Private Something Something Spooky Place

[Jonah]

DATHOMIR

They say getting there is the "easy" part.

Upon seizing his newfound lease on life, Jonah had a short list of worlds to pay a visit. One such was Dathomir, home of the Witches. From what little the man knew of the place, those who called the planet home employed Magick through the Force. They were tuned to nature. They could command the very heavens to weep. Oh, and they hated men with a passion. Coming here was a bit of a risk, but, Jonah wanted to know more about the power they commanded. After all, moving mountains was never a tool without value.

He touched down amidst a heavily forested area. And, upon disembarking, the first thing he noticed was the heat. This was not the sort of environment to be hoofing it about with a trenchcoat. So, he left it behind, unsheathed one of his vibroblades, and set about making a path through the greenery. For several minutes, he advanced without incident. The only thing of note to occur was putting down what looked like a spider...only it was much bigger than any he had ever seen before.

Jonah would have continued this trend until he came upon signs of people.

As he pushed past even more trees and underbrush, his gaze fell upon the remains of a campfire. There was no mistaking it. A circle of small stones. The charred remains of branches reduced to ash. Jonah slowed his pace and stepped carefully towards the fire. He held out his offhand, and what he felt caused him to raise his guard all the more. Though the embers had been extinguished, the temperature of the remains was warm. This fire had been recently put out. Whoever had built it couldn't have gone far.

Jonah took a moment to examine the brush about him. There was the path that he had freshly carved into being - and then another that. It was easy to miss, especially under the dim light that managed to filter through the trees above. However, Jonah managed to see it. There were chunks of plants that seemed to be lower than the others, as if they had been stepped upon. This tracked with what little he knew about the planet's natives. "Tuned to nature" and all that joy.

Steeling himself, Jonah followed. And it didn't take long before he came upon a break in the trees. What's more, he could make out the form of another. He couldn't tell who - or what - was before him, but the offworlder strode forth with his vibroblade at the ready.

Clearly, he was all about first impressions.

Lyssara Talis​

 

[Lyssara Talis]

Dathomir was not known for its hospitality. Amidst the planet's myriad dangers and dark corners, one force stood out above all: the Nightsisters, often referred to simply as Witches by most of the galaxy. Uninvited guests were rare and usually swiftly dealt with. In Lyssara's case, she had returned to a place of power to rest and let the attention of others wane. Since the prison break with several other misfits she encountered, she knew whoever captured her would try again, so she sought safety in numbers and vicious creatures. The camp Jonah stumbled upon was a small gathering spot where a few of Lyssara's sisters greeted her upon her return. He surmised her arrival was not long ago. Though the others had moved on, she lingered. As he moved forward along the path, a voice whispered as if her lips were right next to his ear. "You don't belong here," the words were cold, carrying an impending doom with every syllable. Every rustle in the forest betrayed his location. As he continued, he found a break in the trees leading to an open field with an old abandoned village, smoke rising from its center. Venturing further, he saw a woman with long raven hair kneeling on the ground, speaking in a tongue he did not recognize. She wore black robes and had her back to him. Switching to Basic as he approached, she spoke, "You are rather foolish. That blade will not help you here. You should flee while you can." A distant roar echoed through the forest, followed by heavy footfalls. She stood slowly and turned toward Jonah. Her skin was pale, her features fair, but her light complexion was sharply contrasted by the black blindfold over her eyes. "What are you looking for here?" Jonah

 

[Jonah]

You don't belong here.

The words were spoken as if someone was speaking directly in Jonah's ear. He whipped his head around, immediately pointing his blade in the direction of the voice...but found only more foliage. There was no one there. It was a trick of the Force. A trick of the Witches. No matter. Jonah reminded himself to keep his head on a swivel and continued his advance through the trees.

Soon, he was greeted by the light of day and the sight of a village. Smoke rose into the heavens, originating towards its center. It was there that his gaze found the woman. Pale. Long black hair. And as he drew closer, he heard a language that never once graced his ears. Where most would feel terrified, Jonah felt a pang of...nostalgia? The foreign utterances reminded him of the primordial woman he called mother.

But there would be another time for drawing parallels between the present and home.

As Jonah stepped closer, he was greeted by the woman's voice once more. This time there was no chiming in his ear. He parted his lips to reply, but soon heard a distant roar behind him. Had she called whatever made that noise with her language? It was then that the offworlder slid his vibrosword back into its sheath. His hands rose, palms open - the universal sign for "you got me."

"Not foolish enough to threaten a stranger on their home turf." he began. "Is there something I should be fleeing from?"

He then paused, considering how best to answer her question. But, given the fact that she could weave God-knew-what sorts of magick, Jonah opted for honesty. If he lied, there was no telling what she'd do. Maybe she'd rip the truth out of him. Maybe she could tell. "Grew up hearing about this place. About people like you. Wanted to learn how you do what you do."

He motioned with his index finger towards his ear before returning to "hands up."

Lyssara Talis​

 

[Lyssara Talis]

She stood before him, unflinching as she slowly folded her hands before her and regarded him, though she could not see as he did. Her senses told her plenty. An amused smile touched her pale lips; the gestures he made were felt through the movement of air and the sound that reached her ears, but only through the Force could she truly 'see.' As he inquired about the roar, her voice carried a tint of amusement. "Oh, that would be one of the wild rancors native to the planet. You are wise not to seek conflict here; however, you would have been wiser still to never have come. So you have until the rancor arrives to tell me who you are and what you are doing here. Perhaps I will call it off." She motioned for him to take a seat near the fire, her assessment of him concluding that he posed minimal threat. The rancor, however, would undoubtedly kill him if it came to that. She walked a short distance from him and sat near the fire, gathering a bit of dirt from the ground. Holding it up to her mouth, she quietly spoke words in the way of Dathomir before gently blowing on the dirt and sending it into the flame. The fire's hue slowly shifted toward an emerald green, and the warmth it provided began to give way to a chilling cold. "So, you sought us out despite the danger. Your holovids are not enough? Felt the need to be a tourist?" She gently wiped the excess dirt from her hands and awaited his reply. She was poking quite intentionally testing him.

Jonah

 

[Jonah]

The woman seemed positively unbothered. Yet, given the circumstances, Jonah couldn't blame her. He was within her backyard, a stone's throw away from potential allies and whatever the hell was thundering in the woods. However, the smile that crossed her face rubbed him. He wouldn't take any action - that would be ill-advised - but his ego didn't enjoy the expression.

Wild Rancor? They had strains of said beast in the Expanse. Brought over and supposedly bred from this very planet. They were nothing to mess with. Jonah was confident in his abilities to hold his own against people like him. But against a beast of that sort? Absolutely not. Suddenly the woman's smile was an afterthought.

"Happy to do so." the man said simply, before sharing his name and reiterating his goal. Jonah was a seeker of understanding, not a conqueror or despoiler. Upon being invited to sit, he obliged and settled down without a word. He then watched as the woman spoke in a foreign tongue over some dirt and...blew it into the fire? It turned bright green! And Jonah could feel the Force laced within the inferno's newfound vigor.

"Holovids don't say anything about that." came his response to her prodding. His hand motioned to the magicked flame before them. "It's risky, yes, but I want to learn. I'm not looking to be handed anything, of course. Nothing in the Galaxy is free - even my being here right now is incurring a cost I'm sure I'll pay at some point."

He offered a simple nod.

"If that's not sufficient, I can tell you my blood type, shoe size, and horoscope."

Lyssara Talis​

 

[Lyssara Talis]

She waited for the man to finish his thoughts, sitting quietly. While she did not particularly care about his reasons, she would do him the courtesy of hearing him out. She chuckled a bit at his reaction to the fire, then continued to listen as he spoke. There was something beyond his words—she could sense a darkness that hung over him. She was unsure who or what guided him here, but it was ancient and powerful. On the one hand, she could send him on his way and be rid of him, or she could allow the rancor to feast on his bones. There was also a third option: she could allow him to stay and learn. It wouldn't be the first time the Nightsisters had taught an outsider, nor even the first time they had taught a man. As he finished speaking they sat in silence for a moment, she called out loudly once again speaking in the language of the Nightsisters it was spoken with authority. At once the rancor that had been moving toward them roared again and started to move away. "Very well Jonah, let us say for the moment you are intriguing enough to stay. My name is Lyssara Tallis, while I am an elder of the Nightsisters we are not monolithic. We have not been unified for a long time." she held out her hand an emerald flame engulfed it. "Take my hand and I will mark you as my guest. You will not be harmed so long as you do no harm to others." "Refuse this, and you may leave you will not be pursued." she paused awaiting his decision.

Jonah

 

[Jonah]

After Jonah finished saying his piece, the woman before him spoke again in the foreign tongue. He tensed, expecting the worst, but resisted the urge to reach for his vibroswords in self-defense. Until she gave him a tangible reason, he would remain steadfast. A chilling roar then erupted for the forest - the Rancor was closer than he had anticipated. However, its thunderous footsteps did not grow louder...they seemed to be growing quieter, as if the beast started moving in the opposite direction.

Jonah then stared, almost holding his breath to see what the woman before him would say. When she did speak, relief wormed its way through his veins. She introduced himself as Lyssara, an elder of the Nightsisters. And, so kindly, she offered to mark him as a guest of Dathomir. Of course, marking was not as simple as planting a sticker on his flesh.

He had to shake a rather imposing, flaming hand. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

"Thank you for your hospitality, Elder." he said, attempting to be as respectful as possible. After all, one string of foreign words could summon the Rancor right back. With that said, he eyed the flaming hand and considered this the price for his being on Dathomir. "No harm will come to you or your own from me. I'll accept your offer."

With thus said, he sucked in a breath, set his jaw, and placed his offhand into her flaming grasp.

Lyssara Talis​

 

[Lyssara Talis]

The witch chuckled a bit a him as she felt him tensing, as he took her hand. "You need not fear, it wont hurt." she placed her other hand over his and the flame passed from her hand to his before vanishing as she withdrew her hands there was an emerald mark on the back of his hand. "It will pass when you leave this planet but for now it remain on you. Also you may call me Lyssara, not Elder I may be one but I am not that old."

The brief touch was enough to confirm her suspicion: the dark power behind him, that birthed him, was indeed strong. She would need to investigate this further, but it was clear he was born of darkness. At the very least, it confirmed he was worth investing in. "Now then, if you wish to learn about Nightsisters we will start with the basics." she began to give him a detailed account of the Nightsisters and their origins, history was not as glamorous and weaving spells but all ability requires a strong foundation.

 

[Jonah]

Just as the Witch said, the emerald flame did not hurt whatsoever. There was a tingling sensation and warmth, but both did not get to a point of discomfort. When she had finished, Jonah marveled at the symbol on his hand before returning his attention to Lyssara. "Lyssara it is." came his simple confirmation.

From thence, Lyssara started him off with the basics. Jonah was given a crash course of the Nightsisters' history. Everything from their decades of on-again-off-again relationships with the Mandalorian regimes to a rough understanding of their matriarchal society. At some points, Jonah would repeat what she said, summarized, so she'd know he was paying avid attention. At others, he would simply nod before she moved onto the next major topic.

They reached an interesting point when she mentioned their language, to which Jonah raised his hand. "I noticed when you spoke in your native language, things happened. Like this handy mark. To me, it feels like Force, but it's different. Wild. Is there more than just Dark and Light?"

Lyssara Talis​

 

[Lyssara Talis]

Lyssara wasn't aware of how long she had been speaking about the extensive history of the Nightsisters, but when Jonah focused on the language, the corners of her lips turned up in a smile. "You ask the right questions. The Force is multifaceted. Sith and Jedi see a piece of it and wield it powerfully. Nightsisters similarly use the Force, though we seldom call it that. We refer to it as magick. Words are power, Jonah. We give voice to the Force. Where a Jedi might be powerful enough to fight an army, a Nightsister using her talents well could make that same army walk past an enemy, never the wiser. What they do with will, we do with ritual, talismans, and even by entreating spirits to assist us. Many have learned the hard way that this can be fatal if unprepared."

She spoke in the ancient tongue once more, and a sickly green ichor formed beside her. From it, a black wolf emerged, roughly half her height and almost as long as a swoop bike. "This is one such spirit, a familiar of mine. Best we don't do introductions for now." She placed a hand on the wolf's head. It looked at her briefly before staring at Jonah, its eyes unblinking, as if waiting for a mistake to be made. She tapped it gently on the head and it turned walking back into the flame and vanishing from sight once more. "There is a vast world you do not yet understand. You will learn"

Jonah

 

[Jonah]

For a brief moment, Jonah felt like a student who had gotten an answer right in the classroom. Despite his satisfaction that his curiosity had allowed him to learn even more - he clung to every word. "I see...so the Force is more than just two views, it is a spectrum. And depending upon how you interact with it, you can do different things to great effect."

His dominant hand rose, briefly stroking his chin as he pondered. Yet the woman spoke in her ancient tongue once more. Jonah's eyebrows raised...feth! There was a wolf. The man leaned back in surprise, but Lyssara didn't order it to attack. "Well...That was quite the demonstration..." he began, sitting back up.

"With such power, this very region of space could be under the Nightsister's dominance. Dathomir could have been the jewel of many empires. From everything I hear of the Sith and Jedi in the Galaxy, they always build for themselves kingdoms and bring trillions to heel. My question is - why don't you? Why stay so quiet here?"

He then paused and debated whether or not to ask "how does someone like me get a familiar?" but decided against it.

Lyssara Talis​

 

[Lyssara Talis]

She nodded along with his assessment as he spoke. "Quite right, the narrow-minded see the Force in light and dark, abstract and two-dimensional. In reality, it is multidimensional. How you interact with it informs your understanding." She smiled at the compliment regarding the familiar. "Trivial, but to a young mind, it would be beyond reason and logic and outside the rules you know of the Force."

When he asked about the Nightsisters and expansionist conflict, she gave a genuine laugh. "What good is conquest when a single blade can destroy a nation or a single shot can topple an empire? We have no need to expand through conquest because we exist in shadow. Our power lies in subtlety and manipulation. If an opportunity arises, we act—not directly but through agents. We whisper to the ears of power, and they whisper to us. This is how it has always been, and it is enough. Our influence spreads unseen, like roots beneath the surface, giving us strength without exposing us to the vulnerabilities of open conflict."

Jonah

 

[Jonah]

In but a brief span of moments, Lyssara had given Jonah quite a lot to ponder. All of his core beliefs...everything he thought that he knew and understood were being challenged. Not in a negative way, mind. There was a difference in perspective that spoke volumes.

"I see...You raise many good points. This explains why the Light and Dark empires never seem to hold onto power in the Galaxy. If the Force is multidimensional, surely it won't be pleased with only a part of itself being alive." he said, before offering a chuckle at her remarks about the familiar. Perhaps when he understood more, he could call one of his own. But that would be a long time from now. As for the subject of conquest?

"The approach of your people is so opposite of what I've known. The examples I've studied and known have been all about great figures cutting their own destiny into the stars. But...their accomplishments are always temporary. No matter how great a nation rises, they only last for a time. But your approach...well, even if a nation falls, I suppose whispers can still continue, yes?"

Meaning, the Nightsisters could simply shift their influence from one regime to the next. Without so much as pledging allegiance...

Lyssara Talis​

 

[Lyssara Talis]

Lyssara stood silently as he turned her words over in his mind, he was a much sharper mind than she had first assumed when he arrived. She folded her hands infront of her as she awaited his next questions, and she would not wait for long. "Ah you come to the other part of it, the force strives for balance, when it becomes out of balance it will correct itself. How? The Jed'aii believe when either the Ashla, the light and the Bogan the dark become stronger and more dominant than the other, the force will cause the other to become stronger to restore balance. Have we not seen this throughout history?"

She took a seat across from Jonah again. "Power is always fleeting, this is something the Jedi understand and that the Sith are blind to. Even setting aside light and dark, power always attracts the corrupt and those jealous of power. This is why no Empire ever endures, nothing is Eternal. And that is why we operate the way we do. We will make alliances, use our spells in support of but we do not engage in open warfare. Well not all of us do" a smile touched the corners of her lips again.

Jonah

 

[Jonah]

Lyssara had given Jonah a mountain to contemplate.

He had embarked on this journey in the stars to make his own destiny. To not be given - but to take. But, perhaps this is where it was time to grow. There was more to this Galaxy than simply having the most power. In fact, power alone - according to the Elder - seemed to be the fastest road to one's downfall. Jonah had no ambitions of seeing his efforts squandered in less than a lifetime. But her way? The subtler way? There was potential there.

"I suppose you're right. What I know of history could be classified as the Light and Dark being snapped back into balance over and over again." he began. "This may be quite the question then. When do you know when you have enough? Your people have a power of their own, the power that makes alliances, that plucks the strings of the world...But your world yet stands. That tells me you know when to not to be greedy."

"When do you know? Where is your line?"

Lyssara Talis​

 

[Lyssara Talis]

Once again, Jonah asked the right questions, and she nodded, confirming his understanding of what she had said about the history of empires. She smiled warmly as he posed his next question and then answered thoughtfully. "The line is fluid, constantly shifting with the tides of power. At different times, it is more dangerous. In the past, we were nearly wiped out at least on Dathomir because we were perceived as a significant threat by a paranoid Sith Lord. To be fair, he was right; we were a threat, but we were also not actively working against him. Our presence alone was enough to incite his wrath. Those who survived his purge certainly turned against him afterward, fueled by a desire for revenge."

"The short answer is, it's hard to know exactly where the line is. It shifts with the whims of those in power. But if you remain hidden and do not draw attention to yourself, you have likely fallen short of that line. Go beyond it, attract too much notice, and you may find yourself drawing the ire of many powerful people. It's a delicate balance—one misstep, and you could face annihilation. Our history is a testament to the perils of crossing that line, and the importance of treading carefully in the shadows."

Jonah

 

[Jonah]

Jonah's dominant hand rose, gingerly stroking his goatee in thought. "History belongs to the quiet ones, eh?" he mused, consolidating Lyssara's teachings down into a suitable quip. His gaze then returned to the Elder. "Will you...show me how to use the Force as you? And if there is anything I can do as compensation for your teachings, I will gladly do so. I'd like to deepen my understanding of your ways, of your magicks, and of staying well behind the line."

Lyssara Talis​

 

[Lyssara Talis]

For Jonah, hours turned into days, days into weeks, and finally into months. During this time, Lyssara taught him the ways of the Nightsisters—how to weave spells, how to entreat the spirits, and the importance of maintaining balance. She emphasized that life demanded death, and death demanded life, a cycle that must be respected. While many outsiders might view the Nightsisters' practices as evil or cruel, Lyssara had already determined that her pupil was above the moral quandaries that plagued so many.

As she sat by the fire, she heard Jonah approaching. Quietly, she folded her hands in front of her before rising and turning towards him. She watched him through the Force, perceiving the unseen energies that swirled around him. There was still a darkness that shrouded him, an enigma she had yet to unravel, but she remained committed to nurturing his talent regardless.

"Jonah," she began, her voice steady, "you have learned much in your short time here. I believe it is time to put theory into practice." She stepped away from the campfire, letting her arms fall gently to her sides. After a moment, she stopped and turned back toward him, extending a single palm in his direction as she beckoned him forward. "Come, show me what you have learned."

Jonah