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Post by Jos Nelsh on Nov 4, 2009 2:49:45 GMT 1
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Post by Dinphee Isen on Nov 4, 2009 2:53:05 GMT 1
-= Trial Chambers - Lower Levels - Reborn Jedi Temple - RJ-347 =-
-= Day 066 - 13:23 PM - GST =-
Dinphee stumbled against a pillar, managed to hold on to it. Trembling from exhaustion and panting for breath, she wiped the sweat from her face. She was standing on a narrow ridge of stone. On both sides the lava streamed past her at considerable speed through a rocky tunnel. The sight made her dizzy and so she averted her gaze. Deciding that there was no apparent imminent danger, the young Echani girl took some time to catch her breath and assess her situation. Only now did she notice the shape she was in. There were scratches and burns all over her body, but worst of all, she had a bleeding head wound. How much time had passed since she had entered these chambers? She seemed to have lost all sense of time and space. It did not matter. She considered herself lucky to be alive at this point.
When the jedi council decided the time had come for a padawan to complete the training, he or she was sent to the heart of the volcanic caverns, which the jedi commonly referred to as the 'trial chambers'. Deep under the temple, a trail littered with deadly traps, numerous hindrances, puzzles and tests known as the 'path of the jedi' wound its way through these dark and dangerous caverns, which housed savage creatures and many other unknown perils. This jedi youngling had not come here by order of the council however. Part of the temple had collapsed, and being cut off from all other escape routes, her only option had been to take this deadly detour.
These trial chambers were a test of physical and mental endurance. Her strength had been drained to a minimum, her agility had been tested to the extreme. Vile creatures attacked her at the most inopportune moments, and she had escaped the deadliest of traps. She had been forced to solve intricate problems, more and more under considerable time pressure as she made progress through the caverns. Some chambers had forced her to find her way by means of the Force, or tested her ability to think and act quickly. But the hardest were those that had tested her courage. Whenever she had felt a bit of relief by completing a trial, her newly found confidence would be instantly shattered by another unexpected event. Physically she was almost broken, mentally she felt like she was hanging on to a thread. Death could lurk around every corner, and under every stone she stepped upon.
Dinphee observed the lava around her. How often had she ventured down into the lower levels of the temple, just to sit in the observation lounges and watch the knights and masters duel in the lava arenas. The streams of lava in those rooms, knew Dinphee, were only artificial, pumped up from these volcanic caverns, and circulated through the arena basins by ducts. Younglings were generally not allowed to train in the lava arenas, even though a sensor-activating forcefield protected anyone from actually falling into the lava. This place, however, was the real deal. Only one slight misstep and she would be torched.
Suddenly she was overcome by an eerie feeling of unease. She looked over her shoulder, shivers rolling down her spine. There was something very... threatening in these caves. She could not tell whether it was something real, or something that she could only sense in the Force. There was so much unrest in this place, and inside herself, that she could no longer tell the difference. Dinphee could hardly suppress a panic. She was probably losing her nerves. She felt like she was not ready for this ordeal, that she was too young to go through all this. There was only so much more that she could take before her fear would take over. If that happened, she would die. Of that she was sure.
A violent explosion shook the cave. Rocks came tumbling down from the ceiling and splashed into the volcanic flow around her. Dinphee held on to the column for dear life. Behind her on the ridge, Blinker let out a surprised whistle. The droid almost toppled from the ridge but compensated in the nick of time with a quick burst from his jet boosters. Her remote was busy avoiding the falling debris. "WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE!", she shouted, but another loud rumble rolled through the cave, obscuring her words. The droids didn't seem to need any encouragement. More debris came falling down, and Dinphee dodged several splashes of lava where the rocks plunged down. She stumbled forward upon the narrow stone ridge, as fast as she dared, careful not to trip herself. No time to study the path now... if there were any traps ahead, she was doomed. The tunnel bent to the left, and Dinphee rounded the corner. After twenty meters the ridge ended. Some ten meters ahead, the lava disappeared through a narrow aperture near the bottom of the cave. A couple of meters in front of her, in the middle of the stream, towered a lone stone pillar, leading up to a dark hole in the ceiling of the cave.
Again the tunnel shook violently. Dinphee called over her shoulder to the R5. "Is it always this... active, in here?!" Blinker informed her that he had no data on this. She examined her surroundings. There was obviously nowhere else to go but up that pillar. Then she noticed with a shock that the lava level seemed to have risen. It was now only inches under the edge of the ridge. Was this some kind of trap? Had she triggered some invisible mechanism? Or was this just a natural occurrence, and was it normal for the lava levels to rise and drop?
A low rumble rolled through the tunnel and a part of the wall suddenly caved in. A big chunk of rock slid down into the lava, and a slow wave of molten rock washed over the ridge only a foot behind Blinker. Dinphee put all her questions aside and studied the pillar ahead. There! A handhold... she calculated the distance. It wasn't a big leap. A large step with a little more force should be enough. The problem was the handhold. If she missed, or slipped, there would be no second chances.
Behind her, the astromech screeched urgently. She turned her head and yelled in frustration : "I'M GOING ALRIGHT! JUST GIVE ME A FEW... -" She froze in terror as she saw the surge of lava coming around the corner, headed straight for them. She quickly regained her posture and turned to face the pillar. Behind her, she could hear Blinker's jet boosters ignite. The astromech flew past her, and up into the hole, followed closely by Dinphee's remote. She looked over her shoulder one more time and estimated the speed of the lava. She had about ten seconds... then she turned around and made the jump without another thought.
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Post by Dinphee Isen on Nov 5, 2009 2:44:04 GMT 1
-= Trial Chambers - Lower Levels - Reborn Jedi Temple - RJ-347 =-
-= Day 066 - 13:37 PM - GST =-
Dinphee caught on to the handhold, and pulled herself up slowly, placing her boots against the pillar for grip. In the soft red light from below she could only barely make out the second handhold higher up in the darkness. The adrenalin was pumping through her veins, giving her just enough strength to thrust herself upwards and grab it. She narrowly caught on, and pulled herself up so she could use the first hold as a foothold. A split second later the surge of lava filled the chamber below, and a large wave washed upon the pillar where her foot was only a moment earlier. The heat that rose up from below was unbearable. She hurriedly climbed up until finally she pulled herself up onto the floor of a dark room, coughing and shaking uncontrollably. Then she vomited.
Dinphee lay still for minutes, just breathing. A few silent tears rolled down her cheek.
When would it finally end?
R5 stood by her and tootled a sorry sound. She looked up, smiling through her tears.
"It's alright Blinker... I know I can always rely on you guys...", she said to both of the droids.
"Dwoooo."
"... at least the temple holocrons still seem to be in one piece", she said, checking the cannisters on her utility belt.
She pulled herself up with a growl of pain. Only now did she take note of where she was. They were in a fairly small cavern, without any lava flows. The single source of light seemed to be some kind of fluorescent texture on the rocky walls. She drew her weapon and ignited it. The blade appeared and bathed the cave in a cool silver glow. Dinphee gasped in awe. All around her, on the walls and the ceiling hung beautiful clusters of crystals, white and blueish in colour.
Dinphee looked closer, admiring the structures and the way they fragmented the light that fell through. Slowly she stretched out a hand, gently touching a tip of one of the crystals. Another tremor rocked the cave. Dinphee instinctively looked up. Some small debris fell from the ceiling, and a shard of crystal landed right in the palm of her outstretched hand. For a moment she just stood there, totally bewildered in the oddness of what just happened, then she dusted the shard off and held it up to the light of her blade. It was of a gorgeous clear white, light blue on one end. She silently thanked the Force and tucked it away in a safe place.
She spoke, more to herself than anyone else. "This room... the crystals... I don't know. It almost feels like some kind of reward... Could the end be near?"
Dinphee looked around the cave. High up in the darkness, she spotted a small metal hatch near the ceiling. It looked like a ventilation channel. Odd, she thought. She hadn't noticed any ventilation shafts before. On the other side of the room, her remote made a sound. Dinphee walked over to see what it had found. The small droid pointed it out with its headlight. Behind an open doorway stretched a dark tunnel. The floor was paved with large tiles. Behind her, once again rocks were coming down from the ceiling, and so she staggered warily into the tunnel, quickly followed by her two droid companions.
As she progressed, Dinphee noticed the tunnel was gradually sloping upwards. She counted about a hundred steps until they came upon a stone door. A light activated in a small niche next to the door as she approached. Dinphee examined the niche and found a cylindrical cut-away in a stone right under the light. It had roughly the shape of a lightsaber handle.
Dinphee moaned in frustration, realizing this could not be the end of it. It looked like she had to place her lightsaber in the niche in order to open the door. What trickery could it be this time? There was only one way to find out. She deactivated the weapon and placed it in the niche with a fatalistic sigh. The light intensified, and moved over the weapon from left to right and back, apparently scanning the object. Dinphee stood ready to grab her weapon as soon as the doors would open, but before she knew it, the floorpanel under her opened, dropping her down into the darkness.
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Post by Jos Nelsh on Nov 12, 2009 4:14:07 GMT 1
-= Speeder Factory Assembly Lines - Lower Corellian Sector - Nar Shaddaa =-
-= 11:40 AM GST - Day 066 =-
Feeling more focused and determined than ever before, Nelsh stretched his arm, and pointed the purple blade straight at Hawke's chest in an almost accusing gesture, as he stared her down. He felt that his only hope was to outclass her with pure technique. To employ any elements of Juyo effectively, he needed to move into the eye of the storm. Like Soresu, it required audacity, only it was bolder, and more intuitive.
Hawke sidestepped slowly, starting a circling movement, but Nelsh moved in at full speed, permitting his opponent no time to come up with a strategy. He opened up with a furious series of powerful strikes from various angles, which left Hawke no other choice than to block what she could while backing up. Constantly pushing forward, Nelsh unleashed a barrage of fast attacks, forcing Hawke into continuous defense. He knew that Rouves was no master of the Third Form, and ever fastening his pace as he moved in, he made it increasingly difficult for her to defend effectively. With quick jabs and glancing strikes, alternated with sudden powerful swings, he forced her back upon the slope of a hanging service ramp. A storm of red and violet moved down the length of the walkway until the duelists finally locked blades.
Being in a slightly more favorable position, Nelsh pushed down with all of his might, until Hawke's blade was thrown aside, slicing through one of the supports of the walkway. He used the opening in her defense to attempt a stab, but Hawke recovered with miraculous speed and managed to parry it expertly. Jos seemed to hesitate next, as he raised his weapon handle slowly to his left shoulder in a veiled attempt to lure Hawke into a counterattack. Seeing an opportunity to gain the offense, Hawke took the bait. Before she could even land her attack, Nelsh suddenly countered with a daring combination.
With the weapon in his right hand only, he sent the blade into a fast spin with a few supple turns of his wrist, and lashed out with two lightning fast alternating diagonal swings, the first parrying her attack, the second forcing her blade up into a horizontal stance. She managed to block the swing, but as his blade bounced off, Nelsh fluently switched the weapon to his left hand and swung down in a high vertical arc, which forced her to block even higher. When their swords were about to collide, he twisted his wrist sideways and purposely missed by a fraction. As his blade came around at high speed, he quickly reversed his grip on the handle and lashed out with a dangerously unexpected horizontal swing at her wrist. An unpredictable attack, so perfectly executed that it should have ended the duel right there.
But Rouves Hawke truly was the most gifted duellist he had ever met in battle. In an instinctive reaction, she quickly dropped onto her back and continued backwards into a roll. Instead of cutting off her weapon hand, the tip of the blade severed another support in a rain of sparks. Hawke came out of her roll and staggered back, visibly surprised by the boldness of his attack, uncertain how to respond to this unorthodox style. He could clearly sense her realization: This was going to be a fight to the death.
He moved in for another attack, but before he could take a single step, Hawke stretched out a hand and unleashed a storm of lightning. Nelsh braced himself and held up his weapon to fight the power of the dark energy that swirled around his blade. He could only watch as Hawke lowered her weapon hand and sliced through the durasteel in front of her feet. Then the lightning stopped, and with a fast swing she cut the only remaining support between Jos and herself. Being attached only at the far end, the walkway gave in under Nelsh's weight in an earsplitting wail of bending and breaking metal. He slid off the end and tumbled down some eight meters before crashing upon a stack of containers on a repulsor platform.
Nelsh rose to his feet with a growl of pain and picked up his lightsaber, as a sinister, mocking laugh from the darkness above drifted through the silent factory.
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Post by Dinphee Isen on Nov 13, 2009 17:01:55 GMT 1
-= Trial Chambers - Lower Levels - Reborn Jedi Temple - RJ-347 =-
-= Day 066 - 13:52 PM - GST =-
Dinphee tumbled upon the floor of another totally darkened room. A low thud came from the hole behind her, confirming that the trapdoor had closed itself.
"Just great..", she thought to herself. Now she was without her weapon, without a light, and separated from her droids. At least she was still alive... for now. She could not discern anything in the darkness. An eerie silence hung in the air. She thought about contacting Blinker by comlink, then hesitated, not wanting to draw any attention from whatever might inhabit this sinister hole. She stretched out with her senses, but couldn't sense anything. Still she decided to deactivate the signal sound on her comlink, and slowly rose to her feet. Then she moved forward, as silently as she could, one careful step at a time, her hands groping in the darkness.
Her heart was racing, the blood pounding in her ears. It was almost as if there was no end to the room. This uncertainty was driving her insane! From time to time a tremor thundered through the cave. It seemed to Dinphee that they were becoming more and more frequent. After what seemed like an eternity she finally touched upon a wall on her left, and followed it. After a few meters she suddenly stumbled over a big block of stone, and sprawled upon the floor.
Suppressing an urge to curse loudly, Dinphee groped around her for something to hold on to, and realized with a shock that there was no floor in front of her. She lay upon on some edge. Deep down below, on the bottom of what appeared to be a veritable abyss, was the deep crimson glow of magma. The light was far too weak to reach the top of the cavern, but at least it gave her an idea of the depth ahead of her. The longer she looked, the more she was convinced she could discern a shadow against the backdrop of the red glow. Some object in the middle of the crevice was blocking the soft light from below. She estimated the thing was at least 50 meters below her, but it was impossible to determine the distance accurately.
Dinphee shuddered at the thought of what might have happened if she had not tripped. She put her hands on the ground in order to push herself up. What was that? There was some... stuff on the floor. She picked it up. It was impossible to see what it was, but it felt like some kind of packaging material... then she realized it must be the wrapper of a food ration. Examining the floor around her, she found a whole lot of them, more or less littered around that big block of stone.
She examined the block with her hands. There seemed to be some kind of inscription on it. She traced it with her fingertips. 'R-O-U-V-E-S', it said. She found another one, just below it. 'H-A-W-K-E'. Dinphee quickly withdrew her hand as she realized who that was. Master Hawke, once champion of the order, now a fallen Jedi. The notion upset her. She searched the block for more inscriptions and found the names of several other knights she had met in the temple. Apparently they had all come through this place, and carved their names in the stone. Somehow she got the impression that these people must have spent quite some time here.
She rose to her feet and looked down. From what she could make out from the weak glow in the depth, she was looking out upon a narrow, but deep vertical cave. There was no telling how wide it was. Whatever there might be on the other side lay hidden in the shadows. As far as she could tell, the rock walls went down vertically without any edges, stairs or other visible means to descend.
Dinphee stretched out with her feelings... but sensed nothing specific in the Force. She sighed. Perhaps if she meditated, she could concentrate longer and stretch farther with her feelings. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Emptying her mind, she only concentrated on the Force within herself. She felt its currents, its rhythms, flowing, circulating. When her consciousness was one with the rhythm of the Force inside of her, she stretched outward, sensing the energies of the stones and the air. Then she stretched farther, down, deeper and deeper into the cave, towards the light deep beneath. When she felt she had stretched out to the edge of her ability, she tried to maintain in that state. She could sense the Force was a lot stronger in this deep cave. For an instant, somewhere deep down, just beyond her reach, she thought she could sense a very subtle energy. What could it be?
Another thunderous rumble shook the cave, breaking her concentration. Dinphee staggered back from the edge, and sat down hurriedly upon the stone block behind her. When everything seemed to have calmed down, she assumed a meditative position upon the stone and made another attempt, using the same routine as before. Only this time, when she sensed the stones around her, she noticed a very peculiar energy around the very block she was sitting upon, the stone with the names carved in it. She focused, trying to tune in on the vibration. Someone sat here, on this stone. Several people, even. She could sense... fear, but also strong determination. Then suddenly a rapid succession of feelings and images ran through her, and Dinphee gasped for air, opening her eyes wide in a shocked realization.
She stood up, walked over to the edge of the abyss and looked down, shaking her head slowly. She could never do that. She couldn't just... make the jump. Was that the nature of this test? To make a leap of faith into some indeterminable depth, without any idea what could be down there? The idea just seemed suicidal to her. Dinphee smiled bitterly. No wonder people sat here for hours, perhaps days even, just trying to work up the courage to go ahead. Once again, she realized that she wasn't ready for all of this.
What now?
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Post by Dinphee Isen on Dec 3, 2009 23:10:24 GMT 1
-= Trial Chambers - Lower Levels - Reborn Jedi Temple - RJ-347 =-
-= Day 066 - 14:31 PM - GST =-
There wasn't much time to ponder the question. The cave was struck by a tremor so violent that it threw Dinphee on the floor. This time, the quaking continued, until a crack appeared in the floor, spouting thick black smoke and sulphurous fumes into the cavern. Dinphee struggled to get on her feet, and stumbled away from the widening crevice. Rocks were falling all around her. It seemed like the entire cave was going to collapse. Still the tremor continued, and Dinphee staggered forward, until her hands found the familiar shape of the stone block. The quaking intensified. Soon this place would be torn apart. She realized in despair that she had no other choice than to make the leap of faith.
With grave determination, Dinphee stepped forward and stood as close to the edge as she dared, meanwhile trying to keep the fear from her mind with all of her might. If she panicked now, she surely would die. The ground was trembling, and it was almost impossible to keep her balance. A few meters behind her, a large part of the ceiling collapsed in a storm of fine rubble. A cloud of dust and smoke engulfed her, and she could not even see the abyss right in front of her. She prepared to stretch out with her feelings, trying to sense what she had touched upon before, but there was no time. With a loud rumble, the rest of the ceiling came down. In the urgency of the moment, she intuitively shifted her consciousness. Her instinct took over, and without so much of a thought she dropped her body towards the shadow in the depth. Dinphee didn't even consciously realize she had made the jump until she was already falling down.
Behind her, the cavern collapsed. Dinphee only focused on what lay in the depth. Halfway down her fall, she could make out the object more properly. It looked like some kind of bar, placed horizontally between the two walls of the cavern. She stretched out her limbs, and positioned her body into a horizontal position, slowing her descent. Then she positioned herself in such a way that she had more chance of grabbing on to whatever it was. In this moment, all fear had left her. She was in tune with the Force, and floating down into the depths, she felt like she was in total control. It was as if everything was happening in slow motion. She stretched her body, and caught on to the bar with both hands. Her momentum swung her around three, four times, until finally she hung more or less still in the glow of the lava some twenty meters below her.
She now noticed that the bar was sliding down along a contour in the walls. Pulled down by her weight, it sunk into a slot with a reaffirming clank. A stone platform appeared from an aperture in the wall, and sluggishly ground into place right under her feet. Dinphee dropped down. Never had she felt such an utter sensation of accomplishment. She had experienced the power of the Force in a way she previously hadn't thought possible. A rattle of analogue machinery disturbed her moment of triumph. Ahead of her, on the other side of a small chasm, a stone door slid open. Dinphee took a few quick steps and somersaulted to the other side. Behind her, a few large boulders splashed into the lava flow below. In fear that the entire cave might collapse upon her, Dinphee decided not to waste any time and sprinted through the open doorway.
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