Seeking Understanding.

[Evil Hobgoblin]

Hob quietly looked at the door to Deception's Study.

They called him Jeseth, but Hob had always believed he understood the nature of deception better than most. Liars lied to themselves, as much as they did to others. The last lie they made was always the one that destroyed them, causing them to leave their life and their work behind in favor of some attempt at truth.

If Deception was really dead, he would have left the lies behind to be discovered, but more importantly, he would have left interrupted work, abandoned because he believed it worthless.

And if Hob knew what it was that had ruined Deception, his understanding of things would be much greater. His purpose might even reveal itself.

Hob gazed at the door. ' Open, y' blasted thing, or ye shall feel my wrath,' he growled to himself uselessly. He drew on the Dark Side, questing about with telepathy.

An image formed in Hob's mind, of a small screen with words flickering into life on it. {Retinal ID scanner: engaged.}

The air around Hob tingled with energy for a moment, as it had three other times. {Retinal ID scan results: failed.}

Hob considered the problem of entry again. At least he now knew this door would not open for him.

But there were others. Ventilation shafts ran through the castle, and if there was one beneath the room's floor...

The dwarf ambled off, searching with his mind for the answers.

[Evil Hobgoblin]

It was a half hour later when Hob stepped into Deception's Study for the first time. He ambled inside, and the door closed behind him.

How curious that there should be a secret passage into the Study that was linked to an old storage room. How appropriate that it should be concealed by a false wall.

The study was currently unlit. Hob cast about telepathically in the dark, locating a three-candle holder with his mind. He concentrated, and the candles lit by an unseen flame.

Hob lit several other candles that were also in the study, providing enough light to see by. The room was comfortably carpeted, with several full bookshelves and an altar at one end. The dwarf sat on a plush pad-backed chair and considered the room.

After a few minutes of consideration, Hob decided a bit of postcognition would serve his search best. He hopped off the chair and wandered over to the bookshelf. He selected and removed one of the books, then wandered over to the altar. Holding both the book and the candle holder in his gnarled hands, Hob slowed his breathing and concentrated on the objects in his hands.

He was there kneeling on the floor, setting the candles in their places with one hand, and in the other was a lit match-

-the view was much higher, and the room was slightly different. The candles were arranged just so, and the room was filled with a harsh glow. He set the book down and began to chant, loudly and certainly, and could feel the power rising-

-there was a black armored and helmeted being lifting one hand in front of him. Displeasure rolled off the figure in waves. The hand closed, and Hob could no longer breathe-

With a violent start, the old Hobgoblin awoke from his visions. He regained his composure and slowly refocussed on the task at hand. There was an unanswered question that required understanding.

What did the visions mean?

[Count Mordrid]

<font color=gray>I whipped and slithered around the candles like a stream of winds, constricting them and pulling tightly upon their flames until the fires died within my grip. I was so weak and insubstantial, nothing like what I had once been when I roamed these castle halls so long ago. What had happened to me that I had spent so much time asleep within these walls?

She had woken me up... Nya Halcyon. She had spoken to me... And then he showed up, as well; Adalric was the fire in which I burned. I knew peace only now after Jeseth Cloak had set me free. He wished to speak with me... learn from me. But I had so little to tell him of my life. I was born to a family of Jedi during the Clone Wars, though both my mother and father were slain in their attempts to silence Darth Sidious' call to power. I knew that much only because Sidious thought it necessary to deceive me. He must have known that in time, I would come to decipher the truth. Perhaps it's what he wanted... to know how true I would hold to the oath which we all took.

Darth Vader must have known of my heart's betrayal, for he was the one who silenced me; the day's training had seemed all but routine, but once I saw the Royal Guard, I knew something had changed. I knew that my decision that night had been felt throughout the Force - They had come for me. My brothers lined up eagerly for these battles, and I saw their motions, their precision. The men in red robes were toying with them all... and it was not until my turn had come that they showed everyone the true measure of their power. My head came to a stop beneath my Dark Lord's foot as he called out to the others.

"Betrayal will not be tolerated..." A deep and ghastly breath was drawn as my blood continued to run. I could still hear him, I could see for a few more moments, but my body was numb. My body was gone... "The Emperor is not as forgiving as I am."

The others stood back, their heads hung in shame... That's when I choose to sleep... and I have slept here ever since.</font>

[Evil Hobgoblin]

Hob shook his head, feeling something odd about the room. He re-examined at, and felt something else there. Something, nebulous, insubstantial, something so vague it did not affect the future.

The old seer's eyes fell upon the book. It lay open on the floor- probably it had tumbled from his hands after his vision.

And then the words began to move.

I whipped and slithered around the candles...

Hob read the words with fascination evident in his face. They continued, as though someone were dictating directly to the page, telling a story that had to be told.

"Who are ye,
that speaks to me?"

There was no answer to his spoken query, just the slight whisper of small breezes.

So Hob tried again, telepathically this time, calling on the Dark Side and infusing the room with it. ~ Speak up! Don't be shy- Hob entreats ye to name yerself, and state yer purpose for bein' here and speakin' t' Hob.~

Hob cast about, then spied something he hadn't seen before on the altar. Something that hadn't been there before.

It was the shadowy figure of a man.

[Count Mordrid]

Hob felt a chilling breeze wash over him as the shadowy figure began to move, it's chest taking in deep and strained breaths.

"Help me, Hob..."

The shadow died away as something began to tighten it's restraints around it... for a moment, it felt as if Jeseth was present within the room, just as he had always been. The book slammed close, dust kicking up from it's gray and silver pages just before it flew back into it's place amongst the volumes of other records in Deception's Study.

[Evil Hobgoblin]

The crafty dwarf instantly knew something was amiss within the room. Nothing stood out of place- it was as if the room was still lived in.

And then Hob was enraged.

~ Ye've given up yer rights to this place, Deception!~ he bellowed mentally. ~ When ye left Black Hand, ye left yer room and yer work. Ye had a chance t' return, and spurned it! Now, yer power in this place has ended! Hob commands ye to return t' th' rest ye craved at yer death, and interfere no more with Hob's work!~

The Hobgoblin waited, but there was no reply to his order. After a moment, the gnarled old dwarf returned to the bookshelf and began inspecting the spines on the books for some clue as to what Jeseth had been studying during his stay at Bast.

[Count Mordrid]

<font color=gray>I felt for the book, kncoking it from the shelf. Even now, my soul burned as I touched it. Sidious had cluthced this book once... I knew he had... Just as Jeseth Cloak did... then Aaron Grimm. The stranger was my only way out. Jeseth had been searching for a way to breach the Gap between life and death. In me had had found that way... but he had left me incomplete. I needed a body... An empty shell by which I could once again rise and face this world. Wind began to whip and lick at the candles as I grinned within my own plain of existance. The fools would never know what they had unleashed until it was too late...

Jeseth might have known this, but they would not. I dispelled his spirit with enough ease; Did he think he would have the power that it had taken me nearly a century to even begin to grasp?</font>

[Evil Hobgoblin]

A large, bound tome fell from the shelf and caught Hob's attention. He gazed at it for a long moment.

This was no ordinary book. It felt as though the book contained pure malevolence, radiating outward in waves of defiance against its physical form.

Hob felt akin to it. He, too, despised the wretched form with which he had been birthed, and yet he had risen above it in ways beautiful people only dared to long for.

He bent over and his eyes read the title.

The Book of Anger

The gnarled dwarf gazed upon it in silent consternation and apprehension. Was this what Deception had been working with before he had fled Vjun and the Black Hand? Could this book be the reason he had turned from his former brethren?

Would it do the same to Hob if he attempted to understand its' truths?

There was only one way to know. Hob reached out a gnarled hand and picked up the book.

Screams echoed from Deception's Study continuously for an hour.

Not long afterwards Hob stumbled into his chambers clutching The Book within two other books of lesser importance. He fell atop a pile of gold coins and slept, exhausted at the mental effort it had taken him to fight off the book.

[Aaron Grimm]

I followed the directions left to me by Jeseth. What did that mean, his death? I spent some time looking for him, looking for the book. His death was a violent tremor within my mental construct. I approached the door with silent ease, cutting through the shadows and into some wild candle light. "Retinal scanner?" To no surprise I passed. The door slid open and a wind blew through disturbing the natural movement of my clothes. On this wind was a whisper that swirled through my ear. In that moment i felt the book and its anger and then i felt its preasance missing."It's missing!" I knew it was gone I felt it in the breeze. Anger and rage lept up from some unknown source and it filled my mind and stomach with the pain. Then it happened, like clockwork. The gears of fate spun themselfs into a baeutyful pose and i found my mind curled up in the abyss of my mind.The darkness filled my eyes and I was lost. I was lost in the recesses of my mind. My body and an unknown force was guiding my beaten vesel. What my body did now was up to its own decision. Only my body knew how it would react, what it would do, what it would hurt. God help the soul of those in its way.