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Post by Whill Shaman Nyx on Apr 9, 2013 2:01:31 GMT -8
*Like nearby Ryloth, Roon only rotated on its axis once every orbit around the sun, rendering one side constantly bright and the other side constantly dark. Unlike Ryloth, however, the lit side of the world was not scorching, nor was the dark side frigid; this phenomenon may be due to cloud cover, or an extensive ozone layer. Mudfields, oceans, plains, and frozen mountains were the primary terrain.*
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Post by Alexis Karidian on Mar 3, 2014 7:18:40 GMT -8
Passive and active sensor sweeps of the ancient archeological dig that Mike was looking for turned up nothing interesting. In fact, right now the place seemed strangely deserted. Alexis dropped the YT-1300 low to the tree line to avoid attracting attention as much as possible in case anyone was looking and cut back power to the sublight engines, drifting in on a whine of repulsorlifts. She set the ship on the ground within easy walking distance of the site, but near enough to a grove of trees that they would have a bit of cover in case things headed south. Their use of the Force would enable them to sense an ambush before they walked into it. Hopefully.
Alexis shut down most of the ship's systems, leaving the engines in standby so she wouldn't have to do a cold start in case of trouble. Then, lowering the ramp, she unfastened her seat restraints and headed toward the back of the ship to collect Mike.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 3, 2014 15:50:32 GMT -8
The landing had been rough, but Mike hadn't even noticed. He was glued to the external feeds. Something was wrong. There might not be anything interesting by normal standards, but by archaeological standards, this place was seriously weird.
The facility had included extensive construction both aboveground and below, according to the records. There should be a few square miles worth of ruins up here, but it was all gone. You could still find traces of it every here and there, such as geometric patterns or the occasional plantless bit, but by all reasonable standards, the surface structure had been wiped clean. Probably sometime between 100-500 years ago, too. That was practically yesterday in archaeological terms.
What was even more odd was that there were some very powerful power sources still active underground. It was like someone had reconnected the original fusion generator that had powered the place. Mike would have thought that impossible, given the fact that the thing was at least three thousand years old, but that seemed less improbable than the idea that someone would have brought in a whole new one or, worse yet, kept the thing going for thousands of years. The requirements in terms of reactive mass alone were astonishing.
So when Alexis came to fetch him, Mike wasn't loading up his archaeological equipment, he was assembling a very large and very dangerous looking blaster rifle.
"You were right. Something is seriously off with this place, and until we know what, we should probably be armed."
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Post by Alexis Karidian on Mar 3, 2014 17:40:36 GMT -8
Alexis wasn't sure exactly what Mike was looking for, but she'd expected an old temple or something visible on the surface. There really hadn't been. So, when she stopped in the door to Mike's room and found him assembling what looked to be a high-powered blaster rifle, she was not really taken by surprise. She was armed with her lightsaber of course, since it accompanied her everywhere. She nodded solemnly in agreement with Mike.
"I would say that is a very wise decision." Taking in his quarters at a glance she realized he hadn't packed much else. She was expecting at least some sort of rucksack type thing. "How long will it take you to finish packing? I get the feeling we should get in and get out as quickly as possible."
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 3, 2014 18:18:17 GMT -8
"Something's off."
Mike stood up, slinging the rifle on his shoulder in the process.
"This first trip is just going to be a recon. I don't like this, Alexis. We should be in the middle of at least the ruins of the compound, but there's nothing on the surface. Massive power readings underground, which is severely wrong."
The young human looked troubled.
"Look, Alexis, I know you've got your secrets. I'm not even going to try to dig any deeper than you want, and only when you're ready at that, but if you feel something off, let me know. We'll bug out. I know we just got here, but it's better to run than get ourselves killed over nothing. We can always come back with a bigger team if needed, okay?"
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Post by Alexis Karidian on Mar 3, 2014 18:32:20 GMT -8
"Yeah," she nodded to Mike, appreciative of his support and seeming understanding, though he had no idea as yet. How could she tell him that a vengeful spirit dogged her footsteps and often seemed to know what she was going to do before she herself did? However, her ghost had not attempted to contact or harm anyone other than herself, at least, not that Alexis knew of. She intended to keep her eyes and ears open, and her mind aware of her surroundings.
"I was wondering about that, actually," she was glad he'd found the lack of surface remains unsettling as well, "Archeology is not my thing, but I expected to see something by now. You say this site is largely underground then?"
Alexis didn't like the sound of that but she didn't have any immediate objections to offer. "Let's go see what is going on here. Was there anything in specific you were looking for?" Something like an 'ancient Jedi holocron' would be helpful, as in that case she could look also, instead of just wandering around and trying to guess what the goal was.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 3, 2014 19:04:07 GMT -8
Mike's handy little datapad holoprojector showed what they should be looking at. The surface structure was supposed to consist of several buildings some three to five stories high, with another seven to eight underground for each.
"What we're looking for now is an entrance to the lightsaber lab."
One of the buildings on the projection was highlighted. The view shifted to overhead, and showed that the ship was parked less than 100 meters from where it should have been.
"There was all kinds of shady stuff going on here, according to records, but that's a problem for the followup teams. What we're looking for is one of the earliest prototypes of the modern lightsaber as we know it. This was allegedly the location of the research that paved the way for ditching the power cells on the belt packs. But right now, we're looking for active security, signs of living inhabitants, ect. Anything that might kill us, in other words."
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Post by Alexis Karidian on Mar 3, 2014 19:25:02 GMT -8
"Sensor scans have not revealed any living people. I don't feel anything either, though lifeforms could be shielded below the surface. However, there are probably plenty of other things that could kill us, especially if the place is booby-trapped." She replied calmly before inquiring, "So, the lightsaber lab is underground?" as she scrutinized the display that he showed her.
Lightsabers had beltpacks at one time? Alexis grimaced at the idea. That would be very inconvenient and impose a lot of limitations. She could easily comprehend why the upgrade in power sources had taken place. Her own lightsaber was a tool of elegance, balance, and aesthetic beauty after a simplistic fashion.
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Atton Kaelan
Crew of the Wayward Son
You're not allowed to name the star destroyer after your junk, Adi.
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Post by Atton Kaelan on Mar 3, 2014 21:10:16 GMT -8
Atton stayed in the cockpit while Alexis went to go talk with Mike, reaching out with the Force to search for anything out of the ordinary. Nothing yet, but there might always be something lurking just out of range or something like that. The dark side was hard to see after all, but he doubted they would run into anything like that. At least he hoped they didn't.
In any case, he made sure both of his lightsabers were secured to his belt before finally getting up to stretch. Atton always carried two lightsabers with him, even though he wasn't actually that skilled in two weapon fighting styles. It was a result of having actually lost his original lightsaber at one time and he had constructed a second one, only to recover his first at a later time. It always helped to have a spare...
Making his way towards the passenger quarters, Atton stopped, catching the last bit of conversation between Alexis and Mike. Something about ancient lightsabers and still active security systems. He wasn't an expert in archaeology by any stretch of the imagination but it didn't take a genius to figure that old ruins might be dangerous. He would definitely be on his guard for this one. "If there is anything active down there, what can we expect to deal with?"
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Post by Deleted on Mar 5, 2014 13:30:55 GMT -8
Mike changed the image with a gesture, this time showing projected security measures. Mines, gas, monomolecular trip wire, and about a half a dozen other horrible ways to die flashed before their eyes. Of particular note were two different droids. One looked something like a circular saw hooked up to a chainsaw hooked up to a hedge clipper and mounted on a repulsorlift. The scale said it was about a foot across, weighed over forty pounds, and it looked like it could cut through flesh like butter. The second droid was a squat cylindrical looking thing with two independently rotating turrets, one on the top, one on the bottom. It was maybe three feet tall and also floated on repulsors.
"Ordinarily, I'd say most of this stuff would have died centuries ago. I can already tell you, for instance, that the gas isn't stable for more than maybe 20 years before it decays into mostly harmless junk. The mines will also likely be useless, and the monomolecular wire will have oxidized into nothingness. What worries me are the droids."
He flipped the image around, focusing on a series of markings on the surface.
"If it weren't for the power reading, I'd say we'd be fine, but someone has that generator on, and that means that these things are probably charging. These things, by the way, refers to alchemically enhanced security droids. The smaller one with the blades was called a man-hack. Individually, they're not all that hard to kill, but they deploy in swarms. The other is called JK in the records, presumably for 'Jedi Killer.' The scientist who designed them was quite pleased with the design. Those guns you see are not blasters, they're Gauss guns. They fire these little tungsten darts, about three millimeters in diameter, fast enough to punch through a starfighter the long way. These things are no joke. A modern lightsaber can block the projectiles, but they were designed to deal with old school, belt-pack powered models. After the first dozen or so hits, they'd start to punch through the blade, and oh, by the way, each droid has two guns.
"Both models were enhanced by Sith alchemy. They're more resistant to blaster bolts and lightsaber blades, though a modern blade should be fine if you're careful, and they're immune to the ravages of time. If they're inactive, we're fine. If not, Atton, I want you on the ship's laser cannon. My rifle packs enough punch to take them down, but I've got limited ammo. If Alexis and I have to bug out, we need you to scratch our backs with the big gun. Keep the engines warm, too. If we get down there and all looks clear, we can begin this operation properly. If not, we get the hell out and figure things out from there. Everyone ready?"
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Post by Alexis Karidian on Mar 5, 2014 17:38:06 GMT -8
Alexis nodded silently. She'd have been much more comfortable with her StealthX and Teacup, her twittery astromech, around in case backup was needed. Despite his persnickety nature, the R2 unit was handy in a pinch and often came up with some relatively unorthodox solutions. Although, she couldn't have deployed the proton torpedoes against the droids without also damaging the research facility that they had come here to find.
The idea of tethering her lightsaber to a power-pack on her belt was most revolting and inconvenient. She was pleased to have skipped that phase of lightsaber development herself.
"Ready. The less time they have to charge, the better. Any idea how long the generator has been powered up?" she inquired, hoping to gauge the amount of 'energy' the potential defense might have at its command as she began heading towards the ramp.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 5, 2014 18:06:19 GMT -8
Mike checked some readings and frowned, clearly turning numbers in his head.
"Between two months and twenty years. There's no way there was enough reactive mass for the generator to have been going all this time, so it had to have been pumped in recently. The thermal and electromagnetic signature suggests that it's not in warmup, a process that should, for something of this size, take about two months total. There's no reason it shouldn't work, given the fact that these guys were quite good at alchemical enhancements, but the tech is old and has limitations. I say less than twenty because they would have needed to shut it off to fill the fuel bunkers, and that's the longest they could have held out. Originally there were multiple generators, so that wasn't a problem, but I'm only getting the one now.
"Long story short, if we're on the two month side, we're good. Even assuming the connections weren't eaten away, even an alchemically enhanced power cell takes a long time to fill after the better part of five millennia dead. At twenty years, the self repair routines would have fixed even damaged connections, and the droids will be at full charge."
Once the briefing had concluded, Mike and Alexis made their way down the ramp. He pointed to what looked like a natural rock formation some two hundred meters off.
"That should be a back door," he said, bringing the butt of the rifle up to his shoulder. "If security is active, that's our best chance of finding out without getting our asses shot off. It was the entrance for the slave workers, so security was more immediately apparent there. We'll hear the ruckus long before we get close enough to get stuck underground."
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Atton Kaelan
Crew of the Wayward Son
You're not allowed to name the star destroyer after your junk, Adi.
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Post by Atton Kaelan on Mar 6, 2014 9:39:10 GMT -8
Atton followed the two down the ramp, silently contemplating what Mike had told them about the ruins. There was definitely some risk involved in exploring this place, but hopefully it would be worth it. In any case, he would be on his guard just in case...
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Post by Alexis Karidian on Mar 15, 2014 12:02:51 GMT -8
Momentarily confused by Kaelan's joining them contrary to Mike's request that he man the laser cannons on board the freighter, she wondered if she should stay behind to do so herself. Ultimately she decided to go with Mike.
Approaching the entrance he had indicated as a back door, she un-clipped her lightsaber from her belt and hefted it in her hand, waiting to ignite it till it was needed. Mike had point since ostensibly he was more familiar with their surroundings and what might be waiting for them than she did. It would be really nice if the droids had not received a full power charge. If she had been a betting person she wouldn't have liked the odds that would create for them, and she was definitely not Corellian.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 16, 2014 9:24:57 GMT -8
Mike approached the location where the entrance should have been on foot. According to the plans, there would have been a guardhouse over the corridor that would have led the workers on foot. The guardhouse was long gone, but the gaping hole in the ground remained.
There was plenty of plant growth into the corridor, but that wasn't what bothered the young archaeologist.
"Uh, Alexis?"
He looked over his shoulder and nearly shat himself right then and there when he realized that there was no one on the gun.
He looked back down into the corridor, swallowing hard to force down the lump in his throat. Jedi aren't supposed to feel fear, of course, but even Master Yoda would have needed a moment.
A distinctive feature of the man-hack droid is a single glowing red eye. There wasn't just one in the tunnel. There wasn't even just a hundred. Mike could see back at least two or three hundred meters, and the walls, ceiling, and floor were coated with man-hacks. Hundreds of them. Maybe even thousands.
Slowly, carefully so as not to startle them, Mike brought the stock of his rifle up to his shoulder and flicked a switch.
"RUN!"
The rifle featured an under barrel grenade launcher with an integral five-round magazine. He dumped the whole thing out in one go, sending five thermal detonators screaming into the hole. The first fifty meters of the tunnel was scoured clean. Unfortunately, that was only the start of the swarm.
Mike had managed to buy them a few seconds, so he took full advantage of it by sprinting like a bat out of hell.
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Post by Alexis Karidian on Mar 19, 2014 12:27:53 GMT -8
Easily aware that Mike was as unsettled as herself, if not more so, Alexis was on edge but not expecting the horde of sinister blinking red lights just behind the door. It looked like this was already a no-go from the start, particularly since they had no backup at this point.
Hoping that Mike was not going to be dumb enough to attempt a brave last stand there was only one reason that Alexis turned and ran when he said to. And that was because there was a chance she could cover him from the ship before he got swarmed.
Her boots echoed dully on the ramp of the old freighter before she threw herself into the pilot's seat, already bringing the systems back up to full power. A situation like this was why she'd briefly re-wired the laser cannons so that she could fire them from the cockpit while still flying. While the engines were powering up, she quickly tracked the starboard side laser cannon towards the back entrance into the lab that she and Mike had tried to enter through.
As soon as he was momentarily clear, she sent a withering hail of red laser fire past him into the crowd of man-hack droids currently bottled up in the narrow corridor.
Triggering the comm system with the Force, she hoped he had his comlink on.
Mike? Your turn to run---let's get out of here.
She bit her lip, eyes on the sensor display showing the droids relative to Mike, then glancing at the power displays. As soon as possible, she keyed in the repulsorlifts with a low whine, noting the changing vibration in the ship hull as she hovered a few feet off the ground. As soon as she turned the ship to bring the ramp closest to Mike and Kaelan as possible it would put the oncoming droids outside of her firing arc, so she waited till the last possible second.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 19, 2014 17:18:00 GMT -8
As a matter of fact, Mike had a very definite and dim view of last stands. In his mind, suicide, no matter how nobly committed, was a permanent solution to a temporary problem. As soon as his grenades were gone, he called upon the Force and got his bony little ass out of there.
"SURE WISH SOMEONE WOULD HAVE STAYED ON THAT CANNON!"
He knew the rebuke was probably lost over the howl of thousands of tiny repulsorlifts and various cutting implements as the man-hacks boiled out of the hole in one solid swarm, but it made him feel better.
Fortunately for all of them, Alexis had possessed the foresight to rig the controls for the damn thing. She, being young and spry and forewarned, made it up the ramp first. Fifty feet from the ship, with the swarm barely ten feet behind him (they seem to have been programmed for maximum fear impact, otherwise they'd all be dead) the cannon started up and bought Mike just enough time to get to the bottom of the ramp.
All that was left was for Atton to board. Mike spun around and dropped to a knee, bringing his rifle up to his shoulder. He couldn't match the sheer density of the bolts the ship was putting out, but every bolt was a droid killed.
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Viox Savage
Blackguard Imperium
"You want the same as me. My redemption, eternal ascension. Setting me free."
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Post by Viox Savage on Apr 15, 2019 17:34:59 GMT -8
Mining of Roonstones was a lucrative business on Roon. So much so, that the Blackguard Reborn actively took to mining the precious stones and selling them off-world. Life continued on Roon as it always did, though now the banner of the Blackguard was flying high on the planet. Still, no one complained about the Sith overlords due to the prosperity the Blackguard has brought with it. And so, business continued, as it usually did.
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Viox Savage
Blackguard Imperium
"You want the same as me. My redemption, eternal ascension. Setting me free."
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Post by Viox Savage on Jan 14, 2020 17:13:19 GMT -8
A successful mining operation of Roonstones continued, funding of the Blackguard continued as well. Hidden from the rest of the galaxy, in the Cloak of the Sith, Roon remained one of the Blackguard's more vital planets, supplying raw resources and significant funding to fuel its conquests. Stimulating the economy of nearby worlds as well, slowly the other backwater worlds around would fall under the sway of the Blackguard...
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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 Nov 14, 2021 10:00:00 GMT -8
In the perpetual dark of the planet's current night side, a massive figure jogged across the harsh landscape, far from the busy cities where rogue Imperials made themselves home. The creature was a Sith alchemical creation of the dark apothecary of the Cult of the Eternal, a giant ogre beast transformed from the body of what was once one of his ranat assistants. It had been transformed into an 8ft tall behemoth, wide of shoulder and incredibly brawny, covered in tight veiny muscles. An extra set of thick arms had been added beneath the original set, ending in large gnarled paws with curved finger claws. A creaking palanquin of wooden struts and stretched hide was fitted upon the ranat-ogre's back, surrounded by low glowing tallow candles of congealed human fat, providing the saurian Sith seated upon the structure a modicum of illumination. Quite unnecessary as his sense of smell was far superior than his vision could ever be. Lounging casually atop the platform, Dragus bounced a grey furred ewok upon his lap, so thin it could be considered emaciated. It squealed as he pricked its side with a talon tipped finger every now and then, playing with the small sentient bear, occasionally tickling its ear with a flicker of his forked tongue. On the rough trod ground below, a non-augmented ranat scurried about the ogre's feet, its mouth trailing a spray of foam as it struggled to keep up with its larger kin.
As the smell of the small isolated village they sought assailed the serpent's slit nostrils, his blood red eyes snapped open and he stood up on the palanquin, sinking his toe talons into the wooden platform for support while he held one corner beam in his clawed left hand. The starving ewok held onto the black scaled barabel's right leg in order to maintain its balance. "Ssstop! We're clossse enough." Hissed Dragus, causing the ranat-ogre to halt in its tracks. The muffled cries of something living could be heard coming from a large burlap sac held in the rat monster's lower left hand. Shaking the ewok loose from his leg, the devious reptilian leapt down from the palanquin and landed on the ground in a crouch. Slowly he rose, his shadow silk robe flapping in the breeze. While he had gotten used to his new cadaverous attire, he thought it prudent to travel more incognito for this latest experiment. The Hungering One approached the sac that squirmed and writhed in the ranat-ogre's nigh unbreakable grip, then his dagger capped tail slapped the bag hard with the flat of the rusted iron blade, causing all movement within the bag to cease. He scowled. "Hmmm, perhapz that waz a bit too hard." In a flash of movement his tail swept out again, this time slicing the material of the sac just beneath the ranat-ogre's large hand.
A slender filth covered human female, likely in her teens by Dragus' estimation, spilled out of the slashed open sac and hit the ground hard, eliciting a loud groan and apparent signs of life. The dark apothecary's saliva dripping lips split back to reveal a razor toothed smile. "Fabulouz, it'z ssstill alive. I'd hate to have come all thiz way for nothing." Dropping to one knee, the barabel reached out and took the girl's chin in his clawed hand, ceasing her attempt to rise and flee. He looked into her fearful gaze with two oppresively hypnotic eyes. "Ssssh...no screamz. Only sssilence." He enforced this with equal parts mentally applied pressure as well as physical, squeezing her chin to the point of nearly braking it. Next to the mad alchemist, the smaller ranat scurried beside him, chittering in impossible to follow rat-speak. Dragus nodded his head and extended his other hand to his assistant, holding open his palm as though he expected something to be placed in it. "The vial pleassse." The ranat squeaked rapidly, reaching into the rotten cloth tunic it wore over its patchy fur and held out two small glass vials in its scaled paws, one blue and one green.
For a moment Dragus studied the vials and then spoke up, his voice full of irritation. "Well, which one iz it?" The ranat squeaked and chittered nervously, attempting to plop both into the barabel's waiting talons. The saurian Sith snarled a reply. "What do you mean I didn't tell you? How am I supposssed to remember which one it iz? I am a very busssy Sssith." His assistant rapidly chittered an apology before jumping back out of the way of a slash from the dark apothecary's poison tipped tail. He peered at the two glass vials, tapping a clawed toe on the ground as he struggled to remember which was the elixir necessary for this latest trial. Blue or green. Which could it possibly be? After a few seconds consideration he offered a simple shrug of his shoulders. "Well, it haz to be one of them." The hot rancid stench of spoiled meat exhaled from the barabel's mouth, assaulting the terrified girl's senses like a physical strike. She wretched and gagged in his grip. "If thiz doesssn't turn your ssskin inssside out then I'll know it waz the right one. Now BREEEEAAAATH!" He hissed the last word low and slow, popping the cork of the green vial in his hand and running it under the girl's nose, watching as she inhaled during desperate gasps for fresh air.
Then he waited, but only for a few minutes. Much to his assistants disappointment, the girl did not in fact turn inside out. Instead she appeared otherwise fine, if but a little frightened and filthy. He supposed it must have worked. Releasing her chin, Dragus stood up and stepped away from the girl, thumping the hard ground with his tail to get her attention. She stumbled to her feet, her eyes appearing somewhat milkier than before. The black scaled barabel waved his finger claws at her, gesturing for her to be off while the going was good. "Shoo, off with you now. Be a good girl and run back to your little hovel." As expected she turned and fled into the never-ending night of Roon, in the direction of the nearby village secluded at the base of a mountain. Dragus, his assistant, and the giant ranat-ogre all watched her go with eyes full of mirth and sinister delight. Now all they had to do was wait.
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