We're All Mad Here!

[Carliah Dakrone]

Carliah growled and drew her vibrosword. She still didn't have her saber staff. She'd have to consult Balaya about that. She dropped into a fighting stance, waiting for one of the Graug to make a move.

"They better not bleed on my dress... I happen to like my clothes clean and free of other creatures bodily fluids," Carliah replied with a small smirk. If they wanted a fight she was more than willing to give it to them. [member="Taeli Rae"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

"Now, let's just talk about this. . ." Taeli started to say, but the Graug leader just snarled, whipping out his vibroswords.

"No talk, only death!" the reptile screamed, and the Graug swarmed towards the two women. Taeli caught the leader's blade on her lightsaber, btu she almost lost her grip on it from the sheer power that creature swung his weapon. Scowling, she ducked under his follow-up swipe and stabbed him through the leg before Force Pushing him back into the crowd of angry Graug descending on them.

"Well this is going to be fun," she sighed, dropping into a fighting stance next to Carliah.

[member="Darth Vivaldi"]

 

[Carliah Dakrone]

Carliah nodded, her mad smirk showing now as she waited for one of the graug to make a move. As soon as one of them was foolish enough to take a swing at her she dove to the side, rolling back to her feet and stabbing her blade up under it's arm, killing the creature instantly. She took a step back as another graug came at her, narrowing avoiding the blade that came swinging towards her, aiming to sever her head from her body. She growled and turned to face her new challenger.

"Fun is certainly one word for it," she agreed as she fell back into a position beside Taeli. [member="Taeli Rae"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

Taeli splayed her hand wide, letting loose several bolts of Force Lightning and frying two Graug, their twitching bodies collapsing to the ground. A tail swished over towards her head, forcing her to roll away from Carliah to dodge a blow that would have cracker her skull. Poping up, the offending Graug came at her, sharp fangs wide as it moved to bite her neck. She dodged again, stabbing out with her blade and burning through the reptile's heart.

"How would you describe it?" she yelled, slicing through a Graug arm and back-kicking the one armed warrior, cracking its spine by adding some Force power behind her blow. Another Graug rushed in, vibroswords clashing against her lightsaber as she caught the blade, spun around the Graug and beheaded him.

 

[Carliah Dakrone]

Carliah soon found herself faced with several more graug again. She beheaded two of the graug after dodging several sword stroke aimed to kill her, and then turned to face a third graug. She seemed to grow more and more mad as she continued to cut down the graug who stood in her way. She ducked under the arm of one as it attempted to grab her and swung her vibrosword up, slicing it's arm clean off. She finished it off with a thrust into it's heart.

"I'd say it's something more than fun. Maybe pure joy enducing?" she called to Taeli over the sounds of battle. [member="Taeli Rae"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

"You would find this pure joy inducing," Taeli yelled back, ducking a tail and severing it at the base before running through the Graug that attacked her. Turning to look at her companion, a clawed hand smacked her across the face and throwing her to the ground. She rolled to avoid a clawed foot coming down onto her chest, but she was forced to let go of the lightsaber as more Graug descended upon her, their teeth flashing.

'I am not going to die here, I've fought far deadlier creatures,' Taeli thought as the mob of Graug lizards attacked her.

"Enough!" she screamed, her voice radiating with the Force and with so much power that the closest Graug had their bones turned to dust by the Force Scream, the others were thrown back as Taeli go to her feet, A small trickle of blood was flowing from a corner of her mouth, and she wiped it off with the back of her hand. Looking at the blood for a moment, her head snapped up and her eyes blazed yellow from pure rage flowing through her. Lightning crackled around her fingertips as she pulled upon the concentration amulet she wore around her neck.

She didn't say a word as she raised her hands, unleashing streams of Force Lightning upon the Graug surrounding her.

 

[Carliah Dakrone]

Carliah leapt to Taeli's aid after taking a few brief moments to admire the Force Scream. She Force CHoked one of the nearby Graug, smirking as she watched the creatures limbs slowly fall still. She flung it's limp body to the side and strode forward, cutting down Graug on either side as she went. One of them managed to claw at her arm, opening a large gash along the length of her forearm. Carliah gasped as the pain cut through her. She would need to end this quickly before she lost too much blood from that wound. She growled furiously, her rage building up to a terrifying level. She moved much faster now, hitting with much more force than she should have been capable of. She severed the heads of a few more Graug until finally there were none left standing. There was a decent sized pile of bodies around her though, and she smiled even wider upon seeing them.

"I think we're done here," she told Taeli, gesturing to the bodies littering the ground. "I also think I might very well die if we don't hurry back to the palace to have my arm looked at." [member="Taeli Rae"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

"That does look bad," Taeli replied, her eyes slowly changing back to her normal purple. "Sorry about that, I sometimes just lose control of my temper. Anywho, we should grab some samples then go back to your palace."

Grabbing some swabs from her belt, she got some saliva samples from the dead leader, before proceeding to get skin samples by taking one of the vibroswords lying on the ground and scrapping layers of skin off.

"I hope that's enough," she said, looking over the carnage. She sighed as she noticed that the lightsaber she had been using had been crushed, leaving only the crystal behind. "Guess I'll actually have to build a lightsaber now."

[member="Darth Vivaldi"]

 

[Carliah Dakrone]

Carliah nodded and then realized that was a bad idea as the ground began to sway beneath her, or maybe it was her that was swaying? She wasn't sure anymore. The Miraluka was beginning to feel light-headed as she tried to walk. She managed to take a few steps on her own before balance failed her and she went crashing to the ground.

"Damn it! I should have been more careful!" she growled at herself and she used a nearby tree to claw her way back to a standing position. She continued to walk, falling several more times but managing to pull herself up after each one. There was a steady flow of blood coming from her arm, leaving a bright red streak in her wake. [member="Taeli Rae"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

"Oh, don't go dying on me now," Taeli sighed, helping support the Miraluka as she started the journey back towards the palace. Using her free hand, she placed several swabs on the wound to try and staunch the bleeding.

"Perhaps you should use the Force to slow the blood flow to that arm," she suggested to her companion. "From what I've read so far, you concentrate on an area and put a Force Block on it. Won't work for long but at least you won't bleed out and all over your dress. I suppose if any Graug survived, they aren't welcome to any tea parties at your palace."

[member="Darth Vivaldi"]

 

[Carliah Dakrone]

"If any of them have survived I promise they won't be left alive for long," Carliah gasped in response. She tried to do what Taeli had said and after several minutes of focusing she succeeded, blocking the blood flow to her wound temporarily. She smirked over at Taeli.

"Before I joined the Sith I was a field medic. I can treat us both back at the palace, though it won't be as clean as Force healing. Do you still have your lightsaber?" Carliah asked, abled to walk a bit easier now that she wasn't losing anymore blood, though she still felt a bit woozy. [member="Taeli Rae"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

"Uhhhh, no," Taeli mumbled. "I took it from someone who didn't exactly need it on Zeltros, but it got destroyed in the fight. Only thing left was the focusing crystal."

She showed the small red gem to Carliah, helping the Miraluka when she wobbled. As t

"Oh well, I'll just have to build a better one soon," she said, shrugging. "How much longer until we're at the palace?"

[member="Darth Vivaldi"]

 

[Carliah Dakrone]

"Now," Carliah replied as the palace came into view. She led the way through the gates and all the way back to her private quarters. She grab the bed a knife off the table and took a seat beside the old fashioned fireplace on one of the wall of her sitting room. The wound was long and deep and Carliah lacked the materials to stitch it closed. She would have to ask Darth Praelior if she knew any Force healing techniques but for now this would have to do. She the knife halfway in the flames to heat up while she ran into her room real quick. She grabbed an old shirt and balled it up, taking it back out to the sitting room with her. This would definitely be a really crude cauterization job, and she'd have a nasty scar, but it was better than dying. She picked up the knife, a large butcher's knife much like the onces on her dress and pressed it down over the large gash in her arm, biting down on the balled up shirt to keep from screaming. She had managed to close half of the wound, she set the knife back in the fire to heat up again and glance back at Taeli.

"Take a seat, I'll look you over in a second," Carliah called over her shoulder. [member="Taeli Rae"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

Taking a seat, Taeli pulled open her datapad to transmit a message to Darth Praelior, informing their master of the saliva and skin samples she had acquired from the Graug. She didn't really mind the noises from the cauterization, she knew getting used to the smell and sounds of someone with charred flesh would be necessary for a Sith. She cringed a little as her hands, still feeling rather raw from the amount of lightning she produced, pressed the keys to send the message.

"No worries, I did more damage to myself than anything else," she replied, closing her datapad. "Still can't get the hang of Force Lightning, I can produce plenty of it, but it keeps burning my hands."

[member="Darth Vivaldi"] [member="Darth Praelior"]

 

[Carliah Dakrone]

Carliah once again pressed the knife over her wound, holding it for a few seconds as she bit down on the shirt. She finally finished and got up to go wash her knife. She disappeared through a door near where Taeli was sitting and returned with a freshly cleaned knife and small container that looked medical. She walked over and handed it to Taeli.


"This should help with the burns, take it, I have a lot more than I need. I had some pretty bad burns and other injuries from being tortured," Carliah held up her left hand as she spoke, the entire hand was covered in scar tissue from the skin being flayed from it. She had no sensation left in the hand, which was both a blessing and a curse. [member="Taeli Rae"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

Thank you," Taeli said, placing ointment on her hands and immediately feeling the effects. "So that was an interesting time, wasn't it? If at all possible, I would like to retire to those promised chambers to recover. Then tomorrow, before I leave, a tour of your palace, perhaps?"

The Miraluka surprised her in her constant fluctuations between homicidal maniac and caring healer, she would need to get to know this woman more to fully understand her she felt. She certainly wasn't the traditional rival like Elara was for Taeli. Just thought of that girl made her blood boil.

[member="Darth Vivaldi"]

 

[Carliah Dakrone]

"Of course, I would enjoy nothing more," Carliah replied, as she stepped outside and summoned a servant to take Taeli to her room. The Miraluka yawned as well. The fighting and blood loss had tired her out and she was ready for bed.

 

[Taeli Raaf]

Taeli followed the servant through the palace's quarters until she was lead to a room that was not as madly decorated as the rest of what she had seen so far.

Sitting down on the bed, she pulled her boots off and looked at the pile of clothes that had been provided for her. Getting rid of another dress, she seemed to go through them too fast, she changed and settled in with her datapad, reading on the stories of past Sith until she fell asleep.

[member="Darth Vivaldi"]

 

[Carliah Dakrone]

Carliah changed clothes as well and settle into bed to sleep. She took a few pain killers to ease her burns and grabbed a nearby book. The cover had the words "Oghma Infininium" on it but the name of the author had been scratched off over the years. The Queen of Madness contented herself with reading until she finally fell asleep,though if anyone were to ask her what the book was about, she wouldn't be able to tell them. [member="Taeli Rae"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

The next morning, Taeli awoke bright and early. She looked around the room now more closely as she wasn't consumed by tiredness anymore. Blue and bronze banners hung from the ceiling, several raven statues were present within the chamber. Row upon row of books were on display, and all in all, Taeli felt rather comfortable in this environment.

Getting out of bed, she went to the refresher and then went to select the dress she would wear for the tour and then her trip back to Coruscant. She decided on a blue synthsilk dress, and to add something to it, she decided to wear a white corset with it. Not traditional clothing for a Sith, but she enjoyed high fashion. Wondering if her host was awake, she opened her door and called for a servant. A Mon Calamari slave, dressed in a suit and bow tie, answered her call immediately and informed her the Queen of Madness would see her. Taeli noticed that a small blob of jam was on the side of the Mon Cal's mouth, but decided not to comment on it.

[member="Darth Vivaldi"]