Predators...

[Tynian]

Kashyyk


The planet of Kashyyk was more beautiful than imagined. The Jedi Knight Tynian had heard stories of its beauty, but nothing prepared him for what he saw outside the viewport of the small shuttle.
As he took in the scenery, the young Jedi let out a long sigh. The thoughts of the planet's beauty soon vanished in the light of why he had actually come to Kashyyk. The reason weighed heavily on his mind as tragic as it was.

There had been reports coming from a small colony north of the capital city of Rwookrrorro that had seemed to come straight out of a horror-vid. The inhabitants had supposedly been sporadically attacked by a terrifying creature, which made them all scared as well as unable to protect themselves.
The colony, called New Hope, was made up of many different species that had come together to live in peace and harmony. They were mostly farmers, and not prepared or equipped to ward off such creatures that threatened their way of life. So when this creature began attacking them, they turned to the Jedi for help.

Now because the Jedi Order was stretched a bit thin, the "powers that be" sent young Tynian to investigate and deal with whatever it was that preyed upon the people living there.

As a Sentinel, it was his responsibility to help those in need, and Tynian welcomed the challenge... the problem was that he didn't know exactly what he would be dealing with, and that made solving the problem a bit more difficult.

When the shuttle landed on the outskirts of the colony and Tynian exited down the ramp, he was met by an older man... The elected mayor of the colony was of average height and build, sporting grey hair and sharp brown eyes. The mayor gave a slight but welcome smile to the Jedi as they clasped hands in greeting, but his deep worry was quite evident in his voice and mannerisms. "Well met Master Jedi. We have been hoping you would come to help us in this horrible situation."
Tynian offered a warm smile followed by a polite but short bow, "Greeting Mayor Tomlinson, but you must know I am not a master. But as a Knight, I do represent the Jedi Order and can operate as needed while I am here."
The mayor nodded in understanding as Tynian continued. "Perhaps there is a better place we can discuss your problem?"
"Yes, yes. Please follow me."
The mayor led the Jedi to a well kept cottage near the center of the colony. As they approached, the smell of a warm lunch welcomed them and beckoned them inside.

As they ate, the mayor filled Tynian in on the details of what had been going on. It seemed the attacks had started a few months ago with the abduction of a youngling. Then sporadically in the night the creature would come back to take someone else away... which they were never heard from or seen again.
Once near the beginning of the attacks, a group of men got together and went after the creature. They went into the north forest and never returned. They had been living in fear and despair ever since (even upon landing Tynian could feel that the air was thick with fear and anxiety).
The mayor went on to say that they had lost at least twelve people since then... and there was talk of people leaving and giving up the dream of a peaceful life within the colony. "We can't give up now, we have come so far, yet this thing threatens our very way of living. You must do something." he pleaded.

Tynian stood up and gave another short bow. "I will do my best. But now, with your permission, I'd like to walk around and see what I can find out. Perhaps the Force will lead me to the answer."
The mayor nodded, "By all means. Please help us... I pray you are successful in your search for this horrible... thing."

Once outside, Tynian scanned the colony, people were going about their daily business, but there was a hesitation in all they did... as if they were constantly looking over their shoulders for anything that may come at them.
Pushing the aura of fear aside, he then closed his eyes. He let the force flow through him, to calm him and to guide him upon where to start his investigation. He knew full well and trusted that the living force would help him and in turn help the poor citizens living here.
Opening his eyes he began walking toward the east side of the small colony... to the place where the attack had first begun.
As he walked, he thought help would be nice, but if it didn't come, he would still find and face this creature.

(death/pvp disabled)

@Kane @Koedi_Se'Roc

 

[Koedi_Se'Roc]

The Sith gave no favors.

It was an obvious trial for a Sith apprentice to be tasked with. Kill some large ferocious animal on some remote planet. Once you succeeded, you would be rewarded by your master. Se'Roc was sure that many Sith had been sent on similar quests such as this one during their time training under their superiors. Now, ordinary as this training exercise seemed, there was an oddity that the young zabrak could sense in the force. As he decended closer down to the planet, the sensation only became stronger. Something or someone was giving off a tick in Se'Roc's mind. The feeling he felt was positively charged, though it was a feeling he had been taught to hate by the Sith around him. It was a feeling that he had not felt for what seemed like around a year. Now under new leadership, Se'Roc had been told to forget all that had happened before, for it would weigh him down and destroy him. It was impossible to forget entirely, but the dark side was strong, at it definitely helped in that regard.

The ship touched down in the mountains overlooking a bay. It was a discreet place to park the Sith ship. No one would be seeing him as long as he remained this high in the clouds. The air was thin and cold, though the feelings of pain it brought only made the Sith feel stronger. In these mountains he was told he would find an elderly witch; an untrained force-user who had lived in the harsh environments since her upbringing. Se'Roc was told that this woman, wretched as she was, was a hermit that locals would trek up to meet. Much was unknown about her due to the fact that as the local men and woman met the elderly hag, they also often met their own demise. Though, she was a good ally to the Sith, and her dark medicine had saved many a darksider from harm.

The zabrak ducked his head as he made his way into the sanctuary from the wind. The old shack was the home of the woman. He had been instructed to speak with her to gain knowledge on the beast he was to slay. She had lived there long enough and surely would know plenty of details on how to defeat it. He peered around a corner as the Sith apprentice entered. A sly grin grew on her face as she closed her eyes and soaked up the increased dark presence in the area.

"You wish to know of the Terentatek I presume?" The sickly lady spoke out.

"It is my task to destroy it." Se'Roc responded.

"Many have tried and failed," The woman said. "What makes you any different?"

"My training and hatred will help me dominate the day. I will not return to my Lady Fond with no prize."

The lady cackled as the zabrak finished his little monologue. "I detect that there is more to this 'task' as you say than you have been told." She laughed again. "Such is the cruel way of the dark side of the force."

"I seek knowledge and strategy on how to destroy what I seek." Se'Roc said, brushing off the last comment made by the witch. "I am told that you have helped guide those seeking in the past."

"This beast feeds off the local population of the village below. Killing it would save all of those lives. You may complete your objective, but the greater impact would be positive." Once again laughing, the woman continued, "Maybe your test is to decide whether to blindly comply to your master's bidding, or to do what must be done to upkeep a darker state on the world.

This woman's laughter was setting the young zabrak sith off. It she decided to keep talking in riddles and refusing to help him, Se'Roc would help himself. Now angry from the witch's tone, and her remark about testing, which could very well be true, The zabrak ignited his crimson blade. Without a word, he sliced the woman straight through. He watched as the joy left her eyes along with the dark magic she had been using to keep herself away from death.

Se'Roc spat at the ground and turned his lightsaber off before exiting the shack and begining the journey down the mountain toward the village. He knew not what the woman was implying, but he had a feeling she was right, on many levels. There was much more here to this 'typical exercise' than met the eye.

 

[Tynian]

Tynian walked through the colony letting the force lead him. Being guided, he turned a corner and came upon a small cottage on the edge of the village nearest the forest. Of course this would be the first place... its proximity to the woods make it perfect for an attack. he thought as he approached the cottage.

Noticing a "condemned" sign on the front door, he tried the handle and found it unlocked. As he entered he felt the cold sting of death still hanging in the air. Something terrible happened here he thought as he continued through what was the living room and down the hallway to the bed rooms. The family must have moved after it happened... not that I blame them. Their pain must have been too much to bear.

The main bedroom, that Tynian supposed were the parents room, seemed okay. A bed frame was still in the middle of the room, but nothing else could be found, so he moved onto the youngling's room. What he found made his blood run cold... A large hole had been ripped out of the back wall, and the small bed that once comforted a sleeping child was torn to shreds. Large claw marks had slashed the walls and it looked like the room had been hit by a tornado. What kind of creature could have done this? he asked himself as he inspected the room a bit more closely.
On the floor near the broken bed was a small stuffed animal... it had one eye missing and what looked to be dried blood coating what was once soft fur. Leaving the toy on the ground, the young Jedi then stepped to the hole and ran his hand carefully along the ridged side. Certainly the creature had strength, and claws. And it seems it's good sized.
As he turned back from the hole, he couldn't imagine a youngling even remotely surviving an attack from a beast like this... And it was there that the Jedi made a vow. I will find this creature he swore to himself.

As he left the cottage and then went towards the forest, he felt something else.. something farther away but somewhat familiar. He tried to use the force to see exactly what it was, but it was too far away for him to successfully discover who or what it was. So instead, he put that into the back of his mind and refocused on the task at hand. He had to find a trail, a footprint, or something to indicate exactly where the creature went... and just how big it really was.

 

[Koedi_Se'Roc]

The cold part was over.

Hiking down a mountain is of course, much, easier than traveling up one. Se'Roc was quickly out of the cool embrace of the icy wind before too long. Still cold though, and still angry, the zabrak Sith only focused on one thing. This being, this terentatek, would fall worthless to the power of the dark side. That is, if Se'Roc decided to kill the beast. He would not put it past his master to trick him into trying to fight this animal only for him to realize that in fact she only wanted him to learn that actually he was not supposed to do what she asked. Honestly, it seemed like the most likely explanation for this test.

Se'Roc could not just leave though. There was something else here, he felt it. If not only for personal curiosity, the zabrak would find out what it was. He was sure that Lady Fond would be very busy for a while. He had time to look around.

As he neared closer to the village, the sensation Se'Roc felt only intensified. With every single step taken, the feeling grew marginally, until it was almost palpable. Raising his face to the sunlight, Se'Roc found the source of it all. A man, clad in brown robes, stood a few paces away examining large clawed footprints. The man had a certain familiarity about him, but was too far away to tell for sure what his identity was. Se'Roc channeled the dark side into himself and clouded his body from sight. He would sneak up on this robed man. He was not going to sit back and wait. He was going to bring any potential hostilities to him.

Se'Roc now stood around twenty feet away from the man. He concentrated hard on the force power he employed and remembered the texts he had studied and read. The zabrak Sith put his hand on his hilt and felt the Dathomiri rock, ready to deploy defenses if need be.

 

[Tynian]

Looking at the forest, Tynian folded his arms. This will be like finding the proverbial needle in the haystack he thought to himself.
The force he was wrapped in, gave him a very familiar tingling sensation in the back of his mind. The young Jedi had learned to recognize it as a way that the force would warm him about pending danger.
He could sense that someone was close by, but couldn’t pinpoint exactly where. And if they went through the trouble of hiding themselves from him, then that meant that whoever it was, could possibly want to harm him.

Using the force to shield his thoughts, he just “played innocent”, and headed into the first itself.
If his guest wanted to follow him, so be it. But at least the trees would provide some cover in case things got out of hand.

As he went further into the forest, Tynian noticed that there had been some branches broken off to the right...possibly by something large passing through the trees. He scanned the ground and found a huge footprint smashed into a bit of mud.
“Ah, now the game’s about to get even more fun.” he said as he began following the so called trail.

After about an hour he realized that being aware of the presence behind him and focusing on tracking the creature at the same time wasn’t too hard, but Tynian was starting to get slightly annoyed at being followed... and one less thing to worry about was quite appealing to him at the moment.
So he stopped and held his hands out, “If you really want to keep hiding that’s fine by me, but I could use your help in tracking this montrosity if you’re up for it? Whoever you are.”

 

[Koedi_Se'Roc]

Now, that voice was definitely familiar.

It had been a while, but while Se'Roc had been following the man, he realized why he had sensed such a familiarity in the back of his mind. The man he was following was none other than Tynian, the Jedi he had met on Tatooine about a year ago.

Se'Roc was not going to reveal himself yet. It had been around a year since they had met and fought Mandalorians together on the hot desert planet. Because of that fact, the Jedi he once called an ally surely had advanced in his training, but Se'Roc had advanced too. The young Sith would need to be careful, maybe Tynian wanted to kill him?

Se'Roc kept himself shadowed, but spoke, "I knew I sensed a presence I had felt before." His tone was dark and angry. Tynian would probably recognize the voice, but would not recognize the tone of it. "Have you learned much since our last meeting?" Se'Roc asked. Serie had warned him of the dangers of trusting those who practiced the light side of the force. She had given him an intense sense of hatred for all those that weakened themselves by refusing to follow the path of darkness. This is what she taught him, and he knew it to be true.

As much as the Se'Roc of the past would have loved to meet his ally again, he forced himself to despise the man. It made his connection to the dark side stronger and made him more powerful. He would not initiate combat, that was not his style, but he would be ready if that indeed happened.

"You are here for the beast as well I presume?"

 

[Tynian]

Tynian recognizes the voice that came from behind him. Koedi Se’Roc was the name of the exile that he had met in Tatooine about a year ago... the two had become friends and had a mutual respect for each other... at least he thought they were friends. But the hatred in the voice made Tynian pause.
“Yes I’m here for the beast. It’s been preying on the people of the colony, and they asked for our help.” Honesty was the best policy the Jedi figured.
“And I hope that I’ve grown since we last met... as I sense you have too. Although I don’t know why you are directing your hatred towards me. I’m not going to attack you or anything.”
Tynian turned to walk in the direction of the trail, but didn’t let his guard down just in case the exile decided to do something stupid.
“So are you going to help me track and kill this thing, or are you going to remain all dark and grumpy?”

 

[Koedi_Se'Roc]

The stress from maintaining force cloak for this extended period of time was really getting to the young Sith. He snapped himself out into visibility so that he could begin to regain his strength in the force.

"You cannot kill this beast." Se'Roc exclaimed. "I will not let you."

The ultimatum had been set. Now, the two that were friends before were now at odds in their attempts at heeding to their masters' wishes. A wedge had been placed between the two and it was yet to be seen how this conflict would resolve.

"The darkness inside me has grown much under my new guidance. My old chains are free. You will not stand in the way of my master's plans."

With that statement, Se'Roc readied himself for a conflict again. He did not know if the Jedi would attack him, but if he did he would be ready.

 

[Tynian]

Tynian stood there for a moment, regarding his... friend.
A challenge was set, it wasn’t that he was going to back down, it was more how he was going to handle it.
This Se’Roc was more hard... more full of hate... less himself.
Tynian took a deep breath and just smiled. Not a huge grin, but still friendly. “So you are ok with a monster killing younglings?” He began walking again, knowing Se’Roc would be following him. “Did you know that the first child this thing killed, was a Zabrak child?”
A gamble for sure, but an honest one. The Jedi just wanted the exile to think about exactly what he was doing in allowing the monster to live.
Tynian didn’t want to fight both the exile and the creature, but if he had to he would.

 

[Koedi_Se'Roc]

Se'Roc shook the last comment away from his mind. He would not let himself be weakened by sympathies for people he never knew.

"What difference does it make if the one dying is not myself or the ones I love? It matters not to me or my superiors. The more that die only make the vacuum of power increase for me."

Surely Se'Roc was no stranger to the suffering of zabrak children. His own infant and toddler life was full of travesty and hardship on the planet Dathomir. Living with a single father only made life tougher. He never knew the warm motherly embrace. He only knew tough love from... the man he was forced to kill.

As that thought crossed Se'Roc's mind, tears began to gather under his eyes.

He began to yell. "Do not lecture me on tough times! You know nothing of hardship!"

Se'Roc became angry, frustrated, and sad all at the same time. This was a dangerous mix of emotions, especially for a young Sith.

 

[Tynian]

Tynian’s voice was calm as it came out. “You can let go of your hate. I sense the conflict within you... you don’t really fully believe what you just said.” The Jedi kept walking, “You have a responsibility with the power you wield to protect the weak. Not exploit them. And yes, I’ve had hardships, more than you can know. But I’ve prevailed... Don’t you see the difference? I don’t hate you, yet you are seething with hate for me, and I didn’t even do anything to you.”
He turned and faced Se’Roc with an even calmness coupled with a hardness and confidence in his eyes. “But if you insist on fighting me, then let’s have at it. I warn you though, you will not win this. It’s your choice my friend.”

 

[Koedi_Se'Roc]

Just as the words of Tynian's final phrase left his mouth, a massive roar was heard in the not-so-distant distance.

The pair was much closer to the home of the beast than they had realized. Se'Roc's yelling must have alerted the monster to the two's position. Se'Roc ignited his blade and readied himself. He prepared for the terentatek to come out from any side. He would not let Tynian kill the beast, but he would also not let it kill him.

After a few silent seconds, the beast burst out of a cave close to Tynian. Now that its location was known, Se'Roc raced up toward the unsuspecting Jedi and attempted to give him a rap on the face. If the hit succeeded, he would run forward toward the animal.

 

[Tynian]

The hit from Se'Roc would have worked if Tynian was still an apprentice. But in fact, the Jedi was no longer an apprentice, but a fully trained Knight of the Order. He had been trained to be prepared in all situations and this was no exception.
As Se'Roc neared, Tynian released a force push at the exile, sending him head over heels away from the Jedi. Then in one motion he drew and activated his double bladed lightsaber... the white blades shone brightly in the forest casting slight shadows all around.

Tynian then turned to face the Terentatek and brought up his weapons in defense... As the beast lunged forward, he used the force to jump over the head of the creature and also swipe at the back of the neck. The lightsaber cut into the flesh slightly, but mostly bounced off of the thick hide of the Terentatek… Upon landing, Tynian then jumped backwards to avoid the now swinging claws that the beast countered with.

As the Jedi and creature faced each other, another Terentatek came out of the nearby cave... It surveyed what was happening until its eyes fell on Se'roc… then it gave an ear piercing roar and charged at the exile...
Tynian yelled over to Se'Roc. "You may want to help me... or we both aren't getting out of here alive!"

 

[Koedi_Se'Roc]

As Se'Roc fell backwards onto the forest floor, he thought to himself, Yep, he was improved.

He didn't have much time to gather himself though as he saw the beast running full-forced toward his position. Se'Roc stood to his feet and ignited his lightsaber once again. The beast charged and Se'Roc did not have much time to think of a plan of attack. He needed to keep himself alive, but he also needed to keep this animal alive. This would really test the metal of the young zabrak.

Se'Roc noticed a smaller cave just behind him. It was surely way too small for the beast to be able to reach him once he was inside. It would probably trap him inside though as there probably was not another way out of it other that where the animal would be standing. Se'Roc contemplated taking on the beast but figured that was definitely a bad idea.

Because he saw no other options, Se'Roc bolted for the cave behind him. He dove inside just as the swiping arms of the terentatek missed him. Se'Roc put his back to the wall as the animal's arms reached in and grasped inches shy of Se'Roc's face. The beast was very much distracted by this.

 

[Tynian]

Tynian had his own problems in dealing with the first terentatek. It’s huge claws swiped and grabbed at any part of Tynian that it could, if the Jedi had let it.
The beast was relenting in its attack and it forced the Jedi to back up quite a bit in defense. His double blades lightsaber was working overtime in trying to deflect every claw and bite sent against him... and yet the weapon didn’t do as much damage as hoped against the thick skinned creature.
Tynian needed a new plan if he was going to get out of this, let alone survive.
In the back of his mind he remembered reading a book about such creatures and their weaknesses... if he thought rightly, the soft part under their arms, where the arm and ribs met was the ideal place to strike a killing blow... if you could get in close enough to do so.
As the Jedi dodged another attack, he kept thinking of ways to get under its arm... then it hit him. Literally.
Tynian went glaring backwards and slammed into a tree from a swipe of the huge clawed hand.
A long bloody gash formed on his left shoulder and the pain was intense, but he only had time to berate himself for lapsing in concentration before having to dodge out of the way again.
The pain in his shoulder brought his focus back and he redoubled his offense.
Timing it just rightje allowed the beast to step in close and grab for him. At the last second he dropped flat onto his back, to avoid the claws, and then shoved the lightsaber straight up into the armpit of the terentatek.
The beast screamed in pain as the tip of the blade found its mark.

As it fell dead on top of him, Tynian only had a brief second to use the force to push against the creature to soften its landing. It was still very heavy, but at least it didn’t crush him...
Now I have to get out from under this thing and help Se’Roc he thought as he tried to figure a way out from under the huge smelly and now dead beast.

 

[Koedi_Se'Roc]

Se'Roc had, unsurprisingly, not moved from the time he heard the sound of a dying terentatek outside the cave to now. He was stuck in the cave until he received help.

Maybe he could try to send a force push toward the beast to give some separation and some room to escape. It was a risky attempt as he would have to get closer to the animal if he wanted to increase his chances, though it was the best idea the young zabrak Sith had. He focused on the dark side of the force. He concentrated on his fear, on his hate, and on his desire to complete the task in front of him. With his eyes closed, Se'Roc stepped slowly closer to the mouth of the cave and released the strongest force push he could muster. If it succeeded, the beast would be sent just far enough away to give enough space for Se'Roc to escape.

As Se'Roc opened his exhausted eyes, he saw open space in front of him. The beast was lying on his back much further that Se'Roc could have hoped. This victory made him a little fired up. He felt good now as he raced out of the cave to go find Tynian. Even though these beasts were said to be monstrously difficult to defeat, Tynian had somehow taken on apart by himself. Maybe they were not as strong as they seemed, or more likely, Tynian was far stronger than Se'Roc had counted on. He needed to work fast.

 

[Tynian]

With a huge force push, the dead terentatek flew off of Tynian. It went soaring head over heels up into the air and cam back down through branches and hit the ground with a thud.

Tynian stood to his feet as he saw the other creature doing the same, but backwards away from where Se’Roc was hiding.

He picked his lightsaber up and reignited it, then began moving toward the beast that was still alive...

 

[Koedi_Se'Roc]

Just as Tynian ignited his lightsaber, Se'Roc's blade met it. The zabrak Sith pushed against the Jedi. He couldn't let Tynian kill both of the beasts, he had already taken one out.

Se'Roc pulled his lightsaber back and spun into a defensive stance. He stood between the Jedi and the terentatek. He focused on the force as he watched the Jedi's movements.

 

[Tynian]

“You really don’t want to do this Se’Roc.” Tynian leveled his gaze at the exile. The jovial Jedi was no longer smiling... in fact his eyes showed the seriousness of what Se’Roc would face if he kept going.
“You are my friend. I will give you one chance to leave this place, and leave me to my mission.” He gestured to the dead creature. “Take a trophy from the dead one to show your master just how great you were in defeating it, and go. Because if you stay I will kill you.”

 

[Koedi_Se'Roc]

Se'Roc kept up his yelling tone.

"You still do not understand! I must not let you proceed."

Tynian had made an interesting offer. After all, the task was to kill the beast, it was Se'Roc who had decided that it would be more beneficial to him to leave the beasts alive. Though... was it Se'Roc's idea? Or was it the sick little idea of the witch he had killed up on that cold mountain only hours ago..?

That thought would have to wait though as the roar of a now standing terentatek could be heard from behind the zabrak Sith. Se'Roc lunged toward Tynian, choosing not to heed to his words, as the beast ran toward the both of them from below.

Se'Roc would be stuck in this angered state unless anyone tried to talk any sense into him. For now though, it was an all-out brawl.