Ask Crimson Dusk

[Anai Skhess]

Anai hadn't seen many movies in her lifetime, after all, staying in your home planet that has barely developed any technology save for slugthrowers didn't really give her a chance to do so. Nowadays, though? She had watched a few if only to understand pop culture references a little better, some she liked, others she didn't, but she really didn't think she would be in the middle of a shistavanen and energy vampire fight...Although, as far as she knew, actual energy vampires didn't really sparkle in the sunlight or anything like that...Maybe, she was not sure.

Clad in her sith armor, the masked Kaleesh champion looked at the latest scene of the crime, a big Shistavanen male, drained almost completely dry. Apparently usually the bodies were never found, just blood and some meat bits if the victim struggled too much. But they managed to catch the vampire in the act, a purple figure with long hair and big fangs as the other wolf people described him. Anai wondered why an energy vampire needed the bodies, but chances are it would be something they would find out.

squatting in front of the corpse and checking for tracks, the Kaleesh stood silent for a while before turning her head around and looking at her two companions for this trip, another two champions that she had not really met before, her bone mask hiding everything but her gaze as her yellow eyes looked at them both "So, what do you think? About this situation, about how to handle it." the Kaleesh asked, she had a few ideas about how this could go, chances are the tracks would be covered after a while, lured into the forest with a powerful creature that would be watching them from the shadows, but going in there and being as vigilant as possible also looked to be the only option, wouldn't mind hearing other ideas though.

@LouJoVi @Sicadorito

 

[Cheriss Ktrame]

Cheriss had encountered quite a few types of beings that some might consider supernatural— among them were zombies, murderous sorcerers, and of course creepy hive-minded bugs known as Killiks— but vampires were a first. More specifically, energy vampires.

The conversation the trio of Sith had with the local Shistavanens had given her a better idea of what they were up against. Apparently they were capable of sucking the life force out of other beings, leaving behind nothing but a mindless shell of their prey. It sounded unpleasant, and she was sure that the lifeless Shistavanen on the ground in front of her would have agreed. After a quick inspection of the scene, she had a grim feeling that whatever this vampire was, wasn’t going to be an easy one to find. If the Shistavenens, who were already competent fighters themselves, had to call on Sith for aid, what did that say about the creature they were after?

Although, no one had ever said that the work of a Sith was easy.

“I don’t like it but… I think our best bet is to try to track it down in the woods,” she mused, glancing over at the Kaleesh crouched by the corpse. “I’d say a trap might work, but we don’t have enough information as of now. Hunting patterns, preferred prey… maybe later.” She shrugged, then her gaze went over to the other champion who hadn’t spoken yet. “Do you have anything?”

@LouJoVi @Versok

 

[Caerllion of Cyfnos]

Caerllion had read about several strange creatures that lived in the Galaxy, with some of them even being considered as supernatural. Zombies, abominations made of flesh, Killiks, dragons and sorcery. Some of these the Champion had was able to see in person, with himself being a magick user.

However, he never heard about a creature that was capable of doing something like that. While the possibility of Vampires existing not being stranger to him, after all the Anzati filled this description perfectly, the information that they received from the Shistavanens don’t match with these sentient beings.

“I don’t know if we should follow it inside the forest. We barely know what we are going after, we need to investigate more first.” he explained to his companions. The two were Champions like him, but he never had interacted with them. He had the impression to have seenAnai somewhere, but he wasn’t sure.

“I like the idea of doing a trap, but it would also need us to learn more about it. Perhaps we should study its surroundings to find more about the creature.” he wasn’t sure about how they could find clues about it. Perhaps the Kaleesh could track it. His magick could also help, something like that probably had a different presence in the Force.

@Versok @Sicadorito

 

[Anai Skhess]

The Kaleesh stood silent for a moment , trying to think about what to do next, tracking and traps were things she could certainly do, but that doesn't mean things would be any safer once they fought the fanged threat. "You're both right, we probably should ask the locals about the other cases, we know how the last one died...But being able to understand if it has any preferences when it comes to prey, hunting grounds, if it's nocturnal or diurnal...And if there's any survivors that could be able to tell their experiences first hand would be beneficial" Anai said, standing up and still looking at the corpse in front of them.

"A trap could work, but there's a couple problems with that" Anai said, crossing her arms while looking at the other two champions "If it was possible to trap the creature while hunting the Shistavanen around the village, they would have done so already, and if we set up a trap deeper in the forest after following the tracks, chances are this sentient predator will be already watching us, readying itself for an ambush..." She did not oppose to setting a trap though, it was better than nothing, although the chances of it working were quite slim.

"And that's the thing, we're probably going to need to get deeper into the forest eventually, this thing will have home advantage and the best thing we will be able to do is prepare ourselves from an ambush the best we can" Anai explained, this being the most likely outcome when hunting down a sentient predator.

"...But I have an idea, this energy vampire is an intelligent being, and so it can fall for things other sentient beings would, confidence, impatience, understimating one's threat." Anai then grabbed her slugthrower, showing it to the other two champions, a weapon that was not fit for a sith "We hide our lightsabers and our force abilities, show blasters and vibroblades instead. We make ourselves look like mercenaries hired by the Shistavanen so it thinks we're an easy meal...And once it is at it's most vulnerable, we make it understand what it is to fight against sith" The Kaleesh warrior explained,a special glint in her eyes and a smile behind her mask as she explained what she had come up with, the Kaleesh hunterside of her showing up. "So, we investigate, ask around and disguise ourselves before going in, any objections?

@LouJoVi @Sicadorito

 

[Cheriss Ktrame]

Cheriss nodded at what the others were saying. It made sense to plan ahead before they attempted anything, especially when it came to an unfamiliar enemy in an unfamiliar place.

“So it all comes back down to information— who knows more about the other.” That left a clear path forward. “I’m in,” she agreed, glancing from Caer to Anai as the latter pulled out her slugthrower. The Kaleesh’s plan was a good one— get to know their enemy, exploit its overconfidence, and use it to take it down. She’d have to borrow a blaster or at least some type of weapon, but she assumed that it would be easy enough to get her hands on one especially once they told the Shistavanens about their plan.

She glanced back in the direction of the settlement that had asked for their assistance, which was somewhat visible from where the Sith were standing now. It was yet another reminder of how bold the vampire was— hunting this close to a village.

“I suggest we split up once we get to the settlement, see what each of us can find from the locals and meet up outside the inn before heading out. We’ll be able to cover the most ground that way,” she said, crossing her arms. “I can start with the hospital, talk to some of the survivors.” If there are any.

@LouJoVi @Versok

 

[Caerllion of Cyfnos]

Caerllion nodded at what Anai was saying. Her idea of gathering more information about the creature and then disguising to attract it was good. “I agree. This predator will not miss the opportunity of killing three defenseless prey.” the only problem for the Annfyn was that he would need to find a blaster.

Although, due to his magick he could easily stay unarmed. He even started to prefer fighting using it rather than his lightsaber. Caerllion could do so much more using the arcane power than he could using his weapon. The magick allowed him to have more answers against what his enemies could throw at him.

“Good idea.” he said, after Cheriss gave her the idea. While they remain in the city, there was no problem for them to split. This would also make the investigation go faster. “I’ll visit the places from where the people had disappeared.” perhaps this way he could find some clue about the creature. His magick would allow him to see things that the police couldn’t.

“Even if one of us delays to arrive at the meeting place, we shouldn’t enter in the woods alone. We can’t play with this creature, we need to be together to kill this thing.” after his trip with Wodan, the Champion had learned to not underestimate mysterious creatures. You can end up having a nasty surprise.

@Versok @Sicadorito

 

[Anai Skhess]

Anai listened and then nodded as the other lady talked about splitting up to gather more information quicker, a sensible idea, she could agree with that "Very well, I shall talk with their leader, given the warrior nature of these people he's probably very involved in the defense of his village" The Kaleesh champion stated, thinking about how she could also get some vibroblades and blasters from him as well, it was certainly worth her time "I'll meet you at the inn then in approximately one hour, while we want to get information, time is also of the essence, try not to take longer unless you're getting something important out of them." With that said, the Kaleesh was the first one to part ways, ready to go ahead with the plan.

Roughly an hour later, Anai would be back. She had learned a bit of everything about what they were up to, a bit of when it attacked, who it attacked and when did it attack, but she probably needed to hear about it from the other sith to know the finer details. However, what she did know is that they had sent multiple hunting parties and only a few of them had come back, tales of their fallen comrades now aiding the creature, stories about how it managed to regenerate the few shots that hit the target by feeding on their friends, it was truly a scary foe.

Anai would relay this information to her other two sith companions, having brought a couple blaster pistols and three vibroblades for them to use as well. They had what they needed, now she only had to hear what the others had found out and they would be on their way to hunt a vampire.

@Sicadorito @LouJoVi

 

[Cheriss Ktrame]

Once the plan was set, Cheriss would make her way over to the hospital. Unsurprisingly, there weren’t many who had survived the attack, but there was a Shistavanen woman who claimed to be a witness. She didn’t look injured, but apparently her husband had gone missing a couple days back, and she’d gone out to try and find him. The next thing she knew she was being dragged back to the village, where the doctors told her she hadn’t been injured, but her vitals were low. She heard a few other stories that were similar, but one thing was clear— the energy vampire clearly wasn’t picky about who it was targeting.

Just before she left the hospital about an hour later, one of the doctors would offer her a small medpac in a bag. She wasn’t sure how useful that would be, but she took it and thanked him nonetheless. Something was better than nothing against an opponent who apparently could heal wounds just by consuming the essence of another being.

She would head to the inn as they’d planned, sharing what she’d found with the others and listening to what they had to say as well. She’d borrowed a pistol for herself from one of the locals, but a few more couldn’t hurt. The vibroblade that Anai had gotten would be useful too, and she would accept one with a nod of thanks.

The vampire would be theirs soon enough.

@LouJoVi @Versok

 

[Caerllion of Cyfnos]

With all of them agreeing with the plan, the three Sith split to start with their investigations. Caerllion went to visit the places where the attacks had happened. He hoped that there would be some clue left behind, or at least witnesses that could give him more information about it.

Unfortunately, he didn’t find anything that could be useful. The places that he visited were completely clean of anything, possibly most was already taken by the security forces. If it was the case, then they already gave this information to the Sith, which wasn’t much.

Regarding possible witnesses, Caerllion talked with the Shistavanens that lived near the areas where the creature attacked. They told him that they only noticed that something happened when they heard strange growls and when they went to investigate, they found that whatever was doing it had already disappeared.

With that lack of any useful information, the Annfyn went to the inn that they chose as a meeting place. While walking toward it, Caerllion had bought a blaster. Since he didn’t have much idea about how to use it, the Champion would need to defend himself with his magick. He believed that it would be enough and the Vampire would soon be stopped.

@Versok @Sicadorito

 

[Anai Skhess]

It would be a a bit of a walk inside the forest after they had reconvened, the Kaleesh leading the hunting party with a vibroblade in her hands, moving switfly through the woods as she looked around, vigilant. Anai had a good idea of how deep into the forest they had to get in before the vampire tried to take them down, it shouldn't be too long but the vampire had no reason to be as close as he was when hunting, they had apparently just claimed a victim, after all.

"...You were dancing when Altair was singing at the party." Anai said, looking at the Annfyn champion, she finally figured out where she had met him before...And how horrible of a dancer was at first "It was...a strange night" The Kaleesh said, not knowing how to keep the conversation going after that, not the kind to be good at small talk, but the silence was becoming a bit too tense for her tastes.

"Here should be good enough, let's set up the trap" Anai said, stopping the two champions before getting to it, the Kaleesh chose to start making the classic camouflaged pit trap...It was probably quite useless against anything unnatural, but the sith champion never counted on the trap working or even being finished, because chances were the vampire already knew they were there. No, it was done to give the vampire the impression that one of them was distracted, to fool it and make it attack them, Anai simply trusted the other two champions got her back while doing it, give her a chance to counterattack as well.

@LouJoVi @Sicadorito

 

[Cheriss Ktrame]

As the trio walked through the woods, Cheriss glanced at the Kaleesh when she brought up the party. She hadn’t been there, but she had heard about some of what happened. Sith parties were wild, and if she were being honest, it was part of the reason she’d never gone to one before. She preferred when things were orderly and planned out, like their approach to catching the vampire. That said, when they caught it, they would probably be able to add one more thing to the list of what was “strange”.

When Anai began to make the trap— or act as the bait, really— Cheriss would keep to one side of the other champion, back against a tree trunk as she pretended to look through her bag. However, she would make sure to keep an eye out for herself and the others. The woods were dark and dead silent aside from the stringing of the trap, and though all that was an act to draw the vampire close, this was its home turf and it was probably already watching them. It knew the ins and outs of the area, and that was an advantage that the Sith would remember.

She would look in Caer’s direction as the thought crossed her mind. She didn’t know if she was imagining it, but it sounded as if a twig had cracked. And it didn’t sound like it was for Anai’s trap either.

“Was that you?” she mouthed at Caer, wanting to be sure before she jumped to any conclusions. Somehow, the anticipation was worse than if the vampire were to jump out and attack them that very second.

@LouJoVi @Versok