Holovids have replayed the conclusion of the Grand Master’s Invitational Tournament where Turel Sorenn and Timeros Ceasus Entar Arconae battled within the remains of the Dark Hall.

Echoes of the past haunt the now desolate graveyard of a planet. Wild winds whip through the hollow landscape with harrowing howls, a sense of death and finality hanging heavy in the air. This aura is neither dark or light, but stands as living effigy to the destructive power a sole individual unleashed on an entire system.

Once, Antei had served as the seat of the Dark Jedi Brotherhood's power. As a result of an ancient Ritual of destruction invoked by Grand Master Muz Ashen, the entire planet is now no more than a barren wasteland. Charred buildings have been reduced to rubble, but ash flutters into the wind from the embers of fires that seem to burn in eternal requiem. A dark energy still lingers, and at its center, rests the once great temple known as the Dark Hall.

The Dark Hall itself is one of the only few structures to defy the full might of the Ritual. The ruins and remains around it are littered with decay. Tall spires have been toppled and withered with corrosion from the planet's periodic dust storms. The Dark Hall’s interior is mired with collapsed pillars and door frames. The last remnants of life are scattered and covered in layers of ash: broken furniture, fractured machinery and combusted equipment littering the apocalyptic palette of grays and greens. The stairways leading down into the subterranean levels are missing whole sections, and some simply lead to dead ends. The crypts below have been ransacked and scavenged, sarcophagi upturned and left with a mixture of mummified corpses and empty caskets.

Beyond this, scouting reports still vary when the topic of Force apparitions and ghosts is broached.

Proceed at your own risk.

Where else to search for clues than amongst the ruins of the Dark Hall? The location of the Grand Master’s powerful ritual that tore the life away from Antei. Taranae stalked through the barren landscape and as she approached, the once proud temple reached into the sky before her. Perpetual fires still lit the area and the temple itself; no-one knew what fuelled them. As she walked, she stumbled slightly as she stepped awkwardly on something. Glancing down, a macabre sight greeted her as a lone skull with its deep, black eye sockets stared back at her in what seemed to be grim defiance. The teeth, now grey from exposure to the smoky atmosphere of the planet now grinned evilly in death.

Tearing her gaze away, she strode on with her cloak billowing in the breeze behind her and her hair hanging freely about her shoulders. She pulled the cloak around her more tightly as the cool breeze tousled her hair and crept in beneath her robes to chill her body. She gazed at the temple to find that the entrance to the temple was awash with flames, the source of the fire unknown, so she cast her eyes around for other entrances. Above and to her right was a hole in the exterior wall that looked to be some kind of blast damage and she decided her best course of action would be to reach it somehow. The toppled pillars and debris made handy landing points as she reached into herself and performed large leaps from point to point until she found herself staring through the gap into the temple itself.

Inside, the smoke made seeing even more difficult than outside and she had to squint to see the ground. Tensing, she leapt and landed in a crouch beside a large statue. Her senses screamed as a chunk of debris detached itself from the wall and she somersaulted to the side as it crashed into the floor. As she stood and brushed herself off, she realised that her senses had not stopped their warning. Someone was in the hall with her. Reaching out with the Force, she sensed one other being in the room. She could not determine who or what they were. But she intended to find out. She concentrated and heard a shriek as a purple Twi’lek came racing from the smoke with her lekku streaming out behind her, pursued by an illusionary rancor. Taranae smiled in grim satisfaction as she readied her hand on the hilt of her saberstaff. This search could just turn out to be interesting after all.

The Twi’lek stopped abruptly as the image disappeared and she cocked her head to one side, staring at the space the rancor had occupied scant seconds ago. Taranae stood and ignited her saber with a hiss that reverberated around the hall and stepped out of the shadows. The purple-skinned form turned quickly, grabbing and igniting her saber in one movement.

“Ah, someone that may actually give me a challenge,” stated the Sith. “Better than some of my recent battles.”

As she spoke, she could see the Twi’lek’s eyes glancing all around the hall, obviously looking for escape routes.

“Quite the calculating one, I see,” she mused, “Nowhere to run but plenty of places to hide. But I will find you.”

She gestured, and her foe flew backwards across the hall as a wave of energy hit her with its full impact. The Twi’lek landed in a crouch with her hand on the floor as she stared at Taranae with shock. She had only come to gather clues in the Dark Hall; she hadn’t expected Sith to be present. Drawing her blaster, she opened fire on her cloaked assailant. In front of her eyes, the saberstaff spun wildly as if to create a shield and blaster bolts ricocheted in all directions. Halting her attack, she pondered her chances. The only escape route was the one which she had entered through, and possibly the same one her enemy had used. Reaching inside herself, she felt her energies well up and she sprinted towards a fallen pillar, leaping atop it and heading for the hole in the wall that she used to gain entry to this accursed place. She screamed suddenly as tendrils of energy hit her as she ran, and Taranae mocked her from behind.

“Nuh-uh, little one. We’re not done here yet!”

Screaming in agony as the twisting arcs of lightning seared her thigh, her muscles spasmed out of control and she felt the limb give beneath her. Tumbling off the pillar and slamming into the hard ground, Tali’s fall was only minutely broken by the charred remains of ancient furniture that shattered beneath her with a dull crack.

Advancing upon her foe, Taranae stalked her prey with a predatory gait, eyes fixed on her target and blades held at her side, tips pointed back and front.

“Come out, come out, little one,” she called to the Twi’lek, “I want to play some more.”

Tali felt a chill run down her spine as the mocking words echoed in the desolate antechamber, the howling winds beyond the thick stone walls calling for her to flee. This was not a fight she could win. Clambering to her feet as silently as she could, Tali extended her senses as far as she dared to home in on the beacon of dark power that confronted her. Sensing her foe approaching from the right, she skirted the pillar she’d fallen from in a counterclockwise motion to get behind her stalker.

She staggered over the broken ground as winds continued howling outside until she caught a glimpse of a dark cloak emblazoned with the Plagueis insignia. Nerves on edge, Tali took the opportunity and lashed out, melting her step into a fluid strike intended to rake across her opponent’s back.

Her senses screaming of danger, Taranae spun around and raised her saber to block the strike, but found the base of the pillar too close as the lower bit of her weapon struck the blackened stone and ceased its motion. Tali’s blade descended in a gleaming arc, gracing the woman’s cloaked shoulder as the Human twisted herself out of harm’s way. The plasma blade bit into the Armorweave cloak and the cloth resisted, if only for a moment, before melting under the blow. Yet, it had bought Taranae the moment she needed to slip away from beneath the strike and without pause, she launched a vicious counter-attack.

Seeing the swift riposte coming as Taranae jabbed her weapon at the Twi’lek’s midriff, Tali twisted her body aside, spinning back behind the pillar and bringing her saber to her side to deflect the attack. Wasting no time, the Human swerved her weapon around. Bringing the other end down in an overhead strike that once again drove the Twi’lek back, she shunted the lek-head away from the pillar with a blast of raw kinetic force.

Dust and sand grinding beneath her boots as she skidded to a halt, Tali barely had enough time to raise her saber as her ferocious foe closed the distance at inhuman speed and slammed her saber against hers.

Blades locked, red and yellow ground against each other in a strobing display of searing light as the two women poured their respective mights into the standoff. Yet, it became almost instantly clear as to who would win that particular duel as Tali felt her arms begin to shiver, her tired muscles begging for rest while Taranae pressed her advantage. Forcing the Twi’lek back, the Human felt the engagement drawing to a close; hough toying with the Twi’lek had been amusing, she had found the fight bitterly disappointing and her foe to be lacking in stamina.

Seeking to extract every last ounce of enjoyment she could, the redhead leaned in closer with a cocky grin on her face.

“I can’t say you fought well, but I will enjoy ending you.” Taranae chuckled coldly while she took in the fear in the sweating Twi’lek’s eyes as the futility of her situation fully dawned upon her.

Yet, in that moment of mortal peril, Tali saw an opening. Her wide-eyed panic suddenly narrowed into a laser focus, eyes shifting to pin pricks as she carefully judged the distance between their faces, illuminated by the glow of their locked blades. Her foe had barely registered the sudden change when Tali’s left lek shot out and jabbed at her face between their sabers. The redhead barely managed to pull back enough to soften the blow as the lek-tip stabbed her in the right eye, the soft tentacle finding her squishy eyeball an even more vulnerable opponent.

Screaming in searing agony, the Sith staggered backwards, clutching her face as the exhausted Twi’lek bolted towards the exit.