Call of the Shadows (Darth Shadow)

[Darth Libertas]

[member="Darth Shadow"]


Needless to say Sumiko was not feeling unduly trusting, but ready to take the risks. After all, what does not kill you makes you stronger and all that. The Dark Side opened the doors to its inmost secrets to those who proved themselves worthy. The Force could be used as a tool, yes, but it to be wooed and wrestled with. One might find it ironic that for someone who had served the secret police of an avowedly secular empire Sumiko's view of the Force had a strong mystical element to it.


Anyhow, transmission was soon received from Shadow's droid and, upon leaving the vestiges of the ancient Sith fortress she studied it intently. The mystical safeguards were worrying. She had some experience with Sith magicks that might enable her to undo them or mitigate their effects, but only if they had decayed badly over the millennia. It also presumed she would be able to use the Force. Fortunately the Inquisition had trained her to be able to fight without it and she had plenty of guns So guided by the map she made her way towards the ancient tomb, through the city of ghosts and broken hopes.

 

[Darth Shadow]

[member="Sumiko Tanaka"]
It was perhaps instructive that Shadow himself had not offered to come down himself yet, but was staying hundreds of kilometres above. After all, why run around and get dirty when you could sit and let others do it for you?! Of course, there may have been another reason which Sumiko was not privy too.

They came in good time to an abandoned and broken doorway which led into the earth. Monumental statues and carvings had once stood here, but most had collapsed or eroded.
"You may wish to be careful at this point," Shadow advised calmly. "Though this doorway is broken and any traps are long gone my droids are picking up another danger - cracks in the floor. Originally there were pit traps here it seems, but the mechanism is gone...the pits remain though covered only by the stone you stand on. Move quickly...it would be a shame if you were to plunge."

 

[Darth Libertas]

[member="Darth Shadow"]


Your feigned concern warms me truly, Sumiko thought to herself as she made her way across the ground. Her step was careful and precise, but suddenly the ground beneath her started to give way, for as the Shadow had said there were cracks inside the floor. Immediately Sumiko ran, using the Force to give strength to her muscles and amplify her speed. After all, presumably falling into the depths of the pit would be less than pleasant. Especially if it was full of zombies or beasts, since that was a common trope of ancient tombs, no matter how unrealistic it might be.


The floor behind her suddenly vanished and she leapt over another crack, but then was not fast enough and when the floor beneath her disappeared she lost her footing, seemingly falling down into the abyss before managing to call the Force into her legs and leaping across the distance. As the ground crumbled she broke into a roll, finally reaching safe territory. Not wasting time she jumped to her feet. Cracks in the floor were such an old trope for ancient tombs and ruins!

 

[Darth Shadow]

[member="Sumiko Tanaka"]
"Still with us, Ms Tanaka? It would be most unfortunate if you were unable to use my knowledge if you were lost in a pit...."
Sitting over a hundred kilometres away made it much easier to make amused comments!

Proceeding forward they came at last to a long, low chamber of very solid design. Though some sand had blown through it was entirely intact otherwise. At the far end was a heavy stone door.

"Hold!" Shadow commanded urgently. "This is what I have been pondering. There are traps and devices here, but I have not determined their nature yet."

The floor was covered in tiles, each engraved with a letter or symbol. It was ancient Sith writing, and Shadow's droids played across the surface.

"I have been considering different formulations for some time. Can you read ancient Sith?"

 

[Darth Libertas]

[member="Darth Shadow"]


The ancient Sith sure liked their annoying puzzles. Sometimes it was good to play along and indulge this habit of theirs. But sometimes it was good to skip the annoying puzzle and cheat. Not very polite? Ah, well, Sumiko did not care about that. She was a Dark Acolyte after all. Honour and fair play was something for fools and Jedi. Which was sort of the same thing in her opinion.


"To an extent, yes," Sumiko said thoughtfully as she studied the symbols on one of the tiles. A number of which looked familiar to her. There was much talk about eternal agony that awaited the unworthy and about a beasts meant to devour them. She had come to the conclusion that stepping on this particular tile would be a bad idea! "But I believe I'll try to skip," and so she utilised the power of techno-mystical handwavium called mechu-deru. This was sort of a catch-all phrase for doing weird things to machines while using space magic.


This one thinks there ought to be a way for droids to counteract it, otherwise this power is seriously broken and overpowered. Anyhow, since Sumiko had this cool power the droids would suddenly pick up the Space Japanese and carry her in the air using their hovery bits. Thus they would transport her towards the far door and avoid the traps. Presumably there would be others that could not be avoided so easily.

 

[Darth Shadow]

[member="Sumiko Tanaka"]
For a moment Shadow was stunned by the audacity of the move. When she was dropped off on the far side he chuckled.
“I see you are a very resourceful woman. Let us hope you have not bitten off more than you can chew.”

The next room was rather damaged. Blocks had fallen from the ceiling long ago. Some of these blocks had crushed statues which stood in serried ranks to either side of the passage.

Shadow’s droids swept the statues, and the Sith Lord was silent until, as they proceeded the droids picked up movements in the shadows.

“Ah…I believe these are not just statues,” Shadow said with the amused interest of a man dozens of kilometres away.

Fortunately Sumiko would not be entirely on her own, as the droids rose up into the air and deployed some light blasters to help smash up a few of the attacking golems. The main fight would be the Dark Jedi’s though.

 

[Darth Libertas]

And suddenly golems appeared, for the statues were not statues, but ancient guardians placed here by the Sith lords of ages past. The key word here is 'ancient'. You see, dear reader, science does occasionally march on in the Galaxy. Even though at times we get bizarre situations such as Lost Sith armadas appearing out of nowhere after having hidden in the shadows for a thousand years. Somehow said armadas always manage to drive the Jedi to the brink of collapse before succumbing to the idiot ball.


The droids rose up into the air and unleashed salvoes of blasterfire, smashing up a few of the charging golems, but the main fight would be Sumiko's. Fortunately, she was not unprepared and so quickly sprang into action. Her weapon of choice was the MK1 bolter, truly a technological marvel of carnage and destruction that was good for crowd control and blowing stuff up. Some Force-users might regard such firearms as crude, but it's not like she cared about what they thought. After all, many a Jedi had been gunned down by 'crude' blasters during Order 66.


BAAAM BAAAM BAAAM The sharp crack of the gun firing was matched only by the percussive crump of the explosion a second later when the explosive bolts hit home and golems were blown to bits. See, while they might look imposing and were undoubtedly very strong close up, they were also quite brittle. Moreover, they were also quite slow. As golems closed in she quickly switched to APE rounds, keeping one stone creature off her back with a telekinetic push before blowing him apart with a couple shots.


However, one statue that had suddenly come to life and was positioned behind her landed a hard blow against her back, which sent her flying and made her stumble, crashing head-first into the ground. Ouch. As she rolled the hard, powerful leg of the stone man was suddenly upon her and smashed into her chest. Ouch! Breathing became...rather difficult. What with him putting pressure on her lungs and stuff. Then she managed to grip her lightsabre and, igniting the blade with a snap-hiss in a blaze of crimson light, sliced the golemn's leg off and then thrust the blade through his throat.


A last golemn drove his stony fist towards her and she ducked in the right moment, meaning that instead of bashing her skull he punched a decayed chunk of wall, which broke down under the pressure. An invisible telekinetic hammer crashed down upon the golem's skull, then she cleaved him in half with her blade.

 

[Darth Shadow]

[member="Sumiko Tanaka"]
The battle with the guardians was brutal, swift and decisive. In moments the golems were all down.
“Quite a shame, don’t you think? They could have been more useful as servants than enemies. Ah well.”

Beyond this there was a single remaining door, large and age-bound. Part of it had cracked open, allowing access.
“Hold here, the runes are important,” Shadow said, his droids scanning them. “’Those who would claim my treasures must do so as the mortals they rule.’” A pause. “I hope your skills without the Force are up to it Ms Tanaka. My droids can give you intel of what lies ahead, but they cannot fight for you.”

 

[Darth Libertas]

[member="Darth Shadow"]


"No, too outdated to be useful as servants unless they got upgraded a lot," Sumiko commented sardonically as she left the golems. Or rather what was left of them. Then she obviously found herself facing the last remaining door with the runes on it. Study of the runes brought her to the same conclusion as the Shadow.


“’Those who would claim my treasures must do so as the mortals they rule.’” Sumiko read the words written in the ancient Sith script and shrugged, taking a breath. It certainly explained why the Sith Lord was having someone do the work for him! "Fair enough. I suppose this is where the wheat is separated from the chaff. I've been trained to fight without the Force. " The probe droids activated their scanners and swept the room ahead, trying to discern what for a menace lurked inside it...

 

[Darth Shadow]

[member="Sumiko Tanaka"]
As soon as Sumiko would pass into the next chamber she would find the power of the Force ebbing away, slipping from reach. It was like being under the influence of a Ysalimari, but inside an entire room.

The room beyond was large and very high ceilinged. The floor was of stone, but oddly blackened and warped in places.
At the far end was a door of some sort, visible between the legs of a bronze coloured statue.

“Be warned, there is likely…” Shadow began.

A rumbling sound started. The statue, fully 15 feet tall, began to move, Slowly it shifted, stretched and looked down on Sumiko. Opening its mouth it roared, the light of flames inside it. With a swipe of a massive fist it sent one of Shadow’s droids crashing to the floor.

Turning back to Sumiko is breathed a trail of flame from its mouth right at her!

“Try to get behind it!” Shadow called from his last surviving droid. Its blaster bolts had absolutely no impact on the massive bronze monster.

 

[Darth Libertas]

[member="Darth Shadow"]


Suddenly the Force was leeched from her. It was like the entire room was enveloped by the bubble of a ysalamiri, only unfortunately there was no lizard in sight that could be killed in order to give power back to her. No, this was the work of Sith magicks. Losing the Force was like being deprived of a sense. Sumiko had been trained to be able to fight without it, yet nonetheless the sensation was still painful for her.


To top it off, she was apparently fighting a fire-breathing talos! Well, that was actually more original than a zombie horde, so points for originality. The Atrisian quickly docked and rolled when a trail of flame was shot right towards her, moving as fast as she could. However, it was not quite fast enough and her clothes were soon singed with flame. She rolled across the ground as she tried to put the flames out, feeling a strong burning sensation as the fire scorched her skin.


The bronze monster was bathing the room in flame and she began coughing, though neither blaster bolts nor fire seemed to make any impact whatsoever upon the beast. Her hand found a cryoban grenade and, as the ground shook with every step of the massive feet of the guardian, she tossed it through the air. There was a blast and then suddenly the flames fell silent as the beast was covered in ice and temporarily immobilised, with another cryoban grenade soon following. The trail of flame had thankfully been frozen, though Sumiko now shivered strongly in the cold chill. Getting to her feet with a pained groan, with her skin still hurting badly rom the flames where they had burnt through her clothing, Sumiko quickly bolted, trying to move behind the beast while its legs were still frozen.


But abruptly there was a loud bang when the guardian simply beat its way out of its encasement. Seemingly flying into a rage it moved after her and brought her crashing to the ground with a swipe of its powerful fist before sending her flying with a kick. Ouch. That really hurt her a lot. For one there was a crack that sounded like something had been broken. As it raised its massive foot in an attempt to send it crashing down upon her throat and stomp it to death, Sumiko managed to reach for her shattergun. A weapon that fired miniaturised projectiles at an absurd hyper-velocity with great kinetic power.


The living statue found itself crippled as the explosive round made polite contact with its foot. Quickly Sumiko fired once again, removing one of its eyes. The armoured fist of the statue came ramming towards her but, though lacking in strength in comparison, she was faster and was already rolling away and spiralled behind the statue. Her lightsabre sprang into existence and ten thousand degrees of hot plasma sliced through one of its legs before she rammed the blade into its back.

 

[Darth Shadow]

[member="Sumiko Tanaka"]
The monster was relentless. Each cut or slash seemed to do little to stop it. When Sumiko sliced through one leg it didn’t stop, but relentlessly pushed on, trying to pull her down and beat at her with its massive fists.
However, like the Talos of legend, Sumiko had inflicted a fatal wound. From its leg poured out molten metal, scorching the stones. With its last strength the guardian unleashed a final blast of fire at her before crashing to the ground.

There was silence in the room after the battle was over. “Well done, my dear. None seem to have defeated the guardian before you. But be wary, I sense there may be more pitfalls to come.”

 

[Darth Libertas]

[member="Darth Shadow"]


And so the great beast had finally perished, like the Talos of legends. The stones were scorched by molten lava and then a last blast of fire was sweeping towards Sumiko as the monster crashed to the ground with a resounding bang that echoed across the halls of the ancient tomb.


Sumiko had ran as fast as she could to escape the blast and then hit the ground. Getting up a bit worse for the wear she groaned, but was still able to stand. She allowed herself to let her blood-stained, bruised lips to curve into a thin smile as she turned back to look upon the fallen Talos. With pain surging through her body she reached into her backpack with her partially scorched hand and removed a medpac. If she had been in possession of the Force at this juncture she might tried to draw upon the energies of the Dark Side to still the pain and stitch her wounds but that was obviously not possible here.


Besides, one of the pitfalls of the Dark Side was that it could not truly heal. At least not in a lasting manner. So she resorted to the conventional means of administering the medpac's contents to her shoulder and burned, damaged leg. There was numbness, then a spike of adrenaline when she jabbed a syringe into her throat. Taking a deep breath and feeling less shaky on her legs, though this was only a temporary treatment, she grabbed her gun and advanced further down the hall, though she remained wary and on her guard. After all, without the Force she was very mortal, but its loss did not cause her anxiety. All of this was yet another test of the Dark Side.

 

[Darth Shadow]

They passed on deeper until they came to a final door. This door was of fairly light construction, and though the electronics which had once powered it were gone, it was not immune to a lightsabre.

As Sumiko ventured close enough to the door to open it she would feel the Force returning to her. An invisible barrier separated the two sides.

However, as soon as she started to regain the Force the visions began. Visions, indistinct at first, manifesting as shadows or movement out of the corners of the eyes, whispered voices. She had been an Inquisitor, she had seen and done things which would make ordinary people tremble. The voices of friends, victims, allies, starting the build.

“Is everything alright?” Shadow asked through the droid. He could see nothing from his perspective.

 

[Darth Libertas]

[member="Darth Shadow"]


The Force returned to her. As always the sensation was painful and disorientating. Then came the onslaught of visions that hit her like a tidal wave, threatening to drown her. As an Inquisitor Sumiko had stopped at nothing when it came to accomplishing her tasks. She had lied, tortured and killed in cold blood. At the same time she had been a victim, though this undoubtedly did not excuse her actions. She had been conditioned to serve the Atrisian Empire as a tool, a living weapon with a gun held against her head should she disobey, then discarded, tortured and experimented on after Madeline took over.


Now it all came back and hit her. There were her birth parents, recoiling from her in horror since she was a Force-user, there were her victims and former Inquisitors. Some she had worked alongside with, some she had killed...some had been left behind and perished when she escaped Madeline's dungeon.


"You're a monster. You and all mages like you."


"I'm sorry, daughter. I never wanted this to you. Don't you understand what a monster you're becoming?"


"I trusted you...and you left me behind in the dungeon!"


"Go, and be free. You always had such potential. The mysteries of the Dark Side can be yours."


"You're a disgrace to the Inquisition. I always knew you were unworthy. You and that snake Valdier. I should have killed both of you."


Visions flooded her mind and suddenly the area seemed to shift. In her mind she was no longer inside the tomb, but strapped to an operating table. It was the exact room she had been subjected to torture and medical experimentation whilst in captivity under Madeline's reign. "You will break, all of your sort do. Your kind is a disease to be purged. The procedure is unfortunately quite painful," at that a syringe was jabbed into her throat and excruciating pain surged through her.


In the real world Sumiko was breathing heavily as she tried to make sense of things amidst the flood. Beads of sweat were dripping down her forehead and back as she tried to focus. One of the first lessons of an Inquisitor was to separate truth from illusion because in a world of magicks that was the hardest thing to do. She had to focus and concentrate on the basics, built up her mind bit by bit. Her mind was a bubble, to be protected at all costs. Barriers arose as she tried to steel herself and fortify it, forming a cocoon.


"This is not real. I am not on Atrisia...and...I don't care about any of you," she spoke coldly as the noncorporeal hand of a Jedi she had once tortured reached out to her. "I don't feel anything. What has happened, has happened. I will not waste time sulking about the past." The voices intensified and grew to a crescendo, slamming into her mind with the force of a battering ram so that she was knocked down to the ground. The mental walls seemed to crumble under the shockwave and she was knocked down to the floor.


Then there was a feeling like an icy knife was being driven through her mind and she winced in pain as she lay upon the ground, shaking badly. "What, you expect a sudden outburst of remorse, doubt? Please." It was futile to blot out the voices so she stopped and let them bleat and shout. Instead she focused upon the Force and summoned a powerful mental shockwave that she drove towards the mental power assaulting her, seeking to drive it from her mind.

 

[Darth Shadow]

[member="Sumiko Tanaka"]
From his airy perch far away Shadow looked down dispassionately.
“He was always known as the Lord of All Fears. Interesting.”

“Quickly, my dear, we need to break through the door before your barriers fail.”

The door, when penetrated, opened into a surprisingly small area. A crypt. A black stone sarcophagus lay undisturbed. Around it malevolent artefacts glittered in their own dark light.

Laying on top of the slab was a dark sword of some unknown design. In a box nearby was a powerful feeling holocron.

“That holocron is my prize, be careful with it, I believe it is the source of your eminations. Move it into the Force null zone into the other room. That will allow you to search without disruption.”

 

[Darth Libertas]

[member="Darth Shadow"]


There...the prize lay. This one would feel inclined to say something about heavy risks, but Sumiko was not the type for corny one-liners and lame innuendo. Quite unfortuante, to be honest. Sheer dark power emanated from the black stone sarcophagus and the malevolent artefacts that seemed to glow in the darkness.


Sumiko breathed in heavily as she stepped inside. A wave of darkness crashed into her and forced her down to the ground as she felt excruciating pain through her, ethereal spectres materialised and her body shivered in the numbing cold when they reached for her. Breathing slowed, for a moment it felt like she was freezing, breathing was becoming very difficult, her blood was starting to turn cold. The dark power that held purchase over this time was paralying her, encasing her...


It was an illusion. "I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain."


She crawled across the ground as she let the mantra run through her mind. As the voices beat against her mind she thought of it, inner voice rising to match their screams. She gripped the sarcophagus with a shaky hand and then pulled herself up, getting to her feet. Quickly she grabbed the box with the holocron, taking care not to break it. However, she did not leave right away but instead pulled the dark sword to her with a telekinetic pull. The sword found itself in her grasp and then she quickly ran out of the room towards the null zone outside.

 

[Darth Shadow]

[member="Sumiko Tanaka"]
As soon as the holocron and Sumiko passed through the invisible barrier the voices and fears would be abruptly cut short.
“Excellent. Fortunately I have means of containing the artefacts. Getting it out of here would be difficult, but fortunately my droid is able to hold a box containing it and take it on ahead so it will not so grievously affect you. Who know an Inquisitor could feel such fear….”

The droid swept the rest of the tomb. “Some interesting items here I would like to record. It will not take long. If you wish to take the blade you may do so, but beware of any tricks its maker may have put in it.”

 

[Darth Libertas]

[member="Darth Shadow"]


I wonder, what is it you fear? Oblivion, like Vitiate? Is that why you cling to life? By now you must be very dependent on the Force to withstand the ravages of time, Sumiko thought to herself. 'Immortality' always came with a price and in the end no one could avoid death forever.


Vitiate, Plagueis, Palpatine...none of them had escaped. In any case she just shrugged in response. "Fear is natural. What matters is that it does not enslave you," she said simply. Just like there could be no greatness without conflict and adversity. "Do go ahead and scan, I shall take the blade. It should serve me well." Light fell into the tomb from a crack in the ceiling and she cocked her head to the side as she looked upon the sword. Now that she was in a Force null zone she could not feel the dark power emanate from it, but she studied the intricate Sith runes engraved upon the weapon. She scanned it with a device of her own, detecting traces of venomous poison.

 

[Darth Shadow]

[member="Sumiko Tanaka"]
“Indeed, a wise policy, my dear.”

The droid turned back to the burial chamber and completed a detailed scan before returning.

“Of course, I’m not sure if you’ve considered a minor problem we may have. On entry you had my droids carry you over the trap. You will not be able to do so now with only one. We may have to figure out that puzzle, like it or not.”