Log:Jedi Order: Removing the Stain
The Jedi Order gather to cleanse the corrupt crystal of the deceased Darth Setis. What they discover leads to an exploration.
OOC Date: October 11, 2021
Location: Jedi Temple Devaron
Participants: Vhe TenaraGM and herself, Chani Tahn, Zandra naMuriel, Rune, Ax, Jax Greystorm, Vega, Aryn Cortess, Yuun, Rey Skywalker
The meditation chamber has been chosen as the central gathering point for the evenings work. Centered in the room is Vhe as she holds the crystal in one hand and waits for the others to gather around. Holding it up she turns about to look at everyone within the chamber, her gaze sliding across each face as she gives them a nod. "This was once the property of a Sith named Darth Setis. Corrupted and changed from its original form and filled with her dark malice and will. A vicious and spiteful creature plaguing a once natural and harmonious crystal. I am asking us to purge what is left of her in this galaxy from its depths. I have learned a great deal in my time here and I think this is one of the many things we should be charged with. Bringing back the natural harmony to all things, finding the balance. So thank you for coming," she remarks, the genuine intonation resonates within the room before she lowers the crystal to the floor and moves to take up a position with the others surrounding the kunda crystal.
She removes another item from her satchel before removing the carrier all together. She sets a wooden carved mask down and at her feet as she remains standing and looks at the crystal. "I have never done this, but I suspect we must focus our intent and drive out what remains of Setis within."
That instruction given, Vhe nods to each and reaches out herself, drawing upon the force and seeking to connect with the very thing they are charged with healing.
Chani Tahn
Chani has been a presence in the Temple of Eedit's halls for the past few days and such fortuitous happenstance has led to her being in the meditation room in this moment. She's shed her outer robe down to her cream garments and found one of the meditation pillows to sink onto in a lotus pose. Chani's gaze follows the Ysanna woman pacing back and forth with the Kunda crystal in hand, and sometimes adjusts attention to look at the crystal itself. "You're saying the crystal is acting like a.. container? Like a holocron?" It's the singular question she asks, but she's not likely to find an answer with Vhe appearing to begin her meditation. Chani lapses into silence herself and lets her eyes drift shut. Submerging herself in the current of the Force, she stretches the sphere of her perception beyond herself and clears her mind of the noise of the self. It's necessary to hear the voice of the universe.
Zandra naMuriel
"Good day to all," is the cheerful greeting from the violet haired Jedi. "I don't know if any of us have done this yet," Zandra says, glancing around to see who might have. She settles in cross legged, and nods to Vhe. "I agree it's a good idea and at least we should see if we can cleanse it, and restore it to balance." She takes a breath and reaches for the Force, letting it flow through her. She takes a moment or two to center herself using the meditation exercises they've all been taught, before she reaches to try to connect with the crystal that is there.
It's eerily quiet in the meditation room, the sound of Vhe's voice being dampened by the sound proofing on the walls almost as the words leave her lips. Rune's eyes move from the crystal to her face, a small narrowing of his hazel eyes with the mention of the evil possessed within. He feels it wouldn't due to speak during such a moment and instead shifts his weight to focus his intent on the stone, a casual glance given to the mask removed from her bag before he gives a nod and returns to the task.
The younger Ysannan concentrates on the kunda crystal, feeling the Force that flows around and within it, trying to make a connection with the rock to delve into the secrets within. It takes a bit, his connection with the Force somewhat tenuous at times, but he pushes through, the evil and dark intentions of Setis laying just beneath the surface. Such is the desire possessed within the crystal that he visibly winces when he touches what lies within.
This wasn't Ax's first time dealing with a corrupted lightsaber crystal, though last time he was a bit younger and much less experienced in the force than the initiate was now. Last time, the blade had belonged to a Sith witch from Kohlma and merely touching the hilt of the functional saber gave him visions of the planet and a dark sense of foreboding that left him feeling physically ill for hours afterwards. He'd grown a lot since those days, and whatever happened to that saber was a mystery, much like the dark side holocron of Darth Talon that had been stolen shortly after it had been found.
Ax looks at those gathered, but he was an newly made initiate as far as the order was concerned so didn't feel like he should be speaking up just yet. He'd see how things went as he focused his mind and tried to center himself in the force. To bring balance to something else, one must first balance themselves.
Jax had enter the room with the rest and was sitting sitting crossed crossed legged toward the back of the room. The place seemed too much like a class room, so he had gravitated back there. At the mention of crystal being like a holocron from Chani, Jax speaks up. "No, it's different. A holocron is a complex A.I. The ancient Sith had a way to imprint a portion of themselves on physical objects. Ax and I have encountered another lightsaber ... and a unique shuttle. Be careful as inprint can be as tricky as dealing with the actual sith." THen Jax closes his eyes and reaches out with the force first in himself and finding his balance. He then through the force he extends his mind toward the crytal tethering it to him and vice versa. He pushes back the dark emotions that come flooding into him, rejecting them.
Lightsabers and their crystals was something that Vega was definetly interested in! So the Echani has managed to wash the grime from her hands from working on ships and changed her robes out for clean ones. Black in the sea of other colors. She finds a place to settle in and lend her support to the venture quietly. Closing her eyes to focus when Vhe gives the instructions on what they are doing.
The silence of the temple has not yielded much peace for Aryn, who has been restless over the past few months. She's thankful for moving, for walking, because the sounds of her boot falls against the stone is something more than the perpetual ring of tinnitus in her ears. Her discomfort shows even after her arrival. She finds a place to sit, to concentrate, but fails at even clearing her mind. Errant thoughts fill her conscience, and when she closes her eyes, all she sees are faces tied to each thought. She releases a harsh breath but keeps her eyes closed, doing her best to ward off these distractions.
Yuun made it back to the Temple of Eedit for this. No he's never done anything like this before but he felt it right to be here and lend his strength to Vhe and the others in this endeavor. Finding a pillow, he too places it down and he sits on his knees and bows his head. He brings his left hand up and balls it into a fist and his right hand stiffens as if he was saluting. "We will do what we can to assist you Vhe." he says as he looks to her.
Taking her instructions, Yuun bows his head and slows his breathing, he didn't know what to expect, he just hope he's able to help. Yuun allows the force to flow fully through him, allowing himself to be a conduit for the force. He didn't control it, he was it's conduit and he worked with it.
Rey had spent the bulk of her day helping the younger students that they have collected and have attending classes here. Not every Force sensitive that the new Jedi Order has discovered has ended up here, only those who fit as best as possible are chosen to come. Others are simply helped to find a safe haven to flee the evils of the galaxy.
In the now, Rey arrives and stands near the back corner of the room until Vhe starts. She looks to the others and offers light smiles as she sits down on one of the meditation chairs provided in the room, much like Chani. Rey lets her eyelids close and her breathing even as she focuses on the aspects of what she has learned about meditation, and the crystal that Vhe has them delving in to the cosmic energy of...
The force unites from almost all the gathered Jedi, wielders of the light side as they seek to heal and push out the dark entity that remains within. Echoes of a dead Sith who took pleasure in the pain of others, leaving her alone save for a few dedicated to her cause. The room seems to grow dark for those that can feel and sense the cyrstal. Aryn can still feel the foreboding presence that lingers but it does not connect and affect her presently, which in itself could be a blessing. The rest however can feel the dark gleeful want to see others suffer, feeling it seep through the crystal's depths in its seedy corruption. But what is more before their eyes is an echo that comes to life as the Force is fed into it. Darth Setis, a Miraluka woman forging her saber by first feeding her wants, her desires, her anger and pain into the crystal, once beautiful, ones a lush verdant green. It fights her, the very Force resists but in the end she succeeds and the very meditation chamber echoes with her cackle of victory, the corrupt crystal held aloft with the Force by the woman is inserted into the dark and twisted pommel of her saber, a step in her teaching and further fall from the light.
She turns, as if she can see them all, trying to undo what she had done and taking the saber in hand she firmly grips it and light seers outwards, broken and hissing as the red blade throws a dramatic light across her eyeless features.
The crystal at the center of the room shudders, remaining red as the Jedi focus their will, watching the journey of this particular Sith.
An oppressive weight settles on Chani's mind so keenly that it feels like the gravity of the planet increases. There's a disconcerting presence that threatens to disturb her serene pose, and although Chani keeps her eyes closed and her mind submerged into the Force, her muscles grow tense in an effort to keep her posture straightened. The evil cackling that permeates her senses sounds like its in the room with her rather than her mind, and her connection to the Kunda crystal allows her more than just an echo of a laugh. Rushing through her is a maelstrom of sadistic desire and the cruel craving to cause pain. The violent tendencies are so sudden and shocking that Chani's mind panics and immediately shuts herself off from the contact.
Gasping aloud, Chani yanks her eyes open and immediately finds the crystal with her dark gaze. She's breathing deeply, practically panting, and her skin crawls as goosebumps prickle up over what seems like every pore on her body. That gaze sweeps around the room to view the other Jedi before Chani hesitantly closes her eyes again and dips herself back into the universe's energy.
Zan's connection with the crystal comes slowly. She concentrates, settling into the calm that she usually brings to such meditative sessions. She feels the malice, slowly sorting out the emotions she's feeling from the crystal. It starts easy enough, but as Zan's connection deepens, she can feel the anger that is within, the hatred and the desire to have everyone and anyone feel all the pain. Such horrible unrelenting aloneness and wicked anger takes her breath away. She pales where she sits, a hand reaching to her temple as she recalls every moment in her life where she felt alone, left out, discarded.
She takes a deep breath and then another, her hands fisting in her lap, as she opens her eyes, staring at the crystal as though it's alive. Zan feels the emotions of her own, that loss, pain, and anger of her own, feeling it, recalling the words of the code. There is no emotion there is peace. "there is peace," she says aloud, but it takes a bit more for her to hold herself together, to hold herself just barely serene enough to continue her meditation and connection with the crystal.
Rune watches all of these events play out in his mind, feels the glee at wrongdoing, the dark hedonism Setis took part in, and his face contorts with the experience. The malevolence pushes him around, forces itself against his will, and taunts him as the crystal goes red.
Shortly after, when the perverted stone is thrust into he hilt and the bloody red leaps from the emitter, the novice Jedi is mentally shoved back... the connection with the rock blocked effectively, nearly severed though he can still feel the evil radiate from within. He gasps, taking a reflexive step back while a line of sweat breaks from his brow. Rune's chest rises and falls quickly as he marvels at the presence within the stone. Rarely has he felt such a twisted nature, something that enjoys the harm it delivers, one who delights in pain and thrives in hatred. His lips draw into a thin line and he lowers to one of the many pillows scattered about the room, resolute and ready to try again in cleansing this stain from the stone.
Instantly, Ax is experiencing flashbacks of the Sith lightsaber he'd come in contact with before, and it causes a brief moment where he loses concentration. However, he wasn't going to let it beat him, not this time. He pushes himself and manages to reconnect. The sense of darkness, of rage, that came with its own sets of memories. Ax's own failures with two former students who trained underneath him who fell to the dark side. He'd accepted he wasn't perfect, and that his pride had gotten the best of him more than a few times in his past. Still though, the Echani smuggler and Jedi had grown a great deal since those days.
Ax forces himself to breath, to calm his mind, to accept that he had failures in his past and to learn from them and do his best not to repeat them. He'd managed to not fall to the dark side, having been tempted by some of the strongest, Kylo Ren on more than one occassion, as well as others. This time was no different, he'd persevere and while he could feel the hatred flowing through the crystal, it did not cause him to hate. He had no rage, no hate, only peace. He'd conquered his own demons, now it was time to conquer this one.
Jax finds himself not in the meditation chamber of the jedi temple but walking through the burning streets of Hanna City. The Senate building a destroyed wreck. The people of the Republic dead at his feet as he trudges on each step burning and agony. His trip drawing him closer through carnage and destruction. FInally he steps onto the beach, the Lighthouse is creater slicing off the cliff and descending into a boiling sea.
The Corellian continues his trudge through the dead upon the beach. There a lone figure of a female in dark robes stands. The bodies around her are fewer but the faces are those of his order, his friends, and family. Their faces twisted in agony in their death. He does not acknowledge the shock of blond hair. Jax's finaly step he crosses over body of a fallen Zabrak woman, not able to look down. This is almost too much for him in the force and his willpower. The figure speaks, "Greystorm, I have destroyed your Republic, your family, your order, and your galaxy will burn." As she lights a crimson blade and goes to strike. At that moment Jax finds his center again his balance in the force, his own words and he blocks the crimson blade. "This is a vision and nothing more. Behind me, Sith."
Jax was sitting there crossed legged. His frace contored into pain as sweat beads up along his brow. There's a moment where he grunts and mumbles, "No." Then moments later his expression returns to his normal meditative face.
Vega's hands are clasped together in front of her. She's already pale enough that it's hard to tell if her knuckles are white or not. But they are in this case. She can't keep connected to it and her light grey eyes open to watch in pained silence the memories from the crystal. She gives a wince at the anger that she feels, but pushes it away. She didn't need to go into those feelings or thoughts. It was something she didn't want to deal with. She tries to take a deep breath but it gets caught at the overwhelming emotions that funnel out from the crystal.
When Aryn achieves, for a moment, an interface with this object, her senses are blitzed by the presence of something dark. She has felt this dread before in a number of places and within things, but the sheer veracity of this presence shocks her into her opening her eyes. At first, concern etches itself into her expression, then curiosity. How could someone impart themselves onto something so small and still have such a presence? Instead of cowering in fear of the presence, Aryn took to analyzing the feelings, cataloging like she would an objective discussion. "..Pain, " She says softly in observation. "..rejection, vengeance..."
Rey opens her eyes inside the meditative state. She observes the darkness, remembers sensations like this before and just begins to search for the others. She can feel the other Jedi around her, with her, and begins to sense the rage and negative emotions coming from ahead. She presses onward, feeling a barrier pushing back, but she wills herself through it, using her focus and determination to keep herself going further toward the darkness. It's a dangerous thing to do, it can be alluring and addictive for a Jedi to do this, but with the others around the temptation to delve in to the same kind of emotions... feels less intense.
Rey feels some of the other Jedi unable to progress yet, struggling through the challenge of the rage filled darkness. She tries to boost her presence to help the others feel the connection to each other in hopes of inspiring their confidence as they progress toward the core of this dark footprint.
The will of the corrupt crystal is the legacy of Setis and as the Jedi begin to draw her work out and heal the crystal, to reacquaint it with the true Force, there are more memories, things the crystal knows, as done, has experienced captured in the very facets and edges that make it what it is in at the core of its being. The next image swirls into view, the dark clouds settling as it more motions and actions of Setis are revealed. Her saber is a cruel instrument and those who she new before, that shunned her, that made fun of her...that rejected her are cut down.
Like a blazing emblem of her pain and vengeance she sates her emotions by cutting down and elder Miraluka, a woman who she stands over and watches die from the greivous wound. There is no end her elation in that moment as the dark curls further in around her soul. Its like a looming presence that satisfaction in the face of retribution. Its like a haze and thick fog to choke the breath and fog the mind, making it hard to focus as it permeates the very room they share. Fight these ghosts, these images they must. Draw them out, free them into the nether so that they may become so much dust in the wind.
Setis grows larger in their view, that saber held as her weapon against the galaxy. Vengeance. It bleeds out of the crystal to fill the usually peaceful room.
Every time Chani closes her eyes and opens herself back up to the Force, the image of the blindfolded woman cackling and the feelings of cruelty and sadism try to interject themselves back into her mind. She retreats from the contact, waits a few deep breaths, and tries again. The revolting emotions are stronger the second time around and Chani almost closes down her stretched out perception completely. Instead, she retreats again, and begins to breathe only through her mouth rather than the calm exercise of in through her nose and out between her lips. A cold sweat accompanies the chill that wants to arc up her spine. Her nextg breath is shuddering and Chani forces her body into stillness instead of succumbing to the desire her muscles have to shiver. It's a strange dichotomy to open her eyes and see the shafts of sunlight streaming in from the openings in the temple, and to listen to the peaceful sound of the breeze, only to feel the oppressive darkness when her eyes close.
Zan's connection continues as her willpower keeps her solid. She can sense the others, feel Rey's presence in the Force, large as it is. It helps, as she continues to work her way inwards. It's hard going, slow, and Zan feels like she's slogging through swampland. Stinky, horrid smelly swampland. She inches forward bit by bit, the crystal itself pulsing red in her vision as she watches it. Like smoke, it wraps around her, and pushes her back. Zan fights, but for the moment, she is shut out and she can feel Setis' elation as the Sith wins that round, malevolent, predatory and malicious. Vengeance is hers, sayeth the Sith. "Peace," Zandra says again, shaking her head with a wince, and now looking around at all the others, checking on them to see how they are doing.
Try as he might, Rune is unable to penetrate the wall of will that works against his connection in the Force. In fact, it seems that the crystal is more in tune to delving into his own memories to manipulate the young Jedi, making its mark on his mental state as he tries to cleanse the stone.
This time, when he opens his eyes, he can almost see the wastes of Ossus, the never ending orange sky permeating all around him in hopelessness. All contact, all manner of personal connection gone... nothing but sparse foliage and hungry creatures as far as his eyes can see, alone in the wilderness once more.
The darkness of Setis is upon him, working to separate Rune from the group, pushing him apart and using his weakness in the Force to call back to his worst memories and remove any ties he has to happiness.
"Emotion, yet peace. Ignorance, yet knowledge. Passion, yet serenity. Chaos, yet harmony. Death, yet the force," Ax says in a muted whisper as he keeps his focus locked on the battling resonance of the former owner of the crystal. The mantra was a variation he'd picked up of the code, one that set well with his own philosophies. Clear the mind, project peace, don't let this unsettle or cause doubts or fear. Breathing steady, heart rate stable, not accelerated, he knew that he was vulnerable, but he couldn't allow his vulnerabilities to show, and he surely couldn't allow his mind to venture in that direction. Fear... Fear was the mind-killer.
Setis had lured Jax into a trap, Malice and vegance of the crystal lashing out at him, ripping at his mind and his core. The avatar of the woman screaming at Jax driving him back on the beach as waves of sound hit him like the ocean each one ripping a layer off him at a micron at time. The knights willpower beginning to waver in the assault.
Vega focuses, her hands raising as she plants her feet into a defensive stance. It might seem silly given their enemy was ephemeral, but she is pushing back after losing a bit of ground over the session. She stands tall...or as tall as she can be with her height. She feels like she's rooted and strong in the moment, her feelings leveling out as she makes a concerted effort with the others to push the darkness back. That causes the rage to break against the invisible wall that she's putting up, and it makes the presence mad. She keeps her grey gaze on it though. Trying to keep herself centered.
Aryn achieves with her interface again, but is butted out by the sudden foreboding presence that yet lingers within the crystal. A threat of sundering everything dear to the young Doctor is felt, and Aryn is prompted into disconnecting from the presence again, and this time she does not reconnect. She draws her legs up to hold them in a tight hug for now, reflecting upon her weak willpower and inability to assist with the cleaning. In a distracted state like this, Aryn begins to think her involvement will only obstruct the progress being made, so she reverts to watching the others and learning from their strengths.
The force flows through him, the light side of the force surrounds him and as he feels that darkness as it tries to seduce him. Yuun could feel Rey's presence, he could feel her trying to bolster them and he allows his presence to flare up more as well to the others, this is hard to do and even as he does this, Yuun faces that darkness. He could feel the corruption encircling him and he could hear the hisses of whispers telling him how weak he is. How everything will turn to dust beneath him. He was told that he too would fall to the side side, Yuun is sweating as he continues past the barrier, and he too chants the Jedi Code, he also pictures his friends and family within his minds eyes using them to bolster him as they continue.
Rey watches in the dark as the red saber cuts down the forms of the enemies to the Sith who constructed the blade.
She can hear the whispers and feel the threatening urges trying to break her willpower and conscentration in the Force.
Rey pushes ahead though and tries to focus on the source of where this is all coming from...
Vhe feels herself sway beneath the press of the malevolant Force that manifests from the corruption. It does not wish to lose hold but slowly, very slowly there is a sense of the Jedi winning against the very deeply ingrained will of what is left of Setis. Echoes continuing to play out as they measure their worth against the insidious darkside that still lingers in its presence here.
The next echo is of a wasteland like planet though life still continues here. For those who have been there before it is Ossus and on its face the Ysanna.
A seething need for knowledge, for things to be the first..to be the best. That is the way Setis presence feels now. Want. Greed. Gluttony for knowledge as it fills the room and curls around the senses. Vhe falters upon seeing this but presses back in, wading into the very essence and heart of the evil that lies within. The dark purpose.
Two woman, elders, twins stand side by side and as their faces are revealed from behind the ritualistic masks they refuse Setis and rage fills the room. Ire at being denied and it needs a source, it needs a focus and the cruel blade, its crystal housed within strikes down one of the women, killing her in one blow as Setis takes from her the wooden carved mask. Information flows. Not the other elder woman but from the other villagers. There is a sort of pathological glee at the manipulation and 'persuasion' she accomplished.
Vhe reaches down to brush the very mask. She struggles against this presence and fails, feeling herself thrown free of her connection with the Force as she opens her eyes to stare at the crystal which is beginning to shift, the cloudy red swirling as a lush green starts to ebb across its surface.
Chani spends her time disconnected from the crystal utilizing the breathing exercises and calming techniques she's studied as part of meditation. Resituated and once again in the right posture, she breathes in deep through her nose and exhales through her parted lips with enough force that she can hear it is a quiet noise in her own head. She purges the fear from her system and focuses on the here and the now. She sets aside the savage passion of emotions the crystal wants her to experience and slowly sinks into the energy of the Force through the symbiotic relationship that she shares with it. When Chani opens her eyes, she does so only in her mind. It is not a dark place, but the planet is a wasteland. There is nothing here but the torrent of the Sith's feelings.
It is a hunger for knowledge. In this, Chani finds a strange kinship. Her people venerate knowledge and truth, but this is not that. This is a desperate need for it. It's a malevolent desire to know more than others for the sake of being better. It's a craving for knowledge to use it against others. Chani rejects it. As much as the malicious presence wants her to embrace this outlook, she cannot. She views knowledge only as a path to peace. In the absence of ignorance, there is only understanding, and understanding is the very foundation for cooperation. She says nothing, but her aura in the Force radiates this. The shadows that seek to encroach on her existence on the planet are cast back by it and forced to recede away from her.
"There is no emotion, there is peace. There is no ignorance, there is knowledge. There is no passion, there is serenity... " Zan says, kicked out of the connection with the crystal. The familiar words bring her back to serenity, and as she looks around at the others, she looks to Aryn as well, her gaze offering support. Her words are warm, as she looks to everyone, including Rune. "And we are stronger together," she adds her own bit, as she always does. "Together we can rise to the light, overcome the dark." That said, Zan's focus returns as does her sense of her palce within the Force.
Zan wades right in now, through the darkness, the pain, the vengeance. The horrid visions and echoes. The darkside continues to try to thrust her out, to disconnect her. There's a shudder as she feels each vision like physical blows, and a determination to continue forward. She focuses on the Force, serene determination visible on her face. That moment of disconnect enough to allow Zan to pull herself together and let her regain that calm. "The darkness is beginning to lose it's hold," she says aloud, grey eyes intent as she can hear the screams and cries of dismay coming from the vestiges of memory and echoes of darkness. Her words are meant to be encouragement for the others. "Hold fast!"
Rune recoils as if slapped in the face, the push of the darkside enough to almost bowl him over. As it is, he still reels backward, arms flung out to the side to regain his balance... all composure lost. With such failure he shakes his head, remembering being alone on Ossus and lost in the wilderness, severed from society and useful to no one. With blurry eyes he looks about to the group, seeing most locked in a bitter struggle with the crystal... and there he sits pointless. His regard finds Aryn, she watching the others to see how they do, learn from them, and he drops his notice as his shoulders sag with the defeat. A flickered look at Vhe catches her gripping the mask she withdrew earlier but he's so lost in his inability to help that he barely notes any other movement save his own.
Visions of sugar plums these were not. Ax was no stranger to violence, he was a warrior, he was from a warrior lineage, and he'd seen his share of combat both in space and upon the ground, but he never truly relished in it. This was a fight, and Ax was focused on winning this battle.
Ax could feel the evil relinquishing its hold, "Keep your calm, show it peace. Peace will win this battle and has already turned the tide in our favor."
The darkness of the crystal lashes out at Jax again and ripping him apart layer for layer. Stripping his knowledge, his essence from him, it's unmoors him from his place. He sees the scenes around him. Though he still remains on the beach with the woman. Jax remembers who he is and what is going on around him. He begins to trudge forward again making up lost ground against the wave of sound. "You're desperate and you're losing. None of this is real. The order is alive and with me." He says as he pushes forward the bodies gone he pushes forward feelign the others working to purify the crystal.
"Keep going, we're all here together." Jax joins in with the others.
Vega's caught flat footed when she tries to puff up to the Sith Spectre. It wasn't something that she was going to beat herself up over later when she replayed what she could have done better. Echani perfectionists? They were all kind of like that. But she feels the lash of anger and the bite of doubt that wells up from the crystal and it is too much for the white haired woman to keep a connection to it. She reels, falling back on her butt as she tries to stop the world from being a spinning red mist for the moment. She lets out a ragged breath, but no words as the others continue their connections.
Continuing to push forward, Yuun isn't afraid, the darkside is a constant that they must face as a Jedi. Moving forward, Yuun can feel the malevolent darkness roaring at him, and with each step it batters at him, but soon he could feel his steps faltering. Grimacing as he's pushed forcibly out, his will fading as he tried to continue, but he couldn't. He opens his eyes and finds himself on his back looking at the ceiling. He slowly starts to sit up, and as he does he looks around and sees Vega and Rune, slowly he looks over to where Aryn is. He bows his head to them, he isn't happy that he was forced out but the others are still making progress, "They can do this." he says offering a soft smile to them.
Rey can feel the other Jedi unable to maintain the Willpower connection and meditative state to keep within the Crystals's presence in the Force. She stops her advance long enough to draw in a breath and speak in to their minds. "Do not feel discouraged. This crystal has a deep history of serving its Master. Its rage and anger are imbedded in its presence within the Force. Learn from this, take what you can to steel your resolve to improving going forward. A challenge is a necessary step toward advancing ourselves... consider this challenge a gift."
When she opens her eyes again she sees the vision as it further develops. She feels the JEdi still with her and watches the mask transfer. Ossus.... she remembers the planet well, but the people and history of it are still a large mystery to her.
The crystal is beginning to return to its verdant luster, the dark presence driven free by a collective effort over time. Where one falters another finds the way only to see their path give and be held up by the person next to them. It is a chain, not unbreakable but it is also one that continues to remake itself time and again so that the dark side can not withstand or gain a foothold in its corrupted abode. There is a flurry of anger, frustration and all of it is being released, driven free and its pressing outwards into the minds and thoughts of those around it. They all try once more, bastions against the dark and even as they falter their attempts are what save the day. There is something like a cry, a scream as one last echo plays and the voice of Setis can be heard, broken, ragged, zealous.
"IT IS MINE! I WILL /HAVE/ IT. Master Voo-Siosk Bass' secrets will be mine! NOTHING will stop me!" Ossus, ruins, cragged ravines where rivers once ran. Various places on the aforementioned planet play like a quick movie on a screen. Flickers of attempts, of a trail tirelessly followed.
A memory of greed and want. An echo of the fiendish plagued creature that once was Setis is gone, its whipped away as the air becomes lighter, less heavy even as a few strands of the malicious presence lingers, like smoke on the wind. Vhe is left watching all this as her own connecton is severed, her fingers curled tightly around the wooden mask as the crystal rests in the middle of them all, green, brilliant...and fully healed.
The images in her mind's eye flash quickly. The desolate planet is covered in ruins and dried out gorges, valleys, and giant canyons once carved by water. It's disorienting to try to keep up with them. Something else appears in her head, too. A brown-robed figure with orange-red skin that looks like chitin more than flesh. An elgonated face. A tall cane. Even the name imprints vividly in her mind: Vodo-Sios Baas. Chani holds onto that more than anything else. It's a better starting point than random images of a planet she's never been to. She knows only that it's the homeworld of two of her compatriots. They are better suited to deciphering such images. Chani, ever the pursuer of knowledge, can begin searching for clues with that name.
Zan holds a solid connection. It wavers here and there, but it stays solid enough that she continues to strive for the light, to team work with the others to pull the dark and festering from the crystal to set it free to dissipate. Once that last wailing broken cry is heard, ringing in their ears, Zan sags a bit. Solid or not, Zan still feels like she's been through a trash compactor and spit out. She looks to Rey and the others, a nod of her head following in acknowledgement. "There is a lot to learn for all of us," she says simply and gently. "We all helped today, and that is important to be aware of. All of us. Together we are stronger, and we keep proving that. I don't know about you all, but I will be reflecting on this to see what I can learn from it, perhaps for some months. I feel rather that this Sith - was searching for an item that exists. Maybe it still exists."
With a quiet nod of acceptance inside failure, Rune tries to head Rey's and the other's thoughts in a lesson. But with the drive of the darkside pressing into his memory so fresh, the man can only feel a manner of depression in defeat.
He raises his head as the scream is heard, the rough voice breaking through the near silence of the meditation chamber. The images that flicker from the crystal seem familiar to him, as if he could ever forget the wash of orange, the devastation, and the lifelessness that is his home... he did spend more than a decade wandering alone in its wilderness after all.
Regardless of the places that flash before his eyes, they are gone just as quickly as they arrived and the imprint that should have remained has faded. Unable to recall anything from the scenes that appeared the Ysannan sits with even further frustration. As one of only two present that might be able to offer assistance in detailing where these places are, he instead remembers nothing.
With a grunt and a feeble kick at the pillow he had been kneeling on, Rune stands and makes for the door. His displeasure with himself writ deep on his features...
There's a true sigh of relief as the echo fades away. Ax mutters to himself in Echani, a mantra his mother spoke to him in his youth before her passing. One of the few memories that the Echani had of her. "It is done," he says in basic afterwards. "There is a resting place of sorts, for ancient Sith. I don't know if it is appropriate, but maybe lay any other remains to rest there. It is deep in the outer rim territories, a planet called Korriban. A dark place, but that must be expected considering the inhabitants it once had. Now, it is a barren wasteland." He shrugs, "I don't know any other answers, but I've always felt that laying something to rest amongst others of its kind, in a hard to find backwater location is usually better than putting it somewhere that it could be a later influence to others." He gestures towards the mask, primarily. With Ilum destroyed, the crystal was too valuable now that it had been cleansed.
Jax finds his mind clear and the the darkness receeding. He shakes his head clearing his mind pushing those thoughts from his mind. "It sounds like a trip back to Ossus is in order. The force will guide us. Though probably some reasearch on Master Voo-Siosk Bass and Setis might be wise. See if either is mentioned in our library."
Aryn takes the comments from others as corrective criticism, and ensures a mental note to devote time to her training. Humbled by the experience, and quiet, even red cheeked, the young doctor looks on at the Jedi who demonstrate the strength of solidarity and unity as they accomplish a challenging task. It's an inspiring sight, yet Aryn is quick to dismiss the pride that inherently surfaces from the view. Pride led to other shortfalls. There was only the Force, and its will guided them. If Aryn's mind weren't so clouded with other issues, or perhaps she had spent more time in the quiet of meditation, she felt she would've been more help. Thankfully, others have devoted themselves to such tasks and give Aryn a wonderful example of it. She manages a small smile.
Yuun was able to join the others again, allowing himself to focus on the crystal and his connection to the force and he could feel the link with the others. He sees Ossus, it's been a while since he was last there, but he feels that whatever she was looking for does exist and if it does it may be something they will need to look for. Though as he watches, he smiles seeing the green crystal, "We did it." eh says as he catches his breath.
Rey observes the Sith as she is banished from the Crystal's presence in the Force. She watches the figure have to be torn away from the Jedi presence. It makes REy just softly shake her head... the anger and rage that the Sith utilize... it only resolves her desire to further distance herself from her bloodline's past. "You're done. The Light cleanses this place. Begone. Forever." Rey says to the imposing former owner of the Crystal before it begins to shift back to green.
MOments before waking up, Rey looks across Ossus and its terrain. She draws a breath, and then... wakes up. Her eyelids pop open and she's back in the meditation chamber on Devaron.
Rey instantly looks to those who struggled to stay connected to the dark essence, specifically watching Rune as he walks out... She watches the others for a moment before she sweeps her eyes around everyone.
"Well." She says, looking to the emerald crystal now. "That leaves some questions that I believe could use some answers, yes?" She asks, now looking toward Vhe. She nods once toward her before she starts to stand up as well... "Whether that means Korriban, Ossus, or some place we have yet to be. I'm certainly curious. If any of you find anything, or begin to research it all, lets make sure to find out what happened here..." She leaves the Crystal though, clearly believing it belongs to someone else now!
