The Dark Academy on Korriban

Having loaded up his speeder with his wilderness survival kit, Khalim skims through the data on his datapad while waiting for his adventuring companion. After all, there's only so much research someone can do, and now it's time to actually do some research in person.

Let's see... Darth Garan Yu. Sith Lord, rogue Jedi, wandered the wastes. May not have a formal tomb, but there must be something out there. Maybe caves.

Mok Than. Old sith. Probably a tomb that's less Sith Empire and more ancient sith. Would be interesting if I can find it as it may answer some questions about my ancestors... I have no idea what an ancient sith tomb should look like, though.

Lord Yutan... Now -that- sounds interesting... Some sort of cliffside lab, so definitely keep a close eye on any cliffs I come across.

Romet Vun. Could be interesting, and I'll have to take a look at any ship wreckage I come across.

Xevine jumped down from her speeder. "Good evening." She flicked her hair and drew her sword. "So, where to?"

Before the two aspirants was the wide Valley of the Dark Lords, overhead were darkened clouds obscuring the moonlight from the three visible moons. Below the wind stirred whipping up drifts of dust and then a flash of lightning in the distance that illuminates the valley.

But what really draws the attention is the howling of tuk’ata, a large pack of ten begin stalking out of the ruined stone structures looking at the aspirants.

OOC: Spending a Destiny to make things interesting for the scene. Up to you if you want to fight… or run and seek shelter, Piloting Planetary Average or Athletics Hard, they are very fast. Setback die for darkness if you want to run, or whatever else you can dream up to deal with the pack.

Khalim calmly produces a respirator from his survival pack and his scanner goggles from his utility belt, and puts both on to counter the darkness and the flying dust.

"You may want to grab the other respirator.", he says while gesturing to the survival pack on the back of his speeder.

"I doubt we'll be able to outrun these creatures, so I suspect it time to defend ourselves unless you can scare them off."

He draws his saber and activates it, the blade giving off a low glow and a faint humming sound.

(Can I try Coercion?)

OOC: Spending a Destiny, timely reinforcements.

Unexpectedly, from behind them, they hear the sound of a speeder approach. As it slowly comes to a stop beside the other two, the engine shutting down, Zeno stands on the seat and looks out at the scene before looking at the other two. His scanner goggles were already on because dust in the eyes sucks, and his hair is clearly windblown.

"You two look like you could use some violence," he says with a wide grin through the layer of dust and sand on his body, pulling out his ancient sword before hopping down.

OOC: Sure with a setback as they don't understand Basic, difficulty is average. I will spend a Destiny to upgrade.

((OOC: Ah, if that's an allowable skill, I'm totally going to assist her, since I have it too. Joint coercion hoooo! PSST: that means you can use my Willpower of 4, Xev, due to joint effort rules.))

(OOC: I don't have the skill or high willpower, but can I provide a boost die?)

Xevine stepped forward, flicking her sword from its holster, giving a curt nod to Zeno. "Leave. Us. Be." The animals' lack of linguistic understanding was no obstacle for her, as she stood side by side with Khalim, the two of them standing like a wall of power against the horde.

Coercion (Will) vs tuk'ata (sp?), ignore setback, using Will of Khalim, 1 Destiny spent to upgrade 1 yellow to green, +1 advantage from Zabrak: 2eA+2eP+1eC+1eD 1 success, 1 threat

The tuk’ata growls at the woman and pads back and forth but they don’t approach. There is a tense moment where a bigger one wavers but decides to heed her will. Still that moment of stress takes a brief toll on Xevine.

There is something else in the air… something dark and foul.

OOC: Xevine takes 1 strain.

As the beasts leave, Xevine lets out a breath she was holding, and as soon as they were off, her body started shaking. "Ha. They might've made better food than the paste."

She took another breath, closed her eyes. "Do you feel it? Oh, hey Aspirant Deathwright."

He leans over to the other two and whispers. "Was kinda hoping they'd attack, am I right?"

He switches his scanner goggles from night vision to infrared to see if there might have been any creatures he missed, before switching back to night vision.

"Fancy meeting you folks out here. I don't think we've been properly introduced. I'm Zeno Deathwright." He keeps his eyes on the tuk'ata... secretly hoping they'll attack.

"It would've been fun, but the refresher takes ages to get the blood out. Besides, fighting animals is fun... but really, I'd prefer a better foe." She smiled at him. Another one with goggles. Was she the only one without them at the Academy?

He nods aside to Xevine, "Well done. That's certainly easier than having to kill them all."

He then nods to the new arrival, "Good evening, Mr. Deathwright. I am Khalim Tsaikzu. Doing some exploration of your own this eve?"

His eyes remain mostly on the tuk'ata, just to be sure they don't try anything.

"Hey, don't knock enemies in large numbers. That's it's own kind of challenge, being able to deflect so many attacks," he says with a chuckle. "Yeah, I've been wanting to visit the Valley and see what there is to see of our history of power. See if there isn't something to learn or gain out here."

"Do you folks have a destination in mind? Or were you just going to see where fate led you?"

Xevine smiled at Zeno. "True that. Still, they're animals. We'll have opportunity to fight them. As for destination.... Aspirant Tsaikzu has a better idea I think. There's.... something nearby. Do you feel it?" She turned towards the sithier blooded male. "Any idea what should be nearby, or where should we go?"

He pulls out his datapad again, and skims through it. "I'm seeking four possible tombs, or clues as to their whereabouts. As to what might be around the immediate vicinity, I am not certain."

He slowly scans the area around them with his eyes, "Though yes, I do feel...something."

"You want I should give a listen to Korriban? See what she has to say?" he asks.

OOC: In case of positive from party members, what to roll for listening to the planet. My original roll is different from what others rolled.

"Well, let's see if we can find something." She looked around in her immediate vicinity, to see if she can find tracks or... anything, really.

Xev looked up at Zeno. "Listen? To... the planet?" Was he bitten by a rakghoul or something? "Sure?"

He nods to Zeno, "Use whatever skills you may have available, as shall each of us as we explore."

"Yeah. A crazy old man in a cave taught me how. I had visions that led me to a holocron because of it," Zeno says with a nod, keeping his eyes on the dark where the tuk'ata came from. He started slowly pacing.

Xevine was silent for a second. "And now I feel like a slacker." She gave the red man some space, just to be on the safe side. "Korriban has many crazy old people? That aren't lords or darths?"

"I only know of the one," he says before taking a seat on the ground, and closing his eyes. He uses the dark side that he can feel all around him to drown out all other sounds and listen for the whispers of Korriban.

As he slowly tries to form his connection he seems to have trouble concentrating. After a few moments of what looks like a grueling attempt he exhales and shakes his head.

"She's not talking." He stands back up and looks to the others.

Discipline: 1 failure, 2 threat (I'm guessing 2 strain)