Born on the Bayou

[Amur]

Zakuul. What was there to say of the place, it was drab, it was pitiful, underdeveloped and home to wide expanses of wildlife. It was the epitome of the backwater dump in the middle of nowhere and given it's position far far off to the galactic west it might as well be in the middle of nowhere. Still this would make a nice spot to place a temple. The dissolution of the Sith Empire into an order would require new ways to spread their influence and while it might seem like a mad place to try and bring the Sith way of life to there was a Method to Amur's madness.

Truth be told this was a project she wanted to work on one way or another. It mutated and had taken several forms when she was plotting but now with the new direction of the Sith it was just ripe to begin, and she had the Lord of the Sith's blessings on the project, hell the mirilian may as well be whispering implied demands into her ear. Pressure was now on the Sith but it was welcome as she now had a purpose to work towards. She was hoping that the two people she asked Kalanda and Darth Kados would soon agree even if it seemed abstract in this shitehole.

She waited at the designated meeting point that was one km away from the site that was determined to be ideal for setting up the temple. Remote and discrete perfect for learning and practicing the Sith religion in quiet. It was all in an area of seemingly endless swamplands that while not pleasant was a small sacrifice compared to all of the other benefits. The Sith was just meditating waiting for her allies to come and was wondering one thing to pass the time. What were they thinking about right now?

@KinkyPrawn @Algarus

 

[Kalanda Tishire]

What Amur saw in this place, Kalanda wasn't sure, but she wasn't about to leave the second best snarker she knew hanging; she was growing rather fond of the woman after all. Kalanda was clad in her nightsister attire, seeming rather fitting for the terrain they were to explore actually. So if Amur wanted to know what Kalanda was thinking, she was thinking why the hell they had come here in the first place, if this was to be a hiding hole at least no one would think to come here.

Kalanda could sense the woman up ahead, as she pushed through a gathering of vines, knowing Kados would be along shortly. "When you told me we'd be getting into 'deep shit', I didn't think you meant literally." Kalanda proceeded forward, her hand resting on the warblade she had worn to this meeting, though her lightsaber rested on her opposite hip, she was growing rather annoyed at the weapon's presence. "Kados will be here shortly, don't fret." Kalanda joined the woman in silent contemplation, remarking how this land reminded her of Dathomir, and she found herself wondering how Eithni was doing at the moment. The last few weeks had not been kind to their order, and Kalanda knew she wasn't the only one who had doubts about the future. That was probably why they were here after all.

@KinkyPrawn @Caught in Strangereal

 

[Mid Samekh]

Not too long after the two acolytes touched down, the Salvation broke into atmosphere and soon enough it touched down close to their ships. The Yacht's ramp opened and Darth Kados disembarked. Unlike other times, he was clad in a lighter armour with a different look befitting a Sith Lord. Another addition to him was the cybernetic left hand peeking out from under his vambrace, resting his "saberstaff" along the length of his forearm. Everything about him seemed off. His arsenal of weapons were scaled down, his armour was lighter and he seemed more stiff than usual.

He calmly walked along the route to meet up with his apprentices. "I hope the two of you made sure to not leave a trace on the way here. I'm sure we can agree that Lord Tagus made it clear that this is to be kept secret." he spoke calmly as he glanced between the two. "Let's get moving." he continued before waiting to fall in beside Amur. It wasn't like he knew where to go.

@Algarus @Caught in Strangereal

 

[Amur]

"You should know I'm a woman of many layers by now. Though I do find your change of attire rather nice. Just be careful around any bubbly witches with red eyes." She would mouth before returning back to meditation. The Sith was eager and it felt like forever til Kados arrived even when in reality it was only a ten to twenty minutes. Getting into tune with Force sight she could feel the Darth's presence and see the dark side radiate around him. Still something seemed off for the Darth just had a lot of built up tension that shouldn't be there. Maybe it was the arm or maybe something else weighing in on the Darth. A sudden intuition coming over her suggesting that something big was rumbling around his mind whatever that may be.

"I see you've... changed a bit since we last met. As for secrecy don't worry I took a confiscated light freighter belonging to a smuggler that still had it's old IFF tags. The fighter would have been obvious and I stayed off of all heavily used travel routes.

She wasn't yet going to comment on the obvious that being what happened to your karking arm If he wanted to share he would otherwise that wasn't important for now. She got up arching her back and stretching her arms before setting off allowing Kados and Kalanda to start following her as she walked down. She would have one ear on any conversation they drummed up and another on the environment around her. A soundscape of bugs, birds and other wildlife.

"We're looking for a small clearing in this marsh. Scanners and various reports we could scour suggested there was a bog that could be terraformed into a stable foundation. We are here to scout out the site and if there are any wildlife that could impede the efforts of the construction teams we purge it from the area. Any questions?"

The Sith would walk along waiting for any input from her colleagues. It was only a short ten minute slog through the bog and marshes before they would finally see the thick swampland begin to dissipate into a opening one that seemed peaceful for now. Still the Sith was on high alert out in the wild anything could decide you were going to be lunch. Scanning around the area and tapping into the force she scanned the area now slowing into her pace to taking gingerly steps. She wasn't yet going to rush and risk pissing something off.

@Algarus @KinkyPrawn

 

[Kalanda Tishire]

Kalanda smiled at the compliment she received from Amur, though the comment about a bubbly red eye witch brought up thoughts of Eithni. Surely they couldn't be talking about the same person. Indeed the pair would need to wait for their master to arrive, though from what Kalanda had heard, Mid wasn't doing to well after Tython.

Still, she would join Amur in meditation, though she didn't move once Kados showed himself, she was a tad sad to see him like this. His movements were off, there was a wariness to his posture, and the form that once was adorned with heavy armor and weaponry seemed to be more conservative than normal. "I took the proper care as well. Pirate vessel from my mission with Markov. No one will be missing it." She refused to use that silly name of his, to her he would always be that sad man living in his father's shadow. Kalanda rose, taking a moment to stretch, before looking to her mentor. She took several steps towards him, looking to his arm, then up to him. There was a degree of sympathy in her eyes, but she held back on saying anything.

'If he needs me, I will be there.' She stood off the his side, but he would feel her glance falling over him at times. She looked to Amur, as the woman explained what it was they were doing, but nothing came to mind at the moment. "So, we are just going to wade through the swamp, kill everything the gets in the way, and mark the spots so they can tidy the place up. Sounds like most of our missions to be honest." Kalanda spoke, without the sassy tone that the other two would be used to hearing. Unless something remarkable happened, the pair would begin their wading through the marsh, something Kalanda wasn't as off put as she thought she might be; perhaps Dathomir had taught her more than just a few tricks with the force after all. Her senses were still alert, though she leaned more on the blade than the saber, the water would be hell on her blade after all.

@Caught in Strangereal @KinkyPrawn

 

[Mid Samekh]

Mid was relieved they kept their secrecy on the way here at least. Though, immediately he was getting on edge with their gawking. Getting impaled by a snot-nosed Jedi and losing his arm in the process was a hard enough beating on his ego, he didn't need to admit to his apprentices that their supposedly almighty Master was beaten by a boy. Of course, they had heard the Tython invasion didn't go so well...quite a big Bantha in the room, to be honest. "Changed, Amur? No. Though I do have some things on my mind." he said simply, though that was a bit of a lie. Perhaps that fight did change him. Perhaps not. He wasn't sure, himself...

"Kalanda, I'd prefer if you make up your mind. Either ask what you want to ask or keep your gaze to yourself." he said rather harshly, glancing behind him to Kalanda. It was rather uncalled for, but he didn't care now. He was not in a good mindset to be nice at this point. Amur explained what they needed to do and Kalanda commented on it as well...and he definitely agreed with her. For the first time in a while, he smiled under his helmet and a light chuckle escaped him. "It does seem to be a common trend these days." he commented as he followed Amur.

It was pretty straightforward, though he hoped there would be some action. He needed to let off some steam and he doubted his apprentices would appreciate it if he used them for training dummies. He glanced down at his right arm, the Lanvarok was loaded and ready. Likewise his pistols were charged up as well.

@Algarus @Caught in Strangereal

 

[Amur]

Lies. That was Amur's opinion of Kados' response. It was quite obvious that a part of his bolstering ego was shattered. There seemed to be a resigned bitterness to his words. She couldn't see him eagerly telling Mandos to go kark off on open comm anymore. Shame. Then he snapped at Kalanda also a shame like watching a father loved dearly by his kids go and slap them and shatter that trust and good will. It made Amur more on edge wondering Kados would actually become a liability. Failure was a given but if one couldn't get back up and recover ready to make themselves stronger than it was a critical weakness.

Those thoughts were beginning to dig and infuriate her, so she decided to focus on marching on. She would normally chuckle at Kalanda's reliable dispensing of snark but Kados' had put her on edge. She quite frankly just really wanted to kill something. It had been a while since she had the privilege to do that. Marching forward keeping in mind the lay of the land they would come to the marshy clearing.

The swamp water was now between ankle and knee high. Amur would tap into the force as she walked trying to sense around for all the life ready to see how the ecosystem would respond to the Sith intrusion. Something caught her off guard though. She felt the tainting of the Dark side. It was odd since there was supposedly no Sith ever sent to the planet or any records atleast. It infuriated Amur. What the bloody devil could that be?

Trying to pinpoint that a Dianoga would raise it's eye behind the group and under the water inch it's tentacle towards Amur. Amur was too busy trying to pinpoint the source of the darkside energy to notice. As the being grabbed for her ankle she would quickly ignite her light saber and with a swift downward slash would cleave off a small section of the tentacle. The Dianoga started scramming at a breakneck pace away from the group and the swamp was eerily quiet the only noise being the humming of light sabers.

Off in the distance was a hazy fog that obscured the groups vision.

"Best be careful, Something wicked lurks in that soup." Amur said as her saber pointed towards the fog. It was where she was feeling the darkside. A large figure would now enter view. Silhouette first as the ground shook under it's immense weight and heavy step. Snarling and slobbering a 8 meter tall Rancor had stepped into view. Except this wasn't an ordinary Rancor. It was colored jet black and had what initially appeared to be a second pair of arms right above it's normal set. As it got closer now within 30 meters of the group it become clear that the arm were something else entirely. They appeared to be wings taken straight from a wingmaw native to balmorra, stretched and oversized to fit the new hulking mass.

The beast had now let out a distorted howl that boomed and resonated throughout the entire Jungle. It was mighty. For Amur, it would make for the perfect kill.

"Get your fangs out. We're going hunting." Amur started to channel and bend the force to her will along with adrenaline flowing into her system. This was exactly what she wanted.

@Algarus @KinkyPrawn