Welcome to Gaia! ::

((This is a closed Wind Serpent Herd Event.))




Tibantas eyed the dark sky on the horizon warily as he stood near the river bank. It seemed this spring the storms were thick all around them, but not much had been over them. That had been worrying enough, but today he'd noticed something else even more concerning. The river near the herd was rising. It had a bend that directed it away from the herd's camp.

The stallion watched as more bank crumbled into the rushing river. No this wouldn't wait. He took off quickly and went to find the herd's leader, Zosime. He clattered into her den.

"Sorry for the intrusion, but there's something you need to see."

Zosime looked up and frowned slightly. "Alright." Tibantas led her to the developing situation, and explained what he'd found. The pair took a moment to look it over.

"Good job. We need to get started on this right way. I'll go call the others." Zosime headed back to their dwellings and made a summoning call. She waited while the others gathered and joined her in the opening. After most of them had arrived, she broke the news.

"We have a crisis developing and we need everyone's help. The river is about to break it's bank. We will need two task forces. One will work to shore up the failing bank, and the other will dig out a trench to help divert the water. If we fail, the river will come right through here."

She fixed a red eye on each of her precious wind serpents. "I know we can pull through this if we work together and work hard. Let's go!"





Welcome to the Wind Serpent Herd's first rp event!
To participate, your wind serpent must pick a task and roll a 1d10 with a small rp post with what your pony is doing. It is possible to fail or succeed in this event. Please direct any questions to magnadearel. Enjoy!

Your mission options:
Assist with shoring up the crumbling bank.
Assist in clearing a channel to help direct the flow of water away from camp.

Starts: 6/16
Ends: 6/23 6/27

[[Omg go me...]]

Alarm bells began ringing in Yarara's head as soon as he heard the summoning call. It was not often he was unaware of the reason for the call before it went out; often, he had reason to know about the call in advance or even could be the source of the call. In his mind, his not knowing about the call meant it was something internal and emergent. The fact that it was Zosime's call was even more startling, since they often coordinated together.

Yarara put down the nesting material he had been gathering in his individual, private quest to ready the nests the herd might someday use. Running to the gathering place, he listened intently as Zosime described the critical situation. He immediately piped up, declaring that he could lead the party to shore up the bank. If nothing else, his physicality could buy them time. He called for a strategist, if any wanted to volunteer.

Leading the way to the questionable bank, Yarara began scooping rocks and sand toward the edge. The bank curved up, with water dribbling over the edge of the bowl it created. The bank needed to be higher, but he wasn't sure how to accomplish that. Hoping his strategists could help, he moved as much material as he could toward the river.

---
218 words

Yarara called a loud "thank you" to Paion, filling some of the baskets with the debris he could gather from the small trench that had been started. His neck muscles worked overtime as he ferried the dirt - mud, really - back to the riverbank. There was not much more he could do than drag it across the ground, but using the basket was a hundred times more efficient than shuffling with his feet and scooping what he could with his wings.

Piling dirt high around the river's bank, he did what he could to build and reinforce it.

Task: shoring up the crumbling bank
WC: 97

Yarara grinned at Tibantas as the stallion scooped dirt into Paion's baskets. "Good teamwork, everyone," he said. Trying to figure out how to deal with more than one basket at a time, Yarara hooked one with his mouth and another with his tail. He walked backwards toward the river, pushing one basket with his tail and pulling the other with his long incisors. When he reached the bank, he slopped the mud held in the basket in his mouth over the growing mound. He smoothed it with his tail, ignoring the grating between his scales. If they failed, he supposed he would get a decent bath, anyway... Grabbing the other basket with his mouth, he did the same as he had with the first, smoothing the mud strategically between rocks whose steadying soil was quickly eroding away from the burgeoning water.

Stacking the baskets, Yarara scooped them up and ran them back to Paion and Tibantas. "I'll be right back!" he said as he dropped the baskets. "I'm going to get some straw to give the bank some strength." Thinking again about the baskets, he picked one up and took it with him. He headed back to the nesting grounds, half-running and half-flying, sweeping the unused straw and thrushes into the basket. They could gather more whenever foals came. To his knowledge, no one was awaiting foals at the moment...

Throwing a piece of canvas over the basket to keep the lightweight material in place, Yarara ran back to the river. Unpleasant though it was, he grabbed the straw in his mouth and spread it out over the bank. He added more mud on top of it, hoping it would add some structure to what was basically a pile of running river muck.

WC: 293
Task: Shoring up the bank!

They were struggling, Zosime could tell as she watched the river. The water was winning. She saw Yarara go and fetch straw. Yes they needed more materials than just mud. She swooped off and went to collect small and medium stones. Hopefully the water would have a harder time washing these away, but she couldn't be sure.

"Don't give up!" She called as she brought the stones to Yarara. "I hope these can help too."


Task: Shoring up the bank.

(Task: Shoring up the bank. WC: 157.)

Yarara watched the others clear a trench as he pushed on, pressing mud into the side of the bank. He grinned at Tibontas as the stallion mentioned sticking himself to the bank. "Leaning on it had occurred to me! Maybe if this all works out, we can all take a rest against our new wall when we're done..." He gazed down the length of the bank, hoping it would be enough.

When Zosime brought him a batch of stones, he pressed them in layers into the mud - mud, stone, mud, straw, and on. He thanked her as she rushed on, whether that was to thought or to action. Would the added structure keep it together? He just hoped he wasn't near the bank if they ended up with a disfavorable result.

Switching out the baskets again, Yarara kept going. Nature didn't stop for anyone, and to protect his home - his family - he wouldn't stop until he dropped.

Task: Shoring up the bank.
WC: 127

As Paion brought him more stones, Yarara carefully helped unload them from the stallion's back. He balanced the basket with the arch of his wing, with his tail - whatever limb he could offer to help. With each round, Yarara offered Paion a nod and a quiet vocalization of gratitude. Fatigue was setting in, and he was pretty sure places of his skin were growing raw. Funnily enough, some of it felt protected by the mud, while other parts of him were more irritated by it. His muzzle, particularly, felt more sore with each row of stones he set down.

Still, though, he had to keep going. They would take care of each other after this - but they had to have a place in which to do that.

Zosime hissed encouragement to her herdmates. They were getting tired and so was she. It felt like the heaviest rock always ended up on the same side. She stacked the stones she gathered for the bank builders within easy reach.

Something made her pause. Zosime stood and looked upriver. Her ears swiveled and she watched the rushing water. She could sense something was something and it filled her with dread. "Quickly now, we must clear out soon."

Task: Shoring up the bank