Log:Jedi: Let them Speak
The Jedi wander the Pilgrim road following a vision.
OOC Date: March 7, 2023 (Optional)
Location: Jedha The Pilgrim Road
Participants: Zev, Galen Dawnstar, No-Koh Kenobi, Yuun, Narsai Ordo and Qutha Buvu Pah as GM
On the Pilgrim Road it is not uncommon to see figures in robes alike to those famously worn by the Jedi Order in ages past. Clusters of sentients wandering the paths, to statues, to shrines, to places written of in old texts where worshippers of The Force congregate in the hopes of discovering unknown talent or to feel the currents of the field that binds all living things.
"We might could find sommat here... We might could not. But ain't been a li'l more'n half a century since Jedha City was destroyed, by s'own riches." a twinge of sadness in his otherwise serene features, Qutha offers a nod of his head to passing pilgrims riding on blue spamels. Looking up to the sky, the Zelosian gestures vaguely around them with one hand.
"The 'struction flung much into th'air... n'I saw stars fallin' on th'cold sands of the Pilgrim Moon... But they ain't were stars f'me."
Rounding a bend of the Pilgrim Road brings a battered statue, buried up to its shoulders, thrust up from the ground. A hooded figure whose face is pocked by impacts, the hood looking like cloth rent by weather and the blade of its lightsaber is hinted at where sand has humped up on a broken line.
"Am I makin' sense?" genuine curiosity in he orchardist's voice. "I's hopes I is... 'cause I got a feelin' that I'us pushed here, so's some of our newest kin find they'selves sommat theys need."
The view of the crater coming in was impressive, even if Zev had learned of the accident that had devastated the planet. The people had recovered, because people are resilient.
He had joined Qutha on the Pilgrim Road, listening to the explanation of the vision that had led them to this moon in the first place, "You think the mining explosion threw something important out, and we're meant to find it?"
It makes sense, the city was a haven for Force worship, even back in the Imperial era there could have been relics or something. The rabbit taps his foot a bit as he thinks, wondering if anything could survive a blast that size.
Galen's come along for the trip his hands tucked into pockets on his robes as he looks around, "It's been a long while since I've come out to Jedha." He looks around at the others briefly before his gaze settles on the statue, "Such destruction of artwork. It's always a bit sad to see."
Noki walks near the back of the group hugging her heavy coat tight around her frame. The cold was not sinking through, but the effort was to keep the cold from sinking through. This was a full time job. She walks some what sluggishly, turning when they pass some monument to look it over, only to continue on. This most recent has her paused to study it, the old statue and shape of its pocked up face. The melancholy is not lost on her but she refrains from commenting about it. "Was it always this cold?" She turns, the sharp wind claiming the long auburn hair and casting over her other shoulder.
Yuun walks along the back with Noki, he's been to Jedha a few times already, he does like this planet and the city. Each time there is something different to see. He looks to the others as they walk, making sure to pay attention to Qutha's words as they walk. Yuun does take time to watch the people as they travel along the road.
Robes might indeed be more common a sight here, but something that certainly wasn't and despite the smaller height of the wearer certainly stood out was the Beskar'gam adorned frame of a Mandalorian. Narsai was here, features hidden behind her t-visor as she moved with the pilgrims, expression and motivations unknown to any who didn't know the red and black painted armor or the woman beneath it.
Perhaps a pilgrim had required a bodyguard?
"Mayhap important t'some, r'one..." a small smiles, "An it 'pends where y'is here, Miss No-Koh. Lotta f'its a might chilly."
Qutha's pace slows until he is off the path itself, heavy boots in the sands, looking up at the statue. Shoulders shifting, making his hood slide further over his brow. Breathing deeply, letting his eyes close, "Jedha... like some small few other worlds has special meanin'. F'those'a us... like us... We kin find crystals."
The winds pick up and sand rattles across the pilgrim road, spattering against robes and armor. Swirling into patterns that may or may not be tricks of the eye or what the mind wants to see.
"I knows Zev here's th'only one'a us, ain't got one. But ne'er know, theys might be folk here huntin'..." looking to the Lepi, "Mister Zev, whatcha feel... in this here spot? When y'reach out?" emerald eyes turning to the others, "Miss No-Koh? Mister Dawnstar?" hands lifting in a slow shrug, "F'me it... goes cold now I's dragged folkin' here."
The Lepi takes a moment to center himself, closing his eyes and holding out his left hand. His ears go upright, as he reaches out through the Force, and looks for something. Something that's out of place. Because with everything that was thrown out and up by the explosion.
There's a moment, where something seems to hold for a second, and then both of his ears move and point in the same direction, as if he's hearing something from near the statue, "I think I can feel something.." He starts to move towards the statue of the Jedi, keeping his hand up to continue to sense for whatever he's looking for.
Galen looks around as he continues to follow along with Qutha. At the question from the other Knight Galen's eyes close for a moment, "I would say I feel sand. Also it's nice and quiet with the exception of a single note. It's lovely though."
Noki wasn't one with the Force enough to devote her entire direction and purpose to its whispers. It required a certain trust, and that only came with time and a learned experience from following its musings. She trusted her gut, which arguably, was the same thing but don't tell her that. When others looked to the force, she stepped closer to the statue and discerned a few details.
"This statue's face points toward old Jedha.. its markings and damage seem to indicate it was struck from above by debris, not straight across or below." Turning back to the others, she points, "Maybe we should move toward the old ruins.. or what is left of them?"
Yuun stops and he looks towards the statues, listening to Qutha he nods his head slowly as he does and as he stands there watching the other Jedi, he opens himself to the Force. Even as he watches, part of his conciousness is on the group, and part is on the force.
Narsai herself moves slow as other talk, herself unaddressed and unknown...yet foe the moment there was nothing to say as she listened, learned and discovered on her own as she'd done so many times over the years.
Her hand reached out gently, brushing towards but not quite making contact with the stone while she reached out with her senses.
And yet, all she felt was the familier warmth of the forge, the ring of shaping metal as the armor she was oh-so-familier with interfered with the attempt and her focus could not quite push past.
The damage pointed out by No-Koh is quite true to her description, one particular groove in the brow of the Jedi feeding into pin-hole through the hood and beyond, where Zev's ear's point. Qutha himself standing with his brows creased, and a grunt escapes the Zelosian, corners of his mouth raising to a neutral line before his eyes open again.
"Think y'right, Mister Dawnstar." looking to the Lepi who has begun walking, leading any who follow to a brow of stone marked by centuries faded signs of chisels and cutting lasers that had hewn the pieces used to build the statue before them. A presence of calm reverence filling the space between the blowing whorls of sand.
Pointed out by Galen there is something there, beneath sound, beneath air and stretching between the living, the land and the stone. Something like a tone being struck on a single small chime. But not there at the same time.
"See's... I ain't certain what's here... what we're here for. But I felt we needed t'come here. That'd take more'n jus' one'a us." another faint smile from Qutha who turns a slow circle as he walks, looking from one face to the next.
Once Zev has moved to the statue proper, he stops as he gets near it. He starts looking around near the base, walking behind it. He stops a couple of times, wandering around the statue. He kicks over a couple of rocks, and tilts his head, "Hmm. Nothing yet." He says, as he stops and thinks. He needs to come up with a better plan than kicking over rocks.
Galen's eyes sweep over the area that they're circling until he notices a bit of rock that stands out from the rest of the rock... He gives a quick glance towards the others before he points towards it, "That seems a bit odd. What do you all think?" The rock he's pointing at looking to have an impact crescent on one side of it and signs that there might be an opening concealed, "That looks like a good starting point."
"Only one way to find out. /Anywhere/ is better than this cold..." Stepping off, the flaps of her long coat move from the wind, and she hugs it closer, tugging its fur collar and hood up to shield her pale face and ears. Soft thuds sound against the sand as her boots sink in with each step.
Yuun begins moving forward, his eyes are half lidded as he feels the force around him and moving him a little. "I feel the tone, it's starting to attune more and more to the force." he says to the others as he starts focusing his thoughts and sinking further in the force.
The dark skinned Jedi Knight opens his eyes slowly as he looks upon the statue, then slowly starts to turn in a circle to gaze upon the area. "What are you getting from that stone Galen?" Yuun asks as he looks to the Jedi.
Well, the Mando woman was drawing closer, a little tilt of her head and a flick of her scanner sweeping the area before she folds her arms at her armored bust and finally speaks, voice rendered slightly tinny by her voder.
<"I don't see anything.">
Still, even she had learned not to trust only her eyes.
Sometimes kicking over rocks is the only option that makes sense. Galen drawing attention to a cluster of stone and the shadow of a gap beneath it. The fallen rock shown and others beneath, leaning on others like an ill fitting cork in a bottle neck.
"It's blockin' sommat."
One hand raising and then another when the Mandalorian's instincts carries hers up, Qutha and Narsai raising stones up and away from an incline descending into the ground. Steps made from quarried stone lowering into darkness that forces the Zelosian to pull out his goggles and slide them on with a keening sound of the night-vision equipment engaging.
The passage formed from artisans seeking the 'perfect' stone a narrow chamber with alcoves clearly made to let those ancient sculptors live and sleep near where their great work was being done. Old pottery, scraps of mummified food and ancient clothes litter the area. But there seems a radiance that tries to defy the identification of its source.
The wind is here, soft and subtle. But no sand moves, no clothing and there is a warmth alien to the cold desert above.
Galen watches as a passage is setup and smiles a bit before he parks himself near the entrance, "Be safe I'll remain out here and keep watch." And despite the cold it seems Galen's nice and comfortable temperature wise.
"Not alone, I will join you. At least I can use some of this structure to block the bite of the wind," Noki adds, putting her back against something solid and crouching down. "Best watch yourself inside...in my experiences, places like these can become a one way trip, yeah?" Huddled down at the entrance, Noki looks out over the terrain and breathes a slow fog from her mouth.
Yuun looks towards the entrance and he begins to follow down below, "That's a good idea, call us if anything happens up here, I trust in you two." he says to Galen and Noki. He looks moves so that he's not blocking the stairs as he makes way for those who come down.
She moved, Narsai's own hand raising and breath exhaling as the strange sight of a Mando'ade member reaching out to the force was made all too obvious. Still, with that intinctive assistance offered the armored redhead moves towards the stone steps, flicking on the night vision of her helmet.
<"I'll follow,"> she speaks, shrugging her shoulders. <"Consider me curious...">
The humming and ethereal wind calls out to the Jedi descending further into this corridor carved through the stone. Thoughts attuning without conscious effort, the buzz becoming the single clear note that Galen had identified before. The tug that has been pulling on Zev's ears and ringing in the backs of thoughts clearer and felt by all.
The path is marked, slight gouges along a central line - staccato from skipping, running all the way to the very end. A tumble of broken pottery that seems backlit to be found, besides the forms of two mummified figures, posed in kneeling prayer to that fired clay that is now broken.
On the wall behind them, imagery of a sunburst is carved and painted with rudimentary dyes, a slight shimmer in the naturally forming mica taken and pressed into depressions in the stone.
Zev is following the sound, which takes him down into the corridor, his ears twitching back and forth here and there as he tracks the source of the sound through to the clay pottery. He takes a knee next to the pile of shattered pots, and brushes a few off, "I think I might have something.." He says, as he closes his eyes, ears twitching and using his hand, he holds it over the shattered pottery and focuses through the Force, as his ears lock in on it, and he reaches a hand down into the pile and snatches out an orange kyber crystal the size of a pinky, "I found something!"
Yuun continues to reach out with the force, as he stands where he is, he is looking around slowly. When Zev speaks up, he smiles as he feels the force within the crystal. He smiles, "Good find." he says as he looks to the Lepi.
She followed, but the sparkling and shining stone? That caught her by suprise. It was a different world, a different temple, but...a familier experience to have witnessed.
Leaning closer she looked, inspecting the orange crystal lightly. "Impressive..." she offers softly, but to say more? Well, it might just take away from the moment for Zev.
"See... Wasn't a vision f'me." Qutha smiles quietly, looking towards Yuun and the the Mandalorian woman with a small tilt of his head for the talent she's displayed while in her armor. Not commenting but focusing his attention back on Zev.
"Reckon that'd be the easy part... I knows there's more'll be needed... an' the makin' of it. But we'll git there, reckon?" adjusting his goggles, the zelosian steps back some to give the Lepi some space with his find.
The crystal uncovered, its song revealed again and it is a beacon in the force for those few seconds from the point it is uncovered and lifted to be seen, the Living Force vibrant in the small translucent stone glowing like a fingertip sized sun. Deceptively small for the power such a thing contains.
Then its quiet, no movement, no wind that isn't wind. Revealed and no longer lost, the crystal flashes before its glow dulls to something more easily concealed. It had been the only thing in the pottery, but it had not been placed there by any Pilgrim's hands. It's path traced in marks on statue, stone blocks and passage floors to where it had skipped and finally came to rest.
"Pers'nly... I thinks it's the grip that's the hardest part." mouth twitching, much of the Zelosian's expression lost behind his goggles.
Zev does take a lot of time to admire the crystal in his hand, it looks similar in color to his eyes. After a moment or two more he pockets it and smiles at the others, "Thank you, Qutha."
