Episode VI: Balance of the Force

[Alexandra Feanor]

Location: Overlooking the Font of Power

She leaned forward on her knee as she continued to watching the scene, purposefully leaving herself out of the battle for now as part of her was a bit saddened to see the girl turned into such a monster. What worried her more was that the undead of the Netherworld were serving the girl and it appeared that more than a few people were now surrounded by an army of spirits long dead and forgotten. But she was worried about one person in particular who she watched for intently, waiting to see what happened.

 

[Ferian Adair]

Location: Chasm of Passing

How long had he sat on the edge of this dry slit in the ground, bottomless from his vantage point and endless in either direction for as far as his keen eyes could see? Time had no meaning here and that should have infuriated him as so many things had for so long, because of that queen... but this place had the strange effect of calming him so to the point that such concerns were in some fashion forgotten. Without the touch of the Force, he should have been out of his mind, but again. Again. This place. Still, it had weedled into his subconscious just enough to make him unsettled after a length of unmeasurable time, and it was this that had driven him to his feet, turned him about, and drove him to walk away from that dry, endless slit.

Endless, timeless, step after step he put it behind him, but the horizon remained constant for what seemed to be an age, until a sharp and crumbling crack drew his attention upward to the sky, to a planet-construct that had not been there the last time he had looked. Also noticed at this point in time was the slow wearing away of the calming effect that had surrounded him when a portion of himself had dangled over the edge of the slit, as the thundering wave of sound from the splitting of the construct hit him and drove him to his knees. A roar tore out of him and palms hit the jutting, rocky ground, breaths heavy. He remained on all fours for so many minutes as rifts appeared across the entirety of the Nether and the dead began to rise up around him, close, far, and under him, making him throw himself back.

For another minute or two he was stunned, watching all of these forms of countless number make their way for the many rifts that had appeared. His mind processed the possibilities of what this all meant. Glacial eyes had settled on one rift in particular, the landscape beyond it holding some familiarity. After so many more unmarked minutes, he dragged himself to his feet, but as yet made no move to make use of any of these rifts, himself.

Skepticism ran rampant through his ancient mind, even as he felt drawn to go.

 

[Connor Harrison]

Location: Field Of Blades

Connor stepped through back into the strange Force-depraved Netherword, feeling like he hadn’t before. The man, Nyos, was nowhere to be seen, as was the vision of Nima. It was all deception, but he had survived. He turned on his heel and looked across the landscape, and noticed the sky above was seemingly alive with thunderous clouds, green flashes or streaked lightning and the burning orb above seemed closer.

He looked out and pushed out with the Force to find any sign of life.

Akala wasn’t the young princess; she had been corrupted by pain to become a vicious beast – south of the Field, head South…over there..

Connor cut himself off and frowned, now he was seeing the visions of Akala who was now in the Netherworld itself. Would she hold the key to finding his place in the galaxy and finding others? He pushed down with his boots and started off in a sprint down the Field, following the obscure trail that had flashed before him to where Akala was; he could save her, or save himself in the process. He didn't feel strong again, but he felt empowered.

It would take him down the Field as long as it was, and over the river to pass through the wild storm across the borders to where she was engaged in battle.

 

[Ilias Nytrau]

Location: The Garden of Thorns
Companions: [member="Lucien Cordel"]
Gear: Telescoping staff, two daggers, one lightsaber

So it was him. A faint smile bloomed on her face at the sight of him, but concern otherwise marked her expression when she saw him come through one of the walls of thorns, rather torn into for his trouble and bleeding here and there. When he touched her arm, she responded in kind and scrutinised the look of him carefully.

"I wouldn't try walking through another one of those walls if it can be helped," she said with a light note of jest, then: "I haven't seen anything that even remotely has the look of an exit."

Which was, of course, concerning. And the assumption that there was an exit? Well, she got here somehow so there had to be a way back out. She slipped her hand off of his arm, and looked around again. That was when she heard a cracking so very loud and so very forceful that it drove her to her knees, hands firmly over her ears. After a few moments, she opened her eyes and cautiously removed her hands from her ears, looking for Lucien.

"What was tha-" and then things just got stranger as she began to see incorporeal forms appear. Dozens... nay, hundreds or more, and blue eyes followed their movements to find many, many rifts around, in the ground, in the thorny walls. She looked to Lucien again, and began to pull herself back up on her feet, as those many ghosts began to file through the countless rifts around them, "This just got a lot stranger. I wonder where those... portals go."

 

[Verz Horak]

Location: Boundary of the Field Of Blades, heading towards Serenity's Redoubt
Allies: Unknown
Enemies: Unknown

Verz fought his way through the last of the undead in his path. He had lost touch with Arla about a half hour before when his armor's electronics failed. His armor systems were all offline. Something strange was happening here. Besides being transported away from his home and into hell of course. At least he still had his beskad.

The Mandalorian dispatched the last corpse standing in his way. Seeing an opportunity, Verz sprinted towards the forest in the distance. Hopefully he could evade the horde in the trees. This tide of ethereal warriors was too much for one Mandalorian. If Arla was here, then they could stand and fight, but it seemed that the horde was too smart for that.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

Location: Field of Blades
First had come the pain of demise, the horrible agony of feeling your life slip away slowly, your blood flowing out of your body until at last all cognitive thought ceased and he succumbed to the inky blackness of non-existence.

However; it was not as he had thought.

Of course, there was the endless black that gnawed at what he assumed was his spirit, but for whatever reason he retained his individuality as he sunk further and further down into the abyss, the spirits of the slain, many of whom wore the faces of the innumerable souls brought to their end by his own hands, clawing at his incorporeal form while uttering incoherent gibberish of the insane. Endlessly they sought to tear at him, steal away what made him the man he was, to covet his personality and sense of self, but he would not let them take what was his. No, he fought back, as much as he could being bereft of definite form, and through the sheer strength of his will he drove them back. Then came the silence, the deafening void of sound that threatened to drive him made with it's enormity, but just as he was about to cross over than line between sanity and madness, he was assaulted by sudden, ferocious sound.

And the clashing of blades.

Then, came the color to his vision, he could make out distinct forms as he fell from the heavens to crash down in a field adorned by mutilated corpses, and bloodied blades. He suddenly found himself with form, garbed in the armor he had worn during life, and wielding the weapon he had wielded during life as well. With an instinctive flick of his thumb, he activated the crimson blade, and driven by a sudden bloodlust he could not explain he tore into the nearest body, carving through flesh and bone like a hot knife through soft butter. He was driven, compelled, to fight and to kill and be killed endlessly in this desert stained by millennia of conflict and violence. But, even as he carved through another body, he knew that this was terribly wrong...

He knew that this was all wrong... But then he remembered, he remembered all too well of what had transpired in the world of the living.

Kaine Zambrano was dead, and this was his torment.

[member="Rameses Zambrano"]
[member="Viktoria Zambrano"]

 

[Joseph Gresham]

He'd been dead some time, released from the torment that was his life. Counting the lives, counting the signs. That's what he'd been forced to do. Fear had lurked around every corner, insidious and menacing, laying low the once proud boy from Necropolis. He'd wanted to see the stars, to leave behind the burial world he'd grown up on. And he had done so, until the flash of a blaster had been the last thing he'd seen.

Akala was around here somewhere, urging him to come, urging him to fight.

But could he? It was hard to say.

His bones ached, his muscles were weak.

But... perhaps... perhaps it was time to pick up a weapon once more.

 

[Garza]

Location: Font of power
Objective: Fight Akala
Allies: Um everybody fighting Akala, [member="Gherron Vael"], [member="Wanderer EXO"], [member="Nefertari Sovint"], [member="Barkt Melan"], [member="Seris Vant"],
Enemies: Everybody trying to kill me. [member="Akala"], [member="Darth Infernus"], [member="Rameses Zambrano"],
Gear: Armor(In sig), Hammer(In sig), Double bladed Lightsaber, Secondary Single lightsaber.

The dead had risen. And they had come with more than just the simple hordes of beings. They came with Sith Lords, Jedi Masters, Elite soldiers. Even the lowly farmer. One of which I had just cut in half to send back to the underworld. Or wherever it was spawning from. The blue lightsaber cutting past many that came too close to me. However, one Sith Lord sprung fourth. Sending his lighting forth. I quickly brought my lightsaber up and crouched to make myself a smaller target. Preventing any stray bolts from hitting my form. Considering that I had no other effective way to defend against the lightning, I would have to end this man. While in my right I had the saber, In my left formed a Force blast. Using only a second of the wait time, I sent it towards him.

It was just after that a woman rushed me with literally a pitch fork. Sidestepping, and cutting down the pitchfork, I then used a force push to send her flying away from me. I turned to face the Sith Lord. Knowing that he was no where near going to be defeated simply by a force blast sent his way. Yelling over my shoulder to the group. I smiled brightly underneath the helmet.

"Move on without me. I'll deal with them."

While I may have not been leading, I spoke to Gherron using Telepathy,

"I trust you. Lead them on as I would do. May the force be with you........ Brother."

Walking forward towards the Sith lord, I smiled. Bringing my blade out to my right side, ready for whatever he may send towards me again.

"I'm sorry, but I can't let you pass me."

 

[Bol-Jahir]

Bol-Jahir's mask fell off as his life essence was being engulfed by the beast. He looked over at [member="Gherron Vael"] then to [member="Xander Carrick"]. His face... it was once human. But one could see the centuries etched into his skin, as if he were but a shadow of his former self. Torn apart and stitched back together over several generations of his life, of anyone's life. Bol-Jahir looked like a man tortured, a man distraught. As if he had been dead ever since the day he had been fully possessed by a dark entity, forced to kill his brother and serve as the Apprentice of.. something... he did not trust nor fully know.

Bol-Jahir looked up at the sky and then back at Akala.

"The Dread Lord sends his regards," Bollie smiled cockily, pulling a thermal detonator from his belt and presenting it before Akala.

He flipped the switch and a loud buzzer rang out, followed by a white flash - where those watching would see his last act.

Bol-Jahir was pointing at the dagger.

 

[Tefka]

Akala snapped forward, breaking her trance on Bol-Jahir and sucking the thermal detonator into her mouth in an instant. Yes, it caused the flash... but there was no explosion. No nothing.

"Fool," Akala growled. "I am beyond you."

She placed one large clawed fist on each of Bol-Jahir's arms.

"Tell your Dread Lord," Akala reared her head back. "That there will be no Netherworld for either of you."

Gnashing fangs and a massive maw violently thrust into Bol-Jahir's body as the group surrounding them would watch the beastial Akala tear Bol-Jahir apart.

Fleshy. Gnawing. Bloody. Tearing.

 

[Bol-Jahir]

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH-URGLBLARGGHNNRGUHR"

Bol-Jahir's final screams were of necessity. The man was indulgent of pain, welcomed it after all this time alive... but there was but only one reaction to his violent end.

When his screams ended, all that remained was his mask, laying amongst the tattered remains of his bloody robes.

 

[Aithne Charr]

Location: Font of Power
Allies: [member="Bol-Jahir"] [member="Xander Carrick"] [member="Gherron Vael"] [member="Wanderer EXO"]
Enemies: [member="Akala"]

Ignore

 

[Khan Ra]

Location: Whisperstorm
Allies: None, as of yet
Enemies: None as of yet
Objective: Find Akala

Khan stepped through the Rift Of Fate, nearly falling over almost instantly from the sheer wind of the Whisperstorm. It was becoming more powerful- feeding off the emotions leaking from the nearby Realm of Beyond Shadows, where Akala and the others fought. He did not know how, but he had seen... something. Like the visions he had heard of Force Users having on occasiona.. But he had never had them before. And this din't feel like he would imagine that would... and as he saw it, he knew how to get to it. It was in the Netherworld- the place the billions had dissipeared to, where people had crawled out to tell their story. He had to go there. See what it was. See why it was. He didn't know why he had to- but he knew he did. So he traveled to a portal.

And now here he was. There was win all around him, he could hear it... Yet he couldn't feel it. Was this what this palce was like? Khan tightened his grip on his vibroblade- the one thing he'd brought with him, save his robes. He didn't know what he would find here... Something told him that what he was looking for, the Monster he'd seen, was south. So that's the way he went, struglging to stand against the powerful winds of the storm.

(A bit confused, so do tell me if I did something incorrectly. Basically I used the force int he real world, saw the glimpse of Akala, etc etc, now I'm here.)

 

[Seris Vant]

Location: Font of Power
Allies: [member="Barkt Melan"] [member="Xander Carrick"] [member="Solan Charr"] [member="Gherron Vael"] @Bol-Jahir [member="Nefertari Sovint"]
Enemies: @Akala [member="Darth Infernus"] [member="Spirit of Chaos"] [member="Rameses Zambrano"]
Battle Theme: Nothin's Gonna Stand In Our Way - Specter General

Spoiler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73dc1D8YHBg

Someone showed up next to her. Tall and armored. Looking up to see his exposed head, rotting flesh and glowing red eyes. Another monster come to join the fray. That voice finally called action on her part. Seris jumped up and stepped away from Rameses Zambrano, and Akala. Slightly crouched a rifle was brought to bear from under her cloak. And agonizing scream rose up off her right shoulder. Akala finally finished off her prey. The beast was still playing with its food; rest the poor mans soul. It wouldn't be long before its attention was refocused. Seris needed to move quickly. Bringing the scope up to eye level, bracing the stock against her shoulder. Aiming down on the rotting wright ahead. She pulled the trigger, sending off a 50. Cal slug at the chest area. Then another as soon as possible to make sure he went down, and stayed down.

 

[Connor Harrison]

Location: Edge of the Whisperstorm

Connor pushed on, stopping for nothing and no-one. It had taken him hours, and now he wearily skirted the bones embedded in the walls of the large canyon precipice he stood on, and used his body to slide down into the darkness below, a stretch of land covered by rolling clouds that echoed around the atmosphere above.

There was no wind as Connor crashed down to the ground as he slid down the steep rocky incline, his clothing torn and his breath strained, but he knew he couldn't stop. With each flicker of the Force he tried to use, he saw Akala instead– the beast, in battle with many others, south of where he was; the sky rolled onwards like a herd of lumbering Rancor and sounded just as vicious and wild.

Pushing on, he pulled his greatcoat around himself as he kept a steady pace, running underneath the eerie rolling clouds above him to get to the source of this puzzle; his beloved Akala and those who mis-understood her intentions.

 

[Tamara]

[member="Solan Charr"] | [member="Akala"]

"I think, Mr Charr, you're supposed to use it," a voice said beside the Dark Jedi.

Tamara...did not look like a happy camper. Her dress was torn and dusty, her hair was messed and she had no weapons left any more. All she had was herself.
Looking up at the towering beast which had just consumed the man on the ground. It was a terrifying sight, but even more so for Tamara in her own way. Long, long ago she had been on Dathomir, an ordinary mortal when Akala and her parents had ruled. She had seen the strangers and travellers from the future come and been thrown forward to that future. Now she was here. The circle was complete again.

Reaching for the dagger, she went to take it from Solan. "If you cannot, I will have to. Strike it now whilst it's distracted!"

 

[Liliane]

Rameses' mouth turned into a sinister grin, his red eyes seemingly staring into the souls of every person he looked at.

​

But there was this feeling inside he couldn't just stand.

​

The feeling of a familiar person nearby.

​

"My son..."
​

The words echoed. They echoed to the Netherworld itself, they were heard to the Field of Blades.

The owner of the voice was sure the one [member="Darth Vornskr"] would hear that.

 

[Nima Tann]

As she re-entered to the Rift, this time a lot powerful and knowing what she is doing, she just ended where she started. She still had this datapad nearby, it could prove useful to the Order. And she was there again, in the land of blades, the blades were put in a rythmic way so it could assist people who couldn't find the strength to walk. And since, she heard that Akala was here with countless others, maybe she could ask her what was happening and put an end to this... This love... It was not right, she didn't know her, she didn't even see her before. Yes, maybe the Rift showed her what Akala was like and her biography, but it wasn't the same.

She continued to move quickly towards the Force signatures which was going weaker and weaker every second. Maybe if she could find [member="Connor Harrison"] there too, the thing was, he entered the same Rift as she did so he had to become like this too. And combining with his Sith Magic... He could be in danger, darkness was near. She didn't understand why she continued following him, as he clearly said that he didn't want her around. If she was him, maybe she could do the same, she didn't know. Nima never brought good luck wherever she went. But it was not that late to change this destiny.

 

[Khan Ra]

Location: Whisperstorm
Allies: None, as of yet
Enemies: None as of yet
Objective: Find Akala

Khan pushed through the unrelenting wind of the Whisperstorm. He could not feel it.. yet it held him back. This place was strange, foreign. It wasn't right. Wans't the way things should be. This is where people went when they died? Khan frowned, and continued on through the storm, making his way further south... Closer to Akala.

Every time he had tried to use it, the Force showed him the Monster... But what was it? Did it have something to do with the rifts? WIth the people dissipearing? Surely that was it. Then what idd he have to do? Capture it? Kill it? The Felactian's grip tightened on his vibroblade. He would see when he got there. Until then, though, he trekked through the seemingly endless storm.

 

[Quietus]

While in my right I had the saber, In my left formed a Force blast. Using only a second of the wait time, I sent it towards him.

It was just after that a woman rushed me with literally a pitch fork. Sidestepping, and cutting down the pitchfork, I then used a force push to send her flying away from me. I turned to face the Sith Lord. Knowing that he was no where near going to be defeated simply by a force blast sent his way. Yelling over my shoulder to the group. I smiled brightly underneath the helmet.

In the presence of the beastly Akala, the Force quivered and quaked. Fluctuations rampant, the use of it was highly unreliable and equally as dangerous.

[member="Xander Carrick"]'s efforts, though heroic, would prove this point.

His powers of Force Blast and Push whithered upon leaving his hands, seemingly lost in the inclimate storm that was the Force itself, before folding inwards and imploding. The result? An explosion of hellfire equal in strength and power to that of all his Force use combined. It radiated outward in a circle, enveloping everyone nearby him, enemy and ally alike.

[member="Gherron Vael"]
[member="Akala"]
[member="Darth Infernus"]
[member="Rameses Zambrano"]
[member="Wanderer EXO"]
[member="Nefertari Sovint"]
[member="Barkt Melan"]
[member="Seris Vant"]