Things that go bump in the night (open)

[Alf]

Alf walked through the gates of Oredon, rubbing his furry arms and shoulders. Truthfully he wasn't paying much attention to where he was headed. The only thing he thought about was his latest training session with De'Ville, and the pain his body was in. He was getting better, but still he was not match for his master at anything. What wasn't he doing right? Was he just not strong enough?

These thoughts kept him oblivious to where he was headed until he tripped out a root and almost fell. Finally he looked around, noticing he had gone passed the gates, far past them. Where am I? I hope I ain't that far from the city walls, the thought as he began turning around, trying to locate himself. Finally he reached out with the Force as his Master taught him and realized that he wasn't that far from where he should be, but since he now knew where he was, he decided to take this opportunity to explore the rest of the planet.

He turned to what he thought was east and started walking down a worn path. He leapt over small stumps and roots, but fortunately didn't have to duck under anything. Sometime later he decided to sit and have a rest before turning around and going back. When he finally sat down and became relaxed though, he heard something moving in the brush off to his left. At first he wrote it off as nothing, until he heard it again.

Maybe it wasn't my brightest idea coming out here at night, he thought to himself as he heard another sounds, wishing desperately he ad earned a lightsaber now. Atleast he could use his telekinetic abilities, to try and help him run away should anything attack him.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Something rustled the underbrush by him, and he felt a low rumble. It took a minute, then Alf realized it was a growl that he was hearing.

[Alf]

his furry body jumped to the side, trying to get away from the brush as fast as he could. He held out his hand and a large stick flew into his hand. Good thing I been practicing this stuff, he thought to himself as he neared the brush again.

This time however he inched forward, while side stepping, holding the stick as one would a bat. "Come out of there. I ain't afraid of you...whatever you are..."

[Lilaena De'Ville]

The brush trembled in front of the small alien, but instead of something emerging in front of him, he felt a presence behind him.

Something large stepped behind him, and yowled loud enough to make Alf's ear's ring. The huge beast, a flightless version of the warbeasts kept inside the City, snarled viciously, saliva dripping from it's sharp teeth.

[Alf]

Alf spun around as he heard the yowel from behind him. He lashed out with the stick striking the beast over the snout. When he hit the animal though, is when he learned his first mistake. The peice of wood shattered into many little peices, flying in everywhich way.

"Oops," he said as he started to back away, scanning the area for another weapon to replace the one he had just broken. What I wouldn't do now for a lightsaber or blaster atleast... Soon however he was backed against a tree with no where to go, as his hands still clung to the meager little peice of wood, jabbing the broken in towards the animal. Prehaps if he could keep it at bay long enough, he would be able to draw enough of the Force to throw it back and make a break for the sity walls.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

The beast yowled again as the wood broke on its nose, and rubbed its snout with its monstrous paws, much like a dog. Its grey skin rippled with muscles as it advanced on the furry thing that had hit it.

The bit of wood the thing was poking at it worried the beast a little. Its nose still smarted from the earlier blow, and it wasn't in the modd to receive another. It snapped at the alien, and batted it's paw at him, claws extended.

[Alf]

He brought back his hands with the stick until the beast's paw had passed. He then pushed the stick's sharp end back at its neck trying to nick it and prehaps convince it that he wasn't worth the trouble.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

If the intruder to the wilds had thought that the beast had been loud before, the roar that bellowed out of it now belied that belief. Alf's hair was blown back and he was treated to the smell of half digested meat as the grey skinned beast vented it's anger from the prick it had recieved on it's neck.

No longer willing to test this new prey, the beast knocked Alf off his feet with a blow to the shoulder, and pounced at him, snarling and drooling, ready to rend this annoyance's flesh with it's razor sharp teeth.

De'Ville had noticed that her apprentice was not in quarters when she had gone to test him on a minor point of lightsaber usage. When subsequent questions had led her to the city walls, and beyond, she'd become angry. Alf was just a tasty snack to the beasts of Onderon, and he was wandering alone at night?

She would not see her training wasted in the belly of a carnivore, and so she'd tracked her apprentice, and was now watching him face off with a creature easily twice his size. As the beast knocked him to the jungle floor, she sighed, and tossed a small metallic cyclinder in the air.

The lightsaber hilt landed just out of Alf's reach where he lay. It was a Jedi's blade, Michael Cline had constructed it, and then died when it malfunctioned. It was a 50/50 chance whether this blade would work as it was supposed to, or if it would short out after contacting resistance. But she hadn't brought any extras, just hers (which she wasn't about to hand to Alf) and this one that she carried as a trophy.

She settled to watch.

[Alf]

Finally he had had enough. The animal jumped at him and the Alien put his feet up, kicking it to the side. When he rolled over, he noticed the lightsaber hilt on the ground, and not wanting to waste time wondering who put it there, he snatched it up.

By the time he turned back towards the animal it was already on him again. It reahed out and swatted him back to the ground, and wasted no time in pouncing.

Praying that the weapon worked, Alf pushed the activation button and the blade shot forth, going in and out of the animal's neck. The beast's body collapsed on him, as its life was taken. Finally he was able to drag himself from under the body. Its blood had matted his fur to his body and dirt had cause it to clump together. He held the weapon funny, as it was a regular lightsaber and much to big for his body.

When he looked around, he noticed De'Ville standing not to far from him and his kill. Before he cold say anything though, the blade lost some of its glow before dispersing all together.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

ooc: does Alf have some sort of strength I'm not aware of? Next time when kicking aside things that are twice your side, make sure you mention you used the Force, otherwise it's just laughable. /ic:

De'Ville gestured to her apprentice. "Before you say anything, you got lucky. We are going back to the city before more of those beasts arrive."

As she spoke, the air was punctured with howls, as if to emphasize her point.

[Alf]

OOC: oops sorry about that. I was doing so much with my other characters that I forgot to switch over the mentalities.



Alf was to shaken to resppond. He was only gratefull that that incident hadn't gone on a moment longer or the lightsaber would have given out and he would have been food. As he started walking forward the weapon came to life for a moment before deactivating on its own once more, startling him so bad, Alf almost dropped it.

He sighed as he could only imagine his punishment for this stunt,

[Lilaena De'Ville]

She put out the hand for Cline's saber. "If you trust your life to that again, you will be cheating yourself." The apprentice gave it back, a little grudgingly, she thought, and De'Ville clipped it back to her belt, back behind her own. Alf needed to be aware of everything around him, to help them both get back to the gates alive.

"Open up your senses, apprentice, and tell me what you can feel." She purposely did not look anywhere but at Alf, although her own senses told her that there were disturbances coming at them from just up ahead and to the right, and behind, barely to the left.

As the sentance ended, she blinked. A third disturbance was closing in from the left. A classic encircling move. Soon there would be a fourth, and the hunt would be complete. She snapped her fingers impatiently at Alf, "If you want to live, tell me what you sense!" Her voice was an urgent whisper.

[Alf]

He almost looked at De'Ville, while she snapped her fingers. Ok, ok...give me sec will ya. It ain't like I been doing this for as long as you have, he thought to himself as he stretched his senses outwards.

He hadn't had any formal training in this area yet, but the more he learned about the Force and used it, the more he became aware of what was around him. For a few moments, he felt nothing as he streched his awareness outwards. Finally, he felt something behind him, slightly to his left. As he stretched out a little ways farther, he almost sensed something in front of him.

He looked at De'Ville, not sensing the third party just yet. "There are things coming towards us. From front and back....wait...and I think there is another group coming from my right. It is almost as though they are trying to encircle us."

[Lilaena De'Ville]

She nodded tersely, and asked, "If you were to choose a direction to run in, which would it be?"

De'Ville flipped her saber hilt into her hand, but did not ignite the blade, not wishing to send up a signal flare again for any predator to see in the darkness. Just as she had suspected after watching these flightless beasts take down prey before, a fourth disturbance was felt, from the left and behind them, breaking away from the rear guard. Four beasts, although it was possible that each disturbance marked more than one.

She began edging forward, walking quietly, waiting for Alf to form an opinion on flight.

[Alf]

Alf thought for a moment. He had yet to feel the fourth disturbance yet.

"We should go that way.," he finally said, pointing behind and to the left of De'Ville. "I don't sense anything coming from that area. And if we do happen to run into something atleast we will be out of this circle and we would have taken away an advantage."

[Lilaena De'Ville]

She smiled, not that he could see it in the dark, and shook her head. "Nicely thought out, but no. These beasts are used to things breaking for the holes in their circles. They will expect it, and be ready for it."

De'Ville pointed straight ahead. "We go towards this one between us and the city, and we go fast, before the ones behind realize where we have gone. Run!" She jogged forward, not quite sure how fast the short alien could travel when he needed to.

[Alf]

When she said run, he took off. Though he might now look like it, his species was built for speed, unforunately it was for short distances. He sprinted forward in the direction De'Ville had pointed. He tried to not get ahead of himself, as he did not know the xact distance from them to the city, and and he wanted conserve some strength, but that was even more draining.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Alf was faster than she'd thought, and she lengthened her strides to keep up with his sprint. "Try opening yourself to the Force, use your fear and anger, and feed the power into your legs. The faster - the better." Instead of letting the wind take her words, De'Ville used the Force to send them directly to her apprentice's ears.

Telepathy was beyond her skills, and as a result she'd spent an extensive amount of time learning precise sound placement. Behind them they could hear the hunting cries of the three beasts they'd left behind. And in front...

... the one they had to defeat. It jumped out at them, a huge female easily twice the size of the creature that had originally attacked Alf. De'Ville halted her run, and ignited her saber, shouting at the grey skinned beast that stood as high as her own shoulder.

[Alf]

Alf tried to skid to a hault, but still ended up getting closer to the animal than De'Ville did. He didn't have any weapon or anything to to protect himself as the animal raised its paw to strike him down. He raised his hands, opening himself up to his fear and anger. As the beast brought its claws down, Alf released all his built up power from the Force and the animals shoulder was pushed, causing the animal to lurch back on its hind legs, allowing him enough time to get back closer to his master.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

As Alf distracted the beast, De'Ville formed a ball of fire over her left hand, and threw it at the creature. It's shoulders came to her shoulder, and the enormous head towered above her. Alf scrambled backwards towards her as the flame flew towards the beast, scoring a solid hit on the neck.

The creature yowled as light splashed up on the surrounding jungle, falling back on its haunches and rubbing it's neck and head in the soft jungle floor. De'Ville ran towards it, lightsaber ready, but suddenly found herself facing the backside of the creature as it writhed on the ground in pain.

The fire went out, darkness fell except for the glow from her saber, and she only had a split second of warning before a muscular hindleg lashed out at her. She reacted, lightsaber slashing outwards, but the foot still caught her, and she was thrown backwards, nearly on top of Alf.

She'd cut off half the beast's foot, but it seemed only to have made the creature completely furious.

[Alf]

Alf moved now out of pure instinct and reflex. He brought up his hand, stopping De'Ville from crashing down on him with use of the Force. He himself, stumbled backwards as the beast turned back around and started limping towards them. He looked to De'Ville for answers. This was out of his area of expertise. He didn't even have a weapon to defend them and he was only moderate with his Force skills, but perhaps there was something he could do.

He drew on the Force for strength, trying to focus it all on the beast's amputated foot. It slowly rose into the air, moving with Alf's hand as he rose it to level with the animal's face. Once it was high enough, he swung with all the strength adn Force he could muster right at the animal.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

One of the claws in the dismembered foot caught the beast across the shoulders, drawing blood from it's thick muscles as the creature yowled and batted at the object attacking it. The foot fell to the ground, but De'Ville was already there, taking advantage of Alf's distraction to move in close.

She grunted as she swung her lightsaber, severing the beast's spinal cord and nearly taking off it's head. A massive paw came around at her, and she twirled her saber free, slicing cleanly through the foreleg.

The grey-skinned beast toppled to the ground. De'Ville looked for her apprentice. "Come on, there are more behind us." The three others she had sensed were closely bunched together now, making it hard to tell how many there were. It was easy to tell they were all heading her way.

She gestured at Alf, and they started running again.

[Alf]

Alf could feel a group larger than before behind them, but nothing else around them.

They must have combined into one group, he thought as he and De'Ville took off again for the city's walls.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Unfortunately Alf was more of a sprinter than a long distance runner, and his speed began to flag before they were out of the jungle and into the expansive clearing that surrounded the city. Keep running, or risk another confrontation? It was an easy choice.

De'Ville halted their headlong flight, and took a few moments to get her bearings. "They'll be on us in a few minutes, so prepare whatever you might have in your bag of tricks. I will be able to take two at a time, but I need you to distract the other, or we may not get out of this alive."

[Alf]

Alf nodded. He was breathing heavy and sweat had matted down his fur. He took one deep breath, calling on the darkside of the Force. Soon he had gathered enough energy to wear he wasn't even breathing that hard.

"Let's hope I can do this," he thought as he felt the beasts near the two.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

The underbrush rustled, and the two Force users turned to face the noise. De'Ville held a hand up, spreading her fingers slightly as an oily ball of energy formed over her palm.

As the creatures burst upon them, she loosed the energy at one, and menaced the other with her saber, leaving the third to her apprentice.

[Alf]

Alf raised his hand and along with it came the beast. It didn't rise that high, but definitely enough to where it had lost most of the traction between it and the ground, but it was slowly sliding towards him, inch by inch.

Alf swung his hand and sent the animal into a tree, but it only stunned him for a moment, and after he got back up, he came forward again but Alf had already raised him and sent hm into another tree. This was beginning to do nothing,but anger him and he looked around for another solution. Almost at once he saw a broken limb just sitting there. It was higher than he had ever levitated anything before, but he was sure he could do it. He lifted once, but before the ainimal even came halfway, he lost concentration and the dropped to the ground.

As soon as it hit it ran towards him. He became so scared that he just threw his hands up in front of him and waited. But the strike never came. When he looked up, all he saw was the animal hanging from the broken tree branch. He coldn't do anything but stare. Had he done that?

[Lilaena De'Ville]

The Destruction had hit the first beast in the chest, blowing a smoking crater in the creature that dropped it to the jungle floor immediately. Its legs twitched as the nerves refused to accept that the life had gone out of the beast.

The second beast was not perturbed by the death of it's hunting partner, but the bright shiny thing waving by its nose was angering it. With an ear shattering yowl, it tried to bat the lightsaber away, unfamiliar with energy weapons of its kind. De'Ville obligingly sliced through its limbs, and then as the beast fell to the ground, still trying to get it's hind legs up underneath it, she plunged the tip of the amethyst saber deep in between the shoulder blades of the beast.

She turned quickly, to see how Alf was faring, and stopped short, actually surprised. "Well, you certainly got a rise out of that one."

[Alf]

He nodded, still in shock. "I guess so."

He stood up, wiping a few loose leaves from his fur as he turned around to look at the two beasts De'Ville had taken care of and made a mental note to try and stay on her good side. He then looked around, reaching out to sense anything else, but found nothing. Finally his eyes fell on his master, waiting for further instructions.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

She almost mentioned that she'd been trying to be funny, but since that hardly ever happened she didn't want him to start looking for the joke in everything she said. Instead she jerked her head in the direction of the city. "And now we run again. If we stay here, the smell of blood is going to bring scavengers as well as more predators."

Master and apprentice ran to the ciry, not stopping until they reached the clearing around the city walls. As they left the trees and stepped into the moonlight De'Ville looked up at Dxun, the Demon moon, who was very close to Onderon this time of year. Out from under the jungle-like conglomerate of trees it was nearly as bright as daylight when the clouds cleared from the sky. She pointed up and Alf looked to see what she was pointing at.

A feral scream rang out above them, and he saw the outline of a flying beast against the moon. De'Ville felt him tense, but she shook her head. "Look closer, and with the Force, not just your fear." As she spoke, the creature dipped a wing, and tucked into a tight spiralling descent, centered on their position.

She wasn't afraid, or even slightly concerned. It was a patrolling beastrider, coming to check on what had just emerged from the jungle. If it was a threat to the city, hundreds of such troops could be scrambled together from the barracks and could be to their position in mere minutes. So she stood still, posing no threat, and hoped that her apprentice would have the presence of mind to do the same.

[Alf]

He looked up and was indeed frigtened at first, for he didn't know how he would defend against another attack much less one from the air. When he looked at his master however and saw her unafraid, he took another look and reached out with the Force. Tis time he saw something on the animal's back and indeed he felt no fear from the thing.

"What are those?"

[Lilaena De'Ville]

"Beastriders - part of the security of Iziz City. Centuries ago, the people of Onderon tamed some of the flying beasts, and this is the result."

The rider set his mount down on the plain in front of them, and dismounted. "What are you doing out here at night, Lady De'Ville?"

She was smug that he recognized her. "My apprentice," she gestured to Alf, "was taking a refreshing walk in the woods tonight, and I followed him. It is just as well I did, or he might not have come back." Lilaena began walking slowly, circumspectly around the beast at a safe distance. "I thank you for your dilligence, but we are quite safe now."

The rider shrugged, obviously not convinced, but not about to contradict the highest advisor to his king. "As you wish. A pleasant evening, m'Lady." He vaulted back into the saddle, and the beast spread it's bat-like wings, stirring up dirt and dust as it strove for the air.

De'Ville kept walking towards the city, but looked back at her apprentice. "Tell me, what have you learned tonight?"

[Alf]

"To keep an eye out for where I am going and that I still have a lot to learn."

[Lilaena De'Ville]

"Is that all?" She raised an eyebrow at him while they walked towards the gates.

[Alf]

"To always be prepared and that fear and anger can really go a long way when combined with the Force," he fuzzball said as he continued walking. "I never knew I could throw that beast up on the tree limb and I doubt I would have if I have not been angry and afraid."

[Lilaena De'Ville]

She hmphed in response to his answer. "You never knew you could? I knew you could. It has always been within you. All you have to do is reach out and grab your potential."

De'Ville turned to face him as they stopped just inside the walls of Iziz. "Training is canceled for tomorrow, you should probably get some rest. Remember that anger will always make you stronger, but fear can incapaciate you if you allow it to rule you. And don't... ever go outside the walls alone again." She turned around and walked off.