Pari Passu

[Ra Vizsla]

Onderon​

East of Iziz, capital city, the Highlands​

​

Artemis Obauldi, Dread Lord of the Yuuzhan Vong from centuries prior, was spiritually infesting the body of Tsavong Kraal. Previously a creation of the Yuuzhan Vong's ingenuity called the Myrshavong, the process he had undergone with the blood of the Simulacra had transformed this vessel into a pureblood. Brazen eldritch tattooes ran up and down his naked torso as the large creature lumbered through the plains of Onderon with only a walking staff as his guide, his bare feet leaving massive imprints in the soft fertile soil. Artemis looked across the horizon as the sun was beginning to set, and sighed.

For all his wisdom, for all his years, the Dread Lord was lost. But the vessel continued forth.

He was looking for something, something very near and dear to him. This wasn't an expedition for alliances, this wasn't a hunt... no, Artemis was driven by something else entirely. Something that he had lost, that he wished to regain. His hand stretched across the ebb of time, reaching for something from his past. A passionate man unto his family, even 700 years later, he was still looking to retain that which had been forgotten. In a way, Artemis wished he hadn't even been brought back, as his obsessions from his previous life were slowly beginning to overcome him.

Foolish, he thought to himself. Concentrate.

The Vessel looked upon the horizon once more and saw the smoke and flames of an encampment far in the distance... perhaps the Beastriders of Onderon, he thought to himself. It would behoove him not to be caught out in the wild by their ilk, for they weren't known for their hospitality. Making camp and digging up some worms to eat for dinner, Artemis grabbed some weeds and threw them over his body, attempting a sort of camouflage as he lay down for the night... ready to continue his search in the morning.

[member="Quietus"]

 

[Quietus]

Onderon
The Wilds
Riversaw Clan Valley

Beastia Blackthorne, the leader of the Beast Tribes and living vestige of the centuries of Onderon's history and that of the galaxy at large, dozed on a raised bed in the late afternoon sun while a Shaman slowly tapped fresh ink into the flesh of her exposed back. The process was a dull but necessary one to record the latest success of the last beast immigration from Dxun. A week had passed since the alignment of planet and moon finally broke, and though their work was far from done they had the situation currently under control. Iziz was safe and the last batch of winged heathens were violently adjusting to their new home.

She'd been at this for years. Hundreds of years. Small wonder there remained any bare flesh left to tell the story, but the Shaman's hand was steady and Quietus had not flinched from the pain since she was but a child. Her mind drifted to the lull of skreev-song in the air and the rhythmic tk-tk-tk'ing of the rudimentary tattooing process at her back. Visions of her childhood swam before her mind's eye - memories of time spent with a man named Daritha who she had come to think of fondly as a father.

"Beastia."

Pale eyes snapped open, taking in the sight of not one man, but several, making their way hurriedly towards her position. The sun had sunk below the horizon by this time and the Shaman now worked by the light of the nearby fire, his work having slowed considerably.

"Windrunners have spotted a creature in the mountains. Some kind of diseased terentatek. We think it's sithspawn."

Redundant, no doubt - a sithspawn terentatek, but her people knew the severity of her hatred for the deranged, unnatural creatures of the Sith. Onderon was not home to sithspawn anymore; what terentatek remained had been carefully managed and bred over the centuries and were now tracked and controlled by the Beastiary. Any mention of sithspawn meant one thing: foreign intruder.

Quietus motioned to the Shaman to stop and sat up, allowing him to relace the leather strappings of her leather armor, stoic against the pain caused by material against freshly marked skin. Ready, the Beastia signed to her men to lead the way and followed them off to where their skreev waited. The group mounted up and took to the skies, beast-call echoing across the valley, announcing their approach to the Highlands.

[member="Tsavong Kraal"]

 

[Ra Vizsla]

Artemis heard the beast calls over head and decided he would garner no rest this night. Removing the shubbery meant to camouflage his person, he stood and began to slowly make his ways through the dimly lit highlands under the light of Onderon's moons.

Hearing the flap of wings in the distance, the massive Yuuzhan Vong took a knee and revealed from the folds of his traveling garments a device, a qah'sa, a miniature Yuuzhan Vong version of the holocommunicator. Or any computer really, this creation had a variety of uses. In this instance it was his guide, showing him coordinates on a map of the Highlands of Onderon in which he would need to look for what he so greatly valued here. He had risked much in coming to Onderon to search for this specific object, and the Dread Lord had spent much effort in tracking this particular object down through the centuries in which it had been lost. One of the first things he had done upon his reawakening in this galaxy was search for this mystery. Now that he had found it, or at least it's general vicinity... nothing would stop him.

Especially not these Beast Riders, as dangerous as they might be to his mission.

His amphistaff walking stick found it's way into the dark damp soil beneath his downtrodden feet as he continued through the night, and that's when he heard it. Quiet. No crickets. No insects. No birds chirping. No snakes slither. Nothing. Just blank silence.

After several hours of trekking through the night, Artemis knew he had been found... and stood very still and tall, his amphistaff slithering up his arm and solidifying, awaiting his enemy to show its face.

[member="Quietus"]

 

[Quietus]

Descending from the high skies, Blackthorne wiped the dewey moisture of clouds from her face. Far below, somewhere in the darkness of the highlands, a creature was on the move, its dark energies something she had sensed since crossing the far reaches of boarderlands between the jungles and here. Few things held such a signature as this, and as they drew nearer she began to wonder if it were not a Sithspawn, but a Sith itself.

The group of skreev and Warriors grew silent as they neared the location of the creature, and at her order stayed aloft, circling overhead.

Blackthorne dropped from her skreev as it made a low dive towards the ground, her figure landing with a deft sound several meters away from [member="Tsavong Kraal"]. In the night her green eyes glowed, reflecting the light of the moon. At her back was a bow and full quiver of poison-laced arrows, only one of many weapons lashed to her body. Her own signature within the Force was hidden not at all and openly declared the ancient power she wielded. The Beastia approached silently, cautiously, circling round to an area of raised boulders where she could gain an open vantage point of the beast below.
A beast that was quickly changing her opinion of this particular threat - a Vong, not a Sith. But how was it exuding a Force presence?

Curiousity overpowering her desire to destroy, she made a motion of neutrality by withdrawing a dagger from a sheath at her hip and thrust it into the ground at her feet. This was her territory and she was willing to fight for it, but she was also willing to listen. Standing tall, intense gaze unflinching, she waited expectantly for the Vong to decide his fate.

 

[Ra Vizsla]

Brisk cold mist exhaled from the nostrils of the towering Yuuzhan Vong, his brazen red skin glimmering under the moon light. Green eyes pierced the darkness, glowing in the direction of the woman who approached him. His massive shoulders were tense, his body readying to engage in battle, unsure of how this interaction with these people would go. It was foolish of Tsavong to try and outrun these people - this was their land, and they knew it much better than he. Not to mention it was nighttime, he was hungry and exhausted from his journey. Like a wild animal, the beast was backed into a corner.

His walking stick began to vibrate rapidly, softening and turning into the serpent that it was... an amphistaff. It slithered up his arm and there it lay as Tsavong waited for his hosts to say something.

This woman seemed to be of few words, however, so Artemis stepped forward and waved his arm in a semi-circle as a gesture of greeting.

"Good evening," he spoke, his voice chipped with chunks of gravel and broken shards of glass. "My name is Tsavong Kraal... who might you be?"

He already knew who they were. Owners of this land, and all lands as far as his eyes could see.

And he was trespassing.

 

[Quietus]

The woman said nothing in reply, but her body language displayed intrigue; canted head, eyes keenly narrowed. The Vong she had known were not creatures of civility and grace towards others. They were war-driven heathens, following some greater cause that was beyond her knowledge. Despite the clear differences, they were not so unlike her own people - those that had waged their own wars for centuries.

A second Beast Rider swooped in, his Skreev landing on an outcropping nearby, shorn blond hair and pale skin bright in the moonlight. An Arkanian, historically, how he ended up here was a tale unto itself.

"Tsavong Kraal," he spoke up from the back of his bright-orange beast, "you stand within the lands of the Beastia Blackthorne and her people..." he paused, gaze flickering towards the Beastia as some unspoken message relayed to his thoughts, "you are a long way from your own. Why have you come here?"

[member="Tsavong Kraal"]

 

[Ra Vizsla]

Upon hearing the name Beastia Blackthorne, and following the man's gaze back to the woman, Tsavong took a knee and bowed his head.

"My pleasure, Beastia," Unlike the mind of Tsavong, who was more of a natural destructive force, Artemis was skilled in the ways of diplomacy and noble parlay. This was this woman's land, and respect was due to her. Artemis was more than capable of showing that respect, as rough as his species' social cues were.

"I am a long way from home, but I come in search of something very valuable to my people. It seems I am lost, however," The dead Dread Lord chuckled, looking around at the sullen faces of the Beastriders. He guessed they didn't find him so amusing. "A battle was fought here, centuries ago. An expedition by the Yuuzhan Vong of yesteryear, led to this planet, to these highlands. It was not... a great battle, but it is very important to me that I find the field on which it took place."

He acknowledged to the man speaking to him that he was about to reach into his robes, and then slowly did so when Tsavong felt he was not going to be speared through the chest. From his robes, he pulled a qhasa, the one he had been using to navigate.

"These are coordinates that I cannot seem to find. Perhaps, if you were to help me find this place, and give me food and supplies, I would be on my way."

A hopeful request at best. Tsavong was more likely to find himself buried in the sand up to his shoulders come morning, a prepared feast for the vultures.

 

[Quietus]

The Beastia stood in silence, gaze growing stoney at the request.

"Your kind have long wraught unspeakable nightmares upon this galaxy, Tsavong Kraal," the man replied, voice steady, "and presently stand as an enemy to the Republic for their aid given to the One Sith Empire in the many battles fought over the last decade." He made no mention that Kraal currently stood on the Republic's new capital planet. If the Vong was ignorant of this fact, it would be better that he remain that way.

"Any act of aid towards you, should the Republic find out, would be taken...poorly. For appearances sake, it would be best that we strike you down, here and now..."

At once, several poison-tipped arrows loosed from the sky, landing only inches from where [member="Tsavong Kraal"] stood. The beasts and their riders high above disembarked from their circling and took off into the skies, heading west until they disappeared into the darkness. One skreev landed near the Beastia and gave a short trill, ember eyes leering at the Vong.

The Beastia reached down for her dagger, pulled it from the ground and returned it to its sheath. She made no move of attack but nodded to to Kraal in a form of assent.

"...but what's best for the Republic isn't always what's best for its people. The Beastia will help you... for a price."

[member="Tsavong Kraal"]

 

[Ra Vizsla]

Tsavong watched as the arrows landed near his feet, and heard the words of the woman about the Republic. Oh, Tsavong. How many of your mistakes do I have to keep covering up? At least he didn't bare resemblance to the old Myrshavong, with the exceptions of his facial features... but even they had slightly changed in favor of Artemis's more sleek look.

"I have no love for the One Sith Empire, nor the atrocities embarked upon your people."

Tsavong stayed kneeled and bowed his head. It was best that the Yuuzhan Vong stayed on his knee... many found him, at his full height in his red skin with his tattoos of his people, to be threatening and an easy target.

Furthermore, he knew that if these people were to take him captive, it would be quite possible to just turn him over to the Republic.

But Artemis's mission here on Onderon was worth the risk.

"Name your price, Beastia."

 

[Quietus]

Volden, with no words swimming in his mind as response, looked to Blackthorne for any cue. She shook her head once and moved to leap down to the ground level where the Vong currently kneeled.

"To be decided," Volden spoke, urging his skreev to the edge of the outcropping over the Vong's position and down the rockface, "rise, Tsavong, and speak more of this valuable you seek. The Beastia was once a collector of powerful artifacts and a keeper of lore. She is...intrigued."

Maintaining distance, Blackthorne looked the Vong over curiously. She was far smaller in stature than he yet showed no sign of fear or intimidation. Red skin, beastly facade, tattoos. They were not so unalike - the majority of her own exposed flesh was also marked in ink, the signs and symbols of her own people. What piqued her the most, however, was that strange presence in the Force. Was he wearing a Darkside amulet?

[member="Tsavong Kraal"]

 

[Ra Vizsla]

Tsavong stared intently through the flames of the Beastrider's torches at the Beastia as they named no price. Carte blanche it was, he supposed. Tsavong was a man of surprising few gifts, and knew not what a Yuuzhan Vong could offer that her barbaric army could not already. Either way, the behemoth stood, breaking his gaze from the beastia and turning to talk to one of the other beastriders who seemingly knew where these coordinates lay. He shared a quiet talk with him, uninteresting in nature, of how to reach these coordinates. It seemed it lay within a valley between two cliffs near their location in the highlands, not a long walk from here. There was a cave, the man said, of which matched the description Tsavong sought.

"I only seek the battlefield... to pay my respects. If the Beastia wishes to accompany, I will show her."

The Yuuzhan Vong nodded and asked the man for permission to continue. It was silly to ask if they would escort him or let him go - Tsavong was, for all intents and purposes, their prisoner for the time being.

"With the Beastia's permission, I advise we continue forth through the night. It's but a few kliks from here, and I'd rather be done with this business post haste."

It was at this point that the Force connection the Beastia would sense was particularly strong, and viewing it through the Force... one could tell this was not Tsavong she was sensing, but a separate entity altogether. Parasitic in nature, it seemed to be struggling to get out, a dark monstrosity in flavor. This... entity was far removed from the Yuuzhan Vong it inhabited, and was trying to communicate with the Beastia. Despite the strength of the entity and the strength of Beastia herself, it did manage to etch one word in the ebb of the Force - araaaaaxis.

 

[Quietus]

She prickled at the hissing voice within the Force, feeling the hairs on the back of her neck begin to stand on end. It was the first sign on this night that things were likely to go astray, but the Beastia's curiosity was far too strong to turn back now. Despite her own intuition insisting on disposing of the Vong, she nodded to him.

There was only onwards, there was only forwards. No fear, no regret, only distant and unknown challenges. The mysterious beyond. All things she'd spent six lifetimes pursuing

Flanked by ground walkers and men on winged beasts in the skies above, the group moved out through the expansive highlands. The Beastia took up position at the rear of the group to keep their guest well within her sight. In the heat of the Onderon summer the air was thick and heady with moisture, what little breeze to be felt in the clearings offered very little relief. Still her people moved on without complaint - they were used to it; the stifling hot air, and the sweat constantly beading on their brows and running down their backs. If nothing else it simply made their blood flow hot, fueling their ferocity when the time came.

The Beastia's mind was not on the heat, as it rarely ever was. Instead it was on their intruder and this strange place they now traveled to and that ghastly voice... Had he heard it, too? A curious glance was sent the way of the man who spoke for her: Volden. Though a Knight within the Force, he seemed not to have heard it, or if he had he'd made no indication. She questioned him silently though he shook his head in response.

"The Beastia wants to know where you have come from," Volden spoke from [member="Tsavong Kraal"]'s right, "if you are no friend of the One Sith or the Vong that walk with them, what clan do you call family?"

 

[Ra Vizsla]

Sweat poured down Tsavong's bare red back as they continued on, the blistering heat of the highlands rising with the sun. Tsavong looked to one of the nearby beastriders escorting him as the man drank water from his flash, and offered his hand for some. He received a stern stare in response, and sighed, tearing off a piece of his lower pants' leg to use as a rag to wipe his glistening brow. It was not nearly this hot yesterday, Artemis thought to himself. Onderon must be undergoing seasonal change.

They were approaching a large ravine, a ravine that promised escape from this dreadful sunlight. However, the beastriders were making sure Tsavong stayed within their sight, and did not increase the pace of travel too much faster than the Yuuzhan Vong could walk. Regardless, Artemis's mind stayed on task, and began to develop a strategy of how he would part ways from these... natives... should things go south. At his best, he could probably take a handful of them down, maybe punch a hole through their ranks. Still, he would still be stuck in the highlands, with no food, no drink, no shelter.

Tsavong's thoughts were interrupted by Volden's questions.

"Ossus," Tsavong said. Artemis didn't know where he had been born, he was an orphan, his parents slaughtered when he was young. Tsavong, though, was raised in a colony on Ossus. So technically, it wasn't a lie. "I claim no clan, and no clan claims me. My family is my family."

This was sort of true. While Domain Obauldi had been his home, it was all but extinct now. Shadows of time for a dead man to hold on to. Tsavong was deep in thought until he looked up at the corner of the ravine, and saw the mouth of the cave they were meant to find. "What of the Beastia? Has she been here her entire life?" He said, continuing the conversation until he realized what he was seeing.

"There!" He exclaimed, and broke into a sprint out of raised hopes to find what he came he for, nevermind his escorts.

[member="Quietus"]

 

[Quietus]

Ossus.

A lie, the Beastia thought to herself, eyes narrowing on the Vong's back, or a very, very old truth.

Ossus had, for the last several hundred years, been under the watchful care of the Jedi and more recently the Republic. If Tsavong truly came from Ossus, it was not during their tenure there. Perhaps the ancient presence she sensed on him was not some ornamental trinket but the Vong himself. It still made very little sense to her and offered no explanation to the strange voice on the Force.

"Many planets have known the presence of the Beastia," Volden responded, "and her peopl-"

"THERE!"

Cries echoed after [member="Tsavong Kraal"] as he toppled two men in his excitement. Quietus lifted a hand to hold off the warriors from firing upon him, though their bows remained strung and taught.

SCRAAAWWWWW!

Wind rushed at Tsavong's back as the massive bulk of a bull skreev landed in his path, sending a shudder through the ground beneath their feet. It snarled, snapping its fangs in his direction. But it seemed to be less concerned with Tsavong leaving the group and more concerned about the general direction of the group itself. It even lashed out at an approaching warrior with a roar.

"Miir!" Volden called to the beast, bellowing a command to stand down.

Miir responded by whipping its spiked tail at the lot of them. Behind the skreev more of the bright orange beasts descended.

"They're protecting the cave..." said one of the warriors.

"...no," said Volden as the Beastia pressed past him, "they're protecting us from the cave."

Blackthorne stopped beside Tsavong, though she wasn't looking at him, and stared at Miir. The skreev issued a hissing chirp and lowered its head. For several moments it was still, coiled and tense, and then in a sudden flurry of wings Miir took to the sky again. The Beastia stepped forward, understanding now what the warning had been. She'd been distracted by the Vong, but she sensed it finally now and silently signed one word to the group.

It was their turn to grow tense and coiled.

"Terentateks..." Volden hissed.

 

[Ra Vizsla]

The bull skreev and the heat must have instilled blinding fear in Tsavong, as he had been convinced it was daylight. With the shrieking beast in his face for all but a second, he then came back to his senses, realizing that darkness had once more fallen upon his eyes. He turned towards the torches and lights of the Beast Riders, bewildered by the visage of this massive skreev cawing in his face. As massive as Tsavong was himself, tangling with a bull skreev was not on his bucket list. The tattooed tyrant stopped in his tracks, skidding in the dirt as he puffed his chest out and threw out his arms at the bull skreev, roaring back with animalistic tenacity.

Tsavong thought he was being threatened by the group for a second, until the bull skreev turned its head towards the cave. He turned his head back to Volden, sweat dripping off his brow.

"What is it?!" The Yuuzhan Vong exclaimed, his eyes narrowing, expecting betrayal.

He watched as Beastia, this lady Blackthorne, silently walked past him and up to the bull skreev, culling the creature. The Yuuzhan Vong watched in admiration and confusion, wondering what exactly was happening, a million thoughts racing through his mind. Most of them dripping with primal fear that he was going to somehow fight his way back out of this group. Artemis had fought a Beast Rider, once. It wasn't an experience he longed for again.

"Terentateks..." Volden hissed.

"Terentateks," Tsavong echoed. He had never seen one, never been near one, despite his time with the Sith. They were legends to him.

They were not legends to Artemis Obauldi.

Tsavong's red painted body whipped out his arm, one of his tattooes slithering down from his arm and to his hand... his amphistaff, hissing and snarling, one of the largest of its' breed, resembling the Sceptre of Power wielded by the Supreme Overlord of the Yuuzhan Vong centuries prior. The hulking Yuuzhan Vong, sweat glistening down his crimson back, pushed forward past the bull skreev as it took flight once more and ignoring the Lady Blackthorne to his left.

"I will have what is mine," Tsavong growled, his free arm beating his bare chest as he closed in on the mouth of the cave. "And I will not be stopped."

Ever the arrogant one, Tsavong whispered from behind the mental crevasse of Artemis Obauldi.

---

[member="Quietus"]

 

[Quietus]

Blackthorne hung back, her apparent disregard for [member="Tsavong Kraal"]'s advancement towards the caves giving her warriors reason to leave him to it.

"We are not armed for a nest of Terentateks. One easily, but not an entire nest," Volden hissed in her ear, saffron eyes watching the Vong as he slowly ambled his way down the ravine. Words unspoken entered his mind from the Beastia as she shed her bow and quiver of arrows, weapons that would be useless against the deadly beasts. Moments passed, Volden's face grew tight.

The Beastia held out a hand to one of her warriors, beckoning him forward, wordlessly demanding his spear. She then took several leather pouches from another and tied them to the belt at her waist. A short glance then given to Volden and Blackthorne left the group to join Tsavong.

"Take up positions," Volden spat with a sharp glance around those gathered, "the Beastia will drive out the juveniles. Windrunner, with me!" The group dispersed, Volden spoke quickly with a younger woman seated upon a smaller skreev who took flight into the skies to deliver a missive back to the clan.


Blackthorne was suddenly and silently at Tsavong's side again. Though the spear in her hand resembled no ancient relic, its obsidian blade gleamed deadly-like in the faint light of the twilight hours. Alchemized bone and hide armor was light and would offer solid protection from many of the beasts here on Onderon, though little could truly stand the full brunt force of an adult Terentatek. Even the juveniles, she knew, were a challenge. The pair crossed the threshold of the cavern entrance and stepped into inky blackness. As Blackthorne's eyes naturally adjusted she wondered for a moment if the Vong could also see in the dark. Time would tell, for she needed no torch to see her way through.

 

[Ra Vizsla]

[member="Quietus"]

Tsavong's eyes flicked from green to red when they entered the darkness, crouching down and running his hand against the soft limestone of the cave. His snake slithered up and down his arm as if a moving tattoo, the Yuuzhan Vong looking to his side and up at the Lady Blackthorne. He didn't spare a second, turning his gaze back forward as he began to tiptoe into the cave. Though pitch black darkness surrounded them at every angle, there was one but one faint light near the very end, the tunnel upon which they stood at the brink. Apparently, the cave went pretty deep into the canyon's side.

The massive Yuuzhan Vong was quite light-footed, clearly showing a tracker's skills as he progressed deeper into the cave. There were no signs of the Terentatek cluster within. The light at the bar end of the tunnel was blocked by a turn in the cave. It looped around. Tsavong raised an eyebrow, and turned back to whisper something to the Beastia.

TCHKKKK. The sound rang out throughout the cave like a hissing whisper. And then a sudden pain ran up the side of his leg, and Tsavong looked down.

A serpent was slithering into the distance, away from his feet and into the darkness. There were several spines protruding from his calf. His eyes raised, looking back at Beastia, holding still to not make any further noise - though he could already feel the venom begin to enter his veins and slow his heart though it continued to pound in his chest.

Two nostrils flared from the darkness to Tsavong's left, disturbed by the noise.

Dust burst from them like chimneys on Coruscant the night before Life Day.

The first of the Terentatek stood before them, and it roared, its jowls rocking the foundations of stone upon which they stood.

They had been found, and it was time to run.

 

[Quietus]

This wasn't a time for planning, this was a time for instinct. Quietus moved to place herself between the Vong and the Terentatek, the blinding white blade of her lightsaber flaring to life and illuminating the hideous creature. Her own Force signature might not have been the beacon of Light that the beasts were wholly attracted to, but a Force sensitive alone was more than enough to get its attention...and the attention of any others hiding in the darkness.

It roared again and lunged, the Beastia a veritable flash of movement as she dodged and swiped her blade at its exposed chest before darting just out of reach, drawing the creature away with stinging swipes at its thrashing limbs.

Now or never, vong, get moving! Or hobbling, cause snakebite.

[member="Tsavong Kraal"]