Things that go bump in the night (PM to join)

[Zye Woden]

Spoiler

At the Speeder: Zye Woden (Yours truly) [member="Kurenai Yumi"] [member="Felicity Skye"] [member="Sawa Ike"]
At the Barn: [member="Alex StormWolf"] [member="Nine Lives"]

Zye felt and smelt a familiar presence as he watched Felicity move towards the speeder, retrieve the datapad and then hand it over to Sawa for inspection. He turned to see the vampire that he had encountered on Kashyyyk since his exile. There was something about a droid, a Jedi Youngling who tried to start a fight with him that ended in the child's tears and the vampire who was with what looked like her own spawn. He turned his head towards Ike first, giving her a nod at the offered datapad, "Search it, tell me what you find. If you can extrapolate some of the origins data and the route, that might help us learn a fair bit more on where our monster's lair is."

He turned towards Kurenai and leaned against the wooden fence behind him, offering her a tight, minimal smile. He didn't want her getting the impression they were friends. He didn't make friends. "As they say, hunting dogs always return home. And this, well, is my home." He inclined his head, "And what exactly is it that you saw?"

Every sliver of information, no matter how small, was vital in the hunt. Even a slight clue or a vague impression could make the difference between finding the monsters and not. Suddenly the wind shifted. From the other field, a faint smell hit Zye's nose. It was the mix of something rotting, and the smell of roses. He turned on his heel looking to Felicity. He motioned towards the field, wordless. Check that out.​ Was it a corpse? Or was it another monster? She would find out in a few moments...

DATAPAD INFO​

As Ike flipped through the datapad's shattered screen, it flickered off and on. The datacore was highly compromised from the physical damage that had taken place on it. She would find a photo of a young woman in a field. Under its recent calls, there were six recent missed calls, three of each from the contacts identified as "Papa" and "Mama". A series of unopened, unanswered instant messages from both contacts filled with frantic language, begging her for forgiveness and for her to come back home.

Lastly there was a short video recording by the same young woman in the recording. Her red dress was tattered, a few clear scratches were seen on her face. In the background was the battered speeder. Her eyes were wide with terror and her face was covered with a sheen of sweat. There was nothing but darkness around the young woman.

"Mama.... Papa.... I'm... I'm so sorry," she whispered fiercely between pants, "You were right... both of you...... Please, please, whatever you do, run. Don't look for me.. It's too dangerous," she stiffled a sob a stream of tears came from her eyes, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. You were both right. He wasn't a good man. He was so bad, I--I--I don't want him to get you too," she wiped her face and gulped, "You have to go. Get away, get off this planet. Nowhere is safe anymore. Find Suzie and--"

The entire camera jostled, the datapad dropped, there was an ear splitting scream of horror and the video ended.

As the datapad froze, the display stuck on her leg, the headlights of a speeder came into view from up the road. The sound of the door opening and slamming shut was heard over the rickety engine. The sound of a flechette rifle ratcheting resounded as a shadowy figure stepped into the light.

"What are you doin?" he demanded in an even, groveling tone, brandishing an older, but working pump-action flechette rifle. "And where the hell is my Jenny?"

 

[Felicity Skye]

With little more than a nod Felicity accepted the task. Her nose twitched as she smelled what Zye had moments before. The unmistakable stench of death, along with one of bloom; a juxtaposition of nature if she’d ever seen one before, or in this case smelled one. Would she come across someone’s decaying remains, or a bed of flowers? There was only one way to find out.

As Felicity walked the dry field, pushing the high grasses aside and tamping them under boot, both scents had gotten stronger with the smell of rot beginning to overpower that of the flowers. She didn’t need to use the force to find her destination she only needed to follow her nose to get there, and that she did. To her surprise what she smelled wasn’t one or the other, it was both. A woman’s corpse lying on a bed of roses; it appeared as if she hadn’t died there but was staged there. Again Felicity felt no danger from the area around her, but the unsettling feeling never left her stomach. She took a knee near the corpse to gain some insight before the others caught up.

The woman’s skin was as dry as the grass Felicity had walked on to get there, and that was when she realized it. She looked around once to be sure. The field before the bed of roses was brittle, shriveled, completely unlike the field beyond; which was rich, colorful, and dewey in the later hour. What could’ve done this? She thought to herself. In all her years of research she’d never read, nor heard of anything like it before, granted Felicity’s field of expertise wasn’t sithspawn. Maybe Zye knew something about the mysterious monsters she didn’t. She whistled over the field hoping to get the attention of her comrades-in-arms. What she didn’t know was that she had also attracted the attention of something far more sinister.

[member="Zye Woden"] || [member="Sawa Ike"] || [member="Kurenai Yumi"] || [member="Nine Lives"] || [member="Alex StormWolf"]​

 

[Kurenai Yumi]

Kuernai gave a nod to Sawa while approaching the small group in a rather casual manner despite the rather sinister atmosphere that was getting progressively thicker with each passing moment and evidence, stacking a top one another. "So, this is your home, I guess i should no be surprised, got some stray beasts in your back yard it would appear".

"As for what I have seen, not much, which is a problem, what ever is around here has cleared out, which means it may get away or strike again, but it was not really that clean with said get away". The smell of death heavily in the air, [member="Felicity Skye"] probably finding the body of who was attacked due to the rot in the air. "Though there was a tricking blood trail headed in the from the direction I just came, back tracked here to mainly meet up with you". "So what ever was here is on the run, I would really doubt such a beast would have a den to close to civilization", such a farm area was most likely a new hunting grown for the Sith spawn.

Even with that assumption in place Kurenai could not rush to conclusions if they got even one thing wrong the beast could slip through their figures. that would just prove to be more problematic, if the beast was even the bit intelligent it's next killing may be more secretive, and thus harder to catch. Before the conversation could continue further a sharp whistle echoed through the area, Kurenai turning a gaze into the down trodden field to spy the female Jedi, "seems your friend has found something".

[member="Zye Woden"] - [member="Sawa Ike"]

 

[Sawa Ike]

[member="Kurenai Yumi"] [member="Felicity Skye"] [member="Zye Woden"]

She was looking at them and the information on the datapad before walking off. She could fel and saw Kurenai as a grin appeared on her face. The slight raising of her lips, small fangs showing. SHe moved quickly though once the scent came to her and crouched down low. Listening to everything around them where the sensation was. She was geting more curious about what this thing was now... if it was a sithspawn at all or something more vicious. Most but not all of the sithspawn were generally a sort of mindless and rage filled beast.. that attacked everything not the one... well sometimes not the one releasing and directing it. So the notion of one picking off and almost looked like it was displaying the girl. She would have to see what could be done with it but a hand remained touching the hilt of her blade where she looked around. "More interesting." She turned towards Zye and spoke moving around. "You are certain about this creature correct? It seems brutal but somewhat more clean then most sithspawn I have seen."

 

[Nine Lives]

The vaguely humanoid...creature was a disgusting sight to Nine, and she threw her voice behind the creature. This had proven a shockingly useful ability on multiple occasions.

"Over here..."

The evil looking beast turned, and Nine whispered to [member="Alex StormWolf"] to clear the line of fire, and then signalled her creations to open fire on it. Causing it to roar and try and charge at Magnus. But as it started to do so, Nine concentrated, creating a Force Doppleganger, distracting it further as its hide was peppered by bullets.

Nine threw her tomahawk, and the alchemized axe went through the back of its left thigh. But it wasn't going down. It turned, it snarled and when it opened its mouth she saw nothing but dagger teeth. It charged. Nine let out a stream of purple, psychic bolts, which would not kill it but would cause it a massive headache. But it didn't seem affected by that either, and Nine was finally forced to sprint away, for its claws were sharp looking and it looked a lot stronger than her up close.

"Its very tough!" she shouted to Alex. "You wanna give it go?!"

 

[Alex StormWolf]

"Its very tough! You wanna give it a go?!"

"Don't mind if I do."

Crouching slightly, Alex launched himself into the air with a Force Leap, his lightsabers crossed in front of him in X formation. Reaching the peak of his leap, Alex glanced down, seeing the creature directly below him. Twisting as he descended, Alex landed, facing the creature who was still turned towards Nine and her cohorts.

"Hey, over here," Alex goaded the creature, which turned towards him, displaying a mouth full of razor sharp teeth, flexing its huge clawed fingers. Without warning, the creature leaped at Alex. At the last possible second, Alex ducked and rolled to the left, swinging the lightsaber in his right hand in a sweeping arc from left to right at the creature's legs as it landed. The blazing energy blade seared into the back of the creature's calves, but incredibly, it remained standing.

"You've got to be kidding me!!"

Scrambling to his feet, Alex ducked out of the way as the creature spun around, swiping at him with its clawed hands. He could hear the whistle of air as the gruesome claws slashed over his head.

"I like my head right where it is, thank you very much," Alex quipped, dropping to one knee and slashing at the creature with both of his lightsabers in a scissors like move, one blade going left, the other to the right, scoring a hit across the creature's torso. The creature snarled at Alex, opening its jaw far wider than any human being could, saliva dripping from the ends of its multiple razor edged teeth.

"Its not going down," Alex shouted, ducking and dodging as the creature renewed its attack, forcing him to retreat towards Nine. "The more we try to damage it, the harder it attacks!" The beast charged again at Alex, clawed hands extended, mouth wide open. Alex attempted an X block with his lightsabers, but the creature instead leaped over his blades, slamming into Alex and knocking him to the ground. Alex's lightsabers went flying as he slammed to the dirt, smacking the back of his helmeted head.

It has been said on various occasions that as one is about to die, that they will see their life flash before their eyes. All Alex could see, looking up, was two sulfurous yellow eyes, claws, and a mouthful of teeth ready to rip him to shreds. Leering wickedly at Alex, the creature begins flailing at his chest with its claws.

"You're not as sharp as you used to be Alex," he mused to himself, "now you're Bantha fodder...dead meat..maybe it won't hurt after a few min...huh...what am I thinking?! GO DOWN FIGHTING DAMMIT!!!! "

Turning his head slightly to the left, Alex spots one of his lightsabers laying out of reach, several feet away. Ignoring the snarling, slobbering creature above him, Alex extends his left arm, his hand outstretched, willing his weapon back into his grasp with a Force Pull. As the weapon smacks into his hand with a reassuring thud, Alex points the emitter dead center under the creature's chin and triggers the ignitor.

"CHEW ON THIS," Alex growls as the coherent beam of energy extends out the top of the creature's skull. With a savage kick of his legs, Alex rolls the creature off of him and staggers to his feet. Making doubly certain that the creature would stay dead, Alex plunges both lightsaber blades through its neck and swings each blade to the side, severing its head. Alex takes several shaky steps towards Nine. Touching a hand to his chest at an unexpected stab of pain, Alex notices the front of his trench coat is in tatters. At that exact same moment, he also notices he hasn't come away from this encounter unscathed. Several deep lacerations from the creatures claws were visible across Alex's chest as he rips open his trench coat and the shirt underneath.

"It nicked me good," Alex groaned, fumbling with his right hand through the pockets of his trench coat in search of a med-kit.

 

[Zye Woden]

Right: [member="Kurenai Yumi"] [member="Sawa Ike"] [member="Felicity Skye"]
Left: [member="Alex StormWolf"] [member="Nine Lives"]

Zye grit his teeth, it still stung that this had been his home, but now it wasn't anymore. That wasn't her business, and it wasn't gonna be. "I've been away for a while. You could say that the slaves didn't exactly mind the fences while I was gone."

Blood was something, it was more than nothing. If she had followed it here, then they knew it meant that they were definitely in the right direction. Zye felt the familiar feeling of delight that came with being right, with being on the heels of the monsters. His face lit up in a smile, the first genuine one he had since his exile began. He turned to Sawa Ike at her question, still beaming with delight.

"Almost certainly," he said, "Iridonia is harsh. It requires great heartiness or cunning to survive here. Or more often--both."

He heard the whistle and felt the glee even more. With one swift movement, he vaulted over the fence that divided the fields.

"Let's hope she did," he said over his shoulder to Yumi, then to her and Sawa Ike both, "Come! Let us see it!"

He bound through the fields, light on his feet. Familiar adrenaline pumped through his veins as the Vampire followed Felicity's tracks. He came upon the body that she had found. There was a mixture of horror and happiness as he saw the carnage. The husk of a body, with the husks of what remained of the flowers, filled him with great horror at the monster they were facing. Even so, it was hard to suppress the smile on his face at knowing they were close. He was doing what he loved, there was no substitute for that.

Zye knelt low, feeling the husking chaff of what remained of the foliage. His lips twisted into a concerned scowl, "What we are up against is clearly more powerful than we thought," ​and perhaps more powerful than I have encountered before,​ "This looks to me like Force Drain, over a large area," he turned to look back to Sawa Ike for a second opinion, "Ever seen anything like this?"

Behind Yumi, the tall field rustled. Something slowly came closer as they were speaking, slowly drawing closer. The foliage broke at last, and out into the open stumbled a young woman. It was the same young woman from the photo, from the video. Her face was battered, with a scar opening her left cheek and a nasty jagged line crusted with blood ran over her right to her lip. What remained of her mascara had run down her face in black streaks against her pallid skin. Her left shoulder was dislocated, it dangled by her body uselessly. The dainty dress she wore was torn with massive dirt stains across it and splatters of crimson blood. Her right arm was coated in a sheen of semi-dried blood and bile. Under her chipped, pink-painted nails was a combination of mud and dried scabs.

"Help me," she whimpered softly before falling forward towards Yumi.

Zye took a step back as the figure fell towards Yumi. He rose next to Felicity, looking from the corpse to the young woman that had just appeared. His face said it all, ​I don't think that's who we think it is.​ He glanced quickly from Felicity's eyes to the newly appeared woman, giving Felicity a questioning look.

 

[Felicity Skye]

Hold her up. Felicity thought as she saw the woman begin to fall. She almost immediately went to reach out but could feel Zye’s uncertainty in the moment. She had to tighten her hands to keep herself from rushing to the battered girl. Instead she approached cautiously. She could see the agonizing looseness of a dislocated shoulder as well as all the blood and disheveled appearance of the dress. Felicity couldn’t look at her for long before she pulled out a pair of sanitary gloves from a red, canvas first aid kit in her bag.

She watched the woman, seeing her still, before she got closer. She got on the woman’s level and read her pulse. It was low, near non-existent which wasn’t a good sign. Felicity backed away from her and looked to Yumi and then to Zye. “I can feel you’re uncertainty, but why? What’s wrong with this woman?” She wanted to help but she needed to know why she couldn’t. Zye’s face had said a lot but not enough. The woman convulsed which made Felicity jump. She blinked her eyes several times, and groaned before going still again. Felicity sighed with a combination of frustration and fright. It was always hard to see someone in pain. It was harder to do nothing about it.

[member="Zye Woden"] || [member="Kurenai Yumi"] || [member="Sawa Ike"] || [member="Nine Lives"] || [member="Alex StormWolf"]​

 

[Kurenai Yumi]

If not for words muttered by the new girl Kurenai may have behead her right then and their, natural reflexes aimed to dispose of anything trying to sneak up on her. Though this was not battlefield, but a hunt, anything could be different, even a would be attacker from behind, she could not rule out some farmer mistaking the group for enemies of some sort. Though it did come as surprise to see what had managed to come from behind, a girl, wounded with cuts and scars that made even her cringe a little, herself catching the barely standing being, quickly putting them into a reclined position on the ground.

"Whats wrong"? she remarked a little rhetorically to [member="Felicity Skye"], "something tells me this woman is suffering from something more then just cuts and slashes". When someone convulsed like that Kurenai often got the idea of some beast inside the body, just waiting to be ripped out, or some virus that makes them spasm before death. "Would I be able to heal her using my biting? or would such be to dangerous? we need this girl to stay alive, she has answers, one we desperately need". So far they had just gotten clues, but this could be a definite lead to the beast which the group hunted.

[member="Zye Woden"] [member="Sawa Ike"]

 

[Alex StormWolf]

Meanwhile, back at the barn...

Finding his med-kit, Alex began applying bacta to the lacerations across his chest.

"Go figure," he remarked to Nine, "the one time I forget my chest plate, I get nailed. Maybe I'm getting too old for this sort of stuff. Then again, I never expected to have to dance with the likes of gruesome over there."

Finishing his first aid, Alex stuffs his med-kit back into his now very tattered trench coat. Hearing a rustling noise behind him, he turns to see the beheaded body of the Sithspawn convulsing, as if it were trying to stand back up and resume the fight.

"Umm...now might be a good time to have your friends show off their marksmenship again," Alex said to Nine as he slowly backed away from the convulsing creature, while retrieving his lightsabers from his belt, "I think gruesome is saying he's not done yet!"

[member="Zye Woden"] [member="Felicity Skye"] [member="Kurenai Yumi"] [member="Sawa Ike"] [member="Nine Lives"]

 

[Nine Lives]

Nine had been on the verge of trying to use the trees to escape the creature...the thing was relentless. There she might come up with a more effective counter-attack. Only when [member="Alex StormWolf"] jumped in did Nine reconsider, and as he battled the creature, it gave her a chance to study the beast. This was one tough little freak. He was hitting it over and over but it just wouldn't go down until he decapitated it. And it was trying to get back up. Nine guessed the classic zombie solution would not be applicable here.

She signalled her two creations, which peppered the convulsing, now writhing remains. But they still kept twitching.

Nine paused, clearing her head, calling on the chaotic energies required to work the spell.

"Mother Nature, a twist of flame speeds toward my Foes."

The fiery tornado, about her height, sped toward the flesh. Any flame that touched it instantly caught fire, burning and turning the flames that stuck to the parts red. Only after one or two minutes did the parts finally stop twitching. The now thrashing corpse took three minutes longer than that before it stopped moving. The fire tornado kept going past that, hitting the barn, and catching it ablaze partly.

"Of all the weaknesses it could have had...it had to be fire...great. Just karking great. You okay?" she asked in her deep contralto to Alex, her idle posture regaining its twitchiness.

Nine hated it when fire was required. Fire was a double edged sword. If you didn't know what you were doing, you could end up killing yourself as well as the creature. Plus, the means of delivery would often be a major factor in survival. The method had to be simple and reliable.

Nine got out her comlink, contacting [member="Zye Woden"].

"We just made contact with one of the creatures. Its tough...We cut it to pieces, but it didn't die until it was exposed to fire...and even then, it took a good five minutes. What did you find on your end?"

[member="Sawa Ike"]

[member="Felicity Skye"].

 

[Zye Woden]

[member="Felicity Skye"] [member="Kurenai Yumi"] [member="Sawa Ike"]

Zye furrowed his brow at Felicity's question. His eyes glanced from the woman to the body, back and forth for several moments. He looked to her, Yumi, then Sawa Ike.

"It is too perfect," he said at last. "I've seen a lot of messed up hell on this planet. Too much. We found a body that matches the shape, age, gender, and size of the girl from the speeder," he nodded down at the all but unrecognizable corpse that Felicity found. "If that's the girl, then who is ​that?​ And if this isn't the girl," he kicked the corpse's leg, " Then who is that?"

The battered girl's eyes fluttered open, they were black as the darkest hell, a void from which no light could escape. Her mouth opened, emitting a hiss. Her jaw was lined with jagged needle fangs that, dripping with venom that hurled through the air with the hiss. Her battered left arm suddenly sprang to life, its hands instantly morphed to claw-like talons as they moved towards Yumi's throat. The monster lunged for Yumi, hands stretched out, a forked crimson tongue whipped at Yumi's face, hungry for blood.

"Son of a--" Zye began, but he would never get to finish the phrase.

An alabaster hand gripped his throat, jerking him back, into the air. As he reached for his sword, one of the Sithspawn's black tendrils gripped each of his arms. Its other free hand tore its claws into his chest, sending a spray of blood into the air. As he was carried upward, a third beast emitted a scream from behind Sawa Ike. Its lifeless eyes glared are her dully as the animated corpse stumbled forward. The rotting flesh on its hands swung wildly at the potential prey, looking for any place to tear into her body. The corpse's hand jerked, gripping Felicty's ankle. The charred head turned slowly, flakes of black singed flesh and brittle hair fell off at the movement. With deadly speed, it pulled her closer, the black teeth snapping at her calf.

The hunters had fallen right into the deepest pit of hell.

 

[Sawa Ike]

[member="Kurenai Yumi"] [member="Felicity Skye"] [member="Zye Woden"]

Sawa was listening and watching now, her hand going to her katana's hilt as she lightly gripped it more with an inconscious thought but then something happened and things were attacking. The sounds of something behind her came when she looked at the horror and spun around. Eyes flicking and darting past it to where she sensed something happening to Ni-Ne.... this was a threat to her... this was something that if they were not careful would ruin her revenge. The shlink of the katana as it came out echoed for a moment and she slashed bringing it through the rotting corpse shambling towards her. One swipe and then another and another.

She was focusing the creature for a moment before bringing the katana around for another slash. Letting the spirits and shaping form within her hands as they danced down the blade. Turnign the black crystaal red and then it burst into flames. SHojo her sword was a darkside blade and powerful in its means to kill but she was driven by something more. Kurenai was here as well and having her alive was useful in the long run of her own plans. She sneered sending a jet of flame from her hand along the length of the blade and towards the shambling thing she had been slicing into while the sounds of others fighting came to her.

 

[Alex StormWolf]

"Of all the weaknesses it could have had...it had to be fire...great. Just karking great. You okay?"

"I think I'll live," Alex replied, "nothing a little bacta can't cure. Although I'm going to make a point in returning to my ship before the next hunt and make sure I grab my chest plate. Neat trick with the fire, by the way. Have a bad feeling it's going to come in handy again before this is all over."

Alex notices Nine seems more than a little nervous, but who could actually blame her, after what they just got done dealing with. He waited as she attempted to make contact with Zye and the others. After several minutes with no response, Nine's uneasiness was beginning to rub off on Alex.

"No one's answering, I'm really beginning to wonder if we should go back and check on them," Alex said, glancing behind him at the path that stretched back across the fields. "What do you think?"

[member="Zye Woden"]
[member="Nine Lives"]
[member="Kurenai Yumi"]
[member="Sawa Ike"]
[member="Felicity Skye"]

 

[Kurenai Yumi]

To perfect.... wait "It's a tra- oh kark". Taking a small leap back Kurenai moved away from the discussed Sith spawn as it's skin doppelganger morphed into it's true form. The horrific sound of bones cracking, organs being changed shape a similar sound to someone getting crushed under a heavy weight, only more gorse, something that actually stunned her a little bit, before coming back to reality.

As the hidouse claws came for her throat Kurenai's training kicked in, rising her arm to block the attack, the sharp claws digging past her armor, digging into the Vampires skin, sensing a stinging pain through her body. It was another wound to add to her record and armor, but it was something different, their was a taint that came with, something to keep a worry about while fighting, lest something bad happen.

As the Sith spawns tongue shot out Kurenai neck, herself blasting its face with fire, using pyrokenisis to send the stream of flames from her free, breaking away from the beast, her arm bleeding, long gashes along the woman's pale skin. The once woman like creature hissed some more, it's face singed , skin flaking off the distorted head, earning a death stare from Kurenai "so un-civilized".

Conjured the dark side a spear of shadow formed in her had, the dark shear force power being one of her specialties, the dark Jedi holding it in an offensive position, waiting to see what the unholy 'thing' would do next. Despite the deadly trap they had fallen into at least one thing was certain, the group had found their quarry, only question was would the hunters win? or become the hunted.

[member="Zye Woden"] - [member="Sawa Ike"]

 

[Nine Lives]

No response. Not good. Not good at all.

She heard the distant snarls from the attacks. While a part of her delighted in the idea of Sawa's demise, another part, dominated mostly by pride and rage, would not consent to Sawa being struck down by any other than herself, and certainly not by so random a thing as nigh invulnerable murder-beasts. (Even if this was totally a cool way to go, which it was.)

Nine refused to let that happen.

Just then her strong Force Sense tingled, and Nine looked to the fields.

"Rom-Jin, Magnus, over here immediately." Nine ordered.

"My Liege there's all sorts of really creepy heat signatures moving closer to us...this is totally awesome why don't you do this more often?!" the black suited artificial red head asked.

The shrieks of the toothy, corpse monsters that were currently engaging the others began echoing in the fields around them on the moonlit night. Nine and her creations turned to stare at the hissing horrors emerging from tall crops as the barn burned. There were over twelve of them...twelve of just one creature that had nearly overwhelmed them.

Rom-Jin (Vera) and Magnus opened fire on all the creatures in a violent spray, as they began to sprint towards her. She was reminded of the walking corpses on Melida. But at least those had been, for all their ferociousness, relatively easily destroyed. These things were not mindless. They were intelligent, giving how some of them were breaking off to flank them, and much, much harder to destroy. She almost wished for another one of Darth Metus's Midnight Exigent contingencies.

At best, what she had was a magical fire tornado, the summoning of which left her a little winded each time she used it. And there was no way they'd all group together for it.

The creatures approached, and Nine had to make a tactical decision. Fighting with so many surrounding them would be a death sentence. They needed a more enclosed space to whittle them down. An enclosed space they could not easily escape.

She turned to [member="Alex StormWolf"]. "Come with me if you want to live." she said as she ran with her creations providing covering fire for her and Alex as they were pursued, before they were forced to run just like their creator had into the woods.

Her plan was this...burn the forest down with the creatures in it. Plenty of fuel to be had, and if they were as bloodthirsty as she suspected, they'd assume the advantage of numbers would see them through while they tore her, her creations, her new companions, and her ex apart.

Hissing frustrations as she ran into deeper and thicker parts of the woods, Nine contacted [member="Sawa Ike"] in a huff of frustration as she ran.

"Sawa! If any of you are still on the other end make them follow you into the woods!" She yelled into her comlink as she sprinted from the reach of six of the monsters following her and her creations.

"You think petting them would work?" Magnus asked innocently as she sprinted, keeping pace with Nine, as both took care to avoid the many branches, large rocks, and bushes in their path.

"Magnus, I don't know if that was a joke or not, so given how you are only, what, forty-five minutes old, I'm going to assume that's naivete, and say 'No, I don't think so'!" Nine shouted as she force jumped over a boulder in her way.

"I must say, My Liege, the exercise is wonderful, at least!" Rom-Jin (Vera) mentioned, occasionally turning to blast the ankles of the closest beasts before sprinting away again.

Deeper, they needed to be led deeper, where there was plenty of leaves...

[member="Zye Woden"]

[member="Felicity Skye"]

 

[Felicity Skye]

As the corpse grasped her ankle Felicity’s heart climbed into her throat. She looked down to see the dry and burnt body flake and begin to disintegrate. Ash colored hair fell from its head in clumps. Felicity could only feel shivers down her spine. She had trouble moving, but that quickly changed. With a violent and vicious tug, the corpse pulled Felicity’s leg to it’s mouth. Its black teeth chattered about to snap at her calf as she instinctually pulled her lightsaber and ignited it. The beam struck into the ground beside her, so close she could smell her skin burn at the point the blade grazed her ankle.

The corpse’s face grew almost skeletal as it tried to bite down on her flesh, only to get a mouthful of saber. The evil creature’s jaw was cut in half by the shining yellow light but that was not its end. It reared back from the weapon, hissing with its body writhing in pain. Felicity raised the saber from the ground as the corpse rolled from the flower bed. As its feet hit the grass, the green underfoot began to fade into a dry grey. This was the culprit of all the decay. But the question still remained where was the girl in the datapad?

Felicity flourished her lightsaber, the stinging in her ankle like a burn from molten carbonite. The corpse could see the pain on her face and capitalized on her moment of weakness. It howled and pounced across the flower bed. Red to grey as petals withered. Felicity, hurriedly, positioned her saber straight forward and braced her arm. The creature tried to alter course but couldn’t at the height of its leap. A law of nature that would prove costly as the corpse impaled itself on her blade. It struggled to free itself before going still. With a snaphiss the blade disappeared and the dead undead crumbled to the floor. Felicity looked around to witness the sithspawn engaging all. The smell of blood and decay infested the air. She raised her saber preparing to help the others int her fight against the sithspawn and stayed alert for the arrival of anymore.

[member="Zye Woden"] || [member="Sawa Ike"] || [member="Alex StormWolf"] || [member="Kurenai Yumi"] || [member="Nine Lives"]​

 

[Alex StormWolf]

Sprinting alongside Nine, Alex glanced back over his shoulder and saw twelve hideous, vaguely humanoid shapes loping along, spreading out. Rom-Jin and Magnus were laying down covering fire with their weapons, trying to slow the Sithspawn down, all the while conversing with Nine. Magnus seemed like a little kid with her innocent questions, and Alex's initial suspicions of her being something a bit more than human were confirmed with Nine's statement about 'only being forty-five minutes old.' Rom-Jin on the other hand, was all snark and sarcasm. Any other time, Alex wouldn't have minded too much, and probably would have joined in the pithy banter. But given the current situation, her doom and gloom attitude wasn't exactly helping Alex's morale.

Force leaping over a large boulder in his path, Alex tucked and rolled, coming to his feet in a run, not daring to look behind him. Out of the corner of his right eye, Alex could see a hulking, fur covered humanoid shape, with the head of a wolf, slowly gaining on him.

To Alex, it suddenly felt like being dropped into the middle of every horror holo-vid he had ever watched, right at the precise moment you knew the monsters were going to burst out and kill someone.

"They're trying to flank us" Alex shouted, drawing his lightsabers and igniting them with a flick of his wrists as he willed his legs to move a little bit faster. He wasn't quite sure where Nine was leading them, but after seeing her incinerate 'Gruesome' as he had dubbed the first Sithspawn, Alex knew that they had a fighting chance. "Just keep moving, if they surround us, we're done for!"

[member="Zye Woden"]
[member="Nine Lives"]
[member="Kurenai Yumi"]
[member="Sawa Ike"]
[member="Felicity Skye"]

 

[Zye Woden]

[member="Alex StormWolf"] [member="Felicity Skye"] [member="Sawa Ike"] [member="Nine Lives"] [member="Kurenai Yumi"]

Zye could feel the sharp tallons beginning to press into his flesh, tearing through the clothing and attempting to rip into his ribcage to pluck his heart out. To make matters worse, with the tight grasp the Sithspawn held on his throat, he couldn't breath. Zye was completely bound, unable to reach his blade at his side as he was carried higher each second. That didn't make him afraid, that made Zye furious.

He summoned the rage, manifeting it in a cackle of shimmering blue energy that tore through the Sithspawn. It screaming in aggony, but the electric current carried through to Zye as well. He tasted metal in his mouth as the beast was fried to death, and the hems of his clothing were charred. If he had been any less hearty, the Vampire would have died there. He fell with the dead beast, plummeting to the ground with a hard crash. He stiffled a groan.

Pushing through the pain, Zye rose to his feet panting. They killed the Spawn around them. Good.

"I've... never... seen ... an attack--this coordinated," he managed. The vampire rubbed his neck, "I was gone for too long. They've multipled like never before."

A flicker of deep resentment ran through Zye's soul, radiating out in the Force. Those responsible for that would pay dearly. "We need to regroup with the other two, I sense they are in grave danger. And, we need to find the girl."

The answer to her location was still a mystery. He may have been gone a while, but Zye still knew this area like the back of his hand. He pointed up the hill, "In that direction lies a farm house. Felicty, come with me, we will ask the residents if they have seen anyone there. Yumi, Ike, return to the others, give them back up. Trust nothing you see."

He didn't wait for a response. The hunter turned on his heel and began marching up the hill. The rage he felt burned in every step as his boots planted on the ground. The house on the hill had clearly seen better days, but Zye was not prepared for what he saw when he approached it. The doors were bashed in, across the threshold was a splay of blood, with a trail leading inward as if a body had been dragged inside. There was absolute silence. Zye's fists balled.

"I knew the tennants that farmed here," he growled. Something in him snapped, "Now its personal."

He drew his blade, moving up the steps with a burning vengance. Inside the main living room a circle was drawn in blood, with strange runes written in the blood along its outer circle. In the center was a male corpse with its chest split open and the heart torn out. His entrails lay splayed across the wooden floor. His mouth was open, with an agast expression of pain forever locked on it. But the trail of blood lead past him, into the next room. From there, Zye could hear four voices chanting. His lips curled downward in a scowl as he waved Felicity closer.

"Hear that?" he waited for her response. "Its Sith Sorcery. It sounds like four voices. They sound like they are corrupting a new spawn. We need to stop them before they finish it."

 

[Kurenai Yumi]

She was wanting to see how the others wear faring against their own opponent, but she knew more then anything else the Sith spawn would jump at the slightest chance. Just lowering her guard for a moment would mean a serious wound, perhaps not life threatening, but one that would be less then comfortable to have. Besides, if the Sith spawn made her falter it would just become harder to fight, Kurenai needed to be in tip top condition for this show down, no distractions, no space given for the dark beast to attack or escape.

Circling her opponent she could hear [member="Zye Woden"] express concern about the whole event, "strange indeed, perhaps with you gone these beats have become smarter", hopefully the other group was having more luck. "Their mistake though was trying to take us out, any other force user, perhaps, but already their plan has fallen apart", well as much a plan as any. She was unsure if the Sith Spawn where sentient, or just going off instinct. Something like a pack of wolf hunting down a meal, tactical in their ways, but not sentient.

Turning back to her opponent the Sith spawn leapt forward, Kurenai remaining still, putting her shadow spear up to block the side attack from the enemy. In that instant a second shadow spear shot from her hand, clasping the Sith spawns arm in place, Kurenai pulling it forwards, delivering a hefty knee to the beast face, her armored kneecap shattering the skull of the beast. As the Sith spawn stumbled back Kurenai quickly filled it's body with slugs, shooting out her clip in the matter of 2 seconds, taking out what she assumed to be the vital organs, the corpse soon falling to the ground.

With a finger snap the dead enemy caught alight, Kurenai turning back to [member="Sawa Ike"] as Woden hurried off, guess we have to re-grouop with the others Great Mother, I hope Ni Ne does not try to kill you. Herself hearing about the altercation on Alderan from Sukai, though Woden probably did not know about the whole past between the two, at the very least he could have asked before running off. Giving a small shake of the head, with how hectic everything had been Kurenai started to sprint towards the others, focusing on [member="Nine Lives"] signature, reloading her pistol along the way, wounds slowly healing up.