Artifact: Legacy of the Sith Empire

[Darth Libertas]

[member="Belle Morte"], [member="Valessia Brentioch"]


Sumiko watched dispassionately while the mind controlled Rakatan fell upon their brethren and ripped them apart, using spears, guns, claws and even teeth. It was a savage, bloody orgy of Illyric proportions.


She felt the subconsciousness of the puppets rebel against what she was compelling their bodies to do, but their struggles were futile. Finally she severed the strings binding them to her and Valessia finished off the last of the Rakatan with a couple well-aimed bursts from her carbine. The ground ahead of them was littered with the foul smelling corpses of cannibalistic xenos.


Sumiko took a breath and wiped some sweat from her face, then examined her wound. It was not that dangerous, but more than a little annoying. However, she was caught-off-guard by Valessia inspecting it and offering a medpac. Well, as a matter of fact, it was less the offer, which could be motivated by purely practical concerns, and more the tone of the Lady's words that surprised her. She was at a loss about how to respond to that.


"Thank you for the offer, but I'll be fine," she replied at last. The Dark Side did not do healing unless you drained someone's life force, but the Force flowed through her and could contain the pain. She quickly linked up with Valessia. The surge of emotion from the woman did not escape her senses. It felt like something close to panic. Fortunately, there was a break in their path to distract them from this.


She gave the noblewoman a nod. "Agreed. I suppose it's too much to ask that our cone-headed friends ate them," she remarked cynically. "Regardless, we'll deal with them. Let's make haste."

 

[Belle Morte]

[member="Sumiko Tanaka"] [member="Valessia Brentioch"]

She moved forward looking over some of the things on the ground crouching with a little interest in where they were as she touched the ground with her gloved hand. "Watch around." She moved her hand up sliding the glove off while remaining careful and expanding outwards with the force as she eased into it and the control her body had. Lossening up just a little before she touched the ground with a bare hand. Pupils dilating and seeing for several seconds what to her felt like minutes. Watching and seeing the ones attacking them coming after and others. No death but before and in a hurry until she pulled out standing up and focusing her eyes again. She worked sliding the glove back on her arm securing the glove while she was walking and turning her head to follow the pathway that they had taken. If they were here to cause problems they should work to get the surprise on them and having two inquisitors could prove interesting. "This way."

 

[Valessia Brentioch]

Valessia followed after Belle working the carbine's shoulder strap against her armor. She kept her eyes forward, looking past Belle keeping tabs on any signs of movement. On occasion, she would look over and watch the Inquisitor beside her. Working past her emotions she kept her mind on what she had come here for. On why she had come all this way, she needed the artifacts intact and the artifacts she hoped were here, were the armors of the old Sith Empire. She wanted exact dimensions so she could replicate them for the show she hoped to host right in First Order territory, Bespin.

Thoughts of Sumiko only triggered thoughts of Siobhan, and a time she'd longed to forget. Licking her lips she picked up her pace, hastening to accomplish this mission. To be off of Lehon and on her way back to Brentaal IV to being the process of studying this armor. Still, Sumiko's words of the Rakata taking care of the aforementioned team ahead of them rang in her mind. As she kept sardonic quips to herself. Deciding to check her holo, Valessia wanted to ensure that their coordinates were correct.

"Are either of you able to make out if our 'friends,' are anywhere ahead of us?" She inquired and then adjusted the view on the holo. "Mhmm, it would see that we have a tunnel or two ahead of us - and one of those shall lead us down just as we spoke of before." The tunnels weren't new, but had more than recently been disturbed, there seemed to be something more at play here than just the Rakata.


[member="Sumiko Tanaka"] | [member="Belle Morte"]

 

[Darth Libertas]

[member="Belle Morte"], [member="Valessia Brentioch"]


With Belle leading the way, Sumiko followed surreptitiously, being ever-mindful of her surroundings. The local xenos might be primitives and a mere shadow of the might of the pompously named Infinite Empire, but they could still be dangerous in large numbers. Especially if they happened to have a rancor hidden somewhere. Moreover, they still had their competitors to consider.


She was not privy to Valessia's thoughts, though she could sense a degree of emotional turmoil inside her. However, such thoughts were far from Sumiko's mind as she concentrated on the task at hand. The former Inquisitor moved almost silently, using the Force to dampen the noise her footsteps would make on the ground. Having heard Valessia's words, she stretched out with her senses, trying to gain a feeling for their environment and sense possible interlopers.


"I can sense several presences down in the direction of that tunnel. Be on your guard," she said quietly, before bending down to examine the corpse of a Rakatan slumped against stone. It was a fresh kill. "Fresh kill. Armour-piercing slug through the chest," she surmised, examining the bullet entry point. It seemed the slug had gone right through the xenos, judging by the mark it had left on the wall behind it.

 

[Belle Morte]

[member="Valessia Brentioch"] [member="Sumiko Tanaka"]

Take them out? Yes she could do that depending. She was reaching out with her empathy over the force to sense if there were anything. The force was just giving her the feeling of the other things as she moved. Tapping her finger on her armor with a small grin to herself keeping pace before she was allowing more of the information coming from one or two of them. When she saw the body there was an arid sour stench in the air before she moved off to the side slinking away to a side then waiting for a moment then she crouched down looking at the blood stains. She knew a few things about the rakata but they had taken other things when she brought a hand up. "There there." She said it looking at the bloody lump while she heard with the force the rapid beating of his heart. Not one to show emotion but leaving something alive after you have injured it with weapons to bleed out. She was listening for anything else but prepared to move into the larger cave network so she could find whatever they were hunting. "They are still alive and have some heavy weapons, their demo charges were used because they weren't expecting a raiding party."

 

[Valessia Brentioch]

Upon the discovery of the all but dead Rakata kills, she shook her head. Withdrawing her vibrodagger. Valessia finished off anything that was still breathing. They were quick, direct stabs to vital areas that assured a merciful death. "Something else is at play." The noblewoman remarked. "I do not believe our competitors and these Rakata are all that we have to fear, something is afoul." She sheathed her dagger and motioned, "let us press onward something tells me whatever and whoever is beyond us is within these tunnels."

It was one fething abyss of a gut feeling, but whatever it was she could feel it in her bones. Something in her blood was telling her that whoever or whatever was ahead, was larger than they had suspected. Reading her carbine she set to automatic fire, no time for burst shots, not anymore. They passed through fairly easy terrain, noting the corpses and piles of the grievously wounded. And the kills were sloppy, those that had died, died so brutally. Nothing about this was merciful - there was a passion from the attackers. And then the competitors, their bodies laid strewn at the tunnel's entrance. "Goddess..." Valessia was never particularly religious, but the sight of the dead. She turned her eyes for a moment, having to adjust to the sight of seeing such a display. "Someone toyed with them." She added turning to look back at the corpses, "but it was someone they knew." She further added after taking a look at their bodies. "Very few, if any defensive wounds."

Looking over her shoulder she sighed. "I studied some forensic science while working on my anthropology courses. It seemed more entertaining than the mandatory classes at the Commerce Academy." They really didn't need to know that but she also felt the need to explain just how it was she even knew what to look for.

[member="Sumiko Tanaka"], [member="Belle Morte"].

 

[Darth Libertas]

[member="Valessia Brentioch"], [member="Belle Morte"]


Sumiko's face remained an expressionless, stony mask when she surveyed the grisly scene. At this point she had become rather inured to violence and bloodshed. Thus she felt...nothing at the sight of the brutally slain. She disapproved of the sloppiness though. She was ruthless, but not needlessly cruel. It was...wasteful.


However, the ever-growing darkness did not go unnoticed. "I sense a disturbance in the Force. Be on your guard. This was no common raider or primitive," she said emotionlessly. She could not pinpoint it, but the darkness was getting stronger.


She examined the bodies and heard a weak gasp of breath coming from one of them. She quickly rolled over a body and found that a man was lying beneath it, still breathing, though only barely alive at this point. The man's leg had been crushed and he was lying in a pool of crimson. Blood seeped out of a nasty wound in his abdomen. "What...who are...you..." the man stammered incoherently. One could not expect him to be very coherent when close to death.


"Who did this to you? I can ease your pain, and avenge your friends," Sumiko interrupted him, pressing against his stomach wound and getting out her medpac. She surmised he'd be dead within a few moments.


"Help? Came...out of nowhere...didn't...monster..."


Sumiko pressed a hand against his bruised, dirty cheek. The man winced but did not have the strength to push her away. Sumiko pulled at the tangled web of power that was the Force and sunk into his mind, seeking to access his last memories. Entering the mind of someone who stood at the threshold to Hades and could already see Charon's boat in the distance was a bit of a risk, but he would be equally unable to resist her. Maybe majoring in mentalism at the Dark Acolytes Academy would pay off!

 

[Belle Morte]

[member="Valessia Brentioch"] [member="Sumiko Tanaka"]

Belle moved fromt he rancor and into the tunnels as she was going the distance with the others, whatever this was and whatever they had walked into she had to admit... It was barbaric. "Uncivilized." She said it looking over some of the things and her biot eye almost hissed before she was looking over some of the things. "Death and violence is one thing but it should have purpose not this. Whoever this is makes to much of a mess." She didn't show much emotion but was rolling disgust off of her like a wave of emotions. Her mother was like this except she was tactical and made large displays like this for a purpose at least usually to demoralize. This was in a cave, it wasn't a public showing to allow those to see it. She rose up holding the bow and readying herself for anything that might be coming after them.

 

[Valessia Brentioch]

The tunnel was long, damp and filled with pests. Valessia was beyond annoyed and disgusted, and the remains of their competitors had since been dealt with. At this point, they could only pray for a Rancor, although none seemed to be about, ever. Alas, they came toward what seemed to be the center of the tunnel. Her vision was no longer of use and there was little in the way of light here. The darkness was not natural and seemed to extend from here on out, "Ms. Tanaka, Ms. Morte are either of you able to provide some sort of light source?" The entrance down toward their ultimate prize was somewhere beyond here and Valessia had no intention of falling into it.

For those who were force sensitive, the disturbance from earlier grew. They knew not where it originated but knew that it kept moving and it was of great power. It would be beyond reasonable doubt to assume a dark lord vying for some sort of power within a dark council like group, would try to come here. Rakata no matter how often raided always seemed to reveal another layer of galactic history to those who sought it.

[member="Sumiko Tanaka"], [member="Belle Morte"]

 

[Darth Libertas]

[member="Belle Morte"], [member="Valessia Brentioch"]


Meanwhile, Sumiko was digging through the poor man's memories. His mind was very disturbed and so it was like navigating a chaotic, unruly ocean when a stream of memories flooded her. It all her concentration to stay afloat and not be buried by the wave. Sweat dripped down her face and back when she sought to steer the current, putting his confused memories into some sort of order. Her manipulations were not gentle when she exacted her willpower upon him, forcing the pertinent memories from his mind. Fortunately, the scenes of his demise were rather vivid, so she did not have to dig much.


She saw him and his comrades getting ahead as they made their way through the long, damp tunnel. Rakatan primitives were cut down or driven to flight. All seemed to be going well. He was full of confidence and certain that treasure was close, then suddenly fear gripped him like a vice. A crushing darkness enclosed around his heart, as if something dark and vile was forcing its will upon him. He had never ever felt such terror, such dread.


Then, one by one, his companions started falling. He fired blindly at shadows, which soon solidifed into Kaleeshi warriors. In his mind their shapes blurred with those of evil demons from some sort of netherworld hell. Pain wracked his body when he was shot and fell to the ground. His companions were not just killed, they were butchered. But he never saw the source of the darkness...only an unnatural shadow.


Sumiko gasped for breath and staggered, for it felt as if the dark warrior's blade pierced her own flesh as she relived the man's pain. She breathed in, managing to compose herself, and withdrew from his mind. "H-help me...," the man begged pathetically.


"I will." The crimson beam of her lightsabre sprang to life and ended his suffering. She glanced over towards Belle and Valessia. "I accessed his memories of the battle. I believe we're dealing with a powerful darkside Force-user. He or she has Kaleeshi warriors as minions. This darkness was created by the Force."

 

[Belle Morte]

[member="Valessia Brentioch"] [member="Sumiko Tanaka"]

She was listening and feeling it, there was something here and with Sumiko saying what was here and had attacked the being. She was using the force to navigate the tunnels instead of using a large light that would open the glowrods that would alert whatever was here Kaleeshi to their location when she crept forward listening for them. "We might be able to sneak up on them without a glowrod and based on this we might prefer the element of surprise." She still had the glowrods ready to go forward leading the way through the tunnels as they were winding and dark. Her bow was up and ready to shoot while she was litening with her empathy and with the force.

 

[Valessia Brentioch]

Kaleeshi? The Force? Valessia put a hand up and turned to Sumiko. "If you will, elaborate." She asked kindly, "a force user?" She was going to need a lot of wine to even consider this. Although, admittedly as she stilled herself for the moment she could feel that something was off. "What do we about this?" She motioned to the darkness that had engulfed them, she watched as Belle Morte fruitlessly attempted to light the glowrod.

The glowrod went up and then out almost instantaneously. "I'll gather the obvious that that can also be attributed to our friends down below?" An exasperated sigh as she looked ahead out into the darkness. "Well if it was created by the Force, is there a way that either of you can work against it? Give us something so that we might actually be able to climb down instead of risking one our rather... " She pursed her lips together, "beautiful bodies."

She was mostly looking at herself, but it didn't escape her sight to look both Belle and Sumiko over. "It would be such a waste." Valessia dreads the thought, but mostly, as she got closer to Sumiko. "Such a terrible waste."

[member="Sumiko Tanaka"], [member="Belle Morte"]

 

[Darth Libertas]

[member="Valessia Brentioch"], [member="Belle Morte"]


"Alas, our friend didn't see the Force-user. But whoever they are, they're strong in the Dark Side." It seemed that conventional means such as a glowrod would not work. This complicated things a bit. It was a magically imbued darkness. The air around them was suffused with the dark side. Something like Force Light would have been an obvious counter, but none of the party members was a Lightsider!


"This is Sith sorcery. Stay close. I shall handle this," Sumiko said softly to Valessia and, very reluctantly, drew her Sith sword, removing the resin coating it had been kept upon their arrival at the spaceport to obscure its the dark side energies that leaked from it.


"Stumble around in the shadows if you wish. When you are ready to stop looking like blundering fools let me know, I can draw this enchantment from the air and into me. But if you have a better idea, by all means continue."


"You're just sulky because you weren't needed to kill anything yet. Now be true to your word and drain it."


"Why, yes, of course, oh wise mistress. I would not want to impede your great quest. So this is the woman you are lusting over, is it? It is well I cannot smell any more, as I would not want to be distracted by you being in heat for her. You should introduce us, perhaps I can be at your wedding."


Sumiko gave the sword the mental equivalent of a smack, to keep it from broadcasting those words to anyone except her. Her physical eyes could not pierce the darkness. Nor could technological means, but the Force could, to a small degree, so she let it see for her.


She immediately felt a surge of energy, which was accompanied by pain, in the palm of her hand when she grasped the sword's hilt. Her dark mark hurt. Souldrinker was not an ordinary Sith sword, but a sentient blade. A portion of the spirit of the sword's creator lived on it...as did an imprint of everyone who had wielded it since his demise. All its wielders had met a ghastly end.


So she channelled the power of the Force through the blade and drew upon its dark power. The process gave her a slight headache, but Souldrinker's hunger was ravenous and now it had dark power to feed on. The darkness did not abruptly vanish and be replaced by light, but it seemed to recede and grow weaker, making it easier for them to see as Souldrinker worked its magic.

 

[Belle Morte]

[member="Valessia Brentioch"] [member="Sumiko Tanaka"]

She could feel it and them while she was crouching, turning her attention back when the force energies flared with the darkside and the sword was revealed. Her attention went back with the force but she was minding the area ahead. Reaching out with the force energies to sense when it seemed to be receding a little more to feel it and she spoke. "Artifacts like that don't usually end well the more you use them" She was staying at it before moving forward a little more and thinking about what they might have to do. Whatever the sword was it would still have a price attached to power and she didn't want to have the price be one of the if it could be helped. Perhaps she was moving they could use whatever was down here giving the sensation of death and a coldness while her hand adjusted the beams intensity for her lightwhip.

 

[Valessia Brentioch]

Valessia didn't care how or what was taking the darkness away she was just grateful that at it was going away at all. She walked closely alongside Sumiko as they traversed the caves. The caves were fairly ordinary except that they were here on Rakata Prime and most likely had been used again, and again by this empire or that empire. The magical darkness that surrounded them eventually began to fade. Ancient aurebesh runes inscribed along the cavern walls illuminated their path, lanterns left behind were eerie as well.

As if there had been an adventuring party before them. It looked as if they had stopped to rest and then left their campsite in perfect order. Shadows along the walls indicated there were people ahead of them, and the information Sumiko pulled from their now dead peer, seemed to have been correct. Khaleeshi warriors were patrolling the area, the sounds of battle could be heard but it was a one-sided affair the Rakata were no match for the Khaleeshi people.

"All this for a buncha useless artifacts," Valessia whispered as she knelt down behind a boulder. "I just came here for actual sith trooper armor, and these idiots are here trying to make some sort of ritual." She looked to Sumiko, "it's a wild guess, I have no other idea as to why anyone would be down here."

"Ms. Morte?" She asks quietly as she brings her attention back to the large rounded out cavern before them. "Any suggestions on getting past them?" Valessia looks to Sumiko, "ideas?"

[member="Sumiko Tanaka"], [member="Belle Morte"]

 

[Darth Libertas]

[member="Valessia Brentioch"], [member="Belle Morte"]


Sumiko surveyed the scene ahead of them. Thankfully, the disappearance of the magically imbued darkness made it a bit easier to see. Moreover, she had the Force and her helmet had infrared vision mode. Heavily armed Khaleeshi warriors were on patrol, and she heard sounds of battle. However, the Rakatan were no match for the Sith Master's minion.


The former Inquisitor considered their options. "The Khaleeshi are the greater threat. I can summon illusions to distract them - very realistic ones. And encourage the Rakatan to attack them more aggressively." In other words, she'd use space magic to create a diversion and compel the Rakatan to sacrifice themselves by death charging. "We will have to move quickly if we want to sneak past them during the melee."

 

[Belle Morte]

[member="Valessia Brentioch"] [member="Sumiko Tanaka"]

She was looking at the scene below and watching as a way to sneak past them would be something to work with as she thought about it. Killing them would be preferable as the idea of them being here and able to block them off when they were returning became an issue to her. "I would say kill them, having enemies at your back is never a good idea in unknown and hostile territory." She said it but didn't move to just attack, she had some tactical work to it when she moved at an angle clipping through her belt to check what equipment she had to work with. A small beacon could be used to ping a signal and attract their attention but she wasn't thinking about it while motioning towards the far side. "If the shadows could be returned a little or moved to thicken along the walls we could move around them. The one in front would have to be observing everything."

 

[Valessia Brentioch]

"What if," Valessia looks at Sumiko and then listens to Belle's suggestions, "you said you could manipulate the Rakata, yes? Ms. Morte you mentioned shadows?" She sat with her back against the rock, "if I am recalling." The Scion puts her hand to her head thinking for a moment or two. "Could we convince them that we're the stronger people to align with?"

"They respect strength don't they?" She questioned, "you're right it wouldn't do us good to leave enemies at our backs, but." She crawled back over to view at the scene of warriors patrolling, and then there was a breeze, rocks moved. Rocks moved? Valessia looked above them and spotted something coming up from behind them, "don't think we're gonna have much a choice." She readied her carbine, "Rakatas, behind us!"

[member="Sumiko Tanaka"] | [member="Belle Morte"]

 

[Darth Libertas]

[member="Valessia Brentioch"], [member="Belle Morte"]


So our three anti-heroines were stuck between two hostile forces that mutually loathed one another: Kaleesh and Rakatan. One was a proud warrior race with a fixation on martial strength, the other the primitive, cannibalistic remnants of a galactic empire that had been turned to dust aeons ago.


Rocks moved, Rakatan appeared in their rear. The noise caused by the xenos also had the effect of alerting the Kaleesh warriors who'd been patrolling the cave until now. This was an unenviable situation for our three ladies, but that's why they had the Dark Side!


A silent shot exited her shatterpistol, penetrating the the skull of the first spear-wielding Rakatan who emerged out of the darkness. That was the beauty about shatter guns, which made them perfect for assassination. However, a horde of Rakatan falling upon them was inevitable. It was time to act. What was the best thing to do when you were stuck between two hostile forces who hated each other? Let them fight it out. Then you could murder, cow or subjugate the survivors, if there were any.


Feelings of primal aggression and anger would suddenly course through the aliens from both groups. They were already filled with a desire to commit murder, so all it took was a push in the right direction. Concentration and strain was etched across Sumiko's features as she weaved her vile spell. Then the shadows wrapped around herself and her companions, making them vanish from sight. The Rakatan and Kaleesh would not see any opponent...except each other.

 

[Belle Morte]

[member="Valessia Brentioch"] [member="Sumiko Tanaka"]

She was listening and working out a way to have the plan go off without a hitch but she was expecting it with her attention on some of the larger things. Belle was prepared when she felt the ones arriving behind her before she moved with her attention drawing the bow when one of the rakata went down. She was ready for the fight and prepared to let loose a small flurry of arrows before shadows wrapped around them and she was moving to the side carefully with her footing and making it show she could lead but wasn't pulling at the others to get all three of them into a position just outside of the other two groups. No need to be in the middle if they wanted them to fight each other before her eyes flicked and they just needed a little spark to get them going at it. Something to drive one side frenzied and the other to let their pride possible lead them to inciting the rakata.