#also athiss is just so pretty

[kemendin]

Once again posting at stupid hours but HNNHH THEM

[vespertine-legacy]

16, 18, 20 and 22 from SWTOR player asks? (I wanted to send those days ago, but my evil brain forgot to do the thing)

No worries. Thank you for the ask, Pauletta <3

16. Do you have a favorite Flashpoint or operation? A least favorite?

I enjoy Cademimu (especially on stealth with the appropriate crew skills to do the shortcuts and stuff), mostly for mocking the boss - “I fought in the war you piece of trash!” ok, and? I think Athiss and Red Reaper are pretty fun, not too difficult, more fun for me on a stealther. It's actually been a while since I've done too many flashpoints, because I've had some less-than-stellar groupfinder groups, but I'd love to get back into them if my computer can behave.

As far as operations, I’m always a slut for Dread Fortress/Dread Palace. Not just because of my unhealthy obsession with the Dread Masters, but also because I like the fights. They’re fun for me to heal (either HM, or if I’m solohealing SM with my guildmates and we do stupid shit), and I like dps-ing because I actually feel useful on all of the fights since I know them well and there aren’t places I get lost/confused (and because if we're doing a guild funrun, I get to do absolutely stupid shit and give the healer a heart attack). One day I’ll get my nim Brontes clears.

18. Which achievement(s) are you most proud of?

I was really proud of each of my HM Gods clears, even though I didn’t get to clear Izax with the rest of my team (the night before 7.0 dropped and I had to work the next morning, so I couldn’t stay on late to pull with them). I'm pretty proud of getting through the Tineback Tamer one on Ruhnuk today, even though it's a silly one, and relatively easy to do, since everything was conspiring against me to not get it lol.

20. What do you most often do while playing? (ex. PVP, FPs, quests, crafting, RP, etc.)

I mostly do dailies or catch some of my toons up on content. I’ve got a few baby toons that I can replay class stories on as well. I used to mostly do operations, but while my computer is being a potato, I'm not as comfortable joining pugs that I might suddenly disconnect from (and they'll think I ragequit) or being active on my prog team and holding them back while they wait for my computer to behave.

22. Of all the in-game events (Relics of the Gree, Rakghoul, Life Day, so on) which do you like the most, and which do you dislike?

Life Day is nice because you get to get hugs. I like Gree because Ilum is pretty (screw the Ilum pvp though, it brings out the worst toxicity in some players for some reason), and the Grey Secant stuff is fun - my guild used to do marathon runs of HM Xeno to try for the Red Sphere mount, but hasn't done it as much post-7.0. I dislike Rakghoul Week just because people are so annoying about it on Fleet sometimes, even though the event itself can be fun, and the dailies are easy enough (even if some of them are broken as hell).

[firealder2005]

The Last Ones Standing Chapter 2

Part 2 of my A Month of Whump Day 12. Forced to Perform-Animal Attack-Forced Transformation 

prompts by @amonthofwhump

AO3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/43545942/chapters/109486980

Enjoy!

```

“What did the reports on Athiss say about the wildlife here again?” Pooja asked as the trio walked through the deciduous forest, mild sunlight glazing the green treetops and red dirt beneath their boots.

“Predators, mainly,” Ryoo answered as she heaved her side bag over her shoulder. “Nocturnal ones, so we’ll have to rotate watches at night.”

“That’ll be good,” Luke added, peering up at the rocky cliffs around them. “Meanwhile, we should find the abandoned village around here. It should be close.”

“I call a room with Luke!” Ryoo grinned, placing an elbow on her cousin’s shoulder, marveled over how he was a few inches shorter than herself, and stuck her tongue out at Pooja. “I’ve roomed enough with you, little sister!”

“Good riddance!” Pooja playfully smiled back. “Luke, I’m sorry for doing this to you, but I have no choice!” she raised her arms as if in surrender.

“Wow,” Luke drily said, blue eyes bright as he smiled. “Good to know I’m the dead meant in this trio.”

Ryoo dramatically gasped and tightly hugged him. “Never! I won’t let Pooja bore you with political talk!”

Pooja’s “Hey!” was accompanied by a shove, causing Ryoo to tip over and drag Luke down with her.

“You’ve murdered us!” Ryoo yelled, rolling in the green grass, voice echoing through the silent woods. “Fratricide!”

“No regrets!” Pooja proclaimed, laughing as she held out a hand for Luke to grasp and pulled the smiling man back to his feet.

“Both of you are insane, you know that right?” he asked as they all brushed off the dirt on their fatigues.

“The best people are insane,” Ryoo replied, vigorously shaking out her jacket. “People called our aunt insane sometimes, but she was the best.”

“Your aunt?” Luke asked.

“Padme Amidala,” Pooja responded. “She was Naboo’s senator until the Empire rose - rumor has it that she got the cogs for the Rebellion started before she died.”

Luke’s brows furrowed, eyes taking on a strange look, before he asked; “Were the Empire responsible?”

Ryoo shrugged. “The official report said she was killed by Jedi, but we think that’s bantha poodoo - after all, one of her good friends was a Jedi, and she wouldn’t have let him around us if she didn’t completely trust him.”

“She was friends with a Jedi?” Luke echoed quietly.

“Mmm-mmm,” Pooja hummed as they continued their trek through the woods. Ryoo eyed first her sister, then Luke, and gave Pooja a nod. The younger sister placed a hand on Luke’s shoulder and said; “We’re pretty sure it was your father - Anakin Skywalker.”

Luke came to a sudden stop, blue eyes wide. “M-my father?” he asked, staring at both of them.

“Well, either it’s your dad, or another random guy with the name “Skywalker”.” Ryoo said, a little smile forming.

Although, she still caught the flash of something across her cousin’s face.

“Also…” Pooja hesitated, then pushed onward. “This may come as a shock, but we’re pretty sure we know who your mother is too.”

Luke blinked rapidly, looking unsure, but curiosity overtook him and he slowly nodded.

Pooja glanced at Ryoo, and the latter blurted it out.

“We think Padme was your mother.”

Luke stared at her, then at Pooja. “Your aunt…is my mother?” he slowly shook his head, not in denial much to Ryoo’s relief (the rest of this mission would’ve been awkward then), but as if he was trying to make sense of his thoughts. “Which would make you two-” he pointed to both of them.

“Your cousins.” Pooja finished, awkwardly swinging her arms back and forth. “Yeah, we’re your cousins.”

Luke looked stupefied, like somebody had just yanked reality out from under him.

Which, in a sense, probably did happen, Ryoo reflected as she nearly tripped over a root. It wasn’t everyday you find out your family was actually alive.

And speaking of that…

“Someday, we’ll have to sneak onto Naboo,” she said as the decrepit village came into view. “So Mother and Father can meet you, and Grandma Jobal and Grandpa Ruwee.”

“Hold up,” Luke raised a hand, still looking startled. “Parents? Grandparents…?” he smacked his hand to his forehead, looking suddenly frustrated.

“How many other secret family members do I have?” he breathed.

Ryoo could only shrug in response.

But she wondered…what did Luke mean by “other” family members? Anakin hadn’t had any living relatives - as far as she knew, at least.

So what gives?

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Vader.

The hissing voice ripped Vader from his faux-interest in the darkness of space. He turned his tremendous presence onto the unwelcomed voice, aura flaring at this intrusion.

Another Force wielder?

Another darkside Force wielder?

But Vader was nowhere near any planets, let alone one suited for a darksider…

Shouldn’t a Sith be able to recognize their own? The voice taunted.

Vader narrowed his eyes. There are no other Sith in this galaxy, he hissed back.

Of our mighty, true lineage? The voice answered. Yes, you are correct. However…who says that I’m alive?

Who are you. Vader demanded, the temperature rapidly dropping around him, causing the Imperial personnel around him to glance uneasily at the Dark Lord. Quit wasting my time.

And here I thought you would be interested in the whereabouts of your son…

Vader’s presence snapped and converged on the Sith spirit, like a hyena sensing carrion.  

Where is he.

Come to Korriban, the Sith hissed. And you will find out.

Then the dead spirit’s aura trickled away, leaving Vader to grasp at it pathetically.

Damn him! How dare he keep Luke’s location from him! Vader was his father, he had a right to know exactly where Luke is at all times.

Nevertheless…at least he had a lead now.

“Admiral Piett,” he tersely ordered. The human man snapped to attention. “Set a course for Korriban - and make it quick, I don’t want to be kept waiting.”

“Yes, my lord.” Piett answered crisply before turning on his heel and marching away.

Vader had to be fast. If this Sith spirit had told him, the Sith Apprentice, about Luke’s whereabouts (or, well, a lead on it), then it was only a matter of time before Sidious did to.

And he would have much more leeway with the Sith of old, and may already know Luke’s location.

However, Vader knew Luke must be somewhere in Korriban’s system if that spirit had been aware of his presence.

Question was…

What was his son doing in a known Sith system?

That was a question he would wrangle from his son later. Now, he had to hunt him down.

[rainofaugustsith]

Rain Plays SWTOR: Seeker Droid!

Canon Viri tackled the Dread Seeds/Seeker Droid quests. Macrobinoculars is still not doable solo, but after seeing some YouTube videos of the Seeker Droid quest endings online, I thought I’d go for it. It’s about the Dread Masters and I’m trying to do as much of their content alone as I can.  Seeker Droid story spoilers In terms of story, I thought it was a good one. At the end, of course Viri took the power for herself. She's the Wrath. Or she was, at this point in the game. And she sure as hell wasn't going to leave it for Acina to loot or take credit for - which is exactly what she would have done. 

I feel like the ending was totally in character for Viri. She was one step ahead of Acina, even though she didn't let on. In canon, once she became the Wrath she knew damned well that Vitiate was gone - it's canon because the Hands sent her an email about it after the class story. So she also knew that anyone telling her "the Emperor told me to do this" was full of shit. Acina wanted her to do all the gruntwork and then take all the credit for reclaiming the Dread Seeds. After seeing the Arcanum that Acina hadn't told her or anyone else about, that contained Patient Zero and all sorts of scary stuff - even more so. She would play along with Acina because the Dread Seeds were a Very Bad Thing, but she was certainly not going to fork over the Dread Masters' tech to her. 

Gameplay: It's bugged at the end. The final heroic on Ilum was decidedly miserable, which is a shame because the rest of the quest line was fun. 

Since the Dread Seeds happened during Viri's years as the Wrath, she brought along Jaesa to at least try to keep some continuity. Before KOTFE, Jaesa and Vette were her seconds all the time, and she would have chosen the former for anything Scary Force Related. Vette jumped in on the Ilum heroic because unfortunately Jaesa was useless there, despite being Level 50. Of course, she was standing there wearing Lana's belt with gold eyes, so she still didn't look 100% like she was from the correct part of her timeline, but I did what I could.  Overall, once I got the hang of it, using the seeker droid was pretty simple. When I was on Corellia I nearly got ninjaed - some asshole Jedi Knight was literally standing behind me and watching what I did with my seeker droid, then putting his down in the direction it was saying. As soon as I noticed it I just went over to Hoth to search for a different Seed. Sorry. Not helping you, Jedi.

On Alderaan and Balmorra Viri found the Seeds with only two or three tries with the seeker droid, which is...well, I'm not complaining. When I got to Voss, the last one Viri had to collect, I finally checked her mail and there was a buff from GSI in an email to make the search easier. Oops. Could have used that on Corellia. 

Somewhere along the way she somehow lost the seeker droid. I logged out and logged back in, and it was back in her mission tools. I also got an email with it. Okay. Glad to see everything's not bugged. 

Going through the Arcanum wasn't the easiest, but I'm really proud I was able to do it. I'm horrible at jumps. That's an understatement. Viri did die a few times as I figured out the first jump, and I got stuck behind some shelves once, but I'm really pleased with myself, and proud of Viri, that she was able to make it through. Rocket boost definitely helped.  The search took her to one of her favorite places, the ancient side of Belsavis. Better yet, she got to explore another Rakatan crypt. And there was a Rakatan transporter. Pure joy. The boss at the end was hilarious. You don't fight him; you just kill all his adds and he eventually gets zapped by his own artifacts and dies. Score. 

And then we went to Ilum.  I don't know if I even want to write a guide for this because the quest is bugged. Very, very bugged. Hellish. It makes me feel better that the difficulties did seem to come largely from the fact that it was bugged and not my own inability to make it through.  Once the bugs were sorted out, Viri didn't have much more difficulty with it than she'd had soloing, say, veteran Athiss or Red Reaper.  Viri spent three hours trying to get through a single room: a hallway where you need to place the power cells in the turret before the hordes of corrupted soldiers swarm in. The turrets refused to fuel past 87% over and over again. I called in different companions, all influence level 50. Vette, Jaesa, Lana and Shae all had turns. I tried them on tank; I tried them on heal. Worse: when Viri died I had the choice of a) reviving her in the room where ALL the cages were open so she was instantly mobbed; b) respawning her just outside the temple and resetting all the mobs in the entire mission. I was in tears of frustration.  After taking a shower, getting lunch and taking a break, I looked for more information online. Turns out it's a bug that can be alleviated by resetting the quest. I did that, and the next time I went in, I was able to solve the room in two or three tries. 

On to the Sithspawn, which was an entirely different level of hell. Viri didn't die here, but neither did the Sithspawn. Again, it was bugged. You're supposed to be able to lure the beast into standing on barrels that explode, but no matter what I did, it it didn't work. I looked online and sure enough, there were reports of this bug, too.  I put Vette on passive and went out into the hallway to take a break when the tentacles reappeared. I have no idea how or why, but after that the barrels worked, and Viri and Vette made short work of the monster. 

After that, the final boss was honestly a piece of cake. I had trouble finding the crystals to click for a moment, but once I did, easy peasy.  Acina was not happy was Viri. Eh. Don’t underestimate the Wrath. She still got some cute armor.  I don't think I'd be in a hurry to go back to this unless they fixed the bugs. But it's done, and I can say I did it. 

[rainofaugustsith]

Rain plays SWTOR: Athiss Solo (Veteran)

This flashpoint is awesome. If you are like me and you love the tombs on Korriban, this one should be fun for you. The mobs are not as treacherous or as numerous as the ones on Hammer Station, and there’s so much fascinating detail. 

As usual, we’re traveling with Viri (Sith Warrior, Vengeance Juggernaut) and Lana (melee companion; healing; level 50 influence). 

When you land on Athiss, you should be able to avoid engaging any mobs outside. Follow the path to the entrance to the excavation site. You want the first excavation shaft. 

Angle your camera down and you will see two platforms you can jump to and break your fall. At the bottom, there's a repair droid. 

First go down and right and get the explosives from the backpack. 

Now go back through the main room, stop at the repair droid (trust me: always stop. Always repair!), and go left on the map until you get to the blue clickable door. The explosives will blow the door open.   First boss, Professor Ley'arsha (433810 HP): Get the adds first, and then just keep hitting her. Very straightforward. 

Now we're going outside again. 

Second boss, The Beast of Vodal Kressh (832340 HP) This is always the hardest part of the flashpoint for me. The Beast has a nasty knockback, but the real problems are the Alchemical Tuk’ata he will summon periodically to converge on you and your companion. I try to save my Orbital Strike in Heroic Moment and Vengeful Slam for them. If you have any really good AoE, like Force Storm, Orbital Strike or Artillery Blitz, now’s the time for it.  If you can kill off the hounds and keep moving, you should be able to defeat him. Stay under him if you can. Also try to keep on the side of the empty temple, because the knockback can fling you into one of the mobs (in case you've not defeated every single NPC on the scene) and that's not pretty. 

Guardians and Disciples: 

Going into the last section of the tombs, you will face numerous Temple Guardians and Temple Disciples. As you see, they have the exact same HP (418250, which is almost the same as Professor Ley'arsha) but one’s a Warrior and one’s a Sorcerer. Choose your poison, I guess. Disciples have self-healing, Chain Lightning and Force Storm, so they seem more difficult to me.   

If you walk carefully you can sometimes avoid pulling more than one of these baddies at once. Stay on one side of the room and be mindful of where you're shooting or casting so you don't wake anyone up. Getting three of these to descend on you is a surefire way to get overwhelmed and die quickly.

In this room, there are four...but we notice that two of the Temple Guardians are moving. I will always try to wait until one walks up the stairs so I can fight him alone instead of in the same area as the other three.

Finally, we arrive at the Prophet of Vodal (861,499 HP). He's got two especially vicious attacks you need to learn to handle: 

 The Living Fire: Vodal vanishes and some red fire attaches itself to either you or your companion. More balls of living fire will follow you. As you might guess this can do very bad things to you or your companion.   In my experience the Living Fire will try to take out your companion first. You need to put them on passive (toggling them back to heal as needed) so they will follow you and run from the Living Fire instead of trying to fight it. Run your tail off all over that room, and stay away from the fire that is following you. Eventually it will pop away again. 

  Essence Drain: Vodal will stun you and use lightning to drain your HP. Keep close to your companion during the fight because they can keep healing you if this happens. 

  After the fight, do not forget to go up the stairs and recover the artifacts from the coffin. Um, no, I've never forgotten, why do you ask? *walks away whistling innocently*