A Scepter Worthy of an Empress

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Nimue Stormson"]

Taeli had spent several days studying the scepter of Nimue Stormson while she also continued to study the Force nexus that had been awoken in the city of Kullcor. The Empress had returned to her palace temporarily while Taeli researched certain things, even though Taeli missed her company somewhat. She was a very . . . interesting companion and would certainly keep Taeli on her toes during . . . activities.

"Hmm interesting," she said, scrolling through some of her notes and some information she had ordered be sent to her from Coruscant about the Disciples of Ragnos and the Scepter of Marka Ragnos. The scepter had been forged by the Sith Lord that had ushered in a golden age for the Sith Empire, and she suspected alchemy had been heavily involved.

Looking over at the scepter, she recognized she might have an answer for creating the desired effect, and she wondered what Nimue would think of the idea. Pulling the link to the datapad she had given the Empress when she left, she sent a message asking for her to return to Kullcor as quickly as possible.

 

[Nimue Stormson]

To awake to the sound of something other than her usual morning wakeup call was something the Empress of Effekt didn’t expect often. If there was a desired time to rise then she would make sure her servants saw her up precisely by that time, unless she’d managed to wake on her own accord. Sometimes she’d wake when birds were calling loudly from outside or the echoes of people already at work could be heard from down in the courtyard. Never had Empress Nimue awoken to the sound of odd pinging.​

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Picking herself up from her fur sheets in her bedchambers the Empress looked around, wondering where the source was, only to see it was coming from the datapad left to her by [member="Darth Arcanix"] which she obviously wasn’t familiar with. It was true the Effektians were integrated into some of the galaxies technology, but not all of it.​

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She pulled herself over to where it sat before hitting one of the buttons, thankfully it being the one to shut up the damned pinging. However the Empress realized this was indicating there was a message awaiting her, something she soon saw open itself. It was telling her to return to Kullcor, this perking her interest as she realized it must’ve been about her scepter.​

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While anxious to go for herself the Empress still followed through her usual morning activities. A full and hardy breakfast followed by a quick report on any and all political matters that needed to be addressed. After that it was a matter of dressing for another trip out while having a speeder prepared. Without the Sith’s shuttle it would be a little ways longer to reach Kullcor than before.​

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Finally dressing for a more travel convince, but still wearing her horned crown while carrying the false scepter she had been using, the Empress made her way out to the awaiting speeder and was off with two of her men accompanying her. ​

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After returning from Kullcor and telling how Lady Arcanix had helped solved the curse of the ruined city and purged it of all Dwergi the citizens were a little disbelieving at first. However as more were curious about it the more had seen for themselves how it was indeed cleared and free. As happy as the people were the Empress still wanted the city kept off limits for now. A matter of “making sure nothing lingers”, as she’d said.​

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It had been well into the afternoon by the time she arrived, the speeder pulling up to the outskirts of the city itself. Getting out she’d told the men to wait while she went into the city itself, making her way to the spire palace where she’d finally find Arcanix working on her scepter.​

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[member="Darth Arcanix"]​

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Nimue Stormson"]

Taeli looked up from where she was working in the central room of the spire, right where the nexus was and emanating its raw power. The area around the scepter was covered in several concentric runic circles, some of her own blood and some from what she could salvage from the dead Dwergi alphas she had retained to examine. Freezing them had helped keep their blood preserved for such a ritual.

She wasn't going to admit it, but she had slowly been feeding on the nexus, increasing her own power she was here working on the scepter as she knew what she had planned would reduce the nexus in strength, or drain it completely. It would remain to be seen what exactly the scepter would do when she began her alchemization of it.

"I'm glad to see you got my message," Taeli said, smiling at Nimue. "I wanted you to be present when I began as I will require some help from you, or rather some of your own blood."

 

[Nimue Stormson]

Walking up behind her the Empress was a little surprised that [member="Darth Arcanix"] had sensed her already. She realized that it was due to her greater abilities with the force, but it was still a little unsettling at times. Of course Nimue had done so herself on occasion, calling people out before they could sneak up on her or try to overhear conversations she was having. Guess on the other end it really felt like the person had eyes on the back of their head.​

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Hearing the mention of needing blood the empress looked at her oddly and asked “My what? Why’s that exactly? I assume it has something to do with making the scepter work?”​

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Nimue Stormson"]

"The key to Sith alchemy is blood, specifically the blood from yourself, the blood of someone you love, and the blood of someone you hate," Taeli explained. "In this case though, your blood would be used as a bonding agent for your scepter so no else will be able to wield it. If anyone does try, well, a spell I'm investing in will trigger and your scepter will be that much more powerful."

Not elaborating, but sure the Empress would figure out what sort of spell she was talking about, Taeli began to paint a few more runes on the scepter itself using a tiny pinprick brush. Already, line upon line of script was flowing across it. She knew that to create what she was planning to turn the scepter into, it was going to take a lot of preparation and these runes would serve the double purpose of making it resistant to a lightsaber strike and allow the energies she was planning to have flow through it without shattering the scepter.

"I mainly need your blood to be set on the crystal, no need for runes, but it will need to be spread over it for the affect to work," she said, not looking from her brushwork.

 

[Nimue Stormson]

Inventively Empress Nimue listened to the whole explanation into the spell that [member="Darth Arcanix"] planned for her. It fascinated her to no end. All of this was still connected with the force, yet it sounded more like magic the more it was explained to her. If the Lady Sith had that much knowledge and skill there was no telling what other sorts of abilities she could help the Empress with.​

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Still the matter of the blood did make her a little squeamish. On the grounds that she worried if there was any sort of backfire to it. However because it was used more for a binding agent the Empress realized how more useful and safe it would be. Better to have a weapon only you can use without risking anyone else using it against you.​

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Seeing the runes still being carved after Arcanix finished she sighed, holding her hand out with her palm before her, and said “Take as much as you need.”​

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Nimue Stormson"]

"I only need a little," she said, setting her brush down as she finished crafting the last rune line for the scepter. Picking up a small knife, she slid it lightly across the Empress's hand, drawing blood along the knife edge, but leaving the cut very shallow and easily healable. Taking the knife, she dripped several drops onto the crystal of the scepter, her eyes flashing yellow as she imbued them with the dark side.

"Now we begin," she said, channeling the power of the nexus into herself for the spell she began chanting.

"Talem confirmandamque sceptra imbuere, et potestas tenebrarum. Sine trahere locos ex potnetia virtutis et potentiae quod continent. Fac quod vis et arma contra inimicos potentiam dimittere sinam. Liga eam in Nimue Stormson aut alii Pomptina et absorptus est."

As she chanted, the runes on the scepter and in the circles began to glow with a dark aura, their power being drawn into the scepter itself. The runes on the scepter began to be absorbed into the scepter itself, same with the blood on the crystal.

 

[Nimue Stormson]

Nimue looked away before feeling the knife cut across her hand. A little hiss of pain before it was over and she drew her hand away. The cut wasn’t bad, she even pulled out a scarf to use as a bandage for now, but that didn’t make it hurt any less.​

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After that she looked back to see as the blood began to react to the scepter. And then came [member="Darth Arcanix"] chanting her words again. Nimue stood began as she watched the magic begin to take hold, almost out of fear if something would go wrong at the last second or anything like that. The whole time she could feel the dark energies from the spell and the scepter’s inner power start to take hold. It was emitting almost all over the room to where Nimue could swear she’d tasted it.​

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Nimue Stormson"]

As she continued chanting, she began to use herself as a conduit for the nexus's power to flow into the scepter, siphoning a little for herself to be internalized and added to her own well of dark side energy. Wouldn't do to waste such a chance to gain a bit more power. The runes in the circle began to rotate, the aura glowing from them turning a black and purple mix as the dark side energies started to flow into the scepter like tendrils. Eventually the runes faded away, leaving no trace they had been their as all their power had been transferred into the scepter and her spell finished.

The gem of the scepter had darkened somewhat, going to a deeper blue on the edges while the inner crystal was brighter.

"Well that worked rather well," Taeli said, levitating the scepter over to the Empress as she didn't feel like losing her life to it. "Almost done with what I've got planned for it, but I need you to wield it now."

 

[Nimue Stormson]

As the spell began to finished Empress Nimue looked over the shoulder of the Sith and tried to see if it had worked. Even though she had no idea what was going on with the spell itself she was trying to see any obvious signs of it failing or something going wrong.​

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Thankfully, by the looks of it, everything had worked. Her scepter was intact and it also seemed to have a darker look to it. The power within had fully fused with the object itself. Nimue could almost feel the power before it even touched her hand.​

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When [member="Darth Arcanix"] told her to take it now, even before it was done, the Empress shot her an uncertain glance before looking back to it. Slowly she reached out, making sure it didn’t try to shock her again, before seeing nothing happened. More and more her hand reached out before finally taking it in her hand. For a moment she felt a surge in her hand move up her arm and into her body before everything settled. She gasped with relief when it was done, knowing that this had been the power of the scepter.​

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“Incredible…”​

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Nimue Stormson"]

"We aren't done just yet," Taeli said, moving behind the Empress and lifting her arms so the scepter was pointed at the nexus. Leaning in to whisper in Nimue's ear, she continued saying, "The scepter has one more task to do. Pour your power into it and watch as it drains and incorporates part of the nexus to gain its full power."

She hoped Nimue liked the gift she had given, but it remained to be seen if she could actually channel the Force to activate the siphoning spell of the scepter to allow it to function slightly like the Scepter of Ragnos. It couldn't reanimate the dead, or empower non-Force Users with the Force as she didn't know what spells were used to imbue the scepter with those abilities, but it would still function well as a weapon to send bolts of pure dark side energy out like a blaster.

 

[Nimue Stormson]

Nimue didn’t look back to [member="Darth Arcanix"] at first. She was still wrapped up in how much powerful she felt to have the scepter in her hands. It wasn’t until she’d said that the scepter had one more task to do that she’d looked back, wondering what she meant. When she explained that she needed to pour her power into the scepter itself to gain power straight from the nexus she looked oddly at her, wondering how that worked. But if it meant a means to gain the power of the nexus it than Nimue would, of course, do what she could.​

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Looking down at the scepter itself and, calmly, placed her hand over the jeweled end among the sharper points. She was careful not to cut herself before closing her eyes and focusing. She tried to let out a low but effective amount of her own force energy into the scepter itself. She could feel the scepter feed on it, the jewel glowing as a result, before looking back to Arcanix for further instruction on how to drain into the nexus.​

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Nimue Stormson"]

"Now, focus on sending a beam of energy at the nexus," she said. "Simply think about it and the crystal will do the rest."

When the Empress did so, a red or blue beam, similar to the Force Drain technique, would erupt from the crystal. The energies of the nexus would be drawn into the beam and added to the store of power within the crystal, allowing her to have nearly a limitless amount of power within her scepter to sue for energy attacks and to draw upon if need be to bolster her own power.

 

[Nimue Stormson]

Following instructions given by [member="Darth Arcanix"] the Empress thought about gaining the powers of the nexus. The scepter was pointed at the nexus and Nimue thought about it. She imagined a single beam firing out from it towards the nexus itself.​

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To her surprise it did exactly that. A concentration of energy that emanated from the scepter shot out and struck into the nexus. The Empress was so surprised she stumbled back for a moment, amazed by what she’d done. She looked to the Sith for answers or further instructions.​

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Nimue Stormson"]

"Now watch and feel as the power of the nexus is siphoned into your scepter, well part of it at least since we don't want the whole thing to be drained," Taeli said with a small laugh. She still wanted to study the nexus and the Dwergi she had killed, interesting experiments and observations could be made here in Kullcor.

"I hope you enjoy your new gift, Nimue," she said with a smile. "Took awhile to figure out the spells to achieve the needed affects."

 

[Nimue Stormson]

Hearing her words Nimue watched as what she’d said came true. The nexus began to slowly drain into the scepter like water through a pipe. It was seeping its way into the jewel and by extension through the metal of the scepter itself. The power began to course through it, the runes glowing and the jewel reacting. The Empress only kept a steady hand as she felt it vibrating with power.​

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When it was over Nimue could muster n words. She was truly speechless. She kept looking back between [member="Darth Arcanix"] and the scepter, now powered with the raw energy of the Force. This was a mighty gift indeed, one that made her feel like a god among mortals.​

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Nimue Stormson"]

"Now don't let that get to your head," Taeli said jokingly. Part of the nexus was still intact thankfully, but the scepter had absorbed more of it than she had calculated, but that was okay. She only needed part of it to survive for study and experiments. So many things to do, and she highly tempted to establish her private estate that Nimue had said would be hers at some time in the future within Kullcor.

She wanted to be close to this nexus for study after all, and it would have all sorts of interesting effects on the surrounding area.

"Well, gonna say something?" she asked teasingly, wondering how the Empress would express herself with the gift Taeli had just made for her.

 

[Nimue Stormson]

When asked to finally say something by [member="Darth Arcanix"] all Nimue could think of was “Thank you…”​

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She turned, still holding the scepter, while walking out of the room and out into the open. She looked around and the ruined city and began to imagine the power she could use with this energy in the scepter. Holding it with both hands on different spots she trailed her finger around the sharper points before letting it sit on the jewel. She could still feel the energy pulsing from it like a signal.​

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The sudden urge to test the power made Nimue point the scepter and imagine it firing it at one of the buildings. It worked. A shot went out and hit the side, a small explosion taking out a goo chunk of the wall. Seeing she tried holding back a sudden burst of laughter that came over her.​

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Nimue Stormson"]

"You're welcome," Taeli said as the Empress moved off to the outside. Curious, Taeli followed her to the balcony she was standing on as she pointed her scepter towards a building. The energy blast that rocketed from it blew out a chunk of the building she was targeting and Taeli could almost sense the slightly power-hungry and giddy feel the Empress had now.

She decided to just watch from the side as the Empress tested her new toy, making notes of it and its wielder.

 

[Nimue Stormson]

Another powerful blast, this time into the distance towards a building father away. The scepter hit its target and one of the smaller spire buildings was hit, topping over in the process. Another half laugh came from the empress before she turned back to [member="Darth Arcanix"] after she joined her on the balcony to overlook everything.​

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“This is amazing. I now wielding one of the most powerful weapons in the world.” She held it tenderly again before saying “I must see to it your rewarded even more than promised before, Lady Acanix. I mean every word of it, on the honor of the gods themselves. Whatever you ask you shall have.”​