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 May 19, 2023 10:07:29 GMT -8
Lightning manifested out of nowhere as the sky above Darth Vader's castle crackled with electrical discharge. Crimson bolts of ethereal energy split the dimensional barrier as a suped-up star courier pierced the barrier of reality, lightspeed skipping from the unreality of Otherspace directly into the hellish sulphur choked atmosphere of Mustafar. The members of Famine's Flock aboard the Grimblade all shrieked, the Dark Apothecary included, as the Anti-Force powered hell-drive Dragus had painstakingly crafted over the last thirty years of limbo flung them back into the known galaxy. Finely tuned systems erupted with blue acrid smoke as the transport's electronics were fried by its harrowing passage, causing the blind bear affectionately referred to by the sultan of sin as Lil'Havok, to lose control. The slender dart shaped craft began to plummet out of the sky, streaking like an arrow flung from a bow, directly towards the blackstone structure of the Famine Lord's personal hero.
Stone and metal erupted as the star courier's nihil smokestone outer layer shattered on impact with the wall, stripping it past its durasteel hull down to the circuits beneath. The nose crumpled and the transparasteel window of the cockpit shattered, sending fragments of sharpened glass flying past his flock mates like deadly shuriken. Sparks turned to flames as the scimitar spun in circles and the bow scraped along the stone ground, grinded off its reflec coating until only the bare metal underneath was left, roughly sanded. The star courier screeched to a halt just before colliding with the far wall of the chamber it had crashed into.
Dragus groaned, picking himself up from the deck where he had fallen during their impromptu landing. His molted spider flesh long-coat was singed and bleeding smoke, while his amethyst eye implant just barely managed to pierce the gloom of the wreckage. Brushing himself off, the Dark Apothecary slid his tail spike under his fallen saber-cane and flicked it up into his waiting claws, tapping the solid Sith iron tip on the deck, to signal any survivors. A coughing series of squeaks let the drake lord known his faithful rodent assistant Squeakers had survived, followed by a few chirps of bird song to tell him the same about Squawkers. One by one the ewoks turned up, all three of them, their fur in varying states of mess.
"Where are we?" Growled Dragus as he forced open an escape hatch with a release of anger fueled telekinetic fury, flinging the broken hatch across the room in the process. Drawing on the darkside once more filled the Hungering One's scaled form with delight. Oh how he had missed the malevolent fey. The Anti-Force, while useful, made for a poor replacement. Interestingly enough, now that he had returned to realspace, he found he could no longer call upon that mysterious source of power anymore. He flexed his claws, staring into one empty palm, before resting the hand on the head of his cane. "Well, we bessst have a look around. Squeakerz and Lil'Mort, you head down and sssee what you can find. Lil'Bacca and Squawkerz, you head up and do the sssame. I'll look around here with Lil'Havok, and we'll all meet back up in an hour."
With a few grunts of approval, the flock spread out and began to search their new surroundings, attempting to figure out where exactly they had ended up after fleeing Otherspace.
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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 May 20, 2023 6:20:08 GMT -8
After an hour of searching the castle, the flock members returned with their findings. Lil'Bacca and Squawkers had lots of left over Imperial technology and a workshop of parts that might prove useful, mostly cybernetics, but they were going to need every available resource if they were going to have any hope of repairing the ship. Next Squeakers and Lil'Mort returned, bearing much excitement as it seemed that they had found a hangar full of a collection of antique vessels just collecting dust. Dragus and Lil'Havok for there part found little of use, though the Dark Apothecary had become quickly aware that they currently sat on some nexus of dark power. He could feel the darkside's insidious tendrils pulsating throughout the fortress' bones, permeating the stone and making it easier for the drake lord to utilize his own malign power. One useful the thing the saurian Sith did manage to locate was a wardrobe full of black zeyd-cloth robes. He took one to replace his ruined spider coat, feeling much more himself now that he was in the finery of his cult.
Eventually it was decided that they'd all head down to the hangar. The black scaled barabel hummed a wicked tune from his scaled lips as the turbolift descended, his furry and feathery companions adding their own bestial mix to the chorus, creating a bizarre symphony by the time the doors opened to reveal the castle's hangar. Dragus stepped out first, tapping the narrow tip of his cane on the floor as he walked, his overlong tail swaying back and forth behind him. The Hungering One's furry companions quickly spread out, observing the large but mostly empty room, with several large shapes situated across the bay with large dusty tarps concealing their finer details. "Explore." Rasped the reprehensible reptilian, setting the flock loose with a casual sweep of his claw towards the covered vehicles. Like kids in a candy store, the fuzzy team began to pull off the tarps, revealing each rusting vessel in turn.
There were examples from all over the former Galactic Empire. There was a TIE Avenger in a state of semi-disassembly, as though the original owner never had time to put it back together. They found a lambda shuttle that was quite frankly looking like their best option to get out of here. There were a couple other Imperial specific designs, many Clone Wars relics, but eventually the team stumbled upon a ship that held Dragus interest. When Squeakers pulled the tarp off an old Amphibious Interstellar Assault Transport/infantry, the mad alchemist felt his pulse quicken, the cold blood coursing through his veins warming in genuine excitement. There was something very special about that ship, he could tell. It...spoke to him. Squeakers and Lil'Havok fiddled with the ramp controls, eventually activating the sleeping hydraulics and lowering the rear ramp to the ground. Lil'Bacca and Lil'Mort pushed and shoved as they scampered aboard ahead of the Famine Lord, who took his time ascending the steps, tip-tapping the butt of his saber-cane every step as he listened to the echoes.
Inside it was dusty and dirty, the floor stained with engine grease and strewn with debris from parts. As he examined the lower portion, he noted the vessel had quite the spacious interior, if properly utilized. He made a decision in that moment, while riding high on whatever this feeling that currently possessed him was. "Forget the Grimblade. It will take far too long to get it back into working order, if itz even possible. We'll take thiz ship inssstead." He stated boldly, resting his claws on his hips. "Begin transssferring our thingz to thiz new vesssel. Hmmm, I'll have to think of a name for it."
Instead of names, however, his thoughts were full of concern for his precious desert peach. The last time he had seen the darling dune despot, it had been aboard the Covenant, right before it crashed into Salis D'aar. In all likelihood she was dead, yet he found he was not ready to assume the worst as of yet. He still hadn't even determined what planet they were on.
Climbing up to the cockpit, Dragus settled himself in to a cracked leather seat and tapped his talons upon the console, bringing up the navigational log. The last listed destination for the ship was Mustafar. "Mussstafar?" He growled in surprise, his scaled lips spreading into a sinister smile. "Wonderful." They were still in the Outer Rim at least. From here it would be a short journey to the Nullus Beacon or Draggle Rock, Pzob even. All were but a short journey, assuming they could get the ship up and running.
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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 May 28, 2023 12:16:20 GMT -8
Nostril slits along the sides of a glossy black scaled snout flared, scenting Mustafar's unique flavour of fire and sulphur, leaving a bitter aftertaste of ash on the Famine Lord's forked tongue as he perched atop the tallest spire of Fortress Vader, accompanied by the black feathered Rishii songbird Squawkers. The only avian member of the flock was perched on a smooth curved piece of carapace serving as the saurian Sith's left shoulder pauldron. The heat resistant chitin had been harvested from the exoskeleton of a Lava Flea. Several of the creatures had been lassoed and wrangled by the furrier members of the flock, who had penned them up alongside a few other choice specimens in the lower sections of the fortress. A cape of malleable Mustafarian skin was pinned to either pauldron, hanging over the barabel's back where it split into two halves just above the reprehensible reptile's protruding tail that swayed back and forth behind his head, slicing the sooty air with the serrated spike capping its overlong end. His toe talons flexed as he peered at the lake of boiling magma below, spying from his vantage point he could just make out several raised crosses Lil'Bacca and Lil'Mort had erected outside the fort.Gentle mechanical whirring sounded from the rakatan ocular implant set in the Hungering One's left eye socket as the mad draconian activated the device's zoom feature, causing the multi-faceted gem to glow with an inner amethyst light at odds with the orange and black hell-scape that stretched out endlessly in all directions. From his vantage point the Dark Apothecary could see lean figures writhing on the raised crosses, nailed to the ironwood with spikes hammered through the flesh of their wrists and feet. When Dragus cupped his earhole with a claw, he swore he could hear their shrieking, even over the roar of the lava-falls that spilled past either side of the sinister black fort. The barely audible choir of suffering barely sated the saurian Sith's appetite for sadism and despair, causing him to turn his attention elsewhere lest he lose control over his faculties. "Let uz retire within." Hissed the Blood Wyrm to the sithspawned sentient bird on his shoulder, before opening the roof hatch and descending into the bosom of the darkside poisoned palace. The villainous velociraptor's saber-cane announced his approach with each resonating strike of its smokestone tip upon the stairs.Since returning from Otherspace the Great Devourer and his faithful flock of malcontents had been busying themselves repairing the AIAT/i they had found abandoned in the hangar, as well as spending a fair amount of time recuperating their strength. It had been an adjustment reacclimatizing himself to the malefic currents of the malevolent fey, his powers returning to him in a slow trickle, until his otherworldly senses prickled as they used to.After a week spent in the raging nexus of anger and misery, Dragus was beginning to feel like his old self again. His insatiable hunger slipped its chains, encompassing first his form before spreading beyond to suckle at the offerings screaming in the cells below. After familiarizing themselves with the tower, they had invited some of the locals over for...supper. The dastardly draconian was practically famished as he strode past rows of wrought iron bars from which a mixed batch of the local population could be found, lunging at him through the bars. Winking his natural blood red eye at them, the Dark Apothecary removed one claw from the metlmassif orb capping his ornate saber-cane and offered the prisoners a wave of his finger talons as he continued on past them, humming a pleasant tune to himself. He stopped as he reached the last cell, lingering at the threshold as he debated imbibing a quick snack before moving on. No sense letting all this choice meat go to waste, after all.Turning to face the cell, which contained within a weary looking Mustafarian of the southern sort, the lecherous lizard opened himself to the dark currents of the fey. A vortex of cruelty circled the fathomless void at the core of his being, channeling those currents as his mind gave shape and form to his spell. Insectile buzzing sounded from within his cloak of tanned flesh as botflies materialized into being, bursting from the Famine Lord's scales as these physical expressions of his Force Drain ability erupted from beneath his shrouded form in a virulent swarm that poured through the bars of the cell, completely covering the victim with their stinging snouts. As they nibbled and bit, the life essence of the sentient being was stolen from them, causing their body to begin to wither and age rapidly. All their years slipped them by in a matter of seconds, drained by the plague of apparitions the sinister saurian had summoned. Dragus for his part seemed reinvigorated, his slavering smile stretching impossibly beyond the borders of his face, dripping ropes of steaming salivation down his scaled chin that soiled his tunic. Naught but ash remained of his victim as he continued on his way.Eventually the depraved drake reached the hangar, finding his rodent assistant Squeakers and the blind bear Lil'Havok hard at work on the Amphibious Interstellar Assault Transport, which the flock had affectionately coined the Bad Bantha. It would not have been the Famine Lord's first choice, but like the other deranged members of his inner circle, he too missed the often irritating presence of the Sand Child. Based on what the others had told him, she had been taken by his creator prior to the Covenant of Blood's destruction. His forest of razor sharp fangs grit as that last thought passed through his rotten mind, causing a furious cauldron of rage to boil in his belly as he thought about that indignity, misting the air with crimson flecks with every ragged exhalation of poisoned breath. At first he had assumed her dead, for even having survived the destruction of Salis D'aar, thirty years had passed. With Kr'Naan's knack for finding trouble, it was unlikely she had survived on into adulthood without the flock there to look after her. However, after he had managed to get the fortresses holo-net relay functioning, he had discovered something strange. Despite three decades having past for himself and the flock during their time in the charon dimension, it seemed only a weeks time had passed in real-space. Meaning Wart might still be alive.Believe me, he intended to recover her, but first... Upon reaching a series of long brass pipes fitted with glass lenses he had alchemically altered, the black scaled barabel placed his natural eye against the viewing-hole of his cobbled together telescope and studied the star speckled heavens above through a rare break in the acidic clouds darkening the sky overhead. Through the Dark Apothecary's specially calibrated star-scryer, he was able to locate the Eye, even hidden as it was in a crackling nebula of storming gas on the edge of known space. Taking a deep breath, Dragus focused that incredible will of his, commanding the Force reveal to him the secrets of the universe it was currently withholding. He was rewarded with an unusual pulse that caused him to readjust the telescope, pointing the lens towards a frigid ball of ice and snow located several star systems over. Ah, Hoth. It had been many a year since Dragus had looked upon, let alone thought of, his old haunt. Once upon a time he had possessed an alchemy lab on that planet, located deep within the ice caverns that ran beneath Echo Base, where the Order of the Eye had maintained a military presence at the time. But that was a long, long time ago.Odd that it should garner his attention now. Moving his head, Dragus placed the glowing purple gem of his false left eye against the lens, scanning the image with the unique properties of the ancient rakatan device. The combination of alchemy and dark science rewarded the Hungering One with a sight most unusual. He saw a fiercely glowing blue stone, massive in size, that sang a song in the aether that set his ethereal senses ablaze. Something buried beneath the surface of that world called to him.What could it be?
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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 May 31, 2023 18:54:16 GMT -8
GHHHHHAAAAAAWWWW!!! A blood curdling insectile shriek echoed in the lower levels of the fortress where the prisoners were kept. Hissing as it vaporized and dripped scalding drops of boiled blood onto the dusty metal floor, a screaming red lightsaber blade wailed in sinister delight after cleaving through the thick flesh of one of the local mustafarians. The indigenous species had developed a skin that not only possessed a high tolerability to heat, but was also partially blaster resistant. It made it suitable testing material as Dragus experimented with the lightsaber component of his saber-cane. The reflective golden hilt was crafted from pure electrum, at the Supreme One's expense of course, gleaming in excessive opulence as it was also studded with flame jewels pulled from the sea of Roon. The hilt was short, fitting snuggly with room for only one claw, but made up for this shortcoming with its caterwauling energy blade. The saurian Sith slid his scaled thumb off the activation stud, deactivating the devilish weapon as the raging crimson lance seemed to withdraw into the emitter. Turning the hilt around, the Hungering One reattached the handle to his trusty cane of charcoal stained iron hard Pzobian oak, elegantly inscribed with ancient black-script whose vile meaning could only be deciphered with deep study of the Ewokinomicon.He-Who-Hungers patted his dark mustafarian hide cloak, confirming that his beloved tome was still in his possession, before resting his right claw on the ruby red orb topping his saber-cane. The black scaled barabel rested his considerable weight on the cane, driving the cortosis tip capping its end to grind sparks from the metal deck. Reaching his left claw into the satchel of supplies that hung against his same hip, he rummaged around for a moment until his talons clutched at his precious pipe. It was a foul artifact of Pzob, from the days when the Order waged a bloody conflict against the savage barbarian boars that inhabited the forest. A slender long stemmed pipe that drooped into a surprisingly deep bowl, of a transparant purple hue, as it was crafted from wintrium glass harvested from Klatooine. How it came to Pzob was anyone's guess. Some say it once belonged to the unrivaled Admiral Jack Haberd himself, though never confirmed. The mad alchemist poured a pinch of his custom blend spice, which included specially cultured kahel cave fungus crossbred with darkside infused Endorian Dank which he called Mustafarian Skunk, into the bowl of his pipe. He then summoned a spark of malevolent power into his claw tips, igniting the contents of the pipe with a miniature bolt of electricity.Dragus took a long hard pull off the pipe, drawing the delightful narcotic smoke into his saurian lungs, feeling a rush of euphoria for a few fleeting moments before it faded like everything else. There preparations were nearly complete. After terrorizing the inhabitants of a nearby settlement in the darkest hours of the night, he had returned to find the Amphibious Interstellar Assault Transport/infantry (AIAT/i) was finally completed. Squeakers and Lil'Havok had made the necessary changes to the engines, while Lil'Bacca, Squawkers, and Lil'Mort decorated the interior to make the vessel more homely. They had even dragged the stone slab the Famine Lord slept on from the wreck of the Grimblade, carrying it all the way to his new sleeping quarters near the prow end of the gunship. However, while their means of transport was now taken care of, there was still something else he needed to do first before they could leave. A great geyser of smoke erupted from the Great Devourer's dagger filled maw, forming phantom shapes in his dragons breath, carrying only a trace amount of airborne poison.There was something down below in the lake of fire at the base of the tower, something waiting for him. The Dark Apothecary had no idea what it could possibly be, but the unrelenting pull of the darkside was irresistible to him, causing his wicked jaws to part as the razor blades filling his mouth wept streams of steaming salivation. He descended part of the way by turbolift, then another few flights by stairs. His movements were slightly erratic and if one were to listen they might think him speaking to himself. The lower he went, the brighter the amethyst gem of his rakatan ocular implant, dispelling the darkness with its unnatural luminance. Beneath his scaled resting palms, the meltmassif orb topping his saber-cane swirled with a trapped inferno, split down the centre by an abyss black slit iris. When he reached the ground floor and threw open the castle doors, he emptied the ashes from his pipe before putting it away. Scanning the environment with his natural thermovision was impossible in this hellscape. He trusted his nose instead. |
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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 Jun 11, 2023 3:22:37 GMT -8
Sadly after several weeks of rest and relaxation inflicting unfathomable suffering on the indigenous peoples living near Vader's shack, the flock and its shepherd finally ready to depart. All the supplies had been gathered and the Bad Bantha was ready for its maiden voyage. Squeakers and Lil'Havok were running through the pre-flight check of the AIAT/i when the Dark Apothecary stalked up the boarding ramp, his cloak of Mustafarian flesh flapping in the sulphuric breeze invading the hangar through the open bay doors. Around his neck was a large oval shaped lava crystal, radiating a comforting volatility that reminded the black scaled barabel of his beloved older brother, Bacca. His toe talons scraped the deck as he boarded and made his way into the cockpit, looking over the shoulder of the milky eyed ewok serving as his chaffeur.
"Vacationz over. Time to return to civilization." He hissed, misting the back of the furry heads in the pilot and co-pilots seat. "But before returning to basssk in the radiant glow of Eye, a ssstop along the way iz in order. I mussst confirm the Dread Seer'z prophetic visssion with my own etheric sensez before committing to the next ssstage of our plan. Besidez, everyone knowz the Holo-Net iz fake newz." His sinister serrated tail spike struck the deck, eliciting orange sparks. "Let uz be off."
Dragus waved a dismissive hand before returning to the lower deck. He could feel the vibration of the gunship's oversized sublight engines powering up, then a brief sensation of weightlessness as it launched from the hangar and took to the ash choked sky. Shortly thereafter, the Bad Bantha streaked out of the atmosphere, heading for space.
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