Arca Jeth's Jedi Praxeum

[Tomias Shoryu]

Made of wood and stone this structure was started by legendary Jedi Master Arca Jeth. It was two stories contained a courtyard a main hall and was suitable for training students in the center of the Arkanian wilderness in the ways of a diplomatic Jedi.

Sources:
Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 33: Vindication, Part 2
Tales of the Jedi Companion

[Tomias Shoryu]

*The shuttle carrying the group of jedi and the Wookiee Republic Sergent navigates through the snowy skies of Arkania.*

Man, looks just like Telos in this sense.

*Tomias carefully follows the path the computer has set out towards the Praxeum. After a while flying the Praxeum comes into view. Tomias makes circles around the praxeum before finding a spot to land near the praxeum but is still a walk away. Tomias hovers over said spot and activates the landing sequence. The wings collapse back in and the shuttle slowly descends clearing the snow on the ground. Once it touches the ground the shocks from the landing gear dip a little and the engines begin to go silent.*

[Lee Katarn]

*The shuttle makes it to the coordinates Lee gave Tomias. Upon viewing, the old praxium is well within sight. However, given the distance, it is hard to tell what sort of shape it is in, though it seems to have collected plenty of snow over the years of misuse and it's not entirely visible.

The shuttle sets down a short walking distance away from the praxium and the boarding ramp to the shuttle lowers shortly after the shuttle has landed. Lee stands up and exits the ship. He wanted to be the first one out, and take point. Lee had no clue what they were walking into. He was the one leading the mission, and had slowly grown to accept the role. He'd take point, just in case they ran into anything. He takes his first step onto the surface since boarding the shuttle, and he can hear the snow beneath his boots.

He could feel the wind blowing, and a few snow flakes were falling. It was a light snow, and shouldn't hinder their progress much. Lee was glad he modified his armor for the cold, it was coming in quite handy. He trained his eyes on the praxium, feeling the Force radiating from it. It wasn't evil, it just held presence. It felt...natural. It was a definent Force nexus, Lee was just glad he sensed no taint.

He continued walking forward, deciding to be the first to enter the praxium. As he approached the building, he could see the entrance had been snowed over. He began digging the snow away, some of it frozen to the door. He eventually dug through to find the controls to release the door. He pressed it, and the mechanics whirred to life, the door shifted...but nothing.

Lee pressed the button multiple times, but still the same response. The last being the lights to the door controls fading. In frustration, Lee kicks the door. His foot hurts. The door whirrs to life and opens for him, a pile of snow falling into the entrance to the praxium. Lee stumbles in and looks around. The place was dark, smelled musty, and though no cobwebs were present, there was definently a layer of dust covering every inch of the praxium he sawy.

He began walking down the entrance hallway silently, taking the scene in. As he walked further down, he could feel something tingling in the Force. Something seemed to be calling out to him....but it felt like there was something more. Lee couldn't shake the thought. He paushed, turning around to the entrance and signaled the rest of the crew inside.*

[Garrett Sven]

*Garrett chuckles when Astefan tells him he got the waitresses number*

Dude that's great! I remember when I got my first phone number too!

*a short while later the shuttle lands and the crew disembark. It's colder than a dathomi witches tit out here!, Garrett thought as the group moves towards the entrance of the Academy. It felt... almost alive. He chuckles when his master kicks the door but regains his composure upon stepping into the Paraxeum. He was stepping on hallow ground as far as he was concerned. Arca Jeth was a revered Jedi Watchman. His swordsmanship and knowledge of the force was incredible, and his apprentices were just as impressive. He had trained the Qel Droma brothers... Ulic had of course fallen but Cay had not. Perhaps there was some measure of duality in his teachings then? Garrett hoped that perhaps the computers still worked or that some sort of knowledge containing device existed in this old academy.

He turns to Lee*

So what should we do first?

[Tomias Shoryu]

*Tomias goes ahead and gets all his gear on and fastened. Stepping off the ship he feels a certain breeze of relief being in the wilderness of the planet. It felt a lot better than the city for more reasons than one. With a grin on his face, that can't be seen due to the scarf, he crunches through the snow following Lee to the Praxeum. Before entering he looks up in awe of the building. After hearing Lee bang on the door he continues in. Coming into the main hall he senses apparently what the others are sensing. Though he can't place his finger on what it is. As he concentrates more on it he gets images of his father training here. He actually sees it playing out in front of him like a holovid. Tomias shakes his head and wipes his eyes. When he looks again the images are gone.*

~So dad did train here. Maybe there is more about him around here.~

*With this in the back of his mind Tomias stays alert and waits for Lee's directions as to how they are gonna go about this expedition.*

[Astefan Macillan]

"Psh, this is hardly my first! Smartass."

*Astefan exits the shuttle, now dressed in the gear he had purchased, and pulls the hood over his head and the goggles down over his eyes to protect from the biting cold wind. He regards the Praxeum with awe and respect, trying to remember everything he had read about it. It looks smaller than he had expected, at least from here, and especially with much of it covered in snow. He had nearly tried to visit it himself once, back when he had begun researching the Jedi Order after realizing he was Force-sensitive, but then he had learned that the Enclave had reopened its doors on Dantooine and had gone there instead. Other than his father, Arca Jeth is the individual that Astefan most respects and admires; the man is widely revered among Arkanians as a national hero, and he considers Arca Jeth to be his personal hero and role model.*

[Taloombray]

*When the whole crew was finally together, everyone boarded the shuttle. Though he was not looking forward to the possibly long shuttle trip – complete with sitting around doing nothing – Taloombray was itching for the mission. Somehow the unknown element of it made it better. Off-handedly, the Wookiee wondered if the near-bloodlust eagerness for unknown combat was what old life-long soldiers felt went they embarked on their Final Battle. The potentially worrisome fact he was mentally comparing his mindset to those who set out with the intention to die in battle did not occur to Taloombray.*

*While in-transit, the Wookiee kept occupied and mentally to himself by inspecting the gear he had gotten. While he hated having things on his face or around his head, he busied himself in arranging his scarf to cover his nose and peered through the goggles. To observers, the investigation might have looked comical, but the soldier’s body language still screamed his unsocial mood at the moment and advised against vocalized amusement.*

*The trip had been shorter than Taloombray had expected and they were soon on the ground. Scarfed and gloved, but not yet goggled, the Wookiee immediately took up his bowcaster when the landing ramp went down and followed the General in a covering pose. Now that the mission had been initiated, he was taunt and his bowstring and intensely focused. His earlier emotional energy which had been fueling his anger was now redirected into hair-trigger focus to every detail. That was until he hit the snow…*

*Coming from a near-tropical world and having never been on a planet where or when there had been snow, the Wookiee’s short-lived concentration was broken when he stepped foot into the wet, white coldness and sunk up to his shins. He had heard stories as a cub of the “Times of Great Sadness” when a part of the forest had burned. It was said that ash had rained for years as the huge wroshyr trees died slowly in an unquenchable fire. From what he had seen of this world’s white rain, he thought it must also be ash. But this was cold and wet at the touch.*

*Though his natural curiosity was momentarily captivated with the odd experience and desperately wanted to question his Jedi companions on the nature of the white-cold, the situation was not right for it. Getting back into his anger and mission-focused mindset, he cursed himself for allowing himself to be so distracted by something so irrelevant. An enemy could have attacked while he was distracted. And what with the General being out front… no wait… inside the building!?*

*Realizing he’d been left outside, the bowcaster-toting Wookiee trotted through the odd white-cold and entered the building along to join his companions. Once inside, he realized his ranged weapon was no longer suitable for the relatively close quarters of the interior and exchanged it for his ryyyk blades. Though there had been no assignment of position, rank, or duties among the four of them who were not the General, Taloombray took up a protective rear position for the moment. He listened for Katarn’s instructions in response to Garrett’s question.*

[Lee Katarn]

*Lee listened as Garrett questioned how they would go about this mission now that they were at the praxium. He steps forward so he is closer to the group. It was best to be heard by all present. He clears his throat and speaks, thinking on his words as he does so.*

We will split up and search the praxium. Make note of as much detail as possible. After we're done exploring the entire praxium, I'll catalogue all the necessary information and detail a report to update the Jedi Council.

Garrett, you'll be with me. Tomias and Astefan will be together. Taloombray, you can tag along with Garrett and myself.

*It was best to keep Taloombray with them so he could keep him in check. He still wouldn't call him out on anything, but it was obvious the young Jedi Knight wanted to keep an eye on him.*

Down the hallway, it opens up to a main room. From there, it splits off into two distinct wings. My team will take the right. Tomias, I leave you in charge so much as that you keep your group moving and you keep me updated on anything important that comes your way. Technically, Astefan still has the experience factor.

*Which was true. Astefan and he were two of the first Jedi students since the Jedi Civil War. The Jedi had re-opened Dantooine and Lee had arrived shortly after Astefan. Lee turns around and begins walking down the hallway, eventually it opens up to the main room Lee mentioned. He nods over at Astefan and Tomias, then takes his group off to the right.*

[Tomias Shoryu]

*Tomias nods as he listens to Lee's plan. Explore and record. Tomias takes out a datapad that he gotten from the shop in the city. Any working terminals around would be hacked by Tomias. He was still a computer nerd under all that lightsaber swinging, lightning shooting, borderline darkside visage. Tomias waves his datapad at Lee saying that he understood. As they walk down into the Main Hall Tomias takes out his comlink and sets it to the same channel as Lee's comlink. As Lee leads his group away Tomias nods to Astefan and begins to move in his direction.*

[Taloombray]

*Having quickly returned to his combat focus after his run in with the confusing white-cold, Taloombray was oblivious to the subtleties of Katarn's motivations. If anything, the old soldier was grimly-pleased to be assigned to the General's squad. In the military systems of his culture, being included in a warchief's group was a vote of confidence in the face of danger and an honor.*

*To the Wookiee, the General's gesture suggested they would be more likely to encounter something — or would encounter something more dangerous — than the other group and that Katarn respected his abilities as a fighter. This arrangement also suggested to the hierarchically-minded Wookiee that Astefan, as the one cited as having greater experience, was Katarn's Second. That Tomias was being allowed to lead the other group could mean he was being groomed for the position of Third. Both of these details were filed away.*

*As the pair of Arkanians moved off down their direction and his group went off in theirs, Taloombray did a mental checklist of how he could best serve his commanding officer and his fellows in this search and catalogue mission. They were all Jedi, and thereby had some distinct strengths he did not possess. From all he knew, Jedi were faster, stronger, and more perceptive than was the case for their usual species. Though the Wookiee knew he had the upper hand in terms of physical strength where usual humans were concerned, he was not sure about the relative strength of a Jedi when augmented by their powers. They could also do magics such as move things and beings, call upon the wind or other elements, and could look into the souls and minds of other sentients. Some also seemed capable of recognizing some life forms and places over distances, but what sort of sense this was the Wookiee could only guess at.*

*With all that in mind, he still had them all beat hands down with regards to combat experience. Additionally — as least as far as he could gather from interacting with this set of Jedi coupled with past experiences — his greater levels of efficiency in combat motivation (that is, his greater willingness to kill an opponent rather than capture) was a strength in his mind. And finally he realized that, at least with the pair of humans he was with now, he had a much better sense of smell than they had. To his knowledge, Jedi magics did not improve the sense of smell in those who lacked it.*

*With this latter thought in mind, Taloombray took a moment to remove the scarf which covered his nose. The smell of some synthetic wool was replaced instead by the musk of the building. It was a mostly dry and dusty smell in keeping with an abandoned building. But when he began focusing on his olfactory sense, he began noticing something else, something that had a warmth to it, and a slight smell of metal and aging acid.*

*In a husky whisper, Taloombray pointed out this detail as had been the command.*

<General. There is an odd smell. Not the smell of a long-empty building.>

[Garrett Sven]

It could be just a dead animal. I'm sure some variety of vermin has made this place it's home since the Jedi abandoned it.

*Although he was willing to dismiss the wookie's olfactory observation, he did have to admit that something felt funny about this place, and not funny "ha ha". He just couldn't quite put his finger on what that something was. As the group makes it's way into the main hall Garrett is saddened by the lack of life present. Even if they didn't select this as a new base of operations, Garrett would like to come back here and resurrect this academy*

[Taloombray]

*At Garrett's dismissal of the smell as just a dead animal, Taloombray focused on the scents around him again. There was indeed the smell of death and decay — very possibly a dead something as the padawan had suggested — but that was not the only smell, and not the strongest one. He didn't know exactly what the additional scents might indicate, but it was more complex than the human surmised.*

*Though Taloombray was by no means a hunter by vocation, having lived in the fauna-rich ecosystem of Kashyyyk, as well as his culture's expectation that male Wookiees be able to provide game to their families if needed, he had decent experience with generic wild animal territorial patterns. If there were animals actively living down here, that would necessitate a constant food source either in the building or in nearby areas.*

*Taking what he knew of the term "vermin" — usually small animals with minimal territory ranges — the Wookiee doubted there would be a sufficient food source in the abandoned academy to sustain such creatures. Even if there had been a larder left in the academy when it was abandoned to support a vermin population, it would have likely been long ago consumed or spoiled to dust with how long the place had been empty. Unless the vermin on this world differed greatly from his general knowledge, Taloombray judged that if there was something living here it had to have a large enough territory range to have this as a den or nest only and bring food back from the outside. Large territories usually went along with larger beasts.*

*Even with all this figuring, the old soldier did not voice any of his thoughts or possible conclusions. Though he had been mildly curious before about where he stood in this group of Jedi, his ignorance of his position and Jedi and/or human customs on such things while in the field made him hesitate to verbally challenge Garrett's statement. It was fine to be loose and casual among each other and ignore rank when in informal situations, but when actively engaged in a mission respecting the hierarchy and acting accordingly could save or end lives if the situation escalated. It wouldn't due to question or squabble with someone who might outrank him in the group while in the middle of a potentially hostile situation.*

*Despite having given over most of his attentions and energy to his military instincts and training, Taloombray was still riled up enough from earlier events to be intensely irritated by the situation with Garrett. Though he didn't know what his relative position was in relation to the General's padawan, he was galled by the possibility the young human outranked him. Padawans were apprentices, right? And while he was not a combat master by the definitions of his own people, he had served as Second to a warcheif for nearly as long as the human had been alive, and had been a Third for many more years prior to that. There was also the fact he was apparently a Republic sergeant too, though what relevance that might have he had no idea. Regardless, he certainly had more experience and physical capabilities beyond that of the human, Jedi or no.*

*Still, Taloombray said nothing, but merely continued his intense observation of his surroundings as commanded.*

[Tomias Shoryu]

*Tomias walks down the hall looking around at the walls. He notices that the walls have some markings on them that resemble scratch markings. Tilting his head at first Tomias eventually believing that it was because of chipping or something similar due to the lack of up keeping. Tomias records this into his datapad taking pictures while at it. Tomias continues this trend until he sees a blinking light on a terminal. Tomias immediately turns his attention to it and walks over and plugs in his datapad. The terminal sparks a little causing Tomias to step back covering his face. Once the sparking dies out the datapad begins to download all of the data stored on the terminal.*

[Astefan Macillan]

*Astefan follows Tomias down the hall, with the hood back down and the goggles now perched on his forehead since he is indoors, but it is still very cold inside the upper floors of the building. He runs a finger along one of the "markings" in the wall, which is more like a gouge or groove. In fact... he puts the claw on the end of his forefinger into the marking and drags it along its path. Interesting.

He looks behind him and sees that Tomias has found something farther down the hall, so he strolls over and peers over Tomias's shoulder at the old computer console.*

"Jackpot?"

[Lee Katarn]

*Lee was making his way through his portion of the praxium. So far there was no major issue with the place that screamed at Lee. So far it seemed like a nice set up for the Jedi. So far, anyway. Lee had checked a couple of rooms, but there was nothing of importance.

The rooms were empty, collecting plenty of dust. He made his way out of a third empty room and led the group down a long hallway. It was dark, but the lightsaber Lee had now ignited was keeping a good light for them. It was the yellow blade, if anyone cared to pay enough attention to that. As the group of three made their way towards the end of the hallway, Taloombray spoke of a smell. Garrett suggested shortly after that it could be a dead vermin.*

Let's not jump to conclusions yet. Remember, I want us alert and cautious. We can't rule anything out too quickly.

*Lee looked at the door that was only a few yards from them now. With no other doorways around now, perhaps this smell Taloombray spoke of was coming from behind this door?*

Let's see what's behind door number one.

*Lee used the access panel to open the door. Unlike the entrance, it opened rather easily. Lee stepped through, noting a musky smell that was stronger here than any other portion of the praxium he had encountered. Lee contacts Tomias over the comm.*

::Picking up a strong musky smell here. Stronger than any other portion of the building I've explored.::

*Lee continues his way into the room and flashes his blade around to get a better look. The room was vast, very big. There were plenty of shelves stacked much taller than Lee was. As he continued further into the room, he noted a few terminals. He comms Tomias yet again. It made Lee a little more comfortable giving regular progress updates. Simple, mundane, but kept the line of communication flowing.*

::Seems to be a library of some sort. I see a few terminals. I'll try to get something out of them.::

*Lee approaches one of the terminals and tries to turn it on. Sparks fly and for a moment it lights up, but then dies down again. It was dead. Lee moved on to the next terminal right beside it. It flickers to life, and manages to stay on. After a few moments, Lee plugs in his datapad to the terminal and begins downloading as much data as he can. As he watches the screen on the datapad, he can tell many of the files are corrupted or incomplete.*

[Tomias Shoryu]

*Tomias fans away the smoke from the sparks as he looks at the loading bar on his datapad. It was halfway full.*

It seems to be downloading something useful. I can see what's already been fully downloaded and give you a heads up on some of what we got.

*Tomias touches the datapad and slides things around with his index finger. He taps an icon and a list pops up.*

Ok, We got the history of the Praxeum in general, info on some of the teachers and students........

*Without realizing it Tomias' voice fades out. Looking at the list he sees one name of one student that was trained here. Terra. Tomias' father. It was wierd to see him so young. But this picture was the exact image he saw earlier. He literally saw his father training earlier when they first entered the Praxeum. He looks up at Astefan with his eyes now glowing fully Arkanian white. Tomias sees his father as clear as he could see Astefan. He watches as he is kneeling behind Astefan with a padawan braid. He suddenly see's a light flash at the braid which then falls. Terra stands and bows. He turns and walks through Astefan and right in front of Tomias before disappearing into thin air. Tomias' eyes fade back to normal and he shakes his head finally realizing that he zoned out for quite a bit. Did he just watch his father's knighting ceremony? He looks back at Astefan who was probably looking at him with the most confusion.*

Ah yeah. It's still gather a bit of info. Apparently a lot has happened here and luckily this terminal has most of it recorded. So yeah Jackpot.

*Tomias comlink comes to life as he hear's Lee's voice come over. He takes the comlink out and presses the button.*

::Copy Lee. Me and Astefan have found a working terminal and I am downloading the info onto my datapad as we speak.::

[Garrett Sven]

*After finding only empty rooms until now Garrett's jaw almost drops when they stumble upon the library. As Lee starts downloading data from the terminal Garrett walks over to the bookshelves. There was a wealth of knowledge on these shelves. Historical records, philosophy, and lightsaber combat guides were all here. Garrett picks up one of the philosophy texts and moves over towards one of the windows so he can have light to read by*

[Taloombray]

*Though he stayed focused on his surroundings, Taloombray was pleased the General countered his padawan's dismissal with words of caution. Though on some level he recognized his increasingly competitive mindset where the young Jedi was concerned was extremely petty and unbefitting a soldier of his experience and caliber, he felt mildly vindicated that the leader of their small group sided with him. Whether that was what had Katarn had actually done was not really the point; that was how the Wookiee interpreted the interchange at the moment.*

*When they got to the colossal room the General described as a library, Taloombray began to drift from the otherwise tight formation they had had in the hallway. While Katarn began fiddling with the seemingly ancient data terminals and his padawan looked through a book plucked from the shelf, the Wookiee examined the room. Though the darkness and somewhat underground feel of the unlit, cave-like room was somewhat unnerving to the arboreal sentient, he did not have difficulty making his way through the forest of desks fuzzy with dust and neglect. As he made his way to the wall-to-ceiling shelves, Taloombray took a moment to open the drawers of the desks he passed. There were general student items in a few — writing styluses, pieces of age-yellowed flimsy, and the occasional data pad which he collected — but nothing that looked overly interesting.*

*The shelves were stuffed with items of possible interest. When he was close enough to see better, the Wookiee observed books, artifacts, the occasional holo-display device, and even a few preserved animals. Still curious about the now-pungent smell, Taloombray approached one of the taxidermied animals — it looked vaguely like a feline tach — and took a deep sniff. The ever-present dust made him sneeze, but he came away from the experience sure the pervading musk of the room was not from the preserved specimens.*

*Lacking any target for his earlier annoyance and anger, the soldier allowed his natural strategic curiosity to take control. Like a hound after game, he followed his nose, tracking the scent for its source. So preoccupied, the Wookiee wandered the room a few times trying to identify where the overriding musky smell was strongest. It took some time before he identified an area where the smell was stronger or possibly newer since the smell was thick in the air and the room was still and close with minimal airflow. Eventually, however, he thought he found a more recent strain of the stench near a side door attached to the wide library room.*

*At the touch of the wall panel beside it, the door in question slid open. The new room inside — which appeared to curve around to one side and out of sight into darkness — was awash in the acrid, musky odor of the library. Given his racial and cultural tendency towards superstition, the fur of the base of his mane was beginning to prickle as he stood looking into the rank darkness. Even his natural lowlight vision could not penetrate the lightless room very far. The Wookiee's increasing certainty that whatever was causing the smell was some sort of creature did not combine well with the darkness. Monsters and evil spirits in the darkness of the undergrounds were very common in the legends and tales of his people. Momentarily annoyed with himself, Taloombray tried to shake off what he rightly thought was childish fears and superstition. With his ryyyk blades in hand and his senses sharp, he took a few slow steps into the black room.*

*Though his ears were straining for any information available, and his eyes were wide in the vain attempt to see anything that might be available, it was Taloombray's sense of touch which first alerted him to something. He brushed something with his foot as he was walking. The thing was small and clattered away lightly. At the sound the soldier held stock still, but after a few moments of silence bent down and felt around for the source of the sound. He quickly located the object by feel and picked it up.*

*The thing was about three or four inches long, and mostly smooth. It tapered to a semi-rounded point at one end but was wide and jagged on the other end. Guessing, based on its feel, weight, and the sound it had made over the stone floor, Taloombray guessed it was bone of some sort. He retreated with his find back into the semi-light of the larger library where he could examine it. Once in the better light of the library, he saw that it was not a bone as he had first thought, but a broken tooth or claw. Based on its size, it was not a far shot to guess that whatever creature had lost it had been the maker of those gashes in the walls earlier.*

*Taloombray took his find to Katarn.*

<General. A tooth or claw of some large creature. It was in that back room. It stinks of whatever musk hangs on this place.>

*He offered the object to the leader, along with the handful of datapads he'd collected from the desks*

[Lee Katarn]

*Lee had been staring over the data that was slowly being transferred to his datapad. He frowned slightly. So much of the data wasn't complete. Most of what wasn't corrupted was just fractions here and there. At the very least, he wouldn't come back empty handed.

He perked up when he heard Taloombray calling to him, however. He had noted the wookiee of the group had wandered off. Lee had trusted his judgement enough to trust he wouldn't cause any trouble. Though now the thought was crossing his mind that he may have stirred up something. He let the thought pass and inspected what Taloombray brought him.*

Come with me, we'll check it out.

*He looked to find Garrett, seeing his padawan was into his studies, reading up as he was in the academy at the praxium, he grinned and shook his head. Garrett could be a good Jedi, if he tried. Garrett just had his moments where he concerned Lee. He called out to Garrett.*

Do me a favor and watch that datapad, will you? It's about 78% done. It'll ping twice when it's finished transferring the data. I'm going to check something out with Taloombray. If it's finished before we return, just stuff it away on your person.

*He turns his attention back to Taloombray.*

Alright. Let's poke around and see what's up.

*Lee was beginning to wander what manner of creature could have a tooth or claw like that and be in a place like this? He decided to give a progress update to the other team.*

::Taloombray found something. We think it's a tooth or a claw of some animal. We're going to check it out.::

*Lee made his way into the hallway that Taloombray was in earlier when he found the tooth. The wookiee was right, that smell was certainly stronger here. Lee continued to venture further than Taloombray had gone before. As the duo continued walking down the hallway, Lee could see light coming from the end of the hallway. Strange, since the light didn't seem to be like the light streaking into the large library room they were in earlier.

As Lee walked closer he could see the light had a green glow to it. Just what was it? As he focused his attention on it. He understood now that this was what was calling to him. Now more deliberate to venture further, Lee continued down the rest of the hallway and into the room beyond. As Lee stepped forward, he seemed to ignore the rest of the surroundings in the room. The light was coming from an object on a pedastal towards the back of the room.

Lee continued to approach the object and once he got closer, he started to reach his hand out towards it. Upon further inspection, it'd be noted that it was a Jedi holocron. Lee was amazed to find it. As he reached out to touch it, he hesitated for a moment. There was a voice whispering to him. It sounded like...it sounded like an elder arkanian.

Danger...

*Lee pulled his hand away slightly from the holocron. It was an odd, eerie feeling that he had. This whole room seemed alive...and haunted. But the curiousity and the overwhelming urge to reach out and touch the Jedi holocron overcame him. Finally the fingertips of his hand touched the side of the holocron facing him. In a hiss-snap sort of sound the light seemed to dim significantly in the room.

Lee seemed to snap back to his senses as well. He could see the wall behind the holocron was gone. There was actually snow and ice covering it instead. Lee looked behind him and the room...Lee's eyes opened wide. There were giant, broken eggshells in the room and some sort of dried up ooze.*

What the-

*Before Lee could get it out, he felt something in the Force. He looked around the room, before turning his attention to Taloombray.*

We're not alone.

[Taloombray]

*A thrill of excitement went through the soldier when the General decided to investigate his finding. That excitement was checked with superstitious caution and concern when the Jedi dove into the darkness. Pride and the desire for action overrode his more natural instinct of staying out of the dark unknown and kept him at Katarn's side. He tracked the human by sound through the penetrating darkness of the passage.*

*When a glimmer of green light made itself known somewhere up ahead, the Wookiee's mane began to stand on end. Still he followed his commander. As the glow grew, so too did the smell and the soldier's ever-increasing discomfort with their surroundings. The smell was something of increasing familiarity and that familiarity was not a good thing. Though he couldn't put his finger on it, the near-recognizable element of the smell put his teeth on edge. The room as well was alive with... something. Something that made him more nervous than the smell and the likelihood of large beasts in the dark. Spirits in the dark.*

*Though he felt foolish in wanting to say it, Taloombray wanted to warn the General of the frightening aliveness of where they were. When he turned his attention to his commanding officer, however, he could see the Jedi was possessed of that knowledge already. Or perhaps just possessed?*

*Katarn's wide-eyed focused staring at the source of the green glow in the center of the room -- some sort of small device on a pedestal; perhaps some sort of Jedi idol or seat of Force magic -- was vastly concerning. As was his apparent intent to touch the thing and the enormous things that were obviously broken eggs he was ignoring that were not three meters away from where he stood.*

*Having been on occasion to Dosha and once having encountered a Trandoshan nesting clutch, the Wookiee knew what sized creatures came out of the roughly 8- to 10-inch-long eggs of the bipedal reptiles. Confronted with several near-meter-tall eggshells, indicative of having hatched out their occupants, he was momentarily horrified to consider the size of the creatures which came from them. When the General made his observation that they were not alone, it was something of an understatement.*

<We should leave. Now.>

[Firaxan Shark]

*For their part, the beasts that made the praxium their home had remained asleep. The warm glow from the Jedi holocron had been their source of comfort. The eggs around it showed they were clutched here for a reason. They were arkanian dragons, an increasingly rare breed on the planet.

However, most arkanian dragons were never so big. The egg themselves had to be around two to two and a half feet big. What crawled out of them were arkanian dragons the size of ponies. Though that was some time ago and now the dragons were the size of small horses. Their scales were thick, thicker than normal arkanian dragons, which would suggest it gave them some protection against blasters and that they wouldn't be taken down so casually with a lightsaber.

Towards the side of the room and out of view, the dragons had remained sleeping. That all changed with the hiss-snap of the holocron after it had been touched. The light had dimmed and the power of the holocron seemed to have faded for a the time being. The dragons didn't like that. The holocron was like it's source, they were feeding off of it. Often times when a beast fed upon the Force like this, it made them a force to be reckoned with and these beasties were no different.

The dragons began pouring out from the side of the room they had been sleeping at and spotted two intruders. One of them let out a sharp hiss, two of them bolted directly at the intruders, intent on making them pay for not only coming into their nest but obstructing their power source. But what was three doubled to six. There were atleast six dragons. One stayed behind, two had already went after the intruders. The other three stood behind the one that had stayed behind.

One of them seemed only slightly larger than the rest of the group, the one that had hissed and had stayed behind. It was obviously the alpha male of the group.*

[Lee Katarn]

*Lee nodded slowly when Taloombray had said they should leave. Just as Lee took a step toward the hallway, he heard a hiss. He turned to his left to see a dragon appear that was pretty big and very scaley. But then two more appeared and took off after him and Taloombray. Lee didn't even bother to see three more had shown up.*

I agree. We're getting out of here. NOW!!!

*Lee ran out the room and down the dark hallway, activating his yellow saber for light. He could only hope he could make it back to the big room where they were earlier. Wait! The holocron! Lee turned around to look behind him. The dragons were actually gaining good distance on him. Screw it. He couldn't go back and get it now. He didn't like the idea of going through half a dozen dragons just for the holocron.*

[Garrett Sven]

*Garrett nods as his master and Taloombray go to investigate the funny smell that was in the air. The book he had picked up was nothing more than the same boring Jedi rhetoric that he had hear time and time again so he puts the book back on the shelf and finds one dedicated to defensive uses of the force. He goes to the index and from their goes to the section dedicated to the force bubble technique*

:: The user manipulates the force to create a protective bubble around himself, his allies, or even his foes in order to trap them::

*So was it like projecting force armor? Garrett figured that mindset would be a good starting point for learning this technique. He places the book on the ground beside him, and attempts to create a small bubble in his hand. He concentrated hard and began to feel the force forming a small bubble just as the datapad beeped to indicate the download was complete*

Guess I better grab that.

*Garrett walks over to the terminal and unplugs the datapad. There was a lot of fragmented data but perhaps what Tomias had found could help complete it. After placing the datapad in his pocket he extended his hand to try making a bubble. He clears his mind and imagines the small shimmering orb in his hand. It took a lot of concentration, but after a few moments he began to see bits of shimmering blue light. He focuses even harder until at last there is a light blue orb in his hand, well floating just above it. He sustains it for about a minute before he has to dispel it. This would be a valuable technique but it would take much more practice. He walks over to the other side of the library where he discover the charred? Yes the charred remains of what would appear to be a salvager. A few feet from him was his blaster rifle, implying he must have been knocked over before he was roasted. Garrett picks up the blaster rifle. I was Akranian in design and the scope had been modified. As he looks down the sights of the weapon he hears loud noises coming from the direction his master and Taloombray had left in and as he runs to the door he sees him master's lightsaber coming ever closer. He raises the rifle and looks down the thermal scope to see what was chasing his master and see the the image of a large creature. It must be a dragon. He attempts to reach out to his master through the force*

:: Lee, stay near the wall... I have a shot::

[Taloombray]

*At the hiss from the far end of the dark room, the Wookiee's head snapped around. The source of the noise was a nightmare beast surely borne of the Shadowlands themselves. First there was one, then three, and movement in the darkness behind suggested more.*

*When the General agreed that they should be leaving -- NOW -- Taloombray did not hesitate. No amount of military pride would keep him in that room as the beasts began to charge. The soldier spun on his heel and tore down the hall after Katarn. He wanted to be out of the Force-forsaken darkness and somewhere where he could fight. Dying in the jaws of some animal in the dark on a world that was not his own was not a part of his plans.*

[Lee Katarn]

*Lee didn't like the looks of this. The dragons were gaining too fast. He should have known when it came to natural speed, the beasts would have the advantage. When Garrett Shouted at him to move because he had a shot, Lee dove forward and flat on the ground, rolling to the side of the wall to let Garrett have his shot.

When Garrett fired, Lee jumped back up and kept running. Finally he was back in the larger room where they had originally been. This was better for Lee. He couldn't take them in that smaller room or the cramped hallways. The large library proved more advantageous.*