A Quest about what happens to a Sith Apprentice in the Rule of Two era who really, really, really jumps the gun and manages to succeed anyway. Technically you are the Dark Lord of the Sith! Congratulations! You have no idea what that means whatsoever!
Bus Factor: A Sith Quest (Star Wars AU)
- Thread starter Guancyto
- Start date
- Sci-Fi Fantasy
Bus Factor
- Created
- Status
- Ongoing
- Watchers
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- Recent readers
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- Threadmarks
- 7
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Statistics (7 threadmarks, 7.3k words)
User Total Guancyto 7
1. Bus Factor
- Location
- In Your DNA
In most august ceremony you were chosen. Chosen for your impulsive edge, your keen mind, your boundless ambition, your trace of attunement to the subtle flows of life and machinery. You were selected by one powerful in the Dark Side of what he called the Force. You were chosen to be Sith, to carry the most ancient and powerful oath of vengeance the galaxy has ever known.
And you were told that someday, when you were ready, you would kill him and ascend to become Master yourself, becoming yet another link in a chain that has been unbroken for hundreds of years.
You were never really very good at figuring out when you were ready, but as you survey the burning wreckage, you think you may have gotten a little bit ahead of yourself.
It was his fault, really! He wanted you to kill him and assured you in no uncertain terms that if you didn't he'd kill you instead. So you obliged, and bailed out of a speeder headed straight for him. When that didn't work you sliced an automated fuel truck to drop on him, and when that didn't work you used some explosives to bring down a building on his head followed by a couple of sliced buses, and when he emerged bleeding but cackling with that red saber aglow and your death in his eyes you rerouted a couple of hovertrains.
He was just about to jump for you faster than any human can jump when the first train streaked by you, close enough beside you to nearly chip one of your horns. There was a sickening crunch and snap of bone before that saber started to cut into the train's front and it might not even have done the trick except the second train hit the first head on and exploded spectacularly.
After about a minute the whole scene stopped exploding and, since nobody has burst out of the wreckage to try and kill you again, you're willing to call that a win. Ancient weapons and hokey religions are no match for the power of the kinetic Force (you start giggling, you're in so much trouble but you can't help it) behind a train.
You are currently standing amid a city block's worth of burning rubble, you had to do those slices hastily enough that your signature is splashed all over the network for any two-bit constable or astromech to find, and you didn't really even get to find out what the whole thing was about.
You were never really very good at figuring out when you were ready, but you may have gotten a little bit ahead of yourself.
What do you do?
[ ] Go make sure he's dead. If anything looks like charred remains or cackling ugly dude, blast 'em.
[ ] Make absolutely sure he's dead. A couple more fuel trucks should do it. Not wise, but the explosions do set your heart aflutter.
[ ] Go see if anybody else is still alive, it's the dead of night so (hopefully) nobody would be on an automated train or in an office building but… just make sure, okay?
[ ] Hey, maybe that sweet laser sword survived? Look for something you can use in the wreckage.
[ ] You can already hear the sirens. Constable droids will be the first responders and they kinda suck at everything, but you don't want them bringing backup. Just run.
[ ] Other (Write-In)
Hello, everyone! This is a plot bunny that took hold of my mind and wouldn't let go, about what would happen to the Rule of Two Sith if the Master recruited an Apprentice and promptly got hit by a bus. Force-users being a little more durable than average, more than one bus was involved.
This is a freeform narrative quest about making it up as you go along. My SW EU-fu isn't the best, so don't expect encyclopedic knowledge of what everything is and does, but I hope it will be entertaining nonetheless. This is not a place for well-considered, rational courses of action, cautious plans that take years to come to fruition or the steady gain of power. This is a place for Bad Decisions.
You are:
[ ] Male
[ ] Female
[ ] Other
[ ] Named?
Your Master was a bit racist so you're stuck with being human or near-human (sorry if you had your heart set on a Mon Cal!).
[ ] Human
[ ] Twi'lek
[ ] Zabrak
[ ] Miraluka
[ ] Other (Choose)
[ ] What do you look like?
And you were told that someday, when you were ready, you would kill him and ascend to become Master yourself, becoming yet another link in a chain that has been unbroken for hundreds of years.
You were never really very good at figuring out when you were ready, but as you survey the burning wreckage, you think you may have gotten a little bit ahead of yourself.
It was his fault, really! He wanted you to kill him and assured you in no uncertain terms that if you didn't he'd kill you instead. So you obliged, and bailed out of a speeder headed straight for him. When that didn't work you sliced an automated fuel truck to drop on him, and when that didn't work you used some explosives to bring down a building on his head followed by a couple of sliced buses, and when he emerged bleeding but cackling with that red saber aglow and your death in his eyes you rerouted a couple of hovertrains.
He was just about to jump for you faster than any human can jump when the first train streaked by you, close enough beside you to nearly chip one of your horns. There was a sickening crunch and snap of bone before that saber started to cut into the train's front and it might not even have done the trick except the second train hit the first head on and exploded spectacularly.
After about a minute the whole scene stopped exploding and, since nobody has burst out of the wreckage to try and kill you again, you're willing to call that a win. Ancient weapons and hokey religions are no match for the power of the kinetic Force (you start giggling, you're in so much trouble but you can't help it) behind a train.
You are currently standing amid a city block's worth of burning rubble, you had to do those slices hastily enough that your signature is splashed all over the network for any two-bit constable or astromech to find, and you didn't really even get to find out what the whole thing was about.
You were never really very good at figuring out when you were ready, but you may have gotten a little bit ahead of yourself.
What do you do?
[ ] Go make sure he's dead. If anything looks like charred remains or cackling ugly dude, blast 'em.
[ ] Make absolutely sure he's dead. A couple more fuel trucks should do it. Not wise, but the explosions do set your heart aflutter.
[ ] Go see if anybody else is still alive, it's the dead of night so (hopefully) nobody would be on an automated train or in an office building but… just make sure, okay?
[ ] Hey, maybe that sweet laser sword survived? Look for something you can use in the wreckage.
[ ] You can already hear the sirens. Constable droids will be the first responders and they kinda suck at everything, but you don't want them bringing backup. Just run.
[ ] Other (Write-In)
Hello, everyone! This is a plot bunny that took hold of my mind and wouldn't let go, about what would happen to the Rule of Two Sith if the Master recruited an Apprentice and promptly got hit by a bus. Force-users being a little more durable than average, more than one bus was involved.
This is a freeform narrative quest about making it up as you go along. My SW EU-fu isn't the best, so don't expect encyclopedic knowledge of what everything is and does, but I hope it will be entertaining nonetheless. This is not a place for well-considered, rational courses of action, cautious plans that take years to come to fruition or the steady gain of power. This is a place for Bad Decisions.
You are:
[ ] Male
[ ] Female
[ ] Other
[ ] Named?
Your Master was a bit racist so you're stuck with being human or near-human (sorry if you had your heart set on a Mon Cal!).
[ ] Human
[ ] Twi'lek
[ ] Zabrak
[ ] Miraluka
[ ] Other (Choose)
[ ] What do you look like?
Last edited:
- Location
- Venezuela
- Location
- nz
[X] Plan Achromatic Sith
[X] Hey, maybe that sweet laser sword survived? Look for something you can use in the wreckage.
- Location
- St. Petersburg
I'd make a vote on the action course (by line) a separate one from the character vote (by plan).
[x] Make absolutely sure he's dead. A couple more fuel trucks should do it. Not wise, but the explosions do set your heart aflutter.
[x] Plan Achromatic Sith
...it ended up the same anyway, but it's the principle that matters.
[x] Make absolutely sure he's dead. A couple more fuel trucks should do it. Not wise, but the explosions do set your heart aflutter.
[x] Plan Achromatic Sith
...it ended up the same anyway, but it's the principle that matters.
Last edited:
- Location
- Midway
[x] Plan Achromatic Sith
... My only regret is getting here to late to suggest this as our char pic, I suppose she'll have to be our apprentice.
Namrud: "Come To The Explosion Side Of The Force!"
... Its too bad her aesthetic is off too much really (so I wouldn't have actually suggested her as a char pic). Unless anyone has any fanart that's tweaked enough to fit.
Namrud: "Come To The Explosion Side Of The Force!"
... Its too bad her aesthetic is off too much really (so I wouldn't have actually suggested her as a char pic). Unless anyone has any fanart that's tweaked enough to fit.
Random Member
Gardener of Human Happiness
- Location
- Behind You
- Location
- The Colored Room
- Pronouns
- TheOne
[X] Plan Pale Essence
-[X] Go see if anybody else is still alive, it's the dead of night so (hopefully) nobody would be on an automated train or in an office building but… just make sure, okay?
--[X] You need credits to get off-world. "Charitable" bystanders would be more than happy to help.
-[X] Female
-[X] Zhyr'ael Larula
-[X] Arkanian Offshoot
-[X] This but with harsher eyes
I was also partial to a sith pureblood build, but I thought it was too on the nose.
-[X] Go see if anybody else is still alive, it's the dead of night so (hopefully) nobody would be on an automated train or in an office building but… just make sure, okay?
--[X] You need credits to get off-world. "Charitable" bystanders would be more than happy to help.
-[X] Female
-[X] Zhyr'ael Larula
-[X] Arkanian Offshoot
-[X] This but with harsher eyes
I was also partial to a sith pureblood build, but I thought it was too on the nose.
Last edited:
- Location
- In Your DNA
It'd be hilarious (especially with your technical expertise) but sadly not.
- Location
- The Colored Room
- Pronouns
- TheOne
Now I'm just imagining a Sith lord yelling at a jawa to fight them and getting destroyed.
Last edited:
- Location
- USA
[X] Plan Achromatic Sith
...This is one of those quests where i didn't know I needed it until I found it.
...This is one of those quests where i didn't know I needed it until I found it.
[X] Plan Achromatic Sith
Start as we mean to go on!
Start as we mean to go on!
2. Dark Lord of the Sith
- Location
- In Your DNA
Trains might be the right answer to all your problems, but it's better to make sure. Heart hammering against your chest, you pick your way through the burning rubble, trusty blaster held out in front of you. You do a little rolling and posing like you've seen in an old holovid, which you're sure looks incredibly cool backlit by the raging chemical and electrical fires. It's slightly undercut when a wrecked train door slides entirely off its moorings with a crash and you blast it a couple of times for startling you. Not that you were startled. Pure cool, that's Namrud Mainiiu. Making your way to the center of the conflagration you see an empty black robe torn to absolute shreds, and blast it a couple more times just in case the seat of a Sith Lord's consciousness is actually in their spooky duds. Making "pew pew" noises is completely superfluous when you've got an actual ray gun in your hands, but you like to think it adds that personal touch.
Then you look around (especially behind you) for a naked bleeding guy, just in case it's a trick and you're about to catch a bad case of the dead. Still breathing, yup. Still breathing. Must have got him. On the subject of breathing, as the adrenaline starts to wear off you become aware of a feeling like waves of needles in your lungs. Right. These are bad fumes to be sucking up, even if you're tougher than the average vornskyrr.
But that doesn't matter at all. You did it! You definitely won. Elation fills your chest (wait no, that's still toxic fumes) and you pump your fist in the air and shout.
Dark Lord of the Sith, baby! You made it!
It's days like this that make the whole thing worth it. Yeah, you sort of joined a Sith cult, but you never really paid attention and anyway it was just to meet cute
[ ] Girls
[ ] Guys
[ ] Guys and Girls
[ ] People and their quaint little categories
And the fact that you won means it was the right decision. They… hmm. They might want to kill you for cheating at the whole thing? Yes, one of the things you did pay attention to was that they believed rules were made to be broken, but you have an awful lot of experience breaking rules and most people who say things like that mean that other people's rules were made to be broken.
Oh well, you'll worry about that later. For now, you want to hit the bar, maybe pay for a few dances, maybe do a little gambling, maybe slice into the casino network to even the odds a little… if everybody on the entire floor happens to win the jackpot all at once that sounds like great fun…
You can see the sirens now, pinpricks of light barely visible in the distance, flashing claxons on the heads of droids steadily rolling their way in your direction. With these guys you're surprised anybody gets caught at anything.
Oh, right, running. Before you can cash in on your newfound status (Dark Lord of the Sith! Yeah!!!) you need to put one foot in front of the other. Maybe you'll have to evade a patrol or jump off a ledge into a garbage scow or something but more importantly, where are you going to go?
You could go home, pack your things, set up in a new place. Not the first time! You've got a rough-and-tumble neighborhood where the police usually don't go all scoped out ahead of time. Your most important belongings are here with you, but you've got a sleeping bag with a lot of sentimental value and a couple of books you keep never getting around to reading.
You could lay low at a flophouse until the citywide manhunt for the destroyer of trains dies down. That sounds boring, though, and you know for a fact you'd have to find something to do. Maybe a quick call to someone you're fairly sure isn't an undercover cop.
You could say "screw it all" and go out and have some fun. The good thing about this city is there's always somewhere that's open. Actually you're going to do that anyway, but you could really work at it. There's nothing that says "I just took over the most ancient organization of bad guys in the galaxy" like a pub crawl.
Or you could go back to those spooky robe-wearing wannabes and tell them you're their new Master. That's definitely going to go over well.
[ ] Go home, pack up, move out.
[ ] Rent a room, lay low, call for entertainment.
[ ] Pub crawl! Pub craaaaawl!
[ ] Bask in what will surely be the adulation of your followers
Then you look around (especially behind you) for a naked bleeding guy, just in case it's a trick and you're about to catch a bad case of the dead. Still breathing, yup. Still breathing. Must have got him. On the subject of breathing, as the adrenaline starts to wear off you become aware of a feeling like waves of needles in your lungs. Right. These are bad fumes to be sucking up, even if you're tougher than the average vornskyrr.
But that doesn't matter at all. You did it! You definitely won. Elation fills your chest (wait no, that's still toxic fumes) and you pump your fist in the air and shout.
Dark Lord of the Sith, baby! You made it!
It's days like this that make the whole thing worth it. Yeah, you sort of joined a Sith cult, but you never really paid attention and anyway it was just to meet cute
[ ] Girls
[ ] Guys
[ ] Guys and Girls
[ ] People and their quaint little categories
And the fact that you won means it was the right decision. They… hmm. They might want to kill you for cheating at the whole thing? Yes, one of the things you did pay attention to was that they believed rules were made to be broken, but you have an awful lot of experience breaking rules and most people who say things like that mean that other people's rules were made to be broken.
Oh well, you'll worry about that later. For now, you want to hit the bar, maybe pay for a few dances, maybe do a little gambling, maybe slice into the casino network to even the odds a little… if everybody on the entire floor happens to win the jackpot all at once that sounds like great fun…
You can see the sirens now, pinpricks of light barely visible in the distance, flashing claxons on the heads of droids steadily rolling their way in your direction. With these guys you're surprised anybody gets caught at anything.
Oh, right, running. Before you can cash in on your newfound status (Dark Lord of the Sith! Yeah!!!) you need to put one foot in front of the other. Maybe you'll have to evade a patrol or jump off a ledge into a garbage scow or something but more importantly, where are you going to go?
You could go home, pack your things, set up in a new place. Not the first time! You've got a rough-and-tumble neighborhood where the police usually don't go all scoped out ahead of time. Your most important belongings are here with you, but you've got a sleeping bag with a lot of sentimental value and a couple of books you keep never getting around to reading.
You could lay low at a flophouse until the citywide manhunt for the destroyer of trains dies down. That sounds boring, though, and you know for a fact you'd have to find something to do. Maybe a quick call to someone you're fairly sure isn't an undercover cop.
You could say "screw it all" and go out and have some fun. The good thing about this city is there's always somewhere that's open. Actually you're going to do that anyway, but you could really work at it. There's nothing that says "I just took over the most ancient organization of bad guys in the galaxy" like a pub crawl.
Or you could go back to those spooky robe-wearing wannabes and tell them you're their new Master. That's definitely going to go over well.
[ ] Go home, pack up, move out.
[ ] Rent a room, lay low, call for entertainment.
[ ] Pub crawl! Pub craaaaawl!
[ ] Bask in what will surely be the adulation of your followers
Last edited:
Spector29
It Only Gets Worse From Here
[X] People and their quaint little categories
Sith draw power from Passion, let's be the most Passion-permissive possible.
[X] Bask in what will surely be the adulation of your followers
Our guy...really doesn't know what's up here, huh? This option might put him in contact with someone more...in touch with Sith culture and willing to explain the situation to him a bit.
Sith draw power from Passion, let's be the most Passion-permissive possible.
[X] Bask in what will surely be the adulation of your followers
Our guy...really doesn't know what's up here, huh? This option might put him in contact with someone more...in touch with Sith culture and willing to explain the situation to him a bit.
Random Member
Gardener of Human Happiness
- Location
- Behind You
[X] Guys and Girls
[X] People and their quaint little categories
[X] Pub crawl! Pub craaaaawl!
[X] People and their quaint little categories
[X] Pub crawl! Pub craaaaawl!
- Location
- Nottinghamshire, England
Here's what my chargen vote would have been if I'd been fast enough.
[X] Plan Insurance and Escape
-[X] Make absolutely sure he's dead. A couple more fuel trucks should do it. Not wise, but the explosions do set your heart aflutter.
--[X] Go see if anybody else is still alive, it's the dead of night so (hopefully) nobody would be on an automated train or in an office building but… just make sure, okay?
---[X] You need credits to get off-world. "Charitable" bystanders would be more than happy to help.
-[X] Male(s)
-[X] Throk'Feng Gemboatul
-[X] Human (conjoined twins)
-[X] Throk'Feng's body is at the upper limits of human size and is of mixed skin tone.
--[X] Throk, the Right-Head (from the Twin's perspective), has heliotropic hair of various natural colours, a pair of tusks and has a small horn growing from right temple.
--[X] Feng, the Left-Head (from the Twin's perspective), also possesses multi-chromatic hair and a pair of tusks, and suffers from Cyclopia.
And here's my current vote;
[X] Girls
[X] Bask in what will surely be the adulation of your followers
-[X] Go home, pack up, move out. And get your new minions to follow suit while you're at it.
[X] Plan Insurance and Escape
-[X] Make absolutely sure he's dead. A couple more fuel trucks should do it. Not wise, but the explosions do set your heart aflutter.
--[X] Go see if anybody else is still alive, it's the dead of night so (hopefully) nobody would be on an automated train or in an office building but… just make sure, okay?
---[X] You need credits to get off-world. "Charitable" bystanders would be more than happy to help.
-[X] Male(s)
-[X] Throk'Feng Gemboatul
-[X] Human (conjoined twins)
-[X] Throk'Feng's body is at the upper limits of human size and is of mixed skin tone.
--[X] Throk, the Right-Head (from the Twin's perspective), has heliotropic hair of various natural colours, a pair of tusks and has a small horn growing from right temple.
--[X] Feng, the Left-Head (from the Twin's perspective), also possesses multi-chromatic hair and a pair of tusks, and suffers from Cyclopia.
And here's my current vote;
[X] Girls
[X] Bask in what will surely be the adulation of your followers
-[X] Go home, pack up, move out. And get your new minions to follow suit while you're at it.
- Location
- Venezuela
[X] Girls
[X] Bask in what will surely be the adulation of your followers
-[X] Go home, pack up, move out. And get your new minions to follow suit while you're at it.
[X] Bask in what will surely be the adulation of your followers
-[X] Go home, pack up, move out. And get your new minions to follow suit while you're at it.
[X] People and their quaint little categories
[X] Pub crawl! Pub craaaaawl!
Why stop when we're on a roll?
[X] Pub crawl! Pub craaaaawl!
Why stop when we're on a roll?