Danger on Dathomir

*You know you’re moving up in the galaxy when you get a call from the hero of the Rebellion, Luke Skywalker. Dispatched to a meeting on Yavin IV, our heroes have a meet and greet with the Praxium before sublighting off to Dathomir on a mission to recruit a possible Jedi talent. There are underworld operatives, there is a dark force user, there is a bounty hunter, there’s even a rancor for space sake!*

## **Previously**

*Our heroes greatly improved their already pristine standing in the New Republic following the infiltration into a maximum security prison to rescue the kidnapped ambassador Bota Zi. Now returning to Coruscant, they plan to have some well earned time off showing Bota their new office space, their prospective new bar, and a good time overall. The New Republic, however, has other things that they would like done.*

## **Recap**

### **The Praxeum**

A priority message is delivered to *Jinxed Starhawk* from Cal Omas, requesting that the group make their way to Yavin IV for a meeting at the now historic Massassi Temple ruins. Intrigued, Blaine brings the ship to the requested location on the moon, and after receiving a warm greeting from the docking bay manager the team is sent along to a meeting at the newly created Jedi Praxeum headquarters.

Guided into the Massassi Temple itself, moving up and finally being seated in a largely empty chamber, the group waits patiently for several minutes in the still night air before the entry doors are heard opening behind them. A dark cloaked figure walks in calmly, then gently pushes their hood back to reveal the famed visage of Jedi Luke Skywalker. The acclaimed Jedi smiles in recognition at Blaine as he welcomes the rest of the team.

Skywalker gives a brief explanation of the newly established Jedi Praxeum to the team, discussing his goal to train a new generation of Jedi Knights to preserve the hard fought peace of the New Republic and the galaxy as a whole. Newly permitted by Mon Mothma and aided in its establishment on Yavin IV by Leia Organa, the group has only just begun to sift through the Imperial records that they have in search of force sensitives to survey and recruit to their cause. Recently, Luke has been in contact with Dask Ra'tava and learned of the Twilight Council, including the training and developments of the “force dyad” Tek and Droo. It was from these discussions that he came to the decision to recruit the team for a mission to bring in a potential recruit, Sten Thannis, from the planet Dathomir.

The mission itself is relatively simple and straight forward, but not without its complications on the ground. A powerful group on planet, the Dathomiri Witches practice a form of “witchcraft” that is similar in many ways to the force, though the naming of the practice belies its common use for darker means. Aside from the witches, the planet is broken into a variety of territories controlled by clans of natives and assorted groups that seek to exploit the planet for its resources. The group will need to navigate these in addition to the dangerous swamps, jungles, and mountains of the planet itself in order to locate Thannis and make contact.

Thannis himself is not the most reputable character to be considered training by the Jedi. His criminal record shows that he has been accused numerous times of cheating individuals, though the charges were often dropped since it was difficult to prove that he did anything wrong (likely because he was using the force to swindle the accusers). He currently has a 250,000cr bounty on his head from the Hutt’s for an unstated reason, though it is suspected that he tried to press his luck and cheat them. There have been reports of several bounty hunters taking the job on due to the large payout.

To aid in the mission, Luke has asked Teneniel Djo to travel with the group as a guide and aide. A force sensitive that has recently been training with Luke, she is also a native of the planet Dathomir and will act as intermediary between the team and her tribe, the Singing Mountain Clan. In addition, her skills in the force will be of use to track and connect with Thannis. In addition to Djo, Luke agrees to teach Tek a form of telepathy to allow for communication between the group and Yavin IV.

Moving down to a more cluttered level of the temple that is being equipped to serve as a training floor to the Praxeum, the group is introduced to a collection of initiates that Luke Skywalker has been collecting to train. They are given a brief introduction to Gantoris, Kyp Durron, Grogu, “Skippy the Super Droid”, and their soon to be guide Teneniel Djo each in turn and then given a few more bits of information about their mission.

On Dathomir, a Jedi ship of unknown age named the *Chu'Unthor* was located. Having been lost some time ago, the ship was recently rediscovered and several Jedi relics and training manuals were discovered onboard. Unfortunately the ship’s wreckage is located in the territory controlled by the Dathomiri witches, and recent recovery was only accomplished with the aid of the local tribes who fought against the witches. The ship adds a potential wrinkle to the mission, as Luke is in search of any more Jedi manuals or relics that the group may come across.

Feeling more than a bit tired of having to sit through what she finds to be a monotonous briefing that benefits nobody but a small, elitist group of force sensitives, Katira interjects to ask what the group stands to gain if they decide to help. In response, Luke offers vague promises of favors and prestige to the group, eliciting dismay from Katira who has little to no interest in helping any Jedi in the first place, much less if there is no pay in return. Sensing that Katira is likely the lone detractor, and wanting the help of his acquaintance Blaine, Luke reaches out in the force to alter Katira’s desires and bring her fully onboard with the mission.

Now finishing the briefing, Luke and his acolytes walk with the team to the *Jinxed Starhawk* as Skywalker discusses the final points of interest. As the entry ramp is lowered, he looks to Tek and asks why an aspiring Jedi would be wearing Mandalorian armor rather than relying on the force for protection. Tek proffers a few flimsy excuses then turns to walk up the ramp, not noticing as Luke again reaches out with the force to push the Zabrak’s opinion and convince him that he has no need for the armor. Luke in turn, along with everyone else, does not notice as Katira uses her last moments on the planet to steal a parasteel hilt from the robes of the Jedi apprentice Gantoris.

### **Welcome to Dathomir**

The flight to Dathomir passed without incident as Teneniel gives a brief review of the societal hierarchy on the planet, pointing out that the people there operate under a strict matriarchy with men being “hunted” as potential mates. Eventually the group was directed by Teneniel where to pilot the ship for landing and a meeting with the Singing Mountain Clan. Ever searching for a partner in the galaxy, Tek asks Blaine if he can use his Zeltron pheromone cologne, and he enters the settlement with his eyes open. As his eyes settle on one particular woman standing by to greet the group he is introduced to Kirana Ti, one of the more prominent leaders of the group.

> "*Is she a Zabrak?*"
> ― Tek
>
>

> "*No, she isn’t. She looks like a humanoid woman.*"
> ― Luke
>
>

> "*Before that, she looked like a dog faced man.*"
> ― Blaine
>
>

Tek moves to introduce himself but is quickly rebuffed based on his gender, though Kirana does mention that she may be more willing to discuss his potential if his presentation was meant as an offer to be hunted as a mate. Rather than a burgeoning Jedi, the village directs their gaze to the unrecognized female in the group in search of some reason as to the purpose of their arrival.

> "*Are you the leader?*"
> ― Kirana Ti
>
>

> "*Do you mean is she the bossiest? Because maybe yes.*"
> ― Blaine
>
>

Katira somewhat uncomfortably accepts the role of representative for the group, still struggling internally with the unexpected desire to see this mission succeed. She explains the interest in Thannis and his recent arrival on planet as well as the potential reconnaissance of the *Chu’Unthor* and asks what information the clan might be willing to provide.

With regards to the crashed starship, the clan states that it has never been moved from where it originally crashed. Beyond that they have little information, as the wreckage falls within Dathomiri Nightsister territory and is there has been no interest from nearby clans to enter into conflict with the Nightsisters in order to explore a ship that they have no reason to delve into.

As far as Thannis, the clan has little more to say that what was already known. The man arrived on the planet some time past, but did not seek shelter with the Singing Mountain Clan. He had an interest in finding other Jedi relics, and departed after a brief discussion only to have his ship crash land a short distance from the village. Thannis did not remain with his ship, and it has not left from where it went down.

### **Dangerous Wildlife**

With what information that they have been able to gather, the group decides that their best course of action is to investigate Thannis’ ship and hope that there will be some leads logged or possibly a means of tracking Thannis away from the ship. Kirana agrees to go with the team as a guide to the wreckage, and (Tek hopes) to consider Tek’s potential.

The route to the ship brings the group to the foot of a nearby mountain, through the surrounding jungle terrain. As Katira moves to gain elevation for a better vantage point she is dissuaded by both Teneniel and Kirana, who comment that the mountain is the home to the shiamites, an insect species the size of a small cat that burrows into the mountain through the use of a powerful acid that they secrete. The nearby clans are familiar with the creatures, harvesting what they can from the insects for a powerful adhesive.

Taking care to avoid the mountainside for the remainder of their trek, the group passed half a day on their journey to Thannis’ ship without any problems. They find the vessel largely intact, and are able to access the transport logs without any issue, but are only able to determine that the man did indeed have dealings in Hutt Space recently, followed by a short stop at Mos Espa on Tatooine. Beyond that, it appears that the arrival recently on Dathomir was intentional, but there are no logs indicating what the reason may have been.

Any access beyond transit data is locked down. With no entries or access being evident since the ship crash landed at its current location, the decision is made to leave Sparky behind to slice into the ship while the rest of the team follows the trail left behind by Thannis as best as they can.

During the tracking, Katira again learns that the fauna of the planet must be taken seriously. From the surrounding trees two rocks are thrown, striking the hot headed Zeltron in the back of the head. Without thinking, she turns and fires back at the primate that threw the rocks, watching with no emotion as it falls dead to the jungle floor, but quickly being admonished for the act by Teneniel as the group is told they need to move away quickly unless they want to kill every one of the creatures that comes at them in retaliation for Katira’s actions.

Hurrying through the jungle now, the team stumbles upon a pair of cloaked figures in a small clearing just ahead. As Jawa Jimmy comments that he can hear some sort of chanting coming from one of the figures, one of the figures calls out to the group in a voice that Blaine recognizes somewhere in the back of his mind.

> "*Don’t worry. We’re almost done here. You can come out.*"
> ― Silri
>
>

As the rest of the group holds position a short distance back, Blaine and Katira approach from opposite sides of the pair. The figure calmly informs the group that they have already been surrounded by Zann Consortium mercenaries, then continues in whatever ritual was previously interrupted. Not knowing who she is up against, Katira tries to persuade the Dathomiri Witch Silri that it is in her best interests to let Thannis come with them, but finds herself filled with dread as Silri calls upon the dark side of the force to instill fear in her.

### **Boom! Headshot!**

As the rest of the group is trying to gain their bearings due to the sudden turn of events, Teneniel turns in a flash and throws a knife at the nearest mercenary, and the chaos of combat descends on the field.

In a blaze of blaster fire, Katira wounds two mercenaries and Jawa Jimmy absolutely murders another as the rest of the team narrowly avoids being shot. Rusty rushes forward to brawl with a pair as Tek sends his potential mate into battle to defend him while he concentrates on lightsaber combat (-2cp). Meanwhile, Blaine rushes in toward Silri, bent on eliminating the greatest threat. He brings his cortosis blade down (-2cp), and a spray of blood erupts from the nightsister’s face as Thannis extends his arms causes a veil or darkness to cover Blaine’s sight, dimming his senses.

Things get a bit crazy as combat continues. Teneniel casts some unknown spell, and a small storm cloud builds over the henchman, striking down with lightning bolts and mortally wounding one. Having no other readily available targets, Katira fires an explosive round from her pistol at Silri, but watches in shock as her lightwhip ignites and intercepts the round. Thankfully the explosion causes no harm to Blaine, who strikes at Silri again for another wound, this time across the arm.

In the mercenary ranks behind, Rusty charges in without concern for blaster fire and disables two more mercenaries. A stray bolt flies past, and the group watches on as despite his best efforts to deflect it Tek is struck squarely in the face (-1cp to dodge), but are relieved to see their friend absorb the blast without incident (-2cp). Looking on at the entire exchange, Kirana wonders if Rusty might not be the better potential mate for her to hunt out of the group.

Finally deciding to join the fight, Tek rushes at Silri with his lightsaber drawn, severing her robotic arm from her body before sending a wave of force to throw Thannis back. With Silri knocked to the ground, Jimmy fires a shot to wound her again and Rusty rushes in to finish the last bit of resistance.

### **Forced Love and Force Ghosts**

The group takes a moment to put Thannis under guard and bind and *disarm* Silri fully before they bring her back to consciousness for a few questions. Blaine acknowledges that he isn’t surprised that the group is having more trouble with Tyber Zann, and asks Silri what it is that they are after on Dathomir, but gets little in the way of answers, only vague warnings about a chrysalis.

> "*Watch out… for the chrysalis.*"
> ― Silri
>
>

> "*You love me?*"
> ― Blaine
>
>

> "*Watch out for the chrysalis.*"
> ― Silri
>
>

> "*What did she say?*"
> ― Rusty
>
>

> "*She said that she loves me.*"
> ― Blaine
>
>

Getting nothing from Silri, Blaine stuns her into a deep sleep and Tek volunteers to take her back to the *Jinxed Starhawk* with Kirana Ti as the rest of the group begin their pitch to Sten Thannis.

Thannis appears a bit shaken as he starts the conversation off himself by giving a bit of his life story and how he ended up on Dathomir. Having a 250,000cr on his head, he sought the ability to grow in the force in hopes of finding a way out, but when Silri offered to teach him, she instead seemed to be drawing the life away from him against his will.

Having listened to his story, Blaine extends Luke Skywalker’s offer to join the Jedi Praxeum (-1cp) as a means of growing stronger, but also of learning responsibility and being free of a life of crime as a means of survival. Though he is interested in the offer, Thannis comments that he believes that if he were to accept it would only result in his power being limited so that he could be controlled.

The group is about to accept Thannis’ refusal when his eyes go wide as he stares behind them. Turning around they see Luke Skywalker standing there, rather they see a translucent image of Luke that is somewhat reminiscent of a hologram as a faint force projection of the Jedi presses the point and gets a tentative agreement from Thannis to at least come to the temple on Yavin IV to more fully consider his options. With Thannis tacitly agreeing to come with them, the rest of the team prepares to head back to their ship when Teneniel tells them that she senses an evil intent moving toward them at a rapid pace.

Blaine calls to the Jinxed Starhawk to come pick them up, and Jimmy contacts Sparky to have him bring Thannis’ ship there as well. Realizing that the nearest clearing capable of supporting the YT-1300 landing is a long distance away, Blaine begins clearing nearby trees. Excited to try something new, Katira ignites the lightwhip she took from Silri and begins to do the same while Rusty and Jimmy both move a healthy distance away from her. Everything proves to be too little too late, however, as the crashing of trees announces the arrival of a massive Rancor being ridden by a Dathomiri Witch. As if that wasn’t enough, following close being the beast, the all too familiar white Mandalorian figure of M-1 rockets in as well.

### **A Tamed Rancor has Appeared!**

Quickly extinguishing the lightwhip, Katira draws her blaster rifle. As her vision singles in on M-1 she fires twice, managing to hit once before she runs for cover. Unphased, the bounty hunter shoots Teneniel and fires a shot at Blaine with his grappling hook before jet packing into the air. Blaine deftly dodges away from the grappling line before launching up with his own rocket boots to fly directly toward M-1, swinging away with his sword. As M-1 moves to avoid a strike, Blaine scores a hit on his jetpack, forcing M-1 into a rough landing.

In the middle of the clearing, both Rusty and Jimmy are frozen in place as they stare in terror at the mounted rancor mere meters away from them. In an amazing display of fortitude, Rusty manages to come to his senses (-5cp) and carry Jimmy clear of the beast’s path while throwing down a timer mine in its path (-5cp).

Atop the rancor, the nightsister casts a lightning storm reminiscent to the one Teneniel cast earlier, but suddenly finds herself fighting to keep her mount under control as Teneniel overpowers her control of the creature. Jimmy adds to the mess as he frees himself from his fear (-2cp) and fires at the rider as well, stunning her. In the struggle, the rancor moves into the center of the clearing, kicking Rusty’s timer mine directly to Katira’s feet.

As the mine rolls to a stop at her feet, Katira barely pulls her gaze away from the image of M-1 slowly coming to his feet. She takes the explosive into her hand, and takes to the air with her rocket boots, ignoring the stampeding rancor as she comes to a pause hovering over M-1.

> "*Thanks for that recording you sent me. I was hoping to have the chance to give you a gift of your own, so this will have to do.*"
> ― Katira
>
>

Throwing the mine atop M-1, she fires her pistol and watches as the resultant explosion engulfs the bounty hunter (-1 **force point**), smiling grimly when she sees that he still isn’t dead.

With M-1 well in hand, Blaine jets to the nightsister atop the rancor, pulling her out of her harness. He attempts to throw her into the creatures toothy maw, but she manages to grab hold of his leg, forcing the smuggler to fly a short distance away from the now completely uncontrolled beast.

Hoping to create a distraction, Rusty runs around like a madman trying to distract the rancor. Off to the side, Jawa Jimmy tries to finish off the nightsister with a final shot, but misses the moving target as she clings to Blaine’s leg. Instead the blaster bolt strikes Blaine directly in the torso, and Jimmy screams out in horror as his friend tumbles to the ground mortally wounded, the nightsister being knocked unconscious by the fall beneath him.

As Jimmy yells over comms that Blaine is seriously hurt Katira hovers over M-1, the cries for help failing to register as she stares down. She fires the last two rounds from her piston, missing with the first, but settling herself to hit with the second to incapacitate M-1. Slowly descending, she then pulls out an explosive knife and throws it into the unconscious body and watches as he begins to bleed out following the detonation. Finishing the job, Rusty runs over and lands a blow to the ribs on M-1 as he exhales one final time.

### **Goodbye, and Good Luck**

Teneniel slowly steps forward, focusing in the force to bring the rancor under her control as Rusty runs toward Jimmy, and Katira begins to drag the corpse of M-1 in the same direction. As confusion, guilt, and rage sweep over each of the three in turn they look to see the rancor slowly take hold of Teneniel and lift her to its face, wondering what it look be like to see a rancor bite someone in half, when a blast of air bends the surrounding trees apart to announce the arrival of the *Jinxed Starhawk*.

Tal rushes down the landing ramp, picking up Blaine carefully but quickly and rushing up the landing ramp, and Rusty and Jimmy follow upon hearing Teneniel call out for the heroes to leave. Barely acknowledging Teneniel on her way, Katira drags the body of M-1 with her up the ramp as well, punching the controls to close the ship behind her.

From onboard the ship, Tal growls something out to R3-B9 as Rusty and Jimmy rush to man the quad lasers. They each jump into their respective weapon’s seat and suddenly feel the ship lurch away. Looking out their viewports, they see Teneniel and the rancor grow suddenly small as the *Starhawk* blasts out of atmosphere to bring Blaine to the nearest medical facility.

## **Featured Characters**

### **Our Heroes**

* Blaine Hansom
* Jawa Jimmy
	+ Sparky
* Jowkazza
* Katira Eve
* Roostan Steele
* Tek Krodak

### **NPCs**

* Luke Skywalker
* Teneniel Djo
* Gantoris
* Kyp Durron
* Grogu
* Kirana Ti
* Silri
* Sten Thannis
* M-1

### **Mentioned**

* Cal Omas
* Tyber Zann
* Talcoborro

## **Inventory**

* +parasteel lightsaber hilt (Katira)
* -Zeltron pheromone cologne (Blaine)
* +Silri’s lightwhip (Katira)
* +M-1’s body and equipment (Katira/Rusty?)

## **Notes**

* +Receptive Telepathy force power (Tek)
* **-2cp** to attack Silri (Blaine)
* **-2cp** to activate lightsaber combat (Tek)
* **-1cp** to deflect blaster bolt (Tek)
* **-2cp** to absorb blaster bolt (Tek)
* **-6cp** to attack Silri and force push Thannis (Tek)
* **-1cp** to persuade Thannis (Blaine)
* **-5cp** to break fear of Rancor (Rusty)
* **-5cp** to carry Jimmy to safety and drop a mine (Rusty)
* **-2cp** to break fear of Rancor (Jimmy)
* **-1 force point** to mortally wound M-1 (Katira)

* With the mission ending in a rapid retreat into space it is important to note that:

* Sparky was left on the planet, last seen with the directive to break through Thannis’ ship security
* Tek was left on the planet, last seen bringing the body of Silri to the Singing Mountain Clan camp and awaiting the return of his friends

* A bit about Sten Thannis:

* Born and raised on Carida - planet that stormtroopers are trained on - and always had a sense of his own force sensitivity
* Used the force throughout life to con and scam people, eventually getting himself into trouble with the Hutts and having a 250,000cr bounty placed on his head
* Came to Dathomir in search of relics or tomes that would improve his growth in the force

## **Quotations**

> "*Tyber Zann… of course we were going to meet again.*"
> ― Blaine
>
>

> "*…and of course I’m missing an arm again.*"
> ― Silri
>
>

Back to top