Irridonia Jaina and the Tombs of Tash Taral (Order of Fire)

[Maiev]

The witch couldn't help but agree with Shamira. She too hoped that whoever was approaching wasn't intending to try and kill them. Maiev was prepared to fight at any moment, but she much preferred they were more friendly.

<Oh, maybe they're the welcoming party! We crashed and now they're here to sweep us up.>

That and it would hopefully shut Kalax up. Although years of experience told Maiev that wasn't very likely at all.

Her eyes snapped over to Xalda as she fired a volley of blaster bolts towards those on the approach. Though in quick succession, Tempest was upon her shifting the barrel away before any more could be loosed. It at least proved they were friendly, especially if it was coming from Tempest's lips. Further evident as Maiev watched the woman pull out her commlink and hailed them.

HK huh? That's a strange name.

Maiev wondered who in the Force would be named 'HK', but swiftly got her answer as debris began to fall from the sky. A couple pieces landed near her, but the witch managed to side step and dodge them as the slammed into the sand around her.

Her attention shifted to the others briefly, checking they were okay before shifting over to the new arrivals.

<It's a droid...riding a metal dragon.>

Not like it's the strangest thing we've ever seen.

Maiev initially helped with hauling their boxes onto the droids before hopping up on one herself.

[member="Tempest"] | [member="Karrigan'Xalda"] | [member="Nima Tann"] | [member="Shamira Karuto"] | [member="HK-36"]​

 

[Karrigan'Xalda]

[member="Maiev"], [member="HK-36"], [member="Shamira Karuto"], [member="Nima Tann"], [member="Tempest"]

Friendly fire was...seldom friendly! "Oh," Xalda looked a bit sheepish when Tempest forced her gun down. This was more than a little embarassing. "This one apologises." She looked astonished when the newcomers came into view and revealed themselves.


Was that a strange metal creature riding on a metal dragon? "It looks like a golem made of metal. Where is its controller?" Yes, she called HK a metal golem, not a metal demon. That would have been ridiculous. Xioquo were the most technical minded among the natives of Tygara. "And it can talk. How does it work?" Curiosity was written across her features. Questions would probably have to wait, so she loaded up boxes and then hopped on herself.

 

[Shamira Karuto]

The metal dragons had to land before Shamira fully registered what in the world she was looking at. It was ridiculous, ludicrous, and crazy, yet they were landing right in front of her. At least three of them, carrying strange looking droids of all different possessions. She had heard Tempest talking of this HK before, but she had no idea just how incredible he and his creations were. The Togruta made a mental note to speak to the head droid before this was all over and discuss a few things for some plans she had.
Turning to the boxes, she quickly lifted the one with the demolition equipment and carried it over to where the rest of the group was handling the boxes and lifted hers onto the back of the massive creature. It turned to look at her, golden red eyes glaring at those that were lifting the boxes before facing forward once again. Shamira had half a mind that these things might be hungry.
Running her hand alongside one of the dragon droids, and once the other medical droids had cleared space for her and her group, the padawan clambered on to the back of the massive creature. Just as she suspected, it was warm underneath her, and if one placed a hand on its side, it could feel its mechanical workings buzzing lightly.
The HK droid was right. The storm was getting much worse. And it wasn’t natural. Something about this whole storm felt wrong. It was like it was centering on them, but there wasn’t any eye of the storm for them to hide in. Shamira pulled up the bottom half of her mask tighter around her mouth and nose, desperate to keep sand out of them.

​| [member="Maiev"] | [member="Karrigan'Xalda"] | [member="Tempest"] | [member="Nima Tann"] | [member="HK-36"] |

 

[Tempest]

[member="Karrigan'Xalda"] [member="Maiev"] [member="Shamira Karuto"][member="Nima Tann"] [member="HK-36"]

As Sumiko worked, the storm gathered, not unlike a very cool scene from a movie this writer likes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gUakexPEKI

Unfortunately, the party had no one who could cast a 5th level Dispel Magic to counter it, though they did have Tempest whose power over the element of air was substantial.

However, as HK and the dragon landed with the other droids, Tempest fell back to join Maiev.
“This is clearly not natural, but what is causing it? The tomb? The planet? Our mystery attacker?”

Perhaps the question would have to wait. She had half a mind to immediately contest the power, to fight back storm to tempest, as it were. But would that give away too much about them? If whoever was there knew a powerful Force user was present they might change their plans.

In the end she decided to go with HK to their camp and evaluate the situation from there. After all, it might give them more understanding.

Coming up beside Xalda she patted the Sepoy on the shoulder. “He’s a golem who controls himself, dear. We’ve made golems so advanced they eventually become people.” She didn’t go into positronic droid brains or distributed quantum patterns because she didn’t know that much herself, and it’d only look like patronising the Xioquo.

She gave Shamira a hand, getting the attention of a medical droid to deal with her wounds. She also helped Nima climb aboard and stow the equipment. Finally it was time to leave and talk to HK.

“HK, what are you doing here?” she asked as she took a seat near the droid and the whole metal caravan took off. “We’re investigating an archaeological dig of ours which was raided and the party lost.”

 

[Darth Libertas]

[member="Tempest"], [member="Maiev"], [member="Nima Tann"], [member="HK-36"], [member="Shamira Karuto"]


"Wisdom. Damn. It's Tempest. I'm getting you out of here." The figure's voice sounded deceptively like Tempest's. Indeed, the figure looked exactly like her, right down to the imposing, blood-stained beskar'gam. The Force was a pathway to many abilities some considered to be...reality-bending. It could have interesting effects on the minds of sentient beings.

Faint gunfire and yells could be heard coming from beyond the chamber that served as a prison cell for Wisdom. A body, either dead or unconscious, lay in the doorway. The doctor was not in a good shape. Indeed, she'd suffered a nasty blow to the head, her bloodied lip was split and she'd been drugged.
"Tempest, is that you? How?"
"Sio sent me. Got no time to explain. Can you walk?" the faux Tempest said, looking oh so concerned. Quickly, she put her lightsabre to good use to undo Wisdom's bonds. "This place is crawling with Sith and monsters."
"What happened to my team? Is anyone left?"
"I'm sorry. That Sith queen murdered them."
"Feth. Did...you...kill her?"
"She got away. Ranted about unlimited power. What is she after?"
"Listen, Tempest, there's an artefact hidden inside the tomb. We cannot let the witch get her hands on it." With Tempest's help, Wisdom was able to stand, though she was leaning rather heavily on the warrior-woman. "She needs the right combination to get access to the inner sanctum. I've been trying to stall her...but she may find a way on her own."
"We'll stop her. Tell me how to get us inside and I'll make her pay..."

 

[HK-36]

[member="Maiev"], [member="Karrigan'Xalda"], [member="Tempest"], [member="Nima Tann"],

"I am powered off of children tears and Space Dragon Farts, now get on, bring only what you can lift by yourself, and let us get out of here, all the questions can be answered when we are not under the threat of this planet swallowing us up!"

HK answered, in a way, Karrigan's question, hurrying the Firemane survivors up to move all they can to the safety of the droid camp, they could always try to scavenge what they could from the sands once the storm subsided, not even touching the fact that "golem" may or may not have been a racial slur to his kind, it was like calling a racoon a trash panda,

"And for the record last time someone tried to claim to be my controller I showed my fist up their arse, which later developed into a strange relationship that I do not want to discuss right now or ever!"

The droid added, probably drowned out by the sound of the storm's intensity growing in the area, maybe for the better, to protect those virgin Firemane ears.


Either way, once everyone found their mount, whether on a Metal Dragon or the lighter more serpentine Wyvern Drone, they would begin to lift up, great mechanisms churning and sputtering, wheezing as the large stabilizator wings lifted and flapped, pulling the machines off of the ground with screech and roar of thrusters. While [member="Shamira Karuto"] had chance to get a closer upon examination of the droids she would see plenty of lethal lethal weapon systems hidden within the Droid Dragons, strange emerald crystal would be embedded at the tip of its tail like a scorpion's sting, in its maw and gullet there were proton bomb and torpedo bays, between its duranium fangs flamer nuzzles to spew streams of liquid flames, not to mention the large claws on its feet and the two large shattergun rotary cannon multibarrel turrets on the beast's shoulders, flanking the spot where Shamira could eventually sit in to ride the creature. These beasts were a bit of gunships, heavy starfighters, and bombers rolled into one.

Flying up into the cover of darkening clouds and ever stronger storm HK would call out in reply to Tempest, his voice echoing within her comm-link on encrypted channel,

"We picked up reports of the Withering Smoke presence in one of the tombs here, pretty big infestation from what we determined!"

The droid explained,

"Since you organics seem to usually go mad at their sight and, once again, machines are superior when facing them, we took the offer of clearing them out in exchange for donation of some credits and artifacts by local population!"




[member="Sumiko Tanaka"],

Whether Tempest heard the droid or not could be questionable as the storm grew ever more restless, fueled by some sort of dark unnatural touch. Soon enough lightning begun spewing through the dark clouds, striking the droid convoy. Shields would light up around the various Dragon Droids and Wyvern Drones ferrying the survivals and supplies through the wicked skies, the beauty of Abregado Combat Shields equipped on those machines was that they were specifically designed by droids for droids to face against electrical and ionic attacks usually used against them. Such attacks, like for example lightning strikes, only recharged these deflectors, making them stronger. So HK, Shamira, Maiev, Karrigan, Nima, they all got a free light show while the ARGH shields protected them against the storm, making them immune outside of the fierce turbulence the droids and drones were fighting against.

However the shields were not without weakness, they could be eventually overpowered by too much energy being pumped into them, however as they actively had to also deflect debris in the air that didn't seem to be a threat, they also had to enter a brief cycling period whenever too much energy was used by the shield and it had to enter emergency setting waiting for another electrical or ionic strike to recharge the systems and avoid it being completely deactivated. However during the cycling the shields were not able to protect against lightning until emergency power kicked in, and there was nothing that drained them as much as deflecting high powered physical shots as it required for them to magnetize the slugs and slow them down.

Physical shots like volleys from a bolt gun, and one Mechanical Dragon in particular had taken on recently one volley from Karrigan, deactivating its shield but saving it from damage.

The Dragon Tempest was currently riding.


So whether she heard the droid's words or not a lighting arced across the sky and striked the Dragon's skull, attracted to its metal body and electrical systems, sparks and blue web of lightning spread across its body instead of the shimmering surface of ARGH combat shields the other drones and droids enjoyed. And then after a tense second or two the red glow of the dragon's multiple photoreceptors went out. Its thrusters followed soon after. The wind would take the beast and it would be apparent that Tempest or others had to react quickly to save her from falling to the dune surface like a rock.

"Tempest!"

HK called out to her, seeing what happened, extending his arm towards her as if to catch her but to no avail, the droid was too far, his shout should alarm others swiftly enough, and HK could be seen forming strange sigils and arcane hand signals with his six-fingered limbs as he watched Tempest's reaction.

 

[Maiev]

"I'm unsure, it could be both or either." She said, turning to look at Tempest. "But the fact it seems too controlled and specific, my thoughts go to our attacker - perhaps using the temple as a conduit." Ultimately the witch shrugged, there was no certain answer until they were actually at the source, and even then they'd likely be facing much worse than a thunderstorm.

Once Maiev was seated on one of the Metal Dragons, she couldn't help but run her hands over its metal. Just simply fascinated with how such a thing could be constructed, and she could swear they were sentient. But it raised the question, were they both flesh and machine or only the latter? Maiev suspected it was a combination of both, and she wasn't entirely sure how she felt about it. They reminded her of how the more dubious Dathomirian tribes would strap and experiment on the native rancors.

But she wasn't about to complain given these creatures were carrying them to hopefully somewhere safe.

Before and during the flight, Maiev listened to the conversations that were going on. Her interest piqued here and there, wondering just what these 'Withering Smokes' were and amused by Xalda's comment about the beings HK had arrived with.

Then the lightning struck, and Maiev jumped in her seat. At first she didn't realize the blow had struck the Dragon's shielding, not until another bolt hit and she saw the shimmer of it.

Well that's handy.

<Indeed, the HK droid isn't wrong. Machines are superior when it comes to asborbing lightning.> Which was promptly followed by several comments about glorified lightning rods.

It continued to roar all around them, lashing out at the Dragons until a bolt struck Tempest's, taking it out.

"Tempest!" Maiev went to motion for her ride to move, but it seemed they were truly sentient as it immediately dived down after her. The witch held on tight as they practically nosedived, picking up speed until they were level with Tempest's. "Grab my hand!" Maiev reached out as best she could, keeping a hold on the Dragon while leaning out to the woman. Once she grabbed it - if she could anyway, Maiev would pull her over onto hers and the creature would immediately lurch back up into the sky.

[member="Tempest"] | [member="Karrigan'Xalda"] | [member="Nima Tann"] | [member="Shamira Karuto"] | [member="HK-36"]​

 

[Nima Tann]

"Not natural indeed. I can sense the dark aura surrounding us." She nodded when Maiev explained her thoughts about the storm as well. It was too targeted to be a coincidence.

In the middle of a very unusual storm, an idea like flying could only be thought by HK. And now, he was pushing them to join that idea as well. Well, it was the only thing they could do at this point, so choices didn't matter. Taking Tempest's hand, she jumped to the dragon, putting some of the equipment to the back. And they took off once everyone was ready for departure.

The rest of the journey was like a nightmare for Nima as they flew towards HK's camp, since she didn't like lightnings that much, even though they were well protected by the shields and it was like a light show. Whenever the lightning struck, her heart beat faster. Of course, the light show ended horribly as expected, Tempest's mount's shield malfunctioned and the dragon started falling down with her.

"Tempest!" She shouted as well, being a bit far from her, instead of trying to fly towards her she held her hand high and concentrated on the Force to slow her down. If it worked, it would also help Maiev's attempt to catch her.

[member="Maiev"] [member="Karrigan'Xalda"] [member="Tempest"] [member="Shamira Karuto"] [member="HK-36"]

 

[Shamira Karuto]

If Shamira had thought the storm was getting bad on the ground, the second the metal dragons lifted off the ground and into the sky things got a whole lot worse. Lightning crackled around them as the massive wings of the dragons flapped hard twice to get off the ground, and soon the whole group was flying through the lightshow that was the lightning storm. At times, it was practically day with how much the lightning shot around them, at all other times, it was so dark that Shamira could virtually only see the glowing red eyes.
Nothing felt right about this whole situation. From what she had read about this planet, this sort of storm was beyond unordinary. Not only that, but it felt dark. And that wasn’t just the complete lack of light talking. No, the origins of this storm were one of an extreme dark nature. It flowed with the dark side of the force, as if the storm had a mind of its own and was out to get the ragtag group of force users and droids.
A mind of its own was certainly a good way to describe way what was going on as they flew. The lightning storm seemed to be practically following the group as they tried to escape. Suddenly, lightning struck extremely close to the group, and Shamira’s head swiveled to see Tempest’s dragon dive bombing the earth. A cry was caught in her throat as her dragon seemed to swivel with a mind of it’s own, diving after the falling Tempest, unsure of what the droid planned to do with the situation.

​| [member="Maiev"] | [member="Nima Tann"] | [member="Tempest"] | [member="Karrigan'Xalda"] | [member="HK-36"] | [member="Sumiko Tanaka"] |

 

[Karrigan'Xalda]

[member="Tempest"], [member="Maiev"], [member="Shamira Karuto"], [member="HK-36"], [member="Nima Tann"]


Xalda decided to go against the norm by not rushing to save Tempest. Callous? Well, not in her opinion. The black woman was supposed to be a Mistress, after all. Besides, she'd once seen a holovid showing the human flying and had been asured it was actual combat footage. If the Karishzar was with her, she'd survive!

Moreover, it looked to her like all those metal dragons might risk colliding by getting to cloose. If that occured, they'd all plummet to the ground. Finally, she was struggling to remain aboard her own dragon-shaped machine. It seemed a little insane to her to fly right through a storm, but she would endure. Then again, these people thought constructing intelligent golems was a good idea...so maybe insanity was par for the course.


"We need to stay focused and press on. The longer we linger, the worse the storm will get," she called out, sounding unusually serious and determined. She had to shout to make herself heard amidst the howl of the wind. Lightning slashed from the horizon, thunder boomed and the strong wind pushed the metal dragon hither and zither. Xalda had to hold on tight to avoid being blown away. On the bright side, the camp was close. The Xioquo had the feeling that their troubles would not end though when they landed.

 

[Tempest]

[member="Karrigan'Xalda"] [member="Maiev"] [member="Shamira Karuto"] [member="Nima Tann"] [member="HK-36"]

Tempest had been considering the words of Maiev and HK, words which indicated that there could be multiple issues here all connected.

And then lightning hit. Reflexively she had tried to deflect the bolt, but as it moved at the speed of light (naturally), she only managed to shield herself from the feedback.
The effect though was that the giant metal dragon she was on suddenly became a giant metal weight.

Words, barely heard during the maelstrom. She was falling!

Fortunately, she had three things on her side. First, the feeling of something holding her up a bit, not knowing it was Nima, but she could tell it was the Force efforts of someone. Second, she had her jetpack, and it wasn’t fried by the lightning. Finally, she did have the power to fly…or at least manipulate the air so she could glide.

As Shamira dived in she actually hit the dragon’s head, her jetpack fired and she shot up and grasped Maiev’s hand. It would have almost been enough to pull the witch off, but she got a grip on the dragon with her other hand and hauled herself up onto its flank. She engaged in a bit of undignified hyperventilating as the dragon came down to land, but forced herself to be upright and calm as they came in to land.

“Thank you,” she said to Maiev, then repeated it to each in turn. She gave Shamira a nod of appreciation, a pat on the shoulder to Nima and a grimace at HK. On the one hand he’d help save her…on the other his metal dragon had been knocked out by a bolt of lightning.

Either way, they were now at the droid’s base camp, and the storm was finally abating and clearing. Whoever or whatever had controlled it had defeated the aerial menace, or simply focussed on other things.

“We need to get to that tomb right away. HK, can my crew stay here with some of your droids, I don’t want them getting mixed up in this. The rest of us, the time for resting is done. We need to push forward immediately,” she stated.

XXX

Wisdom limped as rapidly as she could through the lowering gloom until she came close to the doorway.
The entrance was a massive thing made of a hard stone of many tonnes. Efforts to cut through it with a plasma torch or explosives had merely flaked off the stone. Indeed, the entrance was closed so tightly that only the barest gap could be seen between them.
Beside the door though were several niches with carvings of the same dark stone. All of this had been covered by sand and only recently uncovered.

“I had not conclusively proved the best way to enter the tomb. These carvings are in ancient Sith, and speak of the virtues of a Sith. I figured out most of them I think.”

She wavered, almost swooning, but managed to stay upright. “Maybe…we should wait for reinforcements, Tempest. I wouldn’t want to open this thing and then find her waiting to pounce.”

How right you were, Wisdom….

 

[HK-36]

[member="Maiev"], [member="Nima Tann"], [member="Shamira Karuto"], [member="Karrigan'Xalda"], [member="Tempest"],

The Dragon underneath Tempest plummeted down and so few of the mechanical dragons flying with it followed behind, diving in after the machine and its rider, HK and his mount were among them, as the droid called out,

"Save that expensive piece of machinery!"

As he pushed himself off of the magnetic saddle, standing up on his mount's back during the dive,

"And Tempest too, I guess!"

The droid added before jumping off of his dragon and falling down in trail behind Tempest and her mount, aimed downwards towards them as the droid's own jet systems activated to let him pick up on speed and catch up with the machine and Force User.

​

While Tempest flew off of the dragon's back and grabbed Maiev's hand, being saved by her and pulled aboard another droid starfighter, HK slammed himself against the unconscious dragon's head, pressing up to it as he grabbed one of the sharp horn-like protrusions at the back of its duranium skull, hanging on to it as he pulled out a shining emerald Sourcefyre crystal, pulsating with energy brimming inside it.
"Wake up you bastard."

HK commanded to the dragon as he pressed the crystal to its head, lightning and sparks arcing from the droid's hand to excite the crystal, which in turn conjured arcs of emerald electricity and energy that danced over the dragon's skull, channeling its power inside the machine, causing the crystal's light and color to drain until it became pale, translucent.

There was noise of thrusters whirring up then, life pushed back into the metal vessel of the Droid Dragon, as red glow ignited within its numerous photoreceptors, breathing life into the metal skeleton once more. In the last second the dragon whipped up, picking up on speed as it slightly skimmed its underbelly on the sandy dune before shooting upward to join its brothers in the sky, this time with recharged combat shield. The other beasts lifted up as well, returning to their formation.

"We need to stay focused and press on. The longer we linger, the worse the storm will get,"

“We need to get to that tomb right away. HK, can my crew stay here with some of your droids, I don’t want them getting mixed up in this. The rest of us, the time for resting is done. We need to push forward immediately,”

"We are almost there! No problem!"

The droid replied to Tempest as they neared the camp and came in for a landing, hanging on upside down from the dragon's metal neck like a sloth, clutching to it with his hands and feet, before muttering to himself.

"Geez they are on the planet for few minutes and they already act like they own the place."


Either way, as they came in for landing, electrical lanterns embedded into stone would be seen through the storm, denoting a landing zone before a large cave entrance, as a group of armored droids came in to see the landing and guests the rescue team brought. Among them were some of the organic locals, hired out to serve as guides and menial workers for the droid lords who came to the backwards world with a purpose.

Landing the dragons would finish in a slight run, slowing down the momentum of their large heavy bodies. HK quickly lowered himself down to the ground, motioning for everyone else to dismount as well.

"Quickly, let us get them inside!"

He commanded out as the droids waiting for them on the ground moved out to guide the metal dragons into the cave.


Inside the cavern there would be a field base set up, generators, small prefab durasteel buildings to serve as armories, supply depots, quarters for the organics and more prominent droid commanders, all set up in front of a large makeshift durasteel wall blocking portion of the cavern into something deeper, with only a single metal doorway on the bottom.

In one of the sides there was an opening with a circle of droids sitting on metal thrones, facing each other. They sat there motionless, dormant, as if sleeping, or dead. The dragons were brought into the opening and positioned themselves behind the droids around the circles. Lowering themselves down they folded in their s-foil wings, clinging to their bodies as they sat down. The lights of their eyes went out and in turn lights were activated in the humanoid droid vessels, their minds returning to their usual vessels before the droid pilot lords stood up from their metal thrones.


Either way, the Firemane was free to stay or push off whenever they felt they were ready.

 

[Darth Libertas]

[member="Tempest"], [member="HK-36"], [member="Nima Tann"], [member="Maiev"], [member="Shamira Karuto"]


As they approached the imposing door of black stone, Sumiko felt a presence. One she had not felt in a long time. It brought back memories. Of Midvinter and Kessel. She wondered whether the Silver Jedi had bothered to clean up that hellhole or left once they'd slaughtered a couple thugs.


Oh, this shall be a fun reunion. So very West Side, she thought to herself. Her minions would know what to do. If Firemane had come out in full force, they would not be able to stop their advance in an open battle, but they could delay them. And unlike them, she knew the hazards inside the tomb, both preternatural and otherwise. At least to a degree. Alas, Wisdom was not quite following the script. She ahd to suppress a smirk when the Dahomian got anxious about the evil Sith witch pouncing them.


"Focus, Wisdom. Now is the moment to be brave. If this artefact is as important as you say, we gotta do whatever it takes to keep out of her hands. If she was waiting in the wings, I would have sensed her," she urged her, then added in a softer tone, "I won't let her hurt you. You do your thing, I'll protect you and kill the queen." She put more than a little Force into her words.

 

[Shamira Karuto]

It wasn’t as if it was Shamira’s idea to go diving after a droid dragon carrying her mistress, right after another droid had done it. It actually sounded like an absolutely terrible idea when put that way. Yet the Togruta didn’t exactly have the time to pull up the dragon, or even learn how to, before it went crashing into the side of Tempest’s, almost cleanly knocking her mistress off. Not only that, but Shamira felt herself beginning to slide off the back of the monstrous beast. This thing was going to get them both killed!

It took a few moments for the Togruta to right herself after the unfortunate dive bombing incident, and not a moment too soon, as the dragon hit the ground with a light thud as it landed back on solid ground. This drew out a long, drawn out breath from the padawan, before she slid off and responded with a nod to her mistress, showing that she was ok.
It seemed as though the storm was lighting up lightly, especially once the group started into the well lit cave that seemed to have been set up with a prefab base of operations. Her eyes were drawn to a circle of droids, where the dragons that had landed began to walk over to. They seemed to be pilots of some sort, which would explain why the dragons seemed to be so sentient. Interesting. Pilots that weren’t actually piloting on the object. Drones. An interesting idea for a later time.
Walking over to her mistress, who had also disembarked, a nervous smile was plastered on her face. “That was slightly horrifying.”

​​| [member="Tempest"] | [member="Maiev"] | [member="Karrigan'Xalda"] | [member="Nima Tann"] | [member="HK-36"] | @Sumiko Tanaka |

 

[Nima Tann]

Nima sighed in relief as nobody seemed to get hurt, even the dragon was saved. Luckily, there weren't any problems for the rest of the flight, and they finally landed to HK's camp. The dragons moved towards some inactive droids sitting in a chair and deactivated themselves, which activated the ones sitting in the chair. It was an interesting concept, however Nima had something else in her mind. Once they landed here, she felt a familiar presence.

Then everything started making sense, as the recent events started playing in her mind. The tomb, the storm... She was their mystery attacker, wasn't she?

"It's Sumiko." She said, informing the others. [member="Tempest"] would probably know her. "I've felt her presence. She knows we are here. And if I know her, she's not going to stay there too long. We have to move immediately."

And once she finished talking, multiple growling sounds came from the cavern depths, coming closer and closer.

[member="Karrigan'Xalda"] [member="Maiev"] [member="Shamira Karuto"] [member="HK-36"]

 

[Maiev]

"No problem," Maiev said with a small nod to Tempest. The last remainder of their flight was thankfully less eventful as the HK droid led the way down towards their camp. The witch's grasp on her metal dragon tightened further as it swooped down for a landing.

There was a slight bit of turbulance as it hit the ground running, stopping with a harsh dig of its claws into the ground.

Maiev let out a relieved sigh, letting Tempest dismount before following suit. The group followed the metal dragons as they were guided into the gave, Maiev's eyes immediately looking everywhere as she took in the sight of the field base.

Although he attention shifted as she noticed the winged constructs moving over to a series of thrones, each one deliberately stopping behind one of the chairs. They shut down, and seemed to stir the more humanoid droids awake. It clicked in Maiev's head now, why the metal dragon has held such sentience. Though it did cross her mind to think; wonder what happened with the one the had been struck by lightning, and had fallen to the dunes.

"It's Sumiko."

Maiev's head shifted over to Nima, her brow furrowing at Twi'lek's tone; one that held a sense of familiarity. She looked around at the others present, seemingly recognizing the name to some degree.

"I take it this 'Sumiko' is not exactly an unknown name to your group?"

[member="Tempest"] | [member="Karrigan'Xalda"] | [member="Nima Tann"] | [member="Shamira Karuto"] | [member="HK-36"]​

 

[Karrigan'Xalda]

[member="Maiev"], [member="Shamira Karuto"], [member="Tempest"], [member="Nima Tann"], [member="HK-36"]


Xalda's focus was simply. They needed to get a move on and kill bad people. Thus she was not inclined to chit-chat. Mistress Tann mentioned someone called Sumiko. It sounded like the purple alien knew that person. Xalda had no idea who she was, but apparently she was the cause of their troubles, which meant they had to kill her.


Good. It meant they had a concrete target at last. Now she knew whose head she wanted to lay at the feet of the Karishzar. Any musings on their mystery attacker were flushed away when she felt ripples, hearing the call of the spirits. Her crimson eyes glowed in the dark.


The Xioquo bent down, touching the stone floor with her gauntlet-covered hand. "The spirits are in uproar. We must make haste. Now," she urged and began to move. Just a few moments before the cave roof suddenly began to collapse. Perhaps it was a normal cave-in, perhaps there was some dark force behind it all.


Either way, the cave system that should have been their sanctuary was now becoming a death trap, as the entire roof was torn asunder and descended downward to bury anyone and anything that did not get out of the way. The entire cave shuddered and trembled, as if it had been struck by a quake. Xalda ran, trying to do her best to dodge columns of rock as they rained down upon them.


Pain spiked inside her as a hard rock slammed into her and she was slammed into the ground. Gritting her teeth, she pushed on. The only way to avoid being buried was to move forward and leave their supposed safe place...and move outside right towards a large pack of cloaked, hungry Hssiss.

 

[Tempest]

[member="Sumiko Tanaka"] [member="Maiev"] [member="Shamira Karuto"] [member="Nima Tann"] [member="HK-36"]

The technology here was impressive. The droids and their thrones, the base, all of it to Tempest’s mind was something quite impressive.

But then it started to collapse.

“Alright, all out! Come on, move!”

She’d heard Nima’s declaration. Sumiko Tanaka. Once an Atrisian Empire minion, now a Sith. She knew of her from what Siobhan had told her, though she’d never encountered her personally.

From what she remembered though Sumiko was a Sith primarily of mentalism and shadows. This power over the sky and ground was a worrying escalation of powers.

No time to think on it further. She helped Xalda up and ran with the Xioquo outside.
“We have no choice, we need to-,” she began.

Something hit her side, knocking her prone. At first she couldn’t see what was attacking her, but she could feel the weight of a creature, hear the snarling, and then it attacked. Claws and talons raked over her whilst the creature bit at her. Fortunately, her armour protected her, though one claw found a joint so she felt a spike of pain.

Unable to get it off, pinned on her side to the ground, she did the one thing she could. The jetpack fired and shot her awkwardly horizontal along the ground, but tearing free, so she rose into the air. An avenging angel she unleashed torrents of scalding lightning onto the creature. In pain, the creature appeared, thrashing as the current earthed itself through it.

Lightsabre ignited she landed and drove the orange blade like a bar of fire through its skull, turning the sand beneath it to fractured glass.

“Cloaked Hssiss! Watch out!”

How did one deal with cloaked creatures? Well, they could bend light around themselves, but their absence could be detected.

And so Tempest slammed down her fist onto the sand, sending a ripple of dust and sand billowing forward. If one looked they could see where the sand seemed to warp and form a gap. There were 5 more of these silhouettes…and they were getting closer!

XXX

Wisdom frowned, but nodded slowly. The niches were before her and she reached out to touch them.
“The pictograms link to the virtues, three to each, only one correct. But there’s something wrong. There’s a blank space here…I think that it is hidden to those without the Force. That is an ancient Sith technique. If you help me, Tempest, you can do the final one.”

She looked over them. Fortunately, weathering and burial in sand had not effected this mysterious stone.
“Passion, Strength, Power, Victory, Broken,” Wisdom said, pressing each of the niches in turn. “Very predictable. But this last one, I cannot see what to press.”

If Sumiko used the Force she would see glyphs ensorcelled in burning red, invisible to the Force blind. They showed three potential options:

• A stylised figure trampling opposition.
• A fist gripping a planet.
• A Sith ascending to the sky.

There was also a warning carved there in Sith runes.

“Here lies the Nameless Desolator. Turn away before your destruction unleashes them.”

 

[HK-36]

[member="Tempest"], [member="Karrigan'Xalda"], [member="Maiev"], [member="Nima Tann"], [member="Shamira Karuto"],


"Oh come on, we just got here!"

The droid called out as the ceiling suddenly begun to shake and cave in around them, stones falling from the ceiling to smash against some unfortunate droids' heads,

"Go on, get out of here, I will stay behind to salvage our camp! You have your mission and we have ours, both must be seen through the end!"

HK called out after the Order of Fire team as he raised his hands up in the air and formed strange signals as his six fingers on each hand twisted and contorted. Just then the group, or at least those who would be able to pay attention, would see the droid levitate rocks above him, lifting them up with some sort of unseen telekinetic power. Yet those who were sensitive to such things would feel no Force ripples coming off of the droid as usually when someone tapped into the Force to use telekinesis. The machine, like some of the other Metal Lords and their servants, found other powers to access that mimicked the powers of the Force as best as they could.

Several other droids clad in black organic armor like him would join up next to HK, raising their hands as well as they levitated more of the crumbling stone above their camp.

"Get those steel beams in here, reinforce the support structure!"

The droid ordered as the various construction drones and droids brought in Durasteel plating and beams, lifting them up against the levitating stone to mold quickly makeshift support network with fusion cutters, sparks and melting metal splashed every which way during their task. However they would not be able to stop everything as a wall of dust rose from all of the turmoil and more stones near the entrance to the cave would begin to fall to push the Firemane team towards their objective, another cursed cave, and cut them from the droid,

"Fly, you fools!"

Was the last thing they could probably hear from the machine before they would be totally blocked off from each other, at least for now, although the few drone guards that were near the cave's entrance would join in alongside the Order of Fire in the impromptu skirmish that suddenly rose up between them and the Cloaked Hssiss, their armored skeletal bodies giving off shots from the high powered Magnetic Repaters every now and again or trying to fight the invisible creatures with the electrified blaststaves, following the beings now tagged with dust by Tempest using their scanners and trackers.

 

[Darth Libertas]

[member="Tempest"], [member="Nima Tann"], [member="Maiev"], [member="Shamira Karuto"], [member="HK-36"]


If Sumiko had not been playacting, this would have been the moment for her to make smug comments that showed off her intellectual superiority. Or at least her perception of it. It was such a pity. She almost liked Wisdom. Instead she focused on the pictograms. She wondered whether the real Tempest even knew the Code of the Sith. She doubted that the abominable troglodyte Siobhan Kerrigan was able to provide a decent education.


"Passion, Strength, Power, Victory, Broken," she muttered, making a show of giving the matter deep thought, "Freedom is missing. The usual Sith 'I'm so superior to everyone' crap." She figured the real Tempest would mock the Sith.


Regardless, she closed her eyes briefly. When she opened them, she no longer perceived the world around her through her real orbs, but through the Force. She scanned the glyphs, before focusing on the last one.


"I see a figure ascending to the sky. That must be it. Pretty much screams 'unlimited power'. Not that this ever worked out for any Sith." As she stretched out her hand, she read the warning carved into the Sith runes. It gave her pause, just for a moment. She considered whether it was time to dispose of Wisdom...but she might have use for her. Perhaps as leverage against Firemane. Or as a sacrificial lamb. So she touched the glyph. "Be ready," she cautioned the good doctor.