Disclaimer: I own nothing but my original characters and works; all other characters and worlds belong to their respective owners. I'm just playing with them.
Betad by Marethyu, Mike God of Lore, Priapus
The Celestial Inquisitor
Chapter 04: Final Preparations
– Sarik –
Even as I make my way through the academy, my sickness is apparent, and in a place like this, sickness is weakness.
And weakness is an opportunity. Too many people have noticed my lethargic walk and the cold sweat on my face. Some are considering trying to kill me while I'm weak, but they don't attack because they don't think they need to. I won't survive the trials like this, after all.
Kory has slipped away, ready to do her part. Through the power of Tzeentch, I've passed a shard of my resistance to force detection onto Kory for this task. It isn't as complete as mine, but it will work as a way to prevent Harkun from realising the trap being built around him.
He'll be so focused on me being inside his trap to notice the noose I'm tightening around his neck until it's time for me to choke him to death with it.
"Don't you have a trial to be preparing for?" Zash says, not even looking up from the Holocron she is working on as I approach her. Kory is distracting Harkun, and the trial will start right after this, so it will be too late by that point. She finally looks up, a frown on her lips as she takes in the sight of me. "Oh, Harkun, are you that determined? I do hope you're not here to ask me for help in the trial, Acolyte. I do like you more than Ffon but make no mistake, I don't like you that much."
I could point out her interest in the strangeness around me, but I don't think death is in the cards for me. I suspect that if I fail, Zash will turn me into her pet project in a less pleasant way than becoming her apprentice.
"Of course not. I don't need your help dealing with Harkun," I say plainly, making her pause as she looks me over carefully. Her door had been open because she's known for letting other Sith studying Sith Sorcery in the Academy approach her for advice, but after a moment, she waves her hand, and the door closes behind me. The fact that she's more approachable doesn't change the fact that she is very dangerous. Honestly, her nicer personality is off-putting for such a high-ranking Sith Lord.
"Something has changed about you, Sarik. How fascinating. You've worked out more about your new powers, haven't you?" Zash asks, tossing the Holocron aside without a care. She has nearly a dozen different ones lying around her office.
"I have, but that's not why I'm here. Don't worry, I'm sure you'll find out more about it as well once I'm your apprentice," I say, and for a moment, she pauses before she laughs.
"You guard your secrets jealously. Good," Zash says with a slight smile. "Then, if you aren't here to complain about Harkun drugging you or to give me any of your fascinating secrets, what brings you to my office so soon before your final trial?"
"That is simple. I've found that I enjoy having a slave, and I'd like to buy another one from you," I say with a carefree tone, watching her eyebrow rise as she waits for me to continue. "Kory."
"Ah, Harkun's tool? Really, Sarik, did you let a pretty face fool you?" Zash asks scoldingly.
"Not at all. I realised it was a trap from the moment she approached me. She didn't drug me; I drugged me," I admit with a grin, only somewhat crazed. "Kory expected me to take her life, and I plan to. She's mine, until I have no further use for her."
100cp granted, 100cp total.
Zash pauses, and I can tell she's already more or less worked out what happened. Harkun is an amateur, Zash a mastermind. If he were as smart as he thinks he is, he'd be a Lord instead of babysitting Acolytes.
"Harkun no doubt promised to have her transferred somewhere else once she 'failed' the final trial, but it's well within my right to order her wherever I want. So, Sarik, the only question is, why should I give you a second slave when you are nothing but an acolyte," Zash asks, leaning back in her seat.
"I don't want her officially given to me until the trial has finished," I explain, making Zash's lips twitch. "As for the reason, that's simple. Because I can pay for her, in something worth far more than a single mediocre acolyte."
As I speak, I push my hand into my chest and extract the small bag of Warpstones. It's a credit to her experience that she barely even widens her eyes at the sight of my newest power.
"Queekish is spoken by the Skaven, a race of ratlike people. Their main currency is something they call Warpstone Tokens, Force-imbued tokens that they used to empower their 'magic'," I explain, seeing her consider my words.
"Interesting… the strange green lightning and the strange power you used to cause that poor acolyte to grow those hideous boils," Zash says, making me pause before I laugh. I'm sure Vette hasn't reported on me…
Zash sent those Acolytes after me, not Harkun. She wanted to see if I showed any new powers after eating the Holocron.
"Of course, plenty of cultures mistake the Force for 'magic'," Zash mumbles, almost seemingly forgetting that I'm there. "But how did their knowledge end up in the Holocron in the first place?"
"The runes aren't written in Queekish, and I've come to believe that there is far more than just the knowledge of the Skaven Grey Seers inside that holocron, inside me," I cut in, getting her attention again. "I have learnt to create Warpstone Tokens, in limited quantities, admittedly. I'll give you twenty tokens for Kory."
"You said that the Skaven used them to empower themselves?" Zash asks, making me nod.
"In my case, I can eat them to increase the power of my Force abilities. My connection to the Skaven has given me a resistance to the side-effects of Warpstone, but they are highly addictive and can cause mutations in those with lesser resistances," I admit. "But they are power manifest, solid rocks of Dark Side-infused Force."
Moving closer, I place a single token down on the desk and watch her pick up the glowing green rock despite literally just being told they're dangerous.
"Hm, or I could just take that bag from you. I have to admit your new technique is fascinating, but what is stopping me from simply robbing you and refusing to give you your little pet afterwards?" Zash asks with a cheerful smile, making me laugh. "I could simply imprison you and force you to spend your life making me Warpstone Tokens."
"Because I've worked out how to slowly unlock the powers and knowledge from the Holocron, and if I was locked away, I wouldn't unlock any more powers. I am going to win this trial, Ffon is going to die, and I will be your apprentice. You're not so foolish as to throw away the long-term potential for a little short-term gain. We both know that the Celestial Holocron has a lot more to offer than just some glowing rocks," I say, confidence unmistakable in my tone.
"Fifty tokens and one of your secrets," Zash says, placing her counteroffer on the table. I get a hundred a week, so it is affordable.
"What secret would that be?" I ask, and Zash just smiles.
"Oh, any. You chose. Just pick an interesting one," Zash says with that safe, carefree smile.
"Not willing to wait until I'm your apprentice?" I ask rhetorically. "Forty and one secret."
"Deal, as long as I find the secret interesting enough," Zash agrees, watching as I count out the tokens. She summons a small box after a moment, taking out a glowing Holocron and placing it on her desk as she gestures for me to fill the box with the tokens.
"I didn't just gain the ability to speak Queekish and some of their 'spells'. I have the memories of one of their Grey Seers, years of memories and knowledge of what they call the 'Lores' and their different styles of magic. The Grey Seers practise the Lore of Ruin and the Lore of Plagues, and now so do I," I admit, watching her eyes narrow in thought.
"That's why you spoke in Queekish; your mind was still dealing with two separate streams of memories. It also explains that little verbal tick you seem to have picked up," Zash says, rubbing her chin. "When you become my apprentice, I intend to have you try and teach me these 'Lores' because I believe you are right. There is so much more to those runes of yours than shiny rocks. After the trial, assuming Kory survives, she will be enslaved and given to you. Or we could just skip the trial. Harkun has mildly aggravated me with his meddling, and I could just kill him right now."
"No. Harkun is mine," I say quickly, eyes narrowing. Zash just laughs at the scowl on my face. "I didn't poison myself just for someone else to ruin my scheme."
"Yes, yes, very well. Do try not to die. Harkun may be a fool, but he is a fairly powerful one, and I would be mildly annoyed if that knowledge died with you," Zash admits with a smile. "In that case, you have a trial to prepare for. Run along, Sarik. Wouldn't want to be late, especially given that Harkun has already sent Ffon on ahead."
Of course he has.
"Then I will see you soon, Lord Zash," I say with a small bow.
"Sooner than you think," Zash replies, watching me leave. As I see the door close, she opens up the box and pulls out a warpstone token, looking over it in curiosity.
Feat Achieved: Negotiate with Lord Zash (100cp). 200cp total.
[Hashashin Training] - 100cp, 100cp remaining
The Hashashin are an ancient order and, in many cases, the originators of assassins. Killers in the dark, though the sheer variety the Hashashin can offer hardly limits them to the dark. This organisation trained many of the greatest assassins in both history and legend, with each leader of the group being a terrifying hunter in their own right. As part of the Hashashin, a descendant of their line, or even just trained by a former member of the group, you have their training as your own. You are a master of stealth, able to sneak past watchful guards and even lesser magical spells without any supernatural aid on your side, and are brilliant at all kinds of acrobatics and feats of agility. You don't just bound across rooftops and between city streets; you can dance around most warriors while slitting their throats without even a scrape on your body. You're trained in ways to kill someone quietly and quickly and ways to make it long and painful. You know how to track down targets and how to escape a chase.
The final aspect of your training, however, was the creation of a specialised technique for yourself, similar to the ones each leader of the Hashashin has made. Things like being able to create an illusory double of your opponent's heart that, when crushed, also crushes the real thing. Or being able to create an explosion inside the head of anyone you touch. Or even splitting alternate personalities within your own mind into their own bodies to form a strange hivemind. But your technique is far from mastered. You have basic usage of it, but it will likely take years of experience for you to reach the level of one of the Hashashin masters.
Somewhere in the back of my mind, my Grey Seer memories recall Clan Eshin, but I'm too busy dealing with another series of memories flooding my mind to care. I can use this, and in my current scheme, no less. The Mark of Tzeentch has had an unexpected blessing as it helps me keep the new memories nice and neat, preventing them from overwhelming me.
I remember being Sarik the Grey Seer and Sarik the Hashashin, but without the Mark of Tzeentch, it would be hard to keep them from blending together.
I'm twenty-three. I have over a decade of memories as the Grey Seer and now years more as a member of the Hashashin. How long would it be until I can't remember Sarik, the Sith, through all the new memories?
My special technique? The Touch of Death. Being able to pass on any of my vile diseases or plagues to a target with just a touch. The results aren't apparent for days, sometimes even weeks, depending on the Plague I use. It isn't fast, but when they wanted someone dead through 'natural causes', I was the one they sent.
In my memories, Sarik the Hashashin used to infect himself with deadly diseases, using his body as the vector to carry the disease to his target. I think it combined my Grey Seer and Hashashin memories, letting them synergise together.
And yet, they feel so real. I am sure that they aren't just false memories provided by the Holocron. They're too real, too intense. I got a lot of help developing my technique from another assassin, one who specialised in poisons. I could survive her touch, and her kiss.
[Griffon Quill Pen] - 100cp, 0cp remaining
A special pen made from the feather of the valiant Griffon, it embodies the beast's prideful guardianship of treasures. You can use it to write runes on things and people you closely cherish and enforce your assertion of ownership to protect your precious treasures from harm. The runes will cause the item to warn you whenever they sense desire or hostility towards it while also making the affected item resist whoever is trying to take your treasure away.
For a moment, I am mildly disappointed. Don't get me wrong, making my property harder to steal doesn't seem as useful as a lifetime of experience as an assassin. Then, two things occur to me.
My property is more than just items, and I have to wonder what would happen if I drew the rune on Vette or Kory… and more importantly, I can use the feather to draw other runes.
Such as the Rune of Corruption or the Mark of Tzeentch, for instance. I may need to get my hands on some more expendable slaves to experiment on, once this mess with Ffon is sorted. Kory is more expendable than Vette, but she's still a little too useful for me to risk her life pointlessly.
– Lord Zash –
Sarik truly was fascinating. She'd been keeping an eye on him, but he'd developed a most interesting ability. Something he had unlocked, as he put it, had given him a resistance to being seen through the Force. His emotions were completely hidden from her.
Now, that wasn't such a big deal right now, but it got her thinking. If he was invisible to her senses when he was standing right in front of her, would the Jedi be able to detect him? Could Sarik's fun new power be used to deal with Republic targets without any of those fussy Jedi detecting that the Sith were involved?
Harkun didn't understand the danger he was putting himself in by interfering with Sarik's training like this. Darth Marr had expressed an interest in Sarik, looking for new tools to use against the Republic, and even the Emperor seemed to be paying attention to Sarik now.
It went without saying that the Emperor's attention was dangerous for anyone, let alone an Acolyte. The Emperor's Hand was on Korriban, looking into Sarik, and not many who gained her attention tended to survive.
It was only the fact that she was the expert on mysteries that had allowed her to ward off several other Sith who wanted to take Sarik for themselves. It was the Emperor's Hand that had decided that they'd 'continue' with the trials to see what new powers or knowledge Sarik developed before he was made into an Apprentice.
In honesty, she had little interest in the war. Her own needs took priority, but while her original plan had to be put on the shelf with all this attention, perhaps the 'Celestial Holocron' held an answer to her issue. No, she needed to make Sarik useful to the war efforts because if she did not, they'd take her new favourite toy away.
Examining the green triangular token, she reached out with the Force before she dropped it with a gasp, narrowing her eyes. There was undeniably power within these tokens, but it was not any power she was familiar with. It didn't feel like the Force, neither the Light nor Dark Side.
Addiction and mutation, hmm? Maybe if she fed enough to a slave or even a Tuk'ata something interesting would happen?
Her door opening made her head snap up, a threat on her lips. She'd locked it after Sarik left, but as she saw the feminine figure who entered, her words died on her lips. Dressed in skintight black clothing, the redhead let herself in and locked the door behind her again.
The Emperor's Hand paused as she glanced down at the box of Warpstone, and despite the seriousness, Zash felt herself mentally pout. Damn it, Jade was going to take her new tokens away, wasn't she?
– Sarik –
"You're late, slave," Harkun spits, satisfaction clear on his face as he sees the state I'm in. Kory glances my way but looks back to Harkun moments later. "As I was explaining to this worm, your final trial will be taking you to the Tomb of Naga Sadow, which has never been breached in over a thousand years."
"Yes, yes. Another impossible task that I'll show you up by finishing," I spit out, tiredness clear in my tone. "Where's your pet?"
"I grew tired of waiting for you to show up. Ffon has been sent on ahead. You will retrieve a map that Lord Zash desires. To find the map, you'll need to awaken an ancient Dashade, who is needed to access the map. If you even make it that far, the Dashade is almost certainly going to kill and eat you," Harkun mocks, entirely too smug. "You two and Ffon are the only remaining acolytes of this batch. You will all be competing in this. One of you will bring the map, the other two will die, and Ffon's already started… so my advice? Run, slaves, and run fast."
You're going to die choking on your own blood.
The sound of someone clearing their throat makes me pause, turning to see Lord Zash walking into the room.
"Ahem, one moment, please," Zash starts, giving me a knowing smile as she does.
"Lord Zash? What are- what are you doing here?" Harkun asks, looking very much like he's been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
Zash just turns to him with a raised eyebrow.
"Overseer, are you implying that I, a Lord of the Sith, don't have the right to go wherever I please within the Academy of the Sith?" Zash asks, her tone patient but condescending as Harkun flushes slightly. He quickly corrects himself, but she's already moved on. "I simply wished to see the last of the Acolytes off on their final trial. Where's… um, what's this- the uglier red one? Flan?"
I pause, noticing something in her eyes. A certain green tint that makes me mentally facepalm. She ate a warpstone token, didn't she?
"He was ready earlier, so I sent him on rather than keeping him waiting for this-" Harkun starts, embarrassed that Zash doesn't even know his pet project's name.
"Oh, pity. I just finished translating the wonderful texts that Sarik brought from Tulak Hord's tomb; they are most illuminating. I don't think the map can be retrieved without them," Zash trails off, and I can see the moment of realisation on Harkun's face.
"Ah, Harkun. You really are a spectacular fuck-up, aren't you? I do hope Ffon hasn't gotten too far ahead," I mock, getting an angry look from him.
"Ffon's already- you can't just-" Harkun stammers, going quiet at Zash's look.
"Give one acolyte an unfair advantage over the others? Overseer, when has being a Sith ever been about being fair?" Zash scolds, turning to me and Kory. She briefly explains what we need to do to unlock the Deshades prison. Apparently, there are rods located somewhere in the tomb, and they need to be placed in the chamber door and electrified. "In truth, I'm not sure the exact reason, but the texts were clear. You will not be able to retrieve the map without the Deshade but be careful. This creature was the personal assassin of Tulak Hord, who hid him away in Naga Sadow's tomb to safeguard him for future use."
Tulak Hord's assassin? Well, nobody said this was going to be easy. It better not kill Ffon before I can.
"Now, I think you've interfered in the trials long enough, don't you, Harkun? I'll be back later to meet my new apprentice. If you leave this room before then, I'll assume you still haven't learnt to stop meddling in my affairs, and you can help me with this fascinating new experiment I'm conducting. I do need more expendable slaves," Zash says cheerfully, and I take a moment of pleasure at the helpless fury on his face.
As she leaves, we turn back to Harkun as he seethes in place before he's suddenly calm again.
"You, maggot. I don't know why Lord Zash thought that a slave like you deserved their own slave, but this is your trial. Your little Twi'lek toy is not to help you. Now get out of my sight," Harkun demands, and I just snort as I leave him.
Heading out of the Academy, I set off to the Tomb of Naga Sadow with a smile. I was seen leaving by countless people, with no Vette in sight, and I couldn't have had time to tell her where I was going. I also don't have a holocom on me, so I have no way to get in contact with her because Acolytes aren't allowed to have holocoms. They don't want us contacting our families or trying to find a way off the planet, after all.
'M-master, he's ordered me to go to the Tomb and tell Ffon how to open the prison. He's even arranged for me to get a speeder, so I'll get there first.'
Kory's voice speaks into my head through the connection I created between us, and I just grin.
'Take the speeder, but pick up Vette on your way. Tell Ffon about the rods, but not until I'm already at the Tomb.'
I just got my Deshade bait.
— Quest Section — VOTE CONCLUDED
Should Sarik assassinate Harkun?
Yes, during the trial (using the Statue)
Yes, after the trial (so he gets to see Ffon dead first)
No, Harkun is a dead man anyway.
No, he's beneath us
Author's Note: Fate and Warhammer are two worlds I am determined not to write. The grimoire must think it is very funny.
Written: 04/10/2024
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The Advance Chapters
Diamond: The Occult Ch09, The Blessed Ch08, The Warlord Ch15, The Celestial Escalation Ch02
Plat: The Tamer Ch15, The Celestial Escalation Ch01, The Vampire Ch12
Gold: The Supervillain Ch30, Guide to Freedom Ch14, The Operative Ch07
Basic: The Warlock Ch07, The Craftsman Ch05
Quest: The Celestial Inquisitor Ch05-09
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