The Republic Strikes Back! Star Wars: the Old Republic part 2

Inferior: Oct 19, 2012

EPISODE 23: yOU dOn't havE To BE MaD to WOrk hErE, bUT it HELpS

Previously posted:

Something terrible lurks within the DARK HOLLOW, so we're going to go POKE IT WITH A STICK...

It isn't very good in the dark dark wood.

I can feel something here... It's like an itch I can't scratch.

Strange eyes are upon us.

...

Someone's got a pretty impressive bone collection!

Nice mood lighting! At least the Nameless Terror still pays its electricity bill.

Is it bad I can't tell the difference between deformed and regular Shaclaws?

Hey, a dancefloor! Ancient evils throw the best parties.

See what I mean?

So... ah... what's with the red glow on everything? It sure looks... dumb.

That's a... big green rock. Haha. Haa...

It's okay to be afraid, Nadia.

...Are we really going to w-wake this thing up?

Master Klenngis once said that understanding is the path to peace.

I don't want to understand it. I don't want it understanding me either.

We owe it to the Voss, and the Gormak. Be brave, Nadia.

*rrrrrrrumble*

Another fool enters the darkness. Is it Voss? Or is it Gormak?

Ah. I have fought your kind before. You come from the stars, but you die just as easily.

You look... familiar.

I am unique. Even the Gormak king fell before me. I showed him mercy. You will beg for it.

What happened between you and the Gormak king?

The desperate are drawn to the Dark Heart's power. The Gormak king was no different. Those who seek power find ancient darkness. I serve Sel-Makor.

What does Sel-Makor want from the Voss and the Gormak?

For now, they are his prey. As my master gains strength, they will become his servants.

The Dark Heart cannot contain Sel-Makor. His power will grow until he consumes this world. Nothing will stop this.

It's a big mistake to think this is over.

My master's victory is inevitable. You will understand this soon enough.

Despite his bulky looks, the Avatar is more of a mage than a fighter. He relies on Force Lightning to damage and slow you down, and throws out a Death Field to do some persistent AoE damage every so often.

Rrrrraaargh! To hell with you!

...Do Voss even have a hell?

Let's find out.

You have my thanks. Few challenge Sel-Makor's servant and survive; those who do are his pawns. He showed Jokull the future. The Gormak king ran screaming.

_{_{What is happening? Is this normal?}}

You look like a Gormak, but you talk like a Voss.

You think of them as two nations, enemies. When I lived, all were Voss.

The Gormak king sees visions; beneath his skin, he is Voss still. The Voss and the Gormak were once one people. I am their ancestor.

This is a surprising revelation!

It sure is!

What made the Voss and the Gormak split up?

Some saw visions, gained the power to heal. Others did not. This became the great divide- now Voss and Gormak war against their own. Sel-Makor feeds on their hatred.

Peace won't happen unless they know the truth.

You see things clearly. You are part of the vision: an outsider will end the Gormak threat. You must heal this wound. Tell the Voss the truth, no matter the cost.

I'll tell them about the Gormak, and Sel-Makor.

Sel-Makor is not the only danger. They will recognize the truth.

How many eldritch abominations can one planet have?

I speak of more prosaic dangers. You face other challenges.

The Voss will find the truth hard to accept. They may refuse you because of it.

The Voss might surprise you. They might surprise me too.

Their future depends on your words. Would you doom our world to save your own?

Never.

This war will end in truth, or in blood. The choice will be yours- my time to rest has come. Go well. *poof*

And that's all she wrote.

What are we going to tell the Voss?

The truth, if they'll hear it. Let's get out of here.

It's interesting, seeing the differences between the Republic and Imperial Voss questlines. Despite recapping the same events, the Republic spirit makes no mention of the role the Jedi played in schisming the Voss, while the Imperial spirit emphasizes it.

BACK AT BASE...

I wonder what time the next flight to Vo-- *mipmip mipmip*

Oh... yeah! Seems like it was months ago. It's good to hear your voice, Ambassador.

I'm glad you're both alright. Hello, Gaden-Ko. I heard what happened to your family. I'm so sorry.

Jedi, of course Gaden-Ko's pilgrimage is important--

_{_{Oh nuts. Knew I'd forgotten something.}}

--but I have a request. A Republic team has gone missing in that region. Our top archaeologist, Doctor Kerrian, ignored the warnings and took an expedition into those �Nightmare Lands.� We haven't heard from him since.

I will see what can be done.

Thank you, Jedi, I was running out of options.

I need a guide. Landmarks are... changed. The Deep Cradle hides. Doctor Kerrian might know.

Where was his team heading?

He filed an expedition proposal with his chosen campsite. I'll send you the location now.

AND SO...

What a creepy place to make camp.

It used to be a temple, I think.

Gaden-Ko said he'd meet us here. Hopefully Doctor Kerrian can help him find this �Deep Cradle�.

[VIDEO: Crazy Days]

Calm yourself. I am a Jedi Master, no harm will come to you.

You're... a real Jedi. I thought the madness had finally gotten to me. I'm Lefry, an excavator. The ritual saved me, but the team... everything's gone wrong.

I was sent to protect you and your team.

You couldn't have. This... was everyone. Apart from Doctor Kerrian.

But Doctor Kerrian said there wasn't time for everyone to �see the native puppet show.� He wanted to explore the Dark Heart.

He sacrificed his whole team for impatience. Also racism.

Deep... Cradle? Yes, that's the part Doctor Kerrian wanted to get into, but it's all sealed up. We spent days trying to open it, then suddenly the... the madness started. Doctor Kerrian ran off. The others stayed and... stared at me.

No one deserves to suffer like that.

I can't think about it. Only Doctor Kerrian had any idea how to get the Deep Cradle open.

I will be here.

You'll stay? Okay, I'll track the doctor's locator, but he's, you know, not a person anymore. Though, if he still has his holojournal, his field notes should be in there.

If you can get his holojournal, I'll play it for you. And hurry.

NEXT TIME: More teeth than the entire Osmond family.

BONUS CODEX CONTENT:

Gormak and Voss Origins posted:

In the beginning, the Gormak were the only species on Voss� semisentient humanoids marked with a strong, though undeveloped, affinity for the Force. However, the history of the Gormak was forever altered several thousand years ago when they were discovered and enslaved by a small group of Sith.

A minor Jedi contingent of explorers arrived soon after. Bowing to pressure from a group of Gormak elders who had escaped the Sith, the Jedi taught a handful of the tribes the ways of the Force. They had no way of knowing that doing so would alter the path of their natural evolution so that they underwent profound physical and mental changes over the next several generations. The creatures ceased to be Gormak and became something else entirely�the Voss.

The Jedi preached temperance and defense but the newly formed Voss immediately attacked the Sith who still lurked among the Gormak primitives. The Voss destroyed the Sith, but in the process they were touched by the dark side, further altering their radically sensitive evolutionary path.

Later the small group of Jedi explorers disappeared, having gone home or dying to accident or Voss aggression. Whatever the case, the strange happenings on Voss were never recorded in any archive.

Ascending to the top of Voss�s tallest peak, the new species turned to its most powerful Force-users for leadership. Myths about their origins began as the newly ordained �Mystics� tried to explain what had happened and eventually it was believed that the Voss had simply always been. In time this myth became the accepted truth, until even the Mystics themselves forgot the real origins of their people.

Inferior fucked around with this message at 19:54 on Oct 16, 2014

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