Hunting Fear with the Fearless

[Valik]

@[member="Maelion Liates"] @[member="Moira Skaldi"]

With a Ring of Aza'zoth on his fingers the dark didn't matter to him, a nice alchemical creation that little other benefits off of Mimban. Keeping his Gorgon drawn and ready he proceeded examining the area, filled with deserted equipment and half eaten miners. Nothing useful sadly, but a decent enough blood trail to follow. With almost dead glow rods and more and more bodies showing a clear path they continued onwards, not saying a word but constantly examining their surroundings, waiting for their prey to show itself. Sure enough, as they entered a large and open cavern a blood curdling growl echoed throughout the 'room'. A huge slop of saliva plopped to the middle of the room and a look up would find a giant tentacled beast above, camping and weaving between the stalactites before pushing itself to the ground slamming from above.

With a hand extended forward he threw a Force Push, throwing himself backwards and out of the way of the massive beast. The ground rumbled as the beast hit the floor and went to action, swinging it's tentacles wildly about as Valik backpedaled and fired his Gorgon, Stokhli fluid shooting out to electrocute the Piscator. The game was afoot.

 

[Moira Skaldi]

@[member="Maelion Liates"], @[member="Valik"]

Mangled and mutilated bodies, abandoned equipment, trails of blood, all of it provided a nice trail as they moved through the dark caven in silence, wary of their surroundings and of the quarry that lurked somewhere in the depths. Then an animalistic scream echoed across the caves, saliva dripping down, as Moira came across the mangled corpse of a Twi'lek who apparently had had most of her tendrils ripped off and her face badly mauled. In case anyone was wondering, it was naturally a blue coloured Twi'lek because the universe is cruel that way.

As the saliva dripped down and the beast leapt Moira's eyes were already looking up into the air and as it came down she raised her gun, backflipping as she tossed a stun grenade at the beast. Its powerful tentacles came for her, striking hard with enough force to break bones, some seeking to smash into her, others trying to sweep her legs out from under her. Grabbing one of them to powerfully yank it out of position with great force, the ground trembling beneath her as she landed, the force of the impact being intensified by the hard slam of its tentacles against her, though she stood her ground, implacable. As the stun grenade detonated she raised her Czerka headbanger and squeezed the trigger, a powerful boom being heard the bark of the weapon released a stun blast, powerful enough to take down a Wookiee, then she fired once more. If the creature was fuelled through fear, it would feel nothing from her, only perceiving a fathomless void.

 

[Maelion Liates]

@[member="Valik"] @[member="Moira Skaldi"]

The creature was there suddenly, striking at them with fury. Like her comrade, Maelion felt no fear, just the logical certainties of this battle.
Leaping to the side just as a tentacle smashed down, Maelion prepared her bolter. She didn’t want to kill the monster, but she had an idea about what she could do.

The stalactites were massive, formed by centuries of accretion and residue. It was from this platform that the monster was attacking them.
Quickly, Maelion targeted the largest of the stalactites supporting the creature and fired a hail of explosive rounds into its joint near the roof. The ancient limestone shattered apart, and soon it came free with a mighty rumble.
Her plan was that if she could being the creature crashing to ground they’d have a much better chance of pinning it down and trapping it than if it was above them and striking down.

To add to this, Maelion chambered a single flare round.
“Shield your eyes!” she commanded, and fired.
To a creature accustomed to the dark and damp, the sudden, blinding light made the already disorientated creature thrash in pain. It was an opening they had to exploit.

 

[Valik]

@[member="Maelion Liates"] @[member="Moira Skaldi"]

The stohkli spray of his assault electrocuted the beast, giving off a small light but ultimately not enough to stop the beast. Between that, the stun grenade, and the Czerka Headbanger however, it was fairly obvious the beast was slowing down. This beast might have been able to punch through durasteel walls and shed blaster cannons normally, but with only a Sith Lord and two suspected HRD's his fuel source was quite a bit lower than he was used to. Nalia, or perhaps Anna, whichever one was the darker haired companion, shouted to everyone to shield their eyes after quite literally bringing down the roof. Valik listened, closing his eyes as well as taking off his Ring of Aza'zoth and putting it in his pocket. He heard a bang, and a shrill cry of pain before opening his eyes to see the room completely illuminated from the flare-gun.

Valik smiled as he opened fire once again with his Gorgon rifle, spraying the Stokhli fluid in hopes to electrocute and take down the beast. It was tiring, it's nervous system overloaded by the light. A strong effort would take it down, and then the problem became not how to trap the beast, but how to move something so large."

 

[Moira Skaldi]

@[member="Maelion Liates"], @[member="Valik"]

Apparently it was not only Siobhan Kerrigan - who in Moira's assessment was terribly overrated, what with being a codependent brute and all that - who liked bringing down the ceiling. Rubble poured down from above along with the great beast. The Sithspawn was vicious and strong, throwing rubble and debris violently off it, angrily trashing with its tentacles like a cornered animal, hitting at anything that came close to it. Moira leapt to the side as more tentacles came for her, batting them aside with her riot gun. At one point as she was thrown back as the beast's thrashing caused a shower of debris, but recovered and paralysed some of its tendrils with a powerful yank.

A blast of blinding light filled the room, confusing the beast that was so acclimated to the shadows and dark corners in which it lurked and assaulting its nervous system Stokhli fluid was sprayed at it and Moira joined the onslaught by once more firing the Czerka headbanger, one stun blast popping out with a powerful roar, then another. The first one narrowly missed as the creature leapt, the second hit home, with Moira kicking aside a tentacle and rolling as the creature pounced blindly, then another stun blast rang out, simultaneously powerful tranquiliser darts were fired from a flechette pistol. Between this, the stun grenade and the light, not to mention the electrical fluid the Sith Master was shooting at it, despite its impressive strength, strong enough to smash durasteel, the beast would have to be going down soon.

 

[Maelion Liates]

@[member="Moira Skaldi"] @[member="Valik"]

Maelion switched her bolter rounds again, chambering an ion round. This would normally be used on droids, obviously, but it could also deliver a nasty zap to a living creature too, especially one of this size.
The monster was not happy, and its massive mouth snapped at them. Maelion stepped forward, and as it reared up to bite her she fired right into the open mouth. There was a terrible, agonised shriek as the ion bolt exploded inside it, and then it finally crashed to the ground.
It was still conscious, but stunned.
Both Maelion and Moira carried the most powerful sedatives they could find, and took the opportunity to inject them in the hope that finally the monster would be still and could be taken away.

 

[Valik]

@[member="Maelion Liates"] @[member="Moira Skaldi"]

As the beast was electrocuted, shot with stunning Czerka Headbanger shots, tranquilizer darts, ion bolter rounds and all sorts of other sedatives the beast's wild flailing slowed down, before stopping completely. Valik kept his rifle aimed at the beast, but slowly came closer to the sith spawn before holding a hand to it. He couldn't use Psychometry on it, so that meant it was alive, just unconscious. Perfect.

"Excellent work." Valik complimented. "I'll have to keep you two in touch if I ever have any larger projects." He said, as he began to ponder how to move the beast out of the cavern. "Lets get this thing moved and locked up before it wakes up then. Once the beast is locked I'll pay you the rest of your dues, you've earned it."

 

[Moira Skaldi]

@[member="Valik"], @[member="Maelion Liates"]

Finally the great beast was brought down. It had struggled relentlesly, hungry for the flesh, but in the end overwhelmning firepower was too muh for it. After all, there was nothing that could not be beaten without a little creative thinking, brute force and relentless determination.

The monster was still, having been forced into unconsciousness. Did it dream of ripping apart the flesh of the innocent and basking in their fear? Truth be told Moira would not care about that one bit. She gave Valik a nod after he had spoken. "We look forward to an enduring cooperation. Archangel delivers what it promises," she said. Sure, they were genocidal killer droids, but part of being a superior machine was knowing when Chronic Backstabbing Disorder was not smart. Besides, they were strictly Neutral Evil, leaning towards Lawful Evil because droid, thus avoiding Stupid Evil syndrome.

While this writer was busy trying to make this post Trope Overdosed, Moira had removed several very long, very powerful ropes from her duffel bag. Handing some to Maelion she used her strength to remove some rubble that had fallen upon the beast, then fastened the ropes to it, expertly tying them so that they would not break. Presumably if Moira had been an organic she might have had a promising career as a mistress of the Order of the Torch. Once the ropes were secured they should be able to pull the beast through the cave outside to the ship.

 

[Maelion Liates]

@[member="Moira Skaldi"] @[member="Valik"]

Even with the great strength and power of the HRDs, it was hard for them to extract the Piscator from its lair. The path was windy, the creature heavy and long. However, by means of a winch gear on Valik’s ship they were able to drag the creature into the light after several hours of effort.

Standing over the twitching, blinded creature, Maelion was utterly expressionless.
“When the creature is aboard our business will be complete. I believe we agreed on payment beforehand. I am happy with the figure we quoted.”
A quick exchange with Moira had confirmed this.