Ask A Pathway to Many Abilities

[Kaldar]

Their fight was quick and violent, not exactly filled with grace, but these fights rarely were. Still, Vossari seemed to be no slouch in his execution, and Kaldar certainly wasn't sleeping on the job.

Vossari restrained one of the creatures, and Kaldar executed a brutal, downward cut that split the creature's head cleanly in two. Voss lined them up and Kaldar knocked them down. Not a bad combination.

Voss took off the second creature's tail and Kaldar pivoted as the hissing, acidic tail bit flew by and Kaldar swung again, this time striking in the upper chest and sending the bony monster to the floor.

When the silence descended and all that was left was the sound of their lightsabers, Kaldar found himself breathing heavily, trying to catch his breath.

Nice work, he said, deciding that he liked the Vossari the more time he spent with him. Competent, quick witted, and not stupid. Good traits in a Sith and often times exceedingly rare.

As they made it out of the final room of the gauntlet, Kaldar could honestly say that this definitely wasn't what he expected would be down here.

Well, kriff. Nope, he said, but he was relentless. They'd made it this far, and he would have what he came here for.

No time to press on like the present, though, he said, sliding down a steep incline and approaching the massive triangle that stretched up toward the high ceiling. He slid his hand along the outside and it was smooth, somehow after all these years not even covered in dirt. That couldn't be natural.

I think there's some sort of protective barrier on it, he said. It was able to be touched, but nothing seemed to stick so to speak.

Read anything like this before? Thoughts on opening it up? he asked, his mind already starting to churn through possibilities.

 

[Vossari Khaldun]

"Nice work," wasn't a phrase Vossari heard often. He took the compliment as a badge of pride.

"Not exactly the same..." Magicks were so painfully personalized or limited by organization and geography. The Nightsisters had their own, the Jedi, the Matukai, the pureblood Sith, the Tundian Sorcerers...There were as many different ways to connect to the Force as there were Force users. Yet, there was a certainly familiarity between these magicks with those he had studied on Tund, and the powers he had seen Azar wield.

"There has to be an energy source for it. For all of this." Blood sorcery - could that be it? Vossari had known Azar to be able to tap into the power of his own bloodline, draw in the ancestors of the Sith as a source of power. Could that be it? A giant, lotus-eating machine, slowly powered by the souls of the deceased Kressh sorcerers? Or perhaps, runes powered by the nexus itself?

Vossari touched the protective sheen and his fingers tingled with energy. Trying to rush or overload the barrier felt like a one-way ticket to certain death. Vossari's fingered around the trail of the base of the ziggurat, searching for a sign of anything. Vossari closed his eyes and opened himself to the Force. What was blind to the eye revealed to the Force - in the dim light of Force Sight, Vossari could see the echoes of long-faded Ur-Kittat runes stretching across the structure.

The runes ran from the structure along the floors, trailing, spiraling, towards the four different corners of the pyramid. Four power sources. Four bases. Vossari opened his eyes again to Kaldar. "I think we're getting somewhere. What do you think feeds an engine like this?"

Vossari followed the structure towards the first corner of the structure. A small, crypt-like structure sat there, emanating with power. As they approached, Kaldar would hear the whispers of long-dead Sith in an ancient tongue. Though he could not understand Ur-Kittat, he would sense their intention. There was a promise of power.

@Phoenix

 

[Kaldar]

Death, kaldar said without even missing a beat in answer to his question. these things always seemed to be powered by death.

was he right? who knew? he didn't, but it seemed like that was a sith thing. either way, vossari seemed to have ideas about how this all worked, and kaldar tried to think back to what he had read in the libraries on fortress hoth.

ugh, why's it always a crypt? kaldar groaned quietly but took the plunge anyway. there was a certain allure to this place, but for that very reason, he didn't trust it.

it screamed "venus fly trap" to him: pretty on the outside but deadly on the inside.

keep your wits about you, he warned as they descended within.

@Fine Dining Set

 

[Vossari Khaldun]

Turning death into an engine or becoming an engine of death were the primary two professions of the Sith, that part was true. As Vossari and Kaldar descended into the crypt, the swirling spirals of spiritual magic surrounded an open coffin. In the coffin lay an ancient, wizened corpse; drained of fluid and face covered in a death mask, in the traditional. His name was scrawled in Ur-Kittat - also preserved by the barrier runes that held this puzzle together. The text was perfectly clear, and the words rather familiar, so Vossari could make it out.

GNOS THE ELDER - ARCHIVIST OF ATHISS​

In his withered hands sat an ancient tome. Perfectly preserved, along with its master. Along with this whole room, this entire cave system. There had to be something incredibly important to the Athiss - and what was it that the priestly, magical class would value above all else? Why would an archivist be buried outside of what seemed to be a giant tomb? It was all starting to come together.

His eyes shot back to the ziggurat. "I think it's a library." He said, eyes narrowing as the pieces fell into place. "The Kissai are known for their great knowledge in the arcane." He thought of his princess, the heir to the Kressh: Azar. "It would explain it all. It's a library that they want only Sith to enter." And only Force users, it seemed, at that. The first two challenges had been physical - perhaps this one was mental.

It could be an archive, or something. At the very least, Vossari surmised that it wasn't a super weapon or giant death nuke down here. There wasn't an obvious way to deactivate the runes, and Vossari wanted to be exceedingly gentle so as to preserve this treasure trove of information.

"It's like a closed field of energy, yeah?" He didn't understand how electricity really worked, but he assumed that this was a general principle. "Maybe if we add some of our own - inject the Dark Side into this energy field - we can short circuit it." Vossari shrugged, curious to hear Kaldar's feeling on it. He stretched out his hand, to inject energy into the field of power surrounding the tomb.

@Phoenix

 

[Kaldar]

Kaldar pondered what Vossari said about it being a library but didn't say anything, pondering and turning over the implications of that. If it was a library, that meant it had information that Kaldar could use. It also meant that the Tempestian Sith would want it for themselves, and Kaldar would lose access. At least if they ever found out about it...

The implications of that lingered in Kaldar's mind for a moment as well as the way to get out. He had to imagine that he wouldn't have to brave the whole gauntlet again. There was almost certainly another path out, right? A way that could only be opened from the inside.

His eyes swept over the building itself as Vossari suggested that they had to overload the circuit. Somehow, it didn't feel right to him. If it was mental, then it was mental, right? Not just about sheer power and brute force.

Hold on, he said, eyes flicking around. What if there's something here we can use to channel the energy? he asked. Maybe even that tome, he said, flicking a thumb back toward the dead guy.

Sure, maybe we could brute force our way through it, but if it really is a test of the mind, then what better way to test the mind than with books, he said.

@Fine Dining Set

 

[Vossari Khaldun]

Vossari stopped at Kaldar's hesitation. It was a good point. Voss was loathe to disrupt the peaceful slumber of the Sith mummy, his dried claws clutching tightly to the book he held. It felt profane, to him, to disrupt too far the sleeping dead. Yet, he knew of the powers of the Dark Side over life and death itself: Binding spirits, necromancy, and the drive towards immortality were perhaps the most interesting things in their Order to Voss. Perhaps this moment would resolve that conflict. Perhaps the knowledge stored in the libraries would teach him, finally, his purpose within the Order.

He stretched out his hand towards the corpse, gently tugging the tome in his hand with the Force. He didn't want to damage the corpse, so he moved slowly, deliberately. The book, eventually, slid through pages opening as the tome floated before Vossari. It was a dense treatise of Sith knowledge, combined with an everyday journal. No wonder it wasn't published. It was so full of personal rubbish - unfinished letters to lovers, notes about the growth of his regime, and his personal details on the tomb they were sitting in.

Ah, here was the good stuff. Diagrams, roughly sketched, showed the chambers of the massive tomb. Top-down drawings and schema showed the functioning of each of the chambers, the gauntlet, and the interlocking network of tunnels that all led here - to the central schema. Vossari flipped through and through, almost obsessed with the detailed drawings as they played out before them. Even the construction of the tomb was a testament to the dark side, as each chamber and tunnel formed a long shape that, when looked at collectively from the top-down, formed a rune. The ziggurat sat at the center.

"You're right - it's a ritual. The whole complex. But I don't understand it..." He passed the book to Kaldar as he gestured out of the crypt. "Let's get another look at this whole complex. Maybe see if the other crypts have tomes..." Maybe, if all three of the books were together, something magical would happen?

"Or we could just leave. It could be, we activate this tomb and these geezers steal our souls and take over our bodies or something." It seemed like a Sith thing to do. Vossari would be happy just to have a datapad copy of the tome they now held. Nothing wrong with a small victory, in his book.

@Phoenix

 

[Kaldar]

Kaldar didn't seem too eager to just pack up and leave with no prize at all, and he half expected that Vossari just wanted to come back with his own friends to exploit it for himself. No, Kaldar wasn't going to be doing that.

Even if we wanted to leave, we don't have a way out, he reminded Vossari, though that was only a half-truth. Kaldar had thought ahead before climbing into the depths of the gauntlet, but the acolyte didn't need to know that.

Come on, let's get this going, he said, starting to follow the instructions laid down in the book. If it were about capturing souls, he was pretty sure it wouldn't have been written in the guy's book. Sure, maybe he planned ahead for it before he died... but why?

He wandered around the room, setting up the ritual before taking a seat facing Vossari and beginning to chant the words inscribed in the book. It would, once again, take two of them to pull it off, but Kaldar was confident they could manage together.

Slowly, the words echoed through the Force and a rumbling of stone on stone began as pieces of the pyramid began to move and shift, the sensation in the Force unmistakable even if Kaldar didn't know what was happening.

@Fine Dining Set

 

[Vossari Khaldun]

Vossari sighed at Kaldar's request. It felt like a lucky turn to survive the death trap at all - turning home with a valuable, ancient tome would be a good end to an adventure, in his book. But he really wasn't in a position to protest, and he imagined as difficult as it was to enter alone, it would be equally difficult to leave alone. Vossari took position opposite Kaldar, reciting the Ur-Kittat incantations as he poured his energy into the runes beneath them.

Kaldar would feel this surge of energy as the arcane runes on the ground came to life, blue and yellow smoke rising to the air. The smell of brimstone took to the air around them, heavy and thick even through the environmental filters of Vossari's helmet. The essence of the Dark Side that loomed in this place reached into both of their minds, not in an attempt to control but to understand. The room around them plunged into an inky darkness, so palpable that Vossari could no longer see his own hands. A light, like a gray candle, hung before Kaldar's face.

A voice whispered in Kaldar's mind, its sound not unlike his own. However, it echoed, reverberating with a bass deeper, more ancient, yet with latent curiosity.

You have done well to arrive here. What comes next, I wonder? Perhaps the past provides a window.

Scenes from Kaldar's past flooded into memory, into focus, as if he was reliving them. Striking down a Jedi. Stealing a shard of the crown of Palpatine. The Conquest of Onderon itself. There were no questions, merely momentary flashes of memory, curiously absorbed by the spirit now sharing Kaldar's mind.

Great ambition. Cunning tactics. Palpable vision. Perhaps, domination is in your future. The power to command minds.

Eventually, after what felt like hours but was likely mere moments, the darkness subsided and the pair were returned to the ritual. The apex of the Ziggurat unfolded itself, revealing an obsidian and golden holocron that floated down to Kaldar's hands. The whisper returned one last time.

Use this power. Defy death itself. Now, you and your...apprentice. Begone.

Vossari looked on as the object seemingly chose Kaldar. He groaned. "What, no consolation pri-" His oh-so-witty retort was cut off by a heavy rumbling. With the top of the pyramid removed, a beam of blood-red light illuminated the ceiling tiles around them. The artistic scope of this facility came into sight - as a massive, intricately patterned celestial calendar came to life before them. Light reflected from tiles, creating holographic visages of ancient Sith slaying massive beasts, wielding ancient sorceries, and using this building itself. At the center was a relief of a Sith, with one hand raised, standing atop a throng of worshippers and beasts. The essence of command.

The central tiles of ceiling began to rotate away from each other, pouring in the light of the desert above to this ancient tomb. It contrasted sharply with the dark, red illumination of the pyramids, the ancient hovel of death giving way to the life of the outside world. From this opening, red hot sand began to pour into the chamber. Openings on the walls and ceilings, too, widened as sand poured in. Within moments, their boots were covered in it. The tomb was swallowing itself in the desert.

"Shit, we gotta get out of here." Vossari eyed a thick vine that they could climb to the higher levels of the antechamber. From there, they could strategize an escape. Voss leapt towards it.

@Phoenix

 

[Kaldar]

Kaldar felt the power of this place seeming to flow into his mind, and he let it come in some small way, limiting as best he could the power of the outsider pressing in.

What next indeed, Kaldar said to the voice. He didn't know if Vossari had heard the voice, but he didn't really care. The answer Kaldar gave was as ambiguous as ever.

The voice told him of his potential future, and then it told him to begone. As if to emphasize the point, the place began to fall apart and threaten to crush them even as a door presented itself and... visions played. He wasn't sure if the visions were real or in his mind again, but he had no time to ponder it.

Kaldar wasn't going to argue with him that it was time to leave, and he darted for the exit as he pocketed the holocron.

Come on, I see an exit! he shouted, confident that Vossari could keep up but keeping the eyes in the back of his head going just in case Vossari got any ideas...

He burst out into the sunlight outside, continuing on for nearly another 100 meters before coming to a stop, watching the sand and dirt falling in on the tomb.

Kriff, that's a shame, he grumbled, though he couldn't complain. He'd gotten what he came for, though it remained to be seen whether his new "friend" would decide to try to throw down for it.

 

[Vossari Khaldun]

Vossari clung tightly to the ritualistic tome as they escaped. By the time they were out of the tomb, the exit sealed surreptitiously, retreating back into the desert as if it had never existed. All that was left was the memory. And, perhaps, the fancy new holocron that Kaldar held.

Vossari put his fist out for a bump. “Good shit, dude. I thought for sure we were gonna die when everything went dark.” He was disappointed that the tomb had sealed itself again, but returning here felt like walking through history itself. It was exciting to have been a part of. Vossari flipped through the book in his hand, his helmet’s camera capturing each page as he did. Perfect. This would be an excellent gift.

“A shame there aren’t more Sith out here. This whole planet is probably filled with this type of history.” Perhaps the knowledge that they gained today would serve as a foothold for future endeavors. Only time would tell.

Vossari gave a small salute as he began to walk off, unceremoniously. “I’m thirsty as hell, man.” Way too tired to fight or argue, at any rate. “I’m gonna go get some water, back on my ship.”

This had been an effective mission, and while Vossari didn’t necessarily trust Kaldar, he was impressed by the Sith Master’s cunning and knowledge. It reminded him of Azar. “I know I said it before, but name’s Vossari. Hit me up on Umbara if you ever need to…uh…spelunk again.” And with that, Vossari headed off to the spaceport, tome in hand.

/thread exit

@Phoenix