The Valley of the Jedi. The legendary location of the final battle under the surface of Ruusan, between the Army of Light and the Brotherhood of Darkness. The battle ended in an instant when Lord Kaan’s followers detonated the thought bomb in a reckless move to with the campaign, proving the catalyst for the Ruusan Reformation. Joining within the cavern that would be the site of a dangerous ritual, the Dark Lords were vanquished along with Hoth’s followers; the resulting vacuum consuming the souls of Sith and Jedi alike to be tormented for an eternity.

Standing near the edge of that cave, the tiered stone steps that circle the valley greet intruders with an otherwise unremarkable passage into its depths. The ground is rocky and uneven, sloping downwards towards the center. Stalagmites litter the floor, small outcroppings of rock thrust out from the ground like huge stone blades. However, those formations pale in size compared to the chiselled stone statues encircling the Valley in perfectly concentric circles. The sculptures seem almost alive, as if the faces of the dead had been perfectly captured in the carvings, still holding traces of the doomed souls they represented.

Inside the cavern lies the echoes of those who perished in the thought bomb’s detonation. Within its deepest recesses rests an oblong orb that floats just above the ground. Encased within the dreadful relict are the souls of those who were consumed at the ritual’s epicenter. Uneasiness radiates from the artifact as the helpless cries and echoes enter the minds of all those who enter the cave, driving most to madness before meeting death on the surface of Ruusan.

TuQ’uan had an uneasy feeling about this place. The statues surrounding the valley were staring down at him, watching his every move. The air was still in the night sky but the Kel Dor still felt a chill, not on his near crimson skin but deep within his bones, subconsciously he pulled the collar of his jacket up to keep warm. He was getting tired of what appeared to be a wild goose chase. The higher ups in Plagueis had been mobilizing all of their assets and decided that TuQ’uan’s underworld contacts could be of use. The latest stop was on the eerily desolate planet of Ruusan, which he made sure to read up on before coming. Hopefully he was nearing the end of his search, the missing Grand Master Pravus was rumoured to have stopped here recently and for some reason it fell to him to figure out why.

TuQ’uan reached the bottom of the stone steps and approached the entrance to the dimly lit cave at the centre of the valley. He'd rather be behind a terminal right now but he was being paid handsomely for his services. Sighing he stepped into the cave.

The mercenary was flooded by the sudden and intense feeling of dread that was overwhelming his senses. He was quickly coming to hate this assignment. Something struck TuQ’uan about the sounds of his footsteps, it was almost as if there was a slight delay to the echo bouncing off of the rock walls around him. As he rounded a bend in the cave the Kel Dor changed the rhythm of his walk just slightly, but the echo stayed the same. Quickly TuQ’uan drew his DL-44 and fired off a quick volley of shots back the way he had come.

“Come out, I don't like to be followed,” he spat as the sound of his blaster fire dissipated.

Slowly clapping a scruffy yet handsome human male stepped around the bend.

“That was, moderately impressive, I wasn't expecting you to hear my footsteps,” Wolfe Whitehorne smirked and brushed a lock of black hair off of his face. “Now then, I hope you know I can't let you go any further Plagueian. If you leave now we don't have to fight.”

“I don't know what your talking about. This isn't the creepy caves of the galaxy tour? I must have taken a wrong turn at Kessel,” TuQ’uan looked around in mock confusion. “Well, I guess you don't look much like a tour guide so forgive me if I don't listen to your directions.” Raising his blaster the mercenary fired off three rapid shots aimed directly for Wolfe’s chest.

The Grey Jedi’s smirk disappeared as the bolts dissipated mere inches from his chest, impacting upon the barrier he created with the Force. Wolfe began walking towards the Kel Dor the playfulness gone from his intense grey eyes. Raising his hand in front of him palms towards the ceiling five skull sized rocks started rising from the ground between the two in unison.

I really hate these Force users, TuQ’uan brooded as he began stepping backwards, heading further into the caves. He turned to run as Wolfe used the Force to hurl a stone at TuQ’uan’s head, narrowly avoiding contact.

As his quarry fled Wolfe relinquished the stones he grasped with the Force, he instead opted to give chase to the Kel Dorian male as he ran away. He was given a choice to flee and instead chose to continue in and as such, chose to fight. Every clan had mobilized asset in the wake of Pravus' disappearance, an advantage that Clan Odan-Urr intended to use to remove several slaver camps that had attempted to shuffle Undesirables discretely. The Gray Jedi remembered the report. Two Knights had tracked a group of slavers making routine ‘cargo’ drops to the surface of Ruusan. With Pravus’ continued extermination campaign and a high influx of Undesirables delivered to this planet as well and the ancient ruins deep within the caverns, they settled upon the gambit.

The Acolyte adjusted the sheaths of his two vibroblades beneath his cloak before he retrieved a small device from the tool pouch on his belt and activated it.

“Of course the Plagueians send in the hired guns first. If they sent in a Dark Jedi, officially, to the same planet where they've been aiding genocide of so-called "Undesirables" and subsequently discovered, there'd be blood. Well. More blood than there already is." Wolfe called down the long cavern as he lifted the device to his collar and clasped it to his cloak, with the length of it inside the coarse fabric.

The laughter faded from his voice now, relegated to a cold and calculated mannerism, as he stalked the corridor behind the perceptive mercenary. He no longer attempted to hide his steps, now he wanted the man to know he was in pursuit. In what had yet to turn into violence, the Kel Dor set the grand stage, and this human would be glad to play the part assigned to him.

TuQ'uan could hear Wolfe as he pursued, he had abandoned the attempt to mask himself. That would at the very least make it easier to get a bead on him, to open up a line of fire. He continued through the downward sloped pathway towards the central chamber, his left hand outstretched to grasp a nearby stalagmite. As he gathered his footing, the mercenary pressed his right shoulder against the cool stone, and his left hand reached up to grasp his worn mask. Fingers traced across the surface of the mask as he backpedaled into the main chamber of the cavern, reminded of the difference between the pristine smooth black half and the bare exposed metal on the opposite.

“Law is law and jobs are jobs. I follow the Grand Master’s law and do the jobs people can afford to pay me to do, regardless of your opinions human, my mind has long since been made up.” The Kel Dorian said as he centered himself and traversed the main chamber.

It was large, empty, and eerily quiet with nearly concentric rings circling down to the central dais, above which sat the oblong silver remnant said in aged databases to hold the souls of long-dead Sith and Jedi alike. Grand statues with eerily drawn faces marked equidistant points on the ringed stages of the central cavern, graves of fallen heroes, now cover for a mobile firefight.

Tension mounted as the two forces anxiously drew near one another in opposition. The crimson-skinned Plagueian loosed a hail of plasma toward the jet-haired Odanite, super-heated plasma bursts scorched air and stone, with the scent of ozone left in their wake. Focused and mobile the basaltic eyes of the Jedi scanned the cavern, enhanced reflexes and natural agility pushing the human through volleys of spread plasma bolts. As he glided through the arcs of plasma, the Jedi gathered the Force to himself and focused on the aspect of speed. He vaulted across the room his cloak billowed behind him, exposing the assortment of weaponry on his hip.

TuQ’uan, unphased, continued to move as vision focused from behind his distinctive goggles and another burst of Plasma volleyed towards the Jedi. His focus instead trailed on a small detail as the blaster fire reflected off of the silver orb in the room center. The human wore firearms at his side and had yet to draw them or his saber. Instead, Wolfe kept pace on voracious darting attacks, keeping the distance between the pair bridged to mitigate the brief advantage of the open battlefield and its cover.

Wolfe timed out, having used his one match extension already for this bout.