Public When the Cards All Fold (Kaeshana/Invite)

[Phylis Alince]

Phylis just followed along obediently. She didn’t have much to add, and unlike some of this writer’s other characters she didn’t say things just for the hell of it. Besides, she was currently distracted by a piece of Arkanian pottery she had been looking into before. How had it gotten to her site? Was it indicative of trade between worlds in an early period, or was it a later artefact dumped?

[member="Verz Horak"], she knew the name. However, unlike a certain red-head character of this writer she did not want to put him in a cage.

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] | [member="Coryth Elaris"] | [member="Hevana Martin"]

 

[Verz Horak]

[member="Coryth Elaris"]

The aforementioned Verz Horak was currently sitting at the Oyu'baat tapcaf, drinking a nice mug of nectre'gal. The ale was rich and sweet. And strong. Mandalorians loved their black ale, always had and always will. As Verz was drinking, his datapad beeped. Verz picked up the datapad, accessing his messages.

We'll be leaving Kaeshana as soon as they can help get me ready. If you want to meet us in space above Malachor V. We'll be heading to the Trayus Academy where this thing ... whatever has a hold of me is at. So, if you can make it, we could use one more on this journey. Signed, Coryth Elaris.

Verz remembered Coryth well. He had met her on Coruscant. She had asked him for help in tracking down a Sith who had infected her with some poison. He reread the message, then put down some credits to pay for his drink.

Malachor V. All Mando'ade were taught about that terrible place. Hundreds of thousands of Mandos had been killed by a Republic superweapon, denied the chance to die in glorious battle. Going back there had become a sort of taboo. Even mentioning it was considered bad luck for Mandalorians. The place sent chills down every Mandalorian's spine. Very few things could do that.

Verz tapped out a quick response to Coryth.

Coryth, expect me to be there in the Nomad. I will help you destroy this monster once and for all. I may not be a close friend, but I will help in any way I can, Master Jedi. -Verz Horak

The warrior headed for the starport, where the sleeping Nomad lay, awaiting its master's return.

 

[Coryth Elaris]

Coryth smiled softly to the pair of Eldorai. "Thank you, both. I appreciate it." More than a little grateful for the help that was coming along. She had a feeling it was going to take every last one of them to end this at last.

Reaching out, she accepted the clothing Siobhan had offered. Keeping herself covered she managed to slip the clothing on underneath the blanket before she tossed aside the blanket and rose slowly to her feet.

"Yeah, given how much that thing has my mind twisted in knots I would not doubt its potency and what it can do for even a second. It's going to be brutal. That much I am sure of." It was still taking so much of her just to keep it together even now. She feared stepping outside of the crystals, that she'd once more have to hear that thing once more whispering into her mind, trying to drive her mad while draining her of life.

Siobhan's logic too, she had to agree with. "It's not a normal enemy by any means so keep that in mind as we go in. Be careful. And at least double check around you to make sure you aren't being presented an illusion to draw you away from everyone else."

Stepping forward, the little redhead stumbled slightly. Unfortunately for her, it seemed to a degree she was still weak. But she had the force, and she had her friends. It took her a moment before she recovered and started on. "I'll get more rest on the way. We'll have a little time."

It was in that moment that her datapad beeped. Checking it, she smiled a little. "He's on his way. He'll be joining us there." One more person she could count on this time. One more person to look out for each other. For that Coryth could not have been more thankful.

[member="Verz Horak"] | [member="Phylis Alince"] | [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] | [member="Hevana Martin"] | [member="Kaida Taldir"]

 

[Kaida Taldir]

[member="Coryth Elaris"], [member="Phylis Alince"], [member="Hevana Martin"], [member="Elayne Saedaris"]



And so now our more or less noble band of intrepid adventurers was off on another quest to storm a dungeon, beat up bad guys, take their loot and save the short stack of fire from an evil box of pure, venomous maliciousness.


In the interest of brevity they would soon end up on the shiny Firemane corvette that would take them to their destination, which was the inhospitable, terribly uninviting and moderately hellish world of Malachor V. Said world may or may not have been destroyed almost five thousand years ago, but then again Alderaan keeps getting wiped out and rebuilt, so we shall let that fly. Once everyone was aboard the corvette jumped to hyperspace and went on its merry trip to Malachor, where our heroines would meet up with [member="Verz Horak"].

 

[Coryth Elaris]

Malachor V

Soon enough our intrepid group of adventurers exited hyperspace above the twisted wasteland of a planet. Darkness permeated even the space above the planet, seeping into the ship like some horrid putrid plague. Coryth sitting in her seat, hissed in pain feeling that intense evil below. This isn't going to be pleasant. Not at all. Weariness had long ago set in and the redhead at the very end of her rope. In truth, Coryth was barely hanging on and knew it. It just wasn't a thought she voiced aloud. No one needed to know exactly how horrific it really was.

As the ship drifted closer to the planet, she could feel the monstrous presence start to pull at her mind. Clawing to get her back in his grasp. And for the first time in a long while, terror spread across the redhead's soft features. A part of her nearly certain that she might meet her doom on this world. Her body, she wasn't sure could actually withstand this fight. And so many doubts, and much uncertainly raced through her mind. A part of her so fearful that she was leading all of them into the biggest trap she possibly could have. What if they die because of me? I can't ... I can't let them. She bit at her lip, and glanced around the cabin at the others.

Entering the atmosphere, the ship rocked violently as the war torn world, and its strange field of gravity threatened to rip the ship from the skies above. Coryth's fingers dug into the seat's arms, clinging on for dear life as they continued their descent. Worriedly she glanced to Siobhan. Though there were no words she could use to express what she was feeling, not when her empathy seemed to be doing that for her. It seemed keeping her defenses up was a nearly impossible task, and so her emotions, fears and doubts spread across the ship. The others no doubt would feel exactly as the tiny redhead did.

Then she heard it, At last Coryth ... You have come. Ready to accept your destiny and fate? No. Not when you come with a small army. So, I shall dispose of them one by one. In the end it will be you and I. And then I shall take your very mind from you. You will be mine, just as the ancients prophesied. You have a destiny much greater than you can even fathom.

Her eyes widened, hearing the box. "I hear it." Her voice wavering as her doubts only grew. "Can't keep it out." I'm not strong enough to do this... A thought she kept to herself. "It's ... trying to get a foothold again." A hiss of pain escaped her as Coryth leaned forward and buried her head in her hands. "Pulling at my mind. It knows you are with me .... wants to kill all of you." The tiny woman managed to whisper as tears threatened to fall. A part of her wondered, how long it would be before the poison began to spread through her body, along her scars. Already her wounds were stinging, burning. It was only a matter of time before the box would attempt such. It was in that moment that the ship lurched hard to the right as the gravity ripped at it, rapidly pulling it to the ground. It seemed, things were about to get a hell of a lot worse before they got better.

[member="Verz Horak"] | [member="Phylis Alince"] | [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] | [member="Kaida Taldir"] | [member="Elayne Saedaris"]

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Phylis Alince"], [member="Verz Horak"], [member="Coryth Elaris"], [member="Valiens Nantaris"]


The onslaught was terrible and almost overwhelmning. The flood of emotions and fears, let loose by Coryth's empathy, hit Siobhan with the force of a tidal wave. With such vehemence that it felt like her brain was connecting with a solid brick wall and almost forcing Siobhan to her knees. Her mental defences, though a good deal more formidable than during her first encounters with Shadow, were still insufficient and she grit her teeth as she tried to bring order to her mind.


"Then we'll kill it first. Don't give in to it, Coryth. Fight it. I know you can!" she all but yelled at the tiny redhead, having to raise her voice make herself heard over the chaos. The small ship lurched and rocked violently as the unstable gravity of the death world claimed purchase of it, threatening to rip it from the skies above and send it tumbling downward towards its grave. She could see the terrible effect the malignant influence of the box was having on Coryth, but felt powerless to help. Shaking she tried to make her way over to the little redhead but then suddenly the ship shook so violently as it was pulled down that Siobhan was tossed into the air and thrust across it at astounding speed.


Ouch. Beskar'gam was awesome when it came to keeping yourself from getting speared or shot, but it could not keep out blunt trauma and Siobhan went through a lot of that when she crashed into a wall. Oh, wait, actually it was the ceiling that she collided with. Through an open wound in her forehead blood seeped out, then she fell onto the floor. Ouch, that hurt as well. Then there was the powerful, malevolent presence of the Dark Side seeking to enter into her mind, for this was a world of atrocities, a graveyard that had seen millions of deaths. A thousand whispers inside her mind, a thousand razors cutting inside her brain, slicing and tearing at her sanity, a dark power seeking to drive her catatonic as it seized her body...yet promising greatness if she gave in. Breathing became...difficult as it turned choking...


With an Eldarai curse she managed to snap out of it. "Phylis, go help Coryth." For the moment at least. Taking a deep breath as the ship seemed to plummet out of the sky she exerted her telekinetic will as she harnessed the power of the Force to wrap her power around the ship. She was breathing heavily as she did so, feeling that she had probably broken something inside her, but pushed on. Her telekinetic power wrapped itself around the ship in a protectice cocoon. Gravity was a heartless queen, as any 2km superworm that tried to go planetside would discover because it would be crushed, but for a moment at least...the ship stabilised a bit. It would be pulled down...but at a slower, more controlled pace as she tested her will against the unstable gravity field, pushing herself more and more in order to keep them from falling out of the dark sky and falling to their deaths.

 

[Kaida Taldir]

[member="Coryth Elaris"], [member="Phylis Alince"]


Everything had turned chaotic, their ship was being erratic and Coryth's empathy was giving her a massive headache from hell. Kaida did not understand that much about the mystical box of doom and pure maliciousness, but understood that it was seriously messing up Coryth and causing her a large degree of pain, both physical and mental.


With her empathy so out of control the poor redhead was a danger to others and to herself. Fortunately the frost elf happened to be of the Good Is Not Nice alignment. So, once she had managed to stop herself from falling over while Kerrigan tried to control the ship, her blaster pistol was out in a flash. Paragon interrupt! The Seraph squeezed the trigger and several stun bolts shot towards Coryth in quick succession.

 

[Coryth Elaris]

The ship shuddered and shook as the planet's twisted gravity ripped and tugged at their vessel. The power of the evil box below surged as Coryth neared the surface. It tore viciously at her mind, drawing a most agonized cry from the redhead. Deeper and deeper it sunk it's claws into her mind, trying to bury itself so deep that it could never be removed. Her empathic powers grew more wild by the second as her agony and fears lashed out through the cabin at all those present. Doubled over, with both hands clutching her head the tiny woman sobbed heavily, no longer able to hide her pains anymore.

It was then that a sudden sense of danger overcame her and the little woman looked up just in time to see the blonde Eldorai reach for her blaster pistol and take aim at her. "Please no! Don't! I..." She shouted, but soon her voice was silenced as the first stun bolt struck her squarely in the chest. The hit, tossed her backwards out of her seat, leaving the redhead sprawled upon the ground.

Being the special redheaded snowflake that she was, the first stun bolt did not render her unconscious. It had always been extremely difficult to knock Cory out with stun weapons. So as she felt to the floor, her eyes remained open, and she was quite conscious and aware of everything, though no movement could be made. The first bolt had completely overloaded her nervous system and temporarily left her paralyzed. Absolute terror and confusion rang out through her empathy. It was the second shot that struck her, that finally forced her unconscious where her wild empathic curse would instantly cease to affect the others as the redhead was no longer capable of such.

Kaida had made the right choice, pushing the woman into the realm of sleep and unconsciousness which would keep her own emotions, and terrors from taking over the group as the little Jedi held no control over such things at this point.

Though something more alarming was happening to the tiny woman. The dark poison living within her scars suddenly and quite rapidly tore across her body, spreading out rapidly as a dark malignant power began to wrap itself around the little redhead, as they drew closer to the surface and the source of the evil that haunted Coryth.

A soft groan would echo through the ship's cabin as even in unconsciousness Cory could not escape the pain that the poison brought her. A second moan escaped her as some of her scars tore open and the dark sinister substance started to ooze from her skin, through her clothing to pool on the ground beneath her. Whatever the substance truly was, whatever it was doing to Coryth they would only know of it's true effects when she would come to later. Regardless, it was quite clear they needed to move quickly if they were to put a stop to this monster, before it ended the tiny healer's life.

[member="Kaida Taldir"] | [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] | [member="Verz Horak"] | [member="Phylis Alince"]

 

[Phylis Alince]

[member="Coryth Elaris"] [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]

Phylis was not having a fun time. The jostling of the ship combined with the rising dark side power was not doing good things for her stomach. That was even before one considered that Coryth was being infected again by the Dark Side poison.

It was time for action. The Jedi Master could feel the darkness surrounding Coryth, could feel her pain. Reaching into her bag she produced a shimmering crystal.
“Hmm, here’s one I prepared earlier,” she muttered.

Kneeling down by Coryth she started to mutter words, drawing on the Force, centring herself to devote all her energies into protecting the redhead.
The crystal started to glow brighter and brighter.
“Siobhan…brace…yourself….” She managed to call this out before the blast of Force Light hit. After all, Siobhan was just a little on the darker side of neutral, and she didn’t want to hurt her, especially as she was trying to stop their ship crashing! Kaida probably wouldn’t be hurt by it, maybe get happy thoughts about Jesters and Cylixes.

Focusing the Light Side energies she directed it onto Coryth’s prone form. Where it struck the Sith venom retreated like ice before a flame…but when the light left it started to come back.

“We don’t have much time. I can only hold it back for so long!” she told Kaida.

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Coryth Elaris"], [member="Phylis Alince"], [member="Elayne Saedaris"]


It pained Siobhan deeply to see Coryth this helpless and suffering like this, but still not a word of protest left her lips when she saw Kaida fire a salvoe of stun bolts on her and the poor redhead fell into unconsciousness. She would have winced at the sight of the malevolent Sith Poison that causing her beloved friend such torment. However, she could not allow herself to think of any this because she was quite busy keeping the ship from crashing.


It jostled and shuddered as her will warred with the unstable gravity field of Malachor. Beads of sweat dripped down her face and back as she exerted herself, having encased the ship in what could be described as a telekinetic sphere that served as a protective cocoon. With her willpower wrapped around the ship she pulled...hard, very hard, willing the ship to simply...stop falling.


She saw the crystal of pure light side energy glow brighter and braced herself, taking a moment to withdraw just a bit. Then a blast of Force Light hit the room as if it were an arcanic bomb. Siobhan averted her eyes from the light that engulfed the room. She had steeled herself, but Phylis was still unleashing very potent magicks and quite powerful in her own right, so she ended up feeling a burning pain across her skin. She grit her teeth at the sensation, feeling like she was on fire. Deep cracks appeared on her reddened skin, giving her a grotesque appearance, before she managed to stabilise herself.


Just a brief distraction, but it was enough for her concentration to slip just a bit and suddenly the ship rocked, falling out of the sky for a good plunge towards a jagged mountain range. Siobhan was forced to her knees and the mountains came closer and closer, with klaxxons and alarm sirens blaring loudly, before, an Eldarai curse escaping her lips, she grabbed the ship and roughly pulled it back into the sky. Her breathing came across as a series of pants. Her invisible hand having taken ahold of the ship she slowly guided it downward towards a valley surrounded by mountains.


I'm getting way too old for this, Siobhan thought to herself grimly. With a shudder the ship landed upon the ground. Further in the distance loomed the foreboding spires of the Trayus Academy. Eyes swept across the room as she gave everyone a one-over to see whether they were alright. Managing to get to her feet with a groan she limped over to the cockpit. She found the pilot slumped over the blood-stained controls, with a bloody wound inside her head and no longer breathing. "Pilot's dead, let's move."

 

[Elayne Saedaris]

Elayne had grimmaced, the redhead's empathy giving her quite the spliting headache. As the ship rocked and lurched she found herself completely disliking flight more and more by the moment. With one more harsh lurch Elanye was thrown harshly against the wall with a heavy thud. Feeling a sticky substance oozing down her neck, she reached up to find a small wound from where the back of her head met with the wall in a most unpleasant fashion.

With the Jedi woman's empathic curse growing more wild, even Elayne could not resist it and found the terror and pain creeping into her mind. Though something about it, she instantly knew was not her feelings, not her pains. With that she managed a weak defense against the redhead as Kaida did everyone a favor by putting the woman temporarily out of her misery.

Then came the Force Light from the other Master as she worked to rid the woman of the horrid sickly poison. Stepping forward, Elayne too knelt beside the small figure crumpled on the floor and lifted her head into her lap, to try and protect Coryth's head as best she could from any further trauma on the descent.

Once on the ground she spared a glance to Kaida and then to Phylis, concerned on how quickly they would have to move to keep the small woman alive. "Let's get her up. We've got a bit of ground to cover before we get to the Academy and personally, I think the faster we cross that distance and find whatever is doing this to her, the better for us all. For speed and ease of movement, I can carry her as well." And it wasn't like Cortth weighed much of anything being as lithe as she was. It would hardly be a burden on someone like Elayne. Plus it wasn't like the Firemane was going anywhere on her own anytime soon.

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] | [member="Kaida Taldir"] | [member="Phylis Alince"]

 

[Kaida Taldir]

[member="Elayne Saedaris"], [member="Phylis Alince"]


It appeared they had survived and not crased, which was always nice. Assuredly Coryth would wake up at the right dramatic moment when it came to the point where they had to confront the evil box of doom, but for now the tiny redhead was thankfully sleeping, though unfortunately her slumber was far from restful or peaceful.


In any case Kaida gave Elayne a nod once she managed to get up. "Squad is down two, rest are alive," she said laconically after checking on the squad of Firemane soldiers that Siobhan had taken with her. A glance over to Elayne. "Carry her. I'll take point. We have plenty of ground to cover." Fortunately the little Coryth did not weigh much, so it should not be a burden. But things were bound to only get worse once they walked through the halls of the Trayus Academy. Looking over the ship, Kaida doubted it would be flying anywhere again given the damage it seemed to have taken, but she did not mention that. For some reason the landing ramp refused to lower, perhaps due the controls had taken to much of a hit, so she simply pulled it open with her Sciia.


Having stepped outside she took a moment to look around. Attempting to sense anything through the Force, through the choking coldness around her, proved exhausting and in any case revealed to her nothing beyond her immediate surroundings. Low rock formations littered the ground and jagged mountain ranges rose into the sky. The ground was a greyeish colour and emitted a lurid yellow glow. From the cracks, intermittently, foul gasess were released into the air, as if the planet was trying to disgourge a venomous, sickening poison inside it. In the distance loomed the Trayus Academy, the epicentre of dark power and malevolence upon the broken planet, and the roar of storm beasts echoed across the mountains.

 

[Phylis Alince]

[member="Kaida Taldir"] [member="Coryth Elaris"]

Ever the archivist, Phylis knew of the dreadful urgency and the peril, but she couldn’t help but stop occasionally and look at the wreck around her. She even took out her datapad at one point to make some notes before hurrying to keep up.

“Hmm, fascinating,” she said, looking up at the somewhat decrepit academy. “I had heard the planet had been discorporated during the encounter with Darth Traya. How curious.”

However, it was time for work, and she hurried forward to the doors. They were heavy and even corroded they were a barrier.
Phylis raised her hands, calling on her power, about to unleash an epic strike upon the doors. However, she stopped abruptly, the energy dissipating awkwardly around her, as she saw a small collapsed pillar which allowed access.
“Hmm, perhaps less risky that bringing the archway down. Come, let’s enter, I’ll get some light on the other side.”

The Dark was strong here, but decayed. Were it not for the box then there would be nothing but a residual presence at all.

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Coryth Elaris"], [member="Elayne Saedaris"], [member="Phylis Alince"]


So here they were now, walking the foreboding halls of the Trayus Academy. The power of the Dark Side was still strong but decayed badly. Even darkness dissipates if not fed. Once upon a time this Academy had been a nexus of Sith power and repository of dark knowledge. Like a gaping maw it swallowed up all the Sith and Dark Jedi who came to learn its secrets, changing them irrevocably. Siobhan blotted these thoughts out of her mind as she made her way through a deserted corridor. The dark whispers inside her mind had fallen silent, but this only made her warier, for it could only be the calm before the storm. Somewhere inside the dark academy lay the box of doom that was the cause of Coryth's malaise and all the suffering the tiny redhead had endured.


Taldir was taking point, Elayne was carrying the unconscious Coryth and a small squad of Firemane soldiers was watching their flanks and rear. Suddenly there was loud noise upon the ground and within moments a bestial creature, a storm beast, was charging towards them. Opening a mouth full of massive teeth it unleashed an animalistic roar, so loud and powerful that it was a sonic shockwave. Siobhan grit her teeth against the pain as it felt that her eardrums were being burst and someone was bashing her over the head with her hammer.


Ouch. The Force grounded her and kept her from flying, but she was annoyed and as the animal charged towards them, throwing up a couple skeletons along the way, she simply wrapped her telekinetic willpower around, lifted it into the air and violently threw it across the corridor and out of the window. Glass shattered upon the impact, but the gust of a telekinetic wind kept the shards from hitting our heroines. Caught in the wind the storm beast kept on flying...until it was impaled upon a jagged mountain.

 

[Coryth Elaris]

Coryth now slept but certainly not peacefully as she twitched from time to time upon Elayne's shoulders. Trapped in an unfortunate nightmare, brought on by the box of doom. Monsters of every variety chased her through an endless maze, seeking her destruction. Beyond that within the maze, finding the lifeless forms of those she cared about most. The box's singular goal to break down her will to fight, to live, doing everything it could to destroy her within the dreamscape where no one could truly protect her. While it couldn't quite reach her, to bring out more of the sickly poison, it was willing to bide its time.

In the hallway after the death of the storm beast, a grinding of stone echoed through the passageway. Two giant stone doors were sliding open as the group advanced. One ahead of the group and one from behind. A pair of monstrous roars rang out as two Chrysalide stepped forward from their stone prisons. Saliva frothing from their mouths as they advanced, looking incredibly hungry and angry. Who knew how long the beasts had gone without food, and now ...Well now there was plenty to be had with the team of Firemane troops and our group of intrepid adventurers.

The one behind the group raced forward, grabbing a Firmane trooper, eliciting a startled scream from the woman. It quickly tossed the poor soul into it's mouth, ending the being's life in an instant. The other creature lunged forward towards Siobhan an Kaida, hoping for an easy meal. Something it without a doubt, would not be getting this day.

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] | [member="Kaida Taldir"] | [member="Phylis Alince"]

 

[Elayne Saedaris]

Shifting Coryth onto her shoulder, Elayne held the woman tightly trying to support her as best she could. Though she did feel mildly unnerved by not having a weapon in hand. There certainly wasn't the option of letting Coryth go to pull something out. With some effort, she repositioned her fellow Firemane as they entered the temple. She managed to hold her with a single arm, leaving her at least with one hand freak to use her Sciia. It wasn't ideal but it was going to have to do.

As they marched along, Elayne stayed in the middle of the pack, trying to ensure as many people were between Coryth and harm as possible. Precious cargo that she was, one couldn't afford to take risks with her.

Sensing the danger coming, Elayne threw up a protective bubble of the force to protect the tiny redhead from what was coming. Her eyes locked with the storm beast, and cringed as it opened it's jaws wide, roaring at the group with it's powerful sonic like shockwave. Her sensitive ears, painfully ringing as the beast attacked. It was all she could do to hold her concentration and keep the focus needed to keep Coryth resting and unharmed. Such harsh sound, certainly something the Angelii did not want to have to deal with today. Alas, Kaida had trained her well if not quite harshly with such matters. Pain was temporary, she just had to outlast. Breathing a sigh of relief as Siobhan made quick work of the monster, they could move on.

Or so she thought. When she felt more than she heard the grinding of stone upon stone as the massive doors slide open in front of and behind them. Stone, always seemed to carry a voice of it's own around her and her gifts. And while the stone here was quite sickly, tainted terribly by the dark malignant powers that once reigned supreme on the planet, it still spoke to her giving her a little warning before the beasts marched out. Turning, and seeing the green rancor beast, was a little shocking. Never having seen such a creature nor felt something so steeped in darkness. This planet certainly seemed full of old Sith experiments and evils.

There was no time to be afraid, or concerned. Not when the creature scooped up one of the Firemane troopers with ease and ate the poor woman wholesale. With a wave of her only free hand, pulling upon the invisible strands of power she reached into the earth, and ripped hard upon her kindred element sending a massive ripple through the stone towards the beast, throwing it from it's feet.

With an angered roar, it sprang to it's feet and leaped towards the two redheads in the center of the crowd as the soldiers unleashed a volley of bolter shots trying to help end the beast's life quickly. Elayne once more reached into her kindred element, lifting a couple hundred tiny fragments of rock as. With a flick of her wrist she hurled them towards the creature at a massive speed. The fragments tore through the creature leaving behind an hundreds of impressive wounds.

The beast screamed out in agony, and faltered in its next step towards the group. Alas, Elayne was far from done. Closing her eyes, and sinking deeply into her gifts the earth soon split opened beneath the creature. As the earth below seemed to simply swallow the creature up as she pulled the soil back together burying the beast once and for all. That was one monster down, one to go. Though she had no doubts that Siobhan, Kaida and the others could handle themselves just fine.

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] | [member="Phylis Alince"] | [member="Kaida Taldir"]

 

[Kaida Taldir]

[member="Elayne Saedaris"], [member="Phylis Alince"]


Time seemed to stop around them as everything happened in what could be described as slow motion. Her sensitive ears were still ranging from the powerful, brutal shockwave conjured up by the storm beast's sonic scream when danger once more approached. Elf ears, aside from being the object of certain sexual fetishes, were quite useful because they provided enhanced hearing. On the flip side their sensitivity also made the Eldorai a good deal more vulnerable to sonic attacks, as a tradeoff.


So Kaida grit her teeth at the awful pain that felt like someone was applying a mighty hammer to her. It took a good deal to stay focus and resist the urge to simply place her hands upon her ears and try to blot the sounds out, but Angelii discipline and training carried the day. It was just pain. Pain was temporary and within a moment the storm beast had been tossed out of the window by Kerrigan.


The frost elf steeled herself when the next threat approached. Talon Elayne Saedaris and the Firemane soldiers were protecting Coryth against one. Kaida would have helped but as it turned out one chrysalide rancor seemed to find her and Kerrigan quite appetising. Well, as it turned out she would not need to help anyway since Elayne held her own just fine and slew the beast. This would make Kaida quite proud of her. As a matter of fact, she would be so proud that she would decide to be even harsher to the redhead in her training!


No time for doubt or hesitation. As the massive charged towards them, its every footstep causing the ground to quake loudly, lunging forward to both her and Kerrigan...it suddenly found itself risking to fall as the ground around it abruptly turned slippery, with moisture gathering everywhere at a rapid rate. The limbs of the rancor grew heavy as she drew upon her power to manipulate the moisture inside them, willing them to become sluggish and paralysed. As the beast was at risk of losing its balance and struggled against the eldritch osnalught, powerful ripples were felt in the Force as Kerrigan pulled upon the strands of power to unleash a massive, telekinetic shockwave that ironically enough was the equivalent of tossing a couple rancors at the beast. The earth shook under the pressure, parts of the decayed walls were ripped out and propelled towards the rancor like boulders, bombarding it with ruthless force and great speed.


The chrysalide rancor screamed out in intense agony as it was tossed back far and brought to its knees by the telekinetic battering ram, then a small portion of the ceiling dropped on it. The beast struggled to arise once again after the onslaught, bones crushed and blood-covered, for though its flesh might be broken, the dark power that animated it willed it to rise once more. While Firemane soldiers opened fire with their bolters, it would find itself experiencing a most painful and frightening sensation when Kaida exerted her power over ice and the cold. Her eyes turned a crystalline blue and a frosty breath escaped her mouth as shrunk her focus further and further.


Her focus was upon one particularly fun organ to manipulate and torment: The brain of the chrysalide rancor. Here its great strength and durability would not avail the rancor as she focused on the beautiful wetness inside it. Things would soon turn very, very, very cold there as Kaida drew upon her Sciia to induce a state of freezing inside it. Blood would no longer reach the brain as the pathway to it was clogged and frozen over, then the brain matter itself would be frozen. The beast gasped and roared loudly, its arms swinging wildly as it tried to strike at anything in its path, bashing the damaged walls and the floor before it gave up the ghost and died. Two beasts down. Kaida strongly doubted that this was the worse they had faced. Beastial creatures could be fought easily, but the true threat lay in the malignant powers the box of doom possessed.

 

[Phylis Alince]

[member="Kaida Taldir"] [member="Coryth Elaris"]

Whilst the admittedly cool battle with the rancor went on, Phylis stood vigil with Elayne over Coryth.

Calling on the Force she shielded them from harm whilst at the same time trying to help protect Coryth. The Force was a powerful ally, but the residual darkness of this place made it harder to focus on using the Light.

In the aftermath of the battle Phylis picked up Coryth. “Which way?”

 

[Coryth Elaris]

Undoubtedly it had been a good thing that Coryth was unconscious for this. The tiny woman and her empathy in the state she was in, would not have been able to take the pain and death around her, from the rancors to the poor Firemane troopers that had lost their lives before Elayne could get things under control.

If anything at the loss, the box of doom was more annoyed than anything. It would have to work quickly if it was going to dispense with the adventurers and get it's claws on Coryth once more. It was now that seeping dark tendrils of power swept through the halls. Unseen to the eye but no doubt could be felt as it work its way through the stone halls. Slowly, slowly those tendrils would meet their targets, seeking to dive into the minds of the small group of adventurers. Right away, the Sith within the box knew that it couldn't control them just yet, not without knowing a little more about each and every one. Some minds were easier to enter than others, but he would take what he could get. As his power strengthened among them, a feeling of oppressive despair would spread through our adventurers, seeking to ensure they knew the goal they were trying to reach was impossible, to drive into them the simple idea that they'd already lost.

They'd be able to move forward a little. For there was an eerie glowing orange light at the end of the lengthy hallway, meant to help guide them further to their doom. For now the party would have a break from attacks. There was no purpose in continually slamming them with monster after monster, no their will had to be worn down first. All in hopes the others with Coryth would make a terrible mistake, one that they would lose their lives to.

[member="Phylis Alince"] | [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] | [member="Kaida Taldir"] | [member="Elayne Saedaris"]

 

[Elayne Saedaris]

Seeing the eerie orange glow ahead, Elayne sighed. "I'd say not that way... Creepy glowing light just seems to be all sorts of bad juju." Still, would anyone hang around the place, without some kind of light on. She did wonder. But, the reality was any way they went was going to be dangerous and just as likely to walk right into a trap. There was no telling what was laying in wait for them.

It was about that time that she felt a distinct shift in the hallway. A darkness was flooding in, and quickly she glanced around to the others. For it seemed to affect those without the force first, a sense of despair coming over a few of the Firemane Troopers. Soon enough that same darkness touched her mind. Instantly it became a fight to keep her mind clear. It felt like she was being pulled under, drowning in a sea of despair. It took everything she had just to keep her head above the surface and not let it pull her under. Though it was growing harder and harder by the second to keep it up.

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] | [member="Phylis Alince"] | [member="Kaida Taldir"]