Tonight, Vega Joins the Hunt

[EmKay]

To say it was a dark and stormy night on a planet such as this would be the greatest of understatements. On this ancient Sith world of endless storms and seemingly endless nights, light was the last thing to touch anything on this world through the murk and mire. In all honesty, it was the perfect place for today's 'festivities'. Ms. [member="Luna Vega"] asked the good hunter if he would help her get a peculiar kind of hide. The kind that made Force Users' lives more difficult, and such a goal was right up Stone's alley.

Terentatek hide was innately resistant to the Force, as the Sithspawn itself was designed to hunt down Jedi in a most efficient - and brutal - manner. This would be no trifling hunt. It was several leagues above his usual contracts to stamp out some stray Kath hounds, and that excited him. He had heard the rumors trickle through that a monster had been terrorizing small settlements here. The idea of trying to establish a town in a place like this vexed the man, but to each their own. It made his life easier. Tracking would be relatively easy, assuming the rains stayed steady and a storm didn't roll in.

As far as the threat of Sith went... Dalvas couldn't say for sure. Perhaps they'd want in on the hunt, or perhaps they'd begin their own. The hunter did his best to make a quiet entry. Despite the fact that this was not the capital of the Sith Empire, it was still a historic world for them and there may be scholars, students, or explorers aligned with the Empire that could prove helpful or problematic. It all depended on their mood, such was how it usually went with these darksiders. Only time would tell.

Stone was nearly to the rendezvous point. Hopefully Vega was there, or would be in short order. The less time spent loitering, the less chance predators became prey.

 

[Luna Vega]

What was with rain recently? Suppose it was fine; the eyeliner was water-proof. The pirate known as Luna blinked those eyes that rivaled the skies of Dromund Kaas- they may have very well mirrored them- attempting to rid the droplets dripping from her hood to her lashes. She'd opted out of bringing her own ship and instead rode the tails of some smuggler on the old hyperlane. The Dromund territory was not of her choosing- but the Terentatek had been and so she'd been steadily cursing herself. Not that it helped the weather or the mood that came from the constant warring storms. Was it not bad enough, the Forcies?

Ugh.

Scclllleeepp. Sccllleeeeepp. Fttthsss.

Barely broken in boots sloshed in the muddy terrain as she made her way to the rendezvous. Her wet-slick lips bore a tired grimace that dared a sigh to pass. How could anyone live here, she thought wildly. When it wasn't pouring, she kindly still felt pissed on. There had been no respite. It was a slow, miserable, wet trek and she shoved her hands in her pockets again. The pockets of the trench that she just so happened to be replacing. The only reason Luna was on this side of the Galaxy. She plainly was not the Sith consortin' type.

Small shoulders shrugged under the weight of the heavy leather and she mushed on at a slow pace with long strides. Resistance to the Force, Luna. Resistance. "Bloody hell..." Gray pools glanced from under the shadow of the hood and for the first time on this adventure, the pirate smiled. [member="Dalvas Stone"], the good hunter- was not far, half a kilometer or so ahead.

 

[EmKay]

The Hunter nose wrinkled as something new entered nearby. His eyes scanned his surroundings through the light rain and he spotted the unmistakable iridescent blue-and-green hair of his partner on this little quest. He reached behind him into a fold of his coat and quickly donned his helmet. Though the piece of headgear seemed like it would be impossible to see out of, a combination of one-way paint and common heads-up-display features allowed him to see as clear as day and maintain an even more heightened situational awareness than one would expect from such a piece. Its semi-lightweight alloy construction also provided a small amount of protection against most threats.

By the time miss [member="Luna Vega"] would reach him, he'd be inspecting what he thought was an oddity on the ground. While most people might not see what he noticed, there was an unusual impression on the ground and some broken foliage. A lightweight and eroded footprint but a print nonetheless. He closed his eyes and traced what remained of the outline while comparing it to images in his mind. This was no Terentatek footprint, but it was still a cave-dwelling species. If they followed this, it may lead them to a lair where their true prey may reside. It was a great deal of faith and conjecture, but their starting point was a known problem area so any lead was worth following.

 

[Luna Vega]

Addiction was a bad thing- a horrible disease really- and it's call came'a knockin' at the most inopportune times. Like now. With the rain pelting the waterproofed hood donned over her blue mop and no chance for a break, Luna had the intense desire...need to puff the cigarra shoved in the innards of her trench. She gave a soft grunt, aware that even should she attempt a smoke, she'd likely not even get it to light in this weather. In the midst of her internal grumbling and protest, the pirate had missed a rather large pile of wet dung. The squelch it made under her heavy footfall was enough to stir her gag reflex.

It was true, she'd stepped in worse. Forced to sleep around worse. But somehow, the sound would always elicit the same sour response. The lass found herself stomping in a puddle or two to release the dank-relief of some native animal and squishing the heel of her sole into a small patch of grass. It all must have looked ridiculous, but she refused to walk around carrying that stench.

The nose of the woman twitched and bent her leg and glanced back to check her progress. That was probably the only time she thanked the rain. Satisfied, she glanced up to Dalvas and closed the distance. Luna slowed, careful not to trample the area the hunter seemed to be observing. She reached up, scratching the side of her nose, "What is it, boss?"

 

[EmKay]

Dal rose from his kneel and side-glanced Vega. Her lack of grace or care brought its own amount of ire, and he couldn't quite comprehend how she'd managed to survive this far. Different lives have different necessities was all he could logically fathom. He waited a few moments before answering her question to cool his irritability. He did not want to hurt her feelings this early into their little quest, though it was a likely inevitability.

"Tracks," he answered curtly, taking the first steps along their trail and motioning for the blue-haired girl to follow.

More information would come to her when it became necessary. [member="Luna Vega"] was certainly no hunter, but she very well may be by the end of their stroll in the woods. The trail headed into thicker, and darker, forest and the possibility of danger grew with every inch they traveled.

OOC:

Spoiler

So from here on out, to make things interesting, I'm gonna roll 1d20 every other of my posts (so the post after my next one). If the roll is less than or equal to 10, we'll encounter a creature. 10 could be something as mundane as a mynock and 1 could be as bad as a gundark. Once we get into the caves, the rolls will stop because we'll be in Terentatek territory, but then I'll do some fun things to the ambience. It's gonna be fun

 

[Luna Vega]

"Likely whatever dropped a load back there," she said flippantly and made a face, though it could have been true. It wasn't far off from the tracks.

Tugging the hood a bit closer around her head, Luna gave a light nod in the direction of [member="Dalvas Stone"]. Stormy pools glanced about the area stretched out before them and headed off after the Hunter. "Do ya have an inkling as to what it might be?" Dromund Kaas appeared to get creepier by the moment and the moonlight seemed to slowly abate, surrounding them in a near blanket of darkness.

Moist, foreign darkness.

Instinctively, the pirate pressed a hand to the cool metal of the machete, then further still to the hilt. Footing became slower, but the leaves and sticks crunched under her boots all the same.