Within The Dark

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Ryssa Rourke"]

Val had always liked puzzles. They were something he was good at, something that challenged him. His enormous strength and speed weren’t helpful when putting together a puzzle, and thus he had no natural advantage when doing them. It provided him with an outlet for thought, something that he quite liked.

So his finger gently began to rotate and move the small pieces of the large breasts womans abdomen.

Had he taken a step back and watched himself he likely would have laughed, if only because it appeared that the large warrior was currently fingering a statue’s belly button. Yet he happily continued on with the puzzle, shifting the nine pieces around and moving them until one by one they began to line up with one another. He moved two of the pieces, and then shifted the final central one into place.

”I see.” Val said.

There was a cloud, click, and then a sudden rumble as something happened beyond the door. Val took a step back, frowning slightly.

He thought that the puzzle had come to him just a tad too easily. Either whoever had designed it wasn’t all that clever...or...he frowned for a moment and looked down at his hand, shaking his head and looking back up at the door which was now shaking. Dust and dirt dripped off the busty woman, until finally...she began to split in two and the door parted.

 

[Ryssa Rourke]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

When the rumbling began, Ryssa jumped to her feet in alarm. "Be careful!" she barely managed to shout as the door swung open in two. It wasn't unheard of for Sith Tombs to be littered with traps. Acid, sithspawn, even word had rumors of ghosts. There had a tendency to be all sorts of really nasty things waiting for whoever would have the nads to try and loot the sites. That the Cult of the Ominous Fist would kill off their own men via suicide meant that could very well be trapped.

Just in case, she darted forward, grabbing his hand and gave a heavy tug back. It was her hop to draw him back and away before any potential trap could go off. Indeed, had he not entered the exact puzzle order, poisonous acid would have shot out from two key points above the thresh hold. For now, there was nothing triggering it.

It did not stop Ryssa from making a quip about how strange it was that Val managed to get the right answer.

"Right, guess you're well used to splinting women in two. " a crude joke but one made because of his size and the fact that he did indeed split the voluptuous woman in two.

"How did you ever get the right answer?" she questioned him, narrowing her gaze. Even if she had worked on it, it would have taken her some time and she was the professional.

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Ryssa Rourke"]

He didn't move as she tugged at his arm, knowing that he wouldn't be in any danger from the door. It was instinct again, or perhaps just ignorance of what might lay beyond such contraptions. He watched for a moment, and then looked down at Ryssa with a smirk. "Wouldn't you like to find out?"

Her crude joke was answered, but her question was not.

"I suppose you'll want to go first." Val gestured towards the tunnel that now lay ahead of them. It wasn't a small tunnel, that was for sure. It reminded Val of some of the larger monuments of Moross that he had visited some decades ago, all built out with pomp and statues. The same woman that had been depicted on the door stood on either side of the beginning of the hall, cradling something within her arms that Val could not quite make out from where he was.

"Careful." Val said looking down at her. "I hear there's traps in these things."

She would know that of course.

 

[Ryssa Rourke]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

At first Ryssa thought he was just humoring her, then he asserted for her to be careful. What was it with this guy? She gave a shake of her head, bringing her gloved hand up to the crown of her head to lock the visor down over her eyes. As expected, one of her sensors was broken, meaning that she'd have to make due without the geological scanner. However, she still had the x-tray and ultraviolet filters.

"Easy there buster, the only splitting we are doing is getting out of this mess once we figure out what the Cultists were after." and why my employer decided to delibrately keep this information on how dangerous it could be from me. While Ryssa wasn't one to back down from adventure, she preferred to have the entire picture if possible beforehand. Surprises on site were one thing. Deliberate omissions were another.

"Yeah, I know." she added, "Not my first Nerf rodeo here bud." a bit of sass as the woman shone her scanners up and down the two figurines. Who was this?

"It appears of Moross design..." a frown behind the visor then she swiveled her head over to the viking. "Where did you get your armor?" she inquired, wondering if perhaps there was more of a connection there. A bit too much of a coincidence for the Clawdite. Her species were naturally wary, so connections could be there.

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Ryssa Rourke"]

"Sure. Keep telling yourself that." Val said as she wandered forward into the cave, a small smirk touching his lips.

"Exocron." He answered before she could reply again. "In a market, after the collapse of the Crusade."

Slowly Val began to move after her into the tunnel. His eyes peered around the hallway for a few moments, assessing where everything was. The architecture was very reminiscent of Moross itself, but there was something...off about it, something decidedly darker. He was reminded of a book that he had read once, one on architecture of the Sith. Some of Moross had included Sith teachings, he knew that simply from studying the different Gods that had come into existence. "It's not Moross."

He said quietly. "It's Sith."

A very...odd Sith, but Sith nonetheless. Usually Sith built tombs to themselves, structures that showed off how great they were and how awesome they had been during life, these statues however...well they very clearly depicted someone else, almost showing them reverently. Val didn't quite understand it of course, nor did he claim to be an expert, but he could at the very least say that these weren't like the Temples he had visited after the Fall of the Crusade.

 

[Ryssa Rourke]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

Yet he was only here for knowledge on what was in the tomb?

Right...

All a little too convenient don't you think Rys? The nagging little voice in her head that took the cautious and wary route told her that she shouldn't be all too trusting of some random stranger and strange coincidences. Those strange coincidences had a tendency of being at the root of the matter. Her dark blue lips gave a slight purse.

Might be Sith. Might be Moross. Might well be both. There wasn't enough evidence to actually narrow down anything and they didn't have all the time in the galaxy for the luxury of making this a proper excavation. There are more cultists with blaster pistols and stealth processors waiting to put holes in our skins.

"Right." She took a few quick holopictures with her visor and filed them away. There was more to explore and the corridor went just a little ways further before opening up to a small chamber. What bothered her were the odd filmsy cobwebs that littered the ceiling and the walls.

This was not a good sign. Not a good sign at all. If there were cobwebs then there likely were --

"You're not afraid of spiders are you?"

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Ryssa Rourke"]

"On my homeworld." He began as he wandered past Ryssa. "We have creatures very like spiders."

They had terrified him as a kid, but now that he was an adult they weren't all that much of a bother. "Eight legs, eight eyes, hair on their bodies, but they grew to about a meter in size and had a tail like a scorpion. They live in the mountains mostly, but during particularly cold winters they would venture down into the Valleys in search of heat."

Val described the nightmares as though he would a dog.
"Once you killed them they curled into themselves like regular spiders." He turned back towards Ryssa with a wide smile. "Their meat is delicious."

Oddly enough he had told that entire tale but never actually answered her question, though presumably it was a solid 'no'. He smiled and then began to wander further down the corridor, eyes passing over the statues. Gradually they began to change as one got deeper into the massive hall, shifting from the large breasted woman to that of a man in a robe, a blade held before him. He heard the pitter patter of Ryssa's boots behind him just as they came to a fork within the hall.

He looked down at her. "Which way miss Treasure Hunter extraordinaire?"

 

[Ryssa Rourke]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

Now he was being circular in his answers. Which one was he? The blunt, outspoken individual or the one who beat around the bush? Note to self, ask later. Ryssa gave a cluck of her tongue against her cheek, as if she were determining the validity of Val's words. She was a suspicious one, but who could blame her? Maybe it was why she worked alone. Being persecuted for being a particular species had its cons not only to character but also on worldview. Just how flirty would the manbun be if he'd seen her in her true form? As a Clawdite?

Likely not as friendly or outgoing. Nope. She knew and lived better.

"I'm first going to inspect this statue." she gestured a thumb to the cloaked figure holding a blade. "It might tell me more information on if this was built with some sort of intent and more importantly, for whom." That would give her an idea of just what they were facing with.

"This place could be littered with traps so watch yours step." she turned her torso to face the statue. "At least we'd be able to hear any of the cultists if they get near."

Now where there any sigils? Runes? If this was Sith she'd at least expect some sort of runes. Moross would also have some sort of glyphs. Depending on what they were and their origin, then she'd have more data to narrow down her search in the databases.

"Check over there." she gestured to the right, where another small archway led to more carved ruins.

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Ryssa Rourke"]

He was hardly an expert of symbols. Val had read a few books, watched a few holo-documentaries, but he didn't know his way around tombs. He had recognized the lack of Moross glyphs and marks, seen that the statues didn't resemble any of the twelve gods, but beyond that? Well he had nothing, yet he did as he was told anyway. Slowly he wandered towards the archway, looking at the carved ruins as if he were going to recognizing something.

His hand slowly ran over them.

"I've got nothing." Val said simply, though his earlier performance with the puzzle really should have put that into doubt. His fingers gently traced over the figures as though it would give him some sort of clue, his eyes darting from place to place as he searched for something...anything familiar. Eventually his hand stopped on top of the archway, fingers resting there as he half stretched, half leaned against the top of the neat stone work.

"Is it a tomb?" He asked out loud. "A vault? What?"

The only way they would find out was by going further, but which way?

Val couldn't read ancient Sith, and the statues, which had now completely changed into the robed and hooded man, offered no clue to him. Perhaps Ryssa would be able to figure out. In the meantime he tried to search his memories for anything relevant, the documentaries, the books, anything that would be useful here. The problem was that there weren't many writings on Sith, at least not ones that he had access to anyway.

He was just a farmer, not an archaeologist.

 

[Ryssa Rourke]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

"Could be anything. A crypt. A temple. A prison." if he was merely asking aloud for rumination well, Ryssa was prepared to humor him. She was busy on her own. A careful walk around the statue allowed her to take more holopictures, freezing them on her HUD and then sent them through analysis.

"So what makes you so interested in this?" normally, conversation revolved around Ryssa asking her own questions and then answering them herself. She talked aloud a lot; it helped her narrow down on things and process them through. Might make her seem a little eclectic, but it did the job.

Kneeling in front of the statue, the treasure hunter bent down to see if there was anything at the base. "What's your story?" everyone had a story. Something to tell. A legacy. Maybe that's why she enjoyed digging up the past. There were stories there. The last remnants of those who had lived. The base was covered in cobwebs and dust. Sweeping her hand over the surface, she felt the ridges of carved stone.

"Ahah!" now what do we have here? Bending over in all fours, Ryssa attempted to get a closer look. "I think i got something!" she cried out, narrowing her eyes.

Ancient Sith. A name.

"Moridin."

Shit.

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Ryssa Rourke"]

Val turned around just in time to see Ryssa's rear end waggling in the air. "I am curious by nature."

He said, leering slightly.

"I just like knowing things." That was certainly true. It was why he watched countless holo-documentaries over the last century and why he read so many books. Knowing things was just...fun. There was nothing better to Val than just sitting down and learning something knew. That was why he had come to this tomb, not because he wanted treasure or riches, but just because he felt as thought there would be something to learn. When one was as old as he was, there wasn't much else to do. "That's my story."

It was in a way.

She said something, though at first he didn't quite hear, distracted by the continuous wiggle of her bottom. Eventually he shook his eyes away from supple curves and shifted his attention towards the statue, it was only then that his hearing miraculously cleared up. "Moridin?"

He repeated the name.

"The Emperor?" Even Val knew who Moridin was, he'd made a rather...big splash in the galaxy some forty years ago. He'd been drunk during most of those years, having just lost Aerith, but he still remembered the time well enough to recall the Sith's name. He had been a dangerous man, and from all the reports he'd heard...none too pleasant. Then again, what Sith were. "This is his tomb?"

 

[Ryssa Rourke]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

A nervous snort was her answer. "It is unlikely it is his tomb. The guy was a willy one." more like historians all alike had something to say about the First Sith Emperor. Some were good, most were bad, and all quite terrifying.

"We are talking about the First Sith Emperor after the Four Hundred Year Darkness." she swallowed hard, biting her lower lip. Alright, get as much as you can Rys, she told herself. Now she had an inkling why the Cultists were involved with this.

"Frak, should have known." she lamented with growing annoyance. It was obvious this was serious. "No wonder they are involved." They being the cult of the Ominous Fist. "Anything having to do with Darth Moridin was considered to be worth enough to die for. The artifacts alone he created...." we were talking in the thousands. Even one small item like a ring was coveted, for he had been known to create powerful artifacts. Artifacts that could give tremendous power but also claim terrible sacrifices.

"No wonder he didn't bother to tell me." this was her employer. "i'm going to give him a piece of my mind!" she cursed, getting to her feet. She was angry, her body energized by it. Panning around, she let her light sweep over the wall. There was a mural of sorts there.

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Ryssa Rourke"]

Val didn't comment, he simply listened and watched, learned. He didn't know much about Moridin, and he knew even less about Ryssa, so he figured that if he just let her keep talking eventually more information on both subjects would spill out. It was a trick that he had learned from years of being married. Generally when women were angry they tended to grumble to themselves, speak out loud and say things they probably shouldn't have said, it was how he'd learned that Aerith had lost her virginity to one of his childhood rivals.

That hadn't been a pleasant thing to learn. The Bastard.

Forgetting about Robert and his smug face for a moment Val returned his attention to Ryssa. She seemed to bounce over towards a mural at the far side of the tunnel, flashing the light from her head towards the carved stone so she could read it. Val followed after her, careful to take slow and measured step. He was still weary of setting off any traps that were around here, having been warned several times now that he could suddenly be spewed with Acid at any moment.

As they reached the mural Val stopped behind Ryssa, allowing her once again to detail and describe everything in her own way.

Every once in a while he sat a glance to where they had come from, ensuring that their 'friends' had yet to catch up.

 

[Ryssa Rourke]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

"I'm going to have him pay up for hazard pay." Ryssa continued to grumble, rearing back on the balls of her feet as she selected the switch to begin recording a holovideo. Ugh, should have known that rat bastard was hiding something! He had been far too nice. Was showering her with far too many compliments. He'd also avoided a few key questions that she'd figured he didn't know because he was a spoiled Tionese nobleman who would pay up.

"Should have known better." always trust your first instinct, Ryssa reminded herself, puffing out a cloud of hot air from her mouth and blowing her cheeks.

"Anyways... " the annoyance was still there, but now she was utilizing to focus. She was still a professional, and she would do her job professionally -- even if it meant I have to sucker punch a few cultists to survive.

"... Huh." a cluck of her tongue came after, the woman rocking her hip from left to right. "This... yes this is something." a blue finger came up to wag at it as if it had an essential clue to the puzzle.

"This is a depiction of some sort of ancient ceremony." the dark slash of her cobalt brows drew tighter, her helm scanning and reviewing in the midst of translating what she could not get off the top of her head.

"No... more than that. There was an event here. " leaning forward, she began to trace the glyphs, reading the sith text aloud.

"Antai tuti zo jin' ryksosûti anas tsûrji dro sis inshiwizi..." the translation make her voice thicken, as if it had a throaty rasp and quality that could rake down the spine.

"Some sort of plague had ravaged this planet." a frown cut through her angular features, mouth twisting into a small bud in concentration.

"They tried everything...." she kept reading on.

"But nothing seemed to heal the sick..."

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Ryssa Rourke"]

"The Gulag Plague." Val interrupted.

He felt the need to interject his little bit of knowledge into this tale. The Gulag Plague was something that he had first hand knowledge of, or nearly anyway. By the time he was born the plague had mostly subsided, though a few worlds within Wild Space had still been quarantined when he left his homeworld. His parents had remembered the plague well however, and their generation were fierce proponents of isolationism because of it. The Plague had wreaked absolute havoc throughout the galaxy, causing trillions of deaths and breaking apart entire Galactic Governments.

No one had been safe.

It was no surprise that this world had been effected. Nearly every planet had felt the touch of the Gulag Plague, those with denser population centers like cities and towns had felt it even worse. The disease had spread like wild fare from world to world, town to town, village to village. Isal had always told him that there had been a very real, and lasting fear that The Plague would make a return even when it had begun to subside.

To say that the Gulag Plague effected entire generations was an understatement. For quite literally almost four centuries the Plague dictated everything within the galaxy. No one traveled, no one communicated, and everyone stayed as insular as possible. By the time he'd traveled the galaxy the Plague had mostly subsided, but he had still felt its effects on almost every world he traveled to. The thought still made goosebumps run up his spine, mostly because conditions had been so poor nearly everywhere. A frown settled on his lips.

"They never found a cure." Val said simply. "Not even on Thyferra."

The world were Bacta had been made, one of the most medically advanced planets in the galaxy.

 

[Ryssa Rourke]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

"Yeah well... something made them think that a particular prophet would be able to save them." Ryssa added wryly, shaking her head under the visor.

"Two guesses on who that was?" yeah, it would figure that Darth Moridin would come here with his charismatic self and convince a population that he was their saviour. That perhaps he could be able to grant them a cure.

"He took advantage of them." she had little respect for that. The history notes would confirm that the First Sith Emperor was quite the charming and charismatic man. Good looking and had little to worry about his bed staying cold.

"Power is as power does," she sighed, shaking her head. Taking a step in front of Val, Ryssa continued her reading of the glyphs.

"They said that he promised them some form of cure..." unlikely, no one had. "So he had tasked them to gather objects of worth and tributes from all corners of the world..."

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Ryssa Rourke"]

For a moment Val thought, then he continued the story, or at least the way that he thought the truth went. "He Lied."

There was no cure for the Gulag Plague, Val was sure of that. The Force, Vaccines, even cutting the infected limb off didn't cure you once you the plague had you. That was a simple fact, accepted by the entire galaxy. The very fact was why the Gulag Plague was so feared, why it had gripped the galaxy in absolute terror. Other plagues came and went, but this? This was like nothing the Galaxy had ever seen before or since. There was no explanation for it, no reason, it just appeared one day and then disappeared three hundred years later.

It wasn't a surprise that people would turn to divine intervention in the face of something like that. Why not believe the Charismatic Prophet that approaches your people and offers hope? Why not give him what he wants? Why not appease him just for a tiny chance that maybe, just maybe he might be telling the truth. A frown pulled at Val's lips, his eyes wandering away from the mural and down the hall where they had come from.

"Keep reading." He said quietly, turning away from her but still listening.

A part of him was impressed by the Emperor's genius, but another was wholly disgusted. He had no idea of Moridin's motives, clearly the man had been unaffacted by the plague, and clearly he had been powerful enough to subjugate more populace worlds, so why come to a place like this? Even for Val this place was backwater.

 

[Ryssa Rourke]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

"Yeah. Lied."

Her lips grew thin. Moving towards the side she followed the mural towards the left. There were more intricate carvings and more glyphs. In the center were depicted four different women. Rather voluptuous women, and the man in a cloak in the center. Before them was a table, and what appeared to be --

"There." a blue finger went reaching out, tapping the odd object that had a few rays coming off from it. "He made this." It didn't quite make sense.

"Natura dzis zo tors iw ditra..." she repeated. Bodies seemed to litter the alter around it.

"Sacrifice." huh, drawing back she straightened, turning up to look at the man with the blue and orange eye.

"He made something alright." her expression grew grim. "A pound of flesh... for life."

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Ryssa Rourke"]

"Unsurprising." Val said quietly. There was no doubt in his mind that Moridin had killed hundreds, perhaps thousands on a whim. The man had been a complete sociopath, it was practically a requirement of being a Sith. They were focused on themselves, and consequences, even the deaths of others meant absolutely nothing to them. There was a difference between killing someone who was attacking you, someone who meant you harm, and sacrificing the lives of innocent people for your own goals.

Goosebumps stood on the back of his neck as he looked back towards Ryssa, and then over her head at the mural. The altar that was depicted there laid out the picture clearly, dead mean littering the alter while five central beings stood, Moridin in the center. He frowned slightly, his eyes wandering away from the Mural and back towards the darkness of the hall.

"What did he create?" He asked quietly. "What happened to the women?"

It was a good question. Val somehow doubted that Moridin would go and sacrifice those most loyal to him, and from the...unique scenery of this place he guessed that those women had been his most loyal servants. For all his flaws, Moridin had still been human at heart, a male human, and what man could resist four busty women? It was a silly bit of logic in such a situation, but it was logic. There was one desire that even most Sith couldn't resist, a desire that strained on the minds of nearly everyone.

The thought was almost enough to make him chuckle.

 

[Ryssa Rourke]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

"Well... this part here," she gestured towards an area that had been scratched off. Almost like.. scrach marks. Ryssa let her fingers trace over the deep crevices.

"Is missing." she shook her head. I have a bad feeling about this. She could feel it turn in the pit of her stomach. This wasn't good. Moving along she followed the mural down towards the rear of the chamber.

"For all we know, he had his cake and ate it too after taking advantage of these people." and giving them false hope. More cloaked figures. Wait --

"Huh... it seems like..." she shook her head, brows furrowing deeper. That didn't make sense. Her visor went from glyph to the next.

"While he didn't find a cure exactly.... it did something." that bad feeling? Yeah getting worse now.

"Enough that they still believed in him." she gestured towards another image of a crowd. More women. Tributes?? A half ninety degree turn and there before her was the largest cloaked figured statue they'd come across so far. More buxom shaped women but this time they were prostrate at his feet and in his hands --

"Enough to worship him as a god."