The Dark Below (Lords of Light)

[Zark San Tekka]

TYTHON​

​

The planet of the Force was ravaged by war.

For months there had been ceaseless fighting, until all banners were broken and sigils burned away, leaving only two sides. The Light and the Dark. As it always had been, truly. As it was meant to be. There are no times of peace on this eternal battlefield, but it is a time of uneasy armistice. Only a few hot zones still burn across Tython's continents, frontlines in a conflict that has no fronts and no ends in sight.

The unstoppable war machine of the Sith Empire sends for more expeditionary forces to strengthen their grip on the Deep Core and stamp out the dying embers of a fallen Galactic Alliance, choking any hope for resistance to their galaxy spanning sovereign rule. Klonin Iv Saud, the Tythonian Valley of Fire, spreads once more like a tumor across the planet's heartland, belching acrid smoke and deadly smog as Imperial alchemists seek to replenish their stock of darkspawn aberrations.

Yet despite all odds, the Lords of Light remain, their crumbling strongholds enduring though they find themselves now in the shadow of hell itself. Faint points of light amidst a sea of crushing darkness. Legions seek to claim and fortify new outposts under threat of an oncoming storm. Healers tend to the wounded, for they number almost as much as the able bodied. With the planet's refugee population dwindling, many of the Lords now look to the stars, knowing they must seek new sources of potential conscripts but lacking even some of the most basic resources with which to do so.

Even Tython itself groans and cracks under the weight of neverending struggle, reacting to such a deep imbalance as violently as those who do battle on its soil. Storms rage across entire continents, normally peaceful fauna are driven into mass rages which transform them into vicious predators, volcanic fissure vents erupt rending away the very earth.

A wandering party of brave Companions happens across one of these vents, inactive but seemingly stable. Upon learning of such a curiosity so close to home, Lord [member="Michael Sardun"] assembles a party to oversee its exploration lest it signify a precursor to Sithspawn invasion. Contacting the Oathsworn Reliquary as a matter of course, he is informed that the Lord Regent himself had taken a personal interest and that Titus Valerius would join him with a cadre of Dawnforged Knights presently....

[member="Talanis Long"] | [member="Ibene"] | [member="Jace Khel"]​

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Titus Valerius"] | [member="Talanis Long"] | [member="Ibene"] | [member="Jace Khel"]

What would they do, if the Sithspawn didn't need to travel across the surface?

If they could pop up anywhere.

Anytime.

Without a way to see them coming? That was the thought that Sardun had, when they discovered the network of deep tunnels underground. They seemed to be going on for miles upon miles. The dated tech they had were still busy mapping the area out. It seemed to go on for ever... and ever. From what the Companions could tell? This was only the tip of the continent. There was more. It was problematic. If it had been just a single set of tunnels, they could have collapsed them.

But how do you collapse and blockade something like this?

It didn't surprise him to hear that Valerius and Long were interested to join his expedition. He was waiting on them. A base camp had been established around the first entrance. It would be a beach head and point of return, if something went wrong out there in the deep.

:: Lord Sardun, the Dawnforged and the Lord Regent have arrived. Should we give them entry? ::

Sardun stared into the darkness. Even their lights didn't manage to pierce all of it. Then he tapped the ear piece to establish a connection. "Let them through. We will need all the hands we can spare... to explore these tunnels." He turned around. Noticing their newest recruit, mulling things over before making a decision. "Knight Khel. You will accompany me, as we descend. Prepare your weapons and armor. I expect this won't be as easy as a simple walk."

Then his attention shifted back towards the tunnel entrance.

The one that would lead them further down into the subterranean network.

 

[Zark San Tekka]

The yawning portal that led deep beneath Tython's surface loomed before Titus like a dark invitation.

Lord Sardun's transmission was not the first report the Regent Lord had received of such strange fissures marring soil which had once been stable earth. It was however the closest, and as fate willed it word had reached Valerius while he was away from the Oathsworn's hidden fortress on Ashla and inspecting his legion's holdings planetside. It had been too long since he had been afforded an opportunity to take to the field, the Companions' expedition was a perfect opportunity for him to personally oversee Knights of the Reliquary as they carried out their sacred duty of safeguarding Jedi artifacts and traditions.

"This way, sire," one of Sardun's knights was there to greet them on the surface, materializing out of the wilderness from her hidden post keeping watch for signs of Sith forces.

Pausing only to snap off the branch from a nearby tree as large as a grown human's arm, Titus centered his mind and drew on the Force to ignite the tip of his improvised torch. Dancing flames sparked to life, illuminating the path down before him. Reliquary Knights behind him activated more modern implements, floodlights built into their deceptively advanced combat helms, electronic torches and lanterns heralding their arrival long before the Jedi Master's troupe managed to rappel down and pick their way through uneven terrain to join up with [member="Michael Sardun"].

"Lord Sardun! Quite a discovery you have made," his voiced echoed eerily off kilometers of cavern tunnels, warping with each refrain, "If this is some new Sith devilry, I must confess a begrudging respect for the sheer scale of it. Any notion of how far down it goes yet?"

Without waiting for a response, the hulking half-Epicanthix turned as if he had just remembered something.

"[member="Ibene"]! Come forth!" he called out to one of his knights, "What do your Chiss eyes see?"

[member="Talanis Long"] | [member="Jace Khel"]​

 

[Elijah Beckett]

Asha hadn't been present for the Battle of Tython. She had been on a seperate mission, embarking across a Core sector to find those that needed to be brought up by the Light. It had been some time since the Galactic Alliance had fallen, and the scars of that day were still etched across the Core.

Likely for a very long time.

What was most important however, was the fact there were still many lost to their previous convictions. Those that had brought bravely, but ultimately fell when the Forces of Darkness assaulted Coruscant. Many felt hopeless, drifting aimlessly trying to find a new purpose.

That was where the Lords of Light came in, or in this specific instance; where Asha made herself known.

She was Hope. A shining beacon of what could be for those that had lost their way. One of them that had fallen in the wake of devastation, only to be raised back to her feet, stronger than she had ever been before. That had been her mission, to find those that still had an ember buried within; waiting for someone to reignite the fire. Her arrival on Tython a week ago had come with more numbers backing her up.

At present though, Asha had disappeared into the darkened tunnel on orders from Sardun. Primary scans had picked up a few side tunnels located not too far in. She had taken a couple of the Companions' Knights with her, backup for the most part as they weren't intending to delve too deep. Eventually a streak of blue light appeared in the dark, growing more prominent as it got closer.

Then the hum of a lightsaber pike became clear as Asha's shrouded visage stepped out from the dark and stopped before the assembled party.

"Lord Sardun, the closest side tunnels are all caved in. Whether via natural means or not, we aren't getting through them but neither is anything else." Much like her face, Asha's voice was concealed within the darkness of her hood. There was only the slightest evidence of an accent. "Regent Lord." She bowed her head slightly in greeting.

[member="Titus Valerius"] | [member="Michael Sardun"] | [member="Talanis Long"] | [member="Ibene"] | [member="Jace Khel"]​

 

[Corey's OOC]

There was always work to be done with the Lords. The High Knight Ibene was working with them, only so much as they helped support the Mystica Auderem. They were Jedi Consulars who understood the difference between a war and just supporting a team. They were working to control the light side, expand what knowledge Jedi had, in order to compete more appropriately against the Sith and dark side mystics. The Light offered many avenues to be defensive and offensive, and the Auderem were going to find them.

The Alliance provided the training, and Omai Rhen provided the drive. Now Ibene was picking up the Crusader mentality, and assisting the Forge and Jedi Artisans with ways to create items to help the Lords and other Jedi hunt down the dark side and defend themselves. Necklaces, bracers, and other trinkets. His mystics were more than capable of interpreting the mysteries of the Force, and learn from their enemies, reinventing the way a dark sider performed to a way that worked for the lightside.

Compassion, that was where they capitalized. Concern and the need to protect. It gave them the power they needed. Being tasked with working alongside Master [member="Titus Valerius"], the Chiss made his way with the team. The vents were dark, but he had been studying them. Hands glowing from the Force, Ibene stepped forward.

“I don’t sense… Sith? I don’t know what I sense. Ancient though. That is for sure.” He rubbed a hand that stopped glowing on the wall. “There is something here. In the caverns.”

​

[member="Michael Sardun"] | [member="Talanis Long"] | [member="Jace Khel"] | [member="Talia Beckett"]​

 

[Kida Tillian]

Talanis nodded to his escort as they disembarked from the transports. Word of the tunnel network had reached the Lord-Commander and he had come to investigate with a detachment of his bodyguard and scholars. Many thought of the Lords as little more than crusaders and fanatics. But they were more than that. Mystics, certainly, but also scholars. Militant focused scholars, but still scholars.

"My lords," Talanis called to the others as he strode to the entrance. "What updates do you have of this?"

He was curious at this new development, what had caused it, how old they were, and what might have led them to open now. The Force operated in all things and all things occurred according to its will. What did the Force have in store for them with the tunnel? A challenge for them? An opportunity? A trap?

They would only discover by acting out and trusting in the Force to guide them through whatever it brought them.

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Titus Valerius"] | [member="Talanis Long"] | [member="Ibene"] | [member="Asha"]

"Lord Valerious; Lord Long, welcome."

A short nod to acknowledge both, while he mulled his response.

Words were not to take.... lightly.

"It was the last Force Storm that revealed these tunnels. They seem to have been here for... ever or a close approximation of it." This made sense. Tython was ancient by any nominator. Hundreds of Orders had tried to make their home here. All had fallen. All had served as a foundation for the next to come around. How many cities had stood proudly on Tython, before they were razed to the ground by one calamity or the other? How many more had been build on top of them?

What happened when the tectonic plates shifted under the pressure of the Force?

How many more tunnels would they find? How far did they go? These were the questions they needed answers to.

"Not sentient-made... but perhaps sentient-modified, yes? We have discovered pockets of Flesh Raiders deeper in the tunnels. It would explain why the concentrations on the surface have slowly been fading. They... found a new home here." And that was troubling in its own right. Darksiders were a known quantity, but the Flesh Raiders?

They had been their own brand of trouble in the past.

If they were living here, connected to the tunnels that ran throughout Tython potentially? That spelled trouble.

"I aim to take an expedition deeper into the tunnel network. One of mine has localized an energy source. I expect it to be trouble." He inclined his head. "You are most welcome to join, additional assistance would be prudent when faced with the unknown."

 

[Zark San Tekka]

"Talanis, my lord..." Valerius dipped to one knee on instinct, before remembering himself and rising quickly in brief genuflection. Before he had gathered the Dawnforged to help him recolonize Ashla, he had been a Knight pledged to [member="Talanis Long"] and trusted lieutenant, "Sardun was just about to bring us up to speed. [member="Ibene"], keep watch for now but do not venture far."

He bowed slightly once [member="Asha"] appeared from through a side passage and likewise offered him greetings. Of all those assembled, he knew this specter of a woman least of all. She had arrived on Tython recently with a small host accompanying her, and while her influence had already proved that someday soon she would likely raise a legion of her own, for now [member="Michael Sardun"] had seemingly taken it upon himself to offer her assistance in resources and manpower. It warmed his heart to see such camaraderie among the Lords, Titus believe that it was this devotion to a higher cause that would see them through the impossible times they now lived in.

"Flesh raiders?" the half-Epicanthix echoed in concern, drawing on reflex Damocles from its oversized scabbard. It quickly caught the light of his torch and appeared to shimmer, madog steel warping and rippling as it greedily absorbed the nearby light. Soon the flame had completely died out, and instead Titus raised his force-imbued longsword aloft like a glimmering beacon over his head, "They spread like an infestation, one we can ill afford so close to reclaimed lands. If we collapse this tunnel, there is no guarantee they will not eventually find another way to the surface. This is a problem we cannot ignore."

There was a grim resolve in his expression as Lord Valerius reached out to clasp Sardun's shoulder briefly with his free hand, "My blade is with you."