Log:First Order: Let It Die
First Order: Let It Die
OOC Date: June 27, 2019
Location: Sullust
Participants: Knights of Ren: Kylo Ren, Ravelyn, Oran Arcantael, and Erisi Auslese; First Order: Hadrix Rol, Drath, and Karys
As always, the call was sudden, the journey silent, and the briefing vague. "Follow me," as Kylo walked out of the ship: that was all. The group had instructions to meet at a rendezvous point near the lava falls, at coordinates next to an opening into caverns running into the side of the rift that the magma spills out of.
The falls are a stupendous sight, a massive torrent of red and orange glowing rock gushing down from above, throwing a red tint over the entire chasm. The light reflects off Kylo's mask as he moves towards the mouth of the cavern. "There's something we need here," he intones to the others, his amplified voice competing with the hiss and spit of lava. "The factory on Geonosis, the data we recovered. She found something here. Some secret. Something powerful. I need to know what it is." His face turns towards the ruddy black shadow of the tunnel passage. "I don't know what we will find, but you should be wary. I won't be able to protect you." A beat. "You might not be able to protect me."
The color is an ominous thing and makes the dark armor all the more menacing when the surface reflects the colors. Karys is already moving, her helmet on and hud alive with information. Kylo's voice is heard and she looks to squad lead for formation before they continue on. She's got those pistols out already because if any of their last outings after this unknown figure has proven anything it is that they will likely all feel the sting of a hit being completed. She flexes her left hand, the bionic appendage tested for response time as she lights up the internal coms. <<"Eighteen here.">>
Clunking in Kylo's wake, silent as he speaks - Hadrix moves to flank posture, he doesn't answer the Supreme Leader's comments, only moves like a war droid gone horribly right <<"Copy Eighteen, Lead here.">> with a rolling flex of his arm his flame rifle extends into position and 904 begins scanning the area, doing HUD checks on the fly.
As always, Drath is ready when called upon, having flown in escort of the Shadow for the flight over. Encased in the well-fitted pieces of his crimson armor, a force pike is slung over one shoulder, and his E-11 is within his grip. <<"Haven't been to this planet since Kalarba.">> he announces idly. <<"Ninety-one, forming up.">> follows it as he falls into the standard formation the Vanguard tends to take. Decent space between them, and plenty of line of sight to fire if necessary. Stalking through the blackened tunnels of Sullust, his weapon is kept at the ready. Who knows what these aliens deal with on a daily basis?
Though the armored knight is less of a presence than some, apparently today is another of those occasions where Ravelyn was present and able to answer the call when it came in. Now in the presence of the awe inspiring falls of magma, the knight stops to admire the wonder, though attention moves to Kylo when he starts speaking. "That's a comforting thought." The dry tone is carried through the vocoder, or as dry as it can be in the altered voice.
Oran's chief objection to Sullust is primarily that it's full of Sullustans, but here in the caverns and the dangerous, molten core rocks of the planet's inner shape -- that's less of a concern. More of a concern, more strange errands for Kylo. "There's something we need here," Oran echoes, dryly. "What. What do we need here, what kind of powerful secret? An artifact? Data? Engravings on the walls? Don't go about throwing out lines about how you're going to die or we are, before we even know what we're getting into. Also, I hope your affairs are in order, Ren, or that'll be a mess."
Erisi has no thoughts to enter in from the peanut gallery that is inside her head. While Oran is verbally ornery, Eri keeps all such thoughts hidden within a tiny pocket in her gut. Her hands lift and curve a short path in front of her as if saying 'of course' to the idea of potentially dying, little shag of the shoulders and a slight tilt of her chin upwards perhaps indication she has accepted this fate should it befall her. Her robe today is much more tailored, sleeves cut to traipse just over her wrist bones, snug to the flesh, billowy folds of the original robe beginning from the shoulders and falling downwards to rest just below her ankles to whisper above the ground, cinched at the waist by a cool deep blue belt (it's cool because it was on sale), the hood neatly embroidered along the edges in the same blue as the belt. Silence otherwise, though there is likely reflection on how much better these robes are now for movement.
Kylo returns Oran's words with a silent look before turning and marching into the caverns. "I can sense it," he replies then as they begin the long walk through the tunnels towards the destination.
It is a long, sultry hike through miles and miles of winding tunnels. The Vanguard are military conditioned but the Knights are not and even Kylo is feeling the heat, peeling off his helmet at some point and leaving it behind to retrieve on the way back. Or not at all. Sweat rolls down his face as he stomps stubbornly on, finally breaking out of the caves into a larger chamber where the staircase and its guardian statues are waiting.
The air is moving here, at least, thanks to the open ceiling. Kylo's stare runs quickly over the carvings, eyes wide. "This shouldn't be here." Worse, the stone lightsabers have been painted a familiar shade of red. A gloved hand swipes at his clammy face, running the sweat back into his already-soaked hair. "This could be worse than I thought."
From somewhere deep below, a mammoth knelling boom sounds out, shaking the ground and tossing up a fine layer of dust.
OOF! That heat! The places they go for their Supreme Leader. Karys is having trouble in her helmet, breathing a little heavily the further along they go. She is not immune and the sweat is beginning to drip into her eyes. She wets her lips and makes a face as her breath reflects back at her. Her helmet comes off and she clips it to her belt, letting it sit snuggling against her thigh. She wipes a gloved hand to her face and pushes back bangs already damp from sweat. But the air is not any better outside the helmet really, save its not holding her breath inside with her. Some air movement is better than none and sharp blue eyes begin to study their surroundings.
She slows and stills at the call that makes the ground shake and dust rise. Oh yes. that is good. "That..can not be good."
Stumping along, the environmental systems in his suit working overtime to just keep him sweating. It's rated from hoth to tattooine - this place is hotter than the desert - Hadrix grumbles to himself as his suit recyc systems inform him that its water reserves are now full. Sipping purified, and now potable, water cooled by part of his suit systems, the big man tries to keep comfortable... Oh. Citrus flavor additive, good. Engage that. Delicious citrusy reconstituted water. Nums.
"Copy that Eighteen..." Hadrix kicks on his externals. "Stick close in case the floor gives, I'll keep us boosted." Siiiiiiiiiiiiiip. Yeah, it's tasty now, all citrusy.
Drath is hot within his armor, though the color tends to bleed off some of that heat, and the construction of the old guard armor allows more freedom of movement so as to avoid fatigue from movement resistance. The cloak is unclipped around the same time Kylo's helmet is dropped, and Karys is clipping hers on, allowing it to fall to the floor of the caves nearby as they continue on. The armor is much like Stormtrooper armor beneath it, save the helmet.
Eyes dart upwards to the statues as the squad emerges before the temple, eyeing the carving and the painted blades curiously. No words escape him, recognition or no, and a grumble goes through him at the shaking of the ground. "Let's hope it's not anothet tuk'ata." Drath says teasingly, at least /attempting/ some levity in the situation.
This hike is a lot, even for a haunted suit of armor, and whatever regulatory systems might help maintain temperature inside the suit can't don't quite keep up with how miserably uncomfortable things get. It starts to show about halfway into the hike with how Ravelyn begins to fall further back into the group, until the armored knight is at the very back. And then falling a little bit behind. The helmet remains firmly in place, which might prove to be a mistake in the form of heat stroke later, but the knight is here for now. Here, and bent forward a little with one gloved hand clutching the side of armor in an effort to work out an unreachable stitch. It's only the rumble that makes the knight straighten again, pain in the side shoved aside for now as the gloved hand lowers to hover over the the hip level weapon. "That certainly didn't sound like it could be a good thing."
This odious hike has managed to knock some sass out of Oran, who left unwisely provoking his boss somewhere way back there around where Kylo left his helmet. He's dripping sweat, necessitating mopping it with his sleeve; his hair is damp with it, and worst of all, in the stifling heat and geothermal humidity down here... his hair is curling. It is revealed to have, left to its own devices, a curly and seditious nature. Which Oran has managed to smother under normal circumstances.. but not here. Maybe he'll welcome the sweet embrace of death now.
Pressing a hand to a painful side-stitch, he breathes and eyes the red-painted statues as though they're a personal affront. "Unbelievable. Where do they find time for arts and crafts, these ungovernable pissants?" Then the boom follows, and Drath's hypothesis about tuk'ata. "I'm certain it's worse," Oran replies, unclipping his saber from his belt in preparation. Paranoia. Both.
If she had known there was going to be this much walking she might have brought a hover board. Or those cool hover shoes she sees all the cool 5 and 6 year olds with in the Corellian District back on Nar. Erisi this entire time has been wilting considerably.
First her bangs gave way, then her eyeliner and mascara, one slicked back away from her forehead, the other dripping down her cheeks making her look like she's going through something in her teens. Finally her posture which had been fairly straight at the beginning gives way, the woman hunched over with her robes unzipped which reveal a pair of shorts and a white v-neck t-shirt with 'All My Jawas' in scroll and a photo of the cast on it, arms hanging to her sides as she drags her feet, skin glistening hard with beads of diamons and other gems in lieu of the sweat.
Nah, it's sweat, and she's pretty sure she can smell her own feet as they swelter in the fancy shoes she decided to wear today. When Kylo stops she gladly stops, head tilting back as she feels that air swirling however minutely around them, her eyes closing in sweet relief, a careful little kneel done to give her overheated body a rest. Her cheeks by this point, aside from being a running faucet, are bright red, though that mammoth knell boom has them quickly draining of color, though it returns back in the next moment as she turns, the dust coating sweaty ankles, "Oh thank the Goddess, sweet death." Murmured to herself in a softly keening sort of way, pulling at the zippered edges of her robes to begin fanning them ever so slowly to further circulate the air, "I would so kill for a tuk'ata right now .."
"We have to go in," Kylo decides quickly, stepping forward from the others and hustling up the stairs despite the intense heat and the arduous journey, his robes dragging in the volcanic dust. Past the statues into the temple, the first floor is lined with shelves, the ancient data stacks that once hummed with light and knowledge now dark and cold. A few have been cast down, cracked and broken on the floor. "Something in here," he repeats again, glancing around the room. "She found something here. Some secret knowledge, or... or a tool! A weapon." His hands start wiping hurriedly at one of the stacks, slipping over the smooth surface, clearing away the dust. The dust. "The dust! Which has the least dust?"
BOOM. Again, something monolithic in size sends a shiver through the stone, rattling the small bits of gravel that litter the crevices and cracks in the floor.
"Something in this place? Its all dust and ruin," Karys comments as she is quick to follow. The Supreme Leader takes to the steps and her booted feet hit each one as she tries to keep up. The jostle of armor is accompanied with a glance back as her dark hair in its low bun is frayed a little and now clinging to the sweat that seems neverending. Rivlets run down her cheek and neck, her breath a bit labored as she coughs and then sneezes, nearly missing the black hood and the quick bread that rises with water. She narrows her gaze and reaches down, plucking it up. "Someone has been here recently." She pulls the food up, taking a brief bite before spitting it out. "Food is not old," she expresses to the group as a whole.
She drops it all back down but is now looking at the dust to see what has disturbed it. "Definitely not whatever is making that sound though," she keeps the hood in hand and keeps moving.
Digging through ruins, throwing things about. Hadrix is intent to leave sorcerers stuff to the sorcerers - his floodlight is off, for now, but he is turning a slow circle, and as he blinks something into brackets on his HUD he goesto Line-of-Sight comms to Karys, Drath, and Ravelyn - being their the only ones with helmets. He keeps turning, as if still searching
<<"Contact, marking on HUD - Kholma and Riot style contact. Knight Ravelyn can you inform the other two discreetly">>
Ascending the stairs into the temple as instructed, Drath keeps his head tilting side to side as they walk, a brief glance being given over his shoulder back towards the rest of the empty cavern they'd left behind. With footfalls disturbing dust occasionally as he steps into the larger spaces, Drath takes a moment to examine his surroundings, and eventually raising a hand to point at the floors around them. "Trails suggest one or more sentients have been here recently, Sir. Trails suggest they've been walked recently, and far more than once."
Turning to nod at Karys' own findings, he continues, "Suggests someone is living here." as a followup. Though, as those orders come over the comms, Drath cuts his eyes towards Hadrix and tightens his grip on his weapon. <<"Copy.">>
They have to go in. They have to move again. Ravelyn would have been happy to take a nap, but that would probably be the worst idea for too many reasons to count. The armored knight trudges after the others, helmet turning slowly to take in their surroundings. "Look fast, because all this rumbling is kicking up a lot more," the knight offers. There's a brief effort in using the force to try and find... whatever it is, but that internal force compass is presently melted and non-functioning, which means that Ravelyn simply moves through the space unhelpfully looking at things, and finding little. The contact via comms wins a pause, head turning before a hand reaches out to try and touch either Oran or Erisi's arm, whoever is closest. "Incoming," the voice is as low as it can be via the vocoder. "Kholma and Riot style contact?" It's half a question, half a statement, but the information is conveyed as requested.
Maybe Oran doesn't have magical powers for learning about his environment... maybe he's too hot, disoriented, distracted, fatigued to properly employ them. Either way, it's through mundane means that he searches the area, studying the ground and the cracks that seem to appear after every... impact? The lower third of his robes are ash-dusted and he leaves boot-prints in the dust as he circles, taking a moment here and there to shove various objects and rubble out of his way.
Eventually the pattern becomes clear. "Circles, like a web-spinner's web," Oran describes. "With a central point in the middle of the floor, just there. Stay away from the center, I imagine shortly something's about to come up, or we're all in for a long drop."
Erisi is way behind the others, slithering up the stairs on her hands and knees, the heat having nearly knocked her down for the count. But where Kylo goes she follows, leaving a trail of dust free stone in her wake. Palms to floor she'll search for things, hands slapping down flatly as she eases into the space, "Kholma ..." From below Eri will give an answer to Ravelyn, sweat dripping down off her face, gentle splutsplutspluts echoing and wheting the dust, "Something huge ...I can feel it through the stones." Eri intones from down on the ground, exhaling out as she sits up on her knees, "I don't think it's a humanoid .. it feels more feral than that to me. Or ..like a super --" Forearms lift as she wipes her face around them, hands working back through her hair, "-- Angry insane person."
"Forget about that! We have to find whatever she found," Kylo berates the others for locating threats rather than the information he's after. He's looking for DUST. Or the lack thereof. Scanning the available 'shelves', he picks a likely candidate and drops to his knees in front of it, ignoring that he's on the outer edge of Oran's crack pattern. Quick fingers pop a small panel open at the base, revealing the inner circuits and wires that make the thing go, when it does go. After a moment staring at the electronics, he glances up. "We need a power source," he calls brusquely.
Meanwhile, the moving statue Hadrix spotted that's not really a statue has been joined by another, and both have quietly produced red-painted vibroblades and are beginning to prowl towards the main library chamber.
As the Supreme leader pops open a panel there she is, Karys responding almost immediately as she steps forward and pulls her helmet and a power cell for her pistol from her belt. She gets itn close and sets her pistols within reach so she can start hot wiring the circuit to draw power from her helmet and the added powercell. She glances up, "I have this." It is simply said as Eighteen begins to work her magic. Connections are pulled from the wiring and then attached to the power sources provided with a quick care. She pulls her tools from her belt and crimps down to tighten the connection and with as soft ZZT after the second wire is prompting set into place the shelf lights up, blinking a few times with the hum of energy that comes with the life that runs through it.
She glances up then, stepping back as she leaves her helmet and sacrificed power cell to keep it going.
<<"Ninety One, cover Eighteen and Erisi.">> Hadrix notes over comms before his externals click on, "Oran, Ravelyn. I need you." Slipping to informal for speed judging by the vocoded tone and how he's gone cold and controlled while the rage of spotting enemies has already begun to rise at the core of him. He turns towards the shadows and brings up his flamer while those others able to do the work for the Supreme Leader set to task. Followed or not, Hadrix moves to confront whatever is likely to try and stop or kill them.
<<"Copy that.">> Drath chirps back over his comms, glancing down to the pattern beneath his feet as he moves more towards the edge of it. A hand moves down, idly thumbing at the explosives pouch of his belt for a moment, as though considering something. Though he doesn't voice it! Instead, Drath moves over to stand nearby Karys, Erisi, and the Supreme Leader, the E-11 in his grasp being held at the ready as the group goes about their work with the archive. Or in Erisi's case, tries not to overheat on the floor.
The cracking pattern in the ground hand gone unnoticed by the armored knight until Oran points it out, helmet tipping forward to follow said pattern along the floor and evidently coming to the same conclusion as he did. Or trusting him enough to believe that they should stay away from the middle of what will probably become a fall hazard soon. Steps are taken to distance from it, leaving the search for the item, and the power source to the others while Ravelyn instead focuses on the incoming threat. No verbal response is given to Hadrix at his request for assistance, but Ravelyn takes a few steps forward while a gloved hand reaches out, fingers splayed and curled in slightly as lightning brilliant, crackling lightning shoots out of that raised hand to strike one of the crimson sword wielding menaces.
Oran looks exasperated as Kylo, obsessed with the LDI (least dusty item), remains in what he perceives to be the dangerous area. "Don't just -- with the -- the FLOOR is breaking," he half-attempts to explain why the position is ill-advised, but then time for chitchat is over when the beacons are lit, Hadrix calls for aid. And Oran will answer! With a snap-hiss and a dull red glow cast over the ash and black in the immediate vicinity, he steps forward to render assistance -- but it's to no avail this time, save for keeping the figure busy for his companions to dispatch.
"I don't need protecting." Erisi grouses out, the cool stones beneath her skin helping her to rally enough to stand up. It takes a hot second, Eri first up on one knee, then the other, hands splatting to knees as she rises out of the squat. She hasn't seen yet the Shadow folks, but when Ravelyn attacks Erisi has enough sense to turn her head to follow the lightning, already flushed skin etching out lines of honey-gold along her veins, hands raising up to her sides with palms facing upwards like she's about to grant her blessing. Chin tilts up as she focuses down the line of her nose, lips parting and a soft exhale expunged as her eyes close, fingers crooking fingers in towards her palms as she raises her hands up, the air heating around the figure Ravelyn hit, erupting into blue-white flame briefly before cooling to a hot reddish orange, lighting up the darkness around the figure. Her own little fire orchestra.
When the shelf comes to life, the panels of it glow a pale blueish white, not much power and not much light as a result. Still, a projected figure appears, a full-size Sullustan woman in what is probably a rendition of ornate robes, but the dodgy power source renders a dodgy projection that has it looking more like random noise. "Welcome to the Jedi Library on Sullust. What information do you seek?" The audio is garbled and doesn't match the movements of the projection.
While Kylo is dealing with his shelf, the mysterious warriors with their red swords engage the Vanguard and Knights of Ren in battle, and again demonstrate alarming skill at avoiding the attacks of Oran's lightsaber. The Force is harder to dodge, though, and before long one has been shocked and burnt to a standstill, while the other whirls away from Oran, lashing out at the one spewing sparks from fingertips instead.
BOOM. The search and battle are both rudely interrupted as that familiar thudding this time smashes up through the floor as predicted, a massive stonelike protrusion cracking up through the middle of the floor, pieces crumbling around it. Stony claws scrape up through the gap and haul one side of the room's floor down, revealing a four-legged beast larger than two rancors smashed together that begins a slow amble up the ramp it's just made.
Staying close to the Supreme Leader to make sure the panel continues to have life, other powercells on her belt ready should they be needed. Karys grabs at her pistols which she set down on the shelf and comes about after the whole floor shudders and shakes. More dust, clouds of it pluming up around her cause Eighteen to sneeze again, eyes watering as she sights down her pistols and begins to fire off shots at the large creature, attempting to pinpoint a weaks pot along its body. Some of the shots do nothing, others miss and yet she manages to score a few hits that look like scorche marks as her bright blue eyes focus in on the creature, the warrior already engaged with others.
"Apologies, Erisi - I saw tech, I thought you might be as-ho'damn..." The appearance of the Rock Render drawing out a long sigh. "Knights, let us draw it's attention while you take out the other warrior..."
The arm of his suit is up and he is clanking towards the direction of The Bigger Problem, shaking his head inside the composite helmets. His thoughts go briefly to something silvery and then he is cold burning rage, his right arm spewing a torrential rain of burning gel that illuminates even as it splatters against the monstrosity, sizzling and etching the carapace.
Drath's attention cuts momentarily to that hologram, studying it behind that thin visored helmet of his, though something else inevitably gets his attention. The ground shudders and cracks open, and Drath's rifle jerks up with a clack of his armored plates as the floor gives way. <<"What the kriff is /this/ one now?">> Drath complains, joining Karys in the hail of fire being sent down the tunnel the creature has created. Red bolts soar from the E-11, both finding purchase in the tough hide and striking the earth around it as it advances.
Armor is great usually, for all it's amazing ability to help prevent damage, but even the best armor has weak points, and Ravelyn's armor probably isn't the BEST out there. Does that mean more weak points? Maybe. What it means today is that the blade is able to slip between plates and slice a nice gash right into the flesh that probably exists beneath. It's enough to draw a strangled, garbled cry out of the knight who staggers back and clutches at the injured shoulder for a moment. That smarts. A lot. But not enough to stop Ravelyn from grabbing the lightsaber with the other hand and igniting it while already moving to attack the shadow warrior. The motions aren't as graceful as they usually are, but they're certainly fueled by enough anger to eventually get the job done. One swipe, miss, then something else is happening. Something big, and bad, but when Ravelyn isn't immediately crushed or falling through the floor, the focus returns to the shadow warrior. One more miss, and then the blade connects with a satisfying sound that ends with the warrior dead on the other end.
Oran takes a moment to review, in time slowed by spiking adrenaline and cortisol levels, the absurdity of the situation. There are men with red swords who are developing alarming skill at dodging different red swords. There is a late-20s man in charge of the entire known galaxy who is concerned with acquiring the attention and knowledge of a Sullustan librarian dead many hundreds of years. There is a monster coming through the floor. The monster is the size of the floor.
Ravelyn's dispatch of the other Warrior frees Oran's attention to land on the Rockrender, and he draws a breath, starting towards it. "Vanguard, use your weapon range to maximum efficiency," he shouts an order over the sound of breaking temple. "If you're not fighting melee, don't get close to it. Use cover until all the cover is broken and gone. This is not a suggestion, /ranged attacks at distance/." Then it's once more into the breach, chopping with a saber that finds better purchase this time -- but how could it not, the beast is the size of a building.
Erisi was, for the briefest of moments, a bad ass, until the rockrender erupted through the floor, sending Eri back onto her arse and sliding back into a pillar. FWOOSH. It stuns her for a good thirty seconds, having sensed the beast below earlier, but not having really appreciated the sense of SIZE she got when she did. As the dust settles she can hear it no problem, the pounding of it's heart, each breath it inhales and exhales. Ranged attacks at a distance. Right, right. Struggling to sit up she reaches out, finding the force and using it to send a raging fire chasm at the beast! A tiny flicker erupts along a shoulder blade, like a wee angry mote, a candle in the wind, burning the skin of the beast a few layers. Take that, monster!
The crumbling of the floor does nothing good for the shelf situation, and the Sullustan librarian's image begins to squibble in and out, her words growing more garbled and hard to hear. "If you - speak - word," she says.
"Tell me what you told her!" Kylo demands, trying to focus on the hologram while rocks are falling, people are burning, blasters are blasting, and lightsabers are slashing. "Tell me what you told Ruanna- or whatever she called herself."
"Invalid instruct- . I can -pond to ..."
The beast continues its fairly methodical rampage, taking a ponderous swipe at Oran on its way past before lurching at Hadrix, massive maw opening to snap out with surprising speed at the power armor suit. The swing of its tail impacts against Drath as some part of Hadrix's suit crunches, sending citrus-flavored fluids spraying all over the floor and up into the face compartment of the armor.
Kylo looks down at the shelf for a long moment, frustration clear on his face before his lip curls into a snarl and the entire shelf is suddenly launched into the air, smacking hard against the Sullustan Rockrender's head and taking Karys' helmet with it.
Despite the roar of gunfire and attacks on the creature, Karys is close enough to notice Kylo's frustration. "Supreme Leader," she begins, looking like she might step towards him, "I can access the panels histo..." she does not even get the words out of her mouth when the whole thing is lofted up and thrown using the force. No time to even grab her helmet as everything sails through the air towards the creature. She barely side steps out of the way before she is clipped by the whole thing. She turns about and unleashes fire upon the creature, squeezing off quite a few rounds that find their mark. Smiling to herself as they hit true she grins a bit more and then glances aside at the Supreme Leader. No helping him now with that panel's history.
Hadrix growls within his helmet, just low enough to keep his externals and comms from picking it up before he calls out.
<<"Ninety One, Eighteen, Pitt-Stra--!">> his voice is cut off as he is bitten high in the chest. The plates hold, for a moment, and then buckle under the strength of the creatures. Feeling bruises forming and his reinforced ribs threatening to crack.
The flame-trooper styled splits open, and then an armor-glass dome rolls up, sending fluids pouring out and Hadrix's voice is lost to his roar as he attempts to jam the nozzle up close, but the best he can do as he is shaken is be flailed about, waisting fuel before he goes for the sword magnetically locked to his hip while his flamer retracts.
Bright red bolts continue to stream from Drath's rifle; the iconic noise of an E-11 leftover from the last great war echoing as more and more fire is sent in the direction of the Rockrender. Drath may be about to respond to Hadrix, but that's when the creature sharply turns, and unable to dodge in time the switch tail of it strikes him hard in the abdomen. Being sent back rather hard against the wall, Drath coughs heavily inside of his armor as he slumps down there, hands feeling for his carbine so he can once again bring it to bear on the monster. He's not dead /just/ yet, and more blaster fire sings out to singe their enemy.
With another opponent felled, Ravelyn whips around to really take a good look at the giant creature the others are fighting. There's a pause in which one might imagine eyes behind the mask are widening, because really. This is extreme. "Is there no... data core or something that we can just take with us?" The Knight's understanding of technology is evidently not high, but it's a flailing attempt to suggest an alternative to yelling at space Siri. There are other smarter people to deal with that, however, and a giant creature to hack away at, so that's where Ravelyn's focus shifts. It doesn't take much to get the knight near enough to take a few wild slashes at the Rockrender, lightsaber rending through the beast, and then simply finding air on the third strike.
Oran ducks flying Shelf-n-helmet and spares a brief, chagrined look for Ravelyn. "If there is, he's bloody well going to have to select a dustier one at this point," the Coruscanti knight remarks regarding data-cores, before dodging a tremendous stomp and resuming his chop, slash, chop attack against the beast like a tiny machine trying to drill a transport tunnel through a mountain. He is covered in dust, like some kind of stonemason or working man. It is a terrible look for him.
Erisi had thought to try to communicate electronically with the holoprojection unit, her hand raised up from her prone position nearby, but with a tilt of her head she watches as it goes flyyyyiing as Karys also offers up a good idea, "Okay then ..." Breathed out, Erisi refocusing instead on the beast as Rav and Oran trade words, "The datacore itself could be located elsewhere in here, or ..it just went crashing. We could probably-" FWOOOSH. Lookit her go, multitasking with another flash of fire erupting over the beast, rippling blue-white along it's hindquarters, smoldering, "-- Take it, yeah. Unless he crushed it ..."
"That's what she /wants,/" Kylo growls at the others as he straightens up finally, tugging his lightsaber bad-temperedly from its clip on his belt and igniting the three-bladed weapon as he stomps directly toward the big creature, the weapon growling back in his hand. When he's within melee distance, he hurls himself at the thing, chopping away at the side of it opposite Oran.
The beastie itself has slowed down now, and while it seems to acknowledge those attacking it and swats back at them, it's /real/ interest is getting a bite out of those in the armor. Karys has the misfortune of receiving the next chomp from that powerful jaw.
Having had a bite of Karys's armor, the rockrender gives a roar to its unwilling meal and rears up on hind legs, smashing its head against the ceiling much as it must have done earlier. The stone vibrates with the tremor again, and chunks fall from the ceiling. High above, a rivulet of slow-moving lava is suddenly diverted, and drops of hot slag begin to fall down through the cracks and fissures towards the group below.
The sudden crunch of the massive jaw on her leg nearly causes her to lose hold of a pistol. The bionic hand tightens down and she gets a shot off at its face before it lets her go. She sprawls onto her back causing her next shots to miss. Karys lets out a pained gritted cry - unable to be buffered by her helmet she grits her teeth and tries to focus. Her pale skin is read, from the heat and the pain as she pushes herself off and make sure at least on eof her other shots counts for something. "Blasted thing.." she gazes up at the lava. "We got incoming trouble above," in case anyone else missed the obvious brilliance of lava suddenly flowing down into the room. "Wonderful," she says, her brows furrowed in pain and sweat dripping down her brow only serving to cause more of her dark hair to cling to her skin.
Lava coming down, and the beast going after Karys, Hadrix drives the blade into the armored hide of the monster, teeth gritted and spittle flying. A chunk of hot slag hits his cheek and rolls down, forming a perfect sphere before it flattens against the cowl of his armor, and the big man glowers.
He says nothing of exfiltrating, getting clear, or the like. The Supreme Leader hasn't given the orders, but he begins to sweat, looking towards the cherry red glow and back to the beast as his blades sparks against its shell.
No longer currently the target of aggression, Drath slowly pushes himself to his feet using the wall as leverage. Blunt force being what it is, it doesn't take long for the sharp pain to course through his somewhat crushed torso, causing a gritting of teeth and a grunt of pain to emit. Raising his carbine once more, drath fires off another volley of red bolts at the Rockrender, each of them striking home on the side of what amounts to a living building. It's almost like shooting the side of a barn! Sort of. Unfortunately the lava won't let people be great, and a glance up confirms so!
"So it seems," Ravelyn answers Oran on the matter of the datacore, glancing at Kylo at his angry response. The knight has no idea what to do to get what's wanted, so there are no more shots taken in the dark on how to resolve that problem, if it IS resolvable. There's a much bigger problem needing to be stabbed to death right there, so that's exactly what the knight intends to to do. Which is what starts to happen, but then that oversized head whips up and collides with the ceiling, causing cracks, and... magma. It's raining liquid hot magma. "How is it this just got worse?" The knight asks the question while whipping the saber around, raising it up with one hand, and driving it 'point' first into the creature, driving it as hard and far as Ravelyn can, before trying to yank it back out. "Whatever we're doing we should do it fast, I don't want to be here if this caves in."
Lava. Lava, lava, lava... molten rock is falling now, spilling down with the raw building blocks of the universe in a way that would be powerful and compelling if it was viewed from a respectable distance away. Oran steps neatly free of collapsing Rockrender as it falls, and then switches off his saber and suggests, "Get out of here before there isn't a way out." He is following his own advice!
Once the creature rammed it's head up to set that lava blorping in, Erisi is packing herself up and moving to hustle her arse off down the stairs, the gigantic felling of that huge beast by Ravelyn briefly glanced, "Effortless, man!" Called out approvingly even as she's darting back the way they came, hustlin' for her life, newly tailored robes making the effort easier, and a healthy wish to live despite earlier misgivings about such due to the heat, "Move your backsides, people!"
There's lava coming from the ceiling.
The beast gives a mighty groan that serves a death knell before collapsing to the collapsed floor that it collapsed.
Kylo stands next to it with his saber still burning, looking up at the ceiling where the droplets of magma have begun to fall. "Go, get out," he instructs with something like disappointment, the weapon deactivating and clipping back onto his belt as he moves to leave as well. "I'm sick of her games. I don't care what she found, if she found anything at all. From now on we'll do this my way." Is anyone hurt, lagging behind? Because if they are, they get a sharp glare from him and a "GET OUT!" on his own way to the exit.
