Dungeon Diving

[Darth Prazutis]

[member="Jacen Cavill"]

Deep in the massive mountain chains plaguing a portion of the surface a Fury-Class Interceptor landed in a narrow valley surrounded by mountains. Prakith was a remote planet nestled in the volatile Deep Core, just traversing the unstable hyperspace lanes were a risk in this area of the galaxy. The people of Prakith were proud, independent, and a reclusive people that kept to themselves. It was here however that the dark side was strong, its residule energies plaguing the landscape a by product of the days of Darth Andeddu, the Immortal God-King that ruled many, many centuries previous.

But Darth Prazutis, Dark Council, Prince of the Pacanth Reach, and Prime Designate of House Zambrano was not here investigating the infamous Sith Lord. For many months he had been tracking the movements of the powerful Sith Lord Darth Kryptus, renown for wielding an infamous blade Daesumnor. Darth Kryptus had dissappeared from the known galaxy leaving behind his massive legacy. But what he rumored to have left behind was Daesumnor, a powerful runeblade that claimed the souls of those it killed. Daesumnor was the sister blade of Derriphan, the artifact weapon of his master [member="Darth Vornskr"] who carved through his enemies with its great power.

Prazutis was determined to find the weapon and immediately put his resources to work finding it. The Runeblade was given to contacts of Darth Kryptus, who immediately began moving it from place to place, to keep it safe. The trail was carefully hidden and hard to uncover, but it ended at Prakith. The One Sith kept vaults of artifacts in these such remote worlds, and it wasn't a surprise to him that it was located here. After scanning the surface he found unusual energy outputs in the remote mountains, as well as a concentration of dark side energies here. Prazutis stepped out of the interceptor, the cold winds whipping at the robes sitting over his dark armor. He was determined to find and claim this weapon, wield it once more against the One Sith's enemies.

 

[Jacen Cavill]

OOC: I approve of this.

 

[Darth Prazutis]

Prazutis wore his full alchemized combat gear, its base design taken from the armor of the Blackblade Guard and modified. The helmet was also custom designed in the shape of a black skull. He carried on his sides both of his lightsabers, and a sheathed blade on his back. The long path ahead was lined with statues crafted to resemble cloaked warriors, all of them marked with the worn out symbol of the old Sith Empire, leading straight to the base of a massive mountain spearing up into the skyline. The Dark Vault located here wasn't registered on any database by the One Sith Empire, it wasn't sanctioned by the Dark Lord or by the Dark Council.

All of the most reliable sources that he contacted told him explicitly that Darth Kryptus was ludicrously rich, and the man left almost no paper trail to where his funds were coming from. So if the vault was designed by the powerful Sith Lord, no expense was spared in the defense and protection of this facility. Unlike most of vaults or tombs, he noticed that this one was very well hidden. There were no massive gates built into the front, there were no gigantic statues of the Sith Lord on either side proclaiming his greatness. To any outsider walking through it appeared to look like just another ruin from the forgotten era of Andeddu. Prazutis followed the long pathway towards the imposing mountain, his HUD projecting a map of the area from the extensive surveillance done beforehand, there were no signs of hostiles so far, and an eerie silence permeated through the landscape.

The pathway led into the mouth of a large dark cave devoid of life, its surfaces were very smooth, as if they were carved out of the mountainous rock. The cave extended in dead ends to the left, and the right. A narrow central path went for roughly a quarter mile into the rock, until it opened up. The path opened up into a large chamber where a large statue of Darth Kryptus depicting the infamous masked Sith Lord in full battle gear, wearing the Mask of Darth Nihilus and thrusting Daesumnor high into the air was carved out of imported black stone sat, illuminated by a swarm of torches. Prazutis stood for a few minutes marveling at its perfect construction, every feature carefully designed by caring hands. He walked up to the front of the statue where a gold plaque was bolted into its base it read:

"The only reality is brutality" - Darth Kryptus

Right below the quote also read a small statement:

"Darth Kryptus never wore a crown, he never sat atop a throne but he was all that an Emperor should be."

As eye catching as the statue was it was behind the statue what truly caught the eye. A large set of heavy double doors,

 

[Darth Prazutis]

A large pair of heavy turadium double doors sat nestled into the wall, secured in a metal frame crafted into the stone. Carved into the rock on the right side sat a dormant terminal, its screen dark and caked with a layer of dust. Prazutis walked up to the terminal screen dusting it off, and immediately it came to life, its screen glowing a bright crystal blue. A mass of data flooded on the screen almost right after, strands of numbers and lettering, until one screen showed some readable information.


Manticore Security Software
Blastech Industries Inc.

//Accessing Server Database..//

//Accessing Imperial Records....//

//Generating Log-In Screen...//

Please Input Access Code...

A blue light lit up on the base of the dull gray frame and a blue holographic keyboard formed in the air in front of the Sith Knight. The blast doors were thick and reinforced turadium steel, there was no cutting through them or blasting through the force. However that was what surprised Prazutis the most. Each time he attempted to reach out past the doors with the force. Each time he made an attempt it was as if his mind slammed into a massive, impenetrable iron wall with no gate in sight. No matter how hard he tried to dig his way under it, or fight his way over it all attempts failed. While he didn't expect this trip to be easy Darth Kryptus was well known for his very specialized sets of skills, Sith Sorcery was not one of them.

While the Sith Lord and the Avatar of Death did possess artifacts that were created and imbued by the powerful magics, he never used any himself. Perhaps he might've paid someone to enchant his vault with sorcery? He wouldn't put it past the Sith Lord to use his mountainous fortunes to perform such a feat, it was well within his grasp to do so. Manticore was a closed circuit system, meaning one would have to be inside the vault directly accessing the servers to try and breach it. But what truly caught the eye was the Imperial Database. The Vault was using imperial database records, meaning it would also use its clearance.

//BraxusZambrano//

//Access Level Alpha//

//Transmitting Access Code...//


//ERROR CODE 86332 INVALID USER//


Prazutis tried twice more to transmit his access code through the system and each time it denied him, it made no sense to the Sith Knight. If it was using the Imperial Database than it should have recognized him as a Dark Councilor, top security clearance and opened the doors. However...if it was using a copy of the Old Imperial Database, from the Old Sith Empire which was destroyed in its fall it wouldn't. The old database was far different and its access codes were far different than the One Sith Empires coding. In fact it was almost perfect for a vault design. Current Sith who didn't have access codes from the old empire wouldn't be let past the doors.

However Darth Prazutis was not any normal sith, he was the apprentice of [member="Darth Vornskr"] as well as his Prime Designate. The Sith Knight even served as his word and will while the man was deceased, and thus had his access code. While Kaine did in fact change it, he still had the old one. If it was using old database coding than Kaine Zambrano would still be registered as Emperor, and top clearance.

//KaineZambrano//

//Access Level: Alpha//

//Transmitting Access Code...//



//Loading....//

//Royal Access Code Received...//

//Opening Blast Doors...//

//Welcome Emperor Kaine Zambrano//


The screen darkened and a loud hissing sound erupted as the hydralics of the door went to work, its inner machinery turning and the heavy blast doors opened. The more they opened the more light shined out of them, revealing a narrow hallway to another set of double doors, two large viewports on either side of the hall. As Prazutis took one step inside the vault a wave of dark side energy slammed into him like a tidal wave, stopping him in his tracks. Deep inside the vault he could almost feel Daesumnor, the Blade of Hunger. It was like a pulsing heart of dark energy, its signature unmistakable. Prazutis was so taken back by the force presence that he almost didn't notice the doors closing behind him. No doubt it was a security protocol, never to leave them open for more than a few moments. In a few short moments the door slammed shut, and he was alone inside the Forbidden Vault of Darth Kryptus.

[member="Jacen Cavill"]

 

[Darth Prazutis]

Prazutis carefully entered the narrow hallway reaching out with all of his heightened senses, taking each step lightly. The vault was eerily silent, the quiet hum of cool air circulating through the building, and the dim lighting showed it was receiving power from some generator inside. He had a sneaking suspicion that it was almost too easy to gain access, Darth Kryptus wouldn't have made it so easy to input a code and walk right in. The anzati hybrids suspicions came true when the door on the other side of the room shut, and a loud computerized voice crackled out of the speakers in the corner of the chamber.

Decontamination in progress. Bio-Scan initiated.

The whole chamber lit up with a bright blue glow as blue strips of light formed. One from the roof to the floor quickly moved up and down the chamber, while the other horizontal one slowly scanned the sith knights entire body. It was just as he suspected in order to confirm that whoever it was entering the chamber matched up with the clearance code, it scanned them and compared it to the biological information. As soon as the beam reached the floor it turned a bright crimson and the computerized voice of Kryptus erupted loudly through the speakers.

Alert. Alert. Biological mismatch, intruder detected. Initiate Hydra Protocol.

A loud rumbling alarm broke the silence in the vault its wails loud enough to wake the dead. For a full minute it was the only sound that pierced Prazutis eardrums. As he pulled the lightsaber off his hip another sound caught his ears, a series of loud thumping noises. Footsteps hard and fast clearly not living, attack droids. Prazutis drove his lightsaber through the viewport showing a security office where soldiers would have been monitoring incoming traffic, now vacant. The blade briefly sparked as it hit the glass, the portion of contact glowing white hot just before the whole pane shattered. Just then the doors swung open as two BTI-X041 Bodyguard Droids burst into view. The Mirari Bodyguard droids were some of the best, reliable droids for personal defense. But these two were clearly not factory design, their hull was completely painted a deep black sheen with the inner lighting from its viewports and other places on its armor a blood red.

The defender droids entire hulls glowed with the familiar tinge of a personal defense shield. Prazutis dived through the window as the two droids opened fire with BTI-CES Scatterguns, the powerful eruption of energy sending the barrels kicking into the air. Were it not for his heightened anzati senses, magnified by the force it would've been over quickly. The scatterguns spread and power were designed in part as an answer to force users. Prazutis quickly stood up but the droids were already bearing down on him. He thrust a hand forward and a powerful burst of crimson lightning erupted from his fingertips, the familiar scent of ozone filled the air as it made contact with one of the droids. The powerful blast raked across the droids shields fighting a futile battle to resist the blast, only to buckle shortly after.

The droid stopped in its tracks violently shaking as the lightning ripped over its body, coursing inside causing its inner systems to spark and erupt in electric bursts. A small eruption occurred inside the attack droid causing a small explosion blowing a hole in its chest, falling to the ground in a smoking heap. Prazutis tossed up a shield in front of him just to meet two blasts from the droids cannon. The shield wavered and shattered, sending him stumbling back. It took a lot of resistance to stop from being thrown to the ground by the powerful blast. Prazutis ran towards the droid tossing a powerful push in its direction. The heavy droid stumbled back from the hit and would've fallen, if its feet didn't magnetize to the floor and stop it in its tracks.

But that was all the Sith Knight needed to happen and he brought his lightsaber down onto the droid. The first strike collided with the shields and after some resistance buckled shortly after, and his second strike cut deep through its shoulder, sending sparks out as it melted metal and internal systems. He delivered a third and final strike severing a portion of its upper body, blasting the remains to the ground. He ran quickly out the door and into a long hallway that extended down both left and right sides before going deeper forward into the vault. The alarms suppressed for a moment as the voice once more crackled over the intercom.

Intruder inside the perimeter, expedite offensive initiative.

The doors at either end of the hallway swung open and two teams of four black mirari droids stood at either end. Acting quickly Prazutis reached out with the force to the droids on the left, rewriting their friend-foe parameters. He moved to duck back inside the chamber but as he swung around a blaster bolt struck into his shoulder pauldron its impact sending pain shooting through his shoulder as he took cover. Thankfully his armor took most of the brunt, but the force alone was enough to cause pain. The rewritten droids charged forward two scattergun droids running forward while the other two moved up at a slower pace, all of them blasting away.

A firefight broke out as the two teams blasted away at one another, destroying one another in violent fashion. By the time the firefight ended and Prazutis finally ducked back out into the hall only two droids were left standing, a scattergun and a rifle droid both controlled by him. Taking a deep breath Prazutis began moving down the left hallway. He turned a ways down and moved deeper into the facility.

[member="Jacen Cavill"]

 

[Darth Prazutis]

The next hall was shorter than the first leading to a dead end where a large door sat. Two doors sat on the left and right sides of the hall, spaced a fair distance apart. The first thing Prazutis noticed was the wide hallways, very high ceilings, and the large door frames. The doors were very large in height and width as if they were to fit something deeper inside the facility. There was clearly more to this place than meets the eye, security droids all of them modified, a security system that made edits and changes depending on the threat it was taking on. Prazutis proceeded down the hallway and closed in on the left door.

Just as he neared the chamber door it flung open and jumping out of it came another mirari droid wielding a vibroblade. Prazutis brought up his lightsaber to meet it, and surprisingly the lightsaber collided with the blade which held and didn't break. The droid moved surprisingly quickly trying to use its strength to break the saber lock. However Prazutis didn't waver and his attacker was decimated by an eruption of blaster fire, its remains hitting the floor in a fit of sparks and pieces. Just then a door opened up at the end of the hall and a powerful repeating turret began a barrage, destroying the scattershot mirari before it was swiftly silenced by a few well deflected blaster shots.

The door to the left was a simple storage room with weapon crates, deactivated droids, various replacement parts in use. The droid attacker clearly changed its methods as the mirari weren't stealth droids, the system was altering its tactics after the last encounter. Prazutis walked down to the next set of doors and stood in front of them. Thankfully he wasn't attacked immediately as the doors slid open. Inside was a small room filled with computers lining the left half of the wall, and a series of servers lining the right. Prazutis ducked in the chamber just as two more squads of four came trudging down the hallway from either direction. He immediately shut and sealed the doors, running over to the console.

Luckily as the terminal lit up it automatically opened up rather than projecting a log-in screen. It was a closed circuit system and impossible to hack into unless someone was on-site at the terminal. A battle short but destructive raged outside as the two droids he controlled valiantly tried to mount a defense. Unfortunately they were absolutely decimated by a torrent of laser fire, ripping through their shields and hull like tissue paper. Prazutis acted quickly on the terminal ending the incessant wailing alarms, and sending the deactivation code for the security droids. Several loud crashing noises as the hulls hit the ground. Prazutis sighed in relief as he managed to shut down the remaining turrets, security defenses. However there was one road block that he ran into and that was the closed systems inside the chamber labeled "Containment Chamber Alpha".

Daesumnor, the Blade of Hunger was located inside there he could feel its presence. The blades power was intoxicating as it rolled forth like a fog, staining everything in the vault itself. Darth Kryptus was an unstoppable killing machine, a human juggernaut who slaughtered his way across a thousand battlefields. If Daesumnor was truly the sister blade of Derriphan than it took the souls of those it killed. The blade would have held thousands, possibly tens of thousands or even hundreds, it was an uncountable number of souls trapped within the blade with the work of the Living Vessel of Destruction that Kryptus was. Prazutis left the terminal and walked back out into the hallway, stepping over the sparking hulls of destroyed and deactivated droids as he moved down the hallway.

The door at the end led to a circular chamber with several turrets inside, including ventilation. If the poisonous gas venting into the chamber didn't kill you the turrets did while you were slowed. He turned down a path that went deeper into the vault, winding down a string of halls rife with aggressive defenses, a small army of droids and automatic turret weaponry. But it all led to a single dead end door. As soon as he stepped inside an office lit up covered with a thick layer of dust, a terminal off to one side and book shelves with miscellaneous books lining them. Installed into the roof was a large holographic display, big enough to project life sized holograms. A door sat on the opposite end.

Suddenly the chamber lit up in a bright blue glow before dissapearing and the outline of a very tall person, towering well over two meters in height, coming close to Prazutis own height formed. The holographic shape soon took form and color in the shape of Darth Kryptus himself. The Sith Lord was a muscular powerhouse in the best shape anyone's ever seen, his body looked as if it was crafted out of stone. Kryptus physique was forged and tempered in the white hot flame of battle. The Juggernaut of Serenno wore a set of black sith robes disguising a suit of iron skin beneath. Strung on his back was the holographic resemblance of Daesumnor, and he wore on his face the Mask of Darth Nihilus.

"You are the individual causing so much trouble in my vault so tell me stranger." Kryptus said and like grease lightning he whipped the blade from its sheath and held it at Prazutis neck. The hologram was so real, if he didnt know otherwise Prazutis would think Kryptus was about to skewer him here and now, with the blade he was trying to acquire. "Who are you? The security scans say you gained access with Emperor Kaine Zambrano's access codes, you are not him. What is your name?" Kryptus said. It was clearly a virtual intelligence of some sort, just one step below an Artificial Intelligence. "I am Darth Prazutis, Councilor of the One Sith Dark Council." He replied calmly to the hologram.

Kryptus stared at him for a moment as if the VI was thinking on its next decision, before sheathing Daesumnor on its back. "You've come a long way Darth Prazutis, for something that doesn't belong to you..such is the way of the Sith. I locked this blade away for a reason." Kryptus told him as he cracked his knuckles calmly, stepping closer. Prazutis didn't back down from the hologram and in fact reminded himself that it was just a hologram, it was a killer instinct within the Sith Knight to always be alert, especially if such a threatening target gets within close range. Kryptus was renown for his mastery of CQC skills, and of great feats such as ripping through metal bulkheads, and decimating his opponents with his might, he had cause to be wary if it was the real man. "Daesumnor the Blade of Hunger. It is a runeblade stealing the souls of those it kills. Its powerful but there is something the legends don't carry along. Its curse." Kryptus slid his hands behind his back standing tall with a stone cold gaze as he looked right into Prazutis eyes never daring to blink.

He had the face of a warrior his powerful features like they were cut from stone, his eyes blazing yellow burning with dark side corruption. "The blade wants souls, needs them. It will mess with your mind, try to manipulate you into feeding it more, and more. It will unleash your bloodlust and in doing so it will control you. It is a constant battle to keep it in check. I locked it in here to protect my own sanity, in the last few years I held it, I was faltering to its call and feeding it more and more without purpose, I wasn't going to let it control me." One of the mans well known traits was his staunch position on killing. Kryptus never killed if it had no purpose, he never killed if it was unnecessary. Those who surrendered to him were placed at the mercy of the Judge of the Sith, and if need be the Executioner. So if the blade was beating him Prazutis understood why he would go to all this trouble to keep it safe, and locked away.

"If you are here than that means something has happened to me, I've been killed, kidnapped, disappeared something, perhaps fallen because of mistakes I made under its influence. So I will give you my last, and only warning." Kryptus placed a hand above his shoulder, and spoke once more "Do not give in to the blades subtle machinations. Kill only when killing is necessary, don't give in to the urge to kill. If you allow yourself to fall under its sway it will destroy you, and you will join me...wherever I ended up. Farewell Darth Prazutis." Kryptus finished and stepped back, the hologram faded away and just like that he was gone. The doors behind where the hologram was opened, revealing the prize he had come so far for: Daesumnor.

[member="Jacen Cavill"]

 

[Darth Prazutis]

The chamber holding Daesumnor was small and rectangular the walls a dark grayish steel color. Inside the temperature was kept significantly lower than the rest of the building, and it was noticeably empty with one exception. Centered in the room set towards the back wall was an intricate pedastal made of durasteel. Sitting atop the pedastal was an intricate large rectangular case, surrounded by rectangular panes of glass. Inside the blade slightly bobbed, secured in a glowing stasis field. Once more the vault was enveloped in silence, only the hum of the ventilation pressing cool, crisp air into the chamber.

Prazutis walked straight up to the case, look carefully at the runeblade made of dark steel. Runes lined both flat sides of the blade, occasionally glowing for brief fleeting moments before dimming. Even after decades of use by Darth Kryptus it was still sharpened to perfection, a product of its expert creation by Rave Merrill, the greatest alchemist the galaxy has ever seen. However the blades beauty wasn't all that grabbed the attention of Prazutis. Sounds began filling the chamber, originating from the blade.

As he focused on Daesumnor he heard whispers, it was only a few quiet, distant ones at first. But the longer and harder he focused on the blade the amount increased more, and more, and they got louder. The souls, it was all of the countless souls that filled the blade. They were trapped in eternal torment inside the blade, denied the release they so desperately sought. Daesumnor was especially the bane of powerful force wielders, its unique abilities trapping the souls of those it kills ending any attempts of transferring your spirit to another body. Prazutis brought a swift strike to the glass protecting the blade, shattering it in pieces and sending it to the flour in a loud crash, stepping right up to the blade, sliding his lightsaber back on his belt.

He reached out and wrapped a hand around its hilt, forming a tight grip on the blade and pulling it out of the stasis field sheath and all. Prazutis strapped the sheath to his back and drew Daesumnor. The pang of steel being drawn into the air rang out as he gave the blade a few swings. Much like Derriphan it was relatively light to the Sith Knight. Just as he sheathed the blade however the blades voice converged on his mind almost immediately. Prazutis was no stranger to the price of powerful items. Valthris the Dark Crystal, a powerful force crystal he always wore constantly tried to force its way into his mind, the Empowerment from [member="Soeht"] working to pull at his mind. Now Daesumnor was trying to fill his mind with bloodlust.

Prazutis saw Darth Kryptus and a thousand different battlefields across the galaxy, some of which were familiar to him during his service in the Old Sith Empire. He saw the infamous Sith Lord knee deep in blood and gore, a vicious roar erupting from him as he tore his enemies apart. Soldiers were cut to ribbons, hacked apart, impaled, and otherwise destroyed by the mans might. The dark steel of the weapon was stained a crimson red as he fought for what had to be days nonstop. There was a feral ferocity to the Sith Lords assault, that only seemed to become more prevalent the more he butchered. Were Prazutis week willed he might have not noticed the blades subtle machinations, but thankfully he wasn't. Satisfied with his prize the Sith Knight turned to leave, distracted by his prize to notice what was coming.

[member="Jacen Cavill"]