Tomb of the Dark Lord: The Tests

[Darth Tagus]

By the Dark Side did this encounter hurt more than he expected it to. If he was honest, Tagus would have very much preferred to have avoided this altogether but with the blade digging into his shoulder, he supposed he would be inclined to say that though wouldn't he?

Of course the Brute seemed to be single-minded in it's decision to smash his ribcage in and Tagus was, understandably, none too keen on this being the case at all. If there was a choice between further damage to his shoulder and taking a thunderous blow to the chest, Tagus would clearly take the further damage that left him in a better condition than 'basically dead but not quite there yet' and that meant avoiding the Brute's follow up swing.

With the Pregnant beast literally to his back, there was only one thing direction Tagus could really go.

With his lightsaber killing the beast behind him, Tagus used the Force to send himself flying once again. This time he used the Force to throw himself to his right, bringing his lightsaber with him and forcing himself to the right and away from the Brute's swing and the Pregnant's grasp.

This would doubtlessly cause the blade to slice into his shoulder more but the sudden movement would also send him flying to the right and downwards, avoiding the swing entirely by being both too low and moving ahead of it. Thankfully the Pregnant beast's right arm wasn't holding him in place at all and was limp by it's side.

Tagus would take any amount of pain so long as he could continue to strive, continue to survive and continue to use that pain to hate and grow stronger with the Dark Side. He would like to say he refused to die here but if he did? At least he would die at the hands of Darth Kravos, his death feeding the Dark Side, and not die in an alley somewhere from a dozen blaster bolts before his corpse was decapitated and taken as a trophy.

@Malon
@Phoenix

 

[The Gatekeeper]

The scorpion's stinger plunged into Zannah's leg, and the pain would be excruciating, but not lethal. On the other hand, the scorpion had lost its head as the blade passed back through the stinger. It was over for that creature, and the battle was approaching its end.

The blade of the pregnant had dug in deep, and the Emperor would be feeling it, but by some miracle he'd managed yet another instinctive defense. It knocked him back, and the brute never saw the saber to its back. It pierced through and tore out as it was recalled back to the Acolyte's hand.

Just like that, the battle was over. Kravos watched the carnage. Blood poured out of the dead and the living alike. The abominations were defeated, but the cost had been high.

An interesting engagement, he thought to himself. I look forward to watching them fight my champion, he thought, a wicked smirk forming.

They were in the clear for the moment, but the hallway continued onward. There were monsters in cages on either side of the pair, but no signs of anyone else coming out to eat.

The two Sith had their moment of reprieve, but if they waited too long they were liable to find themselves in the sights of some more hungry predators. For Kravos's part, he continued forward, coming to the end of the hallway and the doorway that passed to the next.

As soon as the pair stepped into the next door, the door would close behind them. The room pulsed with the Force even more than others. It was another open hall, but this one was narrower. The ground had 2cm holes covering the entire length of it at small intervals. Beyond, at the end of the hall, there was a man suspended above the wall by his arms. Both arms were bound in chains and each step the Sith would take forward they the man screamed in pain.

Please! I can help you! Don't! I can lead you through the rest of the tomb! he screamed in agony as the chains pulled at his arms and legs. A dahlia totem and lightsaber lay at his feet, and he his upper body was stripped of its clothes. Blood streaked down his torso and onto the floor. There was no telling how long he had been there.

It'll kill me! he shouted, voice trembling in fear. Was he once a Sith? Someone else? Who had gotten this far into the tomb of the Dark Lord? And yet, he had never managed to find the prize. @Malon @Nefieslab

 

[Zannah]

Zannah stood for a moment and basked in the carnage. Four abominations lay dead at her feat. Three of them were her kills. The dark side settled around her like a wreath and she bathed in its approval before turning to observe the Emperor. His left arm was mangled. Left as it was, infection would set in and he would die—or he would simply bleed out. The Sith woman couldn't have that. She needed him to continue the trials, though it loathed her to admit it. So, she took her lightsaber and made a clean cut, ridding him of his left arm and cauterizing the wound.

"It's only a temporary fix," she told him. "But it will keep you from bleeding out."

She paused to look at the arm she had just severed. It was clothed in a strange gauntlet that she recognized at once. A Sith artifact dating back to the first days of the Empire. And, what luck, she had sacrificed her left glove to distract the abominations earlier. This would make a fine replacement.

"I'm taking this," Zannah declared as she plucked the gauntlet off the severed arm and fit it over her own. The artifact pulsated with dark side power. "This makes a fine payment for saving your life." She flicked her gaze to him, but all he would see is the soulless red visor on her helmet. "And, from now on, I am no longer Zannah. I am Darth—" The dark side whispered in her ear. A new name. A new identity. "—Maleva." Up ahead, a door began to open. "It would appear Kravos is not done testing us. Come. The danger has not yet passed and I sense more of those things will arrive if we linger."

In the adjacent hall, the newly self-christened Sith Lord spied the man hanging above the far-sided wall. However, his cries fell on deaf ears. Maleva had never considered herself a particularly compassionate woman. She looked around the chamber for clues, but aside from the holes and the lightsaber laying at the far end of the hall, she could see none. Nevertheless, this too, she surmised, was a test based upon the ancient Sith Code.

Through victory, my chains are broken. The Force shall free me.

Beneath her helmet, Darth Maleva narrowed her eyes. This test was a clever one. It was meant to tempt her Sith instincts to kill the man and disregard him as a useless fool. After all, he had not gotten the prize—what use was he? But the secret, she suspected, lay in the Code, as each room had tested them based upon one line of the Code. And, so, she made a gamble. Stretching out her hand, she focused the Force and reached across the room to where the lightsaber lay. Telekinetically, she ignited it and lifted it to sever the man's chains.

The Force shall free me, she repeated in her mind.

Having taken no physical steps, the man would be spared being torn in half. Now, she would see if her gambit would lead to a completed test... or if there was more to this room than Kravos had initially revealed. Either way, she took out her lightsaber again and held it aloft. She would be ready, whatever the challenge, but—just to be sure—she called the other lightsaber (the one she had used to cut the man free) back to her in case the man turned out to be an enemy, careful to deactivate the blade as she returned it to her left gauntlet-covered hand. @Nefieslab @Phoenix

 

[Darth Tagus]

Freed from the predicament he had found himself in, Tagus had chance to stare at his left arm. It was useless in all but name so when Zannah approached he merely raised his arm as much as he was able to. Even that much movement was all but impossible but the cut was clean. He groaned in pain, looking down at his severed arm and gritting his teeth against the pain before barking out a laugh.

Gods but it didn't half look stupid laying there on the ground like that.

Through the pain he drew on the anger and tried his best to channel it. His stump was burned and the blood was slowed to the point where he was no longer in danger of dying. The Dark Side lept at his command and the embers burned brighter, finishing the rush job of Zannah. The pain was going to be present but there was nothing to be done for it for now.

He could turn back and return with a replacement arm... but no.

No, he would either succeed here or he would die here and he would accept nothing else. He snorted at her as she claimed the gauntlet.

"Doesn't fit me anymore anyway." he agreed, looking at her before moving on as she had her moment with the Dark Side, "Make it mean something more than your recent predecessors."

He was allowed to talk smack about those fools after all; he had worked with them the longest and felt the least amount of remorse when they were killed or when they were exiled. He grinned behind his mask, his eyes pulsing yellow with the Dark Side as the constant ache of the pain kept it close at hand. It was eager to be taken in hand (ha) and directed.

Stepping into the hall, Tagus stared at the pained man for a moment before looking around the room. There wasn't much in the room but the prisoner himself was something intriguing. Seeing what Zannah had in mind, Tagus gripped his lightsaber tighter but cautiously took a step closer without igniting it for now.

"Speak." he urged the man, "Your chains are broken and you are free so speak."

@Malon
@Phoenix

 

[The Gatekeeper]

Kravos didn't bother watching the pair as they lopped off the Emperor's arm. He was above and disinterested in whatever they might do. Thus far, he was unimpressed. Four abominations and the pair were limping along, bled halfway out already, and likely enough to die. But he hadn't seen anyone come through his tomb in a while, so he watched with entertainment as they made their way forward.

As Zannah reached out to the lightsaber, she would notice something strange about it. It didn't feel right. Weightless. It would rise and ignite, cutting through the chains and letting the man fall to the floor with a gasp. The saber flew back toward Zannah's hand, but simply passed through upon arrival as if it had never been there.

Kravos's hand was extended outward, head cocked to the side. Only his curiosity regarding her unorthodox approach stayed his hand a few seconds longer.

Don't move! he shouted with urgency, holding out a hand to stop the two Sith from advancing. @Nefieslab @Malon

 

[Darth Tagus]

An illusion?

Tagus' eyes narrowed slightly as he watched the saber sail through the hand of Zannah without interacting with it at all. It had interacted with the man however so it was increasingly evident that the man himself was likely part of the illusion as well. He paused and tensed up slightly as he regarded the figure in front of them.

It warned them not to move and Tagus was not above taking it's advice but he was prepared to spring into motion if needs be, the Force swirling around him as he drew it into himself. He wanted to be prepared in case this turned out to be some extension of the trap.

His grip on his lightsaber tightened slightly.

"Darth Maleva." he called out to Zannah from a scowl behind his mask, "It appears your friend may not exist - do we heed him regardless or not?"

She had released the illusion man and he would give her the control of the situation for now. She had chosen this path and he was along for the ride at this stage. Not exactly what he had intended in coming here but the woman was proving her value so he saw little harm in her proving it further.

@Malon
@Phoenix

 

[Zannah]

Maleva did not answer. She had already suspected it of being an illusion. After all, who could survive in a tomb without food or water? She simply sought to see if her suspicions about a Code-based test were true, and it seemed that they were not. This immediately eroded her trust in the spectral man on the other side of the chamber. From what she read about Sith tombs, it was not uncommon for the illusion of a tortured prisoner to appear before weak-hearted guests. But, with little clues other than the holes on the floor, the newly-christened Sith Lord had no other choice but to test the tomb once again.

She put the Force into her legs and leaped across the corridor, clearing the hole-riddled floor and landing on the other side where the ghostly man knelt. She ignited her lightsaber as she touched down and glanced at the specter through the visor of her helmet.

"You are not real," she said through the haze of red light given off by her lightsaber. "You're not even a ghost. Just an illusion. Another test by the dead Dark Lord. Well? Here I am." She no longer spoke to the man, but the Sith Lord she knew was behind his apparition. "The Force has broken my chains as I have severed this illusion's. I do not fear you. If you are going to test me again, then test me." She chanced a glance back at the Emperor, then ahead again at the illusion. "I am the only one willing to face you directly, anyways."

It was a ballsy move. She knew Darth Kravos had been immensely powerful in life. If he indeed had found away to live on, then she knew he was equally powerful in death. Able to crush her like an ant with a thought of a whim. But the fear of being easily swatted away by the Dark Lord paled in comparison to her desire to unlock his power. And, at some point, every Sith had to risk their life if they wanted to achieve greater power. So, she waited. Either through the apparition or from the Dark Lord himself, she would have her test—she would have her answer. @Phoenix @Nefieslab

 

[The Gatekeeper]

Tick-tock, tick-tock, Kravos thought to himself. It was only his curiosity that had stayed his hand thus far, but he wouldn't - didn't - wait forever. He waved his floating hand through the air, and the Force wrapped around the mechanism laying beyond the walls of the chamber. It clunked and spikes immediately leapt from the holes in the floor, starting with the far side of the hall where the two had entered and quickly leaping up until they reached the far end where they would harmlessly impale the illusion.

Zannah was fortunate not to have listened to the lies of the illusion, but the Emperor was less likely to have evaded the spikes. As he'd not moved, he would be hard-pressed to avoid having at least one foot impaled by the spikes.

The illusion, meanwhile, rose to its full height, standing now as its face suddenly expressed corruption of the Dark Side itself. You'll pass the threshold, but you won't survive to reach the prize. The Sith lack the devotion required, he said as he slowly disintegrated into a cloud of embers. The words came from the illusion, but they might as well have come from the mouth of the Dark Lord himself. It was enough to send chills down the spine of both combatants. It wasn't a threat but a promise.

Even if the Emperor was impaled, he would still be alive, and the pair would limp on to the next room. A stairwell downward with torches lining the walls lay at the far side. It wasn't clear how far down the path went, but it seemed to stretch on for hundreds of steps into the bowls of the mountain itself.

Above the stairwell were inscribed the final words the pair would read before they reached the tomb of the Dark Lord himself: "To cross the threshold of fire, one must walk in darkness. Descend into darkness." The path of darkness and death were not easy to walk, and to walk in the shoes of the Dark Lord required one to darkness until it became a part of them. @Malon @Nefieslab

 

[Darth Tagus]

Well, apparently, what you got for chatting to illusionary people in dark dungeons was spikes - a whole mess of spikes. Tagus had been on the tips of his feet, ready to react, when the spikes started their assault so when they started just behind him he moved to his right but was unable to avoid the spike entirely.

Apparently not walking forwards a few steps was the difference between getting poked angrily and not.

Thankfully his superior reflexes would come in handy and mean he was not impaled through the centre of his foot but rather to one side. Gritting his teeth, Tagus took the punishment with a grunt of pain as the spike withdrew. It hurt like hell, as everything in this bloody place did, but it was something he embraced. Again, he used his lightsaber to burn the wound closed while keeping most of his foot as useful.

Still, stepping was a painful experience and it was going to take some getting used to being down a toe.

Limping slightly (he refused to allow himself to limp too much despite the pain), Tagus would step forwards and down the stairwell. The words of the illusion were... bland. The Sith lacked the devotion, huh? Strong words coming from the illusions of a man long dead and words Tagus was sick of hearing.

The Sith lacked devotion.

The Sith lacked fire.

The Sith lacked... whatever it was that people were saying they lacked that day of the week. It was all so old hat to Tagus at this stage. Honestly, if he had to hear one more time how "things used to be better" being spouted by people who either had no desire to actually do anything or were in no position to do anything, he was going to just swallow his own lightsaber blade. Because whenever someone actually tried to do something, actually acted like a Force-damned Sith, they got ridiculed and ignored.

Zannah was honestly one of the first Sith to actually help Tagus in actually doing something since Varyn died and that was just disgusting.

So he stepped down the stairwell into the Darkness with gritted teeth, pain rolling inside of him and anger and hate rising with every step.

Reaching out with the Force to sense his path, he would snuff out the fires of the torches as he approached them. He would descend into any level of darkness required to see his vision done or he would die trying.

@Malon
@Phoenix

 

[Zannah]

Perhaps the Sith do not, thought Darth Maleva as the illusion dissipated. But I do.

As the path opened in front of her, Maleva knew what lay beyond: the tomb of the Dark Lord himself. The two Sith were finally entering the last legs of the trials; but Maleva was not so foolish as to feel relieved. She knew the worst was still ahead of her. Ahead of them.

While the Emperor plunged ahead, Maleva hung back for a moment. The hall was lit with torches, yet the inscription required them to walk in darkness. She knew the text was metaphorical—one must have the dark side to uncover the secrets of Darth Kravos—but she also believed it to be another test. A literal test. With a wave of her hand, aided by the Force, she quenched the flames, casting hundreds of meters of rocky cavern into pitch darkness. Then, she steeled herself, submerging her conscious into the dark side, and stepped within.

There was fear within her, yes. Anything could lurk in that darkness. But fear was a good thing. Fear was of the dark side. She took it, nurtured it within her, drew it to the center of her being, and let it draw her nearer the dark side. If trouble did emerge—some other test hidden by the shadows—she would be ready for it. The Emperor would be on his own for this test. She could not see him and she believed that was Kravos' intent. Each of them had to prove they had the darkness necessary.

So, she continued to advance in the darkness, and with not but darkness in her heart, until either another test appeared or she reached her destination. @Nefieslab @Phoenix

 

[The Gatekeeper]

~~Encore~~​