Private Apprentice to Blood

[Syd Celsius]

The Sorceress of Ossus nodded in understanding.

"It is a skill that will take years." the Sorceress replied. "But the fact you have learned psychometry already is a great entryway into such a discipline."

The Sorceress felt herself strengthening the longer she was on this world. She would have to investigate why she had such a connection. Then maybe she would understand why it felt so natural to call herself by her title...

She perked up a bit, the Force whispering a warning to her.

"Starlin. Quietly exit the vehicle..." The Sorceress whispered as she brought the vehicle to a stop.

"I feel them. A group waiting ahead for us." The Sorceress noted. "There are a lot of them but I cannot pinpoint them. They're using something to block me. But I have an idea to flush them out."

She blinked. "Try your best not to freak out. Or vomit."

The Sorceress climbed out of the vehicle and stood in a small clearing, and began chanting under her breath.

She began to bleed severely from her eyes, nose, ears, and mouth, flesh shuddering horribly as she seemingly self mummified, the blood completely draining from her body and coagulating into an all blood version of the Sorceress with basically barbie doll anatomy, surface constantly rippling as it put a finger to its lips at Starlin and began walking off, while the actual body of the Sorceress remained in place, now completely emaciated looking, flesh constantly rippling as the blood avatar strode forward.

"Wait here, this will only take a minute." the emaciated Sorceress hissed. "As soon as we know how many, THEN we formulate how to react. And we will take them clean. No casualties."

The Avatar then wandered down the path the vehicle had been traveling, and soon entered clearing. It was quiet. Too quiet.

The Avatar's chest exploded in a shower of blood as a blaster bolt traveled through it. She spotted the first behind thick shrubs that had fired the shot, body now getting pelted by blaster fire and breaking down into little red drops that sank into the earth. She counted nine different directions the shots had come, all by men in heavy armor with repeaters from before she was blasted apart completely and soaked into the earth, yet refusing to meld with it and traveling beneath the earth as a red river back to its body, bubbling up from the soil and flowing back up her gold chrome covered figure and back into her body via her mouth, her body rapidly resetting to its previous appearance.

"Nine shooters. Repeaters, heavy armor, four south west, rapidly moving now towards us, and five west. If we move quickly we can set a trap and catch them, but they're good and panicked now. We got maybe five minutes before they arrive. More than enough time for a trap." she grinned to Starlin Rand .

 

[Starlin Rand]

Syd abruptly brought the vehicle to a stop, sensing something. Starlin obeyed her orders, stealthily getting out of the truck.

She gave him a warning before she began to… well, change maybe wasn’t the word for it. Starlin turned away to keep from retching, avoiding looking at her mummified flesh or new blood body.

He hunkered down and found a hiding spot behind some bushes while he waited for her to return. She did, having scouted out nine shooters. They were panicked and on their way here.

“I don’t suppose they can be reasoned with?” Starlin asked. “Who are these people, anyway?”

She suggested a trap. He nodded. “Are there nonlethal blood traps? Something that would knock them out when they step on the runes?”

Syd Celsius​

 

[Syd Celsius]

The Sorceress shook her head.

"Afraid not on the first count...they shot first and were prepared to shoot first, and they will shoot us first if they spot us...but as to your second question..."

The Sorceress cut open her palm and the blood leaked out as she changed, the droplets forming into a pentagram composed entirely of runes that soon disappeared.

"That will have the effects of a stun mine..." she explained. "Try making one while you can, I'll a keep a lookout. And use your own words to make the magic function." the blond Witch added, keeping her unactivated staff at the ready in case any managed to reach them early...


Starlin Rand

 

[Starlin Rand]

As Syd turned away to stand watch, Starlin took a deep breath, then sliced open his palm. He winced at the sting of pain, forcing himself to focus on the blood dripping on the ground.

"My life is mine to keep... Ashla, put my enemies to sleep!"

Power hummed in his blood. The droplets formed a new symbol of runes before disappearing from view.

Now to see if it would work. Starlin ducked back into cover, lying in wait for the soldiers to arrive and the trap to be sprung.

Syd Celsius​

 

[Syd Celsius]

The Sorceress of Ossus floated behind a bush as the first soldiers came. They stepped on a rune and it was triggered, knocking out a large group.

The second group proceeded in much more cautiously, and Syd frowned when she realized the ones they had sent ahead had small Ysalamiri attached to their Torso, canceling out the effect of the runes as they stepped over them, disabling them.

One swept the jungle ahead with a heavy repeater, forcing The Sorceress to duck.

Starling, withdraw and circle around." she told Starlin Rand telepathically. *Seems they're a tad more prepared than I thought.

The Sorceress with drew a bit back as the bandits drew deeper into the jungle...

 

[Starlin Rand]

One of the stun mines worked, but the other did not. Starlin couldn't help but sigh in disappointment.

Still, he obeyed Syd's orders, withdrawing and circling around. <What are we going to do about the ysalamiri?> he asked his master. His telepathy was a little sloppy, but it got his message across decently enough.

Syd Celsius​

 

[Syd Celsius]

We are not totally helpless. It simply means we must resort to an alternate strategy. The Sorceress replied flying around and phasing through trees to flank the mercs.

She snuck up on one who wasn't in range of the Ysalamiri and put him in a sleeper hold, grabbing his blaster pistol and setting it to stun.

She then flew upward, staying out of range as she fired stun blast after stun blast after each Soldier, dodging their return fire, with creative twists and flips mid air, her Lightsaber batting away whatever shots her agility did not allow her to escape.

The Mercs started to run. The Sorceress kept shooting.

Starlin, quick! Grab one of the blasters! We can't let even one escape! she told Starlin Rand

 

[Starlin Rand]

An alternate strategy. Right.

Starlin watched from afar as Syd took down one of the mercs, stealing his weapon and turning it on the others. At her orders, he followed suit, grabbing a blaster, quickly setting it to stun, and firing at the mercs.

He wasn't used to fighting with guns, but he soon found an appeal to them, mainly in their range. There was also something vaguely satisfying about taking aim, firing, and having the shot hit its intended target. There was a relief in the efficiency of this style of fighting.

Soon they had knocked out all the mercs. "Should we tie them up or something?" he asked.

Syd Celsius​

 

[Syd Celsius]

The Sorceress landed in front of him.

"Yes, but I'm afraid you're gonna have to go near the Ysalamiri. It'll disorient you, but I'll basically turn into a literal pile of sludge going near one. I'm much more vulnerable to them than you are. Sorry!" she replied uneasily at the end.

To that end, she began securing who she could, tying them up, disarming them of their Weaponry. She began looking for identification but didn't find any. Typical. You could hardly tell who worked for who these days.

The Sorceress of Ossus tried to shift back to Syd, but her flesh shuddered only a little, and The Sorceress realized this planet so firmly empowered her she literally couldn't shift back to Syd, so it would have to wait.

"Starlin? Have you found any identification at all? If not, I think we may have to resort to using my blood as a truth serum but it's a time consuming process..." she called out to Starlin Rand .

 

[Starlin Rand]

"Yes, but I'm afraid you're gonna have to go near the Ysalamiri. It'll disorient you, but I'll basically turn into a literal pile of sludge going near one. I'm much more vulnerable to them than you are. Sorry!"

“Oh.” Starlin nodded. “Well, that wouldn’t be good.”

He approached the ysalamiri. Sure enough, he felt the touch of the Force recede. “Should I just… I dunno, kill them?” he asked tentatively. The Jedi taught that all life was sacred, but ysalamiri were a pain in the ass for him and an actual danger to Syd. Besides, if he let them go, what if they mated and started populating the planet with their kind? That wouldn't be good, especially on Ossus.

He tied up the downed mercenaries, and searched their gear. “Um… yeah, actually. This guy’s got a wallet.” He passed it to Syd. “Dunno if it’s a legit ID or not.”

Syd Celsius​

 

[Syd Celsius]

The Sorceress of Ossus paused at the question Starlin Rand posed

"Those creatures are innocent, Starlin. No matter the danger or risk they pose to us, we have no right to strike them down." The Sorceress answered. "We must find a way to secure them. I know the task will be difficult but if the path was easy, it wouldn't be worth following."

So the Sorceress hissed a spell at a Merc and woke him up.

"Alright chithead, talk." The Sorceress snapped. "Who are you working for?"

The Merc hesitated.

"He'll kill me."

"Trust me, he's got bigger problems."

The Guard hesitated still.

The Sorceress frowned.

"If you think death is bad, try life in prison."

"A...a scientist...if you can call him that..." The Merc explained. "Some kinda...crazy...crazy bastard. But smart. See, he wants something. He's in one of these old temples, way out in the deeper jungle.

"Why has he been having you constantly steal medical supplies?"

"He's trying to do something to the Bacta. Experiment on it. Says he's missing a crucial ingredient. Or a crucial combination of ingredients...

The Sorceress thought a moment, rubbing her chin.

"Do you know what he's trying to make?"

The Merc shook his head. "Not in the slightest."

"This temple he's working in...where is it?"

"Not visible from the surface. He's using what's left of the sublevel. To the north. A grove of hook shaped stone statues marks the entrance. Lots of Security Turrets. Magnaguards."

"Surely you know more. Tell me."

"I...I did see one thing...he had a book. Gospel of Ersethy, it was called."

The Sorceress's eyes widened in absolute alarm.

"Starlin, do what you can to secure those Ysalamiri and make sure they can't escape. Then we secure these feths and head north. We're in trouble..."

The Sorceress hissed another spell that rendered the Merc unconscious. She then started doing her part to drag and tie up the nerve, applying blood spells to ward off the creatures. She then went to the trans port she and Starlin had originally used and signalled the Jedi temple forces, informing them of her discovery and to send a team to pick up the Mercenaries and Ysalamiri. Then she got over to Starlin.

"We have an Ersethy Cultist on Ossus."

 

[Starlin Rand]

"Those creatures are innocent, Starlin. No matter the danger or risk they pose to us, we have no right to strike them down. We must find a way to secure them. I know the task will be difficult but if the path was easy, it wouldn't be worth following."

Starlin was still a bit dubious about leaving the ysalamiri alive, given the threat they posed to Syd in particular, but he nodded and went to grab the critters. They were kind of cute little lizards, despite their Force-dampening bubbles. While Syd began interrogating one of the mercs, he caught them all and put them in a bag.

"Uh, should I just release these little dudes into the wild?" he asked. They couldn't leave them here in the bag; they would starve to death. But bringing them along seemed like tempting fate, given that merely getting too close to the creatures could potentially hurt Syd.

"We have an Ersethy Cultist on Ossus."

Starlin raised an eyebrow. "Bless you?"

Syd Celsius

 

[Syd Celsius]

The Sorceress thought a moment.

"Release them." she said as he pointed out the problem. "It's not right they should starve in a bag. We can locate them with scanners or something later. They won't get far."

Then she paused at his question.

"Ersethy was the first of The Force Spawn, supposedly. Or one of the first. No one is really certain anymore. But she was a viciously evil Sorceress. Worse than any Brain Demon Cultist. She visited ancient Atrisia and ravaged it. Supposedly the Gods or Spirits of Atrisia were so appalled by her depravity that they struck her dead with their full might in one terrible attack, obliterating her very soul."

The Sorceress frowned, recalling the story.

"But though her soul was deader than dead, annihilated from the very Force, the evil in what was left of her flesh refused to die and lingered, like Corium."

She leaned against a tree, folding her arms.

"And like that deadly material, they had to treat her remains the same, and "contain the radiation" so to speak. Her remains are supposedly in a constant state of putrid decay, and no amount of Force Light or other knowledge of the Jedi was able to disperse the evil or even destroy the flesh. So a temple was constructed around the remains. Otherwise, abominations spawn from it's flesh."

Her frown deepened.

"She still has worshippers somehow. She's called the dead goddess. Every now and then fragments of her evil that have become sentient are acquired. Echoes of the real monster..."

She grabbed a pistol off one of the mercs.

"Worshippers are a bunch of depraved bastards. The sooner we get this guy the better... probably trying to cook up a plague that makes puppies rabid or some sick crap like that. They're petty like that...Come on Starlin, follow me. This psycho won't stop himself..."

Fifteen minutes later.

"You are doing wonderfully by the way..." The Sorceress complimented as they traveled to the temple. "When we reach this guy, I request you try to apply the blood spells you have already been taught creatively. But don't get ambitious, and don't try to force the moment to use them..."

They finally reached the semi-hidden entrance. Sure enough, there were blaster turrets and Magnaguards waiting, armed with electrostatic, some even with stolen lightsabers.

Projectors hidden in the large Statues, projecting a man whose height did not reach past the knees of Starlin Rand . He was extraordinarily well dressed, in a fine suit, armed with a Lightsaber Shoto.

"A hearty salutations to the Padawan and his lovely teacher!" the man said in a jovial manner. "May I inquire as to the reason behind the unexpected honor of receiving you two?"

"We ran into your men." The Sorceress stated.

"Ah, so you're the reason I haven't heard back from them. Most fortuitous!" The man said taking a bow.

"My name is Mozarrte Tormynali. Retired Jedi Master. Do forgive me for all the rough and tumble you've experienced this far. My private experiments demand certain things which would break my bank account were I to try and acquire them legitimately, I'm afraid. But the payoff! Oh, the Payoff. Might I have your name?"

"Syd Celsius." The Sorceress of Ossus answered for lack of a better answer. It was kinda true. Ballpark estimate, at least.

"Oh, come in, come in! Both of you! I'll have supper prepared at once!"

The hologram shut off and the hidden entrance in the ground slid open.

"Stay behind me, Starlin..." The Sorceress said to Starlin. "This one is up to something..."

 

[Starlin Rand]

Moving to the side of the road, Starlin set the ysalamiri free. Most scurried off on their own, but a few lingered uncertainly until he shooed them away into the wilderness.

Once that had been taken care of, he returned to Syd, who explained who Ersethy was. “Chit,” the boy muttered once she came to the end of the grisly tale. “She sounds like a real piece of work.”

Now they seemed to be dealing with one of her Cultists. That sounded better than dealing with Ersethy herself, but still not ideal…

Fifteen minutes later, Starlin was pulled out of his funk by a compliment from Syd. As always, her praise made him puff up his chest and grin like a fool. “Thanks,” he said. “I’ll do my best.”

But then, as they reached the entrance to the temple, they encountered turrets, magnaguards… and a projection of a dwarf wielding a shoto. He introduced himself as Mozarrte Tormynali, and his eccentric, aristocratic bearing teetered perilously on the line between being amusing and terrifying.

When he asked for their names, Syd gave her name freely—but then it wasn’t exactly her real name, just her latest incarnation. Starlin had been in this business for long enough now that he knew better than to give a mysterious Force User his real name. “Uh… My name is Lamont Cranston,” he answered, smiling proudly and resting his fists on his hips.

The hologram shut off, and the entrance opened. Starlin fell in behind Syd as they headed inside…

Syd Celsius​

 

[Syd Celsius]

The Sorceress of Ossus smiled as Starlin Rand chose to break the fourth wall.

The Sorceress, as soon as she entered the area, where the all consuming presence of Ossus did not was over her, found her hold over the body weakening, flesh shuddering as her mind and Body warped back into Syd's.

Syd blinked. It had been nearly impossible to break the Planet's ability to fuel that particular persona. What was it about this place that disrupted that.

Was Tormynali that powerful?

Syd was even more on guard as she went into what looked to be a thoroughly lavish underground quarters, where the strange, short statured man awaited at the end of a long banquet table.

"Oh do come in! Come in!" he encouraged beckoning. "You both arrived at such a wonderful day! This happens to be the very end of my great experiment!"

"Great Experiment?" Syd asked as she slinked down the stairs slowly.

"Oh yes! One that has occupied my attention for months! Are you two hungry? My servant droids make a wonderful steak!" Tormynali suggested, gesturing to the food present.

Syd folded her arms. You seem pretty non plussed about my...change in appearance."

"I assure you, my dear, I have seen much stranger than the likes of you." Tormynali assured. "Please, sit!"

"I'm not here as a guest, Tormynali..." Syd replied. "You've been violently hijacking Bacta Shipments for a while now. I'm here to put a stop to it. One way or another."

"Oh..." he sighed, then glanced at Starlin.

"See? See, young Mister Cranston? This is exactly! EXACTLY WHY! I left the Jedi Order." he complained bombastically with wild expressions.

"Endlessly lacking in vision!"

"What's with you having a Gospel of Ersethy?" Syd asked, hands on her hips.

"If you will both just sit down, and indulge me for five minutes, I'll explain." he claimed.

Syd's eyes swept the table for booby-traps, magical or otherwise with her trained eyes. When she saw none she took a seat, silently gesturing for Starlin to do the same.

"Five minutes. No more. No less. Then we take him in..." Syd said to her student. She would give it every chance to avoid it ending in violence...she was trying to set a good example.

Sometimes that meant not taking the direct route to success...

 

[Starlin Rand]

Not long after they entered the temple, Syd’s altered appearance suddenly went away, forcing her back into her usual form. She seemed startled by the abrupt transformation. Starlin was tempted to ask what was up, but given that Tormynali was listening, he decided to save the questions for a more opportune moment.

Their dwarven host led them to his lavish quarters, where a banquet table had been set up. Starlin gazed longingly at the food, his stomach growling, but he waited until Syd confirmed there was nothing amiss before he took a seat and began piling his plate high with delicacies.

"See? See, young Mister Cranston? This is exactly! EXACTLY WHY! I left the Jedi Order. Endlessly lacking in vision!"

Starlin hesitated, still grabbing sweet fruits and savory meats, but clearly listening intently to the strange man’s ramblings. Syd tried to get him to answer her questions, but he refused to let her lead the conversation. He asked for five minutes to explain himself on his own terms.

"Five minutes. No more. No less. Then we take him in..."

With a barely perceptible nod of acknowledgment, Starlin set his plate down. Though it pained him to not actually be able to taste the delicious feast, he pretended to eat—a skill he had honed years earlier, when one of his mother's junkie ex-boyfriends would try and force him to eat burnt, expired, or otherwise disgusting food so that he wouldn't get arrested for child neglect. "Okay, tell your story man."

Syd Celsius​