Mineshaft The Jedi discussed their options briefly, and decided on the right path, with Anengy Facefoot leading the way with saber in hand. Vic Horkin followed close behind, then Kara Dysar, and finally Kimara Odon hurried to catch up at the back. The light of the four sabers illuminated the darkness around them in brilliant purple, green and blues, revealing the area around them in flashing patches of colour. This section of the shaft seemed unremarkable- it was simply much darker than the previous section. And again the Jedi noted the corpses that lay at their feet, almost tripping over them as they proceeded. Suddenly and without warning, the darkside swam through the air, flooding through the Force around the small group, amplifying feelings of claustrophobia and panic if they existed. Strange, far off voices seemed to whisper in their ears: You will die here We all die here The Dark is everywhere And at the feet of the Jedi, dozens of cultist corpses began to stir. With horrible jerky movements that spasmed from hypnotically slow to unnaturally quick, the foul bodies began dragging themselves to their feet. Greyed and decaying, the dead were coming back to life. Tag: Xan, nemisis, Despised, Trimaj
The Jedi made their way slowly down the right path with Anengy in front of him and Kara and Kimara behind him. Vic, as always, had his awareness set on high. He did not want to run into anything unexpected. Even so, he had a constant feeling of danger, but was unable to locate where it was coming from. It was as if the cave was mocking him, tricking him into believing something was going to happen. It made him uneasy, which was only amplified by the bodies that continued to appear on the floor of the cave. These were once living beings with a future ahead of them that was worth saving. Now, they were dead, their futures taken away from them with one quick stroke of a ligtsaber, or from the betrayal of their so called brethren. It was hard to navigate with all the bodies. Vic almost lost his footing a couple of times, having to rely on the Force to keep him from faling. Suddenly, Vic froze. A feeling of dread washed over him as a swarm of dark side energy filled the tunnel. Almost immediately, he felt a sense of claustrophobia that he had not known existed washed over him. Luckily, it was minor since he did not mind small spaces to begin with, but it was still there, irking him to just get out. You will die here. The voice appeared in his head only, he did not hear it through his hears. We all die here, it said once more, causing a bit of fear to rise up from within, just like it wanted. The Dark is everywhere. It was as if the Dark Side itself was speaking to him. It felt so inviting, so empowering, but Vic had nearly walked that line before, he knew how to walk away. Hopefully, for his sake, and the sake of the mission, his fellow Jedi would not be tempted to delve into that power. Then, out of nowhere, it seemed as if the body he had inadvertently stepped on began to move. Vic looked down, and saw that the corpse below him was not dead. But, it most certainly looked dead and it did not radiate any sort of life through the Force. What the....? he thought. Were the corpses coming to life!? The Human Jedi acted on instinct, stabbing his saber down through the head of the corpse that he had stepped on, not knowing for sure if it was going to be killed for good or not. "We should probably get moving!" He whispered harshly to Anengy. "You two," he said to Kara and Kimara, "get in front of me." He knew that the other Jedi could fend for themselves, but he did not want anything to happen to them and would feel responsible if something did in fact happen. "I will guard the flank." Hopefully, these corpses were not too intelligent and would easily be disposed of.
Mineshaft In the darkness, the Jedi began to fight off the undead, catching hideous glimpses of their unholy foes only by the light of their sabers. Vic Horkin stabbed downward through the head of the nearest corpse. The blade plunged deep through the gruesome flesh and thick skull and came out through the jaw. When the saber was sheared out, the corpse stood for a moment swaying, a hole gouged through its head, but still moving. It lashed out at Vic with clumsy, clubbing hands. Kimara Odon tried to snap the back of the nearest dead body to her. There was a satisfying crunch. It seemed to work for a moment, as the undead creature simply writhed around, its back twisted at a horrific angle. But suddenly, as if lifted by an invisible puppetmaster, the body leapt to its feet, its spine still broken out of shape, and began moving towards Kimara, snarling. Meanwhile the undead were swarming around Kara Dysar and Anengy Facefoot, attempting to pile on top of the pair. Tag: Xan, nemisis, Despised, Trimaj
"Not a chance Vic!" Kimara yelled angrily, her voice betraying her feelings of frustration towards the older Jedi Knight. "I was sent on this mission because I am as capable as the rest of you, deal with it." Vic was taken aback for a second. She then attempted to sort of Force Crush on one of the living corpses that arose, crushing its back with a nasty crunch that made Vic flinch. It was horrifying and would have been enough to cause Vic to take action had it been an actual living being. A brief thought passed through Vic's mind. Perhaps Kimara was not strong enough to withstand the temptation of the Dark Side, perhaps she had already fell pray to it's power. Vic became a bit worried, and knew he had to keep a close watch on her. "I don't want to argue," he said quickly. "So I will go!" He stepped forward to go ahead of Kimara but was stopped dead in his tracks by an oncoming punch from one of the corpses. Vic was able to get a glimpse of the face, noticing it was the same exact corpses that he had plunged his blade into, due to the still scorching hole penetrating its face. Instinctively, Vic ducked the clubbing blow, bringing his saber around in a sweet that would slice the abomination in half. Hopefully that would finally do the trick. The best possible solution Vic could think of was to run, in hopes of getting to a room that was more maneuverable. "Move!" He yelled up front towards Kara and Anengy, who were being swarmed by living corpses. The corpse that had it's back broken by Kimara had been able to survive that as well. These beasts did not seem to want to stay dead and Vic did not know exactly how to handle it. This, along with the swelling temptation of the Dark Side, was making the mission a little more difficult than he had planned.
Mineshaft The Jedi continued to try and battle off the undead in the blackness. Blues and green and purple provided blurring, blazing light as the saber-wielders attempted a fighting retreat. Vic ducked one corpse's clubbing blow, bringing his saber around, and slicing the foe clean in half. This time it did not get up. Vic had no time to enjoy the moment, however, as another three of the foul creatures were already upon him. Kara was driving forward, spinning and slashing and cutting through the undead. Her strokes severed several limbs, but this did not seem to even slow her opponents. Those she decapitated or sliced in two were the only ones who stayed down. Anengy and Kimara were battling hard a few feet away, forced onto the defensive by the seemingly neverending waves of living dead. And though the Jedi might not have noticed it in the chaos, the ground beneath them had begun to tremble, ever so slightly. Tag: Xan, nemisis, Despised, Trimaj
The sheer number of bodies was vaguely unnerving, and when combined with everything else nearly overwhelming for the Balosar Jedi. I can't let this get to me, I'm stronger than this. Stronger. Dead, all dead. Everything, no light, it must have died too. Are we going to die here as well? Attempting to walk around or over the bodies, stumbling as her discomfort continued to grow, was the least fun she had had in a very long time. Almost in echo to her harried thoughts a voice spoke out of the dark straight into her head. You will die here. Anengy screamed, and suddenly the walls felt like they had trapped her in a small box. Falling to her knees she huddled against a wall dropping her lightsaber, it's purple light going out in the dark world. We all die here. Whimpering she, "Make it stop. Make it go away!" She knew that she would likely never live this sudden weakness down, but couldn't have cared less given the circumstances. The Dark is everywhere. The "voice" was like an echo of innumberable screams echoing through to her very soul. "MAKE IT STOP!" She started backing up the corridor again, her lightsaber forgotten for the moment. When the bodies started rising her panic grew even worse. "WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE! GET ME OUT OF HERE! OUT! OUT, NEED OUT!" Her desperate cries likely competely overwhelmed by the sudden fighting that developed around her. Anengy groped around her needing the comfort of her dropped lightsaber, almost a sixth sense making her reach for it. Still that didn't stop her from continuing back the way that they'd come. Surely the other path couldn't have been this bad. She heard nothing that Vic tried to tell her, nothing that any of the others said. All that she could hear was an imagined roaring. The next thing that the Balosar knew she was surrounded by groping limbs, all with a hideous strength. She tried to rise, tried to lash out with her blade knowing that doom could very easily be nigh. I NEED OUT! WON'T DIE HERE, WON'T! Almost unwittingly she reached for the Force, not feeling it roaring through her. All of the fear that had been coalescing within the claustrophobic Balosar finally came to a head, and found its release through the Force that now rushed to fill the suddenly receptive vessel. She was born back down to the ground under the crush of bodies, and as she lay there her instincts refusing to let her go without a fight everything released in a sudden shockwave born of desperation. The wave of Force energy poured off of her and struck everything around.
Mineshaft A purple light went out in the darkness of the mineshaft. "WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE! GET ME OUT OF HERE! OUT! OUT, NEED OUT!" shrieked Anengy Facefoot. Crushed underneath a heaving throng of living dead, she tapped into the Force...or perhaps The City tapped into her. The darkside became a thick and suffocating smog in the Force. A powerful telepathic attack borne out of fear and desperation surged outwards from the Balosar's body, hurling corpses back in the darkness. The shockwave was so strong that it might well have knocked Vic, Kara and Kimara to the ground...fortunately it also blasted away any foes in their immediate vicinity. There was barely any time to recover, though, for Jedi or for undead. The ground, which had been lightly rumbling, began to shake violently and strongly. It could well have been Anengy's blast that triggered it, or it could have been coming anyway, but there was no time to wonder. The corpses toppled and fell as the ground thundered beneath them. As the four Jedi struggled to regain their footing in the darkness, they could hear chunks of the ceiling beginning to crash down around them. They were experiencing a large quake and a small cave-in, and if they did not leave fast, they would be trapped. And of course they still had the undead clutching at their feet. Tag: Xan, nemisis, Despised, Trimaj
Sobbing from sudden exhaustion and thankfulness Anengy was free from the press of the undead things that lay sprawled around her. She didn't know if the others had been knocked off their feet or not, and she didn't take the time to look as instinct still had control of her. Relighting her saber, it's purple fire blazing against the darkness, she slashed at anything that reached for her. Many hands would go missing from things that should have been corpses. The slashing occured as she rushed to get to more solid ground, or at least a place where it felt like it wouldn't fall out from underneath leaving a gaping hole straight to the depths of hell. Beware the being that tried to reach for her during that frenzied, scrabbling flight back up the mine shaft. Many scores were left along the walls and floor until she finally reached the fork again, as well as many cuts on her hands and knees after having fallen and scrambling to regain her feet in the shaking world. She hadn't noticed but there was also a cut on her head from some rocks that knocked her off her feet. All in all a very wearing return trip. Collapsing, dropping her saber, the Balosar leaned against the wall huddling in on her self racking sobs making her slight body tremble out of control. Her arms were wrapped around her knees, antenna shaking and trembling in time to her sobs. She didn't know if the others had made it back safe or not. Didn't know if maybe one of her errant swipes had maybe cut one of them down as they reached to help her. What's more, at that moment she didn't care. All she wanted was to be free from the crushing darkness that surrounded her, that reached for her soul.
Vic was glad to see that the corpse had been successfully sliced in two and was no longer moving. However, that moment of relief was soon thwarted by three other corpses. He thought about Force pushing one of them, but he began to feel the ground shake, and thought that any slight disruption through the Force could trap them all in. He held back, and, instead, brought his other lightsaber, igniting the violet blade. That moment of hesitation cost him though, as the three corpses advanced too far. One had latched on to him, and the other were walking around to surround him. He leaned his head back to make room for a lightsaber and sliced the corpses head clean off. "WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE! GET ME OUT OF HERE! OUT! OUT, NEED OUT!" The cry seemed to come from all over, as it echoed off the wall. He instantly knew who it came from judging by the voice, as he looked back. It was Anengy, just as he had thought. Vic couldn't believe that the eldest of the Jedi had already broken down, falling into the trap set forth by the Dark Side. Vic was unable to see what happened to her as the numerous amounts of corpses surrounded her as well because the other two corpses began to send a barrage of heavy fists at Vic. Then, suddenly, Vic felt a build up of the Force, as if it was centralized into one point. Then, Boom! It hit him like a sledgehammer to the chest, knocking him and the corpses around him to the ground. He was able to gather his footing far quicker than the corpses, but nearly lost them as the ground began to give way. He heard noises from above and behind him as if rocks were falling to the ground. A cave in! "Move!" Vic yelled again, this time he hoped they listened. It was apparent that Anengy was, as she darted off. Vic ran forward as fast as he could, dodging falling rocks, holes in the ground and those horrifying dead bodies that came to life as he attempted to get his fellow Jedi to follow him. Along the way, he Force hurled a couple of corpses out of his way and the others; there was no point in holding back now since the mineshaft was already caving in. Hopefully, the Jedi would pull themselves together and get to a point that was clear of corpses and, more importantly, out of the way of the cave-in. He looked back, hoping that Kimara and Kara weren't too far behind, and was prepared to do what he could to help them out. But, as he approached Anengy, he was shocked to see what she had been reduced to. She was huddled up against the wall, clutching her knees, her lightsaber hilt on the ground a few meters away from her. Vic immediately sent a surge of strength through the Force, attempting to bolster her spirits, but was unsure how well it would be received with the Dark Side floating so heavy like it was. "Anengy!" He said, approaching her, keeping a close eye behind him, in case something happened to the other Jedi. "You need to pull it together! You were chosen for this mission for a reason, don't let the Council down!" He paused a moment. "Don't let Joshua down..." Vic was still astonished at how she was acting. First Kimara showed signs of aggression, now Anengy was breaking down. Kara and Vic seemed to be the only ones who were able to handle what was being thrown at them...So far. Perhaps Anengy was not the right Jedi for this mission. Vic hated to say it, but if worse came to worse, leaving Anengy behind might have to become an option...
