Ask Brick by Brick

[Elias Ryn]

"I'll take a ghost over a human." It was the truth, at least for him. Ghost had a purpose to what they did, at least in their own way. People were a completely different story and their reasoning was flexible like the wind. Either way, the two had come to the temple for a reason and the old man did lead them there. No reason had sprouted forth yet to untrust him. Elias stepped forward and entered along with Hannibal as they pierced through the darkness and entered the cave.

The vines grew thicker and thicker across the floor and soon enough, completely replaced it. The temple walls and furniture turned into stalagmites and formation of rock as they left the premise of the building and transitioned fully into the cave. Vines and other natural fauna seemed to writhe and shift in their presence as if they actually took account of the Jedi and followed them where they stepped. The force was alive and palpable but different, it felt defensive in a certain way but not openly hostile.

Elias couldn't help but comment on it. "This isn't something I'm used to." It wasn't but it wouldn't deter him from moving on. As they went on, it got dark enough that he couldn't see anymore with just the natural light. He was about to pull out his lightsaber to see but then he spotted a blue light at the very end of the makeshift tunnel they were in and pointed to it. "Something's there." Elias strode forward but after one step, he heard the sound of movement and stopped in his place.

He pulled out his lightsaber and activated it as it flooded the room with blue light. Nothing appeared out of the ordinary but when he glanced down, that's when he noticed the vines slithering before him like snakes. "Hannibal!" He shouted out but when the name left his mouth, vines securely wrapped around one of his legs before harshly lifting him up from the ground and suspending him upside down.

Immediately, he locked on the vine and was about to slash his lightsaber but then the vine harshly threw him into a nearby wall. Elias would smash into with a grunt and when he looked up, vines would be slithering to both him and the other Jedi, more and more joining.

 

[Hannibal Grayza]

The young Master's eyes had found themselves looking along the lines of vine growth that crept along the ground. He was almost fascinated by them, the way they moved, the way they grew, the way they seemed to follow a kind of light that Jedi could see. He was so taken by the plan life he almost didn't hear Elias' comment, only drawn out of his reverie when the other Jedi pointed out a bright like down the tunnel. Hannibal looked up, squinted toward it. Then his eyes turned elsewhere, almost on their own, down to the floor where the vines wriggled and writhed toward the two Jedi.

Elias was lifted into the air in the grip of one of them, thrown into a wall. More of the seeking tendrils joined, gathering together and converging on them. As Hannibal had told Elias, in a fight he was fairly useless at the moment. His left arm raised stiffly and slow, pain running through the ill-used muscles and the healing burns, but pain ceased to be real the moment he sank into the Force. He hadn't wanted to test himself so soon after what he'd been through, but this wasn't really a fight, was it?

Loosely his fingers pointed forward toward the vines, all stiffness forgotten. Into and through him the Light flowed, the mixed breeze of spring and fall, of blooming wildflowers and fallen leaves. It extended out to the vines as he spoke, almost purely out of habit rather than any real sense they could hear.

"Peace. We mean you no harm," he said, almost a whisper, compassionate and calm. The Force answered his call, echoed it, flowed from him and into the vines like water through a stream. It was one of the first uses of the Force the young Master had ever learned. Before he had even joined the Jedi he'd been making flowers bloom in the fields of Naboo and calling out to the animals in the trees. Now a days he could do quite a bit more.

The vines slowed their advance, seeming to fall under the sway of the gentle breeze. They stopped an arm's length from Hannibal, pointed toward him but approaching no further. The Jedi Master stepped forward next to Ender, the vine around his leg not quite letting go but seeming to relax somewhat.

"Aren't we just having a time? This is so much fun, Elias. Can you stand?"

@Orbit

 

[Elias Ryn]

After he had been thrown, Elias got to his feet and took a few steps back as he put distance between him and the growing number of vines that slithered toward him. His lightsaber was still active and providing him enough light to view the fauna crawling toward him. But before they could get close to touching him, they halted about halfway and acted as if they were just staring at him, waiting for him to make his move as they wiggled and writhed in place on top of each other.

When Hannibal approached, Elias just chuckled and tucked the move that Hannibal did in the back of his mind. He had let fear dictate his actions and it nearly cost him his life. As Hannibal spoke to him, he glanced down at the vine that was wrapped around his leg until it gingerly eased its grip and slid off to join its other compatriots. "Yeah, I can stand, it just threw me around a little bit." It was the first time he could say he nearly got beaten by a plant. "Thanks by the way. I most likely would have been part of the fauna if it wasn't for you." Elias wouldn't forget it and he was glad that the Jedi had come along with him.

The blue light still shone from down the tunnel and flickered between the nature that grew around it. There was an energy that radiated off from it and flowed through the plants as if they were powered by it. But before he could advance further, the old man came out from somewhere, a look of shock on his face from the spectacle, "You stopped them... amazing." The old man fell down to his knees as he ran his hand along with the vines, almost in a sort of petting manner as he couldn't tear his eyes away from them.

Elias simply brought his gaze to Hannibal, silently and simply saying, I'm getting away from that. He pushed forward to the blue light, gently pushing vines out the way after he realized they were quite alive. When he drew near to the light, he stuck a hand through the vines and pushed them to the side, revealing the source. It was a holocron, a blue one as it was suspended in mid-air by the plants. Surrounding the holocron was more of the vines, almost forming a sort of tree trunk as they layered over the top of each other, a hole in the center for them to see the artifact.

The Jedi glanced over to Hannibal, "They're protecting it, or at least it and the temple." The vines almost seemed to respond as they constricted the trunk they formed slightly.

 

[Hannibal Grayza]

Hannibal dismissed Elias' thanks with a friendly smile and a casual wave of the hand. It was appreciated, but of course he helped. As funny as it would've been to watch the other Jedi duel the local plan life that seemed like the wrong course of action here. That and, as stated, Hannibal would struggle to use a lightsaber for more than a very short time and probably not with any degree of grace.

The young Master's eyes looked down the hall back toward the blue light, squinting slightly before its brilliance. The return of the old man, who seemed utterly fascinated in the now docile vines, drew forth an awkward look that couldn't quite be categorized. Green eyes turned to look over at Elias to meet his gaze and Hannibal shrugged, moving forward just behind. He maintained his focus on the vines just in case, but only a little concentration seemed to be needed at this point unless someone decided to, say, start stabbing them.

Behind the curtain of green and vibranty alive matter, and revealed by Elias, was clearly a holocron. Hannibal stepped up to look at it, narrowing his eyes, and then froze. In that moment he decided once and for all that the ancient Jedi were assholes, because the piece of the map he'd found in a different temple absolutely did not lead to some other place on Tython but insteaad halfway across the galaxy. Like a particularly malicious scavenger hunt.

"So they are," he replied with a hint of annoyance, his hand slowly raising toward the holocron and eyes closing. It was absolutely connected to the rest of the temple, a source of light and life that empowered the questing flora. Removing it wasn't immediately possible, it would take some further work to get done, but that didn't mean he couldn't do something else.

"Let's see if I can just, kinda, uh..." He trailed off, lost in concentration and thought, and for several seconds nothing at all seemed to be happening. The Force gathered around him in great waves and pools, then gently began to flow into and through the holocron and, like a conduit, into the vines. It was amusingly like tweaking electronics, but he suspected it wouldn't work if he didn't also have some basic inkling of some older techniques.

Hannibal, in short, was trying to make the flow of power through the holocron a little less extreme. The vines didn't need to be attacking every other thing that moved at this point, and he was sure someone would complain if they did.

@Orbit

 

[Elias Ryn]

There appeared to be some familiarity with the holocron and Hannibal, Elias able to sense the annoyance that whipped up in him for a split moment. He didn't recognize it as anything other than just a regular holocron and wondered what it meant to his partner. The force beckoned to the other Jedi as it collected around him before flowing through his veins and then into the other holocron. He could feel all of it transpiring, like a breeze in the wind that was constant but that didn't bring a shiver to his spine.

Elias could feel Hannibal's energy colliding and meshing with the holocrons, the vines rippling slightly as he made his tweaks. Eventually, a large mass of the plants slithered away and back to where they came from. A few bundles of them still remained and covered the floors and walls of the temple but not at the same intensity as before. He couldn't help but let out a soft whistle in reaction along with his comment, "Nice job, Hannibal. Hopefully, they'll be a little more forgiving to new people that enter from now on." The plants would have to be taken care of in a careful manner as he suspected that they would be stuck with the temple.

The Jedi then turned back to Hannibal and couldn't help but ask a question, "Couldn't help but notice you seem to recognize the holocron. Any idea what it's for or what it contains?" Each holocron was vastly different and their knowledge would vastly differ based on the user and what they wanted. The device was interesting as it had controlled the vines through simple contact even though it might have taken years to complete the process. Who knew what it contained but maybe the other Jedi had an idea.

Elias made his way to where from where they entered from, "Let's get back outside and some fresh air. I'm pretty sure the vines would have stopped anything else if they tried to make the temple their home." The plants had already displayed their prowess against him and he didn't think anything would have been able to get past the amount of them before Hannibal had eased them away. Fresh air appealed to him heavily and being back in the sunlight. "We can mark the area for future excavations and possibly get this place in working order."

 

[Hannibal Grayza]

The young Jedi just sort of shrugged in response to the compliment. Hopefully they would, but who knows with the Force? Some always try to explain how it works and they usually seem to be at least partly wrong, so for all Hannibal knew the vines would just go back to being vaguely hostile. It bore keeping an eye on them of some kind.

Commenting on the holocron, however, got him to turn around and look at Elias. A wry grin settled on his face and he waved a hand to indicate the device. "This looks to me like the Caretaker's Tome, which I've been lookin' for since the last time I was on Tython. Typical, really." Green eyes moved back to examine the device, covered by and entwined with vines. Hannibal wasn't sure exactly how this had been set up, but it would require additional effort to untangle. Like space magic Life Day lights or something. Ugh.

"Yeah, fresh air. Good plan," he assented distractedly, turning away to head back outside. The vines were still animated far more than vines would generally be expected to be, but they were acting more like curious danger noodles rather than angry vegetable whips. A marked improvement as far as Hannibal was concerned, even if it was still rather strange. The young Jedi tapped at his commlink's message button in some sequence as he walked, calling for Lee and Ego to move the ship to his location and that there was no longer any obvious danger.

Back outside he took a deep breath and looked around the area. It was very green here, and he found he liked the abundance of background life in the area once he got past how strong the aura inside the temple itself was. Definitely his kind of place.

"I'll have a Jedi beacon set up. Where'd that old dude go?"

@Orbit

 

[Elias Ryn]

Elias walked with Hannibal toward the exit and when the holocron in the Jedi's hand was questioned, it piqued his interest as he fully turned to face him and show off the device. His own gaze honed in on the holocron as it was explained what it really was or what it could possibly be. He knew about the Caretaker's Tome, it was an artifact that contained incredible knowledge of the past Jedi and their methods. There were even rumors that it contained information regarding the Jedi Shadows of old. If they could figure it out, the contents of it could help the Order immensely in its trying time. "We better keep it safe then."

Both of them made their way to the exit. The vines from earlier had also retreated and eased the thickness of the fauna for them to push through. They would react to the Jedi's presence but would do nothing more than just wiggle in place or slither away. Even though they had been calmed, Elias kept a watchful eye out after his experience of being thrown by one of them. The rumble of ship engines could be heard in the far distance, even from where they were and he knew it was Hannibal's own ship flying to their location.

When they were outside, Elias stepped out into the sun and took a deep breath as well. The temple didn't have the freshest of air and he didn't realize how much he would miss outside. His moment of enjoyment was interrupted when he was asked where the old man went and he turned around to scan the exit they came from. No one came out after them and he gestured his head toward the door before walking, "I'll go search for him while our ships come in." He pressed a button on his comm pad to notify Wulf for retrieval as well.

After a few minutes, Elias would return from the insides of the temple as he just ran a hand through his dirty blonde hair and shrugged his shoulders. By the time he came back, both their ships would have arrived and landed in the vicinity. "Gramps is gone, completely. Gave a little effort and went back to where we found the holocron but nothing." He gave another half turn to face the temple before coming back around to face his X-wing, "I'm sure he'll pop up again. We'll have enough traffic through here soon to spot him."