Ask Dungeons and Dragonlances

[Soleil Altan]

Soleil was still obsessed with absorbing books in the Sith archives and finding interesting patterns in the most obscure information. A new series of clues- and a lengthy essay- even got him the go-ahead to act on some of it! An official Imperial adventure was just the kind of thing he needed! And for once, it wasn't on a desert wasteland, but the vast grasslands of Almas.

According to what he'd found, an especially esoteric Sith adherent may have been one of several to settle in some corner of the world over the centuries. They were referred to as non-standard titles like The Dragonlance and Flameheart among a dozen others across various stories of their alleged exploits, but their home was only referred to vaguely and their physical description was amazingly inconsistent. Usually, it involved fire, though. The only reason Soleil had determined Almas was from references to a planet far from its star that glowed on its own.

Which was why Soleil and Altair, dressed in their choice of field gear, were searching a hilly expanse of tall, glowing grass for some kind of entrance or other evidence. Some of the mythical figure's supposed abilities sounded up the Matukai's alley, like defeating a terentatek with their bare hands when challenged to do so by a rival, so he'd been invited along. Plus, the Tiefling seemed to share Sol's interest in the native Kaluthin grass that grew nowhere else in the galaxy.

As he impatiently trudged through the grass strands to examine yet another hill not too far from Altair, a series of motions got his RoboCat to ask "Find anything interesting?" in the Tiefling's direction. Not a moment later there was a thunk as Sol's toes found the rim of something, a loud hiss of pain, and a heavier, metallic thump when he tripped and fell on it. "Oh dear," said RoboCat in exactly the kind of tone one would expect from a cat; breezily unconcerned. There was a pause.

"He found something with his foot and face," informed Clover the RoboCat, earning an annoyed look from Sol as he was untangling himself from the grass. What he'd tripped over was a large, brown-black metal disc ringed in some weird Sith dialect he didn't recognize. Eventually, he managed to roll out of the grass and wince his way to his feet, favoring the one he didn't just kick into metal. He booted it experimentally with his heel; it didn't budge, even the tiniest bit. Weird. Sol stared at it.

@Sreeya

 

[Altair Din]

Altair was already stoned by the time he landed. Huttball had made things cordial with Sol, enough to where he was willing to come on this adventure. However, it still didn’t mean the two were exactly buddies, and he doubted that would ever be the case simply based on personality differences. However, the tiefling was certainly looking forward to finding that Kaluthin grass. Not only did he want to smoke, but he wanted to take some back to sell at a premium and make some extra cash. Despite all the wealth he sat on from Huttball, making more money never hurt.

Blazed and content, Altair was humming to himself as he walked with his hands in his pockets. He heard a thud as Sol ate shit but he didn’t look over. Instead, he was looking around at the ground for purple centered grass. Altair did look up when robocat mentioned Sol managed to find something and he walked over.

Altair stood next near the other acolyte, crossing his arms over his chest as he too stared down at the disc.

“You just gonna have a starin' contest or what?” He muttered before crouching down next to it. He saw the Sith writing but he didn’t understand it either. Altair hovered his hand over it for a moment, electricity dancing for a moment beneath his palm before he unleashed it on the disc, just randomly deciding to try out a very Sith attack. The disc conducted the lightning and it began to rise up from the ground. Altair stepped back, watching as it grew into a tall cylindrical shape that almost looked like an elevator of sorts. One that led to an underground level.

Altair blinked at it, "That's the extent of my profound contribution for this quest," He announced.

@Mr. Teatime

 

[Soleil Altan]

Sol's staring had been a quiet attempt at puzzle-solving, comparing the metal plate's symbols to others or patterns he brought up in his head. So when Altair asked, he nodded seriously like that was a totally normal answer. On the other hand, zapping it seemed to work great. Sol begrudgingly made a note in his book before flashing the Tiefling an 'OK' sign.

He only took an extra few seconds to examine the tube that'd risen up, wondering how the hell it still worked after who knows how long. He decided it was probably magic and stepped inside. It lowered automatically once they were both inside, which Sol found both suspicious and interesting, looking around in the semi-cramped elevator. He took out a barkless root from a small package and chewed on it.

It dropped swiftly to carry the two Sith beneath the ground. Sol nervously tapped his foot the entire time while robocat seemed perfectly at ease. He fast-wwalked out when it stopped and the door opened, relaxing almost immediately outside the elevator. The two Sith found themselves in a large tunnel hewn from natural stone that'd been polished long ago. Long, thin roots from the Kaluthin grass above grew stubbornly through the walls and hung from the ceiling.

Clusters of phosphorescent material coating the roots provided a source of dim white light, painting the hall and its explorers in ghostly hues. Soleil signed excitedly, which the cat translated to, "An entrance to Almas' underground tunnel system?" The tunnel was relatively short, leading to a much larger chamber adorned with half-rotting tapestries and a stone relief carved and colored on the ceiling. It stylistically depicted a tall, shirtless man wielding a long spear, charging forward to strike a massive dragon's chest. As an artist, Sol was visibly enamored with it all.

In front of them was a spear-wielding statue in a static resting position, and beyond it, a round stone door with a dragon's shape carved on the front, a flaming heart in the center. Okay, this puzzle seemed obvious then. However, the statue's spear was firmly lodged in its hands. On the other hand, the ground between statue and door seemed much smoother and more polished than its surroundings. Sol reached out with the Force to try and touch the statue and found he couldn't manipulate it whatsoever.

He gave it a dirty look. Sol got behind it with a resigned but determined expression and called on the Force to boost his strength, shoving his shoulder against the heavy stone pedestal. The statue slid a little, but it was a struggle. Physical enhancement wasn't his focus and this was probably made for someone of higher rank than Acolyte.

@Sreeya

 

[Altair Din]

Altair looked over at the noise as Sol tapped his foot as they went down in the makeshift elevator, “You clusterfob or whatever the hell that word is?” He blurted out, curiously eying the nervous tick. This was the same doofus that signed up for field trips into ancient tombs that were the bane of all claustrophobic people. Altair followed behind Soleil, his eyes adjusting to the different style of lighting. As soon as he spotted the Kaluthin roots, he cut some of it away, “Shit I bet this is even more potent!” He said excitedly, wondering if it could be made into edibles or a tea.

The tiefling spotted the statues and inspected them, his brows furrowing, “Definitely looks like matukai warriors..” He shook his head as he spotted Sol attempting to move the statue, “Don’t use your shoulder, channel it through your hands,” Altair explained, “Evenly distribute the Force and just relax. Think of your hands as your weapons and look beyond the statue,” He doubted he made any sense, and he vaguely felt like Mr. Giyami from The Matukai Kid. But he didn’t have time to give Sol a crash course.

Altair got next to Sol and channeled the Force to his hands, planting them against the statue, “Together, okay?” He looked at the other Sith before gazing ahead again, “One..two… three.. push!”

@Mr. Teatime

 

[Soleil Altan]

Sol jumped a little when Altair suddenly asked him something, turning to look toward the Tiefling. He blinked with bemusement, followed the man's line of sight, and had the self-awareness to look sheepish. He nodded once sort of jerkily, clearly nervous. "He doesn't like tight spaces," the RoboCat added unnecessarily in an utterly lazy tone. Didn't seem to stop him wandering into tombs, though. He took Altair's word on the surroundings looking Matukai- Sol wouldn't know, writing on them was sparce- but finding new things related to them was exciting!

Altair's explanation got kind of a blank look out of Soleil. He'd obviously gotten the bit about using his hands and shifted to lean his palms against the statue, but evenly distributing the Force was tougher for him. That was going to take practice. All the same it was a little less shit than before the advice and he wasn't shy about trying, so when the signal was given, he nodded determinedly and pushed!

And still struggled more than Altair. Habit kept bringing more power to specific points to focus, which he then had to fix. And what did 'look beyond' mean, exactly? Huffing with effort, though, they pushed on. The statue slid along its path and began to emit sounds of clicking and grinding stone. Its position slowly changed, moving from a static stance to a dynamic thrust like the stone relief on the ceiling. Finally, near the end, their combined efforts forced the spear through the door dragon's flaming heart.

Sol took a stepped back, catching his breath and flexing his hands. "He says thanks," commented RoboCat, to which Sol flashed a thumbs up. For a moment nothing seemed to happen. Then there was an abrupt crack-snap sound as the statue twisted its hands, rotating the impaled speartip ninety degrees, then began to slide back where it'd come from. A grinding rumble signaled the doorway coming to life, splitting in the middle to slowly open.

A mummified skeleton crashed down from where it'd been perched against the door's opposite side, clad in armor from some long-gone era of the Sith. Rusted rifles were scattered about. Others lay around it, all showing obvious signs of what'd killed them. Most were scorched, with slash marks and thrusts rending their armor like it was no better than paper. Others had clearly been struck by blunt blows that splintered metal and bone alike.

Soleil stared in fascination, cautiously approaching to examine one of them. He looked toward Altair, nodded toward a corpsee with its helmet basically inside its own skull, and raised his eyebrows in inquisitive awe. Could he do that?

@Sreeya