They made their way through the library, going back the way they'd come in. When they got to the large abyss that they'd nearly fell down, their presence activated a plasma bridge that they crossed easily to the other side. It didn't take them long at all now to make their way outside the library, and they watched the entrance conceal itself again.
They took a few moments to meditate and adjust to being surrounded by the fog again before they loaded up onto the swoop bike, and took off slowly towards the point that Trychon had noted on his datapad earlier. They kept the pace slow even in openings in the trees, so they could keep their senses keen not only for the human inhabitants they'd recently learned of, but also for the Terentatek and King Vornskr... or any other danger they may not yet know about.
They came across nothing of interest until they slowed down even more as they closed in on the path they'd marked. Raezyr slowed the swoop to a full stop, and they got out to take a quick look around. They couldn't find any signs about the nature of the path beyond the clues that they already had. Still, they were fairly sure that this path had to be related to the humans that the notes in the library mentioned. That, and the piece of cloth they'd seen there so recently was now removed completely. That could have been the work of the vornskrs... but they could find no evidence of their activity here either.
Going off of a hunch, and hoping that it really was more than a hunch, Raezyr picked a direction on the path, and they agreed to proceed in that direction for a ways to look for other clues... or even the human settlement they needed to find. They went along, keeping their senses extended in every direction, and didn't have much luck. The path winded through and around various hills... but they hadn't seen any evidence as to why it was there.
They were nearly ready to give up and head back in the other direction when they sensed something. It was a very small presence, but it was directly in front of them, presumably on the path, perhaps a bit over one hundred meters away. Raezyr didn't have to look to Trychon for confirmation that he'd noticed it as well, and he sped up to close the distance.
It didn't take them long. They found themselves staring at a little human girl holding a stuffed toy vornskr. She stared blankly right back at them. Trychon hopped off of the bike and walked up to her, and pulled his lightsaber off his belt. He left it unlit, as he was sure the child would be able to assume that it was something he could hurt her with. He wanted to intimidate her into answering him, but he didn't want to scare her to the point where they'd be able to get nothing from her.
Trychon knelt down in front of her, and pointed his lightsaber hilt in her direction, although not directly at her. He asked her sternly where her home was. Sure he would get a reaction out of her, and prepared for any number of possibilities, he was completely unprepared for what she did.
She continued to stare at him completely blankly for a moment, before pointing along the path in the direction they were already headed. "There." She said, before turning to walk along the path a little further without another word or even a glance at them.
Huh. Was all Trychon could think at the time. He decided to be a little more specific though, and he continued. Raez... I didn't sense... ANY emotions from her. Did you?
Reazyr responded with a negative, and they decided to go ahead and continue on as the girl had suggested, as odd as it had felt.
Sure enough, after following the path for a few hundred more meters, they felt another set of presences. These were also faint, but there seemed to be a very large group of them. That wasn't surprising by itself, but they were finding the whole situation a bit odd.
They continued on and found a large village of huts, which seemed to be made almost completely out of simple materials from the forest. They parked the vehicle just outside of the village and commanded Aitchkay to stay with their in case they needed picked up in a hurry. Then they turned and walked towards the buildings. As they got closer, the view became a bit more unsettling as the huts all seemed to be completely uniform, which simply didn't match their general makeup. The buildings were separated into small groups by dirt streets that didn't appear to be manufactured as much as worn down.
They wandered down what seemed to be one of the larger walkways, passing by dozens of people, none of whom paid them any attention at all, and who all had the same blank look on their faces. Their conscious feeling through the force matched that of the girl in the forest as well as their expressions. Trychon and Raezyr gave each other sideways glances, unsure of what to make of this settlement.
Further down the road, they began to sense what could only be described as a large gathering of these individuals, complete with a muted sense of consciousness. They continued on in that direction, and they got close enough to see them through the fog. They came upon the edge of what appeared to be a large circle or semicircle of several hundred of the inhabitants. As they got closer, they began to feel something different. Although there was still no emotions coming from this very large group, they felt a slight sense of importance and interest. They could hear a loud voice further on, but could not make it out, so they approached the crowd.
When they got up close to the gathering, they could see far enough through the fog to see something that they simply couldn't explain not picking up on their sensors. There was a giant display screen, two stories in height, and three in width. On the display, there was a plain looking man, similar to the people of the town. Instead of their somewhat ragged and simple clothes though, this man was wearing a white suit.
The display showed the man rambling on continually about various rules and the law for quite some time. Some of them were common sense, but others were ridiculously controlling. Eventually, the man continued on to talk about how great their town was and how they should all continue to make it wonderful. His tone was as drab as ever though. The Sith had stopped watching the man and had pushed their way a bit further into the crowd. They were looking at the crowd. They stared intently at the display, and seemed to be the closest to smiling as any of the inhabitants had since Raezyr and Trychon had arrived.
Finally, Raezyr stopped and pulled on Trychon's shoulder, turning him towards himself. "I don't get it. Why would all these people just do as this display tells them to? How does it control them?"
The handful of people nearest them turned to face them. The one nearest to Raezyr addressed him. "We are not controlled." Another man spoke as though in turn. "We don't obey because we are told." The first man spoke again. "We do because it is right."
Trychon frowned. "Oh, well that makes perfect sense."
The woman nearest to Trychon responded. "Exactly."
As a group, everyone who had turned to look at them turned back to the display, who was now beginning to speak on the rules again. The first rule was apparently that they must come to observe the entertainment twice a week. Trychon nodded back towards the edge of the crowd, and Raezyr took his hint. They both squeezed their way back out of the crowd. "Well, that sure was entertaining." Trychon commented offhand. A pair of men who had also migrated from somewhere in the crowd and were headed back down the street agreed. "That was entertaining." "Indeed."
Trychon's mouth opened a little as he turned to Raezyr, who simply stared off into the distance, contemplating the meaning of what they'd just witnessed. Finally he spoke. "I've never even heard of anything quite like this." They stood there and watched as some people left the group and others came in to replace them. Judging by their movements, it seemed possible that this was the only real destination in the area. After some time, they noticed that every so often, a small group would turn down another of the larger paths, rather than continue on the normal direct to and from directions.
Without any other idea of what to do, Trychon and Raezyr followed one of these groups. They continued down this path until the buildings seemed to taper off and spread out slightly. The townspeople continued on a path into the forest, and therefor, so did the Sith. After half a kilometer, they came across a hill that was covered in large pieces of broken stone. Trychon walked over to one of the larger piles, and inspected the stone. He found several with partial inscriptions and Sith markings. He gestured for Raezyr to follow him, and climbed through the rubble and up the hill.
From the peak of the hill, they could sense the nearly comatose groups walking around the hill and continuing on a ways, and the groups returning in the other direction. They sifted through some of the stone, finding nothing of interest other than unreadable markings. Not only was the language still completely alien to them, but the markings were worn down much more than in the library. Giving up temporarily, they headed down the slope again, and headed towards wherever it was that these groups were coming from and going to.
Finally, through the fog they were able to make out a building that was very different in form than the huts in the village. As they approached, it became apparent that this building was indeed very different from the huts. This one was made of relative modern construction materials and standards. There was a line formed out front. Trychon and Raezyr bypassed the line and walked straight towards the entrance, and pushed their way past the next person in line.
Inside the building, they saw that the line continued on. They were standing in a long hallway with doors and other hallways on either side. The line branched off indiscriminately in every possible direction. Unsure of what to do next, they stood there and observed until Trychon's arm was grabbed from behind. He turned to see a droid reach out towards him. Realizing what this likely meant, Trychon extended his hand to the droid, who grasped it momentarily.
"You don't belong." A display opened up out of the wall to their side, and they turned to find themselves looking at the man in the white suit. The overall image was very much the same, but the white suit was in fact now a laboratory coat. The man spoke again. "My system does not remember you, but it does recognize you. What is it that you need here?"
Raezyr stepped to the side of Trychon to get a better view of the display. "What is the purpose of this facility? This town?"
The man in white didn't change his focus, continuing to look forward. "This facility is to facilitate the actions of the settlement."
"Why?" Asked Trychon.
"It was necessary after the population here reacted to the mist. After the destruction of the Ancient Sith Archive..."
The display was about to continue if not for the interruption from Raezyr. "We've just come from the Archive."
"You refer to the installation. This settlement built that installation. Many generations ago. Many many supplementations ago."
At that point, feeling lost, they directed the Display to go further back, starting with the Ancient Sith Archive and the Mist. With questions interjected as necessary and some direction as to what they needed to know, they began to understand much better.
The computer program explained to them about an Ancient Sith ritual had been performed a long time ago by a group of Sith Masters, intending to increase their power on the planet and their defenses against Jedi and non Jedi. 'The Mist' was created, a permanent weather formation of physical nature, but imbued with the darkness of a Sith Ritual. The human population became agitated and sometimes very violent. The Sith Masters were able to draw power from this as well and were pleased.
Eventually, while the Masters were on a mission, the populace grew increasingly and exponentially more violent, nearly destroying themselves and successfully destroying their own towns and the Sith Archive. Upon returning, the Sith Masters were able to draw power again from the populace, and to impose some of their will onto them. They built this small building, where a solution was made to control the humans medicinally. Through much trial and error, they eventually found a correct combination of many things, some chemical, others force charms, that allowed for the subjugation of the whole planet, even in the absence of the Sith. This took some of their power away, but gave them more direct control of the humans as a resource.
In time, a new temple was built underground, safe from any potential mishap that could destabilize the situation again. Eventually, it was added onto and dubbed 'The Installation'. The Sith used The Installation to try other experiments and tests, with mixed results.
Realizing that they were nearly up to date on what had taken place on the planet, Raezyr put his hand on Trychon's shoulder. "This is all extremely interesting. Short version though... there's no threat to our mission here. We need to get going before it gets darker."
Trychon nodded. "You're right." Behind them, they heard a man mumble "It is right.".
Trychon got ahold of Aitchkay and told him to meet up with them.
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