Blood in the Snow [TSE Dominion of Rhen Var Hex]

[Darth Carnifex]

The Dark Lord's face contorted in thought as he took the datapad from [member="Eldaah Aderyn"], his eyes scanning the information that scrolled across the screen.

"Mandalorians, huh? If my suspicions are correct, then perhaps [member="Calina Ovmar"] has finally played her hand." He had always suspected her loyalty, he had sought to see if that perhaps the daughter of the infamous Anaya Fen was nothing like her mother, but it appeared that the apple didn't fall that far from the tree if the nagging feeling in his gut was correct.

"From what this file says, it would appear the ship owned by our errant knight opened fire on a Mandalorian dreadnought and the D'Lessio and then jumped into hyperspace. It's not much to go on, but it is information that I would rather hold onto."

He made sure that the datapad was safely secured by his staff, and taken away to the Crestfallen. "Relay my thanks and gratitude back to the Lady of Secrets, Knight Aderyn. I have an ominous feeling this will come back to haunt me in the future."

 

[Farah]

Objective: C | Show the temple some love
Location: The Temple of Ice, Rhen Var
Post: #2
Near: [member="Mentyor"]

Something tickled her senses before a deep chuckle sounded from behind her. Farah half- turned, brow cocked as a rather large man bent down to whisper about slaughtering tauntauns and staining her coat with their blood. He was shrouded from head to tone, no clear indication of species or any defining traits.

He laughed again before striding into the temple, the Zeltron’s clinical gaze falling away from his retreating form after a moment. The Sith Empire certainly attracted a motley crew of characters, that’s for sure.

Farah drifted deeper into the temple. For a structure that had been buried by ice and snow and partially excavated since then, it was in remarkably good shape. She supposed it was the Silver Jedi who had done some of the exploration—especially given how the temple had been wiped thousands of years ago by a climatic event. Parts of it were unstable and had collapsed since then.

“I wonder…” She murmured to herself, retrieving a datapad from the thick lining of her pocket and tapping at it as she came to a standing rest. Scrolling through the schematics she’d mapped out earlier based on ancient texts and stolen data from the Silvers, a tentative map of the temple’s layout had been made.

Her gaze lifted from the screen and drifted over to a side staircase embedded against the side of the main hall.

Ah, there it is.

 

[Farah]

oop

 

[Eldaah Aderyn]

"I will, my Lord," she said, bowing again to [member="Darth Carnifex"]. "My Master also asked me to express her apologies for not participating in the current operations to take Rhen Var. She is currently engaged in her other identity, preparing for the Alliance's counterattack for their naval defeat in sector L-49."

In the back of her mind, she felt a nudge from her Master. She wanted... of course, my Master.

"She also wishes to inform you of... an another operations about to take place," she continued before stopping. If Kaine knew about her Master's experiments in recreating the Children, he would likely recognize the signs of possession as Eldaah's eyes glowed a soft red. When she spoke next, it was a blend of her voice and her Master's.

"The Alliance moves to take the planet of Byss. I have prepared... a sequence of events that will result in Grand Marshal Rhen's death. I am likely to succeed him as Grand Marshal."

 

[Darth Carnifex]

His eyes did widen in recognition, his head nodding in appreciation.

"I see, I see. Then the Lady of Secrets speaks through you, that simplifies our relationship." If [member="Taeli Raaf"] could speak to the Dark Lord in person without ever having to leave the Galactic Alliance, then her cover would be considered secure indefinitely. "And most excellent, my lady, most excellent. Should you become the Grand Marshal, then you would have secured our victory for all time. The Alliance will crumble from within, and nothing will be able to prevent our ascension."

Everything was proceeding perfectly.

[member="Eldaah Aderyn"]​

 

[Seamus Valik]

The cave system was not near the former silver jedi facilities. Talon Vosra had at least been smart enough to keep his distance from the odd militant nominal jedi, but then he had other reasons for that. Seamus's old master, dead as he was, hadn't expected this though. Ol' blue eyes, crept through the snow and ice into the mouth of the cave and turned on his glowrod before he shook the snow and ice off onto the rocky ground.

He pushed his hood back and began walking deeper. Vosra had hidden the door to his smal home, and Seamus hadn't been here since before the netherworld crisis. He drew on the force, despite the danger, and searched for traces of his former teacher, but he came up with only the barest of traces. It had been too long. He walked deeper, the yellow halo of light pushing away the cold darkness in a tight circle around him. He breath nearly froze infront of him as he exhaled in the frigid silence of the cave. It was here somewhere. He was sure. Vosra's holocron and lightsaber training equipment as well as his records from his time on the Jedi council. The locations of the safe houses. Seamus had to find them, and he would have to destroy them.

 

[Onrai]

B

[member="Darth Excidium"] [member="Xevek Rakama"] [member="Olrunn Darr"]

"So... are we heading into the monument?" Vanessa asked the others. "We're four powerful Darksiders. We can handle any guardian spirits that might try to show themselves. Unless you want to wait for vehicular support - I don't really recall lasers having been effective against Force Ghosts in the past. No idea why they would be now." She sighed, trying to determine what exactly would be the best solution in approaching this sort of target. Bursting right in, perhaps?

D1

"Command..." The orbiting fleet sent a message that Vanessa was listening in to. "We've got a problem."

Vanessa paused for a moment. "Uh... What's wrong?"

"There's a Voss fleet that just jumped in eight thousand kilometers away. They're launching fighters and moving to attack."

"Alright... I don't really see the issue." She replied.

"The Defiance​ is with them. Four Liberation-class Star Cruisers providing escort. We're outgunned!" The captain of the Scylla​ seemed nervous.

"You have a fething massive beam cannon on your ship! Use it! And focus fire on one of those Liberations!" She cut the comms as the captain of the Scylla​ sent orders to the other ships. Green plasma began to shine from the tips of the weapon's emitters as the weapons charged up.

"Open fire!"

The quintet of beams struck the first Liberation before it was even seven and a half kilometers away. The combined power of the five beams quickly evaporated the ship's shields as the beam itself almost effortlessly melted through the ship's hull, several hollow tunnels fringed with molten metal making it look like a cruiser-shaped block of Emmental cheese, the holes running through the vessel. A secondary explosion occurred with the reactor core's detonation - detonating the ruined back half of the ship as the forward section twisted, crumpling forward before tilting on its side. The captain was certain that the sheer horror of the damage inflicted by the beams on the Liberation would have an effect on the captain of the ​Defiance​ - even now he was feeling surprisingly sure that together the ships could take out that battlecruiser. "How long until we recharge?"

"Thirty seconds!" Came the gunner's reply, as his face dropped. Thirty seconds? That would give those ships the opportunity to get in range. The Conqueror had two smaller beams, but those were for engaging corvettes and frigates. They would be lucky to even put a dent in the shielding of the Defiance or the Liberations with those weapons.

 

[Eldaah Aderyn]

"When Omai Rhen is dead, and my new role is confirmed, I shall contact you again, my Lord," her Master said, using her voice. With a shudder and gasp, the red glow faded from Eldaah's eyes as her Master retreated from her control. It was always tough, her Master's possessions of her body, but she wouldn't give it up. She had felt the power her Master granted her, small streams of energy that her Master could empower Eldaah with. And loyalty above all else. She would never, could never, betray the Lady of Secrets.

"My Lord, I wish the conquest of Rhen Var well," Eldaah stated. "My Master wishes for me to oversee final preparations on Byss."

With a final bow, she departed the Dark Lord's command center and made her way back to her own Avata-class Infiltrator. The endgame for Omai Rhen needed attending to. Vyoro should have all the Sithspawn clones ready to be deployed against the Alliance assault.

[member="Darth Carnifex"]

 

[Ignatius]

Objective: A.b
Nearby: [member="Thyne"], [member="Joycelyn Zambrano"],

Many more members began to load up into the vessels. Taking their time it seemed. Lucem kept quiet as I had asked him to. There was no need for his snide remarks. However, there was one thing on my mind. I felt something wrong in the force. Almost as though someone, or something was nearby. Someone who wasn't quite as they seemed. I almost felt sick to my stomach. I began to sweat and feel a headache. As if my energy was draining from me. However, it was over in mere moments.

Shaking my head, I looked at Lucem who recorded all of it. Noticing that something was wrong. He had seen my pain briefly yet didn't need to be told that it was a disturbance that I only seemed to feel. Shaking my head clean of the thoughts, I would focus on it later when I had the time. Right now, I needed to prepare for this mission.

 

[Vora Kaar]

Objective: C
Location: The Temple of Ice
Nearby: [member="Farah"],

Looking up and around us, My rifle was kept at the low and ready. While I had walked away from the doctor, I always wished that the words spoken between myself and someone tempted them to fight me. I was always ready, and willing for a fight to come my way. The ability to break people in ways they had never thought possible, always brightens my dark soul.

At this moment, it seemed that the doctor had found something. Looking over my shoulder, my head twisted quite literally 180 degrees to see her at a new entrance. One that looked quite different. She had a datapad out. My eyes focusing for a moment to try and see what it was, however the distortion from this distance preventing me from seeing what she was doing. Turning around, my head seemed to not move from its position as the rest of my body met in is "natural look."

Seeing that the rest of the troopers seemed to have this handled, I took a few steps towards her. This lady had more to her than what I had thought. Quite strange that the doctor would be in the know how.

"Should you open that door, you may not want to go off alone. Since our arrival, things have been quiet. Too quiet."

This was not just a warning but an explanation of sorts. Keep her on her toes. If she did happen to know more about this place, then I would like to follow and see where she went off too. Despite my earlier "bullying" of her and her nice jacket. Looking over her frame, I couldn't see if she was carrying any weapons at the moment.

"If you don't have anything to protect yourself, then at least have someone come with you."

If she stated no to me, then I would stay and respect it. Only because I didn't care too much about her life. Just wait for the screams and then follow after her at that point.

 

[Matt the Radar Tech]

Objective B:​

Secure the Jedi Monument and defeat the spectral guardians protecting Ulic Qel-Droma's burial site​

Nearby Allies: [member="Vanessa Vantai"], [member="Olrunn Darr"], [member="Xevek Rakama"]​

Post: 2​

​

​

Darth Excidium nodded as his two Dark Magus arrived, pulling the front of his hood lower to offer some more protection against the cold. Already the chill had started to work through the ragged robes the Sith Lord wore, causing his body to began mildly twitching randomly in an attempt to warm itself. Once they encountered some resistance, and the fighting began, Excidium was certain he would be warm and ready for the real test at the Jedi Monument proper. As he listened to the words of the Sith known as Vanessa Vantai, Excidium gave a snort of amusement at the mention of knocking the bones of the long-dead fallen Jedi, wondering if perhaps she was onto something - having the bones of such an individual could offer some very unique and interesting possibilities. But for now, until the Sith had gotten entry, there was little point in pondering on possibilities or getting carried away with experimental potential. Now was the time to act.

Motioning, Darth Excidium began walking. The tunnels were quiet, perhaps too quiet, and the Sith Lord preferred to be prepared.

"And yes, Lordess Vantai, we shall, but first..." Excidium said, glancing toward the pair as the group moved through the reflective, crystalline passageways, moving around stalactites and stalagmites and various other natural formations. "Olrunn, Xevek, you both guard before me, I will need you both as a forward defense for what I do next."

Maintaining his strides, the Sith Lord closed his eyes, held his hands together at the fingertips, and began channeling the Force. He used his power, calling forth a group of Force Wraiths. The creatures materialized into being, inky and smoke-like, the creatures resembling something like shadowy Vornskr. Dark side energy emanated, billowing off the creatures in a cascade of smoke tendrils, each one of the summoned beings keeping pace with their master. The effort was simple enough, Excidium had long since mastered Dark Arts, and had used such wraiths for all manner of tasks.

Pausing, Excidium looked down to his creatures, smirking.

"Show me the tunnels, find any who are in this place with us, and begin attacking, my pets."

With hollow howls, and a burst of inky smoke around them, the half dozen Force Wraiths bounded away, going in multiple directions. With his eyes half closed, Excidium watched the world move through his pets, his perception shifting between them in turn, as his mind began to fill in the tunnel system from what they witnessed. Some of the wraiths passed through walls, lacking mass and therefore being able to rapidly search the area, while some maintained paths along the tunnels to ensure a clear way forward...

Opening his eyes suddenly, Excidium glanced to his left, as though peering through the walls themselves.

"Our way is blocked by several ambushes," He said simply, even as the screams and shouts of men and echoes of blaster fire began echoing down the tunnels. "A dozen or so rebels have set up several points with heavy weapons, the closest being two tunnels to our left, at a t-junction with a broad kill-zone. And it appears we may have another Force user skulking about not far from us... shall we?"

With his wraiths now acting of their own accord, Excidium reached down to his belt and unclipped his long-handled lightsaber, the weapon known as Siqsa-kaar, and began trudging through the tunnels with his fellow Sith, preparing for the fight to come against the rebel weapons emplacement and the dozen troops manning it...

 

[Joycelyn Zambrano]

Objective A. Assault the harbour!
Nearby: [member="Thyne"] [member="Ignis Imura"] Others!

Thyne. The name was noted.

When he suggested he could be better than her with the sabre, she leaned over him, her hand resting close to her own blade. Behind the visor of her helmet, she grinned with dangerous eyes. However, the rumble of the walkers and the shouts of legionaries broke the moment.

"Come on, follow me."

She broke into a brisk jog, coming dangerously close to one of the walkers' stampeding metal feet. Grabbing Thyne's arm and dragging him with, she jumped onto the walker's foot so it would carry them.

"The light walkers will overrun the harbour while the heavies hammer their defences." "We will sweep through on foot, mop up the infantry and advance upon the citadel."

As the Vahlacanthix spoke, she gestured mostly with her head as her hands were busy holding on to Thyne and the walker that carried them up, forward, and crashing down. It set quite a pace. It was, however, not a comfortable ride. Plasma streaked through the air with ferocious howls and deep thums,

"I don't think we are taking any pris-" "Watch out!"

Fire and smoke erupted as plasma impacted with heavy, metal plating. The walker was unfazed, but its passengers would feel the mighty lurch of a momentarily halted inertia.

 

[Jairus Starvald]

TALES FROM A MONSTER SHIP​

[member="Darth Filiae"] would know she was being watched.

There was a severed hand, animated and mobile, trippeting along with the blue Chiss. It had been crawled up warm, nestled to the frame of the speeder between her legs until fate had it that the pilot somehow found its head blown up. Ew, the severed hand thought, before jumping off the speeder and following in the Sith's wake. But it was difficult, oh so difficult, for the little frame to crawl through the snow. It was then that it leaped and found itself lodged to Filiae's armored hip, before making the long climb to her shoulder. Through the hand (Force knew how) the Alchemist was watching the child of her close confidante trying to make best of a situation that was increasingly getting more difficult.

"Mm. Should we make a bet, darling?" Cerbera mused softly over the rim of her cup of tea. She blew softly, letting the hot vapor cast away into the air and cool her brew just a touch. A small shift and one leg crossed across the other, while they watched together into the one-view mirror.

It flickered as snow covered the hand and it shook violently to free itself.

Then the vision was clear once more and now it showed the faint silhouette of Mekhis' Fortress in the distance. "I hear that is what all the Sith Lords do when it comes to their acolytes." Head tilted as a smile pursed against that same rim. "Then again, to designate her as acolyte would only serve to minimize her devotion to you, no?" It was adorable in some ways, how Filiae had latched itself onto Ophidia. It was then that Cerbera began to muse on a thought.

A ponder, if you will.

Would [member="Darth Ophidia"] kill Filiae, if situation demanded it? Would the reverse be possible?

How deep did this love of theirs go?

 

[Nan'eth'illa]

D. BYOO:
Fort Mekhis

The hand was a little creepy, but she was getting used to it. It was the typical antics of the csen'ai and the alchemist. She did not aid the hand, and would be quite comfortable if it got lost, but also did not try to shake it off.

Darth Filiae grumbled to herself soundlessly as she traversed up along the mountain. She stopped for a moment at one of the ridges, her cybernetic eye detecting a motion she otherwise might not have. Reaching out with the Force, she found the source: A probe droid. Someone was watching the mountain. With mechu deru, she fixed the camera in a loop, and sneaked past.

"But who?"

She doubled her effort in climbing and soon reached the place of the explosion. The snow was tainted red and black from blood and soot, and the Chiss approached with cation. Filiae held her lightsabre in her hand, but did not activate it. She also sent out feelers in the Force, prodding the area before her for traps as she traversed the site.

Reaching the edge of the frozen stone structure, she plucked her cybernetic eye from its socket and peered down into the hole. It saw only darkness at first, but then movement. Filiae threw herself back in the snow as a blast of tank-size plasma fire shot past her head. The fur on her hood curled up on itself, retroactively seeking to escape the event.

"k'pah" She muttered the words under her breath as she rolled over in the snow and reached into her jacket, brushed away the spider-hand for a moment, and fished out a cylindrical contraption. Twisting the end, she felt the click of the trigger and calmly chucked it over the edge. She looked over at the hand and smiled mischeviously.

Boom!

Another column of smoke rose, pebbles, drifts of snow, and metal shrapnel flew high into the air then fell down into the snow. No doubt that would garner some attention.

 

[Darth Ophidia]

TALES FROM A MONSTER SHIP​

Darth Ophidia was no stranger to making bets on her apprentices. Filiae was not the first apprentice under the Pale's tutelage, but she was a different kind. Ophidia had raised her as her own child, taught her the ways of the Force, the ways of the Sith and the Assassin, and why their lineage had to endure one way or another. She had no doubt that one day Filiae would seek to murder her, and Ophidia knew the importance of giving no quarter.

Yet, who could tell?

"Her devotion is extraordinary. As is her tenacity."

Having served to Cerbera already, Darling, the piloting droid with a few extra jobs, finished serving up their tea and presented the cup to Ophidia, who picked it up from the tray with her long, thin fingers. The droid marched off in his boots, with his oddly cheerful stride for his dark exterior.

She placed her nose over the fumes and breathed them in, saturating her nose with the scent and teasing her olfactory organs with the flavour to come, sweet, delectable tea. Then, the Rattataki exhaled, cooling down the surface of the liquid before having a taste. Her eyes closed as she absorbed every molecule of flavour from the atrisian brew. Her long, slender back leaned into the seat, muscles stripped of tension.

"What did you have in mind, dear?"

Her eyes opened again, shifting over to [member="Cerbera"] expectantly.

"What did you have in mind, dear?"

 

[Xevek Nekonis]

Objective: B​

Allies: [member="Darth Excidium"] | [member="Olrunn Darr"] | [member="Vanessa Vantai"]​

Post Count: 2​

Darth Excidium's words were what finally broke Xevek from the stare he had been directing towards the Sith Lady, shattering the thoughts that had been spinning through his mind. The arrogance, the surety, that had been present within her voice when she spoke of them being able to take on any challenge that faces them, attributing it to the fact that they were all powerful Darksiders, had been... intoxicating, purely and simply fascinating to the point that he had subconsciously licked his lips at the rush of scent that had been carried on the wind. The emotion, subtly though it may have been, had been enticing to smell through the subtly shifting of her scent, to see through the way the Force had coloured around her and to hear.

As a hunter, the words had been ridiculous, no true hunter would ever assume themselves fully prepared for a situation, should always be expecting something new to come along and beat them. But, as a husk of ash and forgotten memories? To see such an emotion be displayed so easily to the point it had been engraved within her scent was intriguing and had sent him down a spiral of thought. Was such a level of arrogance to ignore the simplest law of the Hunt unique to this Sith Lady alone, or, was it brought about through a deepened connection to the Dark? And, if the latter, would that arrogance someday spark to life within his chest to liberate him from the emptiness that only rage seemed to temporarily fulfill?

Biting the inside of his mouth sharply, luxuriating in the taste of blood, Xevek stopped himself from sinking back into his hungered state and forced his focus to return to Excidium. The mask he wore served well enough to obscure the vicious, silent snarl that pulled at his lips as he silently bowed his head and moved into position in front of Excidium alongside Olrunn in the forward guard position, his flesh and blood hand dropping into the folds of his robes to wrap around the handle of his sabre. Did he hate being ordered about in such a way? Yes. He loathed it down to depths of his soul, he loathed it to the point it burnt like fire within his blood. But, he accepted that as his fate, as the thing that was steadily fueling the embers of rage within him. It was the order of reality that the strong controlled the weak and, currently, he was weak.

The appearance of the Wraiths was fascinating for the Iridonian, to the point he almost forgot that his duty was to stand guard. The way the Dark Side twisted and deformed in a silent, glorious dance before finally consolidating into Vornskr-like forms (the fact that he knew what form they had taken despite never laying his eye upon a Vornskr or any information about them was something he did not notice in his stupor) was a thing of morbid beauty for the Acolyte. The wonder only finally broke when Excidium's voice once more broke the silence.

Warmth rushed through his body at the thought of future kills, in preparation of the Hunt, to the point that as he made to follow after the Arch-Magus, the freezing air cutting through his robes was relegated to being nothing more than a minor annoyance, the shaking of his body now more from anticipation than an instinctive, desperate attempt to keep warm. A wide, grin pulled at the scars that lined his face beneath the bone mask, one full of dark gleefulness, as the hand on his sabre tightened to the point that leather creaked beneath his grip.

Instinctively, Xevek's body posture shifted so that his feet made little to no sound as he followed after Excidium, amber eye blazing with strands of the Dark as he stared into the Force to see beyond the material as watch the flickering, desperate echoes of the rebels deeper within. With each deep breath, with an ease born through years of practice, Xevek began to categorise each individual scent that was carried on the air, taking note of numbers as well as from what general direction the scents were coming from. Above all of the mingled scents, though, one stood out due to its abnormality. Most of the scents carried the smell of fear, of anxiety, but this one carried and unnatural scent of calmness - the Force User.

Even as they drew closer to the T-junction and the weapon encampment there, Xevek was absentmindedly taking note of the direction that abnormal scent was coming from, focused on not allowing it to draw too close with him being aware of it doing so.

 

[Thyne]

Unable to see Joyocelyn's grin, for a moment, Thyne was on guard, eyes widening a fraction, hand falling to his own weapon. He found himself moving back a fraction, though there wasn't much room to move. He was saved, however, with the ruckus from everyone else.

When Thyne was told he'd have an escort, this was one of the last things he'd thought he'd be doing. He'd been expecting to be led along a safer pathway, instead of right through the fray with everyone else. Having to put an extra effort in to keep up with his escort's much longer stride, there was a grunt of surprise when he was dragged on to the walker's foot.

"How long are you expecting this mop up to take?" He asked once he got used to the walker's movements. Surely others could take care of that. Wasn't the business in the Citadel far more pressing?

The ride was quick but the walker moved in such a way one could hardly get used to it. "Good-" if he was going to say more, it was cut off by the walker's lurch. He managed to maintain his position, his grip tightening to the point one could imagine his knuckles going white if not for the armor. His eyes were wide, holding on to the walker for dear life.

[member="Joycelyn Zambrano"]​

 

[Daeron]

As they scramble to remove the Jedi, go to Rhen Var and…

Daeron climbed a snow covered inclined. Mountains stood before and behind him. A small starship rested a kilometer south of him. His snow-white garb, meant specifically for climbing in the cold and desolate terrain, covered his face. A datapad guided him along this remote, untouched path.

Reaching the top of a short ridge, Daeron scanned the scenery ahead. He spotted a trail of smoke rising to the sky. Then people heading toward a strange looking ridge. Some looked armed. Daeron threw his body to the ground and watched the group’s actions.

Others had a similar task as Daeron.

An explosion followed – one caused by [member="Darth Filiae"]. Daeron took a look at his datapad once again. He confirmed that this was his destination. He replaced the datapad in his hands with macrobinoculars and just observed…

 

[Onrai]

[member="Darth Excidium"] [member="Xevek Rakama"] [member="Olrunn Darr"]

Vanessa followed with the other Sith and began to sense the area. There were many hostiles - far more than she cared to deal with. But they were there, and they were angry, ready for a fight. "You know... We could just electrocute these fools. Or choke them, or do any number of things. I do know Tutaminis, so if you want someone to soak up the blaster bolts, I can do that." She thought for a moment - how hard would that be?

-

The Scylla​'s captain counted the seconds away until he was able to refire his weapon. As the clock stuck zero, he yelled over the comms. "Fire again!"

A lance of green energy spouted from all five heavy cruisers, striking another Liberation - the ship crumpled like the last, though its reactor did not explode. Instead the ship twisted to the right, gliding across the void of space and into the path of the other three ships. One Liberation was not fortunate enough and collided into its damaged twin, splitting the vessel and breaching its own prow.

"Thirty more seconds... by that time they'll be well within range to fire!" The captain of the Scylla​ was panicking as a group of A-Wings, B-Wings, and other starfighters started to launch from the Defiance​ and its two surviving escorts.

If they could just hold a little longer, maybe...

 

[Olrunn Darr]

Objective: "B". Secure the Jedi Monument and defeat the spectral guardians protecting Ulic Qel-Droma's burial site
Allies: [member="Darth Excidium"] [member="Xevek Rakama"] [member="Vanessa Vantai"]
Post Count: 2.

The cold seemed to finally be reaching the bones of her fellow Sith for a small, instinctual shiver had started shake their forms in an attempt of generating heat. Her shape had been no exception but she took pleasure in the biting pain, specially the one she felt spreading from her lower back right up to her injured shoulder, if she stayed without movement for much longer she knew it was bound to lock her arm in one position. The sharp pain instilled a mixture of anger and soft fear within her, which in turn feed the flame of power lightly flickering within her chest, bidding the Darkness to start suppurating around her. Her silent seething was only interrupted when a low sound of air caught the attention of her sensitive ears. The steely eyes of the Gurlanin shifted slightly only to be met with the shape of the Zabraki acolyte, member of the Dark Magus. Her best guess, and she was sure to be correct for the sound was one familiar to her, was that he was smelling all of them. The thought might have been more than slightly disturbing to most but it had spiked her attention. Sensitive noses were not easy to come by, and were more helpful than people gave them credit for.

Then, there was the Sith Lady. She seemed to ooze a sentiment of confidence and sureness that Olrunn ought to have defined as underestimation of her enemies. Yes, she agreed they were superior to this rebel scum in any possible way if held in deliberation individually against each other. Yet there was always the small reality that they were not, in fact, fighting their enemies one on one. A truth she came to learn for a price that was too high and in her mind, her gravest mistake to this day. Thoughts of hes father and his death seeped into her consciousness, thoughts that awakened too much rage and heartache for her to handle. She pushed them back, eliciting a light sound more akin to a growl to escape her lips.

Luckily for her, her attention was once again stolen by the man she called her Master, taking her mind from what would have been a losing battle to a much colder place: obeying his commands. Excidium ordered the Zabraki and her forward to keep guard and she heeded, falling into the steps of the other Acolyte and taking her position in front of the Sith Lord. She also made sure to keep an eye behind him. The sight of Excidium's back was much more familiar to her and there was a sense of discomfort knowing it was now lacking any sort of cover. In any way, gravest danger was laid ahead of them and she recognized that in such a case this position favored their commanded intent. Not long after they had been surrounded by the figures of force wraiths, akin in their shape to a vornskr.

Olrunn was fascinated by the creations summoned through the Force and a sensation of power overcame her, fantasies of the day in which she became capable of such a feat through the Dark Arts, that had transformed into the very epicenter of her interests. The acolyte had become more endorsed of her Master's teachings than she had ever foreseen to and her enchanted state when witnessing the wraiths was a simple proof of it. Yet they were not here today to learn and familiarize themselves with Force wraiths and the reminder was soon to come as soon as the creatures took off in the direction of the temple, exploring its tunnels and providing Excidium with the wonderful gift of knowledge of the terrain they were about to penetrate themselves.

The Sith Lord then voiced to them what his creatures had seen, she could not help but set a scowl on her features at the mention of another Force-sensitive. The gurlanin had been currently allowing all of her presence to be felt: visible, audible, her very own smell and most importantly, her presence in the Force. The idea of another, an unknown enemy potentially knowing of her caused her such discomfort she immediately and instinctively started making herself invisible to the last three of the mentioned senses until she was just that, a vision: a moving shape with nothing more, no sound, no smell and no force mark. But the anger provoked by her carelessness remained, the discomfort would not yet leave and she now had to put up with it. Her hand went to her hilt of her sabre, picking it from its place in the utility belt as she walked into the temple once again behind her Master. As she did so, she lifted her other hand to reveal a severely scarred palm. Olrunn lightly slid the hilt of the sabre against the marred hand, allowing the coldness of the metal to easily wake the sensitive, thin skin. It was a strange habit she had picked up since the appearance of this wound, the day the Magus went on their first official mission.

Battled awaited ahead, and she braced for it.