Private Cultist presence on the Lavarn Plateau

[Mathieu Brion]

What was that? Zemira? His face, so far characterised by fear trending towards anger, now gained a stroke of confusion as he repeated what he heard in a question "Mathieu?" Naturally, the Sith behind him also seemed puzzled by his sudden question but tried to look past it "Focus! This is your only way of quenching the fear you feel. Strike her down" he said with increasing power building in his voice. But then, the Jedi continued, arguing that he would loose everyone he had loved. It was a grim thought and the threat of that certainly didn't make him more inclined to strike her down.

Despite the mysterious looming threat she produced, she also seemed to inspire a certain amount of calmness in him. Slowly, the crazed screaming from the two cultists started to become less frightening and them helplessly clawing at his armour earlier was now not quite as fear inducing. With his senses returning to normal, and soon gaining a clearer mind, he started to realise what was happening. Just as he did, however, a torch fell down onto the Sith, setting his cloak on fire. Standing with the red sabre in his hand, he looked down at the Jedi who had successfully managed to free herself.

He was about to turn around to face the Sith when she let out a comment about getting his bounty. Furrowing eyebrows and a questioning look bore down onto her. The Mercenary did not view himself as a get-the-cash-at-all-costs kind of guy and liked to think that and that he had somewhat sensible priorities in situations like these. Letting out a somewhat bitter "Yeah," Mathieu turned around to face the Sith. Naturally, not to advance with the sabre, but rather to draw his blaster with the right hand, still holding onto the sabre with his left.

The Sith was already pushed down by Zemira and with that, Mathieu pulled the trigger of his blaster six times, firing a flurry of stun bolts towards the target. The crazed screaming from the two cultists got even worse as their master was fired upon. Since Zemira was closer, they moved towards her, and if allowed to get close enough, would hurl themselves upon her, scratching and clawing upon her armour and clothes, perhaps even tipping her over. While, the Sith could roll away from a few of the bolts and block another with a rock he levitated in front of him, he was not capable of blocking them all after Zemira's efforts and being exhausted from the fight.

Zemira

 

[Zemira]

The Knight hoped that her calm tone, though disguising her fear, would alleviate some of Mathieu's fear and as he seemed to grow less willing to strike her down, her own calmness began to return as she had been taught how by the Jedi. She hoped her words had been poignant enough to prevent Mathieu from doing something he would've regretted and as she felt his terror melt away slightly, she was hopeful that this wasn't the end for him.

Zemira watched as Mathieu shot towards the Sith and did nothing to stop him, instead walking towards him with her hand outstretched to take the lightsaber from him. The presence of the Dark side lingered on it and Mathieu had had enough of a run in with the Dark side for one day. However, before she could do so, her attention was turned to the two cultists advancing behind her and she immediately whipped around to face them.

As one threw himself towards her, Zemira held the lightsaber in front of herself so he was impaled on the blade before using the Force to push the other into the wall, incapacitating them for a moment. She walked over to Mathieu, calm in all manners, and tried to reach for the lightsaber again, slowly. "It's ok, Mathieu. It's over." She told him in a soothing voice. The Knight looked down at the Sith and contemplated what to do before deciding on it being best to inform the Jedi council before any further action was taken.

Mathieu Brion

 

[Mathieu Brion]

It was over. Zemira said as much after having dispatched the two cultists who had attacked her. She was calm - and he appreciated that. It was precisely what was needed after these rather dramatic events. The blaster was still pointed at the unconscious Sith whilst he held onto the lightsabre with a firm grip, not even thinking of turning it off - clearly, more used to vibroblades than lightsabres. In fact, this was the first time he had ever held a lightsabre. Although she reached for the weapon, Mathieu's vice-like grip of it ensured that she wouldn't be able to take it away from him. Looking down at their hands by the hilt of the weapon, he let out a soft "Oh", simply interpreting her action as a reminder to turn it off. The red blade was promptly extinguished and with that, he pulled away from her hand, apparently not intending on giving it to her.

Holstering his blaster, Mathieu looked at her "Do your Jedi people have any interest in him? The bounty was just to remove their presence from here, I'm good as long as you don't want him to stay" he said, pointing towards the Sith with the hilt. The Mercenary thought for a while, looking at the size of the dark figure before speaking "I don't think he'd be too hard to pick up. We could take him with us if you can handle his minions outside." Putting the lightsabre away, stowing it safely in his backpack, Mathieu then looked to Zemira, ready to either bring the foe along, or look at alternatives - one thing was for sure - just leaving him, free to move about whenever he woke up, was not an option.

Outside of their cellar cave location, the cultists now walked about emptily, confused and peaceful, apparently having been ridden of the dark influence of the Sith who laid unconscious down below. Still, this was hard to tell from down in the cellar until the cultist who had been pushed by Zemira's force attack opened his eyes, now avake. Confusion spread across his face as he slowly got to his senses, asking confused questions about what was happening and where he was. With horror, the man recoiled as he saw his impaled fellow chained next to him. Screaming the dead cultist's name and desperately trying to get away from the corpse, obviously not succeeding because of the rope, it was clear that they were no longer enthralled by the Sith. Taking a few steps towards the man and the corpse, Mathieu untied the rope, causing the awoken one to shoot back towards a wall whilst looking at his friend with terrified eyes. Looking at the Jedi, Mathieu wondered what they should do but figured that she was probably better trained at calming people and might even be able to call on her jedi friends to take care of them. Instead, he just asked "So, we're taking the Sith with us, right?" with a low voice, preparing to pick the evil one up and leave.

Zemira