Ask Invasion Yavin IV Live to Become the Villain

[Varyn Atrix]

Spoiler: OOC: Please read.

This is part two of this assault with part one found here. The defenses were taken down in part one. This is the main combat thread open to two participants from the Jedi side. People are still welcome to do side threads on their own.

Imperial ships had dropped out of hyperspace and the battle had begun. Now fully suited in his new Sith armor, Varyn had no hesitation about what he was going to do. It had been decided long before tonight, and would see him through this night of nights.

As warships began opening fire on key locations across the temple and troopers poured out to open fire on Jedi defenders, fire and streaks of plasma dotted the early morning sky.

For his part, Varyn had never feared leading from the front, and that was where he was now. Active saber in his right hand, hilt in his left, darting forward and cutting down the first Jedi he saw. The young man couldn't have been much younger than Varyn, but he would never see another day. For many, this day on Yavin would be the final sunrise they saw.

 

[Altair Din]

The sounds of battle raged all around them, blasterfire echoing throughout the field. Their prepwork had ensured that any reinforcement or extensive defense would be vastly delayed. While Altair had his reservations about Varyn, there was no going back now for either of them.

He was adorned in his trademark armor, his wan-shin on his hip. He wore a Matukai glove on his right arm, the Queen’s gauntlet on the left. His helmet was easily recognizable among the Jedi by now. They would know the Demon Prince of Mustafar was descending on them. He fell into step slightly behind Varyn.

While Varyn cut a path with his saber, Altair gazed all around them, scoping out the surroundings. He used the Force to send anyone that came their way flying. The Force roiled through him as he prepared for combat.

@Phoenix @Valen Pelora @Mr. Teatime

 

[Caris Orlan]

The Sith had come again to Yavin. This time lead by the Demon Prince in place of the Eternal. Across the Temple, the Jedi swarmed into action. Defenders quickly moving across the grounds while others marshalled the evacuation. Caris would be of little help there. He had a score to settle. Reports of a familiarly armored figure having joined the battle field. Twice he had lost to the one now crowned the Demon Prince. Before that title had been bestowed. Once in humiliating fashion. He would not lose a third.

Caris rushed from the Temple, those able and willing to fight joining him to halt the Sith advance. Jedi pouring out around him. Already he could see the Sith marching ever closer to the Temple steps. His lightsaber snaped to life in his right hand, his face set in a grim line. He did not believe in revenge. It was not their way…but that man would not take another Jedi life as long as Caris breathed. He knew the risk. He took it gladly.

@Sreeya @Phoenix @Mr. Teatime

 

[Reinhart Grimm]

High above the foggy treetops of Yavin, the sky rained metal and fires lit. Every time the Empire came to a world it was like this, just the same as it had been prior. No concept of peace for them dissuades, throwing every world they covet under thick and ashen shade. The Jedi's ground protections had ominously failed; there was no more passive defense. When spears are shaken, and shields are splintered, a true Knight draws swords! Stand tall, let go of fear, and meet blade-to-blade with Sith Lords. What can mere men and women do against such reckless hate?

RIDE OUT AND MEET IT​

The Horn of the Tower sounded loud, echoing across ancient stone walls as Paladin Grimm ran from the temple toward the front lines. No cape on his armor, he left behind his bow and quiver and wielded swords of Sunfire casting a bright blue light. One lit in his left hand, another held in his right. Wookiee warriors and Gamorrean guards joined the defense against Imperial soldiers, firing bowcasters, brandishing blades and axes, and roaring mighty calls for true justice and righteous vengeance. No native of Kashyyyk would ever forget the burning of their beloved homeworld.

"They take not one step more!" bellowed Paladin Grimm to the defending forces, a sentiment echoed in shouts, grunts, and roars. Face set in ironclad determination, unreadable and steady, the Paladin placed himself firmly between the invaders and the temple. Reinhart stepped to Caris' side on the front lines with his guard at the ready. The Force was with him, more potent than any shield, as bright and clear as the morning sun.

"Brigands and demons," his baritone voice called to the invading raiders with levelheaded disdain. Both eyes, a shining black like well-polished river stones, settled sternly on the infamous Demon Prince and his companion as they marched over blood-stained grass. "You cannot pass."

@Sreeya @Phoenix @Valen Pelora

 

[Varyn Atrix]

Varyn didn't hesitate or turn back. As he pulled the lightsaber blade from the falling body of the Jedi he had just killed, he didn't feel anything. He had come all this way, but the only thing he saw was another problem that needed fixing on the way to his end goal. They were nothing but speed bumps.

As more Jedi came out to meet the assault, Varyn continued onward, closing in on the man who emerged to face them (@Valen Pelora).

He didn't waste any time on formalities. He already knew what the Jedi were about and he was here to see their defenses crushed.

He could see Altair begin to engage another Master to his own right, but apart from making sure he wasn't about to be attacked, Varyn was confident that Altair could handle the man.

Instead, Varyn swung his saber horizontally from his own left to right at about belly height, continuing to step and move as he did. It was a classic Form X opener if ever there was one, and Varyn's personally preferred first attack.

@Sreeya @Mr. Teatime

 

[Altair Din]

As Varyn engaged, Altair drew the Force to himself. He looked particularly menacing and stood in stark contrast to the Jedi that rushed out to defend. The tiefling eyed the Jedi Master that spoke bold words. As he did so, there was a crack as the neck of a defending soldier snapped. The body was hurled through the air towards the Jedi Master, likely landing at his feet.

“Seems passable to me,” Altair said calmly as he continued walking towards the Jedi. He didn’t initiate an attack like Varyn, instead content with reacting to whatever the Jedi Master did.

@Mr. Teatime @Phoenix @Valen Pelora

 

[Caris Orlan]

“Evacuate the Temple, send distress signals to our allies…all defenses are to buy us time.” The message of the Grandmaster rang in his ear. Caris’ grip on his lightsaber tightened. His face a mask of determination. Master Grimm stood to his side. The remaining defenders pouring forth. The Paladin the very look of a hero…an inspiration to the soldiers....a bright shining light against the coming darkness. Caris admired the man but today was not a day for heroes. Today was for dark paths and dirty work.

And by the Force was there work to be done.

A Sith (@Phoenix ) rushed at him. Caris careful not to lose sight of his ultimate goal turned his attention to his new friend. First, clear the path, then bury the Demon Prince. The Sith came swinging. As he stepped forward to swing his blade, Caris would bounce backward, flicking his left wrist. The Sith had left a dead body close behind. He yanked it into the back of the Sith’s knees as he came on. If the man managed to keep his feet and continue his attack Caris would flip the tip of his blade downward, meeting the Sith’s saber before it could bisect his hip, his left hand forming a first to hammer into the Sith’s jaw. His eyes and mind ready for whatever tricks the Siths might play. "No witty banter?" He couldn't help himself.

@Phoenix @Sreeya @Mr. Teatime

 

[Reinhart Grimm]

The Paladin's expression was flatly unimpressed. Reinhart didn't care about the fearsome reputation of an up-jumped cutthroat, no matter how justly deserved or worked for. No matter their looks, prestige, skill, or other so-called redeeming traits. Brigands, demons, and Sith were just names for evil people. Where Reinhart came from, evil belonged only in the hangman's noose or on the chopping block.

So while he did not underestimate his opponent, who had storied success at defeating Jedi time and again, there was barely a shred of personal respect to be found. His gaze didn't stray overmuch toward the flung soldier's corpse fallen before his feet. A Paladin was no stranger to death, and their brave last stand would be mourned afterward. Dark eyes locked with the Demon Prince's unfeeling visor, flinty determination lightning bright behind them.

"Then I'll see you in Hell," was his gruff reply. Reinhart Grimm was dead set on halting the invaders' advance even if it killed him. Such was the duty of a true Knight. For every minute bought or invader slain, the lives of genuinely good people were preserved. Even if he should fall like others before him, he had no intention of going gently into that last good night.

Without warning, Grimm wielded the Force to reach into the wet jungle earth beneath and around the Demon Prince's (@Altair Din) feet. It rapidly softened into marsh mud, enough for Altair to abruptly sink knee-deep under his own body weight as he marched toward Reinhart. Paladin Grimm remained on guard for whatever the Sith's response might be.

@Sreeya @Phoenix @Valen Pelora

 

[Varyn Atrix]

Warning: post is graphic and may not be suitable for all users​

As Caris reached for the man who Varyn had just stabbed, he would learn one horrible, miserable truth: if someone wasn't struck in the head, death wasn't like it was in the holos. It was slow, usually taking at least a minute or two, and thus the body that Caris dragged to throw at Varyn was - unexpectedly - still very much in those final stages of life. Beyond hope of repair by even the most skilled healers of the Order, but not yet expired.

The moans of death turned into a scream of agony as the body was dragged and pulled across the battlefield, no doubt the sounds and realizations causing a sinking feeling and an indelible mental trauma on the Jedi that Varyn hoped would cause an upheaval in his "internal balance." Varyn knew how being a Jedi worked, and he knew that loss of balance was an easy path to impotence on the battlefield.

The man interrupted his attack and leapt back out of the way, so no subsequent attacks would connect for other opponent, so instead he swept his saber out, around, and back behind him, cleaving and splitting the body headed for his legs so that halves passed on either side of them.

More screaming. And things were only going to get worse.

Surrender and I won't kill you, was all the response the man got in request for "witty banter." He wasn't counting on it happening, and Varyn... didn't even seem to notice the screaming man.

Varyn reached out with the Force, deep into the torso and tore free its contents, hurling them at the Jedi with the goal of - not only further mental trauma - but also to blind him with a mixture of blood, feces, and bowel juices.

 

[Altair Din]

Altair was vaguely aware of what Varyn was doing, and it certainly alarmed him. Even the Jedi Master would be able to identify the shock and horror felt by Altair at witnessing the gruesome acts of his partner, his body language betraying as such. It would suggest that the Demon of Mustafar was perhaps not as lost to the Dark Side as was portrayed across media.

However, this wasn’t enough to break his focus on his opponent. As the ground below him began to crumble and change, the tiefling jumped and sprang to the side as the terrain became mud. He applied the Force at the same time, drawing from the moisture that the Jedi Master created to give form to the mud. He used the Force to cool that moisture, freezing it as he launched countless shards of ice at the Jedi master’s upper neck and face region from a close distance.

He half expected the Master to attempt sending the shards hurtling back, but Altair was prepared for that as he continued to draw the Force to himself. He was continuing to close the distance from the Jedi’s left flank, arriving within combat range.

@Mr. Teatime @Phoenix @Valen Pelora

 

[Caris Orlan]

The screams hit his ears first. The bile hit the back of this throat next. The man was dead…he was dead. Caris’ mouth was wet with his own sick. Vomit threatening to spew out on the battlefield. What had he done? Only an iron will, and sheltered heart were enough to keep Caris from falling to his knees. Put it away…put it away. He shoved the memory deeper and deeper into the recesses of his mind. Don’t remember how the Force shivered and screamed. Don’t remember...forget. But, he would never forget. Not as long as he lived. The stain of that memory in his mind forever.

As Varyn spun his saber, Caris worked the Force. Shoving awkwardly at the Sith’s left knee to push him off balance. Anything to stop what was happening.

The guts came flying next.

Caris acted on reflex alone. The Force hammering into the mass of internal organs. Hurling them back at the Sith as Caris stepped to avoid any that might come through. He nearly vomited again. His brother…a Jedi…violated. Dishonored.

“Fucker, I’ll kill you for that.” And he meant it. By the Force he meant it.

@Sreeya @Phoenix @Mr. Teatime

 

[Reinhart Grimm]

MUSIC​

Whatever the Paladin was expecting, it absolutely wasn't a clear flinch at the sight of violent bisection and disembowelment from a man called the Demon Prince. It brought him significant pause. Reinhart's face betrayed little as he spoke save for tense muscles in his jaw, a weariness in eyes that had seen more than their fair share of bloodshed. "See what you've brought to our home?" He hopped to the right and conjured a current of wind that scattered the airborne shards away from himself, some tinkling off his armor. As they fell, they glittered like crystals in the morning sun, the blood-soaked ground lending the ice a red-tinged hue. Close calls cut his skin, blood trickling down his right bicep and cheekbone.

His stance rotated, following Altair's angling and keeping his left-handed saber guard toward him at a 45-degree angle, tip up. Reinhart didn't move forward, instead gathering the Force into wind swirling around him and letting the Sith come closer. "Have you truly seen it, man of the Empire?" It was a bleak sight to behold if he bothered to take it all in.

Off to the side, a bowcaster blew a massive hole through one of Altair's soldiers, the insides of a man he likely knew splattered like overripe fruit for the Empire's goals. The Wookiee died a moment later, sabered to shreds by a rage-maddened Sith. There one moment, simply gone the next. A Sith and Jedi delivered mortal blows to each other. Their knowledge and power bled to nothing on the battlefield.

Green grass and brown soil were stained in sticky blood, the air thick with the sick reality of war; iron and copper, tibanna gas and fire, burning ozone, and spilled innards scorched black. Screams of pain, of triumph, of despair. Limbs, heads, and more were strewn across the ground. Each dead, still face was frozen in fear and agony until the day it finally rotted to bone.

"Take in the horrors of war and understand the Hell your Empire brings with it!" Reinhart bellowed, the Force rushing forward as Altair entered his saber range. Rather than strike, he channeled the conjured wind into a mighty, whipping gust to blast the Tiefling back. It'd be a rough landing, but physical injury wasn't the main point. Altair would fly past mud, blood, and guts on the ground, and back amongst the corpses of the fallen.

Forced to see the grimly macabre path he'd left behind him as he marched to the temple steps. The dead looked to the sky with empty eyes, just as the ordinary soldier whose neck he'd crunched into an unnatural angle stared blankly at Altair in post-mortem horror from Reinhart's feet. The damning accusation of an ordinary young woman callously killed for the crime of defending her home from a man who was just following orders.

"Is it worth it?"

@Sreeya @Phoenix @Valen Pelora

 

[Varyn Atrix]

Varyn felt the push against his leg, but most of it missed given the speed and somewhat panicked aim associated with it, causing Varyn to do little more than stutter-step to regain his footing.

As the guts came flying back at him, he simply swept them aside with the Force. It was neither a difficult nor draining maneuver. He let his senses drink in what was around him and the darkness that was within the man standing before him. He sensed the hatred, and the truth was... Varyn recognized it.

You're the one who dragged him across the battlefield. Turned him into a weapon in his final, expiring moments, he said, letting it sink into the man's mind. He - a Jedi - had turned his own fellow Jedi into a weapon.

Look at him because I am. Left by the Jedi to die in a puddle of his own blood and crap. And if you think for a second that the Resistance - the Jedi's army... your army - isn't just as brutal, then I'll tell you I've seen it with my own eyes, he said. Of course, he understood that he may well be attacked at any point during his little speech, and he was ready to abandon and intercept if necessary.

But he also knew that this man stood precisely where Varyn had once stood. He felt the hatred and the darkness within him, and he would stoke it. Either he would see Varyn's points or he would become all the more enraged at the implications and burn with even greater hatred. Either one was a win for Varyn.

@Sreeya @Valen Pelora @Mr. Teatime

 

[Altair Din]

Altair eyed the Jedi Master as he spoke, still reeling from what he saw Varyn do. His jaw tightened at the words. While he questioned Varyn’s actions, the accusations the man threw at him only made him angry. Perhaps the words would have rang true if he didn’t have the history he did. Altair laughed bitterly.

“A Jedi threw me in prison and Resistance fighters tried to saw off my horns and tail,” He stated rather curtly to the Jedi Master likely not having expected the admission. It was a dark time for Altair and one he wouldn’t forget anytime soon, "I would rather punish my enemies than forgive them."

The tiefling was used to people attempting to use the Force to push him back because he was known to be exceptionally deadly in close range. As the Jedi Master repurposed the wind to send it towards Altair and send him flying back, the tiefling’s left hand thrust up vertically into a swipe to abruptly absorb the blast of the Force. No doubt the Jedi Master would have absolutely no way of predicting such an artifact, and he had used a hand holding a saber to launch the attack which meant his grip was less than ideal to launch an effective strike right away.

In the blink of an eye, Altair was inside the man’s guard, his right hand coming in to grasp the Jedi’s left wrist to control where that hand went. His left fist whirled in with a Matukai punch directly into the man’s face. At the same time, the absorbed wind was unleashed at point blank range. The result would be compounded damage to shatter the man’s face and also upper chest area. The Jedi could attempt to use the saber in his right hand, but he would likely be sent flying back from the blow first, potentially dislocating the arm that Altair held.

@Mr. Teatime

 

[Caris Orlan]

“I know who I am. I know what we’ve done.” It took hard souls to win a war. Souls who did what had to be done. Caris had always been such a soul. He was not like other Jedi. He was not blind to choices they had made to win this war. The ends could justify the means. The trauma of today would live in his heart until he drew his last breath, but he was a Jedi. His devotion to the Light unwavering. He had been to the darkest reaches of the galaxy and never once touched the Darkside. He lived his life in the shadow of corruption.

Perhaps this was the start of a path of which he could not see the end...but he would not find it today.a path he desperately fought against.

He rushed forward, yanking at Varyn’s waist with the Force to throw off his balance and following it swiftly with his blade slashing from his left right, aiming to cut the Sith right above the belly botton. Still careful not to forget the Demon Prince or whatever tricks either Sith might pull. “We are both covered in blood. Neither of us righteous warriors...but I know why I fight.” His face was a cold mask. “You cannot say the same.” This man did not understand them at all. A Sith if there ever was one.

@Sreeya @Phoenix @Mr. Teatime

 

[Reinhart Grimm]

Reinhart grimly frowned at the Tiefling's embittered reply. Paladins may kill evil people, but they do not condone torture. Perhaps others had been right about the Resistance's methods. He could feel the Sith wasn't lying, which both troubled him and showed, perhaps, a spark of hope. This man he faced was rightfully angry, but how far gone to the Dark Side was he at his core? Unfortunately, there wasn't much time for deep conversation on the battlefield.

"Are they your enemies, or of the Empire that armor represents?"

Before they could speak further the melee began, his eyes widening with surprise at the gauntlet's absorption. No one told him that Matukai gauntlets could do such a thing, damn them! Grimm's right lightsaber couldn't counter quickly, but his left-hand guard had remained ready and facing the Sith and allowed him to react to their stepping in and grabbing at an unhindered weapon arm.

Reinhart's right arm shot upward and conjured a shimmering blue Force shield across his forearm to parry the Sith's punch up and to his own right, partly redirecting its power. The Tiefling's right arm would grasp air as in unison the Paladin's left arm lifted up and rotated, whipping the lightsaber over and down horizontally between both combatants to sever the upper left bicep in one complete motion as the punch struck his block. Neither arm was likely able to block the cross-body angle since both stretched forward to attack.

His blue barrier only blunted the blow and the blast broke partly through and blew him backward. He careened, destroyed right Phrik vambrace flung off with a sound like a struck gong. Reinhart would hit the ground a few meters back and roll hastily upright into a half-kneel, left-hand guard coming back up to face the Demon Prince. The attenuative defense left his right arm quite bruised, bicep aching with the familiar feeling of stress microfracture. His right ear dripped blood from a pressure-perforated eardrum, now deaf and ringing painfully.

@Sreeya @Phoenix @Valen Pelora

 

[Varyn Atrix]

Classic Jedi: always judging, never understanding, was the only response he would receive. Varyn knew he was far from what he had been as a Jedi, but he also knew why.

Varyn's opponents seemed to love pulling at him at the start of fights. Celeste in sparring, the Knight at Mustafar, this guy... they just couldn't resist. What it had done was make Varyn's balance impeccable. Rather than pull him completely off balance, Varyn just let his feet drag along the ground as the man charged at him.

His own right blade came up, blocking the slash with a downward vertical facing blade that slammed against the Jedi's own blade. He stepped forward and pivoted in toward the Jedi's side, vertical fist coming around to slam into the man's exposed right side right under the armpit of the extended arm in hopes that he couldn't avoid it being in the middle of a strike. With the plates in the front, Varyn hoped that strike would land on more exposed ribs and maybe crack something, but only time would tell.

@Sreeya @Valen Pelora @Mr. Teatime

 

[Altair Din]

The Jedi Master was certainly impressive, Altair’s surprise artifact not having the full intended effect. But that was what separated a Master from a Knight, a rank he was growing to respect. Altair’s right hand grasped nothing, but that didn’t mean he was exactly going to chase the hand that drew away. His punch met with a barrier and he drew the fist back from the strike. Since the Jedi Master had to draw his left blade away and redirect an entirely new attack in point blank range, Altair’s fist was already drawn back and out of range and the man was reeling from the punch hit. The saber passed harmlessly through air.

Altair’s entire combat style was based around keeping enemies close and turning his entire body into a weapon. His tail lashed out and coiled around the Jedi Master’s right lower calf as the man’s upper torso was sent flying back from the punch. With a tug combined with the force of the Jedi Master being sent hurtling away, the result would be the man falling down on the ground on his back.

The tiefling would waste no time to raise his right foot and slam it down harshly on the Jedi Master’s left foot to crush through the bones, the Force surging through every extremity combined with his full weight. Altair knew better than to keep his tail coiled around the man’s leg if he attempted to redirect Altair in any way. At the same time, his gloved arms were up defensively, prepared to bat away any overextended saber strikes the man may toss from the ground.

@Mr. Teatime @Phoenix @Valen Pelora

 

[Caris Orlan]

Varyn turned his blade vertically to block Caris. He thumbed the power switch, the blades failing to ever meet as he thumbed the switch again. His yellow burning right as it traveled unmolested towards Varyn's midsection. A blow to end it. He saw the punch coming. Not much he could do about it. Not much he wanted to do about it. There was no future where he left Yavin unscathed. Caris shifted his body slightly so the punch wouldn’t take him full on in the ribs and Varyn couldn't sneak behind but solid contact was still made. Enough to cause an audible grunt and a painful bruise to begin blossoming.

If the Sith managed to avoid his blade, Caris would again step slightly backward, always watching, readying himself for what would come next. "Oh, I understand plenty."

@Phoenix @Sreeya @Mr. Teatime

 

[Reinhart Grimm]

Grimm's hasty swing didn't have the intended effect, the unexpected wind blast having thrown him out of range. Rather than fly, he fell as a Tiefling tail redirected him to the ground with an undignified oof, right arm curled near his navel. Luckily he was a man used to hard knocks; hitting the ground didn't feel great but it wasn't as bad as being thrown from a saddle. He had to admit this Sith certainly outclassed other close combat fighters he knew. Reinhart might not respect the Demon Prince much as a person given all the invasion and murder, but he certainly respected his skills.

Scrambling quickly to defend, the Paladin curled inward and heaved his weight up toward his right hip and shoulder. His left leg bent toward his own body so that the Sith's stomping foot's front would only graze his boot, still with enough force to crack bone. The two left-most toes in Grimm's left foot made an ominous popping sound as they broke, but it was saved from being totally crushed.

During his roll he moved his left-hand lightsaber guard to face the Sith in case they tried something clever, trying to present an obvious threat while keeping the blade away from his own legs. With his left leg curled and his body braced, he'd then immediately kick up from the ground to smash his heavy left boot heel into the side of the Sith's right knee with a brief burst of Force enhancement. It'd hurt Grimm's injured foot like hell, but he wagered a shattered knee would be worse. Especially when it was holding most of the larger Sith's weight at the time.

@Sreeya @Phoenix @Valen Pelora