Tournament - Cronos Aegir v.s. Daxton Bane

[Qhorin Solas]

@[member="Daxton Bane"]​

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-- Thikkiiana City; Level 1​

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The sun hung high in the sky like a great fist of orange fire, bright and vivid against the blue sky. Strong winds whipped through the woshyr trees and the leaves danced, fluttering along the branches like so many tiny, green wings. The bridge beneath my feet swayed dangerously as the wind blew through the canopy, and as I turned my eyes upon the rest of the great tree-city I noticed the myriad of other interconnecting bridges swaying as well. What had started out as a gentle push and pull all to soon grew to a tug and heave, and even the native Wookiees of Thikkiiana City seemed hesitant to travel between the trees.

Thikkiiana was the hub of computer technology on Kashyyk -- the Wookiees occupying the city were some of the brightest minds in the universe, and their computational systems were used by factions all across the galaxy. I had come to Thikkiiana on the trail of an Atrisian agent who'd defected from the Intelligence Bureau; he was, according to intel, a spy, implanted into the Atrisian government by a rival galactic faction. Which rival faction, however, was unknown. I was tasked with discovering the truth of the man's allegiances, and after extracting the necessary information, executing him.

It was as I searched for him, awareness spread through the massive boughs of the tree-city, that I noticed a strong presence at the edge of my senses, a presence most unlike the native Wookiee population. They were touched by nature, the Wookiee people, and their signatures in the Force represented that connection -- their auras were wild, as wild the jungles and swamps of the Shadowlands, but strangely gentle, despite their somewhat violent culture. The presence I sensed... it was a Force-adept.

And it was near.

 

[Daxton Bane]

The man had blubbered like an idiot, as he begged for his life. He had thought he was speaking with a Jedi Master, a lie which amused the Sith as pierced the man with a stern gaze with his powder blue eyes. For the galaxy, he was another human Jedi, aloft if a bit arrogant in his ways.

Handing the agent a travel ticket he said, "Here is your ticket off this world. It will take you directly to Corellia where I will meet up with you and take you the safe house. You will not speak with anyone until we get you there, is that understood? Grand Master Watts appreciates your patriotism and told me to assure you that your services would not be forgotten. Now go, I sense hounds on your trail. I will delay them until you escape."

As the man scurried away with the ticket close to his chest, Daxton could not help but smile. The ticket was infused with a contact poison of his own design. The agent would be dead before the vessel reached Corellia and the trail would only lead back to the Jedi. Nice and tidy just the way he liked things.

He turned to look in the direction of the city, as he sensed the presence of another Force user close by. More pawns for his game, taking his blue tinted saber from his belt but kept it unlit in his left palm, he muted his force signature to that of a mere Knight, as he patiently waited for the other to make their presence known.

Standing as still as a statue, in his purloined Jedi Robes, he looked like the very vision of a Jedi Knight. Another deception in his arsenal of guises to lull the unwary into making the wrong impression.

@[member="Cronos Aegir"]

 

[Qhorin Solas]

@[member="Daxton Bane"]​

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__________________________​

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My senses led me to the perimeter of Thikkiiana, to an oblong wooden dome built around one of the massive woshyr trees, strange oval pods hanging about the structure as if lanterns. I followed its rounded concourse to a bridge that descended to the sixth level of the Kashyyk forest, and came upon the presence I'd noticed standing before the bridge. The man -- a Jedi by his appearance -- was waiting for me, unmoving save for his robes, ruffling in the wind.

My eyes told me he was a Jedi, but I couldn't help but be suspicious, as my scan had revealed a bit more than a singular jedi.

The agent had been here recently -- I could still sense the lingering echoes of his presence, faint though they were. I couldn't believe he'd been a spy for Jedi... a Republican official, perhaps, but not a Jedi. Subterfuge was not their way. Then again, stranger things happened in the universe every day; perhaps this one was corrupt? Or, just as well, he could've been from some other faction of Force-adepts; according to intel, there were dozens of them. Idly, I wondered how I appeared to him: a lone human, clad in a black, high-collared, slim-fitting flight-suit, a silver lightsaber hanging freely from my belt.

"There was a man here," I began, drawing near, "mere moments ago. Where is he?" I came to a stop some five meters away, letting my doubts and suspicions fade away into the Force. It would show me the truth, in time.

It always did.

 

[Daxton Bane]

Shrugging his shoulders as it the answer did not matter to him, Daxton's 'human' face remained stoic as Jedi's would be in the same situation. "There was no man here, it was only you and I. The person you seek has left long ago. There is no need for suspicion, leave and follow him you must."

Reaching out to with the Force, he used a simple Jedi Mind Trick to cloud the young man's mind and impart a simple hypnotic suggestion.

As tempting as it was to strike like a viper, to do so would reveal his true nature and leanings, better yet to lull his prey into a false sense of security a little while longer.


@[member="Cronos Aegir"]

 

[Qhorin Solas]

@[member="Daxton Bane"]​

________________________​

"There was no man here, it was only you and I. The person you seek has left long ago. There is no need for suspicion, leave and follow him you must."​

​

He even sounded like a Jedi, despite the lie, but then I felt tendrils of power attempting to slither into my thoughts, and my suspicions resurfaced two-fold. He must've been quite confident to so blatantly attempt to subvert my will -- regardless, the attempt would not succeed. A barrier borne of the Force rose in my mind, maintaining the sanctity of my thoughts, fortified by sheer focus. Shielding myself from mental intrusion was well within the realm of my abilities.

"You're a liar," I stated plainly, eyes narrowed, mouth set in a thin line. "Why are you lying, 'Jedi'?" I called my lightsaber to my right hand, gripping the silver hilt tight. By order of the Inquisition, I should've long since attacked this man -- not only was he a Force-adept, but he was impeding my investigation. In fact, he might be the investigation; I didn't think it a coincidence that this Force-adept just so happened to be here, of all places, in the very same location my quarry had very recently been in. In fact --

I activated my lightsaber, watching him as the pale blue blade erupted from the hilt's top. The accompanying hum was almost loud in the quiet of the wooden structure.

 

[Daxton Bane]

"And I so hoped we could end this without any bloodshed." Daxton sighed as he lied between his lips. "If you are so eager to die, then you might as well tell me your name so that I will know what to put on the stone marker for your grave."

Waiting to hear the reply, he nodded and said, "Sebastian Watts, apprentice to Grandmaster Ben Watts of the Jedi Order. Yield and surrender, you stand no chance against me."

Holding his saber hilt, in an inverted cross brace to minimize his profile, the electric blue blade hissed to life as he waited for his opponent to make a move.

@[member="Cronos Aegir"]

 

[Qhorin Solas]

@[member="Daxton Bane"]​

______________________​

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"If you are so eager to die, then you might as well tell me your name so that I will know what to put on the stone marker for your grave."​

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"Marcus Terran," I supplied, using the name of my IIB cover identity. He lied readily; I would lie as well.

"Sebastian Watts, apprentice to Grandmaster Ben Watts of the Jedi Order," he replied by way of introduction. "Yield and surrender, you stand no chance against me."​

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I scoffed. Did he think me a fool? "You mean to continue your charade? I know you are not a Jedi." He had the right garbs and tone of voice, but he to easily mentioned death -- Jedi fought to incapacitate, seeking to kill only when no other avenue was available -- and I was 99% certain he had been the one meeting with the Atrisian agent.

'Sebastion' ignited his blade and turned to minimize his profile, saber brandished before him. Slowly, I made my way forward, feet parallel, heels raised, hips straight, shoulders relaxed, blade at middle-guard in a two-handed grip, the 145 cm beam angled towards his neck. With each measured step I sunk deeper into the Force -- felt it rushing through my veins like blood -- and halted a mere three meters from my foe, my saber positioned to intercept his should he attempt an attack.

"I find your arrogance disturbing."

 

[Daxton Bane]

Daxton laughed with amusement at the declaration, "How little you know of the Force, young one. This battle is already over before it has even begun."

As the young man approached cautiously, Daxton uncoiled tentacles of Force energy from his body and flanked them around and behind the man. Invisible to those without Dark Side Force Sight, the ropy muscular extra limbs lashed out suddenly without warning, seizing his opponents arms, legs, thighs and throat in a constricting grip, as he thrust his blade elegantly to sink into the shoulder joint of his opponents sword arm.



@[member="Cronos Aegir"]

 

[Qhorin Solas]

@[member="Daxton Bane"]​

_______________________​

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"How little you know of the Force, young one. This battle is already over before it has even begun."​

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!​

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I felt rather than saw the incoming danger, apparent as a sudden and undeniable urge to move. Not left, or right, or even back, but up -- already on the balls of my feet, I saturated my limbs with pure energy and leaped over 'Sebastion', lashing out with my saber to first bat his down and away as he thrust it at me, then cleave his head in two, flowing from counter-attack to attack like water running downhill. I landed in a crouch about three meters behind him, again holding my saber at middle-guard in a strong, two-handed grip, the blade inclined towards his neck.

My eyes flickered briefly to the ceiling, then to the floor, searching for any flaws in their structural integrity. I found only one -- a small, almost negligible array of spidery cracks in the stretch of floor to my right, nearer the center of the tree. I can use that.

I flashed forward, steps as light as air, and with a subtle twist of my wrist, loosed and upward diagonal swipe that rose from his hip to his shoulder. The Force gave me awareness beyond the natural senses, gave me clarity, and granted speed and power that I used in tightly controlled bursts, more in an attempt to conserve energy than anything else.

 

[Daxton Bane]

As deceptive as ever, Daxton allowed his initial thrust to be parried aside, but instead of bringing the blade back up to deflect the strike to his head, he did something completely unconventional. Thrusting forward with his free hand formed in a clenched fist, he punched the blade of his opponent.

The minute his cortosis gauntlet clad fist touched the naked blade it fizzled out, leaving opponent exposed and vulnerable. Opening his fist, fingers pointed outward, Daxton walloped his opponent with bolt of Force to the stomach before he could realize what just happened. The invisible bolt of Force struck with the speed of two rampaging horny Rancors hell bent on getting it on, the impact was powerful enough to break bones and cause major bruising.

Without pausing for a second, Daxton lashed out with more tentacles of Force to trip him off his feet, and punch him in the head, chest and groin.

@[member="Cronos Aegir"]

 

[Qhorin Solas]

@[member="Daxton Bane"]​

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_____________________​

Hurriedly, I pushed out with my own energy, releasing a burst of concussive force to counter his attack. In the split second I'd had to gather the energy I knew it wouldn't be enough -- he was simply to strong. The bolt of energy slammed into my stomach and I went flying, sliding over the edge of the domed structure. I snaked out a hand and latched on to a piece of wood, dangling precariously over a sheer five hundred meter drop -- possibly more, if I managed to miss the rather large interconnecting branches separating this level of the Kashyyk forest from the next. I grimaced against the pain emanating from my stomach; I could tell it would bruise soon, but I'd spared myself the full strength of his attack.

I had only a few seconds reprieve, if that. Maybe more, perhaps, if he suspected I'd fallen to my death. I had to be more careful with my bladework, or else falling to my death would be the least of my worries; I could survive a fall, even from this height -- being cut to ribbons or battered to a pulp, I could not survive.

My eyes again found the thin fault lines spreading out from the section of wood near where 'Sebastion' had been standing. I reached out, pulling the Force into myself to redirect it into those cracks, watching as they widened and thickened, spreading beyond their initial radius to encompass nearly a third of the concourse where we had been standing.

I yanked, and watched as the wood crumbled, though my satisfaction was short lived. I hadn't only destroyed the stretch of wood where 'Sebastion' was. My own position was compromised, and there was little I could do save to prepare for the landing.

 

[Daxton Bane]

@[member="Cronos Aegir"]

The wood began to creak in protest as the Force was applied to it, spotting the fractures form beneath him through Shatterpoint, Daxton retreated to the more stable base.

Unfortunately he wasn't fast enough as the railing beneath him buckled and collapsed plunging him to the ground hundreds of meters below. Summoning a grapple whip to his hand, he pointed to the nearest tree trunk and fired a restraining bolt.

The metal barbed arc buried itself deep into the wood, slowing his descent until he stopped in a bone jarring jerk at the end of his line. Swinging towards the trunk, he activated the metal climbing spikes at the bottom of his boots to get a firm footing before turning around and racing towards the cover of the foliage at the ground.

Deadly creatures and flora lurked on the surface of this world, mallable to his will and Dark Side of the Force. Time to get more reinforcements against his unsuspecting foe.

 

[Qhorin Solas]

@[member="Daxton Bane"]​

_____________________​

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I plummeted to the ground below at the speed of free fall. As I fell, I summoned more energy to myself, mind focused even as leaves and branches rushed by my head. When the forest floor was in sight, I released the pent up energy as a burst of concussive force to slow my descent. Dust and debris blew up from the ground beneath me as my free fall almost came to a complete stop a half-dozen meters above the earth.

I fell the rest of the way, landing in a crouch. Miraculously, I'd managed to hold on to my lightsaber, and brandished it even as my eyes searched the foliage for signs of my foe. I could not defeat him on my own -- if I meant to even survive, I would have to make extensive use of the Force, and pray that my efforts were enough.

I opened myself to the Force, to its shifting currents and rising tides, mind spread wide to navigate the treacherous forest. Sithspit. There were... things down here, creatures born of nightmare, twisted by the rigors of a harsh existence. I had no clue what sort of beings occupied this level of the Kashyyk forest; I only knew that it was referred to as the Notherworld by the Wookiees.

That didn't sound promising.

Mind open to the Force, I gripped my saber tight and waited for sign or a warning. In the woods beyond, something roared.

 

[Daxton Bane]

@[member="Cronos Aegir"]


Emerald green eyes glowed softly in the half shadow of the underbrush marked the presence of the Sith Lord. His blade shut off so as not to betray his position, as he placed his hand on the surface plant in front of him. Known as strangler vine, this creature was corrupted by Dark Side energies turning a normally docile plant into a creature hungry for blood. The thick vines were covered with thorns and could wrap themselves around their prey with amazing strength, even wookies were careful to avoid such growth when they could.

With a touch, Daxton overrode the simple sentience and took control, as he filled it with the essence of the Dark Side of the Force, allowing it to creep undetected through the brush towards his prey.

The fool had actually opened himself to the Light side, making him easy to spot, a sitting duck waiting to be plucked and stripped. Might as well put a siren on his head for all the good that would do him.

When the plant was well within striking distance, he relinquished his mental grip and allowed its natural predatory nature to take control. Then to distract the prey from the oncoming attack, Daxton uttered a bestial roar that echoed throughout the darkness of the undergrowth.

 

[Qhorin Solas]

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The Force would not abandon me to my foe's deception and misdirection -- mind open to its shifting currents, I was overcome with the urge to move, and side-stepped a thorny strangler vine as it lanced out to grab hold of my ankle. My saber flashed and I cut the vine in two, and I turned to follow its trail into the thick undergrowth.

This man -- he was a master of the Force, I realized. He showed expert skill in telekinesis, and if my instincts were true, he could manipulate plants as well. What other esoteric talents did he possess? I should've felt fear in the face of such an opponent, but I was instead overcome with a sort of burning excitement that left me shaking. Had I ever faced a foe that could bring about my death? I couldn't recall one; at least, no one so skilled as this man.

The feeling, the challenge -- it was exhilarating, and unbidden, a smile came to lips. Nothing could compare to the glories of combat. Nothing. On this day, I would learn the truth of who I was, win, lose or draw. I harnessed that desire to win, feeding it into my connection to the Force, strengthening the channels through which it flowed.

My smile tilted into a smirk, and a dark shadow ghosted across my eyes. The 'world' dulled to varying shades of grey, black and white interspersed as to be one color.

"Tell me your true name, False Jedi. I would know it, before our battle begins anew."

@[member="Daxton Bane"]​

 

[Daxton Bane]

@[member="Cronos Aegir"]


"When will you realize that names are mere labels to try and quantify what cannot be understood?" The voice seemed to echo into the deep wetness of the jungle. Then abruptly, green light blazed through the Force a mere ten feet away, the silver mask hiding the face of the master as a pair of lightsabers hissed to life, one electric blue, the other emerald green in the Sith's hands. Then unexpectedly, a third blade hissed to life, blazing crimson red, intersecting where the blades crossed.

Sparks flew where the energy beams crossed, as the Sith explained. "Too bad we will never know if you would be worthy to know on whose blade will carve your flesh into little pieces."

With that he launched a blazing series of Vaapad based attacks, a wild flurry of blades coming from all directions at once.

 

[Qhorin Solas]

The lights of no less than three lightsabers -- one green, one red, and one blue -- alerted me to his presence, even as his voice reverberated through the trees, echoing from trunk to trunk. Two sabers he wielded by hand; the other, by the Force. My exhilaration spiked and my focus narrowed to follow the internal canals of my own musculature, enhancing, vitalizing, readying me for the clash to come.

"Too bad we will never know if you would be worthy to know on whose blade will carve your flesh into little pieces."​

​

Hn. So be it.

He moved, and the currents of the Force shifted accordingly, the streams and rivers too rapid, too malleable to interpret. I hadn't the time to think, only react, and react I did. His speed was great -- considerably so -- but not overwhelming. His blows were powerful, and if I be fool enough to attempt to merely block them, he'd have broken straight through my defenses. Delicate one-handed parries, too, were out of the question, for I was not skilled enough in their usage to employ them. In this regard, my trained responses -- my instincts -- proved invaluable.

I couldn't hope to match and repel the force of his every swing, not with equal and opposite energy; it would call for too much effort. Instead, I met linear strikes with lateral retaliation, and vice versa, allowing for minimum effort to divert his debilitating swings. An overhead swipe carried considerable downward force and momentum, but could be easily knocked aside by a horizontal counter not even half as strong -- it was a matter of physics, and applied not only to blades of steel, but lightsabers as well. With all that power focused downward or upward, there was nothing to save it from being pushed sideways. Still, I was hard pressed to keep up with three blades, despite the added power born of my passion for battle, batting the arcing beams of death from left to right and up to down, always away from my person, giving more and more ground as he advanced. His sabers seemed less as beams and more as spheres, they moved about so fast, and when I couldn't safely employ a re-directive maneuver, I was forced to dodge, wasting more precious energy.

If bladework wouldn't win me this battle, then what would? I posed my question to the Force and waited with baited breath for an answer.

Thundering hooves rumbled against the earth like booming claps of thunder. A herd of massive, three horned beasts pushed through the undergrowth, their minds alight with panic. Frightened to harrowing heights, they cut a swath through the trees straight toward us, bellowing loudly, their breath as putrid as their rear ends. Banthas, my mind supplied. Kashyyk Banthas. I danced away from the incoming horde, even as the battle raged on, possibilities beginning and ending before my very eyes. I knew he had a weakness: I needed only last long enough to find it and remain in good enough health to act on it.

Only then did I wonder just what the Banthas were fleeing from.

_______________​

@[member="Daxton Bane"]​

 

[Daxton Bane]

@[member="Cronos Aegir"]

Where his opponent danced away from the running beasts, Daxton stood his ground. A large one slammed right into the Sith Lord, only his blades prevented him from being gored as they sliced through flesh and bone before the danger registered in the mind of the frenzied beast.

"Where are you going, my sweet pea?" Daxton taunted his foe as he cleaved the smoking halves of meat apart, blood splattering all over him. "The fun has just begun. Let me show you what a Jedi is truly capable of."

Without warning he threw all three lightsabers at his foe, using his mastery of telekinesis to guide the blades through the air, stabbing and striking from all angles, making it virtually impossible to block with a single blade.

Laughing manically, Daxton was so focused on his target that he failed to register the arrival of an even bigger threat to the area.

 

[Qhorin Solas]

"Where are you going, my sweet pea? The fun has just begun. Let me show you what a Jedi is truly capable of."​

​

Why did he still insist on maintaining his charade as a jedi? If he was a jedi, he was the most corrupt jedi I'd ever seen. Drawing on the power of the dark side left me privy to its many flickering shadows, and they were drawn to him, the shadows, drawn to his inner darkness, like moths to a flame. A literal miasma of ill-intent grew and pulsated with the waxing strength of my emotions, the swirling dark lines broken only by the merest slivers of silver light.

All of a sudden the false jedi launched his sabers at me, guiding their trajectory in the Force. Free of the limits of his physical form, he was able to truly engage in Vaapaad, whipping his blades to and fro as dozens of sharp, piercing tentacles, with no discernable rhyme or rhythm to the attack sequences. I couldn't block all of them, and fell into evasive maneuvering, backpedaling and side stepping away from the ever reaching blades, batting them aside when space allowed. The lightsabers moved as one unpredictable entity, and I relied more and more on my instincts to keep my alive, until I forgot all sense of self.

There was only the blade in my hand, the ground beneath my feet, and the enemy lightsabers arcing through the air. I made to concede space once more, and as the sabers swarmed to attack, I put on a burst of speed to sprint between the flanking blades, wincing as the superheated beams arced over my head, cutting through thin wisps of blond hair. I meant to outpace his sabers and attack him whilst he was 'defenseless', cognitive now of his specialized gauntlets. Before I could clear the few meters that separated us, however, I finally learned what had frightened the banthas.

​

It was a nightdweller, easily as large as the banthas, with fangs and claws appropriate for a creature over two and a half meters tall. Its slick, black coating shined like oil, and its jagged fangs were as long as my torso. It spotted us almost immediately, and lowered its head to take a bite out of us both, unconcerned by our lightsabers. For the briefest of moments I touched its mind before quickly pulling out of the maelstrom revealed to me. It knew the threat of lightsabers, yet it did not fear them. Its mind was sharp and fortified -- if I didn't know better, I'd say it was sentient...

But nightdwellers weren't sentient, were they? I didn't truly have time to ponder the question, moving swiftly to leave Daxton between the beast and myself. Any reprieve I could get was worth the effort -- my instincts could only guide me so far. I needed a plan.

______________________​

@[member="Daxton Bane"]​

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((OOC: I couldn't find any pictures of an actual nightdweller, so I used Thanator from Avatar to serve as a visual.))​

 

[Daxton Bane]

@[member="Cronos Aegir"]

Daxton moved in rhythm with his prey, not allowing him a moments reprieve from his blades as well as the threat from the creature. Waving his hands ever so slightly, like a malicious puppeter he guided his sabers to stab and thrust, not killing blows but rather vicious cuts that opened wounds and seared limbs. Like a vicious Dxunian Predator Cat, he toyed with his prey, weakening him before the final cut.

It would be foolish to think that he was exposed without his blades, as many a foe had learned to their regret in the past. It was only regrettable that he wasn't able to set the playground up with more traps as he had in the past. His most delicious victories had cost many an enemy their limbs or their lives from underestimating him.