as the rain slowly begins to pick up. Shop keep was wrong, storms here. "There's a building there that's immune to the acid. I'm not sure what causes it, but I was planning to head out there. In my ship. Better coverage from the storm." He was just listing off his own plans really, though after a pause he'd glance back to her. If she was already having this much trouble with her coat..

"I'm Kahlil, by the way. If you'd like, I can bring you to the tombs."

 

[Mithara Cohen]

"Alright fellas, one more push!"

There was a loud whining groan from the group that Mithara had been apart of, pushing open a rather barricaded locked door. There was a bit of panting and clapping from the sides with a bit of hollaring after they looked inside. They finally did it, they got into one of the tombs sacred chambers. It took them several weeks to even pinpoint the place and several days to disarm traps and displace a Force Ghost...but overall, everything been going well and the crypt itself was now in sight. As they started to filter in, they were wary of each step as Mithara himself went straight over to the crypt itself.

Mithara had been a scholar since he was young, exploring more often as a teenager and now as a full groan adult, had seemed to been able to be part of a archelogical company. They rounded up artifacts and sold them to the highest bidder, Mithara himself being the handler of the artifacts in the Force due to his connection, seeming to get a small nag when things were to go wrong. In addition, he already spoke seven languages, able to also read ten of those including...

"High Sith fellas...let me see. Those who unearth my tomb shall reap the consquences. Yeah pal, I already slew you back to wence you came so just open up!"

Grabbing from the side a crowbar on his left side, he would smash it into the side and pry it open for a lot of pressure. Others would come on be, realizing the difficulty and help pop it open as there was a bit more hollaring...until they realized when they popped it open, a scroll became undone and a loud booming voice shook the chamber.

" Ri Tsûduma Driuni iw Saud diâ Kûts Tqi Tuti Niriai iw J'us."​

Then almost rather suddenly, a large explosion of energy poured out onto them as they all flew back, all almost harmlessly...except for Mithara. As others scrambled to get up, Mithara slowly leaned up to only see himself engulfed in flames, the burning sensation over his skin as it was extremely painful. Screaming out, he tried to put it out to no avail as he felt himself overwhelmed with not agony but also something swelling inside himself. Trying to get up, he felt his own clothing burning into him as he suddenly gave a loud scream of anguish, looking up as he released an extremely powerful wave of force energy, catching everything nearby ablaze, including his coworkers as they started to scream and fall over, the fire itself not of natural kind. After a few moments, hearing his friends screams, Mithara fell forward and went silent, the pain becoming to much even for him.


Kahlil Noble
Elle Mors

 

[Cassian Tethus]

Securing Sith Artifacts. What a job. Tethus had been sent on various missions across the galaxy many times before as part of Xzaien's Crusade Across the Galaxy a few years ago. Securing a few artifacts there, saving a few miners here, breaking a few skulls here and there. Professional Soldiers stooping so low as to accept contracts by this small-time treasure hunting committee. But alas, with the disappearance of the Catharian People into the force itself, at the behest of its leader Xzaien. Maybe to become omnipotent immortals, or simply to leave the crumbling galaxy as a whole. Tethus, wasn't apart of this. Having missed the call to return to the Throne World due to a botched campaign against Bryn'Adul Infiltrators in the Mid Rim.

Deployed as part of a secondary guard contingent for the Treasure hunters hoping to unmask the seal in one of the larger tombs, Tethus and his fellow group of two other Shock Marines stood in wait on the surface, their battle-worn armor, still yet bearing the heraldry of the 'Sons of Xzeench' Shock Marine Regiment. A sad display of a once great and mighty empire, broken apart. Tethus was present, alongside a Scout and a Heavy Trooper. Both of which, were made of the same ilk that birthed Tethus's career as a Shock Marine into existence.

However, as sudden as it was. A massive gout of fire shot past Tethus, through the opening tunneled into the side of the tomb complex. Narrowly missing the cloth drapery over his shoulders and catching the very edges of it alight, while also catching a poor miner in the flames. Who fell backwards with the force and rolled along the ground, with fire encompassing his body. It seems that the flame resistant jumpsuit he was wearing, provided little protection against flame of the unnatural sort. Infact, melting straight onto bare flesh. Luckily, a quick eyed Guard doused the burning worker in some sort of spacer-tech fire extinguisher which thankfully put out the flames with some moderate effort. Tethus and his squad looked on with indignant looks behind their helmets while the miner was then promptly carted off to wherever the improvised medical station was located.

Priming their grotesquely large Slug-weapons, and steeling themselves for whatever occult horror would dare lay a hand on a squad of the finest soldiers the Galaxy has ever known. Tethus marched first, entering the tunneled entrance and following it all the way down. Trodding over the charred corpses of poor archaeologists and treasure hunters. What they witnessed after crossing the threshold into crypt entrance, with its seal already broken and visibly on the ground. Inside, the smoke and air was choking and still burning to a degree, not as much as was before, but a smoldering wreck of burned bodies, alive and dead on the ground. Nearby lie the unconscious body of Mithara Cohen who Tethus immediately recognized as the leader of this exposition and began first aid on his burn wounds. An honor, typically not given to a mere human such as he who lay before the Marines. But, it was apart of the job description.

Kneeling, and yet still towering over him. Tethus reached into a side mounted tactical hard-case for some sort of IFAK like device. Prying the lid off, and promptly applying a liberal amount of Medical Grade Genuine Kolto, unheard of in this day and age but used heavily by the armed forces of the Catharian Hegemony. It worked nearly instantly, clotting the wounds and sealing it against the air. The Towering Shock Marine knelt over the body, pressing a finger against the chest, and allowing his Power Armor's senses to give a readout on his biological state and health.

Meanwhile, The Heavy Trooper Marine stood, heavy weapons primed and ready against whatever was behind the "Hell Door". The weapon he carried, was of the rotary sort. Capable of laying out platoons of men in a single sustained ten second burst. But, it was now trained on whatever spiritual horror was behind the sealed door. The Heavy Marine, clad in the heaviest variant of Power Armor visible on the group of three Marines. Appeared to be able to literally tank shots from anti-vehicle cannons and come out unscathed. He too, bore the heraldry of the Sons of Xzeench, as compared to the last Scout Marine who was clad in a slightly different color armor, and different coat of arms. The 'Masters of Thearterra" by the looks of it. He was crouched behind the Heavier Marine, Rifle pressed up against his shoulder and aimed toward the middle of the door.

However, now was the time to figure out the case of Mithara, and attempt to see if he were still capable of getting up and continuing the expedition.

Kahlil Noble Elle Mors

[Pwese be gentle]

 

[Mithara Cohen]

There was silence in his own mind...so much agony has struck against his body. There was multiple burn wounds all across it, almost never ending. When the marine known as Cassian Tethus would apply his IFAK, the pain would lessen yet the voices did not. The Hell Door for what it was known was plagued by Fires of the Force, almost unyielding as screams of the damned would be near the room but nothing of existence showed itself. Whispers in High Sith plagued his mind as it echoed throughout, almost neverending as a small voice echoed into his mind above all the others.

"You broke the seal...you broke the bond that held the ritual at bay. Now you will suffer as we all have suffer...rise now cursed one, your duty now awaits...Lorekeeper."

Then Mithara would give a long gasp, his eyes opening up wide as his own clothing was partly burnt. Breathing rather heavily, he noticed the marine over him as he remained calm, shaking his head for a moment. The clots that had formed would slowly be pushed out, his own skin reforming on its own as his own skin would slowly be warmer to the touch beyond a normal humans standard. Mithara himself was slowly feeding on nearby flames, torches as they would slowly flicker in and out, a few becoming non-existant as his wounds would become healed. Looking side to side as his pain would slowly go away, he noticed his burnt comrades...dead and soon to be dead or evacuated sprawled over the ground.

"Your power grows as you feel the warmth. Focus on that warmth...and you shall feel the power of the Keepers."

Rather suddenly, fire would erupt from his hands as Mithara freaked out for a moment, backing up as he tried to wave it but would then realize something. It did not hurt him...nor did it extinguish. It danced among his finger tips, it formed almost like gloves around his hands as he slowly twisted them back and forth. He would mutter for a brief moment to himself before looking over at the Hells Door, putting his hands out towards it as if the fire itself obeyed his will...slowly draining its power from the room till the cries of the damned be mostly silenced as the flames would be put out.

"Your power over pyrokensis is just the start Keeper...but remember that your power...came at a great cost cursed one."

"What...what the hell has happened to me?"

Looking over at Cassian as he said that, the voices in his head could not be heard but the expression on his face showed something was wrong. Never before had he shown powers like this...and his motions showed he had no idea how to harness nor fully control said abilities in the Force well. The Hells Door would still scream slightly, even if faintly as something was alive in the room, even on motion detectors as something was woken up with this...but to what, it was still unknown.

Kahlil Noble
Elle Mors

 

[Cassian Tethus]

Spoiler: Some Muzak :]

​

Tethus had seen his fair share of horrors in his day. The hive on Thearterra, the mutant gene soldiers of the Chiss Ascendancy. Bryn'Adul brutes that were capable of tearing a man in half with as much effort a mortal man could tear a sheet of paper. To force possessions to worlds being consumed in dark-side force rituals that rendered them barren for thousands of years. He had witnessed all of these first hand, at the behest of the Queen Mother, the immortal leader of the Catharian Hegemony. The rumors were indeed true to what she was. Born literally as an anathema to all that was sacred in the Galaxy, he realized this now despite his inherent connection to her and her fifteen sons and daughters. And she was powerful, literally worshiped as a Goddess.

This entire situation had brought to fruition his induction as a Shock Marine. Literally tortured for five days and nights to find any sort of crack in the mental armor that he had to have to fight the horrors of this galaxy. He succeeded. But this. Witnessing an Ancient horror being released and literally embedding a small amount of its power to the man that lay on the ground before him was... literally horrific, even for the transhuman minds of the Genetically Altered Warriors before Mithara. But nevertheless, all three of these Gene Warriors stood steadfast as parts of the darkside attempted to pierce their mental armor. Take control. But to no avail. Sadly, some of the others who followed them down weren't as lucky.

​

Four poor Miners literally had their minds torn to shreds. Leaving one or two on the ground, mewling incessantly as they no longer had the mental capacities to even breathe, let alone walk. Others literally had their minds sucked from their skulls into the swirling red mass that swirled around the door. Their bodies being manifested as vessels for the "Demons" of the Sith. They turned toward the three marines who had backed into a defensive circle around the downed Mithara. Only Tethus was facing inward, while the others trained their formidable weaponry against the two possessed miners.

​

The two Miners on the ground slowly stood forward, hobbling toward Tethus, who quickly turned. Grabbing the Miner by the head and sending a Power Armored fist forward directly into the glass environmental visor the Miner was wearing as protection from the air. Shattering it, and crushing the skull of the head within. Then, in a swift movement, the Scout Marine stepped forward, blasting two four sizable holes through the Miner's torso, and nearly ripping its arm off in the process. While it quickly, died. The red light that once formulated in a glow behind its eyes dissipating into the air. The Other, who stood directly in-front of the Heavier Marine. Was quickly cut down by sustained automatic cannon fire. Blowing the poor miner into a red mist before he even had the chance to step forward. The rounds streaked straight through it, crashing against the bedrock behind and blowing chunks outward, as the headless Miner flopped forward, impacting against the ground with a mighty crash.

Then the flames died down, and the room went dark. Now illuminated with flashlights from the Marine's headlamps... eerily so...

Tethus leant back down, his right gauntlet bloodied with crimson. He spoke through his helmet. The Vocabulator drowning out whatever natural tone the Marine had.

"The Ghost is attempting to take control. Resist it for as long as you can. Use its power against it, make it fight too. I have seen these go two ways. You are possessed and cast away from this galaxy, or you fight it and win." ​

Tethus stood, allowing Mithara to get up on his own. Clearly, this showed that the Marines cared little for mere Mortals. But it was somewhat, poetic in a way.

"Either you get out of range of our justice, or fight long enough to see its destruction." ​

With that final sentence, Tethus drew a pistol from its maglocked position on his thigh. Slotting a Magazine into it. It was about the size of a regular blaster rifle for a Human and likely weighed five times as much. But it was a decent weapon to deal with whatever they were about to walk into. And more.

This gave Mithara a few choices. Surrender control, and almost certainly die before he regrets making that decision. Join them to fight it, or Run as far away as possible and get out of dodge before the spirit assumes total control.

[:

Mithara Cohen Kahlil Noble Elle Mors

 

[Elle Mors]

If she'd been raised literally anywhere outside of the Empire, then a strange man standing in the middle of an acid rain downpour just outside of Sith space offering her a ride on his ship to ancient Sith Ruins that were more than likely brimming with dark side energies would have set off every alarm bell in her head and raised at least six dozen red flags.

Fortunately, or unfortunately - too early to tell now - Ellie was a naive soul who had somehow remained an absolute idiot in regards to her lack of self-awareness. Strange man in a coat in the middle of a hazardous downpour is heading to the same ruins she was? 'What an amazing coincidence!' She had thought to herself - and this strange man was also offering her a ride there?

'I am so lucky today!'

Well, in a manner of speaking she was, and if Kahlil Noble was anything better than a grifter trying to get her in a tight spot for some credits then she was already having a better day than she was maybe fifteen minutes ago. "We're going in the same direction, yeah? Then I don't mind tagging along, as long as I'm not being too much of a burden." She answered, before thinking over whether or not she should give her name out freely - deciding that, if the Empire thought she went down with her crew over Jaemus then there was likely little to be concerned about. It's not like Sylvia was out to get her or anything.

"I'm Elle, but people call me Ellie. I'm fine with either, though." She said, though in truth really only Sylv and Charlie had called her Ellie - everyone else found it taking too many syllables compared to the already-short Elle.

Cassian Tethus Mithara Cohen

 

[Kahlil Noble]

Even Kahlil, who had turned his back on the ways of the SIth and wanted to stop them, hadn't even paused to consider how creepy it'd be. Or perhaps that's just because of how he was brought up. Either way, he nodded and waved an arm in the direction he was walking. R6 already had the ship prepped, so they'd be able to take off as soon as they arrived.

"It shouldn't be a problem. It's a quick flight." He'd lead the way then, nodding. It wasn't a long walk to the hanger, though Kahlil kept mostly quiet. It hit him how much he sucked at talking with people when it wasn't about stopping the Empire or Jedi business. He frowned under his hood. Had he really gotten that boring? No, he always sucked with conversations.

"So.. Is there anything specific you're looking for?"

Elle Mors Cassian Tethus Mithara Cohen