Ask Breadcrumb Trail

[Vander]

Per my OP template, thread is death enabled​

Ord Mantell was... really just not where Vander thought he was going to end up. Jedi planet that had become highly militarized and just finished off a war with the syndicates. It was still cleaning up its own mess, which is probably part of what made it an ideal choice for Occidius to set up an enclave.

At least, that was what Vander had gotten out of the information he had recovered. From what he could tell, "enclave" might have been too strong of a word. Maybe safe house was better? The thing was that sector security and military was great for keeping out invaders but the Sith troops under Occidius were sneak and cunning. Vander had had to be the same.

Fortunately, his hunt was backed by Darth Arcanos, which meant that Vander had another fresh face to join him. A fresh face that he hoped would prove capable.

His high level scans during his flyover of the hills in the area near the coordinates he'd received had shown an old mining colony that was long-abandoned. It was the only place that looked inhabitable but the various wildlife had made getting life scans impossible.

Ultimately, Vander had dropped from the Maverick and taken to a small dell while he waited for the arrival of his partner, spending the hours that he had arrived early trying to scope out the area.

The sun was already starting to lower, which should give them the advantage of night, and Vander knew the temperature would drop, causing him to pull his cloak more tightly around himself.

I wonder what this one will be like. The last one was right up my alley, he thought to himself, musing over the explosive options available to him on the Maverick. If Greybeard was actually here then he'd need the explosives. No way Vander could take Greybeard alone or with an acolyte. Maybe with two champions, but even that was a big maybe. The guy had batted off a strike from Arcanos almost like it was nothing, and that... wasn't something to bat an eye at.

 

[Corwin Carmine]

This planet was like, kinda gross. There were Jedi somewhere on the planet and, more importantly, it was all muddy. Ew.

Corwin emerged from somewhere behind, a profoundly unhappy expression plastered on their face thicker than the mining hill mud caked on their previously nice city-boy combat boots. The Tiefling crouched down by the other Sith in what might appear abject professionalism if it wasn't immediately followed by frantic tail-swinging to ward off a small cloud of moths. "Eugh, I thought nature was supposed to be nice." To their credit, the unasked-for commentary was at least spoken quietly.

"So, what're we exploding?" The thought seemed to cheer them up significantly. In the midst of all that they got a good eyeful of the Sith they'd be sent to work with- for? Whichever- a rugged-looking human.

"Please tell me it's, like, the dam." From somewhere under his cloak he produced a whole mining plan blueprint for the area. It smelled vaguely like perfume, for some reason. Included was a hydroelectric dam upriver that was used to simultaneously drain the riverbed for mining and power the above and below-ground facilities. Suspiciously, Vander's scouting wouldn't have found it on modern maps. Probably the doing of the mine's current inhabitants.

@Phoenix

 

[Vander]

You're an Acolyte, you're not allowed to go anywhere nice, he said deadpan. It wasn't clear whether he was joking with his delivery.

Even Vander wasn't usually going anywhere nice. You didn't get to go nice places until you were at least a Master... maybe even a Lord.

Not "what." "Who," he said. Sith traitor, he said. He could refrain from sharing all of this, but the fact was that it would be harder if his partner didn't know what was actually going on.

Vander glanced at the map that the tiefling produced. He was impressed, actually. Good intel and proactivity were both commodities that were hard to come by. If this kid (was he really a kid he was only a year younger than Vander) was anything like Vander then he would continue to prove himself quite useful.

An interesting proposal, he said honestly, craning his neck slightly to take a look at said map.

Might be able to get a probe droid to confirm target eliminated, he said, then frowned. Not sure even a river will manage to kill this one, though, he said. Crushing weight of water and drowning were potent against many people, but this person... he was nearly on par with the Sith Lords.

If we can get the bombs closer to him that would be preferable, he said, though exploring multiple options was never a bad idea.

How close are you to graduating? he asked. No point in beating around the bush, he wanted to know if this acolyte really knew what was going on.

 

[Corwin Carmine]

The acolyte in question grumbled. That sounded about right.

A Sith traitor? Could a Sith be a traitor, considering what a Sith was supposed to be? Corwin decided not to ask that question out loud and moved on. "Wwweeelll... How many bombs?" They rotated the blueprint clockwise. Then, counterclockwise. Whatever they were thinking about was interrupted by Vander's question.

"Like, I dunno. Year or two? Not like they tell us." Corwin blinked at Vander with a bemused air before returning to the blueprint which they appeared to be struggling to understand. "Why? Oh, hey, what's that?" He pointed at a bit of the blueprint. It looked like a chamber separate from what used to be primary mining areas, a bunker or safe area for people to gather for protection in case of flooding or other trouble, covered in many tons of rock.

"Aw, I guess we can't just drown them."

@Phoenix

 

[Vander]

Vander looked over at Corwin, studying him as he studied the map. He tried to pick up anything in the Acolyte's words or actions that felt... off. He wasn't sure what it was, but something itched at the back of his mind. Maybe it was just his perpetual paranoia, but he couldn't place it. It felt like... evasion or secrecy. Fine, so those two traits were almost the defining features of Sith, but that wasn't really the point.

Hm, he just said in response tot he answer about graduating. Well... that was close at least. Somewhere in the neighborhood of being a Senior, which meant that they would need to operate on their own soon.

The question of "why" was kind of surprising, and his eyes narrowed just a bit.

Because it tells me how much handholding you're going to need, he said bluntly. And still, he was probably expected to do like... some teaching or something, right? That was how these training missions were supposed to go? At least that was one perspective. The other perspective was that the Acolytes were here to curry favor and were basically just brute force labor.

Vander wasn't really sure where he fell along that spectrum. He supposed he'd just let things play out in the meantime.

I'll send out a couple of probe droids to see what we see, he said, pondering packing one of them with high explosives and having it fly into their target and just go "kaboom" that way. Suicide droids were a useful trick.

He tucked the thought away for later, transmitting a message back for the droids to deploy.

Alright, I guess we should go see what we can see, he said, starting to move up the embankment of their little ditch-stream and looking over the top as he started moving.

He much preferred his hunts to be in cities, but out here in the countryside presented its own set of problems. In truth, Vander's hunts in these places were... limited, and he tried to think back to his own training as he started creeping from boulder to tree to ledge, trying to stay out of the open as much as possible.

To their advantage, the sun was nearly gone, and the subsequent darkness would hide them well.

If we can get inside the walls of the camp, we might be able to just blend in, he speculated. The Sith probably didn't all know each other, and it was... actually this was almost exactly what he had done with Arcanos on Umbara. It was fine. No one would notice as long as he stayed out of the way of old Greybeard.

 

[Corwin Carmine]

"Holding hands? We just met, but I don't mind." Corwin's ever-present smile curled upward at the joke.

The Tiefling was reasonably sneaky as they crept along behind Vander, basically just following the other man's lead. As they pondered the degree to which a lavender-colored tiefling might possibly blend in at any given time, the walls in question came into view. All things considered the compound walls looked like a work in progress, with more focus on blending in rather than serving as a fortress. At a distance it still looked abandoned.

But it wasn't unguarded. There were patrols and the like, just not in droves. Maybe they hadn't been here that long yet?

"Sssooo just go in the front, or..?" they asked in a whisper.

@Phoenix

Ambient Security: 1d20 = 6

 

[Vander]

Oh he thought he was a funny one, did he?! If Vander were a grumpier Sith there would probably be a slap or Force choke in there somewhere, but really, what even was the point? He supposed the point was that some of these people just got off on it. He was fairly sure that Limerick literally got off on it. Probably with Z... no. No, this is not something you're going to kriffing think about, he thought, the swell of anger stupidly and unbidden rising up within him again.

So illogical, Vander. None of your kriffing business. Not your problem, right? And yet it had become his problem. His... completely off topic from the current mission problem. Keep your head in the game, he reminded himself, pulling himself back to the moment.

As they came up to the edges of the camp, Vander was surprised at how... little security there was. It gave him... bad vibes. He glanced back at Joker a moment later.

Does this feel... weird to you? he asked. Yeah, because relying on an acolyte's intuition couldn't possibly go wrong. Vander had broken into plenty of places before, but they were... normally more guarded. The fact that this one wasn't seemed to give him the heebies.

Like a trap, he added in a whisper. Hey, here was a teaching opportunity.

How would you tackle this? he asked, and then mentally tried to guess how he thought Joker would try to handle it. He seems like the type that'll try something sneaky and maybe a little outside the box, he thought to himself.

 

[Corwin Carmine]

Corwin, for their part, thought they were hilarious without fail. Obviously.

She stared at Vander for a couple of seconds after his initial question. "If you were a traitorous Sith trying to hide from people known for turning traitors into meat salsa, would you build a fortress or hide in a warehouse somewhere with a bucket of acid over the door?" Corwin shrugged, speaking their somewhat chaotic metaphor with a casual and light-hearted air.

The second question resulted in a period of thinking, during which Corwin crouched over the blueprints, tail waving back and forth behind them. "Iunno. Can we, like, get a bomb in here?" A clawed finger tapped the previously-mentioned central room on the blueprint. "Break the dam, wait, blow up the "safe", here they used air quotes, "room, wait, see if they lived or not."

@Phoenix

 

[Vander]

Vander was only half-sure that he was actually following what Joker was saying. That was probably owed to the fact that for a moment he wasn't really sure what a "muggle" was. Oh... maybe he had just misheard.

Corwin returned to the idea of blowing the dam again, and while Vander was dubious of the plan, he didn't argue again. At worst, it would help clear out all of the Sith traitors in the camp and leave them with only their target remaining. At best, it would even kill the man himself.

Vander thought for a moment about what he was here to do. He often tried not to think too hard about the people he was killing - deeming it "for the greater good" - but in this case he wondered if perhaps this could have been his Master in another life. Perhaps he could have ended up an Occidius loyalist.

Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps.

None of it was relevant, of course, but they were musings that plucked at the back of the assassin's mind.

Alright, we'll get into the dam first, he said, turning his attention to the river bed. The river bed itself gave him eerie vibes as well. Maybe it was this whole place or his general paranoia.

The closer they drew to the dam, though, the more Vander saw... the dead. Not just cut up with a lightsaber or shot with a blaster, but... torn to shreds. Maybe by some sort of animal or alien or something far worse.

The sense of "impending" danger just seemed to grow with every step.

His gaze swept over the area only to find nothing that gave any real evidence of what was going on here.

Then he started to see... claw marks in the ground and... well, it was probably some sort of paw print.

Keep your eyes open, he said.

 

[Corwin Carmine]

The tiefling's tail-tip flicked, pleased with the plan's acceptance. They hadn't been overly convinced they'd be able to blend in all that well to start with. Tieflings weren't that common, much less with Corwin's particular coloration. Which meant lots of lying. Which, y'know, that's fine but more of a problem if the place-to-be-drowned is full of Sith or something.

Mental digression aside, they followed Vander off to the dam. "Sure is corpse-y over here," they mumbled unhelpfully while suppressing an urge to inform Vander that they hadn't intended to close to their eyes in the first place. Tail flicking back and forth with anxiety, Corwin's head swiveled around at the many dead.

"Hey, uhhh... Don't animals usually drag prey away?" They only knew this from gladiatorial fights; even arena-bound animals did it. All these bodies were just flung around at random, and the bloody ground didn't show any 'dragging off'. At least, not that Corwin could tell. They weren't exactly a wilds ranger or anything.

Their eyes snapped suddenly to a particular corpse near some others. They glanced surreptitiously at Vander and then back again. "Think I heard something, maybe?" they commented uncertainty, indicating the collection of bodies. One was still alive, breathing, and in a monumental amount of pain. Maybe it had answers.

@Phoenix

 

[Vander]

Vander pondered a moment the answer to Joker's question.

Maybe they kill for sport... or territory, he said. he didn't really know. He certainly wasn't an "outdoorsman" by any stretch, but he was a fairly well-read person and he was pretty sure he'd read something like that before, right?

It was all speculation, of course, and he was sure they would find out the actual fact soon enough. No doubt, something would be coming to rip out their entrails soon.

There was a stirring across a small gorge and Vander snatched his lightsaber from his belt, igniting it on instinct only to realize it was a man who was... dying. Of course, it could always be a trap, and Vander glanced at Joker to see if they were the jumpy type too.

Vander moved over to the torn up bodies and bent down, reaching out into the Force. He could feel the life flowing out of the man. He looked like... maybe an engineer? He wasn't a Sith, that was clear, but he might have been an employee... a civilian. Whatever he was, he was expiring before the eyes of the Sith.

What happened? he asked. It probably would have been the nice thing to give him a stim or some pain killers to help his transition, but ultimately, this man was taking a one way ticket no matter what either of them did.

Came out of nowhere... covered in black... claws... so fast... the man muttered, coughing as blood bubbled from the corner of his mouth, some of it splashing up on Vander's face and causing him to cringe a bit. Real understanding of him, but... well, Vander didn't want spittle blood on his face any more than the next man...

 

[Corwin Carmine]

"Oh yeah that clears things right up," they said with mock cheer somewhere in the middle of Vander's face becoming an impromptu pollock painting of blood and sadness. Corwin immediately abandoned the dying man and began poking around the other bodies.

A highly niche bit of knowledge weirdly came in handy, here. "Hey. Hey, so, these claw marks don't, like, look right." Not expounding on how they knew what claw marks should generally look like, Corwin pointed out the shredded and ragged way the injuries seemed to all be. That tended to be caused by something serrated, not just sharp or tearing. "Anything native have- ohh gods it hurts, eugh, aagh- ... Have anything all, like, sawtoothed?"

Corwin had no idea. Naturally. "Either way, no thanks. You know? Just, no."

@Phoenix

 

[Vander]

Vander wiped the blood off of his face, deciding it was probably time to start carrying a blood rag and wet wipes on his person to keep cleaning off the blood that always seemed to pop up.

After some obsessive wiping at his face and the desire to soak his face in hand sanitizer or something, Vander finally gave up and focused instead on what Joker said.

How did this kid know so much about blades? Nevermind the fact that Vander was judging for something that he, himself, knew a great deal about too. Vander was like that: he'd judge other people for doing things he did.

Nothing I know of, he said, although that wasn't saying much. Vander didn't really know much about most of the wildlife on planet, but he didn't know any creature that had serrated claws.

And then he remembered what he heard about the trip to Utapau.

It's an abomination of some sort, he speculated. Something quick that hunts on its own with some sort of serrated claws, he said. Something designed to rip and tear.

Guess we follow the tracks, he said, taking his lightsaber and shoving it through the dying man's head. A mercy killing.

 

[Corwin Carmine]

Corwin stared at the older Sith with widened eyes. "A what? What're we following it for?" They looked around at the piles of corpses, blood, and mixed-up earth, then let out an explosive shrug. "Well, I'm no good at tracking. All just looks like viscera to me." By process of elimination that left Vander to do any actual 'woodland tracking'. In Corwin's defense, absolutely nothing about her gave off Ranger vibes.

It was starting to make sense why the academies kept sending acolytes out into the woods. They all seemed to come from either urban worlds or wastelands.

Assuming Vander could find the beast's path- which wasn't actually that hard, given the apparent size and weight of the thing- the two Sith would be led upward toward the dam and then off toward a dense copse of trees. The smell of rotting blood grew stronger and stronger.

@Phoenix

 

[Vander]

I'm not tracking it, but if my instincts tell me anything, it's that we're going to run into it when we go to set our explosives, he said.

True enough, it was likely that no one messed with the dam specifically because of how dangerous it was to go there.

Vander pressed onward, heading into the dam area and things smelled awful. Like rotting flesh and putrefaction. It was enough for Vander to use his free hand to cover his mouth and nose, nearly choking and gagging on the smell. It was... horrendous.

Nevertheless, there was a need to press on and Vander followed the path through, finding his way to the very room in question. Vander was pretty sure based on the bones and viscera that this was the heart of the creature's layer.

He saw something move in the shadows, a two legged creature with an elongated head and black body. It was difficult to see in the darkness and Vander's saber ignited.

He pushed the explosives across to Joker.

You know how to set these? he asked, hoping the answer was yes. If not... things would get more complicated.

 

[Corwin Carmine]

There was no 'almost' gagging from behind Vander. There a lot of gagging, followed by a lot of cloth noises as Corwin wrapped a scarf around their mouth and nose. Plus a sound that was suspiciously similar to the spray of perfume. They opted not to talk in the meantime.

Corwin looked at the shadowy shape, then at Vander, then the explosive. "Yeah, can do," they replied, grabbing the satchel and slipping off to leave the suspiciously phallic-headed monster to the more experienced Sith. Vander could certainly be confident in the knowledge the acolyte he'd been sent knew what they were doing.

"Spalexa, how to arm detonator model 138-65-37B?" Surely Vander just imagined hearing that. Corwin got to setting up the explosives either way.

He wouldn't have much time to ponder it, though, as the abomination in question locked onto Vander's lightsaber. Its lips pulled back, revealing teeth like chips of metal from whence came a deep and malicious hissing. It crouched, and then pounced directly at Vander, razor-tipped tail whipping behind it and claws outstretched.

@Phoenix

(Level of monster cunning: nat 1.)

 

[Vander]

Vander would have probably been real distressed if he had had time to realize that the thermal detonators were being armed by Spalexa. Fortunately - or unfortunately - he didn't have time to worry about it.

The alien launched at him and he stepped to the side, his lightsaber slashing down and although it left a small mark in the creature's hide, it didn't pierce straight through as he had hoped.

Kriff, he muttered as it hissed again and twirled at him. Hurry it up, Joker! he said, the nickname just kind of slipping out unintentionally. To be honest, he wasn't actually sure he remembered the tiefling's name at this point and he wasn't going to use his "staying alive" brain power for it.

@Mr. Teatime

 

[Corwin Carmine]

Footsteps echoed in the background along with the rustling of blueprints as Corwin ran from one area to another, busy setting explosives as Vander dueled whatever apparently-saber-resistant creature he was fighting. "Don't know who you talking to-" they started on their way down one hallway, followed by the sound of beeping.

"I've never told a joke in my life." Another scuffle of boots, some clanking, a bang, and more beeping.

Meanwhile, the alien abomination thing was very interested in what Vander's potentially-delicious flesh tasted like. That's probably what actually got it killed. Its night-black chitin was remarkably difficult to slice through even with a lightsaber and it even angled itself so swings glanced off rather than hit less-armored areas.

Corwin's footsteps stopped echoing. Then, suddenly, she leapt from the corner of sight with a straight-blade long-knife in hand, landing directly atop the distracted abomination. She shoved the blade under the beast's jaws and through the soft flesh beneath, grabbed it with two hands, and swung her entire weight to wrench the head in a semicircle. The abomination careened to the ground as Corwin half-slid, half-rolled off and away and immediately started sprinting out of the dam.

The embedded knife beeped ominously. One of the smaller plastic explosives was stuck to the handle.

"Okaybombssetletsgo!"

@Phoenix

Sneak Attack: 19/20

 

[Vander]

This was one of those "yeah, nah bruh" moments that Vander always seemed to find himself in. Between himself and Joker, the two of them seemed to manage to hold off the weird abomination, and Vander wasn't going to stick around for a chat.

Go then! he shouted, darting for the door himself as he used the Force to shove the creature back even further and give themselves an opportunity to escape.

Vander only waited long enough to make sure he was out of the explosion when he triggered it. It was actually... precariously close. Explosions tore through the dam and as it did, cracks began to form, followed by water flowing in gushing gallons.

Water would wash it all away.

Down came the flood, water splashing by close enough to drench most of Vander's clothes but not enough to wash him away. Hopefully Joker would have the same luck. The traitor Sith certainly wouldn't, and Vander didn't think the abomination would either.

@Mr. Teatime

 

[Corwin Carmine]

Corwin took the time after running away to rest, seemingly out of breath from all the running. Water dripped from them, soaked by the explosion-thrown rush. Somewhere in the rush the abomination was visible, somewhere in the middle. And over there, a leg by the shore. And a tail, over there... and over there...

Safe to say the bomb embedded in its jaw did the job with extreme prejudice.

"So uh," they straightened up, stretching and taking in a deep breath, "Now what? That it?" Corwin didn't ask about finding bodies or any other steps that might further give away what they may or may not have known of the subject of arranged murder. It was always more fun to keep folks guessing, friend or foe.

@Phoenix