The Shadow
Hero
Hello, all. This is a two-player Star Wars d20 game set in the Old Republic, about 200 years after the close of the Sith Wars. (That is, about 5000 years prior to the Battle of Yavin in the movies.) The game is played roughly once a week over the phone, unless life intervenes (as it often does).
In this time period, the Jedi "Order" isn't very orderly; there is no standing Jedi Council, just periodic consultation between Jedi Masters, who recruit and train their own Padawan apprentices however they see fit. Many other Force-using traditions are in flux during this time; the Sith Wars destroyed a lot of people's innocence about the uses of the Force.
Please note that my own familiarity with the Star Wars universe is almost entirely from the movies and a little bit of the SW d20 books. I am not familiar with the Expanded Universe, and (aside from playing KOTOR 1 and 2) neither is the other player (my brother). The GM has therefore felt free to steal interesting characters from various Star Wars novels and use them in the campaign, even though strictly speaking they belong to a much later time. (You'll hear about one of them in the very first session: Pluvo Two-for-one, who owns part of the mortgage on the group's ship.) I hope this doesn't jar the reader too much.
Some of you may know me as the writer of another Story Hour, The Shadow Knows! and as the creator of The World of Terrima. If not, feel free to go look!
The GM goes by SuentisPo online, so I usually refer to him as SP. My brother (the other player) often goes by "DudeRose", so I will call him DR. Now without further ado:
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Our Intrepid Heroes
Jonas fingered the pendant of polished intarzi-wood that he always wore about his neck as he scoped the nearby star. "It's Yitak system, right enough." Vanni snorted. "Can't you just trust my plotting for once?" But he chimed in with Jonas' inevitable words, "Better safe than sorry," good-naturedly enough.
Davik watched them impassively, hands folded over his robes in classic Jedi formality. "We are headed for the fourth planet." Jonas and Vanni exchanged a near-telepathic glance. Vanni had made some unkind comments about ramrods in the young man's regard, and even Jonas admitted he'd met NCO's less dour and taciturn. How different from his Master, Insharr! Advanced Jedi training must include special exercises to unbend.
"We hadn't forgotten," Jonas said cheerfully as he flipped switches that rerouted power to the Song's system drive. Vanni added mock-seriously, "Yitak IV, coming up. Home of darkest jungles and mysterious temples at the outermost rim of known space. All in a day's work for our intrepid heroes." His hands danced over the controls as he spoke.
"That seems unlikely," Davik observed. Vanni looked over his shoulder. "Hm?" "'Jungles', certainly. A temple, yes. 'Mysterious' is hoped for. 'Intrepid heroes' remains to be seen. I have not sensed any disturbances in the Force recently." Vanni flushed, but Jonas cut him off with a chuckle. "Why Padawan, I do believe that was an attempt at humor." Davik bowed precisely. "Your skills of observation do you credit." Yes, there was a smile threatening to form there. "I did not say it was a good attempt, but it's a start!" A faint shadow of annoyance crossed Davik's face before he smoothed it away. "As you say."
Jonas chuckled again to himself. These Jedi and their fear of emotion! Together, he and Vanni brought the Song into orbit, then darted into the atmosphere toward the proper coordinates. Jonas scoped the area out. "There's a rock outcropping that looks artificial. Probably your temple. There's no clearing large enough to land the ship nearby, though. Our best bet is about ten clicks away." "Could we not burn a suitable landing space with the drive?" Vanni smothered a laugh at Jonas' expression as he deliberately calmed down before replying, "In theory, yes. In practice, though, I won't do it. There's no reason to destroy perfectly good jungle when there's no need, and the walk won't kill us. I'd apologize, except, you see, I'm not sorry." Davik looked faintly puzzled at this reaction, but contented himself with an "Ah," in response.
Soon they had landed. Jonas unsealed the arms locker and expertly checked out his blast rifle before settling it comfortably into position. Vanni shook his head to himself, but didn't say anything as he grabbed his pistol and other weapons. "Let's go."
Jonas took point, leading them readily through the jungle. "Look at these trees - designed to bend with the wind. And the leaves are shaped to shed rain. I saw a number of big storms going on in the scope, too... I suspect we'll be glad of our rain gear before we leave." After an uneventful day's march, the vine-choked Jedi temple loomed before them. "Hard to tell after two hundred years of overgrowth, but the Sith don't seem to have done too much damage," Jonas noted. "That remains to be seen," Davik replied.
The entry area of the temple was huge - large enough to park the Starchaser's Song several times over, if it could have gotten in the doors. Vanni whistled in awe, and the echo came back clearly. "Please do not do that," Davik said, and Jonas nodded. "No telling what's in here after all this time." Vanni shot them both a disgusted look, but said nothing. They studied the three looming corridors leading further into the temple - one on either side, and one main one opposite the entrance.
Davik pointed to the corridor to their left. "Let's start there." He took the lead, and Jonas and Vanni spread out to either side of him, giving a clear field of fire.
They'd gone only a dozen meters or so when Jonas shivered. "I've got a bad feeling about this place, all of a sudden." Vanni snorted and said, "I've had a bad feeling about this job since Corellia!" but Davik nodded. "You sense it too? Someone is using the Force further within. The Dark Side, to be precise." He ignited his lightsabers, and their deep thrumming sound and its echoes filled the passage with a deadly harmony. "The Blight," Jonas muttered. "Shaper Ivek told me about it, but..." Vanni stared at them. "You mean there's still Sith in here after all these years?" He got two shrugs for a response, which clearly didn't comfort him.
Davik moved forward purposefully, but Jonas said, "Hold on, Padawan. Whatever it is probably knows we're here. Why march right on toward it? Are there likely to be any other entrances to the temple?" Davik considered. "It is likely, yes. There is merit in what you say."
They went back outside... only to be pelted by near-horizontal rain at what felt like lightspeed. "I'm a prophet, I am," Jonas said cheerfully. Vanni snorted and pulled his rain hood more tightly over his face. To Davik he said, "Jonas uses the 'Bright Side' of the Force, as you can see." That got an actual grin for a moment.
After a long and difficult slog in the rain, they found the other entrance at the back of the temple. Going in, they were soon rewarded by finding their opposite number's camp - a bedroll, tools, a small generator, a grav lift, and so forth. He (or perhaps she?) had been using a heavy-duty welding torch to cut through a set of blast doors. Beyond that pair of destroyed doors was a short corridor leading downward to another pair, as yet untouched. Searching, they found nothing of great value, though there was a locked box they decided to let be for the moment.
"There's a good deal of dust on the floor," Jonas noted. "I can make out tracks. I'll take point. Quietly, everyone!" He led them confidently through one of the corridors leading away from the anteroom. They marched on a while in silence, the tension growing as they passed several intersections. At one point Jonas abruptly came to halt and held a hand up to stop the others. "Our friend left a little surprise for us..."
The others came closer to see the laser "tripwire" crossing the corridor. Vanni shone his glowstick up the wall, then to the ceiling, where leads ran to what was evidently a large pack of explosives. "I HATE surprises," he said bitterly. Davik nodded sagely. "Carefully now..." Gingerly, they stepped over the laser beam, and Jonas led them on once more - a little more slowly and cautiously, this time.
Eventually they arrived in... The entrance chamber to the temple again, through the rightmost corridor. Jonas sighed. "Well, that was anticlimactic. And the floor here doesn't hold tracks at all well. We can go back and try one of the cross-corridors, or try one of the other main ones here." Davik considered for a time, or perhaps listened to the Force. "We know the Dark Side user came this way, and you saw no sign he doubled back? Then we should try one of the other main corridors. The middle one, I think." "You're the boss."
The corridor was just beginning to open up into a room, when a humanoid form in dark clothing rushed past a startled Jonas to close with Davik with a bladed weapon. Lightsabers ignited, the Jedi met the attack and pressed his own, filling the corridor with whirring noises and sparks. Meanwhile Jonas whirled and fired his blast rifle at point blank range, while Vanni sought a clear shot. Jonas hit, and shortly after Vanni did also, though the man dodged with preternatural speed and took little actual damage. Davik held his own and managed to graze the man with one of his sabers.
Then the dark figure began calling on the Force, an upwelling of darkness and chill that pierced the hearts of the three allies. Vanni cursed and fired again, scoring a solid hit; Davik's eyes narrowed and he pressed the attack with grim intensity... while Jonas fought down a wave of revulsion at the full revelation of the Blight. Protest welled up within him, the Lifeblood of the galaxy answering to his outraged will... and spreading outward in a wave of pure, blinding light that filled the corridor with momentary glory.
As Davik slashed and Vanni fired again (cursing as his blaster did not respond), the man's use of the Force somehow turned inward upon himself in the wake of that furious brilliance. He cried out and crumpled into a heap at Davik's feet, his blade going flying - hitting no-one, thankfully - and whining furiously against the stone floor.
Davik took in the situation with aplomb and restrained himself to noting, "Force Light is an uncommon gift even among Jedi," while Vanni stared at Jonas, ashen-faced. "I didn't know you could do that!" Jonas went over and turned off the vibroblade, clipping it to his own belt with satisfaction before admitting, "I didn't either, Vanni. You learn something new every day, I suppose." They turned to study their adversary.
He was human, with an unlined face, utterly nondescript save for his shock of dead white hair; he had nothing in the way of personal effects on him save for a ring of three keys. After binding him securely, Davik and Jonas worked together to heal the man with the Force. His wounds closed, but he did not awaken; he appeared to have sunk into a deep coma. "We will have to take him with us," Davik announced. "Master Insharr will want to see him." Jonas nodded and slung the man over one shoulder. "I certainly wouldn't have left him to starve, in any case." Vanni, for his part, just muttered something about being ready, willing, and eager.
"By the way, Vanni, why did your blaster misfire just now?" Jonas asked. The young man hesitated before admitting sheepishly, "It's out of juice. I forgot to charge it." Jonas delivered himself of a short lecture on the importance of maintaining one's equipment, which was received with an ill grace but no overt protest. Davik, for his part, wisely kept silent.
A careful search of the rest of the temple yielded nothing of interest. The three turned their attention to their enemy's camp. One of the keys opened the box, yielding various scattered lightsaber parts that intrigued Davik greatly. Another activated the grav lift. "The third probably opens his ship," Vanni pointed out. "But where is it?"
Davik pulled himself out of the contemplation of his find. "This suggests a useful division of labor. I will cut through the blast doors with my lightsabers, while Jonas looks for the ship; that lift does not have a very long useful range, so it should not be too far. Vanni, you can help me clear the rubble and keep an eye on our opponent in case he should wake. Does this sound reasonable?" Jonas and Vanni both allowed as how it did.
The rest of that day proved uneventful. Jonas' searching proved unfruitful; Davik cut several large chunks out of the doors, but not enough to crawl through safely; and Vanni complained about being bored. The second day proved more interesting. Davik cut through the last of the blast doors (Vanni moving the red-hot pieces out the way with the Force, a trick he'd picked up from Jonas)... only to find yet another set beyond.
Jonas, for his part, found the ship in a jungle clearing - a sleek small model, carrying at most two men. He inserted the key, and an artificial voice stated in Basic, "Awaiting password." Jonas blinked. "Password?" "Incorrect. Perimeter defenses are being activated." "Hold on, now! That won't be necessary!" (Meanwhile, the ship started humming as various systems came to life.) "Unauthorized users are to be terminated." Sure enough, a small turret atop the ship swiveled in his direction. Sweating, Jonas spun the (not very bright) machine a tale about being a port authority doing a routine check, and pointed out that gunning him down would get its master in a great deal of legal entanglement.
It bought it, or at any rate stood down, warning him not to attempt access again. Jonas, for his part, relieved that he didn't have to threaten to levy a fine, fled back to the temple. There he announced calmly to the others, "I couldn't get into the ship. It's password-protected." Face thereby saved, he listened to Vanni's complaints about boredom with more patience even than usual.
The third day they spent intensively on the blast doors, both Jonas and Vanni helping remove the cut-away pieces of metal. Though Jonas joked about the old Jedi having space-folding technology that let them set up an infinite line of blast doors in a small space, in fact there was a room beyond this set.
It appeared to have been a storage space, but it had been thoroughly trashed, and the pieces trashed after that. A very thorough search gathered together a set of mostly-untouched lightsaber parts that sent Davik into restrained raptures. (With this and the box upstairs, he had enough to build a couple lightsabers of his own, save for the power cells.)
There were also a number of more unusual items... a book with pages made of stamped metal written in a language none of the three men even recognized, much less were able to read. A crystal rod covered with glyphs apparently in the same language. An odd garment meant to go about the shoulders like a pectoral. A bladed weapon not unlike a punch dagger. Jonas and Davik recognized these last three as being somehow imbued with the Force, and Davik quickly claimed them all, and the book, in the name of the Jedi Order.
There was also a small set of personal effects - rings, other jewelry, and so on. Davik offered these to his comrades, but Jonas looked uncomfortable. "I don't like the idea of taking things from the dead." But Vanni noted practically, "They aren't using it any more!" and Davik for his part didn't seem to care. In the end, the pressure of Pluvo's payment deadlines forced Jonas' hand.
The next room down the corridor looked to have been the temple's archives. It had been, if anything, more severely trashed than the storage room. Memory crystals were scattered over the floor, many in pieces, and the readers were likewise vandalized. The three started gathering up undamaged memory chips when Vanni asked, "Um, Jonas?" "Yes, Vanni?" "This other stuff on the floor isn't what I think it is, is it?" Jonas came over to have a look at the little fragment and nodded soberly. "I'm afraid so. Bone with a bit of flesh still attached. Too, uh, small, to tell what species." They found many such fragments as they searched. A great many. There was no way to tell how many people they had belonged to, but at least several. Vanni gagged several times, and even Jonas, hardened to combat, had trouble keeping his composure. Davik dipped now and then into meditation.
Finally Vanni burst out, "What in the worlds DID this to them?!" As if in reply, a faint roaring came to their ears. "Oh, SURE!" Vanni groused. "Ask a stupid question..." Just then a towering sickly-green translucent figure manifested in the center of the room, lashing out at the three of them with writhing tentacles. The power of the Dark Side in its touch was overwhelming; the three were momentarily staggered.
But then Davik ignited his sabers and leaped to the attack. The thing howled at the touch of the blades' furious energy. Jonas and Vanni fired simultaneously; their bolts passed right through the thing, doing no apparent harm. Jonas dropped his rifle at once and drew his newly-acquired vibroblade.
The thing lashed out at them again, but they were somewhat inured to its touch this time, though it still hurt. Davik slashed at the thing in a whirling frenzy of light and sound, his face touched with calm at the eye of the storm. Jonas found that his vibroblade was as useless as his blaster rifle. Vanni drew upon the Force and fired again, seeming to actually hurt the thing somehow.
Jonas dropped the vibroblade in disgust and tried to find that calm center of light within himself again. He faltered at first, straining his mind, but then the light poured forth with abandon from his uplifted hands, flickering a few times before shining with steady incandescence, while Vanni kept shooting and Davik methodically slashed.
The thing keened like the damned and redoubled its attack. This time, Vanni cried out and went down. "Vanni!" Jonas shouted. His light flickered out at once and he rushed to the young man's side, heedless of the writhing tentacles barring the way. He knelt at Vanni's side, laying on hands to heal, but a snapping tentacle laid him low as well, falling over Vanni's motionless form.
Davik fought on, the thing howling in earsplitting clashing notes as his lightsabers claimed their due from its ghostly flesh. At length it guttered out like a candle with a final wail, leaving only a faint stench behind. The Padawan deactivated his sabers and stood tall, savoring the moment. Then he went and healed Jonas, who came around groaning and shaken. "What did that thing DO to me?!" "You have been touched by the Dark Side," Davik informed him. "You will recover." Together they then healed Vanni, who was likewise pale and shivering.
Jonas and Vanni both felt ill and exhausted, so the group retreated upstairs to the camp and bedded down for the night, Davik keeping watch. Unfortunately, neither of the two afflicted were able to sleep well, being plagued with nightmares. Jonas gave up in the wee hours and sat up to meditate. After several hours light flickered and flared from him once more, giving him a start on burning away the Dark Side influence from his system. But it took hours more, well into the day, before he felt able to sleep again.
The next morning he was good as new, though Vanni, never much of one for meditating upon the Force, still looked awful. Jonas insisted on giving him more time to recover, and Davik concurred. They spent the day in quiet pursuits while Vanni tossed, turned, and shivered... Thankfully, with the help of healing from the other two, he also was well when morning came.
The three entered the room beyond the archives with great caution, armed to the teeth. Almost disappointingly, it proved to be unoccupied and intact, shielding its treasures from the world. And treasures they were, though it wasn't clear what they forebode...
It was like the workshop of a mad wizard who'd taken up sculpting. There was a striking white statue of a human woman, her face peaceful and serene, hands folded over her chest. She was surrounded by something abstractly wispy enough that it was unclear whether it was intended to be mist, or a swirl of fine fabric, or something else entirely.
There was a large silvery globe, covered with the same glyphs they'd seen in the book and on the rod.
There was a four foot long rod of clear faceted crystal, held upright in an elegant stand.
Finally, there was a squat green abstract sculpture with a conical base that unfolded into sinuous, disturbing coils toward the top. It pulsed direly with the Dark Side of the Force, as distinctly opposed to the others which gave off more wholesome vibes.
Davik took everything in, then calmly announced, "We will use the grav lift to take these all to the ship." Jonas stated with firm finality, "No." Vanni nodded with emphatic agreement. Davik looked startled for a moment. "I beg your pardon?" Jonas pointed at the green sculpture. "I will NOT have that thing on my ship."
"Jonas, this is a major find." "My ship, my rule. And I say no. These others we will take. That thing stays here and hopefully rots. I'm tempted to smash it myself. Surely you notice it looks like that thing we fought?" "Yes... You need only carry it to Corellia, where Master Insharr will take it off your hands...?" "Which part of 'No' don't you understand, Padawan?" "Would you rather that our captive's associates come and claim it, to use it for who knows what dark purpose?"
Jonas clenched his jaw tightly as he thought that over. Finally he said, "All right, a compromise. We'll cache it - bury it a click or so away from the temple. Far enough that looters aren't likely to notice it. You Jedi can come back and get it later... Though if you take my advice, you'll melt it down to slag instead." Davik nodded, resigned. "Very well, I agree."
Suiting actions to words, they removed their finds to the ship, where they found that the sensors had recorded the liftoff of their captive's ship two days previous, which caused the three men no little consternation. They buried the green statue deep and made a note of the coordinates. Then they secured their captive (who still had not shown the slightest sign of waking), and lifted off from Yitak IV. Vanni plotted the course for Corellia with obvious relief. "So much for that!"
Jonas spent a couple pleasant days helping Davik catalogue the memory crystals they'd recovered, when finally he felt ready to broach a delicate subject, brought on by his ever-lurking balance with Pluvo Two-for-one. "Quite the trip we had, Padawan." "Indeed." "Rather more exciting than we were anticipating, in fact." "That is true." "Vanni and I certainly didn't expect to fight looters, much less that green Blight-thing." "Yes... what are you getting at?" "I'm thinking that we need to renegotiate our fee somewhat."
Davik became even more still and impassive than usual. "I am listening." "It's only fair to take hazard-pay and combat conditions into account..." "Yes. How much do you want?" Jonas frowned at the younger man's bluntness, but mulled the matter over. Expecting a good haggle, he named a number several times larger than what he anticipated getting: "What do you say to twenty thousand credits?"
Davik stated in reply, "I do not have that much money. You will have to take it up with Master Insharr." Jonas blinked slowly a few times at this bombshell of mercantile etiquette. "Ah... Yes. Of course. I will do that." Mentally he added a few hundred credits onto his asking price.
The voyage was otherwise uneventful. The Song dropped into sublight in Corellia system right on schedule. Jonas got up from the crystal reader he'd been using, stretched, and told Davik, "I'd best go up to the bridge and give Vanni a hand." But just then the young man came rushing in, looking upset. "Captain, there's something you'd better come look at right away!" Alarmed by Vanni's use of the formal title, Jonas rushed after him, Davik on his heels.
In the bridge, Vanni pointed out some highlighted text on a monitor. "We received the usual system news-squirt as we dropped back into realspace. The computer flagged something as, um, relevant." Jonas read in grim silence, then announced, "We - all three of us - are wanted for the murder of Jedi Master Insharr. Apparently we fled Corellia system just after doing the deed. We are considered armed and dangerous."
"I'd say our lives just got a great deal more interesting."
[I'll be putting up some background and descriptive information on Jonas and Vanni soon. Vanni's an NPC, by the way, though closely associated with Jonas (my character). Davik is played by DR.]
[We've had our second session this last Tuesday, and I hope to have it posted sometime this weekend.]
In this time period, the Jedi "Order" isn't very orderly; there is no standing Jedi Council, just periodic consultation between Jedi Masters, who recruit and train their own Padawan apprentices however they see fit. Many other Force-using traditions are in flux during this time; the Sith Wars destroyed a lot of people's innocence about the uses of the Force.
Please note that my own familiarity with the Star Wars universe is almost entirely from the movies and a little bit of the SW d20 books. I am not familiar with the Expanded Universe, and (aside from playing KOTOR 1 and 2) neither is the other player (my brother). The GM has therefore felt free to steal interesting characters from various Star Wars novels and use them in the campaign, even though strictly speaking they belong to a much later time. (You'll hear about one of them in the very first session: Pluvo Two-for-one, who owns part of the mortgage on the group's ship.) I hope this doesn't jar the reader too much.
Some of you may know me as the writer of another Story Hour, The Shadow Knows! and as the creator of The World of Terrima. If not, feel free to go look!
The GM goes by SuentisPo online, so I usually refer to him as SP. My brother (the other player) often goes by "DudeRose", so I will call him DR. Now without further ado:
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Our Intrepid Heroes
Jonas fingered the pendant of polished intarzi-wood that he always wore about his neck as he scoped the nearby star. "It's Yitak system, right enough." Vanni snorted. "Can't you just trust my plotting for once?" But he chimed in with Jonas' inevitable words, "Better safe than sorry," good-naturedly enough.
Davik watched them impassively, hands folded over his robes in classic Jedi formality. "We are headed for the fourth planet." Jonas and Vanni exchanged a near-telepathic glance. Vanni had made some unkind comments about ramrods in the young man's regard, and even Jonas admitted he'd met NCO's less dour and taciturn. How different from his Master, Insharr! Advanced Jedi training must include special exercises to unbend.
"We hadn't forgotten," Jonas said cheerfully as he flipped switches that rerouted power to the Song's system drive. Vanni added mock-seriously, "Yitak IV, coming up. Home of darkest jungles and mysterious temples at the outermost rim of known space. All in a day's work for our intrepid heroes." His hands danced over the controls as he spoke.
"That seems unlikely," Davik observed. Vanni looked over his shoulder. "Hm?" "'Jungles', certainly. A temple, yes. 'Mysterious' is hoped for. 'Intrepid heroes' remains to be seen. I have not sensed any disturbances in the Force recently." Vanni flushed, but Jonas cut him off with a chuckle. "Why Padawan, I do believe that was an attempt at humor." Davik bowed precisely. "Your skills of observation do you credit." Yes, there was a smile threatening to form there. "I did not say it was a good attempt, but it's a start!" A faint shadow of annoyance crossed Davik's face before he smoothed it away. "As you say."
Jonas chuckled again to himself. These Jedi and their fear of emotion! Together, he and Vanni brought the Song into orbit, then darted into the atmosphere toward the proper coordinates. Jonas scoped the area out. "There's a rock outcropping that looks artificial. Probably your temple. There's no clearing large enough to land the ship nearby, though. Our best bet is about ten clicks away." "Could we not burn a suitable landing space with the drive?" Vanni smothered a laugh at Jonas' expression as he deliberately calmed down before replying, "In theory, yes. In practice, though, I won't do it. There's no reason to destroy perfectly good jungle when there's no need, and the walk won't kill us. I'd apologize, except, you see, I'm not sorry." Davik looked faintly puzzled at this reaction, but contented himself with an "Ah," in response.
Soon they had landed. Jonas unsealed the arms locker and expertly checked out his blast rifle before settling it comfortably into position. Vanni shook his head to himself, but didn't say anything as he grabbed his pistol and other weapons. "Let's go."
Jonas took point, leading them readily through the jungle. "Look at these trees - designed to bend with the wind. And the leaves are shaped to shed rain. I saw a number of big storms going on in the scope, too... I suspect we'll be glad of our rain gear before we leave." After an uneventful day's march, the vine-choked Jedi temple loomed before them. "Hard to tell after two hundred years of overgrowth, but the Sith don't seem to have done too much damage," Jonas noted. "That remains to be seen," Davik replied.
The entry area of the temple was huge - large enough to park the Starchaser's Song several times over, if it could have gotten in the doors. Vanni whistled in awe, and the echo came back clearly. "Please do not do that," Davik said, and Jonas nodded. "No telling what's in here after all this time." Vanni shot them both a disgusted look, but said nothing. They studied the three looming corridors leading further into the temple - one on either side, and one main one opposite the entrance.
Davik pointed to the corridor to their left. "Let's start there." He took the lead, and Jonas and Vanni spread out to either side of him, giving a clear field of fire.
They'd gone only a dozen meters or so when Jonas shivered. "I've got a bad feeling about this place, all of a sudden." Vanni snorted and said, "I've had a bad feeling about this job since Corellia!" but Davik nodded. "You sense it too? Someone is using the Force further within. The Dark Side, to be precise." He ignited his lightsabers, and their deep thrumming sound and its echoes filled the passage with a deadly harmony. "The Blight," Jonas muttered. "Shaper Ivek told me about it, but..." Vanni stared at them. "You mean there's still Sith in here after all these years?" He got two shrugs for a response, which clearly didn't comfort him.
Davik moved forward purposefully, but Jonas said, "Hold on, Padawan. Whatever it is probably knows we're here. Why march right on toward it? Are there likely to be any other entrances to the temple?" Davik considered. "It is likely, yes. There is merit in what you say."
They went back outside... only to be pelted by near-horizontal rain at what felt like lightspeed. "I'm a prophet, I am," Jonas said cheerfully. Vanni snorted and pulled his rain hood more tightly over his face. To Davik he said, "Jonas uses the 'Bright Side' of the Force, as you can see." That got an actual grin for a moment.
After a long and difficult slog in the rain, they found the other entrance at the back of the temple. Going in, they were soon rewarded by finding their opposite number's camp - a bedroll, tools, a small generator, a grav lift, and so forth. He (or perhaps she?) had been using a heavy-duty welding torch to cut through a set of blast doors. Beyond that pair of destroyed doors was a short corridor leading downward to another pair, as yet untouched. Searching, they found nothing of great value, though there was a locked box they decided to let be for the moment.
"There's a good deal of dust on the floor," Jonas noted. "I can make out tracks. I'll take point. Quietly, everyone!" He led them confidently through one of the corridors leading away from the anteroom. They marched on a while in silence, the tension growing as they passed several intersections. At one point Jonas abruptly came to halt and held a hand up to stop the others. "Our friend left a little surprise for us..."
The others came closer to see the laser "tripwire" crossing the corridor. Vanni shone his glowstick up the wall, then to the ceiling, where leads ran to what was evidently a large pack of explosives. "I HATE surprises," he said bitterly. Davik nodded sagely. "Carefully now..." Gingerly, they stepped over the laser beam, and Jonas led them on once more - a little more slowly and cautiously, this time.
Eventually they arrived in... The entrance chamber to the temple again, through the rightmost corridor. Jonas sighed. "Well, that was anticlimactic. And the floor here doesn't hold tracks at all well. We can go back and try one of the cross-corridors, or try one of the other main ones here." Davik considered for a time, or perhaps listened to the Force. "We know the Dark Side user came this way, and you saw no sign he doubled back? Then we should try one of the other main corridors. The middle one, I think." "You're the boss."
The corridor was just beginning to open up into a room, when a humanoid form in dark clothing rushed past a startled Jonas to close with Davik with a bladed weapon. Lightsabers ignited, the Jedi met the attack and pressed his own, filling the corridor with whirring noises and sparks. Meanwhile Jonas whirled and fired his blast rifle at point blank range, while Vanni sought a clear shot. Jonas hit, and shortly after Vanni did also, though the man dodged with preternatural speed and took little actual damage. Davik held his own and managed to graze the man with one of his sabers.
Then the dark figure began calling on the Force, an upwelling of darkness and chill that pierced the hearts of the three allies. Vanni cursed and fired again, scoring a solid hit; Davik's eyes narrowed and he pressed the attack with grim intensity... while Jonas fought down a wave of revulsion at the full revelation of the Blight. Protest welled up within him, the Lifeblood of the galaxy answering to his outraged will... and spreading outward in a wave of pure, blinding light that filled the corridor with momentary glory.
As Davik slashed and Vanni fired again (cursing as his blaster did not respond), the man's use of the Force somehow turned inward upon himself in the wake of that furious brilliance. He cried out and crumpled into a heap at Davik's feet, his blade going flying - hitting no-one, thankfully - and whining furiously against the stone floor.
Davik took in the situation with aplomb and restrained himself to noting, "Force Light is an uncommon gift even among Jedi," while Vanni stared at Jonas, ashen-faced. "I didn't know you could do that!" Jonas went over and turned off the vibroblade, clipping it to his own belt with satisfaction before admitting, "I didn't either, Vanni. You learn something new every day, I suppose." They turned to study their adversary.
He was human, with an unlined face, utterly nondescript save for his shock of dead white hair; he had nothing in the way of personal effects on him save for a ring of three keys. After binding him securely, Davik and Jonas worked together to heal the man with the Force. His wounds closed, but he did not awaken; he appeared to have sunk into a deep coma. "We will have to take him with us," Davik announced. "Master Insharr will want to see him." Jonas nodded and slung the man over one shoulder. "I certainly wouldn't have left him to starve, in any case." Vanni, for his part, just muttered something about being ready, willing, and eager.
"By the way, Vanni, why did your blaster misfire just now?" Jonas asked. The young man hesitated before admitting sheepishly, "It's out of juice. I forgot to charge it." Jonas delivered himself of a short lecture on the importance of maintaining one's equipment, which was received with an ill grace but no overt protest. Davik, for his part, wisely kept silent.
A careful search of the rest of the temple yielded nothing of interest. The three turned their attention to their enemy's camp. One of the keys opened the box, yielding various scattered lightsaber parts that intrigued Davik greatly. Another activated the grav lift. "The third probably opens his ship," Vanni pointed out. "But where is it?"
Davik pulled himself out of the contemplation of his find. "This suggests a useful division of labor. I will cut through the blast doors with my lightsabers, while Jonas looks for the ship; that lift does not have a very long useful range, so it should not be too far. Vanni, you can help me clear the rubble and keep an eye on our opponent in case he should wake. Does this sound reasonable?" Jonas and Vanni both allowed as how it did.
The rest of that day proved uneventful. Jonas' searching proved unfruitful; Davik cut several large chunks out of the doors, but not enough to crawl through safely; and Vanni complained about being bored. The second day proved more interesting. Davik cut through the last of the blast doors (Vanni moving the red-hot pieces out the way with the Force, a trick he'd picked up from Jonas)... only to find yet another set beyond.
Jonas, for his part, found the ship in a jungle clearing - a sleek small model, carrying at most two men. He inserted the key, and an artificial voice stated in Basic, "Awaiting password." Jonas blinked. "Password?" "Incorrect. Perimeter defenses are being activated." "Hold on, now! That won't be necessary!" (Meanwhile, the ship started humming as various systems came to life.) "Unauthorized users are to be terminated." Sure enough, a small turret atop the ship swiveled in his direction. Sweating, Jonas spun the (not very bright) machine a tale about being a port authority doing a routine check, and pointed out that gunning him down would get its master in a great deal of legal entanglement.
It bought it, or at any rate stood down, warning him not to attempt access again. Jonas, for his part, relieved that he didn't have to threaten to levy a fine, fled back to the temple. There he announced calmly to the others, "I couldn't get into the ship. It's password-protected." Face thereby saved, he listened to Vanni's complaints about boredom with more patience even than usual.
The third day they spent intensively on the blast doors, both Jonas and Vanni helping remove the cut-away pieces of metal. Though Jonas joked about the old Jedi having space-folding technology that let them set up an infinite line of blast doors in a small space, in fact there was a room beyond this set.
It appeared to have been a storage space, but it had been thoroughly trashed, and the pieces trashed after that. A very thorough search gathered together a set of mostly-untouched lightsaber parts that sent Davik into restrained raptures. (With this and the box upstairs, he had enough to build a couple lightsabers of his own, save for the power cells.)
There were also a number of more unusual items... a book with pages made of stamped metal written in a language none of the three men even recognized, much less were able to read. A crystal rod covered with glyphs apparently in the same language. An odd garment meant to go about the shoulders like a pectoral. A bladed weapon not unlike a punch dagger. Jonas and Davik recognized these last three as being somehow imbued with the Force, and Davik quickly claimed them all, and the book, in the name of the Jedi Order.
There was also a small set of personal effects - rings, other jewelry, and so on. Davik offered these to his comrades, but Jonas looked uncomfortable. "I don't like the idea of taking things from the dead." But Vanni noted practically, "They aren't using it any more!" and Davik for his part didn't seem to care. In the end, the pressure of Pluvo's payment deadlines forced Jonas' hand.
The next room down the corridor looked to have been the temple's archives. It had been, if anything, more severely trashed than the storage room. Memory crystals were scattered over the floor, many in pieces, and the readers were likewise vandalized. The three started gathering up undamaged memory chips when Vanni asked, "Um, Jonas?" "Yes, Vanni?" "This other stuff on the floor isn't what I think it is, is it?" Jonas came over to have a look at the little fragment and nodded soberly. "I'm afraid so. Bone with a bit of flesh still attached. Too, uh, small, to tell what species." They found many such fragments as they searched. A great many. There was no way to tell how many people they had belonged to, but at least several. Vanni gagged several times, and even Jonas, hardened to combat, had trouble keeping his composure. Davik dipped now and then into meditation.
Finally Vanni burst out, "What in the worlds DID this to them?!" As if in reply, a faint roaring came to their ears. "Oh, SURE!" Vanni groused. "Ask a stupid question..." Just then a towering sickly-green translucent figure manifested in the center of the room, lashing out at the three of them with writhing tentacles. The power of the Dark Side in its touch was overwhelming; the three were momentarily staggered.
But then Davik ignited his sabers and leaped to the attack. The thing howled at the touch of the blades' furious energy. Jonas and Vanni fired simultaneously; their bolts passed right through the thing, doing no apparent harm. Jonas dropped his rifle at once and drew his newly-acquired vibroblade.
The thing lashed out at them again, but they were somewhat inured to its touch this time, though it still hurt. Davik slashed at the thing in a whirling frenzy of light and sound, his face touched with calm at the eye of the storm. Jonas found that his vibroblade was as useless as his blaster rifle. Vanni drew upon the Force and fired again, seeming to actually hurt the thing somehow.
Jonas dropped the vibroblade in disgust and tried to find that calm center of light within himself again. He faltered at first, straining his mind, but then the light poured forth with abandon from his uplifted hands, flickering a few times before shining with steady incandescence, while Vanni kept shooting and Davik methodically slashed.
The thing keened like the damned and redoubled its attack. This time, Vanni cried out and went down. "Vanni!" Jonas shouted. His light flickered out at once and he rushed to the young man's side, heedless of the writhing tentacles barring the way. He knelt at Vanni's side, laying on hands to heal, but a snapping tentacle laid him low as well, falling over Vanni's motionless form.
Davik fought on, the thing howling in earsplitting clashing notes as his lightsabers claimed their due from its ghostly flesh. At length it guttered out like a candle with a final wail, leaving only a faint stench behind. The Padawan deactivated his sabers and stood tall, savoring the moment. Then he went and healed Jonas, who came around groaning and shaken. "What did that thing DO to me?!" "You have been touched by the Dark Side," Davik informed him. "You will recover." Together they then healed Vanni, who was likewise pale and shivering.
Jonas and Vanni both felt ill and exhausted, so the group retreated upstairs to the camp and bedded down for the night, Davik keeping watch. Unfortunately, neither of the two afflicted were able to sleep well, being plagued with nightmares. Jonas gave up in the wee hours and sat up to meditate. After several hours light flickered and flared from him once more, giving him a start on burning away the Dark Side influence from his system. But it took hours more, well into the day, before he felt able to sleep again.
The next morning he was good as new, though Vanni, never much of one for meditating upon the Force, still looked awful. Jonas insisted on giving him more time to recover, and Davik concurred. They spent the day in quiet pursuits while Vanni tossed, turned, and shivered... Thankfully, with the help of healing from the other two, he also was well when morning came.
The three entered the room beyond the archives with great caution, armed to the teeth. Almost disappointingly, it proved to be unoccupied and intact, shielding its treasures from the world. And treasures they were, though it wasn't clear what they forebode...
It was like the workshop of a mad wizard who'd taken up sculpting. There was a striking white statue of a human woman, her face peaceful and serene, hands folded over her chest. She was surrounded by something abstractly wispy enough that it was unclear whether it was intended to be mist, or a swirl of fine fabric, or something else entirely.
There was a large silvery globe, covered with the same glyphs they'd seen in the book and on the rod.
There was a four foot long rod of clear faceted crystal, held upright in an elegant stand.
Finally, there was a squat green abstract sculpture with a conical base that unfolded into sinuous, disturbing coils toward the top. It pulsed direly with the Dark Side of the Force, as distinctly opposed to the others which gave off more wholesome vibes.
Davik took everything in, then calmly announced, "We will use the grav lift to take these all to the ship." Jonas stated with firm finality, "No." Vanni nodded with emphatic agreement. Davik looked startled for a moment. "I beg your pardon?" Jonas pointed at the green sculpture. "I will NOT have that thing on my ship."
"Jonas, this is a major find." "My ship, my rule. And I say no. These others we will take. That thing stays here and hopefully rots. I'm tempted to smash it myself. Surely you notice it looks like that thing we fought?" "Yes... You need only carry it to Corellia, where Master Insharr will take it off your hands...?" "Which part of 'No' don't you understand, Padawan?" "Would you rather that our captive's associates come and claim it, to use it for who knows what dark purpose?"
Jonas clenched his jaw tightly as he thought that over. Finally he said, "All right, a compromise. We'll cache it - bury it a click or so away from the temple. Far enough that looters aren't likely to notice it. You Jedi can come back and get it later... Though if you take my advice, you'll melt it down to slag instead." Davik nodded, resigned. "Very well, I agree."
Suiting actions to words, they removed their finds to the ship, where they found that the sensors had recorded the liftoff of their captive's ship two days previous, which caused the three men no little consternation. They buried the green statue deep and made a note of the coordinates. Then they secured their captive (who still had not shown the slightest sign of waking), and lifted off from Yitak IV. Vanni plotted the course for Corellia with obvious relief. "So much for that!"
Jonas spent a couple pleasant days helping Davik catalogue the memory crystals they'd recovered, when finally he felt ready to broach a delicate subject, brought on by his ever-lurking balance with Pluvo Two-for-one. "Quite the trip we had, Padawan." "Indeed." "Rather more exciting than we were anticipating, in fact." "That is true." "Vanni and I certainly didn't expect to fight looters, much less that green Blight-thing." "Yes... what are you getting at?" "I'm thinking that we need to renegotiate our fee somewhat."
Davik became even more still and impassive than usual. "I am listening." "It's only fair to take hazard-pay and combat conditions into account..." "Yes. How much do you want?" Jonas frowned at the younger man's bluntness, but mulled the matter over. Expecting a good haggle, he named a number several times larger than what he anticipated getting: "What do you say to twenty thousand credits?"
Davik stated in reply, "I do not have that much money. You will have to take it up with Master Insharr." Jonas blinked slowly a few times at this bombshell of mercantile etiquette. "Ah... Yes. Of course. I will do that." Mentally he added a few hundred credits onto his asking price.
The voyage was otherwise uneventful. The Song dropped into sublight in Corellia system right on schedule. Jonas got up from the crystal reader he'd been using, stretched, and told Davik, "I'd best go up to the bridge and give Vanni a hand." But just then the young man came rushing in, looking upset. "Captain, there's something you'd better come look at right away!" Alarmed by Vanni's use of the formal title, Jonas rushed after him, Davik on his heels.
In the bridge, Vanni pointed out some highlighted text on a monitor. "We received the usual system news-squirt as we dropped back into realspace. The computer flagged something as, um, relevant." Jonas read in grim silence, then announced, "We - all three of us - are wanted for the murder of Jedi Master Insharr. Apparently we fled Corellia system just after doing the deed. We are considered armed and dangerous."
"I'd say our lives just got a great deal more interesting."
[I'll be putting up some background and descriptive information on Jonas and Vanni soon. Vanni's an NPC, by the way, though closely associated with Jonas (my character). Davik is played by DR.]
[We've had our second session this last Tuesday, and I hope to have it posted sometime this weekend.]
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