Buried Vault

[Amilthi]

A small shuttle was descending from the nightly sky of Dathomir. The scene was magnificent: the wild landscape, forests broken by rock, lay in the dark below, yet the sky was still lighted, the clouds red like flying fireballs. Above the horizon, the planet threw its shadow in the atmosphere.

A little while later, the Sith was standing on a clearing in the forest. The sounds of insects and birds filled the air. The beast that was this planet didn't seem to go to rest at night. It was a beautiful place, if not a welcoming one; the atmosphere was strange, at once menacing and invigorating, intimidating and yet arousing. Such were the workings of the Dark Side in this wild world...

Rhasru took a deep breath, smelling the earthy aroma in the air, and then, drawing the hood of his dark gray robes over his head, turned to the Acolyte who was accompanying him. Rhasru looked over the young woman. A very curious individual indeed, and very unique. A Sith in the biological sense, but with enough human admixture to be actually pretty. And very inexperienced. He smirked inwardly. She would soon have people all over her, trying to make her into a devoted member of the Order and a supporter of the Imperium, and all the while have her believe that it was for her own personal gain. That would be such a pity, for devotion, he would say, was not the way of the Dark Side. Rhasru had taken her with him partly out of curiosity, but also with an eye on this issue. It would be such a pity.

"Have you yet handled a holocron back on Korriban? If you have, you will know the aura they exude, and if not, you will see it soon. It is said that they want to be sought out, that they even call when one is close to finding them." The one they were here for had indeed been found. It was no surprise that these witches, the so-called Nightsisters, had been allured by its presence, even if they wouldn't be able to make proper use of it.

"Now, let us go and find these witches, or be found by them. I believe it is time for a little chat. They are superstitious barbarians, of course, but wouldn't it be nice if we could spare ourselves the trouble of killing them all?" he said with a wry smile.

Surely the entry of the ship into the atmosphere had not gone unnoticed, and perhaps the position of their landing had already been guessed. This didn't worry the Sith, to the contrary, it would make it easier to find someone. And if danger arose, the Force would warn him, as it always did...

 

[Galavant]

Rina had only been on Dathomir for less than half an hour (And had only known about it since shortly before she'd been assigned to this mission) and she already hated it. There was plant life everywhere on Korriz and Korriban it'd been much more sparse, and Dathomir was the only other planet other than those two that she'd been on. To her eyes a beautiful planet was more desert like and barren with the vegetation only doting the scenery not encompassing it completely with horrible shades of green. She hated the smell especially and the humidity was almost overbearingly oppressive to her. And the insects! What purpose could making so much noise serve other than attracting predators? To say that this planet annoyed her was an understatement.

Her "colleague" on the other hand seemed to be enjoying it. Rina couldn't imagine what kind of world someone had to come from to actually like a wet ball of mud and grass like this. He looked kind of funny to her as well his skin had a reddish hint, but Rina was certain he was no sith like her. It wasn't quite the right shade of red, and besides on the shuttle he smelled funny. Her tightened her black robes around herself a little more so nasty little insects would crawl underneath and bite her.

"No I've never handled a holocron," She replied after listening to what he had to say. She hadn't actually been a student at the Korriban Academy for very long before she'd been assigned to this mission and hadn't handled one of the devices, but she had heard of them. She gave him a resentful glare at the phrase "superstitious barbarians". Some of the people she'd first met had put her in that category as well, which made more willing to give the witches the benefit of the doubt. But then again they did live here.....

"So what exactly is that we're after here," She asked, she was still a fuzzy as the specifics of the mission, she'd pretty just jumped at the first chance she got to get off Korriban and see the galaxy a little more. She starting to regret that decision, and made a mental note to never go to Dathomir again.

 

[Amilthi]

Rhasru looked at the Acolyte and raised an eyebrow. She seemed to be very uncomfortable and he didn't see at all why she would be. For all he knew, she should have felt rather at home at a place so strong in the Force. Instead, she wrapped herself tightly in her robes. She was looking at him as if to accuse him for having dragged her here. He shrugged and looked around to see what direction he felt like going in. It didn't really seem to matter, since he was actually counting on being found rather than finding anything.

"Come", he said as he set out into the forest. It was dark, and although the forest was not so dense as to be impenetrable, it didn't let through much moonlight. Rhasru let himself be guided by his instincts, which complemented the scarce hints that his eyes received and allowed him to move, slowly but steadily, without walking into a tree or even being hit by branches, although he had to brush some of them to the side occasionally.

"A holocron was hidden in this place", he began to explain in a conversational tone, "but it was apparently snatched away from under our noses by the witches. We're going to set things right by retrieving it from them."

After a moment's pause, he continued. "I can't help noticing that you're not enjoying this. What do you enjoy?"

 

[Galavant]

Rina followed Rhasru deeper into the forest which wasn't much more pleasant than the clearing where the shuttle had landed was. In fact it was slightly worse with all the branches and foliage. Rina had never had to deal with low hanging branches smacking her in the back of the head when she tried to move one out of the way to walk past it and didn't find the experience enjoyable on any level. She wondered how Rhasru knew where they were supposed to be going and then realized that the man was just sort of wondering around without any set pathway. She personally didn't think that was the best decision, but he looked confident and seemed to know what he was doing so she didn't protest.

"I enjoy hunting and visiting worlds that aren't steaming balls of mud and grass," She replied to Rhasru's question. She didn't actually have a lot that she did enjoy. Enjoyment wasn't really on her list of things to seek out, unless it involved knotting the entrails of a still living Jedi. Now that would be entertaining.

"So what exactly are these witches?," She asked in return as they continued through the forest.

 

[Amilthi]

Rhasru found himself frustrated by his companion turning out to be rather close-lipped. Her succint answer had neither told him much about her, nor left him with a natural way to inquire further.

"They're a matriachal tribal society whose women have some sort of magic. It pales in comparison to the Force, obviously, but it was enough for them to secure power over the planet." The Sith shrugged. "Apparently, they use it is to domesticate rancors. By the way, we could go hunting for one after we're done with our present business", he suggested with a look back to Rina.

The sight that he found when he turned back ahead made him stop and frown. In the deep shadows between the trees stood three female figures, two of them holding spears whose blades occasionally glinted in the dark when a stray ray of light met them. What irritated the Sith was not the fact that they were there per se; to the contrary, that was what he had been expecting. Rather, it was that he hadn't had a hunch about their approach. That wasn't supposed to happen, and he wondered what it meant. Did it signify that they were no danger? Or did their silly magic replicate the ability of some Force users to vanish in the Force and make themselves imperceptible by its means? Could there be more of them around without him noticing?

"You are trespassing the territory of the Nightsisters", the middle one of the women announced in a rather deep, husky voice that supposedly sounded menacing to some kinds of people. People who were not like Rhasru.

"Why, good... morning, I suppose it is. How pleasant to be received by such charming ladies!" he replied, his facial expression changing into a smirk.

 

[Galavant]

"Interesting," Rina replied dryly as they made there way through the dark woods. From what Rina knew there hadn't been many prominent women of the Sith species, and for the most part the politics had dominated by the males of the species in the ancient caste system. Before she could ask what the sudas a Rancor was though the so called 'witches' made their appearance. She wasn't scared of them, so much as curious. They didn't look particularly witch-like to Rina, but then again she didn't really have a basis for a witch was supposed to look like...

She leaned closer to Rhasru and whispered in his ear "If they're matriarchal perhaps I should talk to them." She was kidding, but Rhasru seemed like he could take a joke, unlike some of the other Sith Rina had met.

 

[Amilthi]

Rhasru raised an eyebrow at Rhina's unexpectedly cheeky comment. He wondered if it was a challenge, and considered throwing her in at the deep end and following her suggestion.

"You will leave", he heard the witch say; the some one that had spoken before. In the dark besides her, another one could be seen making gestures with her free hand and moving her lips. Rhasru frowned and wondered what she was doing. Perhaps she was trying to cast a spell, but nothing seemed to be coming of it. Apparently, something had been supposed to happen and failed to, since the witch looked at the two Sith with a confused expression when she stopped.

Rhasru shrugged and turned to his companion. The opportunity was just too good to let it pass.

"Leave? Are we going to?" he asked, passing the ball to her.