Mission Deep Poodoo [Jedi, Humanitarians, Drengir]

[Crasdon Kaine]

​

Crasdon would have enjoyed talking to Ko about Outbound Flight. But events interceded. He nearly jumped when the faux-Braze manifested in their midst. A strange, macabre plant-impersonator. It was something out of a horror holo.

As Yennic began negotiations, he leaned close to Braze and spoke very softly, the speaker in his helmet reproducing his voice equally softly for people standing outside. Hopefully not loud enough for the plants to hear. But who was he kidding? Detecting vibrations was sort of a plant specialty. Tremors in the wind, tremors in the ground.

It was only when humans had gone out into the stars that they'd begun to understand how much data plants could collect about their surroundings.

"If you cut them, they'll grow back," Crasdon explained, "there's all kinds of scary stories from the High Republic era. If I shoot them, they'll also grow back. If they even get hurt at all. This isn't even a particularly powerful blaster.

Can you people do that force-lightning trick, or is that only something the bad guys do?"

What they really needed was a flamethrower. Crasdon hadn't come prepared for weeding.

He'd come for scientific analysis. Research advice.

For a job like this one was turning out to be, you needed real firepower.

Then again... maybe negotiations would work. They were sentient, after all.

Here's hoping.




Crasdon Kaine Eldervine Braze Ko Vuto Yennic Zhan

 

[Saria Rae]

Antiquity
Tags: Shan Pavond

"You having fun over there?"

"Of course," Saria sighed, taking the conversation as an opportunity to take a break. "It's positively thrilling."

She, of course, was being ever so slightly sarcastic. Digging holes was not her typical idea of helping the downtraudened, and she was most certainly not accustomed to this sort of work. Her hands were already covered in little blisters, not to dissimilar to the kind she got while training with a blade.

"I don't believe I'm very efficient at all," she couldn't help but laugh. "I can't say that this sort of labor is my expertise..."

At the very least it was helping someone.

"Those Drengir creatures... they're supposed to be a blight on plantlife as well if my research is any worth," the padawan noted. "Perhaps they're the mysterious force that ruined these people's crop?"

She could only really hope that clearing them out would help these people get back to some form of normalicy.

 

[R'Ruug]

The Village, Antiquity
- Gatz Derrevar - Amani Serys - Izara 124221 - Eloise Dinn - Shan Pavond - Saria Rae -

"Yeah, I'd appreciate it."

R'Ruug's wide mouth broke into a smile. He liked feeling appreciated.

Taking up position behind a floating pallet, R'Ruug flexed to test it's weight. Surprisingly light. What he would've given for a few of these on Olivant's farm. He wasn't sure what was on it. Packets? Boxes? Didn't matter, if the red-coated man thought they'd help.

Makko and Gatz had introduced themselves earlier, but he couldn't figure out if they were talking generally, or just to each other. So the Whiphid elected to stay quiet. At least, until Gatz for sure started talking to all of them. Then the Whiphid caught him with his golden eyes.

"Okay," was his only response, as he began to point his pallet towards the village.

After fifteen seconds or so after everyone stopped talking, R'Ruug did what he often found himself doing these days; asking questions. "What is all of this, Mr. Derrevar?" He was rather new to the wider galaxy. Though, he had to admit, he was getting tired of not knowing what... anything... was.

 

[Shan Pavond]

"Efficiency isn't important. Just the time and effort you put in is worth it." Shan said, with a smile on his face as he was making sure that Saria's crops were going to be doing well before looking around the area carefully. Sipping from his canteen a little bit more as he kept the smile on his face and just relaxed.

"It's possible. They kill people and plant life. Hopefully the people will be alright once we've managed to deal with them...and hopefully we haven't planted too much." Shan chuckled at that thought, rubbing the back of his neck as he thought about it all. If they overplanted with crops, would they be alright? Eh. An overabundance of food was much better than a lack of food if he was being honest. It just meant they'd have more to give away...

"If you hurt your hands in anyway, just tell me. I'll check over them." Hands were important tools, and like any tools, they needed to be cared for. So he was going to do his hardest to keep his fellow padawan's hands ready.

Saria Rae

 

[Makko Vyres]

Makko paused at the loading ramp. His gaze traced the outline of the ship. He was a fan of all things ostentatious and the ship's paint job was bright and bold. Then he turned towards Gatz and offered a warm smile.

He didn't look like a naval officer. He looked like a rugged smuggler, dressed as a rogue and...

Oh. Makko reigned that thought in. Gatz was quite exactly one of Makko's type in men.

"Makko Vyres, maybe?" Gatz asked, blinking. Then he realized that probably sounded odd, and clarified, "uh, Gatz Derrevar. We have a mutual friend in Cora. But, yes, I'll take all the help I can get."

"Yeah, yeah that's me!" Makko replied, he tilted his head to one side and offered a curious glance.

"Looks like everyone else is delivering supplies to the camp. I guess we'll do the same?" Gatz asked his newfound helpers.

"Cool ship," Makko added, picking up one of the containers. Not being the most powerful telekinetic, he chose to do this by hand. His rather shallow attraction had almost immediately taken on a slight note of jealousy. That wasn't Makko's usual deal, but he was just finding his feet with Cora after a difficult time and starting to hope that maybe they could be something again.

"So...how'd you know Cora? You're not an Alliance pilot?"

 

[Eloise Dinn]

“Jedi!”

Eloise heard the voice in her uncovered ear and looked up. It seemed the elf-looking chick needed help.

Let’s get out of the field for a moment and see what the buzz is at camp. I want to see what a blighted spore looks like on a slide.”

"'Kay." Eloise was glad to get out of the muck. She picked up her tools and headed back to camp, following behind Big Ears. Now that they were in closer proximity, Eloise realized just how tiny the creature was. Especially relative to her gigantic rabbit ears, which were decorated with humungous oversized hoops that drew even more attention to their size. But to her credit, the style seemed to work for her. "I like your earrings, they suit you," Eloise complimented sincerely, but she didn't really know where to take the friendly conversation from there.

"Master!" she called out to Amani. "We've got spore samples for you to look at."

Izara 124221 Amani Serys​

 

[Saria Rae]

Antiquity
Tags: Shan Pavond

"If you hurt your hands in anyway, just tell me. I'll check over them."

"They're fine," Saria insisted. "Just a few sores. I get worse in training. Nothing a bit of bacta gel and moisturizer can't remedy."

The sentiment was appreciated at the very least. Saria couldn't help but feel warmly about the concern that Shan displayed. It was familial, in a way, almost like interacting with her kin. Maybe that was just because they were the same species. She had only very recently been able to connect with her people and recieve her tattoos. Saria had grown up very distant from her own people. Perhaps this was just a means of strengthening the ties back to her kind after a childhood seperated from them.

It was a nice thought at the very least.

"The matter of Drengir is a facinating one, if not highly concerning," she noted, a frown forming on her face. "A malevolent creature that feeds on chaos and imbalance... yet it does not seem to have been created by Sith alchemy at all. It's not like a wild animal that simply wishes to feed. They've been reported to play with the mind, kidnap entire towns of people systematically, and are fully sentient."

It was a scarry thought, really. The nature of what was good and evil was a clear cut thing. Evil was determined by intention of emotion, brought into action through sentience. One was not inherently evil upon conception, yet the Drengir seemed to stand in clear opposition of such a thing. There was no clear psychology to analyze. Sentient or not, chaos was in their DNA.

"A being born naturally that is inherently evil is a terrifying thought," the padawan decided.

 

[Izara 124221]

Location: Antiquity
Attire: BMC Biot Catsuit
Objective: I - Help the People
Tag: Amani Serys Eloise Dinn

“Here, follow me.” Izara said as she slung her bag over her left shoulder, before leading the way back to the camp. On the way, the biot gave an audible, high-pitched gasp when the Jedi complimented her earrings, coaxing a surprised expression from her alabaster features in the process.

“Aww, thank you!” She answered as her cheeks flushed red in synthetic mimicry of the human (and near-human) tendency of facial blood vessels to widen when aroused. “I like your pearl, too. It fits your…” Izara paused for a brief, uncharacteristic moment. Bohemian? Anachronistic? The biot quickly decided that it was best to be vague. “It fits your aesthetic.” She finished with a playful smile.

As the two reached the camp, Izara led the Jedi towards an open table close to the Chief Healer, before setting her bag down and preparing a microscope.

“So this is all very interesting to me, because blights are usually caused by fungal pathogens. However, obviously in this case, the species that’s being infected is a fungus.” The biot began as she worked. “I think what we’re dealing with here is essentially a microorganic Drengoid that has somehow parasitized these fungi, blighting and eventually killing them in the process, rather than outright consuming them. Unfortunately, that’s only a hypothesis.” She continued, before moving to prepare a microscopic slide. “My question is this. We know that Drengir are carnivorous and share a collective consciousness, so what purpose does blighting plants and fungi serve in their ecosystem?”

 

[Eldervine]

"Look at you. You already know everything there is to know about us, don't you? Every secret, every detail, every trick of the trade. You've done your research."

The shrub paused, glancing towards Crasdon.

"Incorrectly, though."

Hunger.

Feast.​

Devour.

Meat.​

Hunger. Hunger. Hunger.
​

It was raw emotion, not thought, that met the Jedi that decided to tap into the hive mind. Raw, overwhelming emotion beyond that of a human. Or just too simple compared to a human. The desire to eat. The desire to feast. To torment. There was no light, no rational thought by human standards. The faceless shrub turned towards Yennic, flashing a smile of countless, razor teeth beneath the leaves and vines that made it's 'mouth'.

"You will all be delicious. Welcome to the harvest."

The ground below suddenly rumbled before it ruptured. Full Drengir, their monstrous and true form, erupted like weeds all around. Beneath their feet maws freed themselves from the dirt open wide for the feast that awaited them. There was no negotiation with food.

Yennic Zhan | Braze | Crasdon Kaine | Ko Vuto

 

[Shan Pavond]

"If you insist." Shan wasn't going to push about healing Saria's hands if she was alright with it. He needed to conserve his energy anyway. Plus he needed to learn not to heal people unless they absolutely needed it. Though Shan did break out into a small frown as he heard Saria discussing the Drengir and Shan shrugged his shoulders ever so slightly.

"Yet at the same time, whilst we call it evil, it's natural to them. We place our own sense of morality on their actions." Whilst Saria might have believed evil was a result of actions or emotions, Shan was the opposite. He believed everyone had their own amount of darkness inside of them. What they classed as evil might be good in someone else' eyes. It was something he had started to think about, ever since discussing the Mandalorians with Jenn.

"Whilst the Drengir do commit atrocities, it is also in their nature to do so. Does that make them evil? Is a predator evil for hunting its prey? Is someone evil to sacrifice someone else for their survival?" Why did every conversation with Shan always turn into something philsophical? He wasn't sure at the end of the day. This didn't mean he felt any pity for the Drengir. It was the complete opposite

Saria Rae

 

[Saria Rae]

Antiquity
Tags: Shan Pavond

"It can't just be survival," Saria frowned. "Corrupting plant life at such a large scale threatens to destroy the food source of prey. That action alone completely upsets the balance of an entire ecosystem and their own survival. How could something evolve to destroy everything in it's path until nothing remains?"

It didn't make sense. Drengir were sentient beings, a hive mind capable of higher thought. Surely they should be capable of recognizing such a thing, right? Perhaps Saria was simply too logical for her own good. Every question had to have an answer, a reasonable explanation grounded in the academic realm that justified oddities that went against the norm. Maybe there was nothing more too it to comprehend.

They simply could just be evil.

"Maybe plant monsters aren't my thing," she admitted with a half-chuckle. "I should stick to analysing people."

That was a good idea.

 

[Braze]

TAGS: Ko Vuto Yennic Zhan Crasdon Kaine Eldervine

[TAGS: Crasdon Kaine Ko Vuto Eldervine Yennic Zhan | OPEN
OBJECTIVE II - FIGHT THE BLIGHT
The Sinkhole - Combat

"Not an inaccurate name to describe them, they are a difficult species, they are sentient but tend not to respect negotiation."

Braze's wasted no time pulling out his youthful bravado. Faced with the daunting prospect of confronting the Drengir, Braze was ready to embrace a more direct approach.

"Great! Then let's move on to aggressive negotiations," Braze snapped, his tone laced with a hint of aggression. He understood that traditional methods of diplomacy would be futile against such a foe. His training had prepared him for combat, and he was ready to put those skills to use.

As Crasdon explained the regenerative abilities of the Drengir, Braze listened intently.

"If you cut them, they'll grow back," Crasdon explained, "there's all kinds of scary stories from the High Republic era. If I shoot them, they'll also grow back. If they even get hurt at all. This isn't even a particularly powerful blaster.

Can you people do that force-lightning trick, or is that only something the bad guys do?"

"Uh... not quite my forte," Braze replied, his voice carrying a note of uncertainty. He wasn't adept at manipulating electricity. Instead, he focused on what he could do, channeling his abilities to create a fiery ball vortex within his palm. The swirling mass of fire and heat was a display of his control over the elements, a skill he had quite an affinity for that melded well with the air he fed in to it watching as the flames grew blue and white.

When the Drengir ominously declared,

"You will all be delicious. Welcome to the harvest."

Braze's impetuous nature bubbled up, "Like hell! I hope you guys like char-grilled vegetables," he retorted, in defiance of the audacity of a brocolli sprout wanting to eat him.
As the ground beneath them began to rumble and rupture, revealing the monstrous forms of the Drengir, Braze quickly realized that his lightsaber might not be the most effective tool in this situation. He sheathed his saber and focused his attention on harnessing the elements of wind and fire,. Braze acted swiftly. He extended his Force abilities to create a gust of wind, aiming to lift Crasdon Kaine .

Braze then turned his attention to one of the Drengir that had taken on a form resembling his own silhouette.
He promptly attempted to send quite hot flames in to its 'face'.

 

[Ko Vuto]

Tags: Braze | Crasdon Kaine | Yennic Zhan | Eldervine

Although he only briefly peered into the twisted psyche of the Drengir’s collective consciousness, Ko telepathically flinched back. Deducing that any meaningful communication with them was pointless. The Kel Dor padawan didn’t value their sentience, if anything it made him more disgusted by the drengir. They weren’t just creatures that ran off of simple instinct. They knew better.

As the ground shifted beneath them he peered into it through the Force and noticed more Drengir coming to ambush them from below. For the botanical monster below him he wanted to turn this sneaky advantage of theirs against them. Jumping back away to avoid the maw of the oversized weed against Ko let out a disappointed sigh. He didn’t like the idea of doing this again, but after his previous encounter with Drengir thought it was appropriate.

He held up his clawed hand to the Drengir that was closest to him. As it rushed to try and eat the Kel Dor padawan. Ko wouldn’t allow himself to feel any regret for using this power in such a violent way. Just before the plant monster was about to consume Ko it would freeze. The padawan would unleash an ability he had become very skilled with back in the agricultural corps. Plant Surge. Using the force to forcefully grow, twist and contort the plant monster and have it ripped apart. ​

 

[Amani Serys]

Eloise Dinn - Izara 124221 - Open​

---

"Master! We've got spore samples for you to look at."

Amani looked up, and held out a hand, "Ah. Thank you." She put the sample on another slide alongside the other, giving her an opportunity for comparison. She activated the microscope and stuck an eye onto the lens, switching every few seconds until she was using the most zoomed in setting.

"Hm. Your sample is still undergoing the blighting process." She said after a few moments of study, then stepped back to let the padawan take a look at the two. "My sample was rigid. The pores in between the fungal filaments are filled in, even the cells themselves. Almost as if it were petrified," As a whole the sample looked like a shriveled black root, stiff but also fragile to the touch. Eloise's sample on the other hand, had not yet finished the process when it was plucked, "You can see the blight worming its way through cellular structures in real-time. It moves quick. Volatile," She frowned, "The Drengir spread fast."

"My question is this. We know that Drengir are carnivorous and share a collective consciousness, so what purpose does blighting plants and fungi serve in their ecosystem?"

Amani lent her two credits, even though the thought technically wasn't posed at her, "Historically, the Drengir aren't quite so singular in their methods. Their desires are primal, but their methods are more complex than a wild animal. Mind games and manipulation play a significant a part of it. I'm not certain why, but given their ties to the Dark side, I assume there's sustenance for them to be gained from demoralization and fear. Not the mention the already corruptive nature of the dark side on life around it."

 

[Crasdon Kaine]

Fire.

And Ice.

These were two things Crasdon hadn't known about. His studies had been focused on exotic alien life, not Jedi abilities. He'd had no idea that a Jedi could create flame, or summon cold.

Or wind, for that matter.

But he would find cause to be very glad of that last bit.

The negotiations failed. The ground opened up. A pit of hungry mouths waited to consume them all.

He fell, drawing his pistol as he did so. It was a futile gesture, but he refused to be eaten without a fight.

He did not engage the kill setting on his blaster. He hoped that these plants had some sort of nervous system that could be stunned more effectively than their bodies could be blasted. He fired as he fell, rings of bright light preceding him as he descended towards hungry maws.

But his descent slowed.

Then he began to rise.

A tornado of wind enveloped him and lifted him, keeping him free from the jaws that slavered for his meat.




Crasdon Kaine Eldervine Braze Ko Vuto Yennic Zhan

​

 

[Eloise Dinn]

Big Ears seemed quite pleased with the compliment. That was something, at least. Soon Eloise would have this whole "being nice" thing down pat...

“I like your pearl, too. It fits your… It fits your aesthetic.”

"Oh yeah." Eloise reached up to touch the Nacrian pearl at the center of her diadem, smiling back at the elfin woman. "Thanks."

They found Amani already using the microscope. Eloise stood by, watching as Amani placed the slide under the lens and zoomed in, taking a look when bidden.

"Hm. Your sample is still undergoing the blighting process. My sample was rigid. The pores in between the fungal filaments are filled in, even the cells themselves. Almost as if it were petrified. You can see the blight worming its way through cellular structures in real-time. It moves quick. Volatile. The Drengir spread fast."​

“So this is all very interesting to me, because blights are usually caused by fungal pathogens. However, obviously in this case, the species that’s being infected is a fungus. I think what we’re dealing with here is essentially a microorganic Drengoid that has somehow parasitized these fungi, blighting and eventually killing them in the process, rather than outright consuming them. Unfortunately, that’s only a hypothesis. My question is this. We know that Drengir are carnivorous and share a collective consciousness, so what purpose does blighting plants and fungi serve in their ecosystem?”

"Historically, the Drengir aren't quite so singular in their methods. Their desires are primal, but their methods are more complex than a wild animal. Mind games and manipulation play a significant a part of it. I'm not certain why, but given their ties to the Dark side, I assume there's sustenance for them to be gained from demoralization and fear. Not the mention the already corruptive nature of the dark side on life around it."

Eloise's brow furrowed. She could sort of understand what Amani and Izara were talking about by fitting their words with what she was seeing through the microscope, but this wasn't exactly her field of expertise. "Uh... Drengir are killer plants, right?" she asked. "Could they take control of the native plants and use them to do their bidding? Or absorb them?"

 

[Izara 124221]

Location: Antiquity
Attire: BMC Biot Catsuit
Objective: I - Help the People
Tag: Eloise Dinn Amani Serys

Izara stopped to listen. The Chief Healer seemed to approach the problem of the Drengir from a more mystical, rather than scientific angle: that of their natural connection to the dark side of the Force.

Or was it truly natural, to begin with? The sciences and the mystic arts could blend, after all.

“So they feed on emotions like a Psy-Pire? Or would you say that it has more to do with their attunement to the dark side?” Izara asked after the Chief Healer spoke.

When the purple-haired Jedi gave her piece, Izara found herself asking another question. Why didn’t the Drengir absorb or assimilate other plants into their collective? While there were a number of possible answers, none of them were truly satisfying or proven.

“Perhaps, they could, in theory.” Izara began. “But, they seem to prefer feeding on sentients. If what you said is true, Chief Healer, I speculate that the emotions of sentients are the most potent and fulfilling on the menu.” She continued. “That said, it's possible that the killing of other plants is vestigial trait that was retained. The planet that they evolved on could have been host to other carnivorous plant species. Killing other plants might have started as a method of removing other predators from the food chain.”

 

[Gatz Derrevar]

Ship: The Red Night
Weapons: Sith Lightsaber - Concealed within R4-Z3
Tag: R'Ruug Makko Vyres
Objective: Help The People

The Whipid gentleman asked a simple question, and Gatz was happy enough to answer it.

"You mean in the crates?" He asked to clarify, "mostly dried and canned foods. The harvest here was ruined, and if we don't do something, these people will starve. I've starved before. I wouldn't wish that on anyone."

That was a bitter couple of weeks. Surviving off of nutrient paste. Refusing to tell anyone that he needed help. If Valery hadn't snooped around in his fridge that day... well, Gatz didn't want to think about it. She'd fed him, filled his pantry, and stopped him from starving. There was no point in wondering 'what if' now.

"There are some medical supplies too, like bacta, disinfectant, and other things that might come in handy for our more adventurous fellow philanthropists. If they get hurt, it'll be nice to be able to treat them."

Makko turned to him then, asking how Gatz was acquainted with Cora. If the man's jealousy was at all apparent, Gatz missed it entirely.

"I know her through her Master, actually," he answered, "Val is my closest friend. Cora reached out to me: she needed a pilot who could fly her to Ukatis to check up on her family, after what the Mandalorians did. That's how we met. Then we pulled her sister out from under a ruined building, and she somehow got me to admit my embarrassing crush on her friend Lossa... it was a weird day, man. Good woman though. My life is definitely richer for having met her."

 

[KkT'or'R'R'R]

Ship: TYE-wing (name is a WIP)
Weapons: Gaderffii, MR-90 "Covert Causality" Proton Rifle
Tags: Crasdon Kaine Eldervine Braze Ko Vuto Yennic Zhan
Objective: Do some gardening

Humanitarian efforts and Tusken Raiders typically do not mix. When most think of a Tusken, they see mass casualties and pillaging accompanied by the famous unintelligible yelling soon after. Sure, you could call them savages, but Tor was an exception. He had long since left Tatooine. A warring neighbor had wiped out his clan, leaving him without a family. With no family left to tie him to the planet, he decided to leave and explore the universe.

A distress signal had been sent out confirming the existence of these plant monsters called Drengir. Tor hadn't encountered one before, but it couldn't be stronger than the two Krayt Dragons he had defeated. The pearls he had obtained from them were kept in his ship.

He landed in a small field near the main operation and disembarked. Quickly following the trail, he met up with the main party that was attacking the Drengir. Pure shock went over his covered face as he processed this new foe.

 

[Amani Serys]

Eloise Dinn - Izara 124221​

Amani shrugged, "They haven't shown the tendency to. All accounts point to the Drengir being obligate carnivores. Perhaps they can gain additional sustenance from plant life, or manipulate it in a manner that suits their needs, but if so I don't think it's ubiquitous. Not anymore than a human being able to take control of other humans to do their bidding," Sure, some could do that. But it wasn't because they were human, "Or if it is, it's nothing to do with biological processes."

“So they feed on emotions like a Psy-Pire? Or would you say that it has more to do with their attunement to the dark side?”

"I was thinking the latter. But I would also argue the two could be connected." The dark side requires sustenance in the form of negative emotion. To fuel it (and themselves), the Drengir consume their victims. All ultimately hypothetical, but plausible. "The Drengir have simply been too elusive to study consistently. It leaves much of their biology speculative at best." The healer stepped away from the microscope, "Which also makes it difficult to counteract the effects."