After all, she KNEW the creatures who resided on this planet...

"You once promised that you would bind this one to myself and ShaRhylla, so that we could do with him as we willed," she then said to Phalomir, only pausing to look towards the other momentarily, "I expect you to make good on that promise."

Pausing, she looked at Phalomir intently, icily. "In the meantime, keep him away from me, lest I do to him just what I would like to do. I do not, however, want him out of my sight."

Quieting for one final moment then, a dark humor seemed to suddenly surface. "He might be useful for one thing as the youngling has suggested." She smiled darkly. "Bait. Now are you planning to lead the way, or let these others wander through the jungles on their own?"

[ 03-19-2007 11:07 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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I twisted just slightly with my head, a crick in the neck developing. "Now, I'd love to keep bandying about with witty remarks, but my head is getting cold, and your friends seem to be getting scared of the dark, so why don't we talk and walk, hmm?"

I raised a gloved hand, ignoring the dried blood on it, and ran it through my stuble of hair, making note that I too, had suffered in some way for my actions; not realizing I'd streaked my hair red.

"So what do you think, oh lord?" I asked, glancing at Phalomir.

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“Very well,” he said. “We shall go to the Temple and seek a way off of this planet. But do not forget where you are, both of you, and respect my position as Dark Lord of this world. I will protect you the best I can.”

Phalomir lifted his head upwards, feeling for the thrumming he felt earlier. When he listened it was strong, directly behind him. He turned and looked, and realized the thrumming emanated from Rykounagin.

He sighed and looked around once more, surveying the land as best he could through the trees. Then he reached outwards with his magicks, bolstered by thoughts of the Temple. The tattoo on his face seemed to pulse for a second, and he felt it clearly now, the Temple laying off in the distance.

“It is this way,” he said flatly. “Follow me, and keep together if you want to reach safety. No bickering, no threats of death, no violence, and no arguments.”

Phalomir began walking, glancing sidelong to Yaoksi and company with an almost regal, yet somehow apologetic, look.

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I will have my way with you soon enough...

Her eyes shifted ahead as they began to move through the jungles then. She was keenly aware of all that surrounded her, of the pulsating life of the place as well as of the death. Once more she was somehow impacted with the very simplicity yet complexity of the connection of all things, of the power of this place.

Like Degoabah, there was most certainly something Other here, a nexus of sorts...

She drank it in as they continued to move, mostly in silence for the time being. In that silence, Shayla Stargazer began to think...

...and recalled the direction of her Sister, an almost dark eagerness filling her.

We shall see what lingers here, she couldn't help but think.

"What do you plan to do if That Which Is does not honor your request?" she then queried, the question seeming innocent enough...

...at least by all outward appearances.

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“The Elseness is riddled with portals that lead out,” he said. “One must only find one. Thoran found one, after Graysith sent him into the Elseness when he discovered the two of you on Dagobah. It led him to your friends here. There is no telling where such a portal might take us.”

Phalomir stepped on, still not looking back. He exhaled deeply and continued.

“I do not wish to be your adversary, Shayla. You should know this deep within your heart. I wish only to rebuild my clan and love Jharmeen, and build the strength we shall need to defeat the Vong when they finally arrive.”

He turned his head to Shayla, and lowered his voice.

“I do not wish to wish to possess the channeler, or harm Jharmeen, or any of these things you fear. But I know there is a darkness within her that is possibly driving her mad, and I must know the truth of it. Please, Shayla, is there anything you can tell me to ease my mind of this?”

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I began to look around quickly, searching for the approaching eye. "When I came here, some wierd being appeared, and we were locked into the elseness, unable to get out save for outside intervention. I don't think it's happened to us yet, but I'll be damned if I get stuck here again."

I felt my fist clench slightly at that thought. "Seriously... get us out."

[ 03-20-2007 10:06 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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“You have met That Which Is?” he asked. “It is time you tell me how you came to be here, Rykounagin.”

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I spoke hastily, though an annoyed note still found its way into my voice. I knew soon enough, with all misfortune, I'd have to deal with my apparent knowledge of their private discussion in the sith library.

"Would it help if I said 'please'?"

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I looked over at Thea, Cel, Yaoski and Aaron, and began to point one by one, finger by finger. "Little jedi, teddy bear, tweedle dee and tweedle dum, and then finally-" I looked over at Shayla and Phalomir "-witch and lord get eaten, and then who will poor me mock?"

My voice took a strong tone again. "Seriously, I'll explain when we're NOT in limbo."

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“Is my father here in the Elseness?” he growled. “Where is the last place you saw him?”

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Phalomir turned and took a step forward along the path once more. He stopped short, surprise once again filling his eyes as a figure stepped forward from the jungle to block the path.

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The Master looked to the others, lifting his chin to address them.

She paused, casting a dark look the Master's way. "What do you really want?"

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“Why, I want the same as you, my dear,” he said. “I want to leave this realm and continue on with my life. Our friend the Eyes has blocked my ability to open a portal out of here. Well, I surmise that he has blocked a direct route out of here, I should say. However, as I was preparing to try an alternate method, I sensed my son’s presence here and thought it wise to investigate. And here I am! I thought that after saving your life, I'd at least get a kiss. Or perhaps a hug?”

The Master raised an eyebrow.

“But I am most curious as to what you all are doing here. And how you came to be here, for that matter. I have my doubts that Aelvedaar would have brought you here, and unless Graysith would have exiled you in her dark fury, I see no logical reason or means… unless she has turned on you as well, Shayla. But that wouldn’t happen, of course, would it?”

"So, That Which Is has blocked your ability to leave directly from this place?" she queried, darkly amused. "If you wish to have any success with It," she continued then, looking towards Phalomir. "I suggest you dispose of him from our party then. That Which Is does not play any games other than Its Own, and I doubt It will entertain the notion of letting this one," she paused, nodding then towards Rykounagin, "Or this one from here if It has already refused."

Quieting a moment then, Shayla's thoughts turned inward, once more recalling Graysith's request of her...

...as well as some of her last ventures in this place. And indeed, recalling What this Place really and truly Was. Her eyes darkened a shade. "I do wonder what you came here for to begin with," she then spoke up, eyeing the Master. "What were you doing here, my dear Savior?" she purred.

She turned back to Phalomir then. "You all may remain with him, and follow his lead if you wish. But be wary; leaving the Elseness by other means than direct ones may not be so simple as the Master proposes. Recall, if you will, that we brought this planet here for the very fact that it would be virtually impossible to get to and from once placed in the Elseness. It should not be so simple to get out. I know this from personal experience, for I too have been here before and know the place."

Her dark look faded into a deep smile, one not rid of all traces of shades of gray and night. "Funny one should fear a place of such Knowledge and Strength."

A final pause. "I am continuing on to find the Temple, as we originally decided. You may do as you please, but have you not already indicated you are the Dark Lord here?" she asked Phalomir. "What then should you fear?"

Saying nothing further than this, Shayla began to move once more in the direction they had taken with Phalomir's lead, her senses all the while trained on the response of those behind her.

[ 03-21-2007 11:26 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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I took a deep breath, glanced quickly around those huddled with me: Aaron, K'kihl, Link and Thea. They stood with varying degrees of stunned surprise on their faces, and in the case of some, surprise now being quickly shadowed by rising anger and determination.

I raised a hand quickly, seeing this.

"Guys, it's not going to do us any good to try to get anywhere on our own," I whispered quietly. "I think we can believe 'em when they tell us where we are, but to verify, Link, see if you can comm out to ANYBODY, all right?"

I cut a fast glance over my shoulder, then returned to the others.

"I think we should go along with them so far, but keep our wits about us. All this talk about magick and Whoosis What Is, or whatever; I'm not liking this one bit, but I think the situation is rapidly devolving into one where no matter how good of one ya got, a blaster just ain't gonna get us out of it. Nor a Jedi--"

I cast an apologetic look to Thea. "Sorry, hon; I know you're stronger than I gave you credit for being, but I have a feeling a whole praxeum of Jedi wouldn't have the chance of a gleeberfly against these guys. In lieu of strength and magick of our own, we're going to have to rely on our WITS.

"Again, if anybody comes up with anything better in that department, speak up. But in the meantime, since we're seriously outgunned here, and since we DO have walking wounded among us, I think all we can do is remain meek, compliant and just be the happy little group that we are, until we can sort out who we can trust from those four and who we can't."

Another idea struck me then.

"Maybe we'll find something at this temple they keep talking about..."

[ 03-21-2007 01:01 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Yaoksi Joao ]

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He pursed his lips thoughfully then, ignoring the fact that physically, his body was trying to point out the fact that the demon's dealings with him still hurt, quite a bit.
"Maybe they have some of those impressive little Sith fighters here," Aarn spoke up softly, almost seeming random in the statement. "But if this place is so wonderful, and Stargazer seems to have know about it...

...why would Graysith have sent us here?"

He paused frowning. "Seems in sending us here she unwittingly gave us some sort of advantage in our captivity. Unless..."

Again he trailed, his frown deepening even further. "I wonder how we can have a chat with this Thing they seem to all think controls this place? If it really dislikes being bandied with, perhaps it will at least let us the hell out of here, and leave this bunch to deal with themselves..."

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"I know," I whispered back. "That does seem mighty strange. I mean, what if what this new character is saying is true? Would she have handily sent us here to just boom-- get rid of us this easily? According to the big Dark Lord up there, he's the Master of this planet... well, the Sith master, at least.

"Why send the fighter to where his weapons are stored? Unless--"

I paused in thought, ideas and words now beginning to swirl about in my head in cadence to the march of our feet.

"Unless she knows we won't be able to leave, that his big Whoosis-thing won't let us leave, unless we somehow manage to do so ON OUR OWN, without whatever is inside this temple.

"I mean, how the heck else is she gonna get Blondie back to her; you don't think what this new guy is hinting at is true, do you? That she's exiled her here along with us to get her out of the way?

"Why would she do that? It makes no sense..."

I trailed as we continued through the ever-thickening greenery about us, a shadowed greenery interrupted here and there by the cry of some wild and unknown... thing. I shivered, not liking the sound, wishing like hell we'd get to this temple they referred to as quickly as possible, where at least we'd have walls around us to provide shelter against whatever nasty canastas were out there, lurking in the forest.

[ 03-21-2007 02:03 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Yaoksi Joao ]

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"If someone hasn't already said it, I have a really bad feeling about all this. Link, how are your communication ventures going? Anything?" he queried in the Ryn's direction.

"If this place is indeed apart from the known universe, just how the kriffing hell are we going to get back where we are supposed to be? I seem to have forgotten any studies on travelling through deminsions I might have had in school..."

[ 03-21-2007 02:48 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Aaron Barnes ]

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"Well, Phalomir mentioned something about other portals, something about them riddling the Elseness, didn't he say? Maybe we'll find one of those and will be able to get the hell out of here. But--"

I frowned at the place logic was then leading me toward.

"This is a mighty big planet; and what if the portal we need isn't on it? That means it's out THERE--"

I waved a hand about, trying to make it look like I was swatting away some unnaturally persistent vines which were trying to impede our progress.

"Wherever the hell THERE might be. Hmmm..."

I paused fractionally, rubbed my chin, lowered my voice even further.

"If this was once a place of the Armorers, like Phalomir alluded to, well... these Sith guys had to travel to get places, didn't they? I mean, there's OTHER Sith worlds; maybe there's a ship at the temple we can stea- I mean, appropriate for our use. Maybe once we get off this blasted planet we can use that to, uhh... scout around and find another Portal out of this place?"

I couldn't help sighing as I finished. Yeah, this planet was a big place; who the hell knew how big Out There was.

Whatever it was.

[ 03-21-2007 02:55 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Yaoksi Joao ]

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He trailed, searching for a word. "...sour."

Even as he said this, the thick undergrowth they had been working their way through seemed to lighten slightly, and he thought he could vaguely see something ahead of them, albeit in the distance. Whatever had been out in the thick, howling and groaning every so often, seemed to be doing so a little less with each step.

Aaron hoped that didn't mean whatever it was had been following them and was about ready to pounce.

He didn't mention this little thought to anyone else. "I think I see something ahead," he said quietly. "I hope we're getting close...

...I think."

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Thea did not want to admit that she was starting to get tired walking so much. She tried to put a little of her weight on Yaoksi as inconspicuously as she could. Aaron's assertion that he could see something ahead helped a little though.

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"Both the holonet and normal comm channels are down, I set up a program to ping the holonet and comm channels every few minuetes, If I get a signal from either I will be alerted."

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