ArX Portal
Bridge between Arx and Ethereal Realm
The five Sadowans looked upon the portal in astonishment. They could feel its power radiating against their bodies. The Grand Masters Royal Guardsman stood stoically at their sentry posts. One broke formation and gestured to the portal entrance. DarkHawk turned to his comrades, “Are we all ready for this?” he asked.
Malisane did a quick weapons check, before acknowledging his brethren.
The Alchemist Macron laughed as he tinkered with a few gadgets before stowing them away on his person. He was muttering Sith incantations as Priest Quentindshadows and his apprentice Jinx moved themselves up beside him. “Are you two ready for this?” the madman said laughing.
Jinx quickly responded, “I am ready Adept Goura.”
Macron studied the two for a moment, before turning his attention back to Jinx, “You will be exposed to evils that will consume you young one. You best be on point.” Jinx seemed to lose herself for a moment trying to trace all of Macron’s facial tattoos and scarring. Quentin quickly put a hand in front of his apprentice and gingerly motioned her out of the way. “I will make sure she does just that,” he said reassuringly.
DarkHawk spoke next, “We all need to be on point on this one old friend. Primary is to find the recon team. Last intel report put them northwest of the Corpse field. They had little resistance to the castle up until six hours ago. I must warn you all, Macron speaks the truth. What lies on the other side of this portal is literally our worst nightmares. Center yourselves, keep mindful it’s very real and will take luxury in killing all of us. Show no mercy, clear a path to our comrades and we get out of there. Wedge formation at eight meter separation…savvy?”
The strike team acknowledged their orders and began walking up the ramp to the portal.
One by one the strike team entered the Arx portal. Each member felt the strange sensation of being demolecularized at a subatomic level. Almost instantly the portal spit the team out in the Ethereal Realm covered in a slight frost a tad nauseated. That feeling subsided quickly as they took in the realization of where they are now.
As the team stepped through the portal, they were immediately engulfed by a disorienting sensation. Reality seemed to warp and twist around them, and when their vision cleared, they found themselves in a ghostly mirrored version of Eos City. Buildings of shimmering light and shadows stood where once there were structures of steel and concrete. Eerie silence hung in the air, broken only by the faint echoes of distant memories.
“Form it up Sadowans, head on a swivel” DarkHawk instructed.
Macron the juggernaut immediately charged off taking point laughing madly. Malisane and DarkHawk took the right flanks. Whilst Quentin and Jinx took the left. They had not made it a ninety meters before the encountered their first test.
Ghastly apparitions began pouring out from the fields. Corpses of fallen soldiers from all over the galaxy united in their quest. Disfigured members of the Children of Mortis with jagged crystals protruding from their bodies trekked their way closer to the team.
Jinx was first to engage, she immediately leapt over two attackers landing at their backside. Utilizing a tight “hammer grip”on her hilt, Jinx ignited her saber and viciously engaged her closest attacker with a flurry of saber strikes. Her saber landed solidly, a shower of sparks engulfed the two combatants as Jinx’s saber continued to clash against the crystal warrior. Jinx was taken back as the mutated warrior regained its composure and continued its attack.
Quentin sprung into action and came in grappling the warrior’s free arm before plunging his saber through the crystal warrior’s torso. It quivered violently before slumping to the muddy ground lifeless. The two turned their attention to the remaining attacker.
Quentin felt the force flowing through him here in the Eternal Realm on a level he has never felt, he can feel everything, the sheer power of the force is almost drowning him, rushing to aid Jinx, his purple lightsaber humming and vibrating in his palm, an all too familiar sensation. “Don’t get careless these things are powerful to one of your skills” Quentin told his apprentice in a reprimanding tone. As he quickly reached out with the force, yanked one of zombies toward him and with a quick flick of his wrist his saber cut it from groin to gullet causing it to fall in two pieces dead on the ground. He turns to three others coming quickly before them, “Feel the power of a Krath priest” Quentin screams to the zombies as if they could understand him. he reaches out his left hand letting blue tendrils of force lightning ripple across three of the zombies causing their crystals to explode and their bodies began to burn and fall lifeless.
“Don’t waste your energy!” shouted the Alchemist. “These are weak constructs to bog us down!” It was a delaying tactic obvious to the Adept. Although he had been in stasis for quite many months until recently, his mind was still sharp, at least for the moment. The crude smash of a Force-imbued crushgaunt fist was enough to shatter the spine of the nearest mirage. “Not so much the body,” giggled Macron as he smashed clumsily into one of the constructs. The finesse of finer movements eluded him still. Hopefully his nerves and muscles would coordinate soon. A blunt smashing kick directly to the crotch (if it had one?) of the second fractured it. These had to be distractions. They were nothing like the stories he had heard of the creatures encountered back on Arx. Or maybe they were illusions. Or hallucinations, really. Not that it mattered in the end. “Effect is still the same.” The real ones were sure to be ahead, and they would be much harder.
Some strange call had woken him to serve once again. The Sith eyed his Clanmates quickly. Some new faces, and old friends who had gained greatly in power since he had slept. “Good!” Macron chuckled quickly. “And bad for those who oppose. Naughty naughty.” His mismatched eyes darted quickly. To his left fought the Sorcerer and his apprentice. To his right, Malisane and Darkhawk smashed some of the crystal zombies. “Give ‘em hell!” Macron pumped a fist as he unclipped a lightsaber and blew the dust off the emitter end. “What better way to have fun than cutting your own leg off?”, muttered the maniac. “Why not play with dangerous toys? And here I am on point.” Tangerine light spewed from the phrikite-clad handle with a crackle and high whine. “It didn’t even blow up,” exhaled the Sith. “Whew.” The eerie echoes of Eos were disorientating even to the madman. Wisps of mist coiled about like smoke in a bottle out of the corner of his vision. “Interesting. That’s odd. Snakes, snakes, hit the brakes.” The quivering tendrils of fog pulsed heavier in one direction to the left. “Sorceror! Disciple!”, shouted the Sith. The Krath were notorious for their knowledge of the Arcane. “The way forward lies in your direction.”
The Overlord looked around the area. Beyond the swirling mists they could not see or sense any further movement. “Move out and maintain formation.” The five Sadowans formed the pattern again and began to make their way forward across the trenches, keeping sight of each other. “We am still not receiving any signals from the recon team,” Quentin advised. There was a pause. “We are still some distance away,” Malisane replied, “and this place radiates with energy. We do not know for certain anything has happened to them, this could be a communications issue. They may be making final preparations for the assault.” “I admire your optimism,” Macron replied in a slightly sarcastic tone, “we can hope they have some Nabooan tea brewing on the fire.” “Enough of that,” The DarkHawk said firmly, “remain focused. Until we can determine their status we should assume the worst.” They continued on, watching the uneven ground and the gristly signs of centuries of death and carnage. The ever curious Alchemist studied the remains as they passed them. Some of the bones did not match any known galactic species and some even appeared to be a mesh of known species and crystalline horrors from some unknown melding process. “I would like to return here to study once this matter is resolved. There is much here to learn that would benefit Sadow and the wider Brotherhood.”
Malisane glanced over at him, “The Children’s experiments are an abomination. I would sterilize the entire planet from space. Our clan needs skilled and loyal members, strong military forces and the power of the Dark Side, not this heresy.” “You didn’t say that when we bred the Sithspawn Ewoks,” Macron pointed out. “There is nothing wrong with learning our enemies strengths and adapting them to benefit ourselves Malisane,” Quentin argued, “if they possess these weapons it would be foolish to turn our noses up at them.” There was a pause then, “We may have a problem Overlord,” Jinx suddenly reported. The Consul turned to her. “What is it?.” “There is a large chasm ahead,” she replied, “the recon team must have dropped in closer and missed it. It does not look like we can make our way around it.”
Jinx found the fight with the crystalline zombies exciting, being her true first test of her training, hoping that she made her master proud. Now finding herself standing before the chasm with her master, and other companions, she immediately started looking for a way down. “Master, there is a possible way down here” she said eagerly as she started pointing at a narrow edge that led down the face of the chasm. The chasm was massive, the bottom hidden in shadows from its depth.”This is going to take hours just to get down, “ She said, almost discouraged before being interrupted by Overlord Darkhawk “We don’t have time for this, Suggestions?” he asked the group.
The mad alchemist just finished cleaving a C.o.M. member in two, slicing him from groin to shoulders. Macron looked up with a relishing grin as his victim separated before him.
“DarkHawk, it would be wise to put these fields behind us. We will not gain any advantages if we remain here. Although the killing is quite satisfying,” he said as he stowed his saber away.
“Yeah I believe you are right Macron.”
Macron carried a grin across his face as he walked past his comrade, “Of course I am!”
Malisane pointed across the gap, “That looks to be a plasma bridge terminal right there.”
DarkHawk looked closer at the terminal area ”Doubtful it is anywhere near operational. I can jump over and take a look.”
The jump pack ignited, launching the wraith over the chasm. His tabards billowed through the air like a wandering ghost moving about in a cemetery. Landing beside the terminal it did not take but a fraction of a second to see that the terminal was completely unusable. As he looked back towards the party, Macron was already forming a walkway using a sea of debris and wreckage from around the fields. His hands moved in almost a rhythmic pattern, as if he was conducting his own evil orchestra.
As the bridge formed, Malisane directed the others to begin moving across. One by one, each Sadowan trekked across the makeshift bridge with strict vigilance. DarkHawk watched intently at the scene befalling in front of him.
The three Sadowans were nearly across when DarkHawk began to sense the danger. Behind Macron more C.o.M. troops began to emerge. Immediately lobbying their crystal powered ordinances towards Macron and the others. Before DarkHawk could warn his comrades the explosions sent Macron careening over the edge. The bridge fell apart sending Malisane, Quentin and Jinx falling helplessly into the depths of the chasm.
DarkHawk instinctively dove off the edge racing towards his brethren. Gaining momentum and closing the gap between him and his brethren, the assassin activated the glide wings of his jump pack. Reaching out with the Force, tendrils of telekinetic energy took hold around them. Their descent came to a slow crawl as DarkHawk strained to maintain the hold. The blast had knocked Macron unconscious for a moment but soon everyone could hear his cackling laugh on the way down.
The added weight increased DarkHawk’s descent and he needed to find solid ground quickly. DarkHawk quickly spotted a piece of rock on the side of the chasm wide enough to come to rest on. With a wave of his arm the team floated over the ledge and tumbled across its surface. Each let out a rather discouraging gasp of discomfort as they came to a stop.
Malisane was the first to speak, “Let’s not do that again shall we…”
Both Quentin and Jinx replied with a painful, “Agreed.”
Landing off to the side of the party DarkHawk, “Apologies, I hope everyone is feeling satisfactory.”
“Not really but the alternative does not seem too appealing” Quentin said looking over the edge.
Jinx got to her feet and dusted herself off as she walked over to the left edge and pointed, “There is an opening about fifteen meters away. Maybe we can take it out of here after all?”
Quentin turns to his apprentice before speaking in a confident voice as he could manage “It’s just like I taught you, follow my lead “ after advising her he summoned the force within him and took off running toward the end of the platform flipping his robes flow behind him as his feet make contact with the wall in a full speed run down the wall at a steady descent to until he reached the surface of the floor. Quentin quickly tells his apprentice “ Now”.
She takes off at a run and a quick flip and she firmly running making it about half way before losing her footing and begins falling, Quentin reaches out with the force to slow her decent best he can, when Jinx comes close to the floor she quickly uses force push to adjust her fall so she lands firmly on her feet. “See no problem master,” Jinx says, hiding the slight pain of the fall.
Turning back to the rest still on the small ridge to see Darkhawk using his jet pack to float gently down to the lower level. The alchemist and Malisane just forward and ignite their lightsabers driving the blades into the wall and slide down the wall of the rock face like pirates sliding down sails with a dagger in the holo-drama’s. Within a few seconds the pair of them was also at the lowest level.
The squad wasn’t far off from the cavern entrance, Quentin could feel nothing from the cave and was unsure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Looking at the cave it was a medium size, a small stream running out of the mouth of the cave its waters was vivid in color the ripples of the water were different shades of blue almost luminescent even if the level of light was low toward a small river at the center of the ravine.
“Something is wrong here, I can not explain it. But there’s nothing. I feel nothing within the force, even this little stream I can feel its flow until further in the cave and it just disappears” Quentin explains puzzled.
Seeing her master looking so concerned had bothered Jinx, she hadn’t seen him like that often. Appearing around she was mesmerized with the beauty of the colors of the small stream and wondered if all the waters in this place were similar thinking that a waterfall would be breathtaking to behold if it did. She ignites her lightsaber and uses it for lightsource holding it sideways high above her head. “ Well we will never know if the force doesn’t flow here or if it’s a trap unless we go in and discover which it could be. Best way to survive the trap is to spring it I guess” Jinx says in a simplistic optimism, as she begins walking into the dark of the void of the tunnel. Jinx hears a quick hiss as beside the red glow of her saber now a purple glow lights the cave further in seeing Quentin also using his saber for a light source as well. The sounds of rocks rolling just outside of the lightsabers light range further in the shadows of the cave.
Out of nowhere a large crystalline spider jumps out of the shadows from the ceiling trying to trap the apprentice and master who are leading the small group through the tunnel. Jinx rolls sweeping her lightsaber, her master following suit trying to dismember one of the spider’s legs. “Why does it always have to be spiders? I hate spiders.” Jinx says as she sweeps her lightsaber across it once more. Quentin simply rolls his eyes at his apprentice as he unleashes force lightning sending Bluish tendrils that spread across the crystalline spider.
Jinx watched as the spider lit up blue arcs of lightning from her master’s lightning as she stood guard ready to attack again if necessary after he stopped the force lightning. Looking at the other three members of the party “ You could help , just saying” Jinx said sarcastically to the group as she let a small smirk come across her face.
DarkHawk was the first to give a death stare at the young apprentice before he begins to speak to the apprentice’s master “ Perhaps you could teach your apprentice respect for Elders” he says as he lets a smile slip across his face knowing that speaking to her master instead of her would bother her, as his lightsaber snaps to life and joins the fray.
When the last of the creatures had been slain, the five Sadowans took a pause for breath, and then surveyed their surroundings. “The caves seem to lead off in that direction,” Quentin observed pointing away from the direction they had entered. The Consul nodded. “Hopefully we can find a way out on the right side near our target,” he replied, “it should not be far. Malisane, take the lead.” “As you wish Consul,” the Adept replied. They walked for some considerable time, ever ready for a sudden attack or sign of instability that would indicate a threat or even abrupt end to their mission. “You sure we are heading in the right direction?” Macron asked from behind. Malisane did not turn around. “We are according to my datapad,” he replied, “our destination is still ahead.” “Assuming whatever is on this planet is not messing with the magnetic fields,” the Alchemist muttered. DarkHawk turned his head, “They may be,” he replied, “however we are working on the best information we have. Until that changes we keep going.”
After another hour they began to notice the ground beginning to slope upwards. Encouraged by this they increased their pace, until they came to a small opening, and one by one they squeezed their way out. They were outside, the sky ahead still looking the same but the ground was flat and clearer. Malisane looked at his datapad. “We have a faint transponder signal Consul,” he reported, “two hundred metres due east.” “Good,” Macron replied, “it is still in place and functioning.” Quentin turned curiously to the Alchemist, “‘It’? What do you mean ‘it’? “Things will be made clear before long,” Macron said simply.
They approached cautiously, weapons ready for any attack. The signs of mutilated bodies became clear ahead, and the five Sadowans fanned out looking for any signs of hostiles. “The area is clear, Overlord,” Jinx reported. Macron held his hand out and Malisane gave him the datapad. The tattooed alchemist studied the screen as he made his way forward, and then stopped above one corpse of a Sadowan soldier. He cautiously knelt down and began searching, unphased by the gory state of the corpse. “It is here.” “What is here?” Jinx asked. DarkHawk turned to them as Malisane, Quentin and Jinx studied him as the alchemist began to strip the body of the corpse away from something “This was not just a reconnaissance mission.” “I suspected as much,” Malisane replied. “The team was sent to prepare a surprise for the Children.” “What kind of surprise?” Quentin asked. Macron’s tattooed face looked up at him, “A nasty one,” he said, his features gleaming, “we have not been idle since they attacked our capital. We have studied hard to find a weakness. And now before the fury of the Brotherhood descends on this world we are prepared to send a shock through the Children that will swing the advantage of battle on our side.” DarkHawk nodded. “We do not have much time,” he replied, “can you finish the setup?” “Of course,” Macron replied, “it will not take long. Not long at all.”