Kr'Naan'Kar
The Sith Eternal
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Post by Kr'Naan'Kar on Apr 17, 2022 20:20:24 GMT -8
Large streaks of blood and feathers were all that the Tusken could see in the forward facing part of the bubble turret's dome. Holding down the trigger as the small gunship cotninued on its path through the massive flock of Rishii that were bearing down on their transport. They were obviously intelligent enough to create weaponry, a fact Kr'Naan learned too closely as one of the bird-folk landed on the transparisteel enclosure and began to beat at the ball turret with a spear. The primitive weapon, though unable to pierce the hardy material, did manage to crack it while Kr'Naan struggled to shake free the fowl boarder; all while still holding down the trigger of the turret to continue to let out superheated plasma death to any unfortunate enough to fall victim to the turret's extremely wild and unpredictable shooting pattern.
The Rishii, gripping tight onto the gunship with its clawed feet, took notice of the continuous fire and began to instead start attacking the turret's barrel directly to stop the fire. Kr'Naan began to maneuver the barrel in a dance to position it for an idea she had. After a bit of cat and mouse with the Rishii, with a quick jerk of the joystick the barrel of the ball turret flew into the feathered foe and knocked them into the side of the LAAT. Having lost their grip, the Rishii slid across the outside of the turret, desperately trying to claw its way back into a safe perch as it was, very viscerally, sucked into the air intake of one of the engines. Kr'Naan stared with wide eyes of shock at sight she had just witnessed. The ship's engines screamed in protest at the blockage which was followed by a small rumble. The ship began to list as the engine lost power, and Kr'Naan felt the bubble turret retract before being pulled out by a large taloned hand. Kr'Naan barely had time to grab the sword, and gripped it tightly close to her torso.
Shrinking as she believed she was about to be punished, Kr'Naan opened her eyes just in time to see Dragus toss Lil'Kaan out the side of the gunship while pointing at a large flying beast in the sky. He spoke but it was very hard to hear even his voice over the rushing wind and sounds of war. Before she knew what was happening, the barabel's tail wrapped around her and flung her out of the gunship as well. All Kr'Naan did for a few seconds was scream, a high pitched shriek of terror that nearly burst her own eardrums from the pitch. Her vision went black for a moment as she passed out for a moment, but was pulled back into consciousness by the rush of air causing her to tumble wildly around. Somehow throughout all of this her right hand was still in a death grip on her new sword, clinging to the object like it was her lifeline to saving her from gravity.
As the Tusken tumbled without any coordination or control she eventually rolled to face upward and spot the saurian Sith hurtling towards her. Kr'Naan turned as she felt a grip on her shoulder, the ewok Lil'Kaan tugging at her garb and demonstrating the correct posture needed for control, tucking in his furry arms and legs at different angles and pulling the youngling with him as they maneuvered, all while continuing to fall towards the ground. With a push the ewok separated from the Tusken and shot off towards the Drexl. The need to survive overpowering the intense panic, Kr'Naan copied the quick lesson and adjusted her arms and legs.
Unfortunately her regain of control was too late, and she fell past the Drexl, missing it narrowly. However, this was not to be the end of the Tusken. As she closed her eyes to accept her fate she felt something take hold of her. When she reopened them, she was safely gripped in the talons of the Drexl beast, which was being controlled by the tyrannical terrorsaur Dragus riding on the beast's back. Having had to dive sharply to rescue the uli-ah, Kr'Naan felt a lurch as the Drexl arched upward to avoid impacting the ground, driving its momentum upward with an adjustment of its mighty wings.
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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 18, 2022 6:06:51 GMT -8
Narrowly avoiding being smashed on the rocks by Spite's last minute dive sent a wave of exhilaration through the saurian Sith's psyche, causing the joy possessed invading lord to laugh psychotically as he pulled back on the reigns and guided the massive drexl upwards towards soaring heights yet again. Releasing one clawed hand from the harness, he closed his bloody orbs and focused his mind, expanding his awareness to encompass the beast and all within its immediate proximity. He didn't need to see Kr'Naan to feel her presence, causing the corner of his lip to rise ever so slightly in a mild grin. Good, still with us then. It would have made this whole venture a lot less fun had her little sand soaked form been smashed upon ground, though he was always prepared for such losses. That thought caused the reptilian to raise his snout and narrow his scaly lids, searching the sky for signs of the gunship they had rode in on. The chaos he so much enjoyed made it next to impossible to find one flaming wreck among a vast sea of such sights. He bit his lip in frustration drawing a bead of blood that streaked across the side of his face as the wind whipped past him.It was unclear what the fate of his furry flock mate had amounted to. Given the damage the LAAT had suffered and the way it had been spiraling out of control, that Lil'Havok could have effected some sort of crash landing seemed unlikely. Though perhaps he managed a means of escape before the worst had happened. Dragus felt a fool for not studying the skeins of fate before setting out on this latest adventure, but something deep in that love starved soul of his told him that the Blind One's furry avatar had not had its wyrd cut short. For the cataract crusted bear had a power greater than any ancient magic or mysterious connection to the Force. He had luck.Jerking on the reigns, he caused the bestial sithspawn to rear and open its talons, tossing Kr'Naan up into the air in front of them like a sac of desert plums. Dragus reached a clawed hand towards the flying sand child and drew on those distraught emotions his uncertainty over Lil'Havok had caused. He was granted the tiniest sliver of the malevolent fey, just enough to wrap invisible tendrils of ethereal power around his young squire and draw her towards his outstretched claw. For the briefest of moments she might have felt like she was flying rather than falling, until the large scaled hand caught her and deposited her tiny body roughly in front of him on the saddle. On the right of the saddle was a large leather loop through which a long conical spear of dark metal was thrust, ending in a reek hide wrapped handle. On the left was fixed a large satchel full of clinking glass globules, the same the fiendish drake had used in the flesh market where they had first met. They hovered in the air, Spite beating its wide leathery wings of mesmerizing glossy purple scale. The Hungering One turned his snout from side to side, aware that as they waited the swarm of flapping bird people was converging on their position."Kr'Naan." Growled Dragus, forgoing the usual pet names he preferred as the serious nature of the situation was keenly felt. "To your left iz a bag of glasss spherez containing a very ssspecial concoction. You remember when I firssst found you? Throw them. Throw them with all the ssstrength in your little armz." A snide bearish cackle sounded as Lil'Kaan's wild furry head protruded from over the Sith's shoulder where the ewok was clinging to the barabel's flesh covered back. Lil'Kaan had been instrumental in the creation of the gas grenades. While the other members of the flock had their sadistic tendencies, none quite so much loved to watch flesh melt from bone as the crazed little teddy bear. Dragus took the reigns in his left claw and wrapped his right around the handle of the black spear, pulling it from the leather loop and holding it with the conical tip pointed towards the sky. His scaled thumb slipped over the activation stud, switching on the energy lance's electromagnetic pulse generator. Electrical current crackled along the length of the spear and seared the very air, teasing his nostril slits with the scent of scorched ozone. In the tusken's eyes it might have appeared as more of the Hakusar's godly power, when it truth it was the result of advanced Mon Calamari engineering. Dragus had been so impressed by the weapon of choice of the Mon Calamari Knights that he had crafted his own energy lance in the fire blackened forges of the now lost Citadel of the Eye. It was the perfect choice for mounted combat. Digging his talons into Spite's armour thick hide, the barabel leaned forwards and lowered the spear, aiming the tip towards a rushing flock of bird folk descending upon them. His thumb talon depressed the firing stud on the handle.FFFFFFFFSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! CRACK! A roar of thunder sounded as an electromagnetic pulse, appearing much like a bolt of lightning, crackled along the length of the lance and erupted from the conical tip. Lil'Kaan's fur stood on end as the powerful lightning strike streaked through the sky and blasted the rushing swarm, setting feathers ablaze and blackening hollow boned bodies to ash. Dragus' red eyes burned like dark embers as he felt the discharge of death into the aether. He yet again jerked on Spite's reigns, causing the monstrous drexl to let loose an ear splitting shriek before venting a cloud of its poisonous stomach gas from its wide snout. Feathers and flesh ran like water as they came into contact with the cloud of festering rot.The war raged on around them, and while the most important combat was currently taking place in the deep valleys where civilization was most prominent, there was a village among the mountains that the devilish draconian had his sights on. A place where even a child with a small sword could become blooded in the trials of combat.
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Kr'Naan'Kar
The Sith Eternal
Posts: 152
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Post by Kr'Naan'Kar on Apr 27, 2022 18:45:11 GMT -8
Kr'Naan was stiff as a board as she was sat on the saddle in front of Dragus, frozen in some sort of shock or panic with the near death experience. Apparently the primal fear of heights was enough to render the Tusken child completely useless. It was not until that Dragus spoke her name, her true name, that the youngling seemed to come out of her catatonic state. Though the first thing she did was scream again as her mind finally caught back up to the present surroundings. It only lasted a moment, until she realized that she was no longer falling and was safe, relatively speaking anyway. Kr'Naan's gloved hands dug into the front of the saddle, gripping tighter than death as she did not want to fall from the Drexl and freefall again.
The only thing that grounded the Tusken, metaphorically speaking anyway, was the voice of her master Dragus, giving her direction. Kr'Naan's left hand unhooked itself from the saddle and drifted carefully down into the bag, pulling out one of the glass globules filled with swirling liquid. She transferred the sphere from her left hand to her right in preparation. Kr'Naan watched for a target to present itself. Finally one of the bird-folk got a little too close and Kr'Naan let loose the concoction, the glass shattering. The bird almost instantly started flailing in the air as it's feathers and flesh bubbled, melted and twisted. As it spun out of control, it even managed to grab hold of other Rishii, like a drowning victim pushing someone nearby's head underwater to save themselves; to no avail as their bodies melted together dooming all who were grabbed. This effect only snowballed as any unfortunate enough to be grabbed or touched by the quickly descending conglomeration of meat and plumage fell. Kr'Naan was unable to watch the impact of this monstrosity as her attention was drawn to the display of power by the saurian Sith as electrical energy pierced the air and struck a flock of their avian attackers.
War of this magnitude, if it could be called "war" and not "massacre" instead, was a completely new experience for Kr'Naan, who had only ever experienced conflict on a minor scale between local tribes and clans or between Tuskens and outsiders. To her, the closest facsimile to what she was seeing with her goggled eyes was the stories of her people's ancestors: the Kumumgah. How they had been punished for ignoring the warnings of their elders, and attempted to venture into the realm of the gods. Was this a similar punishment that they were wreaking upon the feathered people of this world? The moral dilemma in her mind was temporary, as the smiting of the Kumumgah had been justified as the will of the gods through the actions of the Invaders. As the god Hakusar was the one who had decreed the bird-folk to meet a similar fate, this war was a divine mandate. Right?
Kr'Naan's turned her head far to the far to sneak a peripheral glance at the cakcling Dragus as she continued tossing the orbs at nearby Rishii.
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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: 1,190
Affiliation: Sith Eternal
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Post by Dragus on Apr 28, 2022 6:09:12 GMT -8
He could feel her fear, taste it even. It should have come as no surprise given he had willingly injected a child into a chaotic warzone, yet so focused was he on his own agenda and fulfilling his own dark desires that it only now occurred to him that his devoted sand flea was perhaps still more bantha cub than dragon spawn. Her childlike joy displayed on the bridge of the Covenant had inspired him to seek out new forms of bloodletting, to nurture that seed of darkness inside of her by exposing her to greater violence in a far more personal way. But in doing so he had taken away what little control she had over her predicament. She had no wings with which to fly. If not for Spite, whom she had no control over, she would have been a messy stain on the ground. Apart from some roughing it in the woods, he had given her no training with which to defend herself. He had made a classic mistake. He had seen her only as small, not young, which he had been conditioned by the feral nature of his flock to not see as an impediment. The ewoks were tiny in stature, but he had watched them tear apart full grown men and feast upon their still warm flesh with relish and glee. Though strong of spirit, Kr'Naan still had much to mature, and if he truly wished her to become a likeminded companion, he would have to expend some effort playing the role of nurturer. Slithering from its place to his rear, the saurian's elongated tail swept around to the front, crossing over the sand child's lap before pulling her tighter against his stomach and chest like a scaly seatbelt.All the raw hatred projected by the defenders as they desperately fought to protect their home from what appeared as a monstrous horde of nightmares given flesh, made drawing on the darkside all the more simple. The currents of the malevolent fey practically bubbled with rage, fueling his command of the potent ethereal energies. With the merest sliver of that wicked power, he projected his voice into the tusken girl's mind, negating the thunderous crack of his lance, the ear splitting shriek of the bestial behemoth beneath them, and the symphony of ceaseless squawking by the Rishii. There was just his rasping voice, his cold presence, his dark will.<< Feel no fear, my little black melon. Thiz iz a reward for your ssservice to me, a chance to do az you pleassse and expresss the darkessst partz of your sssoul. I do not wish for your fear, but rather, your fury. They are jussst another sssavage tribe, and now you belong to mine. >> Projecting into her mind, he conjured forth an image of a nest of scattered bones and strewn together rotting carcasses, seated upon which was the Hungering One in all his sinister glory. The four furry avatars of his brothers were there, play wrestling in a puddle of blood that soaked the floor. Even the verminous Squeakers was there with several of his rodent kin, gnawing on long soured scraps of rancid meat clinging to yellowed bones. And Kr'Naan was there as well, stabbing a stone knife repeatedly into the laid out corpse of a shriveled gamorrean sow that looked remarkably similar to the shrub witch she had murdered on Pzob. The vision of Dragus and the flock clapped and laughed in morbid merriment as they watched the tusken girl stab and stab, soaking her sandy rags in a rich crimson dressing. It was horrid, twisted even, and yet...warm, perhaps. This was how He-Who-Hungers envisioned a family, for all were pleased by her actions and showed no sign of displeasure or judgment. In fact, the demonic draconian practically dotted on her, his eyes of blood full of pride in her actions. Even Squeakers who was still sore over the stub she had left of his tail, nodded his fanged snout, reluctantly impressed by her butchery. The vision shimmered as the background shifted, revealing the dark backdrop to be the massive scaled form of Spite, letting loose a shriek that banished the hallucination and brought them back to the present.The message was clear, perhaps more so than his spoken words when he had formerly inducted her into his flock. She belonged with him, and with them.<< Thiz iz all jussst a game to be enjoyed. Ssso fear not, Kr'Naan, you are under my protection. No harm can come to you. But they... >> Dragus lowered his blackened spear and pointed the crackling tip towards the furious swarm. Rishii scattered wherever he directed the lance, diving and beating desperate wings to stay clear of the devastating blast that followed every time he pressed the trigger. He fed on that fear and used it to project his thoughts to them as well, forming a version of them in the minds of the defenders that was even more horrendous than the truth. The birds saw a burning eyed demon on the back of a dragon, hurling bolts of lightning. In their eyes the sand child was a screeching feral imp casting balls of poisonous clouds. Before such terror, they began to flee, clearing the sky around them."...they will know fear." He hissed, finishing his statement with spoken word rather than projected thought. Taking the reigns in his left hand, he handed the leather strap to the sand child, offering her some semblance of physical control over the situation that she had previously been lacking. "Take the reignz, Wart, and follow them towardz that sssettlement in the dissstance." He indicated by pointing his lance towards the fleeing flock of avian folk, then directed it down towards a barely visible village in the distance, perched on a mountain plateau. Sliding his conical spear back into the leather loop that held it secure to the saddle, Dragus stroked a clawed hand against Spite's scaly back, patting its purple hide with a hard slap. "Jussst like riding a bantha."Perhaps not quite, but Spite was well trained enough that they would get to their destination regardless of how she was handled.
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Kr'Naan'Kar
The Sith Eternal
Posts: 152
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Post by Kr'Naan'Kar on Apr 29, 2022 21:52:02 GMT -8
Kr'Naan flinched in fear as she felt movement on the mount, hooking her hands in another death grip on the saddle for fear of falling off. This surprise was greatly diminished as she realized it was just Dragus, as he coiled his tail around her to keep her firmly on board the back of the mighty flying beast. But in her panic she had dropped one of the acidic spheres, which fell down through the air. They were unaffected, but whatever poor soul happened to be under them at that moment, friend or foe, was in for a very unfortunate surprise of their own. Kr'Naan's breathing slowed and calmed once more as the Tusken did her best to focus on the task she had been given: throwing more of the globules, but she was stopped as she felt a chillness in her mind.A cold so intense it felt like fire in her mind. The noise of the world around her began to die down, muffled by the powers of her master as his voice spoke within her.<< Feel no fear, my little black melon. Thiz iz a reward for your ssservice to me, a chance to do az you pleassse and expresss the darkessst partz of your sssoul. I do not wish for your fear, but rather, your fury. They are jussst another sssavage tribe, and now you belong to mine. >> Kr'Naan gasped as she saw the vision presented to her by the saurian Sith. It was of herself, repeatedly piercing the corpse of a familiar looking gamorrean over and over again. This apparition of her was overseen by others, watched by similar conjured representations of Dragus and his flock; all who appeared to be overjoyed at the violence of Kr'Naan. In great confusion to the Tusken youngling, it was as if she was actively observing three realities at once. In one, she was riding atop the Drexl, held safe by the tail of her master. The second, she was watching this presented vision of herself from the sidelines, as an observer. The last was from the perspective of the version of herself presented in the vision; repeatedly stabbing the pig-witch's corpse, blood and gore flying everywhere. The hallucination was...comforting somehow; though Kr'Naan could not exactly explain it. There was something in the vision given to her that gave her a sense of belonging, despite the true horror of the conjured reality if it had been gifted to any other being.The real Kr'Naan lifted her right hand to her masked face, covering one of her goggles, obscuring her vision to try and separate the sights, but it did not work. Only as the background fell and a mighty roar of the Drexl Spite banished the vision was she brought back to the here and now.As the illusion faded she once again heard the voice of Dragus, though his final words pierced the air instead of her mind as she was given the reigns to the mighty sithspawn creature they rode upon. Despite the reassurances of her master, the flying war-beast did not handle like the companion beasts of her homeworld. Kr'Naan seemed to struggle directing the beast on the vertical axis it dominated. The small Tusken girl's steering did not seem to confuse Spite however, as the beast could through its intuition feel the intention of its true master.As the neared the ground, the fearsome Drexl did several passes over the nest village of the Rishii, swiping down with its claws to clear some of the rabble that had not taken flight in defense of their homes before landing comfortably among the half-destroyed nests. The control of the reigns given to Kr'Naan seemed to have eased the girl's anxiety of the skies in the moment. By how quickly she scrambled off the safety of Spite, instead choosing to have her feet beneath the uneven mountain cliffsides that the Rishii made their nests it was very obvious how little love she had for the heights of the skies. Kr'Naan heard her shortsword clatter on the stone as Dragus tossed it down to her, reaching her left hand out and gripping the hilt tightly as she stood back up after repeatedly thanking the ground for existing in her mind.The village's population was sparse as most had taken flight to either flee or fight but a few fighters, likely volunteers, had remained to defend those unable to flee: those too young, old or sick. Armed with crude bone and stone weaponry in their clawed hands the remaining defenders observed the diminutive being who had road atop the now perched beast. Kr'Naan looked back to Dragus, expecting to be joined by the dreadful draconian, but was only met with a similarly observant gaze. He wanted to see how she handled herself in close combat, at least at the moment.An unease filled the air from the bird-folk as they chirped to one another in their native language. Two of half dozen or so Rishii took a few tentative steps forward before launching themselves forward. Kr'Naan rolled to the side to avoid the attack. It would appear that she had not been the target though, as the Rishii continued towards the drexl and barabel furhter behind who were watching. With a simple downward swipe Spite squashed one of the two advancing attackers before unleashing a plume of stomach acid at the other who immediately fell screeching and writhing before becoming a bubbling puddle. The other Rishii moved quickly in a forward attack on the invaders, almost all completely overlooking the Tusken child carrying a metal sword. Only one seemed to pay any mind to her, stabbing forward with its spear. Kr'Naan sidestepped the attack and brought down her heavy booted foot, snapping the shaft of the weapon, leaving the avian warrior with only a stick. Which it quickly brought around and whacked her upside the head with, knocking the Tusken down to the ground.Rolling onto her back and bringing up the sword as she saw the Rishii lift up the broken spear's shaft as a makeshift club, the stick was cleaved in twain as the wooden cudgel met the edge of the superior metal weapon. The Rishii screeched in fury as it was now weaponless save for its claws. Taking the initiative, Kr'Naan twisted the sword in her grip so that the end of the blade pointed down before jerking upward to pierce her feathered foe in the chest. The Rishii clutched the wound, letting out another screech before falling to the ground motionless as blood flowed from the wound. It was a clean kill, at least in regard to the finality of it; dealt by a single decisive blow.What was most certainly not the result of clean kills was the sight of the bloodbath behind Kr'Naan, of the remains of the other Rishii warriors who had decided to go directly for Dragus and Spite and ignore the Tusken youngling. Kr'Naan looked over the carnage to try and determine where one body started and another ended, more in amazement at her master's prowess than anything else.
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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: 1,190
Affiliation: Sith Eternal
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Post by Dragus on Apr 30, 2022 19:57:04 GMT -8
Perched atop the back of Spite, He-Who-Hungers could barely maintain his collected composure as the promise of violence served to excite every one of his delicate senses. Bubbling salivation drizzled in hot steaming rivulets from between the rows of daggers that filled his mouth, oozing in a long viscus tide as it spilled over his lips and ran down his chin. The urge to rend and tear was overwhelming. His luminous gaze absorbed the nearing threat as the crowd of squawking Rishii rushed towards him, all but the one challenging the child of sand joining the charge, with primitive weapons held at the ready and avian curses screeching from beaked lips. Ker-THUNK! Dragus notably winced as he witnessed the Rishii's broken stick whack Kr-Naan upside the head. He closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath through his nostril slits, scenting the heady aroma of fear permeating the charging birds, listening to the most minuet vibrations beneath their thick feathery plumage as their yellow flesh trembled, unable to completely dispel the utter terror they felt despite the courageous nature of their actions.They were brave to challenge him. Foolish, of course, but brave all the same. He could respect such a display, even if he did not truly understand it. Unfortunately it also wouldn't serve to spare them. Their fate had already been decided.Annoyance flickered across his features as he was forced to turn his attention from his tusken squire's duel to the immediate threat pressing towards him. He leaned forwards in the saddle and whispered an unearthly command to his precious war mount that only it would understand. Spite's nostrils flared along its wide snout as it sucked in air, then expelled a poisonous cloud of toxic breath, obscuring the charging horde of avian warriors in an oppressive purple miasma. Powerful leg muscles tensed as Dragus squatted down in the saddle and then bounded off in one mighty push, leaping forwards into an acrobatic front flip. He descended into the poison cloud with his arms spread out to the sides and his claws splayed wide, landing with jarring force as his feet talons came down on top of one of the village defenders, driving them to the rocky ground and grinding hollow bones to mulch. The air was thick with pained squawks as the Rishii found themselves blinded and gasping for breath as the toxic haze literally began to rain feathers from rotting flesh. Likewise, the diabolical draconian's flayed vanity similarly melted off his blackened scales, revealing his otherwise naked body save for the belt that held his lightsaber and axe to his sides. Those two fell weapons might as well have been left behind for all the thoughts he had of using them. Instead he was driven by a baser urge to rend and tear with tooth and claw. Snarling with bestial savagery that put even Spite to shame, Dragus vented his primal need to hunt upon the poisoned crowd.Talons flexed, his right claw swept across a feathered stomach and sheared through still-melting skin with ease, disembowelling the primitive in a single swipe. Glinting whenever the rays of light penetrated the haze around him, his toxic tail blade slashed and stabbed behind him, occasionally swatting with force enough to shatter highly flexible Rishii bone. Though the poisonous air stung his bleeding gums, he opened his jaws and sank his toothy maw on a bird body, sawing through feathered flesh before ripping out the alien's gizzard and chewing it between his razor sharp teeth. He snarled and growled and hissed, more primal predator than sorcerer or Sith. Any thought of defense was forgotten as savage impulses took hold. A few lucky primitives managed to stab at his scales with their spears, strike his hard hide with polished balls of exonium ore hurled from slings, or club at him with sticks as that one had with Kr'Naan. None of it seemed to phase him. Whatever pain and damage he might have suffered, it took a back seat to the insatiable desire to feed and inflict suffering.It was a careless way to fight. There was no need to battle so recklessly when he could have smote the entire crowd with a single thunderous blast of his lance, or beheaded the lot of them with a slash of his screaming lightsaber blade. Heck, he could have just sat atop Spite and let his precious pet's poisonous breath do all the work for him. But where would be the fun in that? Besides, there was still other matters to attend to.High up as they were, the strong winds sweeping the mountain plateau soon cleared away the last of the poisonous cloud to reveal a pile of parts and half devoured bodies. Dragus raised his snout from the torn open chest cavity of a Rishii spread out on the ground, crimson scraps of meat soiling his chin and falling from between his rows of teeth. He blinked the last of the stinging gas from his bloody gaze and spotted Kr'Naan standing victorious over her own kill. Good, still alive then. He half worried for a moment that he had been proven less than truthful when he said that no harm would come to her, though he hardly felt the mild bruising she suffered from getting smacked in the head counted as harm. Beatings built character, after all. Offering her a feral grin, he returned his attention to the body he had been in the process of consuming. Pausing his meal to perform a grizzly investigation, he slit open the bird's stomach with a flick of his index talon, slicing skin with a scalpels precision. He then plunged a scaled hand into the corpses guts and wrapped a claw around its bowels, retracting his limb to reveal a handful of intestines. He examined the gooey rope of digestive tract with keen curiosity, tugging on the length until he noticed the snap and twine sound it made when stretched."Yez, far more fibrouz than human tisssue. Thiz may work." He rasped before running the length of his forked tongue along the sinuous rope. Smacking his lips, he released the handful of intestines and then took up one of the Rishii's wings, carefully examining its dimensions. "Longer than a humanz arm, and the bonez are more flexible. Thiz may be exactly what I have been ssseeking. To think I would find the perfect ssspecimen here of all placez." He muttered mostly to himself.Rising from the corpse as he completed his observations, Dragus raised a hand to the sky, waving it from side to side as a rickety frame of wood and stretched hide tarp glided towards them from above. Lil'Mort and Lil'Bacca could be seen strapped to their hang-glider, coming in for a landing. Both were bloodied but appeared no worse for wear than either the barabel or tusken. Next to the Hungering One, or perhaps the Glutted One is more appropriate at the moment, the crunch of powerful jaws could be heard as Spite made short work of the bodies on the ground. The saurian left his drexl to sate its appetite and walked over to where Kr'Naan was standing, prodding her kill with his tail blade."Not too shabby, Wart. Though I dare sssay you'll have a good sssized lump forming sssoon." He hissed humorously, poking her covered head with a claw in the spot she had been struck. Chuckling, he allowed his gaze to linger on the rest of the village before licking the fowl blood staining his lips. "Thessse were jussst the leftoverz. All the real fighterz are back the way we came, defending the planet. Ssstill, thiz village should sssuffice for now. Do be a dear and sssee if you can round up sssome of the children. And find sssomething to bind them with. We can't have them flapping away.""They are far too preciouz to me."
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Kr'Naan'Kar
The Sith Eternal
Posts: 152
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Post by Kr'Naan'Kar on May 1, 2022 1:51:38 GMT -8
Kr'Naan winced slightly as her head was prodded by Dragus, gently rubbing the spot on her noggin where she could already feel a tender bump forming. Kr'Naan did her best to follow the blood drenched draconian's gaze as he surveyed the village, what remained of it and its defenders at least. It was eerily quiet, but it was likely only the few survivors trying to remain silent in false hope of them moving on without searching the crude buildings, ramshackle habitations of wood and scrap that served as coverings over larger nesting areas for safety. Without a word Kr'Naan made her way to the largest of the domiciles, shaking the makeshift door to try and open it, her sword hanging close to the ground in her left hand as she tried to force her way in. The door jiggled, but as barricaded or locked from the inside. Kr'Naan pressed her masked face against one of the cracks in the door, peeking through to try and see what was keeping the door shut. After a moment she lifted the sword and slid it in one of the cracks, lifting it up as far as she could before swinging it down just as hard. There was a thunk as the board keeping the door shut was cut in half by the Tusken's sharp blade, the door slowly creaking open with a gust of wind.Kr'Naan stood in the doorway of the shack, looking over the cowering bird-folk within. Inside there were a little over a dozen or so Rishii of varying ages but most of them appeared to be elderly or sick, with only a few younglings among the group from the look of it. Kr'Naan stayed in the doorway as her eyes adjusted to the dimly lit dwelling and looked for something useful. A length of crude vine-rope was hung on the walls. It would have to do for now. Kr'Naan finally left the doorway, walking towards the wall to grab the rope. Despite the clear opening she had left, the Rishii did not try to make a break for it. They could see the death outside, as well as the barabel standing watch with his cadre of followers outside. They knew there was no escape, at least not currently. Like domesticate livestock they huddled together as a wolf watched them. Occasionally the bird-folk would chatter amongst themselves, clicking their beaks, squawking, or chirping at one another.Kr'Naan, taking the length of rope in her free hand, approached one of the Rishii soon-to-be-captives; an ancient looking fowl missing many feathers and milky white eyes. With the hand she held the rope in, Kr'Naan gestured at the Rishii's taloned feet."Urk cr'ku rr'rk or'ku rr'k.""Sit with your legs out." The elder Rishii clicked its beaked a few times in response, cocking its head as if listening, though Kr'Naan had finished speaking. A thin tongue flicked out of its beak, rolling slightly around before it parroted the Tusken girl's speech back at her."Urk cr'ku rr'rk or'ku rr'k." Kr'Naan's grip on the handle of her sword tightened in frustration as she repeated the order, gesturing towards the ground again. The other feathered detainees, understanding the basic concept had already begun assuming the desired position, yet the older Rishii remained standing, its milky white eyes giving the Tusken girl the heebie-jeebies."Ur, r'rr ur'k cr'ku rr'rk or'ku rr'k. Ur'c.""No, you sit with your legs out. Now." Again the old avian clicked its beak, as if tasting the words of the guttural language the Tusken spoke before repeating it back at her."Ur, r'rr ur'k cr'ku rr'rk or'ku rr'k. Ur'c." Kr'Naan let out a frustrated unintelligible yell, dropping the rope and grabbing at one of the elderly bird-being's arms. The Rishii reached out first, gripping the young Tusken's arm, pulling her close as it leaned its face incredibly close to hers, cocking its balding head to turn an auricle to her, as if trying to listen to something. Kr'Naan fought back against the grip of the Rishii to pull herself away but the old avian's grip was surprisingly strong. Before she could raise her sword the Rishii spoke again, not in its native tongue, but in the language of Kr'Naan. But it was not an imitation, it was speech of its own."Cur'k cr'roc r'rrk kkr'ucur'kur'k kur'uf R'ru cur'k rr'r r'kr urk'ra'ruk?""What would your grandfather think of what you are becoming?" For some time squaks, screeches and flapping was all that could be heard from within the hovel, until finally silence; only broken by the exit of five youngling Rishii prisoners, tied at the feet and neck with the vine-made rope, began filing out of the hut dwelling one by one. Most looked downtrodden, hopeless; others were visibly shaken and in shock and terror from what they had just witnessed. Kr'Naan followed behind the last of the bird-folk. In one hand the Tusken held the end of the length of rope, in the other she held her sword which had acquired an healthy coating of blood which dripped heavily, leaving a dotted trail in her wake. The Tusken's robes were spattered with blood as well, though they were considerably less messy than had been the case with the pig-witch on Pzob, save for her britches and boots, whose bottoms were caked in chunks of bone, flesh and blood. Kr'Naan tugged on the rope to halt the feathered chain gang, gesturing with the hand she held the rope to her the saurian Sith."The younglings as you commanded, Master." She spoke in ewokese to Dragus with her head bowed slightly, her sword arm still shaking with the fury she was doing her best to contain in front of him. The remains of the adult Rishii were scattered around the inside of the hut. Most were killed with somewhat quick methods, though the slashes on each were obviously carried out in a cold indifference. They did not suffer, at least considering the circumstances. The only outlier was the body of the elder Rishii. It was disemboweled, beaten, stabbed repeatedly, its skull stomped to a pulp; the aftermath of a wrath that had burned blindly and fiercely.
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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 May 1, 2022 5:53:14 GMT -8
Lil'Kaan, the furry avatar of the Mad One, may have all but been forgotten about by the blood soaked barabel as the Hungering One set Kr'Naan to work gathering up the youngest villagers, but that did not mean the ewok had been idle. In fact it was during that initial skirmish that he was able to witness the tusken girl's exchange of sword and stick blows with her opponent, and how she had ended it. When the poisonous cloud had faded and everyone seemed busy with the tasks at hand, the intrepid little bear slipped off the back of Spite and made his way over to the corpse of the sand child's fresh kill. He chewed his lip as he stared down at the dead bird, examining it less with scientific interest as Dragus had, and more with practised eye of a tribal craftsman. Drawing one of his jagged edged stone knives, he bent down low and began to hack and saw, removing feathers and finger bones as he began a collection of gathered parts. The beak was the hardest to remove, having physically sprouted from the Rishii's skull during development. It was far too large for his purpose anyways, so he settled on sawing through the tip, which still took some considerable effort. Using sinew as thread, he strung a necklace with layers of the gathered feathers, fingerbones, with the beak tip serving as a centerpiece hanging from the center of the tribal jewellery.
Meanwhile Lil'Bacca and Lil'Mort's arrival had heralded all sorts of activity. Wooden spear shafts, tent struts, fence posts and all manner of dried timber was collected into a pile near the village centre. They were aided in their work by the arrival of a small swarm of banats, gliding in on membranous winged contraptions strapped to their arms and backs. One of the banats slid off his goggles to reveal the fanged features of Squeakers, though in truth he was more identifiable from the stub end of his wiry tail. The fiendish ranat squeaked orders at his verminous companions in fast paced rat-speech and soon a large dining table was dragged from one of the village huts and positioned near the pile of timber. A number of chairs of varying quality were also taken and arranged around the rectangular shaped table, with the largest being position on one narrow end. Brushing loose feathers from the seat bottom, the black scaled barabel's rodent assistant motioned with a bow for Dragus to take a seat at his leisure. Nodding in satisfaction, the saurian Sith lowered himself into the seat, draping his long tail over the right arm where it hung loosely at the side, swaying in the breeze. A half oval of broken skull was brought to him by one of the vermin, the brains having already been slurped out much to his disappointment, though the greasy rat made it up to him by pouring a mixture of blood and some fermented spirit into the upturned shard of rounded bone. Raising the makeshift cup in one clawed hand, he plunged his forked tongue into the crimson cocktail, sampling the flavour. There were hints of dark fruit, charcoal, and also the unmistakable metallic quality of blood.
When Kr'Naan returned with her captured troupe and handed them off, Dragus noticed the change in her, and not just the mess she had made of her attire. Unseen to all but him, her wyrd had thickened and grew slick with a greasing coating of gore from crimes committed and those that had not yet happened, resembling more one of the ropes of intestines her master had been playing with earlier than an ethereal thread woven in the great tapestry of time. He tried to follow her wyrd as far as he could, but soon found that task impossible as numerous skeins crisscrossed and he lost track of her destiny altogether. Perhaps his brother could help make sense of it. The Dread Seer of the Eye, also known as the Blind One or Lord Havok, was a master of far-gazing. His darksight allowed him to delve deep into the future, discerning numerous paths and destinies decreed by fate. It also gave his brother an aura of aloofness, as though not quite connected to the present. Dragus often wondered if Havok was living in multiple timelines simultaneously, experiencing the past, present, and future all at once. Blinking away the lingering vestiges of his own mystical gazing, he focused on the table in front of him and the leash in his hand. Turning his head, he motioned for Lil'Mort to approach and handed off the cord of captives to the emaciated bear, who proceeded to stake it near the table and timber pile so that the children would have a good view of the festivities.
It was then that the Mad Fluff approached the sand child, kneading one fuzzy foot in the ground as he lowered his gaze, almost shy before the bloodstained tusken. He then extended his paws towards Kr'Naan and thrust forwards the necklace of bone and bird feathers he had made from her kill, offering it to her as both a gift and a trophy. The seated saurian raised a scaly brow and let out a surprised hiss. "Lil'Kaan, did you make that for her? How sssweet." He then lowered his snout and examined his own naked form, covered in scraps of melted flesh that had fused to his scales in places thanks to the acidic nature of Spite's stomach gas. His scales would need a good scouring after this to remove all the detritus. He then raised his snout and narrowed his bloody orbs on the mangy furred ewok. "Of courssse, you sssee that I am bereft of attire and you make no effort to clothe me. Perhapz you need to be reminded of whom you ssserve? Hmmm?" The obvious threat was enough to elicit a concerned gasp from Lil'Kaan, who quickly trundled off to collect feathers for a future outfit.
What few other villagers that could be found were gathered up by the verminous villains and penned together on the opposite side of the timber pile in the village center, under the careful guard of the muscular cycloptic Lil'Bacca and his club of wood and teeth. Lil'Mort doused the timber pile with the remainder of a bottle of spirits he had found, then went to work sparking a blaze with some flint and stone. Wood smoke tickled the saurian's sinuses, followed by a wash of heat as the fire ignited the alcoholic fuel and blazed in earnest. Extending a claw towards one of the other available seats, Dragus focused his mind and grasped the piece of furniture with invisible tendrils of telekinetic power, dragging it towards him until it was right beside his own seat. He patted on the chairs surface with one hand and then motioned to Kr'Naan with a flick of a finger claw.
"Come and have a ssseat, my child." He hissed between slurps from his skull cup. "It iz your turn to regale me with a tale of your own. Tell me about your people and where you come from. I am sssomewhat...familiar, with the tusssken tribez, but I wish for your perssspective."
His own past encounters had consisted more or less of flinging jawas from the back of a captured sand crawler at the Sand People enclave, but it would foil his role as the Hakusar if he straight out said he didn't know much about her people beyond the usual rumours of drinking sand and pillaging moisture farmers. It would also provide a good distraction while the feast was prepared. He didn't think the sick and elderly would make much of a meal, to be honest, but having the children watch as their family members were roasted alive and devoured in front of them would do wonders to psychologically scar. It was always best to start young.
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Kr'Naan'Kar
The Sith Eternal
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Post by Kr'Naan'Kar on May 2, 2022 3:09:29 GMT -8
Kr'Naan stood still and silent as Lil'Mort took hold of the rope from her hand, her vision slowly clouding as the emotional fatigue of what had just occurred, what she had done, began to catch up with her. The Tusken girl's already mostly obscured vision from her masked and goggled face appearing as a haze of tears she could not hold back began to swell up as the rage receded, tears only held back by the shock of her own actions. Feelings which were only dwarfed by the empty darkness she felt in her soul at that moment. Even the voice of Dragus was temporarily drowned out; replaced by a silence so loud all she could hear was a loud ringing sound, which did not actually exist. As if on autopilot, Kr'Naan's empty hand lifted to accept the gift from Lil'Kaan. Her face unable to be seen, it would be hard to get a reading on her reaction to the present before the ewok scurried off to procure plumage for another project.This state persisted even as the Tusken was called to the side of Dragus, to join the brazen barabel at his newly acquired table. In her right hand the Tusken youngling still tightly gripped the handle of her bloody sword, while the left held the necklace gifted to her by Lil'Kaan. Kr'Naan seemed absent, dissociated from her body and current situation. That is, until spoken to directly by the saurian Sith. His voice snapped her back into the present, a useful side effect of the brainwashing and dependence the Tusken had developed for the repugnant reptile. Kr'Naan visibly flinched as she was thrust back into the present at his beckon for her to amuse him with a description of her people. As she came to her grip on the sword loosened, the metal clattering against the hard stone surface of the mountain peak they sat upon. "I am from the R'Crurak tribe." She said sheepishly in ewokese at first, but as she continued, Kr'Naan did her speak loudly and confidently. This did still vary in degree as her mind continued to try and wrestle away from the present. "It is small, but we are mighty and remember many of the Old Ways." Kr'Naan's head turned to look at Dragus directly, bowing her head slightly in reverence as she next spoke. "That is how I knew of the stories about...well...you." Kr'Naan gasped as if struck, looking down at her gloved hands, staring into the stains of blood on them. "My Grandfather..." There was another pause as Kr'Naan took a deep breath as memories of her grandfather came to mind. "...was the tribe's storyteller...he would tell them to me, and the tribe." Taking a moment to recollect her sword from the rocky ground which is lay, Kr'Naan's eyes were drawn to the now burning pile of wood and debris. Kr'Naan's eyes were glued to the rising bright red and orange flames as she tried to think of what it was Dragus was looking for when he had asked for 'perspective.' Tearing off some of the overhanging crude cloth the banats had found somewhere to act as a tablecloth, Kr'Naan cleaned the blood from her sword, continuing to speak as she did her best to use the task to take her mind off of things."Since the Long Walk, our tribe has done its best to remain close to the land, to stay pure; separate from the other tribes mostly. We keep to ourselves...except for the Or'Rrk'Rkr and their Enclave." Kr'Naan paused, looking up to Dragus again. "A city, built upon ruins said to be from our ancestors." Despite her efforts at distracting herself, Kr'Naan's memories of her trip to the enclave with her grandfather caused her bottom lip to quiver beneath her mask. In the memory she was small, even smaller than now, riding in the saddle with her grandfather atop his bantha, exiting large gates; the only opening in large imposing walls as they left the enclave. Her grandfather was silent as he guided the reins of his mount. Kr'Naan turned to look behind them. Attached behind the bantha they rode atop was a sled carrying- Kr'Naan shook her head as she tried to make the memory go away so she could continue."I only went there a few times, but it was big. Much, much bigger than any R'Crurak camps." Kr'Naan said in ewokese as her sword cleaning slowed, her eyes going back to the flames which were slowly dying down. The dead Rishii, at least those not covered in acid, were run through from top to bottom like kebabs in front of the fire to roast by the ewoks and banats. The youngling Rishii could do nothing but watch. Kr'Naan forced her head away as her mind drifted back to the trip to the enclave she was trying to avoid. "I did not like it." She affirmed aloud in ewokese as she held back tears of mixed anger and sadness. "It is one place. It is against the lessons of the Long Walk to remain in one place! Our people protect all of Tatooine! Not just one place!" Kr'Naan's voice had shifted very clearly to a majority of anger, but there was still the same sadness lying underneath the rage.
A memory, or at least part of the memory, wrenched to the forefront of all her thoughts that Kr'Naan was trying to avoid. The first trip she had with her grandfather to the enclave. Kr'Naan listened through the door of the throne room of the great hall. She was supposed to have remained in the waiting area, but all of the adults had left her as they convened with the Chieftain of the Or'Rrk'Rkr clan. She could just barely make some of the words spoken by a voice she did not recognize, but some of the words still came were muffled by the large wooden door despite how hard she pressed the side of her covered head to it."...aid, we would have...I am sure they...sacrifice for our...long friendship with your tribe...return them to you....proper ceremony...continued support...for protection..." There were several murmurs among those gathered within followed by a long silence. Finally the same voice as before spoke again."Kar'Orzh..." Kr'Naan's eyes widened as she heard her grandfather's name, but frowned as there was another long silence. Finally she heard a voice that she did recognize. It was the voice of her grandfather; gentle but firm as he spoke."I understand..." Too quickly the door was opened by the Or'Rrk'Rkr honor guard on the inside to allow the exit of those within the meeting, revealing her presence to all as they turned to leave. Inside she saw several dozen adult Tuskens, and above them all was the Or'Rrk'Rkr Chieftain atop his Krayt skull and bone throne, a tamed anooba lay next to him on the floor of his raised dais. Kr'Naan froze as all eyes turned to her, but no one said anything. Slowly the adult Tuskens filed out, walking past her without looking down or acknowledging her presence. It was not until her grandfather, Kar'Orzh, came to a stop before her. Her grandfather set a gloved hand on top of her head. She looked up at her grandfather's face, but even he was not looking at her, instead his goggled eyes stared blankly forward."Come, Naan. We must return home." Without waiting for the uli-ah to acknowledge him, Kar'Orzh began walking to exit the great hall. Confused, Kr'Naan looked back to the inside of the throne room as if expecting to find answers inside. For a moment she felt that her eyes met those of the Chieftain, but the Tusken atop the throne did not make any indication of this, instead waving his hand. The doors to the throne room were quickly closed without reply to her silent questions. Kr'Naan turned back to look for her grandfather, hurrying to catch up to him lest she be left behind. Kr'Naan was silent as she stared at a brochette of flame-cooked Rishii, picked from the less acid-ridden adults she had slain with her own hands. The Tusken had stopped cleaning her sword for some time, her eyes staring at the flame-broiled flesh of the bird-folk."It does not matter..." She stated in ewokese. "I am sorry, master. I hope I did not spoil your food with my words." Dragus meanwhile, was happily chomping away at the freshly cooked fowl, in between bites muttering about locating a deep fryer and some batter.
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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 May 2, 2022 7:43:26 GMT -8
Crack! Upon scraping the last of the meat off a cooked Rishii leg with his teeth, the saurian snapped the bone in half and began to suck the warm marrow out from its center, slurping up whatever his forked tongue could dig out. Horrified, the children staked to the ground near him looked on, the terror still consuming them despite the hopelessness of the situation. They should have been reserved to their fate, but perhaps they thought some hero was still coming to save them at the last minute. Unfortunately this wasn't that sort of story. Oh, someone was coming, that much he had planned for. It just wouldn't make a difference in the end. He'd sooner fry the young fowl in their feathers with a few forks of force lightning than ever allow them a chance at freedom. When the bone was sucked dry, he tossed the discarded remnants to the hopeless pheasants and took another swallow from his cup, washing down the juices coating the inside of his mouth. He smacked his lips and pounded his chest with a closed fist, releasing a loud belch that shook loose tiny morsels of meat caught between his incisors and sprayed them across the table."That'z quite alright, Wart." He hissed even as he dug out a trapped scrap of roasted bird from between his teeth. "You'll have a chance to make it up to me shortly."Truth be told he hadn't really been listening and had no idea what she was apologizing for. Yes, he caught a few tidbits here or there, but overall the story had been droll and was in desperate need of a few jokes to spice it up. He supposed it was his fault for picking a tusken when what would have been more suited to his narcissistic ego was a kowakian monkey lizard. Now they had a sense of humour, if you didn't mind the feces flinging, which he didn't.Leaning back in his seat, the black scaled barabel rested his claws on his stomach, entwining his talons as he settled his predatory gaze on the sand child. Overhead the sun was sinking as day turned to night, the bonfire in the village center seeming to grow more luminous as the last rays of daylight vanished beneath the horizon. A slow saw toothed grin spread across the saurian's snout as he struggled to contain the secret he had been concealing this whole time."Have I ever told you why I like ranatz? I don't think I have ssso pleassse allow me to explain. After all, I am keenly aware they are filthy vermin riddled with parasitez and diseassse, fouling whatever they touch with pessstilence, breeding uncontrollably like a plague, even on occasion feasssting on the toez of sssleeping children." SMASH! Nearby, the fiendish drake's preferred verminous assistant had dropped a clay platter of cooked meat on the ground, shattering the tray. The ranat pointed a gnarled finger claw at the draconian and released a tirade of expletives in fast past rat-speech, clearly unhappy with Dragus' description of his race. The saurian lord waved a claw, motioning for the ranat to settle down. "Calm yourssself, Squeakerz. I'm getting to the good part." He returned his attention to Kr'Naan. "Az I waz sssaying, filthy creaturez, but they do have a few ussseful traitz az well. They are sssmall and fit in tight placez, able to sssqueeze their bodiez through the narrowessst of crackz. They ssscurry quietly in their burrowz beneath the ground, lissstening with large earz and watching with beady eyez that can even sssee in the dark. They go unnoticed, which makez them ussseful spiez. A few of my preciouz sssqueaking-sneakz even gathered sssome intelligence on thiz planet before we arrived."Snapping his fingers, Dragus motioned Lil'Mort over, who handed the Hungering One a circular silvered disk with a rounded lens on one side. Taking the device in claw, the barabel thumbed a stud along the side and slid the disc across the table where it came to rest before Kr'Naan. A moment later and the lens illuminated, projecting an image of rendered light to form a glowing blue holographic representation of the planet. Using some unseen form of manipulation, Dragus enhanced the image with a twirl of his index talon, forcing the projector to cycle through images of the domesticated valley cities and the less developed mountain villages."Mossst of the population live in the tropical valleyz found between thessse mountainz, consssisting of numerouz immigrated speciez from all over the galaxy; however, the mountainz where we happen to be are home to the Rishii tribez who have their own ssseparate hierarchy of governance. They are ruled by a council of tribal chieftainz, which in turn iz led by a sssingular chief who haz authority over all the collective tribez. They are a proud warrior race and it iz without question that thiz high chief was leading hiz people in battle againssst my forcez. I imagine he may even be faring well, for it iz sssaid that he iz a Rishii of unusssual sssize and a warrior of unequaled ssskill. It iz even sssaid he commandz power over the windz themselvez." He picked up his cup and looked into the murky depths of liquid. "I sssuspect he may be a powerful shaman, with an affinity for the myssstic artz even greater than that wizened crone you murdered on blesssed Pzob. If I'm correct, which I usssually am when it comez to thessse sortz of thingz, then I am certain he will be arriving very shortly."Placing his claws on the table, Dragus dug his talons into the wood and raised his body from the chair he had been seated upon, rising to his full height. His tail swished behind him and swatted the chair out of the way, smashing it to splinters on the hard rocky ground several feet away. He stalked like a hunting predator over to the bound children, eliciting a series of fearful squawks from the frightened feathered five."You sssee, thiz isssn't jussst any random village we happened upon. It belongz to thiz high chief." Though his sinister glowing red eyes were focused on the children, his words were still for Kr'Naan and the other assembled members of his flock. "Thiz fine meal we've been dining upon, hiz friendz and family. Thessse children? Perhapz sssome of them are even hiz." Saliva drizzled from his gleaming fangs as that saw toothed grin widened to its fullest extent. "I do hope the fire iz big enough to guide them in."The five small fowl shrieked as Dragus reached towards them with a clawed hand, screaming with all the might in their chests until their lengths threatened to burst and everyone in attendance risked going deaf from the sheer volume. But instead of grabbing feathered flesh, the claw reached past them and snagged the wiry tail of a ranat standing watch over the children. The rodents eyes went wide in shock and it screeched and hissed as the Great Devourer flung it by the base of its tail into the large bonfire. Greasy fur erupted in flames as the ranat crashed into the fire pit and was immolated in moments, causing the blaze to flare while the pungent aroma of sizzling rat flesh assailed the nostrils of everyone present. Laughing cruelly, Dragus turned to Kr'Naan and placed a clawed hand over his right ear hole."Can you hear that feint sssquawking in the dissstance? I do believe that'z them." He eyed the gleaming polished surface of her sword. "I sssee you've finished cleaning that. Good. Now prepare to wet it again."
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Kr'Naan'Kar
The Sith Eternal
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Post by Kr'Naan'Kar on May 9, 2022 12:42:56 GMT -8
Kr'Naan listened patiently as Dragus went on a long winded explanation on the ranat species. The Tusken girl clenched the handle of her sword as Squeakers went on a contrarian rant. Contrarian in the sense that if their master said it, it must be true and to profess otherwise was heresy to be punished. Kr'Naan's hand loosened slightly as the benevolent basilisk waved away the rodent's protests.She remained silent as the silver disc slid was slid across the table to rest in front of her. For a moment she stared at it, not understanding. Lifting a hand from her sword, Kr'Naan began to reach for the disc before her. Before she could lay a gloved hand on the device, the hologram sprang to life, giving the Tusken a small shock of surprise at the finely detailed image. The Tusken youngling watched in awe as the three dimensional image zoomed in and lit up with images of both the developed cities of the non-indigenous species and the simple mountainous villages of the Rishii natives. She had only ever seen a device like this once, in the hands of her grandfather who had procured it from some Jawas during a swap meet. Kr'Naan knew better than to think it was magic - that devices like these were common among outsiders, but it was still a sight to behold.The amazement quickly died and Kr'Naan's disposition at the possibility of the lead Chieftain being a shaman. Kr'Naan's body tensed and her grip tightened on her sword hilt once more. This race of people were ignorant enough to allow a shaman to lead their entire people? Kr'Naan began to pick up on context clues that may or may not have actually been based on reality, linking bits of information and making what were to her logical leaps as to the reasons why her master was so keen on felling these feathered beings and bringing them to their knees. His reason to her had been for some secret organization, led by another shaman who held sway over him. But in her mind Kr'Naan believed it may also have to do cowing a potential threat to the god-kin's own splendor. Not that a magical mortal fowl could be a threat, no of course not. But why wait for a smaller problem to grow into a larger one? Rip the diseased plant up from the root and burn it before the blight spread to the rest.As if on Dragus' cue, Kr'Naan spotted an approaching gaggle of bird-folk, pointing up at them to draw her master's attention."There!" She exclaimed in ewokese. "I see them!" Kr'Naan clarified as she jumped out of her chair, readying her weapon. A moment later a quintet of Rishii were upon them, landing in the center of the gathering of ranats, ewoks, Tusken and Barabel. Of the five, one stood out among the rest, towering even over the six foot tall Dragus by a head and a half and a crest of feather atop its head a rainbow of various colors. It seemed almost an impossibility that this giant being was able to fly on its own accord; either being incredibly strong on its own, or gifted in supernatural abilities to aid it.The other Rishii that joined were of little noteworthiness other than their age. Most seemed advanced, too old to be prime warriors. Perhaps advisers to the chieftain, or shamans themselves? A quiet fell over all beings in the razed village. The large Rishii remained where it had landed, staring down the saurian Sith in silence.Kr'Naan looked to Dragus to await his word.
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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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Affiliation: Sith Eternal
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Post by Dragus on May 11, 2022 7:50:05 GMT -8
When it came to the coniving saurian, there were always layers to the plot, schemes within schemes. With Rishi he had an opportunity to kill many birds with as few stones as possible, and not just figuratively speaking either. After all, it was important to enjoy oneself when ransacking a world and violating its people. In this instance, he addressed his beneficiaries desire by subduing a nearby world, there will be plenty of slave labourers collected to serve in the growing cortosis mines on Roon, and of course his main reason other than the precious exonium buried in the ground. He was here for the Rishii themselves. Always looking for potential specimens in his experiments, the fowl folk presented a vital resource to serve as fodder for his flesh pits. He envisioned a potential force of savage storm vultures, once the species DNA had a few...mmm, tweaks.Dragus' snarling saw toothed visage faced down the perched bird lord, his own form appearing more primitive in some respects than the tribal chief. Bits of dissolved and desiccated flesh from his ruined robe sill clung to his otherwise naked scales, marring the usual glossy nature of his hide and making him appear more black in the waning evening hours. The towering Rishii perched quietly, observant and intimidating in presence, but otherwise only staring down the barabel at the moment. It's beaked face was the picture of calm stoicism, whereas the Hungering One was drooling a mucus mix of hot ragged saliva and his own blood, drizzling onto the dusty ground at his large talon toed feet. One a fearsome scaled nightmare, the other a brave unwavering tribal champion. The tyrannical terrorsaur lowered his scaled hands to his sides and hovered his flexing claws over the lightsaber and axe hanging from the wilted remains of his belt."I'm glad you came." He hissed, spraying a mist of bloody flecks that sizzled on the rocky ground next to the fire, bubbling on the floor before evaporating into greasy smoke. Licks of sour steam wisped from his nostril slits in the cooling air, the sky darkening further overcast by a cold wind that came in from the west and whistled over the mountain village. "Your family have been excellent hostz in your absssence. I haven't eaten ssso well in at leassst a month. Siss Siss Siss!"The shaman chief was nothing to him, only essential to be dealt with for his symbolism to the rest of avian peoples that called this rocky mountain region home. Toying and attempting to inflict emotional turmoil was just a bit of fun to be had while he broke the spirit of these pheasants.It was difficult to tell if his words had any effect on the chieftain, for the Rishii only seemed to cock its head to the side, appearing so alien and difficult to read. Its eagle sharp yellow eyes scanned the village, darting from the broken huts to the bonfire, then to the table and the pile of greasy bones lying on the ground next to it. The scent of roast chicken still lingered in the air. Yesss... Thought a psychotically smiling Dragus. You've seen what I've done. Now how does that make you feel? The chief's feathered brow began to furrow and its narrow orbs seemed to boil like acid in their sockets, a sulphuric rage slowly building in the creature. That wind that swept in began to pick up further, blowing harder and more furiously. The great bonfire flared, coals and embers blowing away and catching on the thatch roofs of the remaining village dwellings. Dragus hissed through gritted yellow fangs as he felt the force of the wind focus on his chest, making it difficult to stand as his body threatening to blow over backwards. Gravel scattered in the wind as his feet talons carved deep gouges in the stone ground, and he found himself leaning forwards until his clawed hands dug in as well, scraping furrows as he tried to gain what purchase he could. His tail swayed widely behind him, dripping a fresh coating of toxins that dried up under the surging gale."Your not welcome here." Despite nature attempting to blow them from the cliff top, the chieftain's words were delivered loud and clear, his squawking voice full of pure disdain. The bird lord stretched his impressively wide wings out to their full span, then began to flap. The other four at his sides began to follow suit, and a rising humming could be heard buzzing from the shaman's beak. A powerful gust surged forth and struck Dragus fully, prying his desperately clinging claws from the ground and throwing him backwards, end over end. He flipped uncontrollably towards the edge of the plateau, bloody eyes wide with panic. Then as he reached the edge, he went over, tumbling off the side as debris from the village rained down after him.This seemed to be a cue for the feathered sky furies revenge. The chorus of squawking picked up and Rishii descended from the sky and began their retributive assault. A beady eyed army of rodent spawn scurried to meet them as Squeakers rallied the banats that had arrived with him and hissed commands, his gnarled paw waving around a short curved edge filleting knife. Lil'Bacca roared defiantly and began to swing around his decorative tooth mallet, smashing birds in their feathered faces and cracking beaks with a scattering of blood and teeth. He was joined by a dark furred lancer, as the emaciated Lil'Mort used the ewok spear of powa! to brutal affect, piercing wings and severing hollow boned appendages. Lil'Kaan giggled uncontrollably and bumped into Kr'Naan as he backed up, jumping as they made contact and looking over his shoulder, midly embarrassed to be startled. Jagged stone knives in his furry paws, he saluted her and began to stab and hack at any winged forms that came within his short reach, trying to fight back to back with the tusken.
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Kr'Naan'Kar
The Sith Eternal
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Post by Kr'Naan'Kar on May 26, 2022 1:23:36 GMT -8
Kr'Naan brought down her sword into the rocky ground to keep her small frame from being swept off the mountain. The mystical persuasion of the chieftain that Dragus had informed the tusken youngling of seemed to have been correct. Frustrated as she fought to make tuck herself closer to ground to try to withstand the mighty gusts as she was steadily pushed backwards, her feet sliding across the surface of the rock. Kr'Naan was close to one of the ledges as the end of her sword finally found purchase in a small crack in the stone, and the tusken was able to anchor herself there; clinging to the weapon for dear life so as not the be blown away. Kr'Naan's head turned just in time to watch as the barbaric barabel was tossed like a ragdoll by the Rishii chieftain and his band's powers over the winds. When he did not immediately rise triumphantly from abyss, Kr'Naan's heart skipped.
It was in that moment panic set in the tusken girl's mind, exacerbated as chaos erupted from the counterattack of the bird-folk. Ranats, ewoks and tusken were soon cast for a fight for their lives on the destroyed mountaintop village. Despite the gleeful giggling of Lil'Kaan as the two of them bumped into each other, Kr'Naan's worries only grew as she locked eyes with the Rishii chieftain. The behemoth of a bird was an imposing foe, dispatching those it came across on the battlefield with ease utilizing not only its unnatural shamanic gifts, but the abilities of its natural form as well; using the talons on the end of its claws to rip and tear apart an unlucky ranat before flinging it away as if it was nothing. The chieftain moved to intercept the tusken, having spotted its next adversary, clearing a path with a flap of its wings sending another strong wind to create a path to the child of sand.
Kr'Naan brought her sword up into a standard upright defensive, steadying her stance as her much larger opponent came to tower over her. It was destined to be a one sided battle, but what Kr'Naan had in comparison to her much more seasoned challenger was her size. A deadly dance between the Rishii chieftian and Kr'Naan started, with the tusken girl daring not strike out unless she would expose herself to what would surely be a fatal blow from her feathered foe. All she could do was hope that she either saw an opening or that someone came to her aid. Sadly, each time an ally came near they were either intercepted by another Rishii or were blown away. The chieftain obviously wanted this to be a one on one match, and seemed to be enjoying toying with the much more inexperienced adversary. The chieftain telegraphed his blows so that the tusken could block them easily, his talons kept at bay by her sword. This went on for what seemed like an eternity for the tusken, until finally she saw it. Twisting her arms, her blade turned as the chieftain attacked once more, but this time the chieftain's wrist swept across the sharp edge of the sword. Kr'Naan stepped forward and swung upward, slicing the arrogant avian's right hand clean off.
The Rishii let out a screech of pain as the injury knocked it out of the playful mood the avian being had taken with dealing the tusken, tucking its now partially amputated wing close to its body. Angered even more the chieftain moved quickly now; in an instant closing the gap between itself and Kr'Naan and knocking the sword from her grip. With its uninjured claw, with great speed it grabbed Kr'Naan by the head, slamming her to the ground. Taken by surprise at the speed of the attack, Kr'Naan struggled against the mighty grip of the Rishii's talons on her head as the back of the tusken's head was repeatedly slammed into the stony ground.
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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 May 26, 2022 6:48:36 GMT -8
In the evolving chaos that had enveloped the small mountain settlement, They hunted, unleashing the ferocity of their warrior race on this foreign soil bereft of sacred trees. Lil Bacca's wooden mallet cracked against a bird skull, pulping it beneath the feathery flesh sac that contained it, before swinging again and caving the head in completely. As his rishii foe went down, he kept swinging, striking the cooling corpse on the ground even after the light had left its eyes. Smash! Again, and again, and again. When he finally stopped to catch his breath, his chest was beating hard and his paws were shaking. A loosened tooth from the head of the club fell to the ground, the mallet now bloodied and covered in feathers and bits of gore. The avatar of Wrath narrowed his good eye and scanned the battlefield. Nearby Lil'Mort had just thrust his spear through the throat of a bird and was holding it at bay as the stone tip gouged and tore out the creature's neck. As he pried the wooden lance free, he spun it in his grip and swung behind his emaciated body, smashing the haft into the gut of a avian attempting to come at him from behind. The bird doubled over and squawked as the breath was driven from its lungs. Turning, Lil'Mort rested his left paw on the rishii's feathery scalp and gripped it tightly, pulling its head back so that he could stare it in its yellow alien eyes. The beady black orbs of a predator looked back at the bird, the avatar of Death grinning so as to show the whites of his ursine teeth. He turned the spear single handedly in his right paw and brought the tip against the avian's chest, then tensing his arm he began to drive it in. The rishii shrieked and fought in Lil'Mort's grip, but it had not the strength to resist as that jagged stone tip was driven further in until finally it had pierced the alien's heart.A rishii almost tripped over the resulting corpse as it struggled to free itself of the burden riding its back. A mad giggle erupted from the rattling chest of Lil'Kaan as he clung to a bird warrior, repeatedly stabbing his knives into its shoulders and back. He laughed and cackled like a lunatic, riding the bucking bird as the strength continued to leave its body. Eventually it dropped to its knees and flopped forwards onto the ground, its tongue rolling out its beak. The avatar of Chaos somersaulted forwards and off the dead warrior, bounding back to his feet. He held the bleeding knife in his right paw in front of his face and dragged his tongue along the flat face of the blade, savouring the taste of poultry. He then sighted an avian approaching his cycloptic brother and tossed the knife up in the air, causing it to spin as it ascended upwards, and continue to do so on the way down. Expertly his paw caught the twirling dagger between two pudgy digits and flung it forwards all in one fluid motion.Crack! Lil'Bacca looked up from the skull he had been caving in, only to lean back as Lil'Kaan's stone blade whipped past him and caught a rishii that had been sneaking up on him in the throat. That hadn't been what had drawn his attention though. As the one-eyed ewok stared across the battlefield, he spotted Kr'Naan, being pulped herself against the hard stone ground by the shaman chief. Rage welled in his breast and his teeth sunk into his fat lower lip, drawing a thick bead of pure ewok blood, that ran down his fuzzy chin.The master had declared Kr'Naan to be a part of the flock. As the oldest member, that perhaps meant more to Lil'Bacca than it did to the others. It meant she was a part of their tribe, their family. She might not have been the favourite, given that the master had not taken her to his bed chamber as he periodically did with the rest of them, but He still had seemed to find a purpose for her nonetheless.Crack! Again, he watched her head smashed against the ground. A few more blows like that and she'd be done for. No, this could not be allowed to stand. This odd little child in sandy rags might not have been ewok, but by the rules of the flock she was still his sister. Like the monstrous abyssin nightmare that the cycloptic ewok emulated, there was one law above all the rest that he subscribed to. You didn't mess with family."Chuba, wanne tay! Jilo Wart!" "Flock, on me! Save Wart!" Whatever they were doing, or whoever they were killing, all of it was quickly dropped. A loud wrathful roar resounded across the battlefield as Lil'Bacca raised his bloody war club and charged across the mountain plateau towards the shaman chief and Kr'Naan. Jagged stone knife held in a reverse grip, Lil'Kaan slashed a throat before cartwheeling away and forming up on the muscular ewok's left. The emaciated lancer Lil'Mort used his spear to pole-vault his furry body into action, landing on the cyclops' right as he joined the charge. Fueled by Lil'Bacca's war cry, the flock raced across the battlefield, drawing the notice of the bird lord.The shaman chief held its right wing across its chest, cradling the stump where its right claw had been. It smashed Kr'Naan's head into the stone floor one more time for good measure, before releasing her battered form as it summoned the power of nature, beseeching the planet's powerful winds for support. With its remaining left hand, it extended its yellow talons to the sky and began to form a circular disc of air just above its flattened palm. The wind currents spiralled spastically quick, forming an edge on the wind disc that looked sharp enough to slice through stone. In an exaggerated gesture the bird lord cocked back its left claw and prepared to throw the masterfully contained wind blade at the charging furry threesome, when something unexpected happened.A winged form with tattered wings and gleaming red eyes appeared beyond the flickering flames of the bonfire, as high as the licks of fire near the top of the blaze by virtue of standing on the roof of a nearby hut. A wiry stub ended tail whipped behind it as it expanded its membranous wings and leapt towards the plume of flame. Heat and smoke gave loft to the fleshy wingsuit, carrying it over the bonfire as the last ranat you would have expected came to the sand child's aid. Squeakers, garbed in his banat wing attire, glided over the top of the fire and landed on the shaman chief's right shoulder. Startled, the formed circular blade of wind was instantly dispelled as the avian attempted to reach for Squeaker's with his only remaining hand. Sadistically, the ranat stabbed his curved fileting knife into the meat of the rishii's shoulder, before unleashing a flurry of rapid swipes from his gnarled paws at the chief's large yellow eyes. Blood sprayed and feathers flew as Squeakers tore at the bird's face.Gravel almost slipped up Lil'Bacca as he came to a stop mere feet from the entangled ranat and rishii. Summoning the same fury he had felt only a moment ago, he continued forwards and swung his mallet at the rishii's left knee, cracking the knotted head into hollow bird bone that crumpled under the impact, driving the shaman to its right knee. Lil'Mort entered a slide and was practically horizontal by the time he had reached Kr'Naan. He turned his spear over in his hands and hovered above her protectively, keeping his dark eyes peeled for other opponents. No longer cackling, Lil'Kaan had put away his knife and knelt down beside the sand child, cradling her so-recently bashed head in his furry arms. He stroked her technically already bandaged head with a comforting caress of his paw and whispered an old ewok prayer to the great tree. Reaching a paw down to his side, he found the satchel strapped around his pudgy waist and stuffed his hand inside. After a moment his paw came free, holding a palm sized hide bag. He opened it up and removed a handful of glittering powder.None of them were healers. The closest anyone in the group came to having that set of skills was the Hungering One, and he wasn't exactly the sort you'd want to go to for treatment. You were just as likely to be experimented upon as you were to be healed. Plus, he might be dead. However, the flock was privy to a few battlefield remedies the master had shared with them from time to time.Leaning in, Lil'Kaan reached to the mouth regulator of Kr'Naan mask. He pried it loose, not enough to reveal the face underneath, but just enough to break the seal and allow the outside environment to get in. He then took the powder in his hand and blew it into the space between the mask and the tusken girl's face. A potent mix of spice and combat stimulants, the powder would help dispel any pain the sand child might be feeling, while flooding her system with adrenaline and an excitable chemical concoction. It was temporary, mind you, and she would have one hell of a hangover when it wore off, but it might be enough to get her through the rest of the battle. The avatar of the Mad One held the sand child while he waited to see if it worked.
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Kr'Naan'Kar
The Sith Eternal
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Post by Kr'Naan'Kar on May 28, 2022 2:16:10 GMT -8
THUMP THUMP With a start Kr'Naan came back to consciousness, struggling to rise to her feet as the adrenaline of not only the knowledge that she was in a battlefield and in danger but also the stimulants began to take hold of her. However, she was momentarily kept down by the surprisingly strong paw of Lil'Kaan, who attempted to keep her still momentarily, if only to make sure she was okay. What he received as the tusken began to slowly come to her senses and took notice of him was a shriek from the child of sand. As she laid eyes upon him the ewok's face melted and contorted into an amalgamation of reality and imagination induced by injury, drugs and fear. Maybe giving a Tusken child spice was not the best idea?THUMP THUMP Lil'Kaan let Kr'Naan loose as she began thrashing to get away from him. In the present this hurt his feelings, but knew something else must be going on. All he could do was make sure no more harm came to her, even if it meant babysitting. Kr'Naan rolled over and crawled a few feet to escape the grip of the furry fanged monstrosity near her, struggling to her feet and gripping her head as she wobbled unsteadily. She winced and doubled over, a sharp pain shooting through her head as a sound boomed in her ears, at least to her. Was it a heartbeat? Was it hers?THUMP THUMP Reality morphed around her as the spice took hold of her young mind, warping her surroundings in ways she could not comprehend. Kr'Naan screamed out as both the pain and sound seemed to pierce through her mind, eyes darting around in a panic to find the source of the agonizing noise. It was not her heartbeat. No. It was coming from somewhere else? But why did it sound so close?THUMP THUMP Kr'Naan's eyes came to what she believed to be the source, though in reality it was a concoction of her drug addled mind; the Rishii chieftain, screeching and squawking as it continued to fight for its life against the rest of the flock. Kr'Naan's perception sped up and she felt even more jitters, everything around her seeming to move slower than normal. Another side effect of the drug, though unbeknownst to her. Kr'Naan charged at full speed and dived at the chieftain's torso. The chieftain's already smashed left knee buckled and bent, bone piercing through skin as it attempted to remain upright to no avail. All on the giant avian tumbled with it to the ground as Kr'Naan straddled its chest. She needed to make it stop.THUMP THUMP Kr'Naan let out another incoherent and pained scream as she began beating, pounding and clawing into the chest of the chieftain with her gloved hands. Feather gave way to skin, which gave way to meat and bone. The chieftain screeched and fought but was still set upon by the rest of the flock which took advantage of its position, holding it down or hacking away at its limbs themselves. A death rattle would finally echo through the battle of the shaman chieftain as Kr'Naan held aloft its still beating heart above her head, screaming in a manic rage at the offending organ.THUMP THUMP It was then that the child of sand did the unthinkable for her people. With her free hand Kr'Naan freed herself of her face hood, mask and wrappings, revealing her bare head to the world. Light russet brown skin with somewhat flat features, though mostly humanoid looking. A tangle of thick and course black hair matted with blood from her sustained injury. Her face was contorted in fury and black eyes looking upon the still barely pulsating heart in her hand.THUMP THUMP Kr'Naan let out another unintelligible scream before she began tearing into the heart of the Rishii chieftain with her sharp incisors, eating into the organ to stop the sound that was tormenting her. She tore into it like a feral beast, complete with animalistic growls. Because surely there was better way to silence it, right?Those Rishii in the vicinity to this horror shrieked calls to retreat as their leader was slain and its heart devoured by the Tusken youngling.
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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 May 28, 2022 7:40:22 GMT -8
Lowering his warclub after swinging a rib rattling blow at a fleeing Rishii, Lil'Bacca began to collect his breath, his chest rising and falling hard from his exertions. He brought a paw up to his good eye and wiped away some of the bird blood that had gotten into it, trying to focus as he returned his attention to the other members of the flock. As his vision became clear, he watched just as Kr'Naan raised the shaman chief's removed heart and brought it to her lips, and then take a hearty bite. Perplexed, he raised his club and held it out and away from his body, barring Lil'Mort's approach as he too was somewhat mesmerised by the sight before them. The avatar of Death looked the avatar of War in his singular cycloptic orb and gave a look that said... What the heck? But of all of them, it was Lil'Kaan who gave voice to what they were thinking. The most compassionate of the flock, if also the most mentally unstable, knelt on the hard ground. He took his bloody stone knife in his paw and began to use the sharpened edge to carve the emblem of the All-Seeing Eye on the rocks. When he was done he sheathed the knife on his hip and looked over his shoulder at the other two ewoks, then glanced back at Kr'Naan's gore splattered face."Jowana kumil sheric Femouer." "She is the avatar of Famine." Widening, Lil'Bacca's singular eye bulged in its socket. It all made sense now. He could smell the master's ewok sorcery on her, but had just assumed it was a result of the spell Dragus had cast to allow her knowledge of their language. Now he was beginning to believe it was something deeper. Could it be that Lil'Kaan was correct and the master was grooming her to become the embodiment of hunger? They were all facsimiles of the High Lords of the Order, who in turn represented certain aspects of the Almighty Eye. Lil'Bacca was War, the embodiment of wrath and destruction. Lil'Mort was Death, the skeletal bridge between this life and the next. Lil'Kaan was Chaos, as broken and splintered a soul as the Mad Prince who still lingered in the depths of the black temples catacombs. Lil'Havok, if he still lived, was Sight, blind in body but whose spirit could see beyond the boundaries of space and time. There had never been an avatar of Famine, beyond the actual dreaded Hungering One, which the ewok assumed was because Dragus was present and thus required no substitute to fill the role. He watched as she devoured the heart in earnest, sinking her sharp incisors into the muscular flesh and tearing the meat away with savage relish."Sheb mooki frip frump chooba quesk begote bop." "The master trusted her to safeguard the stone." Lil'Mort's breath was cold and stank of grave mould as he spoke in Lil'Bacca's ear. The cycloptic ewok scratched his furry chin with his paw, pondering, judging the merits of his flock mates statements. Slowly, he nodded, asserting his agreement. Aye, perhaps she was. Frankly it was the only thing that made any sense.SSSSSHHHHHHHRRRRRRIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!! An earsplitting shriek shattered the night in the wake of the rishiis retreat. Large muscular wings of glossy purple scale beat heavily as a horrifying sight rose from beyond the steep drop at the edge of the plateau. Rising into sight, the mutated behemoth of Spite appeared. Every powerful flap of its wings kicked up a strong gust of wind that scattered debris, blowing feathery and furry corpses across the village clearing. Standing atop the sithspawned drexl's back was another gore coated monster. Steam rose from the blood soaked scales of the Great Devourer, naked save for the mess dripping off every inch of his body. In his right claw he held an equally soaked axe, the face of the blade bubbled as the runes etched into its surface seemed to burn brightly with unnatural energies. In his left was a hooked hilt from which a screaming crimson energy blade glowed, crackling loudly as blood dripped from his hand onto the contained plasma and flash boiled into pungent vapor. Feathers stuck to his body in clumps, adhered by sticky gore, making it appear as if he had been tarred and feathered. Spite hovered briefly before driving its talons into the plateau and lowering itself to the ground. A rumble sounded in its throat as it let out an animal belch accompanied by puffs of poisonous gas. It had eaten its fill.In a powerful bound, Dragus leapt from the drexl's back and landed in a crouch, his foot talons crunching a fallen feathered body beneath his feet. His left thumb released the activation stud of his lightsaber, causing the singing energy blade to fizzle and retract before appearing to slide back into the hilt. Stalking towards the village centre where the flock had gathered around Kr'Naan, Dragus' lips rose to reveal his maw fixed into a toothy snarl, his yellow incisors gleaming and gritted. His predatory orbs narrowed with violent intent as he spotted the shaman chief's corpse. Squeakers scurried away at the sight of the Hungering One, having already glutted himself on the rishii's face flesh."You killed him?" He hissed demandingly, his ire evident in his tone. "I waz supposssed to kill him." It didn't seem like the mask-less Kr'Naan even heard him as he spoke. She was too busy chewing the remaining bits held in her soiled hands, shoving the remains into her mouth like an animal. His displeasure growing, Dragus raised the axe held in his right claw over his head and prepared to strike the tusken's head from her little body. He would not be ignored. As his arm prepared to swing the axe forwards, something weighed it down, halting his swing. Turning his snout, the black scaled barabel fixed his hateful gaze on Lil'Bacca, who was hanging from the saurian Sith's right bicep. Incensed, Dragus raised his axe again, using his impressive physical strength to overcome the additional weight as he attempted to strike. Again, something weighed his arm down. When he looked at his arm once more, he could see Lil'Mort hanging beside Lil'Bacca from his bicep. Joining them, Lil'Kaan hopped onto the backs of both other ewoks and overbalanced Dragus. The bears and lizard tumbled to the right and collapsed into a pile of fur and scale. Hissing and snapping his jaws, the enraged reptilian was about to eviscerate the flock, when the cycloptic bear got hold of the axe's haft and managed to pry Bloodeater from his master's grip. In an instant the rage that had been consuming the snapping saurian vanished, leaving him hollow and cold. Oddly enough as Lil'Bacca stumbled away with the heavy axe held in his paws, the avatar of War seemed unaffected by its corrupting influence. He held the axe down at his side, staring cautiously at the barabel while also showing no intended provocation or intent to fight.Seeming to come back to his senses, Dragus disentangled himself from the other 'woks and rose back to his feet. He crossed his arms behind his back and held them there, grasping his wrists. His overlong tail rose and snapped like a whip, shaking loose a trail of red ooze and bits of skin. He looked around and admired the devastation. A few of the surviving ranats were gnawing on the bodies that littered the landscape like morbid decorations. Extending an empty claw towards Kr'Naan, the draconian expanded his mental awareness and focused his sharp mind on the sand child. Probing and stroking her with invisible ethereal claws, he detected the potent chemical mix influencing her system. It was relatively simple to determine, given that the concoction had been of his own making. That explained her appetite. No longer upset, he focused on the artificial compound and began to unravel it at a molecular level. Performing this sort of genetic manipulation on a living being was extremely dangerous, but for a master of the alchemical arts such as Famine, it was a small matter. He often used said ability to sober himself up after partaking in too much indulgence. Carefully he broke the spice mixture down into its harmless baser components, and drew it out of her body as sweat from her pours.Beside him, the flock gathered and watched.
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Kr'Naan'Kar
The Sith Eternal
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Post by Kr'Naan'Kar on May 29, 2022 19:47:03 GMT -8
THUMP THUMP The heartbeat continued as the feral Tusken devoured the heart of the Rishii chieftain she had wrenched out of its chest with her hands. The cadence in her mind slowed and finally ended with the dissipation of the spice coursing through her body and causing the frenzy the tusken child had been overcome with. As the monomania that was her need to silence the beating of the organ receded a curtain seemed to lift, the youngling's perception which had been narrowed once again expanded to normal levels to where she began to be more aware of her surroundings and the present; at least more so than before when the drugs were in full effect. Kr'Naan was still noticeably in a daze, either from whatever remainder of the stimulants were in the small being's system or the definite head injury, but more than likely both. Kr'Naan continued chewing, looking around slightly confused while still straddling the dead chieftain's open torso, until her black eyes spotted Dragus. A bloody, toothy and self-satisfied grin grew on her face."It stopped. I made the noise stop, Master." She stated matter of factly in ewokese before letting out an impressive belch.
Burrrp! Kr'Naan's face twisted into a glower as something in her something turned, an uncomfortable feeling growing inside her stomach and coupled with a pain her head as the injury abating spice wore off. Kr'Naan looked down at her own hands, which held the half-eaten heart of the shaman chieftain. Her eyes did not seem to recognize what it truly was, and the youngling stared at it for a few moments before speaking again."I do not think I can finish this." Kr'Naan said in ewokese, though sounding strangely unsure as if she were still considering finishing the mostly-eaten organ. "Here." She continued, before holding up the core of the chieftain up towards the saurian Sith like an offering. Dragus would have a myriad of emotions rise within him. The first, as it often was, was anger; anger at the perceived insult that he would accept LEFTOVERS. But as mind filled with ideas of shattering the child of sand both physically and mentally, perhaps some insults about how ridiculous she looked beneath her mask, the dreaded draconian's eyes drifted from the smug face of tusken child down to her outstretched hand which held the heart of the chieftain which should have been his to begin with. His tongue instinctively flicked the air, releasing a speckling of hot saliva into the air. He inhaled, breathing in the scent of blood in the air. It did look to be a mighty fine specimen of a heart, perhaps one of the largest for a humanoid species he had seen. At least the top twenty. Coupled with the fact his own twisted imagination had already concocted quite visceral imagery of himself enjoying devouring the organ. Maybe he could overlooked this transgression? This once? Yes. Sure! After all, he should nurture, no ENCOURAGE! this newfound desire of Kr'Naan to enjoy such delicacies. She was normally so squeamish, it was nice to see this side of her. It was obviously because he was such a 'good' influence.Dragus slowly reached out a scaly hand for the remainder of the heart, having convinced himself. As Dragus' talon neared the pericardium, it would slip just out reach as Kr'Naan suddenly fell forward, faceplanting into the corpse of the chieftain, unconscious. The heart fell from her comatose hands onto the ground, rolling for a bit before coming to a stop at his feet. With the spice that had kept her conscious out of her system by the powers of Dragus, she had no chance against reality sinking in and dragging her into the void of sleep.
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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: 1,190
Affiliation: Sith Eternal
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Post by Dragus on May 31, 2022 7:10:56 GMT -8
With some soreness, having fatigued himself during his own airborne adventure over the side of the cliff, Dragus lowered himself to a knee and scooped up the remains of the heart laying in the dirt at his feet. Brushing his claws over its surface, he cleared off some of the adhered dust from the ground and then casually tossed the remaining portion into his open maw. Jaws snapped shut with bone crunching force, shredding and mashing the muscular remains in seconds. As he swallowed the scraps of protein down, his scaly brow narrowed on the tusken girl still faceplanted in the corpse of the shaman chief.She had come a long way from that scared girl in the slave markets, first having made murder for him in some dark corner of the forest on Pzob, and now...this. While he had brought her to Rishi to blood her in the trials of combat, he had never expected her to kill the chief. That was two primitive Force mystics she could notch onto her belt now.Creeping closer, he knelt over the shaman's corpse and reached for Kr'Naan, resting his clawed right hand on the back of her head. Bubbles blew in the puddle of blood gushing from the feathery cadavers open chest, formed from the last of the sand child breath as she was currently drowning face down in the corpse's exposed guts. He stroked her hair, running his talons through the dark lengths until he reached her split ends and scraped his digits along her back. He hummed a tune as he gently caressed her, unaware that it was the same tune his creator had hummed outside his tank when he was being grown so many years ago. Blood, but perhaps not yet a lot of sand. Still, he had done quite a bit to make real the vision he had seen when he had first laid eyes upon her. Whatever dark destiny awaited her, they were headed towards it now, he was certain of it. The course had been lain, all they had to do was follow it to its inevitable destination and whatever conclusion occurred. She just had to survive long enough to see it. Speaking of which... As his claws came in to stroke again, he wrapped his fingers around her hair and pulled her head from the bubbling mire of blood and guts, allowing her nose and mouth much needed air. He then grabbed her by the back of her tunic and plucked her body off the ground, unceremoniously slinging her little form over his right shoulder like a sac of desert plums.When he stood back to his full height, Lil'Bacca cautiously approached and offered the ewok shepherd his axe back. His luminous red eyes lingered on the alchemised weapon for a moment, as he remembered the compulsion it had over his better sensibilities shortly ago. Somewhat hesitantly he reached for the handle and wrapped his claws around the worn reek leather, then quickly attached it to his belt before it started whispering in his mind. He patted Lil'Bacca on the head and ruffled his fur, much to the cycloptic ewoks annoyance.Bright lights flashed in the distance, growing larger as something streaked towards them from the sky. A powerful gust swept the mountain plateau as a dart shaped transport zipped by before turning and slowing, descending towards the clearing as its repulsor engines lowered it on a cushion of air. Three landing struts extended from a nimble star courier of some familiarity, touching down in front of them. A minute later when the engines had quieted, the rear hatch opened and a ramp extended to the ground. From within the obscured interior, a short shape appeared at the open hatch, waving to Dragus and the flock as they gathered in front. Casually swaggering down the ramp was a milky eyed bear they all knew quite well."Lil'Havok!" Hissed Dragus in delight. "You're alive. How did you sssurvive the crash?" Something close to a thought seem to creep across the face of the Blind One's avatar, but it was quickly replaced by a dumb expression and a shrugging of his furry shoulders. That was probably the most they were going to get out of him. Shaking his head dismissively, the black scaled barabel looked back the shaman corpse and the other members of the flock. He unslung the tusken girl from his shoulder and dropped the burden into the waiting muscular arms of Lil'Bacca, who caught her and cradled her body against his girthsome furry chest. He then turned to address the rest."Lil'Kaan, you gather up thossse feather bagz we've been collecting and bring them aboard; we have quite a bit of sssewing to do. Lil'Mort, pick up Lil'Wart'z sssword and sssee that it iz sharpened. She'z earned that much." Scanning the clearing, he spotted a familiar rat. "Squeakerz!" Snarled the bestial barabel. "Sssay your goodbyez to the ressst of your kin. You're coming with uz. Oh, and bring one of the bird children aboard with you. One of the femalez, asssuming you can tell the difference. The remainder your ssslave-ratz can sssee to." And then finally he focused on the one eyed wok of the flock and the burden in his arms. "Bring her aboard and let her ressst for now. Go."All members of the flock then began to attend to the tasks he had put them to. The fiendish ranat dragged a squawking bird child up the boarding ramp of the Grimblade, where a cage awaited her inside. Lil'Kaan and Lil'Mort gathered up the items requested, and Lil'Bacca carried the sand child in his arms onto the ship and brought her into their shared quarters, laying her body down on the yellowed lice infested wampa fur carpet. He left a water flask beside her slumbering form. From one dark corner of the room, the infant dragon slug Kermit hopped over to the child and nestled in beside her, gentling croaking. As for the Great Devourer, he remained outside, studying the shaman's carcass. Next to the dead bird chief was Kr'Naan's goggled mask, something she had insisted on wearing at all times since he had known her. He bent low and scooped it up, then stared at the face of the mask.While it all likelihood the only reason she had removed the concealing garment was because she had been tripping hard on spice and combat stims, he still considered its removal progress. No doubt when she finally awoke she would want this back. He sneered. Well, she'd have to ask him for it first.
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Kr'Naan'Kar
The Sith Eternal
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Post by Kr'Naan'Kar on Jun 1, 2022 1:04:30 GMT -8
Nearly an entire two days went by before Kr'Naan would awaken from her cranial injury incurred sleep. The Tusken felt her head move gently up and down as the dragon slug Kermit, who she was partially propped upon like a pillow, breathed. The warmth of the fire-breathing creature was nice as well, and despite the hardiness of its hide it was comfortable against her head. Groggily, Kr'Naan opened her eyes and looked around the dimly lit room she found herself in. It was familiar; the shared dwelling of the flock aboard Dragus' personal ship with which she had been upon before, but the only other being inside currently was Kermit. The young dragon slug let out a croak, its vocal sac inflating, though whether it was a form of greeting or an expression of pleasure that the child was no longer using it as a pillow the child of sand could not tell. Kr'Naan winced as even the dim light caused a pain in her head, instinctively lifting her hand up and touching her bare head. Shock soon replaced her expression, and her black eyes widened in panic as Kr'Naan jumped up and searched around the immediate area for her missing headgear but it was nowhere to be found. What she did find was the flask of water, which she heartily drained despite the warm stale taste since it had been sitting out for days.Sitting back down on the stained wampa rug, Kr'Naan tried to remember what had happened. Her memory was a bit jumbled, remembering the initial takeover of the Rishii village. She remembered the feast and the arrival of a giant rainbow crested Rishii, obviously the chieftain, but beyond that it was only bits and pieces. From the pain in her head she had obviously been hurt, so had her mask had to be taken off to treat her? No, that did not feel correct. Kr'Naan closed her eyes and frowned as she tried to force the memories to the front of her mind. Despite the Tusken youngling straining with all her might all she was able to conjure were a few flashes of visceral red, followed by the sight of her master who seemed to be surrounded by a glowing, vibrating fuzziness? This only confused her more. Kr'Naan upturned the flask of water, now empty, and looked to the door of the room. Hesitating before standing back up and cautiously moving to the exit, reaching up and hitting the activator.As the door opened, Kr'Naan stretched her neck and tilted her head to try and listen for anyone. All that reached her ears was the croaky breathing of Kermit and her own. She did not even hear the hum of the starships engines, so they were not moving. Were they somewhere else? A thought for later. First things first. Kr'Naan tiptoed her way out of the flock's quarters and to the refresher, shutting and locking the door behind her after ensuring it was empty as well. The first item on her checklist was to ensure the safety of the crystal with which she had been entrusted, hidden away in the clothes hamper in the wall. Kr'Naan held the jewel up for a moment before putting it away. Satisfied, she would then quickly tend to her own hygiene; stopping first to throw what she had of her garb in the laundering machine in the wall before moving to the cracked mirror to inspect herself. Her left eye was blackened, and there was what remained of a bruise on her forehead, but otherwise she seemed fine. There was dried blood all around her mouth, but there was no injury she could see. Kr'Naan touched the back of her head, wincing again and feeling a gooey substance caked in her hair. Pulling her hand back and inspecting a yellowish-green tinged ointment or something close to it. Someone must have tended to her more serious head wound while she was had been asleep. As she rubbed the greasy substance between her fingers, the memories of her fight with the chieftain, and the meal she had made out of its heart, came back to her. Kr'Naan stared at her fragmented reflection in the mirror for several minutes before turning away and moving to the shower to wash herself. Surprisingly it did not bother her that much. It was shocking and made her feel a little sick to her stomach, but it almost felt like it had not been her who had done those things. Her mind was blank as she tried to rationalize it. There was no reasoning of it. It had happened. What else to it was there? Finishing up after drying off and dressing herself, save for her head covering which she did not have, Kr'Naan looked once more at the mirror to tie up her long black hair before unlocking and opening the refresher door.As soon as the doors opened Kr'Naan let out a small shriek as the Tusken found herself face to face with the milky eyed visage of Lil'Havok who was standing directly on the other side of the door silently. Kr'Naan stifled her scream and exhaled heavily, clutching her chest at the scare. The blind ewok remained still in the doorway, his eyes as unblinking as they were unseeing; at least in the physical sense. All he did was continue breathing from his mouth, inhaling and exhaling slowly. Kr'Naan waved her hand in front of the face of the blind bear, confused as he stood there wordlessly."It's...Lil'Havok...right?" She asked in ewokese. "I am glad to see you survived your landing..." She paused as she remembered that he could not see her bare face, to which she was thankful. "Do you know where my head covering is? It is very...uhm...important." Slight desperation in her tone as she requested the information. Kr'Naan had no idea how long Lil'Havok had been blind or if he would even know what a head covering is, if he had ever even seen one in his life or knew what one was; but she had to hope he could lead her to it.The blind ewok's unseeing eyes asynchronously blinked as if in response of the question posed to him, though he did not answer with words. Instead, the furry pilot turned around and began walking away. Kr'Naan was about to call after him, but instead remained quiet and decided to follow him. Sure enough, eventually the sightless guide made his way to the ramp of the Grimblade, waddling down expertly without the function of his eyes. Kr'Naan however remained at the top of the ramp, afraid of being seen in the open with her face exposed. Lil'Havok took a few more steps off of the ramp before stopping, remaining as silent as ever. And there he stood, his back turned to the Tusken child who was refusing to follow. He did not gesture or call for her; he simply waited for her."I cannot be seen without my mask. Please! Can you just bring it to me?" Kr'Naan pleaded in ewokese. Lil'Havok may as well have been deaf for all the good it did, as he remained still at the bottom of the ramp; unmoving. After a short-lived standoff, it was the Tusken child was the one to relent. Kr'Naan tentatively and cautiously eased her way down the ramp to the wherever it was her blind escort was leading her to. As the warmth of the Rishi sun struck her bare skin and unprotected eyes, Kr'Naan squinted and held a gloved hand up to look up at the open sky. It was not until she was within a few feet of Lil'Havok that the blind bear continued walking, to which she silently followed.
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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: 1,190
Affiliation: Sith Eternal
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Post by Dragus on Jun 4, 2022 7:34:37 GMT -8
Baking beneath the midday sun on that windswept mountaintop plateau, the feather shrouded form of He-Who-Hungers sat cross-legged on an edge that overlooked a very deep drop. The dark currents of the malevolent fey coiled around the seemingly slumbering serpent lord in the same way his lengthy tail coiled around his scaled waist. He inhaled deeply through his nostril slits, then vented hot fury with every exhalation from his dagger filled maw. Dragus appeared much the predator bird on a ledge in his new feathered robe, replete with a gut string clasp from which three long Rishii finger talons dangled loosely. But he was no bird. This barely contained fountain of growing anger was a dragon. Like a sickness spreading out and infecting everything it came into contact with, invisible tendrils spiraling from the deranged drake probed and penetrated everything they came into contact with as they spread from his seated form. Insects trapped within the soil withered and died, desiccating in seconds as their life force was drawn out of them and used to fuel the Great Devourer's mystical arts. As the energy was drained and drawn into an invisible swirling vortex that existed only in the aether, the physical world was impacted as well. The ground beneath him that had been brown moments ago, greyed and grew cold, the ambient temperature dropping as even the sun was bled.In his mind... He was back in the old torture chambers beneath the Citadel of the Eye, found deep within the unlit maze of catacombs that had existed long before the Order had taken up residence on holy Pzob. He was naked and breathing hard, his hot rancid breath coming in great puffs in the cold dank cell. His body was slick and sticky, but oddly comforted by a fleeting warmth. Dragus ran his left claw over his glossy chest and it came away wet with red, his talons glistening as he brought them before his snout and extended his forked tongue. A few darts of the snake like organ and he had lapped up the crimson fluid, noting the familiar coppery tone. He felt something in his right claw and looked down, only to realize he was holding a leather lash with edged iron studs, to which bits of green skin were clinging and blood was dripping onto the filth strewn floor. The barabel raised his snout and peered forwards into the dark, his glowing red eyes illuminating something in the cells corner.
There hanging from two thick studded rusting shackles was a giant cycloptic form. Not clearly abyssin based on the obvious mutation, but Dragus knew the figure at once to be his deeply beloved brother Bacca. The massive Lord of War appeared unconscious, a previously thought impossibility given that the dreaded Famine Lord had never seen his fellow high lord incapacitated before. Bacca seemed to dangle in his restraints, turning slightly to reveal his ruined back. Giant red welts and a collage of shredded flesh were all that Dragus could see. His belly grumbled at the sight and he licked his lips as saliva dripped from his glands. Slowly, as his better sensibilities finally took hold, his scaled lids narrowed as he moved his eyes from Bacca's tortured back, to the strap in his hands. Oh. Okay, now it made sense.
A wet streak painted the wall in gore as Dragus raised the studded lash over his shoulder and swung it as hard as he could at the giant abyssin's back, carving a fresh furrow in his flesh and spraying the ground in blood and bits of flayed skin. "You abandoned me!" Snarled the drake, lashing again. "You weren't there!" Another lash. Was that bone? "I needed you!" The lash dropped to the ground and the seething saurian stalked close, flexing his curved talons as his savage nature overwhelmed him. Like an artist making brush strokes on a wide and tall canvas, the barabel transformed the abyssin's back into his greatest work of art. Yet no matter how much he carved, no matter how much he dug and bled his brother, none of it made him feel any better. In the end he was bent over, exhausted from his labour, staring bitterly at the quiet giant. "Why won't you wake up?" As he looked on Bacca's shredded skin, he noticed what had been intended as random slashes had formed a map of a familiar star system in the abyssin's wounded backside. A curious scaled brow rose. End.Dragus brushed the dream aside, slithering his ethereal serpent form around the dark emotions before guiding them into the storm of his spell. Separating mind from body, he projected his spiritual form into the fathomless sea of the Force and saught out slender connections only visible to one with the gift and a deeper knowledge of the aether. His own skein was easy to find, for it projected from his astral self as an infinitely long thread of obsidian black. The dark nature made it difficult to follow, especially as the skeins of those unblemished by shadow and insidious intent glowed all the more brightly, banishing the serpent's future to dark uncertainty. Fine, he didn't want to know his own future anyways. He found the thread he was actually looking for nearby, dark, but not nearly as abysmal black as his own. He flicked the thread with a talon and watched as a layer of sediment shook loose, dusting the astral grounds. This thread he found easier to follow than his own, though he found he could only pursue it so far before his path was barred by an endless series of other threads crisscrossing the way ahead. Irritated, he reached a claw forward to slash his way through when he found his talons repelled by an inpenitrable force. No going further it seems. Reluctantly he returned to the thread, having followed it as far as the skeins would allow. He noticed that this particular fate was bound to a planet, one that happened to be located in the star system he had seen written on his brother's flesh.Pitter-Patter. Pitter-Patter. Pitter-Patter. Red coals blazoned to life as the draconian's scaled lids rose. His nostril slits flared as he scented a familiar stench encroaching on his solitude, joined with another whose fuzzy footsteps on the rocky ground gave their approach away. His plumbing of the futures depths completed, the saurian Sith focused his senses on the present. Casually, he reached his right claw down beside his seated form and rested his sharp digits on Kr'Naan's goggled mask, picking it up. With his back still turned to the nearing tusken child, he held the mask out to his side in his upturned palm."About time you woke up." He hissed in amusement over his shoulder. "I sssuppose you want thiz?" In any other situation this would have been a classic moment where one particularly nasty Force user taunted another into giving into their emotions, thus cementing their path down the long dark road that led to spiritual damnation for the sake of potential immortality. However, the currents of the fey did not seem to flow through Kr'Naan with any particular potency. She was absent a connection to that black wellspring of power. So, he teased her for the sake of it alone. There were many pleasures in this galaxy to be sipped and savoured. Even small ones like aggravating a child were to be enjoyed as thoroughly as possible.Uncoiling from his waist, the barabel's overlong tail slithered up and away from his body before curving and tapping the ground beside him with the tip of the iron spike mounted on the end. Tap! Tap! His fifth appendage then lowered to the ground and formed a sort of seat near the ledge, or at least the backing of one. The sand child's legs would have to dangle over the edge for her to sit comfortably. Dragus placed her mask in his feathery lap and held it between his claws."Come have a ssseat bessside me."
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