“Forgive me I sound a little blunt, but this is all very strange and uncomfortable. I mean, I’ve spent the past few weeks scared to death of the great and powerful sorcerer that is plotting to take over the galaxy, and now here he is right in front of us. But apparently it wasn’t the REAL Aelvedaar that we were afraid of, right? So here he have the REAL Aelvedaar, who has been tied up in some horrible torture chamber for the past – how long? Months? Years?”

Panthar looked at Aelvedaar apologetically.

“You see, we – well, some of us, anyway -- thought you were the bad guy, and we only recently found out otherwise. So again, pardon my rudeness, but my best friend is being held and tortured in the Darker Realms, and we don’t have a lot of time. Do you know anything about a Sith/Demon/poodoo head named the Master?”

--------------------

"The Master... I do not know much of this one, but I believe he, if not the actual one, at least had some hand in my capture. For as I said, I was often approached by a dark figure I could not quite see, one who taunted me and said my agony was to save the galaxy-- although how that could be so I cannot devine with all my powers.

"This figure, while never telling me his name, was once approached by a small demon, an imp with a truncated tail; that one groveled at his feet and called him Master."

I pause to take in another breath.

"Perhaps this is who he is; what is of concern, rather than the name he goes by, is the power he wields. How can the All, in all its magnificence, be overcome? How was it that I was taken so easily?

"That is the concern I carry; if it is against him that you wish to lift your hand, then I fear it will be to no avail. Unless, of course, there is yet another power stronger, a device more omnipotent, that can be used against him to save your friend."

I pause a moment, then turn to the adept of my Chosen One.

"As for One who treads the path of darkness saving the galaxy... this I cannot understand. For the All is the highest power there is; a natural balance must be embraced to use it. There can be no light without dark, no night without day. I find myself at a loss, not only in consideration of how this one managed to detain me, but how he thinks he can save a galaxy...

"...and from what I recall, the Vong could be a very real possibility. You two of all those here should know of this."

I pause again, this time to share a look between my Chosen One and her Adept, who both shift uncomfortably on their feet.

[ 10-09-2005 10:44 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Aelvedaar ]

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...perhaps this mysterious figure--quite possibly the Master--felt that darkness must be overcome with even deeper darkeness?

Once more, Shayla spoke these thoughts aloud. Then she continued with. "As for a device to battle against the Master--there is one which may be effective, which is known as the Finger of R'lous. I'm uncertain as to just how it works," she paused, frowning, glancing at Jharmeen, "But the problem is that this particular device has gone missing. We have been in search of it, as we were for you."

Pausing at that, Shayla frowned, her greeny-blue eyes growing a bit vague as she then continued with. "The use of the All requires balance, but there are other All-devices out there--ones associated with this Master in particular--that can drain the All-powers from an All-user, to be used by the device's manipulator." Frowning more deeply, Shayla turned to Jharmeen, then to Panthar, then to include everyone else in the look. "Is that not precisely what the Finger does?"

--------------------

--------------------

“OK, wait. First, the Finger thing,” he said. “It’s the reason we sought you, since it was you who apparently stole it from Jharmeen’s temple. It’s come in handy already. It allowed Phal to kick some serious butt, and it channeled his power into Jharmeen, and the SHE kicked some serious demon butt.”

“Second, the thing that Phal used in the past to thwart All energy was the Eye of R’lous. I carried for a while… heck, it’s what got me into all of this in the first place. But it’s gone now, it exploded back when we met the big glowing eyes, remember? Phal told me it’s energy seemed to disperse into Jharmeen and then it just went poof.”

Panthar paused, then added “Third, I can tell you are a little perplexed about Phal. I’ll tell you all about Phalomir sometime, I’m sure he’ll be happy to know that you are you, and not the you he thought you was. He is in some serious love with Jharmeen, and you’ve been thwarting his every move, heh. Actually, you’ve been pretty busy with all of us. You sent an assassin after Phal and Gray, you put a bomb on our ship that blew up and made something possess Gray… and then you somehow caused us to come out of hyperspace in the middle of a supernova, which we think you caused. There’s more, but that’s enough for now. Let’s just say that someone has been very busy doing some very nasty things in your name.”

“But the Eyes, that was something different altogether. It didn’t like us bringing Terrin back to life, and made us do something to ensure something like that wouldn’t happen again. So we, um, moved this system into the Elseness…”

--------------------

Then, even as that wonder floods through me, another thought interrupts. I jerk my head up, allowing a slight smile to cross my features as I do so.

"Then I have been successful, and no matter what travails there are ahead of us, in the long run, regarding the Greater Picture, we shall be successful as well."

I am rewarded by blank stares, interspersed with frowns and deeply seated glimmers of confusion and fear. I let my lip curl crookedly, and cast a molten gaze upon the party.

"Don't you understand? These devices of which you speak... they are nothing of my doing, and surely no one in this time has been able to devise such things. If indeed my people have been returned to this time, well then..."

Another pause whilst I slowly rise to my feet. I am still weakened, and sway a bit, but hands fly out from all sides to steady me. Warmed by this, I continue.

"Do you not see? These devices must be of the future; if this Master is striving so hard to halt us for his own purpose, he too must have come from that time. The fact that he is striving to change something, using devices which channel the All leads me to deduce that my people have survived, the our use of the All has survived...

"...and by that fact alone, no matter what comes our way, that we do succeed in our task. Speaking strictly of the Greater Picture, you understand."

Another pause to allow the blank looks to develop further. Now I am openly grinning.

"If this Master was so powerful, such a force to be feared, had by the use of the devices he has created... been successful...

"...we would already be dead and the universe as we know it completely changed.

"The fact that we are being threatened is explained by His fear, and perhaps his real lack of power."

Now I spread my arms out, letting the shreds of my robes hang from them as I conclude as simply as I can.

"You must forgive my earlier display of despair; it was... unseemly. For indeed is logic overwhelmed by the rise of emotion, spurred on by physical weakness. Now, however, after hearing your words and returning to myself, I say now that I truly feel whatever it is you need to do... this shall indeed be accomplished.

What is it, exactly?"

[ 10-10-2005 10:41 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Aelvedaar ]

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“Well,” he said. “For starters, we have a couple of emergencies – well, all right, we have a bunch of emergencies. But right at hand there are two things that are connected. Phalomir, Lord of the Armorers – don’t ask right now – is being held in the Darker Realms by the Master, who is his father – don’t ask right now – and is being tortured for some reason. He knows we know, and taunted us to come for him. Then we have someone apparently impersonating you, and for all we know it might be the Master. Whoever it is, they have the Finger. So…..”

Panthar sighed.

“So, anyway, we need the Finger to defeat the Master, we think. And since you are so sure that the future holds goodness for us, how about we go after that first? Oh, Phal is from the future, by the way – by way of the past.”

“Hmm, there is a base of some kind that Phal took us to, I wonder if it has anything nifty in it? Heck, what am I saying, look around us!”

Panthar did just that, looking at the strange devices that lined the walls.

“Oh, there is another guy out there, Thoran, who is also in cahoots with the Master, but we think he disappeared and accidentally hooked up with whoever is impersonating you. If only we had a link to follow him through, eh?”

--------------------

Jasyn's scowl darkened further. "Could we use this?" he queried, quirking a brow before he finished with, "I mean, wouldn't it be swell if his fancy parlor tricks ended up biting him in the rear end?"

--------------------

"All this talk of links with this person or that; I'm afraid that is not what we should be focusing upon at this time."

She turned to take in the entire group, then went on.

"We already know the Master is holding my dear Phalomir, for what purpose we have yet to discover. Tied into this is a possible connection with the incoming Yuuzhan Vong -- oh yes, my friends, they are coming.

"We at least know of this, do we not?"

She now turned her violet eyes to Shayla, and then to Lord Aeylvedaar. Both shifted a bit as memories seemed to flood them.

Graysith ignored this and went on.

"The Master has use of the All, has devices which can overcome an All user, as is evident by his capture of Lord Aelvedaar. But he is not as omnipotent as we would fear, for did we not rescue my Sire?"

She drew in a breath, frowning a little as she tried to marshall her thoughts.

"A link would be superfluous, for we can travel into the presence of the Master -- or at least to where he holds my beloved -- at any time we desire. This I can easily do.

"But what we need is a means by which to overcome this so-called Master; perhaps we might find a device here in this Temple of the Armorers...

"...or perhaps we might not need one at all. Lord Aelvedaar, although a powerful Dark Lord of the Sith and All user, is but one; we have several All users here, now; perhaps our combined strengths can be put to use to save Phalomir?"

Not to mention the fact that she didn't want to do anything to invoke the attention of That Which Is. If s/he/it was upset with her possession of the Claw of S'slan, what might s/he/it do if they used other, more powerful, and All-imbalancing items?

Not saying any more, she merely held up her right hand, prominently displaying the bare (and totally restored) finger where the Claw of S'slan once was worn.

--------------------

...perhaps our best way to counter him is by avoiding the use of any device, and simply sticking to what is naturally inherent in all of us: All use, Force-ability, and above all wisdom and knowledge. Devices, as powerful as they can be, all have weaknesses as well..."

She trailed, pursing her lips once more, her eyes widening in thought. "Perhaps we should not be focusing on what new device we can find, but rather on discovering just what the devices the Master has access to do, and what their potential weaknesses are. I would at least think these devices were developed over quite an extensive amount of time, and that even now some information on them might exist in some of the multiple resources that we have here, on Khar Delba, and even on K'eel Doba."

[ 10-11-2005 10:29 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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"No," she said slowly. "I do not recall anything..."

Red. There was red, an all-compassing, blanketing red.

Blood-something, the imp had called it.

Yes.

The Blood of the Temple...

She raised her head and stared at the others.

"When- when I awoke, it was to find myself within a dark room. There was a little imp, who seemed to want to befriend me. I was encased in something red and glowing, something the imp called the Blood of the Temple; this red-whatever-it-was kept me from using my own talents to escape."

She paused again, thinking hard.

"Other than that," she sighed. "There were no devices. In fact, I never did see the Master, only the imp."

--------------------

She trailed, her look growing even more distant. "You know, if we're talking about moving along against the Master with our own strengths, and with nothing else," she then said, her greeny-blues now snapping to alertness, "I think our best solution is still to go to the Flame. The Flame will tell us where everyone is, what is going on...

...and will at the same time enhance what is already inherent to at least those of us who are All users. And the Flame is powerful..."

Pausing again, her look turned thougthful. "I think this is a very viable option...

...and I think the time is now."

--------------------

She paused fractionally, her hair in her face, moving softly about as she looked from one to the other, reading the gamut of emotions displayed so clearly upon their faces:

Determination. Fear. And yes... relief, at finally taking action.

Her eyes slid to Aeylvedaar's molten pair. For a moment they remained locked together, as if sizing each other up for something not quite tangibly expressed.

A mere shadow seemed to pass between them; their relationship seemed to alter subtly.

He lowered his gaze then, much to the obvious surprise of Aeylmaar, and nodded. Once.

Graysith reared back with an indrawn breath. Then using the link she had maintained from that day, oh so very long ago, she reached out with her hand and her talents and ripped open a Portal into the Darker Realms.

"We go now."

It was not a command, but it was far from a question or a suggestion. Not waiting to see who followed she whirled and stepped into that awful place, sliding from one indescribable dimension into another.

There, she took a step forward, then another. Ahead of her, a blotch of non-light in a realm which shied from it to begin with.

"My shield... it yet exists," she breathed to herself, somewhat surprised to find that this was indeed so. Then she shook herself from the momentary lapse, raised every guard she possessed, and waited to see who would follow her into the rift she had created.

((OOC: Follow Graysith into Into the Out Of in the "Jedi/Sith" forums, thank you.))

[ 10-17-2005 08:43 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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...but likewise keenly aware that that powers could be defeated when outwitted.

And this had been done before...

Casting a greeny-blue gaze towards Terrin, Galen, and the two Eagle Enterprises employees, Shayla could remember a day or two...[/i]

Dismissing the thoughts then, Shayla turned to her husband, who waited by her side, the worry in his brown eyes clearly evident.

"What if we don't..." he started, only stopping as she covered his mouth with her hand, gently.

"We do," she replied simply. "We do."

Then, without further preamble, Shayla stepped through the portal just behind Jharmeen, knowing that her husband had joined at her side as she did so.
(((OOC: Follow Shayla and Erik into Into the Out of in this same forum, thank you.)))

[ 10-17-2005 08:46 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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He paused, his look earnest as he continued. "It's your call. If you choose to go help in rescuing Phalomir, know I'll be right with you every step of the way, backing you up. But, should you choose to stay behind, we could always explore the Temple and see if there just might be something here of merit. After all, ther are probably plenty of things lying around here for handy use here in the Temple of the Armorers."

--------------------

Ok, and maybe a good right uppercut.

In fact, I reasoned further as first Aelvedaar and then Aeylmaar both slipped into the rift my sister had torn, in fact, we'd have this nice little ship. We could just up and leave and go find Darra...

Darra. The thought of her being on K'eel Doba, unaware that her real mother and father had been hunting for her for who the hell knew how long any more, was enough to make my innards squeeze into a tight little knot.

And so I wavered.

But then logic reared its unwanted little head and slapped me upside the face.

Galen... if there's the slightest chance that you have something inside you to help, you are honor bound to try. For the want of a nail, the shoe was lost and all that; think what will happen if we lose, if this Master isn't stopped.

Will you have helped Darra that way?

"I--uh, I think we'd better go help," I finally whispered around the growing lump in my throat, an icy cold one which felt like a veritable glacier sitting there.

"Besides, remember those big ol' Eyes; while That Which Is was entirely annoyed by the fact that we brought you to life--"

And thank Khaandon that it allowed our efforts to remain; if I had to lose Terrin again--

I shook myseslf and went on.

"Ahh-- it seemed a touch more concerned about things that seem to have anything to do with this power Jharmeen has and which, for some reason I can't understand yet, seems to be in me too.

"I refer to that weird finger thing we cut off her once..."

I stopped a moment to share a quick shudder with my husband over that. Then I pressed on, suddenly brighteneing a touch.

"Hey, maybe Ol Googly Eyes won't like any kind of device the Master or Roan might be trying to use; maybe-- just maybe now -- we do have a chance after all."

I took up Terrin's hand, gripped it fiercely in my own.

"Let's do it," I whispered. Then before I could change my mind about it I gave him a quick but equally fierce kiss and hauled him off through the rift.

((OOC: Follow Galen and Terrin into Into the Out Of in the "Jedi/Sith" forums, thank you.))

[ 10-17-2005 10:33 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Galen ]

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"Let faith in fact and truth guide and protect us." We murmured aloud before stepping through that impossible portal.

(((OOC: Onidorei slips into "into the out of" in this forum, thankyou.)))

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Panthar shook his head and sighed. Then looking around at the others, he noticed the tuk’ata looking around the door. It dropped something from its mouth to the floor, then retreated. Panthar stepped to the door and saw three broken pieces of glass. He picked them up and saw they would almost fit together into a ball.

“It’s the Eye, isn’t it,” he asked the tuk’ata. The animal growled lowly and backed away down the hall, then sat in wait. Panthar put the pieces in separate pockets and nodded to the tuk’ata. He then turned back into the room, sighed again, and walked through the still opened portal.

[ 10-18-2005 01:16 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Panthar Dantares ]

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...so why is he taking that Thing with him now? Did he miss the conversation or something? I mean, kriffing hell, I heard it, and you know how that is..."

Trailing, Jasyn's frown only darkened further. "Guess we'd better get moving...no use being the only ones behind, and I don't like being out of the loop."

Matt nodded, already stepping forward. In moments, they were through the portal and others shifted to allow them inside.

(((OOC: Follow Jasyn and Matt to Into the Out of in this same forum, thanks.)))

--------------------

One by one the group stepped through the portal. After a moment, Panthar stepped through with a smile on his face. He turned to stare back through the portal, then jumped out of the way to allow a diving Phalomir to fly through.

“Close it now!” Phalomir yelled as he hit the very solid ground. The air knocked out of him, he tried to say more but he could only mouth words and wheeze. He pounded furiously on the ground and pointed back to the portal.

--------------------

A hand made an almost offhanded gesture. The portal closed with a strange little snik.

She hurried to where Phalomir lay, and knelt beside him, reaching out to place her hands on his shoulders.

"My Lord, what is it?" she asked, removing her eyes from his only long enough to send a worried look around at the others.

Her gaze returned to him.

"We are safe for the moment, at least relatively so," she ventured, now moving one hand from his shoulder to his face.

"Come, my warship is close. Let us go to it that we might depart from this place and return to the universe in which we dwell."

--------------------

Dammit, the Sith fighter is still out there. Would that Thing be going along with them? Whatever happened to just having kids...

Jerking from that thought, which had cued something else entirely, Terrin spoke up. "Galen and I had the Sith fighter," he commented, "But perhaps we should put the fighter on the warship and stick together," Terrin stated, his look momentarily directed towards the demon as he then turned towards Graysith and finished with, "Is it to Khar Delba or K'eel Doba we return...

...because I want Galen reunited with Darra and her safety assured."

[ 11-26-2005 01:30 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Terrin Danner ]

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"It would perhaps be best if we did not go directly, or at the very least, sent only a few in advance to see that all is well. There is no need to risk all of us being captured this time around, or worse being destroyed due to a still un-forseen puppeteer."

--------------------

“I believe the Master has escaped,” he said, standing shakily. “Assuming, of course, that it was the Master you had trapped within the shield. The very walls of the tower opened and closed for him, and I have no doubt the floors would do the same.”

He regarded the rest of the group.

“I apologize for not being able to be with you in recent times, and I thank you all for the risks you took in my rescue. Through various miracles, I am still alive, and am very happy indeed to see everyone.”

He looked down at Jharmeen and smiled, his hands gently resting on her shoulders as his eyes met hers.

“Especially you, my lady. It was you who kept me alive and hopeful in those torturous moments. Without you, I…”

He shook his head slowly, not knowing what else he could say. His gaze lingered a bit longer, then he sighed and turned back to the group.

“I sense there is much to be told from you all. I am eager to know how you came upon Lord Aelvedaar, and if all is well with you, my Lord. I also agree with our strange friend, we must think carefully about our next step. There is much afoot on K’eel Doba that involves more than just Sharylla. And could someone please tell me why we brought an imp with us?”

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