Imperial Gauntlet: Team JAF

[The Gatekeeper]

The dusty sands of Korriban suddenly disappeared as the first Trial of the gauntlet began, plunging the Champions down suddenly into the Catacombs. It wasn't a straight fall, instead a steep chute that slid the hapless contestants down a distance that was hard to measure from all the twists and turns. It was utter darkness as they slid, all until they fell through the ceiling of a large chamber onto a pile of skulls and bones. The scent of ancient death permeated the air as dust and fragments of crushed bone floated around them in clouds of white. Torches lit with blue flame sprung to life on the walls, showing the massive size of the room and the various pits and passageways that led out of it, giving the Champions a variety of choices as to where to go next. Which was the right path? Which was the wrong path? Whatever decisions they wanted to make, they didn't have long to make them.

Rolling from the center of the room, barreling down on the Champions, was a huge ball of tangled skeletons, arms grasping towards the living that had invaded their homes. The amount of power this unliving orb had was immense, perhaps rivaling the Empress herself, and this manifestation of the Dark Side had nothing but malicious intent for the contestants it was now rushing towards. It would take only a few seconds for it to arrive and mete out it's own judgement, giving the Champions just that long to make a decision. As to the answer to that decision, only they could decide. All they would know is that their Empress was watching, even now. They had best not disappoint her.

OOC: You've got a turn to act before the skeleton orb reaches you. This thing is huge, comprised of over 100 bodies altogether. There is no turn order, but there is only 48 hours for each Champion to post in a turn before I go again and anyone timing out is ejected from the event. Have fun!

@christhebarker @Ecclessey @Wit

 

[Talion Knylenn/Anhur]

Anhur stood at the designated spot he was told to go to the start of the first trail alongside his brethren, he stood there in heat in his usual equipment look around for the entrance, there was no clear and defined entrance that he could make out. so he would wait for the other two to arrive before long they did, he waited to until they got close before greeting them though as he did Anhur felt shake the ground before he could react his feet went from under him cast into the black of the chute.

Anhur tried to gain some measure of control of his decent, orienting his back againest the steep angle that was guiding them further down while also digging his heal in to control his speed. Eventually, he came to the end of his journey down the chute. landing with a large crunch under and a cloud of dust. The air smelt of death, the ancient kind, a smell that brought back memories to the temple on malachor, rising from his crouch land position he stood up absorbing his surroundings. The room was filled with multiple passages lead further into the catacombs, too many to explore all the options.

Then he noticed the ball of tangled skeletons rolling towards them, immediately he sprinted into a passage too small for the massive ball to enter, he didn't take time the time warn his companions if they were to remain oblivious to it they deserved to suffer whatever it had in store for them.

@Ecclessey @Wit

 

[Jade D'ukal]

Jade raised an eyebrow as the floor dropped out from beneath her and she was sent sliding down towards whatever challenge had been arranged for them. As she slid down in utter darkness, she could feel the speed at which she moved in her stomach, and let out a giggle of pure joy as she felt the thrill of the ride course through her. After sliding and rolling through the darkness, when she finally emerged into light once more she found herself falling through open air, spotting the ground a good twenty or so meters below her. Letting out a chuckle once more, not yet realizing the danger they were in and still feeling the butterflies in her stomach from the rapid slide down, she managed to orient herself and landed in a roll. As best as she could on the skeletal ground.

"Wonderful." She muttered as the torches illuminated around them and she took measure of her surroundings, spotting the two others who had joined her in this particular shindig. Death was all around them, the vast chamber filled with sights and smells that would make someone less accustomed to hurl up the contents of their last meal. And while it didn't draw that strong of a reaction from Jade, she wasn't going to deny that she would much rather be elsewhere.

Nothing to it then, she simply had get through this little challenge as quickly as possible. Speed was good, it would probably catch the Empress' eye as well, who Jade had been informed was watching their progress even now. Two strong motives for wrapping this up as quickly as possible, whatever this was.

That was when she noticed the ball, not that it was particularly hard to notice, not just visually, but through the Force as well. As it barreled towards them, Jade sprang into action.

Pulling out her ascension gun, she shot is straight up and the moment it sank into the ceiling she flipped the switch on the gun to activate its motor. She shot into the air once more, this time going up instead of down. Even as she ascended, the ball closing down on her and the others, she shouted at her co-participants. "Move, split up so that it can't pick us all off at once!"

Coming a stop once the gun had pulled her up, she hung there pressed against the ceiling, using the grappling hook buried in it to hold her in place. From her vantage point she observed the giant skeletal ball and two others, studying the scenario and formulating a plan to react.

@christhebarker @Ecclessey @Insalius

 

[Fester Olonn]

The Republic had changed, Fester reflected as he was sliding down some weird chute on Korriban. No, not the Republic, but the Republic of Serenno. When the Grand Count still came from one of the houses the tournaments included gentlemanly sports like dueling with vibro-rapiers and stun blasters. He had his doubts when he was dropped on some desert on Korriban, which in itself was in shrill contrast with the cold world of Ziost where the Empress had designated the headquarters of her -still primarily Serenno- military. The Empire turned out to be a place where you always had to juggle extreme opposites.

"Stop kriffing giggling!" the Shock Corps Corporal shouted as the catacombs finally came into view. Bloody sound had irritated him to the bone and somehow scared him as a sign of something very very sinister about to happen. He landed unceremoniously on his bum, cracking open an old dusty skill in the process, but not creating such a large cloud of dust as Anhur had done. Fester could see the blue flames and the many dead which both created a knot in his stomach. "Kessing hell," he cried, "Are we dead?"

He couldn't be dead already, could he? The Serenno human looked at the Sith for guidance in what seemed to be more their jam than his, but when he turned to watch whatever it was they were watching, he got the biggest fright of them all. "Kriffing hell!"

Just as the others came into action, Fester got up on his feet and ran as fast as he could through the nearest passageway.

@Insalius @christhebarker @Wit

 

[The Gatekeeper]

The skeleton orb had more power than any of them had thought. As the door closed behind the two who had gone down a passage to try to run from the orb, it reached out in a skeletal grasp that stretched impossibly long to grab Jade in it's surprisingly powerful grasp. Infused with the Dark Side power of hundreds of the dead, it would defeat anything that these Sith could throw at it. It's power was so awesome that there had only truly been one choice, which had been shown to the others. It brought Jade to it's face, screaming in hers as the scent of the freshly dead washed over her. Whether by mercy or some other providence, it didn't devour her. Instead, it threw her with all it's might down one of the pitfalls in the room. Banged and stunned, Jade would manage to land unharmed, her companions coming across her exit in her path to rejoin her. It would be up to her to speak of her experiences, though.

The three enter a room with a thin, rainbow-hued mist hanging through the entire chamber. The door closing behind them and literally disappearing, on the walls of the room shifting with appearing doors that disappear just as quick as they appear. For a moment above these doors a symbol appears, though just a casual glance is not enough to see what these symbols are. On pedestals through the center of the room are a variety of artifacts, none of them of any value outside the Catacombs yet seemingly important to this room. It would be up to the Champions to decide what their next move would be, but obviously there was a secret to this room that would need to be solved in order for them to leave. After all, was there anything about this place that was real?

@christhebarker @Wit @Ecclessey

((OOC: You will need to find a way out of this room. You have been given clues, it will be up to you to choose your actions and when you are all done posting I will say how successful you are, or not. No rolls necessary, this will be decided entirely upon your ability to figure things out. Good luck!))

 

[Fester Olonn]

Fester was slightly panicking, but he refused to show it to the others. As a non-FS corporal of the Shock Corps he never expected nor imagined to be put into situation so thickly interwoven with the Force of which he understood exactly nothing. "How-" he muttered despite of his intention, "I didn't know the Force could do all this." Surely his companions knew better, but for now Fester desired nothing more than to return to Imperial Military garrison and those who had never amd would never experiences these things.

Fester tried to clear his head and focus on the trials by trying to find artefacts that represented the symbols above the quickly disappearing doors. Perhaps the key here was to do something with an artefact to open a corresponding door long enough for them to pass through.

 

[Talion Knylenn/Anhur]

Spiriting through the passage and into the next room, Anhur came to a stop in the mist as the door closed behind them. "Anything is possible with the force, you should not underestimate it" he answered the shook trooper, he felt his fear, his panic through the force, one not a custom to its power these are reasonable responses but he would push past it if he wanted to succeed but that wasn't his concern for he was both his rival and teammate

Anhur took in the room, observing the symbols above the shifting doors, focusing on finding one repeating symbol, once he had discovered one he would turn his attention to the artefacts on the pedestals and try to find something bearing a similar symbol and take it into his hands to see if it change anything.

@Wit

 

[Jade D'ukal]

Jade stumbled to her feet where she had been tossed by the skeletal hand, shaking away the disorientation and running her hand through her hair while she returned the now spent grappling gun to her belt. That had been a weird experience, she had expected worse than a screaming contest when the ball-of-bones had grabbed her. But somehow she had got away with little more than a few scraps, a slight ringing in her ears from the thing's scream and a slightly messed up hair-do from how hard it had screamed at her. All in all not not a bad result, minus the messed up hair of course.

Nodding to the others as they showed up, she fell in step with them as they entered the room, stopping and turning around as the door closed behind them a literally vanished. She let out a whistle at that and raised a hand and ran it through the rainbow-hewed mist hanging in the room. Facing the wall as she was, she did ultimately notice the vanishing and reappearing doors, but only when it cycled around and reappeared at the position of the original door she had seen vanish earlier.

Turning away from the wall, she studied the rest of the room and made her way towards the artifacts, slowly walking down them to carefully overseer them all before lifting her eyes from them and staring at the walls once more. She was doing more or less the same thing as her companions had, but just going about it the other way, first studying the artifacts and them turning her attention to the vanishing doors to see if they had any further clues for her.

Noticing the symbols appearing above the doors, be they the same symbol or a different one above each door, she would once more return to the artifacts and study them to find any correlation between what were the only two clues she could find regarding how to proceed. If the symbols for each vanishing door were all different them she would focus on the one appearing above the door directly opposite the one through which they had entered. She wondered if the artifacts would stop the doors from vanishing in some way, but she didn't really have any way of proving that till she found some way to pick an artifact and give it a try.

@christhebarker @Ecclessey @Insalius

 

[The Gatekeeper]

Nothing happened when an artifact was picked up, though the group would indeed see that there was some correlation between the symbols above the disappearing doors and the artifacts themselves. Perhaps there was something else to this puzzle than the symbols and artifacts, though. Something that was still evading them. They could feel that they had everything they needed in this room to figure this out, though perhaps they were looking at the obvious or the strange only. Perhaps the key would lie in something they were overlooking, or taking for granted. After all, if there was one thing a door usually loved, it was it's key. As for if these were locked, well, that would be up to them to find out. If they WERE locked, then where would the key be?

@christhebarker @Ecclessey @Wit

 

[Talion Knylenn/Anhur]

Lifting the artefact in single he waited for something to happen but nothing ever came, puzzled for a second, he reformed himself there was something they were missing, he felt like they had every they need but what was the key to solving this puzzle.

Anhur began to pace in thought, recollecting everything he had seen so far in the room and what they had done, this brought him back to his comments to the corporal, anything was possible with the force perhaps this was all but illusion, it wouldn’t have the first time he had entered illusion and it would explain everything, the door seemingly disappearing from behind them, the disappearing and reappearing doors or where the artifacts a red herring there was no key they just had to step through both were possible or he was just over thinking but there was only one way of finding out the truth, to put his ideas to the test.

Anhur approached the shock trooper “Trooper, I have theory to test and would like you to help me, if you would so be inclined to stand here” he asked the trooper monotonously, pointing to a place in front the disappearing and reappearing doors, it was completely up to the trooper if he wanted to do it but if he did accept, Anhur would follow behind and stand behind him at the spot, when the next door appeared in front of trooper he would push him suddenly into it without the help of the force he didn’t want to harm him.




Too much.

@Ecclessey @Wit

 

[Fester Olonn]

Fester had no bloody clue as to what to do now, since trying to tie the artefacts to the doors seemed like a dead end. He was thankful, therefore, that one of the Sith had an idea for which Fester was used -and adressed properly- as a guinea pig.

"Yessir," he smiled as he said it, glad as he was that someone else did the thinking much better than he could.

He complied with the Sith's instructions and moved to stand where he wanted him to stand. He was expecting the Sith to know what he was doing and as such did not further try to correlate the objects in the room to disappearing and reappearing of doors.

But..the Sith better be right.

 

[Jade D'ukal]

Jade watched as her two companions jumped into action, trying out something to proceed further. She thought that she could figure out what the Sith was thinking, but she had another idea.

Stepping up to the artifact that matched the symbol above the door directly opposite the one they had entered through, she picked it up in her hands and threw it to the ground. Her idea was a wee bit more direct and a wee bit more destructive. Maybe there was a key of some sort inside the artifact.

And if that did not work she would simply pick up another artifact and toss it through its corresponding door. Maybe the artifact itself was the key, in which case it ought to slip through the door.

@christhebarker @Ecclessey @Insalius

 

[The Gatekeeper]

In the end, Jade would find the truth, though perhaps not in the way that was intended. All attempts failed until she threw the artifact through the correct door, stopping the others and opening that one. For now. It was quickly about to close, though, so the Sith had only one chance to leave this illusory room. The Darkness rippled around them, intrigued, wanting to see more. What other trial was waiting to end this part of the gauntlet?

The three would come to a huge room, in the center of which was a pile of bones. At the top was a glowing idol made out of crimson Kyber Crystal, in the shape of the Imperial insignia. This was the ultimate prize, as taking that idol would end this part of the gauntlet and show who the most worthy of the Empress' favor was...for now, at least. It would be up to the three Champions to claim this idol, though only one could do so. Would this be where their time working together would end? Or would one help the others up this jagged pile to achieve victory? What would a true Sith do?

@Wit @Ecclessey @christhebarker

((OOC: Your new goal is to get the idol. However you do so is up to you, but write the attempt only, as well as any other actions you try against any other factors. I will say how far you travel or what exactly happens when it is my turn next. May the best man win.))

 

[Fester Olonn]

Fester rushed into the other room hoping it would be the last and put him back on the durasteel floors of an Imperial destroyer. It didnt turn out as he had hoped and his heart sank a little when his eyes took in the large pile of bones, "End station," he sighed and only then spotted the large jewel with the Imperial signal.

Turning to Jade, who had figured out how to escape the other room, Fester shrugged, "You deserve it more than I do." He assumed that whoever took the jewel would get some sort of prize or credit and maybe that person was the only one to advance in the gauntlet, but if the gauntlet was filled with more giant abominations he sure as Bantha wasn't wanting to be part of it. Now, hopefully whoever did not get the jewel would still be able to leave this place...

 

[Talion Knylenn/Anhur]

Anhur quickly entered the room behind the corporal, he observed the pile of bones and the kyber crystal insignia, he knew there something else to this room, the insignia was just stuck in the middle of the room, a juicy prize for those without foresight to look for traps. The corporal comments made anhur eyes role, no one deserves anything if this life, it must be taken.

Ahead of them the way was likely booby trapped in some way, it would be nearly impossible to try and guess where they would be but he didn’t have to guess he just had to activate them prematurely. He rised a hand, project a constant force push 2 meters in front of him and began to approach the insignia at jogging pace. Hopefully his plan would allow him to approach safely.

@Ecclessey @Wit

 

[Jade D'ukal]

Jade appreciated Fester's sentiment, but she wasn't particularly interested in charity, or whatever sense of duty was driving the man to offer her the victory. She loved to win, that was true, but not like this. If she was going to win, she was going to win on her own terms. Yes, whatever glory that might await the person who grabbed the crystal might have helped her in the long run, but she would have other opportunities to do that. She was young, she'd get there one way or another.

"Sorry sweetheart, but this isn't that sort of rodeo." She only gave Fester the opportunity to notice the lopsided grin that appeared on her face before grabbing him with the Force and lifting him into the air. "Now stay still, I've only done this with rocks, and rocks don't resist." With that she began floating him towards the crystal, flying him through the air, bypassing the bones altogether, and straight for the crystal.

Anhur might finally get there, or the bones might delay him, but she had just sent Fester on the fastest and most direct path to the crystal. One way or another she had lost whatever prize awaited there. Still, she had done it her way.

@christhebarker @Ecclessey @Insalius

 

[The Gatekeeper]

The Darkness was amused by Jade's action, lifting Fester up to grab the idol via the Force. Anhur's tactic may have been effective if there had been any traps, yet his caution was not the right approach with his competitors working for the same goal. They didn't know why she was doing this, yet they weren't going to stop her from doing what she thought was best. As Fester grabbed the idol, the first part of the Gauntlet ended, obviously with him as the highlight of this particular group. Once the idol was in Fester's hand the bones flew through the air, creating a wall of bones around the three in a square. That was when the tension in the air seemed to end. They had managed to get through the first trial, now it would be time for a short rest. The Second Trial was going to begin soon. If Jade and Anhur were upset at having his treasure stolen, he would soon have a chance to act on that sense of vengeance.


/Endthread

@Wit @Ecclessey @christhebarker

((OOC: The second Trial will be in a new thread. It will start as a PVP fight between Jade and Fester, with Anhur fighting whoever is the loser of that fight. More information will be revealed when I get the thread up tomorrow. For now, you may rest. You have earned it.))