Whill Shaman Dažbog
Master Moderator 
Water is the most important element of life. For without Water, you cannot make Coffee.
Posts: 1,451
Affiliation: Ancient Order of the Whills
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Post by Whill Shaman Dažbog on Jul 3, 2023 12:02:52 GMT -8
Raven's Peak, also known as Tarkin's compound was an Imperial fortress located on a mountain in the Seswenna sector capital planet Eriadu, Governor Wilhuff Tarkin's homeworld. It consisted of several facilities built inside the mountain's rock as well as a tower rising on top of it. The facility, informally known as Tarkin's compound, was heavily defended and accessible only through the air or a dedicated a dedicated sky rail system that connected the Raven's Peak starfighter depot with the main complex. A well guarded hangar on the lowest level of the facility, directly connected to the rail line terminal was the only access point of the complex. The compound's landing bay was a sprawling cave-like chamber guarded by TK stormtroopers who were also tasked with servicing stationed ships, checking them for homing beacons and loading supplies and weapons. A control room overlooked the landing bay and was manned by an officer and two Imperial weapons technicians who oversaw the landing and departure of starships, checked their clearance codes and checked the zone's security systems. Apart from the landing bay, the only other access point to the facility was a sky rail line which sprawled all the way from a base station that doubled as a starfighter depot to a terminal next to the Raven's Peak hangars. The line could be traversed by special rail cars that dangled from the rails and used powered cogs to move from the base station to the terminal and back. The command tower was the main focus of the facility and included a heavily fortified conference room located directly on top of the mountain peak, the peak itself being used as the centerpiece of the conference table and supporting a holoprojector. Around the table were six chairs, one of which had a higher back than the others and was reserved for Governor Tarkin himself. The room featured a large window overlooking the valley below; both the window and the chamber's entrance could be sealed with double blast door that could withstand a bomb attack. Inside the main complex was a control station which monitored all aspects of the site security, including the corridor security cameras and perimeter sensors. It was manned by weapons technicians who could reroute the power as needed or raise alarms to on site security in case of a perimeter breach.
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Darth Xitan
The Sith Eternal
Posts: 177 
Affiliation: The Cult of the Eternal
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Post by Darth Xitan on Jul 3, 2023 20:18:14 GMT -8
The results of gaining Raven's Peak were a great boon for the Sith Eternal. Within days of securing the planet, troops and Sith agents were brought to the planet, even a Harrower-class Dreadnought was seen drifting over the immense mountain range where the facility was located. Additional bases for starfighter squadrons as well as necessary listening outposts and checkpoints to keep the routes to and from secure from outside eyes and ears. Security was paramount as it was the focus of power for the Sith influence over the planet and into the system itself.
The Commandant of Raven's Peak was loyal Eriaduan, Gareth Harro, one of the members of the Quintad families. He had connections with another of the families, the Mottis, through the marriage of himself to the head of the family's sister. However, it wasn't connections that made him commandant. Xitan learned of his former loyalties to the Blackguard Imperium and the late Sith members of the Tarkin family, a branch that was now extinct. He had a proven record of being a Sith sympathizer and he had the proven career thus far. And so, after he was contacted, Xitan named him Commandant of the facility and to oversee all necessary functions.
Xitan would come to visit at some point after the occupation and annexation were complete. He surveyed the complex, checking in on the troops and facility's personnel. This was an immense boon to himself, and the Sith wondered what good and bad it would bring.
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Dragus
The Sith Eternal
In front of the Empire, to all you Vader haters out there. We'll blow your planet up.
Posts: 1,192
Affiliation: Sith Eternal
Traffic Light: Blue
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Post by Dragus on Aug 2, 2023 8:35:22 GMT -8
Situated in its lofty perch amongst the clouds, Raven's Peak facility had an unencumbered view of the massive Occulori as the luminously pulsating red orb descended from the frigid clutches of the void, wreathed in a residual chemical haze of exhaust as its repulsor lift system began reducing speed. The meltmassif ore coating the outer hull shimmered with an inner fire reflected upon its smooth crystalline surface, as a slit black pupil seemed to lurk beneath its glowing depths, occasionally revealing itself to glare accusingly at anyone brave enough to allow their own attention to linger on the cursed Core Ship. Dark fumes belched from its engines as it came to hover in front of the former Tarkin compounds command tower, the deafening roar of its propulsion system causing roosting birds to scatter, driven from their nests by the oppressive growl of the Occulori's repulor jets. Every thirteenth second the great ruby sphere omitted a sinister flash of light, timed perfectly with the tolling of thirteen alchemically produced gongs spread throughout the ship, struck by monstrous eight foot tall ranat-ogres wielding musical mallets like warhammers. The chiming tole resonated with skull splitting pressure, causing the huddled mutant masses inside to prostrate themselves on filth mired floors, as curtains of narcotic incense continued to billow from from wrought iron braziers hanging from the ceiling.A grating metallic screech echoed across the mountain peaks as a set of hydraulic doors at the base of the core ship began to peel apart like the cavernous opening of an exogorth's mineral encrusted jaws, retracting into hollow apertures to expose the unlit interior of the maintenance bay. Tree trunk sized arms comprised of bestial muscle and scabrous flesh turned massive cog shaped gears connected to a sinister spool of Sith iron links joined to form a kilometer long length of chain connected to a malevolent looking mechanical platform with a yawning cone protruding from the bottom. Tinker-rats in lead lined suits of insulated yellow rubber could be seen scurrying across the top of the platform as it descended from the underside of the Occulori, swaying slightly in the cold mountain winds that swept the ice rimed peaks. Blue forks of electrical current sparked across long power cables that ran the length of the chain all the way into the very heart of the core ship, where they were attached to an immense blue crystal held in a ray shielded chamber. The crystal was the very same AT-ST sized shard of Permafrost crystal the Dark Apothecary had stolen from Hoth, which he was now using as a power source for the industrial mining laser adhered to the core ship's underside. Standing nearby with ichor and oil oozing from the corners of his brass edged snout, more metal than mouse, Chief Warlock Enginseer Skaltera Brassclaw hooked a mechanical appendage on the mining lasers lever.As a vice-clamp shaped claw pulled the ill-fated switch, the mining laser at the base of the platform now swaying a thousand meters below the glowing red core ship, shrieked to life as it hissed a hateful coherent beam of concentrated laser down towards an empty valley in the shadow of the mountain Raven's Peak stood sentinel over. The aether screamed as the sentient shard of artic blue kaibur was drained of its life force, causing the colour to bleed from the mystical shard as red cracks formed across its surface, corrupting its very nature as it was used unceremoniously like some sort of impractical power cell. The mining laser bored into the surface of Eradiu, boiling minerals to molten muck before those too vaporized beneath the raw onslaught of directed energy from the drill.While this occurred, the blurrg drawn carriage carrying Dragus and Kr'Naan finally arrived at one of the numerous hangars spread across the Occulori. They arrived just as the hangar doors were retracting, allowing both occupants of the beast powered vehicle an unobstructed view of Xitan's new fortress. The Famine Lord allowed his sand squire to disembark first, accepting her offered hand as he climbed down and once more felt the comfort of deck grime beneath his toe talons, before taking up his ornate saber-cane like a walking stick as he crossed the deck with Naan at his side. A hunchbacked mutant with a pox scarred face that might have once belonged to a human hobbled towards the duo with an unsettled look carved into its horrendous features."Milord...we must speak." Gasped the creature through gangrenous lips that reeked of leprous rot. "The chiming of the toles is agitating Subject 227. If we continue, it may awaken before...""Nonsssense!" Snarled Dragus with angry sparks as his serrated tail spike struck the deck, silencing the pitiful worm while startling the wretch enough to burst a pustule over its rheumy eye, causing yellow milk caught on the mutant's stubby lashes to flick with every blighted blink of its jaundiced eyes. The Famine Lord directed a crooked claw into the creature's chest, popping a pulsing growth in the process, though getting the point across as the ghoulish figure wilted under the saurian Sith's malevolent notice. "The chiming of the thirteen tolez iz a Pzobian cussstom dating all the way back to the formation of the Order. You would have me break centuriez worth of tradition jussst for the creature'z comfort? Unthinkable. Increassse itz sssedation if it iz proving unmanageable.""We are nearly out of sedative, Milord." Explained the hobbled creature with its pus dripping head bowed, not daring to meet the mismatched eyes of the Blood Wyrm's displeased expression. "We were going to resupply at Kamino as originally scheduled, but you deviated from our pre-arranged course for this trip and...""I'll not sssuffer thessse excusez, Hephaessstion. There iz a fresh batch brewing in a cauldron in my lab that should jussst be about ready. Itz in the cauldron labelled XXX. Jussst be certain not to mix it up with the cauldron labelled XXXX. That potion iz ssstill in itz experimental stagez."Beads of mucus dripped from the mutant's face as it offered a last prostration in the form of a bow, then slunk off to carry out the fiendish draconian's will. The scowl of the saurian Sith's scaled visage quickly transformed into a toothy grin as he beheld the repulsor skiff that would carry them to Xitan's new base via the sky-rail terminal attached to Raven Peak's hangars. Mouldering tapestries on long sheets of stretched human vellum hung from the skiff's sides, depicting scenes and images of the countless profane acts committed by the Hakusar, painted in a rainbow of blood ink donated from a variety of unwilling xeno races. Yellow bone and sinew were artfully rendered into a throne mounted atop the skiffs platform, a decaying seat worthy of the Famine Lord's villainous posterior. As the pair reached the skiff, Dragus seated himself in the bone throne before motioning with an exaggerated claw wave to a nautical steering yoke at the front, indicating his wish for the tusken raider to drive.A pair of hulking gamorrean war-boars in barely adequate loin-cloths joined them on the repulsor skiff before it took off. Each bared a remarkable similarity to the cannibal mutants they had met in the Deep Woods of Pzob, for both green skinned porcine tribesmen had been transformed into Sithspawn after imbibing the Dark Apothecary's secret elixir, the Urcinis-Helix. Bone spurs protruded from their forest green flesh like barbed growths, while their tusks and crown of horns was elongated beyond the norm for the species. The two brutes were affectionally referred to by the demented denizens of the Haemonculus Occulori as Gork and Mork. Grasped in the pudgy sausage fingers of their ham sized mitts, the mutant gamoreans held horrifically surgically altered ithorians that had been repurposed by the mad alchemist into living musical instruments. Primitive biceps squeezed the sentient snails throat sacs, producing a loud and irksome melody from the tortured and heinously abused aliens. Dragus hummed the very same tune as he wagged his index talons back and forth, clearly appreciating the racket.
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Kr'Naan'Kar
The Sith Eternal
Posts: 152
Traffic Light: Yellow
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Post by Kr'Naan'Kar on Aug 2, 2023 12:36:48 GMT -8
Staying in the shadow of Dragus as he was accosted by a mutant servant, the eyes of Kr'Naan's face covering drifted to look out the opening hangar. The mining laser roaring to life could be heard ripping through the air, paired with what sounded like a high pitched tone of divine agony as the permafrost crystal's life force was transmuted to the raw energies required to power the very hungry mining equipment. While the beam was not directly visible, the light it created was bright enough to tinge the interior of the hangar they stood within a cruel crimson as the mining beam tinted the sky with its brilliance. Kr'Naan's vision drifted over to the mountaintop structure.It almost reminded her of the Or'Rrk'Rkr clan's enclave, in the sense the Tusken city was partially built into a city, though she did not know what lied within its constructed cave systems. Kr'Naan wondered what secrets this facility held. Shaman blasphemers were always surrounded by heretical texts and artifacts, as well as those they schemed with to defy the law of the gods. As Dragus strode away from the muttering mutant manservant's side Kr'Naan turned her head back and did her best to keep pace. The white eyes of her mask caught the worrisome expression on the miserable mutant's misshapen face, their eyes locking for a moment before the malformed misbegotten man-creature averted his droopy eye and hurried off in search of this cauldron. Had Dragus said it was labelled XXXX or XXX?Like the faithful servant she was, Kr'Naan bowed her head and took control and took control of the steering yoke of the repulsor-skiff While not technically taught in the act of controlling such craft, the young Tusken had learned through the art of joyriding using the repulsor-platforms used to transport everything with the Occulori. Kr'Naan had learned the hard way over these past several weeks: by crashing, repeatedly and in very inconvenient places much to the lament of the crew of the vessel. Kr'Naan bit her bottom lip nervously as she looked over the array of buttons and levers on the control console. It was in truth only four buttons and two levers, but it might as well be a supercomputer in terms of difficulty for someone still learning and adjusting to levels of transportation technology higher than Banthas and hand-drawn carts. Regardless of her anxiety, only wishing to provide her master the smoothest of rides, Kr'Naan fingered a large red button which began the engines of the skiff and guided it out of the hangar.Eyeing the sky-rail, Kr'Naan steered the skiff to ride along the top, thinking it was some sort of sky-road. Her eyes locked onto the impact site of the mining beam. The crystal-powered beam which was beginning to flicker and die down as they grew closer to the facility, the permafrost crystal drained and little more than a corrupted husk. Suddenly Kr'Naan was forced to pull up on the control handle as a fast moving train car was heading straight towards them. Not the smoothest of rides, but better than skimming the bottom of the skiff along the locking mechanism and taking out the lifts along its bottom and sending them careening into the forest and mountains below. "Apologies master. I shall keep my eyes on the...road?"Suddenly a small screen lit up on the control console of the skiff, coordinates coming in indicating the location of the landing bay, presumably transmitted from the facility. Taking the skiff higher and higher until level with the opening bay doors of the Raven's Peak landing bay. Skillfully, at least compared to the near-collision earlier, guiding the repulsor-skiff down and into the bay and landing it as centered as the Tusken pilot could manage. One of the porcine bagpipers, Gork specifically, let out a grunt to get Kr'Naan's attention, gesturing with his dark beady eyes at one of the levers on the control console.As the hum of the skiff's engines died down, the wailing Ith-struments grew louder and more baleful in tone. A small compartment covering near the bottom of the skiff fell open, releasing a disgusting splash of foul smelling liquids across the deck of the bay. With a wet flopping sound what could only be described as a carpet made of living flesh, complete with wriggling and undulations, unfurled from within the enclosure to present a proper pathway for the reptilian patron of the repugnant. Whatever miserable creatures Dragus had fused together to create such a horrible existence had been stewing in that container for some time, as now it was clear the liquid that had splashed out were its own waste excretions (among other things) and it had been soaking in them for Hakusar-only-knows how long. The two gamorrean war-boars were first to disembark, striding along the meat-carpet while continuing their tune to announce the arrival of their master. Trailing behind them was the Tusken Kr'Naan, a basket of bone looped on an arm, her gloved hands reaching within and withdrawing teeth to toss like a flower-girl at a wedding ceremony. Perhaps she got a little too into it, dancing and swaying to the cruel compositions of the swinish Sithspawn, and pelting the gathered greeters in formation on purpose.Finally from the skiff came the barbaric barabel himself...
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Dragus
The Sith Eternal
In front of the Empire, to all you Vader haters out there. We'll blow your planet up.
Posts: 1,192
Affiliation: Sith Eternal
Traffic Light: Blue
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Post by Dragus on Aug 8, 2023 17:34:54 GMT -8
A change came over the atmosphere as the Famine Lord stirred on his morbid throne of bone and sinew, like some sort of sleeping drake forced awake by the need to sate its own terrible hunger. A queer feeling of malaise seemed to weigh heavy on the air, joined by a nasty chill as the black scaled barabel flexed its claws, carving furrows in the crowns of the yellowing crowns used for the arms of his gruesome seat with those obsidian butchers hooks he had for finger talons. A coiled wisp of purple smoke formed into nightmare inspired shapes as the saurian Sith exhaled a steaming breath of poisonous air. Wet bone splinters rained from his talon tips as Dragus lifted his claw and dragged his long flickering forked tongue across their razor edge. A low buzzing of insectile wings accompanied the draconian, projected audibly from his form as though his scaled presence were an off-tune speaker. His ferocious reptilian form was largely hidden behind a light swallowing cloak of shadow silk, only exposing his overlong tail with the sinister iron spike that capped its tip, and the end of his crocodilian snout. The Dark Apothecary's wet lips peeled back to expose gleaming white fangs that refracted the light, glistening as steaming ropes of scalding saliva drizzled from their needle tips.
In a single slithering motion the mad alchemist rose from his grizzly seat, disturbing a swarm of buzzing flies beneath his cloak, scattering them around his dark apparel. Some settled on the grit forest of incisors filling his powerful jaws, picking at the rancid bits of carrion festering against his bleeding gums, before being swatted away or swallowed by a forked flicker of the drake lord's reptilian tongue. Looped over his shoulder was a satchel of tanned man-hide, containing the Hungering One's alchemical supplies. He lifted his claws to the hem of his hood and peeled it back, exposing the rigid scales of his naked scalp, displaying the mismatched nature of his eyes. The right was double lidded, blood red with a slit black pupil, just as one might expect of a barabel like Dragus. The left, however, was anything but natural. Resting in the left socket of the Blood Wyrm's eye was the amethyst gem of a rakata ocular implant, directly interfaced with the scheming saurian's twisted brain. An awful stench of grave mould wafted from his ghastly form, standing replete in full nightmarish fashion on the door step of his favourite student.
Both of the brutish war-boars leading their landing party were terrifying in their own right, standing at seven feet in height and broad across the shoulder as a professional shockball player, rippling with condensed slabs of primitive muscle. Their skin was a mix of dark forest green and charcoal, covered in spikey growths of bone that protruded from their joints. The crown of horns jutting from their scalps were elongated, as were the tusks jutting from their oozing jowls, stained pink from their latest meal. Each was covered in an infestation of parasitic morrts, worn with pride over scarred flesh. Neither wore any clothing save for a filthy loin cloth that hung loosely from their wastes, barely protecting either swines modesty. They continued to play a horrendous wailing tune on their living ithorian bag-pipes, squeezing and inflating their throat sacs as necessary to create their devilish tune. The physical and psychological suffering of the sentient instruments was the most delicious sort of delicacy to the drake; it invigorated him, expanding the dark cloud of dread that seemed to spawn from his very presence.
A sharp leathery creak sounded as the corner of the Great Devourer's scaled lips twisted upwards into a sinister grin as he rested his lecherous lizard's gaze on Kr'Naan, watching as she pelted the towers workforce with a diverse scattering of teeth, acknowledging her devotion with some discomfort. It was pleasing to have his darling desert rose returned to him after their parting. To Naan it might have only seemed as a week or two, but to Dragus thirty years time had passed, even if his scales did not reflect it. He had found her absence...unsettling. Perhaps it was the way she constantly squabbled with Squeakers or the way she clung to his every spoken word as though divinely inspired, but he found her constant presence of great comfort to his frankly stressed and overworked self. He could feel the invisible tendrils joining them, bleeding in long oily ropes of ink from the golden mask Kr'Naan wore over her pecan coloured face, as the object she now wore bound the two of them together in a more diabolical way than even the rakatan slave device. Through their shared connection, he could see what his daring desert raider saw, even delve into her dreaming mind when she slept. His smiling expression faltered as the sudden roar of the swinging mining laser hanging from the Occulori's underside suddenly went silent.
Dragus turned and looked over his shoulder as a dark swarm of haphazardly designed and poorly maintained repulsor skiffs and platforms of varying shapes and sizes, descended in the form of an expanding miasma from the glowing red belly of the hovering core ship. Scabrous man sized rodents with jutting yellow tusks and beady black eyes hissed and snarled as they spilled over the sides of the recklessly floating vehicles, some barely hanging on as construction supplies and teams of worker rats were being shipped down to the surface to begin erecting scaffolding around the drill site. A great gout of acrid steam rose from the hundred meter wide hole, still glowing orange from where the mining laser bore into the surface, turning solid rock to vapour. Hundreds of parasite infested slave vermin toiled in teams to raise platforms using repurposed scrap and bones. Slowly a disjointed tower structure began to rise up from the base of the hole, ascending high into the sky as the rodents hurry-scurried about the Dark Apothecary's will.
Hidden behind the oddly resonating core ship, shrieking sparks hissed angrily from rusted hangar doors as two utility tugs piloted by the half mechanical tinker rats of Clan Rustrot slipped into the sky, carrying atop their backs large tankers full of a luminous green alchemical substance. The cyborg mice put their tankers into hover mode as they waited for Stage 3 to commence. Stage 2 was nearing completion, as impressively the disease carrying ranats employed by the Dark Apothecary had nearly completed building a swaying tower that creaked in the wind, barely held together by tanned strips of manflesh and coils of intestinal rope. ! Another thunderous gong sounded as the Pater Mutatis' hench-vermin struck their alchemically attuned instruments. Warning klaxons blared and strobe lights flashed across the surface of the the hovering core ship, as a massive set of doors began to peel apart, swallowing the mining platform as it retracted into the Occulori's belly. A bestial shriek shattered the otherwise tranquility of the moment, as something monstrous and mightily upset inside the ship made its presence known.
The Famine Lord's scaled visage was twisted in fiendish delight as he looked towards the pulsating red sphere, before looking back towards the landing pad, where Gork/Mork and Kr'Naan waited at the end of an oozing carpet crafted from the leftovers of his other experiments. Blood flecks rained from his lips as he hissed excitedly. "It haz awakened earlier than I expected. We'll have to accelerate the time table." The lisping lizard centered his snout on the Sand Child. "Wart, check on the beassst. It may find your presssence more comforting. We need it calmed or we risssk losssing control and having it burrow right through the mountain. I don't think Xitan wantz uz poking holez in hiz new home."
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Darth Xitan
The Sith Eternal
Posts: 177
Affiliation: The Cult of the Eternal
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Post by Darth Xitan on Aug 10, 2023 19:11:58 GMT -8
From the top of the Raven's Peak facility, Xitan and a group of his Sith underlings watched as the descent of the Lord Dragus began from within the spherical dropship of his Lucrehulk. Certainly, there was a benefit to the isolated location of Raven's Peak, far away from disrupting the usual life and industry of Eriadu. So thankfully, the meeting with the rather overly dramatic entry, typical of the Dark Apothecary, would not be disruptive, save to the agents that made this facility their lair. Xitan, in a rare occasion, had his masked removed, allowing his pale face and long dark hair to gaze upon the descending Occulori.
I can see why the Council are annoyed with him.
Xitan remarks as he turns away and proceeds to don his helmet once more. It clicked into place, allowing his face to be hidden once more. However, the thing that annoyed the Acolyte the most was the damn ranats... those creatures festered within the Nullus Beacon and upon the descending vessel. Xitan had a lesser view of the furry critters that were the favored minions of Dragus. Lesser than even cannon fodder. The Sith scoffed slightly before proceeding to leave the conference room. This may be where he had made his lair, but Xitan was still just an Acolyte, a member of the Favored. He still had to give good reception and respect to the one coming to visit Eriadu.
A Stormtrooper platoon was deployed to the site of the vessel's landing as well as a cadre of Sith Warriors. Xitan arrived just as the vessel got within landing posture as his eyes noticed its legs begin to extend outward. They kept a distance though, given such large vessels were unwieldly to land. With him were also a number of Imperial notables who had found renewed favored with the Sith given the departure of what they said was the Dark Tide. These families sure had wealth and connections that would be beneficial to the Eternal in the long run of things.
The Acolyte remained rooted in his place, waiting for Dragus to disembark before approaching.
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Kr'Naan'Kar
The Sith Eternal
Posts: 152
Traffic Light: Yellow
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Post by Kr'Naan'Kar on Aug 11, 2023 12:28:41 GMT -8
Standing straight with her knees nearly locked, half-bull basket of teeth still under her arm, Kr'Naan turned her head slightly to watch as Dragus began to descend from the skiff onto the flesh-carpet. The first few steps of his talons ripping into the twisted and tortured amalgamation of some of his more less fortunate victims and leaving a trail of blood and what was hopefully puss, only to stop as a distance bellow interrupted to joyous arrival of the Hakusar to this unworthy mortal's abode. Kr'Naan scowled beneath her mask while at the same time Gork and Mork's Ith-strumental angelic yowling slowed before coming to a stop as they too were confused. And all this happening just as what seemed to be the masked leader of this base arrived.
Kr'Naan cleared her throat, trying to get the attention of the bewildered boars, but had to resort to quickly jabbing the closest in the thighs. Letting out a confused snort, Gork looked down at the practically steaming sand child who gestured wildly at the living Ithorian bag-pipes. Gork caught on quick, thankfully, and restarted the melody with Mork also rejoining his porcine partner in harmonic wailings. At Dragus's beckoning, however, Kr'Naan quickly hushed the soothing mewlings of the peccary players to be able to hear her master's orders. She responded quickly, trying her best to maintain a colt tone. There was however the very clear timbre of disdain, due to the Tusken child's extreme prejudice against Force users of any sort; her misinformed point of view being they twisted the gods' powers for their own sinful purposes. "More holes might improve the appearance." She said curtly in the ewokese tongue, turning her masked face to steal a hateful glance at the waiting masked stranger. But she relented quickly to the holy decree of her god. "As you command, master."
Kr'Naan began to walk back down the length of meat mantle, tossing more teeth from her basket to either side. And again directly at the formations of troopers. Halfway back she turned and cleared her throat angrily at Gork and Mork, who looked at each other. Hurriedly they began to once more start up their Ith-struments' serene squallings, only for the tiny Tusken to quickly and repeatedly motion with her hand across her throat. The porker pair halted their playing once more, shrugging at the child of sand as if to say "what the oink do you want?!" Frustrated, Kr'Naan gestured for them to come with her. The singular brain cell between them finally kicking in, Gork and Mork finally began to awkwardly follow behind the Tusken tyrant, who did her best to empty the remainder of teeth from her basket, eventually even tossing the entire thing into the crowd of stoic armored soldiers who had put up with all of her dental debasement in perfect form. The tissue tarp squelched and squished with each step of the trio as they shuffled back onto the skiff.
Kr'Naan paused for a moment at the first step next to where Dragus was. The not-so-subtle sand child leaned forward slightly. "If you need me, for whatever reason, I shall return immediately." The dune delinquent nodded her head towards the waiting Xitan. Finally, thankfully, the embarrassment came to an end as Kr'Naan hurried up to the controls of the skiff. With a curious hand she threw one of the levers on the console. There was a heavy CHUNK! as a heated, heavy and dull blade fell from within the top of the container the flesh-carpet had unfolded from, falling down and separating the poor creature from the skiff via cauterization. The living walkway squirmed and shuddered, letting out high pitched shriek of agony as the smell of burning meat wafted into the air. Kr'Naan pressed down hard onto one of the buttons and slowly pulled back on the yoke.
The skiff lifted up slowly before it began to turn and head back towards the Occulori, leaving Dragus standing there with his flesh-carpet to walk upon and surrounded by ceremonially thrown teeth.
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Dragus
The Sith Eternal
In front of the Empire, to all you Vader haters out there. We'll blow your planet up.
Posts: 1,192
Affiliation: Sith Eternal
Traffic Light: Blue
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Post by Dragus on Aug 13, 2023 7:27:16 GMT -8
Ceremoniously abandoned as he was by his rather exact-instruction abiding accomplice and the two musical boars, the hateful drake stepped off the mouldering meat carpet onto the smooth floor of the landing pad that was otherwise pristine prior to their arrival, now soiled in a sticky puddle of foul effluence. The Blood Wyrm's curling toe talons carved furrows into the polished duracrete surface as he stalked towards Xitan and the swarm of sycophants that practically clung to his boot heels, ranging from a number of dangerous looking Sith warriors and a scrumptious looking platoon of stormtroopers. The saurian Sith's scaled belly groaned desirously as his bloody right eye rested on them, jaws parting to expose rows of glistening incisors and a slithering forked tongue that sopped up the dripping ropes of steaming salivation that spilled over his black lips. Bringing the claw tips of his fingers together in front of him, the Dark Apothecary stopped short of Xitan and bowed his shadowsilk hooded head, displaying deference to the Eriadu despot in his domain."Xitan!" Exclaimed Dragus, delighted to see the other Sith. His overlong tail whipped behind his scaled form in reckless animation, swiping the poison coated serrated spike capping its end through the air, like a happy hound with a bone. "Good to sssee you, my boy." He stopped, squinting his right eye as he leaned in, inspecting the other Sith from tit to toe with a curious swish of his snout. "Are you eating enough? You look thin, lad. No doubt the stressez of a planetary dictatorship are an unaccussstomed weight on thossse ssstrong shoulderz of yourz, but it iz a burden I am confident you can endure. Besidez..." His wicked expression turned more serpentine as he slid an arm around the Acolyte's backside, gesturing with his other claw towards the mountaintop vista's view of Eriadu's resplendent landscape and the glowing red orb in the sky, violating its serenity. "...I know what will make it better. I've brought you a gift."
Held in the ray shielded belly of the Occulori, a monstrous creature of gargantuan size and ill temper was suspended in the air, held aloft by cruel barbed hooks of Sith iron that penetrated the beast's thick hide. The hooks were attached to chains, pulled taut from where they were connected onto the core ship's skeleton, supported by an array of tensor fields. Ranats on repulsor skiffs, much like the rusted contraption that had carried Dragus & company over to Raven's Peak, floated around the thrashing animal. Leather masked storm-vermin with long crackling shock-poles stabbed at the creature's side, blistering its flesh with painful jolts of electrical voltage. The half-machine half-mouse vermin lord of Clan Rustrot, Skaltera Brassclaw, could be seen squeaking orders to panicked rodents caught in a storm of flailing tentacles and ear splitting screeches. A repulsor-skiff became entangled with a tentacle that had wound around its length, squeezing its base until the skiff snapped under the pressure, splitting in two before exploding in a cloud of rusted shrapnel and alchemical green flame.Stabbing a brass vice like claw at the irate suspended monster, the Chief Warlock Enginseer ordered a cadre of tinker-rats forwards, holding long slender nozzles connected to tanks of luminous green liquid strapped to their scabrous backs. Each tank was labelled with four bold Xs. "Squeak! Squeak-squeak squeak squeak, squeak. Squeak!" Snarled Skaltera, hissing scalding droplets of oil from his metallic snout as he gave the order, just as Gork/Mork and Kr'Naan entered the ship. Alchemical clouds of vapour blasted from the spraying nozzles, obscuring the immense squirming beast in the Occulori's belly in a miasma of experimental batch of spirit ichor.
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Darth Xitan
The Sith Eternal
Posts: 177
Affiliation: The Cult of the Eternal
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Post by Darth Xitan on Aug 13, 2023 21:36:33 GMT -8
"Xitan!" Exclaimed Dragus, delighted to see the other Sith. His overlong tail whipped behind his scaled form in reckless animation, swiping the poison coated serrated spike capping its end through the air, like a happy hound with a bone. "Good to sssee you, my boy." He stopped, squinting his right eye as he leaned in, inspecting the other Sith from tit to toe with a curious swish of his snout. "Are you eating enough? You look thin, lad. No doubt the stressez of a planetary dictatorship are an unaccussstomed weight on thossse ssstrong shoulderz of yourz, but it iz a burden I am confident you can endure. Besidez..." His wicked expression turned more serpentine as he slid an arm around the Acolyte's backside, gesturing with his other claw towards the mountaintop vista's view of Eriadu's resplendent landscape and the glowing red orb in the sky, violating its serenity. "...I know what will make it better. I've brought you a gift." |
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Kr'Naan'Kar
The Sith Eternal
Posts: 152
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Post by Kr'Naan'Kar on Aug 15, 2023 9:46:17 GMT -8
As Kr'Naan parked the skiff within the Occulori, the acrid stench of the batch XXXX filled the air. The unfortunately incorrect concoction being sprayed to calm the large beast held in the air by Sith iron hooks and obscured by miasmic mist. Kr'Naan hopped off the skiff and onto the floor, nearly slipping as the floor of the platform beneath the platform was slick with both various excretions from the beast as well as the blood of those unlucky enough to be caught by one of beasts many tentacles and consumed. One of the two Gamorrean attendants that had come back to the Occulori with Kr'Naan was quick enough to steady the Tusken child and prevent her from falling, to which she appreciatingly gave the hog-man a pat on the rotund belly that somehow still had a visible six pack. "Thanks." Kr'Naan chirped in ewokese.Sniffing the air as she drew closer to the tinker-rats spraying the creature with mystical miasma, Kr'Naan frowned. Suddenly everything clicked together as she saw the tanks, the four large Xs on each. "What are you doing!?" Screamed the child of sand in near panic, but not yet catching the attention of any of the ranat workers. Kr'Naan turned to the two Gamorrean servants, angrily gesturing in the direction of the rodent sprayers. "Stop them before it's too late!" Gork and Mork snorted affirmatively and ran off towards the far side sprayers, their tall muscular legs able to carr them farther much faster, whereas Kr'Naan ran towards the closer tinker-rats.Kr'Naan grabbed at the nozzle in the rodent's hands, pointing it down towards the floor and not at the surprisingly quiet beast. With the spray of concoction halted, an eerie silence grew as some of the tinker-rats recognized the Tusken terror, and also put two and two together as to why the diminutive dune-dweller would be upset. Something was amiss. Skaltera let out a disapproving hiss as he approached the sand child, who lifted her masked face upward to glare down at the rat-lord. Skaltera began squeaking angrily at Kr'Naan, who, mid-squeak, smacked the side of the rat-clan leader's metal snout. The force of the blow caused his head to turn to the side, the momentum flinging sizzling oil out onto the floor. Skaltera's beady black eyes blinked in disbelief for a moment, during which Kr'Naan calmly spoke. "Explain yourself." Skaltera blinked his black beady eyes in disbelief, his bottom jaw slightly slack before quickly turning back to face the Tusken child once more, to put her in her place.SMACK Again Kr'Naan brought down her hand across Skaltera's face, this time with enough force to cause him to stagger backwards. Kr'Naan took a few steps forward to close the gap between them herself before repeating the order. "Explain yourself." Skaltera rubbed the now agitated parts of his face where metal met meat, jostled uncomfortably by the assault. He eyed Kr'Naan angrily, before his eyes grew cold. Rubbing his now sore jaw he began to squeak at the child, this time calmy. Kr'Naan listened silently, the white eyes of her mask staring into the ranat lord's own beady black ones. Finally after finishing his explanation, Kr'Naan did not physically react. "Hephaestion shall pay for his incompetence." Kr'Naan said simply.The previously quiet creature suddenly began to groan as the green fog began to dissipate down that the ranat sprayers had halted. The XXXX concoction which had been mistakenly grabbed instead of the XXX sedative was, in fact, an extremely powerful stimulant. Vibrations began to shake the sith iron chains, which worryingly began to groan as the excitant began to take effect. "We have to move quickly!" Yelled Kr'Naan at Skaltera as she began to run towards the closest repulsor platform. Kr'Naan clambered up onto the platform and held down a button to the bridge. "Lower the Occulori! We must release the beast now!" A voice crackled over the small circular speaker on the platform's control console. The voice spoke in Basic."What? Who is this? This channel is for official business. Not for ewoks to jabber on." Kr'Naan growled before clearing her throat and speaking in Basic. "This is Wart! Lower the ship! The beast. It needs to be released NOW!"Without much more hesitation the reverse thrusters of the Occulori engaged, beginning to bring the ship even closer to the planet's surface. The chained creature began thrashing, its tentacles flailing and grabbing onto anything within it's reach and either shoving it into it's massive maw or squeezing it until it popped or was crushed. With all of the movement, it was not the groaning sith iron chains that gave, but where they connected to the supports.Ping The first chain snapped, the force causing it to swing like a whip out and exploding an unlucky tinker-rat struck by the propelled shackles. The beast tilted, causing the others chains to succumb to similar fates, until finally the behemoth flopped into the ground, thrashing and rolling, screeching and roaring. The force of the weight of the creature shook the superstructure of the ship.Kr'Naan tried to pilot the repulsor platform she was on out of the way, but the bottom was struck by one of the chains that had snapped from their bases, causing her to go careening back down into the platform and fly off, impacting onto the ground. A little unsteady on her feet but standing up nonetheless, Kr'Naan looked up to see a frantic Gork and Mork attempting to fight the creature's tentacles off. Beneath the platform, the lower doors began to open wider in preparation as the Occulori lowered even farther, closer to the mined hole in the surface of Eriadu. From the comms speaker of the crashed platform something could be heard, but it was mostly incomprehensible static because of the damage. Mork grunted in a pig-roar squeal as Gork was snatched up and shoved within the many-toothed mouth of the wild beast. Kr'Naan began to make a run another platform, but she tripped on one of the fallen chains still connected to the creature. Sadly she did not have time to get back up.The platform beneath them finally gave way, with any on it with the creature falling down towards the open hydraulic doors and down towards the planet, still fairly high up in the sky. Thankfully, her foot had hooked within one of the sith iron links still attached to the beast. Not so thankfully, Kr'Naan was terrified of heights, especially this exact scenario of falling from high up in the sky; something she had already experienced more times than most.From the lower bay doors of the Occulori, expelled like a baby shot from the womb by pressing on the stomach too hard, was a giant mutated Sarlaac. The creature flailed in the air as it descended not-so-gracefully towards the surface, spinning uncontrollably. This movement was good for the unwilling passenger, Kr'Naan, as she was swung into the creature. Grabbing onto the large spike-like spines on the outside. She was not the only rider either. Mork, the other Gamorrean, clung to the back as well, squealing in terror. Kr'Naan noticed in his hand the pig-man held another sith iron chain. Struggling to reach down with one hand while clinging to the falling sarlaac with the other, she reached down and unhooked the chain around her boot, bringing it up. The heavy chain was difficult to grasp and almost impossible for her to lift, but death was a really good motivator. Lifting the chain and moving it up and over to give to Mork, the mutant Gamorrean nodded understandingly at the Tusken's plan.Slowly standing up, with both chains in hand, the muscular Mork yanked on the chains like reins, causing the sarlaac to jerk in response and even out as it continued to plummet towards the surface. The gamorrean tucked one of the chains under his pit and helped Kr'Naan to her feet before handing the chains over to her. Kr'Naan held both chains in her hands, and basically did nothing due to the intense fear and adrenaline from the descent. The sarlaac had no wings or anything of the sort to aid it in its freefall, but thankfully it did not need them, as the Occulori had already been over the newly excavated hole meant to be the home for the creature. A smile grew on Kr'Naan face beneath her mask as the dopamine kicked in.At the last moment before impact, Mork wrapped his bulging arms around the Tusken child and covered her with his body as the pair were flung from the back of the burrowing beast. When Kr'Naan came to, her head was pounding and she tasted copper, but she was alive. Mork snorted something in pig-speak as he helped her up. Kr'Naan looked over to see the sarlaac laying a few dozen feet away. "Is it dead?" Before Mork could answer, one of the sarlaac's tentacles lurched at the pair, ensnaring Mork and dragging the squealing mutant gamorrean into its gullet. All Kr'Naan could do was shrug. "I guess that answers that. Now what are we going to do with you?" Another problem that would solve itself.Letting out the equivalent to a burp for the species, drowsiness began to overtake the creature as the short-lived stimulant began to wear off and its stomach full of captive meals to survive off of made it wish to find a safe place to rest. It needed to burrow, or find a cave or something. The sarlaac, feeling the residual heat from the mining laser, would be drawn toward the excavation and awkwardly wiggle its way backwards to fit snuggly inside.Kr'Naan watched with utter fascination throwing up her hands in disbelief. Closing her mind and focusing her thoughts, she put her index fingers to her temples. "And now a platform will come down a take me back to master..."But no repulsor platform nor skiff materialized. Letting out a huff, Kr'Naan began the trek back towards Raven's Peak on foot. Around ten minutes after she had left the area of the new sarlaac pit, skiffs and repuslor platforms would descend from the Occulori. If only she had waited.
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Dragus
The Sith Eternal
In front of the Empire, to all you Vader haters out there. We'll blow your planet up.
Posts: 1,192
Affiliation: Sith Eternal
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Post by Dragus on Aug 16, 2023 9:39:26 GMT -8
He-Who-Hungers had wracked his devious brain coming up with a gift idea suitable for Xitan, but with Eriadu as his personal playground and a powerful naval fleet already at his command, what to get for the Sith that already had everything? A years supply of concentrated essence of ewok? Perhaps, but Xitan was still young and likely didn't require aid in the virility department. Weapons, armour? Maybe, but the Dark Apothecary had already gifted the Acolyte with a matching pair of blackpowder pistol and dagger, and he'd hate to be predictable. In an effort to bequeath this rising star of the Sith Eternal with something worthy, the Hungering One had turned to his other area of expertise. Monsters."The only sssort of gift befitting a Sssith of your ssstature, my friend." He hissed enthusiastically, slipping a claw into the folds of his shadowsilk robe to retrieve a collapsible telescope. With a quick snap of his wrist he unfolded the brass tube into its elongated form, roughly thirty centimetres in length. There was an unnatural luminous quality to the lenses of the handheld scope that bespoke to alchemical origins, which would be obvious to anyone that peered through its length while fiddling with its rotating segments, allowing for magnification unequaled even in a pair of electro-binoculars. He offered the telescope to Xitan, still indicating the Occulori with his other claw. "Behold the mighty Sssarlacc!"It was around this time that the Famine Lord first noticed something wasn't quite right. It was hard to tell from this distance but it looked like flaming metal debris was falling out the bottom of the hovering Core Ship. The pulsating sphere in the sky then began to dip, lowering towards the valley at the base of the mountain Raven's Peak was built upon, half obscured by misty clouds. Approaching the railing at the edge of the platform, Dragus arrived just in time to see the exorbitantly expensive worm drop out of the bottom of the Occulori, the amethyst gem set in his left eye whirring audibly as its mechanisms zoomed in on the falling beast. The Dark Apothecary's jaw practically dropped to the floor when he saw what, or rather who, was riding on the creature's back as it plummeted towards the hole carved into the ground by the mining laser. A meaty smack echoed through the landing bay as the saurian Sith's black scaled palm slapped his forehead in frustration, shaking his snout from side to side. He swore by the Eye that one of these days Kr'Naan was going to be the death of him. Why had no one warned him it was going to be this difficult to raise a tumultuous little tusken by his lonesome Sithly self? He should have listened to Bacca's advice and adopted a rancor instead. Way easier to manage. Mind you, there was little parental concern there. Irritation, was more abound, in the form of sulphurous exhalations of smoke from his seething snout and the way his claws scraped gouges in the ferrocrete railing. He leaned over the edge, his mismatched eyes following the creature's flight to the ground, which as luck would have it wasn't far.Dragus winced as the sarlacc struck the valley floor, which sent reverberating vibrations all the way up to where they stood at the heights of the gods, atop the mountains. With his implants visual enhancement he was able to spot a familiar speck, slowly making its way from the sarlacc that was fortunately slithering into the hole created for it, drawn to the residual heat of the mining laser. Raising his left claw beneath his chin, the deranged drake pulled back his silken sleeve to expose the naked scales of his arm, along with a wrist communicator. He clicked a sequence of commands into the device with a talon tip, opening a channel to Lil'Havok. Whatever the topic of conversation between the blood flecking draconian and his blind chauffeur, it ended with the Great Devourer losing his temper.:: ...no, I don't care what you were doing with the fuel linez. I'm sssure it'z nothing that can't wait. Now get off your furry keissster and go pick up Wart! We're not usssing her az Veermok bate until we reach the Carrion Plateau. I don't even have my blow gun with me. Famine out. ::Baring bleeding fangs, he closed the channel and returned his attention to Xitan. In an instant the Master of the Alchemical Arts went from vexed villain to a vision of calm, resting meshed together claws on his stomach as another signature smile split his saurian skull from ear hole to ear hole."Ah. There waz a ssslight...hiccup, in the implantation processs. A sssmall wrinkle, sssoon to be sssmoothed out."
In the valley below, the monstrous omnivorous creature's long writhing tentacle clad form slithered slowly into the warm depths of the hole, savoring the sensation as it eased its way into Eriadu's surface. Long roots extended into the rocky soil, anchoring its gargantuan frame even as it began to leach minerals and nutrients, firmly setting itself in place. Above, a swarm of rusting skiffs darkened the sky as they descended in what felt like endless number, hovering beyond the reach of the sarlacc...or so they thought. Much like the way the Night Sisters of Dathomir would use spirit ichor to transform a zabrak Night Brother into a living weapon of the Darkside, so too had the Dark Apothecary's own variation on the recipe had altered the sarlacc. Its already considerably long plethora of tentacles seemed to stretch, nearly doubling in length, bursting with bleeding thorns. The tooth lined yawning maw that served for its mouth grew wider across, as did its bulk beneath the surface, as seen by the way the ground split with cracks, spiderwebbing out from the creature. Somehow sensing their presence, be it through body heat or perhaps vibrations in the air, the beast lunged at one of the nearing skiffs with a tentacle and yanked it down. The skiff smashed into another, sending both careening into a third and fourth, and before long ranats were spilling from the sky to serve as the sarlaccs snack.Following on their heels, two utility tugs with full tanker loads of the Dark Apothecary's mutagenic elixir began to position themselves above the sarlacc's maw. As the signal was given, both tugs began to empty their tanks into creature's open mouth, filling its belly full of the Urcinis-Helix. The moment the first few drops of the foul alchemical agent hit the monster's maw it began to have an affect, bubbling and brewing in its belly to be belched back up as a rising cloud of noxious green gas, warping everything it came into contact with. Mountain flowers the Sand Child has passed only moments prior on her slow ascent up the mountain turned from blue to black, weeping toxic sap from newly protruding thorns, which was to say nothing of the mammals or birds caught in the pestilent mixture of sarlacc stomach gasses and transformative potion. All the while that green cloud crept upwards towards her harrowing climb.
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Darth Xitan
The Sith Eternal
Posts: 177
Affiliation: The Cult of the Eternal
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Post by Darth Xitan on Aug 17, 2023 20:37:39 GMT -8
Things went from curious to interested to rapid descent into frustration. These emotions were easily sensed from Xitan as he watched the strange gift being given to him from the master of dark alchemy. A Sarlacc was truly a mighty gift, especially since it sounded like Dragus planned to plant it within the Carrion Plateau. But, given the expertise of the giver, this meant that the creature wasn't like any ordinary Sarlacc... and that indication came when Xitan witnessed something strange occur, just beyond the ridge. Dragus certainly wasn't one to bring a puppy as a housewarming gift. He wanted to stand out and display his expertise! But that always meant there would be something that could go wrong. The bigger the beast, the harder measures needed to control it, the grander means necessary to contain it.
The belch that echoed off the mountain tops was soon joined by a rather toxic fume that coated the surrounding landscape. Like a Death Star laser, it zapped away what was before, but transformed the original form into something absolutely hideous. Even as the green cloud crept upwards, Xitan's gloved hand immediately covered his mask, kicking a stone just before his boot. A deep sigh exhales as the Sith looks at Lord Dragus before gesturing to the scene unfolding.
You do know that I will be billing your department for the clean up.
Yet this was to be expected. The Banshee creature on Roon, the Ranats all over the place, the new clones developed on Kamino, and now the Sarlacc... it wouldn't be the Dark Apothecary if the creations were simple and refine. That would be dull, boring, and quite predictable. Granted, one could easily predict something going wrong if Dragus was present, but it always different and in varying degrees. This could lead to an economic disaster if not contained properly. These were mountains, but his agents would have to keep this from going over the peaks and poisoning the lands beyond. Perhaps even the outskirts of Eriadu's population centers. This was a pristine prize that was now potentially on the point of being ravaged and threatened beyond repair.
Xitan exhales slightly, rubbing his chin as he looks at the cloud of terrible gas. It had to be contained and, if possible, destroyed. And that meant working with Dragus. The Sarlacc would be a waste to destroy, but something would need to be done that it wouldn't taint nor corrupt the Carrion Plateau. Tarkin's personal hunting grounds. Xitan would not hear the end of it from their new allies.
Lord Dragus, Tell me we can burn away the gas before it goes anywhere else. Cause if it gets over these peaks, the whole world can be threatened and it would truly be a waste if this planet became a blighted ball of tainted and corrupted landscapes.
After all that effort, Xitan wasn't gonna let Eriadu rot.
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Kr'Naan'Kar
The Sith Eternal
Posts: 152
Traffic Light: Yellow
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Post by Kr'Naan'Kar on Aug 18, 2023 10:38:11 GMT -8
Kr'Naan looked back and up into the sky as her ears picked up on the sound of crashes and explosions, spotting the besieged skiffs being attacked by the implanted sarlaac. The Tusken was glad she had left the area, but another problem soon presented itself. A noxious cloud of gas grew, flung into the air as the creature eructated. Kr'Naan's eyes grew wide and she picked up her pace through the mountainous terrain. While she moved fast her little legs were limited by the difficult topography. The rolling cloud of mutagenic gas corrupted everything it touched, transforming the nearby flora and fauna into dark and twisted forms. Now running at nearly a full sprint, Kr'Naan hopped over brush and slid over rocks, not daring to look back. Overhead a singular skiff appeared overhead the running Tusken, letting out an attention getting horn noise. Glancing upward, she was nearly hit in the head by the end of a dropped rope. Squinting her eyes, she saw familiar fuzzy forms atop the skiff. Grabbing hold of the rope and wrapping it between her legs and feet to ease the burden on her arms, she let out a sigh of relief as the skiff began to climb back into the air.It seemed it was too little too late for her ascension though, as the approached a cliff head on while angling upward even steeper. The skiff cleared the obstacle, but the rope-riding Tusken, who had began climbing, did not. Kr'Naan did not impact the cliff face all that hard, but it was the scraping from continuing to be pulled up against the hard rock as the skiff continued to gain altitude. Thankfully her clothing was thick. Finally, she made her way up the rope and atop the skiff, lifting herself up with the help of Lil'Bacca and Lil'Mort who had joined their blind pilot, Lil'Havok, on the impromptu rescue mission for their fellow flock member. Lil'Bacca gave Kr'Naan a heft pat on the back having survived the freefall atop the sarlaac from the Occulori. Kr'Naan looked down at her gloved hands, still shaking. But instead of from fear, from her past fear of heights, it was from the adrenaline rush of having survived. The Tusken let out a mighty roar (for her anyway), pumping her arm up in the air with a small hop and embracing Lil'Mort and Lil'Bacca. "That was awesome!" Kr'Naan exclaimed in ewokese, followed up with hearty laughter. In answer Lil'Havok held out a furry paw and lifted thumbs-up to give his approval.But as the shadow of Raven's Peak fortress fell over the skiff, Kr'Naan looked upward and gulped, as how Dragus would react to the incident that had just occurred. Lil'Mort seemed to read the Tusken's mind, shaking the Ewok spear of powa! in his hands. Kr'Naan held up her hands questioningly. "You don't think he saw that, did you?" Lil'Bacca crossed his thick arms and tilted his head as he stared quietly at Kr'Naan, whose shoulder held a shrug. "It should be fine, right? The sarlaac survived the landing and it's in its hole now." Both Lil'Mort and Lil'Bacca continued to stare at the Tusken blankly. "I'm sure it's fine." Kr'Naan said, her voice easily betraying the doubt she now felt.
When the skiff arrived in the landing bay Kr'Naan was quick to rush ahead of the departing trio of Ewoks, running towards Dragus. Coming to a skidding stop, Kr'Naan exclaimed happily. "Did you see that, master!? It went perfectly! I thought a bit of showmanship would help with the reveal! Make it more exciting! Did it look good from here!? Did he like it?" Kr'Naan was lying, trying to cover up the fiasco of the falling sarlaac, even if it was not her fault, but doing it surprisingly well; at least as far as lies told by children went. Kr'Naan did have quite the accomplished teacher, even if she believed everything Dragus told her. Lying was always easier if you believed the lie yourself, and the Tusken seemed to embraced the false narrative whole-heartedly in an attempt to will to to be accepted as the truth. She would still have to visit Hephaestion a private visit upon her return however. Kr'Naan clapped her gloved hands together happily as she looked to Xitan, tilting her head. "He looks like he liked it!" At this point she might be overcompensating a bit too much.
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Dragus
The Sith Eternal
In front of the Empire, to all you Vader haters out there. We'll blow your planet up.
Posts: 1,192
Affiliation: Sith Eternal
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Post by Dragus on Aug 20, 2023 6:22:07 GMT -8
While Xitan was warning him of impending bills, the Dark Apothecary was already muttering to himself as he performed a series of mental calculations. This sarlacc specimen was perhaps a bit more foul tempered than most, as the heavy amount of sedation used on the creature should have sufficiently ensured that it remained incapacitated during the implantation process. They had been starving the creature for months prior to todays procedure so that when the Urcinis-Helix was introduced to the beast's intestinal culture, nothing would interfere with the resulting mutagenic effect. Still unbeknownst to the Famine Lord was the sarlacc's contamination by spirit ichor, which was likely to have some unforeseen results, and may have been the cause for the expulsions of alchemical altering stomach gas that was rapidly transforming the valley into a twisted parody of its former self. All he had seen was the creature ensnare Mork and gobble up the mutant musician. When the Acolyte expressed his concerns, Dragus waved a dismissive claw, shaking his silk shrouded snout from to side.
"There iz no caussse for alarm." He smiled insincerely, before nodding in a more serious manner, stroking the end of his chin for emphasis. "I do believe thiz iz jussst a cassse of the creature eating sssome bad pork. Sssomehow the reaction causssed the elixir already in the sarlacc'z ssstomach to be releasssed in aerosssol form. Remarkable, really." He snapped his middle and thumb talons together. "The Urciniz-Helix iz a 100% biodegradable. The cloud should disssipate shortly, though I like where your head iz at. Imagine..." He slid an arm around Xitan's shoulder and motioned with his other claw to the mountain view. "...a whole world, one large canvaz to work my art upon uninterrupted. That iz indeed the dream, my boy, but I have neither the time nor the suppliez currently to sssee it to fruition. Perhapz next visssit."
It was around this time that the trio of furry flock members dropped Kr'Naan off at the landing pad and the remarkably fortunate tusken raider came sliding to a stop right at his toes, already yammering like a Pyke with a snozzel full of spice. The overlong additional appendage protruding above the draconian's posterior slithered across the floor to encircle the excited child, surrounding her in loose coils of scale that at any moment could squeeze shut and wring the life from her lithe little form like a boa constrictor. He didn't of course, being quite attached to his little blossoming black melon, though he did bonk her on the back of the head with the flat of his tail spike to infer the suggestion of silence to her.
"Indeed, Wart. Everything went exactly az I had foressseen." He said mysteriously...and dishonestly. "Of courssse he likez it! How could he not? Initially Darth Assstera had wanted to give Xitan here a new experimental ssstarfigher she had been working on. Advanced ssstealth systemz, kyber powered lassser cannonz, unequaled ssspeed and manoeuvrability. That sssort of thing." He rolled his right eye. "I told her to forget about that nonsssense. I'm giving my favourite Acolyte hiz own sssarlacc and that'z final. My winter rossse relented and here we are, one sssarlacc delivered, with a little bit of the ol'Famine flare to boot. Think of it az a place for convenient disposssal of any Raven'z Peak ssstaff who fail their performance reviewz. A way to properly incentivize a ssstrong work ethic."
In the background beyond the landing pad, the Occulori could be seen rising back into the sky, trailing broken links of chain and a swarm of smaller skiffs as the vermintide headed back into the ship, mostly intact minus a few unfortunate mice. The new sarlacc in the valley was a monstrous representation of its species, now altered beyond the natural by Sith Alchemy into something twice its original size, with thorny tentacles that secreted paralytic sap. The hideousness of its mutant form was further revealed as the green mist of mutagenic spore receded, seeping into the soil to transform the landscape around it permanently into something sinister.
"Persssonally I'd call it the Pit of Xitan. Siss." He snickered, meeting the masked man's hidden eyes. "But it iz your sssarlacc, lad. I leave the naming up to you. Make it a good one though, thessse thingz have a way of outliving their ownerz." His amethyst left eye gleamed, and he brought his palms together in a meaty thwack. "Now that we are here, the little one..." He jerked a clawed thumb at Kr'Naan. "...and I were looking to indulge in a bit of sssafari while we are here. I've heard it spoken that the native Veermok packz of the Carrion Plateau are a particularly challenging quarry to pursssue. Wart here haz been practicing with a bola all week, and az it happenz I'm a pretty good shot with a blow gun. We we're alssso hoping to make ussse of your sssky-rail sssystem to travel about while we're visssiting."
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Darth Xitan
The Sith Eternal
Posts: 177
Affiliation: The Cult of the Eternal
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Post by Darth Xitan on Sept 7, 2023 19:57:51 GMT -8
There was a bit of silence that followed Dragus' conversation, both Xitan and this Tusken child that appeared. Glancing back, Xitan looked at a Stormtrooper.
Inform the Marshal that his family's hunting grounds will be occupied for a time.
Best to be formal with their new allies. Even though Eriadu had deep Imperial and Sith ties, Xitan still knew that he was new to being a despot, a commander over a whole world. He had agents, means, and methods to keeping order and loyalty. That didn't mean he needed to be cruel or arbitrary. Tarkin and him may not see eye to eye, given their responsibilities and views, but that didn't mean they couldn't be formal. Still, the Sith commanded this world and Tarkin would have to bow to them. Xitan and his agents ensured that he was where he was and held such authority and power. He made sure to remind Dash Tarkin of that.
Pit of Xitan seems too personal... too obvious.
Xitan looks out at the creature that had been planted within the valley before Raven's Peak. It would mostly be shrouded by clouds and rain given where it was positioned. The Sith contemplates for a moment before considering a better name for the creature and what it represented.
The Jagged Mogul. The last word is a noble title. My father once met a Mogul out in Tionese space. Commanded a sizable city, a warlord on his own world, and rich beyond anyone's dreams. Helped out with moving black market goods throughout the sector. Said to have been descended from a general of the Pirate King Xim.
With the name given, Xitan turns away from the creature, looking at the Saurian.
I'd suggest you also survey the Raven's Peak. Not often that one of your background would be able to view architecture from the time of Sidious and the First Empire. Wilhuff Tarkin certainly had good tastes when he made the facility as his base on Eriadu and for those of supreme authority out in the Outer Rim.
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Dragus
The Sith Eternal
In front of the Empire, to all you Vader haters out there. We'll blow your planet up.
Posts: 1,192
Affiliation: Sith Eternal
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Post by Dragus on Sept 9, 2023 5:36:14 GMT -8
Beneath his bird bone cap the scales on the saurian's snout scrunched in clear curiosity, while his favourite Sith Acolyte's helmed reflection was captured in the amethyst gem set in the draconian's left eye socket. Was Xitan a student of architecture? If so the notion pleased him. He-Who-Hungers endeavoured to encourage interests beyond combat in his Sith brethren under the Eternal flag. Don't misunderstand, they needed skilled warriors if they were to reclaim the galaxy, but what about after? If their only reason to exist was to destroy, he might as well devote the entirety of his efforts to restoring the Eye's power supply and sit back as it harvested the galaxy's populace to completion. What they truly needed were builders, Sith with a vision for a greater tomorrow. "I shall certainly do ssso." He responded politely, wishing to encourage this side of Xitan as much as possible. Though to be honest, their taste in aesthetic couldn't be further apart. Imperial architecture, while certainly impressive in scale and sturdiness, featured a lot of rather dull grey tones. For the Dark Apothecary who had once lived in the greatest city in the history of the galaxy, it paled when compared to the jagged black spires of the Citadel of the Eye, before it had all crumbled away...Reflecting on the past brought about an incredible sense of sadness in the drake, beyond even his own prestigious ability to contain, bleeding into his aura like a sickly malaise. The hungering miasma that encompassed his physical form sapped the warmth from the air, causing ice crystals to form where his scaled feet touched the polished floor. Were he not a guest, it was likely he would have killed everyone in the room who was witness to this lapse in emotion control, but he did not wish to give the recently elevated despot more cause for dismay after the miscalculation with the sarlacc. The dour drake forced the muscles in his face to form a smile he didn't quite feel, releasing some of the regret that threatened to consume the sorrowful serpent."I thank you for your hossspitality, my friend. Should you find yourssself in need of sssome ressspite, you are more than welcome to rejuvenate your weary ssself at a ssseaside cabana on my isle of Draggle Rock. There iz nothing I enjoy more than receiving a full bodied massage by the pleasssure pawz of the night ewokz that ressside there, while sssupping on a coconut full of fish blood."Turning his beak bedecked snout over his right shoulder, the black scaled barabel shrieked a familiar verminous title. "SQUEAKERZ!" Almost instantaneously a small hurry-scurrying rodent form appeared at the Blood Wyrm's side, none other than his scabrous assistant Squeakers, who was wearing a fake pair of chadra-fan ears over his obvious ranat features. Narrowing his bloody right eye, the Famine Lord addressed his overworked servant."Squeakerz, go find Boneripper. Have him fetch our thingz and meet uz at the sssky-train." Without hesitancy the nub tailed rodent with a hook for a paw and only one remaining eye scampered from sight, pursuing the task set upon it by the saurian Sith. Dragus then turned his snout over his other shoulder, beholding the tiny tusken encircled by his scaled fifth appendage."Come, Wart." He hissed, releasing her so that she might follow. "Let'z have a look around while we wait. Have I told you the tale of Wilhuff Tarkin? A true visssionary of hiz time. He believed bigger waz better, and he waz right of courssse, sssave perhapz when it comez to ewokz. Or ranatz for that matter. Unlesss we're talking about ranat-ogrez, in which cassse, bigger iz mossst certainly better. You'll sssee what I mean when Boneripper arrivez."
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Kr'Naan'Kar
The Sith Eternal
Posts: 152
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Post by Kr'Naan'Kar on Sept 19, 2023 8:48:04 GMT -8
Kr'Naan scoffed at the previously proposed gifts, joining Dragus's disdain for the advanced aeronautics, nodding her head in agreement with the power of the sarlaac. "I remember the Carkoon Pit being used to threaten other uli-ah to do their chores. That or the Demon spirits. Or the Banshee of the Wastes...or just a beating." Kr'Naan tilted her head in a frown beneath her mask. Really if anything there was much less threatening punishment in her life now from what she could remember of her life on Tatooine. Her mind trailed off, but soon came back to the two speaking Sith, her inner thoughts growing silent as her face grew warm as Dragus pointed at her and spoke of her growing skills. Not used to such praise from her master (to or around others outside their tight-knit circle anyway), her head instinctively looked down and away, as her gloved hands twisted each other uncomfortably at the perceived attention.
As the conversation continued however, Kr'Naan took noticed of a slightly slump in her master's shoulders. The air grew chill, and she saw the thin layer of frost form around his taloned feet. Concern came to the forefront of her mind, and she hesitantly took a half step forward toward Dragus, before thinking better and taking a step and a half back. It was worrying to say the least to witness the sudden change in mood, but she was able to breath a sigh of relief once the Saurian Sith seemed to move on from whatever thoughts had clouded his outlook. Her master's changes in mood were usual omens to be feared for soon to come events (usually immediate), so for this to pass without incident was...strange.
As the tail of her maser ensnared itself around her legs, Kr'Naan seemed unusually at ease. It was not that the Tusken youngling did not fear her master, there was much to fear, but she trusted him and was indoctrinated enough to accept any fate he should bestow upon her. If it was her time, it was simply her time. But as his tail uncoiled and she was called by the devious drake, Kr'Naan snapped to attention before hurrying along beside the "I think I might like to meet a giant Ewok one day. Do they truly exist?" At this perceived slight at his size, Lil'Bacca let out a harrumph, to which Kr'Naan shook her head. "I mean like...giant...like...actually giant? Not that you're not tall. But I mean as big as...let's say for instance, a mountain?" At this poor explanation Lil'Bacca flexed his furry tree-trunk like arms and said something braggadocious in response, which made Kr'Naan giggle. "I do not know what a Gorax is, but I am very certain it would not stand a chance against you!"
Returning her attention back to Dragus, she shook her head slightly, still slightly chuckling at Lil'Bacca's continuing display of his superior Ewok physique. "If bigger were truly better, your Flock would look very different, master." The uli-ah spoke in between stifled giggles at Lil'Bacca, who at this point was going cross-eyed from all the flexing the burly ewok was doing. As they walked away Kr'Naan could not help but turn her masked face back to steal a glance at Xitan, though she was quick to turn back as Lil'Bacca finally buckled as he released his flex muscles and his blood pressure dropped, causing him to become a little unsteady. Lil'Mort rolled his eyes and steadied his flockmate with the help of Kr'Naan to keep him walking straight as they trailed behind Dragus as they began to venture into the fortress proper to "have a look around" as their master put it.
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Dragus
The Sith Eternal
In front of the Empire, to all you Vader haters out there. We'll blow your planet up.
Posts: 1,192
Affiliation: Sith Eternal
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Post by Dragus on Sept 19, 2023 20:22:51 GMT -8
Some of his sourness ebbed at the rambunctious hijinks of the flock. In so many way they were a dark parody of the evil family that had abandoned him. Well, perhaps that accusation was a bit unfair. Bacca hadn't so much left as decided to take an extended nap. His cryogenic stasis pod was currently sitting in the war room of the Black Temple on Pzob. Kaan lived as well, though the Eye's gift amplified by their ill fated journey to the battle moon itself had driven him beyond the usual limits of his fractured grip on reality. He and Havok had been forced to subdue and secure him in the lower levels of the temple, where his needs were attended to by hannite nuns, which carried its own risks. The avatar of Chaos' incarceration had in no way reduced his promiscuity. Commodore Starkiller, the Order of the Eye's butler (that's how Dragus saw him anyways), had been forced to drown the resulting offspring in barrels of virgins blood to prevent those foul creatures from maturing. Mortale, admittedly not his favourite brother, was well and truly beyond even the Famine Lord's considerable abilities to detect. The Great Necromancer had left his mortal frame behind, passing to the chaotic realm beyond where all darksiders were drawn upon death. Dragus had risked much to seek him out in that cursed dimension, without so much as a scrap of success to show for it. Havok remained of course, the Hungering One had recently hosted him at his home on ill fabled Draggle Rock, but his lucidness was limited by the nature of his gift. Split between every moment of time all at once, even when he was present, he wasn't really there. Were it not for the psychic deadening effect of the blackstone that comprised Fort Ewok, he doubted he would have gotten as much as a conversation out of his brother so bound to the skeins of fate.
That was only naming his siblings on the high council. He could hardly forget the brilliant Ballz Bralor, the bewitching Dark Lady Trace, the dogmatic Inquisitor Lord Kryptman, his former shadow and...well, he wasn't one to kiss and tell, but suffice to say he quite missed his precious fascist Fallanassi. Ultimately vain, Dragus suffered absent their validation, even their scorn and derision towards his work. The Flock in so many ways filled the void they had left in his life, more than mere servants, they represented something this cold creature craved, a result perhaps of his own unintended creation in the dark depths of a forgotten lab in Nomad City. Greedy as a credit counting meiser, he coveted their adoration and adulation in a truly perverse and possessive manner as only befitting a Sith of his stature, but like his family he had shown that when need be he was just as ready to dispose of them on a whim. As he had with Gaiscioch, he hadn't hesitated to slit Lil'Kaan's furry throat with his own claw, simply to spare himself an extended walk. They were his to do with as he pleased. The corners of his lips creaked as they curled into a sinister smile, his bloody right eye lingering on Naan, while his right claw traced the outline of the Ewokinomicon chained to his person beneath the feathered folds of his cloak. Even dead, he kept Lil'Kaan close.
"Assstute obssservation, my dear." He hissed, dragging his left index talon along the burnished steel wall of the corridor adjoining the skyrail station, eliciting sparks as the digit screeched like nails on slate. "Indeed, you're far more manageable at thiz sssize. It'z already a challenge keeping the larder full with my own consssiderable appetite. If you all ate much more, well..." His jaws parted, exhaling a rancid breath of steam that left his fangs moist, gleaming whitely under the artificial light of the hall. Bits of decaying morsels could be seen trapped between his serrated incisors, drawing buzzing gnats that popped with protein packed jelly as he swallowed back his salivation, sinking into his stomach with an audible gulp. "...I wouldn't be able to keep az many of you. Perish the thought."
To his credit the Great Devourer did his best to expand upon Kr'Naan's continuing education as they toured the facility, pointing out extravagant portraits of prestigious members of the Tarkin Clan. Of course, every explanation was accompanied by a fine mist of crimson flecks, irreparably marking the irreplaceable heirlooms in viscus vitae. Eventually their circuit of Raven's Peak brought them back to the station where a monstrous figure lurked, awaiting their arrival. Boneripper was massive even for one of the vermin-kinds ogre-kin. Standing at eight feet in height was a creature of scarred and veiny scabrous flesh stretched over a mountains worth of muscle, everything ranat about the creature exaggerated in the fullest. A crown of yellow thorns pierced its hairless pink scalp, matching the length of the long rodent ears that flared out from either side of its broad and boney skull. A pair of sharp tusks thrust up from its lower jaw, penetrating its upper snout through ugly holes of scar tissue. A pair of brutish arms ending in large hooked claws hung from its wide shoulders, but they were not alone. A second set appeared to have been sutured to the fiendish mutant, equally as capable of strangling a full grown gamorrean boar. A puddle of filth collected near its size 18.5 inch feet, tipped with toes of curling claw that carved furrows in the floor. As expected their supplies were waiting for them, purposely packed in pristine luggage stacked nearly as high as the ranat-ogre itself.
The foul creature would be coming with them; gone were the days where Wart would serve as pack-mule. Her possession by his psychically manifested homunculai and subsequent channeling of raw spiritual energy had finally opened his eyes, or eye rather, to her true potential. He no longer saw her as only a slave, though as previously mentioned in his reflection on the Flock, that did not necessitate removing her from harms way. She still had a very dangerous place in his schemes, which this time included being used as bate. There was a jar of veermok spore somewhere in all those supplies the monstrous mutant rat was loading into the skytrain cart with her name on it. When they reached their destination at the Carrion Plateau he planned to slather her in the substance, which he was assured by the xeno-biologist that had provided it would work like a charm. The man had blabbered like a baby while under the crude stone knife of Dragus' chief interrogator, Lil'Mort. It hadn't been necessary, for the man would have happily told them anything in order to spare himself such suffering, but you could hardly deny the depraved draconian his fun.
"All aboard." He growled with growing impatience, setting claw in the spacious train-cart, lined on either side with long rows of firm seated benches. The cart rocked from side to side as Boneripper boarded, his extra weight causing it to dip on the cable it dangled disconcertingly from.
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Kr'Naan'Kar
The Sith Eternal
Posts: 152
Traffic Light: Yellow
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Post by Kr'Naan'Kar on Sept 21, 2023 12:02:09 GMT -8
Kr'Naan brought a gloved finger to her chin in thought, mimicking the same motion Dragus did sometimes with the tilt of her head as a curious look played out beneath her mask. "But what if we did let him eat more? How big could he get?" The Tusken youngling's mind conjured a very vivid image of a nearly eight foot wide Lil'Bacca, his legs vestigial stumps at this point as he had to be transported by litter to and fro like a Hutt. Her face twisted into a sour expression and with a sorrowful head-bow she grabbed Lil'Bacca's shoulder. "I agree with master. I do not think we could carry you around everywhere." Lil'Bacca was confused, as his ewok mind was imagining vertical, not horizontal growth. Slowing in his steps as it finally clicked in his brain, he gripped at his furry belly before furiously refuting basic biology knowledge of what happened with increased caloric intake and condemning the assault on his perfect figure.
As the Saurian Sith gave his Flock the quincred tour, Kr'Naan payed close attention. As usual she was hanging on each of the sinister serpent's sanguine-specked syllables. Even if the overall subject matter, that being the history of a pathetic human lineage, was extremely boring, it was the stories within the stories that drew her. Always the narcissist, Dragus could not help but liken, and even overshadow, much of the Tarkin histories by likening them to his own exploits and finally letting them take over, recanting several stories. These were what truly interested her, her own master's stories which would be transcribed from memory onto paper in her mad scribblings that were becoming the holy scripture for the Hakusar god.
After they had rounded the facility and returned to greet Boneripper loading supplies, Kr'Naan stuck her nose up at the creature as she walked by the join Dragus aboard the skyrail boxcar. There was no love lost between herself and the rodent races, with Squeakers being the main draw of her ire, she was not above lumping in all those related to him and his kind. Kr'Naan ran up into the control section of the boxcar and began looking over the controls. Before hitting them, "Is he joining us on our hunt, master?" Kr'Naan asked in ewokese, referring to their host, Xitan. Meanwhile, Lil'Bacca, hot off the heels of the conversation regarding his size, did his best to appear larger when in the vicinity of Boneripper, buffing up his chest and standing on his tippy toes. Lil'Mort jabbed his flock-mate in the ribs with his elbow, which Lil'Bacca swatted away with a paw, which soon devolved into a petty woklish slapfight between the two. While both ewoks slapped each other, Boneripper sat cross-legged, eyes drifting in opposite directions, and drool slowly falling from its mouth.
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Dragus
The Sith Eternal
In front of the Empire, to all you Vader haters out there. We'll blow your planet up.
Posts: 1,192
Affiliation: Sith Eternal
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Post by Dragus on Sept 22, 2023 5:36:10 GMT -8
"Sssadly, no." The reptile replied as he seated himself on the far bench, patting the seat beside him as the black slash of the slit saurian pupil situated in his blood filled orb centred on the Sand Child. Dragus reached into the satchel of alchemical supplies resting against his left hip as his tail swished around to the front, holding the serrated spear tip capping its end within claws reach. Gnarled talons wrapped themselves around a small philter of amber liquid, sealed inside by a cork stopper that he pried free with an audible pop. There was a sweetness to the aroma of its contents, like Endorian honey, and it appeared as similarly sticky as the lecherous lizard applied it to his serpentine appendage. A milder version of the poison derived from the purple stingwort, the sap possessed a paralytic quality that he believed would prove quite useful in their hunt for fresh specimens. "Like you, my delightful dagger thorn, Xitan haz hiz dutiez. Think of thiz Empire I have built az a sssort of puzzle, where all the piecez have to be expertly placed to produce the required picture. I need hiz attention focusssed on Eriadu and itz orbital shipyardz, to produce more warshipz for the Sssith Eternal, whossse conquessst of the starz in turn will provide greater accesss to alchemical ingredientz necesssary for my artissstry. Setbackz like what happened at Bakura can not be allowed to occur again. We're ssso clossse...I can tassste it."
Emphasizing the point, or perhaps succumbing to his insatiable appetite, the Blood Wyrm brought the sticky talons he had just used to slather his spear tip in sap to his snout. His forked tongue slithered out from between rows of razor sharp fangs and sopped up the residue adhered to those obsidian butchers hooks he called fingers. A mistake to be certain, for within seconds the slurping organ went numb, descending to dangle out the right side of his jaw. A gluttonous error, one that left him unable to speak. So instead he placed a moist claw on her shoulder and focused his incredible mind, psychically broadcasting his will with telepathy. Though her midi-chlorians were effectively deadened, burnt to a crisp by her channeling of raw ethereal power, the mask she wore served as a conduit. It bound them together, blending and bleeding their essence, until two became as one. They were both vacant husks in their own way. One without a soul, the other a wilted desert rose. When his mind manifested itself in hers, the words were like a scorpion sting, envenomed and accompanied by phantom pain.
<< I intend to cure you of your affliction, Wart. Your devotion and commitment to our caussse iz preciouz to me, but the Cypher'z ssscheme haz left you in a lesss than ideal ssstate. If it iz not remedied... >> The amethyst gem set in his left socket darkened and crackled with unnatural flame, holding in its depths an image of Kr'Naan dangling over the self same sarlaac they had so recently impregnated into the valley below. << ...then your usefulnesss will have reached itz end. You are meant for more, my mortal voice, but the massez MUSSST be able to hear you. >>
A little encouragement goes a long way to rearing a child. At least that's what he read in one of the parenting books Viox had provided. Admittedly the Hungering One was still learning in that regard. Being highly resistant to toxins as a result of his years of exposure due to the nature of his work, the paralytic effect had already worn off. The resonating roar of his reptilian words departed Kr'Naan's mindscape, just as the sky-train lurched into motion, screeching above the deadly chasm below as it propelled them rapidly across the mountains. More sparks than safety guidelines permitted screeched from above as Boneripper's additional weight ground the trains rail along the woven metallic cable keeping them aloft, fraying it as they zipped towards their destination. The odorous ranat-ogre attracted a great many of the flies that usually accompanied the drake lord, drawn to its obvious lack of hygiene. It stared on stupidly as Dragus comforted his small companion.
"But I'm sssure it won't come to that. I've alwayz enjoyed a challenge." He cleared his throat with a wet rattle, gurgling a mire of phlegm and blood before swallowing it back down. "Now tell me, child, what have you learned about our current quarry? I trussst the time ssspent in the Occulori'z library waz fruitful. Lil'Havok waz inssstructed to provide you with all the appropriate textz."
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