Forsaken

[DeathToll]

((we're skipping Syn. keep it goin.))

* cough *

The first spattering breath of air out from his mouth blew away a thin layer of dirt at his face. Awakening from the fall, he coughed more and more. He realized that the mask had come off his face. He caught his breath, sitting up. Looking up, Phili'p saw the path of his fall through the boards of scaffolding and marveled at his survival. He had traveled some levels down much quicker than he had intended to.

Pushing up to a stand, the Acolyte looked around to see an empty cavern. It was blocked off by a cave-in on one side and a lining of boards on the other, marked "do not enter". Well, unfortunately, that seemed the only way out of this abandoned section.

He didn't bother dusting himself off, never one to think about the state of his appearance and clothing. And as a result, each step puffed off a cloud of dirt from his absorbent clothing.

He approached the wall of old and worn boards, reached back, then kicked a single leg through the barrier with a yell. If someone were close enough and on his level, they'd have heard him for sure. However, he was still far too high up along the surface of the planet to be heard by the awaiting Acolyte near the core. The boards gave way and revealed a black darkness down another corridor, likely unfinished or otherwise unsafe. Phili'p tugged at his breath mask with an insecurity, now hanging around his neck. He winced, leaning in to the darkness, as he thought he heard something. It was probably his imagination, he reconsidered. And so, Phili'p began down this new path to find a way deeper into the tunnels and towards the core.

He had no idea that there were others here, tracking down the same target. He hoped he would not have to run into any more workers, but knew he would. The thought of what he'd already done to the ones he'd taken this mask from made him ill. The thought of what he'd have to do soon, should he face more of them, made him swallow down the feeling like holding back that impulse from only a little vomit in your mouth. ...The Darkside called. He'd tried to fight it. The Darkside won. He was forced to obey.

 

[Insanity]

The vent grew smoother the lower they got, but Anima noted magma flows below, and a cavern entrances with what looked to be heat-resistant grates set into the sides. That explained, in a way, the utility of this vent - a way out when grated and a way to funnel magma away from occupied chambers. if it was any indication, the magma flows below were being prepared to be funneled up. He stopped and eyed the grate edges opposite and jumped, using the Force to augment his body's strength as the clawed braces hooked onto the metal and he crawled through. On the other side was a thin tunnel, with two paths. One went up, towards a cavern, and the other went lower. He removed his lightsaber from his belt and ignited it, holding it near the grate for the Iktotchi to see before de-activating it again.

Moving to one of the walls, he withdrew a vial from his pack and opened the top, dipping a metal claw-tip into it and withdrawing it back out. It glowed with a phospherent light as he carved into the stone, making an arrow indicating down and another to the grate. Then he turned away, tilting his head towards the tunnel down. "Now, we can walk."

 

[Black Noise]

((Sorry for taking so long and short post, no excuse))

Sogar followed Anima, not really paying attention too much. His force sight wasn't too bad, so he didn't have trouble seeing in the dark. It was more of being in such a cramped space that bothered him. Looking to Anima's phospherent light, he nodded and said.
"Then lets walk."

 

[Rameth]

A debt exchanged for training? Hal was sure he would have no problem with that. It seemed like much to little to do for someone who had just saved your life so he would make sure to pay it back in full later. Just hopefully not during this mission. Hal had already had enough frightening experiences today. Yet something in the back of his head let him know they probably weren't over.

"Seems like something small to do for something great. Although it's not like I can say no can I?", Hal said back to Sorn, flashing his normal grin.

Back on subject Sorn had made a good point. There was no doubt their target was here and had been here for quite some time. Hal and Sorn's pace had slowed but they were still making progress. Sorn had the idea to send small waves of the force through the tunnels ahead of them, a good idea. There was no harm in extra caution.

After traveling a few minutes Sorn was continuing his trap detecting technique. One of the rocks on the floor suddenly dropped when Sorn had pushed on it. If he hadn't been doing so they probably would have stepped on the stone themselves. The ground did not fall as Hal had expected but instead two small grenades dropped from the ceiling. Hal quickly reached out and grabbed the two explosives flinging them farther down into a breakaway tunnel. The two explosions shook the ground slightly but left the tunnel intact.

"That was close...", Hal said as he turned to Sorn.

Despite what had just occurred they only had one choice, continue. It seemed it was getting even more dangerous but they were close, Hal could feel it. There was a small group of people not very far away. He was sure Sorn could feel it as well. They would soon find their run away acolyte. Hopefully there wasn't anything else waiting for them when they got there.

 

[MolotovCocktailParty]

Sorn grinned back at Hal, who had very likely just saved him, since he was walking in front and would have borne the brunt of the explosion. Hal's quick thinking had meant that he avoided death or serious injury.

"Looks like now I owe you some training," he said. "But first we've got to get this mission over with. You sense them too, right? Two Force presences off over there somewhere (though one is really faint and hard to read) and another one in the opposite direction, a level or so below us. I had previously only noticed the signature we were tracking, close to the core; these ones came out of nowhere, which means they either were hiding themselves or they just got here. Who is likely, besides us, to come to a godforsaken hellhole of a planet like this? No one - unless they happened to know that there was a runaway Acolyte here. Only two groups knew that, and we would know about any other Jedi."

Sorn looked at Hal. "The newcomers, therefore, are probably Sith, and the grenades' explosion most likely alerted them to our presence. We should keep going, and also pick up the pace. If we cross paths, we may have to fight our way out."

 

[DeathToll]

Phili'p jerked to a standstill. He had heard the explosion, but didn't know where it had come from. He was in total darkness at this point, feeling his way down a corridor; sensing for the presence he was slowly chasing after. Then it hit him...

A small pebble fell from the cave's ceiling and tapped onto his head. He reacted, looked up, then looked down. He couldn't see anything. It was just a reaction. But then he crouched down to the floor. The moist dirt between hiis fingertips felt loose and had some give to it. He was not sure why but knew he needed to get down. And on top of that, he could feel more and more presences as he focused his mind downwards into the core below. It was time he stopped hiding. The Darkside was calling, and he must obey.

He stood up abruptly, his lightssaber hilt dangling loosely at his side. His hand stretched out and the hilt snapped free and slapped into his grasping palm. Spinning the simple hilt about in his open hand, he caught it in reverse and ignited the beam down as he plunge it into the floor. Carving away at the soil violently, the Acolyte began to feel a rumbling beneath his feet. Someone would notice. He was getting closer. He stretched back one free left hand punched it into the earth, the Force exploding from his fist.

The cave collapsed underneath him and he fell through, being consumed by the soil as he drown into oblivion. Further down, the roof would begin to rain a haze of dirt. Then pieces would begin to come free, cracks lining the incoming pressure. Finally the rumbling came, and the roof would become a crater; opening up to let fall a pile of earth that gather into a mound onto that level. With the endtrails of rock and dirt would come Phili'p, landing onto the mound with his ignited red saber in reversed single grip. He would be starring at two others, only now able to realize their presences apart from all the rest.

 

[Syn]

Bellatina remained where she was as she closed her eyes and reached out not with the force but with her instincts. She had heard an explosion and then there were rumblings in the tunnels above people were coming and she remained where she was with a grin. It wasn't the thrill of battle anymore. It meant she might be free she could get out of here and off of this rock. Slowly she lifted herself up more and dug into the rocks to hide in the crevice and deeper shadows. She was prepared to spring on whoever came but she suspected the heavily traps in the tunnel would help her. She could make out the outline of the boulder on the rope.

 

[Insanity]

Anima walked, the clawed braces dragging against the stone walls, sending out their small vibrations and feeling others. His eyes were closed, his senses spread outwards to their furthest extent, somewhat distanced from himself yet still in control. Phospherent streaks dragged along the wall where the claws dug in, leaving a markedly obvious trail to follow. In his current state, he felt... shapes, minds. Some sentient, some obviously sub-sentient, and then three.. no, four presences with the Force apart from him and Sogar. And one of them was above them, nearly on top of their own location, stationary yet moving.

He stopped and put his other hand out, indicating to Sogar that they should stop. His eyes flickered open, slowly re-focusing as he brought himself to a more stable state. "It seems we're not-..." He stopped speaking as he felt the vibrations, one not too far from them, almost on the same level yet on a different track. And another, this one from above, where that one presence was. Anima stepped back, so as to be on even footing. He saw the upper part of the tunnel ahead begin to shake, stones falling as they came loose and into the phospherent light that tipped the clawed braces. And then it all gave way, that presence coming with it.

Anima watched, motionless and seemingly unresponsive as the presence turned to them and the debris fell away. The first detail of note was, of course, the ignited lightsaber, the blade crimson like most basic ones that circulated amongst the Sith. The second detail was that the wielder was a human, apparently ready to strike or defend as needed. Likely, others might've done so, though Anima continued to hold an arm out in front of Sogar. And then he did what might strike some as unexpected. "Greetings. We weren't expecting others here, and as you aren't female, you're not the rogue we're hunting. Which makes you, my dear stranger, either a fellow acolyte who's after her for a similar reason.. or another rogue we aren't aware of. Your presence is far too dark to be a Jedi, thus it's not worth assuming such."

 

[Black Noise]

Sogar followed Anima' phosopherent light. Almost absentmindedly in fact. He wasn't thinking or feeling, barely even keeping a connection to the Force. He simply let himself drift into a state of.mindlessness. Why? He had utterly no idea, maybe because he was tired, didn't sleep enough, hadn't been refreshing himself in the Dark Side enough. But when the rocks came crumbling down, his mind snapped to attention once again, and slightly recognizing the figure that appeared, he let Anima speak before adding.
"We don't need lose ends or wind cannons in this hunt, Anima."

Turning to the man, he ignited his lightsaber and pointed it at him.
"So the simple question is, are you going to join us or will I have to cut you down to make sure you stay out of the way?"

 

[Jacques]

For once in his life, he was extremely glad he had chosen not to wore that incredibly baggy Jedi robe of his. The leg of his Tusken Raider garment caught on a sharper rock some half way up his obstacle. Carefully working his way around, the padawan released himself and continued climbing.

"Oh Arek, why don't you go along? You're pretty good with works, pretty good at talking and stuff, you could be useful!" Arek muttered to himself as he wandered around god-knows-where on god-knows-what. What was the name of the planet? Sullust? Well the Tusken wasn't a fan of it. "Yeah! We need a little bit of backup! Don't worry about meeting your new master any time soon, just go on this dangerous mission where you'll fight the Sith! Fight the Sith? I barely know how to use my lightsaber to block blaster bolts, how the fu-?"

He caught himself with a sigh and continued to press on. Along the way, there was an explosion and what the padawan could only assume was a sort of cave in, sent rocks tumbling down at him...pretty big freaking rocks. He jumped out of the way when he had to, almost losing a leg. Arek hoped he caught up to the other Jedi soon.

 

[Rameth]

Getting separated from Sorn was unexpected. As were the group of mercenaries chasing them through the tunnels. Hal had managed to knock one of them out but when the others started firing both he and Sorn started running. Hal was against killing them so the only thing left he could do was try to evade them. He was separated during the chase and now he was very deep into the tunnels.

He hoped he was going the right way. He already avoided two more traps all the while being chased and shot at. He had managed to avoid them after springing a pitfall, lucky for him. Now walking slowly to catch his breath Hal was getting the strange feeling he was being watched, though where from he wasn't sure. He placed his hand on his lightsaber instinctively, scanning the area around him.

((OOC: The person watching me is SYN's NPC btw. Figured I might as well meet up with her now.))

 

[Syn]

Bella heard a sound and saw a figure moving against the shadows as she inched forward somewhat dropping her head out of the crevice and couldn't tell. He wasn't one of the merc she had charmed and he didn't have the air of a sith. But she didn't know if he was a jedi as she activated the lightsaber and came down with a dive bomb stab feet first. The lightsaber pulsed as it lost containment and energy flared out licking her outfit while painting her cheek tattoo's.

 

[DeathToll]

"Dark?!?"

Phili'p replied hastily to Anima. Hating the implications, and the intruding touch of their evil presences. But when the other Acolyte threatened and questioned his allegiances, Phili'p knew he would be no match for two more intensively trained would-be-Sith. It was not that he was one to jump to battle, but rather just noticed their numbers and presence in power.

Phili'p pushed a hand into the mound of dirt he stood upon, and fed a crossing leg down to reach himself to the tunnel floor. His red lightsaber still ignited behind him, he circled to their left only to stand amongst them. He hesitated, to then answer blindly. The darkness was all he knew. The Jedi would not take him in, he thought; and he would never feel one of them.

"With you."

He answered, defeated in any hopes for freedom he may have found here.

"I-"

Phili'p was interrupted. Clear as day, a lightsaber had ignited some distance further down this passage. Phili'p had spun round in reaction, his back to the side wall with the two Acolytes in his periferals. It was far off, but nothing seemed to impede the signature noise as it was barely heard. The presences, however, had become all the clearer in a moment of heightened awareness. Perhaps they were fighting? Either way, if Phili'p had felt it, these two must have felt it.

"Did you...?"

 

[Insanity]

Anima tilted his head as Sogar intervened, stating his own opinions and making his stance clear. Where Sogar was using intimidation, Anima used his own logic and detached views. But sometimes, making one's intent clear was a better choice, it seemed. The Force-user they faced seemed to go through some inner turmoil, emotions familiar yet foreign to Anima's mind. Confusion, despair, hate, anger, so many more that he couldn't name. Thoughts, too, as well, unprotected in those moments. A hand moving to Sogar's shoulder to garner the Iktotchi's attention for a moment, he shook his head slightly as the other human spoke, or rather, started to. His statements were incomplete, short but clear in meaning. He would go with them, but it didn't mean that he trusted them nor they him. That was to be expected, because they were, after all, followers of the Sith Order.

The sound of a lightsaber igniting, then another sound following it that was more muddled, ahead and slightly below. The other human spoke again, question half-unspoken. Anima was already reaching out with his senses, grip tightening on the Iktotchi's shoulder as his body lost some of its stability. He identified the presences of Sogar and the other, then spread his senses further until he found that glimmering presence.. no, two presences. One had the mark that the dark side left, the other without it. He withdrew, quickly, coming back to himself as he nodded. "One presence, unmarked. Another, with the obvious signs of darker teachings... our teachings. Both ahead."

 

[Black Noise]

Sogar glanced up at Anima as he placed a hand on Sogar's shoulder, then leaned on him. After his quick statement, Sogar angled his ignited lightsaber down and stated.
"Then it would seem we have found our targets, let's move out."

He pulled away from Anima and started slowly walking forward, approaching the two presences Anima had identified. He would find this acolyte, in truth he really did only want her lightsaber, but a battle with a Jedi to quicken his senses would do him some good.

 

[Jacques]

Arek heard a lot of sounds that didn't sound very friendly to him. A lot of booby traps and whatnot, and he even had to get past a few himself. There were several presences around, and not too many of them friendly. But one was...one was a little bit different, and it was headed his way. Maybe he wouldn't die alone in these desolate caves that he had grown to hate after all!

"Hal?" He asked himself as a man, obviously a Jedi-at least to the robed Tusken-, walked by him. Areak peaked around the corner to make sure, but definitely remembered the padawan from their duel in the class where he fractured his arm. Remembering the incident still sort of hurt his arm.

"Hal!" Arek called out, albeit quietly, "It's me, Arek! I was sent to help you guys." He ran up behind the padawan, just glad to see a familiar face there.

(Sorry about not posting, I forgot. Somebody needs to remind me......INSANITY. Anywho, I'm also sorry for nutshelling my way to Hal, but Arek got ascared.)

 

[Rameth]

The attack surprised Hal but that didn't mean he wasn't ready to defend himself. He knew something was coming, he just didn't know what. As Bella swooped down he ignited his lightsaber brought it up and deflected the attack, letting it slide down his own saber as he stepped to the side. Ha quickly jumped back in order to get distance between him and his opponent. As his back met the wall he heard a familiar voice call to him. The quiet voice came from the tunnel to his left. Expanding his senses with the Force Hal found it to be Arek, a Padawan he had met before. His reasons for being there were answered quickly. The Jedi had sent him to help. Good timing, Hal thought to himself, glad that he had some backup after losing track of Sorn.

"Arek. So glad you could make it. I've just met this nice Sith here...", Hal said never turning away from Bella, not knowing she was the one they were looking for.

 

[Syn]

Bella looked at Hal and then heard Arek as her instincts screamed hostiles on the wind. She looked down the tunnel and deactivated her saber reaching up and grinning. Bella ripped the boulder on the rope

Spoiler: second to last post

She was prepared to spring on whoever came but she suspected the heavily traps in the tunnel would help her. She could make out the outline of the boulder on the rope.

as the ceiling started to come down and she moved back shouting at Hal and then at Arek. "Move" Bella kept moving as she didn't speak but pointed for Hal and to Arek stopping him at a trip wire tied to a grenade basket that would drop down. She stepped over it and motioned for the two jedi to follow while she didn't waste time speaking. They were not sith and that was good enough for her.

 

[DeathToll]

Phili'p brought up the rear of this group of Acolytes, yet even he could see the bolder that had just fallen across the entrance they came through. It seemed that the trap directly in front of them had been conveniently set off and would no longer be a threat to them, though the entrance remained available and unblocked.

Still, Phili'p hesitated. And as he held back, he noticed as they passed a fork in the tunnels. He looked both ways, then decided to explore it. Confrontation was not currently his specialty nor his wish. And yet, the Darkside could not be ignored. And these Acolytes might possibly be Phili'p's only ride out of here. But as far as they could tell, Phili'p had vanished behind them; going off in a different direction.

 

[Insanity]

Anima followed behind Sogar, though his senses remained partially disassociated from him as he kept track of the presences. His walk was partially unsteady yet controlled, as he started filtering out those minds too weak to bother with. The sound ahead of stone collapsing, a small vibration as they passed a forking in the tunnel and came into view of the tunnel's end. A boulder lay half-across the entrance, impeding progress. He considered that, motionless yet aware of the three presences fleeing, no longer two. Two presences were Jedi, unfettered by their baser emotions, while one was still the rogue's aura. Then he blinked, turning back as he felt a strange absence - and confirmed it, as the other acolyte was gone. It took a moment but he found the trace-presence of the third, already down that other tunnel where it forked off. His attention, though, didn't linger, as he turned to the partial blockage.

He brought his senses back and accepted the unsteadiness as he placed a hand on the stone, bringing the Force into himself, strengthening him as he sensed around the boulder's shape, identifying the weight and mass of it to an imprecise degree. His muscles ached as he placed his hands against it, the clawed braces digging and tearing into the stone. He steadied himself, ignored the ache as he gathered the energy into his hands, feeling his fingers bristle with it. Then he unleashed it, the boulder shattering into debris which flew into the tunnel beyond. It didn't go far, but a sizable piece hit that tripwire and set off the grenades ahead. Anima breathed heavily, leaning against the cavern wall as he calmed his body, gathering his wits properly. He knew Sogar would continue on and likely challenge one of the Jedi or the rogue. His head ached, partially, and body felt worse. But he wasn't weak, so he'd push on.

Despite that pain, it was nothing compared to what he'd felt as he'd been trained. He moved, walking down the tunnel as the phospherent on the braces fell away in dust-particles, letting him fade better into the darkness of the tunnels. The headache got worse as he concentrated his senses outwards again, stalking after the one they'd come to capture or kill, and those who would interfere.

((tl:dr - blasted boulder with Force energies, chunk set off grenade trip-wire, now going after the Jedi and rogue with a headache and aching muscles :)))