The Old Sith Trials

IC: Trinaya and Volacius
Location- Sinister Starship

Unknowingly Trin had been following a similar line of thought to Darth Malos now that the language had been actually named and the ball had started rolling. She resisted the urge to let her jaw drop open when Malos had said “Infinite Empire”. As crazy as it sounded, it was the only truly logical explanation. Besides- this was Korriban, crazier things had surely happened here before.
As Malos and the woman, Trill, established that she would be going with them on their mission Trin turned towards Volacius, a question in her eyes. She wondered how he felt about the potentially powerful, but also potentially too weakened to be helpful new companion.

Volacius gave a harrowing stare to the possibly-ancient woman, a gaze that carried palpable distrust, but also noticeable curiosity. She knew of the Jedi, and if she were truly from thousands of years ago, she would no doubt know some of their secrets. Volacius craved whatever information she had on them, and she certainly couldn’t reveal that information if she was dead. “I don’t care that she can’t understand me,” he said sharply, “but if she tries anything or compromises this mission, I doubt I’ll be able to control my anger.” The threat lingered in the air for a moment, a clear answer to Trinaya’s unspoken question.

Volacius’ response was strong but also not unreasonable, and Trin couldn’t fault him for it. Nodding slightly in support she turned back towards the doorway and the woman. “I guess we wait and see what happens.” Gesturing for Volacius to precede her out of the room in an unconscious repeat of their incident in the cave Trin addressed their crazed Sith. “Well we definitely found something Darth Malos. Now what, back to combing the dessert? I’m afraid I left my brush at the temple if that’s the case.”

darthkain7, @lordjania, cliojayne

IC: Trill
Location: Wastelands of Korriban

Trill would enjoy feeling the breeze flow through her hair for a few moments as the aliens talked amongst each other near the exit of the ship. She wondered what they thought of her now. Trill figured from the tones they carried that the Zabrak cared about her and wanted to see her fully recover so they could break the language barrier. The green man seemed to not trust Trill and from his tones she felt he would see it easier to just kill the woman, loot her body and the remains of the crashed ship and then move on. And lastly Malos… she couldn’t really figure out what Malos was thinking but she knew from first glance that he was wise and powerful. He being a force hound and leader of a squad wasn’t uncommon and if it turned out he was in fact what she thought he was, she may have a way of returning to the Rakata without facing the butcher. Malos was the key to all for now and she would stick to his hound squad until they all got off the planet or until she had good enough transportation to head back to Byss. Finally looking back over to him as the group stepped out her pod chamber she figured it was finally time for them to go.

Following from a few feet behind as they walked, she was limping ever so slightly. To the untrained eye it would only appear that she was walking slow but upon closer inspection it wasn’t hard to see the slight few inches jump when the woman tried to move her left leg. Moving along the waste of korriban she took her time to look around and it was very much like how she was told when she was learning about the planet as a young hound. Sand as far as the eye can see and the color made it look as if it was drenched in the blood of the fallen over the last few millennia. She heard stories about how this place was a tropical paradise before her Master’s had tried to come and outright conquer and enslave the planet. Even going so far as to oppose the gods and attempt glassing a planet of living beings strong in the dark side, the surface of Korriban was forever ruined and it was said that it was walked by Bukesek (Black-skins) from then on. But apparently it seemed now the planet was supposed to be inhabited by some tendril faced red skin aliens calling themselves Sith purebloods.

Taking some sips from her water until the bottle was done as she continued to walk with them she wanted to ask questions, to get information, and simply to just have conversation but it was pointless wasting her breath saying words that none of them would understand. It was during these thoughts that she began to examine them closer and closer and her attention drifted to their force sabers. The hilts made her eyes widen in amazement at how advanced they looked. The hilt surfaces were covered in beautiful patterns or with expensive materials that slaves shouldn’t be able to use. Hilts weren’t completely smooth and cylindrical anymore apparently as ridges were all over instead of simply near the blade emitter. And strangely enough their sabers contained what appeared to be buttons. The reason they would need them was beyond Trill but she was very intrigued by them and their very advanced look. Had hounds started receiving more advanced force sabers in the time she was in cryo-stasis? Had to be otherwise these slaves would be most likely guilty of stealing blades from their masters. And despite the language differences and obvious lack of knowledge, she didn’t imagine them as traitors to the Rakata.

Hearing the word Rakata come from their mouths once more but in a tone that simply sounded like it was spreading information, Trill ignored trying to translate everything else as she felt her throat clawing for something to quench it’s dryness as they traverse the wastelands. Figuring there was no water source for her to harvest she figured that the zabrak girl had to have some more with her. Speeding up just a little to catch up with her she would touch the women’s shoulder before slightly tugging it so the woman would know to look back at Trill. When their eyes finally met, Trill tried to say the translation she learned as she pointed at the water bottle. “M-m…mor…e fu…fo-food.” She managed to get out after about a minute of trying to get the words exactly as the woman had said them earlier. She was hoping that the women understood her because Trill’s throat was practically begging to feel the cool relief of liquid. Using her free hand to push her let down dreads out of the way of her face and eyes, she tried to plaster a smile on hoping it would let them know that she meant no harm for now. She simply wanted water.

Tag: darthkain7, cliojayne, volacius

IC Trinaya and Volacius
Location- Virulent Valley

As the group progressed across Korriban’s endless desert, Volacius paid little mind to their likely ancient companion, only paying enough attention to ensure she was not attempting some form of treachery. His hand crept onto the hilt of his Shoto when she approached Trinaya, but his grip relaxed when he heard her awkwardly pronounce the only phrase she seemed to have picked up in basic. ‘More food,’ she had apparently requested, though in a much less coherent manner. With nothing else to do as they walked, Volacius indulged himself, wondering what it would be like to go to sleep and wake up thousands of years in the future. Sure the changes to the galaxy would be difficult enough, but adding a language disconnect on top of that, Volacius pondered whether or not Trill would be able to reintegrate into the galaxy at all.

Recognizing the woman’s intent easily Trin unhooked her water bottle and passed it slowly over to the woman. Slowly partially because she had noticed the woman was badly limping and most likely still very weak, and partially because there was always the off chance the woman might try to take her off guard. While she was positive that she would be useless as a hostage as Darth Malos would just kill her and move on with his mission, Trin still had a strong desire to stay alive. Before releasing the bottle Trin tapped it and said “water” and then pulled out another food pack and tapped it saying “food”. As the woman lowered the bottle Trin had an idea. Putting all four of the tips of her fingers as well as her thumb together on both hands she gently touched the tips together and said “more”. Then she made a W with the first three fingers on her right hand and gently tapped the first finger against her chin and said “water”. Holding the food pack up in her left hand she put the tips of her fingers and thumb on her right hand together again and tapped them against her lips while saying “food”. Perhaps a combination of signs and words would speed the process of communication thought Trin. At the very least it couldn’t hurt.

“I had no idea you were such a linguist,” Volacius remarked as he watched Trinaya’s efforts to teach their strange new companion. “Do plan on continuing in this for the whole journey?” Unlike Trinaya, Volacius did not see much value in attempting to teach the woman basic. If she survived the mission, she would likely be taught by someone at the academy, or at least a droid. What was the point of wasting their breath on it now?

Rolling her eyes slightly at the tone and mood from Volacius, Trin answered politely enough. “Being able to communicate in a variety of ways is a useful skill to have. I do plan on continuing this for as long as we see just walking along. I would hate to waste time that could be used.”
And so she did continue as they headed north. She taught the woman many words and was able to learn a few words in rakatan. It might seem like a waste of time to her companions, but was any knowledge ever truly wasted?

As they kept up their pace, Volacius’ mind drifted back to the mission at hand. Just what sort of thing could have butchered those students like that? Across all his travels, he had seen much in the way of violence and cruelty, but rarely had he ever seen something so grotesque. It wasn’t even as if such a scene made him sick to his stomach, it was just not something he expected to come across anywhere, with perhaps the exception of the Empire’s famously merciless executions.

darthkain7, @lordjania, cliojayne

IC: Trill
Location: Virulent Valley, Korriban

As they continued to walk the valley, Trill had watched as the girl made eye contact with her and glanced in her direction for a few moments as if contemplating something a great deal. Trill wondered if the seemingly trusting girl did in fact not trust her much as it originally looked. Maybe she had disrespected a slave tradition or custom by touching her shoulder from behind or by speaking their language when she knew little more than three words of it. Regardless of that though, the woman began to expect that the women would turn her offer of more water down. But after only a few more moments she saw the woman reaching for her water bottle and slowly pulling it up, Trin would hold it out for the humanoid to take. But before she would fully release the bottle she would point at it and say the word “Water.” Was that the actual word for the liquid in this language? Water… it sounded weird in her mind as she thought it out exactly as the woman said it. But she didn’t have many moments to process it before she saw the woman pull another content of sustenance and called it “Food.” So there was a different name for food and water in this language as well? Her whole perception of stuff they were saying was becoming clear as the slave named Trin seemed intent on showing her how to say more things in this strange language. Was she actually trying to break the barrier so Trill could understand them. Could they truly not speak Imperial tongue? If this turned out to be true then there was no way these slaves were hounds but if they weren’t hounds what were they? Not Je’daii since the very word angered the lot of them but something that radiated the force. Sith? No… they were neither red skinned and none of them had a godly presence. The thought lingered as Trill continued to listen and be taught the language that Trin had called “Basic.”

Over the next few hours as they walked she had learned more than a handful of words and small phrases in the language known as Galactic standard or “Basic” as they said. She also in turn helped Trin learn a few words from the Imperial Standard or as they called it “Rakatan”. Trill had included that they knew the language she was speaking but didn’t know how to understand it or say it themselves. This bought slight comfort to the girl as this language being public knowledge meant she hadn’t gone too far into the future though even this far was still weirdly different. Though she had never placed a timeline on it, the girl figured she was about 20 or 30 years into the future and that the Infinite Empire was doing just fine. Sadly, apparently the Jedi grew since they were public knowledge to much of the galaxy and somehow these slave species were now calling them Sith though Trill considered that an insult to the gods and the species of the same name. But of course that explanation of how they shouldn’t use that word would come at a later time. For now she simply continued to listen and learn and drink somehow still cold water even after assuming they had been in the wild all day. Did slaves now have access to refrigeration? Either the Master’s had grown nicer to the slaves of the colony worlds or Korriban had truly gone rogue and was operating their own order like the Jedi. But if they was, then why call the Sith like their red skinned people? Wasn’t that counterproductive and confusing?

Continuing to walk as the sun was seemingly beginning its descent to the horizon, Trill would part her lips as she gulped from the water bottle one last time before wiping off the lid and handing it back to Trin as her dreads took cover in front of her face once more. Figuring she start some conversation with them as they continued to walk, Trill looked over to Trin and would motion for her to look at her as she seemed the easiest to talk to and she wanted to test her ability to talk in Basic though to complete her sentences she still mixed in some Rakatan. Maybe she would be able to get some information about who they fully were and what was happening back in the Empire. “You from Korriban? Korriban look this for long yes? You them kilajin yes? Who you Predor?” She asked as she continued to walk alongside the girl. In her mind she was doing fine since they hadn’t gone over sentence structure just yet but it was probably going to change when she would receive confused looks. Hearing Malos ask a question to Trin along the lines that she figured was asking her if Trill was ok, the woman figured she would answer it on her own but stopped as she believed Malos really wasn’t interested in hearing from her.

It wasn’t until they were well away from the mountains and the feeling had been growing on her but she could feel the gods… or at least what Trill perceived as the Gods. She couldn’t name which God in particular but it wasn’t her lady and protector Vahl. No this feeling was deep and sinister and it was similar to what she used to feel radiated from Xesh when he would just be leaving prayer sessions from the shrine of the left handed God himself. But she couldn’t remember from any of the stories that she read talking about him near or on Korriban, so though it felt like him, the woman concluded it couldn’t be him. Instead the answer clicked in her head almost instantly and she rushed up to Malos a little too quickly as she surely could communicate with him. Running until she was directly beside him she would touch his left shoulder before pointing in the direction they were heading and the direction she could feel the presence from. “This Daritha Venomis yes? Daritha of Predor? He feel that I tell by feel.” She hoped her basic was now good enough for him to understand as she wondered if he wouldn’t mind her rushing him like this and hoping he had the information she needed.

Tag: darthkain7, volacius, cliojayne

Before Trinaya could answer Malos's inquiry, he felt a finger prodding into his shoulder, causing his head to snap towards the source. This girl, Trill, had suddenly appeared next to him, speaking the worst Basic that Malos had ever heard in his entire life.
“This Daritha Venomis yes? Daritha of Predor? He feel that I tell by feel.”
Knowing now that Daritha meant Darth, and the fact that almost every time the girl spoke it, the word “Venomis” followed, Malos was able to determine that she was speaking of a being from her time, perhaps the one she served. But unless he had unlocked the secret to immortality before the fall of the Infinite Empire, there was no chance he was alive today. And Malos was not afraid to tell her that.

“Venomis is dead,” Malos said, drawing a line across his throat. “Much time has passed since he was alive. Thousands of years. The Rakata are all dead.”

Not checking to see if she understood or to gauge her reaction, Malos turned his eyes back to the horizon, where he spotted what had to be their destination, peeking over a small hill. It appeared to be a temple of Sith construct, ancient and stretching towards the clouds like the claws of some twisted beast. It seemed smaller than the temple they were from, but that made Malos no less interested in it, or how it had gone unnoticed for so long.

“That's our destination, everyone,” Malos spoke. “If the kid isn't here, let's agree to just burn the place down and say he was.”
He then caught something in the corner of his eye, a welcome sight if he had ever seen one. Behind a boulder to their right was the ancient wreckage of a speeder, but beside it was what had given Malos a wide grin.
A broken chest.

Malos approached the chest, rubbing his palms together. “Looks like this chest was a storage compartment for the speeder here,” Malos gathered. “It's broken, but it still kept its contents pretty clean all the same.” After looking a bit further, Malos chuckled, “Looks like this stuff belonged to some Jedi or Sith back in the day. You kids enjoy; I'm carrying enough crap.”


Inside the broken chest were four items.

1) A cloth bag, tied by a small rope. Whatever is inside seems completely solid, and cube-shaped.

2) A shoto lightsaber with an amber crystal.

3) A locket. From a glance, it seems to have no real value.

4) A hardback book, titled, “Dathomir: A Study.”

TAGS: @lordjania , cliojayne , volacius

Reaper's sudden outburst nearly startled Corvar, whose mind was lost in thought at that moment. He waved his saber in Reaper's direction, using its light to see that he was clutching his skull, screaming, “I'll kill you! I'll kill you all!” into the darkness. Something was pressing his sanity, something that seemed to be ignoring Corvar.
While Corvar did indeed feel the pressure of the utter silence pressing down on him, it seemed to be utterly flattening Reaper. But unlike Brooke, Corvar was not entirely sure how he could calm his fellow darksider down.

“Save it for when we're in a fight,” Corvar warned. “You can't kill what you can't see. And hell, whatever is bothering you is probably already dead.” He then turned around, hoping to continue their descent into the bowels of Corbos. But it was then that he noticed Reaper's words still echoing, reverberating in the cavern with more and more distortion as time passed. Strange. Either the sheer presence of the dark side was causing some phenomena, carrying the soundwaves further than they normally could, or these caves had wonderful acoustics. If that was the case, these caves should have been used for concerts, not mines.

It was then that Corvar began to silently wonder what these beings were even mining in the first place. He did not have any information on Corbos prior to their visit today, so it could have been anything. Diamonds, cortosis, beskar, iron… he was not sure. But whatever it was most assuredly could not have been worth the loss of life here. Nothing was worth that.
Save one thing.
Power.
If there was anything worth trading death for, it was power that could one day be used to protect others. The Jedi preached a mindset of allowing the Force's will to go uninterrupted, to allow it to weave its intricate tale of the galaxy. But in that tale was far too much sorrow for Corvar to trust in the will of the Force. While he knew the Force had a will, and that combating it would lead to the Force making corrections, he could not stand by and let it continue to create such tragedies.
Of course, he did not know that would just mean he would become the source of tragedy.

The silence returned once again, at least for Corvar and Brooke. Part of Corvar wanted to hear the whispers again, to follow its warmth to the source. Now he was simply lost, delving deep below ground and struggling to keep his childish fears at bay. Fear would simply slow him down. But at least now he felt some sense of serenity from Brooke, her feelings seemingly passing through the grip she had on his arm.
He almost did not notice the slithery feeling of something wrapping around his other arm. It felt slimy, like a tentacle or snake beginning to constrict around his forearm.
His eyes snapped to the arm, ready to set his forearm aflame if something was there. But alas, he saw nothing, and the feeling disappeared as soon as he paid attention to it.
“I can't wait to get out of this kriffing cave,” Corvar muttered beneath his breath.

TAGS: Darth Catalyst , trentongordon , darthferos

IC:Reaper
Location: Abandoned Mines, Corbos

After Reaper's out burst he heard Corvar saying that there was nothing there. No-one as they'd all probably died but he was lying. He could see one person right there. He saw the familiar red tinge of a saber and he smiled. "There you are. You dare mock me? I shall kill you for your idiocy." So he jumped down to the floor to meet this challenger.

"You see?! You see Corvar I told you there was someone messing with me. Do you see that saber? They are the culprit." He said talking about something that only he could see. A mental man he was to fight. He gripped his saber with both hands and prepared to do battle. He prepared to fight the mental man whose face he could not see, yet. He would make whoever this was pay for playing tricks on him.

Tag: darthkain7, darthferos, Darth Catalyst

The Lorekeeper
Great Imperial Library

The Lorekeeper looked back into the library one last time as if making sure that nobody saw him usher Darth Abaddon and Bernael to his sanctuary, or from the looks of it an alchemical laboratory.  Old tomes, priceless artifacts, vials of ingredients, jars of body parts in fluids, and much more.  This was a working laboratory, at the center was a table that held a globe that glowed with a golden light.  

He unceremoniously pushed past the two guests and walked toward the sphere.  "Acolyte," He called to his assistant, "go touch it." The acolyte seemed startled, he looked at the globe a moment and then back to the old sorcerer questioningly. "Do it."  The Lorekeeper prodded, his annoyance clear to all in the room.  -he is afraid of you, he will do as you command- a voice warned, silently so that only he could hear. Rumors of his anger were well known, he was rude even to his superiors, to those assigned to him he was cruel and at times physically abusive.   

The acolyte hesitated a moment more as he attempted to determine what he was more afraid of, in the end The Lorekeeper must have been the greater fear as the acolyte walked toward the globe as his hand stretched out slowly, it shook with fear.  -yes, be afraid- the voice mocked the acolyte as his hand came within a few inches the globe, suddenly it flashed bright and the acolyte was pushed away so hard that he was thrown against wall, he struck his head on the stone and slumped to the ground unconscious.

"My problem is evident," He declared while completely ignoring his wounded acolyte, "your assistance is required in order to bypass the energy barrier."  There was no tone of question in his voice, he was not asking for their help, he was expecting it. -be careful, do not push too hard-  the voice cautioned.  "My research has concluded that the barrier be removed, but I cannot do it alone."  Begrudgingly he added, "Will you help." as much a mumble as anything. 

Tag: darthkain7, darthbernael

IC: Trinaya and Volacius
Location- Virulent Valley, Korriban

Trin was startled by the rapid wrath of the weak woman. As Trill became more vocal with Malos, Trin’s hand returned to her lightfoil. While she knew Darth Malos was most likely capable of handling the woman, it didn’t hurt to be prepared for a potential problem. She realized about the time that Trill grabbed the shoto that Volacius was not going to take any of this very well and that if they were going to prevent any potential issues she needed to intercede quickly. Removing her hand from her lightfoil but casually putting her hand on the glaive on her back as if to push it back out of her way but really holding it ready to swing up and around. Standing in front of Trill, Trin held up a hand towards Volacious- knowing that he would be on the war path- and spoke to the angry woman in a calm and steady voice. “Trill, look at me. He’s not lying. The Rakata have been gone for eons.” Realizing that wouldn’t make any sense Trin held up her hands. First she held up two fingers and then slowly put up all ten and opened and closed them many many times. Her goal was to convey that at least 20,000 years had most likely passed while Trill was in stasis. Keeping her eyes on Trill and her voice calm, Trin spoke to the deranged Sith. “Darth Malos, you just told her that everything she’s ever known and believed in is dead. I hate to question your methods, but maybe for the safety of everyone we could have handled that particular subject a bit differently?”

Unlike Trinaya, Volacius did not care about Trill’s past, or her sentiments towards a millennia-old civilization. He knew little of the Rakata, other than that they had ruled the galaxy thousands of years ago and constructed the Star Forge that Malak had attempted to use against the Old Republic. In any case, the Rakatan Empire had not only collapsed, it had vanished, and as far as Volacius was concerned that was all the proof anyone would need to consider the Rakatan’s weak. The test of true power wasn’t attaining it, it was maintaining it, something the Rakatan’s clearly failed at. As far as he was concerned, they deserved their fall to obscurity. Speaking of which, Trill had just acquired something that might, under the right circumstances, give her power over him, and he didn’t like that one bit. It also didn’t help that the hilt of the Shoto was particularly interesting, a design he wanted to study before the ancient woman had snatched it.

Once again removing his Lightsaber from his belt, he activated it, allowing the crimson blade to extend and wash his yellow flesh in bloodred light. “I know you can’t fully understand me,” he said as Trin finished her likely feeble explanation of what Malos had more bluntly stated, “but it would be in your best interests to put down the Lightsaber. Now.” He held his saber in an opening Makashi stance, with his free hand ready to draw his own Shoto if need be. He didn’t necessarily want to fight her, as even in her weakened state he could still sense her power, but he wouldn’t be opposed to it either.

Not knowing whether Darth Malos would be acting in an equally reactive manner or not, and not wanting to turn away from Trill and give her a potential opening to attack, Trin decided it would be safest to assume that he might be. “Can I make a suggestion that doesn’t involve violence, or is this the wrong crowd?” Her calm tone was slipping a little bit, but she was still maintaining it. “Volacius, I’m not sure I’m a huge fan of her having a weapon right now, either, but perhaps we give her something else or let her keep that for the short term and keep an eye on her since we are approaching somewhere most likely dangerous where a fourth person fighting might be good. If we can get her to calm down a bit we might be able to move onto our objective more quickly than we would with a confrontation.” She knew that this alternative “plan” would depend entirely on what Darth Malos said, but hopefully she could at least try to prevent a fight that would be neither time or cost effective in terms of potential injury.
Trin waited.

darthkain7, @lordjania, cliojayne

IC: Robyn Shaire
Location: Ermir Marcus's classroom, Korriban

It was foolish to genuinely think Yog would listen to her... the coward fled from her room, abandoning his companion. Robyn watched as Slizard slowly managed to leave on her own power before flinging the talisman down onto her bed and slamming her door shut. That thing was dangerous... every single thing she'd collected from that tomb was dangerous. It had been a stressful night negotiating for them to be covered in a dampening resin for the time being.

The next day was unusually uneventful, though Robyn had no qualms whatsoever at wearing at least one of the talismans she'd looted. No matter how many times she reminded herself that they were dangerous, she just didn't have it in her to resist. Blue jewelry looked rather striking against her natural pink and red, it also happened to be the Zeltron's favorite color. Classmates that would antagonize her any other day suddenly seemed more eager to avoid her path... It didn't take her long at all to discover all sorts of rumors being spread about her. The attempted theft had been found out, and of course the rumor mill worked at full force. For kark's sake, some loon claimed she was possessed by the spirit of Naga Sadow! Or that she tortured Yog and Slizard half to death, please! If she'd really wanted to torture them, she... she'd. rather not consider it.

As annoying as all the incessant talk was... it brought on the strangest sense of dominance. Robyn doubted she'd ever be "liked" among these Sith, nor did she think she'd want to... but for once in her life, she was feared. Now that could be enough for her. Robyn kept to herself for the most part, though she made sure to glare at both would-be thieves any time they entered her line of sight. Watching them, and others, scurry away like lothrats was almost funny. Maybe she'd have felt lonely instead, if she were still a Jedi.

For now though, Robyn had to find herself back in class. She groaned at the notion, with Chakran's demise still very fresh in her mind. Who else would that creep Marcus kill? Did she really want to place herself in his line of fire after what happened last time? No, no she definitely didn't. But ditching class... at least last time, she'd been called away. "Damned if I go, probably damned if I don't," Robyn sighed to herself, pressing a hand against her chest where her necklace lay. It's blue glow could barely be seen against her black tunic, but it gave her the strength to keep walking forward. Though as she neared the door, she could already see other acolytes filing in... sounded like some action was happening.

Robyn crossed her arms and continued inside without saying a word. If her new reputation preceded her, she wouldn't even have to speak to get noticed. Ah! Now she understood the commotion, new faces! After but a moment, Robyn's expression fell as she remembered. Being new was kriffing terrible. How many initiates had she herself seen not even make it inside? These three... they'd be eaten alive for sure. "Oh boy..." she sighed to herself, "To be expected, they barely made it through the door before being heckled."

TAG: Darth Voidwalker , @lordjania , kurtishenschel ,Darth Dreadwar ,

IC: Bernael

Great Imperial Library, Korriban


Having already examined the room, Bernael was unsurprised by the various items arranged around the room. Many seemed to be experiments in progress, parts or even parts of parts of many different species. Obviously the Lorekeeper had a great deal of pull, at least inside the Library, to be able to continue such. Were this were not the private domain of the Lorekeeper, or the Great Library itself, some of what Bernael saw would leave the premises with him, when this was over. So much history, knowledge, lost lore that was just hidden away, unused or unknown by so much of the society.


As the Lorekeeper brushed past him, Bernael had an even closer glimpse into the mind and motivation of the Lorekeeper, not just in general, but as the reason for this meeting was foremost on everyone’s minds, that in particular. What Bernael sensed did nothing to reduce the feeling that both Darth Abaddon and himself were being used and stood a very good chance of either being destroyed or their essences used up in whatever the Lorekeeper had in store for them.


The Lorekeeper kept walking, and approached a table with a glowing golden sphere. He explained the situation, having the acolyte he had abruptly demanded join them attempt to touch the sphere. When the acolyte did so, there was a brilliant flash from the sphere and the acolyte was sent flying, ending their flight head first against the wall behind them. He fell to the ground in a seemingly lifeless puddle, the slight rise and fall of his chest the only thing betraying his life.


Interestingly, there seemed to have been a voice coming from the sphere while the acolyte had approached. It had taunted the young human, making him give into his fears even further. By the time he had been flung away his fear of the sphere had been almost greater than that of the Lorekeeper.


If the acolyte were not a servant of the Lorekeeper Bernael may have decided to partake of a feeding, once this was all concluded. Such an enterprise as they were undertaking would certainly tap Bernael's reserves to a degree, and keeping them topped up so he did not have an ‘unfortunate’ feeding was key to staying alive in the Empire. But that would not be a wise move, possibly angering such a senior Sith.


Listening further, the Lorekeeper explained “My problem is evident. Your assistance is required in order to bypass the energy barrier.” The words dripped of half truths. Indeed, the Lorekeeper seemed to need them in some way, but Bernael doubted it was for what he had described, at least not entirely.


Once again, Bernael sensed the feelings of Darth Abaddon next to him. Of course, being the Sith she was, she did not care that an apprentice could tell what was going on inside her mind. There was obvious conflict with regard to the Lorekeeper, she was displeased that she had to put aside her own studies for something that she deemed lower than her station, and at the same time was hesitant to express such with the doubt she had as to what the Lorekeeper was allowed to do in his domain, how deep his control was.


The more personal, and slightly humorous thoughts about himself, Bernael could understand. While she knew and was wary of him as an Anzat, she had folded him in with the same drives that many apprentices had. His drives were not as shallow as what a young apprentice desires. Prestige, power, while useful tools to be considered an equal, or close to such, were handy, but not the end desire. For now, a sort of curiosity about this current Sith Empire drove him, to see what changes they had wrought and if they would last longer than any previous he had experience with.


‘Do not lose focus on the present’ he said to himself, as he heard Darth Abaddon say “This orb is peculiar. I am not sure what is necessary to bring down this barrier. Are you?” Her question did seem mostly directed at him so Bernael took a few moments longer to study the orb before responding.


On closer inspection, something about it did seem familiar, but he knew he had never come across one himself. “I have seen carvings perhaps, ancient drawings in lost tomes, or a holo of such before, but I have never touched or come close to such an object. I can sense its power, hear its attempts at seductive or destructive whispers, and feel its desire to be unleashed. Other than that, I do not know how to release the safety mechanisms that prevent the Lorekeeper from opening it.”


With those words, Bernael could sense the Lorekeepers frustration growing. Personally, Bernael would take what steps were necessary to keep his person alive though this event, even if it meant walking the finest of lines between angering either of the two senior Sith and staying within the laws of this Society.

darthkain7 Darth Cruor