Hoth: Blood and Ice

Words were not often his strength, but this reasoning he had concluded. "Countess, if I may interject. Before you leave. In the current position you find yourself in, do you often find yourself with the means to easily defy the will of your Queen?"

They were both right, though. The easiest way was to kill her, but that was not what Lana wanted. Not what he wanted, either. "Nobody is saying that killing her is off the table, but we should consider the chance to resolve things this way. She will come to kill us either way, but having her come to reason and a potential ally against the Eternal Empire is something that should be considered. You saw what they did with their ships when we arrived. Or do you all think that this was just a mere tantrum from a child that would stop if she were to be sated or spanked?"

“I am still not convinced Vitiate and Emperor Valkorian are one in the same, but as for what he did. Vaylin was powerful even in the womb she could move objects with the Force. I had hoped Valkorian could help her control that gift but, he chose a more extreme path, did something to her took her to a world called Nathema and she was never the same. I tried to rescue her, I knew she was in danger but she chose to stay.”

“I don’t know what happened there but I think we can use my connection to Vaylin and our connection to Nathema to maybe go back there… through the Force. I don’t know if it is possible but I know we will need a place charged with this Dark Side of the Force. As you call it.”

Omamdri was present, he liked to stay looped into things like this and preferred first hand knowledge on events like this.

Riss' outburst was a little surprising but also not he was content to let her say her piece but when she seemed to settle down he focused his attention back on Senya curious what the woman had to say as well.

He nodded at Nudimsu's words. "That's why I'm here and the main reason I'll help if I'm able."

At the mention of Nathema, Moyr's lekku shifted.

Luth was silent for a moment before finally speaking up. "I know of such a place. It's charged with the Dark Side, and I and another had visions that seemed related to Zakuul and possibly your Emperor Valkorian."

While Senya continues to speak, Riss does turn her way toward the seat beside Kat. Though doesn't hesitate to stop just in front of Nudimsu before she did, "My Queen, when she becomes such, would understand," she says, a little bit more of that bite still too her tone but it's friendly enough. Walking past along she joins by Kat's side, "besides, she's also sexy and hot," she murmurs, and settles in. Leaving the conversation on the main stage to bring up the peanut gallery as she now was. Leaning onto Kat's shoulder, she asks a touch more privately, "Doesn't that sound super sketch to you?"

Tethys listens carefully to the back-and-forth.

"The task, right now, isn't really about Senya. It's about whatever abuse was perpetrated on Vaylin when she was too young to consent. She's already been terribly hurt; finding out what happened can't harm her any further, and we may find a way to help her. That is worth the risk."

Senya hadn't directly mentioned, in their previous conversations, that this incident had involved the use of the Dark Side of the Force. But Tethys had inferred that with some confidence anyway, so hearing it confirmed doesn't surprise her.

She looks a bit surprised that Luth knows the dark vergence's location. She'd been about to volunteer to try to pry it out of Layne, but this is certainly simpler.

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Is there a Lore or Outer Rim check difficulty to recall knowledge of Nathema? Or is it unknown unless learned of onscreen at some point?

Riss got a chance to correct Nudimsu that Kat was indeed not queen at the moment, but she managed to get in a few words. "It's all right." It was simple, but the few words carried the weight that there was no hard feelings over what Riss did.

A brief smirk fluttered across her features as the pink-haired Alderaanian whispered to her, but is quickly replaced with her usual stoicism. Which then moved to a troubled frown. "The Dark Side? Really?" Why did it have to be the Dark Side? Kat looked with concern to Senya. "The Dark tends to corrupt and twist... it sounds very risky to put all the hopes into it."


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OOC: Also interested in the Lore check if possible, but understand if it's not something we can possibly know about.

There is a slight smile across his face as she responds in her own Riss way. It brought him no pleasure to call her out, but he could not consider himself her friend if he did not try to see reason. Besides, he at least trusted she would know of his intentions were not ill. He would not get high in front of just anyone, after all.

Even if he...wasn't actually intending to do it at the start.

"I can believe it. She will make a wise queen. Senya, on the other hand has no position like that. Merely just a knight who was taken in by her Emperor, possibly in love with him. No position to stop him from doing his will. Yet, she took the risk and attempted to defy him anyway. The foothold of her Emperor was just too strongly ingraved upon them, however. She should be commended for the attempt of defiance, failure that it ended up becoming."

He nodded and stepped back to let the others speak. He just couldn't let someone on his crew be looked down upon without saying anything.

"Nathema is worse than that. It is a place where all Force and all living things have been devoured. It is the ultimate void. If Vaylin survived it, I doubt she did so without being transformed. But if the Emperor did that to her and not the brothers, I think it was an act of annointment. I could speculate that if Vaylin's connection to Nathema is broken or reversed, his legacy might finally die regardless of other factors. But I am sceptical about anyone's ability to get it done."

The price Moyr had paid on Ziost for knowing this could never be reimbursed. She shuddered slightly recalling the circumstance.

Aphr frowned slightly. She wasn't surprised to hear the dark side was needed, but hearing what her sister said about the place...

"So Vaylin was taken to a world that devours the Force and came out of it...yeah I can see why she changed. I can't imagine anyone comes out of that sane."

She looked to Senya and then Luth.

"It sounds like we have a location for this kind of thing on Hoth. Although I would agree that relying entirely on the Dark Side for this perhaps isn't the best idea if it is a place as bad as it sounds."

“I won’t be relying on it, we don’t differentiate the Force into Light or Dark, it is simply a tool that obeys us and our devotion is to Zakuul and the Emperor. But This world Nathema is different, harsh, when I was there I felt deafened in the Force. I need to be near that so I can try and connect to what I felt… I think. But once I do I suspect my connection to Vaylin will let her know immediately that I am doing something through the Force against her.”

“Once we start she will come to me, and if we are to do this I won't be able to do this alone.”

She said grimly, “In fact traveling through such traumatic memories could be a one way trip.”

OOC: No roll for Nathema, you either know or you don't.

"So, you'll need defenders? Companions? What else?"

"Kat," Riss says, leaning off the other woman but remaining near to whisper in her ear. "Don't trust this woman, I don't," and then she leans back. Rising from her seat Riss walks along the procession of faces begins to slip away. Stopping only by Omandri, "I met the woman they speak of, and I don't trust this one. I'm not gonna be party to any of this anymore," she says to him quickly, and then walks out of the room.

/exit Riss

Omandri had been listening quietly during the discussion. This didn't really seem like the kind of problem he'd be much with so this was more informational than anything else.

Riss wrote: ↑

Sun Aug 21, 2022 4:56 pm

"Kat," Riss says, leaning off the other woman but remaining near to whisper in her ear. "Don't trust this woman, I don't," and then she leans back. Rising from her seat Riss walks along the procession of faces begins to slip away. Stopping only by Omandri, "I met the woman they speak of, and I don't trust this one. I'm not gonna be party to any of this anymore," she says to him quickly, and then walks out of the room.

/exit Riss

When Riss stopped by him he tilted his head toward her and listened nodding when she finished "Doubt I could help or stop this if I wanted just want to know what's going on myself." He replied but gave her a look meant to communicate he trusted her.

Kat didn't say anything to Riss except giving her an acknowledging nod, to let her know she had heard. Not because she doubted her, but she knew Riss were sometimes wrong about people (though she never brought Dryden or Bryson up in that to Riss to use against her)... and this concerned things she didn't think her to be the best judge on; motherhood and the Force.

"Will this... ritual, or whatever it is, hurt your daughter?" she asked Senya after having remained silent for a while.

Riss was entitled to her opinion, and in all honesty, she didn't trust everything being said either. Not that he didn't believe Senya, but her Emperor likely knew truly what had happened. Both Seya and Vailyn were limited in knowledge of the situation, and therefore, so were they.

"Sounds like some Force Chaos stuff. I can get you to the location, but that'd be the most I'd be able to help in that regard. Sounds like you need someone to keep her occupied while you do your Force travel thing as well, correct?"

“I don’t think it should hurt her, but she will sense it. It will most likely be chaotic, memories and thoughts are not uniform and malleable, and even the truth as we experience it changes over time,” she responded.

She said to Nudimsu, “That is the basic idea.”

"Owing to the nature of the memories or time itself?" Luth wondered out loud. "A little off topic, sorry."

The Alderaanian woman weighed the subject carefully in her head, taking what she knew into account. "How many is needed for this ritual?" She had little intentions of interacting with a Dark Side vergence herself if she could help it, but perhaps if they were all united... maybe that would be the dawn?

Senya Tirall wrote: ↑

Sun Aug 21, 2022 4:39 pm

“I won’t be relying on it, we don’t differentiate the Force into Light or Dark, it is simply a tool that obeys us and our devotion is to Zakuul and the Emperor.

"If your whole Empire is blind to the danger of the dark side of the Force..." Tethys shakes her head a little. "That would explain much, actually, about the way things turned out there."

Tethys clearly shares Kat's reservations about using a dark vergence for this purpose. "I understand that a place strong in the Dark Side could be in better resonance with this terrible planet you describe. But seeking visions through the darkness is also dangerous. Dark visions are especially misleading--your own negative emotions, and those of anyone with you, could act to trick and manipulate anything we might learn."

"We have learnt much from visions garnered from the dark side of the Force" Aphr pointed out "and continue to do so."

She looked back to Senya.

"I feel a balanced approach would be best. If this place is as dark and dangerous as mentioned, then those more attuned to the light could anchor those who are diving into the dark so that they are not swept away."

"I'd be willing to lend my hand in all this as long as the participating Jedi can confine their better than thou attitude to the Dark Side of the Force and do what is necessary."

"It isn't unthinkable." Galen said. "The way one uses the Force can certainly influence them, draw them to the Light or the Dark. But, there are ways to mitigate or even avoid that influence, in small amounts at least. It is entirely possible that there are methods unknown to us that can manage that on a greater scale."

"It is still dangerous, however." he added. "Very dangerous. Regardless, I still wish to assist, if I can."