Legend of the Hidden Temple [SJO Dominion of Chalacta Hex AD-33]

[Cassius Droma]

Cassius was glad to see Zora so eager to participate. He briefly thought of how nice it would be to have someone like her on more of his archaeological expeditions. Another intellectual, someone who could help decipher ancient languages and analyze the data he collected. It was a wonder they had never worked together before.

As the complex ignited, specks of light twinkling from consoles and other fixtures, Cassius found himself woefully reminded of Ansion, and stole a glance to Gianna. No bewitched statues to try and chop us in half this time, he mused. Despite the absence of a physical looming presence, however, there was a more ethereal one, still at the back of his mind.

Craning his neck to look up, Cassius marveled at how the domed ceiling over top similarly twinkled with light, but the lights appeared to be arranged in a more random pattern. No, not random… Cassius squinted as he started to recognize constellations and patterns. “It’s a map…” he muttered, mostly to himself, but it was loud enough for those nearby to hear.

Theories started to fly about the room as the others scattered to observe different parts of the chamber. Some of them might have been valid, but Cassius wanted to get control of the situation before it got out of control.

“I wouldn’t touch anything just yet,” he cautioned the group, putting out a hand to accentuate his point. “The technology here is so alien, it could take us a good while to figure out how to do anything useful, even with the Sharukan DNA samples. This trip is exploratory, so don’t interact with anything, and don’t take any artifacts just yet. Let’s get a good map of the area before we do anything invasive.”

Maybe Stephanie was right, that some sort of confessional was needed to unlock the next areas. Cassius didn’t rule it out, but something told him that whatever presence had taken over this place, it wasn’t original to it, wasn’t Sharukan.

There was the pathway in front of him, one that, on the temple map displayed in glowing blue lines on a nearby console, apparently lead to nothing. That didn’t make any sense, however. Maybe Sharukan architecture was different, but from what Cassius knew, the central location of that path couldn’t just lead to nothing. Something had to be there.

Maybe it was whatever lived here, now.

Slowly, cautiously taking into account the pressure plates that Stephanie had mentioned, Cassius moved forward, towards the pathway… towards the dark presence that lurked below. A long staircase led into pure blackness, and Cassius headed straight into it, his light guiding him. Share his secrets? He didn’t need to – they were radiating off of him.

He was afraid. Afraid he was losing his connection to the Force. Afraid for his family on Rinn, afraid for Jade Squadron, afraid for the Silver Jedi. Fear had started to become an all-consuming part of his life – fear of the unknown, fear of death. Whatever was here, his primal instincts were afraid of it, but he had to find out what it was.

[member="Zora Djo"] | [member="Gianna Aegis"] | [member="Stephanie Swail"] | [member=”Sky'ito Yumi”] | [member="Elisea Korrado"] | [member="Darth Immortus"] | [member="Preliat Mantis"] | [member="Zavii"]

 

[Alyisa Mithel]

Location: Chalacta Starport
Objective: Free Slaves, arrest slavers
Interacting with: [member="Sala'dine"] @Varindar Asyt [member="Iturizu Yuvie"]
Post: 3

“Damaged”, Aly blinked several times momentarily stunned, then looked over to Sala’dine.

“Technically, I was, if you remember”, Aly smiled softly, with a mischievous grin. “I was shot right here on my leg”, Aly pointed to the place she was shot. The pair both knew about the wound. It was Sala’dine who first applied first aid.

“You coming with”, Aly pointed in the direction a group of rangers was heading in. They were at a door to what looked like the maintenance part of the spaceport. It also appeared they were having trouble opening the blast doors.

“It looks like we’re needed already”, Aly jogged quickly over while pulling her combat knife. It was not ideal but she did not have a sonic screw driver or any proper tool.

“Excuse me gentlemen” Aly squeezed on by, to their surprise.

Once she was by them she started to pry open the panel. Once open there was a mess of different color of wires, fuses, and other fancy tech that did not matter for what she was doing. Aly cut a few wires switched them around then twisted them together. The craziness continued when she started to move around some of the fuses.

The door was not opened but she took a few steps back away from the panel. “Ok put your blaster on stun”, Aly pushed the left arm of the Ranger standing to her left.

“What”, the ranger said in a very surprised and confused high pitched voice. “Yes, Ma’am”, the Ranger said, this time in a deeper voice. *The Ranger places the rifle on stun setting*

“Ok now shot the panel. When you do, it will confuse the system making it believe it received the correct pass code to enter” Aly attempted to explain in a way the Ranger might understand.

Answering by lifting up his blaster, the Sliver Ranger then pointed his rifle at the panel. When he fired his weapon the energy discharged and then hit the panel. The panel erupted with series of sparks and puffs of smoke.

Ranger started to back off believing it was going to explode, or something. It did not. It did however continue to spark but the blast doors slid open.

“Alright gentlemen”, Aly began to say. The panel was still sparking and looked like it might catch fire. “You’re sleeping beauty, is awaiting you inside”, she was continuing to speak. The panel started to catch fire!

One of the Rangers was trying to beat the fire to death with his field commissioned blanket from his pack, when other members of his unit start to make their way in.

 

[Sala'dine]

[member="Alyisa Mithel"]

"Hmmm perhaps." She said it while standing there with a look as she observed the new pilot getting through the door and raised an eyebrow but let it happen. Motioning for the others to follow as she seemed to be leading the team with interest so... Sala'dine was going to follow as her wrist datapad chimed and showed it. The shadow they had been working on arrived and she kind of wished they had a hype man as it were but the ghost fleet would have its newest addition. She was seeing the one ranger snuffing out the fire and stayed at the ready for anything that might happen. She might not fight in the combat scenario but she was more then ready to provide assistance. "We are going to have to work on that." She said it where she brought up the fleet and one of her captains. "Move into postion and support us."

 

[Varindar Asyt]

Objective: Cloak-and-dagger
Location: Chalacta
Allies: [member="Iturizu Yuvie"] [member="Sala'dine"] @Alyisa Mithel

"You are under arrest: if you do not have a lawyer, the courts will assign you one. You have the right to remain silent; everything you may say may be held against you"

While Alyisa was with a ranger that was snuffing out the electrical fire in the dead of night, Varindar had a few more rangers escort the handcuffed prisoners back to the shuttle that Sala'dine prepared for the purpose of holding the slavers on remand until they could be tried and judged, with other rangers seizing computer equipment belonging to the slavers, as well as other records incriminating their slavery activities. That, even though they were equipment used in other areas of the business, so hopefully the police would be able to get a copy of the incriminating evidence for themselves before returning the machine. Which meant that the spaceport had to subcontract the accounting, such as accounts payable and receivable, bookkeeping and, of course, taxation, until the procedures against the slavers were over. And also the slavers were now brought over to the tarmac, on remand, while the Mirialan FU and the blonde woman were busy fetching the sleeping slaves, still sleeping because the electrical fire didn't trigger the fire alarm yet. Hopefully the slaves will be secured before the fire alarms are triggered.

"The slavers are now under arrest" she signaled to Sala'dine.

 

[Valae Heavenshield]

Quickly grabbing up her datapad, Zora began eagerly typing notes for herself. She also snapped a few images of the consoles to study once she returned to the temple. Looking up towards the ceiling, her mouth dropped open at the lovely sight above them. Lights twinkled in an almost magical way, and she nodded in agreement as Cassius spoke.

“My, my…” She smiled up at the starry lights, “I think you’re right, Mr. Droma.”

It was a map. These constellations had been carefully plotted by the Sharukan, she supposed. There were individuals forming theories behind her, and even… singing? She listened passively, but focused her attention on her work. Though she would come to remember these images quite perfectly in her mind, she always found that diligent note-taking never went amiss.

Though the urge to start tinkering was there, Zora knew that Cassius was right. The risk to the alien consoles and databases was too great. Watching as their Jedi leader began to venture forward; Zora’s eyes flickered back towards the map displayed on the console. Wasn’t he heading towards a dead end? But then again, there wouldn’t be a path at all if there was nothing down there to discover. Glancing back at the rest of the group, she nodded and then began to follow after Cassius.

The sound of their footsteps echoed in the small corridor, and their flashlights illuminated the way. Zora couldn’t feel the presence of this place like some of the others, but even to her ordinary senses… there was something strange at work here. It was quite eerie, but she figured that this feeling could easily be attributed to their surroundings; dark and littered with bones as it was. Shining her light up ahead, her boots paused a moment. Squinting, she spotted what appeared to be a skeletal form slumped against a doorway.

Guard duty that continued even after death, Zora mused.

She couldn’t past the doorway, there was only deep, inky darkness waiting inside. For now, she would examine the guardian. There was a hole through the skull, just about the size of a lightsaber blade or perhaps a very clean shot from a blaster. But, it was then that she noticed the weapon that sat with the skeleton, indeed it was a saber.

“Take a look at this,” She motioned to Cassius and the others. “Self-inflicted?”

[member="Cassius Droma"], [member="Darth Immortus"], [member="Gianna Aegis"], [member="Preliat Mantis"], [member="Sky'ito Yumi"], [member="Elisea Korrado"], [member="Zavii"], [member="Stephanie Swail"]

 

[Sky'ito Yumi]

Location: WIth Silver Team on route to planet
Objective: 1 (Indiana Jones)
Peps Nearby: [member="Zora Djo"] | [member="Elisea Korrado"] | [member="Darth Immortus"]
Post: 5

No one seemed very interested in her find at the moment, but not to blame, the map of the temple providing much more information then a simple ring and sabre in hand, but never the least Sukai decided to hang onto it. Though suddenly not moving over to [member="Stephanie Swail"] new words as they started to look through said map, "well, kuso, just what I need", though there was no certainty if that fell one would meet death, but best not take that chance. As the Padawan continued to talk Sukai tried to reflect upon her knowledge of history, but alas nothing much about the Chalactan came up in mind, though it would not matter [member="Zavii"] seeming to come under the influence of the force or some other means acting rather strange.

Both [member="Zora Djo"] and [member="Cassius Droma"] seemed oblivious to what the young Padawan had just done, the Jin standing there a littler perplexed on what to do. "Um first of all did no one see what Zavii just did? also can I move or is my present area layed with traps", she voices to the others as they studied the map, still trying to wrap a head around what had just happened, the force was not playing ticks on her, could it? No that did not really make sense for this setting, more so with that dark presence still nearby. "Ehhh anyone going to answer my question? I may be immortal but I do not want to spend a long time just standing in the same spot", more so considering that what the other two where talking about seemed really interesting.

For the moment the Jedi knight could only really stand there and watch as Zora and Cassius descended further into the shrouded caves, getting closer and closer to the dark presence that enveloped this place. 'I hope younger brother is doing better then me, most likely having a fun time exterminating bugs and all... Haha ga koko ni itara'.

Translation: I wish mother was here

 

[Darth Immortus]

C H A L A C T A​

Present Day​

The void behind the doorway was bathed in darkness and silence. Beyond the gate to nothingness, in the room adjacent to the Jedi adventuring party, the holocron of Darth Immortus waited. It waited silently and patiently, not even responding to the odd singing of one of the party's members. But everything was heard by the spirit inside the holocron. It knew that the group who stumbled upon the ruins of Mesharra Temple were Jedi. Their sensations in the Force were unmistakable. Judging from the small bits of conversation that the spirit picked up on, they were here to explore and perhaps recover artifacts.

The spirit of Darth Immortus would make sure they discovered everything they needed to, indeed.

Immortus' pyramid-shaped holocron rested atop its pedestal in the blackened room placidly. Then, the spirit did what it could to grasp the Force and radiate outwards. No emotions of anger and hate, but simply a radiating, subdued presence. The holocron emitted a silver glow, the light of which pierced the blackness of the room and extended out into the atrium where the Jedi party waited. They would see that beyond the dark void there was no wall, but a holocron waiting to be discovered.

[member="Cassius Droma"] [member="Zora Djo"] [member="Stephanie Swail"] [member="Zavii"] [member="Gianna Aegis"] [member="Preliat Mantis"] [member="Elisea Korrado"] [member="Sky'ito Yumi"]​

 

[Preliat Mantis]

Preliat stood on the plate. He looked down at the Tomahawk laid within his hands, and rubbed his fingers on the beads that once braided his wife's hair, as well as his own. He stared at them for a while, before rotating the Tomahawk once over his hand and sliding it back into the sheath.

Secrets.

He had plenty of those. The machine responded to the language of his people- so that is what he chose to speak his secrets in. He doubted, that most of his party would understand the gravity of his statement, given what occurred during the war.

"Ni draar gehatyc lo Ra. Ni copaanir skira. Naasad parjai par Kyrt'Sad."1


He let the weight of his statement leave his body. All he had done, all the lives he had taken, all the pain he caused. He didn't do it for Ra. He didn't do it for Mandalore. He didn't even do it for Yasha, as much as he loved her. He did it for himself. For revenge. For a burning hatred. He never wanted the Death Watch to win. He never wanted the Mandalorians to be where they are now. He simply wanted Mia to die. He could care less of who was, and is- in power. That throne, in his mind, could remain empty and he could care less. He turned his head halfway to the party, then to the direction of the adjacent room.

He had encountered the same, similar eerie feeling many times. He knew it all too well. They were drawn to him. They fed off of him. They grew stronger in his presence. But it did little to save them from his wrath.

A single word escaped his lips.

"Dar'Jetii."2




1. I never believed in Ra, I only wanted revenge- but the word 'skira' here implies personal revenge.

2. Sith, Dark Jedi.




















[member="Stephanie Swail"] l [member="Cassius Droma"] l Zora Djo l Sky'ito Yumi l

 

[Zavii]

The others barely even noticed her... surely they heard her but nothing seemed to happen. The Zabraki Padawan looked around as everyone else had their own ideas about how to move forward. Did she really think that she'd be able to stir whatever spirit or computer stood guard at this temple by singing a song?

Zavii bit her lower lip and cursed herself for acting so childishly... this wasn't some story. This was supposed to be serious... but then... what had drawn her to do something so odd? With a slight huff, she sat in place and closed her eyes to meditate. She had sensed something strange on her way here... perhaps she'd get a better idea of what it was now that she was inside. After only a few moments, she sensed it; Some ancient spirit was indeed here, and it was listening, and it now wanted itself known.

Something the Mandalorian had said seemed to be the catalyst, but there was some presence trying to get their attention. Zavii's eyes opened and she looked at [member="Sky'ito Yumi"].

"You can move, Sky. But does anyone else sense that presence? It's something... old. I'm not really sure how to describe it other than that."
Looking around, she noticed that the Mando, [member="Preliat Mantis"], seemed to have noticed something. "What's he looking at?" she stared at the side of the man's head as she started to stand and step down from the dias...

 

[Iturizu Yuvie]

Objective: Slavers
Peps: [member="Alyisa Mithel"] [member="Varindar Asyt"]
Post: 3

Yuvie just rolled his eyes as Alyisa, yes she was shot, so had he, probably more then anyone else here, and all in the same day, but what ever, the former slave did have a point, but again reputation and all, after this when away from Jedi space they could go on a vigilantly spree all they wanted. As the group continue on Yuvie kept a feel out on the force, making sure there was no slaver that somehow managed to escape the gassing, but was brought out of the trace when a fire broke out. "Really, you could have just asked me to hack to door panel, I am quite the slicer, but what ever, do things your way, just don't gas us instead with smoke, bad on the lungs".

Following the ranger inside he and Varindar started to arrest the knocked out slavers, himself going after the computers and other tech, a little interested to see what they had been up to lately. 'If we are lucky I could probably find out other contacts and help track down more slaving rings, though will have to wait until we are back on the shit to start taking this thing apart, I wonder how good the others are with tech'. He gathered up what he could and regrouped with the rangers and Varindar, slowly making their way to the Shadow that [member="Sala'dine"] had landed nearby, in all a good day and bust, perhaps he would spend more time around the Silver Jedi.

 

[Cassius Droma]

Cassius was completely beside himself. There were other people with him, he heard their voices… but he was hardly listening. The closer he got to the doorway shrouded by a curtain of infinite darkness, the more narrow his focus and view became. He was known to have tunnel vision when it came to his work – but nothing like this. It was as if something was drawing him here, beckoning him.

The inky beyond seemed to extend even into the small corridor he and Zora had found themselves in. With each step he took, Cassius felt like he was descending further and further at an exponential rate. Maybe not physically, but metaphysically. It was so dark down here, so devoid of light, he felt as if he was stepping into the very bottom of the galaxy.

Zora’s voice snapped him out of his trance, but only briefly. He stole a glance over at the corpse, long weathered by time. The young explorer queried as to whether the injury was self-inflicted or not. Something instinctively told him that it was – that this man was trying to stop himself from something. A pang of fear hit him in the stomach, the tiniest of voices asking if the man had tried to kill himself from being influenced by whatever was drawing him into the room at that very moment.

“Maybe,” was all Cassius answered. “Probably,” he added under his breath as he faced forward again, and kept walking. Soon, he saw a silver light peaking through – an object, of some kind. The sight of it merely drove him further, finally crossing the precipice and into the room itself. The chamber was possibly immense – his light didn’t even reach to its walls. Cassius wasn’t focused on that right now, however. His gaze was entirely transfixed on the object.

A holocron, he deduced. Not of Jedi origin, he also concluded. As a self-described historian and archaeologist, he knew what holocrons looked like. Jedi holocrons were cubes – this was a pyramid.

A Sith holocron.

https://soundcloud.com/fenrirr/requiem-for-soprano-mezzo-soprano-two-mixed-choirs-orchestra
​

And yet, he continued, his pure sense of curiosity – and whatever else – driving him forward. His boots made little sound as they connected with the floor, step after step. Cassius hadn’t even noticed, but his breathing had become shallow, quickened. He slowly reached out his hand, his index finger furthest from his body. The object sat there, waiting for him to touch it. To grasp it. Just a little closer…

He was mere centimeters away from taking the nefarious object in his hand…

[member="Zora Djo"] | [member="Gianna Aegis"] | [member="Stephanie Swail"] | [member=”Sky’ito Yumi”] | [member="Elisea Korrado"] | [member="Darth Immortus"] | [member="Preliat Mantis"] | [member="Zavii"]

 

[Stephanie Swail]

LOCATION: Chalacta
OBJECTIVES: Survive the Mesharra Temple[background=#1e1e1e] | Personally avoid ripping off 'Raiders Of The Lost Ark' in the process[/background]

Everyone seemed to be moving at once. Speaking at once. It was a blur of thoughts and emotions and feelings.

[member="Zavii"] and [member="Sky'ito Yumi"] were closest to Stephanie, and she heard their questions.

”I don’t like this,” she turned to them. ”We shouldn’t be here. This place is messing with our heads. Our perceptions – there are too many strong Force users in one place feeding from the dark aura within.”

She looked around and saw the Mando [member="Preliat Mantis"] with his quiet whispers and weapon in hand.

”Keep an eye on him, the Mando. He doesn’t look right. We’ve got to get out of here – this isn’t right.”

Down the caves, she saw the figures of [member="Cassius Droma"] and [member="Zora Djo"] illuminated by the lights and closing in on the pyramid holocron – the holocron of a dark spirit. A chill ran up her spine. She couldn’t wait…she was worried…it was to speak now or die a horrid death if one wrong move signalled the temple crashing down on them.

”Don’t touch it!” Stephanie called out, near rooted to the spot for fear of causing the pressure plates to give.

Her hand shot out and she gasped as her energy went into gripping Cassius’s arm, his hand…anything, with any power she could to stop him, if it wasn’t too late already…

[member="Darth Immortus"]

 

[Alyisa Mithel]

Aly snickered hearing [member="Iturizu Yuvie"] comment. Also [member="Varindar Asyt"] would be pleased if she knew Aly had deactivated the alarms that were tied to the panel and the sensors around the outer door. That conversation might be mute later on as the ranger had just put out the fire and no alarms was triggered.

Before heading into the complex, Aly did look back over her shoulder to [member="Sala'dine"]. Mixtures of emotions were riddled upon her futures. Playfulness, happiness, there was a bit of that Corellian charm easing through.

Now what kinds of fun things could she find in here?

 

[Sala'dine]

[member="Alyisa Mithel"]

She was looking at her and prepared for anything... hand slipping to grasp her segotha while the blade served a purpose to what she wanted to do. Sala'dine knew she could protect herself and she had a ranger's field pistol for her own use... that plus the powerblade built into the wrist of her armor for slicing through essentially anything that came near them. "Alright then proceed forward." Major difference when it came to things.. she was an admiral set for space so she didn't often give big orders on the ground unless it was needed. She was unsure about what the others were doing until she moved around pulling the blade from her belt.

 

[Varindar Asyt]

Objective: Cloak-and-dagger
Location: Chalacta
Allies: [member="Iturizu Yuvie"] [member="Sala'dine"] [member="Alyisa Mithel"]

"Do the Ranger detachment have hover-stretchers in tow? We have about 200 slaves total" she asked Alyisa in a low voice, while sensing the slaves were still sleeping.

Now that Varindar was, in fact, ferrying the slavers, her other two accomplices just began looking at the slave holding block and the still-asleep slaves held in there, while the handcuffed slavers were, under ranger escort, hauled back to the tarmac. They mostly kept quiet; in fact, the slavers were still fast asleep. Now that's one way to redeem from the debacle that was Jakku, which is somewhere along, or near, the borders of GA and First Order space: no bloodshed, only fumigation and slavers caught in their sleep, she thought, while the slavers were put into proper holding cells once they board the ship that will take them to wherever they will be held on remand. No bail could be posted for those slavers - in fact, slavery is part of those crimes for which there was no possible bail under SJ criminal law. However, on remand, they would be well-treated so that they could stand trial. But she was also grateful for the rangers with Alyisa and Iturizu being able to disable the lock on the slave detention block without triggering alarms. There were about a dozen slavers and nearly two hundred slaves, and some of them will likely awaken to a slaver-less facility.

 

[Valae Heavenshield]

Zora could hear the voices of the others behind her; it seemed that many were wary of this place – especially the Mandalorian man. Biting the inside of her cheek, she wondered if perhaps she should be worried. But, this question would remain unanswered.

Cassius was already disappearing into the deep darkness of the chamber. Not wanting to miss out on any discoveries, Zora’s feet carried her forward as well. Her small flashlight did little to help, the beam of light seemed to simply be sucked into the black that surrounded them. And her hapan heritage made the room even harder to navigate, she was nearly blind now.

However, her light found the spot where Cassius seemed to be focused.

Zora paused a moment, eyes still desperately trying to adjust to the room. Squinting, she felt a shiver of excitement within, she could scarcely make out the outline of Cassius’ form and what appeared to be a small object that sat on a pedestal. Was this what she thought it was – a holocron? There was a vast storage facility within the Silver Jedi archives that was solely for holocrons, however, there were very few that had access to this special vault… and Zora was not one of them.

The chance to see a holocron up close was thrilling.

Stretching out the palm of her hand to ‘feel’ her way through the dark, she began to move forward. However, her overzealous speed, the sudden call of Padawan Swail, and a misplaced step spelled disaster. Her foot landed atop what might have been a bone if she could see, and as her ankle rolled to the side, she began to topple.

Reaching out for Cassius, she missed completely – her hand closed around the artifact… but it did little to stop her fall. Zora hit the stone floor, head bumping up against something hard. Conscious, but dazed, she groaned… and the sound echoed throughout the chamber.

[member="Cassius Droma"], [member="Darth Immortus"], [member="Stephanie Swail"], [member="Preliat Mantis"], [member="Zavii"], [member="Sky'ito Yumi"]

 

[Sky'ito Yumi]

Location: WIth Silver Team on route to planet
Objective: 1 (Indiana Jones)
Peps Nearby: | [member="Elisea Korrado"] | [member="Darth Immortus"]
Post: 6

Taking [member="Zavii"] advice Sukai began to move away from the dead body, thankfully not activating any trap, coming to stand next to the Zabrak, "that feeling of present but ancient power, yes it is around, be it spirits or some force user in the shadows, or maybe just the temple as a whole". "Either way not a very welcoming concept to think about... so why have the others split apart from us"? The other had delved deep into the cave a very sinister feeling from down the stair well becoming stronger and stronger.

[member="Stephanie Swail"] was voicing this, the Padawan seeming to be panicked slightly at the dark present and unnatural feeling, nothing Sukai was unused to, but for the other Padawan's here it was not for the faint of heart. "We have to stop them from doing anything reckless, lets go Zavii", she replied to the Zabrak while Swail and her raced down the stair to where [member="Cassius Droma"] was about to touch... a Sith holocron! Thankfully Swail stopped him before anything bad could happen, a small sigh escaping Sukai's mouth.

Unfortunately the sudden outburst from Sawil caused [member="Zora Djo"] to fall over, her hand grasping onto the Holocron before falling to the floor, knocking her head again the stone pavement, sending an echo though the tomb like structure. Bending down Sukai place a hand around Zora's head, making sure there was not immediate damage, and eye keeping close gaze on the Sith holocron, hoping it had not be disturbed to much. Its eery glow and hum enticing, but once more nothing new to Sukai for better or for worse. "Djo-san, are you okay"?

 

[Iturizu Yuvie]

Objective: Slavers
Peps: [member="Alyisa Mithel"] [member="Varindar Asyt"]
Post: 3

200 slaves, it was not really a high number considering the thousands that could be bought and sold at auctions, but just the shear amount in such a confined complex was quite staggering. "Varindar, what may I ask we will do with the equipment found here, will the Jedi confiscate it in some manner? I very much wish to tinker around with some of the data pads and terminals that the slavers ha laying around here", and he was not too keen on letting Alyisa get a hold of them. "I am also guessing [member="Sala'dine"] will be our ride out of here", he stated seeing the black haired woman off in the distance, the commander of the aptly named shadow if memory was to be correct. "So, are there any more sting operations on the schedule? or would it be back to the Silver Rest as you call it to de-breif and relax"? The exact methodology and the way the Silver Jedi conducted it's business was still something Yuvie had to wrap his head around.

 

[Zavii]

[member="Stephanie Swail"] was the first to speak, and in the way of one who'd spent enough time around Master Jedi, the Human poignantly pointed out the pernicious effect that this place was taking on everyone's psyches. Zavii nodded and looked back at [member="Preliat Mantis"], who seemed drawn to the eerie light from what seemed to be a newly opened corridor. The Padawan paused to ponder on the possibility that her song might have actually been the catalyst to opening the doorway, but then Stephanie cried out to [member="Cassius Droma"], who had somehow managed to cross the corridor's length before anyone had realized. Anyone, that is, except [member="Zora Djo"], the archaeologist who seemed to have developed a crush on Cassius.

Looking down the darkened hallway, Zavii noticed the source of the soft glow, the object of Droma's fascination, and the cause of the overbearing Darkness that seemed to permeate the very walls of this sub-terrainian temple; a Sith holocron. Everything about this place made sense in that moment between moments, right before Zora tripped. It seemed to happen in slow motion, yet Zavii was transfixed by the deeply disturbing notes emanating from the holocron. Stephanie's shout had startled the other woman, who promptly lost her balance and tried to stay herself on the one thing in the galaxy that should never be touched with one's actual hands. The little pyramidal crystal came away from it's pedestal into Zora's hand as she tumbled and hit her head.

With a small whoosh of air and in the space of a blink, [member="Sky'ito Yumi"] closed the distance and set to examining the scholar's wound. Somehow that action got Zavii's mind to reconnect with her body, but as soon as she took a step, she could sense the spirit of the holocron. It had been disturbed from it's resting place and surely knew as much. Zavii felt a cold sweat well up on the back of her neck as she stepped closer, almost in a daze. Almost automatically, she focused her mind on the Song of the thing, trying to parse it and see what it wanted; for surely something so sinister wanted something and perhaps discovering it's will might warn them of any impending danger.

"Who are you," whispered the Zabrak, trying to communicate more through the Force than her lips, "Why have you called us here?"

 

[Darth Immortus]

The shimmering arc of light called to [member="Cassius Droma"], tugging at the strings of his curiosity and begging him to reach forth. He did, and the tips of his fingers were nearly on the holocron's smooth silver edges, until a quake of motion knocked it from its pedestal. [member="Zora Djo"] was unable to save her own head, but managed somehow to save the holocron itself, which lay wrapped in her fingers after she fell to the ground.

Darth Immortus could feel the warm tendrils of life surrounding him once more, an intoxicating sensation. He could feel the blood rushing through Zora's hand like rivers of life energy, an energy he had not felt in centuries. It was difficult not to be maddened by the experience, but the soul inside the holocron knew who these people were. They were Jedi one and all, of the same kind that had shackled him to this eternal torment in the first place. Now would not be the time to reveal himself so plainly.

When [member="Zavii"] called out, it would give no response to her tune. The soul inside the holocron shrank to near nothingness, retreated into the shadowy oblivion. The glow from the holocron was all but gone; it simply sat placidly in the injured Zora's hand as though it had never made a gambit for consciousness in the first place.

The only thing that sat between the party of Jedi was a sea of deathlike silence.

[member="Stephanie Swail"] | [member="Sky'ito Yumi"]​