"Fear not, young one." The voice began "I have spoken these words before, and was saved from despair. Saved by the very man who I had previously saved. They are the words of the Dark Side. Press on, but be wary. Whatever this is, I fear has fueled in rage, even in the afterlife, and is beyond redemption."

Moving forward, the other voice repeated the phrase.

Peace is a Lie

"Okay, which way am I going?"  Koi asks, cautiously riding the speeder (hopefully) in the direction of Spooky Voice.  She keeps a hand near her blaster -- although she's pretty sure this is not a problem blasters can solve.

Thoughts blaze through her undisciplined mind like meteors. Is Spooky Voice dead?  Is Nice Voice dead?  Does Nice Voice know who shorted out the barracks?  Does Nice Voice have a name?

Today: Midichlorians, on behalf of Koi Sundar, rolled 18 using 1d20+1 ((17)) Use The Force

An uncanny intuition starts to guide you, answering your own question. As you continue forward, the malevolent noise in your head grows louder and stronger.

Pieace is a Lie, there is only Passion,
Through Passion, I gain Strength

Heading this way, you move deeper into the Junglang Wastes. The mountains growing taller over the valley, the rock faces more jagged. Boulders dot the impromptu road, and a number of caves can be seen along your journey.

Koi concentrates..and sort of not concentrates..on following her intuition.  The jedi magic is difficult, but simple.  Like trying to look at your ears in a mirror, or sing along to a audiovid while driving on a bumpy road.

So far so good...

She pushes the speeder a little faster as the terrain becomes more rocky. Koi catches a skittering movement of dust-colored fur as a whomp rat scurries behind a boulder.  In the shadow of the cave, there is a green tapetum flash of eyes as a larger animal retreats back into its cave.

She cautiously continued to follow the voice, taking the time to weave around boulders and pick her path carefully through the sandy scree. The jedi meditation and guiding her speeder over the uneven ground requires so much of her focus, that voice's angry chant seems less immediate.  Less like an angry wookie banging on your door and more like an approaching storm.

OOC: Onward! :D

Midichlorians, on behalf of Koi Sundar, rolled 20 using 1d20+1 ((19)).

The voice leads you through a series of crags and valleys, into what seems to be a dead end. Rocks moving across the ground echo between the walls of the canyon, and the voice Echoes through your mind.

Peace is a Lie, there is only Passion,
Through passion, I gain Strength
Through strength, I gain Power
Through power, I gain Victory
Through victory, my chains are Broken
The Force shall set me free.

As the last words of this code are spoken, you arrive at the end of the canyon. Ahead, there is a cave, probably too small and too narrow for you to fit your rented speeder in.

Wow, you can roll for me like that anytime.

Koi brings her speeder to a stop in front of the narrow cave entrance. "Well, here we are," she mumbles to herself.  Now that she isn't concentrating on maneuvering her speeder, the voice sounds like a drum in her head - or her heartbeat.

She stopped to take a deep breath.  Whoever is in there is probably bad news..but it sounds like from what Nice Voice told her, they're also suffering.  They may have been stuck in this cave for a long time.


"You'll wait for me here, alright?" She maneuvers her speeder under a shady ledge -- if this takes a while, she doesn't want it to be burning hot. After a moment of thought, she shoulders her small pack.  There isn't much in it - extra water, a couple of food bars, a simple medical kit, a couple odds and ends in case she needed camp overnight because the speeder broke down.

She takes a deep breath of the sunny desert air and tentatively enters the cave.

The cadence stops as you enter the cave, just as jagged and harsh as the terrain outside. Perhaps even more so.

"Is it true?" The voice asks. Less in your mind, and now as a physical presence within the cave "Is the Emperor dead?"

"Yes."  Koi answered honestly, "That has been the case in all of the news-vids that I've heard."

She pauses, and picks her words as carefully as she places her feet on the uneven cave floor. "and I think a..wind..changed recently.  It is a soft wind, but it makes me think the news is true."

"Than everything is lost" The voice calls out in despair.

"I sensed her. The one responsible. She was on this planet, though I don't know why. So similar to his energy, and yet different, as if reflected through a prism"

A strong wind blows through the cave, causing some of the rocks to move about inside. It coalesces in one point, and as it does, a physical, ghostly figure forms in inside of it.

A Zabrak, deep red with black tattoos all over his body. From the waist done.

"I was his apprentice. Together, we were to rid the world of the scourge of the Jedi and the Republic. He betrayed me and cast me out. In my rage, I tried to regain what was rightfully mine, and lay down the one who defeated me."

"Now I have been denied everything, even my Revenge! I can never know peace!"

You now face the ghost of Darth Maul, who died on Tattooine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeG215-yu-k

Koi feels grief close around her heart.  This person did so much evil and was taught so much hate, but the tragedy of his life hits her harder than condemnation or horror.  She wonders if that's wrong.  Maybe she should feel more outrage.  Maybe she will later.  But right now -- it just seems like an enormous waste.  Potential, courage, loyalty.  It seems like this guy could have been a really great person, but the emperor used him up like a vibrium pit mine and threw him away. 

Koi wipes her cheek, suprised to feel a smear of mud.  "I'm sorry," she said simply.  "that's really terrible." 


She tries to find the right words. "I'm probably going to say a dumb thing, this is really hard and I don't know the full story of what happened. But what happened to you wasn't right. I don't know much about revenge.  I'd like to think you have justice.  I'd like to think that the lady that killed him -- she killed him for the things he did to you and people like you. And well, she also smashed a lot of his fleet and army that he put his whole sorry life into.  Can you find some peace in that?"

"Impossible" He said as he angrily turned to you "By the time she was born, I was already dead. She could not have done it for me if she doesn't even know who I am."

"If he really is destroyed, than I am truly cursed. If I cannot exact my vengeance, than what existance is this? Am I doomed to walk these barren wastes for all of time? If I have to wallow in this misery, than so shall everyone else on this planet" The ghostly figure retrieves a weapon from his person. Though you had never seen one before, you recognize it instantly. A lightsaber, double bladed, each side glowing with an evil crimson tone that matches his skin. He takes a stance as if to attack, but is stopped as you both hear a different voice.

"It's no less than your kind deserve, Sith" The friendly voice you had heard before "If you wish to attack this one for having done nothing wrong, than you are truly deserving of your fate."

This disembodied voice takes shape as well. A woman, slender and in old brown robes, her brown hair worn long in complex knots. "I know the hate in your heart, and I know the answer you seek." In defense of you, she lights a lightsaber as well, also double-bladed, her glowing in a yellow-ish gold.

"Whoa, whoa!" Koi puts up her hands like she was trying to calm a very-fast-carnivorous-lizard. "I warned you I didn't know everything about your story." Koi reminds him.

 She suggests reasonably, "Let's hear her out, put away the laser-sword, and see if we can come up with a solution that works for you. We all want you to have some peace. If you kill us, I'm just going be maudlin and lame in your cave forever. And she's going to be moralizing and judgy at you forever. And no one wants that, right?"

OOC: Koi is winging it like a baby barnacle goose.. https://www.youtubetrimmer.com...uNJ-nEYg&end=115
This message was last edited by the player at 22:13, Fri 18 Sept 2020.

The ghosts no longer pay any real attention to you, circling around one another. That they would try to spar one another while both are immaterial would probably seem odd to anyone benefitting from looking at this from a distance.

"I grow tired of your contempt and prideful arrogance, Jedi" The Sith calls out, ready to strike.

"It's not me that you need concern yourself with. I know the road to your salvation."

"You expect me in death to become what I fought against in life? A Jedi, Like you? Never."

"There is more to the galaxy than simple Jedi and Sith. Even in death, it is not too late. You can be at peace if you truly wish it. Forgiveness will succeed where vengeance has failed you."

The Sith, enraged by what he was hearing lunged at her, and a spirited fight began. Although he was the more fierce opponent, she was the more skilled, and even while on defense, was in control of the fight, as the two spirits moved about the cave. Despite their incorporeal nature, the blades of their phantom lightsabers still burned the walls and stalagmites where they struck the real world.

As you stare at the fight, trying desperately to stay out of the way, something pulls your attention away. A large stone near your feet is moving about, and is dislodged from underneath. Rolling away, you find the most curious thing underneath; a small tunnel, currently inhabited by a Jawa. Wix, no less

"Utinni! It's you! You find strange thing! Wix find you!" He scurries out to watch events beside you.

In attention on him, you missed the exact events between the two fighters, but the Sith's phantom lightsaber was cut in half, and he fell to his robotic knees in quiet shame. The Jedi sat across from him,

"Your life is marked by a viscous cycle. One of Hatred, Violence, and Failure. The path of forgiveness and peace has to begin inwards. The events of your life were never in your control, and you cannot blame yourself having been used as a pawn."

"I was deceived! Betrayed!"

"One of the countless he discarded along his way to gain power. There is nothing that can be done to change this. You must accept the events as they happened."

It seems as these world are finally beginning to sink in to the dead Sith. His breathing slows to a deliberate pace

"You must let go of the rage that has fueled you for so long. Be at peace with yourself, and with The Force."

"I'm ready." The Sith says simply, as his spirit begins to fade away, the last of Darth Maul having finally been put to rest. The Jedi disappeared as well, though her reassuring voice remained.

"Let this serve as a lesson to you. The past is vital to who we are, but do not let your past failures deny you of your future. The Force is with you both."

Koi was a bit annoyed about being so casually ignored.  That annoyance quickly turned to more practical concerns -- avoiding a flurry of magic lasers swords (staves?) swung in every direction.  Unlike the incorporeal combatants, the phantom weapons' blows send debris flying.

"Wix!" Koi yelped in delight and warning."Watch out, these ghosts are having a violent discussion."  She pulls him behind a steady boulder. "How did you find me?"  She asks, even though her heart already knows the answer - the same way Koi found the Sith ghost.

She shouts after her friendly ghost, "Wait! I have so many questions!"
This message was last edited by the player at 01:05, Sun 20 Sept 2020.

"Wix felt something. Strong presence. Jawas have tunnel network all through desert. Easier to avoid First Order and Sand People. Started digging after Jawas attacked by Empire. Wix crawl through tunnel, find you. You strong presence! Or maybe cave, not sure yet"

The Jawa seemed to have the attention span of a small child, having walked away hurriedly from you suddenly to investigate the cave. Having spotted something, he started to make a run of it.

"Look!" He calls out, pointing to some of the rock formations. Pulling a modified, bodge job blaster, he points it at the edge of one of the stalagmites and pulls the trigger. Grabbing the rock that falls off, he runs back to you. "Look! See what Wix Find!"

Holding it above his head, the stone floats out from his hand and up to yours "With battery you have, can make lightsaber! Wix sure of it!"

Koi gingerly plucks the floating rock from the air and weighs it in her hand.  She tries to reach out with her senses -- why does Wix think there is something special about the rock. "I don't know how to use a laser sword.  Do you?" She asks her short friend. The ghosts were waving their weapons so fast that Koi didn't get a clear sense about how they were put together.  Also, she needed to prioritize dodging the rocks.

"Is this where you got the battery?"  She asks thoughtfully. "There aren't more caves like this, are there?"   Only a little trepidation in that second question.

The Jawa shook his head, as well as waving his hands

"No no no! Wix no Jedi! Become one though ! You make Jedi too!" Despite his impossibly dark hood, you could swear you could see him smiling at the idea.

"Wix found battery! Didn't come from Lightsaber, but small and powerful enough to work! Many parts still need! We find together!"

He pointed out of the cave "Wix come with you!"

Koi listens to Wix thoughtfully, her hand cupped around the little crystal.  It seems too heavy and warm for its size.

"I'd like that." She agrees quietly with a soft, lopsided smile that chases back the lingering, angry shadows of the cave. "Alright, where are we going?"

She still had a lot of questions, but for now she was buoyed by Wix's enthusiasm. I'm not sure if he'll want to leave the planet with the captain.  After all, he has his family to look after.  But it's nice to have a partner for a while.

Koi adjusts her pack so Wix can sit comfortably behind on her on the rented speeder.

The enthusiastic Jawa simply pointed outside again "Force guide us! We trust in Force!". For someone who says such a limited understanding of what the Force really is, he seems to embrace it fully, much as a child would proclaim to be an expert after being given just a few tidbits.

Wix hops on the speeder, which is easily able to handle the extra wait of such a small being. Despite being in unfamiliar territory, charting your way out is relatively easy.

Back into the Dune Sea, you see that, for better or worse, the Stormtroopers weren't quite as imperiled as you thought. A support ship had come to provide cover and had just finished loading the last of them as you came out. The Tuskan Raiders, seeing how easily they were outmatched, fled.

Koi sighs in relief, "thank the first tree..".  She is glad her adventure didn't get anyone killed.  But she doesn't take her luck for granted -- this time she gives both the stormtroopers and any lingering Tuskans a wide berth and some extra personal space.

"Alright Wix, is the Force giving you any hints -- or should we go back to the city?"  She pulls the speeder to a stop under the cover of a rocky outcropping and tries to reach out to the Force herself.  Koi doesn't quite have the same confidence that Wix does, but she turns her face to the sun and wind and tries to let her instincts guide her.

The little Jawa was slow to respond, and most of his excitable energy seemed drained from him "Back to city. Wix fear something bad happen to friends."

Koi frowned. "Hold on,"  she suggested tersely, giving the Stormtroopers a wide berth as she headed back to hanger 13.  Although her mind roiled with anxiety, she firmly pushed it away.  Speed and good driving - not worry - would help now.

Entrance into the city was easy and uneventful, but the anxiety persisted.

Your new friends weren't to be found in the pre-planned meeting location of the local cantina.

Going aboard the ship, none of them could be found.

No response from any of them on the comlink.

Koi sighed. "I have a bad feeling about this." 

It was good that the ship was still here, but it wasn't good that no one was responding to their comms. They all had them in case of emergencies, even if the Captain insisted that social chatter was kept to a minimum.

Did she miss a call?  Koi had her comm with her, but she wasn't sure if Darth Maul's cave would block transmissions.  Surely someone would have sent a transmission if there was trouble.

She ran her hand through her hair.  <DarkBlue>"Alright, think.."</DarkBlue

The Jawa tugged on your leg, speaking quietly in the echoing hallways of the ship.

"Know where they're not, must be place we not look yet. Know they no talk to you. Probably all together..."
This message was last edited by the player at 14:57, Sun 04 Oct 2020.