"Come on, Feenik, we are wasting our time here. This place has been picked over again and again. We have barely enough scrap metal and electronics to pay for the transport costs. If we are luck we might end up with some left over for food and drinks. But we have to leave now. The shops will close if we do not leave soon. And I would rather not spend another night out here in this blasted wilderness."

The archeological "study", which was really just stealing old things someone found in the ground, had been almost empty by the time the latest scavengers arrived.  They took what little was left and Kaisen, the Weequay bodyguard for Professor Cole of the University of Commenor, was eager to get back to the city.  His boredom and annoyance showed on his face and body, and he was sitting on the speeder truck with the scavanged goods.

"I will even buy you the drink. Come on!"

"Yes, yes and the stores will open up again in the morning. Meanwhile this site could be picked clean by then and we may miss something of vital importance." Feennik continued digging through the junk. "I'm not leaving till I've made sure there is nothing left here. What we've found will hardly even cover the cost to get out here and it won't kill you to wait a little longer!"

"Fine! If you want to waste our time here, looking for useless items and broken trinkets, I will help. As long as you are paying the bills, then I guess I do not have a choice."

Kaisen grabbed his ground radar and started looking for new items. He kept grumbling to himself about not getting back to the city. As he moved, slowly checking out the ground, he looked up at a passing speeder.  Sighing, he turned around and accidentally knocked the radar into  a sensor pole. That pole in turn fell over and hit Feenik in the shoulder and knocked him into a digger droid. The droid turned on and started digging into the ground and causing a large sinkhole to open up underneath them. AS the hole opened, the ground started shifting and sliding everyone towards the opening.

Feennik grunts as he hits the ground, scrambling to get past the sinkhole and onto stable ground.Guh, you god damned clumsy oaf Kaisen. Your going to get us all killed.

"I am sorry!! I did not mean it!" Kaisen backed up and scrambled to get out of the way of the growing sinkhole.

After expanding outward for a moment it stopped and the rumbling from underground with it.  The sinkhole swallowed a few pieces of equipment, including a light source.  The light helped to illuminate the new hole and showed what looked like stone pillars with carvings on them.

Feennik looks in the hole, seeing the pillars and carvings, he can't keep the smile from spreading across his face. "Kaisen,  you're a genius! I could kiss you right now. This could be out best find ever. We're going to be rich!" Feennik exclaims as he excitedly runs back to the truck to grab his climbing gear. "Come on we're going down there."

He slips into his gear, ties one end of the rope to the truck and throws the other end down the hole. And begins Climbing in.

Feenik climbed down into the newly opened hole, and then checked out the surroundings.  It looked like the pillars holding up the cieling were written in some ancient language.  They were not immedietly familiar to Feenik.  The whole room looked like it had not been disturbed in a very long time.  There were only 2 archways in this room.  One leading to the left, and one to the right.

Feenik checks both archways to see one looked more promising than the other.

The writing on both archways were not dechiperable.  And there was nothing in the room to indicate which one might be the better choice.  However, for some reason he just could not place, Feennik felt drawn to the left hand archway and what was beyond.

"Let's try the left one Kaisen.  I'm feeling lucky today." Feennik head to the left, cautiously, doing his best to disturb as little as he could.

As they walked through the archway, an lit up the next room, 3 long objects appeared set into the floor.  They looked made of stone and had much writing in the same strange language written into the top of each.  They letters and symbols were different for each, but there were a few phrases that repeated on each.  They all looked about the same age, and from a visual check there did not appear much else different from the other.

Feennik walks up to the stone objects to examine them more closely and try to get a clue about who built them.

"Kaisen,  bring the light over here. Let's see what we can learn."

Kaisen stepped forward and brought his light up to shine on the stone items.  His eyes went wide and he dropped the light, stepping back and muttering to himself in his native language.  He kept backing up until he hit the opposite wall and the stared at the item.

Feenik cautiously approaches the objects. "What?!? What is it Kaisen?" He shines his light on the stone and racks his mind to see what it might be.

Kaisen seemed to pale as he looked up at Feenik.  His eyes were wide and voice low, almost whispering.

"The D-Dark Man. The Slayer. The Bringer of War. They are all here. But they are all legends. Ghost stories. Things we tell our little ones to scare them. They cannot be real. They cannot be real! THEY CANNOT BE REAL!!!"

He started mumbling in his own native language, faster then before.

"Oh Kaisen,  it's nothing to be scared of. They were probably just some ancient warlord that history has embellished.  _{If we get them out of here though we can make a fortune.} Now look there's nothing to be scared of." Feennik walks up and puts his hand on the stone. "See? Nothing happened."

As soon as his hand touched the stone, Feennik felt a chill run up his arm.  A chill that was so cold it seemed to suck all the heat from his arm.  A noise like a deep gasping was heard and the stone started to glow with a faint red hue.

It slowly got brighter, but never anything that was usable to see.  Then, seconds after it started, a slight breeze seemed to be coming from the hallway behind them.

"Huh, that was weird. You see that Kaisen? Let's check out what's down this hallway Feennik turns and heads down the hallway in an attempt to discover what was making the wind.

Kaisen stared at Feennik like he was losing his mind.  "Wind? There is no wind. What are you talking about? Are you ok? You were staring at that thing for about 5 minutes. Not moving or reacting."

"Wait what? I only touched it for a few moments. You at least saw the stone glowing right? Here I'll try it again." Feennik places his hand back on the stone And holds it there.

Kaisen looked over at the stone and nothing happened.  Feennik did not feel the chill or see the flash that he did before. In fact, it just appeared to be a large block of dead stone.

"Strange... We'll no matter. I'm going to check out that hallway behind up now. Kaisen, you coming or do I get to keep all the credits for myself?" He jokes as he heads down the hallway the wind came from. "So tell me about this shadow man or whatever you called it. I'll want to really play that up when we sell these slabs."
This message was last edited by the player at 17:16, Wed 04 Feb 2015.

Kaisen hesitated a moment, then started down the corridor.  He keept looking behind him like he was waiting for something to jump out at him.

"He was a very bad man. The one who would come and kidnap you and take you away if you were bad or mean. He could make you change your mind easily and force you to do things you did not want.  He came over and over and would steal my people away and force them to do terribly things."

As they walk, Feennik is looking for a hole where the breeze could have come from. "So about how long ago did he come over and over? Anyone alive who actually experienced is or is it just a ghost story?"

"My great-grandmother saw him.  He came and attacked my people and took many of them hostage. They left and were never seen again."

Kaisen followed Feennik, a bit wary, since he was worried that he might be losing his mind.

"Good, good. We should be able to make a huge profit on this. Might have to get it off world first, but if you can come with me and tell the ghost stories I'm sure we can find some eccentric billionaire willing to pay big credits for this. Come on let's get it up to the surface."

Feennik begins messing with the stone artifact to get it loose and begin moving it towards the hole they fell in through.

The stone artifacts seemed surprisingly light. With a little effort, and some repulsorlift technology, they were able to get all 3 stones out of the tunnels and back to the surface.  It was quite dark at that point and the weather seemed to turn colder.  A harsh wind blew from a distance and brought a sharp edge of cold to it.

Was there anything else of note down there that I saw?

OOC:

Just the archways.  They had similar writing on them. But if you were to move them, you are pretty sure it would all cave down on top of you.

"Alright Kaisen,  let's get these loaded up and head back to the hotel room. It's getting late and we've have a big day."
Feennik loads the artifacts carefully into the landspeeder and has Kaisen drive them back into town.

At the hotel, he takes the stones to his room and begins getting ready for bed.

Feennik laid down to sleep, but his mind was restless.  He kept seeing that image in his head of the writings and what they could mean.  It would not go away, and he tossed in his bed.  As the night grew darker, the urge to investigate the tablets grew. It was more and more powerful, until his eyes opened around 3am.  He looked at the tablets, and they seemed to glow with a faint blue aura. And it almost seemed as if a hunched and cloaked figure was standing next to the stones, his back to Feennik.

"Hello? Is someone here?" Feennik slowly gets out of bed, rubbing his eyes.

No one answers.  In fact, now that you are more awake there does not seem to be anyone there at all.  Maybe it was just an illusion.  Or the light was playing tricks. Or you were not fully awake.  But everything looks normal now.

<I> Well, I'm already up. No sense in putting this off any longer. Feennik gets out his tools and begins analyzing the artifacts particularly focusing on deciphering the writing on it.

The writings were old. Very old. They seemed similar to Sith language, but the examples are so few and sparse that it is really hard to tell. Only a few words seem to translate directly.  As you lean away from the tablet, back aching and head throbbing, you notice that it is bright out.  In fact, it is close to 9 am.  You have almost no recollection of the time, but there are a few words translated on your datapad.  Looking down, the letters blur for a moment before coming clear.

"Power. Death. Life. Servant. Master. Darth. Vjun"

"Hmm... interesting. This seems to be some sort of sith artifact. Though these strange events that have been happening are a bit alarming. These may be from the ancient sith and whoever this Darth Vjun is may point me in the right direction"
Feennik connects his datapad to he holonet and begins researching ancient sith artifacts and their activation, along with any hung he can find about 'Darth Vjun.'

There are many references to Sith artifacts, and many listed as for sale.  However, nothing really matches the search you are looking for.  There is not listing of a Darth Vjun on the holonet.  Not suprising, since most information about the Sith is either locked out from the Jedi or scrubbed by the Sith.

OOC: Can I figure anything out from the artifact for more study? If not, I'll move on to trying to find a buyer.

OOC:  Not at this stage. But if you were to find someone who knows about ancient artifacts, or a historian, or maybe even a  Jedi or a Sith, they might be able to help.

Feennik checks around on the holonet again. This time checking for anyone with expertise in sith artifacts, though preferably not a jedi as they tend to snuff out this kind of information.

There are few names that come up in a search for Sith experts.  However, one name does sound vaguely familiar. You remember the name mentioned by a previous customer. A professor at the University of Commenor. He is an expert in languages and translations and is not above working on side projects for some credits or even the artifact itself.

Feennik calls him up to set up a meeting between the two of them.

OOC: Am I on the same planet as him?

His secretary droid indicated he was out of the office and would not return for another 4 days. A quick check of the hyperspace lanes showed it would take about 3 days to reach Commenor from your current location.

I gather my things, carefully packing the artifacts away, and head down to the spaceport to begin my search for a transport headed to Commenor.