Ask The Gathering

[The Storyteller]

The Gathering.

A sacred Jedi tradition lost for nearly a century now. With Ilum lost, it looked as though that tradition would never resurface. But Dantooine presented a new opportunity; and, now, Yoddle was the second Jedi Knight to lead a group of students to Dantooine in search of the crystals that would become the hearts of their lightsabers. He left them a simple set of instructions:

All of them were to rendezvous in Dantoo Town. Then, venturing beyond the settlement into Dantooine's grassy seas, they were to locate a cave strong in the Force. They would know how to find such a cave if they quieted their minds and trusted the Force to guide them. If they were capable of reaching the mouth of the cave, then Yoddle himself would instruct them in the methods of gathering kyber crystals for their lightsabers.​

OOC: For flavor and story fun, I will act as both the DM and play Yoddle (the instructor) for this thread. @Feng Mian @Brahe Sienar @Rizkacha

 

[Lyra]

Lyra was new to the Jedi Order. Eager to learn, she was excited to be receiving her lightsaber only after a week’s worth of training with Oren Zapan. She had him to thank for everything: saving her life, literally and figuratively. Without him, she’d be on Coruscant wondering when destiny would find her.

Good thing it already had.

She hitched a ride to a small settlement alone. With the instructions she received, Lyra figured the rest of the Jedi, the two she was meant to meet, would be ready and waiting. Together, they would journey into the sea of grass, find the mouth of the cave and earn their lightsabers.

When she arrived, nobody was waiting.

Soft wind lapped at her face. Above her, next to a thick-stumped tree, leaves shivered. She knotted a finger with her black hair as she looked impatiently around. Lyra waited another half-minute before she noticed someone else coming.

It was a young man she hadn’t met yet, but she was happy to introduce herself.

Taking a short bow, Lyra said, “Thank goodness, I thought everyone had already left. I’m Lyra, by the way. You?”

@Noctyr @WiffWaffs

 

[Brahe Sienar]

Lightsaber number 6.

Yes, he owned that many. Three of the six were destroyed during the many adventures he had in his younger teenage years, but the final 3 were more of a failsafe than anything. Master Mila and Brahe had agreed that it might be a good idea for him to stock up, considering his luck. And so it was not so much a matter of getting there and using the force to guide him, but rather, out of forced habit from the 5 previous times he had arrived here on planet to construct a lightsaber.

To be honest, Brahe's biggest issue was concentrating on feeling the force itself. Usually the most in-tune he felt was when he was piloting a starfighter, or if he held an unusual resonance with a place. Unfortunately for him, his last excursion on Teth had taught him that he had a natural affinity for the dark side. It called to him more than the light, and if he wasn't careful, he could end up finding another dark side cave, or worse.

The past spooked him, but he shrugged it off. This should've been no different than the last times.

"Brahe. Nice to meet you."

He intentionally left out his surname. Between being closely tied to Sienar-Jaemus Fleet Systems, and being part of Clan Wren, it was hard for him to know who might not like who he was due to his familial ties. Did they hold a grudge against the company that created the Empire and First Order's fleets? Did they hate the mandalorians?

Being a Jedi on top of that usually complicated things, and in these trying times, ever since the Hutts had put an open bounty on all lightsaber wielders, he had to be more careful.

 

[Rizkacha]

The purple-skinned Twi'lek wasn't sure that she was ready for this trial, to be honest. That being said, she was excited to at least try to get her first Lightsaber. She approached the other two apprentices, examining them but not speaking up unless she was sure they were finished. They were already talking, after all, and she didn't want to interrupt.

At least they had all gotten here in one piece. Once they had finished speaking, she spoke up, wanting to introduce herself as well. She knew that they might need to work together, after all. Plus, it'd do her well to make some friends in the academy, "...My name is Riz'kacha. I assume you two are also apprentices here for the gathering?"

 

[Lyra]

“Good to meet you Brahe,” said Lyra with a soft-hearted smile.

After shaking his hand, she noticed another unfamiliar face approach. A purple-skinned Twi’lek, to which she smiled again at her introduction. That made the third and final apprentice present, which meant they could start their journey into the grassy dunes, find the Jedi assigned to them and recover the cores to their new lightsabers.

Lyra expected a walk in the park.

“Oh, sweet! You showed,” she said, and hoping to get introductions out of the way, gestured to herself and the young man beside her. “I’m Lyra, and this here is Brahe.”

She was eager to get a hold of her very first lightsaber and her gaze wandered over to the vast fields waiting for them. “Now that we’re all here, I guess all we have to do now is find that strange cave.”

Lyra started to walk out into the grass in a random direction, hoping the Force would guide her to her destination. Normally, as a bookworm and a wallflower, she never took lead. Today though, she was excited what the Force had in store for her.

“Well, what are we waiting for?” she’d say, with the touch of smile. “Let’s go!”

@Noctyr @WiffWaffs

 

[Yoddle]

The grass fields of Dantooine were lush and vibrant even after years of Imperial occupation. And, deep in their center, lay a cave in the side of a risen plateau. On a boulder just outside the mouth of the cave sat Yoddle, Jedi Knight, the last of the old guard—all that remained of the Jedi who had come before. If he thought back long enough, he could remember his own Gathering on Ilum: Master Yoda perched at the center of the temple, ushering them in after their crystals and welcoming them back when they returned. But Master Yoda was gone now. One with the Force. Now, there was just him. Just Yoddle.

Yoddle was responsible for three Jedi Padawans for this Gathering, and he considered it a great honor to be chosen to guide them. To lead a ceremony that had recently faced extinction with the loss of Ilum at Starkiller Base.

"Gather around, young ones," Yoddle said when he saw the trio of Padawans arrive. "Get in close. Come, come." He reached into his robe and pulled out an elegantly designed weapon. "Know why you are here, we all do. A lightsaber is the symbol of a Jedi's duty. Yes, a constant companion it is. But, without a heart of kyber, powerless a lightsaber is." To illustrate his point, he ignited his weapon's brilliant golden blade and pointed it at the mouth of the cave behind him.

"Inside, find your crystals, you will," the old Jedi Knight went on. "But strong in the Force, this cave is. You will face many trials inside. Spiritual, mental, and, yes, physical too—the home to kinrath, these caves are." Yoddle glanced up at the sun. By Dantooine time, it was high noon, and the sun was at its highest point in the sky. "And not much time will you have. Bigger kinrath emerge when the sun sets. Find your crystal before it does, you must."

Yoddle extinguished his blade and returned the hilt of the weapon to his robes. He offered each of the Padawans a smile, then ushered them inside, where the kyber crystals would be found. @Feng Mian @WiffWaffs @Noctyr

 

[Brahe Sienar]

It was hiiiiiiiiigh nooooooon.

And on that day, during the high noon, Brahe found himself surrounded by an old baby Yoda, a padawan that looked like a skinnier version of his master Mila, and then this Lyra chick, who was the same height as him. Yes, at 18 years old, Brahe was a bit short, being only 5'6" tall. Clearly he wasn't done growing yet. It was rather silly- of all the padawans, he was the one who was probably the least Jedi-like despite having been a padawan since the age of 13. Unruliness and a thirst for adventure tended to produce that effect in people, especially a padawan like him.

He smiled and spoke to the others.

"Nice to meet you! To be honest, I'm uhm....here for a replacement saber."

He laughed a bit, scratching the back of his head. So much for elegant weapon attuned to the individual. If he was on lightsaber #6, did that mean the crystals liked him or something. Brahe did read somewhere that the kyber crystals were somewhat organic, and acted almost like they were sentient on their own to a degree, after all. And yet he kept losing them or breaking them. What was the issue here?

Not that he minded it too much, of course.

Lit, this shall be!

He thought in his head, a slight smile playing across his face as he made the silly thought. He entered the cave, not really knowing what to expect for certain- for whatever reason, Brahe had the uncanny luck of having a different kind of trial each time he came to the caves, no matter what he tried. He figured he might as well let the force guide him- if he was meant to find another crystal, then it was all meant to be.

@Malon @WiffWaffs @Feng Mian​

 

[Rizkacha]

"It is nice to meet you too. I hope that we are all successful in our trial. If necessary, I believe that we should work together." She responded, before beginning to follow them towards the entrance of the cave. She stopped a moment as she saw Yoddle, not quite recognizing him from the temple. His species interested her. She'd never seen one like that.

Riz'kacha followed her companions to where the older Jedi had been waiting, listening patiently to his speech. When he unsheathed his blade, she couldn't help but stare at its elegant design and the accompanying color, seemingly entranced by it. This was what she was here to do. To achieve her own lightsaber. Or at least, to get her crystal. That being said, Yoddle's words troubled her a bit. Fear crept at her subconscious. Was she really worthy, or prepared enough to stand alongside other Jedi?

 

[Lyra]

Finding the cave was a simple matter.

Journeying inside? That was something else entirely.

Lyra was eager to discover what that might be, and though she bristled with impatience, she carefully watched the old Jedi hunched in front of her. When he presented his lightsaber, she gazed at the weapon longingly. She had dreams and daytime fantasies about having her own back on Coruscant. Now, it was almost within reach.

She nodded as he spoke, having already learned everything there was to learn about kyber crystals, the workings of a lightsaber, and how to wield it. In her short time at the temple on Ajan Kloss, she had read too many books to count in the archives.

Though nothing could prepare her for what would come next.

Lyra had tuned out the rest of Yoddle’s warning, lost to her usual daydreaming. It was at his last gesture that she stood, let go the blades of grass she had been anxiously plucking off the ground, and moved into the cave mouth. The first to do so, almost brushing aside Brahe as she did.

The cavern swallowed her whole.

@Malon @Noctyr @WiffWaffs

 

[The Storyteller]

Inside the mouth of the cave, the tunnel in front of the trio of students was long, winding, and narrow. The further in they chose to go, the narrower it would become, forcing them to proceed single file. All the while, the light from the mouth of the cave would grow dim until, eventually, they were completely engulfed in darkness.

If they could endure the dark and the crowded space for the ten or so minutes it took to squeeze their way through it, the cave would open up into a much larger chamber—large enough for all three of them to stand up in. The ceiling of this chamber was far above their head, and light faintly trickled in from somewhere above, pooling on the ground around a faint symbol etched in the stone floor.

A few meters in front of it, a large stone slab blocked the path ahead. The slab looked to weigh several tons, and there appeared to be no lever to lift it anywhere in the chamber. The only thing of note was an eroded, archaic Aurebesh script on the slab that read:

Never alone, a Jedi is.
The Living Force connects him,
to those who came before,
and those who walk beside him,
and those who will come,
long after he is gone.

Together, powerless, a Jedi is not.
The Cosmic Force binds her,
to the universe around her.
To the stones and the trees,
to the birds and the bees,
and gives her the strength,
to move the mountains from her path.​

If they examined the chamber further, on the far side of it, to the left of where they came in, they would notice a large human-sized sinkhole that opened like a yawning mouth in the floor and seemed to go on forever down into the earth. A shortcut? Perhaps, but the unmistakeable feeling of coldness emanated from it. The type of cold they could not feel on their skin, but penetrated such crude matter to grip their hearts like a fist. @Feng Mian @Noctyr @WiffWaffs

 

[Brahe Sienar]

Brahe looked towards the sinkhole, raising an eyebrow as he felt....drawn to it? He felt almost like something was calling him there- it was once again the same feeling he had back on Teth. The call of the dark side. Hesitant, he cast aside the temptation, pushing it to the back of his mind and read the inscription. This seemed rather familiar- a standard trial either requiring teamwork or for one to attune oneself to the force surrounding.

Getting closer to the massive stone slab, Brahe closed his eyes and thrusted both his arms forward, willing the force to move the massive stone object. At first, the stone did not shift. Getting impatient, Brahe redoubled his efforts, furrowing his brow in an attempt to move the massive object.

That's when the voices rang in his head.

You're not strong enough to move this boulder.

You're weak.

Some Jedi you are...

You can't escape what you are.

Embrace who you are.

Embrace what you can become.

Do it.

The voices coalesced in his head and repeated their messages, drowning his mind a sea of doubt, and even though some part of him knew that it was just the fact that this place was a trial, the experience on Teth had left him shaken. A bit unhinged. Angry, he let out a cry of frustration. The boulder lifted, but rather violently, as Brahe cast it aside into the abyss, the cave rumbling as he did so. Panting heavily, Brahe put his hands on his knees, trying to recover from the effort.

The others might sense it too- Brahe's mind was definitely not at ease...

I made a Roll just to see what would happen, hence the outcome.

@WiffWaffs @Feng Mian @Malon

 

[Rizkacha]

Honestly, Riz'kacha was impressed that the other apprentice had moved the large object by himself. She was expecting to have to work with the group to move it. Then again, he did say that this wasn't his first gathering. He'd probably done this type of thing before. Still though, she wanted to check up on him, rushing over and resting a hand on his back, "...Hey, are you okay? You should be careful, Brahe. These trials are trials for a reason; they are meant to be taxing. Whether you have done this before or not, it would probably be best if you let us handle the next one, alright? That way we can tackle whatever's next together. As a team."

With that said, Riz'kacha offered the guy a smile before making her way to the discarded stone and ran her fingers along the aurabesh script etched into it, "...This seems to suggest that working as a team is what makes the Jedi so strong. After all, that is what binds us together. The Force runs through each of us, and we become one with it when we pass on. Perhaps we should form a more formal team for the trials ahead. Discuss our course of action before acting." Whether the others took her as being pretentious or not, the apprentice had clearly spent a good while in the libraries reading up on the Force. She wanted to know how it worked, after all. Being ignorant about factors in her life irked her to some degree.

@Noctyr @Malon @Feng Mian

 

[Lyra]

In the main cavern, vast and full of mysteries, her eyes wandered from every niche and corner. Everything about it radiated in the Force, and being eager and curious as she was, Lyra was tempted to move ahead, ignoring the other two Padawans beside her. She wanted to venture out on her own, find her crystal and build her lightsaber. She could already feel it in her hands.

Then she felt it. That dark energy.

From the deep pit in the center of the room, she could feel something wrong. No, she could hear something. A whisper, a thought in the back of her head, talking to her like it had known her forever. Lyra tried to ignore it too, but at the mention of her parents? Her temptation spiked. She stepped ever slightly to the pit, hoping to lean over and see what laid in the dark.

She turned away as Brahe doubled down, and she quietly joined him and Riz’kacha, the strange whispers disappearing when she did. She couldn’t let her curiosity get the better of her. One slight mistake could cost Lyra her life. As Riz’kacha spoke, she nodded, knowing the Twi’lek was right.

“Agreed,” said Lyra. “It’s safer if we stick together.”

Still, not wanting to idle further, and after making sure Brahe was alright, Lyra decided to take point and move on down the path. What awaited, she didn’t know. She could only hope.

@Malon @Noctyr @WiffWaffs

 

[Yoddle]

Outside the cave, Yoddle sensed a tremor in the Force. The Padawans had cleared the first of three tests with... not much success, it would seem. The thing about these old Jedi sites was that they were intuitive. You couldn't just force your way through them.

The old Jedi suspected the students were about to learn that lesson the hard way.

He chuckled. Gatherings were always less straightforward than some wished them to be. But unprepared Jedi were hardly worthy of wielding a lightsaber, so Yoddle supposed that was a good thing. If, in the end, these Younglings came out of the cave with a newfound respect for the crystal they obtained and the weapon they were about to build, all the trials inside would be worth it.

 

[The Storyteller]

The stone had been moved, but not in the way that was intended; so the Force shifted and provided a different path. This path was wider than the last. All three Padawan learners would be able to easily walk side-by-side through it, if they so chose. After about five minutes of walking, they would come to a fork in the path that would test their plan. A three-way fork, with each path leading off in a different direction.

It would be at this point that all three Jedi would experience something similar and yet altogether unique to them. Each would hear a song. Faint—perhaps they would have to close their eyes and focus to hear it fully—and completely attuned them. Perhaps they would hear the soft, humming voice of a loved one. Perhaps they would hear a faint, but familiar melody from their childhood or homeworld. And perhaps they would simply hear a song: a song born in their hearts, that always been there, dormant, until the Force of this place awakened it.

It was the singing of their kyber crystal, though they did not know it yet. And each crystal awaited them down a different path. Lyra's would sing to her from the tunnel to the far left. Rizkacha's would call to her from the centermost tunnel. Brahe's would whisper softly from the right-most path.

But before they could decide whether the songs could be trust or not — before they could take any steps towards any of the paths — another clue, another nugget of wisdom, was etched for them in the same faded Aurebesh on the floor of the cave in front of them:

Beware of your feelings.
Beware of your past.
The shadow of the dark side lurks there.​

If they each followed their intended path, they would eventually come to a crystalline mirror. Beyond it, they would be able to see their crystal; but the mirror is solid. Unmovable. There appears to be no way to get beyond it. Their only clue is the faint smudges — handprints, perhaps? — on their mirror and a strong, cold pull from the Force, tempting them to touch... @Feng Mian @Noctyr @WiffWaffs

 

[Lyra]

Lyra advanced when the others would not, journeying down the wide passage and following the mysterious pull of the Force with increasing anticipation.

Eventually, Lyra came to a halt at a fork in the road. A three-way fork. Directly before her, there was three different paths for each of them follow, and though she remembered what the earlier inscription had said, she ignored it. Staying together? No, finding their crystals was a challenge only they themselves could surmount. If she hoped to find her crystal, Lyra had to do it alone.

Then she heard it. The soft call ahead. Not from her adoptive grandmother, not from Oren or her friends from the temple. It was an unfamiliar voice, but something heard out of a dream. A and man woman calling after her. A gentle voice echoing down the tunnel to her left.

“Lyra?” they said, and she leaned in closer to hear them. “Lyra?”

It couldn’t be, but it had to be. Her parents.

“Do you hear that?” said Lyra, astonished. “It’s… calling to me. They’re calling to me.”

Whatever the others would say, it didn’t matter. Lyra was already moving, ignoring the warning carved into the floor. She stumbled blindly forward into her given path, and to the voices of what she believed were her parents. Her first steps picked up into a slow jog, then a full sprint. She ran, struggled to the end of the tunnel, before she staggered out into a new chamber. Wide and vast, with a mirror in the center.

She could see the glow of her crystal behind it, but something else. Something more. The voices of her parents seemed to reverberate from the mirror, and a strange force was pulling her towards it.

It was trying to tell her something.

Lyra stepped closer. Her reflection wavered. She had come this far to find out the truth. Why stop now?

Softly, carefully, she reached her hand out to the mirror and touched the surface.

@Noctyr @WiffWaffs @Malon

 

[Rizkacha]

So much for working as a team. Riz'kacha looked to Brahe as Lyra took off, wondering what they were hearing and slowly beginning to feel something calling to her as well. There was a sort of singing in the air, one that seemed to coerce her to move towards the center most tunnel. Her gaze shifted to the Aurebesh on the ground once more, and she ran her fingers along it as she read it.

Beware her feelings. She felt as if she needed to go into the center tunnel. Something was waiting for her. Beware her past. Her parents reading her books about the Clone Wars and the Jedi heroes who had helped their people so much. The dark side lurks there. Dark side? How could the heroes of the Clone Wars be hiding the dark side? These people were her idols. She wanted to be like them most of all; to help people in times of need and to defend those that couldn't defend themselves in times of conflict.

Voices began to call out to her from the center, invading her inner thoughts and interpretations of the information provided for her. A gruff older man with an accent. His padawan, who carried with him an arrogance in his voice that shook her to her core. "You are not worthy to stand with us." They said in unison, shattering Riz'kacha's thoughts and yanking at her insecurities, "You are no Jedi. You are weak. Grabbing at power that you do not understand."

But she did understand, on some level. She had read plenty about the Force in her brief time at the temple in Ajan Kloss. She could tell several stories about minor battles of the Clone Wars by heart; how the Jedi ideals saved countless people. She knew what she needed to do. How to embody these ideals. The Twi'lek finally stood, steeling herself and bringing forth her feet as she began to make her way down the tunnel that called to her so.

"Emotion, yet peace." She began, feeling the insecurities but beginning to understand that they were there to deter her. She knew that at some level, she probably wasn't going to be some sort of legendary hero. That was okay.

"Ignorance, yet knowledge." She continued, knowing that there was plenty to the Force that she was never going to know, despite her long study sessions in the libraries. Still, she needed to temper her ignorance with knowledge when possible.

"Passion, yet serenity." Being excited about things was okay. She wanted her kyber crystal as much as the other padawans had. Those who came before her and those who would come would all feel that drive to get better. She and the others just needed to make sure that they came at things with a level head despite this mindset.

"Chaos, yet harmony." The world was a chaotic place. People were going to die, crimes were going to be committed, and Jedi were still tempted to fall to the dark side. Still, it was her and every other Jedi's duty to bring balance to this chaos, and restore the peace.

"Death, yet the Force." All Jedi were going to die eventually, but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. In death, they became one with the Force, bringing strength to their followers and those that came after.

Finally, she reached the mirror at the end of her hallway, and she reached for it, but didn't touch it. There was something that she could feel in the air. Some sort of electric spark that she needed to temper and control. The Force. Focusing on the feelings within her, she attempted to bend the Force to the side of justice, and attempted to purify the dark feelings harboring behind the glass.

@Noctyr @Feng Mian @Malon

 

[Brahe Sienar]

Brahe continued to catch his breath as he followed the rest of the group to the threefold fork in the path they were supposed to take. Wiping his brow and finally catching his breath fully, he was about to follow Riz when he noticed everyone take their own path, as if driven by some outside entity calling to them.

"So much for sticking together..." he whispered, as the others left.

"Help me, Brahe!"

His master's voice rang out from the right side path, although only he could hear it. Eyes widening with fear, Brahe rushed down the right side path.

"He's almost here! Please Brahe, wake up!"

Brahe continued to run, panicked concern rising in his voice.

"Hold on, Master, I'm coming!"

He continued running, the fear rising within his chest. Unlike most Jedi, Brahe was chock full of unbridled emotion. It was part of the reason why the dark side called to him so strongly. So much untapped, raw emotion, just begging to be unleashed upon the universe in it's full potential. But more than anything, Brahe was afraid of losing those he cared about, and he was scared of what he could become.

His father's side was at one point, closely aligned with the Sith, and his mother's side, immersed in the war-centric traditions of the Deathwatch. His family history was one of warfare and bloodshed- something he had tried to distance himself from as much as he could through becoming a Jedi.

He reached the mirror, and in his rush, he reached out....and touched.

@WiffWaffs @Feng Mian @Malon

 

[The Storyteller]

For the Twi'lek, the hard part was over. Having resisted the call of the dark side, the mirror melted away like heated ice and granted her passage into the chamber beyond. There, a single crystal would stand out to her in the darkness, sticking out from a jagged rock formation jutting out of the ground.

Next to it, having been carved with lightsabers by the ancient Jedi who first found this cave, was a stone table that Yoddle had stocked with lightsaber materials beforehand. Once the young Padawan had taken her chosen crystal, and it had taken on a color, she would find everything she needed at the table to finish her Gathering and complete her lightsaber.

She would then notice a winding path stretching out the room. This path led around to the front of the cave, where Yoddle would be waiting to receive her. @WiffWaffs

 

[The Storyteller]

For the other two, the third task was only just beginning. The moment Lyra's fingers touched the mirror, the shadowy figures that she had mistaken for her parents marched forward and merged into one. The young human girl would now see her reflection clearly on the other side of the mirror. But something was off about her. Her reflection looked sick, veins like dark lines pulsating in her face; and staring out from underneath and deep, dark hood was a pair of shimmering yellow eyes.

"What are you doing?" her reflection said, its voice echoing. "Did you really think you would find them down here? Your parents? Our parents?" Her reflection's laugh was high and cold and seemed to fill up every crevice of the cavern. "Don't you get it? They never wanted us. We're alone. You're alone... and always will be. Don't run from it. Embrace it!"

Suddenly, the thin layer of ice between them melted away; but the reflection did not fade. Instead, she swept aside black robes and conjured the handle of a lightsaber, which spat out a red blade. The cold in the cave rose. Lyra would see her breath appear as clouds of fog in front of her. But this was no natural cold. It was the spiritual kind. The dark side of the Force was seeping into the cave, seemingly from everywhere.

Lyra's reflection held her weapon out in front of her, pointing it at Lyra like an accusatory finger. "You will never become a Jedi." @Feng Mian