Hoth: Blood and Ice

[Lord Draahg]

"I go where Lord Khalan goes," he responded.

[Layne Hoshin]

"You may be right, there is a risk we would strike at one another instead. But it would be foolish to commit so absolutely to what you are saying. The Force may *demand* we strike down our attachments, to prove we are worthy of uncovering the secrets it hides."

[Sylvain Torsin]

“Well… know that if you move aggressively against me I will not hesitate to put you down.”

He chuckled sardonically, “And then feel honored… I suppose… that somehow in your contorted psyche I was thought of as an ‘attachment’.”

[Layne Hoshin]

"I have no intention of striking you down Sylvain," she said, ignoring the remark on her psyche, "I merely meant that the Force will no doubt seek to test us, and that can come in any number of ways. Would you strike down Kristal, if it showed her to you? Or think, if she were still here, would you keep yourself from risking a strike against me if what the Force could reveal to you might save her?"

She shrugged. "Naturally, I do not suggest we go for a lightsaber as a first choice."

[Sylvain Torsin]

Sylvain paused for a moment before replying, "We cannot plan for every contingency... Elaborate plans disintegrate with the least bit of variance... Stick to the basics. Keep your focus on what you have come to do. Then... whatever happens was all part of the plan in the first place. Nothing can deter someone with true focus... Do not waver in your convictions. Whatever they may be..."

[Lord Draahg]

"As you say, can we get on with it?" Lord Draahg responded.

[Sylvain Torsin]

Sylvain nodded and kicked his tauntaun to begin the journey again.

[Luth Khalan]

Luth just shook her head and followed along.

[Layne Hoshin]

There was nothing there to argue with. She agreed fully. And so she too followed along.

[Lord Draahg]

The group arrives at the cave system, some lone predator running off into the night. Draahg dismounted and placed down a stake to keep the beast tied. He would then do the same for Luth’s mount as well, the rest could fend for themselves.

The cave beckoned and deeper inside laid the vergence.

OOC: Fear check at Hard, Cool or Discipline can be used, once that is complete make a Force check for every light pip suffer 2 strain as they enter the vergence.

Each player should note what exactly their intent in the vergence is and I will adjust accordingly and how long they wish to stay within this profane place.

[Sylvain Torsin]

Sylvain tied up his tauntaun as well at the entrance, unloaded his pack, and began setting up a campsite within the outer reaches of the cavern...

He did not know how long it would take to seek the answers and strength he would need to protect those around him... but he was committed to doing whatever it took to ensure that they had what they needed to confront the impending disaster and claim victory on the other end...

There was no fear that could take him anymore... though trouble loomed only in the next room.

No more wavering... No more internal dishonesty... Just conviction. Blind as it may have been...


-----

D3 LN Fear Check: 3eP+1eA+3eD 5 successes, 2 threat


D3 LN Force Check: 5eF 1 Light Side, 5 Dark Side


OOC: So 2 strain from Lightside Pip. 2 Threat for you to use.

Sylvain is here to acquire power/information/insight that will help with the impending Eternal Empire issue. He's planning on being here as long as it takes. He's got wilderness survival gear... Which in real-life logistics, means planning on being here in one way or another until the end of D6 in real game time as I (the player) will be on vacation for Days 4-6. Super intensive, drawn-out, Force spirit-journey asceticism.

[Dapper Dog]

Sylvain tied up his tauntaun as well at the entrance, unloaded his pack, and began setting up a campsite within the outer reaches of the cavern...

He did not know how long it would take to seek the answers and strength he would need to protect those around him... but he was committed to doing whatever it took to ensure that they had what they needed to confront the impending disaster and claim victory on the other end...

There was no fear that could take him anymore... though trouble loomed only in the next room.

No more wavering... No more internal dishonesty... Just conviction. Blind as it may have been...


-----

D3 LN Fear Check: 3eP+1eA+3eD 5 successes, 2 threat


D3 LN Force Check: 5eF 1 Light Side, 5 Dark Side


OOC: So 2 strain from Lightside Pip. 2 Threat for you to use.

Sylvain is here to acquire power/information/insight that will help with the impending Eternal Empire issue. He's planning on being here as long as it takes. He's got wilderness survival gear... Which logistically means until the end of D6 in real game time as I will be on vacation for Days 4-6.

The Vergence welcomes him.

OOC: 2 advantage converted to a setback die, this is a Discipline check versus 3eC+2eD+1eS for the duration.

[Luth Khalan]

Luth tied down the reins to the take and looked toward the cave.

The Dark Side. The Force itself was something Luth had buried and repressed and turned away from for so long. Now she faced an intensely dark aspect of it in concentrated form. She felt her sins crawling up her back as tingles in her spine. Fear. The terror she had felt at Bankor before she left was nothing like this. She had run away from that, and this was so much worse.

She gripped her hand into a tight fist and walked forward. She had told Baras the absolute truth - she came here to face this. To understand the darkness of the Force and herself and not run away anymore. Whether she refused the darkness that she saw here or embraced it, she would take control of her life and pursue her potential.

The future wasn't a river. It was ocean in which one could drown if one was not prepared. She would take control of her own small ship, at least, and make it hers to navigate.

---

D3 LN - Fear, using Discipline: 2eA+3eD 1 failure


D3 LN - Force: 2eF+1eS 1 threat, 2 Light Side, 1 Dark Side


4 Strain from the Light pips.

The goal is essentially character development to become a better Force user. Luth's goal is to overcome her own numb resignation, enhance her understanding of herself and the Force, and finally embrace both, as well as trying to find her own path/potential within the Dark or Light. She will be there for probably at least day, maybe longer depending on how much time it needs, whether Baras needs her for something, and how long the time lapse between sessions is. She'll be back for D4.

[Dapper Dog]

Luth tied down the reins to the take and looked toward the cave.

The Dark Side. The Force itself was something Luth had buried and repressed and turned away from for so long. Now she faced an intensely dark aspect of it in concentrated form. She felt her sins crawling up her back as tingles in her spine. Fear. The terror she had felt at Bankor before she left was nothing like this. She had run away from that, and this was so much worse.

She gripped her hand into a tight fist and walked forward. She had told Baras the absolute truth - she came here to face this. To understand the darkness of the Force and herself and not run away anymore. Whether she refused the darkness that she saw here or embraced it, she would take control of her life and pursue her potential.

The future wasn't a river. It was ocean in which one could drown if one was not prepared. She would take control of her own small ship, at least, and make it hers to navigate.

---

D3 LN - Fear, using Discipline: 2eA+3eD 1 failure


D3 LN - Force: 2eF+1eS 1 threat, 2 Light Side, 1 Dark Side


4 Strain from the Light pips.

The goal is essentially character development to become a better Force user. Luth's goal is to overcome her own numb resignation, enhance her understanding of herself and the Force, and finally embrace both, as well as trying to find her own path/potential within the Dark or Light. She will be there for probably at least day, maybe longer depending on how much time it needs, whether Baras needs her for something, and how long the time lapse between sessions is. She'll be back for D4.

The Vergence consumes her.

OOC: This is a Discipline check versus 1eC+2eD+1eS for the duration, this includes the setback from Fear.

[Sylvain Torsin]

Preparations fully made... Resolve determined... He was prepared to meet his Destiny...

-----

D3 LN Discipline Montage Check, Sense Danger -2eS, Gloves, Zash's Talent: 3eP+1eA+3eB+3eC+2eD 2 successes, 1 threat

[Luth Khalan]

The was no time for preparations... No time for anything. The Dark Side consumed her like it had been waiting for this moment.

---

LN 3 - Into the Breach - Discipline: 2eA+1eC+2eD+1eS 5 failures

[Dapper Dog]

The was no time for preparations... No time for anything. The Dark Side consumed her like it had been waiting for this moment.

---

LN 3 - Into the Breach - Discipline: 2eA+1eC+2eD+1eS 5 failures

The power of the Dark Side overwhelms, and she finds herself experiencing another version of herself, one that has given herself wholly to the Dark Side. It is intoxicating, overwhelming and she is never overlooked. She is the power there.

She crushes those that have wronged her, she lords over all and at the end of the Dark Side vision she ascends to the highest highest and takes her place on a magnificent Throne. She rises from the sea of the future and when she takes her seat, she is the one true ruler of the Galaxy.

She feels hands on her shoulders and that voice comes into her mind once more, “There is no death; there is only the Force and I am its master.”

She awakens on the floor of the cave late into the next morning… exhausted with Lord Draahg watching over…

/scene for Luth

[Dapper Dog]

Preparations fully made... Resolve determined... He was prepared to meet his Destiny...

-----

D3 LN Discipline Montage Check, Sense Danger -2eS, Gloves, Zash's Talent: 3eP+1eA+3eB+3eC+2eD 2 successes, 1 threat

Shyyyo conquers the darkness, and strides through a multitude of visions but always his will sees him through. A journey of weeks and days… years, decades, and centuries and at the end of it all he finds himself back where he started.

Alone, surrounded by the void.

The whole of the Galaxy stretched out before him, all of creation, and he was one insignificant part of the whole. The vergence stripped him bare down to his bones, and cut deep grooves exposing the marrow.

There was a great deal of pain to the point of madness and it lasted eons.

The pain revealed truth, there was only one way to defeat that what was coming, and that was together… but the Dark Side demanded strength and to act compliant was against the fiber and nature of the Dark Side, this was more than an agreement of convenience it would have to be lasting trust.

In the end it is impossible.

The Empire falls, the Republic dies… and all owe allegiance to a singular power, the Eternal Empire. It cannot be stopped.

All according to plan.

When the enigmatic Shyyo realizes where he is, he is thousands of miles away in the Frozen Sea… his skin blistered from the cold… his extremities dangerous close to being lost to the bitter cold of Hoth.

/scene for Shyyo, to be picked back up whenever the player returns from Holiday

[Layne Hoshin]

There was nothing to do but go forward, indeed. She had sacrificed the Light inside her for this. It could prove to have all been for nothing. And then she would likely *truly* be lost, forever....

...Or...

...It might be just enough for Layne to allow herself to reach for the Light once more, no matter how difficult that journey would be after what she had done today.

There was no hesitation anymore, in any case. She had made her choice; now she just had to see what the outcome would be.

Fear Discipline: 1eP+2eA+3eD 2 successes


Force: 2eF 1 Light Side, 1 Dark Side
(an appropriate result I guess!)

Layne's intent is to find some way to stand against the Emperor or his children/empire. Wether that's some secret knowledge, or the kind of power people sacrifice everything for. Her motivation is that she only allowed herself to truly reach for the Light after she thought that she'd helped to defeat the threat that was the emperor, thereby redeeming her past as a Sith. Having been shown her many failures and the fact they *didn't* end the threat the Emperor represented, she's feels her redemption had to be lost along with it because she didn't deserve it in the first place.

Now, she's desperately clinging to the hope she might find some secret knowledge or power here that will let her play a pivotal role in standing against what's coming. Something big and impactful enough to justify this descent into darkness, and through it help her *earn* the redemption she threw away. For this, she will stay there as long as she needs to, until she either finds what she's looking for, or realizes there's nothing to be found to begin with.

[Dapper Dog]

There was nothing to do but go forward, indeed. She had sacrificed the Light inside her for this. It could prove to have all been for nothing. And then she would likely *truly* be lost, forever....

...Or...

...It might be just enough for Layne to allow herself to reach for the Light once more, no matter how difficult that journey would be after what she had done today.

There was no hesitation anymore, in any case. She had made her choice; now she just had to see what the outcome would be.

Fear Discipline: 1eP+2eA+3eD 2 successes


Force: 2eF 1 Light Side, 1 Dark Side
(an appropriate result I guess!)

Layne's intent is to find some way to stand against the Emperor or his children/empire. Wether that's some secret knowledge, or the kind of power people sacrifice everything for. Her motivation is that she only allowed herself to truly reach for the Light after she thought that she'd helped to defeat the threat that was the emperor, thereby redeeming her past as a Sith. Having been shown her many failures and the fact they *didn't* end the threat the Emperor represented, she's feels her redemption had to be lost along with it because she didn't deserve it in the first place.

Now, she's desperately clinging to the hope she might find some secret knowledge or power here that will let her play a pivotal role in standing against what's coming. Something big and impactful enough to justify this descent into darkness, and through it help her *earn* the redemption she threw away. For this, she will stay there as long as she needs to, until she either finds what she's looking for, or realizes there's nothing to be found to begin with.

OOC: This is a Discipline check versus 3eC+2eD for the duration.

[Layne Hoshin]

(are things like the monkey paw or the boon from the darkside sermon potentially applicable?)

[Dapper Dog]

(are things like the monkey paw or the boon from the darkside sermon potentially applicable?)

OOC: Yes.

[Layne Hoshin]

Discipline, DESTINY, Sermon Mark (provides 1 Triumph, and will also use the Monkey Paw because I like living dangerously)): 2eP+1eA+3eC+2eD 1 success, 4 threat, 2 Despair


Monkey Paw!: 1d100 92 - Generates an additional triumph, final result, Success! But with 2 triumphs and 2 despairs.

[Dapper Dog]

Discipline, DESTINY, Sermon Mark (provides 1 Triumph, and will also use the Monkey Paw because I like living dangerously)): 2eP+1eA+3eC+2eD 1 success, 4 threat, 2 Despair


Monkey Paw!: 1d100 92 - Generates an additional triumph, final result, Success! But with 2 triumphs and 2 despairs.

Music for the Scene

Layne was falling... tumbling through the void.

She tumbles through the darkness until she lands hard in the mud and rock… no snow and ice. An alien world that seems familiar. It is dusty and arid and a man approaches and behind him more and more… perhaps hundreds.


Thick red hair and beard, muscular and scarred, on hand replaced with prosthetic of fine make, crystalline and metallic in a beautiful melding. Behind him were faces she did not recognize but they were all shades of herself.

“Been a long time, cousin. Since all of this,” he raised up the prosthetic limb.

“You came into the dark to find something,” he reached out and placed that same hand on her shoulder. “I want you to know that even when you Fall, when you murder innocents, when you do everything you think you must do, I will always love you. Not just as a cousin but as a sister.”

“What happens next is how it has to be.”


A young woman peered around his shoulder and said, “This is her?” Daz stepped aside and allowed her to speak, “Kriff she looks kind of badass, we could have used someone like her in the fight. But I guess we got by.”


A young man placed his hand on Layne’s shoulder, “So this is part of our legacy, Master Daz. Wow. She was your inspiration, through the dark times. Without her, there would be no us. Too bad you don’t know what happened to her after the war.”

Daz sighed and said, “I lied, I lied to you both. Petra, Jax, all of you… stay awhile and listen.”



His form shimmered and then darkened as he took on a lotus pose, the halo of his light obscuring reality in waves. He continued speaking, “Layne fell to the Dark Side, trying to achieve some greater good but there is no greater good in the dark. She turned her back on the Jedi, on her friends, and on herself.”

“When the war came, she was already lost. Darth Baras had twisted her into the very thing she had tried to destroy. She always needed more power, for some phantom Emperor… some phantom menace just out of sight. Every conspiracy was the Sith Emperor, she convinced herself it was the only way.”

“She told herself killing her friends was just one step, they would forgive her when the ends finally justified the means. The galaxy burned and still she was consumed with this need to prove herself right, to defeat an already dead Emperor.”

“It had to end and so I tracked her down, alone.”

She can see them dueling as Daz stepped aside her two blades, fierce and powerful, unrelenting and filled with hatred. In the end they stood apart her blades ready, as Daz faced her with his singular green blade.

They came at each other and everything was still. Then Layne fell, her head, neatly, severed. Daz collapsed to one knee and then fell forward as he crawled to Layne but his strength gave out before he could reach her.

“That is the truth,” he said, then all of the shadows and faces fell into Daz and he pulled before exploding outward with abundant light.



She was alone now with all of her choices, her decisions.

When she pulled herself from the vision she was laying in the snow stained red from her own blood, her face was sore and bloody. She could not see… she had torn at her eyes she would recover with fancy Star wars tech but for now… she was cold in the inky darkness.

OOC: Layne will be found after the time skip with a Blindness critical, it can be healed just outside Echo Base.

Luth suffers 5 Conflict, Layne and Shyyyo suffer another 10 Conflict for the ordeal due to how long they stayed.