She's no longer standing in that temple. 

The place where she is... might be a temple. It's constructed from glossy black granite, the ceiling is high and vaulted, and she stands on a platform across from a strange, robed alien(?) whose face is shrouded in mist. The walls are lined with doors. Dozens of doors - hundreds of doors - uncountable doors.

"Greetings, Sojourmer," says the robed figure in a deep, sonorous voice. "How may I serve you?"

...Anakin is feeling really dumb right now. And still holding the mystery artifact she should've at least worn gloves to pick up. But that's probably not relevant.

"...I apologize; I appear to be lost," she says, after a very short pause.

This place feels... Really, really weird.

"You stand in the Gatehouse," the figure says. "The Realm of the Reaper. It is a place between the realms, a space that connects to many locations. Most come here when they are ready to pass on to their final destination. But you bear my relic, and I am thus bound to you as it is bound to me. So I ask: what do you will?"

"...Uh for you to act as you wish because you're presumably a sapient being and deserve freedom, but if you're in the mood to answer questions, I'd like... An explanation? I don't know what the Reaper is, or what your relic is."

The being pauses. "Your first impulse was noble, but my freedom is not such a trifle. I will try to answer your questions as best I can. I am the Reaper, and this is my realm. You bear my Relic - the artifact you hold in your hand. The powers of the Relic are... singular; the one most relevant to you is that while you bear it, once every twenty-four hours, you may step between the planes to my realm. If you would be slain while you bear it, and you have not used its power in the previous twenty-four hours, you will be healed and brought to my realm, where time holds no sway. Here you can take the time to recover and recuperate, and return, when you are ready, to the realm of the living. The Relic will not leave your side, and its point will not pierce that which you do not wish to pierce. Also, while you are here, you may step out into any place from which you have previously come through to my realm, whether it be somewhere you 'died', so to speak, or somewhere you deliberately activated the Relic."

She nods. "Thank you. So - I can step back to my world, and return here if I'm badly harmed..."

Or presumably if she just needs a break. Which. Has been the case a lot, lately. She never seems to have time to meditate between all the emergencies...

There's another pause. One that implies something the speaker does not wish to say, rather than a moment for thought.

"I regret to inform you, Sojourner, that... there is a complication."

She thinks.

"...Deliberately." Deep breath. "I didn't activate the Relic deliberately."

"It is not that. The place where you activated the relic simply... is not accessible to me. I do not know it, and no door in this place of endless doors leads there. I do not know how the Relic got there. But... if anyone can return you to your own home, it is not me."

"Alright. I'll have to find my own way back, then."

The Reaper bows. "I have every confidence, Sojourner. In the meantime, my realm is open to you: I have near-absolute control of it, and I will do my best to fulfill any request you make. When you have stayed your fill, you may go through any door you choose."

She nods. "Thank you. Is there - a library or something, where I may learn about places the doors lead?"

"I remember the destination of each and every door, and most destinations will have something written about them in one of the great atlases of Toril, which I can conjure at will."

Another hesitation. "...If I may recommend one, however, the one in the center of the room... its destination varies, but it will most often lead you to somewhere you are... supposed to be."

She nods. "Going where I'm supposed to be is - a familiar concept."

"...But if time is paused here, I'd like to - rest, for a time. Meditate. Before I move on."

"Of course, Sojourner."

"Is there a good place for that, here?"

"I do not know the requirements for your meditation," the Reaper apologizes. "I can instantiate a mat, or a candle, or a bed of nails..."

She smiles, a little.

"I usually just need somewhere quiet, and something soft to sit or lay on."

One of the doors in the wall opens, revealing a chamber about ten feet on a side, with a cushion in its center.

"Thank you."

And she goes to meditate for - longer than she has in... A very long while, actually.

She used to drift in the Force, when she was a slave child and cooped up and bored, for hours on end, and Obi Wan had struggled to teach her but had at least felt meditation was unlikely to be bad - she had far more stamina than him, but that mostly ended up meaning that if he needed time to read without a bored child bothering him, he could leave her meditating.

She has no need to sleep, here, or drink, or eat. Nothing to stop her from simply - becoming.

Her mind settles, gradually, her increasingly jagged emotions curling into the Force, getting back under her control for the first time since before the war began.

She emerges refreshed - she's not sure how many hours later, and while she didn't have visions like she sometimes does when lost in time... Time is truly unreal, here, more so than it usually is when she's floating off into a gestalt of all times and places, and she hadn't felt its passing.

She's - not at peace with being separated from her world. But she's not as churningly afraid and upset at being dumped somewhere else. She'll get back. And maybe she can contact her wife or Obi Wan over their Force bonds, too, once time is flowing again. Let them know she's okay.

She glances at the Reaper as she emerges. "Thank you for your hospitality," she says. "Do I need to do anything else, other than walk through the door?"

"You need do nothing else," the Reaper confirms. "Safe travels, Sojourner."

"Thanks," she repeats. "May the Force be with you."

And - through the door in the center, the one the Reaper recommended.

When she opens the door, it's dark on the other side despite the sourceless light of the Reaper's realm. When she goes through, it closes behind her and vanishes.

She's in an alleyway. In a city. The smell would seem to indicate that it's pre-spaceflight, possibly completely pre-industrial. The exit to the alley is lit by flickering lamplight; a rat the size of a small dog scurries through the pool of light as she watches.

She wrinkles her nose a bit.

Maybe she's desperately needed for her basic sewage system knowledge.

She heads to the alley's exit, alert for - whispers in the Force, visions, what's actually in front of her face, potential problems...

There does seem to be a whisper in the Force. It's pointing her in the direction of a more brightly lit building, a large wooden sign hanging above the door bearing the image of a bed and a primitive drinking vessel. The writing below this signage is illegible.

Well, it's not surprising that a different universe lacks Basic... The bed and drink are fairly communicative, though - perhaps literacy is low here, or there's not a strong trade tongue...

She walks a bit briskly toward the building (still paying attention to her surroundings, of course).

Upon entering the building, she can hear a man, not shouting, but speaking so as to be heard clearly over a not insignificant amount of ambient noise. It - sounds like he's speaking Basic, somehow? Which puts her conclusion about the language in question somewhat.

"-the drow have already assassinated several notable Waterdhavian citizens. Not just politicians, but adventurers, temple leaders, captains of the Guard... I myself was the target of an assassination attempt, which I foiled only because after thirty years' retirement, I still sleep with my blade."

Someone else comments something in a language that is definitely not Basic.

The first is weird - the second, not so much, many species can't actually pronounce each other's languages intelligibly, making conversations in a mismatch of languages not uncommon.

Assassination attempts sounds - well, definitely like things are afoot.

She glances around the inn - doesn't recognize any other languages - so weaves her way over toward the man inexplicably speaking Basic. (Somewhat curious when he'll notice her, though it's not like she's hiding in the Force or anything... Okay a little, but just enough to keep other Force sensitives from immediately noticing her.)

He's speaking to a small group of what look like very low-tech mercenaries, of a few different species. One looks distinctly reptilian-avian, like a Trandoshan with a beak and a crest of feathery scales, and has - a hunting bow? Slung on his back.

Another is clearly mammalian, with snowy-white fur all over his body and a hairless pink tail lashing through the air. He's unarmed, and wears a loose blue robe and a pair of white gloves.

The third is a much smaller reptilian, with a soulful look in his eyes and a string instrument of some kind on his belt. He also has some kind of primitive bowcaster on his back, and a sword on his belt that does not look much like a vibroblade. He's writing something in an actual paper book, using some kind of animal feather.

The man speaking Basic breaks off and looks at her as she approaches. "Well met, my lady. Are you an adventurer, here for - well, the reward, or for glory, or just to get these damned drow to stop invading our city?"

"Well met. And I'd say I'm a foreigner here for the gossip, I suppose - I arrived recently, and haven't yet heard of any invasion."

(She's in Jedi robes, because she's making a point to the people who think 'leaders of a slave army' is an appropriate place for a Jedi - the cloth is utterly devoid of decoration but probably luxuriously fine compared to what she's seeing, given the existence of weaving machines. Her lightsaber's visible on her belt, the handle more elaborately carved than most bother with, but she has no other weapons.)

The smaller reptilian furrows his brow and says something in a confused tone.

"-oh, do you not speak the common? I think I have a Pearl of Tongues somewhere, I'll see if I can dig it up if you intend to stay. Ah, Deekin, she says she's foreign and here for gossip. Ordinarily I'd say you're in the right place, this being a tavern, but at the moment we're organizing an expedition to find out why we're being assaulted by drow. I don't suppose you can fight, or cast something with that rod?" He nods at her saber.

"I can fight, but I'm under a vow of pacifism - it's not the strictest out there, but I'll only kill when absolutely necessary." Not the best gloss of her philosophy, but, well, most cultures understand vows.

Why could this Deekin understand him but not her. That isn't the strangest thing she's seen since picking up the artifact, but, well... "And I'm not sure 'Pearl of Tongues' is translating well?"

This gets her a blank look. "Tongues, the spell for universal translation. I'm under a permanent version of it; the pearl is just a trinket that does the same thing."

"Huh. That's a different application of the Force than what I'm used to."

"...we may be speaking at cross-purposes. I've never heard of the Force."

...She's aware she's in a different universe. Just - the Force seems fundamental, to her.

...Maybe their population is low enough they almost never throw Force sensitives? If they're preindustrial...

"It's an energy field that surrounds all things, and that can be interacted with."

He shrugs. "Sounds like some kind of magic, but I'm no wizard. Let me find that Pearl of Tongues for you, and-"

At the edge of Anakin's hearing, below the room they're currently in, there's a creak, and the Force seems to think it's very relevant.

She turns, hand falling to her lightsaber - she is the Force, for a brief moment, what does she do next -

Rush downstairs, and see if the blue-skinned assassins pouring out of the lift can be stopped before they slaughter the guards.

The man with the translation startles when she turns. "Is something wrong?"

"Attack, guards overwhelmed," she snaps - she doesn't feel she's at great risk, and she trusts the Reaper - she takes off in a sprint before she finishes talking, the Force enhancing her movements so she's not significantly slowed by the patrons between her and the stairs -

She can feel the approximate locations of everyone downstairs, the guards here, wary but unprepared, the attackers there, intent - she cloaks herself tighter, the attackers won't see her coming unless they're Force sensitive and trained but hopefully her possible allies can still see her, she doesn't usually do this in such a rush with strangers for allies though -

She'll probably make it to line of sight before any actual deaths -

The guards are locked in battle as she enters the basement, followed closely by the man and the presumptive mercenaries. The guards seem to have been watching the lift shaft specifically in preparation for this eventuality, but the enemy forces are willing to throw a lot of troops at getting through, and they're rapidly being overwhelmed. Somehow, the battlefield is completely silent, despite the visible clashing of blades and shouting of the guards.

First pass low effort, often doesn't work especially against Force sensitives - the enemy forces can all suddenly float up, their clothes can yank up too if they're resisting that, their weapons try to leap out of their hands, she's already slipped into the right headspace for emotional manipulation, blasting any enemies still fighting with fear me - grabbing people in the Force isn't trivial, she's focusing on the front line the strongest -

(She's steering a bit through her precognition - she wants everyone to float or cower or stumble on paths that don't get them or their opponents killed - but keeping her main focus on the actual battle, not on what's happening in the next few seconds.)

The enemies are - strangely slippery in the Force, not fighting back like Force-sensitives might but hard to get a grip on like naturally Force-resistant creatures can be, if she's ever encountered those. But they're not very slippery, and it's still fairly straightforward to lift them. The overpowering fear helps as well, driving a few of them to leap back into the lift shaft and many of the rest to cower in fear. Those that keep fighting are clearly shaken.

The reptilian says something appreciative and looses several feathered arrows in quick succession, their tips crackling with electricity, each aimed at one of the intruders' throats.

Those arrows can stop midair! And every enemy can lose their weapons - or be nudged just enough they're all tripping over each other, slippery doesn't mean immune - if the ones that jumped will die from the fall she can try to float those too but she'd rather just let them run - the guard's weapons also won't hit the intruders, though she's not nudging anyone's parries -

The scene is probably a little bit comical, from the outside.

When the arrows stop, the reptilian lets out a somewhat alarmed noise.

The guards are competent enough to realize pretty quickly that something is stopping them from landing solid blows, and shift focus to herding the invaders back. Soon the blue people are all back in the shaft, and someone slaps a button which causes a shimmering force field to cover the opening.

The man with the translation turns to Anakin and raises his eyebrows. "The drow will be back soon enough, like as not, especially with their whole force still intact, but we're hoping to send the expedition down before they can regroup. I don't suppose I could interest you in going with them? The Lords of Waterdeep and I are offering a hundred thousand gold pieces to each member of the party that stops this invasion."

"I'm interested in preventing death whenever I can," she says, rubbing at her forehead and releasing the people she'd been floating (on the other side of the barrier, so they won't fall to their deaths; she'd gotten a sense they should be over there, and - well. It's not like she knows enough about local justice to trust it), and backing off on the emotional manipulation - it always makes her feel like she's covered in slime, and it's exhausting in a way grabbing people isn't. (The arrows she lets fall to the ground.) 

"I suppose I can understand that. I... don't know that you can repel an invasion nonviolently... but if anyone could, it's someone with the kind of power you were throwing around. -I'm Durnan, by the way." He goes over to a safe built into the wall, unlocks it, rummages in it for a moment, and pulls out a small blue pearl on a chain. He tosses it to Anakin. "Pearl of Tongues. Just put it around your neck and you'll be set."

She does so. "Well, I have to try. And I'm Anakin Skywalker, of the Jedi. It's good to meet you."

The mammal in the robe bows deeply. "A vow of pacifism is... uncommon, in this land, but I can certainly admire it. I am Jojo."

"He's the Hero of Neverwinter," the reptilian-avian says blandly. "Hi, I'm Garrus Vakarian, mercenary and/or bounty hunter extraordinaire."

"And Deekin be Deekin but Anakin know that already," pipes Deekin cheerfully, scribbling in his notebook. "Where Anakin say Anakin be from?"

She bows back to Jojo. "It's good to meet you all, as well. And I'm from another universe, actually - I am a citizen of the planet Naboo, of late, though 'from' is a bit more complicated than that."

Deekin scribbles more energetically.

"So you're from some other plane? Impressive. I'm from west of Zhentil Keep, and people still look at me like I'm from the moon."

She nods. "There's a lot here that's - somewhat strange to me, I'll admit."

"I can imagine," Jojo says sympathetically.

Durnan nods. "As I was saying before the drow attacked, several prominent citizens have already been assassinated by drow coming up from the Underdark through Undermountain - uh, Undermountain is the massive dungeon that lies beneath Waterdeep. Usually, the archmage Halaster, who controls the dungeon, keeps us safe from its residents, and especially from the drow - there's no love lost between the drow and Halaster. But they've been coming up through Undermountain, and we don't know how or why."

" - Huh."

"That's something I'm willing to investigate, certainly, and try to help solve - 'there's a conflict and someone would like it to stop' is usually what people call on my order - the Jedi - for, so it's a situation I'm familiar with."

"I'd prefer more information on the polities involved - though that obviously balances against any time crunches, if the situation's likely to escalate soon..."

"I can give you a rundown," Durnan says. "Waterdeep is the city we're in now. It's run by an anonymous council called the Lords of Waterdeep, it's generally one of the more prosperous cities in the region, and it's done nothing to provoke an attack, at least that we know of. Undermountain is a dungeon constructed by the mad archmage Halaster, who is older than the city itself, and who controls the dungeon with an iron fist. It's ever-changing and terribly dangerous, filled with monsters Halaster brings in, and treasure to attract adventurers to die there for Halaster's twisted amusement. The Underdark is an incredibly massive cave system deep beneath the earth, ruled largely by different factions of drow, who are... generally evil, though there are those who escape their vicious society and make their own way in the world. We don't actually know very much about the drow; mostly, they keep to themselves apart from occasional slave raids in areas where the Underdark meets the surface. Do you have any specific questions?"

She hums. "What does 'generally evil' mean?"

Jojo speaks up. "They keep slaves almost universally - any drow who doesn't have any slaves is most likely either a cultural refugee or a slave themself - and their culture is... fundamentally broken in a lot of ways, as the refugees tell it. They betray each other constantly, sacrifice people to their dark gods, and turn to assassination as a first resort."

"And they ping red on a Detect Evil spell," Garrus notes.

"That's an effect of them being evil, not a cause," Jojo says. "But yes, also they ping red on a Detect Evil spell."

Sounds like the Hutts with bonus religion. Ugh.

"We don't have Detect Evil spells," she says, after a pause. "Though I'm not - unfamiliar, with the ways slave societies are very, very broken."

"Really? Then - how would you know where you're going to go when you die?"

" - Everyone in my plane meets the same fate after death, regardless of their actions in life."

"...Unless those actions were specifically avoiding proper death, but I'm not sure that counts as a different 'where.'"

Jojo's brow furrows. "Well, that's... an elegant solution. I can't imagine it's an optimal one. How do they keep the evil people from hurting the good people?"

" - After death?"

"Yes? In - whatever communal afterlife you're referring to."

"...I think we might do something very different for an afterlife. Or - for what the dead are like. I've heard concerns that the dead might grow angry if you desecrate their graves, and debate about to what extent it's possible to interact with ghosts outside of dreams. But never anyone concerned the dead might hurt each other. Or get hurt at all - grave desecration is usually considered disrespectful, not harmful."

"...The concept of 'where' is also a bit - odd, the dead don't go to a separate place from the rest of us. They just - sort of hang around. Kind of. It's a bit more complicated than 'float around without a body' - the separation between minds, spaces, and times is approximately an illusion and it's less of an illusion if you don't have a body. ...At least in my plane."

Jojo looks very dubious.

"In Toril dead people go to Fugue Plane and then Outer Planes," Deekin exposits helpfully. "Celestia, Abyss, Limbo, those places. Depending on alignment and who dead person worshipped when alive. Dead person who didn't worship anybody go to Wall of Faithless."

That is such helpful exposition! She is somewhat less confused and more concerned, now.

" - Uh, explain alignment, worship, and the Wall of the Faithless, please?"

"Alignment - you seemed familiar with the concept of Evil, that's one of the axes, Evil versus Good. The other axis is Law versus Chaos, which is usually glossed as - safety versus freedom? Or, not safety but - society, people doing things not because it benefits them but because it makes things better for everyone else. Worship - various gods exist, and mortals are supposed to worship one or more of them, usually with one in particular as their main god. Mine is Tyr, god of justice. I worship him through prayer, and by following his principles, and by dedicating various actions to him. The Wall..." He sighs. "You have to understand, gods need prayer. It's the air they breathe. So Myrkul, former god of death, came up with a system to... blackmail mortals into worship. If they don't worship any gods, then when they die, they are turned into a brick in the Wall of the Faithless, the vast barrier that surrounds the City of the Dead on the Fugue Plane. There, the Wall crushes their souls and digests their very being over the course of years."

"Myrkul not nice kind of death god," Deekin notes.

She looks pretty horrified! "That's horrible."

"I won't argue that it isn't," Jojo says sadly. "But - we live in the world we live in. The most accessible solution is to live well, spread faith, and save as many as we can."

That sounds like an option for people with less ambition and fewer terrifying Force powers than her.

She frowns. "We all do the best we can," she says, softly, not letting her blooming this is wrong and I will end it show on her face. (But it is, and she will. The future is ever in motion, after all - and so is Anakin.)

"But - it does seem to be drawing us away from the matter at hand, and what we can do about it..." Solve the invasion and get oriented to the world first. What she can do now.

"Yes, I was wondering when the mammalian theology lecture would conclude," Garrus says drily. "Durnan, what're our priorities here?"

"Find out why the drow are attacking, and why Halaster hasn't stopped them. If at all possible, get Halaster to resume normal functioning... or as normal as he ever is. Stay alive. As previously mentioned, one hundred thousand gold per head when you come back, plus any treasure you can loot from Undermountain, divided as you deem appropriate, obviously."

She nods, firmly. "Are there maps of the Undermountain?"

Deekin choke-laughs a bit. "Um, Undermountain not... fixed geography. Not even slightly. Kind of notorious for it. Not usually full-on 'hallways change behind you' mutable, but very rarely staying put from day to day."

...Sigh.

"I'll probably want more of a summary of what - magic - does, here, but I can likely get that while we move..."

Durnan nods. "Any other questions?"

Deekin raises a hand. "How we get out once we go in?"

"Well, you can return to the well's terminus and I'll pull you up. There's not many options besides that, given teleportation is nullified within the dungeon."

"Teleportation not work?"

"Yes. Any magic that takes you from one place to another, even traveling by the planes, is completely forbidden by Halaster's magics. Only his own devices - shimmering portals that take you from one part of the dungeon to another - work inside that place."

"Thanks," Deekin says, scribbling in his tome. "That all Deekin needed to know."

"Do you have anything we can use while we're down there, in the interest of not dying?" Garrus asks. "You being a former adventurer and all."

Durnan chuckles, retrieving the chest from which he took the Pearl of Tongues. "Indeed. While I've sold off much of my old adventuring gear, I keep some items around in case of emergencies, and I want to encourage you all to go through it and take anything you need. There's nothing really game-changing in there, but even a minor enchantment can mean the difference between life and death, if that enchantment keeps an arrow out of your eye."

"Thank you." She moves to peer at the chest.

"...Does the dungeon also bar the soul traveling to the afterlife?"

The chest contains several items! Some rings, a cloak, a belt, a necklace, and for some reason a robe woven out of twine.

"It doesn't," Durnan says. "That, at least, is beyond even Halaster. ...so far as anyone knows."

Garrus peers at the chest with her. "Ooh, cloak of resistance. I could... probably use one of those."

"...I have no idea what any of these are."

Do any of them feel particularly important or attention catching if she reaches out in the Force?

One of the rings would potentially be very handy. The belt would be great. The cloak would be kind of nice, but Garrus seems like he might need it more.

"Oh, sorry, these are - kind of bread-and-butter magic items. The rings are Rings of Protection, they extend a force shield over your skin that makes it harder for attacks to connect. The belt looks like a low-tier Belt of Dexterity, makes you more - graceful, agile. The amulet's Natural Armor, it hardens your skin a bit - my scales are already pretty tough, though, and an amulet that weak wouldn't actually help because it's designed for you soft-skinned types. And you can't wear two necklaces at once, so it's not much use to you in particular. Robe of Endless Twine is... Durnan, why do you even have a Robe of Endless Twine?"

"Couldn't manage to sell it off," Durnan admits cheerfully.

"Cool. You can unravel it into more twine than it looks like it should be made of. And the cloak improves your reflexes, your physical resistance, and your ability to resist mental effects. Which I'm... not very good at."

"I already have superhuman reflexes and resistance..." she says. "'Harder for attacks to connect' would be helpful if I'm ever prevented from moving - I don't have any armor, so I mostly just dodge or deflect attacks. The belt of dexterity would help my fighting style... But if someone else needs it more, I don't think it'd be that major a difference for me."

"I've already got a belt," Jojo says. "I'll take the amulet, if it's on offer."

"Deekin got belt too. New belt all Anakin's."

Garrus takes a ring.

So a ring and belt it is for her.

And Jojo takes the amulet, leaving the Robe of Endless Twine to wait for someone who, for whatever reason, wants it.

"Are we ready to descend?" Jojo asks, his nose twitching.

"I am."

"I'm good - oh, by the way, Anakin, my arrows can knock people out without killing them. It's an enchantment on my quiver. If you see me shooting people, don't worry too much about it."

She nods. "Thanks for the heads up." And, to Durnan, "And thank you for the supplies."

Durnan shakes his head. "Small price to pay, if it saves my city."

Then he gestures that they should enter the bucket-lift, and once they're in he winches them down, deep into the darkness.

She stays alert for potential problems.

Still... "Probably we should summarize abilities to each other..." she says, softly. "At some point."

"Sure. I think we all saw your abilities, so I guess I'll go first. I'm a sniper; I shoot things, preferably from a long distance, ideally before they know I exist. Jojo?"

"I'm a paladin and a monk. I'm... very fast, and I can deal a more significant amount of damage with my fists than should be possible, and I can heal people although not as - widely, generally, as a cleric can. Deekin?"

"Deekin be bard. Sing songs, make people better at fighting or doing other stuff. Also some spells." He shrugs. "Also can breathe very cold once per day. Not very combat-effective but maybe it get better as Deekin gain spell circles? Deekin not know."

"Huh. Useful stuff..." She hums. "I've got some minor things that're less fight focused - and most've what I was doing isn't really centrally for fighting, it's just minor telekinesis and short range precog and projective empathy... I can sometimes also get visions off of items, mostly of their past... A similar trick to the projective empathy can be used for mental suggestions, but that's - generally not something I like to abuse. I can feel other people's emotions, too, and generally tell if they're lying or telling the truth... My lightsaber can cut through near anything, which's dead useful against locked doors and walls. I can enhance my own body, mostly to make myself faster or stronger... I can read minds and share my own thoughts - that's incredibly hard if someone isn't letting me, though - which if I'm focusing well I can use to relay thoughts among a group. And that can sometimes let other people tap into my visions, though that's finicky."

Deekin whistles despite his non-mammalian lips. "Talented lady."

"Some of it's normal for Jedi. A few of my abilities are rarer, though - like, telepathy stuff is pretty hard."

"Hard for wizards too. But if Anakin can help coordinate party, that be good news. Drow like tricking enemies, splitting up adventurers, sneaking up to pick off party members one by one... Telepathy good for avoiding that."

"Sure, especially if you all are alright with it - though it's easier to use in an emergency if we practice first..." She frowns very slightly. "And I can feel people's signatures in the Force." She waves a hand vaguely. "Which is... Sort of a unique imprint of their mind on the fabric of the universe. You can modify what your signature reveals about you, and some can hide their signature entirely, but I've never heard of someone mimicking another's - though the magic in this universe might do better on that front."

"Never having heard of the Force, I don't imagine shapeshifting would account for it. Unless any wizard worth their salt knows about it and I'm just being an ignorant profane." Jojo's nose twitches with amusement.

She smiles. "I suspect it's merely unknown here - or even inaccessible to natives of this universe. Even in mine, it's not uncommon for a planet with a decent population to produce only a single potential Jedi in a lifetime of the local species, and it's hard to get anywhere without training." She managed, but she was a freak of nature, and Qui-Gon Jinn correctly noted she'd do poorly against anyone fully trained. 

"What kind of populations are you used to? I've heard estimations of Faerûn's population at fifty million not counting the drow, but we don't know about the lands beyond the Trackless Sea..."

She hums. "A wide range, honestly - my birth planet had two hundred thousand, most of that in one city, but it was a desert wasteland. The main Temple of the Jedi Order is on Coruscant, which has a population of over one trillion at last official count - which often doesn't get many in the city's underbelly. My current planet, Naboo, has four and a half billion. Most politically major planets are between one and about twenty billion, which seems ideal for a fully functioning economy with our technology - more crowded planets can end up straining under their population load, and less crowded ones tend to have small economies. Coruscant is an outlier, but it imports a massive amount of its resources."

"Potential Jedi aren't evenly distributed throughout the galaxy, but we're not sure what goes into the trends we see - though in general less crowded planets seem to produce more Jedi per capita."

"Trillions. Tyr's hand."

"That is an absolutely outrageous number of people."

"So, definitely possible no Jedi ever born on Toril. Or Jedi born and thought he was weird rare kind of sorcerer."

"Yes, definitely possible."

"And the first time I saw Coruscant it was - nearly overwhelming." All those people, nearly all of them desperate and miserable - it'd almost been like a breath of fresh air, or at least of unpolluted water after smoggy air, when the clouding of the Force in the area began. Maybe the Dark Side just wanted to stop suffocating; it's no mystery to Anakin's instincts that Coruscant produces very, very few native Jedi.

"Deekin can imagine."

The lift comes to a stop. It lets out in a small square room hewn from polished granite. The granite is, indeed, so well-polished that it glistens in the light from the glowing crystals embedded in the walls.

There's also a circle of crimson runes, with a shiny white skeleton lying inside.

...Well they're gonna avoid those.

She looks around, examining with her normal senses and feeling in the Force for more traps, also identifying any exits as she does so - obvious or hidden.

"Any best practices I should know for traps around here?"

No traps in this room besides the rune circle, which will rapidly consume any organic material placed inside it. (It's slightly unclear whether bones are a specific exception, or if the local magic just thinks they're inorganic.) There's an obvious exit to the west, and no hidden doors in this room.

"I'm good at spotting physical traps - my visor helps with it. And it lets me see magic if it isn't masked, which... it probably will be... but Halaster has a reputation for liking his magical traps to be kind of obvious; he's going for entertainment value, and somebody getting disintegrated because they stepped on an unmarked flagstone is apparently too lowbrow for him."

"Not that he won't drop you into a pit of spikes for stepping on the wrong flagstone," Jojo notes. "But - he's got a twisted sense of fairness, by which spike pits are well and good but undetectable magic death traps are against the rules."

"Oh, yeah, I'm familiar with the type. Twisting temples full of traps for the clever, and a reward at the center that either is also a trap and kills you or is also a trap but if it doesn't kill you you get initiated into a magic cult or is actually a reward except now you get the honor of fighting the cult leader or someone just thought wills were boring so left their inheritance at the center of a death maze. Fortunately usually the cults are defunct by now..."

"Though the boundaries of 'undetectable' are probably really different with the Force, and you're being selective out of a massive pool of people... And we probably have more death trap inheritance tombs, those were a thing in one culture for a bit."

Amazingly enough death trap mazes aren't always the Sith or even dark siders - there are a lot of Force traditions and some of them are very, very far removed from anything she trained in.

"I'm fairly unlikely to be harmed by the floor suddenly turning into a pit of spikes, though, so it might be smart for me to take point."

Jojo steps back, allowing her to take the lead. "I'm probably the best suited after you," he muses, "so in theory we might want to put me second... but maybe we want me in back, actually, in case someone tries to sneak up on us?"

"Not unlikely, with drow around," Garrus says.

"That makes sense, yeah. I'll try to keep a general awareness of my surroundings, too, but - we should all be cautious."

Get their marching order settled - Garrus and Deekin in the middle, it sounds like - and then through the western exit?

Indeed.

They exit into a massive, cavernous chamber - the ceilings are arched, and there's a lake of lava taking up most of the space. In the center of the lake floats a little island, and in the center of the island is recessed a spiral staircase. There's a bridge to the island, blocked by four rows of colorful glowing pillars, and there are four levers before the bridge, each with a slot in the center for some kind of rod. Exits to the chamber lie to the north and south.

Anakin may be able to feel something strange about the air above the lava, like it's... empty of something that's been present everywhere else in this world?

"Okay, so, the air above the lava - I think maybe just the lava - feels. Empty. I think it's blocking my magic senses, plausibly would also block my other abilities."

"I might be able to - I guess activate the levers? Is finding the rods the puzzle here? With telekinesis, but I'm unsure if that's trapped to stop you from doing it."

"I should also be able to jump across the lava even if my powers cut out mid-jump - the only use of them's when I'm launching - but it'd be harder for me to carry anyone with me."

"I would be not even slightly surprised if there's some kind of - nonmagical arrow trap in the antimagic field to stop someone from doing exactly that. Halaster gets pissy when people try to bypass his puzzles."

He crouches to examine the levers. "It looks like these aren't strictly speaking mechanical - I'm detecting some magic coming off them, mostly transmutation and abjuration but a little bit of divination too. And the interior is completely hollow."

"So probably not trivially by-passable - or at least not more easily by-passed than playing along would be."

"If you think he'll be fair about the implied puzzle, then - I think I do favor trying to collect the rods."

"Puzzles usually fair," Deekin nods. "Not unheard of to have puzzle with - layers, like, find secret door but have trap in secret room? Or big mean trapped chest with no treasure in it? But usually not - 'haha, you collect rods and now I Big Wizard Guy Halaster kill you'."

"Eh, additional puzzle layers still sounds fair to me."

"So... Probably we'll have to go both north and south, but..." Does she feel better about one or the other?

The north feels a bit more promising!

She relays that, though it's not very certain.

"It's not as if we've got anything more certain. Frankly I'd go based on a gut feeling even if you didn't have alien divination powers."

She snorts. "Other option's a coin flip, so."

Northward, then.

They advance through the halls, which are mostly empty. Some of the chambers they pass by have the sounds of combat - shouts of "Death to the small folk!" and "Die, giantkin!" ring out between the sounds of weapons on flesh.

She stops at the first one, peeking inside it.

A humanoid standing about twelve feet tall is currently in the process of clubbing a humanoid with avian wings and talons to death, while tiny sparkling humanoids stab him with equally tiny knives. His movements are slow and clumsy, and growing slower as poison spreads through his system, but his target is unlikely to survive long enough for the poison to disable him.

What is with this place.

Everyone: yank in different directions! Club and knives: yank to the ceiling! Fuck Force healing is not her specialty - shout, "Hey, leave off!" - push an emotional reinforcement of 'do not fuck with me' -

Everyone in the room is yanked apart! When she commands them, they stare at her; the giant sits heavily on the floor, after a moment, and the others follow suit, the tiny ones fluttering to the ground.

Jojo whispers, "If we're going to question them, would you like me to heal that harpy? For goodwill's sake."

"Yes please," she whispers back.

Then, to the group: "Okay, what's going on here?"

Jojo goes over to the "harpy", and touches her with one glowing hand. Her wounds heal, and there's a crackling sound as several bones re-set. Before she can wake up, he darts back over to stand beside Anakin.

The giant speaks, slurring as if his tongue is too big for his mouth. "Small ones... try to take over dungeon layer. We ogres too. Thought it would be easy. But small ones tricky. Poison, and magics, and... dead things. They not fight good, but they kill many ogres."

"Vile thing," one of the small creatures spits.

"Stupid thing," the other titters.

"Our Queen deserves to rule."

"And with Halaster gone, she'll not be stopped."

"Uh huh."

"Who are the leaders of the ogres and the - small ones?"

"Olgin Hasterean rules the ogres," the ogre says.

The small ones spit on the ground. "The Queen has no name that we will give you," says one.

"She is the Queen of the Fey in Undermountain."

"Alright."

"I don't like war. It's pointless, bad for everyone, and disruptive, and I have things I'm trying to accomplish. Off the top of your heads, is there any accord your leaders could come to that they would both be satisfied with?"

"Small ones could say Olgin is their king," the ogre says.

The fey spit again. "And you brutes could feed yourselves to the dragon."

"If their king swore fealty to our Queen," the other says, "we would be satisfied. But obviously we're at an impasse."

"Uh huh."

"And if I wanted to contact your leaders?"

The ogre hums. "Olgin not gonna want talk with human girl... unless human girl stronger than him."

The fey whisper amongst themselves. "Our Queen would likely negotiate, provided a guarantee of your neutrality," one of them says after a bit.

"I'll break up fights," she says, "And I'll try to talk people into peace. But I won't destroy one side for another's benefit."

To them all: "On my home plane, the uniform of my Order would be enough to mark my neutrality - and my power. My strength, at least, is easy to prove in a spar."

"My philosophy is harder to prove. But if there's a mutually acceptable way to prove neutrality, I'm willing to do that."

One of the fey shrugs. "The fact that you're doing this at all instead of killing us is a help. We will confer with her, and relay your promise, if you let us go."

"I will."

She glances at her group. "Do we have any other questions first?"

"Ah, is there some line of communication between your factions?"

     "Nope," the ogre says.

Jojo nods. "Anakin, do you have some way of communicating across distances?"

"I can send messages to people I know well enough to pick out in a crowd, but most don't have the trick of reaching out to me."

"I could send periodic messages to one of the people present here and keep my focus on that long enough to hear if there's any messages back, and that'd allow me to act as a relay between the factions."

Which would also allow her to track and somewhat monitor the people she's messaging. Her moral code doesn't, actually, demand she mention that.

"Would that be acceptable?" Jojo asks the fey.

     They nod. "Send them to me," one of them says.

Anakin nods, focusing on the fey's Force signature until she has the quirks memorized. And, to the ogre: "Are you also alright receiving messages from me?"

"Yuh," the giantkin says. "Let me know when human girl coming into ogre territory. Otherwise guards probably squish human girl."

She smiles a little. "I'll send a warning ahead."

The combatants disperse, leaving the party alone in the room.

"An unconventional approach," Garrus notes. "But it does save us some trouble."

"Hopefully more down the line, too."

"Yeah. Should we continue as we were, then, or go straight to the ogre territories?"

She hums. "As we were, I think. Ogres feel like they won't require much in the way of 'being already rested,' too, and we might want to front load the harder challenges?"