One Month Ago
Consul’s Office
Sadow Temple
Sepros

“There’s something you should see.” Bentre spun the datapad around on the consul's desk, the plans for the Sadow Temple visible on the wafer display. He raised his eyes toward Darkhawk furtively, waiting for the single nod before beaming it to the holoprojector. Erupting in transparent blue, the pyramidal structure’s skin gave way to three-dimensional renderings that showed the labyrinth of corridors and chambers within.

Bentre raised a hand, manipulating the display in real time, zooming into a spot, high in the structure and devoid of any chambers. “I had noticed this in the initial scans, and again when the droids were fabricating…”

Darkhawk sat forward, fingers forming a triangle in front of his face as he thought. “Seems like there should be a chamber there.”

Bentre just pointed at him with a single nod. “So, I had a sonar scan done, and sure enough…” fingers flew across the console, and a rendering transposed itself on the diagram. A high-ceilinged chamber with several doors and some sort of mechanism reaching through ventilation shafts above.

“What do you think their purpose was?” Darkhawk slowly rose, leaning in for a better look.

“I can’t be sure, but from the original scans, I think it was only accessible by using telekinesis…” Bentre stopped, letting the holo zoom in for effect. “I think it was Lord Sadow’s Dark Council.”

The consul stared at it, then let his eyes dart toward the Master and back. This wasn’t the first secret that the temple had held, but this one seemed wilder yet. The scans on Yavin were amazingly thorough, and the droid refabricators had replicated it precisely, even going to the trouble of mining the same sort of stone that the original temple was made from. Any sort of secrets that the Golden Age Sith Lord had built into his structure would have been replicated in full.

“We… We should tell Muz.”

Bentre smiled at the Consul.

Private Chambers
Ragnos Cathedral
Tarthos

The door opened as the Consul and Bentre approached, revealing the darkened interior. Dim light fell from candles across a library with a single desk at the center, the dark form of the Lion standing on the other side. Between them, a hovering black pyramid, a darkened miasma vomited forth from it.

The door closed behind them, their eyes adjusting to the darkness. The fog projected by the pyramid was equal parts black, crimson, and gold, seeming to be like an angry smoke. It seemed to turn at their intrusion, Muz’s black eyes seeming focused on its erratic movement.

“Krrrrsssshhhhh-crets kept are krrrrrsssssshhh the worthy. Finding th-krrrzzzsssshhhhh-den table is krrrssszzzzsht…” the crystals hummed, the corruption in the matrices evident as Muz leaned forward, a tiny tool in one hand as fingers twitched, pulling on the threads of reality that bound the device.

“The Eos Holocron…” Darkhawk all but whispered. He had heard of the artifact, but was never quite sure if it was just an exaggeration. And yet, here it was. Black sides, a golden top, fine lines and runes tracing the sides. Of course he would have it. It was his way.

Bentre nodded, stepping forward, the buzzing in his own head growing somehow more insistent and quiet at the same time. If that corrupted face in the mist was who he had heard, he wondered if he should kneel or not. Eyes darted back up, Muz’s focus tightly on the image, his mind wrapped around the palimpsest itself. It had to be a difficult task to even access the artifact, let alone attempt to repair it at the same time. And yet if he wasn’t bowing, then neither would they.

Muz twisted a corner of his lips, a glimmer of recognition, of realization touching the corners of his eyes as he dipped his head.

”Thank you.” His words scraped across their ears and minds at the same time as the miasma seemed to flow back into the Holocron. He raised his head, black eyes regarding the pair of them. He knew. Of course he knew.

Today
The Seventh Tooth
Dentavii Station
Orian System

The ginger haired man seemed entirely too at-ease, given the situation. He leaned across the bar, setting down a drink that he had all but chugged down in one pull. Darkhawk smiled at the man, drawing smoke in from his own cigarra, an import from one of the distant bits.

“But you think it’s there?” The question came again.

“As I told ya, that gangster was obsessed with the color.” He stared at his empty glass for a moment then pushed it forward at the Bob-ot before continuing. “It’s just a show of wealth for him. Gold and all that. Uses it to have meetings with his underlings.”

“Mick, you’re sure?” The Consul was rather unsure how to address the man. Mick Hammer, Captain of the Rowdy Toddler. Pirate? Some days, probably. Mercenary? No, not his style. Smuggler? Yeah, if the pay was worth it. But as far as he knew, he was a fixer that Muz had met somewhere along the way. One of the myriad people he would get chasing after rumors and stories, trying to find whatever lost bits of antiquity he was after at that moment. Hells, the man had managed to find the thousands year old Harrower wreck that was so integral to their plans.

“I mean, it's a big damn gold table.” He raised a refilled glass at the Bob-ot as it delivered him the fresh drink and tipped a hat back at him. “Buncha creepifying old runes all over it? Old as hell?” He took a drink, letting the flavor wash over his tongue.

Darkhawk looked at Muz, exhaling a cloud of smoke as he waited. That moment seemed to drag forever, but then it came unbidden, like a headache out of nowhere.

He could see it. Long, golden, the markings from the ancient Sith obscured by Sabacc cards and cred chits from all over the galaxy. The image itched in the back of his mind like an allergic reaction to a memory not his own. Darkhawk set his teeth. This artifact, a relic of the Golden Age of the Sith, a place where Naga Sadow Himself once sat and took counsel at, demeaned as a bloody gambling table in a gangster’s office.

Darkhawk blinked, his eyes returning to the now, seeing the black pools of the Lion of Tarthos. Nodding once, Muz let the memory retreat, back to Mick Hammer, whence it came. Mick, for his part, shook his head like he had recently been popped in the side of his head, then raised his drink, finishing it in a single go.

“Anyway, Rorak IV.” Mic seemed to shrug off the intrusion, smiling broadly. “And hey, if you rough up Buldakka for me, I’d take it as a kindness. Schutta of a Hutt ripped me off a few too many times.”

Darkhawk tried to restrain a grin. “I think we can manage that.”

Welcome to my 18th Proconsul report. I’ve been doing blurbs in the Consul’s report this whole time, but We’ve decided to split mine off for more frequent fiction drops and to give the members their due and proper for what they have done more often. So here we are!

THINGS TO DO:

As you’ve read (or not, TL;DR at the bottom), DarkHawk and I are running an event for all of November called The Golden Table. This allows us to fictionally explore more of the history of Naga Sadow Himself and tie it to the Ancient Empire named for him…and in the process have it so that your characters can be intrinsically involved in the process.

“What’s that mean, Muz?”

Well, if you go 100% on participation in the Golden Table events, we will write you into the official records and fiction for having been an important part of the operations. The official fictions, the wiki articles, etc. You’ll be a part of CNS history. And that is on top of the credits, xp and medals that you can earn by doing so.

The Golden Table event is found at https://www.darkjedibrotherhood.com/competitions/24327 and you’ll find a good selection of low-stress comps, quick ways to get involved to your own comfort level, and a fiction for when you want to get a bit more into the weeds.

We’re also going to be opening the Seventh Tooth bar on Dentavii again for a casual RP. With the clan returning from the Brotherhood events like Parabellum Cycle 3 and the Pro Bowl, our characters might need a little R&R, and that’s what is on offer. Come on in, grab a drink, listen to some music, and chat with your fellow members about the recent happenings.

Koji is also running a pretty neat graphics competition to draw a character’s Halloween Masquerade outfit. https://www.darkjedibrotherhood.com/competitions/24334

And as usual, I am running our monthly Sadow Monthly Skirmish, which can be found here: https://www.darkjedibrotherhood.com/competitions/24234

There’s also a wide variety of Brotherhood-wide comps available here: https://www.darkjedibrotherhood.com/competitions

THINGS WE’VE DONE:

We recently opened the Diplomatic Station over Inos and hosted members from across the brotherhood in a social RP. A lot of folks showed up, despite the fact that we had concurrent events fighting for our attention and time. In retrospect, the timing was kinda ill-timed, but we were anxious to open up the station and give our members a chance to interact with DBers on our own turf. Right now, the intent is to alternate our running RPs with Seventh Tooth (CNS only) RPs and Diplomatic Station (Brotherhood-wide) RPs. And as usual, if you have any input on these, I’m very interested to hear it! October Gorefest: Creon, Hades and myself got into the top 10!

CLUSTERS: 859 Clusters of Fire and 7 Clusters of Ice total from Darkhawk, Ashia, Tasha, Creon, Hades, Koji and myself.

GMRG! Kojiro maxed out his GMRG at XII, catching himself a cool droid and 25,000 credits. Creon got to rank XI, earning himself 20k. As you can see, those society ranks pay REALLY well, so get in there!

Over the past two weeks,we’ve had a STACK of competitions graded from the most Recent Parabellum cycle. Here’s some of those medals:

CCG: 5th place - Darkhawk, Tasha and myself.
Brawlhalla: 5th place - Tasha.
RP: 4th- Ashia and myself.
Empty Crates: 2nd - DarkHawk, 5th- myself.
Holopicts: 3rd- Ashia and myself, 4th - Darkhawk and Kalen.
Cluster race: 3rd - myself, 7th- Koji.

And those are just the individual event crescents! It was good to see so many clan members in the top ten of this brotherhood-wide event, and I know that a lot of us went for broke on participation…50% of the clan, which is just amazing! Also, a big shout-out for Atra and the Dark Council for grading the parabellum events on such a good turn-around.

So there’s a lot that’s been done in the last few weeks, and new stuff available for people to do, but at a much less frenetic pace than the last few weeks. As we close out the last few months of the year, we’re all very likely to be busy with the holidays, vacations, poor weather, and final exams, so the shift to a more friendly and relaxed pace will be a welcome change.

As usual, I look forward to talking to many of you online, even if for a moment.

Have fun, and stay safe!

TL;DR:

=> CNS event: lots of comps, steal our old table back. => Parabellum cycle complete, members did work. => Get on discord, say hi. => Have fun, stay safe!