Skirmish [SO/GA] The Cleansing of Thule

[Shan Pavond]

Location: Thule
Objective: Deal with Sith
Equipment: Lightsaber - Blaster
Tags: Thal Mantis Lady Venge
​

"I'm no-one special for doing this. I'm just doing my duty. I want to...protect people."

Shan said in response to the Padawan putting his hand on his shoulder. It was comforting to at least know he wasn't alone right now but that wasn't going to be much of a help right now. A Jedi might be stronger in a pairing, but Sith were equally as dangerous. It might be possible to turn a pair of Sith against each other...but incredibly unlikely, and Shan didn't like the idea of doing that either. It felt...dirty.

"I've fought a Sith before. I...spared her. I'm unsure if that was a wise decision. But I do not regret it. I would do it again if I had the choice. But today...I think today will be different. It feels darker. I don't think I'll see any light in anyone we face today."

There was a part of the Mirialan that wanted to see the Sith he had fought again, but he knew it would only be a distraction right now. He had too many things in the back of his mind that could potentially distract him, so the Mirialan wasn't going to risk focusing on it at all. He just twirled his saber for a moment, igniting the green blade and focusing as he turned his attention to their surroundings and taking in a deep breath.

Damn it. Why did his sensing abilities have to be so dull? He could feel familiar presences in the Force, but strangers? Things he wasn't used to? It was next to impossible. All he could feel around himself right now was darkness twisting and warping its way around the pair. He couldn't afford to let his nerves get the best of him. His mind was settled. At the very least, now he might be able to use the training from the elemental lessons in an actual fight against a Sith...as opposed to the Jedi he had fought.

 

[Darth Caedes]

​

• Outer Rim | Esstran Sector
• Thule | Neighboring Sith Holy Space
• The Last City
• Tags— Darth Nwul | Elmindra Xitaar | Zal Aditi | Madrona A’Mia | Valery Noble

Sith Lord Darth Caedes closed his eyes and rested into the familiar cross-legged, seated position often associated with meditation. He wore naught but a simple, black robe, his face a shifting riot of burnt scars and smooth human flesh. Nwul, half lidded, sat before him, and around them the masked sorcerers gathered.

Throughout his youth, Darth Caedes had struggled in the arts of cultivating serenity, but the Sith, the dark side of the Force, had beaten that weakness from him, had bled it from his veins. Today, he no longer recognized the incompetence of the Jedi called Nejaa Niynx, the version of himself he’d slain in his ascension to the Sith; he no longer gave that weakness the power of a name.

Caedes entered the meditative state by opening his ears and listening, by stretching out with his feelings to join the chorus of darkness which was the planet Thule. Like this, he allowed himself merely to hear all of the sounds around him, the general hum and buzz of the world, the speech of Nwul, the chanting of the priests, as if he were listening to music. He did not try to identify the sounds, did not try to put names to their noise, to organize them, for to do so would be only as effective as stilling an ocean’s stormy waters with the flat side of a star destroyer. To do so would only be to create a bigger wave. He did not judge them nor compose a hierarchy by calling some correct and others incorrect— the coughing and the scuffling click of heeled boots atop stone floors shared equal importance to the sorcerous voices and the ever-present thrum of the dark side of the Force. Slowly, gradually, Darth Caedes forgot his ego, his personhood, his unique sense of saliency, the ontology of his own self identifying construct, of Darth Caedes, and joined himself to the noise of the Force.

Then, without ever meaningfully intending to, Caedes let the sounds go. Eventually, even the chime of Nwul's voice joined the vast background, losing all distinct meaning to become instead music.

Peace is a lie, there is only passion.

The outside world of Thule and the inside world of Caedes’ mind, where lived his thoughts and emotions, each with their own noises, joined together and became one. Thoughts, noise, Thule, his own experience, all became a single happening for which Caedes had the pleasure of observing. He rested in this serenity, this passion, observing as the music of his mind took hands with the myriad sounds of the outside world and, together, lost their distinction from one another.

Darth Caedes became the eye of his own mighty storm. He could hear the past. He could hear the future. He could hear the listener within himself, the one who watched, the truest self above ego and corporeality, the self deemed as soul, as spirit, or the Force. He followed the sounds where they wished to take him, let them sing to him the truth.

Caedes filled his lungs and belly, then exhaled through grey-scarred and pursed lips, allowing his breath to run just as it willed. He listened to its rhythmic turbulence, the expanse and release of his lungs, as one might listen to another sentient entity, perceiving its autonomy, breathing just the way it wanted to without interference nor instruction from the otherwise conscious mind. There was no exercise, no structure put in place. It was as free as the dark side around him.

Indeed breath had become perhaps the most important part of Caedes’ deeper meditations, for it so well depicted, and therefore dismantled, the hard and fast divisions often made between what we do, on the one hand, and what happens to us on the other. Breath revealed the nature of such a binary to be arbitrary.

“We say, in the ordinary way, I breathe,” Caedes thought into the river of noise, recalling the words of his old mentor, Jedi Grandmaster Watts, “because most feel that breathing is something done voluntarily, just in the same way as walking or talking. Though, in the absence of this direction, we find that one's breathing goes on all the same, do we not? So breathing becomes both a voluntary and involuntary action, as well as a path we can take to join the greater Force around us.” ​

Darth Caedes was doing, he was choosing to breathe. His eyes turned the sun’s light into vision, his skin turned electronic frequencies in the air into heat and temperature, his ears the vibrations in the air into sounds; yet in another way, a very real way, when he was not observing, breath, heat, vision, sound, in a sense, was happening to him. I am one with the Force, the Force is with me— and together we are immeasurable.

Through strength, I gain power.

In his youth, the idea had scared him; the idea that one must concede to both truths, that we were at once responsible for every aspect of our own experience, and yet still equally helpless before it. It had felt like too great a contradiction— to be but a passive observer caught in the tides of this one, great happening, whilst simultaneously carrying the omniscience and all-power of a god. For years he had tried to impose one state or the other, surrender or control, afraid to embrace both and lose himself, of letting his baser mind take over; afraid of the power which lay there in the deeper currents of the Force, knowing he’d want it, knowing he’d take it.

Through power, I gain victory.

His breathing became more and more deep, and with it a darkness began to rise and vibrate the world around him. Corrupting phantasms whispered throughout the Last City, raising hairs on the backs of necks, and indeed throughout Thule and throughout the galaxy, drawing nearer with his every exhalation.

To exhale was to relax, to sink deeper into the throws of the Force. To Caedes, it had always carried with it the sensation of falling out, of dropping, dropping, dropping, like coming to rest in the most comfortable bed. From there, he drew power, allowing his breath to become so heavy as to fall away from him entirely. Then, when it was ready to do so of its own accord, when it was heaviest, he’d open his lungs and let it fall back in. And so, in this way, each breath became heavier and heavier, one part in a cycle of effortless momentum, falling deeper and easier, becoming more and more slow, and more and more powerful…

Through victory, my chains are broken. ​

 

[Lady Venge]

Standing beside Darth Amarok, Venge silently appraised the two Padawans. She noted the Mirialan igniting his lightsaber, and sensed his uncertainty. The other one, carried a very subtle aura about him that hinted of the Dark Side somewhere in his past.

"Do you feel it, my Lord,"Venge whispered to Amarok at last. "One of them carries a bit of the darkness within his heart. What should we do with him? Truthfully, I'm not sure it's even worth the time to try and convert them, but we can certainly make them question their commitment to the Jedi Order, can't we?"

TAGS- Shan Pavond
Thal Mantis

 

[Braze]

LOCATION:
TAGS: Adeline Noctua Jasper Kai'el

She didn't have to wait long for her first challenger to appear. A young man with snow-white hair, garbed in muted, dark colors, made his way swiftly toward the base of the stone wall.

As Braze approached the ominous scene, he felt the weight of the darkness hanging in the air like a shroud. His senses tingled, warning him of the immense power at play here. Yet his stride was steady, and his face set in a determined expression. His lightsaber was unignited, hanging at his belt, but his hand hovered close by, ready to draw it at a moment's notice.

He couldn't ignore the aura of dark energy coming from the woman in blackened armor; she was like a vortex, absorbing the very essence of the Force around her. This wasn't just an enemy; this was a threat on a scale he hadn't encountered before. But this was exactly the kind of challenge he'd been preparing for.

Braze stopped a few meters from the base of the stone wall, craning his neck to meet the gaze of the armored woman perched atop. For a moment, he took a deep breath, letting it fortify him against the dark energies that were in the air.

"Hey you, up on that wall! Time's up on your little dark arts show!" Braze called out, his voice tinged with bravado as it bounced off the stone. He casually unclipped his lightsaber and twirled it in his fingers, not yet igniting the blade. "How 'bout you come down here and we settle this face-to-face, huh? Unless you're scared!"

His eyes narrowed, locking onto her form above. A corner of his mind held out hope that maybe, just maybe, she'd see reason. But given the almost tangible darkness he felt emanating from her, he wasn't holding his breath. He'd give peace a shot, sure, but if she wanted a fight, he was more than ready to oblige.

Braze, the little snow white haired padawan, had arrived before his Master due to a mix of youthful impatience and an overwhelming sense of urgency. His Master had cautioned him to wait, to assess the situation before acting, but the dark resonance he felt in the Force had made every second feel like a lifetime. He felt a burning need to intervene before whatever was happening became irreversible.

It wasn't just a reckless charge; Braze had a point to prove. Ever since he had joined the Jedi, he'd been told to temper his emotions, to not let them control his actions. But here, now, with the weight of potential lives on the line, he couldn't afford to hesitate. He felt that this was a moment where decisiveness trumped caution, and if he could end this threat before his Master even arrived, maybe, just maybe, others would start seeing him as capable rather than brash.

So, when he called out to the figure atop the wall, his tone was audacious, emboldened by both his eagerness to prove himself and the direness of the situation. In that moment, ready or not, he felt he was the wall between the dark and the light. And if this dark figure chose to underestimate him based on his brazen approach, then that was her mistake to make.

 

[Darth Amarok]

Darth Amarok nodded in agreement to Lady Venge, as he reached for his matched lightsabers, and ignited the crimson blades, illuminating the contours of his helmet in blood red radiance.

"Come here," he taunted the Padawans, as he casually twirled his blades. "Let us test your resolve, and your commitment to the Jedi Order!"



TAGS- Shan Pavond
Thal Mantis

 

[Adeline Noctua]

Tags: Braze Jasper Kai'el

Despite how eager she was to get into a fight with an uptight Jedi, Braze could see as the Sith actually looked around... Soon she would vanish in a black smog, appearing down at the ground near him.

"This is an insult, where is your master you dog? I have killed enough Padawans, I want to kill something stronger.."

Adeline opens her hooded cloak, exposing several Sith spawn that looked like bats. She was no fool, either their master was hiding or this idiot ran ahead to prove something. The creatures take flight, making sure she would not be caught off guard thanks to seeing through their eyes.

"Today marks your first and final lesson, boy. Please, keep on with the bravado.. It pleases me."

Her saber ignites, as she spoke with her soft voice.

"What fears do your harbor, boy?"

Bright ruby eyes stare him down from behind her scarred helm, vanishing in an instant in a smog as the juggernaut appeared right in front of the Padawan. Testing him by sending a crushing downward smash right at him, the goal was to either destroy his guard or to just cut him in half with a single hard chop.

Now that this woman was right up on him, Braze could hear the screams coming from the armor, and how both the armor and this woman disrupted the light around the area.



​

 

[Madrona A’Mia]

Tags: Corazona von Ascania

A'Mia could hear a raised voice or two in the distance, could sense the spread of violent intent like the first few loosened tumbling stones which come before a rockslide. She stretched out her form a bit, rolled her neck and bounced on her heels. Nervousness was not an emotional state familiar to her but anticipation still ran electric through her body.

She was stationed outside the assembly building, toward the heart of The Last City, near one of the side doors since the most obvious entrances had been barricaded and were guarded as well. Her large keen eyes spotted movement drawing nearer so she allowed the phrik punch daggers to drop into her hands. Their wickedly sharp edges at odds with the bright medic badge emblazoned on her shoulder. Loc style hair, which had been done up in an intricate braid atop her head, began to rustle and writhe, loosening. The vines which composed her form readying for the dance to come.

Art Credit: Darth Caedes

 

[Braze]

TAGS: Adeline Noctua

​

"Disappointing, am I?" Braze's voice was dripping with sarcasm, even as he felt the Sith's dark aura encroach upon him. "We'll see about that."


His eyes remained unflinchingly locked onto her, the vambraces equipped on his arms ready to intercept any lightsaber strikes. As she vanished into a cloud of smog, he tensed, his senses on high alert. When she reappeared, her saber slashing down towards him, he raised his arm, his saber breakers meeting the glowing blade with a sizzling clash, emboldened by a precise little gusting vortex of air to cushion the oncoming force of the blade, pushing it to the side but leaving him mostly unharmed as he too was jettisoned back a few feet as his boots slid across the ground.

"Oh, so you're out here hunting Masters? Sorry, you'll have to settle for the light snack before the main course arrives," Braze mocked, a cheeky smile flashing across his face. He could tell from that impact that her form belied her strengths- not only was she strong in the force, but also in real physicality. He would have to be careful here and use caution all the more so. HE could deal with the 'bats', remembering his time helping Corazona von Ascania on Ukatis with the nexus, and helping fight alongside Ko Vuto Loomi and Aliris Tremiru against similar creatures. These were minor distractions he batted away or dodged.

"So you like to talk about fears? How about we discuss yours?" He grinned, seemingly unfazed. "Afraid you'll have to explain to your Sith buddies how a Padawan managed to wear you out?"

He wouldn't share what his greatest fear was with her and pushed those thoughts aside. He sidestepped her subsequent attacks, using small concentrated bursts of wind to help him stay just a head or frustratingly out of reach. This was much less energy to spend and maintain than his previous habits in fighting. His eyes constantly scanned, weighing her energy, measuring her strength. The fight was about depleting her reserves, then he would make her work for every strike, every movement- He would need to monopolize on this strategy and keep her busy long enough for Jasper Kai'el to arrive, in a way, this was how he was going to help protect his Master in his mind; perhaps a little backward thinking but it was the role he wanted to embody more than anything.

The fact remained he had yet to even draw his saber against her. It was truly insulting as if he didn't think she was worth the trouble to do so. This was all part of the plan to disrupt and unbalance her with frustration and anger. His goals are simple and clear; Maintain her focus, bide times, wear her down, and unbalance her emotional stability.

"You Sith are so dramatic, always with the red lightsabers, the evil laughter, the whole 'I am your doom' vibe. Ever consider a career in theater?"

Even as the tension ramped up, his bratty demeanor seemed to double. "Oh, don't look so glum. If you're trying to be scary, you've already won the costume contest. But if you're trying to win this fight—" he looked her dead in the eyes, grinning— "you're gonna have to try a lot harder."
It was true, her armor was unsettling but Braze couldn't let those details consume his mind- he had to focus on being a right pest for her presently and watch his steps

 

[Thal Mantis]

A Battle Begins


A Man Conflicted
Old Memories Resurface
The Deathless Walks


Fighting: Darth Amarok
With: Shan Pavond
​

Thal marched forward, holding his lightsaber hilt- wrapped with a special leather strip, taken from the Red Tower's many slave garments after he burned it to the ground. The wind picked up for just a moment, the air tense and electric between him and the Sith. He turned to look at his Jedi companion, then sneered back at the Sith.

He thumbed the hilt of his lightsaber, before walking forward, not yet igniting it. He began to charge, gritting his teeth as he steeled himself for combat. He activated his blade, the blue blade streaking along the ground, scorching the ground and sending sparks up as he walked past.

"You die here, Sith."

He said it without malice. Just a statement of fact. And then- Thal brought his blade down over top of his head, as if swinging a sledgehammer. The power in his body, his physique- was surely not one to be ignored. That, and amplified by the force.. made whatever was getting swung at by Thal a rather unpleasant experience. Thal's prowess as a gladiator was on full display- he did not fight, or move like a Jedi. He fought with reckless abandon, with ferocity not seen usually by Jedi. He walked a fine line each time he fought.

​

 

[Adeline Noctua]

Tags: Braze Jasper Kai'el

Unlike a Jedi, Adeline thrived on emotion. Anger fueled the flames of her passion harder than anything else, her armor only amplifying in power as the woman started to boil. She didn't need some tranquil focus to get the job done, beating a vampire in a game of stamina was suicide.

While the blow had indeed been blocked, Braze could feel the sheer pressure applied. At that point the strength wasn't even in the saber, it was the power of the woman he fought.

Most Jedi fought in this manner, defensive up until they could get in strikes or support to overpower their foe. Keres had fought many Jedi by this point...

"You better hope they make it soon."

She comments, giving a hard clue that this Woman knew what was going on.

"What is it you fear?"

Her metal clad hand reaches out, an intertwined hex of memory walk and force fear being used on the Padawan. If Brazed failed to resist, he would hear the distorted giggling of Adeline within his head. Black tendrils would slink around his body as spiders swarmed his skin, trying to crawl in his mouth as some seemed to go into the ears. Adeline herself would have ridgid legs sprouting out of her like a twisted arachnid, spiders even spewed out from her helmet and all over the ground.

"Do I need to tuck you in little boy? Or shall we bathe in nightmare together?"

He would hear whispered into his ear if her hex worked, continuing with actual dark tendrils escaping from her body to join the fake ones in wrapping themselves around him. Made of a material or flesh unknown, eldritch in nature from a child of the cosmos itself.

Her saber would be put away if she did manage to get him, walking closer to him as his limbs would be restricted by her tight abyssal grip. A cold metallic hand petting his cheek as a metal claw cut lightly into the flesh, just enough to make some blood leak out.

Soon both of her hands would gently clasp around his face, their cold feeling pushing away the spiders trying to get in his mouth. Her ruby eyes peering from behind her visor as the voice in his head would simply ask...

"Do you need me to stop these nightmares? It is time for you to rest, is it not dear?


​

 

[Zal Aditi]

• Outer Rim | Esstran Sector
• Thule | Neighboring Sith Holy Space
• The Last City
• Tags— Darth Nwul | Darth Caedes | Elmindra Xitaar | Madrona A’Mia | Valery Noble

The inner sanctum of the assembly hall thrummed with energy, the voices of Nwul's fanatically devout ringing off the walls. Behind a mask of childlike wonder, Zal's amber eyes flared. She breathed in the building essence of darkness, anchoring herself in the intricate star iron inlay of the ritual circle. That metal was a little piece of Korriban, the Sith Holy World's presence there like a mentor to guide Thule to its new purpose.

The cultist robe and mask was disguise only - she did not join in the chants, could not lose herself to Nwul's strange preachings. Through the heady buzz of building Force, she wondered if the self-proclaimed Steward truly believed the philosophy he touted, or if this warping and simplification of the truth was merely his chosen path to power. In truth, the Dark Side was neither God nor Slave, but freedom; and the Light existed in nature just as the Dark. Thule itself had a blended nature, both light and dark energies woven together through the veins of the planet, though the rivers of Darkness would swell and overflow their banks to flood the galaxy after tonight.

Well, Nwul's true opinions were no matter. The ritual was the important thing; the ritual served the Sith. The waves of darkness it sent through the galaxy would awaken many sleepers, give hope and fire to those smothered by the Jedi's hypocritical oppression. It would start the tipping of the scales back towards balance.

The Omwati's head tipped to the side in a bird-like gesture as she felt the Jedi forces begin to touch down upon the planet's surface. From where she crouched in darkness at the back of the room she could feel the sudden uptick in attention and anticipation from the Sith forces outside the temple, the anger, fear, and hatred of the Jedi as they justified the violence they planned to inflict. It was beginning. The passion of battle in the city that surrounded them would only empower the magics they wove here. And when, at last, that battle breached the barricades and spilled into the assembly hall...

She smiled hungrily, thinking of the surprises that lay in store for those who would try and stop them. Her mind reached out into the black shadows of the passages surrounding them, and hundreds upon hundreds of minds reached back.

 

[Braze]

TAGS: Adeline Noctua Jasper Kai'el

​

His cocky smirk faded as he felt the overwhelming force of Adeline's attack, not just physical but mental. Sweat trickled down his forehead; his muscles tightened. The eerie darkness seeping from her was insidious, infecting his senses, and probing for weaknesses.

When the spiders came, it was like a floodgate of nightmarish memories unleashed. He'd fought these creatures before, massive ones, alongside Aliris. But those were physical entities he could slash and burn. These were crawling nightmares, haunting his thoughts, infecting his focus. His breathing accelerated a near panic setting in.

"N-nice trick," he stammered, his voice lacking its previous bravado as he could feel his throat tighten and dry up. "You've got a real future in horror holofilms, you know?"

He gave his head a quick, determined shake, trying to marshal the sense of focus that he had been taught but never quite mastered. Braze was not one for following the Jedi textbook to the letter, but he had at least made earnest attempts to adhere to its principles. Now, however, his mental fortitude was waning, his internal safeguards cracking under the weight of rising anxiety. He'd always been a swirling tempest of emotion, and this encounter threatened to undo the emotional progress he had made. It felt like a backslide, a steep and treacherous one.

Despite his best efforts to resist, he felt the dark tendrils winding around him, restricting his movements, pulling him into an abyss he desperately wanted to escape from. As she touched his cheek, drawing blood, a shiver of both fear and revulsion ran down his spine.

Yet, even as the terrifying ordeal reached its apex, a spark of defiance still burned within him. He was a Jedi, trained to confront and conquer fear, not to succumb to it. The Force was his ally, and he reached for it like a drowning man clutching at a lifeline.

"I don't need you to stop my nightmares," he wheezed, rallying his last reserves of willpower to push against her dark influence. "I need you to understand you're about to get a starring role in them. Hope you're pyrotechnics certified!"


Though weakened and entangled in the abyssal tendrils, Braze's eyes met her haunting ruby gaze with a flicker of his indomitable will. Even on the verge of losing control, even as he felt himself teetering on the edge, he refused to give her the satisfaction of seeing him broken. And for the love of the Force, he had to get those blasted spiders off him—imaginary or not!

Latching onto his emotional whirlwind, the atmosphere around him erupted. A sudden typhoon-like gust emerged, now intertwined with tendrils of white-hot fire. In a frenetic burst of scorching wind and flames, he sought to rid himself of the creepy-crawlies that he was convinced were swarming over him. The fiery winds burst outwards in a violent explosion of pent-up energy only emboldened by his terror.

 

[Jasper Kai'el]

Thule
Tags: Braze , Adeline Noctua

Lux Ultima​

"Alright, enough of that."

Jasper had finally caught up with his student. 'I'll race you,' he said as he ran off into a war zone. The knight was left to contend with the Sith's acolytes while Braze had gone off to do gods know what. And this was apparently that, throwing himself at a Sith who seemed to be, for all intensive purposes, trying to toy with his mind. After Braze sent out a burst of fire, Jasper would use the force to pull him back, actually mustering a decent amount of strength in the force to do so.

"Okay, we need to have a chat about running off on your own," he sighed. "I'd rather not make this a reoccurring thing between you and I."

He'd waste no time drawing his sword, letting light flow into the force crystal within as he positioned himself slightly between Braze and Adeline. His mental defenses were already up, in no short part thanks to what Carnifex had put him through. Having a Sith lord in your head was certainly a good catalyst for training his mental fortitude, even if he'd much rather unsee it.

Braze was inexperienced with war, as evident by his joking attitude lingering even in the face of nightmares. Jasper was not that way. He took no pleasure in standing here. It was just his duty to save lives.

"You're opponent is me now," Jasper directed at the Sith.

 

[Adeline Noctua]

Tags: Braze Jasper Kai'el

Being spooked from fire, Adeline quickly covered herself within her cloak to limit the damage done by the flames. What parts couldn't be protected ended up having sizzled skin under the heated plate, causing her to growl in pain. She had been through many things, from a limb being pulled off, bones crushed or snapped, or an arm being chopped off. With all of these things being part of her harrowing training under Carnifex himself, yet nothing ever got to her as bad as burns. Her pale flesh dreading the sensation while her mind went into a mix of fear and rage.

And then? Just as she predicted, there was the real target. No cocky child who didn't know battle, this was a real fight. Perhaps even a two on one? Nothing new, yet also expected of course.

"Respectable."

She calmly smiles under her scarred helmet, the markings of past saber strikes easy to see.

"Your Padawan shows some aptitude for the Darkside, it was his fear that allowed him to break free of me."

The abyssal tendrils retreat back into her, slipping easily through sections of the armor no solid object would be able to enter.

Igniting her blade once more she would take steps around the two, pondering the best assault...


​

 

[Braze]

TAGS: Jasper Kai'el Adeline Noctua

​

Feeling the sudden Force pull from Jasper, Braze yelped in surprise as he was yanked back toward his Master, his feet stumbling a bit to catch his balance. As he looked up and met Jasper's eyes, relief washed over him, replacing the previous tension that had knotted up his muscles.

"Master Jasper, you have impeccable timing," Braze said, his tone imbued with genuine gratitude. "I was starting to think I'd have to take her on all by myself, and she's got a thing for mind games."

He stepped back respectfully, positioning himself behind his Master but still ready to leap into action if needed. Jasper's presence was like an anchor, stabilizing Braze's emotional state and helping him regain his focus.

"So, this is the part where you show me how it's done, right?" Braze whispered, his eyes still trained on the Sith but his stance more relaxed, trusting in his Master's abilities to handle the situation.

As he spoke, he ignited his lightsaber, its blade humming to life as he took his position. This time he stood just behind and to the side of Jasper, his blade held defensively but at the ready. His eyes remained locked on the Sith, but his stance had shifted, solid and assured. This was it, the moment he'd been waiting for, training for--the moment to guard his Master's back in a real battle.

"Let's give her a performance she won't forget," Braze whispered, the tip of his lightsaber pointing toward their Sith adversary as he fell into a ready stance. He felt invigorated, grateful for the lifeline Jasper had thrown him, and eager to prove himself worthy of standing at his Master's side. Jasper's presence seemed to drown out any lingering doubts or fears and Braze found his center with ease.

 

[Jasper Kai'el]

Thule
Tags: Adeline Noctua , Braze

Lux Ultima​

"Your Padawan shows some aptitude for the Darkside, it was his fear that allowed him to break free of me."

"Oh," Jasper remarked with a frown.

This was their game. Mind stuff. She was more than just creepy tendrils it seemed. He didn't much care for that. Her fixation on fear was not one founded in logic. It was simply the logical response of a child. Of course giving them nightmares would make them scared. That was simply organic nature.

"Keep your mind sharp," he told his student. "Don't let her worm her way in."

He would give the boy a concerned frown though.

"Just... stay back a bit," the knight added. "Form V, anticipate incoming attacks, maintain focus."

Force Light would spill into his blade, filling the surrounding area with the faint hint of a radiant aura. The crystal within enhanced the power of the light, which would normally have no use on it's own. Jasper was weak in the force, but through one bizarre method he could contend with the likes of the dark and alchemical that the Sith Order had to offer. The woman had her saber ignited and was pondering a route of attack. He wouldn't give her the time to think. Steam began to billow out of his mechanical arm, the strength-enhancing piston within roaring to life.

He'd waste no time, moving in and sending a diagonal slash at the woman. The first thing he was going to do was get to the bottom of what her armor was made of. It seemed more complex than simple alchemy.

Jasper would settle for rattling her in her armor.

 

[Darth Amarok]

"You die here, Sith."

Darth Amarok grinned within the confines of his helmet. This Padawan had already made a major mistake, rushing headlong into battle against an opponent one knew absolutely nothing about.

Amarok braced himself as his left hand saber moved to intercept Thal's overhead blow. As the Padawan's blade clashed with his own, Darth Amarok found himself somewhat surprised at the display of brute strength, supplemented by the Force.

"You don't fight like a Jedi," he taunted. "This shall prove to be your undoing."

TAG- Thal Mantis

 

[Lossa Darcuhl]

Location: Thule, Headed to Public Square
Objective: Engage the Sith
Equipment: Skinsuit, Wayward Samaritan Gear with Armor, Helmet, and Robe
Accessories: Echo Stone
Weapons: Lossa's Lightsaber, Concealed Blaster - Interior Robe Pocket , Modular Blaster - Huckleberry Holster, Nasty-Stabby
Tools: Fusioncutter
Ship: The Zipper
Ally Tags: Briana Sal-Soren
Foe Tags: Quintessa

Her observation about the strange meetings had her nodding in agreement.

"Yeah. You aren't wrong." Her prior question shifting the mood quickly as Briana shot her a look. The moment was nothing for than that, a brief pause in their conversation. But the answer didn't sit well with Lossa.

"Does it matter?"

The want to talk on the matter overshadowed by recent events that she still hadn't broached when they weren't in the field. Her house had been more a refuge than a place to deal with hard truths. And the need to keep it that way made her bite her own tongue.

She was present for Briana. And sometimes that was what someone needed more than a shove in the right direction.

Her cousins words bringing their walk to a halt as Lossa listened, a nod at the words. The recording emblem in the corner flickering just out of sight as Briana reached out and stoked their resolve. The Force was a strange thing, even to one that felt its connection.

A deep breath had Lossa nodding a final time, mirroring the hold on her own shoulder to Briana.

"Let's go take some names then. Gotta get ahead of the butt kicking." The smile coming through in her tone as she turned them to walk forward until the telepathic message rolled through. The cheer about Lossa dulling as she listened.

A small blip on a rotating screen appearing ahead of them as an unknown marking. Her covered face sweeping the streets before facing ahead.

"Straight ahead lies our invite. Time to see what greets us." Lossa leading the way forward, unclipping her own lightsaber but not yet igniting the blade.

"Do you think head to toe spiky armor, or something else?" A chuckle behind the question as the began to close in on the source of the telepathic message.

 

[Astrid pentoghast]

Equipment: red lightsaber, nightsister bow
Suit: xx
Tag: Jonyna Si

Astrid noticed the cathar Jedi heading straight for her "be some dears and kill the Jedi for me will you" she said as jonyna would see the six civilians all grab improvised weapons two with chairs one with a display board and the other three with knives charge her as in madness or under mind control. Astrid stood up and smoothed out her suit she knew the civilians didn't stand a chance but also knew this Jedi wouldn't hurt the civilians unless necessary.

As the civilians got within range they would swing wildly at jonyna normally controlling six people for combat would be incredibly taxing on her force powers but in a place like this it was easy she drew on the darkside energies of the planet and the restless souls of the planet. She didn't care about the ritual all that much she wanted to see if she could grab treasure or people to experiment on more than anything.

She grabbed her lightsaber from the table it would be incredibly difficult to do lightsaber combat and focus on control the movements of six other people to do combat with. The cathar Jedi before her Astrid activated her lightsaber Incase Astrid came right for her ignoring the civilians Astrid would move to Perry the attack if necessary.

 

[Adeline Noctua]

Tags: Braze Jasper Kai'el

Her eyes focused in on the blade as the Jedi made it enhanced with light, just by the stench of it alone she already knew what it was... It was many things of course, the first and foremost being a pain both figuratively and literally.

Adeline grits her teeth as he came in for a swing, just as she had done with Alisteri during their duel, drawing in the enemy before making a push had advantages. The woman letting out a horrible force scream in the direction of both the master and his padawan, and with the surrounding area being tainted on mass by darkness... This was a very potent scream indeed.

If he faltered for even a moment thanks to the dangerous scream, Keres would push in to hammer him down. Meeting his own swing while pushing her weight and vampiric strength in order to bully him into shattering his panicked defense or to perhaps even damage and bend the arm. With her strength alone she could bend many metals with ease.. Such ferocity would only be multiplied if she flew into a rage.

Meanwhile, even if Braze had either got hit or not, he would be watched as several of those bat creatures landed on the higher up places around. Some flapping around in the skies while others simply watched with their beady little eyes, a crimson just like their creator.


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