The Pathfinder Chronicles and stuff

[Micah Talith]

“Something along those lines.” He told her. “It won’t be a quick affair,” the holographic image of Va’rat bloomed upon the screen, casting its cerulean light over his features. A quick tap and the selection was confirmed.

“We might take a week.” The ship hummed underneath them as the automated systems adjusted their course. Within moments they entered hyperspace.

“We’ll stop by one of Arceneau’s trade ports first near the area and, stock up on supplies.” He swung his chair over to face her with a tap of his toe to the floor. The silly fellow continued the spin much as he had done when he was ten years old. They could get Terentatek as a liner. Maybe even bloodtrail it with the ink like Vex's googles.

“Once that’s done, we can head down planet side and set up a camp.”

 

[Vexen]

[member="Micah Talith"]

[SIZE=14.6667px]“Alrigh’,” she replied with a slow nod. “Nice to get feet on the ground for a while. Not that I love jungle worlds. Hot humid places tend to get my fur all ruffled up,” she complained.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=14.6667px]She shook her head as he span round in his chair like a child. Her eyes narrowed as a thought hit her. Her life used to be so difficult; she would never belittle the challenges faced by her younger self. But there was a mundanity to those tasks. Find food, find clean water, don't get caught. Micah's easy going nature had her discussing tracking down one of the worst beasts in the Galaxy as if it was going out to fetch some milk. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=14.6667px]Her eyes followed her snout in pointing towards the hand he gripped the edge of his chair. One ear perked up, the other flattened down. “Scratch?”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=14.6667px]It was the least he could do for dragging her into this crazy world of his, she mused to herself. [/SIZE]

 

[Micah Talith]

Micah’s expression softened into a light grin. “C’mere.” He told her, beckoning her closer to him. When the Defel did, the Talith began to affectionately scratch her behind the ears. He knew how much Vexen enjoyed this, and while some may say that it appeared to be every bit a scene between a boy and his pet, it wasn’t the sort of connotation he gave it.

Vexen was every bit a part of his family as his parents and his sisters. He loved her and looked after her. They had met when they were young, both from different aspects of life, but finding something in each other that they would latch to.

The Defel had come a long way from the gutter pup he’d found, and he was happy for that. Any sort of affection he could give her he was happy to provide. Much like the rest of his family, they were all very keen and open public displays of affection and constant touch. Perhaps that had something to do with his mother, the Lorrdian tendencies showing through.
“We’ll be there soon enough.”

​

 

[Vexen]

[member="Micah Talith"]

"Well this is just perfec' isn't it?" Vexen sighed, looking down at the scene before here. What was left of several local mammals was still stuck fast to the dark grey webbing.

It wasn't the fine mesh she'd typically call webbing, but thick, globby strands. The taozin must have decided to each the creatures here. Just bloody strands of fur still stuck down. This was from a while ago, they still had further to go to find a fresh trail.

"How big was it again?"

 

[Micah Talith]

[member="Vexen"]

"Ahh..." Micah began, plucking the thin, sticky webbing away from his face. The stuff just got everywhere. His nose crinkled. He had forgone his helm in order to have his head more more freely. Unfortunately, it also meant that his hair had a tendency of gathering gunk as they traveled along the forest trailing their objective.

"Well...." they came to a slow stop ahead. There the massive maw of a cave bore down upon them. It was at least several meters high, double digits at least and just as wide. A cheeky grin shot over towards his best friend.

"It has quite a bit of girth, you could say." he chuckled, before heading straight towards the opening. A hand brought out his saber, the small swish-hiss erupting in orange. They needed some light, and the saber would provide it.

 

[Vexen]

[member="Micah Talith"]

Vexen darted forwards, getting ahead of The glow cast by Micah's saber. "Feel a bit safer down here," she called back truthfully.

Nature and nurture. Her species had evolved in deep caves and tunnels, not that she was aware of that. Just a few hazy memories of a shape she had come to realise she identified as mother. On the ithorian herdship she had called home, once which she didn't know had now been crashed by Yuuzhan Vong, she had lived in the maintenance shafts out of sight.

Coming to an apex of several paths she took a moment to test the air of each.

"Not sure," she murmured. "Left or straight but not right." He was the tracker here, despite her senses she was still very much the apprentice.

 

[Micah Talith]

[member="Vexen"]

Micah came to a pause. He held his saber aloft, the orange sphere illuminting the path. The drip drip of water falling from the stalagmites onto the ground echoed within the wide cavern. There was a sort of dank scent in the air, moist and wet. A small flutter echoed from beyond, from deep inside the cave.

"Huh..." he mulled aloud, deciding to take a few steps forward. Inquisitiveness glittered in his eyes, trying to gather more clues. The amber light went washing over the damp walls. Along there was that familiar sticky substance that had clung to everything.

"Well...seems like we'll be going..." the sphere of light followed the trail of silvery threads to the right.

"This way." he told her, flashing a grin. "Alright... be careful. We don't know if we might come across sudden drops."

 

[Vexen]

[member="Micah Talith"]

The silvery trail wasn't quite as apparent to Vexen, just a difference in the way Defel eyes functioned. At his warning her next few steps were unnecessarily tentative, as if the ground was about to open up and swallow her whole.

That ended quickly as she told herself to get a grip. Tunnels were more familiar to her than great exposes of landscape. He'd once taken to her to a cliff on a huge, deserted world. She'd had to walk beside an inertial dampener just to walk in the gravity. From that place she could see for thousands of miles. A view that stretched far beyond what she had once assumed to be all of existence. It had made her feel quite sick.

"D'you just pick one at random an' then say 'this way' so boldly to make me think you know where yer going?" she asked quietly.

 

[Micah Talith]

[member="Vexen"]

The Talith could not hid the rather devilish grin he sported then.

"A little of column aurek..." he began, deftly stepping down further into the tunnel. It wasn't as humid here as it had been outside. "A little of column besh."

It was no lie that yes, often he would be guided by his instincts. His mother and father would say it was the Force. It could be a little of both. He was part Garhan after all, and there were times he was a bit more like Vexen than it would appear to be.

"But what do you sense, eh Vex?" he asked her, holding his saber aloft. She dealt better in complete darkness, he knew that. Out of them both, her senses would pick up movements of anything upahead.

"What is out there?" he murmured, frowning in concentration, stretching out his senses through the Force. No nothing there. Not around here at least. But deeper still.. yes... something slept.

 

[Vexen]

[member="Micah Talith"]

Vexen slowed her pace. Her level of training didn’t permit her to concentrate on sure footing at this rate as well as stretch out with her senses. The walls, the rocks, so dim in the Force. Cold, hard, endless tonnes of rock. The life veins of the world deep down. No. Come back, tighter. Life, brilliant life all around. Algae, insects, not even aware of their presence. Her next step changed that. Tremors sending creatures too small for her to even see scurrying.

“Can’t find it. Thas’a point right? Can’t find these things?” she asked.

She upped the pace once more, focussing on finding secure footing. The air shifted. She felt it as the breeze moved her fur. Vexen came to a halt.

“Summit moved.” Not just anything. Something large enough to block a whole tunnel and change the flow of air by moving.

 

[Micah Talith]

[member="Vexen"]

Something moved?

Micah narrowed his eyes. Vexen had the knack to sense things a bit more quickly when it came to these things. Tunnels and caves were her forte when it came to moving in them, and avoiding whatever might be in them. For a second, his lips gave an upward twitch in remembrance on how they first met. She'd given him quite the chase back when he was young.

"That it did." he said low, barely a whisper. Now was the time to use their senses. "Lights out." he warned, knowing that the Defel preferred it that way. Time to utilize those darkvision skills.

Back when he was a kid, Mara had decided that his eyes made him stand out too much. In her magnanimous state, she decided that she needed to help him by tackling him to the ground and trying to stick a pair of sithspawn contacts her and had made. They had stung quite a bit, the half pint opening his eye wide while trying to pop the thing in. Not the happiest memory, but the Kusk Chwukkun: Eyes of the Dunaan did come in handy now and then; much like now.

Micah turned off his saber, letting the Kusk Chwkukkun do it's work.

 

[Vexen]

[member="Micah Talith"]

Vexen stayed quite still a few seconds longer. Not a muscle moved until she stopped a part of her mind from pretending to see motion in the gloom.

The first new step was tentative. Still nothing moved. The air remained as it had been. Whatever had shifted to change its flow had moved on from a position which had changed it.

The corridor narrowed, it's walls more freshly hewn and jagged. It started to angle downwards at an ever steeper angle. It felt like being swallowed up by the world. She imagined a maw at the end, waiting to savour them.

What exactly are we going to kill it with again?

 

[Micah Talith]

[member="Vexen"]

Our charming personalities and our pretty faces.

The quip would likely not be met with any matching humor from the Defel, but Micah’s grin was handy none the less.

A single image of a Tir Stunner would bloom within the Defel’s mind. The Tir Stunner. It was powerful enough to knock out a variety of creatures, but with a high enough setting, it could kill with no pain or suffering other than the sudden sensation of being stunned. Kinda like one was knocked out cold -- just you never woke up.

Upon closer inspection of the narrowing cavern walls, one could see a sort of odd slime coating it. Was it moss? Curious. Bending down, he could see a faint glow come from it. Some sort of biolumineence.

“What do you figure this is about?” he asked Vexen, turning to look towards the direction he could sense her at.

 

[Vexen]

[member="Micah Talith"]

For once I agree. Your face would send it packing. But that stunner probably doesn't count as unnecessary suffering so let's go with that.

Vexen looked to the glowing region he was indicating. Odd for a plant to glow down here. What purpose would that serve? Most plants, to her eyes, had a range of colours and patterns to draw in pollen bearing insects. She'd read about that in a book. She padded over for a closer look.

The wraith shook her head, unsure what it could mean. She wasn't the most worldly creature. There was an education of sorts, they had several interactive programmes in the computer to try and teach her. However, she was far more interested in studying the Force or tracking.

She felt her hairs shift again. Her ears perked up and twisted back and forth. A sound, a rumbling. Distant.

"It's moving through the tunnels down there. Must fill 'em as it's shiftin' the air."

 

[Micah Talith]

[member="Vexen"]

The closer inspection would reveal that there were UV colors among the bioluminescent moss. Closer still, the further they went down, a distinct ultra violet glow would come from scattered areas along the surface of the cavern. They were crystals.

Of what sort, well, that would take further inspection.

As it was, the pair's attention would be overtaken by the shift of the air.

“Who you calling ugly, Vex?” Micah’s whisper would sing with noticeable amusement. “Mom says I have father’s good looks.”
A pause. Yeah, there it was. That sensation of the air shifting.

// Careful. // this time it was sent telepathically. A taozin would feel fuzzy to one who was used to the senstaion of being around them or an amulet before, which both he and Vex were. A zeltron, with their empathic abilities, would be able to feel its emotions.

That would help them narrow it down.

Moving forward, Micah crept cautiously. Eyes wide, he let the Force guide his steps. Saber in hand, he flexed his fingers around the hilt, ready to ignite it if neccesary.

Where are you?

 

[Vexen]

[member="Micah Talith"]

It couldnt be far. That tingling she knew to be the Force ran up and down her spine, putting her hairs on end. Her stun batons were close to hand, but even on their highest settings were unlikely to do more than sting the beast. Her hope was that at least the bright blue lights might give the worm pause.

They crept out into a wide chamber, her eyes scanning it slowly. No sign of the creature here. Several corridors of various shapes and sizes lined the irregular-shaped chamber. She looked up, barely able to see the roof. At least she could, her mind had pictured the creature descending from above. Great strands of sticky webbing hung above them.

Vexen's tail was suddenly between her legs.

"Where are you?" she echoed Micah's sentiment.

There was a crunch, a squelch. Vexen froze in place before her ears swivelled back behind them. She sighed in dismay at the speed her question had been answered.

Looking back over her shoulder she saw the Taozin emerge from one of the tunnels, drawing itself up above them. She swore. Colourfully.

 

[Micah Talith]

[member="Vexen"] wasn't the only one who did. Micah matched her word for word.

"Heads up!" he yelled out at her, managing to catch the Taozin's attention. It swung it's enormous head -- okay, so maybe this was more than your average centipede -- it was a centipede on steroids!

Toothy, sharp mandibles clicked together, while large black beady eyes went zooming in on the Talith. There was enough light from the bioluminescent moss and slime clinging to the walls that Micah was able to see. Granted, that did not help much when the seven meter Taozin came roaring after him.

Running was a reaaaaaaaall good idea now.

The snap-hiss of his saber bloomed to life, and Micah went darting deeper into the caverns. He was going to try to see if they could get it to turn back around towards the entrance, where the wider cavern would allow them to handle it with more ease.

Well, that was the hope.

 

[Vexen]

[member="Micah Talith"]

Twin batons lashed out. Barely a spark passed between them and the flank of the beast as they approached. That was a bad sign. As expected they had no effect. It's armoured hide was simply too great an insulator.

The beast's eyes were absolutely huge. Vexen was glad they weren't following her right now. She knew what Micah was trying to do, but felt relatively powerless to help.

She leaped over the body of the creature, twisting in mid air to just avoid a strand of gloopy webbing. As she came down she swung at a leg. This time there was a reaction. It recoiled from the sting, altering its direction away from her.

Today it seemed she was the shepherd of monsters.

 

[Micah Talith]

[member="Vexen"]

Micah's laughter echoed in the cavern, his feet beating a fierce beat upon the floor. The ground shook behind him, and he heard a loud clicking screech.

Vex had managed to get his attention.

Good girl, he thought to himself, being as loud as possible - really did he need to be? - and waving his saber to get those beady black eyes on him.

"That's it.. come on over!" a hiss and click and the Taozin lunged at him.

"Oh feth." he cursed, then dove to the right just as the massive creature jabbed at his location with a sharp appendage. Reminded him of an ackley actually.

Rolling on the ground, he barely managed to stop himself from falling off a small cliff. Pebbles scattered, and there at the abyss was a dark underground lake. Micah swore something slithered in there with a small splash.

"Whoaaa!" Micah cried out, fighting for balance as he grappled for his free hand to grab hold. The saber rolled to the right, and the Talith shot himself to his feet.

There it was, his saber between him and the Taozin.

Well hell.

 

[Vexen]

[member="Micah Talith"]

Micah could do a great many things with the force, but Vexen was relatively certain that flying wasn't one of those things. The Taozin reared its head, great wide eyes considering Micah and the saber between them. Her heart was in her mouth as she felt like a helpless onlooker, waiting to see which of them would move first.

Great, wide eyes.

Vexen grit her teeth together. When she had been in that crashed ship she had decided that she would no longer be a passenger in Micah's life. She wouldn't stand by when trouble came. Her arm came up and behind her head and she flicked the baton into fixed on.

The blue streak shot straight and true in from Micah's right. The baton struck the Taozin right in the centre of its left eye, sparks flying in all directions. Hopefully that would buy him a few seconds.

Great, wide eye. Looking for me.

It turned out the beast spat, rather than trailed its webbing. A great stream of the stuff came hurtling in her direction. She darted aside but it caught her other baton, holding it firm and dragging it to the ground where it lay, inert, stuck fast.