The Crystal Temple

[Rainbow Kitten Sunrise]

The temple was foreboding sight indeed. Trees and vines sprouted from its outer workings and it would've easily been missed by someone who didn't know what they were looking for. The red adobe bricks that were so common of Caeliar made up the structure. Most notable of all though was the red crystal formations that had begun to sprout along its edges.

Tony studied the building with little interest. Archaeology was not his thing, but for some reason the Force had brought him here. He had contacted local authorities and told him where he was going, but to ensure his "Safety" they had slapped him with a tour guide. Apparently [member="Phoebus"] knew Caeliar well, or so he was told. Also aiding him in his endeavor was another young acolyte like himself, named [member="Tarok"] . They had never met, but apparently had both fought in the Artisian wars.Now the three of them stood outside the ancient monolith.

Oddly enough not a trace of the force could be felt around the ancient alter. Most curious. Antonio thought to himself, a hand under his chin. He approached the temple entrance and stared into its black depths. A faint glow illuminated the way. Tony proceeded to make an entrance and found that the light originated from more of the crystal stalactites. Upon closer inspection the crystal would seem to feed on any force energy nearby. Dampening all of their powers. Most curious indeed.

 

[Phoebus]

[member="Tony Ro'samo"]

Phoebus liked to know what happened around Dathomir, especially regarding strategic and key locations that could provide valuable goods. When she received a notification that a person by the name of Tony Ro'samo was going to an unknown Sith temple, she immediately used her contacts to get her as an accompanying guide for him. ((Just going to go with it))

She did not feel any restrictions from the area around the Temple, although she saw Tony feel some restrictions. She shrugged and stopped three meters away from him. "Hello. I am Phoebus."

 

[Tarok]

Tarok walked off the shuttle his suit making a loud thumping sound as he descended the ramp his eyes adjusted to the world around him. The man name [member="Tony Ro'samo"] contacted him knew of him from the recent war of artisia and asked for his assistance, he wanted to explore a temple of some sorts. Usually, tarok wouldn't bother to help someone he didn't know but this time he felt a calling. Whatever it didn't matter now he was here, Dathomir was a world that made tarok feel at home, the dark side was prominent here it gave tarok something to feed on. While tarok was stuck in thought another appeared [member="Phoebus"] Tarok remember her from the artisian war also though he didn't know what she had done there had been too much going on for him to keep track of it all. He greeted her plainly "Hello I'm told you are our guide." his robotic voice breathed out the last word. He had found it difficult to talk since his vocal cords were replaced.

[member="Tony Ro'samo"] started off toward the temple and tarok followed him. As he approached it through all the feelings of the force he had felt before had became muddled like something was blocking the very force around him. Tony was moving farther ahead then tarok could keep up with as the suit weighed him down, he stayed close to them the best he could taking in the view of the entrance.

 

[Rainbow Kitten Sunrise]

"Hello [member="Phoebus"]! Call me Ro'samo," He reached for her hand then thought better of it. His recent injuries and subsequent powers resulting of had left him displaced when it came to physical contact. He retracted his hand and gave her a slight nod. Tony waited for [member="Tarok"] to catch up then continued into the confines of the crypt. He began noticing the crystals became more common as they went deeper into the tomb.

They entered what appeared to be a large chamber of some sorts. It was completely void of anything except for an alter placed in the center of the room. The chamber was musty and cob webs hung everywhere. The dim light from the crystals was enough to see slightly, but not quiet enough to make out details. Tony turned on a flash light and made his way to the alter. Strange runes encompassed the boxes sides and they glowed at the touch. "Can anyone read Sith'arii?" Tony asked the other's, but he doubted it. He moved his flashlight to another rune and discovered something disturbing. Dried blood ran down the side of the stone. Tony followed the trail and it seemed to pool at the top. He dipped a finger in it. Fresh, interesting.

"Hey their's fres-" He began then trailed off as he could've swore he saw a crystal man move in one of the hall ways.

 

[Phoebus]

[member="Tony Ro'samo"]
[member="Tarok"]

Following Tony and Tarok inside of the temple, Phoebus slowly followed behind them. She was not much of a combatant so there was no point in having her idly linger at the front of the group and fuck everyone else over in the process. Thus, she simply readied her energy bow in anticipation for any enemies. Seeing that it was darker than she would have preferred, Phoebus used a small sliver of spirit ichor to activate her Trinket of Firesprite's Luminesce and re-tied the trinket to her hand to provide herself some light in the dark.

Seeing the strange runes, she tilted her head and shook her head in negation. As she saw the fresh blood, she immediately lifted her energy bow in anticipation of an ambush.

 

[Tarok]

Tarok made his way inside to him the room was normal but having cybernetic eyes would give him an advantage in the dark over those with him. When he caught up with [member="Tony Ro'samo"] in a large chamber he took a look around, there was nothing in the room save for the alter tony walked up to. "Can anyone read sith'arii" tony asked while most couldn't taroks master had been well versed in sith magic and had at one point tryed to teach him to use it as well. "I could try but i would need books and time." Tarok looked over the alter more, blood, sith writing and darkness while he didn't like stereotyping the sith, this was most likely a sacrificial chamber for whoever once dwelled here. [member="Phoebus"] Readied her weapons and tony stopped talking midway through a feeling of uneasiness fell over tarok.

Tarok turned on his axe and raised his shield "what do you see tony, phoebus"

 

[Phoebus]

[member="Tarok"]
[member="Tony Ro'samo"]

As Phoebus stood ready for the ambust, she spent a short amount of time trying to analyze the Sith runes. Taking out a holorecorder and placing it on the ground, Phoebus recorded the room and all its contents for future research. As the holorecorded was analyzing the room and recording it neatly into its memory storage device, she moved a little closer to the group to ensure that she would be safer in case of an ambush.

Looking closer to the Sith runes in an attempt to read it, she spotted the red crystals out of the corner of her eye and diverted her attention to them. She immediately pulled an energy arrow back and fired it at the crystal, seeing what the repercussions of her actions would be.

 

[Rainbow Kitten Sunrise]

Tony was still starring into the hall way when Tarok spoke. "I thought I saw someone," Tony said quizzically. Then Phoebus fired her arrow into one of the crystals. It shattered and the crystals around it began blinking. Tony shrugged, Must've been nothing He thought. He reached down and began pressing the runes. The Alter made a great rumble and it split in half to reveal a stair case to the levels below. Tony shined his light below and a series of humanoid crystal statues greeted him. They were all caught in different poses. Some in terror, some in servitude, others in simple death. Strange someone would carve the formations into people Tony took a closer look at one of the statues and saw something very peculiar. This statue wore a ring. Now why would someone adorn them with such odd trinkets. As Tony studied more of the statues he began to realize. These aren't ordinary statues, but crystallized people... How? How is this possible? Then this time one definitely moved. It was still in its "budding" stage. Tony spun and shown his light on the being as it called out to him.

"He- Help me." The creature asked. Half of his torso was crystallized and his legs had begun to petrify as well. His face was beginning to sprout scaly glowing rocks.

"What happened to you? Who are you?" Tony asked horrified and repulsed by the mans current state.

"I.. I.. am Draconis.. I was sent with a team of Jedi to.. To.. Eliminate him..." The fallen Jedi said ominously.

"Who is he? How did this happen?" Tony asked his curiosity peaked.

"They put.. They put the rock inside of me! ARGH.. I feel it spread even now! It burns, so badly!" The Jedi cried in anguish.

"Who is this man you refer too?"

"Kill.. ME.." The stone enveloped the mans face and he spoke no more.

[member="Tarok"], [member="Phoebus"]

 

[Phoebus]

[member="Tony Ro'samo"]
[member="Tarok"]

Phoebus looked curiously at the broken shards of crystal before reaching down and picking some of them, depositing them within a vial imbued with spirit ichor. Muttering herself, "Interesting...pretty brittle."

She focused at the task at hand and relaxed her energy bow as Tony revealed the set of staircases that led downward. Peering inside and seeing the statues, Phoebus threw the relatively durable holoprojector down and recorded the room remotely. Seeing the trinkets on the statues, Phoebus looked excitedly at the potential to reap some benefits and rewards.

Hearing the statues talk though, she frowned slightly and shrugged off the morality of the situation. However, her ears perked when she heard the words "Jedi" and immediately scorned. Readying her energy bow, she fired another energy arrow at one of the completely crystallized statues.

 

[Tarok]

The alter split and opened into a staircase, tony went down into it so tarok followed him weapon still activated giving the other some light. there were many statues each looking different, many species lined the walls some even looked like they were from different eras strange. I wasn't that long until they came upon the jedi he spoke pleading for someone to kill him as he was slowly turning to stone.

Tarok fed off the torment and suffering the Jedi was feeling but when the stone fully enclosed around him all feelings the Jedi felt stopped. Whatever this stone was it was blocking the force anything one could feel this stone was blocking out. Tarok's anger had roused a little without warning he stomped the now statue like jedi to dust. "What have you brought us into tony? Why are the jedi here?" Tarok said suspicion in his voice, he never asked tony which side he fought for.

Tarok lost sight of [member="Phoebus"] until an arrow from her bow sang past him shattering another statue, Tarok yelled "What are you doing you blasted witch! whoever did this is still here and you're just alerting them!" Taroks voice carryed an echo if they were trying to be stealthy it would be harder now.

 

[Phoebus]

[member="Tarok"]
[member="Tony Ro'samo"]

Phoebus indifferently shrugged. "Whatever inflicted this on those Jedi is still here. And it must have detected our presence when we entered the temple as well as when we opened this altar. Perhaps due to our innate alignment towards the dark side is the only thing stopping the creature for directly attacking us, or perhaps our greater strength in the Force. Either way, it knows we are here and in this exact place so all we can do is be aggressively on the offensive or retreat. Hiding and being stealthy isn't going to help us when we are completely unaware of our surroundings or of the perceptive capabilities of the creature guarding this place."

Yawning, Phoebus simply readied her energy bow and prepare to unleash another energy arrow at anything that came into view.

 

[Rainbow Kitten Sunrise]

Tony sat their for a moment longer. Just starring at the horror that he had just witnessed when [member="Tarok"] smashed the former Jedi and accused Tony of being a traitor. His raging banter carried over to the witch as she fired an arrow into yet another statue. His echos rang through the decrepit halls. Tony turned to face the man when suddenly he noticed what appeared to be a small army of the crystalline statues behind [member="Phoebus"] . They seemed to have appeared out of thin air. They made no move to attack. In fact they made no movement at all. Merely barring her way. An illusion perhaps? But when Tony walked the length of the steps to touch one they felt hard as rock. They blocked the exit and it would appear there was no way but forward into the depths of the tomb. Tony walked back down the stairs and spoke to Tarok.

"I serve The Dominion. Just as you do... I am.. How do I explain it? I am on a journey set forth by the force. A trial of sorts," The truth was far greater then just this. Tony had become a wound in the force. He fed on the essence of all those around him. Slowly the wound was consuming his body out of hunger for more power. Secretly Tony had vowed to destroy the force for what had been done to him. Not just the Jedi, but the Sith as well. Now he was on a quest to consolidate his power and consume every being he could. For his new hunger knew no bounds and even as the others stood around him his wound licked at their own connection to the force filling its gaping maw. It was a black hole. A void.

"Now, Shall we continue? I believe we are expected," Tony said nonchalantly

 

[Phoebus]

[member="Tony Ro'samo"]
[member="Tarok"]
Seeing that the entrance, and well, an exit in her perspective was closed, Phoebus moved down toward the Jedi and began smashing them with her energy bow and picking up the few trinkets that they had on them. Picking up a few samples of the crystals as well, she placed them in separate vials for future study.

One particular Jedi was possessed peculiarly, clutching a chained ring in one hand and slashing with a lightsaber in another. Laughing at the pose, she used the plasma bowstring of her energy bow to slice off the hand holding the ring and shattered the rest of the statue in piece with a single energy arrow to the chest. Picking up the hand, she removed the ring and pocketed it before slamming the hand on the ground to destroy it.

Shutting down the holoprojector, she smashed it against the ground now that it had records of her technically killing Jedi. Although, it was up to debate whether they were alive or not, the Jedi Council would certainly be disappointed and enact punitive matters for her actions. She waited for Tarok and Tony to take lead into the depths of the temple.

 

[Tarok]

Tarok knew [member="Tony Ro'samo"] was holding something back but he couldn't place his finger on what it was. The force here was dulled and as he continued down the steps as any other way was blocked by more statues. What could do this on such a scale tarok thought? This temple was strange the stone here was unknown and blocked out the force, it could be useful in certain ways but this trail of thought would be for later. The witch [member="Phoebus"] was waiting on us to go deeper into the temple. She seemed to be having fun smashing the statues and was recording it until she also smashed it too.

Tarok looked back to tony "Fine lets find out who or what made these things, but if you are plotting something i would rethink your actions."

 

[Rainbow Kitten Sunrise]

[member="Tarok"] made one final veiled threat and Tony merely shrugged it off. [member="Phoebus"] waited for them further down the tunnel and Tony took the lead. The tunnel was long and small cracks in its roof had become apparent. Anyone with explosives be warned Tony thought, but knew the others would be observant enough to notice the structures fragile state. The hall opened into yet another large chamber.

It was divided by a seemingly endless drop. In the center of the room was a bridge seemingly supported by nothing. At the end of the bridge lay two large golemns. Giant beings three times the size of a man. These creatures were made from the same crystal that adorned the rest of the palace/tomb. Tony walked the length of the bridge and placed a hand on the golemn's leg. It made no move. Strange. They had to have carved these ones. He thought to himself and then begin to wonder just how large this crystal was and if it was so huge where was its source?

There was no apparent entrance, but then again neither was their one at the alter. Tony studied the walls with his flash light and found nothing but smooth stone.

"Hmmm,"

While Tony stood their was a great rumble. The bridge behind him had collapsed and the stone fell into the depths of the chasm below. He was separated from his allies on the other side. Then the golemns began to move. They held no style, no grace in their wake. Their movements were dull and ugly. They struck out at Tony and he had to be quick to avoid their attacks. He withdrew his vibro blade and leapt at the nearest one. His blade broke atop the golemns head. Their was nothing he could do. He was utterly defenseless.

Actually, their was one more thing he could try. Dark purple flames enveloped his hands and he thrusted them forward. Great waves of pink energy struck forth at the golemns and the stones around him seemed to pulse to life with this new show of force. He drained the power from the golemns and the color seemed to leak out of them. They kneeled before him then turned to stone.

The wall parted revealing a door way for which he was to enter. He walked the dark passage way feeling the length with his hand. At the end a bright red glow showed the way out. He entered the room and their before him sat an ancient pure blood Sith.

"Welcome brother." The pure blood called to him. The entire room seemed made of the red crystal. In the center of it sat a Red crystal throne and atop it the great lord.

"Who are you? What happened to those people?"

"Who am I? Merely a figment of your imagination. Know this though. We seek the same goals. I am trapped here by my power," He tapped the arm rest of his throne "I imbued these stones with alchemical magic in search of immortality and now may never leave. Now I seek freedom and I believe the death of the force will bring it to me. Take this stone. With it you may draw upon my power and take away the power of others," He beckoned for Tony with one hand and the other held a bright red stone before him. Tony approached the ancient being and took hold of the crystal. As he did so the Sith grabbed his hand.

"Go forth and do my bidding!" At the last of his words Tony fell unconscious. When he awoke he was on the surface once more. With no recollection of what he had done. For some reason though the words Do my bidding Rang clear in his head...