Faction Bring Me His Flesh-Leather!

[Ilian Kastle]

Dagon Kaze | Tu'teggacha | Kyrel Ren | The Messenger
Zachariel Steelblood | DARKCOM

Ilian's jaw tightens to hold in a gasp as he watches the man become dismembered in Dagon's attempted rescue. Anger briefly swells within him in response; a knee-jerk reaction that is quickly contained by his years of training and discipline. The captive's shrieking barrages Ilian's physical senses while his suffering lashes out like a violent whip in the Force, flogging the young Knight's mind.

There was nothing they could do. Not today.

Having become distracted by these thoughts for just a moment, Ilian's hand suddenly recoils as his weakened hold is broken. Caught off-guard by the sudden release, he stumbles back a few steps before regaining his footing and squaring up once more. He watches his lumbering opponent's movements carefully, waiting for just the right time to try to out-maneuver him. Against such an overbearing threat, speed and precision would be key to their success.

Just as he feels Zachariel command the Force to stretch forth and grab him, the Knight unleashes a burst of energy throughout his own body. Enhanced by the empyrean, the Jedi Knight springs to the side with tremendous speed, the ground cracking beneath his feet as he launches from it.

The monstrous foe's words were not worth a response. Instead, Ilian does his best to shut out the being's presence altogether.

"We must move on, Dagon!" he calls out to the padawan, "The only thing we can do for these people is survive to fight another day."

The tragedy of their situation brought him great pain. Alas, it did not change the facts.

Acting quickly as to not waste his momentary boon, Ilian bolts toward the armoured abomination. Two springing steps rapidly close the distance, but instead of engaging Zachariel, he leaps to the wall to circumvent him. The Jedi kicks from of it, bounding forward and rolling to his feet next to Dagon.

Ilian pants heavily as he reaches down to help the padawan up. He stifles a wince as he does, his Force-imbued muscles beginning to ache from the strain of the technique. At this moment, the sudden failure of the facility's containment cells was a welcomed distraction.

"You found him. I heard his plea," he glances behind them, watching prisoners begin to flood the corridor between them and Steelblood, "lead us there."

At that, Ilian dashes forward, following closely behind the padawan.

 

[Dagon Kaze]

Dagon took Ilian's offered arm pulling him back on his feet and dragging him out of the horror of what he had just witnessed. The Jedi Knight's words while painful were also true. They just couldn't do anything except try and survive for another day.

He nodded and hurried forward taking point leaving the monstrous sentinel behind them. Their frantic rush through shrieks of pain and cries of violence led them to the cell of the forsaken Jedi. An older human whose face had certainly seen better days. If it wasn't the faintly shimmering light through the Force, Dagon would've thought the man was nothing more than a husk of his past self.

"Come on, let's go!" he gestured at the man to follow them. Time was running out.

Ilian Kastle DARKCOM
Zachariel Steelblood

 

[DARKCOM]

A hand grasped at the threshold, his bindings all but falling off as he stumbled to his feet. Hollow and weathered from his dark experiences, the former Jedi Knight rose. They had found him, against all odds he was being rescued by a pair of Jedi Knights.

His dry lips muttered to Dagon Kaze and Ilian Kastle as he hobbled out of the cell, regaining his footing, letting the Force slowly aid his old bones. "How.. how? How did you find me?" His gaze shifted to the encroaching horde of marauders forcing prisoners against walls, fighting rioters on all ends. "I'm with you."

Kaigann turned away and moved off as fast as he could carry himself in close proximity to the other two Jedi as they moved throughout the halls of Tu'teggacha 's domain. The sounds of their boots echoed forth, soon to be followed by the shouting and screaming of guards rushing to recapture their prize.

Approaching the familiar sight of a oncoming turbolift, the elder Jedi smiled. The end was near, the light at the end of the tunnel. If they could reach the turbolift they could take it to the lower levels where the drydocks were and 'borrow' a ship for the trip back to Coruscant. The old man stopped and spun around to get a quick look at the encroaching horde ready to tear them limb from limb.

Strain, pain, and a calm sense of clarity. The elder Jedi reached out and extended his hand. The Force was his ally, even as the sweat beads rolled down his face he could feel the rejuvenating power of the Force wash over him. He remembered the old wisdom shared from his master Cyril Grayson, the same wisdom that had passed on for generations.

Size matters not. My ally is the Force.

The ceiling falls. Hunks of metal and debris crash against the tip of the crowd, the way forward become blocked. Kaigann panted as he over-exerted himself and moved away, slowing as he caught up with the other two.

 

[Zachariel Steelblood]

Zachariel felt and saw the Jedi's resolve falter, then harden all the more for it. They were set in their ways, and the not being able to save the slave simply hardened their resolve. It made them focus more on their true objective, rather than Zachariel himself. That reasoning prompted a growl from Zachariel, fully focusing on the Jedi before him.

Said Jedi dodges Zachariel's Force grab, and immediately charges towards him. Taking a step forward, Zachariel readied to engage the foe, only for him to fly past on the wall. All Zachariel could show for him trying to stop that, was him grasping at empty air, where the Jedi had just passed. Spinning about, Zachariel snarls in anger, hatred a laser of focus on the Jedi. Only for that focus to be broken as the cages were suddenly opened. Immediately they began to swarm anyone that wasn't another slave, though the Jedi were just far enough away to simply run.

It all made Zachariel roar his hatred. Tossing the slave in his hand to the ground, soon to be trampled to death, Zachariel began slicing away with his knife, and drawing his sword as well. Many of the slaves swarmed towards him, recognizing him as a captor, others ran after the Jedi, simply intent on getting revenge on someone. Roaring once again, Zachariel gave an ultimatum to all the slaves.
"Freedom to the ones who stop the Jedi! Death to those who stop me!"

It was enough to make them hesitate, not everyone, but enough. Some further away turned and chased after the Jedi, a mixture of hoping for that freedom, and simply wanting to get away from Zachariel. As for those closest Zachariel, he spun about, cutting the closest in half. They fell to the ground, dead. This prompted more to turn and run from him, some sort of sense coming over them at last. The rest simply jumped at him once again, and Zachariel got back to the slaughter. At the same time, he was finally able to advance, sheer rage and his own monstrous power enabling his advance.

Far before him, the masses of slaves were rushing towards the Jedi, some intent on capturing them, others on freedom. It mattered little, as the Jedi threw the ceiling down on them, a good portion of their number was crushed under the rocks and rebar. Only a small handful somehow, miraculously, made it through. They came through coughing, but still advancing. A mad fear drove them forward, to strike at the Jedi, to hunt them down. But they were a mere half dozen slaves, versus three Jedi. And they were alone, cut off from everyone and everything, doomed to die. But it didn't matter, fear drove them forward, and thus they stumbled after the Jedi, coughing all the while.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the rubble, Zachariel finally arrived, killing the last of the slaves that tried to harm him. He was met with that wall of rubble, and his rage simply grew greater. Roaring loud enough to be heard through the walls themselves, Zachariel seethed with hate.
"Remove this rubble slaves, and do so quickly."

They leapt to follow his orders, scared senseless by the warlord of slaughter. He was covered head to toe in blood and viscera, and the mere scent of the death scared them, much less how he looked. But that didn't matter to Zachariel, he simply glared hatefully at the rubble. Part of him was focused on removing the rubble with the Force, but there was simply too much to do it quickly or easily. Thus, while the rubble was removed manually and with the Force, Zachariel glared through the walls towards the Jedi. His hate simply grew as they made their way away from him. They would pay, and whoever had freed these slaves would pay tenfold as well.

Ilian Kastle | Dagon Kaze | DARKCOM | Tu'teggacha | The Messenger | Kyrel Ren | Inferious |