Ask Dank Basement, Bro

[Irelia Veld]

Irelia had never been to Zeltros. Though, like most people, she knew of its reputation as a party planet. Stories about what happened on Zeltros were legendary so when Irelia heard there would be some Sith business going down there, she was one of the first people to jump and sign up.

Of course, when she’d gotten her assignment, Irelia was a little.. Disappointed. Instead of diving headlong into the party scene, she and two others would instead be diving into the creepy, grime covered secret basement of a Sith safe house.

Yay.

Irelia had arrived at the warehouse a little earlier than the mission briefing had advised, deciding to take some time to look around the place. That hadn’t taken nearly as long as she would have assumed so she’d spent the past hour or so sitting in a semi-comfortable chair - avoiding the parts of it splattered with old, dried blood - reading a small novella.

She carried some sort of reading material pretty much wherever she went. Irelia couldn’t stand being bored, and there was usually a lot of waiting around time with the Sith. Or at least, it always seemed like there was.

Checking her chrono, Irelia expected her partners to arrive any time now. She secretly hoped they’d be a little late since she only had around twenty pages left in her book. It would be kind of annoying to have to finish it later.

 

[Darth Arcanos]

The pureblood was the second to arrive. He had a cloth wrapping around the lower hemisphere of his face. He wasn’t usually too keen on revealing his pureblood nature too easily. His race was affiliated with fascination or disgust, and he had little desire to entertain either. He was adorned in light armor that exposed his arms and parts of his upper chest. He still hadn’t gotten into the habit of wearing modern clothing worn by the wider galaxy.

The SIth had an EZPod in one ear to translate the speech of others at least partially to get by. His weapons consisted of his lanvarok and a Sith blade he had crafted himself. He said nothing to the other girl who had already arrived, leaving her to her reading as he leaned against a wall with his arms crossed. He would wait in silence until they were joined by the third before heading in.

While he surveyed the warehouse, his citrine gaze eventually drifted over to the girl to study her quietly. He had never seen white hair on another person before and he found it a mixture of odd and curious.

@Orbit @Logan

 

[Dei Ra'Vida]

Sanguis would be the third and final arrival for their little escapade into the lower tunnels. His footsteps echoed softly before he stepped out into view, his black armor covering every inch of his skin. Akin to Azar, he also preferred keeping his nature and identity a secret as he wore a crimson helmet that fully encased his head. Light armor was more natural to him, but he had begun the long process of growing comfortable with the discomfort of heavier dressings.

He pulled his hood down as he stepped into the light, his armament consisting of two knives holstered on his chest, a collapsed vibro-sword on his leg, and his lightsaber holstered on his right shoulder in the fashion of a traditional sword. Sanguis' gaze would first land on Azar by the wall, the lanvarok catching his eye for a moment given his warrior culture, before it slid over to Irelia, who sat in the chair contently with her book. The two weren't exactly what he expected, but he had been underestimated for the majority of his life before, and he wouldn't make that mistake with others.

"Let's begin, unless one of you has... concerns." Sanguis' voice was deeply modulated, another layer masking his identity. He has his own suspicions about the cause of these reports that sighted both AMS zombies and abominations, but he kept them to himself until he knew more.

If both of them said nothing, his eyes would then drift to the blood splatter on Irelia's chair, noticing that it turned into a small trail that led further into the warehouse. Sanguis would begin to silently follow after it, as he could guess it led to the tunnels.

@Logan @Sreeya

 

[Irelia Veld]

Despite her attention being occupied by her book, Irelia wasn't so airy as to have the new arrival go entirely unnoticed. She appreciated Azar’s silence as he leaned against the wall, though Irelia couldn’t help but tear her eyes off the page and peer over her glasses at him.

She had expected someone taller.

A smirk pulled at the corner of her mouth as she returned to reading, thankfully finishing the last paragraph as Sanguis arrived. Apparently she had missed the memo of “Lets all wear a mask for some reason,” and though she felt a bit left out, Irelia was never really one to hide her identity.

None from me, She replied idly to Sanguis before putting her book down on an end table. She would leave it there for someone else to pick up if they wanted, given that this would eventually be a full fledged safehouse for other Sith. Irelia wasn’t much of a re-reader when it came to books.

Following the elder Sith towards the tunnels that lead down into the subterranean portions of the warehouse, Irelia found herself curious.

Did we get any actual information about what to expect or just whatever vagueness we already have? She asked as they began their descent. I am Irelia by the way, not that anyone asked. Figured it might be easier to share names than make up random nicknames for eachother. Although, that does sound more interesting in hindsight.

Making idle chitchat was something Irelia did when she was nervous, so hopefully the brooding and silent boys that she was walking with weren’t too annoyed by her ramblings.

It would be way too easy to ditch her in the tunnels and say something ate her if she pressed too hard, so for now she’d leave it at that while they continued down the far-too-many-stairs into the darkness.

@Sreeya @Orbit

 

[Darth Arcanos]

Irelia was only halfway through her statements before Azar started walking. He strode right past her and down deeper into the tunnels, leaving the other man to entertain her. He cautiously made his way through the path, noticing that it began to incline down. He didn’t see the point in clearing a place like this. If no one else wanted this place, there was a reason for it. Sith living like vermin was an insult.

He was as silent as a cat, quietly stalking through the shadows and barely visible himself. He moved with grace that was closer to that of a predatory animal than most lumbering humanoids. A lifetime of living in a tribal society had allowed him to adapt to most scenarios. After a while, he could smell the stench of death and rot before he came across several skeletons.

Azar paused there, pointing a lone finger at the skeletons to notify the others and to tread carefully before he ventured further down. Before long, he found what appeared to be an old note on the ground next to a skeleton. He couldn’t properly read Basic, but he caught the girl reading earlier, so he handed the note to her.

Dear Amelia,
I promise to return to you soon. We were selected to try out a new vaccine to combat the mutated variants of AMS. I’ll be one of the first to be immunized. Just to monitor for any side effects, they’re keeping us at some warehouse. It’s boring and mundane, but I think I just need to be here for a few days. We keep talking about how much we miss homemade food! Love you and the kids. See you soon!
-Your Ollie

@Logan @Orbit

 

[Dei Ra'Vida]

Both the acolytes answered that they had none in their own way, which was perfectly fine for Sanguis. There was little trust between them, but that was alleviated by the notion that they wouldn't be bogged down by irrational fear. Not wasting time, he continued to follow the blood trail, but Azar would push ahead of him silently, leading the group to the tunnels. The Echani gave no comment, welcoming the acolyte as the group's early warning system.

Traveling deeper, Irelia eventually questioned the validity of the Sith's information, which he couldn't blame her for. The only answer she would receive, however, would be the silent turning of Sanguis' head, allowing him to view her out of the corner of his eye. What the silent message contained was simple: they were all in the dark about what they were about to face, and it was better not to waste words about possibilities. His gaze would return forward afterward, perpetually scanning around them for threats.

When they entered the tunnels and navigated deeper, the group eventually came across a clump of skeletons, surprisingly picked clean. After Azar found a note and handed it off to Irelia, Sanguis listened intently, the very little information given providing some context to these tunnels. Once she finished, he would inspect the skeletons again, coming to the conclusion that since they weren't trying to eat his or the other's flesh, a few properties of the vaccine must have been successful.

Sanguis lifted his gaze, staring into the wall of darkness ahead of them as he voiced his thoughts, "We should find the rest of the test subjects, alive or not." He was not only curious about the results but also about the side effects.

@Logan @Sreeya

 

[Irelia Veld]

Well, that interaction could have gone better. Irelia was used to prickly or hell, even aggressive personalities when it came to other Sith, but she definitely wasn't used to being ignored outright. Oh well, she wasn't going to press the issue. A quiet but successful romp in the deep dark basement was good enough for her, all things considered.

When Azar handed her the note, Irelia scanned it quickly and read it aloud. A decent enough first clue into what they were dealing with, though she wished it contained more information. It would seem they would have to dig a little deeper to figure out the true nature of what had happened here.

I find it odd that observation of vaccine subjects would have been done in such an.. unsterile environment. Irelia said as she folded the note and slipped it into her pocket. Makes me wonder if it was some kind of con job. Maybe these poor folks paid to be in the program, and someone just took advantage of their unfortunate circumstance.

Shrugging her shoulders, Irelia nodded at Dei's suggestion, though by the looks of things there wouldn't be much left for them to find. All for the better in her opinion. Irelia would much prefer investigating piles of bones than living, breathing AMS creatures that wanted to eat their faces off.

Pressing forward into the darkness eventually led the group to a large circular room that seemed to have several different halls that branched off from it. In the center was a lifeless body missing large chunks of its torso. Approaching it, Irelia could see that the body might have been mangled but it wasn't that old. Based on its attire, she surmised it was the acolyte that hadn't made it back from the previous excursion.

Whatever is down here is active and strong enough to take down an acolyte with a lightsaber. At least we can be sure he wasn't just killed by his friends and they used an excuse to cover it up.

As she knelt down to take a closer look, Irelia was taken by surprise as the seemingly dead corpse suddenly popped its eyes open and its hand shot out and grasped her by the wrist.

Fuck! She exclaimed, able to wrench her hand away from it before the undead guy was able to take a chomp out of her arm.

Jumping back nearly a foot or two, Irelia reached for her lightsaber as the shambling sound of feet dragging across duracrete echoed from one of the nearby hallways.

It seemed they were no longer alone.

@Sreeya @Orbit

 

[Dei Ra'Vida]

Irelia made sound observations but had trouble believing con men were able to draw in a whole group of acolytes to their cause. If that really was the case, then in his mind, they had not been worthy to be Sith at all. The group pressed on and entered a large antechamber, with multiple hallways sprouting out from it and leading further into the tunnels. While Sanguis scanned around them, the girl would approach the lone carcass to inspect it, concluding that it had been one of their previous acolytes.

As suddenly as the body woke up and reached out, Sanguis' blade would be freed and brought to bare. The lightsaber shot out of his shoulder holster with the force and right into the hand that was waiting for it. In one smooth motion, the crimson blade was brought down and sliced off the zombie's hand right after Irelia finished her cursing. Immediately, the blade would be twirled to keep it in motion and so that he could pierce the previous acolyte's head right between the eyes, killing it immediately.

Sanguis glanced at Irelia and then at the zombies that were practically crawling into the room from one of the hallways. He glanced back at the acolytes before saying rather calmly, "It's time to go." While he could have done nothing, he wasn't going to risk dealing with another dead body than he already needed to. Before they went further, he stepped past the two and where they had entered from, quickly slashing his blade into the wall to form an "X" and prevent them from being utterly lost down here.

As the zombies began to file in, the group would be able to hear a sound that sounded completely unique. It was almost a combination of a screech and a roar, with the piercing sound echoing down the halls. "Now," Sanguis stated before he deactivated his lightsaber, choosing one of the tunnels that was in the opposite direction of the scream. The answer to what could take out the acolytes wasn't too far behind.

@Sreeya @Logan