The art of the Blade

[Eithni Vala Stark]

Eithni still couldn't believe Zandrali was dead, she just couldn't. Darth Valravus seemed just so invincible and amazing at everything she did. Eithni even thought of how horrible it must have been for her dragon, living alone without a mother.

Landing on the planet surface in a Stark house fighter, yes she still haven't acquired her own ship yet, she got out of the ship and stood in a vast jungle. Why was she here? Because Zandrali had a lot of very important and probably dear to the late Sith Lord. Eithni wouldn't want Darth Valravus's weapons and other stuff to waste away. Eithni wanted to have something of Zandrali with her, in a way to remember one of her favourite and dearest people she ever had the pleasure of knowing, not to mention one of the coolest people in the galaxy.

Why she was so far out in a neverending forest, was because she had reasonably acquired the location of one of Darth Valravus' homes or bases. Eithni wasn't exactly sure what she would find, seen as she never actually got to visit Zandrali's homes in all the time she knew the woman.

But Eithni did acquire the coordinates of now dead Darth's home, or one of them and decided to continue on foot, seeing as she was unable to land any closer to the home of Zandrali.

With the small device in her hand, she followed to the indicator, remembering to lock her ship and then ventured further and further away from her ship.

@Darasaurus

 

[The Storyteller]

Serenno was know for it's wild territoires. Its extensive forests and wildlife making it an elegant planet. The Sith Lord, Darth Valravus, formly known as Zandrali Tuistco, had been a nomad from an early point in her life. She was a descendant of nomadic people, the Deucalias. Long ago they had left their terminally un-self-sustainable planet Deucalia. Zandrlai had not questioned about the approximate date with which the various clans had split.

Clan Tuistco, in all their minute glory had ended up crash landing on the desolate wasteland world of Atrer III. There, Zandrali had been born, raised and eventually her tribe had escaped. But she had traded one tribe for another. The Sith were her new tribe in part. Climbing through its ranks she had joined the upper echileons only to be vanquished in an accident.

Zandrali Tuistco's possessions remained while her spirit had gone. In the calm and equally natural night air of the wild Serenno forest birds and other forest creatures stired. They went about their business as if nothing of significance was transpiring. A few dozen meters ahead of Eithni would be the home of the deceased Deaucalian Sith.

She had long entered the actual property of the Sith Lord. But the minimalist Darth had only a simple home on the planet. Most of her time had been spent working, moving and never really accepting a stationary place as a home. Most likely this was due to her nomadic heritage though partially it was just due to the non-stop agenda she had in place.

It was the Dathomirian witch's actions that would decide her fait. She was entering unknown territory. There were contingencies in place for unwanted visitors. But they were not to the point of outright elimination in the event someone genuinely happened upon her property by accident. Still, the witch would make a sensible choice in treading carefully. A Sith Lord tended to have many enemies and as a result had contingencies in place for such people.

@Raven_41

 

[Eithni Vala Stark]

Walking deeper into the vast jungle-like forest of Serenno, a forest that most likely was neverending or pretty close at least. Eithni was excited, but not stupid and as she came closer to the home of Zandrali, she found a place on the ground with a flat surface and sat down. Pulling forth her waterskin pouch and placed it down in front of her with the cork pulled off. She flared her Ichor and the very familiar glowing green mist-smoke engulfed her eyes as she began on her ritual.

It didn't take long to do as she was getting quite good at making the mist formed gateway in front of her. She took a glance in the direction of where Zandrali's house would be located, just out of view, but close enough for her to walk maybe 10 or so meters for seeing the home. Walking through the wavering mist and smoke formed gateway, the magick wrapped around the witch as she went through it and stood on the opposite side.

With the force, she pulled the pouch back to her and squeezed the cork in the tiny hole to close off the liquid so it wouldn't pour out. reattaching the pouch to her belt, she continued forward and there, finally the home of Zandrali came into view, however, she kept the force at the ready for anything that might jump her or otherwise go in for an attack. Even though she was invisible, you could never be too careful and levitated just a few inches above the ground, just enough so she wouldn't accidentally activate any sort of traps hidden in the ground. This was still unknown territory, so while she had the force at the ready for defence or attack, she still floated with cautious closer and closer towards her now dead friend.

@Darasaurus

 

[The Storyteller]

Security was important for anybody, even someone that had acres upon acres of land to their name. Zandrali had not been alone and had a staff that had worked for her. Raising a dragon had been tough and there were still many enemies she had acquired over time.

A hundred meters away in a barn of sorts several security droids came to life. They only activated at the request of their owner or on periodic patrols and were otherwise inert in their charging stations beneath the barn. They unhooked from their docking station and grabbed the gladius blaster rifles from the weapon racks in a precise and automated fashion.

The next few moments, after Eithni had made her way inside the droids would move out around the building. They were not subtle but also not particularly noisy. When the Dathomirian woman came out she might be surprised to find glowing red eyes from the droids photoreceptors staring back. They did not have keys or access to the main building. Their programming just had them secure the perimeter. Anybody trying to leave the abode that was not welcome would face them and also anybody knew that entered the property would be dealt with similarly.

Inside the home it would appear rustic to some. Zandrali's tastes were simple though it was not exactly spartan either. Numerous trophies from beasts hung on walls. Pictures and accolades on a shelf or two but not to the point of trying to seem like she was self glorifying. They were just trinkets that had been placed around in a space that would have otherwise been left empty.

It would look more like a Deucalian's home than anything else. No tapestries or shrines to the Imperial cause were displayed any where. A kitchen, living space, dining room, even a guest room and smaller spaces were around the home. But no sign of Zandrali's weapons, armaments or darker possessions were visible. They were hidden, and Eithni would have to use her wit to try and find out where they could be.

@Raven_41

 

[Eithni Vala Stark]

Floating and invisible, Eithni made her way across the ground and almost didn't notice the patrolling droids making their way towards where she was. Fortunately, they weren't able to see her or see heat signature as Eithni safely made the distance to the barn, or what looked a lot like a barn at least. She would have to keep the droids in mind when looking for Zandrali's weapons. Landing again on the ground right by the barn, she made sure to avoid getting too close to the patrolling droids. Not that she doubted her abilities in fighting these droids off, but she didn't know if that would curse a chain reaction of traps to go off and that was something she wanted to avoid.

Slowly, but surely, Eithni made her way around the barn, feeling her way along the walls, for a way inside the barn as she made her rounds around the barn invisible. She suddenly felt something click and she was able to enter the barn without drawing any attention from the droids. Upon entering she was actually surprised by the amount of minimalistic interior design. Eithni had always gotten the expression that she was all about the displaying of trophies and grandeur of the hunt, guess she knew less about her friend and one of her late favourite person.

Treading carefully, making sure she wasn't making a sound, she moved around, while looking for Zandrali's more important stuff. However, that seemed to prove a more challenging thing to do as it was nowhere to be found. In a way, she had hoped she would be able to quickly find, but then again she did knew Zandrali enough to know how that the woman wouldn't just leave all her most valued possessions just lay around.

Eithni started to carefully look for something that could lead to revealing the location of the hidden entrance to wherever it might hide. It then hit her, her Darth Valravus had always shown a great deal of interest in her people's powers and the use of magick. Eithni flared her Ichor, letting the Ichor engulf her eyes, so only green mist-smoke was visible. Her hair moved as if it was underwater and a green orb of the same green coloured mist-smoke energy appeared in her hand, caressing Eithni's hand's skin.

She hoped it work as she started to slowly move around, hoping strafing her hand by as many of the things in the barn, would show the entrance to the hidden space. If that didn't work, would Eithni of course, try something else.

@Darasaurus

 

[The Storyteller]

Eithni would leave the safety of the home. She noticed the new arrival of the droids and instead of staying inside the building she left to head towards where they had come from. It made sense, but would not end in the best of circumstances. The hatch to the droid housing level was not especially hidden.

One of the droids noticed the disturbance and went to investigate. The nightsister moved quickly enough that the droid was not able to know she was a hostile. Its servos were not particularly quiet but not painfully loud. In the quiet of the night she would be able to pick up the automatons's arrival.

The lone droid, blaster in hand, made its way back towards the area that Eithni had traveled to. But the Dathomirian was focused mostly on finding the clue to where Darth Valravus's statsh was in the barn. There was a chance she would not notice. The droid though would bring its blaster rifle up. It was programmed to give a single warning and then begin applying lethal force if not headed. "Halt." It's robotic tone coming out slightly above normal human tonal volume. It was mostly meant to just provide the appropriate amount of aggression that intruders might know that they risked getting immediately shot if they did not abide by the droid's order.

@Raven_41

 

[Eithni Vala Stark]

Trying to find Zandrali's stash, seemed more difficult to do, that expected. However, it didn't stop Eithni to continue looking for a way to find a hidden hatch or where ever the now deceased Sith lord had hidden her stuff. Standing in the barn, though invisible, was having ignited her ichor, showing the green orb for the droid. Hearing the robotic and metallic voice made Eithni turn around in a flash, extinguishing the green orb around her hand, casting the room in darkness again.

However, Eithni did reach out with the force to rip the blaster out of the droid's hands in order to disarm the tin can. Attracting the rest of the group of droids outside was not something Eithni wanted right now. She was pretty confident in her skills and abilities to take them on, now that she had her own lightsaber, but taking out this one without alerting the others was Eithni's preferred situation right now.

So, the moment she had gathered the Ichor to her, letting the force fill her and pulled the blaster out of the droid's hands, she drew her energy bow and fired a single shot. Aiming at the droid, the plasma arrow would shock and deactivate the tin can as the arrow did its work, rending it disabled.

@Darasaurus

 

[The Storyteller]

The droid was thrown off balance as its weapon was ripped from its manipulators. The automaton realized it was without a ranged means of subduing the apparent intruder. It began to stride forward, intent on closing the distance to begin melee combat.

By the time it got within a few steps the horso was smoking as the energy bow left its damaging mark on the droid. The infantry droid's photoreceptors went dark and it slumped to the ground. It was not quiet and the sound of the other droids coming to investigate would also reach Eithni's ears. They had not raised an alarm but more than one droid had heard the disturbance and were headed over.

@Raven_41