The Drastwarts School of Sithcraft and Sorcery

[Aadya Drast]

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Ancient stone monolith, Boz Pity

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The Sith shuttle took little time to descend through the atmosphere of Boz Pity, rocketing towards its location with fierce determination. It mirrored one of its occupants in that way, Aadya herself was very determined to see this particular mission be a success. Of all the operations occurring in her expedition, she considered this one to be the most important.

At the end of the day Nimban would be conquered one way or another, the success of the liaison she had sent - Darth Tagus no less - was largely irrelevant, it only made the ride smoother and faster. The destination would be the same no matter what happened in the end. But the foundation of this new temple, this new academy would have reverberating effects throughout the Empire. In time, should her personal vision continue to see success, future Sith would train here and know that Aadya Drast had been its founder.

The shuttle touched down just outside of the apparent structure entrance, its massive stone door wide open, like the gaping maw of a predator - tantalizing and just begging for the uninitiated to give it a free meal. The pilot would remain outside in the shuttle awaiting Aadya and her partner's return, though the young Drast informed him that she had absolutely no clue how long their expedition could take and not to be alarmed if day became night.

Aadya had packed some provisions in the pockets of the belt she was wearing, simple stuff just for nutrients and of course some water. She trusted that the Dark Side would be able to satiate any other needs that happened to come up. Deciding to waste little time, Aadya motioned towards Zandrali to follow her as she headed straight inside.

"No telling what we'll encounter in there or even how big the complex is, but we need to sweep as much of it as possible. Aadya said as they entered the temple proper. They where in some sort of large entry chamber with what looked like halls that would lead in several different directions. "Scans have shown at least a couple floors below and several above, but the stone made them sort of hit or miss." Looking around, Aadya shrugged her shoulders. "Which way do you want to start? Dealer's choice."

 

[Darth Valravus]

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❅ THEME ❅​

As far as Zan was concerned this was a casual safari excursion. The surveying of a possible new temple was as good a reason as any to enjoy the wilderness and on a planet that was not toiling desert no less. Aside from the permeated darkness of that planet and the decent bars there was not a great deal of attraction for her to remain there for an extended period of time.

The crusader was still somewhat new to having half a dozen troopers at her beck and call. They all still seemed to be adequate at their jobs from what the woman had seen but for now there had not been many situations where their combat prowess had been tested. Still she really did not expect anything grand of them, only for them to do their jobs.

When the shuttle touched down she got her first real glimpse of what they had been brought to survey. There were some things that just seemed interesting and awe inspiring. Zan would be lying if she said the structure was not impressive. The leader of this operation, Aadya Drast, was an acolyte that Zan had only recently learned of. It would seem they both had come from an obscure background though the younger female's surname garnered some consideration.

Both she and her troops came to a stop behind Aadya. Even behind their helmets it was clearly they were surprised by the new sight. Zanwore her usual armor, even with her fetishes and pelts. The temperate environment did not make the layers feel too warm. Underneath the only thing that was covered with anything that did not breath were the armored plates themselves. The deucalian's tattooed body would have been visible had she not had her long black hair with silver tips mix with the animal furs over her shoulders. Unlike most sith she rarely wore a cloak. Too often was it worn to hide one's appearance. Zan was proud of her phyisque and the power she could display.

What lay within the temple was yet to be seen. After Aadya spoke the warpaint addorned woman turned her head to the side so her troops knew she was directing them. "Teams of two. One remain here at the shuttle, the other two check the perimeter. Check in ever fifteen minutes." The sergeant confirmed her delegation and directed the troops further with specifics.

Zan took a few steps forward and moved into the would be temple. "I'll take upper floor." She said wondering whether or not she was actually hopping to find some creatures or something waiting for her to fight. If not, this would have been a bit of a boring trip.

@Logan

 

[Aadya Drast]

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"Guess I'll take the basement then. Goodie." Aadya said half jokingly. She wasn't particularly afraid or anything, though that little voice in the back of her head was reminding her that the basement is where the dumb characters went in every horror holovid. The ones that always got eaten by the monster or stabbed by the mask guy real early in the movie. Hopefully Space Hollywood wasn't historically accurate.

Aadya found the nearest passage that had stairs heading down. She ignited her lightsaber, each stair plunging her further and further into inky blackness. Through the dim red glow she could see that the stairs ended in a large circular room that had a couple hallways branching off.

Deciding to go left, Aadya went down the hallway, and that's when she heard the soft chattering of what seemed to be voices. As she neared Aadya couldn't make out what they were saying, some language she'd never heard before. At the end of the hall there was a hard left, and Aadya could see the faint, soft glow of a fire bouncing off the wall.

Drawing her pistol, Aadya rounded the corner swiftly and pulled her trigger four times before really knowing what she was shooting at. Two bolts hit both of the creatures that were there, causing them to squeal like swine before keeling over. Aadya walked over and severed their heads for good measure, though she had absolutely no clue what she was looking at.

"We've definitely got activity here, at least downstairs. Looks like the same creatures that were attempting to settle the surface. Stay alert up there." Aadya spoke into her comm, though she was unsure if they would actually work through the heavy stone.

There wasn't much else in the room she was in, so Aadya turned to go back the way she had came and check out the other hallway. Hopefully Zan didn't find anything crazy upstairs.

@Darasuum

 

[Darth Valravus]

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This was going to be a dull affair. At least that was how she felt. Her apathetic expression covered partially by the makeup she wore as warpaint. Moving into the monolithic structure the darkness began surrounding her. Her different colored eyes adjusted after a few moments and she felt out into the force for any signs of local fauna that might have wandered inside.

As she and Aadya diverted their paths, one of them ascending to the right and the other descending to the left, Zan drew the worn sith sword from her back with her right hand feeling its heft with satisfaction. With her left hand Zanwould pull out a flashlight and drag it across the view as she moved into the eerie halls.

Soon she was far beyond the noise of what transpired floors beneath her. She wondered how long she had been walking. It seemed like only moments ago she had been outside yet the traversal of the halls was taking forever.

Scratching made her stop her movement. Her eyes squinted to see something in the dark but could not make anything out. Zan switched off her flashlight and replaced it with the handle of one of her lightsabers. The weapon's light could not be directed and made the Crusader not too keen to use it in such a dark environment. It revealed her position.

Bit by bit she moved closer to the scratching noise. Finally she came to a corner where the sound rebounded off the hard and cold surfaces of the room beyond. Inside she saw two dog like quadrupeds. They looked familiar to her, not specifically but the specicies. After a moment the deucalian realized where she had seen them before, at the foot of Darth Victress. The two tuk'ata looked up, sensing her presence among other things. The growl reached her ears and she knew now that she would perhaps get the confrontation she desired. In response the sith activated her purple bladed weapon casting the surrounding area in a violet tint.

@Logan

 

[Aadya Drast]

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When a few moments passed and Aadya didn't hear anything back from Zan, she made the educated guess that the comms weren't working. It was that or somehow Zan had already been brutally slaughtered by some unknown creature, and frankly Aadya didn't even really want to entertain that sort of intrusive thought so going with dead comms just made her feel better.

As she walked back the way she came and headed off down the other hallway, Aadya could hear more sounds but they sounded slightly different than before. As she approached, it looked like the hall ended in just one large circular room. Likely some sort of meeting chamber, meditation maybe. The glow from her lightsaber illuminated two dog like creatures which Aadya instantly identified as tuk'ata, she had actually not that long ago tamed one of those for herself in a tomb on Korriban.

The two beasts seemed far too engrossed in their meal to notice her. Looked like they were eating a fresh kill of whatever she herself had just encountered down the other way. Reaching out with the force, Aadya yanked one of the tuk'ata towards here, taking it by surprise. She swung her saber and bisected it easily, the two hunks falling with heavy thuds behind her. The other tuk'ata turned towards her and gave a gnarly growl, coiling up its haunches like it was getting ready to launch itself at her like a missile.

By the Force she hoped that Zan was having better luck than her - and hopefully wasn't dead.

@Darasuum

 

[Darth Valravus]

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They had certainly noticed her. That much was clear. Their eyes reflected back towards her in the light of her weapon. Growls began to join the subtle thrum of her light saber. Their claws scrapped against the cold and dusted block lain floor.

"You growl at me I'm going to growl right back. You bite me..." She did not get to finish her sentence. She did not need to. The first one to the left leaped towards her. With prepared poise Zan pivoted making a cleaving cut across its muscled neck. When the corpse of the dark side hound landed it tumbled out of sigght with its own momentum.

Not watching the dead creature post mortem Zan focused on the beat before her that had chosen to attack the second after its kin. Dashing from side to side it got closer before lunging forward with a bit. This time the Deucalian brought up her left forearm which the Tu'kata was more than happy to bring its powerful jaws down on. But it left it exposed. Trying to drag her arm around like it was the neck of some small animal it did not realize that the woman was far stronger than the average prey it faced. Its hind clawed legs scrapped against the stone ground to find purchase in the hopes of draggin her down. Instead the Crusader flipped the hilt of her blade of her weapon around and brought it down on the back of the exposed canine. A whimper escaped the final moments of the animal's existance before it dropped onto the ground.

Letting out a calming breath the heavy body of the tu'kata dropped into a slump. Raising her lightsaber she held it close to her left forearm. With a stoic stare she eyed the place where it had bitten down. Zan's arm was still uninjured but it had been a close call for her arm's sake. Rolling her shoulders she stepped over the body, moving on to the upper levels. She wondered how Aadya was doing.

@Logan

 

[Aadya Drast]

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And like a missile the tuk'ata did launch. Aadya was ready for it though, ducking and rolling underneath the airborne beast. She jumped back up to her feet and spun with speed and grace, nearly the same time that the tuk'ata landed with a heavy thud and whipped its own head back around.

The tuk'ata whipped its tail back and forth as it eyed Aadya hungrily, Aadya taking notice of the rather nasty stinger poking out of the tip. She knew that they were much to far from any real medical facility and that getting stung by the thing would likely mean she would die. The tuk'ata suddenly lunged towards her, its tail swinging forward in an attempt to sting. Aadya slid backwards out of its reach, pushing hard at the tuk'ata with the force.

She sent the devil dog flying backwards into the wall, causing it to yelp loudly in pain. Not giving it much time to recover, Aadya pulled it towards herself in a similar manner as she had with the other, chopping it in half just the same.

Taking a moment to catch her breath, Aadya knew that she wasn't quite done yet. There was still at least one set of stairs that she needed to descend, and by Vahl she hoped that it was the last one. If it was, she could go back up and meet with Zandrali, and hopefully their work would be complete.

@Darasuum

 

[Darth Valravus]

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The rest of the walk was quiet. It was eiry how silent it was as Zan walked. The darkness was all enveloping if Zan had not chosen to use her flash light. But it limited her field of view. Squinting through the darkness her dark made-up appearance peered for the slightest indication of another threat. But none came as she moved.

Open door ways with webs in the corners. Even the nests of the bugs seemed to have been abandoned. The slight draft from whence Zan had came making them shift slightly. Deteriorated furnishings of stone and wood lay in shambled pieces of room corners. The shadows grew as the Deucalian dragged her light across the area.

She hated this sort of place. It reminded her too much of forbidden places on Atrer III. Places where atrocities had occurred. Nothing in nature was meant to seem like this. Not only those places, but the ship she had been stuck on before being found by the Sith as a young child. That vessel had been drifting for so long it seemed like another extension of her home world. Both were like purgatory, an endless limbo. Zan was not so sure she had ever really escaped that vibe.

Stopping her footfalls her eyes returned to focus. The Crusader's mind had drifted and thought of such dark feelings she had not contemplated in ages. It was this place, it brought out such feelings of unease. This was definitely a place with as much inlaid darkness as it was inlaid with stone. Knowing what effect it was having on her was no more comforting than ignorance. Grunting in the darkness Zan carried on through the pathways that smelled of death and despair.

@Logan

 

[Aadya Drast]

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The descent down the stairs was long, the air growing chill and stale the further Aadya went down. Along the walls were sconce holes that once held torches, but simply sat empty and filled with cobwebs now. Aadya's lightsaber provided the only illumination which made the whole thing just downright spooky.

When Aadya finally reached the bottom, the stairwell opened up into a large circular chamber. Bones of those long dead littered the floor but Aadya could still see some whole skeletons leaning against the far wall, their wrists still shackled with now rusted chains. Aadya wondered how long it had taken them to finally die of starvation, abandoned by whatever evil had brought them here. Quite the grim way to go, that much was certain.

As she approached the center of the chamber Aadya happened upon what looked to be some sort of alter. There were old fetishes still hanging from it and strange symbols Aadya didn't recognize carved into its dark granite surface. The ground around the alter was stained a different color than the rest of the floor, Aadya assuming but still kind of hoping it wasn't blood. It was hard to tell with the crimson glow of her lightsaber casting everything in a strange light, but given the general vibe it seemed likely.


The room itself appeared to be empty, though, or at least anything inside had decided not to make itself known. With the illusion of safety stymieing her urge to get out of this place for now, Aadya was content to look around the chamber a bit more before heading back up to find Zandrali.

@Darasuum

 

[Darth Valravus]

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The unease continued throughout the time inside the halls. Zan stepped into a few rooms and looked around. There did not seem to be anything of interest in any of them. It was clear the place had been abandoned long ago. Perhaps those that had left it, or conquered it, had taken anything of worth with them.

There were some places that just warned with its aura to avoid. The foolish and bold tended to ignore those signs. It seemed that Zan and Aadya were those bold fools in this case. The Deucalian wondered how she was fairing. In the current location it would be hard for her to pick up any sort of reading through the force. There was too much disruption.

Bringing up her commlink she tried reaching out to her troops but there was too much interference with the thickness of the walls and also whatever material they were made of.

Zan seemed to have reached the upper levels with no other issue. Scattered bones that had either belonged to some human sized creatures were scattered here and there. They had been strewn on the floor, pulled apart in different areas over time and dragged from where the things cadaver had originally died most likely. The ages had those tu'kata and other animal life spread the pieces throughout the floors.

Sighing the Crusader would head back down the way she came. When she eventually came back to the bodies of the dark side hounds she would grab one and put one of her shoulder like it was a prize buck, while the other she simply dragged by its tail, leaving a trail of blood on the once dry and dusty floor behind her. Another few paltry trophies for decorations later perhaps. Maybe they would make some nice gloves.

Coming to the ground level Zan saw Aadya return though she looked like she had seen her own bit of conflict in her route. The Imperial troops under he command returned as well, signalling there had been no other issues. They would soon use the ship's long range communications to report the status and get the next stage of making the dark place a new base for the Sith.

❅ END THREAD ❅​

@Logan​