Log:Jedi: Temple of the Eclipse Part 1

Qutha's Jedi Padawan, Lira'una has spent the last year trying to decipher the location of one of the temples found in Luke's old journal -- a journal she'd been given here on Lothal.

It had taken meeting Bryett Cordair, an archaeologist, and him stumbling across the journal in her ship for her to learn one of the many reasons she hadn't been able to make more progress -- there was a page missing. Bryett was far more capable of interpreting the notes than Lira could ever hope to be, and with his help, they found their way to the remote village of Tel Vara, where the missing page was said to be kept.

Lira had summoned help from trusted members of the Jedi Order and the Rebellion, and among the first to arrive were her Master, Qutha Buvu Pah, Rey, and Ben. The group had spent several days in the village, talking to people and earning their trust, and they were told by the village elder, Bennar, that the journal they were asking about had brought them nothing but trouble.

Qutha had chosen to follow the Force, to venture out into the jungle to see where his path led him. The others, who opted to stay behind, were told of a Shadowbeast that had been plaguing the village for the last two years, ever since his granddaughter disappeared, following the notes from that journal. He promised that if they could help deal with the Shadowbeast, he would turn over the page they were looking for.

Rey, Lira, and Bryett all went out on the night of the full moon to confront the beast, and it was there that they discovered, through the Force, that the 'Shadowbeast' was actually a human woman possessed by some kind of Dark Side energy. Rey and Lira used their connection to the Force to separate the energy from the woman and hold it while Bryett took the young woman, Syla, back into the gates of the village.

"Lira," Rey spoke, her voice strained, as she still had a sheen of sweat visible on her brow. "Release it. We're going to follow it, and see where it goes."

The cool night air was thick with tension as the distant eclipse in the sky grew ever closer, casting eerie shadows across the dense jungle of Lothal. The village of Tel Vara was behind them, its flickering lights barely visible through the trees, and ahead, the dark energy that once consumed the village elder's granddaughter, Syla, surged through the wilderness like a shadowy cloud illuminated in the silvery moonlight.

Lira'una sprinted at full speed, her lekku flowing behind her as she clutched her comlink, breath ragged but determined. Beside her, Jedi Master Rey kept pace effortlessly.

"BRY!" Lira's voice crackled through Bryett's comlink as he entered the village gates, carrying the limp form of Syla. "WE'RE CHASING THE THING THAT HAD HER! THERE'S A SPEEDER IN THE SHIP. I'M ACTIVATING THE TRACKER ON MY COMLINK!"

In Bryett's arms, Syla was pale and fragile, but alive. The grip of the Dark Side had left her body drained and emaciated but not broken. She'd been missing for two years. Two years, the village had been plagued by this thing they called the Shadowbeast. For two years, the elder's granddaughter had been possessed by this dark energy, and no one had known.

Bryett was barely through the gate before the village elder, Bennar, rushed forward, shoving the missing page of the journal he'd promised towards him and beckoning for the limp form of the girl in his arms in exchange.

"Syla!" Bennar cried.

The page was worn, stained with time, but the symbols and map etched into it were unmistakable -- the final key to the Temple of the Eclipse that Bryett had been missing to decipher not only the location of the temple, but also, presumably, the method of unlocking it.

Just as Rey and Lira are taking off into the jungle and Bryett is bringing Syla's unconscious form into the village, a shuttle provided by the New Rebellion begins to settle onto the hillside next to an already parked YT-2000, the Twilight Dancer.

In this shuttle are four new arrivals as well as two pilots (who stay with the ship)... Nora Frayus, Faidra, Yuun, . Each was radioed ahead of time and asked to meet the shuttle at the request of Lira'una.

It's night, and Lothal's twin moons hang brightly in the sky, casting everything in a silvery glow. One is completely full, and the other almost so.

The village is modest but well-established, a collection of wooden structures built with care, their roofs thatched and walls sturdy. A high fence, made from sharpened stakes of slender trees, surrounds the entire settlement, angled outward to deter would-be intruders or animals. No guards patrol the perimeter, and the gate stands wide open, an inviting yet curious sight for a place so isolated.

Nora Frayus

--kshhhh--

Hydraulic doors open and out walks Lady Nora Frayus. "--me started on Coruscant. With the way they seem to abhor even the abstract /notion/ of colour, you might come to the logical conclusion that they are allergic to it. Though I have it on quite excellent authority that they are--oh?"

Nora was in the process of explaining to some poor soul (Yuun, or Faidra, or potentially some poor spacehand) the difference between Kuat and Coruscant fashion trends. Depending on how patient people have been throughout the shuttle ride, this may have been going on for some time.

...But she does seem to stop as she spies the pair of Rey and Lira'una streaking (with clothes) into the tree-line while other still seem to be rushing /towards/ the village. And it seems as if Lady Nora has a decision to make!

She lays her hands on her hips and gestures with a pink-gloved hands towards the woods, an exasperated sigh escaping her lungs.

"Well? Shall we give chase? Or see what all the fuss is about within the ham--..." Lady Noraaaa.... remember your diplomacy training...

"/Village?/"

She asks this of Yuun, of course. Because he is the Big Guy Jedi around here.

Qutha Buvu Pah

Hands folding behind his back as he walks, eyes attuned to the dim by the power of the force so that he sees as though it were daylight. A stalk of long grass having been picked up to tuck into the corner of his mouth - when the speeder truck arrives he is standing at the foot of the temple entrance.

Hood drawn back and waiting.

The villagers were making things difficult with their panic and their superstitions. So he followed the flow of The Force. It hadn't deigned to put him in the path of the Shadowbeast or other potential issues. So he stood and studied, turning only to the sounds of the speeder truck incoming, waiting in his perpetual patience.

"Yes, yes, how very fascinating..." Narator Voice: It was, in fact, /not/ fascinating. To say that Faidra was nerve wracked was an understatement, and while she didn't exactly enjoy the topic of the conversation, having someone to talk helped period. That is, until the young woman clad in clone trooper armor, save a helemt, spots with her icy blues Bry carrying someone that very much looks to be in need. With out another word, Faidra is bolting off shuttle at a full sprint towards where she feels she's most needed.

One hopes Bry remembers her, and also that it's very obvious the person at a full sprint with a medical bag is coming to help.

Yuun was listening about the fashion trends of Coruscant and Kuat, he knows how to dress, though he's been thinking the Jedi need to catch up in the times and have something a bit more, eh he didn't have the right words for it. As the landing doors open, he rises to his feet and he stretches out quite a bit. He feels his muscles popping and he moves up beside Nora.

As he looks out, he too sees Lira and Rey going in one direction heading towards the tree-line and others to the village and for the moment Yuun reaches out in the force he feels it and he then looks to Nora, trying to decide and he shakes his head, "Let's go back up Rey and Lira." he says he walks down the ramp and begins going after Rey and Lira.

Honestly, Bryett is pretty much just running on pure, unadulterated adrenaline at this point.

Which is understandable really. The riskiest thing that he has typically gotten up to the past few years has been conning the greedy and the venal, disreputable criminal sorts, with the promise of rich paydays from temples full of lost treasures. For the most part those temples have been entirely fictional and he has fled to the next world just ahead of some very angry 'business partners'.

Otherwise the pursuit of archaeology is usually fairly dull. Fairly routine. It means a great deal of time spent in front of Holonet displays, poking through ancient records. Or in dusty old records storage rooms doing the same with even more archaic physical copies.

What it doesn't usually entail very much of is trying to have a Dark Side infused young woman shaped like some great beast try to eat your face. It doesn't involve a pair of, well, lets face it, Jedi, hold the creature with their wills alone and practically carve her free of the shadows she was wrapped in.

Which has left him hurrying through the gates of the village with the emaciated and barely conscious form of Syla in front of stunned villagers, many of whom look as if they've seen a ghost. And understandably so, seeing as they believed that the elder's daughter had been dead for years. Few of them are likely to fully understand the fact that the Beast that has plagued them for the past couple of years, the one that has killed a number of them -- their husbands, their fathers, mothers, daughters, children, friends -- is the same woman who grew up amongst them.

For his part, Bryett doesn't have much interest in telling them that either. Whatever happened to Syla, she has been through enough.

So he hands off that burden to her shocked father and accepts the missing page of Luke Skywalker's journal in return, hastily stuffed into his hand. "Thank you," he says hurriedly, his comm already practically screaming instruction at him. "Take care of her," he urges quietly.

And then he turns. Turns and runs, practically a headlong dash. He didn't run from the Shadowbeast, but he tears back through the gates of the village, racing towards the Twilight Dancer, frantically tapping at the remote even while trying to peer off into the darkness, to catch some glimpse of the departing forms of Lira and Rey.

As the ramp to the freighter slowly lowers, he notices the newly arrived shuttle, notes the people descending, but he doesn't pause, racing up the ramp and into the cargo hold. "Echo! Echo!" he shouts for Lira's little BB unit. "We have to go. The speeder, get it ready. Quickly," he says in a rush, already starting to guide it over towards that same ramp as the repulsorlifts come to life with a gentle whine, maneuvering it into position before starting to lower it down the ramp. Slipping over the side, he settles into the seat, glancing over the controls. "Umm... you know how to drive this, right Echo?" he asks, a sheepish note in his voice even as he instead reaches to activating the tracking device to follow Lira's comm signal.

As the landspeeder rolls into view, he glances at the new arrivals, fairly certain that they are likely the reinforcements that Lira mentioned. "Coming? We have to go. Now."

He might be a little bit impatient. A little more rude then he would otherwise be.

It's kinda been a night.

Rey ran with a trained grace in to the distant tree line. Her agile form hoofed it at a considerable pace, but she held back, not advancing herself with the use of the Force, as she wanted Lira to be able to keep up. They were running after a dark presence, a presence that was leaving a trail of malevolent emotions in its wake. The Dark Side of the Force was thick upon the night tonight, and the forest itself seemed to be welcoming the source of the darkness back in to the shadowy embrace of its dense tree canopy cover...

Within the forest, Rey swept herself between trees, under branches, and over fallen obstacles. She leapt with a nimble intent, an intense look upon her face, as the dappled light of moonlight crept between the leaves above.

When she finally stopped, she clutched her dark metal lightsaber hilt in her own metal left hand, her robotic thumb stroking over the activation ring at the base of its emitter shroud, she ready to defend herself, as danger felt as thought it were around every corner, and hiding within every long shadow that taunted her in every literal direction.

"We're close." Rey said back to her Twi'lek companion, a glance sent to Lira. "Let's go. Follow me. Stay close." She said, as she once more burst off in to another sprint, headed toward where she believed they needed to go, to follow that dark presence, as it seemed to be recalled back to its point of imbuement.

The looming Temple.

Bizz Bliptettjupp

Brother Bizz had stopped at the Bistro De Lothal for some local fare when he was rudely instructed to meet a shuttle and be ferried across the world. In fact, as he waddles down the ramp of the spacecraft, he is eating a Groat chop on a stick that still drips with the eatery's candleberry reduction sauce. "Hey lemme on that truck!" He runs to hop in the bed of the hovertruck, rolling over the tailgate but keeping his food held high.

The smoky Dark Side energy slithers through the dense jungle like a serpent, darting between the towering trees and weaving its way through thick vines and overgrown roots. Its form shifts and twists in the pale moonlight, flickering between visibility and shadow as it races toward its destination. The cloud pulses with dark intent, tendrils of black mist reaching out toward the jungle as if tasting the air, drawn ever onward by the call of the forgotten temple. As it moves, the very air seems to grow colder, more oppressive, casting an unnatural chill over the surrounding foliage. Birds and creatures of the forest flee from its path, their instincts driving them away from the malevolent force. The jungle, once alive with the sounds of nature, falls eerily silent in its wake, as though the very land itself recognizes the presence of something ancient and wicked.

Ahead, the jungle thickens, but the dark energy presses forward with purpose, undeterred by the natural barriers. It moves with an almost sentient awareness, drawn toward the hidden ruins of the Temple of the Eclipse. In its wake, the leaves seem to curl inward, and the branches reach out like skeletal fingers, as though the forest itself bends to the Dark Side's will. There is a sense of inevitability in its path, as if nothing can stop it from reaching the temple's long-buried secrets.

The temple itself lies in ruin, swallowed by time and nature, its once-proud walls now crumbling beneath layers of thick foliage. Vines, as wide as a human arm, twist and coil over the ancient stone, binding the structure to the earth as if nature sought to reclaim it entirely. Moss covers the broken steps, and towering trees have taken root within the shattered courtyards, their branches spreading wide to blot out the light of the moons above. Only those attuned to the Force, or in possession of some ancient map, could ever hope to find it hidden deep within the jungle. From the outside, it appears to be little more than an overgrown hill of tangled vegetation.

Yet from the platform where Jedi Master Qutha Buvu Pah stands, the temple's true design can still be seen through the shroud of time. An open valley stretches before him, once a grand space with a direct view of the sky above, now obscured by the heavy limbs of ancient trees. Thick, gnarled branches interlace to block the heavens, and beneath his feet, the undergrowth has grown wild and unruly, each step threatening to trip or ensnare.

In its prime, this temple was a place where the Jedi could meditate, gaze upon the stars, and commune with the Force, but now it lies in shadow, cloaked in darkness.

As Bryett hands over Syla's limp form to the village elder, Bennar's hands tremble. The villagers gather around, their anxious whispers weaving through the night air. None of them know how to respond to the fragile, unconscious girl, nor how to begin making sense of what she had become. For two years, they had been plagued by the creature they called the Shadowbeast, and now, to see that it had been Syla all along shakes their faith to the core. Some of them lower their heads in silent prayer, others stare in shock.

Bennar cradles Syla's head in his hands, his voice trembling as he begs for help, "What evil spirit did this to her? What curse has taken her from us?"

He looks after Bryett, desperate for answers, but before he can press further, the sound of rapid footsteps draws the attention of the group to Faidra.

"Can you help my granddaughter?" Bennar's voice cracks with emotion as he gazes up at Faidra, his expression pleading. "What's happened to her? Is she going to be alright?"

For her part, Lira is... falling behind Rey, to say the least. For as athletic as the little twi'lek obvious is, she's no match for a Jedi Master, and though she struggles to keep pace, she at least manages to keep them in sight.

"Go! I'll.. catch up!"

The whole point, after all, was to follow the damned thing. If Lira couldn't keep up with it, hopefully Rey would be able to.

How long do they run like that? Minutes? It starts to feel like hours, the way exertion burns in Lira's chest.

But eventually they come into Qutha's view, that slithering, darkened shape in front that angles off to the side rather than getting too close to the Jedi Master. It circles around, heading towards the back of the ruins.

Nora Frayus

Nora Frayus is a woman of instincts. And while the instinct to chase things running away from them tends to manifest primarily in creatures that predate upon other creatures, it also manifests in this Alderaanian socialite! So when Faidra takes off, Nora can't quite help but take off in her direction! She legs it down the boarding ramp juuuuust in time to hear Yuun call out that she should probably be heading along with, you know, the other Jedi instead of chasing after limp ladies and Faidra. Nora sort of stumble-skids less-than-gracefully to a stop and flails her arms to redirect that forward momentum. But she's wearing boots with heels, so we'll cut her a bit of slack.

"Aha... mmm. Yes. Quite. Of course. Wise thinking as always, Sir Yuun," Nora says. Totally meant to do all that. She then starts to re-leg it in the opposite direction, following after the waddling form of Bizz and caught in the wake of his Groat Chop with Candleberry Reduction. Nora's nostrils flare a couple of times, but she is unable to identify such an ~*exotic*~ sauce.

Bryett's arrival is both timely and chivalrous...

Okay, no, he's a bit rude and impatient, really. But while Lady Nora is met to contend with yet another example of how galactic chivalry is indeed dead, she'll also be a good girl and climb up onto the cargo truck and do her best to grab onto a rather sturdy spot.

She peers towards who is driving, and spots... the droid.

"Ah. Right then. I suppose there are less dignified ways to perish. Nora Lin, by the way," she says, mostly for Bryett's benefit.

And then a beat.

"...Will she be alright? The girl you were carrying?" Ah jeeze, she sounds worried!

Faidra comes sliding to a halt, dropping to her knees as she looks over Syla who has been placed on the ground by the man that she was dropped off to. Faidra has no clue who he is, or who anyone is for that matter. Outside Lira and Bry. So, for now, she's all Doctor, all buisness. To the question of if she can help? She nods, "Yes. Yes I cna." This, is not a question she even leaves open to the chance that it might be no.

She sets her medical bag on the ground, and starts going to work.

"I try Lady Nora." he says to Nora. Yuun hasn't been on a group mission in a while but the instincts are still there and Yuun was already running, he feels sluggish, must've been the seat he was sitting on that was just a bit too comfy. Still as he glances over to Nora, he sees the truck coming up and he blinks when he sees the droid driving the truck, he glances over to where Nora is and seeing her getting the truck, "Sure, thanks, let's go!" he says as he moves to an empty spot and jumps on as well.

While a certain impatience burns in Bryett, the need to race off after the departed Lira and Rey, he manages to hold it in check. If only because he has pretty much turned over control of the repulsor vehicle to Echo. Which he hopes is for the best. He doesn't do a whole lot of driving, finding that all in all his own two feet are generally more reliable.

They are not, however, quicker, and both speed and time are something of the essence at the moment. Hence putting his faith in the little BB unit the chirps as it takes control of the vehicle, the quiet whirr of the repulsor pads that hold the vehicle a foot and a half or so off the ground raising in intensity just a touch, hittting another level of pitch that suggets it is entirely possible that he is not the only one that might be worried for Lira.

Echo has known her considerably longer afterall.

Of course it isn't just impatience to follow the pair of women that have disappeared into the night. There is also the matter of the crumpled page he still holds in his hand, trying his best to ignroe it's somewhat shabby treatment. Stumbling over that journal was perhaps the single greatest find he'll ever make -- even if it was really someone else's fine and he just found it tucked away in the back of a locker. Regardless. It's now complete. The missing page returned -- if not exactly in pristine condition. Who knows what important information it might have?

Giving those newcomers a moment to hop in -- and maybe grab onto one of the straps meant to secure cargo, not people -- Bryett offers an absent nod, giving a quick nod towards Nora and Yuun. "Oh, right, sorry. Bryett Cordair," he says, offering up his own introduction, rushed as it might be. "Your timing is just about perfect, but we really have to hurry," he adds, gaze flickering towards the display that shows Lira's comm signal getting further and further away. "Punch it Echo."

He might regret those particular instructions as the speeder leaps forward into the dark night, illuminated only by the sky above as the fires of the village behind them rapidly begin to dim and then fall out of sight entirely. Clearly the little droid has taken his instructions to heart, and while on one hand the dusty-haired archaeologist is grateful, it doesn't make for the smoothest of rides, even with that little field of anti-gravity force projected beneath them.

But the ride is going to get a whole lot rougher still.

Those grassy plains quickly give way to the forested trees of Lothal and the speeder dodges in amongst them with sharp little jerks that threatens to send anyone within crashing about. Through it all though Bryett has already taken that missing journal page and pulled out a glow stick, trying to shine it over the crumpled paper while smoothing it out.

"Mmmm?" he continues in absent fashion, diligently keeping his eyes fixed on that scrap of paper in his hands. Perhaps trying to make out what it says. Perhaps glad to have an excuse not to watch where they're going. Or just how often they seem to come mere inches from smashing into a tree. "...I don't know," he admits, hesitating for just a moment at Nora's question. "I mean, a minute ago she was some ravening beast of shadows. Then they stopped it from attacking and sliced it open and that young woman -- Syla -- just spilled out into my arms..." he says.

He has some medical training -- even if he's not *that* kind of doctor. But it didn't really cover the long term prognosis of a patient caught out of some malevolent shadowy force.

Then his eyes are locked on that page again, trying not to cringe as shadow tree trunks and branches loom out out of the darkness just a split second before the speeder races past them starting to gain ground on that comm signal.

Rey emerged from the edge of the forest, leaping over a fallen tree, and landing on solid footing, with her saber clutched in her hand. Her eyes shot to the left, tension clear on the muscles beneath her pale skin. She watched, her large brown eyes focused on the dark entity, its shadowy presence passing in to a solid wall against the side of the temple structure.

A moment later, and Rey was standing at where it had vanished through. she could see small cracks in the stone, but nothing larger than that which only air could pass through. She reached out with her senses, and felt others coming closer.

Rey began to move around the temple, her saber held at her side, the blade still contained inside its deactivated hilt.

She came to find Qutha, and from over his shoulder, she spoke out.

"It's sealed." She surmized, what he likely already knew, as she walked toward him. "Should we cut our way inside? The dark presence... retreated to within."

Bizz Bliptettjupp

Brother Bizz tries to steady himself as he stands up, keeping his food-on-a-stick above the fray. He has a nibble of the chop and says, "What, where are we going?" Then that rolling monstrosity of a droid 'punches' the accelerator, and he is thrown back in the bed of the truck. His precious Groat chop goes flying out into the night, leaving a trail of candleberry reduction sauce and regrets in its wake. "NOOOoooooooo..."

The Dark Side energy slithers around the back of the ancient, crumbling ruins like a living shadow, its movements swift and deliberate. It weaves through the overgrown foliage, slipping between the cracks in the stone walls, almost as if the temple itself is inviting it in. The thick vines and moss-covered stones seem to pull back, allowing the dark mist to disappear into the temple's depths, sucked into the bowels of the structure with a hiss, like smoke vanishing into a void. The flickering energy is gone in an instant, leaving the once-quiet jungle even more oppressive, as though the very air has grown heavier in its absence.

Meanwhile, back at the village, Faidra crouches beside Syla, her medical bag open at her side. She quickly assesses the young woman's condition, finding her pulse weak but steady. Syla's skin is cold and clammy, her body clearly drained from the prolonged possession. With practiced precision, Faidra administers a mild stimulant from her kit, a hypo-spray pressed against the girl's neck, followed by a nutrient infusion to stabilize her further. After a tense moment, Syla's eyelids flutter, and she groggily stirs. Her voice barely a whisper, she manages to croak out, "Grandfather?" as her eyes blink open, unfocused but searching for the familiar presence of her family.

Echo, Lira's trusty BB-droid, proves more than capable of handling the tricky terrain, navigating the dense jungle with remarkable skill. The speeder weaves between towering tree trunks, limbs and foliage whipping past as the vehicle zips along at a steady pace, never slowing down as it deftly avoids obstacles. The passengers inside the speeder may have to cling to their seats as the ride grows increasingly bumpy, but Echo's focus never wavers, the blip on the screen marking Lira's position growing closer with every second.

Lira herself seems to have gotten a second wind. And though she's fallen considerably behind Rey and the shadowy shape, she hasn't given up. Her lithe, lavender form and the heavy black cloak that billows up behind her threatening the snag on odd limbs and branches, cuts through the undergrowth, until, following Rey's path, she also leaps over that fallen tree.

"Bry... Bry has the journal," the young twi'lek woman pants, finally coming up next to Qutha and Rey just after the latter asks about cutting their way in.

"He... he's hoping it... it shows how to get in. Master Skywalker's journal... it talks about a key... and protective seals... and tests. Bryett... knows more. He has the journal with him."

Around Lira, Rey, and Qutha.. and as the others approach, the ruins are an overgrown tangle of stone and greenery. Weathered stone, cracked and crumbling, stretches out in uneven platforms, some sinking into the overgrown earth as nature slowly reclaims what was once a sanctuary.

Thick, twisted vines wrap around the temple's broken pillars like skeletal hands pulling the structure down, while patches of moss and lichen cover much of the stonework. What was once an expansive courtyard is now a fragmented ruin, its once-clear lines of sight to the sky blocked by massive, gnarled tree limbs that weave together to create an oppressive canopy.

The forest encroaches on all sides, tendrils of vegetation sneaking into every crevice, giving the impression that the jungle is swallowing the temple whole.

Qutha Buvu Pah

"Sealed perhaps'n for reg'lar entry..." Lips pursed, "But I reckon y'right... I s'pect that they's too much damage for any them traditional methods t'open'r up..." Still looking to the temple ruins for a long moment before his gaze drifts back to Rey as his own saber hilt drops down into one hand.

Lira's note about tests and seals upon her arrival stays his hand for the time being. Mouth shifting to push to one side in his considerations.

"Well..." Wail "Reckon once they done git 'ere... we're take our s'efs a li'l look't what he has. But they's sommat in there what done need bein' checked inter... 'fore it causes more trouble for others 'round these parts."

"Hey, Hey, hold on there a moment" Faidra says to Syla gently placing a hand on her forhead. With her other hand she places her things back in her medical bag. With a smile as warm as a cloudless summers day she focues her blues on the girl she just helped. She looks to the man that was just caleld grandfather, "Do you have somewhere for her to rest? I need her in a bed. Also, fluids, water would be perfered." With that, she's standing up slowly and keeping her gaze on the young woman. "When you're in a bed, we can talk about what happened. I'm certain the others will be fine without me for now, and I want to make sure you're okay before I run off."

Grabbing onto one of the straps as Echo puts the pedal, "This is where the fun begins." he says as he looks over to Bryett. "Nice to meet you, my name is Yuun." he says, "Jedi Knight." he says and nods, "Yup, you're right on the credits we're the reinforcements." he chuckles. He holds on and he adjust his eyes as he allows the force to focus within his eyes giving him the ability to see in the dark as if it was daylight.

Yuun listens to what's happened and he gives a nod, "Thanks for the heads up." he says to Bryett. Looking towards the tree line, "Well hopefully we can catch up with the others and help them out. Though with Rey and the others, they're damn good at what they do, let's do our best." he says to them.

It is possible that Bryett has been hanging out with the wrong crowd for a little too long at this point. That he is willing to throw his fate over entirely into the hands of one little BB unit and his driving skill.

Or maybe if they are going to die in a fiery speeder crash he just doesn't want to see if coming.

It is also possible that he is just distracted, pure and simple. It isn't easy to keep that glow rod fixed in place, centered on the page he's trying to read and even as he works to decipher everything it has to say, all the diagrams and cryptic little way it has of putting things, his lips move slightly as he reads, as he memorizes what is said.

Fortunately their wild jungle adventure ride is drawing towards a rapid conclusion -- and not by running headlong into a giant tree stump, exiting this world in one last explosive display of magnificcence. Instead as they emerge into a clearing within the towering trees, Echo begins to slow the vehicle to a speed that doesn't make one's life pass before their eyes. "A pleasure sir," he offers up to Yuun, glancing briefly towards his other passenger. But a note of excitement is already creeping into his voice.

Maybe it is a complete coincidence that the dusty-haired archaeologist finally lifts his gaze from the page clutched in front of him, or maybe the excitement that glints in his eye is evidence of the fact that he, at least, seems to feel that he has made a breakthrough.

Reaching for the commlink, he also raises his voice some -- perhaps forgetting the fact that only moments before they were chasing a dark and shadoy malevolent force that tried to eat him earlier in the evening and the drawing attention to himself might not be the wisest course of action.

But this is a moment that he has been waiting for his entirely life damnit.

"The page!" he exclaims, the excitement obvious in his voice, even more then his expression. "It is exactly what we're looking for. There should be a display, somewhere on the gorund by the Temple. A series of concentric rings carved into the stone, each ring inscribed with a different ancient Jedi symbol representing different aspects of the Force. Light, Dark, Balance, Wisdom and Knowledge," he offers up. "If the rings are rotated into the correct position with the correct pressure with the Force then the mechanism that gives access with open," he continues.

But that's why the eclipse is important. The light of the eclipse will reveal the proper positioning for each of the symbols. Without that, the sheer variety in the possibilities makes it all but impossible to get each symbol into the correct place," he adds, practically leaping out of the speeder as it slows to a stop, glancing around the overgrown ruins, trying to orient himself.

Again, he shows a certain recklessness, rather casually flicking on the powerful light embedded in his armor, his nearby surroundings practically lighting up as if it were daylight. But Bryett remains entirely oblivious to the attention he has called to himself, shambling along in a sort of shuffling jog, trying to find what he's looking for. "But you have to be fast and you have to be accurate. If the rings aren't aligned before the eclipse reaches it's peak, or if they are roated incorrectly it will make it that much more difficult to figure out the sequence in the future. Not to mention that we'll be waiting another two years until this particular elcipse takes place at the right time," he notes.

Seeming to reach the spot he was looking for, the dusty-haired archaeologist begins to shuffled back and forth, running that brilliant illuminated glow over the ground in front of him. "It should be right around here," he mutters, peering down that the ground, flagstones only faintly visible ebenath the sheer jungle detritus, foilage and vines and fallen leaves and branches that lay thick across the ground.

To Qutha, Rey nodded, softly speaking to him. "I agree..." She said in short, before she moved down the steps toward the grassy area again. She plucked her comlink off of her satchel, and was about to speak in to it when Bryett's voice came over the line.

"Copy," Rey said. "I can hear your approach." She stated in to the device, before she afixed it back to her belt.

When they arrived, Rey was visibly moving toward them from nearby, her saber hilt still casually clutched in her left metal hand. "Welcome to the mystery." She announced, upon their disembarking from the speeder truck. "You've figured all of this out on your own?" Rey asked the archaeologist, giving him a more steady stare for the first time since they had met one another, save for perhaps their initial introductions prior to leaving in Lira's ship.

"Good job." She tells him, seemingly impressed.

When his light came on, she began to fan out, letting the light aid her in her own searching. "I see them. Some of them." She states, as she moves back a few steps, and with a soft reach of the Force, she wills the forest debris to move from what she has viewed before her. "We'll need to be precise..." She reiterated.

The village reacts with a hushed reverence as Faidra tends to Syla, the villagers gathering in small clusters around Bennar and his granddaughter. Many cast fearful glances at the limp girl, whispers of the 'Shadowbeast' rippling through the crowd like the wind in the trees. The village elder, Bennar, watches with bated breath as Faidra works, his weathered hands trembling as he strokes Syla's hair.

When she breathes his name, relief floods Bennar's face as he gently gathers her fragile form in his arms. His voice cracks with emotion as he holds her close, "Syla, I'm here," he whispers, cradling her as though she might disappear again if he loosens his grip. With a nod to Faidra, Bennar rises shakily and carries Syla toward his humble house, the villagers parting to make way, their eyes filled with both relief and lingering fear.

As Bennar carries Syla to safety, though Faidra's already stabilized Syla's condition, the girl's trauma is evident -- years spent under the influence of a dark, twisted energy, forced to survive in the unforgiving jungle. Her voice is a mere rasp, and her body is weak, but Faidra's nutrient infusion is enough to coax her back toward the light. As Bennar carefully lays his granddaughter on the modest bed in his hut, the elder's eyes meet Faidra's. "I'll... I'll get her water," he says before rushing off.

Syla, meanwhile, looks up at Faidra with bleary eyes, her voice barely a whisper, "The darkness... it wouldn't let me go. It... it was always there, watching... controlling." Her words are faint, but the fear in her voice is palpable. Her fingers twitch weakly as if still trying to escape the grip of the dark energy that had consumed her for so long. "I tried... I tried to fight it, but... it was too strong." Tears well in her eyes, but she quickly blinks them away, her body trembling as she remembers the torment she endured. "Please... don't let it take me again," she pleads, her gaze locking onto Faidra's as if searching for a promise of safety.

Meanwhile, back at the temple ruins, Lira watches as the speeder truck pulls up, her heart lifting at the sight of reinforcements arriving.

"Nora... Yuun," she greets them with a warm smile on her purple lips. "Thank you both for coming." But then her gaze finds Bryett, and a small smile tugs at her lips as she steps closer to him.

"That page must be how Syla knew how to get in," she muses aloud, her eyes darting to the journal in Bryett's hands. "Bennar said she's been missing for two years... but if you need to use the Force to push the mechanism, that must mean Syla can use the Force."

Her tone is filled with a mix of wonder and concern. That power, untapped and untrained, could explain how the dark energy consumed the girl.

BB-BB, the multi-colored ball of an astromech, slips out of the 'drivers seat' (or at least the droid control socket at the back) and rolls over, beeping happily as it rolls up next to Lira.

"I'm glad to see you, too, Echo. I'm fine."

With a subtle gesture of Rey's hand, the dense undergrowth begins to peel away like a veil being lifted. Leaves, vines, and moss unfurl from the ground in a slow, sweeping motion, exposing the intricate stonework beneath. The etched rings emerge from the dirt and decay, each one inscribed with ancient Jedi symbols: Light, Dark, Balance, Wisdom, Knowledge. The stone glistens in the moonlight, as though the temple itself was stirring from a long slumber, waiting for the eclipse to reveal the correct sequence for the puzzle.

BB-BB goes, "Dwooooooooooo," in amazement.

Nora Frayus

Nora dismounts the speeder truck with an acrobatic little flourish and lands lightly on her feet beside it. She's giving Bryett a healthy amount of concerned side-eye for his apparent rantings and ravings about... an eclipse and a locking mechanism. Concentric rings and... sequences.

Nora reaches up to rub her temples for a few moments before turning her attention over towards Lira and Rey. She gives a polite dip of her head in acknowledgement. It's not quite a full bow or curtsy, but there is a certain courtly sort of etiquette to the gesture.

"Of course. And... if she can, with that creature Ser Cordair spoke of having its grip on her for two years... I suppose that is due cause for diligence," Nora intones.

And there is a certain deference and awe that the woman watches Rey's manipulations of that dense undergrowth. Nora herself is... less skilled, with more direct manipulations of the Force. With her, it almost seems to flow through her instinctually, manifesting in quicker, fluid motions as well as impressive hand-eye coordination.

We'll just ignore that catch taskroll, for now. Thank you!

She places her hands on her hips and inspects those ancient Jedi symbols. Light. Dark. Balance. Wisdom. Knowledge. They are Space-Greek to her, as they say, but they certainly do seem important. Which is why, on cue, Nora turns to look up at the moonlight above, as if checking for an eclipse. Her hand idly moves to her thigh, where her own lightsaber is currently belted. She thumbs it for a few moments, in almost a... self-soothing gesture, and then places her hand at the rapier on her hip instead.

"Well. If I would hate to keep the man waiting another two years. Not when he seems so..." Another side-eye Bryett-ward...

"...Exuberant on the matter."

Nora drifts now towards Rey and Yuun, anticipating not only that impending eclipse, but also the 'Shadowbeast' creature to reveal itself again.

Faidra follows the grandfather in to the hutt and watches intently as Syla is laid on the bed. "Thank you" she says to him as she moves to kneel down at Syla's bed side, one hand going to her forehead adn the other reaching out to gently take hold of a hand. When the grandfather mentions going to get water, faidra nods to him and returns her focus to Syla.

"Syla, Syla, it's okay" she says, voice calm and soothing like a weighted blanket. "I know, I know you did. You were very very strong." Even if she has no idea what's going on, she stills knows how to handle trauma. "Everyone knows you did" pause beat, "Hey, hey, no one is going to take you. No one is going to hurt you." With a gentle nudge to get the young woman to look in to her eyes ,Faidra smile warmly, "I promise. I just need you to rest okay?"

The ride through the tree-line was eventful and Yuun was enjoying himself, though this does make him think he needs to invest in a damn good speeder bike. "Thank you for the lift Bryett." he says as he quickly moves and gets off the truck.

As Bryett spoke of the page and concentric circles and how someone named Syla may be able to use the Force, this causes Yuun to raise a brow up at him. Walking over to where Rey, Lira and the others are he smiles and bows his head, "Hello you two." he says with his boyish smile on his face. When Nora makes her way over, as they did share the ride over here. Yuun moves so that he can get a good look around and he takes in everything and as he does he takes a moment to take a breath. His eyes drift to the skies, as he too waits.

Is Bryett a little over exhuberant at the moment?

That is probably a fair observation. But for him this is the next best thing to a dream come true. This moment is why he fell in love with stories as a youth. That love brought him to history, and that in turn to archaeology. This is the sum total of almost thirty years of hope, of work.

And of disillusionment. On turning his back on the idea of legitimate discovery. On relying on all that schooling, all that training, all that innate gift for this sort of thing to swiddle small time hoods out of their credits with the promise of imaginary treasure.

A disillusionment that all but vanished the day he met Lira. That she saved his life. That he discovered Luke Skywalker's journal in her possession.

And the day he swore to her that he could unravel it's mysteries at last. To bring her to the temple she had been searching for without success.

For a change it was no mere story. No idle boast. No con-job of a gullible mark.

So yeah, this has changed his life. So he might be a little excited about it.

Of course, it is one thing to know that the symbols, the puzzle that they need to solve to gain entrance to the Temple is right here. Somewhere. It is quite another thing to get at it.

But clearly working with Jedi simplifies some things even as it complicates others. With a single gesture, the debris and foilage that obscure the grounds around the temple are hurled aside and the bright light shining from the high powered lamp in his helmet lights up the display before them.

The object of their search. The key to the temple. And all they have to do now is wait for the eclipse.

"I just put all the clues together," he says with a negligent wave of his hand for Rey though he does flash a brief, triumphant grin Lira's way. "Midday tomorrow. When the sun and Lothal's two moons are in the correct alignment the symbols will start to glow and then they just need to be moved into place with the correct balance of power and finesse," he says quietly, trying to do a little better job of containing that excitement. "Less then half a day and we'll finally have a chance to see the inside of this place..."