2.2 - Heyop

The figure with the sword -- surely it's a lightsaber -- does not move much. Heyop feels the Force flow through him as he projects his emotions using the light side. His words get a reaction, however, as the figure turns his head to look at Heyop as he closes the distance. The sword in his hand glows and thrums with a low bass -- it is an unusual and memorable sound.

There is a rumble and bits and pieces of the ceiling cascade down. Perhaps seismic activity? The corpses near Dagger and Buddy seem incoherent and irrelevant now. Heyop isn't certain he recalls seeing them in truth which bolsters his resolve that perhaps Buddy isn't as dangerous as he seems.

As Heyop steps closer the red blade swoops up from Dagger's throat to stop scant inches away from Heyop's face. Buddy puts a foot upon Dagger's chest to hold him down. "Afraid to strike me down?" Buddy asks. "Why do you not seek to rescue your pitiful friend?"

The lightsaber doesn't wave from Heyop's face. He will be hard-pressed to dodge an attack should it come, but he manages to keep his nerve. Buddy, for his part doesn't spare Dagger a second glance, "The whelp is unarmed and pitifully incompetent in the Force. His death with be a blessing. A more powerful user would suffer far more greatly under the whim of my superior before finally succumbing to the dark side." The boot does not move.

Buddy considers. "What is your plan? Surely not to do battle against me with that stick?"

Heyop's strike weaves about and lands true -- the lightsaber falls from Buddy's hand and there is a bright flash. When his eyes clear, Heyop finds himself in a room standing before three identical entrances. Left, center and right. Behind him, a pathway winds back and disappears around a turn.

There is no sign of Dagger, or of Buddy.

Heyop walks along the right-ward path awhile. Its general feel and terrain feeling very similar to that of the center path. From time to time he glances over his shoulder, half expecting Dagger to come by again -- but that does not happen. This time, however, after a short walk he enters another scene. Someone who resembles -- but is not -- Buddy stands over a kneeling Urik, his gleaming black sword discarded nearby. Urik looks defeated and nursing a wound to his arm as he kneels before a ledge into a pit below.

The path from Heyop to Urik and his captor (let's call him Cap) is somewhat treacherous. A narrow ledge leads from Heyop's tunnel to the place where the others are. It does not appear that Cap yet knows that Heyop is here.

Heyop quickly fires off a few rounds -- but before he is able to get too many shots in the air, the gun kicks back. Empty. Ahead the inquisitor appears to sense the inbound rounds. Urik is given a casual kick and goes sprawling over the edge with a wordless scream and the red lightsaber of the inquisitor flashes repeatedly as close shots are casually deflected into the cave walls.

He turns to look at Heyop and smiles. "Well, well... was that worth it? It must make you so angry. Yes -- I bet it does." He kicks Urik's sword off the ledge after the departed boy and turns and walks away, disappearing out of sight around a corner with a passing, "Yes, embrace your rage..." just before he is gone.

Heyop moves forward, looking for a place to secure his rope. There aren't a lot of great options that fill him with confidence as he looks around. He fishes his rope out of his pack and casts about urgently for a place to secure it, focused on the task at hand. Heyop is duly startled, then when a bloody hand clasps his shoulder.

Spinning in surprise, nearly losing his own footing in the process, Heyop comes face to face with a bloody and battered Urik. Urik looks at Heyop for a long moment before saying, "Another failed test means the temple will not release you. You will wind up a dusty corpse, like the masters you saw outside."

The shock of seeing his friend pushed casually to his death...and then to come face to face with him is a bit overwhelming. Heyop suffers a setback die on all rolls until the end of his trial.