Ask Finders, Keepers

[Darth Tiamat]

Akrit'tar

Upon hours and hours of meditation, Tiamat knew where exactly they needed to go and she wasn't entirely thrilled. Imperial records turned up barely anything of their destination in the most desolate parts of the galaxy. She was able to scrape together a small description of what used to be an Imperial prison where they sentenced prisoners to work in the mines nearby. All activities had suddenly ended shortly before the end of Sidious' reign and no other information could be found...or at least was made available to her knowledge. It was peculiar, but not unusual, someone had their secret and they were not willing to share just quite yet. However, for the group of them, they were about to uncover secrets themselves and hopefully come back with more answers than questions- Tiamat was not holding her breath of course.

The world was frigid, rivalling that of Hoth when it came to the howling winds, dry lands, and inhospitable landscapes. Tiamat could already feel the chill as she entered the ship through the atmosphere; high winds threatening to take them far across the planet instead of their destination, but the expert pilot had no difficulty bringing the ship in and searching for a place to land. There was something else though, for her, the insidious darkness of the Eternal seemed closer, stronger, but in a way still far from her grasp. No doubt there was something else here and the others would also feel it. A darkness unlike the Force they have felt; it carried weight and beckoned with something greater to be offered than their current state.

She figured they would start at the coordinates of the prison, bringing the ship in low as she searched for a flat surface. To her surprise, the prison still stood in the fog, and in relatively decent shape, though the elements had eroded at the building's structural layers. The woman's eyes narrowed as the building neared, almost making out a blinking red light coming from one of the windows. "I didn't think emergency power could sustain itself for this long..." she said quietly, but others would hear if they sat beside her. She checked her scanners once more, but did not pick up any immediate lifeform readings and the woman scratched her head, now focused on her own senses to tell her what would be reality.

Landing the ship on what looked to be an old landing pad, Tiamat turned to the others, for a brief instance, there was concern in her face, but it quickly faded as her features hardened. "Lets be prepared for anything." she said as she grabbed her insulated coat, her saber clipped on the outside for easier accessibility until they could get out of the wind and cold. "Gee-Gee, lock down the ship when we leave." she ordered her droid who whistled in approval. Once everyone was ready, the hatch would be lowered for their exit and immediately closed as they started their trek to find an entrance.

@Phoenix @Altaris @Scoobert

 

[Arla]

Arla wasn't really sure what to expect. Despite all the studying she had been doing and the brushing up on her mother's records about the Entity, Arla didn't really feel ready or qualified for this. But ultimately, it wasn't just in her hands. What she lacked in raw power, she made up for in knowledge. With fortune, the others would be able to help with the power.

She could feel the way the Shadow shifted and moved unnaturally here. Even viewing the planet through Second Sight, it was as if the ur-spirits knew to steer clear. Like animals who knew a predator was nearby.

She muttered quietly in Dahtomiri as the ship moved through the winds, invoking the Spirits of the storm to lessen and calling on what few Spirits of nature were here to heed and follow her. The wind would die down if ever so slightly, but it was still no easy landing.

As they began to disembark, Arla pulled her robes more tightly around her, checking the hunting knife on her hip and her grimoire on the other. She took a deep breath in and descended after Tiamat, eyes flicking back and forth and her ears twitching slightly at the sounds of the wind. There was an aura of wrong that she just couldn't quite put her finger on.

@GABA @Altaris @Scoobert

 

[Darth Tempest]

Vahliri made no attempt to mask her discomfort. While the half-Annfyn was self-confident at almost all times, the Entity was something that gave her a sense of legitimate pause. Whatever Arla and her had dealt with on Felucia was child's play compared to what would be forced to face now. It was exceedingly powerful - terrifyingly so - and none of them, not even the Queen of the Nightsister’s, really understood it.

Like the rest of them, she had no idea what to expect inside the prison.

All the same, the responsibility had fallen upon her - and Vahliri wasn’t about to run from whatever challenges were ahead of them. While Arla was the most knowledgeable amongst them, Vahliri hoped that her own strength would be more than sufficient to contribute.

She tugged the fur-lined cloak a bit tighter around herself, grimacing into the cold. The half-Annfyn was adorned in her signature red-and-black Sith robes, while her black hair was tied back into a loose braid. Vahliri carried both lightsabers, while the hilt of one was discreetly gripped between the fingers of her left hand.

“It always has to be some creepy-ass shit..” She muttered to herself, looking none-too-pleased. Starting all the way back on Zakuul, the half-Annfyn habitually seemed to find herself in these types of weird, horror-evoking situations. Somehow, she doubted this place would be much different. Something just felt.. Wrong, about it. Like every muscle in her body ached to turn around and run in the opposite direction.

And Vahliri just kept walking.

 

[Darth Draugr]

Arriving with the others, Lord Draugr would set his eyes upon the cold, and dry planet. The wind enough to move people off their feet. The place would be a wonderful hideout for all sorts of criminals and guerrilla style fighters. Though, he would ultimately be unimpressed by it's nature as it had only coldness to offer. At least thus far. The Zabrak prepared for the coldness accordingly to keep his organs and muscles warm, how else would he make his way around on the planet.

Draugr would hold one of his sabers in his left metallic hand and walk alongside Tiamat. A darkness lingered strongly. It was potent, and pure evil. Draugr had felt his mouth begin to water metaphorically. He felt a bit of a craving to harness it, but he figured it was what they were after. The essence was enough to make Artorigas crave it, so he knew it had to be similar if not the exact thing.. the Eternal.

"You should be used to creepy shit by now.. it's almost our specialty." Draugr replied to Vahliri's comment with a quick glance. But his eyes shifted back to the blinking light. He knew something bad had to be coming. So he would stay prepped and ready to deal with whatever came their way.

Looking to Tiamat he would nod to the building and reply, "Lead on. We'll be ready." His eyes reassuring her as he followed her. This was their mission as a whole, but Tiamat knew the most of the Eternal and Entity, so she was the lead. Draugr would serve as the muscle. Vahliri would offer her tenacity, and Arla her specialization in the mystic arts. Altogether combined with Tiamat's intuition, they would be able to handle it.. surely.

@GABA @Phoenix @Altaris

 

[Darth Tiamat]

They all seemed to understand the intensity of what was happening, Vahl and Lord Draugr commenting on the overall atmosphere of their destination. It brought a small grin to Tiamat, "Its how we know we're in the right place." she said but it would quickly fade as she knew what they were going to walk into was far from laughable... for now. She followed the path to the old prison carefully stepping on the broken patches of duracrete that had been torn down by the elements, but as they drew nearer, they would begin to feel the faintest of life that existed and an obscure presence that felt much like the darkness that sat heavily here, but it stood out in a way that pulled on the woman's curiosity. A separate stream of corruption and ruin that draped the sith group like silk ribbons, offering something greater if they just...

There was a loud creaking of metal against metal as the durasteel doors begun to pry apart at the prison's entrance. Chips of rust fell from the surface of the door, clearly undisturbed for unknown amount of time. Tiamat readied herself, the darkness at her command as she prepared for the worse to happen, but the doors would open wide enough for a tall, lithe, red and gold robed man to step out, arms out to gesture goodwill. He was bald, wrinkled with sunken yellow eyes; he looked if he would just stop moving, he would finally succumb to death. Possibly, it was a near miracle his skin had not turned to dust, as though he was purposely kept alive for them. "Welcome, oh welcome!" he greeted over the blowing wind, "Come in, we knew this day would come and I am just happy it is today! Come in!"

Tiamat was hesitant, not so much the antique that was still living in this place, but more so the gold pendent with a black hand in its center. The redheaded woman instinctually rubbed her chest, the pain from the mental invasion and branding still remind. "Why are you here?" she asked him, but he waved at her and the group.

"Come in and I will explain, you don't want those winds to give you pneumonia!" he yelled back as though he were some lost long grandpa of their's. The woman pursed her lips, glancing to Vahl, Arla, and Draugr and then leading the way inside. She knew if they remained outside the prison they may not get the answer they were searching for as they looked to keep the Eternal and the Entity from welding more power in this realm.

Once inside, the doors would close and they would note much of the layout were that of the imperial prison blueprints, though over the decades, its cells had been converted into different purposes albeit dirty and cluttered. There no longer was adequate power and the old man used candles and torches to light their way deeper inside. "I know you did not come all this way and not have questions. Especially you, they said so much about you and youuu." he said glancing at Tiamat, and then to Arla, "So, ask me, ask me your questions and I will answer." he offered, speaking quickly.

@Phoenix @Altaris @Scoobert

 

[Darth Tempest]

Vahliri couldn’t even pretend not to be creeped out by the place. Her brows knitted together with clear irritation and discomfort, jaw setting into a firm line. Though she didn’t reach for the weapon quite yet, her fingers twitched towards the hilt that was clipped to her belt - prepared to draw with a flash of crimson at the slightest sign of bullshit peeking from around the nextest corner. She could practically feel it in her bones.

Which was about when grandpa appeared.

The half-Annfyn resisted the urge to jump backwards, or to send the geezer hurtling into the nearest wall. He looked.. Ancient. Unnaturally so - and that didn’t really bode well, considering what else she knew about their destination.

She crossed her arms, not quite letting her guard down despite listening to what he had to say. “First of all,” She cut in with an apparent lack of patience, “Who is ‘they’ and why are you ‘their’ errand boy?” The half-Annfyn had no intention to beat around the bush.

“Second of all, what is this place?”

 

[Darth Draugr]

Draugr stood with the others as the old man showed up. The guy began speaking with irrationalities over a 'they' and so on implying there are others watching over the group and specifically Tiamat and Arla. Lord Draugr held his hilt in his left hand with the other hilt clipped on his right side with his right hand creeping closer to it. One bad move and that man would land him a spot in hell.

"This doesn't feel right Tiamat. Something dark is going on.. and not the fun kind."

The Zabrak listened to Vahliri's quick questions, and they served well. They have no idea what or who was watching on or listening in, and quite frankly the only one that can answer their questions was the man before them. As annoying and creepy as he was, he may be the only way they figure this shit out. So for now he held his ground and would give the group a moment to get their answers before deciding when the man needed to meet his doom.

@Altaris @GABA @Phoenix

 

[Arla]

Arla let her senses flow out beyond the Veil, letting her eyes take on the faint glow of Second Sight, ands he was struck by just how... little there was here. It was as if the other Spirits had all be driven away, and the Veil... somehow weakened. It made her breath catch in her throat.

Arla's face was set like stone as the elderly man approached. It went without saying that everything here felt off, but this was more than that. It was not just the Entity here but this person or - as she suspected - multiple people. Her mind leapt immediately to cult, and cults were bad news.

The fact that he seemed to know who she was sent chills down her spine. If the situation weren't so serious, she would have smiled that Vahliri jumped to the questions before Arla even had a chance. But the situation was that serious.

Something may have been wrong here, but for the moment all they could do was let it play out.

 

[Darth Tiamat]

Everyone was on edge, and rightfully so as they followed the old man through the abandoned imperial prison. Tiamat took note of their path, glancing over her shoulder occasionally not only to recall how they entered, but the eerie feeling of shadows followed closely on their ankles. Even Draugr understood what resided here was not meaning to form a mutual alliance for power. It wanted something, it was going to get it in one form or another.

Vahl was the first to ask questions, not skipping a beat as she made sure to know what exactly was going on and who he was. The old man chuckled, but didn't answer her questions in order. "This is a prison, but we found something that I didn't even think the Empire knew we had. Below, we dug, we all heard their calling." he begun to explain as he lead them to the end of the hall.

When they exited, they would see exactly what he meant by "dug" as literally a massive pit was carved through the prison, into the rock and below the surface of the planet. Ladders and ropes offered a way downward, but instead he took them to the spiraling path that was cut to offer a more efficient way to the bottom. They would see he was no longer the only one present as the others paused to look at the new comers. "One by one, each of who heard their call decided to start digging, the louder the voices became as more of us joined, and they offered us life until we found it. The true disciples, us remain, the others perished in the search." he said.

"The Empire grew suspicious of our work, I know Emperor Palpatine was jealous; they stopped sending people. So we've been here since, waiting for someone to come who can open the seal." he finished explaining, pausing to look at his new guests.

"I'm sure you're eager to see what we uncovered."

"You never answered as to who 'they' is." Tiamat spoke next, seeming annoyed with just how uneasy this place made her.

The man blinked a few times, seemingly unable to answer, but his eyes spoke differently as he carefully put together his words. "The Source, no doubt that's where you hear your shadows also?"

He clearly was unfamiliar with the dark side and had given name to his own meaning of the corrupted power. Except whatever power laid beyond was more insidious than could ever be believed by commoners.

@Altaris @Phoenix @Scoobert

 

[Darth Draugr]

Draugr listened to the eerie speech given, and it was.. unsettling to say the least. This place had a bad aura about it, and the Zabrak was not having any of it. He stared into the man as he ignited his saber, and gave a slight growl, "You have one last chance to start making some sense..." Whether the others were okay with the death of the weird man, Draugr didn't care. This was his last chance to answer their questions.

Whatever was behind the seal had to be dangerous, and it had to be something along the lines of why they had come here in the first place. Was it the Entity? The Eternal? It couldn't be, they mentioned they were here since Palpatine. Nothing could be in multiple places at once, so what was it that was here? What was behind that seal? And who were 'they'? So many questions and not enough answers, the Sith Lord was getting more and more angry as time passed.

Hopefully Tiamat knew what she was doing sparing him for so long. More importantly he hoped she knew what he was meaning by all of this gibberish. These were words of a mad man, and Arla, Vahliri, Tia, and Draugr were all being subjected to it.

@Phoenix @GABA @Altaris

 

[Darth Tempest]

Vahliri listened to the man, her patience growing especially thin with every moment he continued to ramble and spout nonsense that required deciphering. By this point, the half-Annfyn was truly considering the pros and cons of simply tearing into the man’s mind - ripping the knowledge she needed from his psyche - and leaving him a shell. Progressively, that seemed like the most attractive option.

“Very well then - show us what you’ve uncovered. This seal.” The half-Annfyn barked the words, her gaze flicking between Tiamat, Arla and Draugr - as if to indicate her patience for standing around and listening to his nonsense was at its limit. Whether they opened it or not was entirely different.

Before they continued farther, however, the half-Annfyn reached out - seizing hold of the lone individual they’d encountered. The Darkness coiled tightly around his body, amber eyes narrowing into sharp daggers.

“The other disciples - those that remain. Where are they? Or are you the last one living?” She asked. “Answer me plainly or I will tear what I want the answers from your mind.”

@Phoenix @Scoobert @GABA