Dragus
The Sith Eternal
In front of the Empire, to all you Vader haters out there. We'll blow your planet up.
Posts: 1,193
Affiliation: Sith Eternal
Traffic Light: Blue
|
Post by Dragus on Dec 3, 2023 7:10:45 GMT -8
Both the sled and the saurian pushing it were hot on the heels of Craxious as he cleared the way ahead, leaving a red ruin in his wake of steaming severed limbs and flash boiled blood that sizzled on the deck. There was not much for Dragus to do in the shadow of his nephew's skillful slaughter, though his tail blade speared through twitching skulls and puncturing pulsing torsos wherever he sensed a lingering remnant of mutant life. There was no satisfaction to be found in finding that his prediction about the numerous creatures they would face was most accurate, for the the ratghoul hurry-scurried towards them in what felt like an endless tide of inhuman vermin filth and leathery brown flesh. Removing his left claw from the handle of the repulsor sled, He-Who-Hungers extended his arm over the stacked canisters of cyanogen and flexed his talons, summoning a measure of rage from the deep reservoir of the well of infinite hatred. Forks of blue light danced between his talons in crackling arcs of electrical furry, scalding his scaly palm before leaping from the ends of his razor tipped digits in a furious blast of Force Lightning that filled the air with the acrid stench of scorched ozone.FFFFFFFFSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! CRACK! A hole in the screeching formation opened up to the left of the spinning Zabrak as a thunderous blue flash of light ripped through the mutant ranks found there and cooked them inside their hideous hides, scattering ash and charred black bones across the floor that crackled like burning kindling. "Left, left!" Snarled Dragus as they reached a cross-section in the corridor, pushing the floating sled enthusiastically despite his supposedly strained hamstring. He leapt from the ground and caught the sled surface with his toe talons while dragging his tail spike across the ground, causing the flying repulsor device to drift around the corner while the Dark Apothecary rode upon its back. The hall ahead was equally as full of the previously furry Children of Decay, now more the Servants of Change in their infected form, who threw themselves at Craxious and Dragus with reckless abandon. A monstrous roar from further ahead caused the deck plates beneath their feet to rattle and quake."Oh, soundz like the Magcor iz loossse in the menagerie!" The Magcor of course being a rancor with metal arms and massive magnets in place of giant claws. Obviously.
|
|
Darth Craxious
The Sith Eternal
Posts: 80 
Affiliation: Clan Savage
Traffic Light: Green
|
Post by Darth Craxious on Dec 3, 2023 15:25:28 GMT -8
The burning ozone left by the crackling thunder left a bitter taste on Vallius' mouth. In a brief moment of respite he spat to a side and wiped sweat from his forehead.
"What is even a Magcor?!"
Whatever it was, it was big. And fierce, by the sound and look of it. The wave of ghouls was encroaching their position, so the Zabrak breathed in and out, and raised a hand. Further plates from the corridor walls were pulled from the once inmaculate surface, the gore sliding out of it. Craxious closed his eyes and some of the planks were ripped and twisted, forming improvised lances and minor blades, while others remained floating, with jagged edges after being torn from their place. The Sith breathed in and out, sweat pearls covering his brow. The ghouls were getting close, with the looming terror of the mutated rancor over their heads.
Savage breathed deeply and openned his eyes, injected in yellow and red, fully inmersed in the Dark Side. At the same time he gestured forwards, simply motioning towards the wall of flesh and limb and tooth and fur and the sharpnel, the jagged plates and the lances were thrown forward with imposing strenght. Moved by the force, the lances pierced through skin, flesh and bone, until they found an obstacle too hard for them to traverse or were broken. The sharpnel turned ranks of ghouls into a decayed howling mass of bloodied flesh while the planks sliced everything. One went through the Magcor's left arm, tearing it from its socket, while another left the belly of the beats turned into a ruin of torn flesh. However, the magnets managed to avoid further trouble to the mutated rancor, who was practically left on its own amidst a carnage of dying ghouls. Craxious seemed weary, his body seemed to weight more and his breath was slightly irregular, but the Sith nevertheless adopted a battle stance, bracing for the Magcor to come closer and attack. The Zabrak inmersed in the fear, the pain, the hatred that were all beyond, and even drank from the pit of Darkness that Dragus was. He felt his limbs recovering strenght and a rage blossoming on his chest, alongside a hunger for Death and Decay. Much would he have to meditate to get rid of the Barabel's dark taint and ill essence, but it was better to see another die than end slaughtered by some mere beasts.
|
|
Dragus
The Sith Eternal
In front of the Empire, to all you Vader haters out there. We'll blow your planet up.
Posts: 1,193
Affiliation: Sith Eternal
Traffic Light: Blue
|
Post by Dragus on Dec 4, 2023 6:30:15 GMT -8
Sliding into the menagerie behind Craxious while still riding the back of the repuslor sled, Dragus witnessed the wake of his nephew's telekinetic shotgun of shrapnel, which had transformed a great deal of the open space into ratghoul hamburger with a side of gore-milkshake. The Magcor was its usual unpleasant self, now missing its mechanical left arm, though that didn't seem to minimize the monstrous beast's rage even with a rope length of intestinal tract hanging out of a gash across its leathery gut. A static hum sounded from the creature's right arm as the powerful magnet on its end awoke and began to draw all the loose metal from the room around it. Metallic shards and bulkhead fragments whipped from the red ruin they had turned into shredded rat-sausage and clanged against the magnets flat surface, irresistibly drawn by the potent magnetism projected from the Magcor's right prosthetic. Even the Blood Wyrm felt the effects as the repulsor sled began to list to the side towards the monster, the tanks on top of it vibrating as they were slowly being pulled into the air. The Famine Lord climbed over the sled handles and hopped on top of the tanks, trying to keep them down with his body weight, while grabbing two of the ones attempting to float away with his tail and claws.
"Mother Talzin have mercy! I can't believe I'm sssaying this, but..." He winced, hesitant to say the words aloud, though reluctantly succumbing to the needs of their current situation. "...kill the Magcor!"
Perhaps when they were done he'd still be able to recover the high powered magnets at least, which cost a considerable amount. He was already performing a mental tally of all the damage done to the Nullus Beacon. This was going to cost the Supreme Leader a pretty penny. Before they were through he'd need to find a way to blame of all this on someone else.
|
|
Darth Craxious
The Sith Eternal
Posts: 80
Affiliation: Clan Savage
Traffic Light: Green
|
Post by Darth Craxious on Dec 4, 2023 8:07:42 GMT -8
Craxious leaped, avoiding a blow, that left the floor ruined, and using the wall jumped on the rancor's back. The beast used the magnet covered with metal to try to hit the Zabrak, but he leaped again, after leaving a burning hot wound all across the mutant's back. Still, the rage-driven monstrosity kept trying to maul, maim and devour its way smaller foe, that buzzed around him like a Corellian bee. The sword flashed around, leaving the Magcor wounded, weary and bloodied. The thing slowed considerably, until it became clumsy and feeble and Craxious finished the job by dismembering the beast and driving a lightsaber blade through its skull. He landed on his feet and remained for a moment half-knelt, with a knee on the floor, resting.
"Done. It's your turn uncle"
Said the younger Sith, placing his saberstaff again at the leathern belt, while he flexed the back's muscles. He looked weary. Slaughtering dozens of ghouls and various monstrosities took a toll even to a scion of Savage.
|
|
Dragus
The Sith Eternal
In front of the Empire, to all you Vader haters out there. We'll blow your planet up.
Posts: 1,193
Affiliation: Sith Eternal
Traffic Light: Blue
|
Post by Dragus on Dec 4, 2023 10:46:23 GMT -8
With the Magcor's death the pressurized cyanogen cannisters fell back onto the repulsor sled, which righted itself once the creature's magnetic field had shut off. Dragus slid off the top of the sled and straightened himself, smoothing the folds of his man-hide robe until all the anguished faces were back in their proper place. He placed his claws on his hips and nodded his snout in appreciation of the Zabrak's fine murder-make. The Magcor was no easy beast to put down. He had originally designed the creature to counter the sneak attack of a filthy Jedi engineer he had encountered years ago when the Order of the Eye had invaded Corellia. The treacherous mechanic had pulled a handful of screws out of his pocket and hurled them at Dragus using ballistic telekinesis. If not for the Famine Lord's quick thinking, he would have been turned into a meaty pulp much the same way Craxious had slaughtered the ratghoul upon entering the menagerie. He also speculated the Magcor would be useful for breaking into bank vaults if the Sith Eternal ever found itself short on credits, which after today might be the case. He turned from the creature's cooling form and approached the weary warrior he had brought with him into the depths of deck thirteen, reaching into his satchel of alchemy supplies, rummaging around with a claw.
"Well done, lad. I knew you had it in you." When his claw retracted, he held in his palm a small glass vial of luminous green liquid. The Dark Apothecary popped the cork stopper with his thumb talon as he brought the container to his lips, then upturned the vial and allowed the contents to pour into his open maw, sucking out the remaining residue inside with a darting swish of his forked tongue. He smacked his lips as the potion began to immediately take affect, savouring the sweet flavour as his scaled body began to swell in size, muscles growing more girthy and claws elongating at the ends. Even the Famine Lord's teeth seemed to exude further from his black gums into spear shafts of serrated enamel. The Ursinis-Helix, the mad alchemist's mutagenic elixir, tended to have that effect. Mind you, it came with one hell of a hangover when it wore off. The now far more physically fearsome Terrorsaur turned his freakish features towards Craxious, fixing his precious kin with a hungry smile of envenomed fangs. "You ssseem a bit...weary, my boy. I'm sssure I have sssomething that can help." His monstrous claw returned to the satchel and quickly retrieved a full wine-skin woven from the green pig-flesh of a Gamorrean, which he tossed to Craxious.
"Pzobian bloodwine, watered down. No more sssuitable refreshment for the blood of a Sssith'ari. Siss, Siss, Siss." He cackled, misting the air with crimson flecks from his bleeding lips. The Great Devourer maintained a vineyard on Pzob behind the Black Temple in the City of the Eye, overseen by the night ewoks of nearby Weeping Bark Village who provided the blood-berries used to make it. Only slightly toxic, in the way that some spirits were, it had a dry flavour of tart fruit with floral hints. Sure to reinvigorate, if mildly intoxicate, the imbiber. Dragus eyed the far doors of the menagerie curiously, before returning his attention to Craxious. "Take a moment to catch your breath. There will be plenty more to kill, I'm almossst certain of it. Fortunately we are nearing our dessstination and the gaz should do mossst of the hard work for uz."
|
|
Darth Craxious
The Sith Eternal
Posts: 80
Affiliation: Clan Savage
Traffic Light: Green
|
Post by Darth Craxious on Dec 5, 2023 2:15:11 GMT -8
How can a monster become even a greater and filthier monster? Apparently it could be done. Sith Alchemy had its ways, or so Craxious thought. Darth Malvus had been a sorcerer and dabbled in the occult ways of the lore of yore, but not even him was as depraved as Dragus. The Zabrak handled the wineskin cautiously, it had been done with some kind of... pelt or hide; what kind? He certainly did not want to know. Vallius popped the seal and approached the vessel to the mouth; he sensed a strong alcohol and some fruit-like essence, which wasn't the kind of beverage he expected from the Barabel, but it didn't feel like... well, actual poison. Just the thing that would make your head ache later on. Savage sipped from the wineskin. It was actually refreshing -how it was kept that way in such a container was a mistery- and invigorating. He emptied part of the thing and handed it back to Dragus.
"Gentle of you, uncle mine"
He said. There could or could not be some kind of subjacent irony, but it was subtle. He frowned, something which slightly modified the intricate detail tattoed on his red skin
"If you keep some kind of leviathan behind those doors, I do hope the gas is as effective as you presume, Lord Dragus"
By the twin giants of Mustafar, he seriously hoped that Dragus had no further surprises deep down his satchel, neither more colossal beasts awaiting them both.
|
|
Dragus
The Sith Eternal
In front of the Empire, to all you Vader haters out there. We'll blow your planet up.
Posts: 1,193
Affiliation: Sith Eternal
Traffic Light: Blue
|
Post by Dragus on Dec 5, 2023 10:46:19 GMT -8
Taking the wineskin back from Craxious, Dragus drained the remainder into his thirsty gullet and dragged the back of his scaled claw across his mouth as liquid sluiced out messily from between his rows of razor sharp teeth, smacking his lips at the exquisite flavour of yet another fine Pzobian vintage of his own creation. He took one last look at the dead Magcor rotting on the ground and brought a claw under his snout, scratching a talon against his chin thoughtfully. "I ssseem to recall the Magcor waz the largessst creature I waz keeping on the Beacon, if memory servez. Mind you, it'z not what it once waz." He looked at the empty wineskin. "Thiz isssn't helping much either." Then threw the green fleshed container over his shoulder, and bent his legs a few times, appearing to limber up. "Alright, we bessst continue. Thiz time you can take a bit of break and push the sssled, while I clear the way ahead. Might az well make the mossst of thiz potion before it wearz off."
Lips splitting into a ferocious grin, the Famine Lord led the way to the far side of the menagerie and through the doors open to the hall beyond. Immediately he was greeted by the sight of another vicious swarm of disease ridden ratghoul, that soon began to charge in their direction. Sulphuric wisps of steam exuded from the nostril slits on either side of the black scaled barabel's crocodilian snout as he snarled. "RAWR!" With an insatiably hungry look in his bloody right eye, the Dark Apothecary bounded forwards and swept his meat hook like claws from right to left, eviscerating mutants where they stood in a gory spray of torn flesh and severed limbs, hewing his way through them like a vibro-blender set on full mulch. His aura changed in those moments, no longer bespeaking of a depthless thirst for life essence but instead projecting a terrible miasma of fear, his hissing words transmuting the physical plane to rattle around in the mutant minds telepathically. Nightmares manifested in their beady rodent eyes, visions of snarling felinids with saber tooth teeth and claws a match for the Famine Lord's own, invoking the fight or flight instincts written in the basest levels of the ratghouls genetic code. They chose flight, and for good reason.
The hallway quickly transformed into a charnel house of blood and shredded meat, spattering every inch of surface from left to right and up to down. Those he caught in his claws he pulled apart with bestial strength, spilling steaming heaps of guts at his feet before trudging through the filth, careless of the pestilent wake he left in his passage. A feral madness consumed his better senses, the darkside became more a tool to snare prey and drag their shrieking fearful verminous forms telekinetically towards his snapping maw.
|
|
Darth Craxious
The Sith Eternal
Posts: 80
Affiliation: Clan Savage
Traffic Light: Green
|
Post by Darth Craxious on Dec 6, 2023 2:08:07 GMT -8
"I presumed you would have a Krayt dragon or a Rahtar. It would not surprise me in the slightest"
He said, with half a smile. Then, the Zabrak walked to the sled control, ready to push it forward and let Dragus do the remaining heavy lifting. Seeing the Famine Lord in a frenzy was a sight to behold. He was dangerous, rabid and ravenous, certainly a fearsome thing to face in battle or duel. Now, Vallius was starting to understand why his father had a... working relationship with someone as Dragus. The Sith Lord was powerful indeed, but he would never be the likes of a Sith'ari or a Galactic tyrant, he was better reined in, content with his experiments and colorful diet, and used against your own foes. An uncle... uncle indeed.
Craxious simply pushed the sled, as one would do with his loving mother when buying menial mundane goods in a Galactic mall in Coruscant, without bothering himself with the spilled gore -that he would make his attendants scrub clean later on, the boots were made of expensive leather.
|
|
Dragus
The Sith Eternal
In front of the Empire, to all you Vader haters out there. We'll blow your planet up.
Posts: 1,193
Affiliation: Sith Eternal
Traffic Light: Blue
|
Post by Dragus on Dec 6, 2023 5:04:25 GMT -8
It took no time at all to reach the maintenance corridor, as ratghoul came screeching around the corner, hurry-scurrying as fast as their little legs could carry them away from the terrifying creature in the hall tearing them apart with enthusiastic savagery. Seemingly possessed by ravenous desire, the Dark Apothecary pursued them into the last stretch of the journey, his fore and toe talons carving wicked furrows in the burnished durasteel of the deck as he seemed to bound forwards on all fours, more animal than academically inclined alchemist. It was as he turned the corner that the sinister saurian Sith found himself coming face to face with another of his foul creations. There standing between them and the door to the environmental systems for the Beacon was a massive bipedal rodent standing eight feet tall and practically bursting from the seems with bulging muscle that stretched its scabrous flesh to the point of splitting, throbbing with risen veins and crisscrossed in surgical sutures from numerous surgeries it had undergone. Seeming to have simply sprouted from between the brutal behemoths broad shoulders was a verminous head not unlike that of the ratghoul they had faced, featuring a snout with elongated yellow tusks that stabbed through the flesh of its upper jaw and were joined by a mouthful of curved fileting fangs that glistening with diseased spittle. A crown of thorns protruded from its scalp, not so unlike the Zabraks, though far less organized in the way they bent outwards at random angles.Its eyes were the worst. Red motes of hellfire that seemed to blaze in its sockets, leering hatefully at the two intruders to its domain. It flexed monstrous claws that looked strong enough to strangle a wookiee, four of them in fact, for beneath the set of long brutal arms jutting out of its shoulders was a second set of limbs, equally as brutish as the first. Its claw tips ended in gnarled bone hooks with edges ground to razor blades, and it clenched calcified knuckles of hardened bone in a series of sinuous machine-gun pops. A vile sort of verminous sentience could be detected as it barred the Sith duos path, looking first from Dragus, then to Craxious, and back again. This was no mere ratghoul. Despite the changes wrought upon its flesh, the Hungering One recognized his own handiwork. This was Boneripper, one of the identically named Ranat-Ogres that he regularly used as a labour force, a mutant of incomprehensible physical strength with an admittedly lacking intelligence. Or so had been the case... The virus appeared to have a different effect on the Ratghoul-Ogre before them, enhancing the creature's intellect rather than attempting to improve on the perfection already gene-forged into its rodent flesh. A deep resonant growl sounded in its throat, enough to cause the deck plates to quake and the lumen strips overhead to crack in their casings."SQUEAK!" Deck plates sank further into the Beacon's skeleton as the rat-monster began to charge towards them. Dragus stopped in his tracks, his right eye flickering from side to side as he appeared to be calculating the odds against such a beast even in his current exaggerated form. They weren't particularly good. He looked over his shoulder, twisting his snout towards Craxious to speak a word rarely uttered from his scaly lips, whilst possessing an ember of fear in his slit saurian orb."Run."
|
|
Darth Craxious
The Sith Eternal
Posts: 80
Affiliation: Clan Savage
Traffic Light: Green
|
Post by Darth Craxious on Dec 6, 2023 10:25:03 GMT -8
"Run where?!"
Said the Zabrak. If a draconid thing that had just eaten alive putrid mutants with teeth the size of daggers was afraid, he better run. And so he did.
"What are we doing with the gas? And with that thing?!"
|
|
Dragus
The Sith Eternal
In front of the Empire, to all you Vader haters out there. We'll blow your planet up.
Posts: 1,193
Affiliation: Sith Eternal
Traffic Light: Blue
|
Post by Dragus on Dec 7, 2023 7:31:40 GMT -8
Wait a second... Thought Dragus, considering Craxious' words as they fled in the opposite direction of the charging ratghoul-ogre that was beginning to pick up speed, leaving large clawed imprints on the deck plates of the floor with each heavy footed step, its arms stretched out to the side to tear gouges through the solid metal of the bulkhead with its thunderous passage. There was something in what his favourite, and to his knowledge only, nephew had just said. It hit him almost immediately, causing him to sink his own curved toe talons into the floor to arrest his flight in a shower of spitting sparks."The gaz! You're a geniuz, Craxiouz!" He exclaimed, spraying spit and steaming flecks of blood with every lisped syllable from his lizard mouth. "I ssswear I could kisss you." There would be time for that later. First they needed to deal with the latest in a long series of problems to reveal itself. Stepping beside the sled, the Blood Wyrm's overlong tail curled around and plunged the serrated spike capping its end into one of the tanks on the top, puncturing the pressurized cannister that immediately vented its contents in an expanding cloud of cyanogen gas. In a similar vein to trandoshans, the Dark Apothecary's barabel genes made him immune to the gases toxic effects, though he was counting on the continued cleverness of Viox's sinuous son to have the forethought to hold his breath, before getting clear of the poisonous miasma spilling from the punctured container. Raising an upturned claw, the Famine Lord focused his will and lifted the bleeding canister into the air with an exertion of telekinetic power, then swung his claw forwards which simultaneously hurled the smoking tank towards the enraged mutant racing after them.Boneripper, or whatever was left of him in his new diseased form, stretched out its tree trunk arms and intercepted the cannister before it slammed into him, tearing the metal in half as though it were nothing more than a gooey stick of warm blue butter. This released the rest of the mustard yellow cyanogen, obscuring the monster in a chemical haze. Moments later the massive mutant appeared, stepping out of the poisonous soup as blood streamed from its eyes, ears, and mouth. Despite getting a lung full of the potent poison, the brutish ogre continued to lumber forwards, somewhat slower than before. This time, however, Dragus was ready for him.Resting a foot on a second tank like a sea pirate at the prow of a Rishi war galleon, the black scaled barabel took careful aim at the stumbling mutant, before sweeping his tail across the top of the tanks gauge, causing the cannister to launch from under his foot like a guided torpedo. It streaked across the deck and slammed right into the open mouth of the ratghoul-ogre, wedging down its esophagus and choking the beast completely. A moment later and it collapsed on the floor, the life draining from its unnatural eyes.
|
|
Darth Craxious
The Sith Eternal
Posts: 80
Affiliation: Clan Savage
Traffic Light: Green
|
Post by Darth Craxious on Dec 7, 2023 7:59:47 GMT -8
Craxious, indeed, held his breath, and tried to avoid the poisonous cloud. He looked amazed as the ratghoul started to form a pool of diseased liquid, blood and venom, while the skin boiled and started to decay rapidly, even more vomit-inducing in death that he was in life. The Zabrak commanded the Force to form a precarious bubble of oxygen around his mouth, while he looked for a still isolated chamber in the hallway. The gas getting everywhere was worrying enough, but he hoped behind the closest door wasn't a myriad ghouls awaiting to claw his eyes out. He rapidly keyed something in a console and when the door slid he slid behind, closing it as fast as he could. Seemingly no gas has entered, for the cloud was still some paces away even as he was crossing the threshold. Apparently, the room had been some sort of old janitor's closet, but Dragus had hanged some meat to dry instead. The origins he did not know, but one had very Human appendages. Trying not to judge or see anything not even a Sith would like to see, Vallius crashed on the floor, back against the wall, trying to clear his mind a little. Certainly he did not expect such a night. Next time he felt such a Dark Urge, he would rather spend himself in the arms of half a dozen concubines.
|
|
Dragus
The Sith Eternal
In front of the Empire, to all you Vader haters out there. We'll blow your planet up.
Posts: 1,193
Affiliation: Sith Eternal
Traffic Light: Blue
|
Post by Dragus on Dec 7, 2023 11:01:51 GMT -8
Taking in an unhealthy swallow of cyanogen, Dragus exhaled a yellow cloud as the toxic fumes soured his rancid breath beyond it usual odour of carrion and spoiled blue milk, slowing the beat of his black heart now that the disease altered Boneripper was dead. He stood over the corpse, staring down at it in part scientific curiosity, and part sadness as such a waste of a perfectly good specimen. Necessary, he supposed, but wasteful all the same. He shook his head and turned his frustration to ethereal power, willing the dark waters of the well of infinite-hate to rise in place of his vacant soul and strengthen his resolve, before transforming it into raw telekinetic might. With a thought he began to push the gas away, pulling on the air-particles until they swept through the corridor and started to blow the cyanogen gas further down the hall, dispersing it around the corner and elsewhere. He could hear the shrill shrieks of ratghoul concealed in those corridors as the gas did its work, turning their lungs to liquid and drowning them in their own bubbling blood. The tune pleased him, a merry song that inspired his inner artist enough to reach a claw into his alchemy satchel to retrieve his precious flute. He brought the narrow stem to his black lips and pressed them to the ruby red meltmassif it was hewn from, blowing the remainder of poison from his lungs into the throat of the musical device to play a sinister melody that traveled across the deck.♪♫♪ ♪♫♪ ♪♪ ♪♫♪ ♪♫♪ ♪♪ ♫♪♫ ♪♪ ♪ From the opposite hall scurried a number of ratghoul, until now hidden in the dark as they waited to spring a trap on the two Sith that had intruded into the burrow of wretched disease deck thirteen had become. Their rodent snouts swayed as they listed to the draconian's dark song, mesmerized by the meltmassif's ability to transmit and domineer the minds of weak minded creatures. Like a Pied Piper they were became bound to the Famine Lord's will, controlled with the Darkside inspired tune that commanded their attention and subverted their wills, breaking whatever control the enigmatic force that controlled them had over their simple beast brains. Dragus stopped as he became aware he had a crowd, focusing his thoughts as he realized what was happening."Sssilly me." He said, spraying a mist of blood with every spoken word. "I could have enchanted them from the ssstart. That would have made thingz a bit easssier. Siss, Siss, Siss." He played another note on his flute and sent the rodent pack scurrying away, fleeing back into the darkness of the deck.It was then that Dragus recalled he hadn't entered these depths alone. Taking a series of sniffs from his flaring nostril slits, he turned towards the janitor closet Craxious had chosen to bar himself in to avoid drowning in a throatful of his own blood. The air was clear now, safe enough to unseal the door, which is what the black scaled barabel did next. As the door swooshed open, he spied his horn headed nephew seated on the floor with a dismayed look upon his tattooed face. Typical youth. Always slacking off. Dragus placed his claws on his hips and scowled, shaking his snout from side to side."Now'z not the time to be taking a break, lazy bonez. We've ssstill got work to...ah!" Stopping mid-sentence, the villainous velociraptor exclaimed in sheer delight as he discovered the dry gigoran carcass hanging in the closet. "I had forgotten where I left that. Good job, Craxiouz. Here I waz asssuming the worssst while you were off sssecuring uz sssustenance." Dragus dragged a talon across the dried carrion and carved himself off a sliver of jerky, stuffing it into his mouth and chewing through the strip of sentient being with relish. It was as he was gorging himself that he realized something else. There in the closet above Craxious head spikes were a number of knobs and valves connected to this section of the stations atmosphere distributors. He pointed a claw at the complicated connection of tubes, hoses, and pipes to draw the Zabrak's attention to what he saw, then stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Now we jussst need to figure out how to connect thessse tankz. Hmmm."
|
|
Darth Craxious
The Sith Eternal
Posts: 80
Affiliation: Clan Savage
Traffic Light: Green
|
Post by Darth Craxious on Dec 8, 2023 7:09:54 GMT -8
Considering the color and odor of the said jerky Craxious had lost all kind of appetite he had left after all those mutant ghouls. He wouldn't be able to pick up anything to eat in days, most likely.
"Thank you, uncle"
He said, flatly. Savage raised from the floor and looked the pipes and Dragus back and forth... He was starting to understand a figment of the Barabel's twisted mind?
"These are the ones you were seeking? Well, if they aren't too rotten you can pick up some ghoul's intestines to use as... hose?"
This seemed the most Dragus'sy thing he could come up with in such a short time.
|
|
Dragus
The Sith Eternal
In front of the Empire, to all you Vader haters out there. We'll blow your planet up.
Posts: 1,193
Affiliation: Sith Eternal
Traffic Light: Blue
|
Post by Dragus on Dec 10, 2023 7:40:22 GMT -8
"Another inssspired sssuggestion, dearessst nephew, but quite unnecesssary I sssuspect." Said the serpentine saurian lord as he stalked over to the complicated crisscrossed jumble of pipes and hoses, clearly assembled by the same rodents that now haunted these halls as feral mutants, as opposed to furry mutants. Come to think of it, even before contamination by this potent strain of disease, the ranats could be a bit feral at times when their food supply dwindled. Dragus hummed and hawed as he studied the mangled work of engineering, until eventually his mismatched gaze spied a mouldering manual wedged in behind the valves at the top. "Ah, thiz should help. Jussst need to give it a quick ssstudy."
Licking his talon tips with a forked tongue, the sinister sultan of sin and debauchery flipped through the yellowed pages of the manual, his multi-faceted amethyst gem absorbing the information and depositing into the depraved brain of the draconian. After about half a minute of speed reading, the reprehensible reptile began to pace between the tanks and the atmospheric controls, disconnecting hoses and reconnecting them to the cyanogen tanks, repurposing slimy rubber tubes and plastoid pipes to reassemble the entire contraption into an even more incomprehensibly managed mess. When it seemed as though he was done, the Blood Wyrm brushed his claws together and stood up, nodding his snout in affirmation of his work.
"That should about do it, I think." He took one last look at the instruction booklet, then pointed a claw to a series of valves closest to Craxious. "Be a good lad and turn that valve on the left, if you don't mind. That should route the cyanogen to where it'z needed mossst."
|
|
Darth Craxious
The Sith Eternal
Posts: 80
Affiliation: Clan Savage
Traffic Light: Green
|
Post by Darth Craxious on Dec 11, 2023 0:34:59 GMT -8
Craxious, like bereft of any more will or strenght, apparently one too many of Dragus' things had left him exhausted, turned the valve of the left. He hoped it would not all blow up and engulfe them both in a bright ball of fire. The valve itself was a bit too tight, but he managed to turn it completely. There was a soft his and the contraption fashioned by the draconid would start to function, in a manner that could not be described as silent or efficient, but it would do. Somewhere the gas would be leaking and turning mutants into a gore soup. Or so he hoped.
|
|
Dragus
The Sith Eternal
In front of the Empire, to all you Vader haters out there. We'll blow your planet up.
Posts: 1,193
Affiliation: Sith Eternal
Traffic Light: Blue
|
Post by Dragus on Dec 11, 2023 7:45:33 GMT -8
After Craxious turned the valve, Dragus crossed his scaly arms over his gore spattered chest as he waited to see what would happen. The big toe talon on his right foot tapped on the ground impatiently, and the saurian Sith fidgeted in place, bringing his tail around to the front as he used the serrated spike capping its end to file the razor edges of his talon tips. Tap-Tap! Tap-Tap! Tap!-Tap! He waited, and he waited, and waited a little more for good measure. Slowly the remorseless reptile stuck his head out the closet door and looked into the hall, blinking in clear confusion as nothing seemed to be happening. Cupping a claw to his left ear hole, he could hear the sound of the gas leaving the tanks and entering the tube system, only it didn't seem to be going where he expected it to.
Hmmm, very strange. It was in that moment that the comlink device in Dragus' alchemy satchel began to chirp. Scowling, he reached into the bag and removed the device, switching it on with a flick of his thumb. Immediately he could hear the panicked squeaks of his hench-vermin, Squeakers, who sounded quite upset about something. Squeak-Squeak! Squeak, Squeak Squeak-Squeak Squeak. Squeak! The Dark Apothecary winced and moved the comlink device away from the side of his scaly head and stuffed it back into his bag, muffling the static laced squeaks.
"Apparently all that cyanogen ended up on deck 32 inssstead. Quite unexpected." He mused, before taking up the instruction booklet again, scrunching his right eye as he examined it, before the lid went wide with realization. "Ah, I sssee the problem." He turned the instruction booklet a complete 180 degrees. "I waz reading the instructionz upssside down. You were sssupposed to turn the valve on your other left." A pressurized squeal sounded from the tanks as the last of the gas departed into the hoses and tubes of the atmospheric controls, destined for deck 32. Dragus shrugged and tossed the instruction booklet over his shoulder.
"Well, thessse thingz happen. I'm sssure the Sssupreme Leader won't be too hard on you, my dear boy. I'll sssee if I can persssuade him to let you off with sssome light community ssservice." He scratched his chin with his claw yet again, this time scraping it bloody. "Of courssse, that ssstill leavez uz with the ratghoul problem to sssolve. Hmmm, very perplexing. Perhapz we should head to that hangar I mentioned earlier. I'm certain my sssweet winter rossse Assstera will have left uz sssomething we can ussse to resssolve thiz sssituation."
|
|
Darth Craxious
The Sith Eternal
Posts: 80
Affiliation: Clan Savage
Traffic Light: Green
|
Post by Darth Craxious on Dec 11, 2023 9:42:32 GMT -8
After Craxious turned the valve, Dragus crossed his scaly arms over his gore spattered chest as he waited to see what would happen. The big toe talon on his right foot tapped on the ground impatiently, and the saurian Sith fidgeted in place, bringing his tail around to the front as he used the serrated spike capping its end to file the razor edges of his talon tips. Tap-Tap! Tap-Tap! Tap!-Tap! He waited, and he waited, and waited a little more for good measure. Slowly the remorseless reptile stuck his head out the closet door and looked into the hall, blinking in clear confusion as nothing seemed to be happening. Cupping a claw to his left ear hole, he could hear the sound of the gas leaving the tanks and entering the tube system, only it didn't seem to be going where he expected it to.Hmmm, very strange. It was in that moment that the comlink device in Dragus' alchemy satchel began to chirp. Scowling, he reached into the bag and removed the device, switching it on with a flick of his thumb. Immediately he could hear the panicked squeaks of his hench-vermin, Squeakers, who sounded quite upset about something. Squeak-Squeak! Squeak, Squeak Squeak-Squeak Squeak. Squeak! The Dark Apothecary winced and moved the comlink device away from the side of his scaly head and stuffed it back into his bag, muffling the static laced squeaks."Apparently all that cyanogen ended up on deck 32 inssstead. Quite unexpected." He mused, before taking up the instruction booklet again, scrunching his right eye as he examined it, before the lid went wide with realization. "Ah, I sssee the problem." He turned the instruction booklet a complete 180 degrees. "I waz reading the instructionz upssside down. You were sssupposed to turn the valve on your other left." A pressurized squeal sounded from the tanks as the last of the gas departed into the hoses and tubes of the atmospheric controls, destined for deck 32. Dragus shrugged and tossed the instruction booklet over his shoulder."Well, thessse thingz happen. I'm sssure the Sssupreme Leader won't be too hard on you, my dear boy. I'll sssee if I can persssuade him to let you off with sssome light community ssservice." He scratched his chin with his claw yet again, this time scraping it bloody. "Of courssse, that ssstill leavez uz with the ratghoul problem to sssolve. Hmmm, very perplexing. Perhapz we should head to that hangar I mentioned earlier. I'm certain my sssweet winter rossse Assstera will have left uz sssomething we can ussse to resssolve thiz sssituation."
"Not solved? Still? At all? Alright, let's go to the hangar" |
|
Dragus
The Sith Eternal
In front of the Empire, to all you Vader haters out there. We'll blow your planet up.
Posts: 1,193
Affiliation: Sith Eternal
Traffic Light: Blue
|
Post by Dragus on Dec 12, 2023 6:02:15 GMT -8
"Now, now. There'z no need for exasssperation, my boy. If anyone should be upssset, tiz I. Thiz iz the third..." He stared up at the ceiling ponderously, appearing to be in contemplative thought. "...mmm, maybe the fourth time thiz haz happened? I'm beginning to sssuspect my sssecurity precautionz might need to be reevaluated." He shook his snout and pounded his left claw into his scaly right palm. "Anywayz, you're right. Let'z not wassste a moment more."
From the closet to the hangar they set a decent pace, especially now that they didn't have to haul the repulsor sled of tanks along with them. In fact they found fewer of the creatures barring their path towards the hangar than they initially had upon entering the deck, almost as if the near numberless horde was being directed elsewhere. Those few they did encounter were taken care of with an almost clinical dispassion, between the Zabrak's saber work and the Dark Apothecary's claws they made short work of any opposition. Eventually their path led them out onto a platform overlooking a massive open hangar bay with a great blue energized barrier between it and the void of space outside, just the sort of thing one might find on a giant star fortress like the Nullus Beacon. The platform was suspended a hundred feet in the air with a single durasteel maintenance ladder leading from the top where Dragus and Craxious now stood down to the hangar deck below. The ground practically writhed with verminous mutant flesh as a veritable army of ratghoul appeared to be working towards some unified goal. There was a large docking tube protruding through the energy barrier that appeared to be magnetically clamped to the deck. The gargantuan mechanical cofferdam led out to an enormous battlecruiser floating in the void next to the hangar, of a design the Blood Wyrm was unfamiliar with.
"Look there." Lisped the lizard lord, indicating the ship with a talon. "That mussst have been what Assstera waz working on. Project Sidiouz isssn't a project at all. It'z a dreadnought. Marvelouz." He then looked down and noticed the ratghoul appeared to be scurrying in orderly rows into the open docking tube, boarding the warship on mass. "I can't quite believe my eye. I think they're ssstealing the ship." He studied the hangar below somewhat closer now, seeing all manner of mechanical parts and bits of technology strewn across the deck, covered in filthy rodents. One item in particular caught the Famine Lord's attention. "Down below, you sssee it? That lookz like a hyperdrive unit. Foolish vermin. They won't get far without that. The only planet within reach iz...Roon!" He spat a mouthful of blood as realization hit him.
|
|
Darth Craxious
The Sith Eternal
Posts: 80
Affiliation: Clan Savage
Traffic Light: Green
|
Post by Darth Craxious on Dec 12, 2023 13:17:12 GMT -8
"The plague-bearing rodents could potentially infest what is considered the heart of our dominion? Certainly your security measures are... rather lacking"
So, Dragus could not only spread a mortal illness through the enemy, laying waste to their planets, but also to the Sith Eternal's own.
Splendid.
Thought Craxious, who felt more and more inclined to let the station rot the inside out and look for a nice enough planet to hole in. Far away.
"This is up your alley, uncle. What-do-we-do-exactly?"
All things considered he wondered who had thought having such a Galactic pest as thralls on board the station, where they would eventually number in the millions, was a good idea.
Aye, probably Dragus did.
"Should I send word to my ship? A Star Destroyer could blow that in orbit and get rid of all the rats in a very beautiful flaming ball"
|
|
