Seated within the Glorious Jewel of the Hutts, the Winter Palace is situated on a remote island near the planet’s equator. Although blanketed with the pollution from Hutt industry, its location makes the climate hot and humid. Surrounded with trees and vines, it could be considered to be a paradise, even among the barren wasteland of Nal Hutta. Outside of the Winter Palace, a network of sewer pipes transfer the waste from the palace to wherever seems far enough to dump into the oceans surrounding the island. Flora and fauna that have adapted to the Hutt’s environmental changes thrive in the polluted forests surrounding the Winter Palace.

Stepping through its gilded gates, the lavish interior serves as the main audience chamber. Once belonging to the wealth of Jiliac Desilijic Tiron, the gleaming stone of the main aisle leads up to a Hutt’s dais lined with an expensive carpet. Beautiful tapestries line the high walls, telling of the sordid histories of those who woven them, awaiting execution in Jiliac’s dungeons.

Finally, the antechamber to the "throne" room is illuminated from above with high-skylighted ceilings. Constructed from lightly colored stone, the antechamber might have been where the late Hutt entertained his guests before an audience with spice and exotic dancers. In the hands of the Hutt Kajidics, however, these traditions have continued as the Winter Palace now serves as a front for criminal and business ventures that come and go.

Ugh.. the putrid air was assaulting to the senses. Thick and uninviting to the more hygienically refined beings of the Galaxy. To the Hutts?

It was home.

The Rollmaster of Odan-Urr, while young, had a passion for artifacts and trinkets. It was not unusual for him to send members of the Clan on scavenger hunts, or wild-gorgy chases. Gui was an eccentric, an odd one. But curiously wise for someone so young, thought Jonas Pearce as he stood at the edge of a slimey lake that looked more like a sewage runoff than anything else. Smoke swirled from his ember tipped cigar, which would furiously burn before dimming down with each draw. Anyone passing by would be curious as to what he was actually doing as no one from Nal Hutta really cared about sight-seeing. Still, he stood there, his eyes intensely scanning the bubbling slop.

Then like a creature from the oozing lagoon, a Gungan burst out of the pool, bubbles and—one could only hope, mud—were dripping from his smooth skin.

"Meesa can't seesa ting down dayuh!"

"Kah, we're looking for an amulet." Jonas flicked his ashes. "Why on earth would it be down there?" he finished, pointing at the water. "I think you just couldn't help yourself. Everyone knows how much your people love water," he puffed his cigar. "In all of its forms…"

"Yousa gotten me dayuh, Pearcy." The Gungan snorted, his mind becoming lost in thought as he effortlessly slid through the water. "Yousa should come in."

Irritation watered down Jonas' focus and his perception reminded him that Kah's mind worked much differently than other Gungans he had known. This wasn't the Senate chambers of Coruscant but he could still tell when he was being toyed with. The Gungan was pushing his boundaries and making it increasingly difficult to concentrate on the task at hand. Perhaps that's what he wanted all along. A play-thing. Or maybe the Gungan had, in his own unique way, a lesson to teach. Was class in session, or was Kah really this unfocused?

Jonas knew the answer to that question as the Gungan's eyes narrowed and his thick lips twisted into a smirk.

"You have got to be kidding." Jonas flicked his cigar into the water. "No way."

"Nosa?" The Gungan grinned and his gangly hand slid out of the water and snapped shut like the jaws of a gooberfish.

Jonas' eyes grew wide as he felt the Force, the only way that he could, and left his feet as the Gungan made a tugging gesture. The splash of the armored Human caused Kah to cackle as Pearce flailed and clawed his way out of the muck.

"Yousa have nosa patience." The Gungan's laughter grew louder. "Yousa could never be Jedi."

Anger welled up from the depths of the Human's belly. An anger that took him years to bury.

"Mesa can sensin' anga," the Gungan mocked., "Pearcy need release"

Jonas grimaced as Kah's lingering smile vanished. The Metelleasan may not have been a Force sensitive but he could certainly sense trouble as he gripped the edge of the riot shield he typically carried on his back and eyed his heavy repeater propped against a nearby tree. Play time was over and that was made more obvious by the Gungan's shriek as he went airborne, propelled by his powerful legs.

Instinctively, Jonas swept his shield around and slipped it up over his head. His arm slightly buckled from Kah's weight as the Gungan used it as a springboard, flipping from it in an attempt to gain control from behind.

At that moment, Jonas began to sink back into his old state of mind. An older man now, his passions were as fiery as ever even if he was able to bury them deeper than before. The obnoxious baiting from the Gungan was enough to bring them back to the surface.

Kah was relentless as his feet dug into the treacherous soil and like a fiending junkie, addicted to battle, he lunged in. Neglecting his lightsaber, he wished to test the mettle of the advisor with his bare hands. He mimicked the talons of a hawk-bat as he shaped his hands and swooped in low, rising with an uppercut that, while fast, was expected.

Jonas was no slouch when it came to combat but he was perceptive enough to know that he was outmatched and tactical enough to let his shield absorb the impact. Relying on his inferior hand-to-hand skills would be foolish but relying on the environment could be his saving grace.

The Gungan winced as his hooked hands clashed against Jonas' riot shield and as Pearce took a step back, Kah gripped the shield's edge and maneuvered it to the side slightly, no doubt hoping that it would open a window for his knee to slip through.

The step back wasn't a retreat, however; it was a calculated motion. When Kah threw his knee forward Jonas rotated with the momentum of his parried shield and ripped it downward to sweep the Gungan's planted foot.