Hoth: Blood and Ice

Echo Base: Tauntaun Pens

Shyyyo and Layne walked through the halls on their way towards the newly set up kennels for the Tauntauns. The creatures would definitely be of use for just this purpose... Another bit of preparation that had needed to be done before this night.

Shyyyo approached the attendee and procured the use of two tauntauns for Layne and himself...

Someone else stepped into the pens, getting her own tauntaun ready. "Thought you'd disappear again on me, huh?"

A chuckle reverberated out of his mask.

"What happened to 'If you tell me not to come I'll stay'...?" He replied.

Lord Draahg made his presence known speaking to Shyyyo first, “So this is the enigmatic yet wayward apprentice. Lord Khalan, Darth Baras wanted to make sure you had all you needed for your journey.”

Layne had been quiet as she walked with Sylvain, though he would certainly have sensed the changes in her. When Draahg showed up, she was not surprised. Luth's arrival though...

...no. That was a *problem*.

"...you're not supposed to come," she said, her voice angry.

Shyyyo looked at the newcomer and replied, "If you know who I am, then you know that I am not simply Baras' apprentice anymore... But if he offers his support... Tell him I thank him for it."

Shyyyo wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 18, 2022 8:35 am

Shyyyo looked at the newcomer and replied, "If you know who I am, then you know that I am not simply Baras' apprentice anymore... But if he offers his support... Tell him I thank him for it."

“I am sure Darth Baras will appreciate the warm regards,” the man replied.

Shyyyo wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 18, 2022 8:27 am

A chuckle reverberated out of his mask.

"What happened to 'If you tell me not to come I'll stay'...?" He replied.

"Well, if it was just about you, that would be accurate. I have something I need to see there, too."

Layne Hoshin wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 18, 2022 8:33 am

"...you're not supposed to come," she said, her voice angry.

Her, she flipped a thumbs up. "Good to know."

Lord Draahg wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 18, 2022 8:31 am

Lord Draahg made his presence known speaking to Shyyyo first, “So this is the enigmatic yet wayward apprentice. Lord Khalan, Darth Baras wanted to make sure you had all you needed for your journey.”

She nodded to him. "Some stimpaks wouldn't be remiss, but I think I'm covered for survival. The rest isn't something supplies will help."

Sylvain nodded in reply to Luth, "Who am I to stand in the way of your destiny?"

He finished tying up his supplies to the tauntaun and began leading it towards the exit...

Though his mind continued to deal with the new conditions he was being presented with.

"No," she said, once more, with more force behind it.

"You just want to throw yourself away again. This path isn't for you, Luth. You're..."

Making a mockery of yourself, and me.

"...supposed to find your own path, not simply copy the one laid out for others."

He got astride a tauntaun and said, "Then I am ready when you are, Lord Khalan."

Layne Hoshin wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 18, 2022 8:44 am

"No," she said, once more, with more force behind it.

"You just want to throw yourself away again. This path isn't for you, Luth. You're..."

Making a mockery of yourself, and me.

"...supposed to find your own path, not simply copy the one laid out for others."

The voice wasn't dangerous or threatening. Just a simple statement when she spoke. "I know my path better than anyone, through painful education. Don't presume to know what I'm after."

She climbed onto her tauntaun. "Ready."

Shyyyo mounted up himself and looked back at Layne...

It was hard to tell what the look meant with the mask, but he quickly turned his tauntaun towards the exit and began leading the expedition out into the frozen wastes.

"I see..." she said, sadness coming through the anger; sadness for the both of them.

"So you would deny me my one final act of redemption after all, then."

This would not be the darkest moment she had mentioned to Baras. But it was certainly *a* dark moment.

"Fine," she said, shrugging off another hope and mounted the tauntaun; before following Sylvain into the wastes.

As they rode out across the tundra Shyyyo eventually pulled up alongside Luth's tauntaun and extended a hand out...

Inside of his hand was a small amulet which he waited for her to retrieve.

"If you're coming... you should have this." He said through the wind and tromping of tauntaun feet.

"Imagine that." She shook her head. "You really are Sith."

She let it drop after that, though.

When Syl rode over She accepted the amulet, considering it with interest. "What's this?"

"A protective amulet..." He said through the noise of his tauntaun who had started yelping as he ran.

"Nightingale made them this morning..."

"Always was," she said, her voice dead.

"I see..." She looked it over, then turned her helmet's faceplatetoward him. "Thank you."

Shyyyo simply nodded as he kept his gaze fixed forward on the proverbial path ahead of them...

After several minutes he slowed and stopped his tauntaun, holding up a hand for the others to pause as well.

"We should discuss contingencies..." He said once they had all stopped.

She pulled to a stop. "Oh? What did you have in mind?"

"The last time Layne and I were in this cave it played with our minds..." He replied.

"It can easily deceive us if we are not careful... Make friends look like foes and vice versa." He continued.

Lord Draahg did not seem surprised but eased up and listened.

"This is not going to be easy given the current company..." Sylvain said thinking of... everyone really.

"We must refrain from attacking any visage we encounter until they attack us first... If something attacks you... then by all means... Defend yourself in whatever way you need to. But to lash out aggressively could endanger one of us and cause us to kill each other needlessly. This applies universally, no matter what the other person is saying... or doing..."

"Hoth is too dangerous not to bring weapons, yet grabbing one while in a vision could end with all of us dead." She acknowledged. "That seems like the best course. We may want to consider heading in two at a time."

Draahg had already proposed coming for her master. She wasn't ready to trust him with three possibly unconscious people, two of whom might stand in his way.