Plot Onderon The Unnamed Tomb

[Maxims Tionson]

Dxun was a terrible place.

It was Dark in a way that few places were and full of terrors the likes of which most of the Galaxy could not fathom. The nightmares of the farmers of Dantooine would be a dream compared to some of the creatures, some of the denizens, of the Demon Moon. Dxun had earned it's name through bloody Galactic conflict, the ferocity of it's wildlife and the fact that the Sith had found such a place to their liking.

Freedon Nadd had a tomb on Dxun, somewhere, the Jedi all knew because they could feel it through the Force even now. As soon as Max had arrived on the planet he could feel the disgusting presence of the Dark Side like an infection festering within an open wound on the moon itself. It was made worse by the wildlife, which had been twisted and deformed by the Dark Side to the point where the creatures themselves were often tainted by the Dark Side from birth.

Thankfully none of them were as powerful or as conditioned with the Dark Side as, say, Sith abominations but it was a near thing in some cases. But Max's own mission on Dxun lingered around the Darkness born in the hearts of men.

The Sith tomb he stood in front of with his apprentice was not large and it was not as steeped in the Dark Side as he was sure the ancient Sith Lord's tomb was but the main difference between this tomb and the tomb of Freedon Nadd was that the Jedi Order knew how to find this tomb. And they knew how to find the tomb because it had already taken the lives of Jedi in the past.

Max steeled himself and held his lightsaber in his right hand. He didn't ignite it but having his weapon in hand gave him a certain number of options when it came to reacting to the tomb's defenses. He glanced at his apprentice.

"Are you afraid, Ori?" he asked the young man with a small smile, "It's okay if you are. You just need to let it go into the Force... like I am. Standing in the face of such Darkness, fear is natural but our handling of it must be in keeping with the Light if we are to pass through."

@Roentgenium

 

[Ori Ardell]

When he and Max had first met on Nar Shaddaa, Ori was an orphan who had run away from home (not that he actually had one on Baraan-Fa), searching for the Jedi in an attempt to try gain some purpose in life and find some meaning to his existence. While he still wasn't sure if he had found any meaning, he had certainly found a purpose.

This place felt like nothing Ori had ever experienced before. Even during the most depressing times of his life, the darkness he had been through seemed insignificant compared to the evil emanating from tomb that lay in front of them. There was no good to be found here, either in the temple or in the forest that surrounded it. Simply being on Dxun made Ori feel like there was something weighing him down.

But he had trained for this. The purpose of a Jedi was to be a beacon of light in times of darkness. To fight against the corruption that was the dark side of the Force. Whilst he was nervous, he also felt ready for the challenges ahead. Fellow Jedi had perished investigating this tomb and it was time that their souls were laid to rest. The light would vanquish the dark.

Ori was knelt on the ground next to Max, meditating in an attempt to centre himself for what was to come. He knew that he was about to be tested in ways he hadn't before and he wanted to be as focused as possible. Afterwards, he stood up and mimicked his master, gripping his lightsaber in his right hand.

"I am," he admitted, "But I have faith that the Force will see us through what lies ahead."

@Nefieslab

 

[Maxims Tionson]

Placing a hand on Ori's shoulder, Max looked at the young man. Both physically and through the Force, Max looked at his young Padawan to really get a sense as to where he was emotionally. Was he prepared for this? It seemed that he was, as he said, afraid but he was going well to push the emotion into the Force rather than dwell on it. To fear was to be alive but to be ruled by that same fear was cowardice and yet another path to the Dark Side.

Not a path Ori would be treading today.

Max squeezed his shoulder gently.

"Have some faith in yourself as well." he urged before joking, "And maybe in your Old Master as well."

Removing his hand, Max moved up closer to the tomb. The first thing barring their path onwards was, predictably enough, a locked door. The door itself was made entirely of stone and there didn't appear to be any actual lock at all. Instead Max looked closely and frowned slightly, spotting the carvings on the rock that had once been in the ancient sith language.

A seal in the Force.

Usually such a seal would need to be carefully unwound but considering the age of the seal and that it would have had to have been unwound once in the past at least? He reasoned to himself that it was likely that the seal itself had weakened. Gathering the Force to himself, he built it up within his left hand before thrusting it forwards with a grunt as a powerful wave of the Force erupted from his hand as a Force Push that shattered the front of the stone door and sent it falling backwards into the first chamber of the tomb itself, leaving them with the perfect way in.

Spoiler: Dice

The forceful approach works!

@Roentgenium

 

[Ori Ardell]

Ori resisted the urge respond with sarcasm, as he was wont to do, "I've always had faith in you Max, since the day we met." He followed Max to the entrance of the tomb and observed the carvings keenly. There was no way for him to know what the words said, but he could feel something coming from them.

The Dark Side.

However, the feeling he got from the seal on the door was simply an appetiser compared to what they were walking into. He watched as Max drew the Force to him, he could feel the energy gathering around Max. It was like a slight pressure change in the air. When Max used that energy to blow the door apart, Ori raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"Impressive," he said with a smirk, "you'll have to teach me that one."

The way into the tomb was now open. Assuming his master went straight inside, Ori would follow him in. The room immediately after the entrance was cold and dark, it felt like someone or something was watching them. Trying not to let the paranoia grow, Ori took a deep breath and squeezed his lightsaber to reassure himself.

"Where to now, master?"

@Nefieslab

 

[Maxims Tionson]

Max pretended to brush some dust off his shoulder at the reaction he got from his padawan for blowing the door down with the Force. To be fair it was a brute force approach and one he would never council Ori to actually use against the Dark Side in the future but damn even he could admit that it had certainly looked impressive.

"You'll be able to do it yourself one day soon." he assured Ori with a grin, "I've got that faith in you kid."

Making his way into the next chamber first, ahead of his padawan, Max glanced around. It was a square room with bare walls and nothing that seemed to suggest a doorway to begin with. It was only as his eyes adjusted to the dark that he was able to see a tunnel heading deeper into the tomb.

It didn't seem to have a door at all but the way ahead was impenetrably dark.

Taking a step closer to the doorway with his lightsaber still in his right hand, Max froze as the movement activated the trap that came with this chamber. Immediately he could feel it as his mind was assaulted with Force Fear, the attack seemingly coming from the walls and the floor and the ceiling all at once. There was seemingly no source of the trap so much as the Fear was just suddenly there, choking him in an instant with it's weight.

After a second or two, Max snapped his mental shields into place. He could feel that the Fear was not his own, that it was an attack, and that went a long way towards him being able to snap his mental shields into place and block any further fear from entering him. What had already managed to make it's way into him, he slowly released into the Force with a slow, steady, exhale.

Now to see if his young Padawan had managed the same.

Spoiler: Dice

Sith Fear Trap
Attempt to resist the Fear trap is successful but no further actions for Max this round

@Roentgenium

 

[Ori Ardell]

When the trap activated, Ori was immediately thrown into full-on panic mode. He tried to remember his training, that this was simply a trick of the Dark Side. But it was of no use, the fear had overwhelmed him. Suddenly, there were shadows all over the room. Innumerable shapeless creatures which made their way towards Ori. He looked for Max, his master would protect him. But he was nowhere to be found, he had been abandoned.

"Stay away!" Ori commanded as backed against a wall, trying to ignite his lightsaber. The weapon disintegrated to dust in his hands, only adding to his despair. The shadow creatures were all around him now, swirling and hissing, all manner of horrific sounds. Ori put his hands over his head, covering his face as he shrank to the floor against the wall.

"Wake up!" The loud voice cut through the whispers of the shadow creatures, forcing Ori to look up. From his perspective, Ori was no longer in the entrance of the Sith tomb. Now, he found himself laying on a bunk in a prison cell, wearing a prisoners uniform. "Get up, cop killer!"

Ori jolted up from his bunk, there was a guard banging on the bars who moved on after Ori had woken up. He was shaking now. The memories were coming back, that night he had stolen from the house, the officer he had pushed with the Force. His neck had snapped from after being slammed into the wall and Ori was arrested shortly after.

The Jedi, Nar Shaddaa, Max... it was all a dream. Concocted by the mind of a murderer.

No, no, no... this couldn't be happening... Ori thought to himself. He wasn't a killer, he was a good person. Leaping off his bunk, he ran to the door of the cell, trying desperately to get the guards attention, "Please, please, I'm not meant to be here, I'm innocent!" Ori's shouting only yieled laughter from the guard and indeed, the rest of the cell block.

He collapsed to the floor once again, head in his hands and quietly began to sob.

--​

From Max's perspective, Ori would have thrown his lightsaber down the dark tunnel leading further into the tomb and backed up to a wall, all the while yelling to the air. After which he proceeded to curl into a fetal position on the ground, his eyes glazed over.

@Nefieslab

Spoiler: Dice

Ori fails to resist the Fear Trap

Ori is temporarily incapacitated and without his lightsaber.

 

[Maxims Tionson]

Max had managed to throw the trap off of himself and it was like a weight had been lifted from him. It had been weighing on him before but now that he was free of it he could feel how much it was effecting Ori. His padawan did not have the same level of instinctive shielding that he did and it showed as he was almost immediately trapped within the fear that the Sith had managed to imbue within the stone of the chamber.

Cursing, Max reached out with the Force and caught Ori's lightsaber before it could go too far. Despite having no real love for the tools himself, Max had a gut feeling that surrendering a lightsaber to the literal, and metaphorical, darkness of this tomb would have horrifying results.

With Ori's lightsaber secured, he crouched down beside Ori and reached out for his padawan through the Force while also placing comforting hands on his shoulders.

"Ori - Ori it's alright to be afraid but you must remember that you are more than the sum of your fears, that you can, and must, rise above them!" he urged his padawan as he tried, unsuccessfully, to link his mind with Ori's to break the spell of fear that gripped him, "You must push through and rise above it yourself my Padawan. I believe in you, Ori!"

Spoiler: Dice

Max is unable to reach Ori. His padawan is on his own at this stage

@Roentgenium

 

[Ori Ardell]

There was a loud alarm through the prison which startled Ori. He scrambled to his feet and watched as the other prisoners in their cells all gathered their respective doors. It was opening time. This was particularly bad for Ori, who everyone seemed to be staring at and not in a nice way. When the doors began to open, the prisoners poured out of their cells and all moved together towards Ori's. Panicking, Ori moved to the back of his cell and held out his arms with his palms open, facing out of the cell.

Using his hands as a guide to extend his will through the Force, Ori used one hand to focus on the locking mechanism and hold it in place, with his other hand focused on the door itself, holding that in place. He could feel the strain it put on his body immediately, fighting against the hydraulics that controlled the door. The mass of prisoners were at the gate now, trying to pull the door open, screaming and laughing.

"Let us in Jedi!" one shouted.

This was the end, he thought. True, it wasn't the best way to go out, but if this really was his reality, he wasn't sure if dying was so terrible in comparison. Besides, he could feel his muscles fatiguing and his grip on the cell door weakening. There was no way for him to tell what was real and what wasn't. Perhaps he wasn't destined to live out the life of a Jedi.

But the memories of another path still lingered in his mind. Ajan Kloss, his training, Maxims, it was all still there. Hallucination or not, it felt real. If Ori Ardell wasn't going to live as a Jedi, then maybe he could redeem himself by dying as one. He lowered his arm and closed his eyes. The cell door started to open.

"I am one with the Force, and the Force is with me."

Then... nothing...

Ori opened his eyes and was surprised to find himself floating through what looked like the inside of a cloud. An infinite sea of white light extended out in all directions.

"Am I de-?" He didn't get a chance to finish as he abruptly woke up on the floor of the tomb.

--

​

"Ahhh!" Ori yelled as he woke suddenly to see someone lingering over him. His vision was blurry, his face was covered in sweat and he could feel his heart pumping a lot faster than it should have been. It took a few seconds for his senses to return to normal, whereupon he recognized Max, "Oh Max, am I glad to see you."

Spoiler: Dice

Ori successfully overcomes the Fear Trap

@Nefieslab

 

[Maxims Tionson]

Well suddenly shouting was better than being catatonic but it was a damned near thing as far as Max was concerned when it came to the state of his Padawan. He let out a breath he knew he had been holding in for some time and tried to do his best to resist the temptation to tug worriedly at his beard as he was sometimes want to do.

It would give away that he was probably a tad overly worried about his young charge, for a Jedi.

Instead he squeezed Ori's shoulder gently and nodded to the young man. Taking the lightsaber that Ori had cast away, he handed it back to the young Padawan with a knowing smile.

"Padawan, you really must keep a tighter grip on this." he joked lightly, "But don't worry; I won't make you write lines regarding it or anything like that. Come Ori... we must press onward."

He hoped that Ori was alright but for now they needed to complete the mission. If they didn't complete the mission then the trauma had been for nothing and, in Max's experience, people needed a resolution, a success, to show them that they hadn't suffered for nothing. Holding his lightsaber in hand, still unlit, Max pushed on ahead into the darkened corridor. As he expected, the Darkness was more of an illusion than actual darkness and walking through it dispelled the idea that it was some long abyss.

Instead they stepped into another chamber and right up close to a droid beginning to awaken.

"State your passcode or be destroyed."

The droid was ancient but Max could practically feel the malice coming from it. Was it just naturally menacing or was that an effect of the room they were now in? Thinking quickly however, Max decided to take a little gamble.

"I would love to give you our passcode but, unfortunately, I always lie."

There was silence for a second before the droid began to twitch as it registered the paradox during it's booting sequence, causing a cascade of errors while the droid's processor focused on the sentence. Max waved to Ori.

"Let's go - we need to sneak past it to the next chamber before it can re-focus it's attention."

If it couldn't refocus it's attention away from the paradox then it would be forced to shut down to perform repairs.

Spoiler: Dice

We got a smartass here! And it's gotten us one chance to evade without violence!

@Roentgenium

 

[Ori Ardell]

Ori smiled at Max and took his lightsaber, which he gripped tightly. He felt a lot better now he had his weapon back and he wasn't planning on letting it go this time. When they entered the next chamber, upon spotting the droid, Ori moved his hand and was ready to ignite his lightsaber before Max said his line. He raised his eyebrows, wondering if his master had too succumbed to the madness of the tomb, but he was pleasantly surprised when the droid began to malfunction.

"Good one," Ori said to Max in a hushed tone of voice.

He had crouched down, ready to sneak past the droid when from the darkness, Ori saw a red-bladed lightsaber come flying toward him. Leaping to his feet, Ori ignited his own lightsaber and swung the blue blade at the weapon which was flying at him. Ori was confused and disorientated as the red lightsaber disappeared in midair as he hit it. Before he could react to the bizarre hallucination, he was sent tumbling back into the wall as a blaster bolt struck him in the left shoulder.

The commotion had snapped the droid out of it's confusion, who had taken the opportunity to shoot Ori. Behind the droid, on the other side of the chamber, portions of the stone wall started to slide upwards. From the tunnels that were revealed, identical droids began to walk out into the chamber, readying their blasters.

"Passcode: Rejected. Unauthorized access, shoot to kill."

After hitting the wall, Ori had tumbled down to the floor, the pain in his shoulder was intense and he could feel his left arm going numb.

"Master, I'm starting to think this temple has a grudge against me," Ori said through gritted teeth.

Spoiler: Dice

Attempt to sneak past the droid failed, twelve reinforcements droids have shown up, and Ori is incapacitated after being shot with a blaster

@Nefieslab

 

[Maxims Tionson]

Well that wasn't good at all.

Ori had kind of swung his lightsaber at nothing and it had snapped the droid out of the loop he had tried to trick it into. Instead of letting them past it instead called in reinforcements and suddenly they were in a very bad position. Acting on instinct, Max reached deep into the Force even as Ori went down from the shot to his shoulder. Max ached with the pain through the Force but he had chosen instead to protect them in the longer term rather than protect Ori from that one shot.

Force, and Ori, forgive him for that dreaded pragmatism.

He let out a yell as he thrust his hand down, the Pulse pulsing outwards from him. To Ori and himself it was nothing more than a light breeze but to the droids it was a strong repelling force. The droids were, bar none, unsettled by the attack and forced to keep themselves righted rather than attack. Two of them fell to the ground regardless and the one closest to them, the original one, slammed into the wall with such violence that the back of it's head caved in and it became unresponsive.

Max stood in front of his apprentice, his lightsaber ignited at both ends in his right hand and his left hand held out for Ori to help pull himself up.

"Then let's show this Temple the error of it's ways."

Spoiler: Dice

Force attack smash stupid droids!

@Roentgenium

 

[Indy Sati]

A voice spoke up from the dark, amused and medium in pitch.

"Well now. It seems trouble follows on your heels, Knight Tionson."

It seemed to come from ahead, from behind, even from within the walls. A female voice, though at first not easily discerned...

From the gloom behind them, a strange apparition appeared, clad in clothing that seemed more apropos for a smuggler than a Jedi Knight. Two blaster shots rang out past the Knights, shooting down the two downed droids pushed by Max's attack; the third, thankfully, was already crushed beyond repair. In one hand, the hilt of her lightsaber was held, activated in case for defense. In the other, a familiar shape of her heavy stun pistol, which she holstered. At the appearance of the injured young Padawan, the Pantoran's smile faded, and she hurried steps over, kneeling over Ori with a concerned frown as her lightsaber was deactivated once more. "My ship is parked near the entrance; recover there."

She didn't wait for Max to permit or deny, but instead would watch until they would leave, before glancing at Max, lips twitching to betray her thoughts. "Max..." her gaze flickered to where the droid had been, now an inert figure, and lofted a violet brow. "I'd ask what's going on, but it seems you're doing just fine. Care for me to join you?"

Golden eyes looked at him. Despite the smile that threatened on her lips, her gaze was level, with no trace of teasing or joviality. The Darkness of this tomb was a threat she would not treat lightly. Like many of the Light, she felt the intense need to cleanse such an open wound on the face of this fount of the Force.

@Nefieslab

Spoiler: Dice

Dynamic entry! Success

 

[Maxims Tionson]

Getting Ori to safety had been Max's primary concern and having Indy show up to provide that safety was a weight off of Max's mind as it meant that he didn't have to actually come out and tell his apprentice that he needed to leave. That the young man wasn't ready for this yet; that was conversation best had in private.

"Indy." he greeted her with a smile as Ori escaped to the safety of her ship, "Fancy meeting you here."

He spun his saberstaff, both blades ignited, and nodded once. Rather than speak right away however he charged forwards, slashing through the head unit of one of the droids before grabbing another with the Force. As the droid struggled against his hold, Max stalked towards it before cutting it in half with a single swipe of his saber.

That had been... cathartic.

As a human being, Max wasn't fond of seeing others in pain but as a Jedi Knight he was absolutely not okay with his apprentice being harmed by old scrap left behind by the Gods damned Sith to mess with people. The tomb wasn't even of any Sith important enough to have been remembered through the sands of time; and once he was done here Max planned on reducing it all to rubble.

"Destroy the droids, reach the last exploratory Jedi team's bodies, grab their research and destroy this place." he declared with a stark grin, "Sound appealing?"

Spoiler: Dice

Max is good at scrap metal management

@Killa Ree

 

[Indy Sati]

The life of a Jedi was one not just fraught with danger, but with the willingness to sacrifice and the reality that you couldn't become too attached to others without risk of falling. And yet, there were few within the Order she held respect for; Max was one of them.

However, she had deactivated her lightsaber out of safety when running; she didn't like the idea of running with an active blade, even with Force sensitivity and enhanced abilities, idiotic things could happen. However, that also meant her guard was not as strong as it should have been. When Max turned to tell her something, one droid took the opportunity of a lack of guard, and fired a blaster towards the pair.

Thankfully, she was armored... for its' bolt struck her in the torso. That didn't stop the heat, however, and she grunted sharply as it bit through to sensitive skin beneath. Before it could fire another shot, however, she activated her blade, parrying the bolt back to its' source.

Now six remained, and she gave him an equally bleak smile in return. "Sure. But first..." she winced, then stared down the corridor, switching her lightsaber to one hand, the other prepared to launch a Force attack of her own when she had the opportunity to get close enough. "Let's take down some rust buckets."

@Nefieslab

Spoiler: Dice

Barely a success

 

[Maxims Tionson]

Of course there were still six Sith droids and they weren't to be taken lightly. They might very well have been stored here as some sort of extremely long-term plan but that didn't mean that they weren't still more than slightly dangerous. Already Indy had taken a shot from one of them. The smell of burning flesh was distracting, especially with the empathetic pulse of pain that rang out through the Force with the damage the young Jedi took.

Still, he couldn't blame it for what happened next.

Two of the droids decided that he would be their next target and one of them opened fire on him quickly. As he parried the blasts without the chance of deflecting them back at the thing, the other droid charged forwards with a vibrosword it had drawn from somewhere on it's person.

Cursing, Max was barely able to wheel his body backwards to avoid losing his left arm, even if the blade did cut him deeply enough on the bicep to draw a significant amount of blood. He continued to parry blaster bolts while backing away from the blade's motions.

"... jungle planets hate me."

Spoiler: Dice

They've still got some kick to them!

@Killa Ree

 

[Indy Sati]

She was about to respond, when suddenly one of them lurched its' blaster towards Max. She didn't think, she simply reacted, giving a Force pull at the blaster, and it jerked upright. But the problem was the action made the blaster fire aim high.

Right to the rocks directly above Indy.

She didn't have time to react; one rock thumped sickeningly into the back of her head and she crumbled to her knees, grunting in pain. She tasted blood... and wiped a hand on her mouth.

She wasn't down and out yet but kark that hurt, her vision swimming at the crack. And her ears would be ringing for quite a while.

@Nefieslab

Spoiler: dice

Failure, with more serious consequence

 

[Maxims Tionson]

Indy took a hit from some stone and they suddenly had a need of some breathing room. Reaching into the Force, Max stepped between Indy and their robotic attackers before letting the Force bloom as he shut his eyes. The Force Flash blinded the photoreceptors of the droids in question while still letting the organics keep their vision.

Eyelids were wonderful little quirks of evolution.

With this allowing Indy to gather her wits about her, Max used the Force to grab a dozen or so of the smaller rocks and launch them at a couple of the droids. It was to his annoyance that the rocks hammered hard against the droids but did little more than scratch the paint jobs.

It seemed they were not quite done yet.

Spoiler: Dice

Distraction!
But Max is unable to actually capitalize

@Killa Ree

 

[Indy Sati]

It took all her willpower not to pass out, but by the Force it was hard.

Black spots began to swim in her vision, and when she moved they grew.

If she attempted to attack again, she would probably pass out.

@Nefieslab

Spoiler: dice

Failure

 

[Maxims Tionson]

No.

There was a point where combat for combat's own sake was reckless and destructive and counter to what a Jedi was supposed to stand for. Waging battle against the machines at this point, despite how much they had hurt both Indy and Ori or because of it, would be something that would touch upon the Darkness. A Sith would wage battle with rage until those who dared harm them and theirs was destroyed but a Jedi?

"Stay awake Indy, I've got you."

A Jedi protected those who they cared about because no objective was ever truly worth slipping into the Darkness or leaving your allies to suffer simply so that you could continue. Reaching down, he grabbed the other Jedi and slung her over his left shoulder before shifting her weight so it wouldn't slow him down too much.

Rushing through the halls of the burial place to escape was more frantic than most people would deem acceptable but it was what it was. The fact that he received a blaster bolt from the very edge of their range as he was carrying Indy onto her ship as Ori was already waiting? That was a small price to pay even if having his upper left shoulder blade burning and melting from the bolt was painful. The ship closed up and they could be on their way.

His shoulder blade hurt like hell but it had been robbed of much of it's power due to the distance... still, he was going to need surgery before he came back here.

Spoiler: Dice

Retreat

@Killa Ree

/End Thread