Log:Sith: King Nothing
The tomb of Darth Nihilus is found. (This is a scene in progress)
OOC Date: July 4, 2021
Location: Korriban
Participants: Kuolo as Self/GM, Flex'ka Vana, Shivan, Tamsin Cas, Sith, Knights of Ren
[ Kuolo (Ku)]
Korriban was a world of dark secrets, blood, and cutting winds. It spoke to the heart of Darksiders across the galaxy, edging them towards schemes and plans. At the very heart of Korriban lay deception and malice. It wasn't haunting, like Kohlma, or predatory like Dathomir--It spoke to desires deep within, unspoken, but heeded.
Shivan and Flex'ka were the forebears of Korriban, the Prince and Princess of the ruling class that was already returning to Korriban's rocky geography. Tamsin was an Outsider, but a known Outsider, acting as proxy to the absent Syrus. Although she was given clearance, it wasn't difficult to notice an extra TIE lingering in guiding her to her berthing, or the extra stormtroopers that seemed to linger on the periphery, 'just in case'. One couldn't be too careful on Korriban.
Each of them were given their own instructions to find the terminal site Kuolo had called them to. As they each came to find their place by shuttle, speeder or a long trek on foot, it is immediately apparent something very strange was going on in this place. It was as if someone ordered the entire camp to move about one hundred yards away from where it was, away from a small crevice in the broken earth. It was as if they were too close--And though the task must have taken days, it was done.
[ Flex'ka Vana (Flex)]
"Stay with the Voiceless." Flex'ka Vana instructs his contingent of escort troopers, stepping down the ramp. "This is no planet for the likes of you, and you will not die needlessly." the shapeshifter adds, raising his hood over his head as he waits at the point they'd all been summoned to. Flex'ka holds his cloak tight against him, facing away from the wind blowing sand and whatnot around constantly. "Looks like we're the first to arrive. Stay on guard." he instructs the troopers, who have taken position by the ramp of the Voiceless.
[ Tamsin Cas (Cas)]
It was not unusual to see the dark-cloaked Knight accompanied by stormtroopers when she travelled without her fellow Knights. It might not even have been unusual to see the shuttle, in which she had travelled, escorted for her safety. This was a dangerous place, full of dangerous people, the Knight not least of all. Perhaps what was unusual, was that neither the fighters nor the stormtroopers who accompanied her, from the moment of her landing, to the moment when they arrived by foot from the landing site, were troopers who were aligned to her faction and no other.
Nevertheless, if being under the watchful eye and careful guard of the Sith bothered the Knight, it did not show in the way that she crossed the distance. Nor did it show itself in any comment that she might have made on the journey, if any such comment had been made, to either question either the length of the journey, or the need to travel by the most inconvenient of modes. Perhaps, it was a way, subtle and silent, of conveying to her her very Otherness, of both personage and allegiance, for she was not, in point of fact, the Knight who had been asked for. But now, at the end of all things, her steps and the long trek had brought her to the camp. Still under guard. And that was well.
For the now, Tamsin made the final leg of the journey, and arriving at the place where she had been instructed to stand, close enough that she could see Flex'ka Vana, even dip her head in a respectful nod of greeting, but not close enough to speak to him, or, perhaps more concerning for the troopers beside her, make contact with him, and stood in comfortable silence, hands tucked in beneath the long sleeves of her robes.
[ Shivan (Shiv)]
Spindel and Nara are left with the shuttle that Shivan had brought. The woman was decked out in her new robes and mask, but was just as quiet as she normally was as RND-1 followed her to the spot that everyone was gathering at. She'd not been to Korriban yet, but she knew the history of the place like the back of her gloved hands. She gives a dip of her head in greeting to Flex'ka and Tamsin, but settles in to see why exactly they are here.
[ Kuolo (Ku)]
As he felt them arrive, Kuolo began to stir from his meditation. Climbing back up the small crevice that had been used to breach the tomb, he appeared slowly, walking forward to meet with them. Soon, he was taking the final steps into full view to eye them in turn.
"For some of you, welcome back to Korriban. For others, welcome to it. Mind yourself, mind the world," he says, as the eyelets of the masks tir for only a moment to settle on Cas. "I understand Syrus was unable to make the trip himself and sent a proxy. You have respected our ways so far and so I am amenable to this exchange, but I cannot impress upon the Knights how important this world is to us, to our future. So long as you respect that, you are free to join us," he says, offering a nod.
"Our Empire grows and with it, new factions have begun to form around us. Reliquary will, in time, make Korriban our focus. As such," he says, shifting his glance between Flex and Shiv, "It falls to the Sith to protect it. To see to it our allies, our compatriots, and our people respect it. Defend it." The words end with a finality that suggests some manner of fierce duty he could not always see to overseeing himself.
"Before us lies the Tomb and Temple of Darth Nihilus. He was a dangerous Sith, and as such, his is a dangerous land. Most of our kin that have been defeated have taken it very ... personally. Be on your guard," he warns.
[ Flex'ka Vana (Flex)]
When the others arrive, Flex'ka moves to meet each one, returning their greetings as soon as they offer them. Being the only unmasked one on this mission, which hadn't exactly been a thing in his mind until -very- recently, the Shi'ido is constantly moving to keep sand off of his face. When Kuolo appears, he bows slightly. "What are we seeking in this tomb?" he replies to the lengthy mission statement. "Dangerous is a broad term."
[ Tamsin Cas (Cas)]
The two guards who had remained with the Knight, seeing the arrival of the Sith Lord, and, hearing his words allowing her dispensation to remain, stepped back far enough that she would not have had to push either of them out of her way to approach the group. Close enough that her voice, quiet, modulated, could reach the rest of the ones gathered here. Kuolo received a slightly deeper nod of respect from Tamsin, and her tone was a match to her actions, "I bring with me no desire to disrespect either the ones who tread on this world nor the people and the secrets which abide here. Nor ill will to anything you determine to do here. I come as a proxy and as an aid, if I have some skill that will be of use to you." There was a slight angling of her head to turn her gaze towards the crevice from which Kuolo had appeared, but nothing more. What questions she might have had, she kept to herself, allowing the three whose place this was, to speak amongst themselves.
[ Shivan (Shiv)]
Shivan doesn't speak or interrupt anyone. And she waits until Kuolo is done speaking before she crouches down to speak with Roundy. The ball droid displays a small map for her and she looks it over for a few moments while the others converse. She then stands, "Is it odd that Lord Nihilus is buried so far off by himself and not within the Valley of the Sleeping Kings?" she asks as she looks around.
[ Kuolo (Ku)]
"A question I hope most eagerly to discover the answer to," Kuolo offers in a nod towards Shivan, "Inside." He indicates his intention additively to his words, before he begins to turn and descend. "The workers uncovered it two days ago. It was one of the twelve sites we believed to be an unknown or unidentified tomb. Despite warnings, however, two of the workers went inside," And were punished severely for such a transgression. "Following that, the camp was moved away from the site to avoid any contamination," he explains. Though they walked on ground that was well pathed from the weeks of camp, all the tents had since been moved.
"As a gesture of faith, I promised Syrus he could join us when it was I found this place. Though he seems ... busy, at the moment. In his stead, we have his proxy. Only those with our gifts are to see these walls. This was the old way," he explains as he walks. In time, his footfalls carry him down a descending rockpath, blasted open by shape charges, and against a duracrete wall. It bore no marking, and anything above ground was shorn clean by erosion. What remained covered by sand carried evidence that this tomb once stood above ground, but shifts in geography buried it.
The mouth of the small breakage enters into a large antichamber, blanketed in darkness.
[ Flex'ka Vana (Flex)]
"Darth Nihilius might not be sleeping." Flex'ka chimes in, humorously or ominously. Time will tell. As the party moves at Kuolo's direction, Flex'ka has a sense of determination in his step. He'd studied the Sith language for decades, but had never actually found himself on Korriban. "And we're.. exempt from these warnings?" he requests as Kuolo continues walking and talking. "Oh, just us, then." He glances at Tamsin. "Do the dead discern between Sith and non-Sith? Because this might be a short expedition for one-third of us if they do."
[ Tamsin Cas (Cas)]
Once Kuolo and his fellows began the descent, Tamsin followed in with them, being careful to avoid the debris left over from the blasting, or anything which leapt out at her as likely to do damage, should she lose her balance or footing. She did not appear to be much bothered by the dimness of their environment, but moved with a careful caution, looking up and around herself only once they had made the descent into the antechamber. "We are not the first to have made our way here," was Tamsin's modulated commentary, "There was a camp here, and places for the lighting of fires around the center of the room. There is a darkness there, a well, perhaps, or a pit, but I would need to move closer to inspect it." And, for now, Tamsin simply moved in measured steps around the area. Was there humour in Tamsin's voice at Flex'ka Vana's question? Perhaps, some, in her reply. "Should the dead take exception to me, I am certain they will tell me soon enough. Perhaps none of you ought to stand too close to me, just to be sure."
[ Shivan (Shiv)]
Shivan heads down with the group, her yellow gaze taking in the paths and the walls as the tread deeper. There might be an uneasiness there due to the lore around the Sith Lord's tomb they were visiting. "If he's not sleeping then I'd be curious to see where he'd be hiding. Down here doesn't seem like the greatest of options." Shivan states to Flex. "But if he was, he's more liable to kill us all and go about his day than pick and choose based on Sith or non-Sith." she explains. "Sion and Treya were the only true 'fans' of him. Though he and Sion betrayed Treya at some point and killed her. Other Sith feared Nihilus because he didn't care for Sith, Mandalorian nor Civilian." she tells them. "But, sometimes knowledge gets mistranslated, he might not want to eat any of us." she states in an emotionless sort of way.
[ Kuolo (Ku)]
"Rare is it that the spirits of our fallen kin see the living as allies. At best, we're intruders, and at worst we're dinner." He explains quietly, before coming to a pause inside the antechamber.
Kuolo walks softly as they're all guided inside, and given light to examine the room. "I watched the slavemaster's recordings," Kuolo offers, "This was sealed shut until they breached the wall." Kuolo's eyelets follow along, nodding at Cas' interpretation. "After studying the schematics we could create by scanning, we discovered only a single door from this chamber. The entry into the Temple is to the north, now hidden by about two feet of dirt lingering over a massive ravine," he explains, "You probably saw it on the way in."
As the area is more well illuminated tot hose without fantastic senses, Cas' comments make more sense. A central well exists in the room, and around it are various areas where camps and fires were made, with ancient structures spread around them in a circular fashion. On the far side, a single door ostensibly leads outward.
[ Flex'ka Vana (Flex)]
Once inside, Flex'ka's hood comes off. His blue eyes scan the room, holding the light up to illuminate and properly shade what's out there. Or in here. The shapeshifter approaches the well, first, giving a cursory glance inside before looking around. "They purposefully built their camp like this. Around the water, so everyone has equal access." he explains, voice echoing in the big emptyness. "They camped here for a reason beyond simple convenience." he adds, looking around to give the others a chance to respond.
[ Tamsin Cas (Cas)]
Tamsin, who knew little to nothing of the Sith of yore, save what she had learned in the books Kuolo had leant her and what little existed in the library, offered nothing of the nature of the information Shivan imparted, but she simply filed that away as information to be recorded later, for historical purposes, and, likely, to pass on to Syrus. "Perhaps they were some sort of guard for the temple. Overseers or caretakers, and they were not allowed to reside within. Close enough to be of use, but not so close that they might defile the temple proper with their presence." As Tamsin spoke, she continued to walk around and through the encampment, keeping from the door until bidden to go in that direction.
[ Shivan (Shiv)]
Shivan treads softly, as their Sith forefathers were not really the kind of people to just leave their tombs easy to access. "There are a myriad of questions that stem from this discovery. Nihilus had few friends...and he did not die here on Korriban, so this..." she motions with her hand to the surroundings, "Temple would have been built in honor of him after his death." she states. "But who built it?" she wonders. "Lord Nihilus met his end on a ship called Ravager above Telos IV." she adds.
[ Kuolo (Ku)]
Kuolo regards them each as they speak, and he walks forward to look into the well for a long moment. It was uncovered, but there, almost thirty feet below them, obstruction had grown and dried up whatever access to water there may have been. Another glowstick is pulled from his belt and sent tumbling into the darkness, before he starts for a split second.
"Whatever the answer, I don't think we're going to be welcomed warmly," he remarks as his masked face stares into the depths of the well. He seems ... occupied with whatever he discovered there. "We know they were meant to serve something here, and we know someone performed Nihilus' final service by carrying his remains here. What does that usually add up to?" He asks the room, quietly.
[ Flex'ka Vana (Flex)]
"Spirit.. bound to the remains, rather than haunting the location of his death." Flex'ka speaks up carefully, allowing a slight smirk before adding, "And given that he died in a shipwreck, he'd just be haunting Telos IV's orbit in that case." The smirk disappears, then the shapeshifter glances around, approaching Kuolo as he drops the glowstick down the well. "You believe what we're looking for is down there?" he asks quietly.
[ Tamsin Cas (Cas)]
Tamsin, looking back towards the group, noted that Kuolo had stopped beside the well, and she began to step that way, her voice low and distant as though she were speaking to herself, recalling some snatch of poetry, perhaps, 'I voyage alone, the dead only can follow. Whose eyes in the billows so eerily riot. Can it be stars there that gleam, do you reckon? Down yonder with tear-veiled effulgence perchance?' There was a moment of silence, before she spoke again, following on in Flex'ka Vana's wake. "Perhaps, these were gathered to build this place, and, when it was finished, and his body was laid to rest, they too, followed him into death, bound into eternal service, guarding him in death as they did in life."
[ Shivan (Shiv)]
Shivan joins them at the well, her head peeking over the side to see what might be uncovered. Having enhanced vision and training to see in situations was sometimes a bonus..and sometimes a curse, "I'm not sure what we're wanting to find down there. But the bones that aren't dust yet would probably appreciate not being stepped on. Nature will take it's course." she tells the group.
[ Kuolo (Ku)]
"To be so unliked as a Sith Lord as he, and still, devotion. We could all hope to have such loyalty to us in our defeat," Kuolo offers, before he begins to turn away from the well, before stopping dead in his steps. The eyelets of the mask seem locked onto something.
[ Kuolo (Ku)]
Suddenly, the massive presence of the Temple has shifted behind Kuolo. His hand rises quickly, before his body is thrown across the room. The white robe flails helplessly in the wind as he is thrown into a wall, casting dust and dirt into the air, buckling against the sudden pressure.
"He's--" Kuolo's voice is choked away, as the entity descends upon him again, invisibly assaulting him, as the other apparitions assault their own targets. "Here." Kuolo says from the floor, knocked down again. He wasn't entirely sure if he was being accurate, but, technical accuracy was for when one could conduct experiments without being killed. THis was not that time. They were under attack.
[ Flex'ka Vana (Flex)]
As Flex'ka approaches the well, he stops. But he doesn't -really- stop. Is it vertigo? Unlikely, with a tenured naval officer. Still, he reaches out to steady himself on the well itself, peering down. Something is peering back, and it rises from the well to form what should be a mirror image of Flex'ka Vana, were it not that it's mainly a shadowy being. As the Shi'ido jolts backwards, he questions "Is this real?" and raises his hands as the entity moves in on him. "You're all seeing this?" One hand, perhaps in an instinctive fight-or-flight motion, lowers to his belt and unclips the lightsaber he's carrying there. He's not even sure he'll use it.
[ Tamsin Cas (Cas)]
All was not quiet, here, in the halls of the dead. Tamsin's voice was a low thing, so low the helmet barely projected it, though the group was close enough, now, that they could still here her. "I can feel them calling me, whispering down there, in their grave of bones." Tamsin, who, at least, took care not to lean so far over the edge of the well that an errant hand could topple her over inside (she was the Interloper, after all), seemed so intent on whatever it was that she was feeling seeping up towards her, that the ripple of awareness that lifted the hair on the back of her neck and blanched, momentarily, the gold in her skin to luminous silver, nearly washed over her, too late. But, perhaps the tug that she had felt, calling to her through the force had, just this once, been a boon, and not a curse, as she turned, to face this apparition of herself, this mirror drenched in blood and pulsing malice. A dark sun with a reflection of herself at its heart. A slight rustle of her robes, as she called her lightsaber to hand. "I...have never looked worse." Somebody had been spending far too much time with a certain Coruscanti ex-noble. For all that moment of humour, Tamsin's hidden face was set, as she set herself against the thing that had risen up against her, attempting, unsuccessfully, for it showed no response, to untether it from whatever energy had conjured it.
[ Shivan (Shiv)]
"Nara?" Shivan's masked face doesn't show the betrayl that suddenly grips her. And there's not really time to think on things. The petite cloaked woman manages to kick herself into preservation mode as she uses the force to slither away from the attacking phantasm that misses her. She lets out a feral growl and starts to hunker lower, because at the end of the day, Shivan's still getting used to new things.
[ Kuolo (Ku)]
Kuolo struggles with the entity that was assailing him, but, in time he's able to struggle to his feet. In a flash of light, a dance of red electricity flies from his fingertips, coalescing around some strange figure. The electricity seems to do well to hold it into place, though, some damage had already been done to Kuolo in turn.
The formless shadow assailing Flex'ka is struggling against the telekinesis, but its able to leech out with its sense to do him harm. Or attempt to, as the case may be. The shadowy being seems to rail against the bindings holding it, pushing through to attack with fists of angry intent.
Although Tamsin's attack doesn't seem to ring home, the being is also incapable of getting enough to do her any harm as well. Instead, it cackles in gleeful frustration, as it chases after her, scalpel in hand. "We're here to help," it asserts, between fits of coughing laughter, "Make them remember. Make them adore us!" It cackles after her, even as it is unable to draw close.
Shivan's harrying bodyguards also follow after her, chasing her down despite her enhanced movement. "No more from the Princess! No more orders!" Though they went unseen and unheard of to the others, they cruelly mocked Shivan for her status and place in the universe, eagerly seeking to supplant her. Or destroy her. Or something.
[ Flex'ka Vana (Flex)]
Flex'ka manages to hold off the shade, staving off the surprise attack at first. His fingers bend rigidly as the Sith focuses on what he'd seen Tamsin attempt, sending blasts of Force energy from his palm outward in an attempt to impede the entity's advance. If it worked at all, it doesn't exactly show the acolyte any result, the being simply continuing its attack as though nothing happened. Finally, Flex'ka does ignite the lightsaber in his hand, reasoning that even if the thing would approach to that range, it would not come further.
[ Tamsin Cas (Cas)]
Something in the apparition's words stopped Tamsin in her tracks, and the Knight straightened, turning to face her personal demon, such as it was. "I have never wished to be adored. Nor, should you have wished such a thing, you who were chosen to guard and to serve." Whatever this thing was, it was clear to Tamsin that it was not her. It was only something risen in mockery of her. Tamsin lifted her saber, focusing all of her thought and energy on it, into it, feeling that part of her soul which lived ever outside of herself, imbued, along with her blood into the crystal at the heart of the weapon she held in her hands. It was that part of herself that she focused on, as she swung the blade, attempting to use one essence to attack another. "A servant should know their place." Senvere would be so proud.
[ Kuolo (Ku)]
Kuolo continues his struggle, as he steps forward and straightens some. His back now into it, he's able to control the flow of lightning almost entirely, forcing it into a stalemate of non-action. The fiend fights against him, and it shows.
Flex'ka's shadow dances around his attacks, narrowly sidestepping the telekinetic assault. "Can't beat us that way, no! You'll need more secrets!" With his own voice being shot back at him, Flex is left for only a split second at their mercy. As the shadowy thing gets his hands on Flex, a spike of energy cascades through him, as if draining the very life from the Sith.
"No, perhaps not, but--" Whatever words were coming from the entity were cut short, as the lightsaber catches enough of it to cause a glowing red streak to flash across the blood-covered Tamsin's shoulder. It shreiks in pain, but doesn't yet fall.
Meanwhile, Shivan has continued her own assault, drawing her lightsaber blade to deftly attempt at holding her own against the assailant.
[ Flex'ka Vana (Flex)]
It does seem the shadow falls easily for Flex'ka's obvious trap. Even as the life is drained from the Shi'ido, he lies in wait while the shadow approaches, inching closer, assuming victory. What it doesn't count on is the lightsaber, as Flex'ka's arm extends to drive it straight through the shadow's heart. Or where it should be. Immediately, the life draining stops, and Flex'ka pushes the saber forward, keeping the apparition speared on it as he drives it into a wall. "If you were me, you'd know spooky voices are -nothing- new to me." he spits out.
[ Tamsin Cas (Cas)]
Tamsin, who, in other times, might have focused her attention on the needs of the others around her, had learned, perhaps a painful lesson, and that, was that she could help no one if she herself were dead. And so, despite the pull to look to the others, to come to their aid before her own, she continued the advance, striking once, the lightsaber sweeping back around for a second attack. She had been a reluctant student of the blade, that was true, but she had learned. If only Sebek were here to see it, he might well find cause to find her worthy of the sobriquet he had bestowed on her, so long ago now, 'She Who Rages.' For there was anger, in the strike of the blade, fury in the twist of her wrist as she sent the blade through the neck of the apparition, feeling that alien presence along the blade, as she brought the blade back to cut it in two, the pieces crumbling like so much ectoplasmic dust as she struck down her enemy.
