Conquering the Darkest Places

[Lunafox]

Faithful readers,

 

I'm terribly sorry there hasn't been an update today as there was supposed to be. I also say today as if it's not 2am Friday. Anyway! I've just been under a huge amount of stress this past week because of job stuff and a bunch of other things and I just... haven't felt much like writing. Or doing anything for that matter.

 

I had a drink or two and knocked out three pages this evening but it's neither edited nor long enough for me to post for you guys, and I won't have time to write tomorrow. I promise to get things together and post this weekend. Because you guys are awesome and a love that you enjoy my story! (416 views this week alone! )

 

It's okay Divi I'm sorry to hear you've been stressed out. Take it easy, it's supposed to be fun, so do it when you're able and feel like it.

 

I hope things settle down for you and that you're able to get back into the swing of things.

[Diviciacus]

Congrats on your views! That's wonderful to see. You've been working hard and it's nice that it's being appreciated.

 

I know, right! It's absolutely wonderful to know people are reading my story, which makes it doubly painful when I didn't post a new section on Thursday like I wanted. I didn't just let myself down, I let all my readers down too.

 

Anyway, happier note! Thanks for reading and commenting replies in delicious mint green.

 

 

That's quite the imagery to set up the scene where Grik Sonosan is being interrogated by Baras. Loved the brutality of it, much more realistic than what we got in the game, but then again, the game only allows so much owing to the rating.

 

I figured even without the rating torture by a Sith would be a special kind of depraved. Glad you liked it! (I probably could have dragged it out more but I thought that might be a bit much.)

 

You captured Baras' rage perfectly. I'll never get over how angry he was here lol. He was usually so soft-spoken and calm. I think the agent did a far better job of breaking him, than the other way around.

 

You know I had never considered that angle. I'll have to rewatch all my recordings with that angle and see what pops up.

 

I enjoyed this line from Authenta about the Dark Temple.

“I have heard tales. But even had I not, I can feel it out in the jungle, unrelenting in its seductive pull.”

I also enjoyed how you combined Arctis' expedition with the warrior story.

 

That line went through so many iterations. Just so many. I am glad you liked the end result! And of course, how could I resist? Is it really Darth Arctis that sends the expedition in-game? I just made that up here. As I try to peel away from in-game dialogue as much as possible (except where it's awesome/hilarious), I've been writing a lot from memory. But I also only recorded class-quests, not side stuff.

 

Of course, Baras 'tolerated' her recovery. What a guy. Who else is he going to get that's powerful enough to do all his chores for him? He's certainly not going to do it lol.

 

I felt like that might have been a bit of an awkward description, but apparently it worked out! Doing his own dirty work is just not Baras' style. Such hubris, hon hon hon

 

In sparing Vette the interrogation we missed some of the fun lines, where SW get's to passive-aggressively snark at Baras, but that's ok, I don't see Auth doing that anyway.

 

I'm not going to lie, although I love Vette's snark, I wanted to cut out much of Dromund Kaas because it's honestly kind of boring. Actually, I'm going to cut out a lot because it's tedious, or boring because it doesn't actually add to the story narrative but bioware needed a reason to send you there so that every class sees every planet.

 

As an aside, it always amused me, how they send you to the dark temple to find a thing you have no idea how to find, or what it looks like if it even works or exists after all that time.

 

I tried to fix that. Did it work? Maybe? Although given that the entire Temple is roughly Force-powered I'm inclined to think that any artifact not working is more of a PEBKAC issue than a material one.

 

That was nice, to include something so regular as the conversation about food, between Vette and Auth. So much is mystical and amazing about this universe that ordinary things are overlooked and can often be quietly fascinating.

 

Things overlooked include: Kaas City street food, hahaha. I feel like it adds color to my story and richness to Auth and Vette's relationship that they're doing stuff but still like "Food? Food."

 

Interesting, if the attempted assassination of Darth Marr, took place a month previous to Jadus' (if you're still referring to the failed Operation: Cornerstone) that would make my Jedi Liatrix, a little girl at this point in time in your timeline--so Authenta would be significantly older as would Vette. I think that's right, though the migraine I'm suffering through right now might be affecting my thought process...

I'd always considered SW and Jedi Knight to be contemporaries in my little world, but of course, this is your world, I just find it fascinating to consider.

 

Right, we talked about this bit already

Yay, Keeper And he has nerve, love it. I always respected that about him.

 

To another Sith I doubt he'd be so brusque, but Authenta doesn't have much military/Sith clout yet so he's able to kind of half boss her around, especially with how high up he is in the Imperial power structure. As Keeper he's essentially second in line to having the ear of Darth Jadus. Or, well, not Jadus anymore

 

Nice bit of fun there at the end, as they make their way to the temple. Cool to have that after so much seriousness.

 

Vette takes everything both very seriously and not at all. Which I think may or may not be a coping mechanism when she's afraid. I dated enough psych majors in university to pick some things up... mostly "don't date psych majors" but yea. Vette's irreverence really feels like it's a facade so I'm rolling with it

 

 

 

Lovely chapter, Divi. As always, I've enjoyed it muchly.

 

I'm glad you like it Hoping this week's will be longer if I ever publish it. I may just skip a week since I have SO MUCH that needs done before noon Monday.

Edited October 1, 2017 by Diviciacus