Ask Nemesis

[Ezra Thorne]

Given that Ezra was allowed a brief moment where she simply wasn’t engaging him, he decided to capitalize on it. As the woman launched an attack at Auryn, the part Sephi would coil the Force around her and bodily throw her back against a wall. It would likely cause her head to collide against the surface and daze her.

If the effort worked, Ezra would glare at her, but make no move for further attacks, “What are you even fighting for? Attacking us just because we have a Jedi stamp? Get a grip and your priorities straight,” He said as he switched off his saber, “I’m not going to kill you, but I know we can take you down and knock you out if we need to. There is nothing here that’s worth your life, so just walk away with dignity. Go tend to your friend.”

His voice projected more confidently than he expected, his posture tall. He kept his gaze on hers, a calm resolve slowly settling over him that wasn’t there before. He was drawing from methods his father used. It inadvertently worked to protect him from the influence of the dark side.

@Tulos @Mr. Teatime

 

[Auryn Angharad]

Sah'ra had blocked Auryn's two-handed, Force-enhanced with only a single non-enhanced arm. In doing so she risked her saber being forced back down to scorch her face, blinding her in one eye. As she twisted beneath the saberlock, Auryn pivoted counterclockwise on his front-facing right foot to match. At the same time, he leveraged his blade around Sah'rah's to cut high at her face from the bind, now undefended as she cut toward his leg. The Sith's low cut would cut his pants and leave a shallow burn over his thigh.

Both cuts would miss entirely if Ezra succeeded in slamming her into the wall, after which Auryn would raise his guard up defensively without pursuit. Golden eyes glances between Ezra and the Sith. "Back off before backup shows. This fight ain't worth it." He maintained the line of dialogue that other Jedi would show up in a self-sure tone, adding potential pressure to the woman's decision-making.

Auryn's expression was set in a stiff frown like he was keeping his face from forming a snarl. Ironically for a Jedi, bladework actually helped him focus himself and on the Force, working against the ambient darkness to some degree. It was his form of moving meditation. Still, it was a constant pressure that poked at him.

@Sreeya @Tulos

 

[Sah'ra Ryun]

Like an invisible serpent coiling itself around her waist, the influence of Ezra’s threw the Sith woman back and into the wall, her lightsaber deactivating and clattering to the floor as she too slid off her feet with her back against sandstone. Her head hit hard against the solid surface and while her ears rang and head throbbed, she still managed to maintain consciousness. Almost simultaneously as Sah’ra lost her focus, the flames returned to the torches and once again illuminated the chamber. Through the fog, she could hear Ezra and Auryn speaking but for a moment, she was unable to respond as she tried to collect herself.

”This was never about either of you being Jedi,” she finally replied in frustration, offering no reaction to the comment about finding and tending to Valentine. ”My ‘priorities’ have not changed. Within this chamber, buried in the sarcophagus below that statue,” she continued, pointing at the monument in the center of the room whilst her eyes remained on the two before her. ”It houses the artifacts I seek but it takes two to unseal it. A final security measure, influenced by Sith tradition,”

As she concluded, Sah’ra began forcing herself to her feet with her left hand bracing her rise against the wall. She continued to watch the pair, extending her right hand and calling her weapon back to her grasp. ”I will not leave without it and you will not escape this place without me. Either I unearth the artifact or this tomb will be all our graves,” she hissed venomously, trying to center herself for another bout of violence if it came to it.

@Sreeya @Mr. Teatime​

 

[Ezra Thorne]

Ezra glared at the woman, but he hated that she was right. At the end of the day, the way back was closed and he didn’t have a way out. A quick glance at Auryn suggested he likely didn’t know either. The guy seemed more brawn than brain anyway…

“Give us any weapon you have on you,” Ezra stated flatly. It was clear they wouldn’t budge unless she did as he demanded. If she complied, he would nod for her to lead the way with he and Auryn keeping their sights on her. The entire thing was suspicious and deeply uncomfortable, but it was an awkward scenario that forced collaboration.

@Tulos @Mr. Teatime

 

[Auryn Angharad]

Auryn grumbled loudly during the Sith's entire spiel, and it wasn't his stomach this time. He didn't like anything she had to say, especially since earlier she'd kept going on about dark destiny while trying some mental attack. Suffice to say the Firrerreon really didn't like Sah'ra.

But if what she said was true, they didn't have much choice in the matter. As Ezra demanded the Sith's weapons, Auryn held a hand palm-up to take her lightsaber with the Force should she give them up. No way was he putting his extremities anywhere near this crazy person and remained on guard for any Sith trickery.

"Explain how we leave," he firmly insisted. The sooner they were done with this place, the better.

@Tulos @Sreeya

 

[Sah'ra Ryun]

As Ezra made his demand, Sah’ra’s scowl deepened. When the newly anointed Darth Tempest had summoned the Sith to Junction, she did not heed the call. Instead she watched, as did the entire galaxy, as those who gathered around her were shamed and stripped of both title and blade. She had avoided losing her weapons then, to only lose them now? A Sith Lord turned Imperial War Master could not strip her of her sabers, but two Padawans could? While a Sith was not defined by their weapon, Sah’ra not needing such primitive trinkets, she still would not kneel to her enemies. After all, how could she?

”If you believe I need my lightsaber to kill you, you’re sorely mistaken,” the woman hissed as she gripped the weapon tightly in her hand, prepared to ensure that if they tried to take it from her that it would need to be done from her corpse. They had come to realize that for any of them to leave this tomb, it required cooperation. That certainly left little in the way of trust but as she spoke, Padawan or not, they would be able to sense her sincerity in what she said next, her words devoid of deceit. ”Assist me where Valentine could not and you have my word that you both shall leave here with life and limb,”

While her right hand remained tightly wrapped around the hilt of her weapon, she pulled her left from the wall and retrieved one of the daggers she had used earlier. Her own blood still remained on its razor sharp edge, the Padawans able to see as much as she tossed it at Ezra’s feet with the clatter of steel on stone echoing around the chamber. ”To break the seals that protect the sarcophagus, it would require a sacrifice. I had intended on that being the other man we lost but I believe a blood offering from two could serve my purpose just as well,” Perhaps now it was clear as to why she held little remorse for the loss of her partner.

Sah’ra then held up her left hand to show them the incision she had given herself prior, the wound needing little provoking to seep blood once again. If Ezra or Auryn complied with her wishes, then all three could soon be on their separate ways. If they instead chose to return to fighting due to her defiance of their demand, she remained prepared to do so as well.

@Sreeya @Mr. Teatime​

 

[Auryn Angharad]

"Then hand it over," Auryn bluntly rebutted, making a 'gimme' gesture with his free hand. "Since y'don't need it." It didn't look like he was taking that excuse. Sah'ra made promises, but a Sith's word was worth nothing and he outright didn't believe her. She was just trying to talk her out into getting what she wanted when trying to get them killed didn't work. Of course, the Firrerreon was heavily biased.

She pulled a bloody dagger- here Auryn tensed- and started explaining things without handing her lightsaber over. Auryn reached into his belt pockets and surreptitiously clicked the button for his comms beacon along the way. "Yeah, 'cause what we need is some weird Sith blood disease that'll make y'look like a vampire's dusty ballsack." From his belt, he tossed a cloth rag at the dagger. "Do all Sith take classes on speakin' vague? It's not mysterious, jus' annoying."

The idea of any kind of 'sacrifice' or letting a Sith get away with spooky evil artifact(s) made him very uncomfortable and he hadn't figured out where to go next in their situation. Maybe Ezra would catch on to the fact he was stalling on purpose, or just assume he was being prickly for the fun of it. Truth be told, it was both. Sah'ra also hadn't surrendered her weapon, and Auryn wasn't budging.

@Sreeya @Tulos

 

[Ezra Thorne]

“You are in no position to be making demands,” Ezra said flatly, “Hand over the sabers. Now,” He wasn’t budging either. It was clear that neither would budge until she handed over all her weapons. He hadn’t even thought through the concept of giving his blood for any reason. He was raised his entire life not to leave his DNA anywhere by his paranoid father - even though he couldn’t understand it.

While Ezra didn’t break into a fight, he wasn’t going to let the Sith set the rules either.

@Tulos @Mr. Teatime

 

[Sah'ra Ryun]

An audible snarl could be heard throughout the chamber as Ezra made his demand once again for her weapons. The name of Sith had been drug through dirt and mud in the recent months, Sah’ra not wanting to do the same with her own. But alas, what lay beneath their feet was far more valuable than the weapons she had managed to hold on to for this long. She could create new sabers; tracking down a similar treasure that she believed lies below could take years.

”Annoying?” Sah’ra growled toward Auryn, her amber eyes settling on his own briefly. Amusing, given his entire presence here even before arriving in the burial chamber had been spent grumbling and complaining ”I wouldn’t dare speak on a subject you so clearly master in, dear boy,” She concluded before disdainfully tossing the weapon in her hand at their feet. Her hand then dug into her satchel and retrieved the remainder of her daggers, proceeding to do the same. Yet as Auryn produced the rag that he too discarded in the direction of her bloody dagger, the hairs on the back of her neck stood in warning. Time was running short.

”You have your prize,” Sah’ra stated plainly as she waved her hand towards her weapon, though her tone was certainly not devoid of irritation. ”Assist me in claiming mine and we can all leave here and forget we had ever met one another,” Now she turned her focus to Ezra once more, singling him out as the alpha of the pair. ”There is more to all of our lives than lying dead beneath the dust and snow of Ziost,”

@Sreeya @Mr. Teatime​

 

[Auryn Angharad]

Auryn fixed the Sith woman with a flat look. "Y'dare speak ignorantly about everythin' else jus' fine," he replied in a genuine-sounding tone of confusion. Maybe that's why most of what she said was so vague? Like a fortune-teller or other scam artist. Certainly sounded Sith-like to Auryn.

The Firrerreon boy pulled the tossed Sith lightsaber to his free hand and clipped it securely to his belt, trying to ignore the gross, hair-raising feeling the corrupted core gave him. He then swept the pile of daggers into his bag. "'Prize' is a strong word." Auryn brushed a bit of tomb dust off his pants. "So what's the treasure?" He distinctly recalled the woman vaguely sweeping aside Ezra's earlier question.

He glanced at Ezra. Neither of them had exactly been jumping to cut themselves and hand over evil artifacts to this crazy person with a half-dozen knives in her purse. But if they needed to in order to leave, better him than the other guy. "Maybe I'll help."

@Sreeya @Tulos

 

[Ezra Thorne]

Ezra stared blankly as the two bickered with one another. Why was the middle aged woman just as snarky as Auryn? For his part, Ezra stood like a statue and disengaged from the petty exchange. However, he did unfortunately arrive at the conclusion that they needed to open the chamber to find a way out of this mess. He couldn’t help but wonder what happened to that other guy at the entrance who keeled over. Was he bleeding out? Why was Ezra the only one bothering to remember that there was another person left behind?

“Just get on with it, lady,” Ezra grumbled, fed up with being in this tomb with this woman they couldn’t exactly kill. He could see why being a Sith was easier and how no impulsive actions were judged. He crushed that line of thought right there, wondering if it was the darkness in this space that contributed.

“We only do enough to allow us to get out,” He said, “You’re not walking out with anything in here. We’re not going to just let you skip out of here with a dark artifact that can be used to aid the Sith.”

She could glean from whatever was in there while they were here, but Ezra wouldn't let her leave with it.

@Mr. Teatime @Tulos

 

[Sah'ra Ryun]

Scowling, silent, Sah’ra nodded her head in agreement. This entire endeavor had succumbed to failure but while she would be leaving here empty handed, she would not be departing without at least some of the information she had sought. Approaching the monolithic statue at the center of the room, she placed three fingers below the cut she had made on her own hand and pulled the wound apart, forcing it to once again seep with blood.

It no longer mattered which of these two young men partook in the ritual. One of them would have collected her daggers and followed suit, their own blood pooling with her own as she softly muttered in ur-kittat, each spoken word garnering a reaction from their surroundings. The collection of blood soon began to seemingly glow with a blue aura as it was guided in twin paths from the floor up the base of the statue. It continued to defy the laws of gravity until it arrived at the eyes of the figure, disappearing within the stone construct in a reversal of fallen tears.

Only then did the statue too begin to glow in that same familiar aura before sliding back and revealing a dark staircase that descended further within the tomb. Together they would plunge into the darkness, finding a room with an ancient sarcophagus. Opposite the staircase, they would see the comforting rays of sunlight sneaking through an air channel, just large enough that they’d be able to crawl through it single file. For Sah’ra and Auryn it would be a simple endeavor. Ezra would find the fit to be a bit tight but he would be able to make it through all the same, so long as he was not claustrophobic.

Placed before the sarcophagus was the artifact Sah’ra had come here in hopes of finding. A holocron, ancient and covered in a thick layer of dust. She could hear it’s whispers, beckoning her to listen and learn it’s secrets. If she had more time, the knowledge she could garner could be immense. Such was not her luck however.

Sah’ra would kneel with the holocron before and begin to meditate, merging her Force energies with that of the holocron. The device would begin to rise in the air, the corners of it’s prism shape separating and rearranging before glowing with a bright and vivid red. Placing the memory crystal she had acquired on Tund within, she would gain access to it’s secrets. Whispers. She could hear them clearer now than before, guiding her. Telling her where she must go. What she must do. Desperately she wished she could flee with the artifact in hand but for now, she had heard enough. Retrieving her crystal, the holocron would return to dormancy. Standing and turning to the pair of Jedi with a stoic expression, the woman nodded. For now, their time on Ziost had come to an end.

END THREAD

@Sreeya @Mr. Teatime​