The conflict known as the Battle of Sessal Spire unfolded in 2974 BBY on Kesh, during the period of Dreypa's rebellion. Sith Lord Remulus Dreypa, having suffered a defeat at the Battle of the Marisota Floodplain, commanded his forces to withdraw to Sessal Spire, a volcano that overlooked the Southern Ocean. An army dispatched by the Lost Tribe of Sith, led by Grand Consort Iliana Hilts, pursued them.
After talks broke down, Dreypa employed his amulet to rouse several dormant Leviathans, reptilian Sithspawn that consumed the life force of other beings. The Leviathans swiftly annihilated a large portion of both his former allied forces and the Tribal army. Soon after, the Doomed—descendants of ancient Jedi and Dark Jedi who were marooned on Kesh following the Hundred-Year Darkness—assaulted Dreypa's Leviathans, but they too were overwhelmed by the Sithspawn.
Amidst the battle, former adversaries Parlan Spinner, a Sith anarchist, and Takara Hilts, a Sith princess, united after Spinner rescued Iliana, her mother, from being devoured by a Leviathan. Subsequently, they were joined by Kaliska, the last surviving member of the Doomed, who revealed the existence of a concealed Jedi starship beneath Tahv, the Tribal capital. Before her demise, she persuaded the Sith to destroy the vessel to prevent Dreypa from escaping off-world.
Following the Battle of Corbos, the surviving Dark Jedi were banished to Korriban, where they established the first Sith Order. A faction of these Dark Jedi, under the leadership of Sith Lord Remulus Dreypa, attempted to return to the Galactic Republic to exact revenge on their Jedi enemies. However, they, along with their Jedi pursuers, found themselves on Kesh, a secluded and underdeveloped world inhabited by the humanoid, purple-skinned Keshiri species. The arrival of these Force-users triggered the Great Calamity, which devastated much of Kesh and spawned legends concerning the Skyborn and the Destructors. Eventually, Dreypa's Dark Jedi allies betrayed him and imprisoned him within his own oubliette, a stasis casket capable of maintaining individuals in suspended animation for millennia. Dreypa's former Dark Jedi allies then reconciled with the Jedi and established the Doomed, a Force-sensitive community dedicated to safeguarding the Keshiri and finding equilibrium in the Force.
Meanwhile, Dreypa remained in suspended animation for four millennia until he was liberated by Parlan Spinner, a Sith outcast. Spinner was a member of the Lost Tribe of Sith, another group of Human Sith who had been marooned on Kesh during the Great Hyperspace War in 5000 BBY. Spinner hoped to use Dreypa as an ally against the Tribe, which he resented for mistreating him. Spinner returned Dreypa to the port town of Eorm on the main continent of Keshtah Minor. Using his dark side abilities, Lord Dreypa seized control of Eorm and raised a rebel army with the intention of overthrowing the Lost Tribe's leadership in Tahv, the Sith capital. Dreypa also intended to return to the stars and seek vengeance against the Jedi and the Republic.
Moreover, Lord Dreypa had planned to use Takara Hilts, daughter of Grand Lord Varner Hilts, as a hostage in negotiations with the Tribe. However, she and Kaliska, the leader of the Doomed, had managed to escape their captors and also brought Eorm's entire herd of uvaks, winged reptilian beasts, to Eshkrene. They then transported all members of the Doomed to Keshtah Minor to prevent Dreypa from endangering the Keshiri.
Dreypa's forces clashed with the Tribe's army at the Battle of the Marisota Floodplain. Despite their initial successes, Dreypa's forces were decimated by the Skyborn Rangers, the Tribe's air force. Dreypa and his surviving followers retreated to Sessal Spire, a volcano located at the edge of a peninsula on the southwestern coast of Keshtah Minor. The Tribe's forces, led by Iliana Hilts, wife of Lord Hilts, pursued Dreypa and Spinner to the crater of Sessal Spire. After Iliana rejected Dreypa's attempts at seduction, Dreypa used the dark side to summon several dormant Leviathans from the crater.
Lord Dreypa's Leviathans immediately attacked both his former allies and the Tribe's forces. They used their tentacles to seize numerous sentient beings and trap them on their blister traps, where the monsters drained their life energies. The Leviathans also absorbed the knowledge and memories of their prey. Dreypa's former ally, Parlan Spinner, and his pursuer, Iliana Hilts, were forced to scatter. When Spinner attempted to reason with his former ally, Dreypa retorted that his "so-called" allies had betrayed him centuries ago and that the Leviathans were the only help he needed. Shortly later, the Doomed arrived on their uvak steeds and proceeded to bombard Dreypa's Leviathans with arrows. Kaliska, the leader of the Doomed, rallied her forces, reminding them to target the Leviathans' blister traps and to avoid close quarters. She also exhorted them to remember the "tales of old" and reiterated that they had been born to fight against Dreypa.
Spinner attempted to flee the fighting but was intercepted by his nemesis, Takara Hilts, who used her uvak to knock him down. Takara confronted Spinner with her lightsaber while Spinner fought back with several Keshiri glass daggers. The two Sith also taunted each other, with Takara denouncing Spinner as a traitor and Spinner mocking Takara for being a "slave" to her parents. Eventually, Takara gained the upper hand over the outlaw and was about to execute him with her lightsaber when she was interrupted by the screams of her mother. Her mother, Iliana, had been captured by a Leviathan and was in the process of being drained of her energies.
Driven by his secret affection for Takara, Spinner chose to help his enemy save her mother. He punctured the Leviathan's blister traps with his daggers and used Takara's lightsaber to kill the beast. When questioned by Takara, Spinner justified his actions by claiming that he had dreams for himself which did not involve the Leviathans destroying his planet. While Iliana survived her ordeal, she had been drained of a significant proportion of her life force. As a result, she had aged been aged thirty years older. Spinner and Takara then quickly evacuated from the battlefield the debilitated Iliana on the back of an Uvak.
Meanwhile, Lord Dreypa regained the upper hand through his mastery of Force lightning and the high reproductive rate of his Leviathan minions. Many of the Doomed and their Uvak steeds were slain or devoured by his Leviathans which drained the life energies and knowledge of their defeated foes. Through the Force, Dreypa learnt about the identity of the Doomed—that they were the descendants of the Jedi and Dark Jedi that had imprisoned him within his oubliette millennia earlier.
Dreypa was also confronted by a Rodian member of the Doomed, who denounced Dreypa as his ancestors' "Great Shame" who had to be "put right." Dreypa vowed vengeance against the Doomed and sought to find what they were hiding from him.
Following the awakening of the Leviathans, Dreypa's former allies along with their Sith pursuers and all members of the Doomed except Kaliska were killed by the Sith Lord's Sithspawn. Kaliska managed to escape the battle and rejoined Parlan Spinner, Takara and Iliana Hilts. Kaliska urged Spinner and Takara to combine forces with the Tribe's forces. However, Spinner was sceptical that the Tribe would support Kaliska since she was as "freakish" to them as the Leviathans. Iliana was unable to lead the Tribe's forces since she had been greatly weakened by the Leviathans. Unwilling to abandon her mother to the Leviathans, Takara wanted to bring her mother back to Tahv so that she could be treated by the Tribe's Force sages.
Sensing potential in Takara, Kaliska urged the Sith princess to lead the Tribe's forces. She warned that if Dreypa was not stopped, he would threaten the wider galaxy. Spinner then questioned Kaliska whether she was hiding anything that could be used against Dreypa from the Sith. Based on Kaliska's comments, he deduced that the Doomed had a means of leaving Kesh and traveling to the stars. Cornered by both Spinner and Takara, Kaliska reluctantly admitted that the Doomed were aware about the existence of a single Jedi starship called the Last Hope, which was hidden beneath the Keshiri burial cairns under Tahv's Circle Eternal, the residence of the Grand Lord and his family. The Doomed's ancestors had preserved the Last Hope so that they could leave Kesh and return to the wider galaxy in the future.
Kaliska feared that Dreypa would learn about the existence of the Jedi starship and succeeded in convincing Spinner and Takara to destroy the vessel. Due to his familiarity with the catacombs, Spinner was selected to carry out this task. Takara also convinced Spinner to take her mother on the uvak and return to Tahv. While Kaliska was reluctant to trust Spinner, she reluctantly agreed to escort Spinner and ensure he carried out the task. At that moment, the party was attacked by a Leviathan. Spinner, Iliana and their uvak managed to escape the scene but Kaliska was captured and devoured by the beast. Through her death, Dreypa learnt about the existence of the Jedi Starship and ordered his Leviathans to move towards Tahv.
Dreypa was unwilling to enslave what he regarded as "sorry henchmen" and allowed the Leviathans to feed on Kesh after he had gone. At that point, Dreypa was interrupted by Takara who challenged him to a lightsaber duel. Takara vowed that she would kill him and asserted that the planet belonged to the Tribe. Dreypa retorted that the Tribe had sent its best after him and taunted Takara by saying she was the only survivor. Takara responded that the Tribe had freed themselves from the Sith in the past and vowed to break him. The two Sith fought and Dreypa gained the upper hand through his superior mastery of the Dark Side of the Force. He took Takara prisoner, intending to use her as a bargaining chip when dealing with Spinner.
The Battle of Sessal Spire was a stepping stone for Remulus Dreypa's assault on Tahv. News of the events at Sessal Spire reached Tahv through Thought-criers. Due to the threat of Dreypa and his Sithspawn, the Tribe's leadership summoned all able-bodied residents in Tahv including Sith, Keshiri, and slaves to prepare for the defense of their city. Meanwhile, Parlan Spinner and Iliana Hilts managed to return to Tahv on their uvak. Iliana was brought to the Tribe's Force Healers but they were unable to reverse the ageing effects of Leviathans. Iliana was despondent because she was unable to lead the Tribe's forces due to her debilitated state. Grand Lord Varner Hilts comforted his wife by reminding her that a "smart Sith" would be able to convince the others to fight for her. He convinced her to "act the part" of a strong leader.
Meanwhile, Spinner entered the catacombs beneath the Circle Eternal and managed to find the Jedi Starship Last Hope. However, he reneged on his earlier promise to destroy the vessel and instead took the starship on a ride above Kesh. For the first time, Spinner was able to see the planet Kesh from orbit as well as the surrounding space. Before the Sith rebel could take the Last Hope on a hyperspace journey to Coruscant, he was contacted by Lord Dreypa who delivered an ultimatum. Unless Spinner handed the ship to him, he threatened to harm Spinner's love-interest Takara Hilts. He ordered Spinner to meet him at Tahv, which set the stage for the Siege of Tahv. Ultimately, Spinner decided to save the Tribe and played an instrumental role in Dreypa's demise.
While not officially named, the Battle of Sessal Spire was the third conflict of Dreypa's rebellion, which devastated parts of Keshtah Minor in 2974 BBY. It first appeared in John Jackson Miller's Lost Tribe of the Sith—Spiral 4, the fourth comic issue of the Spiral comic story, which was released on November 14, 2012.