The Illusion Of Truth

[Tyro'din]

Tyro'din slowly made his way down the ramp of his ship The Silent Shadow after it had landed not far from the Trayus Academy Ruins on Malachor V. He had come to the planet to learn the art of illusions from a contact from The Primeval, [member="Enigma"], to learn the use of Force Illusions in the hope that it would increase his efficiency at his job as a Bleeding Sun Agent. She had directed him to come to the ruins to meet, apparently it was her laboratory.

The landscape was rocky and barren. Large cracks split the ground and sheer drops were everywhere from where areas on the land had risen up or sunken to form jagged cliffs. There was almost no plant life to be seen. The only thing that seemed to stop the area from being a continuous wasteland was the ruins of a once impressive building that rose up in front of the one eyed Bothan.

Currently said Bothan was wearing his leather tunic and trousers along with his belt that had many pouches attached. He had his HUD screen up above his ear rather than over his right eye like he had it when on a mission. His respirator mask was on, covering his mouth and the end of his nose. Tyro'din's rifle was holstered on his back and his pistols and knives were in there holsters on his legs.

Tyro'din sighed before making his way towards the supposed laboratory, anticipating learning more knowledge but preparing for the worst like he always tried to do. His senses were on full alert, making him ready for an ambush and his hands were hovering near his blasters ready to pull them out of their holsters at the first sign of trouble. Upon entering the building Tyro'din made his way through the corridors, following the directions given to him.

 

[Onrai]

[member="Tyro'din"]

And so the guardian - a spectral male figure - awaited his arrival. "Halt... He who desires to cross into the laboratory must answer me these questions three, if the training inside ye seek." Certainly someone attempting to mess with him - or was it? "First question - what is your name?" It seemed to be that this would end up becoming quite an interesting initiation into the facility.

And inside, the holy grail of Sith knowledge awaited.

 

[Tyro'din]

[member="Enigma"]

Tyro'din sighed in annoyance at the guardian. This was something he did not want to deal with, but was going to be forced to. His first choice was to attack the figure but the fact that he looked like a spectre but that idea to a close. He eventually growled out an answer after glaring at the thing blocking his path. "My name is Tyro'din, you freak."

 

[Onrai]

[member="Tyro'din"]

The guard nodded, looking him up and down in order to determine the validity of his answer - indeed, it was correct. And now it was time for the second of the three questions, one of utmost simplicity.

"What is your quest?"

 

[Tyro'din]

[member="Enigma"]

"To learn the art of illusion." That was the answer that was forced out through gritted teeth. Tyro'din was of the opinion that if someone was going to test him, they could at least make it a challenge for him to make it more enjoyable rather than just standing around answering simple questions.

 

[Onrai]

[member="Tyro'din"]

And thus, the final of the three questions was asked by the gatekeeper, who took his words as advice. "What... is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?" And thus, the triumvirate of confusing questions was complete. One could only wonder what the Bothan's response to this third situation was.

 

[Tyro'din]

Tyro'din thought about it for a moment before speaking to the guardian again. "I, I don't know. Which one to you mean, an African or European Swallow?"

[member="Enigma"]

 

[Onrai]

[member="Tyro'din"]

"African or Euro... I don't know that!" The shade screamed before exploding in a ball of Dark Side energy. The front door of the ruins slowly creaked open as a soft female voice responded to him. In front of him were the ruins - the ruins that appeared to make a pathway. But this was an illusion - the real path was obscured.

The worthy shall walk the chosen path.

 

[Tyro'din]

[member="Enigma"]

Tyro'din sighed when the shade exploded, it was annoying to answer questions when he had come with the intent to learn as quickly as he could as there were missions he could be doing. Growling under his he made his way trough the doors. In front of him were ruins that formed a path. Sighing again at how complicated this was becoming for him the Bothan made his was towards the path.

After he had walked a few paces down the path he cursed and jumped back. His foot had missed a step and felt thin air. Flicking down the HUD screen he wore he examined the ground and while he couldn't see anything, infra-red detection revealed that there was a pit in front of him. He cursed again as he realised he was being tested in the very art in which he sought to learn. At least he now knew what that voice had meant.

He turned and walked back to the doors to rethink his approach. He had a feeling that non of his gadgets would work in this situation. Sighing again he decided to trust in his feelings, which he had only recently learnt was a product of being Force Sensitive, and made his way towards a wall, hoping for the best.

 

[Onrai]

[member="Tyro'din"]

The wall would turn out to be a safe passage - but as soon as it would seem to him that he had fleshed something out, a bright flash of light would fill the entire room - and when he would look around again, everything would be completely different - the room was karking with him. Of course, Circe would never ordinarily do this - she was karking around with him because he was one individual.

A horde would be quite the issue.

 

[Tyro'din]

[member="Enigma"]

Tyro'din let out a growl when he realised the room had changed. He closed his eye and decided to follow the direction the Force led him in to prevent him from getting tricked. His annoyance with the room was obvious if someone listened to him, as he walked an audible growl trailed behind him as it rumbled in his throat.

 

[Onrai]

With this, it would seem simple enough for him to walk through, using the Force as his guide - and the pathway was indeed the way he saw. The only issue was that there appeared to be nowhere else for the Bothan to go. Three walls, and no doors aside from the one he entered into the room with. It would be up for him to figure out what was going on and how to solve it.

Hopefully, he would do so.

[member="Tyro'din"]

 

[Tyro'din]

[member="Enigma"]

Sighing as he was faced with another puzzle, Tyro'din began to doubt if this training was really all the hassle when he could be off doing missions. His trained eye flickered around the room, trying to find something to give him a hint of what to do next. When that didn't work he flicked down his HUD screen and looked using that. The screen revealed a hallway, hidden by the Force, in front of him and to the left. Flicking the screen back to rest next to his ear, he rolled his shoulders before marching towards the now blank wall and stepped through.

 

[Onrai]

The hallway in question had a long mural, featuring ancient Sith Lords and Apprentices whose names were long lost, that stretched across the hallway. It was blocked off, however, at certain points by rectangular, refrigerator-like storage units that projected from the walls. No illusions seemed to be the case here - though there was a seam at the middle of the room...

[member="Tyro'din"]

 

[Tyro'din]

[member="Enigma"]

Tyro'din sighed as he once again entered somewhere and to not find the teacher he had been looking for. He rolled his shoulders as he headed for the seam in the middle of the room, deciding to just walk through it and see what happened.

 

[Onrai]

[member="Tyro'din"]

And of course there was nothing there. Further down the hallway was a bend to the right, leading into another smaller room that let, again, into another room. There were two droids there, waiting to engage the Bothan should he attempt to enter through the correct door.

Another challenge, though this one was more physical.

 

[Tyro'din]

[member="Enigma"]

Tyro'din kept walking through the building, fighting back his feelings of annoyance as any good agent should. Eventually he came out of the corridor into the room with the two droids and smirked. It looked like he was now being tested in physical combat as well as mental and Force skill. He settled slowly into a relaxed and ready stance, withdrawing one of his knives as he did so and holding it in a reverse grip, letting the droids make the first move. He was slightly annoyed that he would be fighting droids as his usual fighting style wouldn't work on droids, but he didn't let it bother him.

 

[Tyro'din]

[member="Enigma"] (OOC: Sorry this took me so long.)


Tyro'din centred himself as he stood stock still in the centre of the room. His feet were positioned shoulder width apart with the left placed forwards. His knew were bent and his weight was resting on the balls of his feet. The Bothan's left arm was held behind his back, hand clenched in a fist while the right was held in a mirror opposite position in front of his chest, with the knife held in that hand. He smirked as adrenaline began to pump through his system as his keen ears picked up the sound of one droid running towards him from behind, activating its electrostaff as it went, and his sight picked up the droid in front of him coping its partner.

Running forwards Tyro'din slid under the thrust from Droid One, bringing himself within its guard. Throwing himself backwards onto his back Tyro'din kicked his legs up onto the staff before rolling to the side to avoid the strike from Droid Two. Pushing himself to his feet, Tyro'din lashed out with the knife, digging it into One's shoulder, severing one of the pumps that delivered fluid to the droid's arm which allowed it to grasp the staff. Leaving the knife there, Tyro'din twisted his body while ducking, avoiding Two's attack, and bear hugged One. Reaching around Tyro'din grasped the staff and picked his feet up off the floor while rolling backwards. The result was One falling backwards with him, taking a strike to the chest plate from Two which caused it to spasm and release the staff as it went off line for a moment before rolling off Tyro'din from the momentum of the fall. Jumping to his feet, Tyro'din span the staff around himself before settling into a stance.

Twisting the staff Tyro'din block a swing at him from Two before using the momentum to twist his body around and kick at Two's head. Landing Tyro'din thrust out with the staff, missing Two as it jumped back, before thrusting backwards, hitting One as it pushed to its feet, shocking it and forcing it to go off line again. Ignoring the once again motionless One Tyro'din launched a flurry of attacks against Two. A mix of overhead strikes, swings and thrusts kept coming close to Two but always missed as the droid managed to block each strike but kept losing ground.

Smirking, Tyro'din delivered a feint at Two, which it easily stopped, before turning and running at the also running One. Reaching the droid, Tyro'din lashed out with more attacks, each one hitting One as it no longer had anything to block with. With an electronic moaning sound One dropped, no longer able to keep functioning after the numerous strikes.

Tyro'din howled as he dropped to his knees after taking a strike from Two to his left side, his blind side, dropping the staff he held as he did so. Reaching forwards the Bothan ripped his knife free of One before twisting and throwing it at Two, taking a shot at his gut as he did so. Muscles twitching, he crawled backwards, withdrawing knife after knife from his person and hitting Two with each one. Finally his back hit the wall and Tyro'din stared up at the knife ridden droid above him, growling as he did so.

Suddenly he smirked and gestured with his hand. The staff that he had dropped came flying through the air impacted with the back of Two and dropped it to the ground as it went of line for a moment due to the charge held in the staff. Growling again, Tyro'din yanked the staff out of Two hands and through it across the room before sitting on the droid. Taking the staff that he had just used to take out the droid, Tyro'in began to work out his anger by beating the droid with it continuously until it too let out an electronic moaning sound as it deactivated. Sighing, Tyro'din deactivated the staff he was holding before sending it to join the other staff. He then went around the room picking up his used knives and replacing them in their hiding places.

After taking one last look around the room for any knives he may have forgotten, Tyro'din turned and marched out through the door.

 

[Onrai]

[member="Tyro'din"]

All that was left now was a straight hallway leading down to a massive set of double doors. That was all that appeared to be left in the way of the Bothan seeking such arcane knowledge. There was an issue, though - the doors were seemingly locked together by an intricate mechanism, and in concert, as though it couldn't get that much more difficult, they were massive and made of solid bronzium.

This was the final challenge.