Ask The Trees have Ears

[Darth Caelestis]

Time seemed to slow as Artorigas tried to gather his senses, The Force had shown him that Darth Andruil was walking towards him. He assumed the Shaman was dead, the sight of the creatures head on her belt confirming it. He was happy with the fact that they would not need to finish off the rest of this wretched creatures themselves, whatever was left from the Barabel Swokes Swokes fight would be destroyed by other members of the Sith Eternal's forces.

He was about to sit back on his haunches when she asked if he could walk, the Darth clearly had more things she wished to do and it was his duty as an Acolyte to follow were a Darth would lead. Pulling The Force inside him he steadied his body, the throwing up had apparently helped as he was able to get to his feet this time. "Yes Mi 'lord." He replied before stumbling over to his saber a few feet away.

"I can feel something. Yes, dark and sinister, I like it." Lord Andros had returned after there fight earlier, though his voice seemed cowed. "Over there to your right." Artorigas did not have the strength to argue so he looked right. Sat back from the fire and apart from the other houses was a building made of stone, he was unsure how he had not noticed it before as it stood out like a sore thumb. "Mi 'lord." He called back towards Andruil pointing at the stone building, it was only a single story and had a thatched roof like the rest. However what also made it stand out was along its walls a number of markings were drawn in what could only be blood. 'That does not look good.'

@Phoenix

 

[Renfry]

Andruil looked back as he called out and her eyes followed to where he indicated. She immediately understood why he had pointed it out and she nodded. With her saber still in hand, she walked over toward the building, continuing to do her best to suppress the limp in her right leg. Pain still shot through her ankle with every step, but she was so near to the end. She wanted the knowledge the cult had cultivated, and she would have it.

She stopped outside the hut, looking over the markings made in blood. Blood was a powerful focusing tool in alchemy and magick, and she looked over the runes.

They're meant to keep something in, I think, she said. She could guess at what it was meant to keep in and she didn't like it.

She limped over toward the door, wishing she could simply rip it open with the Shadow, but not wanting to waste the energy if they had to fight whatever was inside.

Are you ready? she asked. He looked like he was about two steps from death, but it wasn't her concern now. They would fight, they would win, and she would have her prize.

She turned the handle and swung the door open, taking a limping step back as she heard a rumbling inside. To her surprise, the hut led underground. A passage seemed to lead deeper into the underground. She started pawing through the items in the hut but she found no records of his research. That told her that what she sought was below ground. With the growling.

@Braden Drake

 

[Darth Caelestis]

As always Artorigas followed the Darth's lead towards the building. What would the Shaman's want to keep inside, what could be so much worse than the altered Barabel's that they had to keep it inside a stone building in the middle of the village. Gritting his teeth he ignited his saber as the Darth opened the door, he braced himself ready for something to charge out and probably finish him but nothing came.

A low growl emanated from inside, which was never a good sign anyone who watched a half decent holo in the galaxy knew that heading into a creepy house with growling was a recipe for death and mutilation. Andruil headed in, the limp was still there but less apparent which was good. Artorigas stood by the door and the village centre beyond whilst Andruil searched through the hut, she was looking for something specific. She must know something he didn't, as far as Artorigas was aware they had completed their mission, perhaps the Darth had more information than his lowly Acolyte self. That would make the most sense he thought, why else would a Darth come all the way here when a pair of Acolyte's or Marauders could have done the job.

After a few moments of searching Andruil came up with nothing. Without even having to ask he knew what was next, they had to go down, towards the growl. "I will go first Mi 'lord." He said moving towards the passage entrance. "I may be a little worse for wear but I can still do something." He gave his saber a spin, sparking the blade off the stone floor. It was all the bravado he could muster then but he had to do something if not to fill her confidence at least his own.

Taking the first steps into the passage, the growling became louder, this time the sound of metal rubbing on stone, chains perhaps added as well. The passage was wide, built for the giant Swokes Swokes so the pair could easily walk side by side as they headed down, the walls were becoming damp and a musky smell filled the air before reaching an iron riveted door about twenty foot down.

@Phoenix

 

[Renfry]

Andruil motioned for him to lead the way as he had offered. She headed down toward the steps. Darkness and growling were all that greeted them, beaten back by the red glow of her lightsaber.

They arrived at a door and she plunged her saber into the lock. It opened with a shove and on the other side they were met by more blackness. Based on the sound of her steps, she guessed that it was a full cavern that they were stepping into. The saber didn't fully light the room, and she could hear the rattling of chains louder now. It was... here. Whatever it was was in the room with them.

There was a scraping sound with the movement of the chains, and she thought she could make out something... huge. For the briefest moment, something that looked to be fifteen or so feet tall moved within the darkness and was gone again.

She pointed to the left, signaling for Artorigas to go that direction while she started heading to the right. Surely the creature had noticed them, but not attacked yet. Perhaps they had the chance for a first strike.

@Braden Drake

 

[Darth Caelestis]

Artorigas could see nothing past the glow of their lightsabers, but something inside him told the Acolyte it was there standing before them both. Darth Andruil signalled for him to head left as she went right, moving around a thick stone column at the end of the room Artorigas peered across the dark abyss that now separated him from the Darth the red glow of her blade surrounding her like a halo. A few steps later the light disappeared, there was no sound no scream, no blaster, no thud nor sound of slash or stab, where had the Darth gone.

A few steps further and the light returned, had she walked behind something? Artorigas stopped walking back a few paces but this time the light did not disappear, that was unnerving. Then crunch, the sound of something snapping beneath his feet brought him to a standstill, looking down Artorigas saw a femur crushed beneath his feet. A growl from the middle of the room erupted and the sound of something charging towards him filled Artorigas with fear. From the darkness a mass of flesh shot forth, Artorigas jumped forward dodging the blow, the quick movement made him nauseous his head still thumping from the concussion. Turning back he raised his lightsaber to see the lump of flesh pull itself back from the wall. It appeared to be an arm of sorts, but instead of fingers it had arms, knuckles were elbows and fingertips were hands. Then an eye opened on the forearm the iris was milky white and it seemed to stare right past him.

The arm disappeared into the darkness he waited for another strike but nothing came, the mass of flesh just hid in the shadows, a low growl reverberating from the center. Why did it not attack? The pair of Sith were clearly lit from the sabers, were he sat within the darkness, was it waiting for something?

 

[Renfry]

She could sense movement in the darkness... feel it more than see it. It was deeply unsettling. The Acolyte's lightsaber flashed in the darkness, obscured for a moment by "something."

It seemed to vanish once again and she raised her hand. Another trio of green orbs shot out and into the area between the pair. She was not prepared for what she saw. There was simply no other way to state it.

It was the most horrendous mixture of living and dead that she had ever seen. Multiple faces clung to the body, pieces looked as if they had been pasted together into a hideous creation. She wasn't even sure where to begin attacking to bring it down.

How'd you kill rancors? she thought to herself. Ankle tendons, then.

She leapt forward, slashing at the leg only to have it move with surprising speed to evade. She barely avoided the counter blow just over her head. And then she noticed how it leapt away from the lights that floated over their heads. It didn't like light? Was that why it hid in the shadows?

@Braden Drake

 

[Darth Caelestis]

As much as Andruil's lights made it easier to see, Artorigas wished she hadn't, the sight before him would probably haunt his dreams for at least a year if not more. The arm was bad to look at but the body was worse, ankles met elbows, jaws met feet, and hips met skulls, nine eyes squeezed into a single giant socket and were its mouth would be sat a gapping maw of circular teeth, more like a Sarclac's than the twisted combinations of Swokes Swokes the creature was. And unfortunately that was only the start, but luckily for his subconscious the creature danced away from the lights and further back into the room.

"Sith Alchemy." Lord Andros replied to unasked question, like Artorigas even knew what that was. The Sith Lord either took the silence as a need for added explanation or more probably read the mind he was stuck in and elaborated further. "It is a combination of Force Power, Science and a bit of luck. Old Sith Lords used such creatures as ultimate weapons when fighting the Jedi, Republic or each other." "Any ideas on killing it." "Same way you kill anything else, they are still flesh and blood. Though Lord Amantrop liked adding machine parts to his." The Sith Lord mused before shutting up.

Great as always the Sith residing in his head was not helpful. The lights from Andruil hung in the middle of the room, the beast had retreated deeper in, perhaps if he was afraid of the light they could corner the beast. Artorigas held up his saber and began moving forward, slowly edging closer, he could hear the beast shuffle away for a moment, the chains scraping along the floor as he went.

Then without warning it shot out its mutated arm, Artorigas jumped backwards the strength of The Force giving him enough speed to escape. Landing a few feet back he heard the beast shuffle forward slightly as the shadows pulled back with Artorigas' saber. "Mi 'lord, can you create more of those lights? Perhaps we can pin it back and then strike?"

@Phoenix

 

[Renfry]

Andruil watched the creature - or rather its outline - as she re-maneuvered to strike. That was when she heard Artorigas's suggestion.

Yes, she replied. The plan seemed as good as any to her, and she raised her free hand once again, shooting out several more orbs of dancing light that cast the whole room in a faint, ghostly green. She mused that it was a shame they weren't on Dathomir where she could have summoned the spirits of her ancestors to fight alongside them, but that wasn't possible here.

Instead, the creature continued to recoil from the light and she continued to move forward. The sooner this was dead, the better. She wanted to be off of this world.

You hit one leg, I'll get the other. Go for the backside if you can, she said. Together, hopefully they would be able to bring the creature down and then land a blow on its head while its legs were cut out.

She counted down with her fingers from three and then leapt forward. She winced as she landed on her bad ankle and ducked a blow from an... arm? Elbow? Hand? It was difficult to say exactly and made a sweeping blow with both hands at the front of the creature's ankle. Unfortunately, the back was simply out of reach, but perhaps cleaving through from front to back would be enough.

@Braden Drake

 

[Darth Caelestis]

Artorigas nodded at the Darth as she laid out her strategy, the glowing green lights gave him enough light to see which was a blessing and a curse. Holding his saber down low, he watched her fingers count down one by one and then she went. Andruil was faster than him even with her bad ankle, pulling The Force within him he dived forward. He moved to the left of the Darth hoping that the creature only had the ability to hit one of them, the creature appeared to ignore the Darth and went for him instead, was it because he was the weaker of the two? Or just that he stepped on his favourite bone?

A concoction of flesh shot out towards him, what appeared to be a palm full of teeth and tongues. Artorigas rolled to the left just out of reach, the smell of the putrid flesh filled his nose as it shot past his face. The creature let out a terrorising yell as Darth Andruil's blade plunged into its flesh, before it could react, Artorigas was behind the creature, twisting his blade so he held it in a stabbing motion with both hands he drove it deep into the back of what he would have called an ankle.

The blow was met with more screams as it dropped to one knee, then the bottom of his now exposed foot done something feet were not supposed to, it reached out and grabbed him. Three of what appeared to be Swokes Swokes tails unravelled from the bottom of the foot, their muscular structures caught Artorigas around the hips. The Acolyte swung his saber down severing the first giving him a little room to breath as he resisted the foots embrace.

@Phoenix

 

[Renfry]

Andruil's blade found a hit, and she saw the Acolyte beginning to be tangled up as he was unlucky enough to take the brunt of the attack from the creature. Still, he had managed to land his blow as well.

It lashed out at him and she reached out to the Shadow, pouring her energy into the creature's grip. Get to the head! she shouted, holding the tentacle-thing off of him for as long as she could. They needed to kill this thing before either of them ended up dead. She could feel fatigue pulling at her, and keeping her grip in place was becoming more difficult by the second.

She used her saber to bat away several smaller offshoots of... arms? Maybe. It was hard to tell, but the two of them had only seconds to finish this fight. It was a testament to the strength of the creature, however, and it was precisely why she was here. If she could not survive, she didn't deserve this power. That was their way.

@Braden Drake

 

[Darth Caelestis]

The Swokes Swokes tails became still, a faint green glow wrapping around them. He looked over at Andruil as he told him to go and kill the beast. Artorigas was on fumes but he pulled some of the last of The Force energy he had to launch himself up into air and clear from the creatures grasp. His robes now tattered and torn from the nights activities rippled through the air as he arced forward towards what he assumed was the head of the creature.

The creatures nine eyes turned to face him as he fell down from above, turning his body in the air Artorigas drove the blade deep into the creatures giant eye socket. The scream of agony erupting from its mouth cut clean through Artorigas head, making the already painful headache crippling forcing him to let go of the blade.

The weapon was his purchase however and as the creature began to fall down the fatal blow struck, Artorigas too fell from the beasts head. He crashed into a nearby pile of bones, a shattering jaw bone stabbing into his leg. The creature stumbled taking two steps forward the blade still wedged into his eye before collapsing to the ground. Artorigas watched from his crumpled state as the beast let out one last sigh before going still. It was dead, though he was sure out of the two he felt worse.

@Phoenix

 

[Renfry]

And it was over. Andruil's grip on the creature's tendrils held firm while the Acolyte managed to ram his saber into the creatures eye. It went down with another shriek and Andruil wanted nothing more than to collapse onto the ground and just... lay there for a few hours. But not yet. That wasn't possible.

She raised her comlink, hoping the signal would get through the stone.

Sheehan, ith el tib we ek in afort ar. It bi owjoi lownahi, she said, heading through the door at the far end of the room.

Finally, she sighed out. Across the room she could see a variety of notes and books that she began to rummage through, paying no real attention to the injury of her partner.

She grabbed a bag and slug it over her shoulder, beginning to fill it with research notes that she fully intended to take back and study. Perhaps when the dust settled from the Sith "clean-up" force, she would come back and see what else she could find. For now, she got the most important pieces and started heading back out again.

@Braden Drake

 

[Darth Caelestis]

Artorigas just lay there, his body hurt all over, the bleeding at the back of his head had finally stopped only to be replaced by the blood coming from his leg. The puncture was small though, he pulled the jaw bone free and bound the wound with a piece of ripped cloth from his arm. It wasn't a good job but it would stem some of the bleeding, enough for him to get out of here at least.

Stumbling to his feet, he limped over to the carcass of the beast and pulled his saber free from its giant eye, a mixture of blood, puss and grime poured out as he stepped away. A firebombing campaign would be the best way to get rid of this retched place he thought, hopefully the sight of this place in flames will ease the nightmares due to come. But it was down to the Darth on how this village and any of the Swokes Swokes who survived were dealt with. If he was lucky he would get a pat on the back a medkit and sent on his way.

Darth Andruil appeared from the room at the rear and made for the stairs. He hobbled along after her, his left leg limp matching her right. Artorigas smiled to himself when he thought of the sight of the pair of them hobbling in unison out of the underground lair. Stepping out into the village square Artorigas took a deep breath in, the cleanliness of it nearly made him cry after the putrid smell below. In the distance he could hear blaster fire, it seemed the clean up groups were arriving.

Turning to the Sith Lord, the great fire in the clearing reflected off her eyes giving her a weird sense of warmth. "Mi 'lord it has been a pleasure serving with you." Artorigas said whilst bowing as much as his bruised body would allow him. "I hope to serve with you again in the future." He finished before righting himself to an intense wave of dizziness.

@Phoenix

 

[Renfry]

Andruil could hear the screeching of the Destiny's engines as Sheehan and Taureen guided the ship in. The cannons blazed as it set down near the hut. It cleaned up the nearby Swokes Swokes as Sith troopers began to scratch at the edge of the village. With the shaman dead, there was little need to be subtle.

Until next time. I'll take you back to your ship, she said flatly. He wouldn't be allowed to poke around the Destiny, but it beat either of them limping out of here or him hobbling the ten miles back to his ship and bleeding out in the forest.

The Sith Lord didn't even bat an eye at the death that was left behind as she climbed aboard her ship and it lifted off again into the darkness. The remaining cultists would be wiped out, likely down to the last woman and child, but Andruil didn't care. She'd rummage through the remains of the village later for anything of value. For now, there was other work to be done and rest and medpacks to be had. This battle was already won, but in its own way, it was just beginning.

//Thread

@Braden Drake