Faction The Enemy At Home │ Sith Eternal

[Tara Willows]

Tara was at a loss. She was going to check the bedrooms but it seemed that the other Sith had the same idea. A group of them moved past and headed to the barracks. Tara stood back against the wall and let them pass. She sighed as they headed where she was going. Kalt Bruq would create another illusion and walk after them. Tara wasn't going to be a joiner. She headed back to the staircase and descended. Grumbling to herself she mumbled a few choice words. She then yawned, stopping in her tracks as she opened her mouth wide. Tara groaned. She was so fed up with this.

Moving down one of the halls she then entered into another dark room. She ignited her saber again to give herself some light. The room was a computer room of sorts. There was a desk at the other end of the room with several monitors. Tara used the Force to hold the saber near the wall like a sconce. She sat in the chair and typed on the keyboard hoping to raise the system. Nothing happened. No power it seems. She then fiddled with the monitor screens and then the tower base underneath. Everything was dead. There was no power in the manner. But at least everything looked functional. If she could just get the power back online then perhaps she would be able to find something in the databanks.

But that was not her mission. She was told to find out what was in the room and that was what she did. She found the terminal and now she was to return to the Darth. Tara grabbed her saber and left the office. She passed through the kitchen and then the foyer. Outside she would stroll over to Darth Empyrean and give him a slight bow of her head.

"I found a terminal access but the estate appears not to have any power. I can see about finding the power if you'd like, unless you have something else for me....?"

 

[Ishani Dinn]

Upon stepping further into the room, Ishani was greeted by… a golden idol, a book, and some candles.

Thrilling stuff.

She exhaled a sigh of relief, though she was far from relaxed. There was still no telling what this place might have in store for her.

Approaching the shrine, she looked at the female figure of the idol. Was it modeled after someone specific, or was it just meant to depict some goddess? She didn’t know. Glancing at the open book, she read the highlighted passage, frowning. Very strange indeed.

What she was unwilling to admit was just how much the scene reminded her of home. This was quite unlike the rituals-sans-religion that the Chaldean Potentium practiced… and yet in many ways, it was quite similar.

Reaching out a hand, she touched the gold idol, running her thumb over the regal features of the face. She felt certain that this was not a true deity, but someone who had been deified. The statue was unrecognizable to her eyes only because the artificer had taken liberties in the name of artistic license, turning what had been an ordinary mortal woman into a symbol of power and authority. Knowing this brought her no small measure of disappointment, for reasons she was at a loss to explain.

She let her hand drop, leaving the statuette undisturbed along with the rest of the shrine. If there was nothing else in this room, then she had better move on...

sorry it took so long to reply aaaa Arcturus Dinn Darth Empyrean Kalt Bruq Tara Willows Jorii Vizsla​

 

[Darth Empyrean]

THESH

Thesh would undo the cloth and fine nothing but the barely alive wriggling remains of a child - more fetal in nature than truly human, its bulging eyes were black and enraged as it struggled to move at all. Its crooked lips opened to a maw of equally crooked teeth, coughing up a viscous black fluid that seemed to struggle to run down their cheek. All while small hands desparetly grasped for Thesh, but not out of desperation - but something far worse.​

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The by product of sin, the child had paid for a crime it did not commit; but it no longer had the awareness to weep for its situation. Only feel the darkest draw of the dark side; gnawing at what sentience was left of it. It would not shed a tear for what it had lost, because it had already forgotten what it had failed to keep - but all of that reality would drain into Thesh as he stood over it.​

---

Maliphant glanced to the girl as she returned, internalizing her words as he glanced around. The estate, as dead as it was, seemed to be coming alive - but in such subtle ways it was hard to perceive. The distant vibrations of generators were hard to tell apart from the steps of many individuals, but he could feel them ever so slightly through the Force; and the smell that stung at his nose was ever present. Coppery and stale, it was a mix between blood and sour discharge - nothing pleasant on the senses regardless.

"Do so. Fine Ishani Dinn and work together - I won't have anyone travelling alone just yet. When you two are finished, meet me on Floor 3, Point A.", he said, motioning to the live map on their wrist computers.

It was a location near the back of the estate, where the holo maps seemed to stop - with doors large and thick enough that not even echo permeating radar could sense what was behind them. Likely on purpose, Maliphant had one much the same at his once home on Bastion. He had no doubt it would likely be the center of this atrocity - he just hoped it wasn't too late to stop this.

Tara Willows

 

[Kalt Bruq]

The sudden execution of the creature was somewhat disappointing but Kalt figured it was fair given it attacked her so harshly. He likely would have done the same, if not torture it. He let go of the force, allowing the corpse to slide down the wall and slump down to the floor. The mandalorian then made a comment about worrying about not getting killed. "I'm plenty concerned about my health, I just don't really consider this to be a threat." He said. Nonetheless, he seemed to heed her words, using his lightsaber to decapitate the corpse to make sure it was eliminated.

Kalt frowned slightly at the her ordering him around, telling him to not get hurt or get in the way. He decided to ignore it. He could act more pompous when he was actually a Sith Lord, deserving of respect. "Is dar'jetti a term for Sith?" Kalt asked, somewhat mispronouncing the word she had used. His lightsaber was primed and ready to intercept whatever tried to close in at close range.

Kalt prepared another illusion, this time, shifting their positions forward to observers. Making it appear like they were a few feet ahead in the corridor.

[ Jorii Vizsla ]​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

With a small wave of his hand, Arcturus parted the clothes upon seeing no other signs of life within the room. There upon the ground, bundled in cloth, was a child. Nay... a newborn. The boy was taken aback, if not for its mere presence then for its appearance. It was strange, slightly twisted with deformities formed by its apparent early emergence from the womb. Large, bulbous eyes stared up at him, tiny hands reached upward, and for a moment Arcturus could do little more than stare.​

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There was something off about it, more than appearance alone could form. Something sinister. He felt repulsed by its very existence, a distinct lack of empathy that was usually pointedly present within the lad. Whatever it was barely seemed sentient to him, and even the Force itself seemed to give it a wider berth than usual.​

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Refusing to touch it, yet knowing better than to simply leave it there to die, he wrapped it once more and lifted it through the Force to be carried at his side. The rest of the room was checked over, and then he exited back into the hallway provided nothing else happened. If nothing else, the child could prove evidential. Perhaps it would reveal more of what was happening here. Either way he kept it at arms length, still refusing even now to lay so much as a finger upon it.​

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Darth Empyrean ​

 

[Darth Empyrean]

As Arcturus Dinn returned to him, Maliphant couldn't help but notice the swaddle floating near him. He grimaced in its direction, but said nothing until Thesh was next to him. The Sith Lord took the swaddle with his own presence in the force, and pulled it closer to him;

"What is it?", he asked with a cock of his brow, only to unswaddle it with the Force and hold it upside dow, sputtering black bile and reaching for anything organic near it. Maliphant understood quickly what it was they were looking at, but couldn't bring it to words as he frowned.

"This doesn't bode well, Thesh..."

 

[Jorii Vizsla]

It was a fair enough question, because for all he knew it could have been an insult, or just another way people like her referred to people like him. Still, Jorii couldn’t help her own cynical amusement, cracking a slight smile beneath her helmet that was almost evident in her voice, if he listened for it. "In a manner of speaking."

Even without the Force she could tell there was something wrong about this place, the unsettling feeling in her gut not something she could quite put words to. To say she was on edge wasn't quite correct, but the rifle that stayed somewhere between low-ready and pressed into her shoulder didn't discount that. Whatever she had killed wasn't exactly alive, and as much as she discredited the ritual he'd spoken of, that to her seemed the only logical explanation - as if there was anything logical about any of this.

She couldn't tell if the silence punctuated only by the humming of his lightsaber was worse than what had tried to kill her, but she didn't appreciate it regardless. A flick of her eyes opened comms to Darth Empyrean again, "We should meet up and have a sit-rep. Whatever's going on here, we're worse off separated like this."

Kalt Bruq

 

[Tara Willows]

Tara had her new orders. She was to meet up with her fellow Sith and then head to the end of the estate. She would nod her head and then bow to Lord Maliphant before turning away and walking back to the entrance. Now, Tara had never met Ishani. She wasn't even sure who this person was. But the Force would guide her. It always had, even when she didn't see it. Using that same guidance, she headed into the main room back to those winding stairs she'd taken twice now.

Back upstairs. Yet again. Tara sighed and then yawned. So tired. She activated her saber to light the way and then looked beyond the doorways in lookout. Finally she came across the pink haired girl. Tara stopped. Something about her made Tara feel that she was the correct person.

"Excuse me. You're Ishani...am I correct? The Dark lord wants us to move on. Floor three. Did you find anything here?"


Ishani Dinn Darth Empyrean

 

[Ishani Dinn]

Tags: Tara Willows

Ishani had left the room with the shrine and was on her way forward when she was stopped in the hallway by another acolyte. The woman had short white hair in an asymmetrical moe cut, blue eyes, and a deep tan. She was also much taller than Ishani and completely ripped. Under different circumstances, Ishani would’ve been terrified of her, but since they were being asked to work together, she was actually more relieved. Tara Willows definitely looked like she could handle herself in a fight.

“Yeah, I’m Ishani,” she replied. “All I found here was some sort of shrine to a female idol. Intuition told me they were worshiping the lord of this estate, or should I say the lady… Well, let’s go.”

She headed for the stairs leading to the third floor, assuming Tara would follow suit.

 

[Firrerreo]

"Hmm.. Does this.. No. Here..? No. Hmm.." The idle and subtle conversation to himself was anything but subtle. Elsewhere in the compound a lone figure idly worked his way through an empty library. Searching for secrets, knowledge. These compounds always had some secret compartment somewhere to investigate and find all manner of forbidden knowledge. Sure enough, he found it. A datacron that made no sense being where it was. Subtle, of course. If someone didn't know alchemy they'd be none the wiser.

A soft smile spread across the figure's face as he tapped the far side of it. Sure enough, a passage was revealed. Along with a couple of these heretics. His expression hardened as he lifted a hand.

"Only the true Sith'ari should have this knowledge. Those who seek it should be prepared to be an enemy." Mm. Maybe talking wasn't something he should do. Felt right in the moment though. Regardless, a gout of flame erupted from his palm. Spreading, quickly consuming everything before him. People, knowledge, secrets.

By fire be purged.

Darth Empyrean | Arcturus Dinn | Ishani Dinn | Tara Willows | Cato Demora | Xun of Throne | Jorii Vizsla | Kalt Bruq

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

As he finally met back up with the bulk of the group, Arcturus moved to stand alongside his Master who was quick to relieve him of his burden and investigate the bundle which floated loftily in the air.​

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Though he couldn't stand the sight of it, the boy looked on as Maliphant unearthed the strange form held within. Even now it was reaching for something, someone, and he wondered what would happen if it happened upon one who was willing to actually touch it. Some darker, grimmer side of him kind of wanted to find out... But he let that lie for now. It wasn't an impulse he was willing to satiate.​

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"What is happening here, Master?" he inquired, voice low and quiet as though fearing the walls had eyes and ears. This was, on the surface, a simple matter, but ever since they'd arrived upon the estate it had only felt more sinister by the second.​

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Darth Empyrean ​