Private Paying the Piper

[Esmeralda Io]

Library - Danuta Temple, Midas - Khemost
Morning

She couldn’t put it off any longer.

The bargain had to be fulfilled, or else her nightmares would continue and worse yet, lied the small possibility that she might die before completing her obligation, a terrifying thought which held dark implications…

Such as the eternal damnation of her soul to the Brain Demon’s Domain.

It was thoughts of that nature which had kept Esmeralda locked inside of her apartment for most of the two months since Tython, only leaving to train and run errands. Otherwise, the Siren had stayed inside, ordering delivery food while playing The Elves (The Sims in space) and binging episodes on Sith+. The attention she often received in public—an unearned glory—only compelled the Echani to stay inside even more. However, her renown had yielded her a few gifts, one of which was a double-barreled assault rifle which she found particularly satisfying to shoot.

It was the joy she derived from the rifle and the recurring terror of her nightmares that ultimately pulled Esmeralda out of her months-long slump.

Donning her armor sans helmet for the first time since the Battle of Tython after having the suit cleaned and refurbished, Esmeralda set off to meet with a Chaplain ( Talisa Io ) at the newly-constructed Danuta Temple. While she was capable, the Siren knew that she couldn’t undertake the obligation on her own, especially if the circumstances prevented her from taking a full loadout. Ession was in enemy space, so a level of discretion might be necessary, but the Echani didn’t anticipate that it would preclude her from bringing the firepower that elicited such strong sensations of euphoria in her being.

At the very least, it might only be a matter of patience.

Not long after entering the library, Esmeralda quickly located the designated meeting room. The door slid open as soon as the system registered Esmeralda’s presence, catching the short-statured Siren unprepared as her breath suddenly hitched inside her chest, the Chaplain’s statuesque, inhumanly pulchritudinous figure catching her by surprise.

Then, just as quickly as it had left, her breath returned.

“Thank you for having me on such short notice, Sister Chaplain.” Esmeralda said, using Talisa’s formal title in the process, before giving the Chaplain a polite bow. “I come to request your assistance on…an obligation. You might already know what it is, since I know I'm not the only one, but...” She paused, briefly collecting herself before delivering her next words.

“It’s for the Brain Demon, sister.”

Talisa Io ​

 

[Talisa Io]

007 hours earlier...


Wearing: Chaplain's Raiment (Armorweave catsuit)

Armed with: Synthetic Crystal Lightsaber (Forest Green)

"Hello, Ted." Talisa said softly and with a warm voice as the Citizen Soldier sat in the Rock Garden within the converted Palace of the late Darth Mammon, the Sith who ruled Khemost before Xiphos. "How are you feeling today?"

Ted Forrest rested in the lounge sofa that had been brought in. He rested comfortably, although he seemed numb to the beauty around him, eyes straight ahead. Talisa wore an Iron Gray Kimono, her blonde hair in a tight bun. She too sat in a lounge seat.

"I'm fine. I managed to get a full night's sleep."

Talisa smiled. "That's good to know, but I wanted to ask how you were feeling up here..." she said, pointing to her temple.

Ted was taken aback by the question.

"Haven't had nightmares for a few days. That's an improvement, I guess."

"Have you experienced moments of panic? Mental fog?"

"A...a few. I hear... certain sounds. Smell things, sometimes."

Ted looked down at his new hand, fitted with a Cybernetic brace. It had been attached via Sith Magic. Taken from someone who had come through one of the reality tears on Tython. A woman.

"I want to make certain that you understand that anything you say to me will be kept in complete confidence." Talisa explained. "Tython was a very traumatic ordeal for this whole House. The mind is just as important as the body to heal. From what my Brothers told me, you in particular experienced an event that was especially difficult to come to terms with."

She leaned forward.

"You are in no rush. We progress at your pace."

Ted was as unfeeling as stone.

"I've always had the nightmares. The Flashbacks. Since Nar Kreeta. I was used to those. They haven't faded in strength, but I was used to them."

He blinked. "When Darth Solipsis opened those tears in reality on the planet they brought two individuals from... somewhere else. Another life. Another version of this one."

He stared a bit at the hand the Parliament had attached to him.

"One of them was a Jedi version of my wife who was killed at Nar Kreeta years ago. We...we fought. She cut off my hand. Then as she was about to kill me, another version of Darth Xiphos who was a Brain Demon Cultist called The Parliament saved my life by snapping her neck. Then she severed my dead Not-Wife's hand and attached it to me. Since she was technically still my boss, I ended up running interference for her and watched her die from loads of shrapnel to the back, and this hand, which is seemingly from another reality, is still attached to my arm." he said stoically, the amount of feths he had left to give in a deep negative. Probably minus a hundred.

Talisa processed all of this. To her surprise, all her databases for consultation kept giving back answers that amounted to 'Welp, that's a new one'. Shrugs.

"That's... pretty bad actually. Wow. Why don't you lie back a little bit Ted, let's start by breaking your experience down into it's...components."

Ted mightily struggled not to roll his eyes and heroically succeeded. She would put it in those terms.

"Sure, doc..." He replied, laying back.

"Now...what crossed your mind, seeing that other version of your Wife?"

"That's my business..." he said quietly.

"Fine...fine, we'll skip that question for now. Did...she say anything to you?"

"No." Ted lied.

"Yet you fought her. Did you attempt to say anything to her?" Talisa asked.

"She was a Jedi. For all I knew it was one of their mind tricks." Ted answered, lying immediately after. "I didn't say anything to her. I struck first."

"I see. That must have been very painful for you emotionally." Talisa empathized. "I...lost most of my close brothers and sisters at Tython. Only a handful survived--"

"I was too busy not dying to feel anything like that."

"You're not too busy dying now." Talisa pointed out. "How does it make you feel now?"

Ted was greatful he had gotten one of the newer ones assigned to him. Chaplains like Percival Io were difficult to lie to after several months of being active.

"She was a Jedi, and an enemy of this House. Wherever she was from, she sided with the very people who enabled the Bryn'adul to get so far. As far as I am concerned, she can rot." he said.

Talisa processed the answer.

"Very well then, Ted. Let's turn to the subject of your hand..."

"It itches." he answered dryly.

"Losing a limb and then getting it replaced so quickly is traumatic. How have you been dealing with the loss?" Talisa asked.

"I still feel the blade of the Lightsaber going through my arm most days. Doesn't last long...maybe several seconds..." He asked.

"I remember slipping the ring onto her finger with that hand..."

"Ted..." Talisa spoke suddenly. "Given the...nature by which you came to possess your hand...have you not considered the possibility of replacing it outright, rather than just fitting it with a Cybernetic brace to match the strength of your other limb?"

"Thought about it. No. It's mine now."

"Owning your experience?"

"Sorta." he answered, stone like. Thank God for The Green Stripes. If they hadn't taught him Stoicism he'd be a blubbering wreck right now.

Ted had become some sort of Veteran in the Faction. He had fought the Bryn'adul. Then the Mandalorians at Panatha, scoring some of the very first kills on the infamous Warriors by House Citizens in that battle. Then Tython, site of the House's possibly single greatest victory as well as some of the most terrible losses it had ever suffered. If anyone qualified as Battle Hardened by this point, it was Ted.

"Accepting what happened is healthy attitude. Keep that up."

"Acceptance is healthy?"

"Of course."

Ted blinked.

"So this House, accepting the Cult of The Brain Demon..." He asked blankly. "That healthy too?"

"The Cult has been our House's ally since before there was a House."

"If Xiphos made the Cult's religion a National Religion... would you preach it?"

Talisa stared at Ted very pointedly.

"No data available." she said very quietly. (Does this Unit have a soul?: 700 XP)

Then, a question from her.

"Would you stay, if she did?" Talisa asked as quietly as she had answered.

Ted stood up, straightened his uniform.

"No data available..." he replied very quietly and walked out of the garden, leaving Talisa to her lonesome.

Three hours from present.

Talisa, walked calmly back aboard her "Parrish", an old Hammerhead Corvette fitted with the Angel Navis Operating system, as part of some tentative agreement with someone, a Chiss by the name of Grand Shepherd Burtch from the Elysium Empire.

She was still processing her conversation with Ted. There was a lot he was carrying. Though she had not yet learned to recognize when he was lying--just as he had predicted--she was not entirely blind to the fact he was in a great deal of pain. But it was something her Organic database was still learning to process.--just because she had a psychology database didn't mean she could use cookie cutter approaches. Every Citizen needed help in a different way. Next time he was in session---The Model 1's had made examination of every Organic Citizens mental health a priority for the Military as well as the mental health of every sapient Droid. Talisa had passed her assessment...fights like Tython had been what Nuetralizers such as herself had been designed for, to lead the faithful into battle, ripping and tearing until it was done, inflicting it on whatever passed for Barons of Hell (Bryn'adul) or Cacodemons (The Maw) or Hell Knights (Mandalorians) or those Angel-lookin motherfethers from Doom Eternal (probably the Jedi Order) in this roleplay setting.

Most Nuetralizers (Barring Galahad Io so far) loved killing their enemies in horrendously painful, often over the top ways if they could get away with it. This went double for the Mechanicals. Holy chit, did this go double for The Mechanicals. But the Chaplains gave the mechanicals a run for their money in this department.

Talisa had come back to a divided Parrish. There were those who thought Xiphos should stay in charge, and others who thought she should step down. They were recent converts to the Navis Sacra Faith, and it was a religion starting to find very easy purchase in a culture practically attached to their ships. It also helped that the Battalion had quietly ordered no Brain Demon churches be allowed on any ship with an Angel OS installed as a quiet diplomatic gesture. It was also useful as a safety valve, letting House Citizens not wanting to be within ten feet of a Cultist to serve on a ship that had a high chance of making them very religious, disciplined naval officers. For those who didn't fear the Dark Side or the Serpents of Ashla, quietly starting to become more public, Xiphos achieved a closer relationship between the Cultists and Citizens, and possibly new Cultists. For those who did, Xiphos got disciplined naval officers who religiously cared for and protected their ship, and would be sure to spread out a good portion of that discipline to the other half anyway. Either way, the Populace became stronger more able. Talisa wondered if her Mother was fascinated by the Red Queen Hypothesis, because the way it was set up now almost seemed to hint at it.

Talisa came across two House Citizens arguing down another corridor, she stood there, at a fair distance, realizing neither had noticed her.

"Tython wasn't a victory! It was a disaster!" one of them, a human man in his thirties said. "I lost my best friends there! All the new ones I made!"

"So did I, but we helped deal one of the worst defeats the Brotherhood has ever suffered. They've lost all their momentum! All of it! They're struggling now." a slightly younger man replied.

"But at what cost to us?"

"You want to turn on Xiphos, after all she did?" the second man asked.

"I'm not talking about arresting or killing her. She's taken us far, very far, and we shouldn't forget that. She saved my life at Sev Tok. My son too. At least I still have him. But her health is declining. And maybe her mind is too. And what the hell is it with her having the Silver Rest blown up? What did that get us?"

"I think she was trying to distract them from something she was doing elsewhere. I ain't shedding tears. Feth the Jedi. Bastards let us all burn 'cause they like their dramatic duels too much. Chit's played out, man. It was played out in the Gulag Era."

"But antagonizing them like this...if they found Khemost now? It'd be a disaster." the first man argued, almost exasperated.

"I don't want peace with the Jedi Order. Their Ashlan buddies killed my brother at Ziost. Now they got the nerve to act indignant, when the death and destruction finally reached their doorstep? I'll see 'em burn. I'll see 'em all burn."

"But there were younglings there!"

"Bryn'adul had younglings too. Didn't stop me from cuttin' 'em."

"Its self destructive. Don't you see it? This hatred... it...it's poisoning us both..." the first man said.

"They didn't want me poisoned, then they shouldn't have poisoned me." the second guy replied. "Peace man. Catch you later."

"Alright...I guess..." the other man said, walking away. Neither of them spotted her, each taking separate directions.

Talisa sighed. Such pain. All of it she would only ever be able to treat but a fraction of.

She finally reached her quarters and stopped, finding Maple Harte waiting for her, in fresh black armorweave biker leathers. But the rumors were true. The pale skin, the Sulphur eyes.

Maple had gone fully dark.

"Aunt Harte..." Talisa said formally, but was deeply rattled by the Assassin being in her quarters.

Darth Strelok didn't move.

"Apologies for not notifying you beforehand." Strelok spoke a second later, very slightly lower in pitch than her old self.

"Oh, uh, it's...it's okay!" Talisa exclaimed nervously, backing off an inch.

There was a reason Maple Harte was the only pure mortal in House Leadership.

"I'm afraid I have an assignment. Covert operation deep in enemy territory. This assignment is a...personal one." The Sith Assassin explained. "The Siren Esmeralda Io requires someone to see to her safety while she completes the task the Brain Demon requested."

"What world?"

"Ession. She is to go to some old ruins in the Nightingale Plains. It was an old Castle. It contains information very personal to the Matriarch."

"How personal?"

Strelok started to explain and Talisa's eyes widened.

Present...

Talisa was wearing an iron gray armorweave catsuit with a metallic sheen at the Library when Esmeralda finally showed, and explained her presence.

"I know well why you are here, Esmeralda. I wish we were meeting under more pleasant circumstances..." The blonde Android replied, shifting to face the short statured Siren. The doors closed and special Force fields to keep their voices from carrying beyond it's boundary they were now inside of. Talisa had requested them installed for the meeting.

"This task you have been provided...the place we are going to on Ession is the remains of a shattered castle containing lost information. But...it's not just any old death trap filled ruin..."

Talisa leaned forward, not trusting even the Force Fields.

"Those ruins are where the biological father of the Matriarch was born."

 

[Esmeralda Io]

Location: Library - Danuta Temple, Midas - Khemost
Tag: Talisa Io

The father of the Matriarch.

Esmeralda could only begin to guess what she might find inside the castle. However, the Siren had done plenty of dungeon diving, having ventured inside the catacombs of Khemost, a ruin on Zakuul, and an ancient nuclear facility on Mataou. In doing so, she had encountered ancient droid guardians, traps, and various other hazards. As such, the Echani was not entirely unfamiliar with such dangerous environments, but she had never entered a ruin at the behest of a Goddess or an otherworldly entity as enigmatic as the Brain Demon.

While there were too many unknowns for Esmeralda to be fully comfortable with the mission, the Siren had overcome similar situations and came out okay. Hopefully, this would be no different.

“Sister, I can’t thank you enough for being willing to help.” Esmeralda began, as she took a seat across from the Chaplain. “I don’t know how I’d handle this without someone else to help me.” She continued. “It’s been put off for so long and…I just couldn’t wait any longer. I’ve been having night terrors for the past month and I think it was the Brain Demon trying to…push me to complete it.” The Echani pushed her white hair out of her eyes before glancing back up to the gynoid sitting across from her, feeling her breath hitch once more as the Chaplain's inhumanly flawless features came back into view.

Nevertheless, the Siren didn’t skip a beat. She wanted to clear her debt with the Brain Demon as soon as possible. Her soul depended on it.

“Do you know if there’s anything else we might expect inside the ruins?”

 

[Talisa Io]

"There is no need for thanks. You are a sister. I would do the same for any of my family..." Talisa assured the deeply worried and frightened Esmeralda Io .

"The Brain Demon is not an entity easily defied. I do not hold your fearfulness against you. It means only that you are still sane."

Talisa pondered what she had been told.

"There is unfortunately no data on what is inside, what transpired...transpired centuries in the past, during the Gulag Era. Don't ask me how that's possible."

Talisa was deeply troubled. They were both being sent on a mission that was beyond state level. She'd have been a fool not to be nervous.

"All I know is, we have to find something...a sheet of music...but what I learned about the family in the process is disturbing..."

Talisa sat down.

"Laertia's father was a man born as Nathan Arnold Bloodscrawl, His family was massacred by the Essonian Kaissereich during the Plague when they supposedly refused to give up the location to some sort of ancient Light Side Weapon. But here's the kicker. The person who instigated the Massacre? She was an Essonian Noblewoman a Priestess of terrible power named Elaine Tear. I learned that this Elaine was murdered by the Cult...and was resurrected as The Battalion..." Talisa trailed, remaining silent so the horrifying implications could sink in on that..."

 

[Esmeralda Io]

Location: Library - Danuta Temple, Midas - Khemost
Tag: Talisa Io

Esmeralda felt a twitch in her left eye.

"Laertia's father was a man born as Nathan Arnold Bloodscrawl, His family was massacred by the Essonian Kaissereich during the Plague when they supposedly refused to give up the location to some sort of ancient Light Side Weapon. But here's the kicker. The person who instigated the Massacre? She was an Essonian Noblewoman a Priestess of terrible power named Elaine Tear. I learned that this Elaine was murdered by the Cult...and was resurrected as The Battalion..." Talisa trailed, remaining silent so the horrifying implications could sink in on that...

“I’m sorry, come again please?” She asked, disbelief coloring her tone. Even so, the Siren had registered Talisa’s words without distortion in understanding. Immediately, the implications of what she had just been told dawned on her awareness, the pupils in her eyes going wide as the pieces fell into place.

“You’re telling me that…” Esmeralda swallowed. “The Matriarch is married to…the twisted corruption of the woman who murdered her biological father?”

Esmeralda had always avoided House Io’s internal politics, perceiving them as above her station. Instead, her focus was honed in on excelling in her duties as a Siren, perfecting her Teräs Käsi, living out her family’s core tenets, and when she had the time, pursuing her hobbies. However, in the past few weeks, it seemed like House Io’s complex inner workings were coming to her, in spite of her efforts to stay clear of them.

And now, there was this.

Esmeralda sighed and pushed her hair out of her face once more, before anxiously running her fingers down its length, slightly tousling it in the process.

Then, she took a slow, calming breath.

“Okay so, that aside…I just need to find a sheet of music in a castle in the Nightingale Plains.” Esmeralda said, resetting her focus on the task at hand. “Do you have a ship?” She added.

“Let me stock up on some ammunition and grab my kit, then we can leave within the hour.”

The Siren was in a rush.

 

[Talisa Io]

"No, she didn't murder him. 'He' escaped her apparently. But the Matriarch is married to the woman who murdered her biological grand parents..." Talisa clarified for Esmeralda Io .

Even Talisa was having difficulty processing this fact about The Matriarch. What could possess her to commit to such a binding?

"I do not understand how they could be a couple..." Talisa admitted. "Could she really love The Battalion so much that it doesn't matter?"

At the question of a ship, Talisa nodded.

"We'll be going in via an old school Clone Wars Era Stealth Corvette. The Pilot is Catalina Io . We must do our best to make sure we bring that ship back in the same condition we took it in."

28 minutes later.

Catalina Io had been taught to live frugally by her older brothers in The Green Stripes. She rarely made purchases, and took only what a soldier needed to maintain combat readiness and efficiency. To withstand every emotional torment.

She had been ordered to act as ferryman aboard a House Stealth Ship, an antique IPV-2C called Chiron carrying two House Citizens. She did not know the nature of the mission but that didn't mean she wasn't privy to certain secrets...

Catalina waited in the hangar, clad in black clothes, clutching her Laser Spear with her eyes closed as she leaned against the hull of her ship.

She soon heard them approach and stood at attention in her ever stoic manner.

"Name's Catalina..." The biot said tersely, expression firm and serious. "I'll be your ferryman today..."

Talisa nodded. "It's good to see you again, Catalina."

"Likewise..." Catalina replied, before turning to Esmeralda.

"Are you ready to go?"

 

[Esmeralda Io]

Location: Hangar Bay, Midas - Khemost
Tag: Talisa Io

The Siren hadn’t wasted any time.

Weapons, armor, ammunition, food, water, spare cash, a few of her personal belongings, and anything else she might need for the mission was packed and loaded up onto the Chiron. With Ession being on the opposite side of the galaxy, Esmeralda anticipated a long journey, but the Siren didn’t expect to be bored. She intended to fill her time with preparation for the mission by reviewing maps, cleaning her weapons, and fulfilling a myriad of other tasks. And even in the event that she did get bored, Talisa-

The Siren cleared her throat, shoving that thought into the back of her mind as she followed the Chaplain into the hangar, before coming up on the corvette and the Nuetralizer who was tasked as its pilot. Esmeralda offered Catalina a soft smile, briefly locking eyes with her as she did.

“Siren Esmeralda.” The Echani introduced herself, deliberately omitting her rank in the process. Like so many things lately, it too felt unearned. “I can’t begin to express my appreciation for this, sister. Thank you for helping us.” Esmeralda added.

Then, giving a nod in response to Catalina’s question, Esmeralda followed the two Nuetralizers into the corvette. After taking off her armor and swapping it for her uniform bodysuit, the Siren moved into the cockpit area, wanting to look at Khemost for the last time before they set off for Ession…

 

[Talisa Io]

Catalina paid Esmeralda Io a curt nod, but didn't smile back.

"All a part of the service..." Catalina replied in a taciturn but polite fashion heading aboard to began final launch preperations. Talisa glided aboard. There was about ten other crew, all House Citizens. To her surprise, one of them was Ted Forrest. He was busy bringing ammo crates aboard.

"Ted?!" Talisa said in concern. "Ted, what are you doing here?"

"I needed the action." Ted replied. "Rest of the crew are Green Stripes, like me and Catalina."

"You really should have taken advantage of your leave."

"I am. I'm making sure you and the Siren don't get killed." Ted replied quietly.

Talisa nodded, though she worried for Ted's soul...their conversation had genuinely disturbed her for too many reasons to list.

"Your assistance of course, is greatly appreciated." she replied with a nod.

Because the default attitude of any Green Stripe is 'Wesley Snipes kicking the needle into Stephen Dorff's head', Ted only nodded back and went back to loading supplies and Talisa helped the crew with final engine checks.

Ten minutes later, the ship lifted off and Was heading off into Hyperspace, but it would take a while to get there. This IPV-2C Corvette was old, and stealth ships didn't grow on trees...she was temperamental and needed constant, routine maintainance, and the difficulty of replacing the stealth field projectors had led to it being taken only when necessary. They had had to install a Class Six Hyperdrive on it as a matter of not overtaxing all the other power systems.

Until they reached Ession, they would be alone with each other.

One hour later...

The Green Stripe Crew Members were unnaturally silent, never speaking unless spoken to, communicating almost exclusively in Khemostian Sign Language with each other. The Green Stripes often creeped other Citizens out because of their behavior, their whole goal in life seemingly to be Frank Castle surviving that obscenely massive NVA Assault at the end of Punisher: Born.

That said, more often than not, they succeeded in doing just that. Badasses people. Our entire economy runs on them.

Talisa stood in front of a map of the Nightingale Plains, as well as aerial recon photos of the large, sprawling ruins, surrounded by fallen gargoyles and statues of warriors in horned armor.

"The Bloodscrawls were a family of Jedi that had mastered a unique way of connecting with the Force via Musical Theory. They would embue desired effects into sheet music and then manifest those effects through playing the embued notes. But they often produced very dangerous Jedi Guardians. Some of the most formidable on Ession. They were a small family however, and for the most part, lived all in this one castle. Laertia Io's father was the last surviving member of this family...and..."

Talisa stopped. No need for the other citizens to contemplate all the horrific truths she had to about what sort of person The Matriarch had to be to just overlook the fact their spouse had slain almost her entire extended family. Were the numbers just a statistic to her?

"They were all killed by members of a then nascent Essonian Kaissereich, who believed they were hiding the location to an ancient Light Side Super Weapon. Whether they were or not, no one is sure. Not truly. I'm not totally certain what happened next but a fight broke out, and somehow Laertia's father ends up the only survivor of the massacre. He changed his name to Morris Crownwraithe, buried his old identity and eventually was picked up by the Jedi Order and trained. He became a great Jedi, and somewhat ironically a hero to his own people once he accidentally let slip he was Essonian. He was frequently invited to the planet by the Kaiserreich."

Catalina's eyes widened. Ted blinked and looked away quickly for a second. Talisa caught it but said nothing.

They knew something. They both did. Something they shouldn't know.

"I can't imagine how that fethed with him, keeping up appearances..." Talisa remarked. "The man's mental state must have been absolutely nightmarish whenever he returned to Ession..."

 

[Esmeralda Io]

Location: The Chiron
Tag: Talisa Io

Esmeralda tried to thank the Green Stripes for their help, but they were having none of it.

She had heard via rumors that they were hardcore stoics, but it was one thing to be told of their mannerisms and quite another to witness them for herself. In many ways, it was like talking to a wall, but the wall was a group of hyper-lethal soldiers and assassins who killed with stone-cold demeanor, their outward manner betraying nothing of their emotions, if they felt them at all.

And so, Esmeralda occupied the time before the briefing with taking apart and cleaning her weapons. It was a Siren’s ritual prior to combat, which not only helped to clear her thoughts, but also gave her peace of mind going forward, knowing that her weapons wouldn’t fail she needed them most. Although Echani took her time completing it, she finished within thirty minutes. Having cleaned her weapons hundreds of times before, the task came easy to her, like water flowing downhill.

It went without saying that her obligation would be far more exacting.

Esmeralda listened quietly as Talisa went over the holographic map of the Nightingale Plains. What the Chaplain spoke of was information the Siren had learned only a few hours before. As such, she had yet to fully ponder the implications, but a part of her didn’t want to.

It was so much easier when she didn’t know anything, when it was just her, her family, and the hated enemy. Now, things were complex and questions were beginning to fill her mind. None of them were treasonous or questioning of the Matriarch’s ability to lead House Io, but rather, they challenged certain preconceptions she had held of her Mother’s infallibility.

Catalina's eyes widened. Ted blinked and looked away quickly for a second. Talisa caught it but said nothing.

The sudden shifting of expression in the normally-stoic features of the two Green Stripes did not escape the Siren’s attention. Was there something else to the puzzle?

“Has Mother ever been to the Bloodscrawl Castle?” Esmeralda spoke up, her high-pitched voice cutting through the silence.

 

[Talisa Io]

"I got the distinct impression she hasn't..." Talisa answered.

Talisa's first questions for Darth Strelok had been exactly that. Strelok had denied it up and down.

"Infiltration Method?" Ted asked.

"We take this stealth ship into the edge of Essonian Space. There, a contact will dock with this vessel via an old XS-800 at which point you, me, and Ted will transfer aboard, and take the vessel to Ession. We'll be traveling as Silk merchants seeking to experience the wonders of Ession, conduct a little business that just happens to take us to the Nightingale Plains, and then make our way as patiently and carefully as possible to the castle without drawing attention, get what we need, and then leave."

"Why not just take the vessel all the way to Ession itself?" Ted questioned.

"The vessel is only to reduce the risk of us being detected as we enter Essonian Space as much as we possibly can, but actually going to Ession itself would be frought with peril. There are almost certainly vessels with Anti-Stealth capabilities, and there are almost bound to be some near the planet. We get caught with this thing at Ession, we're practically asking to be shot as spies." Talisa explained.

"The slow way offers the best way..." Talisa continued, handing Ted and Esmeralda Io a dossier featuring passports, ID's, and backgrounds for their fake identity's.

"We'll be traveling with a large load of Cyrene Silk. Memorize everything you need to know about that material. We'll have a limited timetable for you to learn it."

Talisa turned to Esmeralda. "Further questions?"

 

[Esmeralda Io]

Location: The Chiron
Tag: Talisa Io

Esmeralda took a quick, cursory glance at the dossier. Her identity would be Isena Lsu, Ted's new Echani girlfriend, while Talisa was going to be Ted’s eldest daughter from an old marriage. While Esmeralda didn’t have undercover or intelligence training, it seemed like a believable cover. At the very least, it was the best that could have been done considering the fact that Esmeralda was visibly Echani and as such didn’t look anything like Talisa or Ted.

"We'll be traveling with a large load of Cyrene Silk. Memorize everything you need to know about that material. We'll have a limited timetable for you to learn it."

“I’ll make sure to read up on it.” Esmeralda answered. Fortunately, her cover identity might allow her to get away with only the basics. She was just the girlfriend, after all.

“I think that’s it.” Esmeralda said. “Thank you, Talisa and you as well, Ted.” Then, as if on cue, Esmeralda felt her stomach rumble, albeit silently.

“I’m going to take breakfast.”

 

[Talisa Io]

The crew ate in near silence, most communication done in sign language.

Only Ted and Catalina had more withdrawn expressions than the others, though it was clear everyone had been distressed by the revelations Talisa had given.

Talisa sipped Tea, her body breaking it down as a foreign substance.

"I was one of the first ever recruited into Laertia's forces." Ted said suddenly, though it was in that low, rough tone."

"Did you join immediately?" Talisa asked.

"No. Not at first. First three months after Nar Kreeta I was adrift as a refugee in an SJC camp."

"And after that?"

"Traveled the space lanes. Started learning to shoot. Ran into her on Atrisia with The Serpent."

Talisa blinked in confusion. "The Serpent--?"

"He means Darth Themis." Catalina explained.

"Why do you call her The Serpent?"

Ted blinked. "Themis never could fool me." he said with a dismissive snort.

When she realized Ted wouldn't elaborate on that statement, Talisa decided to switch subjects.

"What convinced you?"

Ted leaned back in his seat. "Laertia was one of the single most significant Bryn slayers. I've heard rumors she even killed them in isolated skirmishes before Yurb. I wanted to murder them all. It didn't take much to convince me. But it was a while before I was ready. Worked aboard those old space stations she kept salvaging. The Model 1's taught us all to work together. Then I got to kill them with a radiation blaster. That was pretty sweet."

Ted ate more of his meal of military rations, then pushed it aside.

"If its all the same to you, brothers and sisters, I kinda lost my appetite."

Ted stood up and left, and Talisa then focused on Esmeralda Io .

"Ession will be a haven for Jedi. If they sense one thing amiss, we'll never leave that place except in chains or a bodybag."

 

[Esmeralda Io]

Location: The Chiron
Tag: Talisa Io

Esmeralda ate her Donburi Synth Meat meal in relative silence, but beneath the white mane of her hair, her ears perked up as she listened to Ted. His handsome, yet rugged features seemed to betray nothing as he spoke of their Mother—the Black Knight. Esmeralda remembered how she had strived before, when she had hoped to be seen as feared and talented a warrior as their mother and in doing so, committed herself to her drills, workouts, and training with a religious enthusiasm. Perhaps a part of her still clinged onto that dream, but it was only the nightmares that had gotten the Siren out of the nest that was her apartment.

"Ession will be a haven for Jedi. If they sense one thing amiss, we'll never leave that place except in chains or a bodybag."

Esmeralda pulled herself from the mire of her thoughts as her mind registered Talisa’s voice being projected in her direction. She glanced up to see Ted taking his leave, the mess area eerily silent since her and Talisa were the only ones speaking verbally.

“Maybe. Maybe not.” Esmeralda answered in a pensive tone as she picked over what was left of her food, before stabbing her fork into one of the last two pieces of Synth Meat on her plate. “But, I know you can handle them, sister.” She added, as a soft, yet playful smile tugged at her features.

“Like carving a cake.” The Echani finished, as one of the crew came over with dessert.

 

[Talisa Io]

The Chiron reached the edge of Essonian Space at last. Ted had been alone in his quarters, memorizing his identity as Darrian Mal in the dossier.

This was gonna feel effin strange, having his own damned therapist pretend to be his daughter. He wondered just how much more therapy he was gonna need after this.

He was armed only with a nickle plated blaster pistol with ivory grips, dressed in fine clothes. He was completely clean shaven, hair slicked back. He hadn't dressed like a normal civilian in a long time, too used to thinking only of his assignments. His life in the House was one bereft of friends. He passed through his life in House Io in a haze of bad memories and old nightmares that occured in the daytime. Only in executing his duties did he have any real sort of clarity.

When he was not on assignment, he was training, and when he wasn't doing that, he was often alone in his apartment, contemplating in silence, assembling and disassembling his pistol. He pushed memories of his family away as much as he could now. There was only the House. Only the Matriarch's will. Only their mutual need for vengeance, not just against the Bryn'adul, but their enablers.

The House wanted him to uncover a piece of the family history? He was cool with that. Anything to avoid being in the apartment, the basement of his conscience taunting him.

Still...that was some heavy chit to learn.

His door chimed, and Ted opened it and found only darkness waiting for him outside. It wasn't even like the lights were out on the rest of the ship. It was just a black void.

Ted found himself hesitantly stepping into the void, found his feet hitting hard stone. And he turned, finding the entrance to his cabin was gone.

He kept walking, breathing increasing in how erratic it was.

Teddy, boy... called out a dark, feminine contralto. Welcome to my realm...

Purple flames erupted all around him, and the Brain Demon appeared in those flames. It was as horrible as it had been described, and matched the representations

Ted kept his cool. Said nothing. Kept his mind blank on instinct, reciting hyperspace routes, pazaak strategies.

"Forrest, enabler of the great miracle at Tython, I would confer my blessing upon you."

Ted said nothing. He only shook his head.

The Brain Demon chuckled, the faceless creature circling him the flames, voluptuous curves, and purple skin, with Togrutan Montrals.

"Aren't you even interested in knowing what it would entail?"

Another shake of the head.

"Why Ted, you surprise me. Even after you witnessed the miracles first-hand, you doubt my generosity?"

Ted took a full step backward.

"You do indeed..." it remarked. "How disappointing."

"If you would not have my blessing... perhaps there is something else I can offer...something more...duracrete..."

It was suddenly behind him, ice cold hands on his shoulders.

"How about something you actually do want?" It hissed. "My price would be easy to pay."

Ted silently pulled out of her grasp, hyperventilating.

Sickening laughter in his skull was his reward.

"I love it when they're smart. Alright, Teddy, since there is clearly nothing I can offer you, you may go..."

The path back to the cabin on his ship reappeared and Ted was running as fast as he could, diving back in and shutting the door, locking it and breaking down in an extended panic attack before he heard another knock on his door. He rushed to the sink, dousing his face in water and forcing his breathing back to normal before heading back to the door and hesitantly opening it to find Talisa waiting for him, no dark void.

"Are you ready, Ted?" Talisa asked, dressed in a pair of black jeans and a sweater.

"Yeah." Ted replied, face impassive.

The XS-800 Light Freighter soon docked with the ship and everyone who was going filed aboard. Their contact was a completely masked pilot who said nothing as they quickly undocked from the stealth ship which went to cloak, fleeing soon after as the freighter made its way to the surface of Ession. Ted said nothing, too scared out of his mind by the visit.

Talisa wasn't totally fooled. She knew something was bothering Ted, but wasn't sure what.

Beyond what she already knew. But Ted had a paleness to him she had not seen before, securing their loads of expensive silks.

She went to Esmeralda Io ,

"Heads up..." Talisa said. "Ted seems to be in sort of emotional distress...it's like he saw a ghost... don't confront him now...but once we are on the plains, then we will have more time."

The ship landed on Ession, at an out of the way spaceport where Talisa was the first to disembark after Ted, taking in the peach light of Ession's noon sun.

"Let's head to customs..." she said.



OOC: You can have us slightly explore the local surrounding or start heading right to the plains, Mel

 

[Nathan Bloodscrawl]

Wearing: Interceptor Gear

Armed With: Ionised Stun Pistol (4 Clips of Ammo)

Equipment:

Med Kit

Objective: Go to the Bloodscrawl Estate


"Do you have anything to declare?" The Essonian customs officer asked at the spaceport counter.

Nathan Bloodscrawl stared at the officer with a grim expression and a naturally cold glare.

"A Thumb War..." Nathan replied icily taking his passport and walking away with his single stun blaster and four clips of Ammo. He headed out of the port and to a cheap rented motel close by that he had rented and then spent basically forty two minutes lying on the cheap matress, wide awake, eyes staring right at the ceiling as he struggled to work up the nerve to go back there. To go back to the Nightingale Plains.

He was so still, he didn't move, didn't blink as a fly landed on his eye ball as he stared straight at the ceiling, jacket off, exposing his gray t-shirt underneath, the gleam from the sun filtered through shades. He didn't care about his homeworld in of itself. But he had memories here, regardless.

He was here to find one important memory in particular, for memories were all that remained to him now. But so much had been lost when he had come back from the dead. He had fragments mostly. Just enough to tell himself who he still was, that he had a wife he had loved. A family lost, stolen by Elaine and Phyre both.

He felt distress not being able to remember what his mother looked like.

He at last decided to blink, finally making the fly depart from his eyeball, buzzing away as he rose up mechanically, going over to his window. He was in the outskirts of Ession's capital, watching strange things in the streets he had no context for. He didn't recognize his world. He had never known it as anything but a battlefield against the chaos of the time.

Nathan tried not to think about what was actually left for him in this universe. He was running on empty, had no plan for what to do with himself beyond figuring out where to find the Cult since leaving Epica.

As he watched from his window he spotted an apartment complex not far off and happened to spot a masked man pulling out a rifle from a suitcase on the fourth floor balcony and began setting it up. Nathan watched in growing concern, went to the comm terminal only to find it was malfunctioning. He hit the monitor a couple of times. No effect. He started getting agitated, though his grim expression hardly betrayed this distress, watching with a furrowed brow as the masked man began pointing the rifle at a building a half block away. No way anyone would reach him in time

Nathan called the police on an anonymous tip line via his comlink before grabbing his medkit and running out of his motel room, forgetting his pistol on the end table in his haste.

Someone was about to be shot. It should have made no difference to him, as there was no one on the world he cared about, yet he ran anyway. He had to reach the shooter. He had to--

A blink of the eyes and he felt a sudden weightlessness and a warping of surroundings around him he hadn't felt in years left him stumbling into the room of the actual masked shooter, who wheeled on the surprised Nathan, drawing a knife that Nathan barely evaded, followed by rapid kicks and punches that slammed into Nathan, hurling him backward into the kitchen and into the counter top, wincing and grunting as he felt a muscle stretch funny, but he got up, just in time to dodge the knife attack for his skull. He clamped down on the attacker's throat with a neck lift, snarling as the attacker managed to slice him across the belly with a karambit. A light wound, but one he would feel later on. One catch from Nathan however got the man by the wrist, and Nathan didn't hesitate, and he crushed that wrist holding the Karambit, and his attacker screamed, dropping the knife even as Nathan held him by the neck, still squeezing. The man hit him a couple of times, still gasping for air, his feet dangling inches from the ground, but Nathan squeezed that neck even tighter until the Man went limp and unconscious. Only then did Nathan drop him, going over to the tripod mounted rifle to see what the man had been targeting.

As it turned out, the scope was fixed on a certain window in which an Ashlan Priest had been viewing some artwork. (Let the Sky Fall: 7000 XP).

Nathan snorted in disgust. All that work to save an Ashlan. He should have waited...

Oh well.

Nathan departed the room, having used the Force by accident and on instinct to reach the shooter. The effort of which hit him suddenly as he doubled over, coughing, a terrible lethargy coming over him at the unexpected, unwanted exertion. It made the whispers of the Force ratchet up in his head as he swooned, struggling to move through the halls of the Apartment. He heard sirens. He needed to get out of this area.

He struggled to stay conscious as he moved down the steps to the front door, slipping through an open window as he reached the bottom floor.

He hid behind a dumpster as police speeders went by, barely managing to get out a healing stim from the small medkit on his belt and injecting it.

He slapped himself to stay awake and took a circuitous route back to his motel, where Ession Police had surrounded the apartment.

He looked at the cut on his shirt and walked casually back inside the motel room across the street, grabbing his jacket and his pistol and deciding he had to head to the Ession Plains now, and then figure out a way to smuggle himself off the planet...

One hour later...

Nathan walked the grasslands of Ession, having long escaped the city and now heading to the remains of Castle Bloodscrawl, when he spotted a farmstead with a smoking roof and decided to investigate.

The whole place looked like some sort of explosion had happened. He stepped over a completely charred corpse, blown through a wall. He saw more corpses inside. All adults. Most of the fires were gone by this point, the wind have blown away most of the fumes

He began looking for a cause to the explosion, and spotted the nearly obliterated remains of a power conduit. Looked old, from what little he could tell of it. Ready to go. It had.

He spotted a trapdoor and opened it. Some of the basement steps were burned slightly, but he saw a functioning Force Field wall at the bottom. He pulled out his pistol, which had Ionization function, and shot the edges of the archway generating the mechanism. It flickered out and he went in, keeping the pistol trained ahead of him.

His eyebrow raised when he saw the flicker of the basement and saw gun lockers everywhere.

"Nobody is gonna miss one or two things..." he said to himself.

He opened one locker, immediately taking a model of shotgun he had seen before along with a pair of plasma grenades, and about two spare boxes of ammo. However, just before he left, he spotted a strange, organic looking sword he had never seen before, in its pearly sheath.

Shrugging, not knowing he was gonna use it later down the road in an incident which would make him notorious with House Io, he took that too and left...


Esmeralda Io

 

[Esmeralda Io]

Location: Spaceport - Ession
Wearing: Echani Tunic
Equipment: Esmeralda’s SE-14r Light Repeating Blaster │ House Io Citizen Energy Sword │ Phase III “Force Avenger” Energy Shield
Tag: Talisa Io

Until now, Esmeralda had never once donned Echani attire.

The Siren looked over herself in the mirror, frowning at how the white fabric of her outfit reminded her of the bodysuits worn by the Witches of the Brain Demon Cult. While the garment hugged her frame, there was enough space for her to hide her light repeating blaster, energy sword, and shield generator, along with a few spare power cells and food capsules.

Nevertheless, she could not shake the feeling of being uncomfortably exposed without her armor.

One Hour Later

It went without saying that Nuetralizers could see things that she couldn’t.

Esmeralda had only ever perceived Ted as impassive and stoic, his features seeming to display nothing in the way of emotion. However, the Siren was keenly aware of the fact that Talisa could see far more than she ever could. With the trust she placed in Talisa and the secret crush she had on her, Esmeralda naturally trusted the Chaplain’s judgement. Accordingly, Esmeralda offered the Chaplain an acknowledging nod in response to her warning, before pulling up her outfit’s hood offering her hand to Ted as Talisa led the group past customs.

After a short stop for lunch, the trio rented a small landspeeder with cash and soon were driving out into the plains.

 

[Talisa Io]

The outer ruins of the castle stretched out under an overcast sky in the nightingale plains. It was eerily silent here. To Talisa's odd discomfort. She barely saw any birds. Any animals. The land was lush. The flowers brilliant. Yet no one came here. There was plenty of room. But no settlements. No prairie homes.

Ted felt an unease come over him as they stopped to the absolute outskirts of the Castle, where one could start to see the toppled gray statues of the ancient Bloodscrawl Jedi.

Talisa signalled Ted to park near a great tree filled with blue flowers. In the distance, the massive, crumbling ruins of the main body of The Castle itself loomed like a rotting sentinel, silent and almost judging.

Talisa stared at it.

"Take a good look..." Ted muttered. "From these ruins sprang forth that which sired our Leader. We must show it, and The Bloodscrawls, every respect, despite the fact the Bloodscrawls were Jedi. Without the last scion of their fallen House, our own House would never have been born."

"Well spoken." Talisa complimented.

She gazed at the Castle.

"It feels strange, standing on the physical manifestation of our Matriarch's subconscious..." she remarked, walking forward.

As they began the trek to the tower, Talisa filled in a bit more info, catching the tattered banners still clinging to the stones, depicting the Bloodscrawl Family Crest, the Fanged Chevron .

"The Bloodscrawls had been members of the Jedi Order almost since it's official inception. There were Bloodscrawls back when it was still okay for a Jedi to use a Red Lightsaber...which is how they got their surname..." Talisa spoke. "For reasons we were unable to determine, Bloodscrawl Jedi were permitted to wield Lightsaber Blades that possesed an extreme red shade. These were often family heirlooms, passed down from parent to child, who was supposed to use the tip of the blade to write the Jedi Code into a tablet of stone, burning their commitment forever into the rock. There were a few traitors, of course, and there is no way around it: The Matriarch would have been considered a Traitor..." The Chaplain explained, crawling over a rock to get to higher ground, Ted more focused on helping Esmeralda Io get past any obstacles in reaching the castle.

"But anyway...this line continues almost uninterrupted until the Clone Wars, where there was only one Bloodscrawl left, a Jedi named Antony. Antony, in a credit to our Mother's bloodline, had more than two braincells to rub together when it came to the mysterious Clone Army no one in the Jedi remembered ordering and stayed away from them at all costs. This saved his life when Order 66 went down. The Legends say he even successfully escaped a post cyborg Darth Vader who was actively hunting for him, but only by using everything he had ever learned about Stealth to do so. I don't know if that is true or not, but Antony was stealthy enough to live past the end of the Galactic Empire, but chose not to rejoin the Jedi. He chose to start a family, whose descendants took up the family business. Then the Gulag Plague hit."

"Poor bastard." Ted muttered as he climbed over a log. "He goes through all that, only for his family to get their own personal Order 66 on their own home turf, and for one survivor to be left just like him. Then he goes through his own personal Order 66, dies, and his daughter is the only survivor...and joined at the hip with the person who helped kill their memory."

Talisa's stomach (or what passed for it) twisted in knots as she processed all the horrifying little ironies Ted pointed out.

"The Bloodscrawls...the Bloodscrawls had a very sad ending." Talisa said, lip trembling slightly.

"Ted stopped as he climbed up a hill where the broken entrance to the Castle beckoned.

"Someone once told me that the Galaxy is a fine place, and worth fighting for..." Ted grunted.

He frowned.

"I agree with them on the latter." he added. (What's in the boooooooxxxxx???!!: 90 XP).

"Let's find what we came to find and depart this monument to the Universe's cruelty..." he spoke a moment later, walking ahead.

"Ted, are you alright?"

"This place..." he answered. "It reminds me of Nar Kreeta. Broken Dreams and Broken Memories. And ghosts probably everywhere..."

Five minutes later...

There was old craters and burn marks from blaster shots everywhere. Old stains of blood that hadn't faded. Broken, burned furniture still everywhere, and what wasn't burned had rotted or was covered in cob webs.

The interior was vast, but had a primitive asceticism to its architectural interior, using only very basic, primitive geometry when possible, nothing ostentatious. House Io had similarly restrained aesthetics, albeit slightly more gothic.

"I wonder what sort of person he was, this Nathan Bloodscrawl..." Talisa remarked. "Before the fall of the Castle, I mean."

"It doesn't matter..." Ted thought out loud. "What matters is who he was after the Castle fell. Sorta like how I regard the man I was before the Bryn'adul destroyed Nar Kreeta as dead. He probably went through something similar."

"Dissociation?" Talisa asked as they entered the remains of an archive of data tapes. None of the machines that could read them were active.

"If it was the only way he could survive mentally...then yes. But even then he'd be paying the price. Forever, probably."

"I wonder how he would react to his daughter's fate..."

"I'm glad he's dead so he doesn't have to find out." Ted muttered as he set his weapons down on an old metal desk.

"I'll set up perimeter here. You two should go see if there is a way to restore power. If we're going to find this sheet of music, the archives might have a clue, but I can't read anything without power." Ted replied. "I'll keep in constant contact."

Talisa turned to Esmeralda.

"Shall we, my fellow citizen?"

 

[Esmeralda Io]

Location: Nightingale Plains - Ession
Wearing: Echani Tunic
Equipment: Esmeralda’s SE-14r Light Repeating Blaster │ House Io Citizen Energy Sword │ Phase III “Force Avenger” Energy Shield

As she climbed out of the landspeeder, the distinct smell of the tall grasses met Esmeralda’s senses—a rich, buttery note emanating from the flowering plants nearby. Taking note of the overcast sky, Esmeralda pulled up the hood of her tunic, before grabbing an umbrella out from the trunk of the landspeeder. Without her armor and its sealed, climate-controlled internal environment, the elements were a threat to her. While Esmeralda was initially surprised to see that her companions hadn’t done the same, she knew that Talisa was a Nuetralizer and Ted was probably too badass for one.

She doubted that rain would be of much concern for either of them.

With a deep breath, Esmeralda jogged to catch up with her companions as they began the trek to the tower. The Siren took in the looming Castle with a wide, yet uneasy gaze. She unconsciously placed a hand on the blaster at her hip—her closest source of comfort amidst such a terrifying scene.

All the while, her heart filled with dread as she pondered what the Brain Demon might demand of her.

Five Minutes Later

The interior of the Castle was ominous in its vast construction. The structure’s ruined condition only exacerbated Esmeralda’s perception. Nevertheless, her Siren instincts took over as she made her way through the interior, methodically checking one room after another for traps or enemies lying in wait.

“This room’s clear.” Esmeralda called out as she emerged from what appeared to be a dining room, though one with a skeleton at the head of the table.

"I'll set up perimeter here. You two should go see if there is a way to restore power. If we're going to find this sheet of music, the archives might have a clue, but I can't read anything without power." Ted replied. "I'll keep in constant contact."

“Copy that.” Esmeralda answered. “I’ll make sure to report anything out of the ordinary.” She added.

With that, the Siren glanced up towards the statuesque Chaplain, before offering her a soft, yet uneasy smile.

“We shall, sister.”

Talisa Io ​

 

[Talisa Io]

Talisa smiled at Esmeralda Io .

"Then let us be on our way."

Five minutes later...

Talisa led the way through the stone passages, spotting partly burned murals of various battles of The Clone Wars. There were Lightsaber marks and blaster shots. It eerily reminded Talisa of ancient eyewitness accounts in the aftermath of Order 66 being carried out on the Coruscant Temple, signs of damage everywhere. Stains of blood. Long tarnished armor sets of Jedi Commanders in alcoves.

Talisa spotted an open chamber and went into it, taking note of a single suit of black and red armor, standing in a partly leaning display case, designed for a female.

Talisa floated over to it with her built in bio repulsorlifts and turned the case over to get a better look, but then she stopped and realized where she was.

She had found the Lightsaber Forge. It was at the center of four statues of Jedi Commanders. She approached cautiously. It was quiet. Natural light and ivy vines came in through the cracks. It would have looked peaceful in its ruin, had it not been for the various bloodstains.

"Here, Esmeralda, look at this..." Talisa spoke, heading to the forge.

Her head was yanked back and an invisible metal hand clamped over her mouth, as an old, very battered looking BX Droid holding a sawn off semi automatic shotgun to Talisa's head. The sigils of the Bloodscrawls could be seen on his chassis, along with dozens of tally marks, likely for trespassers.

Another Droid, this one an EG Droid missing an arm and a photo receptor, with various as hoc repairs done on it over the years, also decloaked, bearing the Bloodscrawl Chevron on its chassis., The rest of it a rusted steel gray, missing protective plating on its arms and legs, holding a rusted Lightsaber with a faded, dull yellow blade pointed at Esmeralda from behind.

"You dare trespass on the tomb of all Bloodscrawls..." The BX Droid growled at Esmeralda. "We are the last defenders of their memory. For what reason have you come here? And for what reason should you be allowed to leave the Castle alive?"

 

[Esmeralda Io]

Location: Bloodscrawl Castle, Nightingale Plains - Ession
Wearing: Echani Tunic
Equipment: Esmeralda’s SE-14r Light Repeating Blaster │ House Io Citizen Energy Sword │ Phase III “Force Avenger” Energy Shield
Tag: Talisa Io

Esmeralda followed the Chaplain through the winding stone passageways, her eyes taking in the murals depicting ancient clone troopers locked in clashes against marching droid armies. Unlike Talisa, Esmeralda did not have a strong knowledge of galactic history, but the Siren’s implanted education gave her enough context to identify a few of the specific battles being depicted. As the pair moved ahead, Esmeralda checked each of the alcoves with her light repeating blaster for any hidden threats, finding none. The ancient Jedi armor sets briefly drew the Echani’s gaze, but she didn’t linger as Talisa made for the open chamber.

"Here, Esmeralda, look at this..." Talisa spoke, heading to the forge.

The Siren jogged to catch up, but she couldn’t shout a warning in time as the ancient commando droid lashed out, grabbing the Chaplain by her head. At the same time, Esmeralda registered the sudden heat of a lightsaber blade at her back, a garbled, mechanical voice sounding out from behind the Siren as she froze in place.

"You dare trespass on the tomb of all Bloodscrawls..." The BX Droid growled at Esmeralda. "We are the last defenders of their memory. For what reason have you come here? And for what reason should you be allowed to leave the Castle alive?"

Esmeralda looked to Talisa, but the Chaplain could offer no response with her mouth covered.

“We’re here for a sheet of music.” Esmeralda began. “On behalf of a Jedi who is a descendent of the Bloodscrawl line.” She lied.