Duel Warlords of the Sith Boss Beatdown: Ashin Varanin

[Kai and Gerda]

Instead of heat and flames or some other energy explosion, the missile dislodged CryoBan. Alyosha half-smirked. Slightly mitigated by the rocks and distance between him and the blast, the cold didn't really bother him much, but the temperature did drop a few degrees.

He still wasn't all that tempted to join in. None of this was his problem. He was here to look at artifacts... but somehow he sensed that he had been misled. There was nothing really worthwhile to be found here, or else he would be able to feel it. All he sensed was a great middling emptiness, a field of mediocrity.

If that were the case, he needn't stick around. He'd be putting himself in needless, reckless danger over curios. Unless...

The old woman all of them seemed so eager to kill. Who was she? As Alyosha watched the missile-lobbing speeder bolt past the group, failing to intercept at least one of the Jedi, it seemed obvious that this wasn't merely another religious squabble. This was clearly, without a doubt, a bounty hunt. Alyosha had been a hunter before, though he hadn't caught anyone in a good long while. Maybe this was his chance, unfairly stacked as the odds were.

Setting up behind his rock cover, he lined up the scopes on the De Lifte Rifle he had been gifted by his master, aiming for the old woman, and fired. It might miss by virtue of the speeder's claw catching her before the slug could meet its mark, but then it might strike true.

Cyran Vaas Kuxirra Tano-Bonteri Aaran Tafo Cassus Akovin Mathieu Brion Ashin Cardé Varanin​

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

All while his hands began to glow brightly, like superheated metal instead of flesh. There was the added benefit of protecting him from the extreme cold. But it was hardly as effcient as Tapas in terms of usage.

"And you're spry for an old lady."

His gaze did not shift from Ashin. But his tone was then directed to the two Jedi with him. "Get the interloopers to stand down or fight with us." He was under no illusions of his ability to deal with this threat alone. But he could not fight two battles of such intensity at once. He would simply trust that the Padawans present were up to the task of dealing with anything that might interfere with the ongoing battle.

And with his command given, he rushed in again. Not allowing her to have the chance to set up anything more fanciful. Simply looking to pummel her into submission with a flurry of furious blows. Hoping that both heat and kinetic energy would be enough to overwhelm her impressive barrier and allow him to score a solid hit.

Ashin still held the sword Jenataral: she blocked the Jedi Knight's flaming fists with the sword, not particularly caring if she used the flat or the edge to stop his hands. The alchemical sword wove a fluid, efficient defense in classical Shii-Cho, the style she'd used almost exclusively for fifty years.

...the blades on the ends of his fingers extended and then left the Gauntlet entirely, hovering in the air a meter, two meters, three meters away from him and keeping pace with his Swoop Bike as he fast approached what he now recognized to be his target. The tracking beacon was getting very fast now in its rhythm. He'd turn it off at this point, but he was a bit busy simultaneously driving the bike and preparing to hit his target.

Eventually, the boy would pass through the group about 3-4 meters away at a very very high speed. The intention being, he could hit his target (or whoever is unfortunate enough to be caught in the way) and carry them along using the claws as anchor points for his Gauntlet's Manipulation Projectors to concentrate on. Then, he was hoping the stasis fields would reduce their movements long enough for him to bring the Swoop to a controlled stop away from the other interlopers and capture them wherever he ended up.

Ashin's focus rested almost wholly on Aaran Tafo's flaming pugilistics, of necessity. She'd expected the oncoming swoop rider to try a gunshot or a missile or some such. The Force whispered a much quieter warning than normal, a few moments later than anticipated. Then terentatek-and-cortosis claws punched into her last-second Force shield and the body underneath, all down her right side. The claws ripped her off her feet-

Setting up behind his rock cover, he lined up the scopes on the De Lifte Rifle he had been gifted by his master, aiming for the old woman, and fired. It might miss by virtue of the speeder's claw catching her before the slug could meet its mark, but then it might strike true.

-half a heartbeat before a sniper shot with no particular malice behind it, always a great way to beat Forcer danger-sense, thunked into her right shoulder.

The claws dragged her along; past the pain, she felt a stasis field trying to freeze her in a different way than the Cryo-Ban induced cold. The Force exploded out from her but couldn't get much traction on the terentatek claws. Dropping her sword and blaster, she began yanking them out manually with her red-gloved droid hand, or trying to at least. With her living hand she conjured all her pain into lightning, a broad array of it that sizzled across the beach. By long experience and specialized training she tuned the amperage high, in the range that would cause burns and a heart attack but not death. Ashin's goal was twofold: to short-circuit some technology, and to buy time by driving the nearest combatants away. There was a Sith healing spell she knew, painful but highly effective. Based on the blood slicking her clothes from the bounty hunter's remote claws, if she wanted to have any chance of winning the day, she'd need to use that spell.

For the moment, the lightning storm threatened Aaran Tafo , Cassus Akovin and his bike, Kuxirra Tano-Bonteri , and Mathieu Brion . Alyosha Drutin and Cyran Vaas were too far away to get hit, but they'd see it just fine.

​

 

[Cyran Vaas]

Holy Moly...

They were really lighting it up on the target like it was 4th of Helona. Perhaps it was a bad idea after all taking on this bounty with all the people around. But than again, they didn't seemed to bounty hunters like him. At least he'd deduced that earlier and as the fight only got more violent as he rapidly closed the distance it felt like it was becoming more and more clear that someone of these folks seemed out for blood.

Now that was going to a problem, they were roughing her up pretty bad and thus roughing up his money! Flying down with his jet pack he maneuver himself for something of a surprise power attack with his force pike. However, seemingly out of nowhere, his target was yanked by the guy who shot the missile prior. Seeming like they practically harpooned her. "Nuts..."

As his target was seemingly dragged away he watched as electrical arcs shot out from them everywhere it seemed. Eventually now Cyran landed on the correct side of the lagoon still out of harms way a little. What a total mess this has been for him. He was sure that those electric arcs would wreck havoc on the speeder dragging her so they couldn't get far. But what about the others?

Looking over at a trio of folks getting electrocuted close by he frowned some under his helmet. "No point in getting upset over the ignorant I suppose." He shrugged, not realizing that it was rather quite ironic that he was saying that to himself since he didn't really know much in how deep Force Rivalries go.

From behind, on his belt he pulled out a little special something. He was planning to save it for himself if things got a little too dicey. But...

Looking out over the folks getting zapped he shook his head, hoping he wouldn't regret this down the line. Activating a bacta grenade with the push of a button he lobbed it at the trio ( Mathieu Brion , Kuxirra Tano-Bonteri , Aaran Tafo ) hoping to give them a little pic me up so they don't get too worse for ware from this whole situation. Good thing he's been getting in good with the Death Watch for providing him that nice tool.

Bracing himself Cyran began dashing on foot after the speeder, with the sparks flying out of his target he didn't expect the speeder to take them too far. He just hoped that his "kindness" would be rewarded from the trio by them not getting in his way with their own "selfish" desires to keep him from getting a fat paycheck...

Cassus Akovin | Alyosha Drutin

 

[Cassus Akovin]

Exhilaration filled Cassus as his ploy worked, grappling the woman and dragging her along. Her struggle was evident, but he was thankful for his mother's engineering as his target's movements appeared sluggish and muted. Slowing his vehicle down many meters away from the rest of the combatants, Cassus was suddenly surprised as a wave of lightning coalesced around him and his vehicle. Cassus groaned in pain, but his armor was able to hold up to most of it, and his Gauntlet did the job of absorbing much of the attack on his person through its Ultrachrome top layer, making it glow with heat rather quickly. The sound of his vehicle also groaned suddenly followed by a popping sound.

A stabilizer went down! He thought, almost as soon as the vehicle began to veer uncontrollably to one side, and that's when he realized he couldn't lift his foot up as the metal underneath began to depress beneath the increasing density of his boot. Cassus fought against the electrical impulses telling his foot to curl (activating the density projection initially before disrupting its electrical components to stay stuck) and pointed his feet fully downward to activate the emergency eject from the DIG Boots.

The moment it took place couldn't have been any later, as by the time his feet were released he was able to activate his still functional Repulsor Pack and fly through the air before his Swoop Bike bisected itself against a rock formation, followed by a powerful explosion. Cassus activated his Molecular Shielding just as shrapnel from the crash was sent across the field like ballistic projectiles.

Separated now from his target, the heat on his gauntlet began to disperse and he remarked on the impressive electronic hardening both his armor and gauntlet provided, while lamenting his boots far inferior protective measures to electrical interference. Undisturbed by his very nearly fatal experience for little reason other than adrenaline, the Bounty Hunter accelerated his flight back towards Ashin Cardé Varanin . He needed to re-engage if he had any hope of locking her down. The claws were nowhere to be found, presumably destroyed in the electrical storm, and Cassus wasn't about to interrupt his mission to find them. That didn't mean he had no means of utilizing the Gauntlet however, its projectors still good enough to get the job done.

The closer he approached, he tried once again to target her with the Gauntlet's Manipulation Projectors, hoping to slow her down enough to land a solid blow.

Spoiler: Comprehensive Equipment List

TL;DR:

Head: Helmet (Aesthetic Choice/Generic/no description)​

Body: Akovin Retirement Suit​

Back: Repulsor Pack (generic/canon model) (In Use)​

Right Arm: Phantom Gauntlet (In Use) with Phantom Claws​

Left Arm: Carbonite Whipcord Launcher​

Belt: ALE Field Generator, and Relentless Blade​

Legs: DIG Boots​

​

Left behind: IC-PDS "The Mother Relentless" Missile Launcher (CryoBan payload, single use expended)​

Swoop Bike: Toasted​

​

Lots of this is going to break on its own due to Cassus' weakness

Ashin Cardé Varanin Aaran Tafo , Kuxirra Tano-Bonteri , Cyran Vaas , Alyosha Drutin, Milla Caranthyr, Mathieu Brion

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

A grip took hold on Ashin - nothing of the Force, but tenacious and strong. And it wasn't just some kind of tensor field either. Everything around her was moving quickly, so quickly. This was stasis, time dilation.

A little too late, a spark of real apprehension took hold. And a heartbeat after that, moving several (relative) times faster than it should have been able to, Cassus Akovin's gauntleted fist cracked Ashin's ribs.

The sword went flying - she couldn't have held it anyway, not with her right arm. The impact lifted her darkside-emaciated body off the beach. Fury spiralled through her, but the violence took place in an accelerated frame of reference: the stasis still had a grip on her.

Gorram it all to FETH, not so soon-

Her body exploded in a lightning-storm that scorched the bright coral and sizzled in the frosty tidepools. By strength and experience she went entirely elsewhere. She'd meant to replace this body in her own time, in her own way. Now she faced a certain amount of urgency - and risk, always risk. Essence transfer, even the real kind, was never guaranteed.

There was pain, too, but the pain vanished when the dark side annihilated her.

​

LOOT DROP:

• Jentaral, Ashin's personal Sith sword, 36 inches
• A scorched, dog-eared, marked-up copy of Let the Worthy Prevail: Breaking the Lock of Egalitarian Power, by Velok the Younger
• An elegant and extraordinarily durable red left-handed glove
• An old, well-loved HeklerKok Special Edition Blaster Mark I

Cassus Akovin Aaran Tafo Kuxirra Tano-Bonteri Cyran Vaas Alyosha Drutin Mathieu Brion

 

[Kai and Gerda]

If Alyosha had seemed overly cautious while Ashin Cardé Varanin was alive, this utterly disappeared after the old woman vanished in a cloud of Dark Side energy. The others, disoriented by all that had occurred, would now see a man dashing out from behind the rocks, barreling toward that sweet, sweet loot drop. He seized the book first, then made a grab for the sword, expecting competition from the others for the items. If not, he was taking the sword and getting the hell out of there, his lack of participation be damned. Finders keepers.

Mathieu Brion Aaran Tafo Cassus Akovin Cyran Vaas Kuxirra Tano-Bonteri

 

[Mathieu Brion]

Boss Beatdown​

Still having felt the devastating effects of the cryoban residue, Mathieu had been hard pressed to also defend against the lightning attack which the woman had sent out at him and those nearby. Naturally, his raised blade did much to protect against the currents but in his weakened state, it could only do so much until he was blasted away. Things happened quickly after that as a number of attacks were launched while the Padawan focused on getting back up to his feet.

Getting back up, however, didn't do much good when another lightning storm erupted. Mathieu was farther away this time but the blast pushed him back down nonetheless. An unknown figure rushed forth to the remains of the woman but for now, he seemed to be of little importance. As soon as he found his footing again, the Padawan quickly made his way to Aaran and Kuxirra to see to it that they were alright with the hopes of leaving as soon as possible.

Ashin Cardé Varanin Alyosha Drutin Kuxirra Tano-Bonteri Aaran Tafo Cyran Vaas Cassus Akovin

 

[Cassus Akovin]

With absurd tunnel vision, Cassus barreled in from on high and managed to collide his gauntleted fist like a meteor into his adversary. A combination of natural velocity and technological relativity made for a surprisingly explosive outcome.

An outcome he hadn't come prepared for.

Cassus metaphorically brought everything but the kitchen sink for the unavoidable eventuality of facing a Sith Lord with a reputation, one his mother only narrowly defeated in the constraints of an organized tournament which accepted victory through submission. He knew his life was on the line... but he failed to take into consideration what might happen if his quarry died in the process. It wasn't even a variable in the equation. He'd either capture her alive, escape with his life, or die trying.

So when she exploded into a lightning storm, he didn't take it to be the end, but the beginning. Lightning licked up his gauntlet, heating its exterior ultrachrome uniformly across its Turadium frame. He could feel burns forming in some places across his body as what couldn't be absorbed by the gauntlet warped around it and into his exotic fabrics past the molecular shielding with ease. His suits internal equipment seemed to remain mostly intact, well guarded against interference, but even they seemed to go on the fritz as he tried to produce distance from the epicenter, but found his Repulsorpack inoperable. Shielding his face from the blinding burst of negative energy, he watched as the Ultrachrome began to slip off all at once like water, dripping molten puddles in front him and revealing the Turadium skeleton of the Gauntlet beneath.

When it finally ended, his eyes scanned frantically across the field.

"What?" He breathed, not understanding where she could have gone. His helmets vision cycled (sluggishly) through various spectrums to try to detect some sense of invisibility, but noticing nothing but an assortment of items on the ground he first assumed to be some bits of carnage from the battle. Then, he noticed it. His Tracking FOBB was silent. Completely silent. Disintegrated? That was impossible, he only hit her!

Just as he contemplated what sort of force-karkery this was, a figure sped along towards Ashin Cardé Varanin 's previous position. The figure grabbed a book, and hesitated a moment as they reached for his former adversaries sword. Enraged, Cassus outstretched his left arm and launched a specialized whipcord at the individual (Alyosha Drutin). It was self-adhering and produced an ion channel that allowed a stream of rapidly expanding carbonite to build around a target hit with this quintessential bounty hunter weapon.

"I am not leaving empty handed!" The boy roared, infuriated that his only potential lead on what was happening with his mother, literally went up in a puff of smoke...

Spoiler: Comprehensive Equipment List

TL;DR:
Head: Helmet (Aesthetic Choice/Generic/no description)
Body: Akovin Retirement Suit (scorched)
Back: Repulsor Pack (generic/canon model)
Right Arm: Phantom Gauntlet (damaged, missing Ultrachrome, less resistance to lightsabers/blasters/energy) with Phantom Claws
Left Arm: Carbonite Whipcord Launcher (In Use)
Belt: ALE Field Generator, and Relentless Blade
Legs: DIG Boots

Left behind: IC-PDS "The Mother Relentless" Missile Launcher (CryoBan payload, single use expended)
Swoop Bike: Toasted

Lots of this is going to break on its own due to Cassus' weakness

Alyosha Drutin, Mathieu Brion , Kuxirra Tano-Bonteri , Aaran Tafo , Cyran Vaas

 

[Kai and Gerda]

Alyosha's hand had closed around the handle of the sword when suddenly Cassus Akovin shrieked that he wasn't leaving empty-handed and launched a stream of rapidly expanding... what?

... carbonite at Alyosha via a whipcord. The stuff hit Alyosha's middle, the metal alloy forming like rope (I guess? Cassus, do you even have a sub for this gunk?) around his waist and pinning his arms to his sides. His legs, however, were still free and operational, and he was clutching what appeared to be a very sharp sword. Glancing down at the carbonite, then at the teenager-y sounding bounty hunter who had put him in it, Alyosha promptly charged at Cassus, the blade of the sword pointed straight at the kid.

Mathieu Brion Aaran Tafo Kuxirra Tano-Bonteri Cyran Vaas

 

[Kuxirra Tano-Bonteri]

Kuxirra had already been weakened by the cold, and the lightning only made it worse, sending her flying. The Togruta nearly lost consciousness, but pulled herself to her feet after Ashin Cardé Varanin disappeared. "I feel terrible..." the Padawan muttered

 

[Cassus Akovin]

Carbonite flowed from Cassus to Alyosha Drutin along the ion channel connected between them by the whipcord wrapped around the figure. Like creeping ice across a lake in the changing of seasons between autumn and winter, the carbonite flowed from the torso and continued to spread. In something like panic, the figure responded to his aggression by charging towards him with the clutched sword without the customary skill one wielding such a weapon aught to have in order to be threatening with it. A toddler with a knife in all but appearance, at least to his eyes, full of rage and contempt.

Taking steps backward to maintain distance, he outstretched his right gauntleted hand and attempted to lift the individual in the air with its manipulation projectors. As the figure approached however, he noticed with frustration that only sparks danced on his finger tips rather than power, the energy seemingly drained from the lightning storm only moments before.

"Damn!" He cursed as he tried to dodge the clumsy poker at the last moment but didn't quite manage to avoid it, feeling the impact into the phrik armorweaved shell spider silk of his scorched suit. That's going to bruise. He winced in pain, before lifting his Turadium gauntlet to dash it across the head of his new opponent.

He didn't imagine they had much else they could do to resist rapidly becoming encased in Carbonite and losing mobility in their weapon arm, but figured they'd be less frustrating unconscious. Wouldn't want them to pull anything unexpectedly tricky he couldn't anticipate. He had no idea who it was he was facing, or who the other Jedi were, but this one was after the trinkets left behind from his exploded quarry. To him, that lead him to believe this person must've known who the owner of this stuff was.

If they didn't... well, someone was likely to be interested in them. Hopefully.

Spoiler: Comprehensive Equipment List

TL;DR:
Head: Helmet (Aesthetic Choice/Generic/no description)
Body: Akovin Retirement Suit (scorched, scuff mark on the torso)
Back: Repulsor Pack (generic/canon model)
Right Arm: Phantom Gauntlet (projectors out of power and damaged, missing Ultrachrome, less resistance to lightsabers/blasters/energy) with Phantom Claws
Left Arm: Carbonite Whipcord Launcher (In Use)
Belt: ALE Field Generator, and Relentless Blade
Legs: DIG Boots

Left behind: IC-PDS "The Mother Relentless" Missile Launcher (CryoBan payload, single use expended)
Swoop Bike: Toasted

Lots of this is going to break on its own due to Cassus' weakness

Alyosha Drutin, Mathieu Brion , Kuxirra Tano-Bonteri , Aaran Tafo , Cyran Vaas

 

[Kai and Gerda]

Alyosha’s reward for charging the teeny-bopper in armor was a bruise, but no puncture wound. Feth. Then Cassus tried to bonk him on the head with his gauntlet. Alyosha stumbled backwards, narrowly escaping the impact.

“Feth off, rugrat!” he exclaimed.

He leaped at Cassus this time, aiming a Captain Kirk style drop kick straight at the little snot’s gut.

Cassus Akovin