The Demon Moon (field trip)

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Lilaena stood uneasily, shifting her weight from one leg to the other as long minutes ticked by on the chrono. She'd forgone a jumpsuit or armor for something a bit more comfortable - brown and green robes in the style of the Jedi. Even in the wake of the Purge, her clothes would only garner a raised eyebrow and nothing more when seen in a crowd. The layered cotton wrap around blouse was tan, matched with pants in the same color. The overshirt was grey-green with tan embroidery on the sleeves with a dark brown and green obi around her slim waist.

An odd fashion statement perhaps, in light of recent events, but not totally out of the ordinary. Robes and obi belts were popular on many worlds, Chandrila for one, and Tatooine was also known for similar fashions. Lilaena shifted her weight again, studiously not examining her wristchrono to check the time.

Hawkins Grime, her student, was hunched nearby sitting on a low wall. They were close to the Palace, out of the slums nearest the Wall, but really just barely within sight of the palace fortifications. Salem Ave was meeting them here, or his proxy would be. They were not taking a ship from one of the two spaceports, instead they were to be guided to a private port somewhere nearby.

Perhaps it was within the Palace walls. Lilaena brushed some hair out of her eyes, tucking the errant strands behind one ear. Her face was sporting a red bruise across one cheek, and though she'd applied makeup to cover it, it was not invisible. It hadn't faded to purples and greens, though in time it would. The adjacent eye was bloodshot, but she could still see clearly. And one didn't need to see clearly to understand that being kept waiting was insulting. She was not dressed as Mandalore, but she had started to become acclimated to the attention such power brings.

Aggravated, she turned towards Grime. "Lesson time."

He perked up, back straightening inside the cumbersome exoskeleton. His wide-brimmed hat shaded his face from view, but it would not have changed expression. It was nearly impossible for him to control the exoskeleton's mask, or he just never tried to. Lilaena wasn't quite sure which it was, but she did know that Hawkins had a sabacc face that a professional player would die for. Which was appropriate, because it seemed that Grime had nearly done exactly that to earn it.

"We have dealt with the actual - using the Force to create something you can see and manipulating the visible. You have enough control over these large things that it is time you began delving into the invisible.

"The sentient mind is a complicated organ. The brain exists on an actual plane of existance, while the mind... the mind is metaphysical, not tangible or quantifiable. With a little telekinesis and brute strength you could squash a man's brain to pudding. With what has been known for centuries as the Jedi Mind Trick... you can get a man to squash his own brain to jelly." She paused. "If the occasion demanded it."

Lilaena took a few steps, and joined Grime on the wall, sitting carefully near him. "Before you can do anything of the sort, of course, you must learn the basics. We are surrounded by people doing everyday things. Focus on one and feel him in the Force. See how it surrounds him and interacts with him. Every movement will give off a ripple of affect, though it will be minute.

"Focus your thoughts, empty them out of your head, and sense your subject. To start with you may only be able to feel the strongest of emotions, but in time... in time you may even be able to discern thoughts. If you have strengths in that area, the next step is to begin to learn how to influence his thoughts." The Jedi set her hands on the wall beside her, leaning back a little as she scanned up the street towards the Palace. Was that cloaked figure watching them?

[Hawkins Grime]

Grime stood slowly, his stiff legs hinging and unhinging themselves and he gained a better stance for balance. He swallowed slowly, painfully albeit, as he looked down upon the milling crowd and passerbyers beneath them. He leaned against the wall with his hands; his eyes following one or two people beneath him until someone not so ugly or stupid looking appeared in their stead. The unfortunate factor was that if Grime looked at one for too long, their simple existence, normal appearance, obvious bliss, began to eat away at him and their image began to decay before his critical judgement and in a few moments, even the slimy trandoshan beside that one was a better sight to see.

Hawkins was actually elated De'Ville was willing to loose the secrets of the adept's mental faculties finally. He'd been waiting long enough that was as she had most likely kept him in the dark this long. Obviously it had come to her that after their last trip, Grime could be trusted enough and if it ever came to such a situation again, it would be more than helpful. And give him yet another advantage... But he had to focus on his thoughts? He had to tame the hatred that manifested itself as power? Why couldn't he just direct it at something?

The muscles beneath the pale face twisted and convulsed, his teeth grinded, and the upper lip of perfect mouth lifted ever so slightly in the smallest representation of the snarl it was meant to be. He was trying to empty it his mind of every hatred lined thought, Grime really was. He could hear the sound of his metal fingers against the stone of the wall as they curled in his frustration. It wasn't helping. Someone laughed, and he only wanted to tear their mouth open in a bloody fashion to cease it. Someone was coughing, someone cried, and someone else was yelling to stop some small theft. Why couldn't they all just die so that Hawkins could concentrate?

The hatred reached back up from the pit of his stomach and grasped his mind in a numbing embrace as pain and dread images flashed behind his closed eyes. Grime almost felt like doubling over as he turned away from De'Ville and coughed and hacked, warm blood gumming up his throat. It slid upwards as he continued to cough and hack, pathetically, only spurning more hatred for himself, until he could finally spit it out like a blossom of dark red on the pavement beside him. Grime let the last bit drip off his porcelain face slowly before he wiped it with the edge of his cape and then turned quickly on De'Ville, his eyes wearier and filled with a slight panic and the response.

"What is this, Witch?! Why does this thing control me, more than I over it?! You knew it would tear at me like this? Do all Jedi struggle with this demon?!"

De'Ville spoke on occasion as if there was something righteous about herself that no one else knew. As if she practically was some kind of Jedi. He wanted to rip her ears off and scream at her that they were extinct. That there were none left, the bloody Empire had killed them all just like they had intended to kill her not too long ago. He wanted to rip her eyes out and make her see the deaths of those children they had all murdered. Pain or no pain, they had bloody wasted them. Grime wouldn't shy away from it, he was a monster, nothing but an after image of something once maybe human. But De'Ville, for all that she had, just like the real Jedi had been, was blind to her real position in the universe.

This train of thought really wasn't helping, a small voice of efficiency and business spoke in the back of his mind, as Grime was in really no position to be turning it all upon the one source of authority who was willing to assist him in areas and make him more powerful. That voice was brutally murdered shortly thereafter for speaking up amidst the bloody vortex of hatred and suffering.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

"You lack mental discipline," she snapped, his anger feeding into her own emotions. Since the... incident on Coruscant... she'd been quicker to anger, and raggedly receptive of the emotions of those around her. "Most Jedi were trained since their birth to be able to control the Force and their own mind. As I was."

Her green eyes stared at him, big in her pale face as she struggled to control the volume of her voice. Frell it, and frell the Inquisitorate! Lilaena's hands clenched and unclenched as she blocked out his anger with not a little effort. She spoke in a harsh half-whisper. "I do not see the future, and cannot tell what affect my teaching will have on you. Your self-loathing changes nothing except it lessens the chances that you will learn anything! Your mind is too busy."

She gripped the wall she was sitting on with both hands. "Mental discipline is required for what you want to do. Strong emotions bring the Force close, and make it easier to grasp, but if they overpower you the potential of your ability will never be realized. So try again. And if you fail you will attempt it again. And again."

The cloaked figure down the street had vanished.

[Hawkins Grime]

And you lack true sight. Even immersed in my pain, I can still see this hell of an existence for what it is and the demons that we all are.

Grime clenched his metal fists until he felt his muscles shake and the frail bones go sore. He really did want to rip out those eyes, those green, green eyes; he only wanted her eyes to keep safe. Grime would leave all else in some mutilated state, nearly perfection, a fine line to step across into utter destruction.

=======

She laughed as the grape bounced off her chin and rolled down her neck and off her shoulder. Her eyes opened and darted quickly to meet with those of CENSORED and he smiled ever so slightly as her hand idly ran down his bare chest.

"You enthrall me, and enslave me in that emerald prison you keep in your eyes."

"Oh do I?"

"Yes, I feel almost vulnerable."

"Almost?"

That smile she had, it was reflected in her eyes even. It warmed his skin and the kisses they shared was something he'd regret to ever forget.

=======

He sneered, or did as much as he could amount to one as he turned back to the edge of the wall. He blinked a few times, his eyes stung from the pain in his chest. It would subside some eventually, it was just a matter of time. His fingers pressed against the stone again and his breathing came slow and forced in haggard breaths.

The hatred rose up within him as he looked across the populace of Iziz. Hawkins almost sighed in the despair of how many beings in the galaxy there were in total that Grime was determined to obliterate. He glanced down at his hands, the waves of heat making a visible shadow that gave his eyes a mirage-like perspective. The people below were just so ugly and stupid and... they were completely obvlivious to the pointlessness that made their existence. Simply their 'being' frustrated Hawkins.

Yes, the hatred was like some kind of internal symbiote, Grime could feel it, sucking at some wound it had dug itself into and filling it with its own self. Filling the wound and Hawkins along with it, it granted him an acute sensation of the pain that was always with him. His mind felt no less clearer, no less free of any of it; the struggle for control was still there. But the pain was there, in the air, almost like the very heat he seemingly conjured from the slightly expressing the furnace of loathing within him.

Grime reached out this time, hoping his mind was clear enough from the veil of hatred, coming across a prostitue he knew to work a couple of the corners in the Slums of Iziz. Grime could taste something in his mouth. He could actually taste it... He almost panicked as he had no real tongue or any sense of taste for that matter anymore and that he could actually taste the blood from cuts that he knew were on her back but he couldn't possibly see from this vantage or distance, not to mention underneath her shawl. And then it was like Grime could feel the fresh cuts, but his stomach was churning, his organs were convulsing in response. The symbiotic relationship was more parasitic than anything else and the darkness within him was a devouring abyss of his concentration.

He stumbled back, clutching his stomach again, that pain burning in his chest, as the slightest noise of his life support systems that were subtly hidden on his back beneath the armored mantle he wore kicked into another level of self maintenance.

"Bloody dren..."

Hawkins fell to his knees and then forward, his hands supporting him as he coughed up more blood. He gritted his teeth, trying to will it back but his body was just so weak beneath the exoskeleton. So bloody weak... He gasped, bloody saliva still dripping from his mouth and chin as he turned his head slightly to look to De'Ville, waiting for her scathing commentary. Just waiting for her to spurn the furnace and put him back on the course of ensuring the extinction of life.

Where his hands were, the ground hissed as they burnt into it, waves of heat were visible in the air all about Grime.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

He had been leaning against the wall, looking down from their vantage point on the walkway at the shops and road below. Lilaena watched him intently, moving ever so slightly as she sought to find a more comfortable position. He was seething, but she opened herself to his emotions, needing to keep close tabs to see if he was having any sort of success.

Tracking who he was looking at and focusing on was difficult. His sense changed, just a little bit, from a writhing mass of anger into a tight sphere of hate. The words that came to her mind were only tools used to describe his change of focus, but they worked. He suddenly reeled backwards, and she felt pain roiling off of him. Not his pain...

As he fell to his knees, she was searching the crowd below. A shawled woman stumbled, her hands going to her head as though she had been struck by a massive headache. Lilaena smiled slowly, turning back to her student.

"Excellent. If yelling at you is what it takes to get these sort of results, I should do it more often." A'na Eldhil had yelled often, the last few years. De'Ville broke away from Hawkins and looked down the pedestrian bridge they were on. A few people were walking their way from the palace. Was this it? "Rest yourself, and go over what just happened in your head. Ask me questions, if you want. You were successful, but you need to be able to refine and duplicate your achievement. In time, it will not affect you this much."

Lilaena put out her hand to help him from his knees.

[Hawkins Grime]

He didn't want her bloody help, he didn't want to ask her questions, and he didn't want go over what just happened. Grime wanted to take a nap, even one in the bloody limbo he could never seem to get past when he tried to sleep. Real sleep was a rarity and usually drug induced.

He hissed as he leaned back slowly and lifted his hand up, placing it in hers. The armor was ice cold to the touch still, the heat resistance being a favorable trait he'd been granted to his exoskeleton's plating since he had employed De'ville's Mandalorian's as his most recent armorers. She helped him to his feet slowly and he wiped his face with the edge of his black cape again before following her to back to the edge of the wall.

Lilaena had obviously spotted whoever it was they were supposed to be meeting because she glanced down the alley with more interest than a mere search. Grime saw the small group but was more attentive to himself, making sure he hadn't hurt himself too badly. The life support had relaxed itself, the buzzing noise now gone, and Hawkins took that as sign enough.

On the side of things, Grime mused over the image of De'Ville yelling at him from this distance, standing right next to him, and he backhanding her. He wasn't sure if he'd just leave it there or follow up with a knee to her ribcage or something of that sort but he figured he had the time to play with it more. Whatever it was, by the time he finished, she'd be a bloody mess.

[Razielle Alastor]

She was fairly certain that De'Ville had seen her, even if only for a moment. It didn't signify, even if she had. It was her esteemed duty this night to retrieve Mandalore and her Apprentice and bring them to her own Master, Callidus. Anxia was merely biding her time, she had arrived just in time to watch a show it seemed. She wasn't dissapointed. De'Ville's apprentice was none other than the pale man that had accosted her not that long ago on the shady streets of Iziz.

It warmed the space where her heart had once been to see that particular specimen of a man in pain. He deserved his torment, whatever it was. She watched him intently and some things seemed to come clear to her. He didn't seem entirely.. well. If one could glean such information from the spasmatic hacking and coughing of blood. She felt the force of the dark side ebb and swell within him until finally, after an expulsionn of its cold power, he had completed the task he was setting out to do and collapsed in a pathetic, exhausted heap upon the ground. He even required a hand up, so it would seem.

This...? This was the best De'Ville could do for a student? Callidus should count himself lucky indeed to have Creas and herself as his adepts. They were at least not hacking up bits of lung all over the street after his lessons. No matter..

Anxia leaned against the wall, far enough away to conceal her presence, but close enough to have a rather splendid view of the debacle. Amusing indeed. She was late by their time, but in actuality she had arrived exactly when she meant to. It could be blamed on her voyeuristic nature that she had watched as long as she had.

She stepped from the shadows, dressed for their trip. Black from her glossy dark braid, to the tips of her polished black boots. She fully expected them to be less than pristine by the journeys end, but never let it be said she didn't dress for the occasion.. or be lax in weaponry. She smiled..

Anxia still wore the cloak that had alerted De'Ville to her presence and as she approached the pair she kept it low over her eyes, concealing her identity. De'Ville would know who she was of course, but her apprentice could have no idea that the prostitute that he so carelessly accosted.. and been kicked in the face by, had infact been the Royal Princess of Onderon.

"There is no room for ill men on this journey.. Or excess baggage.."

Anxia stopped several paces away from them both, but there could be no mistaking her as the representative of the Dark Lord. Nor would she tolerate a word from the would-be Sith, she spoke only to De'Ville, completely ignoring her apprentice as if he were no more important to her than the slime beneath her shiny boots.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Lilaena looked up at the cloaked woman before her, and said softly, "I am sure your master will appreciate you creating conditions on your own initiative." There was a slight pause, and she slowly got to her feet. She wasn't in the best condition for the trip they were about to undertake - her back still extremely sensitive to the touch thanks to her visit with the Inquisitorate fiend Helghast.

The slap-and-patch job that the Mandos had done with what bacta they had been able to get ahold of had only begun the healing process. She'd need a proper dip in a tank in order to speed things along any more. A luxury she could not afford.

Hawkins stood as well, his exoskeleton making small noises as he got to his feet. He seemed to be supressing his pain, creating a sharp focus out of fury and pride. Lilaena arranged her cloak, and added, "We should not keep your master waiting any longer."

[Hawkins Grime]

Grime gritted his teeth partly in sudden hostility towards the messenger and partly in his attempts to stifle the pain crawling beneath his exoskeleton. Why was he coming along then? What was worth all of this? Why couldn't Grime just crawl into a corner and die? She... not any of these blasted wretches, but She had already... already crawled...

=======

Through a mouth of bloody remains, CENSORED spat blood as he moaned.

"Please... please... stop... leave... Mor... leave... her..."

"Stop what? She's almost dead, she's about to give up. Why stop now? Look, CENSORED, look at her! Look at what your bloody betrayal's comin' down to. She's just a bloody dog now, she ain't even speakin' basic. I guess that collar we put aroun' her neck really went to her head."

That bloody blasted laugh of Hydijjer's... CENSORED had one good frelling eye and at that very moment, when the devorian moved out of the way, he wished he didn't. He wished that the Good Doctor would just saw him in half already. He was praying they would mess something up, make an accident and just kill him outright. Dren, it had been... more than four months already, at least when he lost count, and they'd brought her in a while ago. It hadn't taken them long to find her. And now... seeing her now, CENSORED knew he could never actually let himself die, or kill himself, there was too much unsettled wrath to just let it go like that, but if one of these morons could just... do him a bloody favor. By the stars, if he could only stop looking.

=======

Grime stepped forward coldly. Blast this woman. Grime would more than have his chance. Hadn't that been it all along? He would suffer, and suffer more but in the end, everything would die, everything would crumble, and Grime would be there, facilitating it all. This strange woman had... diplomatic immunity for now and had only gone out of her way now to earn Hawkins' ire. Beyond that though, and how he might kill her later, she was of no importance.

[Razielle Alastor]

Beneath the hood, a cruel smile twisted her features. "My Master.. sent me to collect you. To my recollection he mentioned nothing of.. him." Anxia inclined her head in the direction of Grime dispassionately.

It was true, Callidus had sent her to fetch De'Ville. Anxia wondered what he would think about the extra baggage. It was no matter. The Demon Moon would claim any who could not take care of themselves. She had yet to experience it for herself, but her Master had prepared both his students well for a visitation. As for the pale one.. Either the wretch could hold his own, or he would perish and no longer be of concern to her Master. Either way, it made little difference to Anxia. She would complete the task appointed to her, to return with the woman.

Aside from that, they had time. She was working within the time frame given to her by Callidus and according to his design, they were not due to arrive for a while. "We are not keeping him. We shall arrive precisely when he expects us."

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Lilaena smiled pleasantly enough in response to the girl's words, and suddenly guessed at who she was. The voice was huskier than what was portrayed in the media, rougher perhaps, but similar enough that the cloaked woman had to be the Princess. Razielle Shadana.

The woman who had used the Force at the Masquerade, months in the past, and the Princess were one and the same. Salem Ave and the Queen's ward had been romantically linked in the gossip rags for the last two months. Lilaena had highly doubted that there was much truth to those rumors - a powerful Force user like Ave would not want to weigh himself down with such powdered fluff like a flighty Princess. But if she was a Force user, and his apprentice... it made a little more sense.

"I am not in the habit of bringing along useless baggage on important trips. And since I have been working towards this voyage for the better part of a year, you would do well not to confront me on my choice of travel partners." Lilaena raised an eyebrow, adding, "If you know who I am then you know it is dangerous to cross me, child."

[Darth Callidus]

“You tarry too long,” a voice intoned.

It was as if Callidus had been there all along, but only now did they become aware of his presence. The shadows around him seemed to inhale and exhale slowly, out-stretching nebulous tendrils that teased and tested the air with barely maintained restrain. There was an aura of absolute control about Callidus, the absence of passion or emotion in his character reflected keenly in the featureless mask he wore. Though his eyes could not be seen, his white-on-white gaze passed over the form of the pale man accompanying Lilaena.

“What is this?” he asked, the others in no doubt as to whom he was referring.

[Hawkins Grime]

Grime instinctively inhaled sharply, like one does when witnessing a train wreck, but Hawkins felt more like he was either one of the trains or maybe standing imbetween the two of them, he wasn't sure.

The pain though, it seemed accented and sharper, the uncontrollable urge to mutilate everything he could touch was suddenly so much more aware in front of the newcomer, who stood like a testimony of all the control there might've ever been of the darkness that Grime was currently master and slave to. Grime's perfect face remained impassive, only because the muscles beneath were writhing too much for them to be of any use.

Grime wished he had some measure of sense, some way to judge the increments of power between other adepts. He wanted to know where De'Ville stood in comparison and the other woman beyond that, and accurately as well because Hawkins figured he could gauge it from what he knew about De'Ville, but the others left him in the dark.

He did slightly relish that he was unexpected and thus giving him something to work in the very least compared to what they were already bringing to the table. The shadows cried for revenge though in paranoia that De'Ville hadn't thought Grime enough to mention, even after Coruscant... maybe.

He made no move though. De'Ville obviously had the ball in her court and while Grime could wish all the death and carnage upon these two, Lilaena could at least explain and let them get moving finally.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

She inclined her head slightly, ever so slightly, in response to Callidus' appearance. "My student, Hawkins Grime." She was wary of showing weakness in front of Grime, but it was not weakness to respect someone who was stronger. Was it?

Hawkins stood still beside her, breathing slowly and steadily as he waited out the drama unfolding in front of him and because of him. "I see that you have also chosen to bring unexpected company along." Lilaena gave the wench a pointed look, and returned her gaze to Callidus. "I do not care, however. All I care about is that you make good on our deal."

[Razielle Alastor]

De'Ville's pitiful attempts to save face in front of her apprentice didn't bother Anxia in the least. She had been working on the trip for a year? Unsuccesfully. She couldn't do it without the help of Callidus and had been forced to make a pact and to wait around for his whim.

Oh yes.. Anxia knew who she was.

The great, or at least most recent, Manadalore. Well she didn't have her spiffy gadgets on her at the moment. Anxia had taken down bigger, faster and more powerful men within minutes. She didn't fear De'Villle. She wanted her dead. The woman was reprehensible. Her audacity in the way she marched into the Queen's presence, issuing her ultimatums. It was a false treaty and they all knew it. Why it was being honored.. for the sake a of few months peaceful reprieve was beyond her. But then, now it made sense, didn't it? The treaty.. Her pact with Callidus? Once she had been taken to Dxun, would her word crumble to dust and Iziz be overrun with war once more?

Anxia could only hope her Master had some lovely plot to eliminate the other Sith from their presence, on the Demon Moon. Having others around was not somethiong she thought that he would suffer long. Then they could get back to their own matters, instead of helping creatures that were as like to turn on them as the moon they were visiting with them.

Saying nothing, Anxia backed up to her Master's side obediently and waited.

[Darth Callidus]

They stood still for a moment longer. The shadows that curled themselves, almost lovingly, at Callidus' feet seemed to reach out towards Grime, like the forked tongue of a serpent. As he had suspected, there was more to Lilaena De'Ville than met the eye. Turning away from the group, the Dark Lord uttered a quiet chuckle at the thought of what would transpire once they had reached the tomb.

“This way,” he said, and they made their way towards the private shuttle that would take them to the Demon Moon. As Lilaena had suspected, the craft was within the walls of the Palace. It was a modest craft, carrying no identifying marks. Should questions be asked to its purpose, the craft would be explained away as one of the many transports of Victer Dejan – the captain that the Queen had enlisted to aid Onderon in defense and economic growth.

Once on board, Callidus instructed: “Anxia... take the ships controls.”

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Lilaena settled into a seat uncomfortably, locating the restraints and securing them around her as the others did the same. She didn't know how she felt about Anxia taking the controls - after all the woman was simmering over with barely restrained animosity, most of it aimed at Hawkins. She'd have to ask her student about that, later.

[Hawkins Grime]

Hawkins took a seat behind De'Ville and watched quietly. What else was there to do? They were in the company of what was obviously the host of the evening's events and Grime was not a fan of how many playing chips these other two had over De'Ville and Grime. It wasn't like De'Ville had bothered to inform Grime of very much that was going to occur and this sensation of floating in a mirky and blinding darkness was not welcome in the least.

[Razielle Alastor]

Anxia dissapeared, sliding into the pilot's seat and running a few systems checks. She could feel the many thoughts running through the air. De'Ville's hesitation to Anxia, coupled with the barely restrained hostility from her apprentice left an oozing trail of mistrust in the air. Anxia fed from it, letting it surround her. Let them wonder themselves into a stupor, pondering her intentions..

The vessel began it's ascent into the night, leaving the safety of the palace, and the comfort of relative civilization far below. They had left familiarity and walls, trading them for darkness and monsters.. She glanced behind her, knowing that her Master would be with her soon. Like the other two passengers, she had no idea where their destination lie, she simply obeyed her Master's command.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

The trip was completed in almost utter silence as the four kept their thoughts to themselves. Lilaena kept her eyes fixed to the transparisteel windshield of the shuttle as the green moon loomed larger and larger in it.

The shuttle left the atmosphere of the planet and quickly entered that of Dxun, orienting to the new location of the ground. Anxia landed the shuttle where her master, Callidus, told her to, and nearly before Lilaena had processed the fact that she was actually going to Dxun, they were there.

She got to her feet, and her apprentice did the same.

[Hawkins Grime]

Grime had no idea what they were actually up against, which didn't help his ever nagging existence of discomfort. He could hear... howling, like the wind... but not, and it was coming from somewhere. Grime didn't mention anything as he wasn't entirely sure that it wasn't in his head. He could faintly hear the gnashing of teeth and what was like nails against durasteel but it all sounded so... off. He did his best to not let it get to him, like he tried to not let the creep with the smoky tendrils get to him, or the fact that he, Grime, had something similar bubbling beneath the surface of his persona.

Hawkins stood beside De'Ville, hating the whole lot of them and the situation to boot. The noises, whether internally fabricated or real, were still there. He turned slowly towards De'Ville, leaning down slightly towards her smaller frame.

"And now?"

[Darth Callidus]

Even at ground level, the mists of Dxun were nigh-impenetrable. It was the rainy season and the chilly weather, matched with the jungles warm swamp land, had blanketed the land in a rolling fog. Though fronds of green could be seen through the mirk, the covering gave the entire area an almost dream-like feel. Even the ground beneath their feet was partially obscured. Undeterred, Callidus strode forwards, his senses expanding to encompass the now increasingly familiar territory.

“Quiet,” he muttered. With a gesture, he motioned for the others to follow as he began to walk. The Temple was at least half an hour away, providing they encountered no resistance...

[Razielle Alastor]

Anxia followed, a pace behind Callidus, and at his right side. It was not possible for her to see through the swirling murk with any sort of visual clarity. Instead she kept her gaze straight ahead, following her master while keeping vigilance over the perimeter of their happy little group, with her other senses. A body's length from their legs, things of this moon lurked, watching from the mist. Things that were, as yet, only mesmerized by their presence, but soon would grow more.. active. They were fine so long as they kept moving.

She ignored the urge to become annoyed at the disrespectful questioning. One did not question Callidus. Particularly not in their present situation when only he knew their terrain and peril. Though it seemed that the question was directed at De'Ville, not at her master after all, the interruption was still showed the lack of restraint.. However, her personal mission to gain control over her emotions was winning the battle so far. She remained silent and attentive, not allowing the distraction of the green apprentice trouble her again..

[Lilaena De'Ville]

De'Ville hushed her apprentice with a look, though he probably fell silent of his own accord. Callidus strode forward, and after a moment Anxia followed, keeping close by her master's shoulder.

Lilaena stepped off the ramp onto the soil of Dxun, and hiked behind the two Force users Not for the first time she wondered what the intentions of Callidus were. He was certainly trained in the Jedi arts, yet seemed to care nothing for the fate of the Jedi Order at the hands of Palpatine and Darth Vader. What then were his motivations?

For the moment, however, it was enough that she was getting what she needed. This trip would - would - bring her the power that she needed to complete Master A'na Eldhil's orders. And then...

Abruptly Lilaena realized that her mind was wandering, and she snapped back to attention. Onderon's wilds were filled with monsters, and Dxun was hundreds of times worse. Viligance was needed. She noted that Grime seemed to be hyperaware of his surroundings, which was good. Before they had arrived he had been briefed on the most dangerous of the creatures of Dxun, though anything that lived on this moon was a danger to them in some fashion.

Extending her senses through the Force, De'Ville felt a darkness slightly to the east of where they were headed. Her eyes tracked in that direction, and then a flock of screaming avian creatures burst through the mist from the west, swooping down on the small party with poison-tipped claws extended.

[Darth Callidus]

Something swept down towards Callidus, yet he did not move. Lifting one hand, palm facing outwards, he drew upon the Force to create a tight, invisible shield around himself – one which rippled like a force field as one of the creatures collided with it. The avian screeched and wheeled backwards, hanging stunned in the air for a moment before it lurched towards another member of the party. Dealing with such minor irritants would act as a suitable warm-up for the less skilled members amongst them.

[Razielle Alastor]

The creature righted itself, flapping with hostile intent for a moment before making it's move, a dive - with talons outstretched, directly for the next person in the delectable line of appetizers, herself..

Anxia's first instinct was to simply to unsheath her blades and separate it's head from it's body, and be done with the acursed creature, along with any other vile thing that thought to fly off with her. However, it was far too early to be leaving a trail of blood for other larger predators to follow. It would serve them better to refrain from such as long as they could, in her opinion.

Agile and graceful as a forest nymph, Anxia spun away from the avian beastie, dropping quickly into the natural cover of the smog swirling at her waist level. As she disappeared, the creature passed over her with a furious cry.

Before rising once more, Anxia familiarized herself with the feel of Force as it moved through the mist, part of it. Drawing upon her lessons in illusion crafting, she held onto the feel of the moist vapor, swirling and cold as corpses, as she rose. Effectively cloaking herself in the image of nothing more corporeal than mist, she cautiously watched the air for any other creatures made territorial by their arrival. She did not mask her presence from the party, for the time, she had no need to..

[Hawkins Grime]

One of the beasts rushed into Grime. They slammed into the ground and Grime wheezed as he grappled with the thing. He arched his back, he could feel his frailty shaking within the confines of his exoskeleton. His porcelain face contorted with such inner rage as he struggled. The thing was using its wings to keep Hawkins from rolling them over and he had to do everything he could to keep it from biting down on him. He twisted, using his hips to finally roll them over so that he was on top and silently, for he had little breath to spare, he felt the demonic rush fill him and the thing squawked awkwardly as the exoskeleton jerked and Grime felt the life of the winged creature flutter out of its broken neck. More screeches in the air ensued, Grime assumed the gnashing of teeth wasn't just in his head then. He couldn't see through the fog much less sense anything. If De'Ville had taught him how to read minds or anything, maybe he'd have a better idea of what was going on there but still.

He stood, almost rising too quickly and stumbling to a knee before rising again. He looked behind him and about him before stumbling closer to De'Ville's side. Examining his arm, a greyish fluid ran along the grooves the scratches had made in his armor plating. Poison? Nothing on this forsaken moon had a sense of mercy. Given other circumstances, this might've been the best visit to any zoo that Grime had even been to.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

One of the avians dropped straight out of the sky onto her as others attacked her companions. Lilaena dropped to one knee and thrust up her hands as the screeching creature plummeted towards her, claws outstretched.

Between her hands she pulled the Force into a ball of energy and let it fly upwards to meet the avian. The sphere of Destruction was small, but explosive, and the beast's head flew apart as the dark energy detonated against it. De'Ville rolled to the side as the body flopped to the ground, and got to her feet.

Grime dealt with another of the avians, and hobbled back to her side, staring at his arm. She nodded to say 'well done' and the party was moving again. The creatures had been dealt with, but their corpses would soon bring more predators to this location. Callidus moved forward quickly enough, his haughty apprentice dogging his footsteps like a shadow.

Lilaena wondered how well Hawkins was going to fare, knowing that under his armor plating he was surprisingly frail. He did not seem the worse for wear after their attack, which was good. Odds were against them, after all. Dxun did not treat strangers kindly.

[Hawkins Grime]

Grime quickly followed behind De'Ville, waiting for the next attack but it never came. A few more moments of wading through the mist and they had come upon what appeared to be some structure. Its foundation was more apparent at first, and it was obviously massive for the rest of it disappeared into the ceiling of mist before them.

Their destination hopefully. And equally hopeful was the notion that once inside, other things outside could not get inside, providing some kind of shelter. However, given the atmosphere, why would it make any cynical sense to have a place that was actually safe on a planet so actually dangerous.

De'Ville, in their encounter with the avian creatures, had launched what appeared to be hatred, concentrated darkness at one of the creatures. Was that a more advanced form of what Hawkins could do with fire? Or was it something altogether? And the other two, what they had done was something relatively new in the book of tricks that Grime was compiling. Impatience rose up out of him like an itch but he quickly stamped it out, aware of what a small blunder might turn into in this environment. Given that, it did not keep him from barely colliding with De'Ville who had stopped walking in front of him.