Seeking Sith knowledge - Manuk Gagak

Manuk Gagak

Character
Sith Order
Rank
Champion

Character Profile
Link
OOC
Corbeau
Joined
May 19, 2020
Messages
224
Reaction score
52
It had been a long trek, as the land could not withstand a ship landing anywhere near it – and the terrain was too hostile for her speeder. There was no shelter on the journey either. Finally, she’d arrived at the base of the mountain range, massive granite barriers lodged in a narrow pass clearly placed her to prevent anyone from accessing the forbidden heights on foot. With each cube ten metres tall, they gave the impression of a staircase for the gods – a formidable obstacle, indeed.

But sometime in the intervening centuries, a hardy foliage had taken root in the stones’ crevices – strong vines, providing a way up.

Manuk wiped blood from her palms and looked behind her. A modest scramble-down led to an open trail up the gorge – and to the temple mountain, farther above.
 

Manuk Gagak

Character
Sith Order
Rank
Champion

Character Profile
Link
OOC
Corbeau
Joined
May 19, 2020
Messages
224
Reaction score
52
The closer she got, the more she realised the temple was unlike any other she’d seen. She was more and more certain, with every passing step, that it was not a building, but a space-ship.

It was a dull and of a dark metal construction and from a distance, could be mistaken for a temple. But this close, it was clear it was nothing of the sort.

Did that mean this was a wild bantha chase? No, she thought, resolutely. It was here, wasn’t it? Maybe it landed and couldn’t take off? That wouldn’t make it any less of a temple, would it?
 

Manuk Gagak

Character
Sith Order
Rank
Champion

Character Profile
Link
OOC
Corbeau
Joined
May 19, 2020
Messages
224
Reaction score
52
She finally reached her destination and traced the contours of the black metal with her fingertips. As she touched it, she felt remnants of the Dark side of the Force.

She peered inside what passed for an entrance but was clearly an addition to the ship’s original design. But the lines suggested it had been carved by a lightsaber.

Ingiting a glow-rod, she could see the battered vessel wore a layer of dust.

And battered it was. Even ripped open in places. Judging from the twisted tongues of metal half peeled from the hull, it had been forced to land here.

What a calamity that must have been, Manuk thought. It was a wonder both ship and mountain had survived.

As she walked through the ship, there were constant signs of damage. The ceiling overhead was bowed and buckled. Forward windows were shattered, their panes twisted outward. Had something knocked them out from within?

Nor had she any notion of what she was looking for. Smooth, panels alternated with ruptured ones, exposing the crisped, wiry guts of the ship. Manuk studied one, and then another, recognizing the Sith characters but not all of the terms. Telemetry. Hyperspace. Astrogation?
 

Manuk Gagak

Character
Sith Order
Rank
Champion

Character Profile
Link
OOC
Corbeau
Joined
May 19, 2020
Messages
224
Reaction score
52
Sure that nothing was working, Manuk was surprised to find, at the rear of the bridge, a gently glowing display. Sith numbers appeared on its face, one melting into the next as seconds passed. It was nothing more than a chronometer.

She sighed and sat in the command chair. It was as dusty as the rest of the ship and she patted the armrests to create a cloud. It was a sad form of amusement.

But as she did so, one of the arms sounded slightly different. She repeated the act.

Jumping up, she took a blade from her belt and cut away at the material. Inside was a glass vial that contained a single rolled-up sheet of transparent film. As he brought it closer to her eyes, figures began to take shape and she translated, falteringly.

‘The true power is behind the throne. Not in the throne. Not behind the one who sits in it.’

She looked behind the chair and saw it was facing a wall map.
 

Manuk Gagak

Character
Sith Order
Rank
Champion

Character Profile
Link
OOC
Corbeau
Joined
May 19, 2020
Messages
224
Reaction score
52
She reached out with the Force and sensed a doorway beyond. Not seeing any alternative, she activated her lightsaber and soon carved an entrance to whatever lay beyond the map.

Behind it was not what she expected. Yes, it was once part of the ship, but the vessel must have come to rest at this point in contact with the mountain and someone had dug a tunnel into the rock below.

She jumped down the steep staircase revealed, landing in a sloping corridor that led deeper into the mountain. Igniting her lightsaber again, this time to enable her to see, she moved with quick strides as she made her way unerringly as she was drawn by the unmistakeable lure of the Dark side.
 

Manuk Gagak

Character
Sith Order
Rank
Champion

Character Profile
Link
OOC
Corbeau
Joined
May 19, 2020
Messages
224
Reaction score
52
The interior architecture reminded her of some Sith Academy: ancient stone walls and narrow halls.

Finally, she reached the central chamber.

Here at the heart of the site was some shrine. There were no lamps yet the room was illuminated by an eerie green light. The walls were covered with murals depicting images of some ancient Sith unleashing his power against the armies of those who opposed him, and a great stone sarcophagus lay in the centre, its lid carved with a relief of the long-dead Sith Lord.

This was no temple, it was a tomb.

Manuk had visited ancient burial sites before. They had, to a one, been empty. Over the centuries they had been stripped of anything of value or Dark side powers. And over time these had been invariably destroyed – leaving few relics of the past intact.

Entering the room, Fiach noticed the cloying smell of decay in the air. As she approached the sarcophagus, she could feel the scent crawling over her like a fine mist, clinging to her clothes.

Finding a grip on one corner of the sarcophagus’s lid, she leaned in and shoved. Muscles straining, she used all her Force aided strength to slide it out of the way, the sound of grinding stone echoing in the chamber as the heavy lid grudgingly succumbed to her efforts.

Inside was…empty.
 

Manuk Gagak

Character
Sith Order
Rank
Champion

Character Profile
Link
OOC
Corbeau
Joined
May 19, 2020
Messages
224
Reaction score
52
No…not empty. There had to be something in here worth the journey…surely? Manuk felt around the stone casket and could feel nothing. Then, remembering a previous challenge, she connected with the Force and then she saw it. Written in runes was a single word – OPEN.

She reached out with the Force and heard a click from behind her. Clearly, there was a significant level of security on offer, in case a non-Force sensitive got this far.

She turned to see an opening the size of a double doorway and – as she stepped through – she found no stairs, or corridors. Instead she found one cavernous chamber. The air was cool and felt strangely expectant. It tasted slightly metallic. Not quite stale. The floor underfoot was tessellated black and crimson. The design was unsettling, crawling across the eyes. Slithering into her subconscious brain, invoking misery and loss.

But for Manuk, it brought a grin to her lips.
 

Manuk Gagak

Character
Sith Order
Rank
Champion

Character Profile
Link
OOC
Corbeau
Joined
May 19, 2020
Messages
224
Reaction score
52
The enormous room contained no furniture; no tables, or chairs. Not even a stool. And she couldn’t see the source of the lighting, either; it seemed to ooze from the walls like a viral miasma.

As her eyes adjusted to the low lighting she realised there were alcoves built into the walls. She headed left, her soft footsteps loud in the silence, the dirt and gravel ground into her boot soles sounding gritty and grating.

The first alcove contained old books. Very old, and leather-bound. Thick, bulky tomes with raised lettering on the spines. Like the floor’s tessellation, they made her skin crawl.

The second alcove was empty.

The third alcove contained dull purple crystals that glowed in the reddish light.

Another empty space.

The fifth alcove contained a single crystal. The size of a big man’s loose fist, beautifully faceted, and utterly ruined. Before its destruction it had been the deep red of a sun’s heart, but something had blasted it from the inside out, charring and cracking it.

She kept on walking, discovering more and more things. A hand-sized pyramid, not transparisteel but actual glass, dull black and traced with red. No hint of its purpose. More crystals, unshaped chunks of rock, some fist-sized, some as small as eggs, their edges sharp enough to draw blood, coloured black and grey and all shades inbetween.

More books. Data crystals. Ribbon-tied scrolls. It was a Sith treasure trove, surely, although there was no guarantee the information was of any value in terms of knowledge.
 
Top