Ask Korriban Field Trip

[Emryc Thorne]

Emryc considered her words, watching as she did her mental deduction to arrive at a similar conclusion. Over the span of time, the holocrons were thought to be lost. Part of the reason they were never found was simply because they disappeared from common knowledge and faded into obscurity. The Sith Lords of old were written into history books, but there was little appreciation for their personal effects.

He watched as she looked into his eyes and set the datapad down. He held the gaze, his thoughts lost into memories and words of the thousands of pages he had read. He didn’t answer her immediately, looking away as he broke the gaze. He almost regretted revealing what he did, and it contradicted his principles of always simply considering himself. There was no room for anyone else in the equation.

“We will find the cup and see what the cave yields,” He said after a moment, entirely sidestepping her question without an ounce of remorse. He gazed at her for a few seconds before walking past her and towards the cockpit.

 

[Ana DAmico]

Silence was as much of an answer as she expected, and it did nothing but confirm her question. Even if he wouldn’t admit it, that was what he sought. The Sith were self-centered and egotistic; always looking out for themselves, as the rule of ‘might makes right’ dictated. Ana couldn’t fault the man for his secrecy and withdrawal; she would have done the same, had she held his beliefs. She was unlike many of those who called themselves Sith, though. She believed in the strength of unity over division and understood that, until the order was united under a cause beyond wanton violence and the destruction of the Jedi, they would never know the greatness that their forebearers did.

Emryc walked away without further conversation and headed for the cockpit, leaving Ana alone with her thoughts for a moment. She mused on their differences and similarities for a few seconds more before rising and following him. She leaned against the opening to the cockpit and folded her arms across her chest, watching the man go about his business.

”So you know where to find the cup,” she remarked, ”Or are we going to wander the galaxy, scouring every little hidden den in the hopes that whatever we find is the right relic?” Again, there was that skepticism. He hadn’t revealed anything about the whereabouts of the cup of the first, so his insistence on finding it piqued her interest. Regardless of where they were to travel, she knew that she would have to keep her wits about her. Emryc was as enigmatic as he was irritating, and that made for a dangerous Sith, if one were to push him beyond his limited patience.

Still, for the time being, they were to work together. She considered it a victory to have won herself a spot on the ship and on this little treasure hunt for priceless tokens of the past, even if the two of them presumably had different intentions for the knowledge that they might find. The future was uncertain, but Ana trusted that the Force would guide her towards a great destiny. That, or she’d die in obscurity like countless other Sith.

 

[Emryc Thorne]

He heard her speak after he was already punching in some coordinates. His mind was on the Kravos holocron and the other artifacts that could hold clues to Andraste’s holocron. Historians were rare among the Sith, and he hadn’t run into anyone from the upper echelon that showed any appreciation for it. He briefly wondered if the Dark Lord had interests, but even then he doubted it.

“I don’t know for sure,” He admitted, tilting his head slightly to look over his shoulder, “But I have a lead on Sarka. Some old coot lives there that has been hoarding all sorts of artifacts. Apparently he’s a hermit that lives out in the jungles,” Emryc shrugged, “At the very least it’s better than what you’ve offered up so far,” He glared, “Which is a whole lot of bantha shit.”

He didn't wait for a response as he returned to focus on the terminal. If she attempted to get the last word in, he purposely made the lurch to hyperspace to ensure she would topple over in the middle of it.

 

[Ana DAmico]

Ana rolled her eyes at Emryc’s snarky quips and decided to leave him to his isolation in the cockpit. He made for a terrible conversationalist, and she had little desire to entertain his insults further. While he stewed in the cockpit for their trip, she spent her time studying up on Sarka and what they might expect on the planet. It was a jungle world – something Ana loathed, given her past experiences on these worlds – of relative unimportance. Its population lived underground and mined valuable gems and it was generally as boring a place as one might find themselves. Aside from all that, there wasn’t much on the place.

She didn’t have Emryc’s lead or the information they had, so she spent the rest of the trip meditating or resting in preparation for what was sure to be a slog through the jungle. Isolated hermits were rarely the forthcoming or sane type, so she didn’t hedge her bets entirely on him having any kind of useful information. Still, it was a lead, and it’d be irresponsible to squander any tips they had for their quest.

After some time of quiet flight interspersed with the occasional academic argument in passing, they landed on Sarkos. It was a verdant world, and Ana found herself staring at it in awe as they approached. No matter how many worlds she visited, she could never get over the sight of a planet filling the viewport. Provided Emryc didn’t have one of his petulant little fits, she stood in the entrance to the cockpit while they landed to watch the landscape blur around them as they headed to the closest clearing they could find.

Even where they landed, it would still be a bit of a walk to the coordinates Emryc had on the hermit, so Ana prepared for the hike. She had on loose, comfortable clothes, her lightsaber, her vibroknife, and all the essentials needed for wandering a foreign jungle. She waited by the exit ramp for Emryc, gesturing towards the path ahead.

”After you.”

 

[Emryc Thorne]

Like Ana, Emryc had read up extensively on the planet. He had read all about the temperatures, the terrain and the fauna. He wore appropriate clothing that was a bit more airy and shoes that would serve well for a hike. He came to a stop near Ana and actually popped on a Huttball sports hat that showed he was partial to the Ryloth Rancors. One quick glance at the two and no one would ever guess they were Sith.

Emryc shrugged and kept walking as Ana gestured for him to do so. He reached the bottom of the ramp before he came to a pause. Unlike Ana, his exposure to the variety of different atmospheres was limited. He lived predominantly on a space station, and he was usually sent to ecumenopolis planets for missions. He grimaced a bit at the smell, and the air felt hot and sticky, as if it were tangible.

He began to walk without complaint, though it was clear he was less than pleased. He glanced down at his datapad, noticing almost immediately that the built in gps systems didn’t work. They had only walked a few feet before it was apparently that there was literally no service out here and all their tech was useless.

“Uhh…” He blinked as he looked at Ana, “Well this is going to take some guesswork..”

 

[Ana DAmico]

Ana was prepared for an uneventful walk through the jungle with Emryc. They’d have some talks, argue a bit over something that was ultimately pointless, and find this crazy old hermit before doing Force-knows-what to extract the information they needed. All in all, it was supposed to be a simple search mission with few hiccups. This lasted all of about… let’s say fifteen seconds before Emryc’s datapad became the galaxy’s least useful paperweight.

Ana stood perfectly still and stared at Emryc. She didn’t say anything, she just stared, even after he’d finished his announcement. In those few moments, she thought about a lot of things. She thought about why she agreed to come along with him instead of just searching on her own; she thought about why she let him talk down to her, rather than fight back and prolong arguments; she thought about this stupid world and its stupid lizard people who mine rubies.

Eventually, she just laughed softly. Nothing raucous, just a gentle giggle followed by a shake of her head. ”Funny,” she said in response to him, then turned off and began walking towards the jungle blindly. She beckoned him along, having no idea where, exactly, she was headed. They were on an alien world with no means of navigation in search of something that might or might not even exist, and their best plan was do some guesswork. Absolutely nothing could go wrong today, she was sure of it.

”Let’s go this way, I guess.”

 

[Emryc Thorne]

Emryc could practically see the whirlwind of emotions that went on inside Ana’s mind. However, her face remained perfectly calm, and the dichotomy was enough to make him grin. He stared at her until she finally let out the giggle, and he couldn’t help but offer a sheepish smile in return, shrugging listlessly. The reality of the situation had set in and they would have to make do with it.

He began to follow after her, looking around at the terrain around them. He looked at the coordinates, trying to spin the datapad around in all angles to make something out. The entire thing went to an error page and he blankly stared at it before putting it away. Emryc wasn’t entirely well versed in survival and jungles beyond having read books and articles.

After a while he could hear a stream in the distance, and he paused to listen, “The hermit probably will want to have access to water,” He muttered, beginning to make his way down towards said stream. With any luck, this would lead them towards a promising path.

“This hermit is apparently seriously anti social,” Emryc said as he kept walking, the path inclining down towards the stream, “Probably has everything around him booby trapped.”

 

[Ana DAmico]

Ana silently seethed the entire walk. This was the third or fourth time she had been lost on a jungle world with someone from the Order she wasn’t particularly a huge fan of. It was becoming almost comical how frequent of an occurrence this was for her. She’d laugh at the absurdity of it all, were it no so immensely frustrating. Another hunt for a piece of knowledge, another jungle world without a map. It was becoming her gimmick, really. Still, she couldn’t fault Emryc for his half-baked plan of wandering; it was what she would have done anyways.

At least it wasn’t raining. Dxun and that unknown world were pretty much constantly in a state of torrential downpour, so she relished the heat and humidity, even if it did make her hair frizz more than she’d like. Insects buzzed around the two, eager for a fat lunch, and she found herself swatting them away more than she would have liked.

”Which means we shouldn’t follow any obvious trails,” she remarked in response to his little tidbit of information. She had nothing further to add, so she continued in silence through the jungle. Her footsteps sunk into the moist soil every so often, but she was smart enough to have worn boots fit for trekking in these conditions. It’d be a pain to clean later, but for now, she just wanted to find this hermit.

The sound of rushing water grew louder the farther they walked in their current direction. After some time, they’d come to the river. Ana gazed around, brows furrowed in thought. They found the source of fresh water, but now they had to find their prey. She looked at Emryc, then back at the river, holding a hand up.

”A surprising lack of animals,” she noted, darting her eyes back and forth, ”Usually that means there’s a threat nearby. Something that keeps them from coming here to drink.” Their walk over, there were few beasts larger than insects, and she found it odd that for a world so rich with life to be so empty. Often, that meant that something was hunting the prey animals enough to keep them away or was dominant enough to claim this little patch of the forest as its own personal watering hole. She wondered if the hermit they were looking for was dangerous enough to ward off animals like that.

 

[Emryc Thorne]

Emryc bristled in response to her words, “Yes, let’s walk clear opposite of the stream and wander around because it seems obvious otherwise,” He grumbled back. Thankfully, she didn’t straight up protest against the path along the river. Emryc didn’t have a lot of confidence in the direction they were going, and he had a sinking feeling about this. He could relate somewhat to living like a hermit, and it usually entailed taking drastic measures to stay out of sight.

After they were walking for a bit, Ana rattled off another factoid that sounded like it came straight from a book. He had to resist the urge to roll his eyes, but she did have a point. He slowed down his pace, trying to cautiously listen for anything. The birds were quieter and the presence of the creatures here was decidedly less.

“If we were near any artifacts, we would have felt something,” He said quietly, “We can’t be near the hermit yet…” This was assuming the old coot even had what they were looking for. Anything that Andraste or one of the Sith Lords of old had touched would have a heavy presence. He half wondered how sane the man could be if he had hoarded up several ‘cursed’ artifacts.

They took a few more steps before the earth gave out beneath their feet. There was no way to have expected it. Suddenly, they were sent plunging into a dark, damp hole below. One that had several skeletons in it.

 

[Ana DAmico]

Ana rolled her eyes at Emryc’s quip about sensing the artifacts. If this hermit had even a single item belonging to Andraste, Kravos, or any of the ancient Sith, he’d have been reduced to a gibbering madman from years of isolation with such artifacts. They’d have felt the perverse stench of the Dark Side from quite a ways away, even if they were lost thanks to Emryc’s stellar planning. No, she figured he had but a piece of the puzzle, or perhaps clues related to its whereabouts. It couldn’t have been anything truly substantial.

Though, the lack of animals in the area was disconcerting, even if there were predators nearby. Aggressive fauna didn’t just silence entire sections of the jungle. Ana cast her eyes skyward as they walked, watching heavy, dark clouds beginning to gather overhead. Hopefully, it’d be a while before the storm, but she could never be certain on these damnable planets. Ana found herself soaked to the bones by monsoons more often than not, which she took to be a sign from the galaxy that she was either pissing it off or on the right track. Again, hard to tell with these things. She hoped it was the latter.

Her day was going relatively well until the ground beneath them gave way and plunged them into a dark, damp pit trap. Ana cried out in surprise as they went down, and it took her a while to get her bearings once the fall had been completed. She glanced about in a daze, taking a moment to realize she was collapsed in a heap with a skeleton. The hole was filled with skeletons of various stages of decay, and they were only protected by a layer of bone against menacing, bloodied spikes. She cringed and threw aside the skeletal corpse snuggling her, then looked over at Emryc.

”Guh- are you alright?” she asked, glancing around. Those trapped down here either starved to death or were impaled, and she wasn’t sure what was worse.

 

[Emryc Thorne]

Emryc spat out a glob of dirt in response to her question. Why did he have his mouth open anyway? He was suddenly angry at himself for allowing this to happen. They were two very intelligent people and they had been done in by a trap meant for wild animals. He sat there fuming for a few seconds before he finally moved, pressing on a random skull to hoist himself up.

He looked up above, watching the skies becoming dark. They were rapidly losing daylight and they were in a kriffing hole. Emryc reached out to touch the surface in front of him to check the integrity. To his dismay, it was muddy and slippery, sticking to his fingers.

“Kriff,” He said simply as he shook his hand off, a few specks of mud no doubt landing on Ana, “What do you propose?”

This was one of those times he wasn’t above asking Ana about her knowledge. He hadn’t been out on ‘misadventures’ like these enough to know what to do. His academic knowledge was absolutely worthless here. As much as he hated to admit it to himself, he was more than a little confused. They were too far in to simply jump up with the Force, and the surface was more or less pudding.

 

[Ana DAmico]

Ana studied the pit they were in for some time, even as Emryc tried to test the soil and climb out. She was completely silent while she looked around, and only really showed any sign of presence of mind when Emryc flicked mud all over her face. She flinched, rousing her from her stupor. Really, this was pretty much the worst situation they could find themselves in. All it took now to thoroughly ruin her day was for those gathering storm clouds to dump their payload on them or for some apex predator to wander over and find two easy-access meals right here for it.

”I’m thinking…” she said, pushing herself to her feet. The bones rattled and clattered around her like a series of macabre xylophones. Lips pursed in thought, Ana considered their options. She could climb on top of Emryc, jump out, and leave him for dead, but that was hardly sporting, wasn’t it?

She hummed a tuneless song for a few moments, turning around in place as she traced every which way of the pit they were in. ”Hah!” she exclaimed, pointing up at one of the sides of the pit. There was a root that had been pulled out more than would be possible by someone digging this pit trap, meaning something or someone had yanked on it before them.

”See that root there?” she said, still pointing at it, ”We might be able to jump up and grab onto it to pull ourselves closer to the top, then jump off from there to the surface.” She looked down at Emryc, then back up at the root. It was their best shot, really. Either that, or they fashion a ladder out of bones and climb it to freedom.

Ana cupped her hands and held them out in front of her, tilting her head towards Emryc. ”C’mon, I’ll give you a boost.”

 

[Emryc Thorne]

Emryc spotted the root, mildly impressed. He wouldn’t have even thought to put that together as an idea. His limitation in practical outdoors knowledge was becoming abundantly clear to him. He made a mental note to do activities like ‘camping’ more often to give himself a practical experience. His academic knowledge was falling short so far.

He glanced over at Ana and down at her hands. His gaze then slowly drifted back up to hers. His jaw tightened as he considered the situation. He had to have had eighty pounds on her easy and he towered over her. However, she very well could abandon him the moment she got out of the hole. Emryc glanced up at the root again, bristling at the terrible options.

Without a word he simply gave her a frosty look and bent down and offered his hands to give her the boost instead. Even then she would have to grab his shoulder and hoist herself up, and she would feel feather light to him. Emryc wouldn’t waste a moment, tossing her straight up.

In fact, she would fly directly past the root and likely up above the hole as he had used the Force to aid the boost. He could only hope that she wouldn’t simply take off and instead offer something for him to use to climb.

 

[Ana DAmico]

Ana stared at Emryc for a few seconds, allowing for an awkward, tense standoff over who would boost who. He lowered himself and reached out, ready to throw her up, and she took a minute to battle her pride. Logically, it’d make more sense for him to throw her up anyways, and she didn’t trust him to not run off the second he was freed from the hole. As far as she could tell, there were almost zero downsides to letting him boost her up instead of the other way around.

With a sigh, Ana plodded over and stepped up on Emryc’s hand, placing a hand on his shoulder to stabilize herself. She was about to jump up on the root when he launched her clear into the sky with the Force, sending her well past her original goal. With a surprised yelp, she sailed past the root and over the surface of the pit. With a pained grunt, she hit the ground and splayed out, rolling over to stare at the sky.

Ana huffed quietly and scrambled over to the edge of the pit. She extended her hand and coiled a sheath of invisible energy around the man, ready to hoist him up. ”Jump,” she commanded, preparing herself to aid his jump by pulling him out of the hole. Once – or, rather, if – he listened to her and jumped up, she’d finish the journey by carrying him to the edge of the pit to climb to safety.

”I can’t believe you let us walk right into that trap,” she said, scrambling to her feet and folding her arms across her chest. She glanced around the forest, realizing they were no better off than before as far as finding this hermit.

 

[Emryc Thorne]

Emryc fully expected her to run off after he hoisted her up. In fact, he was already looking for other roots and things that would allow him to help himself out. To his surprise, she actually looked over the edge and offered her hand. Emryc simply stared up at her, wondering how this was going to work out. For all her enthusiasm, she appeared to be oblivious of her own size.

This time he didn’t fight it, getting tired of the nasty smell down here. He coiled the Force around himself, bent his knees and sprang up. He grabbed her hand and felt her beginning to pull him up. Before he could say anything, she had yanked with all her might while he was already springing up with the Force.

The end result was that all 195 pounds of him came tumbling down atop her above the surface. He lost his footing completely and she had apparently not factored gravity into her calculations. He came crashing down on her, trying to catch himself on his hands to avoid flattening her entirely.

Emryc glanced down at her, her words stern as always, blaming him for their misfortune. He simply stared at her, eyes as placid as ever looking into her emerald orbs. Fat drops rain began to fall from above till it became a slight drizzle. The water pooled along his hair, dripping down to splatter on her face below. He looked at her blankly, “It would appear,” He said coolly, “That I also happened to cause unexpected weather patterns.”

He finally pushed himself up and rose to stand. The rain began to get worse and he simply began to walk. He had no real sense of direction, but standing around in the rain didn’t sound appealing.

 

[Ana DAmico]

Ana wasn’t prepared for how heavy Emryc was; she vastly underestimated her own weight often, and trying to pluck someone who almost doubled her body weight out of a pit fall wasn’t one of her smarter ideas. His jump, combined with her Force-imbued yank, caused the two of them to crash to the ground beside the pit. For a moment or two, she just stared back up at Emryc, wondering what snooty quip he would throw her way.

Then the rain began. Ana winced as a rain drop nailed her in the eye. She blinked it away, then refocused on Emryc, her expression slowly fading into something resembling a complete and total lack of amusement. Why did it rain every time she came to a jungle world in search of Dark Side artifacts? Was the Force playing a joke on her? What did she do in a past life to constantly be saddled with the burdens of being soaking wet while lost in a jungle? She was convinced that Past Ana ran around kicking puppies and stealing from actual babies. There was no other explanation for why it always rained on her.

Ana listlessly stared at Emryc until he rose to his feet. With a quiet sigh, she rolled over and pushed herself up. He had already begun walking away, again, with little sense of direction, so she hustled over to walk alongside him. The storm picked up in intensity, and within moments the two of them would be utterly soaked. At this point, Ana had gone internal in another argument against herself, wondering why they were even still pursuing this rumored hermit. They had to find some sign of him; smoke in the distance, the smell of food cooking, the sounds of a man living his life, anything to guide them to their prey.

So far, though, they were just going on a wet stroll through the woods. Did they even know the way back to the ship?

”So,” she said over the din of the rain, ”This is fun.”

 

[Emryc Thorne]

Emryc was completely soaked as the storm only grew worse. They had been walking for some time, and there was no real visibility and no sign of the stupid hermit. At this rate, they were just as likely to fall into another hole. He stopped walking after a while, turning to survey their surroundings, “We have to make camp,” He said suddenly. There was no way they would make any further progress until the storm eased off.

He looked over till he found the base of some mountains. He continued walking along the range till he spotted what looked like the mouth of a cave. With luck, the cave would be empty. He climbed up over a ledge and hoisted himself up before walking. He then remembered Ana, realizing that she was once again too short to reach.

Emryc turned back and extended a hand to help her up, yanking her over the edge. The cave was empty so far and he stepped into it, his eyes slowly adjusting to the darkness. Emryc glanced around them, “Making a fire is going to be challenging,” He grumbled.

He ignited his saber to at least temporarily light up the cave. Emryc turned to look at her for a moment, no doubt meeting her sour expression, “This isn’t ideal for either of us, so instead of standing there looking like I just slapped you, why don’t you make yourself useful?”

 

[Ana DAmico]

Ana walked and walked and walked through the rain silently, since Emryc, again, proved to be a poor conversationalist. As was fitting, the storm only grew worse while they walked, and soon it became a proper challenge to see beyond a few meters. She probably looked like a small, soaked dog, and Emryc doubtlessly fared any better. Neither of them had thought to bring wet weather gear, which, looking back, was a bit of a stupid decision. It was a jungle planet, of course it was going to rain on them at some point! You’d think Ana would know by now to pack a poncho, but oh well. Live and learn and learn and learn.

The duo trudged over along the base of some mountains until they found their shelter for the night. After watching Emryc climb up, Ana stood there and waited for help. And waited. And waited.

After a bit of being rained on alone, Emryc finally poked his head around the lip of the ledge and extended his hand to help pull her up. Once inside, Ana wrapped her arms around herself and shivered, thankful to finally be free of the torrential downpour outside. The cave was good enough to make camp once they found a way to heat it up, and Ana was about to suggest an idea on how to do so when Emryc, in typical Emryc fashion, decided to be rude.

Ana glared up at Emryc with sunken eyes in total silence as he demanded she make herself useful, astounded that, even in the face of being lost on an alien world during a storm, he still managed to make himself be as unlikable as physically possible. After a while, she slowly straightened her posture and folded her arms across her chest, harrumphing.

”Not until you ask nicely and say please.”

 

[Emryc Thorne]

Emryc simply stared at Ana as she proceeded to cross her arms and pout. He silently considered all the various steps he had taken so far to have landed himself in this situation. He had been at that tomb on Korriban with a purpose and he thought for sure he was on the right track. He had even read the Ancient Sith and even had a dagger that possibly played a role.

And then he found Ana.

Ever since they had been on this journey, his luck had taken a turn for the worse. He worked just fine on his own and instead he was stuck with a know-it-all that was a bigger obstacle to him than the elements of this infernal planet. Emryc blankly stared at her for a long moment, considering her defiant words.

Without a verbal response, the Force abruptly blasted out at her as a concussive push. It would be enough to launch her body clear off the edge and over the lip past which he had pulled her up and towards the valley below. The attack was abrupt and sudden and a testament to his command of the Force. Emryc’s expression didn’t change a single bit.