Having bluffed their way into the ASC Security Barracks on Kapo Allyuen, our heroes have had to disappear again into the service and waste ducts of the domed city, having been tipped off that ASC troopers were asking around about them.

After investigating the service areas for ways in and out, our heroes finally made their way down to a heavy pressure door, beyond which they could see only a dark tunnel leading further down into the darkness. After some deliberation, and a run-in with a couple ASC maintenance personnel, they started their descent...

The tunnel beyond the pressure door had been unused for some time, and Bar-Bar could see moss and lichens growing in the pool of light shining through the glass view-port in the door. These lichens were even covering the door seal, well, until the group had opened the door, that is!

Being the keenest scout, Bar-Bar was in front as the group followed the slightly-sloping tunnel down. Up ahead, the ancient walls had collapsed, and the resulting rubble had partly blocked the passageway. Bar-Bar crawled through first, and urged his larger companions to hurry up after him. Dirk Nova was bringing up the rear when the rubble shifted and started to collapse. The others just barely managed to drag him out in time, but the rocks had torn his vacuum suit, and while Farlander and Jonas were able to repair the rip, they had to use up the entire patch kit.

After a short while, the tunnel opened up into a larger chamber, lined with niches in which dusty humanoid skeletons had been laid to rest. The early settlers of Allyuen were entombed in the catacombs under the city, and our group had stumbled upon their remains! While Jonas, Farlander, and Tai scouted on ahead, Bar-Bar, Dirk Nova and Shelly Tambo investigated the corpses. As well as some dusty trinkets and bits of jewellery, Nova found a small fluorescing worm, glowing faintly in the darkness. Using his powers of suggestion, Nova managed to talk Bar-Bar into eating this grub. As the group walked further into the darkness, the little Ewok's eyes grew large and black, and his mind was enveloped in a sense of deep paranoia...

They were trying to set him up! They would pretend to be his friends, but then would hand him over to the Imperial authorities. He should never have trusted the tall off-worlders, from the very moment they kidnapped him from his beautiful Endor.

With thoughts of danger and betrayal racing through his head, Bar-Bar waited until the group was distracted and then disappeared into the darkness. He found a safe, defensible nook in the large cavern they had found themselves in, and hunkered down to wait until the humans had left. Instead, while the rest sat down and waited, the grey-haired one they called Tyla Tai began to search for Bar-Bar, clearly with an intent of skinning and eating him alive! Clutching his trusty carbine, Bar-Bar took careful aim at the head of the human who was now his enemy.

The first shots rang out like thunder in the echoing space of the cavern. Tyla's military training kicked in, and he dived for the protection of a large group of stalagmites as blaster hits peppered the ground around him. Out of the corner of his eye he could see a tiny shape, hiding in a tunnel entrance, and firing round after round in his direction. That tiny shape looked very much like Bar-Bar, so Tyla clicked the selector on his carbine to stun. He took a deep breath to steady himself and leaned out from behind his cover, just in time to see a small cylindrical object arcing its way towards him. He had barely enough time to duck back behind cover and shout "Grenade!" before his whole world exploded in a cacophony of thunder.

Magus Farlander had been sitting down, attempting to get more range out of his radio comlink. Something in the tunnels seemed to be blocking the signal, and Magus was trying to find a way to tune out the interference. Once the bolts started flying, he dropped the com on the cavern floor and grabbed his blaster. The others were also standing, peering into the vast dark cave to see what was happening. Looking around, he quickly came up with a plan: "Shelly, stay here and watch our backs. Dirk, Jonas -- that's Tai out there, and he's shooting back with stun bolts. Set your blasters to stun and see if you can help him. I'm going to go around the outside of the cave, and see if I can outflank his attacker. Go!" As he jogged around the edge of the cavern, he could see Jonas and Dirk advancing, firing blue stun bolts into the darkness. Just then, the whole cavern shook with the force of a huge explosion. Ducking down to protect himself from the bits of falling rock and sand, Magus raced on.

Squinting to get a better view down the barrel of his modified blaster, Joshua Jonas took careful aim at the spot where the red blaster bolts were coming from. He could see Tai now, crouching behind some rocks and occasionally leaning out to fire back. Dirk was somewhere nearby, firing at their attackers, and Magus was out there as well, trying to work his way behind them. Taking a deep breath, Joshua squeezed off another shot. He would later swear that he could see the bolt strike its target, even though it was nearly pitch black in the cave and his enemy was hiding at least 50 metres away. Magus and Tai fired off a couple more rounds, but there was no return fire.

Gesturing with his hand for the others to stay put, Tai slowly walked out from behind his cover. Expecting at any moment to be shot down, he approached the tunnel entrance where his attacker was hiding. Climbing up the scree, he made his way to the tunnel mouth, where he was dismayed but not entirely surprised to find the twitching, slumped form of his companion Bar-Bar. His black eyes were rolled back in their sockets, and a faintly-glowing blue foam was on his lips. "Magus, get up here!" Tyla shouted, hoping that Farlander's skill at First Aid would help them waken the little Ewok.

Will our heroes be able to Save little Bar-Bar? What caused him to start Shooting at his own companions? Will others fall under the same Dark Spell? Tune in for the next instalment!!