The Shyrack twisted its wings and flew away as you fired, leaving completely unscathed. T4D  tried to make a swing at them as they flew past, though it was largely a futile gesture."I think they can smell fear" it quipped sarcastically, having been completely ignored "Or your blood. They don't want anything to do with me..."

"Rather not risk chopping your head off trying to attack them. Can't put yours back with a hydrospanner and a wrench."

"The good news is they're slow and poor flyers. They're also blind so they may not be able to detect you at all," Arianna said as she fired another volley at the one that had taken a bite out of her. That made her very, very angry.

20:35, Today: Arianna Vex'Morland rolled 15 using 1d20+5 ((10)).

20:38, Today: Midichlorians, for the NPC Shyrack, rolled 22 using 1d20+6.  Attack
20:39, Today: Midichlorians, for the NPC Shyrack, rolled 24 using 1d20+6.
20:38, Today: Midichlorians, for the NPC Shyrack, rolled 21 using 1d20+6.  Attack.
20:43, Today: Midichlorians, for the NPC Shyrack, rolled 8 using 1d6+3. Damage
20:43, Today: Midichlorians, for the NPC Shyrack, rolled 7 using 1d6+3. Damage
20:43, Today: Midichlorians, for the NPC Shyrack, rolled 8 using 1d6+3.  Damage.
Midichlorians, on behalf of T4D, rolled 23 using 1d20+3.
Midichlorians, on behalf of T4D, rolled 18 using 2d8+2x2.


The Shyracks came in quickly, and seemingly coordinated. Clawing at the plates of your armor, they were all able to reach in to where they could bite and feed. Hungry and distracted, it gave the droid a chance to strike. With a careful piercing attack, he was able to strike at the core of one without also attacking you.

The screams and burning smell scared off the other two, for now, back into the air.

Arianna screamed in pain which turned into a scream of rage as anger and hatred she had never felt before filled her being. She wanted to rip these things apart with her bare hands so she could feel their hot blood. She opened fire on them again, snarling as red bolts of energy went flying.

07:56, Today: Arianna Vex'Morland rolled 23 using 1d20+5 ((18)).

Arianna Vex'Morland, rolled 17 using 3d8 ((8,8,1)).

The flurry of shots found their mark, tearing the thin wings of one to shreds, falling on the floor before being eaten by scavengers unwilling to fight with the likes of you.

T4D takes a defensive stance near you, tracking as best it can as the last Shyrack makes another swoop in. As the lightsaber makes huge arcing sweeps in it's flightpath, the winged beast can't get close enough for an attack.

18:58, Today: Midichlorians, for the NPC Shyrack, rolled 18 using 1d20+6 ((12))

Arianna tracks the beast in and takes her shot, still filled with a terrible rage and desire to strike the beast from the air and finish it off with her hands.


19:54, Today: Arianna Vex'Morland rolled 25 using 1d20+5 ((20)).



19:58, Today: Arianna Vex'Morland rolled 10 using 3d8 ((4,3,3)). Doubled to 20 for the natural 20 on the hit roll.

A wild barrage of shots struck the last shyrack in its vital areas, including its enlarged head. The beast died immediately, falling limply to the ground.

The adrenaline and rage coursing through your body only fed the interest and the desires of the spirits.

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"Yesssss! Revel in your anger, feed on your hatred! As you power over lesser life, you will take power over others. With my help, you can take power over all in your way and rule the galaxy!"

OOC: Make one more Use the Force check to try and resist the pull. You can burn a Force Point to add 1d6 to your roll,
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:39, Thu 19 Nov 2020.

Arianna snarled and started forward, wanting to rend the dead creature with her teeth but she stopped herself, throwing her mind back into the discipline ingrained within her since she was old enough to remember.

10 Years Ago:

"AGAIN!"

TM-426 swung her staff at her opponent, aiming for his face but he was taller, larger, with greater reach. The end of his slammed into her stomach, bending her double. He moved in, swept her legs and dropped her to the ground before delivering a vicious kick into her thigh which brought tears to her eyes.

"HOLD!" The instructor screamed before reaching down and grabbing her by the hair which he used to pull her to her feet. She gasped in pain which only seemed to provoke him more. "Why are you crying, TM-426. This is the Final Order and you are a member of the Sith Eternal. Tears are for the enemy. Tears, pain, and death! Are you angry, TM-426?" He asked, taking her by the throat and shaking her.

"SIR, YES SIR!"

He leaned in close. "Master that anger and use it to crush him but do not let it master you." He let her go. "Pick up that weapon and get back in the circle. And TM-426: if I ever see you cry again I'll kill you myself."

The next round saw her standing over her opponent, her staff pressed against his throat.

That was the last time she had ever cried.

She was back in the present, the voices were talking and she was breathing hard. She gathered her will and pushed back against all but one voice.

19:45, Today: Arianna Vex'Morland rolled 13 using 1d20+2.
19:45, Today: Arianna Vex'Morland rolled 3 using 1d6.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:04, Thu 19 Nov 2020.

As you come back to the present, the world becomes more quiet. All that can be heard now is the water falling through the trees above and softly landing on the ground below, and the constant hum of T-4D's gifted Lightsaber. The droid is fixated on you, though it's nuetral face is incapable of expressing any emotion.

"I think you went somewhere for a moment..." He states into the cold night, his voice being the only voice that can be heard any further

Arianna forced her breathing under control before reaching up, unsealing, and removing her helmet."Into memory. I dove into a memory of my training to regain control and discipline. The voices of the dead Sith grew louder as I embraced my rage of the creatures but I've pushed them away. I'm fine now. Thank you for having my back."

She looked up and let the rain hit her face and cool her mind and body for a moment. Eventually she put her helmet back on.

"Let's go. We have many kilometres to travel and danger to face."
This message was last edited by the player at 01:45, Fri 20 Nov 2020.

"It's a marathon, not a sprint." He warned in response. "If you need a minute, now's your chance. I suspect it'll only get worse the further we go..."


Through the storm, there was a deep, low guttural sound. Something was on the move, and it wasn't afraid to make its presence known.

Arianna stopped once she heard the sound. "I think that's a brilliant idea. Whatever it is I'm sensing out there is moving and knows it's dangerous enough to not worry about making sound. I'll take a quick break here."

She leaned against a tree and locked her rifle against her upper thigh.

"Look-I know you're not supposed to teach me with the lightsabre and were hesitant, rightly so, to do so on the ship but how about here, on this marathon? I'll look for a stick that's around the right size and you can show me some basic forms and movements. I'm growing stronger in the Force by the day so let me train whilst I continue to grow. I promise I won't tell Lord Shroud."

"You won't have to." The droid replies flatly "You start showing understanding that you shouldn't have, he'll have reason to suspect, and he'd be right."

There was a rustling in the trees as some ape-like creature moved about "Besides, this is not the place or the time." T4D added as he watched it move away "Not when there's so many things just waiting for us to drop our guard..."

Giving at least some on the request, he continues "The entire weight is in the handle, even more so than you would find in a fencing weapon. You get overly excited and you could accidentally throw the weapon, or cut your own limbs off. Focus and control is key."

Arianna nodded. "Thank you and good points. I don't want him any more angry with us than he already is. I doubt we're on his Life Day list right now so let's not make things worse."

She had been watching the creature as it moved through the trees. "Not sure what that was but this planet did have an incredible diversity of life; most of which the ancient Sith used for tests to see if they could be changed into something more deadly via alchemy. Some of the results were taken to Korriban to guard the tombs of the dead and others were brought here from Korriban. Others were seeded on Imperial planets as surprises for the Old Republic."

She reached into her pack and took out a nutritional supplement bar, pulled her helmet off and ate slowly whilst she rested from the fight. Her wounds hurt but she ignored the pain as she had been taught to do since she was a child. One day that pain would be a potent source of power but she still had much to learn.

"Lot of good it did them..." T4D replied, still surveying the environment. "Didn't stop the Jedi, or the Republic from claiming victory over the Sith, even here."

"Hopefully," He starts "You and Lord Shroud finally learn from the mistakes of your predecessors."

"The Sith did learn. Darth Bane taught them the lesson that culminated in the destruction of the Jedi and the end of the Republic. If not for the treachery of Vader the Empire would have been eternal but even that wasn't enough. The First Order and Sith Eternal still harry the ragged remnants of the Republic and I am here to light the torch to call the Sith home and carry the flame of the Sith across the galaxy."

She put her helmet back on and grabbed her rifle again. "It's the Jedi that never learn a single, fundamental truth: as long as they exist, so do we."

She started walking again, having gained her strength. "And we have all of history to teach us what mistakes to not make again whilst the Jedi make the same one over and over. They think us gone and forget about us."

"Than let them forget" Retorted, following behind. "Let us not talk about ideological truths, or puritanical truths, but real objective truths." T4D took a few steps to get ahead, looking at you in the eyes through its impassive face "The galaxy is a big enough place for both you and them. You and Lord Shroud could claim ownership of this entire sector, the Republic and the Jedi would never know. The Jedi that killed the Emperor, whoever they are, isn't looking for you, but they will if you start acting like every other would be Sith Lord before you, and if that person is capable of killing Palpatine in his own home, what chance do you think you have?"

"The Jedi won't forget or let us live alone in lost areas of the galaxy!" Arianna all but shouted. "Even when the original Jedi exiles landed on Korriban and forged an Empire they came. Thousands of years later they came and they have done it again and again and that is an objective truth born out of ideological truth: we cannot live together no matter how far apart we are!"

She snarled and pushed past the droid. "The galaxy is small because of hyperspace technology and even if the Sith rose anew, decided not to end the Jedi and destroy the Republic but chose to find new places to go, and grow, the Jedi would come and there would be war. Do you know why, T4D? Because we are not two sides of the same credit chit but opposing ends of the scale and it is the tension between light and dark that keeps the Force moving throughout the galaxy. Hells, the whole universe I imagine. Now there is too much hate and vengeance between us for things to be any other way. If I rose and became Empress and decided to leave all of the known parts of the galaxy and built a great Empire countless parsecs from here the Republic would find us. Maybe three thousand, five thousand, or ten thousand years later but it would happen. It's been that way for 25,000 years so why would it change now?"

She was breathing heavily with the intensity of her emotions. "Maybe it would be best if we left the damn galaxy all together and sought out what lies in other galaxies. The Dark Side, however, thrives on chaos and war. Ours is not a peaceful way to power so we would fight amongst each other eventually."

"Than you will lose," T4D's response was calm and calculated, a noted contrast against the raw emotions of his colleague "My primary purpose is analytics, not battle, and what is immediately observable is that no society in the known history of this galaxy has been able to survive in the binary states of either being in a war or preparing for the next one. Peace cannot only arrive once you have driven the entire galaxy under your boot heel, because you will never reach that point. The Sith have never accomplished this, neither have the Hutts, or the Rakata, or any other entity."

"The behaviors of the Sith are self-destructive in the extreme and if you follow in the paradigms of those who came before you than you cannot expect to succeed where all of them have failed."

"Which is why I am going, if I become a Lord of the Sith or even higher in the power structure of the Empire, to try a new paradigm. You may be surprised, T4D, but I happen to agree with you. We cannot continue as we have since the first war amongst the Jedi 25,000 years ago. It's time for a change."

She stopped and turned to face him, holding up her rifle. "See this? This has been almost unchanged for ages beyond counting. The only advancements in technology for millennia have been turned towards bigger and better weapons. Otherwise the galaxy has become stagnant because every few thousand years Sith and Jedi go to war. Once I'm in a position to change that I am going to try all I can to end the never ending cycle and bring about something new."

She turned and started walking again. "A Jedi Master once said the folly of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. I plan on breaking the cycle of madness but first I will do what my Master has sent me to do, grow in the Force and bide my time until I can affect real change. Now I ask you this: will you help me? You have shown great wisdom since we first met and I could use your counsel in what is to come. And don't waste my time my saying you're only a droid. Wisdom comes from knowing how to surround yourself with advisors who will advise and you are not afraid to speak your mind and that is something I respect."

"I will continue to help you unless or until doing so becomes incongruent with my obligations to my Master, who I will remind you, is yours as well..."

"Yes, he is and I have no plans on working against him. My thoughts, my plans, are still forming but once they come together and can be realised my hope is that he will see the logic behind what I propose and agree. The Sith need to change if we want to break this endless cycle we're trapped in. Simply setting up another Empire, crushing the Jedi, so on and so forth, is folly. I don't want to be trapped in another round of pointless insanity."

She didn't know what she was doing but she shut off the external speakers on her helmet and called out to the voice that had brought her here. "I think it time we had a talk. Who are you?"

Whatever voice, or whatever spirit it was, did not respond. Either your attunement to the Force was not that strong, or they weren't the type to be beckoned whenever called by one such as you. Their identity would have to remain a mystery, at least for now.

Just as well, as there were more pressing matters. The two of you came out of the wooded area, again under the perpetual darkened sky, with the storm having gotten only worse. Despite the violence and the path through the trees, you've made good progress, but now begins the portion where your endurance begins to be tested. Just beyond the end of the woods is a sheer cliff face, with a natural bridge over to the other side, across the bridge, the terrain takes a decided upward slant, towards the destination.

A rare bolt of lightning revealed the chasm below. The fall was immense, a fall from the bridge would certainly kill you, and if it didn't, the resident below certainly would. One of the most fearsome beasts ever created at the hands of Sith Alchemy.

The Terantatek

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"Oh Hells...it's the Terantatek. Taken from Kashyyyk and modified by Sith Alchemy to be one of the most vicious creatures ever. We need to be very careful crossing the bridge. If we somehow survive the fall we won't survive him," Arianna said in a low voice.

"The Force presence I sensed is still up and ahead. Powerful and in our way to the beacon."

Arianna placed one foot on the bridge to test how strong it was. "It should hold us both T4D."

"While good to hear, that's not my immediate concern. They are" He pointed to the far end, where lying in wait was another threat. While less immediately intimidating than the Terantatek, due to their more prevalent numbers and more cunning tactics, have claimed far more lives, and were still to be feared.

The Tuk'ata.

"How shall we proceed?"