Bankor

"I don't want to fight you," she said, steeling herself. Fighting him was tantamount to suicide. Yet, if there was no choice...

"But your master's ritual will end all life in this galaxy, and I can't let that happen."

“I know,” is all he responded with.

Layne instinctively took a step back and pulled out both of her lightsabers, but did not flip them on just yet.

"I know you are too smart to think your loyalty will shield you from his ambitions. You *must* understand how insane his plans are."

“I do.”

He paused s the ramp lowered for him. He added, “I do not intend to watch the galaxy burn, Jedi. I will not help you either.”

Baesal looked at Layne for a moment then looked at the temple's entrance then at the Wrath, deciding something that is probably unwise

''Say...Mr. Lord Wrath. You say you don't want to help us...but we could help you? No?'' she steps closer ''And what about an exchange of information?'' she says, lower as to not be heard by those who remained further

She took one step forward again, and then another.

"Then answer me one thing... did you come here to destroy whatever information was left behind?"

Layne wasn't sure how she'd react to the answer if it didn't go a certain way. Rush forward and try to fight him? She was considering it. Strongly considering it. And dreading it. Hoping it didn't have to come to that.

Tethys watches this exchange with a grim expression, face set and arms crossed. It's a pose she'd often taken standing behind Master M'ralo in some dicey Outer Rim negotiation... though this time she's much less confident of the outcome if it comes to a fight.

He just looked at Baesal and then back to Layne, “I came for information, now I am done here.”

He started walking up the ramp, “All you will find inside is death.”

Baes made a step forward

''I have had a vision of fifty years in the future...'' she tilted her head ''...are you not a tidbit curious?''

As she spoke she sensed something...something horrible...her face was white with horror

''What....what was that?''

A tremor shakes the forest floor, sending a shower of water from the leaves above, and Tethys goes a a bit pale beneath the dark color of her skin. "What was that?" she interjects, frowning.

The Wrath of the Emperor answered, “I felt it as well… a great deal of suffering and death. I almost feel envious I was not the source.”

He looked at Baesal and said, “Speak of the future and if it has value, you will live.”

Layne didn't like that answer. It implied he had destroyed or removed the information, which meant that the only way they could move forward was with whatever he knew, or what the databanks on his ship contained. She was about to move accordingly, and then she felt it, the tremor in the Force. Countless lives snuffed out in an instant of pain and terror. Layne nearly fell to her knees, but remained standing. Gritting her teeth as she pushed through it.

And then she... she was stopped by the conversation being advanced by others.

She had been about to rush toward him. Demanding he'd stop and hand them the information. By force if need be. However ridiculously low her chances of success were.

She was still willing to try it.

"I can't leave here empty handed. Not after everything. Korriban. Baras. The Voice. The Jedi... Leaving us without even the slightest chance to stop him is too cruel..."

“Life is cruel; if you seek answers then I won’t stop you. If you are not strong enough, death awaits,” he responded.

Her eyes narrowed as her brain contemplated that. So there *was* still something there? Unless he was lying...

...but the Wrath was not quite like other Sith, was he? What reason did he have to lie? To escape a couple of padawans and a lone knight? The Wrath struck fear into the hearts of Dark Councilors. This ragtag group of Jedi posed no threat to him.

"I've know too many ghosts to fear death," she said, straightening herself, before looking at Baesal for a moment, wondering what she'd say.

Baesal approached the Wrath, he could strike her down anywhere regardless but prefered if this would be kept between them and Layne.

''The Force gave me a vision clear as day and learned of things to come for the galaxy. The Emperor will face some sort of demise and will be replaced by an Empress but she will rule only only a crumbling ruin. An unknown threat will come and devastate the Republic, the Jedi Order and the Sith Empire...all the while something called the Star Cabal will hunt down the remaining Force users may they serve the Light or the Dark.''

She pauses

''The Star Cabal is already active in our time...and the Force wanted me to be aware of them''

And possible redemption for even the worst Sith? Not a good idea to tell him...that

"Good," he said after listening to Baesal. He went up the ramp unless stopped.

This was all rather interesting...

...but there wasn't much time to dwell on it.

Layne watched the Wrath walk up the ramp, frustrated with herself and the situation. She did not stop him. But she did call out after him.

"You're going to have to pick a side eventually."

The Wrath did not reply as the ramp pulled up and the shift began to lift off. Perhaps he heard or, or perhaps not. The structure he exited loomed before them in the mists and other spectral shapes… or were they visions, of things that that have past or have yet to be?

The structure was covered in vines and overgrowth but at one time had been a step pyramid, built in some long ancient style, perhaps Sith… though without more investigation it could be anything.

"Fuck!" Layne was frustrated, and kicked a patch of dirt before putting away her lightsabers again. Then she turned around and started walking toward the structure.

"Let's go," she said, a curt hand gesture accompanied the words to round everyone up. "Let's go find death or whatever."

At the top of the of the steps stands lone wispy figure… the air has grown cold and the light seems to have seeped away leaving the area even darker than normal without any bio luminescent creatures to provide visible light.

The figure has a vaguely human and feminine shape. But what draws the eye is the glimmering outline of a black lightsaber.

“I imagine he thinks he has picked a side. Himself.” Tethys shrugs as she clips her saber to her belt and turns her back on the forest. “If the Force is with him, he might figure out before it’s too late that it doesn’t work that way.”

She follows Layne toward the pyramid... then stops short. “Do you know anything about this?” she murmurs.

((Was the Fear effect from the Scourge, or is it still in effect in this area?))

OOC: Fear is still effect. The Wrath had his own check if you engaged him.

Layne froze when she noticed the figure carrying a black lightsaber. Pondered the figure, its meaning... and then Tethys spoke. Layne kept her eyes on the figure, however.

"Tell me what you see," she said.

Baesal was silent observing the Wrath leave, wondering what was going on in the man's head before Layne called the move forward.

''Aye!'' She moved closer to the temple, the temporary shock of seeing the Emperor's executionner fading leaving place for the nameless dread she felt since coming here...and then the apparition

''A ghost with a black lightsaber'' she called, pointing

“An apparition,” Tethys says in a deceptively calm voice. “Holding a black lightsaber. She is either blocking our way, or here to meet us...”