Many years before the events of KotOR, the galaxy was at war. The mighty sith were advancing throughout the galaxy, destroying one planet at a time. They seemed unstoppable. Until a young jedi knight stood before the ranks of the sith as prisoner. They asked him for information, but he didn't give them any. But before they could kill him, he searched his feelings for a way to get out of death. Suddenly, all of the sith in that building he was in were defeated and the war was won. The power, nobody knew what it was called. For nobody who saw it survived. Not even the jedi himself. For the secondhe used it, he dropped down dead.
That was the legend, and for generations, the power was known as the Key of the Ancients, and years later the sith struck back. Once again, the sith seemed like an impossible to defeat army, with a powerful sith lord as the head of it. Many are hoping for someone to once again learn the power of the Key of the Ancients to stop him. So the jedi decided to send out three jedi knights to investigate the ruins of where the Key of the Ancients was first discovered, and attempt to put a stop to the sith....



Bron whizzed over the starry skies of Korriban, the two other jedi knights to his sides. "The ruins are in sight, move in." Bron said over his comlink to Quirian and Kran. The three overlooked the ancient sith ruins and Bron sensed how powerful this planet was. How the dark side of the force surrounded it's atmosphere.

Bron finally overlooked the sith temple, where the Key of the Ancients was first founded, and signaled for the two others to land. Bron's ship touched the ground and he jumped out of his ship. He turned to the other two. "I sense the dark side....." Bron said and headed towards the temple.

Exodius Prime glided in the atmosphere above Korriban. He just finished retrieving an arifact from one of the ruins on the dark planet, and was itching to get paid. "Why would the Sith want this piece of junk?" he asked himself, looking back at the glowing crystal.

As he was gliding, Exodius spotted three starfighters flying in the distance. He quickly turned on his ship's cloaking device. His Arc-170 became completely invisible. He used what force power he had to block out his ship from the jedi that he knew must be piloting the starfighters. He could tell through the force. He pounded the thrusters and caught up with the trio. They began to decend, headed for another group of ruins, but Exodious continued to fly. He looked up the ruins on Majestic Strike's computer and found the background. It was interesting.

Exodious turned his ship around and circled over the ruins that lay below. He kept an eye on the jedi while he conducted more research.

His head was bowed and his arms were crossed across his chest. He was on his knees and was silently praying to himself, speaking ancient words not known to many but his own kind. He slowly stood up and turned around, a small circular glyph glowed on his head, shining green for a moment before disappearing. He grabbed his staff and headed out of the room.

The room that he was walking out of was ancient, more like ruins than a room, but there were several broken statues and an altar in the middle with a strange glyph carved into stone with a long necklace with small trinkets around it. He rose his hand and slid the door open, the jewelry clinking around that hung from his wrist. He headed out of the room into a hallway.

It was much like a hallway seen in the ruins of Dantooine, underneath the main structure. He had made his way halfway through the hallway before stopping for a moment and resting, putting a gloved hand to his head and leaning against a wall, his staff leaning next to him. He let his bangs fall over his eyes, squeezing his forehead a little with the hand he put to his head before pushing away, grabbing his staff, and continuing.

It seemed this put him at a weak point, but it was something he had to do. A new shiny trinket that hung around his neck glowed blue a little as water formed on it. He wiped it off and continued, the other trinkets seemed to be other colors; red, yellow, pink, black, white and brown. He headed out of that hallway and into a dome-like room which had a skyroof on it. This was how he got in, and this is how he'd get out. He walked up to the rope and put his staff onto his back, strapping it into his sash. He grasped the rope with a clang of his wrists as he slid upwards, an imaginary force pushing him up and out. He grabbed the edge of the glass and vaulted himself upwards, grabbing his staff in mid-air and landing in a crouch.

He snatched up his beat-up knapsack and slowly headed off of the dome and to the edge of the building, leaping down onto a pillar and sliding all the way to the ground, hopping off at the end and flipping his knapsack over his right shoulder right his right hand on it's strap, his eyes set forward, determined.

A quick click of his comlink is the only answer Quirian sends to Bron as he lands his fighter a good bit away from the other Jedi's. He considers the security of the ships, and not packing them in together while powered down seems wise. He quickly pulls off the helmet he wears while flying, and stands on the ground, immersing himself in the Force.

A brief flicker of something, something niggling at the back of his conciousness, but that is all that stands out against the veritable torrent of Dark Side energies that pour over him. "No, really?" His voice is sarcastic. "Detect the Dark Side, indeed. This is Korriban- what did you expect?" he snorts a little, too, for good measure, and then shuts up, suddenly embarrassed at his all-too-typical scathing remark.

I must be aware of my failings- I must take steps to not let them hold sway over me, he reflects, following Bron towards the temple.

The valley before her spoke of emptiness. Nothing but sand and dust blew across the ground as Lilah Ashanti stood upon the wastes of Korriban. She could hear the whispers on the wind as they spoke of temptations. Her green eyes scanned the valley as she set down into it. She originally had been sent to the Outer Rim as a surveyor and to make sure no one found the ancient secrets that had been entrusted to her people. She saw the three Jedi knights enter the temple and decided to follow. She was all too well aware that she was taking a risk by entering. However she needed to know what these three Jedi were after and followed rather closely but masked herself as she had been able to do all her life.

"Yes I sense the Dark Side too" Kran said, "Korriban has always been a Planet of the Dark Side"

Lilah watched as they paused and conversed. She was amazed that they couldn't sense the evil there on the winds; that they used their Force. She was a distance behind but could hear what they were saying. She hoped that they could sense the nest of tukata that lived in the temple. They had been trying to catch her but she always escaped.

"Korriban.The tomb for many Sith's and Dark Jedi's.A deserted place,where anyone isn't brave enough to unveil the mysterys of the Sith.But i am."said Jason as he looked onto the Valley of the Dark Lords.Ragnos,Pall,Hord and Sadow.All powerful but all dead.That was the thing Jason couldn't get.

"I know that I'm supposed to sense the dark side here." Bron said. "But something seems different. It seems like the sith may be hiding on this planet still." Bron walked over to the rubbles of an old statue guarding the destroyed temple. "Many powerful sith have died here, but are their souls still echoing across this planet, or are they locked away in the forgotten tombs? I wonder...."

Bron's voice started to trail off as he continued his walk towards the temple. He glanced over at Quirian and noticed he landed his ship further away then Kran and himself. He motioned him to catch up and when he did, the three walked towards the temple.

Quirian stopped dead for a few moments, feeling the Force, easily slipping into a trance-state to feel out the immediate area. "I feel it. Sort of a dampened area- not really a lessening, but like there's something... hiding." He turns around, opening his eyes, but whatever he was looking for, he doesn't seem to find it.

"There are... presences around us, masking themselves. I cannot tell where, but it seems like anywhere from one person to six. Not all immediately around us." He speaks very quietly. He shakes his head. "A difficult place, this. We should keep our ears and eyes open- a trap will be sprung before we're done, I should think." He turns back to the others. "But in the meantime," he says more loudly, "Where should we start looking?"

Matthew strode across the barren landscape of Korriban, just back from praying at an ancient temple there. He could easily be told apart from the scenery due to his light clothing and outlandish hair (sticking up petrified). The group would surely see him, but it would be no problem to him, as long as they didn't get in his way.

Aboard Darth Coas flagship, the 'Bloodthirster/

"mi....mi...mi..lord" stuttered a servant of the Dark Lord 'Coas'. They were in the bridge which was as cold and earie as the rest of the ship. Everyone who slaved there were nothing but mindless puppets, the only thing they ever thought was their job and how to serve the dark lord who mentally controlled them.
"Spit it out, you stupid maggots.."ordered Darth Coas.
"we could... we couldn't find anything. The tomb was empty" The servant reported and then pleaded "please don't kill me."
"Dam it!" cried Coas, in anger. The servant began to shake like man in fear if the painfull death that would shearally come to him. "Oh stop worring you coward. I'm not going to kill you. You did what I ordered you too. You are going to lead a squad of Choas Troops* to find that bloody merchant and torture him untill he releaves the location of the artifact."
The servant sighed in releafe and asked "You want us to kill him afterwards?"
"Nope. He can live. It'll be more painfull for him if he is allowed to live. Dismissed!"


* The Choas Troops are my virson of sith/storm troopers. They wear similar armour to the sith troops.

"I suggest you turn back or you may succumb to the great evil that reside her," Lilah said. She stepped out from her hiding space that was rather close to the group. She couldn't stand it that they didn't know what they were getting themselves into. She wanted to make sure that they knew the risks.

Exodious Prime continued to circle overhead, reading with interest the history of the ruins. Often, he'd look out the cockpit window at the jedi below. Finally, he decided he'd better land to save fuel for the trip back to headquarters.

So Exodious landed Majestic Strike on a large hill overlooking the ruins. The hill was rather steep, which provided a superb sniping arena in the ruins. Exodious unstrapped his harnesses and set the Arc-170 to camoflage mode. Millions of fiberoptic sensors took in the surrounding light and turned the fighter into part of the landscape.

Exodious turned around and opened up a hatch that led to the back of his modified Arc-170. He grabbed his DC-17m and snapped on the sniper attachment. He pressed a button on the wall of the inside of the ship, and a comoflage net fell over one side of his ship. Next he pulled a lever and a small opening appeared in the same side of Majestic Strike. He turned it into a sniping positon and poked the gun through the small hatch. Exodious looked through the sniper scope and lined up one of the jedi in its crosshairs, but he didn't fire. He had nothing against the jedi. He was simply curious.

"Okay.." Bron looked at Lilah and Matthew. "What is going on?" Bron turned back to make sure that the other two were okay and then turned back to Lilah and Matthew. He sensed danger, but it was not from them. There was something creeping up on his back. He turned around and then it felt like it was on his chest. He couldn't see anything but he felt the dark side was very strong and he sensed a sith. He ignited his saber just in time to deflect a sniper's shot heading straight towards his chest.

(It could be either Exodious or someone else. Your choice, Niner.)

(Let's make it someone else for now. It'll give it a twist.)

Exodious kept his scope pointed at the jedi. It looked like he was doing something. Exodious could feel it in the force. The jedi was in danger, but not from him. Exodious relaxed his grip on the jedi through the force, but kept himself shrouded.

Just then, the jedi's lightsaber ignited and he deflected a sniper shot. Exodious couldn't tell which direction the shot came from, but immediatley he zoomed out and looked around. He kept an eye on the jedi, just in case he was in danger. He channeled some of the little force power he had to the jedi, to make sure the jedi was alert.

Ion's escape pod screeched across the sky of some planet. Damn space pirates could have gotten me Ion thought. Good thing I escaped.
The escape pods warning signal started beeping loudly, warning Ion that impact was almost on him, and that safety measures would be activated.
Suddenly, foam burst out of the sides of the pod and engulfed Ion, making him unable to move. But he could still breath. His escape pod's decent jets fired a couple of times, to slow the fall to the ground below.
It seemed like forever, but the pod hit the ground, making a 25 meter wide crator. He waited for the foam to dissolve them started climbing out of the extremely hot pod. He looked around, and saw the strangest and oddest thing.
It happened to be at this time, Jedi had arrived, as well as others. Ion started running towards the ruins they entered at a pace only a fit man could run for long periods of time.

Lilah heard the shot before the Jedi drew his lightsaber. She turned into a defensive posture with her blade ringing from the movement. She looked around with her eyes but listened to the whispers on the wind, beyond the lies of the ancient evils. She knew someone else was there watching and she looked in his direction. She didn't know it was Exodious but she was aware someone was there.

The Dark side of the fore was all around him. Bron sensed that the sniper was now aiming at Kran. "WATCH OUT!" Bron shouted

With a swing, Lilah deflected the blaster shot with the side of her blade at the direction that it came from. She twirled her blade in her right and held her left in front of her. She then said, "We have no choice, get in the temple, now!"
She began backing them into the temple watching.

Bron followed Lilah and mentioned for the other jedis to follow. Bron put on his stealth so his attacker wouldn't find him and force sprinted. Finally, he got to the right temple and sat down, out of sight.

Quirian followed Bron and the odd woman that had greeted them into the ruins, his own burst of Force-enhanced Speed nearly bringing him into the ruins at the same time as Bron. His own unignited lightsaber hung in his hand, even as he turned around and increased his concentration, seeking the sniper through the force.

A moment's work was all that was needed to throw the sniper's aim askew for quite a number of moments, allowing a large period of time as safety for Kron, if neccessary. A second presence, extremely muted, almost invisible, tugged at his thoughts and concentration and his eyes snapped open. "Possible Sith in the area. Alive and muting themselves." He paused and considered. "Muting very well. I can't even tell where they are." He cocked an eyebrow at the woman.

"And you- you have been masking yourself in the Force. You have recieved training, and before we go anywhere, I'd like to know where." A moment's consideration. "And just who are you, anyway?"

Matthew just stood there out in the open. "Such uncivilized weapons.." He said, withdrawing his staff and setting his pack down on the ground. He bent down and drew a small glyph onto the ground before backing up. He twirled his staff in one hand and slammed the butt of it into the ground, nothing happening-yet.

Within a few seconds, another shot flew towards him, but just hit air as a small bubble rippled around Matthew. He glanced to the right where he saw a slight glimpse of a flash of yellow. He grabbed his pack and headed in that direction calmly, the bubble around him disappearinf from view, but the invisible force field was still present. He headed towards the sniper, doing what the Jedi wouldn't- investigate.

Lilah raised her brow at Quirian. She was slightly offended, "I am not one of you Jedi. I am a sister of the Bushida Handmaidens, of the Haida Clan. We are the strongest of the warriors."
She turned her gaze to where the sniper was. She eyed the landscape as if trying to see through the rocks. She said, "There are at least two. One is watching and the other is shooting."
She crouched behind the wall and pulled a small bag out of her belt. She opened it and began to pull some pellets out of it.

"Tell me, what is your name?" Bron asked Lilah.

"Not now," and she peeked over the edge of the rocks. She again scanned the landscape and saw what she was looking for. She threw the pellets and with a deadly accuracy they landed where she intended. They released a strange light that illuminated anyone that was invisible. Some were small explosives with a lot of punch. She smiled and said, "That got em. Now we shall see who is attacking."

He stopped where he was, bending down at the knees. He slowly drew a small arcane symbol into the dirt, sliding the red trinket off of his necklace and placing it in the center of the glyph, standing up and backing up.

"Stand back.." He said to the others, glancing at the snipers as the white light revealed their positions. He twirled his staff above his head then spun it around his body, twisting into a small dance before stopping and slamming the blunt end of the staff into the ground as a large pillar of Earth shot up from either side of him, putting him into a dirt cell.

In a few moments, the Earth sunk back into the ground as another couple pillars of Earth shot up near the snipers, then a black shadow stood out in the daytime, hovering above the snipers, who were donned in black Sith armor from head to toe. The black shadow swooped down, looking like a torn black cloak, and snatched up the offensive sniper in a flash of black and carried the man in the air towards Matthew before it disappeared into the air as the man fell to the ground at his feet.

Matthew put the end of his staff on the back of the man's neck, immobilizing the barely-conscious Sith. "Here.." He said, panting a little, picking up the trinket and slipping it on his necklace, messing up the symbol with his foot.

Quirian watches the black cloak-like thing attack the Sith sniper. "Handy trick," he murmurs, and then ducks inside the ruins for a few moments. He comes back out and nods to the woman. "Did I say you were Jedi? I merely said you had recieved training in the Force, and desired to know how you were trained in it. That, or you have a natural ability to hide your presence." He nods to the large... thing, whatever it was.

"Thank you. May I ask who you are?"

Exodious watched as the events played out before him. He couldn't tell exactly what was going on. One thing he did know was that there were sith snipers in the area, and one of the natives wasn't being kind to them. Exodious tried not to pick sides when money wasn't involved, he didn't know who was "bad" and "good" so when he was faced with decisions like this, he had to follow his heart. He pulled the trigger with the crosshairs pointed perfectly on the native's head.

The ion blast hit its mark, he thought, but the creature was still alive. As a matter of fact, he didn't seem to be hurt at all. Exodious packed up his stuff, shut the sniping hole, and climbed back into the cockpit. Even his force powers couldn't hid his position now. Somebody had to have seen the shot, and would soon investigate. With soldiers like that around, Exodious didn't want to be visible. He turned on the ship and took off. He wasn't going to leave yet, just find another sniping spot.

"Haida sisters know nothing of the Force only of Bushida. I am Lilah. We know how to hide when we want," she looked over to watch.

He stiffly twisted the staff, grinding it into the man's spinal column, snapping it out of place, effectively killing him. He glanced as the shot rippled against his shield. "Ingus and Mingus!" He said, not looking away from the man who sped off. "Next time you involve me in something like this, don't." He said, walking off, twirling the staff and sliding it on his back, tucking his necklace inside his shirt.

Quirian watches as the hair (even as he is already thinking of Matthew, he associates him automatically with the wild hair) begin to stalk away. "Er... did we get you involved in this? I don't remember." He calls out after the man.

The Jedi looks to the woman. "Lilah, pleased to meet you- I think." A grin crosses his face. "Give me a while longer in your company to be sure, though. My name is Quirian Jorgas." he eyes the distant ridges, noting that the blast was an ion rifle's. "That was an unusual weapon for a sniper..." His voice trails off even as he sinks a little further back into the shadows of the ruins.

He kept walking, snatching his pack and throwing it back over his shoulder, walking off. He headed out into the open, following the trail of the ship that sped off, his species had certain aspects enhanced in their eyes that significantly allowed the level of detail to increase.

"Nevar.. Tirfi.. Noixi.. my guardians.. " He said to himself, his necklace's glowing through his shirt- blue, black, and red. "I must continue my journey.. but first.. Nevar.. " He said to himself, stopping and drawing the same arcane sign from earlier into the dirt. He stood up and backed up, withdrawing his staff and twisting into a dance then stopping and slamming the blunt end of his staff into the ground, creating large columns of Earth soar into the air, giving birth to a black torn robe-like shadow. The black trinket glowed underneath his shirt as a dark screech was heard, shaking the ground as the shadow flitted into the air, carrying Matthew.

He directed the beast as it flew, but made sure the symbol was covered well by dead grass, for any type of brush or wind could easily blow away and symbol and send the guardian back to it's trinket. (You guys kinda get the idea about the summons now..)

'We should leave. There is nothing here and if we stay, there could be more," Lilah said. She had been watching the landscape. She could sense the kinrath and the tukata now stirring. It was a bad sign.

Quirian shakes his head and looks to Bron and Kran before looking to Lilah. "We cannot go too far. We must investigate these ruins. There may be clues we can use." he watches the handmaiden for a moment before watching the odd man with the stick and the wild hair stride away, then fly away.

"No matter what manner of beasts and traps await us, we need to go in. You have been helpful so far, Lilah. Will you help three Jedi that do not have your familiarity with this place? We search for clues about the Key of Ancients." He looks to the other Jedi as he says this, but trusts his instincts in telling this to their unexpected temporary companion.

(Gotta wait for the guy with the sniper to post..)

"He is right." Bron said. "We came here to search these ruins and I am not planning on letting the order down. What about you Kron? What do you think?"

"The Key of Ancients is a power that can only be utilized by one that we call pure of heart. It sprang from these ruins as a result of the evil that was spawned. You cannot find it; it can find you when the time comes," Lilah replied. Seeing that they would be stubborn she continued, "If you seek this, I warn you that only one that I know of has successfully used it and lived. The last to use it, a Jedi, used it but died himself. If you dare to seek it out, I will help you for I have been through the ruins and back on hundreds of other worlds. I know where to find the stories."

Quirian nods. "We would be most appreciative, Lilah. I am sure you know of the... nests of beasts that await us as well." He reaches out, feeling the stirrings of the beasts as he slips into a very small trance for a few moments. He opens his eyes after a heartbeat or two, breathing in heavily.

"You cloak yourself quite well, Handmaiden." He frowns. "But there is something..." he shakes his head. "The animals have come awake from the blasts. We should be very quiet and perhaps wait for things to settle down a bit." He looks to their new companion, he clearly does not trust her completely.

"So you know much about the Key of Ancients, then?"

Exodious Prime set down Majestic Strike in a clearing in the forest, a couple of klicks away from the ruins. He set the ship to camoflage mode and the ship became invisible. He turned around and grabbed his gear before opening the cockpit hatch. His armor sensors took in the surroundings. He could read the humidity and temperature, as well as information on vegetation and the soil around him.

Exodious made his way to the edge of the ruins and turned his visor to its infrared mode. He found the jedi and then switched his visor to its binoc filter. He zoomed in on the jedi. They were talking to another creature; it looked like the creature knew its way around the ruins. He found an entrance into the ruins and decided to go in. He took out his lightsaber and held it firmly in his hand as he entered.

Matthew had landed his beast a few miles back from where Exodious landed, and had since then brought the beast back in it's trinket. He had made his way to the ship once Exodious had entered the ruins, even though the ship was camouflaged, his eyes could detect the outline. Still, he payed to bother to the ship and followed the man stealthily.

"I know of many things," Lilah replied. She knew that they didn't trust her. Why should they? She carefully selected her wording as the loremaster taught her how, "I know of the Key of Ancients, if that is what you call the Great Power. Is it not a power so great that it is rumored to have spawn here?"

"Yes, that is true.." Arvik said. "The first thing we were assigned to look for though was any temple recordings of when the power was used. We can what kind of face the jedi had, we can see how the power looked like, and we could see what it was he did. If he had a surprised face, he might have just discovered how to learn the power on his own or from an ancient sith holocron in the temple that was destroyed.. Do you know antything about any recordings?"

"What is recorded is not in these temples but deep in the valleys, away from the spaceports. I can show you the way," Lilah responded, "but we have to leave at night."

Quirian nods, slightly. "Then we leave at nightfall. In the meantime, is there possibly anything of usefulness in these tombs?" He waves a hand, expansively, apparently blithely unconcerned. His mind, though, whirls, thinking quickly. He senses the beasts generally quieting down as the blasterfire ceases.

"Nothing more than the corpses that litter the ground. It would be poor in spirit to strip them. Let them be or the beasts may awaken," Lilah replied. She began a survey of the area, making sure that no one was around.

Exodious continued into the ruins, casually walking into the darkness. He was aware of someone following him; he could sense them, but decided not to do anything about it. He would find a more advantageous spot before encountering them.