Asajj Ventress, Dark Acolyte

*Homebrew Reference Book: Clone Wars Saga Edition Fan Sourcebook - The Dark Side*

*Affiliations: The Sith, Count Dooku*

Born into a royal family on the feudal planet of Rattatak, Ventress was just old enough to remember the murder of her parents when the leader of a rival clan, Osika Kirske, invaded her lands and conquered over half the planet. She would have likely perished on her own, but The Force had other plans for the lithe Rattataki. Asajj was soon discovered by Jedi Watchman Ky Narec, who immediately realized her strength in The Force and began her training in the Jedi arts. Together, the pair was able to raise an unstoppable army intended to liberate Rattatak, but Ky Narec was murdered by Warlord Kirske before he could complete Asajj's training.

Left without guidance, Ventress' unyielding will became bent on vengeance against the warlords of Rattatak who had murdered her parents, her surrogate father in Narec, and her people. The young girl found her bloodlust made her a force of nature on the battlefield, and in short order her army crushed all twelve warlords, who she imprisoned and slowly tortured to death, saving Kirske for last. However, Ventress' appetite for revenge had only grown during her conquest of Rattatak, and as she grew tired of torturing the already beaten warlords high above the plains in Castle Ventress, the target of her wrath shifted toward The Jedi Order itself, who she blamed for abandoning her beloved Master.

Ventress spent the next several years researching the ancient enemies of The Jedi Order, The Sith, quickly becoming obsessed with resurrecting their legacy. Her attempts to track down knowledge and artifacts of the storied culture did not go unnoticed. Two months after the Battle of Geonosis, Count Dooku was on his way to Rattatak's famous Cauldron gladiatorial arena, claiming to have information he would only provide to a "True Sith." Ventress arranged a display of her combat prowess for Dooku, but quickly grew impatient with the elderly former Jedi, and made the mistake of attacking him. Dooku made short work of the young warrior and took her to his headquarters on Bakura, where her training was completed. Ventress' use as a Commander was approved by Darth Sidious, who sought to pit her against Jedi Anakin Skywalker.

### The Clone Wars

Ventress was immediately put to work as she continued training under Sora Bulq, who honed her skill in Jar'Kai- a Lightsaber form favoring two blades. She aided Bulq in his attempt to create a rift in The Jedi Order, sowing doubt about the righteousness of leading the armies of the Republic, in hopes of drawing more converts to the Separatists. While Ventress played her part in the ruse admirably, when Mace Windu saw through Bulq's scheme and confronted Ventress, she was forced to retreat. Satisfied with her blade fundamentals, Dooku took over her training personally, and assigned her and the Gen'Dai mercenary Durge to scientist Jenna Zan Arbor's biological weapon division, placing them in charge of security and testing. The two participated in a very successful trial of the swamp gas weapon on Naboo's swampy moon of Ohma-D'un, where Ventress killed Jedi Master Glaive and first met Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi in battle. The test of the weapon was perhaps too successful, threatening to end the war too quickly for Darth Sidious' needs. In response, an elaborate trap was concocted by Dooku and Ventress to neutralize the swamp gas by allowing the Republic to retrieve an antidote from the poison's manufacturing plant on Queyta. A strike team of five legendary Jedi were sent and largely slaughtered; Ventress personally killed Jedi Master Fay, letting only Kenobi escape with the antidote, as planned.

#### **Month 4**

Having taken the measure of both Skywalker and Kenobi, Ventress and Dooku felt she was ready to kill Anakin Skywalker. Four months into the Clone Wars, Confederate Intelligence discovered Anakin Skywalker was participating in the Battle of Muunilinst. Ventress boarded her *Ginivex*-Class Starfighter and engaged Skywalker briefly in a dogfight before luring the unsuspecting Padawan to her chosen battleground of Yavin IV. Ventress felt she would hold the advantage on the jungle planet, which was still steeped in The Dark Side from the days of Sith Lord Exar Kun. The two engaged in an epic duel, but Ventress was unprepared for Skywalker's rage, and she was defeated and left for dead. Disappointed in her failure, Dooku sent Ventress to Separatist Space Station Trenchant to recover along with Durge. The pair was unknowingly sent to test General Grievous' martial skill, who was able to readily disable both Ventress and her mercenary ally, further reducing the Sith hopeful in Dooku's eyes.

Asajj Ventress returned to Bakura for a number of weeks for more training under Count Dooku, until she learned through covert channels that Obi-Wan Kenobi and his clone adjutant had been captured instead on Jabiim. She secretly sequestered Kenobi and the trooper in the dungeons of Castle Ventress on Rattatak in exchange for providing Alto Stratus a variety of Droid reinforcements on Jabiim. She tortured Obi-Wan mercilessly, hoping to present him to Dooku as a broken gift, but she severely underestimated Obi-Wan's tenacity. Kenobi stole the repaired Lightsabers once used by Ventress and Ky Narec years ago, and used them to fight Ventress briefly, before both prisoners escaped Rattatak after a month of imprisonment. Asajj was devastated by her failure, the theft, and especially the verbal scathing Kenobi dealt her upon his escape.

#### **Month 7**

Dooku, weary of her incompetence, assigned Ventress to General Grievous alongside Tol Skorr, another Dark Jedi unable to complete his missions. Seven months into the Clone Wars, the two were sent to locate and capture Quinlan Vos, an undercover Jedi. Vos' trail led Ventress to a zoological ship called The *Titavian IV*, where Ventress and Skorr were able to corner Vos. Unfortunately, Obi-Wan Kenobi arrived; responding to a distress call issued by Vos, and joined forces with Quinlan. Ventress became enraged at the sight of her nemesis and lost control, determined to kill Kenobi once and for all, believing it would restore her status to trusted confidante to Count Dooku. Kenobi and Vos were able to escape after a destructive battle, and General Grievous arrived to retrieve the two failed acolytes.

Ventress realized this failure would be the end of her potential future as a Sith, and she refused to accept defeat. She tracked Vos and Kenobi back to Coruscant by way of Rendili, and waited for an opportunity to strike. She found Skywalker first, listening to a private message from his secret wife, Senator Amidala. Ventress was only too eager to vent her frustrations in combat with him, scarring his face with a Lightsaber slash and taunting him with death threats toward his wife. Enraging Skywalker was clearly the wrong tactic, and the Chosen One overpowered her with telekinesis, and dropped her into a kilometers deep chasm, leaving her for dead once again.

In short time, Ventress recovered from her injuries and was sent to Ord Cestus to undermine the Republic and acquire more JK-13 Security Droids. While she was able to manipulate and then detain Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi and Kit Fisto brilliantly, she underestimated the strength and dedication of the ARC Trooper Jango-Tat, who inadvertently freed the Jedi at the cost of his own life. While Ventress was able to defeat Fisto, Kenobi held a psychological edge from their verbal sparring on Rattatak, and Ventress fled in fear, marking a second failure in the eyes of Dooku. She returned to Bakura in shame, and was reduced to acting as Dooku's secretary, communicating Dooku's wishes to battlefronts across the galaxy, including Admiral Pors Tonith on Praesitlyn, while touring Separatist holdings with the Count such as *Skytop Station*.

Later that month, Ventress was given a chance to redeem herself during a Separatist invasion of Christophsis. The Separatists had managed to turn a clone trooper to the Confederate cause, and Ventress was sent to make certain that the Republic was dealt a lethal blow on the crystalline planet. Ventress was able to use intelligence gained from the turncoat, "Slick," to lure Kenobi and Skywalker into an ambush in a pair of high-rise buildings. The trap ultimately led to Ventress delaying the duo long enough for Slick to sabotage the Republic's vehicle pad, leaving them at a serious disadvantage. However, instead of overseeing cleanup operations, Ventress was ordered by Dooku to take part in a cunning gambit to win favor with the Hutt clans by kidnapping Jabba Desilijac's son, Rotta. The huttling was taken from Tatooine to Teth and guarded by Asajj, waiting until after the Jedi rescued Rotta and planned their next move. Some clever holo-editing made the Jedi appear to incriminate themselves as the captors. Unfortunately, Ventress was unable to "Rescue" the huttling before Skywalker escaped with him. To compound her failure, Kenobi arrived to reinforce Skywalker, forcing Ventress to flee.

While her lack of success concerned her master, Ventress was given a chance to redeem herself on Rugosa, where she was to stop King Katuunko of Toydaria from entering into a treaty with the Republic. However, Master Yoda was the Republic's diplomatic envoy, and he had no difficulty besting Ventress at every turn, foiling her last ditch plan to assassinate the King before forcing her to flee. Dooku's faith in the young assassin to operate independently was permanently lost, and she again was relegated to operating alongside the Count. The dark duo assassinated the head of the royal house of Falleen, before traveling to Gwori Shipyards to take possession of Jedi prisoners. Unfortunately, Muun Overseer Juhm had let them escape and destroy the shipyards, and Ventress was ordered to execute him. Ventress also oversaw an assault on a Republic listening post on a Rishi moon by Commando Droids, much in the same fashion as the Battle of Praesitlyn.

Ventress next accompanied Dooku to Zygerria to entertain the Jedi while Dooku brought Zygerria's slaver queen in line. After a brief engagement with Skywalker, Ventress was ordered to rendezvous with General Grievous on Kadavo to destroy evidence linking the Separatists to slavery. While her bombing run on the slaver facility was a success, the slaves managed to escape, and Ventress was forced to try and defeat Kenobi, Skywalker and Tano on her own. Ventress was nearly successful until Jedi Master Plo Koon arrived in his fighter and forced her to retreat and return to Dooku once again with news of defeat.

At the very end of the seventh month of the Clone Wars, Nute Gunray was captured, creating a potentially lethal risk of exposure of Darth Sidious' identity. Dooku backed Ventress' questionable track record and sent her to either free or eliminate Nute Gunray, alongside corrupt Senate Guardsman Captain Argyus. Ventress faced both Luminara Unduli and Ahsoka Tano in Lightsaber combat, but neither proved an obstacle to her objectives. Though Captain Argyus was instrumental in the mission's success, he was deemed a security risk, and Ventrees elected to betray and murder Captain Argyus rather than pay him.

#### **Month 8**

After a short respite from the front lines managing the Separatist spy network, Ventress was assigned to capture or kill Ros Lai, heir to the Nightsister throne, to cement the Separatist alliance with The Nightsisters of Dathomir. Ventress' search led her to Ziro the Hutt's palace on Coruscant, and she believed the Hutt possessed knowledge of Lai's whereabouts. While torturing the Hutt for information, Asajj was discovered by Jedi Masters Mace Windu and Plo Koon, and fled the scene to avoid capture. Ironically, Ventress was unaware that Ros Lai was in the ventilation system above her the entire time. The trail cold, Ventress returned to The *Devastation* at Dooku's side. The testfiring of the new superweapon went awry, as Nightsister Sai Sircu turned on Dooku just as a strike team of six Jedi boarded the massive ship. Ventress was able to escape the ship before it was destroyed, along with her master.

#### **Month 9**

Her next mission, in the ninth month of the Clone Wars, brought her to the icy world of Khorm, where she was sent to reinforce Warlord Gout and his agrocite mines. Upon landing she led an assault against the Republic base and killed Jedi General Tauht and captured Major Ozzel. Aware of the plans of Master Fisto and Koon after interrogating Ozzel, Ventress ambushed them, engaging both Jedi before burying them in a snowy avalanche. Unfortunately, before she could confirm her kills, she was recalled to the base, where Ozzel had escaped. Ventress wisely followed Ozzel back to the Republic rally point and launched another attack, nearly wiping out the Republic forces before they were reinforced. Realizing the Separatist cause on Khorm was now lost, Ventress rushed back to Gout's stronghold and prepared to blow the mines. Her mission was stymied by an injured Jedi Master Plo Koon, who stripped her of her remote detonator and disabled it, forcing Ventress to take flight.

Shortly afterward, Dooku called upon his favored assassin to murder Viscount Elodore Vane and frame it on the Republic. Her plot was discovered some time later by Kenobi, but too late to have much effect on Dooku's scheme. She was then sent to Alzoc III, where a Separatist frigate transporting the core of Kul Teska's new super weapon had crash landed. Unable to locate the experimental gravitic core, and with Jedi Aayla Secura and Luminara Unduli dogging her heels, Ventress activated the frigate's self-destruct, destroying any evidence of the Separatist plot. Ventress only fought with the two Jedi briefly before being maneuvered into a cave-in, which she was able to later escape and make her rendezvous with Count Dooku.

#### **Month 20**

The Queen of Rattatak dropped off the grid for nearly two years, appearing only briefly during the twentieth month of the conflict to issue a series of bounties for prominent Jedi and Republic officials on her master's behalf. It was not until thirty months into the Clone Wars that she again was cast into the center of the war's events. Ventress had just marked Jedi Knight Jang Li-Li as her sixteenth kill, and was about to do the same to Jai Maruk when Dooku stayed her hand.

#### **Month 30**

Dooku had set a plot into motion to lure Master Yoda out into the open, and Ventress was ordered to kill Master Yoda prior to his arrival on Vjun. Resolute to have her revenge for Ky Narec's death and her personal humiliation by Yoda on Rugosa, Ventress pursued the diminutive Jedi Master relentlessly. After tracking a decoy to Ithor, she caught up with the Order's Grand Master on *Jovan Station*, where she launched an assault on Yoda and his Jedi companions. She managed to kill two more Jedi, and planted seeds to lure Padawan Whie Malreaux to The Dark Side, interested in having her own apprentice. However, she was ultimately bested by Yoda, who arrived at the Malreaux Estate on Vjun despite Ventress' efforts. Dooku's plot came to complete failure when Kenobi and Skywalker arrived at the private estate, and Ventress was forced to retreat with her master.

Shortly after leaving Vjun, Ventress was widely regarded by historians as participating in the Battle of Xagobah in her *Ginivex*-Class Starfighter during this period. However, it is believed by some that it was Commander Vulpus who battled with Anakin Skywalker and Boba Fett in Xagobah's orbit, ensuring Techno Union Foreman Wat Tambor's escape. What is known is that Ventress suffered serious injuries during this time at the hands of Anakin Skywalker, and convinced The Jedi she had been killed at his hands.

### Leaving the War

In reality, Ventress had been taken to Boz Pity, a secret Separatist stronghold, where she was receiving intense bacta treatments. She was suddenly awakened from her recuperation when Kenobi discovered her location, and roused by Count Dooku to redeem herself. The sight of the Jedi enraged her, and she immediately launched herself at Kenobi with a wild fury. Ventress had come to blame Obi-Wan for all her failures, and was determined to kill him. However, when it became clear to Dooku that Ventress was going to slow him down and possibly result in his capture, he ordered her shot and abandoned. Kenobi did his best to redeem Asajj from the darkness as she lay dying, but she held only hate in her heart, and made a final attack with a shard of debris at her nemesis. Anakin skywalker, protecting his former master, dealt Ventress what was believed to be a deathblow.

With her "Dying" breath, Ventress decided to betray Dooku in kind, and warned Anakin and Obi-Wan to defend Coruscant from Dooku, claiming it was the key to the war. In truth, Ventress did not perish, and instead went into a deep Quy-Tek meditation, giving the appearance of her death both physically and in The Force. Two days later, she came out of her meditation on the Medical Frigate *Bright Flight*, commanding the pilots to change course and take her far into the fringe, where she could escape the Clone Wars and the betrayal of Count Dooku. What ultimately became of Ventress is a mystery.

Wild conspiracy theorists during the time of the Clone Wars have railed against official reports of Ventress' ability to repeatedly cheat death. She had twice fallen lethal distances in combat on Coruscant and Yavin IV, and survived an explosion onboard The *Devastation* after being soundly defeated by Nightsister Sai Sircu. These instances, combined with confusing reports that placed her at both the Battle of Xagobah and a bacta tank on Boz Pity at the same time, as well as conflicting images regarding the detailing of her tattoo patterns; begin to mount a body of circumstantial evidence that something else entirely was going on. These fringe elements instead believe that Ventress had been cloned by the Separatists, much in the way Dooku was, and that each clone felt it was the real Asajj Ventress. Most scholars dismiss this as fiction, but little proof exists to either confirm the theory or rule it out.

## Asajj Ventress, Dark Acolyte Statistics (CL 15)

Medium Near-Human (Rattataki) Scout 1/Jedi 7/Sith Apprentice 7

**Destiny Points:** 1; **Force Points:** 13; **Dark Side Score:** 14

**Initiative:** +16; **Senses:** Improved Sense Force (May Sense Force as a Move Action), Perception +9

**Languages:** Basic, Rattataki

### Defenses

Reflex Defense: 34 (Flat-Footed: 29 (**Jar'Kai:** 36)), Fortitude Defense: 29, Will Defense: 31; Armorweave Skirt (as Kama), **Deflect**

Hit Points: 109, Damage Threshold: 34

### Offense

**Speed:** 6 Squares; Running Attack

**Melee:** Unarmed +15 (1d6+8)

**Melee:** Dueling Lightsaber +17 (2d8+8)

**Melee:** Dueling Lightsaber +14 (2d8+12) and Dueling Lightsaber +14 (2d8+12)

**Melee:** Dueling Lightsaber +11 (2d8+12) and Dueling Lightsaber +11 (2d8+12) and Dueling Lightsaber +11 (2d8+12) with Double Attack

**Ranged:** By Weapon +18

**Base Attack Bonus:** +14, **Grapple:** +18

**Attack Options:** **Dark Scourge**, Double Attack (Lightsabers), Power Attack

**Special Actions:** **Redirect Shot**, **Telekinetic Savant**

**Force Power Suite (Use the Force +13):** *Force Grip*, *Force Slam*, *Inertia*, *Mind Trick*, *Move Object* (2), *Rising Whirlwind*, *Surge*, *Twin Strike*

**Force Techniques:** Dominate Mind, Improved Move Light Object, Improved Sense Force

**Species Traits (Rattataki):** Bonus Feat (Improved Damage Threshold), Iron Will

### Base Stats

**Abilities:** Strength 13, Dexterity 18, Constitution 13, Intelligence 12, Wisdom 14, Charisma 12

**Talents:** **Dark Scourge**, **Deflect**, **Improved Stealth**, **Lightsaber Defense**, **Multiattack Proficiency (Lightsabers)**, **Redirect Shot**, **Stolen Form** (**Jar'Kai**, **Niman**), **Telekinetic Savant**

**Feats:** Double Attack (Lightsabers), Dual Weapon Mastery I, Force Sensitivity, Force Training (3), Martial Arts I, Improved Damage Threshold, Power Attack, Running Attack, Weapon Focus (Lightsabers), Weapon Proficiency (Lightsabers), Weapon Proficiency (Pistols), Weapon Proficiency (Rifles), Weapon Proficiency (Simple Weapons)

**Skills:** Acrobatics +16, Initiative +16, Jump +13, Knowledge (Tactics) +13, Pilot +16, Stealth +16 (may reroll, must take second result), Use the Force +13

**Possessions:** Armorweave Skirt (as Kama), Dueling Lightsaber (2; Self-Built), Explosive Charge (12), Comlink (Encrypted, Short-Range), Personal Holoprojector, Rebreather, Sullustan Leather Bodysuit, MORP Droid (12), *Ginivex*-Class Starfighter

### Heroic Traits

**Destiny Fulfilled (Liberation):** Asajj Ventress has fulfilled her Destiny by liberating her home planet of Rattatak from the grip of the warlord Osika Kirske, granting her a +1 Destiny bonus to all Defenses (Reflex, Fortitude, and Will).

**Destiny (Destruction):** It is Asajj Ventress’ Destiny to destroy her nemesis, Obi-Wan Kenobi.