freedomliveson

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

Ok fair enough. Looking forward to reading what you have planned!

Oh man, yeah, that 200% XP event was GLORIOUS. I leveled so hard xD

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

When the vision appeared(or projection? Or Force ghost?), Yerbol wanted to take the opportunity to sever Bracknell's head from his body, seeing as he was remaining still in an assumed posture of concentration, but then something stole the wind out of him, knocking him to his knees, eyes misting with the beginnings of tears. He reached out to Aria while she was speaking to the projection, who she quickly identified as her mother. Feelings of elation, euphoria swept through him, but then all too quickly it was replaced by something bubbling upwards, something dreadful that he could never get rid of, even though he could see her trying every single day of her life to repress it.

Guilt.

Fragments of events passed before his eyes, a gruesome tapestry of events unfolding centimeters at a time. The calls of those in the chamber to Aria, the continual attempts to break through the impregnable wall of Force energy that Bracknell had put up around him...all of this was lost in the realization that she had killed her mother, blade cutting through her chest mercilessly. Gutting anguish smothered his senses, permeating his being and-

Suddenly it was over. Voldon was at Yerbol's side helping him to his feet as the Battlemaster gestured to Bracknell:
"And we're going to leave him like this?! How long would it take for-" The temple grounds shook again, this time more violently, chunks of rock from the chamber walls collapsing to the ground. A wall of projections, crimson and armed with double bladed sabers, stood around the body, collective upper lips curled upwards in a challenging sneer.
"WE DON'T HAVE THE BLOODY TIME TO ARGUE! WE'RE LEAVING!" Voldon cursed bitterly as he took one last glare at their now protected fallen enemy and muttered:
"Come on, Yerbol, get your feet moving."
"Right, right." He quietly responded, moving with the group towards the exit. As they made their hasty retreat, the sky above was laced with an orange-crimson hue, clouds billowing in anger, thunder clapping in chaotic intervals and even above all of that, some could hear the whine of jet engine.
"Crap." Kira pointed at the streaking shuttle headed in their direction.
"Wonderful. Reinforcements at a time like this." Thankfully the group had made it to their own shuttle, Yerbol sliding into the passenger seat as Zora made preparations for take-off, exclaiming as she shook her head:
"You people sure know how to tick off an entire planet! It's gonna be a bumpy ride out of here!"

Although Zora's prophecy had come true, they managed to get off world, zooming towards the base without noticing the Imperial cruiser on the other side of the planet that didn't come after them.
"Master Soto, that is a confirmed order of no-go on pursuing the target?" Soto's cloak ruffled as she made her way off the command deck, calling out as she left:
"Confirmed! Stay in orbit until Lord Bracknell and I return." She hadn't seen Varian pull a stunt like that since the day he had introduced her to the powers of the Master. Whatever had happened down there, she was sure that they could recover from this minor setback. After all, the galaxy was theirs now. No one could threaten that position.

No one.

__________________

[three hours later]

"Manipulation of the weather? The planetary atmosphere itself? That is a technique only a handful of Masters have EVER accomplished, let alone sustained." Voldon stood in the common area with a flask of water brought to him by one of the younglings, who had been tasked to organize the supply drop that had come from in a smuggler who swore up and down that the warnings he was given by Neta were crazy, that it was calmer than any planet he had been on. Strangely enough, the atmosphere was rather calm when they had arrived a few hours ago. After the group had dispersed, Voldon found himself in an oddly pleasant discourse with Darth Jungze, who took the liberty of snacking on glazed peanuts while leaning back in a chair, holodisks and other materials retrieved from the planet laying at her feet in a chaotic order.
"Well, think about it, Voldon: the atmosphere here was dreadful, but calm on the other planet we were on. After Bracknell's stunt, the atmosphere there is wild while ours is smooth? Something tells me that these two planets, maybe even all planets in this system are linked somehow by the Force."
"That's...a radical notion."
"And are we not living in radical times? If Bracknell can manipulate the minds and hearts of so many in both Republic and Empire space, could it be so much of a stretch to imply that he could manipulate weather?"
"But for weather patterns to be linked? I've never heard of such a thing."
"Neither have I, but I've seen stranger things happen when there's a strong concentration of Force energies on multiple worlds." Voldon joined her in sitting as he responded:
"I'm curious to know where this master of Bracknell is."
"That's what I was sifting through before you interrupted me." He snorted a laugh as he took a sip of water.
"Well, anything conclusive?"
"Somewhat. Let's wait for the rest of our party to decompress. Peanut?"

________________

Yerbol hadn't said anything to Roan or Aria when they returned, allowing Roan to carry her off and presumably talk her through what happened. While he had WANTED to be there for her, something told him to stay away for a while, to let them hash things out. After about three hours or so(some of which was spent rejoicing at Neta's new haul of supplies), he found Roan outside his room.
"Can I see her now?"

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

So, clarifying question: was Roan the one who told Aria to kill her mother? Or did she do so as a part of her trials? Or am I going to have be patient and find out? :p

In any case, yeah, this is going to be a DIFFICULT transition for her. Have a feeling Yerbol and Roan are going to have a VERY interesting conversation soon xD

JUST added you. Level 49 already? Look at you! It took me a while to get there, but then again, I subbed on day one of launch and back then you had to do EVERY SINGLE SIDE QUEST and grind endlessly to get to level 50! Those were dark days xD

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

Just came over to the Red Eclipse!

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

Oh for sure, I totally alluded to that. Feel free to build on it :)

I'm also trying to hint at the notion that Bracknell may or may not be angry with Yerbol and Aria developing a connection with Kator...after all, they're fighting AGAINST what he believes Kator wants(more on that later today in the characters tab xD)

Hope that set up works! Didn't know exactly what you had in mind, so I just made things hotter xD

Addition: Also, what server are you on in SWTOR? I know I'm one of the North American servers, so it might be one of those things where I can transfer one of my characters to your European server

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

Aria's commands were heard, but not necessarily complied with due to one of the projections locking onto Yerbol's presence and relentlessly attacking through whatever barrier, parry or other related power that the young Knight summoned. It wasn't long before another projection came to the first one's aid, dashing ahead with crackles of lightning flashing towards Yerbol with no protection in between him and a swift death via electrocution. At the very last second, a purple hue of energy shot up in front of the Knight, lightning that once was aimed at Yerbol cast back towards the originator. Jungze and Voldon swiftly flanked the Knight, parrying a few strikes before delivering some of their own, Jungze protesting:
"This one is mine! Help Voldon deal with the other one!" A sickening, wounded cry bounced off the chamber walls as Voldon stood over the fallen projection with a triumphant smirk.
"One down! We need to-"
"VOLDON! HELP!"
"KIRA!" Voldon spotted both Noctis and his wife cornered by two of the projections, the Battlemaster making his way towards them only to be struck in the side by a powerful gust of wind, knocking the breath out of him momentarily. Bracknell chuckled, both hands thrust forward as he projected more energy towards Voldon.
"We need to-"
"GET TO ARIA NOW!" Jungze commanded sharply, hopping over a low sweep from her attacker before locking sabers with it, her teeth bared in a determined snarl.
"But-"
"BRACKNELL WANTS YOU BOTH DEAD BEFORE US! HELP HER! NOW!" Voldon had thrown up a barrier to thwart Bracknell's attempts at slowing him down while slowly forging ahead to Kira and Roan, two projections giving them all they could handle while Aria fought her own opponent nearby.

Wait. Weren't there four?

He shook the loose thought from his mind, charging ahead to Aria's attacker and slamming his elbow in the projection's lower back, staggering it forward.
"Just like before, right?!" He yelled excitedly, feeling the tension in their bond loosening as the duo harmonized their movements. The projection's eyes went wide as Yerbol jammed his saber into the projection's upper body while Aria swept underneath and slashed at the mid-line, their sabers withdrawing at the same fraction of a second.
"That was even better than last time...I could get used to this." Not wanting to bask in glory for TOO long, he turned his attention to Kira, Roan AND Voldon, who had already cut down one of the projections, leaving two remaining along with Bracknell, who was ominously boring holes into the young duo's skulls with his sickly yellow eyes. Even with Jungze flanking from Bracknell's left, he still was locked onto the pair, Yerbol feeling an uncomfortable warmth snaking through his blood. A few seconds later, a smile cracked his pallid features as he threw Jungze back against a wall with a simple motion of his index finger, the projections once assailing the trio nearby melting into air. The walls quaked, the floors began to crack and the once sun-kissed climate turned very, very warm. Boiling.
"You're outnumbered, Bracknell! You can surrender now or we can roll your severed head down the alleys of Coruscant!" Voldon boldly shouted, saber pointing at the Sith Lord, who seemed unaffected by the threat.
"What's he doing?" Kira wiped newly accumulated sweat off her brow as Jungze hissed:
"Those two aren't going to die here, Varian. No matter how much you try to control their fate." Jungze had alluded to Bracknell's supposed preoccupation with the duo a few minutes earlier, but other than being annoying thorns in his side, what did they represent? They were nothing...or so he thought.

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

No worries there! I'll try not to progress too far ahead so you can employ your nastiness

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

As they wormed their way back through the maze of corridors and rooms towards the ship, Yerbol had to ask to the entire party:
"I'm still stuck as to why they would just leave their base of operations so vulnerable...and why they would have documentation like this just sitting in plain sight. And I know, I know that a lot of this could be dismissed as psychobabble from fanatics who believe they were given 'insight' into the workings of the galaxy, but still...someone would HAVE to listen. Master Shan, Master Bakarn, they believed that these Sith were still around and a viable threat."
"That they did." They were descending a particularly tricky set of circular steps, prompting Voldon to stop for a moment and traverse a gap in the stairs before he continued:
"But they were a minority in the Council. Most believed that it was a red herring, something to distract us from the immediate pressures of war. I scoffed at the idea personally, but then...then events transpired that changed my direction."
"That doesn't answer the boy's question, Voldon." Voldon shot a glare back at Jungze, adding:
"I was getting to that."
"Whatever you say, darling." Grunting, he addressed Yerbol once more:
"I got curious when Satele and Syo started their research. Kira and I traveled to some of the rumored worlds where the True Sith had once occupied and found a number of relics and holodiscs that, although incomplete, held records of access that were recent. That's why we were on Nar Shaddaa in the Temple ruins. One of the older discs we found on Tattoine pointed to Nar Shaddaa as another rallying point for Sith. We didn't find much, but piecing it all together now...now it makes sense. But no one would listen to us. I suppose these disciples of the True Sith took advantage of our bloody war to hide in the shadows. They were in plain sight, but they knew we were too consumed by trying to kill each other. Too little, too late." He curtly ended, jaw tightening.
"To be fair to the Jedi, we didn't believe in the rumors either...well, I knew of a few confirmed sites of historical relevance, but nothing concrete. This is all new to us...and these are supposedly our ancestors."
"Did you just apologize for Sith ignorance?" Voldon asked with genuine surprise, prompting Jungze to laugh as they found themselves on the ground level.
"Not Sith ignorance, darling. Other's ignorance. A genuine Sith sheds herself of ignorance long before they can ascend to true power...or himself." She looked at Roan with a grin before they emerged outside, the sun(or suns?) shining in full strength, melting some of the frost that had greeted them. In place of the frosty atmosphere was a familiar figure standing near the base of the steps leading up to where the group stood.
"Bracknell..." Yerbol gripped his saber tightly in one hand.
"Varian! How wonderful to see you." Jungze had her saber already activated, her feet firmly planted on the ground, Voldon following suit just as four eerily similar figures shimmered into existence, two flanking both his left and right sides respectively.
"Ari, it's the same projection..." All four of the red skinned projections smiled maliciously, chin tendrils vibrating as they simultaneously withdrew their sabers.
"That's all you came with, Bracknell? You have an army at your disposal and you summon projections?" Voldon snickered in derision.
"Going to have to do better than that if you want to intimidate me."

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

Oh wow that's a REALLY good connection I didn't see...yesssssss. Creative prowess FTW!

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

I feel you there!

Also, for a bit of context, Jean is in an Imperial cruiser(well, galactic alliance cruiser) with a select group of troopers that Bracknell can call down at any moment. Figured you should know that so if Soto feels like Bracknell is having trouble, troopers are going to appear xD