SWC The Official SWC Dueling Thread

With brief if patronising thoughts that young Robyn was passing his exam well, Dreadwar watched as his worthy opponent lopped off his pet's claws. No matter; his mind infused his astral construct, directing illusions of black venomous serpents native to Korriban to burst out of the eyeballs in a shower of gore. Let us put to the test her mind, and her capacity to handle fear.

As the snakes began to slither towards Robyn, Dreadwar's own cape slithered across the sands as he approached to within one and a half meters of his opponent. He hissed like the serpents he summoned, "So the Jedi are trained almost from birth never to feel too strongly then, never to let passion to rule them, never to... love. And the penalty for violating those rules is... draconian. If such caution is needed, some might say the galaxy would be better off without any Jedi. If you say we are evil, I will posit to you that it is fallen Jedi who rebirth the Sith after their suppression, over and over again. Oh, you're fine fighters and diplomats, but one might wonder... are you Jedi worth the price the galaxy pays in convulsion after convulsion?"

The Rancor may have lost its grappling claws, but not its gaping jaw, which descended towards Robyn like a hatchet, its jaws snapping with an astonishing turn of speed. The serpents leapt in the air like a cloud of locusts, attacking her from beneath, while Dreadwar probed, jabbing his lightsaber towards her, seeking her heart in one way or another...

Padawan4687

 

"UGH!" Robyn shrieked in both fear and disgust at the -illusory?- beast. It's eye exploded! Into snakes! She couldn't back around much further, before running flat into a wall. "That's fake, it has to be fake!"

"I thought Light and Dark were always at war...!" she tried hard to regain her focus, but those wiggling snakes were making her skin crawl! Illusory or not, watching them emerge from the eye of a rancor wasn't something she'd like to repeat as long as she lived! "Jedi are Guardians of the peace, all the Sith do is destroy it." Some bitterness crept into her voice again, as she took in the latest attacks. A rancor, sick illusion snakes, and the Lord himself? I'd rather face the rancor by itself... she thought, positioning herself. Even if it's fake, how do I stop it?! Do I...just not move? Or face it head on?

"Without any Jedi, you Sith would have complete reign over the galaxy. I suppose that would be a dream come true, wouldn't it! Convert all willing to follow, and slaughter anyone brave enough to challenge!" She twisted her wrist, and jumped, straight up into the Rancor's gaping mouth. Robyn swung her saber right through its jaw, hoping to get past the snakes, and avoid the red blade of her very real opponent.

Darth Dreadwar

 

"I expected you to say as much. Let us consider another question..." As Shaire's belief in the Rancor's reality dwindled, so too did its ability to affect her... and her effect on it. Robyn's lightsaber passed harmlessly through the jaw as if it were nothing more than a high-fidelity holoprojection, and with a snap, the Rancor's fearsome maw shut... only for it overgrown, tusk-like teeth to pass through her leaving behind nothing more than a sense of prickling.

Dreadwar waved his hand to make the Rancor fade into dust, hoping Robyn would fall from its astral jaw with enough impact to break a leg, if the Force was with him. The illusory snakes he would keep, to obfuscate her sight and undermine her courage, and with the same wave he directed them towards her.

As he turned, he continued, "There is a saying: zero, one, and infinity are the only numbers that need no justification. If we found that there seemed to be exactly one other universe parallel to our own, wouldn't we look for others? Zero universes would make sense, one universe would make sense, a continuous spectrum would make sense, but it would be strange for there to be exactly two universes. So tell me, Robyn... Why does the Force, in your conception of it, have two sides?"

He strode forward as he talked, his palm upraised as flames leapt from it, an inferno of red fire that blazed forth towards his hopefully crippled enemy...

Padawan4687

 

Robyn had her eyes squeezed shut as she faintly felt the brush of teeth, when even that feeling vanished. Instead of a creature's mouth, she was now diving directly through dust. It was thick enough to slow her ascent, and she rolled to a clumsy stop to the ground.

"Ow...!" she hissed, grasping for her jolted ankle once she coasted to a stop. That was close... she thought, going up to one knee. She lifted her head to listen to Dreadwar's next riddle, and tried standing before thinking of an answer. "Why? Because I've seen them more than enough times. After all, I'm sure you'd never call yourself a Jedi, Darth Dreadwar!"

The snakes remained tangible, but they too had to be fake! They...they came from the rancor after all, right? Robyn watched them hurry across the ground toward her, and she found her footing. Two sides to the Force, two sides to every emotion. What was he talking about with numbers? Two had a place within infinite numbers, just as one and zero did! A new sound finally caught her attention, the heavy crackle that came with...fire.

Wait, fire? Another illusion, I hope...How many does this man have up his sleeve?

Darth Dreadwar

 

OOC: Not an illusion.

IC:

((an old, old man dreamed darkly, his eyelids flickering as his mind burned))

"I would surprise you, Robyn. I have been a Jedi several times... and a Mandalorian, a farmer, a simple man. When one has lived as many lives as I across the millennia, one might find wishing to experience things from the other side." Dreadwar spoke over the roaring of his summoned flames, gazing upon Robyn as she fell and righted herself.

Injury. Weakness. Seize upon it. Dreadwar smiled as the stream of fire forked through the air and across the ground towards her into a blaze that would surely consume her by the time he finished speaking; he had much more to say, of course, much more, but he would see whether Robyn survived the power of Convection first. He paced in measured steps towards her, his unstable crossguard lightsaber crackling as loudly and spitting as venomously as the baleful flames that just now rushed towards his opponent, promising death and Chaos.

Padawan4687

 

OOC: Nope, not an illusion... but what's this "dreaming man" about?

That is definitely not an illusion! Robyn leapt backward from the licking flames, soundly smacking her sleeve. A single ember caught hold of the fabric, but she snuffed it out before it could burn her skin. Her saber had been deactivated from the fall, and she held it close.

He keeps coming closer with these blasted displays! Robyn furiously thought, sliding past the wall that previously blocked her. I have to get away, can't let him get too close! She jumped onto one of the stones, just for the summoned blaze to follow. "S-stay back!" she shouted, putting up as heavy a wall as she could manage with her energy. She watched her invisible wall go bright yellow and orange against the pressure, alongside that...hateful red. Kinda tough to avoid the color that's in your eyes, isn't it? "Simple?" she asked, standing tall against the Force assault. No man that lived a dozen lives could call himself "simple"!

"...I'd like to ask you something then!" He seemed to enjoy this discussion, even in the heat of battle...well, she was doing most of the "battling," all he did was wave his hands about like a magician! "If you were able to walk the line between Light and Dark so many times, what brought you back here?" she continued, silently waiting for the flames to subside... "My Master toed the line too, but she found her way back to the Jedi... Why wouldn't you stay?"

Darth Dreadwar

 

OOC: Just foreshadowing something scary so when it happens you don't think I just godmoded it out of my ass. P.S. I'm really enjoying this role-playing discussion! I really should start slashing at you soon though.

"You mistake me, Jedi," Dreadwar shouted over the fire. "My outlook... that has not changed in many centuries. I walked no line! Because there is no line."

The flames licked against her shield, blazing out to the side to create a wall not easily surmounted. Stemming the stream, Dreadwar leaped into the air, somersaulting over the dying flames and Shaire to land on a rocky outcropping behind her. He turned upon the spot, his lightsaber tracing a lazy cross through the air, as if inviting an attack.

"What is the Force, where does it come from? Not from Midichlorians, certainly... So vast a power, clearly of a mental nature - being generated by one species of bacteria with no interconnection among its cells, no ability to think? No. Midichlorians are surely symptoms of the Force, not the cause. Is the Force generated by all living creatures, connecting all of us? Then why is there no Side of the Force for the passions that so many alien races feel, to which neither the Light Side nor Dark Side lay claim?"

Dreadwar pressed his power against the sands between them, willing them to part and create a steadily but inexorably growing chasm, rimmed by two growing dunes, that cut through Korriban towards Robyn, hoping to force her to attack rather than retreating or waiting - no, stalling, she is hoping to survive me long enough for... what? He continued, "What is the Force, Shaire? Answer me. Answer! No. Do not ask the Force. Not this question. Use logic instead, Robyn. Don't feel the answer. Think it! You already know all you need to know. Consider what I said - there is no line. The discipline with which Jedi are trained almost from birth, never to feel too much emotion. The speed with which they fall after they slip even once. The power they gain after their fall. Their similarity of goals, speech, the same black hooded cloak worn by every Darksider. All because--?"

Padawan4687

 

OOC: Ohhh dear, is he going to summon a Revan zombie or something?! I'll need to do some major adjustments to Robyn's continuity then!

"I..." Robyn struggled to shout out a reply. What was the Force? How could she answer that...?

She went silent as she tried to think. The sand was splitting beneath her feet, so she had to start moving before the ground moved for her! She tried to jump again, but the sand was too loose to support her weight. Robyn was sent tumbling down instead. Dust was going everywhere, she couldn't focus!

Finding refuge against a rock, Robyn loudly coughed the dust out of her lungs. Fear? she suddenly thought. Jedi are afraid of making a slip up, and it's that same fear that drives them to darkness...but if they are so similar, as he says, then...! "No." she interrupted her own thoughts, lifting a hand to her head, "No, no no! There...are no sides?" she forced herself to ask.

Robyn lifted her head to glare at the Dark Lord, and felt the itch to lunge. This was more than enough! He wasn't too far away, she could definitely make it with a touch or Force Speed...but a faint touch through the Force brought her back. Her Master's aura...she was close! She almost sank to her knees on the rocks in her relief. Thank the Force... I don't know how much more of his questioning I can take...why is he dissecting it so much though? All he's gaining is my confusion!

Darth Dreadwar

 

OOC: No comment.

Dreadwar smiled, with a hint of pride. He was impressed. Few could force their minds to face such a staggering truth. Perhaps... perhaps you waste your effort on destroying her... He would have applauded, but he could hardly do such with a lightsaber firmly in palm. And so, hoping to interject humour into a deadly situation, and to violate her expectations as he always so loved doing, he raised rocks around him, banging them together loudly in a facsimile of applause while chuckling with genuine mirth. And then projected them at her, of course, for good measure; he was still Shaire's mortal enemy, you see.

"Indeed, Jedi. Indeed. There is no light - there is only the dark side, that is to say, the Force. From whence it springs? Your guess is as good as mine. But you have awoken to your rationality, now; your reason serves you well. What the galaxy calls a Jedi is just a darksider who has been trained to deny themselves, not to feel strong emotions... to ignore the whisperings of the power they invoke. And make no mistake, the most senior Jedi know this. That is why the Jedi Council has resisted every attempt to spread knowledge of the Force more widely. Why the Force cannot be used by day laborers to load a shuttlecraft, why we do not see Force healers in hospitals. Instead there is a tiny Order that kidnaps every naturally awakening Force user as soon as they are old enough to have a midichlorian count. And then... why then, the Jedi Order forbids you to breed. It has nothing to do with avoiding passion. The Jedi could sustain their numbers using uterine replicators... if any of the important people thought that having more Jedi was a good thing. Already the number of Jedi is a hundredth part of what it was in the early days of the archaic Republic, when Jedi dynasties such as the Qel-Dromas flourished."

Dreadwar hopped down into the gully he had forged by telekinetic hand, paced towards her with even steps, lightsaber twirling with a hint of danger, acutely aware of a growing presence in the Force... This complicates things; I have not enough time to educate her fully in the truth of things... Time to wrap this up, sooner than I'd have liked... "So you see that you serve a lie. Explore the Archives; read the history. It was the Sith who initially set out to provide immortality for all, to restore dead worlds, to create life, to create a post-scarcity civilisation, galactic utopia! I cannot speak for all who bear the name Sith, but I assure you that for all my millennia, I have worked towards that singular goal. Join me, Jedi. Free yourself from ignorance, and embrace emotion, embrace humanity. Or..."

Dreadwar leaped, then, a burst of speed granted by the Force that brought him to within a mere meter from the crouching girl! "Or I will destroy you, as any moral man should an enemy that threatens society and the Force itself through their ignorant allegiance to evil..." Dreadwar angled his lightsaber, spitting fire, towards her, awaiting the response that would determine her fate...

Padawan4687

 

OOC: Hm, I'm almost afraid to bring the Master into this!

Robyn's eyes were wide open, and suddenly she felt like she couldn't get enough air. What was he saying...no, he wasn't speaking anymore. She could only watch in disbelief at the rocks Dreadwar lifted around himself with the Force. They banged together, in a rhythm that sounded like a giant clapping.

Is he really...clapping, for me? Robyn thought, glaring daggers at him, Ohh if only I wasn't just a Padawan! Her mind was still trying to wrap itself around the concept that there were no sides to the Force, that she almost missed the applause coming closer. Both her Sight and her eyes screamed enough warnings though, and she desperately brought up a shield again. Not strong enough...

One smashed and crumbled on contact, but the other compounded the pressure. Was she running out of energy...? She was forced into a skid, down the rock and back into the sand. Thankfully, she stayed on her feet this time...but not for long. Robyn slipped in the dirt, and went down to her knees. It felt like her energy was being drained out if her, this was just too much.

"I'm...not evil..." she whispered, trying and failing to stand. "I'm not...! I only wanted to protect--" a feeble scream cut the girl off, Dreadwar now stood in front of her with only enough space between them to fit his lightsaber blade. Robyn felt her eyes getting heavy, and she desperately shut them. What could she do?! "I... I can't... betray the Jedi," she fought to find more resolve, "I won't betray my Master, or my friends! N-never!" She was grasping for something, anything to counter the red beam of Death that shone in her face. The violet light of her weapon and life became her counter.

Darth Dreadwar

 

OC: *yoda voice* You should be... you should be...

With a flash that shed enough sparks to satisfy a Life Day party, violet rose, and met crimson. As the energy twisted together in a saberlock, Dreadwar locked eyes with Shaire over the cross of light. He sighed. "A pity. I would tell you a story of a dictator of a planet far from here, who also believed he was doing right even as he murdered indiscriminately, just as you Jedi do with your abhorrent legal 'license to kill.' But you will not listen to reason, will you? Instead you embrace evil simply because your friends are. Some moralist you are."

He had grown strangely fond of the girl in so short a time. Perhaps because so few Jedi even talked to him while clashing blades, but rather mindlessly spouted fanatical platitudes and dogma. He had not wanted to kill her, not by now at any rate. He wanted to open her eyes. But Dreadwar had killed millions to save billions before, so just as Master Windu had slain Jango Fett, he must not hesitate to kill her now, not when she could grow into true evil, and perpetuate the rampant machinations of the Jedi and their corrupt, genocidal, exploitative Republic. It is necessary. His creed, the mantra he had repeated for centuries as he coldly calculated the sum of lives saves versus lives lost, as he brought lightsaber and starship turbolaser alike to bear against his many enemies. It is necessary.

Dreadwar snarled. The Force itself shook as he dropped the shields that had masked the true extent of his power from his opponent. With a roar, he disengaged from the saberlock, his lightsaber flashing this way and that, raining down blow after blow down on the Padawan before him, a chain of stabs and thrusts towards the abdomen coupled with powerful slashes to the neck and arm. In the midst of the flashing inferno that was Dreadwar's attack, his eyes flashed also, twin beams of scorching bloodlight energy shooting forth faster than a blaster bolt towards Shaire's own. The power of Deadly Sight. His lightsaber included, three lethal red beams sought the death of Robyn Shaire.

I suppose I must gut you like a Tuk'ata after all... But-- It is necessary.


Padawan4687

 

"B-but, a dictator is completely different from a Jedi! We're not... I'm not..!" A dictator and a Jedi, both believing that they were killing for the "greater good"... What concept would a dictator have of "the greater good", excluding keeping his power? In his own twisted mind, he is the greater good though... That doesn't make it the same! She furiously argued with herself, but found it cut short.

Fearful tears ran down Robyn's face as she bore witness to Dreadwar's full and uncloaked might. So all of those illusions he sent, his strength then, those were "fronts" too?! If he's revealing himself fully now, she grimly thought, now he's done "toying" with me. Now he...really wants me dead! Robyn couldn't even lift a sleeve to wipe her eyes before it started to rain murderous red. She fought using violet, with wide terrified eyes, to keep all four of her limbs intact.

A few minutes, that's all that was asked for...and you couldn't even give her that? One blade suddenly split into three...no, one came from the hilt, two were coming from his eyes! Robyn racked her addled brain for a way to block it, but after those precious seconds she couldn't think much at all. Her entire body was thrown into the proverbial inferno, every part of her began to burn all at once. She had no idea what sort of power this was, but she wanted it gone. Get...AWAY!

Robyn was writhing in agony on the ground with her useless weapon beside her, but she slowly became aware of her voice growing louder. She wanted to live! Fear of death and frustration with the man about to hand out her own combined with her remaining power into a formidable shockwave. The ground she lay on was whipped into a fierce sandstorm as she continued to scream into the Force.

Darth Dreadwar

 

Dreadwar winced as Shaire's scream began to permeate into the psychic matrix of the Force, forced to break off his flurry of lightsaber strikes. He was satisfied, of course, to see her channeling the stronger side of the Force. If reasoned argument would not cure her of her ignorance, there was nothing like placing her into a perceived life-or-death situation to make her see the light of the dark side.

Hellish fury continued to stream from his eyes, pinning her beneath a blistering gaze that seemed to be strangely self-defeating, given that the more she screamed, the more it became a deafening Force Scream that assaulted not only his ears, but his mind as well. His eyes widened, the beams of Deadly Sight increasing in scope without intention, as he saw her fury empty into the sands, animating them into a sandstorm that began to whip at his cloak... and his eyes. The stream of power flickered and diminished as grit entered his eyes, forcing him to blink over and over. I have underestimated her greatly.

Desperate to keep up the assault of Deadly Sight, hoping to either kill her or force her through the crucible of agony to dig into a resevoire of dark side power in order to defeat him, Dreadwar struggled to keep his eyes open and his lethal gaze upon the prostrate but far from defeated Jedi before him, as the wind steadily buffeted him backwards.

Padawan4687

 

Robyn was still burning, but some tiny part of her mind kept up rational thought. It's not...as intense as before... Dreadwar was, he was really letting up on his attack?

No, she dimly realized, he's...being forced back. I'm actually forcing him back? She didn't think she'd be strong enough to do that... She was running out of air to continue her screech, but the wind still whipped all around her. The sandstorm she created was getting bigger, consuming almost half of the arena in darkness. Her eyes were shut tight, half out of fear of sand flying into her eyes, and the other half in shame. I used a Force Scream, didn't I... she weakly thought. The False Jedi still had a hold on her...Alek's "lessons" still rang in her ears, no matter how long ago it was.

Oh, whatever, I don't care anymore! I'll use anything as long as it helps me live!

Robyn clutched the hilt of her lightsaber to her chest, desperately fighting to keep herself in control. She could feel something stirring though, outside the pain on those strange eye-beams. Power...to think, she thought she was running out. "Let....." Robyn gasped out, "...me..." she fought to find air without sand, but she found enough to scream, "GO!"

Instead of channeling her yell through the Force, it exploded all around her instead. It gave her a small pocket of clarity, an "eye" in the storm of sand.

((In the skies far above the arena, a ship blasted into the Korriban atmosphere. A woman stood in the cockpit, sensing the powerful chaos within her Padawan's aura, and that of her opponent. "Sending you there alone was a mistake." she whispered, clenching a fist. "I'm so sorry, Robyn..."))

Darth Dreadwar

 

"Gladly," Dreadwar smirked, backpedaling from the whirling sands as he blinked a final time, letting the energy streaming from his eyes abate entirely. "The power of Deadly Sight is more lethal than Force lightning, child... for one can hardly parry it with a lightsaber, when but a movement of the pupil will direct its energy elsewhere on the victim. At full intensity, it is impossible to survive."

Dreadwar was now three meters from the raging Padawan, his pride admittedly wounded by being forced to retreat from a mere neophyte but smothered by his satisfaction at her surely imminent succumbing to the ways of the Sith, sensing that approaching presence that betrayed another Jedi. Knowing he would be soon fighting two Jedi, he knew he must have reinforcements. Thankfully, the unnatural abilities of the dark side provided their own. "Tsaiwinokka Hoyakut!" his voice echoed with the resonance of distant voices, distant power. From beyond the bounds of the arena, in the depths of the nearby tomb Valley, the skeletons of Sith and Jedi slain long ago began to stir, moribund hands clawing out of the dead sands, wisps of decayed flesh sloughing off as a dozen ghouls staggered to their feet, crawling from cold catecombs and over scorching rock to slowly approach the arena from above the outcropping.

"Allow me to teach it to you, young one, for when your lightsaber is rendered useless... surely only fire can defeat fire? Channel your frustration into rage. Call upon the power of the Force's only 'side,' let it be focused by your hate out through the windows of your soul... and thus into Deadly Sight. Or fall before mine. Your life, your choice."

Dreadwar could not see her within the storm, now, but no matter. He could try and guess. His eyes blazed again, the twin beams shooting forth once again like the discharge of a superlaser, immensely more powerful than his first attack, following the track of his eyes as it cut through the sand towards her, moving back and forth through the storm like a lethal searching flashlight, hoping to catch Robyn with but the merest brush...

Padawan4687

 

Robyn collapsed to the ground once the beams stopped, her body scorched and shaking. Was that smoke, coming from her clothes? "L-lightning...did I use lightning just now?" she whispered to the ground, searching for strength in her weak arms. It seems the Force...is the only thing keeping me up now... she realized, almost shaking her head.

That strange yell forced Robyn's head up. Now what? she thought, struggling to her knees. What, could he possibly be summoning now? Not another rancor, it would never find her in this sandstorm! Strange auras began to find shape from...everywhere around Robyn, it felt like enemies and allies alike were....buried? They were somewhere below her, possible reinforcements for the Dark Lord. What in the world would he need reinforcements for? she wondered, unable to sense her Master anymore. Dreadwar's aura was easily blazing it away, coupled with the chaotic nature of her own.

"No...!" the girl desperately cried out, holding her head. She could practically feel the frustration in her hands, which clung to wisps of hair. Her lightsaber lay on the ground at her feet, "useless," as Dreadwar put it. "I can never use it, not again...! It hurts..." Blood red beams cut through the dark sands like a lightsaber blade, sweeping left and right. It was far brighter than before! Robyn had to duck more than once, and realized a few things about the move just then. He has to "look" at me for it to work...as long as he can't catch me with it this time, I'm...safe!

Robyn couldn't see the Lord either, at least not with her natural eyes. Finally, my element! She shut them, and allowed her dormant Sight to take over. She used it all the time as a child, and it effortlessly cut through the storm...the deep scarlet colors of Dreadwar's darkness were apparent in her new vision, and Robyn realized how easy it would be. If she could use that move, "Deadly Sight," did he call it-- NO! Her eyes stayed shut as she send up waves through the Force instead, to increase the intensity of the whipping sands around her. I can feel it...just like he says. It's, it's scaring me! How much more can I fight it...?

Darth Dreadwar

 

Dreadwar's eyes narrowed as he peered through the whirling mists of sand. He had hoped the Jedi would take his advice, and fall deeper into frustration and rage, but instead she tried his patience, surely ducking and weaving through the sandstorm, avoiding his scorching beams of death. The power was exhausting to keep up even with reservoirs as deep as his, and somehow she was avoiding his Deadly Sight even deprived of vision.

Ah, of course! Force vision. It was not his strong suit; it was said Force vision not only replaced natural sight, but allowed one to distinguish the crimson aura of a darksider from the blue of a Jedi. The cynical side of him suspected his lack of proficiency in the method was because he rejected the fallacy of two sides of the Force to be able to distinguish, and that users of Force sight were merely reading their own point of view into their sensing power. Nonetheless, he certainly could not maintain Force sight in simultaneity with Deadly Sight. Thus, he once more let the beams fade away, to cast his mind into the sandstorm and search for her presence. He spoke as he searched, "Disappointing. Do you seriously believe that using this technique will magically corrupt you, Padawan? If your intention is pure, how could any use of the Force be wrong? Are you saying if you Jedi kill, kill and kill with telekinetic pushes it is fine, but if they should so much as try to survive with Sith techniques, they are condemned?"

There! ... or there?... Vague, but close enough.

But he could not waste his power by summoning the beams again, not until he was sure. And so instead he waved his left hand, the Amulet briefly blowing as he used on it to replenish his reserves, and created Sith illusions. Sith illusions of crimson beams, shooting from his eyes, and panning through the gloom towards Robyn with terrifying speed, hoping to deceive her, hoping to force her to flee the pretense of killing energy out of the sandstorm before him where he could attack her with lightsaber and pin her under Deadly Sight once more.

Six skeletons leaped down into the arena, the rest hanging back above the rocks at its edge, dark figures barely visible save for their telltale red glowing eyes. Korriban zombies were not the undead that graced HoloFilms; no, they did not shamble towards him, but rather crossed the distance between the arena's edge and their Lord in a terrifying burst of speed, until Dreadwar bade them hang back... and wait for Shaire's response to his illusory Deadly Sight...

Padawan4687

 

As Robyn kept close to the ground, the beams of death shooting above her head suddenly disappeared. "I don't know..." she hissed into the storm, "N-no, as long as there's hope left...!" Her hope was quickly running out. She might, possibly, be tiring him out though. Maybe she still had a chance-- No, no no no! Those red Death beams returned, in full force. It wasn't just two, they were literally everywhere! Robyn cried out again, leaping out of the way. W-wait, calm down! she mentally shouted, Last time, there were only two beams! Could that lightshow be fake...? She really, really didn't want to risk herself again to find out.

Something else stirred in the sandy darkness, a whole row of tiny red lights...four, six, twelve of them... six people? While her Sight remained active with shut eyes, she could both see and feel a row of blazing auras. One man, an army all by himself, summoned an small army of reinforcements. Robyn felt her breathing quicken with fear, there was NO way she could defend against their might combined, she could barely face Dreadwar!

What did he say about the ability... "let the power be focused by...hate"... she lowered her head, but didn't deny it. She hated this, all of it! Facing this monstrous power all alone, enduring these soul-rending riddles, and now this?! Robyn felt the power slowly growing, and she opened her eyes to reactivate her natural sight. "Enough of you! All of you!" she shouted defiantly into the storm, as her eyes began to glow a neon red. She focused every bit of her anger against the row of men before her. "Get down, I am NOT dealing with all of you!"

Is this...is this Deadly Sight?!

Darth Dreadwar

 

Dreadwar watched in even parts delight and impressed shock as his opponent stumbled out of the sandstorm to face him, dodging his feigned Deadly Sight - and just as well, for if they had made contact it would have revealed the trick, but by forcing her into the open, they had done their job - only to--wait... Her eyes glowed neon red, matching the brilliance of the sparks within his own undead army's eye sockets at first, then rapidly eclipsing!

He laughed, truly, then, as rotten skin caught alight and the skeletons behind him floundered, pinned by an unrelenting gaze. Skeleton turned black, oozing from within until the stream of scorched bone became ash, falling like snowflakes to the red sands. Their red eyes flickered out, one by one as if a Life Day tree's lights were being switched off, an unearthly, shuddering cry escaping into the air as the six Korriban zombies he had reanimated fell to the ground, shattering.

Dismissing his illusory beams, for they paled in significance to the power Shaire was unleashing, Dreadwar spoke. "Well done, Padawan, well done!" he said in the fatherly tones one might use to address one's own apprentice who had mastered a most difficult and esoteric power. Frame the narrative, remind her of her old Master, convince her unconscious we are already on the same side... "You have my sincere congratulations. Few could have mastered such arcane might so quickly. Now you see the true power of the Force when not restrained by the maleficent - if magnificent in the audacity of its deception - dogma of the Jedi!" Robyn's attack had brought her forward, only two meters between them now that Dreadwar closed to one with a stride. He raised his spitting, hissing lightsaber high, as if about to bring it down in a deathstroke... and threw it at her feet, the blade deactivating just in time to avoid clipping off an arm or a head.

Dreadwar smiled proudly. "Now, my new friend... Let us put your morals, your true innermost beliefs that even now scream at you the truth, to the test." He looked her in the eye, all traces of baleful fire fading from his countenance to reveal eyes of cold grey. He spoke quietly then, almost reverently, in anticipation of the moment to come. "If I truly am your mortal enemy, if the Lords of the Sith are the scourge of the galaxy that must be cleansed... take my Sith weapon. Run me through with it."

His palms opened, as if placing himself in her hands. His voice dropped to a whisper. "Leave this dead world with me, uncover the true nature of the Force, and help me save the galaxy. Or kill me now."

Padawan4687

 

DIE! Robyn had to bite her tongue to keep from screaming the word aloud. Down, all of you! The creatures before her instantly caught alight, they were burning...going from red to black. An unearthly wail rose up through the sandstorm as the...things he summoned went down, and turned to useless dust. She really did it... She summoned Deadly Sight for herself.

Dreadwar looked delighted, he was actually laughing! He was...praising her, the same way her Master would once she mastered a difficult move. The same way... Alek did. B-but you're...not my Master, you... she feebly tried to fight the thought, but it easily broke through. What I've just done, is there any hope left for me to stay in the "Light"...if it even exists? She lifted her dimming red eyes to face Dreadwar, who now stood barely a meter in front of her with his weapon held high.

After forcing my eyes open like this...you'd kill me now? she thought, looking up at him with a drained, blank expression. Barely ten minutes in his presence, and he's changed me so-- A falling weapon interrupted her train of thought. Dreadwar abandoned his death bringing lightsaber to drop to her feet, and the blade deactivated before it could harm her. His eyes...his natural eyes, settled into a grey that matched steel, and Robyn felt her own go back to the brick red they always were. She was practically panting, but felt almost...detached. She couldn't look down at her own fallen weapon, but thought of her Master's face.

She sank to one knee, and shivered as her fingers touched the warm metal of Dreadwar's lightsaber. I...can finally end this, right now. Her eyes went wide with the realization. Run him through the heart with his own saber, and return to my Master in the ultimate triumph.... she weakly lifted the heavy hilt, but froze. He was putting his life in her hands...The trigger was an inch away, but Robyn couldn't even force her thumb to move. Would it even be enough to kill him? I honestly doubt it. He's practically invincible...

"I... can't do it..." she finally whispered, letting the hilt fall from her hands. "H-heh, even if I did, I'm sure you'd survive somehow..." Reaching out, she gently pulled both weapons from the ground to her hands. With a lowered head, she held his hilt out to quietly offer it back.

Darth Dreadwar

 

Dreadwar humbly accepted his own weapon back into his palm, clipping it to his belt. The vulture circles; her Master, or another Jedi...? He must move swiftly, lest she be ensnared by the machinations of the Great Jedi Deception once more. "Thank you, apprentice. You have made the right choice." He chuckled. "With you kneeling like that, I'm tempted to initiate you into the Order of the Sith Lords," he joked, winking. Kneeling down to her level, he tentatively extended his hand, placing it upon her shoulder.

"You have done the right thing, verily, this day. I cannot hold you at fault for having been courted by evil, only blame you if you continue down this road. The road to Chaos is paved with good intentions, after all, and I was young, once... a very long time ago..." a self-deprecating chuckle, "and indeed made the same mistake. We have just met. I am not asking that you swear allegiance to me or some such grandiose nonsense. But perhaps take a... vacation, as it were? My shuttle is not far. Your eyes are opened, now, but I might hope to open them further, to show you the true evil of the Jedi... how they butchered the entire Sith species to extinction, long ago, men, women and children all. How their Republic has pillaged the Outer Rim for millennia, breeding all the disenfranchisement and discontent that has caused the Rim worlds to time and time again flock to the banner of their saviours - the Sith. I would teach you more about the Force than you ever dreamed possible. How to raise the dead, how to heal and prolong life indefinitely, so that every being in this galaxy might never fear death. How to master technology such as the Rakatan Star Forges, to deliver the galaxy from the curse of capitalism and limited resources and in time usher in a post-scarcity civilisation of peace and order, where no one need want for anything; true utopia."

Dreadwar stood. "I'd hate to put you under pressure when making such a vital career decision, but in the interest of honesty, I must tell you that I sense a powerful Jedi no doubt approaching... your Master, perhaps, or another. I'm afraid, as Master Windu is reported to have tried with Palpatine, he or she would no doubt try and murder me on the spot without even a word, simply because of my religious affiliation. But when your education with me is complete, the Force knows that you might be able to make your master see the light - the true light, of the dark side." He extended his hand, as if only offering to help her stand, but it was proffering of a far more significant kind as well. "Will you walk with me to my ship, Rob--may I call you Robyn, by the way -- Will you come with me?"

Padawan4687

 

Robyn could scarcely believe herself. All in the span of a few minutes...she was still kneeling before this man, kneeling! "...swear allegiance or some grandiose nonsense," brought a tiny and dry chuckle past her lips, though. She was faintly surprised at his sense of humor, she previously didn't think a Sith could crack jokes! Silly, in hindsight...

It hurt to hear what terrible things the Jedi were guilty of, but much of it sounded familiar. Pillaging the Outer Rim, and angry settlers taking the side of the Sith, she used to hear her... Master, muttering things of that nature aboard the ship, wondering how the Republic could have let it go so far. She doubted either side had quite a clean slate, after so many millennia at war. The mention of the Star Forge got her to flinch, almost lift her head. Force, the entire crew had interest in those ancient machines, not just her Jedi Master! She wanted to learn more about them, too...would he really, teach me how to use them?

Robyn finally lifted her head with wide eyes. The sandstorm was slowly lifting, and now she could clearly see the bright white and blue of a ship's engines from below. It was both familiar and foreign at once. You turned, once... she thought, gazing up at it for a few more seconds. I thought her finding me kneeling before him was bad enough, just imagine her arriving, worried and determined to save me...to find nothing here, not even my body? "..." Now that was scary. Instead of the relief she would have felt at watching the hovering engines, Robyn felt nothing but her nerves. She definitely couldn't face her now. Robyn looked down at the extended hand, and shut her eyes as she reached for it.

"I'll..." her voice cut off for an instant as she was helped back up to her feet, "I'll go with you...I can't face the Jedi now." She then noticed that her lightsaber was still in one hand, and she clipped it away. "My, my Master though...in what she calls a previous life, she joined you. Maybe if I told her what you've told me..."...she might listen to me, or she might denounce it as lies. But, Master...are they? She finally shook her head. Robyn was thoroughly caked in dust, sweat and burns - she'd likely give her poor Master a heart attack on sight, and have her fury and lightsaber turned on Dreadwar seconds after...

"No, nevermind..." she sighed, "I don't think she'd listen, with me looking like this. But...I'm fine with you calling me 'Robyn'."

@Darth Dreadwar

 

Dreadwar smiled at her, turning swiftly, his cloak snapping in the eternally cold winds of Korriban, as the sun finally set behind the distant Valley, bathing the arena in shadow. Pathetic fallacy in action if he'd ever seen it, sparking some absurd musing that if his many personas were but masks created by him, what if even his true self was but a character in another story...? Shaking his head, he spoke to his new ally, "Thank you, my new friend. But are you sure that is rationality that forms your words, Robyn, not fear? Remember, a Sith knows no fear. Nonetheless I will respect your choice."

He began stalking powerfully towards the gap in the rocky walls that denoted the exit to the naturally formed fighting pit. "If you do not wish to confront your Master now, then we must move with haste to reach my ship before hers--" a gesture above "--lands. But if we will be in any case too late, then by all means, talk to her, persuade her to see reason. Should that fail, I hope you will forgive me if I must don a mask of fearsome bloodlust, as I did with you. We Sith call it Dun Möch; I see it as a way to intimidate, to subdue opposition without resorting to the far greater crime of unnecessary spilling of blood."

He strode into the crevice that would expand outwards, like a river, to lead into the Valley of the Dark Lords where his Upsilon-class command shuttle lay in wait like a primordial pterodactyl. He gestured for Shaire to follow him quickly, knowing that the brief walk down the narrow canyon would place them both into a vulnerable position, combat-wise.

Padawan4687

 

I'd be lying if I said there was no fear at all, Robyn thought. She was terrified of him just minutes ago, and he could still kill her at any time. But, she suspected that he had taken a liking to her in their short "battle". He was certainly impressed with her use of Deadly Sight. She lowered her head to decide on a response and began with, "I'm sure. I can't say I'm not afraid, but," she continued, "...if I turn back now, it's not like I can just 'forget'." No going back now...

She fearfully looked up in the sky, and realized the ship's landing gears were dropping. No, not her too! "D-Dun Moch?" she repeated, fumbling with the words. Under her breath, she muttered, "I suppose I'm living proof that it works..." Robyn hurried after him, with a sneaking suspicion that they would be spotted. She caught herself limping, and her ankle began to sting with every step. Ow...Am I slowing him down? she thought, painfully aware of the blazing aura behind them.

It was a relief to be down in the canyon, but Robyn couldn't help but pause at the sight of the waiting ship. She had seen that type before, plenty of times, but it's name escaped her. It was something fancy..."Up-something". Despite her attempts to distract herself, her mind briefly went blank as she stepped up to Dreadwar's ship. She was really doing this... Master, Kai, Po'Arwen...everyone... she thought, stealing one last look at the landing ship all the way back at the arena, I guess, this is goodbye.

"I...I hope I don't have to fight them," she quietly admitted, bringing an arm around herself. She'd much rather talk to them, when she felt more...stable.

Darth Dreadwar

 

Taking this over to the RPF since this evolved into something more...