Byss

[Skyshatter]

Beneath the surface laid a world even more alien than its surface, devoid of life even amongst its reefs as Lok stared into the abyss that it was. Barely able to see Leena before him through the murk and mystery, Lok reached forth into the Force that swirled aimlessly, calling forth its will to calm his fear and aid his control as he fought both against the element he found himself in and his inability to breath. Feeling a warm embrace from the Force as it covered his body and his lungs relax against their natural urges as the pressure of the sea pressed against his form, Lok struggled against the crashing currents as he attempted to keep up with the Mon Cal in the lead.

 

The roll of the crashing tides and the pull of the sea pulled at his Force enveloped form, threatening to both throw him from the sea's depth and sweep him out to a watery grave, an eminent threat on both occasions for someone who only learnt how to swim after becoming a Jedi. But with the aid of the Force that wandered aimlessly around them and a little luck, Lok persevered, guiding himself as he tugged upon the stone and foliage that made up the ocean's floor as his form swept back and forth. 

 

When he surfaced with the cliff facing, wiping the salty water from his face and eyes, he turned to Leena's serene stare. "The darkness of this world is deep and ancient. It roots itself in its very nature, even as the sea calls to end one's life." Lok spoke to her as he adjusted his eyes to the dimness of the crevasse and looked around the outermost interior. "And it feels strongest here. We will need to be careful and to tread as lightly as possible. If those things from last night appear, they will have the advantage and our foothold will be limited."

 

With that, Lok turned his gaze toward the entrance and awaited the others, his Saber still in hand and unactivated. He didn't like the nervousness he felt, and it seemed to only get stronger once they arrived here.

[TerrorBot]

Ruin’s walk through the waters was uneventful for the most part. A hunk of metal trudging along through black water, churning dark mud with each step. Where some droid’s glowing sensors would have alerted others where he was at, his black eye sockets instead hid him in the darkness. 

 

The only sign that Ruin was there was his constant talking to no one in particular.

 

“Walkings and trudgings. Beatings and bashings? Eh, Crushings and crashing…” Ruin shrugged at his own comments, as if this conversation was not one sided. “...swimmings and swattings. No swimmings. No swattings. Grrr, rather runnings and…

 

Ruin stopped. As the others exited the water onto the cliff facing, so too did Ruin, albeit with more climbing then anything. First Fera was tossed up onto the dry area, who emerged from her ball and shook off her spherical parts. 

 

“That was unpleasant” Fera commented as Ruin climbed up next to her, dripping with black water. 

 

“Grrr, swimmings and swearings!” Ruin declared as he pulled his flachette launcher out. A quick inspection revealed it was still in working order. Looking at the crevasse, Ruin seemed to laugh briefly. 

 

“Explorings and explodings? Killings and cuttings. Kill the Sith, hehe” 

[Zeris Mons]

I did my best to keep watch as I moved through the water, but it became clear pretty fast that I wasn't going to see anything until it got close. That should have made me nervous, but I was a bit comforted by the fact that while I, as an arkanian offshoot, wasn't built for water, the Jedi was. And she had gone first.

 

I made it through without getting devoured by a fish monster that I'm sure lived on this planet, and reach the cleft in the cliff face. As I surfaced, I spotted the others, and shook out what I could of my coat, which now sat heavy and soaked on my shoulders.

 

Huh...probably should have taken that off...

 

I dismissed the thought from my mind.

 

"Onward?"

[Leena Kil]

Leena nodded slowly in agreement with Lok’s assessment. The darkness was strong here. It seemed to beckon them with a subtle temptation of it’s peaceful embrace. “Whatever is here is dangerous. I am glad to have each of you with me. This place, I feel like I have seen it in my visions. It’s inky web of tempestuous lies. Whatever reached across the cosmos, I can feel it now, even awake. Let us be cautious.” And it was true. The visions that had only plagued her in her fitful bouts of sleep seemed to press in on fringes of her mind, the edges of her actual vision lime shadowy wraiths. When she would try to focus on them, they were gone. Somehow, Leena felt them lurking yet. This was more than the strange beasts.
 

Stepping up beside the hulking war hunter droid, Leena placed her hand on his cool iron shoulder. “I can feel the Sith presence,” she whispered loudly. “My friend, can you lead the way? Lets see what is down here.”

 

Stepping up to the maw of the cave Leena ran her hand along the clearly manmade addition of the trenched torches, feeling the sticky flammable tar. Leena looked back at Zeris. “Would you like to light the torches friend? Even if the force can show us what is there, I wonder if it would be better to see as well.”

 

The cracked surface revealed a destroyed blast door lying crumpled just within the shadows. It was as if it had been smashed inwards, torn from hinges long worn away from the cliff face.  
 

The waist deep waters rippled as the group moved into the cavern single file. Walking two abreast even would be tight with shoulder scraping the deftly hewn stone. One hundred and sixty or so feet inward the cavern opened upwards and outwards the flickering flames reaching upwards into a yawning cavern, the inky darkness swallowing the dim flickering lights. The room was large enough that the lights that arced three quarters of the way around the curved outer edges of the room barely illuminated the center.

 

Along the walls were dozens upon dozens of statues, different Sith lords of yore, some known, some forgotten to the ravages of time, stood in various states. Some were pristine, protected by unknown dark side magics, others worn, cracked or collapsed. Even raised as they were, their feet and lower legs were covered by the still eerie black waters that seemed to have flooded the place. The statues seemed to almost writhe and dance in the flickering shadows and flames.
 

The floors, once large stone blocks were worn and slick with an unknown slimy film, algae and goo. Leena was careful as she silently followed behind Ruin. She clung to the flickering light of the force that she carried within her soul. She stoked it, using it to radiate a faint glow from her eyes, focused wherever she looked.

 

Inside this cavern, the torches extinguished into inky black about 3/4 of the way around, leaving a black inky maw at the back of the room. This was  lost, however, by the large tendrilled willowy tree that seemed to grow atop a raised stoney dias in the middle of the room’s shadows. It was black in the shadowy flames, hanging heavily with large dark yellow fruits weighing it down. It’s roots were massive, engorged growths that clung to the stone and reached down into the water and out along the floor into the room. The too of the tree reached high into the blackness above. 

Leena gasped at the sight of the tree. “Its massive!” Standing in the entrance, Leena could feel the long dried blood, the stolen life force of the countless blood spilled on the cracked and collapsed pagan altar crushed beneath the huge tree.

 

As she felt the darkness, it was as if the dancing statues became even more lifelike, the spirits of the long gone Sith of yore pressing in, lending an undead energy to the room. And yet, nothing moved but the flickering fire and the rippled water where our heroes stood.

 

Through the heavy stillness the force seemed to lie stagnant even as it swirled unmovingly, something else was there. A sentience that seemed as foreign and alien as the planet itself, but distinct, hung in the air. To those who could sense it, it was completely foreign. Nothing about it seemed the same as another sentient being; yet sentient it surely was. It hungered.

 

Nothing else moved. Only the life-sized statutes and the tree atop the raised dias and crushed altar rose from waters.

 

Leena inhaled. “This is the place.” She said with surety. “Isn’t it?” She asked aloud.

[Zeris Mons]

This place...itched. That was the only way I could think to describe it. It ran its scrabbly little fingers up and down your skin and left you prickling and covered in goosebumps. It was like the moment you saw something running at you from a dark alley, knowing full well it was going to kill you, but that moment was stretched into infinity. I shuddered, feeling genuinely fearful. I'd accepted that I was probably not going to live to a ripe old age years ago. Bouncing little baby bounty hunters on metal knees wasn't exactly something I could see happening. But I truly didn't want to die down here.

 

I mean, I don't want to die as a general rule but...

 

Fortunately the Jedi jolted me from my unproductive train of thought.

 

On 2/2/2022 at 5:51 AM, Leena Kil said:

Stepping up to the maw of the cave Leena ran her hand along the clearly manmade addition of the trenched torches, feeling the sticky flammable tar. Leena looked back at Zeris. “Would you like to light the torches friend? Even if the force can show us what is there, I wonder if it would be better to see as well.”

 

I nodded, and pulled out my lighter. Waterproof obviously, since I would murder someone if it broke every time I got caught in the rain or shoved into the ocean. Since I was going to be lighting something up anyway, I drew out a cigarra to calm my nerves, but then thought better of it. If there was something down here, no sense giving them the advantage of smelling us coming. Instead, I flicked the lighter, and dipped the flame into the tar on my left side. The black goo sputtered and sparked, probably fighting off years worth accumulation of damp, but eventually won out and roared to life, the flames running down the passage and painting the walls in a sickly orange. I drew my hand out of the flames and lit the other trench as well, before pocketing the lighter again.

 

I followed the Jedi in.

 

When we reached the massive chamber, I studied the different statues. No repeats, I mused. Lot of history here then. And a lot of work done to preserve it. Judging by the robes, these were Force-users, and judging by the context I assumed they weren't Jedi.

 

Of course it was the tree that really dominated the setting. I'd seen wroshyr trees before, and they'd been bigger than this, but something about this specimen was awe inspring in an entirely different way. This thing felt bloated, like a pus-filled sore on the skin of the world, old and yellow with sickness.

 

On 2/2/2022 at 5:51 AM, Leena Kil said:

Leena inhaled. “This is the place.” She said with surety. “Isn’t it?” She asked aloud.

 

"Boss...please say we can cut that thing down."

 

A bit wordy for me, but when you're passionate about something you put in the effort.

[Skyshatter]

There was a coldness in the air, and not just from the dampness of their clothing and armor, nor from the salty sea air that surrounded them. No. This coldness was unnatural. And it seeped into one's very fiber of being down to the bones and soul, causing the chill of it to ache one's center. Lok's gaze shifted about as he stood center amongst the gathering group as he peered upon carved stone and ancient machinations through the gleams of light that managed to penetrate the cliff's side and underbelly. And in his silence, he focused his serenity.

 

As the others spoke and made entrance, Lok quieted his mind and his soul, using his skills as a former Jedi and current Imperial Knight to call upon the remnants of light that found patronage amidst the darkened aura. Focusing on his breathing and silencing his emotions, he stepped forward into the abyss one foot in front of the other, standing as a beacon of light adrift the darkness. And as the light engulfed the ancient tar and rolled forth, illuminating their path, Lok caught glimpse and knowledge of what had been their calling.

 

A smirk adorned his face as the Ancient Sith Temple within the cliffside was revealed, his gaze briefly shifting to Ruin before focusing upon the innards of the cavern that blossomed before them. So it was a world of the Sith, ancient and unbridled. The unnatural darkness of the world now made more sense, as the world its self likely was driven into creation by the darkness. Stepping aside the group, Lok ignited his silver blade and further illuminated the statues, some he recognized from Jedi Lore while others remained unknown and lost to time. And then there was the tree in the center of the room, the humming his blade reverberating as it changed directions toward its location.

 

"Sorcery." Lok spoke above the sloshing of his steps through the knee high water they still remained within as he made a limited approach toward the caverns center and the tree. "This temple is filled with it. It must be destroyed."

 

Lok's gaze turned briefly to Zaris before honing in on Leena and awaiting her interjection. It was the Jedi's nature to preserve such things for study, but Lok's nature had always been to destroy the remnants of the Dark, even as a former Jedi Shadow. His sole reasons was felt all around them, both in the blood the tree sought nutrients from and in the hauntings of the souls that perished. It was the source of the unnatural chill, and perhaps even the sentience he felt lingering at the edge of consciousness. Still, he wouldn't make a move until Leena replied, as he felt concerned. He wanted to see the effects of the realization. 

[TerrorBot]

Ruin grunted and took the first steps forward into the crevasse at the jedi's encouragement. Wading through waist deep waters was much easier then walking on a lake's floor, and with Fera not needing to be carried, Ruin could hold weapons again. Once again, the flechette launcher was brought out and pumped once. 

 

Fera on the other hand had to make due the usual way and climb atop the large droid's shoulder. She chirped a few times, mentioning something about the need to be wary of sinkholes and traps, but Ruin didn't seem to notice. 

 

"Lightings and fightings" Ruin finally commented when the tar finally did lit by the pilots lighter, and nodded to himself. Fera relayed his thanks back to the rest of the group. 

 

"Stones and stumps" Ruin eyed the statues carefully. It seemed he noticed the jedi's apprehension of the statues, and figured that they could be a sign of danger.

 

However, eventually the tree took priority. Everyone had their own say on it. And Fera was no exception.

 

"I had expected more resistance on our way here…" Fera pointed out "but the fact that those monsters we fought and this...tree share characteristics, and the fact that you organics and your extra senses seem to detect something is off, makes me believe this is linked to the monsters."

 

 Fera jumped off of its ward and began to climb the tree, scanning and analyzing it, slowly working towards one of the hanging fruits. 

 

"I wonder if these are hatching pods of some sort?"

 

"Sorcery. This temple is filled with it. It must be destroyed." Lok had stated.

 

Ruin nodded and holstered his launcher, only to pull out the vibroblade he had taken from the cybernetic abyssan. 

 

"Roger Roger" Ruin replied. Whether this was a mockery to the old b-1 battle droids he was once programmed to fight alongside or not, he gave no indication. However, he got closer to the tree, and like Fera, began to climb up the dias to get in a better position. Already the blade began to hum with energy, and the others would've noted that his X-pyre grenade was refueled.  

 

[Leena Kil]

Given Lok’s assessment, Leena slowly nodded. Her eyes were wide as she took in the scene. She could feel it as if it were crawling up her skin, the dark presence of an ancient and foreign mind. The world about them was dark and heavy, but peaceful.

 

Zeris’ request seemed unusual; but Leena had watched the bionic woman beat timbers to pulp and dust on Felucia. She had little doubt that their pilot might do the same here if given the opportunity.

 

The statues seemed to dance in the firelight and as much as Leena was drawn to the focal point in the force, the desecrated altar beneath the massive willowy tree, her eyes were drawn to the white stone memorials. It seemed like their eyes followed them and their mouths whispered silent curses on the force itself. They seemed to conduct the power of this place; to contain it; to focus it onto the altar and the tree that grew there, drawing life and nutrients from the force and the waters.

 

And then it all changed in a millisecond. As the droids approached the tree, passing beneath the thick hanging branches, a cataclysmic upheaval roiled on the force, the cavern shook and the water trembled. Visages of hunger and destruction coursed through the air. The branches swung violently, tossing the droids back into the waters and driving back anyone too near the tree. Any who didn’t was battered by dark side fueled thorn-coated limbs. Faster than the naked eye and as forceful as a charging reek. It’s onslaught was undefendable. 
 

As the group fell back to a safer distance, the tree calmed. The churned force matched the churned waters whipped up by the tree. It frothed as it lapped against the dias, the roots, walls and statues. Slowly a sense of calm foreboding fell over the room as Leena picked herself up from the waters where she had dove clear of a flaying limb.

 

”I don’t think it wants to be touched.” She muttered, shaking her head.

 

”I felt this, this thing, in my dreams.” She assessed as she turned inwards, focusing the shimmers of the light they carried. “It cannot be allowed to escape.”

 

Faint whispers, whispers that seemed to reach from beyond the grave carried on the heavy air. They seemed to come from everywhere and from nowhere; ancient unintelligible languages that were heavy with power. The statues did not move as the flames danced over them. They were impervious to attack as the sun began to set outside, out of sight.

 

The darkness continued to grow, to manifest carried by the undead whispers. They focused their power on the altar, energizing the tree with corrupting energy and power. The tree seemed to radiate with it, the power spilling from it’s uneven bark as pods grew in the dingy shadows, weighing down the heavy limbs of the tree before their very eyes. The foreign presence grew engorged with the darkness until it’s daunting presence filled the room, palpably pressing on all within line the weight of the world in the depths of the sea. It was real. It was corrupt. It was sentient.

 

”We have to stop it.” Leena whispered looking to the others. “Together.”

[Zeris Mons]

On 2/7/2022 at 11:10 PM, Leena Kil said:

Visages of hunger and destruction coursed through the air. The branches swung violently, tossing the droids back into the waters and driving back anyone too near the tree. Any who didn’t was battered by dark side fueled thorn-coated limbs. Faster than the naked eye and as forceful as a charging reek. It’s onslaught was undefendable. 
 

As the group fell back to a safer distance, the tree calmed. The churned force matched the churned waters whipped up by the tree. It frothed as it lapped against the dias, the roots, walls and statues. Slowly a sense of calm foreboding fell over the room as Leena picked herself up from the waters where she had dove clear of a flaying limb.

 

”I don’t think it wants to be touched.” She muttered, shaking her head.

 

”I felt this, this thing, in my dreams.” She assessed as she turned inwards, focusing the shimmers of the light they carried. “It cannot be allowed to escape.”

 

"E chu ta," I cursed under my breath. I hadn't used that vulgar expression in a long time, but it seemed well earned at the moment.

 

This thing was wrong. And worse, now it was angry.

 

If I was being personally honest, a rather large part of me would have been fine leaving this weird, bad drug trip of a planet right now. Forget this place, forget those vine monkeys, and forget this karking tree.

 

But...another part of me, the part that pushed me to take weird jobs for odd clients, wanted to stay. It was like that urge you get to jump whenever you look over the edge of a cliff. Or that thrill up your spine when you watch a horror holovid and you just know the killer is going to show up behind the clueless freighter pilot when she looks away. My brain stem was sending the same message of FEAR FEAR FEAR like some kind of biochemical SOS, but now that I was adjusting to it, I found myself okay with staying. Yes, I might die, but that was a given on most jobs. And how could I leave now and miss out on this? Gorram Force users and a hyperviolent droid were about to battle an evil, monkey spawning tree on a lost Core planet.

 

I smiled.

 

I'd never forgive myself if I didn't see how this ended.

 

On 2/7/2022 at 11:10 PM, Leena Kil said:

The darkness continued to grow, to manifest carried by the undead whispers. They focused their power on the altar, energizing the tree with corrupting energy and power. The tree seemed to radiate with it, the power spilling from it’s uneven bark as pods grew in the dingy shadows, weighing down the heavy limbs of the tree before their very eyes. The foreign presence grew engorged with the darkness until it’s daunting presence filled the room, palpably pressing on all within line the weight of the world in the depths of the sea. It was real. It was corrupt. It was sentient.

 

”We have to stop it.” Leena whispered looking to the others. “Together.”

 

"Got it boss," I said as I unslung the spear from my back.

 

I dabbed some of the coating resin on the tip first, then very, very, VERY carefully spread a thin layer of the metal dissolving goop the Felucians had given me. Granted, I didn't know what it would do to evil trees, but I bet if I stuck this thing a foot or two into the trunk it wouldn't feel good.

 

With two schicks my wrist blades extended.

 

"Charge?" I said questioningly.

[TerrorBot]

When Ruin was tossed aside, he cursed aloud. 

 

"FRAGS AND LOADED MAGS!!!" was the phrase he had chosen before he crashed into the water. 

 

Popping back up, the large droid began to frantically splash around in the water, and didn't stop until Fera bobbed to the surface, rolled up into a defensive ball form.

 

"That was close and unexpected" Fera commented as Ruin scooped up the buzz droid and placed her on his shoulder once again.

 

"Grrr, wackings and thwackings. " Ruin grumbled, sheathing his blade once again. It seemed since the tree wasn't going to let him get close, the classic method of shredding with a shotgun would be in line. 

 

"Charge?" The pilot said. Ruin glanced at her and chuckled and unsheathed his own small vibro blade connected to his wrist as a sign of agreement.

 

"Burnings and slashings. Weedings and wackings"

 

With that stated, Ruin began to move forward, firing and pumping his launcher over and over at the nearest branches. Fera joined in, her small but distracting blaster alight. 

[Leena Kil]

Chaos. That is what broke loose again. This time; however, the adventurers were prepared for it. With the mechanized duo of murderbots taking the lead, the air was filled with shrapnel and a cacophony of violence. 
 

Leena sighed. It was the language of so many in the galaxy, and yet one that felt foreign to her. Still, here she was in the thick of it yet again. Her body felt weighted. Her eyelids were heavy. Her limbs deadened by the weigh of sheer exhaustion. She had not slept well in weeks and now here, at the heart of the thing, she felt the overwhelming press of the source of her visions. Whatever this place was, it radiated a dark evil; one that reached across the cosmos. But why? Was it feeding and growing on the looming horizon of chaos about the befall the galaxy as a whole? It was not something for Leena to ponder however. The team began to move, striking in tandem at the massive viney tree.

 

In an instant, the tree’s branches began to flail, thick tendriled vines snaking through the waters towards unsuspecting legs hoping to pull them under, to drown them. That intent was clear enough. Other vines arced through the air, propelled like rockets hoping to lash the attackers and drive them back or catch and pull them in. Many of them were severed and tumbled to the floor in the rain of Ruin’s onslaught. It only made the tree’s desire to ensnare him greater and she directed more and more attention to the vicious attack by the droid.

 

Instinctively, Leena took a step back, drawing on the power of the living force. Around them was life, minute and corrupted as it may be, life had found a way and in it, it connected them all to the web of the force, the great sea of power from which all life was drawn. It was that which Leena tapped into, pulling it inward, nurturing it in an instant and broadcast back out. A faint ripple of energy seemed to coalesce into a solid albeit watery transparent disc before her. It was a shield, comprised of the force itself. Leena splashed towards their pilot with a burst of speed, sure to keep the shield between she and the tree. Viney tendrils ricocheted off the barrier of force power, a flash of light filling the air with each connection.

 

Leaping over a snaking vine, Leena brought the shield down into the water, severing the tendril as she splashed to a stop beside Zeris. “Let’s get to the tree.” She breathed before driving herself forward to provide cover for the spear wielding biomechanical woman.  
 

Charging into the hanging vines, Leena’s shield drove them apart so they could pass into the shadows within; but even as they did so, the large golden fruits of the tree-being began to quiver and burst, bloodsacks, each containing a headless ape-like child mind-linked the the base of the tree and consumed by the hunger of their mother, fueled by the dark side of the force. Leena and Zeris were cut off from the outside and outside the canopy, the children charged frantically, with rabid abandon and hunger, uncaring for their own wellbeing, after the others. They would capture these as well and being them close; after all, their mother must be fed.

 

Swirling about, Leena guided the shield to attempt to block incoming snares and  beasts; once even rolling to the base of the stairs to intercept a wild blast of flechettes sprayed from Ruin’s attack as the tree sought to grasp the metal man in it’s tendrils and crush him.

 

It was time. Do or die. Now or never. Leena was not sure how to fell such a mighty plant; but figured that attacking it at the source might help. It might make it worse too, one could never be sure; but here, on the root-covered dias, the swell of dark side energy was so thick it almost choked the life from her connection. The Jedi Master’s shield sputtered several times as Leena sought to focus her mind, calming herself in the fray, and maintain the connection.

 

The mind of the tree was palpable, if not foreign. It hungered. Corrupted by the dark side, an already amoral mind now bent on evil, natural desires twisted to be unrecognizable. Gluttony fueled desire. The power seemed to fill the room just as the tree itself did. 

[Zeris Mons]

I kept behind the Jedi as a fresh take on hell erupted around us. 

 

A vine slipped around us under the water (clever demon plant) and erupted with a gush of white water towards the boss's back, actually ignoring me. I brought the spear down and pinned it to the ground under the water like a fork through a snake, then promptly got my ego bruised as it jerked back and yanked me off my feet and about a full meter into the air. I'd learned how to take a fall and roll to the point I literally had done it in my sleep, and my body tucked and came back ready to fight. The vine writhed in the air, steaming where the spear had punctured it, before the acid finished its work and the end of the vine dropped away lifeless into the churning water. The stump retreated under the water and out of sight. Not a  comforting sign.

 

I had little time to think about it, as the fight for our lives continued. I lost myself in it, feeling more alive with every second, an addict getting their biggest hit in years. I jabbed rapidly with the acid coated spear, my stance probably horrible but my cybernetic limbs and the dissolving paste making up for any precise technique. As each vine and headless ape was fended off or liquefied, the weapon felt more and more natural in my hands.

 

A particularly large specimen of the green murder plant monkeys leapt bodily at me, and I responded by bracing the spear against the ground and catching it on the end. I imagine that if it could scream my ears would be ringing as it writhed and squirmed, chest billowing acrid smoke. I thrust up and sent it sailing through the air and flopping into the water.

 

"Droid!" I shouted. "Burnings and boomings!" A fierce grin split my face as I set myself to fend off the next wave.

[TerrorBot]

“Boom! Click, click, boom!” Ruin shouted over and over. Each pump of the launcher was being done at faster and faster speeds, practically becoming a blur as the droid fired over and over. The vines seemed to redouble their effort at the droid. Each one that exploded into a flurry of wooden shrapnel was replaced by another and another.  Even Fera commented that this would not work forever. 

“Blood for blood!” Ruin commanded, firing again and releasing the gun to slash at one of the vines that had gotten too close. They were tough. Well nourished, still growing, and imbued with dark power. Even a droid like Ruin could feel it. Or perhaps it was Ruin was a droid like himself, programmed to hunt Sith, that he could tell. The energy the tree had was from the Force, and the Force was only in living things. Ruin was not alive. But Ruin saw the living. And Ruin saw the dead. He knew the difference. He knew what the living was like. He knew what the living wasn’t like. This was not the living. This was dark. 

“Sith die! Gahahaha!“ Ruin broke into demented laughter. To the casual observer, it seemed like Ruin was actually happy for the first time in his programmed life.  “This is Sith! Sith die! I kill Sith! Ya! Killings and killings! Blood and justice! Die Sith, die!” 

One fortunate vine had gotten past the flurry of gunfire and tripped the droid. Crashing into the water, Ruin emerged just in time for another branch to crash down on him, trying to bash the droid into submission. Fera jumped off in time and crawled the vine, trying her futile attempts to slow the branch. 

“Rah! Not good! You not good! You stay and die!” Ruin commented. With hands suddenly up, Ruin grabbed the branch and dug himself in. The entire branch limb suddenly struggled as the 900 pound metal man held its ground, pulling the large limb back. 

“Haha! I can’t run fast, but you can’t swing fast now! Hahaha!” Ruin mocked, ignoring the wooden monsters that rushed the others. The tree was focused on him. The monsters were focused on the others. Ruin gripped harder and pulled back, the tree limb straining to stay attached. Even here, Ruin could hear and feel  it cracking in some places. The vines around flailed trying to smack the droid away, but Ruin refused to let up, pulling back further and further. 

“Droid! Burnings and boomings!"

“Burnings and boomings? Hells and bells, burn and bomb!” Ruin exclaimed, a mixture of joy and surprise filling his voicebox. Letting go with one hand, Ruin activated his wrist blade again and hacked off a few chucks of the limb before letting go. It flailed in pain, enough of a breather to allow the Terror Droid to grab the grenade at his side. 

“Click click, close close!” Ruin shouted as he pushed the primer on the grenade’s top. The tree was flailing wildly. There was no clear throw at its trunk. The target had to be better placed. 

“Kaboom, home base!” Ruin charged forward. Like clockwork, the branches targeted him. And in the process, brought Fera back to her ward.

“Roger Roger!” Fera beeped in confirmation. Even as she swung around violently on the limb that had attempted to destroy Ruin, both her and Ruin’s droid processors worked in practiced sync. With calculated precision, the buzz droid grabbed the grenade and ran up the tree’s main limb with the grenade in her pincer arms, ignored like the insect she was. 

Ruin pulled his own sword out again and got to hacking. While it was no lightsaber, the ebon blade hummed like one as branches and vine were sliced in twain. Still, it was difficult work. Each step forward was met with more vines and branches, forcing a few steps back closer to the others who had their own problems.  

When she was as close as she could get,  she slammed her buzz saw into the limb in an effort to get it stuck. With the momentum of the saw, Fera swung forward over herself and tossed the grenade. Having gotten closer, it would now hit the tree’s trunk. Fera herself on the other hand would have to protect herself. Once again, she rolled into her ball and allowed gravity and the tree’s violent flailing take her wherever chaos desired. 

[Leena Kil]

The sap of the liquified headless things made the rooted dias sticky. Arcing her force-made shield about to cover the backside of the spear-wielding Zeris seemed to work, at least in part; but the press of vines and children were pushing them closer and closer to the trunk until Leena took a step back and collided with the thick knotted bark of the creation. “This might not have been a good idea.” She muttered as her eyes flicked about at the encroach of doom. The darkside swirled, reaching out with grasping tendrils of darkness that sought recess on the minds of the foreigners, to instill in them a sense of hopelessness, encouraging them to give in to the inevitable, to accept their fate, it was, after all, only natural.

 

Leena’s shield sputtered and went out. The sinewy creatures taking advantage of the fault in their defenses as they surged forward filling the gap. Their clawed fingers reached forward to rake clothes and exposed flesh.

 

It was hopeless. Leena could feel it in her soul. Her vision had drawn not just her here, but others too following her on this mad quest. She was responsible for them. Their lives lost were her responsibility.

 

And then it changed. In the dark wet environment a flash of light and heat erupted up amongst the crown of leaves and branches in a burst of flame. Ruin’s grenade a beacon of hope in the darkness. It was enough to break the concentration of the beasts for a moment, to cause the tree itself to flail in an effort to extinguish itself; limbs and branches beating at the flames. Rising, the tree exposed it’s rooted base atop the sacrificial dias.

 

Leena’s large bulbous eyes reflected the burst of flame and a surge of hope flickered in her heart. It was enough, hope. The force erupted within. It filled her to the brim and spilled over. Light shone from her eyes and beamed from the palms of her hands. The power of the Living Force radiated outwards in purifying light. 
 

Turning to face the tree, Leena’s drove her hands down into the roots. Her eyes focusing on where her hands were, burning into the tree, extinguishing the twisted unnatural darkness of the force that surged from the dias into the tree. Drawing in the truth, on the life that existed even here, Leena became a conduit of the purity of the force. Cut off from it’s power, the massive tree continued to flail, angrier now as a hunger, sated by the darkness for years,  churned within one thousand times more powerful. These morsels would be the first to be feasted upon. 

[Zeris Mons]

  

On 2/26/2022 at 2:20 PM, Leena Kil said:

And then it changed. In the dark wet environment a flash of light and heat erupted up amongst the crown of leaves and branches in a burst of flame. Ruin’s grenade a beacon of hope in the darkness. It was enough to break the concentration of the beasts for a moment, to cause the tree itself to flail in an effort to extinguish itself; limbs and branches beating at the flames. Rising, the tree exposed it’s rooted base atop the sacrificial dias.

 

"WOOOHOOO!" I shouted out into the nightmare around us. "TAKING US SERIOUS YET!?"

 

The ape-things renewed their attack, now with a new feeling that we hadn't seen last night or since we entered this tree's lair. Anger. Hate. Pain. And maybe...a touch of fear?

 

My smile turned into a fierce rictus of bared teeth, and I charged forward into the fray.

 

The next few seconds were a blur. I lost track of how many I was fighting, how many I downed, and even where I was standing. It was a storm of churned water and bodies. I planted the spear in the ground and went to work with my limbs, cortosis blades out. I tore through knees with solid kicks from my durasteel feet, hacked apart arms and torsos with my blades, and always always always kept moving, never letting these things lock me down like they had at the ship. Last night, they'd caught me off guard, both with their surprise attack and their unusual bodies. Now, I was rested, and I'd seen them fight. I could read them, and they didn't fight like beasts. They fought like a swarm, careless of their own lives, extensions of a greater whole. It made them overwhelming, but predictable.

 

As if the universe was listening, one of the apes caught me from behind, grabbing my shoulder and wrenching me back. Instinctually I relaxed and let the thing pull me, tucking my legs and dropping to my knees when the thing's arm couldn't support my full, sudden weight. I then rotated my arms back at an unnatural angle only possible thanks to the fact that they were entirely mechanical, grabbed the thing's wrist, and twisted until the hand tore and the smell of cut greenery washed over me. I pivoted on one foot and finished the thing with a bladed uppercut that tore through its chest and left its torso split and leaning in opposite directions, arms flailing and legs scrambling to steady itself.

 

On 2/26/2022 at 2:20 PM, Leena Kil said:

Turning to face the tree, Leena’s drove her hands down into the roots. Her eyes focusing on where her hands were, burning into the tree, extinguishing the twisted unnatural darkness of the force that surged from the dias into the tree. Drawing in the truth, on the life that existed even here, Leena became a conduit of the purity of the force. Cut off from it’s power, the massive tree continued to flail, angrier now as a hunger, sated by the darkness for years,  churned within one thousand times more powerful. These morsels would be the first to be feasted upon. 

 

The change in the beasts was instant. Their ferocious attack turned into a complete frenzy, trampling and shoving each other in their frenzy to get at us. I ripped the spear from the where it was half sunk and sticking out of the water and positioned myself behind the Jedi.

 

"Come and get it!" I screamed.

 

I was going to die, and it was glorious.

[TerrorBot]

In the blaze of fire that lit up the cave, Ruin looked more like a demon then a droid. The flames that licked the tree’s sides and branches gave the terror droid a reflective glow, with only his eye sensors being a perfect black in the red light. 

Still, he moved forward. The tree was in its own chaos now. It was in pain. Ruin knew it. Somehow, the droid could calculate that even plants and the normally unmoving could feel pain, and fire was pain incarnate. 

“Sith get burned!” Ruin shouted as he swung his vibroblade around, slicing a few more branches.  “Burned and beaten! Sith die die die!” 

The beasts became more wild however, and even the droid became a target for their small forms. Several began to jump and dog pile the droid, bashing and clawing at everything available. Ruin growled something in binary, and threw them off and aside. 

“Jedi! Kill sith! Pilot! Kill Sith! Kill kill kill! Rip and tear! Stab stab stab! Destroy destroy destroy!” Ruin commanded at the others, still trying to move towards the tree’s center where it had lifted off the dial. Somehow, the two had gotten closer to the tree's trunk. Perhaps they could do something while he attracted more attention from the monsters. Still, between the tree’s monsters and the tree’s flailing, combined with the thick waters, the  droid had to stop at every other step. 

“Raaaaagh!” Ruin shouted, just as a fiery limb swung into the droid’s torso. Knocking him down momentarily, Ruin found himself letting go of his sword to get some of the monsters off and to get back on his feet. With the quick calculations of a droid, Ruin grabbed the limb's next pass and held on, swinging with the branch wildly for a moment before planting his feet again into the water. More monsters continued to climb onto the droid, beating and pulling every plate possible.

“Pilot!” Ruin roared over the commotion. “Stabbings and stabbings! Hearts need a hurtings!” 

Meanwhile, Fera bobbed in the waters unable to escape her ball form yet due to the waters. Still, she continued to monitor what she could, and beeped out loud, hoping she could be heard. 

“I agree with Ruin! I calculate that the hivemind is scared. I believe a final blow may be in order.” 

[Leena Kil]

Leena poured herself entirely into the force; giving herself over to the cosmic power drawn from life. The life of the tree and her brood, of Zeris, of the scrub brush and algaes that made their way here in the dark of this world, and beyond. Out into the cosmos itself, Leena’s presence flowed, washing about the lives of space mites and monsters, of distant travelers, even out unto other worlds. It washed like the ocean, seen in twain places, but their connection invisible across the vastness of existence. It mattered not to the force; for the force was one, a pure pool of lige itself spread across the galaxies and beyond. It was this sea that Leena submerged herself into, washing the taint of darkness away from herself as she was bathed in light and purity. It radiated from her very pores, a warm glow of life. It shone from her eyes as they became beacons of white light that illuminated the shadows. The incoming crash of tidal energies on the force, surged into the world using Leena as a conduit, driving against the font of darkness. Each wave lapped at the encrusted dias and rooted system that held the tree in place wearing away at the long-held grasp of darkness. It wore at it constantly, 10,000 years of tidal wear and tear in a moment as the darkness was driven back from the light, worn smooth before it was severed from the anchor of darkness this world radiated.

 

Cut off, the flaming tree’s attacks faltered. They were still strong, still lethal, still honed and hungering; but they were different. They were no longer empowered by the darkness. The dark voices that seemed to play in the air falling silent as the purity of the force, untainted, filled the room. From a thousand worlds, the purity that was the essence of life radiated into the room. Even the hunger of the tree was sated in some as powerful empowering energies of life rolled off the Jedi Master. To touch it, to be dedicated to the cause of natural right, was to be invigorated and complete.

 

With a sickening crack, the tree’s roots broke, falling back beneath the onslaught of the three, the Jedi, a natural being, the droid, a creation of metal, and Zeris, an amalgamation of both. Sliding from the sacrificial altar of stone, the tree fell into the waters behind it with a great crash and splash that sent water spraying in every direction. Each droplet caught the light of the force that radiated from the Jedi and as they hung in the air illuminated the room as it was painted in a million refractions like a glorious ballroom of yore.

 

The tree, still aflame, flailed and grasped for the heroes trying to extinguish itself, shocked by what was happening. It’s minions were torn from their attack as they rushed to their mother and began to bat at the flames, splashing water and alighting their own bodies as one. It was as if some dark sacrificial ritual had overcome them. Yet, the massive tree, spanning the room from dias to a shadowy doorway blocked by the flaming limbs, flailed like a wounded beast.

 

Standing upon the dias amongst broken roots, ancient Sith sigils became visible. A sacrificial altar that had been bathed in the blood of countless innocents stood illuminated from where it had been hidden beneath the mass of the tree. The stoney faceted faces of the altar were blasted with waves of the living force as they surged outwards from the Jedi, driving back even the water that lapped at the steps. It’s surface was visibly wearing as Leena turned the brunt of the force energies she was channeling upon it, seeking to sever the darkness within.

 

With e darkness of the place severed at it’s source, Leena hoped that her comrades would be able to deal with the tree in some way. Outside, the darkness of an entire world pressed inwards and even if this focal point of darkness on the planet was closed, they would have the rest of the world to contend with.

[Pheristroch]

(Posted on incorrect account)

Edited March 9, 2022 by Pheristroch
Posted with wrong account

[Zeris Mons]

  

10 hours ago, Leena Kil said:

The tree, still aflame, flailed and grasped for the heroes trying to extinguish itself, shocked by what was happening. It’s minions were torn from their attack as they rushed to their mother and began to bat at the flames, splashing water and alighting their own bodies as one. It was as if some dark sacrificial ritual had overcome them. Yet, the massive tree, spanning the room from dias to a shadowy doorway blocked by the flaming limbs, flailed like a wounded beast.

 

There.

 

This was the moment.

 

The moment when a drunk trandoshan bail-jumper trips over the leg of a table.

 

The moment when a snarling chadra-fan serial killer stops to reload his blaster.

 

...The moment when an arkanian mine supervisor turns to walk away...

 

The final moment. The last move. That one single instant when you crack some scaly bully's jaw, when you drop a 300 lb crate on some killer's head, when...you drive a broken spanner into a man's back.

 

I never missed this moment. Never. It's why almost everyone I've ever gone up against is in jail or a protein recycler. It's why I'm still alive.

 

Time to finish this.

 

I crouched, the spear dropping from my hands as the servos in my legs whined and hissed in preparation.

 

I leapt, my mechanical limbs sending me flying through the air, over the heads of these things desperately trying to save their "mother". With a dull thunk, I landed on the burning trunk. Fire licked at my metal feet, and the air was choked with smoke. I barely noticed.

 

I never missed this moment.

 

I drew back both of my hands and drove them down into the bark, twin impacts followed by a loud, sickening crack as the drying bark started to give, a pale crevice twisting up the tree from where my hands now sat embedded in this dark, twisted thing. Then I pulled my hands apart. I wrenched and twisted, the servos in my arms humming higher and higher as I put more force into the killing act. My ribs and back hurt, but I wouldn't stop. The firelight glared in my face, but I wouldn't stop.

 

The crack widened, the soft, pale inner wood of the tree revealing itself as my arms and body shook from the effort.

 

Then something snapped in me.

 

I cried out, feeling the pain that had been building as my torso tried to tell me what my brain wouldn't hear. I fell backward off the trunk, the wood partially split from the effort, but the tree still very much alive.

 

My body wasn't tough enough. I couldn't' finish the job. That fact hit me like a weight.

 

I gritted my teeth.

 

"DROID! NOW!"

[TerrorBot]

"DROID! NOW!"

 

The pile of bodies that had swarmed over the droid exploded as Ruin threw them all off with a few clean swings. Letting go of the limbs, Ruin became the terror droid he was programmed to be. 

 

“RAAAAAAGH!” The droid boomed and charged forward, Worm-Spit falling around in a hellish fallout.  One monster that still remained to try to slow the droid down was trampled underfoot as Ruin placed one foot on its head and leapt forward. 

 

“KILL ALL SITH!” Ruin gave another shout as he plummeted forward where the pilot had made an opening. Its inner wood glistened like oil, wet from sap and water and blood. It was the perfect point. The pilot had done well. 

 

Ruin crashed into the tree like a cannonball. Clutching to its sides, with a crunch and splattering of bark, Ruin drove his clenched fist into the opening. The entire thing shook in pain, even as the fire licked at the droid's fingers. Not satisfied, the droid clutched its fist inside and pulled. 

 

“From Hell’s heart…!” Ruin began to growl. Planting both legs into the tree, Ruin reached in with both hands now. Pulling harder and harder, the Terror Droid stood parallel to the ground. In his hands, the tattering of a fungal growth clung to the tree as tightly as possible: The brain and heart of the monster, with viny force-infused  tissue preventing complete separation. In completely perfect tension, the two equaled out in power, even as Ruin held the fungal growth in both fists. 

 

“...stabbings for thee!” Ruin finished as he activated his wrist blade. With a buzz and a slice, Ruin cut off the tissue connecting the growth to the tree. Now weakened, and screaming in the Force, the tree could no longer fight back. Ruin gave one more pull and fell backwards and downwards, hands still clutching his prize.

[Leena Kil]

With a sickening crack that seemed to carry throughout the unholy chamber a cacophony of things happened in a moment. The tree, it’s heartwood torn from it’s body, seemed to breath it’s last; her massive limbs slowly and splashing down into a stillness as their life seemed to radiate away on the ripples across the surface of the waters, vanishing. Zeris’ body wracked with  pain, her back snapped as it was overcome by the augmentations as she fell, pain radiating from her atop the lifeless tree. The dias itself, worn smooth by the unrelenting waves of the force, it’s jagged edges rounded, sigils erased, cracked as the channel of darkness was severed from it. Leena was sent tumbling backwards into the water as the dias was cleft in two by an invisible blade of the force.

 

All about them, the statues of Sith sorcerers and masters wailed. Their undead voices filling the vaulted ceilings of the chamber with wicked painful screaming songs, words unintelligible but wracked with emotion. The statues rattled and shook atop their ornate podiums before one by one they careened forward falling into the waters with crashes and splashes beyond what they ought to have been capable of. The air itself seemed to wretch and roil in pain.

 

Sitting up in the water on the cracked steps below the surface, Leena covered her head instinctually to protect herself from the falling statues, as if her arms would do anything against the weighty simulacrums. At the least, they kept the spray of dark water out of her face.

 

All around them, the headless seedling spawn of the dark tree being scurried away. No linger bound to their mother, the younglings hurried for the doorway, scurrying from the nest of their fallen mother intent on taking root elsewhere and beginning life anew.

 

The crackle of fires smoldered in the tree’s limbs and as the statues came to rest, toppled, cracked, and decapitated in the water, the voices faded into silence. All that remained was an eerie presence, unpalatable, yet there.

 

Slowly Leena picked herself up, her body bruised and aching. Squinting into the shadows, she whispered, “Is everyone ok?”

[Zeris Mons]

On 3/10/2022 at 5:36 PM, Leena Kil said:

Slowly Leena picked herself up, her body bruised and aching. Squinting into the shadows, she whispered, “Is everyone ok?”

 

I groaned, and tried to get up out of the water. That groan turned into a muffled scream as pain exploded from my shoulder.

 

Gritting my teeth against the white-hot pulses moving through me, I closed my eyes and forced my mind to focus. I shoved the pain down as deep as I could, my body locking up instinctually to keep me from hurting myself any more than I already was. I homed in on the injury.

 

"Cracked...collarbone," I forced through my clenched teeth, hopefully loud enough for the Jedi to hear.

 

As the pain slowly faded from a howling storm to a dull roar, I forced myself to sit up as gingerly as I could. The arm on my good side twisted around to hold my other arm, taking the weight off my injured shoulder. At least my metal parts still did what I wanted.

 

"Went...too...far..." I said in a hoarse voice. I think I was talking to myself there more than anyone else.

[TerrorBot]

Some splashings, and Ruin emerged from the water. Shaking himself a bit, Ruin seemed to chuckle. 

“Rippings and Tearings. Fun”

In one hand he still clutched the heartwood he had ripped out violently. Once strong and hardy, it now seemed to rot away at an accelerated rate. Not caring for the piece at all, Ruin tossed it aside unceremoniously. It plumped into the water like a piece of dead driftwood. 

“Ruin, I do believe it would be helpful to aid me and the others” Fera commented outloud. As if remembering the buzz droid, Ruin waded towards the balled up drone and plucked her bobbing form. Crawling onto the Terror droid’s head, Fera shook her ball casings free of any water. 

It was at this point that Ruin seemed to notice the others. The large droid waded forwards towards the one who seemed to be in the most pain and trouble: The Pilot. 

 

“Crushings and beatings?” Ruin asked.

“He is asking if you are alright” Fera translated. While she was busy being a translator for Ruin’s vocabulary, her attention was more focused on the remains of the chamber they were in. “I do believe the monster is dead, and it appears the creatures have fled. Without their mother node, they will be frantic and finding places to hide, if they adhere to what most swarms do when their leader is dead” 

“Jedi!” Ruin called out, trying to get Leena’s attention. “Hurtings and healings! Sith dead, not us haha!”
 
 

[Leena Kil]

As the last of the seedlings vanished from sight and earshot down the flooded entry pathway and out into the dark-tinged world and the statues settled into the water, the echoes of their impact fading into the deathly still dark waters, an unnerving calm and quiet overtook the chamber. The only thing that interrupted it, aside from our heroes breathing, was the occasional crackle and glow of the embers that burned within the confines of the fallen tree.

 

Hearing her comrades comments, Leena pushed herself to a standing position. The muscles in her legs ached as they bore the Jedi’s weight, exhausted from the trial. Exhausted, yet invigorated by the smooth cleansing flow of the force as it washed over her. Yes, even here, even now that the great threat was vanquished, the force flowed like a cool and peaceful brook. It’s purity sparkled against the backdrop of darkness that this world clung to.

 

Seeing the fallen Zeris, Leena motioned for Ruin to bring her to cracked and worn dias. She would have explained such a task in detail; but she was focused elsewhere. Channeling the force, Leena allowed it to flow over and through her, reaching out on it to take in their pilot and to feel her wounds. As Ruin set the biomechanical being before her, Leena settled down beside her. The Jedi’s legs were crossed in a lotus as her eyes closed and hands extended. She felt the broken bones, sensed the pain as the shattered edges tore at muscle they caught and grated against one another, pinching nerves and wracking the woman’s physical form. She felt the healed scars where the mechanical limbs had been attached, how they were wired into Zeris’ body a part of her, foreign and yet one and the same. The force washed over them both, Leena used it to try and soothe Zeris’ pain. Her hands gingerly hovered over the woman’s wounds inducing a numbness that spread outwards from the touch of her finger.

 

With her free hand, Leena reached for her belt and removed a small satchel. It had been white at one point, but the battle, the mud, the waters, had soaked it and stained it dark browns and grays. She held it up towards Ruin. It was heavy with moisture and it’s contents, a dozen specialized crystals honed and refined with singular purpose. “Healing Crystals Master Droid. Please, position one atop each mount where a statue once stood. Let them encircle us and then,” she turned to look at the droid with a sudden and unexpected smile, “stand back.”

 

As Ruin took the bag, Leena returned her focus to Zeris. She closed her eyes and drew upon the force, reaching out to the cosmos. She felt the Living Force. She drew on it, calling it towards herself like a wave of energy, of life itself. The crystals in Ruin’s hands glowed, each one a warm beacon of light as it was touched by the force. The force that flowed through the Jedi Healer echoed outward to the stones. As the force was multiplied in power within the Jedi Master, so too was it gathered and multiplied exponentially within each stone until it was full to overflowing. With the placement of the final stone, a web of energies seemed to envelope Leena, Zeris, the dias, and all within. An underwater like haze costed the area as the power of the force became manifest. Untainted by the darkness, it was pure and a white glow radiated to fill the room.

 

At the center of the convergence of force enegies, Leena directed the healing power from the stones. She drew it back into herself before channeling it from her palms directly into Zeris’s wounds. On that force, Leena’s spirit moved as well, reducing her signature in the force and leaving her body a radiating conduit of pure flowing life energy. Leena’s very essence was reduced to that of a speck. Without form, she moved in the force. Finding Zeris’ wounds beneath the skin she moved with the speed of energy, with the skills of a surgeon. Cell by cell she induced each to begin the process of healing, reduced swelling and numbing pain. She did not stop until the entirety of the wound, the bone, the muscles, the nerves, were all acting in concert. As one they were empowered by the force and what would have taken weeks or months began to heal in moments. What would have taken days in a state-of-the-art bacta tank, followed by therapy and medication would be like new, like it had never happened within a matter of hours. Even now the swelling visibly was decreasing and the bone knitting itself back together.

 

Withdrawing back to her own body, Leena continued to channel the growing healing energies into Zeris. With her other hand, Leena slid it about the mercenary’s shoulders and slowly helped her to a seated position. 
 

Leena offered Zeris a warm smile. “Careful my friend. You’ve had quite the day.”

 

”It looks like your mechanical limbs wrote a check your body was unwilling to cash. You may require further augmentation or external armor to avoid such an experience again. Even so, such a toll is not healthy on your body. Rest for a few minutes. You will still need time to heal, but if you are careful, you can probably get up. I’d avoid punching through any more wood for the day though.”

 

Beyond the dome of healing energies, shrouded by the burning limbs of the great fallen tree was a single door, dark, heavy and ornate. It was opposite the entrance. The aura of death seemed to hang heavily about it. There was no telling what lay on the other side; but if one were to open the door and get past the snares set by the crypt’s prior owner, both mechanical and within the force itself, they might find dark and cursed treasures; things of legend.

[Zeris Mons]

On 3/15/2022 at 12:38 AM, TerrorBot said:

“He is asking if you are alright” Fera translated. While she was busy being a translator for Ruin’s vocabulary, her attention was more focused on the remains of the chamber they were in. “I do believe the monster is dead, and it appears the creatures have fled. Without their mother node, they will be frantic and finding places to hide, if they adhere to what most swarms do when their leader is dead” 

 

I gritted my teeth.

 

"...Hurts," was all I said, my brevity as a much a product of my circumstances as my preferences at the moment.

 

On 3/15/2022 at 11:36 PM, Leena Kil said:

 

Seeing the fallen Zeris, Leena motioned for Ruin to bring her to cracked and worn dias. She would have explained such a task in detail; but she was focused elsewhere. Channeling the force, Leena allowed it to flow over and through her, reaching out on it to take in their pilot and to feel her wounds. As Ruin set the biomechanical being before her, Leena settled down beside her. The Jedi’s legs were crossed in a lotus as her eyes closed and hands extended. She felt the broken bones, sensed the pain as the shattered edges tore at muscle they caught and grated against one another, pinching nerves and wracking the woman’s physical form. She felt the healed scars where the mechanical limbs had been attached, how they were wired into Zeris’ body a part of her, foreign and yet one and the same. The force washed over them both, Leena used it to try and soothe Zeris’ pain. Her hands gingerly hovered over the woman’s wounds inducing a numbness that spread outwards from the touch of her finger.

 

With her free hand, Leena reached for her belt and removed a small satchel. It had been white at one point, but the battle, the mud, the waters, had soaked it and stained it dark browns and grays. She held it up towards Ruin. It was heavy with moisture and it’s contents, a dozen specialized crystals honed and refined with singular purpose. “Healing Crystals Master Droid. Please, position one atop each mount where a statue once stood. Let them encircle us and then,” she turned to look at the droid with a sudden and unexpected smile, “stand back.”

 

As Ruin took the bag, Leena returned her focus to Zeris. She closed her eyes and drew upon the force, reaching out to the cosmos. She felt the Living Force. She drew on it, calling it towards herself like a wave of energy, of life itself. The crystals in Ruin’s hands glowed, each one a warm beacon of light as it was touched by the force. The force that flowed through the Jedi Healer echoed outward to the stones. As the force was multiplied in power within the Jedi Master, so too was it gathered and multiplied exponentially within each stone until it was full to overflowing. With the placement of the final stone, a web of energies seemed to envelope Leena, Zeris, the dias, and all within. An underwater like haze costed the area as the power of the force became manifest. Untainted by the darkness, it was pure and a white glow radiated to fill the room.

 

At the center of the convergence of force enegies, Leena directed the healing power from the stones. She drew it back into herself before channeling it from her palms directly into Zeris’s wounds. On that force, Leena’s spirit moved as well, reducing her signature in the force and leaving her body a radiating conduit of pure flowing life energy. Leena’s very essence was reduced to that of a speck. Without form, she moved in the force. Finding Zeris’ wounds beneath the skin she moved with the speed of energy, with the skills of a surgeon. Cell by cell she induced each to begin the process of healing, reduced swelling and numbing pain. She did not stop until the entirety of the wound, the bone, the muscles, the nerves, were all acting in concert. As one they were empowered by the force and what would have taken weeks or months began to heal in moments. What would have taken days in a state-of-the-art bacta tank, followed by therapy and medication would be like new, like it had never happened within a matter of hours. Even now the swelling visibly was decreasing and the bone knitting itself back together.

 

I gasped as the light washed over me, the pain already numbed by the Jedi's power succumbing to the unreal glow. Now, I'd been subject to bacta, kolto, and most high-grade anesthetics over the course of my career, but I'd never felt anything like this before. It was like...a warmth. The warmth of an engine on a cold day, slowly working its way into your freezing hands and loosening your stiff fingers. Welcoming, soothing, and straddling that line between relief and pain.

 

I stopped supporting my arm in disbelief, and what should have been mind-numbing agony was only a dull ache, already receding even more. It was as if weeks had passed, the strength of my body returning.

 

On 3/15/2022 at 11:36 PM, Leena Kil said:

Withdrawing back to her own body, Leena continued to channel the growing healing energies into Zeris. With her other hand, Leena slid it about the mercenary’s shoulders and slowly helped her to a seated position. 
 

Leena offered Zeris a warm smile. “Careful my friend. You’ve had quite the day.”

 

”It looks like your mechanical limbs wrote a check your body was unwilling to cash. You may require further augmentation or external armor to avoid such an experience again. Even so, such a toll is not healthy on your body. Rest for a few minutes. You will still need time to heal, but if you are careful, you can probably get up. I’d avoid punching through any more wood for the day though.”

 

Beyond the dome of healing energies, shrouded by the burning limbs of the great fallen tree was a single door, dark, heavy and ornate. It was opposite the entrance. The aura of death seemed to hang heavily about it. There was no telling what lay on the other side; but if one were to open the door and get past the snares set by the crypt’s prior owner, both mechanical and within the force itself, they might find dark and cursed treasures; things of legend.

 

 

"...Thanks boss," I said, giving the Jedi a smile that I felt down to my core.

 

Slowly, carefully, gingerly, I stood up, the servos in my legs faintly whining as I did, quiet reminders of the unnatural parts of my body that remained cold even as the warmth of the Jedi's power spread.

 

I walked up to the door, a treasure vault if I knew anything from those grainy, flickering, cheesy-as-hell holodramas I used to watch as a kid. For a second I was Lord Baltharog in The Quest for Quasar. I don't care what the critics said, that movie was a timeless masterpiece.

 

I realized I maybe shouldn't have stood up so fast.

 

I squatted down in front of the door, rubbing my chin. I ran my metal hands along the frame. Ancient evils or not, machines were still machines, and if there were traps on this thing, then I'd probably find something right...

 

Got it.

 

It wasn't something so obvious as an exposed wire or hidden switch. It was a small seam in the stone around the door, nearly invisible to the naked eye but not to my fingers. It's where the original builder would have cut open the stone to install...something.

 

Still, the Jedi was right. Couldn't punch through this.

 

I frowned for a few seconds, then stood up and gave the seam a solid kick. Even with the Jedi's healing, I was careful not to put my whole body into it, but fortunately I wasn't trying to crack the stone.

 

As I ran my hands over the seam again, I was happy to see that I'd been successfuly. The stone plate had shifted just enough to get my fingers around. A few minutes work, and I'd pried off the old panel and let it drop with a sploosh into the water. Behind it was a coiled cable linked to what looked like some kind of simple pressure switch that would flip once the door opened.

 

Looked like an easy enough fix. I fished around in the water until I pulled out some green chunk of something (probably a cut off bit of one of those plant things) and jammed it behind the pressure switch.

 

"Alright, should be good." I turned. "Hey, droids, think you can get us through this door?"

[TerrorBot]

After Ruin had placed the last crystal and the Jedi commenced with her healing, Ruin had been busy fishing around in the waters. With a happy grunt, the large droid was able to find the dropped Flachette Launcer and the X-Pyre Grenade case. Surprisingly both were still in good condition. The Launcher had a slight dent, but nothing that impeded its function, and the durability of X-Pyre tech was legendary. 

 

The blade on the other hand was a different story.

 

“Cursings and crushings!” Ruin exclaimed, pulling the blade out from under a piece of the tree. It had been completely bent by the mass weight that had fell on it. The black metal was no longer functional enough to vibrate at the cutting speed it was meant for. Fera confirmed it as much, with a slight apology, despite not being responsible for the damage

 

Disgruntled, the droid tossed the piece of metal aside. 

 

Hey, droids, think you can get us through this door?" The pilot interrupted Ruin’s annoyance.  

 

Ruin dashed over to the door and gave it one quick look over. Fera commented about the door’s composition and complimented the pilot for her resourcefulness at disabling the trap. 

 

Ruin didn’t say anything as he proceeded to grab the door near where its hinges would’ve been and tore it straight from the stone and tossed it. 

 

“Enterings and renderings…” Ruin stated and stepped inside. It was a long narrow hallway. Thankfully the waters did not enter this area. Still, Fera clung tightly to her ward’s shoulder. As Zeris had discovered, the place could still have traps. 

 

True enough, Ruin found one. A few steps in, the darkness ahead swirled with smoke-like substances. This gas seemed alive in of itself, cloaking and choking the area. And there was a growling from somewhere. 

 

“Click click…” Ruin stated, cocking his rifle. No sooner had he done so, a shape suddenly pounced from the shadows. It took up nearly the entire space of the narrow hallway, its shoulders pressing against the stone walls and ceiling. Its red skin was black with dried blood, and its yellow eyes from behind its cheek tendrils showed hunger and rage. 

 

The Massai roared and charged forward. 

 

“Boom!” Ruin shouted and opened fired.

 

The pieces of metal struck and passed through the monster harmlessly. It charged, ignoring the fire, claws reaching forward. 

 

“Click, Click Boom!” Ruin shouted again, firing another volley. Again the creature didn’t slow. It was only a few feet away now.

 

Ruin didn’t even speak as he fired one last time and then swung the rifle like a makeshift club at the thing. The two beings, giants in their own rights, would collide and deal this the old-fashioned way. With fists and claws and…

 

Ruin crashed into a wall, denting the stone as the monster passed by harmlessly.  Stunned for a moment, Ruin looked around. 

 

“Huh…” Fera noted. “Interesting. I believe we have just experienced a Force Illusion?”

 

“Grr! No monster! Got to kill Sith!” Ruin grunted and smashed the wall again, this time on purpose. The stone cracked and began to shatter beneath the droid’s blow.

 

The hallway was once again clear. Not realizing how fortunate for the group was with Ruin taking the lead and making the Force mental attack meaningless, the Terror Droid led the way, if not a bit more disgruntled then before.  Even if the Illusion activated again, the two behind the droids would be hopefully be protected from its effects. 

[Leena Kil]

As the healing trance came to a conclusion an aura of peace exuded outwards as the glowing crystals dimmed to a dull warmth. Slowly Leena stood up. She felt rejuvenated. The force itself had charged her on the cellular level to an overwhelming and joyous fullness. With a smile in her face, Leena moved about gathering her healing stones and bagging them.

 

As she finished, Leena hung the sack on her belt. Even in the water, she had a bounce in her step, a natural rebuttal of the dark side as it tried to creep back in. The Jedi Master moved to rejoin her comrades just as the hulking phantom disappeared into the solid stone wall, vanishing as if it never was and so with it the reverberation of deception in the force. Stepping up beside Zeris, Leena smiled, “I guess it was good that Ruin and Fera went first. That could have gotten rather ugly. Shall we go check out what the Sith left in here that was so worthy of traps?” 
 

With the same jovial bounce in her step to keep the machinations of the dark side at bay, Leena moved up towards Ruin. She spoke loudly enough Zeris and the droids could hear her. “Whatever the Sith Lords kept back here was worth setting up a nice little gift for whoever might find their way here. Watch your step. The dark side still swirls all about us. Lets see what we’ve got and then can you fellows nuke it?”

 

Slowing some, Leena followed Ruin and Fera to the end of the corridor and out into a small storage area. The walls were lined with shelves. A few older holocrons sat on them amongst the cracked and withered scrolls and random lightsaber hilts; some dismantled, some not, some clearly taken from fallen Jedi and others Sith in nature. Several swords from rapiers to broadswords hung from hooks about the room. The centerpiece of the room was a large worktable. Heavy and worn with gouges and scrapes amongst the dismantled holocron, lightsabers and bits of machinery. Pieces of evil dark metal poked up out of buckets beneath the table. Some of them had been forged into cybernetic components that dotted the table, a work in progress.

 

Gingerly stepping around Ruin, Leena took the room in with a surgeon’s eye. “It seems like this is some sort of workshop. Dismantled sabers, stolen sabers, a holocron in progress, cybernetic bits. Someone left intending on returning. Wonder why whoever it was never returned? Ruin, could you grab the holocron on the table?” Leena began eyeballing the shelves, careful to avoid touching anything unsure of what Sith magics might be guarding them still. She moved along until she came to a stack of lightsabers in a pyramid along the top shelf. She was drawn to them. In part, she was missing her own saber, lost the the chaos of Lehon, in part because of the residual lightness of the force carried in their crystals, filled from their original owners.

 

With her hand hovering over the stack of weapons, Leena could feel the dark side. It tingled like a spark, their residual presence a warning. Carefully, Leena’s fingers twitched. Grabbing her satchel that contained the still glowing healing stones, Leena scooped the entire stack of 21 sabers, each unique, some Jedi, some Sith, into the bag. The force pulsated as the darkness collided with the light. For the moment, at least, the traps were rendered inert until Leena could disarm the snares.

 

Once the others were done, Leena met the rest of her traveling companions at the door. “This place needs to be destroyed. What do you have that might do that?” She looked from Ruin to Zeris and back. “The sooner we get off this planet the better. The rest of the galaxy is in turmoil as well.”

[Zeris Mons]

I eyed the chamber doubtfully as I walked in. I still half expected a stone slab to drop over the entrance and for water to start pouring in. Too many holovids I guess.

 

Then I saw the worktable, and a small smile crept over my face. Treasure...boring. Mechanical clutter...my kind of thing.

 

I started with the components. It seemed to be a fairly eclectic assortment, the kind you'd find on any serious tinkerer's workbench. Actuators, regulator chips, transformers, a full suite of diagnostic sensors... All good stuff, and I began picking out anything I could fit in my pockets. Then I noticed a cluster of finger-sized metal cylinders that I'd originally taken to be run-of-the-mill power converters. Each one was labeled on the side with "Industrial Automaton", a logo so universal that I doubted there was a soul on a civilized planet that wouldn't recognize the droid manufacturing megacorp. The thing was though, I knew that IA outsourced their power converters to one of their subsidiary branches. They didnt make any in house as far as I knew.

 

I picked one of the little cylinders up, and one of my metal fingers brushed a notch on the side. Squinting at it, I recognized it as a slot for a basic input module. I fished in my pockets for a credstick and stuck it in the slot, wiggling it around until I got results.

 

With a loud *crack*, the cylinder extended to double its length, its casing telescoping beautifully without so much as a scratch line marring the seal coat. I nearly dropped it as the little device almost jerked right out of my hand on momentum alone.

 

My eyes widened. These were pneumatic cylinders! But...the power, and in something so compact! This had to be cutting edge, probably components for some upcoming droid model. How long had these been down here? How had whoever owned this place gotten them?!

 

My face lit up like a kid on Life Day as the ramifications ran through my mind. With these, I could rebuild my arms and legs with a telescoping surprise. Just a thought from me, and *BAM*! Fist unexpectedly 6" further into your face then expected... Oh man, I almost drooled as I imagined *jumping* with these things installed.

 

Humming, I gathered up as many of the little devices as I thought I could use (which still left plenty if that droid duo wanted any), and bundled up some spars of that weird, dark metal for good measure. I had no clue what it was, but if the owner of this vault had as good taste in materials as he did in gearhead stuff, then I'd gladly liberate a few pounds of his scrap.

 

I gave the droids and the boss a nod as I headed back to the ship, grabbing my spear on the way.

 

Overall...

 

A good day

 

______________________

 

The Crate whined as it started up, but settled into a low, content rumble as the engines came fully online. The old girl deserved a metric ton of pampering after all she'd went through. The stampede, not to mention the army of plant monsters, had dented and bashed her up so badly that I couldnt help but pat her console reassuringly as the flight indicator lights flickered on. She might be an ancient, rusty old bucket, but dang it she was mine, and after getting me and my passengers through a death-defying hyperspace trip and surviving a mythical hell world, she was going to have every dent smoothed and every system tuned until she was purring like a racing fighter.

 

"Taking off," I called back to the others, and with a faint lurch, The Crate turned its nose skyward and left this world of monsters and nightmares behind.

[TerrorBot]

Ruin seemed to enter the chamber with an aura of uncaring. A few shelves he turned over, as if looking at what they held was a horrible sin, and then continued to search the room. 

 

“Sith. Got to find Sith. Kill Sith yes? Kill all Sith. Rip and tear and smash and bash and…” Ruin muttered the entire time, overturning a table and knocking an assortment of tools and gear over.

 

 While the other two searched the chamber, Ruin found himself at one corner of the room. Even the Terror droid had to stop his destruction at the sight of what was set aside for obviously unspecified future use. 

 

The Terror droid holstered his own weapon and reached out and grabbed the weapon by its handle. It was a long thing. Easily 5 feet long, the metal rod connected to a large weighted head.

 

Ruin held the weapon with both hands, pulling it up and down. It was heavy. Very heavy. Heavy enough that a Gamorean would have struggled to use the weapon well. The metal was a mixture of several kinds, including Phrik and some kind of alchemised alloy. 

 

“Sith steel?” Ruin pondered out loud. 

 

As if it wasn’t enough, Ruin grabbed the handle of the hammer and twisted it. Somewhere inside, a power cell clicked on, whirring to life. Red energies crackled around the hammer’s head and down its handle, bruning any organic flesh that may have been touching: Sith technology, repulsor and shockwave generators, and a good old fashioned kyber crystal made this weapon truly one-of-a-kind. 

 

“Smash and bash” Ruin chuckled. The others had left the room. They had what they wanted. Fera made an indication that they should too. 

 

“Leave, find more sith. Kill all sith. But first, kill all Sith here!” Ruin shouted. At this, Ruin took the hammer and swung it towards one of the room’s supporting pillars. The moment the hammer’s head connected with the pillar, the pillar exploded into fragments.   The entire chamber began to shake as dust and pebbles started falling. 

 

“Time to go!” Ruin shouted, taking off after the others. Hopefully everyone could get out before the cave-in.

[Leena Kil]

With the booby-trapped sabers safely contained within a stasis field of the living force, Leena hurried after Zeris splashing back out into the main chamber before pausing to look back at the droids. The thunderous clap of Ruin’s hammer rang like a destructive bell signaling the end of the round. It was time to go.

 

Leaping, Leena flipped once, twice, over the fallen tree, splashing down within sight of the flooded walkway. With an application of force speed, Leena chased after Zeris out the door as the cavern began to rumble and shake. She caught up and ran beside the pilot, scurrying aboard the battered craft.

 

As the engines began to whine and power up, the ship shook. Leena kept watch the way they had come watching for Ruin and Fera. Minutes later, as the aged Republic craft began to alight they came into view; running towards the ship and leaping aboard with a crash just before Zeris angled the ship towards the sky. The landing ramp squeaked as the internal gesrs ground against the momentum, the ship accelerating upwards as the ground below began to fracture and fragment. The entire chambered forge and storerooms collapsed in on itself, the results of Ruin’s demolitions and the tumbling of the massive mother tree no longer supporting the main forge/altar chamber.  
 

Falling to the floor, Leena slid across the decking. The planet’s gravity pulled on the unsecured passengers as the vessel sought to break it’s grasp. Grabbing a cargo web Leena broke her plummet before she crashed into the aft wall.

 

There was still plenty of danger ahead of them. They had to get away from the planet, the dark tendrils of the force willing to do anything to keep them from escaping. Beyond that, ever shifting black holes and changing hyper routes would put Zeris’ skills to the test yet again. Yet, Leena felt a sense of relief, the ragtag group having severed the darkness that had plagued her dreams.

 

The warmth of the light side of the force radiated from the woman’s heart and soul enveloping the craft in a cocoon of protective energy to ward away the worst of the dark tendrils; even as she drifted off to sleep, a deep sleep, a sleep that had eluded her for weeks.