Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!
Objectives: Kaas City Defense
Enemies: [member="Matsu Xiangu"], Undead Monstrosity
Allies: [member="[member="Jenson Koraz"]"] [member="Zayen"] [member="Joza Perl"] [member="George O Rourke"]
Location: Inside Kaas City
"We must hold our ground!" Jenson yelled as he reached his fellow defenders, "If they reach the city all is lost!" Taking a second to focus, Jenson picked up three large chunks off rock and hurled them like cannon balls at the monstrosity that slowly lumbered toward them. They smacked into its head, but the monster barely seemed to feel it. It roared and continued to approach.
"We have to take out that monster!" Jenson turned to the gunslinger and the Natolaun, "Follow me! With the Force on our side we cannot fail!"
"4-D7, concentrate your fire on that lumbering gargantua!"
"Exclamation: Great Maker, Mistress! Do you know the odds of my surviving an attack on ... THAT?!"
"Never tell me the odds!"
The Legacy turned about and headed toward the meandering, mountainous monstrosity.
"Statement: This is all your fault!" the droid said to Kori, who lifted her head sleepily and looked bewildered.
Aldy, twin blasters thinning the heinous hordes, followed her blue-skinned ally, hopeful that she would not run out of power packs for her blasters, yet also disappointed in herself for unleashing so much violence, even against the undead.
Look at the bravery of those around me, fighting in close-quarters or using powers that I cannot even imagine. How brave am I to be using these blasters and depending on 4-D7 and the Legacy to save the day?
Aldy sighed heavily at what she deemed a failure on her part. Perhaps it was the Dark Side influence of Dromund Kaas which was stimulating her own deep-seated weariness ... or maybe she was gaining a bit of insight into her own character ... she did not know.
To be brave in battle proves nothing. Bravery itself proves nothing. A Jedi should be prepared to put aside fear, regret, and uncertainty and either fight, run, surrender, or die.
You are right, Master. Again, I stand corrected. My apologies.
Aldy took a cleansing breath and continued making every shot count.
Location: Kaas City
Enemies: The Big Thing
Allies: [member="Aldera Antilles"]|[member=Zayen]|[member=Jenson Koraz]|[member=George O Rourke]
Joza stumbled as Aldy pulled her up an away, effectively dispatching the zombie that had grasped at her. The blow to her head had not been a gentle tap, and her world spun as she tried to steady herself and bite back the bile that was threatening to rise in her throat. A wave of anger washed over her, cutting deep into her being as she recognized the presence of her mentor, Dune. His twisted rage had been amplified and ignited a shudder of fear along her spine, urging her back to reality.
Refocusing, Joza wiped the blood trailing down her forehead with the sleeve of her robe and took stock of the battlefield for a brief moment. Thumbing on her saber instinctively, the Zeltron was surprised to see that the majority of the living corpses had been taken out thanks to the efforts of her allies, one of which was apparently a droid.
Another heavy warning from the Force caused her to tense, her senses immediately honing in on the hulking beast that came tromping out from the jungle. Her teeth tightened just as the Sorian returned from treatment, calling out orders. Had this not been a dire situation she would have likely said something to him, but instead focused on the task at hand.
Wait, the youngling? He’s still here? Glancing back at the dark haired kid, she marveled briefly that he’d been fighting alongside them all this time and seemed to be relatively unharmed. Like hell I’m taking him back to the city. We need him.
“Stay close to me, kid!” Steeling herself, she surged forward and send out a low-angled blast of Force toward the monster, making sure to position it in such a way that it would not interfere with the trajectory of the advancing Jedi. She hoped to knock the beast off balance, or at the very least, slow it down for a moment or two. Joza would keep her eyes on the beast and the attacks that following, trying to see if it had a weakness that could be pinpointed.
Objective: Assume direct control
Allies: [member="Nikias"],Ice
Enemies: [member="Matsu Xiangu"], Zombies!
Her call for help didn't go unanswered, now that was something going right. Yet of course, being all angry and all, she didn't smile or didn't say anything to show her appreciation, she just said. "If you can hold even some of them that would be great." She said in a cold voice, then added. "And try not to die, you are needed for this mission. They spit acid and I feel they aren't that calm, so be extra careful." She was indeed pissed, and that would be read all over her tone and behaviour. And zombies being not calm was indeed a good thing, since bloodlust would make it easier to influence the minds of them... or influence the mind of someone controlling them since they wouldn't put up such a good fight, it is if we consider that these dead bodies had their own brains as well, according to her examination, she would see only two things attracting them, Dark Side energy, and the fresh blood. Which would make her a primary target right now, and it wasn't good. The zombies were seperated, yet they still targeted her. She needed time, and she needed only one of them. So, she looked at Ice, with a worrying face. "Ice. I need you to hold them off. Be careful, okay? And leave one to me." Ice wasn't that excited about this anymore, but he didn't refuse as well. So he started to run towards the zombies that were coming towards them both and jumped with a great speed to rip one's face. She just hoped everything would go better this time, and focused on her mission. Ice was indeed a good fighter, and he wouldn't be so careless this time. And [member="Nikias"], her reinforcement, well she hoped he would hold them off enough for her to act.
Then, she recognized the face of the zombie that attacked Ice before, coming towards her with such a rage, a rage more different than all the zombies. He must be a bit angry, she thought. Oh, how a perfect specimen for her experiment. So, as the zombie was coming towards her, she remembered Ice's whimpers, it played in her memory like a loop, with each second she would feel some intense emotions about destroying it completely, but she didn't, instead she Force Pulled the zombie towards her with such speed that it must've hurt even though it was a lifeless zombie. The zombie was down, yet still breathing, so, to make this even more painful for it, she cut it's legs and arms before it could react, slowly. If they were linked to their creator, it would be an effect that could reach them. Yet, she wasn't done with the body. She looked disgusted, then with another swing she cut it's jaw, now it was only a body and nothing else. "There, you are only useful to me like this. That would teach you a valuable lesson." Anyway, it was still alive, but suffering. Pain, would open the doors to someone's mind easily, and she focused on the zombie, and it only, she tried to feel its connection with the other zombies. With enough concentration, she started to feel the need to eat, feel the need to destroy, like a distant whisper. She was getting closer, closer and closer. With each information she sent more and more Mental Blasts for it to suffer and gain more information, then, for a moment, she felt something. A link, countless whispers, and one goal... One creator. "Obey." She sent a message to the connection she felt, that would confuse the zombies a bit. Needless to say, undead were disgusting creatures, and creatures that would follow who would bring them more food. "Betrayal..." She continued. "You've been betrayed by your creator. You are all going to die here. Unless..." She sent a powerful mental blast. "you obey." She continued. "Your creator... Open your link to me... I will destroy them and I will save you all... I will satisfy your hunger." Destroy, and hunger. Two keywords. The dark aura would be familiar for the zombies, since they seemed to like the taste of it. With this, she started to lend dark energy towards the link, to make her words even more reliable.
Siobhan’s arrival had been typically apocalyptic, and Nantaris had pulled up slightly to avoid getting torn from the sky by the shockwave.
As she turned her attention to the Sith, Nantaris sped in and dismounted from the speeder. Lightsabre out, he ignited the green blade and moved in beside Siobhan. Their roles were clear; Siobhan would batter the Sith with long ranged firepower, Nantaris would attack directly and hold their attention.
And so, after Siobhan’s final tsunami of power he advanced, searching for a clue as to the Sith’s status and identity, ready to leap to the assault when the time came.
[SIZE=10pt]Objective: Stay out of Nima’s way[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10pt]Allies: [/SIZE][member="Nima Tann"]
[SIZE=10pt]Enemies: Zombies[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10pt]While Nikias wasn’t new to fighting the zombies as apparent by the claw marks across his chest and the blood that flowed down his torso and staining his pants. The wound stung greatly but Nikias was lucky he’d leaned back when he had, any closer and the wookie would’ve been able to tear his entire chest open. Listening to master Nima tann, Nikias noticed that she seemed almost different from when he had met her before. The chill on her voice made Nikias feel as though she could freeze a lake. Not daring to tell the jedi master he knew what the zombies were capable of he instead turned his attention to the half that split off to sprint after him. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=10pt]Nikias really didn’t feel like he was up to much more fighting. His muscles screamed from his running and having to withstand the pressure of the zombies running into his shield. The wound across his chest felt as though it was on fire. He wasn’t a fully trained jedi that could draw on the force for long periods of time to boost himself nor to move at inhuman speeds. Though he knew he had to survive and that he couldn’t leave master tann on her own. Reaching down into his reserves nikias’ steeled himself and charged the splinter group of zombies that had moved to attack him. Lowering his shoulder as he charged Nikias met the group his shield doing the work as acid plastered against it sizzling. Upon charging his way into the fray Nikias spun, crouching at the same time to turn himself into a cyclone that cut four zombies in half at the waists. Rising to his feet Nikias immediately reentered a defensive stance his shield raised.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=10pt]Taking the chance he had Nikias looked over to check on the jedi master to see her doing something he’d never expected. The way she commanded the zombies to obey was something Nikias couldn’t come to terms with. From what he had heard from other jedi and seen none had done such a thing and yet before him master nima was doing it. Nikias didn’t know whether to follow her example or to be cautious around the jedi master if she was even still one. [/SIZE]
Location: Kaas City Wall
Allies: SSC, [member="Aldera Antilles"], [member=Zayen], [member="Joza Perl"], [member="Jenson Koraz"], [member="George O Rourke"]
Enemies: [member="Matsu Xiangu"]
As the last of the zombies fell, truly dead this time, Audren paused to take a breather. He was not used to fighting this much. Most Jedi weren't, actually. Fights between trained Force users typically were complete in a matter of minutes, and only when faced with swarms like this did they take so long. It was one of the known tactics for opposing Jedi. The current state of the galaxy had that average changing as more and more Jedi were spending time on proper battlefields instead of duels between Force users. He'd clocked his fair share of time and more on the battlefield, but this was something else. Maybe because he was fighting on a world so heavy with Darkness. That he'd yet to take even a bruise was astounding, and he knew it couldn't last.
A mere ten seconds into the breather, there came a roar louder than any he'd heard thus far today. It came from the forest, and the creature that had generated it was visible over the walls, even from a distance away. He couldn't catch a break. The Sephi settled into a light jog, one that could eat distance while not overly tiring him. It took mere minutes to arrive at the walls and climb them. Rangers manned them, and for whatever reason they used their blaster rifles rather than emplacement weapons. It took some shouting, but finally the captain was reminded of the heavier repeaters and got his men to use them as well. One of the emplacements focused on the massive creature, the other two began chewing up the normal humanoid creatures.
Below, a few Jedi were retreating from the horde. Not all wielded lightsabers, but they were Jedi all the same; it was hard to tell, but it looked like George O Rourke was part of that group. Without warning, another Jedi rushed out to meet the retreating ones. Words faintly reached the Knight, something that sounded a lot like holding their ground and something else about the city. Then something about 'cannot fail' before he charged at the bridge. Foolish boy, he would do better to send some of his rocky projectiles at the bridge itself, taking that out and denying it to the zombies. A choke point, yes, but there were multiple bridges. Cut the options, conserve resources.
For his part, Audren watched the gigantic creature. The thing was at least three times taller than most humanoids and radiated Darkness. Already they had a cannon emplacement firing on it, and now there was a ship of some sort shooting at it too. Additionally, one of the Jedi was running at it attacked it through the Force, the threads of power lashing out low. Was the elfin Knight going to help? Absolutely, yes. He needed more information though, information on how the beast reacted to the attacks on it. He couldn't simply jump in hacking and slashing at a creature many times his own size. He needed to fight smart this time.
Sorel had never believed in fate or any kind of mystic galactic justice: in her experience, whatever happened, happened. Too often the innocent suffered while evil thrived, and to the victors went the spoils. Her role was to balance that out if she could. The tide was flowing in the direction of the dark side but recent events made her wonder if it was finally turning. Even so, when her own circumstances dipped, she couldn't help wondering if this were some kind of cosmic comeuppance for abandoning the Republic Jedi.
A new kind of darkness had risen up from the landscape now like some night within the night. In the distance, Sorel heard more screams but closer she heard the advancing creatures and their cries. They were not random, these screams — they rose up and swooped down, oscillating, rising from different directions. And without warning, they came at her. And at the center was a creature so large and so powerful, she instinctively knew she could not face it and hope to live. Crushing waves, one from either side, poured in on her right and left. She smelled them, heard their screams, the stomp of their advance, seconds before they would have ripped her limb from limb.
She took the only exit available — up— through the damaged ceiling. It was a tight fit but she crawled through the narrow space and was at least fortunate it would slow the following creatures, given she was sure they would advance. And she hoped the huge creature could not follow at all.
She crawled quickly and to her left she saw a new exit and she made for it and dropped down. It appeared to be some kind of training simulation chamber, a wide, high space full of elaborately machined devices that protruded from the floor and walls, even down from the ceiling-pillars, pinions, retracted coils, and battering rams. But that quick impression was all that she was able to absorb before the ceiling burst open above her, no doubt due to the weight, allowing a flood of bodies to come spewing into the space with her.
The opening forced the things to enter in pairs, and Sorel managed to bring the first and second ones down with her saber. The headless corpses dropped to the floor with a gurgle and she quickly went to work on the bodies, severing legs and arms. That was when she looked around and realised how many more had come in.
Location: Kaas City Walls
Allies: [member="Audren Sykes"] | [member="Joza Perl"] | [member="Aldera Antilles"] | [member="Dune Rhur"] | [member="Zayen"] | [member="Jenson Koraz"]
Enemies: Horde plus big fat ugly looking thing.
As George fought the horde on the front lines it was becoming more and more difficult little creatures came from within, exploding in front of George. Catching acid over his clothes, lucky he managed to shield his face. Holes appeared in his robes which lead George to leave it behind. As more of the undead continued to attack George continued his charge. However he seemed alone, he had lost vision of his fellow Jedi Dune and was now seemingly alone. The attack at the horde was pointless, George managed to decapitate a few, but as one dropped two more took its place, soon it was George was on the defence, retreating back to the city.
In his retreat he heard a huge booming sound coming from the forest. George stopped and turned in astonishment. Fek. The only thing in his head as he looked at the creature in front of him. As it moved closer blasts of the force could be seen attack at the low extremities of the beast. George looked to see Joza attacking whilst defending what seemed to be the youngling from before. But where was Dune? George hadn't seen him for a while and in honest Joza was the first person he had seen in a while. But it was not the time for idle chat. George tried to get its attention, but it wasn't alone, the strongest of the horde flooded forward with the beast, in front of it. It was a problem. George circled the beast in an arc. Flanking the advancing horde. He ignited both lightsabers and entered the fray again. He had the advantage, but he didn't want it. He wanted the attention, mainly of the beast where he could give the remaining Jedi time to find a weakness and exploit it.
OOC: Sorry got caught up in RL. Hope this makes sense to everyone, still a little short of time, did my best to catch up on the storyline without messing it all up. Let me know if I did screw up and I'll get onto fixing it. Cheers.
Sith zombies — she simply knew it was the case. Every so often, the universe must just get bored and decide to really cut loose. Like the corpses that had come her in the tunnel most of them had already started to rot. Others were missing whole pieces of their faces and outer musculature, turning them into walking pathology lessons without the common courtesy to lie down and die. All of them surged forward with the eager speed of things whose appetite — for flesh, or for death —would never be fully slaked.
Sorel jumped for one of the overhead support struts and swung herself up onto it, shimmying toward the control booth that she'd noticed up above. It was a challenge with only one good hand, Anything that could follow her so far would have no problem scrambling up one of these girders. But she had noticed something else up here, and although it probably wasn't enough to tip the battle in her favour, it might give her the edge.
And the edge was all she needed.
Sorel quick cut a hole through the booth's viewport with her saber, gouging out an opening large enough to drag herself through, and turned around to face the wide, curved instrumentation panel that she assumed controlled the entire training facility below.
The dead things were swarming in even more thickly now, crawling all over one another in an attempt to move forward. Some of them had already started trying to grapple their way up into the booth after her. Sorel readied for the simulator controls, found one labeled SWING-ARM 23-245, and hit the switch.
LOCATION: Edge of the jungle right outside Kaas City ENEMIES: [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] | [member="Valiens Nantaris"] ZOMBIE ACTIVITY: Main horde coalescing to press against the wall. Various massive-class creatures roaming the Jungle, a few near the wall. Attacking weapons emplacements and eating some tasty Jedi. If I have forgotton anyone, PLEASE tag me in the OOC thread.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xwPc8cqcmQ
MATSU | It was a signature she knew - its own, unique and not calling one or the other side its own with any finality. She’d felt it before in a battle that seemed multiple lifetimes in the past. But back then, whomever it was had been her partner though they’d never truly seen or acknowledged one another. That had been a battle to stop something monstrous from cutting its own swath of destruction through the galaxy.
Matsu had assumed that role now, standing in the path of the telekinetic powerhouse instead of at her proverbial side.
The Sith had some skill in telekinesis herself, but the second she felt the swell in the Force she knew it wasn’t anywhere near the sort of talent she could rely on to stand toe-to-toe with the other woman. So instead of attempting some grand stand-off of hands outstretched in an attempt to intercept or deflect the blast, she used the seconds she had to start trying to worm her way in to the Dark Jedi’s mind. It was easiest to begin when an opponent was thinking about something else, even something clearly as trivial as gathering such the shockwave was. As the invisible tsunami bore down on her, embers and burning leaves flaring in the tumble of its wake, she snuck in as a spider - (legs sharp and yellow and ready for war, as like to puncture the surface as crawl along the outside).
But alas, only seconds it was, and soon she was caught in the wave - a small thing in the undertow, reaching for the safety of shore despite accepting that her struggling only pulled her farther from the surety of land.
Twisting her head over her shoulder to glance towards the trees, she used her own paled skill to shove off a treetrunk with the Force just enough to switch her trajectory and eject the claws in her metallic hands to latch on to a tree trunk. It kept her close to the battle instead of flying backwards through the jungle to land on Force-knew-what - impaled, or worse. The wind was knocked out of her as she slammed against the tree, but she used it to fuel her assault on her opponent’s mind. Where telekinetics seemed this woman’s strength, mentalism was Matsu’s.
She sensed the arrival of another - much lighter than the creature she was currently attempting to scramble - and doubled her efforts, her invasion sure to sound as much like the zombies screeching inside her opponent’s head as without it. Her back was aching from her impact after the blast of energy she’d been caught up within, but as she retracted her claws and dropped to the ground - the red blade of her saber igniting in defense against the second comer - she bore down on the beskar-clad woman. It felt like she might have cracked a rib as agony tore through her - but pain was perfection! THANK YOU!
Turn that power on yourself. Turn it on yourself. Turn it on yourself. Turn all that strength around and choke on it.
[member="Jenson Koraz"] | Zombies fell to either side of the bridge as they attempted both to dogpile the Sorian in their way or simply to run around him as it became obvious too many had already claimed him as a potential meal. In that sense more than a few plummeted to messy deaths at the bottom of the cliffs surrounding Kaas City. But still more came for the Jedi defending the wall, seeing only the potential for food behind its stalwart defense.
Gunner emplacements along the bridges - a long-standing Sith defense, nasty and brutal and meant as another layer of defense against incoming attackers - were manned by Jedi doing a good job of clearing out the zombies, but one in particular could be heard screaming as a few of the more intelligent Undead climbed up to his place in the seat and pulled him down. Their teeth sank in to him to the tune of horrified screeching as the man who’d been beating them back only seconds before fell to their disgusting hands.
One of the zombies sat in his seat, cackling as it grabbed the yoke and started shooting at Jedi pouring out from behind the Wall to defend the city, making a meal for itself of fallen warriors not expecting their own defenses turned against them.
[member="Jericho"] | “Sir,” came the voice of one of his underlings, a tremor there that the Ensign hated the sound of. “Sir, the enemy has breached the ship.”
The Ensign sighed, that part of his brainstem that was no longer his own since Matsu Xiangu had gotten hold of him buzzing with an order he could not ignore. He wanted to ignore it. But it was out of his control. She’d taken his freewill off his hands the moment he’d sat down in front of her.
“Whoever it is killed her Favored,” the shaky-voiced assistant relayed.
“You know what we have to do,” the Ensign said, looking out the viewport at the trees swaying in the storm outside. “You know the price of failure.” The assistant turned away, going to activate What Must Be Done. It had been harsh: ‘don’t let anyone set foot on the ship, and if they do - blow it to hell.’ If the Jedi got their hands on where she stored and grew her armies, the Message would be made that much harder to spread. Everything had to be destroyed - the chance could not be taken. And they would be destroyed with it. No mouths to spill the truth.
He let out one last sigh before the entire ship exploded and his world stopped. An enormous fireball that lit up the ever-dark sky caught all the trees around it within its blast radius. With any luck, the Jedi would perish as well.
[member="Connor Harrison"] | There was a thing that even the other Undead avoided, that was let off the ship long after its travelling companions for fear it would destroy half the army before it’d even found land. It would eat anything - a vulture of a beast, crunching living and undead bones alike between massive jaws. It only knew hunger, and perhaps some sliver of undying rage at what had been done to it. Its claws grew corpse-rot, an undead Abomination hell-bent only on destroying whatever was foolish enough to get in its way.
The sound of Connor’s squad firing wildly at the few that had been trying to outrun the Abomination before being distracted by a potential meal drew the beast closer.
Thump, thump, THUMP, THUMP, THUMP, THUMP,THUMP!
The ground shook with its approach, birds billowing from the safety of their perches as It made way. Towering high above the treeline, it wrapped two clawed fists around trees in the patch of clearing Connor and his crew were passing through and shoved them down in to the muddy earth, the ancient bark snapping like toothpicks in its fists. It roared, the putrid stench of something long dead escaping its maw as the lightning lit its rain-soaked skin for a glimpse of its monstrous form.
Reaching down, it grabbed one of the team, squeezing its fist and popping the man like a grape before throwing the gore back on the ground at Connor’s feet, following the insult by trying to add injury with the second fist flying through the air to crush the Jedi Master.
[member="Joza Perl"], [member="Zayen"], [member="Aldera Antilles"], [member="Audren Sykes"], & [member="George O Rourke"] | If there was one thing her Undead were capable of besides hunger, it was anger. The two emotions went hand in hand - instincts ingrained in the brainstem, the lowest form of consciousness that Matsu had reawakened in them. Hunger went with anger as a means to survive, to tap in to something desperate when the chips were down and it was just You or Them. These creatures, vile and evil and made from the sort of thing no one wanted to acknowledge, were more desperate than anyone living could imagine.
Cannon emplacements hit it relentlessly, bits of flesh sloughing off as ordinance got stuck within its tangled, rotten flesh. It roared in starvation, stomping its massive feet against the muddy ground and burying several attacking Jedi in the tsunami of earth.
The Nautolan trying to catch its attention certainly did, another roar cutting through the storm as it reached down and tried to crush him with a fist, its fingers digging deep in to the ground with the force of its slam. It could feel the telekinetic blast thrown at its feet but barely flinched, turning its face towards the Jedi that sent it and almost sneering, if such a thing were possible.
As it turned its head to look at her however, it revealed two putrid, glowing yellow patches on the back of its neck. They appeared softer and vulnerable - perhaps the only part of its body that wasn’t shielded in something that looked like rock.
[member="Nima Tann"] & [member="Nikias"] | The tired and unsure would get a break for a moment as the horde in the clearing froze in their tracks, a voice they didn’t recognize sounding in their hive-mind.
“I will satisfy your hunger…”
Matters of betrayal mattered little. The woman who’d raised them had given them nothing but darkness and agony - she’d either killed what they used to be, or raised them from peaceful death to come to this place and hunt - and yet they still served her. The petty rivalries of the living were completely lost on them. But hunger...that, they understood.
Collectively they shuddered, a sudden swelling before the Jedi Master would feel a hollowness indicating the drain such a takeover would cost her. Touching something like what Matsu had created had its cost, though surely the Jedi must know that. It would only happen if someone was willing to fold over to the Dark, to touch it with abandon and feel Passion, Hate, Anger...to betray their oath to the Light.
Within moments, every zombie in the clearing she stood within was hers to command.
[member="Sorel Crieff"] | As the arm swung around, dozens of zombies let out screams of anger as they were spun headlong away from the only living thing in the room. It spun and spun, leaving smears of zombies and random limbs strewn about in all directions. Most of the torsos still had arms attached, reaching with struggling fingers towards the woman high above them. Most however, were taken out of commission.
Despite the fell swoop, a few had managed to evade the arm. They came lightning-fast, spider-like, predatory as they scrambled up over the machinery to get to the glass box in which the Jedi had settled.
Pounding their fists against it, the reinforced glass held out for a while though under the combined fury of unstoppably hungry beasts it began to crack. Rivulets of white spidered over the glass under the pounding fists of the Undead, the more desperate ones smashing their faces against the glass in grotesque paintings of ever increasing smears of black blood. The sound of their teeth clacking against the glass sounded like insects as they snapped their hungry mouths at prey just out of their reach - for the moment. They blocked all obvious escape routes from the booth.
The dead things were swarming in even more thickly now, crawling all over one another in an attempt to move forward. Some of them had already started trying to grapple their way up into the booth after her.
The simulator had responded instantly. Two massive pillars swung down from either side of the ceiling, slamming straight into the swarm of bodies, smashing them aside and sending them flying. Sorel winced, not entirely satisfied with the result. This wasn't how being a Jedi was supposed to be, but the numbers were against her and she needed every advantage she could marshal in her defence. Aware they were now at the glass, and that it wouldn't hold for long, she activated another sequence, choosing one at random. Slots opened up along the ceiling, spitting loops of razor wire from both sides of the room, stretching out as the things staggered and stumbled and caught themselves, screaming. You had to hand it to the Sith, they knew how to build barbaric training apparatus. Nothing like this would be found in a Jedi Academy.
She glanced back down at the controls. The monitor screen to her right was now glowing bright green, outlining the entire suite of possibilities for her in a clean, ray-traced diagram, the cursor awaiting its next command. She chose one called PINJI STICK and tapped the EXECUTE key.
The right half of the floor whipped open and a spring-loaded row of gleaming hydraulic rods burst up from below, where – by all rights – they should have rammed the zombie things straight backward, or possibly impaled them through the feet.
But something else happened instead.
The things jumped back, en masse, just a split second before the rods had burst up. It was like watching a single prescient organism reacting to a perceived threat. They moved with unbelievable speed and agility, as if they'd known exactly what she was going to do, even before she'd known she was going to do it.
She gaped down in disbelief through the now blood-smeared glass before the spiders-web of fractures finally gave way. On the positive side, some of the creatures fell down at the same time the glass smashed. On the other hand, half a dozen were stunned but still able to scramble in to the booth. An enclosed space with no discernable exit.
Were they using the Force? Or their version of it? Would a zombie Force User still be able to call upon it? She didn't have time for a theoretical review as more of the things were swinging up the pendulum arms that Sorel had released, dodging the obstacles from both directions – they knew she was up here, and were intent on finishing her. Even the ones that had been stunned by the breaking glass had already recovered and were now entering the booth. And they seemed to have done so with unprecedented speed. Her frown deepened. For the first time since the death of her Master, she actually felt her confidence waver.
She took a step back, evaluating her options, and felt something strike her shoulder from behind. Pivoting, already prepared to rip apart whatever had snuck up behind her, she saw the bright metallic eyes fixating on her from the chromium casing of their processors. It recoiled with an electronic burble of surprise, and Sorel realised that she was looking at an old HK droid.
Fight night! Oh, dear, this one has been watching too many Batman v Superman trailers. Did this make the NPC Dark Lord Lex? Both were lame. Anyhow, the duel continued. Dark Goddess vs...Dark Goddess! Mentalist vs Telekineticist! Redhead vs. Brunette! Sith vs. Dark Jedi!
Anyhow, Siobhan experienced a stab of satisfaction when the Goddess of the Undead was lifted by her overpowered telekinetic shockwave and slammed into a tree. However, this feeling did not last long as Matsu's invisible claws sliced into her mind.
Waves upon waves of agony coursed through Siobhan when the mentalist unleashed her full power upon her. By now, after getting mind raped a truly absurd number of times, to a point where she wondered whether there might be a sadistic spirit directing her life, Siobhan had become a lot more proficient at shielding her mind. However, her focus had been on telekinetically pummelling Matsu. While this did not mean her barriers were lowered, it gave Matsu an opening.
Such was the force of the brutal onslaught that Siobhan's bolter fell out of her grasp and she was slammed into the ground, falling upon the foul smelling remains of a zombie who'd been blown to bits by the air strike earlier. Her mind reeled as she felt stabs of searing agony, like hundreds of knives slicing through her. She could hear loud screeches everywhere, like thousands of voices rising up in a crescendo towards the heavens. Blood seeped out of her abused eardrums.
Beads of sweat dripped down her face and back as she sought to regain focus. Pain is just weakness leaving the body, she told herself, as if it were a mantra. Her defences had been penetrated and she let the outer walls of her fortress crumble, retreating back into the citadel and slamming the metaphorical beskar door shut when the mental tendrils sought entrance. However, some managed to slither through and grabbed her like vices, trying to pull her down into the depths of madness and plunge her into the dark abyss.
Turn that power on yourself. Turn it on yourself. Turn it on yourself. Turn all that strength around and choke on it.
Feth off. Want to have some fun? I'll give you some. Siobhan felt she was being pulled down into the abyss. Images flashed through her mind as she struggled to separate reality from illusion. She struggled to breathe and strain was etched across her features. Then she hit back with brutal force.
"I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain."
Get out. The words were like a psychic roar as she drew upon her anger and pain, letting both fuel her. Adrenaline and a feeling of intense rage surged through her like a drug. It was like an overpowering, ecstatic rush, a strong desire to crush her opponent. Siobhan could not hope to match Matsu in a purely mental duel. But her mind was not without defences and so she manifested massive invisible talons, brutally slicing through the tendrils of madness as she tried to violently slam Matsu out of her mind.
Stretching out with her mind, she wrapped tremendous telekinetic willpower upon the Sith's tibias like a massive vicegrip. These were the load-bearing bones in the calf. It was very bad if you lost them. Her gauntlet-covered, bruised fingers curled into a fist when she unleashed her might, clamping down upon the woman's legs with a surge of power.
Siobhan's forte was telekinesis and she was terribly pissed off. She could 'see' those bones inside her mind and envisage them bending, fracturing and breaking. She sought to will them to splinter and shatter like dry wood before her might. Obviously this meant withdrawing energy from her mental defence as she poured her focus into crippling the Sith. The sight of the necromancer being broken would bring her pleasure.
Location:Outside of The Citadel and Kaas City, Dromund Kaas Objective: Defeat ‘Abomination’ / [member="Matsu Xiangu"] Allies In The Surrounding Area: [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] | [member="Valiens Nantaris"] | All SSC welcome to interact/intercept
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwHNeYx9XKM
As the ground shook beneath him, Connor stopped with the Ranger, their run slowing to lazy steps before halting. This wasn’t good.
A cold trickle of ice ran down his spine, each nerve tingling with that sense of dread he had hoped to avoid. An ominous thud…thud….thud was coming closer and the dry earth under their feet tremored. He already knew what to expect – some native beast lumbering through the undergrowth under assault from the invading forces ripping apart one’s home.
Turning in unison to their right, with the Citadel up ahead of them peeking from the trees, neither Jedi or soldier expected to see what was heading their way, pulling apart tree trunks like toothpicks and dragging up soil and rock with the huge claws it walked on. Connor doubted they’d ever reach the Citadel now thanks to Miss Xiangu’s pet – for something this monstrous could only be a pet to someone like her.
The giant beast, a solid mass of what looked like muscle and bone, seemed to stand on its hind legs for a moment, before lurching forward and taking the Ranger in its fatal grip. Connor watched on in horror as mere seconds later the solider was nothing but mangled gore and broken armour falling in chunks from the talon of death to the ground. It was enough to make him wretch and take his strength not to vomit. His legs stumbled back, his hand shaking as he looked up.
He was dwarfed by the beast, and only due to its sheer size did Connor see the long arm pull back heavily for a killing swipe. Eyes widening in shock, Connor turned and threw himself hard out of the way. The claw dragged up the earth and crashed into the ground, sending a shockwave out that twirled Connor sideways across the ground on his side, the very side Matsu had scarred in a very similar way years before.
Not hesitating one second, Connor rolled over, his cowl torn and handing raggedly off his back. The cocking of its ugly, deformed head was a signal this beast was about to attack again.
"…..run."
Connor bolted forwards towards the huge beast – this abomination – and ducked between the hind legs and ran as fast as his feet would carry him. He knew the city well and had been here once, but that didn’t mean he would whizz along with the Force amplifying his speed; he’d end up running into a tree and knocking himself out. No – Connor wanted to stay alert, and so kept his focus and mind free. There was still a Sith Sorceress on the loose and hordes of undead taking apart the area, and his friends and allies were out there somewhere.
The roar behind him signalled he was being hunted and the ground shook more as the beast came for him. Connor ducked branches, batting them out of the way and sticking as close as he could to the trees on his outskirt of the jungle. He could hear and feel the impact of fallen trunks and splintering wood rained around him as the brute chased.
Turning sharply left, Connor ran, or rather slid, down a muddy incline to a lower area of the jungle, alongside a stream, and past a number of mangled bodies, face down in the water. Connor knew where he wanted to go – higher ground, just as he did months ago on Tatooine to take down the Krayt Dragon. However, as his knee gave way and he fell face first into the stream from the impact of the chasing beast jumping down to catch him, it was not going to be easy.
Avoiding another strike, Connor rolled and ignited his lightsaber for a careless and desperate strike against the claw. It struck, a nice slice of cauterised blood drawn across it’s limb. 1% damage done. That wasn’t near enough. The Silver Jedi didn’t hang around. He quickly pushed away again, and set off along the stream towards the Citadel.
As George caught the attention of the beast it almost seemed like a bad idea. It turned to face the Jedi at which this time he only had one thing to say. "Feth." It was at this moment, he knew he screwed up. With the beasts attention turned to George it let out a huge roar before slamming its fist down at George, fortunately George managed to miss it as he dove backwards. However he could get away from the tsunami of earth that followed it. As the fist hit the ground, it dug in creating a wave of dirt which managed to catch George, throwing him backwards and burring him underneath a little of it.
As George gathered himself and scrapped the dirt of his chest, he sat up realizing the beast had once again changed its attention. It was back on the wall and those surrounding it as it seemed Joza had sent a what seemed to be a powerful force wave at the beast, however it shook it off as if it was nothing. It seemed to have no weakness, the entire body was a strong as bone, the size of it made it almost impossible to out fight. But as it moved across George saw something, two big yellow circles of what seemed to be flesh on its back. The only real place it seemed vulnerable. George got back to his feet and sprinted back at the beast. Taking out all that was in his way, he swiftly made for the beasts leg. He jumped as high as he could and quickly climbed the rest of the way, trying to get to the yellow fleshly dots. It was a long climb and the beast was sure to notice sooner or later.
Enemies: [member="Matsu Xiangu"]
Allies: [member="George O Rourke"], @Joza Pearl, [member="Aldera Antilles"], [member="Zayen"]
Location: Outside Kaas City
Objective: Neutralize the guns
Jenson fought on, a whirlwind of blue saber and flying rocks. As he cleared out a particularly nasty pocket with a massive chunk of rock, he sensed more Jedi coming. He turned for the briefest of moments and saw a group of Jedi and Silver Sanctum soldiers flooding out of the gates of the city.
"What took you so long!" Jenson called as happiness filled him. The Jedi in the lead started to say something, but was suddenly riddled with a flurry of laser blasts.
"No!" Jenson cried as he deflected another burst aimed at him. He followed the path of the blasts and saw an undead manning one of the gun positions. More Jedi were attempting to break through and stop him, but numerous zombies were holding them back.
"Form a defensive line!" Jenson yelled at one of the troopers, "Stay behind the Knights, and push these things back to where they came from!" With that, the soldier, a little surprised to be receiving orders from a Padawan, nodded a little confusedly and directed his troops. The group of soldiers, about twenty in all, opened fire on the undead, killing dozens with their precise blaster fire. There were still a good many undead remaining, but with the assistance of the supporting soldiers and the remaining defensive guns, the zombie numbers were finally beginning to thin. They only had to hold on a little bit longer. Then a less-than precise stream of laser bolts reminded Jenson of his current problem.
With his sword drawn and blazing, Jenson charged the gun position, deflecting all attempts by the gun to stop him. About twenty undead moved to stop him, but Jenson's blade was too fast. He moved among them like a bolt of blue lighting, slashing and stabbing so fast the zombies had no idea what had hit them. When he reached the wall, Jenson stabbed the zombie at the bottom of the climbing chain, bringing the entire living ladder down. He dispatched the fallen undead, then crouched down and summoned his power. Yelling a battle cry, he launched himself upwards with a Force-assisted jump, his power strengthened by adrenaline. He landed on the barrel of the gun and the zombie barely had time to scream before Jenson plunged his saber through its face and into the chair behind it. Jenson Force-lifted the zombie out of the gun and threw him aside.
Jenson slid into the gun chair and turned it on the undead on the walls, ripping into them as they held back the Jedi. He did the same thing with the other side, then turned the barrel on the zombie monstrosity. He saw that the Natolaun was beginning an attack and decided to help. He opened up with a barrage of laser fire that struck the monstrosity over and over.
"Yeeeee-haw!" Jenson could help screaming as the gun vibrated in his hands.
Aldy fired her twin blasters at the front of the abomination. Though they simply seemed to bounce off, she added her firepower to that of [member=Jenson Koraz"] in order to buy time for [member="George O Rourke"] to accomplish his apparent objective.
"4-D7, target the front of that monstrosity. I repeat, target the front only!"
"Weary Statement: As you desire, Mistress. But I am going to be taking a long hot oil bath when this is all over."
Telekinetic Titan vs Mentalist Master, sounded like a bad pairing from Galactic Wrestling League! Still, the two clashed, unleashing hideous amounts of mental and physical Force power upon each other.
Unable to really aid Siobhan mentally – his own skills at mentalism being entirely defensive – Nantaris decided to assist in a more practical way.
As Matsu was assailed by a force attempting to crack her bones Nantaris hoped she would be distracted – he knew he would be!
Taking a deep breath he took two steps forward and called on the Force to leap into the air. Jetting with considerable power, he closed the gap in a single bound and attacked with his lightsabre. The plan was quite simple; Siobhan would provide the caster dps role, Nantaris would tank.
Still, his green blade was quite powerful, his opponent’s phrik arms aside, it would kill Matsu just as much as a telekinetic crushing…if he hit.
Hoping to exploit Matsu’s distraction, his blade chopped diagonally down, hoping to cleave her torso in two whilst keeping himself back in case Matsu recovered and riposted.
Location: Kaas City
Allies: [member="Audren Sykes"] [member="Jenson Koraz"] [member="George O Rourke"] [member="Zayen"] [member="Aldera Antilles"]
Enemies: Uglier, rockier Groot
Joza grimaced when the great hulking beast turned its attention toward her, feeling a keen sting of fear at being singled out, almost. Ugh… It appeared that her attempt at Force push was fruitless, but her eyes brightened when they caught sight of the fleshy patches at the back of the creature’s neck. It appeared that she wasn’t the only one who had noticed, as the Nautolan Jedi was somehow able to begin scaling the creature. Is this the bravery of a true Jedi?
Chewing on her bottom lip, Joza knew that she had to help the others buy time for George. If they could just hold out long enough for the Knight to strike at the vulnerable part of the beast, they might be alright. But there were a lot of ifs, and Joza specialized in dueling with most of her abilities being limited to close range. She glanced over at Aldy who was still firing away, wishing that she had blasters of her own in this moment. Can’t back down now.
In an attempt to distract the beast from the Jedi hiking his way up, the Padawan would reach out with her free hand and use the Force to grasp a hold of some loose rocks. With a punching motion, she would send them hurdling toward the creature’s eye. They weren't much, and even if they didn’t hit their mark, her goal was to take its attention off of George.
Location: Rear of The Citadel, Kaas City; Dromund Kaas Objective: Defeat ‘Abomination’ / [member="Matsu Xiangu"] Allies In The Surrounding Area: All SSC welcome to interact/intercept
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfLUX3ZHqkY
The shockwave again sent him flying forward, his legs hitting the ground first and sending the Jedi into a roll across the ground with a pained grunt, across a floor littered with decayed bodies and shrapnel. The Abomination roared and splintered another tree in an attempt to crush the Jedi Master, now having his path severely altered in running to the Citadel.
Connor rolled onto his back and pushed himself up, blood and mud and water and bark from the ground sticking to him; the plan wasn’t working – the beast was too big to evade and there was nothing he could do except take it on here and now.
Gritting his teeth, the muscle in his jaw flinching, Connor clenched his knuckles, one palm over saber hilt. Sometimes however, the lightsaber was nothing more than a hindrance against a bigger foe. Give him a plasma rifle or laser cannon against this beast any day of the week.
It was David v Goliath of epic proportions.
The Jedi held his hand out and pulled at the wound on the Abominations leg, tearing the flesh and pulping the muscle with a barrage of Force energy to serve as a simple distraction. The best roared; Connor ran back through a large hollow tree log and slid down behind it and pushed his body to the damp bank and held his breath.
There was silence, bar the beast’s loud sniffing and grunting. In the distance, a ship roared over the trees and blaster fire could be heard. Connor’s heartbeat was thumping louder than anything, and he gingerly lifted his head up to see down into the riverbed, running along the lower section of the jungle.
The Abomination was sniffing around, circling and swiping at the ground, taking up clumps of rock and grass and undead bodies. Connor watched from his temporary cover and shifted position. Then he moved.
Lunging up on to the bank, and onto the large hollow log, Connor pushed himself down with a strong Force push through his body that was enough to split the log in half with a loud crack. This in turn span the Abomination around, bones gleaming through skin beside fanged teeth. Connor held a hand out, as well as a foot, and ignited his blade in the seconds he was travelling through the air towards the creature.
He impacted on the side of the beast’s head and clamped onto one of the bones with his free hand and, just like he did to the Krayt Dragon on Tatooine, he plunged the energy blade into the fragile nasal cavity, or at least where he expected it to be, and pushed as hard as he could. With a brief burst of skin and muscle, Connor pulled down hard to do as much internal damage as possible – sever the optical nerve, bludgeon the mouth, sever the spinal cord – anything!
With a deep roar, the Abomination reared up and bucked it’s head, forcing Connor to let go of both his lightsaber and the bone to fall off down into the stream. Wasting no time, he scrambled forward, tearing his cowl from a wild strike by the beast in agony, and ran forward into the jungle.
Connor turned, hiding behind a tree, and caught his breath. His armour rose and fell with his chest, and he looked a right state. Even more annoyingly, his lightsaber of over 10 years was now rooted into the muscle of Matsu Xiangu’s pet face. What a way to go. He could see the green leaves and brown bark flutter and shake from the pained protest of the beast. Something had been done by the attack internally, but Connor didn’t know what.
Thankfully, the beast didn’t follow – he just made out the shape of a violently bucking animal that was lashing out at anything to combat the pain he was feeling. Part of Connor felt bad for not being able to deliver a killing blow and end it’s pain…but it was either him or the beast. And Connor wasn’t ready for dying. Not today.
As the beast could return for a final rampage any minute, there was no time to waste. There were others in the vicinity, and more creatures he expected to find. Plus, Matsu Xiangu was still on the loose. Looking around, the Citadel peak to his left now, Connor ran forward to head towards the outskirts of the jungle and into the open clearing to gauge where best to run and defend – the mighty Citadel, or the grand City – and find those who needed his help.
Location: Formerly where as Matsu's ship was before the boom.
Allies: [member="Connor Harrison"] [member="Audren Sykes"] [member="Jenson Koraz"] [member="George O Rourke"] [member="Zayen"] [member="Aldera Antilles"] [member="Joza Perl"]
Enemies: Matsu and her horde
Objective: Return to SSC for medical assistance/avoid capture aka being eaten.
Matsu's men did something he would never had of expected. Blow up their entire ship filled with the remaining monsters and knowledge on how to make them. Just as the power came the power left, all needed to sustained a barrier strong enough and long enough to do keep him alive in such an explosion. Without the force or his sorcery, he was but a man. A man with a limb and three nubs, his cybernetic clip ons melted after the overwhelming burst of strength. But his body was at its limit, he could not conjure his magic and the force was the tender keeping him alive. "Damn...." The warrior croak with barely a breath his face in mud and rain messing with his senses of touch and hearing. "What is that ringing?" The warrior asked himself out loud as spat out blood. He took a moment and pressed a up to left himself up from the mud and began crawling. What felt like years but mere minutes he crawled through the mud using his nubs to slightly steer his way. He had no communicator to call anyone he was left stranded. Unless, no he was too weak. The dark side the radiated around here would drown his call, but would it hurt to at least try? With a bated breath the warrior emitted his signuture as far as he could, hoping someone on catch on, hopefully it would be a friendly.
summary: nubby takes a stroll in the jungle and hopes he doesn't get eaten.
