>>2792744
"With me," you say to your guards. "We're going to take a look around."

You ask Jevan how he reached the lower levels of the arena, and he dutifully guides you back into the outer hall, then down a flight of stairs hidden between two decorative pillars. Bright marble walls and floors give way to concrete as you pass into the more functional areas of the tourist attraction. You pass a few maintenance and cleaning crew on your way into the bowels of the arena, but they’re all calmed by a few hypnotic hand waves and assurances that you’re exactly where you’re supposed to be. The reason for the lack of guards becomes clear as you pass room after room and find them all empty. There’s nothing here to steal, unless you want to raid the break room to restock your ship’s supply of plastic cutlery. The hall winds around the fighting pit before terminating at a single locked room, with an entrance larger than the rest.

“Where does this go?” You look to Jevan and gesture at the door.

He shrugs. “The fighters, they go back this way. I didn’t see it.”

The door in front of you isn’t a blast door, but it’s sturdy enough to stymie your attempts to snap the lock off with the Force. You already know that the Force-sensitive warrior in green has left the building, but it’s possible that there’s something in here that will identify him. A quick slash with your lightsaber between the door and wall sheers off the locking bolt, and a shove with your boot has the door creaking open on its hinges.

The room ahead is dark, and you take a few tentative steps inside with your lightsaber raised above your head to light the way. Half a dozen armored figures tower against the far wall. You draw back and instinctively drop into a fighting stance, but relax when you realize that the humanoid shapes are the armored war suits the Thyrsian warriors had worn in the arena.

“Watch the hallway,” you say to the others. Amaza starts to leave but gets sidetracked by her fascination with one of the war machines. Sadon and Jevan head towards the doorway, the former more focused on ribbing the latter than on the actual task you gave him.

“You take one of those armors and we fight again.” Sadon punches him in the arm. “Then maybe you win.”

>>2792748
Jevan gives Sadon a light punch in retaliation, and the back and forth continues until you return your attention to the room’s lifeless inhabitants. It’s hard to see colors with your lightsaber bathing everything in a warm red glow, so you approach each suit closely to inspect its paint job and find the green one. Every suit has what you assume to be the emblem of a warrior lodge painted on it, typically on the breast or one of the shoulders. Unlike the clan emblems of other martial cultures like the Mandalorians, these aren't simple monochromatic depictions of knives or the skulls of predators. The symbols of the lodges are miniature works of art, depicting life on Thyrsus in all its colorful historicity.

One emblem shows a wounded man defending himself against a massive feline on the edge of a cliff, the scene distorted and reshaped so as to fit it into a perfect circle. Another is a peaceful but complex look at a small pond with ancient trees bowed over the water. A few of the symbols are near-duplicates, but with small additions placed into the scene. A new figure here, a second sun there - an explanation would require calling back your government-appointed guide, and you're not about to try and summon him after your guards manhandled him so roughly.


You come to a green suit of armor that matches what you saw in the pit. It’s more worn than you would have thought, with countless scratches and abrasions that have chipped away at the paint and exposed the dull grey plasteel beneath. The exposed joint motors all look to be in working order, but the equipment has clearly seen better days, particularly when compared with its painstakingly maintained counterparts lined up on either side of it.

A quick inspection of the shoulders for a lodge emblem - which you fail to find anywhere on the suit - reveals that someone tried their hand at refurbishing the armor’s cosmetics. An off-shade blotch of green paint covers the left shoulder, and no more than that. No doubt the owner realized the work was better left to professionals, and stopped there.

There’s little else of note in the small warehouse room. Lockers lined up on either side of the door contain jumpsuits to be worn between undergarment and warsuit. Each suit has a force pike or three racked beside it, but they’re simple in appearance and lacking the distinctive ornamentation of the armor they’re wielded alongside.

What do you do? In lieu of any bright ideas of your own, you’ll have to turn to one of your followers for advice.

>Amaza

>Jevan

>Sadon

>>2792749

Forgot my trip, and to add that when posting is done for the night I'll say so. I expect to do 1 or 2 posts between 6pm and 9pm EST most days. Weekends will be longer.

Rolled 2 (1d3)

>>2792766
Just gonna roll for my vote.
1. Amaza
2. Jevan
3. Sadon

>>2792749
His lodge emblem was painted over. He may have recently been kicked out of his lodge. Scrape off the new paint gently to reveal the lodge he used to belong to. Should give us a good starting point.

>>2792803
This plus have Jevan use his perfect memory to identify with force pike was wielded by his opponent to find the right locker for more clues.

Thanks for coming back man, I thought for sure this quest was straight up dead.

>>2792749
You call Jevan away from his sentry duty and point at the force pike stood upright beside the set of armor in front of you. “Can you tell which the man in green was wearing? The one who fought your opponent.”

Confusion settles over his face as he looks between you and the weapon. After a few moments of intense thought, he gives you an uneasy look and points at the pike you did. The same one which, you now realize, is clearly paired with the armor of its owner. “That one, Lord Varrus?”

The crimson glow of your lightsaber and your own pastel-red complexion work nicely to hide your embarrassment. “Go check the lockers,” you say to Jevan. “See if there are any personal items.”

You return to scrutinizing the armor in an effort to forget this new shame of yours, and notice something new about the patch of fresh paint on the shoulder. Small droplets have begun to form, exposing new colors beneath. You run your lightsaber just over the surface, causing the coating to melt further. After a few more repetitions, you can make out the outer contours of a lodge emblem. You excitedly order Amaza over to wipe away at the paint with her sleeve, keeping your own garments clean.

A minute later, the two of you are staring at a small picturesque. It depicts a Thyrsian, emaciated and clothed in rags, kneeling on a desert cliff while crying out to Thyrsus’ twin suns for relief. Below the cliff, hidden from view, flows a river flanked by an endless bounty of fruit-laden trees. It seems more like the punchline to a joke than a clan insignia, but the drawing strikes a chord with you nonetheless.

>>2793135
Time and time again you’ve refused to give up, even when the odds are arrayed against you. That’s not foolish hope, though - your stubbornness is founded on a cold hard calculus of its own. It *never* pays to give up. The starving Thyrsian will die on his knees, die on his feet, or live. He should have kept walking.

Someone breathes into your ear. You swear and spin about to see Jevan standing beside you, staring intently at the emblem.

“What?” you ask him.

He shakes his head as if to clear it of nagging thoughts. “I look at the thing, my Lord.”

“Yes, but why?”

His eyes dart over to the armor, but your lightsaber no longer illuminates the painted symbol. “It is lovely.”

You hadn’t taken him for an appreciator of the arts. The mountain of a man is so laconic that you often fall into the trap of assuming his mind is as blank as his expression.

“It’s also just what I was looking for.” You step away from the suit and go to your wristband computer for some research on Thyrsus’ closed version of the galaxy-wide Holonet. Your connection is terrible down in the arena’s concrete bowels, and it takes you some time to access a detailed listing of Thyrsus’ warrior lodges. The information includes their associated symbols, but none of them look similar enough to the one in front of you for you to reasonably match them.

In a flash of inspiration, you look for a listing of lodges which are no longer active. There you meet with success, and find that your target’s lodge was one of some historic note. Its most notable member was Sun Lord Macaule, the domestic hero whose statue towers above Sil Trachari’s starport. Lodge naming conventions are bafflingly complex strings of superlatives, and none translate well to Basic.

What you do learn is that the ‘Most Serene Guardians of the Twin Red Suns’ are no more. They continued long after their most famous leader died, but became so bloated and intertwined with planetary politics that they lost focus and splintered off into countless other lodges, many of which are still active - though none of those share the emblem on your Thyrsian’s armor.

You gather up your trio of guards and depart the room, shutting the door behind you. Your forceful intrusion isn’t exactly covered up by that small act, but you’ve ruffled so many feathers during your few hours on Thyrsus that you feel compelled to smooth some of them back down. Once back out in the arena’s interior hall - with a better Holonet connection - you get to work finding locations associated with the ‘Sun Guard.’ It occurs to you that they really should have let someone who speaks Basic come up with a translated name for the guidebooks.

>>2793141
One place jumps out at you. Particularly because it’s well within range of a land cruiser. The four of you leave the arena and merge back into the seething throngs of tourists making their way through Sil Trachari’s historic quarters of marble and stonework. A few blocks later, you come to a roadway that serves as a sharp divide between old and new, with several-story masonry on one side and skyscraper-high durasteel on the other.

Flagging down a taxi is surprisingly difficult. After a few failed tries, you have your guards hide behind the corner of a building to make it appear as if you’re alone. That works, and you slide into the front of a Thyrsian’s hovering cab before waving over your small group. He grunts in protest, but says nothing.

“I want to go here.” You draw his attention to your wrist, and the map displayed on it. There’s no address associated with the lodge meeting house you found, which appears to be smack in the middle of a residential area in the city outskirts.

He shakes his head. “I can no go there. Too far, no roads.”

“I have credits.” You take a credit chit from your tunic and show it to him as proof. “I’ll need a return trip, too. It will be easy work.”

The driver’s mouth opens slightly and he wavers uncertainly. Because you didn’t just ask him nicely. Between the power of the Force flowing into your words, your Zeltronian pheromones, and your own innate charisma, this man has no chance of resisting a simple request. The taxi driver mutters in agreement and pulls off onto the highway. The drive is a long one, but at least you had the foresight to take the front seat. Amaza, Jevan, and Sadon are crammed into the back, the three-seater turned into a two-and-a-half by the sheer size of Jevan. Every wild swerve of the cruiser has one of the other two pressed between him and their door, causing a fight to nearly break out between him and Sadon.

An hour later, you’re there. At least, your map says you are, and your driver swears up and down that he’s brought you to the right place. This isn’t the gleaming painted faux-stonework of Sil Trachari’s downtown. These are slums, just like you would find on any civilized world the galaxy over. Much of the construction looks to have been salvaged from the sort of finer structures you left behind, giving the place a colorful and lively air despite the obvious poverty. Expansive cloth overhangs strung between squathouses flutter in the breeze, and make the streets look like marketplaces that have been stripped of their goods in preparation for shutting down for the night.

“Where?” you say to him angrily. “Where is this lodge?”

The taxi driver snorts in smug annoyance and storms forward, then points up a slum-covered hillside. Following his finger, you spot a circular wooden structure peeking out above the flotsam and jetsam of painted steel.

>>2793148
Your driver says that entry to the abandoned training ground is forbidden without the express permission of the Thyrsian government. No guards are present, he says, but none are needed - every Thyrsian will do his duty and prevent the desecration of their history. You intend to post two guards outside to watch for anyone fleeing the building, as well as let you know if the locals get rowdy. Who do you take with you inside?

>Amaza

>Jevan

>Sadon

>>2793170
That’s all tonight

>>2793170
>Amaza
Command Sadon and Jevan to get along.

>>2793170
>Jevan
He's a clone of their old leader. We can use this.
>>2793189
Thanks for running amigo

>>2793170
>Jevan

>>2793170
Under more ordinary circumstances - or at least as ordinary as your life gets - this would be the sort of situation where you would perform some reconoissance before charging in blind. Two minutes after getting out of your taxi, you realize that won’t be an option here. Your band of outsiders has already drawn the attention of every local within a stone’s throw of the sidestreet you pulled off on. Dusky-skinned Thyrsians stare at you from every windowed hovel and canopied crevice, sizing you up and trying to decide whether your possible wealth exceeds the martial ability of your entourage.

Sadon and Jevan take up positions on either side of you with Amaza trailing behind, but the narrowing path through the slums forces you to walk single file between stacked box-homes that look ready to collapse at any moment. The roughshod construction and sheer variety of colorful materials at work give the place an otherworldly appearance. Staircases snake up and down small hillocks, sometimes passing through or under structures in baffling configurations that make it hard to tell if you’re headed in the right direction.

Whenever you get a chance, you search the rolling cityscape for a sign of the wooden structure and re-orient yourself towards it. The building is half-temple, half-mansion, and is perched atop a steep hill. Poorhouses creep up the slopes around it, threatening to topple it from its peak. There’s no clear path leading to it, though you can make out the top of a large entryway above the gleaming steel roofing between you and your destination.

The four of you come to a two-lane roadway encircling the hill, and stop. A small crowd has formed in your way, one you would like to lose before going further. None of the locals have approached you, and you haven’t spoken to any of them, but you suspect that they already know where you’re going. Despite that, they don’t look angry. Nor have they made the sort of aggressive advances that you’d expect of people scoping out a victim ripe for robbery. They simply follow you at a safe distance, as if expecting a show.

“Spread out,” you say in a low voice to Sadon and Amaza. “I want you two waiting on either side of this tower in case that Thyrsian runs off again.”

“Do I stop him?” asks Sadon.

“No, just follow him. I’d like to employ him, not have battery charges filed against me.”

>>2795335
Sadon gives an obedient nod, but his expression darkens when he realizes that Jevan hasn’t been given orders of his own. “What about him?” He jerks his head at the larger man.

“He will be with me.”

Sadon draws in a sharp breath through his nose and opens his mouth to respond, but you already know what’s coming and are quick to respond.

“If I want your thoughts on the matter, I’ll ask for them. Go.”

Without another word, Sadon spins on his heels and storms off in the direction you indicated. Amaza does likewise in the opposite direction, matching Sadon’s furious speed for no other reason than what you suppose to be a desire for symmetry.

The response from the assembled crowd of Thyrsians is immediate. They mumble to each other in confusion and split into three separate groups, the largest of which remains near you while the other two begin to follow Sadon and Amaza along the roadway. One of your watchers, a teenage boy swaddled in orange and yellow cloth, plods through runoff-soaked mud to get to you before you can leave.

“You Jedi?” he asks, tipping his head back in feigned confidence even as his voice and stance betray a nervousness you can feel.

“Do I look like a Jedi?” Your response is one of genuine bafflement, and the disappointed youth relaxes his tensed shoulders before shouting something back to his fellows.

“Is he Jedi?” a woman shouts to you from the crowd, pointing at Sadon and his followers, who have likewise stopped to look at you. The teenager before you yells some admonishment back at the woman in their native tongue, and she slinks into the crowd she emerged from. A roar of disappointed muttering rises up from among the disparate groups, and the vast majority of Thyrsians fade back into the metal and stonework of their ramshackle homes.

A minute later, all that’s left are a few stragglers who seem certain, despite all evidence to the contrary, that you’re still an item of great interest. They’re right, but you have no intention of revealing what you are or giving them the excitement they’re looking for. All you’re here to do is find your man, have a civil business discussion with him, and leave this place before the attention you attract becomes a problem rather than a mere annoyance.

“You’re coming with me,” you say to Amaza. The two of you cross the road encircling the block of buildings in which the lodge is situated, and begin looking for a way upward. It soon becomes apparent that there is none. You find what looks to be the start of a steep stone staircase that once ran straight up the hill, but the entirety of it is now covered in the intersecting network of shacks that dominate the landscape around you.

>>2795340
In the end, you make your own path forward, using the walkways established by the locals to cut between buildings where possible, and occasionally crossing through the domiciles themselves to the angry protests of the inhabitants.

The two of you eventually come to the rooftops of the highest tier of homes, which have been overlapped to create a precarious balcony surrounding the massive wooden citadel topping the hill. The view is a spectacular one, with the urban sprawl made scenic by distance and the way the setting sun seems to wash out the remaining ugliness in a glow of autumnal pastels.

The lodge, on the other hand, has only grown uglier with proximity. The ribbed walls which looked so sturdy down below are pockmarked with rot and water damage. Small plants have sprung up on parts of the facade, giving the towering structure the appearance of a tree that has just begun to leaf after a long winter.

You come to the entrance you glimpsed from down below. It’s a broad double entryway with no doors or other means of blocking entry, save for the demonic face carved out of the wood around the door. When you enter through its fanged mouth, you really do feel as if you’re crossing a threshold more significant then a mere doorway.

“Stay behind me,” you say to Amaza. “Keep watch.”

She obeys and slows her walk so that she trails a dozen feet behind you as you pass through a short hallway and make your way into a central chamber at the center of the structure. Carved murals adorn the walls, and sparse gold flakes on them tell you they must have once been quite lovely to look at. Now, they’re so warped by the elements as to be indecipherable. Unlit braziers sit around the edges of the room. It reminds you of the training chamber at the Sith Academy.

You stop at the center and look upwards. Windows line the sides of the domed ceiling, lighting up the motes of dust that settle across the floor like snow. Reaching out with the Force, you search for any signs of life in the room’s above you, and find none.

Not even Amaza.

>>2795342
>>2795342
Your heart skips a beat as you spin around to see Amaza staring at one of the dimly-lit wall murals. As she’s demonstrated to you before, she can minimize her presence within the Force with such skill that even you’re thrown off her scent. Your anxiety eases, then returns as you reach out again with your attention directed at her in full.

Again, nothing. You turn towards the doorway and feel for the teeming masses of slum dwellers living on the hill below you, but it’s as if they’ve vanished from this world entirely. Never before have you felt so cut off from everything.

“Look at this, Lord Varrus!” Amaza calls out to you, indicating at the mural in front of her.

You approach to see that she’s not interested in the faded artwork, but what’s on top of it. A brown lizard, no more than two feet long, clings to a carved outcropping of wood like it were a tree branch. Four beady black eyes dart between you and Amaza, and it’s pitcher-shapes ears twitch with each word the two of you speak. Amaza grabs the thing across its back and tries to pry it from its perch, but the reptile clings to safety with a surprising tenacity. She leans back with her full weight put into attempting to dislodge the thing, but that only earns her some annoyed grunting from the lizard and hysterical laughter from Amaza herself.

“How strange!” She plucks at its legs, one after the other, but the creature never allows her to dislodge more than one foot at a time. “You should take. Make... credits.”

[b]Do you take it?[/b]

>No. Kill it.

>No. Leave it be.

>Yes. You’ll stick it on a branch somewhere in your garden on Voss.

>Yes. Amaza clearly wants it for herself. Let her have it.

[red]That’s all tonight[/red]

>>2795353
>Yes. You’ll stick it on a branch somewhere in your garden on Voss.
I'm confused about why we took Amaza instead of Jevan

>>2795365
Because I’m an idiot and wrote this in a rush on my phone

>>2795353
>Yes. Amaza clearly wants it for herself. Let her have it.
They're both good at concealing their force presence.
>>2795374
No worries, this is fine

Ysalamiri get

>>2795353
>Yes. You’ll stick it on a branch somewhere in your garden on Voss.
Amaza can take care of it

Imagine if Amaza could learn to copy this lizards force-dampening skills. Kind of a long shot but I still don't get how she conceals herself either.

Sadon either needs some attention or an attitude adjustment, he's being needy as fuck

>>2795353
>Yes. Amaza clearly wants it for herself. Let her have it.
If she can befriend it she can use it. She can conceal herself from force detection and then assassinate force sensitives while they can't use the force near the lizard.

>>2795353
>Yes. Amaza clearly wants it for herself. Let her have it.

>>2795353
>Yes. Amaza clearly wants it for herself. Let her have it.

File: tumblr_mkzstsOfTo1qhttpto7_500.jpg (91 KB, 500x445)

91 KB JPG

>>2795353
You have little use for a pet and even less patience for keeping up with one, but Amaza’s fascination is sympathetic if not infectious. A quick swipe of your lightsaber cuts off the outcropping of carved wood the lizard clings to, and it drops to the floor alongside its perch. Amaza gasps and chases after the piece of wood clattering along the ground, and snatches the lizard by its back as it leaves its fallen perch in search of something new to cling to. It lets out a warbling grunt and tries to dig its feet into the solid wood floor, but it fails to get a good grip before she snatches it up and slides it into one of her tunic’s deep pockets. The creature makes no attempt to escape, apparently having mistaken the cozy darkness of her clothes for safety. She then gives you an odd look, one you can’t imagine the reason for until you realize that you’re still holding your lightsaber at the terminal point of your stroke.

“What is wrong?” she says.

You switch off the weapon and drop your hand back to your side, but don’t slide it back into your belt loop. “Nothing.”

Which is a complete lie. That one simple strike you executed had felt clumsier and slower than any in recent memory. You’ve fought with better precision while half-dead, and here you are having almost decapitated a motionless lizard. Everything has felt wrong since you entered this lodge, but you can’t figure out why. It’s as if you’ve been struck deaf, dumb, and blind by this place’s guardian spirit the moment you crossed the threshold. Thinking is hard, moving is harder, and feeling is hardest of all.

“I want to check upstairs.”

You and Amaza veer off into the corridor on the left of the main room, but backtrack when you hit an avalanche of wood flooring that’s blocked the passage. Next you try the hall opposite the entryway, which takes you to a spiral staircase that seems to run up the majority of the tower. With every step, the air seems to become drier and colder, afflicting you with a deep sense of unease that has you gripping your lightsaber so tightly you have to be careful not to inadvertently activate it. You glance back at Amaza, expecting to see her drawing her loose garment tightly around her neck, but the young woman’s vigilance remains unshaken by the chill setting into your bones.

The second floor is a hallway of long-unused dormitories connected by a circular hallway running along the building’s exterior. Tall, thin windows paned with smoky glass run from floor to ceiling every ten feet or so, letting in an ample amount of orange-tinted sunlight without giving you a clear look out on the city below.

>>2797417
“You see that?” Amaza whispers, placing a hand on your arm while gesturing at the dust-covered floor. There are foot tracks in the debris, distinct in shape if not direction. They’re smaller than your own - almost as small as Amaza’s - and their sheer number points to someone who has made frequent use of this place.

You hold a finger to your lips, indicating for silence, but the gesture is unnecessary. She presses herself against the inner wall and moves on ahead, cracking open doors to confirm the rooms are empty. There’s none of the warm tingling or soft pressure that accompanied your brief encounter with the Force-sensitive Thyrsian in the arena, but the further you go and the wider that cold void in your awareness grows, the more certain you become that you’re approaching something of dangerous portance. Maybe not the man you seek - or even something you want to find - but something significant, nonetheless.

Amaza rounds a curve in the hallway, dropping out of sight for a few seconds. When you next come upon her, you find that she’s stopped at the end of the hall, which terminates in a demonic-faced double doorway similar to that of the lodge entrance, except that this one has doors to it. Two solid-looking slabs of carved wood, with ancient brass handles and a lock on each. Amaza pulls on one, then lets go of the handle and shrugs. You brush her aside and try it as well - it’s locked.

You pull out your lightsaber, switch it on, and slowly slide the blade into the lock. Your hand shakes a bit doing it, and you’re beset by the strange feeling that you’re an impostor playing at being a Sith. That embarrassing plays so powerfully in your mind that you jerk in surprise when part of the lock falls to the floor on the other side of the door. More sounds come right after it, a rapid series of creaks and thumps that could very well be someone moving quickly across aged planks. You grab the door handle and throw the door open, then step inside with your lightsaber held guardedly in front of you.

The smell hits you first. It’s wet and sour, like someone took a jungle and jammed it into a single room one-tenth the size. All things considered, the space is simply furnished. There’s a bed set against the right wall between two floor-length windows, and the other furniture expected of a bedroom - a nightstand, dresser, as well as a kneeling desk with a rug and a few throw pillows laid out beside it.

>>2797424
What’s not normal is the room’s decoration. Thin-trunked trees grow from ceramic pots lining the room, shooting up towards the ceiling before being stopped by the limits of the bedroom. In lieu of growing upward they grow sideways, pushing against each other and intertwining branches until they form a single continuous growth of vegetation. They’ve been trimmed in places, with open spaces left in the wall of plant life for the doorway you entered through, as well as another doorway on the far left. The roof has been punctured - deliberately, you assume - to allow rays of sunlight to reach those parts of the bedroom not illuminated by the windows.

“Look!” Amaza hisses, tapping a branch to her left with the vibroknife she had drawn without you noticing. A bulge in the branch shifts slightly, and four small black eyes blink at you. It’s the same type of lizard stored in Amaza’s pouch, though this time it's mottled brown hide is nearly invisible against the swirl-patterned bark it clings to. A quick scan of the room reveals six more of the things. No doubt a thorough examination would find several times that.
You motion to the only other door in the room and ready your lightsaber. Earlier, you had resolved to use words instead of force, but your disquiet has become so palpable that it seems to weigh on your shoulders as surely as these lizards bend their narrow perches. This door has no lock, and you reach out for the handle when you hear a creak from the other side.

You stop, and Amaza stops beside you. Two seconds pass, and the door explodes. A titanic blur of red and gray charges through the shower of splintered wood like a charging Uxibeast and collides with your chest. Something breaks on impact - you’re sure of that much - but your tumble across the floor and into the base of the bed is violent enough that a single fractured rib or collar bone becomes lost in the pain shooting from head to toe.

A metal blade attached to the wrist of a plasteel gauntlet drives towards your face, and you roll out of the way. Your lightsaber, which has always felt like an extension of your own body, becomes an unwieldy thing that you have to fumble with to reactivate. The curved handle that you had spent months to master is foreign to you again, making your attempt to bring it up to block the next blow clumsy at best.

The blade bears down at you again, this time in a downward slash. You see the lower half of a hulking armored body, far larger than the average Thyrsian or other near-human. Red plasteel plating covers durasteel joints and hydraulics, giving no clue as to who lays beneath the suit of power armor. You briefly consider the possibility that this is a guard droid, but your thoughts are cut short by the collision of your attacker’s blade against your own.

>>2797428
Your lightsaber should have cut right through his blade, but the two weapons collide with the body-rattling clash of vibroblades colliding against one another. Meteoric force passes through your body, and you cry out in furious pain as your battered arm swings towards the floor and your lightsaber spins out of control. The ground beneath you, cracked from the weight of the strike that nearly shattered your forearm, begins to crumble. With your hand no longer gripping it, your lightsaber deactivates and rolls down a plank tipping downward into the main chamber of the lodge.

You reach out desperately for the weapon, and nearly receive a severed arm for your efforts. Your attacker thrusts his blade at your upper arm, but merely catches your sleeve and gets himself stuck in the deteriorating floor beneath him. The mistake will only earn you a moment, but a moment is all someone like you needs in a fight to the death. You thrust your hand at him, reach out for the Force…

And find it gone.

There is nothing for you to grab hold of, no well of long-nurtured power to fall back on. Only you, this colossus of death, and Amaza. The moment you remember her presence, she comes into view, as if she was simply waiting for you to admit to yourself that you need help. She grabs hold of a plate on the attacker’s lower back and stabs away at the back of his knees with furious screams. Metal scrapes on metal, sparks fly, and your enemy lets out a helmet-filtered grunt before dropping to one knee amidst the hiss of damaged hydraulics. He swings an arm backwards, catching Amaza in the side of the head and sending her staggering into a window pane. She cracks the glass, but mercifully her momentum isn’t enough to carry her all the way through.

>What’s your move?

That's all for tonight

>>2797432
Get the lightsaber back. Go back to absolute basics with it's use. Use either the crumbling floor or the window to kill this dude via fall, whichever he's closest to. If Amaza has an extra weapon I wouldn't mind using borrowing one, I seem to remember that she's a fan of duel daggers

We don't really have many options here.

>>2797432
Retrieve the saber. Get somewhere where we can use the force. Target the joints whenever possible, Amaza just demonstrated the effectiveness of that tactic.

Good to see you back mate

Retrieve the saber. Get somewhere where we can use the force. Target the joints whenever possible.

>>2797432
You have no lightsaber, and whatever has thrown up a wall between you and the Force has left you dangerously unprepared to meet the threat before you. Your heart pounds, your arm can barely support you, and your mind refuses to focus on anything but the armored behemoth before you. Is this how normal people feel during a battle?

He tears his blade from the floor, taking a few feet of plank along with it, and swings it at you. You throw your back flat to the floor, avoiding the chunk of wood by a hair’s breadth, then roll off to the other side and push yourself to your feet. Your opponent recovers far more slowly, and struggles to rise from a kneeling position with one damaged joint whirring and clicking in protest.

It’s the first time you get a good look at your attacker. His torso is just as guarded as everything below the waist, with overlapping segmented plates that slide over and under each other with each movement. There’s machinery visible underneath the plating, but this is no droid. The man wears a red cowled helmet with a T-shaped visor that runs down into the shoulder pads of his armor. That black eye slit swivels towards you, and for a split-second the sunlight catches it just right. You see the whites of two humanoid eyes, widened in panicked terror that is directed wholly at you.

He swings the board at you again, and you avoid it with a single quick step backwards. It was a feint. His other hand thrusts towards your gut, carrying with it the electric fire of a force pike extending mid-swing. His half-kneeling lunge would have skewered you, were Amaza not grabbing hold of his armor from the rear and pulling him backwards with all of her insignificant weight. The man shouts in surprise and teeters back awkwardly. You move towards him rather than away, and grab hold of a flailing arm with one hand while gripping the side of his helmet with the other. Amaza catches on quickly and applies force in the same direction, and the two of you topple the man to the ground.

The cracked floor gives way completely and you fall side by side with your opponent, locked together in a deadly dance of who can manage to wrestle the other to the bottom before you hit ground.

It’s over too quickly for either of you to maneuver on top of the other. The two of you strike down simultaneously, though your impact is nothing compared to your opponent’s. The floor buckles beneath him, and you pray that he’ll simply keep falling into whatever sub-levels might be built into this place.

>>2798362
You scan the room for your lightsaber, and find it laying amongst the debris beside your opponent. You reach out to pull it free with the Force, but your weapon merely rattles under the wood beam it’s pinned under. Something that should have given you no trouble before is now a monumental task that no amount of focus will allow you to perform.

Injured, angry, and afraid, you scramble to your feet and make a mad dash towards your weapon before your opponent can tear himself free of the debris keeping his sword arm laid flat beside him.

He lurches to his left and drives his force pike at you, a weapon you had forgotten about in your desperate race to seize the only thing that will give you an upper hand in this fight. This time you don’t dodge the thrust. A fraction of your old confidence returns, and you grab hold of the pike’s shaft with a Force-strengthened grip that keeps your grip locked tight around the weapon. Your feet slide against the smooth flooring, then back again as your opponent attempts to yank his pike free. Now that you’ve removed yourself from that sickening botanical garden of lizards, you can think and feel again. Your opponent’s presence in the Force is unmistakable, a beacon of light that burns brighter than any of the other life below you. This is the Thyrsian warrior you were trying to find.

The man is breathing so hard beneath his mask that you can hear him over the electric crackle of the force pike held between the two of you. He lets out a battle cry that cracks with panicked emotion and tries again to yank his weapon free. You pull, and he immediately pushes, throwing you backwards with enough momentum that you have to let go lest you end up touching the end of the pike and its deadly current. While you back away you reach out towards your lightsaber to pull it free of the small pile of wood atop it, and this time you’re close enough to succeed. The weapon flies into your grip, and you activate it in time to deflect a two-handed thrust from your opponent.

A true duel begins, and your burgeoning confidence evaporates after only a few blows. Your opponent is slower, but his suit gives him an impossible strength that turns even those strikes you block into a body-shattering experience. He fights with the ferocious tenacity of a cornered animal, at times pressing forward with suicidal aggression, and other times falling back or hesitating even when he should be taking advantage of an opening created by his onslaught. Your lightsaber slides harmlessly across cortosis-imbued plasteel, and you retreat to a safe distance to rethink your approach while your shocked opponent stares at his arm to confirm it’s still attached to his body.

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>>2798363
This man is living in conditions just as poor as anyone else in the surrounding slums, yet he fights in a suit of armor whose raw materials alone are worth more than your starship, and sleeps amid a forest of creatures who create a gaping void in the Force. You’re reminded of your fight with Sadon, who had prepared his whole life to kill someone like you. But this man is different. He’s afraid, not angry. This man has invested incalculable time and energy in preparation for this moment.

Your opponent remains as still as you, poised to meet whatever assault you deliver. His pike dips towards the floor, and you shift your own guard to compensate. Then his helmeted head rolls down and to the side, and you lower your lightsaber in confusion. It’s impossible to see what’s going on inside that suit, but he looks as if he’s fallen unconscious. His knee joints are locked at a slightly bent angle and his gauntlet still grips the charged pike, but his arms hang limply at his sides with the sort of slackness you wouldn’t expect of someone fighting for their life.

>What do you do?

>Kill him

>Use the opportunity to cripple him

>Slowly approach and take his pike

>It's another feint. Stay where you are and remain vigilant.

>Get outside, further away from those lizards, and place a call to Sadon and Jevan for backup.

>>2798373
>It's another feint. Stay where you are and remain vigilant.
Speak to him. This fight is meaningless. We mean him no ill will.

>>2798373
>It's another feint. Stay where you are and remain vigilant.
Be wary of any force techniques. If we can use it now maybe he can too, now that we're away from those lizards.

Meanwhile, introduce ourselves to clear up whatever misunderstanding caused him to attack us.

>>2798464
This is the perfect option here. We need to approach this with diplomacy. It's literally what we were trained for.

>>2798373
>It's another feint. Stay where you are and remain vigilant.
I'm new and usually lurk but this is too awesome to not participate

This guy would be the perfect trainer for our guards. And the lizards are the perfect tools against force sensitives. Super excited. The only question is whether we can avoid their effects ourselves. Maybe we just need to train with our lightsaber while in range of the lizards so we're not fully reliant on the force.

Amaza did really well in our first real fight with her. I was kinda worried about her combat skill but she came through for real.

Can anyone with more star wars knowledge than me understand why a Thyrsian would be this devoted to killing either a Jedi or a Sith? I'm at a loss.

>>2798630
My guess would have to be that Jedi were responsible for the destruction of his lodge, possibly at the request of the Echani government, if this lodge started getting rebellious.

>>2798630
He's terrified because he's seen what force sensitives can do in a fight in the past. He was shocked that his armor deflected our saber because he's seen them remove limbs with ease in the past. He's been preparing with training, creating the priceless armor, and gathering these rare lizards just in case he saw another force sensitive, and he even seemed to want us to tail him when he first ran off because he knew that he could only face us with his armor and the lizards.

>>2798373
The Thyrsian’s stillness is merely an attempt to draw you in close for a killing blow, you’re certain of that much. You have no intention of falling prey to the trap, but you also have no desire to kill this very talented man and see his efforts go to waste. If he can go toe-to-toe with a Sith, he can train others to do the same against Jedi.

“I didn’t come here to fight you. I want to hire you.” You deactivate your lightsaber, but are careful to keep it held in a guard stance. Shifting positions takes time, whereas switching on the blade might as well be instantaneous. Yet to most people, the latter is the more powerful gesture. “In fact, I’m more impressed than ever.”

The man says nothing. Twenty seconds pass, and Amaza appears at the edge of the hole you fell through. Another section of plank peels off the flooring above and clatters to the ground near the warrior. His head jerks slightly and his pike arm moves, but he relaxes again.

“If you want me to leave, then I will leave. But I would like you to hear out my offer.” You hold a hand out towards Amaza to indicate that she really *should* stay still, and that this isn’t merely you creating an opening for her to strike. You meant what you said about having come here to do business, but you have little intention of actually leaving without an answer you like.

The warrior jerks again, this time dropping into a high crouch with knees bent and pike held outwards. His breathing quickens, and he swivels his head about as if taking in his surroundings for the first time.

“What’s your answer?” you shout, drawing his attention to you. He recoils in fear, taking a few shuffling steps back alongside a horrid screech of damaged powersuit motors.

The Thyrsian says something in his native tongue. It’s more mumbled than spoken, and has the air of a self-directed question.

“What?” You thumb your lightsaber switch in preparation for a continued fight, but the man across from you lowers his pike.

He groans and leans the point of his weapon against the warped flooring in front of him. “Where is the Jedi man?” The electricity from the pike sizzles and pops against the ground, creating a spiderweb of burnt wood that smokes and sends up bright embers.

>>2798808
You hold up a single hand in a placating gesture and keep your lightsaber as hidden as possible. “I am no Jedi, and I don’t want to fight you. I came here to talk.”


“Ah…” He deactivates his force pike and drops it. It takes you a few seconds for your eyes adjust to the lower light levels, by which time the warrior has begun to turn about the room in search of someone or something. “I saw a lightsaber.”

He idly scratches at his helmeted head and peers up at the hole you two made in the ceiling. Amaza drops out of view just in time for him to avoid catching sight of her, then reappears when he directs his eyes back to ground level. He extends his arms outward, then does the same with all five fingers of both hands. The back of his armor peels off like the carapace of an insect and clatters to the ground, exposing the black, jumpsuit-clad back of a humanoid figure.

“Talk later,” comes a slurred voice from inside the suit. He drags his arms out of the power armor, then pulls himself up by the suit’s shoulders and hauls his legs out. He’s still wearing the red cowled helmet that was tucked into the suit, which now looks comically large atop his small body. The process of extracting himself from the armor is a smooth and efficient process that goes wrong the moment he tries to step down onto the floor.

He slips, collapses onto the ground, then merely lays there for a few seconds as if he’s knocked himself unconscious a second time. It’s so comical a sight that you fear trickery, but this person didn’t abandon his warsuit and weaponry just to lull you into a false sense of security. Once he recovers from the fall, he rolls over onto all fours and looks over at you through the visor of the helmet still clinging to his head.

>Do you see breasts?

>No. That is definitely a man.

>Yes. That is, in fact, a woman.

>>2798810
>Yes. That is, in fact, a woman.
Damn, she must have really been knocked out. If thats the case she needs immediate medical care

>>2798810
>Yes. That is, in fact, a woman.

What would motivate her to work with us? Money? I'm not sure that she trained herself for revenge or just out of fear. It's something we should try to figure out soon.

>>2798930
I'd bet that a chance at the restoration of her lodge would be the best motivation. But I have no idea how we would go about something like that.

>>2798810
>Yes. That is, in fact, a woman.

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Or, rather, *she* looks at you. From this angle you can see the distinctive curves of breasts beneath her jumpsuit, features which had been hidden by her armor the first time you saw her. The second time, just before she ran, you had seen no more than her head peeking out above the crowd. Amaza had either been similarly fooled, or simply thought it wasn’t worth correcting your use of pronouns when talking about the warrior.

She pushes herself to her feet and strips off her helmet, then drops it to the floor. It’s no wonder you mistook her for a man. She has a flat nose, thin lips drawn down into a frown that looks permanent, and an all-around stocky look that is too thuggish to be called handsome. She’s nearly as short as Amaza, but far better built. Her eyes are surrounded by dark circles so distinct that you at first mistake them for makeup, and she wears a tight red cowl that covers up everything but her face and hair braid.

“Later…” She waves a hand at you and picks up her pike, then takes a few steps towards the stairwell hallway before stopping, looking at the weapon in her hand, dropping it and continuing onwards.

“Wait!” you exclaim, storming after her. She merely gives you a dismissive wave without bothering to look back, and starts making her way up the spiral staircase you had ascended earlier. You follow in silence, stopping when she stops, watching as her eyes flutter closed and her hand threatens to slip free of the railing. She takes longer to recover each time, but eventually makes it to the second floor and lurches towards her bedroom with a lethargic shuffle.

She makes a beeline for her bedroom, avoiding a hole in the floor by luck more than anything else, and drops onto her bed. A moment later she draws in a sharp breath and shoots up, then goes to one of the trees and snatches off a lizard from a branch. You couldn’t see how she did it, but she had a far easier time of it than you and Amaza.

>>2799248
The Thyrsian woman returns to the bed, places the lizard atop the headboard, and finally drops down for the sleep she so desperately needs. The trees to your left rustle, and Amaza emerges from the foliage as if it were the edge of a forest.

“What?” she hisses, gesturing at the collapsed woman. Your confusion is no less than hers, and you carefully edge closer to the woman, though your attempts at silence are likely wasted. It doesn’t look as if anything short of a sonic detonator will stir her from her slumber. Once you reach her and see the puddle of drool collected under her mouth, you take your hand away from your saber and allow yourself to relax as much as the Force-dampening lizards will allow.

Your foot touches something, and you look down to see a dagger embedded in the floor near the bed. The woman has scratched out countless twisted figures around the bed. They look vaguely the lizards, but that resemblance seems more coincidental than anything. Each drawing depicts a serpent with a flared head and two fangs, though the other aspects of the creature vary quite wildly with each depiction. The floor around the bed is covered with the things, and overlap where she ran out of space.

>What now?

>Forcibly wake her.

>Wait for her to wake up.

>Player’s Choice

>>2799253
Examine the room more closely while we have a moment. Then
>Forcibly wake her.

>>2799253
Examine the room more closely while we have a moment. Then
>Forcibly wake her.
So... Her mental state might be a problem. She doesn't seem to be sleeping. Hopefully that's why she fell asleep and it's not a bad concussion.

>>2799253
>>2799253
>>2799253

That's all for today

>>2799306
I mean, this seems as fair as anything to me.

>>2799253
>Wait for her to wake up.
If she's tired enough to fall asleep during a fight then we might as well let her sleep for a bit.

>>2799253
You back away from the bed and motion for Amaza to keep an eye on her while you take a look around. Aside from the lizards, miniature forest, and manic etchings, there isn’t much to see. The room she fled into, however, is another story. You step over the shattered remains of the door to find a fully-equipped workshop that rivals the one you set Hacna up with back on Voss.

The tables are littered with welding tools and data pads containing reference texts, most of which detail the processes of plasteel sculpting and metalworking. Some are more esoteric, such as a translation of an ancient Corellian text relaying the process of Cortosis-weaving in terms too flowery and artistic to be of any practical use. In the center of it all is an empty armor rack braces against the floor with wide buttresses.

When you come back into the bedroom, Amaza looks bored enough to fall asleep alongside the Thyrsian woman. The warrior is in the same position you left her in, but a closer inspection reveals that she has begun to talk in her sleep.

“Jolayan,” she hisses, rolling onto her side and throwing her hands up in the air to lash out at some dream foe.

You aren’t in the mood to stand around and watch this woman’s fitful nightmares. Reaching out with one hand, you grab her by the shoulder and give her a light shake, then step away.

>>2802067
Nothing happens.

Again you shake her, this time more violently. The woman is wrenched from her dreamworld back into reality, and she flails about, grasping madly at the covers before throwing herself onto her stomach and grabbing at the knife she had used to etch countless drawings on her floorboards. You kick it aside before she can get to it, and she reaches under her mattress to pull out another short, thin blade somewhere between a dagger and vibrosword.

You cover up your lightsaber hilt with your robes and stare her down as if you haven’t the slightest clue why she’s pointing a blade at you. It seems to work, and her expression softens as her weapon lowers.

“What?” she sighs, swinging her legs onto the floor and staring at you with bleary, restless eyes. “What you want?”

“Just to talk,” you say again. “I wanted to talk to you at the arena, but you ran off.”

Her eyes go wide in recognition as she finally remembers where she first saw you, and she leaps to her feet with every muscle in her body poised to strike.

“Relax,” you say with a slight smile. “If I wanted to hurt you, don’t you think I would have done that while you were sleeping?”

Despite her sleep deprivation and generally manic state of mind, the logic seems to strike a chord with her, and she eases her stance a bit.

“You Jedi?” she says.

“Why would you think that?”

She frowns and wags her weapon at you in a gesture more disapproving than threatening. “I sense you at the arena. I only not sense you here because…” She gestures broadly at the tree-clinging lizards, then sits down on the edge of the bed and hangs her head, looking as if she’s in danger of falling asleep again at any moment.

“That doesn’t mean I’m a Jedi. That only means I’m a Force-sensitive… like you.”

She grunts in concession of your point.

“I’m Leera Varrus,” you say as you take a few cautious steps towards her. “Would you mind telling me your name?”

With a slight incline of the head, she turns her steely-gray eyes on you. They’re bloodshot, dilated from adrenaline, and flutter closed before shooting wide open again. “Xoxyon Kau,” she says finally. “Why you come here, give me bad dream and make me put hole in floor?” She gestures at the yawning chasm in the center of her bedroom, apparently under the impression that your earlier presence was merely imagined.

“You’re a very talented warrior. I’d like your help to-“

“Help? *You* need help?” She laughs darkly and moves her hands around in front of her in strange patterns. “*I* need help. Dreams in the night and worrying in the day. So tired of it all.”

>How do you convince her to work for you?

>>2802069
Well before we can decide if we can help her we need to know what her problems really is. It seems like her force sensitivity might be a factor in her dreams. That's probably why she has the lizards. We can help her to interpret and control her dreams if they're related to the force.

>>2802069
We can help each other. Tell me what happened. What did the Jedi do to you? You've prepared for years to battle Jedi and I'm the closest you've gotten to fighting one despite all that effort.

>>2802069
Tell her that we're putting together a team to prepare for a war against Jedi. And she's uniquely qualified to train our team.

>>2802069
That's all today

>>2802811
I'm still catching up through the archive, but just wanted to say I've enjoyed the game and I can't wait to join in next session

>>2802069
Ok now I'm caught up, supporting >>2802110
We need to actually know what she wants before we start offering or promising things. Odds are telling her we're putting together highly trained warrior troop under us meant to be capable of taking on jedi could likely freak her out anyway.

Speaking of which, we are planning to expand our tion force after the four we have are trained, armed, and completely loyal right? I just assumed the whole point of this was to form an elite personal squadron/small army to expand our influence and fight on our behalf, not just a few elite guards.

>>2804013
I always thought the idea was just for an elite guard. Our level of influence and resources couldn't support any large fighting force. Maybe for now keep it small and see how effective they are as a "proof of concept" and then if we move up the ranks and the situation allows we can expand into a larger fighting force.

>>2804013
For me it seems like she's consumed by her fear of Jedi. Maybe we could convince her by saying that she could become someone who all Jedi fear, with our help. But yeah, if we can get a clearer picture of what her problem is first then we should.

>>2804048
I always thought it was meant to be a small force that slowly got bigger and better equipped as our station grew. Short term goal of around 20 at our current station and have it grow as we rise up. Then once we've risen up high enough and have more resources available, start building up a small personal army alongside our personal elite force. That's very long term though, for now I'd want to focus on three things
1) training our tionese
2) training ourself because besides the teachings of the heretical holocron we've been kind of slacking
3) gathering knowledge and moving up rank, though I'd caution not even thinking about taking on our master until the his secret plans come to fruition, not that anyone was arguing for this anyway but just putting it out there.

>>2804228
On second thought I don't think our fellow Sith or even just the Empire would ever allow us to have an extramilitary personal fighting force. I bet some might even object to our guards as they are now.

I'm totally on board with more personal training. It's cool to make preparations to strengthen our guards but if we fall behind things could get ugly quick. I think training for martial skill while cut off from the force by the lizards would be wise and also improving our overall mastery of the force should be our main priorities after we secure this trainer.

We're in a dead end position right now so moving up the ranks would be difficult. I think the coup is our best shot at real upward mobility.

>>2802811

No updates today

>>2804253
>On second thought I don't think our fellow Sith or even just the Empire would ever allow us to have an extramilitary personal fighting force. I bet some might even object to our guards as they are now.
Not really, tons of sith have minions, security forces, and elite troops in their employ. Just building up our own force a bit, though I agree to keep things discreet.
>I'm totally on board with more personal training. It's cool to make preparations to strengthen our guards but if we fall behind things could get ugly quick. I think training for martial skill while cut off from the force by the lizards would be wise and also improving our overall mastery of the force should be our main priorities after we secure this trainer.
Agreed, building up Leera through training, knowledge, and forming our path through the force. Most seem to want to strike a certain level of balance and learn what we can, which is fine with me as long as we don't start trying to redeem and go full light, Revan played crazy darth well despite having training and mastery of a certain level of balance, so it's possible. I'm personally in favor of building on our rage and becoming a full darkside user though. Guys like Marr and Mortis show that you can get to that level without it turning you into a homicidal fruit loop.
>We're in a dead end position right now so moving up the ranks would be difficult. I think the coup is our best shot at real upward mobility.
Agreed, and I think so are most anons. Following our master's lead seems the best way to move up, and I'm pretty sure neither us nor our master think it's time to start competing and scheming against each other just yet, it's mutually beneficial for both of us if we wait till our positions are set. With that in mind, we'll have a lot of time before our master feels we're ready.

>>2805182
I just don't think that we can have a military force when we're not part of the Empire's military forces. As long as we're with the Imperial Reclamation Service there's no way we could have our own military force.

>>2802811
Your first instinct is to play upon this woman’s powerful fear of the Jedi just as you had Saxon’s anger, but you remind yourself that those two emotions are very different in nature. Telling her you’re doing something so bold as training laymen to go up against Jedi could only cause her to withdraw further, but it’s a topic that will need to be broached eventually, if she’s going to work for you.

There’s also the matter of the dreams she claims plague her. Whether they’re related to her Force-sensitivity or not, they’re something you can offer to help her with. No one else on this planet is qualified to, and she clearly won’t consider the Jedi as an option.

“I can help with that.” You draw within arm’s reach of her, but don’t dare lay a hand on her. She twitches and snaps her head to and fro, trying to catch sight of some demon that lurks in the corner of her vision. “What do you know about the Force?”

Xoxyon fixes you with a blank stare and waits for you to continue. It’s hard to tell if her glazed-over expression is one of exasperation with this intruder in her home, or simple exhaustion.

“The Force guides everything,” you go on. “I believe it put me here to help you.”

She lurches back on the bed and lets out a croaking laugh that sounds as if her ribs are rattling around loose in her chest.

“Same thing the Jedi say. We know how that ended.”

“We do?”

She settles back down and looks at you in confusion. Then, realization dawns. “*I* know.”

It sounds as if she has an actual history with the Jedi Order - or at least *a* Jedi. On the other hand, you can easily picture this woman bumping into an old man at the market and killing him in the belief that he’s a Jedi agent sent to capture her for her visions.

>>2806727
“If the Jedi tried to help you, why are you afraid of them?”

Xoxyon grips the edge of her bed and thrusts her face up towards yours. Her pupils are narrowed pinpoints set into circles of sallow flesh, and a dozen different nervous tics distort her manic expression.

“I am not afraid. *They* are.”

“Of you?”

She shoots up from the bed and nearly barrels straight into you, but you step aside in time to avoid her and motion for Amaza to stay her blade.

“Of the old man! The dragon!” She stomps about the room, gesturing at the crude drawings carved into the floor. “They think if I am dead, and my dreams are dead, then he is dead too.”

Xoxyon draws close to Amaza and jumps back with a surprised grunt when she spots the girl. You start to explain that she’s with you, but within seconds the Thyrsian woman has already forgotten her.

“Help was a mistake.” She stops at a cracked window and squints into the sunlight, but the glass is too opaque for her to see any of the city below her home. “Here dreams cannot find me, and Jedi cannot find me.”

>You need to settle on a single persuasive argument to get her to leave with you.

>The dreams are a warning that she’s meant to convey to the rest of her world. She needs your help to interpret them.

>Judging by the floor drawings, the dreams are still a problem. You have the resources and knowledge to find a way to stop the dreams permanently.

>The Jedi will find her eventually. You found her, didn’t you?

>There’s a war on now. Galactic borders are in flux, and the fighting will bring Jedi to Thyrsian.

>Player’s choice

>>2806728
>There’s a war on now. Galactic borders are in flux, and the fighting will bring Jedi to Thyrsian.

>>2806728
>Judging by the floor drawings, the dreams are still a problem. You have the resources and knowledge to find a way to stop the dreams permanently.

>>2806728
>The Jedi will find her eventually. You found her, didn’t you?
This flows best with the conversation

>>2806728
>Judging by the floor drawings, the dreams are still a problem. You have the resources and knowledge to find a way to stop the dreams permanently.
Changing my vote

>>2806891
>>2807011
I'll go with this so I can start writing. That's all for tonight.

>>2806728
I'm not really sure what her issue is but I'm thinking she has multiple personalities. She talks about the old man and the dragon. Her personality was either the old man or the dragon when she attacked us and when she passed out she reverted back to this more passive personality. We should ask her about this and it might help us motivate her if we can get the other personalities on board, or figure out which personality would get along with us more.

>>2808152
Oh shit. Yeah. So she's a force sensitive with a dangerous split personality and a Jedi was sent to help her control it.

>>2808152
Hopefully it's not too late to incorporate this into the next update, seems really important

Yo Hurt should I wait up for an update tonight?

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While we wait for hurt to resurrect, let's talk looks
How you guys feel about a helmet/mask hood combo?

>>2809449
All I know is that some kind of functional armor would be very helpful for the upcoming war

>>2808152
When she talks about her bad dreams it seems like that's what she experiences while the old man/dragon personality takes over. It came out when she felt threatened by us and she switched back after she fell through the floor. It seems like the best way to help her is to reconcile and recombine her fractured personalities. It's just hard to assume exactly what she would want done about her split personality disorder.

update when?

>>2809449
inb4 hurt brought back this quest just to kill it again

“It certainly *looks* as if the dreams can still find you.” You gesture at the drawings in front of you, and Xoxyon pulls away from the window to confront you.

“So? Little dreams. No big problem.”

You can’t help but scoff in amusement as you look her in her sunken eyes. “When is the last time you slept through the night?”

She shrugs, mutters something to herself, and goes to the head of her bed to pet the lizard she placed there. The creature doesn’t seem to particularly enjoy her stroking it, but it does no more than grunt and hiss.

“What you want from me?” she asks. You give her an innocent look that she dismisses immediately. “I am tired, not stupid.”

“You’ve been training for a long time to do one specific thing. I want you to teach my guards what you know.”

Xoxyon gives you a baffled look and points to Amaza. “This little girl?”

“And three others. The rest are bigger.”

She lets out a tired sigh and mills around until she finds her way back to the edge of her bed. “You know something about dreams?”

Sensing your in, you move in front of her and get down on one knee. “A great deal. But it would help if I could speak to… the dragon.”

Her eyes go wide with fear. “Why you ask me?”

You point a finger between her eyes. “He’s in here, isn’t he? Just like every other dream anyone has ever had. I think that’s who I fought while you were asleep.”

Something you said puts her into a panic, and she scrambles back over the bed to retrieve the knife you had kicked aside earlier.

“We fought?” She holds the knife out warningly and glances at the yawning hole in her floor. “I thought I imagine things!!”

“You remember our fight?”

“Yes!”

It appears you miscalculated, and rather severely so. Xoxyon’s eyes dart from you to Amaza every second, and she scratches at her neck and jaw as if trying to dig straight through to bone.

“The dragon isn’t some… part of you?” you ask, trying to buy yourself time as well as get the measure of her situation.

>>2814119

“No!” She waves the dagger at one of the holes in the ceiling made to allow in sunlight. “He is out there, far away. Not here! Do I look like old man?”

“Not one bit,” you respond quickly. “I’m just trying to understand.”

Xoxyon drops her knife to the floor and groans. “You worse than the Jedi. They would not wreck my home.”

“They couldn’t help you, though. And now you’re stuck hiding from them.”

The reasons for which you still don’t know. You’ve little doubt her paranoia is overblown, but also get the sense that her fear of the Jedi is based on some kernel of truth in her life experiences. If this were the mindless terror of a lunatic, she wouldn’t be throwing around half-joking comparisons between you and them.

“Why you want me to train these people of yours?” Xoxyon asks. “Normal people not fight Jedi. But I already know you not normal. You have the…”

She squints at you and runs her fingers through the air, as if tracing the outline of a Force-aura only you can see.

>Why *do* you put so much effort into acquiring a cadre of fighters who can kill Force users? Whatever the true reason, you can tell Xoxyon something that won’t spook her.

>That encounter with the Jedi on Sriluur has made you paranoid.

>You want to use them against your Master, when the time is right.

>Your ambitions lay in the Empire’s military operations. Non-Force sensitive Jedi killers will make you stand out.

>You fear the treachery of other Sith as much or more than any Jedi, and want to protect yourself.

>>2814149
>That encounter with the Jedi on Sriluur has made you paranoid.
We need capable fighters at our side in a fight against force sensitives. And we sure as shit can't trust other sith.
So she really doesn't have multiple personalities? Was that another one of those things you changed because we guessed it before you could fully reveal it? I was convinced.

>>2814191
Nope, I never had multiple personalities in mind.

>>2814149
>Your ambitions lay in the Empire’s military operations. Non-Force sensitive Jedi killers will make you stand out.
We need to build up our influence, and early too. We're already at a disadvantage being an alien when many of the higher ups in the order are hard lined traditionalists and our ambition won't allow for where we are know. We're moving on up, no matter what stands in our way.

>>2814222
As an add on to this, war is happening and we're gonna need to get in on that if we want some real power gain.

>>2814149
>Your ambitions lay in the Empire’s military operations. Non-Force sensitive Jedi killers will make you stand out.
Maybe the IRS needs to become more aggressive about their artifact acquisition in light of the upcoming war too.

>>2814149
>Your ambitions lay in the Empire’s military operations. Non-Force sensitive Jedi killers will make you stand out.
Didn't our master mention a possibility of a joint mission with the military and the IRS during the upcoming war? We'll show them off then.

Are we getting more updates in this thread? It might be about time to archive it.

>>2823681
Archiving it is probably a good idea. Hopefully Hurt comes back to life later

Ded