Private Mortal Coil

[Ravenous]

Ravenous was literally on the edge of his seat as he hovered above the outer rim world of Kodai its ethereal energies beckoning him to its surface. From above the bewitched world Ravenous could hear its whispers and feel its cold chilling presence in his core, Terrifying yet intriguing at the same time. over 800 years ago yet another Sith looking to unlock the secrets of immortality used Sith sorcery to bind himself to a Holocron filled with his teachings which in theory would prevent his soul from being able to die of any...conventional means. Unlike many unfortunate souls, the ritual succeeded and his being was bound the Holocron which still came with its side effects, His body withered away and the dark energies of the Holocron warped his soul turning him into a creature of pure fury that sought nothing more than to destroy all forms of natural life.

Ravenous was strong, incredibly strong but even he feared this manifestation of death, Not death that carried you to the afterlife, not the benign death that waits patiently to add you to her collection, No this was death in its purest form...Ruthless...Relentless...untouchable...inescapable...ethereal...A Lich...A master over the energies of life and a being without any respect or the lives of others. For this thing to grow stronger every second,it spends bound to this mortal coil...it must be stopped...its time to kill death itself.

Ravenous knew he couldn't defeat this thing on his own so he sought out those crazy enough to join him in this endeavor. Strangely enough,the Galaxy is only sane when you need it to be psychotic because out of the possibly thousands of people he beckoned only two had come to his aid. Darth Vinaze and Vallaro Kindall . More might come, Hell more might have wanted to help but failed to catch the dark Jedi in time though it wouldn't have mattered anyway a Lich is capable of consuming souls so if a person was not protected by a ward of sorts they were defenseless. They must travel light and they must travel fast, every moment the Lich grows stronger...and Hungrier.

 

[Vallaro Kindall]

Hunting a lich was the last thing Vallaro expected he’d ever find himself doing. In fact, he’d only just come to learn what a lich even was but once he learned of its existence, he decided that the sum he was being paid couldn’t possibly be enough. Pawning off any artifacts he found however would be well worth the risk.

Vallaro’s ship, The Surreptitious sat in full stealth mode while maintaining a geosynchronous orbit above Kodai. While he wasn’t force-sensitive Vallaro could tell there was something sinister waiting for him below. The whole planet felt like a black hole. He could feel it pulling him in, tugging at the very core of him and everything that made him alive. It was unnerving, to say the least, but he had a job to do and he was dead set on doing it. There was a chirp as he opened a tight beam transmission to his compatriots.

“So, either of you ever deal with a thing like this before? I’m not one to worry but this whole planet doesn’t feel right.” Vallaro ended his transmission. While he was fairly sure that there wasn’t anything on the surface that could detect him, it was still a risk to break stealth protocols this close to the target. While he waited for their answer, he took a long drag from his cigarra, then another. His hands shook. It wasn’t like him to have nerves build up like this but there was something particularly sinister about this place.

Vallaro strapped on his rig and began slotting all his gear into place. A calm came over him as he completed his ritual preparations and he cast aside any doubts that had been plaguing him. There wasn’t a place for doubts or worries now, only the job at hand.

 

[Darth Vinaze]

As Derleth and his new comrades orbited Kodai, Derleth in his TIE, he pondered the mission ahead. Vallaro Kindall was on to something: There was a dark feeling from down below. He hadn't hesitated when he had come across Ravenous building a team to hunt a Lich. By most standards he was crazy, but it was never the sane or cautious that advanced the knowledge of the dark side. Only a few Sith before had found the secret to true immortality. Not the art of force manifestation, but real, physical immortality. If there really did exist a Lich on Kodai, Derleth had to kill it. Nobody should be powerful enough to possess the secret of life.

If it was as immensely powerful as they suspected, then their mission was as good as over. Through power came victory. If they could defeat the Lich, then through victory Derleth's chains would be broken. He would prove himself a powerful Sith Lord.

"I have no clue what it is exactly we're dealing with. I have looked into Sithspawn and the Dark Arts for a long time, but the concept of a Lich only appears a handful of times. For someone to die and refuse to become one with the force would require a mastery of the force, and then some. I'm very interested in seeing this Lich with my own eyes." To his companions he must have seemed crazy, but he was a man of science at heart.

Derleth reared his ship into position to descend, whenever Ravenous deemed necessary.

 

[Ravenous]

Ravenous sat quietly in his captain's chair as his companions expressed their worry about the power of the Lich that lied on the planet below his influence radiating from the planet like heat from a blast furnace. The dark Jedi delved deep into his thoughts searching his mind and the minds of his companions for any trace of corruption...None...The Lich has yet to detect their presence. Still no doubt he will sense the trio once they reach planetside, they must be prepared to face him. Returning from his thoughts Ravenous rose from his chair and swiped his commlink from the console, His cold metallic voice ripped through the air like a blade as he spoke into his commlink.

"No. If all goes according to plan we won't have to lay eyes on this machination. A Lich can only be killed by destroying the object to which their soul is bound, In our case, we need to destroy the Holocron that is no doubt somewhere on the Lich's body. But we mustn't simply charge our mutual foe, His powers over the energies of life are absolute so if he was to gain access to your psyche you're good as dead. I have not the slightest clue as to what horrors we might find inside this stronghold or even the power's this Lich possess but of one thing I am certain..."

"...Im going to die this day..."

Ravenous dropped his commlink on the ship's console as he began firing up its engines a blue light emitting from the Kom'rk starfighter affectionately named The Harbinger. With his engines engaged the Dark Jedi blasted down towards the surface his ship taking many unessasry twists and turns as it passed in and out between the clouds of Kodai's rough atmosphere. Huge blobs of gray filled the skies as a terrible thunderstorm drenched the Harbinger as it descended with increasing speed. Quickly tapping a series of buttons on the Harbinger Ravenous engaged his windshield wipers the tiny blades gaining no progress in giving their pilot some visibility.

"Prepare yourselves. Kodai is a water world so once we reach the site of the stronghold we will need to leave our ships up here. The Marine life on this world is not particularly aggressive but has grown worse with the appearance of this Lich so be mindful of that."

A red light began flashing on the console as Ravenous reached the ocean. His ship automatically began to hover over the rising currents as the Dark Jedi leaped from his seated position his commlink in hand.

"I'd tell the two of you that now is the time to back down but if you try to leave im going to have to shoot you down. Cant have the Lich sensing our fear no can we?"

Darth Vinaze | Vallaro Kindall ​

 

[Vallaro Kindall]

Vallaro hated the rain. The Surreptitious was a stealth craft. Virtually undetectable once in flight with one exception: Rain. As he broke atmosphere Vallaro toggled off his ship's adaptive camouflage. A wave of grey washed across the ship as it returned to its base color. He hesitated for a moment and then proceeded to turn off the rest of the ship’s stealth technology. There was reason to burn up all his fuel if the rain was going to reveal him anyway.

Visibility was lost as the torrential downpour covered The Surreptitious’s windshield. Vallaro navigated his way down to the planet on sensors alone. While the rain could make him blind it wouldn’t be enough to stop a standard sensor sweep from accurate information. He focused solely on navigating to the surface as chatter came back over the coms

"…I'm very interested in seeing this Lich with my own eyes."

“...Im going to die this day...”

Once again Vallaro found himself in odd company. A Sith scientist and a fatalist dark Jedi, who had ever heard of such a group. He took a pull from his cigarra before extinguishing it on the side of his console.

“No use keeping that lit in this kind of weather.” He flicked the cigarra butt aside to be dealt with later if there was a later. Carefully he brought his ship to a full stop a few meters above the waves below, proximity alerts flaring up with each passing wave. Vallaro tuned off the alerts and set the ship to maintain position as the coms lit up again.

…if you try to leave im going to have to shoot you down…

Vallaro didn’t bother responding. He was used to the idle threats of force users. Instead, he ran a sensor sweep of the area. Kodai was truly a water world with no land showing up within sensor range.

“So we’re heading into the drink? I can't see much else out here on sensors. Just water, loads of it.”

Ravenous | Darth Vinaze

 

[Darth Vinaze]

Ravenous was right: If the group turned back now the Lich could very well sense their fear.

As his TIE's autopilot lowered him towards the water, he removed his armor and wrapped himself in a traditional black tunic of the Sith. The rain beat hard on the roof of his ship, but he didn't worry. He'd be getting wet anyway. The cockpit of his TIE cracked open with a mechanical hiss, and Derleth pulled himself out onto the roof as the ship hovered above the choppy water.

"Give the word and we go in. I hope you brought a breathing apparatus." He said to the others as they all perched on their ships. He slipped a rebreather into his mouth. In the cold air he prepared himself for the plunge, into water he expected was even colder. Derleth gripped his lightsaber tightly. Not a place he'd like to lose it, then again he wasn't a fan of weapons like these anyway. It had been a long while since he'd used a lightsaber, but his sword was too cumbersome for this quest.

Vallaro Kindall

 

[Ravenous]

Ravenous pulled his cloak over himself as his eyes bore mercilessly into the raging currents below himself the droplets of water barely reaching the ramp he stood on. Water...Never still, never truly quiet. Most would compare Ravenous to a raging bonfire but if you asked him he would tell you that he's water, Never still and more importantly flexible. It's hard to kill what never stops moving both physically and mentally and that goes for every aspect of himself. He NEVER stopped moving even when he appears still he's in motion always plotting, always on edge. By his own estimate, he hasn't been still since the day he arrived on Korriban and learned how the galaxy REALLY worked. Most people would tell you that the strong live while the weak die but that's wrong, In Ravenous's mind anyway.

There is no weak without strong and no strong without weak in fact the only difference between the two is that the strong suffer in silence while the weak make their pain known to the world...Ravenous was one of the weak. Water. They're one and the same, never still and always pushing forward.

"It would be foolish to come to a water world and not have a breathing apparatus. No, but seriously mine is in my mask so don't worry about me. This Lich of ours lives in an underwater compound about half a kilo down of our position. This fortress is about 5000 years old and has an intense Force nexus surrounding it so we had best be careful down there. Now for our plan..." The dark Jedi reached for a pouch on his lower leg and emerged in his hand a Jedi Holocron with noticeable damage to its core.

"The Lich has bound his soul to a Sith Holocron so Darth Vinaze will open the Sith Holocron at the same time I open this. Once they are both open we will close them and use the explosion to kill the Lich, If that does not work I have a...Auxillary plan. I doubt we will have use of it though."

Without warning, Ravenous jumped in the water the pitch-black the darkness a mild comfort to him. Darkness was all he knew, all he'd seen and now all that was left was the indiscriminate violence required to fix it. He could feel the darkness inside himself like a dagger with poison on its tip.

"The Lich...Vallaro Got anything that can help us find our way to the compound?"

Vallaro Kindall

 

[Vallaro Kindall]

“Five thousand years old you say. I think I might have something, just give me a minute.” Vallaro began typing furiously as he reconfigured his sensor array. “Come on, give it to me,” he murmured as the ship’s sensor array rebooted and begin scanning again. Outlines began to appear on the display as sensors located the remains of structures on the seafloor. “I’ve got something. Forwarding the feed to your comms now.” Vallaro sprung from his seat and made way to the far side of his ship.

The ramp dropped exposing Vallaro to the weather outside. He strapped on a breathing mask pulled from one of the several packs of gear he had strapped against the walls of the cargo bay.

“The feed from my sensor is pretty incomplete. It’s will only show areas where there is metal with a high concentration of glass. I’m assuming that if this was built just around five thousand years ago, they imported some metal from Tatooine right after Anchorhead was founded. Anything that fits that signature is what you’ll see. Between this and this ‘Force nexus’ you mentioned we should be able to find our way and you two can do your thing”

Vallaro dove into the churning waters below. He turned on the repulsor assist on his boots. They weren’t meant to bear the weight of a man but in the water, it would provide more than enough assistance for him to keep up with his force empowered companions.

Ravenous | Darth Vinaze

 

[Darth Vinaze]

Derleth steeled himself before the plunge his comrades made moments before. He stepped into a running position and lept from the edge of his ship, broke into a dive, and cleared the few meters gap between it and the waves. Once he was in the water he gripped his lightsaber again, checking that he didn't lose it. The darkness of the water didn't hinder his Umbaran eyes, nor did the frigid water compare to the cold he had endured on Ziost or Ilum.

"The force nexus won't be hard to find. I could feel it from orbit," Springing from the commlink on his wrist was the hologram of Vallaro Kindall 's sensor array, or at least what the sensor had picked up of the ruins, "this is quite impressive technology, and if your plan works Ravenous, I expect we'll be up top in only a short time."

Derleth continued swimming down, assisted by the force which he used to distort the water around him, allowing for easier movement. The Lich's energy was stronger the deeper they went, to the point where it was nauseating to Derleth. He was really in for it now...

 

[Ravenous]

Ravenous studied his wrist as a holographic projection cast by Vallaro Kindall manifested in his field of vision its blue rays of light giving Ravenous an incomplete readout of the colossus ahead. The cruel, insidious power of the fortress protruded through its cracks and crevices sending a deep chill through the dark Jedi as the structure became visible.

"There! That's the fortress. Inside we will find our decadence. Keep your guard up."

Ravenous closed his eyes as he communed with the Force its silent whispers beckoning him towards its will...Only his will was stronger. Through ethereal eyes he could see the molecules in the water, then the atoms, then the energy that bound them together, He tapped into that energy and sought to command its power with a powerful mastery over its will. With ferocious strength, he ordered the waters to part in all directions over the fortress looking for a shaft or crevice by which they could enter. Powerful waves cascaded with the fortress as every fault in the structure of the compound became apparent to the Dark Jedimultiple access ways revealing themselves to Ravenous.

"Southwest corner. There is a fault in the walls structure which leads to a waterproof chamber."

With supernatural speed, Ravenous darted towards the southwest corner of the structure. Upon closer inspection, the compound appeared to made entirely of obsidian a standard material for Sith fortresses. Deep inside the layers of rock laid a fracture about 8 meters wide and behind it a chamber that appeared to be waterproof, Either way, it won't matter once the trio fills it with water once they break-in. The dark Jedi outstretched his gloved hand towards the stone structure his palm open and riddled with dark energy. If this stone was anything like the ones on Malachor it should collapse as soon as someone Non-Sith touches it.

Darth Vinaze

 

[Vallaro Kindall]

Keeping pace with force users was no easy task. On land, Vallaro could do it without breaking a sweat but in the water, he had to work for it. While the force could simply propel a person with ease Vallaro had no access to the mystical energy and instead relied on his technology to keep pace. His boot’s repulsor assist continued to accelerate him as he made way towards the ruins of an ancient fortress on his datapad.

"There! That's the fortress. Inside we will find our decadence. Keep your guard up."

Vallaro flipped his body positioning himself feet first. The same repulsor that had accelerated him would now cause him to slow until he came within a scant few meters of the obsidian walls that formed the exterior of the bastion. The structure radiated dark energy with such strength that one did not need to be force sensitive to be able to feel its hunger. At the edges of his mind, Vallaro could feel whispers tempting him to give in to despair. He thanked his Epicanthix physiology for granting him an innate defense against such whispers.

At the southwestern corner of the fortress, Vallaro floated behind his companions. He watched as Ravenous reached into the cold black obsidian. For a moment Vallaro was perplexed. Though he’d often worked with and fought against force users it was never exactly clear what they were doing.

The water around them began to churn as if violently displaced. He spun around and with a few quick bursts of his repulsors he regained his bearings. Checking his sensor data, he could find nothing wrong, nothing structural had changed.

“That wasn’t caused by any building displacement. What the kark did you just do Ravenous?”

Ravenous | Darth Vinaze