Public When the Cards All Fold (Kaeshana/Invite)

[Kaida Taldir]

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


And suddenly there was fear, terror and despair as the vile box of malicious malevolence unleashed a portion of its mental power upon our heroines! Those without the Force were affected first. The Firemane troopers were trained soldiers, but obviously not conditioned to resist such evil. One of them seemed to freeze, another turned tail and began running away, though Kaida roughly grabbed her by the shoulder.


But then the same darkness touched her mind and sought to claim purchase over it. Immediately it became a battle of wills to resist it. For once the dark influence had crept into her mind, it would be difficult to exorcise it. She grit her teeth as she tried to focus, concentration etched over her face. To her it felt like she was being pulled into a pit of despair and fear. Visions flashed through her mind as the dark power tried to find out what it could use to strengthen the seeds of doubt.


Get out, she thought to herself, trying to summon what mental training she had to push the vile influence out. All Angelii received training to resist this, but for the most part their training focused on fighting enemies on an open battlefield. Malicious boxes of doom and their mentalism were not part of the package. The whispers intensified, reminding her of the horrors on Gehenna, of how a certain Exarch had almost gotten her killed during her mad rampage.


She felt that Elayne was suffering from the same power and grabbed ahold of her shoulder. "Talon, steel your mind. We will complete this mission," she said sternly. "It's illusions, nothing more." It was becoming harder and harder to resist with every moment that passed as she tried to grab ahold of anything that could pull her up as she teetered on the edge as anguish threatened to overtake her.

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

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


Since its monsters had not worked out so well, the box of evil maliciousness and vileness decided to try a more devious tactic. Namely mentalism. After all, mind rape was cool, trendy and quite useful. Besides, there was a certain thrill and satisfaction to be gained from turning the mind of your opponents into jellie.


Or so fill them with fear and terror that they would be curled up in a fetal position and cry for their mummies. Needless to say the NPCs were the first to be affected by it. Verily, this was very discriminatory, but then being a simple grunt always sucked as soon as you encountered Force Gods since the universe was an unkind, cruel place to live in. One of the Firemane soldiers, so overcome with despair and terror, ate her blaster pistol and fell to the ground dead.


Needless to say the mental onslaught hit Siobhan as well, though she cried to maintain control. The soldiers were getting unstable and if things got worse, they would not be much use. "Sergeant, have your men head back and guard the exit. Move," she barked out at them. The box was focused on Coryth, so it probably would not waste time on them. That was the interpretation if you assumed Siobhan was being merciful.


She almost tumbled under the mental attack, concentration and strain all too evident in her features as she felt herself being pulled down into the ocean of despair. The evil influence would pull and pull until she had sunk deep to the bottom of the ocean. She took a deep breath as she tried to concentrate. The box wanted her to believe that the quest was futile, Coryth would die and so would they...except this was something Siobhan fething Kerrigan refused to believe. Her steps came to a halt as she gripped a pillar, trying to hold on to it and stabilise herself. Gathering her power she sought to manifest a mental blast to push the dark influence from her mind and propel herself out of the metaphorical ocean. If there were mental claws trying to pull her down, she could break them. The dark crystal from Mirien pulsed, aiding her focus and giving her strength as she sought to cleanse her mind.

 

[Phylis Alince]

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

The Dark had its champions but so did the Light. The Dark was not stronger, no, it was more direct, more aggressive, more overbearing. But in the Light there was the strength of resistance, protection, contentment, calm.

Faced by these mental terrors Phylis Alince found herself bowed under the weight of the box’s evil. However, she had a duty and purpose; protect Coryth, and that came through to her stronger than anything else.

Carefully setting the tiny redhead down, the Jedi Master knelt and called on her power. Fortunately, she did not need to be alone here, and drew a glowing crystal from her pack and held it up. Drawing the power from it to fuel herself she used the Light to create a barrier around herself into which the Angelii could safely shelter and in which the darkness would be thwarted.

It did mean that Siobhan would be left outside the impromptu circle of protection, but Phylis knew the other woman could protect herself…there was no choice here.

 

[Elayne Saedaris]

Elayne had been so weighted down by the mental attack, that she hardly noticed Kaida until she touched her. That simple gesture causing Elayne to jump slightly before she got herself under control. Sure she had some training against it, but training and actual battle were two separate things. Outside of that training, she never had experienced something that prey solely on her mind. She gave a nod to Kaida, "Yes, ma'am." At least she was trying, doing all she could to keep that horrible dark presence from gaining a foothold in her mind.

Feeling a beacon of light developing, Elayne turned, glancing back to Phylis. "Come, quickly." The redhead spoke to Kaida as she grabbed her arm to pull her along and over to the Jedi Master. Anything just to get out of that pit of darkness and despair. Stepping into that glowing feeling of light and warmth Elayne breathed a heavy sigh of relief as the darkness was forced back.

For now it seemed this would be all the box would do, letting the group move forward. But that didn't mean it was letting up on that terrible darkness it sought to spread amongst the group. There was some annoyance in the air as he lost a few of his targets with the efforts of Phylis. As for the guards heading back to where they came in, screams could now be heard as some mysterious creature went after them. No doubt, once whatever it was got done with those troopers, it would be seeking its next meal.

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

 

[Kaida Taldir]

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


Kaida felt the beacon of light come into being when Phylis drew upon her power, creating an impromptu circle of protection that held the darkness at bay. Hearing Elayne's words the frost elf quickly made haste and entered the circle. Kerrigan was left out of it, but she could deal. The feelings of light, calm and warmth made Kaida breath a sigh of relief as she felt the darkness receding and no longer claiming her mind. However, the reprieve was short-lived. First she heard a terrible, blood-curdling scream, then the sound of bolter fire and grenades.


She quickly reached for her comm. "Sergeant, report!" However, she only got static. It seemed like the device was no longer working, as if it had been shorted out by the dark power. As if on cue, the entire room seemed to turn dark. Indeed, it became so pitch-black that even with the rays of light that Phylis had conjured up and her own keen eyesight Kaida struggled to see. She removed a flare from her belt, but then suddenly she heard noise, like the sound of an approaching beast.


Then there was a loud roar. Even without being able to see much of anything Kaida had a good sense of direction and, in any case, those elf ears served a practical purpose beyond being the subject of certain odd sexual fetishes. So without further ado she timply tossed the flare into the direction of the disturbance.


The area was set alight and in the process the disgusting, rodent-like beast was revealed. It screeched loudly and with clear anger, having been set alight. Overcome by rage and seemingly blinded, it bullrushed the elf, moving at great speed for its size. Calmly bringing up her bolter Kaida fired. The sharp crack of the gun firing was matched only by the percussive crump of the explosion a second later. Limbs were blown everywhere and blood splattered the walls as the beast was blown apart.


However, where this beast had fallen, more were soon coming, as if they had smelled blood and were eager for their piece of flesh. "We need to move," Kaida called out. Drawing upon her kindred element, she gathered her power and sent forth a burst of cold much like the discharge of a cryoban grenade towards the huge rodents. A hail of ice spikes dropped down from the ceiling to spear beasts.

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

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


Siobhan was unfortunately outside of the protectice circle. Being a slightly darker shade of neutral, she would not be protected by the Light. Indeed, even the briefest contact with it would have an averse effect on her and so that was what happened. When the barrier of Light sprang to life Siobhan instinctively recoiled and averted her eyes. For the power of light treated her like any dark power it had to repel and she felt a strong burning sensation across her skin. It was a searing burn that, being born of the Force, ignored her armour. Her skin felt like it was itching, then as if it was on fire. For a few moments her face was contorted in an expression of pain and looked like it was cracking before she was able to fortify her barriers.


However, since the box could not attack anyone in the circle, she was still suffering from the mental onslaught. Again and again her mind reeled under the onslaught as it sought to pull her down into an ocean of terror and despair, feeding off the pain she was feeling. She struggled to maintain focus as her first wall crumbled, the sensation sending shockwaves through her mind, and she gripped a pillar tight as she fought to maintain concentration.


With an Eldarai curse she sent forth a mental shockwave of her own to try and banish the influence from her mind, immediately shoring up her defences after. However, while she waged this mental struggle she was wholly oblivious to the beasts that were charging the party. Suddenly she was slammed to the ground and fell on her butt when one of the huge rodents bullrushed her. Immediately it began viciously clawing and slashing at her, trying to tear through her helmet's visor.


In a bestial rage Siobhan headbutted it with her hemet and threw it off, then grabbed the creature's hands with her gauntleted hands and ripped it off. Getting to her feet with her groan she let her rage loose when she let loose a powerful telekinetic blast sweep towards the beasts, making a large piece of wall drop and a small portion of the roof fall on and bury them. Blood splattered the walls and pieces of rancid smelling flesh flew everywhere.

 

[Phylis Alince]

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

Phylis felt bad, really bad, for excluding Siobhan like that. After all, she wouldn’t enjoy it if Siobhan called upon some sort of dark sorcery. However, it was necessary; Coryth had to be protected, and she could only do that with the Light.

However, there soon came another enemy, one she could fight. Laying Coryth down on the stones the Jedi Master unhitched her lightsabre. Calling on the Light to empower her weapon, the green blade sprung to life with a burning nimbus around it.

The monsters came at her, enraged on a primal level by the entrance of Light into the Dark they were used to. Around the Jedi Master they swarmed. However, Soresu was the Jedi’s ally here. A defensive technique it might be, but in these cases it was supreme. Every time a rodent came at her, the glowing green blade sliced or stabbed precisely into dark flesh. Soon the smell of burning, rancid blood filled the air as the Jedi Master stood over Coryth and protected her.

It was not perfect, one of the critters jumped on her back and bit down on her ear, only to be thrown like a bullet into the wall with the Force.
When at last the creatures withdrew there were seven dead ones scattered around Phylis.

“I think we could have done with one of Coryth’s Nexu…” Phylis commented, wincing as she bandaged her wounds.

 

[Elayne Saedaris]

Coryth thankfully was resting seemingly peacefully as Phylis shuffled her to the ground, and stood to defend her. Elayne found herself with her back to Phylis' as she withdrew her Sarix to do battle with the rodent creatures that now infested the hall. At least these were creatures she could see, and could actually fight. Monster after monster fell with ease, and so many bodies littered the floor by the time our ladies were done with the battle.

She spared a glance to Phylis and nodded, "I agree. It would have been most handy to have this time around. Taldir's right though, we should move." And this time, Elayne knelt down and scooped up the little redhead, for the tiny woman had to be protected at all costs. She was the very reason they were all here.

The box still kept up it's mental assault. For he may not have been able to get to all of the group of adventurers, but he could get to one. And right now that was all he needed. As he peered into Siobhan's mind, he saw an image of an old lover ... Adril. This will do nicely .... It thought to itself. And soon enough Siobhan would begin to see the very real looking image of Adril appear at the end of the hall, smiling brightly, she motioned to Siobhan to follow as she took a turn down one of the side hallways and disappeared from sight. To Siobhan this 'Adril' would even feel real, a lightside presence there, drifting in the hallway and an all too Eldorai signature.

Granted none of the others would see this, but Siobhan would. The box after all, only needed to draw Sio away from the others so it could get her alone. From there it was certain that it had enough things to pile upon the woman to end her. After all, Siobhan only needed to make a single mistake and while the box still worked to pull her down into the depths of despair and hopelessness, with some luck the appearance of her old lover would make her just vulnerable enough to make a last and final mistake.

At the same time, the box started to quietly whisper to Elayne. Doing it's best to convince the Talon that it was an Angel of the Goddess and that Elayne must listen to him, before she was doomed to the fires of hell. It would take a little time no doubt, but given the redhead's strong believes, it was bound to at least get her to begin to doubt. It started to weave a tangled web as it pressed against the woman's mind, trying to convince her of the evils of Coryth - the horrors the tiny woman brought to the galaxy and how she must be stopped. One way or another the box was going to get what it wanted. And it wanted Coryth.

You only have to bring her to me, to save the galaxy .... It whispered to her. She destroyed an entire city. Coryth is not the righteous woman all think her to be. She is evil and as brought about the death of so many people ... Elayne she must be stopped. Bring her to me, so I can end her. Together we can set her on a path to redemption. Such lines were digging deeper into Elayne's mind as she tried to shake them off. The box, was most persistent unfortunately and just kept hammering at her. And unfortunately such whispers were not kept out of her mind by the circle of light. No, Elayne had to endure such. If she could. You must do this Elayne. There is no one else who is capable of such a task. The redhead knitted her brow together and she glanced to the other women, clearly concerned, and pained by what was happening and yet she lacked the skills to push back the spirit of the box herself.

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

 

[Kaida Taldir]

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


Within a few moments the hallway was littered with the corpses of dead giant rodents. Undoubtedly this caused a stench that was most foul, but then this was the case anyway since no one had seen fit to open the windows of the Trayus Academy in a long time. Drops of water were also dripping from the ceiling and in general the walls looked like the craftmanship was rather shoddy. Verily, the once proud academy of evil had seen better days.


Siobhan was...being Siobhan. Having visions and stuff, though this one has not written about her reaction yet. Kaida had more important things to worry about. Like the fact that her slave...err, subordinate, was clearly looking distressed. Of course, Kaida did not have any magical insight into her mind and thus could not know what evil things the box of pure maliciousness was whispering into her ear, but she liked to think she had good instincts.


"Talon, snap out of it. That's an order," Kaida commanded in her best frosty drill sergeant voice, then she suddenly grabbed Elayne by the shoulder and gave her a good, hard slap across her face. "The box is a malevolent, evil force. Do not pay heed to anything it says. You will follow my orders alone. The Queen, Ashira's governor, wills it - and you serve her. Am I clear?" The tone was frigid enough to freeze a galaxy all over.

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

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


Siobhan blinked. She felt a presence...she had not felt for a very long time. But she did not only feel her, but saw her. A very real looking image of Adril had appeared down the hall, smiling at her and beckoning to her to follow before vanishing. But...Adril was dead. Was this her ghost? And why would she appear here, of all places?



Could she perhaps know something about the box and had come here to warn her? Siobhan's mind reeled when she was overcome by a powerful headache that felt like the blow of a massive hammer, then suddenly the warmth of Adril's presence washed over her. Since Siobhan was outside of the protectice circle she was still fully exposed to the box's mentalism. Her perception of what was real and what was not was being warped and she now even had trouble sensing her companions.


"Adril...no, why would she be here? What trickery is this?" she spoke out aloud, feeling a strange pull, though the crystal Mirien had given her glowed a bright crimson. Deep inside her mind she warred with herself as she felt a strange, insistent pull. Anger rose inside her stomach like bile.

 

[Elayne Saedaris]

Truthfully what happened, Elayne least expected. But then again having so rarely he mind attacked in such a subtle manner, playing at feelings she had, thoughts that had already crossed her mind. Then again, that should have been a clue. Her doubting nature of some things ... It was starting to become clear to her, that something was off.

It was at that moment that Kaida grabbed her by the shoulders, and struck her across the face. For a second Elayne seemed stunned as she blinked, and looked over the frosty elf. It just took a moment for her mind to really catch up to what had happened.

A part of her wanted to tell Kaida that the box actually was speaking some sense, but something told her that would NOT go over well. In fact she had a feeling such a comment might get her shot. Cringing a little at the harsh words, Elayne nodded, "Yes ma'am." Still the box tugged at her. Just much more gently with the circle of light that they stood in. The redhead worried greatly for what would happen if and when that barrier would drop.

Her eyes drifted to Siobhan outside the small group, who was clearly struggling more than she was. "Kerrigan! It's not what you think! Don't." She warned. Granted she didn't recall at that moment who Adril was, but she knew well enough that no one else was in the hall. And that there was no way whatever Siobhan was seeing could be a good thing.

Somehow, they needed to get past this. Somehow they needed to snap Siobhan out of it. Sooner rather than later. Not taking any chances, Elayne drew upon the force to grasp Sio with a powerful but loose telekinetic grip. Which may or may not have been a good idea, but she wasn't going to see another party member risk themselves needlessly.

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

 

[Kaida Taldir]

[member="Elayne Saedaris"]


Well, things were a bit crazy right now. Fortunately Elayne seemed to be coming to her senses a bit. Or at least was doing as she was told. This was something Kaida could live with. Kerrigan was being...weird as usual. Seeing things. Well, she was seeing Adril or something like that.


Kaida felt herself getting annoyed. If they did not snap the battering ram out of it, she might end up dropping the Trayus Academy on them. Elayne had drawn upon her Sciia to seize the confused ex-Ecarch with a strong telekinetic grip. Reacting quickly the frost elf began to draw upon her kindred element, that of ice and water, drawing upon the moisture in the air and manipulating them. Hopefully Elayne was alright with the cold because it would get quite chilly.


"What are you doing?" Siobhan demanded angrily as she found her movement arrested and seized by invisible fingers. That was supposed to be her move! With an act of will she broke the mental bonds with her mind and shattered them into nothingness. However, before she could get much further she suddenly found herself slipping as the ground suddenly turned...rather moist and then crashed head-first into a wall of solid ice.


Unfortunately for Kaida a powerful push of telekinetic energy suddenly slammed into her chest with great speed and knocked her on her arse, knocking the wind out of her and probably breaking a rib or two in the process. Ouch. She got up with a groan and feeling rather annoyed at these antics. Hand had gone to her bolt pistol. "You snapped out of it now?" she demanded, tone ice-cold.


Siobhan was wiping snow from her visor since it kept her from bloody seeing well. "Yeah. I'm good. I'm fething hate illusions," she grumbled. "Sorry for hitting you," she added as what seemed like an afterthought. Oh, wait, it was totally genuine.


"No, you're not," Kaida said bluntly.


"You know me well. Good thinking, Talon," Siobhan glanced over to Elayne. "We have to move on, find this damn box and kill it."

 

[Phylis Alince]

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

Phylis watched the back and forth with a measure of concern. Friends were not supposed to fight each other! With Coryth at her feet she had a duty to protect her fellow Jedi.
Determination filled her. It was time to end this silly box once and for all!

“Always the righteous one, weren’t you, sister?”
She turned despite herself, her eyes narrowed. Standing before her was her sister Lilith. Or rather, she forced herself to remember that it wasn’t her sister, it was a manifestation of the Force.
“Hmmph, absolutely! I know you’re not real,” she declared. Raising her hand she unleashed a blast of Force Light at the apparition, causing it to dissolve with a sigh.

With difficulty she hauled Coryth onto her shoulder. Thankfully the tiny firestack was light, and set off between the bickering Firemane and Eldorai girls.
“The box is this way. Come on, we’ve waited long enough.”
Almost two years OOC’ly.

 

[Elayne Saedaris]

Elayne held tight to Siobhan for as long as she could. Anything really to snap the former Exarch out of it. Anything. But her fragile telekinetic grip was soon shattered. If the situation hadn't been so serious, the redhead probably would have laughed at Siobhan as she slipped, slid and ran into the ice wall.

Elayne did tense seeing Kaida's hand move to her bolt pistol. This was not a fight she wanted to see. But she kept her mouth shut and let it play out. There was something to be said for not getting in the middle of those two. That was all sorts of a bad idea.

And Phylis was right, friends were not supposed to fight one another but this was where they all were. She glanced back in time to catch Phylis talking to thin air. Or at least what appeared to be thin air to her. Soon enough, Phylis was walking on by, with the tiny Cory sitting on her shoulder.

"Come on, guys. We need to move." She said firmly as she started after the Jedi master.

Following that eerie orange glow, they would soon come into a large open room. In its center was a strange odd golden box. The large room was oddly quiet. Not a sound at all. Elayne glanced nervously, something wasn't right, aside from the golden box that seemed to just radiate massive amounts of darkside energy out in all directions, nothing really could be seen. Still, there was just something that she couldn't place her finger on that made her hesitant to step into the room.

"Feels like a trap." She muttered softly. And what was the natural thing to do when it seemed like there was a trap ahead? Spring the trap. Ashira only knew what they were going to run into next. This just seemed entirely too easy. With great care, she stepped into the room, just waiting for the other shoe to drop. Something was there, waiting for them. Just, she had little idea what that something was. "Be ready for anything." She warned as she crossed the threshold. The moment she did so, a rumbling could be heard through the chamber. Something was coming, something big. Joy. This can't be good. She thought to herself as she waited to see what joyous creature they would encounter next. Soon enough they would all see it for what it was.

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

 

[Kaida Taldir]

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


And so they walked right into the trap because that was the best way to deal with it. Well, they probaby did not have an alternative and, moreover, the rule of drama demanded it. Before them was the golden box that reeked of pure evil and viciousness. For it was a dark nexus of power, an avatar of Chaos, an Archdemon.


Like moths to a flame they were drawn to it. The moment the party of intrepid adventurers crossed the threshold, there was a loud rumbling. Then the silence was broken by an unearthly, bestial shriek. First there was a massive, looming shadow, then an abomination created by the vilest of magicks emerged. Kaida narrowed her eyes at the visage of utter terror and darkness. The terentatek was a massive monstrosity. Spines grew from its back and a pair of tusks were attached to its mouth. Massive claws sprouted from its arms, strong enough to rend a human in twain.


The beast howled when it stepped out of the shadows and then charged them with reckless abandon, its aura reflecting primal hunger. Indeed, this feeling was further animated by the massive amount of darkside energy radiating from the box, further fuelling the beast's rage and desire for slaughter. For a terentatek is drawn to the blood of Force-users and these looked particularly tasty. With each massive footfall the beast made the floor beneath it tremble as if minor quakes were erupting.


A boulder was tossed through the air and slammed into his skull. The beast shook and the loud, blood-curdling roar that escaped it was like a powerful sonic onslaught. However, then its charge came to a halt when Kaida drew upon her kindred element, namely her power over the deathly, numbing cold. Finally she was getting the chance to hit something again! Her eyes had turned a crystalline blue and cold breath emerged from her mouth as she harnessed her Sciia, narrowing her focus as she concentrated upon its legs. Terentateks were largely immune to applications of the Force, which was what made them so fearsome to the Jedi that the warrior monks had launched several Great Hunts to wipe them out. Or why thanks to AEL terentatek leather coats had been all the rage a few months ago.


However, there were various indirect applications that worked just fine. The gust of a cold wind strong enough to congeal the air swept towards the beast and abruptly the ground turned slippery as moisture spread across it. Such was the beast's single-minded charge that it was knocked off-balance and tripped. Only very briefly, but long enough. The moisture began to quickly harden and solidify, with the temperature dropping. Kaida's own body temperature was terribly low, which could be dangerous even for a cryomancer.


What came to pass was that its legs found themselves encased by what amounted to ice blocks. The massive beast struggled and thrashed, the concentration required to keep it encased was enough to give Kaida a bad headache from hell, but as the biting cold spread its legs would turn heavy and sluggish, soon they would be chilblained, the blood flowing through them would grow cold.

 

[Phylis Alince]

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

“Hmmph,” Phylis said grimly, putting Coryth down and putting a crystal in her hands. It would give her some respite at least.

The monster was huge, and Phylis was part paralysed with scholarly interest, part with fear. The Dark Side was almost palpable to her here, and its crushing power weighed on her mind and spirit.

She ignited her lightsabre, the green blade casting evil reflections from the monster’s eyes.

“Siobhan, the Force won’t affect it directly. We may need to, hmm, bring down the roof….”

She’d not forgotten Roche, but as good as freezing the creature’s legs were, it wouldn’t kill it, and her lightsabre would take hours to hack it to pieces. Force Light would of course work, but she was the only one here who could use it, and she had to retain some strength for the battle with the box. This way at least the others could be involved.

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

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


Siobhan was pissed off and feeling rather violent. She did not take kindly to someone messing with her head. Or Coryth's. Or interrupting her chance to finally beat up Taldir. That was so not over yet! Anyhow, now they finally stood before the malicious, golden box of doom, but a monster dared to stand in their way. This could not be tolerated.


It had to be crushed. The terentatek was still struggling, its strength and rage being fed by the power of the Dark Side that dominated these halls. The biting cold brought forth by Taldir was spreading across it, for pearls of forst were not only appearing on the beast's frozen legs, but upon the rest of its body. Even across its neck, which meant that breathing became...difficult. Thrown into a bestial rage it managed to smash the ice encasement. There was a loud bang when it shattered into thousands of pieces.


The terentatek seemed to be panting and even clattering, but as soon as it freed itself the roof above it suddenly began to heave and shake strongly as if an invisible force was pulling at it. "Take over," the former Exarch growled. Siobhan pulled with such force that the ceiling was torn asunder and began to collapse upon the massive beast.

 

[Coryth Elaris]

Coryth herself was finally, finally starting to come around. Which may or may not be a bad thing for the party. Only time would tell there. Fingers flexed and twitched as her eyes fluttered briefly. It seemed the redhead who was a little late to the fun would soon be joining them. Granted this was one hell of a nightmare to wake into. In no way would she be happy about this, not at all.

Already she could feel the darkside teeming in the air. It was so thick, heavy and oppressive that it was almost tangible. With a heavy groan, Coryth's steel grey eyes finally fluttered open. The radiant crystal at least for now kept her mostly protected. At the edge of her hearing, the whispering had returned. The box was pulling at her, wanting her. And for the first time, Coryth seemed to want to join it. Her eyes moved to the crystal protecting her, and she set it down. Weakly, she pushed herself from the floor where Phylis had left her.

The light in her eyes seemed gone as she stepped away from the very thing protecting her and started to walk slowly towards the box. Clearly, she was not herself. It spoke to her very soul, and while a part of Coryth still seemed to resist, she just wasn't entirely strong enough to fight this battle alone. Come Coryth, join me and bask in the darkness. I know you feel the power. It is in you. It is in me. Come, be one with me. You'll be so mighty, so invincible. Nothing will be able to touch you again, a goddess of all. You will rule the galaxy.

The last words seemed to snap her out of it, recognizing this was not what she wanted, not her desire but one that was forced upon her. While she did carry the strength, the power, the rage to take over the galaxy .... She couldn't do that. Couldn't. Wouldn't. Not when it would bring great harm to those she loved and cared for most. Coryth could ... would never do that to them. She'd rather die than that be what happened. "No." She whispered. Though she was probably the only one who heard that singular word. Using the force, she called the crystal back to her hand. Trying to get herself a break from the box. Trying to make herself harder to reach.

You cannot resist forever. They will soon die, and it will just be you and I. You will be mine. We will rule.

"We will not. We will never." She said firmly. "You are an abomination and we ... We will end you." Coryth hissed, getting angry herself at this point. With the crystal back in hand the voice faded to a mere whisper again but still relentlessly tried to get at the woman.

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

 

[Elayne Saedaris]

Such a beast Elayne had never seen before. There was a part of her that held a mild curiosity about the creature. But at the same time fear started to rise within her mind. Such a beast could easily crush them if they were not careful here.

The redhead had heard Phylis' words, and watched as Kaida trapped it temporarily with ice. But even that could not hold forever. Elayne turned to see Coryth walking to the box, but stopped and seemed to be holding a strange one sided conversation with it. Not that she really needed to hear the other half to know mostly what was being said. Doom, gloom ... All will die and you'll be a beautiful queen! Heard it before! Relief washed through her as tiny redhead woman stepped away from the box of evil and retrieved her crystal to help protect her mind in her hour of need.

Her attention was drawn back to the Terentatek as Siobhan started to bring the roof down upon it. Though it had broken free of Kaida's icy grasp. She couldn't let it get closer to any of the party. So, reaching to her kindred element, Elayne sent a massive wave of power through the stone below the Terentatek, aiming to knock him from his feet. She was rewarded with success, at least for the time being as the creature fell to it's back as the roof finally gave in and tumbled down onto the creature. As the beast made its last deafening roars before it faded into oblivion, Elayne couldn't help but sense that this was not all.

There was something more out there. She just wasn't entirely sure what it was just yet. Though it was bound to reveal itself in due time. Coryth was panting off to the side, clutching the crystal, seeming to try and maintain some form of control over her body and mind. One did wonder how much longer the redhead could hold out for. Elayne honestly didn't think she would be able to for much more. The woman just seemed too weak, too frail.

Though, soon a thick black fog rolled into the room, obscuring the box from view, as well as making it damned impossible to see two feet in front of your own face. As darkness descended in the room, the dark power only seemed to grow in intensity becoming increasingly oppressive. Then things grew quiet, too quiet. It seemed the box might be trying to consolidate its power for a final attack.

A human whimper could be heard, someone was in pain. And Elayne could only really imagine that was Coryth. Something was happening but she couldn't see it. But she did hear something drop, and shatter upon the stone floor. Somehow, Elayne got the feeling Coryth wasn't entirely protected now. And the Eldorai was quick to try and find the woman through the fog, and by her soft whimpers.

Strange skittering noises were heard as something, or somethings moved across the floor, fanning out into the space. The venomous creatures soon would try and find their next meal among the women present in the room. Though, chances are it was merely a distraction for something else.

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

 

[Kaida Taldir]

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


And suddenly six massive slugs were upon them. Worms, worms everywhere! No successful dark lord could do without them these days. Fortunately these were not 2km...


The dark side energies emanating from the box were so strong that the feeling was almost choking. The thick black fog made it almost impossible to see it. One could only imagine what horrible ordeal Coryth was going through as darkness descended upon the chamber.


Unfortunately, Kaida could not help her. This was not a battle she could fight. Moreover, the aforementioned slugs were slithering across the ground and over the debris. Their claws made the ground creak and their mouths were gaping circular maws filled with teeth strong enough to shred a human. Doubtless vile venom would be dripping from them.


Trying to concentrate amidst the oppressive darkness Kaida jumped into action as the beasts swept towards them. Kerrigan seemed to be tired after dropping the roof, but that was why they had Angelii power on the spot. The bolter, a lethal and most holy instrument of purgation, found its way into her hands and she fired. The gun happened to have APEB rounds chambered. The flat crack of the bolter firing was soon joined by the enraged, pain-filled screams when the bullets hit home and a beast got two of its frontal legs blown off. As it happened, these bullets ate through all but the heaviest armour. Alas, they did not produce AOE damage by exploding in a cloud of blast and shrapnel, but the beasts were moving too fast to use explosive bolts safely.


"Talon, shockwave them," Kaida barked out an order to Elayne. Ichor and brain matter spilled across the ground when the closest slug got blasted in the head. Holding her gun with one hand and retracting her gauntlet, she gathered her power to let loose a powerful blast of cold air as she manipulated the molecules, directing it towards the worms. However, unfortunately for her one came through the cold right towards her, having slithered up the wall with unnatural speed and then jumped upon her.


The Angelii backflipped as its large tail took a swing at her, knocking her bolter out of her hands. Her lightsabre sprang to life in a blaze of yellow and she slashed at the beast, cutting off one of its legs. Rolling under it to avoid the claws she moved to stab down into what seemed to be its belly, but it moved faster than she thought and suddenly she was seized by its massive maw. The fact that an energy blade had put its belly through a good deal of burning pain enraged the beast and now Kaida was paying for it as its teeth tore into her armour and flesh.


The Angelii seemed to disappear inside its mouth and unpleasant crunching sounds were heard. Then the beast suddenly began to cry out when she rammed her knife inside uts gum, then it spasmed when its mouth suddenly seemed to freeze. Chilbains and pearls of frost spread across it as it turned to ice. Then it finally shattered and Kaida fell out, covered in ichor and frost.