Mission to Abeloth

[Corvus Raaf]

With just three limbs left, the spider indeed made its best effort to run away. It's movement was slow as its belly dragged on the floor.

Corvus wondered what was best. If it encountered more of its kind, they may kill it anyway and a lightsaber death would no doubt be swifter. But she could not bring herself to end its life. It was not hers to take.

So she lowered the lightsaber, allowing its dim light to illuminate the arachnid's departure. "That," she said, "Was also unexpected."

Turning to Ricardt, she asked, "Is that all we came for, or are there other doors or floors?" She permitted her eyes to drift to see what Tugoro was doing before she closed her eyes and allowed the Force to flow through her, adopting the Center of Being stance whilst she waited for someone to speak.

[member="Silara Vantai"] [member="Tugoro Taidarious"] [member="Ricardt Darkmourne"] [member="Metus De'cal"]

 

[Corvus Raaf]

Once she sensed the spider had retreated far enough, she handed Tugoro's second saber back to him and clipped the Durundfire one to her belt. "Just in case" she said, her voice grave.

"Unless anyone objects, we should head back out. We got what we came for and who know how many more of those creatures are to be found down here?"

Corvus closed her eyes and chose to see with the Force. She smiled as she did it, Tugoro was always on the receiving end of her mantras. "Your eyes can deceive you. Don't trust them." She could see the walls in her mind and even a small way into the rock. "No spiders. Let's go..."


[member="Silara Vantai"] [member="Tugoro Taidarious"] [member="Ricardt Darkmourne"] [member="Metus De'cal"]

 

[Metus De'cal]

Metus continued to sit still and listen, even as the sounds of combat still raged somewhere ahead and made him a bit eager to get into action, then it suddenly stopped and the ruin was completely silent once more. After a few seconds the apprentice could hear the sound of far-off footsteps approaching his direction, and the soft muffling of echoing speech even though he couldn't make it out from the distance. Whatever brought these people to this wicked planet must be quite important for the risk, and the apprentice began to wonder if that was what his master wanted from all of this. If it was he would of course have to kill them all, but their numerical advantage forced him to think of ways to defeat them besides simple brute strength. Just as his master taught him to do.

The Sith slowly stood to his feet and began inching away further into the blackness of the ruin's corners, hoping the dark aura of the world would cover his presence. Once he found himself safely tucked into a corner, Metus turned the volume of his mouth-piece up and covered his ears before laughing as diabolically as he could. The altered sound of his laughter echoed off the walls and through the corridors of the ruin, while he used the noise to cover his footsteps as he moved to another corner of the large room. In order to properly keep them off balance whether through fear or nervousness, Metus would play this little game as long as he needed to.

[member="Corvus Raaf"] [member="Tugoro Taidarious"]

[member="Silara Vantai"] [member="Ricardt Darkmourne"]

 

[Corvus Raaf]

Corvus heard the sound. “Unless the spiders have a great sense of humour, I'd suggest we have company.”

Oddly the noise didn't frighten her. Her old Master back on Corellia used to say that the unreal is more powerful than the real, because nothing is as perfect as you can imagine it. It was his way of assuring her during the planet’s occasional electrical storms which she initially found terrifying.

So, facing a spider that was six-foot long was genuinely scary. The sound of scuttling wasn't – because she knew her imagination would make it a twenty-foot long spider when in reality it might only be one-foot long.

Therefore she didn't even speculate what was making the sound – although logic said that if it was a predator, warning them it was there seemed a bad move.

She closed her eyes and used Force Sight again. The darkness became obsolete as everything around her became translucent – and it had the added advantage of revealing 360-degree ‘sight’ not just the direction where her eyes were facing.

“Whatever it is, it’s not close. Yet.”


[member="Metus De'cal"] [member="Tugoro Taidarious"] [member="Silara Vantai"] [member="Ricardt Darkmourne"]

 

[Tugoro Taidarious]

Tugoro's head would slowly turn, looking towards the source of the maniacal laughter. He had heard such laughs before, ones that were tainted with spite and attempted intimidation. The youth's eyes would close as he began to sense out the area with the force, getting a good idea of where the individual was located. It was not very close, and he was most likely to shroud himself in the surrounding darkness. While he searched, he felt another dark aura, one that was rather considerable. Opening his eyes, the Padawan would turn to look at [member="Corvus Raaf"], before speaking, "Keep close," and beginning to walk down the dark corridor.

His neck would crane to the side, looking to see what [member="Ricardt Darkmourne"] would do. He expected him to follow along, though who knew what was going on. All that Tugoro knew, was that something was about to go down. As [member="Metus De'cal"] and @Silara Vantai's signatures approached, the young Jedi became more focused, preparing himself mentally for the encounter that was bound to happen.

 

[Corvus Raaf]

Corvus followed Tugoro’s lead. She was aware he was also using the Force and so she followed him as he walked along the tunnel, towards the exit. And at his bidding, she kept close – her attention on her surroundings at all times.

[member="Tugoro Taidarious"] | [member="Metus De'cal"] | [member="Ricardt Darkmourne"] | [member="Darth Sinna"]

 

[Ellie Mors]

Silara's silent footsteps left little evidence of her arrival, though as she drew near the others and felt their respective presences through the force it was apparent that any precaution to keep her existence hidden was useless - at least from the subtle hints of fear and apprehension that the padawans had given off. It didn't much help their case that there was another Sith, one whom the Vahla was unfamiliar with but could feel the darkness within, that had essentially masked her own suppressed presence in the force along with the planet's darkness. Though she was certainly no Sith Lord, albeit quite on her way to becoming one and nearing that goal with every step she took towards the dark side, Silara was a Sith Battlelord - a genetically altered sithspawn-like experiment of the One Sith whom had an aura of darkness that was unmistakably black - and once she stopped trying to hide her presence in the force it was like a beacon of darkness and gloom, her passionate obsession with its cold grasp stretching far and wide across the cavern's expanse and even into the wilderness, the dangerous wildlife keeping its distance from the master of sithspawn. "I'm coming." Silara whispered with a smirk as she continued toward her targets.

[member="Corvus Raaf"] [member="Tugoro Taidarious"] [member="Metus De'cal"] [member="Ricardt Darkmourne"]

 

[Corvus Raaf]

Corvus still hadn’t sensed the source of the laughter but they’d travelled quite a distance back to the cave entrance, so they had to be close.

Despite her dismissal of this threat as amateurish, she had a bad feeling about this. Nothing concrete. Nothing she could pinpoint with her connection to the Force to say there was anything specific – but the feeling was there none the less.

She wasn’t aware she was fearful – but on the other hand her confidence was shaken by this revelation. So she did what she always did on these occasions. She trusted in the Force.

She lifted the saber horizontally, with the hilt just below her chin, without activating it and allowing her body to enter into a meditative state, entered Center of Being.

[member="Tugoro Taidarious"] | [member="Metus De'cal"] | [member="Ricardt Darkmourne"] | [member="Darth Sinna"]

 

[Metus De'cal]

Metus watched the Jedi move cautiously towards the entrance, their salvation, but he never intended for them to reach it. He had a much better chance of success in the darkness of the temple, so if he was going to strike it had to be soon enough to keep them from reaching their freedom. It was eventually going to come down to a snap decision that could be quite dangerous for him, but hopefully fatal for a Jedi or two.

The Sith picked up a rock that was behind the group and a bit smaller than his palm with the force, then propelled it as hard as he could towards [member="Tugoro Taidarious"]. Right after the rock was sent out to do its dirty deed, Metus activated his lightsaber and began laughing again as a distraction. Once he had his opportunity he could either strike or flee to look for another one, whatever meant a better chance of victory.

[member="Corvus Raaf"] [member="Darth Sinna"]

 

[Corvus Raaf]

Corvus was still close to Tugoro – as he’d requested.

The Sith’s presence was known to Corvus as soon as they neared him. On these occasions she did what she always did – she trusted in the Force. The thrown rock was of no consequence to her and the Force told her as much, and so her stance remained unaltered, her saber yet to be activated.

Clearly this Sith felt that darkness was an ally – except when using Force Sight, there was no darkness. His aura was like a beacon to her. His saber activating was of no consequence – yet.

His actions hadn’t increased her opinion of him. Surely this wasn’t what the Force was warning her of? She was mindful of being overconfident, but he hadn’t exactly impressed her!

[member="Metus De'cal"] | [member="Darth Sinna"] | [member="Tugoro Taidarious"]

 

[Tugoro Taidarious]

It seemed that Tugoro was seen as the biggest threat, for he had been the first one to be attacked. This made him smirk slightly, as he felt the build up of force energy a few meters behind him. Thanks to his formidable sensing capabilities, the young Jedi would feel and anticipate the attack, allowing his body to move fluidly to the side. Only his torso would jerk violently, re-positioning itself briefly before taking it's previous posture, letting the rock soar right past him. It had traveled at a decent speed, and might have hurt him if he were to have been hit. Instead of spinning around to face the direction the attack had come in, Tugoro would remain still and balanced.

The young Padawan's hands would not even move to reach for his lightsaber, for he figured that [member="Corvus Raaf"] would be able to contend with this challenger. His aura was dark enough, and he seemed to be a thinker more than he was a brute. Nodding his head confidently, Tugoro would decide that a battle of the wits would do Corvus good. He was unsure of [member="Ricardt Darkmourne"]'s whereabouts, but he relied on him to aid the female if needed. Craning his neck slightly, the boy would direct his nod at his companion, encouraging her to face this foe. He would have to venture on, and face the more powerful threat ahead.
[member="Darth Sinna"] [member="Metus De'cal"]

 

[Corvus Raaf]

Corvus was unsure of Tugoro’s motives as he indicated she should engage the Sith – but she did not dwell on it and instead simply nodded.

Instead she simply remained in Center of Being. This Sith had postured aplenty but apart from throwing a stone, he’d yet to truly engage them. Because of this, she kept her saber unactivated. It would only be ignited as per the Code – and at present she had no requirement to kill anyone.

So she closed her eyes once more and remained in the stance, her back to the Sith. It was up to him if he engaged or ran away.

[member="Darth Sinna"] | [member="Metus De'cal"] | [member="Tugoro Taidarious"]

 

[Telthòr]

Time and space had ceased for Ricardt.
His body followed, but his mind didn't obey. His councious drifted through the infinite cosmic energies of the Force. His legs performed automatic responses, but his eyes seemed distant. His senses deadened. His body appeared seemingly a zombie, without thought. Whatever matter of foul play was upon the planet of Abeloth, and furthermore this ruin had taken ahold of Ricardt. He couldn't focus whilst in this strange meditative state. He knew something was happening, but he couldn't feel it, hear it or see it. He knew his eyes were opened but yet nothing could be perceived. The darkness he lay witness too was not of the caves, but of Bogan. The Dark Side of the Force flowed around him, attempting to penetrate his core. He did not come to this realisation until his senses had snapped at the surprise activation of a lightsaber.

He fought back against the darkness that seeped at his mind. He focused on the deep spiritual connection he had to what he considered as the Unifying Force. The orb of light in his hand had slowly diminished, now it exploded outwards. It's illuminating rays burst into a hail of brilliant, radiating sparks that cascading down harmlessly onto the shoulders of all. Ricardt's eyes grew wide, now perceiving the real world. Whatever manner of Force had taken him was now gone. It's very essence diminished the connection to the Dark Side of the Force. The inky blackness that shrouded the caverns and corridors shrunk aside from the display of Force Light. His mind whispered to him; This place is powerful with the dark side, but my light is stronger. "What's going on?" he looked to Tugoro for a hope of understanding. Then he saw Metus under the shine of his Force Light. His lips curled, his stomach knotted.

[member="Corvus Raaf"] [member="Tugoro Taidarious"] [member="Metus De'cal"]

((And to explain my horrible, horrible leave of absence.. I hope you forgive me.))

 

[Metus De'cal]

After the initial concern that dawned on him as the rock missed and his plan was thwarted, Metus relaxed somewhat as [member="Tugoro Taidarious"] seemed to step aside for [member="Corvus Raaf"] to engage him. While the Sith did now know of her abilities, he was glad that it was the younger girl he would be fighting instead of multiple Jedi at once. Her weapon was not even drawn yet, leaving him to wonder if she simply chose not to use it or was paralyzed by fear. Either case was fine with him, but before Metus could move to attack a new situation presented itself.

Rays of power spread out from [member="Ricardt Darkmourne"] and his orb of light, destroying the surrounding shadows of the great room in a brilliant display that made the Sith feel weaker at its touch and convincing him enough to deter his plan of attack. Metus jumped back a few feet out of concern as he looking desperately for a place to escape to, but found the darkness that had previously aided him defeated and now useless. The shadows would not be his ally anymore as long as that man was able to cast that damned light of his, forcing the Sith to make his move.

He sprinted towards Ricardt with a battle-cry, his lightsaber swung in a diagonal slash at the chest in the hopes of taking the boy out.