Faction RNR: Negotiations Got Aggressive

[Elias Edo]

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Tags: Efret Farr
Objective 2: Establish a Beachhead
Location: NABOO

The largest of the portals, which the locals were calling ‘rifts,’ had erupted right in the heart of Theed. Elias expected hordes of Netherworld monsters to be pouring out like the reports from 30 years ago read, but instead he saw teams of Shirayan Jedi stepping through to the other side. He found the closest of their number, a young man clad in fine red and brownish-black armor.

“What’s the plan?” Elias demanded. The Shirayan Knight was hesitant at first to divulge, but Elias was quick to flash the lightsaber hilt handing from his belt. The Knight quickly nodded his understanding. “The Sal-Soren’s and the Riftwalker have already entered the Netherworld,” he said. “There’s an… Archdemon, on the other side. The Riftwalker believes we must fell it for the rift to close.”

Elias nodded, signing as much to Efret. <“We go through. We help. Kill #demons, make distraction. Help close portal.”> He was ready, and when she gave him the go ahead, he ran past the Knight toward the nearest rift.

It was like a stab wound through the air itself, though three-dimensional, defying his perception of physical space. The rift was like a floating window through which he could see the violent, raging plane from any angle. Elias swallowed hard, gave Efret a nervous smile, then turned to step through.

The transition was so different than what he expected. Jedi records had construed this dark dimension to be a hellscape of fire and torment full of the souls of long-dead Sith Lords and the angry spirits of their followers; this place was nearly the opposite. Stepping through the rift was more like diving into an icy ocean, floating beneath the surface, and then stepping back out again. It was cold, bitter, and craggy; no fire, no Sith ghouls, only a vast purple sky above craggy, misshapen earth.

It was entirely possible that the Netherworld was different further in, or that it was even separated into smaller pocket planes, but there was no time for studying.

In the distance, a horrifying roar drew Elias’ attention. <“That way,”> he signed to Efret. Nonverbal communication was going to be paramount here, especially if her assistive devices were rendered obsolete by the Netherworld’s energies. The monstrous rage was coming from what looked like a strange, hollow reflection of Theed.

Bright blue crystalline water glowed in the river channel where Elias and Efret were standing not an hour earlier. Some buildings were recognizable while others were crude attempts by the Nether to duplicate their world. If the mirrored city held any significance, Elias suspected the Archdemon was somewhere near the palace. <“Find demons in #Theed. Fight them. Keep busy.”>

 

[Rook Merriex]

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Location: Theed, Naboo
Objective 2: Form a Beachhead
Tags: Brandyn Sal-Soren | Briana Sal-Soren | Lily Decoria

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The Archdemon’s collapse sent a wave of relief over the young woman, but Rook knew their victory would be short lived if they did not escape quickly. “The rift is unstable,” she huffed as she jogged over to regroup with Sal-Soren’s and Lily Decoria . “With the Archdemon dead, it’s only a matter of time before this plane collapses. We don’t want to be here when it does…”

Rook wished she had a more concrete explanation of what would happen if the portal closed with them on the Netherworld side of a dying plane, but she’d thus far avoided such a predicament. From a distance -and a good distance at that- it looked like islands of rock and earth crumbling apart as it descends into an endless ocean of oily purple.

“Catch your breath and gather your forces soon. We don’t have long.” Rook hated speaking with authority and hoped that doing so wouldn’t piss off Brandyn Sal-Soren or Briana Sal-Soren too terribly. This was their show, and even before she’d been pulled here all those years ago, Rook wasn’t a high ranking noble; certainly not high enough to command a Sal-Soren.

She hoped her experience would suffice when it came to informing their decisions. One learns a great many secrets when trapped on the other side.

 

[Kahne Porte]

Theed
Palace Front
Eliminate the Strays

Mother Askani Dagos Terrek Ruus Kote Lysander von Ascania Kalantha

The roar the beast emitted was utterly horrible. Enough to shake even the most stoic of spirits on the battlefield. The fire came to stop as the force around the creature gave way and it stumbled a few moments. The Jedi Master reached for his hilt and the blue blade came to life as he would move forward and strike the beast down if it was necessary.

Another step or too and it let out another roar before it fell forward, the creature was dead.


The Jedi Master's blade retreated back into the hilt as the Jedi looked around, the battle was seemingly over in this part. "Gather our wounded, get them medical attention immediately." The Jedi Master continued, their job wasn't done, not yet.

It wouldn't be for a long time.

"I'm not gong to make it am I?" The Jedi Master knelt before a man, whos wound were indeed grievous. He wasn't going too, however he wasn't about to inform him of that. His stoic presence giving no indication of that, he just provided comfort to the man. "I'm scared...."

Kahne placed a hand on his forehead, while the other reached for his hand giving it a small squeeze. "Don't be, it will pass." Whatever lasting comfort the Jedi sought to give him seemed to help, just briefly. The man took exhausted breath before he finally gave to his wounds.

The Jedi Master let out a deep sigh, hand moving to close the eyes of the civilian.

He stood up taking another look at the wreckage around them.

His way forward, was ever clear long before this battle. The Jedi Master would fight as hard as he could, for as long as he could.

The force would take care of the rest.

 

[Efret Farr]

OBJECTIVE: Establish a Beachhead

The most profound horror was silent.

Efret had come to know that after being cursed by Malva'ikh Dralidok in the Holy City. In her dreams and waking moments when she had his dagger's Darkest visions, their memories came in waves of silence. Her Deafness was only sometimes an immunization against the fear, for sometimes silence leeched it away until the only emotion a scene could invoke was dull discomfort or disgust, but other times silence compounded on anxiety or terror, inflating either emotion until no others could coexist with it.

As she and Elias quickly approached the disturbance, she could feel the ward that Nazar had put over her beginning to slip for the first time. Was how Nirrah felt when it came time to molt again—to have something slip from your pores at once, to make itself free and ready to cast off? But instead of such an uncomfortable sensation being necessary for survival, as it was annually for the convorees, it was the opposite for Efret. She desperately wanted this feather to stay and shield her body against the influence of the Darkness that had been chasing her for months.

If the ward fell away, the visions would find her again.

She reminded herself on the apotropaic name she had been gifted during the ceremony in Deep Well. It offered her enough comfort to see her to the rift. When it came time to step though it, uncertainty drove her to grab hold of Elias' forearm just below his elbow moments before he passed into the Netherworld, hoping to anchor them together in case its strange energies would otherwise warp them apart. Once she had stepped through behind him, though, she let go. She gave a forceful nod before rushing off down a facsimiled street, hoping that he would follow her now.

They made it down two long, paved avenues with no trouble, at least not externally.

Efret, for her part, was beginning to hallucinate. She swore she saw a tall shadow moving between the buildings in Nirrah's peripheries. The memory of feeling stalked as she and Astri had been in the Coruscant Temple tightened its grip on her with each passing moment. They had done nothing more but run and hide from him then, both decisions that had almost gotten both Jedi killed, and yet it had been the only reasonable choice. But the circumstances of today were different. Efret had a fellow master with her rather than a padawan.

Don't run, she thought to herself in Sign Language. Look. Now.

She suddenly ground to a stop and turned around.

The movement of Elias startled her, causing her to stumble backwards. She caught herself with a mix of footwork and the Force. Once she had steadied herself, she scanned the environment but all she saw was crumbling cream stucco of apartments and the withered flowerbeds kept in front of them.

<Sorry.> Her interpretation unit did not shine a light or make a sound. As Elias had suspected might occur, the technology was rendered useless in this realm. Fortunately, they could still communicate. <Think I saw someone, past.>

Nirrah rustled her feathers. She turned her head a full half circle to regard a figure that had shambled around the street corner between fifty and a hundred meters behind Efret.

It walked a few more strides hunched over to the point of defying gravity, then stopped under Nirrah's gaze and began to straighten, its vertebrae stacking slowly to reveal grey-blueish skin taut over bones.

Efret's hand gravitated to the durasteel, leather-wrapped handle of her lightsaber and unclipped it from her belt before she tuned around to face the being. With one hand, she waved Nirrah off her shoulder.

That was when three more demons just like the first also appeared from around the corner.

The first charged at them.

Efret thumbed her weapon's ignition. The rusty orange of her changed kyber crystal reflected back on her face until she angled the plasma away and sliced the demon in a diagonal across its abdomen. She wasn't one for violence but she assumed that any attempt at diplomacy here would only hasten her and others towards early graves.

Another demon came at them.

Elias Edo​

 

[Lily Decoria]

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Location: Naboo
Outfit: Jedi Attire
Equipment: Crossguard Lightsaber, Hydrangea Moonblade (concealed)
Tag: Briana Sal-Soren | Brandyn Sal-Soren | Rook Merriex

Lily heard the call from Rook that things were going to get unstable soon and she looked over to Brandyn. "Get to the portal, I will grab Master Briana!" She dodged one attack and barely successfully got out of the way from another strike which clawed over her stomach. Lily grunted the injury wasn't life threatening but she wasn't pleased to feel the injury. Meant more time getting it recovered in the medbay.

Rushing over to Briana, she put one arm over her shoulders and helped her Master get towards where they had come from. Her Lightsaber deflecting attacks and switching from an aggressive fighting stance into one of defence and her demonstration of the ease she had in switching Lightsaber stances was on display.

"Are you okay, Master? You took a hard landing there." Lily stated, both impressed with the skills that Briana demonstrated but knew that there should have been a more cautious approach as Briana keeps drilling into her own head.

Jumping headlong into danger was not an ideal approach.

 

[Kalantha]

ELIMINATE THE STRAYS

There was much more to discuss, but the courtyard was quickly becoming the very last place she wanted to do so. With the palace secure and Mandalorian beskar protecting its perimeter, more and more civilians were piling onto the palace grounds. She gave Aiden Porte a look that suggested they would finish their conversation at a later time. Perhaps once the dust has settled and the city was secure again, she could afford and afternood away from Theed to spend in contemplation with him and his keen judgement. Aiden was an excellent confidant and Kalantha valued his support greatly.

The pair crossed the short distance between them and the Padawan. Streaks of magenta lightning pierced the angry sky overhead, but any thunder that may have followed was drowned out by the sounds of a city reeling. Kalantha soon reached Lysander von Ascania and bowed, despite the unothodox circumstances they found themselves in. A queen is a queen, after all... even if her city is full of hellish portals and demonic blood was soaking the flowerbeds.

"All of Naboo thanks you," she added with a smile. She wasn't trying to outdo her friend by any means, but it was the truth. Everyone who stood against the incursion was a hero in the eyes of the crown. With things quiet for the moment, Kalantha took a moment to look the Padawan over. "Were you injured at all? How have you fared?" Hopefully well, she thought. There was no telling how much longer this hellish day would last.

Tags: Aiden Porte | Dagos Terrek | Gil Horn | Kahne Porte | Lysander von Ascania | Mother Askani | Ruus Kote​

 

[Elias Edo]

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Tags: Efret Farr
Objective 2: Establish a Beachhead
Location: NABOO

Elias followed suit, igniting the emerald blade of his own lightsaber and stepping with intent toward the oncoming demons. He placed his free hand on Efret’s shoulder in passing, the met the demons’ charge with a Force dash that propelled him forward, blade pointed right for the nearest creature’s chest.

The plasma tip penetrated the demon with ease. Elias slashed in an upward diagonal motion, nearly bisecting it. He lifted the second off its clawed feet with the Force and pulled it closer, holding it off the ground just beyond arm’s reach. It scratched and hissed but Elias glared at its dark eyes unphased. “Your master,” he said in a tone that he was grateful Efret couldn’t hear. “What are its plans?”

The demons writhed. “Tear the flesh, rip and eat! You will die! All will die!”

“Are you alone?”

“Never alone! Even now, we are legion!” it hissed. Elias furrowed his brows. “That may be so, but you will die alone.” Before it could rebuttal, Elias threw the demon with great force against the facade of a marble building. The crunch of its bones was all Elias needed to hear to know it was dispatched.

The switch flipped in his mind after that, and he turned to face Efret. <“Knew nothing, only threats. Dangerous to let go. Hive-mind.”> Darker applications of the Force was something he picked up during his work alongside the RJC Shadows.