Private The Butcher Pilgrimage

[Velok Brokentusk]

Velok the Younger was in a foul mood, but the old Whiphid sorcerer took pride in being a professional. He rolled the big head over to stare its needle-toothed grin in the face. "A Rayijadni Nexu. Well done, Darth Faef ."

He took his ritual knife to the head and the brutalized heart, and cut out a small sliver of flesh from each. He added the two little pieces of meat to a big ladle-full of the alchemical slop, fresh from the cauldron.

"The Rayijadni Nexu has a unique ability to disappear - become partially invisible - especially in darkness. Some Sith can do the same, but it takes specialized skill. It's not something I can do, for example. Drinking this will transform your body to give you that ability, and that difficult skill will be easy for you."

He offered her the ladle.

"Be sure to drink it all. And tell me if it needs salt."

 

[Darth Faef]

Faef grinned with pride, her fangs showing at the compliment. She took the ladle in both hands and drank, ignoring how hot the concoction was. "No salt needed," she said with a smile, handing the empty ladle back to the Younger.

 

[Velok Brokentusk]

Darth Faef

Velok the Younger chuckled and accepted the empty ladle. "The change should take effect over the next twenty-four hours. It may require painkillers: certain elements of your body are reshaping themselves." The old Whiphid gestured at the clawmarks on her midriff. "It won't help that you're already fighting the nexu's venom You have an uncomfortable night and day ahead of you. But once it ends, you should be able to partially fade from view, and fully disappear in shadows and such. A potent skill if used right."

 

[Grundark]

He swore to every dark god and even the spirits of his people he would shake that boy if he called him Lord one more time. Still he did know a tune or two but it required instruments. With a grumble he stopped even as they were just moving away from the start of the hunt but waved them on ahead so they could talk while he ran back. It was a surprisingly pleasant thing he hadn't played the music of his people in years it seemed, but then again it had been years since he felt worthy of playing it.

Humming happily through his trunk as he opened the bay of his transport, a cargo transport to be sure but it was getting closer to something he found properly accommodating. Almost bouncing as the tune was stuck in his head he picked up a large drum and fastened it around his body as he walked back towards his temporary herd at a pace that would quickly find them. Finding him would be far easier for them though as the boom of his drum lead the way as he accompanied it with the occasional blast of his trumpet.

Finding the two he was only too happy to continue as he lead the way through a Sith hell without a care in the world who it would draw. Besides, wasn't that the whole point?

Velok Brokentusk Noelle Varanin Arcturus Dinn

 

[Noelle Varanin]

Noelle considered the words on the type of fighting they would engage in and pulled a metal staff from the table. It was long, eloquent, and thin. But above all it had a speared point. To her, it was hardly ranged,; it would help give their large guide the space he needed to grapple the creature head on.

She wasn't use to serving as someone's... backup, but perhaps that had been half her problem. Royal decorum and battle were two different worlds. She let herself fall in behind the others, forcing a pinching of humility into her bones. Her hackles only rose slightly each time she was called 'little one'. Grundark was, after all, quite large.

Her attention lingered on Velok Brokentusk as she followed the others out. The dense warmth of the forest suffused her. The heat was a stark contrast to snow capped mountains of home, and it showed. Sweat quickly beaded across her sternum. She smeared it away as Arcturus Dinn tilted his chin down to address her.

"I am fine." The words were a smidgeon defensive, but she could read the concern on posture. They stopped as Grundark pulled off and slipped to his transport bay, giving the two a final moment to prepare. "Listen," she turned on the man, her hair whipping sharply as she faced him.

"What happened in the Dreaming Dark was an anomaly. I am perfectly capable of handling myself, and while I appreciate the concern, it is no longer nesse-car...ry...- " She gaped open-mouthed at the drum-wielding elephant.

A beat.

"Do you always carry instruments on hand?"

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

Grundark was quickly gone, back to the place they had just come from, leaving he and Noelle alone for a short time.​

​

She immediately rounded on him, though he couldn't say he was surprised, and became rather defensive. Had he unknowingly touched upon a sore spot? Difficult to say. This was only his third encounter with the girl, second in the realm of reality, he couldn't claim to be able to read her like a book just yet. One day perhaps, but not now.​

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"I don't doubt your ability, Noelle. Make no mistake. But the beasties which lie here are--"​

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He too trailed off as he realized why it was that she had ceased their conversation midway through too. Eyes drifted to the towering beast of a man, and a grin simultaneously wrought itself upon his expression.​

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"Never a dull moment, eh?" he said with a grin, surprised in fact that the cragmoloid was willing to drum up some percussion for their marching song given the headache he'd been complaining of just prior.​

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"Well," he added, with a light shrug as they set off once more into the unknown, "If they did not know we were here before, certainly they know it now!"​

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Grundark Noelle Varanin​

 

[Grundark]

Tapping his drum he didn't miss the look of stress across Noelle Varanin face as he walked around the bend, but he also didn't know why she looked so stress. After all they were going on a great hunt, perhaps she'd forgotten one of her weapons at home. "Always? No, sadly I haven't been able to for some time in truth. They don't exactly make ships in my size you know? That's a worry for the past though, or at least not for the present?"

Smiling at Arcturus Dinn he saw the little one had the idea, of course it was important that their prey knew doom was at hand. "I hope you both brought something to sleep in tonight. The behemoth doesn't live this close to the hunting zone, we'll be traveling for a full day back and forth with any luck. Well a day by Cragmoloid pace anyway, but I trust you can both keep up."

As he continued his tromp down the jungle path he continued a steady drum beat humming occasionally and blowing a happy trumpet into the air. He hadn't played this free in he didn't know how long. No that was a lie, he just hadn't acknowledged the memories in that long. For a moment his face fell but he pushed on as he forced his mind away from that thought. His choices had been made for him long ago, and he didn't want to relive that pain on such a bright day.

"Come, Arcturus, give me a song of your people. Forget the prim and proper for the moment and just be!"

 

[Noelle Varanin]

Noelle glanced over at Arcturus Dinn , giving him a long, amused look. She gestured him forward, expecting to hear that song. This was after all his idea.

Not that either of them should be getting any ideas, because she would most certainly not be singing.

"I have a few spare supplies,' she answered in turn, not bothering to explain that she meant spare in the literal term. Her parents had surely spent their fair share nights on the hard ground, back before there were children and family grounds and-

Whatever else made them so different to what she knew today. She was determined to experience the same. Her fingers tightened over the canvas straps of her bag, the day's worth of snacks light on her back. Grundark 's beat drove them forward, deeper into the thick planes of the forest. Her steps were filled with energy as she skimmed the tree line for sign of life.

Each brush rustled to over stimulated senses, the girl seeing shadows where there were none. Anticipation was high, even if they were expected to find nothing for days.

"And who are your people, Exactly?" Noelle prodded, following up Grundark's request with curiosity of her own. All this time and she had never asked where he was from.

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

The boy patted his backpack as the Cragmoloid spoke of sleeping arrangements, attached to it was what looked to be a bedroll of sorts. He didn't need much more than that in truth, he'd survived with just the dagger on his belt and little else before. And with three of them there it should be easier to keep safe, surely?​

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Then the pair of them seemed set on hearing him sing. It wasn't something he often found himself doing, he was too lost in his work most of the time, but just the mere suggestion brought up a memory he'd long since repressed, of a time long before the Sith. He had no visuals with it, no true recollection, just the tune and the words to a song he'd heard. Perhaps from the lips of his mother. Perhaps not.​

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"Lorrdian," he informed the girl, "My people are the Lorrdians..." Those enslaved people who had to fight to reclaim their independence. He'd always felt a small amount of shame in having been forced back to a broken and subservient state, when the Sith came to Ession. When he'd been claimed by them. His ancestors had fought to give him freedom... If they could see him now. He shuddered to think.​

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With a soft sigh he eased himself into the song he'd forgotten until now and continued to walk alongside them at the same pace. He looked at neither as the song came from his lips, it had an even tempo and on the surface sounded rather peaceful and melodic. Yet the words spoke of their struggles, and their fight for freedom. They had not known words as as a people prior to that freedom, after all, it was why they were so well versed in kinetic communication.​

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Even to this day.​

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Grundark Noelle Varanin ​

 

[Grundark]

He tried to find the rhythm in his music and matched the beat of his drum to it as they walked, a softer beat them something that matched the tone of the song. It was a good song, a proud song. His people would have loved it. "We too have our songs of freedom, though they are old now. There isn't anything left on Ankus worth taking anymore, and so no one comes. The Empire mined the very heart of the planet out from under our feet, and yet we fought less then you would expect. Large we may be but we love peace and family. We thought it would end, and things would go back to normal, but by the time they left it was too late for that. There was nothing left, they'd mined right into the heart of our world and enslaved us. We returned to our ways but our home was already wounded beyond healing."

Patting Arcturus Dinn on the shoulder he turned finally to Noelle Varanin and gave a small smile. "Well apparently it's your turn, little one. Where among the stars are your people from, and what songs do they sing?"