Dragus
The Sith Eternal
In front of the Empire, to all you Vader haters out there. We'll blow your planet up.
Posts: 1,406
Affiliation: Sith Eternal
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Post by Dragus on Mar 14, 2023 9:32:32 GMT -8
Among the detritus of a shattered moon, a black hulled dreadnought lingered in the debris field, floating amongst the remains of a once thriving peaceful farming settlement. Its people had been reduced to ash along with every other trace of civilization, destined to be nothing more than a memory to those that had known it, and even then it would soon be forgotten. The void predator responsible for its destruction was an Imperial II-class Star Destroyer, though it was greatly changed since the day it had rolled out of the drive yards that had built it. The Covenant of Blood was well known in this region of space, whispered in hushed voices from fearful mouths, or spoken as a cautionary tale to those that thought themselves brave enough to travel this stretch of vacuum alone. Its abysmally black hull was pitted with a forest of impervium spikes, each fitted with a frozen corpse thrust through the spear like lengths to serve as a form of morbid decoration. They were joined by screaming starwierds shackled to the hull, bound at the ankle with Sith iron manacles. Their sinister cries created a dark symphony of despair that to the owner of this dread vessel was the sweetest of song, a delight to please the senses and sate his insatiable appetite for cruelty.On the dimly lit bridge of this warship, the generals of the depraved draconian gathered in number. Standing off to one side was the towering Sith Elite Warbot, Krell, former tomb guard of Freedon Nadd and wielder of the greatsword Morkai. Acrid steam funneled up from the nightmare knight's neck seal as its hateful metallic faceplate flipped up to reveal the yellowed skull of its owner. Krell had died centuries ago, but for his unwavering service to the former Sith King of Onderon his bones were interred in the chassis of a war-droid. There was question as to whether he was simply a machine or perhaps something more. For Dragus' purpose, he served, which was all that mattered to the drake lord. Standing next to the spiked gladiator might as well have been a ghoul by comparison. Thin as a reed the umbaran leader of the Hunger Cults, Mephisto, was a wretch of a figure. He wore what had once been the pearlescent white robes of the Hannite Order, those monks that maintained the ruins of the once great City of the Eye, though his apparel had become soiled by the remains of his questionable diet. His colourless eyes were sunken, his teeth filed to needle tipped points like the mouth of a piranha. He smiled at the dark apostle seated in the obsidian command throne that dominated the bridge.Lorn Dirkwood cringed under Mephisto's disturbing fixation. He raised a gloved hand and scratched at the ring of scar tissue that completely encircled his neck, attempting to dispel a phantom itch he could never quite shake. Human by birth, it would have been fair to mistake the dark apostle and commander of the Covenant in Dragus' stead for an umbaran as well, so pale was his skin. Dark lines of corruption in the form of risen veins crisscrossed his near translucent flesh like spiderwebs. The scantily clad twi'lek Morathi sat on one arm of the throne, playing with her sharpened nails. The newest member of the Great Devourer's coven, the dark mistress served as concubine bride to the Supreme One, and leader of the Whores Eternal. She was also deeply dependant on the dark apothecary, who had seen to it that she had become addicted to a strain of darkside infused spice that only he knew how to create. She whispered words of treachery into Lorn's ear, ignoring the ruckus sounds of bestial fornication as members of the Famine Lord's flock pleasured themselves in the trenches lining the bridge. All of them were there: the fiendish ranat Squeakers, the broken Rishii songbird Squawkers, and of course the ewoks that so pleased the serpentine sultan of sin.Well, save for Lil'Kaan of course. The mange infested wok had not survived the last adventure of Dragus and company, nor had he been replaced as of yet. But he would be, given time. They always were."Here it comez, Wart." Hissed the Sith of the hour, leach lord and artisan of the alchemical arts, Dragus. "Right down the pitch!" Held in the black scaled barabel's obsidian claws was the freshly severed head of an officer unfortunate enough to be close at hand when He-Who-Hungers felt the urge to play a game of racket-ball. The disembodied cadaver had ended up in the trenches where the worst of the animal rutting was taking place, used equally as an accessory in the fun and also a mid-coital snack. Dragus, who was garbed in his signature man-flesh robe of flayed faces, rested the severed head on his scaly palm in front of his chest. His talons sank into the now jellied eye-sockets and nose, using them as finger holds for a better grip. He squinted his scaly brow, narrowing his field of vision as he stared across the bridge at his prodigy and pet.What could he say really? Wart had grown on him...like a wart. In the months since their journey to Contruum they had made regular visits to his new home of Fort Ewok on Draggle Rock, where he had even been so gracious as to grant the little sand flea a room of her own. On occasion he had provided her with a few alchemy lessons as well. Nothing too advanced, she did lack an affinity for manipulating the currents of the malevolent fey, which limited her to some degree. However, Kr'Naan's nimble fingers had proved especially adept at brewing potions and preparing ingredients for his experiments. Why he'd even given the little tusken a wokling of her own to experiment on in her free time.Lobbing the head underhanded, the hungry Hakusar tossed the grizzly ichor dripping ball across the deck towards Kr'Naan. THWACK! The meaty smack of the gnarled plank of Pzobian oak she was using as a racket made contact with the cadaverous object and sent it bouncing across the deck. Lorn had to lift his feet so that the rolling head didn't leave a gorey streak across his boots as it rolled past him. "Grounder!" Hissed Dragus, snickering in his rasping reptilian way, just as the turbolift doors opened with a whoosh of sour air.Stepping out of the lift was another of the Famine Lord's inner circle, a dark apostle by the name of Jerec Cretin. Where Lorn was a prime example of a Dark Jedi, Jerec was more the sorcerer type. His arms were already crossed over his chest with his gloved hands tucked into the armpits of his shadowsilk robe. A pale sheen reflected off his shorn scalp as he stepped beneath the flickering deck lights, coming to a halt mere steps from the snickering Bood Wyrm. Jerec's foot came down on the rolling head, stopping it in place. When he spoke, his words came in the form of Pzobian accented basic, harsh and melodic all at once."Master, we have a problem." Spoke Jerec uneasily, already feeling discomfort while under the draconian's oh-so-hungry gaze. "I know." Replied Dragus with a slight snarl, his lips parting in an wicked grin that stretched unnaturally beyond the borders of his scaled face. "You're intruding upon my game. Not too worry, my dear Jerec." He ran his forked tongue over a open maw full of salivating incisors. "I waz jussst thinking about taking a sssnack break."Knowing full well what that meant, the dark apostle was quick to scoop up the head and offer it to the deranged lizard. "Apologies, Master. This is related to that. We seem to have something of a food shortage at the moment. The mutants in the lower deck have begun to cannibalize one another.""Oh." He sank his claws into the loosened scalp of the severed head and held it above his jaws, playing with the oozing neck stump with flicks of his forked tongue. "Seemz like the problem sssolved itssself. Excellent.""Beg your pardon, Master, but it has not. If the mutant tribes in the lower deck devour each other we won't have enough manpower left to crew this dreadnought. We need an alternative food source."CRUNCH! Dragus' mouthful of daggers crunched into the meaty skull, sinking past the bone into the delicate grey matter that he so enjoyed. "Not..." CRUNCH! CRUNCH! "...a..." CRUNCH! "...problem." All of which he followed up with a loud belch that scattered bits of expiring tissue across the bridge. He pointed the curved index talon of his right claw at Lorn. "Outta the big chair, Lorn. Wart, you have the conn, my dear." He winked at her from across the bridge. "Take uz into hyperssspace...""We're going on a hunt!"
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Kr'Naan'Kar
The Sith Eternal
Posts: 152
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Post by Kr'Naan'Kar on Mar 14, 2023 11:54:52 GMT -8
The last few months had flown by for Kr'Naan had been a leaf on the winds of fate; the Tusken youngling taken in by the most unlikely of patrons. A god, at least from the perspective of her culture's primitive beliefs, had taken a liking to her. A horrifying and evil god in the Tusken pantheon but that had given even more cause to not deny the dark lord's will. Surprisingly, the Tusken seemed to fit right in. After some slight mind manipulation by Dragus, of course. Somehow she had managed to remain relatively healthy, a by-product of not only her tough upbringing on Tatooine but also her adaptability as a child. The young mind changed with it's surroundings to adjust for survival. If she were to ever return to her people it is likely she would never be able to fully re-integrate into the Tusken society.Kr'Naan did not recognize this as a loss, the issue completely out of her mind as she had accepted her servitude to dark god Hakusar, or as the mortals of this plane knew him: Dragus. Kr'Naan ran over the instant Dragus gave her command of the ship, dragging the plank-bat with her as she went to where sat Lorn. Recently the Tusken youngling had begun to speak in Basic, whatever Dragus had done to her allowing her to master Ewokese with nearly as much proficiency as the Saurian Sith himself. It was only a few words so far, but whatever dark magicks had twisted her mind was at least helpful in some way."Up." Kr'Naan spoke to Lorn in Basic at the base of the command chair. Her hood and mask gave no hint as to her facial expression, but the tone she gave was definitely that of an order. The Dark Jedi's eyes and nostrils flared in anger as he looked down at the child who would dare order him. He had been getting up at the order of the Saurian Sith, but he could not let the Tusken feel she had any authority over him as well."You cannot seriously believe you can order me like som-" Without skipping a beat Kr'Naan squared her stance, planted her feet and with all of her might swung the Pzobian cricket bat upward directly into the jaw of the man currently sitting in the commander's chair. The force of the strike caused him to fall over sideways from the chair onto the floor, catching himself from falling fully to the ground. Blow after blow struck into him as he repeatedly attempted to fend off the wild beatings from Kr'Naan to no avail.Finally Lorn's eyes flashed with fury and his hands crackled with energy as he reached into the Force to strike down the interloper. As he lifted his hand his eyes met the gaze of Dragus, the red eyes staring intently at the outcome of this confrontation. Fearing what may happen if he were to strike down his master's new favorite pet Lorn lowered his hand and took the beating from the Tusken, crawling away on the filth covered floor to escape bloodied and bruised. Having now taken her rightfully ordered place in the large command chair of the bridge, Kr'Naan ran her gloved fingers over the controls on the arms of the seat. Her master had not specified a destination, and so it fell to her to decide. Kr'Naan knew little to nothing about navigating the stars, having only operated the Covenant of Blood a handful of times in the times she had been aboard; mostly being in charge of the weapons, not the navigation. Still, she knew at least some of the basics, so it was up to her to decide. She would take the utmost care in deciding where they should travel to, as it had been explained to her at great length what the dangers of hyperspace travel were should one not know where one was going.Still.... Kr'Naan hit the blind/random emergency jump button and the Covenant of Blood lurched into hyperspace towards destination unknown.
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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: 1,406
Affiliation: Sith Eternal
Traffic Light: Blue
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Post by Dragus on Mar 15, 2023 2:55:16 GMT -8
Watching Kr'Naan batter and bruise Lorn like a Jawa that owed her money caused something to stir in the villainous velociraptor. A rare bead of moisture formed in the corner of his eye, and his snout crinkled as the slightest of sniffs was elicited from his two flaring nostril slits. They grow up so fast. As a father's pride swelled in his scaly breast, the twisted terrorsaur's malevolent gaze met the dark apostle's pleading eyes for the briefest of moments. That exchange, wordless as it was, told Lorn everything that was expected of him.He would not take this moment from her. Dragus had spent quite a bit of time and energy nurturing the inner darkness in Kr'Naan, feeding that malign seed he had implanted in her from the moment they had first met. Part of him had been worried she would be found wanting, but since the events of the Rishii village, the tusken child had really started to come into her own. It was no longer necessary for the saurian Sith to encourage her to acts of violence. Now she sought out such things entirely on her own. She still hesitated at times, but he was convinced that was due more to fear of displeasing him as opposed to a genuine weakness of spirit. If she had chosen to bludgeon Lorn onto death, for instance, he would have allowed it to transpire. Such was the extent he dotted on her. Mind you, it would not have spared the dark acolyte further suffering. Lorn's eternal torment was one of the spinning cogs that made the Covenant of Blood run smoothly. Death was a mercy, and mercy did not exist aboard this dreadnought. Through his mastery of the arcane and vast knowledge of dark science, he had brought the acolyte back previously after Lorn's head was removed from its body. A pulped skull would be a different sort of challenge, but nothing beyond his capabilities, he was sure.However, it never came to that. As Lorn crawled away on the floor and the Covenant lurched into hyperspace, the Hungering One strode across the deck to stand at the side of the command throne, resting his right claw on the left arm of the device that granted even a child full command of a warship capable of breaking planets. He thrummed his talons on the smooth obsidian surface just shy of the controls, before lowering himself to Kr'Naan's level. He kept his bloody gaze focused on the transparasteel viewport at the front of the bridge, which now revealed the swirling blue bands of hyperspace. It was beautiful, he supposed, in the way that certain natural wonders were. Though he much would have preferred it to be red."Every ssspace faring vesssel in the galaxy reliez on hyperssspace to travel from one ssstar sssystem to another." He rasped in her ear, his breath reeking of hot copper and his glistening teeth stained pink from his latest meal. His eyes, however, remained firmly fixed forwards. "Mossst sssee it az only that, a wormhole or lane to bypasss the vassst dissstance of real-ssspace, but we know better. It iz another dimensssion, reached only by traveling at fassster than light speedz." He closed his jaws and released a pestilent puff of steam from his nostril slits. "And it iz not empty."Rising to stand, the drake lord crossed the deck until he reached the very front of the bridge, pressing his snout against the filthy window into space. Crimson orbs that smouldered in their sockets like low burning coals glared out into the maddening depths of blue, seeking that of which he spoke. In the distance he could already see the shadows, large oblong bodies that trailed four long tentacles that writhed in that otherworldly sea. The starwierds shackled to the hull pulled against their Sith iron chains, sending vibrations throughout the hull of the Covenant. They were drawn to these figures in the mist. They hated them.This was the reason he had never told Kr'Naan of their destination. He didn't know it. The starwierds would decide after they had scented their prey and ripped the Covenant out of hyperspace in pursuit of it.
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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 Mar 16, 2023 9:48:40 GMT -8
Kr'Naan watched as sensors picked up flickering signals around them; objects matching their speed almost exactly. While their existence in hyperspace made getting a lock on their exact location nearly impossible for weapons, they could at least confirm their existence. Kr'Naan adjusted herself in the command chair uncomfortably as Dragus went to go stare out the viewport. The unknown was naturally something that gave rise to fear, especially in children, and her lack of knowledge on whatever it was he was looking at, along with her active imagination given everything she had seen travelling with the Saurian Sith, gave rise to some frightful ideas. Kr'Naan's gloved hand slowly drifted towards the fire controls, beginning to feed a small trickle of power into the weapons systems for when they exited hyperspace.A shriek from one of the enslaved starweirds radiated out to its brethren as one of the Purrgil broke off from the rest of its pack, echoing throughout hyperspace and filling the dimension with unnatural screams as more of the shackled space horrors joined in. On the signal of the starweirds Kr'Naan slammed her fist down on one of the controls. The Covenant of Blood's hyperdrive shuddered as it shut down and dropped out of hyperspace in pursuit of the creatures that were being tracked by the starweirds. Because the creatures had exited hyperspace, even the few seconds it had taken them to slow down and re-enter normal space overshot their quarry quite a ways. Inputting more commands that made their way to the crew of the bridge, Kr'Naan made sure that they would try and reacquire their target. The Covenant creaked and groaned as it did a one-eighty to head back in the direction of its prey. The force of which was so great several inertial dampeners could not fully compensate, causing some intense gee forces to effect those inside. Kr'Naan clung to the chair tightly as she struggled to remain seated upright and struggled to breathe. After they had corrected course, the Covent of Blood's ion engines roared to life and thrust them forward towards what appeared to be an uncharted star system.The Covenant of Blood now held an orbit near the moon above what all of its sensors told them was a barely habitable barren planet, pockmarked with dead cities and ruins. But that was not of any interest as of yet. Around the moon of this unknown world was a debris field caused by what could only be guessed was a massive weapon. Something had struck the moon, leaving nearly half of it shattered and having formed the obstacle before them. The sensors within showed that there were traces of Clouzon-36 within the debris field, which would explain why the purrgil had abruptly exited hyperspace. Kr'Naan did not see the beast they were chasing on any scans, but it surely had to have sought refuge within the field.The Tusken child looked to Dragus. "Should we follow it in?" She asked in ewokese.
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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: 1,406
Affiliation: Sith Eternal
Traffic Light: Blue
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Post by Dragus on Mar 16, 2023 19:23:47 GMT -8
Hook shaped talons gouged the deck, carving furrows in the filthy durasteel as Dragus experienced the same physical strain as the rest of the crew whilst Kr'Naan put the Covenant of Blood through its paces. He swore he could hear a growl of delight over the static hissing constantly from the PA system, as though the ship itself were expressing its joy at the thrill of the hunt. When the dreadnought eased itself into orbit of a nearby moon, he flexed his toes, prying each obsidian talon from the floor with a sinuous pop. His lips parted so that his forked tongue could extend, slithering over the transparasteel viewport as he lapped away a dense layer of mouldy film smeared across its surface, clearing off enough crud so that his curious crimson eyes could get a better look at their surroundings. He didn't recognize this stretch of space out of hand, which was unusual. Say what you would about the saurian, he was well traveled, if nothing else. Peeling himself away from the window, he stalked over to an officers station lining the bridge wall and peered down at the sensor display, carefully tapping through a series of screens for the information he sought.How curious; this system did not appear on any of their star charts. That was most unusual. It would appear based on the evidence presented that this was the scene of same great calamity, though when it occurred and what exactly transpired was anyone's guess. The debris field, what remained of the shattered moon, was dense and easily as dangerous as an asteroid field. What could have done such a thing, he wondered, hmmm? An asteroid strike? No, the striations on the rock and sheer volume of glass the Covenant's sensors were picking up suggested something less natural and more direct. A weapon then, something capable of generating an incredible amount of energy. What was even more interesting were those ruins on the surface of the planet.The Tusken child looked to Dragus. "Should we follow it in?" She asked in ewokese. "What sssay you and I take the Grimblade and go have a clossser look, hmmm?"
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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 Mar 20, 2023 7:59:36 GMT -8
Disappointment. Kr'Naan felt it in the tone of her master's voice as he growled at her and pressed her hand down on the thrust controls. The child's mouth became dry as the sands of her homeworld in fear of the draconian darksider's tone. While she had not hesitated out of fear of what lay within the debris field; instead her hesitancy had been due to the fact the child of sand did not think she had the right to order the Saurian Sith's ship into such danger without his approval. She did, however fear her Dragus and his disapproval which at many times proved to be deadly to others she had seen. A complex had formed in their relationship, unhealthy as it sounded, with Tusken child seeking the approval of the Saurian Sith and becoming more dependant on it as time passed; while still having a lack of faith in her own actions, often because of the child freezing under the pressure of trying to discern which path would satisfy the being which she still very much saw as a God. Superstition in less advanced cultures was hard to beat out of its victims, not that Dragus had not considered doing such. But the twisted terrasaur had largely held off, for now at least; though his bent mind, as always, did have ideas brewing on what he would ultimately do with her.Kr'Naan's lips curled at the aftertaste of the psychic message relayed throughout the crew, not finding it as enjoyable as Dragus did. Though comparing it to some of the things she had had to eat it was far from the worst taste the Tusken youngling had experienced. Eager to make up for her lack of will moments ago Kr'Naan jumped at the chance Dragus was giving her."Y-yes, of course Master!" Kr'Naan jabbered in Ewokese, scrambling out of the chair and moving at breakneck speed toward the hangar bay where the Grimblade sat. Somehow managing to beat Dragus there, Kr'Naan ran up the ramp and up the turbolift to the bridge, ready to inform the ewok crew of their new mission. Instead of the ewok pilot Lil'Kaan as expected there was instead the Ranat known as Squeakers, in a very compromised position in the co-pilot chair facing the turbolift doors, by himself. The humanoid rodent let out a shrill shrieking squeak and spun the chair back around to face the viewport."Ready ship." Kr'Naan said in broken Basic to the ratman. Kr'Naan did not even take a step out of the turbolift and instead hit the button to go back down again. The milliseconds that it took the lift door to close was like a millenia for both parties. By the time Dragus arrived in the hangar the Grimblade the engines were warmed up and the ship was ready to go at his command. Kr'Naan waited for Dragus awkwardly at the turbolift, not going back up to the bridge without him. |
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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: 1,406
Affiliation: Sith Eternal
Traffic Light: Blue
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Post by Dragus on Mar 21, 2023 5:39:06 GMT -8
By the time Dragus reached the hangar bay, the Covenant of Blood had already plowed its way through the debris field. Brilliant crimson lances of coherent energy atomized space rock and ice as the warship carved a bloody path deeper into the treacherous remains of a dead moon. Ranats scrambled past his clawed feet as he watched the first catches of the day being hoisted on the hangar conveyor system, which was usually dedicated to moving starfighters or heavier hardware around. Now it had become part of a continuous factory line, carrying purrgil corpses across the bay, swinging from large butchers hooks that had been driven through their tails. Umbaran cultists with rubber aprons wielding filleting knives and vibro-saws were joined by members of the Famine Lord's flock. Lil'Bacca and Lil'Mort added their tribal talents to the mix, skinning and cleaning the great beasts like they would a boar-wolf from their home-world. The saurian Sith stopped by the production line and picked up a rusty metal bucket that was being used to catch blood and offal dripping from the carcasses overhead. Dislocating his jaw, he opened his terrifying toothy maw as wide as it would stretch before bringing the bucket to his lips and upturning it into his mouth. Warm space-fish blood spilled from either side of his jaws, seeping from between razor sharp incisors to drip down his chin and thoroughly soil his man-flesh garment. When the bucket was empty, he tossed it aside, striking a scurrying ranat in its verminous head in the process.
"Jussst like motherz milk." He hissed pleasantly, dragging the sleeve of his cloak across his lips to sop up the red residue that was beginning to congeal there. "It takez me back."
Finally he reached the Grimblade, stalking up the ramp with purpose to find his faithful tusken tutee waiting for him at the lift to the cockpit. He gave her a playful pat on her hooded head, teasing her scalp with a few pricks his talon tips, before encircling her with his overlong tail and drawing her into the turbolift with him. He looked down at her as blood still drooled from between his stained teeth, spotting her wrappings with a warm crimson mist as he spoke down at her.
"Purrgil makes an excellent sssubstitute when there are no humanz around." He explained, continuing her education. He had made tutoring the child a regular part of his routine these days. It was a reciprocal arrangement, for he enjoyed hearing himself speak and the little sand flea seemed to swallow up his every word like a sponge. To some degree he felt as though he had been transported through time, back to when his greatest pupil Belisarius was under his tutelage. That had been a learning experience for both of them. He tended to issue beatings to Kr'Naan less frequently then he had his former student, not because he didn't enjoy the act. You didn't get in to this line of work if you didn't enjoy a bit of unnecessary violence. No, the reason for which was simply because he had discovered that his young charges tended to be less capable when nursing broken bones. These days he tended to spend a bit more time on the psychological torture. "Due to their very ssspecific diet, the oil their bodiez produce can be harvesssted and refined into hyperssspace fuel. I will admit, their brainz tassste a bit bland for my liking, but their meat iz nutrient denssse and should keep the lower deckz from eating each other." He tapped a talon against one of his fangs somewhat thoughtfully. "For a time at leassst."
A second later when the lift doors opened, the two shuffled out into the cockpit. Lately he'd been letting Kr'Naan fly the Grimblade whenever possible. Today, however, was a different matter. An debris field was no place to take such risks. As such he slipped his scaled form into the pilot's seat, nodding to Squeaker's who already had the ship warmed up, and then flipped on the engines with a claw flick. As the star courier's repulsors whined to life, the deranged draconian retrieved a long stemmed pipe from within the folds of his man-flesh attire and proceeded to pack the bowl end with spice. Since the Sith Eternal conquest of Ryloth there had been no shortage of ryll spice available, though this particular strain was one of the mad alchemist's own devising. Using a small key-chain lighter that looked an awful lot like a miniature lightsaber, he immolated the contents in the bowl and drew in a lungful of rich narcotic smoke, exhaling a purple cloud from his lips and nostrils directly into the ranat's face. Squeaker's whiskers twitched and the rodent's beady eyes seemed to grow large in their sockets. The little rat rascal even chittered, giggling in its fiendish way as Dragus rested the pipe on the cockpit dashboard and took the controls in hand.
Rising from the hangar floor, the nimble craft floated across the deck before dropping into the yawning opening in the centre of the bay, narrowly avoiding a returning TIE Interceptor with a purrgil speared upon its angled solar panels. The Grimblade entered the field, though it seemed the saurian's searing gaze was less focused on the asteroids around them and more focused on the planet the dust cloud seemed to encircle.
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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 Mar 23, 2023 6:09:27 GMT -8
Almost constant proximity warnings flashed as the Grimblade weaved through the unnaturally formed asteroid field, the flash of exploding rocks surrounding them as the Covenant of Blood did its best to not only make a path for itself but also attempt to clear one for the smaller ship as well. Some of the shots however, came a bit too close. Nothing that could be outright seen as an attempt on the heinous herptile, but someone was obviously having too much fun back with the targeting system.Kr'Naan stepped forward and gazed upward into the debris field as large pieces of separated moon burst into smaller pieces around them as they were struck by turbolaser fire. The Tusken youngling by now had been among the stars for quite a while, at least for others of her people, but no matter how much time had passed it still felt new to her mind. There was so much out there that each time Kr'Naan peered into the unknowns of space she saw something new. Kr'Naan pointed in the direciton of one of the beasts they hunted which was stationary."Look, Master! There!" Kr'Naan said in Ewokese to Dragus. Squeakers rolled his eyes at the child's jabbering, already aware of their prey on the sensors. Kr'Naan lowered her hand and tried to get closer to the viewport to see the creature better. "It's not moving. What is it doing?" She said, confused. A purrgil of particularly deep shaded purple and blue was wrapped around a starship of some kind, though the make was not immediately decipherable as the Purrgil's tentacles that surrounded the superstructure concealed some of its details. It seemed the Purrgil had attached itself to the ship like a parasite to get at a hyperdrive fuel leak, as sensors indicated it was the source of the dispersed Clouzon-36 in the field. It was an all you can eat buffet for the space-whale, to the point it had not noticed the coming ships.A careful firing of the Grimblade's weapons was enough to catch the beasts attention and scare it from its meal, disentangling itself and pushing itself off in a hurry.The ship, now more visible, was old. VERY old. From where it floated it apepared that this ship had been the target of whatever weapon had partially struck the moon; but it was still mostly intact. Whatever technology the ship utilized it had only suffered damage to render it inoperable. There was damage to the hull and thrusters as well as breaches in many of the compartments, essentially making it dead in the water."Master, I do not like the look of that ship. What happened to it?" Kr'Naan said in slight awe at the sight. The ship, as Dragus would recognize it, was of Rakatan and their Infinite Empire's design; which turned out to not be very infinite. They had enslaved a great many civilizations, including the ancestors of Kr'Naan's people. Kr'Naan could have some sort of deep memory of stories told of her people of their former captors.
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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: 1,406
Affiliation: Sith Eternal
Traffic Light: Blue
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Post by Dragus on Mar 26, 2023 6:29:01 GMT -8
Dragus' sinister scaled saurian lids widened as the crimson coals set in their sockets observed with utter fascination and building curiosity. Gripping the steering yoke tightly to the point where the grips began to groan in protest, he took the ship closer, activating its external lights as he began to circle the discovered vessel. He knew Rakatan architecture when he saw it. His former pupil Belasarius and he had encountered several similar derelicts during the black crusade beyond the galaxy's edge, with the Sith virologist taking more of keen interest in such antiquated technology than his scaled master. For the black scaled barabel's part, he had always been far more interested in the civilization that pre-dated the rakata, the celestials. Still, something nagged at his guts while the Grimblade circled this long forgotten vessel.
Perhaps it was simply the bucket of space-fish blood he had so recently consumed. He was fairly certain he had some Clouzon-36 in his bowels after that latest snack. It always gave him the hyperspace farts. He scowled. Well, they couldn't just leave it here even if he was less than impressed by the ancient vessel. It was more than likely the ship had been in someway involved with the destruction of the moon, or at least might contain information related to the weapon responsible. In any event, it was worth taking a closer look.
Guiding the star courier into another loop, he maneuvered the ship towards an opening between the two large prongs at the prow of the ship. As they got closer, the ship gave a slight shudder as though they had passed through a permeable layer of vacuum. He immediately noticed a lack of debris as they closed the last few feet, as though the derelict was projecting some sort of magnetic field that repelled the asteroids around it. Holding his breath, the saurian Sith piloted the Grimblade through a glowing blue energy barrier at the hangar opening, amazed that the vessel still had enough power to prevent its atmosphere from bleeding out into the vacuum. A talon flick activated the landing struts which extended from the nimble crafts underside, touching down on the smooth deck as the repulsors began to cool. All sensor readings seemed to indicate that there was a breathable atmosphere aboard, meaning they wouldn't require evo-suits.
"Squeakerz, watch the ship." He-Who-Hungers commanded the ranat as he rose from the pilots chair and approached the lift. "Come, Kr'Naan." A rare elicitation of her given name. He led his puny prodigy into the lift and descended to the ready bay. As they emerged, he pressed a scaly palm to the door controls and lowered the star courier's ramp with a pneumatic groan. Even after being forgotten for several thousand years, Dragus could still taste the taint of the darkside on the air, permeating the unusual mechanisms of the ship. The rakata were known to have blended technology and the Force in such a way that its like had not been replicated to this day, the Eye possibly being the only exception. It blinded his vision to some degree. He felt pulled in several different directions at once.
"Lead the way, Wart." He hissed, looking down at the tiny tusken. If he couldn't trust his own senses, perhaps the instincts of a child would have better success.
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Kr'Naan'Kar
The Sith Eternal
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Post by Kr'Naan'Kar on Mar 27, 2023 8:04:00 GMT -8
A warmth welled within Kr'Naan as her maliferous master muttered her true name, sparsely spoken as it was. Kr'Naan hurried to keep pace with Dragus as they made their way out from the Grimblade and into the hangar of the dilapidated starship, holding her breath in the turbolift as she heard a loose sounding expulsion of gas from Dragus. As they exited the Grimblade and moved into the hangar Kr'Naan breathed in the stale air, coughing slightly at the taste in the air. Death. An ancient taste of decay that was far beyond anything she had experienced despite her recent living situation. Her young mind could only guess at how long this ship had sat undisturbed, stewing in its own putrescence. Kr'Naan looked up to Dragus as he ordered her to take point."Me?" Kr'Naan asked in Ewokese in shock at the command. The opportunity for her to lead took her by surprise and left her excitedly dumbfounded for a moment, which was quickly correct as Dragus flicked his tail in aggravation at the delay. K'Naan was quick to pick up the pace, running ahead to the closest of a large set of doors that led from the hangar deeper into the ship proper. With no hesitation whatsoever she hoppping upward to smack a gloved hand onto the door controls to the side. The doors, long sealed, shuddered and strained to open. As as the creaking metal groaned, the small opening proved the way to be safe and presurrized. Suddenly there was a metal on metal screech and the doors stoppped moving. The crack that had opened was not large enough for even the Tusken child to pass through. Peering through the crack but only seeing darkness beyond, Kr'Naan looked around, spying a pipe on the wall and grabbing hold it, prying the metal object off surprisingly easily and jamming the pilfered pipe as a prybar to try and wedge the door open more. Whether or not it was due to her efforts or just the opening mechanism coming back to life, the doors suddenly flung open, revealing a shadowy figure silhouetted in the darkness of the hallway. The skeletal figure fell forward, having been propped up by the closed doors for millenia and toppled onto the child of sand, a tall head filled with sharp teeth and wide-set eyes being what she saw as she turned to celebrate her success.What would have been a yell of success instantly became a shriek of pure terror as a story meant to scare disobedient uli-ah became a reality to her eyes. Kr'Nana lifted her arms to shield herself. The falling skeleton fell atop Kr'Naan but as the bones impacted her they turned mostly to dust, leaving only a few bits and pieces but nothing truly intact that resembled a Rakatan crew save for a portion of the upper skull that had not fully shattered.Kr'Naan, less afraid as the moment had passed, kicked the dust up from the dessicated remains that had given her such a fright and then stopped on the remainder of the skull, crunching it into the ground. Tales of the Infinite Empire, while thought by some of her people to be myth were still regarded by a majority with a superstition that bordered on deifying them, much in the same way the dark god Hakusar was regarded. The R'Crurak tribe, Kr'Naan's tribe, was far more regressive in their beliefs; to them the ancient stories were to be taken literally as fact, even though time had skewed the passing on of the stories over the generations."If I may ask a question Master?" Kr'Naan spoke in Ewokese as she looked to Dragus before peering back down the dark hallway and began moving forward. "The legends of you say the demons that enslaved my people were your enemies. That you hated them for taking my people's worship from you and to them instead. You were among one of the gods to strike them down for their hubris and that is what weakened you enough for the other gods to strip you of your true power...Is it true?" There was fear amixed with hope in her voice. Fear of the nightmares of her homeworld, a primal fear ingrained in her very soul by her culture that evne the horror she had been exposed to and the strength she had gained by accompanying the saurian Sith seemed to vanish. The hope was that she was among the company of one who could protect her from any remnants of evil spirits. Even if in the legends they were reviled just as equally by her people, the dependancy she had developed along with the believed understanding of the unborn god's existence was much better than the alternative of coming face to face with any living Demons.
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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.
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Post by Dragus on Mar 27, 2023 11:05:36 GMT -8
Even as focused as he was seeking answers like a Gamorrean on the hunt for forest truffles, he couldn't help but descend into laughter as the rakatan skeleton collapsed on top of Kr'Naan. As you might imagine, heavy sissing followed. Wiping a humorous tear drop from one bloody eye with a talon, he paused in surprise at the child's question, fixing his attention on her. What was the truth about the fall of the Infinite Empire? It was still some manner of debate among the various archeological societies throughout the galaxy, but the largest consensus was that they had succumbed to some sort of disease. It would explain the vast amounts of intact technology they had left behind, marking their existence. Assuming that was true, it didn't seem to trouble Dragus in the slightest, who knelt next to the pile of decay and found a semi-intact piece of arm bone. He used the cadaverous stick to pick at a rancid morsel stuck between his teeth, digging in until crimson beads pooled at the base of the tooth in question and seeped over the side of his lip.
"Liez and ssslander, Wart." Hissed the Blood Wyrm, sifting through the corpse sand with his talons, occasionally plucking out intact knuckle bones between his razor tips, which he gathered into his other palm. He raised one scaly questioning brow. "Why would I require help? I ssstruck them down all on my own." His lips spread into a hungry grin. "The other godz were jussst there for moral sssupport. It waz my geniuz that developed the wasssting plague that eradicated thessse 'demonz'. Siss, Siss Siss." His grin stretched further, impossibly so, well beyond the borders of his scaly visage. "Now be sssilent, my dear. I mussst consssult the portentz."
Closing his left claw, he gave his hand a shake, causing the rakatan knuckle bones in his palm to rattle about. After giving them a good juggle, he opened his claw and tossed them on the floor. The bones scattered across the deck, bumping off the nearby bulkhead before settling in to what could only be described as a meaningless random pattern. To the uneducated, of course. For the Famine Lord who had spent the time learning all there was to know about ewok shamanistic rituals and magic, the way the bones lay had meaning, and not one he was happy with. They seemed to indicate that something bad was about to happen. Bullocks! He growled, displeased with what he saw. Rising back to his feet, he crossed his arms over his chest and tapped the sharpened tip of his tail spike on the ground, evidently pondering the probability that the bones were right. Foolish superstition. Still, they were valuable.
"Gather thossse up and continue on, my child." He scratched his chin with a claw until the scales there began to flake away. "I sssense we are clossse to unraveling thiz myssstery."
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Kr'Naan'Kar
The Sith Eternal
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Post by Kr'Naan'Kar on Mar 28, 2023 8:19:16 GMT -8
"What mystery is there to uncover aboard here Master? If you wiped them all out with a plague, then is that not the end of the story?" Kr'Naan asked in Ewokese. "Unless there is treasure aboard?" Kr'Naan's tone and body language changed to show the excitement welling within her as her imagination ran with the thought of lost treasure. Gathering up the knuckle bones and tucking them into a pocket before hurrying back to take her place as point in their boarding party, Kr'Naan's moved with a careful purpose forward down the corridors of the ship. The Tusken child would pass several closed doorways on their way, stopping at each one and inspecting them before moving on. There was no discernable reason why she passed on these doors, only that to her they did not look right. Of course, on a ship created and crewed by a race her people saw as demons nothing looked right to her. Kr'Naan stopped in front of a door, indifferent from the previous ones that they had passed and inspected it visually.On the floor in front of the door were several remains of Rakata crew members. Kr'Naan ran a gloved hand over the door, tracing what appeared the be deep gashes in the metal: scratchmarks. Kr'Naan looked back to Dragus."It looks like they were trying to get in, but the hangar is the other way." Kr'Naan moved over to the control panel, but it was disabled. So instead she pried off the panel and began fiddling with the wiring behind it. "Whatever is in there, it must have been important or they would have just left it and fled the ship." Kr'Naan theorized aloud in Ewokese. Sparks erupted from the open panel as whatever Kr'Naan did created a power surge. It was obvious her lessons in operating technology were going well. The results were mixed, however. The door shuddered and strained, slowly opening only partway. This opening however was large enough for Kr'Naan and Dragus to squeeze through, if the Famine Lord sucked it in a little bit that is.The lighting in the room flickered to life, though several of the lights remained dim. In the room were several more bodies but nothing of obvious value. It was a brig of some kind, with cells lining the walls. Some were empty, but the ones that were not had remains of other Rakata within. Outside the cells, it appeared as if the Rakatan had turned on each other, or a prison escape had been attempted, as many of the remains were atop one another or holding melee weapons driven into their foes. But regardless of their relationship to one another, who had killed them and so quickly that their carcasses were frozen as if in mid-combat?In the center of the room were two platforms beneath a forked rectangular prism looking device that descended from the ceiling with a clear sphere in the center of the main body of the device, the ends of each fork pointing down to their own platform. The sphere was dim, but a faint glow emitted from deep within whatever crystal material it was made of. Kr'Naan ran over to one of the platforms where the corpse of a Rakata was slumped over a console. She coughed and waved her hand in front of her mask as much of the bones that remained turned to dust which filled the air. Standing on the tips of her toes Kr'Naan wiped the dim controls of the console with her sleeve. Her touch caused the display to come to life, a projection in front of the computer console where Rakatan writing was displayed with diagrams and other things she could not understand."There's power Master! But I cannot read whatever writing this is..." Kr'Naan looked back over the cells that lined the walls of the room and the remains of the people who had been aboard. "What was so important about a bunch of prisoners that those demons outside tried to claw their way in this room?" Kr'Naan asked in Ewokese before looking directly to Dragus once more. "What do you think happened here?" |
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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.
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Post by Dragus on Mar 29, 2023 6:28:09 GMT -8
"Hubriz." Replied the reptilian in his rasping manner. "Thessse 'demonz' az your people like to call them, they have another name. Ancient sssociety knew them az the Rakata, who ruled over a ssslave empire that ssstretched the length of the galaxy. They meddled in powerz beyond their underssstanding, bending the currentz of the malevolent fey with technology, rather than pure sssorcerous might. That iz the realm of the Eye, and the Eye alone." It was not often that the Famine Lord mentioned that name, the 'Eye'. But when he did it was always with a special reverence. His brow narrowed as he fixed his attention on his curious child companion. "It waz not sssimply a sssore ego over a lack of affectionate devotion from your people, my little black melon, that led to thiz. The power they wielded did not belong to them. It belongz to me."Dragus eyed the room appreciatively, one mad scientist recognizing another. He stood over Kr'Naan as she operated the panel, carefully studying the alien script emblazoned on the illuminated console screen. His lips pulled back over tightly grit teeth, now sinking into his black gums as a building irritation caused his gorge to rise and his blood to boil. Leaning in, he placed his claws against the sides of the panel, his talon tips scraping the otherwise smooth metallic surface.The Hungering One considered himself an astute linguist, familiarized in several outer rim dialects and languages ranging from primitive gamorrese all the way to the elegant squeaks of rat-speech. Ancient Rakata, however, was not his specialty. As previously mentioned, the Great Devourer's former pupil, Belisarius Vilebroth, had been the far more interested of the two in the workings of the now defunct Infinite Empire. When searching through such derelicts and ruins they left behind, like on the forgtten world of far off Xeraxus, he had relied on his student's advanced comprehension of rakatan. Personally he much preferred Ssi-ruuvi, with its melodic clicks and whistles, when deciphering languages related to odd xeno-tech. Still, he knew more than the common man and had a keen intellect. He was certain he could make sense of it."I recognize thiz word here." He tapped the console screen, leaving claw pricks on its surface. "It iz the rakata word for 'control'." Dragus paused long enough to stroke his scaly chin, eyeballing the cells that lined the wall of the room. "One of the rakataz many transgressionz waz to ussse their insidiouz contraptionz to ssstrip the ethereal esssence of living beingz to power their infernal machinez. I believe that iz what we are ssseeing here. It lookz az though they usssed thossse podz to bleed the ssspiritual energy from their own kind." He looked down at Kr'Naan, thinking of how to put it into words she would understand. "They ssstole their magic, mossst likely to power whatever weapon dessstroyed that moon our purrgil prey fled into. Evidently not all the demonz cared to have their soulz harvesssted az fuel."A diagram of the the strange contraption in the centre of the room was projected on the screen, though it was unclear exactly how it operated. He had a suspicion, based solely on the one word he had been able to translate. 'Control', it was quite possible the device was some means of operating the weapon. He doubted there was enough power left to fire it, so it seemed harmless enough to perform a bit of trial and error. Reaching down with a claw, he plucked the tiny tusken off her feet by the back of her hood, carrying her over to the unusual machine before dropping her unceremoniously on one of the platforms. He then stalked over to the opposite platform and looked around for some means of operating the device."I am certain thiz iz the controlz for the weapon, though for sssome unfathomable reassson it appearz az though it requirez two to operate. What an unusssual desssign." He thumped his tail, sending a spiraling crack through whatever crystalline material the base was constructed of. "Ssstart mucking around, Wart. There mussst be a way to operate it."
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Kr'Naan'Kar
The Sith Eternal
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Post by Kr'Naan'Kar on Mar 29, 2023 12:05:12 GMT -8
With the tales of the demons that she could vaguely remember from her Grandfather coming to her mind as she tried to recall them, the way Dragus explained the sins of these Rakata as they were known made sense. What were demons but those who went against the will of the gods? And if they were so profane as to believe they could harness power that did not belong to them that would more than enough just cause to wipe them out; not that Kr'Naan believed her master even needed a reason. Kr'Naan peered closer to the word translated by the sinister serpent. While not enough for any instant benefit, haivng that small amount of information would be enough to begin having the wheels of her mind turning to learn the language. Without a larger sample size, exposure and practice it may never happen, but the implanted presence by her master knew no such thing as satisfaction. The intense Hunger it felt was for knowledge, for that was its purpose. What the youngling saw, It deciphered, learned and amplified within her mind."They must ha-" Kr'Naan started before being picked up by the head by Dragus. She instictively squirmed for but a moment before remaining still until she was dropped onto of the theorized operating platform. Standing back up, the Tusken youngling adjusted her clothing before continuing to speak in Ewokese. "They must have been incredibly stupid. Would it not have made more sense to use the races they enslaved to power the weapon instead of their own kind?" There was still an unsettling feeling in Kr'Naan's stomach forming, but the dimly lit control panel in front of her was a good enough distraction to make her forget her worry. Kr'Naan, still having to stand on her tip-toes to reach, began looking over and testing several of the faintly glowing controls as best as she could. Fumbling by accident over a switch a compartment on the console opened, revealing a lozenge cut gemstone with a pointed teardrop shape point towards Kr'Naan. Curious, Kr'Naan hopping and tried to grab the colorless stonem but instead was only able to tap it.On the side of the barbaric Barabel, there seemed to be little in the way of controls, as the console he stood in front of only had a similar looking compartment as to the one that the Tusken's had. When Kr'Naan's opened, the one on Dragus' side did as well, revealing a colorless briolette cut gemstone with a flat ended teardrop shape; the pointed end of the teardrop pointing towards the saurian Sith. For the moment nothing appeared to be happening, save for the voice of Kr'Naan calling out to Dragus."Master, a crystal with an odd shape came out." Kr'Naan said in the language of the forest bears, relaying what she saw to him so he might provide further insight into the machine. The feebly lit spherical circle in the overhead machine began to slowly rotate within its rectangular casing, building up speed. As it did so, the light within dimmed, channeling down and bursting forth from the two prongs extending from the bottom. The light jumped from the spiked tips and flowed to the crystals on either console, filling them with whatever energy was contained within the main spherical device until they glowed the same purple hue.Kr'Nana stood entranced at the glowing gemstone; beneath her mask her mouth agape. It reminded her somewhat of the stone they had previously recovered, but much smaller and given her Master's attitude not nearly as important in their divine power."Master, does this mean that the weapon is functio-ughal!" Kr'Naan could not finish her sentence before the sharp teardrop end of the crystal was violently plunged into her throat by a mechanical arm that extended from the console, two smaller clamps on the sides of the arm enclosed themselves around the uli-ah's throat and lifted her up into the air. Kr'Naan grabbed at the arm with her hands and furiously kicked her feet as she was lifted into the air, her vision filling with strange symbols as she was blinded by a familiar purple light.When she regained her vision, Kr'Naan was on the ground. The ship shook beneath her body, causing her to sit upright quickly try to stand. Kr'Naan grabbed the edge of the console from which the arm had grabbed her, which was now limp on the deck, to help herself up. As soon as she stood up fully, the rotating sphere in the center of the machine burst from its rectangular casing, shooting off into one of the bulkhead and bursting through with great force. The ship shook more violently. Kr'Naan coughed as she tried to inhale and call out for her master. She tasted blood in her mouth, but also like she had swallowed a gorg that was stuck in her throat. Kr'Naan ran over to the other platform where Dragus had been, finding the repugnant reptile on the floor just as she had awoken. What force could have been great enough to strike him down? Was it a trap left by the demons as revenge for the plague?"Master! What happened? Are you alright?" Kr'Naan's voice was hoarse, and her tone filled with great fear for the well-being of Dragus. In a near panic at the sight of one she saw as a god on the ground the Tusken child grabbed the clawed hand of Dragus and tried to lift him up or drag him, having success in neither. "Master! We must leave this place!" Around them the superstructure of the ship was shaking itself apart, whatever damage the runaway sphere having done likely bene enough to unsettle the delicate stability that had allowed the ship to maintain a stable orbit in the debris field.
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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.
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Post by Dragus on Mar 30, 2023 6:01:05 GMT -8
It was safe to say that when the ancient rakatan machine sprang its nefarious trap, the self proclaimed artisan of the alchemical arts and evil genius extraordinaire, was...mmm, somewhat ill prepared for it. You could hardly blame the fellow for being a bit distracted. The darksides lingering taint permeated throughout the ship, fooling the senses and making it impossible to discern danger, which was the reason he had allowed Kr'Naan to lead. If there were any traps, she was supposed to have walked into them first. So how did this happen?In the fraction of a second where his attention was focused elsewhere, the infernal device struck like a serpent lunging at its prey, driving that tear drop shaped crystal straight into the barbarous black scaled barabel's left eye with a meaty wet squelch. That pain was immense, paralyzingly so, as though his entire nervous system was on fire all at once. Ordinarily he might have enjoyed the machoism, were it not so unexpected. Purple lighting erupted from the stone thrust deep into his skull, sending crackling forks across his scales, searing him in places down to the meat and gristle. A noxious blue smoke rose from his embattled form as he collapsed onto the ground, unable to operate his limbs, barely in a position to focus his undoubtedly warped but also keenly sharp mind. His saurian frame twitched in the foetal position on the floor, as microscopically thin tendrils extended from the base of the glowing purple crystal embedded in his left eye socket, anchoring themselves to the twisted terrorsaur's very brain. Unbeknownst to the fiendish Famine Lord, that scheming mind of his was being rewritten by the malicious ancient technology that had adhered itself to the hardened bones of his skull.Blood pooled in his throat, trickling from his gums as that forest of incisors set in his jaws had clamped tightly shut, causing the Hungering One to gurgle wetly as he struggled to draw breath. As he felt Kr'Naan's tiny hands grip his claw and desperately try to lift him, he coughed up the congealing stew catching in his throat, spitting a steaming loogy of bloody lung onto the floor. His tail was the first of his limbs to begin to move, curling towards the back of his head as the last few jolts of pain wracked his body, pulsating from the stone implanted in his head. Groaning, he lifted his right claw to his face, feeling around where the gem had adhered itself, taking away a wet talon. Jelly, that was all that remained of his eye. It wept from around the stone, that which hadn't been burned away during the attachment process. Gritting through pink stained fangs, he attempted to sink his talons around the stone and pry it free, only to feel another paralysing pulse of pain sear him to his very core, wracking his brain and making it impossible to focus. More blue acrid smoke that stung the eyes poured from his nostril slits.Whatever this was, it did not want to be removed. Dragus, who considered himself open to all manner of new experiences, had never felt physical agony this exquisite before. It tormented the senses, clouded his thoughts, stung in all the right places. It was absolutely delightful, but he could not allow it. Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do about it at the moment."Releassse...me, child." He hissed at her, spitting a bloody mist in her direction. "I'm getting..." "Master! We must leave this place!" "WHAT DID YOU DO, WART?!" He snarled, then bent over and vomited blood and black bile onto the rising ramp. "Ugh."
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Kr'Naan'Kar
The Sith Eternal
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Post by Kr'Naan'Kar on Mar 30, 2023 11:43:18 GMT -8
As Kr'Naan was lifted up she was finally able to take note of the crystal impaled into the eye socket of the barbaric barabel. Horrified, she instinctively reach up to her own face, but felt no crystal in her own eye beneath her mask. Still, the stiffness in the throat of the Tusken child remained, as if a bone were caught in her throat. Kr'Naan rubbed her throat, feeling the implanted device and eyes widening in terror. What had happened to them? Were they going to die? Some curse or trap left by the demons to any who would try to plunder their secrets?As they boarded the ramp of the already warmed up Grimblade, Kr'Naan visibly flinched as Dragus snapped at her. Her concern and fear began to rise even greater as her master doubled over as the contents of his stomach, a mix of mostly blood and bile, emptied onto the ramp as it closed. Kr'Naan took a half-step backwards away from Dragus momentarily as he stretched out a claw threateningly towards her before reversing course and remaining where she stood. She had no reaosn to fear. She had done nothing...right?"Please do not be angry with me, master! I do not know what happened; I swear it upon your name!" Kr'Naan pleaded in Ewokese as she took a step forward. She cleared her throat and swallowed in discomfort as she struggled still struggled to speak clearly because of the crystal lodged in her throat. "It must have been a trap left by the demons! Some sort of curse to take their revenge on you for their deaths?" Kr'Naan knelt slightly as Dragus heaved up his innards to better look at his shiny new prosthetic eye, touching the crystal at her neck in turn. In her mind she felt a cold heat as she gazed into the crystal within the head of her lord. There was something else, but she could not yet decipher what it was. Kr'Naan did her best to recall everything that had happened aboard the ship."I remember the platforms. And the crystals. I had tried to grab the one on my side but only managed to touch it....and several of the controls on the panel. Then there was a light...but in my head?" Kr'Naan strained herself to continue speaking. "But I only did as you told me to try and activate the weapon! It must have been booby trapped! That is the only thing that makes sense! And your eye!" Kr'Naan ran to a panel by the top of the ramp and slammed her hand down on one of the buttons, activating an intercom to the bridge. In a panic she yelled out in Basic to the pilot Squeakers."Master! Hurt! Go to help! Hurry!" Kr'Naan said before stumbling backwards as the Grimblade flung around back towards the Covenant of Blood at full thrust away from the disintegrating Rakatan ship. Wobbling as she steadied herself, Kr'Naan cleared her throat and roughly swallowed as she turned her attention back to Dragus; the saurian Sith still spewing with rage and lashing at her as she neared. Kr'Naan moved backward slightly to avoid the strike. The attempted strike at her had been far too slow, at least compared to attacks her master had done before. The curse was obviously having an effect on his abilities."Master please! Let me see your eye! Maybe I can help?! Be still so I can see!" Kr'Naan offered in Ewokese quite panickedly. She was a little surprised at the speed with which the dreadful draconian complied with her request, but peered cautiously at the wound. Kr'Naan blanched slightly at the gruesome sight, and could only guess how the crystal in her throat appeared. Was it bad she felt relief that it was her master that seemed ot have gotten the worse end of the crystal implantation stick? Kr'Naan shook her head to clear herself of these thoughts. If this was her fault the least she could do was try to fix it, right? Looking over the crystal, it was a sight to behold (pun intended); completely supplanting the eye with her being able to peer directly into the cavity when the light struck it just right. It was beautiful, in a horrifying way. Seemingly entranced, Kr'Naan slowly reached up and touched the crystal with a gloved finger. The Tusken child snapped out of her trance as she noticed a glare in her master's still existing eye. She stammered for a moment before trying to offer solutions."Should I try to pull it out, Master? If I get a knife I might be able to remove it." Kr'Naan presented to her master in Ewokese, though the uli-ah knew better than anyone she had no idea what she was doing.
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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.
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Post by Dragus on Apr 3, 2023 10:48:05 GMT -8
Each command, which is what Kr'Naan's words amounted to regardless of any intent, sent a jarring stab of pain through the Hungering One's brain. When she commanded him to be still, his whole body became paralyzed, unable to move even an inch until it was clear the Sand Child was done. The pain he could appreciate, it was something he was very familiar with, both in imparting onto others and receiving as well. He quite enjoyed pain, when it was purposeful, to ignite the senses in agonizing ecstasy. What he couldn't stand for, nay, what he absolutely refused to allow...was the subversion of his body. Already a slave in some sense to the Eye, he was not about to become the plaything of a child. Yet, as he willed his body to pounce upon the tiny tusken and shred her flesh to a satisfying bloody pulp, the saurian's scales refused to budge. He could not resist the compulsion of whatever twisted control device had been implanted in his skull, a compulsion that seemed solicited from the matching gem in his infuriatingly helpful sand squire's throat.There was another unique feature to the device that both would learn in the coming moment, a feature almost as wicked in nature as its ability to enslave a Sith extraordinaire and master of the arcane such as the Great Devourer.Unable to resist, the Famine Lord's only recourse was rage. He hated this, hated losing control, hated Kr'Naan for seeming to possess said control, hated himself for falling into this trap, hated this system and its shattered moon, hated the dying ship Squeakers left in the dust behind them as his ranat assistant carefully piloted the Grimblade towards the Covenant of Blood's open hangar. Dragus' hate became a palpable thing, seeping into their shared connection. The gemstone that had replaced his eye began to bleed a sinister red glow as even a sophisticated piece of rakatan technology struggled to manage the growing anger inside of him. Wisps of steam began to lift off his scales, while his remaining eye bulged, hurtling formless spears at his puny prodigy that were as effective as shoveling snow on Hoth. All he wanted in that moment was to free himself, to sink his jaws onto either side of Wart's soft skull and snap them shut. Not able to act on the impulse, that hate had nowhere to go, save perhaps through the connection they now shared thanks to a long dead alien race.A special trait built into the device, one that allowed the master to sense the thoughts and feelings of the slave, so that they might hide nothing from their rakatan overlords. How could they possibly have predicted such a device would be connected to a creature as foul and oddly in touch with the darker side of his emotions as He-Who-Hungers?Dragus' hate was a rushing river, bursting whatever dams and protective fail safes were written into the device, pouring through their shared connection. One of the most powerful beings in the galaxy and he was forced to obey the whim of a savage child with little understanding of the greater galaxy, but oh, would she know how he felt about it. He bared his glistening teeth at her, fighting to speak as even the suggestion of removing the device brought another hammer blow's worth of pain to his skull, which in turn infuriated him even more."Ssstop...trying to help." He hissed at her, misting the air between with crimson flecks. "Ssstop...talking." Maybe she didn't yet understand how the device worked. If he could just get her to be silent while he figured this all out... There was another jerk on the floor beneath them as the Grimblade rapidly slowed, entering the hangar as congealed purrgil blood showered the star courier as it rose into the bay which for the time being had been converted into a space whale slaughterhouse. Massively muscular mutant ranat-ogres with giant push brooms worked around the yawning opening into the black abyss below, mopping the gory mess out into space where it froze almost instantly and joined the debris field.As this was happening, the hate flowing through their new and unwelcome empathic link, stoked something sleeping in the Child of Sand's mind. A serpent of thought, a thing he had implanted there during their journey through the deep woods on blessed Pzob. There in the eternally cursed forest of the Eye's cradle, the scheming saurian had placed something of himself. The hate awoke it.
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Kr'Naan'Kar
The Sith Eternal
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Post by Kr'Naan'Kar on Apr 3, 2023 13:07:29 GMT -8
Kr'Naan had located a very crude knife made of stone, obviously left behind by one of the saurian Sith's Ewok flock. The Tusken child brought the knife which amounted to little more than a wedge to level wih the former socket of the partially blinded barabel's eye but paused to look more deeply into the crystal. Kr'Naan's throat began to burn as the aura projected by improperly implanted prosthetic. Kr'Nana lowered the knife, her free hand lifting to her throat where the crystal had been implanted. Even through her gloves she could feel the heat it was absorbing from...somewhere. Kr'Naan moved her gloved hand to feel the crystal in the head of the dreaded draconian, feeling the same heat. There was something else, a great wave of emotion rushing into her mind. Powerful and visceral, a hatred that she did not understand as it overcame her mind.Kr'Naan lifted the knife, ready to strike at the crystal blindly in hopes of destroying it, the hatred and pain she felt both phsyically and mentally through the connection of with the saurian Sith overwhelming her young mind. She needed to make it stop, at any cost. Kr'Naan let out a primordial yell as she began to bring the tribal weapon down on the eye of Dragus.Stop. The knife dropped from Kr'Naan's hand and clatterd to the floor and the uli-ah's knees collapsed beneath her. In an instant the pain had disappeared, replaced by a sharp cold inside of her skull. She recognized this feeling, from her earlest days travelling with her master in the forests of Pzob. In the absense of the sensations felt moments ago it was more than comforting; in fact it was a godsend. To Kr'Naan quite literally so.Kr'Naan seemed to be speaking to Dragus, but the face of her hood was facing too great an angle to be addressing the Famine Lord directly. To also be speaking to the sinister serpent in her native tongue instead of the Ewok language was something that she had ceased doing altogether since she had mastered the language of the descendants of the celestials.A shadow appeared within the shadows of Kr'Naan's periphery, glowing eyes of crimson and a gaping maw that vented ethereal smoke. A voice that was similar, but not identical, to that of Dragus.Yes. Kr'Naan's turned to Dragus himself, a look of confusion on her face behind the mask hiding it."R c'r ur'k ruc'rkuk'r'uc.""I do not understand." The wavering wraith stalked around the pair, looking down at the physical Dragus. The hallucination plunged a clawed hand through the head of the barabel, causing the Tusken child to scream out once more in objection only to became more confused as the phantom was proven incorporeal as the extremity passed through the scale and flesh of the true terrorsaur with no effect. The apparition of the child's mind let a disgusted snarl grow on its face.The trap laid by the demons. One has taken my body and pushed my spirit out to suffer and fade. It is your fault for activating the trap and dooming me. Kr'Naan stood and walked over to where the conjured spectre stood and began conversing with what she now believed to be was the spirit of her master disembodied by her mistake. To Dragus it would appear as if she were speaking to thin air."Aru'Kr'k eor'Ru'R r c'Rc ur'K f'Ur'c!""Master please I did not know!" The imposter raised a claw to stop the still panicked youngling from continuing.There is no need to worry, for I have sprung a trap of my own. The crystal implanted by the machine was meant to make you obey the demon's commands by force. I have reversed this curse. Kr'Naan audibly gasped, turning back to look at the body of Dragus, whom she now believed to be possessed by one of the demons.A few minutes passed after they had landed, and in that time Kr'Naan had conversed with "Dragus" over the possible solution to the problem of the demon inside of "his" body. Dragus would only be able to understand the parts of Tusken he may have picked up on in his time spent with Kr'Naan in his service, but it was quite obvious that the child was having some sort of breakdown or hallucination. How bad it was would only become more apparent to him as she would turn back to the genuine article himself and smacked him across the face with the back of her gloved hand."You shall pay for taking my Master's body, Demon. Now remain docile and act as if everything is normal. We shall go to the lab of my master and undo your trickery!" Kr'Naan snapped in Ewokese to the perceived imposter. It was at this point the turbolift to the bridge opened, revealing Squeakers who had come down to see what the delay was in opening the ramp if their lord had been injured.
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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.
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Post by Dragus on Apr 4, 2023 6:14:42 GMT -8
Frozen in place, the self proclaimed Dragon of Pzob was helpless as he watched the sand child raise her knife overhead and prepare to drive it down into his false eye. All the power in the galaxy at his claws and he couldn't so much as lift an arm to protect himself. He glared venomously at Kr'Naan, staring her in the eye rather than at the blade soon to be plunged into his skull, when at the last moment her grip slackened and the knife clattered to the floor. His worry eased as he watched her next fall to her knees, perhaps stricken in the same way he had been. That was his initial suspicion, until the child began to speak to someone, only there was no one else there. Fabulous, just what they needed to improve the situation. Here he was, unable to control his body, and the only person who seemed to have some semblance of control over it was losing her marbles. His vast intellect remained trapped as his body continued to conform to this new cybernetically induced conditioning, waiting patiently for his next command. As Kr'Naan babbled to herself incoherently, he focused his true eye on his surroundings, seeing if there was anything he could do to manipulate the situation to his advantage.It was about this time that he spied the knife Kr'Naan had dropped. That will do, his scheming brain thought. Focusing his incredible will like a swordsman preparing to strike, the Hungering One extended his ethereal claws to the aether, capturing strands of the malevolent fey's cursed power, and weaving it in such a was as to effect the physical world. As his body remained unbendingly rigid, the knife on the ground began to move, slowly but purposefully. With Wart distracted by whatever figments plagued her primitive mind, there would never be a better opportunity to strike her down and possibly secure his freedom. It was equally possible doing so might trigger a fail safe that could potentially kill him as well, but he was willing to take that risk. Anything to be free again. As if gripped by a phantom hand, the knife began to rise off the deck and float through the air. It took an incredible amount of concentration to get it to do even that much, with every muscle of his body locked into place, awaiting the next command. Inch by inch it turned in the air until the stone sharpened edge was aimed directly at the centre of Kr'Naan's back. All he needed to do was give it a little push..."You shall pay for taking my Master's body, Demon. Now remain docile and act as if everything is normal. We shall go to the lab of my master and undo your trickery!" Kr'Naan snapped in Ewokese to the perceived imposter. "Echa, cho-cho." Said Lil'Bacca to his companion. Lil'Mort nodded, and the two gore matted ewoks headed over to the lift. They watched the number projected on the LED panel above the doors tick downwards, eventually appearing to stop at the lower decks.The only thing down there besides hordes of hungry mutants was the deranged draconian's lab. A whoosh sounded as the lift doors opened before Dragus and Kr'Naan, revealing an unlit deck in the Covenant's underbelly. A foul reek of spoiled meat and biological waste assailed the senses. Emerging from the darkness, a gang of corrupted humanoids rushed the opening lift. They might have been human once, but now had little to show for it, save perhaps the number of their limbs. Their flesh was more a leprous scale than clammy skin, their eyes almost reptilian, jaundice yellow and bloodshot. A pungent milky white ichor wept from sores all over their starved mutant bodies, staining the scraps of rag they wore over their disfigurements. Even their finger nails seemed to have twisted into boney claws, or in some cases appeared to have lost all semblance of their prior humanity, and were now boneless tentacles. These repulsive freaks rushed towards the luminous lift lights like moths to a flame, only to stop at the threshold as they beheld the demonic drake that served as the unrivaled master of the dreadnought. They backed away, slipping into the dark, growling and hissing to form a sinister chorus.Placing one clawed foot forwards, Dragus stepped out of the lift with Kr'Naan still on his shoulders, exposing his scaled form to the shadow clothed corridor. Ghoulish gurgles from a variety of twisted mouths began to chant as the saurian Sith entered the hall and began to stalk through these shockingly inhabited depths."Pater-Mutatis! Pater-Mutatis! Pater-Mutatis!" Even without an understanding of ancient Pzobian, which was what the horrendously altered creatures were speaking, the meaning of the phrase seemed to cling to the air as though the words themselves had power. Often it was asked by the Dark Apothecary's fellow Sith why he maintained such a collection of ghouls and freaks rather than using a more reliable crew. It was for this reason, the devotion they showed, it empowered his spell-craft. Their worship resonated in the Force. As the chant grew in pitch, the meaning became clearer in their minds, broadcast by the collective will of the degenerate filth that surrounded them.Father of Mutants! Father of Mutants! Father of Mutants! Monstrous claws, tentacles with fanged suckers, and rotten fingers with bleeding tips all reached out from the dark just for the chance at making the briefest physical connection with the Great Devourer. Some of those disfigured appendages reached towards Kr'Naan as well. The lab was just a bit further down the hall, behind a sealed door that was password locked, though the password itself was the same one that Dragus used for everything. Ewoklover69...
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Kr'Naan'Kar
The Sith Eternal
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Post by Kr'Naan'Kar on Apr 4, 2023 12:07:46 GMT -8
Kr'Naan's head turned as she heard the Ranat get impaled in the shoulder by the knife she had dropped. Anger rose within the Tusken at the creature within the body of her master, using his power in profane ways. She did not care for the ranat, in fact Kr'Naan was quite sure it was plotting to kill her, but it was still of use to her master. Just as the uli-ah was about to retaliate that was when she was lifted up, taken by surprise and off balance Kr'Naan clung to the scaly head of Dragus to remain upright on his shoulders.Kr'Naan felt her face turn hot with embarrassment as she was practically treated as royalty carried atop the shoulder of Dragus. Stalking beside the pair, the calculating chimera given pseudo life by by a corruption of its intended purpose watched carefully, searching for ay hint of potential failure. Kr'Naan had spotted Lil'Mort and Lil'Bacca across the hangar and was about to get their attention but was stopped by the figmented fragment of her master posing to the youngling.They cannot see me, Kr'Naan...Only you can. Only you can correct this. Kr'Naan paused and looked from the specter to her ewok allies. Based on their expressions, a hard enough thing to pick up on the faces of Ewoks, they appeared just as confused at her current placement atop the shoulders of their master as she was abashed by it."I do not understand, Master. Why am I the only one that can help you? Surely the others could hel-" Kr'Nan spoke in hushed Ewokese before being cut off with a swift motion of the hallucination's claw. The devilish delusion fluttered like smoke dissipating in the open air, gathering itself together constantly just enough to remain coherent in form to the Tusken child's eyes. It was as if she were watching a dust devil ebb and flow, as the even more false god pulled her strings like a puppet to get what it wanted her to do willingly.You are my most faithful follower, Kr'Naan. And we are bound by the stone. There is no one else who would be able to undo what has been done. The mirage of her master flickered and reappeared walking on the ceiling, arms open wide in presentation of itself to Kr'Naan; the Tusken child the only being able to behold its projected magnificence."But surely I could tell them? They are much wiser than I. The floc-" The sham shade snarled, eyes wide, the light that shone from them nearly blinding Kr'Naan, smoke bursting from its mouth as it spoke. It would not dare be questioned. Everything had to go perfectly. The correct mixture of anger and acknowledgement, and she would submit. Make her to believe she was important and needed and the uli-ah would be wrapped around its non-existence finger.You are my only hope in overcoming this curse! The Demon is cunning! The others will not believe you. They are jealous! Of you, of our bond. It would use this to trick them! The feinting fantasm moved in close, resting a scaly palm on the masked face of the Tusken. Even though it was an incorporeal being, grown from a seed implanted in her mind, it was able to pass along a feeling of warmth. Another trick of the mind and easy enough to muster, now that it had a direct source of energy through the intense hatred it sapped through the connection between servant turned master and master turned servant.You have been training to be of worth to me! Prove my efforts have not been wasted and I shall reward you greatly in this world and the next! As the phantom struck a pose the words echoed in her mind as well as a flashing light in the wispy smoke that made up the entity. Like a parasite leeching blood from its host to sustain itself so too the connection between Dragus and Kr'Naan seemed to be strengthening the apparition. The timing with the echoing of the chants of the mutated minions was enough to convince Kr'Naan further. Even in this seemingly horrific tragedy He had a plan for her, and she was going to follow it. It was her destiny."I will not fail you, Master. We will return you to your rightful body." Kr'Naan said in quieted Ewokese so no one save for "Dragus" and Dragus could hear. The latter due to her being on his shoulders, of course. As their progress seemed to have bene slowed by the crowding of the before the closed doorway of the lab of her Master, Kr'Naan gave the back of Dragus's scaly head a strong smack in between her batting away the reaching appendages of the gurgling ghouls."Hurry up, Demon! My master is not known for being patient!" Kr'Naan commanded the saurian Sith in Ewokese, digging the heels of her boots into the clavicle of Dragus as if he were a domesticated beast of transportation. "I will undo what you have done and return him to his body."
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