[GJW XI] House Odan-Urr: Team Salty Savages

Team Salty Savages

GP Sanguinius Tsucyra Entar (10407) - Human Male
GW Jason Hunter (974) - Human Male
SR Raiju Kang (4024) - Nautolan Male
GD Mar Sul (13009) - Human Male
JK Sa Ool (10051) - Kel Dor Male
PAD Droveth Kathera Vectivi (7377) - Human Male

Runon Rules

1. Teams must have a minimum of 4 participants, and a maximum of 6. For a team to qualify for placement, all posts must meet requirements in these rules and all members of the team must meet post number requirements. However, for participation alone, any individual meeting minimum post requirements will count towards his or her unit.
2. Any member posting twice in a row will disqualify his team from placing - but not participation credit (e.g. if an entire team is dead, Johnny McDarthman can post twice in a row to get his own participation at the end of the event)
3. Members must make 3 posts throughout the duration of the Run-On.
4. Posts must meet the following requirements:
   -Minimum post length: 250 +/- 10 words words
   -Maximum post length: 2000 +/- 10 words.
5. Points from placement are awarded to the unit of the placing team, irrespective of number of members on each team. E.g. if CNS Team A takes first place, and first place is worth 50 pts (example only), CNS gets 50 points, regardless of number of members on the team.
6. Edits may occur on a post until a follow on post has been made (follow on posts include “reserving” a space). Edits may only be made by the posts original author (as in, if you have Forum Administration Rights, you cannot edit another member’s work).
7. Members may reserve post, but no posts can occur until after the reserved post is written.
8. Judging will follow the Fiction Rubric.

Prompt

Civil War has befallen the Brotherhood. The Clans have split into three factions: the Loyalists, who have rallied behind Grand Master Ashen; the Rebels, following the banner of Jac Cotelin; and the New Order, led by the mysterious Sith Lord Esoteric. Each faction has stormed the surface of Korriban, establishing impressive fortifications and moving towards the Valley of the Dark Lords. Loyalists, Rebels, and the New Order clash across Korriban’s surface, all three attempting to gain control of the Valley of Dark Lords and the secrets it holds.

The Valley of Dark Lords has erupted in carnage, forces from every unit in the Brotherhood streaming into the ruins and temples, establishing makeshift defensive positions behind virtually every wall. Blood is spilled over every inch, each of the three sides gambling the lives of thousands of Jedi in an attempt to put an end to this conflict once and for all. The Loyalists, following Ashen’s command, seek to break through to the Tomb of Marka Ragnos, where the Disciples of Ragnos once sealed a chamber with writings on the Rite of Immortality. To open it, Ashen has sent three of his most skilled advisors in ancient dark rites and alchemy, but the way is not yet safe or clear for them, as the One Sith were originally entrenched in the Valley and still maintain a strong control over most of the area. Esoteric’s forces have a base of operations at the Tomb of Ajunta Pall, a fortified location that allows them a great deal of mobility throughout the Valley, which they use to harass any operations by the other two sides. The Adept Dantella Novae reluctantly commands Esoteric’s forces in the region, though she seems more interested in stealing the secrets of Marka Ragnos than in defending the Valley itself. Cotelin is seeking to contain and control whatever the Tomb of Marka Ragnos holds, through any means necessary… and before Ashen’s forces can reach it.

You and your team have found yourselves just outside one of the few entrances to the Valley of the Dark Lords. You know that inside the Valley, death and destruction have overtaken the ruins, but you also know that ultimately, victory for one side of the other is likely to come within the walls of the ancient tombs. Your runon should detail the battle within the Valley, and must illustrate (either through success or failure) at least one of the sides in the conflict - this will play a major role in your Story grade.

Teams will create their own run-on thread in the run-on category. Your lead post will include your team name, team members, and team pins. The lead post, containing team members, may not be edited unless you coordinate with the competition organizers (Mav and Sarin). If you so choose, you may paste in the prompt and rules into this lead post. This lead post may be used just as a header, does not abide by word count restrictions, may be followed by the same poster, but also does not count as one of the three posts a member must make. Good luck.

Notable indivudals sighted in or around the Valley of Dark Lords

Krath Pontifices, three of Lord Ashen’s most loyal Krath advisors, each having a viable claim to the future Krath High Priesthood, have been sent to the Valley of Dark Lords to open the Tomb of Marka Ragnos and retrieve whatever secrets it may hold.
Darth Necren, whose loyalty to the Dark Council was not in doubt… until she was seen working with bounty hunters loyal to the One Sith. Now a pariah, she has found her way alone to the Valley of Dark Lords, desperate to prove she still has value to the Brotherhood - though which Brotherhood is unknown.
Dantella Novae , a One Sith that helped the Brotherhood recover several of the artifacts necessary for the Rite of Supremacy, Novae has used the chaos of the Brotherhood’s Civil War to return to Esoteric’s side. She now seeks control of the Tomb of Marka Ragnos in order to gain its secrets.
Connor Grey, a rogue Jedi, arms dealer, and relic hunter, his allegiances are unknown. He knows the Valley of Dark Lords better than anyone, or at least so he claims.

Four days after the first assault
Tomb of Ajunta Pall
Korriban

It was cold and quiet in the Tomb, just as it had been before Esoteric’s forces had established their defences. Mar studied his reflection in the water of his washbasin, you could look much worse he thought as his grim visage faded amongst the ripples and wisps of crimson clouds. Not my blood, Dark siders, allies, scum, all one and the same; Mar was one of very few Jedi to have sided with the One Sith.

Four days earlier the atmosphere of the Tomb had been the complete opposite of what it was now. Before it had been seemingly jolly, all of the residents were ecstatic to be going to war and had begun to drink themselves silly. He had observed many a Dark Jedi’s boasts, “I’m going to kill Ashen myself” one said, whilst another scoffed and then pointed at Mar “You have more chance than him. He’s that Jedi that arrived with that Togruta, the one who left without him, craven dogs.” laughter filled the immediate area, the Light sided Jedi rapidly became the source of all of the nights japes. As much as Mar had wanted to try and kill them all, he recognised that the forces of the Brotherhood were a much greater threat to the disciples of the Light side and deserved their retribution for New Tython, patience Mar, have faith.

The squad that he had been attached too seemed to be some kind of cruel joke, barely any of them had even seen a real battle before, let alone a war of this magnitude – they were just cannon fodder
an attack squad designed to draw fire so that the main body of Esoteric’s forces could make their assault unhindered. The first days of the War were more brutal than most imagined, each force attempted to take the Tomb of Mark Ragnos at different intervals, endeavouring to catch their opposition off-guard, after multiple attempts which only succeeded in sparking another large scale clash, culminating in a sea of bloodied corpses, bijou craters and vehicle debris.

A humanoid approached, “next mission briefing, Dantella wants us there” he spoke with conviction, Mar looked at the man, recognising him as Tai Qoruna, an Epicanthix and one of the squads six survivors and the only other member with some previous battle-experience. Mar took a moment to gather his things, Tai clapped impatiently saying in a negative tone “hurry up, Jedi” ushering him to the briefing room.

Dantella Novae stood before a large screen detailing plans for a skirmish, her shadowcloak covering most of her body thereby compelling onlookers to focus on her especially unimpressed countenance, Mar and Tai had been the last of the squad to appear, the Umbaran sighed and exclaimed “when you’re done wasting my time, you all have a job to do. LISTEN!” she stepped aside and revealed a detailed map of the most lethal section of the valley, the no-mans land before the Tomb, “We’ve procured some information on loyalist movements, they appear to be preparing to send a small group to enter Ragnos’ tomb, they will do so at any time – You, unfortunately for us, are the only squad available to stop them. It is imperative that you not only stop this squad but also attempt to move into the Tomb yourselves. Qoruna you’re in charge on the ground. Study the plan on the board, do not bother to return should you fail.”

'No mans land’
Valley of the Dark Lords
Korriban

It was the dead of night, the sky was clear and the light of the moons provided a dull light throughout the entirety of the valley, any direct movement to the Tomb would be easily visible. All six of Qoruna’s squad had taken up a post in one of the few dark spots of the valley, Mar looked amongst them knowing that he should recognise them all – But he didn’t, they were all faceless entities to him, except Tai, When allegiances shift you must kill Tai Qoruna he thought to himself. “Look!” Tai uttered, pointing towards five silhouettes moving rapidly towards the Tombs entrance “How did they get so close? No matter, go for the tomb now!”

Blaster fire from mounted Repeating blasters lit up sections of the valley, the first targets were the silhouettes closest to the Tomb, Mar saw their five sabers ignite before his squad found themselves under fire from the second blaster; “It’s a trap!” one of the squad members shouted whilst they ran toward their objective, trying not to fall over the corpses of the previous days battles. “Do NOT engage! This is not a skirmish, this is now a race to the Tomb, With me!” Tai ordered, The loyalists cannot get the tomb, GO Mar thought, finding the resolve to take point as the rest of his squad trailed behind. They were far too late, the first group had jumped into a trench created by heavy arms from a previous battle, Both Repeating blasters turned their fire on Qoruna’s squad. An audible THUNK emanated from behind Mar as one of them hit the floor, a direct hit from one of these blasters didn’t even give an individual enough time to scream before they died. No orders were issued and nobody stopped, they all knew there was no way of surviving a hit like that, the five remaining were about to obtrude into the makeshift trench but something was wrong, the blasters had stopped firing.

FSSSSSHT

A well aimed missile tore through the sky, it didn’t take force sensitivity to know that it was going to be a direct hit. The missile was fast, Mar and Tai were faster however – both had jumped in opposite directions, Mar toward the trench and Tai toward an ancient collapsed pillar, the rest of the squad did not fare so well, two had been turned into a fine red mist as the missile exploded, the last had tried to follow his leader, culminating in him not being fast enough and losing both of his legs in the explosion whilst his torso was shredded by shrapnel. Tai’s fate remained unknown. Mar’s cloak had caught fire with the explosion throwing his jump completely off course vigorously propelling him into trench, the Jedi lost consciousness for a moment. He awoke to find a blue lightsaber pointing directly at his face, it’s wielder guffawed

“Well well well…”

No Man’s Land
Valley of the Dark Lords
Korriban

“Well well well…” The Jedi grinned as he spoke, careful to keep the duelist out of arms reach. The lightsaber stayed at his throat. “Look what crawled out of the dirt.” He let out a small chuckle, but his saber was unwavering. “Now I know you are not gonna fight me, but I still need to hear it from you before I put this thing away.” Mar Sul stood, brushing off his robes, and eyeing the surroundings. He was surrounded by other Jedi, all from Odan Urr, all who he recognized. First was the Padawan he had recently accepted into the battle team, Droveth. Next to him was his master, Raiju Kang. Behind Mar stood Jason Hunter and the Jedi Knight Sa Ool. He then turned back to Sang and grinned, putting his hands up.

“You can put it away.” Sang returned the saber to his waist. The two shook hands and the tension dissipated, for a moment. “I thought you were Loyalists.”

“I thought you were fighting for Esoteric.” Jason spat, reluctant to put down his saber. “You didn’t hesitate to come after us.” Droveth stepped forward and put his lightsaber in front of Mar, blocking the Warden from reaching him.

“He is still one of us. Regardless of who he chose to align with, his endgame is the same as ours. To defeat the Dark, am I right?”

“Perhaps we should discuss this another time, we need to move!” Raiju shouted, as another missile flew overhead and exploded into a wall. “Are you with us?” Mar hesitated. ‘They may be fighting for a different faction, but their cause is the same.’

“I’m with you.”

No Man’s Land
Valley of the Dark Lords
Korriban

They all ducked in response to the debris flying as a result of the missile fire, Sang was the first to right himself and speak “Surprisingly, I actually agree with Raiju. We can’t stay here, but out there it’s a death-trap out there.” He turned to his comrades and shrugged “We could try and sneak out and hope they don’t have any equipment trained on our location already.”

“Our duty is to get to Marka Ragnos’ tomb” Droveth reminded the group “Should we leave now, chances are all three factions will break into another all out battle” Silence fell over them, they all had concluded the same thing, their endgame was to make it to the tomb first, no matter what.

“We push forward then.” Mar stated, half-commandingly “We have no other choice, I will not have more Jedi blood spilt. Protect one another and we will make it through this alive … probably.” Force willing he prayed.

Another missile hit the ground near them, every shot was inching closer and closer, “whoever is firing that launcher is a complete maniac, and possibly the worst shot i’ve ever seen” Raiju remarked as the Jedi moved into position. As the dust started to settle again, Sang and Droveth used the force to whip it into a makeshift smokescreen and they all leapt up over the trench and made their push for the entrance.

It was surprisingly easy as they all clambered into the first chamber of the tomb. Jason pointed at the inner door “It’s already open. We’re not alone” Both Raiju and Jason ignited their sabers and pressed through the door, the rest followed in quick pursuit.

As the group entered into the large chamber, they were assaulted with the smell of burning flesh. All around the room were bodies of fallen soldiers, all different factions, torn apart and butchered. Jason Hunter stepped over the mangled body of a Sith, still smoking from a blaster shot, and sighed.

“This was a great battle…its hard to tell who was fighting who.” Droveth remarked as he scanned the room. “I don’t see any Jedi, but how would I be able to tell if there were?” Mar and Raiju had taken point now as the other four Jedi checked the bodies. They stood guard at the top of a staircase, ready for the group to move down into the levels below.

“In death we are all the same.” Mar spoke softly, watching the others. “Everyone is this room is just as dead as the fool beside him.”

“Some more than others…” Sang remarked, half-jokingly, as he lifted the severed head of a Dark Jedi. Suddenly the sound of blaster fire erupted from the room at the base of the stairs.

“Let’s move, maybe we won’t miss this fight!” Raiju roared, and the group poured down the stairs. Inside the main chamber of the tomb the battle still raged on, and when the group of Jedi entered the room, they were immediately bombarded with blaster shots. Droveth dove behind a fallen pillar to the left, rolled to his feet and engaged a soldier with a vibroblade. Raiju followed close behind, and they fought a whole squad of soldiers together, back to back. Mar Sul and Sa Ool went the other direction, engaging a pair of Dark Jedi in a duel. Sang took cover right by the entrance and began laying down cover fire with his Westar 34 blasters.

First Chamber
Tomb of Marka Ragnos
Korriban

The empowering strength of both Mar and Droveth’s Battle meditation washed over their allies, everyone felt invigorated as they rushed their opponents. Sa Ool found himself back to back with the squads newest addition, Mar. Two Dark Jedi circled round them, studying for weaknesses. Sa Ool, noticing that they wore the Sigil of Arcona, shouted across to the others “Arconans!”

“We noticed!” Sang replied, providing more covering fire before moving away to find another, more favourable position. They found themselves outnumbered, Mar and Sa Ool could not take the time to concentrate on the other soldiers, both Dark Jedi were powerful opponents. Mar drew his parrying dagger as he began to encroach his enemies area of attack, opening with a few light jabs and slashes, easily parried. He and the Dark Jedi made an effort to slow down their melee and judge one another’s capabilities. Sa on the other hand found himself engaged by a flurry of attacks; his enemy, a female Dark Jedi wore a mask and evidently preferred fast and short combat, he blocked each attack, after finding some strong footing Sa swung his saber with as much force as he could muster, the Dark Jedi had to dodge and leap away “hah! My master will be elated once I give him your head!” she cackled maniacally.

Droveth and Raiju fought close to one another, with Droveth fending off multiple targets at a time in order to manoeuvre them into bad positioning and enabling his master to achieve a swift death-blow. After a few moments their enemies were breaking, a few of the soldiers shouting “Fall back, fall back!”

The male Dark Jedi pushed Mar away and took his moment of freed to exclaim to the other “Apprentice, we do not fall back. This is our fight to win!”

First Chamber
Tomb of Marka Ragnos
Korriban

“Yes master…” The female Dark Jedi said reluctantly, glancing back towards the few soldiers who had retreated. Her master renewed his attacks on Mar with vigor, the two Jedi blades dancing and showering the ground with sparks. The apprentice pushed forward, trying to match her master, but Sa Ool had figured out her style. He parried and pushed her back, unleashing a devasting force shock. The pure energy, combined with catching her offguard, launched the Arconan into the wall.

As the master watched her apprentice defeated, Mar Sul came in quickly underneath and slid his dagger into his throat. He choked, blood gushing from his mouth, and almost immediately fell limp. Mar dropped his body and it fell to the floor with a sickening thwap. When he looked around, he saw that the battle around him had ended. Sang and Raiju were busy tying a few of the soldiers up against a wall, and Droveth stood over the apprentice with his saber drawn, though she still lie unconscious.

“The rest of them fell back into the deep reaches of the tomb.” Raiju called from across the chamber. “They are surely plotting an ambush.”

“Ambush or not, we must secure this tomb. Press on.” Mar stated coldly, wiping the blood from his hands with a rag that Sa Ool had lent him.

“And what should we do with her?” Sang inquired, lackadaisically pointing with his blasters towards the apprentice. “She’s not dead, just sleeping. Which means she’s gonna wake up at some point.”

“We’re not going to kill her, if that’s where this is going.” Droveth stated, already picking her up and slinging her over his shoulder. He carried her over to the group of soldiers who had surrendered and tied her among them. The group slowly moved through the corridor, noting that all of the torches were out. Sang looked over at Droveth, who walked stealthily beside him.

He whispered, “To be fair I never actually said kill her.”