Kavaraa brushed the snow off her stopping to rest for a minute, the snow wasn't too heavy but still enough to annoy her. Theron stood in front of her shivering while messing with his datapad, she hoped he didn't catch a cold this was so like him. To be fair going earlier in the day would be better than later, she assumed the coordinates were confusing him. Kormel had explained the map had changed once it detected their location and pinpointed a location on Ilum where they were supposedly supposed to go. But given the large ice outcroppings of Ilum this was proving harder than expected, they had been walking around the edge of one for a while, Kavaraa hoped they'd find their way in soon.
Kavaraa tapped on Theron's shoulder "everything alright sweetie" Theron grumbled to himself as he turned to face her
"I was hoping the location was on the other side of this Ice mountain thing but it seems like it's concealed within" Theron let out a small groan as he went back to his datapad "I'll see if i can find any charted cave entrances" Kavaraa nodded, she had learned to let him handle the tech stuff she always seemed to make it worse. She turned to see Kormel had sat down and seemed to be writing more notes, Kavaraa still found it odd that he used a book instead of a holopad but to each their own, must've cost a bit though. She plopped herself down next to him and after a few seconds he noticed her and gave a shy smile before returning to his book
Kavaraa didn't want to bother him too much but her curiosity got the better of her "I've been meaning to ask what you're always writing in the book?" Kormel's eyes went wide holding the book tightly
Kormel began to stammer "well uh I wanted to make an account of my uh well our adventure and I'm not so good with tech so I uh use this" Kavaraa was worried she was pressuring him but he had a little excited glint in her eye when she asked.
Kavaraa nodded "I see well I can see how that'd be useful" she paused thinking "although that Avulo guy was kinda clear this was supposed to be a secret pilgrimage ya know" she'd felt pretty conflicted about that she wanted to help the galaxy but ancient knowledge in the wrong hands could be terrible, she hoped it'd become clearer with the next clue.
Kormel grinned "way ahead of you I haven't given the names of most things like planets and locations and I just described the riddle as a riddle" what a smart kid Kavaraa couldn't help but grin she'd chose right with this one
Kavaraa cocked her head "am I in it?" Kormel's shyness returned as he nodded quietly, Kavaraa was already in a bunch of holocrons one more story wouldn't hurt "only good things I hope?" Kormel relaxed letting out a half smile
"yeah of course just your smarts and jedi ability" Kavaraa felt a small sense of pride which she made sure to stop it from going to her head
she stood up "well once it's finished I can't wait to read it" she made her way back over to Theron who seemed like he had found something
Theron looked up grinning "good news there's a cave entrance just over the ridge" Kavaraa smiled phew she did not want to traipse around the snow any longer.
After a small trekk they could see the open mouth of an icy cave in front of them, Theron spoke up "finally let's hope it's a little warmer in there" Kavaraa nodded as they strode forward but then she thought sensed something, not something strong just something nearby.
She patted Theron's shoulder "be on your guard I think I sense something" he nodded moving his hand towards his blaster. Kavaraa kept her eye out as they entered the cave, still nothing maybe it was just a Lisk going by or something. None the less they all crept forwards carefully, Kavaraa had learnt a lesson about caves a while back that was quite simple, the vast majority have things in and it's about 50/50 if they are friendly. They made their way into an open chamber with four different exits, Kavaraa could see what looked like beast hairs on the ground. Kavaraa moved in close and whispered to Theron "be careful I think this might be a beast lair" he nodded confidently "which way do you think we should go?" Theron pointed to the two passages to the right
"could be either" he whispered back Kavaraa nodded and they started heading in that direction. Kavaraa was wary now from what she could remember the beasts of Ilum were not usually friendly and she didn't want tot stick around to find out. She decided to move to the back just in case, she stepped back past Kormel who gave her a wide eyed look as he turned around, she made a shhh gesture as she stepped backward. Kormel nodded eyes even wider gesturing wildly at Kavaraa, what did he mean as she considered she stepped back and hit something, something furry and big. Kavaraa's eyes went wide as she turned to see the hulking form of a Gorgodon snarling at her
"oh right" she could see multiple nearby, well so much for the stealthy option
A second later the gorgodon brought it's huge claw down but before it could slam Kavaraa into paste she focussed with the force pulling up the ice in front of her as a shield. As the huge claw impacted with the ice it began to shatter but for now was still holding, Kavaraa drew her saber hearing blaster shots start to ring out from behind her. The cave became illuminated with different glows of pink, yellow and black, Kavaraa sprinted backwards as the gorgodon slammed through the ice wall and began bounding towards her. She took in a deep breath throwing out her her saber in an arc which sliced against both his knees, the gorgodon stumbled falling to the ground and sliding to her feat with a light thud. She could see Kormel looking around stunned as the other two gorgodons began bounding towards the three of them. As one ran at Kormel she reached out pushing it onto its back with the force, she couldn't help but chuckle as it glided across the ice to the other end of the chamber. She now focussed on the other one bounding towards her but as she was working out a plan she saw a torrent of flames jet out from behind her causing the gorgodon to reer back. She saw Theron slide in next to her with a grin
Kavaraa looked at him in confusion "when did you get that?" he raised his eyebrow at her
"how do i get anything" he leant in giving her a quick kiss before he dashed off to deal with the gorgodon patting out the flames. Kavaraa blushed before remembering she was still standing in front of a live gorgodon and it was starting to get up. As the gorgodon began to get up Kavaraa put her hand on the boney head of the creature focussing fully on subduing its aggression. After a few seconds it dropped to the ground unconscious Kavaraa smiled before she dashed forward aware there were two more gorgodon to fight. She caught a glimpse of Kormel as she dashed forward who seemed to be fumbling with his lightsaber. Maybe she should teach him lightsaber combat, she mentally noted it down as she ran at the gorgodon she had pushed to the other end of the cavern. As it stood up it roared in rage bounding towards her, she continued to run at it and slid under it's legs. She spun around barely catching herself on the ice then used the momentum to jump onto it's back, as she impacted with it she grabbed onto the fur and held tight. The gorgodon began to thrash back and forth trying to wrench her of it's back, she had to grab on tight as she could narrowly avoiding being flung against the wall. She began to climb once the gorgodon got tired and reached it's shoulders where she stood ready to repeat the subduing process but as she began to focus she felt the claw of the beast slam into her knocking her back down to the ice. Her body seared in pain as she forced herself back up, new plan instead of climbing she'd create her own platform. The gorgodon turned to spot where she had been flung to but as it did she focussed with the force, she pulled with all her might against the ice dislodging a platform of ice from the rock beneath her. She rose slowly as the gorgodon bounded towards her and just before it would hit the platform and her she jumped landing square on its face. She quickly put her palm against its skull and focussed, it began to try and tear her off but it's efforts quickly became lazy and seconds later it slammed against the ice unconscious. Kavaraa looked for the last one but saw Theron standing over it confidently while watching her, she made her way over to him deigniting her lightsaber.
As she arrived she gestured for a high five which Theron returned "zero casualties nice" she then looked at Theron quizzically "I am wondering how you managed it though" Theron chuckled
"you have the force but I have fancy gadgets" he bent down and picked up a small chip attached to the gorgodons forehead. Kavaraa smiled they were so cool. She turned around to see that Kormel had just ignited his lightsaber looking combat ready.
she walked over to him as he looked around confused "don't worry bud we got em" Kormel let out a long relieved sigh
"phew sorry I just haven't had much combat training" Kavaraa nodded putting her arm on his shoulder
She gave him a light smile "I think I know the first thing I'm gonna teach you" Kormel nodded looking a little embarrassed
Kormel brushed off the embarrassment eyes widening "that's fair, you were so cool though with all the ice moves" Kavaraa smiled she thought they were pretty cool too
Theron rejoined them datapad out "we'll have time to discuss jedi stuff later we're close" Kavaraa nodded following Theron as he led them down the passage.
After a while of following Theron he stopped confused turning back to them and walking back past them
Kavaraa frowned at him "uh Theron something wrong?" Theron looked confused as he messed with the datapad
"well uh the coordinates are supposedly close just a little further west" Kavaraa nodded that was alright she could go a little futher "and uh west is that way" Theron pointed to the wall of ice in front of them.
Kavaraa let out a sigh "oh I see" Theron nodded "well uh can we melt through it" Theron put his hand on his chin
"we could but it'd take a while" Theron grimaced "how do we know we're right though we don't want to waste a day melting ice" that was a pretty good point
Kavaraa peered into the thick ice no clear cavern "I'll see if I can sense anything ya know uh forcey" she closed her eyes and reached out with the force, she could sense… something very faint but still something in the direction Theron was proposing. "I well I sense something but it's not a sure thing" Theron let out an audible groan
he gestured to his flame device "alright well looks like i better get to work" Kavaraa nodded looking awkwardly at him "whatever we're looking for better be worth this" Kavaraa could agree with him there this was a lot of work it better be worth it…