STAR WARS: RETROSPECTION- Holocron

Dak Twirls again. "Do not relent!"

Initiative is yours again, and between the six Jedi present in this fight, only four Sith soldiers are left standing! And they do not plan on sticking around. You have made it clear that the way on is closed. They scamper back into the jungle...

"Don't let them escape!" Coll shouts. He chases after the Sith soldiers, into the jungle and just out of sight.

"Wait!" Rianna shouts, following after him.

Does she sense any impending danger in doing so?

Dak will dash after him, using the Force to speed himself. "It could be a trap!"

You sense no danger... but you sense immediate death.

You come upon Coll standing in a small clearing in the jungle, like the one you were fighting in. The feeling of death is distinct... but you do not see the Sith troopers. Or their remains.

Coll is standing in the center, waving his lightsaber in different directions as he looks for the enemy.

"Where'd they go?" Galder asks.

"I don't know, Master," Coll says. "They were here and then they weren't. They vanished."

"Vanished? Perhaps the jungle took them..." Rianna says, frowning as she looks around the clearing.

"Unlikely," Nuvar says. "Almost everything about this jungle is deadly... but not THAT deadly."

"You don't understand," Coll says. "I SAW them vanish! Or one of them. He just stopped existing. I don't understand..."

"Calm down, Coll," Galder says firmly. "Explain what you mean."

"I mean he just disappeared, right in front of me," Coll says.

"Unless the Sith have discovered some sort of new power or weapon that we don't know about...but no, I very clearly felt death, and even the Sith couldn't fake that," Rianna replies. "Still, I don't like this. Something very strange has happened..."

"You're telling me," Coll says.

"Come on," Galder says. "We've stunted their attack, and they won't bring their full force down on the Temple. We should return to it before we're cut off."

"Yes, let's leave here and get back to the Temple. We don't want them to take us by surprise..."

You sense Sith troopers closing in, so leaving now means avoiding further conflict before rejoining your troops. Or you can stay in the jungle and continue your hit-and-run strikes on their advancing units.

Master Kolarn looks over the crystal and decides staying here is no longer helping.

He puts a small explosive beside the Holocron should he have to destroy it to keep it from falling into Sith hands.

He then heads back out.

I don't believe Master Kolarn has the appropriate skill set to rig something up, but one of the men will do it for you gladly!

Outside, the men have taken up positions and await the enemy.

"Ready, sir," Commander Forb tells you.

"Very good, we are prepared as we can be men. The enemy will not come here without a fight."

With that Master Kolarn reaches out with the Force to see if he can sense the others.

I say we retreat to the Temple.

Probably the better idea. Something's weird here, and yeah.

Maybe take to the trees to travel back and if they decide to split off into small groups, pause long enough to take them out?

Works for me.

You can sense them faintly. Hard to do with the Dark Side clouding your senses.

The Temple is mainly defended by Republic soldiers in khaki-colored uniforms and caps, armed with blaster rifles and jungle survival packs on their backs. Commander Forb and his personal units are wearing camouflaged blast armor. Heavy cannons and mortar launchers have been set up all around the Temple to blast the treeline once the Sith troopers emerge.

-

Nuvar advises against hiding in the trees again. They tend to be angrier toward the edge of the jungle.

You can sense and hear the Sith troopers in the jungle around you as you fall back to the Temple. A heavy, acrid smoke is starting to drift through the tops of the trees, and flickers of fire peek around the trunks in the near distance.

Well, then, going back as quick as possible might be the best idea.

If we have comms on us, Rianna will quickly inform Xavier that we're heading back to the Temple, so that our troops won't accidentally open fire on us as we come out of the jungle.

Xavier listens to Rianna over the comms, "I'll see you when you get here and inform the troops not to open fire on you."