The Blade sends

The Double-edged Blade of the Fallen

With a look of determination on her face, she marched towards the foes she could see ahead. Blaster fire ricocheted around the entire area, and the whole battlefield was awash with the blue glow of Jedi lightsabers. She pulled the metal cylinder from her belt and began to run, picking up speed as she neared the first skirmish. Flicking a switch on the cylinder, a red blade sprang to life with a whoosh as the lightsaber ignited. As she closed, a guttural growl came from her throat and she leapt, the lightsaber raised above her head. She twisted on the downward arc of her jump and brought the blade down diagonally, aiming for the jedi’s back. At the last moment, her foe’s blade appeared from nowhere and dipped across his back, stopping Taranae’s attack before it could make contact.

She used her forward momentum to spin her body to the right side of her enemy and brought her weapon to bear on his ribs. Once again the blue blade appeared miraculously and blocked her attack as she crouched and swung her blade backwards. she spun on the ground, using her heel as a pivot and brought her foot around under the Jedi. The attack was obviously unexpected and hit her foe directly across the back of his legs, buckling them under him.

Taranae continued her spin and brought the blade back upwards, attempting to rise to better attack from above while her enemy was grounded. The Jedi looked up at her as she swung and once again, brought his blade across his chest and blocked the hit, sparks flying from the lightsabers as they met. Taranae held her position, pushing down with her blade as the Jedi fought to get up, struggling to keep her weapon away from his chest. Grinning evilly, Tarane fingered the switch on the hilt once more and laughed out loud as an identical blade materialised from the opposite end of the hilt.

The Jedi was taken aback by the sight and Taranae pressed her attack, pushing the blade downwards until it found his mark and inch by inch, she slowly drove the blade through his chest. Withdrawing the blade and swinging around quickly, she barely blocked a second attack coming from her rear with a quick sweep of the new blade. The block caught her assailant by surprise and she spun, spinning the saberstaff above her head and turned to face the Jedi as she brought the staff across in a sweeping motion at neck height. As her foe’s head slowly fell from his body, she crouched, the saberstaff held out to the side horizontal to the ground and her arm stretched out in front of her to ward off any more attacks that should arise from Force users.

Panting from effort. Taranae brought her mind back to the here and now. She heard a clapping from behind her and slowly turned her head to see who had been watching her. Her Quaestor, Dracaryis, stood leaning against the wall as he applauded her. He must have witnessed her athletic show of flips and cartwheels as she went through the movements of her Juyo training.

“How long have you been there?” she grunted.

“Long enough to see you perform.” he replied as he pushed himself away from the wall. “Have you been training Juyo in secret?”

Taranae nodded as she rose. Trust Drac to guess her guilty little secret. “I was training in case I was ever given permission to handle a saberstaff. I think i’ve got it down now.”

“Well done, Blade. The staff suits you as a weapon.” he replied calmly. “But I do suggest training in a more expansive environment next time.” He raised his arm and gestured at the walls where Taranae’s movements had caught them and gouged them deeply. He grinned as she grinned back at him, all her teeth showing as she growled at him in amusement.

“Well done, Taranae. Now all you have to do is make sure you can use those skills effectively in the next big fight.” With those words, he bowed and turned, calmly walking out of the chamber. Taranae watched him go, and only as the door closed did she allow herself a slight smile of happiness. Let her enemies try to stand in her way now. She would take them all.

My first report as Aedile of House Ajunta Pall and already I’m moving on in character. After my recent elevation to EQ2, I intend to move Taranae in a new direction. From now, she will be switching to the saberstaff and has secretly been training in the Juyo form for when she would be granted the chance to use the staff as a weapon. Her demeanour will change, and she will retreat further into the dark side of the Force as her berserker side becomes more uncontrollable. I hope to see some of you in ACC battles in the future!

Well, Episode VII has awakened and some of us have seen this awesome piece of filminess that Disney have procured. I am happy to be one of those people and can say only this; those of you that haven’t seen it yet, why? It’s an amazing film, the effects and characters are out of this world (literally) and the main actors portray their characters very well. If you only see one film in the run-up to Christmas, I suggest you see this one.

New Members

Give a warm hand of welcome to our new joins this time around and congratulations to them all for finding their way into this magnificent community!

Oric Ral Warwulic Alkanoff who joined us back in November, but I haven’t had time to welcome him yet so here he is! Eidul joined in November also, but as with Alkanoff, this is my first report so i welcome him into the fold too. Esmerelde De Noir

I hope you all enjoy your stay here and if you have any problems or questions, Me, Dracaryis or Kelly Mendes will be glad to help if you throw an email their way or catch them on IRC/Telegram.

Competition update

To be honest, right now the DJB has so many competitions it’s blinding. Here are a few you may be interested in.

New years resolutions! - https://www.darkjedibrotherhood.com/competitions/9555

DJB Crossword - Film School - https://www.darkjedibrotherhood.com/competitions/9597

ComPUNction for Puns 2: The ReoPUNing -https://www.darkjedibrotherhood.com/competitions/9552

Just What I've Always Wanted - https://www.darkjedibrotherhood.com/competitions/9551

Lightsaber Escape - https://www.darkjedibrotherhood.com/competitions/9605

The Force Awakens Holiday Decoration Contest - https://www.darkjedibrotherhood.com/competitions/9562

Holiday Celebrations - You've Been Voluntold! - https://www.darkjedibrotherhood.com/competitions/9550

HAP Holiday Gaming Madness - https://www.darkjedibrotherhood.com/competitions/9548

And of course, the big competition hosted by the GM and the Dark Council is still running up until the fifth of January with nine sub-competitions to try your luck at!

DJB Episode VII Celebration! - https://www.darkjedibrotherhood.com/competitions/9502

Ending Words

That’s all for this report but I will leave you with one small thing to think over. After the holidays, we have plans for something big. That being said, I hope all of you will try to submit something once it has all been finalised. We will release more information as it comes in and I hope to see you all on the battlefield!

I am, your servant,

Taranae Rhode, Blade of the Fallen

Battlemaster Taranae Rhode (Sith) / AED / House Ajunta Pall of Clan Plagueis [GMRG: VI] [SA: IV] [ACC: Q] [INQ: VIII] GCx2 / SC / ACx3 / DCx2 / GN / Cr:1D-10R-6A-6S-4E-6T / PoBx3 / CFx271 / CIx44 / CEx334 / DSS / SIx7 / SotM / LS / SoLx3 / S:11Cr-9Rv {SA: MVW - DPE - DPV}