Private Uprooting

[Jack Sandrow]

Location: Tython
Personal Equipment: Currently wearing the Olisthiros combat suit folded away under his clothing | Pistol

---

It had been a few weeks since Grandmaster Valery Noble had invited him to Tython to help heal the planet and provide aid. He had hardly taken a few hours of rest; it had taken every ounce of his strength to keep pace with resupplying and protecting the refugee camps until other forms of aid could take over. He had shifted in the interim to rejuvenation, using various Sylva Arma biotech vehicles to actively and vigorously restore the natural biosphere of Tython from its war-ravaged state.

It was good hard work, and while Jack was absolutely worn out from it, he was more than pleased with the results; being able to directly see how his work was helping and fixing things was one of the major reasons he had kept at it. It wasn't pretty work, it wasn't necessarily fun work, but it was necessary.

Something had been nagging at the back of his mind throughout, however. There was a slow pull from more or less the other side of the planet, where some skirmishes had still been happening while he had landed and helped clean up around the site of the now-refurbished Jedi Temple. He had put it off as something related to many important people in a very small space. But then the battles had quieted, and the people had moved on. Still, he felt that pull. The Jedi had moved into the Temple (and were currently renovating several floors simultaneously), and still Jack felt the pull from the other side of the planet.

Something was off. Something was very off, and he felt paradoxically both nauseous and intrigued by it. And so... he called on Valery Noble for help. He was waiting here, still quite a ways off from the dark and alien presence he was feeling, knee-deep in murky river water as he steadily worked to regenerate himself. While he had never been quite as Light-aligned as other Jedi, he had made great strides to maintain balance in and of himself. For some reason... that was getting more difficult.

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Outfit: Combat Jumpsuit
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsabers

The sun hung low over the horizon, as Valery approached the riverbank. Her silhouette cut cleanly through the haze rising from the jungle, her dark hair trailing behind her. She paused at the edge, eyes narrowing toward the figure standing knee-deep in the water — worn and weathered. Even from here, she could feel the tension pulling at the edges of the Force — not sharp like danger, but unsettling.

"Jack," she called out, her voice firm but warm, breaking through the stillness. She stepped closer, boots squelching slightly in the damp earth, until she stood just shy of the water's edge.

"I felt it too, when I got your message." Her gaze swept across the terrain beyond him, toward the dense tree line where light failed to reach and the air grew thick with something deeper than humidity. "It's subtle. But not natural. Tython's pain has started to recede, but whatever this is... it's separate."

She looked at him more closely now, studying the exhaustion on his face, the way the weight clung to his shoulders.

"You've done good work here," she said, her tone softer now. "More than most would've. But if something's stirring under the surface, we need to find it — before it grows strong enough to find us."

Jack Sandrow ​

 

[Jack Sandrow]

Currently wearing the Olisthiros combat suit folded away under his clothing | Pistol

---

It was a long moment before he responded to Valery; almost long enough that perhaps she thought he didn't hear her, or was even ignoring her. But he stirred finally, shifting in the softly rippling water as he opened his eyes and took in a slow breath. "Valery..." He paused a moment, before giving her a genuine smile (if tinged with a hint of weariness). "I'm glad I'm not imagining it, then. Last time I felt something like this, it was when I had an actual stomach and could even get food poisoning..."

Wading to shore, he let a few strands of pondweed slip from his gentle grasp back into the river. "...says that it's been here for a while, whatever it is. Something dark, and... hungry. Not hungry for the plant matter, just..." He shook his head, shaking himself out of it again, before eyeing Valery again. "Hey, look. I've got your back, for whatever this is; you know that; I just need to know you've got mine. Something about this has me on edge, more than usual. And I don't want to feel like a burden, but I also don't want to be underfoot if something goes sideways."

His finger tapped against his pants, and he thought a moment. "...If we walk from here... do you think we can get to there before nightfall? Or are we going to be doing this in the dark?"

---

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Outfit: Combat Jumpsuit
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsabers

Valery offered a faint smile in return, touched with the kind of quiet reassurance only time and battle could forge, "I've always got your back, Jack. You know that." She stepped forward, the last of the river's breath stirring her hair as she stopped beside him. Her gaze lingered briefly on the tree line — where the jungle thickened and shadows moved like half-formed thoughts.

"We can make it before nightfall. But if we don't..." she glanced at him, a faint edge of determination glinting behind her calm eyes, "I'm not afraid of the dark. Whatever's waiting out there isn't either — that's why we need to move." There was no bravado in her tone, only certainty. She turned slightly, her hand brushing against the hilt at her side, then gestured toward the narrow trail winding into the green.

She looked over her shoulder one last time, the warmth in her expression returning, just enough to soften the weight between them.

"Come on. Let's find it before it gets any bolder."

Jack Sandrow ​

 

[Jack Sandrow]

Currently wearing the Olisthiros combat suit folded away under his clothing | Pistol

---

"I'm not afraid of the dark either. I just know my limitations." He took one last moment to breathe the fresh air, before giving Valery a grim smile. "I'll work through them if I have to."

- - -

Walking further into the forest felt less like a nature hike and more and more like he was beginning to wade through soup. His 'stomach' felt like it was turning slow somersaults, and he was thankful he hadn't eaten solid food in a few hours. "Is it just me, or does this place feel... full? Like, too full. Of hate, of... hurt..." He swallowed slowly, wincing a bit. His throat felt prickly. "...And, I'm not sure... maybe hunger?"

There was a voice.

Jack whipped around, drawing the pistol at thin air. "....Valery.... Did you say something just now?" he asked, taking a long moment to evaluate his surroundings before finally holstering the gun. "....cause if you didn't, someone else did."

---

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Outfit: Combat Jumpsuit
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsabers

Valery stopped in her tracks, eyes narrowing as she turned to look at Jack. Her hand instinctively hovered near the hilt at her side, but she hadn't drawn it — not yet. Instead, she reached out with her senses, probing the air like fingers brushing through mist.

"I didn't say anything," she said quietly, her voice low but steady. "And I didn't hear anything either." The silence that followed wasn't empty — it was oppressive. The kind that felt watched. Like the jungle had grown ears, and something behind it was listening back.

Her gaze swept the trees, slow and methodical. The Force was dense here. Thick. She could feel what Jack meant — the pain. The hate. The hunger. It clung to the undergrowth like a sickness, rooted in soil older than any one lifetime.

"It's not just you," Valery finally added, stepping carefully to his side. "Something's buried here — something that remembers. And if it's starting to whisper…" She trailed off, her eyes scanning deeper into the trees.

"...then it may know we're coming."

She nodded once, resolute.

"Stay close. And if you hear it again... don't answer it."

Jack Sandrow ​

 

[Jack Sandrow]

Currently wearing the Olisthiros combat suit folded away under his clothing | Pistol

---

Jack could feel his nerves crawling up his back. "It feels wrong..." He did his best to take her advice to heart, he really did.

- - -

It was another hour before he felt it again. Something was talking to him, in a language he didn't know but could somehow understand. It was pressing at the back of his mind. It was pushing into his ears. Stop it. Stop it. Stop it.

A wave of pressure knocked him onto his knees, and he let out an involuntary gasp, feeling a rushing in his ears before a nauseating pop ended the sensation. "Aaah... Ow... ow ow ow..." Something tasted weird, and he brought his hand to his nose, drawing it back to see his amber blood on his fingers. "....Aaahh... nuts." His hand touched his ear too, and he drew it back to see more blood. "Okay that... that's not good either..."

...of us you are one of us one of us one of us one of us ONE of US ONE Of us one OF US ONE OF ALL OF US

Jack's eyes widened and he froze in place, still on his hands and knees. "....Val? Valery please tell me you're still here."

---

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Outfit: Combat Jumpsuit
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsabers

Valery was already turning before Jack said her name — her instincts snapping to attention the moment she felt the shift ripple through the Force like a stone dropped into black water.

A few quick strides brought her to his side just as he dropped to his knees, blood staining his hand, his ears. His breath was ragged, and his voice carried a tremor she didn't often hear from him. Whatever had touched him, it wasn't just a whisper anymore — it had clawed its way in.

"I'm here," she said, low but firm.

Her hand came down gently onto his shoulder, steadying him. Grounding him. The contact flared with warmth, and then the Force flowed — not in a burst, but like a tide rolling out from her center. Calm, strong, and protective. Her presence enveloped him like a shield, a cloak of light around his mind to keep the voices at bay.

"You're not alone," she whispered, her hand tightening just slightly. "Whatever it is, it doesn't get to take you." She closed her eyes for a moment and focused, expanding her awareness outward — not just scanning the jungle, but pushing back. Letting whatever was watching know that it had made a mistake.

Jack Sandrow ​

 

[Jack Sandrow]

Currently wearing the Olisthiros combat suit folded away under his clothing | Pistol

---

As the peace and warmth washed over him, pushing back the roiling blackness like a match lit in a dark room, Jack slowly came back to himself, breathing raggedly but steadily. "....Okay... Okay. Thank you." He needed a moment longer, but eventually worked his way back to his feet. "I'm good.... I'm good."

And he was good, for the moment. He could still feel the presence nearby; it rumbled in the back of his mind, twisting and writhing around in the periphery. "Let's keep going."

It wasn't long before it clawed at him again, but thanks to Valery's shining light of a Force presence, he was actively able to shrug it off this time. "...we're getting close," he murmured, inhaling softly as his mind was softly scratched by a tendril of black. "Very close... to whatever this is. Do you know what we're looking for specifically? Hole in the ground, blackened tree stump, empty cave...?"

---

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Outfit: Combat Jumpsuit
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsabers

Valery walked just a step behind now, her senses stretched far and wide, every footfall measured, every breath attuned to the darkness that pulsed around them like a second heartbeat. Her hand still tingled from where it had touched Jack's shoulder — not from the physical contact, but from the way the Force had flared between them. A connection forged not by combat or training… but by the raw necessity of holding the shadows back.

When he spoke, her gaze slid sideways, meeting his with a flicker of approval behind her gold-orange eyes.

"You're holding strong," she said quietly, with the kind of steadiness that only came from someone who knew how close the edge really was — and how far he'd just stepped back from it.

Then, as he asked the question, her expression sobered.

"No," she admitted, her voice low. Honest. "I don't know what it looks like." She paused beside a tree, hand grazing the bark. The wood was cold beneath her fingertips — not from the air, but something else. Something wrong.

"But it's wrong out here. Wrong enough that the Force recoils when it touches it." Her eyes scanned the gloom ahead, then narrowed. "Whatever it is… it won't hide. It wants to be found."

She looked forward again, her voice tightening with resolve.

"When we see it, we'll know."

Jack Sandrow ​

 

[Jack Sandrow]

Currently wearing the Olisthiros combat suit folded away under his clothing | Pistol

---

"We'll know," he repeated in agreement, closing his eyes as he felt that slow scratch inside his brain. "Nn... onward-ho, then..."

The warmth of Valery's hand still lingered on his shoulder, but it was fading by the second. Jack could feel the clawing darkness boiling around them, stalking them, probing and testing and waiting to pounce. The potential energy seemed to weigh in and around him, gently choking at him to get him to break. "Val..."

"THERE YOU ARE, LITTLE FLOWER..." A serpentine length of vines, leaves, and hatred coiled out of the underbrush before them, teeth widening as it spoke to them both, and into Jack's mind directly. "WE HAVE LONG BEEN WAITING FOR YOU."

The forest around them was alive with darkness. Vicious plant-things - drengir, Jack realized - had them surrounded, and their vicious jaws were practically salivating at the prey that had so graciously wandered into their trap.

"JOIN US."

"...I... No... No-" Jack took a step back, clothes folding back into the armor beneath, helmet snapping into place over his head.

"IT WAS NOT A REQUEST."

Jack felt a slight chill down his spine, before a red-hot thorn impaled his mind. He managed a strangled cry of pain, eyes widening behind the helmet, before hitting the ground on his knees. "Aaaauu...." Hate, death, darkness, greed, all poured into him, and all were outclassed by the foremost emotion that had defined drengir for the past several hundred years.

They were hungry.

---

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Outfit: Combat Jumpsuit
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsabers

Valery didn't hesitate. The moment the underbrush exploded with vines and snarling malice, her instincts surged into motion. Her hand snapped to her belt, and with a smooth flick of her wrist, she unclipped one of her sabers and hurled it forward.

Snap–hiss.

The violet blade ignited mid-air, spinning in a tight arc as it cleaved through the nearest tangle of vines rushing toward them. The plants recoiled with a shriek that rattled the air — a sound too guttural for flora, too sentient to be natural.

"Drengir," she snarled, voice low, teeth gritted. She took a step forward, her second saber leaping to life with a sharp thrum in her hand. The glow of its blade cast long shadows against the writhing foliage as it closed in on them, gnashing with jagged, tooth-lined maws. Behind her, she heard Jack hit the ground — heard the pain twist in his breath, felt the sear of darkness trying to dig into his mind like a root seeking rot.

Her voice cut through it.

"Jack! Push through it!" She didn't look back — couldn't. But the Force reached out instead, her presence pressing like a shield over his mind, not to protect, but to center. "They feed on this fear. Don't give them more to chew on." Her blade lashed out again, this time in a wide, sweeping arc that cleaved through two more vines rushing toward her flank.

"Get up, and defend yourself." Another vine lunged. She ducked low, drove her saber through the base of it, then pivoted and kicked the smoldering remains away.

Jack Sandrow ​

 

[Jack Sandrow]

Currently losing the Olisthiros combat suit peeling off his body | Pistol

---

Jack's eyes were wide with horror and terror, a trickle of amber sap flowing down the left tear duct. The Olisthiros suit was sloughing off him like rotten leaves, collapsing to the forest floor as he trembled beneath the weight of a nightmare given life.

The soft and reassuring warmth of Valery's Force presence was almost imperceptible, as the black rot of the drengir lovingly enveloped Jack. They were plants, he was a plant. He could join a new family. They were Force-users, he was a Force-user. Family, after so long alone. They were hungry... Family didn't let family go hungry.

He was hungry.

He was so damn hungry.

Like a marionette, he rose to wobbly knees, before turning slowly to Valery as she carved her way through seemingly endless waves of drengir. Why was she destroying them? He didn't understand. She needed to stop. His mouth opened, and a voice crawled out of his throat.

"VALERY."

Like a whip, his arm lengthened twenty-fold and shot out towards her, the clawed fingers aiming straight for her waist to impale her and bring her down. His face was splitting apart slowly...

---

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Outfit: Combat Jumpsuit
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsabers

Valery felt the moment something shifted. The Force around her buckled — not from the Drengir, but from Jack. His voice tore through the chaos, twisted and raw, and the second her name left his lips, she spun — instincts flaring like lightning. The arm lashed toward her, impossibly long and gnarled, claws aimed for her side.

She moved.

A burst of motion, the Force propelling her low into a slide beneath the strike, boots skimming the earth as the twisted appendage sliced through empty air where she'd been standing just a blink before. The wind of it whipped her hair loose from its tie, and she came up from the dodge with a practiced roll, saber raised — but she didn't strike.

"Jack!" she shouted, her voice cutting like a blade of its own.

Her stance was defensive, knees bent, blade angled, yet her eyes… her eyes were fixed on him with something deeper than caution. Beneath the horror unfolding — beneath the monstrosity that was blooming from him like some corrupted flower — she still saw him.

"I know that's not you," she called again, louder now, as the Drengir circled. "Fight it, Jack! I'm not leaving you behind — and I will not strike you down."

Her other hand opened at her side, palm facing him.

"Come back to me."

The Force surged through her again, this time not as a shield or a weapon, but as a beacon — a lifeline of warmth in the cold hunger wrapping around his mind.

Jack Sandrow ​

 

[Jack Sandrow]

Currently | extremely | hungry

---

Food prey hunger need to EAT come here hold still you petulant insect with a stinger of light

Jack stood ankle deep in a lightless pool of water. He could hear his breathing, but nothing else... Either the walls of this space were perfectly dampening to any and all sound, or they were so far away as to not even give an echo. Probably the latter. It was cold... cold and so very empty.

Not so empty anymore. Glittering teeth and joyless not-eyes had descended from the black onto him. Or was it up beneath him? His head was pounding... was someone screaming? Was that him?

stab you stab you stab you stab you hold STILL

Jack's arms swung around, serrations forming on the outer edges of the skin as the twin lashes aimed straight for Valery. She didn't want to use her lightsaber? Fine - it would make catching her that much easier. The fingers were stretching out too, razorgrass digits to shred armor and flesh alike. One touch to hook into her was all he needed. And then they would all feast.

---

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Outfit: Combat Jumpsuit
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsabers

Valery moved like wind through wildfire.

The Drengir-corrupted Jack came at her with terrifying speed — a tangle of lashes, claws, and serrated tendrils seeking her flesh with ravenous precision. But she didn't stop. Didn't hesitate. Her lightsaber stayed lit, but not raised to strike — only to defend. She ducked the first lash, vaulted over the second, her body twisting midair with a dancer's grace and a warrior's edge. One claw scraped the edge of her tunic, tearing fabric but not skin.

"Jack—!" she snapped again, breathless now, landing hard and rolling across the dirt as a root-thick appendage smashed into the ground behind her, cracking the stone. Spinning into a crouch, her eyes locked on him — no, not him. Not all of him. Just enough left to reach. She could feel it. A flicker of pain buried in the storm of hunger.

"Jack, listen to me!" she shouted, one arm extending.

The Force gathered in her hand, white-hot and fierce. She thrust her palm forward — and the resulting shockwave blasted outward like a cannon. The wave of pure energy slammed into the creature with a deep, concussive boom, hopefully flinging it back across the clearing.

The moment bought her space — nothing more. But she didn't close the distance. Instead, she stepped forward slowly, carefully, saber lowered again, "This isn't you," she called, voice steadier now, heart pounding but full of purpose. "You're stronger than this, Jack. I've seen it."

She took one more step.

"I'm not here to hurt you. But I will fight for you." A pause — her hand rising again, open.

Jack Sandrow ​

 

[Jack Sandrow]

Frustrated | and | hungry

---

It was hard to tell where Jack ended and where the drengir puppeting him began. Vines slithered from his face to the drengir, and from the drengir past Jack's face and down his trunk. There was a grin somewhere where his face once was, matched by every drengir in the clearing, and still they swarmed in closer. Valery's energy poured into the clearing with a sudden rush, and they all drew back collectively, then fell back on her again.

Jack's right arm lashed out towards her again, vicious and horrifically sharp. Jack's left arm did the same, after a moment of hesitation. Did his smile flicker?

yes yes yes kill kill kill kill eat consume slurp up that delicious FEAR

Jack was screaming, and somehow knowing it was him didn't make it any easier. Cold smiles and loving torture swarmed around him. He needed out, needed away from this; as much as every fiber of his body ached for union and belonging, that dread in the back of his mind didn't let him fully accept. He didn't want to fully accept. This mess of hatred and hunger... was that all he would be?

A light... He leapt for it, clutching in vain as it slipped out of his hand. Splash, back into the water. The grins drew in close, purring promises and vacuous praise. No, it was wrong, he knew it now. Something was very, very wrong. And that light could help.

no STOP THAT you stop THAT RIGHT NOW

Another slash from Jack's arms, but these were more lackluster. They dragged as they swung through the air, and the puppeteer snarled in annoyance. Two other drengir immediately closed on Valery from both her left and right, thorned vines flailing at her to grab any purchase at all.

---

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Outfit: Combat Jumpsuit
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsabers

Valery saw it — just for a flicker. That hesitation. That faltering edge in Jack's strike. It wasn't just the Drengir anymore. He was fighting. She didn't get the chance to call to him again. The other Drengir surged in from both sides, thorns snapping through the air like serrated whips. Valery twisted hard to the right, ducking one strike entirely — but the second caught her. A sharp thorn grazed across her bicep, slicing through her jumpsuit and leaving a line of blood in its wake.

She hissed but didn't stumble. Pain was a language she knew too well to fear, so her momentum never broke. Her lightsaber snapped up in a tight arc to deflect the vine's follow-through, then dropped away again as she threw out both hands. The Force surged around her like a tidal wave released — raw, focused, and furious.

"BACK."

The twin blasts of kinetic energy slammed into the Drengir to her flanks, hurling them backward into the trees with sickening cracks of impact and splintered bark. She didn't watch them fall.

Her focus snapped back to Jack. He writhed under the corruption, claws raised, face distorted by a mask of grinning vines and lies. But beneath all that… he was screaming. She felt it echoing in the Force like a signal in a storm — weak, desperate, but still his. Valery took a breath. Then she threw her hand forward.

Not to push. Not to kill.

To burn.

A flash of Force Light erupted from her palm, brilliant and focused, a ray of pure radiance that cut across the clearing to strike Jack square in the chest. Not a blast of destruction — but of truth. The kind that stripped darkness away like rot from wood.

The kind that reminded a soul of what it used to be.

Jack Sandrow ​

 

[Jack Sandrow]

Hold | fething | STILL

---

The light slammed into Jack full-force, searing away whatever armor was left on him, burning and torching and razing him to the ground. Another Drengir body threw itself between the blast and the puppeted Jack, but it was simply blown away. Jack - or the body Jack inhabited - did its best to stand against the tide of light. Sharp teeth gritted, the skin of the cheek beginning to shred away, exposing more of the jaw... Muscles and tendons flexed and strained, struggling with great effort... The balance was shifting.

Jack leapt for the light again. It was white-hot in his grasp, and he almost let it go on reflex. He was still screaming, but that scream had taken a note of determination, no longer just pure unadulterated fear. He grabbed at the light, clutching it close to his chest. Powers it hurt. It hurt so bad. He could last, though... the wretched grins and toothy promises couldn't touch him. The light burned him, but it was killing them. He could outlast the hurt. He was moving upwards...

The lashes at Valery weren't coming from Jack anymore. The body he had inhabited was focused on trying to repel that Light blast, clutching at it with ravenous claws that continued to be seared away, layer by layer. Rather, the remaining Drengir in the vicinity were swarming in on Valery, trying to knock her off balance, to dissuade her, to make her let go of their food - of their new host. They wanted to have Jack, and they wanted her to die. Or at least go. Or at least.... stop...

And still it burned.

"Nooooo...."

---

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Outfit: Combat Jumpsuit
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsabers

The scream didn't stop, but it changed. Valery felt it deep in her bones — that crack in the corruption, the trembling edge of something breaking through. Jack wasn't just being burned. He was fighting. Clawing his way toward the light with every agonized breath. And that meant she couldn't stop.

Not now. Not when he was reaching.

But the jungle had other ideas.

Drengir poured in from all sides, drawn like carrion to a wounded beast. One slammed into her flank, nearly knocking her off balance. Another lashed a vine across her back, shredding fabric and skin alike. Thorns tore through her leg, biting in like barbed hooks.

She screamed — not from pain, but from fury.

She planted her foot hard into the earth, a defiant anchor. Her saber spun defensively, cutting a line of fire through the air as she parried a blow meant for her throat. Another vine wrapped her arm, tugged — she let it. Stepped into it. Her blade hissed and snapped, and the limb fell twitching to the moss.

Blood streamed down her side, her arm, her leg. Still, she stood.

And then — she saw him. Jack, not recoiling, but clutching the light. Screaming. Holding it. Her chest tightened, "Come on," she whispered, a voice not meant for the Drengir but for the soul buried beneath them. "Hold on. I've got you." She raised her hand again. It trembled, scorched and raw from the first surge. But she didn't care.

The Force answered her pain — not with serenity, but with resolve. A second burst of Force Light blazed from her outstretched palm, brighter, harsher — like a sun screaming through the clouds. It tore across the battlefield in a torrent of brilliance, not just aimed at Jack, but at the Drengir still clinging to him, anchoring him to their rot.

"Let. Him. Go!"

The jungle lit up with fire and in that searing storm, Valery didn't stop.

Jack Sandrow ​