Log:Jedi Order: Wrath and Tears

Jedi Order: Wrath and Tears

OOC Date: February 22, 2021
Location: Dathomir
Participants: Jedi Order: Chani Tahn, Rune, Zandra naMuriel, Aryn Cortess, Kasia Ashkuri, Jax Greystorm, and Vhe Tenara with Ben Solo

The surface of Dathomir where the Jedi have landed is far from hospitable, a conflation of reddish rock and dismal quagmire, alternatively dry and stony or swampy and brackish depending on the elevation. The Falcon settles down on a spit of the rosy rock above the bog, with Ben frowning out of the viewport at the area below.

"You may have noticed, this isn't Exegol," he announces as he gets up out of the pilot seat, adjusting his jacket and checking his belt. "But after some time spent in the Jedi texts, and the way things were when we left there, I think this is where we need to be. This woman we're chasing, this acolyte of the Beyond. I feel she may have come to the same conclusion."

Making his way through the ship to the landing ramp, he explains further to the others that follow. "There's a vergence on Exegol; a large one. Knowing what we know now, that must be how Palpatine returned. But Dathomir has something similar, on a smaller scale, and the Witches here have some sort of connection to the Force. It's not..." He frowns, slapping the control panel to release the ramp with a hiss. "It's different than ours, but it is something. Something real. The woman we're chasing, she may be counting on that. The difference." He glances back at the others. "Be careful. This is a dark place, and everything here will try to kill you."

Stomping steps take him down the ramp onto the purpleish stone, and before long Ben's boots are slogging into the swamp. The plant life here is colorful, for all its withered, gnarled surfaces and abundance of thorns.

"It stinks." The foetid stench of rotting vegetation stewing in stagnant water is enough to turn her stomach. Chani's tone is reflective of that: a hitch in her breathing is indicative of the clench in her abdomen prompted by the heady, overpowering aroma wafting up from the ground and hanging thick in the humid atmosphere. The jumpsuit feels like too much within moments. Strands of her hair are already starting to cling to her neck and face, and there's a balmy film starting to form where her skin is exposed. Eyes turned down, Chani's boots scuff against the durasteel because of the steep angled descent to the ground. She doesn't linger around the bottom of the ramp, but instead moves off to the left. She remains under the disc-shape of the Falcon regardless, hand lifted to brace against one of the landing strut's exposed beams.

The thick tall boots that encompass her feet and calves are a blessing in so far as their current location. Vhe steps off not long after Ben and feels the ground slip a little beneath her made so by water that slides up the boot side, threatening to possibly go higher if she missteps. "Not just the fauna but the very ground as well," as to what will kill them. Her amber eyes flit back to the others as she glances over her shoulder and then ahead as she leans a little forward and bends her legs to try to keep her balance.

A chuckle leaves her lips as Chani remarks on how it stinks. "Just all the things that are slowly decaying on this planet." The small braids sway down her back, glad to have them reather than the unruly wild mass that is normaly her hair.

Rune ducks his head when they follow Ben from the Falcon, the young Force user chuckling slightly at one of the mentions. "Everything will try to kill us? Sounds like almost every place we visit." He's not terribly wrong... with the exception of Mustafar, where most things casually tried to kill them, the other places they chased this character were downright nasty. The smell doesn't bother Rune terribly much, the man was used to fetid, terrible smells, Ossus was not the most pleasant of places, home for certain but definitely a rough landscape to be raised in.

What with everyone else slipping as they walk, the novice Jedi takes care where he steps, his boots lifted from the sucking swamp to be placed as carefully as possible in what would appear to be the most solid ground. Still, he stumbles along with the group, his method of foot placement not affording him any more stability than the rest. "So this....vergence...." he tests the word as he says it, "What can we expect from it, if anything is known?"

Zandra is with the others, pausing as she steps out, feeling the humid heat and the aroma that both hit like a speeder truck on spice. "Everything - I thought we voted for a beach planet," she says softly. Though there's not a lot of seriousness to that comment. her own hair is in it's usual braid around her head, protecting the length of it. She starts into the swamp, glad to be wearing boots as wel. She glances to Rune, and nods, thoughtful, though for the moment, she's quiet.

Jax was sitting in one of the chairs in the longue as Ben came through announcing that they were looking for Vergences in the force and were on Dathomir. The jedi knight, had a male porg with a scar sitting on his lap letting Jax scritch him on the head and the jaw, every time Jax would stop or move the prog would try to bite him. Only Jax's reflex kept him from having nipped fingers. "Vergence? Are there different type of vergences? I know there's a vergence not far from Skywalker academy it feels peaceful." He produces some porg food from a pocket. He'd raided the feeder and dumps it on the chair next to him. That's how he removed the porg without bodily harm as the little guy gets off Jax's knee and helps him to the chow. Jax rises and goes to trop down the ramp of the Falcon with the others.

THe Earthy swamp smell hitting him. " Still not the worse place you've took us, Solo. Raxium Prime with the dumps." He looks around. Then nods to the others, "I think the Beach and resort planet ran by the darksiders is a myth."

This is not Aryn's first visit to Dathomir, and she knew back then that it might not be her last either. Seeing this dreary world took her back to when she had come here with Oran Arcantael. The memory replayed in her mindseye as Aryn timidly walked down the ramp of the Falcon and back onto the squishy tundra of this dark place. Her attention goes to their surroundings, her memory recalling what the calls of some of the beasts that lurked here sounded like.

The smell of this place triggered her memories the most, and for a moment, Aryn recalled the sound of Oran's voice as he warned her to stay close or she'd end up being some nasty creature's meal. A nervous gloved hand lowered to the curved hilt of her lightsaber, but restraint kept her from plucking it off her belt. There were more of them here now, but the feeling of nostalgia and the dark presence of this world spawned an uneasy feeling in her gut that would not subside. "You get used to it," Aryn comments to Chani after walking closer to the native Naboo to stand by her. Aryn draws her hood up to ward off the bite of insects, and she draws her cape over her shoulders to obstruct the view of her weapons; this is done to mask her nervousness, and tendency to touch her lightsaber for some sense of security or reassurance. Aryn was not known for being brave unless she absolutely had to be, and this moment was no different.

"So," Kasia's rising and following Ben as he makes his way off the ship, adjusting the strap of the bag she's rarely seen without when on adventures. "We have a vergence on Exegol, and on Dathomir. Are there other known vergences out there?" Swamp. Her nose crinkles at the sight, and smell of it, but this is far from her first time wading out into swamp waters so she endures it with as much grace as it takes to do so with only a few grimaces. One hand digs in the bag she carries, producing some sort of spray that advertises keeping away insects off in garishly colored Aurebesh. After a sufficient dousing, she offers it around to others who might want to use it. The mention of a beach planet makes her laugh quietly, glancing at Zandra. "I've suggested it a few times, but somehow hunting down people with dark intent rarely leads to luxurious resorts." Jax says what she's thinking, and she adds, "What a shame."

"One day there will be a secret hidden somewhere that isn't the worst place ever imagined," Ben remarks darkly as he slops through the swamp, doing his best to ignore the soggy sensation squelching under each footstep after the brackish water topped his boots. "It's a source of power," he explains about the vergence with a shrug. "The Force is like a river. It flows over everything. Connects and binds all living things. But there are places where the current drifts and pools. There's one on Yavin, near the Temple. That was where Rey found me."

The path ahead is vague, given that there is no path, only swamp. It's unclear how Ben knows where he's going, and indeed, he stops to squint around at the various parts of the swamp. "This is familiar," he mutters, sloshing towards a giant, barrel-shaped 'tree', a mass of twisted, deep purple wood and thorns. "What do you feel? Can you sense anything? Be mindful of your feelings. The swamp itself will make you angry, if you let it, and the darkness in this planet feeds on it."

"I'm not sure I could get used to a smell like this. Even the swamps on Naboo don't smell this rank," Chani answers Aryn's comment with an expression of doubt. Hand slipping away from the landing strut, Chani's brows knit together and the bridge of her nose wrinkles in subtle ripples when the steps of her boots sink into the ground deeper than she'd expect them to. The horrible image of her boot getting mired in the muck and sucked right off her foot briefly flashes through her mind. "And Rori? It's not this bad, either. This just smells like.." Chani searches for the right word. "Death." She keeps her lips parted so she can breathe through her mouth. It's a small attempt to stymie the scent from overpowering every other sense.

"Perhaps we should try to establish a colony of evil doers on such a planet." Rune mentions, taking the spray from Kasia to dust over his exposed skin. "Come back and check on them every once in a while, we could treat it like a vacation." He adds with a grin, trying to keep the spirits of the group up in such a dark locale.

The chuckle that shakes his chest fades as they travel, his hazel eyes attempting to spot anything out of the ordinary that Ben might miss. Instead the lot come upon a twisted tree, the bit of nature itself aggressive in just its appearance. Ben's warning is given a firm nod before Rune attempts to view what had come before, reaching out to the Force for assistance with the past. There's a hint of an image, a moment, something calling to the young man... but as soon as it's viewed, it's gone leaving nothing but dissatisfaction weighing in his gut.

Zandra laughs outright at that idea. "We could do that, but it seems a tad bit excessive," she replies to Rune. The smell makes her wrinkle her nose, but she manages to keep moving and not worry about all that's going on. She reaches for the Force, trying to see if she can sense anything that will help them all. "It's interesting how different swamps smell differently bad," she observes, looking over towards Chani with that comment. She's at the moment concentrating on which way they should be going through this swamp. "Tracking a vergence, rather like tracking a rathtar only different."

Jax reaches out to touch the tree then he stands there silent for several moments. He was still and unmoving. Then slowly he retracts his hand and curls it into a fist holding it in front of his face. Then he extends his fingers as if he had grabbed a live power converter. He shakes his head, "I don't recommend touching the tree. It feels unfriendly and foreign. I'm not completely sure it's from here. Many have came here. Used as a marker, touched it and moved on. I can't see their face but my own. Is unjedi to admit, I'd prefer to be on the Falcon petting the prog."

"This world is full of death," Aryn responds, though not in a dark tone. "I mean, I imagine a nearby star like Naboo or Rori has helps dry up a lot of the components that might create a smell like this. Here? It is darker, and no such opportunity exists. So this just.. stays like this. Icky, and nasty. You can often tell how a world is going to turn out by looking at the star charts, and where they are in comparison. I will show you this system's when we have time so you know what to look for and prepare."

They set off after Ben and Aryn grows quiet. He prompts them to reach out with the Force, but Aryn has trained herself to stay attuned to it. When he asks for confirmation about what they feel, Aryn speaks up in an affirming tone to say, "We are walking in the correct direction." How she managed to obtain such insight or confirmation can be attributed to the arcane influence of the Force; or to the man leading them, who was more attuned than all of them! Aryn offers no explanation as to how she came to this assessment.

"I don't know," Kasia glances over at Chani, brows raising. "Rori smelled pretty bad on the occasions that I've had to go out there. So many times. The bugs may have been worse, too. Though that remains to be seen, because sometimes you think you're fine, then out of nowhere they're swarming and you're regretting life." She passes the spray over to Rune, offering him a quick smile before she looks around the swampy expanse around them. The smile she was wearing fades, and her expression is edging closer to grim.

They'd found what they were looking for on Mustafar, the answer to their question. The woman they're chasing, a so-called acolyte of the Beyond, is searching for a vergence to bend to her nefarious purposes. And now here on Dathomir, knee deep in the swamp, things seem to be shaping up much the same as before; some mysterious bricabrac, bad vibes and dark feelings, and no closure. Ben frowns deeply at the tree, and Jax's appraisal. "Then we keep going," he announces to Aryn's approval.

The swamp continues, hedged in by the thorny growth, and the Jedi are forced to trudge along through it, enduring the odor and the constant assault of small to medium sized biting insects. Eventually, the way ahead breaks through into a clearing, a high spot in the swamp where the terrain solidifies, purple-red rock emerging from the brackish water. A sense of malevolence pervades the air, though, emanating from that place.

There, atop a raised platform of stone, a vision of no uncertain nature is clear to the eye. A tall, broad-shouldered figure, face concealed with the same sort of oval-shaped mask as the one in the holo-projection on the Pit, lingers near a second form, a humanoid figure with grey, pallish skin, restrained atop the rock. The masked person appears to be consulting something, a peculiar sort of device. The Jedi's arrival, such as it is on the periphery of the area, escapes immediate notice.

"I didn't vomit the first time I went to Rori as a kid, and this place is close to making me lose dinner," Chani clarifies her own personal view of the smell to Kasia. Her gaze trails over to Zandra. "But funny how they all smell bad, right?" She makes a wince out of an attempted smile, though her attention inevitably winds up on the blonde Princess. "Thank you. I'll bring a millaflower bloom next time. Have you ever seen one? They're very aromatic. Great for relaxation. We had some in our garden." This is hardly a stroll through the garden back home, though. Nothing here looks familiar. Everything looks like she'd rather stay ten feet away from it than get near it. She traverses alongside Aryn, looking as pallid as one with dusky skin might.

The tree is given a wide berth as the group moves around it, the warnings of its oddity enough for Rune to stay well away. Along they trudge, the swamp sucking at their boots as they move along, the way never easy for the intrepid Jedi. At last they arrive in an area that is much more easy to tell its dark purpose... such as that one figure lashed to the rock being looked at by the other figure, both of which just scream evil. As if the group hadn't yet noticed the two, Rune lifts his hand in the air and waves at them all, motioning toward the top of the rock with a 'look over there!' gesture.

To better understand what they are dealing with, Rune closes his eyes and attempts to tap in to the Force, seeing if the individual atop the rock is attuned to its use as well. Unfortunately he still returns no result, the Force deciding that the young Ysannan bust try harder to commune with it this day.

With nothing coming of her last attempt, she glances to the others and then is given to follow along. Observe, that is what she does though the careful steps she chooses to make keep her from slipping and sliding around. Only when they arrive before the unknown figure. Vhe reaches out, attempting to sift through the surface thoughts of the figure - if it even is alive. Knowing their previous situations they are often in the presence of something strange, different, not of the living world.

She finds nothing, once more the Force out of her reach.

Zandra swats at a bug finally, absently, as she continues. The tree gets a long look, and then as the group moves on, Zan moves with them. She nods and smiles to the continuing comments about the dank deathly smell of the swamp, reaching out with the Force to see if she can sense anything. It's a vergence somewhere nearby, and at least for Zandra today, she's not sensing much. For the moment, she continues with the group, stuck in the stink with the buzzing of insects. It's a nightmare of sorts, not made any better when they arrive at what looks like a sacrificial altar of sorts. She goes still, quiet, her attention on the masked figure and the other being there. "Looks like we found something," she whispers, one hand dropping to her saber hilt.

Jax takes a few steps forward in the swamp. He remains silent with his expression concentrating and his head tilted like a kath hound listneing on the wind. His expression souring. Then he returns to the group. "The masked one is speaking an incantation to the beyond and the restraint figure is silent. I suggest we stop this."

"You there," Aryn calls out. "Are you the one who meant us harm? What foul deeds do you summon in this dark place?" Aryn has not addressed Chani, about the Millaflower (which is a pleasant thought in a place like this) because they have happened upon a scene where it seems they have located the culprit for their past tribulations. Aryn's gaze cuts to Ben to gauge his reaction to this, and silently, she wonders if they should treat these figures as friend or foe. For now, Aryn chooses action by way of diplomacy. Perhaps they can discover more with words than swords!

"I think sometimes the fondness for a place alters our memory and makes it seem better, but..." Kasia shrugs as a finish to that sentence. "It's Naboo though, maybe their fetid swamps are lovelier than others." The chance to rank swamp smells has past though, and her focus goes ahead first to their path, and then to the figure that comes into view. "Yes, we probably ought to stop it," she agrees with Jax, gaze slanting over to Aryn as she calls out to the figure atop the rock. Rather than add to it, her gaze turns to the masked being while one hand discreetly settles on the saber at her hip. Just in case.

For his part, Ben remains still on the edge of the clearing, staring intently at the raised platform and the masked figure, trying to get a read on what's going on. Something about the person up there is different than the projection, though the mask is similar. They're broader, thicker, maybe taller. It's hard to say when judging reality against the memory of a hologram.

When Aryn speaks, the mask looks up and over, the device being consulted discreetly folded and tucked away into the dark robelike garment the figure wears. "She told me you might find me here," he speaks, in a deep, masculine voice quite unlike the one that addressed them prior. "That you were on our trail. How many Jedi are there, I wonder? Is this the whole Order? When the Sith destroyed your kind there were thousands. And now... eight? So few. When the true Sith return from the Beyond, they will eradicate you. If you survive long enough to see it."

In the true fashion of any villainous person with forwarning of potential interruptions, the masked man draws a long vibroblade and strikes at a rope near his feet, triggering the line to zip back away through a system of pulleys rigged in the thicket, tugging away containment barriers to open two large pits on either side of the platform. Out of the pits crawl two large and angry Nydaks, a sort of insectoid, barbed cousin of the rancor.

"Perfect," Ben mutters as he slides his saber from its clip.

"I was never fond of Rori," Chani again clarifies. "People have different reactions to things. What smells delicious to one might not smell that way to another. The individuality of individuals. It just doesn't smell as bad to me. Fondness isn't the only thing to alter memory, either. I've heard age does it." Chani shrugs, too, to finish. She regards Aryn next to her as the noble reaches out verbally to the figure. Although not a diplomat herself, Chani supports Aryn's course of action. "Please, allow us to resolve all this. Let's talk. There's no need for this to carry on." What, exactly, all this is remains mostly a mystery to Chani. She's pieced together little of it over these past excursions following Ben and his crusade.

Chani's attempts are likely to fall on deaf ears as it were and Vhe looks uncertain about all that."I do not think he wants to talk." Her hand slowly lowers to her own saber resting on her belt, the kirruk tooth swaying at her side. Fingers curl around it but she waits a moment, drawing it from her side but not igniting it. She readies herself but does not hurry herself forwards into violence.

For the first time since arriving the Force answers her, if reluctantly and she begins to draw on and weave it into a protective barrier around them, constructing some unseen elaborate protective barrier. Only when it is in place does she ignite her blade.

"Apparently there is need for this to carry on in a different fashion." Rune claims as he pulls the metal cylinder from its clip on his belt. The black button is depressed and a white beam flares to life, the whole contraption lifted and held at the ready as he prepares for the attack. A quick thought runs through his mind, thinking of dealing with creatures such as these back on Ossus when he was weak and in the wild. His hand raises and he waves it at the younger of the charging beasts, trying to whip it into the other. Tripping them both up would afford the Jedi time and allow them to get their defenses together a little better... sadly that's not what happens. He just appears to be waving 'Hello' to the approaching creatures. "Well.... that is not good."

Well, it's not quite Rathtar, that's a bonus. Zan eyes the crawling things and moves to one side, so she's nearer to one than the other, and perhaps a bit in front of the others. She reaches out with the Force to the one that's there, ignoring how ugly it is and how bad it really smells here. A medium sized bug lands on her robes just in her peripheral vision and that nearly distracts her. It takes a moment, as she reaches for the Force, and reaches out to that Nydak, sending the thought "Friend" with all her might. "We're friends," she says aloud, in case it works. So the others have a clue what she's doing. "Friends. Hi there, big bug. Could you maybe scare these little pesky bugs away from us instead of trying to eat us?"

Jax brushes back the his cloak and his hand quickly reaches for this saber in a quick draw. His saber's blue blade extending in a humming whisper. "Not willing to do your own work, I see. I wish I had something clever and oh so smart to say. Unfortuantely you are provoking these creatures to attack us and we will defend ourselves. I've stood toe to toe against one who claims to be a Sith. He was more impressive and attempted to do his own work."

Jax hears Zandra's words on the air as his feet carry him through the swamp on a charge, his direction from the Nydak Alpha changes and he redirects his charge at the other bug. His saber slices out to swipe across the torso of the insect. His stands changing fluidly allow Aryn to have room to attack herself. His second attack misses and the third finds its target doing massive damage.

"If you cannot be dissuaded from a path of violence, you leave little choice for anything else," Aryn calls back, dismissing their claims of the Sith and the Jedi eradication. "It seems there is only one thing left to do." Aryn's lightsaber activates with a snap hiss, and she brushes her cape off with cavalier abandon and orients her weapon's sapphire blade to her side in an Alderaanian duelist's fashion.

Jax moves for the attack and Aryn ensures the man is not alone. A show of solidarity, much like when they faced the Knights of Ren atop that hill on Carida. It had not gone to Aryn's favor back then, but a lot of growing came from her defeat. She struck the beast after spinning in for momentum. Using one hand to guide her weapon across its legs to disable it. The final blow was struck across its face after a massive collapse to spare it any suffering.

She might have offered her approval for Jax, but they were still in danger, and Aryn was not one for bravado; she wasn't one for bravery either! She doubled back a bit looking for the others to see how they fare.

Kasia's head turns at the remark from Chani, giving the younger woman a look that can't be interpreted as anything but frosty. Her gaze shifts to Aryn to convey some unspoken thing, and then she turns her focus away, ahead again. If there is anything more it will have to wait until after this encounter, provided they don't die. "How many Sith are there now? Not many if I had to take a guess," she asks the masked man, not hesitating to pull free the saber on her hip, thumb sweeping across the switch to activate it. "Why is it always this? Always an effort to try and wipe out one side or the other? Why is that always the plan?" She's asking the man, but she looks as though she doesn't expect an answer, or at least not one that will be satisfying.

"The Beyond houses the spirits of all the Sith, and they /will/ return," the acolyte announces in response to the Jedi's attempt at dialogue, reaching down with a gloved hand to haul the restrained body upright. It's a grey-skinned woman, dressed in tattered, tribalistic clothing, unconscious judging by the slump of her. "We are merely conductors of their passage." The air darkens, and it seems for a moment as if shadowy shapes are hovering in the air above the platform; but how could that be?

Ben's lightsaber activates as he steps further into the clearing, towards the platform, but the remaining Nydak bounds into the space between, heading for Jax and Aryn. An instinct in its head tells it very forcefully that the purple-haired woman is a friend, but the other two are in the process of killing its companion and that cannot be seen as anything friendly. A huge clawed mit rears back and the beast flings itself with reckless force at the Jedi, one haymaker and then another right after it thrown with such force that it loses its balance and skids across the stony soil and crashes into the thicket.

Not one to take the perception of being condescended to lightly, Chani's gaze meets Kasia's for as long as the older woman deems fitting, though in lieu of any hint of frosty mien, hers remains neutral. When she looks away, so does Chani, towards the giant creatures that have been released from their cages by the masked man wielding his vibroblade. Chani's shoulders gently sink, and a sigh exhales through her parted lips. Violence. Drawing the stunsaber from her left hip, Chani prepares to defend herself if necessary while the other Jedi activate their own and begin to attack the creatures. "I think you're right, Vhe." Rune would have received a nod, but his attention is rightly on the creatures, and so is Chani's. She spares a glance to Zandra, who attempts to soothe one of the creatures. And, despite the icy look, Chani offers something to Kasia. "A circle of revenge which has an infinite cycle. We have to stop killing, I think, to change it. Even if they try to kill us. We have to be the change we want to see." The non-lethal white beam from her stunsaber activating floods the area around her with pale illumination. It's eerie against the muck she stands in and against the gnarled trees surrounding them, casting long shadows that blend with the color of the lightsabers present.

Looking to the others, Vhe can feel the weight of the situation the moment the figure lifts a slumped unmoving form. The adornments she wears causes her to hesitate, her lips forming a frown.

Vhe focuses not on his main mass but the hand that holds the vibroblade ready to face them. Her hand extends as the saber remains lowered at her side and the woman pulls, drawing on the Force to drag his weapon from him, ripping it from his hand.

Her hand lifts and catches the blade from the air by its hilt, lowering it back down to her side as she turns her body and holds her saber at ready within that force bolstered shield.

Seeing the creatures being dealt with rather effectively, Rune instead turns his attention to the ritual on the platform. When Vhe turns her attention to the man orchestrating the event, Rune attempts to disrupt the goings on by pulling the unconscious body away from the evil man who seems to be trying to get them possessed. Sadly the Force is not with the younger Ysannan today and all it leaves him with is sweat as it drips down his brow, the lad panting as he exerts his energy.

With the one remaining nydak thinking Zan is its friend, which is probably about as much as her level of animal control can do, she turns to spy Rune doing something. Her gaze follows his, and she catches on. "Let me help, Rune," she says. It's his idea, all the way, but she reaches to the power and telekinesis is the first thing she was able to do. Her goal - get that unconscious woman way from that crazy acolyte dude, and off the platform. She pulls, concentrating, her grey eyes fierce as she looks to mount a rescue. In theory. "C'mon, we can do this," she mutters, as the Force is with her right a the moment.

Jax raises hsi blade up in a defensive stance as the remaining Nydak comes charging his way. Theres a grin, "Thank you for the cover, Aryn. Jax dodges the beasts first strick as he drops down and the craw attack sails above him. The second attack has the jedi right on, Jax calling up a shield of force to protect himself. It does protect him from the punch but sends him flying to land hard the only large rock around. Jax grimaces as he hears a bruise on his left backside that's not going away anytime soon. He struggles to his feet and moves to attack the creature with lightsaber strike.

"Jax!" Aryn calls after the Jedi, wincing when the beast had SUCH follow through that it cast itself off-balance. "Sweet Mother have mercy.." She said, moving after the Greystorm and off-balanced Nydak. By the time she arrives to help Jax, he has already struck it a good blow. Aryn capitalizes on its moment of weakness, swinging once to miss, but following through with a pair of strikes along its inner legs to slow it down further.

"Its is weakened!" She calls out, splashing with heavy boot falls to find a better angle to ease its inevitable passing at this point. She trusted Jax to be doing the same.

"So I'm hearing," Kasia remarks to the masked man on the matter of bringing back the Sith. She purses her lips, but her focus shifts to Jax as he's attacked by one of the creatures. Promises were made a long time ago about looking out for him, and with that in mind she sloshes the distance nearer the man and the creature that attacked him. She waits until Aryn moves through her attack before she steps in closer, saber cutting through the air and the Nydak, smoldering gouges left in its wake.

Just as the captive victim is tugged free of the masked man's grip, a ghostly hand, only a faint afterimage in the darkening air, can almost be seen reaching for her, gone almost as quickly as it appeared in a way that beggars belief it was really there to begin with. The masked man's blade is tugged away similarly, leaving him grasping at straws for a moment as the atmosphere continues to darken, a strange high-pitched whine making the eardrums ring.

One Nydak may be dead, but the other is still trucking, sporting a number of heavy injuries from the Jedi's attention. It still fights with wild abandon, each swing of its long, lanky arms so energetic they throw the entire creature's sizeable mass staggering and stumbling in their wake, and anyone not careful might find themselves trampled.

Recovering from his deprivation, the masked man produces a pistol from his belt and levels it at one of the Jedi, Aryn's display with the lightsaber perhaps catching his attention, and opens fire.

Seeing some of the Jedi attacking the creatures, Chani takes note of those who don't. Rune is not looking at hulking things, but beyond, to where the masked man keeps what seems to be an unconscious prisoner. As he's deprived of his weapon, Chani moves towards Rune. "I'll try to cover you while you do whatever it is you're doing." She interjects herself between Rune and the masked man, though not in a way to block his vision. The white beam from her stunsaber is lifted so that it's in line with her vision. Both hands are on the hilt, shoulders relaxed and feet aligned on the same axis, though right farther back than her left. "If you need any help, let me know." Attacking the creature doesn't seem smart to her. It is, after all, standing after multiple lightsaber strikes. She thinks the stunsaber would be little more than an annoying sting, if anything.

The vibroblade in her left hand, ripped from the masked figure is held back and away as Vhe steps forward as the group works in tandem to try to disarm and neutralize the threat as a whole. She sweeps the light blue blade forward before as she launches herself into the group looking to down the Nydak. Her blow lands with a swift thrust forward, the heated blade cutting through the outer shell of the creature.

She breathes in and steps back, keeping her body between herself and the masked man, hiding his original weapon from sight, letting the vibroblade's tip drag slightly in the ground as she falls back to step into line with the others and present a sort of united front.

A wide smile catches Rune's lips as the prisoner is lifted free, Zan being able to accomplish what he had tried to do. "Thank you!" He calls, a quieter, "Thank you for the cover." To Chani as she steps in to protect him while he attempts to call on the Force. Getting a cue from Vhe, Rune sees the man freed of his saber but pull a pistol instead. Rune once more reaches out with the Force, his eyes narrowing, zeroing in on the object of his manipulations and, with a quick pull of his hand, yanks the blaster pistol from the man's hand. The offending piece is allowed to clatter to the ground, useless when not being grasp by a baddie.

Zandra turns to the poor unconscious woman she's carried over here, with telekinesis. She frowns a bit, reaching to the Force to try to wake her up. "C'mon, lady," she says. "Let's wake you up and see if you're okay. I hope." She tries to impart a bit of energy to her, to return her to consciousness, but all that seems to happen is that her lashes flutter a time or two - something definite - but she doesn't wake up. "Oh, come on," she mutters. "I mean, please wake up?"

Aryn was about to commend Kasia and Vhe for their timely strikes. The elegant swings of their distinctive weapons and bright blades was a beautiful sight, but Aryn's temporary distraction and loss of perception left her mesmerized and open to attack!

PEW!

Her leg folded in from the hit, and how it did not bite into the flesh and cause a wound remains a mystery. Aryn was brought to her knee in that moment, but she rises back just as the man finds his weapon yanked free (Thanks Rune!), and before he can retaliate with another piece of his arsenal, Aryn seizes him with the rise of her gloved hand.

Her marshalled power of the force influences his body to hold in place, incapable of movement unless she allowed it. "That is enough from you! Someone restrain this sympathizer before he draws yet another means for violence!" Her hand shakes from the concerted effort of channeling this energy until someone can step in and claim this masked foeman.

With Jax as safe as any of them, and the creature down, Kasia straightens to look around at how else she can help. It's Zandra she nears, saber held out and away to not accidentally decapitate anyone as she leans in closer to look at the unconscious woman with a slight frown. The hand not wielding a weapon reaches out to brush against her brow lightly, similarly trying and failing to wake her. "She's really out, isn't she. We might have to carry her out of here."

Whatever spell was cast, it is breaking, the air clearing. The pistol in the masked man's hand starts to tug away from him the same way the other things he had when the Jedi arrived did, and for a moment of struggling he attempts to raise the barrel to his head, but the pull is too strong and leaves him standing there unarmed. Disarmed. Whichever. With no electric cyanide pill tooth to crack, he stares helplessly at the Jedi, the mask hiding any panic as Aryn takes advantage of the moment to hold him in place.

"It seems you didn't plan for failure," Ben observes, deactivating his lightsaber and sliding it back onto its clip. "A rookie mistake. You and your 'friend' are new to this game, aren't you?" There's a hint of what he once was, here, as he closes in on the masked man, a critic eying a particularly poor player of a part he once held. A twinge runs across Ben's face, and a hand suddenly reaches out towards the mask, but rather than pulling the covering off, his fingers close and the man falls unconscious instead.

"We'll take them both with us. The girl has the look of a Dathomir witch but we can't leave her here to die." He's a bit mealy-mouthed on that point, as though bothered by the inconvenience. "And now we're going to get some answers."