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tabletopjourneys · 4 years

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Session 33 Notes

The Silver Scale Pack continues clearing out Perfection of the graboid invasion. @gher-bear @aradow @telurin @epimetala

On this day, the Silver Scale Pack continues clearing Perfection of its graboid invasion, abusing pots and making Ixayl’anu dance for attention. Through the power of teamwork and a bomb we kill quite a bit. I think the Anesh government owes us at least $40,000 for the big ones, and we oughta charge for all those little ones too! Also, we got ourselves a live one (shrieker). We should get at least $50 g’s for that, even if it isn’t a full-sized worm! (Tremors 2 nod where the Mexican gov offers characters $10k per worm, $50k if they catch a live one) They sure did a number on all the buildings in town though, lemme tell ya, 3 rotting graboid corpses and over a dozen shrieker bodies...Perfection stinks y’all!

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(An Uneasy Short Rest) Rana’s perception check shows the camels aren’t entirely happily in their stall, but they’re safe.

Rana tries to jump across to Phi’s building, rolls 8, Phi tries to grab her, rolls a 9 they both fall and take one point of damage each.

Tarma-Diem drops the rope again for them to climb up on their building.

Phi manages to get up the rope, Rana gets halfway up, but slides back down, we help her finish climbing up the 2nd time.

Tarma-Diem rolls up the rope again and sticks it back in their pack.

We try to rest up as much as we can, hoping the worms leave the camels alone.

We hear a rumble in the distance. Everybody but Ixayl’anu sees the big building on the other side of town (southwest) shaking and lifting off its foundation.

Phi checks in to see how hurt we all are.

Rana: aside from you falling on me I’m fine.

Tarma-Diem: Not even a scratch left, out of big spells though.

We spend a few minutes watching the big Southwest building roiling, visible cracks starting in the structure. Then it stops and we think maybe we can relax now, except it starts rumbling under a closer building and it moves from one building to the next, getting closer. Rana is back on her feet as we discuss whether we want to try and rest or keep going.

As soon as Rana moves the rumbling stops then our building starts to lift up near where Rana is.

Tarma-Diem: Should’ve been quieter.

Ixayl’anu tries divine sense. Nothing pings.

We spend the next half hour or so sitting still and we get a very uneasy short rest out of it.

They harass our camels some too, stress them out, but they don’t get eaten (stone block cracks too).

Rana looks around for something loose on the roof and finds clay pots and an umbrella. She Zeldas a clay pot off the roof once she gets the all clear from the rest of us.

It gets about 10 feet away and gets sucked down, pot 2 same thing happens, this time she sees the barest shape of one of the noses of a big creature. She hands the last pot to Ixayl’anu who throws it in pretty much the same spot. Pumpkin sized pots.

Tarma-Diem: What was part 2 of this plan exactly?

Rana: I don’t know do you have any ideas?

Poison in a Genofeva pot?

Rana is gonna try to hit one with lightning bolt as soon as we see movement after tossing the umbrella, but nothing happens.

Tarma-Diem: Lee did say they learn...maybe it learned nothing’s there?

Phi: I wanna jump to the other roof, see if there’s more pots. Phi makes it with a 21, Rana sees the ground moving toward that building, but no emergence. Tarma-Diem is already paying attention to Phi instead and would have missed the opportunity to attack anyway.

Phi’s new roof has a half dead plant, a rug, weird odds and ends, no clay pots, a stool, a little table. Phi throws the potted plant (7). The plant stays, but Phi has to make a dex saving throw, she easily manages to keep her feet as the building pushes up 2 or 3 feet at that corner.

Rana sees the nose and casts lightning bolt. It takes the full 32 damage.

Tarma-Diem was too busy being impressed by Phi’s building surf acrobatics to remember to hit the worm too. The building drops as the creature burrows deep under ground after screaming. It very quickly zooms off Northeast. We talk plans, Phi offers to run around playing bait because she can shoot at the same time, Tarma-Diem says at that, they can do it instead and misty escape back to a roof or cast hellish rebuke the moment they get hurt.

In the end, we send our tank down, who can also misty step to safety. Ixayl’anu casts shield of faith on herself, Rana casts guidance on her, Ixayl’anu gets off the roof while we all hold actions for the first one to appear. (Combat Commences)

Rana feels a tremor under her feet, a snake thing pops up at Ixayl’anu’s feet and hooks her.

Ixayl’anu misses, rana misses, phi misses. We weren’t expecting the tiny tongue. Tarma-Diem hits with the last crackle of eldritch blast for 7dmg.

The graboid tongue tenses around Ixayl’anu tighter after the eldritch blast.

Rana thorn whips it for 6 damage.

Ixayl’anu is still grappled, she tries to hit it rather than breaking free, she misses. 2nd attack does 6 dmg though. It lets go and snakes back into the ground.

Ixayl’anu stays there watching the ground.

Phi: Where ya goin fucker?! *holds her action for if it pops back up*

Worm pops up with an open maw directly under Ixayl’anu to swallow her whole. Hits with a 22 for 22 dmg all around her.

She fails her saving throw.

Tarma-Diem: Shit!

Phi shoots for 38 total damage.

It screams in pain as Phi gets it right in the soft tissues of the mouth.

Tarma-Diem shoots an eldritch blast for 15dmg.

Rana casts healing word level 2 on Ixayl’anu for 9 pts with her bonus action, thorn whips it but it skitters across the heavy armor of the head.

Ixayl’anu lashes out with her weapons and 14 dmg, and another 8dmg - 22 total. She stabs down cackling and making lightning sound effects as she kills it.

Ixayl’anu feels it go limp under and around her.

Phi does a 360 perception check of 18. She doesn’t see anything but she does notice that all the little guys we killed earlier are gone. She doesn’t say anything out loud.

Ixayl’anu climbs out of the mouth and moves away, we all hold actions for a very tense moment but nothing happens.

Ixayl’anu walks around trying to tempt one out, but she is covered in yucky smelling saliva slime that is getting all the sand stuck to her.

Eventually a snake thing pops up but misses her.

By then Tarma-Diem has forgotten they’re supposed to be holding an eldritch blast, Rana misses with her rock, Phi hits it with a 13 and it pops back down into the ground.

Tarma-Diem: Damn it, I forgot to…

Rana: Keep dancing!

Ixayl’anu: Keep dancing? Dancing?! That’s what you think I’m doing down here?

Ixayl’anu jumps up and down some more.

Phi’s building begins shaking and moving again but she surfs the building with a nat 20, the whole inner portion of her roof is caving in.

Phi tries to jump onto our building and Rana catches her.

As the building collapses, 5 of the little guys boil out of that building and scream, but they’re just looking around at the rubble.

Rana casts Erupting Earth under them. Does 11dmg on success, 5 on fail - red fails, blue succeeds, green succeeds, purple crit succeeds: Rana: So there are more of these things!

Ixayl’anu: They came from the building?

Rana: Yes, keep dancing!

Tarma-Diem does 12dmg to purple with an eldritch blast.

Phi shoots and misses.

Tarma-Diem gets off 2 more eldritch blasts, one crits, 21 total damage.

One lifts its flaps and sees us - Tarma-Diem quickly puts their hands over their ears, they remember this shit, we all save, Tarma-Diem rolled a nat 20, didn’t even need advantage.

Shriekers run after us to do a little pyramid. Purple launches himself up the top and takes a bite out of Phi for 8dmg.

She uses her reaction to uncanny dodge, only takes 4dmg.

Blue is a little short still and can’t quite get up there.

Ixayl’anu runs over and stabs at green, seeing if she can destabilize the pyramid. Does max dmg (15). Blue manages to hop onto red and down. Ixayl’anu misses her 2nd attack.

She still has 4 minutes on shield of faith.

Phi ignores purple assuming we’ll handle it and shoots blue for 4 damage.

Rana shoolilas purple for 4dmg.

Tarma-Diem dbl crits purple for 29 total dmg, it dies.

Green screams at Ixayl’anu, who goes deaf for a whole minute.

Red pushes past green and misses Ixayl’anu, blue pushes green to the back and almost hits Ixyal’anu but misses.

Ixayl’anu flails at and misses blue with both attacks. She screams back at them.

Phi shoots at blue for 19dmg, gets it right in the front, it stumbles back and shakes a little bit.

Rana shoves purple off the roof onto green and deals 1 dmg and it gets pushed back into shifting dirt area. She steps up to the edge and gets a wonderful view of a worm spy-hopping up and eating green before going back down with it. - perception of 19 doesn’t see anything extra.

Tarma-Diem hits red with an eldritch blast for 8dmg.

Both attack Ixayl’anu and both fail. They get in each other’s way.

Ixayl’anu deals 13dmg to blue.

Phi shoots at red and deals 20dmg. They’re looking equally rough.

Rana holds a thorn whip for any giant worm action.

Ixayl’anu makes her dex saving throw as giant worm misses her coming up out of the ground. It nonetheless hits her for 22 and deals 6dmg (-6 temp hp). It goes back down, but Rana’s thorn whip still goes off, but misses.

Ixayl’anu misses her attack of opportunity as well.

The structure of our building is starting to collapse.

Tarma-Diem splits an eldritch blast dealing 12dmg to blue, 4dmg to red.

Blue shrieks at red and they try to disengage.

Ixayl’anu misses her attack of opportunity against blue.

They get out into the central road.

Ixayl’anu ignores Rana’s no-no-no arm waving and runs out into disturbed earth. She swings at blue twice and misses.

Phi tries to jump to the roof to still see these guys, 22 acrobatics and shoots at blue. Bonus action hides but in a way to look in both directions.

Rana holds another thorn whip for the next time the big worm appears. Perception check 11, focused on where Ixayl’anu’s area, but she nonetheless notices when the snakes pop up near purple’s body. Unfortunately her thorn whip misses. Rana: “Worm still in the area!”

Inspired by Phi’s acrobatics, Tarma-Diem tries to jump roofs as well to keep the shriekers in sight. They try to jump to the next building, roll a 3 (They are the cat gif of judging their jump so carefully only to fail spectacularly). They cast fly before they hit the ground though and float over to the next building, They did it! They hover over the roof. 10 minutes of fly.

Ixayl’anu chases the runners into the building under Phi and Tarma-Diem. There’s a whole pack in there though. 6 of them total. She tries to lightning breath them all, can only get 3 though. Blue dies, the others look pretty good. Ixayl’anu: “Found some more!”

Phi just waits, holding an action for any of them that leave the building.

Rana tries to jump to the next building with us with a 7 and goes cougar to climb back up to the roof, prowls up beside Tarma-Diem.

Tarma-Diem flies down but can’t see over Ixayl’anu, so they move forward to open the window, fly back as shriekers inside look their way. Pink and yellow try to climb out of the window at the same time but get in each others’ way.

Yellow wiggles out. Pink is primed to go next.

Others missed Ixayl’anu.

Ixayl’anu attacks orange and does 7dmg.

Phi shoots at yellow and does 7dmg.

Rana pounces yellow and knocks it prone. Bonus action bites, but misses.

As Rana scuffles with yellow, a graboid tongue grapples her.

Tarma-Diem flies in, puts their arms around Rana-kitty “Just me,” then thundersteps them both to the building on the other side of the road. Worm, yellow and pink all fail their saves and take 31 damage each. There’s a shriek and the worms go limp, worm dies. Orange and green try to get out of the door making str attacks against Ixayl’anu. She manages to keep orange back, but green gets out and manages to shove her prone. Green keeps going west into the building we will eventually designate as “the clown car building.”

Red attacks Ixayl’anu with advantage. 8dmg. Pink gets out of the window, looks around and then ducks into the first building we stood on. Yellow took an action to stand and ran with green.

Ixayl’anu stabs at red for 6dmg misses 2nd attack.

Phi shoots at red and misses, then moves back up to raised platform on the roof.

Rana pounces red from above, deals 3dmg claw, misses bite. She then runs off to see if she can lure pink back out.

Tarm-Diem flies over with Rana and sees 2 more in there with pink, shoots pink with eldritch boss: “Got 3 in here”, then flies up a little higher, farther off the ground.

Red misses, orange misses attacks on Ixayl’anu.

Pink gives a rallying cry and all 3 try to attack Rana. Pink misses, orange-red hits (12dmg), blue crits (17dmg to Rana after she loses cat). Total 29.

Ixayl’anu hits red for 6dmg, then misses next attack.

Phi shoots pink for 14dmg.

Rana casts spike growth with a 20ft radius/40ft diameter, placed to hit the 3 in front of her without hitting Ixayl’anu. Bonus action healing word L1 on herself and use item for extra healing. 22 healing and stands the line.

Tarma-Diem sees Rana cast this and flies as far into the circle area as they can get while still being visible to blue and pink, then eldritch blasts them both, they hit blue for 6dmg, miss pink.

Successfully distracted, they both charge me and take 20 dmg each on the way there, snap at my heels at disadvantage and both miss.

Tarma-Diem laughs and flips them off.

Red-orange does something I missed.

Ixayl’anu kills red by chopping his head off, spilling more gunk everywhere. She swipes at orange nat 20, deals 21dmg, divine smites it for 8 dmg (29 total). She stays there trying to block the doorway still.

Phi shoots blue and deals 18dmg.

Rana shelolas orange-red but misses. This particular shrieker has apparently changed its name henceforth in my notes. I’m pretty sure it’s the same one who used to known as Red-orange. Same colours, but different order, please don’t dead name it.

Tarma-Diem flies back toward Rana to bait more travel through the spike growth. Blue gets hit for 5dmg on eldritch blast, 2nd blast hits orange-red for 11dmg.

Pink kills itself on spike damage. Blue runs for me, 8dmg, but misses.

Orange-red is pretty focused on Rana though, it misses her (be its valentine?).

Ixayl’anu takes 14dmg from orange.She heals herself by 16.

Phi shoots at blue, does 20dmg, it dies.

Rana shilalos orange-red but misses.

Tarma-Diem eldritch blasts orange-red for 10dmg.

Ixayl’anu can hear again!

Orange-red takes 14dmg getting to Tarma-Diem but also crits at disadvantage. Oh no! Tarma-Diem takes 11dmg and gets pulled down a foot or two before it lets go. Tarma-Diem: “Ah, shit!”

Ixayl’anu hits orange for 12dmg.

Phi hits orange-red for 24dmg, leaving it on death’s door.

Rana thorn whips orange-red back to her 6dmg it dies dragged across spikes. (Oops, Tarma-Diem face pulls a shitload more)

Tarma-Diem flies over to where they saw green and yellow go earlier (clown car building is about to get named thusly), but there are now 10 of them in there. “Holy shit guys, there’s ten of them in here!” The shriekers had their flaps up and see Tarma-Diem, who makes sure they see them move away from the group before flying 20 feet down the road away from everyone, and then up 10 feet.

They pyramid purple up to Tarma-Diem who hits for 7dmg.

Tarma-Diem misty escapes 30 feet north and 5 more feet up, invisible, but still heat signatured.

The last two from the clown car building spotted Rana first and headed for her. One of them gets Rana for 11dmg.

Ixayl’anu runs after these new two, leaving orange who misses its attack of opportunity, but then misty steps onto the building near my pyramid and throws alchemist fire into the pile.

It does max dmg (4), pink hit, yellow hit, red hit, redpurple hit, blue hit, redblue hit, redpink miss, purple missed.

Phi bonus action hides, shoots at purple and does 21dmg.

Rana sheleileis greenred for 8dmg and tries to get her back against a wall.

Tarma-Diem flies over between North buildings (in spike growth area) and down to hover 6 ft off the groud again until they see the ones on Rana between the two street-side buildings. They cast eldritch blast “Over here again fuckers!” They hit green with 10dmg, but miss greenred, who ignores the bait.

Green takes 32dmg getting to me, misses it’s jump attack.

Greenred does 5dmg to Rana.

Orange runs up to Rana as well, but misses.

Everybody in the fire pile takes 11dmg each biting and flailing at each other.

Ixayl’anu jumps off the roof and runs to Rana (19 athletics), and casts warding bond on Rana. Rana gets +1AC and saving throws and resistance to all damage, Ixayl’anu takes the same amount of dmg as Rana now.

Phi shoots at redgreen but misses.

Rana shelalas orange but misses.

Tarma-Diem flies about 20 feet closer to Ixayl’anu and 1 ft up, kills green with 6pt eldritch blast, hits greenred for 8pts, still hovered over the spike growth.

Purple and pinkred run and bite at Ixayl’anu. Orange misses Rana, redgreen misses Ixayl’anu, redpink hits Ixayl’anu though for 5dmg, purple also hits her for another 11dmg (16 total).

Fire dmg on remaining group deals another max dmg of 4, and then they deal another 10dmg to each other.

Ixayl’anu to Rana: Wanna get out of here?

Rana reaches out: Yes please.

Ixayl’anu misty steps them both to the nearest rooftop, then pile drives back down onto redgreen (20 athletics, cool flip and everything), 14dmg, then 11dmg. For a fantastic looking 25 total.

Phi shoots redgreen for 27, killing it right out from under Ixie.

Rana magic stones orange for 8dmg, it’s on death’s door.

Tarma-Diem lands on a building at the very corner in view for last turn of fly (except it wasn’t because I can’t math), eldritch blasts purple for 5dmg, pinkred for 6dmg.

Purple takes the bait, but only goes 5ft in, takes 5dmg, backs back out.

Redpink attacks Ixayl’anu but I missed what happened with the attack.

Big group takes another max fire dmg (4pts), yellow dies.

Ixayl’anu slaps a 20pt heal on her chest.

Phi shoots at pinkred but misses.

Rana casts healing word 2nd level on Ixayl’anu for 9pts. Then magic stones orange, does 3dmg, kills orange.

Purple takes 3 eldritch blast dmg, redpink takes 12 dmg, but still focuses on Ixiayl’anu anyway, misses, purple backs up anyway, does not like getting hit in the face.

Fire group only takes 1dmg this time around. In the commotion the on fire group moves a little closer to center of the road. The ground around them shudders and a giant worm comes up out of the ground, chomps down on bluered, and sucks it back down. Worm is gone, leaving a big hole.

Ixayl’anu: Oh shit *stabs at purple still anyway* 9dmg, then another 7dmg (16 total)

Ixayl’anu: Diem! Can you throw a rope?

Phi misses redpink.

Rana thorn whips redpink for 6dmg, 4 pts of smash-fall dmg. (10 total)

Tarma-Diem pulls out the rope and commands it to tie off for Ixayl’anu. “K, it’s up!”

On-fire group takes 3 more fire dmg (there are only 4 of them left). They scatter in different directions still on fire.

Redpink notices the glorious heat-source of redpurple and attacks it, leaving it close to death.

Purple misses Ixayl’anu.

Big guy is not visible this turn.

Ixayl’anu swipes at purple and deals a total of 16 dmg, kills purple, gets 8 temporary hp, and runs over to the rope

Redpink gets an attack of opportunity on her and does 17dmg.

Ixayl’anu grabs the rope just after Rana panic-drops the spike growth to avoid hurting her.

Phi shoots at one of them and misses.

Rana magic stones redpink and does 6dmg.

Tarma-Diem eldritch blasts the farthest runner for 21 total dmg and finishes it off. The other two however use their whole action to go 120ft and get out of everyone’s range for future turns.

All runners take 1 fire dmg before calculations on them stop.

Remaining 2 shriekers miss their attacks.

Ixayl’anu climbs up to the roof.

Phi shoots at one and misses.

Rana thorn whips redpink for 5dmg + 5 slam-fall dmg (10 total).

Tarma-Diem deals 14 eldritch blast dmg to redpink

2 fire dmg kills redpurple.

Redpink jumps at Ixayl’anu futilely.

Ixayl’anu throws her javelin at redpink and misses, 2nd one hits for 4dmg and kills him. (Aftermath Investigations and RP)

Tarma-Diem: Still got 2 who ran off into the desert, a giant worm, and whatever else may be in these buildings.

Ixayl’anu: did you see the worm?

Tarma-Diem: Yeah, we got that to deal with and those two ran off capable of reproducing a shitload more.

Rana does a perception check (12).

Tarma-Diem slumps down with their back against the lip of the roof.

Ixayl’anu crit-perceives the guys running, still on fire, and also saw a bush raise and lower on the ground in the distance.

Tarma-Diem gets a nat 20 perceiving those guys to fly after them but they are specs in the distance. They also see the bush go up and down, but it doesn’t seem to be chasing the little guys.

Tarma-Diem’s perception skills are tapped out now though and they do a whopping ZERO for aerial search of the entire area

Tarma-Diem looks in each building after, ready to fly off and lead them out of town, but doesn’t see anything. We take a short rest. After we discuss plans, we take a look around. Phi sees a small fire in the distance, but we don’t really see anything else. After the short rest, we take a closer, group look at each building.

Tarma-Diem gets a nat 20 investigation on the first building they’d checked alone while flying. These people were very well prepared, and even though things fell off walls they could still tell these people were pretty well off. Tarma-Diem finds a box marked explosives.

Phi checks box of explosives for traps (18). There is a very complicated lock on it but no other forms of trap. Phi attempts the lock (22), takes her a minute or two but it pops open. Inside is a bunch of c4 sticks - 5 of them. Plastic explosives can be placed as an action, and detonated with a press of a remote detonator (an object interaction). Plastic explosives also explode on their own if they are caught within the radius of an explosion that does at least 10 points of bludgeoning damage. Each creature within 20 feet of a detonated plastic explosive must make a DC 17 Dexterity saving throw, taking 10d6 bludgeoning damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. Each additional block of explosives increases the damage by 5d6 (to a maximum of 40d6), and the radius by 10 feet (to a maximum of 80 feet).

We each get 1 brick, Phi gets 2. Rana makes sure the building stays as closed up as we can get it, all windows and doors closed, so that it will hopefully remain empty as we proceed, leaving nowhere for anything to hide when we try to sleep later. This is her plan at each, subsequent building and we all follow suit.

We back up and start with the very first building in town, on the left when we’d first arrived.

Rana gets a perception of 17 on building A while Tarma-Diem investigates with an 8. It’s a transient guardhouse of some sort with basic swords and arrows.

We cross the street to B, Rana perceives it with a 21 - big hole in the center, blood on the walls, broken and open food stuff.

With an investigation of 8, Tarma-Diem gets a snack of their choice! (twinkies lol)

Outside the next building, the ground around the dead worm just below the surface has turned soggy, like standing on a mattress.

Since we already took care of building C (hopping back and forth across the road alphabetically, left then right lol), we move on to building D (on the same side as B/the market we first roof-climbed.

Rana perceives at a 16, Tarma-Diem investigates with a 13 - sticks of furniture, scrap of clothing that might’ve been a shirt, and blood.

Tarma-Diem reminds everyone about the building behind this one and how it was difficult to see inside around the crates when they did their aerial search.

For recording purposes, I am calling it building E. This time around Tarma-Diem gets an 18 investigation and sees a moving 2-by-2 crate near the back. Tarma-Diem: (whispered) Shit! They make motions to back everyone out. Tarma-Diem: There’s one in a crate back there, a little one (they make approximating gesture of box size)

Ixaylanu goes back in first and tips the box up to see a little baby white one who screams at her but he can’t get out and the scream does nothing.

Ixaylanu squats a little and does the bird head tilt thing. It screams fiercely and tries to jump out but can’t make it.

Ixyal’anu: "It's all white..."

One of us (Tarma-Diem maybe since I didn’t label speaker?): Maybe we could nail the crate shut or something? Would let people study it?

Ixayl’anu throws a small ration at it.

It feels around with its tongue and eventually eats it.

When next it lifts its flaps, it doesn’t scream, when she puts her hand close though it does scream and tries to bite her. Dex save 22/nat 20, she’s fine, it snaps at empty air.

Tarma-Diem: Can you try and talk to it?

Ixayl’anu: I doubt it’s going to work but…*she casts it anyway*

It doesn’t work.

Ixayl’anu figures out the heat sensing thing by fluffing her feathers and noting that it doesn’t react to anything but her actual body heat.

Someone: It's been in here with food for awhile and there's no others...

Someone else: Yeah but it's had an hour to make more if it's going to

Rana leaves while we talk about it to look around outside before we move on. Perception 21 on our surroundings - the fire is still up pretty far from town, town is otherwise quiet.

Ixayl’anu and Tarma-Diem put the lid back on the crate, keeping the small guy in a box with some food. Ixayl’anu hefts it up on her shoulder and goes outside. It screams and kicks around for the first few minutes every time it’s jostled before it finally settles down like “Guess this is my life now.”

Rana 19 perceives the next building is about to collapse and stops Diem from going inside.

Rana perceives the next building with an 8, Diem goes in and investigates with 15. Nothing’s really damaged, so probably nothing even got in here, just evidence that people packed and left in a hurry.

Rana perceives (16) next building. 16 investigation for Tarma-Diem as well - they see a lot of nice towels in this bath house, they take one. It’s fluffy and soft (one should always bring a towel, rules of adventure and all that).

Rana skips the clown car building for the biggest building. There’s a giant worm in the middle of the building part that we could smell long before we see it.

Tarma-Diem, meanwhile, still investigates clown car building with a 16 - scorch marks inside, wrecked, food stuffs, some dead little ones inside, they close it up like Rana did with the other ones, then join everyone else at the big building.

Rana goes in, the rest of us follow. Phi finds half of a medicine kit. Phi 19s investigation

Rana perceives 17 on last plaza building - nothing in there. 2 investigation from Tarma-Diem.

Rana looks out toward a small building on the fringe of the village.

Tarma-Diem: That one was closed up tight and empty when I checked earlier.

Rana goes to have a look anyway - 14 perception (told ya ~).

Ixayl’anu gets her platinum ring back from Rana.

Rana begins making a shrieker corpse pile in the middle of the road, including the few from the clown car building. The rest of us begin helping.

Tarma-Diem hits everyone with prestidigitation again after we complete the corpse pile

We argue a bit about rooftops vs. the comfort of the tiny hut which cannot fit on them, but certainly has a bottom. Tarma-Diem and Ixayl’anu opt for comfort, while Rana and Phi opt for better vantage points and safety. We split shifts accordingly (1 rooftopper, 1 tinyhutter/1 dark vision, 1 not).

Tarma-Diem casts tiny hut in a 10 ft radius around them, within sight of the corpse pile but not so close the smell permeates the dome. They also take first watch in order to finish scribing alarm. Self-imposed concentration check only a 6, so it takes them two hours instead of just one to finish scribing the alarm spell.

They let everyone know they can cast perimeter alarms now, then ritual cast it on the inside of the hut, choosing the bell ping so everyone can hear it if the hut gets disturbed by giant worms.

Next session Thursday Feb 11 at 5pm est.

#Anesh #Perfection #Graboids #Tremors D&D #Tarma

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capricornus-rex · 4 years

Note

For your muse! :D “How about making me vice president in charge of cheering you up?”

“Two Sides of the Coin” | Chapter 16: Memory in a Shallow Grave | Jidné Sheedra x Cal Kestis

Summary: Hell-bent on exacting revenge and retrieving the Holocron, the dreaded Darth Vader is now on the hunt for the young Jedi Knight, Cal Kestis. Under the assumption that he still possessed the artifact, while fueled by the intrigue of the boy’s strength and skill with the Force, the dark lord hires the bounty hunter, Jidné Sheedra, to track him down and have him delivered alive. However, the task becomes a trial for young Jidné, as she faces a conflict that tests her beliefs of a scarred past she had hidden for so long.

A/N: This has got to be the longest reply (in the guise of a fic chapter) I’ve ever written! ;A; I hope you don’t mind the 4000+ or so word count, honey... because this is the part where Order 66 angst kicks in T^T

Also tagging @silver-is-in-too-many-fandoms @calsponchoemporium @stellar-trinity @queen-destenie @calgasm @cal-jestis @justtinfoley @peterwandaparker @sweeetteaa @ayamenimthiriel @superwarsofthrones @fallenjedii

Also in AO3

Tags: Fem OC, Jidné Sheedra, Force-Sensitive! Fem OC, Bounty Hunter! Fem OC, Jedi! Fem OC | Special tags: Order 66, Nomara Anesh, Togruta! Fem OC, Jedi Master! Fem OC

Chapters: 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 – 8 – 9 – 10 – 11 – 12 – 13 – 14 | Previous: Part 15 | Next: Part 17 | Masterlist

16 of ?

23 BBY

Jidné passed the time by studying the Holocrons she borrowed from the Archives, she came across Master Kit Fisto’s Holocron wherein he has discovered the ancient lightsaber modification that allows one’s saber to function underwater as it would on dry land. The little Padawan was intrigued and fascinated, so she set aside the other datacrons to listen to this particular one.

For the rest of the afternoon, she whiled away in reviewing the instructions and carefully studied the cross-sections. She realized that in order for this modification to work, she will need a second kyber crystal for the energy channels to route one another—since a single kyber would short-circuit if submerged or activated underwater.

“That would mean going to Ilum again,” Jidné thought out loud in the solace of her dorm. “I wonder if I could ask Master Anesh. I bet she’d allow me.”

“Jidné?” the disembodied voice of her master beckoned her.

The girl’s head jerked to the direction where she found the voice, she seals the Holocron shut using the Force with promptness and sees Master Anesh walking into the garden square. Jidné set aside the artifact on the bench along with her leather-bound journals where she copied the things she liked page after page, she landed on her feet as Nomara approached her little Padawan.

“I’m here, Master Anesh,”

Nomara peeked over the child’s shoulder and saw the Holocron sitting atop a small pile of notebooks.

“Have you been busy?”

“Just studying, I have something to tell you as well, Master Anesh!”

“Later, after today’s practice,”

Jidné nodded in agreement, then the master noticed the four turquoise beads adorning the end of her Padawan braid.

“Did you do something with your braid?”

“Hmm? Oh, remember our mission back in Alderaan? A peddler sold these beads. I thought the color’s pretty and they resembled the ones on your headband, so I thought of decorating my braid with it—to make it look like yours!” the Padawan girl beamed.

The radiance of her innocence endeared her master, the gesture warmed Nomara’s heart that she had to clutch her chest out of impulse.

“How sweet of you. I think it made your braid twice as prettier,”

“Thank you, Master!”

“You’re welcome. Come now, my little one, we’ve much to do for today’s practice,”

Jidné timed the moment where she can ask Master Anesh if she’ll permit to go to Ilum for that one requirement of the modification. Outspoken and carefree as ever, the Padawan girl decided to speak it out anyway before they could commence the training session.

“Master, if I may ask,”

“Yes, what is it, Jidné?”

“About your saber. Is it waterproof? I mean, can you use it underwater?” the Togruta slighted her head to the side, shooting the girl an attentive look.

“Yes, I can use it underwater. Why the sudden interest?”

“I came across a Holocron that shows how to modify the saber to make it work while in the water,”

The Togruta smiled, clearly recalling and knowing what the little Padawan is referring to.

“Ah, so that Holocron over there must be a copy of Master Fisto’s,”

“Yes, well, I was wondering if…” she trailed off rather bashfully, almost too shy to speak. “I could ask permission to go to Ilum—with you, of course! To get that second crystal to make it work,”

Nomara smiled, her response to Jidné’s request birthed a wide grin across the little ten-year-old’s face. The girl sprang up and down from the floor out of sheer excitement, her ecstatic “Yes!” echod across the emptiness of the gardens.

“But first, we still have instruction. We’re going to need to work on your Force Shroud. Remember when you told me that you still had trouble in using it? Well, we’ll work on that, okay?”

The girl flashed a small smile, “I’d like that very much.”

“We’ll begin when you’re ready,”

The Padawan did a series of stretches for warm-ups, as well as her spinning exercises for her lightsaber handling. Nomara’s teaching methods were similar to how Master Caius trained her—he didn’t rely on drones and droids, he personally sparred with Nomara during her days as an apprentice as well as enemies in the battlefield.

Nomara shed off her long, brown robes—making it easier for her to engage in combat against her Padawan. In between strikes and dodges, the Jedi Master bantered with the Padawan—giving her words of affirmation or extra tips to better the girl’s combat style. Jidné showed the same amount of promise that she demonstrated in the Initiate Trials; her skill with the lightsaber amplified with Anesh’s rather hands-on method of training, motivated by the aspiration to master Form V: Shien & Djem So—which the master can clearly see in the Padawan’s pattern of movement.

“Steel your nerves, Jidné, that way your Force Shroud doesn’t falter in the slightest scare!” Nomara coached, and the sharp-witted girl took that into mind.

In the next move, Jidné did steel her nerves while cloaked within her Force Shroud, she evaded Nomara’s line of sight and studied her master’s watchfulness until she could find the window of opportunity to strike. Jidné jabbed at Nomara’s direction—to which she flexibly deflected—but immediately pulled away to mislead her master’s eyes; again, she observed the Togruta’s expression and quickly realized that Nomara is still searching for the invisible Padawan.

“Very good, Jidné!” Master Anesh commended albeit incapable to find her Padawan.

Perhaps Jidné didn’t notice it—she didn’t turn visible when she landed that jab and only found out after Master Anesh affirmed her. The child was satisfied and proud of herself, continuing in that same rhythm, the instruction carried on until dusk.

—–

22 BBY

A year has passed since the Clone Wars began.

Members of the Jedi Council were, by default, appointed as generals, much to their chagrin and great contrast to the principles of their Order. A handful of Jedi were also dispatched as an auxiliary military group to aid the clones in fighting the war against Separatist and the droid army.

Seeing that it couldn’t be helped, Nomara—along with her little Padawan—has been named a general. She made peace with the fact that she can never keep a protective umbrella above Jidné’s head—away from all sorts of harm and violence—given that this was the life that her mother preferred for her than digging the earth to live back in her homeworld of Eshyn.

At the disposal of the Jedi General are the 304th Battalion of clones commanded by the trooper captain—CT-7462 or Captain Gat—and a fleet spearheaded by the Venator-class cruiser named Wayward Patriot. The Patriot became the pair’s second home after the Jedi Temple, Jidné’s only consolation and company aside from her master were the clones—which greatly fascinated her. She talked their way into their hearts with her curious questions and playful nature.

“Is training hard for you guys?” Jidné inquired.

The clone chuckled, “Well, it gets a bit tricky sometimes. I mean, it can’t be any different from your training, eh, kiddo?”

“Nah, I have it hard too, I guess,” Jidné shrugged one shoulder, then slowly breaks down into little chuckles. “Who doesn’t get their nerves worked up when they’re fighting another youngling with tons of masters and other kids watching you?”

“Ooh, that does sound tough!” the second clone played along while being genuinely bemused by the girl.

Despite the war, Nomara and Jidné continued their usual days for practice and instruction. The Padawan has made progress in utilizing her Force Shroud until she can now manipulate and bend it to her will. The eleven-year-old also found it thrilling and frightening at the same time—to be exposed to such degree of violence at this early a stage of her life.

“Run along now, little Jid,” the first clone tussled the girl’s head. “General Anesh is waiting for you. Best not to keep her waiting,”

“Right, see you guys later in my free time!”

Jidné hopped and skipped through the corridors of the Patriot until she found the specific room where she usually has her physical lessons with Master Anesh. She walked in on her master conversing with the clone accompanying them on the control room. The Padawan cleared her throat politely to call Nomara’s attention.

“Ah, Jidné, just in time,” Master Anesh cooed, gingerly dismissing the clone with a slow wave of the hand. “Are you ready for today’s practice?”

“Yes, Master Anesh,”

“Very good,” the Togruta turned to the terminal to press a pattern of buttons and then beckoned her Padawan. “Come now, my little one.”

The two of them descended from the control room for the ground level of the room via a turbolift. When they walked to the center of the room, Nomara held up a small remote in hand—with the single touch of a button, the tiles of the floor started to rise, take shape, hover and stick to the walls. The shifting and changing of the environment startled Jidné at first, but she got the hint.

“I didn’t know this room has that!” she beamed.

“It’s very conducive for using skills that you’ll often be utilizing in the battlefield,”

“I’m ready, Master!”

“I like your enthusiasm, Jidné,” Nomara smiled back. “Alright then, whenever you’re ready.”

Beginning with the physical exercises, little Jidné did her personalized set of stretches, she also studied the room—how it looked like, where the blocks are for her to take cover or use to her advantage—with a single passing glance before signaling her master to commence.

“Remember what I taught you, little one,”

“I always do, Master!”

The tile where Master Anesh elevated her until she stands in the same level as the control room, her pedestal remotely stayed in that height. Meanwhile, Jidné remained in the ground, her senses keening as she continues to study the structure of the room—given that the tiles and blocks can change at any given moment of Nomara’s command—while anticipating for her master’s starting signal.

Turrets unfolded from the ceiling of the room, their loud whirring alerted the girl, Nomara forewarned the girl that the guns were configured with non-lethal projectiles set for a training setting.

“Shall we begin, Jidné?”

The girl buckled, “Ready when you are, Master!”

Observing the Padawan scamper across the room, evading blaster fire here and there, Nomara can’t help but ponder to herself in her mind as she watched the girl skillfully evade and deflect the projectiles.

She has become more adept than I either hoped or imagine. That’s good. She’s learned to be strong and willful with the Force.

Her thinking led her to become off-guard of other thoughts. Out of the blue, the whistling noise the turrets made whenever they fire stimulated blurry images and incoherent sounds ringing in Nomara’s drums. She brought her hand to her head, massaging the base of her montral as she struggled to ease the sudden heaviness that she feels within her but couldn’t find.

—–

20 BBY, THE DAY OF THE JEDI PURGE

Jidné joined her master in the conference at the bridge comprised of the admiral manning the Patriot, real-time hologram projections of the Jedi Generals Plo Koon, Depa Billaba and her Padawan Caleb Dume joining the transmission. Jidné recognized Caleb as she has met him during a joint campaign with their masters; the two children smiled at one another upon finding each other in the conference.

The masters concurred in giving each other reinforcement if the need arises. Jidné intently studied the projections flashing in the holotable, reading the inscriptions and data numbers floating beside the diagrams of the weapons and map.

“May the Force be with us all,” Plo Koon bade, not out of custom but out of heart before his projection fizzled out of existence, followed by the other Jedi Masters and the other Padawan.

Nomara released a long sigh, she remained leaning by the edge of the table, her hand brought to her lip as she spaced out into deep thought. Jidné noticed this and didn’t disturb her until she opened her eyes again. The little girl wondered if the Togruta had the same thoughts she’s been having of late, she meant to disclose it to her master but they’ve been piled with tons of transmissions as the tension of the war rages on.

“There seems to be no end, does it, little one?”

“I suppose so, Master, but… We are doing a big help, aren’t we?”

The Togruta noticed the little girl’s tone to have mellowed but there’s a tinge of concern to it. Nomara places her hand gingerly on her dear Padawan’s head, stroking her hair down to her beaded Padawan braid.

“Yes, we are. It’s our job as peacekeepers to stop this kind of destruction from disturbing the planets who don’t deserve and need chaos,”

The master’s words did little to console the girl, despite managing a smile at the Togruta, the feeling of being downtrodden persisted within the young learner. Nomara then shepherded the child to the hangar where their starships await them. Along the way, Jidné didn’t seem to be herself lately.

“Your silence says a lot on your mind, child,”

Jidné jumped a bit, startled that her master pointed out her silence.

“Master, something doesn’t feel right. Please tell me you feel it, too,” it was unusual for Jidné to speak in a hushed tone, Nomara sensed the pang of worry that rung between the words of her Padawan.

She thought she had fully buried that worry into the recesses of her mind, but she was proven otherwise when the same heavy feeling returned to her—clutching and wrenching at her core. It was a bothersome feeling that she can’t exactly pinpoint… at least not yet.

“Yes, I have, my little Padawan. Although, much like yourself, I cannot seem to place my finger where it originates,”

Deploying from the underbelly of the Patriot, Nomara and Jidné’s starfighters led on a squadron of fighter pilots to the surface. The vessels dotted the sky in a crisp V-formation and circled the perimeter of the city in Modala, where thousands—if not hundreds—of battle droids were marching in organized blocks and columns, with the superweapon guarded in the middle of the formation.

“Cleaver, make sure you charge and prepare your ion cannons. We’re going to put that superweapon completely out of commission before it could reach the legislative building!” Nomara barked through her radio.

The fleet of fighters closed in on the surface, getting more range at the enemy by the minute. The droid army was alerted when their radars and scanners picked up a multitude of signatures coming from the Jedi’s fleet and their clones. The sight of their ships caused panic among the sentient, metal beanpoles that are the battle droids.

Nomara forewarned the entire fleet to disperse once the high-intensity ion cannon is fired. When the signal was given, all of the ships flew away from the blast radius that could disable their ships’ auxiliary and main power grids and made a running pass around the perimeter to find a safe landing spot.

“Prepare to continue this on land!”

Jidné licked her lips, a smug smirk curled on her face, “This is where the fun begins!”

The ground assault was tense. The flock of LAAT gunships assisted Nomara from the air, amplifying their firepower against the approaching droids and their superweapon.

Lightsaber in hand, both master and apprentice charged through the line of battle, deflecting blaster fire and cutting down the battle droids by the numbers until they could reach the building in the heart of the city.

The battle was won, but not the war. What seemed to be only hours felt like days, the Jedi and her Padawan have secured the legislative building as the Separatist general who hid in it willingly relinquished it after being arrested. Despite their victory today, Master Anesh could not shake the dark feeling that lingered within her heart.

“General Anesh,” a clone approached the pair to report, standing just behind Jidné. “We’ve made a sweep in the building. The captives and the guards have been freed and are taken to a medical ward in the city.”

“Very good news, please relay that to me later for my report to the Council,”

“Understood, General,” the captain erected his posture and saluted at the Togruta. He excused himself and was about to return to his post by the door, but in the middle of his walk, he answered an incoming transmission labeled as urgent.

Execute Order 66. Groaned an ancient, raspy voice through the muffled feedback of the clone trooper’s comlink.

The Togruta turned her attention to her little Padawan, overlooking the city through the window of the office space.

“Now that Modala’s been freed, are we going to give Master Plo or Master Billaba some reinforcements?”

“That still depends, my little one, we have yet to expect their transmiss—” Nomara abruptly left her sentence hanging, her hand instinctively went to the base of her montral, her fingers curling around the fullness of the horn to alleviate the aching but to no avail.

“Master, are you okay?” Jidné’s voice shuddered.

At the corner of her eye, Nomara spotted the clone aiming his rifle straight at the child’s head; the Padawan noticed the steely look in her master’s eyes and followed its direction, looking over her shoulder only to be face-to-face with the hole of a blaster’s barrel. Everything seemed move in slow motion, her heartbeat was the only thing ringing in her eardrums; the adrenaline sharpened her reflexes and senses, the Togruta brandished her saber, pushed the girl out of the line of fire and then cut down the clone. Jidné registered everything when the deed was done.

“Wha—what was that!? Was he gonna shoot me?! What’s going on?!” Jidné bombarded her master with question who was still recovering from the nausea.

“Jidné, something’s not right. Something’s very wrong,” Nomara panted. “Our clones have betrayed us. We need to leave this place. Now!”

“They’re in here!” the shout of a clone roared through the door, muffling his voice.

Nomara thought fast, she locked the door using the Force and laid out the escape plan to the girl as concisely as possible. However, they were cut short when one of the clones planted a sticky bomb to the door. The master and apprentice quickly cut down the clones that were coming after them, even after that run-in, neither of them withdrew their sabers.

“Where do we go from here?” Nomara thought out loud.

The Padawan peeked over the window again and saw that their starfighters were still intact.

“Master! Our starfighters!”

Both of them vaulted over the desk where they took cover, but before they could leave the room and run out into the open—with the risk of being chased by their clones—the Togruta grabbed Jidné by the shoulder and knelt to her Padawan’s height. Her plan was to split up—making herself live bait to lure out the clones so that Jidné can get to the ships safely. Of course, Jidné preferred sticking close with her master as much as possible, but Nomara tried to talk her into it.

“Whatever happens, you run. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” Jidné shuddered. Unable to contain her fear, she threw herself into Nomara’s arms and the Togruta embraced her Padawan in the tightest she could.

Master Anesh held the girl’s small face in her elegant hands, “Now, be brave. Don’t look back. I’ll be right with you. I promise.”

Jidné nodded, in turn, her master mouthed “Go” and the little Padawan girl bolted through the halls. Her legs carried her fast as they could, evading the clones whose senses are now on high-alert for both Jedi and Padawan. As much as she wanted to use her Force Shroud, the sheer levels of stress intervened with her focus—being able to only use it for a few minutes’ worth of running—when she felt that she’s re-materializing, she hugged the walls before turning around a corner to see if the coast was clear.

What went wrong? What changed? These questions screamed and ricocheted on the walls of her skull, and were answered by missed blaster fire and angry shouts of the clones, claiming that they’ve spotted the Jedi running.

“Where’s the little girl!?”

“She’ll come around, get the Jedi!”

Jidné crept to another path in the intersection, she was too busy focusing on the two clones who were in the corner that she didn’t notice the clone in the path where she’s heading into and bumped into his side. The clone was understandably startled, but upon sight of the Padawan, he swung his rifle and struck her across the face, a portion of the weapon had scraped the skin—producing a cut on her cheekbone.

The young Padawan was too frightened and confused to think fast, she crawled backwards—away from the Stormtrooper who was already aiming the barrel at her heart, until an indigo beam of light flew his way, cutting through his torso forward and then another when the lightsaber was spinning back to the direction of its owner.

“Jidné! Are you alright?!”

“Yes, Master Anesh!”

A clone appears out of the corner at the end of the hallway, “The Jedi and the little girl are here! Don’t let them escape!!!”

“This way, child! Come on!”

“Coming, Master!”

The two bolted through the grand, luxurious hallways now strewn with bodies of clones—both from the siege and their betrayal against the Jedi. The closer they think they’re getting to the exit where their starships are, the farther the clones push them in—cornering them into the building like mice in a maze.

Eventually, the clones have led them into the central foyer of the legislative building where they surround the master and her Padawan in a circle. This wasn’t part of Nomara’s plan, so she collected all of her might in her body—while praying to the Force to be with her—and then invisible yet torrential ripples exploded out of her hands, throwing the clones off of their feet and disorienting them. While there’s still a chance, before any of the clones could get back up on their feet again, both Jedi returned to following their original path.

“Keep up with me, Jidné!”

“I’m trying, Master!”

Finally! After losing their breath from evading the clones, the starships were in sight. The hope they thought was lost was regained. The two of them dashed out of the main entrance, the wake of destruction from the siege still ran fresh as smoke pillared to the heavens.

Just when they thought they’ve finally secured their escape, a line of troopers with an ARC Trooper in the middle stood in their way between the starships.

“Get behind me, little one!”

Jidné literally went back-to-back with Master Anesh, lightsaber in hand, and faced the direction of the main entrance anticipating the clones that the Togruta had disoriented using the Force. Not a moment later, the same clones from inside had reached them in the outer lobby.

“Jidné, I want you to do exactly as I say, do you hear me?”

“Yes, Master…”

Nomara spoke in the calmest of voices that Jidné has ever heard amidst the chaos, “Use your Shroud. Now.”

The Padawan’s eyes widened, partially with confusion and immense horror, she had a clue of what her master’s plan is. She didn’t like it—not a single bit.

“Jidné,” Nomara spoke calmly again, but the tone of her voice was hard and strict, so as to not give away their bluff to the troopers. The Togruta’s eye glanced to the side, looking at the frightened Padawan. “Now.”

The ARC Trooper, already trigger-happy, barked at his brothers, “Blast her!!”

“JIDNÉ, NOW!!”

“NOOOOOOOO….!!!!”

In the blink of an eye, Jidné felt like she was flying—and flying she was, Nomara had used the Force on the Padawan to send her out of the line of fire. Jidné only landed a feet away from the circle of clones with the Jedi in the center, deflecting and banking away their shots with the remainders of her strength. Obviously, it was too much for one exhausted Jedi to overpower a ring of fifteen or so clone troopers shooting at her from all directions. The little girl, unaware that she had absentmindedly activated her Force Shroud, witnessed the clone troopers—the other people she called her friends ever since this war began—pelt her master’s body with blaster fire.

Nomara, her body riddled with bullet holes through her armor and clothes, spotted little Jidné—in this instance, she was surprised to be able to see Jidné while the child was under the influence of the Force Shroud, she didn’t sought for the explanation, she was glad that her dear Padawan is unseen and unharmed, although it saddened her when their eyes met; never have Nomara ever seen the little girl so stricken with terror upon what she’s seeing.

As the final fulfillment of her promise—not to the mother anymore, but to the child albeit unspoken—Nomara called upon the Force, amplifying her the nearly-fluctuating energy within her. She pulled her arm back, fist clenched in the tightest that she could hold, and struck the soil hard—this wave was very much stronger than the last, the seismic magnitude of Nomara’s Force ability sent the clones literally flying. Some of the clones caught in the shockwave have died from a shattered spine or a cracked skull upon impact of a rock or the stone ground when they landed.

When the wave died down, Jidné is unscathed, though she’s left with the unfathomable degree of fear that her thirteen-year-old mind couldn’t wrap around. Nomara was still standing—however she’s clinging onto the last threads of dear life as she knows it. The Padawan scrambled up to her feet and caught her master before she could fumble near-dead to the soil.

“Master…” Jidné sobbed, cradling Nomara’s head on her lap.

“Jidné…” Nomara gasped, her vision already blurring and a black ring bordered her eyes.

“I’m here, Master…!”

The master hoists her weak hand to the Padawan’s cheek, her thumb ran across a tear streaming down the girl’s face. She choked as she struggled to speak.

“Jidné… you have to go…”

“No, I can’t leave you here!”

“Please… Jidné, more of them will be coming for you,” coughed Nomara, a tear rolled over her cheek. “Save yourself… Run!”

And with that final word, the bright, sparkling teal of Nomara’s eyes have turned milky and lifeless. Jidné couldn’t yet accept the reality of her master’s death, she shook the Togruta in a hopeless plea to wake up and there was no response. Nomara’s head bobbed limply in Jidné’s scrawny arms, the strand of beads fell from the montral headband and clattered to the dust. The girl picked it up and kept it in her pocket, regretting her decision of setting up a pyre for the deceased Jedi, seeing that this would alert the other clones who might still be looking for her.

Following her master’s final request, Jidné did run. Eventually, her running has brought her into the dense urban area of Modala, the entrance of her new life while leaving behind the one she has always known.

——————————————————–

CURRENT TIMELINE

“And ever since then, I survived Modala… somehow. But it still haunts me up to this day, I can’t seem to let go of it even if I wanted to,”

“We all have lost someone during the Jedi Purge. I know how hard it is to overcome the sadness,”

“Yeah… It’s just difficult to find more ways to cope,”

“How about making me vice president of cheering you up?”

Jidné turned her head to the boy. She chuckled, endeared by his child-like purity, a similar trait she has buried within the depths of her core, though she doesn’t realize that.

“Here, I got something for you,”

Cal produced a trinket strand similar to Jidné’s: a chain of Featherfern and Royal Fluzz buds—two for each—encased in transparent, glass beads. The Jedi girl admired the handiwork with wonderment.

“It’s a saber tassel like yours, I made it myself. My first gift as vice president of cheering you up,”

“It’s beautiful,” Jidné sighed, not wasting a second in tying it up along with her original tassel at the pommel.

She secured it with a tight double-knot, the new addition to her pommel dangled with the turquoise beads as she held it up in front of her and Cal. Finally, her tassel got prettier with the variety in color. She turned to the redhead and smiled warmly at him.

“Thank you… so much,”

“C’mere, you must be cold,” Cal cooed, lifting up his arm to open the sleeve of his poncho to offer his side to Jidné.

The girl scooted closer to the redhead’s side until his arm could wrap around her shoulder. She released what ought to be the biggest sigh to date, she felt her entire body soften up the moment Cal held her close, nuzzling his cheek against her head and curling his fingers tighter around her arm. For the first time in years, she felt safe.

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