Vacation? Is There Such A Thing?

[Kay-Larr]

[member="Astoach"] [member="Kresh"]

It had been a crazy year. What had started off as quiet and for the most part, peaceful, had quickly turned into a series of sometimes unfortunate events. She had crash landed three times on various worlds, been forced to watch the slaughter of innocents, been chased by bounty hunters and pirates, plus encountered some dark Sith magic.

Yet good things have happened this past year as well. She had been reunited with an old friend, made plenty more new friends, held high end jobs and positions in various governments, and helped free many slaves from oppression.

Yes this past year had been quite a ride. But now Kay felt as though she needed a break. Subconsciously her power of influence in the Force that helped draw many powerful people, both good and bad, was working on overdrive. So she was feeling a bit worn out, yet figured that it was just due to being overworked. A bit of a vacation was in order.

Kay had hired a modified Blockade Runner with a small crew and brought herself back to where it all started; Bakura. The neutral planet had everything that she needed to relax including meadows, lush forests, lakes, rivers and maintained a moderate temperature. Sure it rained a bit, but it was nothing that she couldn't handle.

After the ship had landed, Kay instructed the crew to return in a week to that exact spot. She didn't tell anyone where she was going, but if she wasn't there to be picked up, then there were a list of people that they could contact and enlist help from. She hoped that that precaution wouldn't be needed for this was her time to relax and be alone.

Later that afternoon, Kay had her campsite all set up about a kilometre from where she was dropped off. It was nestled in the forest about a ten minute walk from a lake. There was a cave nearby for her to escape to should the weather take a turn for the worse, but until then she had a small tent to sleep in. The camp wasn't luxurious by any means, but it was comfortable as well as quaint. She had plenty of food and water and most importantly, Kay had her sapir tea.

So this was how she had planned to spend her week, sitting in a lounging chair by her campfire, sipping her tea and reading a mystery book. Time to escape from the problems in the Galaxy for a while.

 

[Astoach]

Yashew.​

​

Cull of the blind, sought the scent of his heart and ripped him blind, that one. Astoach loved to speak in tongues almost as much as he loved killing and would often recite some strange magniloquent speech in booming tones then compose some deep nonsense meaning that saturated it. Yashew was his new favorite, as of now, tossing it about in regards to ignorance, yet rather than simply say ignorance he would often shout in unstable frustration, thundering his voice at the heavens, “YASHEW!” This would breed a following fit of coughs as his smoke-ridden throat, burnt by the pair’s previous murder spree on Mustafar, choked on the shrillness of his voice. “Yashew,” he finally concluded in a much softer tone, finally recognizing the mistake of his insistence to yell. Yet, it was too late, the birds have long since scattered in flurried flight, fleeing in horror from the bombastic man in the mask. “Are you listening to me, Kresh? I’m trying to go over the plan!”

His fingers danced tenderly over the soft bark of a nearby pine, picking with childish affection before the short chirp of a nearby bird, hidden among the brush, irritated him. He growled, his fingers sinking into the wooded skin and dragging across its form, leaving deep claw wounds in the trunk that bled sticky, syrupy sap. Astoach and [member="Kresh"] had been cramped within the woods for only mere minutes, yet the wilderness had long since begun to disgust Astoach and promptly dragged in him into a fierce state of violent annoyance. Already, about their feet, littered the small corpses of animals who Astoach was quick to snatch and strangle, spilling their blood with his bare hands and he continued screaming that one, single, damning word and he slammed their limp bodies against the thick bulk of the nearby shrubs and vegetation. “Yashew! How the hell am I supposed to think with all this life-“

Astoach stepped forward, hand torn from the bubbling froth and torn sap and crusty bark, swatting away the tacky remnants which still clung to his fingers. Godliness swept him into the exalted pantheon of thought in which he concluded the complexities of his plans, the sharp assaults that bled victory after victory through the holy crusades in which he led. [member="Lady Kay"] was their target now, for the dying breath of Jedi and Sith alike had grown stale to Astoach and through the manipulative playing with the beast, Kresh, he had convinced his partner that her death would be a detrimental blow to the light-aligned Force-users. He picked his target from the bountiful bunch of potentials months ago, stealthily keeping tabs on her as he did the many, through the use of probe droids and hire-on mercenaries -- who often disappeared mysteriously following their assistance -- to bug her known locations and follow her, stealthily, and eavesdrop, relaying any useful information to Astoach who would compile this into a known database confined to the crypt-like recesses of his cranium. Astoach excelled at managing such a widespread network of loose ends, efficiently directing and disposing of them in due time over numerous targets which the pair hunted, politicians and Force-users alike.

It was through such webs of co-conspirators -- all currently deceased through Astoach’s treachery -- that the pair caught wind of Lady Kay’s secret vacation, catching on to the scent at only the final moment before her departure. Initially, such a briefly announced and discreet departure might garner interest, and little more, but Astoach’s animal instincts once again proved themselves eerily accurate, as he ordered the ship tracked and quickly destroyed his own trail before setting course to Bakura. As they stealthily settled down far beyond the dense wall of wooded forest that snuggled up against the campsite, they had since journeyed into the copse and eyed their prey from afar. There had been a brief flame of passion, that instant spark of desire that aroused Astoach and spawned the brief fetus of lecherous violence. “Kresh,” said Astoach, twitching with such vehement excitement. “I’m going to head towards the lake. In five minutes, light the forest aflame. The day is young and the sky is dry, if we start a fire it would scorch the earth and heavens, and she will be forced to seek shelter by water. There I can lay in wait, and shepherd the woman to her grave, reuniting with you after the inferno.”

 

[Dravek]

Kresh was not in a good mood. These pathetic, little... insects seemed to find his hulking frame as a good nest, and continually crawled all over him, most often in places he couldn't reach. It was excruciating. He sat there, seething in annoyance, until he finally snapped and swung a huge fist into the closest tree. Splinters of wood flew in every direction as the massive trunk was cracked and dented. "I hate this place!" He grumbled, exasperated.

Listening to Astoach's orders, he mumbled and nodded. Light the forest on fire. Easy enough. Kresh stood and stretched. It really was getting hard to stay in one place for two long, and these infernal bugs would not give up their sacred quest of bothering him. This Jedi prey had better be worth the intolerable planet they were on. Distracted from the pests, Kresh wondered how he would kill this Lady Kay. Electrostaff to the head? Sniper from afar? Or his personal favorite, curved ceremonial knife. So many options. Kresh started to get excited. Maybe this venture would be worth it.

[member="Lady Kay"][member="Astoach"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

[member="Astoach"] [member="Kresh"]

Well it was nice and peaceful for a little while. But the sudden yell and wildlife flying away with their own calls of warning broke Kay from her relaxation. Someone was here and from the sounds of it, they weren't very nice. And even though she was out of Cartel territory, that didn't quite mean that she was safe from bounty hunters.

She quickly gulped down her tea and then carefully packed up the cup and put it in her satchel. There was no real point in packing up her campsite as whomever was out there, they already knew where she was. So Kay got to her feet and slung her satchel over her shoulder, glad that she had it well packed with everything that she needed including her blaster, lightsaber, food and water rations, an extra set of clothes, cloak, datapad and of course her tea cup and pouch of tea leaves. There was a methodic way in which she packed everything in to make it all fit without the satchel being too bulky.

Kay pondered her options. The blockade runner wasn't to return for a week, so she just had to last until then. She knew this area well as she had travelled to this location a few times before. That was why she chose it. Leaving her chair and tent behind, she soon left the campsite after putting out her small fire and headed to the nearby cave that she was going to use for shelter if it rained. At least in there she could hide better, and perhaps lose any pursuers in the maze of tunnels. But she didn't know who or what might be out there.

So once she had walked just deep enough into the cave to be out of the light, she turned around and sat behind a boulder, with her small blaster drawn and set to stun. She had to be ready, just in case.

 

[Astoach]

“Yashew,” muttered Astoach with a breath of haughty air. He was painstakingly attempting to deliver himself with extensive subtlety around the edge of her camp, out of sight and out of mind, melding into forested darkness as one with shadow. However this shadow eventually came to the break point of a split tree, fragmented in splintered mounds of blackened ash and wood, and likely struck by lightning. The carcass of such a tree rested along the edge of the camp of [member="Lady Kay"] and as such, Astoach approached, gently leaning over between the split trunk in an attempt to discern her behavior, but what he saw sent off alarms. She was gone, a sizzling fire pit the sole reminder of any recent habitant and the relatively impressive camping supplies strewn about fluttered aimlessly in the wind, awaiting the return of their owner with the patience of the mountains.

Astoach departed cover, approaching the camp with caution, each step gingerly laid upon the earth as he creeped forward with the delicate silence of fog. Here was all of her food for a week, her supplies, her bed, and all that would make her safe. It was to be defiled, it was the remnants of blasphemy, and it would be culled from heaven and earth before Astoach was done with it. He did not care for the woman’s escape for her death meant little to nothing if traces of her sacrilege remained, even if rotting amongst the woods of some distant world. He kicked the remaining camping supplies into position with little disconcerted not, he had only mere minutes to find the woman in the woods before the wildfire would cut off his approach, but he cared little. He took time for what he loved and if it cost him, it would cost him, and that was that.

Once the camping supplies had been torn down by his wrathful kicks and strikes, and piled together at the center, just above the cool cinders of the fire, he promptly unzipped his pants and commenced to urinate upon the pile, asserting his carnal dominance whilst also relieving himself during the long forested trek. “Yashew, koe saw,” he grumbled as he finished, hinting his speech with a subsequent sigh of relief before he zipped up and stepped away. There was brief pause, only to toss back his single detonator, often brought for emergencies, back into the pile, primed for five seconds before the blast, and then he left. He chuckled softly, expressing little concern for time as he stepped away -- he only had two more minutes left before the wildfire -- and let the heat wave of the explosion wash over him. Astoach was an expert tracker, approaching the bastion of wilderness as the clock kept ticking, flames erupting behind him, and knelt, noting the general patterns of snapped twigs and broken dirt.

Yes, it was dry, but through the shade, after the initial crust of dirt was shattered, brown, nutritious soil, fed by decay, was upturned in vivid detail to the naked eye. Through the brush, shattered by someone’s hurried escape, he found himself a trail to follow, his fingers rubbing along the broken twigs, bent off of outstretching trees, and the crushed dust of dead leaves. “She’s running,” he concluded but not with defeat, but with definite excitement. If she was running she was either stupid, and would be caught, or she knew of a good hiding place nearby, eager to reach it before the pair reached her. Judging by her initial caution with the fire he would pick the latter as more likely. Hopefully the former would also be on his side, for if the senator was unexercised and weak, or perhaps just nervously confident, she may not fully abuse her advantage. Astoach pondered these thoughts as he approached the distant crevice of a cave, brimmed by dark curtains of shrouded shadow that concealed the insides. He knew, from the moment he saw it, that it would be where he would find his prey.

He approached the cave first with caution, held tilting back and forth like a bobbing heron as he attempted to conclusively determine if the Senator had indeed fled into the cavern or not. He suddenly regretted the absence of his explosive, now burning the remains of her campsite several meters away, the wall of smoke still rising from beyond the tree canopy in the distance. He remained a healthy space between himself in the cave, in the event of an ambush, and slowly eyed the walls, the ceiling, the shape, and would slowly lead himself to his plans. The clock kept ticking and only forty seconds remained before the forest was alight. It became apparent to him that the only way he was ever surviving that fire now, since he had wonderfully wandered so deep into the forest in search of his prey, would be through this cave system ironically, meaning that such effects would be useless upon the woman save for flushing her out into the other unknown and hidden entrances.

Astoach growled in frustration and crawled off into the brush, rifle at the ready and its upturned stock tucked into his armpit. The only weapon of use that seemed to remain in his arsenal was surprise, she did not know what kind of monsters hunted her and the longer he could keep her on the edge of whatever they could be; he could attempt to accelerate that fear to heights of terror, and manipulate the tide of battle. Until then he would have to be patient.

[member="Kresh"]

 

[Dravek]

The continuous waves of heat washed over Kresh as he started running away from the conflagration he had ignited. These Bakuran trees sure did light quickly. And the accelerant Kresh poured over the foliage probably assisted that endeavor, as well. A burst of flame kissed Kresh's shoulder as he sprinted away. Next time, I'll stand farther away when I light a fire.

He hopped down a small ridge and suddenly the lake was in sight. Astoach said the fire would push the woman into safety by water, so his best bet was going there. After a minute's jog, and several snapped trees that happened to be in his way, Kresh emerged from the forest and was at the banks of the lake. No sign of Astoach or the Jedi. Where were they? Kresh reached down and activated his comms. "Goblin, come in. Where are you? Where's the woman?" He was not about to let his prey disappear on him.

[member="Astoach"] [member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

[member="Astoach"] [member="Kresh"]

It didn't take long for the bounty hunter or whomever it was to reach the cave. She watched him as he was barely inside and from the looks of it, he didn't quite see here yet. Good. Still she held her breath and kept her blaster trained on him, keeping as still as the boulder she hid behind. The only sound that could be heard was the drippings of water in one of the tunnels. The cave itself was moist and much chillier than the air outside. Such was the way of caves on a planet that sees it's fair share of moisture.

And then he left into the bush. For a moment she had lost him as her eyes were drawn to the smoke being seen through the trees. As far as she remembered, she had put her fire out. So it just had to be a ploy to get her out from hiding. Kay clenched her jaw as she heard the sound of another voice coming through a commlink. She couldn't make out the words, but it let her know of the whereabouts of the hunters.

Mentally she went through some of the passages that she had explored earlier, picking out which direction to run if she had to. Kay didn't get a chance to go through all of them yet, but she did know where a few of them led to. Some tunnels were dry, others were damp, while some of them led to big pools of water altogether. It was easy for just about anyone to get lost. Yet she was prepared. One doesn't go through her life's experiences without learning to always have options. However now she was regretting letting that ship depart. But whomever was after her was sure to have their own vessel and just maybe it would be one that she could fly or at least use to call for help.

But for now she needed to be patient and still, while trying to not let her muscles cramp up. This was a game of chess and she was not quite ready yet to make her move.

 

[Astoach]

Kresh reached down and activated his comms. "Goblin, come in. Where are you? Where's the woman?"

"Calm down," soothed Astoach, quick to pervade the conversation with his almost illicit sense of calm. He was patient, calm even, despite the raging fire that had since exploded throughout the forest behind him. Even with all of that distance between him and the flame, Astoach could still sense the heat prickling his body and without a doubt, within mere moments, it would soon rage upon him. There was no time for peace and quiet, to wait, to sit complacently atop a mossy rock, with legs crossed charmingly like some absent-minded school girl, day dreaming of childish things and handsome crushes, but that he did, disturbingly tranquil as ever. "She heard you banging about on your fething AT-AT feet and caught wind of us. She's held up in a cave now and if I go in she'll lose me in the labyrinth."

He stood up as the black cloud hung overhead, steadily encroaching upon his vision as an omen of death. The flame closed in, nearly upon him, and he only had a few minutes to speak and act, for his signal would be dampened within the cave. Yet, he took his time, careful to establish to potential peering eyes that he was a GOD, fearless of even DEATH. "Have Glee fetch the GDI..." He let that sink in for a brief moment, the blaze growing behind him steadily becoming more unbearable by each passing second. "The Geoelectrical Detecting Device, you know?" He paused again, falling into maddening silence as the skin along the back of his neck peeled and pinkened beneath the wave of intense heat. He watched the mouth of the cave with eyes hidden beneath the black shadow of his mask, watching for any hint of movement. She would be listening, or she would be gone and all of this effort was for not, so naturally, as a positively radiant optimist that he was, he chose the former as his instinctive assumption.

Only rabbits fled blindly into the dark, for the intelligent, the cautious, the sentient all knew that they could be flanked, that they could be tricked, and they also chose to instinctively exert as little energy as possible. They would halt mid chase to observe their pursuer, to dodge them rather than flee, to wait and to act, that was the way of us people. Us experiencers of the worlds of intense passion. She was intelligent now, certainly, for he expected her to wait, but he wished to play with her, to mold her like wet clay into the shape he desired, as a God he desired. He wanted the woman not as a human but as a rabbit, a frenzied rabbit, scattering into the cave mad with fear at the words he would echo from his mouth, chipping away at her rationality with each spoken flick of his tongue. "We used it to find Simeon Trau on Geonosis, when he hid in those underground crypts. It had four wires on it and it measure ground resistance with some electrical nonsense, but we used it to identify the tunnels... and collapse them."

He gently rose to his feet, the blaze now directly behind him and scorching his skin lightly. Not enough to scar, for scars were unacceptable to a phantom such as he, but enough to burn, to make pain so evident he felt aroused as blisters rose along the back of his neck. "Swim underwater, Kresh, and find a tunnel like a good little sweetheart... then plant a charge. Blow a hole in the lakebed, flood the caverns, and limit her escape. By the time my ass is up in that hole I want to see water spilling up to the brim of the mouth." There was no doubt this would prove futile, but he lacked tact, not intelligence. She would be funneled, like a good little rabbit, and as she ran, she would lose rational, she would lose thought, she would not hide, and he would follow. He must become not hunter, but wolf, a monster, and that he would will himself to be for he was God.

"You have five minutes again, or our chance is over."

With that said, Astoach approached the cave mouth, blaster pointed to the edge of crumbled mounds of boulders, now revealed in the wildfire's glistening glare, intruding upon the crevice and casting away all concealing shadow. "Try and fight but trust me, I can shoot faster, I've practiced on a lot of other pretty little girls too. I'm no man, I'm a corpse. Shoot me, I keep walking; stab me, I keep breathing; and kill me, I keep talking." He shot off a sparking, red blast from his rifle at the edge of the cave, casting crimson life throughout the cavern's exposed gullet. "Run, girl, the flame is coming."

"Run, girl, my partner's coming."

"Run, the flood is coming!"

"I'm coming, SO RUN!"

"Alice falls down the rabbit hole and her dress poofs up like a parachute."​

​

It was a quote Astoach would never know, but he would love it all the same.​

​

[member="Kresh"] [member="Lady Kay"]​

 

[Dravek]

After a brief comm-squabbling with their droid, the Vengeance rocketed towards the lake, hovering over the edge of the water. The landing ramp extended downwards and Kresh hopped up on it to fetch the GDI from Glee. Giving the droid a quick kick to send it scurrying back to pilot the ship away, Kresh jumped down back onto the beach, GDI in hand. Time to use this stupid thing again. He took a few steps underwater, thankful that the GDI was waterproof, and began scanning the soggy, rocky ground for a ping that would indicate a tunnel underground.

Nothing but static so far. Kresh continues sweeping underwater. The liquid gently splashed and lapped against him. Insects buzzed above the water with incredible speed and dexterity. The sun pierced down into the water, revealing the abundance of life underneath the surface. Maybe this planet wasn't so bad after all. But, he had a job to do, and more importantly, a Jedi to kill.

Ping. There. Smiling, Kresh pulled out a couple of explosive charges and planted them into the soft ground where the GDI had picked up the tunnel. Time to flood it. Goodbye, pretty lady. Wading out of the water and out of the way. Kresh set his huge thumb over the detonator. 3, 2, 1.... A muffled explosion shook the ground, and water flooded into the now-exposed cavern.


@Astoach @Lady Kay

 

[Kay-Larr]

[member="Astoach"] [member="Kresh"]

He was mad. No he was crazy. Absolutely bonkers. No one would just stand in the sweltering heat of a forest fire and let it cause their skin to heat up and threaten to blister. But this one did. And because of his mask, she couldn't see his reaction or his eyes.

Who hired these men? The bounty did suggest killing her, however more than twice as much money was offered should she be brought in alive. Astoach seemed to relish in all of this, deliberately relaying his plans loud enough for her to hear. He wanted her to know what he was doing to inflict fear. And she was a bit afraid. No one in their right mind would be in her situation and not feel even a hint of fear. But she couldn't let it take over.

And then he fired his blaster rifle in her direction, and it's light revealed her face and small blaster just over the edge of the boulder. And then he spoke like a crazed warrior poet. He wanted her to run. Did he know the caves at all? She couldn't say and just assumed that he didn't.

Tilting the end of her blaster upward, she fired it on some rocks just above Astoach, sending dust and pebbles, along with a few acorn sized pieces of rock to rain down on him. While that gave her a few seconds of breathing room, Kay did just what he told her to do. She ran. Quickly she took to the dry tunnel. If he meant to flood the place, then she needed to go where the water would take longer to reach, if it did at all. It wasn't long before there was just darkness and she kept a hand out to help guide her through. She couldn't risk putting on a light. At least not yet.

Memory served her well. She stashed away her blaster and used both of her hands as guides once the tunnel began to shrink. Just up ahead she knew of the tunnel shrinking so small that she would have to drag herself on her belly just to get through. But on the other side was a large cavern. And with the size of Astoach, it would take him some time to get through. Time that she could use to figure out where to go next.

Kay had only just started to push her satchel ahead of her as she crawled on her belly through the tiny tunnel's opening when the muffled explosion echoed through the tunnels. So he wasn't bluffing afterall. She pulled herself even faster and once she was out of there, she stood just on the other side of the opening. Quickly Kay hung her satchel over her shoulder and reached into it, pulling out the hilt of her lightsaber as soon as she felt her fingers touch it. She traced her fingers along it so that she knew which way the blade side was pointing until she found it and set it right.

Now she had to wait again. No doubt he was just minutes behind and she would be waiting for his blaster rifle or his hand. Whichever came out first she needed to strike. But that is if he could even fit in the small opening.

 

[Astoach]

Indeed, Astoach did claim his helm to madness, for he was, indeed, succumbing to mania. From the blisters that rose, soon to pop, from the back of his pale neck, to the mask, his Polyp which presented itself upon his face, eagerly swallowing light of day and flame into its shadow. He was Fear incarnate, born of flame and insanity, made flesh by Keln'shar's Black Pantheon to roar about in flame as the Avatar of the Amygdala. Then the senator opened fire, showering Astoach in a downpour of soft dirt and rock, he even paused, to bathe within it, free hand weaving fingers through his hair to burrow the raining soil to his scalp. Yet, his joy surfaced not from his shower, but within the notice he had taken from her action. Foremost she had not shot, for she could have, she should have, but she failed. Nor, he had noticed, had she been intending a lethal execution of him, for the blaster ray was set to a nonlethal stun. She was going to subdue him, yet, disregarded that in the end, for he would have been cooked by flame. She was not willing to kill him.

Astoach roared shrill laughter as he descended into the mouth of madness, the cave of chills and his own malevolence, which might haunt through Force sensitivity. He had the edge beyond the edge, for he had little to fear but wet shoes and a shock, and undoubtedly, as the filmy lakewater rose to his ankles, and continued to pool in tho the lowered caverns, she would trail to higher ground. He turned back and fired upon the cave entrance, full power, and the rocks collapsed in a rumbling explosion, silencing him into darkness. He was alone now, save for the rushing thunder of pooling water, and perhaps the splash of a fearful fish, caught into the whirling storm and now remained caught into the rocky nothingness, blind and destined to starve. Just as Lady Kay was.

He flipped on a flashlight, situated upon the edge of his blaster and rose it, illuminating a faint orb of vision before him and cascading terrifying shadows of vehement beast maws throughout a cavern. He loved it. There was only a single, sure path that expelled to ascended, upper ground, and concluding that, with the other chambers likely filling with water, she must have escaped to this upper ground. A cloud of dust had rumbled from the exposition, clogging his breath, and his lungs begged to cough, yet he stifled it, gingerly lurking through the cavernous mire to dry ground, spilling liquid from his soaked trousers in a soft pitter upon the cave soil. He saw the footprints, for yes, she had fled to here, and excitement, arousal, all of this bloomed within him.

"I'm coming," he called off lovingly, stepping into the gently shrinking tunnel. His gaunt form allowed him to worm through the crevice, yet, as the opening neared, he became stuck. A rock sunk into his shoulder and his foot, long as it was, became trapped as it inadvertently squeezed into a small boulder. His rifle, planted forward to see, had lost its degree of motion as his hand became pressed against the rocky outcrop of the tunnel, whilst his other, free, outstretched into the opening, into view of the unseen Lady Kay, and grasped wildly, followed shortly by his own roar of frustration.

Then, from behind him, water began to trickle in.

[member="Lady Kay"]
[member="Kresh"]

 

[Dravek]

Kresh was making his slow and steady way to the cave Astoach had spoken of. He had flooded the cave, as required, and now wanted in on the Jedi hunting currently in progress. Passing burnt tree stumps and charred grass, Kresh came upon the entrance to the cavern. "Goblin!" He called out into the dark depths of the cave. "What now?" As much as he wanted to charge in there and smash everything, he knew Astoach usually had a plan for these sorts of things. As odd as he was, the plans were usually effective. So Kresh would wait.

He waited for about thirty seconds, a new record. Then he bellowed a great roar and charged into the cave, only to be greeted by a pile of rocks that blocked the entrance. Had it been there before? Where was Astoach? Did he close off the cave to kill the girl alone? So many questions... Kresh slammed the staff into the rock wall, sending a web of cracks across its surface. This was frustrating.
@Astoach @Lady Kay

 

[Kay-Larr]

[member="Astoach"] [member="Kresh"]

The manic laughter sent chills down her spine as it echoed through the tunnels. It was a stark reminder of the Arkanian mad scientist whom also happened to be a Sith Lord, studied her through experimentations. Those were dark and painful days. If it weren't for her late husband, she might not have gotten out.

BOOM!!! The sounds of large rocks falling only meant one thing. Part of the cave had collapsed. There was no turning back, no doubling back either. She had to press forward.

And then she heard him call out in a joyful yet loving way. Once again it sounded much like the Arkanian. Could they have been brothers? Hopefully not. One of them was already one too many for the Galaxy.

Kay gripped the hilt of her lightsaber a bit tighter as she heard Astoach crawling through the tunnel. And then it seemed as though he had gotten stuck. She heard him struggle and then roar in frustration. It made her jump as it echoed loudly in the cavern, almost causing her to drop her lightsaber. Water started trickling in. There wasn't a lot of time. She had to keep going. But she needed answers too. And since he was stuck, she could ask them. From a safe distance of course.

Kay stepped back from the small opening and then ignited her lightsaber, it's light blue blade illuminating her features. She brought the blade downwards so that she could see Astoach's mask reflect the light. "I don't know who you are, but it doesn't matter. I know how to get out of here and you don't. By all rights I should just leave you here to drown, but I think that everyone deserves a chance. Your chance lies with what choice you make. Either you stop trying to kill me and we both walk out of here, or you continue your path of stupidity and I leave you here."