Public I'm wide awake tonight...

[Adeline Noctua]

Equipment | In Bio

Location | Coruscant Lower levels

Tag | Open

Within the deepest bowels of the planet, there was a spreading sickness. Not in the sense of a feverish fit, not some foul pox that rotted the flesh.. But a shadowy influence that had been growing like a cancer. The source? The master of dead Yalara, the blossoming goddess of nightmare.

And with the wars on many fronts, it would be impossible for the city to cut out this cancer. Report after report had reached the Jedi temple about strange cults deep within the impoverished depths of Coruscant, beggars and paupers aplenty had sought guidance and protection, and the ever reaching hands of the nightmare were always eager to shelter them within their grasp.

Late within the night many souls had amassed, rows upon rows of blacked garbed cultists stood in prayer. This area had been almost fully indoctrinated into worshiping the goddess of nightmare, and by the power of their fanatic faith had grown into a disturbance that echoed throughout the night.

A shrine dedicated to the goddess served as a catalyst, their praise being channeled into it, the power being fed. Any who grew close enough to hear their fervent prayers to their despot goddess would feel a sense of unease from the longest distance, with the feeling growing stronger and evolving into a primal fear as you grew closer.

Stealth was almost impossible, the dark corners and higher places of the district polluted with her own Sith spawn. These creatures of the night stalked and swarmed any hostile targets...

This feast of prayer welcomed others to join, either to help protect this large cult as they did their mass, or to join in and welcome the blessings of nightmare. For any darksider within the ritual site would be able to feed off the disturbance here, able to nurture their power.. A blessing the blossoming goddess was willing to provide.










​

 

[Raphael Gallustrade]

Word had reached up, like a vine, from the lower levels of Coruscant. Dark things had been raising from the lower levels of the ciy, and odd occurences had begun. Raphael, having fully recovered from everything that had occurred during the battle of Coruscant, was concerned. There were probably still sithspawn in the lower levels. And if that were the case, and if the poor of the lower levels started falling into some kind of dark side cult... No. Such a thing couldn't be allowed. Not here.

He'd left a message, hoping that they could get down to the lower levels and stop this, before anything too crazy could happen.

Thinking, Raphael had decided to stay in his normal smuggler uniform, and slowly pulled a cloak up around his form, pulling a hood around his head. The last thing that he wanted to do, when going down to take care of something like this. Down... and down... and down... The turbolift went, Raphael silent as the tomb, along with a few others. No one spoke. There was no need to speak. The people were very quiet and Raphael pondered, for a moment what it was that was going on...

Down in the lowest levels of the citywide planet... Raphael followed the men, slower than them, as he did his best to instead feel out the area around him. It was... dark. Darker than normal. This immediately caused his stomach to sink. This was a darkness that would need to be purged from the lower levels of Coruscant. The longer that something like this stayed upon the planet, the worse things would be for rebuilding... He needed to keep going, though, he needed more information, a confirmation of what was happening.

The lower he got, however, the more concerned that he'd begun to get. He looked up, thinking that he was seeing something in the shadows, but... no, that was impossible. It was when he began to hear the chanting, that Raphael suddenly had a realization of absolute horror. He could feel her. The appearance of her form... of that enormous draconic creature horrified him and pulled him into a moment of hell, again. He could still hear her voice, it hit his mind... Everything. For a moment he relived each moment, when she was Jackal, when she'd become Adeline, when she'd held him as a student... when she bit off his arm.

That was when he knew... He had to go. This place was even less safe than he'd thought and he was pushing his luck by being this close. Yet, as close as he was, he was afraid, terrified, that she knew. How could she not? She always knew...

So far... Adeline Noctua

 

[Kaiah Nihl]

Coruscant Lower Levels
Equipment: Black Robes & Purple Lightsaber
Adeline Noctua | Raphael Gallustrade

​

She had the dream again.

She was nearing the end of a very long tunnel, heading toward the light. She'd been walking on the ground for a long time - so long that her shoes had worn away, leaving her feet blistered and bleeding. The light ahead hurt her eyes, yet it filled her with a nervous excitement. She'd been in the dark so long, she hadn't even considered what it be like to be free of it. She increased her pace, moving into a brisk walk, then a jog, then a run. Soon she was sprinting as fast as she could toward the small circle of light, heedless of the spikes of pain that shot up from her injured feet. Yet the exit didn't seem to get any closer. If anything, it was getting further away. Or was the darkness just stretching around her? Yes, that was it, the dark was pushing in closer. It wrapped itself around her, suffocating her, dragging her back. Wait, not back but down. Yes, it was down because she wasn't walking in a tunnel, she was drowning. Drowning in a lake of darkness. And the light was gone. Everything was gone. Everything except a silhouette of…something. It was even darker than the abyss she drowned in, and she let out a choking scream as it rushed toward her and-

Kaiah gasped, opening her eyes wide, swinging her arms wildly as she tried to maintain balance. She stood on the precipice of a large water reservoir situated within Coruscant's lower levels. The water spread out far in front of her, eerily still. The low light overhead made it impossible to peer into its murky depths. Taking another deep breath, she forced her shaky legs to take a step backwards. Then another, and another. And more still until she was far enough away that she was sure she wouldn't fall in. It was only then she let herself collapse to the ground.

She had sleepwalked again. The dream had taken her deeper still into the city-planet, into areas she didn't even recognize. She looked over herself, glad to find she hadn't walked around in her underclothes. Instead she wore strange black robes that she'd never seen before. She felt a metallic object press against her ribs. She reached into the robes with trepidation, ready to toss the strange object away. Her fear evaporated when she found the cool hilt of her lightsaber, safely tucked within the robes. At least she'd managed to hold onto her dearest possession during her fugue state.

She stood and looked around. She was potentially on one of the lowest levels of Coruscant, though which level exactly she wasn't sure. The lack of light, the few people and the dodgy infrastructure all pointed to one of the poorer sections of the city. But there was something else too, something that couldn't be observed. But it could be felt. It's the darkness she thought, fighting off a wave of despair. Or whatever the darkness in her dream represented. It had become clear to her that a great power festered in the depths of the planet, and it was drawing her in.

She stood still for a moment, torn between a desire to flee and a desire to go deeper. But the point was moot, for she didn't know which way was the exit. The blasted planet had a habit for forcing you to go down to go up. Eventually she chose a random direction and started walking.

At first nothing much changed, but soon she could hear something. It was just on the edge of hearing; it sounded almost musical. It wasn't until she walked a layer deeper that she realized it was chanting.

​

 

[Ezorea Zethussaln]

Ezorea had always been captivated by the stories of Coruscant. The shining jewel of the galaxy, the planet-wide city, with its endless layers of towering buildings and bustling streets. It was a place where anything could happen, where the pulse of life was as constant and unyielding as the thrum of starship engines. Yet, for all her curiosity, this was her first time actually setting foot on the monumental planet.

She wandered the upper streets, her white hair and mocha skin drawing curious glances from passersby. Dressed in the elegant garb befitting an Arkanian noblewoman, Ezorea moved with the grace of someone who had been raised in privilege. Her pale eyes drank in the sights and sounds, each detail adding to the mosaic of her experience.

As she strolled, Ezorea's ears caught snippets of conversations around her. Merchants haggling over prices, children laughing as they chased each other, and the hum of speeders zooming overhead. However, it was a group of aliens standing near a street vendor that truly piqued her interest. Their voices were low, conspiratorial, and filled with a tension that was impossible to ignore.

"I swear, it was right there, in the shadows," one of them, a Rodian, whispered urgently. "I've never seen anything like it before."

"Could be just a trick of the lights," a Duros replied, though his tone suggested he didn't quite believe his own words.

"Trick of the lights doesn't make your skin crawl," another alien, this one a Twi'lek, added. "Whatever it was, it wasn't natural."

Ezorea's curiosity was immediately ignited. Strange happenings on Coruscant? She had to know more. Subtly, she moved closer, pretending to admire the wares of the street vendor while straining to hear the conversation.

"Where did you see it?" the Rodian asked.

"Down in the Lower Levels," the Twi'lek answered, her voice dropping even lower. "Near one of the old maintenance tunnels. It's like the place is cursed."

Satisfied that she had gleaned enough information, Ezorea decided to investigate. After all, what better way to understand a city than to delve into its mysteries? She wrapped her cloak tighter around herself and made her way toward the nearest turbolift that would take her to the Lower Levels.

The descent was swift, but as the doors slid open, Ezorea was greeted by a stark contrast to the gleaming upper streets. The Lower Levels were dark, labyrinthine, and filled with the sounds of unseen things skittering in the shadows. The air was heavy with the scent of machinery, oil, and something she couldn't quite place.

Undeterred, Ezorea began to explore, her senses alert to every flicker of movement and every whispered sound. The further she ventured, the more oppressive the atmosphere became. The streets narrowed, twisting and turning in a maze-like pattern that was disorienting. She passed a group of shadowy figures huddled around a barrel fire, their eyes tracking her as she moved by.

Ezorea pressed on, driven by her curiosity and the thrill of discovery. She reached an area that seemed abandoned, the buildings here crumbling and forgotten. It was eerily quiet, save for the occasional drip of water echoing through the corridors.

Suddenly, she heard a soft rustling, followed by a faint, otherworldly sound that sent a shiver down her spine. She followed the noise, her heart pounding in her chest. The path led her to an old maintenance tunnel, just as the aliens had described. The entrance was partially obscured by debris, but she could see a faint glow emanating from within.

 

[Adeline Noctua]

Equipment | In Bio

Location | Coruscant Lower Levels

Tag | Raphael Gallustrade Kaiah Nihl

Despite how deep you were in the depths of this planet-wide city.. A strange red light gave way to better vision as you got closer to the sounds of chanting. The both of you now getting a clearer view of the black sea of cultists, their voices entwined together like a choir under this sickly moonlight turned crimson red. ​

---

At the moment, none had noticed Raphael. At least, no cultists had... A strange fleshy sound would try to take him a distance away from the ritual, if followed his eyes would see... An arm. It writhed, still alive despite it not being attached to anyone? Closer inspections would show that this was no random arm, this mangled and torn limb was.. His own. The one he had lost when Adeline had ate it right off him, it sat under dim light, mostly still till now. Starting to inch closer to him, this was clearly not right... The longer your eyes looked at the thing the longer your mind began to hurt.
​

---

Kaiah was lucky to have blackened robes on, a swarm of bats flying right over in a black flash as they ignored her.

"Tangled around your body like countless chains, crushing you slowly from the inside.."

A soft feminine voice echoed inside Kaiah's mind, she was being watched by something.

"Sing to me not your melancholy song my dear, for it is a tale I know well."

A strange nudging force inside you tries to urge you to push forward.

"What brings you here, chain stricken one? Have you come to seek peace from your fears, if even for a night?"

Whatever was talking to her, it was trying to comfort. The tone taking a more motherly feeling as whatever spoke to Kaiah seemed to understand them.














​

 

[Raphael Gallustrade]

Raphael was happy, or at least was lucky, that none of those sitting near the shrine had noticed him. He could at least get closer to it and could see how and what they were doing... this darkness. It was like a drug. That fear... It was... He shuddered, shaking his head. it was far too intoxicating and Raphael would need to avoid it. He knew that it was her.

That was when he heard it; a strange squelching...almost fleshy sound. He followed the sound, he would have to come back to this place... It was... He frowned, as he tilted his head. An arm...? His eyes widened.

"...no. That's no possible..." he muttered as he glared at it, his fear and even anger, beginning to start, boiling in his heart like a kettle. She was screwing with him... Even now, she was toying with him, trying to drag him away, to distract him. His arm was gone, and the cold, mechanical limb that sat limply at his side was a testament to that. He hated her for this. She bitten his arm, she'd eaten it.

That was when it started inching towards him, crawling closer. The more that he gazed at it, the more that his head began to hurt, first starting as a short burst, and slowly evolving to a dull ache. Knowing that something was wrong, very very wrong, Raphael began to back away from it. He needed to escape this thing, this thing that was very clearly an illusion.

He turned and started heading back, glaring at the arm, eyes squinting in pain, as he started moving back the way he'd come.

"Kriff you, Adeline... Kriffing, faricking..." He shook his head. "Raph, keep calm... You don't hate anything..." Still he couldn't get how much anger out of his head. She deserved it all. She was no teacher. She was no goddess. She was like Onrai... She was an incarnation of darkness, an avatar of it. She meant nothing to him, anymore.

Adeline Noctua Ezorea Zethussaln Kaiah Nihl

 

[Kaiah Nihl]

Coruscant Lower Levels
Equipment: Black Robes & Purple Lightsaber
Adeline Noctua | Raphael Gallustrade | Ezorea Zethussaln

​

She knew she should turn back, walk a far away from the chanting as she could. Find some food, somewhere safe and quiet to sleep. But she knew the dreams would return and she'd be carried deeper anyway. She'd rather face what was ahead lucid and prepared.

It took her a moment to realise that the light around her was becoming steadily more crimson. The red hue seemed to deepen the shadows and give them a disturbing bloody tinge. A steady fear settled itself in her gut, feeling like a heavy weight that was slowing her down. She froze as she heard a strange flapping noise and let out a gasp as she was suddenly surrounded by strange black shapes. They swarmed around, her close but not touching. Once of the creatures doubled back, staring at her, and for a moment she stared into the eyes of a strange bat creature.

That was when the voices started.

"Tangled around your body like countless chains, crushing you slowly from the inside.."

The voice seemed to simultaneously come from without and within. It was both whispered and shouted, harsh yet soft. It was strangely comforting, yet it sent shivers down her spine.

"Sing to me not your melancholy song my dear, for it is a tale I know well."

She felt her feet carry her forward, more urgently now. The red hue around her grew deeper and the chanting grew louder. She still couldn't see its source. Was it even real? Or was it another voice in her head?

"What brings you here, chain stricken one? Have you come to seek peace from your fears, if even for a night?"

She opened her mouth, ready to speak, but closed it suddenly. She bit her tongue as her jaw clenched shut. She gritted her teeth and, with a nearly impossible effort, forced herself to come to a halt. She swooned, feeling suddenly lightheaded. She crouched down, laying her palms flat on the cool ground as the dizziness passed. The act not only steadied her, but the feeling of the floor beneath her helped to ground her and bring her back to reality.

She stood back up. The redness around her seemed to have dimmed, through that could've just been her imagination. Something has tried to contact me she thought. Something that understands me. Or at least claims to understand me. Whatever she was dealing with was clearly very powerful, and could influence her through the force. She'd always been poor at guarding her thoughts, at maintaining the barriers in her mind.

It was then she noticed a silhouette moving toward her. She reached into her robes, gripping her lightsaber. Little did she know that it was Raphael heading her way.

​

 

[Adeline Noctua]

Equipment | In Bio

Location | Coruscant Lower Levels

Tag | Raphael Gallustrade Kaiah Nihl Ezorea Zethussaln

As Raphael had retreated out from the dark, he would be met with that red glow. His eyes getting to see a figure in the distance, as they had just seen him. Whoever this person was, they wore a hooded black garb. The both Raphael and Kaiah getting a better view of one another as they had both become bathed in the red light, suddenly the two of them could hear footsteps.. Another hooded figure seemed to be shuffling by, it wasn't clear if whoever it was had seen either of them.

The old and rather crumbling maintenance tunnel had provided Ezorea a closer in to the adventure she sought, the allure of that distant red light slowly creeped into that tunnel, sinking into her pale skin. Being within its glow.. It felt more like an uncompromising gaze. Something knew she was there, and whatever it was kept a cold glare on what seemed to feel like your very soul.

"Harken my children, let thine suffering fuel thine desire, and let it be me who shall give onto thee eternal bliss."

Each and every being caught within that redness heard her voice, and with her words the fervent chanting grew louder. And with their voices came the unexplainable, the very world around them all had begun to shift. Places and corners slowly becoming a blur, stairways and lifts seeming to ignore physics.

It was as if the area was becoming... A dreamscape, devoid of logic and rational thought.





​

 

[Ezorea Zethussaln]

Ezorea's heart pounded in her chest, a frantic rhythm echoing the chaos around her. The once familiar labyrinth of tunnels had twisted and morphed into a nightmarish maze. Fear, cold and sharp, clawed at her, threatening to consume her entirely.

She stumbled through the shifting corridors, her breath ragged. The chanting grew louder, a cacophony of voices that seemed to seep into her very being. A sense of dread washed over her as she realized she was utterly lost, a solitary figure adrift in a surreal dreamscape.

She yearned for the comforting familiarity of the familiar, a beacon of hope in this terrifying labyrinth. But there was nothing. Just the endless maze, the eerie silence broken only by the maddening chant.

Her eyes darted around, searching for any sign of an exit, a clue, anything. The walls seemed to shift and writhe, their surfaces flickering with distorted images. She pressed a hand against the cold, damp stone, feeling a strange energy pulsing beneath her touch.

A shiver ran down her spine as she recalled the words of the mysterious figure. "Harken my children, let thine suffering fuel thine desire, and let it be me who shall give onto thee eternal bliss." Was this the "eternal bliss" the figure had spoken of? A twisted, nightmarish reality where all sense of self was lost?

Ezorea squeezed her eyes shut, her heart pounding in her chest. The fear that had been gnawing at her now threatened to consume her entirely. She knew she had to move, to keep going, but where would her next step lead her? The labyrinth seemed to shift and change with every breath, a terrifying maze with no clear path.

Adeline Noctua Raphael Gallustrade Kaiah Nihl

 

[Raphael Gallustrade]

Raphael had run from the phantom like hand, he didn't know if it was real, or Adeline messing with him, but he didn't care. He was getting away from it. He quickly moved away from it all, and headed back towards-- Due to his lack of attention, Raphael had walked into a bright red light, and nearly ran into another person wearing a black cloak. His hand shot down towards the slugthrower, at his side, before he suddenly stopped. They... Whoever this person was... she wasn't who he thought she was... That was when he noticed someone else walk by them both, while he was stuck contemplating who this was.

His eyes widened as the voice hit him.

"...she's here..." he muttered softly, as if to himself and then looked to the woman, in front of him. "...we... need to go... Who's here is..." He shook his head. "W-We don't..." The chanting began to grow into a fevered pitch as the world suddenly changed. The stairs... the lifts... "We're... in trouble..." Everything as changing.

He took a breath. "...ma'am, I'm sorry but I don't know your name. I'm Raphael Gallustrade. We're...in a difficult position. The person that we're dealing with is..." He paused, unsure of what he wanted to say. "She's a very powerful dark side entity, not like a normal sith!"

Around them the world began to shift, bend and warp. "...karabast..." he muttered. "We... If we're lucky, she won't care too much that we're here, or her cultists for that matter... If we aren't lucky... uhm, well... I think that trying to find a way out will be difficult." He looked around. The problem about IF was that it was a powerful IF.

The one thing that he still disliked was that, despite everything that had happened...part of him still wanted to learn from her, but he'd hold to himself. It didn't matter. He would make sure they-- He looked over, seeing another woman, looking around in a near panic and confused.

"You've... gotta be kriffing kidding me..."

Adeline Noctua Kaiah Nihl Ezorea Zethussaln

 

[Kaiah Nihl]

Coruscant Lower Levels
Equipment: Black Robes & Purple Lightsaber
Adeline Noctua | Raphael Gallustrade | Ezorea Zethussaln
​

Kaiah's breath caught in her throat as the figure came into view, her grip on the lightsaber tightening. He was human, a little shorter than she was and with pale skin. Startled, the man reached for his weapon, and Kaiah instinctively tapped into the wellspring that was force. She was about to send him flying when the man took his hand off his gun.

She slowly released her grasp on the lightsaber as the man started muttering. He looked close to panic, babbling and eyes wide. She opened her mouth to speak but closed it when the man took a proper breath and turned to face her.

"...ma'am, I'm sorry but I don't know your name. I'm Raphael Gallustrade. We're...in a difficult position. The person that we're dealing with is..." he was speaking more clearly now. Some resolve had returned to his face. Raphael continued. "She's a very powerful dark side entity, not like a normal sith!"

Kaiah became very still, her mouth set in a grim line. Normally, she'd doubt the word of a stranger, but she feared the man was correct about what stalked them. She'd been a servant, no worse a supplicant, of the Dark Side before. She knew that it had limitless potential - yet the greater you indulged, the greater the horror it wrought. She'd spent a long time fleeing from the darkness, but it always seemed to find her again.

The chanting rose in volume again, echoing from several directions. She watched as the ground around her begin to twist and morph. The way she had come had turned into an impossibly steep incline, the ground beneath her feet seemed to bubble and pop, the ceiling began to writhe and move as if alive.

"...karabast..." Raphael muttered. "We... If we're lucky, she won't care too much that we're here, or her cultists for that matter... If we aren't lucky... uhm, well... I think that trying to find a way out will be difficult."

She finally spoke. "You can call me Kaiah. If you remain calm, we'll make it through this". She was surprised by how gravelly her voice sounded. How long had it been since she last talked to someone? "Steady your breathing, focus on the here and now. If it is of the Dark Side, then it feeds off our fear".

She felt like a hypocrite, giving such advice while her hands trembled. Yet she found a new determination surge into her. She'd been running from the darkness for a long time. It was time to confront it.

"I doubt we will find the exit while this thing yet lives" Kaiah continued, her face still grim. "Together we might kill it or wound it enough to escape". It wasn't much of a plan, but there wasn't much to work with. It was summoning them, so at least it would be easy to find.

"What do you know of this creature?" she asked Raphael. But she was interrupted by another figure stumbling into view.

​

 

[Adeline Noctua]

Equipment | In Bio

Location | Coruscant Lower Levels

Tag | Ezorea Zethussaln Raphael Gallustrade Kaiah Nihl

The chanting had formed into an unknown language, with no interruptions so far the darkness had grown thicker, the light being choked and pressured. The figure that they were watching stood still, the red light letting everyone watch as a massive clawed hand reached out to the figure, the hand seeming to have no physical form.. Made of pure shadow. The maniacal music grew more intense as the shadow hand reached outward, gently pressing a claw down onto this figure.

Suddenly your ears are hit with the loudest sound of all, silence. As if everything came to a halt to see what happens, and as that hand slinked away back into the ritual area.

Within moments of what happened, the very world around the figure became... Sickly? The metal rusting and twisting, the already browning plant life turning black and wilted. As the metal distorted and rusted, every pathway had seemed to changed... They were stuck in a nightmarish rusted hellscape, trapped in a twisting and reality bending labyrinth.

The touched figure had been separated by walls, leaving you unsure as to their fate.

But had these twisted walls separated you all? Or did it force strangers into a pack?

Either way.. You needed to escape.






​

 

[Raphael Gallustrade]

Raphael nodded, as Kaiah reminded him that they needed to stay calm, if they were going to get out of this. He took a deep breath, as he slowly pulled himself together. She was right. If they didn't then there were worse fates that awaited. Death might've been a better alternative. Quickly he shook his head and waved to Ezorea, hoping that she would get the message and get over to them and fast.

Slowly the figure that had passed them stalked past the two and into the red light, as a hand of shadows reached out and alighted upon the figure.

"You can call me Raph..." he replied, breathing slowly. "Uh, I know a bit about the figure that we're up against, at least if they're the same entity... Once a sith... They're definitely an entity of dark power, though... her powers have gone from..." He paused, unsure of what to reveal. "...it's gone from the usual aspects of the dark side, to more... esoteric aspects... I'm not sure how to describe it except for... eldritch? I don't know entirely... She's changed from when I knew her."

He blinked as the world began to rust and as the plants began to wilt and darken. "She's gotten even stronger... This power is... She's distorting reality, it would seem..." He looked around. The world was rusting, breaking, cracking... He leapt backwards, as one of the walls seemed to rise up, between them.

Swearing under his breath, Raphael turned, jumping away from the wall and waited. But... Where were the others??? He was... alone? He walked up to the wall. "Hey, Kaiah! If you can hear me and, if you see the white haired woman, from earlier, can you get her out of there? We need to get up, back to the top of the planet and get out of here! If I see her first, I'll grab her. Otherwise, let's get to a higher level and try to rendezvous!"

Adeline Noctua Kaiah Nihl Ezorea Zethussaln