Ask Goodbye to the Jungle!

[Alia]

Nameless Spaceport, Shaum Hii​

The Kian'thar guard, dressed in armor that clashed spectacularly with his pinkish skin, moved through the spaceport, sat next to the Sith acolyte as they waited for the third member of their party to arrive. Once she was here they were going to be put on a speeder that would take them to a nearby settlement. After repeated complaints from the locals regarding murders and disappearances, the Kian'thar authorities had reached out to the Sith for help. The Empire, thinking such actions might pave the way for Shaum Hii ultimately joining join the Empire but not warranting expending critical resources, had dispatched two young Sith to deal with the matter.

Alia, being nearby, had arrived before her Champion partner, and instead of being allowed to explore the spaceport, had been instructed to sit and wait for her "supervisor" to arrive. She hadn't been pleased with that, being treated like a child just because she was still an acolyte. Irritated and bored, she began coming up with ways to entertaining herself. By playing tricks on her chaperone. Having sat quietly for a few minutes, she reached across with her tail and tapped the guard on the shoulder away from her, trying to play the innocent when he turned and found no one there. The Kian'thar were empaths, so she had turned it into a game. So far she was breaking even on being able to mask her emotions enough to not give herself away, but this time she failed, as he immediately snapped his head towards her and gave her a glare that would be much more threatening if she not for his clothes.

With that attempt failed, she started thinking of the next trick, all the while waiting for her partner to arrive.

 

[Arla]

Arla was being sent to another planet that she had literally never heard of before. She supposed that shouldn't really bother her. After all, how many planets were there in the galaxy? Thousands? It was an opportunity to see something new, and actually, the more she thought about it, the more excited she was about it. Maybe it wasn't so bad after all.

She'd done some reading, but it was really more of... let's call it a skimming. Yeah, she'd skimmed some history about the planet. Of greater interest (and by interest she meant concern) was her partner. What little she could gather about Alia was that she was a Nightsister as well. While Arla didn't actually know her, there was a very good chance that Alia knew who she was. And if she didn't know yet then she would very quickly if Arla didn't lie to her about what Clan she was from. It could cause some serious sinking of Arla's anonymity if Alia didn't keep her mouth shut. Maybe it was always an inevitability, but she'd been hoping to keep it quiet a little longer. Fingers crossed, she thought to herself.

As she climbed off the shuttle she'd been supplied with she managed to once again look one step above a hitchhiker. Her robes weren't in tatters, but they weren't exactly high end. The lightsaber on her belt at least gave away that she was more than she first appeared. The markings on her face did the same.

Before she spotted her partner, she sensed something going on. Annoyance and mischief hung all in the air around the pair, and Arla had this nagging feeling that she was already walking into some sort of trouble.

I'm Arla, Champion with the Sith Empire, she said. The introduction was mostly to their host as she guessed Alia was already told who she was working with. She gave a nod and small smile in Alia's direction as well. Even if she was nervous about her secret getting out, she was actually quite excited to be working with another sister again.

This way, the grumpy man (with really bad style choices?) said, motioning with them and climbing behind the controls of a speeder, letting the two women climb into the back.

He seems grumpy, she whispered to Alia. I don't see a lot of other sisters. Good to be working with someone reliable again, she said with a surprisingly warm and genuine smile.

 

[Alia]

Alia had known the champion was another Nightsister, and hadn't been particularly excited with that arrangement. Since leaving Dathomir she had found a sense of freedom she hadn't known before, had rediscovered herself. So she had mostly avoided running into any of the Nightsisters who were scattered across the Sith ranks, specially when one of them was supposed to be the daughter of the queen-mother herself. If this Arla was indeed a champion then she must be important enough to know the princess, and Alia did not want to risk news of her misdeeds reaching her, and through her reaching ears back on Dathomir. So she had come prepared to put on her best foot forward and be the model little acolyte for the duration of the mission.

But as was typical for her, in her boredom she had forgotten about her plan, and it just so happened Arla showed up just in time to catch the aftermath of her latest prank. Could be worse, she thought to herself reassuringly as she rushed to her feet and smiled back awkwardly to return the Champion's greeting, she could have shown up while you had your tail swinging behind the man.

Following after the guard, staying to Arla's side and a step behind, as was proper, she was berating herself all the way to the speeder, already wondering if she was going to be dragged back to Dathomir in chains. So when they got into the speeder and the champion whispered she almost jumped in surprise. Alia had been called many things, but off late reliable hadn't been one of them. So against her own better judgement, she found herself smiling, a genuine one at that. Though whether it was because she found Arla to be naive in her assumptions about her, or if she actually liked the complement, she did not know. Maybe it was both.

"Me neither," she replied, then let out a chuckle as that lead her to another thought, "I haven't even seen my actual sisters since I left the hel..home. Since I let home. Looks like they like keeping us separated."

Shutting up awkwardly, hoping Arla hadn't caught the almost slip up, she wracked her brain for something to say, anything to distract from it. Thankfully that was when the speeder came to a stop, and their guard stepped off. "This way." A man of few words, he didn't wait to see if they followed, and the two had to scramble out of the speeder and Alia with her tiny feet had to almost jog to catch up.

"So, uhh.." She spoke up, a little out of breath, trying to make small talk as they were lead into what seemed to be the beginnings of a swamp. "How long have you been away from Dathomir? Champion, doubt anyone gets there fast, you must have been away a while."

 

[Arla]

Arla didn't think much of the other woman's slip up. She assumed it was just a slip of the tongue or any overly descriptive version of the word "home." The thought was passed over in a split second, but what didn't escape Arla's notice was that Alia felt... almost uncomfortable around her.

Oh great, she knows, she thought to herself. It's going to be another one of these stiff things where she's trying not to step on my toes and is treating me like some princess. Kriff, this is just my luck, she internally tiraded for a moment before bringing herself back to a more reasonable level of thought. She hasn't said anything about it, so maybe she doesn't know. Maybe she's just awkward, she told herself. Time would tell.

The follow up question pointed to the fact that she didn't know either, so that was good. Arla debated how to give an answer without giving a really clear and well-explained answer. And also without sounding too... overly trained. Or pampered. Or anything of that sort.

I haven't been off world long, she admitted. Most of my training was at home. I guess you could say I tested in, she said. It wasn't a horribly uncommon story. Nightsisters hunters were already trained warriors long before going to the Sith, and were allowed that privilege if the situations were right. For Arla, of course, her training had also been at the hands of her mother.

What about you? she asked curiously. She knew she should temper her questions so that not so many of them were asked in return, but Arla missed her home and her people on some level, and a semi-familiar face was welcome.

Before they got too much further in their conversation, Arla came to the room that Mr. Few Words led them to, and she was internally taken aback. Externally, she didn't show much reaction, but her silvery eyes swept over the room with immediate intensity.

The sight in front of them was absolutely gruesome. She couldn't actually tell how many bodies it had been but she guessed at least two or three. They'd been... mutilated beyond all recognition, and it immediately struck Arla why the Sith had been called in. This was on a whole different level of violence that the locals may not have been prepared to handle. Her mind immediately went to wild animal attacks on Dathomir, but the idea that this could have been sentient as its source - some sort of cultish ritual - wasn't lost on her either.

Careful where you step, she said to Alia. Mr. Few Words wasn't long for the room, and Arla got the sense he didn't want to be here for one single second longer than he had to. His discomfort in the Force was almost palpable.

 

[Alia]

Alia raised an eyebrow at the mention of being tested in, and her already questionable self-restraint slipped. "Tested in? So you're one of those smart ones, huh?" There was no ill will behind the comment, which was made even more evident by the smile that accompanied it. "Good for you." That too, was genuine, she almost wished she had done enough to just get accepted as a champion rather than having to slog through the grind for these past few years.

"Me?" She chuckled, and used her tail to scoop a random twig off the ground and flip it into the air, snatching it with her fingers before it fell past her eyes. "I never was good at most things, not good enough to test in at least." She snapped her fingers, and nothing happened, forcing her to furrow her brows in frustration and try again, getting a spark to come to life on her third try and setting the tip of the twig on fire. "This," she said as she passed her fingers through the flames, completely unharmed, "was the only reason I got in. Helps being fireproof, what with Sith tendencies towards explosive solutions." She smiled, a smile more ruefully than what was the norm for her, and pressed down on the flames with her fingers to snuff them out.

"Four years," she said after a moment, "fours I've been an acolyte. Guess being fireproof isn't all it's cut out to be." She chuckled, but stopped as they reached the room. She could only stare at the sight, like Arla getting reminded of some of the more violent animal attacks on Dathomir. Just a lot worse. She could just nod as Arla asked for her to be careful, not really prepared for something like this.

She took a cautious step forward, letting her eyes take in as much detail as she could. Her eyes landed on what had once been part of a limb, be it arm or leg she could not tell, she wasn't particularly great with Kian'thar anatomy. But whatever it was, it was one of the larger pieces she could spot, so she knelt before it and used magick to float it up to eye level. "Seems like it was ripped apart," she spoke out to share her observations with Arla, "no clear cuts like from a weapon." She waved a hand across the air, and much of the blood and gore that covered parts of the limb slipped off, allowing her a better look at the bare skin below. "These look like claw marks, some sort of animal maybe. But what kind of beast would do thi..." She stopped abruptly as she spotted something, something still stuck in the skin. She yanked it out, forgetting about procedure or not contaminating the crime scene, and using her fingers to pull out whatever it was.

She immediately dropped whatever it was, as a sharp, searing pain had shot up her arm from her finger tips. The arm, still floating under her control, dropped to the ground as she concentration broke. The pain lingered, nothing too severe, but still there.

She stared at the object that she had pulled out, a small tooth, with some odd inscriptions on it. "It burned me." She said to Arla, staring up at her with pure shock on her face. "It was stuck in the arm, and the moment I touched it the thing burned me."

Another thought began taking shape at the back of her mind. It had been buried in the body all this time, and had done nothing to it, yet the moment she touched it it had burned her. If this was indeed some ritualistic murder, then the connection seemed obvious to her. She had the Force.

 

[Arla]

Arla almost winced as Alia called her one of the "smart ones" though the tone of her voice didn't seem to indicate that it was an insult like Arla had expected. It almost seemed... genuine? A genuine congratulations? It almost felt a little bit suspicious like maybe she knew. She had to know, right? That was what this was all about? Just someone trying to suck up and get something from her?

She tried to push the thought from her mind and replace it with one about how nifty it would be to have a tail that could grip things. It'd make climbing easier and negate the need for standing up to get something that was a few feet away. Basically a third arm! Nice!

That seems useful, she said motioning to the woman grabbing a stick with her tail. A useful trick, I mean. Alia continued, and Arla didn't interrupt her as she spoke.

She didn't have to hear the Force to know that the other woman was down. She clearly struggle considerably with her abilities, and Arla didn't want to make too fine a point of the fact that much of her own prowess came... naturally. Her mother was one of the greatest Force-users in the galaxy and her father... well, apparently he must not have been a slouch either? At least not in that area.

Some of our sisters can't tap into things the way the Sith do, she offered. Many of the Nightsisters relied on incantations, spells, and rituals to draw. They couldn't simply do it the way that the Sith learned. Whether that was better, worse, or just different remained to be seen in Arla's mind.

Not that I'm saying you can't learn, she said, realizing how what she'd just said might have come off and trying not to be too mean.

If offense was taken, it probably wouldn't last long as both of them were horrified by the crime scene before them. She gave no thought to protocol either, her mind switching into its tracking mode as they looked around. She bent down next to Alia when the other woman jumped back from whatever she'd touched as if stung by a death-beetle.

It burned you, she repeated. The other woman was a... well, something resistant to fire based on what she'd said earlier, which meant this burning wasn't natural. Though, she supposed any teeth that burned people weren't natural... okay, fair point.

She pulled out her datapad and scanned the tooth, letting it run through the database before finding a particularly unsettling result: No matches found.

She showed the screen to Alia before looking back at the tooth.

We're dealing with something weird, she said. I wonder if we can use a ritual to backtrace the source of this, she said. Like following a scent. Did you ever learn how to do that? It's easier with two people, she said, hopeful that she either already knew how or she could at least follow instructions well.

@Wit

 

[Alia]

As the youngest of six sisters, Alia was used to being picked on. So Arla's comment about some people just not being good at Sith ways didn't really sting, at least not a lot. But maybe it was the truth. Either way, she shrugged it off and returned her attention to the task at hand.

When Arla showed her the datapad and proposed her idea, she was hesitant for a second. She did know of the spell, and had done it a few times with some of the sisters from her clan, but she had never managed to get enough of an handle to pull it off on her own. Which meant that it had been years since she had last used the spell.

"Yeah," she replied with some hesitation, "more or less. Or at least a variant. I need to draw the spell out on the ground, helps me channel." She got to her feet and reached for the tooth. If Arla did not object Alia would walk a few steps away from the bodies and place the tooth on the floor, before pulling out a small piece of chalk from one of her pockets. Most sisters probably didn't need something like this, but she did, and so she stayed prepared.

She quickly drew the intricate pattern around the tooth that was the basis of the spell, and once she was satisfied with her handiwork, she got to her feet once more and held out her hand for Arla.

"Shall we?"

 

[Arla]

Of course, she said with a nod. Clearly, Arla didn't miss a beat when the other woman said that she needed to draw something out, and that was because Arla, herself, would have done the exact same thing if Alia hadn't done it first. Well... almost the same thing. Arla probably would have carved it into the ground with a saber or knife, but this was far less permanent than that. She wondered silently to herself whether chalk contained the power of the ritual as well as indentation. She couldn't imagine it did, but she did file the thought away for later investigation. Chalk was certainly less messy.

Arla nodded again as she asked if they should proceed. She sat cross legged on the ground in one of the spaces among the chalk, facing toward where Alia would no doubt sit as well. This was always tricky because you never fully knew what you were going to get.

She began chanting in Dathomirian, and Alia would know the words as well based on her knowledge she'd already displayed. Magick like green fire sprung up from the chalk as they both channeled the energy and Arla could start to see things. Her mind parsed through the energies around them.

There was her own, a mix of determination and pride but also a hidden uncertainty and self-doubt that lay below the surface. She felt a similar uncertainty in Alia, but also a unique spark that pushed her onward. Like she was determined to find her own path as well. It was the source of the energy they created and channeled into the room, but beyond it she felt something else. A cold and hostile indifference that lay over... desire? Strong desire for something?

She didn't know what it was that had driven the motivation behind this spell, but what she did know was that she had the scent now.

Her eyes flashed back open once again and she had to catch her breath for a moment. The toxic scent of the power used here still stung her mind and she looked over at Alia.

Shouldn't be too hard to follow now, she said, almost feeling like she needed a shower after feeling that.

How're you feeling?

 

[Alia]

Alia settled down across from Arla, slipping back into old habits, old memories. As much as she preferred her life now to what it had been on Dathomir, her past was a big part of who she was, and as she started chanting a slight smile caressed her face as she remembered the last time she had done something like this, using a spell with her sister to track down the clan-mother's secret stash.

But the smile didn't last for long as the spell took hold, and they picked up on whatever it was they were trying to find. She instinctively tried to recoil from it, and the spell would have broken then and there, if that was all she felt. She had felt a little of herself, and Arla, in the spell as well, and that was enough to allow her to hold on. It was an intimate thing, sharing a spell with someone, not that she would say anything about that. What happened in the circle, stayed in the circle. But there was a reason Nightsisters were so close with each other, it was hard not to get to know someone better when you shared bits of yourself with them every time you shared your magick with them.

Ultimately the spell faded away, its task done, and she let out a breath she did not realize she had been holding in all this time. "Fine," she replied, "a little shaken, but I'll survive." As if the tone of her voice wasn't enough of a give away, she shuddered visibly, as if about to throw up. "Okay, maybe not that fine. Whatever that was," she glared at the tooth, "it was filthy."

She got to her feet, and turned away from the tooth, it seemed to have affected her more than Arla, probably because of her lack of experience and control. Unfortunately they had used up the only empty spot in the room for their spell, so averting her eyes from that made her eyes fall on the bodies, which didn't help. "Let's follow the scent." She asked hurriedly, beginning to walk out the room. "Have you felt anything like that before? They say there are crazy tombs on Korriban, full of Sith relics. Please tell me this isn't what that feels like? I was looking forward to tomb raiding some day."

Yapping away, a defense mechanism to keep her mind from the sick pit at the back of her throat, she continued walking through the forest, in the general direction of the trail. The only visible sign of any discomfort the subdued swaying of her tail as she moved.

 

[Arla]

Arla could tell that the other woman was shaken, and there was no judgment in that fact. It was... gross, and Arla felt it too. It crept over her skin, but thankfully, the sensation seemed to fade if ever so slightly as they pushed forward.

Truth be told, Arla didn't know what they were going to be up against. She hadn't spent time around the tombs on Korriban or Moraband, and she didn't know an endless amount about the devices of the Sith. But that didn't mean she'd never been exposed to alchemy before. Much to the contrary, she had been exposed to this sort of thing before, even practiced... portions of it. Or at least least learned it in an academic way.

Okay, I won't tell you that's what it feels like, she said deadpan, but the look in her silvery eyes as she looked over at the other woman told a different story.

They set out from the building and into the forest and Arla stated trying to piece things together. She tried to take her own mind and the mind of her Sister off of what they had just felt by voicing the thoughts aloud.

She moved to catch up with the Tiefling and bumped her hips slightly into the other woman's with a small smile on her face, trying to lighten the mood if ever so slightly. It was very uncharacteristic of her with other Sith, but this one wasn't just another Sith. She was a Sister, and whether Alia felt similarly, Arla felt a sense of camaraderie that made her want to ease the other woman's discomfort.

Okay, so what do we have? A tooth and a crime scene that looked like it was all from an animal. A dark ritual of some sort. A trail that leads into the forest and no real... notable tracks, she said. Her mind churned over what they knew, and it ultimately led her to a conclusion she doubted either of them were excited about.

Some sort of Force-enhanced or created creature. Probably killing for someone, she speculated.

How're you with a lightsaber? she asked. She had a feeling fighting was going to be coming and it wouldn't be any small thing.

 

[Alia]

"Fuck!" She replied to Arla's deadpan comment, with no attempt at trying to not be herself. The string of insults that followed was all her. 100%, unadulterated Alia. "Bith sucking, jack arse, idiotic fuck. They couldn't give me that one thing. Next thing I know you'll say that Raze isn't a total hottie under that helmet." As soon as she said that she realized that if Arla knew the princess, then she just might have access to some pretty crazy gossip. She just might know if that was true. "Don't, I don't even wanna know. Let me keep that one."

She walked away, and by the time Arla caught up, she had mostly let herself get cheered up by thoughts of what she thought Raze must look like under his helmet. "I can't decide if its better if its under someone's control," she spoke up after Arla's speculation, adding her own thoughts to the matter, "or if its just a crazed thing acting out on its own. Just a monster let loose into this place." There were pros and cons to both scenarios, but she really didn't know which one she would prefer. EIther way, they were going to have to face this thing, one way or another. And Arla's next question showed that she had also come to the same situation.

"Better than I am with a bow," she replied, "being tiny helps, can get under everyone's reach and poke at them. I tried training with some of the fancy bows they have at the academy, but I just don't have the upper body strength to pull it back effec..."

She was cut short by a sudden explosion of sound to their right, they had wandered into the deeper parts of the swamp, and a sudden cacophony of sounds warned them of the imminent arrival of...something.

Her hand instinctively dropped to her side, where her blade waited clipped to her belt, as she turned towards the source of the sounds. Her eyes were momentarily pulled to birds flying away just beyond the tree-line, and in that moment something exploded into the clearing they had been walking through. Something akin to a wolf, chained and scarred, came sprinting straight for them, and Alia could barely push Arla away as she fell back herself, the wolf biting at air where they two had just been.

 

[Arla]

It wasn't the first time someone had brought up Raze when talking to her, and if only she knew the truth about herself. But she didn't. And maybe she never would. What she did know was that Alia did not appear to like anything to do with the arcane. Ironic considering where they both came from, but Nightsister magick wasn't the same as other Dark Side arcanery.

I don't know, she agreed. If it was under someone's control they might be able to kill that person and be done with it. If it was on its own... they'd have to put it down the hard way. She didn't look forward to that, but something told her either way they would be fighting it.

She listened as Alia talked about her strengths and weaknesses with different weapons when something lunged at them. There was a snarl, a flash of teeth, and before Arla knew it she was being shoved to the ground.

She hit the ground hard, but her instincts took over. She pulled back her bow and loosed and arrow, but unfortunately, it was only half-aimed. The bolt of plasma zipped through the air before striking a nearby tree with a small crack. There was another howl as she tried to find where the creature had gone and her hearing picked up its sound. Another lunge, another narrow dodge, another missed arrow.

We need to get to a clearing! she shouted to Alia. Or high ground! There was no time to tell her anything more, and she all but body slammed the other woman forward, hoping to find any kind of an advantage against this creature. Not only was it a dangerous predator, but it was large. Not as large as Siph, her mother's lothwolf, but not that much smaller.

It was only then that Arla heard a shrill whistle and the animal seemed to slow and stop. She whirled around, bow raised for another strike and the creature let out a growl but didn't move to attack. Arla paused for a half-beat, ready to sent an arrow through the creature's eye when an old man - perhaps in his mid-60s - with long grey hair and raggedy clothes approached from the foliage.

I apologize for this little misunderstanding. I sensed someone strong in the Force, but I didn't expect it to be two people so... young, he said. For Arla's part she had no idea what to make of this development.

@Wit

 

[Alia]

Alia nodded in agreement to Arla's suggestion to find high ground, eyes begining to dart around to look for an appropriate tree to climb. She had spent much of her childhood scurrying up trees to avoid the mostly bigger and meaner bullies who would try to pick on her because of her tail and her horns. This was almost the same, only this time the monsters really did seem like it wanted to kill and eat her.

But before she could pick a tree, she too heard the whistle and turned her attention towards the direction it had come from, seeing the man step forward. Even before she made the connection between his whistle and the wolf-thing backing down, her impression of him was one of distrust. Something about his words, dismissing them for being young, didn't sit well with her. And when her brain did catch up with her senses had registered that feeling of distrust only grew strong.

"Who are you?" The words escaped her mouth, harsher than she would have liked, but she jumped to the conclusion that he was controlling the creature then he was behind the attacks, and she remembered how she had felt while casting the spell. "Are you the one going around killing the locals?"

He didn't flinch at the venom in her voice, almost looking down at her, as if he had expected nothing else. That only made her hate him even more, and she felt a strong desire to punch him. "Yes," he replied, turning his attention to Arla, identifying her as one more worth his time, "yes I did. But there is something much worse here, something I cannot deal with on my own. This," he gestured at the wolf, "was the only way to get the Order's attention. They don't trust me as they once did. Have gone insane in my old age, they said." He smiled, a smile laced with so much anger that it sent a shiver down Alia's back. There is work to be done here, vital work to secure the Order's future. I am an old man you see, not as spry as I used to be."

"Unlike you two, full of youthful enthusiasm and vigor. You will do nicely. Come," he whirled around, not waiting for a response, "there is important work to be done. We have a queen to kill."