Quemadmodum Acerbus

Friday
12:02am

The dim lighting of the bar glinted off the pints of beer held in both human and zabrak hands. Saitou and Uzbad sat around lazily, the evening had been completely at a lack of excitement and both were bored beyond description. The noise of the other patrons fell upon deaf ears, tired of the whole boring scene. When the bartender refused to serve them another the two Krath left in annoyance.

“This night has been nothing but disappointments.” Saitou complained.

Uzbad belched rudely before he responded in turn; “If you are so bored, find something to do.”

“I was doing something before the bartender refused to give me another drink…” he muttered, perplexed at the thought of being refused alcohol!

The cool night air greeted them upon stepping out of the tavern, a chill breeze rustling their black robes. What a waste of time it was, they both thought, coming to town to seek something to do.

“How about the rumors of those ruins of an old amusement park?” Uzbad had a mischievous grin on his face as he spoke, wicked thoughts on his mind.

Saitou almost burst out laughing madly. He had been quick to dispel any word spoken of a haunted amusement park earlier in the evening; then again he was now drunk and the thought of causing some trouble was more on his mind than anything else. More so it was top priority on Uzbad’s mind. “I dare you to go alone to that park.” Uzbad said, thinking himself clever.

“Fine, I’ll prove these silly stories wrong once and for all.” The words slurred in his drunken stupor.

Without a second thought, Saitou had left Uzbad standing alone outside the tavern.


Friday
2:59am

The gates towered over Saitou like great stone obelisks. They rose ever upwards to cradle the very sky of the night. At least it seemed so to the drunk Krath, the haze that was the alcohol he consumed only now beginning to clear somewhat. His squirrel horde chattered around him as he led the way beyond the towering gates and into the shadows. He had said alone, without any other person, no one said he couldn’t bring the horde with him, he chuckled.

Observation told him the place had been abandoned for many years, if he was thinking clearly; he would realize it had been abandoned for millennia even. The old stone booths were cracked and mostly fallen upon themselves. Old spires stood slanted by shifted earth, or completely crumbled to the uncaring dirt. The place stank of decay, moss and fungus, somehow even a distant smell of death. If it had been anyone else in not such a state as he, a feeling of eyes, staring and watching would have made itself known, but Saitou kept forward into the darkness of the decaying ruins.

“This place is not haunted, they don’t know what they are talking about” he muttered.

The squirrels chattered restlessly, the shadows moving with their very own life. The shadows bellowed forth as wind picked up and howled through stone alleys…


Friday
11:30am

Morning came to the mountains; the Scholae Palatinae headquarters became alive with daily activity. Tyros and leaders of the clan went about their daily routines, keeping up with regular duties as per the usual. Uzbad drank his coffee quietly by himself in the mess hall when interrupted by a rather concerned Mune.

“Have you seen Saitou, I’ve been looking for him all morning.”

Uzbad cringed somewhat; “Can you talk a bit quieter? I have a splitting headache…”

“Have you been drinking? No matter… Saitou, have you seen him?” Mune asks again.

“He and I were out at Mons Domus last night, at a local tavern there… He went off on his own or something…” Uzbad takes a gulp of his coffee and groans a bit.

Mune’s tail twitched rather irritably. “Well… has he come back? Do you know?”

Uzbad simply responded with a shrug then gulped at his coffee again. “Maybe he is just off on his own again, he’s a big boy. I am sure he is fine.”

When Uzbad said nothing else, Mune left him alone and returned to his duties without further question. Saitou would eventually check in, he thought. The Krath Priest put it out of mind for the time being and decided to leave the worrying for a later time.


Saturday
6:00am

Arania, Vally, and the House summits stood around quietly early the next morning; it had become obvious that Saitou had gone missing wherever it was he had gone to, along with his squirrel horde. Uzbad had been summoned, although taking his time to respond to the summons. When Uzbad had finally made his appearance an hour after being summoned, the group looked rather annoyed.

“Where is it that Saitou had gone?” Arania questioned.

“He has not returned yet?” Uzbad looked somewhat disturbed at the possibility of such.

“Would we have asked if he had?” Kschamehellan muttered with annoyance evident in his voice.

“Well, we were both kind of drunk, and… he went chasing a rumor we had heard in the tavern that night. Something about a haunted amusement park. They were supposed to be about three hours north of Mons Domus.”

“Guess we organize an investigation and search party to find the squirrel horde?” Mune asked.

“Maybe even find Saitou if we feel like it once we have the precious squirrel horde back.” Arania adds with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

“Do we have to…?” Mune whines slightly.

The leaders break up the meeting to seek volunteers from their houses for the search. All hope that the squirrel horde is not in any danger and returned to the clan’s headquarters. Maybe if all goes well, Saitou will be found too…

Mune left the room rather annoyed at Saitou and Uzbad's lack of responsibility. As an Aedile he knew well the duties of leadership and the sacrifices that came with having a position like Tetrarch, Saitou's current position within the Clan. His bushy tail twitched as his ire grew... a distant sound of combat drew him from his anger, his ears perking in alert. The sounds were coming from the corridors that housed his Apprentice, Braecen.

Running in his quickest gait, Mune soon stood at the threshold of what appeared to be the Clan Envoy's office. Two forms flew about in a furious dance of robes and sabers, the two molten white blades clashing against one another like the waves upon the surf. "Xan! Braecen!" Mune bellowed.

The two forms disengaged, turning to the Aedile of Acclivis Draco as their blades shrunk away into nothingness. "Yes Master?" Queried the Krath Priest. Braecen then nudged his companion with a quick elbow to the ribs. Xan grunted before he too spoke, "Yes My Master's Master?"

Mune regarded the two of them for a minute, then proceeded with the recent news. "Saitou has gotten drunk-"

"No surprise there." Interjected Xan, whom recoiled as Mune's eyes pierced into his soul.

"Saitou has gotten drunk... and it seems he has lost the prized horde of squirrels. I was curious if you would like to join me on a-"

Braecen's disbelief was conveyed not only by his facial features, but also by his tone. "Horde of Squirrels?!"

"Erm, yes... I see I have some explaining to do for those of you that have recently come to Clan Scholae Palatinae."

"Indeed." Braecen and Xan said in unision.

Timbal was in deep thought. Despite the powers in the Force that he wielded, his memory was always a fickle thing. Even with the Enhance Memory power, he found out that if he didn’t write things down he’d tend to forget.

This explains the load of notes, scribblings, and random written detritus that was scattered all over Timbal’s work area. With each notable achievement done by the Clan as a whole or its individuals Timbal would dutifully record it, in the matter that would have pleased the Krath High Priestess herself. Although he was not the Clan Historian, if such a position was ever truly defined, his on-going mission for the Clan was to keep all such information and commit it to an ever-growing tome of knowledge for the Clan. No one had assigned him the mission, but Timbal took it upon himself as he knew it was an important job for the Clan and all of its’ component members both old and new.

Right now he was working on this tome, and attempting to remember. Some of it came easy to him, but right now he had the darnedest time remembering exactly what happened with that stupid book and all the havoc it caused. That damn caper was so crazy Timbal shuddered to remember it. Those were harrowing times indeed….

The chime of the commlink interrupted those musings. He activated the link with a quick nudge of the Force, and simply stated, “Timbal.”

“Hey, it’s Ara. Busy?”

“Nope, esteemed PCON-type lady. Just remembering some thoughts that really should be bottled up… What’s up?”

“Have you seen Tina around?”

Timbal frowned. “Actually, no. Not that I was really keeping tabs on her or anything. You know how independent she can be.”

Timbal felt Ara smile in the Force. “More like she does whatever the hell she wants and you get out of the way.”

Timbal smiled himself. “Er, right. No need to aggravate a short ranged combat expert.”

“Indeed. Anyway, apparently on Friday night Saitou and Uzbad along with the horde went to town at Mons Domus for a, ahem, recon mission.”

Timbal groaned. “How drunk were they?”

“Very. That’s besides the point. Uz is back, but Saitou is nowhere to be found, along with the horde.”

Timbal felt his eyes narrow. “That’s not good. The Phyle can really take care of itself, but the horde usually handles a lot of duties for the Clan. You know that they’re really our eyes and ears out in the system. With them not being around to keep tabs on things, we can get rudely surprised.”

“Correct, which has us worried.”

“Ok, you want me to suit up?”

“Actually, come meet up with the rest of us on Judecca. We’ve got a squad of volunteers forming up to go scouting for the horde. If they also find Saitou, well, that’ll be good too, I guess.”

Timbal grinned. “Ok, cool. I’ll tidy up and be on my way after checking up on the boys.”

“Indeed. Arania out.”

Timbal was glad for the interruption. It would give him something to do outside of the normal things that he did, which was a nice break. He got up, got his cloak, and left to check up on his sons Joshua and Mark and to arrange for some sort of babysitting.

He came back to the room after a few seconds. He took in the entire mess that he had created whilst working on his tome. He picked up the tome and closed the cover. Then he left.

He had promised that he would clean up, after all.

The place was buzzing with activity. It reminded the humanoid of many insect colonies that lived on his homeworld, and the surfaces of many other planets he had visited in his young life. It didn't take the Force to feel the tension in the air. Something was quite wrong on this morning.

Prajna Berkana stood in his formal obelisk robes, robes he wore for image more then purpose. He had a small satchel over one shoulder, and a datapad in the other. The large and beautiful entry to the home of Clan Scholae Palatinae had people rushing here and there, all looking very purposeful in whatever they were upto.

"Excuse me, I am looking for the Consul's office; I just requested trans...." The first person was out of earshot before he got the Dark Jedi's attention.

"Um Hello? Hello?" no one seemed to noticed Prajna. He started off down a hallway, looking for some sign or someone who wasn't quite as busy as everyone else. He seamed all ready to give up hope, when a familiar voice carried over the rest of the noise and activity.

Prajna stopped dead in his tracks, and leaned an ear agaisnt the door he stood before. It label the place as the office of the Clan's Envoy. PJ shook his head, trying to focus out everything else.

"What is this about Squirrels and getting drunk? I am in."

Xan looked over at his brother and a smile overcame his face. Xan and Prajna had both studied under the same master for quite some time here in the Brotherhood, though moving about in several homes. PJ gave Xan a brotherly embrace, and nodded to his master.

"Mune, this is one of my apprentices, the skilled Jedi Hunter Prajna Berkana." Braecen introduced the two in a suddenly more upbeat tone. "Mune was about to explain it to Xan and I." The three former Plagues turned to the Aedile, and gave him their attention as he began.

"So, you don't recon you'd come with me?" Slightly suprised, Arania stared into the room filled with cats and her children. "None of you?"

Marr shook his head ruefully. "Mom, you know I am to go with the High Cook... err... commander on a special mission..."

Arania sighed inwardly. She wished her son had never started talking recipes with Korras. "Alright. But the rest of you?"

Aliena smiled in a way every mother could interpret. "Cem has promised to take me to the Laressian Heights today, and we recvently didn't have time for each other."

This time Arania sighed audibly. Time had been gone past so fast, she was not used to see her little Krath Arch Priest daughter in love already and thus ignoring her duties. "Ah, come on," she tried. "What could be more fun than exploring an old amusement park?"

"The old ruins of an amusement park, you mean? Anything," Aliena snorted. "Asides, it's the squirrels. They can take care of themselves and of Saitou on top of it."

The wookies in the corner growled in agreement. Arania frowned. "You are to be the bodyguards of my daughter and Cem?" Slight amusement turned to anger. "You just want to hunt out there. But I get it. So no one wants to come along? Darth Meow? Ameowdala?"

The two bosscats of her cat horde stared at her as if she must be mad. "Mraaauuuu--oowu," the black as pitch Darth Meow said (meaning "The squirrels would hate us for thinking we could come to their rescue"). His blue eyes blinked in annoyance. "Mriiiai," the tri-coloured Ameowdala agreed ("Last time we tried to rescue them you needed to rescue us from them").

Noticing the disappointment of his mother and loving amusement parks, old or new, Voldemort saw his chance to get out of watch duties. "I'd come, but Dakari said it was my turn tonight to man the Doriman Sol control room."

"You are with us, then," Arania decided. "I'll tell Dakari to send someone else. Like that Acolyte who covered me in hot chocolate last time I went to visit them."

"Great. My things are packed already." Voldemort was out of the room to get his stuff in a hurry.

"Mraaa...aa..aaa?" a tentative cat voice came from a corner (I'd come if you'd insist, so the squirrels won't get mad at me).

Arania turned to face a slender shorthaired tomcat with a pattern like a silver leopard. "Adrian," she sad, somewhat relieved. How would it have looked if the Clan would set out to find the squirrels and no cat would have been involved? "I was hoping you'd say that. We'll be leaving in two hours time."

"That is if the Horde won't show up until then after all," Aliena mumbled. "Maybe without Saitou." For some reason, Arania had a feeling her daughter didn't mind the Tetrarch to be away.

As Arania left their large quarters, she almost bumped into Hideki, Dakari, Brujah, Predator and Sykes. "Dorimad Sol and Caliburnus teams are ready," Dakari announced the obvious. "There are several more of us, of course."

Irritated, Arania looked from one to the other. "Why were you all waiting in front of my rooms?"

"You tell him," Dakari jabbed Brujah.

"No, you do," Brujah jabbed back.

"Sheesh, children." Predator pushed his fishiness forward and handed Arania a map he tore from Dakari's hands. "We've been flying over the amusement park ruins after we picked the Obelisk up, and this is what we could get from the scans."

Arania took the durafoil and stared at it, her mind as blank as the scan results. "But that is... nothing," she finally said.

"Exactly," Sykes exclaimed. "And how likely is that? Something must be blocking the sensors completely. Stuff like that doesn't belong to amusement park equipment. Especially not after so many years of decay."

"And what is more," Predator announced in what Arania called his Voice Of Doom, "there's a presence down there none of us can place. It's shady as well, the type of thing a drunk Saiou would likely have missed."

"I see." Arania scratched her head and then nodded. "Think we need to stock up on armory and weapons?" Even as she asked, she realized the dumbness of the question. Ask and Obelisk or even a Sith if they'd advise more toys like that, and you'd almost always get a yes. The grin on the men's faces seconded that. "OK, Dakari, Pred, you pick additional stuff - not enough to blow up the planet, remember, we'll still need it - and I'll gather the rest of the expedition."

As they left, the rest of their group in tail, happy expressions on their faces, Arania hoped they'd not blow up the ruins before the squirrels were safe. And Saitou, she reminded herself. And Saitou.

Uzbad left room the quickly after Mune, his head full of thoughts. Why hadn't Saitou come back? What was keeping him? Had he passed out on one of the rides? And most importantly, where the squirrels okay? Uzbad knew it was partially his fault; he had dared Saitou to go into the park.

"What to do? What to do?" Uzbad mumbled to himself as he walked back to his quarters. He entered his small room and sat down on the bed, thinking hard. He pulled his mace from the spot on his shelf and fingered its spikes gently, caressing the intricate carvings lacing the handle. He knew that while in the park, no one would be truly looking for Saitou, the squirrels where too important.

Uzbad had never really been the squirrels' biggest fans. From the time he had joined Scholae Palatinae he had kept his space from them. Living in Coruscant's lower levels had made him wary of small animals that made lots of noise. He thought again; something weird has got to be there, if Saitou hasn’t returned. He's a fairly powerful Dark Jedi.

Uzbad stood and hastily grabbed his mace, threw his B22 Imperial Blaster into it's holster, and clipped his lightsaber to his belt. He was going to find Arania and see if there was anything he could do.

RevengeX gaped as he was told of the news by an eavesdropping Apprentice. "The squirrels are missing?! I don't really give a damn about Saitou , but if the Horde is missing, we're seriously screwed." Revenge ran from the shadowy doorway where the Apprentice was still trying to listen through, and ran to Uzbad's personal quarters where he saw the other Dark Jedi emerge, walking quickly toward the turbolifts. The older Knight ran to catch up, but the turbolift had already taken off, and Revenge jammed his finger into the down button, making it swell up into the size of a slightly deflated balloon.

The turbolift arrived and Revenge walked in, drumming his fingers on his crossed arms. The door slid open with a hiss, and he stepped out, walking right into Arania, and a group of others who had just rounded the corner. They looked surprised as he bounced off Predator, who had been engaged in conversation with Arania.

"So you'll be joining the volunteers?" asked the Proconsul, regaining her composture.

"Uhhh..." Revenge replied.

"Good, always could use another person if the squirrels are missing," and the Krath fell into step behind the others.

The Aedile of Acclivis Draco and Braecen walked side by side through the corridors of the Palatinae compound. Each was immersed in conversation, usings their hands to animate the story and questions that were being shot back 'n forth in a most haphazard display of what Xan and Prajna could only describe as 'communication'.

Xan looked pleadingly to Praj, "Is this how we will be with Master Braecen later in our careers?"

"Surely I won't be that senile..." Prajna said flatly, then looked to Xan and became a bit more open-minded to the future "Ok... maybe I will be, but I WILL NOT let Braecen slap me on the butt-"

"You saw Mune slap his butt too?" Xan sighed in relief. "I thought I was the only one to see that..."

The two halted as they collided into the backsides of the two Isradia devotees. Peeping over the shoulder of the Corellian's lean frame they saw Arania progressing with an entourage of capable Clan members. Arania eyed the entire lot of them, half curiousity - half perplexed, "Erm... who are you?"

Prajna noticed she was looking directly at him when she spoke. "Uh... yes ma'am, I am the Jedi Hunter Prajna Berkana - recent transfer from Clan Plagueis." He offered his transfer papers as his only further explination.

Snatching the papers from him, Ara poured over the details of the transfer. "Hmm... another Clan Disease transfer, well then, welcome aboard - care to go squirrel hunting?"

Braecen stepped forward, placing himself beside his Apprentice. Prajna admired his easy going attitude and the fact he always seemed to play his cards in favor of his younger friends. "Greetings Proconsul, all four of us were actually on our way to join you in the search for this -umm- horde..."

"TOYS!" Xan shouted over the conversation.

"Excuse me?" The Dark Jedi Master queried.

But it was too late, the Obelisk in Xan had taken over and he was pouring over the additional equipment that Predator and his companions had pulled from clan armory.

Arania, Braecen, Mune and Prajna stated in unison, "Obbies." Each shook their head and thanked the merciful gods they were Krath.

PJ found his temporary quarters more then adequate. He suited up in his regular battle garbs, a light, padded jumpsuit and flowing black robes that were the more common wear of many brotherhood members. His two Ryyyk blades were strapped to either thigh, and he had a supply of plastic sporks at the ready to quell this Squirrel Horde everyone was so worried about.

Just because he joined CSP, didn't mean he instantly had this animal fetish everyone else shared. In fact, Prajna was pretty sure he was the only one who even cared that an important Dark Jedi was missing. He doubted anyone would even bother if the precious squirrels were also not AWOL.

But this new animal twist would be fun. Prajna left a note in the back of his head to start his own estranged animal fetish. He could start that up as soon as he got some good ideas.

After a quick change and leaving his stuff in a locker, the Cerean Hunter met up with the others who would be tasked with finding the lost clan mascots.

As the growing mass of clan members setting out to look for Saitou continued to grow Kschamehellan leaned back at his desk and began to think about what to do next.

The Quaestor really wanted to go on the mission, especially since the one who was lost was one of his own, a good friend and a fellow House member. But, Kschamehellan also knew that as the leader his place was in the base, doing the paperwork that would inevitably arise from a situation such as this. Besides, there were plenty of other high profile members going on the trip it should be no problem to locate one man and his pack of rodents.

Even if things were under control Kschamehellan felt that he should do something to help Saitou out , especially since the man had helped him out several times during his earliest days in the House. Leaning forward Kschamehellan pushed the large red button on the intercom built into his desk.

As the team members continued to wander the halls of the clan HQ gathering men and supplies they all lifted their heads as the intercom crackled to life and the voice of the HAD Quaestor was heard to speak these words," Members of Clan Scholae Palatinae and especially of House Acclivis Draco, we have all been saddened by the loss of our very own squirrel master, Saitou. He has been a great asset to the House and Clan and I wish the rescue expedition luck on their journey."

The voice stopped for a moment and the clan members began to return to their task when the intercom broke the silence once more. "Now, even though we are mounting a rescue we must assume Saitou and the horde are gone for good." The clan members looked puzzled as the Quaestor continued to speak, "Business must continue as normal, even in this sad time, and therefore I make the following pronouncement."

"In lieu of Saitou's dissapearance the position of Tetrarch of the Dragon guard is now open so I felt as if this was a good opprotunity to shake things up. Therefore, effective immediatly the current Tetrarchs and Rollmaster of House Acclivis Draco are to be removed from their offices. To the position of Rollmaster I appoint DJK RevengeX, to the Tetrarchship of Ebon Cloak I appoint DJK Uzbad, to lead the Dragon Guard I name GRD Cornix and I give the leadership of Drynwyn's Flame to Archpriest Timabl. Congratulations to everyone--Kschamehellan over and out."

The clan members stood mouths agape at what had just occured until the most senior members of the rescue team, used to random changes and wierd commands from Brotherhood leaders, shook their heads and continued with the preparations for the mission.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- OOC: the position changes made in this post are NOT REAL. There will be some changes in the near future but they will be done in a better manner than this. More information will come out in my next report.

RevengeX walked behind Xan and Prajna, each showing the other their weapons they had brought along, and gloating they had won them from a Dark Jedi Master they had defeated. The crowd of people grew larger as more people heard of the news and found the large group wandering the halls. The rescue team was now at around fifteen members, each in battle garb and armed to the teeth.

Revenge finally realized they were walking in circles, as Arania and others led the group, none exactly knowing where they were supposed to go. As they rounded the same corner for perhaps the tenth time, an anxious Sith notified the unaware Proconsul of this.

(OOC - Prajna is Obbie ) )

Arania stopped dead in her tracks. "Oh, right," she mumbled lamely. "I knew that, I was just waiting for..." As she was desperately thinking about something she had been waiting for, Vally stepped out of the doors to the public restroom ahead of her - she noticed it had been the woman's restroom nonetheless - and gave her a good excuse. "...Vally!" she closed.

The Consul looked suprised, thinking for a moment that she was about to chide him for using the wrong restroom. Yes, it was his own fault for not hiring a new cleaner for the restrooms yet, the male facilities of this type were unbearable by now, but did she have to... then he noticed everyone was set up to go on the trip.

"Ah, yeah," he mumbled. "Getting ready, are we? Well, good luck, I'll be..."

"You are not coming?" Predator burst out. "What kind of Consul are you?"

Blinking, Vally stared back. He had expected this. "The one who's eager to get the paper work done in time, hire someone to clean the restrooms, finally..." he looked at Arania to apologize for the delay with this, "...and to send His Ultimate bureaucratical Highness Jac the needed internal report."

"Boss," Mune grinned, his tail flicking. "First off, you send the same stuff in that report every time. Save changing the date and sometimes adding a new project. Second, the rest of the paper work is in your inbox labeled 'trash' already. Admit it, you are scared of haunted places."

"I.. err..." Vally gulped. "We aren't even sure the place is truly haunted."

The chuckles and giggles and a low chant of "Conman is scared of ghosties, Conman is scared of ghosties" erupting from the oldtimers made him squirm and blush. "I think he would have had fun with us in the old times," Cooch, who had just come to join them, stated. "This Clan had quite some experiences with annoying spirits."

"Right, I'll err... join in then, if i really need to? For the squirrels, alright." Still nervous, vally went ahead of the group without thinking about where they were going.

"For the squirrels," the others, still slightly grinning, took up the chant. Then they noticed Vally was running in circles, too.

"Err... boss?" RevengeX coughed. "The way to the landing pad is over there..."

When they finally arrived outside, their shuttles waiting, it had started to rain vonskrs and monkey lizards, so to speak. Luckily, no one was wearing robes - asides of Vally who had not planned to come along, so only the consul got wet to the bone. But he quickly changed into a battle suit somewhat his size.

As they were ready to leave, a shout came from the still open doors. "Wait, wait... I said I would be coming, no?" Voldemort sprinted across the platform, dragging a full looking bag of equipment behind him.

"More explosives," Arania sighed. "I fear they'll blow up not only the old park, but the whole dang planet."

Saitou swaggered through the abandoned amusement park and occasionally let out a drunken giggle. The rotted former shells of statues littered the edges of buildings with collapsed roofs and crumbled exteriors.

“Thish ish gonna be fun!” exclaimed a slightly over-inebriated Pontifex.

The chattering of squirrels echoed after him and soon spread to every end of the park. The horde was in for its own amusement and quickly dashed about looking for anything that might conceivably pass for edible.

As Saitou stumbled along, he noticed a fairly intact, yet comical cow-like figure. Giggling once more, he could not help but think of Cooch and that he had obviously missed one. It was from this… cow, for lack of a better term, that the menacing, dreadful, dire, unfathomably ugly figure appeared.

“I’m afraid you’re now under my power,” stated the shadow.

“Whutz shat shupposhed ta mean?” Saitou wobbled on one foot and waved his finger accusingly, though not quite accurately.

“Come with me…”

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

Arania barked a few more orders at Obbies lagging behind and finally lost her temper. With a quick flick of her wrist the extra ordinance was hurled back as the stragglers were dragged onto the ship, protesting much.

“We have enough explosives!”

“We never get to have any fun with the big boomers!”

“Toughen up and get ready… I heard the techs weren’t finished servicing this very shuttle.”

As the shuttle ascended, bits of turbulence made the Sith scream with delight – the Obbies had started to cower in a corner. They never liked leaving the ground where they were sure of themselves.

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

Saitou’s captor looked over the aged, yet surprisingly whole wooden desk. He (or was it a she?) looked over a few tablets in front of its face. The Pontifex also had a row of tablets and stared at them with great consideration.

“You will now tell me exactly what I wish to hear,” the shadow cackled.

Saitou stared over at his captor, though he was still unaware of the situation and then back at his tablets. He grunted and shrugged.

“Got any fives?”

“Go fish,” replied Saitou.

“Sith spit! You do know that you cannot leave until I say so.”

“I will be reshcued… my Clan cant shtand it when I’m gone.” Saitou wobbled and teetered off his chair into the slimy mess on the floor.

The shadowy figure looked over at his prey and sighed. He made the typical speech about relying on allies and knew it was pointless. Saitou had already started singing something along the lines of “Can you feel the love tonight?” and was beyond all forms of logic and ill logic.

If the shuttle bucked and jumped during the entirety of the trip, it was lost upon the newest members of Scholae Palatinae. Braecen, Xan and Prajna all watched the triangular building, nestled along the mountains edge, shrink away into nothingness. The Clan Headquarters on Judecca were simply marvelous to the former inhabitants of Byfrost - which was entirely devoid of external life, as she was covered with unfathomable amounts of ice and bitter winds.

The scenery changed, the tropical beauty mesmerizing the Krath Priest until he shook himself from his reverie. Looking over his left shoulder Prajna's knowing eyes penetrated his mind, "What were you thinking of Master?"

The Corellian's face contorted as he tried to find words for the feelings racing through his mind and heart. "Sometimes," the Krath began slowly, "I wonder if we made the right decision..."

"Time will tell."

And magically the sullen blue eyes became more full of life, the ice had returned to his veins, it beamed through his eyes. And if that was not confirmation enough, his disposition transformed into a more lax manner... an arrogant smirk upon his lips. "You are right my young friend. I often wonder whom learns more in these pairings... the pupils or the mentors."

"INCOMING!" shouted Predator through the main compartment of the shuttle as it bucked and resisted the attempts to land.

An intensity flaired through the cabin of the shuttle, a great many of the Dark Jedi pulling at the Force; the tension and anticipation was so thick it could be cut with a knife. Obelisks were sliding power packs into their blasters, flipping off the safeties in one fell swoop and arming their thermal detanators. The Dark Jedi Master Arania reached out through the Force to sense the oncoming threat... there was nothing.

"Erm," began the former Sith High Warrior, "I meant our target is incoming - why are you all looking at me like that?!"

Somewhere in the back of the shuttle there was an audible whimper. Ara turned in the general direction of the sound, "Vally, pull yourself together!" With an evil smile upon her face and a mischievous twinkle in her eyes she continued, "I mean, it is only a few ghosts-"

Her words were cut off by a more vocal scream of terror and the fainting of the Consul.

"Oops." Chimed Mune and Xan in unison.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Saitou continued to dance about the chamber he was in... his singing becoming more audible and boisterous. His captor sat in a sullen mood, certainly not expecting the actions of a Krath Pontifex to be so... irrational.

"nnn da jugle, da mite-y jungle
da ly-on sleeeeeeps toniiiite!
nnn da jungle, da miiiight-ie juggle
THE lie-on sleeeeEEEEeeeps toniiite!

Imbube, Ingonyama ifile
In gonnyama ifile, THULA!"

Panzerus stood in the shuttle's passenger compartment as the rescue ship made its way to the LZ, just a few meters from the gates of the 'haunted' amusement park. Panzerus had never met a ghost, nor did he believe in their existence, but he definitely felt a darkness surrounding the area. It was not the same darkness that permeated the halls of the Dark Brotherhood. It was...different. Whereas Panzerus now felt at home with his fellow dark Jedi, this evil presence felt hostile.

The young Guardian questioned his Master, Predator, about the disturbance in the Force. His Master only turned the question around on him, forcing his apprentice to seek the solution himself.

"What do you feel?" he asked.
"Hmm...there's something fishy about that place - " Before Panzerus could finish describing his feelings he knew he had made a mistake.

Faster than the blink of an eye, Pred's large, paddle-like hand came down on his young ward.

"Doh!" yelped Panzerus as his Master's rough hand slammed into his brow.


***************************************************

Panzerus was quiet for the next few hours. The team had landed, spread out, and had established a perimeter around the entire amusement park. It was a large undertaking, but was quickly and efficiently completed under the watchful gaze of the elder members.

The Obelisk troopers formed up into squads as their Sergeants set up plans of attack and assigned different sectors to search.

***************************************************

Vally and Arania led the main search party, which was slated to enter through the front gate. The other, smaller parties would come in at different entry points and link up with the main group in the center of the park at a now dormant fountain. Arania and her cat took point as Vally took step behind her, albeit hesitantly. Predator, flanked by several young Sith who were all heavily armed, followed suit behind the Consul. At his right walked Panzerus who held a bottle full of SQUIRREL-BRAND LIQUOR ™ in order to attract any squirrels in the area. The signal was given and all the search parties began to sweep their respective areas. The search was on...

Uzbad scrambled off the ship and his hand instinctively went to his lightsaber. He walked slowly in a direction that no one else seemed to be taking, towards what had once been the "game corner" of the park. Large stuffed animals now hung from the booths, their pretty and colorful furs now covered with mold, and some were ripped to shreds.

He cringed at the thought of such very pretty, albeit cheaply made, things being abandoned in an amusement park. He hand went this time to his mace, which had never once let him down before.

He walked on, shivering slightly, although it wasn't cold. He could have sworn the music was coming from one of the deserted bathrooms. He looked at the door oddly, wondering what lay inside. He pulled his blaster from it's holster and then ignited his lightsaber, holding one in each hand he kicked open the door.

Sykes looked around the area, his red armor glinting in the darkness of the amusment park. Several Sith troopers came up behind him, blasters and bladed weapons at the ready. Sykes could tell they were worried. The troopers were merely regular beings brought into House Caliburnus as general foot soldiers and to man the capital ships the house owned. "Be calm. there is nothing around the area. However, keep your eyes open." Sykes moved through the darkness without a mark of fear. For so many years the darkness had been his constant ally. His time in Arcona had made him a powerful Sith and had led to him learning much about the darkness and shadows.

Sykes turned and looked at his shadow. Quietly he reached out with the Force and began to barely make the shadow move and curl into a circle. His eyes closed as he tried to hold the integrity of the shadow but it quickly reverted to its original shape. The Warrior sighed quietly. His shadowcrafting powers had already nearly left him completly. Memories came flooding into his mind of his life he had left behind in Arcona. He was the last Rokir..the last Jade...all of his family had been decimated. Some had been killed, others were missing and others turned their backs on him. Thats why he left Arcona. Backs had been turned on him.

Sykes shook his head and growled. "Alright. Lets move out. We got a Dark soul out there and we are going to find him." Sykes moved off into the darkness followed closely by his troopers.

The Cerean trooper took point, his master and brother both clsoe behind. Each of the others held an unlit saber in hand, PJ stayed unarmed, but ready to strike at any moment, his hands more deadly then a squad of stormtroopers. Xan had quickly organized his Battle team into fire teams. the two teams set off, and quickly the three friends were seperated from the other search groups.

Prajna stopped, then turned and grinned at the two humans. They each returned a grin and the three sprinted across the small courtyard. Across the way was a twirl-o-whirl. PJ made it into the car first, only because he started a little closer. The three got in quickly, and with a twich of the Force, Braecen flipped a switch and the ride started.

A Trio of strength and a little help from the Force later, everyone was dizzy and screaming with joy in seconds. The ride continued for another minute, before it slowed to a stop.

"Again?" Braecen asked his two apprentices, grinning like a kid in a candy store. He didn't even wait, knowing what the other two would say, and the ride started again. But it wasn't long till Xan stopped the ride early with his own switch with the Force. PJ and B looked at the other wit a look of suprise.

But before they could say a thing, Xan jumped out of the whirl car. He had a face of freight. Prajna started laughing, holding his sides and falling out the side of the car. Braecen looked around and joined in the laughter. There on the seat, was a fury baby squirrel with big blue eyes. It was scared, a mix between either crying from being lost, and throwing up from the ride. It took another good length of time for Xan to calm his fears and breathign after the freight from the little squirrel. Braecen, still laughing at the DJK, reached for his comm to let Ara know they found something.

Revenge wandered around the park, sensing something familiar about it, but he couldn't quite place his finger on it. He walked aimlessly around the candy booths, and the games paint peeling off the side of the wooden booth. RevengeX had never been to an amusement park even when he was a kid, as he had been from a poor, broken family, where they could not even afford an apple core. He walked around, looking at the others searching for the squirrels and the missing Pontifex, Saitou. Something then caught his ear, a sort of scrambling sound, and then it was gone.

He saw Arania, run over to Braecen, comlink in hand, and a squirrel in Braecen's hand. "Found one!" Arania yelled all over the amusement park, using the Force to amplify the sound, giving some headaches.

Revenge saw Sykes lead a small squad of troopers all over the place, inspecting every last piece of dust for any signs of Saitou or any other squirrels. Then there was a scream, and a frightened Uzbad sprinted out of a bathroom, pushing others aside to get farther away from it. People turned heads and raised eyebrows as they saw the frightened look on the Dark Jedi Knight's face.

Everyone had rejoiced at the news that one of the squirrels had been found. The 'hoorays' and 'woohoos' were punctuated by Uzbad's terrified scream. As he ran from the bathroom stall he knocked several people over which led to some confusion. Fire broke out. Everyone directed their aim towards the source of the disturbance - the bathroom. Blaster fire ripped the outhouse stall to pieces. But then, an Obelisk trooper - it looked like Aksle, but it was too hard to tell - threw a grenade into the wreckage for good measure. He would later regret that.

"Sh*t", yelled RevengeX as everyone in the immediate vicinity ran for cover.

Panzerus ran into the nearest booth for cover. It had a large sign that read "HO SE OF MI RORS".

The walls and ceiling were covered with reflective durasteel frames that reflected Panzerus's image hundreds of times over. He looked around at his surroundings. He turned around towards the exit but saw only himself.

"That's odd...I came from that direction," said Panzerus. He could feel his Master's presence just outside along with Vally and Arania. They radiated anger and irritation, probably since they were caught out in the open when the bathroom exploded. But Panzerus could no longer see the entrance or any exits. Panzerus had two choices: He could bash his way out of there, breaking the mirrors as he went. Or he could be patient and use logic to get out.

Panzerus swung his Zhaboka in the direction that he was sure he had originally come from. He preferred to use his Zhaboka over logic at times and he wanted out. The place was giving him the creeps. To his surprise, instead of his Zhaboka impacting the thin glass-like durasteel, the blade made contact with another blade. Panzerus staggered back in surprise. He examined the figure before him. This was no reflection - it was him!! Around him, more of his reflections seemed to step out of nowhere and began to circle him.

"I have a bad feeling about this..."

Arania had swooped in, snatched up the baby squirrel and departed even before Braecen could ask what was happening. He sat stunned for several seconds until he noticed the blank looks of his two Apprentices before him.

"What was that all about?" Grunted Xan.

Prajna just shrugged his shoulders and bobbed his Cerean head in the general direction of the group. "Let's rejoin the group."

Mere seconds later the group raced for cover, sensing an oncoming disturbance in their surroundings. A large BOOM radiated throughout park and the three Dark Jedi held their breaths as the booths and rides rattled from the blast.

Xan loosed a scream, "WOOO HOOO!" And it seemed to the Krath Priest that Prajna was enjoying the display of Obelisk toys too. Rolling his eyes he wiped off some of the debris from his robes and stood up to survey the current situation. From a distance he could see that Predator, Vally and Arania were a bit peeved about being doused with... Braecen squinted... yes, they had been covered in the remains of the bathroom. The Corellian gave a slight shudder...

A slight presence in the Force brushed across the very edge of the Krath's 'sphere of responsibility'. Turning he saw the whisps of motion dissappearing behind an old display - "Guys we have another lil squirrel over here, lets go get it."

Regrouping with Xan now at the point the group progressed in the opposite direction from the main group. There was still a tremendous amount of ground to cover and it soon would be evening - while the dark did not scare many Dark Jedi (except perhaps Vally p) it still would be bothersome to conduct a search through the night.

Revenge covered his face with his arms as he heard the explosion, instinctively falling toward the ground. As the noise subsided, he heard a new sound of yelling from someone inside the House of Mirrors. RevengeX ran in the doorway, and shouted, "Hello, is anybody in there?" A scream erupted from it again, and the Dark Jedi Knight ignited his familiar blue blade, and stepped inside. "Stay there!" shouted the voice, which sounded an awful lot like Panzerus. "You can't get out once you're in!" The Hunter, Revenge could see, was trying to fend off what looked like a million different copies of himself, who imitated every move he made, making it nearly impossible to get one hit at them.

Revenge stayed where he was, smirking silently as the Jedi Hunter tried to fend them off, and losing blood while doing so. "Need a little help?" laughed the Krath as a copy of Panzerus slashed at the Sith, making the real one moan in pain.

There was a tap on Revenge's shoulder and he whirled around, and saw another copy of himself, and no sign of the exit he was once in. "Not good..." he thought as he saw millions of copies of himself walk out of the mirrors around him. Adopting a Makashi stance, he charged his copies, the fun of seeing Panzerus getting injured no longer on his mind.

"I knew it was a mistake to bring THAT many explosives," Arania mumbled.

"See the bright side of it," Predator commented drily, his fish skin looking somewhat pale. "There are several rounds of ammo and a granade less in the picture now."

"Very funny." Looking around, Arania saw that Adrian, the cat, had actually taken care of the squirrel, licking it to calm it and obviously trying telepathic communication. Rather pointless, Arania knew, the poor thing was way too frightened. "The Horde wouldn't leave an unranked young one alone like this, " she wondered.

Ady meowed his puzzlerment about the Horde not having left the young ones behind. "Likely they believed Saitou about this place being no more harmful than a library," Uzbad suggested.

Arania's hair was ruffled by a cool breeze. It was coming from where the now shattered bathroom was, and it carried with it a scent every CSPer knew all too well - moonshine type alcohol. Those already standing again and not lost in mirror houses or, in Vally's case, in the leftovers of a haunted house (no one had realized this yet) shook dust out fo their hair if they happened to have some. The PCON type woman looked inquisitively at Uzbad. "Just what were you doing in there before..."

The Zabrak frowned, getting up from behind a tree stump where the explosion had blown him, and fixed his battle suit. "Just what do you think I was doing? Yeah well, I could've just used some bushes, but I do have the habit of using bathrooms, you know."

"Ah, yeah, of course... well it seems you've helped us discover some kind of secret passage. The cool breeze and the scent that smells of alcohol..."

"ALCOHOL??" everyone else who hadn't smelled the moonshine yet shouted. And before Arania could do anything about it or even noticed what was happening, she, Uzbad and Predator got pushed out of the way and almost trampeled over as the rest of the Clan plus their civilian helpers run to dig out the supposed entrance to wherever from under the bathroom remains.

"Uh... you don't think we should hurry and follow them, boss lady?" Uzbad shily suggested. "Just imagine they really find some good stuff and we'll be there last...."

Predator and Arania looked at each other. "Good point," Arania agreed.

As the three sped towards the digging others, a cat and a squirrel sat waiting on the tree stump. and Adrian, meowing to himself in an annoyed way, was sure he was the only one who had noticed Panzerus and RevengeX got stuck and Vally had vanished somewhere as well.

Mune had not said much since leaving the ship with the others, curious as to why so much ammunition and explosive was brought along. To him, firearms of any sort were somewhat of a waste of time, but not everyone was largely animal like himself, he recalled with a bit of a sigh. Braecen and his apprentices had run off on their own, probably getting into their own sort of trouble, whereas Mune decided to remain with the main group, or what he supposed was the main group consisting of Arania and others. He was not overly amused with the exploding restrooms…

The scents all around him were somewhat unfamiliar, but became tainted with the odor let off by the grenade that detonated, and the dust now clouding the air. A new scent also permeated the air now, a scent of… alcohol? He glanced in the direction of the scent to see everyone from the group in a mad dash for their supposed ‘prize’.

“Arania, shouldn’t we stop them?” Mune asked rather perplexed at the sight.

Much to the animalistic Mune’s surprise, Arania was already amongst those digging their way through the wreckage of once was a restroom. “What if it is a trap?” Mune shouted towards them irritably.

“Where there is alcohol, there is no such thing as a trap.” Uzbad shouted back.

With those words, the heap of rubble creaked and the ground gave way into a pit. The splintering of what was left of walls and floor, the cry of surprise from very shocked, for lack of a better phrasing, alcohol deprived dark Jedi, followed. Again dust and dirt exploded into the air in a dense haze that dulled both sight and smell. Mune coughed and tried to clear his vision, reaching out with the force to try and sense the others and hopefully uncover if they were okay.

“You guys all right?!” Mune shouted, rather muffled by the cloud of dirt.

“We’re cool!” Uzbad’s voice shouted back from the deep hole.

Mune muttered under his breath; “Told you it was a trap…”

“Instead of saying you told us so… why don’t you get us out or you’re not getting any dog treats when we get back!” Arania yelled rather irritably herself, not happy with being in a hole in the ground.

Shadows chuckled darkly all around the site, wicked grins of mischievousness splitting their incorporeal faces. Hours of torment still lay ahead, and they had every minute of it planned out for their guests. Soon there would be no escaping, they thought amongst themselves, and the foolish outsiders would be eliminated one by one.

"Hey," Aksle shouted. "There is alcohol here after all!"

He was right, they noticed, and this fact completely took their attention away from the dark prsences closing in on them. Within minutes, everyone was drinking, and within a few more minutes, they were half way to being drunk as hell.

'Nooooooo!' one of the dark spirits cried out mentally. 'If they are drunk, they'll be like the other and useless to us!'

'Well it was your idea to place this trap,' anbother answered.

'No, wasn't it was...'



While the spirits were arguing and the Clan was drinking, Vally woke from his short unconsciousness and tried to find out where he was. "Hello? Hello? Somebody there?"

His voice triggered an old, rusty, barely working mechanism in the haunted house. The eyes of a wooden skeleton lit up in a weak orange and an eerie sound disrupted the place.

"AAAAAAAAH!" Vally Force jumped two meters to the next level. There he promptly bumped into a malfunctioning ghost figure and promptly fainted again.

Blades clanged and the dark side swirled in the crowded house of mirrors. The sound of battle drowned out the large creaking sound that came from outside. It mattered not as Panzerus was cut off from the outside anyway. He was fighting furiously and desperately against what seemed like clones of himself. He couldn't explain what they were exactly or were they came from. All he knew was that the more viciously he fought, the more there seemed to be. He had already struck down 3 but there seemed to be hundreds of reflections.

Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, RevengeX appeared next to the young Hunter.
"Thanks for your help, but now we're both trapped," grunted Panzerus as he deflected a Zhaboka that got a little too close for comfort. RevengeX's only reply was a very threatening look followed by the ignition of his lightsaber. Panzerus's eyes registered his surprise as the blue blade of energy singed his robe as he barely dodged it. At that moment he noticed another struggle further behind where the fake RevengeX now stood.

About 10 meters away, RevengeX was fighting clones of himself - all armed with blue lightsabers. RevengeX was fighting well but, like Panzerus, was outnumbered. Panzerus began to fight his way over to RevengeX - the real RevengeX - and they were soon fighting back to back.

"We need a plan!" yelled Panzerus.
"I know," grunted RevengeX as he struck down one of his clones. "This couldn't get any worse!"

Just then, the lights went out. The only thing they could see was the blue light given off by RevengeX's lightsaber as well as the ones his clones carried.

"Perhaps I spoke too soon..." whispered RevengeX.

*********************************************************************

Outside, another battle was going on...

Young Obelisk, Sith and Krath were fighting over the remaining bottles of booze. It started to get pretty vicious as a particularly pissed-off Obelisk cut down one of the non-Force-sensitive foot soldiers. Aksle quickly reprimanded the soldier and, just to drive the point home, grabbed the bottle the two were fighting over and downed it all by himself. The younger, less experienced dark Jedi were so drunk that they almost didn't realize the figures around them...

*********************************************************************

Above the pit, Mune was busily trying to find a way to help all the trapped Jedi get out. The pit was rather deep and many of the younger Jedi were now too hammered to Force Jump out. As he stood taking in the situation, trying to find a solution, he noticed figures around the Jedi. In the large pit, the Jedi were concentrated in the center, where most of the booze cache was. But along the edges were several dark figures - no more than shadows. Suddenly, they took shape. Mune cringed at what he saw.

"No..no..it couldn't...it can't be!" the words sounded like they were forced out as Mune had to take a deep breath to control himself.

As the drunken Jedi hastily downed the last remaining bottles, Arania and Pred noticed the figures around them.

"Uh, Pred...don't look now but - "
"I know.... *sigh* ...I have a bad feeling about this...."

Revenge and Panzerus were stuck in the House of Mirrors, using the Force to sense the next attack from one of their clones as the darkness settled in around them. "It's not my fault if you die in here, Panzerus," Revenge reassured the other. "Thanks, that really helps..." said the Jedi Hunter as he blocked another of his clone's attacks with a clang, having anticipated the attack. "There seems to be an infinite amount of these guys," Revenge said aloud over the roaring din of his lightsaber slashing right, left and center. 'They all seem to come from the mirrors...' the Knight thought in his head, his brain working like mad to think of a solution out of this place. 'Break the mirrors...'

"Break the mirrors, Panzerus!" Panzerus finished off a copy of himself and then used the Force to push the mirror back, but the Force bounced off of it and pushed Panzerus back and into a mirror that shattered into a million pieces all over the floor. "AH! I broke a mirror! That's seven years of bad luck!"

"Well, since you're already gonna have seven years, why don't you make it a million?" Revenge said as Panzerus bashed his shoulder into another mirror while Revenge struck down one of Panzerus' imitations. "Ah! My shoulder's bleeding!" screamed Panzerus as a jagged piece of the mirror cut through his shoulder. "Heal it with the freakin' Force!" roared the Krath Knight, kicking one of his own copies into a mirror, breaking it.

There was no problem in finding the mirrors as they were all over the dark room. RevengeX was tiring, and he couldn't deny that fatigue was settling in as he battled a million copies of himself and Panzerus, as the real one was trying to break the mirrors. Flashes of blue light from his lightsaber and his reflections lightsabers filled the entire room, but then there seemed to come less and less opponents as the Sith Hunter broke his shoulder again and again by bashing it into the mirrors.

"There must be an easier way of breaking these things!" grunted Panzerus as he crudely healed his shoulder again with the Force. Panzerus picked up his sword and slashed at one of the mirrors, cursing it, but it did nothing, but make a loud screeching noise. "Guess there isn't..." he muttered as he bashed his shoulder again into the mirror.

Meanwhile back at House Caliburnus HQ…

Brujah Tamalar was pacing back and forth in his office throwing all sort of random objects around and picking up various pieces of weaponry. He placed these weapons into a bag and laughed to himself evilly as he continued looking for more items he could use on this mission to find the squirrels. He tossed a couple of his patented ElectroShock Grenades into the bag and then nodded his head in content.

“That should just about do it.” He said merrily to himself as he smiled a wicked smile. “Now to lead my House for the first time as Quaestor!”

Brujah turned and opened the door to his office. Before he turned the corner to see where all of his Housemates had been standing he began to speak.

“Alright boys and girls, it’s go time!” Brujah said.

He turned the corner and saw that no one was standing there. Not even the chirp of a cricket could be heard in the halls of House Caliburnus. Brujah’s lower lip quivered for a second and there was a slight twitch in his right eye. He cursed each and every person that had left him behind under his breath and ran down the hall to the docking bay. He climbed into one of the only fighters left behind, an old junked out TIE Interceptor, and strapped himself in as he started the ship.

“If I packed all these weapons for no reason…so help me Gods…” Brujah said as he took off and piloted the ship towards the destination.

Night was rapidly approaching as the sun began to fade below the horizon and the dark pattern of stars began to devour the opposing side of the planet. In the long shadows cast by the glinting sun three young Dark Jedi were pressing through an ancient part of the amusement park - their dark cloaks were fluttering behind them as they gave chase to another errant squirrel...

Prajna ducked around a corner, veered past an oddly centered trash can, only to lose sight of his prey once again. He quickly tapped the green button on his head set, "Xan it should be circling back towards you, Braecen you provide support from the West." And once again the Jedi Hunter quickend his gait with the aide of the Force.

The Dark Obelisk Knight Xan waited impatiently for the oncoming squirrel. His thoughts revolved around how horrible it was that this was a rescue mission - if it had not been a rescue attempt he would have left trip lines behind him and forced his prey into them. A small smile crept upon his lips and with a sudden sense of amusement he came up from his crouched position to spot the oncoming squirrel.

The dark shadows that swirled before him were most unexpected. They appeared to be nothing more than darkness incarnate, their deep cloaks folded in upon themselves and gave an eery feeling that nothing was actually under their garments. Xan thumbed the activation button on his lightsaber and it hissed to life, the molten-white blade casting the only bit of light at the creature before him.

A Krath trip, stumbled and landed sprawled out before Xan and between the ghost. Slowly Xan shook his head at his Master, whom was usually much more graceful. Rolling his eyes the Obelisk leapt over his Master's prone body and stood as a ward before him, until he recovered from his abysmal attempt at fighting. A moment later Prajna slid into the midsts of the scene, noticed Braecen slowly picking himself up and reached through the Force for his Master's lightsaber.

Prajna caught the hilt in his right hand, activated the second white blade in the miniature arena and worked his way, strafing, to be beside Xan's right shoulder. The shadow observed the two then silently slank away into the shadows of a nearby display. Braecen observed the interesting behavior from the ground. Slowly he began to rise from the ground, taking the deactivated saber that Prajna offered him.

"Ow, remind me to not Force jump from the top of a ferris wheel again."

Prajna looked seriously at his Master, "Why didn't you tell us we had time to ride the ferris wheel?!" Xan arched his eyebrows and looked from Prajna to Braecen.

"Because, I wanted to hog an entire seat to myself..."

Xan snickered and Prajna responded, "No leaving out Apprentices again." Looking over his shoudler to where the shade had dissappeared he gave a concerned look to the Krath Priest, "What was that thing?"

Chewing the words over in his mind Braecen was careful to respond. "It reminded me of Greater Vardorian Wraiths... but we are a long, long way from Vardor."

"What now?" Chimed Xan and Prajna in unison, whom both turned and laughed at eachother for thinking so much alike.

Braecen turned to them with a smile on his face. "Well before I so eloquently landed before you both and saved the day... I did see a 'whack-a-mole' tent... on my way... err... down."

The roar of battle was deafening as RevengeX fought off inumerable 'clones' of himself and GRD Panzerus. Even though his opponents were many and unrelenting, they were beginning to weaken. They still came at him without hesitation, with no regard to their own welfare or well-being, but they were less coordinated and slower. Apparently, the destruction of the mirrors from which they all came from was beginning to take its toll on their collective morale.

Finally, after what seemed like eons, the last mirror crashed to the floor and shattered into bits and pieces of its former self just as the last 'clone' was cut down by RevengeX. Panzerus's arms were both bruised and bleeding. RevengeX held his lightsaber tightly in a deathgrip. The two Jedi stood amidst the shattered glass in the dark, bearing the marks of battle. They were drenched in their own sweat and their clothes were covered in blood, some of it their own...but not all.

They concentrated on healing as both felt an unusual mix of calm, anger, and aggression. They had given themselves fully to the dark side when the threat of death became all too real and the battle itself had seemed slow and distant. Panzerus had dodged attacks as he bashed mirrors with relative ease as he had never felt so close to the dark side before. This was his first mission outside the safe halls of the DB. RevengeX had never wielded his lightsaber more gracefully. He had blocked, parried, and attacked, pushing the limits of his Form II training and excelling beyond his own expectations. It had been a difficult, near impossible challenge, but they had survived. Now all they had to do was find their way out. The room itself seemed to keep shifting during the battle. Now it looked like a more conventional room with all the mirrors busted. Both pairs of eyes noticed a spot of light on the ground and recognized it as an exit. Finally, they could put this whole ordeal behind them....

************************************************************************
Outside at the pit....

Mune watched helplessly as the majority of the rescue party was consuming the mysterious cache of alcohol - all the while being surrounded by mysterious figures along the perimeter of the pit. Arania and Predator had been the first to notice them.

Mune, who had recognized the trap beforehand, had not fallen into the pit and was now peering down on his fellow dark Jedi. He tried to bellow a warning to those below but his words got caught in his throat as fear gripped him. His friends, some of whom were almost family at this point, were trapped in a deep pit by unknown figures. To make matters worse, the circumstances were terrible. They were all distraught at the possible loss of the squirrel horde and the fact that this was all occuring against the backdrop of an old, abandoned haunted amusement park was mind-numbing.

Below him, the dark shadow-like images began to take on corporeal forms. Their black robes turned into brightly colored, form-fitting jumpsuits and their faces, hidden by their hoods, became adorned with vibrant colors and patterns.

"No, not...." Pred stammered.
"Clowns," finished Arania.

At this point, all the dark Jedi - as well as their non-Force-sensitive foot soldiers - were fully aware of the threat surrounding them, although they were somewhat impaired by the rapid consumption of alcohol. The clowns drew their weapons - childish and comical weapons that seemed more like toys. One of them was a balloon. A young Obelisk, feeling not at all intimidated by the clowns and their comical 'weapons', drew his sword and attacked a clown who was apparently too close for comfort. The clown blocked with his 'balloon' and when the young Obbie's sword made contact it failed to pop the balloon. Instead, the sword was absorbed by the balloon and encapsulated all the way to the hilt. The balloon expanded until the young Obelisk trooper was completely encapsulated in a giant 7 foot spherical balloon. The young Jedi appeared to be okay, but was completely incapacitated. The clown let go of the balloon and pulled out another. The remaining dark Jedi, not wanting a similar fate, prepared for battle. Their enemies were deceptive and had them surrounded. They were all in for a fight. The quick rescue mission was not turning out how everyone had hoped...

************************************************************************

Vally awoke to a creepy sight. Ghosts and skeletons were all around him. He was trapped in his worst nightmare. "Why, oh why, did it have to be a haunted house! Why not flesh-eating bacteria, or monkeys who enslave humans, or an evil wizard!" screamed Vally as he cowered in fear inside the old "Haunted House" ride. But unlike the phantoms who had tormented Panzerus and RevengeX or the figures who even now battled with the bulk of the rescue party, these were harmless. Old mannequins and statues.

Vally opened his eyes and saw them for what they were - inanimate objects. He walked up to one particularly nasty-looking skeleton and stared it right in the eye. "Hmm...could it be? Yes, I believe I'm finally over this silly fear of ghosts and haunted places..." thought Vally. No sooner had he said that when a bat flew his ear. "Ah!" Vally resumed his fetal position under a desk as he called out through the Force for backup...

Voldemort looked around and was definitely convinced now he was the only one sober. His mother had only let him take one sip. As if he wasn't able to detox!

Talking of detox, none of the drunk Jedi seemed to get that idea. And the clown thingies circled in, with weird crackling noises and the honk of some ghostly horns. Something in the back of his mind about what his sister had said kicked in. Clowns.. ghosts.. something to fight off clown spirits. Then he remembered. Bad jokes, that was it! Of course, he wasn't sure if this would work, he had considered it a bad joke in itself until now. But hey, one could try...

"Why does a blond Jedi only use a lightstaff?" he asked loudly.

Silence fell. all the clown's faces turned onto him, and they looked obviously disturbed. A few of them moved backwards and held their ghostly ears close in anticipation of a bad pun. No matter, they would still be able to get him as their ears were mainly for show.

"Well, because they wouldn't be able to tell it's ends apart, so they need the handle in the middle, of course!" Voldemort planted his hands on his hips, proud of himself, and waited.

A mental groan came from the clowns. The drunk Jedi perched up and looked confused, but then they got the idea. A moment later, bad jokes were thrown around like crazy...


Brujah was hurrying through the park, closing in on the Force signature of what must be some of his Clanmates. As he rounded a corner, he bumped right into Xan. "Sithspawn," he cursed.

"No, only us." Braecen, still feeling groggy, looked at Brujah, who had issues to stay upright afger the crash, thanks to all the armory he was carrying - including a small flamethrower/grenade launcher.

"Well, glad I finally found you!" Brujah regained his balance completely and looked at the three in front of him. "Hope you don't mind me saying it, but Braecen, you look awful. One could think you tried to Force jump off a ferris wheel..."

Uzbad took a sip of the booze he had found in the hole and giggled. The clowns were funny, he thought to himself.

"Funny...Clown..." He stammered, before falling asleep.

The clowns all looked at each other weirdly. Funny. It was a word they seldom heard, and it was never directed at them. They eyed each other worriedly, before one of the stepped forward and grabbed Uzbad.

The Clown walked off carrying/dragging the Zabrak. He walked through what looked like the entrence to a tunnel and diasappeared.

"Oh my god, they took Uzbad!"

Voldemort's cry was unheard among all the joke telling. "Do you know the difference between a Bantha and a Wookie?" Aksle was just saying. "Well, there is none, because both smell terrible when wet and..." Voldemort didn't get to hear the rest of it because another of the Clowns grabbed one of the civilian sidekicks and tried to drag him off. Voldemort's saber sprung to life immediately. But the clown/shadow thingy, while able to get a hold on people, couldn't be touched by his saber. It took a few swings for him to notice though.

Before he could doubt his saber's efficiency, Dakari accidently stumbled across him, burning his battle suit slightly and frowning at him. "Watch w..w..wh..here... you s..s...stick that..." he stuttered."

Rolling his eyes, Voldemort did the only other thing he culd think of. "There's more booze outside!" he shouted. "Lots of brandy and wine!"

Arania got up and looked at her son in confusion. "Are you sure about this?"

"Yeah. Get out. Now!" While the clowns were still held back by the bad joked, they were running out of jokes bad enough to hold them at bay much longer. "Jump!"

To his suprise and good luck, every Force capable person, no matter how intoxicated, jumped. He heard Mune's miffled howl as a few of them landed on his tail. The bad thing was, only a few of the jumping CSPers thought to grab one of the civilians and take them along. Voldemort shook his head, grabbed a female tropper (no need to waste a good opportunity, right?) and brought her out with him. He even managed to jump back in and get several more, and Mune, seeing how useful the idea was, went to assist him. However, they weren't fast enough to rescue them all. Lots of them got dragged off my the clowns, especially as they were too drunk to clib up themselves.

"Oh well," Mune sighed. "There's hope they won't kill them yet."

"They got Uzbad as well," Voldemort growled.

"Oh. Good. Err.. I mean, dang! Now let's start detox the others somehow."

"I can't believe it," Voldi grumbled as he walked after Mune, who was trying to hold the drunk people together. "Detoxing them - and I'll bet he'll leave mother to me!"

He was, of course, right with this assumption.

OOC - Sorry Brujah, I didnt have a choice! Ara already brought you in, so i'm using your idea now!

IC-

The rickety old TIE-Interceptor shot through the air, arced several meters above the peak of a ferris wheel and dropped severely before the pilot could regain control. It slowly angled over on it's side, the right solar panel facing the ground, as it came into view of the main group. Several perplexed individuals looked up and pointed at the quickly approaching starfighter.

Predator pointed, "B, double E, double R, U, N - BEERRUN!"
He smirked, chuckled and began a new song... "B, double O, double B, I, E, S - BOO-" Mune placed a strong elbow into the gut of the former Sith High Warrior, effectively silencing him.

Curiously the sober Krath peered at the incoming fighter, it surely had something amiss about it. The tilt and driving was either due to a malfunction in the navigation unit, or the gravity/stability had been negotiated on the trip in. The only other explination was a severe weight pulling the ship to a side, forcing it to list in such a manner. His tail came to a slow wag, then halted as he tried to peer through the ship to discern the Force signature of the individuals on board... Mune's eyes widened in surprise at his thought, he spoke aloud, "InvididualS?"

The ship lost all of it's altitude and bottomed out as it skidded through the shops and games of the alley leading toward the massive hole (compliments of Panzerus td). Ground was ripped up and thrown about the once brightly colored booths, the exteriors of several booths being chewn up by the solar panels of the rusty ol ship. The drunk clan members watched in a thrilled sort of manner, each clapping or chanting for the show to continue!

The craft finally came to a halt before the group in detox, whom were also quite peeved about a certain lack of brandy outside the hole, and sat serenly for several moments. Finally the hatch blew wide open and a figure emerged from the depths of the cockpit, the Quaestor of House Caliburnus, Brujah. He withdrew a rather large sack from the Clan Armory, he teetered back 'n forth with the bag before finally finding a center of stability.

Several more people hopped from within the ship, Braecen, Prajna and Xan. Each looked a little worn out, undoubtedly from the 'amusing' ride. Arania looked towards the Clan Envoy and muttered under her breath, "Good, he looks awful - like he jumped from the top of a ferris wheel or something-" She was interupted as her son looked her sternly in the eye, "Mother, no one would be that stupid..."

Ara turned her attention back towards the ship where Xan was trying to help Brujah with his gear. She could distinctly hear the Quaestor yelling, "Leave my toys alone - get your own - I certainly need no help getting down!" Prajna looked at Xan, they both nodded knowingly and turned upon the Sith. Others laughed as Brujah fell rapidly towards the ground, his gear in the hands of ground pounders.

The two Obelisks devided the equipment evenly amongst themselves, appearing as super-troopers loaded to the hilts with each piece of gear adorning their bodies. Braecen shook his head, whispered something, and the two Apprentices each removed several pieces - carefully tossing them to Brujah - each relutctant to part ways with explosives.

The Krath Priest leapt from the top of the shuttle, landed almost gracefully on the ground, then pitched forward and rolled several meters across the ground before he came to a halt before the PCON-type lady. Slightly adjusting the angle of his head he peered up at the Dark Jedi Master, "I am here to assist and serve m'lady."

RevengeX and Panzerus left the crumbling building and quickly ran out to join the others, most who were searching for more booze in bushes and buildings. Panzerus joined several others in searching for the booze, while the Dark Jedi Knight helped detox the others, restraining some from going out and looking for the booze. Voldemort and Mune were trying to hold back Predator from riding to the top of the ferris wheel and search from above. Voldemort was partly being dragged by his mother, trying to hold her back and detox her, but Arania hardly seemed to notice.

All the Force-Sensitive people heard Vally's wail through the Force, but only a minor few went to go search for him. The Battlelord was found after several minutes of following the wail to it's owner, and was obviously scared out of his wits. Resisting to be dragged out from underneath the table, Vally ignited his lightsaber and cut down all the ghosts and skeletons that hung from the ceiling. The Sith deactivated the lightsaber with a triumphant smile on his face.

"Uh... You know that ghosts and skeletons are already dead, right?" asked a civillion who had come along to find Vally. Vally's smile vanished and he hid beneath the table again, refusing to be brought out into the open.

Panzerus grabbed a few bottles of booze, spilled them onto the ground, and used a borrowed incendiary to set the alcohol on fire. This brought on groans and complaints as many had hoped to down the contents of those bottles.

"It's for your own good," said Panzerus trying to sound authoritative. Panzerus didn't like booze because it impaired judgment - something necessary in the heat of combat. Apparently, its effects had already had a chance to work on the rescue party's minds. They had been easily lured into the trap and many were lost to the strange figures when they attacked as clowns. The ones who were captured in those balloon-like weapons were left behind when the Dark Jedi fled the pit - along with many of the non-Force-sensitive foot soldiers. Those who were brought to safety were grateful to Voldemort and the few others who had taken the time to help them.

Panzerus looked around at what he saw. The search party was down to half. He dared a glance down at the pit where the main group had been trapped only moments before. Noone was there. There appeared to be a tunnel entrance. Interesting, they would most likely have to investigate that. Hopefully, Saitou, the rest of the squirrel horde, and the captured rescue team members were just beyond that entrance. But they weren't about to go down there. They had to reassess the situation. What were those ....those....things? Noone had killed any of them and their only apparent weakness was bad jokes. Luckily, the team had a surplus of those.

Panzerus walked up to his Master who appeared to be rather drunk. Panzerus had been separated earlier after Uzbad came running out of a bathroom and, in the confusion, the bathroom had been blown to bits. Since then, he had been fighting for his life, with the help of RevengeX, and had no idea what the rest of the team had been up to. When he heard about what had happened from a young novice, he had eagerly searched for his Master. Predator was standing next to Mune who had just silenced the former Sith High Warrior.

"Greetings, Master," said Panzerus as he took a knee. "What is thy bidding?"

Predator took one look at his apprentice's ripped and bload-soaked tunic and raised an eyebrow.

"Great. While we were in danger you were out messing around."
"But I was - "
"We will talk about your punishment when we return to headquarters. For now we must assess our losses, regroup, and then take the fight to the enemy."

Mune, Pred, and his tired apprentice walked over to Arania who was surrounded by the Knights of CSP. They were discussing plans when the trio made their way into the group.

"So, what's the plan, boss-lady?" said Pred.

Arania gave him a look that clearly showed her displeasure at being interrupted and continued outlining her thoughts.

"We have to go back down there," she said. It was accompanied with the groans of the unwilling. "We have no choice. I saw Uzbad get carried off into that tunnel myself. We need to investigate it. Unless any of you has another suggestion...." she let that hang in the air for a moment. "I see. Then we should get started right away." She eyed a group of Obelisk troopers standing together cocking their heavy concussion rifles and loading tibanna gas cartridges into their illegally-modified blasters. "NO FIRING," she said with extra emphasis toward the group, "Once we're underground I want fire control. No heavy weapons. You could bring the whole amusement park down on our heads."

With that settled, the remains of the still-formidable rescue party prepared themselves to descend into the pit once more and enter the creepy tunnel...

ubzad woke up with a huge wedgie and a lot of dirt in his robes. He was still being dragged along the long dark tunnel by the clown, who luckily had a flashlight glued to his large red nose for light. Uzbad tried to stop the clown from moving him along the tunnel floor by shouting lots of mean stuff, but to no avail. The clown was relentless. So Uzbad became desperate. He bagn to sing.

"HuhYeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaah, haaaaa, haaaaa, haaaaaaa, haaaaa Haaaaaaa, haaaaaaaaaa, haaaaaaaaa, haaaaaaaaaaa!

I maaaaaaaaaay ruuuuuuuuuun annnnnnnnnd hiiiiiiiiiideeeeeeeeeeeee
Wheeeeeeeeeeeen you'reeeeeeee screeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaamiiiiiiiiiiiin' myyyyyyyyyyy naaaaaaaaaaaame, alrighttttttttttttttt
Buuuuuuut leeeeet meeeee teeell youuuuuuuuuuu nooooooooowwwwwwww
Theeeeeerrrrrrrrrre arrrrrrrrrrrre prieeeeeeeeces toooooo faaaaame, alrighttttttttt
Allaaaaaaaa oooooof our tiiiiiiime speeeeeeeeent in flaaaaaaaashes of liiiiiiiight

Allllllllllllllllllllll yooooooou peooooooooopleeeeee can't yoooooooouuu seeeeeeee, can't you seeeeeeeee
Hoooooooow yoooooour loooooove's affeeeeeecting ooooooour reaaaaaaaaaaaality
eeeeeeevery tiiiiiiiime we'eeeeere down
You caaaaaaan maaaaaaake it riiiiiiiight
And that makes you laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargeeeeeeeeeeeeeer thaaaaaaaaaaaaaan liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiifeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee"


"Enough!" The clown wheezed. "Please dont sing. We have enough trouble with the other one singing. Dont you start too."

"Well, okay." Uzbad replied. "Just let me walk.


(((OOC: These lyrics were copy-pasted from some lame site. The first site on google when searching backstreet boys lyrics.)))

Mune was not sure about Arania's plan to into the hole, much less into the tunnels beyond the trap they had uncovered, but what else could be done at this point. The boy's bestial side was writhing at this point with need to tear someone apart for thinking they could play games with him and the rest of the party, however, the side of logic said to be patient and takes things one step at a time.

"Mune? Anything you want to add?"

Mune snapped to attention and glanced back towards Arania, not having realized she had stopped talking altogether. His left ear twitched nervously before he gave his head a shake in response.

"Okay then, lets get moving people, we need to track down whoever it is that is taking our men, keep a look out for any of the squirrel hoard while we move, they are still a high priority even now. Understood?" Arania's voice rang out over the remaining search party, almost commandingly so.

The shadows shifted and seemed to taunt, but not once did they step forward or take an action against the remainder of the intruders. Each one knew, in time, they would dig themselves deeper into their twisted web of traps, that the danger would only grow moreso then it had started out as. "One by one..." a shadow whispers with a chuckle. The shadows all seem to respond in kind, the same ominous laughter echoing about them until their maddening laughter dances upon the wind that shifts the robes of the Dark Jedi around them, fueling the darkness that already tries desperately to devour every living thing in the park.

Arania motioned for her people to move into the tunnels, the proconsel leading the way into the tunnels and the living shadows that seemed to permeate from its very jowls and swallow them whole.

Mune shot a glance to Braecen among those remaining before he moved to join Arania in the tunnels with the others close behind. Every footstep seemed to echo for an eternity through the bowels of the catacombs they now walked in, the only sound that seemed to break the luming silence. Voices seem to giggle and whisper all around them.

"Is no one creeped out by the silence?" a random member of the search party asks, his voice seeming to echo out into the shadows.

A cat with meanwhile two squirrels to wait with stared in amazement as the two-legged creatures of the Clan disappeared into the hole. Unbelievable, but true, they had forgotten he was here!

Adrian the cat turned and purred for the squirrels to sit up, then he jumped off the tree stump he had been occupying and followed his instincts. And his instincts told him to follow the two-legged bunch's underground path in the open. He was well able to sense them and didn't get why none of them got the idea to scan the area. So illogical creatures, neither to use their Force sense nor their technical quipment.

The older squirrel on his back chittered something, and Adrian stopped where he was for a second. Yes, it was true, the underground part of the clan seemed to accelerate somehow, speeding off in a loop. The cat broke into a run trying to catch up, but it was hopeless...


"Aaaaaahhhhh!"
"Holy mother of Krath!"
"Sithspawn!"
"Ouch!!"
"Get your appendixes into the car..."
"Take your foot out of my suit."
"Someone fell out!"
"WAAAAAAAAAH!"
"My blaster! I lost my krathdamn blaster."
"He bit me!"
"Ewww... Vally, vomit somewhere else!"
"Where are we going?"
"Where are we, first place?"

Everyone shouted, and no one knew what they were doing and what was going on. Only slowly the alcohol was wearing off, despite detox attempts. Only Voldemort and Predator understood. They had stepped right into several cars part of an underground rollercoaster - a well designed trap. Especially seeing how there were no safety belts and they had to hold on with the Force and hands and legs. Or, in the case of some civilians, hands and feet - and sometimes teeth - alone.

"Can we stop this?" Voldemort shouted at Pred while trying to find his mother's mind.

The fishman, standing on his right side, was hardly audible in all the noise. "We sure can. Question is, can we and still get out of here alive?"

"That was not the answer I... aaaaargh!" A grenade escaped Voldemort's pocket and made it's way down to wherever. An explosion, barely audible, followed. The whole rollercoaster shook and slowed down a little.

"A rollercoaster?"
"Noooo!"
"We're gonna die of motionsickness..."
"I'll fall out beforeeeeee......" This voice faded away into the pitch black darkness around them.

"I suppose we'll find out soon," Predator sighed. At least everyone else was slowly understanding their situation.

Everyone held their breath as the ride slowly creaked forward, steadily picking up speed as people held on to whatever they could with their hands, fins or paws. The roller coaster suddenly jerked forward, accelerating at a bloodcurling rate, as people felt the wind knocked out of them. Some of the younger members screamed in delight, even letting go of the ride and almost falling out. Several of the Obelisk warriors shifted uncofortably in their seats as the roller coaster quickly sped up even more, not liking the sensation of open-cockpit flying that the ride resembled.

RevengeXs teeth crashed together as the ride stopped suddenly, throwing several members into the carts in front of them. The Dark Jedi Knight felt blood oozing out of the root of one of his teeth. He wiggled the tooth with his tongue, making the blood escape his mouth and dribble down his chin. The ride started up suddenly again, and his teeth crashed together again, chipping several of his teeth again. He spat out the loose tooth and began to concentrate on where the ride was going.

His eyes followed the tracks into the darkness, but he could not make out anything in the dark void ahead of them. A loud explosion rocked the carts slightly, and everyone looked back, where another grenade had slipped out of Voldemorts pockets, making the tunnel cave in from behind. Several of the members of the rescue team screamed at the Obelisk Templar, making him greatly embarassed as Predator yelled at him too.

Well, one thing was sure, they obviously weren't going out that way...

The clown gave Uzbad a funny look, but agreed to let him walk, so long as his hands remained tied. Uzbad didnt like being bound, but it beat being dragged along the ground. The clown lead him down a long tunnel, with many smaller tunnels leading off on both sides. What was down them he couldn't see, for the only light was held by the clown, and he didnt turn to look down these passages.

They walked for what seemed like hours and Uzbads legs grew tired, but the clown continued the rleentless pace. His legs seemed like jelly, not responding to his commands and he bagan to stumble quite often.

Eventually they stopped outside a large wooden dorr and the clown knocked on it 13 times.

(((OOC: Sorry for uhhh not being here... but i was on vacay. I informed the superiors and people keep writing me in <_< so i guess I have to join in X-) .)))

As the cave colapsed behind him, Aksle saw the lights kick on. "well that's a convenience" he stated as whispers began to erupt. The ride dipped and it was quite obvious that they were going deeper than they needed to. Suddenly to every obelisks dismay, there was a loop in the track. As the crowd was pulled through the loop several of the troopers fell out, luckily for them the cart was speeding fast enough to catch them as it passed underneath. Finally the end was visible and the lights flickered off as the party hit the stoppers. Half the group was flung off the coaster at the abupt stop, but were caught by a net.
Blue lights flickered on the platform as they all rushed to escape the ride from hell (or to hell). and those caught by the net jumped to the platform. There was a staircase yet leading further down, and even the troopers could feel something waiting for them at the end of the passage. Everyone Gathered at the entrance as they prepared for battle. When the 'army' was prepared they forced themselves to venture on, understanding whatever this was that they were facing, was necessary to their trip. As they stepped down the stairs gusts of Hot air began to blow past them.



------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sir Aksle Tamalar

The squirrel version of SHUT UP appeared in Saitou's mind more than once, but he didn't want to listen. For what must be the 100th time he started to sing "The final countdown" completely off tone. The background chitter from squirrels looking in through holes in the roof just added to the noise.

"Really," Saitou's strange opponent asked while looking at his cards, "do you absolutely have to do this anytime before you count to 5?"

"But...but I'm not counting to 5..." Saitou clarified. "I'm counting backwards from 5!"

"Alright, alright, but in the end I'll make you suffer more for it. Now hurry with playing."

"I already beat you.. lots of times." Saitou's voice sounded dreamy and aloof. It was true, he had won all the games until now, and a part of him that was not yet completely drunk and drugged up and only alive due to detoxing frequently wondered if this was on purpose. "I'll beat you again." A fart escaped his behind, completely unintentional. The squirrels made a disgusted sound and finally vanished.

It was time to get some serious help for their crazy master.

RevengeX and the others felt the hot air swirl around them, an intoxicating smell filled the air which smelled faintly like 'Old Lady smell.' Several of the people around him began to choke as the fumes engulfed them, some of the Force-Sensitive ones even collapsing because of the smell. Revenge used the Force to push the air away from him to stop him from breathing in the smelly gases. After the draft left, few wished to venture on, but a sharp kick in the rear from Predator got everyone moving again. People started to unsheath swords and draw out blasters and lightsabers as they sensed something ominous approaching.

Out of the shadows, several clowns emerged, bearing stuffed animal grenades and water guns filled to the brink with a deadly mixture of water and smashed plants, forming a powerful poison. Several of the Dark Jedi ignited their lightsabers filling the tunnel with a dim glow of nearly every color of the rainbow. The clowns were to move first...

* * *

Meanwhile, Saitou and his opponent started playing another game of 'Go Fish' out of boredom, completely oblivious of the things happening outside. They could only hear each other's voice and the occasional chatter of the squirrels running around in all directions, looking for a way out of the room.

Wouldn't hurt to start another clan wide run on since this one is obviously dead.

Actually, this one already ended and the awards were given out for it as it was a competition so no one came back to it.