Hunt in Darkness...(Hob)

[Satine Capashen]

Alpha stands inside the burned out remains of a house, seemingly thinking. This was the same house he and Graem D Snowbringer had first joined forces. Where they had tried and saved what was left of a family from Hobgoblin and Sorsha Kasajian. And a sensor he had placed here before leaving had said Hob was lurking around here. Alpha had looked around, but stopped when he came to the remains of the child's room, memories flooding over him. Memories of when Sorsha had blinded him. Memories of when he swung his sword, hitting someone. Memories of the child screaming out, and of Sorsha's laughter.

Suddenly, Alpha feels a dark presence, and he gets up, looking around the ruins, his hand on his large, Epyon-style sabre hilt.

[Evil Hobgoblin]

Hob stood in the house's ruined doorway, but it was a much different Hob than Alpha had ever seen.

Instead of a scruffy, cackling trickster with apelike tendencies that Alpha had previously faced, the Hob that was before Alpha now had not only washed himself, but also put on a hoodless black robe. Hob's hair was tied back in a ponytail, and his beard was neatly trimmed.

Inside the eyes of the Dark Dwarf was something altogether new. A hint of pain, of rage, and of loss certainly, but his eyes spoke of a new kind of understanding.

"Are ye here t' stop me ag'in, lad?"

They were the first words Hob had ever spoken aloud to Alpha, and they wavered in and out of an accent. Hob continued to talkin his deep bass voice, his eyes defocussing as he recalls their last meeting.

"I lost control of of my clone before, yes. Couldn't maintain the effort it took, to hold such a complex illusion. Or so I believed. Yes, yes... Hob understands now where his technique was wrong. All... all is one. The one thing- it is all. Yes. Yessss...."

The Dark Dwarf's eyes focus on the man who would be his opponent, and a sudden rage springs into his eyes. A grin seeps onto Hob's face, and he cackles. ~ Don't mess with the Hobgoblin. Ye might regret it, lad.~

[Satine Capashen]

Regret it? I don't think so! Alpha thinks through the force, running torwards Hob, his lightsabre snapping on with a pure hiss instead of the normal lightsabre sounds of powering up. A dark blue-black blade springs, up as Alpha charges his opponent.

[Evil Hobgoblin]

"All... all is one... ALL." Hob's deep voice intones. He examines his right hand, as if in wonder.

Hob raises his right hand, palm outward. An electric crackle runs between his fingers, and a large wall of telekinetic Force comes into being in Alpha's path of attack.

Edit: GRAH! That's it, I'm turning the sig off!

[Satine Capashen]

Alpha literally slams into the wall and bounces off, sliding back a little.

Neat trick.

[Evil Hobgoblin]

Hob walked forward with electricity continuing to crackle and zap between the fingers of his hand. He waved his hand to the right and suddenly, the ruined wall to Satine's left tears itself off the ground and throws itself at the Young One.

[Satine Capashen]

Alpha let's loose a power surge of pure force, and molds it into a bubble, protecting himself from the falling wall. As the dust clears, Alpha is picking himself up off the floor, his sabre still ignited. The Young One keeps the Force around him, his presence in it becoming more powerful than Hob had seen it before.

"Was that all?"

[Evil Hobgoblin]

Hob does not reply with words. He simply extends his right hand a little farther and a thick, black tendril of dark light extends itself from that hand. The tendril speeds and curves through the air, seeking Satine's Force-rich presence.

The black tendril touches the bubble that Satine has created and attaches to it like glue. The tendril seems to pulsate as it draws energy from the shield and sends it to Hob. Soon, the shield will be drained and the tendril will seek another target- Satine himself.

[Satine Capashen]

Alpha tries to use the Force to blank out the trendril, but to no avail. The Young One uses the Force and begisn to heat up a ball of air, making a fireball. He throws it at Hob, trying to distract him. Hob doesn't fall for it though, and just keeps up the draining, the shield losing power.

Alpha charges Hob again, suprising him by the suddeness of the move, and swings his sabre downwards...

[Evil Hobgoblin]

(ooc) That's a lightsaber, right? If it is, then this post will function as it stands. If not, then I need to edit it to reflect the path Hob would take in that circumstance.

(ic)
The blade swung downwards at Hob, who danced to the backwards and to the left, raising his right hand higher in an instinctive defense. The black tendril that was emanating from his hand jerked upward, as though it were a vine or a whip, and it intersected the lightsaber's blade as it came down.

The Dark Side Web suddenly had a new target.

The lightsaber blade was suddenly swallowed in darkness as the Web thread began to consume its' powerful energy supply. The thread of the Web pulsed and rippled as though it were a snake that had just eaten something bigger than itself as it drank down the lightsaber's energy in one big gulp.

Then the tendril disappeared, and all was completely dark.

Hob lifted his left hand, which was beginning to spark and crackle with energy as well. An orb of bright white energy suddenly burst forth from it, lighting up the area that had previously been dark. The orb shot towards Satine and his protective shield.

[Satine Capashen]

{OOC:It was a lightsabre..}

Alpha tries reinforcing his shield as the orb impacts the Jedi. It rips the shield away, and throws Alpha into a half-burned wall.

"What the frell was that?!" Alpha asks himself as he gets up, his helmet sliding over his face. He looks around, drawing a long sword, and a ornately carved dagger. He walks slowly towards Hob, trying to get his shield back up.

[Evil Hobgoblin]

"That was your energy, freed," Hob says curiously. "I had no method for containing it within myself, so I released it at you. I wasn't expecting it to react so violently. I wonder if I can do it again."

Hob holds out his hand, and another orb forms, this one noticeably smaller than the first. It sits in the palm of Hob's massive hand, looking for all the world like a juggler's colored ball.

The dwarf frowns. The result was obviously not what he wanted. He negligently tossed the ball towards Satine and it arced gently through the air.

[Satine Capashen]

Alpha, prepared for it this time, jumps above the sphere, and lands beside Hob, swinging his rune-sword towards the Dark One.

"My energy? Thanks for the info. Try this!"

As Hob ducks under the sword, Alpha uses the Force and superheats the air, creating another fireball, and slamms Hob in the shoulder with it, the dwarf's skin crisping.

[Evil Hobgoblin]

(ooc) Information on the "Aura of Pain" can be found here:

pub2.ezboard.com/fswvstit...21&stop=31 (http://pub2.ezboard.com/fswvstitanicstarwarsroleplayingarchive.showMessage Range?topicID=3917.topic&start=21&stop=31)

(ic)

Hob hisses in pain, but not surprise. In fact, he was somehow expecting to be hurt from this attack.

The fireball's heat burns Hob's flesh and boils his blood. The Dark Dwarf's shoulder was awash with too much thermal energy.

Thermal energy? Wasn't that... Yes. Yes, thermal energy was energy.

Hob focussed on leeching the thermal energy from his shoulder and twisting it into something he could use, pumping his own power into it as well. From his left hand, the red glow of the Aura of Pain emerged, then formed into an orb roughly the size of the first energy ball. From Hob's right hand, the Orb of Pain leapt at Alpha from close range.

[Satine Capashen]

Alpha is slammed by the ball, and feels enormus pain, falling to his knees, his mind becoming unfocused. The Young One grits his teeth against the pain, but cries out after a few seconds of enduring it...

[Evil Hobgoblin]

Sensing victory, Hob's hands are once again bathed in black light. Tendrils of Dark Side Webbing emerge from them and speed towards Satine, seeking to ensnare him and suck the energy from his body.

[Satine Capashen]

Alpha regains his senses just as Hob launches the tendrils. The Young One slowly rolls out of the way of the tendrils, but they follow. The Jedi grasps the Force, pulling it around himself like a bright cloak. He hits the tendrils as they impact Alpha's new, yet weaker, shield with a burst of the light side of the Force, hoping it will weaken the dark things. He gasps with the exertions...

[Evil Hobgoblin]

The tendrils contact the shield and begin their draining technique. The burst of the Light happens almost simultaneously, and the tendrils go through a few cycles of degrading, then being reinforced by the power they draw.

The blinding light suddenly expands far beyond what Satine had intended, engulfing the tendrils and breaking them apart. A dark light lances towards the light's source, and when it hits, a powerful shockwave erupts, tossing both Alpha and a hastily defending Hob off their feet as though they were nothing more than rag dolls or marionettes.

(ooc)This is kinda my take on why that happened.

The Light succeeded in breaking apart the tendrils as they were draining energy from the shield. This released the energy, which was in the process of strengthening the Light burst. Hob shot a concentrated burst of Darkness at it to prevent it from strengthening Satine, and instead it all became free energy that erupted in a shockwave. Sound okay to you?

[Satine Capashen]

{OOC:Sounds fine. That was a pretty good one.}

Alpha groans and shakes his head, trying to clear it, and then gets slowly to his feet, recalling his sabre.

He feels a pain in his side and feels the area, wincing as he feels a broken rib.

"What just happened there, Hobbie? OH, well..."

Alpha tries to ignite the lightsabre, but it just sparks slightly and remains dead. Tossing the useless weapon aside, Alpha prepares for an attack.

{OOC:EDITTED for the lightsabre thing.}

[Evil Hobgoblin]

(ooc) I drained that lightsaber of its' energy, guy...

By the way, the Aura of Force (blue glow) I used in this post will protect me from direct contact with objects, and it enhances my punches.

(ic)
Hob stretched his arms, then jerked his head back and forth. A blue aura encircled his arms and hands and Hob began to walk towards Satine. He did a carthwheel and scooped up a handful of dirt in the process. As he finished the cartwheel, he threw the dirt at Satine, then ran to follow up the attack.

[Satine Capashen]

{OOC:Editted last post about the sabre. Ok bout the AoF.}

Alpha closes his eyes and ducks underneath the dirt, taking the punches, thinking them to be normal. But he finds out that Hob rarely has anything normal about his fighting...

Alpha takes a one-two combo--one to the chest, the other to his left shoulder--and the blows knock his backwards, bruising bone and muscle.

"What the frell?!"

He opens his eyes, noticing the blue glow of Hob's arms, and rolls to his feet, dodging a kick, and throwing a punch into Hob's chest, knocking him back a bit. He follows it up with a sidekick, aiming for Hob's let wrist.

[Evil Hobgoblin]

Hob sees the sidekick coming and straightens out his arm, in essence making a very short punch. The Aura of Force glows bright blue indicating its' strength has been enhanced, and then the fist meets the foot. Hob's aim shifts at the last moment to make it so that the powerful punch impacts on the heel of Alpha's foot.

[Satine Capashen]

Alpha uses his free foot to hop backwards as Hob's fist impact the heel, making a large bruise, but no more. The Young One gives his armor a mental command, and a shield emerges out of his right forearm, ending in a claw by his hand.

"Let's try this again!"

Alpha feints left, and slams Hob with a right roundhouse kick to his ribs, not doing much but knocking the wind out of the dwarf. Hobgoblin retaliates with a punch, but Alpha brings up his newly made shield. Motes of blue energy surrounding the Dark JEdi's hand impacts cold hard metal, ripping through it. Alpha gapes, and releases the shield, the metal dropping to the floor with a clatter.

How in the nine Hells am I going to beat this guy? Alpha thinks, frantically looking around for a weapon to use.

{OoC:Editted for TTT}

[Evil Hobgoblin]

As Alpha searches for a weapon to use, Hob takes advantage of his distraction and tackles him around the waist.

[Satine Capashen]

Alpha its the ground hard, his breath exploding out of him. As he hits the ground, he kicks Hobgoblin away, and into a wall, rising slowly.

[Evil Hobgoblin]

Hob crashes through the wall, the blue aura around him protecting him from damage and likewise turning him into a projectile. Blue light filters through the hole in the wall, then winks out as Hob recalls the energy. Darkness seems to ooze from the hole, and Satine gets the impression that a fearsome presence waits for him just inside. ~ Come on in, boy,~ Hob projects. ~ Come in and get devoured.~

[Satine Capashen]

Alpha dispels the feelings of dread, and uses the force to project an image of himself, cowering on the floor, into Hob's mind. He also makes Hob oblivious to the real him, the Jedi Knight beginning to sweat form the exertion of the mind tricks. He wastes no time, and runs through the hole, landing a flying tackle into Hob's midsection, knocking him to the ground. The Young One's armored helmet slides over his head and darkened eyepieces slide over the eye holes as he lets loose a blinding flash of Force energy, then hits hob in the jaw...

[Evil Hobgoblin]

Taken offguard by the mindtrick, Hob reels from blindness and pain, barely holding onto the remaining energy he has. Without any hesitation, Hob releases all the energy he has left, pumping it into one last attack. Hob's hope is that by making a counterattack during what seems to be his most vulnerable point, he will catch his enemy by surprise.

A final tendril of Dark Side Webbing bursts from Hob's right hand, seeking to ensnare Satine in its' deadly grip.

[Satine Capashen]

Alpha feels enourmos cold, as the tendril latches onto his left hand, and begins to drain his energy. Alpha summons what energy he has left, and gives the tendril a barrage of force energy, hoping for the same effect as last time...

[Evil Hobgoblin]

Hob had been expecting Satine's move, since it had worked last time. Although he was tiring, his power was fueled by desperation- if an explosion like the last one occurred right over where Hob was lying on the ground, it could be lethal.

Hob twisted his own creation and it fluctuated from a tendril of darkened light to a hazy aura, attempting to counteract the infusion of Light by attempting a method that might enhance the Web's ability to corrupt energy by combing its' energy draining powers with some telekinetic gravitation.

All of a sudden, Hob feels a wrench in the ambient energy forces of the area. The Web breaks off contact with Satine's hand, and similarly leaves Hob's hand, contracting into a flashing ball. Energy rushes into the ball, causing it to grow and draw in other things- like chairs.

Hob and Satine both scramble away from it in separate directions, not quite sure what Hob's power has unleashed.

After studying the creation for a moment, Hob can only determine that he has somehow created a vortex of some kind that must be dispelled. Tired though he is, Hob lashes out with the Dark Side, attempting to block or siphon the energy away from the vortex without using another Dark Side Web.

[Satine Capashen]

"What is that thing?" Alpha asks, pushing his limits to the breaking point and getting to his feet, slowly and shakily. He watches as Hob tries to siphon the energy away, and the Young Jedi has an idea. If he were to draw some of the energy out of the...whatever it was...he could, maybe, get enough energy up for one final attack. IT was worth a shot...

The Young One begins to attempt to shuffle around the power form the vortex to himself, unaware he might actually be aiding Hobgoblin...

[Evil Hobgoblin]

The vortex abruptly shrinks in size, then tries valiantly to expand as though fighting back. Hob continues his work, suddenly realizing that more energy is being siphoned from the vortex than he knows how to draw.

A quick glance at Satine tells him the truth- he is getting help.

Hob continues to siphon energy away from the vortex, and it continues to shrink, but rather than let go of it, he starts feeding it into the air around him. As the vortex shrinks into nothingness, Hob abruptly opens a conduit from the energy in the air to Satine, intending to flood him with energy.

[Satine Capashen]

As Hob lets loose with the energy he had gathered, Alpha does the same. The two energies meet in the air between them, and an explosion rips through the centre of the meeting energies. Both combatents go flying, Alpha hitting a wall and feeling his left shoulder pop, and then go numb. The Jedi Knight gets to his feet slowly, aware of the pain in his battered body, but ignoring it very well.

"Nice try Hobs, what's next?"

[Evil Hobgoblin]

As much as Hob hates to admit it, he has nothing left. Already he's worked with more quantities of Force energy in a single battle than he ever has in his life. Even a simple telekinetic trick is beyond him at this point.

To answer Satine's question, he rips a tattered door off its' hinges with his bare hands and hurls it at his opponent, then he stomps through it, heading outside.

[Satine Capashen]

Alpha weakly puts his arms up, in an "X", blocking the door, but getting knocked into a burned out wall, the wall blowing outward, Alpha going through it. He looks and sees Hob leave the building.

"What?" he whispers. "We...we tied...That means I'm at least as powerful as Hobgoblin......" Alpha lays down, and rests, trying to get his strength up enough to walk to his ship...

[Evil Hobgoblin]

(ooc) Actually, considering that Satine has been around as an active character longer than Hob, I would say that Hob is at least as powerful as Satine. :)

(ic)
Hob storms off into the darkness of the desert, back to the cave he had taken temporary residence in. Tomorrow, he will issue another challenge- this one to Rama Sha.

And then perhaps he will have the techniques required to defeat Satine.

He may also understand the thrust of Deception's riddle. That was why he was on Tatooine, anyway.