[What Lies Beneath] Team 1

Rules:

• Minimum is 500 words per post
• Maximum is 1000 words per post
• Members will need to post once for participation
• Winner post will be used for next week’s prompt
• Placeholders suggested but not required
• CI’s will be awarded for every two posts with a minimum of 250 words
• Have fun!
  Members:
  #12301
  #14170
  #14029
  #13897

The Great Hall
Lion’s Tooth
Seng Karash
Aeotheran

Hushed voices filled the meeting space, with an air of tension and disbelief. The council members that surrounded the oval table all conspired their own thoughts before speaking to the person next to them. It wasn’t long before the double doors at the end burst open, with Galleros and Inarya jogging into the meeting section. Their eyes focused yet their expressions gave off a distant and blank emotion. Once they reached the table, Galleros threw a Holoprojector onto the surface which shows the Aeotheran islands map. Galleros paced slowly around the group before speaking.

“The members of Devil’s Shroud and others of the House have been surprised, by something we never expected. Submerged under these islands in our control, was the last known location of the team then an unexpected radio silence. The casualties are expected to be high, and the predicted losses are higher still if we allow this disappearance to linger unsolved.”

The map then zoomed in on the topography of the islands, to a small region isolated in a calm eastern sea. Sharp structures spear from the water and beaches covered in kelp and other sea plants. Galleros then stormed to the shuttle.

Sand and seawater spirals out of control when the shuttles unfold their landing gear and settle on the warm white beaches of the islands. The team of Jedi jump out onto the beach along with their own platoon of soldiers behind them. In front of them was the jungle of the island, along with a corridor of tribal pillars and broken statues.

Objective: You must secure a base-camp near the temple and track down their shuttle, as well as the flight recorder. Then you must track their last steps inside the temple. Your optional objective is to find all the texts you can about the previous owner of the temple, and bring it back to the shuttle for analysis.

Undisclosed Location

A fierce wind whipped up by the landing drop ship blew sand about in a frenzy as a small platoon of soldiers and four hooded figures leapt onto the beach. As the soldiers arranged themselves into perfect rows one of the robed beings leapt onto a nearby fallen log to address them, hands clasped and head bowed.

Sanarai, or Syn as she had chosen to be called since her arrival in Sadowan space, kept her dismay to herself as she observed her charges through lowered eyes. Though by no means the oldest of the group, she had been designated the leader and now felt all too responsible for them.The reality of the situation was that her group was altogether too inexperienced, and that posed a threat to their survival.

If only I hadn’t wandered into the depths of Antei’s ruins, she thought bitterly. If only…if only…

What she’d found on what was left of Antei she would never be able to forget, and sometimes the image of a skeletal Bpfasshi with a mouth half-opened in a silent scream would haunt her dreams.

A year previously a Sadowan by the name of Syntari Bastiayn had vanished with no explanation, having delved so far into her own insanity that she was left as nothing more than a shell upon her death. Quite by accident her Force-ghost had imprinted itself upon Sanarai when she’d gotten lost in the ruins on Antei, and when finally she had found the Brotherhood it had been Syntari’s memory who had given the Kiffar her new name.

Now, several months later, Syn found herself infected with hallucinations of the deceased Sadowan’s past that interfered with her reality; it troubled her to know that if she did suffer an attack from the ghost there wouldn’t be anything she could do to stop it.

Still, she was reluctant to put an end to it, for if she did she knew she would be left with the grief of her son’s murder and Syn knew she was not prepared to face that. In fact, had she not been placed in charge of a team of inexperienced initiates, she would have been content to deal with the problem that the Other, as she called the Force-ghost, represented.

Unfortunately things had changed. It made sense, of course, to place the highest ranking member of the team in charge, and as a Krath Priestess the responsibility naturally fell to Syn. As a member of Devil’s Shroud she was already under obligation to be here, yet she felt too broken to be saddled with this much.

Though by no means the oldest of the group, Syn couldn’t help but think of her team as young as she looked at them. She had to remind herself that she was barely twenty-six standard years of age.

I should not feel so ancient.

The problem lay in their inexperience. In Syn’s opinion, they were too eager to die for rewards promised but as of yet unseen.

Despite their vulnerability as targets, there was no doubt in the Krath Priestess’s mind that they would all return from this mission alive. The three Sadowans before her were a part of her House; they were her family now, and she wanted them to succeed.

How else can they hope to raise through the ranks of the Brotherhood if they aren’t willing to sacrifice themselves?

She allowed a few moments to pass in silence, merely taking stock. It didn’t escape her attention that the cocky smile the Anzat flashed her way wasn’t just a cover up, or that the most aloof of them all was the silent, hooded Echani, or that on the Bpfasshi’s hip there hung a katana that looked extremely well-used and well made.

The irony that there was a Bpfasshi on her team didn’t escape her, and it amused the Other to no end. Syntari Bastiayn had been a Bpfasshi as well.

Now isn’t the time for that. She shook her head and the Other retreated as she cleared her throat; she knew enough about their ambitions to make an educated guess about where their loyalties lay. There was no need to doubt them.

They have names, she chastised herself when she realized how impersonal she’d been. Tellos, Darkblade, Scarlet. They are more than just the dossier numbers on your datapad.

Aware that the silence had grown uncomfortable, Syn cleared her throat and raised her head to finally look at them with her mismatched eyes. “You all should have received my message,” she said, her voice loud enough to carry clearly despite the wind. “I will watch over you as I can, but that only extends so far. If you get yourself killed, that’s on you.”

Memories that belonged to the Other surfaced with no warning, infecting her thoughts, and for a moment Syn watched through the eyes of the deranged ex-Sadowan as countless initiates lost their lives in the last War.

They don’t need to know that I won’t let them die.

“-killed, thats on you.” Darkblade came back to reality, realizing he had missed the no doubt very thrilling speech of their leader. He noticed that the Kiffar seemed to be distracted for a slight second before regaining her composure. Maybe it was the burden she carried, being responsible for three other members would seem like a daunting task. Reaching behind him to rub his back, he flinched as the fresh tattoo signaling his allegiance to the Black Guard began to itch. Despite heavy protesting from Darkblade, Locke had sent him on this mission to “keep tabs on House affairs”, as he put it.

The young Krath looked around at his companions, feeling slightly worried that this was what they had to work with.The one known as Tellos stood broad shouldered, looked tough and seemed as if he was ready to fight whatever they would encounter with just his bare hands. The Echani glanced towards Darkblade, giving him a cold calculated look. The Anzat allowed a smile and moved his gaze towards the Bpfasshi.

A short female who seemed determined not to fail. Darkblade noticed the katana she carried, and couldn’t help but chuckle to himself. The female looked at him with her dark piercing eyes, scowling. The Anzat spoke, “I do hope you know how to use that stick.” Letting his tentacles slide out from his face, he breathed in deeply towards her direction, smacking his lips. “If I get hungry, I know who to go to, and that silly stick won’t save you.” Darkblade spat out.

Before Scarlet could respond the Krath Priestess intervened, "Darkblade, now is not the time for this. We must set out immediately and establish a base camp near the temple, and from there track down the shuttle and the flight recorder. Keep a look out for any occupants and watch out for information of the previous owner of the temple,” Syn said in a firm and commanding tone. The Anzat withdrew his tentacles giving a wink towards Scarlet.

Looking towards the Anzat sternly, before moving her gaze to the other Guardians, Syn spoke to the entire group, “We need to move out now, as the daylight we have left is only a few more hours. Lets hope we can establish a camp before nightfall.” As Syn gave the order to march from the beachfront inland, she stayed behind, watching the rank and file of their platoon stride past her, the chances of them surviving this if it came down to combat seemed slim if the other Dark Jedi could not work together. What troubled her most was the way the Anzat expressed open contempt towards Scarlet, already threatening to kill her. The Priestess would have to keep a watchful eye on that one. She noticed there was more to him then he let on and that he could be dangerous to the group.

Jumping off of the log, her temporary pedestal, she moved towards the front of the column, stepping into stride between Tellos to her right and Scarlet on her left. The Kiffar noticed that Darkblade had mingled with the rank and file soldiers, quietly speaking to a few. Uncaring of what was being said, Syn focused on how they would proceed after they had established base camp. In order to preserve the group atmosphere, it might be better to send the Anzat away from the group with some soldiers to scout for the shuttle’s occupants. However, he would never learn to work with a group in this way. Can he work with other people though? she thought to herself. Anzati are not known for working with others.

Scarlet, kept a close eye on the Anzat after some the words he said to her.She wondered what he was all up to,straying from the group.She did not trust him one bit, and tried to stay clear of him if possible.She knew this one would be trouble.

Syn kept a watch on the Anzat as he was talking to the other soldiers,She wondered should I send him off with the other soldiers or keep him here with the group.She called out to the Anzat,but it seemed he did not hear. She felt frustrated, in her mind she thought doesn’t listen does he.Tellos and Scarlet just shook their heads.They all knew this wasn’t going to be easy.

The kiffar preceded towards the Anzat, whom was still talking to the soldiers.She wanted to let him go off with the soldiers,but knew he needed to stay with the group, like it or not.She gave him a tap on the shoulder,we need to begin our mission Anzat.He gave a smirk and said “alright”.They walked back to other to waiting, ready to start out.

Daylight is going to diminish fast,and the group had to find a place yet to establish a camp.Syn ordered the group to use the supplies they had to set camp for the night.They set up three places for Rest.Syn had her own place, Tellos and the Anzat shared one, and scarlet had her own.Tellos gave the Anzat a crude look and said “please don’t screw this up for us”. The Anzat Gave a mischievous look back and said “now why would I do that, we are in this together as a team”.Tellos stared at him for a min sighed and rolled over to sleep.Scarlet had all kinds of thoughts of what might happened, she tossed and turned. Meanwhile Syn was determined to make this all work between all of them.

It seemed to be a long quiet night, soon the sun was up. Syn woke up first, She yelled “wake up rise and shine” with a stern voice.Scarlet yawned and peeked out and walking towards Syn, she said very tired “I’m up”. Tellos and the Anzat walked out to meet Syn. "Alright let’s get packed up, we got a long road ahead of us* she said full of energy.They quickly packed the supplies away and started down a very rocky path. scarlet kept a close eye on the Anzat as they walked, she would look back at him and he seemed to chuckle. Scarlet didn’t find this amusing at all.Syn heard the chuckle and stopped and turned, and said “must we behave like children”. Let’s keep it together people.They walked for about an hour or two, syn couldn’t help that something didn’t seem right. It was way too quiet, scarlet looked over to her. "what’s on your mind Syn? "she asked. Scarlet could see a worried look on her face.Syn Exclaimed “something don’t feel right here”. All sudden they heard a noise.

Coming up to a quick halt, Tellos felt the others reach out with the force in the direction of the noise. His body tensed up ready to vent some frustration on whatever foe was lurking out there.

His mind also raced over the information he had gleaned about his team. This was the first time he had really met, let alone worked with any of them. The day before had been one of both insight and frustration. While moving out to their first camp, the set up and the subsequent night of sleep with one eye open, the Echani had been watching his team’s command abilities, their strengths and weaknesses.

To his right and trailing just behind him was the Anzat. While a mild annoyance, Tellos did not overly care about his presence. Only fool speaks all his mind and this one was merely an instrument to be manipulated. A tool for sure, but a dangerous tool nonetheless. His incessant prodding of his team, Tellos noted, was also a tool to gauge them all.

He wondered if the Anzat knew the true purpose of the mission; the Guardian himself didn’t know, but was keen to find out.

To his left and forward of Tellos’s position was Syn and Scarlet. He neither knew nor trusted them; Scarlet varied her emotions too close to the surface while Syn was merely unreadable. Syn seemed to have the team barely under control, and there seemed to be something lurking behind her eyes that was uncanny. Not to mention that her mannerisms spoke of her displeasure with the assignment. Perhaps it had something to do with the aura of one that had seen the horrors of battle and prevailed over them.

Scarlet on the other hand was an unknown, factoring in her obviously palatable disdain for the Anzat. She constantly looked over her shoulder at him, betraying her immense distrust. She did how ever have an obvious large amount of respect for Syn, showing this, in the way she stayed close to her. Other than that, she had been careful not to give away much about herself.

All of this information raced through Tellos’s mind. The chain of command had been established. Syn was in charge with Scarlet acting as second and Tellos as the good grunt, with the former Dark Jedi, Darkblade being the wild card. Any sort of battle would be the real test to the assumptions he had formulated.

Another rustling in the dense jungle brought the Echani back into the present. What really bothered Tellos was not what he sensed in the Force but the feeling twisting in his gut. The feeling of being prey with the hunter so close you could almost smell it.

Syn called a halt and spoke in hushed tones as these thoughts ran through Tellos’s mind.“There are three of them, Tuk’atas. Two to Darkblade’s right and the third straight ahead.”

Both Tellos and Darkblade turned slightly to face the unseen pair now in front of them, though they could not yet see them through the jungle foliage. Scarlet and Syn kept scanning the area in front of them, waiting.

“What the scum is a Tuk’ata?” Tellos asked, his voice a low whisper.
Syn slowly moved her hand to her saber as she answered.“It’s an old Sith creation. They placed these pack hunters in their tombs to guard them from raiders.”

She saw the white skinned Echani smile and heard a chuckle from the Anzat, and her expression hardened. “Find something amusing, Blade?” Tellos unclipped his saber while the former Dark Jedi, in his normal arrogant tone replied, “It means someone’s opened a new tomb for us.”

The breaking of twigs in front of Scarlet prompted her and Syn to unclip their sabers as well.

“Concentrate on the task at hand,” Syn said in return. The low growls from the Tuk’ata marked the end of the conversation. The group steeled themselves for the first lunge, the first hint of an attack, their eyes seeking out the hunters in the jungle.

War Room
The Lion’s Tooth
Seng Karesh, Aeotheran

Galleros sat before a long metal table, the electronic surfaces lying dormant as it had done for many hours now. A sudden silhouette of a Twi’lek cast its long shadow on the wall behind him, light flooding the room from the newly opened door and burning the man’s eyes.

“Kiriyu has made contact,” Inarya let her fingers fly over the console at the far end of the table, bringing the glass surface to life. A holographic map of Aeotheran flared to life, a small blinking red dot marking the location of the recon team.

“Then we move out.” The seated figure that was the Quaestor rose to his feet and strode out of the room, followed immediately by the Aedile.

Devil’s Shroud Landing Site
Team 2 Base Camp
Seng Karesh, Aeotheran

The silence of the entrance to the small cave was broken, Marcus was right, something did know they were there. The sounds were distant at first, then the vibration of hundreds of feet on hard floor echoed from within the cave, like the beating of a drum. Slowly. Cautiously, the three Jedi took their first steps inside the temple, the blades readied, the shaft of light holding the darkness in front of them at bay, faint flickering of force signatures. Before any of them had time to react a force was upon them. Like a swarm it attacked, each of them feeling claws, daggers, anything that this mass had at hand scratching and piercing their skin.

Beams of red hot photons shot through the air around Malik and the others. The screeching of blaster fire cutting through flesh echoed around them. Inhuman screams filled the air, the metallic smell of blood assaulting their senses, driving back the swarm that had pinned down the small group. The faintest glimpses were all they saw; silvery green flesh with red eyes and webbed appendages still lingered in their memories.

Once the dust and the chaos of the blaster fire had cleared, the House Shar Dakhan forces now dug into the entrance of the cave. The ground troops, who had laid down the suppressing fire, moved aside allowing the Quaestor and his Aedile entrance.

“Kill them all. No survivors, no loose ends. This vermin threat ends today, whether by you or myself.” Galleros said with an uncaring demeanor to Malik.

Inarya looked at each of them indifferently, Marcus grinned slightly seeing his Master had come to his aid. He opened his mouth to address her, but the Twi’lek lifted her hand, cutting him off before he had the chance to speak and walked deeper into the cave. Her ears caught the sound of a low groan, like a wounded animal coming from in front of her. Rocks falling caught her attention as a pile moved. Walking to it the Aedile saw the half buried figure that was Anima, the soon to be former leader of Devil’s Shroud after she was done with him.

“Try aiming next time, you missed me…” Anima winced as he fought to maintain his weight upon his arms. Inarya moved some of the rubble from his frame before bringing her boot down, pressing against the male’s stomach.

“How does it feel?” She said coarsely, the starburst scar on her stomach burnt a little from the memory of how Anima had gifted it to her.

“I imagine yours burnt more.”

The female ignited her saber.

“Oh, we can compare…”

The interaction was cut short. Something wasn’t right.

“The Madness comes first… Have fun with that.” Anima muttered as he focused on closing the lesser of his wounds through the Force. The vague warning was all he could manage while focusing on the whole staying alive thing.

Objective: Your team is beset with the horrors and madness that spring from an affliction of Force Terror. Work through the tricks of the mind and find your way to the center of the temple to meet with the main forces. Be on the look out for the denizens found therein, the Draedan

Undisclosed Location

Since discovering the ruins on Antei’s surface, Syn’s reality had been warped by the Force-ghost of former Brotherhood member Syntari Bastiayn, which had imprinted itself upon the Kiffar’s mind like a brain-manipulating fungus. The past overlapped with the future in Syn’s mind now, and often she felt the insanity that had been Bastiayn’s characterizing feature creep its way into her thoughts, twisting what she saw and felt in the Force until she wasn’t sure what was real and what was not.

From the moment she had entered the temple with her team and soldiers at her heels, Syn had felt that insanity vanish only to be forgotten in the wake of a child’s laughter. At first she had thought the child was feral, which wasn’t improbable, but then the voices started and were magnified a hundred times in the suddenly empty chamber.

“Daddy, where’s Mommy?”

Syn felt her heart skip a beat and the strength nearly went out of her limbs. She knew those voices; they were etched as firmly into her mind as the knowledge of her own name.

My son…

The part of her mind that still grieved over her past urged her to abandon her team and go seek out her child, to forget the present in face of the idea of holding her son in her arms again. For a moment she tried to talk herself out of it, but when she looked around she saw that her team had vanished and she was walking the hallways of her home, on the eve that her husband had murdered their son and she had gotten her revenge.

“Mommy will be here soon.”

Syn tried to resist; she knew what was happening. But it was as if she had no control over herself; she felt propelled forward and no matter how hard she fought. No matter how badly she wanted to see her son she knew what would happen the second she walked into his room: her husband would push his lightsaber through their son’s chest, all for the crime of not being Force-sensitive.

She couldn’t look away. She heard the snap-hiss of a lightsaber, saw the little body hit the floor, and she fell to her knees as she had not done in real life and screamed until her throat burned. Over and over she saw the death of her son, and every time she was unable to save him, and every time she couldn’t fight back.

How quickly she was brought to her knees; all it took was the death of her son viewed over and over again in a kaleidoscope of ways.

Central Chamber,
Sunken Temple,
Aoetheran

The hordes of evil and twisted abominations have not stopped for several hours now. Each wave of the spawn comes an even stronger resistance to the Dark Jedi’s forces and soldiers. It feels as if the creature understand their weaknesses and exploited them fully. Together, the resistance have secured a small corridor which prevents the Draedan reaching sea level. However to Malik who was instinctively the father of the group, sensed something was amiss with this faction. He took a group of soldiers with him past the resistance line and deeper inside the central chamber. The pitch black darkness echoed with the screeches and scratchings of the fearless creatures, who seem to be constantly watching you. Further into the ancient chamber, was the flurried flashes of ruby light was all Malik and the soldiers saw from Shirai who relentlessly fought. Malik crept closer as his soldiers fired upon the scaled vermin and with a sweep of his hand the creatures were pushed back into the darkness. Then the laughing flooded their ears.

“Malik!” Shirai rushed back to the Elder, gasping with breath and pointed towards the shadows.

Both Malik and Marcus looked into the darkness to notice a white robed Draedan, smirking from ear to ear. He held an ancient designed sword firmly in his strong hand whilst striding over to the Dark Jedi. His blood shot eyes were heavily focused on the Neti, as he raised his hand which caused the torches of the chamber to fire up. A large circle stained brown in the blood of enemies surrounded the white-robed Draedan as he invited the Dark Jedi inside. The intelligent creature paced the edges and impatiently waited, with the same manic grin permanently on his face.

Objective: The Draedan are a foul race, that you have noticed fully. However their leader has displayed a sense of talent and perception. The invading forces upon the temple have their concentration fully on on the grunts of the enemy and have chosen to instinctively prevent your escapades. Using the reserves of your talent, defeat the Draedan leader and bring your Quaestor his head. The only support objective is to make sure the temple is secure from further Draedan attack.