Episode V: Akala Strikes Back

[Apoc]

Location: The Blood Wastes

As Apoc continued to look for a pathway ahead that didn't look identical, or worse than the hellhole the group juts left, he turned to be met by another group. This group, much like their own, was a very odd selection of people. However, Apoc didn't like this enhancement of the group size. A larger group meant more of a chance of conflict between the members, this could end in injuries and death. Two things that they were already surrounded by.

Since their trek to the top of the hill, the group had made little progress. To find a safe way out, they would need to carry on moving forward and not stop until they found safety or a doorway out of this place. But until the group decided where they would be heading, it was likely they would remain on that hill, bickering with eachother.



[member="Ailyn Cyar'ika"] [member="Vassara Raxis"] [member="Elizie Adasca"] [member="Solan Charr"] [member="Darth Metus"] [member="Aeizori-Mei Kaeirosae"] [member="The Onyx"]

 

[Sin1]

[member="The Ferrymen of the River"] [member="Tora Mirkew"]


Razer watched the boat of black metal float towards him, with a being on it cloaked. As Razer continued to watch it reach the bank, he realized this being was a woman, and not just any woman, but a blind woman of great beauty regardless of her wounds. This wasnt all he noticed, fire had did this, and the attributes of what Razer was, was clearly visible to him in this woman. In their native tongue, Vahla, Razer spoke out.
"Samantha is a beautiful name, as you are. You say wrong here, but I feel I was purposely put here, though I do no belong here. Where, is here?"

 

[Coci Heavenshield]

Location: The Garden of Thorns
[member="Gareth Yalthik"] | [member="Mrrew"] | [member="Dak Canton"] | [member="Shane Williams"] (I think you are in the gardens?)

The strange being did not speak, at least not in words they expected but continued to sing. With each note the hypnotic voice effected them, calming the mind to a point they would not have control over themselves. Coci felt it, although she had trained in blocking such things from her mind, and with great skill but here, in this place without the force, it is difficult. Until the sound of another voice broke the beginning of a trance like state.

"Is anyone there?!". Came a voice off in the distance, close to them and now both Mrrew and she knew they are not alone, but others are trapped in this place. "Over here!" she yelled out her attention taken from the being. "Mrrew! Mrrew!', she yelled in case he too had been placed under the spell.

The garden shifted once more, more illusions and now images of threatening vines and creatures seem to spring up from nowhere, as real as they are and it was becoming difficult to remove illusion from reality. "We must get away from this being", she said as she began to make her way toward the new voice.

 

[Edric Vanyan]

[member="Razer Sin"]

She raised a brow as she stared right at him and then at the woman and the others far off. "You all don't belong here.... yet you claim someone else had brought you to this place of death, think my Vahla kin. Why would someone of our kind with such wounds be pushing a body, and why would i have no hinderence in doing so..." She slowly stepped out of the boat and pulled her hood down before moving her hair to the side to show the spot in which marked her clearly as a dead being. "You are in the land of the dead little Vahla."

 

[Marcus Faust]

Screams. Agony. Pain. Sorrow.

“Save us!”

His eyes shot open, burning red orbs encircling black pupils which practically glowed aside from the black veins running through the eyes. Gasping for air smoggy air filling his lungs as he rolled of a bed of rock and onto the damp floor of a cave. The vod’un sections of his sections of his body shifted, a living mask concealing the horrendously malformed face of the sithspawn-cyborg Sith Lord. Force that was a mouthful.

Darth Vindica, hand of the Dark Lord of the Sith rose up from his position on all fours and up to his full height of seven feet thanks to his ‘modifications’. Modifications, the word failed to capture the significance of what he had undertaken, the sacrifices he had made were tremendous.

Black veins crisscrossed pale skin and visible muscle underneath the outer layer of armor, but the armor had become skin, all of him was whole. Striding towards the mouth of the cave in which he awoke the light of the emerald sun cast its light on him as he looked down on what was happening around him.

It was utter chaos. Where the hell was he? Thousands upon thousands languished beneath him, begging for some sort of salvation. He would not deliver.

“How far you’ve come little avenger.” Whispered a far too familiar voice into his ear. Whipping around in a blur of motion he turned around, his saber flying to his hand and igniting. Hate ran through his body like a fire as both his hands wrapped around the hilt, guiding the blade as he lashed out. But nothing was there, only the mouth of the cave.

Where the fething hell was he? He could use some company though, interaction would be nice.

 

[Grrwunhoooll Agaburry]

Garden of Thorns -> Sanctuary

After Kezeroths rage ended he fell to his knees and closed his eyes, So many question and all the answers no where near. No connection to the force bothered him to a great degree, infact he was ready to kill in order to get it back. This was how dependent he was on the Force. Without it his mind could easily regain control and dominate freely showing it will to all. Multipule split personalities, insanity and Bi-polar disorders were now being held back on shier will alone now. Tension would slowly build...

Being aware of this situation the Gen'dai looked at his right bracer and checked his fuel for his Jet-pack and Grav boots. His Jet pack would be for emergencies since it was powerful enough to throw him several 100 meters in the air. Activating his Grav boots Kezeroth ascended 60 meters up past the top of the thick wall of trees. From above he could see...nothing. The Dark was thick as if he was caught in the Sith magic ability Waves of Darkness. His Targeting system was dead, It could not see what he could not and the light from his Grav boots was dim. " I cant see the ground...." he paused and gnashed his teeth.

- Why me? Is this the fate of being the Darksides Embodiment? This is Hell... No.. This is my mind, yes yes. It has to be my mind, I am trapped within my own mind.- He thought to himself as he hovered slowly forward. His body twitched and aloud another part of him spoke " This is not your mind Kezeroth! We too enjoy using your abilities in this place we suffer just as much as you do. Let us take over and find a way out! We can do it! Let us out!!" twitching again Kezeroth jerked his body and began to spin mid air. Grunting and attempting to balance out another jerk threw him off balance, " Rest we can take over just fine!" he said to himself and suddenly slammed into a large tree branch, thick and now broken. Both the Gen'dai and Piece of wood fell together as one.

Falling in Darkness, Seamlessly endless to the mind.​

Forced to face the reality of your mind, Caged no more.​

The sounds of the suffering penetrated his very being, as if he was gored through the chest by a Thorn.​

Bleeding, Crying and lost Once more. Thrive to be good, No Better.​

​You Thrive to be Great, but fall every time.​

Like a stone dropped from the heavens, Dust and dirt moved like the Waters of Maanan.​

A child injured and with no help. ​

His silent cry mimicked those who he heard in the distance. ​

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" Grr... Why?! Help me.." ​

" Pain is power, This World is nothing compared to the one you have made for yourself! Do not forget how far we have grown together."​

" Together?" ​

" Yes, We are your mind or atleast parts of it. You need us!" ​

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Gripping the ground the Gen'dai stood on his knees again, His chest was placed the branch that had hit him. His armor was damaged from the fall and felt very uncomfortable to wear now. His jet-pack destroyed and now useless. Gripping the branch hard Kezeroth pulled it out hard, the sound of flesh ripping was loud for a brief moment and the pain was numbing. Quickly the wounds began to heal and the new pain of regenerating had begun. Weak, wounded and drifting Kezeroth found himself, Following a distant light that flew about. It flashed and appeared randomly all over, it was beautiful. What seemed like 2 Days was really only 30mins, That was the feeling of traveling and reaching the light. It floated in front of him peacefully and stared at him. Reaching out to touch it Kezeorth fell over unconscious.

The mental and Physical pain of this world was stressing on him and his body demanded more time to heal. Once more he saw darkness and rolled on the ground, the light followed the Gen'dai as he rolled down hill in till it finally by contact with his body. His body disappeared once more and was transferred to a different place within the Void. The knocked out Gen'dai appeared before two others in this new environment.

[member="Seraphina Shel'tah"] [member="Rael sul B'an"]

 

[Sin1]

[member="The Ferrymen of the River"]

Razer nodded, and was not surprised when he saw all this. "I did not not say I knew why, nor who. How else would I be here, but by some unknown force you, nor I know? I know I am in the land of the dead, as I have died, and but stepped one foot into this world only for a brief moment." He took a step forward. "Again I ask, where is here, does the land of the dead not have names to which the living call it?" Razer was a full foot taller then her. "I am getting ahead of myself though, I am Razer Sin, and this is my friend Tora." He pulled Tora more to him.
"Though now we know each other my dear friend Samantha, may I ask, how you came to be here?"

 

[Sayl Bane]

Location: Behelian Canyon
With: [member="Sage Bane"], [member="Zenva Vrotoa"], [member="Mistress Malkite"]

A string of staccato Huttese curses were the first thing to escape Sayl's mouth as she wrenched herself back to consciousness, pushing herself into a sitting position and casting a cursory glance at the surrounding area before turning her senses inward. It didn't seem she was hurt any worse than a few bruises, as evident by the all-over soreness as she finally stood. Something's wrong. Well, that was obvious. The question was where she'd managed to find herself this time. Waking up at a different location with no memory of getting there was one thing, and had once been a typical occurrence in her life. But a lapse such as this was strange and alien.

Her first instinct was to attempt to locate any familiar presences nearby, hopefully that of her twin, but the attempt was halted before it even began, a peculiar void within herself where the Force once thrived. That was definitely unusual, if not unheard of. She would have to settle for doing things the hard way, then. The first step was figuring out exactly where she was. The high walls of the canyon with the robed countenances staring down from the walls were unfamiliar in a way that told her they were not of the galaxy she called home. That disturbed her more than the skeletons that lined the canyon floor, but they gave her cause to be wary.

Slowly she began walking, still disoriented and unsure of where she was. But it seemed that she wasn't alone in that, as a number of human, near-human and aliens of every species were in much the same predicament as she was. However, unlike them, she wouldn't just sit and wait for something to happen, so she continued on, no matter how much she wanted to sit down and let time pass unchallenged. As she walked she took inventory of all that on her person, which wasn't much. A vibroblade was sheathed in her boot, a few credits in her pocket, and not much else. The money wouldn't do any good here, wherever here was, and she didn't intend to have a reason to use her weapon, but knew the chances were slim.

A familiar head of brown hair caught her eye, and with no Force signature to help her in identifying it, she had to go with her instinct. And it was telling her that she'd finally managed to find her twin. "Long time no see, huh?"

 

[Besk]

Location: Serenity's Redoubt

Besk woke with a scream, sweat beading down his face. He closed his eyes and tried to block out the images he just saw and felt.
He reached out for the force and found nothing. Looking around he saw a luscious cavern forest and a pyre burning.

His hands quickly reached for the lightsabers on his belt. checking to see if they were there, he grips one firmly and holds rightly, almost as if he was trying to draw his strength from it.

 

[Galaar Tal'Verda]

Location: Ruined City of Hr'tal
Companions: The Tal'Verda twins.

The phantom turned his head between the two as they barked at him. It was half-adorable, half-terrifying that small children where so very used to dealing with things like him. Though, he didn't exactly know what he was currently. "I'm not speaking in riddles, ad'ika!" His voice raised slightly in defense of himself and he towered over the tiny beings. His arm then stretched out to motion over the fungal-infested, decrepit, and ruined city. If one looked hard enough, they would see movement amongst the spores and brick. "I'm as confused as you are..." He admitted and then sighed. His armor clad body turning to face the city and the spire that rose in the east. "You're the first others that I've spoken with in what feels like an entirety." He mulled out, speaking as if he didn't know he was even dead. The katarn clad figure seemed almost lost himself.

"Maybe we can work together, eh? I want out of this place too. It's hell."

[member="Rawnie Tal'verda"]

[member="Corrin Tal'verda"]

 

[RC 212]

Ailyn Cyar'ika [member="Shuduc Macar"] [member="Darth Metus"] [member="Elizie Adasca"]

Location: 1 :Bloodwastes

Vassara glanced down at her datapad motioning Metus in closer to let him view it. She was tired and hungry, no doubt the others were too. They seemed to be two kilometres away from a different section of this..... Whatever this was. A world perhaps? Pushing loose thoughts aside she nodded reassuringly to the small group they had gathered as the recon droids still buzzed farther north.

"Looks like there is an edge here. If we make a straight shot for it we can get there before..."

Before what? Dark? Did dark even descend in this land?

"Well before any of these things walking around get any ideas. I don't feel right here. Once we get there I suppose we could hole up and dig in. I can scan the next area when we get to it, but the droids shortwave transceivers only reach so far. We have to get to the next place and closer to them for any mapping to be effective."

Vassara shut down the datapad, swinging her shotgun up over her shoulder rambo style and wiping a bit of black ash from below her eye.

"Ya'll down?"

 

[Silas Mantis]

@Apoc Ailyn Cyar'ika Vassara Raxis Elizie Adasca Solan Charr Darth Metus Aeizori-Mei Kaeirosae The Onyx

Blood Wastes, a fitting name if he ever heard one. "Hold up!" Called out the young mandolorian. Catching up to the...team(?) of sorts wasn't too hard, what he was worried about was them moving to kill him if the realized he was a Mantis. Preliat was a damned effective warrior and he was sure that wherever he was he was doing well, but he'd made plenty of enemies in his travels. But to be fair, it didn't seem allegiance meant much wherever they were.

 

[Shane Williams]

Location: Garden of Thorns
Allies: [member="Coci Sinopi"]

As he heard shouting she ran to it somebody was in trouble it sounded like. The republic soldier ran toward it deeper into the thorns some brushing against his armor leaving small scratches though nothing he couldn't buff out later. "Hold on!" He shouted hoping to tell whoever this was somebody was coming. Sliding under some thorns as they tried to barr his path he got within closer view. Seeing [member="Coci Sinopi"] he ran closer to her. He saw the being and looked to her. "The name of sanity is going on here?" he asked the Republic soldier very much tired of the place already.

 

[Tora Mirkew]

Welp

Razer was being his usual confusing self, asked her opinion and then promtatly pulled her along on some fast rack feeling.

Along the way he dropped the little one, And she was insentionally led along for the ride.

And then they met a rather strange figure.

It... she? Tora wasn't sure how to idenfy the dead.... if nothing else it sounded femine.

.... Razer began a conversation with the being-and Marona simply stood their listening, her job wasn't to talk after all.

She got a weird vibe though.... so she stayed prept for battle-she wasn't particularly keen on trusting the dead.

@Ferryman Of The River [member="Razer Sin"]

 

[Slot 11]

Aerin and Jen's thoughts were interrupted by someone calling over to them. WOW. She was RED. Like, REALLY red. And her clothes were expensive-looking.

"Nope. I haven't the faintest idea what this place is. Or how I got here, either. You?"

[member="Ashe Ikon"]

 

[Gareth Yalthik]

Location: Garden of Thorns
​

​

The Jedi Knight get pushing forward despite the incessant clawing of the voices. Multiple images flashed before his eyes, each one growing evidently more powerful the longer he dragged on. That's when he heard the voices up ahead. It was faint, very faint. But it sounded like the voice of a female. "H-hello?!" He called out again, wandering through the shifting images of illusions in front of him.

Someone was here?

Gareth desperately tried to look around despite being surrounded by darkness. He couldn't feel anyone, but he could hear them. "If someone is out there can you answer me?!" He asked again, wiping some sweat off of his jawline while holding his head.

[member="Coci Sinopi"] l [member="Mrrew"] l [member="Dak Canton"]

 

[Fabula Caromed]

Where: The Blood Waste
Who: The supportive and adorable [member="Fable Merrill"]
What: Getting sick and tired of blood

A single step was agony. Another three steps were a torment that Fabula had not anticipated bearing. Fortunately, she had a tiny angel to help her through. Her Rage seemed to be impotent here, but at the very least it was helping her dull the pain. Or maybe that was just her sheer stubbornness refusing to accept that she was in unthinkable torment. Whatever the case, she was being a remarkably good sport for someone who had just taken a lightsaber to her Achilles tendon.

Fabula attempted to speak after a few steps, wound up grunting in pain, and decided better against it.

Each movement brought with it a kind of pain that the beleaguered, tortured woman had become far too used to in her time in this hellish place. It couldn't compare to the pain of hundreds of thousands of consecutive deaths that she'd experienced in...wherever she had been. They were definitely in the same place as before, but not. Somewhat like being in different parts of the same planet. It had the same air, but you'd never be able to tell from the look of the world around you.

For instance, on the horizon, there was something...different. It was hard to tell what it was. The harsh light from the green sun beyond the infinite clouds of blood didn't seem to shine there, and there were colors other than red and bone white on that little speck of something. Another step brought her closer to it, and she decided that would be their destination. Whatever it was, it couldn't be worse than dodging boiling blood-water and searing blood-rain.

"There," she managed to cough out between struggled steps.

 

[Judah Dashiell]

Location : The Blood Wastes​

Companion : Makai Dashiell​

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The blood-water was getting thick and deeper. The wailing wasn't getting any better and there was no end in sight. Judah was starting to have an internal debate with himself about what happened. Seemed like a lot of folks ended up in the same spot. He would bet it was something to do with the Force. It always was. Jedi and Sith running about, muddling it up.


"Are we there yet?"


Judah chuckled "Where are we is the question."


Wading through the blood-swamp...marsh thing, Judah was trying to look ahead more than look down. Several beings had gathered by a pool of sorts. Quickly, he rushed ahead towards the crowds. It immediately felt like he was falling. Keeping a good grip on his son, the world went completely black again. They had fallen through the rift.

 

[Fable Merrill]

Where: Blood Wastes
Who: [member="Fabula Cavataio"]

An order was an order. Fable acknowledged it with a small nod, focusing her attention on supporting the crippled woman in her arm as best as she was able. Scary thought - if she hadn't run into her, how long would Fable have been lost to this place, trapped in her own paranoid fury? How many people had she- no. Couldn't think about that now. This place was a hellish mess, a confusion filled with desperate, frightened people and a desperate, frightened clone. If she stopped to think about how many people she'd... accosted... it'd be pulling her energy away from getting out of here. Mom was counting on her to carry them through this, so she could do nothing more than focus her everything upon that task. Fable had to fight her reflexive longing to give her mother a chance to rest and alleviate some of her pain, simply because her injury wasn't the sort that rest would help.

If Fable gave her a chance to sit down, she wasn't certain that Fabula would be able to stand up again.

Head down, mind focused on putting one foot in front of the other, Fable had no clue that she was being directed towards a different thing on the horizon. Her perception was entirely limited to conquering the ground one step at a time, and warding off any attackers that might see them as an easy mark. Let mom - in her considerable wisdom and experience - worry about where they were going in addition to dealing with her pain. Fable would make sure they'd get there in one piece, by any means necessary. And when this was all over, they'd have plenty of time to relax and recover and in Fable's case not think about the lives she'd taken in her anger today.

 

[Jsc]

The Valley of Lies
Akala's Realm p2 | Cockran's Cave | p1 | p3

It was raining now. A spectral white wisp. The wind never abated here and most of the lost spirits took shelter from the storm by hiding against the jagged cliffs. As Karen had been quickly told, the river was never an option.

"...Come on damn you. Light already! Grrr."

There was the crackling of thunder out beyond the cave. Funny. Even from way up here she never noticed any lightning,

"Are you ever going to give that up Mando? It won't light, you know."

"Hush now woman. I'll make it work."

Karen grimaced at the old Mandalorian she'd been sitting with for hours. He was a dirty veteran, human once, and doing his God-awful best to get a fire going. Alas, like many things in this hellish realm? Now he looked more like a reedy and beardless dwarf than anything. And as she'd learned from another traveler? It appeared he'd been trying to light this fire for weeks.

"The grass here doesn't burn Cockran. Nothing in this valley burns. It won't light."

"Shut up. I'll work. I've done it before."

She shook her head and sat down closer to the mouth of the cave. He wasn't much for conversation when he was doing that. Give it a few minutes and he'd settle back into his despair. Then the real story could begin. In the meantime, Karen spent most of her efforts following the voyage of the Green Sun. Trying to tell how, and if, time was really passing.

"Bah! It's no use. This grass is bad. Wet from the rain probably. Damn this Emotion Storm."

"The rain isn't wet up here Cockran. Nothing ever get's moist and soggy up here, except for you."

"Hrmph. Look. Hrm, ...we'll try again after the storm passes. Plenty of burnable fuel around here if you know where to look."

"Right. Sure. Just like the last three times you tried."

"Oh... Sod off. Hrmph. I'll get it working. You'll see. You'll see."

Yep. This was another salty hell indeed. Poor raven-haired Cockran must have been trying to light that fire for an eternity now, by her measure. But that wasn't what she needed from him right now. He was one of the few spirits around here who could still communicate with any sense. And that was passing rare in this valley indeed.

"Cockran. Since you're resting a moment. You mentioned that this cave never moves? Why is that again?"

"What? Because it's my cave of course. It never goes anywhere."

"But all the other Giant's Maws. They drift and stir within the mountains. How is it that your cave never moves?"

"I already told you that. It's because I lit that bonfire over there. So now it's my cave. And my cave never moves."

She turned her head with surprise. He'd never mentioned that before.

"The cave fire!?"

"Yes. Yes. Once you light a bonfire the surrounding area never changes. It's what keeps this rock formation from changing like the other ones. Didn't you know that?"

"No. No I didn't. How did you?"

"Oh yes. The Old Woman will tell you the same. She's the one who taught me that trick. Hehe. Lives down at the end of the river near the Lizardman's Hut. But gosh darn it! ...She left with all the Tinder and I've nothing to use now but grass. Darn old coot."

Cockran threw more debris on his dry embers and went back to tending his keep. His own happy little eternity. Karen watched the storm outside and frowned. She was already making other plans.

"Thank you for the fine story Cockran. I think I'll go visit this Old Woman and her Lizardman now."

"Fine. Fine. And bring ye'self back some Tinder while you're at it. All I've got is this yellow grass and now the fire won't start. Bah. ...I'll get it working. You'll see. You'll see. I've done it before, ya know. ...I'll get it working again in no time."

"Of course Cockran. Stay warm old friend."

As she left the hollow confines of Cockran's Cave and moved out into the windswept wastes, she already knew. She'd never see him again.

___