Ask What's Past is Prologue

Juniper

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Elphrona did not feel right. Too close to the Unknown Regions, for a start. There was an ill-feeling clinging to the world, particularly close to the site they were looking for. Even the information in the Order's archives was uncharacteristically brusque and to the point. They mentioned that there had been a High Republic outpost there. They also mentioned that it was lost. Probably destroyed. Compromised at some point by the Sith.

Or was it? Nara was quite interested in errata from the High Republic era, particularly concerning some of the Jedi Masters. She'd initially written off Elphrona because the outpost was 'lost,' but recently there were reports that some local miners had accidentally stumbled into something during a near cave-in, something that looked both ancient and promisingly Jedi-esque. Enough for the miners to send out a couple of enquiring messages, mostly about a 'finders fee.'

Nara had called in a favour with a friend to get on that mission. Hoping that she'd get some clue of what she was looking for. She'd joined Vayla, the Pantoran Knight who she'd met as a young padawan, and become re-acquainted with as a Knight. She was level-headed and experienced, which made Nara fairly confident of success. Although, to be honest, her own record when it came to lost temples was pretty bad. Nara had taken her ship, the one that Oren had given her, as close to the site as possible. She'd taken the mineshaft down to where the miners had reported their entrance.

"Reports said this way..." Nara muttered, her droid lingering on her shoulder, aiming it's spotlight down the dark cavern. "They were using explosives to get through some hard rock... for the love of... they're lucky the whole planet didn't cave down on them," she said, shaking her head as they delved deeper.


@Die Shize
 

Vayla Mirana

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Ambience IC

Every time she crept closer toward the Unknown Regions, hanging on the edge of the Outer Rim, the strange sensation of tiptoeing toward a hole sent shivers up Vayla’s spine. That hole might have been a vortex in an ocean, a well with her feet on wall’s edge, or a singularity just sitting and waiting in the void of space, stretching its yawn between the stars. Nonetheless, at first the frown became a smile, and a yearning for learning peaked the cat’s curiosity and overrode warning signals as certain as shutting down a droid. Back on the hunt once again! Not to end another's misery but to dig up my own order's history. This, Vayla. This is why you're here.

As footsteps resounded across uneven ground they were joined by the occasional call of unseen critters. Vayla detected a bat then a beep and a boop as a B-G astromech rolled behind the pair of Jedi with its own spotlight shining around the walls. It was joined yet with another light source held in its owner's hand. There was of course the trendy habit of a number of Jedi using their lightsabers as torches, taken to the rule of cool perhaps, but here was one who settled for the traditional flashlight. It certainly combined with other sources to light the group’s way

“They were probably angry at the rock,” Vayla replied to her companion half in jest. “That’s this whole planet, after all. Mining through it for so long is bound to make a person impatient enough to do stupid things.” You might have given in yourself, she thought as she recalled their encounter on Nar Shaddaa. But you proved stronger than that. She watched Nara with a smile, though her fellow knight would likely be unaware as to why before Vayla looked away.

As they walked on, she adjusted the strap on her shoulder, a comfortable if weighty pack hanging by her hip. She had made sure to pack appropriately for this little mining endeavor, from medpac to water, jerky to tea. “How close are we?” Vayla prompted while keeping her flashlight held. Nara might have been carrying her own but she would have the opportunity to leave that to her friend and consult the map with free hands.



@Charndley @Nara Allam
 

Juniper

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Nara was a little too focused on the path ahead to notice Vayla's smile. She'd have probably thought nothing of it, anyway. Just a jest at the stupidity of some miners. "Very angry at the rock. I shouldn't complain, they never would have found the site if they hadn't started blowing through it all," Nara said, adjusting her eyes to the several beams of light that cut through the darkness.

With a tap, her droid's light cut out and he projected a holomap in front of them. Nara adjusted it a little, peering into the grainy projection. "We're here... and supposedly, it's down here," she indicated, showing the golden circle which roughly matched up with the miner's reports. "I don't know how far they really went inside though. They just said it looked quite Jedi."

Nara pushed ahead, delving deeper. Pushing down further into the caverns, with glow-lights and equipment scattered around. They'd abandoned it in a hurry, seemed like. "According to our map it should be... right here." Nara looked up, her droid's light casting over the opposite wall.

A massive hole faced them, with the dark and mineral-laden rock of the mine mixing with a lighter, more polished and well-hewn stone. Beyond, in the darkness, who could say? But there was definitely a chamber there and it was sturdily made. Nara stepped closer, the light running over the hole. Around the rim, the rock was rough. Next to it, though, the lighter stone was held together in a tight-mix of brick. The ones around the hole were scorched, obviously, but they held together well.

The spotlight slashed through into the dark chamber, flashing and reflecting off various things. Nara turned to Vayla.

"You think this might be it? Looks pretty old. High Republic old?" she asked curiously, feeling a little thrill. I can't believe it's here. It really can't be this easy.


@Die Shize
 

Vayla Mirana

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Jedi Order
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Die Shize
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Ambience IC [Recurring]

Vayla lingered over the map, noting the labyrinth of tunnels and the layers of levels, though it appeared to be a combination of both explored and unexplored terrain. “For something that “looked quite Jedi” I wonder if all they found was an old brown robe?” Her lips split as she felt threatened with a bout of laughter before deciding against it. Caves and ruins did have a tendency of putting her in a fabulous mood but she wanted to save her energy.

Her droid in tow, the group achieved a feat of depth as they descended the rocky world beneath a world. The air was comfortably cooler, certainly nothing for a Pantoran to worry about, though the peculiar rat-something squeaking by a stone might be. Or whatever you are, my little friend. Perhaps just stay there for now? She shifted her light away and listened to Nara consult the map again, following her gaze upward.

“Oh my…” Vayla grinned, unable to look away even as Nara turned toward her. She started turning herself, creeping around in a circle to look at the formation from every angle she could find, her light shining with promise. “Let’s see… Would need a closer inspection but...wow.” She gave off a little chuckle. “That is, for lack of a better way to put it, temple stone… It’s got… Panda!”

There was a beep-boop as the B-G mech rolled forth. Vayla circled her flashlight over the chamber. “Shine there, matey-boy!” -Beep!- “No no, Pan, there!” -Boop!- She tutted. Not enough. Need more. “Nara, lovely!" she all but slapped a hand on her friend’s shoulder. “All light on that spot where my own is, if you'd be a dear! There’s something...there.”

She could hardly make it out but it was less flashy or shiny and instead something more ‘off’ in color and pattern than the surrounding stone. What is it!? A symbol? A painting? A robe? It was deep and dark but with enough light Vayla was sure they would be able to make it out. For one thing the added illumination would cover more surface and the secret would be uncovered. All the while, she finally realized how fast her heart was pounding, and how strong the Force suddenly started feeling.


@Charndley @Nara Allam
 

Juniper

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If there was such a thing as temple stone, that would surely be it. It looked carefully chosen and expertly chiselled, hewn to fit perfectly. Aside from the scorch marks and the explosion site, of course. She could hardly blame the builders for that. It must have been centuries old and it definitely put the temple on Ajan Kloss to shame.

"You mean we could've had stone without moss and vines growing on them the whole time?" Nara muttered to herself, but her words were lost in Vayla's excitement. Lovely? Who are you calling 'lovely?' she wondered in her mind, but she followed Vayla and her droid closer, shining her light where it was wanted. "Brighten it up if you can, 3-B," she asked her droid, who did so with a little, affirmative chirp.

The beam of light shone and then blazed, as if it came alive. The combined light reflected around the chamber, bathing it in soft blue tones. A larger chamber than Nara through possible, extending upwards as far as she could see. Ancient, ragged banners that'd near-rotted clung to the stone walls, emblazoned with the same symbol as on the wall. The symbol of the Jedi Order. The lightsaber shining with wings. The symbol on the wall was faded and cracked, slightly extruding from the stonework itself. It flashed many shades of blue though.

Nara stepped inside and reached for it, covering her eyes as the light grew brighter. Her fingers brushed over it and some crumbled away into dust. A lot of it was faded and old, cracked and decayed... but it was clear what it was. "Vayla... these are precious stones," Nara said, looking over her shoulder. "I think we found somewhere important."

The chamber had little else, aside from what might once have been a desk. Or a bed. It wasn't clear, but Nara would've made a decent guess at this being somebody's quarters once. "If this is where someone lived, what's the rest of the place like?" Nara couldn't imagine a Jedi Order with those kinds of resources, but she knew it was once so much more vast.

"There could be anything in here," she said, in a slight amount of awe.


@Die Shize
 

Vayla Mirana

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Ambience IC [Recurring]

Vayla had been more than a little animated, her energy all but showing on her wide-eyed face and in her cultural tongue that had suddenly treated her fellow Jedi as a childhood friend worthy of being promoted from “love” to “lovely” in the span of an instant, though either was only a word in a figure of speech. The fact of the matter was that this Pantoran knew what she was looking at the closer she looked at it, scorch marks and explosion effects aside.

Some Jedi, they spent their days and years studying the way of the lightsaber or the path of the Force, but Vayla had grown up with a penchant for discovery and she had been trained in the art of science as much as saber. Archaeology was one of her fondest pursuits and proudest achievements, and the library at Ajan Kloss amid holo-records and more had only inflamed her passion for Jedi history, least of which was stone. This is it.

Those three words rang out over and over again in her mind as 3-B joined Panda and Vayla in shedding combined light on what waited and watched above. Then, just like that, the light pierced the darkness and the truth was revealed. Vayla, well, she existed beside herself, hardly aware of anyone or anything else that might have existed beside her. It was no robe that clung to the wall but a banner; torn and tattered but elegant in form, reminding her of temples past and present, as the though the array of buildings were all united into one perfect colossus.

There was yet a symbol, unmistakable and as loud as a sun’s yawn, echoing throughout the rock and vibrating within Vayla’s own heart as she bit her lip and stole a look at her companion. Surely Nara had felt it too. There was little doubt as the Jedi stepped inside and reached for it, and for a moment Vayla’s breath caught in her throat, fighting with whether to pull her friend back or push her forward. The excitement was too much.

“Im...important?” she asked rhetorically, her breathing a testy feat as her heart continued to quake. “Nara…” Vayla’s counterpart spoke of stones and quarters, but this—this was like a teabag in a cup of tea before the cup ever found lips. This is just a tease. “There could be anything, lass, aye…”

She trailed off, grinning more deviously than a Jedi ought to. “...And so much MORE!”

With that, Vayla pounced forth, grabbed Nara by the arm, and released her grip only when both Jedi and their droid companions were all but buried in the darkness. That was well and good, for the combined light was needed now more than ever, and Vayla’s own shined her way as she ventured forth into a grand treasure chest full of mystery. Into the light, for the light, where the dark cannot hold us back… Not today!


@Charndley
 

Juniper

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Vayla's excitement was almost infectious. Nara had never been wholly interested in archaeological pursuits, outside of humouring Izel, and old temples held a lot of bad memories for her. The promise of something so fresh, so lost and so recent meant that apprehensive interest filled her with each step.

Each step that Vayla was dragging out of her.

"I think we should be a little more careful!" she said quickly, the beam from her droid swishing through the darkness as the other Jedi pulled her through the dark chamber, towards the hallway... and beyond. Nara kept up the pace, looking downwards and being very alert, lest she step on a pressure pad. Again.

As they walked, the sound of their boots echoed around them, muffled by dust and dirt and the blanket of long, dead years. "There's no skeletons yet, that's surely a good sign," Nara muttered as she kept moving, the hallway twisting ahead of them. An archway opened up right in front of them, revealing a much vaster, larger room. Judging by the dirty, faded and half-ragged mat below Nara's boots, she imagined that it must once have been some kind of gym. Or training room. It was hard to tell with the rubble covering half of it. 3-B's spotlight swished through the darkness towards the opposite wall. Or where the opposite wall should be, rather. All that was there now was a mass of broken stone and a very suspect looking bunch of cracked supports.

"Okay so... I don't trust those supports. And the explosion won't have helped things," Nara mused, looking at the cracks in those stone supports. The roof looked okay for the moment, but both of them knew they were under countless tons of rock. There was something else niggling her too. As she stepped into the room a little more, the dust clouds curling up with each step, it struck her suddenly.

"The bite marks on this mat, they're not that old." They were pretty sizeable too. Ragged and huge and there were a lot.

Nara's hand went to her blaster instinctively.


@Die Shize
 

Vayla Mirana

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Die Shize
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Ambience IC/Music OOC

Light went this way and that way, up and down and round and round, cast from hand with torch or light from droid. Vayla soaked in the sights as much as the light soaked in the scenery. To do that, her pace had to slow, and that was ever intentional. She could contain herself when the occasion called for it, having only tugged her companion for a moment in jest, but now the reality of both Jedi’s surroundings was all too apparent. Here we are...standing in a Jedi temple...of the High Republic era…

“I…”
She couldn’t finish her thought, shaking her head as Nara spoke of skeletons or lack thereof, struggling to comprehend their finding. If she had it her way then she would spend days and nights studying and meditating in every corridor and chamber of the grand edifice. Though it seems that entropy may continue to have its way along with rocks and rubble… There was the hollow howl of air drifting around them and seeping between cracks, the groan of years upon years of fallen rock and weighted stone, and at least once Vayla could attest that she heard a scamper and a squeak.

“Is that…” It was her turn to mutter as her personal flashlight shone over an upturned table. Some kind of rod stood propped up against the surface. Vayla paced toward it as Nara walked on, the light revealing layers of caked dust, but also cylindrical variations that might suggest the places where hands ought to go. A staff?

Her attention broke when Nara spoke of bite marks. Vayla stepped toward the mat, a cone of yellow light leading her vision. The nibbles looked crude and cruel, like something vicious and angry had gone to town on it. And hungry… “Nara…” Vayla began, slowly turning around the chamber, shining for every nook and cranny. I didn’t bring a blaster, she might have continued, but she did at least bring a hilt. “Earlier...in the mining tunnel...I saw something that looked rather suspiciously like a r—”

-SQUEEEAAAAK!-

Gasping, the Jedi Knight whipped her torch across the walls, basking the cracked supports in light. Had the sound come from there? It was more of a squeal than a squeak, its high-pitched wail a starving and haunting call. And...more like an echo...of a hundred other squeaks…

“I’ve got a baaad feeling about this…”


@Charndley
 

Juniper

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Nara's eyes cast over the table Vayla was staring at. The cylindrical object looked promising, though it betrayed no obvious purpose. An artefact? Ancient Jedi walking stick? Some sort of key or object to open a vault? All sorts of possibilities.

Unfortunately, there were all sorts of possibilities when it came to those sounds.

Nara reached for her blaster, pulling it into her hand. It was only a cheap, standard thing though. Not particularly rapid-fire, and she wasn't exactly the best shot in the galaxy. Rustling turned into rushing turned into surging. Chittering grew into squeaking grew into roaring. At first, Nara assumed they were rats. Then she didn't. The noises seemed to large, too loud. Her eyes widened as she looked over at Vayla.

"What are we even..." she started to say as the floor turned into a mass of writhing creatures. Rats. Rats that flowed and gushed like water, running between the feet of both Jedi. Squeaking, snarling, surging out the way they'd came. Nara breathed a sigh of relief for a moment, until she realised...

The noises haven't stopped.

An enormous roar filled the room as a disgusting, grey roden face peered through from the darkness, teeth oozing thick, rabid drool onto the floor. Three eyes, one blind, stared at the new additions to the hidden temple as it slowly moved, exposing more and more of it's horrid, ragged flesh.

"Hive rat..." Nara gasped, raising her blaster high. "It's a hive rat!" Foul, awful beasts that usually dwelt beneath the vast city worlds like Coruscant and Nar Shaddaa. "HIVE RAT!" she yelled, firing as much as she could at the creature emerging from the darkness beyond.


@Die Shize
 

Vayla Mirana

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Die Shize
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Chit-chit! Chit-chit!

Vayla’s breath caught in her throat as her lungs rose for it. Her eyes darted left and right, scouring the darkness and the shadow, her light a whole other set of eyes that she dared not part with. There was a mass of scitter-scatter, like leaves in a forest as the wind rushed toward them; pitter-patter, like rain bolting upon rock from a sky infuriated. Her light was on the ceiling now, waiting for that sky to fall any moment.

Chit-chit! Chit-chit! SKRRRRRT!!

Beyond the shriek, Nara's own voice caught the Pantoran by surprise as though the very walls had spoken to her. It made her jump as she whirled to face her friend. “What!?” Vayla pleaded, puzzled as to why her fellow Jedi was unable to complete her sentence. That was when a lump formed in Vayla’s throat, her gaze following Nara’s—down, down, down. Fear, Vay… Do not give into fear…

Neither Jedi would as one held a blaster and the other held a hilt whose blue blade thrummed forth. Then she saw it. Amid a crawling carpet of dark things, Vayla glimpsed the monstrosity for every horror that it was: large and ominous, red-eyed, a bloated snout with blotch and blemish, whiskers like tentacles and, of course, giant incisors that curved so cruelly.

“Hive rat…” She whispered to herself after Nara’s introduction. “I SEE IT!” Vayla screamed as her friend yelled, the latter whipping blaster bolts at the great grotesque as the former pondered on how to proceed with just her lightsaber. It was an instant that lasted no longer. The ferocious beast pounded forward, its taloned paws thudding and clicking off the ancient stone, bounding toward its prey with a “Kkaaawwwrrr!!

Its screech sounded half in pain as bolts pummeled toward it, though it was as fast and agile as it was large and ugly. A hand swiped forth just then. Vayla dashed aside, evading it, only for a pack of rats to swarm toward her. Smaller, weaker, but no less lethal as they scurried and scampered across the floor. She swung her hilt—the blade flashed through a curtain of flesh and bone like butter. More came. She slashed again. There was a horrendous roar! as the hive rat looked her way with those red, red eyes. Just then, Vayla realized that she had been backed into a corner. She licked her lips and looked toward her friend. "Nara!"



@Charndley
 
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Juniper

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Nara's blasts either went wide or thudded into the creature with no effect. She hadn't seen since she was a kid, and even then she'd never faced one head on. They were creatures of legend in the underworld of Nar Shaddaa. And now she was trying to fight one.

The others surged towards her, breaking Nara's focus on the hive rat as she fired into them. The stench of burnt fur and seared flesh coiled up as she moved away from them, rolling her eyes at her own inability to shoot straight. Just my damn luck. She heard the roar too, turning to see the hive rat pushing her friend into the corner. Their eyes met.

Screw this.

She grabbed her saber hilt from her belt. Igniting it, Nara charged the hive rat. With a scream, she slashed upwards, right through thick, grey flesh. Even with the plasma blade, Nara felt a little resistance when cutting through it all. She sliced right through one of it's arms, the hive rat squealed in a high-pitched, inhuman wail. The useless limb dropped with a squelch into a pile of excited, hungry rats.

"Go!" Nara yelled to Vayla, pointing towards the other doorway as she slashed towards the hive rat's body, getting blocked by a flick of the creature's tail. It smacked into her stomach, slamming her into the wall with a thud. A trickle of dust rushed down onto Nara's head, mixing with her tangle of dark hair.


@Die Shize
 
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