freedomliveson

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

After some deliberation, the party set out on a course towards the fallen cruiser, Yerbol silently hoping that whatever wreckage had made it to the planet's surface was going to be helpful in giving them some direction; after all, Revan and the Exile HAD to have known where to go. Those two more than likely left a strong imprint in the Force, so even if they hadn't gone anywhere near the fallen ship, there would at least be a slight indication of where the duo had gone to...or maybe it was just vain hope. Of course, Yerbol reminded himself with an internal chuckle, "vain hope" was mostly what he and Aria had relied on to get to where they stood now. Hopefully their apprentices would realize the power of hope in their own battles, which wou-

The Champion was shaken from his silent ruminations when Taral bumped his leg, the hound sniffing vigorously around yet another unsightly chasm emitting otherworldly light. While Yerbol would have normally dismissed the beast's perusing, he had been around both of them long enough to know when they believed something was off.
"Smell anything? Well, other than the faint stench of old death." Taral continued to sniff for a few more moments before looking back at Chwuq, his stance lowering into an attack position, massive paws digging into the ground as he let out a menacing growl.
"What the..." Yerbol allowed the now visible dragon to finish the sentence for him, said creature letting out a roar of challenge as it began to careen towards the party at an an alarming speed for something so large. Another flanked the party, seeking to join it's companion in tearing the intruders to pieces, one coming very close to succeeding if Kytra hadn't dodged so quickly.
"Yerbol?! Orders?!!"
"KEEP IT OFF BALANCE!!! I'LL GET IT ON IT'S BACK!" As Kytra and Ethan attempted to keep the attention of the beast on them, Yerbol channeled whatever Force energy he could into his arms, then letting said energy out through his hands. The dragon toppled onto it's side for a few moments, giving the trio just enough time to jam their sabers into it's exposed underside, prompting a massive howl to echo through the maze, the beast's body undulating in a few final throes of agony before it ceased.
"YEAH! WHAT NOW?!"
"ETHAN, FOR FORCE'S SAKE, FOCUS!" The other attacker had been haranguing Aria, but now seemed content to have the entire party to try and slaughter. With a few deft movements and close calls along with hound reinforcement, the second creature fell to the ground, gargantuan body heaving a few last breaths before it's existence ended. Aria's description of the creatures made Yerbol think of some of the more fearsome creatures he had read about in the archives on Tython, making a mental note to ask his spouse about what exactly had almost ended their lives prematurely later. For now, they would continue to plod along in an eastward(relatively) direction, the cruiser's upended tail fin thankfully getting closer. There wasn't very much discussion among the group, although several minutes after the fight, Ethan came alongside Yerbol and muttered:
"Didn't mean to lose focus." The Champion let out a small laugh.
"I don't blame you for losing it. This is your first field action with us and you just killed a dragon. I probably would have done the same if I were in your shoes a few years ago." Ethan mirrored his master's reaction, carefully avoiding the edge of a pit before responding:
"I mean, I've been out in the field before with Alliance troops and other Qyaari, but this...this is on a whole other level." Silence for a few moments.
"How did you and Aria do it?"
"Do what?"
"Stay focused? You guys were responsible for helping kill Bracknell, destroy the Xiis AND take down Manus Vo. That's a resume that calls for a ton of times where you could have lost your way."
"I almost did and so did Aria. What we've figured out is that staying in tune with the Force and each other is the only way we can get through the things we seem to gravitate towards."
"So suicide missions?"
"That and the occasional dispute that arises when neither one of us can figure out whose turn it is to cook." The dialogue between the two was interrupted by the looming shadow of the wrecked ship, Yerbol briefly looking up before his eyes caught the makeshift opening ahead of them.
"That looks unnaturally convenient." The circular shaped hole in the hull looked like it had been carved perfectly by a plasma torch of the highest power, leading straight into what appeared to be a hallway of the ship. Yerbol drew closer to the opening, peering at the seemingly never-ending darkness of the hall. His right hand rested on the outer edge of the opening for balance, which then-

She was standing here. He was here too, General. General. She knew he was here.

The future, Meetra, the future. Not the past.

She wanted to kill them. All of them. He wouldn't let her, thankful for his guidance.

Wound was still open. He would help. She was more then family now.

His saber ignited and-

"Yerbol?" The Champion's eyes opened. He was standing right where he remembered, although his right hand was bleeding from shards of metal that had pierced him thanks to the deathly tight grip he had on the ship.
"They were here." He looked to Aria, nodding towards the interior of the ship.
"We need to get in there." He took a moment to regain his composure, then stepped inside the hallway. As his feet connected with the floor of the ship, he could feel a surge of...something flow through and against him, putting up a very light resistance, like walking from the shore into a frothing ocean.
"What was that?" Ethan asked with a slight quake in his voice.
"Strong traces of who came here before us."
"R...revan?"
"Yes." Drawing on the Force to illuminate his hands was effortless, the normally dim blue light shining fiercely to reveal shattered machinery, unrecognizable debris and a way forward. They strode a few meters deeper into the wreckage when-

Where was she?

Further. The academy. Here?

No, not here. Further. Deeper into the heart.

Why here?

To remember. To forget.

His upper body trembled, leaning against the left hand side of the hall. He spoke with full confidence:
"We'll get the direction we need, but...but we need to keep going. Meetra was here to do something else before moving on to the Academy." The words tumbling out of his mouth felt foreign, yet so very natural.

It's like they're speaking to me, passing their thoughts on...do you feel the same?

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

Haha! Yeaaahhh, seeing hunger-crazed sith dragons is most certainly a cause for much shouting xD

Yep, sounds good. I'll get us to the ship and Yerbol is going to be hit HARD with a couple of flashbacks that are Exile-related. After playing through half(?) of KOTOR 2 so far, I'm very excited to control Meetra and weave in some of her struggles into what the party/Yerbol will go through...although, I play as a male exile, so we'll see how playing a female one goes xD.

By the way, I'm convinced more and more that Illesia's damage is affecting Yerbol. I'm hoping I can explore his wounnd. Also, did we agree that the new galaxy that Revan/Exile went to was Rakatan controlled? I have a feeling we did...right?

Going out of town for the weekend FYI, so will post on Monday :)

P.S.: This song fits really well for our story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OYdeuj3EOw

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

Set it up to where we can have that flashback in a Republic cruiser AND encounter some Hssiss.

We'll have to get HK involved somehow...xD

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

When she unstrapped him from the ship's webbing and personal harness, he wanted to fall flat onto his stomach and reside on the shuttle for the duration of their mission on Malachor, but Aria provided enough of a jolt to his system that managed to restore some of his senses back to working condition. His eyes, which had closed upon their foreheads touching, opened to find her dark irises searching his for answers. Goodness her eyes were beautiful. One of her best features, albeit she wouldn't find satisfactory responses to her questions in his gaze. He was hard pressed to find answers himself.
"I don't know." He shook his head, hands bracing against the seat right as Aria suggested that they get him outside into something that wasn't a pressurized tube. The Champion chuckled, nodding.
"Fair enough. It'll be nice to stand on solid ground rather than feel like our insides are being contorted." He looked up just as she smirked, kissing him before offering a hand up.
"I ought to be in a state like this more often if it means I get that response." He took her hand, using a combination of Force, momentum and physical strength to get to standing. The Champion nearly tumbled forward, but a steadying brace from Aria helped him regain some of his composure. Not wanting to lose the moment, he looked down at her before adding:
"If a kiss is equated to being nearly incapacitated, then what would other...activities require?" Expecting a hearty slap on the chest, Yerbol quickly offered:
"Hey, I'm entitled to a crack or two. We're on a desolate rock renown for bloodshed and death. Might as well get them in now."

The clearing that Ethan had managed to land the ship in had no flora or fauna, instead featuring grey, barren landscape that stretched outward into massive mountainous peaks that jutted sharply into the atmosphere. Surprisingly, Yerbol saw that Ethan and Kytra were walking towards them without any delay or side effects of the extreme gravitational pull that so obviously would have killed them in their arriving shuttle. How did the planet manage to sustain such harsh gravitational conditions for ships, yet not affect those who set foot on it's surface? Something to file away for another time, seeing as Kytra and Ethan came with a report of a path that led up past the mountains. Yerbol nodded at Kytra's observation, speaking after the crackle of green energy surged above them:
"When you go to a place that has chaos and violence steeped into it, the Force will twist itself to fit the landscape." Thoughts of Illesia's tomb on Quensu and the creatures he and Aria fought in the tombs Renso had them train in came to mind, the Champion banishing the temptation to ruminate on the past before standing upright on his own.

I think I got it from here. Thank you. And yes, I'll tell you if I'm feeling weak again. And yes, I love you too.

The Champion shot his partner a quick wink, Ethan asking:
"Yerbol, is your eye alright?" A snort of a chuckle.
"Yeah, I'm good. Come on, the quicker we find out where Revan and the Exile went, the faster we can get off this forsaken rock."

The path that the apprentices found led upward, flanked between the mountains. As they trekked upward, the rockface walls receded to the point where the party could look back and spy the shuttle they arrived on in the distance. While they were far, one could still make out trails of smoke coming up from the vehicle.
"Guess I'll have to do some work on it before we set off again." Ethan commented, looking to the masters with apologetic intent.
"You got us down here, Ethan. I'm confident you'll get us up again...if for no other reason than to impress our pilot." Ethan blushed, turning his head from the shuttle to the now level path that snaked around pillars of rock and basalt rising from chasms that featured viridian-like magma oozing from the planet's core, undulating beneath the surface.
"Qyaari training tip of the day: don't fall into those." Ethan chuckled slightly at his master's jest, the smile that formed from the laughter disappearing the moment that the Qyaari found themselves looking down at where the sloping path took them.
"So many directions." Yerbol quietly commented, looking over the snaking, branching paths below that ran into each other so many times that it was nigh impossible to determine where the beginning or end of the paths were; however, in the distance, they could see that there was indeed a path that led over yet another set of mountainous peaks. To the east lay the tail end of what looked like a Republic cruiser, the trademark tail fin rising above the maze. The west had no such marker.
"Should we split up?" Ethan offered, Yerbol shaking his head in protest.
"No chance in a place like this. We stay together and head to that cruiser. Hopefully we can salvage something from the wreck that might give us a clue where to look for Revan."

Down below, shimmering shapes slithered, heads tilted up towards the newcomers. Stomaches roared with hunger, with the desire to rend bone from flesh. Finally.

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

Yesssss. That would be fitting, seeing as this is the first time sentient life had set foot on Malachor V since...well, KOTOR 2?

Ah good ol KOTOR. I'm envious of your ability to replay the first game, seeing as my laptop can't run the bloody thing. It can run Fallout 4 on almost ultra settings and Rise of the Tomb Raider on high, but KOTOR keeps crashing between cutscenes. More motivation to wait for those guys at Project Aperion to be done. The game is shaping up, by the way. I highly recommend taking a look at their twitter feed because once that game is finished, I imagine it'll be difficult to go back to the original KOTOR.

Oh dude, seriously, replay KOTOR 2. Some of the things Kreia has said ALREADY has got me thinking about what Revan and the Exile would have gotten themselves into. Examples:

"Take the greatest Jedi Knight, strip away the Force, and what remains? They rely on it. Depend on it, more than they know. Watch as one tries to hold a blaster, as they try to hold a lightsaber, and you will see nothing more than a woman – or a man. A child."

"One quickly learns, that the Jedi Code does not have all the answers. If you wish to understand all aspects of the Force, then you will need the contrast, not adherence to a single ideal."

"Sith is a title, yes, but like you, the title is not who I am."

I never liked Kreia when I was playing through the game as a younger lad, but now that I'm older, goodness I appreciate her outlook on things and really enjoy her as a character. Also, she's basically said a lot of the same things we've developed, so that means we need to be consulted for KOTOR 3 xD. I've honestly thought about us sending in our stuff to Bioware at times and going "See?! KOTOR 3 CAN HAPPEN!!! GIVE US A CHANCE!!!" Maybe once we assemble our saga into a novel(or series of novels), we can do that, but in the meantime...

Right, Revan and the Exile. I mean, your signature WAS Darth Revan for the longest time, so I don't see why you should be deprived of playing the legend himself. I can take care of Meetra.

Oh no, that's not good! Here's to everyone recovering swiftly and you not contracting whatever your family has. I know whenever I get sick, my wife follows right along most of the time and vice versa, so stay well!

Also, for the next post, where would you like me to get us so you can incorporate what you wanted them to run into?

Telltale Batman Season 3

-bump-

Telltale Batman Season 3

Hello all!

So I just completed the first two seasons of the Batman telltale series and I just couldn't get enough, which leads me to this request. I would love to create "Season 3" with all sorts of twists and turns that will be built on the first two seasons. I've thought of a couple of loose ideas, but I would want to plan with my partner first to see what choices would we would use from the first two seasons before planning the third.

If this interests you, shoot me a PM and we can get the ball rolling!

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

*crawls out of an abyss and waves profusely*

Hello! Many thanks for your kind words and patience, but now I FINALLY have uninterrupted time to post. Just got one up actually :)

I'm also going to try to do something I think will be interesting as we're posting: I'm going to replay KOTOR 2. Seeing as KOTOR 2 featured a lot of the stuff we've tried to develop, I want to use it as inspiration for future developments in our story.

How have you been? Life treating you ok?

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

Yerbol agreed with his wife's suggestion, the duo retreating to their room to meditate in peace. Their shared meditation technique was still something that they were continually improving on, but the calm that he felt now as opposed to when they first started it was serene. Of course, when they first started sharing their minds, they were far from married(or even in love) at that point, so both were keeping their guard up. Now, with no secrets between them, the process flowed much smoother. They had stayed in meditation until Neta broke them out of their trance with a blaring command to get to the shuttle and "strap in for a wild one!", which of course didn't do any favors for comforting their apprentices; however, Ethan seemed to be taking his first venture as apprentice rather well. His hands trembled ever so slightly as he slid into the pilot's chair upon Yerbol's request, nodding at Aria's question before responding:
"The three of us can focus on making sure the barrier stays around the ship as Ethan guides us through the debris...isn't that right, Ethan?" There was a moment of pause before Ethan answered with a slight wobble in his voice:
"R..right. We'll get through this. This shuttle has got all the bells and whistles it needs to get us through the field in one piece." His answer grew more confident in tone as he spoke, Yerbol noting that Ethan was already getting comfortable with the idea of a potentially suicidal operation, albeit he hadn't actually been deployed yet. If the young man kept up that confidence, he would be just fine.

Yerbol strapped into a seat closest to the rear of the shuttle, eyes closing slowly, perception reaching outward into the vast currents of the Force. It pleased him to feel his grasp on the Force energy around him wasn't as loose as it was just a couple of days ago. Maybe being out in the field again was just what he needed or-

"Drop coming in two minutes, kiddos! Bay doors open from below, I drop you and then I'll pull out to a safe distance! Assuming I can't stay in radio contact, I'll be in a holding pattern until I catch word from you...or I get impatient and try to get down there myself. Whichever comes first." The pilot was silent for a moment before she said at a much lower decibel level:
"This risk you all are taking...I pray to whatever god is out there that this is worth it. Drop in one minute!"
"Ethan-"
"Engine power coming online. Primary and secondary thrusters activated...nav on!"
"Thirty seconds!"

Harmony with the Force. That is your calm.

"Drop...now!"

The Champion felt like his innards contorted in several painful and unusual directions as the vessel left hyperspace and simultaneously dropped their shuttle into Malachor V's orbit, Ethan letting out a steady stream of curses as he slammed several buttons on the control panel in front to stabilize the thrusters, the viewport alarmingly filled with all sorts of floating debris that Ethan dodged by swiftly throttling downward, looping around shattered remains before he asked in a piercing shout:
"DO WE HAVE SOMETHING AROUND US?! BECAUSE THINGS ARE ONLY LOOKING WOR-OH COME ON!" The left side of the shuttle was rocked by a chunk of asteroid, Ethan compensating by rolling the shuttle to the right and down again, their speed accelerating vehemently towards the planet's surface. Yerbol didn't respond to his apprentice's harried query, instead focusing on balancing his own Force energy with the chaos around him, channeling the turbulent waves of power into a translucent sphere around the shuttle just in time to deflect an intact turret that somehow managed to survive Malachor's atmosphere. The deflection prompted a shooting pain to careen down his right side, distracting his focus. That hadn't happened the first time they did this. Why woul-

Another collision saw acute pain run down the Champion's spine, his teeth grinding together as he refocused.
"Entering the stratosphere now! Gonna need stabilization!" Yerbol was counting on Aria and Kytra to keep their ship from plunging into the rocky surface below, even more so when the shuttle began to vibrate menacingly.
"Electrical storm! Son of a bantha feeder...HOLD ON!" Bolts of lightning jammed against the barrier, some of the currents seeming to run through the shuttle's surface into the Champion's body.
"Twenty thousand feet! Storm is dissipating...need a landing zone, need a FREAKING LANDING ZONE!" As they flew out of the remains of the storm, Ethan triumphantly shouted:
"THERE! A CLEARING! GOING IN FOR A LANDING! GONNA BE SOME SHARP TURNS!" As they would find out later, the clearing that Ethan spotted from so far above was marked by the shuttle's nav computer, which also warned that it was located between two mountainous peaks that provided little room for their shuttle to squeeze into. It would explain the stomach churning rolls, turns and profuse swearing.

"ONE HUNDRED FEET! CLOSING IN ON...NOW!" The bottom of the shuttle collided with the ground, skidding several hundred feet across the desolate grey landscape punctuated by jagged mountain peaks and lightning jutting across the horizon. When the shuttle came to a halt, Yerbol slumped forward in his chair, eyes still closed.
"We did it...we did it!" Ethan undid his safety harness, looking back at the retinue with a grin.
"WE DID IT!" The triumphant cry was what snapped Yerbol back to consciousness, eyelids crawling open, hands vibrating as he fumbled with his harness. He tried to voice his frustration aloud, but couldn't thanks to his throat feeling like it had been sanded down to almost non-existent. Instead, he reached out through he and Aria's bond, asking meekly:

Ari...could you ...help me with this?

"Wait, is Yerbol ok?"

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

It's that time of the year again, my friend: the end of the semester. I've got a ton to grade and limited brainpower, so I'm going dark for a few weeks so I don't give you crappy posts. Expect me back around May 14th. Thanks ever so much for your patience and hopefully(fingers crossed!) I'll have WAY more time to develop this with you after the semester is over.

(Thinking about changing jobs so I'm not in the classroom any longer. I really love working in the field of education, but teaching is a grind that I don't think I Can go through any longer :/)