The Haunted Jungle, or, The Evil Tree.

With the Sith poison out of the way (Kedrihm'Val was tempted to ask questions like, "What the heck was that all about?" but decided to save his breath, since it's not like they'd find answers anyway), they hied off in pursuit of the phantom herdship.

Finding it didn't take too long. It cruised back and forth along a steady path between a couple of star systems. They docked, and Ree, Jal'en, Drath, Oola, and Kedrihm'Val went aboard while the others stayed with the Starwind (though Onna sent a probe droid along to keep an eye on things).

The inside of the ship, like all Ithorian herdships, was a big ol' jungle. They love their jungle. It's sacred to them, so they take it with them wherever they go (Ithorians, by the way, are those critters with a neck shaped like a saddle and a head shaped like a hammer). They got attacked by a big evil ape-thing, which they drove off, and then they found an overgrown shopfront built into the trunk of one of the trees (Ithorians go for that sort of thing).

And they found the Ithorian, who looked like he'd been dead for a couple of years and was slowly being absorbed by the jungle. But on a closer look...he was still alive. It was as if the jungle were keeping him on life support, slowly draining the lifeforce from him. Studying him, Ree could feel the jungle reaching out, trying to draw the Force from her as well.

Isn't it amazing how quickly things can go from serene to creepy?

Drath summarily killed the poor Ithorian (Dark Side point to Drath! Generally you want to investigate alternatives before employing mercy killings), and the crew rummaged around the shop for information. They found directions to an information booth (the herdships are travelling communities, jungles with towns and things built in, and arrangements are made for tourists), and headed that way to see if they could find the way to the bridge. This wasn't too hard, but on their way toward the bridge, they picked up two more evil gorillas tailing them. They came to the passage leading to the crew portion of the ship, which had been boarded up and sealed. When Drath began clearing it with his lightsaber, the gorilla things attacked. Kedrihm'Val used Plant Surge to entangle one in vines (and could feel the jungle reaching out to try and draw him in as he did so). Drath killed that, while Ree and Jal'en made good for the other one.

The jungle got very hissy and seething at this point, which made the crew nervous. As they crossed one of the walkways, Oola noticed it starting to come away from the wall. She called out a warning, and Ree and Kedrihm'Val grabbed the two non-Forcer-users and jumped down to the ground as the platform fell away beneath them. Once safe on the ground, Oola spotted an Ithorian's fresh footprints leading away from the panel that controlled the walkway's clamps. Apparently, someone was still alive in here.

At the bridge, They found a force shield preventing them from entering, but on the other side, they could see a strange contraption that didn't seem to have any part of the proper workings of the ship. Oola determined that the shield could be dropped from the security array on the ship, so off they went.

Heading toward the security area, they spotted the nearly-dead bodies of more than 50 species--the remnants of those explorers who'd come to investigate this place and never returned.

They found the security area...guarded by four computer-controlled gun turrets and four more of those tough gorilla-things. They might've been able to take three, but four would be a problem, and the gun turrets would definitely need dealing with. Spying on the place for a bit, they saw an Ithorian inside, pacing around and apparently yelling at someone on a commlink.

...Aha! Idea time! Drath and Ree decided they could rush past the turrets into the building while he was distracted. They'd keep him occupied, while Kedrihm'Val said he could deal with the ape-things, leading them off into the woods and then slipping away from them. Then Oola and Jal'en could get into the building and work their tech-magic to disable the turrets and bring down that shield.

And so it was. Ree and Drath dashed in and leapt through the windows to confront the Ithorian, who was just then yelling at someone for telling him they'd teach him to become one with the jungle and setting all this up, and then just abandoning him. He whirled to grab a stick, and when he Force-enhanced it, they realized he was some kind of Dark Side Force-adept. During the fight, Ree felt herself being choked. It wasn't the Ithorian... Spinning to the comm-screen, she saw Dalt (geez, he's everywhere!), and smashed the screen to put an end to that.

Meanwhile, Kedrihm'Val got the attention of the evil apes, which chased him into the woods. He distracted two with an illusion, and then dashed off to leave the others in the dust. Oola and Jal'en slipped in and hacked into the computers while he rejoined them. Spotting seven more of the evil apes coming out of the jungle to confront them, Oola took control of the gun turrets to deal with them...

...Just as the Ithorian leapt out of the window into the clearing, and took four gun turret blasts in his back. The apes suddenly turned and wandered off like normal animals.

Ree informed them that it had been Dalt. They made their way quickly back to the bridge to see what all the fuss had been about. There, they found a strange device, rigged to draw the Force from the jungle and pump it into a sealed coffer. Wondering what it was, the crew opened it.

Inside was a sapling that hadn't been planted. Studying it, the Force-users realized that it contained the tortured, angry spirits of all the dead souls who had once inhabited this place, as well as the ones who'd died investigating it. That was one evil tree! Kedrihm'Val realized that this tree was meant to grow crystals, like the one Ree had used to construct her lightsaber except attuned to the dark side of the Force rather than the light.

Oola rigged a beacon to warn anyone approaching the herdship that it was dangerous, hoping that'd keep people away till someone could come deal with it, and they got the pernicious plant out of there. Then they blasted back to Coruscant, sending a message to a very bemused Master Skywalker (he always gets the weird messages, much to Master Durron's disappointment) that they were bringing an evil tree back with them.

At Coruscant, they found Zan waiting for them. He had some questions about Kedrihm'Val's vision. He pointed out that there was the Jedi Masters' Council, and then the High Council of the New Republic, which also had some Jedi sitting on it. Dalt could have been talking about either one. They were also concerned that Darth Maul hadn't really seemed to care that they'd been overheard... At any rate, he said, best to get that botanical nightmare inside.