Halm Before the Storm

[Sage Bane]

Location: Halm​

As a Hand of the Dark Lord, Sage Bane regularly scouted planets that would be ripe for satisfying the expansionary machinations of the One Sith. One such planet was Halm, an arid desert planet in the Mid Rim that was famous for its rich crystal mines and its sand-buried ancient ruins. These remnants, former fortresses of long dead Lords and Ladies affiliated with the Galactic Empire of old, were said to contain valuable Sith artifacts and other treasures fresh for the looting, if you could fight your way through the pirates, criminals, and grave robbers with credits shining in their beady eyes.

Were these valuables worth enough to justify a dominion over the planet? That remained to be seen, but either way, a trip to Halm would be a good excuse for Sage to give his Acolyte a breath of fresh air away from Coruscant and begin his training in the art of illusions. Pirates and looters weren’t known for having the strongest intellects, so if they encountered any in their travels, they would make fine victims on which to practice. He only hoped that Jayce remembered to bring his sunscreen.

The two men descended in a dropship to the surface of Halm, and then rode two black-furred Guarlara mounts across the desert, their clawed toes kicking up a storm of sand in their wake. The bloodshot pink of the sky painted the sandy landscape in oranges and yellows as the long afternoon turned into dusk. In a few hours, the men arrived at the ruins of what Sage had heard was a former Sith temple. With the night, came cooler air, and relief from the scorching hot sun.

Sage turned to his Acolyte and nodded, indicating that this was where they would be dismounting. As he hopped down off his mount, Sage gave the steed a pat on its muscular neck, and turned to his apprentice with a curt command.

“Reach out with the Force, Acolyte. Tell me if you sense any hostile sentients in or around the ruins.”

Every moment was an opportunity to learn, after all.

[member="Jayce"]

 

[Jayce]

[member="Sage Bane"]

When the sunlight hit his eyes, Jayce winced and whipped his hand to cover the burning radiance. The Acolyte, dressed in stark white robes, followed Sage from the bowels of the drop ship down into the dusty soil of Halm's surface. There was nothing here but dunes upon scorching dunes as far as the horizon, heaving up and down like the chest of some sleeping giant. Jayce wondered then, why his Master had brought him here of all places. He supposed the Dark Side might be strong here, make it easier for him to learn. Of course, it could be another trial, a maze perhaps, or a test of survival.

Jayce's foot met the sand and in an instant they were off. The surrounding settlement was built into the remnants of cliff side ruins and looked to be mostly merchants and wayfarers. Before long, they mounted a pair of jet black creatures and sped off into the desert. With the landscape a blur behind them, Jayce had to fish for a pair of goggles stashed away in his robes in order to keep the stinging dust from his eyes. The pair rode for hours, passing rock formations and dotted remains of temples. In time, the sun reached the apex of its arc and plummeted into the horizon, slathering the landscape orange and pink.

The ride was long and Jayce's mind wandered back to the journey, where they flew those days here and barely spoke. Jayce had meditated long on the nature of the Force, and of what he experienced on Fresia. The Acolyte had decided he was growing fond of space, it was quiet and he found it easy to reach out there, to bury roots in the force and give himself more time to dig deep between those folds of the Force which a restless mind cannot.

By the time the beasts were ordered to come to an abrupt halt, the sun had just dipped completely below the horizon, leaving behind a darkening sky and the first stars of the evening. The sand, which had gleamed like a sea of spun gold in the daylight, glowed eerie and silver when the last motes of pink and orange drifted from the sky. The boy dismounted and pulled his goggles down around his neck, then proceeded to undo the white wrappings which adorned his head. Jayce snapped to attention and looked at his Master, who spoke impatiently. The boy nodded and shut his eyes.

Here, the Force was quiet also and Jayce centered his thoughts. He began with a single pulse through the Force, finding the faint oscillations of the area surrounding the ruins. Jayce found that particular places often have a unique rhythm to them and that by finding it, he could more easily sense the slight variations caused by all beings simply by existing. Over a few moments he expanded his sensory area, trying as he might to find the steady percussion of a heartbeat or respiratory system but he felt nothing to indicate a sentient presence at first.

"Only beasts, on the walls on top of the ruins," Jayce chimed calmly.

As he finished speaking he felt disappointed, unable to find hint of a task or foe for them to vanquish. Jayce gritted his teeth and focused harder, reaching out to the Dark Side in an attempt to bolster his surveillance. If Sage was paying attention to the formations of the Force as Jayce began to channel the Dark Side. The Acolyte reached outward with ethereal hands, pulling the Dark Side from the ruins and the planet, dragging it to him and moulding it into his probing tendrils which plied the strings of the Force, finding the rhythms Jayce was using to sense. And then he heard it, a ripple somewhere, some slight divergence in the patterns he was listening for. Distant though it was, it repeated every few seconds and though Jayce could catch it, he couldn't pinpoint exactly where.

"Somewhere near maybe," He said "Perhaps underground,"

Jayce opened his eyes and shook his head, gathering his thoughts back from the aether and looked back at his Master.

 

[Sage Bane]

"Well done, Acolyte," said Sage, placing an encouraging hand on Jayce's shoulder. The boy was quiet and a bit gloomy in demeanor, but Jayce had a very powerful aura, a strange mixture of the Dark Side and trace vestiges of Sith Magic. The young Hand had only flashed a perfunctory glance at the boy's file when he accepted the Acolyte, but he made a mental note to delve deeper into what he suspected was a troubled past. It might help Sage better teach his apprentice, if the boy survived the sometimes rigorous trials of basic training.

Sage had already sensed the presence of sentients deep underground, looters most likely. It was a test, and Jayce had passed. It was time to go exploring. Sage was half-Chiss, and while he did not possess the telltale blue skin and red eyes of the Csillan people, he was lucky to be gifted with their low light vision. Out of the satchel that hung from Nightbrother's saddle, Sage procured a torch and handed it to Jayce. With a flick of his fingers, the end of the torch sparked and flames flickered to life. If the boy did not have night vision, at least he wouldn't bump into walls.

He turned to the large dilapidated temple doors and, with a wave of his thin pale hand, they opened for the two Sith. Sage had given Jayce a lightsaber for protection just in case, but as he detailed on the dropship, if they encountered enemies on their sojourn, they were to handle the encounter using only illusions. While an expert in Ataru himself, Sage found illusions to be far more powerful a deterrent than a glowstick. After all, one could be disarmed of his lightsaber, but with illusions, one only had the limits of his energy and his own imagination.

Sage gave Jayce his next set of instructions. "Since you have so deftly sensed the presence of sentients, I am going to ask you to continue to practice your power in leading us to them. But once you get close, hang back, and be careful they don't detect us."

A dark grin spread across his face, splitting it in two.

"That will spoil the surprise we have in store for them."

[member="Jayce"]

 

[Jayce]

[member="Sage Bane"]

The hand hammered down on Jayce's shoulder and the boy's face remained stoic, transfixed on Sage's own, waiting to hear what his next task would be. No doubt something to do with the sentients he had thought he sensed deep in the belly of the forsaken Sith temple. The Acolyte suspected that Sage would have him dispatch of the looters once they found them, which on another day, Jayce may have found to be a pointless exercise, but after Fresia, the boy was willing to do whatever it took to harness even some of the power that had been present on that world.

Unceremoniously opened with a telekinetic push, the doors gave way to the pair of Sith and they entered its waiting maw. As they did, Sage reached backwards, clutching a small torch in his hand, which he ignited for the Acolyte. Pallid digits grabbed at the offering and Jayce held the flame in front of him as he walked.

The temple itself was a long forgotten gem of the Sith civilization, the heavy stonework carpeted with ancient mantras and symbols, each hallway lined with crumbling arches and pillars. Jayce reached out his left hand and ran his fingers on the wall as they navigated the knotted corridors, Jayce stopping periodically to reach out with his mind, caressing the walls of the temple with the Force, feeling its ebb and flow with each second, delicately combing each oscillation for the signs which told him which way to find their targets.

Jayce could have drowned in the history here, the Dark Side was palpable and the boy could clearly feel the weight of what had happened in this temple. He stopped for a second and closed his eyes again, this time not for sensing his way but to shift the vision of his eyes, a trait of his Firrerreo biology which afforded Jayce the ability to see in the Ultraviolet spectrum of light. When his eyes opened, the walls glowed brilliantly. Centuries old dried blood covering the walls and floor, likely a reminder of the brutality of the Sith, their sacrifices and tortures. Continuing his sensory duties, but how admiring the bloodshed that permeated the two's surroundings, Jayce led the duo onwards.

After some time, the hall opened up into a wider antechamber, the walls of which were lined with empty shelves, the floor strewn with broken pottery. At the far end of the antechamber was a set of moderately sized double doors, one of which was cracked open just a foot or so. The unmistakable glow of a light source cut a pattern of abstract wounds in amber across the floor and right hand wall and the sounds of rummaging, as well as the occasional exclamation in Galactic Basic were the proof that Jayce had managed to lead them to the right spot.

As they entered Jayce crouched low and snuffed the torch he was carrying into the corner of the room. His vision darkened but the wide paint strokes of dried blood caused the walls to gleam enough in the Ultraviolet that Jayce could see fine combined with the light from beyond the room's far door. He looked back at Sage and nodded towards the door, awaiting his Master's instruction.

 

[Sage Bane]

Jayce's sensing abilities lead the Master and his apprentice to a wide antechamber, its contents picked over like gizzards on a carcass. At the end of the room, there was a set of double doors hanging slightly ajar. Voices chattered casually, their speech coarse and riddled with curse. Looters or perhaps vagabonds. No doubt their minds would be as porous as a sieve.

A nod was given to his Acolyte. Then Sage turned his gaze to the double doors and waved a finger. One of the doors pushed further open, so that the men could get a view of the thieves. There were eight of them, plundering the next antechamber, some of them human, some of them Gran. Blasters and rifles glinted in light of their torches. Cloaked in darkness, Sage and Jayce would likely not be spotted by the looters if they stayed still enough.

Sage, reaching out with the Force, touched Jayce's mind and gave him his next lesson in the safety and quiet of the boy's head space.

I am going to open my mind to you, Jayce. Reach out with the Force and come inside. Together we'll make an illusion that will affect our new friends. We can create something horrific and make them run screaming in fear. We could make them feel like they're burning and need to escape. We could even make them turn on each other. The sheer possibilities are endless.

There was something else Sage sensed in the next room. Something he wanted to investigate. He kept this thought to himself for now, lest his apprentice lose focus on the task at hand.

Find my thoughts, and we will begin.

[member="Jayce"]

 

[Sage Bane]

Once Jayce used his Dark Side powers to slither inside the viper's nest of his Master's mind, Sage began to teach him how to weave a vivid illusion and how to link it to the minds of the looters in the next room. Using powerful Sith magic, along with ancient hand gestures and a barely audible incantation, the illusionists created a scene of mayhem that would urge the bandits to flee from the scene if not evacuate their bowels along the way. All five senses would be assaulted with the powerful sorcery, obscure arcanus that could not only frighten and overwhelm, but cause physical harm to those who believed.

Enormous, plant-like tendrils with razor sharp thorns, the signature illusions of Sage's namesake, sprang out of the temple's floor, wrapping themselves around the bandits, and shredding their flesh into ribbons. Along with the mindforms, the Illusionist and his apprentice pressed fear and panic into the men, twisting their minds so that their own beliefs in the illusions would be beyond skepticism. Soon, every last bandit, human and Gran alike, scrambled out of the room, screaming, bloodied, and most importantly, sans loot.

With his apprentice following closely on his heels, Sage followed the Dark Sided aura that he previously sensed to a dilapidated chest. He squatted beside it and breathed in the heady sensation of power. Hands trembled as they pried open the chest. Inside lay three tattered scrolls, tied closed with a leather string, along with a dusty tome. All of the items were redolent with the Dark Side of the Force.

"We must take these back to the Temple of Pain at once," Sage told his apprentice in a hushed and reverent tone.

"To open these objects here, could be a fatal mistake."

 

[Sage Bane]

Location: Temple of Pain, Fresia​

With his apprentice safely puttering around the Eternal Library, studying Sith history and code, Sage brought the scrolls and their accompanying tome to the Laboratories for further study. According to the tome, the ancient scrolls belonged to a Sith Sorcerer from Halm named Darth Sanguis, whom little was known about. If Sage's translation of High Sith was correct, the book was full of the Sorcerer's notes from his various experiments with Sorcery and Alchemy, and the scrolls themselves contained the instructions for three distinct Sith spells: Sutta Chwituskak, False Light Side Aura, and Concealment.

Sage had a problem on his hands. Sith scrolls were known to be riddled with curses, which would plague the reader who was brave or foolish enough to attempt such an easy absorption of their secrets. Despite the ache that he felt in his bones, a yearning to open the scrolls at once, Sage knew that he needed to remove any potential curses before unfurling them.

There were several Alchemical ways he could attempt to cobble together a protection for himself, but all of them would be a gamble. Either way, he would need to make a trip to the Eternal Library just to make sure that all avenues were explored. With powerful Sith Magic, chances could be fatal. It was a good thing that the Sith Lord was ravenously hungry for knowledge about Sith magic. It meant that he would be thorough in his research and leave no stone unturned.

 

[Sage Bane]

Upon researching the history of Sith Scrolls in the various Holotexts contained in the Temple of Pain's eternal library, Sage made some risky assumptions. The first was that many Sith scrolls created in that particular era were protected by curses that affected the mind. There were outliers of course, but an overwhelming majority of them seemed to cause acute insanity to the victim, sometimes even instantly upon unfurling the scroll. The second assumption he made was that a powerful talisman seemed to be the device that would offer the most protection against the curses.

With a few sleepless nights ahead of him, the Sith Lord set off to work in the Dark Forge, crafting a new amulet using the Netharanium he mined from Mayferria with Acolyte Malgus. First, in a cauldron he cleansed all metals of impurities so that he could mold the crystal inlay and craft the chain. Then, he began to carve the runes that would be fused into the jewelry. Sage preferred to use natural materials, like stone, since they held up nicely to wear and tear. According to his research on Sith runes, there were two he needed to make. One was The Cilie Rune: Rune of Life which defended the wearer. The other was the Arabat Rune: Rune of Mind, a Rune that healed mental damage.

If pressed together in a rune structure with a rune of bonding, the end result would presumably be protection against mental damage, or so Sage hoped. If not, well, perhaps all that extra Netharanium would be good for making a drooling cup for a raving mad Sith Lord.

Once he finished carving the runes, Sage worked tirelessly on polishing the Psychomagnotheric gem to the utmost perfection.

 

[Sage Bane]

Once he cast the physical aspects of the piece, the chain and pendant crafted to perfect, the Sith Spell of bonding was repeated ritually upon the device. It was a laborious process that involved saying the ancient incantation over the object once at dawn and once at dusk for three consecutive days. Sage also fast during this period, to keep his powers at their purest.

Soon, Sage's protective amulet shimmered in his hands, and he looped it around his neck in anticipation of opening the scrolls. He ascended the stairs up to the very top of the Temple where the reliquary lay. Placing his eye over the retinal scanner, the doors of the reliquary hissed open to reveal a treasure trove of strange and wondrous devices, all ripe for the studying. Sage found the scrolls and steel himself as he unwound them.

His eyes turned milky white as Darth Sanguis' teachings poured into his mind. It was as if the ancient Halm Sith Lord himself were standing right next to him, manually feeding him the arcane knowledge. The Sith Sorcerer's protective amulet thrummed against the curse, pushing back with an aegis of power, but some of Sanguis' curse still trickled into Sage's mind, causing a slight tearing at the seams. His consciousness was filled with a cognitive dissonance so sharp, he clutched the sides of his head with a howl of discomfort.

He had learned the Sorcery, but at what cost to his own mind? Sage supposed that time would tell. Now he needed only to practice these skills. Luckily, there were slaves bound to posts in the training courtyard just waiting to be his target practice. Whether or not they were willing was irrelevant to Sage.