3 minutes ago, Rabobankrider said:

Before too long, he would reach a small room, similar to the one they had entered through. The floor was square, the symbol of the jedi carved upon it again. Before him stood eight roughly carved doorways, each leading in a different direction. As each Padawn arrives, they would feel a tug at their clothing like the wind whipping about them. However there is no wind, the frist and stone is not affected by it. Even the uninitiated would recognize this as something supernatural, and a Jedi, even a youngling would know this to be the force. It is wild though, pulling in every direction, not the calm that most Knights and Masters speak of. For it to guide them, it will take some focus, as their training has shown.

Quell, not breaking stride, confidently jogs through the leftmost doorway.

Gunda doesn't hesitate for more than a short moment. "May the Force be with us all," he says, as he goes through the doorway he feels the Force directing him to. Once through, he walks slowly but surely, ready for whatever may come.

Muu would leave the dining gallery to first visit his quarters thrilled to set foot on his adventure. He would take Master Vrook's advice dressing in the Jedi supplied thick parka, second pair of socks, and wrap a scarf-like material around his head to shield himself from the elements.

As Muu left the ramp he would absorb in the planet's beautiful snow landscape. He would say to himself " So this is Illum " amazed by the giant cliff towering above him as he approached the archway.

Muu would listen to Master Vrook as he spun around 360 degrees examining all of the monumental stonework in the chamber. He would rest his eyes upon the ginormous statues say to himself " This is what I am to become !".

As Muu watched the light from the crystal melt the ice into water creating his path to the interior. Adrenalized, Muu would begin a light jog following the other initiates. Master Vrook's last sentence would echo in his head as he marveled in his environment... " Trust in the force "

52 minutes ago, Rabobankrider said:

<snip>

Before reaching the cave though, the Wookie Kattadik would feel, and see something different. Those who went before him would not have seen it, as if it wasn't there before, but to the Wookie's left, there was a hole in the wall. Hole might be a poor term, it was more like a crack, perhaps a natural feature of the shifting rock. It looked like a tight fit, the jagged edges around the entrance not making it a welcoming sight. From within there would be a sound like a hollow wind howling about inside, and he would feel the tug the others do, not towards the archways, but towards the dark and forbidding sight.

Outside, Vrook would sight at the youngling charging in at their assorted speed. He would sit once more, cross legged and eyes shut. 'May the force protect them' he would grumble, 'This lot are going to need it'.

Kataddik takes a closer look at the fissure. A tight fit "he wonders", for whom? If it would by tight for those little kids, it's likely be impossible for someone of his large stature. extending his climbing claws, he tries digging at the fissure, enlarging the opening a bit, to, hopefully widening it enough for him to pass through.

As Walden notices the majority of people start to meditate at the fissure, except Quell, jogging towards the door, and Gunda, who manages to stop for a moment.

He tries to meditate, too. But Walden's unease creeps up on him and he can't figure out the exact door until he feels Muu's presence guide him to the right door.

"It's the 2nd door." Walden notes to himself. And so, he walks towards it.

Zoroku gathered his winter gear and his few belongings ever since he ran from the Chiss Ascendancy he didn't have much to carry with him. He continued it stay apart from the group having not yet made a friend.

Zoroku studied the giant room of ice that Master Vrook had led them to, trying his best to decipher the ancient script he quickly realized that he would need to learn more languages to even attempt such a task 'I will need to ask Master Xiara if she could teach me this script' . Once he heard the command to enter he was the not the first nor the last to enter the Ice Cave, seeing the other younglings meditating he began to do so as well, After a few minutes if trying to clear his mind he gave up on the effort 'A strange thing clearing the mind, I do not sense anything'.

Looking around he saw the Dug, he had never approached him for his name, " I have a feeling we are both lost in thought, my people study the art of war not how to be warrior monks, do you have any insight on what I must do to better my meditations? " The young Chiss' eyes glow red in the dimmer light of the cave as he stares at the Dug almost like he were trying to read the Dugs emotions.

Gunda has only gone a couple of steps when he feels doubt. What if this isn't the right direction? This could be a disaster. He hesitates for a moment, but then swallows his pride and goes back. He then sits down and tries to concentrate on the Force, meditating on the path he needs to take down in the crystal caves. He has trouble focusing. The cold from the floor seeps through his coat and causes his arms to cramp up as he sits. He can feel the Force strongly down here. It is much stronger than he's ever felt it, and this makes it surprisingly hard to determine what to do next.

When the strange blue-skinned human, Zoroku, speaks, Gunda opens his eyes. “I think we need to re-think the way we try to connect to the Force. We are so used to a trickle that the mighty river here is drowning us. We need to discover what part of the river is calling to us and ignore the sound of the river. I think,” he says, thinking out loud as much for his benefit as his companions.

He then tries to focus again, trying to tune out all the excess noise in the Force in this place. After a little while he is fairly certain that the door on the other side is the one he wants. He notices that the Chiss is standing up as well with a satisfied look on his face. “It worked,” he says with a grin, some of his self-confidence returning. “I’ll see you outside.” He then walks through the door, a confident that this time he has made the right choice.

As Muu approached he small room he would stare at the 8 carved doorways with astonishment. He would sense this extra mundane pull as if something was trying to communicate through the force. Curious about this force trying to communicate Muu would sit down with his fellow initiates and begin to center himself in meditation. Almost instantly Muu precognitively foresaw himself rushing through the fourth entrance doorway. Arising from meditation, Muu jumps up charged knowing his path. Muu says " Peace be with you and trust the force " to his fellow initiates before entering into his archway.

After meditating with his Dug friend he was able to feel the guiding pull of the force, ' I see now what he meant I was focusing on to much of the force' Zoroku stood and turned to thank his new companion, " Thank you. I never gave you my Name, I am Kazz'Oro'Kuruozo, but you may call me Zoroku. " He turned to see that his Dug companion had wished him luck and let him Zoroku to go on his way, a strange species the Dug. Zoroku now was able to sense his path and immediately went down it.

Upon entering the room Svae feels the force flowing. He stands in the middle and closes his eyes trying to become in tune with the force. During his meditation the little bug he found on the ship jumps out of the pocket Svae put it in and runs towards the fifth archway.

Svae sees it running there and chases after it entering the fifth archway, saying, "Perig! Where are you going?" However, Svae says this through telepathy and not with his actual voice. He often forgets most other species talk using their mouth.

Gaze moves into the chamber a bit, and settles down to meditate. However due to multiple factors, a Wookie digging into a wall, other Padawan's discussing things here and there, his breakfast making his stomach gurgle, you name it, he's unable to actually find that quiet place inside his mind. Sighing and giving it up for a lost cause, he decides to follow an old saying his dad told him. " A choice can't be good or bad, until you make it, until then, it's nothing at all. " Deciding that moving down any path is better for him than not doing so, he slowly turns on his heels until he sees a path with a bit of a blue glow to it, and heads that way.

Matt tried to meditate as he was good at. But she filled his thoughts. He had to concentrate. Soon he found out which door was his. He began to run down through that door.

Giving up on digging, Kataddik tries squeezing through the opening. It's tight, to say the least.

Quell would continue down the pathway, oblivious to the call of the force, at least for now. The path he had chosen had a strange, blue glow to it. It seemed to be emanating from small crystals set in the wall at almost regular intervals. Though they looked like kyber crystals, they did not give of any feelings from the force. After what feels like ten minutes or so, he would reach a second junction. One lead down a dark and craggy looking tunnel, with nearly no light, while the second lead to the left over a narrow bridge, bathed in blue light from above. That light would not reach the floor below the bridge though, a seemingly bottomless pit.

However, before too long, the confident Dug would catch up with the Togruta. He had followed the boy down the tunnel without realizing, and had reached the crossroads as well. A second choice had to be made.

Walden's tunnel was different though. This one had been paved, well paved even. Torches of blue crystal were bolted to the wall to light the way. His journey would be much longer though, almost half an hours walking before h entered a second room. A small room, not much bigger than a single person. Along the four walls, small hand sized alcoves had been dug. Within each alcove, there was a glint of blue, and a tremendous force presence within the room. In one of these alcoves, there was a kyber crystal, but which? They all seemed to hold one, and it was impossible to tell just by looking which was real.

Muu Wusun would emerge after a few minutes walk atop a cliff. Only blackness was below him, but right in front of him, a few meters away, suspended in the air was a tiny crystal. Between the crystal and the cliff was a number of small floating slabs of rock. All were perfectly circular, and presumably held up by the force. To a reckless Jedi, the way forward seems simple enough, doesn't it?

Perhaps a full hours walk, and Zoroku would emerge in a large ciruclar room, the walls worn smooth as if by water. In the centre was waht looked like a simple alter, and resting atop of it, a tiny blue flake, a kyber crystal. One wall to the boys left had collapsed in on itself, a pile of large boulders and rocks.

Perig would hurry after the deceptively fast insect, alternating between flying and scuttling. It seemed to just keep going down the tunnel. No lights shone the way for Svae, but he could just about see. Suddenly, there would be a hiss, and from the shadows of the tunnel, what resembled a black cat would leap forth. With a single motion, it was atop of the insect, paw pressed in its back, looking up at the child with fiery eyes. Perig squirmed under the paw, not dead, most likely injured though. The situation looked to be a delicate one if Perig was to come out of it alright.

Gaze Eboh's tunnel would be coated with the same blue light of the tunnel Quell and Gunda had gone down. However Gaze's tunnel would have large indents set in the tunnels wall, coated in shadow. They were big enough to fit a large human in at least, and they appeared at regular intervals along the path. As Gaze goes, he'd head what sounds like the wind, but then there it was again. It was less like the wind, and more like a whisper now, the whisper of a sentient being.

Matt's route lead him after a few minutes to a a small, perfectly square room. Set in the wall opposite was a stature of a hooded human, most likely a Jedi. He looked as if he was crawling from the wall, hand extended. From his hand, a small blue crystal was settled. However, circling the centre of the room seemed to be a mount of frost and dust, making lazy circles as if caught in a drain.

As Kataddik forced his way into the crack in the wall, he could see a little way away in the direction he was going that there was an orange, flickering light source. It looked almost like a camp fire of all things. As he went, he begun to hear something, a hissing, right by his ear. It was unmistakable to the former slave, the vice of a Trandoshan. 'Poor Wookie, sssstuck in a whole. Perhapssss you were better back in the holding penssss of Kassshyyyk hm?' This would be followed by a fit of laughter from other Trandoshan voices. Shadows begun to move in the light source, perhaps something living was there?

10 minutes ago, Rabobankrider said:

Quell would continue down the pathway, oblivious to the call of the force, at least for now. The path he had chosen had a strange, blue glow to it. It seemed to be emanating from small crystals set in the wall at almost regular intervals. Though they looked like kyber crystals, they did not give of any feelings from the force. After what feels like ten minutes or so, he would reach a second junction. One lead down a dark and craggy looking tunnel, with nearly no light, while the second lead to the left over a narrow bridge, bathed in blue light from above. That light would not reach the floor below the bridge though, a seemingly bottomless pit.

Having a good feeling about the bridge, and not fearing heights, Quell takes the second path, maneuvering across the bottomless pit.

Kataddik, closes his eyes and tries to focus on the task at hand.

Discipline

3eA+1eD : 0 successes [3eA=-, A, S] [1eD=F/Th]

Walden thinks about the situation for a moment.

"Sometimes, thinking things through is the best way to act. Do not rush, Walden..." Master Sellas' words echo through his mind, and he tries to use the Force to sense the right crystal.

However, the fact that the Force was in great concentrations around him clouds the way and Walden could not clear the path.

"Blast..." he says to himself. And as he looks at the 4 alcoves. Walden decides to head towards an alcove.

"And sometimes, Master, you just have to act..." he says to himself, reaching into it.

Gaze would tilt his head at the sound of what seems like a voice, his eyes narrowing a bit. Keeping quiet for now, he continues on down the path, towards the sound of the voice.

Perig was surprisingly fast! Svae struggled to catch up with the bug. Upon rounding a corner Svae could see Perig, but in the next moment Svae hears a hiss and suddenly a black cat pounces on Perig.

"NO!" Svae screams out both audibly and telepathically. Perig was a kind friend on the long travel aboard the jedi ship. Svae didn't want to see him go.

The cat slowly turns it's head towards Svae. The orange fire in it's eyes seems to say, What will you do Svae? Come save him? Fight for his life? Exact Revenge!? Or watch him die before you because you were too weak to protect him?

Svae falls to his knees a few feet from the cat. Perig is still struggling under the cat's paw. "I know that this is what life is like in the natural world. Everyone's got to eat somehow and the smaller you are, the more you're eaten. There's always a bigger fish, like me." Svae says looking up into the cat's eyes on that last line. Looking down at the floor Svae explains, "But I try not to cause suffering to others unnecessarily. I could help you find food elsewhere." Looking back into the cat's eyes, pleading now, Svae says "But he's a friend. Would you spare him?"

Muu stops at the end of the cliff to stare at the dark abyss below him and quickly sets his attention to the crystal in mid suspension. Eager to claim his crystal, Muu hasty examines the levitating stones that lead to the crystal.The youngling remembers Master Vrooks words... " Trust in the force "... as the slabs of rock appear to be held by the force. Devoted to his trial, Muu wholeheartedly commits the advancement to his first levitating slab ....

Halfway across the pit, Quell is wondering if this is indeed the path for him. Still, if not his bravery, what would the Force be testing?

He presses on to the other side.

"Quell?" Gunda manages before his Togruta friend sets off over the bridge. Gunda, mindful of his previous error, decides to meditate on his two choices. Neither held particular fear for him, but he could not feel any pull towards either.

4 hours ago, Kymrel said:

"Quell?" Gunda manages before his Togruta friend sets off over the bridge.

"It's okay, I know what I'm doing!" Quell. "I'm sure my crystal is just on the other side."

Zoroku entered the room and spied the Crystal on the other side laying on an alter, seeing the condition the room is in he decides to study it further possibly finding clues to its structural integrity. ' The Room is water damaged, could the rubble be from the event that caused this weathering on the walls? ' Zoroku thought while he continued to survey the room his arms folded a hand scratching his chin.

Tiberius would kneel to meditate as the others do. Within moments he sensed the pathway for him. His walk down the dust path was a long one, maybe an hour, maybe more. It was impossible to tell in these caves, no daylight to guide. The dust continued to gather and accumulate as he walks, and the cave would take on an odd grey colour that seemed to seep into his very skin an clothing. The further he goes, the thicker the dust grows. As he reaches the end of the tunnel, a truly huge cavern laid before him. By this point the sand and dust that coated the floor had reached his knees, forcing him to wade through it as he enters the cavern. Bleached white bone would appear in spots from below the surface of the cavern, and there was a strange smell, the smell of burning. It was not dust or sand any more, it was ash. At the centre of the cavern, a number of shadowy figures stood in a circle, gathered around something on the floor.

Quel would cross the narrow bride over the chasm, convinced of the route he was taking. As he crosses the bride, he would eventually reach the other side and the blue glow he had followed begun to shift. It changed from the rich blue colour to verging on a pale white. The rocks were eventually replaced with great layers of ice. He would enter a chasm that appeared to be a large frozen pond. At the centre there seemed to be a small fishing hole, and from within, what looks like a glistening rock. The pond is not deep, from the edge of the pond, you could already see the bottom of the pond. A single step onto the surface though would prove the ice to be supernaturally slippy. Crossing this was going to be no simple feat.

Meanwhile, the mighty Wookie continued to clamber through the crack int e cave wall towards the light, and all the while, the voiced nipped at his ears. 'Look out, the ssslave isss coming to get usss!' This would be followed by mocking laughter, and with every step he takes, new jabs would be made. Despite his best efforts, he could feel the emotions from the past return like a tidal wave. The memories of his enslavement, the beatings, the cruelty to his people, it all returned. Soon, after some more struggling, he would burst forth into the cavern. It was indeed a campfire, to the left of it, a small dark tunnel, to the right, a tunnel would a blueish glow. Dead in the centre of the room, right before his very eyes, was a Trandoshan. Standing tall with a Rykk blade, a trophy from his hunts in hand. Kataddik would recognize him as one of the leaders of the slavers he had fallen prey to. 'Now what ssslave, you want to come back home, or die in this cave'.

Walden would be making less progress though. As he grabs the crystal, he would feel an incredible shock course from his hand to the base of his skull, setting his hair on end. As he staggers back he could almost hear his masters chiding. 'And sometimes, my young Padawan, you need to sit still, stop fidgeting and think for a moment!' He could almost feel the thwack of the bamboo cane over the top of his head.

The whispering around Gaze would seem to cease as he actively listens. However as soon as he continues waling, it would return, louder, more clearly. 'M, mand, mandalore, mandalore, mandalore'. Over and over it would chant, like the marching chant of an army coming over the hills. Even if he had never heard the chant, Gaze knew who it belonged to, and he knew what they had done. The noise was almost definitely coming from the alcoves set in the wall, and continued to raise in decibel.

As the sinister looking animal paws at and plays with Perig, Svae would see a chance to swipe the insect from under the cats paws. With lighting speed his hand would dart forth, wraping around the bug to protect it, he pulls it free from the claws. However, the animals nails dig deep into the back of his hand, drawing blood, a few drops running down his knuckles. The creature would let out a low yowl before going to slink back into the shadows, as if it had never existed. As soon as it was gone, Perig would once more begin to squirm, ready to be free once more.

Mu would land on the first fist sized slab easily enough, but after a second, his heart would leap from his chest. The rock would fall as gravity tears it back to earth, taking the youngling with him. It was going to take some quick reactions to save himself from the inky blackness below.

Gunda would feel the pull of the force once more as he sits to meditate. The pull is more focused here, more ordered and controlled. As he sits, small pebbles around him would begin the hover, only for a moment. As he opens his eyes, they would clatter to the floor. The tunnel, that was the way for him to go. It would only be a short distance before he reached the end of this second path. It was a dead end. No cave or room, just a frozen wall of ice, much like the beginning of their quest. The ice was perfectly clear though, almost like glass. Set dead int eh centre though was an imperfection, a tiny blue fleck. The kyber crystal perhaps? It was difficult to tell having never seen one up close.

As Zoroku gazes around the room, it was difficult to gleam much. It was decidedly nondescript in appearance. However he did see a few points of interest. The rubble did not seem to have come from the wall, rather it looked as if it had been placed there by hand. Additionally, the alter was not placed atop the ground, but rather had been buried at least part way into the ground. Perhaps it was nothing, but it was odd. It seemed evident there were not traps, at least none that could be seen. The crystal looked to be there or the taking.

Matt however had taken a very different path to his fellows. He felt the temping feel of the dark side lurk around him, and he willingly accepts its seductive call. His sight seemed to crack like a mirror, shards falling away to reveal something different, a vision of the future, or at least a possible future. He saw a young boy walk into the room, and as he did, the swirling mass of dust would spring to life, enveloping the boy in a small tornado that burnt brilliant shades of gold and red. He could hear the boy shout and cry out, but slowly he placed one foot in front of the other. Again and again he moved forward, till slowly a hand extended, closing around the crystal, and the vision went black. It wasn't over though. He saw flashes of blue, green and red, he heard shouts and screams, whispers and laughter. A seeming infinite mass of voices, jostling for dominance, each a different person, a different time and a different place. 'You deserve this. They're everywhere! We can't get out! Help us! Please! This is wrong. Why have you done this? Don't quit, don't stop!' Finally, before the vision fades out, a single voice would ring out load. A voice of a young man, but a voice he did not recognize. 'So, this is real power is it?' As Matt comes to, he would feel weak, drained almost from the vision. The dark side was always tempting, but took its toll on the body and mind. Before Him, the room was still there, as was the dust.