The Jedi Archivist has finally been hunted down and slain by Lord Vader's troops. Fragmentary accounts have been compiled here in an effort to document the last few adventures of Rutrow, Odo-Kor, Krussk, and Owen.
After freeing the political prisoners on Varbrillion, our heroes dropped them off at an asteroid station. The party took the opportunity to resupply, and Bunb Dnu acquired some cargo that seemed likely to earn some profit. He flew them to the location of a clandestine buyer, but nothing was there except for a pirate ambush. A boarding action occurred, and the pirates were repelled. Odo-Kor and Rutrow were on the verge of rampaging through the pirate ship. They planned to cut down bulkheads and pressure doors as they went, until all of the pirates were vanquished. But when the pirate ship broke the pressure seal and started to pull away, they jumped back into their own ship rather than be exposed to hard vacuum.
While still in space, Rutrow attempted to contact his master, Ji-Lin Jiang. He asked, "where?" and received the reply, "Tatooine."
In Mos Espa, a little legwork turned up buyers for the illicit ship transponders, and a little deception on Owen's part cranked up the profit significantly. While waiting for the buyers to receive the shipment, the party came under fire from a bounty hunter with a sniper rifle. Rutrow became enraged, and spent most of the fight climbing the building to get to the roof. Odo-Kor defended with his lightsaber, and even managed to deflect one of the shots back at his attacker. About that time, someone wondered where the security guards were. On cue, a guard emerged, and was immediately shot down by the sniper. Rutrow eventually scaled the building and cut the attacker in half with his lightsaber. A little while later, the buyers showed up, and not long after that, Ji-Lin made his appearance.
Ji-Lin said that he had evaded capture and discovered the location of a secret Sith training facility on the snowy planet Blandstaadt. The small base he described was one that he had visited back during the clone wars. It appeared that this base had since become a place for Vader's new apprentice to train Sith candidates. In order to remove the threat to the remaining Jedi, Ji-Lin proposed that the party assault the base.
The battle plan was simple. Bunb Dnu would land the ship some distance away from the base. Ji-Lin would attack the communications array, both severing the connection to the Empire, and also diverting some of the troops away from the base. Meanwhile, the rest of the party would sneak across the mountain passes and infiltrate the base, eliminating all opposition.
Rutrow became troubled with this plan, and asked why they needed to kill everyone inside. Ji-Lin explained that anyone who was a Sith candidate had already been passed over by the Jedi Council. He went on to say that it was just too dangerous to let any potential Sith survive, that the good of the Galaxy was at stake. This did not help Rutrow much in coming to terms with the battle ahead.
Despite his initial hesitance, however, Rutrow was savage in battle when it finally arrived. After a numbing two hour journey through snow and ice (Wookies don't wear shoes) The party heard the comm array explode, and saw a platoon of clone troopers take off to investigate. Six guards came out to the cliff-top entrance, and the party charged them. The guards were armed with electrostaves, and they used them fairly competently. After the battle, a few were left alive. Krussk systematically executed them, however, by cutting off their heads with his vibro-axe.
Once inside, Owen hacked the administrative computer, and came up with a schematic of the base. The party investigated the barracks first, but found it eerily empty. They went to the training grounds next. This room was a large natural cavern, perhaps 75 meters in diameter, with a catwalk around the edge about 20 meters from the floor.
The first door around the circumference revealed a Sith wielding a lightsaber. Odo-Kor immediately entered the room and engaged him. The ambush was sprung, and two more Sith dropped from the cavern ceiling to attack Rutrow and Krussk. A fourth Sith charged from one side. Odo-Kor used his Force Grip to immobilize his opponent for a few monents, and then was struck in the back of the head by a telekinetically thrown wrench. Rutrow and Krussk engaged their opponents, and Owen intimidated one into running away. The runner was cut down by a pursuing Krussk. Owen also intimidated another one into revealing the location of his master. The Sith cried out that she was nearby, and that they would all perish. He then went down against Rutrow's continued onslaught. The ceiling collapsed at that point, crushing Rutrow with stalactites. He shook it off, and regained his feet. Owen inspired Odo-Kor by blasting an already unconscious Sith that lay on the floor, and Odo-Kor performed an impressive backflip maneuver that ended with his opponent cut in half.
As everyone was assessing the carnage, it was noticed that one of the Sith on the ground still breathed. Krussk pointed at him and commanded Rutrow to kill. Rutrow refused to give in to the dark side. A debate started up, and while Rutrow's attention was elsewhere, Krussk simply stabbed the remaining man, killing him and gaining a few more dark side points.
Just as everyone thought that the battle was over, a fifth Sith dropped from the ceiling. He gestured, and Krussk went flying over the railing to slam hard into the ground below. A true warrior, Krussk shook it off for a few moments before coughing up blood. Rutrow attacked, and Odo-Kor attempted to use his Force Grip. His attempt was rebuked, however, and he had to hastily deflect his own telekinetic grip. Krussk took a shot from the ground with his rifle, but missed horribly. Odo-Kor used a Force Thrust on the Sith, knocking him down to Krussk's level. Rutrow used a Jedi Surge to practically fly down the ladder and engage the target once again. Between the two of them, Rutrow and Krussk finished him off.
About this time, Ji-Lin arrived, bloodied and tattered. He said that he had fought all of the troops, plus a few more Sith apprentices on his way in. The party said they were about to take on the Sith master in the geothermal generator room. Ji-Lin walked up to the blast doors, and concentrated for a moment. He turned to face the party and declared that there was indeed an evil presence inside that chamber.
At that moment, the blast doors shot open. A pale, bald humanoid female with two lightsabers cut down Ji-Lin on the spot, and the blast doors slammed shut an instant later.