Wonderland

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Maleagant"] | [member="Thengil Ri'Shajirr"]

Tai did not seem to be overly bothered by the fate of the unlucky cultists caught in traps they were incapable of dismantling.

In truth this was a very valuable lesson and training exercise for those that were alive and managed to succeed in their assigned duties within the complex. You could not grow strong and resilient by having their weakness enforced, no, sometimes you needed to push them into the brink of fire and figure out which one of them were capable of outshining expectations.

It was different for the Vigor Troopers, of course. They were the shield of iron, a bulwark against normal assaults, but the Order of the Feather needed to master the arts of abstraction and mystics.

There was no other way, unless Lord Fa suddenly decided to become a Jedi and cuddle them all day long.

"Study, learn and progress, Spirit." The Thirriken retorted, while studying one of the tomes that had been stuck out of the bookcases and peeked his interest. He was leaning against the case himself now, it was clear that some of his bones had been either broken or bruised towards the breaking point.

Every time he blinked his eyesight unfocused, before perspective blended in again.

"I expected you to fade once we finished all the trials."

 

[Darth Osano]

[member="Thengil Ri'Shajirr"] | [member="Tai Fa"]

The Spirit gave a low rumble. It could have been a grunt of approval or amusement. Considering it was an incorporeal, otherworldly entity, it was rather hard to read. Since it had not tried to murder everyone present for the second time, whatever response it had to Lord Fa's promises of scholarly research must have been positive. "How Jedi-like of you." The Spirit responded, turning away from the grouped trio to begin circulating lazily through the room. It was surveying the contents of the shelves. Perhaps regarding the amassed knowledge before it was doubtlessly taken from here.

Usually those who made it this far were expecting treasure. Gold, jewels, priceless relics. They were all universally disappointed. The artifacts here were suitably mundane and would fetch only a moderate price on any black market, even despite their age. They were not crafted from precious metals and the aura of the Dark Side had long since left them. If they held any value, it would be to an archaeologist... Not exactly the wealthiest demographic. The rest of the library consisted of nothing but scrolls, antiquated databanks, and so forth. To a treasure hunter it was nothing.

Each time, they all went ballistic. Threatened to blow everything up if the real treasure wasn't revealed. The Spirit had mocked them for a few minutes, driven them further insane with an application of mentalism, and then disintegrated their bodies once his boredom began to creep back. The trio had encountered the bound spirits in the seventh room, where they had been forced to fight them off while figuring out the correct sequence to pull a series of levers in.

To have missed out on seeing that spectacle would have been tragic. Truly pitiable.

"My existence is not tethered to the completion of trials." Said the Spirit with a tone of finality. It was instead bound to the structure itself. The Spirit would be bound to this realm of existence until the citadel was leveled. "My master had more power than that."

 

[Jairus Starvald]

That complicated things to a degree.

In truth Tai had been expecting that by the end of this they would have this place to themselves. As a result they would be able to do what they needed to do to restore this place back to working order, strip down what was unnecessary, throw out what was broken and build it back up new and functional. How would the original caretaker look at that, seeing its ancient home and resting place being defiled by them in such a fashion?

On the other hand perhaps the Sith Spirit would not care at all and would let them do as they pleased. After all, they had completed all the trials and that would... technically make them the new caretakers of this place, no?

They were technically the masters.

That wasn't truly a theory he wished to test right now though, not while his body felt like it had been put through a grinder not just once, but four times.

"I see." Tai carefully responded, before sharing the look with [member="Maleagant"]. "What name do you go by these days, Spirit?"

The Thirriken could simply refer to it as 'spirit', but that seemed a touch lazy. Surely the Sith apparition had some kind of name or perhaps it wouldn't even remember it by this point.

 

[TB-705]

Muscles rippled as the Cathar crossed his arms and observed the goings on of his present allies. It seemed somewhere along the line [member="Tai Fa"] had dropped the haikus, perhaps from the exhaustion of the trials or simply boredom. Ri'shajirr could not decide if it made the pompous peacock more bearable or less.

These days. He chuffed. Better to ask what his name was in life. His name in death is Spirit and nothing more.

Perhaps the entity could be of some use, now that they had passed the trials. Or mayhap it would still seek to kill them. Yes, that would indeed prove fine sport. He'd half a mind to send several acolytes to live here, tested by the Spirit. Those that survived would be better for it.

[member="Maleagant"]