Star Wars Roleplay: Chaos

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First Steps into Darkness

Dromund Kaas​
Dark Force Temple​
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The Lady of Secrets waited within the inner sanctum of the Dark Force Temple of Dromund Kaas, pacing slowly around the chamber for the young woman she had summoned. The events of Ossus had demonstrated to the Lady of Secrets that her newest investment, [member="Romi Jade"], required a more direct hand. She might have only arrived at the end of her confrontation with Coren, but what she had seen showed her someone that needed proper tutoring in the dark side.

That was why she had chosen this place.

The temple had once been a refuge for the Prophets of the Dark Side, an ancient order founded by a heretical Sith of the Rule of Two. Over the centuries, this place had become overflowing with dark side energies, an extremely powerful nexus that had even survived the assault by the Mandalorians on this world decades ago, even when the rest of the world had turned cold and frozen.

This place would mark the first lesson, a first step for the former Jedi to fully embrace the dark side of the Force. Sith poison and spells were all well and good to get one started on the path, but it took a true master to have them embrace it of their own free will and show them true power.
 
Trailing the pathway, she could see the ominous lighting crackling in reflected highlights from the floor; a few more steps and she would be there. She entered the large sanctum, taking in the specter of the outline that was The Lady of Secrets from afar. She'd done her best to shut the events of Ossus from her mind entirely...could she have killed Coren...would she? There was time to figure that out...in the meantime she needed to reacquaint herself with herself.

Still.

She came to a halt, standing just in place. She'd said nothing. The corruption building in her eyes was there...but this was before she'd closed them completely. A minute of silence went by, and then she decided to open her mouth.

"You've summoned me?" Her voice going from barely audible to projecting enough to where she was heard. "How may I assist you?"

[member="Taeli Raaf"]
 
[member="Romi Jade"]

She had arrived promptly, good. Punctuality was a good trait to have in her opinion. Taeli didn't immediately reply as the woman came to a stop in front of her, purple eyes simply observing the blonde woman. The dark side corruption was there in her eyes, in her presence within the Force, but she could see hesitation. Uncertainty. Taeli had seen it in many new acolytes as they discovered who they were in the embrace of the dark side, and she had seen far too many cases where they either were redeemed or collapsed into madness, becoming Sith beholden to their emotions and whims and not the other way around.

"Yes I did," she finally said, sitting on the floor of the sanctum and gesturing for Romi to also join her. "I wanted your thoughts and reports on the actions at Ossus and Jabiim as you were present for both and fought against the Jedi."

She would ease the way into the lesson, mask it under polite conversation for now. She needed to probe where Romi's mind and thoughts were, how her beliefs about those she had once held close to her heart had changed. Only then would Taeli have a clear idea of how to begin teaching the woman and drawing her down a path that there would be no way to walk back from. She would enjoy every moment of guiding her deeper into the dark side.
 
Her eyes battered at the subtle gestures, she took a beat before she really truly moved; she did. Falling to her knees, she gathered herself just opposite of Taeli, and her gaze fell towards the ground.

She responded, biting down - the tension would show in her structured face; it wasn't stress.

"Well...The Jedi were forced to retreat on Ossus. I was able to engage Coren alone and plant the seed of confusion...and I think that slowly broke their ranks. The connection we share is...still active...I can track him."

She sighed, and then looked up "Which is how I managed to come across their operation on Jabiim. Though, I didn't directly engage Starchaser...I was able to ambushed some of his insurgents, one of them being my former Master. It would seem that he is establishing relations with other wayward factions of Jedi and former Jedi in order to build some sort of opposing force."

A beat.

"Unfortunately....I wouldn't quite say either side won either of those engagements. We've taken a couple of minor hits...but have come out with some useful information."

[member="Taeli Raaf"]
 
[member="Romi Jade"]

"Indeed," she said, quietly studying the former Jedi still. She had never expected the Jedi to roll over and die, even after the fall of the Alliance. Coren had been an irritation thus far, especially to Taeli for the damage wrought to the library erected on Ossus. The work was still ongoing to repair the damage done to the writings and data stored there. The fact he was attempting to gather the forces of light into one cohesive alliance was not unexpected either, but she knew it was an uphill battle. She had sat through enough conclaves and meetings to know words were always exchanged, but when it came to actions, such agreements had been woefully lacking.

She was intrigued by the mention of the connection between Romi and Coren. A possible avenue for attack or lure him into a trap he couldn't escape from? Possibly in the future, but only once Romi was so far submerged into the darkness that she would never want to come out.

"Tell me, why do you think neither side was able to score a victory in these engagements?" she asked. "Speak freely and honestly. Nothing you say will be held against you, my dear."
 
She felt more like a thrall...but with...free will? It was very confusing to be leading the charge on one side and then to suddenly switch.



Taeli Raaf said:
"Speak freely and honestly. Nothing you say will be held against you, my dear."

"Won't it...? I'm sure this is some sort of probe..." She thought to herself.

"Well...the library was damaged, and the enemy escaped. They shouldn't have been able to get that far. As far as Jabiim...the insurgents were mildly successful in stealing supplies and helping the persecuted escape. Although, the Empire is vast...and can afford to ignore these sorts of issues I guess."

A beat.

"How do you feel about the situation?"

[member="Taeli Raaf"]
 
[member="Romi Jade"]

Taeli felt a half smile quirk at her lips as Romi spoke, choosing her words carefully. She had seen that flicker that indicated what her internal thoughts were, that she was being judged and probed for possible subterfuge or treachery even now. While this may very well be construed as an inquisition, that was not her purpose for her questions. To challenge Romi's world view, to open her eyes to the lies, to guide her towards the realization that there was no shame in embracing the parts of the self the Jedi forswore.

"Irritation at most," she answered Romi's question. "Not for Jabiim however as liberating some prisoners and stealing some supplies is, as you said, inconsequential in the overall view of the Sith Empire. The attack on Ossus is far more annoying to me than a train attack."

She started to take slow careful steps around the room.

"One thing I utterly despise is the destruction of knowledge, which was the aim of the attack on Ossus. To potentially ruin ancient manuscripts or artifacts we had moved there or to short out critical databanks with lessons for acolytes. The Jedi who flooded the lower levels has earned my undying ire for that."

She might not know his identity, yet, but one day she would and he would learn what happened when he became the subject of her... irritation.

"That Jedi might not have realized it, but it wasn't just Sith artifacts and teachings in those catacombs. His attack, and the attack on the library, also destroyed Jedi writings and artifacts that we had collected for study from the temple on Ossus that was leveled, from Coruscant, from Ilum, and from other worlds that have felt the touch of the Sith these past decades. Tell me, Romi, how does it make you feel to know that the Jedi didn't care about destroying their own history if meant even slightly hampering ours?"
 
Taeli Raaf said:
"Tell me, Romi, how does it make you feel to know that the Jedi didn't care about destroying their own history if meant even slightly hampering ours?"

Her lips parted for just the briefest of moments but soon came to a close as she pondered just a few seconds more before giving an answer. "Adversity is a constant...I however am of the mind that you either do or don't when it comes to routing the enemy....The argument could go a few ways...."

Her eyes flickered, "Though I may be able to help you get some information back. The old enclave on Deneba may be in ruins but the network may still be up. With my old comm...I can get access."

[member="Taeli Raaf"]
 
[member="Romi Jade"]

Taeli gave a thin smile in response to Romi's answer. The old enclave on Deneba offered an avenue for more than just reobtaining some of the knowledge washed away on Ossus, but she would keep those thoughts to herself. The Jedi Academy Network or something like it was still letting the various Jedi talk and share information, and it would be something that would need to be... infiltrated quietly. It was one reason why the Sith hadn't something similar for the Sith academies in the Empire. It presented... opportunities. But Romi had slid around the question.

"While that's all well and good, that didn't answer my question," Taeli said. "I asked how does it make you feel?"

The reluctance she could understand, the girl was still new to the darkness, still under the thrall of her spells and the Sith poison in her body. The light within was still fighting to get free, and that had to be painful for the young woman. But pain was just another fuel for the dark side, if harnessed properly.

"What emotions does it invoke in you, Romi?" she quietly asked. "Anger? Hope? Sadness? Joy? Vindictive pleasure? Righteous indignation? Allow yourself to feel."
 
Taeli Raaf said:
"While that's all well and good, that didn't answer my question," Taeli said. "I asked how does it make you feel?"
Her irises bounded from one target to the next, though her body remained effortlessly still.



Taeli Raaf said:
"Allow yourself to feel."

Her jawline became more apparent, she bit down hard enough to where the tension was there. She felt...

"Nothing..." She retorted, "It doesn't bother me-" She suddenly gripped her skull, pressing her fingers further as she experienced flash backs of seeing Coren.

Ughh

She honestly wondered just what Taeli had planned for her...she pondered whether she'd die from the excruciating pain she felt before she was ever forced to do something.

Much of the pain had subsided, but lingered in the most annoying fashion; she casually rubbed her temple. And it was situations like this that irritated her, though she couldn't shake the vindictive aggression like she could before. In that aspect she was losing control.

And the fraction of the light that was left...remained ever fearful.

[member="Taeli Raaf"]
 
[member="Romi Jade"]

Interesting, the Lady of Secrets mused as Romi convulsed, gripping her skull in pain. The enchantments Taeli had used on her on Mon Calamari had been aimed to draw out her inner darkness, to affect her dreams into showing her visions of darkness, but it was curious how they were reacting to the Sith poisons in her body. Combined with her inner light struggling to remain, to keep itself lit even as darkness threatened to drown it, no wonder the woman was suffering from such agony.

It highlighted to Taeli that eventually, once Romi was walking the dark path on her own choice, the poisons could be extracted and the enchantments lifted. For now though, the headaches would continue until the light was snuffed out... but agony and pain were powerful allies for a Sith, properly harnessed.

"Don't shy away from pain, Romi," Taeli said, walking over to an unlit brazier. A spark of lightning shot from her hand, igniting the flames. "Pain is a reminder that we are living, feeling beings. Pain can be one of the greatest teachers, and a source for power. But only once you know how to harness it. Pain, like any emotion for a Sith, is just another font of power to draw upon."

Taeli stuck her hand into the upper part of the flickering flames, her expression giving nothing away even as her hand was suffering burns. In the Force, Romi would be able to sense how the pain from her hand was being channeled, stored to be unleashed at Taeli's command. Her hand was removed from the flame, and using the lingering pain, she wielded her command of the Force to heal her hand. Not once had she tapped into her reservoir of emotions.

"The Jedi would have you believe that Sith are slaves to their emotions, to perceive the actions of the dark as mindless. That is not the case. A true Sith is a master of their emotions, controlling them and not the other way around. The Jedi, and I know this from having seen the educational curricula, do not teach their students how to properly feel or understand the complexity of emotion. This, more than anything else, has caused more Jedi to fall than any action by the Sith."

She had once said Jedi had the emotional range of a teaspoon before.
 
Taeli Raaf said:
"Don't shy away from pain, Romi,"
Uhn

She sighed in relief, fighting through the last of the pain. Letting up, she had red welts along the upper regions of her forehead. Seemingly spooked by the crackling of lightning and the burst of flames, Taeli had her attention now. Her golden locs, tired as they were, fell over her head and cut between her eyes and her intended target.



Taeli Raaf said:
Pain can be one of the greatest teachers,
She'd started to ponder...and re-analyze all the hurt she'd carried and had been feeling currently. She hated Veiere for the longest...for his actions...hated herself for as long as she was alive...and was started to resent Cedric and Coren and anyone else she'd given a piece of herself to. Was she not good enough?

But her inner light always tried to block those thoughts out...because she was a selfless person at heart.

Pain?

Her head fell..."Then teach me...teach me to draw from this what I will. So, that I may serve you my Master."

"What would you have me do?"

[member="Taeli Raaf"]
 
[member="Romi Jade"]

"Stick your hand in the fire," Taeli instructed, gesturing towards the flames in front of her. "As you do, you will begin to feel the heat and flames scarring your hand, inflaming your pain receptors as your hand burns. You will want to flee from it, to fight against it. This is a natural response all beings, sentient or not, have and your brain will want to act upon this impulse. Do not. Embrace the pain, harness it like you would your anger. Channel it like the Force, using it to call upon the dark side to heal your hand."

Taeli clasped her hands behind her back as she awaited Romi to draw closer.

"When your education is complete, you will be inured to pain. It will be your servant, a source of power that will enhance your ability to stay in a fight. There are even stories of Sith that had such control of their anger, their hatred, and their pain they could will themselves back to life, rising after being struck down to slaughter their supposed killer."

It was the tale of Darth Sion, the ancient Lord of Pain, that Taeli was referencing. The man had been a powerful warrior, unable to die because of his mastery of the dark side to keep his broken and battered body going no matter how many times he was struck down... until he encountered Meetra Surik, the Exile.
 

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