Be Vewwy, Vewwy Quiet... We're Hunting Rancors!

[Tehkyram]

Objective: Prepare the food.
Allies: [member=Thesh]

Tehkyram nodded as Thesh told his story. "How amusing. I am a slave myself, property of my master. Indeed, slaying the rancor tonight will be my first step towards emancipation through knighthood."

Perhaps this was the will of the force, that the two of them were brought together for this quest.

"I previously belonged to a logging operation on the Jungle moon of Dxun, where I learned to master the bestial wilderness. Through..." He paused. Best not to revisit the horror of the cave. The boy would have his own breaking experience eventually, if he hadn't already. "..through various circumstances, I found my way to my present master, who trained me and educated me."

Another pause, as he sniffed the boiling meat. Almost ready. "I cannot lie and claim there is no shame in slavery. It is harsh, brutal. Degrading. But you learn a great deal from it. You understand what life is, what life means. And then, when you understand the inherent indignity in life, you appreciate the pleasure of ending it. You understand the value of death. Of extinction. Extermination. Eradication."

His mind drifted back to that fevered ecstatic breakdown he went through on Commenor. Yes, that was the true joy of death. "The Emperor once noted to my master that slaves make for excellent Sith. A wise observation. Us slaves spend our entire lives walking in the dark, learning to see the light for what it is and despise it. And so when it comes to snuffing out the light and ushering the truth of darkness, who is more eager, more inclined towards atrocity and mass slaughter than the lowly slave, all too eager to revenge ourselves on the living and the free? Our pain is a gift, we must use it well."

He took one more sniff. The meat was done. Taking it off the burning coals, he took a carved out mushroom head and poured some of the boiled tissue into the makeshift bowl. He passed the bowl to the boy, and took the rest of the pot for himself, letting the water reach non-scalding (but still painful) levels before reaching in and pulling out the meat to devour for himself.

 

[Lief]

Thesh, surprisingly enough, had not seen himself as a slave to his Masters whims in quite some time.

Sure, when he first came to [member="Darth Maliphant"] it had been with the full intentions of serving him, more so as a slave than a student in every capacity, in fact the boy himself had not been aware that his coming to Bastion had been to train at all until the moment his Master handed him a hefty stack of books to get him back on track with his schooling. And since that day he'd slowly began to scrub away at the subservient mentality which had been built up over the years since Ession's attack. These days most of what remained was bitter resentment, something he could scrunch up and use as a very potent focus.

Of course there was still things to work on. Still relapses. Still subservient ticks that were difficult to scrub out entirely. And the boy at this stage in the game was still very much a craven fool, even if he had faced down a droid, and an acklay, and whatever else he'd happened upon during the trials set before him thusfar. Tehkyram was correct, his senses had not failed him when he'd sniffed out the weaker strains which lingered over the boy, but compared to how he had been when he'd first stepped foot within the Imperial Capital?

The boy gave a small nod in response to the Acolyte's words. He'd seen - in his many years serving the Empire - his fair share of Sith who ascended on influence alone, who had been raised Sith by Sith parents and knew not the hardship or the struggles of their forefathers, who had no real emotional connection to the Darkside, superficial to say the least. They were often weaker, their grasp of the Force flailing at best, and while they had influence it was very much a hollow achievement.

Most of the time they were cut down as Acolytes. Those that weren't very rarely lived to see themselves ascend to Master, or gifted the title of Darth.

There was definitely something inherent about their way of life, that of the Sith themselves, that required some form of strife. How could you break chains that were non existent? How could that lecherous darkness seep into your soul if you knew not the very price it had to take in return?

"Strife begets power," the boy murmured, more so to himself than to his fellow Acolyte, a culmination of the thoughts running through his head. No, if given the chance to go back again and avoid the hardship, while remaining set upon the same path, he would not choose to do so. Perhaps if it meant living an ordinary life, like the one my parents had planned... But that was never going to happen, so he scrubbed the idea from his mind and focused instead upon the present.

"Thank you," he said, as he took the mushroom-bowl from the man and began to pick at the meat.

[member="Tehkyram"]

 

[Tehkyram]

Objective: Eat.
Allies: [member=Thesh]

The meat was edible, but that was about it. It was hardly succulent or juicy, with no real spice or flavor. Altogether, it just felt bland. Though, it was still better than nothing. The plant life would hardly provide Tehkyram with the protein he would need. He needed to keep up his strength and energy, lest his body give out at a key moment. He messily devoured the meat, and as he did, he continued to make small talk with the boy. "I observed you reading a book on the shuttle ride over. What was it?" he inquired.

 

[Lief]

Far from the worst thing he had eaten, Thesh was able to devour the meal with ease, wolfing down the root vegetables and edible mushrooms he'd also added to the pitiful banquet while noticing that the Acolyte chose to eat around them. It wasn't until that moment that he realized that perhaps the man was wholly carnivorous, and if that was the case then presenting him with the food of his food was pointless. He could only hope he hadn't caused any offense, though he did not see or sense anything of the sort.

"Studies of the Force," the boy informed him, when he asked after the book, "Just a basic insight into the nature of the Force, really."

The book itself took no side on the great light or dark debate, and was a little more clinical in its approach. Honestly Thesh had only chosen it because there were still some words and phrases he didn't fully understand, and given that he was currently fighting to catch up with his peers where his literary understanding was concerned he'd felt it prudent to reread it in hopes of furthering his understanding. There were plenty of other books he yearned to read, back at [member="Darth Maliphant"]'s apartment, but they would get their time.

[member="Tehkyram"]

 

[Tehkyram]

Objective: Eat, and correct the wayward youth.
Allies: [member=Thesh]

Tehkyram shook his head as he continued to eat, a small bit of meat falling from his jowels. The boy's heart was in the right place, but he was going down the wrong path. "Theory and technique are meaningless, a poor substitute for power. No instructional text can attune you to the dark side. And dry and clinical text does nothing to challenge or stimulate you on an intellectual level. You may improve your technique, but you will not grow stronger nor will you become more literately adept."

He swallowed his meal and took another fistful of meat, his teeth shredding the guts as he chewed. He knew the answer from his own experience, of course. Amortem's wisdom proved to be quite useful for him, though his own voracious lust for power was a part of it.

"You must opt for studying poetry. You will come to appreciate the beautiful intricacies of basic. More importantly, as you read the text, you will feel it, and you will attune yourself to the force even further. Your bond with the force will grow, and so will your power. Start with The Tragedy of Darth Sidious the Great, or the Sheeviad Yeeta should you want to learn the old tongue. From there, move on to the Analects of Darth Nihlus, Lord Maihem's Recollection of the Great War, and the works of Darth Emeressence and Darth Urungwarus. Read them and meditate after each reading. Do not just parse the words, but truly feel them. From there, you will grow. The dark side is an idea, an idea we must embrace should we gain the full extent of its power."

Oh, the delight of Amortem's library! The wondrously obscene and blasphemous verses that it held, introducing such new and wonderful ideas into Tehkyram's head! How he longed to have a tome or two with him to be reading.

The two sat in silence for the remainder of the meal. Afterwards, Tehkyram stood. "Find a suitable spot and sleep. I will keep watch for the night," he ordered the boy. His nose was better suited to watching the surroundings than either of their eyes. And through meditation, he could easily stay awake and alert all night.

 

[Tehkyram]

Objective: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXE8LdXzeHM
Allies: [member=Thesh]

After a few hours of keeping vigil, Tehkyram and Thesh's camp was attacked by a full-blown bull rancor.

Tehkyram attacked the beast with the most obscene fury and engaged in a battle that was too insane and off-the-wall for words to suitably describe, with Thesh providing moral and sometimes physical support. After an extreme amount of grappling and expending all his spears into the not-so-thick hide of the beast, Tehkyram finally killed it by ripping one of its tusks off and shoving it into the creature's eye, penetrating into its brain. Having achieved victory, Tehkyram celebrated by ripping some brain matter out through the wound he created and eating them.

After his companion's celebration spectacle caused him to violently expunge his dinner, Thesh summoned the dropship to retrieve the carcass and take it back to the Sith settlement, where it would be prepared for the second, considerably less gruesome and grotesque half of Tehkyram's trials.