Ask Plot Valley of the Shadow

[Maxims Tionson]

Yavin 4.

Some say this was the cradle of the rebellion that had brought about an end to the Galactic Empire. Yet more said that in the far flung past it had been the home planet to a people known for their prowess in battle and their buildings.

The buildings remained after all.

Some said that the Sith had once made their mark on the moon and it had never truly left but Max didn't know anything about that. All Max knew was that there were literal grave robbers in the valley around the main temple and that was wrong on so many levels. He was working with a Kaleesh Jedi Knight by the name of Skyn.

As they surveyed their approach from atop the edge of the valley through view finders, Max thought this was the best time to decide tactics.

"Shall we attempt a stealth approach?" he suggested, "Through stealth we should be able to run them off these lands. After all, they are literally defiling the dead - there must be some superstitious amongst them."

@samdragon

 

[Eckaaso Shyn]

The Kaleesh sighed softly as he lowered his binoculars after counting the enemies they had before them. They were nine, and well armed too. He thought they had some chances to beat them in a direct fight, but you never know. At Max's suggestion of using a stealth approach, he thought for a moment and then chuckled. "What's your plan? Do you want to play them some tricks so they think they disturbed some dead Sith Lord or something like that?" he asked half jokingly half seriously. Despite everything, it sounded like an... Interesting idea to be honest

 

[Maxims Tionson]

Max flashed a grin.

"Think of it like playing a harmless prank on them." he joked even as he drew his lightsaber, but kept it deactivated for now, "Except we'll be pretending to be the ghosts of long-dead revenge-fuelled Sith Lords and the like rather than jumping out and saying 'boo'."

Though now that he had said that, Max honestly had the strangest urge to shout 'boo' at one of them when he got the chance. That was probably a bad idea but it was the kind of joke that appealed to him. He really was turning into his father though if he could find such enjoyment in dad jokes.

He pushed on through the jungle, using the Force to help him jump between the trees as he approached the scavengers' camp. Of course he managed to avoid detection but then something else happened to go wrong.

Three more men emerged from a dig site, carrying a small crate between the three of them.

Three more.

If this turned into a battle this could be... costly.

Spoiler: Dice

Snuck closer but now there's three more of them!

@samdragon

 

[Eckaaso Shyn]

The Kaleesh stifled a laugh and took his own lightsaber in his hand for good measure, and quickly followed the human in the forest, also resorting on the Force to make longer and higher jumps. As the three additional foes appeared, he cursed under his breath, although he managed to sneak next to Maxims without any issues. He looked around the area, thinking of ways on how they could scare away the tomb thieves without risking a full-on conflict...

 

[Maxims Tionson]

One thing that Max hadn't really had made time to think about was what he was actually going to do in order to try and get them all so terrified that they dropped their equipment and ran for the hills. As he was watching them he caught sight of a broken statue of a Massassi warrior.

And by warrior he meant a giant, hulking, sith-mutated beast... oh he had an idea now.

Reaching deep into the Force, he began to cast the illusion. The air rippled a little bit as he formed the Massassi warrior brute, standing at almost eleven feet tall as it emerged from the undergrowth. To add to the weight of the creature he hit the ground subtly with the Force in a Push in time with it's large, almost ponderous, footsteps.

Every single man turned to watch the Massassi Goliath step out from the treeline.

There was a moment of utter silence before Max grinned and added a layer of sound to the illusion he had not expected to be quite as effective as it was.

"SMASH!"

Honestly, the way the treasure hunters startled, Max would honestly not be surprised in a few of them had genuinely crapped themselves as they staggered backwards. They weren't quite broken yet but they were definitely shaken.

Spoiler: Dice

How do you bring a ten foot tall undead warrior to life? You cheat using illusions

@samdragon

 

[Eckaaso Shyn]

Eckaaso whistled softly, impressed by the man's illusory creation! He thought a bit and smirked. "I have an idea, but I need to move, wait me here" he whispered and then left. He moved between the trees, jumping from one to the other, until he was on the opposite side to the one the Massassi illusion appeared from, and prepared himself for the next move, although he first waited for Maxims to act first

 

[Maxims Tionson]

Well if his ally needed to get to the other side of the clearing then Max was just going to have to keep going with the charade then wasn't he? Grinning a little bit, he reached down into the Force. As the illusionary enemy raised it's hand as if to ready the Force, Max used the Force to grab a crate from one of the stacks.

The illusion mimed using the Force as Max actually used the Force to throw a crate with no small degree of force to slam into the head of one of the treasure hunters who looked to be gathering his wits about him again.

As the emotionally stable of the treasure hunters went down, their resolve was beginning to shake and shatter. They fired wildly at the large warrior but the illusion was, of course, completely immune to any and all of their attacks. Max had to try and contain his grin actually.

So far none of the treasure hunters were dead and already they were so very close to being made to break and run.

Spoiler: Dice

Ghost tricks ftw

@samdragon

 

[Eckaaso Shyn]

Eckaaso took a deep breath, looking over the group, and then focused on the Force, starting to talk in Kaleesh, believing that it could have been a close approximation to ancient Sith language, and said "Who dares bothering my slumber??" The man's voice echoed around the clearing, seemingly coming from all directions! Many of the men got scared, and one even ran away... but Eckaaso didn't notice that among the explorers there was a Kaleesh, who said "Hey, since when Massassi talked Kaleesh?"

 

[Maxims Tionson]

Well it seemed that the rank and file of the treasure hunters, no great warriors amongst them, had officially seen enough to decide that this whole thing was just way too much hassle and danger for what they could potentially get out of it. Even the few who were doubting were shoved along with their fellows as they fled the large projected warrior.

Of course things weren't always going to go entirely smoothly.

From the rear of the group one of them stepped out, the leader. The leader was clearly a bounty hunter rather than a treasure hunter and was armed as such. He sneered at the fleeing treasure hunters before looking up at the illusion. Reaching round to his back, he drew his blaster rifle.

"You don't scare me you big dumb bugger!" he swore loudly, "Some fancy old magic isn't going to be enough to cost me my gods-damned credits!"

Ah when greed outweighed sense.

Spoiler: The Boss

Spoiler: Dice

Boss isn't intimidated
Boss is pretty cool but not an uber badass

@samdragon

 

[Eckaaso Shyn]

The Kaleesh chuckled softly as the bounty hunter remained alone. Once he got distracted by the illusion, he jumped off the tree he was perched on and quickly snuck behind him. Once there, he quickly slipped off the man's helmet. The hunter gave a surprised yelp and turned around, looking at the Kaleesh, who said "Surprise" and punched the human in the face, knocking him out! After tying him up, he waved at Maxims to come out, laughing heartily.

 

[Maxims Tionson]

Well the treasure hunters were gone and the boss was out cold.

Max staggered slightly as he let the illusion go, almost feeling like all the blood had rushed from his head to his feet. Lightheaded and slightly shaky, he took a moment to just breathe deeply and get himself under control before he moved again. Walking down from the treeline, Max nodded to Eckaaso.

"Good job I'd say."

Looking down at the crates that had been left by the treasure hunters in their desire to flee, Max shrugged before kneeling down to pull the lid off of the crate. When the lid was free he looked down to see several intact stone tablets with writings and diagrams on them from truly ancient rites.

Setting them aside, he reached in further and withdrew a tattered, but still serviceable, banner of the old Jedi Order. As he lifted it, a small cube fell from it's folds. Catching it with reflexes only a Jedi would have, he observed his prize, a holocron. He wasn't sure if it contained anything of real value or if it was even still operable but it was a good find.

"Lets get these back to the Temple."

Spoiler: Dice

Good Swag

/End Thread

@samdragon