After Clearing out the Cellar, Master Crular is having the Jedi Temple Cellar refurbished into a new training area. As part of the refurbishing, a blocked off passage has been cleared, allowing access to some underground tunnels.

Master Crular has requested for two Padawans or Initiate volunteers to explore the tunnels, as they may contain historic artifacts of interest to Union Archeologists.

Having heard of the opportunity to explore the tunnels underneath her new home, Denari eagerly volunteered for this mission.

Even though the mission to further investigate the station accident in the Ducleron system sounded intriguing Macuy chose to explore the tunnels underneath the temple complex.

Before heading for the tunnels, Denari sought out Padawan Macuy to discuss if they needed to take any equipment.

"It'll be dark in the tunnels and we don't know what we can expect, so, even though I can provide light with my radiant pigments, it might be convenient to take an extra light for you in case we get separated. And should we take one of the two first aid kits if the others do not want both for their mission?"

As the two Padawans discussed their plans in regards to equipment, Master Crular made his way to join them for a moment, on his way to the hangar where Padawan Avitus and Kial were readying to head to the Ducleron system.

"Making preparations?" the Jedi Master inquired, though continuing without waiting for an answer "Very good. Quartermaster Akhta will be able to get you what you need. I would suggest you bring some rope as well - as they say, you always need it if you do not have it."

The advise came with a warm smile, indicating trust he had in the two Padawans.

"Yes, that seems like a good plan," Macuy responded to Denari's suggestion as Master Crular also added his opinion on the mission equipment.

"We'll go and see the Quartermaster after. To your knowledge Master, is there anything down there that is of particular interest to the temple? Or.. something that we shouldn't run into or interfere with?"

Macuy asked, hoping to gain a little more information about what to expect in the tunnels and catacombs underneath the temple.

Denari waited patiently and attentively until the coversation was finished, before heading to the Quartermaster's office with Padawan Macuy.

At the Quartermaster's office, she explained to Quartermaster Akhta that she and Macuy were going to explore the tunnels and asked for a flashlight, rope and a bag to carry those and small items they might find.

"This is a mission of exploration, and figuring out what is down there is part of that mission." Master Crular explained "Trust that the Force will guide you."

"As for what you might encounter, I do not know. The best guess I can make is that the opened passage leads to an ancient tunnel, catacombs or bunker of some sort. I am sure that will become clear as you venture in. Keep an eye out for any artifacts that may provide a clue as to what is down there. Ancient places like this usually have something left behind."

With that, the Jedi Master gave them a nod and let them head on to the Quartermaster.

Quartermaster Akhta listened to Padawan Denari's explanation, readying the requested items for them.

"I have also included some chalk." she explained "It will allow you to mark your route so you do not get lost down there. Might be overkill, we don't know how far the passage goes, but it never hurts to have the route back marked."

With their supplies gathered, the heroes descended into the cellar. Paint and various construction equipment had been set down along the sides of the room, some of which at least intended for Master Crular in his preparation of the training area.

The blockage that had been present during Denari's work to clear the cellar had been removed, allowing their entry. The passage itself was dark and narrow, less than a meter wide. The hewn stone walls reflected the sound into strange echo's, and from the sound it, the passage went reasonably deep.

After having thanked the Quartermaster politely, Denari headed to the cellar with Macuy. As she had done with Padawan Avitus, she checked with Macuy if the amount of light she emitted was sufficient for him. She then proceded to discuss strategy with him.

"Once inside, shall we first follow what looks like a main corridor to get an impression of size, and leave the rooms and branches for our way back for the time being and see how that goes?

"We can mark our turns with numbered arrows to the direction we are going, rooms we've covered with crosses, loops with circles around their first and last arrows, and places we've turned around with triangles"

If Macuy agrees, she'd quickly write the marking instructions at the entrance, with a fat arrow numbered with a 0 pointing to the entrance.

"I am generally more used to applying the right-hand-rule, but I see no particular reason why your suggestion wouldn't work. We'll try this your way."

Macuy responded as he adjusted to the relative dark in the cellar and tunnels underneath the Jedi Temple, as well as to the fact that Denari was able to adjust her skin pigmentation to shed some amount of light.

Denari was able to illuminate their path, the shadows fleeing in deference to her radiant pigments. The main corridor led some distance away from the cellar before making a turn to the east. So far, the path did not appear to have much in the way of side rooms or split paths, making it a rather straightforward exploration.

The Jedi passed by two minor rooms that at a glance appeared to be empty save some rubble, and following the set out plan, they marked them for later exploration on the return trip and continued on.

Beyond the two rooms, the corridor turned into a stairway downwards, deeper into the ground. The air was stale here, not a lot of ventilation this far down.

Along the stairway, they found the first sign of anything other than flat hewn stone walls: an alcove on either side of the stairway with a pedestal in each. From the way the stone was scraped, there must have been a statue or other heavy object here at one point, but it had been removed long, long ago. Beyond, the smooth stone walls continued though, as did the stairs.

Passing by the alcove and continuing on, the Jedi left the pedestals behind - there wasn't really anything more interesting about them, so they continued their descent.

Suddenly, the Padawans could hear a shifting of stone sliding over stone, and within moments gravity took a hold of them! The steps of the stairway had shifted, from being neat and proper steps, they had turned to 45 degrees, combining to form a slide downwards!

Though it wasn't quite clear how, some sort of trap seemed to have been triggered. They had been careful though, so it must have been quite well hidden. Regardless, the two sped up as they continued sliding down, heading towards a pile of sand and rubble in a room at the bottom of the stairway!

After losing her footing, Denari rolled to the side with her excellent acrobatic reflexes, planting one foot against the wall, the other on the slide, tail steadying her pose. The increased friction might slow her in the best case and in the worst case she would at least have control over her bearings.

She was still facing the end of the slide, arms free and ready to help Macuy slow down. After all, even if she couldn't grab him, he still had the bag with the flashlight, and the rope...

Lacking the gear to properly secure a steep uphill climb, added with the fact that he was already sliding down, making it difficult for Macuy to do something that would have an immediate effect on their current predicament.

Also lacking the benefit of a tail to help stabilize, Macuy's first instinct was to curl up and 'enjoy the ride', so long as it wasn't too steep and the drop on the end, if any, wasn't too high, he figured he would probably be alright.

Then he remembered they also had a rope, which he took out and tossed toward Denari, whilst he held the other end and attempted to grab the ledge to lessen the weight Denari would have to hold on to, hopefully preventing from shooting down together.

Denari's acrobatics seemed to be quite effective as she was able to slow herself down, tail swinging to help steady herself, one foot against either wall. With her feet lodged, she began to slow down, eventually coming to a halt mid-slide.

Macuy was having a lot more trouble, tumbling down the 'slide' trying to grab his rope to toss to his companion, which was harder than it seemed while rolling downwards. Tossing the rope to Denari and holding on for dear life, he continued to speed up!

Suddenly, there was a twang as the rope became taut, causing Macuy to stop sliding, though only for a moment. The shock of Macuy coming to a halt echoed through the rope and pulled Denari out of her stable position, causing her - and Macuy - to start sliding once more, though slower and more controlled this time.

Denari held on tight as they continued to slide, being able to control her speed somewhat, though unable to come to a halt. Fortunately, it wouldn't matter as Macuy found himself landing in a chamber at the bottom - a bit rough, but without serious injury. Denari was able to safely slide there as well, landing elegantly as her tail helped her keep balance.

The antechamber where they had landed in had the slide come in on one side, a broken door on the opposing end leading into another chamber. Left and right in the antechamber were alcoves, seemingly sized to sit, perhaps for a guardsman or something? It wasn't entirely clear.

The room that lay beyond the one they were in now was visible through the broken door. That one was octagonal shaped, drawing the eye to the center where a stone statue was set on a raised platform. It was rather damaged, making it hard to tell what it had been.

Rubble from the statue wasn't the only junk there, as the walls of the octagonal room were cracked and partially caved in. Something had happened here, perhaps an explosion, or an earthquake? It was hard to tell without further inspection.

The octagonal room had a passage to the left, though it wasn't possible to see where it went from here.

After landing, Denari first checked with Macuy how he was doing, given his rough landing. After that, she wanted to discuss a new approach with him. Having been surprised by that trap, her curiosity had a very good argument for elaborate inspections.

"Perhaps now is a good time to reconsider our strategy, taking more time for inspection from here on out?

It seems like plenty has happened here..."

"I'm fine," Macuy said as Denari inquired after his wellbeing, "Just some bumps and bruises, I guess that's what I get for not being careful enough."

He then looked around into the room and thought that is was rather strange and unusual. The catacombs looked much older than the temple, almost as if the temple was built over a precursor site that was much, much older.

"I agree, we should be a bit more careful, we wouldn't want to miss anything. Especially given this place seems to be much older than the temple."

At Denari's suggestion, the two Padawan slowed down and took some time to inspect their environment in more detail - unlike the smooth stone hallways they had passed through earlier, there was actually something to investigate here too.

The cracked stone and broken rubble itself did not appear to offer clarity as to the age of the location, beyond "very old", but there were other clues hidden among the rubble.

Macuy had some experience in surveillance, and though that wasn't directly applicable, he was at least able to tell that the damage done to the room hadn't been by a singular explosion or the likes. There were different layers of dust and rubble, which suggested multiple events had caused cumulative destruction to leave the area as it was now, all of those long ago - and likely with some time between them as well.

He also noticed that the central statue in the next room appeared to have been some sort of humanoid shape at one point - part of its feet were still left on the pedestal. Though it was impossible to tell what race it had been, at least that narrowed it down to somewhat.

Denari, meanwhile, found something out of place among the rubble - a piece of metal, covered in a thick layer of dust, laying between some stones. Looking closer, it appeared to be a device of some sort, the first piece of technology that went beyond stone they had encountered so far. When she reached for it though, she found it stuck under the rubble, in particular being locked in place by a large piece of stone - too large to simply lift to get the device out.

From the room with the statue, the heroes could also see the passage on the left which led some distance ahead beyond where Denari's radiance was able to illuminate. From there though, they could hear a slow dripping of water into a puddle, so it was likely they'd find some ground water leaking into the complex upon exploring in that direction.

Denari pointed out the metal device to Macuy, perhaps he could figute out what it was. If they really couldn't pry it free together, she would mark the big stone, adding the short description 'metal device stuck under rubble'.

She the suggested to head down the passage on the left, since this room could not teach them anything more for now.

(( OOC: sorry for the late response, it's been a hectic week ))

"Sounds interesting enough," Macuy reacted as Denari pointed out the metal device to him, "but I can't say it immediately rings a bell. Perhaps we can find something to pry it loose with. If not, we should come back here later."

He looked around for something that could be used as a lever. If he couldn't find anything, he agreed with Denari's suggestion to progress to the passage left.

There did not appear to be a proper lever waiting for the heroes, but Denari was skilled in wilderness survival, and the use of stone tools when necessary was part of that skillset - with a bit of searching, she was able to find a large triangular stone that could be wedged to serve as a bit of a lever. It wasn't ideal, but through combined effort, they were able to extract the device.

Upon closer inspection, the device was some sort of datapad. It had long since run out of power, and being crushed under the large boulder from which it had just been liberated had not done it any favours either. Someone with advanced engineering skills might be able to get it working again, but sadly that skill set was not available between the two Jedi.

However, the datapad still had some secrets to reveal, despite being inactive. There was a logo on the back, a circle crossed by two parallel lines, extending further on one side than the other, and some crossing lines in the center of the circle, staying within its confines.

The passage to the left led to another large room. There were several puddles and a slow dripping from the ceiling - ground water leaking in most likely.

To the left was another passage but it had been flooded. At the edge of the water, there was some sort of plastic wrapper, like the ones used to contain candybars and the likes. The printing - if it ever had any - had faded entirely to white but the plastic had remained intact.

Against the opposing wall, two piles of rocks had been made - made, not naturally fallen, they were stacked up too neatly. Above them, some glyphs had been carved into the wall. Carved was perhaps the wrong word though - it looked more like they had been melted into the stone by some sort of torch or burner hot enough to melt stone.

To the right was another room leading up somewhat.

After they finished extracting and inspecting the device, Denari asked if Macuy could still carry the data pad in the bag, or if he preffered to leave it here and retreive it on the way back.

Upon entering the new room, Denari increased the intensity of her radiance, so they could both see further in more detail. She collected the wrapper - she never did like non-degradable litter- but unless Padawan Macuy wanted to give the flooded passage a better look, she ignored it for now; They didn't bring the right equipment to explore it properly at the moment.

Being extremely interested in getting a better look at the glyphs, Denari started inspecting the piles for traps, instabilities and the best way to get on top of it. Other than traps, little could deter her from trying to get up there. She did request Macuy to keep some distance though, after communicating her plan, she trusted her acrobatic and survival skills to save her if things went sideways, but she didn't want to put him in a dangerous situation again.

Even though the flooded passage seemed interesting, Macuy agreed with Denari's assessment, they didn't really have the proper equipment to explore underwater.

While Denari attempted to scale the piles of rocks, Macuy took another look around the room to see if there was anything they might have missed at first glance.

Denari's skill as an acrobat let her easily climb the rocks without disturbing the pile, and it did not take her long to get to the top, where the carvings had been made in the wall.

Inspecting the carvings, Denari found them to have been melted into the stone many eons ago. The carvings were not in galactic basic, but rather resembled the characters from the Fallen Republic, back before the times of chaos. Unfortunately, that language was now dead, and only archeologists - and those with a fancy for ancient history - would be able to read it.

However, there was something very familiar about them, which Denari was able to figure out once she was up close: these writings were made with a lightsaber. Moreover, that lightsaber still seemed to be there, at the top of the pile, covered in a thick layer of dust!

Macuy meanwhile inspected the rest of the room more closely, though unfortunately, it did not offer any additional clues. As he walked around, he did get a glance into the passage on the right leading up though. There were some strange stains on the floor of the passage, though they had seeped into the stone long, long ago and it was difficult to say what they had been. Perhaps some sort of oil spill that had stained the floor? With so many years having passed, the only thing that was left of whatever it had been was a darker discoloration in the floor.

Perhaps more clues to the stain could be found by following the passage? Then again, Denari's discovery might bring a change of plans!

"Oh! These carvings were made with a lightsaber a very, very long time ago," Denari said to Macuy in a voice just loud enough for him to hear.

"The lightsaber still seems to be here, but the script is unfamiliar to me, so I can't make out if it is a warning, purely informative or something else. Are you familiar with ancient scripts? Or doyou have something I can copy the text on?"

"I'll check the lightsaber for traps and bring it down if it seems safe. It strikes me as odd that anyone would leave the lightsaber after taking the time to make these markings..."

With that, she started to inspect the lightsaber and after checked for anything else hidden under the dust.

The lightsaber was a find Macuy certainly did not expect, let alone these carvings of some ancient text. He went through his backpack to see if he could find something they could write on, as he responded.

"I'm afraid I'm not that good with ancient languages, sorry" Macuy reacted, "But I'll see what I can find."

"We could use one of the bandages from the kit and rub an impression in it with some dirt and stone, or preferably charcoal. But I'd rather not break open the kit since we might need it later. Some pieces of wood or stone probably also work, we would just copy the carvings into them and take them with us. Provided we can also find something to redo the carvings with.."

Denari carefully checked the lightsaber's position making sure there were no hidden strings of pressure plates or such attached as well as for any other mechanisms there might be to protect it, but it appeared the weapon was left unprotected.

Carefully picking it up, it felt heavy to the touch, at least twice as heavy as her own, but quite solid. Other than the dust it seemed to be in good shape - it might even still be working.

Meanwhile, Macuy found an old datapad which had been left in a side pocket of his backpack - it didn't have a lot of power or any fancy features, but it would do for taking notes or copying some symbols. Taking a little time, the Thalosii padawan was able to make an accurate reproduction of the symbols found for later usage.

With the lightsaber secured, Denari wiped some more dust and sand and such away, seeing if the mountain of rocks had any final secrets to reveal. It did.

As she moved some of the sand and pebbles, she noticed something of a different colour. Lifting a stone that was blocking access to see, she found a skull, partially revealed and partially still covered by stone. It seemed someone had been buried underneath the rubble.

Denari pauzed when she noticed the skull. "There are remains up here. Perhaps the person that left the carvings and lightsaber never made it out of here..." she said to Padawan Macuy before letting a respectfull silence fall.

"I'll carefully remove the rest of the rubble from the bones," she continued, "so that the masters can give these remains a proper resting place later."

"I am unsure on how to proceed after that though, do we leave the lightsaber with the remains out of respect, or do we take it with us for practical purposes? And do we proceed down the next passage, or shall we have the carvings translated first, lest they hold some clues or warnings of what is up ahead? Could you see anything that way?"

After a moment to pay the proper respect to the deceased, Macuy responded to Denari's proposition.

"We shouldn't disturb the remains, we haven't the proper tools. Nor can we properly transport them, it would be disrespectful. I feel we'd better continue exploring and see what else we can find, or report back our findings.

I couldn't see much else from here, but that passage does seem interesting. These aren't just catacombs. I have a feeling that something much older was here before and the temple was built on top."

Denari nodded, the radient light from her face sweeping over the wall. She carefully placed the lightsaber with the remains, not disturbing them any further. After one more moment of silence, she stepped back,hopped off the piles, made a marking of their finds at the bottom of the pile and joined Padawan Macuy for further exploration.

"Lets proceed with care then."

Leaving the remains after giving some respect to the dead, the two heroes moved down the passage that hadn't been flooded. It turned to the left, after which a dusty looking area became visible.

There had been some sort of camp here - long, long ago anyway. They recognized the remains of a sleeping bag of some sort in an alcove on the left side of the area.

By the sleeping bag was a large device, about the size of a large backpack but made of metal and covered with various dials and lamps, though none of them displayed anything. Macuy recognized it as an ancient device from a ship, possibly an ancient navigation computer. Regardless, this type of equipment was only found on very ancient antiques from during the Times of Chaos. It looked remarkably well preserved.

Opposite the entryway was a stone door which appeared to be closed, while on the right side of the area, underneath an air duct heading straight up, the remnants of an ancient fire lay in a circle of stones. Someone had taken old rubble and rocks to create a makeshift campfire, though it wasn't entirely clear what they had burned, as only charred smears remained. Notably, there was a draft coming from the airduct - it might possibly lead outside.

Denari first carefully inspected the sleeping bag and the rest of the room for more remains,though she kept some distance from the old device, since she did not know what it could do.

The campfire and the airduct then got her full attention. She stared at the airduct for a while, Force-enhanced eyes piercing the dark, contemplating if she could climb up there to figure out where it went, or make a guess based on the turns they had taken and the approximate distance between them.

Before deciding, she went to the door to help inspect for traps and options to open it, if it was blocked.

With Denari looking around the improvised campsite, Macuy focussed his attention at the large device, trying to figure out what it was.

"This device is from during the Times of Chaos," Macuy explained after he studied he it for a while, "I can't be sure, but it looks like a navigation computer. And it's much better preserved than others I've seen, perhaps the Masters can get something useful from it."

Unless Denari objected, Macuy intended to bring it with them.

After Macuy explained what it was, Denari circled the device curiously to soak in what a navigation computer from the Times of Chaos apparently looked like. The Union Archeologists might be quite interested in this.

She shared Macuy's intention to bring it with, but while carrying the first aid kit, she could do little to help transport the device.

The sleeping bag hid no remains inside. Perhaps whomever had last slept in it had managed to get out of the place. It did, however, contain a stone statue about 30 cms in length. Neither of them were experts in analyzing art like that, but the style seemed similar to the statues they had seen in the area here. Perhaps it had been taken from here? Oddly enough, its base was a septagon, a seven sided figure, with various unusual dents in the seven sides.

Denari inspected the air-duct carefully, relying on her Force Vision to look as far up as she could see. The air duct led up, and Denari was reasonably sure she could see a faint light all the way at the top. Perhaps this was a way out! However, she also noticed that about a quarter up towards the light, there was a widening of the shaft, possibly going through the floor of a room and then continuing up through the ceiling above.

Inspecting the door next, she determined there were some suspicious looking holes in the doorframe, which she surmised might have something bad coming out of them - they were large enough for a bolt or the likes to be fired out of. She wasn't immediately able to figure out what would trigger it though - or if after all these years, the defense mechanism was still active. Regardless, she determined the door was not blocked, it could be pushed open with some effort.

Macuy meanwhile inspected the large device, determining its nature. Moving to pick it up, the device suddenly lit up like a Christmas tree, various lights blinking in odd patterns, a whirring sound, followed by some beeps. From the front and sides of the navigation computer, a foot extended, lifting the device up somewhat. The top spun around as several beeps followed by a somewhat offended whine. It wasn't just a navigation computer! It was an astromech droid that had been in hybernation mode!

As the droid whirred to life, Denari jumped back, surprised, hand instinctively reaching for her Light Saber as she observed it's actions. She waited for Macuy's reaction before doing anything else though. She guessed he would know if this was getting dangerous or not.

"It appears I was not entirely correct," Macuy said as the droid suddenly got their attention, "let's wait and see what it has to say."

With the droid fully extended, it seemed to have completed its boot up sequence, bleeping and blooping a simple query to the Jedi in the language used by non-speaking droids which the Jedi would know from their interactions with droids

"Stellar configuration analysis unavailable inside. Please provide current time / date"

It appeared that the droid was - at least somewhat - operational. It might have more information as to what had happened here or at least why it was here.

Curiosity triumphed over caution and Denaris eyes literally started twinkling as a few white and green Opaali in her irises started shimmering.

"Can we?" She asked Padawan Macuy as she came closer to look him in the eyes and inspect his expression.

"Do you think it can tell us things? Oh-", she gasped quietly as she got an idea, " Do you think it has some form of upward propulsion and a optical recording function? There is light at the end of that air-duct, and possibly a room at a quarter of it's height, and I'd like to know where it goes. I think it might fit through..."

Macuy smiled as Denari was clearly excited by this find, and her curiosity clearly showed.

"I see no reason why we shouldn't. Perhaps this droid can tell us what happened here, or better yet, why it IS here. As for the other things, that sounds like a good idea, but I know just about as much as you do about that this droid can or cannot do. But, we can find out."

And with that, Macuy answered the droid giving it the current time and date and its current position, and then continued to ask

"What is your designation?"

"Time re-configuration completed. Checking internal status."

The unit bleeped pausing a moment as some of its lights blinked off and on

"This unit's designation is R1-D1. Limited fuel is available for vertical mobility."

It seemed to understand the questions being asked.

"This unit went into hybernation mode approximately <error> years ago, after owner expired due to injuries sustained in crash. Purpose of hybernation: conserve energy until unit can be returned to Jedi Order."

It seemed the long duration had caused some errors in its clocks, likely related to why it asked for the time and date earlier.

Denari's eyes widened and she smiled upon hearing R1-D1's response. This interaction was pbviously already beyond any expectations she might have had.

She looked at Macuy and said: "Since limited fuel is available, I'd prefer to save it for now. I'd rather not risk it running out in the shaft and getting R1-D1 stuck or damaged any further. Besides we may need it to get it back up to the Jedi Masters.

"We can focus on that trapped door," she nodded towards it, "and the information R1-D1 has instead. I'm curious towards this crash and the expired owner..."

As Padawan Macuy did not object, Denari decided to go ahead and try pose the question to R1-D1 herself. She usually limited her interactions with droids as much as possible, as her lack of 'feel' for droids made her uncomfortable.

"R1-D1, this is Padawan Macuy of the Jedi Order and I am Padawan Denari. Who was your owner?" she asked, "what did you record about the crash, and what were your owner's and your objectives?"

"Analysing... Accepted. You are Padawan Denari."

Denari's words seemed to have triggered some sort of security protocol, but by their robes and lightsabers, the droid seemed to have accepted the analysis that they were Jedi Padawans.

"This unit was owned by Master Fellok as primary user. This unit was given the mission of providing astro-navigation between star systems."

Neither Macuy nor Denari had ever heard of a Master Fellok, though likely the records in the temple would be able to help.

"This unit accompanied Master Fellok and Padawan Delskae when a hostile vessel opened fire, causing damage to the ship system and an involuntary landing."

The droid made a projection of a large vessel. It seemed like some sort of war ship or something. Macuy being a pilot recognized the ship type. This was a modified Underlord, an antiquated ship type used during the Times of Chaos by pirates as they were large and could support some heavy weapons. A two-man ship would be no match for it.

The name Delskae did not ring any bells either.

"The ship impacted the surface of rogue planet PQX-176-R at a speed of two thousand kilometers per hour. Internal dampening reduced the impact on crew below fatality level, but combined with earlier damage the ships structural integrity was compromised"

Structural integrity being compromised sounded somewhat benign, but this was robot speak for 'the front fell off' and would mean the vessel had to be scrapped.

"Padawan Delskae reasoned the party shooting down the ship would visit the crash site and decided to evacuate with Master Fellok." the droid continued "Upon request, this unit produced a local area map, marking ruins spotted during involuntary descent. The ruins were chosen to provide cover."

"Master Fellok passed away from injuries sustained in the crash at <error>, and was buried nearby. His last words were recorded as 'It seems we are at the right place... just at the wrong time. Wait for them...'."

"Following Master Fellok's last request, this unit went into hybernation mode."

This at least explained some of what the Padawans had found, though it left one glaring question unanswered: what about Padawan Delskae?

Denari was obviously drawn in by the droid's story. As it finished it's report, she almost breathlessly, and without thinking much, let the question roll off her tongue:

"What about Padawan Delskae?"

Meanwhile, an internal conflict arose between her curiousity towards the rest of the complex, and her curiousity to dive into the temple's records and finish the story of Master Follok and Padawan Delskae. Perhaps a preference expressed by Padawan Macuy could help her sort out her priorities.

Macuy waited and listened as the droid explained why and how it got here before considering his options.

"If these are indeed the remains of Master Follok, we should inform the masters. But that Padawan Delskae puzzles me, I suggest we look for some more clues before going back. That there looks interesting, perhaps we should go and see what lies behind that door."

And with that Macuy made his way towards the door, and unless Denari objected attempted to open it. "You should stand clear a bit," he said to Denari, "Just in case something comes out of these holes that doesn't particularly agrees with me opening the door."

Having processed R1-D1's information, Denari snapped back into focus, when Macuy headed for the door. She checked that R1-D1, Macuy and herself were clear of any possible trajectories, before giving Macuy the all clear to open the door.

(( Apologies for my slow reply, the delay was unacceptably long ))

"The fate of Padawan Delskae is unknown. He was last seen <error> years ago before this unit went into hybernation mode."

Unfortunately, it seemed the droid did not have additional information on the Padawan. Perhaps more information could be found in the Jedi records, or the droids memory banks could be restored by an expert engineer. It did seem to report a few <error>'s though, so it wasn't clear if the information could be recovered.

Denari moved to safety with R1-D1 as Macuy inspected the door more closely. Once everyone was out of the trajectories from the holes in the wall, he pushed against the door, which budged ever so slightly at the first push.

Putting his shoulder into it, Macuy gave it another push, budging it further and finally pushing it open. As he did, several darts fired out of the holes in the wall, flying from one side of the room to the other and bouncing on the stone wall on the other side. It was actually amazing that the mechanism was still working - just fortunate that the heroes had positioned themselves in the right spot to avoid being hit!

Just as they were celebrating their success though, Macuy noticed he had just barely escaped, a bolt having sliced through his robes and leaving a scratch on his skin - nothing serious, though it was bleeding.

Beyond the door lay what most looked like a tomb of some sort. Altar-like blocks of solid stone on either side leading up to a large sarcophagus, or so it seemed anyway. Crystals set in the walls illuminated the area in a pale blue light. Each of the altar-like blocks lining the wall had been polished to perfection, the mirror like surface reflecting the light.

The sarcophagus was decorated with fine carving on the sides and a mosaic of polished stones in different colours at the top, though a seven-sided area in the center circle was missing.

It was clear this was some sort of burial chamber, though the layout also suggested rituals may have taken place here, long, long ago.

Denari asked if she could inspect the wound, insisting they should patch it up before proceeding. She looked for desinfectant, plasters and whatever else could help in the first aid kit. That much she knew. Unfortunately she did not have the knowledge to check for signs of poisoning, so she advised Macuy to stay alert for any odd signs of discomfort.

Denari was awed by the room, but hesitated to enter. If this was indeed a tomb, it seemed to be impolite of her to enter without having a relation to the deceased.

From where she stood, she tried to check for other entrances to the room. That did, however, leave enough space in the opening to let Macuy enter, if he wanted to.

After noticing the missing septagon, the stone statue they had found earlier sprang to mind.

"Perhaps the stone statue used to be in that place. It could have been stolen or removed for a good reason, but I'm not that familiar with rituals of old. I think now is a good time to go and inform the Masters of our finds..."

Macuy agreed with Denari.

"Doing things one does not fully understand is generally fine, however, in this case, I agree with you. We should tell the masters what we found.

The easiest way back is probably back up the slide we came down from. I'm sure R1-D1 could scale it and take a rope back up. We should then be able to climb back up as well."

(( Apologies for my late reply, I was on holiday ))

Denari agreed with Macuy that the way they came was their best option. As they headed back, she took one last look up the shaft, before picking up her pace to join the others again.

"Perhaps we can come back later with something to climb that shaft with later."

Some time later she added:

"Shall we inspect the smaller rooms, alcloves an pedestals we passed, before activating the staircase trap, in more detail as we pass them? We're not in a hurry, I think, and perhaps we can find more items and identify or disable traps to make working here safer for the archeologists later."

(( No problem, I guessed as much :) ))

"Well," Macuy responded as Denari suggested to take a closer look at the alcoves before coming back up, "I guess it can't hurt, perhaps they can offer more clues as to what is down here. Besides, it would be helpful to make sure they are safe."

Denari inspected Macuy's wound - it wasn't very serious and soon a white bandage was secured around the injury to stop any bleeding. So far Macuy did not feel anything strange, besides the sting of the wound itself.

Looking around in the tomb room, Denari did not see any other entrances or exits so as far as she was able to tell, this door was the only way in or out.

With the look around completed and the heroes deciding not to enter the tomb, they turned around to head back to the slide / staircase, inspecting the various alcoves, pedestals and smaller rooms as they walked back to look for further clues.

Most of these did not offer anything interesting - mostly dust and rubble, and one trap which had succumb to old age and was no longer of any danger. However, hidden in one of the alcoves, covered in dust, Denari managed to find something: a blue data-crystal of some sort:

Just as she was about to let Macuy know about her find, he too uncovered something: a blue data-crystal of some sort:

Neither of the crystals appeared to be active, though perhaps there was some way to manipulate them to get them to work.

With their discovery, the heroes soon found themselves at the bottom of the sliding staircase, R1-D1 having followed them along here rolling over the stone floor.

"Ah! I found one just like that just now!" Denari piped up as Macuy uncovered his.

"Perhaps they belong together, like parts of a puzzle. We could try and put them together, but what if they brake if the ages made the crystals unstable? Is that possible?"

"I do not think so," Macuy responded to Denari's question about aging making the crystal unstable, "that wouldn't make this crystal very suitable for storage if that was true. I'd rather not take the chance however, I'm sure the Masters will know what to do with them."

Since they were at the bottom of the sliding stairs, Macuy had a question for the droid, "R1-D1, I assume you can make it up that speed edge?"

If the droid was indeed able to scale up the stairs, Macuy's plan was to attach a rope to it, so that they too could climb back up.

(( Since I'll be travelling the coming 3-4weeks, I can't guarantee I can post regularly, so Denari's replies might come a bit later than usual ))

(( Enjoy your trip Pixie ^_^ We'll see your post when you are able, no rush! ))

R1-D1 beeped affirmatively and once the rope was attached, it began to ride up the slope.

The little tracks underneath the droids legs had a good grip, which prevented them from slipping, but its servo's were old and rusty so its progress was agonizingly slow. Even so, it kept inching up and up, dragging the rope along with it.

Taking its time, it eventually made its way to the top, the rope tracing down the slope just barely all the way down. Unfortunately, these R units did not have a lot of actuators for object manipulation - or in laymen's terms, it wasn't able to tie its end of the rope to anything.

Still, it seemed reasonably stably parked at the top, and its distant beep indicated it was awaiting further instructions.

"Shall I go first?" Denari asked. "I'm probably lightest and from the top I can light your way better." She reasoned. "Besides, before it's attached to something more rigid, there is a chance it all comes tumbling down and to be fair, you've sustained enough injuries all ready."

If Macuy agrees, Denari carefully tries to make her way up with the rope, and if she makes it up there she looks for an attachment point that is as sturdy as possible. If she can't find anything better, adding her weight and feet to R1-D1 would have to make do.

"I was just about to suggest the same," Macuy replied, "you'll probably have a slightly easier climb. Besides, once you're up there you can help R1-D1, or get some help down here."

The duo had made the right choice sending Denari up first - not only was she lighter, but her skill as an acrobat allowed her to climb up quicker as well. Soon she found her way at the top, where she could secure the rope to one of the pedestals at the top.

With the rope now secured, Macuy also made his way up safely. They had explored a large section of the area, found some artifacts and of course R1-D1, so this looked like it was a success!

The walk back to the cellar would be easy and uneventful, leaving them some moments to decide on a plan of where to go next.

They could find someone to look at R1-D1, in case it had any additional information hidden in its records. They also had the blue crystals, maybe the Quartermaster would be able to help with those, or perhaps the temple had records about the mysterious padawan Delskae. And of course they could always find Master Crular and report what they had found.

"Let's take R1-D1 and these crystals to the Quartermaster," Macuy suggested as they made their way back towards the cellar, "Perhaps she knows what to do with them or better yet, how to access them.

Learning more about Padawan Delskae also sounds interesting, but perhaps we should inform the Masters first, given that the remains of Master Fellok are still down there."

"I agree, lets go to the Quartermaster first and to the Masters after. Perhaps Master Crular knows who could translate the text we found for us. Investigating Padawan Delskae could take a generous amount of time, so I prefer to do that after everyone has been informed about our finds."

The exitement in her voice as she spoke of the translation and diving into the records, gave away her exitement about learning more about the past.

The heroes soon found their way back through the passage and out the cellar. The Jedi Temple was just as peaceful as they had left it, some of the pupils training in the garden.

Their first stop was the Quartermaster's office.

"More than cobwebs down there, from the looks of you" Akhta observed. "Nothing too serious I hope?" she indicated Macuy's minor injuries. "And I see you brought a friend"

Once reassured that they were both fine, the Jedi Knight was willing to take a look at the droid and the crystals.

"This is an antique..." she noted "Still looks to be in decent working order though, probably just needs a few systems checked out and upgraded. I'm not the greatest expert in droid repair, but I could have a look"

She also gave the crystals a careful look "Usually these come in more platonic shapes... actually... I think these two might go together..." she handed one to Denari and one to Macuy with a sly little smile to see if they could figure out how to put them together.

As a person with limited interest in the mathematics of geometries, Denari had either forgotten, or never rembered, what platonic shapes looked like. Instead she simply looked for the biggest faces, tested if they would somehow fit and, if that failed, tried the next biggest faces on each other and the previous faces. To her, that seemed as good an approach as any.

She was, however, very willing to let Padawan Macuy try his own thing as they were trying to put the two together.

Given the limited number of possibilities, Macuy was perfectly happy to let Denari try-out different ways the crystal could fit together and instead asked the Quartermaster about Padawan Delskae, but first addressed her question with regards to his injuries.

"I'll be fine Quartermaster," He replied, "It doesn't look like its anything too serious. As for our friend, yes we found him down there.

Also, I don't suppose the name Delskae rings any bells?"

"Delskae? No, cannot say that is familiar... but you should ask Master Crular. He might have more insight into the matter"

Denari meanwhile puzzled with the crystals, trying to match the largest faces - luckily the crystals only had so many sides and ways in which they could be combined, but ironically the correct configuration appeared to be putting the smallest sides together. Once locked in this manner, the crystals formed a tetrahedron, and some sort of magnetic field within it activated, securing them together, loose enough to be pried apart with a little bit of force.

Just as they clicked together, the tetrahedral shape levitated up, staying a few feet above the ground and projecting a stellar nebular around them:

R1-D1 whirred as the nebula became visible and the Quartermaster seemed to not have expected something like that either.

Two of the stars stood out, one at the tip of the tetrahedron in the center of the nebula, and another projected some distance away - these were blue as well, rather than the orange of all the other stars.

Holding it as gently as she did, the cristal floated up unpbstucted. A soft 'Eep!' escaped Demari as it started to do things.

She stepped back to admire and study what she was seeing, but having little knowledge of star maps ment it was little more than a piece of art to her...

"We should definitely go to see Master Crular next." She said after a while. "Or do any of you know how to make sense of this?"

"Yes, we do indeed," Macuy replied as he too was a little surprised. The constellation and the Nebula were a mystery to him, perhaps R1-D1 could help them identify it. "Let's leave R1-D1 here, and see what the Master has to say."

R1-D1 whirred and beeped in protest as the others appeared to want to leave. It was a navigation droid of course, so it had a thing or two to say about star maps, it seemed.

Driving forward a bit, the little droid activated its projector. It was a rather primitive one, just simple colored lines in the air, but it seemed they aligned with the star map that was being projected by the crystals!

"Displaying navigational route."

The droid appeared to be too old fashioned to project the high detail necessary for a proper star map, but with the map, it could now display its navigation log

The route indeed seemed to end at Unity, passing through different systems along the way.

"Most interesting..." Master Crular noted, stepping into the room with most auspicious timing "I was not aware we were taking on a new navigation droid. Very good." he noted to the quartermaster, then turning back to Denari and Macuy.

"Have the ancient tunnels below inspired you to visit other ancient sites?" he inquired, indicating the map.

"Not exactly, Master," Macuy responded, admittedly a bit surprised at their Master's sudden appearance. "But, I'll admit I'm even more intrigued now."

"We found this droid down in the ancient tunnels below, along with these crystals and, what appears to be, the remains of Master Fellok. We felt it best to leave them there, at least until we'd informed you.

We also found some writing in a rather strange language and lastly, R1-D1 here told of us of a missing Jedi Padawan by the name of Delskae, the former apprentice of Master Fellok."

"There is also somethings that looks like a tomb, but we did not find it appropriate to enter by ourselves." Denari added to Macuy's findings.

"To me it was definitely inspiring" she said as her eyes glinted in adventurous mischief. "Though before embarking on such a journey, I'd like to invest time in learning the languages and traditions of old, and studying the temple archives to be better equipped for such a quest."

"Hmm, Padawan Delskae..." the Jedi Master pondered. "There is something familiar about that name..."

He listened a moment as Denari explained her goal of studying the old languages and traditions.

"A wise and noble way to approach it. It is clear you have both interest and respect for the past..." he noted.

He paused a moment and looked the droid over once more "Quartermaster, may we leave this droid in your care? If it spent so long down there, it would probably benefit from some maintenance."

- "Yes Master Crular" the Quartermaster agreed deferentially.

"Thank you. Now, Padawan Macuy, Padawan Denari... I am guessing you are most interested in finding out more about this missing Padawan. I myself have gotten curious, to be completely honest."

He motioned for the Padawans to follow him.

"Why don't we check out the archives and see if there is any mention?"

The Jedi Master led the way to the Study Area on the opposite side of the great hall. The Jedi Order was still small, but there was a decent enough library.

"Let's see what we can find out about Padawan Delskae and Master Fellok"

--

Searching through the archive took several hours. They could use a little work in terms of indexing, but there was a lot there. Fortunately, the two Padawans managed to persevere and finally, they were able to find something, Master Crular inspecting it carefully.

It was an old speech, from the founding days of the Order on Unity. And in it, the Jedi who settled into the temple here made mention of the name Delskae, though not as a Padawan. Rather it listed that this temple was discovered by Jedi Master Delskae.

Master Crular looked surprised a moment, then filled with realization.

"Of course, I remember now." he noted "That is why the name sounded so familiar!"

"During the Times of Chaos, many worlds lost contact with one another. Jedi Masters on different worlds lost contact too as travel between worlds was simply too dangerous.

But despite the danger, some Jedi Masters continued to travel between worlds, if their mission was important enough. Jedi Master Delskae was one of those, and it was said they discovered this temple during their travels. When Unity was resettled some two centuries ago, this temple was chosen in part because Jedi Master Delskae visited it during her travels.

If what you are telling me is correct, Master Delskae -- then still Padawan Delskae -- must have done so as part of Master Fellok's mission. Perhaps she continued that effort."

He pondered a moment longer.

"It would be of great interest to learn what exactly Master Fellok's - and Master Delskae's mission was. The Force makes no coincidence, and the fact that you found this, here and now... is a sign that we should not ignore."

Master Crular's faith in the Unifying Force showed for a moment.

Denari was intrigued by Jedi Master Delskae. To travel between worlds during the Times of Chaos, and to survive the crash R1-D1 had shown ánd get back to civilisation, proved her survival skills, ingenuity and braveness must have been very impressive.

As Master Crular concluded that this must be a sign of the Force, Denari went over the events in the underground complex in her mind, looking for clues that might lead them to information on the ancient mission.

"Master Crular, in the tunnels, we found a datapad, which we could not get to work, and a text, carved into a wall with a lightsaber, which we copied to another datapad. Perhaps these contain information on Master Follok's and Master Dalskae's mission."

"Pawan Macuy, do you still have the datapads with you?"

"That is a noble mission," Macuy responded as Master Crular explained the efforts of both Master Fellok and Delskae.

"Yes, they are right here" Macuy winced a bit as he set his backpack down, his wounds still causing him a little discomfort. He then took out the datapads and placed them on the table.

"This datapad might have some data on it," Macuy said, "But honestly I too am more curious about this ancient language."

"Hmm, someone with Linguistics skill might be able to construct a translation matrix for the ancient writings, given enough time to study them. Or we could use a Protocol Droid - unfortunately, it seems we lack both at the moment."

Master Crular noted

"However, it seems as if these characters were carved into the stone by a lightsaber, perhaps the one you found? And you said there were remains there as well?" the Jedi Master pondered. "Perhaps they were some sort of memorial?" he suggested.

It seemed that the Jedi currently lacked the skills necessary to assertain the exact details, though the Jedi Masters suggestion seemed at least a plausible explanation.

"We should be able to do something with the datapads regardless - it will take some time to get them cleaned, analyzed and extract whatever data remains. In the meanwhile, we can practice some meditation."

--

The Quartermaster was able to clean up the datapads and connect them up to the Jedi Order's computer system which worked to charge the pad and analyze and extract the data while the Padawans and Master Crular meditated further on the situation.

It took some time but eventually the computer beeped to indicate it was done with its analysis.

"Let's see..." the Jedi Master noted, studying the results with Macuy and Denari. Parts of the data had been lost to time, but the computer had done a decent job gathering as much data as it could.

The text was missing in various places, but it described at least some of the travels Master Fellok and Delskae had made, confirming they had been visiting ancient sites throughout the sector.

The datapad offered additional insights though. Apparently the two Jedi were searching for something called the 'Atavi', which the text suggested was responsible for the creation of entire worlds. Perhaps a powerful ancient artifact of some sort? The datapad seemed to confirm that Master Fellok and Delskae found traces of the Atavi at the sites they visited, and were hoping to find more, as well as worries that there could be danger if it fell into the wrong hands.

Other parts of the datapad contained data of little value - machine logs, copies of Jedi texts that were already available in the Jedi library and such... but there was one additional piece of information on there that might be of interest: another location Fellok and Delskae were heading to - an ocean world named Piraus-3. Actually, that was not too far away from Unity.

During the meditation practice, Denari showed the calm and dedication that might be expected of a Padawan. On this occasion, she let her mind freely explore what she had seen and learnt during this mission.

She paid close attention to the data the Quartermaster had recovered, though much of the details went a bit over her head for now. She decided to remember that Master Fellok and Delskae were looking for something powerful referred to as ‘Atavi’ and that they were headed to an ocean world named Piraus-3.

The last bit of information presented another challenge:

“Master Crular, I was wondering,” Denari started politely, “would it be useful or necessary for me to get expert training in Aquatic Survival to make exploration of Piraus-3 possible? Or does the Order have other possibilities for it?”

(( This is the last question I have for this mission. I’m fine with rounding off after this ))

Macuy was intrigued by the mission of both Master Fellok and Delskae and he wanted to find out more.

This 'Atavi' was a different story, was it truly responsible for the creation of worlds? Or was it in fact something else that also had the power to destroy? And how does it relate to the "Realms of Choas"?

"Master," he said after meditation, "Are there any more samples of this ancient script? I would like to study this further."

(( I’m fine with rounding off after this as well ))

"A very good question, Padawan Denari" Master Crular noted, thinking about it a moment. "I believe such skill would most certainly be of benefit, both for the mission, and for the Jedi Order more generally. You might even be able to help support another Padawan in the exploration." he nodded.

"I am sure we can make arrangements with some of our aquatic friends in Unity City to let you develop these skills." - it was clear from his tone of voice that the Jedi Master was positively inclined by the question.

Master Crular considered Macuy's question a moment as well "There must be some" he agreed. "We will ask the Union archeologists for their help in this when they investigate what you have found." he made note.

Even though Denari was very excited about the prospect of developing her linguistic skills, she decided to invest in Aquatic Survival skills first and therefore accepted Master Crular’s help for making the arrangements.

She felt oddly at peace with the decision, the way needs, chances and opportunities had come together seemed almost too perfect.

Macuy too was intrigued by learning more about this ancient language, but he also recognized that more time and study was needed before the Order was able to share this knowledge with her Padawan's. Especially given the information contained in the script and clues for this secretive mission of Master's Fellok and Delskae were of obvious importance for the entire Order.

"Thank you Master," Macuy responded as Master Crular noted his interest, "for now I shall focus on improving my skill with the lightsaber.