The Dark Academy on Korriban

As silent as she could be, Jun-Tsu set off from her tent, sneaking out past the guards to get to the ancient temple. Thankfully, those sentries posted were few and were there to keep people from getting in less than getting out. So, in her black body suit and veil (to conceal her further in the shadows), she set out with her ceremonial implements and other items her master had requested for the ritual.

Running through the jungle to the treeline reminded her of her first solo hunts back on Korriz. When she had been sanctified in the blood of the fiară şarpe, dining on its dark flesh and blessed blood. She had been four years younger then and not nearly as skilled. She peered out from a hiding spot away from the base of the temple.

"Vhich vay, master?" The witch whispered into the night.

“To the very top, Yavin must see our power… we go to the summit of this temple. There we can begin our great work,” she says pointing to the top.

With all the skill she could muster she slipped across the open field between the treeline and the temple, hoping that none would see her. She heard no alarms nor calls, so she must have succeeded, or at the very least no one cared. At the base, the witch looked at the temple as it rose high into the night air. The sheer size of it gave her pause, but with a steely breath, she set her jaw and began her climb.

The cyclopean masonry was gargantuan and each tier, out of thousands, took effort to climb. It took her over an hour to actually summit the grand edifice, and her limbs burned with the exertion. The heat continued well into the night, and by the time she reached the top she was awash in sweat, her hair matted to her face, from where she had gotten rid of her veil.

A wet hand vainly wiped away the sticky strands and she collapsed on the massive stones of the top, her chest rising and falling, her lungs desperate to take in more air.

“Rise my child, you have no time to rest,” Darth Traya commands.

"Yes, mein master."

Jun-Tsu tried in vain to get up with a soft grunt, but then, putting actual effort into it, she got slowly to her feet. Even with the short rest, the burning had turned into a dull ache, though her lungs still burned with the effort of the climb.

She tried to stand straight and tall, and it worked...mostly, "Vhat vould you have me do next? I've all zhat you reqvested."

She removed the ceremonial dagger and Void Engine from her satchel along with a draft of the potion she had made with Sylvain.

“Strip down and bear the flesh to the sky,” Darth Traya says as it begins to rain.

“You must meditate upon the altar and prepare your body for the ritual to come. Find a point of stillness, retreat into your darkest place. This will not be a painless process, my child,” she says.

OOC: Discipline or Cool roll at Average difficulty with a Destiny upgrade by me.

Doing as her master commanded, she doffed her garb and set herself upon the sky-altar. She looked up into the endless void of stars save for a slice of the night that held the red refraction of the planet Yavin. Gazing up into the tableau she tried to center her mind. But these stars and the less present feel of the Dark Side, set to disturb her normally meditative mind.

Discipline (Willpower) - 1eP+2eA+1eC+1eD = 1 failure, 1 threat

“FOCUS CHILD,” she hisses.

“Now draw on your connection to the Force…” the specter of Darth Traya, so bound to this physical world lifted the Void Engine and stood before her.

“Remember the teachings of the Sith and your family.”

OOC: Lore or Outer Rim at Average, add Force rating. Dark side used as Success or advantage.

Knowledge: Lore (Intellect) - 2eP+1eA+2eD+2eF = 2 successes, 1 threat, 1 triumph, 2 light side, 1 dark side (2 dark side if Void Engine is applicable)


Jun-Tsu gritted her teeth as the ritual began, and without the benefit of a clear mind, she could feel the energies of the Dark Side, flensing her body. She could feel the heat and cold of it as it roiled beneath her skin. Tears pooled at the edge of her eyes, and small gasps of pain escaped her. She closed her eyes in order to continue her focus.

Flashes of her first lessons flew through her mind, of her great-grandmuter assaulting her with the energies of the Dark Side in order to toughen her soul. She had cried then too with the pain. It felt so familiar, to have that power coursing through her body. She wanted to stop, but her the voice of her great-grandmuter crowed at her in her shrill voice to seize it. To command it, to accept it.

Years of lessons on how to grasp the Dark-light and shape it with will and spells, filled her thoughts. And her hands, though pained and aching, shifted into arcane configurations. She chanted her family's mystic invocations and with these foci the energies began to flow less chaotically, though the pain remained.

Lightning flashes in the night sky storm clouds have rushed in and Darth Traya says, “Maintain such focus.”

The Void Engine pulses with power in the hands of her teacher. She holds it to the sky and it draws in the lightning as the rain becomes a torrential downpour. Darth Traya puts her spectral hand on Jun-Tsu’s stomach and there is pain… dark coursing pain through her body and she can see her future daughter at all stages of life… her own death… deaths… it is unnerving.

Then there is nothing and she laying on the cold stone with the Void Engine lying next to her smoking and pulsing with power and she can feel the seed of power growing inside her.

Darth Traya whispers, “It is done.”

She lay there for several minutes, maybe even an hour, it was hard to tell. She felt as though she slipped in and out of consciousness several times after the ordeal. Her whole body felt like it was still on fire, but not the sharp pain, but a constant dull stabbing throughout her nerves. She twitched and jerked involuntarily, each time they grew too much she was roused from her sudden blackouts.

Panting breath met the torrential rain that continued to wash away the sweat and grim and Jun-Tsu lay there until she could marshal the strength to move. Each time she did the pain renewed itself and she whimpered and often turned back to laying on her back. When finally she had the presence of mind to focus, she willed her fingers to move and as they did the soothing emerald energies of the dark-light passed over her body assuaging the pangs of her ordeal from a shooting pain to a constant dull ache.

It was enough to allow her to get up and as she did with a grunt, she reached out for the Void Engine. Hesitantly she picked it up, and drew a hand over its wet surface.

Force Power: Heal - 2eF = 2 Dark Side (3 Dark Side?)

Darth Traya’s face appears on the surface and she says, “I can see all things, my child. I am everywhere the dark side touches.”

"I am pleased," she said weakly, "mein master. Zhe powver of zhe Woid Engine has revealed a great deal ewen to mein limited understanding. I am zertain it vill unfold before your scrutiny. I am sure to benefit from your omnipresence."

She took in a deep breath, "Have you any varnings or adwice for your dewoted acolyte? Does zhe Woid Engine reveal travails to come in the days ahead zhat I must bevare?"

“Tomorrow the massassi from the south will come to eradicate you and all the Sith. I have seen many ways it can go my apprentice, but they will come. Find the one named Sinea, she will need your power if you are to survive. And your child must survive,” Darth Traya says calmly.

"It vill be done, učiteľka [mistress, teacher]," she said shakily as she began the process of descending the temple. At this point she had no aptitude for stealth or much of anything other than reaching the bottom. "Zhank you, učiteľka."