Ask A Malicious Chord

[Jasnah Atreides]

Malachor, Site of the Scourge​

Over a century ago, Darth Vader had faced off against his former padawan on Malachor, an event that had been recorded in the archives on Mustafar, in Vader's own fortress. That recording, along with a great deal more, had been lost to the Sith for decades, till the Sith Master Veles had reclaimed Mustafar and brought it back under the control of the Sith. Stationed on Mustafar with little in the way of responsibilities, Jasnah had spent a great deal of time in the archives, and during one of her late night visits had stumbled upon a recording of Vader's visit to Malachor, which also happened to contain hints to its location.

It hadn't taken her long to follow the trail to the planet itself, though it had taken a great deal of time to get the help she needed to explore the planet, and discover the secrets it held. She knew her limits, had no issues with admitting that she was not strong enough to face a world that had challenged the likes of Vader, Maul, and even Palpatine. So she had been biding her time, till she finally found someone willing to accompany her on this little adventure.

Having landed on the planet's barren surface, she could feel the Dark Side all around her, in the dust that rose with each step, in the very air they were breathing, and pulsing strongly from somewhere deep below them. Rumors said the temple was somewhere underground, all they had to do was find a way to get there. Stopping before a petrified body, fascinated by the horrified expression frozen on its face, she looked back to give the Sith Master who accompanied her a glance.

"So much power," she whispered as she observed the sea of petrified bodies all around them, taking in the inevitability of it all, "lost forever."

 

[Darth Draugr]

Few planets were rich in Sith history like Malachor was. The very presence on the planet becomes a challenge to even the greatest of Sith. Draugr had been proposed the search for a temple under the planet's surface. Something like this has always been on his mind, much like a bucket list of sorts. Gladly he accepted this opportunity and had gone with Jasnah to see what they could uncover with the Temples hidden under the surface. As they made their way to an entry to go below surface level, Draugr took a look at just the small amount of remains were on the top. "Yes.. so much."

He didn't have a care in the world about the remains, moreso just wanting to see the temple for himself. He had a selfish reason to come. To prove to himself as much as the Order that he is destined to be the most powerful of all. To show that he is destined to be even stronger than that of Darth Raze. To show he was above the Sith standard.

"Here.. a crack in the ground." Draugr said as he pointed it out to Jasnah before coiling the force within him and hitting it with a force blast breaking it apart and sending the pieces delving down into the pit crash landed on the grounds below. "It's a far drop. We'll need a way down. If all else fails, we'll use the ship to blast a hole and fly down." The Zabrak knew it;d be risky to bust through with the ship and could damage something valuable below, but without a proper entry port things weren't looking up.

"Unless you had an idea?"

@Wit

 

[Jasnah Atreides]

Jasnah moved towards Draugr as he mentioned the crack, reaching him after he had blasted a hole for them to access the ruins below. It was indeed a long way down, but she was just as hesitant as Draugr to blast their way down with the ship, Force only knew what sort of damage that could do. They simply did not know what waited below, or what sort of condition it was in.

Thinking for a moment, she excused herself and ran back to the ship, returning moments latter with a handful of glow rods. She stepped up to the opening Draugr had opened up, and one by one started dropping the activated glow rods down before using the Force to start flinging them in random directions. The first few were duds, but with the fourth throw she hit the jackpot, and the glow rod flew past what looked like a tower, not too far from the opening and in seemingly good enough shape that they could use it to climb down to the cave floor.

She tossed the rest and aimed them for the tower, before getting back to her feet. "Well," she gave Draugr a look and a smile as she prepared to jump, "here goes nothing." She drew on the Force to strengthen herself and jumped down, angling herself towards the tower and just barely managed to catch on to a protruding edge. Her body slammed into the sides of the tower, almost knocking the breath out of her, but she managed to hold on. Pulling herself up, she climbed up to the top of the tower, noticing an opening that seemed to lead into the tower, and turned back to call out to Draugr.

"Come on," she shouted through cupped hands, "it's pretty stable."

@Scoobert

 

[Darth Draugr]

Looking into what seemed an abyss, it was hard to distinguish any sorts of buildings below. The idea of the ship blasting was turned down thankfully as Jasnah had brought out glow sticks and began tossing them down looking for any buildings closer to the surface. It was a clever idea, and Draugr had to give her credit. The quick thinking was keen. Once on the glow sticks hit the building, Draugr took notice of where it was. "I suppose that's out best bet."

It had seemed that Jasnah agreed as she had jumped down and landing on the building top. It was what Draugr was going to suggest, but it clearly had no need. He appreciated that she didn't waste time. Now it was Draugr's turn to make the jump. He focused the force into his jump as he made it to project himself onto the building next to Jasnah. When he landed, a hard thud noise would come from his feet slamming onto the rooftop. Dust flying into the air around them. The sound had a slight metallic sound from his prosthetic left leg.

"Alright..." Draugr began panning the rooftop hardly able to see. He picked up some the glow sticks with the force and moved them around on the rooftop looking for a sunroof window, or even a door to enter the building for an easy way down. A few had hit a wall approximately twenty feet away, and as he waved it in front of it, he noticed what seemed to be a reflective material. Like glass. "Over there. Looks like a window of sorts. We could probably break in and find our way down." The Zabraak looked to Jasnah for a moment before giving her a nod.

With that he went forward to inspect the window and see what the best way in was. As he elbowed the window and shattered it open. Using his metallic hand, he would clear the bottom of any protruding glass that could cut or stab one of the Sith and then look back to Jasnah. "Ladies first."

@Wit

 

[Jasnah Atreides]

Jasnah gave Draugr a small curtesy at his comment and stepped through the window, holding up a glowrod that she had scooped up along the way to illuminate the interior of the tower. Spotting another door, she walked towards it and managed to get it open after a few vigorous tugs.

"Stairs," she called back to Draugr, glad that they did not have to do more jumping to get down the tower, "mostly intact from the looks of it." Holding the glowrod before her, she began walking down the stairs, taking each step carefully to avoid slipping through a lose floorboard or a rotten panel and go crashing to her death.

"If you don't mind me asking," she asked Draugr as the descent continued, filling the silence with small talk, "you were on Thyferra, right? They say it was you who saved the ISC president on Thyferra, and the Jedi simply took the claim for your efforts. Is that true?"

She had seen the recordings, but there were holes in what it had caught, and she hadn't been able to piece together all of it. For all she knew it might as well be a baseless rumor spread by the Sith member of the Emryc Fan Club, probably a tough pill for them to swallow that their hero was saved by a Jedi. But she wanted to know, because the Jedi in question was a Councilor, and the recent cease-fire meant that their paths might some day cross. And if that happened, the truth was ammunition she could do wonders with. And getting Draugr's thoughts on the matter might have its own uses, so there was no harm in asking.

@Scoobert

 

[Darth Draugr]

As the two Sith had made their way into the building, the Champion Jasnah had found a set of stairs fairly quick. When she had tested the steps, they seemed to hold. Though her stature much smaller than that of the Zabrak, so he had taken each step with caution. Though on the exterior he was calm as ever. She had spoken up and mentioned Thyferra. What a dreadful nightmare that was.

"That Jedi was foolish in what he did. I was the one who made the effort to kill the bug queen. Thorne had been lucky to live as long as he did. The same for that pathetic Jedi." Draugr spoke with strength and a hint of anger. "The Jedi will take credit for saving Thorne.. but I had prevented the joining of more people than the ISC President. I do not care for the credit of one man. I just want the bugs dead." Taking credit for saving a man's life wasn't on his mind, he would have rather had every bug die and if the Jedi had died in his efforts it would have been ideal.

"The Jedi will forever be known as the ISC's savior.. but it was I who was strong enough to weaken the thing everyone feared." It was true.. at least as far as he knew. The bug was stabbed by him. Without that, the shot that killed her wouldn't have as much effect, nor would she have been as susceptible to death.

As they made it closer and closer to the bottom floor Draugr would use the force to open the door to exit the building to the outside. To see every person shaped ashmount. To see the abandoned buildings. To see Malachor's abandoned subsurface. The Sith master took a deep breath of the air before speaking..

"What do you wish to obtain in the Sith?"

@Wit

 

[Jasnah Atreides]

Jasnah walked as Draugr spoke, listening to his words, coming to understand the man just a little bit better than she had moments earlier because of it. As they reached the foot of the stairs, standing before a door that Draugr opened with the Force, she turned and gave him a nod. Not just as thanks, but as understanding and acknowledgement of the words he had shared. Once out the door, she took in her first sight of Malachor's subsurface, letting a slight smile touch her lips at being a step closer to her goal.

"Your actions on Thyferra, they displayed a strength that I might never posses," she spoke after a few moments, having no issues with making that admission, for only by acknowledging a weakness could you overcome it, "but that is not the only sort of strength in the Galaxy. There is a strength in words, in presenting things as you want them to be instead of what they are."

She took a few steps forward, towards the frozen form of an ancient being, if she had been Jedi or Sith Jasnah could not tell. In death, they were all the same, losers. "The Jedi have much to celebrate right now, all because a man whose life you saved perceived things differently than they were. The Jedi did not claim that victory, they got lucky. A hint here, a push there, and the Galaxy might be singing your praises right now." She bent down and picked up a ancient blade lying at the frozen figure foot, clicking the activation switch to no effect. Having ecpected nothing different, she put it away in a pocket in her robes before getting back to her feet.

"That is what I wish to obtain, to be able to paint a picture and have the Galaxy believe it," she turned back and gave him a look, an intensity born out of sharing her truth evident on her face, "not because its true, but because I made them believe it was."

At that moment she noticed something behind him, something in the distance, and identified it as a structure she had seen in one of the recordings on Mustafar.

"This way."

@Scoobert

 

[Darth Draugr]

Draugr listened as Jasnah spoke. She had made valid points that with the spinning of words all things Draugr could want could wind up being his. The art of a silver tongue could do wonders for anyone, but that would only be the case if the one speaking wishes to speak. The Zabrak turned to Jasnah and answered in return, "You make fine points.. but I care little for politics. I prefer letting my actions speak for me. The Jedi getting this small victory is not a concern of mine. We will remind them where they stand soon enough.. for now Killiks are the issue."

When he finished he caught notice of where Jasnah had set her eyes. When she began leading the way the Zabrak would follow and began taking note of what all was around him. Jasnah attempting to activate one of the ancient sabers was enough to note almost anything here was nonfunctional. The Zabrak would take a relic from the planet himself, once there was one worth finding.

"You have any recollection of this building?" Draugr had been trying to remember just from his buff in history but even he had no idea of what this structures meaning was or even what it was itself as of right now. Perhaps when he gets closer he will have it unlock in his memory. For now he awaited the arrival of what it could be. "Lead the way Champion Jasnah."

With that, he followed.

@Wit

 

[Jasnah Atreides]

"I," she replied as she continued walking towards a series of ruined pillar like structures, trying to match the ruined facade with what it might have once been, "I think I do." Her steps changed to a jog as realization dawned, and she ran past the first of the pillars before coming to a stop before the most intact one.

"This is in the old tongue," she whispered with a reverence that she hadn't expected, hands tracing the writing engraved onto the obelisk like structure, "a message, instructions." She pressed her palm against the writing, channeling the Force through it. Almost at once the writing began to glow, and crimson energy began spreading through the surface of the obelisk. In the distance another beacon pulsed, a thin beam of crimson light shooting into the air.

"The beacons are lit." She turned to Draugr, a triumphant smile on her lips. "That's our bearing, that light marks what remains of the Temple." The Jedi that Lord Vader had faced here and messed with the holocron that powered the Temple, making the whole structure implode. It was damaged, badly so, but not entirely destroyed. But now they knew the location of the ruins.

Just then a sound pierced the quiet perpetual dusk that covered the subworld, a whispered screech that chilled Jasnah to her core and wiped the smile right off her face. It seemed they were not alone down here, and she had woken whatever it was by lightning the beacon.

"That can't be good," she said as the sound repeated, closer, "we should move."

@Scoobert

 

[Darth Draugr]

Draugr watched as Jasnah began igniting the beacons. It was quite the sight. The crimson beams glooming in the air. He looked at the writings as he had began to read what was written. His long hours studying in the libraries finally paying off as he was able to make some of the words. Mostly just the Sith Code but some were old mottos of the ancients that had been here when it was built. He had smirked as he read a few and continued forward.

"Well done.. let us go see what we can gather." The Sith Master had taken maybe a couple steps before the sounds began. Looking back to Jasnah he had a slightly irritated expression. Jasnah had spoke up and Draugr fired back with a statement of his own, "It's Malachor.. what is ever good here?" He began running forward to the temple. As he had began climbing the stair he could see the damages done, it seemed it had been messed up pretty bad by the Jedi that Vader fought, luckily these steps had good foundation and were not yet ruined.

Arriving at a platform that led to an entry point, Draugr would begin using the force at his strongest to lift the heavy door blocking their path, it had barely lifted.. High enough for someone to crawl under but that was a risk to take if they chose. The Sith Master could hear the sound pulses growing more frequent. Why did they go touching stuff for no reason? Oh well, they're here now.

@Wit

 

[Jasnah Atreides]

Chuckling humorlessly at Draugr's comment, Jasnah moved with urgency, falling into step with the Sith Master as they ran towards the temple. Once up the stairs, she was thinking of helping Draugr open up the door further, but then she heard the sounds once more, much closer this time. Acting on an impulse, she ran towards the door and dropped to the floor at the last moment so that her momentum took her sliding under the door. Using a hand to drag along the floor and stop herself, she quickly got up on her knees and turned so that she was facing the entrance

Drawing on the Force, both hands raised before her, she caught the door, and held it up. Under more strain than Draugr had been with the same task, she held on nonetheless, and shouted at him through gritted teeth. "Now! I'll hold it up!" And she would barely stay true to that promise, as the door would come slamming down just after Draugr had crossed the threshold, provided her followed her in.

The duo would find themselves in a dark chamber, able to see almost nothing around them, not even their own hands held up before them. Jasnah reached for another glowrod, her last one, and held it up before her, even as scratching sounds could be heard from the other side of the heavy door they had just crossed. Before them lay a large room, at least large enough that they could not see the ends by the weak light of the glowrod.

Turning to Draugr, she held up the glow rod to the side so that he could also see all the nothingness around them. "Got a good feeling about which way to go, or should we pick at random?"

@Scoobert

 

[Darth Draugr]

Draugr watched as Jasnah made it underneath and to the otherside of the door. When she grabbed hold of it the two of them lifted it slightly higher, giving Draugr a little more space to work with. When she let him know he could release the door, the Zabrak immediately began sprinting towards the entrance and picked up enough speed to slide under all the way through like a BatBall player.

Once he was on the other side, he stood and spoke up "I already hate this." Then looking forward he couldn't see anything, nor with the glow rod activated. All there was in front of them was pitch black darkness. Trying to feel in the Force for the direction they should ensue but all he could feel was the dark side's energy all around. There wasn't a clear cut way forward. "Hmm.. I can't get a grip on which way to go.."

Draugr grabbed a glow rod and threw it out to see if there was a wall or door or something. As it was flung it seemed the hallway just kept forward. The Dathomiri looked at Jasnah and then nodded towards the pathway. "Looks like forward is the way." Draugr began making his way forward and hoped they could find something worth while.

@Wit