Log:Jedi: Muscle Diplomacy

Muscle Diplomacy

OOC Date: June 29 and July 1, 2018
Location: Voss'Nil, Vossak System
Participants: Ax, Jax Greystorm, Yuun, Jonn Drayson, Elrych Cometburn

Armed with the location of a potential Jedi temple from ancient days, Ax leads a group of padawans into the equally ancient, alien jungle of Voss'nil, where more than just unusual flora await them. But when faced with a potential threat, will a single demonstration of physical strength be the key to understanding?

The list of untouched Jedi temples in the galaxy is vanishingly small, after the purges of time, the Empire, and the collections carried out by Skywalker in the years after Jakku. And yet the lore at the temple on Arisnar suggests a number of locations still yet untouched - not just by the Galactic Empire, but the Empires of the Sith going back thousands and thousands of years. On Voss'Nil, it is said, an ancient temple of the Jedi still exists, built by the hands of the faithful in the days of the Republic's very dawn; what secrets could exist in a place that ancient, when the Jedi were not monastic players of politics but a vital order, almost as much an order of warriors as they were sorcerors at the time. When the Sith were a power of their own, unknown to all.

Exciting times, assuming it's not just a ghost story.

You arrive on Voss'Nil after a long journey, the trip through the spatial Sargasso around Arisnar especially exciting - drifting here and there, the currents manage to toss the ship about somewhat before you clear hyperspace. Without event afterward, however, the ship touches down on the lush green paradise world upon a clearing some ten miles from the believed site fo the temple; the jungle is simply too overgrown to get closer, and the canopy so gnarled an entangled that a good view cannot be seen. Something in the native geography scatters sensor waves, leaving you not in the dark but barely squinting. As rain falls in thick sheets overhead, the ship serves as cover - and though it is the peak of day, the sky is no less covered by a thick sheet of lead-covered clouds. And so the road begins, my friends. Whatever shall you do?

~ Padawans in tow, Ax was sitting at the controls of his modified VCX-100 freighter, the Black Sands. "Ya know, I bought that damned Clearwater for Jedi missions then like a fool sold it," he mutters towards his co-pilot, Jax. "I meant to replace it, but hadn't gotten around to it yet." They'd been in hyperspace a while and it would have been a lot longer had they gone in a different ship.

After touching down on planet, Ax gathers everyone around, muttering about their bad luck on the weather and the dense foliage. "Alright," the Echani says as he addresses the small group. "We have no clue what we'll find. Might be we find nothing but some rocks where a structure used to be. Our intel isn't great, our sensors can't get a good reading, so we have no idea what we're walking into." He slips a pair of blasters into their holsters and makes sure his twin sabers are easily accessible. "Remember what little training you have, keep close, and if you see something, by all the gods, say something." ~

Elrych Cometburn turns as he looks around, up and down. At least he was wearing those shades to protet him from the sun in the clearning. The robes though, they needed to breath more. He listens carefully to Ax before looking to the others. "Ah... one o your brought a compas right?" Well hopefully the Magnetic field here was't multi-polar or something.

During the trip Yuun was asleep! Point, blank, period. The Padawan was awake but as the trip dragged on, he fell asleep, figuring it would be a good idea for them to be all rested and wide awake, alert when they arrived. Though once they arrive, and the landing jostles the dark skinned Under City Coruscanti, he wakes up and stirs a bit. Rubbing his eyes as he stands up, "Are we there yet?" he asks missing some of the information. Though as he wakes up and clears his head he nods and looks outside. He only has his stun saber and some really spiffy gloves he now wears.

Jax makes a small sensor adjustment trying to get better reading on the scopes but gives up after a moment. "Careful of your ship addiction, it will lead to the darkside. As in an enraged wife over loss of credits and more modifications." The Corellian says with a grin.

From the dry shelter Jax looks out at the follage and the rain. "A compass is only so good without a map but both would be of use."

And so, after a short safety briefing, the lot of you step through the clearing's edge in the direction of the supposed sight, a wall of green ferns and ancient trees parting like the veil to another world. Into the forest primeval, then, untouched for more than ten thousand years.

The going is, to say the least, /slow/. Though the forest floor is fairly bare, the sprawling roots of the native trees form thick tangles that you must navigate - worse still, the use of lightsabers will reveal some kind of metallic extrusions all through the trees, metal that splashes in hot jets if one is not careful how they apply the blades. Burns are going to be a thing, as one poor padawan may well discover. In short, it's not so much a dangerous place, at least during the day, but a monstrous slog even for those gifted with the blessigs of the Force. Several hours of marching pass, the going slow, and the pallid light that pierces through the canopy overhead is swiftly fading, leaving the forest to grow every darker, every stranger...

~ "Compass? I don't need no stinkin' compass," Ax says with a laugh, knowing damned well that he's got a link between his datapad and the Sands that gave a precise distance and direction to the ship, which was easy enough to use for figuring out what direction to walk.

Looking towards Jax. "If I buy another ship for Jedi use, it's going to probably be something very simple and cheap," Of course, he'd probably have half a mil in mods put on it.

As they push through, Ax focuses his will upon the force, enhancing his senses, speed, and agility. "I've been to a lot of places in this galaxy," he says. "This one might be one of the most difficult terrains I've had to slog through." He's not using his lightsaber to hack through the undergrowth, not after the first couple of swipes turned out painful. Instead, he's doing it the old fashioned way, elbow grease and physical exertion. ~

Elrych Cometburn dosn't even have a lightsaber so any hacking and slashing (And the consequences of) could be done by others. Looks like he was going to get to use his hands... or just follow behind someone else who made a path for him. As the light starts to fade, sweat dripping fom his brow, exhaustion setting in just a bit after such a long hike. "How far off are we? Any darker we might have to stop and make camp." Though that didn't bother him. Been a while since he had a camp out.

Yuun is towards the middle of the group as they make their way through the forest, a goofy grin on his face as he looks around just taking in everything he sees. "Well this is my first time seeing anything like this." he chuckles. "Well now the second place." he states. Having seen the metal, he doesn't have a lightsaber so he's safe from the metal. Though as he looks at one of the trees, "How long have this metal been around?" he asks hoping maybe someone knows. He doesn't stop for too long, allowing his senses to focus on his surroundings and keeping himself alert.

The hours come and go and now that it's getting darker, he shakes his head rolling up the sleeves on his shirt, luckily he was wearing shorts for this. "I'm not going to ask." he said as he asked 'Are they there yet' back on the ship and when Elrych does he grins.

Jax was scanning the terrain as he was moving. As the only padawan with a lightsaber, Jax had only used it once and it was sparringly as they had to go that way but the hiss of the steam and the metal had been enough. " Camping may be what we have to do but hopefully we find the ruins. I've never been in a jungle that didn't have preditors and I don't think these trees will be inviting to sleep in." He says pulling his hood back and letting the rain hit him in the face. It was refreshing and not so stifiling compared to his sweat and wet robes.

Jonn Drayson, Action Hero, had left the hooded brown over-robe behind at the ship and he was wearing the upper part of his tunic as a sort of hip cloak, leaving his torso exposed. SWEATY HOT MAN MUSCLES. Also, for some reason, he had green and black camo paint on. Was he some sort of predator leafing through the bushes? Or merely a man who was just showing the goods in a very inappropriate location? "Welcome to der chun-gle, am I right?" he asked no one in particular, letting out a guffaw as he pushed through the foliage, not showing any real sign of strain. He hadn't tried the lightsaber, and he'd received a few cuts here and there from branches and occasional metal edges, but Jonn Drayson didn't have time to bleed.

The trees aren't covered in barbs, per se - the glittering veins of blue-white metal are part of the trunks themselves, as if somehow grown in the trees as they rise, and not part of the earth. All the same, here and there there /is/ the occasional sharp edge, so one need be careful lest they don't end up like Jonn over there. The march leads on.

Though the light is fading and the trees swallow much of what gets through with the canopy of vivid red leaves above, you nonetheless get just a mile or two away from the intended location before Ax and Yuun get different senses of the same two things: chimes, hanging in the web of branches overhead. The soft tinkle of metal and crystal reaches Yuun's ears, while Ax catches a glimpse of something dully shining overhead. Even in the dark, it is striking.

~ Ax holds up a hand, "Everyone halt." His eyes look up towards where he spotted the flicker. "Anyone else see that?" he asks, pointing in the direction. He reaches into a pocket of his robes, withdrawing a small set of macrobinoculars and raises them to his eyes. "Defensive positions," he says. "Not necessarily anything hostile, but better safe than sorry, right?" ~

They were stopping, why were they stopping. Maybe Elrych would know if he wasn't too busy bobbing his head up and down and putting a finger in his ear to get some water out. He was also starting to have trouble seeing, not just because he was nearsighter, but because he refused to take of his damn thick rimmed sunglasses. Seriously kid! "See what? Defensive positions?" They had defensive positions. Well, he did the best with his military training he coculd. He was going to reach for a blaster but realized he only had that stun saber, so her grabed that but didn't turn it on just yet.

Yuun blinks, he's trained with Ax and Jax a few times so when defensive positions is called he moves to his spot, he glances around. "No." he says in a low tone of voice. His fist clenches as he scans the area and at the same time tries to sense their surroundings for anything nearby. He looks to the others to see if they see anything other than their Master, but seems like they don't. "What did you see?" he asks Ax.

Jax was looking up letting the rain hit him in the face when Ax calls out. The Corellian jedi down as Ax calls out. His hand sliding to his saber but he doesn't draw the handle yet. He draws in his breath and exhales as he reaches out to the force. Then Yunn says no. "No?" Jax asks with a bit of confusion in his voice.

After the business over the past few days, Jonn had learned to start trusting that instinctive crawling on his spine that warned him of an impending threat. Lately it had even been telling him what that threat was. But today, no spine-crawling, no sense of imminent danger, and that made him even more unsettled. Because there either was something, and Jonn hadn't noticed it, or nothing, and he was fine. Padawan-ship brought uncertainty, an uncertainty that the juggernaut hadn't quite shaken off yet. "Righd," he said, agreeing with Ax. "I see not-hing. I hyear not-hing. I feel not-hing. We are eiyt-her sayfe, or in terrible daynger."

Through the lenses of his macrobinoculars does Ax see clearly the source of what Yuun hears - through the low-light filter, the shapes of metal cylinders, heavily corroded, barely intact at all in many cases - are hung from the branches by what appears to be some kind of thick cable or wire, itself heavily weathered from unimaginable years of wear. And yet, the materials from which they were made must have been excellent when new, for they remain somewhat intact, if utterly synthetic. More than this, the occasional glitter of crystal can be seen in the more intact examples, colored prisms of various shapes jutting out of the ends, tinkling musically against the branches when the breeze hits them just right. How very odd...but perhaps a sign that you are all on the right track. Perhaps.

~ "Windchimes," Ax says with a bit of a 'Huh?' moment. "Must have been some kind of marker. I..." He takes a moment adjusting the settings on the macrobinoculars. "Made out of lightsabers," he mutters. "Looks like really damned old lightsabers. Exposed crystals, exposed power cells. Haven't been built like that in millenia or more," he says as he hands the macrobinoculars around.

He looks to Jax first. "Might be a primitive species here that's already been scavenging the temple. Let's make sure we bring these guys home safely." He looks to Jonn next. "If anything approaches, flex. Most primitives and animals will be trying to show dominance, but you're the biggest one of us, so flaunt it." ~

Elrych Cometburn looks to where Axel indicated though he can't actually see anything. "Actual Lightsabers. Cool." He's still as alert as he cacn be, keeping an eye out. Though there's not much he knows about the weapons other than what's been told in legend.

Yuun hears Ax's words and nods his head, "I see." he says more to himself than to anyone else. He is on alert and as the others look at the lightsabers, he adjusts his position to look in the direction they aren't looking in, wanting to make sure they aren't being snuck up on or anything. He keeps calm, though he is pretty nervous, which actually helps keep him alert.

Jax lets his release on the force go and lets his own saber go and he takes the pair of macrobinoculars when they get offered to him. " Intresting. That's a lot of old sabers." He then offers Jonn the macrobinoculars. "We'll make sure everyone will go home safe. Besides Jonn's so big and strapping he'd scare off a whole herd of rancors. Rancors come in herds right?"

"What can I say, I'm addicted to der exercyse," said Jonn sheepishly, with all the smile that entailed. He bounced his pecs just to underscore the point. It was true. He had muscles upon muscles upon muscles and looked like he could bench-press a speeder. Regardless, now that he could see the chimes, he could definitely see the resemblance. "Deyre could be enough crystals here to mayke everybahdy in der Acadameh foah oah fyve lightsayberrs each," he mused quietly, his hand idly holding on to the simple double-gripped cylinder at his belt. His own simple weapon. "We godda move foahward. Nahd far to go."

As you pass beneath the line of ancient saber-chimes, it's clear that you've passed a boundary; at once, your collective senses surge with the distant, ghostly pull of life-forms deeper in the jungle, which ahead of you has knitted and tangled into a vast mess before your very eyes. Worse still, there is the electric thrill of imminent danger. From here on out, getting to the temple will be some hard work - and you know that you'll need to be careful if you want to proceed undetected by whatever there is that strung up what should have been treasured relics of an age gone far, far behind.

~ "Maybe, though the design is rather archaic. Crystals might be good or they might be relative junk. We'll mark the location though just in case," Ax says to Jonn. He then turns to the others. "Let's keep moving forward, can't be more than another couple klicks to our destination. Then, we'll see if we can't clear out a space to bring the ship in for a landing. I'd rather not stay here overnight without protective shelter if we don't have to. Places of power can have.. Well, let's just say that places strong in the force can do interesting things to local flora and fauna," Ax says.

Motioning everyone forward, Ax takes point as they maneuver through the underbrush, checking on his datapad to make sure they're still heading in the right direction. ~

Elrych Cometburn was right in the middle of trying to take one down as Ax says 'mark the location and keep moving'. He pouts just a bit and scampers down to move along with the others. As he passes oer the threshhold, that familiar feeling that tells him to just turn around and run back to the ship shoots through his body. "I got a bad feeling about this..." He says lowly. Someone had to say it, it's a thing you know. He's still holding onto that stun saber, his senses in hightened alert. Not that he knew how to use the thing at all well.

Yuun looks around finding something that will help him keep this place well memorized, once he does that he quickly move off. "Same here, which is why we need to making sure we watch each others backs." he says to Elrych. "Keep up with Ax and Jax." he tells the other padawan. As he says that, he moves to flank them, keeping his attention on the here and now. Scanning the darkening forests for any signs of movement other than their own.

Jax looks around for a moment, " Especially if a place is strong in the darkside." He says as he falls in behind Ax and leading the main body of the group. "Remind me to thank Resistance command for making me go on ground mission when we were short handed."

The crawling was present. Jonn was on alert. Imminent danger, be wary. He was bringing up the rear, the trump card, the man with the muscles as it were, and making sure they weren't being flanked.

What has two legs, robes, and makes a lot of noise? Half the group, because while some of you are quite able to move quietly and unseen amongst the gnarled roots, the rest crash through like a gundark parade. This being the case, it isn't long before the sound of a horn can be heard in the near distance, perhaps a few hundred feet away - and the sound of crashing trees and sharp, shrill voices can be heard as whatever must be living in the temple (for where else can they be?) sound from all around you.

Wuh-oh.

~ Ax sighs. "Think they're gonna invite us to dinner? Or do you think we're gonna be dinner?" he asks. One hand draws a big-damned blaster pistol, the other the curved hilt of one of his ornate lightsabers. "If anyone needs a blaster, I brought extras," he says. Apparently, the Echani was expecting trouble and came prepared for war. ~

Elrych Cometburn pauses, after making a horrible ammount of noise through the brush. Thorns hurt man and he just couldn't help a yelp or two as a bush was wacked, get it bushwacking? Right into his face. He pffts, adjusting his shades just as the horn comes. "Ah, dinner? I hope." He reaches a hand out for a blaster pistol, putting that stun saber he's had no training with away. He at least knew how to use a blaster better.

Yuun is a Mage, moving quietly as some of the others are a bit noisy at this stealth stuff. But than again, when you lived in rough areas stealth was a skill you had to learn very quickly. Still upon hearing Ax's words and hearing what may sound like something wanting to eat them, "How about we try to see if we can reason with it before we fight?" he says from some where, his voice is low and with all the ambient noise, may be a bit difficult to find Yuun.

Jax brings his saber to bear as he grips the converted swoop throttle grip in both hands. "I can't believe I'm about to say this but maybe we should have brought C3P0." His finger moving to the ignition button of his saber, " Make it easier to talk our way out of it maybe."

"I tink I agree wid you," said Jonn to Jax's observation. His own saber, a foot-long tube that resembled more of a claymore hilt sans crossguard than a lightsaber, was held in his hand and ready. For completeness's sake, he tensed his muscles to inflate them a bit.

The birdlike trilling sounds from all around - among the trunks, in the canopy, even beneath the roots, somehow. It is...oddly terrifying, as if the collective sound of so many mouths are enough to stir even Jedi minds with the animal undercurrent of the prey instinct. /Get ready/, your traitorous minds try to tell you, the lizard brain in full effect, /They're going to take us, to kill us, to eat us! They're coming! THEY'RE COMING!/

~ Ax's left hand holsters the pistol it was holding and pulls his second saber out. The Echani going into a defensive stance, their twin viridian blades coming to life with the definitive snap-hiss common to the jedi weapons. "Prepare for a fight, but don't attack until you're attacked. We might not need to kill anyone, and I'd prefer if we didn't," he says. Maybe a show of force will be enough to disuade any possible hostiles from actually attacking. ~

Elrych Cometburn is no hero, he's just some kids who through luck and will of the force ended up a bit more atuned than most folks. He also wore thick rimmed blackout sunglasses all the time, ear buds connected to his datapad always in his ears. Except now, now was kind of a scarry and serious moment. The whole mission was and despite his efforts to calm his mind with jokes and humor, the terror heading their way was strong in his mind. "Master Ax... blaster... I need a blaster." His hand is already held out.

Yuun stretches and moves off to the side using the foliage to hide him, he understands what is being asked. He is quiet as he makes his move, he is able to see the others, they may or may not see him though hopefully in this fight they may not have to kill anyone, at this point they are the invaders.

Jax's finger slides to the button of his lightsaber and a blue blade emerges from the handle of his saber. He takes a few deep breaths, "Ax is right. Keep steady and remember we're the invaders here. So only protect each other and lets see if we can do this without harming anything."

"You must nahd fyeah. Fyeah is der mind killah..." said Jonn, laying a fatherly hand on Elrych the kid's shoulder. The papa was strong in this one. The hand was withdrawn as Jonn walked forward, taking his place as the muscle of the group. And such muscles! It had been a long time since he'd had to show them off, but once he'd wiggled his arms a bit, he tensed everything and caused them to bulge. This was a man who had spent far too much time lifting, bro. FLEX. POSE. HULK OUT.

Preparing for the worst, the lot of you stand aming the gnarled trunks, sabers ignited, weapons out - and, perhaps in some cases, pants filled - as the horrible tide of noise races toward your assembly. It builds and builds, filling your collective minds like static, driving Jax to the ground with its weight. The rest of you feel the burden, but are able to weather it, either through luck or simply stronger wills. It is a holding storm of psychic noise, boiling through you, and then...

It stops.

In the shadows between the trunks, eyes. Glowing eyes, amber and luminous. Are there many faces, or simply many eyes per face? You cannot tell, not for certain - but though the life-shadows of many beings surround you, the risk of danger ebbs for the moment.

But you are clearly not alone.

~ Ax shifts both sabers to one hand for a moment, long enough to hand Elrych his T-6 Thunerer then takes the lightsaber back into the empty hand.

When the noise subsides, Ax looks around, using the force to feel his surroundings. "That was a little bit creepy, I guess," Ax says. Of course, he didn't even seem to flinch with all the commotion. ~

What was that thing Yoda was trying to teach him? Calm. Calm through the force. After Ax hands him the blaster the young Elrych takes a deep breath and steightens. Letting it out slowly, his eyes close under those shades and his face falls flat. He feels for that flickering light in the ebbs and valleys that is the current o the force. That one place he knows he's safe and... then the voices silence. Unknown if he had blocked them out or stopped, just that when he opened his eyes, they were surrounded by those red eyes. A long pause, "Hey... you guys like nurf burgers?" What a conversation starter. Someone write in the AAR to never let the new kid try deplomacy or first contact with an unknown alien civilization or culture.

Yuun was still learning from the holocron they have of Yoda, though some of the other teachings he's learned, he attempts to focus his mind, with the sound of all the psychic sound comes ripping through. Yuun grunts and brings his hands to his ears as he lowers his head trying to push what ever it was attacking him out of his mind. "What the kriff?" he asks as he crouches from where he is. Though once it passes he doesn't feel his body that well, he is trying to figure out what the hell it was.

Jax finds him pressed to his knee. The Corellian jedi's breath quickening as he he has the weight of the galaxy on his shoulders and stressed. There is fear welling up in him. He doesn't cloes his eyes but tries to breath deep finding his calm but finding it slipping further and futher away. Then it's gone and he finds his breath steadying. He looks around and raises to feet. His saber pointed to the ground. A new layer of sweat on his face.

Puny aliens. Your meandering gaze and impotent cries do nothing against the salivating hunk of man meat that is Jonn M. Drayson. The M stands for exactly what you think it does. "We are not hyere foah conflict," was the low, rumbling voice like gravel falling down a hill (don't ask). "But we will fyite to defend ouhselves." He took his lightsaber off his belt and, rather than activating it, he held it up to show it. "You see dis hyere?" he said, pointing to it, then he pointed up at the hundreds of wind chimes hanging in the air. "Dey are der same. We are der same."

The remaining noise thins from the minds of all the Jedi, an echo fading swiftly into silence. Still those eyes stare, and Jonn speaks, showing off his rippling frame. Do the owners of those embers know what he is saying? Or is it simply the presence of angels with blazing swords, wreathed in the flames of the Living Force? Whatever the reason may be, a shape emerges from the darkness into your proximity, and you see what you now deal with.

Tall, lanky, the creature is humanoid, with three fingers on its hands and its feet replaced by hooflike protrusions of black chitin. It is so thin as to resemble a starved corpse - albeit one covered in short, silken fur the color of slate. Its head is wide and triangular, set with two pair of luminous amber eyes without pupils, piercing through each of you as it approaches. There is no mouth, merely an organ that /appears/ to be a beak, but is quite fused together into a swordlike affair of pale bone.

It wears jewelry made from a collection of obvious Jedi trappings: fragments of protosaber strung by plant cords and ancient, fraying power cable. Necklaces made of ancient channeling crystals long since made unusuable by piercing to be strung on skin thongs. It wears what must be the pilfered remains of the temple beyond it, yet another member of yet another cargo-cult civilization sprung up across a thousand worlds. This does not bode well for any discoveries.

Sweeping its gaze over you all, it settles on Jonn - and does not look away.

~ Being the ranking member of the order here, Ax feels it's his obligation to step forward. The Echani moves slowly around Jonn, deactivating his lightsabers as he does so, moving between the overgrown padawan and what he's assuming to be the leader of the people haunting them.

"We mean no harm," Ax says. "We seek knowledge, not violence, but should you attack us, violence will be dealt and it will be swift." He didn't know whether the creatures could understand him or not. The jewelry of the creature doesn't go unnoticed, however, and more and more this was looking like one of those situations where the risks far outweighed the rewards. ~

Elrych Cometburn tilts his head to the side as one of them reveals them selves. He holds the heavy blaster pistol, facing it towards the ground but still in his hand just incase. He looks between the others and keeps watch on the other eyes surrounding them in the forest beyond.

Yuun manages to get himself under control, allowing a calming breath to go through him and after a moment or two he lets it out. Upon seeing Jonn move up and now Ax their master, Yuun comes out from where he is his hands empty of any weapons and his hands are at his side. He make sure he is visible so that their host is able to see him as well.

Jax pressing things away from his mind and it clear now through the creature pulling the living force back from his mind. He presses the button to turn off his saber. He step forward to join in with Jonn and Ax. Though his voice quiet, "DId we bring anything in the way of a gift for a first meeting?"

"Hold on, mas-tah Ax," said Jonn, looking the lanky noodly girly-man alien who had not spent enough time at the gymnasium straight in the orange-yellow eyes until Ax stepped in the way. As much as he'd like him to take over here, Jonn seemed to have been picked as an ambassador. He stepped to one side, resuming his gaze, and tried not to ponder how uncomfortable he felt about taking over from someone senior to him. "I don't tink dey are hostile. Dere are toughts, not mine, in my head," he informed the party. "Dey are nahd using wyerds. Tune in to my toughts, dey may nahd tink it polite to intyerrupt." Thoughts were definitely dancing in the bodybuilder's head, enough that anyone getting a good Force-look at him would probably be able to see it and tune into the conversation. Jonn, being Jonn, was concealing nothing. Not once did his gaze waver. In return to the alien, with his limited telepathy, he sent a reply in feelings. Confirmation. Appreciation. Respect. And the fatherly warmth he had developed over the ten years of having a child.

The creature stiffens somewhat - taken aback, as it were, from the reply given by the musclebound padawan. Then it steps forward, passing the rest of you, to fix its four eyes upon Jonn's face, blazing into it, as if able to stare through it into the brain matter beyond.

Curiosity continues to pour out of the creature as it sends more images the bodybuilder's way, though this time there is a distinct flavor of appreciation and warmth that comes with those 'questions'. Stars. Ship. Weapons. Forest. A definite inquiry of who and what they are. Perhaps even purpose, though there is no apparent image that would translate - this does Jonn feel strongly, and Ax recieve as well through the established link.

As for the rest, there is only the sight of the creature - and soon another, and another, as more creatures, wearing much the same sort of trappings as the first, begin to emerge from the trees. Some of them bear weapons, lances made from wood and stone, some tipped in ancient napped protosaber crystal. Curiosity...a wave of it, coming from everywhere.

~ Doing as Jonn says, and surprised to get results, Ax focuses his mind and actually 'listens in' for the moment. "Answer him as best you can, I guess," Ax says in a softer tone. He tries to even push thoughts forward, lore of Jedi and the galaxy at large.

"Keep calm everyone," Ax says. Hands were still on the hilts of his ornate lightsabers, but they weren't ignited. "I don't think they're a threat, at least not right at the moment." ~

Elrych Cometburn looks about as the others come out. He's let go of that flame in his mind, the one keeping the lifeforms back or at least thinking that's what's keeping them from invading his mind. "Herm..." He says as Ax says to stay calm. "A little hard but... maybe we should head towards the temple." He was getting an urge, one of those unusual ones.

Yuun wasn't doing much at first, he finally was able to move and now something else is going on. HIs mind reeling as he begins looking at this creature, his mind begins wandering and looking towards where the temple is supposed to be. He could feel an urge to head that way, though his eyes settle upon the creature as Jonn seems to be communicating with this creature and his head quirks to the side a little. "Yeah, we should try to figure out if there are more and if they tas..." he stops himself, "We should head to the temple to see if there are more."

"Questions? Is it something we could answer and Jonn can 'tell' them?" Jax holds up his hand, "No we shouldn't go to the temple until they allow us to. There's no need to anger them." He waits till Ax or Jonn make anything new known.

Jonn took Ax's reply and repeated it. Jedi, warriors of light, and all that was good and noble. Scholars, teachers, knowledge, wisdom, and so on. Everything he and Ax knew. A vein in his head began to twitch. It was taking more effort than he thought to serve as a Force relay, especially as a mere Padawan. He also added intent, to reach the temple and determine what had become of it. He glanced to Elrych and Yuun, both of them urging him to go to the Temple, and said, "We will be heading dere soon, we haf to be syure dat we're sayfe." It didn't occur to him that something else might be going on.

The 'speaker' is perhaps about to send something more, but then it turns as Yuun and Elrych proceed toward the trees in the direction of the temple. Its eyes shift color, from a luminous amber to a brighter yellow. Sensations of curiosity, then anger. It snaps its head around, gesturing back toward the departing padawans with a wave of great displeasure and the images of defenders stepping forward to cross lances to stop them.

~ "Get back here," Ax calls to Yuun and Elrych. "Now," he says, putting force into his tone. "We'll go to the temple in a bit, but right now, we gotta stay right the hell here." ~

Elrych Cometburn shakes his head as he starts to head towards the temple, "No man... I can't. I just can't you know. The music is calling and where THe music tells me to go man I go..." He knew he had to be right about this.

Yuun keeps going, "NO!" he says as mixed curiosity and anger seeps into his voice, the normal easy going and fun padawan seems to harden and begins quickly moving despite the others, "We can't just sit around waiting, we have to continue onwards." his speed increases as he leaves heading towards the temple.

"Yes, we can wait." Jax calls out to Yuun and Elrych, He says reaching out to grab Elrych by the shoulder as he goes past. "Come on, clear you're minds. WHat ever is out there can wait. Don't be brash, these people will stop you."

Music? Something was up. Jonn tried to tap into the minds of the other two and found, to his surprise, not only could he see what was affecting them, but it was something very very wrong. Something needed to be done, otherwise all hell was about to break loose. With all the will he had, Jonn fired a single concept into the group meld that had formed.

QUIET.

The cacophony needed to ease to save these two, he transmitted. They couldn't overcome it. "Close yoah mynds, it is ovahwyelming you," he advised the two affected individuals, whenever the quiet finally overcame them. Then he sent a final request. Access to the temple, and the assurance that it would not be defiled.

For a moment, the lead creature's eyes flash white - as to those of the others as Yuun and Elrych hurtle single-mindedly toward the deeper jungle ahead Spears rise, and the strange, birdlike trilling begins to start up once more, projected from the 'beak' in their faces. But with Jonn's mental proclaimation, they are stilled; the 'speaker' turns and looks at him, first in understanding, then in faint disappointment. It 'says' nothing more, but simply turns and walks back into the jungle. Its fellows follow.

The way, it appears, is clear. Such as it has been blazed by your wayward companions.

~ Extending his hand out towards the two padawans, Ax calls upon the force. Feet lift inches off the ground and slowly they begin moving back towards the others. "I said no," he says, obviously straining to do so. "Get ahold of yourselves or you'll be bound and dragged behind us," he says.

Ax moves towards them as they slowly drift towards him. "You'll learn to listen in the future," he says in a calming, but firm voice. "First rule, stick together," he mutters, still struggling to keep them elevated. ~

Elrych Cometburn starts to slow in his trek, some sense comming to him with the projection from Jonn. But more so because he wasn't on the ground anymore. "Hey... what the..." HE tries to moves forwards or grab onto a branch as Ax strains to bring him back towards them. "Hey man. This isn't cool. There's lots to be learned up there. The music says so. Damn that's a good voice..." It's like a toddler swiming in thin air. Or someone on a lot of spice.

He is getting pretty far until well his feet lift up off the ground, he looks down seeing his feet isn't on the ground anymore. He frowns a bit, "You can't do this, you have to share the knowledge." he says, "The melody says so, we have to share, not only one person can learn." he says as he struggles in the invisible grasp of the force as he is being drug over to where Ax is, he struggles within it's grasp, though some of his mind is coming back to him shaking his head and his fight isn't as fierce but he's still doing it.

Jax was about to chase after the pair til Ax seems to use the force and pull them back. "Clear you're minds. We will get there when we can. We will all talk to them soon. For now we have to have dipolmacy."

Jonn Drayson shook his head. "In dat chaos, dey would nahd have lasted." It was only Jonn's age and well-entrenched nature and experience being pulled from different directions (thanks, parenting) that got him through the mind-bending voices. If he hadn't had either of those he'd be the same as the boys. "It was a myeracle we wyern't all driven insane," he added, his town a little down. He felt saddened by something, and as Ax would very likely be able to determine, the melancholy wasn't entirely his. Maybe he was still tuned into the mind meld. There was definitely the feeling of missed opportunity.

What link was missed, that Jonn felt upon the breaking of that mental connection? What was lost? There is no chance to ask further, however, for the tall, anonymous creatures now are gone - and there is only the temple.

The 'temple', such as it is, seems more like a quiet retreat than anything else; swallowed in the majority by the red leaves and the doughty trunks of the native flora. Naught remains but a portion of the main building, the others long since split apart by the nascent jungle - the remnants of a two-story building whose architecture is of a calm, serene character that speaks strongly of that order which constructed it.

There is little left here. Ancient stasis pods in the form of caskets, opened and their cargoes of protosabers taken away - to be played with and venerated by the creatures of the forest, perhaps. The bas-reliefs upon the walls show images of ancient Jedi clashing with other figures, both using the ancient sabers with their exposed crystals and bulky power packs worn on their belts, naught to connect them but thin leads of cable - like ancient sleeper drives to the modern hyperspace motivator, they are, a story of what once had been.

And then, after hours of fruitless searching, it is Jax who comes upon the last scrap of treasure still extant in the ruined temple: falling through the unstable masonry of the bottom floor, he finds a tunnel leading to a vaulted chamber - and as the lot of you gather there, you find in another ancient stasis casket incredibly still powered, an ancient manual. Its language is not Basic, and will take time to unravel...but it seems to spell out the secrets not only of constructing the ancient Protosabers, inferior by far to modern lightsabers they might be, but a slew of new fighting techniques that are employed in their use. An ancient Jedi battle manual - even if it is not in the end useful in the practical sense, it is still a treasure of lore and history that one could scarcely imagine. Not bad for a bunch of lads trawling through the forest.

You never see the creatures again.