Gnashing of Teeth (Korriban)

[Clovis Torcularis]

I had never been to Korriban but my Master insisted that I take some time away from our training lessons to explore the ancient world, along with the ancient tombs of the Dark Lords, to unlock the mysteries of what every Sith craved. Power and knowledge. After having the dock workers load up my personal ship, The Dirge, with enough supplies to last for a week I left the planet of Pantha behind, turning my gaze to the red sand planet.

I arrived shortly before dawn, setting my craft down a few kilometers from the Valley of the Dark Lords. I wanted to explore every tomb there but before I could do that, I had a craving that needed to be sated first. I heard that the vicious tuk'ata that prowled the sands were a deadly challenge that any real Sith should face. These beasts were pack hunters, and very smart pack hunters that were known to bring down young Sith Acolytes almost at will. From the history I read , the red sands where literally decorated with the bones of over confident Sith who, in the end, found themselves in the worst possible situations. Even as I walked toward the Valley of the Dark Lords, I saw bones and tattered clothing poking up from the sand that lent truth to the stories.

I finally arrived at my destination feeling spurned. I had hoped to meet a pack of tuk'ata along the way but I didn't even see one. I couldn't recall if they were nocturnal hunters or not, but it occurred to me that perhaps they felt there wasn't enough meat on my bones to waste their time. On my return trip back to my shuttle, I decided I would go and seek them out but for now, it was time to explore.

I stopped at the first tomb and noticed a trail of fresh footprints leading inside. Placing my hands on my hips, it occurred to me that I wasn't the only one doing a bit of exploring. The Darkside was so strong here that when I attempted to reach out with my Force senses, all I could feel was the Darkside. So whomever was inside that tomb was not a Jedi or if they where, they were good at masking themselves in the Force. I stood there for a few moments contemplating whether or not I should enter that tomb. There where other tombs to explore and why risk trouble needlessly.

So I entered the tomb hoping for trouble.


[member="Abyss"] [member="Jorryn Fordyce"]

 

[Darth Abyss]

The valley of the dark lords had its own strange beauty, at least it seemed that way to Abyss. The temperatures of the dead desert reached almost unbearable levels at daytime but it where the nights that killed it in the first place. As much as he would have liked to travel in safety of the darkness to shrouded himself from curious eyes he decided against it. The things that could see him at day wouldn't be as much of a problem than those of the night.

Visiting the place were dark lords come to die was something Abyss wished to do since the day he read about the place, long before becoming a sith himself. Darting from cover to cover, using the entrances of the graves that marked the boarders of the valley, Abyss made his way through the ancient place. Every once in a while he stopped, his hands touching the cold old stones, listening to the echos of the past, memories of the hatred and anger that once ruled over the desert world. He knew well that anything of real worth had been stolen long ago, but Abyss didn't cared for credits and treasures, his desire was more than satisfied by the glimpses of the past that resounded in the force.

Suddenly something caught his eyes. Two pairs of footsteps, leading into an unmarked tomb. It was rather strange but not impossible that two people choose the same day to meet the past of his spiritual ancestors. The ancient Korriban had been a place of unbelievable power, but as the centuries passed the power slowly faded. Still the young acolyte could feel the darkness that was pulsating under the surface, making it impossible to sense anyone inside the grave.

One hand on the hilt of his lightsaber Abyss stepped inside, activating the suspensions and hydraulics in his cybernetic right leg to dampen the sound his steps made. His left checked if the rest of his gear was still in the right place, strapped on his back and hidden on his robe. Under his mask was mix of curiosity and suspense, as he focused on his surroundings, waiting and hiding behind any corner before moving deeper inside.

[member="Clovis Torcularis"] [member="Jorryn Fordyce"]

 

[Adriana Fortemps]

[member="Abyss"] [member="Clovis Torcularis"]

The desert planet embraced Jorryn with heat and sand as soon as her shuttle landed on one of the derelict zones that, presumably, had once been a busy spaceport. The planet was obviously in ruins, the dark side poisoning any hope for a good life the any refugees could hope for. The planet also had not been the jewel of the dark side that it once had been, the darkness in it still ran deep but it was beginning to decay. "Stay here until I return."

She exited down the boarding ramp of the shuttle, lifting her scarf to cover her face so the sand wouldn't get in her armour.

Her eyes darted between the monoliths that littered the courtyard of the tombs, sliding her hands along the pillars that once held the knowledge of thousands of Sith Lords. Unfortunately the desert had it's way with them and after millennia's of sand rubbing away the stone, much of the story that was being told had worn away disappearing in the wind.

Jorryn paused in her strides as some force beckoned her towards a tomb of some unknown Sith Lord, the tunnel looking pristine compared to the ones that had collapsed beneath the weight of time. She followed the source, eager to learn the ways of the ancients.

Her fingers traced the inscriptions that decorated the halls, telling of battles against the light; of hatred, revenge, and slaughter. The force seemed to beckon her further down the tunnels, ever winding and decrepit. Eventually she had made it to the alter, the attraction she felt now almost a voice whispering to her.

Her eyes clasped shut so as to concentrate on the force and listen to what the voice had to say, but there was a distraction. Something lurked behind her, a vile and disgusting version of the dark side. Her eyes opened as she unclasped the lightsaber from the belt, facing down the stairs that led to the altar room. Trying to make use of what little light the three port holes allowed through.

"Who is there?" A crimson glow extending from her hilt, aiming towards the being she felt coming.

 

[Vaulkhar]

The sound of heavy snoring echoed through the halls of Vaulkhar's ship as it flew through space. Aside from his obnoxious snoring, nothing could be heard within the vessel. After some time the ship came out of hyper space and as ordered, the astromech upon Vaulkhar's ship came rolling into his room, beeping as loudly as possible to wake the sleeping knight. His empty gaze opened, his eyes red from being woken up as obnoxiously as possible and he couldn't help but recall his days within the Sith Academy on Coruscant. Painful, early morning, and a lack of sleep that would likely of killed him had he not been pumped full of anger and hate every single day. It wasn't a healthy life for a young man, of that he was sure. Shaking his head from his revere he turned to look down at his astromech, the little droid's head turning almost violently full 360's as it continued to beep at him. Considering kicking the droid for a moment, he decided instead to sigh and gently pat the little machine's head as he stood up.

Moving out of his room, Vaulkhar strode through the halls of his ship, his astromech rolling behind him to keep up. The bleary eyed, blind man made his way to the deck and sat down at the chair located before the control panel. Clicking a few glowing buttons upon the panel, a map of the sector came up and he nodded to himself. Looking past the map, a large red planet, baron and nearly dead floated through space before him. He recognized it from the books within his father's library upon Panatha. This was Korriban, the birth place of the Sith species and the way of the Sith; or so it was believed. Vaulkhar didn't personally care, he was there specifically because he was ordered by his father to follow the apprentice of his master's associate, the Sith Lady Darth Venefica. It was common for Sith not to trust each other, so here he was sent, to tail the young Acolyte and kill the man if necessary. Not that he wanted to of course, only if he showed any signs of betraying the new order they both served.

Once more breaking away from his revere, the angry sounds of beeping once more invaded his senses. He blinked several times to fight back the headache he could feel coming on and looked down at the droid. He stared at it in angry silence until it stopped making noise. After the silence began, he couldn't continue with the anger and he cracked a smile.

"Calm down, TL. I know we're on Korriban. Did you map out the route taken by Clovis." A series of happy and matter-of-fact beeps came next which caused Vaulkhar to laugh. "Alright good, jack in and take over piloting. Land near his ship if you can, I'm gonna follow him and make sure everything is a-ok. If not, well, we might need to make a quick getaway." Standing up, Vaulkhar turned and moved towards a small locker upon the deck. Reaching in he pulled out his belt and looped it around his waist, tying it off. He then connected his communications device, two leather pouches, and two lightsabers. Over the next few minutes he proceeded to dress himself in his armor before topping it off with his dark gray robe. Turning towards the ramp he then moved to exit the ship. "Keep Kayle busy, TL. And like I said, make sure we're ready to depart." With a reassuring series of beeps, Vaulkhar dropped down from the still flying ship, about thirty or so feet, down beside Clovis' ship.

Vaulkhar took a moment to bask within the warmth of the planet, that was in no way unbearable; yet. As the seconds past, he expanded his senses through the force as his bubble of awareness expanded with it. He managed to pick up on a trail left by the monster sometime before, likely ten to fifteen minutes. Nodding to himself, Vaulkhar began to follow the trail. Eventually he found his way to the outside of a tomb. He quickly realized there was more than just Clovis' here, which greatly concerned him. He had no desire to kill the Sithspawn, but if he was meeting with enemies, there was a chance everyone within would die. He did not necessarily recognize any of the force signatures, but he opted to follow them in.

Before entering into the crypt, he activated his suits cloaking device, cloaking himself. Then he pulled the force around himself, concealing his signature entirely, to be completley hidden through both the force and technology. After only a few moments of traveling through the dark crypt, the sound of a lightsaber igniting maybe a five dozen paces before him caught his attention. Though it was not directly before him, he could see the crimson glow around the corner and a smile tugged at his lips. He could feel confusion and possibly even anger leaking off the source of the light and it interested him greatly. Stepping into the shadows, the darkly garbed Knight continued to pull both the force and shadows around him as he moved deeper into the tomb. Eventually the form of a woman came before him, the source of the glow for that matter. Within the room, his bubble of awareness ever extending, he could feel two others. One being Clovis, and the other being a rather familiar person.

Abyss.

That suddenly changed everything. Since their last encounter, he's heard nothing of the Acolyte. But it did not seem as if he had interrupted some sort of rendezvous. Instead it seemed he stumbled onto an accidental meeting of enemies. Or allies. Abyss fought for the One Sith, that he knew. And if Clovis was loyal, he may or may not be outnumbered. Which was not good. But considering Vaulkhar was sent here to possibly kill him, he didn't greatly care for his life either. With a shrug, he nestled into a small crook within the stony walls and pulled the force tighter around him. Falling into a basic meditative pose, he could already feel what he wondered upon may break out into a fight. And more than anything, he wanted a great seat to watch this all unfold. It seemed as if the warriors had not yet fully noticed each other's presence, which was a good thing; for him

Spoiler

I have no intention of interrupting this duel, unless greatly necessary. As I stated on the OOC thread put up by Abyss, I'm simply interested in watching and doing some analysis roleplay for my knight.

[member="Jorryn Fordyce"] | [member="Abyss"] | [member="Clovis Torcularis"]

 

[Clovis Torcularis]

The tomb possessed a stagnant odor, a mixture of decay and molding dampness that clung to the ancient burial site like a lover. All along the walls I saw drag marks, probably made from curious hands, and signs of mold spores on the verge of erupting. Luckily for me, my mask would prevent such an intrusion into my ruined lungs, but the drag marks raised my level of awareness. I knew there was another presence deep in the tomb, whether they were here for scavenging or knowledge was of no concern to me, but I lowered the goggles of my mask anyway, prompting them to kick in one of their features that allowed me to see in the dark like the nocturnal predators of the galaxy. As I continued down the narrow path, I pulled back my robes just enough to allow me access to my two hilts in the event they needed to be called into play.

I reached the end of the tunnel where it split off to the right and left. Again I tried to reach out through the Force, and to my astonishment, felt the presence of not one, but two other individuals. The first presence was further down in the tomb off to the left, while the other was behind me. I had become the main ingredient in a sandwich I had no desire to be in. If either one, or both probably, wanted to strike at me then I would be forced to fight on two fronts, and sadly, I had no desire to fight in a lose-lose situation. Another thing that bothered me was the idea that these two could be allies, and as the sole enemy in the tomb, I would absolutely be facing a problem that I knew I would be hard pressed to solve.

Unsure what the right path spilled out to, and not wanting to risk having my back up against a wall in the event I had to fight, I chose the left path heading toward the first presence. I slowly walked down a set of ruined stairs when I heard the familiar sound of an igniting lightsaber as I grew closer to the entrance that waited for me at the stair's bottom. Taking my own hilts in hand, still keeping them powered down for now, I stepped through the threshhold in time to hear the challenging words of "Who is there?"

Standing in what I could only decipher as the tomb's antechamber, I saw a short woman with white hair and a small frame holding the humming and crackling blade. I stood there in silence, ignoring to grant this girl a proper response as I eyed the surrounding area. The antechamber was big, but it wasn't that big. Turning my full attention to her as I stepped to the right, giving me a slight advantage over the other when they entered, I said, "Judging by your nervousness to draw your blade, we are passed introductions." I ignited both blades in tandem, turning the sand around me into glass as the tips touched the tomb's floor.

[member="Abyss"] [member="Jorryn Fordyce"] [member="Vaulkhar"]

 

[Darth Abyss]

Another echo. This time not one of the past but one of the present. First the sound of steps somewhere not to far, than the known hiss of a lightsaber flickering to life. Abyss had to resist the urge to move faster to see what was happening deeper in the tomb, knowing that if whoever was down there was an enemy would be far simpler to beat if he would keep hidden as long as possible. From above a set of stairs he could see a man, but without the crimson red blade of lightsaber in his hands. Someone else had to be down there besides the one he could see.

Then it hit him. He had seen the man before, and he knew who he was. Clovis, the sith that fought aside him in the battle of coruscant. Also a sith who lead forces against the one sith at the battle of mindaabal, as the one sith intelligence had informed him. His eyes moved on his cybernetic leg for a second, the replacement for the one he had lost in exactly that battle. He could feel the hate inside him burn away any curiosity of whoever else was down there, the only thing he wanted now was to bring a traitor to his knees before serving the killing blow.

Watching as Clovis ignited his lightsabers, Abyss left hand moved under his robe, grabbing one of the three smoke grenades hidden there. Moving the small object to his mouth he removed the pin and then waited. One. Two. Three. With a fast step Abyss moved from one corner to another, only spending enough time at the entrance to the stairs to throw the grenade down towards the other sith, before taking cover again.

[member="Clovis Torcularis"] [member="Vaulkhar"] [member="Jorryn Fordyce"]

 

[Adriana Fortemps]

[member="Abyss"] [member="Clovis Torcularis"]

A tinge of disgust crept up Jorryn's spine as the figure's lightsabers began to illuminate the darkness, showing the hideous visage of the man. His skin was a pasty white glow, being intrinsically adorned with scars and stitches to look like a monster from a children's story. Jorryn could barely hold her stomach in as she imagined what had happened to the man that made him look like that. However she didn't let that throw her off and quickly retained her defensive stance.

"What happened to you?"

She grinned as she saw an opportunity for an attack, some other figure she hadn't noticed dropped a smoke grenade. "I'll be merciful and put you down, monster." Jorryn turned her lightsaber off and used the force to rapidly expand the fog, controlling her breath in case the vapours that came with the canister were poisonous. She used force sense to replace her eyes, being able to see the room and focused on the hideous acolyte.

With a quick dash around the room she attempted to get around to the side of the Sith, desiring to force him to defend with lightsaber as her preferred stance of makashi had difficulty keeping up with heavily aggressive strikes. A crimson glow appeared aimed upwards to the ceiling of the antechamber, coming down on the monster's left arm, intending to relieve him of one of his limbs.