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- Aug 28, 2020
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- 11
Nar Shaddaa
Nara chased after the Mandalorian, trudged through the muck and slime. She noticed the way was getting a little more slippery. Turning a little downwards. Then turning more downwards. Then actually sloping down. She tried her best to edge her way down there slowly, but soon enough she slipped and tumbled, sliding down the slope all the way, holding her saber high out of the mess until she reached that drop and...
Nara went straight down that precipitous drop, managing to tumble into a... not quite graceful, but only mildly painful landing. Grunting with frustration, she picked herself up and patted her coat in vain. I will burn this thing the second I'm out of here. I will never get this out. Clinging to anything she could control as the moon above her burned and the hordes flocked to the sewers beneath. She advanced, the crunching bones providing the perfect ambience to the dreadful place around them both.
"Knew we shoulda sticked together," she mumbled as she looked at the floor, before hearing that noise. Those grunts and snarls, as the gates opened and the pair of rancor pushed out. Her jaw dropped.
"Oh shit."
Rancor. She'd never seen one before, not outside of the Holonet or a couple of books in the Temple. This time, she had no experience to pull on, no knowledge to draw from. And there was to be no sneakiness. They were there, hungry and right in front of the way out. Clutching the saber hilt with both hands, ready to strike if one came lunging for her, she determinedly stepped forwards.
"One each? Or try and pick one off quick?" she asked the Mando, before shaking her head. "Ha, stupid idea, right?" she said quickly, shaking her head. Trying in vain to control the fear burning inside her.
@Minuteman75 @Flood
Nar Shaddaa
Minerva said nothing to Nara during the journey once they were through the left door. Of course she only slowed slightly but not so much to make sure the Jedi was still within reach. As the pathway became more treacherous and the muck made it harder to stand Minerva nearly tripped over. At the last second she employed the jetpack and spared herself a rough fall unlike her Jedi counterpart.
These peacekeepers should invest in more personal tech.
Landing in the chamber Minerva crushed the bones beneath her feet. Sparing a glance to the pile and bloodstains on the ground she grimaced. Suddenly an unnatural snarl uttered on the opposite side. Of course it would be a monster. The Mandalorian gripped her rifle, waiting for the challenge.
Subsequently it appeared in the form of two of the most terrifying rancors she had ever seen in her life. Through the T-Visor Minvera’s eyes widened in utter shock. It was far worse than anticipated. Despite the newfound dread gripping her soul Minerva ready herself, in a combat stance.
At Nara’s words the Mandalorian refused to glance at the Jedi Knight and could hear the fear in the voice. Instead Minerva observed the two flesh eating giants. Like the zombies they were operating as a team. We must do the same. She thought, before saying to Nara.
“I’ll provide a diversion. If you see any weak points either strike with your saber or powers.”
As soon as she said Minerva immediately lifted off from the ground via jetpack. She flew toward the towering sentinels as if trying to pass them both. Seconds later Minevra flew to the left side and opened up, firing two short bursts(four rounds each) at the rancors’ heads. She was no fool to believe that it would actually damage them. Rather it was an attempt to earn their full attention and gauge their reaction.
@Charndley @Flood
The padawan walked side by side with his master, a walk with purpose. Not quite jogging, but certainly intent on covering ground while being vigilant. The path curved slightly. They both could feel it...the door behind them was going to close. Master and padawan paused and looked at each other, but they seemed to be in agreement to see this through as they heard the door close behind them around the bend. "Well, that's that. Only one way to go now."
Together, they continued down the path until it led to a large, round room. Isen could smell the decaying flesh before they got there, and despite his best efforts, he had to pause and bend over to prevent himself from hurling. It wasn't the sight or the thought of the dead bodies that got most. It was the smell. He righted himself to stand up and look across the room with piles of bones and flesh, rancid and strewn about entire groups of people had been tossed into a blender.
Isen saw the tarentatek on the other side of the room. He was bent down and feasting on some poor, long dead soul. The young Kiffar suddenly felt ashamed for not having studied more. He felt as if he should know what this creature was through his studies at Jedha, but he never took the study of fauna as seriously as he should. He had no idea what was looking at. The beast snorted twice and his head began to swing as if it was on a swivel. It spotted Isen and Izel and a guttural growl echoed through the chamber. Isen turned his head slowly toward his master and asked, "What is that thing?"
Before Master Thral could answer, the deformed and savage beast would unleash a terrifying roar and charge the Jedi. Isen responded by charging back at the creature, deftly running up a pile of bones and flesh, before leaping and flipping over the horned monster, gracefully circling his lightsabers in wide arcs under him as he did so in case the tarentatek tried to snatch him or claw him out of the air. The grizzled beast did, and one of Isen's blue blades lopped off a hand for the monster's trouble. Isen landed gracefully in a crouched position, facing away from the enemy. He turned back to see the red mass in front of him scream, not in pain, but in anger. The beast turned to face the young Jedi, his massive body panting out of ire. Isen focused his eyes, awaiting the beast's next move. He and his Master would at least have the monster in a favorable position- between them. They had the beast outflanked.
@Reyn @Flood
Izel's anger was at least somewhat checked by Nara's outburst reminding them of the importance of what they were doing. The Vratix could only imagine how she would feel if this was happening to Thyferra. She put a hand on Nara's shoulder and nodded in acknowledgement. "I think we can manage both." She reassured her friend before turning and entering the passageway.
The didn't make it far before the blast door closed behind them, sealing them in. Izel spared a few moments looking back at it, mandibles working as she thought. It was to be expected she supposed, but she still didn't like it. "Be ready," She responded to Isen's comment. "With our luck we probably grabbed the shortest end of the stick..." Unfortunately her joke was much more accurate then she could have predicted. The passage brought them to a foul chamber filled with bones and gore. And something else. A creature Izel recognized immediately, one that made her instinctively freeze up and her blood run cold. A terentatek. Her studies quickly returned to her as the creature prepared to attack. The animals were filled with the dark side and fed on the blood of Force sensitives, so they were well evolved to fight beings like her and Isen. They were powerful, and carried a deadly poison in their tusks and claws, but not terribly intelligent. That was the feature that stuck in her mind.
Unfortunately before she could muster up the wits to speak Isen had already begun to charge at the creature. Izel's heart jumped to her throat. "No wait!" She shouted in warning. Fortunately Isen's training paid off. He managed to outmaneuver the creature while dealing a blow to it. Unfortunately he was now dangerously close to it, and it only seemed to be angrier. In response Izel reached out with the Force, lifting up several of the sharper bone shards amongst the pile and hurling them at specific points on the terentatek's body, specifically it's unarmored joints and eyes. Her attack plan was two-fold. First to try and blind and slow down the beast, and second to draw it's attention back to her through a display of her powers, hopefully taking advantage of it's hunger for Force sensitives.
"Keep your distance Padawan!" She shouted in warning. "It's tusks and claws are poisonous!" The Vratix crouched down slightly as she raised her lightsaber in a defensive stance, ready to jump out of the way on a moment's notice if she succeeded in gaining the beast's attention.
@Isen @Flood
Nar Shaddaa Well well, wasn't his new friend quite the judgemental one? It wasn't something that really surprised him, most sith lacked humillity, but still, if he didn't have such an interesting virus on his hand, Jerex wouldn't even care to keep the conversation going, but for now, he would have to be polite "Well, the name and the mask are nothing but a memento at this point, I just do my own thing nowadays" The old legionnaire shrugged as a smile formed behind his mask, Jerex truly didn't know what happened to the group, did they all die? It wasn't his problem, the moment their leader had to be rescued proved to him that they weren't going far, Jerex preferred working mostly alone anyways.
Jerex' usual happy and relaxed demeanor was immediately dropped the moment Flood said all of his work could be undone, they couldn't afford to let this biological marvel go to waste! "I see, let's not waste more time than needed then, I am right behind you" the legionnaire said in an entirely different tone, even letting yet another verbal jab aimed at him be left unpunished, there were important matters to attend to and there was no way Jerex was letting this virus die, he still have so much to see, so much to study! So, he followed Flood closely, wondering about how could Flood leave his masterpiece so undefended he needed to quickly return to his base, maybe he shouldn't have left in the first place.
@Salek Fallanai would find himself, alone, but on the easiest path. He would travel for what seemed like far too long before finding himself at another door, though this one was made from stone instead of durasteel. Set in the door were three holes. The left and right hole were occupied by kyber crystals while the center was empty.
Behind this door would be what the group was seeking, though unbeknowst to Salek his friends would be fighting for their very lives. If he could get the door to open he could save them, but every second he did not they drew closer and closer to an untimley demise.
Would the force guide him, or would he fail? Only time would tell. Tick tock, Mister Fallanai. Tick. Tock.
Salek ran a hand through his muck-splattered hair, then wiped it off on the wall next to the door. Of course he would get the puzzle. He tried to sense through the door to see what was on the other side, but nothing. More wards.
He lowered his head and focused, flexing all of the Force sense he could into the door in front of him. He could sense two objects that resonated strongly with the Force, and his fingers brushed over what felt like crystals. There was a third spot where the smooth surface felt a little strange, and his fingers found a third hole between the other two.
"I should have paid more attention to safe-cracking class," he muttered to himself with a small chuckle. At least right now he couldn't feel the life signatures closing in around them, although not knowing what was coming was pretty nerve-wracking as well. But it was a fear he was long acclimated to. His ears would warn him in plenty of time. Okay, time to think.
The kyber crystals suggested that they were in the right spot for a Force-user. The best-case scenario he could imagine was that this was the lab of the Sith maniac who had released this plague, and that he was screwing around somewhere instead of waiting to kill Salek.
A loud boom shook the walls around him, and the Jedi gulped. That probably wasn’t good news for the other Jedi. Focus time.
Three holes, two with khyber crystals. The obvious choice would be to take apart his lightsaber and slot in his crystal. But it wasn’t much of a lock if it was that obvious, and any Jedi could waltz right in. He used the Force to pull at the back of the hole and at both crystals to see if anything was loose. He also pressed gently on the crystals to see if they gave inward at all. He spread his awareness through the door’s interior, looking as intently as he could for any flow or channel of energy, any irregularity that could give a clue about the door’s mechanism. Hopefully the others were having more luck than he was.
@Reyn @Isen @Charndley @Minuteman75 @Flood
The rancor's facing off against @Nara Allam and @Minerva Fhirdiad would quickly showcase their ability. As the Mandalorian unleashed a torrent of blaster fire upon the beasts, they would guard their heads by utilizing their massive, clawed hands as shields. It would be evident that pain and suffering were of no concern for the rancors as the bolts were absorbed and they moved to the offensive.
The flying Mandalorian drew the attention of the bull, who was somehow bigger and uglier - if that were even possible - of the two rancor. Opening its massive maw, it unleashed a powerful, primal scream. Nara would be able to feel how the scream was tinged with the force and oozed with the darkside. Somehow this beast was capable of unleashing a force scream.
The second rancor would charge towards Nara, picking up a large stone from the ground and hurling it towards the Jedi as she ran. The female rancor would hope to close the gap between herself and the Jedi, looking to grab her up and tear her into pieces.
--
@Isen Ramm's defensive tactic with his lightsabers took the tarentatek by surprise, but not quite as much surprise as it felt when its hand went flipping through the air as it was lopped off with ease. As the Jedi landed, he would be faced with a counter attack from the beast. Gathering up enough of the extremely caustic liquid inside its mouth, the tarentatek spat a large ball of it at Isen's feet. Even if the attack missed a direct hit, it would splash highly corrosive acid in every direction, like the blood splatter of someone's head exploding after getting shot with a slugthrower.
With its thick back hide now pointed towards @Izel Thral, her attack with the sharpened rocks would do little in the way of damage. The tarentatek's skin was hardened and thick, such mundane attacks would prove mostly fruitless in harming it. As another roar loosed from the beast, spikes covered in lethal poison would fire off from its back in Izel's direction.
They would be numerous, maybe a dozen or more, and were long, thin and razor sharp like you would find on a nexu. New quills would already begin to push through the bloody holes left from the others, like a blaster pack being slowly reloaded.
For now, the beast's primary attention would be on Isen. Rumbling towards the Jedi, the tarentatek would keep its eyes on the shifty human, its instincts knowing that Jedi were slippery prey. That wouldn't be much of a problem for long, however. Most Jedi tended to be much less mobile when their legs had been torn off and eaten.
--
@Salek Fallanai's probing wouldn't yield much in the way of telling him how the door's mechanism might work. As he pulled on the crystals and felt with the force, he would notice they were set firmly into their positions, and that the hole just seemed to be that: a hole. He could suss out that it was fairly deep and cylindrical in shape, but not much beyond that.
After a few moments the kyber's would seemingly come to life, glowing ominously and casting a harsh crimson light onto the Jedi. The hard, crunching sound of ancient gears turning would suddenly fill his ears as the door would begin to lift up.
Though he might at first think some sort of dumb luck had allowed him to maneuver the locking mechanism, the blind Jedi would very quickly come to realize he had nothing to do with it, and he was likely in far more danger than either pair of his compatriots.
--
Flood and Jarex would move through the sewers at an incredible speed, aided through the force and by sheer force of will. It would not take them long to come to the back entrance of Flood's lab, the old Sith opening its heavily fortified door by tracing ancient Sith runes into it with his lightsaber.
Inside, Jerex would witness a scene straight out of the latest horror holomovie. Strapped down to several gurneys were denizens from Nar Shaddaa, laying openly vivisected. It would be clear that they were being medically kept alive despite the... severity of their wounds, steady streams of a self-created bacta solution flowing copiously into their veins.
Aside from the living experiments, dozens of journals and loose notes were scattered about on tables next to used medical instruments. Vials containing pure samples of Flood's virus strain were set safely inside a glass case that was cooled with with a cloud of gaseous carbonite..
Come, follow me. There is no time to dawdle. Flood said, ushering Jerex through a couple blastdoors towards the main corridor that lead into the front side of his lab. Eventually they'd find themselves in a circular room that contained dozens of research holobooks, as well as the main door.
Looking towards Jerex, Flood chuckled slightly. He could feel someone on the other side reaching out with the force, probing around somewhat aimlessly.
Time for you to prove your usefulness, Knight of Ren. Flood said, walking over towards a small console and entering a code. The door would slowly begin to churn, before opening and revealing the surprise on the other side: @Salek Fallanai.
Flood's chuckle would turn into a maniacal cackle as he walked towards the center of the circular room, the blast doors behind him that lead further into the complex snapping shut in an instant and sealing tightly. Looking towards Salek, Flood outstretched his hands in a mock look of disbelief.
A lone blind Jedi is to be this planet's savior? He asked sneeringly. This is all the grand Order could muster?
Shaking his head, Flood gestured towards Salek as he glanced towards Jerek through the corner of his eye.
Kill him.
The flying Mandalorian drew the attention of the bull, who was somehow bigger and uglier - if that were even possible - of the two rancor. Opening its massive maw, it unleashed a powerful, primal scream. Nara would be able to feel how the scream was tinged with the force and oozed with the darkside. Somehow this beast was capable of unleashing a force scream.
The second rancor would charge towards Nara, picking up a large stone from the ground and hurling it towards the Jedi as she ran. The female rancor would hope to close the gap between herself and the Jedi, looking to grab her up and tear her into pieces.
--
@Isen Ramm's defensive tactic with his lightsabers took the tarentatek by surprise, but not quite as much surprise as it felt when its hand went flipping through the air as it was lopped off with ease. As the Jedi landed, he would be faced with a counter attack from the beast. Gathering up enough of the extremely caustic liquid inside its mouth, the tarentatek spat a large ball of it at Isen's feet. Even if the attack missed a direct hit, it would splash highly corrosive acid in every direction, like the blood splatter of someone's head exploding after getting shot with a slugthrower.
With its thick back hide now pointed towards @Izel Thral, her attack with the sharpened rocks would do little in the way of damage. The tarentatek's skin was hardened and thick, such mundane attacks would prove mostly fruitless in harming it. As another roar loosed from the beast, spikes covered in lethal poison would fire off from its back in Izel's direction.
They would be numerous, maybe a dozen or more, and were long, thin and razor sharp like you would find on a nexu. New quills would already begin to push through the bloody holes left from the others, like a blaster pack being slowly reloaded.
For now, the beast's primary attention would be on Isen. Rumbling towards the Jedi, the tarentatek would keep its eyes on the shifty human, its instincts knowing that Jedi were slippery prey. That wouldn't be much of a problem for long, however. Most Jedi tended to be much less mobile when their legs had been torn off and eaten.
--
@Salek Fallanai's probing wouldn't yield much in the way of telling him how the door's mechanism might work. As he pulled on the crystals and felt with the force, he would notice they were set firmly into their positions, and that the hole just seemed to be that: a hole. He could suss out that it was fairly deep and cylindrical in shape, but not much beyond that.
After a few moments the kyber's would seemingly come to life, glowing ominously and casting a harsh crimson light onto the Jedi. The hard, crunching sound of ancient gears turning would suddenly fill his ears as the door would begin to lift up.
Though he might at first think some sort of dumb luck had allowed him to maneuver the locking mechanism, the blind Jedi would very quickly come to realize he had nothing to do with it, and he was likely in far more danger than either pair of his compatriots.
--
Flood and Jarex would move through the sewers at an incredible speed, aided through the force and by sheer force of will. It would not take them long to come to the back entrance of Flood's lab, the old Sith opening its heavily fortified door by tracing ancient Sith runes into it with his lightsaber.
Inside, Jerex would witness a scene straight out of the latest horror holomovie. Strapped down to several gurneys were denizens from Nar Shaddaa, laying openly vivisected. It would be clear that they were being medically kept alive despite the... severity of their wounds, steady streams of a self-created bacta solution flowing copiously into their veins.
Aside from the living experiments, dozens of journals and loose notes were scattered about on tables next to used medical instruments. Vials containing pure samples of Flood's virus strain were set safely inside a glass case that was cooled with with a cloud of gaseous carbonite..
Come, follow me. There is no time to dawdle. Flood said, ushering Jerex through a couple blastdoors towards the main corridor that lead into the front side of his lab. Eventually they'd find themselves in a circular room that contained dozens of research holobooks, as well as the main door.
Looking towards Jerex, Flood chuckled slightly. He could feel someone on the other side reaching out with the force, probing around somewhat aimlessly.
Time for you to prove your usefulness, Knight of Ren. Flood said, walking over towards a small console and entering a code. The door would slowly begin to churn, before opening and revealing the surprise on the other side: @Salek Fallanai.
Flood's chuckle would turn into a maniacal cackle as he walked towards the center of the circular room, the blast doors behind him that lead further into the complex snapping shut in an instant and sealing tightly. Looking towards Salek, Flood outstretched his hands in a mock look of disbelief.
A lone blind Jedi is to be this planet's savior? He asked sneeringly. This is all the grand Order could muster?
Shaking his head, Flood gestured towards Salek as he glanced towards Jerek through the corner of his eye.
Kill him.