Populate Expedition Kashyyyk | TSC Populate of Xa Fel

[Seris Velmora]

Tag: Varin Mortifer | Kaelyr | Mercy | Nysa Veilwalker

"The hunt's always worth it." Seris answered Varin without taking her eyes off the trail ahead. "What happens to the prey afterward doesn't really matter."

She understood his reasoning well enough. It simply wasn't something she shared. A kill was a moment. The chase. The clash. The rush when instinct overtook thought. Those were the parts she treasured. Whether someone fashioned a knife from the bones or left the carcass to scavengers hardly changed the memory. Though...

A knife made from a worthy kill would be nice. That thought lingered just long enough to make her smile again.

When Varin glanced toward the Mandalorian hammer, Seris nodded. "It'll be useful." She hoped so, anyway. The hammer had won her over the moment she'd ripped it from its former owner aboard the Spirit Breaker, along with his hand, but admiration and proficiency weren't the same thing. This would be its first real hunt in her hands.

For now, she let Varin and Nysa lead. It felt strange. Neither moved like she did. Varin watched. Nysa read the forest. Both seemed to search for signs hidden in broken branches, disturbed earth, and half-felt patterns that escaped ordinary senses. It was practiced. Disciplined.

Seris hunted differently. She never cared much for tracks. If something needed killing, the Force always seemed to tug her in the right direction eventually. She followed instinct before evidence, momentum before patience. It hadn't failed her yet. She simply had to resist sprinting ahead before everyone else. Barely. The scream echoed through the Shadowlands.

Seris' grin widened. "There you are..." The anticipation coursed through her like electricity.

Nysa suggested they ready their weapons. Seris shrugged. "They're always ready." Two lightsabers rested comfortably at her hips. Trained repetition meant they would be in her hands and ignited before most opponents finished drawing a breath.

Her gaze drifted instead to the hammer strapped across her back. ...Actually.

She reached over one shoulder, wrapped a hand around the worn haft, and pulled the heavy weapon free in a smooth motion. The weight settled into her grip with a satisfying pull, denser than any lightsaber and far less refined. She gave it an experimental swing, feeling the momentum carry through her shoulders and hips before arresting it with practiced strength.

A slow, eager smile spread across her face. "I've been wanting to try this." The hammer settled across one shoulder as she gave a single satisfied nod toward the others. "I'm ready." She hoped whatever waited ahead was durable. The weapon deserved a proper first strike.

​

 

[Arris Windrun]

Vess Sadragen | Lily Rhodes
​

Arris watched as Vess leapt expertly from the floor to the catwalk above, completely dodging the railing and landing with the grace of a feather's fall. The cyborg felt as the younger technopath eased her way into the system, influencing the old facility, granting it - and those very heavy doors - new life.

Lights flickered. Hydraulics groaned. And then, with a snap (just in time for Vess to call back down), the doors unsealed and slowly parted.

"Show off," she muttered with a grin and kept smoking.

For a second, Arris thought she was having a feedback error again, because Lily had just echoed the same words. Albeit loudly, as she called up to tease her girlfriend.

Those workers didn't quite like Vess' remark, as they grumbled and began to pack their tools.

Arris turned to Lily, offering the half-smoked cigarette. Forgetting how Lily rejected it on Balosar. Or maybe Windrun just believed that times change, and it was never too late to pick up a bad habit.

She grimaced at the mention of squatters. "Yeah - I guess. But this has been my priority so far." She threw a thumb over her shoulder, pointed squarely at the darkened vault.

It was true, however. Port Mercy had its squatters. Trandoshan rejects. Quiet elite from the High Republic, looking to get in on some big game hunting. Plenty of spacers, too, either down on their luck or just trying to lay low to avoid the attention of a different breed of hunter.

"Why, are you looking to play landlady and start handing out eviction notices?" She asked Lily.

Arris glanced back up to the control room, then shouted. "Take any longer, and I'm gonna start thinking you're bad at this, actually!"

 

[Vess Sadragen]

The corners of Vess's mouth lifted almost imperceptibly. Apparently, Lily and Arris had arrived at the same conclusion. She didn't answer. Instead, she stepped through the control room doorway and let her attention settle fully on the console before her. The blast doors were already open. The hard part was over. Now she could do the job properly.

Dust scattered beneath her fingertips as she brushed enough from the console to expose its controls. Closing her eyes, she reached back into the facility's network, following the same pathways she'd already uncovered. With the vault no longer sealed away behind emergency lockdowns, the rest of the infrastructure unfolded with surprising clarity: power distribution, environmental controls, internal lighting, security. One by one, systems that had lain dormant for years stirred back to life. Corridors beyond the vault filled with light as fixtures flickered uncertainly before settling into a steady glow. Ventilation fans groaned into motion, stale air slowly giving way to circulation once again. Throughout the complex, diagnostic displays blinked awake, reporting failures, warnings, and neglected maintenance that had accumulated over decades.

Her attention lingered on the security architecture. Several automated defense emplacements remained active, patiently waiting for intruders that had never come. "Not anymore." The command slipped quietly through the network weapons safe, targeting routines terminated, authentication tables rewritten. By the time she withdrew from the system, every automated defense she could find had been rendered little more than an expensive decoration.

Only then did she step back from the console. Satisfied, Vess turned and walked back out onto the catwalk, resting her forearms casually against the railing as she looked down into the hangar where Lily, Arris, and the workers waited below. The newly awakened facility hummed softly around them, lights stretching away into corridors that had been dark for years. "Sorry, I'll try to be less efficient in the future." The faintest smile touched the corner of her mouth. "And since I'm apparently showing off..." Her gaze drifted briefly toward the illuminated vault before returning to the two women below. "...I figured I might as well finish the job." She let the words settle for a beat. "You can go in. Nothing in there should try to shoot you anymore."

​

TAG: Arris Windrun Lily Rhodes

 

[Kaelyr]

Varin Mortifer Seris Velmora Nysa Veilwalker Mercy

⚙​

It wasnt that I wasnt paying them any attention, more so that Yggdrakses held it. My body moved instinctively as the outer cosmic god gave me counsel. After melding with the fragment found on Chaandar, His voice was becoming louder and louder now. It was a warm yet commanding presence in the back of my mind. I had joined Varin here to conquer the Mother, a beast of power and reputation. It was as we arrived that Yggdrakses began to converse with me. He was not happy about my decision to come here when I could be making better use of my time searching for his fragmented soul.

Though my mind had been held by Yggdrakses' questioning, my body would nod and agree at the appropriate times when asked questions. It was a skill acquired while training with the cult. "This is nothing more than an idle distraction." He hissed, his tone flippant and unapproving. "There is much to be done, more of my fragments to be acquired and my power returned to me." he added, a growl accompanying his words as they burned through my mind. "I'm well aware of such, but this will be an ample opportunity to hone my skills further, to keep me sharp."

I didnt my best to assure him this was fine, but there was no such thing as patience to a cosmic god after so many centuries of being sealed away. The dark fire entity sighed but wouldn't press me further, releasing my consciousness from the inner world it had built for us to commune. It was at this moment that the group had expanded; some new faces and some familiar seemed to be getting ready for an imminent attack.

"Forgive my cognitive absence, Yggdrakses was scolding me for wasting time on this hunt. I am focused now and ready for what lies ahead." I assured them all, feeling the murderous intent before us. I prayed it was our query, my lightsaber and cosmic flames igniting as I braced for the conflict before us.

⚙​

---

"Common Speech"

 

[Vulcan Zambrano]

✦ ☩ ✦ ☩ ✦

Kashyyk, Shadowlands...
Rancor Hunting

Age brought experience.

In a creature like this, it honed instinct and sharpened its resilience with the calluses of time. Any beast to exist long enough to earn its own name from a people as strong as the Wookies deserved every caution. Bull Rancors were vicious, dominant, territorial beasts superior to their lesser kin. It was clear this one was a cut above, to survive the efforts of the mighty hunters that stalked the Shadowlands. The Prince kept his eyes fixed on the tracks laid out in front of them while the others deliberated, a capable group to be sure. Plans were good anyone who walked into a situation like this without one was doomed to failure. But there was one universal truth be it the hunt or battle. Plans rarely survive first contact with the enemy, prey or adversary alike. They would set the plan in motion, the environment would belong to the Bull Rancors.

They would need to adapt from there. “We will need to keep the creature distracted, and get it in position to collapse the tree on it.” Vulcan briefly looked at the others before returning his gaze to the tracks, slowly moving. ”I can help weaken the beast during the struggle, tire it until we are ready to spring the trap. Perhaps I should be the distraction.” Resilience was forged into his very genes, the Zambrano blood was strong and the legacy of his father, but this would be a true test of his own, and he welcomed it.

“We should get moving.”

✦ Witnessed By the Throne ✦

Veyla Tass | Nyara Dakhan | Drakul

✦ ☩ ✦ ☩ ✦

 

[Varin Mortifer]

VARIN MORTIFER

Equipment: Durum Mantle | Black Blade of Chandrila | Eye of The Dragon | Heavy Sith Mace | Cross Guard Broadsaber​

Varin heard the scream in the trees, his body standing straight as he stepped into the pathway. His senses reaching further into the forest like a low hanging fog of gray smoke. The scent of burning leaves and smoldering wood in the air, yet nothing burned…not yet at least.

When Kaelyr spoke, Varin looked over to him giving him a slow nod. Not only as acknowledgement but in a way of understanding. Many times Ignati had done the same over the years even going as far to take control of his body.

Kaelyr’s fight was certainly not over with his being. They always craved control. A forever uphill battle they would have to share.

Varin’s gaze flicked over to the darkened trees as movement in the brush cracked branches and limbs. His eye tracking wispy movements deep within the brush and its shadowed walls beyond. His hand gently fell to the hilt of his Black Blade, the metal scraping against the sheath as he slowly pulled it out, a ring from the metal sounded off as soon as it revealed its full length.

A terrible menacing hooked blade designed to take control of conflict, but to also end conflict before it could start. He took a wide stance as he stood in the middle of the trail, waiting, listening.

Movements shifted within the thickets and his eyes pinned towards the sound, a swift movement with his blade, an efficient cutting motion towards the trees. The blade looked as if it had hit nothing but open air. Another swipe, then another. Again the blade hitting…nothing.

Then, one by one, thick branches and chunks of wood fell free in straight gashes, tumbling down to the ground leaving a small forced trail towards the sound.

A silhouette showing just beyond. Massive in size.

Varin’s gaze shifted to a glare, a glare of challenge and one of dominance. He knew how animals fought, he knew how alphas fought and he knew how heads of the pack fought.

He did not look away, but his voice carried.

“Seris…run it down. Exhaust it and tire it out.”

His body shifted to another stance as a roar from the beast echoed towards them.

“Kaelyr, alter its path. Try not to burn the forest down.”

Only then did his gaze turn to the new face.

“Stay with me. Watch and study its patterns.”

Each one being assigned a job, how they handled it was up to them. Varin would not only observe the creature, but he would watch his crew operate. And gage their worth.

Nysa Veilwalker | Seris Velmora | Kaelyr​

 

[Lily Rhodes]

Arris Windrun | Vess Sadragen

Lily eyed the offered cigarette looking for a moment like she might give in before she gave a small shake of her head, her gaze moving back up to where Vess had disappeared into the control room as the workers packed up around them.

She frowned at Arris’s suggestion. “Stars, no. As a former squatter I firmly believe in their rights to claim their own space.” She shrugged, finally tearing her eyes away from the control room in the hope that Vess would reappear.

“That being said, I could probably make them all think leaving is a good idea, provided none of them are particularly strong willed.” It would be a whole let less messy and violent because if the reports were right about the kind of scum that had made this place their home they wouldn’t go without a fight.

A small grin split her face as Arris teased Vess further, only for her to reappear moments later as the facility began to hum with life. “She’s going to be insufferable later.” She muttered at Arris.

She unfolded her arms pushing off the wall she was resting on. “Any ideas what's even in here?” she asked.

 

[Nysa Veilwalker]

"It suits you," Nysa's quiet observation was sincere as Seris Velmora , the warrior woman, gripped that hammer. Nysa recognized they were very much opposite sides of a dark credchit. Curious earthy green eyes swept to Kaelyr . Everyone was a new face to her, considering she'd just joined the Academy not that long ago. Even with her father being a legacy, though Nysa wondered, if he was a legacy long since forgotten.

She contemplated if the one he spoke to was a god or a god's spirit. Or perhaps something else playing them both for a fool. She didn't extend her curiosity to find out. Now was not the time.

The roar settled into the marrow before it reached her ears. It came first as a pressure against the ribs, a vibration carried through root and stone until the forest itself seemed to recoil around it. Leaves trembled. Somewhere overhead, startled birds abandoned the canopy in frantic bursts of wings.

She did not.

Her gaze lingered where the severed boughs had fallen, the clean wounds left in ancient wood more unsettling than the beast hidden beyond them. Such effortless violence carried a language all its own.

Stay with me. Watch and study its patterns.

The words drew her attention from the beast to the man who had spoken them. He issued commands as though they had already become truth—as though every soul present simply occupied the place he had envisioned for them. There was confidence in it. Perhaps necessity.

Only the faintest inclination of her head. She stepped where he had indicated, slow enough that each foot found solid earth without disturbing the undergrowth. Breath held. Eyes watching the massive beast. She remained close. For a moment it looked as if her entire being was about to melt into the shadows. But she remained.

Patterns. Everything living possessed them. Even monsters.

"If it circles," she said at last, her voice scarcely louder than the wind threading through the branches, speaking to Varin Mortifer "it is looking for weakness, not escape." Taking a shallow breath and flicking her fingers forward, 4 shadowy figures rose from the ground. The illusions hovered over the ground, ready to confuse the beast.