Jedi Insurgence - a Star Wars RP

[Through the Living Elan He/Him]

8 hours ago, Channelknight Fadran said:

@Ravenclawjedi42 @Justice_Magician @Scars of Hathsin @Ancient Elantrian @ΨιτιsτηεΒέsτ @The Bookwyrm

 

The morning came through the fog that day. Light shone in beams through wisps of mist and dew - obscured, but not hidden. It still reached through Aria's window and shone against the far wall, striking just shy of the shelf holding the hologram she'd finished recording the night before. In fact, she'd barely slept a wink up until at least midnight, running her mind through the same impossible choices over and over again. What to do, what to say, what to think; how terrible that here and now, the thing she knew best was uncertainty.

Because, after all, Darth Krarik was expecting them. Aria thought she could sense his anticipation from here - it was a sharp, heavy sort of feeling. Like clinging to the top of a jagged cliff.

She knelt upon a rug, watching herself in the mirror. There wasn't much to see, really - save perhaps the little sunken crevices that age had given to her, and the scar across her left eyebrow from that Assassin all those years ago. For now her hair was down in a choppy bundle, drooping just across her shoulders. She'd gotten it cut recently, up to the top of her neck... except, of course, the one braid that now hung halfway down her spine. She usually kept it hidden; not out of embarrassment, but rather because no one else really needed to know. It was a decision she'd made for herself, and one she would maintain until the time was right.

Rikani Holnogar: her Master. He had tied that very braid for her when she was only nine years old, and again every morning they trained and worked together. Seven years he had done it, until his hands weren't so good for it anymore. Now, every morning, Aria Feisyyd tied it herself. Not because she was ashamed; not because he had never seen her become a Jedi Knight; not because of any obligation or creed or doctrine, but because she'd made a promise to herself the night he died.

I've always wanted to see, he'd said, the next generation of Jedi. I want to see what they learn from what we left behind. I want you to become your best self, so that someday you can want your own padawan to do the same.

Two lightsabers lay before her as she tied her hair back into its regular shape. Normally she might've wrapped the ends with her braid, but today she just held them up with a pair of long pins. The braid hung down across her shoulder, and she watched the hilts in deep contemplation. On the left was her own lightsaber, made years and years ago... she had found the dark green Kimber Stone in nearly under five minutes, and was the first among her fellow younglings to forge a blade over the span of about an hour. Even the Masters would remark on the stability of the saber, and in friendly bouts often struggled to tear their blades off hers.

The one on the right had been his. How it was found, why it was brought to her... all that, she did not know. That last she'd seen of Master Rikani was his vicious duel against the Assassin, and in the ensuing shipwreck it was nowhere to be found. Yet three years ago - the very same day she'd taken Nayla as her Padawan - it had wound up on the shelf of her wall. Indeed, he had always taught her that a Jedi's blade is more than just a weapon, and so she had tended to it with every day as carefully she would an ancient holocron.

But today, she realized, was the climax. In fact, she'd suspected it might be from the moment she'd first felt Krarik's arrival; perhaps even when Cloud had wandered into their lives. A strange sense of finality, like the ending of a book. Aria was growing old; her body, slowly but surely, became weaker. Deep connection to the Force had made the symptoms barely noticeable, but over the years she swore she could feel her bones steadily grinding under the weight of gait and posture, and the muscles at the ends of her limbs creeping ever so quietly into disruption. It had become difficult, recently, to tie the braid every day.

Aria Feisyyd could feel it: the shift in the tide, the settling clouds over a once-stagnant sea. In all the Force it sounded, ringing distantly to her soul both in sleep and in wake. She felt it resonate through all the young friends she'd trained - Nayla, Reel, Rukk, Cloud. It touched them with its Will, lying in wait for this new generation to carry out the change. It would be years before they were as powerful as a Jedi Master; decades, perhaps, to grow as experienced as herself. But they would surpass her without a doubt, sooner or later. She wondered if it was the quiet touch of Rikani's memory that told her that she could not become a part of it.

"That's all I've ever wanted," Aria said aloud, reaching for her master's old blade. "Rikani, all I want... I want them to be strong."

An old memory spoke in her mind.

I want to be the last grateful ember, or the shred of flint across a stone. I wish to set your soul ablaze, so you can spread the light across the stars... so you can share the warmth with whoever comes next, so they can learn to burn even brighter.

That had been the last lesson he had ever given her; the night before he died.

 

---

 

When she emerged, Master Aria Feisyyd wore a hard cuirass over her robes. The pads and studs wouldn't do much against a lightsaber blade, but they helped to focus her form. She strode with a taller posture, a steadier gait, harder gazes; because today, she was going to need every last ounce of her strength.

Her braid had been cut from the stem, and two lightsabers hung from her belt.

"Is everyone ready?" Master Feisyyd asked.

“I guess so.”

[Channelknight Fadran]

18 hours ago, Ravenclawjedi42 said:

“As ready as I can be,” Rajib responded.

17 hours ago, Ancient Elantrian said:

“I guess so.”

Nayla looked... somehow less nervous. Than usual, anyway.

"Remember the plan," Feisyyd said to them all. "He'll sense us coming, and predict our every move - so we have no other choice than to go all-out. I'll lead the attack from the front to engage him in full Trueform combat, and with a bit of luck the lot of you will be able to overwhelm him."

[Mags she/they]

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I was told to write a character spiel, so spiel it is

Cloud had difficulty falling asleep that night. He had learned so much the past few days, his mind felt like it was going to explode. There were so many things to remember.

So he lay there, thinking. About the past and the present.

 In hindsight, had she ever actually taught him anything? She had left things with him, things he wanted more than ever to get rid of. But, he had learned more from Miss Witch in a few days than he ever had from her. For all her preaching, she had never made him any stronger. It made Cloud feel fulfilled, even content. He wasn’t what she wanted him to be. He felt free for the first time in a very long time.

“That’s not true,” she whispered.

Cloud sat up. Not this again. 

“I have much to teach you,”

Her soul was glowing again, the red light beamed from his bag that sat in the corner. He slipped out of bed, and moved closer.

If I look at it, and prove she’s not there . . . he thought. 

The bag sat there, innocently. He hadn’t touched it since he had dropped it there his first day here.

Her soul shone from within, the light leaking through the fabric. 

“You have simply not been willing to listen.”

Cloud opened the bag, and pulled out her soul. It was a pyramid that had some strange metal filigree around the corners. It always glowed a faint red, but now the light filled his entire room. He had opened the soul before, with his magic. The pyramid would split apart, and then it would show him things. Holograms of strange symbols, pictures that might be maps. 

Stuff he was sure were precious secrets to the Sith, but to him it was useless jargon.

Cloud didn’t open it this time, he had found that made her voice louder.

“Be quiet,” he said.

She did not reply

“It’s not really you, I know that, you’re gone because of me.”

She had given it to Cloud only a few days before he betrayed her. She had trusted him with this strange object. He didn’t know why, but he couldn’t bring himself to destroy it. He had tried several times, but a strange feeling always stopped him.

Ever since she had . . . been gone, he could Feel her presence emanating from it. Maybe it wasn’t her presence, perhaps it was just that dark power she had worshiped.

Even still, he had always felt it was her, come to haunt him for what he’d done.

“I found someone else,” he said, “She teaches me good things.”

“She teaches you weakness, only through me can you have power.”

“I don’t like what you call power.”

“Ah, but you’ve tasted it before! You felt it when you-”

Cloud shoved her soul back inside the bag, cutting her off. He couldn’t face this tonight, he could barely think about what might happen tomorrow.

He went back to bed, determined to get even a little bit of sleep.

----------------------------------------------------------------

Cloud felt energized the next morning. Today he would fix things.

He was eager to get it over with.

Edited October 2, 2023 by Justice_Magician

[Channelknight Fadran]

Krarik awaited them.

Today, he hoped, would be one to remember.

[Scars of Hathsin he/him]

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Sorry to be gone a while, what has happened since I disappeared 

 

[Channelknight Fadran]

3 minutes ago, Scars of Hathsin said:

 

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hiya!

We did a    t r a i n i n g     a r c

 

[Guest Ψιτιsτηε Βεsτ]

7 minutes ago, Channelknight Fadran said:

 

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A MASSIVE TRAINING ARC

 

[Mags she/they]

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and I dropped lots of unnecessary backstory 

 

Edited October 3, 2023 by Justice_Magician

[Ravenclawjedi42]

23 minutes ago, Justice_Magician said:

 

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So did I! But a while back.

 

[Mags she/they]

4 minutes ago, Ravenclawjedi42 said:

 

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yay! backstory is the best!

 

[Channelknight Fadran]

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did, uh... did anyone want to do anything before we fight the guy, ooooorrrrrrrr..........?

 

[Ravenclawjedi42]

26 minutes ago, Channelknight Fadran said:

 

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Eh. Doing stuff is overrated.

 

[Channelknight Fadran]

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okay imma just skip the pleasantries and launch us into this thing

time to GRAB SOME MUSIC

Spoiler

 

The first mistake Aria had made was in assuming he would be there.

A black mist hung over the stone where Darth Krarik had once sat, obscuring his Presence into a cold, empty field of improbability. He was here, yes - she could feel him, and so could her students by the looks of things. Unlike the time he had approached the Jedi Temple with such ease, they were all primed and focused on his Presence specifically; but even then, all she could really feel was a vague sense of here-ness. And Master Feisyyd maintained her composure all the while, but...

Well... I guess I can't say I'm too surprised. Krarik's voice came from all around them, piercing and cold. But I suppose I'm a tad disappointed. You're unfamiliar with this Technique, is it? Indeed, in our scouring of your Archives back on Coruscant... well, the Go'tor-rran - Step of Shadow and Mist - was rather undocumented. Only in legends now.

Indeed, she truly knew next to nothing about this strange power; but she hadn't taught her students to flee from an enemy they knew nothing about. Battle prowess came from the ability to make calculated risks and educated guesses, not in a memorized set of facts. Extrapolation of basic principles... that would be their primary (and pretty much only) method to win this fight.

"I suspect his mist powers," Feisyyd had said to them the day before, "are a combination of several Principles; and strange ones at that. It isn't ordinary Deception, like with illusion and thought redirection; and it isn't the ability to simply vanish either. And I don't think it's the sort of power that can be learned the same way many others can... it's uncertain, but there are rumors that the Sith Assassins are born and raised into Blood Clans: families of powerful Force-users, bred for killing. If they do exist, then they're among the most powerful forces in all the galaxy, and also the most secretive... and his Ability would be a secret generational Technique, reworked and refined over centuries of Assassins."

There really wasn't much to go off of with just that, but she would have to make do for the time being. Master Feisyyd ignited her own green lightsaber, falling into Form Four at nearly the same time she blinked into a blinding dash; trusting her students wouldn't be far behind. These first few seconds would be crucial to determine how his Ability worked - and, of course, what weaknesses they might be able to exploit in it. To do so, they'd need to press him into reacting even just slightly and extrapolating from there... all without direct communication, letting their guards down, or lightening up on the assault for even an instant.

Unfortunately, eliciting a response was far easier said than done. If his Step of Shadow and Mist worked anything like how she guessed, then it would take far more than just the application of basic Principles to bring him out. Starting a battle by a basic exchange was really more of her style: both sides holding out their true strength to conserve their energy, keeping each card close to their chest until forced to bring it out. If he was leading the combat with what had easily been his ace during their last encounter... well, it didn't bode well.

It would take a risk to draw him out, and so Feisyyd made one.

All the air rushed out of her lungs in a harsh pant, forcing her mind into an instant alert. Focus rushed through her limbs in the form of the strange, uncomfortable weakness that came from holding one's breath - effectively, she'd manually heightened her senses and self-control in the span of an instant. Combined with Force Perception and her own regular senses (put through dozens of layers of intricate filters and recognizers that she'd trained into her mind over decades), Feisyyd entered a heightened state of Truesight: Mar'Jib - ku - Noiyai, the Instance of Clarity.

Thirteen years of training this form meant it could hold for approximately three seconds, before the exertion would force her to take a breath and drop the state. Half of the first second was spent aligning all the variables and senses into a clear, cohesive Perception; not long after the count of one, her arms and legs had tensed or loosened in all the right places to prepare for her attack. After that, she slashed about in a calculated fury, striking every instance of mist and shadow that bore so much the residual stench of his Presence. No segment was spared.

To her students, it would appear as only a flash of green - and after that faded, a crash of wind to gust the mist about in a wild cyclone. The blink of an eye would have missed a sizeable portion of it.

And, perhaps most concerningly, it worked. As Feisyyd drew in a breath, the mist swished between her and the students; and there appeared Darth Krarik, red blade ignited, dropped into a deep crouch. There was only barely enough time to catch the glint of the lightsaber in his eyes before the Assassin darted for them all, surrounded only with an aura of pure severity.

@Ravenclawjedi42 @Justice_Magician @Scars of Hathsin @Ancient Elantrian @ΨιτιsτηεΒέsτ

Edited October 3, 2023 by Channelknight Fadran

[Through the Living Elan He/Him]

Rukk instinctively drew his lightsaber and ignited it. He breathed in and out nervously. You can do this. He thought to himself.

[Guest Ψιτιsτηε Βεsτ]

Pucky followed suit. Nervous as well.

[Mags she/they]

Cloud immediately dashed towards the Sith, his lightsaber ignited. He made several slashes, trying to distract Krarik so others could attack. He opened his mind to see if he could sense anything from his enemy.

Edited October 3, 2023 by Justice_Magician

[Channelknight Fadran]

4 hours ago, Ancient Elantrian said:

Rukk instinctively drew his lightsaber and ignited it. He breathed in and out nervously. You can do this. He thought to himself.

3 hours ago, ΨιτιsτηεΒέsτ said:

Pucky followed suit. Nervous as well.

 

2 hours ago, Justice_Magician said:

Cloud immediately dashed towards the Sith, his lightsaber ignited. He made several slashes, trying to distract Krarik so others could attack. He opened his mind to see if he could sense anything from his enemy.

Nayla was just behind him, running from the side to flank the Assassin. Her blue flashed with his green, synchronized to a pendulum of attacks. Her headache and nausea from the Trueform held to a dull thud, and her attacks were slower because of it - but she'd acclimated to the pain over these past two days, and held a steady barrage of attacks regardless.

As Krarik's blade swept about, Feisyyd took the moment to dash back into the battle. Three blades against one, with Krarik trapped in the center: he spun his lightsaber in a series of wide arcs, not a single moment of movement wasted as he masterfully deflected every strike. In the instants between swipes his eyes could barely be seen, screwed from beneath as his ever-present grin grew into a laugh of pure, malicious glee.

Yes, they could sense their enemy: Darth Krarik was ecastatic.

[Through the Living Elan He/Him]

25 minutes ago, Channelknight Fadran said:

 

Nayla was just behind him, running from the side to flank the Assassin. Her blue flashed with his green, synchronized to a pendulum of attacks. Her headache and nausea from the Trueform held to a dull thud, and her attacks were slower because of it - but she'd acclimated to the pain over these past two days, and held a steady barrage of attacks regardless.

As Krarik's blade swept about, Feisyyd took the moment to dash back into the battle. Three blades against one, with Krarik trapped in the center: he spun his lightsaber in a series of wide arcs, not a single moment of movement wasted as he masterfully deflected every strike. In the instants between swipes his eyes could barely be seen, screwed from beneath as his ever-present grin grew into a laugh of pure, malicious glee.

Yes, they could sense their enemy: Darth Krarik was ecastatic.

Rukk lunged at the sith, using his Truesight. He slashed here, put up a force barrier there, and continuously barraged the sith. His head pounded, but he ignored it.

[Mags she/they]

As Cloud attacked, he looked for an opening of any kind. He still had his blaster on him, and even though the Sith had seen him use the strategy before, it was still a pretty good trick.

Spoiler

like spinning

 

Edited October 3, 2023 by Justice_Magician

[Ravenclawjedi42]

Rajib enters both Truesight and Form III, and starts attacking the Sith.

[Scars of Hathsin he/him]

Reelwiron breathes slowly, igniting his lightsaber, and splitting them in half, falling once again falling into VI, and rushes in, swinging his lightsabers towards the sith, being further empowered by the force he pushed into his muscles

[Guest Ψιτιsτηε Βεsτ]

Pucky waited in case any of them needed support. But he felt out with the force.

[Channelknight Fadran]

8 hours ago, Ancient Elantrian said:

Rukk lunged at the sith, using his Truesight. He slashed here, put up a force barrier there, and continuously barraged the sith. His head pounded, but he ignored it.

7 hours ago, Justice_Magician said:

As Cloud attacked, he looked for an opening of any kind. He still had his blaster on him, and even though the Sith had seen him use the strategy before, it was still a pretty good trick.

  Reveal hidden contents

like spinning

 

4 hours ago, Ravenclawjedi42 said:

Rajib enters both Truesight and Form III, and starts attacking the Sith.

2 hours ago, Scars of Hathsin said:

Reelwiron breathes slowly, igniting his lightsaber, and splitting them in half, falling once again falling into VI, and rushes in, swinging his lightsabers towards the sith, being further empowered by the force he pushed into his muscles

2 hours ago, ΨιτιsτηεΒέsτ said:

Pucky waited in case any of them needed support. But he felt out with the force.

Their ferocity... their coordination... their sudden burst of power. Krarik was ecstatic - alight with glee - as he battled in a twirling maelstrom of counterattacks. He had seen so much potential in them, and yet they exceeded those expectations; with enough time and training, they would likely become powerful enough to rival the Dark Council. Oh, that would be a battle to behold.

The little girl, with power untapped; the jawa child, and his strange Technique; that non-Jedi... such a strange aura. The togrutan apprentice wielded Enchancement with incredible dexterity, and the one he recognized as Master Rajib... well, he was a force to be reckoned with for sure. There was another, waiting for a chance to strike - a curious soul, as Krarik had felt it during their challenge a few days ago. He was leaning further towards the Darkness than perhaps anyone else... and yet it seemed to have tainted him the least.

And Aria Feisyyd, apprentice to Rikani Holnogar. It was a secret he'd kept (for it held little weight to him) that it had been by his hand that the Assassin called Sahn Jedar - his own sister - had been killed. Mourning was not a familiar rite within his clan, or indeed the tendency to dwell on their fallen; but Krarik had known her better than anyone, and more than anything he knew her strength. A monster like herself, slain by a Jedi Master far from the age of his prime... well, one could only hope that the one apprenticed to him would become just as remarkable.

She was. Feisyyd had been wielding her full power from the start, and it showed. Krarik was repeatedly forced to fall into his own modified Trueform, already exerting himself dozens - perhaps hundreds - of times harder than he had been required to at his arrival. And yes, she had been at the disadvantage then - but this powerful spike of skill from the Jedi was no product of mere preparation. More than anything else, she had connected to these young pupils with a bond so powerful, it just about spat in the face of any Attunement or basic Principle.

For a moment he wondered if there was another Technique she was hiding - something capable of passing power and knowledge to others with ease - but soon it became clear that this could not be the case. No, the way these children fought was steeped in experience and finesse. All the learning had been natural. To think such a force for knowledge even existed in the galaxy.

Perhaps, in that case, he would have to fight a little more seriously today.

Krarik snapped back into the smoke, mist blowing about in every direction as swipes and twists went wild. You have twelve seconds to discern how my Step of Shadow and Mist operates. Succeed, and you'll counter my next attack with ease - fail, and I kill the youngest one.

[Shard_Blades he/him]

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Sorry I have been gone for so long. 

Inger ignited his lightsaber and rushed into the battle. Using his height as an advantage, he swung a low blow at the Sith's legs. 

[Mags she/they]

Spoiler

10 hours ago, Channelknight Fadran said:

Their ferocity... their coordination... their sudden burst of power. Krarik was ecstatic - alight with glee - as he battled in a twirling maelstrom of counterattacks. He had seen so much potential in them, and yet they exceeded those expectations; with enough time and training, they would likely become powerful enough to rival the Dark Council. Oh, that would be a battle to behold.

The little girl, with power untapped; the jawa child, and his strange Technique; that non-Jedi... such a strange aura. The togrutan apprentice wielded Enchancement with incredible dexterity, and the one he recognized as Master Rajib... well, he was a force to be reckoned with for sure. There was another, waiting for a chance to strike - a curious soul, as Krarik had felt it during their challenge a few days ago. He was leaning further towards the Darkness than perhaps anyone else... and yet it seemed to have tainted him the least.

And Aria Feisyyd, apprentice to Rikani Holnogar. It was a secret he'd kept (for it held little weight to him) that it had been by his hand that the Assassin called Sahn Jedar - his own sister - had been killed. Mourning was not a familiar rite within his clan, or indeed the tendency to dwell on their fallen; but Krarik had known her better than anyone, and more than anything he knew her strength. A monster like herself, slain by a Jedi Master far from the age of his prime... well, one could only hope that the one apprenticed to him would become just as remarkable.

She was. Feisyyd had been wielding her full power from the start, and it showed. Krarik was repeatedly forced to fall into his own modified Trueform, already exerting himself dozens - perhaps hundreds - of times harder than he had been required to at his arrival. And yes, she had been at the disadvantage then - but this powerful spike of skill from the Jedi was no product of mere preparation. More than anything else, she had connected to these young pupils with a bond so powerful, it just about spat in the face of any Attunement or basic Principle.

For a moment he wondered if there was another Technique she was hiding - something capable of passing power and knowledge to others with ease - but soon it became clear that this could not be the case. No, the way these children fought was steeped in experience and finesse. All the learning had been natural. To think such a force for knowledge even existed in the galaxy.

Perhaps, in that case, he would have to fight a little more seriously today.

Krarik snapped back into the smoke, mist blowing about in every direction as swipes and twists went wild. You have twelve seconds to discern how my Step of Shadow and Mist operates. Succeed, and you'll counter my next attack with ease - fail, and I kill the youngest one.

 

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Was it already established that we can't Sense him while he's misty?