With Havoc squad’s decisive analysis of the diagram in front of them, the group trudged down into the sewer tunnels, which were in no better condition than the Promenades and streets above them. The smell was almost nauseating. No worse than Korriban’s tombs or the colicoid-infested caves of Balmorra (which she had only ever seen once in her lifetime) but still enough of a stench to make Aria want to hold her breath until they got out of there. With some apprehension, she slipped past the grate behind Elara and down into the ruined structure below.
“To think this has been down here all this time and nobody really knew about it…” she muttered as she too examined their surroundings, turning in a slow circle to examine every part of the chamber they were in. “What do you think they even used it for?” she was more thinking out loud than expecting anybody to actually answer her, though of course if any of her companions had any thoughts to add to her own she would be interested to hear them.
“It’s ornate enough to have been some kind of temple or altar of some kind...don’t you think?” she added as she hesitantly made her way across to one of the walls and ran her hand over the fine indentations that had been chiselled into the stonework. The wall felt slimy, coated in a thick sticky film of something...she couldn’t quite make out its colour so couldn’t be sure whether it was stagnant water, sewer sludge or any manner of other unpleasant things. All she could tell for certain was that it wasn’t very nice, and not something she wanted to get covered in, thus abruptly stepping back and wiping her hand off on the end of her cloak.
“Ew. That’s gross.”
They could just about see to the end of the north-facing hallway, it appeared to end abruptly with a towering concrete-block wall that extended far above their heads towards the surface world.
But Nar Shaddaa was a Hutt controlled world and always had been (as far as she knew), what use would Hutts have for any kind of temple or altar? Or perhaps it hadn’t belonged to the Hutts at all, nothing she had ever heard or read suggested such ruins existed on Nar Shaddaa….so perhaps they had been built down here to be kept hidden FROM the Hutts?
She was about to present that point of enquiry to Yerbol and the others when it seemed their attentions had turned to the east and west hallways. Peering into them revealed nothing but impenetrable blackness that seemed to stretch on for quite some time in either direction. And they wanted to split up and go INTO them. Now she was usually the adventurous one out of the duo, but something about this place set her teeth on edge and she suddenly wasn’t so sure they should be down here at all. But they needed to know what they were up against and if the Xiis were down here or had some kind of base of operations, they had to find it.
Yerbol’s hand closed around hers and squeezed gently, bringing a soft smile to her features despite her apprehension. She nodded in return and released her grip to step back and join Abbeth and Elara, following up with:
You bet we do, as soon as we’ve got the upper hand on these guys.
Out loud, she continued from Elara’s caution: “We’ll see you soon, hopefully. And if you see anything that even remotely looks like a Xiis...it’s probably best to shoot first and ask questions later.” normally she wouldn’t advocate such a vicious response after their previous experiences but Zora was right about one thing...these Xiis were dangerous, they weren’t like them. Didn’t have a sense of right and wrong.
They proceeded down the east hallway, using a ball of Force lightning that Aria managed to hover a few inches in front of them (with some difficulty….she had to get Yerbol to teach her the whole light orb thing at some point) and torches Elara and Abbeth carried with them. Their pace was slow, mostly because for once Aria was not content to go rushing blindly forward when there was a possibility of more collapsed entryways or Force forbid some kind of chasm that one of them could slip and fall into. Then there was the constant dripping sound to take into account, it never went away and a sound that would normally be rather insignificant was simply amplified by the empty stone passageways around them and seemed to echo all around the trio as they progressed. It had started out as simply annoying, but now it was making Aria’s head hurt. Abbeth had suggested the source as a leaky pipe of some description (they WERE in a sewer after all), but Aria wasn’t convinced. The floor seemed to be slick with some kind of liquid, but it certainly seemed thicker than just water....she didn’t want to begin to think about what else it could be. She remembered what the Xiis female had said to her on Quensu: Your Sith blood will make us strong. And how often the others seemed to declare taking various organs or body parts of their downed opponents as some sort of gruesome trophy. Did they make a habit of consuming people they defeated in battle? That was a disturbing thought. But then it seemed as if other whispers that weren’t just her recollection were creeping through the dark towards them. They took on a mocking tone, as if the Xiis knew there was no real escape for them but wanted the thrill of the chase regardless:
Run, run little Sith. Run while you still can! There is nowhere for you to go, we see you. We will find you.
In the back of her mind, it brought to life memories of similar endurance runs through the ancient Sith Lord’s tombs, starving Tuk’ata and Hssiss snapping at her heels as she floundered blindly in the dark, desperate to find the exit before those terrible jaws closed around her...except she had known, in at least some way, the layout of those tombs. There had been places to hide. Here there was none of that. Glancing sideways at her companions, she wasn’t sure if Abbeth and Elara had heard the voice, too, or if it had all been in her head. Neither gave an indication that they had heard anything.
A cold shiver crept down her spine, the Champion pausing to glance around them as she suddenly had the unnerving feeling that they were being watched. Elara and Abbeth shot her concerned looks as she wheeled around to face the darkened corners behind them, catching the sound of skittering footsteps, far too heavy to be sewer rats. Once, she thought she had caught the flicker of eyeshine at the edges of their light sources, but by the time she raised the lightning ball up to investigate further the corner was eerily empty of any form at all.
“I don’t like this.” she whispered to her two companions, clumsily groping for her connection to Yerbol to check that he, Bex and Zora were okay as well.
Bol? Aria felt his alarm seeping into her own mind almost as soon as she focused on their connection again. What….what is it? Are you okay?
She didn’t like this. Turning on her heel, she growled to Elara.
“I’ve got a BAD feeling about this. We need to go back.” She hadn’t meant to run, but any sense of caution she felt at that point was overridden by the determination to get back to Yerbol before any of the Xiis did. Sure, she could have been imagining the voice, but she wasn’t going to take that chance. They weren’t going to touch him. Not over her dead body.
I think they’re here, check behind you!
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