Ask Ziost Questions and Answers

[Arla]

---​

The morning of the plan was at hand. They had had a nice enough dinner the night before and gone their separate ways, but Arla - sans her flute - was out on the same balcony again. The biting chill outside the temple was temporarily refreshing against the heat of the academy inside.

She went over the plan in her head again as the doors slid open to reveal Caer's arrival.

Hey, you ready? she asked. The time was rapidly approaching and hopefully they could pull this off quickly and without a hitch. Things seldom went that smoothly, though, did they? Except here they really weren't supposed to be killing people, which could make it all a little more complicated. She was sure it wouldn't come to that.

She slipped back in through the doors next to him and started almost immediately toward the archives. It was quite clear that now she was all business, treating this with the same gravity she would treat a mission for the Empire. It was... helping the Empire in its own way. Yeah, definitely for sure.

@LouJoVi

 

[Caerllion of Cyfnos]

Their dinner together happened peacefully, with the only event full thing that happened was Caerllion tripping and nearly falling on the floor when he tried to act as a gentleman and pick the chair for Arla. He remembered half way while walking toward her chair that she was from Dathomir, a place where this type of thing didn’t happen. He tripped while trying to back away without her noticing.

The Annfyn was starting to hate how his brain seemed to have moments of dumbness!

Even with that small accident, Caerlliom felt happy during the entire thing. While it wasn’t a date, at least he had the opportunity to spend some more time with her. He was starting to appreciate their friendship.

The next day, Caerllion met Arla back on the same balcony. While she lacked the flute, the way that the cold breeze blew and made her hair move slightly made her look like an Ice Princess. “I’m! After I returned to my room yesterday, I had been reviewing our plan. I found out that the Keeper really leaves their office at noon to have lunch, but he returns exactly at 2:00 pm.” apparently Ziost Keeper seemed to be a very methodical person. At least that was what his quick search revealed.

With them prepared, the two Sith walked toward the Archives. They would only need to wait for the Keeper to leave for lunch. Caerllion avoided thinking that this operation would be easy, because all the times that he did it the situation ended going to hell. He would wait and see.

@Phoenix

 

[Arla]

Arla nodded as he described the Keeper's schedule before frowning. A two hour lunch? she repeated judgmentally. She was wondering if he was supposed to be out that long or if he was sneaking off for things he wasn't supposed to during that time. She supposed there wasn't any way to know unless they followed him, and frankly, she didn't really care enough to try to find out.

Good, let's take a look around the archives in the meantime, she said. So, Keeper leaves at noon. We get into his office and nab the key, use it to open the archives, copy the book, return the key, and we're out before anyone's the wise, she said.

Last chance to back out, she said. He was taking an awful risk and there was no telling what would happen to him if they were caught. Nothing good, that was sure.

 

[Caerllion of Cyfnos]

”If you believe that rumors are reliable, people say that the Keeper likes to visit a certain place of ill reputation in the capital.” the Acoyte expected that she was going to understand what he meant. If it was true, no one knows. However, Caerllion had learned by working in the parliament of Annwfyn that there was always a point of truth in these types of rumors.

“This is a good plan.” he said, smiling at her. However, Caerllion’s smile soon was replaced by a serious frown. “I’ll not back away. As I said to you yesterday, I’m going to help with it.” the Annfyn said, his voice sounding deadly serious.

“Besides, a certain someone went after the Keeper. When she returns, he can end being at our hands.” the Acolyte smirked deviously, remembering the fact that he sent Teekl, his mutated loth cat, to spy upon the man. With the telepathic spell that he placed on the feline, he was going to be able to see her memories. This way he was going to discover if these rumors were true.

With all settled, the two Sith would only need to wait for lunchtime. The Acolyte would use this free time in the Archive to read some holobooks about alchemy. He couldn’t wait to be a Champion so he could start with his own experiments.

@Phoenix

 

[Arla]

Caer expected Arla was going to know what he meant... that was a good one. She looked at him stone faced and gave him that piercing, gold-flecked, silver eyed stare.

Why would he want to go somewhere that doesn't have a good reputation? she asked. Of course, to her mind Caer had just declared that he went to a restaurant with poor yelp reviews or something, not the actual meaning he had intended.

She nodded as he declared his intention to stay, and she was internally glad for it. It would be nice to have an accomplice in her scheming, though there was a moment's visible confusion marked by the furrowing of her brow as he mentioned that someone went after the Keeper.

Who? What do you mean? she asked, wondering if suddenly he had some plan he hadn't told her about. Extra assistance spying on the Keeper? Ending him?! Was he planning to secretly assassinate the archive keeper, because that wasn't... well, it wasn't what she had signed up for. Not that she couldn't theoretically be convinced, but she hadn't been!

@LouJoVi

 

[Caerllion of Cyfnos]

Caerllion blinked when Arla showed his confusion about what he meant. He couldn’t believe that the Champion didn’t understand the euphemism that he had used. Now the Annfyn had no idea of how he was going to explain what a place of ill reputation was. Only thinking about it made his face get red. Talking about it in the middle of a Sith Academy wasn’t something that he wanted to do.

“I mean, there are some rumors about the Keeper visiting a seedy brothel in New Adasta during his lunch time. People say that he put things in his mouth that aren’t food.” he whispered to her, not wanting anyone else to hear what they were talking about. “This type of thing would not be accepted by the headmaster of the Academy.”

“You don’t need to worry! She is completely trustworthy and is going to only spy the Keeper. I didn’t ask her to kill him. Unless you want it to happen.” with her venomous fangs, Teekl could kill the Keeper. However, Caerllion didn’t see much use for it. “But I think that we could profit more by only blackmailing him.”

“Maybe you’ll meet her when she returns. After all, she loves to sleep in my bed after going outside, even more when it’s cold.” he wondered what he did to have spoiled pets. First was Shergess and now it is Teekl. To be honest, the Annfyn knew very well that he was guilty by spoiling the two.

@Phoenix

 

[Arla]

Arla almost had no idea what he was talking about until he mentioned a brothel directly because the rest of his euphemism and implication went right over her head. She had at least heard of brothels before.

She rolled her eyes and shook her head. You off-worlders are such prudes, she said. Though, I suppose if he was on duty at least on the surface that's a problem, she said.

She tilted her head back and forth to the sides and smirked. Though, sometimes there's a thrill in the forbidden, she said before moving along with that thought.

He went on to describe how trustworthy this person he had sent after the Keeper was, but he didn't answer her question. Somehow, the tension and anxiety seemed to mount in her, particularly as he described this woman killing the Keeper.

Who. Is. She? she asked, her voice turning suddenly to ice. It was a side of her he didn't see often and certainly not in a setting like this, but it was clear she was deadly serious.

He went on, still not answering her question and then talked about her sleeping in his bed. Oh, so it seemed his interest in Arla wasn't isolated. The lattermost comments were... weird. Really weird. She liked sleeping in his bed only after going outside in the cold? Um, okay?

@LouJoVi

 

[Caerllion of Cyfnos]

The Annfyn blushed when she said that he was prude. Caerllion never thought that he was this way. He only followed the social norms dictated by the society where they lived. ”Well, I don’t think that going here is the problem. As you said, the problem is that he is doing it while he is on duty.”

A smile appeared on Caerllion’s lips when he heard the Champion’s comment about the thrill of forbidden things. The Acolyte spent most of the time walking in the line, doing everything that was expected from someone of his position. However, he had his moments to explore thrilling things.

When he told Arla about his loth cat, Caerllion didn’t expect such a hostile reaction from her. He would have thought that she was jealous, but the Annfyn was very aware that wasn’t the case. As she had said before, the Champion felt nothing for him. She probably was only concerned with the possibility of this plan failing. This realization left him a bit sad.

He picked his datapad and showed a picture on it to Arla. It would be of a normal looking feline sleeping stretched in a bed. “This is my loth cat, Teekl. She is a very special one, having some very peculiar skills.” he wasn’t going to give the details about what his pet could do, someone could be hearing their conversation. “Thanks to a telepathic spell that I learned, I can see her memories.” with his magick and her innocent appearance, Teekl became an efficient spy.

“When I heard about these rumors, I thought that it could be good to verify if they were true. So I sent her after him. If he catches us, we can use it to blackmail him.” he explained, before smiling sheepishly at her. He hoped that she would be satisfied with it.

@Phoenix

 

[Arla]

Arla looked over at the picture he produced and simply stared deadpan.

Oh. It's a feline, she said. This entire time she had been under the assumption that he had brought some other student into the fold. Some student who thought they were a master spy and assassin capable of bringing down a Keeper. The fact that it was a cat had never crossed the Nightsister's mind, and she visible relaxed a bit.

She's cute. I need to meet her, she said in that matter-of-fact way that she spoke. It almost made her want one of her own, in fact, and her mind returned momentarily to her dreams of one day owning her own Fathier ranch. Someday, she told herself before pushing the thought from her mind.

Strong work, she said after another moment, liking the idea of having a back-up plan if they were caught. Yes, he'd done quite well. She'd been quite clever to bring him in on this.

By the time their conversation was finished, they'd arrived at the Keeper's office and she glanced over at him one final time before giving a nod to indicate she was ready. With that, she made her way to an adjacent balcony and out into the frigid cold. They could shimmy along a ledge and get access to the man's office from the window.

@LouJoVi

 

[Caerllion of Cyfnos]

”Isn’t she? Teekl can act like a spoiled brat most of the time, but she is adorable!” Caerllion said excitedly, while flipping through some other pictures. “This one is my favorite. It’s her with Shergess, my Arkanian dragon.” in the image, the two animals were curled with each other near a large fireplace. “I thought that the two would hate each other, but they became fast friends. Or at least companions of fireplace.”

It would be obvious that Caerllion was proud with Shergess and Teekl. The Arkanian dragon was going fast and becoming beautiful everyday. Soon he would be large enough to carry him. Meanwhile, Teekl was a very efficient spy. The bond between the two was strong and if the right spell, he could even see what the loth cat was seeing. Her venomous bite also worked well, turning the feline into a good assassin.

“You can meet her after we finish today, but don’t try to pick her up before she gets used to you. She doesn't like that.” Caerllion remembers the incident where one of his servants was bitten by Teekl because he tried to grab the loth cat. Thankfully he was able to give the antidote to him.

Once they arrived in the Keeper’s office, the time to talk ended. The two needed to pay attention to what they were going to do. With Arla’s signal, Caerllion followed her into the balcony close to the office. “Do you want me to go first?” he asked, waiting to see if the Champion would want his to move through the ledge before her.

@Phoenix

 

[Arla]

Arla's eyebrows rose when he showed her a picture of an Arkanian dragon. Clearly, he had a way with animals as well, and she felt her mouth hang open ever-so-slightly at the picture.

You have an Arkanian dragon?! she gasped. They were notoriously difficult to obtain and while Arla had never tried, she'd heard the stories. It was impressive to say the least.

No, she said in response to his question because of course she said no. She forced her mind back to the task at hand as she swung a leg over the railing and then leveraged her entire weight onto the ledge. Fortunately, it wasn't icy, but that was the first thing she tested before she put her entire weight on it.

She pressed her back up against the wall, wind biting at her face as she slid along. One step at a time until she was at the window.

She closed her eyes and focused on the Shadow running through the electronics. Everything in the galaxy was connected, and she could sense the windows small latch from here. It was a maneuver most acolytes couldn't or wouldn't achieve, which was probably why it was only so well secured. Plus there wasn't really that much to protect in his office.

She heard a click and the window slid open, allowing her to swing inside and land on her feet on the floor.

@LouJoVi

 

[Caerllion of Cyfnos]

”Yes! I was lucky enough to find her egg while searching for technology with an Arkanian smuggler. It was taken from a hunter ship that crashed during a storm. I didn’t think twice before buying it.” he explained, smiling at the picture. While he didn’t take the egg from the nest in an epic adventure, the Acolyte still felt proud of the creature. Shergess had become his daughter. “When she is older enough, do you want to ride her with me?” he asked, hoping to receive a positive answer.

When the Champion said that she didn’t want him to go first, Caerllion only nodded in answer. He didn’t understand why she wanted to go first, perhaps Arla doubted his skills to open the window. However, a small part of him hoped that she was concerned with him and didn’t want him to get into too many problems if he was caught there alone.

After Caerllion saw the Champion disappearing through the window, he knew that it was his turn. Moving over the railing, the Annfyn reached the ledge. He carefully walked over it, while the cold wind of Ziost hit his body. With some more careful steps, the Acolyte reached the window and jumped inside.

The office wasn’t much different from the one in Korriban. Of course, there were some details of decoration that were particular to the Keeper of Ziost, but most of it was the same. There were bookshelves, statues of Sith and a table with a chair that the man probably used when working.

“The Keeper of Korriban usually maintained his keys inside a drawer of his table. Maybe we could start looking for it there.” Caerllion said, while pointing at it. “You could search on the right side, while I do it on the left.” he offered, this way they could find the cardkey faster than if only one searched for it.

@Phoenix

 

[Arla]

Yes! she exclaimed, absolutely ready to take any opportunity to ride on such an incredible beast.

By the time they made it into the office, she started pawing through the drawers and found the key, snatching it up and holding it triumphantly in the air.

Got it! she said, before frowning. Screw the duplicate, let's just use it now and get the pictures and leave, she said. She headed for the deepest section of the archives and reached into a small pouch, pulling out a small handful of sand. It was the technique she had read about that set her on this quest in the first place.

She reached out to the Force, letting it flow through her and the sand. The particles lifted into the air and hovered into the outermost lock. It wasn't fully disruptive, but it was just enough to mess with the magnetic field and with a click the lock sprung open, leaving them to simply use the key card on the inner door and have their prize.

@LouJoVi

 

[Caerllion of Cyfnos]

With Arla’s consent, Caerllion moved to search inside the drawers of the left side of the table. The first ones that he opened had only some documents and a flier about an exposition at a museum on G’wenee. He picked this one and put it inside his pocket, maybe it could be interesting.

When he opened the last drawer, the Annfyn had a surprise with its contents. His face became red, while staring wide eyed at them. Even if Teekle didn’t follow the Keeper to the brothel, what was inside it was enough to make a blackmail. The Keeper was really a very shameless person to have such things in his workplace.

With his cheeks still flushed, the Acolyte used his datapad to take pictures and use as evidence. Caerllion only needed to be careful for people to not see these images with him. They would think that he was a depraved. With the pictures safely stored in an archive in the Holonet, the Acolyte closed the drawer as fast as he could.

“I agree. It’s still early, so we can bring it back before the Keeper returns.” Caerllion said to Arla, with his face still red from what he had seen inside the drawer. With the key card in their possession, the two Sith went toward the Archives.

The Acolyte watched with curiosity Arla use a combination of sand and the Force. Whatever it was, the lock opened. “You need to teach this ability to me. It would be very useful to spy on political enemies.” he said, while the Champion used the key card to open the inner door. “Where did you learn it?”

@Phoenix

 

[Arla]

When Arla looked over at him he looked like a tomato and she almost asked if he was feeling okay, but he didn't seem to be having a problem so she pressed on.

It's called Shifting Sands, she said. It's a technique often taught to initiates to help master their abilities in the Shadow, she said. Dirt was something in abundance on Dathomir and so it had been an integral part of her training to learn to manipulate the particles.

It won't work on most heavy-duty or military grade doors, which is why we still need the key for the inner door, she said, swiping the keycard over the scanner. With a beep, the door's lock hissed and the door slid open.

Of course, there was an abundance of things in here that she would have loved to study. She'd have loved to get lost in here, but they didn't have time. They needed to find the book and get to work before the Keeper came back.

@LouJoVi

 

[Caerllion of Cyfnos]

”Interesting. Vex taught me how to master my abilities with the Dark Side through the use of meditative spells. Since I use magick a lot, I thought that it would be a more useful method.” Caerllion explained, thinking that it showed how each Master had a different way of teaching their apprentices. The Annfyn wondered how Arla would be as a teacher when she decided to take an Acolyte.

However, he would seek to learn about Shifting Sands. It was very useful for infiltrations, like what they were doing right now. While Arla used the key card to open the door, the Acolyte thought about places where he could enter by using it. he could discover the secrets of some of his political enemies in the parliament.

Once the door was open, the two Sith entered the restricted part of the Archives. Like Arla, Caerllion also stopped to admire the several works that were in the bookshelves around them. There weren't only holobooks, but also several ancient tomes. If they had the time, the Annfyn would have stopped to read every one of them. Even if it took a century.

“There are so many books here. Do you have any idea where it could be?” while the two Sith were from species that could live many years, they couldn’t spend much time. When it was 2:00 pm, the Keeper would return. If Arla knew where they could find it, they could avoid being caught.

@Phoenix

 

[Arla]

Arla didn't spend long enjoying the teachings of the restricted section because they needed to get out.

It should be chronological, she said, which would put the teachings of Darth Malon in the same general area as Darth Venator, Darth Cain, and Darth Vanus... ah, here! she exclaimed, snatching the book off the shelf and beginning to thumb through the pages.

Make sure no one's coming, she said. Each page, she took a picture of for later consumption, checking her chrono periodically to make sure they were fine. Be calm, Arla, she thought to herself.

It went by relatively quickly. Even with almost two hundred pages, it only took her around 10 minutes to snap them all, and she closed the book, replacing it on a shelf.

Done, let's go, she said.

@LouJoVi

 

[Caerllion of Cyfnos]

Caerllion nodded and went to search for the holobook. While he looked around the bookshelves, the Annfyn saw works made by several ancient Sith Lords. Some names he recognized, while others not so much. He hoped to have the opportunity to visit this place another time, and without being in a rush.

After some time searching the book, Arla finally found it. The Annfyn approached her to see how it was. There wasn’t anything different on it, the cover was very simple and similar to that of the other books. The only proof that it was what they came after was the name of the author and the title.

“Ok!” he said to Arla, before walking toward the entrance. Caerllion remained hidden behind a pillar, from where he was able to watch the entrance of this part of the Archives. He looked back to his chrono, seeing that it was still early for the Keeper to return. However, the Annfyn would continue paying attention to anyone that could arrive.

In the end, Arla was able to photograph the book and no one appeared to disturb them. “Excellent! Now we can go put the key card back in its place.” he stared back on his chrono. It was 01:35 pm. While the Keeper would still be away from the Academy, the two needed to go here fast. He would be already returning.

@Phoenix

 

[Arla]

Arla put away the book and her device for taking photos and hurried them both out of the room. The doors closed and locked behind them, and she felt a sense of relief that they were out.

Yes, put the key back, she said, motioning to the office and standing guard as he put it away. They closed the window and locked the door, letting it slide shut into its locked position behind them.

Good work, she said. And just like that they were finished. She would study the writings extensively and forward the images to him, but now that the adrenaline of the heist itself was finishing, she found herself wanting to do nothing but head back to her ship and start reading.

 

[Caerllion of Cyfnos]

After Arla took the pictures of the book, the two Sith left the Archives. The corridors remained empty, with no one to stop them and ask what they were doing. They reached the Keeper’s officer without any problem and now Caerllion would only need to put the key card back in its place.

While the Champion remained standing guard in the case of the Keeper arriving, Caerllion entered the office. With no time to waste, the Annfyn went straight to the drawer where the keys were left and placed the key card there. He smiled, no one was going to notice that it had been taken.

Once he did it, the Annfyn would leave the office. “Thanks, you also did an excellent job.” Caerllion said to Arla, while the two walked away. Now he would wait for her to send the copies of the pictures and start to study. The Acolyte couldn’t wait to learn more about this ability.

/End Thread

@Phoenix