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last_kallig) wrote2014-04-16 07:23 pm
last_kallig) wrote2014-04-16 07:23 pm
Entry tags:
OOM: At the Foot of the Colossus
(OOC: Some lines taken from canon.)
Ibani ends the holocall with the press of a button and glances once more at the archeological plans before stowing the device away. She looks up, into the sky shrouded in rain and lightning. Even unfinished, the statue towers far over Khem and Ibani, the bodies of rebelling slaves scattered around its base like sacrificial offerings. A sudden downpour had caught Ibani off-guard and she hadn't corrected the Force Cloak fast enough. The slaves had seen their outline in the rain and opened fire in a panic, desperate. They'd had no chance at all, but a death in battle might have been a mercy. Ibani has heard things about Lord Drow. Things to give even someone trained as a Sith nightmares. He's here on Dromund Kaas now, and rumor has it that his victims in the last quashed revolt took weeks to die.
Lord Zash looks up as she enters her office, Khem a few steps behind her. "I have good news, Apprentice. The next puzzle piece is ready to be placed. I'm sure you've heard that there's a slave revolt going on out in the jungle?"
"Yes, Lord Zash," Ibani replies. "They were building a colossus, as I recall."
Lord Zash nods. "Indeed they were. But the area is in utter chaos now and will be for a few more days at least. Which is useful for our purposes, as I believe Skotia is hiding something of great importance near this statue. A hidden base, to be precise."
Ibani and Khem move into the base, invisible and silent as death itself. The plans only suggest where the relic might be, and she's certain there will be security measures in place that will need to be circumvented. The data spike won't scramble communications to the outside world long, but Ibani doesn't need it to last more than an hour or two.
The guards patrol in ones and twos while Ibani and Khem watch them, study the patterns of their movement. In ones and twos they go down, most without ever knowing that anything is wrong until a blade goes through their heart and they topple over, eyes staring at nothing as the life leaves their body.
"Do you want me to destroy this base?" Ibani asks.
Zash chuckles. "Admirable enthusiasm, apprentice, but no. That degree of destruction won't be necessary. I need you to retrieve a tablet, the item that Skotia uses to maintain his control over his bodyguards. It's a relic of a cult those lizards belong to, and they think it a gift from their deity, the Scorekeeper. They serve him because they believe they are bound to obey whoever holds it."
"Killing him would be easier without having to tangle with those bodyguards as well," Ibani says, thinking. "Do we know what security measures this tablet has?"
Zash shakes her head, pacing. "I do not know the precise measures, but his apprentices guard the site. I'm certain that they will have the keys to the artifact." She stops her pacing, looking straight at her apprentice. "There must be no survivors to report anything to Skotia."
Skotia's apprentices are separated as well, which is their downfall. They are anxious now, perhaps they felt the death of the guards in the Force. They SHOULD stick together, but they are overconfident, splitting up to search the small base. The first dies as he stumbles upon the body of a guard, Khem's vibroblade sticking out from his chest. The only resistance he manages is clawing at the vibroblade for a few moments before the Dashade twists the blade and yanks it loose.
The second apprentice is more alert, dodging at the last possible moment so that her blade only wounds him instead of killing him. A burst of lightning sends him sprawling as his muscles contract unexpectedly and Khem removes his head from his body.
The third apprentice is wiser than the others, a little older. He had tried to call for help, but the data spike kept him from calling out and there were no allies left alive inside the base to answer his call. At present, he's found a defensible position and he's waiting for trouble to come to him.
Pity it didn't occur to him that durasteel walls are all well and good but they are NOT lightsaber proof. Ibani makes her own door into the section where he's lurking, then sends Khem to go and engage the apprentice from the 'right' entrance. The battle is bloody and the apprentice leaves a few burns in her flesh, but he's not strong enough to stand against them both. Ibani rifles through his pockets until she finds the key, the base eerily silent now that they are the only living people left in it.
"But won't he simply read the corpses or the base with psychometry and figure it out that way?" Ibani asks.
Lord Zash smiles, pleased with the question. "He could, if I had not developed certain countermeasures for such a thing. I had my reasons for giving you my old lightsaber, and its utility for this kind of work was one of them."
"I'm afraid I don't understand, my Lord."
"It is imbued with certain sorceries far beyond your current ability. It holds its master's secrets to itself, whatever they may be. There won't be any useful impressions for Skotia to find."
Ibani knows that that isn't QUITE true, but it could certainly explain why Korvas had such trouble reading the lightsaber in Milliways!
The tablet is not the only thing in the vault, although most of its contents are too large for even Khem to carry off. Ibani spies a pair of gauntlets and bracers that could pass for steel provided one wasn't looking too closely and thinks of Garyn. She did promise to bring back something interesting, and she thinks that he'll like seeing these. He might even like them enough to keep them.
Ibani glances at Khem as she safely stows the armor away. He seems...happier, although it's hard to tell with him. Perhaps because he's 'fed' on the deaths of three force-users in a short span of time even if she does forbid him from eating their flesh.
Khem catches sight of her glance and speaks. "I feel my strength begin to return, little Sith. You should not have brought me here. My will is bound, but such bonds can be broken and make no mistake: I will devour you."
Ibani can feel the bond between them, a strange thing she doesn't quite understand. But it feels the same as it did yesterday and every day since she defeated the Dashade on Korriban. "But not today," she says, meeting Khem's eyes, unafraid.
"Not today," he agrees.
Ibani ends the holocall with the press of a button and glances once more at the archeological plans before stowing the device away. She looks up, into the sky shrouded in rain and lightning. Even unfinished, the statue towers far over Khem and Ibani, the bodies of rebelling slaves scattered around its base like sacrificial offerings. A sudden downpour had caught Ibani off-guard and she hadn't corrected the Force Cloak fast enough. The slaves had seen their outline in the rain and opened fire in a panic, desperate. They'd had no chance at all, but a death in battle might have been a mercy. Ibani has heard things about Lord Drow. Things to give even someone trained as a Sith nightmares. He's here on Dromund Kaas now, and rumor has it that his victims in the last quashed revolt took weeks to die.
Lord Zash looks up as she enters her office, Khem a few steps behind her. "I have good news, Apprentice. The next puzzle piece is ready to be placed. I'm sure you've heard that there's a slave revolt going on out in the jungle?"
"Yes, Lord Zash," Ibani replies. "They were building a colossus, as I recall."
Lord Zash nods. "Indeed they were. But the area is in utter chaos now and will be for a few more days at least. Which is useful for our purposes, as I believe Skotia is hiding something of great importance near this statue. A hidden base, to be precise."
Ibani and Khem move into the base, invisible and silent as death itself. The plans only suggest where the relic might be, and she's certain there will be security measures in place that will need to be circumvented. The data spike won't scramble communications to the outside world long, but Ibani doesn't need it to last more than an hour or two.
The guards patrol in ones and twos while Ibani and Khem watch them, study the patterns of their movement. In ones and twos they go down, most without ever knowing that anything is wrong until a blade goes through their heart and they topple over, eyes staring at nothing as the life leaves their body.
"Do you want me to destroy this base?" Ibani asks.
Zash chuckles. "Admirable enthusiasm, apprentice, but no. That degree of destruction won't be necessary. I need you to retrieve a tablet, the item that Skotia uses to maintain his control over his bodyguards. It's a relic of a cult those lizards belong to, and they think it a gift from their deity, the Scorekeeper. They serve him because they believe they are bound to obey whoever holds it."
"Killing him would be easier without having to tangle with those bodyguards as well," Ibani says, thinking. "Do we know what security measures this tablet has?"
Zash shakes her head, pacing. "I do not know the precise measures, but his apprentices guard the site. I'm certain that they will have the keys to the artifact." She stops her pacing, looking straight at her apprentice. "There must be no survivors to report anything to Skotia."
Skotia's apprentices are separated as well, which is their downfall. They are anxious now, perhaps they felt the death of the guards in the Force. They SHOULD stick together, but they are overconfident, splitting up to search the small base. The first dies as he stumbles upon the body of a guard, Khem's vibroblade sticking out from his chest. The only resistance he manages is clawing at the vibroblade for a few moments before the Dashade twists the blade and yanks it loose.
The second apprentice is more alert, dodging at the last possible moment so that her blade only wounds him instead of killing him. A burst of lightning sends him sprawling as his muscles contract unexpectedly and Khem removes his head from his body.
The third apprentice is wiser than the others, a little older. He had tried to call for help, but the data spike kept him from calling out and there were no allies left alive inside the base to answer his call. At present, he's found a defensible position and he's waiting for trouble to come to him.
Pity it didn't occur to him that durasteel walls are all well and good but they are NOT lightsaber proof. Ibani makes her own door into the section where he's lurking, then sends Khem to go and engage the apprentice from the 'right' entrance. The battle is bloody and the apprentice leaves a few burns in her flesh, but he's not strong enough to stand against them both. Ibani rifles through his pockets until she finds the key, the base eerily silent now that they are the only living people left in it.
"But won't he simply read the corpses or the base with psychometry and figure it out that way?" Ibani asks.
Lord Zash smiles, pleased with the question. "He could, if I had not developed certain countermeasures for such a thing. I had my reasons for giving you my old lightsaber, and its utility for this kind of work was one of them."
"I'm afraid I don't understand, my Lord."
"It is imbued with certain sorceries far beyond your current ability. It holds its master's secrets to itself, whatever they may be. There won't be any useful impressions for Skotia to find."
Ibani knows that that isn't QUITE true, but it could certainly explain why Korvas had such trouble reading the lightsaber in Milliways!
The tablet is not the only thing in the vault, although most of its contents are too large for even Khem to carry off. Ibani spies a pair of gauntlets and bracers that could pass for steel provided one wasn't looking too closely and thinks of Garyn. She did promise to bring back something interesting, and she thinks that he'll like seeing these. He might even like them enough to keep them.
Ibani glances at Khem as she safely stows the armor away. He seems...happier, although it's hard to tell with him. Perhaps because he's 'fed' on the deaths of three force-users in a short span of time even if she does forbid him from eating their flesh.
Khem catches sight of her glance and speaks. "I feel my strength begin to return, little Sith. You should not have brought me here. My will is bound, but such bonds can be broken and make no mistake: I will devour you."
Ibani can feel the bond between them, a strange thing she doesn't quite understand. But it feels the same as it did yesterday and every day since she defeated the Dashade on Korriban. "But not today," she says, meeting Khem's eyes, unafraid.
"Not today," he agrees.