Riddle me this. (Open and Liam)

[Evil Hobgoblin]

A message, typed neatly on a plain piece of paper, arrived at the Greater Jedi Order one day.

The recipient for whom the message was intended was "A Jedi." It gave no further explaination than that, nor stated what was inside its' tri-fold.

When unfolded, the message would display a simple text, with no distinguishing marks of any kind.

"I issue a challenge to this order of Jedi. Send your representative to the broken planet Alderaan to take it up."

[Liam Jinn]

Liam sighed. Alderaan eh? Oh great, a chance to get smashed by floating rocks! He thought with a small chuckle escaping his throat.

Slowly he walked up into his ship, the ramp closing behind him. A few moments later Nebulon burst through the atmosphere and into space. He punched in the coordinates and his ship jumped into hyperspace.

__________

Time passed and so did the trip. He hada slept most of the way, resting for what would come. Moments later, he came out of hyperspace and closed in on the asteriod field.

[Evil Hobgoblin]

The Jedi was immediately attracted to a bright glare coming off one of the asteroids.

It was too obvious to be missed, in fact. One might as well have tried to ignore floodlights on Mon Calamari.

In fact, that was exactly what it was- a huge floodlight. Procured from who knew where, brought to Alderaan for no apparent reason.

It had been set into the rock of a particularly large asteroid, and attached to the floodlight was a small control terminal. Even from a distance, something was visible blinking on it, although the lettering itself was too small to be read.

Up close, it was easily determined to be a riddle.

Riddle me this, Jedi.

This thing, all things devours:
Birds, beasts, trees, and flowers.
It kills the king and steals his crown
And even brings high planets down.

What am I?

Below the last sentence was a cursor, waiting for an entry from the attached keypad.

[Liam Jinn]

Liam landed on the asteriod and, wearing a suit made for space, journied out to the terminal. He read the riddle and thought about it for a minute. A smile crossed his face and he entered his answer: Time.

[Evil Hobgoblin]

The floodlight cut off upon Liam's entry and new text began to appear on the screen.

A good guess, you have made, Jedi. You may be suitable- but to be certain, there will be another test. It lies on Gall, in the Zhar system.

The X marks the spot.

[Liam Jinn]

Great.. he thought; he hadn't expected to go planet-hopping. He vaguely remembered the name of Gall, but luckily for him, his memory wouldn't be finding the planet. Liam made his way back to his ship and took off towards the Zhar system.

This time during his trip, he performed matinence on the life-support system on his ship. Though by the time he arrived at his new destination, he was afraid that he had caused more damage than he had repaired. The air inside the ship was very chilly, enough so that he was forced to wear a jacket to move around comfortably.

The nava-computer finally found Gall and sent his ship through the atmosphere. Liam didn't bother looking around for the clue yet. Instead he set his ship down in a local spaceport and began asking around. The people usually gave him no more than a sneer. Absolutely great.. Countless hours later, he set off on his own search for the 'X'. The Nebulon lifted off and began scanning the planet.

[Chase Starwalker]

"So what're we looking for?"

Liam spun at the controls to see the Padawan standing behind him holding the note that had arrived at the GJO. He had snuck aboard the ship after he had found the note, and stowed away. Chase sat down casually in the navigator seat next to Liam.

"Who sent this letter?"

[Liam Jinn]

He chuckled a bit at the newly revealed stow-away.

"You know, if you had asked, I would've been more than happy to take you along." He said turning to face the padawan.

"We're looking for an 'X'. I don't know exactly who sent it, but since we seem to be chasing riddles, I've got an idea."

[Chase Starwalker]

Chase thought for a moment. He eyed the planet's surface as the ship crept along it's scanning path.

"An X huh?" Chase looked at the miles of endless terrain. "This could be tough."

[Xazor Elessar]

Xazor rolled out of a large box behind the ships seats. A sheepish grin was on the Knight's face as she stood up to full height. Her eyes immediatly rested on Liam's face.

"I.....ah......hello Liam. I found the message and made a copy of it for myself. I thought that you might need me!"

She laughed slightly and walked up to him, sitting down in the extra seat behind and between Chase and Liam. She looked out the window and eyed the space around them.

"So we're looking for an "X"?"

She questioned, a bit confused. It made no sense to her....but she trusted Liam and knew that if he said that they were looking for an "X", then they were......

[Evil Hobgoblin]

Liam's sensors covered Gall in fairly short order.

His results were a great deal less helpful. According to the planet's terrain map, there were no fewer than one-hundred and forty-two canyons that crossed in X-shaped variants, as well as three tributary rivers, two sets of mountains, and even one building at the planet's only settlement- a spaceport city.

<center>######</center>

Meanwhile, in the Alderaan system, the asteroid with the floodlight on it exploded into dust, shattering the device planted on it into nothing but metal fragments.

[Liam Jinn]

Liam sighed and looked around at the people in his cockpit.

"Well, I guess we turn around and try the only X-shaped building. I'm hoping that we won't have to start searching the canyons."

His ship made a U-turn and a few minutes later was back at the spaceport. The three Jedi made their way to the building and stopped once they entered the doors. Liam began looking around for clues, people giving him odd looks as he did.

[Evil Hobgoblin]

"Scuse me."

Liam looked up. The building he and the Jedi were in was a rather nice lounge, and the man confronting them was security of some kind.

"You got a pass to be in here? 'cause you can only come in if you're a member."

"Hold up, Jerv." Another guard was approaching. "Got word. Apparently this guy is Liam Jinn, Jedi Knight and special guest of Mr. I. We gotta show him to the 'Closet'."

"Oi- what a wierdo. Oh, well- the closet it is."

The two security guards escorted the three Jedi over to a small door inset in the wall. It was out of the way, where no one would see them come or go. One of the guards opened the door for the three of them.

Inside was a small cleaning droid, with some cleaning implements nearby. Literally, it was a closet.

The droid blinked suddenly and whirred on. "Hello, Jedi," it said.

"I have a riddle for you," it added.

"One and one, true, is two.
But one and one, eleven is, too.
Phonetically, there is to, too, and two
Or phonetically again, two, two, and two.
Which is six, true.
Two in all forms, is two
But in what language is a zero and one, two?"

[Liam Jinn]

Liam had to think over this for awhile. He looked at his fellow Jedi and shrugged. Turning back to the droid he scratched his head.

"Binary?"

[Evil Hobgoblin]

"Finally," the droid replied. "I was beginning to think you were stupid."

The droid cleared its' throat, which was odd, because droids usually have no need of such. "One last riddle, and then the real game begins."

"This riddle can be found in a city among the clouds. The unused section of Deck 10, I might add."

[Liam Jinn]

"Thanks.." He said sarcastically.

The three Jedi made their way back to Liam's ship, not stopping until they took their seats in the cockpit. Liam was thankful there was only one riddle left, they were growing tiresome. The Nebulon exited the atmosphere and began the jump to hyperspace. He let the navcomputer find their way to Bespin and he closed his eyes and began to rest.

When he woke, Xaz informed him that they had arrived.

[Evil Hobgoblin]

The unused section of deck 10 turned out to a set of cargo bays. Docked at one of those bays was a Kaydin-226 transport; a transport used for carrying construction droids and other large material. As a result, it was too big to fit inside the station, which meant Liam, Xazor, and Chase all had a view of a huge cargo hold.

The hold was empty- its' cargo had been offloaded, after all- except for a small computer terminal at the far end of where the Jedi were standing.

From all appearances, the terminal was off.

[Liam Jinn]

Liam sighed. From the looks of it, this seemed like a trap. But, there was only one way to find out.

"Chase, stay here..."

Xazor and Liam stepped into the hold and made their way to the terminal at the other end.

[Evil Hobgoblin]

The bay remained silent and inactive, except for a slight hum that indicated the engines were on standby.

[Liam Jinn]

Sighing once more, Liam took out his lightsaber and activated the terminal.

[Chase Starwalker]

"Well the terminal seems to be working.." They turned to see Chase trail up behind them. They both knew he would not stay behind on such a mission as this. He searched over the terminal with his eyes, sighing in unison as Liam activated his lightsaber.

[Xazor Elessar]

Xazor spun around to see Chase behind them. Shaking her head she sighed.

"Chase...go back to the ship. This is not something for you to be doing...."

Her words were gentle...but she was upset that he did not listen to them...

[Chase Starwalker]

"With all due respect Xazor, I think I am more than capable of handling myself."

[Xazor Elessar]

Xazor growled to herself and looked at Liam wondering why he had not said anything.

"Fine...but if you cause an ounce of trouble...it's back to the ship for you!"

She said softly and then turned to eye the terminal...wondering what they were to do now....especially since they had extra "baggage" with them. They would have to be especially careful with an expericence lacking Padawan...

[Evil Hobgoblin]

The terminal activated without any fuss or fanfare. It was obviously the activation terminal for the cargo bay's door and shield mechanism, and it looked as though it had simply been set onto standby mode.

The terminal sat there.

Liam, Chase, and Xazor, stared at it.

The terminal, not to be outdone, stared back.

After a minute or so, it gave up the contest and emitted a little device from a port on its' surface. The device extended, scanned the group, and then retracted.

The terminal's screen began displaying several messages in its' computerized version of language. Windows appeared, ran through code, and then blinked out.

Finally, a window came on: red text on a black background, making it difficult to read.

Riddle me ths.
Riddle me that.
This riddle's answer
Is under my hat.
Neither rain, nor sleet
Nor snow, nor heat
Shall me from my appointed rounds keep.

Cannot be tasted, nor felt
Nor heard, nor smelt
And I am like nothing you have seen under the sun.

What am I?

(ooc) Rules for this bit are as follows: No hints! Each wrong guess escalates the danger the Jedi find themselves in, and if you delay too long in giving a response to the computer, that will kick things up a notch too.

Also, the more time that goes by, be it by delay or by wrong answers, the more power Hob is gathering to himself, and should there be a fight, he will prove stronger and more prepared for battle than normal.

Enjoy guessing. :)

[Wraith Frostmourne]

Wraith now decides to make his presence known to the group. Now was the time. An icy shadow appears out of nowhere just behind the group. "Do not draw your weapons or sabres, for now atleast. I have folllowed you here because I am in search of someone. Do not ask why, for my quest is my own business. I will offer as much help as I can to get through this, but do not expect us to become in relations with eachother in the end. We are not friends, nor meant to be." The ground beneath Wraith's feet was frozen solid. It slowly inched out towards Wraiths spectators. A freezing fog blured the partie's vision from his true identity. He felt no pain or pity whatsoever. He was as lifless as a ghost. Wraith stood, thinking upon the obstacle that layed before them. Wraith didn't know whether to trust them or not. They were all probably all strong Jedis. That was not his main concern. Wraith need to focus on the matter at hand. His soul task. To reach Evil Hobgoblin. He had done research and talked to many people trying to find the whereabouts of him. All resources pointed here. He wasn't sure, but he had to try and find out.

{ooc} is that any better hobgoblin?

[Liam Jinn]

Liam paid little attention to the new arrival. He focused on the riddle, reading it over and looking from Jedi to Jedi. Finally he turned back to the terminal, looking for a place to type his answer.

"Dark?"

[Evil Hobgoblin]

(ooc) Erm... that wasn't quite what I was looking for, but you are close.

Also, Mr. Frosty, there have been no very good hints that Hob has been behind any of this, so saying that you've been tailing Hobgoblin isn't a very good way to find yourself here. As things stand, tailing Hobgoblin would lead you to the Vjun system, by my design.

Not that I mind you being here and taking up posting time for these poor Jedi. :)

(ic)
"And dark, it shall be!" a synthesized voice boomed out.

The door leading to the interior of the ship slammed shut, and at the mouth to the bay, a force field appeared, blocking the Jedi in. The cargo bay doors began to close, and mechanisms could be heard that indicated the freighter in question was running through pre-launch mechanisms.

"Tell me, Jedi," the synthesized voice boomed again. "Have you never seen your own shadow?"

The fading light in the cargo bay was slowly removing the foursome's ability to see. Their shadows stretched, growing longer and darker as the doors continued to close.

"Perhaps I should give you a closer look."

Then Liam's shadow leapt into three dimensions. It bent its' knees and tackled the Jedi Master to the floor, where the two began wrestling. Despite its' seeming lack of substance, it somehow had the ability to work against Liam physically. The Jedi Master found himself evenly matched for strength as the two beings grappled.

"And by the way," the voice added. "The first answer you gave was completely and totally wrong. You were much closer in your second answer."

[Wraith Frostmourne]

"You will be the doom of us all Jedi!" Wraith spun his laser scythe out of from underneath his cape, striking numerously upon the walls that were enclosing upon them, doing absolutely nothing. He still had no idea what the answer was to this riddle of the terminal. He searched in his mind for a way to get out. Everything that seemed to operate these walls was on the outside. He was on the inside, helpless like a mouse. Wraith had to think of something fast.

[Chase Starwalker]

Chase sent a kick to Liam's shadow figure that sent him sprawling. He quickly helped Liam to his feet. Drawing his saber, he turned to face the un-explainable abomination.

"What...is that thing?"

[Liam Jinn]

Liam picked himself up, keeping his eye on the shadow.

"I don't know, a force trick maybe?"

Shrugging, he quickly moved back over to the terminal, quickly rereading the riddle. He looked back over his shoulder, watching as the others kept the shadow at bay. Calming himself, he said aloud his second answer.

"Night?"

[Wraith Frostmourne]

"No you fool! You will kill us all!" Wraith turned to see the shadow that confronted them. Was there anyway out of here alive?

[Evil Hobgoblin]

The doors clanged shut, removing the last flickers of light from the bay of the ship.

In the absolute non-visibility that followed, noises could be heard, noises that grew more audible and familiar as the Jedi's sense of hearing began to compensate. The hum of the engines increased to a vibrating whine. Docking clamps released, and the ship jerked as it moved away from the cargo bay.

"That was very well thought out," the voice stated. "The answer to the riddle is night."

From inside the room, a panel could be heard sliding open. Several snarls came from somewhere in the center of the room.

"Do you know what comes out at night, Jedi? On the planet of Ansion, the stalking shanh hunts at night. They are... pack creatures."

A single large growl rumbled to life, and three other growls answered it.

"When you take away the light, what's left?" the voice asked. "What's left, is night. And tonight is nightfall for you, Jedi."

Danger senses abruptly flared to life at the sound of a cage unlocking.

[Chase Starwalker]

Chase listened to the mysterious voice, after hearing the cages he could only mutter..."Uh oh."

[Wraith Frostmourne]

Wraith prepared himself for whatever oncoming threat lurked in the vast darkness that layed before them.

[Xazor Elessar]

"Creatures of the Night..."

Xazor growled deeply. She shook her head as her eyes flashed silver...looking into the darkness where the voice had spoken. She felt the wolf in her heart rear its head...beckoning to be released...but not now....she would wait.

"What are we to do?"

She called over to Liam, drawing her saber from her belt. The Knight's finger slipped over the ignition switch and two blue beams shot forth from each end of the hilt....creating a double bladed, duel-phase weapon of death and destruction. She held "Love" in her hand as it hummed gently...emitting a blue glow upon her soft skin as she stood...awaiting whatever these creatures were...

[Liam Jinn]

"How pleasant.."

He muttered, his hand instantly dropping to his saber. It flickered to life, then spun once stopping in a steady defensive postion. He held his other hand out in a 'halt' gesture, readying himself for a sudden spring.

"We haven't much choices at the moment. Defend yourselves, let the force guide your movements. Oh and yes...let's not hit each other."

A small grin formed on his face. He was confident enough they could handle themselves for now, but what worried him was what was yet to come.

[Evil Hobgoblin]

The click clack of toenails scraping against the deck was all that could be heard. Then, a snarl came from Liam's left; another snarl from Wraith's right and Xazor's rear, and two more on either side of Chase.

The shanh was not just a predator; it was a cunning beast. At night, in its' natural element, it knew how to make use of the cover of darkness to confuse and take down its' prey.

A quiet click signalled the activation of the bay's air pumps, a click almost obscured by the continuing growls in the bay. Soon, the bay would be empty of air- a preparation for entry into hyperspace- but the exertion of four Jedi and four creatures would reduce the available oxygen drastically.

The growls continued, signalling that the creatures were continuing to move through the darkness. Then, one of the shanhs bounded into visibility behind Chase and leapt for his back, large claws ready to rend his flesh.

Two others shot towards Xazor, one jumping high and the other biting at her legs.

There was a crash and a large cage came skidding towards Liam with the lead shanh loping along behind it, trying to knock it into his intended prey.

Oddly, Wraith seemed to have been left alone.

[Liam Jinn]

The loud skidding of metal on the floor was more than enough to let Liam know there was something comming towards him. A faint sound of claws was also approaching, not far behind the cage. The Jedi planted his feet firmly on the ground and released a force push in the direction of the noise. It slammed to a halt, crashing into whatever was behind it.

Taking a few catious steps foward, he made his way closer to the cage.