Episode V: Akala Strikes Back

[Feena]

Location: Blood wastes
Objective: Friendly chat with [member="Keter"]

Feena smiled, hands on her hip. What an... odd couple they were. So entirely used to this sort of thing. Neither fazed by any of it.
"Well, I did fall asleep at my desk," she shrugged, "Not the first time. Not the last, well, assuming I wake up. You know... I kind of figured maybe this place represented my days as a war medic. It reminds me a little of the fields when all was said and done. Less stray body parts though..."

She crossed her arms with a sigh and a shake of her dark curls.

"But no. I'm beginning to think I'm wide awake. i think you are too."

He was real. Feena always knew the difference. In her dreams, Keter listened to everything she said before she even said it. And right now Keter was not, in fact, offering to carry her through the mashes so she didn't ruin her shoes.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

Behelian Canyon

Jacen stayed locked into place, looking down the endless chasm. Was this representative of time? he wondered. A single path etched into the Universe, never deviating from its determined course. Was anything at the end? Did it run on forever?

Look at the bones!

His eyes stayed locked on the impossible horizon, and the infinite plane that stretched out before him, but some part of his conscious mind registered the warning. His peripheral vision saw the beached white piles all around him. And when, exactly, did I sit down?

He managed to avert his gaze for a moment, but it was long enough. There were skeletons all around, some new, many old. Some still had tattered flesh hanging from them, and yet there was no smell. There was no wind, either.

Jacen turned his head to the side, even though there was something akin to an elastic force pulling him back to the horizon. Several of the skeletons were hunched over, but sat down. Others were lain across the ground. Yet whenever the skull was intact, the dead eye sockets faced forwards. All those dark openings facing in one direction: towards the horizon.

Chit! You need to leave Voidstalker!

And suddenly it was over. His back was turned on the horizon and he was looking back up the canyon.

 

[Besk]

Location: Serenity's Redoubt
People: [member="Seamus Valik"][member="Marrik Aloxum"]
Kit: two lightsabers, food capsules.

Besk looked around at the skeletons of the past. The stranger was right, it felt so peaceful here. He felt the light washing over him. He had never felt so connected to the light side before. He tied reaching out with the force to deepen the connection and was confused to feel nothing... How could he feel such serenity and not be connected to the living force. He was a Jedi, a protector of the innocent and upholder of justice and yet he didn't feel like doing anything but sitting down and closing his eyes.

His hand loosened it's grip on the lightsaber and he looked down. NYDA ... Tha name pushed its way into his mind. He couldn't feel her. His connection to the force was severed somehow and his only remaining link to her was gone. Focus momentarily returned to him and he looked up at the pyre and the cliff. "Nyda, I can't let her down" with all of his strength he took one step and then another. His pace was slow and he was in danger of falling over loose rocks and mossy growth as he walked, but he wouldn't be stopped. He looked back at the zabrak, his face a mask of agony as he fought an internal battle with his demons "can't fail her!"

 

[Keter]

Blood Waste
[member="Feena Mason"]

Urgh. "Falling asleep at work again? Feena..." he stated with a slight warning tone. Then he grinned darkly and began circling. "Maybe I need to kidnap you again for a while..." the blond offered, tapping his chin, paying their surroundings no mind. "Or just punish you for running yourself so tired," Keter suggested, embracing his wife from behind. Force it felt good to hold her in his arms again. "You know I'm not going to let you go after this. Not for a long time."

 

[Feena]

Location: Bloody yucky blood place
[member="Keter"]

She rolled her eyes at him and shook her head with a smile. So like him. Now he was thinking with something else entirely. Fine. It had been months since the last time they saw each other. He deserved a little affection.

"I'll make you a deal. Let's both get out of here alive, and I take some of my vacation days to spend alone with you. We don't even have to go anywhere. Just you and me."

She let her eyes close for a moment, letting her body lean into his. Romantic. Even in an ugly place like this, he was still romantic.

"You came from that direction, yes?" she asked, nodding forward, "Anything of worth over there?"

 

[Darth Odium]

Location: Towers of Destiny
Objective: Get back to real space so havoc can resume
People: No clue
Gear: Armor of Malraas bones

Black glaring eyes stared at the tower as it loomed above him his feet planted firmly as possible on the jagged rocks beneath him. The air had no taste, his hunger was gone, and for the first time in recent memory his throat didn't feel like the hand of death held it in its hate filled grasp.

His thoughts were a mass of pain soaked memories as he began to make his way up to the tower. Memories of [member="Quinn Vos"], [member="Ryan Korr"], [member="Jaxton Ravos"], [member="Darth Layil"] and @Darth Vitium all rolled through his addled brain as the memories of the things he had done to all surfaced. His prosthetic foot was gone and he limped on the stump as he walked. The rocks cutting the exposed limb that he could have sworn he had replaced. How he got here and why he knew not but here he was and out was where he desired to go.

The sounds of millions of dead slowly rose in his ears as he recalled the worlds that had died for his satisfaction. The beings whose only crime was being alive and near him. He hated them still, even now that his conscience was operating at full force, though his hate for himself was far greater. He had been a monster in life....

"In life..." he said aloud, "I was killed. I shouldn't be....unless..."

He left his words go unsaid as he looked for an entrance and began hobbling for the doors to the tower and his fate.

 

[Via Dolorosa]

Ruined City of Hr'Tal​

​

[member="Miles Varden"]​

​

The Vahla saw a man running toward her and her first instinct was to reach for her weapon but hesitated when he began to speak. Residents? What Residents? "My name Ciara. What a relief it is to see another person," she answered the man while she walked with toward an overgrown awning. "Where are we? Everything seems so wrong. I can't feel the..." She let her last words die on her lips. She didn't want to give to much away until she knew if this man was friend or foe, or until she knew his intentions. But she was thrilled to know she wasn't along in this eerie place.

"Wait. You mentioned something about residents, Miles. What kind of residents are you speaking about?" A cold feeling washed over her. How could there be anything alive in this place? If this was a dream, she wanted to wake up now. If this was a nightmare, then again she wanted to wake up. However, something was nagging at the base of her spine alerting her this was no dream nor a nightmare. This was reality. Whose reality?

"I don't mean to bog you down with so many questions, but how long have you been here? More importantly, can we even get out?"

 

[Edric Vanyan]

[member="Connor Harrison"] [member="Nima Tann"]

The Ferrymen just watched as Connor did not follow him, but also the path that the ferryman caused himself and grimaced until once more Nima Tann was in sight. "Living, There seems to be more than one of you." He stopped a good five meters from Nima, his hands gripping the pole made from his robes as the deathly man stared out from the confines of the dark hood. "I can take you too him, but we must no longer walk, it seems something Vile has become of me and my other cohorts, and that vile creation is something that i will not stand to watch you be affected by until you are united with the other Living."

 

[Edric Vanyan]

[member="Tora Mirkew"] [member="Razer Sin"]

"And what of your friends little Vahla and apathetic one. Will they be moving through out this place with you or will the be unable to do so and must find a way back to the world of the living." She aimed her gaze at the others off in the distance, though never once moved from where she was standing. Infact all the girl did was stare, waiting and watching for the man to answer her or she would have to start walking and she did not need that as she somehow new that her footsteps would create one of those perverse rifts that she knew were tearing between the two worlds.

 

[Lachlan Thorne]

- THE BLOOD WASTES -
THE RIFT
[member="Faye Terrik"]

"I have to kill," were the first words the Jedi whispered after getting out of the rift. He looked around himself, trying to find the one who was easiest to murder. His eyes looked around, moving rapidly and so fas that the boy couldn't even keep track of where he had looked and where not. But his mind did seem to understand where was the weakest potential victim.

No, I'm a Jedi, he thought to himself. He just couldn't destroy somebody's life, even though the temptation to do that was high. He could feel his body aching for him to kill somebody. For that moment, his cold thinking balanced off his passions, but he had no idea of how long it would be that way.

So instead of stepping to the potential victim, he ran away. He ran away from the rift. And even though it was difficult to do that due to everything that was on his way - bones, pools of bubbling blood. What place was that?

What. Sorcery. Was. That?

He started shivering. And his mind was torn apart, one part of it wanting to kill somebody, the other being seriously afraid of what was around him.

 

[Keter]

Blood Wastes
[member="Feena Mason"]

He held her close and kissed her neck. "I'll hold you that," he breathed in her ear. A promise. Then he reluctantly let go of his wife and shook his head. "Nothing there except..." he began, pausing to check the little tracker he had set up in his eyes out of boredom, "approximately 45,687 rocks, 34 skeletons, 67 pools of blood, 66 pools of lava, 2 lizards, 9 pieces of paper, 7 metal ores, 5 pieces of random detrius and 209 pieces of dead vegetation."

The blond shrugged. "This place is seriously boring. How about you? Found anything of note here?"

 

[Feena]

-Blood Wastes- (it's so icky....)
[member="Keter"]

Oh good. Good thing he kept track. She didn't know what she'd do if she didn't know that in that direction was something like, 47 skeletons and.... a lot of rocks. She kicked at another rock at her feet, watching it roll away into a pool of blood.

"Couple people. They called this place Hell. I don't think they know what that even means."

She shrugged, turning her gaze to a different direction.

"How about that way? Neither of us have gone that way yet."

 

[Faye Terrik]

Locale: The Blood Wastes
Nearby: [member="Equa Dominator"]
Gear: Lightsaber | Utility Belt | Scrapped Sith Armor

---

In the distance, a rift spat out another poor soul, seeking to see what sat on the other side. It was not the first one today that Faye had encountered. She kept her distance, allowing the initial shock of traversing through realms simmer down on the man's mind. Was it possible he did not see her? Regardless, she gave him another moment before approaching.

"Maddening, isn't it?" she called to the man, who she could faintly see was possibly Umbaran. She did not arrive through the same rift, in all honesty, she had awoken from an almost comatose state a few hours ago, and this realm was just as foreign to her. But she had seen what the trip had done to those who took it. A bloodlust, akin to the one she saw in the warriors of Kashyyyk, the Wookiees, as the Sith conquested their planet. But that was justified. Here, it was little more than a curious side effect.

The man seemed much more sane than others who had come, and ultimately met their fate when trying to wrest the life from Faye's body. Precautionary, Faye kept back, allowing space for any delayed assault from the Umbaran. The man seemed much more cognitive and susceptible to reason than the previous two who arrived. "Do you still have your wits about? I'm getting a tad lonely here." Her banter came with an almost taunting tone to it, as if this world had grown to become a norm to her.

 

[Keter]

Blood Wastes
[member="Feena Mason"]

"Sure," he replied with a nod, offering his arm to his wife. "Shall we?"

 

[Placeholder 0133]

Location: Spire of Destiny


Lenne was here. That was a start. Book offered a small smile as the woman approached, though he was a bit confused as to why she was talking about being drunk. The Mark-III's were all odd cases though save for [member="Pappy"], and he had an AI that thought it was human living in his brain.

Either way, they were his Dreadguard. They were allowed to be a little odd so long as they got the job done.

"Lenne...glad you're alright. I haven't seen any of the others. Something teleported us all to...wherever the hell this is." He motioned all around with an armored hand. "This is Veino Garn. Jensaarai guy."

The Dreadguard Commander reached down to retrieve his helmet, and breathed a heavy sigh as the HUD flooded his vision. Walking about without that constant stream of information was distressing.

"I have my usual kit. Ravager cannon if we need it, my rifle, my sidearm, and a strip of detonite tape. I figure we head for that tower, the rest of our people will find us."

"Transmitting the red signal now. Comms are down, but strangely enough, these signals are getting trough...I don't understand this at all." Stanley added quietly.

Book shrugged.

"The tower then?"

[member="Veino Garn"]

[member="Lenne Fayth"]

[member="Kelghast"]

[member="DG-45"]

 

[Lachlan Thorne]

- THE BLOOD WASTES -
NEAR THE RIFT
[member="Faye Terrik"]

"Who are you?" Equa asked from the woman who had caught his attention. She didn't look too strong, that's the first thing the man thought. But to be fair, nobody looked strong when the boy was under the effect of this strange bloodlust. He started walking towards the woman, forcing himself to be careful and take short steps, because he felt his body was trying to burst to her and snap her neck or something.

"... and what do you know of everything that's going on?" The woman didn't look familiar. Judging by her attire, she seemed to be some kind of a fighter-esque woman, probably from a culture which tolerated violence. Equa truly hoped the woman would have some kind of information of what was happening; he was already going mad.

He had gotten very close to her that moment, and he could already feel his arms starting to raise to take the woman's neck. His heart raced, blood pumped fast, eyes were attached to the woman's, and stared at him coldly.

Then he turned around and shook his head. He couldn't kill her. He was a Jedi, after all.

 

[Feena]

-The super spooktacular blood wastes-
[member="Keter"]

Well, if she had to wander 'hell', at least she could wander with someone she could actually talk to. Rock. Rock. Blood. Rock. Blood. Blood. Bones. She kept her eyes off the ground and found his hand with hers. There had to be a way out. There was always a way out. Force, at least show her a way to something new! She was starting to get bored.

...Her wish was soon granted. She pointed ahead through the mist. It looked like a small island, trees, sand, green. She must be seeing things.

"I'm not the only one seeing this, right?"

 

[Miles Varden]

Location: Ruined City of Hr'Tal
Friend/Foe?: [member="Ciara Jevnaker"]

Miles caught the sentence trailing off. He knew, being a Sith Hunter, Mikes knew a FU when he saw one. It wasn't a worry for him.

"Well, to be honest. They are only what I can best describe, zombies. But they seem to be plant based. The spores in the air have corrupted the people who must've lived here. They attack anyone they see. Some appear to only have the sense of hearing, those are more difficult to get by."

"As for how long I've been here, it seems like hours have passed but my chrono is off. As to a way out, I was heading for that tower there. It's a good vantage point and it may give us a lead."

He turned and started walking towards the tower, whether she followed was up to the woman.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

Behelian Canyon

The jagged walls of the canyon reached high above him, the strange dusky sky a narrow strip that ran overhead. The ground seemed to reach upwards away from him, when he had his back – quite deliberately – turned towards the infinite plains.
Up seemed good. Up might go somewhere, might get him out of the chasm. Now he had some semblance of focus back, he realised just how many remains were dotted around the canyon. They seemed to drop off in frequency further back up the canyon though. Another damn reason to go that way.

He decided to stay put a moment longer and take a quick inventory. A bag of his own belongings had come through with him. He immediately pulled out a bottle of water, it contained maybe half a litre. Whilst he didn’t feel particularly thirst, in this arid environment he knew he’d need to find more soon. An army marched on its stomach, he knew, but it was large volumes of water that usually weighed the soldier down as much as armour.

A small holdout blaster was tucked in the bottom. Probably charge for just four shots. His old lightsaber sat there two, testament to his previous failures. After a few seconds of deliberation he decided to hang both from his belt. Better to look armed than invite attack. Thought possibly it would have the reverse effect. There were a few snacks too; they were high energy which was good. There was a comm unit as well.

He decided to turn the comm on, going through a few channels he had available. There was nothing but static. He powered it down to save battery, but kept it in his hands as he slung his bag over his shoulder. With a bit of time he could reset it to a universal emergency channel. There was a spare power pack in his bag, so he figured he could get a good forty hours of use. If he turned it on every now and again, it would last longer than him unless he found water.

 

[Malok]

Location: The Blood Wastes
Allies: [member="Ailyn Cyar'ika"] | [member="Vassara Raxis"] | [member="Elizie Adasca"] | [member="Shuduc Macar"] | [member="Silas Mantis"] | [member="Solan Charr"] | @Raven Hiyashi | [member="Aeizori-Mei Kaeirosae"] | [member="The Onyx"] | [member="Apoc"]

With each passing moment, the tiny congregation seemed to grow larger. One moment it was simply Darth Metus and his apprentice. In the next, his growing group had intersected with another; and the possibility to moving forward together was in the air. What struck the Sith Lord most about this particular happening was the fact that he was now, somewhat, the leader of this unit. That was perfectly fine with him; but now the question remained where was he leading them? South seemed a good direction, as it was away from the wailing chaos all about them. It was as good a heading as any other.

"It would be best for us all if both of our groups banded together. The larger our host, the better our chances for survival." he began, deliberately speaking louder than the rest. "And our Padawan friend here speaks true. We need to move. Now. Someone knows what the hell is going on, and if we can't find that someone then we can at least get out of this bloody rain."

With that said, the Sith Lord was shown a datapad and informed of what laid only two kilometers north. An edge to the Hellish environment? That could be both a blessing and a curse. "Hmm." However, before he could so much as decide, the scythe wielder stepped forward and confirmed his original thought. "I'm inclined to agree with this gentleman here." he began. "And for those of you who are just now joining us, I am Darth Metus."

Then came the part where the "leader" started "leading."

"We don't know what that edge is. Going South affords us an opportunity to see if there is anyone else we know in this hellhole, and we might find some answers along the way. Send those droids of yours ahead to scout, that way we are aforewarned of any trouble. Ailyn. Padawan. Help Shudac, make sure she doesn't stumble into any boiling blood. Scythe-wielder, you and I will play muscle for this trip. Everyone else, keep your eyes and ears open. Watch our backs and our flanks."

The time for bickering on a hilltop had concluded. It was time to move. Darth Metus didn't give an opportunity for rebuttal or arguments, he simply drew forth his lightsaber and boldly stepped Southward. His pace was brisk, yet careful; for one slip could see him covered in even more blood.