Ask Fear is the Mind-Killer

[Vex]

Vex had only heard of Voss in old holos she frequently skimmed in the Archives. She never imagined she would visit it. But with her symptoms worsening, she had no choice but to go. The nightmares she had been experiencing since her fight with the vault Guardian were becoming more frequent, more lucid, and more debilitating. The Empress had given her a job: build a prison to house the Empire's worst enemies. She couldn't do that while she constantly fought demons in her own mind. And she couldn't risk going insane. That, she imagined, would go quite poorly for the mask of Nahri Nalju (though it might briefly make good for public sympathy).

Since armor was not allowed on the sacred paths of the Voss, Vex had opted for discreet dark robes with a cavernous hood. For good measure, she kept the scarf that came with it up around the lower half of her face, so that only the glittering crimson of her eyes were visible. She had also taken care to remove any identifying jewelry, and to style her hair differently. Her companion for this pilgrimage was a fellow Sith, but even they must not know her true identity.

"Remember," Vex said quietly as they marched within a loosening crowd of pilgrams marching up the forest path. "Don't do anything to insult their customs. No weapons, if you can help it." She kept her own lightsaber off and in separate pieces on either side of her utility belt. "The second you see a path that would allow us to ditch these pilgrims for the woods, alert me."

As much as Vex would like to see the great Shrine of Healing, she had other intentions for this planet. The Light rituals the Voss Mystics practiced were useless to her. If she wanted to find something to cure her nightmares, she would have find the legendary and reviled Dark Heart. And she suspected that would take time and a lot of patience. @Altaris

 

[Darth Tempest]

Even if Vahliri didn’t receive a very in-depth brief about the purpose of this mission, the half-Annfyn was more than happy to accompany Vex to the planet Voss. Not only was the world and its pilgrimage sites thoroughly interesting, the mission was a good opportunity to get back out into the field and get her mind off of the entire ordeal on Dromund Kaas. She had already worked with the Sith Champion once before back on Ansion, though.. They didn’t exactly have much interaction beyond a shared battlefield experience.

While armor wasn’t exactly allowed in their current environment, that suited Vahliri just fine - as the half-Annfyn opted to don her usual black-and-red robes - hood pulled around her head, while an additional veil covered the lower hemisphere of her face. Her black hair was pulled back into a braid that draped across her shoulder, while the half-Annfyn’s lightsaber was discreetly tucked into the inside of her cloak. All in all, they blended into the crowd rather well.

A bit.. Too well, as a matter of fact - considering that Vahliri had been subjected to a particularly determined young woman prattling on about ‘The Light’ in her sensitive ears for at least two hours at this point. The half-Annfyn couldn’t help but wonder how many times she could respond with ‘mhm’ and ‘that’s so interesting’ before the woman finally would take a hint… But it didn’t appear to be any time soon. Vahliri gravitated towards Vex at the first opportunity - picking a moment where there was a bit of group dispersion and they weren’t packed together like sardines.

She blinked a few times when the Champion mentioned not insulting the pilgrims. “I’m not sure I could deter that one lady if I tried.” She muttered.

For several minutes longer, the pair of Sith continued to walk along the forest path - slowly making their way towards whatever destination the pilgrims were attempting to reach. After a while, the group began to descend down a steep hill - the path narrowing and forcing the pilgrims to once again pack together tightly.

It was at that moment that Vahliri subtly nudged Vex, urging the Sith Champion to step off to the side and allow others to pass. She leaned down, idly rubbing at her ankles as if to feign injury while the others passed ahead of them. Only once the pair had fallen to the very back of the group did Vahliri opt to continue along the path - though not for very much farther.Just as the path began to decline steeply, Vahliri subtly reached out with the Force - coiling her grasp around the leg of one of the pilgrims - which just so happened to be the same one who had been crowing in her ears for the past two hours. With a faint flick of her wrist, the half-Annfyn caused the woman to abruptly trip forward - falling to the ground and knocking harshly into the man directly in front of her - causing him to do the same. What followed was a domino effect of multiple pilgrims tripping over each other - with those in front unable to see what was happening, and those in the back too deep into their forward momentum to stop and avoid tripping in time.

With eyes entirely off of them at that moment, Vahliri jutted her chin and gestured for Vex to quickly and discreetly break off towards the woods - flashing the Sith Champion a satisfied smirk as she did so. Once they had broken away from the group, she finally glanced back at Vex once more. “I was totally waiting to do that.”

@Mockingjay

Dice: 17/20 to distract the pilgrims

 

[Vex]

They were well-away from the pilgrims when Vex stopped running. She wasn't winded—she had been through worse runs in her early training—but the sudden dash had certainly left her surprised. "When you said you could deter that lady," Vex said, "I was expecting a mind-trick. Maybe a bit spin up a bit of a restless crowd to give us cover. I wasn't expecting you to nearly break her face on the pavement." Vex supposed her tone could be taken as chiding, but her intent was anything but. In fact, she rather thought she might like this woman. "Come on."

She led the two of them deeper into the wilderness. Voss was a historied planet. It was one of the few in the galaxy that had seen very little change in thousands of years. The Voss Elders were a conservative group who liked to keep things the same. Though, their relation with the Gormak had somewhat improved. The two nations were no longer constantly at war, but there was still tensions around their relations.

As they moved beneath a canopy of golden leaves, Voss' star sent rays of light beaming down in shafts through gaps between the trees. It was a serene planet. Perhaps the most beautiful she had ever seen. But she knew that wasn't the full picture. Voss had a dark side. They just had to find it. "The secrets we're looking for," Vex explained to her travel companion. "Are rumored to be etched into the ruins at the center of the Dark Heart. But finding them will be... Problematic. The locals steer outsiders and natives alike away from the Dark Heart. So, we'll have to get creative."

Vex had been doing her diligence by the Empress' allowances. She had borrowed some tomes from the Mustafarian libraries to study back home on Belsavis. She knew a ritual that would allow them to locate places steeped in the dark side. But first, they needed to find a place of absolute Light. "There should be ruins in these woods that will allow us to locate the Dark Heart, but," she placed her hands on her hips, "all I see are trees. You?" @Altaris

 

[Darth Tempest]

“Well it worked, didn’t it?” She asked back at Vex, her lips tugging the faintest bit upwards as she looked at the Sith Champion. Despite how the woman’s tone might’ve come across on the surface, she had a feeling there was nothing particularly chiding about it. She offered a faint shrug as they turned ahead, reaching up to brush back a loose strand of her hair and tuck it behind her fluted ears. “Besides.. Bitch had it coming.” The half-Annfyn was known for her pugnacious and explosive temperament, and had no qualms about taking it out on the woman who had been squawking in her ear for the past two hours.

The half-Annfyn didn’t say much as they trekked through the forest, amber eyes drifting between the leaf-path and the canopy above, while her sensitive ears zeroed in on every little sound and shift around them. There was absolutely no denying it - the planet was gorgeous to behold. No matter the dark secrets they searched for, Vahliri couldn’t help appreciate all the beauty that surrounded them, nor the way it brought back fond memories of her own upbringing on picturesque Indupar.

“Fun,” She muttered, not at all surprised to hear that the locals actively discouraged people from trying to find something so ominously named ‘The Dark Heart’. Still the half-Annfyn tilted her head to the side ever-so-slightly, a somewhat quizzical expression working its way onto her face. “What secrets are we looking for?” She finally asked. The details had been somewhat lacking when she agreed to accompany the Champion, but it wasn’t much of a complaint. She was confident whatever magic or secrets they planned to uncover would ultimately benefit her, but it didn’t stop her from wondering what exactly Vex was after.

“Uhhh…” She glanced around. “No, not really.. Just trees.” The half-Annfyn continued to walk for a few moments before stopping abruptly in her tracks, blinking a few times before taking two steps back and turning to look at the center of a tree she had just passed. “Wait, check this out.” Vahliri drew her hand across the wood, gesturing to a Voss symbol that had been carved into the tree. It wasn’t particularly interesting or anything they would be able to translate, but it did stand out from almost every other tree they passed.

And, it didn’t take Vahliri more than a few split seconds of glancing around to spot an identical rune carved into a tree a few paces away. As if they were markers, guiding the pair in a specific direction. Probably. Maybe.

@Mockingjay

Dice roll: 15/20 for perception.

 

[Vex]

Vex walked over and observed the symbol in the tree bark, tracing the carving with her gloved finger. A woman on a mission now, she followed the symbol tree-to-tree, only absentmindedly responding as she focused on her task. "The Voss people are all Force-wielders that have learned to walk the mental plane," she explained, scratching the marking on yet another trunk. "Some became healers who use their powers and rituals to heal fractured minds. I imagine that woman you nearly flattened was among the pilgrims heading to such a healer." Ahead, the forest thinned and opened up. Something was definitely at the end of this string of trees. "The ritual I am looking for is... darker."

Vex debated explaining her condition and decided against it—for now. The Rakatan's mind probe was hard to explain. Its effects would make her sound... crazy. Even now, shadows were moving through the woods, more alive than they should be. If Vex focused on them long enough, they coalesced, taking the shape of her dead sister's face. Not as she had been in life, but as she would have looked weeks after being buried.

She shook her head. They weren't real. But they were beginning to look real. She was worried what would happen to her if they began to feel real too.

"Here," she announced.

They had come out of the trees into a clearing in the middle of the woods. It was silent here, but the old stone pillars that had long crumbled were unmistakable. And the thorned vines creeping out of the ground to ensnare them, as if they were trying to drag the ruins down into the Netherworld itself, were indicators of the Force's presence.

Vex placed her hands together, as if she were preparing to pray, and then brought them apart. A book materialized out of violet mist and floated before her, flipping to the page of her choice as if by telekinetic prompt. Beneath her helmet, she squinted at the old Sith words etched into its pages. Some of the text in the grimoire was new to her, and she had never actually done this ritual before. She would need to tread carefully.

She moved swiftly and unlatched her cape, shrugging it off and aside. "You ever desecrated a site strong in the Force before?" she asked, as if it were something every Sith did. This wasn't quite like tainting a Force nexus. It was smaller, less powerful, less involved; but it would allow them to see the places of darkness more clearly if they were successful. "Pluck a branch or two from one of those trees over there, would you?" she asked as she waited on an answer, gesturing to cluster of trees along the outskirts of the ruins. "We need something to represent the planet for this to work."

As Vahl did that, Vex got to work, conjuring a ritual dagger by swiping her hand through the air. She used it to begin carving runes into the center of the ruins. @Altaris

 

[Darth Tempest]

Vahliri blinked a few times at the information Vex divulged about the Voss. The half-Annfyn had done her own research on the planet and its inhabitants, but she listened none-the-less - absorbing the information eagerly as she often did. Of course, the half-Annfyn merely offered a shrug when the other Sith mentioned her previous victim’s likely destination.

“Well, she’ll certainly need one now.”

Vahliri didn’t question the fact - but she certainly didn’t miss - that Vex avoided her question. The half-Annfyn couldn’t say she was surprised by the non-answer - Sith weren’t exactly notorious for being forthcoming - but she had hoped to gleen a bit of information nonetheless. Opting not to press the issue further, Vahliri merely shrugged a bit and continued right along - her eyes lingering on Vex as the woman conjured her grimoire out of thin air.

“..Damn,” She muttered, that bit of wonder glinting in her eyes at the woman’s display of magic.

Vahliri shifted from where she was standing to do as Vex requested. She approached one of the ancient trees that lined made up the forest all around them - gripping the base and benting it downward in order to snap the piece of wood off - repeating the gesture twice more. With golden leaves still attached, Vahliri strolled back over and prepared to do.. Whatever with them that Vex wanted. “No, I haven’t.” She admitted.

“Your magic,” She finally said after a long moment. “Did you teach yourself?”

@Mockingjay

 

[Vex]

Vex plucked the branches from Vahliri and sat them at the center of the ruins. Then she whispered a quick word in the ancient Sith language and dissolved the illusion on her clothes until she was restored to her true outfit. This was much more comfortable, though she regrettably had to maintain the scarf around the lower half of her face to keep Nahri's identity safe. She just couldn't risk this new Sith knowing who she was just yet.

"Yes," she replied, memories of the Empress commanding her to do so flitting through her mind. "Well, sort of. I had help... just not a proper teacher."

As she spoke, she slashed her hand through the air and conjured a ritual knife the same way she had summoned her book. She cut the pad of her index finger with it and let the blood drip onto the kindling Vahliri had provided her. It immediately burst into amethyst flame, and a cool wind bellowed out from it, sweeping over the runes she had carved.

Then, she turned to Vahl and handed the knife to her. "You next," she instructed. "It doesn't have to be a lot, but your blood will bind you to my spell. You'll see everything that I see." Already, Vex could feel the power building in the ruins. The Shadow swooping down from the sky to burn away the Light as fuel. "The ritual uses this ruin's inherent Light to expose the Shadow and, with any luck, the Dark Heart. But this place only has a lingering Force presence, so we won't have long to search before we burn through the fuel here." She paced back over to the center of the ruins and sat down, assuming a meditative stance. "When the ritual starts, it'll feel like the first time you ever flew a starship. Your instincts will tell you to fight the sensation to stay grounded. Resist them and focus on me."

Her mind momentarily turned to Varyn. To the way he had reacted to her using this type of magic back on Ziost. She didn't want to scare Vahl the same way, so, before they began, she regarded her fellow Sith, magenta eyes gleaming out from underneath her hood. "If you have an aversion to the use of this sort of power, this is your off-ramp," Vex said. "After this, it only gets darker. But, if you're still on board, just say the word." @Altaris

 

[Darth Tempest]

Vahliri couldn’t help the obvious curiosity that flashed in her eyes when the Sorceress dispelled the illusion around her - revealing her true garments with a simple spell and incantation. Her interest in the occult and Dark Side magicks had only increased since her expedition to Korriban with Varyn and encounter with that Pureblood Sorcerer.

The half-Annfyn crossed her arms over chest, listening when Vex reveald she was largely self-taught in her art. It was a bit of information the half-Annfyn made clear note of, though she didn’t immediately press the issue further. Instead, Vahliri watched as the Sith Master spilled her blood over the kindling before passing the knife to her. “Shouldn’t be a problem.” She nodded confidently when Vex gave further instructions, bringing the top of the knife up to the fleshy part of her thumb.

She paused only when Vex gave that final warning, earning the Sith Master a few blinks from the half-Annfyn. Her expression grew resolute, her head shaking a bit when woman mentioned having an aversion to the magick. “Not in the slightest. Rather the opposite.” Vahliri said simply, following up her statement with the faintest flick her wrist - slicing the blade through the bottom of her thumb with a faint wince. She watched as the blood dripped onto those Amethyst flames, causing them to burn just a bit brighter and with renewed intensity - the half-Annfyn’s own lifeblood binding and fueling the ritual flame.

Almost at once, Vahliri could feel the power that thrummed around her - bristling across her skin and through the Force all around them. She could feel the familiar Darkness that built throughout the ruins - the familiar warmth and tranquility of the Light fading into the background - swallowed by the shadows they conjured. “I’m ready,” The half-Annfyn said, dropping down into a meditative pose as her eyes closed.

While she expected Vex would be doing the majority of the heavy lifting of the magick, Vahliri nevertheless expanded her senses through the Force - slipping into a meditative state of concentration as the ritual began - her focus fixating onto Vex as instructed.

@Mockingjay

 

[Vex]

Vex nodded and moved to sit cross-legged at the center of the ruins. She took a deep breath, then closed her eyes, steadily floating into the air as the ritual began. And then she was out of her body, astral projecting across vast distances. But she immediately realized something was wrong. This place of Light was supposed to cast its rays, exposing the places of shadow. Only... Vex didn't feel a single place of Shadow. She felt it everywhere. A coldness that clawed up her spine like a rancor's claws.

She shivered, trying to steady her mind. There was something there in the astral plane with her. Something dark and so strong its willpower nearly smothered her. She tried to recoil from it, but its voice was already echoing across the darkness. Sel-Makor. A voice so cold and high, and yet so ancient at the same time. What could possibly make such a stain on this world? Before she could get her answer, she was violently ejected from the ritual, her body crashing down onto the stone of the ruins as the last of their light was extinguished as fuel for the ritual.

She gasped, sitting upright. "It failed..." she said. "But I—" She stuttered for the words, her mind failing to wrap around what it had just felt. "The old rumors suggested that the Dark Heart was haunted by some sort of... entity. But I never imagined..." Coming slowly back to her senses, Vex looked across the ruins to Vahl, who would have been safe from the effects, only seeing what Vex saw through her eyes. "Are you alright?" she asked anyways.

Her muscles were stiff, but she stood anyways, staring out into the woods as the sunlight dimmed. "We're going to have to find this place this old fashioned way," she said after a time. "There should be smaller shrines out here in the woods. If we can find one, we can... convince the Voss guarding it to tell us what they know about this place."

And Sel-Makor. @Altaris

 

[Darth Tempest]

Vahliri exhaled a breath through her nostrils - almond-shaped eyes fluttering closed as she relaxed into a meditative position. Even amongst the relative silence of the ruins, the half-Annfyn could feel the Darkness that thrummed all around her - ringing in her mind like a drum and pulsating through every extremity of her body. The energies built and coalesced all around them, the half-Annfyn drank deep potency.

Moments passed, and she could feel her own consciousness flipping away from the physical plane. Her vision grew dark, and suddenly re-opened through eyes that were not entirely her own - the Force connecting her to Vex and everything that the Sorceress saw. Everything that she felt.

Including the presence that lingered there. Watching them. Vahliri heard its name spoken like as a foul whisper in her mind, and she felt its cold, spectral claws raking through Vex - eliciting phantom sensations through the half-Annfyn as well. She was safe compared to the other Sith - but Vahliri nevertheless felt and saw it all. And she couldn’t help the name that reverberated in her mind over, and over, and over again.

Sel-Makor.

The ritual ended, and Vahliri’s eyes suddenly snapped open once more - amber gaze fixing back onto Vex’s face. She blinked a few times - her vision furry for a moment as she settled back into her physical senses. “I felt it.. Heard it, as well.” She confirmed, a frown tugging at the corners of her lips. The half-Annfyn.. Didn’t enjoy being taken off guard, but her curiosity at this point burned bright as a torch. “Fine. Are you?” She asked in response to Vex’s question, tilting her head ever-so-slightly. Vahliri slowly but surely rose to her feet - subtly stepping closer to the other woman in fact Vex’s stiff muscles decided to buckle or otherwise indicated the Sorceress might eat shit.

A moment ticked by, and Vahliri gave Vex a prompt nod of her head when the smaller shrines were mentioned. “Alright then, hard way it is.” Deciding to take matters into her own hands, Vahliri took in a deep breath before closing her eyes on the physical world - her senses expanding through the Force and stretching out in all directions around them.

Through her sight, the half-Annfyn combed through the forest closest to them - attempting to pinpoint any ripples or focal points through the Force, as if scanning for movement across the surface of a placid lake. Moments of silence passed, and the half-Annfyn finally felt the faintest ripples coming just from the west - a concentration of Force energy that drew her attention above all else.

It was faint, not nearly powerful enough to be the Dark Heart and the half-Annfyn knew she would've be able to pinpoint that objective anyway. But Vahliri could only guess it might the type of smaller shrine they were not on the search for. “This way,” The half-Annfyn jutted her chin, giving Vex another cursory ‘you good?’ look before moving in that direction. She didn’t immediately say anything after that - walking for a few minutes before slowing to look back at the other Sith.

“What else do the rumors say about this entity?”

@Mockingjay

Dice: 16/20 to sense stuff.