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[Krasskorr the Maw]

FOOD: Ziso Kus

​

The aroma of cybernetics lingered in Krasskorr's mind as he observed Ziso Kus dart through the jagged opening ahead, her frantic movements revealing her dawning realization that she was no match for his formidable presence. She was undeniably fast, likely aided by cybernetic enhancements that propelled her deep into the vault's intricate maze.

Yet, the Saurton knew he didn't need to chase her down; his goal was to shatter her resolve before he shattered her physically like the assassin's body still clinging to his back. Krasskorr slowed his thunderous charge into more of a heavy gait, every footstep was calculated to strike terror in the heart of his opponent before they even crossed blades.

Gripping the Lightclub in his blood-stained claw, he flicked his wrist with menacing ease, extending the three-meter blade outward. Instead of swinging at nothingness, he drove the roaring plasma deep into the ancient corridor wall.

The resulting sound was excruciating, a piercing, shrill hiss as obsidian and cold iron melted away under the influence of the dark-side-infused weapon. As Krasskorr advanced, he dragged the blade forward, etching a glowing trench of molten slag along the passage. Blinding orange sparks erupted in a relentless cascade, illuminating his massive, matte-black figure in a demonic, flickering glow.

The action served no immediate advantage but the psychological impact was undeniable. The shrill sound of metal melting reverberated through the narrow corridors, a haunting alarm that made the fleeing cyborg acutely aware of the danger closing in.

"GET BACK HERE RUNT!" With a thunderous bellow, Krasskorr unleashed a furious cry, his voice resonating with such power that dust cascaded from the high ceiling. He swung his lightclub violently, embedding it into the wall and leaving a trail of molten destruction in its wake.

 

[Arris Windrun]

Nilira Vornix​

Arris should've realized by now that every one of her remarks would be analyzed by Nilira. She rubbed the back of her neck while the acolyte prattled on like an investigator over what she noticed about these creatures. Which was surprisingly a lot, just from environmental details alone, for something they've yet to see a living specimen of.

"Yeah, well. I'm poisonous to anything that might try to eat us." She looked back at Nilira. "You, on the other hand, would probably make a nice snack." The cyborg grinned.

Her attention followed Nilira's next deduction, and she turned right and followed the path. Her chemlight bobbed as she walked, illuminating the dark, tunnel-like hallway. Then, they came into a large chamber.

"Whoa," Arris whistled.

A very large and vertical chamber. Her light barely touched the other side and couldn't reach the bottom. Only a large fissure in the ceiling, where some daylight came in, gave her an impression of what was above - they were a dozen and a half meters below that, she determined.

Arris bent down and picked up a rock, then tossed it below. A few seconds later, the faint echo returned.

"Big place," she remarked.

Their only way up and down was a spiral staircase. Though she wondered how the hell you were supposed to get across to the other side, where she could see an archway. Jumping, even with the Force, felt unwise.

"I figure all the cool shit will be below," she shrugged, then made her way down the stairs.

That was when the stairs folded in, becoming a sudden ramp like a trap straight out of a holovid.

"Whaaaaa!" Arris shrieked as she fell on her back and began to slide. Faster and faster as the seconds passed.

The chemlight slipped from her hand, tumbling below to join the rock. Arris looked back to see if Nilira was okay. More concerned for her than her own safety at that moment.

 

[Anet Raine]

Mellia Raine
​

Of course, it was too much to hope that Mellia was as dumb as she sounded. Okay, maybe that was a little mean, but from Anet's perspective, that was exactly how she felt when her sister yapped about corporate games and fashion. Anet loved fashion in that she loved to look good, but the rest? Ugh.

"I wouldn't miss this for the world, sister."

Anet sighed. "Of course not."

Mell's anxiety (perhaps brief) was noted, even if she tried to hide it.

Sanctions.

"Oh, never mind that. If you want to end up in a Republic prison, be my guest. Drag the family name through the mud - it's about time someone did."

Banter like that made it a little easier for Anet to stomach the fact that Mell was coming with her. The yacht was too large to touch down this close to the ruins, but it didn't need to. The vessel hovered in place beside a cliff edge and got just close enough for them to jump across. The blast door opened, and out Anet hopped to the other side.

She turned back and waved her sister along. "Don't fall behind!" She ordered.

The acolyte entered a brisk pace along the cliff, then down a steady, natural ramp thick with foliage that led towards the city's outskirts. The large, conical towers were quite visible even from here. Their tips pierced like beacons above the treetops.

But Anet stopped when she heard the telltale rustling of creatures in the underbrush. Hell, she wasn't a fighter, let alone a survivalist, even with her training and recent experience. Without the Force, she was probably as good as dead. Resigned to a revelation she was not yet ready for, Anet turned and faced her sister.

Her voice grew colder. "Mellia. You will not say a word about this. To anyone."

Then, she reached into her robes and withdrew the mask and donned it. In an instant, all her power flooded through her, and her senses came alive. A putrid Dark Side presence rolled across the landscape. Undoubtedly, it would make anything that lived here more aggressive - especially the predators. And it came from the ruins ahead. This was definitely the city they were looking for.

"Come on," Anet said. "Stay close to me." Even in Darkness, she wouldn't abandon her sister. There was still something left uncorrupted.

 

[Eurydice]

Meliant Ziso Kus Krasskorr the Maw​

Eurydice knew what was coming the moment Meliant’s hand landed heavily on her shoulder. Unfortunately, that did not mean she knew how to resist.

As she was unceremoniously pushed through a jagged maw of ripped metalwork, the frightened seer let out an unattractive cross between a squeal and a yelp.

Eurydice flailed her legs and singular arm before landing in the corridor below on her rump. A dim wash of emergency lighting flickered across her sprawled form.

The girl groaned as she began to collect herself from the floor, straightening her already straight robes. She peered around, finding nothing but dull durasteel and stone.

Finally, she looked up to Meliant - if he was still there, lingering at the precipice and sneering at her from behind his mask. Or perhaps, he had passed through the same crevasse, far more graceful, and still sneering at her from behind his mask.

The ceiling above trembled to the rhythm of slow, heavy steps. Eurydice’s eyes grew wide, and she instinctively tucked herself in the corner like a frightened shadow.

“W-we're not alone!” she whispered.

 

[Meliant]

​

Meliant leapt down not long after Eurydice. He landed crouched, and so softly on his heels even his cloak barely ruffled. It was only then he noticed Eurydice was missing an arm. ​

He would have pushed her anyway, to be clear, but he might have said something mean first. Now he would have to settle for later, though not by much.​

​

"W-we're not alone!" she whispered, so low it was almost an inaudible whimper. And it had to be said that it annoyed Meliant greatly. There's a time and a place for insipid whimpering and it was now long gone. ​

​

He looked down one of the tunnels, vaguely in the direction of those thumping footfalls and thundering bellows. Meliant had spent enough time on the Sepulchre with Krasskorr to recognize him, even at this remove. But in the tangle of the Dark Side he could also see that the mutant was engaged by someone else. ​

​

Ideal - it would only serve to waste Meliant's time to deal with that pitiful holdout.​

​

"You really are helpless... Hm," Meliant observed, now looking at Eurydice again instead of addressing her concerns. "Didn't anyone offer you a robot arm? Well. I guess you don't need both to tell fortunes, so why waste it?"​

​

Meliant proceeded down the tunnel she previously indicated, sword-tip dragging lazily along the walkway behind him.​

​

"Come along, Stumpy. I don't want to get lost."​

Eurydice Ziso Kus Krasskorr the Maw​

 

[Ziso Kus]

"There is no one who isn't a runt compared to you." Ziso cursed under her breath as she continued her mad dash deeper within the facility. She was neither an honor bound warrior or a fool. Charging back towards Krasskorr was very much charging into the maw of a beast. So down the halls she went, though not in the same path she'd intended. Two others had gone that way.

One was a much more dangerous monster.

So she ran like a coward, at least until the assassin defenses assaulted her. A metallic hiss escaped her as she found herself twisting to block a dagger aimed for her back. A flash of metal from a dagger within her cloak to block, and another to imbed itself within the neck of her assailant. She needed to run more, make more space, prepare what she could to fight such a beast that had decided she was his target.

Every second wasted was the threat of death closing in further.

Krasskorr the Maw

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Jedha

Equipment:
Apprentice Attire | Lightsaber | Shoto | Cybernetic Arm

The corridors narrowed as Ace moved deeper beneath the observatory, old stone pressing close enough in places to make the ruins feel unearthed rather than built. Somewhere far overhead ancient mechanisms groaned through the rock in slow, arthritic motion. After Sibylla's departure, he expected the silence to return.

It didn't. Another set of footsteps had begun keeping pace with his own, measured and unhurried, so natural in rhythm he noticed them before he admitted to himself they were there.

He kept walking a few moments before muttering, almost to himself. "Persistent."

Beside him came a familiar sound, little more than breath through the nose. "Hmph."

Ace turned and found Lorn Reingard at his shoulder as though he had always been there, expression carrying that unreadable stillness he knew too well. There was no grand reveal to it, no theatrics from the Force. Somehow that made it more unsettling.

"This place likes to recycle people." Ace said dryly, looking ahead again.

"So do memory and consequence." Lorn replied.

They walked for a time without speaking. It might have felt almost ordinary, if not for the weight moving with them in the dark. Then Lorn said, almost absently.

"You've become difficult to sense."

Ace glanced toward him. "What does that mean?"

Lorn's gaze stayed forward. "It means parts of you are going dark."

Ace let out a faint breath that might have been amusement. "That supposed to worry me?"

"No." Lorn said. "It worries me."

The answer lingered longer than Ace liked. As they turned down another passage, Lorn continued in that same plain tone, as if simply noting something observed. "I used to feel conflict in you. Now I mostly feel decision."

Ace's expression tightened. "I know what I'm doing."

"That isn't what troubles me." Lorn said. "You call emptiness discipline. You call compromise strategy. You call distance clarity. Names don't change what things are."

There was no accusation in it. That made it harder to push aside.

"Still taking inventory." Ace muttered.

"Observation."

A few more steps passed before Lorn spoke again. "I keep seeing you in places you haven't gone yet."

That pulled Ace's attention back. "What?"

Lorn was quiet long enough that it felt deliberate. "I don't know. That's what worries me. There are futures where I can't reach you."

Ace frowned. "Jedi mysticism at its finest."

Lorn ignored the jab. "You think your danger is becoming a monster. It isn't. Your danger is becoming convinced you're necessary."

That one hit. Ace felt it and immediately resented that he did. "Someone has to do it."

Lorn looked at him then, not sternly, not with judgment, but with something heavier. "I'm not here to ask you to stop. I'm here because part of you already knows where this ends."

Silence stretched between them. Then, quieter still...

"I'm not warning you. I'm grieving ahead of time."

Ace stopped walking. Lorn took two more steps before stopping as well. For a long moment neither moved, then Ace looked away first.

"When the future you are trying not to see arrives." Lorn said, calm as ever. "Remember you weren't unwarned."

Ace turned... and the corridor was empty. No Lorn. No second set of footsteps. Only dust moving in stale air, and for a long while Ace stood listening, uncertain when he had stopped hearing anything but himself.​

 

[Tamsin Starfall]

Theme: Welcome To The Jungle
Tags: Varin Mortifer

"First, the nerds are in a mind prison." She stopped for a moment trying to figure out how she could dumb the science down for. "You know what a holocron is? It's like that but on a bigger scale and it traps the essence or mind of people in it. They don't have physical bodies anymore. The device was created by the infinite empire as well as the temple it's housed in."

She said as he condemned her for chewing too loud. So out of spite she took another loud bight of the granola bar just to annoy him more. Staring right at him as she did so, as he then realized there was no wall, just more forest. "As I was saying, they had insane tech. They knew about durasteel, duracrete, and other materials we still have no understanding of."

As she said that she again expected the demon with all its arrogance to chime that it knew the infinite empires secrets. It said nothing though and that was odd. Then before she could continue on her tangent about the infinite empire and how their tech was probably fireproof @VarinMortifer handed her small knife. She stared at it a moment but did not reach for it. She just took another bite of her granola and then broke up a few chucks and tossed them to the Gizka's that gathered. Now he would have to listen to more chewing noises.

She did not take the knife, instead she pushed herself off the rock she was sitting on to her feet. Glaring up at Varin who was almost three feet taller than her. Then moved past him as she then stared forward as at the forest before them. If he wasn't going to use fire maybe she should use some magick.

"Their buildings, are probably fireproof given their technology." She finally said defiantly not looking back at him just staring forward at the jungle before them.

Internally she was trying to talk to the demon, she never called on it. It was always there. always wanting to show how much better it was than her and everyone. Tamsin was trying to ask it for power, that same power the demon had used on Coruscant. That power could bend nature to its will. Yet silence hung heavily in the air, only broken by Varin speaking again saying something wasn't right.


"You are right." He probably thought Tamsin would never say such words. "I can't hear or feel the demon." No that wasn't right she could feel the demon as she tried to stretch out her senses, but it was detached from her. It was watching them, the hairs on the back of her neck stood up.


"We need to run now, as fast as we can." She said as she looked forward at the brush in front of them. Then she pulled her saber from her belt and ignited it. As she said that the small Gizka that had been friendly now turned feral and charged at both her and Varin. Yet that wasn't the full threat, a small tremble could be felt in the ground at first, but it was getting bigger and soon trees snapping could be heard. A herd of Rancor's was coming straight for them.